Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Argonautica
Ancient Greek with an independent metrical English translation
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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 87 of 245
Book II · Lines 697–720
Ancient Greek
p. 180The Argonautica: Book II
p. 181wild creatures often graze the deep-grown forest.
Leto's son provided quarry; from all the victims
they duly burned the thigh-bones, wrapped in double fat,
there on the sacred altar, calling Dawn-Apollo.
Around the burning portions they established a wide dance-ring:
“Ie Paieon! Ie Paieon!”--to lovely Phoebus.
Among them stood noble Orpheus, Oeagrus' son,
he struck his Bistonian lyre and raised clear song:
how once beneath the rocky ridge of Mount Parnassus
Apollo slew enormous Delphyne with deadly arrows,
a beardless boy, still glorying in his youthful locks.
Be gracious! Lord, may your long locks be always unshorn,
always unravaged--such is sacred law; for only
Coeus-born Leto strokes those locks with loving hands.
Again and again, Corycian Nymphs, Pleistus' daughters,
cheered Apollo with words and cried aloud, “Ie!”
That event gave Phoebus this lovely hymn-refrain.
When they had praised Apollo's name with dance and choral song,
they poured pure libations, swearing steadfast aid
to one another forever, joined in concord of mind,
touching the victims. Even now that shrine remains,
the gracious shrine of Concord, which those heroes themselves
labored then to build, honoring their glorious goddess.
The third day's light arrived; at that same hour,
Socrates
Reading The Argonautica · Book II · Lines 697–720
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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