The Argonautica: “As when a bull/ that has been goaded by a gadfly bolts/ out of the meadows…”

First, some context. Also known as Jason and the Argonauts, this is an epic poem written by Apollonius Rhodius (or Apollonius of Rhodes) in the 3rd century BC and modelled after Homer. This is the same Jason from the Medea myth. 

1/ Argonautica is about Jason and the Argonauts travelling to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece. The Iliad has a famous Catalogue of Ships; the Argonautica begins with a 10-page catalogue of the crew. 

I didn’t know the myth, didn’t know Orpheus and Heracles (Herakles) were part of the crew! 

2/ Let’s look at the writing: 

“As soon 

as radiant Dawn with her resplendent gaze 

looked on the steep cliff face of Pelion, 

and day broke fair, and breezes stirred the sea

that dashed, in turn, upon the headlands, Tiphys 

awoke and roused the dozing crew and bade them 

hasten aboard and man the oars.” 

(Book 1) 

(translated by Aaron Poochigian) 

This reminds me of the image of the Dawn with rosy fingers in Homer.  

I can see other influence from the Iliad and the Odyssey: 

“As a lonely maiden

clings desperately to a gray-haired nurse, 

her last remaining friend, and weeps because 

she lives a heavy-life without protectors, 

only a stepmother who so assails her

with fickle insults and relentless scorn

that she cannot stop weeping, and her heart 

is bound and gagged by all this misery, 

and she cannot sob out the countless sorrows

that throb within her, so Alcimede

was weeping, weeping, and she couldn’t stop.” 

(ibid.) 

This is similar to the long, elaborate similes we find in Homer—known as Homeric similes. Like this one in the Iliad, for instance: 

“Comparable to the throes 

a writhing woman suffers in hard labor 

sent by the goddesses of Travail, Hera’s 

daughters, Twisters, mistresses of pangs, 

the anguish throbbed in Agamemnon now.”

(Book 11, translated by Robert Fitzgerald) 

The Iliad especially is filled with comparisons between the armies and animals—I also see similar ones in the Argonautica. 

“As bees swarm from a rocky hive and buzz 

about the handsome lilies and the dewy

meadow itself rejoices as they flit 

from bloom to bloom collecting sweet fruition, 

so did the women press around the men 

and weep as they embraced them one last time…” 

(Book 1) 

This is a lovely image: 

“Orpheus meanwhile 

plucked his lyre and sang a lovely hymn 

to honor Artemis, the Sailors’ Savior, 

the Potent Father’s Daughter, since she guarded 

the cliffs beside them and the coast of Iolcus. 

Fish both big and small came leaping out of 

the sea to revel in the vessel’s wake. 

In just the way innumerable sheep, 

after a satisfying meal at pasture, 

treat the footsteps of their rustic guide 

back to the paddock, and he leads by playing 

shepherd music on a bright-pitched pipe, 

the shoal of fish accompanied the ship.” 

(ibid.) 

I enjoy the writing, enjoy Poochigian’s translation. 

Like Homer, Apollonius compares men to animals. Like Homer, he piles simile upon simile. 

“Imagine how, upon a winder’s day, 

gray wolves will suddenly descend, unmarked 

by herdsmen and precision-sniffing hounds, 

to terrorize a flock of countless sheep—

how, as the wolves glare back and forth deciding 

which one to pound on first and carry off, 

the sheep stand clumped together, tripping over 

each other—that’s the way the heroes sent 

grim panic through the proud Bebrycians. 

And as when beekeepers or herdsmen smoke

a giant hive concealed in a rock, 

the bees at first are crowded and confused, 

abuzz with rage, and then the sooty coils 

of vapor suffocate them, and they all 

dart from the rock and scatter far and wide, 

so the Bebrycians die not hold firm 

for long, but fled in all directions, bearing

news of Amycus’ demise.” 

(Book 2) 

The quote in the headline comes from Book 1, describing Heracles as he hears that disaster has befallen Hylas. 

3/ As Jason and the Argonauts go on a voyage, they have adventures and face dangers and temptations—I see Homer’s influence on the depictions of the Argonauts’ encounters with people and other creatures—I see Homer’s influence on Apollonius’s imagery and comparisons. Jason however is no Odysseus. 

“Jason was so dumbstruck and at a loss 

he uttered nothing one way or the other—

no, he just sat there gnawing at his heart, 

feeling the burden of catastrophe.” 

(Book 1)

Not much of a leader, is he? 

The Argonautica is filled with exciting and dangerous adventures—they stop at Lemnos, where the women have killed all the men; they encounter six-armed giants; they lose a member of the gang to a horny water nymph; they meet an arrogant king who challenges all visitors to a boxing match; they meet Phineus, a seer condemned by Zeus to be tormented by harpies; and so on—many things happen, and yet Jason barely takes the lead, or stands out. It's Heracles, not Jason, who resists temptation and urges the men to leave the women of Lemnos. It’s Peleus, not Jason, who speaks with resolution when “terror blanched their cheeks” after Argus’s warning. As the leader and as the main character, Jason is even more bland than Aeneas. But perhaps that’s the point, perhaps Apollonius is deliberately creating an anti-heroic epic.