Fabula 23. Absyrtus — “Absyrtus”: the pursuit of Medea, Alcinous’s judgement, and Absyrtus’s death. Latin from the standard text, with a new English translation below each paragraph. View:
1
Aeeta ut resciit Medeam cum Iasone profugisse, naue comparata misit Absyrtum filium cum satellitibus armatis ad eam persequendam. qui cum in Adriatico mari in Histria eam persecutus esset ad Alcinoum regem, et uellet armis contendere, Alcinous se inter eos interposuit, ne bellarent; quem iudicem sumpserunt, qui eos in posterum distulit.
As soon as Aeetes learned that Medea had fled with Jason, he fitted out a ship and sent his son Absyrtus with armed attendants to pursue her. When Absyrtus had pursued her in the Adriatic Sea, in Histria (Istria), as far as King Alcinous, and wished to fight it out by arms, Alcinous put himself between them, so that they should not make war; they took him as judge, and he put them off until the next day.
2
qui cum tristior esset et interrogatus est a coniuge Arete quae causa esset tristitiae, dixit se iudicem sumptum a duabus diuersis ciuitatibus, inter Colchos et Argiuos. quem cum interrogaret Arete quidnam esset iudicaturus, respondit Alcinous, si uirgo fuerit Medea, parenti redditurum, sin autem mulier, coniugi.
When he was more downcast than usual and his wife Arete asked him what was the cause of his sadness, he said he had been taken as judge between two different peoples, between the Colchians and the Argives. When Arete asked him what he was going to judge, Alcinous answered: if Medea should turn out to be a maiden, he would give her back to her father; but if a woman [i.e. not a virgin], to her husband.
3
hoc cum audiuit Arete a coniuge, mittit nuntium ad Iasonem, et is Medeam noctu in antro deuirginauit. postero autem die cum ad iudicium uenissent et Medea mulier esset inuenta, coniugi est tradita.
When Arete heard this from her husband, she sent a messenger to Jason, and he deflowered Medea at night in a cave. And on the next day, when they had come to the judgement and Medea was found to be a woman, she was handed over to her husband.
4
nihilominus cum profecti essent, Absyrtus timens patris praecepta persecutus est eos in insulam Mineruae; ibi cum sacrificaret Mineruae Iason et Absyrtus interuenisset, ab Iasone est interfectus. cuius corpus Medea sepulturae dedit, atque inde profecti sunt.
Nonetheless, when they had set out, Absyrtus, fearing his father’s commands, pursued them to the island of Minerva; there, while Jason was sacrificing to Minerva and Absyrtus had come upon them in the middle of it, he was killed by Jason. Medea gave his body burial, and from there they set out.
5
Colchi qui cum Absyrto uenerant, timentes Aeetam, illic remanserunt, oppidumque condiderunt quod ab Absyrti nomine Absoron appellarunt. haec autem insula posita est in Histria contra Polam, iuncta insulae †cantae.
The Colchians who had come with Absyrtus, fearing Aeetes, remained there, and founded a town which they called Absorus after Absyrtus’s name. This island lies in Histria, opposite Pola, joined to the island †cantae.
Notes
- Convention: the Latin gives the editor’s supplied letters in full, without brackets; the notes record them as < > for a supplement, [ ] for a deletion, and † for a corrupt word.
- Para 1: Ae<e>ta is supplied in the text. Para 5: Ae<e>tam, Absor<o>n, and Pola<m> are supplied.
- Para 2: the Latin mixes a subjunctive and an indicative (cum… esset et interrogatus est), smoothed in the English. “The Argives” is the Argonauts, the Greeks — Hyginus’s word for Jason’s party.
- Para 3: deuirginauit is rendered plainly, “deflowered”; the Latin does not soften it.
- Para 4: Absyrtus is killed here by Jason himself at Minerva’s island, and Medea buries him — this differs from the telling in which Medea dismembers him to delay her father. The difference is Hyginus’s, kept as told.
- Para 5: †cantae is marked corrupt; the dative ending is kept because the word is corrupt, its meaning not guessed.
Next fabula: Iason: Peliades (Fabula 24). Corrections are welcome via the contact form; please say which paragraph you mean.