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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 937–960

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 97 of 245

Book II · Lines 937–960

Ancient Greek

p. 200
Line II.937: πρηυτάτου ποταμοῦ, παρεμέτρεον, ᾧ ἔνι κούρηLine II.938: Λητωίς, ἄγρηθεν ὅτʼ οὐρανὸν εἰσαναβαίνῃ,Line II.939: ὃν δέμας ἱμερτοῖσιν ἀναψύχει ὑδάτεσσιν.Line II.940: νυκτί δʼ ἔπειτʼ ἄλληκτον ἐπιπροτέρωσε θέοντεςLine II.941: σήσαμον αἰπεινούς τε παρεξενέοντʼ Ἐρυθίνους,Line II.942: Κρωβίαλον, Κρώμναν τε καὶ ὑλήεντα Κύτωρον.Line II.943: ἔνθεν δʼ αὖτε Κάραμβιν ἅμʼ ἠελίοιο βολῇσινLine II.944: γνάμψαντες παρὰ πουλὺν ἔπειτʼ ἤλαυνον ἐρετμοῖςLine II.945: αἰγιαλὸν πρόπαν ἦμαρ ὁμῶς καὶ ἐπʼ ἤματι νύκτα.Line II.946: αὐτίκα δʼ Ἀσσυρίης ἐπέβαν χθονός, ἔνθα Σινώπην,Line II.947: θυγατέρʼ Ἀσωποῖο, καθίσσατο, καί οἱ ὄπασσενLine II.948: παρθενίην Ζεὺς αὐτός, ὑποσχεσίῃσι δολωθείς.Line II.949: δὴ γὰρ ὁ μὲν φιλότητος ἐέλδετο· νεῦσε δʼ ὅγʼ αὐτῇLine II.950: δωσέμεναι, ὅ κεν ᾗσι μετὰ φρεσὶν ἰθύσειεν.Line II.951: ἡ δέ ἑ παρθενίην ᾐτήσατο κερδοσύνῃσιν.Line II.952: ὧς δὲ καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα παρήπαφεν εὐνηθῆναιLine II.953: ἱέμενον, ποταμόν τʼ ἐπὶ τοῖς Ἅλυν· οὐδὲ μὲν ἀνδρῶνLine II.954: τήνγε τις ἱμερτῇσιν ἐν ἀγκοίνῃσι δάμασσεν.Line II.955: ἔνθα δὲ Τρικκαίοιο ἀγαυοῦ ΔηιμάχοιοLine II.956: υἷες, Δηιλέων τε καὶ Αὐτόλυκος Φλογίος τεLine II.957: τῆμος ἔθʼ, Ἡρακλῆος ἀποπλαγχθέντες, ἔναιον·Line II.958: οἵ ῥα τόθʼ, ὡς ἐνόησαν ἀριστήων στόλον ἀνδρῶν,Line II.959: σφᾶς αὐτοὺς νημερτὲς ἐπέφραδον ἀντιάσαντες·Line II.960: οὐδʼ ἔτι μιμνάζειν θέλον ἔμπεδον, ἀλλʼ ἐνὶ νηί,
200

The Argonautica: Book II

p. 201

that gentle river, where the divine huntress, Leto's daughter,

returning from the hunt and climbing back to high heaven,

cools her whole body in the river's lovely currents.

Then through the night, still racing relentlessly onward,

they passed Sesamus, then high Erythini headlands,

Crobialus, Cromna, Cytorus robed in deep forest.

From there, as the sun cast forth his earliest rays,

they rounded Carambis, then drove their laboring oars

along broad Aegialus all day and through the following night.

At once they set foot on Assyria's land, where Zeus settled

Sinope, child of Asopus, granting her one boon:

to keep her maidenhood--Zeus, snared by his own promise.

For Zeus desired her bed; he gave a solemn nod

to give whatever her own mind might set its course toward.

Cunningly she asked Zeus to grant perpetual maidenhood.

So too she deceived Apollo, who yearned deeply for her bed,

and, after them both, River Halys; nor did any man

ever subdue that woman within desirable arms.

There three sons born to noble Deimachus of Tricca

were living there still: Deileon, Autolycus, and Phlogius;

all three had wandered far astray from Heracles' company.

Seeing the mustered host of all those heroic men,

they went to meet them and openly declared themselves in truth.

They wished no longer to remain there permanently, but onto

201

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.