He spake, and was gone; and afront of his fellows he strode to the ship,
And the rest of the chiefs followed on, and the oars in their hands did they grip,
Row upon row as they sat; and the hawsers did Argus cast
Loose from the rock brine-lashed; and mightily then and fast
Fell they to smiting with oars long-bladed the seething wave.
And at even by Orpheus’ counsel the keel ashore they drave
On the isle of Elektra the daughter of Atlas, that there they might learn
The mystic rites whose unveiling is not soul-daunting nor stern,
And safelier so might voyage over the chill grey sea:—
No more will I speak of the Hidden Things—but a blessing be
Upon that same isle, and the Gods there dwelling, to whom belong
Those rites whereof it is not vouchsafed that we tell in song.
And from thence o’er the Black Sea’s depths unfathomed they sped with the oar,
To leftward keeping the land of Thrace, and to rightward the shore
Of Imbros overagainst it; and, even as sank the sun,
Unto the long sea-foreland of Chersonese they won.
There did the strong swift south-wind blow, and the sail they spread
To the breeze, and into the outward-rushing waters they sped
Of Athamas’ daughter: and lo, astern with the morning light
The outsea lay, and along Rhoeteion’s beach in the night
They coasted, and still on their right the land Idaean lay.
And they left Dardania behind, and Abydos-ward steered they.
By Perkotê in that same night, and Abarnis’ stretches of sand
Onward they glided, and past Pityeia the hallowed land.
And the selfsame night, as with sails and with oars sped Argo on,
Through the sea-gorge darkly-swirling of Hellespont they won.
Now within the Propontis an island there is, both high and steep;
Short space from the corn-blest Phrygian land doth it rise from the deep
Seaward-sloped: to the mainland stretched a neck of land
Low as the wash of the sea; so the place hath a twofold strand.
And beyond the waterfloods of Aisêpus the river they lie.
The Hill of the Bears it is called of them that dwell thereby.
And cruel oppressors and fierce have there their robber-hold,
Earth-born, a marvel great for the dwellers around to behold.
Six mighty arms each monster uplifteth against a foe,
Even two from his brawny shoulders that spring, and therebelow
Four other, that out of his sides exceeding terrible grow.
Now Dolian men on the isthmus abode, and about the plain;
And amidst them did Kyzikus, hero-son of Aineus, reign,
The son whom Ainêtê, the daughter of godlike Eusôrus, bare.
But these men the Earth-born giants, how mighty and dreadful soe’er,
In no wise harried: their shield and defender Poseidon became,
For himself had begotten of old the first of the Dolian name.
Thitherward Argo, as chased by the Thracian breezes she fled,
Pressed, and the goodly haven received her as onward she sped.
And their light-weight anchor-stone did they cast away thereby
By Tiphys’ behest, and they left it beside the fountain to lie,
By Artakia’s spring; and another they chose, huge, meet for their need.
Howbeit their first, by Archer Apollo’s oracle-rede,
The Ionian Neleïds laid thereafter, a hallowed stone,
In the shrine of Athênê, Jason’s friend, as was meet to be done.
And in all lovingkindness the Dolians came, and to meet them pressed
Kyzikus’ self, when their lineage he heard, and was ware of the Quest,
And knew what heroes were these; and with glad guest-welcome they met,
And besought them to speed in their rowing a short space onward yet,
And to fasten the hawser within the city’s haven fair.
To Apollo the Lord of Landing they builded an altar there:
By the strand they upreared it, and there did the smoke of the sacrifice rise;
And sweet strong wine did the king’s self give them, their need to suffice,
And sheep therewithal: for an oracle rang in his ears—“In the day
When a godlike band of heroes shall come, meet thou their array
With welcome of love, and thou shalt not bethink thee at all of the fray.”
And, like unto Jason, the soft down bloomed on the young king’s chin;
Neither yet was he gladdened with laughter of children his halls within;
For the pangs of the travailing hour not yet to his bride had been known,
Even to the lady born of Merops, Perkosius’ son,
Fair-tressed Kleitê. But now had she passed from her sire’s halls forth
On the mainland-shore, when he won her with gifts of priceless worth.
But for all this left he his bridal bower and the bed of his bride,
And arrayed them a banquet, and cast from his heart all fear aside.
And they questioned each other, the king and the heroes. Of them would he learn
The end whereunto they voyaged, and Pelias’ bidding stern.
Of the dwellers around, and their cities, they asked and were fain to be taught
Touching all the gulf of Propontis the wide: but the king knew nought
Beyond to tell them, albeit with eager desire they sought.
So at dawn did they climb huge Dindymus’ sides, with purpose to gaze
With their own eyes over the unknown sea and her trackless ways;—
But forth of the outer haven first their galley they rowed;—
Still Jason’s Path is it named, that mountain-track they trode.
But the earth-born giants the while rushed down from the mountain-side,
And the seaward mouth they blocked of the haven of Chytos the wide
With crags, like men that lie in wait for a wolf in his lair.
Howbeit with them that were younger had Herakles tarried there;
And he leapt to his feet, and against them his back-springing bow did he strain.
One after other he stretched them on earth; and the giants amain
Heaved up huge jagged rocks, and hurled them against their foe.
Yea, for that terrible monster-brood was nurtured, I trow,
Of Hêrê, the bride of Zeus, for a trial of Herakles.
Therewithal came the rest of their fellows, returning to battle with these
Or ever they won the mountain-crest. To the slaughter they fell
Of the Earth-born brood, those heroes: with arrows some did they quell,
And some on the points of their spears they received, until they had slain
All that to grapple of fight had rushed so furious-fain.
And even as when the woodmen with axes have smitten, and throw
The long beams down on the strand of the sea ranged
