B—
Appendix:
Argus and Acastus (224–27)

The appendix to the Catalogue, in which Apollonius adds the names of Acastus and Argus to the group, likewise does more than list names. As one will fully recognize only when the two

heroes join the others at Pagasae (321–26), this addendum mirrors the heroic dichotomy between the man of skill and the man of strength seen in the Catalogue proper. A brief examination of the later passage will reveal that Acastus and Argus represent for Apollonius these two opposite types of hero. The lines in question run as follows:

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They noticed Acastus and Argus coming down from the city
together, and they were amazed as they saw them
heading their way with all speed contrary to the will of Pelias.
Around his shoulders, Argus, the son of Arestor, wore a bull's hide
black with bristles and stretching to his feet; but Acastus wore
          an elegant
double-folded cloak, which his sister, Pelopia, gave him.

The conspicuous difference in the attire of the newcomers is significant: Acastus is dressed in an elegant cloak made for him by his sister, while Argus wears a bull's hide. Their arrival immediately precedes the choice of the captain. During this election, Jason, a man who wears a cloak of intricate design, made and given to him by Athena (cf. 1.721ff.), vies against Heracles, a hero famous for his lion skin. To show how Acastus and Argus reflect the thematic antithesis of the two halves of the Catalogue proper, I must for the moment anticipate a point that I shall make at greater length in Chapter 4. Jason and Heracles each represent one of the two types of hero of the Catalogue: Heracles, besides playing an important role in establishing one of the heroic types in the list, is throughout the poem—as everywhere in Greek myth and legend—the consummate man of strength. But Jason, who wins the election upon the insistence of Heracles, believes that the success of the mission depends on the cooperation of the group. For him, it is the skill of a leader who knows how to take care of details and exercise diplomacy that is all-important (332–40). This

is in fact how he will proceed in the course of the expedition. Another instance of this sartorial distinction between the two different heroic types is found near the beginning of Book 2 in the boxing match between Polydeuces and Amycus. The former wears a cloak given to him by one of the Lemniades ( , 2.30–31), and the latter is accoutred in rustic attire (  , 2.32–34). In their fight, Polydeuces defeats and kills the much more powerful Amycus through his extraordinary skill (cf. 2.67–97). In these two cases, Apollonius associates the hero dressed in urbane fashion with the man of skill, while the hero in agrestic attire represents the man of strength.^[25] Accordingly, Pelias's son, Acastus, and Argus, son of the same Arestor (112) who fathered the other Argus (the fierce, hundred-eyed cowherd slain by Hermes),^[26] provide a subtle reflection of the antithetical types of hero seen in the list of the Catalogue.