3.835
The Argonautica 3.835 · Pacing the house3.835Pacing the house
Lines 835–837. Pacing the house, she forgets for a moment the griefs at her feet and those to come.
· · ·
δὲ1
dè
And
αὐτοῦ2
autoû
right there
ἔνι3
éni
in
δόμοις4
dómois
the house
, δινεύουσα5
dineúousa
whirling aboutturning
, στεῖβε6
steîbe
she trodtread
πέδον7
pédon
the floorground
, λήθῃ8
lḗthēi
forgettingin forgetfulness
ἀχέων9
achéōn
the sorrowsgriefs
τά10
tá
that
ἦεν11
êen
laywere
ἐν12
en
at
οἱ13
hoi
her
ποσὶν14
posìn
feet
, θεσπέσιʼ15
thespési’
sent by the godsdivine
, τʼ16
t’
and
ἄλλα17
álla
others
ἔμελλεν18
émellen
that werewere about to
ἀεξήσεσθαι19
aexḗsesthai
to growto increase
ὀπίσσω20
opíssō
laterhereafter
. And right there in the house, whirling about, she trod the floor, forgetting the sorrows that lay at her feet, sent by the gods, and others that would grow later.
And right there in the house, whirling about, she trod the floor, forgetting the sorrows that lay at her feet, sent by the gods, and others that would grow later.
Interpretation
And there in the house she paced back and forth, forgetting the sorrows the gods had laid at her feet, and the others still to grow.
She paces the house, forgetting for the moment the sorrows "at her feet," and "the others that would grow later." Apollonius' readers knew what those were: the flight from Colchis, the murder of her brother on the way home, and Corinth.
Here the poem looks past its own ending to the story every reader already knew from Euripides.
3.838
The Argonautica 3.838 · Twelve handmaids3.838Twelve handmaids
Lines 838–843. She calls her handmaids and orders the mules yoked to the wagon.
· · ·
And she told her handmaids, who, all twelve of them, slept in the anteroom of her fragrant chamber, girls her own age, not yet sharing beds with husbands, to yoke the mules quickly to the wagon to carry her to the beautiful temple of Hecate. Then the handmaids got the wagon ready.