THE ARGONAUTICA

Much has been written about the chronology of Alexandrian
literature and the famous Library, founded by Ptolemy Soter, but
the dates of the chief writers are still matters of conjecture.
The birth of Apollonius Rhodius is placed by scholars at
various times between 296 and 260 B.C., while the year of his
death is equally uncertain. In fact, we have very little
information on the subject. There are two "lives" of Apollonius
in the Scholia, both derived from an earlier one which is lost.
From these we learn that he was of Alexandria by birth, (1) that
he lived in the time of the Ptolemies, and was a pupil of
Callimachus; that while still a youth he composed and recited in
public his "Argonautica", and that the poem was condemned, in
consequence of which he retired to Rhodes; that there he revised
his poem, recited it with great applause, and hence called
himself a Rhodian. The second "life" adds: "Some say that he
returned to Alexandria and again recited his poem with the utmost
success, so that he was honoured with the libraries of the Museum
and was buried with Callimachus." The last sentence may be
interpreted by the notice of Suidas, who informs us that
Apollonius was a contemporary of Eratosthenes, Euphorion and
Timarchus, in the time of Ptolemy Euergetes, and that he
succeeded Eratosthenes in the headship of the Alexandrian
Library. Suidas also informs us elsewhere that Aristophanes at
the age of sixty-two succeeded Apollonius in this office. Many
modern scholars deny the "bibliothecariate" of Apollonius for
chronological reasons, and there is considerable difficulty about
it. The date of Callimachus' "Hymn to Apollo", which closes with
some lines (105-113) that are admittedly an allusion to
Apollonius, may be put with much probability at 248 or 247 B.C.
Apollonius must at that date have been at least twenty years old.
Eratosthenes died 196-193 B.C. This would make Apollonius
seventy-two to seventy-five when he succeeded Eratosthenes. This
is not impossible, it is true, but it is difficult. But the
difficulty is taken away if we assume with Ritschl that
Eratosthenes resigned his office some years before his death,
which allows us to put the birth of Apollonius at about 280, and
would solve other difficulties. For instance, if the Librarians
were buried within the precincts, it would account for the burial
of Apollonius next to Callimachus--Eratosthenes being still
alive. However that may be, it is rather arbitrary to take away
the "bibliothecariate" of Apollonius, which is clearly asserted
by Suidas, on account of chronological calculations which are
themselves uncertain. Moreover, it is more probable that the
words following "some say" in the second "life" are a remnant of
the original life than a conjectural addition, because the first
"life" is evidently incomplete, nothing being said about the end
of Apollonius' career.

The principal event in his life, so far as we know, was the
quarrel with his master Callimachus, which was most probably the
cause of his condemnation at Alexandria and departure to Rhodes.
This quarrel appears to have arisen from differences of literary
aims and taste, but, as literary differences often do,
degenerated into the bitterest personal strife. There are
references to the quarrel in the writings of both. Callimachus
attacks Apollonius in the passage at the end of the "Hymn to
Apollo", already mentioned, also probably in some epigrams, but
most of all in his "Ibis", of which we have an imitation, or
perhaps nearly a translation, in Ovid's poem of the same name.
On the part of Apollonius there is a passage in the third book of
the "Argonautica" (11. 927-947) which is of a polemical nature
and stands out from the context, and the well-known savage
epigram upon Callimachus. (2) Various combinations have been
attempted by scholars, notably by Couat, in his "Poesie
Alexandrine", to give a connected account of the quarrel, but we
have not data sufficient to determine the order of the attacks,
and replies, and counter-attacks. The "Ibis" has been thought to
mark the termination of the feud on the curious ground that it
was impossible for abuse to go further. It was an age when
literary men were more inclined to comment on writings of the
past than to produce original work. Literature was engaged in
taking stock of itself. Homer was, of course, professedly
admired by all, but more admired than imitated. Epic poetry was
out of fashion and we find many epigrams of this period--some
by Callimachus--directed against the "cyclic" poets, by whom
were meant at that time those who were always dragging in
conventional and commonplace epithets and phrases peculiar to
epic poetry. Callimachus was in accordance with the spirit of
the age when he proclaimed "a great book" to be "a great evil",
and sought to confine poetical activity within the narrowest
limits both of subject and space. Theocritus agreed with him,
both in principle and practice. The chief characteristics of
Alexandrianism are well summarized by Professor Robinson Ellis as
follows: "Precision in form and metre, refinement in diction, a
learning often degenerating into pedantry and obscurity, a
resolute avoidance of everything commonplace in subject,
sentiment or allusion." These traits are more prominent in
Callimachus than in Apollonius, but they are certainly to be seen
in the latter. He seems to have written the "Argonautica" out of
bravado, to show that he could write an epic poem. But the
influence of the age was too strong. Instead of the unity of an
Epic we have merely a series of episodes, and it is the great
beauty and power of one of these episodes that gives the poem its
permanent value--the episode of the love of Jason and Medea.
This occupies the greater part of the third book. The first and
second books are taken up with the history of the voyage to
Colchis, while the fourth book describes the return voyage.
These portions constitute a metrical guide book, filled no doubt
with many pleasing episodes, such as the rape of Hylas, the
boxing match between Pollux and Amyeus, the account of Cyzicus,
the account of the Amazons, the legend of Talos, but there is no
unity running through the poem beyond that of the voyage itself.

The Tale of the Argonauts had been told often before in verse and
prose, and many authors' names are given in the Scholia to
Apollonius, but their works have perished. The best known
earlier account that we have is that in Pindar's fourth Pythian
ode, from which Apollonius has taken many details. The subject
was one for an epic poem, for its unity might have been found in
the working out of the expiation due for the crime of Athamas;
but this motive is barely mentioned by our author.

As we have it, the motive of the voyage is the command of Pelias
to bring back the golden fleece, and this command is based on
Pelias' desire to destroy Jason, while the divine aid given to
Jason results from the intention of Hera to punish Pelias for his
neglect of the honour due to her. The learning of Apollonius is
not deep but it is curious; his general sentiments are not
according to the Alexandrian standard, for they are simple and
obvious. In the mass of material from which he had to choose the
difficulty was to know what to omit, and much skill is shown in
fusing into a tolerably harmonious whole conflicting mythological
and historical details. He interweaves with his narrative local
legends and the founding of cities, accounts of strange customs,
descriptions of works of art, such as that of Ganymede and Eros
playing with knucklebones, (3) but prosaically calls himself back
to the point from these pleasing digressions by such an
expression as "but this would take me too far from my song." His
business is the straightforward tale and nothing else. The
astonishing geography of the fourth book reminds us of the
interest of the age in that subject, stimulated no doubt by the
researches of Eratosthenes and others.

The language is that of the conventional epic. Apollonius seems
to have carefully studied Homeric glosses, and gives many
examples of isolated uses, but his choice of words is by no means
limited to Homer. He freely avails himself of Alexandrian words
and late uses of Homeric words. Among his contemporaries
Apollonius suffers from a comparison with Theocritus, who was a
little his senior, but he was much admired by Roman writers who
derived inspiration from the great classical writers of Greece by
way of Alexandria. In fact Alexandria was a useful bridge
between Athens and Rome. The "Argonautica" was translated by
Varro Atacinus, copied by Ovid and Virgil, and minutely studied
by Valerius Flaccus in his poem of the same name. Some of his
finest passages have been appropriated and improved upon by
Virgil by the divine right of superior genius. (4) The subject
of love had been treated in the romantic spirit before the time
of Apollonius in writings that have perished, for instance, in
those of Antimachus of Colophon, but the "Argonautica" is perhaps
the first poem still extant in which the expression of this
spirit is developed with elaboration. The Medea of Apollonius is
the direct precursor of the Dido of Virgil, and it is the pathos
and passion of the fourth book of the "Aeneid" that keep alive
many a passage of Apollonius.


ENDNOTES:
(1) "Or of Naucratis", according to Aelian and Athenaeus.
(2) Anth. Pal. xl. 275.
(3) iii. 117-124.
(4) e.g. compare "Aen." iv. 305 foll. with Ap. Rh. iv. 355
foll.; "Aen." iv. 327-330 with Ap. Rh. I. 897, 898; "Aen."
iv. 522 foll., with Ap. Rh. iii. 744 foll.

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