Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/263

 ABGONAUTIC EXPEDITION. 281 CHAPTER XIII. AEGONAUTIC EXPEDITION. THE ship Argo was the theme of many songs during the old- est periods of the Grecian epic, even earlier than the Odyssey. The king jiEetes, from whom she is departing, the hero Jason, who commands her, and the goddess Here, who watches over him, enabling the Argo to traverse distances and to escape dan- gers which no ship had ever before encountered, are all circum- stances briefly glanced at by Odysseus in his narrative to Alki- nous. Moreover, Euneus, the son of Jasdn and Hypsipyle", governs Lemnos during the siege of Troy by Agamemnon, and carries on a friendly traffic with the Grecian camp, purchasing from them their Trojan prisoners. 1 The legend of Halus in Achaia Phthiotis, respecting the re- ligious solemnities connected with the family of Athamas and Phryxus (related in a previous chapter), is also interwoven with the voyage of the Argonauts ; and both the legend and the solemni- ties seem evidently of great antiquity. We know further, that the adventures of the Arg6 were narrated not only by Hesiod and in the Hesiodic poems, but also by Eumelus and the author of the Naupactian verses by the latter seemingly at considerable length. 2 But these poems are unfortunately lost, nor have we 1 Odyss. xii. 69. Oti] 6% KEtvT) ye irapewfet irovTOKopof vqvf, 'Apyw -Kaai[ikovaa, Trap' A/jjrao irXeovaa Ka vi> Ke TTJV lv$' una {Jahev [ieju.7t.at irorl Trerpaf, 'AM,' "Hptj TrapsTTefiiptv, eirei See also Iliad, vii. 470. 2 See Hesiod, Fragm. Catalog/. Fr. 6. p. 33, Diintz. ; Eoiai, Frag. 36. p 39; Frag. 72. p. 47. Compare Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 45; ii. 178-297, 1125; iv. 254-284. Other poetical sources The old epic poem JEgimius, Frag. 5. p. 57, Duntz.