Ah wretch!—for already a numbness of deadly slumber stole
Unstringing his sinews: a thick mist flooded his eyes all round.
Straightway his burdened limbs all helplessly sank to the ground,
And chill did he grow. And his comrades, and Aison’s son, amazed
At the strokes fast-falling of doom, on the dead man thronging gazed.
Yet not for a little space, albeit but newly dead,
Might he lie in the sun, for that fast through his flesh ’gan corruption to spread
From the venom: the very hair from the skin like slime was cast.
Therefore they straightway delved them a deep trench, labouring fast
With mattocks of brass; and in mourning thereafter their hair did they rend,
Both they and the maidens, bewailing the dead man’s pitiful end.
Round the hero meetly entombed then thrice in their warrior-gear
Marched they, and over his grave the earth-mound high did they rear.
But when now they were gone aboard of the ship, and the South-wind blew
Over the sea, they must needs make guess of the strait wherethrough
They should win forth out of Tritônis’ mere; neither any device
Long had they, but all day long were they drifting in aimless wise.
And as writheth a serpent along his crooked path, when beat
The rays of the sun on the land, and scorch him with fiercest heat,
And with hissing to this side and that side he turneth his head, and his eyne,
Like unto sparks that leap from the furnace, glitter and shine
For his fury, until to his lair through a cleft of the rock he may creep;
So Argo, seeking a mouth of the mere, a fairway deep,
Long time tacked to and fro. Then Orpheus suddenly spake,
That Apollo’s massy tripod forth of the ship they should take,
And propitiate the Gods of the land therewith for their home-going’s sake.
So went they, and set Apollo’s goodly gift on the shore.
Then stood before them one, the form of a youth who bore,
Even Triton the Wide-dominioned. From earth he uplifted a clod,
And he held it forth for his Stranger’s Gift; and spake the God:
“Receive it, my friends: no gift exceeding goodly to see
Here have I now to give unto them which seek unto me.
But and if ye inquire touching this sea’s paths—as many a time
Is the need of men whose journeyings pass through an alien clime—
I will tell you, seeing Poseidon hath made me to understand
This sea, for that he is my father, and I am the king of the land
By the sea—if perchance to your ears from afar Eurypylus’ name,
Son of the Land of the Beasts of Ravin, from Libya came.”
He spake, and Euphêmus outstretched his hands right joyfully
That gift of the clod to receive, and answering thus spake he:
“If thou peradventure of Atthis and Minos’ sea dost know,
O hero, to us who inquire the truth unfailing show.
For not of our will have we hitherward come, but the tempests’ might
Hath hurled us afar, on the borders of this your land to light:
And our galley, shoulder-uplifted, a weary burden, I wis,
Through the desert we bare to the waves of thy mere. But we know not this,
Whereby we shall sail thereout to win unto Pelops’ land.”
He spake, and afar that other pointed, outstretching his hand
To the sea, and the mouth of the deep-channelled mere, and he spake the word:
“Lo, yonder lieth the path to the sea, where the deeps unstirred
Darkest are gleaming: on either hand roll breakers white
Green-glimmering under their shivering crests, and on forthright
Through the lane of the breakers a straight path lieth to win from the mere.
And yon sea misty in distance beyond Crete stretcheth clear
To the sacred land of Pelops. But rightward still steer ye,
When forth of the mere ye have thrust, and ye ride on the swell of the sea.
And so long speed ye onward your course, close-hugging the land,
Till ye come to an inland-trending gulf; and then shall ye stand
Boldly across to the ness where endeth the sweep of the shore
Beyond. Therefrom shall your course be perplexity-troubled no more.
Now pass on your way rejoicing: let no man grieve the while
That your limbs must labour, while yet ye have strength of your youth for toil.”
With kindly counsel he spake; and they hied them aboard once more,
With intent to get them forth of the mere by toil of the oar.
On sped they with eager purpose: and now did Triton take
On his shoulder the mighty tripod; and now did he enter the lake,
And they saw:—but thereafter did no man mark how he vanished from sight
With the tripod, anigh though he were. Then each man’s heart grew light,
For that now for their helping had met them one of the Gods ever-blest.
And they cried unto Aison’s son to take of their sheep the best,
And to sacrifice to the God, and to chant the hymn of praise.
Then straightway he chose it in haste, and the victim on high did he raise,
And slew it there on the stern, and the sacrifice-prayer he cried:
“Thou God, who hast manifested thyself on the mere’s lone side—
Whether Triton the great sea-marvel thou be, or whether thy name
Be Phorkys or Nereus mid Sea-nymphs of Nereus’ loins which came—
Be gracious thou, and vouchsafe heart-gladdening home-return.”
So praying he severed the throat of the victim, and down from the stern
Mid the waves did he cast it. Out of the deep yet again did he rise:
In his own true form as a God was he manifest unto their eyes.
And as when one traineth a fleet-foot steed for the broad race-course,
Grasping the flowing mane of the hest-obeying horse,
Running lightly beside him, while high he is arching his neck in his pride,
And followeth on, and the gleaming bit, as from side to side
He rolleth it ’twixt his champing jaws, is clashing and ringing;
Even so with his hand to the keel of hollow Argo clinging,
Seaward he thrust her; and all his form, from the stately crown
Of his head, over back and waist and navel, thus far down
Was his wondrous shape even such as the Gods ever-blessèd are.
But down from his loins the tail of a sea-beast lengthened far
Forking to this side and that,
