Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Argonautica
Ancient Greek with an independent metrical English translation
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Facing Pages · Branch 76 of 245
Book II · Lines 433–456
Ancient Greek
p. 158The Argonautica: Book II
p. 159how the gracious goddess gave sworn pledges; the Harpies
plunged in terror deep into Dicte's vast cave.
Then all the comrades in the house rejoiced at heart,
and Phineus himself rejoiced at the news. Swiftly then
Aeson's son, with boundless kindness, spoke to Phineus:
“Surely, Phineus, there was some god who cared about
your bitter ruin and brought our ship here to your side
from far away, that Boreas' sons might aid you here.
If he should also grant bright light to your eyes, I think
my joy would match the joy of reaching home again.”
He spoke; but Phineus, looking down, replied in sorrow:
“Son of Aeson, that cannot be called back; no remedy
is left hereafter, for my empty eyes waste slowly.
Instead of sight, may some god grant me death at once,
and dead, I shall partake of every radiant joy.”
So these two heroes spoke, exchanging words with one another.
At once, while they traded words, the goddess Dawn appeared,
the Child of Morning; round the old man gathered neighbors,
men who before this day had regularly come there,
always alike bringing a portion of their own food.
To every one of them, however poor the man who came,
the old man prophesied kindly and released many men
from trouble by his art; therefore they came and tended Phineus.
Paraebius came with them, the old man's dearest friend,
Socrates
Reading The Argonautica · Book II · Lines 433–456
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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