Read Online Jason and the Argonauts by Apollonius of Rhodes - Free Book Online Page B

eager
    to satisfy your challenge on the spot.”
    Such was his blunt rejoinder, and Amycus
    35 swiveled his eyes and glared at Polydeuces,
    just as a lion wounded by a spear
    and hemmed around by men on every side
    focuses solely on the one that first
    struck him but failed to land a fatal blow.
    40 Tyndareus’ son then laid aside
    the lightweight cloak one of the girls of Lemnos
    gave him as a parting gift. Amycus
    undid, in turn, his doubly thick black mantle
    clasp by clasp and threw his notched and knotted
    45 (34) olive-wood crook of kingship to the ground.
    As soon asthey had found a spot nearby
    to function as a ring, they sat their rival
    companies separately from one another
    along the sand. The two contestants differed
    50 greatly in stature and physique: Amycus
    looked like the monstrous spawn of grim Typhoeus
    or even one of the abominations
    Earth herself had brought up long ago
    to challenge Zeus. Tyndareus’ son,
    55 in contrast, shimmeredlike the star of heaven
    that shoots its brightest beams against the darkness
    at evening time. Yes, he was Zeus’ son—
    a soft down sprouting on his cheeks, his eyes
    aglint with joy, he gloried like a beast
    60 (45) in godlike strength. Whereas he shadowboxed
    to prove his fists were sportive as before
    and not benumbed by handling an oar,
    Amycus scorned such exercise. He simply
    stood there in silence, glaring at his foe,
    65 heart pounding with the urge to shatter ribs
    and spatter blood.
    Amycus’ assistant
    Lycoreus set down before their feet
    two pairs of tanned and toughened rawhide straps.
    Haughtily, then, the king addressed his rival:
    70 “No need to bother drawing lots. Go on
    and pick whichever set of straps you like—
    that way you cannot say I tricked you later.
    Go on, now, wrap them round your hands and then
    learn well and tell all other men how skilled
    75 (58) I am at toughening and cutting ox hide
    and spattering the cheeks of men with blood.”
    So spoke the braggart king. But Polydeuces
    did not respond in kind, no, he just smiled
    and chose the straps that lay before his feet.
    80 Castor and Talaus the son of Bias
    jogged in and tied the straps on, all the while
    pumping him up with fervor for the match.
    Aretus and Ornytus did the same
    for King Amycus, nor did they suspect,
    85 poor fools, his highness was a doomed man facing
    his final match.
    Soon as the straps were wrapped
    around their hands, they squared off toe-to-toe,
    hefted their huge fists up before their faces,
    and charged in, bringing all their weight to bear
    90 (70) each on the other.On a choppy sea
    a violent wave will rear above a ship,
    then, just as it is poised to swamp the deck,
    the helmsman’s skill will save her by a hairsbreadth,
    and off she glides unscathed. Just so Amycus
    95 pounded and pounded and allowed no respite,
    while Polydeuces with superior skill
    baffled the onslaught and remained uninjured.
    Once he had learned the strengths and weaknesses
    of his opponent’s brutish fighting style,
    100 he stood his ground and gave him blow for blow.
    Imagine shipwrights’ hammers, how they pound
    tapering dowels into sturdy planks—
    the thumping sounds incessantly—that’s how
    the cheeks and chins of both opponents sounded.
    105 (83) Teeth shattering with constant horrid cracks,
    the men did not stop pummeling each other
    until sheer lack of breath had overcome them.
    They drew apart a spell and, panting, woozy,
    wiped streams of perspiration from their brows.
    110 Soon, though, they charged again, like bulls in heat
    fighting to win a pasture-fattened heifer.
    Amycus stretched his torso, stood on tiptoe
    like a butcher poised to slay an ox,
    then brought the weighty bottom of his fist
    115 hammering down. But Polydeuces tilted
    his head in time and dodged the brunt of it.
    The heavy blow went glancing off his shoulder.
    Then Polydeuces leaned in closer, locked
    his leg behind his foe’s, and with a swift