nd whilst
they were engaged looking for him, the Argo set sail and left them behind.

The ship had proceeded some distance before the absence of Heracles was
observed. Some of the heroes were in favour of returning for him, others
wished to proceed on their journey, when, in the midst of the dispute, the
sea-god Glaucus arose from the waves, and informed them that it was the
will of Zeus that Heracles, having another mission to perform, should
remain behind. The Argonauts continued their voyage without their
companions; Heracles returned to Argos, whilst Polyphemus remained with the
Mysians, where he founded a city and became its king.

CONTEST WITH AMYCUS.--Next morning the Argo touched at the country of the
Bebrycians, whose king Amycus was a famous pugilist, and permitted no
strangers to leave his shores without matching their {220} strength with
his. When the heroes, therefore, demanded permission to land, they were
informed that they could only do so provided that one of their number
should engage in a boxing-match with the king. Pollux, who was the best
pugilist in Greece, was selected as their champion, and a contest took
place, which, after a tremendous struggle, proved fatal to Amycus, who had
hitherto been victorious in all similar encounters.

PHINEUS AND THE HARPIES.--They now proceeded towards Bithynia, where
reigned the blind old prophet-king Phineus, son of Agenor. Phineus had been
punished by the gods with premature old age and blindness for having abused
the gift of prophecy. He was also tormented by the Harpies, who swooped
down upon his food, which they either devoured or so defiled as to render
it unfit to be eaten. This poor old man, trembling with the weakness of
age, and faint with hunger, appeared before the Argonauts, and implored
their assistance against his fiendish tormentors, whereupon Zetes and
Calais, the winged sons of Boreas, recognizing in him the husband of their
sister Cleopatra, affectionately embraced him, and promised to rescue him
from his painful position.

The heroes prepared a banquet on the sea-shore, to which they invited
Phineus; but no sooner had he taken his place, than the Harpies appeared
and devoured all the viands. Zetes and Calais now rose up into the air,
drove the Harpies away, and were pursuing them with drawn swords, when
Iris, the swift-footed messenger of the gods, appeared, and desired them to
desist from their work of vengeance, promising that Phineus should