B—
Jason's Cloak (721–73)
Apollonius frames the elaborate description of Jason's cloak, which lies at the center of the episode, with balancing descriptions of Jason taking up his cloak (a) and his spear (a ). Two elements confirm the corresponsion of these subsections, which thereby create a ring. In the first line of the first paragraph (a), Apollonius identifies the cloak as the work of Itonian Athena— 
(721). These words are echoed in the first line of the second paragraph (a ) with the phrase 
(768). Second, in each of the corresponding subsections Apollonius mentions that the items that Jason takes up are gifts: Athena gave him the cloak ( 
, 722–23), and Atalante the spear ( 
, 769–70). As Vian has pointed out, Jason's preparations to meet Hypsipyle not only recall the typical Homeric arming scene but possibly have special reference to the lines in which Agamemnon prepared himself for battle at the beginning of Iliad 11.[20] The neatly balanced enclosure for the ecphrasis thus prompts the reader to imagine that Jason is arming himself for battle. Indeed, the ecphrasis by itself suggests the same thing.
Apollonius modeled his ecphrasis on the famous description of the shield that Hephæstus made for Achilles in Iliad 18. Not only does Apollonius employ the formulaic 
that characterizes the description of the Iliadic shield,[21] but he also includes an allusive reference to its creator. Hephæstus was busy working on one of his projects the moment Thetis arrived seeking armor for her son,[22] and, in the very first scene of the cloak, Apollonius reminds the reader of this visit in his suggestive vignette of the Cyclopes at work on a thunderbolt that needs only one ray to be finished:
On it there were Cyclopes engrossed in their immortal work of
forging a thunderbolt for Lord Zeus. Its brilliance had already
been achieved, 
;
; this, a seething blast of raging fire, they were
in the act of hammering out with their iron mallets.
In the Iliad , Hephæstus was working on twenty tripods, which similarly still needed their handles:
She found him [sc. Hephæstus] sweating as he moved about the
bellows
in haste. He was making tripods, twenty in all,
to stand around the wall of his well-built hall;
he set golden wheels on the base of each
so that they might enter the assembly of the gods on their own[23
] and come back to his home, a marvel to behold.
They were finished up to this point, 
.
He was getting these ready and was
hammering the rivets.
There are, it is true, two instances of cloaks embroidered with various scenes in the Iliad (for 
, 722, see Il.
3.125–28, 22.440–41), but it seems clear from Apollonius's inclusion of a forged implement just short of completion in the passage that the poet had Achilles' shield specifically in mind in providing a lengthy, scene-by-scene description of Jason's cloak. The effect of this reference, like the frame of the ecphrasis itself, encourages us to envisage Jason as a warrior going off to battle, and in particular, as a counterpart to Achilles. For Achilles took up his fabulous shield to face Hector and to achieve his greatest victory on the field of battle. What ensues, of course, is quite different.
Apollonius continues the comparison between Achilles and Jason in the beginning of the next section (A ), to which I now turn briefly. The poet draws a comparison between Jason's approach to Hypsipyle's palace at Myrine and a star that appears to brides in their chambers or to a maiden awaiting the return of her fiancé who is out of the country. The simile neatly parallels the situation at hand: the Argonauts will soon visit the chambers of the Lemnian women, and Jason, coming from a foreign land, will encounter the virgin Hypsipyle. Three times in the Iliad , Homer compared a warrior approaching his opponent to a star, the point of comparison being both its brilliance and its harmfulness (cf. Il. 5.4–6, 11.62–64, 22.25–32).[24] The last example is especially relevant to Jason: there Achilles, dressed in his new armor, approached the city of Troy to do battle with Hector.[25] Apollonius has thus set the scene for the meeting between Jason and Hypsipyle in such a way that the reader envisages a climactic military clash between opposing warriors. But instead of such an encounter, we find the well-dressed and urbane Iolcan prince sweeping the young Lemnian queen off her feet.[26] The vivid contrast between the reader's expectations and the actual event is significant. Jason is not an Achilles, who succeeds by virtue of his martial prowess. On the contrary, making young women fall in love with him will prove to be this hero's most potent skill, one
that will play an important role in establishing him as the best of the Argonauts.[27]
Before turning to the "heroic" match featured in the second half of the episode, I shall first examine at greater length the individual scenes on the cloak, which Apollonius arranged in an extended ring. These scenes view both the Argonautic expedition and Jason's role in it through a series of icons that reflect salient events ahead for the Argonauts.[28]
In the first scene (730–34), the Cyclopes are about to finish one of Zeus's thunderbolts, and, as I noted, the poet here deliberately evokes the image of Hephæstus at the time of Thetis's arrival just prior to his forging of Achilles' new armor. Mention of the Cyclopes and of Zeus's weapon picks up where Orpheus's song
(496–511) left off: there Zeus did not yet have his thunderbolt, the source of his 
(cf. 509–11). In the scene on the cloak, we observe that Zeus is about to gain possession of the weapon by which he will hold sway in Olympus. The young Zeus in Orpheus's song was seen to parallel the young Jason, who would soon have his first taste of 
as leader of the Argonautic expedition. The parallel between god and hero continues in this first scene on the cloak: as Zeus is about to be armed with the thunderbolt, his special weapon, Jason assumes as his special weapon the cloak that makes him so strikingly handsome to Hypsipyle. She is, after all, the "opponent" whom Apollonius leads us to expect by describing Jason's preparation for and arrival in Myrine in terms of Achilles' arming and his approach to meet Hector in battle. Both weapons, moreover, are brilliant: Zeus's thunderbolt is 
(732), while the cloak too is as blinding as the sun:
More easily would you cast your eyes into the rising
sun than gaze upon the cloak's ruddy brilliance.
The two, man and god, are now armed and dangerous. Zeus attains his 
by vanquishing his enemies with his flashing thunderbolt; Jason will succeed in his coming 
through his radiant appearance and attire.
The second scene (735–41) features an episode in which the antithesis of strength versus skill once again emerges. In the building of Thebes, the strongman Zethus struggled to lift boulders the size of a mountain peak on his shoulders, whereas Amphion through the sound of his music caused rocks twice as large to move by themselves. The image recalls the contrast between Orpheus and Heracles in the Catalogue: the former had led trees from Pieria to Thracian Zone through the power of song (28–31), while the latter was carrying the Erymanthian boar on his shoulders at the moment that he heard of the Argonautic expedition (124–29). This scene nicely parallels the way in which Jason succeeds in this expedition. For unlike Heracles in his attainment of the golden apples of the Hesperides, Jason will ultimately secure the object of his quest not by virtue of his physical strength, but through Medea's
magic, acquired from the impressionable young girl through his physical attractiveness and verbal dexterity.
The sensual portrait of an Amazon-like Aphrodite occupies the third scene (742–46). Part of the goddess's tunic has slipped off her arm, exposing her breast as she uses Ares' shield as a mirror. The goddess of love in the likeness of an Amazon anticipates the two warrior maidens Jason will encounter in the poem: the armed Hypsipyle (637–38) in the present episode and the even more dangerous Medea, who successfully takes on Talos, the last of the Bronze Race, in the final book (4.1636–72). The image of the love goddess on Jason's cloak is highly significant because, as Phineus will later tell Jason, his mission will succeed through the help of Aphrodite (2.423–25), who will provide the hero with the means for achieving his goal by sending Eros to make Medea fall in love with him. In fact, Aphrodite's role in the Argonautica so closely parallels Medea's that the goddess in a way can be seen as an Olympian analogue of the Colchian maid. For both women give the self-centered young men of their lives golden objects: Medea, the fleece to Jason; Aphrodite, the golden ball to Eros.[29]
In the fourth and central scene (747–51), the Teleboans, also called Taphian pirates (750), have the upper hand in a battle with the sons of Electryon over cattle. The scholiast ad 1.747–51b recalls Herodorus's explanation for this battle: the Teleboans are the grandchildren of Hippothoë, herself the granddaughter of Perseus and Andromeda, who went to Mycenae to demand from Electryon their inheritance, the cattle that they insisted rightfully belonged to them.[30] The story parallels the Argonautic expedition
quite closely. Like the Argonauts, the Teleboans made a long journey (from the island of Taphos, near Acarnania, to Argos) in order to retrieve something that they believed was theirs; while they sought a herd of cattle, Jason travels to Colchis in search of the hide of an animal that belonged to his ancestor, Phrixus (who together with the ram appears on the last scene of the cloak). As we have seen at the center of the Catalogue, the motif of the journey made in quest of special animals becomes a symbol in Apollonius for the Argonautic expedition.
The fifth scene, like the third, has to do with the realm of love (752–58). While Pelops rides together in a chariot with Hippodamia, her father, and the charioteer, Myrtilus, follow them in fast pursuit. The story clearly anticipates Jason's future experience in Colchis. Like Pelops, he will take up the father of the bride's challenge—although not in a chariot race, but in the yoking of fire-breathing bulls with which he will plow a field and sow the dragon's teeth. Jason will then escape with Medea on the Argo , and through betrayal and deceit kill not the father of the bride, Æëtes, but as a most cruel substitute, his innocent brother-in-law, Apsyrtus.
The sixth scene (759–62) balances the second by focusing once again upon the antithesis of strength versus skill. The youthful and smaller Apollo ( 
, 760)[31] shoots his bow at the huge Tityus ( 
, 761), who tries to rape Leto. The corresponsion with Amphion and Zethus is all the closer in that the instruments used by the respective men of skill are both stringed: the lyre and the bow. The close association between Jason and Apollo that we have seen in previous episodes turns Apollo's success over the monstrous Tityus into a hint of Jason's future success, both over the powerful and menacing Æëtes and also over Pelias, whose reign in Iolcus threatens Jason and his family. Moreover, another archer, Eros, will cause Medea, through whom the Argonauts will gain possession of the fleece, to fall desperately in love with Jason (cf. 3.275–98).
In the seventh and final scene (763–67), Phrixus listens as the ram speaks. The workmanship of the marvelous cloak is so exquisite that the narrator exclaims:
Looking at these you would fall silent and deceive yourself
in the expectation of hearing some intelligible message from them;
you would spend a long time hoping to see something.
The embroidery is so spellbinding, the narrator seems to say, that the viewer feels drawn into the scene and even expects to hear some 
. Apollonius has thus raised—but significantly gives no answer to—the question, What does the ram say to Phrixus? The reader is left to ponder the message that the ram imparts. The scholiast ad 1.763–64b suggests that the ram was encouraging Phrixus by telling him that Zeus had guaranteed his safety. By this the ancient commentator must have in mind Phrixus's escape from Ino's plot and his safe arrival and eventual welcome in Colchis. This interpretation, even if not exactly what the poet had in mind, is nonetheless instructive; for it points the way toward seeing the close parallel that exists between the experiences of Phrixus and those of Jason. Like Phrixus, Jason will arrive safely in Colchis. He will also travel on a vessel that has the magical ability to speak.[32] Moreover, Jason, like Phrixus, travels from Greece to Colchis as the result of a plot against his life, and both marry daughters of Æëtes. Thus the heroic achievements of the two have close similarities, and the success that Phrixus experienced in his journey to Colchis, foretold quite possibly in the 
of the ram, bodes well for the success of Jason's expedition. A final point: this last scene corresponds by way of contrast with the first, and neatly brings the ecphrasis to a close—whereas in the first the accent was on the visual quality of the scene (the brilliance of the thunderbolt), here Apollonius underscores the aural quality (the message we seem to hear).
In sum, through the progression of the scenes on Jason's cloak from imminent 
to the auspicious parallel hinting at the successful completion of the expedition, Apollonius provides a symbolic representation of the expedition. This symbolic treatment reflects general features as well as particular details of the quest for the golden fleece by echoing some of the themes already explored in earlier episodes and by hinting at specific events that the Argonauts will encounter. To the reader, the scenes of the cloak unfold in a suggestive fashion. Jason is on the verge of discovering his great weapon, love (a ), which will prove to be more powerful than brute force (b ). On their way to Colchis, and once there, they will encounter armed Aphrodites in Hypsipyle and Medea (g ); at Colchis they will lay claim to the fleece and eventually leave a field soaked with the blood of the Earthborn (d ; cf. Argo. 3.1391–1404). Jason will take Medea aboard the Argo as they flee from the navy of Æëtes, against whose son a treacherous plot will be laid (g ). The small number of Argonauts will ultimately outmaneuver the many Colchians in pursuit (and, beyond the scope of the poem, Jason will gain the upper hand over the wicked Pelias) through Medea's cunning (b ; cf. 4.339); and the talking Argo will then bring Jason, his Colchian bride, and the fleece safely back to Greece (a ).
Before concluding this discussion of Jason's cloak, I return to the introductory verses (a). In his overall description of the cloak, Apollonius emphasizes its ruddy brilliance:
More easily would you cast your eyes into the rising
sun than gaze upon the cloak's ruddy brilliance.
For the central area was given a reddish hue
and the border was purple.
The key words are 
and 
. At the beginning of the third and final section of the episode (A a), when Jason approaches Myrine, Apollonius compares him to a star that charms ( 
) both the eyes of the brides in their chambers and the maiden who waits for her groom by virtue of this same quality
( 
, 777–78). When Jason is seated across from Hypsipyle, she, like the person looking into the cloak ( 
, 726), averts her eyes and blushes: 'H d ' 
(790–91). The cloak will have the effect of charming Hypsipyle, and she manifests the effects by assuming the salient feature of the cloak, its color.[33] Not only does Jason have a charm, but he also carries a weapon, the spear that Atalanta gave to him.[34] These details play an important role in an allusion that informs our reading of the second half of the episode.