3.1008
The Argonautica 3.1008 · A smile sweet as nectar3.1008A smile sweet as nectar
Lines 1008–1012. Medea answers with a smile before she can find a word.
· · ·
ὧς1
hôs
So
φάτο2
pháto
he spokesaid
κυδαίνων3
kydaínōn
honoring herglorifying
; ἡ4
hē
she
δʼ5
d’
and
βαλοῦσα6
baloûsa
casthaving thrown
ὄσσε7
ósse
her eyestwo eyes
ἐγκλιδὸν8
enklidòn
asideaslant
μείδησʼ9
meídēs’
smiled
νεκτάρεον10
nektáreon
sweet as nectarnectarous
; ἐχύθη11
echýthē
meltedwas poured out
δέ12
dé
and
οἱ13
hoi
her
θυμὸς14
thymòs
heartspirit
ἔνδοθι15
éndothi
within
, ἀειρομένης16
aeiroménēs
lifted upbeing raised
αἴνῳ17
aínōi
by his praise
, καὶ18
kaì
and
ἀνέδρακεν19
anédraken
she looked up
ὄμμασιν20
ómmasin
with her eyes
ἄντην21
ántēn
into his faceface to face
. οὐδʼ22
oud’
Notnor
ἔχεν23
échen
did she knowhad
ὅττι24
hótti
whatwhatever
ἔπος25
épos
word
προτιμυθήσαιτο26
protimythḗsaito
she should saymight address
πάροιθεν27
pároithen
firstbefore
, ἀλλʼ28
all’
but
μενέαινεν29
menéainen
she longedwas eager
ἀγορεῦσαι30
agoreûsai
to sayto speak
ἄμυδις31
ámydis
at oncetogether
ἀολλέα32
aolléa
all togetherin a mass
πάντʼ33
pánt’
everythingall
. So he spoke, honoring her; and she cast her eyes aside and smiled, sweet as nectar; her heart melted within her, lifted up by his praise, and she looked up into his face. She did not know what word to say to him first, but she longed to say everything at once, all together.
So he spoke, honoring her; and she cast her eyes aside and smiled, sweet as nectar; her heart melted within her, lifted up by his praise, and she looked up into his face. She did not know what word to say to him first, but she longed to say everything at once, all together.
Interpretation
So he spoke, honoring her; and she cast her eyes aside and smiled a smile sweet as nectar. Her heart melted within her, lifted up by his praise, and she looked up into his face. She did not know what word to say to him first, but longed to say everything at once.
Medea answers with a smile before she can find a word. νεκτάρεον, "sweet as nectar," Mooney renders "with wondrous sweetness"; in Homer the adjective is used of garments, and LSJ takes it there as "fragrant." Her heart ἐχύθη, "melted," literally "was poured out."
Valerius Flaccus kept the moment in his Latin Argonautica: she does not know where to begin, longing to pour out everything with her first words, but shame gives her no words to start with (7.433–435, cited by Mooney).
3.1013
The Argonautica 3.1013 · She gives him the drug3.1013She gives him the drug
Lines 1013–1016. The drug passes from her sash to his hands.
· · ·
Freely, sparing nothing, she took the drug out of her fragrant sash, and he at once received it gladly in both hands. And she would even have drawn her whole soul from her breast and put it in his hands, admiring him in his need.