b—
Reaction to the Loss of Hylas (1240–72)

As I pointed out in the previous chapter, Apollonius has a remarkable talent for forging elements from diverse and even contradictory traditions into a unified and convincing story line. Here too in his account of the loss of Hylas, the poet has successfully blended several divergent accounts,^[29] aided, perhaps even influenced, by his predilection for the ring format. According to Autocharis (FGrHist 249 F 1), who provides us with the earliest extant tradition of the events in Mysia, Polyphemus the Argonaut founded the city of Cius,^[30] and Hylas was a local divinity. Later

[28] Apollonius will refer to the Odyssean episode just alluded to in the third book when Medea goes to meet Jason for the first time, imitating both the tripartite division of nymphs and the simile comparing Nausicaa to Artemis (Argo. 3.876–84). Before leaving this section of the episode, I would also add that just as Heracles reveals the enormous capacity of his physical strength by single-handedly plowing the sea (i.e., rowing the Argo by himself), Jason's great heroic feat in the poem similarly entails the single-handed plowing of the field of Ares with brazen, fire-breathing bulls (3.1326ff.); the ability to succeed in the latter task, however, comes not from Jason's own physical power, but from the drugs given him by the young woman whom he seduced.

[29] For more details, see Delage 115, Händel 27–33, Vian 43–48.

[30] A fact that Apollonius will mention; cf. 1321–33, 1345–47.

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versions (e.g., Euphorion fr. 76 Powell, Socrates

FGrHist 310 F 15) combined these two elements of Mysian legend by making Polyphemus the lover of Hylas, and not Heracles as in the tradition followed by Apollonius and Theocritus.^[31] Apollonius deals with this discrepancy by having Polyphemus hear the cry of Hylas as he is drawn into the nymph's pool and by having him report the disappearance of the youth to Heracles and share in the latter's hysterical response to the boy's unexplained disappearance. Apollonius articulates this doubling of Hylas's lovers neatly and economically through the ring structure. The reaction of each hero to Hylas's disappearance and an accompanying animal simile (ba , ba ) frame the moment when Polyphemus meets Heracles and informs him of the situation (bb ).

In addition to incorporating a reference to the tradition in which Polyphemus was Hylas's lover, the ring format also invites a comparison between the reactions of the two heroes to the loss of Hylas; and just as he contrasted the different roles that Heracles and Jason played in the battles on Oros Arkton, here too Apollonius highlights the different reactions to Hylas's disappearance through animal similes. In this way, the poet uses Hylas's other lover as a foil for Heracles, who is clearly the main focal point of the first half of the episode.^[32] While Polyphemus awaits Heracles' return,^[33] he hears Hylas's shout and runs to the fountain like a wild and hungry animal (

, 1245) that searches for the sheep whose voices he heard from afar, bellowing as long as he can. Apollonius thus makes Polyphemus's association with Heracles in this episode all the closer by connecting him with the

[31] Cf. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri 54 (1987) no. 3727 for the fragment of a second-century-B.C. poem that also makes Heracles the lover of Hylas; and G. L. Huxley, "Thracian Hylas," JHS 109 (1989) 185–86, for a brief discussion of this fragment. The relationship between Heracles and Hylas is not the equivalent of a father–son relationship (as D. N. Levin, "Apollonius' Heracles," CJ 67 [1971] 24–25, and M. Pulbrook, "The Hylas Myth in Apollonius of Rhodes and Theocritus," Maynooth Review 8 [1983] 25–31, cited by F. McGready, "Heracles' Love for Hylas," CL 3 [1983] 79–80). Heracles' reaction to Hylas's loss betrays clear signs that the hero was in love with the boy; see H. White, Studies in Theocritus and Other Hellenistic Poets (Amsterdam 1979) 63–73.

[32] Cf. Levin (supra n. 31) 25, Palombi (supra n. 3) 84.

[33] This is an especially nice touch; Polyphemus, as Blumberg 25 reminds us, is Heracles' brother-in-law, and so his concern is dramatically plausible.

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hunger motif seen above; because of his "hunger" to find Hylas he, like Heracles, will be left behind.^[34] The manner in which he responds to the emergency, however, differs significantly from Heracles'. In his frantic search for the boy, Polyphemus at least has a plan of action and gives some thought to what might have happened to Hylas. His constant shouts are meant to get a response from the boy; he believes that Hylas may be the prey of an animal or of some pirates, and for this reason draws his sword (ba , 1240–52). He is not, then, completely undone by the situation.

Heracles' response to the news is quite different. At the center of this ring, Polyphemus meets Heracles, informs him about Hylas, and offers his erroneous opinion about what has happened. In the following section, which corresponds to that giving the reaction of Polyphemus (ba , 1261–72),^[35] Heracles does not act so logically. He begins to sweat and experience nausea, and then bolts off with no particular place in mind. Apollonius compares him to a bull stung by a gadfly who now runs and now stops to howl out of pain.^[36] Like the bull, Heracles runs helter-skelter and every now and then stops to shout—not because he is calling out to locate Hylas, but because of the pain that the boy's loss has caused. Moreover, he describes the bull as

(1269). Apollonius has just before stated that Hylas's father, Theiodamas, was (1216) when Heracles encountered him. Much as the hungry-plowman simile in the context of Heracles' maritime plowing connected Heracles with Theiodamas, so too the significant recurrence of in the bull simile drives home the fact that Heracles has suffered a loss comparable to that experienced by his victim, whose son Heracles too now loses. The striking repetition in the phrases that sum up the emotional experiences of Theiodamas (Hylas's father) and Heracles (Hylas's lover) heightens our awareness of the mutual bond of suffering between the

[34] Cf. Fränkel ad 1.1245. The association of Polyphemus with Heracles' fate calls to mind the other Polyphemus, the Cyclops, whose hunger prompted his suffering, to which Odyssean episode Apollonius alluded in this section of the episode.

[35] N.B. there is also a close numerical corresponsion between the parts of this subsection: 13 lines–8 lines–12 lines.

[36] James (supra n. 11) 84 discusses the relationship of this simile to its Homeric model, Od. 22.299ff.

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two and points to the ironic justice of Heracles' predicament. In short, Apollonius has Heracles reenact the occupation and suffering of the man he victimized. Comparison with Polyphemus the Argonaut underscores Heracles' complete inability to deal with the situation. Like Jason in the ensuing conflict arising over his abandonment, Heracles can well be described as

(1286).