This Defence We Shall Borrow
From A Name Deservedly High Among Those Who Have Successfully Illustrated
Ancient Geography, For The Happy And Successful Mutual Adaptation Of Great
Learning And Sound Judgment, And Not Less Worthy Of Respect And Imitation
For His Candour And Liberality:
We allude to Dr. Vincent, the illustrator
of the Voyage of Nearchus, and the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.
"The reality of the Argonautic expedition, (he observes in the Preliminary
Disquisition to the latter work), has been questioned; but if the
primordial history of every nation but one is tinctured with the fabulous,
and if from among the rest a choice is necessary to be made, it must be
allowed that the traditions of Greece are less inconsistent than those of
the more distant regions of the earth. Oriental learning is now employed in
unravelling the mythology of India, and recommending it as containing the
seeds of primaeval history; but hitherto we have seen nothing that should
induce us to relinquish the authority we have been used to respect, or to
make us prefer the fables of the Hindoos or Guebres, to the fables of the
Greeks. Whatever difficulties may occur in the return of the Argonauts,
their voyage to Colchis is consistent: it contains more real geography than
has yet been discovered in any record of the Bramins or the Zendevesta, and
is truth itself, both geographical and historical, when compared with the
portentous expedition of Ram to Ceylon."
In discussing the subject of the Argonautic expedition, we shall
successively consider its probable era - its supposed object - the voyage to
Colchis, and the various tracks by which the Argonauts are said to have
returned.
I. Archbishop Usher fixes the era of this expedition at about 1280 years
before Christ: Sir Isaac Newton, on the other hand, fixes it much later,
about 937 years before Christ. His opinion is grounded principally on a
supposition, that the Greek sphere was invented by two of the Argonauts,
who delineated the expedition under the name of Argo, one of the
constellations. And as the equinoctial colure passed through the middle of
Aries, when that sphere was constructed, he infers, by calculations of
their retrograde motion from their place then till the year A.D. 1690, that
the expedition took place in 937 before Christ. To this, however, there
seem to be insurmountable objections, which it is surprising did not occur
to this great man. The chief star in Argo is only 37 degrees from the south
pole; and the greatest part of the constellation is much nearer. The course
of the Argonauts from Greece to Colchis, necessarily lay between 39 and 45
degrees of north latitude. It will be evident to any person acquainted with
astronomy, that within these latitudes no star of the first magnitude, or
such as would attract observation, especially in those times, could be
visible. But, what is still more decisive against the whole of Sir Isaac
Newton's hypothesis, he takes for granted that the sphere was invented by
the Argonauts: if this indeed could be proved, it would be easy to fix the
era of the Argonautic expedition; but till such proof is given, all that
can be fairly inferred from an inspection of this sphere is, that it was
constructed 937 years before Christ. We have dwelt upon this point,
because, thinking that the Argonautic expedition was not nearly so late as
Newton supposes, we hence regard it as, proportionally to its antiquity,
more creditable to the Greeks, and a stronger proof of their advancement in
maritime skill and enterprize.
II. Its alleged object was the Golden Fleece: what that actually was can
only be conjectured; - that no commercial advantages would tempt the people
of that age is obvious, when we reflect on their habits and manners; - that
the precious metals would be a powerful attraction, and would be regarded
as cheaply acquired by the most hazardous enterprizes, is equally obvious.
If Sir Walter Raleigh, sound as he was for his era in the science of
political economy, was so far ignorant of the real wealth of nations, as to
be disappointed when he did not find El Dorado in America, though that
country contained much more certain and abundant sources of wealth, - can we
be surprized if the Greeks, at the time of the Argonautic expedition, could
be stimulated to such an enterprize, only by the hope of obtaining the
precious metals? It may, indeed, be contended that plunder was their
object; but it does not seem likely that they would have ventured to such a
distance from Greece, or on a navigation which they knew to be difficult
and dangerous, as well as long, for the sake of plunder, when there were
means and opportunities for it so much nearer home. We must equally reject
the opinion of Suidas, that the Golden Fleece was a parchment book, made of
sheep-skin, which contained the whole secret of transmuting all metals into
gold; and the opinion of Varro, that the Argonauts went to obtain skins and
other rich furs, which Colchis furnished in abundance. And the remarks
which we have made, also apply against the opinion of Eustathius, that the
voyage of the Argonauts was at once a commercial and maritime expedition,
to open the commerce of the Euxine Sea, and to establish forts on its
shore.
Having rendered it probable, from general considerations, that the object
was the obtaining of the precious metals, we shall next proceed to
strengthen this opinion, by showing that they were the produce of the
country near the Black Sea. The gold mines to the south of Trebizond, which
are still worked with sufficient profit, were a subject of national dispute
between Justinian and Chozroes; and, as Gibbon remarks, "it is not
unreasonable to believe that a vein of precious metal may be equally
diffused through the circle of the hills." On what account these mines were
shadowed out under the appellation of a Golden Fleece, it is not easy to
explain.
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