The next morning the Argonauts set off on their further journey. Soon they arrived at the shores of Thrace. The heroes went ashore to replenish their supplies. On the seashore they saw a house and went to it. A blind old man came out of the house to meet the Argonauts; he could barely stand on his feet and his whole body was shaking from weakness. Having reached the threshold of his house, the elder sank to the ground in exhaustion. The Argonauts picked him up, and a feeling of pity took possession of them. From the words of the elder, they learned that this was Phineas, the son of Agenor, who had previously been the king of Thrace. But Apollo punished Phineus for abusing the gift of divination received from Apollo and revealing to people the secrets of Zeus. Apollo struck Phineus with blindness, and the gods sent harpies, half-maidens, half-birds, to Phineus, who, flying into his house, devoured all the food and spread a terrible stench throughout the house. The gods revealed to Phineus that he would get rid of this punishment of the gods only when the Argonauts arrived to him, among whom would be the two winged sons of Boreas, Zetus and Kalaid. Phineus began to beg the heroes to free him from the disaster, he begged the Boreads to drive out the harpies; after all, he was no stranger to the Boreads - he was married to their sister Cleopatra.
The heroes agreed to help Phineus. They prepared a rich meal, but as soon as Phineas lay down at the table to satisfy his hunger, the harpies swooped in and, not paying attention to the cries of the Argonauts, devoured all the food, spreading a terrible stench throughout the house; then the harpies rose up and rushed out of Phineus’s house. The boreads chased after them on their mighty wings. They pursued the harpies for a long time and finally overtook them at the Plotian Islands. The Boreads drew their swords and were about to strike the harpies, when suddenly the messenger of the gods, Iris, arrived on her rainbow wings from high Olympus. She stopped the Boreads and said that the gods had commanded the harpies not to return to Phineas again. The Boreads flew back to Thrace.
Since then, the Plotian rocks began to be called Strophadas, i.e. islands of return.
As soon as the harpies, pursued by the Boreads, flew away, the Argonauts prepared a new meal for Phineus, and the old man could finally satisfy his terrible hunger. During the meal, Phineus revealed to the Argonauts what other dangers awaited them on the way to Colchis and gave them advice on how to overcome them. Phineus also advised the heroes, upon arrival in Colchis, to call upon golden Aphrodite for help, since only she could help Jason obtain the Golden Fleece. The Argonauts listened attentively to the prophetic elder, trying to remember everything he told them.
Soon the Boreads also returned and told how they had pursued the harpies. The elderly Phineas rejoiced when he learned that he was forever freed from the appearance of harpies.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru