Argives

“ Over Argos towers a steep hill, known as a “larisa” or acropolis, from the top of which we could imagine a wonderful view over the whole kingdom of the Argives and over the mountains as well, not to mention the Gulf of Nauplia; but as time was speeding on toward the dusk and we were still far from Nauplia, we had to be content with the imagination alone, and with the news that a little monastery about halfway up the hillside had been set on fire on the Easter Sunday previous by too enthusiastic celebrants, who had been over-free with the inevitable rockets and Roman candles. ”

“ Courage! when strikes the appointed day and hour,
Due fine that man shall pay who slights the gods.
Chorus. Strophe I.
Father, afraid I am, since swift of wing
The ships advance; full soon will they be here.
My spirit fails me, scared by anxious fear,
Lest that my lengthened flight no profit bring.
⁠Father, I faint through dread.
Danaos.
Children, since ratified the Argives' vote,
Take courage; well I know, for you they'll fight. ⁠720
Chorus. ”

“ During the ancient wars of Sparta and Messenia, the Argives had expelled the people of their towns of Asine and Nauplia, and forced them to seek foreign settlements; a resource sufficiently marking a government both weak and oppressive. Mycenæ was now a much smaller town than Argos; but its people, encouraged by Lacedæmon, formed lofty pretensions. The far-famed temple of Juno, the tutelar deity of the country, situated about five miles from [415] Argos, and little more than one from Mycenæ, was considered by the Argives as theirs ”

“ Thou tremblest? Thou growest pale? Thou weepest? From thy hand The dagger falls? Thou lov'st Aegisthus, lov'st him And art Orestes' mother? Madness! Go And never let me look on thee again!
Aegisthus dooms Electra to the same death with Orestes and Pylades, but on the way to prison the guards liberate them all, and the Argives rise against the usurper with the beginning of the fifth act, which I shall give entire, because I think it very characteristic of Alfieri, and necessary to a conception of his vehement, if somewhat arid, genius. ”

“ But now the Corinthians, since Argos has been assigned to their territory — for this is the less invidious way of expressing it — by the sovereign city, [4] have grown insolent in ill-doing and are compelling the Argives to pay them tribute; it is seven years, as I am told, since they began this innovation, and they were not abashed by the immunity of Delphi or of the Eleans, [5] which was granted to them so that they might administer their sacred games. For there are, as we know, four very important and splendid games in Greece ”

“ The kings of the Argives were these: Inachus, Phoroneus, Apis, Criasis, Triopas, Argeius, Phorbas, Crotopas, Sthenelaus, Danaus, Lynceus, Prœtus, Abas, Acrisius, Perseus, Sthenelaus, Eurystheus, Atreus, Thyestes, and Agamemnon, in the eighteenth year of whose reign Troy was taken. And every intelligent person will most carefully observe that, according to the tradition of the Greeks, they possessed no historical composition ”

“ Prosymna borders upon Midéa; it has also a temple of Juno. The Argives have depopulated most of these for their refusal to submit to their authority. Of the inhabitants some went from Tiryns to Epidaurus; others from Hermione to the Halieis (the Fishermen) , as they are called; others were transferred by the Lacedæmonians to Messenia from Asine, (which is itself a village in the Argive territory near Nauplia,) and they built a small city of the same name as the Argolic Asine. ”

“ Previously it was customary for women to remain widows if their husband died. And before this tomb is a trophy erected in stone to the Argive Laphaes, whom, according to the Argive tradition, the people rose up against and expelled when he was king, and when he fled to Sparta the Lacedæmonians endeavoured to restore him, but the Argives being victorious in the battle slew Laphaes and most of the Lacedæmonians. And not far from this trophy is the temple of Leto, and a statue of her by Praxiteles. ”

“ ARGOS. ARGOLIS. ARGIVES. "No district of Greece contains so dense a succession of powerful citadels in a narrow space as Argolis [the eastern peninsular projection of the Peloponnesus] . Lofty Larissa, apparently designed by nature as the centre of the district, is succeeded by Mycenæ, deep in the recess of the land; at the foot of the mountain lies Midea, at the brink of the sea-coast Tiryns; and lastly, at a farther distance of half an hour's march, Nauplia, with its harbour. ”

“ In 394 the Argives helped to garrison Corinth, and the latter state seems for a while to have been annexed by them. But the peace of Antalcidas (q.v.) dissolved this connexion, and barred Argive pretensions to control all Argolis. After the battle of Leuctra Argos experienced a political crisis; the oligarchs attempted a revolution, but were put down by their opponents with such vindictiveness that 1200 of them are said to have been executed (370) . ”

“ Among her particular worshippers, at Argos and Samos, Hera was much more than the queen of heaven and the marriage-goddess. As the patron of these cities (πολιοῦχος) she held a place corresponding to that of Athena in Athens. The Argives are called “the people of Hera” by Pindar; the Heraeum, situated under a mountain significantly called Mt. Euboea, was the most important temple in Argolis. Here the agricultural character of her ritual is well marked; the first oxen used in ploughing were, according to an Argive myth, dedicated to her as ζευξιδία ”

“ This is the account of the Argives. But the Athenians and neighbouring tribes know that Triptolemus, the son of Celeus, was the first who sowed corn in the fields. And it is sung by Musæus, (if indeed the lines are by Musæus) , that Triptolemus was the son of Ocean and Earth, and it is sung by Orpheus, (if these lines again are by Orpheus, which I doubt) , that Dysaules was the father of Eubules and Triptolemus, and that Demeter taught them how to sow corn because they had given her information about the rape of her daughter. ”

“ The southern part of this chain ends in a plain, at the opening of which, and near the pass just alluded to, was situated Mycenæ, and in a wider part of it the city of Argos. The nature of this anciently cultivated plain is very remarkable; it was, as is evident, gradually formed by the torrents which constantly filled up the bay between the mountains; and hence it was originally little else than fen and morass.267 Inachus, “the stream,” and Melia, the daughter of Oceanus, “the damp valley” (where ash-trees, μελίαι, grow) , were called the parents of the ancient Argives ”

“ Argive. A school of sculpture, contemporary with the Attic School of Pheidias; of which Polycletus was the head. He was the author of the Canon, or law of proportion in sculpture, exemplified in his Doryphorus (spear-bearer) ; he worked principally in bronze, and was famous for his chryselephantine statues. A specimen of the Argive school of sculpture is the Discobolus of Myron (a contemporary of Polycletus) in the British Museum. It is an ancient copy in marble from the original bronze statue. Closeness to Nature is a distinguishing characteristic of the Argive School.
Fig. 40. Battering-ram. ”

“ And some said, "Never was such a gathering of the heroes since the Hellenes conquered the land." But the women sighed over them, and whispered, "Alas! they are all going to the death."
Then they felled the pines on Pelion, and shaped them with the axe, and Argus taught them to build a galley, the first long ship which ever sailed the seas. They pierced her for fifty oars, an oar for each hero of the crew, and pitched her with coal-black pitch, and painted her bows with vermilion; and they named her Argo after Argus, and worked at her all day long. ”

“ He enlisted fifty men, and employed a person named Argus to build him a ship, which from him was called Argo, the adventurers being named Argonauts. The Argo is described as a pentecontoros,—that is, a vessel with fifty oars. The number of the Argonauts is usually stated at fifty, though one authority asserts that they numbered one hundred. They started from Iolcos in Thessaly, and with a south wind sailed east by north. The narrative of the expedition is full of wonders. They landed at the island of Lemnos, where they found that the women had just murdered their husbands and fathers. ”

“ As the old be left by the young: and he passed on afar, and was gone.
So when he had left the streets of the city builded fair,
To the beach Pagasaean he came, and his comrades hailed him there
In a throng abiding beside the Argo ship as she lay
By the river’s mouth, and overagainst her gathered they. {320}
And they looked, and behold, Adrastus and Argus hasting amain
Thitherward from the city, and sorely they marvelled, beholding the twain
Despite the purpose of Pelias thitherward hurrying fast.
On his shoulders a bull’s hide Argus the son of Arestor had cast,
Great, dark with the fell ”

“ The Argolid contains more than a dozen places prominent in Greek literature and in history. Among the northern mountains were Phlius, Cleonæ, and Nemea; overlooking or on the Argive Gulf were Mycenæ, the Heræum, Argos and the Larisa acropolis, Midea, Tiryns, Nauplia, and Lerna; on the eastern coast of Akte, the old name for the promontory that with other parts merged its name in that of Argos, were Epidaurus, Troezen, and Calauria, with Hermione on the south coast; and on the west side of the gulf was the narrow strip of land, Cynuria, bone of contention between Sparta and the Wolf of Argos. ”

“ For seldom ill design is schemed in vain.
So fell Argaeus by Philander's sword,
Who for Morando took the castle's lord.
XLIX
"One blow divided head and neck; for nought
Was there of helm, the warrior to defend.
Without a struggle was Argaeus brought
To his unhappy life's disastrous end,
And he who slew him never had such thought,
Nor this would have believed: to aid his friend
Intent, (strange chance!) he wrought him in that blow
The worst that could be done by mortal foe. ”

“ Agard’s country was neighbour to the Frisians, and a sad, flat country of fog and fen it was. I was with him for three years, to his death, always at his back, whether hunting swamp wolves or drinking in the great hall where Elgiva, his young wife, often sat among her women. I was with Agard in south foray with his ships along what would be now the coast of France, and there I learned that still south were warmer seasons and softer climes and women. ”

“ The party that evening consisted all of men: Francis and Angus, and a writer, James Argyle, and little Algy Constable, and tiny Louis Mee, and deaf Walter Rosen. They all snapped and rattled at one another, and were rather spiteful but rather amusing. Francis and Angus had to leave early. They had another appointment. And James Argyle got quite tipsy, and said to Aaron:
"But, my boy, don't let yourself be led astray by the talk of such people as Algy. Beware of them, my boy, if you've a soul to save. If you've a soul to save!" ”

“ The story of the voyage of the Argo is a story that will never die.
Despite their wanderings and their adventures, the Quest of the Golden Fleece remained the goal of the Argonauts. After months—or it may have been years—Jason and the heroes reached the land they sought. There they presented themselves before Æetes and demanded the Golden Fleece. ”

“ Dismay and wonder spread over the land—for a tale was told of a serpent-worm, fearful in magnitude and of monstrous form, which was seen at Spindleston, by the cave of Elgiva—the worker of wonders—the woman of power.
The people trembled. They said of the monster—“It is Agitha, the beloved!—the daughter of our king, of conquering Ethelfrith. Elgiva, the daughter of destruction, who communeth with the spirits of the air, and defeateth armies by the waving of her wand, hath done this. She hath cast her enchantments over Agitha, the fairest of women—the meekest among the daughters of princes.” ”

“ There was a strained note of cheerfulness in Algarcife's voice.
"Don't cry," he said, laying his hand upon her shoulder. "I must get the money. Father Speares will lend it to me. We will pull through all right, never fear."
Mariana rested her head upon his arm and looked up at him.
"How ill you look!" she said. "My poor boy!"
Then the baby cried, and she went back to it. As Algarcife rose from the sofa, he was seized with a sudden swimming in his head, and, to steady himself, leaned against the mantel. ”

“ The highland chiefs, on learning of Argyll's approach, made every effort to persuade Mar to risk a battle, but in fact many days before this he had made arrangements for retreat and escape as soon as the advance of Argyll should furnish him with an excuse for doing so. When Argyll was at Tullibardine, eight miles from Perth, the city was abandoned by the rebels, the bulk of whom had crossed the Tay on the ice by ten o'clock on the morning of 31 Jan., Mar and the chevalier following in the rear about noon. ”

“ As a body they normally showed themselves interested spectators; thus the chorus of Orestes enter in order to inquire of Electra concerning her sick brother. Not infrequently they do more, taking an actual share in events. At the close of Agamemnon the Argive elders are at point to do battle with Ægisthus and his henchmen; in Alcestis they join the funeral procession; at other times they aid the persons of the play, not only by misleading enemies (Choephorœ) or directing friends (Œdipus Tyrannus) but by keeping watch (Orestes) . ”

“ The tourists had all vanished. Now he overlooked the sea, where the "Golden Fleece" had dwindled to a small, black boat, riding at anchor in the Nauplian Bay; nearer was the town, with the vague menace of its Venetian fortress; but, crowding out these trivial incursions, was the great plain that rolled in from the coast-line to the spurs of the bare hills where he was perched. Argos rose from its bosom like an island—a strong place, steep and armed; far away was prehistoric Tiryns; and here beneath him, Mycenae, where Agamemnon and the Argive kings had ruled. ”