from the lake by the use of oars. And
eagerly they sped on; meanwhile Triton took up the mighty tripod, and
they saw him enter the lake; but thereafter did no one mark how he
vanished so near them along with the tripod. But their hearts were
cheered, for that one of the blessed had met them in friendly guise. And
they bade Aeson's son offer to him the choicest of the sheep and when he
had slain it chant the hymn of praise. And straightway he chose in haste
and raising the victim slew it over the stern, and prayed with these
words:

(ll. 1597-1600) "Thou god, who hast manifested thyself on the borders of
this land, whether the daughters born of the sea call thee Triton, the
great sea-marvel, or Phoreys, or Nereus, be gracious, and grant the
return home dear to our hearts."

(ll. 1601-1637) He spake, and cut the victim's throat over the water and
cast it from the stern. And the god rose up from the depths in form such
as he really was. And as when a man trains a swift steed for the broad
race-course, and runs along, grasping the bushy mane, while the steed
follows obeying his master, and rears his neck aloft in his pride, and
the gleaming bit rings loud as he champs it in his jaws from side to
side; so the god, seizing hollow Argo's keel, guided her onward to the
sea. And his body, from the crown of his head, round his back and waist
as far as the belly, was wondrously like that of the blessed ones in
form; but below his sides the tail of a sea monster lengthened far,
forking to this side and that; and he smote the surface of the waves
with the spines, which below parted into curving fins, like the horns
of the new moon. And he guided Argo on until he sped her into the sea on
her course; and quickly he plunged into the vast abyss; and the heroes
shouted when they gazed with their eyes on that dread portent. There is
the harbour of Argo and there are the signs of her stay, and altars to
Poseidon and Triton; for during that day they tarried. But at dawn with
sails outspread they sped on before the breath of the west wind, keeping
the desert land on their right. And on the next morn they saw the
headland and the recess of the sea, bending inward beyond the jutting
headland. And straightway the west wind ceased, and there came the
breeze of the clear south wind; and their hearts rejoiced at the sound
it made. But when the sun sank and the star returned that bids the
shepherd fold, which brings rest to wearied ploughmen, at