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Diotimos Library · Greek Antiquity Collection · Bilingual Edition

Apollonius of Rhodes

The Argonautica

Ancient Greek with an independent metrical English translation

The ArgonauticaBook II · Lines 745–768

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 89 of 245

Book II · Lines 745–768

Ancient Greek

p. 184
Line II.745: ἠῴην· κοίλη δὲ φάραγξ κατάγει μιν ἄνωθεν.Line II.746: τὸν μὲν ἐν ὀψιγόνοισι Σοωναύτην ὀνόμηνανLine II.747: Νισαῖοι Μεγαρῆες, ὅτε νάσσεσθαι ἔμελλονLine II.748: γῆν Μαριανδυνῶν. δὴ γάρ σφεας ἐξεσάωσενLine II.749: αὐτῇσιν νήεσσι, κακῇ χρίμψαντας ἀέλλῃ.Line II.750: τῇ ῥʼ οἵγʼ αὐτίκα νηὶ διὲξ Ἀχερουσίδος ἄκρηςLine II.751: εἰσωποὶ ἀνέμοιο νέον λήγοντος ἔκελσαν.Line II.752: οὐδʼ ἄρα δηθὰ Λύκον, κείνης πρόμον ἠπείροιο,Line II.753: καὶ Μαριανδυνοὺς λάθον ἀνέρας ὁρμισθέντεςLine II.754: αὐθένται Ἀμύκοιο κατὰ κλέος, ὃ πρὶν ἄκουον·Line II.755: ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀρθμὸν ἔθεντο μετὰ σφίσι τοῖο ἕκητι.Line II.756: αὐτὸν δʼ ὥστε θεὸν Πολυδεύκεα δεξιόωντοLine II.757: πάντοθεν ἀγρόμενοι· ἐπεὶ ἦ μάλα τοίγʼ ἐπὶ δηρὸνLine II.758: ἀντιβίην Βέβρυξιν ὑπερφιάλοις πολέμιζον.Line II.759: καὶ δὴ πασσυδίῃ μεγάρων ἔντοσθε ΛύκοιοLine II.760: κεῖνʼ ἦμαρ φιλότητι, μετὰ πτολίεθρον ἰόντες,Line II.761: δαίτην ἀμφίεπον, τέρποντό τε θυμὸν ἔπεσσιν.Line II.762: Αἰσονίδης μέν οἱ γενεὴν καὶ οὔνομʼ ἑκάστουLine II.763: σφωιτέρων μυθεῖθʼ ἑτάρων, Πελίαό τʼ ἐφετμάς,Line II.764: ἠδʼ ὡς Λημνιάδεσσιν ἐπεξεινοῦντο γυναιξίν,Line II.765: ὅσσα τε Κύζικον ἀμφὶ Δολιονίην ἐτέλεσσαν·Line II.766: Μυσίδα δʼ ὡς ἀφίκοντο Κίον θʼ, ὅθι κάλλιπον ἥρωLine II.767: Ἡρακλέην ἀέκοντι νόῳ, Γλαύκοιό τε βάξινLine II.768: πέφραδε, καὶ Βέβρυκας ὅπως Ἄμυκόν τʼ ἐδάιξαν,
184

The Argonautica: Book II

p. 185

into the eastern sea; a hollow gorge leads it down from above.

In later generations Nisaean Megarians named the river

Sounautes, Sailor-Savior, when they planned new homes

in Mariandynian country; indeed, this river saved them

with ships and all, when a savage squall closed hard around them.

By that same way the heroes drove Argo through the cape

and beached Argo facing inland as the wind had just died.

King Lycus soon perceived the men upon his coast,

and Mariandynian men likewise marked the moored arrivals,

Amycus' killers, famed in tales they heard before.

For that very deed they made a lasting pact of friendship,

and welcomed Polydeuces himself with honors fit for gods,

gathering round from every side, since through many years

they had long fought face to face with overbearing Bebrycians.

Then all together they passed inside the halls of Lycus

that day as friends, once they entered Lycus' city;

they joined the feast, delighting their hearts with spoken stories.

Aeson's son told Lycus the lineage and name of each

companion one by one, and then King Pelias' commands,

and how the Lemnian women gladly welcomed them as guests,

every deed accomplished round Dolionian Cyzicus;

how they reached Mysian Cius; there they left the hero

Heracles behind against their will, and Glaucus' message

he told, and how they struck the Bebrycians and Amycus down;

185

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.

Discussion Questions

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.