The Argonautica

might see the passages of that sea; then the others

rowed the ship forward to her berth in Chytus Harbor;

Jason's Way remains the path those heroes climbed.

But from the mountain's farther side the Earthborn rushed down

and blocked below with crags the vast mouth of Chytus

seaward, like hunters trapping a beast deep inside.

But with the younger men one hero stayed behind,

Heracles swiftly bent his great recurving bow

and shot the Earthborn down in swiftly falling ranks; they

raised jagged crags and hurled them back at Heracles.

For those dread monsters too a goddess nurtured long,

Hera, Zeus' bride, as a labor saved for Heracles.

The other heroes wheeled and hurried back to meet them

before they climbed the lookout, joined the murderous work

of Earthborn; warlike heroes met them thick with arrows

and spears, receiving every last one in full combat

they hewed down, all charging fiercely, force against force.

As long tree-trunks, newly struck by cutting axes,

woodcutters cast in ordered rows beside the breaking surf,

that, wetted by brine, the trunks might bear strong bolts,

so giants lay outstretched through the gray harbor narrows

in ordered rows; some plunged headlong into salt water,

dipping heads and chests, with limbs stretched up above

on dry land; others lay reversed along the shore,