crushing whatever may be between. Yea, if Argo were of iron, and
if she were between these rocks when they met, she would be
crushed to bits. I have sailed as far as that passage, but seeing
The Clashers strike together I turned back my ship, and journeyed
as far as the Sea of Pontus overland.

"But I have been told of one who knows how a ship may be taken
through the passage that The Clashers make so perilous. He who
knows is a king hereabouts, Phineus, who has made himself as wise
as the gods. To no one has Phineus told how the passage may be
made, but knowing what high favor has been shown to us, the
Argonauts, it may be that he will tell us."

So Tiphys said, and Jason commanded him to steer the Argo toward
the city where ruled Phineus, the wise king.

To Salmydessus, then, where Phineus ruled, Tiphys steered the
Argo. They left Heracles with Tiphys aboard to guard the ship,
and, with the rest of the heroes, Jason went through the streets
of the city. They met many men, but when they asked any of them
how they might come to the palace of King Phineus the men turned
fearfully away.

They found their way to the king's palace. Jason spoke to the
servants and bade them tell the king of their coming. The
servants, too, seemed fearful, and as Jason and his comrades were
wondering what there was about him that made men fearful at his
name, Phineus, the king, came amongst them.

Were it not that he had a purple border to his robe no one would