Jason and the Argonauts by Apollonius of Rhodes Page A

house
    long, long ago when he was traveling
    through boundless Asia on a quest to win
    1010 the belt of war-obsessed Hippolyta.
    I was a young man when we met. The down
    had only freshly sprouted on my cheeks,
    and funeral games were being held in honor
    of Priolas my brother. (Mysians killed him,
    1015 and since his death the people here have sung him
    heartrending dirges.) In the boxing match
    Heracles beat the dashing Titias,
    who was supreme among us younger men
    in strength and beauty. Yes, he knocked his teeth out
    onto the ground.
    1020 (786) Heracles subjugated
    the Mysians beneath my father’s rule,
    then the Mygdones who are neighbors to us,
    then some Bithynians and their land as far as
    the Rhebas River and Colona’s peak.
    1025 In fact, the Paphlagonian heirs of Pelops
    (that is, those hemmed in by the dark Billaeus)
    surrendered without putting up a fight.
    Lately, with Heracles gone far away,
    haughty Amycus and his subject soldiers
    1030 had started cheating me, for years now chipping
    such large tracts from my realm that they have pushed
    their kingdom’s borders to the grass that lines
    the deeply flowing Hypius River.
    Now, though,
    they have received their punishment from you,
    1035 (798) and I suspect the gods were there supporting
    Tyndareus’ son the day he beat
    Amycus and defeated all his henchman
    in battle. Therefore I shall gladly give you
    whatever help I can, since this is simply
    1040 what weaker men should do when stronger men
    have done a good turn first. And I shall order
    Dascylus my son to join your quest.
    With him among you, you should find the natives
    you meet along the way hospitable
    1045 as far off as the river Thermodon.
    Furthermore, I shall build a lofty temple
    atop the Acherousian heights to honor
    Tyndareus’ sons, and every sailor
    who sees their shrine, even from far away,
    1050 (809) will ask their aid. Once I have built the temple,
    I shall consecrate, outside the city,
    some fertile acres in our well-tilled plains
    to yield them honor as if they were gods.”
    All day the heroes took delight in feasting,
    1055 then bustled back down to the ship. King Lycus
    gathered his train to follow them and gave them
    numberless gifts. What’s more, he sent his son
    to make the quest among them.
    It was then
    thatIdmon son of Abas reached his destined
    1060 demise. Though he excelled at seercraft,
    his seercraft did not protect him, no,
    necessity was pushing him toward doom.
    There was a meadow near a reedy river.
    A white-tusked boar was lounging in it, cooling
    1065 (819) its flanks and massive belly in the mud—
    a lethal beast. Even the marsh nymphs feared it
    feeding alone along the river flats.
    No mortal knew that it was there.
    When Idmon
    was strolling on the muddy riverbank,
    1070 it rushed out of some purlieu in the willows,
    gored his thigh, cut through cartilage and femur.
    Idmon shrieked and fell. His friends called out,
    and Peleus quickly loosed a spear and struck
    the monster as it fled into the swamp.
    1075 When it returned and charged them, Idas pierced it,
    and it collapsed upon the sharp tip, squealing.
    Leaving it thus impaled, they trundled Idmon
    back to the
Argo
where he coughed up blood
    and shortly died in his inconsolable
    comrades’ arms.
    1080 (835) They thought no more of sailing
    but stayed there, grieving, to entomb the body.
    Three days they wailed and on the fourth interred him
    with hero’s honors. Lycus and his subjects
    joined in the mourning, slaughtered many sheep
    1085 as funeral offerings around the tomb,
    as is the custom for the dear departed.
    So in a foreign country Idmon’s barrow
    was heaped up, and a marker planted on it
    for future generations to admire—
    1090 a wild olive tree, the tree of shipwrights,
    a tree that still is flourishing today
    under the Acherousian cliffs.
    Because
    I heed the Muses’ will, I must declare,
    upfront, this fact as well: Phoebus Apollo
    1095 (847)