CHAPTER FOUR

KATAI:KEYAI:EII:

I Though he could have moved directly from Catalogue and Ap• pendix to narration of the first stages of the Argo's voyage, Apollo• nius devotes almost three hundred verses (I 234-518) to what trans• pired between the coming together of the Argonauts and their actual departure aboard ship. The sequence may be thus sub• divided: [1] Laying in of supplies and procession from Iolcus to the harbor at Pagasae (234ff.) [2] Grief of Aeson and Alcimede; Jason's response (246ff.) [3] Progress of Jason to Pagasae and arrival of Acastus and Argus I (306ff.) [4] Assembly to choose a leader (327ff.) [5] Launching of the Argo and assignment of rowing positions by lot (363ff.) [6] Sacrificial rites, Jason's appeal to Apollo, Idmon's prophecies, post-sacrificial feast (402ff.) [7] Controversy involving Jason, Idas, Idmon (46off.) [8] Orpheus' first song; reaction of the Argonauts (494ff. )1

In devising this table I have oversimplified somewhat and have deliberately withheld acknowledgment of transitional passages interposed between larger divisions. Another observer, moreover, might have understood the organization of this part of the poem somewhat differently. All that occurs at Iolcus and at Pagasae could conceivably be considered a single episode. Yet my concern in as• suming an octopartite structure was to emphasize what a diversity of incident Apollonius chose to put before his readers.

1 A second song is presented by Orpheus after the Argo has already set sail (569-579). Concerning both see below, Appendix A. KATA~KEYA~EI~

For purposes of discussion, however, I shall find it convenient to give individual attention to some segments ( # # 4; 6; 7), while bringing others together ( # #1-3) on account of some feature which they have in common.1

II That kinship might exist between the narrative of the Argonautic procession to Pagasae and that of Jason's movement toward the same destination ought to be obvious enough. What binds these two related passages to the intervening story of efforts on the part of Jason to dispel parental anxiety and grief is the repeated utiliza• tion of imagery highly relevant to its context. The first simile (I 238-240) may be tabularized as follows:

ARGONAUTS : SPECTATORS = STARS : CLOUDS According to the scholiast, Apollonius has not failed to underscore hereby the social distinction between the Argonauts (~pwe:c;) and the plebeian masses (8'Y)µo·-nxol oxim) past whom they march. The dis• tinction is one which Homer appreciates. It may well be the case also that the Homeric comparison of Hector to a star which alter• nately shines forth and becomes obscured by clouds (Iliad A 62-65) served as a model for Apollonius. 2 Study of both images will show both to be effective. Yet the resemblance between them is not so strong that Apollonius could be said merely to have copied what his predecessor wrote. Whereas in either instance clouds and throngs of men are deemed similar, Hector's flickering solo performance differs from the apparently steady glow supplied by the Argonauts collectively.

III Emphasis on brightness here and elsewhere3 is most appropriate

1 The fact that I shall say little in this chapter about ##5 and 8 (con• cerning which latter see loc. cit. (above, p. 37, n.1 ad fin.) is not to be taken as an indication that I denigrate their importance. 1 An additional comparison of flashing bronze and Zeus' lightning blasts is attached at lines 65f. With regard to resemblances between what Homer and what Apollonius wrote see also Frankel, opp. cit. (above, respectively, p. 3, n. 1 ad fin. and p. 2, n. 1) pp. 22f. and 56 respectively. 3 Cf. I 45off.; 519ff.; 1229ff.; 128off.; II 164ff.; III 1223£.; IV 109££.; 117off. T. B. L. Webster, Hellenistic Poetry and Art (London, 1964) pp. 7off., having translated or paraphrased these passages (some of which are examined also by R. Heinze, Vergils epische Technik 3 (Leipzig, 1914: repr. Darmstadt,