3.756
The Argonautica 3.756 · Like sunlight on water3.756Like sunlight on water
Lines 756–760. Apollonius compares her racing heart to sunlight thrown back from water.
· · ·
ὥς1
hṓs
like
τίς2
tís
a
τε3
te
—
αἴγλη4
aíglē
gleamradiance
ἠελίου5
ēelíou
of the sun
ἐνιπάλλεται6
enipálletai
dancesleaps about in
δόμοις7
dómois
in a house
, ἐξανιοῦσα8
exanioûsa
risinggoing up out of
ὕδατος9
hýdatos
from water
τὸ10
tò
which
δὴ11
dḕ
—
νέον12
néon
justnewly
κέχυται13
kéchytai
has been pouredis poured
ἠὲ14
ēè
either
λέβητι15
lébēti
into a cauldron
ἠέ16
ēé
or
που17
pou
perhaps
ἐν18
en
into
γαυλῷ19
gaulôi
a pailmilk pail
; δʼ20
d’
and
ἡ21
hē
it
ἀίσσουσα22
aíssousa
darting
ἔνθα23
éntha
here
καὶ24
kaì
and
ἔνθα25
éntha
there
τινάσσεται26
tinássetai
quiversis shaken
ὠκείῃ27
ōkeíēi
with the swift
στροφάλιγγι28
strophálingi
eddywhirl
; ὧς29
hôs
so
δὲ30
dè
—
καὶ31
kaì
too
κούρης32
koúrēs
the girl'sof the girl
κέαρ33
kéar
heart
ἐλελίζετο34
elelízeto
quiveredwas whirled
ἐν35
en
in
στήθεσσι36
stḗthessi
her breast
. like a gleam of sunlight that dances in a house, rising from water just poured into a cauldron or perhaps a pail; it darts here and there and quivers with the swift eddy; so too the girl's heart quivered in her breast.
like a gleam of sunlight that dances in a house, rising from water just poured into a cauldron or perhaps a pail; it darts here and there and quivers with the swift eddy; so too the girl's heart quivered in her breast.
Interpretation
like a gleam of sunlight dancing on the walls of a house, thrown up from water just poured into a cauldron or a pail: it darts here and there and quivers with the swift eddy. So the girl's heart quivered in her breast.
The most famous simile in the poem. Water has just been poured into a basin, its surface is still turning, and the sunlight it throws onto the walls cannot keep still. Mooney quotes Virgil, who gave the same picture to Aeneas lying awake before the war in Italy (Aeneid 8.19–25), and Browning's "you foolhardy sunbeam, caught with a single splash from my ewer."
The picture is domestic on purpose: a cauldron, a milk pail, a sunbeam on the wall. Apollonius measures the princess's agony with things from any Greek kitchen.
3.761
The Argonautica 3.761 · Pain under the skin3.761Pain under the skin
Lines 761–765. Her love is described as a pain moving through her body.
· · ·
And tears flowed from her eyes in pity; and inside, always, smoldering pain wore her down through her body, around the fine nerves and right up under the nape at the base of the head, where the sharpest pain sinks in whenever the tireless Loves drive their pangs into the heart.