Page:The Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius.djvu/25

 and her demigods, but seems particularly fond of drawing a comparison betwixt the heroes of his country and those of Thessaly.

And soon after;

"The solemnity of the night spent in devotion, the affecting grief of their friends and fellow-citizens, whom they were never more to behold; and the angry exclamations of the venerable old man, give a dignity and interesting pathos to the departure of the fleet of Gama, unborrowed from any of the classics." See the concluding note to B. iv.

Apollonius has admitted into his first book, on a similar occasion, most of the above-mentioned particulars, and many others equally interesting. The prayer of Jason, and the sacrifices previous to their embarkation, are circumstantially related. The lamentations of Alcimeda at the loss of her son, the silent grief of Æson his father, and the tears of his friends,