Mythology, Greek; Trojan War -- Literature and the war; Troy (Extinct city) -- Legends
So they thanked him, and the next morning they set sail, till they came
to a place where the Rocks Wandering wallowed in the water, and all was
foam; but when the Rocks leaped apart the stream ran swift, and the
waves roared beneath the rocks, and the wet cliffs bellowed. Then
Euphemus took the dove in his hands, and set her free, and she flew
straight at the pass where the rocks met, and sped right through, and
the rocks gnashed like gnashing teeth, but they caught only a feather
from her tail.
Then slowly the rocks opened again, like a wild beast's mouth that
opens, and Tiphys, the helmsman, shouted, 'Row on, hard all!' and he
held the ship straight for the pass. Then the oars bent like bows in the
hands of men, and the good ship leaped at the stroke. Three strokes they
pulled, and at each the ship leaped, and now they were within the black
jaws of the rocks, the water boiling round them, and so dark it was that
overhead they could see the stars, but the oarsmen could not see the
daylight behind them, and the steersman could not see the daylight in
front. Then the great tide rushed in between the rocks like a rushing
river, and lifted the ship as if it were lifted by a hand, and through
the strait she passed like a bird, and the rocks clashed, and only broke
the carved wood of the ship's stern. And the ship reeled into the
seething sea beyond, and all the men of Jason bowed their heads over
their oars, half dead with the fierce rowing.
Then they set all sail, and the ship sped merrily on, past the shores of
the inner sea, past bays and towns, and river mouths, and round green
hills, the tombs of men slain long ago. And, behold, on the top of one
mound stood a tall man, clad in rusty armour, and with a broken sword in
his hand, and on his head a helmet with a blood-red crest. Thrice he
waved his hand, and thrice he shouted aloud, and was no more seen, for
this was the ghost of Sthenelus, Actæon's son, whom an arrow had slain
there long since, and he had come forth from his tomb to see men of his
own blood, and to greet Jason and his company. So they anchored there,
and slew sheep in sacrifice, and poured blood and wine on the grave of
Sthenelus. There Orpheus left a harp, placing it in the bough of a tree,
that the wind might sing in the chords, and make music to Sthenelus
below the earth.
Then they sailed on, and at evening they saw above their heads the snowy
crests of Mount Caucasus, flushed in the sunset; and high in the air
they saw, as it were, a black speck that grew greater and greater, and
fluttered black wings, and then fell sheer down like a stone. Then they
heard a dreadful cry from a valley of the mountain, for there Prometheus
was fastened to the rock, and the eagles fed upon him, because he stole
fire from the gods, and gave it to men. All the heroes shuddered when
they heard his cry; but not long after Heracles came that way, and he
slew the eagle with his bow, and set Prometheus free.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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