5—
The Wrath of Thetis:
Journey from Pagasae to Lemnos (Argo. 1.519–608)
Apollonius's description of the departure of the Argonauts from the Gulf of Pagasae (519–79) is considered one of the most picturesque scenes of the epic.[1] The vivid narrative includes many details of sight and sound: the thunderous noise emitted by the harbor and by the Argo itself;[2] the frothy wake of the ship; the appearance of the gods and the nymphs of Pelion as divine spectators of the event; the arrival of the centaur Chiron with his wife and the infant Achilles; the schools of large and small fish swimming after the ship in response to Orpheus's music. The author's presentation of these marvels, however, is not a selfindulgent exercise in verbal portraiture. Rather, critics have failed to observe that these lovely details play a significant role in the first of two structurally distinct, but thematically related, phases of the journey from Pagasae to Lemnos.
Apollonius organized the first phase of the journey, the departure from the Gulf of Pagasae (519–79), in ring format, which sets in relief a portrait of divine and semidivine observers watching as the Argo sails out of the gulf. An inference to be drawn from this centrally positioned vignette will explain the cause and significance of the delay at Aphetae Argous, which follows in the second
phase, the journey from the southern end of the Magnesian Peninsula to island of Lemnos (580–608).[3] This inference will provide a revealing parallel for Jason in his future dealings with Hypsipyle and especially with Medea. For the legendary and historical subtext of the Argo 's first encounter with trouble asks the reader to look beyond the temporal confines of the expedition. For it is at that time that the one who can claim to have been the best of the Argonauts will learn that parental concerns—a central motif of the present episode—far outweigh heroic skills, accomplishments, and the 
they bring.
Structure
The first phase, departure from the Gulf of Pagasae (A, 519–79), unfolds in two distinct stages.[4] The first of these stages begins at dawn on the day following the launch of the ship and the sacrifice to Apollo (a, 519–46; 28 lines).[5] After Tiphys gives the order to board the ship, the men take their seats as previously arranged, and, when the Argo starts to move away, Jason sheds a few tears (aa ).[6] As the ship moves steadily through the gulf, Apollonius
highlights the regularity of their rowing and its effect on the water in two similes: he compares the rhythmic movements of the men, for whom Orpheus sets the beat with his lyre, to youths at a dance in honor of Apollo (ab ). The white seafoam that is stirred up by the oars is likened to a road in a verdant plain (ag ). Several details of the second stage (a , 559–79; 21 lines) correspond to elements in the first. After Tiphys has successfully steered them out of the gulf and the mast is raised, they no longer row, but proceed under sail (aa ) along Cape Tisae, a promontory stretching in an east–west direction at the southern end of the gulf. Orpheus sings a hymn to Artemis (ab ), the female counterpart of Apollo, which has the effect of compelling many fish of various sizes to follow. Description of the sailing stage in this first phase concludes, like the rowing, with a simile (ag ): the fish are compared to sheep following a shepherd who pipes his way home. The correspondence of these similes is highlighted by the fact that each compares a maritime scene with a terrestrial image. These two neatly balanced stages of the journey out of the Gulf of Pagasae thus frame the central subsection, in which Apollonius describes two groups of divine and semidivine spectators who admire the Argonauts (b, 547–58): the gods and nymphs of Mount Pelion from above (ba , 547–52; 6 lines),[7] and Chiron, Chariclo, and Achilles from land (bb , 553–58; 6 lines).
The second phase (B, 580–608) comprises the journey from just outside the Gulf of Pagasae along Cape Tisae to the island of Lemnos and contains two halves of equal length.[8] In the first (a, 583–93, 580–82; 14 lines), the Argonauts are forced to land near the tomb of Dolops after they encounter stiff headwinds. Here they offer sacrifice to the deceased hero's ghost, after which the winds subside. People will accordingly call this place
Aphetae Argous: that is, the place where the Argo left. After a delay of two days, they sail past Sepias Acte and stormy Meliboea[*] . As scholars have recognized,[9] all these places figured in Herodotus's description of the disastrous storm that sank many of the Persian ships in 480 B.C. on their way south to support their army against the Greeks at Thermopylae (7.183ff.). As I shall point out below, a significant number of shared details reveal that Apollonius has this historical event in mind. In the second half of this phase (b, 594–608; 15 lines), which begins with dawn and ends at nightfall of the next day ( 
, 607),[10] the Argo sails from Meliboea[*] to Lemnos, skirting Cape Canastræon on the Pallene Peninsula and Mount Athos on the Acte Peninsula. This stage of the journey to Lemnos also parallels a celebrated itinerary; namely, Hephæstus's fall to Lemnos. The structure of the episode thus looks as follows:
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A—
First Phase:
Journey out of the Gulf of Pagasae (519–79)
In the first phase of their journey from Pagasae to Lemnos, the Argonauts board the ship at dawn and head out of the Gulf of Pagasae on the first leg of their journey to Colchis. As indicated above, elements in the first subsection (a) balance comparable elements in the third (a ), thus creating a ring (rowing » sailing; song in honor of Apollo » song in honor of Artemis; concluding simile comparing the wake of the Argo to a path in a plain » concluding simile comparing fish sailing behind Argo to sheep following after a shepherd). Before looking at the portrait framed by these two stages of the first phase, I would call attention to two details of the framing sections that hark back to earlier themes, the second pertaining to one of the principal focal points of the episode.
Close examination of the portrayal of Heracles in the first subsection (a) with that of Tiphys in the second (a ) reveals that Apollonius has once again reintroduced the thematic antithesis of the man of strength versus the man of skill. In the former, Ancæus and Heracles, the latter with his celebrated club beside him, sit in the middle of the ship:
In the middle, Ancæus and the extremely powerful Heracles
took their seats; the latter set his club at his side, and below
his feet the ship's keel sank beneath the waves.
As scholars have observed, the sinking of the keel under the hero's feet refers to the tradition that Heracles was abandoned at
Aphetae Argous because of his excessive weight.[11] In addition to this clever allusion to an alternative version of Heracles' abandonment, the brief description of the massive Heracles at his seat with his club at hand parallels in the second subsection the sketch of Tiphys, who skillfully wields the rudder as he steers the ship out of the harbor:
After they left the harbor's curving beach
following the instructions of Hagnias's son,
Tiphys, who with great skill was maneuvering the polished
rudder in his hands in order to keep the vessel on a steady course.
Apollonius calls attention to this antithetical corresponsion by mentioning the respective virtues of both men ( 
) and by associating both with their respective instruments ( 
). The focus on Heracles in the rowing section is appropriate because his propelling the ship by oar requires power, whose effect on the water Apollonius elegantly accentuates:[12]
Here and there the dark brine was churned into foam,
boiling furiously from the strength of the mighty heroes.
On the other hand, through Tiphys's skill and direction, the men need not work; rather, taking advantage of the wind, they travel at ease: 
(568; "They ran leisurely past the long Tisæan headland"). The difference between Heracles' and Tiphys's contribution to the driving of the ship compares quite closely with the different heroic styles of Heracles and Jason. The former always depends on his great strength for success, while the latter achieves his goals by skilfully manipulating people and circumstances. It is essential to note that right here, at the beginning of the expedition, we can observe how 
and 
can be just as effective as 
.
In addition to their comparable importance in the driving of the Argo , Apollonius may have associated Heracles and Tiphys at the moment of the Argo 's departure because, as it will turn out, neither will complete the journey to Colchis. When Heracles in Mysia rushes off in search of Hylas, Tiphys's call to sail will result in Heracles' abandonment (1.1273ff.). Not long after this, the Argonauts will also lose the services of Tiphys when he dies among the Mariandyni (2.851–57).[13] Moreover, the loss of each Argonaut threatens the continuation of the mission because of the resulting discord and despair among the group (1.1280–1309, 2.859–63); but in both cases, thanks to divine intervention (Glaucus at 1.1310–25, Hera at 2.864–66a), the others pull themselves together and the journey continues.
Second, the corresponsion between Apollo in the rowing (aa ), and Artemis in the sailing section (aa ) also recalls an earlier contrast. In his description of the departure of Jason and the Argonauts from Iolcus, discussed in Chapter 3, Apollonius emphasized in structure and content the different reactions to the departure of the men and women of Iolcus, of the male and female slaves
at the home of Æson, of Jason and Alcimede, and of Jason and Iphias. He completed this extended contrast in gender by comparing Jason, who encounters the aged priestess of Artemis, to Apollo (306–16).[14] In the present episode, the close relationship between Jason and Apollo is viewed once again in a simile.[15] In this case, Apollonius compares the rhythmical rowing of the Argonauts accompanied by Orpheus to the dance of Apollo's devotees at one of his cult sites (536–39). Because the group of rowers resemble the god's worshippers, the captain would appear to be the nautical analogue of the god.
In the corresponding section, Orpheus sings a hymn to Artemis (569–72). One recalls the mention of Iphias, her Iolcan priestess, not only because of the similar juxtaposition of Apollo and the functionary of Artemis, but because in both passages, Apollonius highlights the protective function of the female divinity ( 
, 312 » 
, 570). As we saw, the Apollinian Jason coldly left behind the Artemisian Iphias without saying a word; she could only manage to kiss his hand. Such behavior toward a woman who has apparently outlasted any importance or usefulness she may have had (cf. 
, 315–16) will prove consonant with Jason's future dealings with the two important women he encounters in the Argonautica , both of whom have Artemisian associations and offer Jason their protection.
Hypsipyle resembles this goddess in that when the Argonauts arrive she is a virgin queen ruling over an all-female society. After the love-struck young woman provides Jason and his men with the use of her harbor, city, and citizens—including herself—for an unspecified period of time on Lemnos (cf. 1.861–64), her guest will cooly abandon her in pursuit of his mission. In particular, in her farewell to Jason, Hypsipyle, like Iphias, holds his hands when, among other things, she asks to be remembered:[16]
Hypsipyle too offered this prayer, clasping the hands
of Æson's son; she began to cry, realizing her loss in his departure.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Remember, then, both while you are away from home and when
you return,
Hypsipyle."
After a brief response, Jason is the first on the ship (1.910). In the case of Medea, Apollonius explicitly compares her to Artemis when the Colchian maiden goes to meet Jason at the temple of Hecate (3.876–84); and her assistance to, and protection of, Jason are what will ultimately give him the ability to achieve the goal of his mission. Moreover, like Hypsipyle she too will hold Jason's hand as she asks to be remembered for her favor:[17]
Looking him directly in the eye,
again she gave voice to her painful feelings, taking his right
hand—for shame had by now left her eyes.
"Remember, if ever you make it back to your home,
the name of Medea."
Within the poem, Jason wavers in his protection of Medea, especially when handing her over would appear to ensure the success of his mission (4.338ff.). Beyond the conclusion of the poem, Jason will abandon Medea, once again to further his own interests. Thus
the Apollo-Artemis pairing would seem to represent an emblem of Jason's infelicitous relationships with the women of his life. Moreover, this suggestive pairing frames an appropriate picture within; for implications that can be drawn from the personages described in the central panel point to another famous male-female relationship that, like Jason's with Medea, turned sour, that of Peleus and Thetis. This relationship not only adds another perspective from which to view Jason's future abandonment of both Hypsipyle and Medea, but it also ties in closely with the action of the second phase of the journey to Lemnos.
In the central position of the first phase of the journey from Pagasae to Lemnos (Ab), Apollonius sketches an idyllic scene in two parts. In the first (ba ), all the gods from the sky and the nymphs from the peaks of Mount Pelion look down in admiration on both the ship and the Argonauts. Apollonius refers to the Argonauts as the 
(548).[18] The epithet 
in this context confirms what we learned in the Catalogue; namely, that many of the Argonauts are the sons of gods and mortals. In the second part of the central panel (bb ), we see Chiron at the edge of the sea bidding the Argonauts farewell. Next to him, his wife, Chariclo, holds the infant Achilles, whom she shows to his father, Peleus. Thus both parts of the picture involve parents, divine and mortal, looking at their sons. Since Chiron and Chariclo are caring for Achilles, one must assume that Peleus and Thetis have already separated. In the fourth book, Apollonius corroborates this assumption with an explicit account of their marital rift and its cause (4.865–79): Peleus had earlier interrupted Thetis's attempt to make Achilles immortal when she held him in a fire at night and anointed him with ambrosia during the day. Because of this, Thetis immediately abandoned her husband and son, at
which point Chiron and Chariclo stepped in to help Peleus raise Achilles.[19]
The interest shown by the gods in their children and by Chiron in showing Peleus his infant son recalls an earlier motif. In the Catalogue, Apollonius gave several touching sketches of parental concern for the well-being and success of their sons (69–70, 97–100, 115–17, 146–50, 164–71, 190–96); immediately after the Catalogue, Apollonius focused in greater depth on Jason's departure from his home and the reactions of his parents. As the group of 
leave Greece, Apollonius brings this theme to a dramatic climax by having all the gods witness the departure of the young heroes, many of them their semidivine children. The theme of parental concern, however, has another side in this tableau. Peleus and Thetis divorced over an incident involving the well-being of their son, and as a result the father gained control of the child. This experience ominously parallels Jason's future parental experiences. When Jason leaves Hypsipyle, he will instruct her that if he should not return to Greece and she should give birth to a son, she should relinquish the child and send him to his own parents to support them in their old age (1.904–9).[20] Similarly, as in the Euripidean play, when Jason divorced Medea he wanted her to relinquish control of their sons, purportedly for their benefit. Both women thus face the unhappy prospect of giving up their sons. Allusion to the divorce of Peleus and Thetis in a centrally placed section depicting parental concern holds a special signifcance for Jason as he begins his celebrated journey to Colchis, where he will meet Medea; such a reference is surely inauspicious.[21]
Finally, although the rearing of heroic children by Chiron was a well-known motif, Apollonius invites the reader to see a similarity in the fates of Medea and Thetis through an imitation of
a pertinent text. 
, as Apollonius calls Chiron at line 554, is the phrase used by Hesiod to refer to the centaur who cared for Medeius, the son of Jason and Medea:[22]
And she [sc. Medea], submitting to Jason, shepherd of his people,
gave birth to a son, Medeius, whom Chiron , the son of Philyra ,
raised in the mountains. In this way the will of Zeus was fulfilled.
The reference to the eponymous hero of the Medes[23] anticipates the trouble the Argonauts encounter in the second phase of the journey.[24]
B—
Second Phase:
From the Gulf of Pagasae to Lemnos (580–608)
The second phase of the episode entails the journey from Cape Tisae to the island of Lemnos. As mentioned above (see note 8), I follow Livrea's intelligent solution to the geographical and textual problems of lines 580–93 and so read lines 580–82 after 591.[25] The transferral of the lines, among other advantages, places Aphetae Argous at the southern tip of the Magnesian Peninsula, where both Herodotus (7.193) and Strabo (9.436) located it. Delage has added the convincing observation that Apollonius modeled the journey from Cape Tisae to Meliboea[*] on a well-known historical event (see note 9). In 480 B.C. , the Persian fleet descended from
Therma to assist the army that was about to engage the Greeks at Thermopylae. Their first stop was the beach ( 
) between Casthanea and Sepias Acte on the eastern coast of the Magnesian Peninsula; some vessels had landed at a small island near Sciathus (Herodotus 7.183). A gale-force wind arose and destroyed many ships, some at Sepias Acte and Meliboea[*] (ibid. 7.188). The storm lasted for three days and was allayed on the fourth after an offering of propitiatory gifts ( 
; it is not stated to whom) and a sacrifice to Thetis because she had been raped by Peleus at Sepias Acte (ibid. 7.191). The Persian fleet then put in at Aphetae, where Heracles had been abandoned (ibid. 7.193).
Apollonius's account of the Argo 's journey, which proceeded in a direction opposite to that of the Persians, reveals several explicit points of contact with the Herodotean account. The Argonauts experience bad winds (585–86), for which they sacrifice 
(587) at the tomb of Dolops at Aphetae Argous (591), which is located on the Magnesian Peninsula (584);[26] a period of two days follows in which the wind prevents their sailing (588–89); they then pass Sepias Acte, Sciathus (582–83), and finally the windy 
of Meliboea[*] (592–93). Apollonius, like Herodotus, also suggests an etymology for the name Aphetae Argous (591).
I would add two less explicit points of contact between the narratives. First, Herodotus explicitly referred to Heracles' abandonment at 7.193:
. ("There is a place within this gulf in Magnesia where it is said that Heracles was abandoned by Jason and his companions, sent away from the Argo for water when they were sailing to [Colchis in] Asia in search of the fleece. After taking on a supply of water, they intended to depart from here for the open sea, and for this reason the place acquired the name Aphetae" [i.e., place of departure].) Apollonius, on the other hand, alludes to the same event in the first phase of the journey to Lemnos when he states that the keel of the ship was sinking under Heracles' weight (531–33), a purported reason for the hero's abandonment. Second, and of greater importance, Herodotus expressly mentioned that the Persians sacrificed to Thetis, whom they believed they had angered by their presence near Sepias Acte, the spot where she had been raped by Peleus. At the center of the first phase, Apollonius alludes to another unhappy event in Thetis's life, her bitter divorce from Peleus. It would appear that the poet would have us recall the Persian disaster along the Magnesian Peninsula while reading about the Argonauts' problem with the strong headwinds in this same region.[27] In the Herodotean narrative the Persian Magi concluded that the wrath of Thetis was responsible for the winds that destroyed the Persian ships. By having the Argonauts retrace in reverse the path of the Persians, Apollonius invites the reader to see the wrath of Thetis as operative here too in the obstructive headwinds that delay the expedition. Imitation of the phrase 
from Theogony 1001–2 in the central panel of the first section of the episode now comes into better focus: like Achilles, Medeius, the son of Jason and Medea, will be reared by Chiron; and like Jason, his descendants, the Medes, will experience difficulties with the winds along the Magnesian Peninsula.
In the second half of the second phase (just before the Argonauts arrive at Lemnos) Apollonius makes reference to a Homeric passage describing a journey that likewise parallels that of the Argo.[28] The last leg of their trip to the island extended from the beach at Meliboea[*] to Lemnos and lasted two days. The second day finds the Argonauts sailing from Cape Canastræon at the southern end of the Pallene Peninsula to Mount Athos at the southern tip of the Acte Peninsula and from there to Lemnos. During the entire day, the Argonauts have Mount Athos in sight: it appears to them at dawn providing a marker toward which they sail; and, after reaching it, they follow its shadow, which stretches all the way to Lemnos. We are, moreover, told that the distance from Mount Athos to Lemnos was equal to the distance covered by a well-equipped merchant ship ( 
) in half a day. Thus the Argonauts spend half of the day sailing from Cape Canastræon to Mount Athos, and like the 
spend the second half of the day traveling to Lemnos. The description of this journey recalls the famous passage in the Iliad in which Hephæstus tells of his own trip to Lemnos:[29]
At dawn, Mount Athos rose up before them as they traveled;
a Thracian landmark, which, being as far away from Lemnos
as it takes a well-equipped freighter to sail by noon,
casts the shadow of its highest peak all the way to Myrine.
a brisk wind blew constantly
until dusk, fully extending the ship's sail.
But when the wind gave out at the same time as the rays
of the sun ,
they reached the rugged island of Sintian Lemnos under power
of oars.
Here the entire male citizenry in one moment was pitilessly
cut down in the previous year through the crime of the women .
I [sc. Hephæstus] fell downward and at the same
time as the sun set
I landed on Lemnos; there was only a little bit of life left in me.
There the Sintian men immediately cared for me after my fall.
In addition to the obvious verbal echoes, one observes that both Hephæstus and the Argonauts spend an entire day in traveling to Lemnos and arrive at sunset; both travel to Lemnos from a mountain (Athos and Olympus); and both are cared for by the Sintian people. Homer, however, expressly states that the Sintian men ( 
) cared for the ailing god, whereas the hale Argonauts will be welcomed and entertained by the Sintian women ( 
). The witty oppositio in imitando provides a fine transition to the Lemnian episode. By describing the Argonautic journey in a way recalling that of Hephæstus and by having the female inhabitants entertain their guests, Apollonius brings to mind the favor that the Sintian men performed for Hephæstus when he fell to their island. As it turns out, the Argonauts will repay the earlier favor by playing a part in the restoration of the Sintian men through the intervention of Hephæstus's wife, Aphrodite, who encourages the sexual encounters between the Argonauts and the Lemnian women:
Easily the women led them back to their homes
to entertain them; for Cypris had cast pleasant desire upon them
as a favor for Hephæstus, so that once again in the future
Lemnos would be made whole with the restoration of its male
population.
As in the imitation of the Herodotean narrative, the allusive reference to Hephæstus's fall to Lemnos provides the background for the action about to unfold: Hephæstus would be pleased by Aphrodite's favor (i.e., the restoration of the Sintian men) because they nursed him back to health after his fall to the island.[30]
DESPITE the structural asymmetry of the episode, the two phases of the journey to Lemnos are connected by an extremely fine subtextual thread, the anger that Thetis harbors toward her husband, Peleus.[31] This is the unexpressed contact between the focal point of the first phase and the problem with the winds in the first part of the second. Fränkel, commenting on the sacrifice to Dolops's shade, observed in passing that the sacrifice of Iphigeneia was the
best-known example of a sacrifice forced on travelers experiencing problems with the winds.[32] There is more than a general similarity to the sacrifice of Iphigeneia here. I would suggest that Apollonius wanted the reader to envisage Jason's problem with the winds at Aphetae Argous as the Argonautic analogue to the famous delay at Aulis. As the audience knew well, the Greeks could not leave Aulis because of the lack or adversity of the wind, a situation resulting from the anger of the goddess Artemis. To remedy this impasse, Agamemnon sacrificed his own daughter. The Argonauts too encounter a problem with the winds, the strong headwinds that plagued sailors in this area. Through his suggestive narrative, Apollonius prompts the reader to see an angry goddess behind the Argonauts' problem with the winds. This goddess would have prevented the Argo from sailing and thus from creating another situation comparable to her own. But sacrificial offerings calm the obstructing winds, and history is allowed to repeat itself. For, like Agamemnon upon his return to Greece, Jason will encounter future problems with his wife over their children. These parallels, unlike those observed in the episode at Pagasae, do not bode well for leader of the Argonautic expedition.
Finally, the poet has even provided an ingenious verbal indication that he had the delay at Aulis in mind. The first phase of the journey concluded with Orpheus's song to Artemis and a simile comparing the effect of his song (the attraction of fish who follow the ship) to a shepherd leading his sheep back to his tent; their progress suddenly comes to a halt because of the winds, and they pull into the site that will later be called Aphetae Argous. As it happens, while the Argonauts are heading toward Aphetae Argous, the shepherd and his flock are going 
(577).[33]