He set his bow and arrow-bearing quiver
straightway upon the ground and laid aside
the lion skin. Then, leveling his club,
a great big bronze-encinctured log, he loosened
1595the trunk inside the soil. With all his faith
placed in his strength, he wrapped his arms around it,
squared his shoulder, braced his feet, pulled tight,
and heaved it, deeply rooted though it was,
out of the earth, with big clods dangling from it.
1600In just the way that, after dire Orion
has made his stormy setting in the sea,
a sudden bluster from above assails
a ship’s mast unexpectedly and snaps it
free of the stays and wedges, Heracles
1605 (1205)ripped out the pine. Afterward he retrieved
his bow and arrows, lion skin, and club
and went galumphing shoreward.
Meanwhile Hylas
had taken up a pitcher cast in bronze
and wandered far from his companions, seeking
1610a holy flowing river, so that he
might draw off water for the evening meal.
He wanted to get everything in order
promptly, before his lord came back to camp.
Such were the habits Heracles himself
1615had fostered since he first took Hylas, then
a toddler, from the palace of his father,
the noble Theodamas, whom the hero
ruthlessly slew among the Dryopes
in a dispute about a plowing ox.
1620 (1213)You see, this Theodamas had been poor,
so he was furrowing his fields himself
when Heracles commanded him to yield
the plowing ox or else. The hero did this
only to find a pretext for a war
1625against the Dryopes because they lived
scornful of justice—but this tale would steer
my song too far from its purported subject.
Soon Hylas happened on a spring called Pegae
among the locals. As it chanced, the nymphs
1630were just then gathering to dance. In fact,
the nymphs who dwelled upon that lovely summit
convened each night to honor Artemis
in song. All those whose haunts were peaks and torrents—
the guardian forest nymphs—were in the woods
chanting their hymns.
1635 (1228)But one, a water nymph,
had surfaced from the sweetly flowing spring,
and she could see the boy, how flush with beauty
he was, how captivating in his sweetness,
because the moon shone full and clear above them
1640and cast its beams on him. The goddess Cypris
so roused the nymph that she could hardly keep
her heart together. Rapture struck her helpless.
As soon as he was laid at length and dipping
the pitcher in the spring, just as the surface
1645water came rushing in and gurgled echoes
inside the bronze, she threw her left arm up
around his neck. An urgent need to kiss
his plush lips moved her, so her right hand tugged
his elbow closer, closer—down he plunged
into the swirling water.
1650 (1240)Polyphemus
son of Eilatus was the only one
of all the crew to hear the boy cry out.
He had been walking down the path to greet
colossal Heracles on his return.
1655He dashed toward Pegae like some savage beast
that baas and bleats have summoned from afar.
On fire with hunger, it pursues the sheep
but never reaches them because the shepherds
already have enclosed them in the fold.
1660Just as that creature snorts and roars horribly
until he tires, so did Polyphemus
groan horribly and range about the place
hallooing, but his shouts were all in vain.
So, whipping out his broadsword with dispatch,
1665 (1250)he hurried farther down the path, afraid
that wild animals were mangling Hylas
or kidnappers had lain in ambush for him
and were that moment dragging him away,
an all-too-easy prey. As, sword in hand,
1670he ran along, he spotted Heracles
and recognized at once what man it was
galumphing through the twilight toward the ship.
Breath laboring, heart pounding, Polyphemus
divulged at once the dire calamity:
1675“Poor friend, I shall be the first to tell you
news of a shocking loss. Though Hylas left
to fetch some water, he has not come safely
back to us. Bandits nabbed him and decamped
or beasts have eaten him. I heard his cry.”
1680 (1261)So he explained, and at his words abundant
sweat tumbled down from Heracles’ temples,
and bad blood boiled blackly in his guts.
He hurled the fir tree to the ground in rage
and set out running, and his feet impelled him
at top speed down the path.
1685As when a bull
that has been goaded by a gadfly bolts
out of the meadows and the fens and, heedless
of herd and herdsmen, rushes here and there,
and only stops to rear his thick dewlap
1690and roar in vain at the relentless stinging,
so in his frenzy Heracles at one time
worked his frantic knees incessantly
and at another paused the search to heave
a mighty bellow far into the distance.
1695 (1273)Soon the morning star had risen over
the highest summits, and a breeze got up,
and Tiphys promptly roused the crew to clamber
aboard and take advantage of the wind.
Straightaway they embarked and with a will
1700pulled up the anchor stone and hauled the cables
astern. The mainsail bellied with the gale,
and they were happy to be far from shore
coasting around the Posideian headland.
Only after Bright-Eyed Dawn had risen
1705from the horizon to the middle sky,
and all the seaways were distinct and vivid,
and the dew-wet plains were spangling bright,
did they discern that they had accidentally
abandoned Heracles and Polyphemus.
1710 (1284)Fierce was the quarrel that erupted then,
an ignominious row, since they had left
the bravest of the company behind.
Jason was so dumbstruck and at a loss
he uttered nothing one way or the other—
1715no, he just sat there gnawing at his heart,
feeling the burden of catastrophe.
Rage laid its hands on Telamon, who told him:
“Go on, keep sitting there at ease like that
because you are the one who benefits
1720from leaving Heracles behind. You hatched
this little scheme so that his fame in Greece
would not eclipse your own, that is, if ever
the gods consent to grant us passage home.
But what’s the use in words? No, I will go
1725 (1294)and bring him back, even if I must do it
without your claque of c
o-conspirators.”
So he accused them all, then charged at Tiphys
the son of Hagnias. His eyes were blazing
like twists of flame inside a raging bonfire.
1730They would have all sailed back across the gulf
and braved its constant gales and deep-sea swell
to reach again the Mysian dominions,
had not the sons of Thracian Boreas
broken in and with harsh reproaches stopped
1735Telamon short—a ruinous decision!
Terrible vengeance later came upon them
at Heracles’ hands because they chose
to halt the search for him: when they were heading
home from the funeral games of Pelias,
1740 (1305)he killed them on the isle of Tenos, heaped
barrows above them, and erected two
pillars on top (one of the pillars swivels
in answer to the breath of Boreas—
a clever thing, a wonder to behold).
1745Out of the salt sea’s depths appeared, just then,
Glaucus, the eloquent interpreter
for holy Neleus—a shaggy head
emerged, and then a torso to the waist.
His right hand resting on the Argo’s keel,
1750he bellowed at the agitated sailors:
“Why, in contempt of mighty Zeus’ will,
have you resolved to drag bold Heracles
the whole way to Aeëtes’ citadel?
Heracles’ lot is bound to Argos: heavy
1755 (1317)toil for presumptuous Eurystheus
until he finishes the full twelve labors—
and he will sit at the immortals’ banquet
if only he completes a last few more.
So let his loss occasion no regret.
1760Likewise with Polyphemus, who is destined
to build beside the Cius River’s mouth
a famous citadel among the Mysians
and then go off to meet his destiny
in the unbounded Chalybian waste.
1765As for the loss of Hylas, here’s the cause:
a holy nymph has dragged him off as husband
because she loves him. When those heroes ran
to rescue Hylas, they were left behind.”
After these words he dove and cloaked his body
1770 (1327)in the unresting swell. The dark-blue wake
that boiled out of his plunge rose up behind
the hollow ship and drove it through the waves.
The men took solace in the prophecy,
and Telamon went running up to Jason,
1775gripped his hand, embraced him, and proclaimed:
“Do not be angry with me, son of Aeson,
if, in my thoughtlessness, I gave offense.
Overwhelming sorrow made me utter
a rash, insufferable accusation.
1780Let us cast that error to the winds
and be as friendly as we were before.”
Jason replied with due consideration:
“You certainly accused me, dear old friend,
of dirty dealing when you claimed, in public,
1785 (1338)I had betrayed a man that loved me well.
Still, I shall foster bitter wrath against you
no longer, grossly slandered though I was,
since it was not for wealth or flocks of sheep
that you succumbed to rage, but for a man,
1790your comrade. No, no, I sincerely hope
that you would fight like that on my behalf,
should such a thing befall me in the future.”
After these words they both sat down together,
side by side and friendly as before.
1795As for the two who had been left behind
(as Zeus himself intended), Polyphemus
son of Eilatus was indeed predestined
to found among the Mysians a city
named from the Cius River; Heracles
1800 (1347)was bound as well to heavy labor under
Eurystheus’ thumb. Before he left, though,
he threatened to annihilate the Mysians
right then and there if they did not divulge
the fate of Hylas, whether he was dead
1805or living. They selected and surrendered,
in pawn, the children of their noblemen
and promised they would never give up searching.
Still today the Cianian people
ask after Hylas son of Theodamas
1810and recognize a bond with well-built Trachis,
the town where Heracles immured the boys
they gave as pledges to be led away.
All day, all night a stiff wind kept on blowing,
pushing the Argo onward, but by dawn
1815 (1359)nothing was stirring, not the slightest breeze.
They spotted on the coast a jutting headland
which, from the gulf, looked wide and welcoming
and, as the sun came up, they rowed ashore.
BOOK 2
Haughty Amycus, the Bebrycian king,
kept farms and cattle paddocks near the shore.
Begotten by Poseidon Patriarch
on a Bithynian nymph named Melia,
5he was the most obnoxious man alive.
It was his savage custom to permit
no visitors to exit his dominions
until they met him in a boxing match,
and he had beaten many of his neighbors
to death.
10On this occasion King Amycus
came strutting straight up to the heroes’ ship
and scornfully dispensed with asking them
who they might be and why they made the journey.
No, he just dropped a challenge on them all:
15 (11)“Listen to me, you seaborne derelicts,
and learn what you most certainly should know.
that comes ashore upon Bebrycian land
may ever leave again until he holds up
20his fists against my fists and fights with me.
So quick, now, pick the strongest man among you
and let him step right up and face the challenge.
Be warned, though: if you spurn our laws, brute force
will grab you, and the outcome will be dire.”
25So snarled he, certain he was tough, and wild
resentment gripped the heroes at his words.
The challenge wounded Polydeuces most,
and he leapt up to represent his comrades:
“Hold on. Whoever you presume to be,
30 (23)it’s hardly necessary to insult us
with crass displays of force. We shall obey
your laws and customs. I myself am eager
to satisfy your challenge on the spot.”
Such was his blunt rejoinder, and Amycus
35swiveled his eyes and glared at Polydeuces,
just as a lion wounded by a spear
and hemmed around by men on every side
focuses solely on the one that first
struck him but failed to land a fatal blow.
40Tyndareus’ son then laid aside
the lightweight cloak one of the girls of Lemnos
gave him as a parting gift. Amycus
undid, in turn, his doubly thick black mantle
clasp by clasp and threw his notched and knotted
45 (34)olive-wood crook of kingship to the ground.
As soon as they had found a spot nearby
to functi
on as a ring, they sat their rival
companies separately from one another
along the sand. The two contestants differed
50greatly in stature and physique: Amycus
looked like the monstrous spawn of grim Typhoeus
or even one of the abominations
Earth herself had brought up long ago
to challenge Zeus. Tyndareus’ son,
55in contrast, shimmered like the star of heaven
that shoots its brightest beams against the darkness
at evening time. Yes, he was Zeus’ son—
a soft down sprouting on his cheeks, his eyes
aglint with joy, he gloried like a beast
60 (45)in godlike strength. Whereas he shadowboxed
to prove his fists were sportive as before
and not benumbed by handling an oar,
Amycus scorned such exercise. He simply
stood there in silence, glaring at his foe,
65heart pounding with the urge to shatter ribs
and spatter blood.
Amycus’ assistant
Lycoreus set down before their feet
two pairs of tanned and toughened rawhide straps.
Haughtily, then, the king addressed his rival:
70“No need to bother drawing lots. Go on
and pick whichever set of straps you like—
that way you cannot say I tricked you later.
Go on, now, wrap them round your hands and then
learn well and tell all other men how skilled
75 (58)I am at toughening and cutting ox hide
and spattering the cheeks of men with blood.”
So spoke the braggart king. But Polydeuces
did not respond in kind, no, he just smiled
and chose the straps that lay before his feet.
80Castor and Talaus the son of Bias
jogged in and tied the straps on, all the while
pumping him up with fervor for the match.
Aretus and Ornytus did the same
for King Amycus, nor did they suspect,
85poor fools, his highness was a doomed man facing
his final match.
Soon as the straps were wrapped
around their hands, they squared off toe-to-toe,
hefted their huge fists up before their faces,
and charged in, bringing all their weight to bear
90 (70)each on the other. On a choppy sea
a violent wave will rear above a ship,
then, just as it is poised to swamp the deck,
the helmsman’s skill will save her by a hairsbreadth,
and off she glides unscathed. Just so Amycus
95pounded and pounded and allowed no respite,