Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Argonautica
Ancient Greek with an independent metrical English translation
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Facing Pages · Branch 41 of 245
Book I · Lines 962–985
Ancient Greek
p. 86The Argonautica: Book I
p. 87King Cyzicus himself joined them, then heard their voyage
and lineage, learned their names, and gave them guest-friend welcome,
and urged the heroes to row still farther toward the city,
moor the ship by stern-lines fast in the city's harbor,
There heroes raised Apollo an Ecbasian altar,
set near the shore, and duly tended every sacrifice.
The king himself gave sweet wine to meet their need,
and sheep; King Cyzicus had heard a sacred prophecy:
a godlike host of heroes should reach him there straightaway,
he would meet them gently, wholly free from thoughts of war.
Like Jason, Cyzicus first wore soft beard-down;
no child had yet bestowed the sweet joy of fatherhood;
but still his bride throughout the halls remained untouched
by pangs of labor; born from Percosian Merops' line,
fair-haired Cleite, whom he lately led from her father's halls
homeward with matchless bridal gifts from the opposite shore.
Yet even so, forsaking chamber and the bridal bed,
he made their feast and cast all terror from his heart.
They questioned one another; King Cyzicus inquired
about their voyage's end and King Pelias' commands;
they learned all neighboring cities and the whole gulf
of broad Propontis; knowledge failed beyond that point,
though eager hearts desired to learn what lay beyond.
At dawn they climbed great Dindymum, so their own eyes
Socrates
Reading The Argonautica · Book I · Lines 962–985
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Apollonius’s Argonautica follows Jason and the Argonauts from their gathering at Pagasae through the voyage to Colchis and the difficult return home. This exact line-for-line edition pairs the Ancient Greek poem with an independent metrical English translation prepared by Diotimos Editions, preserving one English verse for every Greek reading line across all four books.
Historical Text and Translation
The Greek reading text follows the Perseus transcription derived from George W. Mooney’s 1912 edition, pinned to a stable canonical-greekLit commit. Mooney and LSJ provide the principal controls for Books I–III; Peter Hulse’s Dickinson commentary directly supports Book IV. Deleted records and canonical numbering gaps remain documented rather than being silently repaired. The supplied release identifies itself as a complete source-audited working edition and recommends independent classicist review before print publication.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared this independent translation directly from the Greek. Its six-beat English house form preserves the poem’s source order, imagery, learned names, narrative delays, shifts of register, and line-by-line correspondence while allowing syntax to move across adjacent verses where the Greek requires it.
Rights
Apollonius’s ancient Greek source work is in the public domain. The 2026 English translation and Diotimos editorial matter are original to this edition and remain © 2026 Diotimos. The pinned Perseus Greek transcription is reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- public-domain-base-witnessPinned Perseus Greek transcription — canonical-greekLit
- print-control-and-commentaryGeorge W. Mooney’s 1912 Argonautica — Internet Archive
- book-four-commentaryApollonius Argonautica, Book IV — Dickinson College Commentaries
- lexical-controlLiddell–Scott–Jones Greek-English Lexicon — Scaife ATLAS
- greek-transcription-licenseCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0