Ἀπολλόδωρος δὲ ἐπιτιμᾷ Καλλιμάχῳ, συνηγορῶν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἐρατοσθένη, διότι καίπερ γραμματικὸς ὢν παρὰ τὴν Ὁμηρικὴν ὑπόθεσιν καὶ τὸν ἐξωκεανισμὸν τῶν τόπων, περὶ οὓς τὴν πλάνην φράζει, Γαῦδον καὶ Κόρκυραν ὀνομάζει. ἀλλʼ εἰ μὲν μηδαμοῦ γέγονεν ἡ πλάνη, ἀλλʼ ὅλον πλάσμα ἐστὶν Ὁμήρου τοῦτο, ὀρθὴ ἡ ἐπιτίμησις· ἢ εἰ γέγονε μέν, περὶ ἄλλους δὲ τόπους, δεῖ λέγειν εὐθὺς καὶ περὶ τίνας, ἐπανορθούμενον ἅμα τὴν ἄγνοιαν. μήτε δὲ ὅλου πλάσματος εἶναι πιθανῶς λεγομένου, καθάπερ ἐπεδείκνυμεν, μήτʼ ἄλλων τόπων κατὰ πίστιν μείζω δεικνυμένων, ἀπολύοιτʼ ἂν τῆς αἰτίας ὁ Καλλίμαχος.
Apollodorus, who agrees with Eratosthenes, throws much blame upon Callimachus for asserting, in spite of his character as a grammarian, that Gaudus and Corcyra were among the scenes of Ulysses’ wandering, such an opinion being altogether in defiance of Homer’s statement, and his description of the places as situated in the exterior ocean.
This criticism is just if we suppose the wandering to have never actually occurred, and to be merely the result of Homer’s imagination; but if it did take place, although in other regions, Apollodorus ought plainly to have stated which they were, and thus set right the mistake of Callimachus. Since, however, after such evidence as we have produced, we cannot believe the whole account to be a fiction, and since no other more likely places have as yet been named, we hold that the grammarian is absolved from blame.
οὐδʼ ὁ Σκήψιος δὲ Δημήτριος εὖ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ Ἀπολλοδώρῳ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἐνίων αἴτιος ἐκεῖνος κατέστη. πρὸς γὰρ Νεάνθη τὸν Κυζικηνὸν φιλοτιμοτέρως ἀντιλέγων εἰπόντα ὅτι οἱ Ἀργοναῦται πλέοντες εἰς Φᾶσιν τὸν ὑφʼ Ὁμήρου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὁμολογούμενον πλοῦν ἱδρύσαντο τὰ τῆς Ἰδαίας μητρὸς ἱερὰ περὶ Κύζικον, ἀρχὴν φησὶ μηδʼ εἰδέναι τὴν εἰς Φᾶσιν ἀποδημίαν τοῦ Ἰάσονος Ὅμηρον. τοῦτο δʼ οὐ μόνον τοῖς ὑφʼ Ὁμήρου λεγομένοις μάχεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ. φησὶ γὰρ τὸν Ἀχιλλέα Λέσβον μὲν πορθῆσαι καὶ ἄλλα χωρία, Λήμνου δʼ ἀποσχέσθαι καὶ τῶν πλησίον νήσων διὰ τὴν πρὸς Ἰάσονα καὶ τὸν υἱὸν Εὔνεων συγγένειαν τότε τὴν νῆσον κατέχοντα. πῶς οὖν ὁ ποιητὴς τοῦτο μὲν ᾔδει, διότι συγγενεῖς ἢ ὁμοεθνεῖς ἢ γείτονες ἢ ὁπωσοῦν οἰκεῖοι ὑπῆρχον ὅ τε Ἀχιλλεὺς καὶ ὁ Ἰάσων (ὅπερ οὐδαμόθεν ἄλλοθεν ἀλλʼ ἐκ τοῦ Θετταλοὺς ἀμφοτέρους εἶναι συνέβαινε, καὶ τὸν μὲν Ἰώλκιον τὸν δʼ ἐκ τῆς Φθιώτιδος Ἀχαιίδος ὑπάρχειν), τοῦτο δʼ ἠγνόει, πόθεν ἦλθε τῷ Ἰάσονι, Θετταλῷ καὶ Ἰωλκίῳ ὑπάρχοντι, ἐν μὲν τῇ πατρίδι μηδεμίαν καταλιπεῖν διαδοχήν, Λήμνου δὲ καταστῆσαι κύριον τὸν υἱόν; καὶ Πελίαν μὲν ᾔδει καὶ τὰς Πελιάδας καὶ τὴν ἀρίστην αὐτῶν καὶ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτῆς Εὔμηλον, τὸν ὑπʼ Ἀδμήτῳ τέκε δῖα γυναικῶν Ἄλκηστις, Πελίαο θυγατρῶν εἶδος ἀρίστη, τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἰάσονα συμβάντων καὶ τὴν Ἀργὼ καὶ τοὺς Ἀργοναύτας, τῶν ὁμολογουμένων παρὰ πᾶσιν, ἀνήκοος ἦν, ἐν δὲ τῷ ὠκεανῷ τὸν παρʼ Αἰήτου πλοῦν ἔπλαττεν, ἀρχὴν μηδεμίαν ἐξ ἱστορίας λαβών;
Demetrius of Skepsis is also wrong, and, in fact, the cause of some of the mistakes of Apollodorus. He eagerly objects to the statement of Neanthes of Cyzicus, that the Argonauts, when they sailed to the Phasis, founded at Cyzicus the temples of the Idaean Mother. Though their voyage is attested both by Homer and other writers, he denies that Homer had any knowledge whatever of the departure of Jason to the Phasis. In so doing, he not only contradicts the very words of Homer, but even his own assertions. The poet informs us that Achilles, having ravaged Lesbos and other districts, spared Lemnos and the adjoining islands, on account of his relationship with Jason and his son Euneos, who then had possession of the island. How should he know of a relationship, identity of race, or other connexion existing between Achilles and Jason, which, after all, was nothing else than that they were both Thessalians, one being of Iolcos, the other of the Achaean Pthiotis, and yet was not aware how it happened that Jason, who was a Thessalian of Iolcos, should leave no descendants in the land of his nativity, but establish his son as ruler of Lemnos? Homer then was familiar with the history of Pelias and the daughters of Pelias, of Alcestis, who was the most charming of them all, and of her son Eumelus, whom Alcestis, praised / For beauty above all her sisters fair, / In Thessaly to king Admetus bore, / and was yet ignorant of all that befell Jason, and Argo, and the Argonauts, matters on the actual occurrence of which all the world is agreed. The tale then of their voyage in the ocean from Aeeta, was a mere fiction, for which he had no authority in history.
ὡς μὲν γὰρ ἅπαντες λέγουσιν, ὅτι ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὁ πλοῦς ἐπὶ Φᾶσιν ἔχει πιθανόν τι τοῦ Πελίου στείλαντος, καὶ ἡ ἐπάνοδος καὶ ἡ ἐν τῷ παράπλῳ νήσων ὁσηδὴ ἐπικράτεια καὶ νὴ Δία ἡ ἐπὶ πλέον γενηθεῖσα πλάνη, καθάπερ καὶ τῷ Ὀδυσσεῖ καὶ τῷ Μενελάῳ, ἐκ τῶν ἔτι νῦν δεικνυμένων καὶ πεπιστευμένων ἐστὶν ἐκ τῆς Ὁμήρου φωνῆς. ἥ τε γὰρ Αἶα δείκνυται περὶ Φᾶσιν πόλις, καὶ ὁ Αἰήτης πεπίστευται βασιλεῦσαι τῆς Κολχίδος, καὶ ἔστι τοῖς ἐκεῖ τοῦτʼ ἐπιχώριον τοὔνομα. ἥ τε Μήδεια φαρμακὶς ἱστορεῖται, καὶ ὁ πλοῦτος τῆς ἐκεῖ χώρας ἐκ τῶν χρυσείων καὶ ἀργυρείων καὶ σιδηρείων δικαίαν τινὰ ὑπαγορεύει πρόφασιν τῆς στρατείας, καθʼ ἣν καὶ Φρίξος πρότερον ἔστειλε τὸν πλοῦν τοῦτον· καὶ ἔστιν ὑπομνήματα τῆς ἀμφοῖν στρατείας τό τε Φρίξειον τὸ ἐν τοῖς μεθορίοις τῆς τε Κολχίδος καὶ τῆς Ἰβηρίας, καὶ τὰ Ἰασόνεια, ἃ πολλαχοῦ καὶ τῆς Ἀρμενίας καὶ τῆς Μηδίας καὶ τῶν πλησιοχώρων αὐταῖς τόπων δείκνυται. καὶ μὴν καὶ περὶ Σινώπην καὶ τὴν ταύτης παραλίαν καὶ τὴν Προποντίδα καὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον μέχρι τῶν κατὰ τὴν Λῆμνον τόπων λέγεται πολλὰ τεκμήρια τῆς τε Ἰάσονος στρατείας καὶ τῆς Φρίξου· τῆς δʼ Ἰάσονος καὶ τῶν ἐπιδιωξάντων Κόλχων καὶ μέχρι τῆς Κρήτης καὶ τῆς Ἰταλίας καὶ τοῦ Ἀδρίου, ὧν ἔνια καὶ ὁ Καλλίμαχος ἐπισημαίνεται, τοτὲ μὲν Αἰγλήτην Ἀνάφην τε Λακωνίδι γείτονα Θήρῃ λέγων ἄρχμενος, ὡς ἥρωες ἀπʼ Αἰήταο Κυταίου αὖτις ἐς ἀρχαίην ἔπλεον Αἱμονίην, τοτὲ δὲ περὶ τῶν Κόλχων οἳ μὲν ἐπʼ Ἰλλυριοῖο πόρου σχάσσαντες ἐρετμὰ λᾶα πάρα ξανθῆς Ἁρμονίης τάφιον ἄστυρον ἐκτίσσαντο, τό κεν φυγάδων τις ἐνίσποι Γραικός, ἀτὰρ κείνων γλῶσσʼ ὀνόμηνε Πόλας. τινὲς δὲ καὶ τὸν Ἴστρον ἀναπλεῦσαί φασι μέχρι πολλοῦ τοὺς περὶ τὸν Ἰάσονα, οἱ δὲ καὶ μέχρι τοῦ Ἀδρίου· οἱ μὲν κατὰ ἄγνοιαν τῶν τόπων, οἱ δὲ καὶ ποταμὸν Ἴστρον ἐκ τοῦ μεγάλου Ἴστρου τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχοντα ἐκβάλλειν εἰς τὸν Ἀδρίαν φασί· τάδε οὐκ * ἀπιθάνως οὐδʼ ἀπίστως λέγοντες.
If, however, the expedition to the Phasis, fitted out by Pelias, its return, and the conquest of several islands, have at the bottom any truth whatever, as all say they have, so also has the account of their wanderings, no less than those of Ulysses and Menelaus; monuments of the actual occurrence of which remain to this day elsewhere than in the writings of Homer. The city of Aea, close by the Phasis, is still pointed Out Aeetes is generally believed to have reigned in Colchis, the name is still common throughout the country, tales of the sorceress Medea are yet abroad, and the riches of the country in gold, silver, and iron, proclaim the motive of Jason’s expedition, as well as of that which Phrixus had formerly undertaken. Traces both of one and the other still remain. Such is Phrixium, midway between Colchis and Iberia, and the Jasonia, or towns of Jason, which are every where met with in Armenia, Media, and the surrounding countries. Many are the witnesses to the reality of the expeditions of Jason and Phrixus at Sinope and its shore, at Propontis, at the Hellespont, and even at Lemnos. Of Jason and his Colchian followers there are traces even as far as Crete, Italy, and the Adriatic. Callimachus himself alludes to it where he says, [The temple of] Apollo and [the Isle of] Anaphe, / Near to Laconian Thera. / In the verses which commence, I sing how the heroes from Cytaean Aeeta, / Return’d again to ancient Aemonia. / And again concerning the Colchians, who, Ceasing to plough with oars the Illyrian Sea, / Near to the tomb of fair Harmonia, / Who was transform’d into a dragon’s shape, / Founded their city, which a Greek would call / The Town of Fugitives, but in their tongue / Is Pola named. /
Some writers assert that Jason and his companions sailed high up the Ister, others say he sailed only so far as to be able to gain the Adriatic: the first statement results altogether from ignorance; the second, which supposes there is a second Ister having its source from the larger river of the same name, and discharging its waters into the Adriatic, is neither incredible nor even improbable.
τοιαύταις δή τισιν ἀφορμαῖς ὁ ποιητὴς χρησάμενος τὰ μὲν ὁμολογεῖ τοῖς ἱστορουμένοις, προσμυθεύει δὲ τούτοις, ἔθος τι φυλάττων καὶ κοινὸν καὶ ἴδιον. ὁμολογεῖ μέν, ὅταν Αἰήτην ὀνομάζῃ, καὶ τὸν Ἰάσονα καὶ τὴν Ἀργὼ λέγῃ, καὶ παρὰ τὴν Αἰαίην πλάττῃ, καὶ τὸν Εὔνεων ἐν Λήμνῳ καθιδρύῃ, καὶ ποιῇ τῷ Ἀχιλλεῖ φίλην τὴν νῆσον, καὶ παρὰ τὴν Μήδειαν τὴν Κίρκην φαρμακίδα ποιῇ αὐτοκασιγνήτην ὀλοόφρονος Αἰήταο· προσμυθοποιεῖ δὲ τὸν ἐξωκεανισμὸν τὸν κατὰ τὴν πλάνην συμβάντα τὴν ἀπʼ ἐκείνου τοῦ πλοῦ. ἐπεὶ κἀκεῖνο ὑποκειμένων μὲν τούτων εὖ λέγεται Ἀργὼ πασιμέλουσα, ὡς ἐν γνωρίμοις τόποις καὶ εὐανδροῦσι τῆς ναυστολίας γενομένης· εἰ δʼ, ὥσπερ ὁ Σκήψιός φησι παραλαβὼν μάρτυρα Μίμνερμον, ὃς ἐν τῷ ὠκεανῷ ποιήσας τὴν οἴκησιν τοῦ Αἰήτου πρὸς ταῖς ἀνατολαῖς ἐκτὸς πεμφθῆναί φησιν ὑπὸ τοῦ Πελίου τὸν Ἰάσονα καὶ κομίσαι τὸ δέρος, οὔτʼ ἂν ἡ ἐπὶ τὸ δέρος ἐκεῖσε πομπὴ πιθανῶς λέγοιτο εἰς ἀγνῶτας καὶ ἀφανεῖς τόπους, οὔθʼ ὁ διʼ ἐρήμων καὶ ἀοίκων καὶ καθʼ ἡμᾶς τοσοῦτον ἐκτετοπισμένων πλοῦς οὔτʼ ἔνδοξος οὔτε πασιμέλων.
Starting from these premises, the poet, in conformity both with general custom and his own practice, narrates some circumstances as they actually occurred, and paints others in the colours of fiction. He follows history when he tells us of Aeetes and Jason also, when he talks of Argo, and on the authority of [the actual city of Aea], feigns his city of Aeaea, when he settles Euneos in Lemnos, and makes that island friendly to Achilles, and when, in imitation of Medea, he makes the sorceress Circe Sister by birth of the all-wise Aeetes, / he adds the fiction of the entrance of the Argonauts into the exterior ocean as the sequel to their wanderings on their return home. Here, supposing the previous statements admitted, the truth of the phrase the renowned Argo, is evident, since, in that case, the expedition was directed to a populous and well-known country. But if, as [Demetrius] of Skepsis asserts, on the authority of Mimnermus, Aeetes dwelt by the Ocean, and Jason was sent thither far east by Pelias, to bring back the fleece, it neither seems probable that such an expedition would have been undertaken into unknown and obscure countries after the Fleece, nor could a voyage to lands desert, uninhabited, and so far remote from us, be considered either glorious or renowned.
[Here follow the words of Demetrius.] Nor as yet had Jason, having accomplished the arduous journey, carried off the splendid fleece from Aea, fulfilling the dangerous mission of the insolent Pelias, nor had they ploughed the glorious wave of the ocean. And again: The city of Aeetes, where the rays of the swift sun recline on their golden bed by the shore of the ocean, which the noble Jason visited.
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