n in the
greatest distraction, the _Greeks_ built the ship _Argo_, and sent in it
the flower of _Greece_ to _AEetes_ in _Colchis_, and to many other Princes
on the coasts of the _Euxine_ and _Mediterranean_ seas; and this ship was
built after the pattern of an _Egyptian_ ship with fifty oars, in which
_Danaus_ with his fifty daughters a few years before fled from _Egypt_ into
_Greece_, and was the first long ship with sails built by the _Greeks_: and
such an improvement of navigation, with a design to send the flower of
_Greece_ to many Princes upon the sea-coasts of the _Euxine_ and
_Mediterranean_ seas, was too great an undertaking to be set on foot,
without the concurrence of the Princes and States of _Greece_, and perhaps
the approbation of the _Amphictyonic_ Council; for it was done by the
dictate of the Oracle. This Council met every half year upon state-affairs
for the welfare of _Greece_, and therefore knew of this expedition, and
might send the _Argonauts_ upon an embassy to the said Princes; and for
concealing their design might make the fable of the golden fleece, in
relation to the ship of _Phrixus_ whose ensign was a golden ram: and
probably their design was to notify the distraction of _Egypt_, and the
invasion thereof by the _Ethiopians_ and _Israelites_, to the said Princes,
and to persuade them to take that opportunity to revolt from _Egypt_, and
set up for themselves, and make a league with the _Greeks_: for the
_Argonauts_ went through [326] the Kingdom of _Colchis_ by land to the
_Armenians_, and through _Armenia_ to the _Medes_; which could not have
been done if they had not made friendship with the nations through which
they passed: they visited also _Laomedon_ King of the _Trojans_, _Phineus_
King of the _Thracians_, _Cyzicus_ King of the _Doliones_, _Lycus_ King of
the _Mariandyni_, the coasts of _Mysia_ and _Taurica Chersonesus_, the
nations upon the _Tanais_, the people about _Byzantium_, and the coasts of
_Epirus_, _Corsica_, _Melita_, _Italy_, _Sicily_, _Sardinia_, and _Gallia_
upon the _Mediterranean_; and from thence they [327] crossed the sea to
_Afric_, and there conferred with _Euripylus_ King of _Cyrene_: and [328]
_Strabo_ tells us that _in _Armenia_ and _Media_, and the neighbouring
places, there were frequent monuments of the expedition of _Jason_; as also
about _Sinope_, and its sea-coasts, the _Propontis_ and the _Hellespont_,
and in the _Mediterranean__: and a message by the flower o