And thwart by thwart cast lots for the place each oarsman shall win.
To Apollo, the Seafarers’ Saviour, uppile we then on the beach
An altar; for whatso I needs must do hath he promised to teach,
And to show us the paths of the sea, if first with sacrifice
I seek unto him, or ever I strive with the king for the prize.”
So spake he, and turned him first to the work; and, his call to obey,
The heroes arose, and their garments row upon row heaped they
On a smooth rock-shelf: the waves of the sea beat not thereon;
But the dash of the stormy brine had cleansed it long agone.
Then, giving heed to the counsels of Argus, stoutly they braced
The ship with a hawser deftly twisted that girded her waist;
For they strained it from side to side, that the beams to the bolts might hold
Fast, and withstand the might of the meeting surge on-rolled.
And a trench, in compass as great as the width of the galley, they delved;
And overagainst her prow to the sea so far it shelved
As the space that the hull should run, by the might of their hands on-sped:
And deepening ever afront of her stern they scooped that bed.
And smoothly-shaven rollers they laid in the furrow arow.
Then down on the foremost rollers slowly they tilted her prow,
That adown them one after other with one smooth rush she might slide.
Thereafter above did they pass the oars from side to side;
To the tholes did they lash them, outstanding a cubit on either hand;
And to right of the ship and to left at these did they take their stand;
And with chest and with hands against them they bare, and to and fro
Went Tiphys the while, to shout in the season the yo-heave-ho.
Then gave he the word with a mighty shout, and the youths forthright
Drave her with one rush down, as they thrust with their uttermost might,
From her berth in the sand, as with feet hard-straining strongly they stepped
Forcing her forward, and Pelian Argo seaward swept
Full swiftly, and shouted they all, as to right and to left they leapt.
And under the massy keel’s heavy grinding groaned aloud
The rollers, and spirted about them the smoke in a dusky cloud
’Neath the crushing weight: and into the sea she slid, and her crew
Back with the hawsers warped her, and stayed her as onward she flew.
Then the oars to the tholes they fitted on either side, and the mast
And the well-fashioned sails, and the tackling withal, therein they cast.
But soon as with diligent heed they had ordered all things so,
First cast they the lots for the thwarts whereat each man should row,
Allotting one unto two men still; but the midmost thwart
For Herakles chose they first, from the rest of the heroes apart;
And Ankaius the dweller in Tegea-town for his fellow they chose.
So the midmost place of the benches they left unchallenged to those,
Neither cast for them lots; and with one consent of the voices of them
Unto Tiphys was given the helm of the galley of goodly stem.
Then did they heap of the stones of the shingle, and, nigh at hand
To the sea, an altar they reared to Apollo the Lord of the Strand,
Who is called the Lord of the farers a-shipboard withal, and in haste
Billets of olive-wood sapless and dry thereon they placed.
And by this were the herdmen of Aison’s son drawn nigh thereto
Bringing oxen twain from the herd; and these the young men drew
And set them beside the altar; and others stood thereby
With the water of sacrifice and the meal. And now drew nigh
Jason, and unto Apollo his fathers’ god did he cry:
“Hearken, O King, who in Pagasae dwellest, whose fair halls be
In the city Aisonian, named of my sire, who didst promise to me,
When I sought unto thee at Pytho, to point me my journey’s goal
And fulfilment; for thou, even thou, to the emprise didst kindle my soul.
Now therefore my ship with my comrades safe and sound bring thou
Thither, and back unto Hellas again: and to thee do we vow,
For as many of us as shall win safe home, on thine altar to lay
Burnt offerings so many of goodly bulls: therewithal will I pay
At Pytho thy shrine, and Ortygia, other gifts beyond price.
Come then, Far-smiter, accept at our hands this sacrifice,
Which now, at our going abroad, for the sake of this our ship
We offer, our first of all: and with prosperous weird may I slip
The hawsers, by thy devising: and soft bid blow the breeze
Whereby we may fare on ever through calm of summer seas.”
With the prayer then cast he the meal: and now for the slaughtering these
Girded themselves, Ankaius the mighty, and Herakles.
And this with his club on the forehead smote the steer mid-head;
And heavily all in a heap to the earth it dropped down dead.
And Ankaius hewed with his brazen axe at the second steer
On the broad neck: clean through the sinews strong thereof did it shear;
And there on the earth, with horns doubled under its chest, it lay.
And swiftly their comrades severed the throats, and the skins did they flay,
And they sundered the joints, and they carved, and the sacred thighs they cut out,
And they laid them together, and closely with fat they wrapped them about,
And burnt on the cloven wood: drink-offerings unmingled of wine
Poured Aison’s son; and Idmon rejoiced, beholding shine
The splendour that gleamed all round from the sacrifice and the smoke,
As forth for an omen of good in wavering wreaths it broke.
And the purpose of Lêto’s son, nothing doubting, straightway he spoke:
“For you ’tis ordained of the doom of the Gods and of each man’s fate
Hither to win with the Fleece; but meanwhile lie in wait
Toils without number, as thither ye fare, and as backward ye hie.
But for me by the hateful doom of a God is it fated to die
Far hence, I know not where, on the Asian mainland shore.
Yea, this is my doom: by birds evil-boding I knew it before;
Yet from my fatherland went I: to sail in your galley I came,
That so to mine
