Unwounded by Eros: Athena, Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica III.32-35

 When Athena and Hera plot to help the Argonaut Jason to find the Golden Fleece, Hera recommends recruiting Aphrodite to elicit Eros' aid. 

“Juno, Father Jupiter bore me to be inexperienced with [Cupid’s] arrows,

Nor do I know any way to manage desire.

If you like this idea, then of course I will agree with it;

But you will have to do all of the talking

When you meet [with Venus].

Juno, insciam me pater genuit huius ictuum,

nec rem aliquam novi quae vim habeat demulcendi amorem.

Si autem tibi ipsi haec sententia arridet, certe ego

assensum praebitura sum; tu vero compellandi vicem geres,

ubi conveneris.

‘Ἥρη, νήιδα μέν με πατὴρ τέκε τοῖο βολάων,

οὐδέ τινα χρειὼ θελκτήριον οἶδα πόθοιο.

εἰ δέ σοι αὐτῇ μῦθος ἐφανδάνει, ἦ τ᾽ ἂν ἔγωγε

ἑσποίμην: σὺ δέ κεν φαίης ἔπος ἀντιόωσα.’

--Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica III.32-35, Translated into Latin by Joannes Shaw (1777)

APOLLO 

 Little is known of this Hellenistic poet, but what is clear is that his surviving epic, the Argonautica, was wildly influential to later epic poets. According to the Suda, he was the Director of the Library of Alexandria and was a contemporary of the poet Callimachus (α.4319).

  

Like Father, Like Son: Caeneus' son Coronus, Apollonius, Arg. I.57-64

Like Father, Like Son: Caeneus’ Son Coronus

Name:  Apollonius of Rhodes Date:    3rd century BCE Region:     Rhodes [modern Greece] Citation:   Argonautica I.57-64

…Then from opulent Gyrton came Coronus,

The son of Caeneus.  He was strong, but not stronger than his father.

For the bards declare that Caeneus (although still alive)

Was brought down by the Centaurs, 

When he alone fought them off,

Without the aid of other warriors.

They could not rout him or wound him;

But unbowed, unbroken, he went under the earth,

Struck down under the weight of the thick pines thrown atop him. 

ἤλυθε δ᾽ ἀφνειὴν προλιπὼν Γυρτῶνα Κόρωνος Καινεΐδης, ἐσθλὸς μέν, ἑοῦ δ᾽ οὐ πατρὸς ἀμείνων. Καινέα γὰρ ζῶόν περ ἔτι κλείουσιν ἀοιδοὶ Κενταύροισιν ὀλέσθαι, ὅτε σφέας οἶος ἀπ᾽ ἄλλων ἤλασ᾽ ἀριστήων:

Venit autem, opulenta relicta Gyrtone, Coronus Caenei filius: strenuus ille quidem, sed suo non magis strenuus patre. Nam Caeneum, tametsi adhuc viventem, celebrant poetae a Centauris interiisse, cum solus eos & seorsim ab aliis ducibus pepulisset,

οἱ δ᾽ ἔμπαλιν ὁρμηθέντες οὔτε μιν ἐγκλῖναι προτέρω σθένον, οὔτε δαΐξαι: ἀλλ᾽ ἄρρηκτος ἄκαμπτος ἐδύσετο νειόθι γαίης, θεινόμενος στιβαρῇσι καταΐγδην ἐλάτῃσιν.

illi vero e diverso facto impetu, neque eum ulterius incurvare possent, nec sauciare: sed infractus, inflexus, subiit terram percussus densis desuper cum impetu cadentibus abietibus. Translated into Latin by John Shaw

Apollonius of Rhodes [3rd century BCE, modern Egypt and Greece] Little is known of this Hellenistic poet, but what is clear is that his surviving epic, the Argonautica, was wildly influential to later epic poets. According to the Suda, he was the Director of the Library of Alexandria [modern Egypt] and was a contemporary of the poet Callimachus.

Sinope the Single, Apollonius Rhodes Argonautica 2.948ff

Sinope the Single

Name:  Apollonius of Rhodes Date:    3rd century BCE Region:     Rhodes [modern Greece] Citation:   Argonautica  2. 948 – 954

Then the Argonauts landed in Assyria, where Jupiter ran into

Sinope, the daughter of Asopus, and, being outfoxed,

Granted the nymph her own virginity.

For he wooed her, and in his zeal, vowed that he would give her

Whatever she wished.

And she—clever girl!—asked to be left alone.

She did the same to Apollo, who also wished to hook up with her,

And did the same to the river god Halys, too,

Nor did any man take her into his loving arms.

 

αὐτίκα δ᾽ Ἀσσυρίης ἐπέβαν χθονός, ἔνθα Σινώπην, θυγατέρ᾽ Ἀσωποῖο, καθίσσατο, καί οἱ ὄπασσεν παρθενίην Ζεὺς αὐτός, ὑποσχεσίῃσι δολωθείς. δὴ γὰρ ὁ μὲν φιλότητος ἐέλδετο: νεῦσε δ᾽ ὅγ᾽ αὐτῇ δωσέμεναι, ὅ κεν ᾗσι μετὰ φρεσὶν ἰθύσειεν. ἡ δέ ἑ παρθενίην ᾐτήσατο κερδοσύνῃσιν. ὧς δὲ καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα παρήπαφεν εὐνηθῆναι ἱέμενον, ποταμόν τ᾽ ἐπὶ τοῖς Ἅλυν: οὐδὲ μὲν ἀνδρῶν τήνγε τις ἱμερτῇσιν ἐν ἀγκοίνῃσι δάμασσεν.

Continuo autem Assyriam venerunt in terram, quo Sinopam Asopi filiam collocarat, & ei dederat virginitatem ipse Jupiter pollicitis deceptus. Ille enim amorem petebat, annuebatque ei Illud se daturum, in quod ferretur vehementiore desiderio. Haec autem virginitatem rogavit astutia sua. Similiter etiam Apollini fraudem fecit, concumbere volenti; fluvioque post hos Halyi; nec virorum aliquis hanc inter ulnas amatorias fecerat mulierem. Translated into Latin by John Shaw

Apollonius of Rhodes [3rd century BCE, modern Egypt and Greece] Little is known of this Hellenistic poet, but what is clear is that his surviving epic, the Argonautica, was wildly influential to later epic poets. According to the Suda, he was the Director of the Library of Alexandria [modern Egypt] and was a contemporary of the poet Callimachus.