Chapter X: Book IV (3)

“My friend, great and glorious renown has fallen to thy lot. For of this clod when thou hast cast it into the sea, the gods will make an island, where thy children’s children shall dwell; for Triton gave this to thee as a stranger’s gift from the Libyan mainland. None other of the immortals it was than he that gave thee this when he met thee.”

Thus he spake; and Euphemus made not vain the answer of Aeson’s son; but, cheered by the prophecy, he cast the clod into the depths. Therefrom rose up an island, Calliste, sacred nurse of the sons of Euphemus, who in former days dwelt in Sintian Lemnos, and from Lemnos were driven forth by Tyrrhenians and came to Sparta as suppliants; and when they left Sparta, Theras, the goodly son of Autesion, brought them to the island Calliste, and from himself he gave it the name of Thera. But this befell after the days of Euphemus.

And thence they steadily left behind long leagues of sea and stayed on the beach of Aegina; and at once they contended in innocent strife about the fetching of water, who first should draw it and reach the ship. For both their need and the ceaseless breeze urged them on. There even to this day do the youths of the Myrmidons take up on their shoulders full-brimming jars, and with swift feet strive for victory in the race.

Be gracious, race of blessed chieftains! And may these songs year after year be sweeter to sing among men. For now have I come to the glorious end of your toils; for no adventure befell you as ye came home from Aegina, and no tempest of winds opposed you; but quietly did ye skirt the Cecropian land and Aulis inside of Euboea and the Opuntian cities of the Locrians, and gladly did ye step forth upon the beach of Pagasae.

ENDNOTES:

1 “Or of Naucratis”, according to Aelian and Athenaeus.

2 Anth. Pal. xl. 275.

3 iii. 117-124.

4 _e.g._ compare _Aen._ iv. 305 foll. with Ap. Rh. iv. 355 foll.; _Aen._ iv. 327-330 with Ap. Rh. I. 897, 898; _Aen._ iv. 522 foll., with Ap. Rh. iii. 744 foll.

5 _i.e._ God of embarcation.

6 Or, reading ἔκτοθεν, “they strongly girded the ship outside with a well-twisted rope.” In either case there is probably no allusion to ὐποζώματα (ropes for undergirding) which were carried loose and only used in stormy weather.

7 _i.e._ God of the shore.

8 _i.e._ The Starting.

9 Samothrace.

10 _i.e._ god of disembarcation.

11 Cleite means illustrious.

12 _i.e._ to avoid grinding it at home.

13 Rhea.

14 _i.e._ Polydeuces.

15 _i.e._ Saviour of Sailors.

16 _i.e._ through the ravine that divides the headland.

17 _i.e._ river of fair dances.

18 _i.e._ the bedchamber.

19 The north-west wind.

20 Called “Mossynes”.

21 _i.e._ without exacting gifts from the bridegroom. So in the “Iliad” ix. 146: Agamemnon offers Achilles any of his three daughters ἀνάεδνος.

22 _i.e._ the fight between the gods and the giants.

23 _i.e._ the Shining One.

24 A name of Ares.

25 _i.e._ the liquid that flows in the veins of gods.

26 Or, reading μήνιμ’, “took no heed of the cause of wrath with the stranger-folk.”

27 The allusion is to Sesotris. See Herodotus ii. 102 foll.

28 Or, reading ἠμετέρην, “into our sea”. The Euxine is meant in any case and the word Ionian is therefore wrong.

29 Apollonius seems to have thought that the Po, the Rhone, and the Rhine are all connected together.

30 _i.e._ like the scrapings from skin, ἀποστλεγγίσματα; see Strabo p. 224 for this adventure.

31 The _Symplegades_ are referred to, where help was given by Athena, not by Hera. It is strange that no mention is made of the _Planctae_, properly so called, past which they are soon to be helped. Perhaps some lines have fallen out.

32 _i.e._ the Mighty One.

33 _i.e._ the Wanderers.

34 A fabulous metal, resembling gold in appearance.

35 _i.e._ the Sickle-island.

36 The old name of Corinth.

37 This seems to be the only possible translation, but the optative is quite anomalous. We should expect ἐκόμιζες.

38 An old name of the Peloponnesus.

39 _i.e._ the isle of Revealing.