But still, these mighty dangers pass'd
He hoped the youth would fail at last.
For in an ambush'd wood 'twas laid,
Kept by a greedy dragon's care,440
With whose dire bulk, at large display'd,
No lengthen'd vessel might compare,
Though urged by fifty oars, by strokes of iron made.
Still could I speed my chariot's way,
But time forbids the long delay.445
A shorter path I know full well,
In wisdom who the rest excel.
The varied snake of azure hue
He soon, Arcesilaus, slew;
And with it bore Medea home,450
Author of murder'd Pelias' doom.
Then mingling in the ocean deep,
The Erythræan sea they sweep;[1]
Thence mid the Lemnian race, who gave
Their youthful husbands to the grave,455
A test of corporal strength they made—
(Aside the cumbering garments laid)
And shared their couch of sweet repose. 452
Thus in a foreign region bright
By day or in the peaceful night460
Your beams of happiness arose.
For planted there, Euphemus' race
- ↑ It would not be an easy task to explain the geographical course which Pindar here describes the Argonauts to have taken on their return from the expedition in quest of the golden fleece. By the Erythræan Sea, the Indian Ocean is to be understood, through which it seems they came into Africa, and when arrived on land, carrying the ship on their shoulders until they came to the Tritonian lake, they sailed into the Mediterranean, and touched at Thera; thence through the Ægean they came to the island of Lemnos, and connected themselves with its homicidal women.
