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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7452688 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #64235 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64235) diff --git a/old/64235-0.txt b/old/64235-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 6a753e5..0000000 --- a/old/64235-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7879 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Tale of the Argonauts, by Apollonius -Rhodius - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Tale of the Argonauts - -Author: Apollonius Rhodius - -Editor: Israel Gollancz - -Translator: Arthur S. Way - -Release Date: January 08, 2021 [eBook #64235] -[Most recently updated: April 27, 2022] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: David Thomas - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF THE ARGONAUTS *** - - The Tale of the Argonauts - - By - Apollonius of Rhodes - - Translated into English Verse by - Arthur S. Way - - Edited by - Israel Gollancz, M.A. - - Published by J.M. Dent and Co. - Aldine House, London W.C. - 1901 - - - [image: "Argo between Scylla and Charybdis"] - - - CONTENTS - - The Tale of the Argonauts - THE FIRST BOOK - THE SECOND BOOK - THE THIRD BOOK - THE FOURTH BOOK - - Editor's Note - The Translator's Epilogue - Footnotes - - - The Tale of the Argonauts - - THE FIRST BOOK - - FIRST in my song shalt thou be, O Phœbus, the song that I sing - Of the heroes of old, who sped, at the hest of Pelias the king, - When down through the gorge of the Pontus-sea, through the Crags - Dark-blue, - On the Quest of the Fleece of Gold the strong-ribbed Argo flew. - For an oracle came unto Pelias, how that in days to be - A terrible doom should be dealt him of him whom his eyes should see - From the field coming in, with the one foot only sandal-shod. - Nor long thereafter did Jason fulfil the word of the God: - For in wading the rush of Amaurus swollen with winter-tide rain - One sandal plucked he forth of the mire, but the one was he fain {10} - To leave in the depths, for the swirl of the waters to sweep to the - main. - Straightway to the presence of Pelias he came, and his hap was to - light - On a banquet, the which unto Father Poseidon the king had dight, - And the rest of the Gods, but Pelasgian Hêrê he heeded not. - And the king beheld him, and straightway laid for his life the plot, - And devised for him toil of a troublous voyage, that lost in the sea, - Or lost amid alien men his home-return might be. - Of the ship and her fashioning, bards of the olden time have told - How Argus wrought, how Athênê made him cunning-souled. - But now be it mine the lineage and names of her heroes to say, {20} - And to tell of the long sea-paths whereover they needs must stray, - And the deeds that they wrought:--may the Muses vouchsafe to inspire - the lay. - Of Orpheus first will I sing, of the child that Calliopê bare, - As telleth the tale, for she loved Oeagrus, Thracia's heir. - By the peak Pimplean was born the Song-queen's wondrous child; - For they tell how he charmed by the voice of his song on the - mountains wild - The stubborn rocks into life, made rivers their flowing refrain, - And the wildwood oaks this day be memorials of that weird strain; - For they burgeon and bloom by Zonê yet on the Thracian shore, - Ranked orderly line upon line, the selfsame trees which of yore, {30} - Spell-drawn by his lyre, from Pieria followed the minstrel on. - Such an one was the Orpheus that Aison's son for a helper won - For his high emprise, when he followed the pointing of Cheiron's - hand,-- - Orpheus, who ruled o'er the Bistonid folk in Pieria-land. - And swiftly Asterion came, whom Komêtês begat by the side - Of Apidanus, there where his seaward-swirling waters glide; - In Peiresiae he dwelt, anigh to Phyllêion's leafy crest. - Mighty Apidanus, sacred Enipeus, have thitherward pressed - To mingle the waters, far-severed that rise from the earth's deep - breast. - Polyphemus forsook Larissa, and unto Jason he sought; {40} - Eilatus' son: in his youth mid the Lapithan heroes he fought. - When the Lapithans armed them for fight, when the Centaur host they - quelled, - Their youngest he was; but now were his limbs sore burdened with eld. - Yet even as of old his heart with the spirit of battle swelled. - Nor in Phylakê Iphiklus tarried to waste an inglorious life, - Uncle of Aison's child, for that Aison had taken to wife - His sister the Phylakid maiden Alkimêdê: wherefore strong - Was the love of his kin to constrain him to join that hero-throng. - Neither Admêtus in Pherae, the goodly land of sheep, - In his palace would tarry beneath Chalkodon's mountain-steep. {50} - Neither in Alopê tarried Echion and Erytus, sons - Of Hermes, wealthy in corn-land, crafty-hearted ones. - And their kinsman, the third with these, came forth, on the Quest - as they hied, - Aithalides: where the streams of Amphrysus softly slide, - Him Eupolemeia the Phthian, Myrmidon's daughter, bare, - But offspring of Antianeira the Menetid those twain were. - Came thither Korônus, forsaking Gyrton the wealthy town: - Right valiant was Kaineus' son, yet he passed not his father's - renown. - For of Kaineus the poets have sung, how smitten of Centaurs he died, - Who could not be slain, when alone in his prowess, with none beside, - {60} - He drave them before him in rout, but they rallied, and charged - afresh, - Yet availed not their fury to thrust him aback, nor to pierce his - flesh; - But unconquered, unflinching, down to the underworld he passed, - Battered from life by the storm of the massy pines that they cast. - And came Titaresian Mopsus withal, unto whom was given - Of Lêto's son above all men the lore of the birds of the heaven. - And there was Eurydamas, Ktimenus' son, which dwelt in the land - Of Dolopian folk: by the Xynian mere did his palace stand. - And from Opus Menoitius fared at Aktor his father's behest - To the end he might go with the chieftains of men on the glorious - Quest. {70} - And Eurytion hath followed with these; Eribôtes the mighty is gone, - This, Teleon's scion, and that, of Irus, Aktor's son; - For in sooth it was Teleon begat Eribôtes the glory-crowned, - And Irus, Eurytion. With these was a third, Oïleus, found, - Peerless in manhood, exceeding cunning to follow the flight - Of the foe, when the reeling battalions were shattered before his - might. - Came the son of Kanêthus the scion of Abas; with eager speed - Came Kanthus forth of Eubœa: it was not fate-decreed - That again he should turn and behold Kerinthus, for doomed was he, - Even he and Mopsus withal, the wise in augury, {80} - To perish in Libya, lost in the waste of a wide sand-sea. - Sooth, never was mischief removed too far to be found of the doomed; - Forasmuch as in Libya's desert were even these entombed, - As far from the Kolchian land as the space outstretched between - The sun's uprising, and where the setting thereof is seen. - And Klytius and Iphitus gathered to that great mustering, - Oichalia's warders, children of Eurytus, ruthless king, - Who received of Far-smiter a bow; but he had no profit thereof, - For in archery-skill with the giver's self he wantonly strove. - And with these fared Aiakus' sons, yet not from the selfsame place, - {90} - Nor together, for far had they wandered away from the home of their - race, - Aegina, what time in their folly the blood of their brother they - spilt, - Even Phokus: to Salamis Telamon bare his burden of guilt: - But Peleus roved till in Phthia the halls of the outcast he built. - And with these from Kekropia Boutes, a lord of battle-fame, - Stout Teleon's son, and Phalêrus the mighty spearman came. - It was Alkon his father that sent him forth: no sons save him - Had the ancient to cherish his age and his light of life grown dim: - Yet, albeit his only-begotten he was, and the last of his line, - He sent him, that so amidst valour of heroes his prowess should - shine. {100} - But Theseus, of all the sons of Erechtheus most renowned, - At Tainarum under the earth by an unseen fetter was bound. - For he trod the Path of Fear with Peirithoüs; else that Quest - By the might of these had been lightlier compassed of all the rest. - And Tiphys, Hagnias' son, hath forsaken the Thespians that dwell - In the city of Siphas: of all men keenest was he to foretell - The wrath of the waves on the broad sea, keen to foreknow from afar - The blasts of the storm, and to guide the galley by sun and by star. - 'Twas Athênê Tritonis herself that made him eager-souled - To join that muster of heroes that longed his face to behold; {110} - For she fashioned the sea-swift ship, and Argus but wrought as she - planned, - Arestor's son, for the Goddess's counsels guided his hand: - Therefore amongst all ships unmatched was the ship that he made, - Even all that with swinging oars the paths of the sea have essayed. - Came Phlias withal from Araithyriae to essay the Quest, - From a wealthy home, for the toil of his hands had the Wine-god - blessed, - His father, where welleth Asôpus up from the green hill's breast. - From Argos did sons of Bias, Arêius and Talaus, come, - And mighty Laodokus, fruit of Nêleus' daughter's womb, - Even Pero, for whose sake Aiolus' scion Melampus bore {120} - In Iphiklus' steading affliction of bonds exceeding sore. - Nor yet did the prowess of mighty-hearted Herakles fail - The longing of Aison's son for his helping, as telleth the tale. - But as soon as the flying rumour of gathering heroes he heard, - He turned from the track that he trod from Arcadia Argos-ward, - On the path that he paced as he bare that boar alive from the glen - Of Lampeia, wherein he had battened, the vast Erymanthian fen. - At the entering-in of Mycenae's market-stead he cast - From his mighty shoulders the beast, as he writhed in his bonds - knit fast: - But himself of his own will, thrusting Eurystheus' purpose aside, - {130} - Hasted away; and Hylas, his henchman true and tried, - Which bare his arrows and warded his bow, with the hero hath hied. - Therewithal hath the scion of god-descended Danaus gone, - Nauplius, born unto King Klytonêus, Naubolus' son; - And of Lernus Naubolus sprang; and Lernus, as bards have told, - Of Proitus, Nauplius' son; and unto Poseidon of old - Amymônê, Danaus' daughter, who couched in the God's embrace, - Bare Nauplius, chief in the seafarer's craft of the Earth-born race. - Last cometh Idmon the seer, of all that in Argos dwell, - Cometh knowing the doom he hath heard the birds of heaven foretell, - {140} - Lest the people should haply begrudge him a hero's glorious fame: - Yet not of the very loins of Abas the doomed seer came; - But the son of Lêto begat him to share the noble name - Of Aetolia's sons, and in prophecy-lore he made him wise, - And in signs of the fowl of the heaven and tokens 'mid flame that - rise. - Polydeukes the strong did Aetolia's Princess Leda speed - From Sparta, and Kastor cunning to rein the fleetfoot steed. - These twain in Tyndareus' palace, her dearly-beloved, her pride, - That lady at one birth bare; howbeit she nowise denied - Their prayer to depart, for her spirit was worthy of Zeus' bride. - {150} - Apharetus' children, Lynkeus and Idas the arrogant-souled, - From Arênê went forth: in their prowess exceeding were these - overbold, - Even both; but Lynkeus for eyes of keenest ken was renowned, - If in sooth that story be true, that, though one lay underground, - Yet lightly of Lynkeus' eyes should the gloom-swathed corpse be - found. - And with these Periklymenus Neleus' son was enkindled to fare, - Eldest of all the sons that the Lady of Pylos bare - Unto Neleus the godlike; and might unmeasured Poseidon gave - To the prince, and a boon moreover, that whatso shape he should - crave, - That, as he fought in the shock of the meeting ranks, he should - have. {160} - From Arcadia Amphidamas and Kepheus came for the Quest, - Who were dwellers in Tegea-town, and the land that Apheidas - possessed, - Two scions of Aleus; yea and a third followed even as they went, - Ankaius: Lykurgus his father was minded the lad to have sent, - Being elder brother to these, but himself was constrained to stay - In the city with Aleus, tending the dear head silver-grey. - Howbeit in charge to his brethren twain he gave the lad. - So he went, and the fell of a bear Maenalian for buckler he had, - And a battle-axe huge his right hand swung; for his armour of fight - Had his old grandsire in a secret chamber hidden from sight, {170} - If haply so he might cripple the wings of the eagle's flight. - Fared thither Augeias; they named him in songs of the olden day - The Sun-god's child, and the hero in Elis-land bare sway - In pride of his wealth: but he longed to behold the Kolchian coast, - And to look upon mighty Aiêtes the lord of the Kolchian host. - Asterius came, and Amphion, the sons that a fair queen bore, - When Pellênê's king Hyperasius dwelt in the city of yore - By Pelles their grandsire built 'neath the cliffs of Achaia's shore. - Euphêmus from Tainarus came to be joined to their company, - Europê's child; and the swiftest of all men on Earth was he: {180} - For the daughter of Tityos the giant couched in Poseidon's embrace; - And this their son would run o'er the grey sea's weltering face, - Neither sank in the surge his fast-flying steps, but, with footsole - alone - Bedewed with the spray, on his watery path was he wafted on. - Sons of Poseidon beside him withal two other came, - One leaving Miletus afar, the city of haughty fame, - Even Erginus, and one from Imbrasian Hêrê's fane - Parthenia, Ankaius the mighty; and men of renown were the twain - In the craft of the sea, and withal in the toil of the battle-strain. - Hasting from Kalydon Oineus' son to their muster hath hied, {190} - Meleager the stalwart; and there was Laocoön still at his side, - Brother to Oineus; but not of the selfsame womb were they, - For a handmaid bare him; and him, though flecked was his hair with - grey, - For guide and for guard to his son hath Oineus the old king sent. - So it fell that a beardless lad to the valorous gathering went - Of heroes; yet no man of all that came had the deeds outdone - Of the lad, save Herakles, if that he might but have tarried on - One year mid Aetolia's sons, till he grew to his strength, I ween. - Yea, and his mother's brother, a javelin-hurler keen, - And a warrior tried, when foot is set against foot in the fray, {200} - Iphiklus, Thestius' scion, trod the selfsame way. - Came Palaimonius, whose grandsire was Olenius, and his sire - Lernus in name; but in birth was he child of the Lord of Fire: - Wherefore he halted in either foot; but his bodily frame - And his prowess might no man contemn, for which cause also his name - Was found with the mighty who won for Jason deathless fame. - Came Iphitus, Ornytus' son, from Phokis withal for the Quest, - Of Naubolus' line: in the days overpast was Jason his guest, - What time unto Pytho he fared to inquire of the high Gods' doom - Touching the Quest; for he welcomed him then in his mountain home. - {210} - And Zetes and Kalais withal, the North-wind's children, were there, - Whom Oreithyia, Erechtheus' daughter, to Boreas bare - In the uttermost part of wintry Thrace; for the God swooped down, - And the Thracian North-wind snatched her away from Kekrops' town, - Even as she whirled in the dance on the lawn by Ilissus' flow. - And he brought her afar to the place where standeth the crag men know - For the Rock of Sarpedon, whereby doth Erginus the river glide: - And he shrouded her round with viewless clouds, and he made her his - bride. - And lo, on the ankles of these did quivering pinions unfold, - Strong wings, as in air they upleapt, a marvel great to behold, {220} - Gleaming with golden scales; and about their shoulders strayed, - Down-streaming from neck and from head in the glory of youth arrayed, - Dark tresses that tossed in the rushing breezes amidst them that - played. - Yea, and Akastus, his own son, had no will to abide - That day with his mighty sire in the halls of Pelias' pride. - Nor would Argus be left, who had wrought as Athênê guided his hand; - But these twain needs must be numbered too with the glorious band. - This is the tale of the helpers with Aison's son that were found: - These be the men whom the folk, even all which dwelt around, - Called ever the Minyan Chiefs: for of those that went on the Quest - {230} - Born of the daughters of Minyas' blood were the most and the best. - Yea, she which had borne this Jason to emprise perilous-wild, - Alkimedê, also was daughter of Klymenê, Minyas' child. - Now when all things ready were made by the hands of many a thrall, - Even whatso the galley for sea ready-dight should be furnished - withal, - When traffic lureth the shipmen afar to an alien land, - Then through the city they passed to their ship, where she lay on - the strand - Which is called Magnesian Pagasae. Ever, as onward they strode, - To right and to left a mingled multitude ran: but they showed - Radiant amidst them as stars amid clouds; and some 'gan cry, {240} - As they gazed on the glorious forms that in harness of war swept by: - 'What is in Pelias' thoughts, King Zeus, that so goodly a band - Of heroes is hurled by him forth of the Panachaian land? - In the day of their coming with ravening fire the halls shall they - fill - Of Aiêtes, except he shall yield them the Fleece of his own good - will. - But a long way lieth between, unaccomplished yet is the toil.' - So spake they on this side and that through the city: the women - the while, - Heavenward uplifting their hands, to the Gods that abide for aye - Made vehement prayer for the heart's delight of the homecoming day. - And one to another made answer, and moaned, as her tears fell fast: - {250} - 'Hapless Alkimedê, thee too evil hath found at the last; - Nor to thee was vouchsafed amid bliss to the end of thy days to - attain! - Woe's me for Aison the ill-starred!--verily this had been gain - For him, if rolled in his shroud before this woeful day, - Deep under Earth, with the cup of affliction untasted, he lay: - And O that the darkling surge, when Hellê the maiden died, - Had whelmed down Phrixus too with the ram!--but a man's voice cried - From the throat of the monster, the portent accurst, that so it - might doom - For Alkimedê sorrow and griefs untold in the days to come.' - So 'mid the moan of the women marched the heroes along. {260} - And by this were the thralls and the handmaids gathered in one - great throng. - Then fell on his neck his mother, and sharply the anguish-thorn - Pierced each soft breast, the while his father, the eld-forlorn, - Close-swathed as a corpse on his bed, lay groaning and groaning - again. - But the hero essayed to hush their laments and assuage their pain - With words of cheer, and he spake, 'Take up my war-array,' - To the thralls, and with downcast eyes did these in silence obey. - But his mother, as round her child her arms at the first she had - flung, - So clave she, and wept without stint: as the motherless maiden she - clung, - Whose forlorn little arms clasp fondly her grey old nurse, when the - tide {270} - Cometh up of her woe:--she hath no one to love her nor comfort - beside; - And a weary lot is hers 'neath a stepdame's tyrannous sway, - Who with bitter revilings evil-entreateth her youth alway: - And her heart as she waileth is cramped as by chains in her frenzied - despair, - That she cannot sob forth the anguish that struggleth for utterance - there: - So stintlessly wept Alkimedê, so in her arms did she strain - Her son; and she cried from the depths of her love and her yearning - pain: - 'Oh, that on that same day when I, the affliction-oppressed, - Hearkened the voice of Pelias the king, and his evil behest, - I had yielded up the ghost, and forgotten to mourn and to weep, {280} - That thyself, that thine own dear hands, in the grave might have - laid me to sleep, - O my beloved!--for this was the one wish unfulfilled: - But with other thy nursing-dues long had mine heart in contentment - been stilled. - And I, of Achaia's daughters the envied in days that are gone, - Like a bondwoman now in tenantless halls shall be left alone, - Pining, a hapless mother, in yearning for thee, my pride - And exceeding delight in the days overpast, for whom I untied - For the first time and last my zone; for to me beyond others the - doom - Of the stern Birth-goddess begrudged abundant fruit of the womb. - Ah me for my blindness of heart!--not once, not in dreams, might I - see {290} - The vision of Phrixus' deliverance turned to a curse for me!' - So mourned she, and ever she moaned amidst of her speech, and - thereby - Stood her handmaids, and echoed her wail, an exceeding bitter cry. - But the hero with gentle words for her comfort made answer, and - spake: - 'Fill me not thus overmeasure with anguish of soul for thy sake, - Mother mine, forasmuch as from evil thou shalt not redeem me so - By thy tears, but shalt add the rather woe unto weight of woe. - For the Gods mete out unto mortals afflictions unforeseen: - Wherefore be strong to endure their doom, though thine anguish be - keen. - Take comfort to think that Athênê hereunto our courage hath stirred: - {300} - Remember the oracles: call to remembrance how good was the word - Of Phœbus: be glad for this hero-array for mine help that is come. - Now, mother, do thou with thine handmaids in quiet abide in thine - home, - Neither be as a bird ill-omened to bode my ship ill-speed; - And escort of clansmen and thralls thy son to the galley shall lead.' - So spake he, and turned him, and forth of his halls his way hath he - ta'en. - And as goeth Apollo forth of his incense-bearing fane, - Through Delos the hallowed, or Klaros, or Pytho the place of his - shrine, - Or Lycia the wide, where the waters of Xanthus ripple and shine, - So seemed he, as onward he pressed through the throng, and a loud - acclaim {310} - Of their mingled cheering arose. And there met him an ancient dame, - Iphias, priestess of Artemis warder of tower and wall. - At his right hand caught she, and kissed it, but spake no word at - all, - For she could not, how fain soe'er, so pressed the multitude on; - And she drifted away to the fringe of the crowd, and was left alone, - As the old be left by the young: and he passed on afar, and was gone. - So when he had left the streets of the city builded fair, - To the beach Pagasaean he came, and his comrades hailed him there - In a throng abiding beside the Argo ship as she lay - By the river's mouth, and overagainst her gathered they. {320} - And they looked, and behold, Adrastus and Argus hasting amain - Thitherward from the city, and sorely they marvelled, beholding the - twain - Despite the purpose of Pelias thitherward hurrying fast. - On his shoulders a bull's hide Argus the son of Arestor had cast, - Great, dark with the fell; but the prince in a mantle fair was - arrayed, - Twofold: Pelopeia his sister the gift in his hand had laid. - Howbeit Jason forbare to ask them of this or of that; - But he bade them for council sit them down where the others sat. - So there upon folded sails, and the mast as it lay along, - Row upon row were the heroes sitting all in a throng; {330} - And to these of his heart's good will the son of Aison spake: - 'What things soever it needeth that sea-bound galleys should take, - All this ready dight for our going lieth in seemly array. - Wherefore for these things' sake will we make no longer delay - From our sailing, so soon as the breezes but blow for the voyage - begun. - But, friends--since in hope for the home-return to our land we be - one, - And one in the way we must take to Aiêtes, the path of the Quest, - Therefore do ye now choose with hearts ungrudging our best - To be chief and captain, to order all our goings aright, - To take on him our quarrels with aliens, and pledge our - covenant-plight.' {340} - He spake, and the youths upon valiant Herakles turned their eyes, - As he sat in their midst, and from all the heroes did one shout rise, - Crying 'Our captain be thou!'--but not from his place he stirred; - But he stretched his right hand forth, and he answered and spake - the word: - 'Let no man offer this honour to me: I will nowise consent; - And if any man else would arise, I will also withstand his intent. - The selfsame man who assembled our band, let him too lead.' - He spake in his greatness of soul, and they shouted, praising the - rede - Of Herakles: then did Jason the warrior wight rejoice; - And he sprang to his feet, and he spake in their midst with eager - voice: {350} - 'If indeed ye be minded on me this glorious charge to cast, - Let our voyaging tarry no more; suffice the delays overpast. - But now, even now, let us offer to Phœbus the sacrifice meet, - And prepare us a feast even here; and, while yet tarry the feet - Of my thralls, overseers of my steading, which bear in charge my - command - Fitly to choose for us beasts from the herd, and to drive to the - strand, - We will launch on the sea our ship, we will set up her tackling - therein, - And thwart by thwart cast lots for the place each oarsman shall win. - To Apollo, the Seafarers' Saviour, uppile we then on the beach - An altar; for whatso I needs must do hath he promised to teach, {360} - And to show us the paths of the sea, if first with sacrifice - I seek unto him, or ever I strive with the king for the prize.' - So spake he, and turned him first to the work; and, his call to - obey, - The heroes arose, and their garments row upon row heaped they - On a smooth rock-shelf: the waves of the sea beat not thereon; - But the dash of the stormy brine had cleansed it long agone. - Then, giving heed to the counsels of Argus, stoutly they braced - The ship with a hawser deftly twisted that girded her waist; - For they strained it from side to side, that the beams to the bolts - might hold - Fast, and withstand the might of the meeting surge on-rolled. {370} - And a trench, in compass as great as the width of the galley, they - delved; - And overagainst her prow to the sea so far it shelved - As the space that the hull should run, by the might of their hands - on-sped: - And deepening ever afront of her stern they scooped that bed. - And smoothly-shaven rollers they laid in the furrow arow. - Then down on the foremost rollers slowly they tilted her prow, - That adown them one after other with one smooth rush she might slide. - Thereafter above did they pass the oars from side to side; - To the tholes did they lash them, outstanding a cubit on either hand; - And to right of the ship and to left at these did they take their - stand; {380} - And with chest and with hands against them they bare, and to and fro - Went Tiphys the while, to shout in the season the yo-heave-ho. - Then gave he the word with a mighty shout, and the youths forthright - Drave her with one rush down, as they thrust with their uttermost - might, - From her berth in the sand, as with feet hard-straining strongly - they stept - Forcing her forward, and Pelian Argo seaward swept - Full swiftly, and shouted they all, as to right and to left they - leapt. - And under the massy keel's heavy grinding groaned aloud - The rollers, and spirted about them the smoke in a dusky cloud - 'Neath the crushing weight: and into the sea she slid, and her crew - {390} - Back with the hawsers warped her, and stayed her as onward she flew. - Then the oars to the tholes they fitted on either side, and the mast - And the well-fashioned sails, and the tackling withal, therein they - cast. - But soon as with diligent heed they had ordered all things so, - First cast they the lots for the thwarts whereat each man should row, - Allotting one unto two men still; but the midmost thwart - For Herakles chose they first, from the rest of the heroes apart; - And Ankaius the dweller in Tegea-town for his fellow they chose. - So the midmost place of the benches they left unchallenged to those, - Neither cast for them lots; and with one consent of the voices of - them {400} - Unto Tiphys was given the helm of the galley of goodly stem. - Then did they heap of the stones of the shingle, and, nigh at hand - To the sea, an altar they reared to Apollo the Lord of the Strand, - Who is called the Lord of the farers a-shipboard withal, and in haste - Billets of olive-wood sapless and dry thereon they placed. - And by this were the herdmen of Aison's son drawn nigh thereto - Bringing oxen twain from the herd; and these the young men drew - And set them beside the altar; and others stood thereby - With the water of sacrifice and the meal. And now drew nigh - Jason, and unto Apollo his fathers' god did he cry: {410} - 'Hearken, O King, who in Pagasae dwellest, whose fair halls be - In the city Aisonian, named of my sire, who didst promise to me, - When I sought unto thee at Pytho, to point me my journey's goal - And fulfilment; for thou, even thou, to the emprise didst kindle my - soul. - Now therefore my ship with my comrades safe and sound bring thou - Thither, and back unto Hellas again: and to thee do we vow, - For as many of us as shall win safe home, on thine altar to lay - Burnt offerings so many of goodly bulls: therewithal will I pay - At Pytho thy shrine, and Ortygia, other gifts beyond price. - Come then, Far-smiter, accept at our hands this sacrifice, {420} - Which now, at our going abroad, for the sake of this our ship - We offer, our first of all: and with prosperous weird may I slip - The hawsers, by thy devising: and soft bid blow the breeze - Whereby we may fare on ever through calm of summer seas.' - With the prayer then cast he the meal: and now for the slaughtering - these - Girded themselves, Ankaius the mighty, and Herakles. - And this with his club on the forehead smote the steer mid-head; - And heavily all in a heap to the earth it dropped down dead. - And Ankaius hewed with his brazen axe at the second steer - On the broad neck: clean through the sinews strong thereof did it - shear; {430} - And there on the earth, with horns doubled under its chest, it lay. - And swiftly their comrades severed the throats, and the skins did - they flay, - And they sundered the joints, and they carved, and the sacred thighs - they cut out, - And they laid them together, and closely with fat they wrapped them - about, - And burnt on the cloven wood: drink-offerings unmingled of wine - Poured Aison's son; and Idmon rejoiced, beholding shine - The splendour that gleamed all round from the sacrifice and the - smoke, - As forth for an omen of good in wavering wreaths it broke. - And the purpose of Leto's son, nothing doubting, straightway he - spoke: - 'For you 'tis ordained of the doom of the Gods and of each man's - fate {440} - Hither to win with the Fleece; but meanwhile lie in wait - Toils without number, as thither ye fare, and as backward ye hie. - But for me by the hateful doom of a God is it fated to die - Far hence, I know not where, on the Asian mainland shore. - Yea, this is my doom: by birds evil-boding I knew it before; - Yet from my fatherland went I: to sail in your galley I came, - That so to mine house might be left the renown of a hero's name.' - He spake, and the young men, hearing the words of the prophet, were - glad - For their home-return, but for Idmon's doom were their hearts made - sad. - And so, at the hour when the sun from his noon-halt sinketh adown, - {450} - And over the harvest-lands the long rock-shadows are thrown, - As the sun to the eventide dusk slow-slideth aslant from the sky, - Even then did the heroes all on the sands of the beach pile high - A couch of the wildwood leaves, and in front of the surf-line hoar - Row upon row lay down, and beside them was measureless store - Of meats, and of sweet strong wine which the cupbearers poured for - them out - From the pitchers: thereafter they told, as each man's turn came - about, - Story and legend, as young men oft at the feast and the bowl - Will take their delight, when insatiate violence is far from their - soul. - But there was Aison's son, as a man in a nightmare dream, {460} - Struggling with deep dark thoughts, and as one distraught did he - seem; - And Idas marked him askance, and he shouted in scoffing tone: - 'What thoughts to and fro in thine heart art thou turning, thou - Aison's son? - Speak out in our midst thy mind! Hath fear in thy spirit awoke - Overmastering thee--that thing which dazeth dastard folk? - Be witness my furious spear, wherewithal beyond others I win - Renown in the wars--nor is Zeus so present a helper therein, - Nor so mighty to save as my spear--that on thee no deadly bane - Shall light, nor shall any strife of thine hands be striven in vain, - While Idas attendeth thee, not though against thee a God should - arise. {470} - Such a helper is this thou hast won from Arênê for thine emprise.' - He spake, and the brimming beaker with both hands lifted he up, - And the strong wine drank unmingled, and dashed with the dew of the - cup - Were his lips and his swarthy cheeks: but a startled clamour broke - From all together; and openly Idmon rebuked him, and spoke: - 'Beshrew thee!--thy thoughts thus soon to thyself are deadly and - fell! - Hath the strong wine caused thy reckless heart for thy ruin to swell - In thy breast, and eggeth thee on to set the Gods at nought? - Other words of comfort there be wherewithal a man might have sought - To hearten his friend; but thy words were wholly presumptuous-bold! - {480} - So blustered, as telleth the tale, against the Blessèd of old - The sons of Alôeus: and thou--thou art nothing so mighty as they - In manhood: yet both did the swift shafts overmaster and slay - Of the Son of Latona, though giants they were and passing strong.' - Then Aphareus' son brake forth into laughter loud and long, - And blinking upon him in drunken wise flung back the jeer: - 'Come now, by thy deep divination reveal unto me, thou seer, - If the Gods for me also be bringing to pass such doom as that - Which was dealt of that father of thine to the sons that Alôeus - begat. - And bethink thee how thou shalt escape from mine hands alive, if we - find {490} - Thee guilty of boding a prophecy vain as the idle wind!' - Wrathfuller waxed he in railing: and now had the strife run high, - But amidst of their wrangling their comrades with loud indignant cry, - With Aison's son, restrained them:--and lo, with his lyre upheld - In his left hand, Orpheus arose, and the fountain of song upwelled. - And he sang how in the beginning the earth and the heaven and the - sea - In the selfsame form were blended together in unity, - And how baleful contention each from other asunder tore; - And he sang of the goal of the course in the firmament fixed evermore - For the stars and the moon, and the printless paths of the - journeying sun, {500} - And how the mountains arose, how rivers that babbling run, - They and their Nymphs, were born, and whatso moveth on Earth; - And he sang how Ophion at first, and Eurynomê, Ocean's birth, - In lordship of all things sat on Olympus' snow-crowned height; - And how Ophion must yield unto Kronos' hands and his might, - And she unto Rhea, and into the Ocean's waves plunged they. - O'er the blessed Titan-gods these twain for a space held sway, - While Zeus as yet was a child, while yet as a child he thought, - And dwelt in the cave Dictaean, while yet the time was not - When the Earth-born Cyclops the thunderbolt's strength to his hands - should give, {510} - Even thunder and lightning: by these doth Zeus his glory receive. - Low murmured the lyre, and slept, and the voice divine was still: - But moveless the heads of them all are bending forward, and thrill - Their eager-listening ears, through the hush as they strain, in - thrall - To the spell; such wondrous glamour the song hath cast over all. - And a little thereafter they mingled, even as is meet and right, - The wine, and poured on the tongues where the altar-fires blazed - bright. - Then turned they to sleep, and around them were folded the wings of - the night. - But when radiant Dawn with her flashing eyes on the steeps looked - down - Of Pelion's crests, and, washed by the wind, the forelands that - frown {520} - Over the tossing sea rose sharp and clear to view, - Then Tiphys awoke, and he hasted the Argo's hero-crew - To hie them aboard, and to range the oars in order due. - And a weird dread cry from the haven of Pagasae rang to them; yea, - From Pelian Argo herself came a voice, bidding hasten away: - For within her a beam divine had been laid, which Athênê brought - From the oak Dodonaean, and into the midst of her stem was it - wrought. - So the heroes went up to the thwarts, and twain after twain arow, - Even as fell the places by lot but a little ago, - Orderly ranged sat down, and by each was his harness of fight. {530} - On the midmost Ankaius, and next him Herakles' giant might - Sat, and beside him he laid his club; and the keel of the ship - Under his massy tread plunged deep. And now did they slip - The hawsers, and poured on the sea the wine. Tear-dimmed that day - Were Jason's eyes, from the fatherland-home as he turned them away. - And these--as the youths that in Pytho begin unto Phœbus the dance, - In Ortygia, or there where Ismenus' ripples in sunlight glance, - Hand in hand to the notes of the lyre his altar around - With rhythmical fall of the feet swift-circling beat the ground,-- - So smote with the oars, by the lyre of Orpheus timing the stroke, - {540} - The sea's wild water, and over the blades the surges broke. - And on this side and that with the foam the dark brine seething - flashed; - Like muttered thunder it sounded by strokes of the mighty updashed. - And glanced in the sun like flame, as the ship winged onward her - flight, - Their armour: the wake far-weltering ever behind gleamed white, - As an oft-trodden path through a grassy plain lieth clear in sight. - And all the Gods that day from the height of the heaven looked down - On the ship, and the might of the demigod heroes, the men of renown, - Sailing the sea; and afar on the crests of the hill-tops lone - The Maids of the Mountain, the Pelian Nymphs, in amaze looked on - {550} - At the work of Athênê Itônis, the heroes' goodly array, - As the ashen blades in their hands kept time with measured sway. - Yea, and there came one down from the mountain's height to the shore, - Even Cheiron, Philyra's son, and plashed the surf-wash hoar - On his feet, as his broad hand waving many a farewell sent, - And he shouted, 'Good speed, and a sorrowless home-return!' as they - went. - And there was his wife, with Peleus' babe in her arms held high, - Achilles, waving a greeting as sped his sire thereby. - So when they had rounded the headland, and left the haven behind - By the cunning and wisdom of Hagnias' son the prudent of mind,-- - {560} - Even of Tiphys, who swayed in the master-craftsman's grip - The helm smooth-shaven, to guide unswerving the course of the ship,-- - Then set they up in the centre-block the towering mast, - And on either hand strained taut the stays, and they lashed them - fast; - And the sail they unfurled therefrom, from the yard-arm spreading - it wide. - And a breeze shrill-piping upsprang, and the sheets upon either side - O'er the polished pins on the deck then cast they in order meet; - And past the long Tisaian ness did they restfully fleet. - And Orpheus, in song whose rhythmical cadence kept time to the lyre, - Sang of the Saviour of Ships, the Child of the Glorious Sire, {570} - Artemis, she that hath those crags of the sea in her keeping, - The Lady that wardeth Iolkos-land. And the fishes leaping - Up from the deep sea came, and, drawn by the spell of the lay, - Both small and great followed gambolling over the watery way. - And as when in the track of a shepherd, the warder of flocks on the - wold, - Follow sheep that have fed to the full of the grass, a throng untold, - And he goeth before with his shrill reed piping them home to the - fold, - As sweetly he fluteth a shepherd's strain,--so over the seas - Followed the fishes: on wafted her ever the chasing breeze. - And ere long melting in haze the Pelasgians' land of corn {580} - Sank out of sight; and past Mount Pelion's cliffs were they borne - Aye running onward; and sank in the offing the Sepian strand, - And sea-girt Skiathos rose, and a far-away gleam of sand, - The Peiresian beach and Magnesian, clear in the summer air - On the mainland; and lo, the barrow of Dolops: at eventide there - Beached they the ship, for against them the veering breeze had - turned. - And they honoured the dead, and victims of sheep in the gloaming - they burned, - While the sea-surge stormily tossed. Two days to and fro on the shore - They loitered, but ran on the third their galley asea once more; - And the broad sail spread they on high, and the keel from the strand - shot away: {590} - Men call it 'The Launching of Argo'--Aphetai--unto this day. - Onward they ran, ever onward: they left Meliboia behind; - They caught but a glimpse of the foam-flecked beach of the stormy - wind: - And with dawning on Homolê looked they, and lo, it was looming anigh; - Broad-couched on the breast of the waters it lay as they passed it - by. - Thereafter full soon by the outfall of Amyrus' flood must they fly. - Eurymenê then, and the surf-tormented gorges they spied - Of Olympus' and Ossa's seaward face: wind-wafted they ride - By the slopes of Pallênê; beyond Kanastra's foreland-height - They passed, running lightly before the breath of the breeze in the - night. {600} - And before them at dawn on-speeding the pillar of Athos rose, - The Thracian mountain: its topmost peak's dark shadow it throws - Far as a merchantman goodly-rigged in a day might win, - Even to Lemnos' isle, and the city Myrinê therein. - And the wind blew all that day till the folds of the darkness fell, - Blew ever fresh, and the sail strained over the broad sea-swell. - Howbeit the wind's breath failed them at going down of the sun: - So to Lemnos the craggy, the Sintian isle, by rowing they won. - There all the men of the nation together pitilessly - By the violent hands of the women were slain in the year gone by; - {610} - Forasmuch as the hearts of the men from their lawful wives had - turned, - And in love for their captive handmaids with baleful passion they - burned, - Maids that themselves from the Thracian land in foray had brought - Oversea:--'twas the wrath of the Cyprian Queen that curse had - wrought, - Because that for long they had left her unhonoured by sacrifice:-- - Ah hapless, whose hungering jealousy craved that woeful price! - For not with the captives their husbands alone for the sin did they - slay, - But every male therewithal, lest perchance in the coming day - Out of these might arise an avenger for that grim murder's sake. - In one alone for an aged sire did compassion awake, {620} - Hypsipylê, daughter of Thoas, the king of the folk of the land. - In an ark did she send him to drift o'er the sea from the - murder-strand, - If he haply might 'scape. And fisher-folk saved him and brought to - the isle - Which men call Sikinus now, but Oinoë named it erewhile; - For from Sikinus folk renamed it, the child whom the Maid of the - Spring, - Oinoë, bare, when she couched in love with Thoas the king. - So it came to pass that for these to tend the kine, and to wear - War-harness of brass, and to furrow the wheat-bearing land with the - share, - In the eyes of them all seemed task more light than Athênê's toil - Wherewithal were their hands aforetime busy: yet all the while {630} - Across the broad sea ever they cast and anon their eyes - With a haunting fear lest the Thracian sails in the offing should - rise. - So when they beheld the Argo's oars flashing down to their coast, - Forth from the gates of Myrinê straightway in one great host - Clad in their harness of battle down to the beach they poured - Like unto ravening Thyiads: they weened that the Thracian horde - Were come: and there was Hypsipylê clad in the war-array - Of Thoas her father: and all these speechless with wildered dismay - Streamed down,--such panic was wafted about them all that day. - But forth of the galley the while had the chieftains sent to the - shore {640} - Aithalides, their herald swift, the man who bore - Charge of their messages, yea, and the wand they committed to him - Of Hermes his sire, who had given him memory never made dim - Of all things:--yea, nor forgetfulness swept even now o'er his soul - Of long-left Acheron's flow, where the torrents unspeakable roll. - For the doom of his spirit is fixed, to and fro evermore is it swept, - Now numbered with ghosts underground, now back to the light hath it - leapt, - To the beams of the sun among living men:--but why should I tell - The story of Aithalides that all men know full well? - Of him was Hypsipylê won to receive that sea-borne array {650} - As waned the day to the gloaming: yet not with the new-born day - Unmoored they the ship for the North-wind's breathing to waft away. - Through the city the daughters of Lemnos into the folkmote pressed, - And there sat down, as Hypsipylê's self sent forth her behest. - So when they were gathered in one great throng to the market-stead, - For their counselling straightway she rose in the midst of them all, - and she said: - 'Friends, now, an ye will, good store of gifts to the men give we, - Even such as is meet that the farers a-shipboard should bear oversea, - Even meats and the sweet strong wine, that without our towers so - They may bide, nor for need's sake passing amidst of us to and fro - {660} - May know of us all too well, and our evil report shall go - Afar, for a terrible deed have we wrought, and in no wise, I trow, - Good in their sight shall it seem, if they haply shall hear the tale. - Lo, this is our counsel, and this, meseemeth, best shall avail. - But if any amidst you hath counsel that better shall serve our need - Let her rise; for to this have I summoned you, even the giving of - rede.' - So spake she, and sat her down on the ancient chair of stone - That of old was her sire's, and Polyxo her nurse uprose thereupon. - On her wrinkle-shrivelled feet she halted for very eld - Bowed over a staff; but with longing for speech the heart in her - swelled. {670} - And hard by her side were there sitting ancient maidens four, - Virgins, whose heads with the thin white hair were silvered o'er. - And amidst of the folkmote stood she, and up from her crook-bowed - back - Feebly a little she lifted her neck, and in this wise spake: - 'Gifts, even as unto the lady Hypsipylê seemeth meet, - Send we to the strangers, for thus were it better their coming to - greet. - But you--by what art or device shall ye save your souls alive - If a Thracian host burst on you, or cometh in battle to strive - Some other foe?--there be many such chances to men that befall, - Even as now yon array cometh unforeseen of us all. {680} - But if one of the Blessèd should turn this affliction away, there - remain - Countless afflictions beside, far worse than the battle's strain. - For when through the gates of the grave the older women have passed, - And childless the younger have won to a joyless eld at the last, - How then will ye live, O hapless?--what, will the beasts freewilled - On their own necks cast the yoke, to the end that your lands may be - tilled? - And the furrow-sundering share will they drag through the heavy loam? - And, as rolleth the year round, straight will they bring you the - harvest home? - Now, albeit from me the Fates still shrink as in loathing and fear, - Yet surely on me, when the feet draw nigh of another year, {690} - The earth shall lie, when the burial rites have been rendered to me, - Even as is due, and the evil days I shall not see. - But for you which be younger, I counsel you, give good heed unto - this, - For that now at your feet an open way of deliverance there is, - If ye will but commit your dwellings and all your spoil to the guard - Of the strangers, yea, and your goodly city for these to ward.' - She spake, and with clamour the folkmote was filled, for good in - their eyes - Was the word, and straightway thereafter again did Hypsipylê rise, - And her voice pealed over the multitude, stilling the mingled cries: - 'If in sooth in the sight of you all well-pleasing is this same - rede, {700} - Unto the ship straightway a messenger hence will I speed.' - To Iphinoê which waited beside her spake she her hest: - 'Up, Iphinoê, and to yonder man bear this my request, - That he come to our town, even he who is chief of the strangers' - array, - For the word that pleaseth the heart of my people to him would I say. - Yea, and his fellows bid thou to light in friendship down - On our shore, if they will, and to enter undismayed our town.' - She spake, and dismissed the assembly, and homeward she wended her - way; - But Iphinoê to the Minyans went; and they bade her say - What was the mind wherewithal she was come, and what her need. {710} - And straightway she told them the words of her message with eager - speed: - 'The daughter of Thoas, Hypsipylê, sent me hither away - To summon the lord of your ship, and the captain of your array, - That the will of her folk she may tell him, their heart's desire - this day. - Yea, and his fellows she biddeth to light in friendship down - On our shore, if they will, and to enter undismayed our town.' - So spake she, and fair in the sight of them all was the word that - she said; - For they deemed that Hypsipylê reigned in the room of Thoas dead, - His daughter, his well-beloved; and they hasted Jason to meet - The island-queen, and they dight them to follow their captain's - feet. {720} - Then he flung o'er his shoulders the web by the Goddess Itonian - wrought; - In the clasp of a brooch were the folds of the purple of Pallas - caught, - Which she gave, when for Argo's building the keel-props first she - dight, - And taught him with rule of the shipwright to measure her timbers - aright. - More easy it were in sooth on the sun at his rising to gaze - Than to fasten thine eyes on the flush of its glory, its - splendour-blaze. - For the fashion thereof in the midst was fiery crimson glow, - And the top was of purple throughout; and above on the marge and - below - Picture by picture did many a broidered marvel show. - For therein were the Cyclopes bowed o'er their work that perisheth - not, {730} - Forging the levin of Zeus the King, and so far was it wrought - In its fiery splendour, that yet of its flashes there lacked but one: - And the giant smiths with their sledges of iron were smiting thereon; - While forth of it spurts as of flaming breath ever leapt and anon. - And there were the sons of Asôpus' daughter Antiopê set, - Amphion and Zethus: and Thêbê, with towers ungirded as yet, - Stood nigh them; and lo, the foundations thereof were they laying - but now - In fierce haste. Zethus had heaved a craggy mountain's brow - On his shoulders: as one hard straining in toil did the image appear. - And Amphion the while to his golden lyre sang loud and clear, {740} - On-pacing; and twice so great was the rock that followed anear. - And next Kythereia with tresses heavily drooping was shown; - And the buckler of onset of Arês she bare: from her shoulder the zone - Of her tunic over her left arm fell with a careless grace - Low over her breast; and ever she seemed on the shield to gaze, - On the face that out of its brazen mirror smiled to her face. - And therein was a herd of shaggy kine; for the winning thereof - Elektryon's sons and Teleboan raiders in battle strove: - For these were defending their own; but the Taphian rovers were fain - To rob them; and drenched was the dewy meadow with that red rain. - {750} - But with that overmastering host were the herdmen striving in vain. - And therein had been fashioned chariots twain in the race that sped. - And Pelops was guiding the car that afront in the contest fled; - And Hippodameia beside him rode that fateful race. - And rushing behind him Myrtilus scourging his steeds gave chase; - And Oinomaus with him had couched his lance with a murderous face. - But, as snapt at the nave the axle, aslant was he falling in dust, - Even as at Pelops' back he was aiming the treacherous thrust. - And therein was Phœbus Apollo, a slender stripling yet, - Shooting at him who the ravisher's hand to the veil had set {760} - Of his mother, at Tityos the giant, whom Elarê bare; but the Earth - Nursed him, and hid in her womb, and gave to him second birth. - And Phrixus the Minyan was there; and it seemed that unto the ram - He verily hearkened; it seemed that a voice from the gold-fleeced - came. - Thou wert hushed to behold them--wouldst cheat thy soul with the - hope that perchance - Forth of the lifeless lips would break the utterance - Of speech--ay, long wouldst thou gaze in expectation's trance. - Such was the gift of Athênê, the Goddess Itonian's toil. - And a lance far-leaping he grasped in his right hand, given erewhile - Of the maid Atalanta on Mainalus' height for the pledge of a friend. - {770} - Gladly she met him, for sorely her soul desired to wend - On the Quest: howbeit the hero himself withheld the maid, - For the peril of bitter strife for her love's sake made him afraid. - So he hied him to go to the town, as the radiant star to behold - Which a maid, as she draweth her newly-woven curtain's fold, - Beholdeth, as over her dwelling upward it floateth fair; - And it charmeth her eyes, flashing out of the depths of the darkling - air - Flushed with a crimson glory: the maid's heart leapeth then - Lovesick for the youth who is far away amid alien men, - Her betrothed, unto whom her parents shall wed her on some glad day: - {780} - So as a star was the hero treading the cityward way. - So when he had passed through the gates, and within the city he - came, - The women thereof thronged after, and wafted him blithe acclaim, - Having joy of the stranger: but earthward ever his eyes he cast, - Pacing unfaltering on till he came to the palace at last - Of Hypsipylê: then at the hero's appearing the maids flung wide - The gates and the fair-fashioned boards of the leaves on either side. - Then through the beautiful hall did Iphinoê lead on - Swiftly, and caused him to sit on a tinsel-glittering throne - Facing the Queen; and Hypsipylê turned her eyes away, {790} - For the maiden blood flushed hot in her cheek. But her shame that day - Tied not her tongue, and with crafty-winsome words did she say: - 'Stranger, wherefore so long have ye tarried without our towers? - Forasmuch as no man dwelleth within this city of ours; - But these have betaken them hence to dwell on the Thracian shore, - And there are they ploughing the wheat-bearing lands. I will tell - thee o'er - The evil tale, to the end ye also may understand. - In the days when Thoas my father was king o'er the folk of the land, - My people in ships from Lemnos over the sea-ridges rode, - And harried the homes of the Thracians that overagainst us abode; - {800} - And with booty untold they returned, and with many a captive maid. - But the curse of a baneful Goddess upon them now was laid; - For the Cyprian caused on their souls heart-ruining blindness to - fall, - That they hated their lawful wives, and forth from bower and hall - At the beck of their folly they drove the Lemnian matrons away, - And beside those spear-won thralls in the bed of love they lay-- - Cruel ones! Sooth, long time we endured it, if haply again, - Though late, their hearts might be turned; but our wrong and our - bitter pain - Waxed evermore twofold; and the children of true-born blood - In our halls were dishonoured, and grew up amidst us a bastard - brood. {810} - Yea, and our maids unwedded, and widowed wives thereto, - Uncared for about our city wandered to and fro. - No father had heeded, no, never so little, his daughter's plight, - Not though before his eyes he beheld her slain outright - By a tyrannous stepdame's hands: and sons would defend no more - A mother from outrage and shame, as they wont in the days of yore. - No love for a sister then the heart of the brother bore. - But only the handmaid-thralls in the home found grace in their sight, - In the dance, in the market-place, and whenso the banquet was dight. - Till at last some God in our hearts this desperate courage awoke, - {820} - No more to receive them, when back they returned from the Thracian - folk, - Our towers within, that so they might heed the right, or begone - Hence to another land, even they and their thralls war-won. - Then required they of us their sons, even what manchild soe'er - Had been left in the town, and returned unto Thrace; and to this - day there - The Lemnian men on the snowy Thracian corn-lands dwell. - Then tarry ye sojourning here: and if haply it please thee well - To abide in the land, and it seem to thee good, of a surety thine - Shall be Thoas my father's honour. I ween this land of mine - Thou shalt scorn not, for passing fruitful it is above all the rest - {830} - Of the myriad isles that lie on the broad Aegean's breast. - But come now, go to thy galley, and tell these words of ours - Unto thy comrades, nor longer tarry without our towers.' - She ended, with fair words veiling the deed of murder dread - Done on the men; and the hero answered the queen, and he said: - 'Hypsipylê, passing welcome this thy request shall be - Which thou tenderest us, whose desire withal is now unto thee. - Back through thy town will I come, when an end I have made to say - All this to my fellows in order: howbeit let all the sway - And the lordship be thine in the island. I make not in scorn my - request, {840} - But a sore task thrusteth me onward still, and I may not rest.' - He spake, and the queen's right hand hath he touched, and aback to - the strand - He hath turned him to go; and around him the maidens on either hand - Danced blithely, a throng unnumbered, till forth of the gates he had - strode. - Thereafter the women loaded them wains smooth-running, and rode - Down to the beach, and gifts of greeting they bare good store, - When now to his fellows the hero had told the message o'er, - Which Hypsipylê spake unto him when she sent and bade him come. - And with little ado the maidens drew the heroes home - To their halls; for sweet desire did the Lady of Cyprus awake, {850} - For a grace to Hephaistus the Lord of Craft, that Lemnos might take - New life, and unruined be peopled of men once more for his sake. - Now into Hypsipylê's royal palace Aison's son - Hath passed, and the rest, as it happed unto each man, so are they - gone, - Save Herakles only; for still with the ship would the hero abide, - For he willed it so, and a few his chosen comrades beside. - And straightway rejoiced the city with dance and with festival, - And was filled with sacrifice-steam to the Deathless: but most of all - Honoured they Hêrê's glorious son, and atonement's price - To the Cyprian Queen they paid with song and with sacrifice. {860} - And ever from day unto day did the heroes their sailing forbear, - Loth to depart; and long had they tarried loitering there, - But Herakles gathered his comrades, and drew from the women apart, - And with words of upbraiding he spake, and rebuked them indignant - of heart: - 'What, sirs, is it blood of kindred spilt that maketh us roam - From our land?--or came ye, because that ye found no brides at home, - Hitherward, scorning the maidens of Greece? Doth it please you to - toil - Here dwelling, and driving the plough through the soft smooth - Lemnian soil? - Good sooth, but little renown shall we win of our tarrying - Here long time with the stranger women! No God will bring {870} - That Fleece unto us, nor wrest from its warder, for our request! - Forth let us go each man to his place--_him_ leave ye to rest - All day on Hypsipylê's couch, till he people from shore to shore - Lemnos with menfolk: great his renown shall be therefor!' - So did he chide with the band; was none dared meet his eye, - Neither look in his face, nor was any man found that essayed reply. - But straight from his presence, to make their departing ready, they - went - In haste; and the women came running, so soon as they knew their - intent. - And as when round beautiful lilies the wild bees hum at their toil, - From their hive in the rock forth pouring; the dew-sprent meadow - the while {880} - Around them rejoiceth, and hovering, stooping, now and again - They sip of the sweet flower-fountains--in such wise round the men - Forth streamed the women with yearning faces, making their moan; - And with hands caressing and soft sad words did they greet each one, - Beseeching the Blessed to grant them a home-coming void of bane. - Yea, so doth Hypsipylê pray, as her clinging fingers strain - The hand of Jason, and stream her tears with the parting-pain: - 'Go thou, and thee may the Gods with thy comrades scathless bring - Back to the home-land, bearing the Fleece of Gold to the king, - Even as thou wilt, and thine heart desireth: and this mine isle, - {890} - And my father's sceptre withal, shall wait for thee the while, - If haply, thine home-coming won, thou wouldst choose to come hither - again. - Thou couldst gather from other cities a host unnumbered of men - Lightly--ah, but the longing shall never awaken in thee; - Yea, and mine own heart bodeth that this shall never be! - Yet O remember Hypsipylê whilst thou art far away, - And when home thou hast won; and leave me a word that thy love shall - obey - With joy, if the Gods shall vouchsafe me to bear a son to my lord.' - Lovingly looked on her Aison's son, and he spake the word: - 'Hypsipylê, so may the Gods bring all these blessings to be! {900} - Howbeit a better wish than this frame thou for me; - Forasmuch as by Pelias' grace it sufficeth me still to live - In the home-land--only the Gods from my toils deliverance give! - But and if to return to the land of Hellas be not my doom, - Afar as I sail, and a fair manchild be the fruit of thy womb, - To Pelasgian Iolkos send him, when boyhood and manhood be met, - To my father and mother, to solace their grief,--if living yet - Haply he find them,--that so, in the stead of the prince their son, - They may win in their halls a dear one, to brighten the hearth left - lone.' - He spake, and was gone; and afront of his fellows he strode to the - ship, {910} - And the rest of the chiefs followed on, and the oars in their hands - did they grip, - Row upon row as they sat; and the hawsers did Argus cast - Loose from the rock brine-lashed; and mightily then and fast - Fell they to smiting with oars long-bladed the seething wave. - And at even by Orpheus' counsel the keel ashore they drave - On the isle of Elektra the daughter of Atlas, that there they might - learn - The mystic rites whose unveiling is not soul-daunting nor stern, - And safelier so might voyage over the chill grey sea:-- - No more will I speak of the Hidden Things--but a blessing be - Upon that same isle, and the Gods there dwelling, to whom belong - {920} - Those rites whereof it is not vouchsafed that we tell in song. - And from thence o'er the Black Sea's depths unfathomed they sped - with the oar, - To leftward keeping the land of Thrace, and to rightward the shore - Of Imbros overagainst it; and, even as sank the sun, - Unto the long sea-foreland of Chersonese they won. - There did the strong swift south-wind blow, and the sail they spread - To the breeze, and into the outward-rushing waters they sped - Of Athamas' daughter: and lo, astern with the morning light - The outsea lay, and along Rhœteion's beach in the night - They coasted, and still on their right the land Idaean lay. {930} - And they left Dardania behind, and Abydos-ward steered they. - By Perkotê in that same night, and Abarnis' stretches of sand - Onward they glided, and past Pityeia the hallowed land. - And the selfsame night, as with sails and with oars sped Argo on, - Through the sea-gorge darkly-swirling of Hellespont they won. - Now within the Propontis an island there is, both high and steep; - Short space from the corn-blest Phrygian land doth it rise from the - deep - Seaward-sloped: to the mainland stretched a neck of land - Low as the wash of the sea; so the place hath a twofold strand. - And beyond the waterfloods of Aisêpus the river they lie. {940} - The Hill of the Bears it is called of them that dwell thereby. - And cruel oppressors and fierce have there their robber-hold, - Earth-born, a marvel great for the dwellers around to behold. - Six mighty arms each monster uplifteth against a foe, - Even two from his brawny shoulders that spring, and therebelow - Four other, that out of his sides exceeding terrible grow. - Now Dolian men on the isthmus abode, and about the plain; - And amidst them did Kyzikus, hero-son of Aineus, reign, - The son whom Ainêtê, the daughter of godlike Eusôrus, bare. - But these men the Earth-born giants, how mighty and dreadful soe'er, - {950} - In no wise harried: their shield and defender Poseidon became, - For himself had begotten of old the first of the Dolian name. - Thitherward Argo, as chased by the Thracian breezes she fled, - Pressed, and the goodly haven received her as onward she sped. - And their light-weight anchor-stone did they cast away thereby - By Tiphys' behest, and they left it beside the fountain to lie, - By Artakia's spring; and another they chose, huge, meet for their - need. - Howbeit their first, by Archer Apollo's oracle-rede, - The Ionian Neleïds laid thereafter, a hallowed stone, - In the shrine of Athênê, Jason's friend, as was meet to be done. - {960} - And in all lovingkindness the Dolians came, and to meet them pressed - Kyzikus' self, when their lineage he heard, and was ware of the - Quest, - And knew what heroes were these; and with glad guest-welcome they - met, - And besought them to speed in their rowing a short space onward yet, - And to fasten the hawser within the city's haven fair. - To Apollo the Lord of Landing they builded an altar there: - By the strand they upreared it, and there did the smoke of the - sacrifice rise; - And sweet strong wine did the king's self give them, their need to - suffice, - And sheep therewithal: for an oracle rang in his ears--'In the day - When a godlike band of heroes shall come, meet thou their array {970} - With welcome of love, and thou shalt not bethink thee at all of the - fray.' - And, like unto Jason, the soft down bloomed on the young king's chin; - Neither yet was he gladdened with laughter of children his halls - within; - For the pangs of the travailing hour not yet to his bride had been - known, - Even to the lady born of Merops, Perkosius' son, - Fair-tressed Kleitê. But now had she passed from her sire's halls - forth - On the mainland-shore, when he won her with gifts of priceless worth. - But for all this left he his bridal bower and the bed of his bride, - And arrayed them a banquet, and cast from his heart all fear aside. - And they questioned each other, the king and the heroes. Of them - would he learn {980} - The end whereunto they voyaged, and Pelias' bidding stern. - Of the dwellers around, and their cities, they asked and were fain - to be taught - Touching all the gulf of Propontis the wide: but the king knew nought - Beyond to tell them, albeit with eager desire they sought. - So at dawn did they climb huge Dindymus' sides, with purpose to gaze - With their own eyes over the unknown sea and her trackless ways;-- - But forth of the outer haven first their galley they rowed;-- - Still Jason's Path is it named, that mountain-track they trode. - But the earth-born giants the while rushed down from the - mountain-side, - And the seaward mouth they blocked of the haven of Chytos the wide - {990} - With crags, like men that lie in wait for a wolf in his lair. - Howbeit with them that were younger had Herakles tarried there; - And he leapt to his feet, and against them his back-springing bow - did he strain. - One after other he stretched them on earth; and the giants amain - Heaved up huge jagged rocks, and hurled them against their foe. - Yea, for that terrible monster-brood was nurtured, I trow, - Of Hêrê, the bride of Zeus, for a trial of Herakles. - Therewithal came the rest of their fellows, returning to battle with - these - Or ever they won the mountain-crest. To the slaughter they fell - Of the Earth-born brood, those heroes: with arrows some did they - quell, {1000} - And some on the points of their spears they received, until they had - slain - All that to grapple of fight had rushed so furious-fain. - And even as when the woodmen with axes have smitten, and throw - The long beams down on the strand of the sea ranged row upon row,-- - For the brine-sodden wood shall grip the strong bolts faster so,-- - Even so at the entering-in of the foam-fringed haven they lay - One after other; some in a huddled heap where the spray - Dashed over their heads and their breasts, the while, stretched high - on the land, - Stiffened their limbs: there were some yet again, whose heads on the - sand - Rested, the while in the heaving waters swayed their feet;-- {1010} - But doomed were they all alike for the birds' and the fishes' meat. - And the heroes, so soon as the peril afar from their emprise was - driven, - Cast loose the hawsers of Argo before the breezes of heaven. - Forth shot she, and onward they drave, fast cleaving the broad - sea-swell. - All day under canvas she ran: howbeit, as twilight fell - No longer the wind-rush steadily held, but the veering blast - Caught them, and swept them aback, till it brought them again at - the last - To the guest-fain Dolian men. Then stepped they ashore in the gloom - Of the night; and unto this day is it called the Rock of Doom - Round which the hawsers of Argo in blind haste now did they pass; - {1020} - Neither did any man deem that the selfsame island it was; - Nor yet were the Dolians ware that again in the night to their coast - The heroes were come, but haply they weened that a Makrian host - Of Pelasgian men for war had sailed to their land overseas: - Wherefore their armour they donned, and uplifted their hands against - these. - And with onset of spears and with clashing of shields met they in - the strife, - Like to the vehement blast of flame which hath leapt into life - Mid the copses dry, and the red tongues climb: and the battle-din - then - Fearful and furious fell in the midst of the Dolian men. - Nor may Kyzikus now overleap his weird, and aback from the war {1030} - Win home to the bower of love and the arms of his bride any more. - But, even as he turned on him, full on the king leapt Aison's son, - And stabbed in the midst of his breast, and shattered was all the - bone - Around the spear, and falling in death-throes down on the sands - He filled up the measure of Fate. To escape her resistless hands - Is vouchsafed unto none: as a wide snare compassed we are with her - bands. - Even so, as he weened that the bitterness now of death was past - At the hands of the heroes, lo, in her gin were his feet caught fast - In the night, as he battled with them, and many a champion withal - Was slain with the king; by Herakles' hands did Telekles fall, {1040} - And fell Megabrontes; and Sphodris Akastus overthrew; - And Zelys, Gephyrus withal, the battle-swift Peleus slew. - Telamon's ashen spear through Basileus' heart is thrust; - Died Promeus by Idas, and Klytius laid Hyakinthus in dust; - And the Tyndarids twain slew Phlogius, slew Megalossakes; - And valiant Itymoneus fell before Oineus' son amid these, - And Artakes with him, a chieftain of men: and unto this day - Unto all these slain do the people the worship of heroes pay. - Then wavered the ranks and broke; then fled they in panic affright, - As before the swift-winged hawks doth a cloud of doves take flight. - {1050} - Through the gates in a huddled rout they poured, and the town - straightway - With the war-yell was filled, and backward rolled was the woeful - fray. - But at dawn were they ware, both these and those, of the cureless - ill, - Of the ruinous error; and now did bitter anguish fill - The Minyan heroes, beholding before them Aineus' child - Stretched in the dust, and Kyzikus lying blood-defiled. - For three whole days with rending of hair did they mourn his doom, - Even they with the Dolian folk. Thereafter about his tomb - Three times in their brazen armour the round of lament did they pace, - And buried him: funeral games held they in the selfsame place, {1060} - As was meet, in the meadow-plain where yet before the eyes - Of the folk of the latter day doth the heap of his grave-mound rise. - Yea, neither would Kleitê his wife any more mid the living abide, - Forlorn of her lord; but a woefuller evil she added beside - To the evil done, when clasping her neck with the noose she died. - Ah, but the Wildwood Maids made moan for the beautiful dead; - And of all the tears that to earth from their eyes for her sake they - shed - A fountain the Goddesses made, and the name of it far and wide - Hath been heard, even Kleitê, the name of a most unhappy bride. - Ah, that was the darkest day that from Zeus did ever befall {1070} - The daughters and sons of the Dolian race, and in none of them all - Was there spirit to taste of food, and their hands for a weary while - By reason of grief hung down, and forgat the millstone's toil: - But their lives dragged on, while untouched of the fire was the food - that they ate. - Yea, the Ionian folk that in Kyzikus dwell even yet, - When they pour drink-offerings year by year, at the city's mill - Grind ever their corn, for the querns in the houses of mourning are - still. - And the wild winds woke at the sound of their mourning to shriek - and to rave - Twelve days, twelve nights; and prisoned by wrath of wind and wave - Tarried the heroes from sailing, until, on the thirteenth night, - {1080} - When the rest of the wanderers lay for the last time bowed by the - might - Of slumber on that drear shore, while watch and ward was kept - Of Akastus and Mopsus Ampykus' son over them that slept,-- - Then over the golden head of Aison's son did there fly - A kingfisher: clear through the hush his happy-boding cry - Rang for the lulling of winds; and Mopsus hearkening caught - The shore-bird's note, and he knew it with happy omen fraught. - And a God's hand guided its wing, that it wheeled and shot to the - height - Of the Argo's stern, and thereon hath it stayed its arrowy flight. - And the seer touched Jason, there on the fleeces soft as he lay - {1090} - Of the sheep, and from slumber he roused him with haste, and thus - did he say: - 'Aison's son, thou must climb to the temple that standeth there - On Dindymus' rugged height, and make to the Mother thy prayer, - The fair-throned Mother of all the Blest: and the stormy blast - Shall be stilled. For but now hath a cry by mine ears on the - night-wind passed, - The weird sea-kingfisher's cry; and around thy slumbering head - Wheeling its flight, it uttered the thing that my lips have said. - For swayed by her power be the winds, and the sea, and the earth - below, - Yea also Olympus crowned with the everlasting snow. - And to her, when to heaven from her hills she ascendeth, doth Zeus - give place, {1100} - Even Kronos' son himself, and all the Deathless Race - Of the Blessèd in reverence bow before her awful face.' - So spake he: to hear that word the heart of Jason leapt. - Gladsome he sprang from his couch, and his comrades, there as they - slept, - Did he waken in haste; and he told, as they gathered around him to - hear, - The prophecy spoken of Mopsus Ampykus' son, the seer. - Then steers from the byre the young men drave, and with speed they - pressed - Up the steep hill-path with the beasts, till they won to the - mountain's crest. - From the Rock of Doom did others the hawsers of Argo slip: - To the Thracian haven they rowed, and leapt to the strand; and the - ship {1110} - There guarded they left, for there tarried behind of their fellows - a few. - And from Dindymus saw they the Makrian cliffs, and full in view - The stretch of the Thracian Coast oversea on this side lay, - And the Bosporus misty-dim, and the blue hills far away - Of Mysia-land, and the river Aisêpus on that side flowed, - And the town and the plain Nepeian of Adresteia showed. - Then found they the sturdy stock of a vine in the forest that grew, - A tree exceeding old: with the axes the same did they hew - For the Mountain-goddess's sacred image: with cunning skill - Of the craftsman did Argus carve it; and so on the rugged hill {1120} - Did they set it up: for the shrine thereof stood tall oaks round, - Which of all trees root them the deepest beneath the face of the - ground. - Then of loose stones built they an altar: with leaves from the oaken - spray - They wreathed it around, and the sacrifice thereupon did they lay. - On the Mother majestic, on Dindymê's Queen, the while did they call, - Who dwelleth in Phrygia: on Tityas they cried, on Kyllênê withal, - Who alone be called the Dispensers of Doom--by the judgment-seat - Of the Mother Idaean who sit--by all that priesthood of Crete, - The Daktylians of Ida, born in the cave Dictaean of yore - When the Nymph Anchialê clutched in the throes of travail, and tore - {1130} - With the fingers of either hand the earth by Oaxus' shore. - Knelt Aison's son to the Goddess, and prayed her with earnest cries - To turn the tempest away, on the flame of the sacrifice - As he poured the wine. And the youths therewithal at Orpheus' command - Trode round her altar the measure, an armour-sheathèd band, - And clashed with their swords on their shields, that the sound that - boded them ill - Might be lost in the air, the wail for the dead, which the people - still - In grief for their king sent up; for which cause unto this day - With timbrel and drum the Phrygians worship to Rhea pay. - And the Goddess of them that sought her was found, and inclined her - ear {1140} - To the sacrifice-prayer: of her grace did tokens of good appear. - For the trees shed fruit in abundance down, and around their feet - The earth mid her tender grass with flowers unsown was sweet. - And the beasts of the wildwood came, forsaking thicket and lair, - Fawning with swaying tails: and another marvel there - Did the Goddess create, for that Dindymus never theretofore - With watersprings flowed; but now did a sudden torrent pour - From her thirsty crest, and the Fountain of Jason they name it still, - The folk that in after days dwell round that sacred hill. - In the Goddess's honour a feast on the Bears' Hill then dight they, - {1150} - And Rhea the all-majestic they hymned: but at dawn of the day - Stilled were the winds, and with oars from the island sped they away. - Then hero was kindled with hero in gallant contention to try - Who last should be spent and refrain; for the peace of a windless - sky - Laid level the swirls of the sea, and lulled to sleep the wave. - And putting their trust in the calm, ever onward and onward they - drave - The ship by their might; and with her, through the brine as she - darted and leapt, - Not even the storm-footed steeds of Poseidon the pace had kept. - Howbeit the surges awoke as from sleep, as the keen blasts blew, - Which swooped from the river-gorges as day to the evenfall drew: - {1160} - And the heroes forspent with toiling refrained, save only one - Who by might of his hands tugged onward his weary comrades alone; - Even Herakles: quivered the strong-knit beams as he strained to the - stroke. - But when, as they fled by the mainland-shore of the Mysian folk, - And Rhyndakus' outfall they sighted, and, huge against the sky, - Aigaion's cairn, past Phrygia a little, and slipped thereby, - Even then, through the furrows of roughened surge as he tugged and - tore, - Snapped he the ashen blade, and, grasping the half of the oar - Yet in his hands, back Herakles fell, and the half swept down - The tossing wake of the ship. But he rose, and with angry frown - {1170} - Sat gazing around, for his hands endured not idle to lie. - 'Twas the hour when the delver or ploughman aback from the field - doth hie - With joy to his hut, and his soul sore craveth the eventide meat, - And bow on the threshold his knees, and totter his weary feet. - All dust-besprent he beholdeth his cramped hands worn with toil, - With many a curse reviling the taskmaster Belly the while,-- - Then came they to where in the land Kianian nestle her homes - 'Neath Arganthônê, where Kios against the sea-tide foams. - Then as friends greet friends did the Mysians with kindly welcoming - Meet them, the people that dwelt in the land, and gifts did they - bring, {1180} - Even sheep, and wine without stint therewithal gave they for their - need. - Then sapless logs did some of them gather, and grass from the mead - Did some bring in, whereof great store for their couches they mowed, - The while in the hands of some the whirling fire-sticks glowed. - Some mingled the wine in the mazer, and ready the feast they dight, - Doing sacrifice to Apollo as deepened the shades of night. - But Zeus' son spake to his comrades meetly the feast to prepare: - But into the forest himself hath hied, to the end that there, - Or ever he supped, for the grip of his hands he might fashion an oar. - Then found he a pine as he roved, and scant was the burden it bore - {1190} - Of boughs, nor with heavy-clustering leaves was its shade made dim; - But like to the shaft it rose of a poplar tall and slim: - Even such was the measure thereof to behold in height and in girth. - Swiftly his arrow-fraught quiver hath Herakles cast to the earth - With the shafts therein: from his shoulders the lion's hide did he - strip. - With his brass-heavy club at its roots he smote, till he loosed - earth's grip. - Low down did he grasp the stem about with either hand, - Putting trust in his might: with shoulder against it thrust did he - stand - With feet wide set. From the ground, deep-rooted albeit it grew, - Hath his grip upheaved it with all the clods that clave thereto. - {1200} - And as when unawares the mast of a ship, in the very hour - When Orion's storm-fraught setting is working in baleful power, - Is struck from on high by a tempest's swiftly-swooping squall, - And with snapped stays rent from its box, and the wedges therewithal, - Even so he upwrenched that tree; and he gathered up arrows and bow, - And the lion's hide, and his club; and he hasted him backward to go. - But Hylas the while with a pitcher of brass from the throng hath - hied - Seeking a spring's pure flow; for the feast of the eventide - To draw for him water against his return, and withal to prepare - With speed all things for the time when again his lord should be - there. {1210} - For in suchlike service did Herakles nurture the lad and train - From the day when, a captive child, by the hero's hand he was ta'en - From the home of his father Theodamas, slain in Dryopian land - Without ruth, when he dared for his ploughteam's sake 'gainst the - hero to stand. - For it fell, as Theodamas clave with the share the fallow field, - That mischief befell him; for Herakles came, and he bade him to yield - The heifer he ploughed withal unto him in his heart's despite: - For against the Dryopian folk was he seeking occasion of fight, - For their bane, forasmuch as reckless of right in the land dwelt - they:-- - But the story thereof should lead me far from my song astray. {1220} - So in haste to the fountain he hied him, and Pegae hight that spring - Of the people that dwell in the field thereabout: and the - dancing-ring - Of the Nymphs, as it chanced, was there; for all these loved full - well-- - Even all the Nymphs that about that fair hill wont to dwell-- - In hymns through the night-tide ringing to chant unto Artemis still. - But they which inherit the mountain-crest, or the rushing rill, - And the Forest-haunters, were ranged from the fountain far away. - But it fell that the Water-nymph came floating up that day - From the depths of the fair-flowing spring:--lo, over her bendeth - his face - In the rosy flush of its beauty, its manifold winsome grace. {1230} - For the full moon casting her beams from the height of the firmament - Smote him, and faintness of love on her soul the Cyprian sent, - And scarce she unravelled her thoughts in sweet confusion blent. - But over the fountain's brim as aforetime aslant hath he bowed, - And plunged in the ripple the pitcher: the water gurgled loud - As into the echoing brass it poured; and the Fountain-maid - Her left arm slid from the depths, and around his neck was it laid - In her yearning to kiss those dainty lips, while, clutched by her - right, - Drawn down was his arm, and through swirling eddies he sank from the - light. - But his cry as he sank was heard of one of his comrades alone {1240} - Who trod that fountainward path, Polyphemus, Eilatus' son, - To meet that giant hero when back he should fare to the feast. - By Pegae, following the cry, hath he rushed, like a wildwood beast - Unto whom from far away hath been wafted the bleating of sheep, - And with famine afire he pursueth; howbeit he may not leap - On the prey, for already the shepherds have penned them safe from - the foe; - And in vehement rage must he moan and howl, till aweary he grow; - So Eilatus' son made vehement moan, and he roamed to and fro - About the place; and his voice rang piteous, broken with woe. - Then suddenly drew he his mighty blade, and he rushed to pursue, - {1250} - If perchance he were seized of beasts, or from ambush a robber-crew - Had leapt on him faring alone, and were haling afar their prey. - Then, even as he shook in his hand his naked sword, in the way - Came Herakles' self to meet him, a giant form that sped - To the ship through the gloom; and he knew him, and straightway a - tale most dread - He told, while laboured with heavy panting his heart, and he said: - 'God help thee, that I first bring to thee tidings of bitter pain! - Hylas hath gone to the spring, and returned not alive again! - Or robbers have seized him, and hale him away to captivity, - Or evil beasts are rending:--I heard but now his cry.' {1260} - Upon Herakles' temples then did the great sweat-gouts upstart, - As he heard him speak, and the dark blood curdled about his heart. - In fury he flung to the earth the pine, and along that path - Rushed, whithersoever his feet might hurry his aimless wrath. - And as, stung by a gadfly, a bull rusheth onward frenzy-stirred - Forsaking the meadows and marshlands, the while of herdsman or herd - He taketh no heed, pressing on in his wild course now without check, - Now making a moment's stand, and uplifting his massive neck, - He uttereth bellowings, mad with the sting of the cruel breese; - So he in his frenzy now would be plying his strong swift knees {1270} - Unresting, and now from his toil would he cease for a moment's space, - And shouted:--the mighty voice rang far through the lonely place. - Eftsoons the morning-star rose over the mountain's crest, - And the winds swept down from the gorges; and Tiphys cried on the - rest - To get them aboard in haste, and to hearken the wind's behest. - So with eager speed they embarked, and the anchor-stones of the ship - Heaved they aboard, and the hawsers thereof in haste did they slip. - And the midst of the sail bellied out with the blast, and far away - From the sea-strand with joy by Poseidon's foreland wafted were they. - But it fell, in the hour when the dawn glad-eyed from the heaven - doth beam, {1280} - From the east uprising, and all the earth-ways clearer gleam, - And the dewy wolds are a-sparkle beneath her flashing sheen, - Then were they ware of those that forsaken unwares had been. - Then mighty contention arose, and an indignation-burst - Most vehement-fierce, that any should go, and forsake the first - Of their comrades in prowess. But Aison's son distraught with amaze - Spake never a word or bad or good in their evil case; - But devouring his soul he sat 'neath wilderment's heavy load. - Then Telamon's wrath waxed hot, and thus with the prince he chode: - 'Ha! sit thou there at thine ease!--good sooth, for thy profit was - this, {1290} - That Herakles thus should be left; thou givest no counsel, I wis, - Lest haply his glory in Hellas should overshadow thee, - If the Gods peradventure vouchsafe us the home-return to see!-- - What pleasure in words?--I will go, I only, with none of these - Thy comrades, who plotted with thee this treason to Herakles.' - He spake, and on Tiphys Hagnias' son he rushed, and his ire - Gleamed through his eyes as the leaping flame of the ravening fire. - And now to the land of the Mysian men had they won back again - In despite of the driving surge, and the head-wind's ceaseless - strain; - But the two winged sons of Thracian Boreas rose thereupon, {1300} - And with fierce stern words from his purpose withheld they Aiakus' - son. - Unhappy they!--grim vengeance thereafter did Herakles wreak - Upon these who withheld the rest which were fain for the lost to - seek. - For when from the games over Pelias dead they were wending again - Homeward, in Tenos the sea-girt he slew them; and heaped o'er the - slain - The earth, and above that grave-mound reared he pillars twain, - The one whereof, a marvel exceeding for men to behold, - Sways to and fro in the blast when the North-wind whistleth cold. - Ay, so in the after-time these things were ordained to be. - But now did Glaukus appear unto them from the depths of the sea, - {1310} - The servant of Nereus divine, the far-discerning seer. - High out of the waves his shaggy head and his breast did he rear - Even to the waist, and his brawny hand did the God stretch out - To the keel of the ship, and unto her eager crew did he shout: - 'Wherefore be ye thus purposed against great Zeus' decrees - Unto Aiêtes' city to bring bold Herakles? - Lo, this is his weird--in the land of Argos labouring - To accomplish toils full twelve for Eurystheus the tyrannous king, - And to dwell with the Deathless Ones, if he bring to fulfilment yet - A few more toils: grieve ye not therefore with vain regret. {1320} - Polyphemus' weird likewise is to rear, where Kios doth fall - Into the sea, 'mid the Mysians a glorious city's wall, - And to find in the Chalybes' land the doom that endeth all. - But Hylas a Goddess-nymph of her love for her spouse hath taken, - For whose sake wandered away those twain unawares forsaken.' - Then downward he plunged, and he wrapped him about with the waves - white-wreathing, - And around him the darkling water foamed in eddies seething. - And he loosed from his hand the hollow ship through the brine to - flee; - And the heroes were glad: then rose up Telamon hastily, - And Aiakus' son unto Jason strode, and his hand did he take {1330} - In the compassing grasp of his own, and embraced him, and thus he - spake: - 'Be nowise wroth with me, Aison's son, if folly-distraught - I have sinned in mine ignorance: anguish exceeding upon me hath - wrought - To utter an arrogant word which I could not refrain: let us cast - To the winds my transgression, and knit be our hearts as in days - overpast.' - Answered him Aison's son, and in courteous wise spake he: - 'Ah, friend, of a truth 'twas a bitter word that thou spakest to me, - When thou saidst in the midst of us all that a traitor I was unto - him - Who to me was a friend!--yet I will not nurse wrath brooding grim, - Though vexed was my soul at the first; since not as for flocks of - sheep {1340} - Didst thou chafe and wast wroth, nor for hoarded wealth of a - treasure-heap, - But all for a comrade's sake. I were fain thou wouldst champion so - Even me, if need should be ever, against another foe.' - He spake, and they sat them down, as in days overpast made one. - But their lost--by the counsel of Zeus, Polyphemus Eilatus' son - Was doomed mid the Mysian men to build a city, to bear - The name of the river thereby: but aback must Herakles fare - At Eurystheus' labours to toil. But he threatened in anger hot - To waste the Mysian land, if her folk for him found not - What doom upon Hylas had lighted, if dead or alive he were. {1350} - And pledges they gave for the lost, in that sons most noble and fair - Of their people they chose, and for hostages gave, and an oath they - swore - That they would not refrain from the toil of the search for evermore. - Wherefore for tidings of Hylas the Kians unto this day, - For Theiodamas' son, of the stranger inquire: the warders aye - Guard Trêchis the fair-built; for there did the hero cause to abide - The sons that they sent for their ransom to turn his fury aside. - And the wind all day bare onward the galley and all night through - With a fresh strong blast: but when dawning arose, the breath of it - blew - No whit any more; and they spied jutting forth from a curve of the - land {1360} - A foreland, and broad to behold that dark height swelled from the - strand. - So they bent to the oars, and at sunrise the keel up-furrowed the - sand. - - - THE SECOND BOOK - - THERE were there steadings of cattle, and Amykus' farms were there, - Proud king of Bebrykian men, whom erst a wood-nymph bare; - For Bithynian Meliê couched with Poseidon the Lord of Birth. - Overweening was this their son above all the children of Earth, - Who even on wayfaring strangers his tyrannous ordinance laid - That they should not depart from his land till that trial of prowess - were made - Against him with the fist: and neighbours full many he smote that - they died. - And now to the galley he came; but he scorned in the height of his - pride - To inquire of them wherefore they voyaged, or ask what men were they: - But with sudden defiance he challenged them all, and thus did he - say: {10} - 'Sea-rovers, hearken the thing that is meet and right ye should - know. - This is the ordinance--none may depart, from my country to go, - Even none who hath come to Bebrykia's folk out of alien lands, - Or ever against mine hands he hath lifted in battle his hands. - Choose for you therefore the mightiest man of all your array, - And set ye him here for the strife of the fist against me this day. - But and if ye shall shrink from the trial, and trample my laws - underfoot, - Verily mighty constraint shall pursue you with bitter pursuit.' - So spake he in pride overweening, and came upon them as they heard - Fierce anger, but most by his threatening vaunt Polydeukes was - stirred. {20} - Straightway he stood for his fellows' champion forth, and he cried: - 'Peace!--threaten not us, whatsoever the name that hath puffed - thee with pride, - With brutal mishandling:--yea, unto these thy laws will we bow. - Even I right willingly offer me--lo, I will meet thee now.' - Roundly he spake; and with rolling eyes glared on him the king - As a lion javelin-smitten, when out on the mountains the ring - Of the hunters hemmeth him round; but, albeit encompassed about - By the throng, he heedeth them not, but his glance ever searcheth - him out, - Him only, which wounded him first, yet quelled him not with the - stroke. - Then Tyndareus' son laid by his goodly-woven cloak {30} - Of delicate threads, a gift of remembrance for sweet days past - Of a daughter of Lemnos. His mantle's dark folds Amykus cast, - With the clasps thereof, to the ground, and the shepherd's staff - that he bore, - The rugged olive his hand from the windy hill-slope tore. - Then looked they, and chose for the combat a spot that was good in - their sight; - And all their companions they bade sit down to left and to right. - Then stood they forth, nor in form nor in stature alike to behold: - But the one might be seed of Typhôeus the fell, or a monster of old, - Ay, even as one of the giant brood of Earth, which she bare - To wreak upon Zeus her wrath: but Tyndareus' son showed fair {40} - As the star of the heaven, whose loveliest beams through the fading - blue - Shine in the eventide, when the wings of the night drop dew. - Even such was the child of Zeus, and the soft down bloomed on his - chin, - And bright were his dancing eyes: but waxed his breast within - His fury and might like a wild beast's rage; and he struck out fast - With his hands, making trial if swift were their play, as in days - overpast, - Uncramped by the stress of toil and the strain of the weary oar. - But Amykus proved not his limbs, but he glared on his foe evermore - Standing in silence aloof, and he yearned in eager mood - To smite and bespatter the hero's breast with the spurting blood. - {50} - And between them Lykôreus, Amykus' henchman, cast on the ground - In front of their feet the fighting-gauntlets with thongs overbound, - Strips of the raw hide, dry, all ridged with wrinkles were they. - Then unto the hero the giant with arrogant words 'gan say: - 'Whichsoever thou wilt, lo, freely and willingly grant I to thee, - Without casting of lots, that thou mayst not hereafter murmur at me. - Now bind them about thine hands: thou shalt learn, and to others - shall tell - How featly I carve the tough bull-hides, how passing well - I wield them withal, to bedabble with blood the jaws of men.' - He spake, but the hero scorned with wrangling to answer again: {60} - And he made no ado, but the pair lying nighest his feet, the same - Lightly smiling he took. Then unto him Kastor came, - And Talaus the mighty, the scion of Bias: they bound on his wrists - The gauntlets in haste, oft bidding him play the man in the lists. - And to Amykus Ornytus came and Arêtus; but naught knew they-- - Fools!--that they girded a doomed man then for his latest fray. - So when they were ready, and forth in the lists stood face to face, - Straightway in front of their bodies their brawny hands did they - raise. - Then closed they, and matched their might in the grim play furiously. - And now the Bebrykian king, as a charging wave of the sea {70} - With storm-roughened crest overarcheth a ship, and would surely - o'erwhelm, - But that scantly she 'scapeth by wisdom of him that swayeth the helm, - When over her bulwark to hurl itself mad is the surge of the wave; - So followed he hard upon Tyndareus' son to daunt him: he gave - No respite. The hero by cunning keeping him scatheless aye - Baffled his every rush: well marked he his brutal play, - To wot if the giant in might were haply resistless, or no. - So ever he faced him and warded, and flashed back blow for blow. - And even as when the shipwrights with hammers mightily swinging - Smite on the beams of a galley, driving the clamps close-clinging - {80} - Sharply together, that bang upon clang cometh crashing and ringing, - And the air is a-shiver; so crack 'neath the buffets the cheeks of - the twain, - So crash their jaws, and so clatter their teeth as the swift blows - rain. - Nor flinch they nor falter, but facing each other smite they amain, - Till spent are they both, and for laboured panting they needs must - refrain. - Then standing apart for a little they wiped from their foreheads away - The streaming sweat, while their deep chests heaved with the toil of - the fray. - Then each against other again they rushed, as when on the lea - Two bulls for a heifer are fighting in fury of rivalry. - Then mid their battle did Amykus up to his full height spring {90} - Like an ox-slayer straining a-tiptoe--downward the weight did he - swing - Of his gauntleted hand on the hero; but swerving swift from the - stroke - By a turn of his head hath he foiled him, hath caught on his shoulder - and broke - Its force,--he hath slipped past the knee of the giant his knee,--he - hath rushed - With his whole weight dashing his fist 'neath his ear, and the bones - hath he crushed, - That for agony down on his knees he sank, and the Minyans' shout - Rang; and with one great gasp was the giant's life poured out. - Uprose the Bebrykian men to avenge the wild king's fall: - And full upon Polydeukes as one man rushed they all - With rugged clubs and with javelins tossing in furious hands. {100} - But his comrades afront of him closed, and they drew their - keen-whetted brands - Out of their scabbards: and Kastor the first with the sword-sweep - cleft - The head of a foe, as against him he rushed; and to right and to left - Upon either shoulder aslant did the ghastly halves of it fall. - Polydeukes o'erthrew the giant Itymoneus, Mimas withal; - For, weaponless, one with a sudden leap did he spurn on the breast - With his foot, and in dust he fell; and one, as to conflict he - pressed, - Over the left brow smote he with swift right hand, and he tare - The eyelid away, that it left the wretch's eyeball bare. - And Oreides, Amykus' henchman, a brawny champion, {110} - Stabbed with his lance at the flank of Talaus, Bias' son; - Howbeit he slew him not, but sliding along the skin - The brass sped under his belt, neither tasted the flesh within. - And Arêtus at Iphitus smote with a club of the knotted oak, - That Eurytus' scion, the battle-bider, reeled from the stroke. - Howbeit not yet was the hero doomed unto deadly bane; - Nay, soon was the smiter's self by Klytius' sword to be slain. - Then did Ankaius the dauntless son of Lykurgus in haste - Swing up his mighty axe, and around his left arm cast - The bear's dark fell for a shield, and amidst the Bebrykian array - {120} - In fury of onset he plunged, and beside him charged to the fray - Aiakus' sons, and Jason the valiant leapt to the fight. - And as when mid the folds the grey wolves scare in huddled affright - Vast throngs of sheep on a wintry day, having rushed on the pen - By the keen-nosed dogs unscented, unmarked of the shepherd's ken; - And in fury they seek to leap the fence, and to seize the prey, - Glaring and glaring, a fierce-eyed ring; and, shrinking away - Upon every side, on each other trample the sheep; even so - Drave they in ghastly rout the haughty Bebrykian foe. - And as when bee-keepers or shepherds fill with the stifling smoke - {130} - The cleft of a rock where dwell the honey-fashioning folk, - And the bees for a while all thronging within their cavern-home, - Murmur with muffled hum, till, driven at last therefrom - By the murky fume, they pour from the crag, and they flee away; - Even so not long they abode, but scattered in disarray - Through Bebrykia bearing the tidings of Amykus' doom did they fly. - Fools!--nothing they knew of another woe even then drawn nigh - All unforeseen, for their orchards were wasted in that same hour, - And amidst of their hamlets did Lykus' ravening spears devour, - And the Mariandynians slew, forasmuch as their king was afar, {140} - For that aye for the iron-bearing land were the nations at war. - So now had the spoilers fallen on garth and byre and fold; - While seaward the heroes headed their sheep in throngs untold, - And this one to that one cried the while they drave the prey: - 'Bethink ye, what price had they paid for their felon folly to-day, - If haply a God had but brought our Herakles hither to aid! - Ha! surely had he but been here, no trial, I ween, had been made - Of strife with the fists; but so soon as the caitiff drew nigh to - proclaim - His ordinance, straightway the club should have made him forget the - same, - Even as he spake it, yea, and forget the might of his hand. {150} - Ah, but we left him, we left him, alone on a desolate strand, - And we sailed away oversea:--full soon shall we know, each one, - Our baneful folly, seeing our mightiest champion is gone!' - But the counsels of Zeus had wrought all this, beyond their ken. - So here through the night they abode, and the hurts of the wounded - men - They tended, and slew to the Gods everlasting the sacrifice; - And a mighty supper they dight: fell sleep upon no man's eyes, - By the bowl as they sat and the blazing altar the long night through, - With their golden locks enwreathed with the leaves of a bay that grew - Hard by the strand, about whose stem was their hawser bound. {160} - And to Orpheus' lyre they chanted; their voices' blended sound - Rang tunefully: all the breathless beach lay tranced with the spell - Of the song; for of Zeus of Therapnae's child did the sweet hymn - tell. - Over the dusky hills did the light of the new sun leap, - As he rose from his far sea-bourn, as he roused the shepherds from - sleep. - Then from the stem of the bay did the heroes their hawser uncoil, - And they laid in the galley so much as sufficed for their need of - the spoil; - And before the breeze up swirling Bosporus' flood they steered. - There steep and high the surge, as a mountain's crown upreared - Afront of the prow, rusheth on them as leapeth a beast on the - prey,-- {170} - Higher, still higher upheaved to the clouds: thou wouldst verily say, - 'They cannot escape grim doom, for that full o'er the galley's side - Swingeth its madding crest like a cloud!' Yet a bark may ride - Safe even o'er such, if she have but a helmsman good at need. - And by Tiphys' steering-craft even so did the heroes speed - Through the peril unscathed, yet sore dismayed. So the wild day - passed, - And the night; and with dawn on Bithynia's shore the anchor they - cast. - There hard by the sea had Phineus Agênor's son his abode, - Who endured above all men trouble and anguish, a baleful load. - For a spirit of prophecy Lêto's son had bestowed of old {180} - On him; yet he thrust all reverence aside, and to mortals foretold - The sacred purpose of Zeus, the mind of Heaven's King. - Therefore did Zeus requite him with eld long-lingering; - And he took from his eyes the pleasant light, and he suffered him not - To have joy of the meats untold which the dwellers around aye - brought, - What time to his halls they resorted the purpose of heaven to hear. - But out of their caverns of cloud ever suddenly swooping anear - The Harpies would snatch them away from his lips and his hands - evermore - With their talons, and whiles was there left unto him of all that - store - No whit, and whiles but a crumb, that for torment his life might be - spared. {190} - And they poured over all a loathly stench: was none that dared, - I say not, to carry thereof to his mouth, but even to stand - Far off, so foully the remnants reeked of the banquet banned. - But now, on his ears as their voices and tramp of their coming brake, - He knew that the men were at hand whereof Zeus' oracle spake - That their coming should bring for him respite, in peace to eat his - bread. - And he rose from his couch, as a shadowy dream might rise from a bed, - Bowed over his staff, and with wrinkled feet 'gan creep to the door - Groping along the walls; and for helplessness trembled sore - And for age his limbs as he moved, and with filth was his parchèd - skin {200} - All leprous, and nought save this enwrapped the bones within. - So forth of the hall he came, and he bowed on the threshold-stone - His weary knees; and a swoon, like a dark pall over him thrown, - Enshrouded him; under his feet him seemed that the earth reeled - round; - And he lay in a strengthless trance, and his lips could frame no - sound. - And the heroes beheld him, and round about in a throng they pressed - And marvelled; until at the last the man from the depth of his breast - Drew laboured and difficult breath, and uttered his prophecy: - 'Hearken, ye noblest of Hellas' sons, if ye verily be - The self-same heroes that Jason leadeth forth on the Quest {210} - Of the Golden Fleece in Argo the ship at a King's grim hest. - Of a surety ye be: my soul hath knowledge of everything - By her divination yet. Thanks therefore to thee, O King, - O Son of Lêto, I render from depths of affliction and woe! - O friends, by the Suppliants' Zeus, who is ever the sternest foe - Of transgressors--for Phœbus' sake, and in awful Hêrê's name - I beseech--by the Gods I implore you in whose care hither ye came, - Help me: deliver from anguish a most ill-fated man, - Neither hasten away uncaring and leave me in bale and ban, - As ye find me: for not on mine eyes alone hath the fierce foot trode - {220} - Of the Vengeance-fiend, and I drag to the end eld's weary load; - But a curse more bitter than all still hangeth over mine head, - For the Harpies are wont evermore to snatch from my lips my bread, - Swooping adown from a den of destruction, a viewless lair. - Neither find I any device for mine help: nay, easier it were - To escape the ken of mine own heart's thoughts when I crave to be - fed, - Than theirs; so swift through the welkin on hovering wings are they - sped. - But if haply ever they leave but a morsel of meat on my board, - It reeketh with most unendurable strength of a stench abhorred. - No man, no, not for an instant, might dare draw nigh to the same, - {230} - Not though in his breast were a heart forged all of adamant frame. - But me of a surety doth hard compelling of hunger constrain - To abide, and abiding to stay this famine's gnawing pain. - But those my tormentors, an oracle saith, shall be made to flee - By Boreas' sons; neither strangers shall my deliverers be, - If indeed I be Phineus, renowned among men in the days long gone - For my wealth and my soothsaying lore, if Agênor called me son, - If the sister of these, Kleopatra, when over the Thracians I reigned, - Came to mine halls, a bride by a royal bride-price gained.' - So ended Agênor's son, and compassion's o'ermastering pain {240} - Thrilled all the heroes, but chiefly the North-wind's scions twain. - Brushing the tears from their eyes they drew nigh him, and Zethes - spake; - And the hand of the grief-worn sire in his hand with the word did he - take: - 'O hapless, none other is more afflicted than thou, I trow, - Among men!--ah, wherefore on thee is there heaped such a burden of - woe? - Baleful in sooth was the folly wherewith through thy prophecy-lore - Against Gods thou transgressedst: for this was their anger exceeding - sore. - Howbeit our spirit within us, although we be fain, is afraid - To help thee, if on us indeed a God this honour hath laid. - For to dwellers on Earth the rebukes of Immortals be plain to - discern; {250} - And we dare not chase yon Harpies from thee, howsoever we yearn - For thine help, in the hour of their coming, except thou swear to us - first - That for this we shall lose not the high Gods' favour, as men - accurst.' - So spake he: the stricken in years uplifted and opened wide - His sightless eyes straightway, and with swift words Phineus replied: - 'Hush!--thrust not such thoughts, my son, on a spirit - affliction-filled! - Be witness Latona's son, who taught to me gracious-willed - Prophecy-lore; and be witness this mine ill-starred doom, - And this dark cloud on mine eyes, and the Gods of the Underworld - Gloom,-- - May their curse, if I die with a lie on my tongue, be upon me for - aye!-- {260} - That on you no wrath of the Gods shall descend for your help this - day.' - Then by the oath were they kindled to help him, and fled their - fears. - And the young men straightway made ready the meat for the stricken - in years,-- - The last ordained for the Harpies' spoil,--and anigh to him stood - Those twain, to smite with the sword those fiends when they swooped - on the food. - Then first his hands on the meats did he lay, that grey-haired - sire:-- - But sudden as bitter blasts, or as flashes of levin-fire, - Unawares from the clouds they had darted, and swooping adown they - yelled - Their awful scream, fierce-eager for prey; but the heroes beheld, - And shouted amidst of their onrush. The fiends at the challenge of - war {270} - Swift ravined the meats from the boards, and over the sea afar - Soared they away, but there did their foul sick stench remain. - Then straightway hard on their track did the North-wind's scions - twain - Uplifting their swords follow after them fast, for with tireless - might - Zeus filled them: howbeit they had not prevailed to follow their - flight - But with Zeus's help, for that faster than Zephyrus' blasts they - darted - Evermore, when on Phineus they swooped, and whene'er from the wretch - they departed. - And as when on the mountain-ridges keen hounds cunning in chase - On the track of the hornèd goats or the deer hard-following race - Swiftly, and ever a little behind the prey as they strain, {280} - Snap at the haunch of the quarry, and clash their teeth in vain; - So Zetes and Kalaïs rushed ever nearer with eager grip, - Clutched at them, smote at them, missed but by sword-point or - finger-tip. - Yea, even despite Heaven's will had they rent them limb from limb, - Overtaking them far away where the Floating Islands swim,-- - But Iris the Storm-foot beheld them, and downward she plunged from - the sky - Through a whirlwind of air, and with words of restraining aloud did - she cry: - 'Sons of the North-wind, forefended it is that ye smite with the - sword - The Harpies, great Zeus's hounds; but myself will pronounce the word - Of the oath that shall hold them from lighting again on the ancient's - board.' {290} - Then spake she the words of the Oath of the Styx, the oath most - dread - Unto all the Gods, whose reverence guardeth the words once said, - That the Harpies should never thereafter draw nigh unto Phineus' - hall, - To the home of Agênor's son, for so was it doomed to befall. - To the oath then yielded the heroes, and backward they turned their - flight - Unto the ship; and the Strophads, the Isles of Return, were they - hight - Therefrom, which of old the Floating Isles had been called of men. - And the Harpies and Iris parted, and into their cavern-den - In Krêtê, the land of Minos, they plunged: but Olympus-ward - Uplifted 'twixt heaven and earth on her swift wings Iris soared. - {300} - But the heroes bathed and anointed the skin all fouled and sere - Of the ancient the while; and the choice of the fatlings they slew - for their cheer, - Of the flock which they bare away of the spoil of Amykus dead. - So when in the halls a plenteous eventide-feast they had spread, - They feasted; and Phineus amidst them was like unto them that dream, - As from ravenous hunger he cheered his heart, so strange did it seem. - So there, when with meats and with wine they had satisfied all their - need, - Through the long night kept they vigil, and waited for Boreas' seed. - And the ancient sat in their midst in the ruddy glow of the fire; - And he told of their voyaging's bourn, and the end of their desire: - {310} - 'Give ear unto me:--forefended it is that ye hear all through - Your fate:--whatsoe'er seemeth good to the Gods I will hide not from - you. - Mad was I of yore, when I spake unto Earth's sons Zeus's will - In all points unto the end: for this is his pleasure still - To reveal unto men his oracles short of the fulness of doom, - That so they may lean on the Gods, and faith and prayer have room. - The Rocks Kyanean first, when that gotten ye are from me, - In the place where the two seas meet, the Dark Blue Crags, shall ye - see. - Through that dread pass no pilot, I ween, hath prevailed to go; - For rooted they are not to earth on foundations of rock therebelow; - {320} - But with rush and recoil unceasingly each against other they clash: - High over them archeth the crested brine, and the foam-feathers flash - From the seething cauldron: the precipice-foreland thundereth aye. - Wherefore to this my counsel give good heed, and obey, - If indeed with prudent soul and with fear of the Gods on high - Ye essay this Quest, that by doom self-sought ye may not die - As the fool, nor in rashness of youth essay to rush thereby. - First with a bird, with a white-winged dove, shall ye make assay, - Speeding her flight from the ship's prow. If she shall win her way - Safe 'twixt the Crags of Terror, and out to the open sea, {330} - No longer thereafter from daring the selfsame path shrink ye; - But grip ye the oars in your hands, and put forth your uttermost - might - Cleaving the gorge of the sea, for that safety's deliverance-light - Shall not be in prayer so much as the strength of your hands and the - strain. - Wherefore let all else be, and toil ye with might and main - Boldly: but ere then pray as ye list; I say not nay. - But and if the death-trap clutch in the midst the dove, and slay, - Then sail ye aback; for better by far it is that ye - Should yield to the Deathless. The evil fate should ye nowise flee - Of the Rocks--no, not though fashioned of iron your Argo should be. - {340} - O wretches, dare not to transgress the warning my tongue hath given, - Though thrice so much ye account me abhorred of the Dwellers in - Heaven-- - Yea, though it were more than thrice--as I am by my grievous sin, - Yet dare not to flout the omen, to thrust your galley therein! - And these things shall fall as they haply shall fall. But if - scatheless ye shun - The rush of the Clashing Rocks, and the Pontus Sea shall be won, - Sailing therefrom, the Bithynians' land to your right shall ye keep, - Ever heedfully standing out from the reefs, until ye shall sweep - Round the outfall of swift-flowing Rheba, and round the headland - dark, - And within the haven of Thynê's isle shall anchor your bark. {350} - Thence turn ye aback for a little space o'er the long sea-swell, - Till ye beach your keel on the strand where the Mariandynians dwell. - Thereby is a path through darkness descending to Hades' hall, - And the Cape Acherusian towereth upward, a giant wall. - And swirling Acheron cleaving the mountain's heart unseen - Suddenly poureth forth his flood from a mighty ravine. - Thereby many column-hills of the Paphlagonian shore - Shall ye pass, the nation whose king was in Enetê born of yore, - Even Pelops; and yet do they boast them sprung from his princely - line. - And a headland there is, looking full where the circling Bear doth - shine, {360} - A crag exceeding steep, and Karambis it hath to name. - The blasts of the North-wind are sundered about the crest of the - same, - So sheer doth it spring from the sea, so sharply it cleaveth the air. - Now when ye have rounded the same, lo, stretcheth before you there - A great beach: far at the end of the gleaming strand's long sweep - 'Neath a jutting foreland the waters of Halys seaward leap - Terribly roaring; and hard thereby doth Iris go, - A lesser river, whose swirls soft-rippling gently flow. - And onward from thence is the bend of a huge cape towering high - Up from the land, and the mouth of the river Thermodon thereby, {370} - Where the height Themiskyrian watcheth the sleeping bay at its side, - Cometh murmuring still of her journeyings over the mainland wide. - There is the plain of Doias, the cities three rise near - Of the Amazon Maids: then they whose lot is of all most drear, - The Chalybes, dwell in a rugged land on a stubborn soil, - Smithying-craftsmen; in forging of iron ever they toil. - And anigh to them dwell Tibarenians, lords of many sheep, - Past Zeus the Defender of Strangers, the fane upon Genetê's steep. - And next unto these, on their marches, the Mossynœcians dwell - In a land of forests, in many a mountain-cradled dell, {380} - Whose homes be in towers of timber, fashioned and carven well. - But coast past these, and beach your keel on a smooth isle: there - Beat back with your uttermost cunning the ravening scourge of the - air, - Those birds, which in countless multitudes haunt, men say, the - strand - Of the desolate isle;--therein doth a temple of Arês stand - Of stone, which was built by the queens of the Amazon war-array, - Otrêrê and Antiopê, what time they marched to the fray;-- - For there shall a help for your need from the bitter sea arise - Unlooked-for: wherefore, abide there, with kindly intent I advise. - But now what do I, transgressing again?--what need that I {390} - Should tell to you every whit of the tale of my prophecy? - Onward away from the isle, on the mainland shore's far side, - The Philyrans dwell, and beyond the Philyran folk abide - The Makrônes, and next, the Becheirian tribes, a host untold. - Next after these the Sapeirians' land shall your eyes behold. - Next these the Bezyrans, their neighbours, dwell; and beyond, at - last, - Even the warrior Kolchians: yet shall ye speed on past - Your galley, till stayed at the uttermost bourn of the sea ye are. - There over the mainland Kytaian, from Amaranth mountains afar, - And over the plain Kirkaian rolling evermore, {400} - His broad flood into the sea doth eddying Phasis pour. - Into the selfsame river's mouth your galley bring: - Then on the towers shall ye look of Kytaian Aiêtes the king, - And the War-god's grove dim-shadowed. And high on a dark oak-tree - Hangeth the Fleece; and a dragon, a monster fearful to see, - Ever glareth around, keeping watch and ward: never dawn doth arise, - Neither darkness descendeth, when sweet sleep quelleth his ruthless - eyes.' - Even so did he speak: straightway as they heard were they thrilled - with fear. - Long speechless they sat, till brake at the last that silence drear - Aison's son, sore wildered that boding of evil to hear: {410} - 'O ancient, now hast thou come to the bourn of the toils we must - know - On the sea, and hast told us the token, by trust wherein we may go - Through the baleful rocks, and win unto Pontus: but if once more, - If through these we escape, we shall homeward return unto Hellas' - shore, - Exceeding fain were I this also to learn of thee. - How shall I do?--how track such a measureless path o'er the sea, - Who am but a youth, and with youths?--and behold, this Kolchian land - At the ends of the earth doth lie, on the great sea's uttermost - strand.' - So did he cry; but answered the ancient, and spake yet again: - 'My son, when once thou hast safely fled through the Rocks of Bane, - {420} - Fear not, for a God shall show thee another voyaging-track - From Aia: yea, after Aia guides shalt thou nowise lack. - But, friends, of the guileful aid of the Cyprian Queen take thought; - For of her unto glorious issues shall all your toils be wrought. - And now of the things yet lying beyond these ask me nought.' - So answered Agênor's son; and lo, those twain stood nigh, - The sons of the Thracian North-wind, swooping adown from the sky. - On the threshold their swift feet set they; and straight from his - carven chair - Each hero upsprang, beholding the champions suddenly there. - Eager for tidings were they; and Zetes, still as he drew {430} - Hard breath from the toil of the hunting, told them how far they flew - Chasing them, told how Iris restrained them at point to slay; - Of the oaths which the Goddess gave of her grace; how in sore dismay - 'Neath Dictê's cliff in a cavern vast they had plunged out of sight. - Then were the heroes all in the mansion filled with delight - For the tidings, and Phineus withal. Then spake unto him straightway - Aison's son, and with love overflowing his soul 'gan say:-- - 'Of a surety a God, O Phineus, there was, in compassion that bent - To look on thy grievous affliction, and us from afar he sent - Hither, that Boreas' sons might drive thy tormentors from thee. {440} - Now if he would give but light to thine eyes, such gladness in me - Would stir, as though with the Fleece I were come to mine home, I - trow.' - He spake, but the head of the ancient sank, and he answered low: - 'Nay, Aison's son, it is past recall: no dawn shall arise - Balm-breathing on them, for blasted are these my sightless eyes. - Nay, death let a God bestow right speedily, rather than this: - Then, when I am dead, shall I enter at last into perfect bliss.' - So spake they, and each unto other the answering speech returned. - And amidst of their converse in no long space the dawn-flush burned - Of the Child of the Mist: then gathered the neighbours to Phineus' - door {450} - Which in time past day by day wont thither to come evermore; - And, despite the curse, from their own a portion of meat each - brought. - And to all did the ancient--yea, to the poor whose hands bare - nought-- - Speak kindly his oracles; yea, from afflictions many he freed - By his soothsaying: wherefore they came, and they ministered unto - his need. - And came with the rest Paraibius, he that was dearest of all - Unto him, and with joy was he ware of the presences thronging the - hall. - For the ancient to him long since had foretold that a chieftain-band, - Unto Aiêtes' city faring from Hellas-land, - On the beach of the Thynian coast should make their hawsers fast, - {460} - And by these should the Harpies of Zeus be restrained from - tormenting at last. - So with words of wisdom and love the ancient gladdened each heart - Ere he let them go; but Paraibius suffered he not to depart, - But bade him abide with the chieftains, and sent him, making request - Of his friend to go to the flock, and to bring the goodliest - Of the sheep unto him. So when to perform his behest he had sped, - To the chieftains gathered there spake Phineus, and lovingly said: - 'O friends, not every man is overweening of mood, - Neither forgetful of kindness; so loyal of heart and so good - Is yon man. Hither he came on a day to inquire of his fate: {470} - For, when never so hard he toiled, sore labouring early and late, - Yet ever his need grew greater, his poverty waxed alway, - With leanness wasting his frame: day followed on evil day - Yet worse: no respite there was to his weariful pain. But herein - Was this man paying the debt of his father's ancient sin. - For once on the mountains alone the trees of the forest felling - He had set at nought the prayers of a Nymph in an oak-tree dwelling. - For with earnest entreaty she moaned her request, and besought him - with tears - To spare that trunk which had grown with her growth, wherewith - through the years - Of long generations her life was bound; but in folly and pride {480} - Of his youthful arrogance hewed he on: and the Tree-nymph died. - Wherefore the Wood-maid caused that her death thereafter should be - For a curse unto him and his children. And I, when he came unto me, - Knew of the ancient sin; and an altar I bade him raise - To the Thynian Nymph, and atonement-victims to give to the blaze, - Praying to 'scape from the weird pronounced on his father of yore. - Then, when from the doom of the Goddess deliverance came, never more - Forgat he me, nor neglected: and sorely against his will - From my doors do I send him fain to attend mine afflictions still.' - So spake Agenor's son; and straightway returned again {490} - His friend with fatlings twain from the flock. Rose Jason then - And rose the North-wind's sons at the ancient prophet's word. - Eftsoons called they on the name of Apollo the Prophecy-lord; - Then slew they the sheep on the hearth as sloped the sun to the west. - And the younger men of their band made ready the plenteous feast. - So when they had eaten, they turned to their rest, as each man chose, - By the hawsers of Argo these, through the mansion in clusters those. - But at dawn the Etesian breezes blew, which o'er every land - Equally blow in their season by Zeus's high command. - Kyrênê, 'tis told, in the meads where Peneios' waters roll {500} - Pastured her sheep in the olden days; for dear to her soul - Were her maidenhood and her couch unstained: but, even as she strayed - By the stream with her flock, did Apollo snatch from the earth the - maid - From Haimonia afar, and mid Chthonian Nymphs did he set her down, - Where over their Libyan haunts the steeps Myrtosian frown. - There did she bear Aristaius, and Phœbus' son did they call - In Haimonia the Shepherd Lord, and the Mighty Hunter withal; - For the God of his love to a Nymph transformed her, and made her - there - The Lady of the Land, long-lived: but his child he bare, - A babbling infant yet, to be nurtured in Cheiron's cave. {510} - And to him, when he grew unto manhood, a bride the Muses gave; - And cunning in healing they taught him, with prophecy-wisdom they - fed; - And their tender of sheep did they make him, that all their flocks - he led, - In the plain Athamantian of Phthia that pastured, by Othrys' side, - And where the sacred streams of the river Apidanus glide. - But when Sirius glared on the isles of Minos with scorching blaze, - Neither came to the dwellers therein any respite for many days, - For this Aristaius they sent, by the Archer-god's command, - To avert the plague; and he left at his father's behest the land - Of Phthia, and dwelt in Kos, and assembled thither the folk {520} - Of Parrhasia, even the people sprung from Lykaon's stock. - So to Rain-giver Zeus he builded a mighty altar there, - And he offered sacrifice meet to the star of the fiery glare - On the hills, and to Zeus himself the son of Kronos; and so - O'er the earth from Zeus the cool Etesian winds yet blow - For forty days: and, or ever the red Dog-star doth rise, - The priests in Kos unto this day offer him sacrifice. - So telleth the tale: and there were the heroes constrained to stay - Land-bound by the selfsame winds. But the Thynians day by day, - Of their love for Phineus, brought to them gifts of abundant cheer. - {530} - And thereafter unto the Blessèd Twelve did the wanderers rear - On the further strand an altar, and victims offered they there - Ere they entered the sea-swift galley to row: yet forgat not to bear - In Argo a trembling dove, but Euphêmus clutched her fast - In his hand, as with terror she shrank and cowered; and so at the - last - Loose from the Thynian land the hawsers twain they cast. - Yet not unmarked of Athênê onward again did they fare: - Swiftly her feet hath she set on a cloud light-floating in air - Which should waft her along, for she caused that the weight divine - it bore. - So seaward she swept to the help of the toilers at the oar. {540} - And as when one roveth afar from his own land,--oftentimes thus - We men in our hardihood wander, and no land seemeth to us - Too far away, but all paths lie within our ken,-- - And he thinketh upon his home, and all in a moment then - Him seemeth the track over sea and o'er land thereunto lieth plain, - And the eyes of his soul in his eager pondering thitherward strain; - Even so swiftly the Daughter of Zeus through the welkin hath sped, - Till her feet on the perilous strand of the coast Bithynian tread. - So when they were come to the narrow gorge of the winding strait - Where to right and to left stern cliffs pent in that grim sea-gate, - {550} - Then the swirling rush of the surf dashed, bursting up from below, - O'er the ship as she went, and onward in sore dismay did they row. - And now the thud of the rocks, as each against other they clashed, - Ceaselessly smote on their ears, and thundered the cliffs - brine-lashed. - Even then Euphêmus uprose firm-grasping the dove in his hand, - And on to the prow he strode, and the oarsmen obeyed the command - Of Tiphys Hagnias' son, that they rowed with might and main - To drive the Argo betwixt the rocks through the perilous lane, - Putting their trust in their strength; and the crags, as asunder - they leapt, - Opening they saw--of all men last--round a bend as they swept. {560} - And their spirit was melted within them:--but now Euphêmus hath sped - The flight of the wings of the dove: each man uplifted his head, - Watching what now should befall:--on, onward between them, on - Flew she; but face to face those charging walls of stone - Came rushing together, and crashed, and the seething brine uproared - Vast-volumed like to a cloud; and the madding sea-gulf roared - With an awful voice, and thundered the welkin wide all round. - And out of the caverns under the rugged cliffs the sound - Of a hollow rumbling came, as the sea surged inward; and high - O'er the cliffs from the dashing waves did the spurts of the white - foam fly. {570} - The ship broached-to in the wave-rush: shorn by the rocks was the tip - Of the dove's tail-feathers; but onward she flew, by the death-gin's - grip - Unscathed. Loud shouted the oarsmen; and Tiphys cried to them then - To row with their might, for the crags were parting asunder again. - But for trembling they faltered in rowing, until the indraught caught - The ship in the strength of its sweep back-swinging; and lo, they - were brought - Betwixt those rocks. Then fell upon all most ghastly dread, - For destruction that none could escape was hanging above each head. - Even now through the gap wide Pontus to right and to left was beheld: - But all unawares at their bows a mighty surge upswelled {580} - Overbowed like a precipice-frown; and they saw as the green arch - gleamed, - And with cowering heads did they shut their eyes--to their souls it - seemed - That down on the ship's whole length it would leap, and overwhelm; - But, while yet to the rowing she laboured, did Tiphys' touch on the - helm - Ease her, and under the keel hath it rolled, as leapt the prow: - High hath it lifted the stern, and afar hath it swept her now - From the rocks, and the galley 'twixt earth and heaven was tossed on - high. - But Euphêmus strode down the line of the rowers with cheering cry - To bend to the oars with their uttermost might: and they tore through - the deep - The blades with a shout. And far as a ship to the stroke will leap, - {590} - Even twice so far leapt Argo away, and the tough oars bent - Like bended bows, such might to the stroke the heroes lent. - On-rushing, up-towering, a breaker came, overarched like a cave; - But suddenly light as a roller she rode the furious wave. - Forward through yawning gulfs she plunged; but caught was her prow - By a whirlpool sea-rush betwixt the Clashers:--on each side now - Swaying forward they thundered, and shivered the hull to the coming - shock. - Then did Athênê backward thrust one massy rock - With her left hand, touching their bark with her right to speed her - through; - On, like a wingèd arrow 'twixt billow and air she flew. {600} - Yet shorn away was the tip of the galley's arching stern - By the rocks in their clash never-resting. Then did Athênê return - Far up to Olympus soaring, when now their peril was past. - But the Crags in the selfsame place that moment were rooted fast - Each hard against other for ever, as fated they were to remain - By the Blest, when a man in his ship should have passed therethrough - unslain. - And now for the first from dismay blood-curdling did those breathe - free, - Now gazing around on the sky, now o'er the expanse of sea - Far stretching away; for they weened that from Hades safe they had - fled. - Then first of them Tiphys brake that awe-struck hush, and he said: - {610} - 'Now I deem we have 'scaped it, we and the Argo, in very deed: - And herein none other, save only Athênê, hath helped us at need, - Who breathed into Argo spirit divine, when Argus the wright - Knit her with bolts, that she could not be trapped in doom's despite. - O Aison's son, for the hest of thy king no more fear thou, - Since a God hath vouchsafed unto us to flee all scatheless now - Through yonder rocks: yea, all thy toils which are yet to be done - Shall lightly be compassed, as Phineus foretold, Agênor's son.' - So spake he; and forward past the Bithynian land he sped - The ship right on through the midst of the sea. But Jason said-- - {620} - And sad was his voice and low as he answered the hero-chief:-- - 'Ah, Tiphys, to what end thus wouldst thou hearten me in my grief? - I have sinned: with baneful and cureless madness have I transgressed. - For I ought, in the very hour when Pelias uttered his hest, - To have straightway refused this Quest, yea, though I were doomed to - die - By the hands of tormentors, limb from limb hewn pitilessly. - But exceeding dread and cares unendurable now be mine, - With haunting fear as I sail the sea's chill paths of brine - In the ship, and with haunting fear wheresoever we set our feet - On the land, for that foes evermore on every shore do we meet. {630} - And ever, when past is the day, through a night of sighs I wake, - Even from the hour when first ye gathered for Jason's sake, - For all things aye taking thought. With a light heart cheerily - Thou speak'st, who for nought but thine own life needest to care; - but I - For mine own care never a jot; but for this man and that man's bane, - And for thee, and for other my comrades I bear this burden of pain, - Lest haply never I bring you alive unto Hellas again.' - So spake he, trying the heroes' souls; but with words of cheer - Shouted they: glowed his heart that gallant chiding to hear. - And again he uplifted his voice, and he hailed that hero-crew: {640} - 'O friends, your manful spirit hath quickened my courage anew. - Wherefore, not though through abysses of Hades my way should be, - Will I suffer that dread shall lay hold on my soul, so steadfast do ye - Abide amid heart-wringing terror--yea, seeing that now through the - strait - Of the Clashing Rocks we have sailed, I trow there lieth in wait - No terror hereafter like unto this, if in truth we obey - The counsel of Phineus the seer, as we track the printless way.' - So spake he; from words of misgiving their lips thenceforth they - refrained: - But they fell to the ceaseless labour of rowing; and quickly they - gained - Rheba the swift-flowing river: Kotône's height they descried, {650} - And shortly thereafter past the Headland Dark did they glide. - Thereby was Phyllêis' outfall, where in the days bygone - In the halls of his palace Dipsakus welcomed Athamas' son, - What time from Orchomenus-city he fled, on the winged ram borne. - A Nymph of the Mead was his mother: the tyrant's arrogant scorn - He loathed, but contented beside his father's streams dwelt he - With his mother, and pastured his sheep in the meadows beside the - sea. - And quickly they sighted his shrine, and the broad low banks of the - stream, - And the plain, and of Kalpê's deep-flowing waters they caught the - gleam - For a moment, and passed it by, and still, when the daylight waned, - {660} - 'Neath the stars of the windless night at the tireless oars they - strained. - And even as ploughing oxen cleaving the rain-soaked soil - Labour the furrows adown, and abundant sweat of their toil - Streameth from flank and from neck, and aye from beneath the yoke - Are the tired beasts turning their eyes askance; and as furnace-smoke - In hot gasps snort they the breath from their mouths; and, deep in - the clay - Thrusting their hoofs, at the plough they tug through the livelong - day; - So toiled those heroes tugging the oars through the brine alway. - When the dawn divine not yet hath arisen, nor utter night - Reigneth, but over the darkness stealeth a faint grey light,-- {670} - The twilight-tide is it named of slumber-stinted men,-- - Into a desolate Thynian island's haven then - They ran, and with weary toil sore-spent won they to the strand. - And to them lo, Lêto's son, coming up from the Libyan land, - As he fared to the countless folk of the Hyperborean race, - Appeared; and his tresses golden-gleaming about his face, - Ever, as onward he moved, in the breezes floated and swung. - In his left hand held he the silver bow, and his quiver slung - From his shoulders was gleaming adown his back: and the isle all o'er - Quaked 'neath his feet, and surged the billow high on the shore. - {680} - Then fell on them 'wildered fear as they looked: was none dared turn - His face to gaze with his eyes on the God's eyes lovely and stern. - But with heads bowed down to the earth they stood: and onward he - passed - Faring afar through the air to the sea. Then Orpheus at last - After long hush spake, and he cried to the hero-chieftains all: - 'Come now, an ye will, this island the Sacred Isle let us call - Of Apollo the Dawn-god, seeing at dawning revealed to our eyes - O'er the isle he hath passed. Such things as we have let us - sacrifice, - On the shore upbuilding an altar: and if in the days to come - To Haimonia-land he vouchsafe us return, safe-speeding us home, {690} - Then with the thighs of hornèd goats will we pay our vow. - But with sacrifice-steam and libation I bid you propitiate now - The God. Be gracious, O King manifested!--be gracious thou!' - So did he counsel: an altar with speed 'gan these uppile - Of shingle, and those through the island wandered, seeking the while - If they haply might light on a fawn, or the wild goat's restless - brood - That in multitudes seek their pasturage far in the depths of the - wood. - And Lêto's son unto these gave booty; and carving out - The thighs, on the altar they laid them with fat-folds wrapped about: - And they burnt them, hailing Apollo the Lord of the Fair Dayspring. - {700} - And around the blaze they stood in a wide encompassing ring: - 'All hail, fair Healer Apollo! Hail, thou Healer of Bane!' - They sang: and amidst them Oeagrius' goodly son hath ta'en - The Bistonian lyre, and uplifted his voice in the clear-ringing lay, - Singing how on the rocky flanks of Parnassus once on a day - Delphinê the monster the young God slew with his arrow-flight, - When he yet was a beardless youth, rejoicing in locks of light:-- - 'Be gracious!' he sang, 'Unshorn, O King, be thy tresses aye, - Ever unravaged, as Heaven's will is! One only may lay - Love-lingering hands thereupon, even Lêto Kôeus' child.' {710} - And the daughters of Pleistus oft, the Korykian Nymphs of the wild, - Caught up the refrain--'Hail, Healer!' their gladdening echoes ring. - So born was the lovely hymn that to Phœbus yet men sing. - Then, when with the dance and the song they had honoured the God, - they swore, - By the holy libations taking the oath, that evermore - They would stand each one by his fellow, and help in unity. - On the victims laid they their hands as they spake; and yet may ye - see - A temple to gracious Unity there, which their own hands reared - In the day that they took for their wayfaring-fellow the Goddess - revered. - And now when the dawn of the third day came, a fresh strong wind - {720} - From the west upsprang, and they left the island-cliffs behind. - Overagainst the mouth of the river Sangarius then, - And the land exceeding rich of the Mariandynian men, - The streams of Lykus, the mere of Anthemoïsia--these - They sighted, and ran thereby, and ever the sheets in the breeze - Quivered, and all the tackling, as onward they sped their flight. - But at dawn--forasmuch as the wind had fallen asleep in the night-- - Gladly the haven they won of the Acherusian Head. - Upward it soareth to heaven with cliffs no foot may tread, - Fronting the sea Bithynian; below it the craggy rocks {730} - Ever lashed by the brine stand rooted: around them with - thunder-shocks - Ever crashes the wallowing surge; and above the turmoil on high - Wide-spreading planes on the brow of the mountain rest on the sky. - And aback of the headland, and sloped therefrom away from the shore - Is a glen in a hollow: therein is a cave, even Hades' Door, - With forest and rocks overroofed, and thereout an icy breath, - Chill-blowing unceasingly up from unfathomed abysses of death, - Freezeth the dews evermore, neither melteth the glistering rime - From the leaves, till the hour when the sun to his noonday height - doth climb. - And o'er that headland grim doth silence never brood, {740} - But it murmureth ever with sound confused of the booming flood - And of leaves that shiver in blasts from the mountain-clefts that - blow. - There also the outfall is of the river Acheron's flow: - Through the heart of the headland bursting it hurleth its flood to - the sea - Eastward, through yawning chasms plunging suddenly. - But 'Saviour of Sailors' in days thereafter called they its name, - Even Megaran folk of Nisaia, when seeking a home they came - In the Mariandynian land; for deliverance from peril it gave - Unto them and their ships from the stress of stormy wind and wave. - Through the gorge of the cape Acherusian ran the heroes their prow, - {750} - And seaward-facing abode; for the wind had lulled but now. - Nor long unmarked of Lykus, the lord of the selfsame land, - And the Mariandynian folk, they came, that hero-band, - The slayers of Amykus, seeing their rumour before them had run: - So a league with the wanderers made they because of the great deed - done. - And, for Prince Polydeukes, they hailed him as though of the Gods he - were, - Thither flocking from every side; for through many a stormy year - Had they warred with the proud Bebrykians, and faced the - battle-blast. - So they went up into the city, and all together they passed - Into Lykus' palace, and that day through by the meat and the bowl - {760} - In all lovingkindness they sat, and with converse gladdened their - soul. - And Aison's scion his lineage told, and the names of the rest - Of the hero-helpers withal, and the tale of Pelias' hest; - And how the women of Lemnos in kindness dealt with them well; - And of all that in Kyzikus, land of the Dolian men, befell; - How to Mysia they came, and to Kios, where Herakles lion-souled - Sore loth they forsook; and the words of the Sea-god Glaukus he told; - And how they laid the Bebrykian people and Amykus low; - And of Phineus' prophecies told he and all his weary woe; - And how they escaped through the Crags Dark-blue, and beheld on the - isle {770} - Lêto's son: and still, as he told all, Lykus the while - Hearkened in gladness of soul; but with grief did the heart of him - ache - For Herakles left behind, and unto them all he spake: - 'O friends, what a hero's help ye have lost for the way ye must go - Far-sailing to halls of Aiêtes!--myself have beheld him, and know - What manner of man he was; for in Daskylus' halls did he stand, - Even here in the halls of my sire, when he marched through the Asian - land - Afoot, that belt of the battle-revelling queen to win, - Hippolytê: then did he find me with youth's soft down on my chin. - Here, when Priolaus my brother was unto his grave-mound borne,-- - {780} - Who was slain by our Mysian foes, and for whom the people mourn - With exceeding piteous dirges from that day forth,--in the lists - Against Titias the strong he stood, and prevailed in the strife of - the fists - Over him who amidst of our young men never his match had found - In stature and might: but Herakles dashed his teeth on the ground. - Beneath my father's sceptre withal the Mysians he bowed, - And the Phrygians, for hard by our marches their fields our foemen - ploughed. - And the tribes of Bithynians he smote, and won their land by his - might, - Even to the outfall of Rheba, and unto Kolonê's height. - And the Paphlagonians of Pelops yielded, nor faced that foe, {790} - Even all round whom Billaios' darkling waters flow. - Then came the Bebrykians; and Amykus' lawless tyranny, - While Herakles dwelt afar, reft these my possessions from me, - Long carving out of my land huge cantles, till stretched the line - Of their bounds to the meads where Hypius' deep-flowing waters shine. - But ye made them to pay requital for all: it was not, I wot, - But by will of the Gods that war by Tyndareus' son was brought - That day on Bebrykia's sons, when their champion giant he slew. - Wherefore what thanks soever Lykus may render to you - With joy will I render; for meet and right it is that the weak, {800} - When the strong for their helping arise, by deeds their thanks should - speak. - Lo, Daskylus now will I bid that he be of your company, - Even my son, and if this man your fellow in wayfaring be, - With kindly greeting shall all men hail you, and welcome fain - Through all your way, till the mouth of the river Thermodon ye gain. - But to Tyndareus' sons on the Acherusian foreland's steep - A temple on high will I rear: far off across the deep - Shall seafarers mark that fane, and to these in prayer shall they - call. - Rich fields of the fertile plain will I set apart withal - Unto them, as unto the Gods, without the city-wall.' {810} - Even so through the livelong day at the banquet revelled they on. - But with dawning down to the strand they hied them, in haste to be - gone. - Then went with them Lykus, and gifts in their galley to bear gave he - Without number, and sent his son, their voyaging comrade to be. - There did the doom fate-spoken descend upon Abas' son, - Idmon, in soothsaying peerless: but safety for him was there none - In his soothsaying lore, for that now must he die by the doom - decreed. - For it chanced that there lay in a reedy river's water-mead, - Cooling his flanks and his mighty belly wallowed in mire, - A wild boar gleaming-tusked, so baleful a monster and dire {820} - That of him were the meadow-haunting Nymphs themselves adread. - No man knew his lair; alone in the fen wide-stretching he fed. - But it chanced unto Abas' son o'er the marshy rises to fare - Of the plain, and the beast on a sudden, forth of his unseen lair - High-leaping out of the reed-bed, gashed in his sidelong rush - His thigh, that the sinews were severed, and snapped was the bone by - the tush. - With one sharp cry to the earth he fell, and with answering shout - His comrades ran to the stricken; and Peleus in haste thrust out - With his hunting-spear, as the murderous monster fled to the fen. - Then turned he, and charged full on them; but Idas stabbed him then, - {830} - And harshly screaming he fell impaled on the keen spear-head. - There on the earth as he lay, unheeded they left him dead. - But their friend to the galley in death-throes gasping his comrades - bore - Sore grieved: but he died in their arms or ever they reached the - shore. - Then from their voyaging stayed they, they cared not now to depart: - To their dead friend's burial turned they in heaviness of heart. - For three whole days they wailed, and their dead, when the fourth - day broke, - Did they bury as one of the princes; and Lykus and all his folk - Had part in the woeful rites; and victims of sheep not a few, - As meet and right for the dead it is, by his grave they slew. {840} - And a barrow that standeth yet unto this man there did they raise, - And a token is there, to be seen by the men of the unborn days, - A galley's roller of olive-wood; into leaf doth it break - But a little below Acherusia's height: and--if I may speak - This too by the power of the Muses that stirreth within my breast-- - To Bœotian men and Nisaian Apollo spake his behest, - Worship to him as unto their city's protector to pay, - And around that ancient olive a city's foundations to lay. - But by this is tradition dim, and they render the honour-meed - Unto one Agamestor, and not unto Idmon, Aiolus' seed. {850} - Now who was the next that died?--for the heroes again in grief - Another earth-mound heaped for another perished chief: - Yea, there be memorials twain of the wanderers yet high-reared. - Now telleth the tale how Tiphys the Hagniad died; for his weird - Was to voyage no further thereafter; but him, far away from his home, - Short sickness hushed into sleep, the endless sleep of the tomb, - While yet were the death-rites rendered to Abas' son by the folk: - And grief unendurable seized them for this new ruin-stroke. - Yea, and when hard by the seer him too they had buried there, - On the shore of the sea did they cast them adown in utter despair, - {860} - Rolled in their mantles from head to foot, all hushed: no part - Had meat nor drink in their thoughts; but in bitterness of heart - They spake not, for hope of returning was dead in each man's breast. - And for grief had they gone no further, had there made end of the - Quest, - But that Hêrê enkindled exceeding courage within the soul - Of Ankaius, whom Astypaleia, where Imbrasus' waters roll, - Bare to the Sea-god, a man most deft in the steering of ships. - So now unto Peleus he turned him, and spake with eager lips: - 'Is it well done, Aiakus' son, that, forgetting the great work, we - On an alien shore should linger and linger?--I, even he {870} - Whom Jason brought on the Quest of the Fleece from Parthenia afar, - Have knowledge of ships,--yea, even beyond my cunning in war. - Wherefore, as touching the plight of our ship, no whit fear thou. - Yea, others in steering deft came hitherward with us, I trow: - Whomsoever of these at the helm we set, no hurt shall befall - Our seafaring. Haste then, and unto our fellows tell forth all, - And unto the high emprise arouse them with heartening word.' - So spake he; the soul of the other with gladness exceeding was - stirred. - No whit did he tarry, but straight in the midst of them all did he - say, - 'Ho, friends!--why cherish we thus a bootless sorrow for aye? {880} - For I ween these twain by the doom first drawn with their life's lot - died: - But in this our array there be found with us other helmsmen beside, - Yea, many an one: let us put them to proof: make we no stay; - But rouse ye unto the deed, and cast your griefs away.' - But in helpless despair unto him did the son of Aison say: - 'O Aiakus' son, these helmsmen of thine--now where be they? - For they which concerning their cunning therein once vaunted loud, - Even these yet more than I with vexation of spirit are bowed. - For us then, as for the dead, ill doom doth mine heart foretell, - Whose lot shall be never to win to the town of Aiêtes the fell, {890} - No, neither ever again to pass through the grim sea-gate - To the land of Hellas returning; but now shall an evil fate, - As we wax old deedless, enshroud us nameless and fameless here.' - He spake: but Ankaius eagerly proffered himself to steer - The sea-swift ship; for within him the power of the Goddess was - strong. - Erginus and Nauplius then, and Euphêmus forth from the throng - Strode, eager all for the helm: but their comrades drew back these, - For that none would they have but Ankaius to guide them over the - seas. - So then on the twelfth day hied them adown the Argo's crew - At dawn; for the West-wind now, the mighty wafter, blew. {900} - Speedily out of the Acheron's mouth with the oars they passed, - And they shook the broad sail forth to the wind, and far and fast - With outspread canvas cleaving the leagues of summer wave, - By the outfall of Kallichorus the river swiftly they drave, - The place where the child Nysaian of Zeus, as the tale doth tell, - When, leaving the tribes of the Indians, in Thêbê he came to dwell, - Held revel, and dances in front of the cave did the God array - Wherein, through the nights unsmiling, in hallowed slumber he lay. - Wherefore the people called it the River of Dances Fair, - And the cavern the Bedchamber, seeing a God once slumbered there. - {910} - Thereafter espied they the barrow of Sthenelus, Aktor's son, - Who, when from valorous battle against the Amazon - He was turning aback,--for with Herakles thither to war had he - hied,-- - By an arrow was smitten, and there on the surf-lashed sea-strand - died. - Nor yet for a space did they sail on thence; for Persephonê, won - By his prayers and tears, sent forth the spirit of Aktor's son - A moment to gaze upon men of passions like to his own. - So he mounted the crest of his barrow: on Argo looked he down, - Even such to behold as when to the war he went. On his head - His beautiful helm four-crested flashed with its plume blood-red. - {920} - Then down into blackness of darkness returned he: they looked - thereon, - And marvelled. Then by the word of prophecy Ampykus' son, - Mopsus, caused them to land, and to pay drink-offerings due. - So furled they the sail in haste, and the hawsers forth they threw; - And there on the strand round Sthenelus' grave-mound gathered they. - Drink-offerings they poured, and the fatlings of sacrifice did they - slay. - And, besides the libations, an altar they built, laying thighs on - the blaze - To Apollo the Saviour of Ships; and his lyre did Orpheus upraise - And dedicate; wherefore the 'Lyre' from that day called they the - place. - Then straight, when the wind blew strong, did they board the galley - again, {930} - And they dropped the sail from the yard, and the feet thereof did - they strain - On either hand with the sheets; and over the sea did she fly - Swift-racing, as when some hawk through the welkin soaring high - To the breeze committeth his wings, and is borne fast: onward - sweeping - He stirreth them not, on restful pinions in mid-heaven sleeping. - And lo, by the streams of Parthenius' seaward-murmuring water, - Most softly-sliding of rivers, they passed, where Lêto's Daughter, - What time from the hunting she cometh, ere up to the heaven she go, - In its lovely ripples cooleth her limbs from the summer-glow. - Then through the night-tide onward and onward unresting they sped. - {940} - Past Sêsamus, past the long Erythinian steeps they fled; - By Krôbialus and by Krômne, Kytôrus the forest-crowned; - Then, as the sun's shafts glanced o'er the waters, swept they around - Karambis; and still by an endless strand the oars they plied - Through the livelong day, and on through the night, when the daylight - died. - On the shore of Assyria they landed, where Zeus to Sinopê, the child - Of Asôpus, had given a home. By his own rash promise beguiled - Zeus' self bestowed on the maiden the gift of her maidenhood. - For he longed for her love, and he promised that, whatsoever she - would, - He would give her her heart's desire, and he sealed the pledge with - his nod: {950} - And she in her subtlety asked her maidenhood of the God. - So in like wise made she a mock of Apollo, whose soul was fain - Of her couch, and of Halys the river withal. Nor did any man gain - His desire, in the arms of love to embrace her, and humble her pride. - Now there did noble Trikkaian Deïmachus' sons abide,-- - Even three, Deïleon, Autolykus, Phlogius withal, were these,-- - Since the day when they wandered away from the host of Herakles. - And these, when they marked draw near the warrior-chiefs' array, - Went shoreward to meet them, and told them in all truth who were - they. - Neither willed they there to abide any longer, but fared with the - crew {960} - In Argo, so soon as the cloud-dispelling south-wind blew. - So in their company went they borne by the breeze swift-blowing, - And Halys the river they left, and Iris beside him flowing, - And the river-delta land of Assyria: the selfsame day - They rounded the headland that sheltered the Amazons' harbour-bay. - Melanippê, Arêtus' child, forth-faring, by ambuscade - Of Herakles there was caught, and her sister Hippolytê paid - For her ransom the Belt of renown, the splendour-gleaming band: - So the hero sent her back, and she gat no hurt of his hand. - In the harbour that beareth her name, where seaward Thermodon pours - {970} - Ran they ashore, for that contrary now was the wind to their course. - That river--on earth there is not his like; there is none that doth - spread - Over the land so many streams from his fountain-head. - There should lack but four of a hundred, if one should tell them o'er - Each after each, and from one true fountain do all these pour. - Down from the mountains high to the plains it sendeth its rills, - From the heights which be called, men say, the Amazonian Hills. - Thence over the hilly country inland-straying they flow - Ever onward, albeit their paths in manifold windings go - This way and that evermore, wheresoever on low-lying ground {980} - They may light, so roll they along; and this one afar shall be found, - And that one anear; and nameless many an one is lost - Swallowed up in the sands; and a blended remnant of all that host - Into perilous Pontus plunge with arching crests high-tossed. - And, there as they tarried, in battle against the Amazon horde - Had they closed, and in that grim strife had blood been as water - outpoured; - For all ungentle the Amazons are, neither have they regard - Unto justice, the terrible ones who the plain Doiantian ward; - But the deeds of the War-god they love, and outrage of tyrannous - scorn; - For the daughters of Ares they are, of the Nymph Harmonia born: {990} - For she bare to the Man-destroyer the battle-revelling maids, - When their couch was spread mid the folds of Alkmonian - forest-glades:-- - But again from Zeus 'gan blow the breath of the fair south-wind; - So sped by the blast they left the rounded foreland behind, - While the Themiskyreian Amazons yet were arming for war: - For in one great city assembled they dwelt not, but sundered afar - From their fellows throughout the land were the tribes of them - parted in three; - In the one place Themiskyreians, whose queen was Hippolytê - In that old time; and there the Lykastians dwelt, and anon - Dart-hurling Chadisians yonder. The next day sped they on, {1000} - And at nightfall unto the land of the Chalyban men they won. - That folk drive never the ploughing oxen afield: no part - Have they in the planting of fruit that as honey is sweet to the - heart; - Neither lead they the pasturing flocks over meadows a-glitter with - dew: - But the ribs of the stubborn earth for the treasure of iron they hew, - And by merchandise of the same do they live: never dawning broke - Bringing respite of toil unto them, but ever midst mirk of smoke - And flame at the forge are they moiling and plying the weary stroke. - Round the headland of Zeus the All-begetter swept they then; - And safely they sped by the land of the Tibarenian men. {1010} - When a woman in that land beareth a child to her lord, on his bed - Doth her husband cast him adown, and he groaneth with close-swathed - head - As in anguish of travail, the while the woman with tender care - Doth nurse him and feed, and for him the child-birth bath doth - prepare. - The Sacred Mountain thereafter, and that land passed they by - Wherein the Mossynœcians dwell amid mountains high - In their towers of timber goodly-wrought, and they call the same - 'Mossyni,' wherefrom moreover the nation hath gotten its name. - Strange is the justice of these, and customs uncouth have they. - Whatsoe'er we be wont to do before men in the sight of the day, {1020} - Or the market-stead, all this they perform their houses within; - And whatso we do in our chambers apart, they account it not sin - Without, in the midst of the streets of their city, to do unblamed. - No modesty have they in love, but as rooting swine unshamed, - No whit abashed for the eyes of beholders that stand thereby, - On the earth for their bed of love with their women unwedded they - lie. - In their loftiest block-house sitteth their king, and holdeth his - court, - Decreeing his righteous judgments to them that thither resort. - Ah, luckless wight!--if perchance in his sentence he swerve from the - right, - Unto prison they hale him, therein to fast till falleth the night. - {1030} - These passed they by, and well-nigh overagainst the shores - Of the Isle of Ares they cleft them a path with unresting oars - Through the livelong day, for the gentle breeze in the gloaming died. - Then all in a moment one of the War-god's birds they espied, - Which haunt that isle, through the welkin darting high overhead; - And behold, his pinions he shook, and down on the ship as she sped - A feather keen hath he shot: to the leftward shoulder it sprang - Of Oïleus: he dropped from his hands his oar at the sudden pang - Of the stroke, and they marvelled all when the feather-arrow they - saw. - But the shaft from the flesh did his rowing-mate Eribôtes draw; - {1040} - And he bound up the wound; for his baldric-band he unclasped, that - bare - His sword-sheath hanging beside him. Sweeping on through the air - Came another of those fell birds: but already the bow was bent - Of the hero Klytius, Eurytus' son: from the string hath he sent - A swift-flying arrow against that fowl, and the shaft struck home. - Down whirling beside the swift ship splashed the bird in the foam. - Then cried Amphidamas Aleüs' son, and thus spake he: - 'Nigh to us now is the Island of Ares: ye know it, who see - Yon fowl of ravin; and little shall arrows avail us, I trow, - To win us a peaceful landing thereon; but contrive we now {1050} - Some other device for our help, if indeed we be minded to land, - Remembering Phineus' word, and the sightless seer's command. - For not great Herakles' self, to Arcadia-land when he came, - Availed with his arrows to drive away those birds that swam - The Stymphalian mere: yea, I with mine eyes beheld that thing. - But he stood on a crag exceeding high, loud-clattering - With clash and clang in his hands his brazen battle-gear; - And far away did they flee wild-screaming in panic fear. - Wherefore contrive we now even such device as his,-- - Yea, I will speak it, who heretofore have thought upon this:-- {1060} - Set we upon our heads our helmets of lofty crest, - And changing about in turn let the half of us row, and the rest - With polished lances and bucklers fence the galley about; - And all with one accord upraise ye a mighty shout, - That the birds by the noise may be scared, by the wild unwonted cry, - As they look on our nodding crests and the bright spears tossed on - high. - And if through the storm of their shafts to the island itself we - shall win, - Then with clashing of brazen bucklers raise ye a mighty din.' - So spake he, and good in the sight of them all that counsel seemed. - On the heads of the heroes straightway the brazen helmets gleamed - {1070} - Terribly flashing; above them tossed the plumes blood-red. - And the half of them now in their turn the galley with oars on-sped; - And with lances and shields did the rest for Argo a covering raise. - And as when with tiling a man hath roofed his dwelling-place, - For a beauty upon his abode and a fence from the rain thereto, - And close-set each after each are they ranged in order due; - Even so did they lock their shields, so roofed they the galley o'er. - And as when from a warrior-throng upriseth the onset-roar, - When the ranks are sweeping on, when the squadrons in battle close, - Even so from the galley on high to the welkin the shout of them rose. - {1080} - Now none of the birds yet saw they: but when, as they touched the - strand - Of the island, they clashed on their bucklers, straightway on every - hand - From the earth by tens of thousands uprose they in sudden dread. - And as when by the Son of Kronos the hail thick-falling is shed - From the clouds on a town and its dwellings; the house-abiders the - while, - As they hearken the clatter that rattles unceasing on timber and - tile, - Untroubled are sitting: the stormy tide hath smitten the roof - Not unforeseen; long since had they made all tempest-proof: - So on the men thick-showering feather-shafts did they pour, - As they darted on high o'er the sea to the hills on the farther - shore. {1090} - Now what was the purpose of Phineus in bidding that hero-array - Land on the War-god's isle? What help against the day - Of their need were they destined to win of their tarrying there on - the way? - The sons of Phrixus unto Orchomenus voyaging - Had been sent from Aia forth by Kytaian Aiêtes the king. - In a galley of Kolchis they sailed, that the measureless wealth - might be theirs - Of their sire, for in death had he so commanded these his heirs. - And exceeding nigh that day to the isle had they drawn; but lo, - The might of the wind of the north did Zeus awaken to blow, - Marking with rain the watery path of Arcturus the star. {1100} - Yet through the day-tide he stirred but the leaves on the mountains - afar, - Breathing but lightly over the uttermost ends of the sprays: - But at night on the sea he descended, a tempest-Titan, to raise - The surge with his blasts wild-shrieking: a black mist shrouded the - sky, - And never the gleam of a star might the mariners' ken descry - Through the clouds, but over the sea's face brooded murky gloom. - And the sons of Phrixus quaking for fear of a horrible doom - Were helplessly hurled o'er the surges, and drenched with the flying - spume. - And the sail by the might of the blast was snatched away, and crashed - Their ship's hull, shattered in twain by the breakers thereover that - dashed. {1110} - Then by the Gods' own prompting they clutched, and as one man clung - Those four to a mighty spar,--for that many an one had been flung - Wide from the scattered wreck,--firm-knit by the strong bolts' clasp; - And on to the isle, evermore but a little beyond death's grasp, - The waves and the sweep of the tempest bare them in misery. - Then burst forth rain: no tongue could tell it,--it rained on the - sea, - On the island; and overagainst the island the floods of it fell - Over all the land where the lawless Mossynœcians dwell. - And along with the massy beam the sweep of the surges bore - The sons of Phrixus on to the island's rocky shore {1120} - In the black dark night. But the floods of Zeus-descended rain - Ceased with the dawn: and they met full soon, those companies twain. - Then Argus first found voice, and to Argo's crew spake he: - 'We beseech you by All-beholder Zeus, whosoever ye be - Of men, to have mercy and succour us now in our helplessness; - For buffeted long have we been on the sea by the rough winds' stress, - Till sundered and shattered the beams of our crazy galley were. - By your knees we entreat you then, if ye haply will hearken our - prayer, - To cover our nakedness now, and to take us whither ye go: - As youths taking pity on youths, compassionate ye our woe! {1130} - O reverence ye the strangers and suppliants for Zeus's sake, - Who is Lord of the stranger and suppliant--yea, both names we take, - Even strangers and suppliants of Zeus; and over us all is his eye.' - But with heedful questioning then did Aison's son reply, - For he weened that fulfilment of Phineus' prophecy now was nigh: - 'All these will we give straightway with kindly heart and hand. - But prithee now answer me truth, and tell how name ye the land - Wherein ye be dwellers;--for what need thus have ye sailed the sea? - And your names of renown tell out, and the lineage whereof ye be.' - Then Argus, as one in despairing wretchedness, answered low: {1140} - 'How Phrixus the Aiolid came unto Aia from Hellas, I trow, - Yourselves have certainly heard, have heard ere this the renown - Of Phrixus, who came on a day to Aiêtes' fortress-town - Bestriding the ram which Hermes created all of gold: - Yea, and the fleece thereof this day may ye yet behold; - For the ram by the beast's own counsel a sacrifice did he give - To Kronion the Fugitives' Zeus. And him did Aiêtes receive - In his palace, and gave him to wife his daughter Chalkiopê, - Nor for gifts of wooing he asked, in the joy of his heart and the - glee. - Of these twain we be the children; but Phrixus our father hath died, - {1150} - An old man stricken with years, in Aiêtes' halls of pride. - And straightway we, giving heed to the word that our father spake, - To Orchomenus journey, Athamas' goods in possession to take. - And if, as thy word was, thou wouldst that our names be made known - unto thee, - Behold, Kytisôrus is this man named, and Phrontis he; - And yonder is Melas, and Argus me myself shall ye call.' - He spake, and for this forgathering glad were the heroes all: - And they ministered unto them, marvelling much: but Jason again - Spake as was meet and right, for his heart of the tidings was fain: - 'Lo now, of a surety kinsmen ye are of my sire, which have prayed - {1160} - That with merciful hearts we would look upon this your affliction, - and aid. - For of one blood, even brethren, Kretheus and Athamas were; - And Kretheus' grandson am I, with these my companions who fare - From the selfsame Hellas, and unto Aiêtes' city I sail. - But of all these things to commune shall another time avail. - But now put raiment upon you: it came to pass, I trow, - By devising of Gods that ye came to mine hands in your sore need so.' - So spake he, and out of the ship he gave them raiment to don. - And all together now unto Ares' fane are they gone - For the sacrificing of sheep, and in all haste round about {1170} - The altar they ranged them, which stood that roofless fane without, - An altar of pebbles: within was a mighty stone upreared, - A holy thing, which of yore the Amazons all revered. - And it was not their wont, from the further strand when they came - o'er the deep, - On this same altar to burn in sacrifice oxen nor sheep; - But horses they slew, and for this great herds were they wont to - keep. - There sacrificed they, and they ate of the flesh of the victims - slain. - Then Aison's son in their midst uprose, and he spake yet again: - 'Zeus' self upon all things looketh, nor ever escape we his ken - Of a surety, such as be god-revering and righteous men. {1180} - Even so your father delivered he out of the murderous hand - Of a stepdame, and gave to him measureless wealth in a far-away - land: - And even so you also scatheless again did he save - From the baleful storm. Now in this ship, whithersoever ye crave, - This way or that, may ye fare; or aback unto Aia's shore, - Or the wealthy city that godlike Orchomenus builded of yore. - For our ship did Athênê fashion, and clave her beams with the brass - By Pelion's crest, and her fellow-craftsman our Argus was. - But that your galley was shattered, and whelmed in ruining surge, - Ere nigh to the rocks ye came, the which in the wild sea-gorge {1190} - Each against other the livelong day are clashing amain. - But go to now, be ye helpers with us; for lo, we be fain - To bring that Fleece of Gold to the land of Hellas again. - Be our voyaging guides. Lo, thus do I sail to atone for their deed - Who would sacrifice Phrixus, and brought Zeus' wrath upon Aiolus' - seed.' - So spake he exhorting, and ceased; but with horror they heard that - thing, - For they deemed they should find Aiêtes nowise a gentle king - Who would win that Fleece of the Ram. Then Argus spake the word, - In vexation of spirit that these unto suchlike quest should be - stirred: - 'O friends, so far as availeth our strength, no whit at all {1200} - Our help shall fail you at need, what trial soever befall. - But terribly armed is Aiêtes with murderous cruelty; - Wherefore I dread exceedingly thither to fare oversea. - And he vaunteth himself the Sun-god's seed, and around him dwell - The Kolchian tribes untold. In the awful onset-yell, - And in giant strength, might he match him with Ares' self in the - fray. - Nay, nay, not easy it is to take that Fleece away - From Aiêtes, so mighty a serpent around and about it is coiled, - Deathless and sleepless. The Earth brought forth that dragon-child - Mid Caucasus' glens, where the Rock Typhonian standeth: they say - {1210} - There Typhon, smitten by levin-bolts of Zeus, in the day - When against Kronion he lifted his brawny hands in fight, - Dropped from his head hot-gushing the gore, and in such ill plight - To the hills and the Plain Nisaian he came, and to this day there - 'Neath the waters whelmed doth he lie of the dark Serbonian mere.' - So spake he, and many a face of them that heard grew white - To know what manner of emprise was this. But spake forthright - Peleus, and answered with words of gallant chiding, and said: - 'Nay, good my friend, not thus let thy spirit be over-adread, - For that not so lacking in prowess be we, that our hearts should - fear {1220} - To make trial of manhood against Aiêtes in battle-gear. - Nay, but I trow we also have somewhat of cunning in war - Which thitherward fare; for by blood of the kin of the Blessèd we - are. - If therefore in all lovingkindness he yield not the Fleece of Gold, - Little, I ween, shall avail him his Kolchian tribes untold.' - In such wise each unto other they spake, and in such wise replied, - Till they turned to their rest, fulfilled of the feast of the - eventide. - And at dawn, when they wakened from slumber, a light wind softly - blew; - And they hoised up the sail: in the breeze of the morning the canvas - drew. - And away from the War-god's Island sped they far and fast; {1230} - And now at the falling of night by Philyra's island they passed. - There Kronos, Ouranos' son, what time in Olympus he reigned - O'er the Titans, and Zeus yet a babe in the Cretan Cave was sustained - In life by the priests, the Curêtes of Ida,--with Philyra lay - When he baffled Rheia's watch; but the Goddess amidst of their play - Came suddenly on them: and Kronos leapt from the dalliance-bed, - And away in the form of a steed of tossing mane he sped. - But Ocean's daughter forsook that land and folk in her shame; - And unto the long Pelasgian ridges Philyra came, - Where Cheiron the monster, the half of him horse, but otherwhere - {1240} - Goodly to see as a God, for a pledge of love she bare. - Thence past the Makronian people, and past the far-stretching land - Of Becheirans they ran, past overweening Sapeirans' strand, - And past the Byzêrans thereafter; for forward cleaving the seas - Went rushing the prow evermore, on-borne by the gentle breeze. - And to them, as they sped by, opened a Pontic gulf cleft deep; - And lo, the Caucasian mountains' precipice-wall rose steep-- - Sheer cliffs; and Prometheus there, with his limbs to the rough - rocks gripped - By brazen gyves, whose knots no writhings have riven nor slipped, - Fed with his liver an eagle that aye swooped back on the prey. {1250} - High over their mast at even a whir and a rush heard they; - And anigh to the clouds they beheld it: yet even from that far height - Did it shake the sail with the fanning of those vast pinions' flight: - For the form and the measure thereof was like no fowl of the air, - But as polished oars most huge its swift-swaying wing-feathers were. - Nor long thereafter they heard an exceeding bitter cry, - As torn was Prometheus' liver, and rang the vault of the sky - With his screaming, until again from the mountain darting back - They marked where the ravening eagle sped on the selfsame track. - And at nightfall, by guidance of Argus, the broad-flowing stream did - they gain {1260} - Of Phasis, and there was the uttermost bourne of the Pontic main. - Then straightway the sail they furled, and the yard-arm let they - fall, - And stowed in the mast-trough then; and the mast unstepped they - withal, - And lowered in haste, till it lay along: then rowed they fast - Into the river's mighty stream; round the prow as they passed - He surged as he yielded them way; and they had on the leftward hand - High Caucasus now, and the city Kytaian of Aia-land; - And to rightward the plain and the holy grove of the War-god lay - Where keepeth the serpent watch and ward on the Fleece alway, - As it hangeth amidst of the thick-leaved boughs of an oak outspread. - {1270} - And Aison's son himself from a golden chalice shed - Into the river libations of sweet unmingled wine - Unto Earth, to the Gods of the land, to the Spirits of Heroes divine - Which had died, and with bowed knees prayed them their sorrowless - help to give - Of their grace, and with welcome propitious the hawsers of Argo - receive. - Then straightway Ankaios spake the word to his fellows, and cried: - 'Lo now, to the Kolchian land have we won, where the waters glide - Of Phasis:--the time is come for counsel, to choose our part, - If with soft words now we shall make assay of Aiêtes' heart, - Or if other endeavour perchance shall avail us in this our need.' - {1280} - So spake he, and Jason thereon commanded, by Argus' rede, - To a backwater leaf-overshadowed to run the galley aside, - And to warp her up to the anchor-stone, off-shore to ride: - Now the place was anigh to them then. So slept they there through - the night, - And soon to their longing eyes appeared the dawning's light. - - - THE THIRD BOOK - - COME, Erato, now, stand by me: of thy lips let me be taught - In what manner thereafter Jason the Fleece to Iolkos brought - Through the love of Medea: for thou in the things by the Cyprian - ordained - Hast part, and maidens unwedded by thine enchantments are chained; - Wherefore it is that a name that telleth of love thou hast gained. - So there in the close-pleached covert of river-reeds unseen - Did the heroes in ambush wait. Then marked them Hêrê the queen - And Athênê withal; and aloof from Zeus' self turned they aside, - And the rest of the Gods everlasting, and into a chamber they hied - For counsel: and first spake Hêrê, to try Athênê therein: {10} - 'Thyself now first, O daughter of Zeus, our counsel begin. - What needeth to do? Wilt thou frame some subtle device, that these - May win from Aiêtes and bear unto Hellas the Golden Fleece? - Or with words shall they overpersuade him, with soft speech melt - him to ruth? - Now nay, for a proud and haughty scorner he is in sooth: - Yet it may not in any wise be that our emprise turn aside.' - So did she speak; and straightway to her Athênê replied: - 'Yea, mine heart even as thine herein was pondering - When with questions thou searchedst me, Hêrê. Howbeit, as touching - the thing, - Not yet in mine heart have I found this wile, which shall help the - need {20} - Of the soul of the chieftains: and yet have I mused upon many a - rede.' - She spake; and their eyes on the threshold before their feet they - cast, - As they pondered of this and of that, till Hêrê cried at the last-- - For a thought in her heart had birth, and her word was first again:-- - 'Let us hence to the Cyprian Queen; and when we be come, we twain - Will pray her to bid her son, if perchance he will do this deed, - At Aiêtes' sorceress-daughter a shaft from his bow to speed, - And bewitch her with love for Jason: by her devising, I trow, - Bearing the Fleece away unto Hellas the hero shall go.' - She spake; and her counsel of wisdom pleased Athênê well; {30} - And she answered--and now from her lips soft words of persuasion - fell:-- - 'Hêrê, my father begat me unweeting of shafts of love: - Nothing I know of desire, or the magic spells thereof. - But if this word pleaseth thyself, of a truth will I go with thee. - Yet thou must speak our request when the Cyprian's face we see.' - Then soared they away, and unto the mighty palace they came - Of Kypris: her lord the Halt-foot God had builded the same - For his bride, when he led her forth from the halls of Zeus of yore. - So they entered the courts, and under the chamber-corridor - Stood, where the hands of the Goddess the couch of Hephaistus - prepared. {40} - But he at the dawning thence to his forges and anvils had fared - In the cavern wide of a sea-washed isle, where he aye wrought on - With the fire-blasts fashioning manifold marvels: but she alone - Facing the doors of the palace sat in a carven chair. - Over her shoulders white had she loosened the waves of her hair, - And a golden comb through their ripples she drew, and now would she - braid - The long plaits up; but before her beheld she the twain, and she - stayed - Her hand, and she rose from her throne, and she bade them within - her hall, - And on couches she caused them to sit; thereafter herself withal - Sat down, and her uncombed tresses coiled she about her head; {50} - And smiling innocent-arch to the Goddesses twain she said: - 'Dear sisters, what purpose or need hath brought you hither at last - Who have tarried so long afar? Why come ye? In days overpast - Not oft hath your presence been here--too great for such as I!' - Then unto her did Hêrê with stately speech reply: - 'Thou mockest, the while our heart with calamity's shadow is dark, - For that even now in Phasis the river moored is the bark - Of Aison's son, and the rest on the Quest of the Fleece that have - come. - For all their sakes--for that nigh is the deed and the hour of doom-- - Exceeding sorely we fear, but most for Aison's son. {60} - Him I--yea, though unto Hades now he were voyaging on - To break those fetters of brass wherewithal Ixion is bound-- - Will deliver, so far as strength in these my limbs is found, - Lest Pelias should laugh, having 'scaped the doom, his iniquity's - price, - Who in pride of his heart hath left me unhonoured with sacrifice. - Yea, and before that Jason was passing dear unto me, - Even since, when Anaurus' outfall in full flood poured to the sea, - In the day when men's heart-righteousness fain would I prove and - know, - Coming back from the hunting he met me; and all overmantled with snow - Were the mountain-ridges and towering peaks, and adown from them - poured {70} - The winter-tide floods, and the rolling torrents rattled and roared; - And he pitied the grey old crone, and he took me up at my prayer, - And over the seaward-madding flood on his shoulders he bare. - Therefore I honour him now, and will honour: unharmed shall he be - Of Pelias' spite,--yea, though his return be unaided of thee.' - So spake she: the lips of Kypris could frame no word for a space, - In her awe to behold great Hêrê asking of her a grace. - And with courteous-gentle speech then spake she answering: - 'O Goddess dread, may there never be found any viler thing - Than Kypris, if I shall set at naught desire of thine {80} - Or in word or in deed, whatsoever these frail hands of mine - May avail; and for all that I do nor thank nor requital would I.' - So spake she; and Hêrê again in her wisdom made reply: - 'It is nowise for lack of might that we come, nor of strength of - hand. - But thou to thy child in peaceful quietness speak thy command - To bewitch Aiêtes' daughter with love for Aison's seed; - For if she with her counsel shall help him, with loving favour lead, - Lightly, I ween, shall the hero win the Fleece of Gold, - And return to Iolkos, seeing the maiden is subtle-souled.' - So did she speak; and the Lady of Cyprus answered thereto: {90} - 'Hêrê, Athênê, my child would render obedience to you - More than to me: in your presence a little abashed shall he be, - Bold boy though he be:--but nothing at all he regardeth me. - But ever he striveth against me, and laugheth mine hests to scorn. - Yea, I am minded, by that his naughtiness overborne, - His evil-sounding shafts and his bow therewithal to break - Full in his sight: for of late this threat in his anger he spake, - That, if I refrained not mine hands while his passion within him was - strong, - My scathe upon mine own head should be, upon me the wrong.' - So spake she: the Goddesses smiled, and each in her fellow's eyes - {100} - Looked: but again she spake, and her speech was burdened with sighs: - 'Unto others my griefs be for laughter alone, and I ought not so - To tell them to all:--enough that mine heart must its bitterness - know. - Howbeit, if this be all your soul's desire this day, - I will try, and with soft words win him: he shall not say me nay.' - She spake; and with touch caressing did Hêrê her slim hand take, - And, softly smiling the while, she answered, and thus she spake: - 'Even so, Kythereia, with speed perform thou this our request - As thou sayest; and vex not thyself, neither strive with angered - breast - With thy child: from his troubling of thee hereafter shalt thou have - rest.' {110} - She spake, and she rose from her seat, and Athênê passed at her - side, - As forth they sped and away, they twain: but the Cyprian hied - To Olympus, and down its ridges, seeking her child, she passed. - And in Zeus's fruitful orchard-close she found him at last, - Not alone, Ganymedes was with him, the boy whom Zeus on a day - From earth unto heaven had brought to abide with Immortals for aye, - When he greatly desired his beauty. With golden dice these two - Were playing, even as boys like-minded be wont to do. - And already Eros the greedy the palm of his left hand pressed, - Filled full with the golden spoils of his winning, against his - breast, {120} - Standing upright; the while a sweet flush mantled and glowed - O'er the bloom of his cheeks: but the other was crouching on bent - knees bowed - In downcast silence: he had but twain; on the earth he flung - One after other, by Eros's gibing laughter stung. - But, even as fared the former, he lost them, the last of his dice; - And with empty and helpless hands he went; and his down-drooped eyes - Marked not the coming of Kypris. Before her child did she stand, - And with loving chiding she spake, as she laid on his lips her hand: - 'Why smil'st thou in triumph, thou naughty varlet? Hast thou not - beguiled - Thy playmate?--and fairly hast thou overcome that innocent child? - {130} - Go to now, accomplish my bidding, the thing that I shall ask; - And the plaything exceeding fair of Zeus shall requite thy task, - Which was fashioned by Adresteia his nurse for her babe's delight, - When, a child, he thought as a child, in the cave 'neath Ida's - height. - A ball fair-rounded it is: no goodlier toy, I wot, - Couldst thou get thee mid all the marvels by hands of Hephaistus - wrought. - Of gold be the zones of it fashioned; and round each several one - Twofold be the seams of broidery-thread that encircling run. - But the stitches thereof be hidden: there coileth around them all - A spiral of blue. From thine hand if thou cast it on high, that ball - {140} - Even as a star shall flash through the air in a fiery glow. - This will I give thee--but thou must bewitch with a shaft from thy - bow - Aiêtes' daughter with love for Jason. But see that herein - Thou tarry not; else a meaner requital than this shalt thou win.' - So spake she, and welcome the word was; with gladness he heard that - thing: - And he cast away those toys, and with eager hands did he cling - Clasping the Goddess's raiment about on either side. - And he pleaded with her even then to bestow it: but Kypris replied - With gentle words,--and his cheeks unto hers she drew the while, - And clasping him close she kissed him, and answer she made with a - smile: {150} - 'Be witness now thy beloved head, yea, also mine, - That I will not defraud thee: indeed and in truth the gift shall be - thine, - When the heart of Aiêtes' daughter is pierced by thine arrow divine.' - Then gathered he up his dice, and the tale of them heedfully told, - And he cast them into his mother's glistering bosom-fold. - By his baldric of gold he slung from his shoulder the quiver that - leant - On a tree-trunk, and took the bow for sorrow of mortals bent. - From the fruitful orchard of Zeus's palace forth did he fare, - And thereafter came to Olympus' portals high in air. - Thence is a sheer-descending path from the height of the sky; {160} - And there the Poles, twin mountains, uplift their heads on high, - Precipice-steeps, earth's loftiest-towering crests, whereon - With his earliest rays at the dawning uplifted resteth the sun. - Far under, the life-sustaining earth and the cities slept - Of men, and the sacred rivers; anon before him upleapt - Hill-peaks, and outspread the sea, through the wide air on as he - swept. - Now the heroes apart on the thwarts of their galley in ambush yet, - Where the backwater gleamed of the river, for taking of counsel were - met: - And the son of Aison himself was speaking, and all they heard, - As row upon row in their places they sat, and none spake word: {170} - 'O friends, of a truth the thing that seemeth good in mine eyes, - That will I utter; howbeit with you the fulfilment lies. - This Quest all share, and in counsel and speech all ye have part. - Whosoever in silence withholdeth his rede and the thoughts of his - heart, - Let him know, he only bereaveth of home-return our Quest. - Now I counsel that ye by the ship with your war-gear abide at rest. - But I, even I, will go forth first to Aiêtes' hall. - I will take but the sons of Phrixus, and twain of the rest - therewithal. - And I, when I meet him, with words will first make trial, to know - If he haply for lovingkindness the Fleece of Gold will bestow, {180} - Or will grant it not, but in pride of his might will set us at - naught. - For so, when the lesson of evil first by himself hath been taught, - Shall we then advise us, whether the ordeal of battle to try, - Or if other device shall avail us, refraining the onset-cry. - But let us not rashly, or ever persuasion be put to the test, - Despoil this man of his own possession:--nay, it were best - To come before him, and first with speech his grace to win:-- - Yea, oft fair speech hath prevailed in a matter, and lightly--wherein - Little had prowess availed--for that winsomely it stole - On the heart: yea hereby Phrixus wrought on the grim king's soul, - {190} - When a stepdame's guile and the sacrifice-stroke of a father he fled, - To receive him: in no man's breast is shame so utterly dead, - But he honoureth Guest-ward Zeus, and regardeth his ordinance dread.' - Then praised they with one accord the counsel of Aison's seed, - Nor did any man turn therefrom, to utter another rede. - Then called he on Phrixus' children to follow, and chose of his band - Telamon and Augeias; moreover himself took Hermes' wand. - Forthright from the ship over water and reed-fringed river-side - Passed they, and out beyond o'er the swell of the plain they hied. - The Plain Kirkaian, I wot, is it called, and, row upon row, {200} - Willows and osiers there exceeding many grow. - Mid their topmost branches cord-bound corpses be hanging there; - For to Kolchians unto this day an abomination it were - To burn on the pyre their men which have died; nor yet in the ground - Is their wont to lay them, and heap thereover the token-mound. - But in hides untanned of oxen they roll them, and hang midst trees - Without the city. Yet earth hath equal share in these - With the air; for in graves of the earth be they wont their women to - lay. - Lo, this is their custom, and this their ordinance for aye. - Now, anigh as they drew, did Hêrê with loving thought for the men - {210} - Spread thick mist all through the city, that so they might 'scape - the ken - Of the thousands there, to Aiêtes' hall while fared they on. - And when from the plain to Aiêtes' city and palace they won, - Then straightway Hêrê scattered again that cloudy haze. - At the entrance they stood, and they looked on the courts of the - king in amaze, - On the gateways wide, and the columns that all around the walls - In ordered lines uprose; and high on the roofs of the halls - Did a coping of stone upon rows of brazen triglyphs lie. - And over the threshold in peace they went. And hard thereby - Were garden-vines in fulness of blossom, mantled o'er {220} - With green leaves, high uplifted in air. And fountains four - Ever-flowing beneath them ran, which were delved with magic spell - By Hephaistus, the one whereof did with gushing of milk upwell, - And the second with wine, and the third with incense-breathing oil. - And with water the fourth ran; steaming for heat did the same upboil - At the setting-tide of the Pleiads; but out of its rock-hewn cave - Cold even as ice in their rising-season bubbled the wave. - Even such were the marvellous works that Hephaistus the craftwise God - Fashioned within Kytaian Aiêtes' palace-abode. - And he wrought for him brazen-footed bulls, and their mouths were of - brass, {230} - And the terrible splendour of blazing flame the breath of them was. - Moreover a plough of unbending adamant, all in one, - Did he forge for him, making therein his requital of thanks to the - Sun, - Who had taken him up in his chariot, faint from the Phlegra fight. - There also was builded the inner court, and around it were pight - Many chambers on either hand with two-leaved doors fair-dight; - And without them a rich-wrought corridor ran to left and to right; - And athwart them the loftiest buildings rose upon either side, - Whereof one over its fellows uplifted its crest of pride: - Therein with his queen Aiêtes abode, the lord of the land; {240} - And thereby did the mansion fair of his son Absyrtus stand, - Whom a Nymph Caucasian, Asterodeia, bare to his bed - Or ever he led Eiduia home, his wife true-wed, - Daughter of Tethys and Ocean, even their youngest one: - But the sons of the Kolchians gave him a new name, Phaëthon, - 'The Shining,' for all the youths were in beauty by him outshone. - In the rest did the handmaid-train and Aiêtes' daughters abide, - Chalkiopê and Medea. And now had Medea hied - From her chamber forth to her sister's; for Hêrê restrained her that - day - That she went not abroad: but little she wont theretofore to stay - {250} - In the palace, but all day long in the temple of Hekatê - Her conversation she had, for the Goddess's priestess was she. - And she saw them, and cried aloud; and suddenly heard was her call - Of Chalkiopê: and her handmaids down at their feet let fall - Their yarn and their threads, and forth of the chamber ran they all - In a throng, and amidst them the mother: and there beholding her sons - She cast up her hands in her gladness; and those re-given ones - Greeted their mother, and lovingly gazed on her, folding her round - With their arms, till her words mid sobbings broken utterance found: - 'So then ye were not to leave me in lonely childless pain, {260} - And to wander afar; and fate hath turned you backward again. - O hapless I!--what yearning for Hellas awoke in your breasts, - By some strange woeful madness, at Phrixus your father's behests? - Bitter affliction did he ordain, when dying he lay, - For mine heart!--O why to Orchomenus' city far away-- - Whosoe'er this Orchomenus be--for Athamas' wealth should ye go, - Leaving your mother alone to bear her burden of woe?' - So spake she, and last came forth Aiêtes hastening, - And came Eiduia herself, the wife of Aiêtes the king, - When the outcry of Chalkiopê she heard. And the court straightway - {270} - Was filled with a noisy throng; for some of the thralls 'gan flay - A huge ox, some with the brass 'gan cleave the billets dry, - And some with the fire 'gan heat the baths. There was none thereby - That lagged in his task, as they toiled beneath that stern king's - eye. - But Eros the while through the mist-grey air passed all unseen - Troubling them, even as heifers that hear the piping keen - Of the gadfly--'the breese' do the herders of oxen name the thing. - In the forecourt beneath the lintel swiftly his bow did he string: - From his quiver took he a shaft sigh-laden, unshot before: - With swift feet all unmarked hath he passed the threshold o'er, {280} - Keen-glancing around: he hath glided close by Aison's son: - He hath grasped the string in the midst, and the arrow-notch laid - thereon. - Straightway he strained it with both hands sundered wide apart, - And he shot at Medea; and speechless amazement filled her heart. - And the God himself from the high-roofed hall forth-flashing returned - Laughing aloud. Deep down in the maiden's bosom burned - His arrow like unto flame; and at Aison's son she cast - Side-glances of love evermore; and panted hard and fast - 'Neath its burden the heart in her breast, nor did any remembrance - remain - Of aught beside, but her soul was melted with rapturous pain. {290} - And as some poor daughter of toil, who hath distaff ever in hand, - Heapeth the slivers of wood about a blazing brand - To lighten her darkness with splendour her rafters beneath, when her - eyes - Have prevented the dawn; and the flame, upleaping in wondrous wise - From the one little torch, ever waxing consumeth all that heap; - So, burning in secret, about her heart did he coil and creep, - Love the destroyer: her soft cheeks' colour went and came, - Pale now, and anon, through her soul's confusion, with crimson - aflame. - Now when ready-dight was the banquet by labour of handmaid and - thrall, - And by steaming baths' refreshment their faces were lightened - withal, {300} - Gladly they feasted and drank till their souls were satisfied. - Thereafter unto the sons of his daughter Aiêtes cried: - And this was the word of his mouth, as inquisition he made: - 'Ye sons of my daughter and Phrixus, the man unto whom I paid - Honour above all men that have stood mine halls within, - How came ye to Aia returning?--did some dark curse of sin - Break short in the midst your escape? Ye would not hear nor obey - Me, when I set before you the endless length of the way. - For I marked it, when once I was whirled in my father the Sun-god's - car, - In the day wherein he wafted my sister Kirkê afar {310} - Unto Hesperia-land, till the chariot at last made stay - On the Tyrrhene mainland-shore, where even unto this day - She abideth, exceeding far from the land where the Kolchians dwell. - What profit or pleasure in words? Speak out and plainly tell - What happed in the midst of your journey, and say who these men be - That have come with you hither. And where from your galley ashore - came ye?' - So did he question; and answered him Argus before the rest-- - But his heart misgave him concerning the son of Aison's quest;-- - With soft words spake he, seeing that he was the elder-born: - 'Aiêtes, that our ship full quickly asunder was torn {320} - By stormy blasts, and we, unto beams of the wreck as we clung, - On the beach of the War-god's Isle by the sweep of the surges were - flung - In the murky night. Some God from destruction redeemed us, I trow; - For even the birds of Ares, that wont to haunt ere now - That desolate isle of the sea, even these we found no more; - But these men drave them away when they landed the day before - From their galley: and there by the purpose of Zeus, compassionate - Of our plight, were they kept from departing, or bound peradventure - by fate. - Straightway to our need with food and with raiment they ministered, - So soon as the name of Phrixus the far-renowned they heard, {330} - Yea, and thine own: for unto thy town be they voyaging. - And if thou wouldst know their need, I will hide not from thee the - thing. - A certain king being fain with exceeding vehement spite - From his land and possessions to drive this man, forasmuch as in - might - Of his hands he was peerless amongst the heroes of Aiolus' seed, - Sendeth him hither on desperate venture. For fate had decreed - That Aiolus' line shall escape not the soul-afflicting ire - Of implacable Zeus, and his wrath, and the curse unendurably dire, - And the vengeance for Phrixus, till cometh to Hellas the Fleece of - Gold. - And his ship did Pallas Athênê fashion: not such is her mould {340} - As the fashioning is of the ships that be found 'mid the Kolchian - folk-- - Whereof our hap was the vilest, for even at a touch it broke - Of the raging surge and the wind;--but this ship holdeth fast, - Gripped by her bolts, through the buffeting fury of every blast. - And swiftly alike she runneth before the wind, and when - She is sped by the oars unresting in hands of stalwart men. - He hath gathered within her whatso mightiest heroes there are - In Achaia-land, and hath come to thy city from wandering far - By cities, by dread sea-gulfs, if thou haply wouldst grant his - request, - That the thing he desireth may be: for nowise he cometh to wrest - {350} - Aught from thine hands by force: he is minded to pay unto thee - Fair quittance for this thy gift. Of the bitter enmity - Of the Sauromatai hath he heard; he will quell them to bow to thy - sway. - And their name and their lineage, if fain thou wouldst hear them, - as thou dost say, - What men they be, I will tell to thee all in order due. - This man, for whose helping assembled from Hellas a hero-crew, - Jason they call him, the son of Aison, Krêtheus' seed. - Now, if this man of Krêtheus' lineage cometh in very deed, - Of a truth by the father's blood shall he be of kin unto us, - For that Krêtheus and Athamas both were the children of Aiolus, {360} - And Phrixus moreover was child of Athamas, Aiolus' son. - And, if aught thou know'st of the Sun-god's seed, lo, here is one, - Augeias; and Telamon this, the son of the mighty in fame - Aiakus; yea, and of Zeus's loins great Aiakus came. - And in like wise all the rest, which have hither companioned his way, - The sons and the grandsons they are of the Gods which abide for aye.' - So Argus spake: but the wrath of the king waxed hot as he heard, - And his soul like a stormy sea with a tempest of fury was stirred. - Fuming he spake--with the sons of his daughter above the rest - Was he wroth, for he weened that of these had Jason been moved to - the Quest: {370} - And the light of his anger leapt from his eyes as levin-flame: - 'And will ye not straightway be gone from my sight, ye felons of - shame, - And depart from the land afar with the guile of your treachery, - Ere a bitter Fleece and a bitter Phrixus here ye see, - With your friends back faring to Hellas? Not for the Fleece come ye! - Nay, but my sceptre and kingly honour ye come to take! - Now, if ye had broken not bread at my table or ever ye spake, - Your tongues had I surely cut out, and had hewn from the wrist each - hand, - And had sent you forth with naught but your feet to fare through the - land: - So should ye refrain you thereafter from coming on suchlike quest!-- - {380} - Lo, and the lies ye have spoken concerning the Gods ever-blest!' - So passioned the king: but even to its depths the spirit burned - Of Aiakus' son, and hotly his soul within him yearned - To fling back a deadly defiance. But Jason, or ever he spake, - Stayed him, and gently speaking an answer of peace did he make: - 'Bear with me, Aiêtes, as touching this Quest: no such wild dream - To thy city and halls hath brought us as thou peradventure dost deem. - Nought such do we covet:--what man of his will, from an alien to - wrest - His possessions, would fare over such wide seas? By the ruthless - behest - Of a tyrannous king was I hitherward sent, and the doom of a God. - {390} - Show favour to this our entreaty; and so will I publish abroad - Thy name and thy glory all Hellas through. Yea, ready we are - To render for this unto thee requital of service in war, - Whether it be that ye fain would bow the Sauromatans' pride - Under your sceptred sway, or whatso nation beside.' - Then ceased he, with gentle utterance proffering love: but the king - A twofold purpose the while in his soul was pondering, - Whether to make assault on them then and there, and to slay, - Or to put their might to the test. And he counted the better way, - Thus as he pondered, the second, and answered in subtlety: {400} - 'Stranger, what hast thou to do to tell all this unto me? - For if ye be seed of the Gods in truth, or if ye which have hied - To the aliens' land be peers of Aiêtes in aught beside, - I will give thee to bear away, if thou wilt, the Fleece of Gold, - When first I have tried thee. Nought I begrudge to the hero-souled, - Even as ye tell me of him that in Hellas beareth sway. - And the test of your valour and prowess shall be a certain essay, - Which mine own hands compass, fraught though it be with deadly bane. - Two brazen-footed bulls have I: on the War-god's plain - They pasture: the breath from their mouths in flames of fire doth - stream. {410} - These yoke I, and drive through the War-god's stubborn glebe that - team, - Four ploughgates; and even to the end my ploughshare cleaveth it - fast. - No seed of the Lady of Corn in the furrows thereof do I cast, - But the teeth of a terrible serpent; and up from the earth they grow - In fashion of armèd men; but straightway I lay them low - With the thrusts of my spear, as around me they throng, a - battle-ring. - With the dawning I yoke my team, and I cease from mine harvesting - At the eventide hour. And thou, if thou bring such deeds to pass, - That day shalt win this Fleece, as thy king's commandment was. - But I give it thee not ere then; neither hope it; for shame should - it be {420} - That a mighty champion should yield to a man that is worser than he.' - So spake he: but silent the hero sat, with his eyes on the ground. - Speechless he sat: no help for the desperate evil he found. - Long time he communed with his heart; no way through the darkness - gleamed - To take on him stoutly the task, for a mighty deed it seemed. - But late and at last he spake, and he answered warily: - 'Full straitly, Aiêtes, within thy right art thou shutting me. - Yet this will I dare, this emprise mighty beyond all thought; - Yea, though my doom be to die: for a man may light upon nought - More dread to encounter than ruthless fate's overmastering hand, - {430} - Which hitherward also constrained me to come at a king's command.' - So spake he, filled with despair; but the king made answer to him, - Sore troubled there as he sat, with words exceeding grim: - 'Come then to the gathering, thou who art fain this toil to essay. - But if thou shalt fear on the necks of the oxen the yoke to lay, - Or if from the deadly harvesting backward thou shrink in dismay, - Then will I look unto this, that another, taught by thee, - May shudder to come in such malapert sort to a mightier than he.' - Roundly he spake, and he ceased; and Jason uprose from his seat, - And Augeias and Telamon with him; but followed them only the feet - {440} - Of Argus; for even at the moment a sign to his brethren he cast - There in their place to tarry: so forth of the hall they passed. - But the son of Aison outshone all there in wondrous wise - In goodlihead and in grace: ever wandered the maiden's eyes - Askance unto him, as she stealthily parted her veil's soft gleam. - And her heart was a smouldering fire of pain; and her soul, as a - dream, - Stole after her love, flitting still in his track as his feet fared - on. - So they from the halls in exceeding vexation of spirit are gone. - But Chalkiopê, from the wrath of Aiêtes shrinking in dread, - Hastily unto her bower with those her sons had fled. {450} - And Medea thereafter followed; and surged like a rushing river - The thoughts through her breast--the thoughts that Love awakeneth - ever. - And before her eyes the vision of all evermore she had-- - Himself, even like as he was, and the vesture wherein he was clad, - How he spake, how he sat on his seat, how forth of the doors he - strode, - And she dreamed as she mused that all the world beside had showed - None other such man. In her ears evermore the music rung - Of his voice, and the words that in sweetness of honey had dropped - from his tongue. - And she trembled for him, lest the bulls or Aiêtes himself might slay - Her beloved, and took up a mourning for him, as though he lay {460} - Dead even now; and adown her cheeks soft-stealing tears - Flowed, of her measureless pity, her burden of haunting fears. - And she mourned, and the low lamentation wailed from her tortured - breast: - 'Why, wretch that I am, is this anguish upon me?--or be he the best - Of heroes, who now is to perish, or be he the vilest of all, - Let him go to his doom!--yet O that on him no scathe might fall! - Oh might it be so, thou Daughter of Perseus, Goddess revered! - Oh might he but win home, 'scaping his doom!--but if this be his - weird, - By the bulls to be overmastered, or ever it be too late - Might he know it, that I be not forced to exult o'er the thing that - I hate!' {470} - So was the maiden distraught by the cares that racked her mind. - But when those others had left the folk and the city behind, - On the path whereby at the first from the river-plain they had gone, - Even then, and with these words, Argus spake unto Aison's son: - 'This counsel of mine, O Aison's son, thou wilt haply despise: - Yet in desperate strait to forbear from the trial seemeth not wise. - Thou hast heard me tell of a maiden that practiseth sorcery - Under the teaching of Perseus' daughter Hekatê. - Now if we might win her to help us, thou needest not fear any more - To be vanquished in this thine endeavour:--howbeit my fear is sore - {480} - Lest haply my mother will take not upon her to move her thereto. - Yet in any wise back will I wend to essay what entreaty may do; - For over us all alike is destruction hanging this day.' - So spake he in kindness of heart, and in answer did Jason say: - 'Dear friend, if this seemeth good in thy sight, I say not nay. - Hasten thou then, and with words of weight to thy mother pray - Till thou stir her to help us:--howbeit a pitiful hope is the best - For our home-return, if this in the keeping of women must rest.' - So spake he; and soon to the backwater came he: with hearts full - fain - Did their comrades greet them, and question, beholding them again. - {490} - But unto them Aison's son in heaviness spake the word: - 'O friends, the heart of Aiêtes the ruthless is wholly stirred - With anger against us: of all those things whereof ye inquire - Nor for me nor for you appeareth the goal of our desire. - Two brazen-footed bulls on the War-god's plain, he saith, - Pasture; in flames of fire from the mouths of them streameth the - breath: - And with these must I plough him ploughgates four of a fallow field; - And seed of a serpent's jaws will he give, and for crop shall it - yield - Earth-born warriors in harness of brass. In the selfsame day - These must I slay. And of this--for I found no better way, {500} - In mine heart as I pondered--I promised outright to make essay.' - He spake, and it seemed unto all an impossible task. For a space - Silent they sat, and each man gazed in his fellow's face, - By despair bowed down, by calamity crushed, till Peleus at last - With stout words spake to hearten the heroes all aghast: - 'Full time is it now to be counselling what we shall do. In rede - Small profit, I trow, shall be found; strong hands must help our - need. - If thou then art minded to yoke the bulls of Aiêtes the king, - O hero Aison's son, and thine heart is good for the thing, - Up then, and keep thy promise, and gird up thy loins for the toil. - {510} - But if aught thine heart mistrusteth her manhood, and feareth the - foil, - Neither goad thyself on, nor yet for another of these look round - As thou sitt'st in their midst: for one that shall nowise flinch - hath been found, - Even I; for the bitterest pang is but death, to which all men are - bound.' - So spake Aiakus' son; and Telamon's spirit was stirred, - And swiftly in haste he uprose; and Idas uprose for the third - With heart uplifted; and rose the sons of Tyndareus then; - And rose with them Oineus' son, who was numbered among strong men, - Albeit not yet so much as the tender down on his chin - Showed; with such hero-might was his spirit uplifted within. {520} - But the rest unto these gave place, and were still: then spake - straightway - Argus to these for the contest that longed, and thus did he say: - 'Friends, haply to this may we come at the last: but ere that be, - Help for our need shall be found with my mother, it seemeth me. - Wherefore refrain you a little yet, how eager soe'er, - And abide in the ship as aforetime: for better it is to forbear, - Than reckless-hearted to choose the path to destruction's lair. - In the halls of Aiêtes nurtured a certain maiden doth dwell - Whom Hekatê taught strange cunning in herbs of the witch-wife's - spell, - Even all that on solid land or in fleeting water grow. {530} - And therewith she turneth to balm the fireblast's fervent glow, - And rivers in mid rush roaring she suddenly causeth to stand, - And constraineth the stars and the paths of the holy moon with a - band. - Of her we bethought us, the while from the palace we trod the way, - If haply my mother, seeing that sisters born be they, - Could persuade this maiden, that so for the contest her help she may - lend. - And if this thing appeareth good in your eyes, of a truth will I wend - To the palace-hall of Aiêtes aback this selfsame day - To try her:--a God peradventure will help when I make essay.' - He spake, and the Gods of their kindness sent forth a sign in their - sight; {540} - For a fearful dove from the might of a hawk swift-winging her flight - From on high into Jason's bosom fell in her panic affright. - But the hawk swooped blindly, and fluttered impaled on the high - stern-crest. - Then on Mopsus a spirit of prophecy came, and he cried to the rest: - 'Unto you, O friends, by the will of the Gods this token is sent; - For in none other wise shall ye better interpret the sign's intent - That we seek to the maiden, and woo her with speech of entreaty fair - With our uttermost wit; and I ween she will not reject our prayer, - If Phineus foretold that your home-return should be brought to pass - With help of the Cyprian Goddess. Her gentle bird it was {550} - That escaped from destruction. As now mine heart doth in vision - foresee - As touching this omen, O that so in the end it may be! - Friends, let us cry to the Queen of Kythera to help our need; - And straightway obey ye the counsel of Argus with diligent heed.' - He spake, and the young men praised it, calling to mind the word - Of Phineus the prophet; but Idas alone rose anger-stirred - Shouting aloud in his fierceness of wrath, and thus did he say: - 'Out on it!--were women our voyaging-fellows through all that way? - We men that be calling on Kypris now for our help to arise, - And not on the War-god's mighty strength?--and by turning your eyes - {560} - On doves and on hawks shall ye 'scape from the toil, shall ye win - the prize? - Away!--let the deeds of war no more in your hearts find place, - But the cunning in pleading that winneth a weakling maiden's grace!' - Even so hot-hearted he spake; and many of them that heard - Low murmured thereat; howbeit none of them answered a word. - Then sat he down yet scowling in wrath; and rose thereupon - Jason to stir them to deeds, and thus spake Aison's son: - 'Let Argus be sent from the ship, seeing all commend this thing; - But let us which remain from her hiding-place in the river bring - And openly moor to the shore our galley; for now gone by {570} - Is the time for hiding as cravens that cower from the onset-cry.' - So did he speak: and he hasted the feet of Argus again - To return to the city with speed, and the hawsers drew they then - Out of the stream inboard at Aison's son's command; - And a little above the backwater rowed they the galley aland. - But Aiêtes assembled for council the Kolchian men in haste - Aloof from his halls, in the place where they gathered in days - overpast, - Devising against the Minyans trouble and treachery grim. - And he purposed, so soon as the bulls should have torn him limb from - limb,-- - This man who had taken upon him the heavy task to fulfil,-- {580} - To hew the oak-grove down that crested the shaggy hill, - And to burn the ship and her crew, that so amid fume and flame - They might vent that insolence forth for a king's defiance that came. - Yea, and he had not received, he said, even Aiolus' son - In his halls in his sorest need, even Phrixus, the man who outshone - All strangers in courtesy and in fear of the Gods on high, - But that Zeus' self sent unto him his messenger down from the sky, - Even Hermes, bidding him give to the stranger the welcoming hand. - How much less therefore, when pirate-rovers came to his land, - Should they long 'scape griefs of their own, the caitiffs whose only - toil {590} - Was to stretch forth their hands in the taking of other men's goods - for a spoil, - And to weave dark webs of guile, and on herdmen folk to fall - With soul-dismaying shouts, and to harry steading and stall? - Yea, and the sons of Phrixus should render to him therebeside - Meet penalty, they who had dared in returning thither to guide - Felons, consorting with men which were minded to drive even him - Light-hearted from honour and sceptre; as spake that prophecy grim, - The warning whereof he heard from his father the Sun erewhile, - Bidding him, 'See thou beware of thine offspring's secret guile, - And the plots of thy seed, and the curse of their crafty iniquity;' - {600} - For which cause also he sent them, even as they craved, oversea, - By their father's behest, to Achaia a long way:--yet there came - On his soul no shadow of fear of his daughters, lest these should - frame - Treason: no fear of his son Absyrtus his heart had chilled; - But he said, 'In the children of Chalkiopê shall the curse be - fulfilled.' - And bodings of awful revenge on the strangers foamed on his lip - In his fury; for loudly he threatened to hale to the flames their - ship - And her crew, that none through the meshes of ruin's net might slip. - But Argus had gone to the halls of Aiêtes the while, and with speech - Of manifold pleading now did the prince his mother beseech {610} - To pray to Medea to help them; yea, and herself theretofore - Was full of the selfsame thought, but the fear on her soul lay sore - Lest haply fate should withstand, and in vain she should speak her - fair, - For her dread of her father's deadly wrath; or if to her prayer - She should yield, yet all should be brought to light, and her deeds - laid bare. - Now the maiden had cast her down on her couch, and slumber deep - Of her anguish relieved her; but straightway dreams came haunting - her sleep, - Such visions dark and deceitful as trouble the anguish-distraught. - For it seemed that the stranger had taken upon him the task; but she - thought - That it was not the Fleece of the Ram that he longed to win for a - prize, {620} - Nor yet for the sake of this had he fared in any wise - To Aiêtes' city, but only to lead her, his wedded wife, - Unto his home; and she dreamed that herself did wrestle in strife - With the bulls, and exceeding lightly the mighty labour she wrought. - Howbeit thereafter her parents set their promise at naught, - For that not to their child, but to him, was the challenge to yoke - that team. - Wherefore contention of wrangling clashed through her troubled dream - 'Twixt her sire and the strangers: and lo, in her hand the decision - they laid, - That the issue should follow her will, and the thoughts of the heart - of the maid. - And straightway the stranger she chose: all reverence thrust she - aside {630} - For her parents; and measureless anguish seized them, and loud they - cried - In their fury, and sleep forsook her at that heart-thrilling sound. - And all a-quiver with fear she upstarted: she stared all round - On the walls of her chamber; her fluttering spirit back to her breast - Scarce drew she: the words like a panic-struck throng through her - pale lips pressed: - 'O wretched I!--how nightmare visions my spirit appal! - I fear me lest awful ills from the heroes' voyage befall: - And my heart, my heart for the stranger is tossed in a storm of - dismay. - Let him woo some girl in his own Achaia far away, - And be maidenhood mine, and mine in the house of my parents to stay! - {640} - Yet--yet--though mine heart be by love made reckless, the desperate - deed - I will try not unbid by my sister--never!--except she plead - With Medea to help in the toil, in her anguish of fear for the sake - Of her sons: this might peradventure assuage my sore heart-ache.' - She spake, and she rose from her bed, and she opened her chamber - door - Barefooted, in vesture of linen alone; and she yearned full sore - To go to her sister, and over the threshold stole the maid: - Yet lingering--lingering--long at the door of the chamber she stayed - Held by her shame. Then backward in sudden panic she fled, - And into her bower she darted, and shrank to the shadows in dread. - {650} - And backward and forward her purposeless feet ever paced in vain; - For whenso she braced her to go, shame fettered her feet with its - chain, - And ever as shame plucked back, bold passion spurred her amain. - Thrice she essayed, thrice stayed she; but now at the fourth essay - Down on her bed on her face did she cast her, and writhing she lay. - And as when some bride in her desolate bower for her lord maketh - moan, - Unto whom her brethren and parents espoused her a little agone; - And for shame and for thinking on him awhile she cannot face - The eyes of her handmaids, but silent she sits in a secret place. - Some doom hath destroyed him, or ever the crown of their desire {660} - Was attained of these: and there in her chamber, with heart on fire - Stilly she sitteth and weepeth, beholding her couch left lorn; - Stilly--for fear of the mock of the women, the laugh of their scorn - Like her did Medea make moan: but with sob and with broken cry - While yet she lamented, it chanced one heard as she passed thereby, - Which had been from a child a handmaid tending her lady's bower - So she told it to Chalkiopê: now she sat in the selfsame hour - With her sons, devising to win her sister to help their need; - And she hearkened the strange tale told of the handmaid with - diligent heed, - Neither put it lightly aside; but she hastened in startled dismay - {670} - Forth of her bower and on to the bower where the maiden lay - Anguish-racked, while her frenzied fingers tore each cheek. - And her eyes all drowned in tears she beheld, and thus did she speak: - 'Ah me, Medea, ah me!--and why art thou weeping so? - What hath befallen?--how came to thine heart this terrible woe? - Is it some disease heaven-sent that hath suddenly smitten thy frame? - Or what, hast thou heard some deadly threat from our father that came - Touching me and my sons? Would God I had never so much as seen - My parents' home, nor the town, but my dwelling afar had been - At the ends of the earth, where never was heard the Kolchian name!' - {680} - She spake: but Medea's cheeks flushed crimson; and maiden shame - From the answer she yearned full sore to render withheld her long. - And now was the word awake, and fluttered upon her tongue, - And backward anon to her breast it flew like a startled bird. - And often she parted her lovely lips to utter the word; - Yet fainted her voice on the threshold of speech: but at last of her - guile - Thus spake she--and ever the bold Loves thrust her onward the while: - 'O Chalkiopê, mine heart for thy sons is disquieted sore, - Lest my father destroy them forthright with the men from the alien - shore; - So ghastly a dream, while a moment I slumbered, but now did I see-- - {690} - And oh may the Gods forefend that the vision accomplished should be, - Forbid that thy love for thy sons should be made heart-anguish to - thee!' - So spake she, proving her sister, longing to hear her pray, - Unprompted of her, for her help for her sons in the evil day. - Strong anguish swept o'er the mother's soul like a surging tide, - For her terror at that she had heard, and with fervent beseeching - she cried: - 'Yea, and to this same end did I come with eager speed, - If with me thou wouldst haply devise and prepare some help for our - need. - But swear thou by Earth and by Heaven that thou wilt conceal in - thine heart - Whatsoever I say unto thee, and wilt bear therein thy part. {700} - By the Blessèd I pray thee, by thine own soul, by thy parents' name, - That thou see not my sons in torment destroyed by a doom of shame - Horribly: else with my dear-loved sons will I die, and come - A hateful vengeance-spirit to haunt thee from Hades' home!' - So spake she, and straightway gushed her tears in torrent flow; - And around her knees did she fling her arms in a passion of woe, - And adown on her bosom she bowed her head; and there they two - Over each other made piteous lament, and the dim halls through - Went wailing low the sound of anguished women's cry. - And to her disquieted sorely Medea made reply: {710} - 'God help thee!--what healing can I bring thee?--what talk is thine - Of horrible curses and vengeance-spirits!--would God it were mine, - Mine by a power firm-stablished, to save thy sons from bane! - Be witness--the mighty oath of the Kolchians, the oath thou art fain - I should swear--be witness the broad-arched Heaven, and the Earth - below, - Mother of Gods, that, so far as the bounds of my strength may go, - I will fail thee not, if thy prayer be a boon that man may bestow.' - So spake she, and Chalkiopê made answer to her, and she said: - 'Now couldst thou not dare for the stranger--himself too asketh - thine aid-- - By wile or by wisdom achievement of this emprise to win {720} - For the sake of my sons? Lo, now is his messenger Argus within, - Praying that I would essay to win for them help of thy grace. - In the mid-court left I him when I came to seek thy face.' - So spake she, and bounded within her Medea's heart for delight: - Her fair skin suddenly crimsoned, and swam before her sight - A mist, as she flushed and burned; and answer she made thereunto: - 'Chalkiopê, according to that which is pleasing to you, - Even so will I do. May I see with mine eyes the dawn not again, - Nor mayst thou behold me long in the land of living men, - If I count aught dearer to me than the lives of thee and thine, {730} - Even thy sons: for verily these be brethren mine, - My kinsmen belovèd, my childhood-playmates: myself I call - Thine own, own sister, my sister's own little daughter withal, - Since even as them the baby me to thy breast didst thou hold: - So still have I heard the tale by the lips of my mother told. - But go thou, in silence bury this my kindness, that so - I may work out unwares to my parents my promise. At dawn will I go - Unto Hekatê's fane, to bear thither the drugs that shall cast a spell - On the bulls for the stranger for whose sake all this strife befell.' - So the mother returned from the chamber, and spake to her sons full - fain {740} - Of her sister's help. But now did the tide of shame again - And of terrible fear o'er the soul of Medea in solitude rise, - That she in her sire's despite for a man such deeds should devise. - Then night drew darkness over the earth; on the lonely sea - The sailors gazed from their ships on the Bear and the flashing three - Of Orion; and came upon every wayfarer longing for sleep, - And on each gate-warder; and mothers, that daylong wont to weep - For children dead, with the peace of slumber were folded around. - No barking of dogs through the city there was any more, no sound - Of voices, but all the blackening gloom was with silence bound. {750} - But not o'er Medea did sleep sweet dews of forgetfulness shake; - For many a care in her yearning for Jason held her awake, - Adread of the mighty strength of the bulls, 'neath the fury of whom - He must die in the War-god's acre, must die by a shameful doom. - And with thick fast throbbings struggled the heart in her breast - alway; - As when on the wall of a dwelling the leaping sunbeams play - Flung up from the water that into a caldron but now fell plashing, - Or into a pail, and hither and thither the sunbeam flashing - In lightning eddy and flicker is dancing in mad unrest, - So quivered and fluttered the heart within the maiden's breast. {760} - And the tears from her eyes were flowing for ruth, and through all - her frame - Like a smouldering fire her anguish burned, and coiled its flame - Round every fine-strung nerve, and thrilled to her beating brain - Where sharpest of all the pang strikes in, when the shafts of pain - Are shot to the heart by the Loves that rest them never from harm. - And now did she say that the drugs she would give that should bind - with a charm - The bulls, and now would she not, but with him would she cease to - live. - Swift changed her mood: she would not die, she, nor the drugs would - she give, - But in silence endure her fate, the curse that was doomed to betide. - Then, there as she sat, she wavered this way and that, and she - cried: {770} - 'Oh hapless I, whether this way or that into ruin I fall! - On every hand is despair for my soul: no help is at all - From woe, but it burneth, a furnace unquenchèd!--would God it had - been - Mine to be slain ere this by the shafts of the Huntress-queen, - Or ever I saw him, or came to Achaia-land the sons - Of Chalkiopê, whom a God, or the awful Avenging Ones - Hither, for sorrow to us, and for many a tear, have led! - --Let him perish amidst of the struggle, if this be his weird, to - be sped - On the fallows of doom!--for how shall I 'scape my parents' ken - As the drugs I prepare? With what manner of words shall I blind them - then? {780} - What wile, what cunning device for mine hero's help shall I find? - If I see him apart from his friends, shall I meet him with greeting - kind? - O ill-starred!--though he should die, yet cannot I hope that so - Assuaging should come of my pain: nay, this should be but for my woe - If he of his life were bereft--oh, get thee behind me, shame! - Beauty, avaunt!--So scatheless by mine endeavour he came - Out of peril, then might he fare wheresoever seemeth him best. - But for me--on the selfsame day when triumphant he bideth the test, - Then let me die, from the rafters straining my neck in the noose, - Or tasting of poisons that rend the soul from the body loose. {790} - Ah, but after my dying!--what scoffs and what mocks will they fling - On my grave!--and far and near how every city will ring - With the tale of my doom; and from lip to lip shall be tossed the - jeer, - And a mock shall I be in the mouths of the daughters of Kolchis that - sneer, - "Lo, she that so lovingly cared for a man of an alien race - That she died!--lo, she that on home and on parents heaped disgrace, - Giving reins to her lust!" What shame should not be loaded on me? - Ah me, my infatuate folly!--better by far should it be - In this same night to forsake my life these chambers within - By a fate of mystery, 'scaping from slander's fiendish din, {800} - Or ever that hideous befouling, that nameless defilement, I win!' - She spake, and she rose, and a casket she brought, wherein there lay - Many a drug, some helpful to heal, some mighty to slay. - On her knees she laid it, and brake into weeping: her bosom-fold - Was wet with her tears; from the wounds unstanched of her heart they - rolled, - As she bitterly wailed for her fate: and her soul was exceeding fain - To choose her a murderous drug, and to taste oblivion of pain. - And the eager fingers now of the hapless maid 'gan part - The bands of the casket, to take it forth--but, with sudden start, - With an awful fear of Hades the hateful shuddered her heart. {810} - Long spellbound sat she in speechless horror: around her thronged - Visions of all sweet things for the which through life she had longed. - She thought of the hours delightsome the lot of the living that fill, - And she thought of her merry playmates, even as a maiden will. - And sweeter than ever was grown the sun unto her to behold-- - No marvel, seeing she yearned for all so passionate-souled! - So she put from her knees the casket, and laid it down again - All changed by the promptings of Hêrê: no more did she waver then - In her purpose; but now did she long for the dawning with speed to - awake, - For the dayspring to rise, that so to her hero the drugs she might - take {820} - For the spell, as her covenant pledged her, and meet him face to - face. - And many a time she unbarred the doors of her chamber, to gaze - Forth for the far faint gleam, and welcome flashed upon her - The Child of the Mist, and throughout the city the folk 'gan stir. - Then Argus spake to his brethren, bidding them there to abide - To learn the mind of the maiden, and how should her purpose betide; - But himself turned backward again, and unto the galley he hied. - Now soon as the maiden beheld the splendour of dawn outrolled - O'er the heavens, gathered she up with her hands her tresses of gold, - Which over her shoulders in careless disarray hung loose: {830} - And she bathed her feverish cheeks, and with perfume shed from the - cruse - All nectar-scented her body shone; and a robe fair-wrought - She donned, and with brooches cunningly-fashioned its folds upcaught. - And the cloud of a veil did she cast o'er her head unearthly fair, - And as silver it shimmered: she trode the floors of the palace there - Pacing unfaltering to and fro, forgetful of all - Those heaven-sent woes at the door, and of others that yet should - befall. - And she summoned her bower-maidens; twelve by tale were they: - Through the night at the entering-in of her odorous chamber they lay, - Young as herself, nor yet on the bridal couch embraced. {840} - And these she commanded to harness the mules to the wain in haste - To bear their lady to Hekatê's passing-beautiful fane. - Wherefore the bower-maidens hasted and harnessed the mules to the - wain. - And Medea the while took forth from the casket a drug of might, - The magic root that they say is the Herb of Prometheus hight. - For if any with midnight sacrifice upon Daira shall call, - The only-begotten, and smear his body therewithal, - No stroke of brazen weapon shall wound the flesh of him, - No, nor from blazing fire shall he flinch; but his strength of limb - And his prowess throughout that day shall all their might confound. - {850} - First-born it upshot from the clod in the hour when dropped to the - ground - From the ravening eagle's beak, where the crags of Caucasus frowned, - The ichor, the blood of a God, of Prometheus in torments bound. - And the flower of it blossomed a cubit the face of the earth above: - As the glow of the crocus Corycian, so was the hue thereof, - Upborne upon pale stalks twain, and below in its earthy bed - The root thereof as flesh new-severed was crimson-red. - And the blood thereof, like a mountain-oak's dark sap, in a shell - From Caspian strand she gathered, to weave thereof a spell, - When seven times she had bathed her in waters unresting that glide, - {860} - And seven times upon Brimo the Nursing-mother had cried-- - Night-wandering Brimo, the Underworld Goddess, the Queen of the - dead-- - And in dusky vesture clad through the blackness of night did she - tread. - And the dark earth shuddered and quaked deep down with muttering - moan, - As the Titan root was severed; yea, and Iapetus' son - In frenzy of heart-wringing agony groaned a fearful groan. - This, from the casket ta'en, in her odorous girdle she laid, - The girdle enclasping the waist divinely sweet of the maid. - Then forth of the portal she paced, and she set her foot on the wain, - And beside her went upon either hand bower-maidens twain. {870} - To her left hand gave they the reins, and the fair-fashioned whip - hath she ta'en - In her right; and adown through the city she drave; and the rest of - the train - Of her handmaids laid their hands on the wain, behind it to run - Adown the highway broad, for their tunics delicate-spun - Each maiden had kilted up above her ivory knee. - 'Twas as when, where Parthenius' soft-flowing ripples slide through - the lea, - Or as when, coming up from her bath in Amnisus' crystalline water, - High-borne on her golden chariot rideth Latona's Daughter, - Driving betwixt the hills the fleetfoot roes of her car, - To greet the sacrifice-steam of a hecatomb afar; {880} - And the Nymphs in throngs upon throngs attend her, gathering some - By the green well-head of Amnisus' self, and others that come - By the glens and the fountain-flashing heights; and fawn and whine - The cowering beasts, as onward cometh the presence divine: - So through the city they sped, and to this side and that of the - street - The people made way, neither dared they the eyes of the princess to - meet. - But when she had left behind her the city's fair-paved ways, - And was now drawn nigh, as she drave through the plain, to the holy - place, - Then from the smooth-running wain she stept to the earth straightway - In haste; and unto her maidens thus did Medea say: {890} - 'O friends, I have verily grievously sinned, for I took no thought - To have nought to do with the strangers whose wandering feet have - sought - Our land:--lo now, with amazement's perplexity smitten sore - Is all the city, that none of the women, which heretofore - Hitherward have assembled day by day, be now gathered here. - But seeing that we be come, and that none beside draweth near, - Come then, with delightsome song without stint or stay let us sing - To our soul's satisfying, and pluck we the lovely flowers that spring - Mid the tender grass; and in this same hour on the homeward way - Will we wend. Ye also with many a gift shall return this day {900} - Homeward, if now with mine heart's desire ye will gladden me. - For the pleading of Argus prevaileth with me, and of Chalkiopê:-- - But hide in your hearts that ye hear from me; let your lips be dumb, - Lest to my father's ears peradventure the story should come:-- - They beseech me to take rich gifts, and to save in his emprise fell - Yon stranger who took it upon him the might of the bulls to quell. - Yea, and their counsel was good in mine eyes, that I bade him appear - In my presence this day, alone, with none of his comrades near, - That we may divide those presents amongst us, if haply he bring - The gifts in his hand, and may give him a spell-drug, a balefuller - thing {910} - Than the strength of the bulls. But stand ye aloof when he draweth - anigh.' - So spake she, and pleased them all her counsel of subtlety. - Now Argus apart from his comrades had sundered Aison's son, - So soon as he heard from his brethren how that Medea had gone - Forth in the misty dawning to fare unto Hekatê's fane; - And over the plain did he lead him, and Mopsus companioned the twain, - Ampykus' son, most wise to interpret the tokens aright - Of the coming of birds, and the signs to discern of their parting - flight. - Never yet had there been such a man in the days of the men of old-- - Nor of them of the lineage of Zeus, nor the champions hero-souled - {920} - Which sprang from the blood of the rest of the Gods that endure for - aye-- - Such a man as the bride of Zeus made Jason to be that day - In glory of bodily presence, in witchery of his tongue. - And ever his comrades gazing upon him in wonderment hung - On his radiance of manifold grace: and glad for the way they should - wend - Waxed Ampykus' son, as foreboding, I trow, how all should end. - Now there is by the path through the plain, as ye draw to the - temple anigh, - A poplar that waveth his tresses of countless leaves on high; - And thereon had the crows ever-babbling pitched as it were their - tent, - Whereof one, clapping her pinions, beneath her as these twain went, - {930} - The counsel of Hêrê chanted, mid high boughs swayed to and fro: - 'Lo there, what a pitiful seer!--even that which the children know - His wit can in no wise conceive, how that no word sweet and dear - Maiden will murmur to man, while strangers be loitering near! - Avaunt, vile prophet and witless!--on thee not the Cyprian Queen, - On thee not the gentle Loves of their kindness are breathing, I - ween!' - So ceased the voice of her chiding, and Mopsus smiled to hear - The heaven-sent cry of the bird, and spake to the heroes the seer: - 'Now pass thou on to the Goddess's temple: therein shalt thou find - The maiden, O Aison's son: thou shalt prove her passing kind {940} - By the promptings of Kypris, who also thine helper shall be in thy - toil, - Even as prophesied Phineus, Agênor's son, erewhile. - But we twain, Argus and I, thy coming again will abide - Aloof, yea, in this same place: but thou, with none beside, - With wise words plead with the maiden, and win her thy will to do.' - So in his wisdom he spake, and the others consented thereto. - But Medea--her thoughts unto nought else turned, upon nought could - be stayed, - Howsoever she sang--but never a song, howsoe'er she essayed, - Pleased her, that long its melody winged her feet for the dance; - But ever she faltered amidst them, her eyes ever wandered askance - {950} - Away from the throng of her maidens unresting; and over the ways, - Turning aside her cheeks, far off ever strained she her gaze. - O the heart in her breast oft fainted, whenever in fancy she heard - Fleet past her the sound of a footfall, the breath of a breeze as - it stirred. - But it was not long ere the hero appeared to her yearning eyes - Stately striding, as out of the ocean doth Sirius uprise, - Who climbeth the sky most glorious and clear to discern from afar, - But unto the flocks for measureless mischief a baleful star: - Even so came Aison's son to the maiden glorious to see,-- - But with Jason's appearing dawned on her troublous misery. {960} - Then it seemed as her heart dropped out of her bosom; a dark mist - came - Over her eyes, and hot in her cheeks did the blushes flame. - Nor backward nor forward a step could she stir: all strength was - gone - From her knees; and her feet to the earth seemed rooted; and one - after one - Her handmaidens all drew back, and with him was she left alone. - So these twain stood--all stirless and wordless stood face to face: - As oaks they seemed, or as pines upsoaring in stately grace, - Which side by side all still mid the mountains rooted stand - When winds are hushed; but by breath of the breeze when at last they - are fanned, - Stir they with multitudinous murmur and sigh--so they {970} - By love's breath stirred were to pour out all in their hearts that - lay. - Then Aison's son beheld how the maiden's soul was adread - With wilderment heaven-sent, and kindly-courteous he said: - 'Wherefore, O maiden, dost fear me so sorely, alone as I am? - Never was I as the loud-tongued blusterers, void of shame, - No, not when aforetime I dwelt in my fatherland oversea: - Wherefore be thou not, maiden, over-abashed before me, - That thou shouldst not inquire whatsoever thou wilt, or utter thy - mind. - But, seeing we twain be met with friendly hearts and kind - In a place where sin is of heaven accurst, in a hallowed spot, {980} - Speak thou, and question withal as thou wilt: but beguile me not - With pleasant words, forasmuch as thou gavest thy promise erewhile - To thy sister, to give me the charm that I long for, the herbs of - guile. - I beseech thee in Hekatê's name--for the sake of thy parents I pray, - And of Zeus, that o'er stranger and suppliant stretcheth his hand - alway! - Lo, a suppliant am I, a stranger withal, which am come to thee here, - In sore straits bending the knee; for in this my task of fear - Shall I nowise prevail, except I be holpen of thine and thee. - And to thee will I render requital of thanks in the days to be-- - As is meet and right for them in a far-away land which dwell-- {990} - Making glorious thy name and thy fame, and mine hero-companions - shall tell - The story of thy renown, when to Hellas again they have won; - Yea, and the heroes' wives and mothers, who now make moan - For us, I ween, on the strand as they sit by the sighing brine: - And to scatter in air their bitter affliction is thine--is thine! - Not I were the first--was Theseus not saved from the ordeal grim - By Minos' child for her kindness' sake which she bare unto him, - Ariadne, born of the Sun-god's daughter Pasiphaê? - But she, when slumbered the wrath of Minos, over the sea - Sailed with the hero, forsaking her land. The Immortals divine {1000} - Loved well that maid: in the midst of the firmament set is her sign, - A crown of stars, which they name Ariadne's diadem, - All night circling amidst of the signs that the heavens begem. - Thou also shalt have of the Gods like thanks, if thou shalt redeem - From destruction so goodly a host of heroes--ah, needs must it seem - That through form so lovely as thine should the beauty of kindness - beam!' - Extolling her so spake he; and her eyelids drooped, while played - A nectar-smile on her lips; and melted the heart of the maid - By his praising uplifted: her eyes are a moment upraised to his eyes, - And all speech faileth: no word at the first to her lips may rise; - {1010} - But in one breath yearned she to speak forth all her joy and her - pain. - And with hand ungrudging forth from her odorous zone hath she ta'en - The charm, and he straightway received it into his hands full fain. - Yea, now would she even have drawn forth all her soul from her - breast, - And had laid it with joy in his hands for her gift, had he made - request, - So wondrously now from the golden head of Aison's son - Did Love out-lighten the witchery-flame; and her sweet eyes shone - With the gleam that he stole therefrom, and her heart glowed through - and through - Melting for rapture away, from the lips of the rose as the dew - At the sun's kiss melteth away, when the dayspring is kindled anew. - {1020} - And these twain now on the earth were fixing their eyes abashed, - And anon yet again their glances each on the other they flashed, - As with radiant eyelids they smiled a heart-beguiling smile: - And bespake him the maiden at last, yet scarce after all this while: - 'Give thou heed now, that my counsel may haply be for thine aid. - What time at thy coming my father within thine hands shall have laid - The crop of the serpent's jaws for thy sowing, the teeth of bane, - Then shalt thou watch for the hour when the night is sundered in - twain. - Then thou, when first in the river's tireless flow thou hast bathed, - Alone, with none other beside thee, in night-hued vesture swathed, - {1030} - Shalt dig thee a rounded pit, and over the dark earth-bowl - Shalt thou slaughter a ewe, and shalt burn the unsevered carcase - whole - On a pyre, the which on the very brink of the pit thou hast piled, - And propitiate only-begotten Hekatê, Perseus' child, - Out of a chalice pouring the hive-stored toil of the bee. - So when thou hast sought the grace of the Goddess heedfully, - Then turn thee to pass from the pyre, and beware lest any sound - Or of footfalls behind thee startle thee, so that thou turn thee - round, - Or of baying of hounds, lest all that is wrought be undone thereby, - And thyself to thine hero-companions never again draw nigh. {1040} - And in water at dawn shalt thou steep this herb, and thy limbs shalt - thou bare, - And even as with oil shalt anoint thee therewith; and prowess there - Shalt thou find, and strength exceeding great: thou wouldst nowise - say - That with men thou couldst match thee in might, but with Gods that - abide for aye. - Therewithal be thy lance and thy buckler besprent with the magic dew, - And thy sword: then shall not the spear-heads prevail to pierce thee - through - Of the Earth-born men, nor the fiery breath of the bulls of bane - Unendurably darting. Yet no long time shalt thou thus remain, - But only for that same day: notwithstanding flinch not thou - From the toil; and another thing yet for thine help will I tell to - thee now: {1050} - So soon as the mighty bulls thou hast yoked, and by manifold toil - And by strength of thine hands hast sped the share through the - stubborn soil, - And adown the furrows the bristling harvest of giants shall stand, - Where fell on the dusky clods the serpent's teeth from thine hand, - Even as thou mark'st them in throngs through the fallows upbursting - to day, - Cast thou in their midst unawares a massy stone: and they, - As ravening hounds o'er a gobbet of flesh that wrangle, shall slay - Each one his fellow: thou also in battle-fury shalt fall - On the rout. So the Golden Fleece unto Hellas, if this be all, - From Aia afar shalt thou bear:--O yea, turn thou and depart {1060} - Whithersoever it pleaseth thee: seek the desire of thine heart!' - She spake, and her eyes to the earth at her feet in silence she - cast; - And her cheeks divinely fair were wet as her tears fell fast, - As she sorrowed because that far and afar from her side o'er the main - He must wander away. And she looked in his eyes, and she spake yet - again - With mournful word, and his right hand now hath she ta'en in her own; - For the shamefastness now from her eyes on the wings of love had - flown: - 'But O remember, if ever thou com'st to thine home afar, - Medea's name: and in like wise I, when sundered we are, - Will forget thee not. But tell, of thy good will, where is thine - home, {1070} - Whitherward bound thou wilt fare in thy galley over the foam. - Is it unto Orchomenus' wealthy burg that thy feet shall go? - Or anigh to Aiaia's isle? Of the maiden fain would I know, - Some maiden far-renowned, whom thou namedst the daughter, I wis, - Of Pasiphaê: kinswoman unto my sire that lady is.' - So did she speak; and over him stole, as the maiden wept, - Love the victorious; and answering speech to his lips hath leapt: - 'Yea, verily, never by night, I ween, and by day nevermore - Shalt thou be forgotten of me, if unto Achaia's shore - Unscathed I shall 'scape indeed, and Aiêtes before me set, {1080} - For mine hands to achieve, none other toil more desperate yet. - But if this hath pleased thee, to learn what land I call mine own, - I will tell thee--yea, and mine own heart biddeth me make it known - A country there is--steep mountain-ramparts around it run-- - A land of streams and of pastures, wherein Iapetus' son, - Even Prometheus, begat the valiant Deukalion, - Who of all men was first that builded a city, or reared a fane - To the Deathless, and first was he of the kings over men that reign. - That land do the folk that around it dwell Haimonia call. - Therein is my city Iolkos found: therein withal {1090} - Stand many beside, where not so much have they heard as the name - Of Aiaia's isle: but rumour hath told how Minyas came - Thereout, even Minyas Aiolus' son, and builded the town - Of Orchomenus; over the marches Kadmeian her towers look down. - Yet why should I speak things vain as the wild winds' empty sound - Of our home, of the daughter of Minos, the princess far-renowned - Ariadne--the glorious name whereby that heart's desire - Was called among men, the maiden of whom thou dost inquire? - Would God that, even as Minos his heart unto Theseus inclined - For her sake, so would thy father with me be in friendship joined!' - {1100} - So spake he, with tender words and caressing the maiden to woo. - But anguish exceeding bitter was thrilling the heart of her through: - And in sorrow of spirit with vehement words she made reply: - 'O haply in Hellas 'tis good to be heedful of friendship's tie: - But Aiêtes is not such a man among men as thou saidst but now - Was Minos, Pasiphaê's lord; and with Ariadne, I trow, - May I nowise compare me: wherefore of guest-love speak not thou. - Only remember thou me, when safe thou hast sped thy flight - To Iolkos; and I will remember--yea, in my parents' despite - Will remember thee: and from far may a rumour come unto me, {1110} - Or a messenger-bird with the tidings, when I am forgotten of thee! - Or me, even me, may the swift-winged blasts from the earth's breast - tear, - And away hence over the sea to the land of Iolkos bear, - That so I might cast reproaches on thee, yea, unto thy face, - And remind thee that all by mine help thou escapedst--but oh that - my place - That day were of right in thine halls, the place of a queen at the - board!' - So spake she, and down her cheeks the piteous tears aye poured. - But he caught up her words even there, and with comforting speech - did he say: - 'O stricken one, leave thou the empty blasts at their will to stray, - And the messenger-bird to roam, for thy words are but vanity! {1120} - But if ever thou come unto those abodes, if Hellas thou see, - Honour and worship of men and of women then shall be thine; - Yea, they shall reverence thee as a very presence divine, - Because that again to their homes did the sons of the Hellenes win - By thy devising, yea, and the brethren of these, and their kin; - And many a stalwart husband of thee hath received his life. - Then shalt thou enter the bridal bower with me--my wife; - And nothing shall come between our love, and nothing shall sunder, - Till death's shroud fold us around, and our hearts are chilled - thereunder.' - He spake, and to hear him her soul was melted within her then: - {1130} - Yet she shuddered to see the deeds whose end was beyond her ken. - Ah hapless!--not long was she doomed to refuse a home in the land - Of Hellas, for hereunto was she guided of Hêrê's hand, - To the end that for Pelias' bane Aiaian Medea might come - Unto Iolkos the hallowed, forsaking her fatherland-home. - But by this from afar were the handmaids glancing towards these - twain - Full oft in disquiet; for need was now, as the day 'gan wane, - That the maiden unto her mother should turn her homeward again. - But she thought not yet of departing, such joy did her spirit take - Alike in his goodlihead, and the winsome words that he spake. {1140} - But Aison's son took heed, and late and at last did he say: - 'Lo now, it is time to depart, lest the sun's light fade away - Before we be ware, and lest some stranger should haply espy - All this. Yet again will we meet, coming hitherward, thou and I.' - So in sweetest communion did these try each the other's heart - Thus far; and thereafter they sundered. And now did Jason depart - Unto his friends and the ship, while his heart for joy beat high; - And she to her handmaids, and all in a troop did these draw nigh - To meet her: she marked them not, as unto her side they drew; - For her soul to the clouds had soared far up 'twixt earth and the - blue. {1150} - And with feet that moved in a dream she mounted the fleet-running - wain: - In her left hand grasped she the reins, in her right the whip hath - she ta'en - Curious-fashioned, to drive the mules; and fast did they flee, - As on to the city they sped and the palace; and Chalkiopê - 'Gan ask her of all that befell, for her sons' sake anguish-stirred; - But rapt in a trance of thoughts back-drifting she heard not a word, - And to all that eager questioning never a word she said: - But adown on a lowly stool did she sit at the foot of the bed, - On her left hand propping her cheek as she wearily drooped aside; - And with tears were her eyes brimming over, as surged the dark chill - tide {1160} - Of remembrance of emprise dread that the covenant bound her to bide. - Now when Aison's son had wended aback to the place where stayed - His comrades, what time he had left them in faring to meet the maid. - Then, telling them all the story the while, with these did he hie - To the throng of the heroes; and now to the galley drew they anigh. - And they saw him, and lovingly greeted, and asked him of all that - befell: - And he in the midst of them all did the maiden's counsels tell; - And he showed them the dread spell-drug. One only of all sat apart, - Idas, nursing his wrath: but the others with joyful heart - Turned them, when darkness fell, their hands from their labour to - stay, {1170} - And in great peace laid them down to their rest: but with dawning - day - To Aiêtes, to ask for the seed of the serpent, sent they away - Two men; and foremost Telamon Arês-beloved they sent, - And Aithalides, glorious scion of Hermes, beside him went. - So went they, and not for nought, for to these at their coming were - given - Of Aiêtes the king the teeth for the grim strife hard to be striven, - The teeth of the dragon Aonian, that, seeking the wide world through - For Europa, Kadmus found in Ogygian Thêbê, and slew, - The monster that lurked, a warder, beside the Aretian spring. - There also he dwelt, by the heifer led, which Apollo the king {1180} - By the word of prophecy gave for his guide, that he should not stray. - These teeth did Tritonis the Goddess tear from its jawbone away, - And the gift on Aiêtes and him that had slain the beast she bestowed. - On the plain Aonian Kadmus the teeth of the serpent sowed; - And an earth-born nation was founded there of Agênor's son, - The remnant left when the harvest of Arês' spear was done. - So the teeth to bear to the galley Aiêtes gave full fain, - For he weened that to win to the goal of his task he should strive - in vain, - Yea, though to the yoking of those dread bulls he should haply - attain. - And the sun down under the dark earth far away in the west, {1190} - Beyond the uttermost hills of the Aethiops, sank to his rest; - And the Night was laying her yoke on the necks of her steeds. Then - spread - On the shore by the hawsers of Argo the heroes each his bed. - But Jason, so soon as the flashing stars of the circling Bear - Had set, and under the firmament hushed was all the air, - Unto the wilderness even as a thief all stealthily hied - With whatso was needful; for all had he taken thought to provide - In the day: and fared with him Argus, and milk from the flock he - bore, - And a ewe therewithal; for these had he ta'en from the galley's - store. - But when he beheld the place, which was far aloof from the tread - {1200} - Of men, where under the unscreened sky the clear meads spread, - There first of all in the flow of the sacred river he bathed - His limbs full reverently, and all his body he swathed - In a dark-hued cloak, which Hypsipylê, daughter of Lemnos' race, - Gave him aforetime, memorial of many a loving embrace. - Thereafter he digged him a pit in the plain of a cubit wide, - And the billets he heaped, and the lamb's throat cut by the dark - pit's side. - And the carcase he stretched on the pile, and he thrust thereunder - the fire - And kindled the brands, and mingled libations he poured on the pyre, - Calling on Hekatê Brimo to draw for his helper nigh. {1210} - And when he had called on her, backward he fared, and she hearkened - his cry. - Out of nethermost caverns of darkness the Awful Queen drew near - To the Aisonid's sacrifice, and about her did shapes of fear, - Even serpents, in horrible wreaths and knots, mid the oak-boughs - hang: - And flashed a fitful splendour of torches unnumbered; and rang - Around her wild and high the baying of hounds of hell. - And all the meadow-land trembled under her tread; and the yell - Pealed of the marish-haunting Nymphs of the river, that dance - In the pastures wherethrough Amaryntian Phasis' ripples glance. - And terror gat hold upon Aison's son; but, for all his dread, {1220} - Yet he turned him not round as his feet thence bore him, until he - had sped - Back to his friends: and by this over Caucasus' snow-flecked height, - As she rose, was the Dawn mist-cradled shooting her shafts of light. - And now did Aiêtes array in the corslet of stubborn mould - His breast, the corslet that Arês gave, in the day when rolled - Mimas of Phlegra beneath his hands in the dust of doom. - And he set on his head the golden helmet of fourfold plume - Flaming like to the world-encompassing sun's red gleam, - When first in the dawning he leapeth up from the Ocean-stream. - He uplifted his manifold-plated shield, and he grasped in his hand - {1230} - His terrible spear and resistless: was none that before it might - stand - Of the rest of the heroes, since Herakles now they had left afar: - He only against it had matched his might in the shock of war. - And his fair-fashioned chariot of fleet-footed steeds was stayed for - the king - By Phaethon hard by; then to the chariot-floor did he spring; - And he drew through his fingers the reins, and forth of the city-gate - Drove he along the broad highway, by the lists of fate - To stand; and a countless multitude hastened forth at his side. - And as when to the Isthmian athlete-strife Poseidon doth ride - High-borne on his car, or Tainarus-wards, or to Lerna's mere, {1240} - Or Hyantian Onchestus, the temple-grove that the nations revere; - And as when to Kalaurea oft-times his chariot-wheels have rolled, - And Haimonia's rock, and Geraistus' town that the forests enfold, - Even so was Aiêtes, lord of the Kolchian folk, to behold. - But Jason the while, obeying the rede from Medea that came, - In water hath steeped that drug; and he sprinkled his shield with - the same, - And his sturdy spear and his sword; and his comrades with might and - main - Made proof of his harness, thronging around: yet essayed they in vain - To bend that spear, though it were but a little; but evermore - Unyielding and stark it abode in their strong hands, even as before. - {1250} - But Idas, Aphareus' son--for with wrath was the heart of him black-- - With his great sword hewed at the shaft by the butt; but the blade - leapt back - As hammer from anvil, jarred by the shock; and a mighty shout - From the heroes rejoicing in hope of the trial's end rang out. - Thereafter his own limbs Jason sprinkled; and lo, he was filled - With terrible prowess, unspeakable, aweless; the hands of him - thrilled - Tingling with strength, as waxed their sinews with gathering might. - And even as when a battle-steed afire for the fight - Leapeth and neigheth and paweth the ground, and glorying rears - His neck like a stormy-crested billow, and pricketh his ears, {1260} - Even so in the pride of his prowess triumphant was Aison's son, - And hither and thither on high he bounded now and anon, - In his hands uptossing his brazen shield and his spear's tough ash. - Thou hadst said that adown through the murky welkin the leaping flash - Of the tempest-levin was gleaming and flickering once and again - From the clouds that are bringing hard after their burden of blackest - rain. - Nor long time now would they tarry from faring forth to essay - The emprise, but row after row upon Argo's thwarts sat they, - And onward exceeding swiftly to Arês' plain they sped. - Overagainst the city so far before them it spread {1270} - As the space from the start to the turning-post that the car must win - What time, when a king unto Hades hath passed, his princely kin - For hero and horse ordain the strife of the funeral game. - There found they Aiêtes, and other the tribes of the Kolchian name, - The folk on the cliffs Caucasian in lines far-stretching arrayed, - While the king by the winding brink of the river their coming stayed. - And Aison's son, when his comrades had made the hawsers fast, - Then with his spear and his shield to the mighty trial passed, - Bounding from Argo forth; and there was he bearing with him - His gleaming helm with the dragon's sharp teeth filled to the brim, - {1280} - With his brand on his shoulders slung, bare-limbed, and in some wise - seeming - As Arês, in some wise Apollo the lord of the sword gold-gleaming. - O'er the fallow he glanced, and the brazen yoke of the bulls he - espied. - And the plough, hewn solid of massy adamant, therebeside. - So he strode thereunto, and beside it his strong spear planted - upright - On the butt-spike thereof, and leaning against it the morion he pight. - Then tracing the countless tracks of the bulls right on did he fare - With nought but his shield: but suddenly forth from an unseen lair, - From a den in the bowels of the earth, wherein was their grimly - stall, - Whereover the lurid-gleaming smoke ever hung as a pall, {1290} - Forth rushed they together as one, outbreathing the splendour of - flame; - And the heroes quaked when they saw. But Jason, as onward they came, - Set wide his feet; and even as a rock in the sea doth abide - The charging surges whereon the scourging storm-blasts ride, - Before him he held to withstand them his shield; and the terrible - twain - Their strong horns bellowing dashed against it with might and main: - Nevertheless by their onset they stirred him never a jot. - And even as when the armourers' bellows of stout hide wrought - In the piercèd melting-pot anon with murmur and sigh - Kindle the ravening flame, and anon doth the breath of them die; - {1300} - And an awful roar goeth up therefrom as the flames leap higher - From beneath, even so these twain outbreathing the rushing fire - Roared from their mouths, and about him as lightning leapt and - played - The devouring blaze: yet warded him ever the spells of the maid. - Then grasped he the tip of the horn of the right-hand monster, and - so - Mightily haled with his uttermost strength, till he bowed it low - To the brazen yoke, and, striking its hoof of brass with his foot, - Suddenly cast it adown on its knees, and its fellow brute, - Even as it charged him, with one thrust down on its knees did he - throw. - Then his broad shield cast he away on the ground, and, to and fro - {1310} - To this side and that side striding, he kept them fall'n in their - place - On their fore-knees, swiftly moving athwart the fervent blaze, - While marvelled the king at the hero's might. Then drew nigh two, - Even Tyndareus' sons--for that thus long since had he bidden them - do;-- - And they lifted and gave him the yoke on the necks of the bulls to - be bound: - And deftly thereon did he bind it, and 'twixt them upraised from - the ground - The brazen pole, and he made it fast by its pointed tip - Unto the yoke: and they twain back from the fire to the ship - Withdrew. Then he caught up again, and cast on his shoulders his - shield - Behind him; the helmet strong with the serpent's sharp teeth filled - {1320} - He grasped, and his spear resistless, wherewith, as a ploughman - wight - Pricketh his oxen with goad Pelasgian, so did he smite - The flanks of the monsters, and starkly and steadily still did he - hold - Unswerving the plough-heft cunningly fashioned of adamant mould. - But the bulls were raging the while with fury exceeding sore - Outbreathing the ravening splendour of fire: as that mad roar - Of the buffeting winds was the blast of their breath, when the - seafarers quail - At their yelling above all else, and furl the straining sail. - Yet it was not long ere the beasts, as the stern spear bade them to - toil, - Moved on, and behind them was broken the fallow's rugged soil {1330} - Cloven apart by the might of the bulls and the ploughman strong. - And terribly crashed and groaned, the ploughshare's furrows along, - The clods uprent, of a man's load each, and with sturdy stride - Trampling the path the hero followed, and aye flung wide - The teeth of the serpent over the clods upheaved by the share, - Ever heedfully turning his head, lest haply, or e'er he was ware, - The harvest fell of the Earth-born against him should rise: and with - strain - Of brazen hoofs on laboured the while that fearsome twain. - And it was so, that when the third part now was left of the day, - From the dawn as it waned, when the toil-forwearied labourers pray - {1340} - 'O come to us, sweet unyoking-tide! O tarry thou not!' - Even then by the stalwart ploughman the fallowfield's earing was - wrought, - For all it was ploughgates four; and the bulls from the yoke loosed - he, - And with shouting and smiting he scared them over the plain to flee. - Then back toward Argo he hied him again, while yet all clear - Of the Earth-born brood the furrows he saw; and with cheer on cheer - His comrades hailed him and heartened. He plunged the brazen gleam - Of his helm mid the river's waters, and slaked his thirst from the - stream. - Then bent he his knees till supple they grew; and he filled with - might - His great heart, battle-aflame as a boar, when he whetteth for fight - {1350} - Against the hunters his tushes, and drippeth the plenteous froth - Down from his jaws to the ground, as he churneth their foam in his - wrath. - Now by this was the harvest of Earth-born men over all that field - Upspringing; and all round bristled with thronging shield on shield - And with battle-spears twy-pointed, and morions glorious-gleaming - The garth of the death-dealing War-god: the splendour thereof - upstreaming - Through the welkin lightened, and up to the heaven of heavens did it - go. - And as when on the face of the earth hath fallen abundant snow, - And the wind-blasts chase the wintry clouds in scattered rout - Under the mirk of the night, and all the hosts shine out {1360} - Of the stars through the darkness glittering; so those Earth-born - men - Flashed, o'er the face of the ground upgrowing: but Jason then - Remembered the rede that Medea the cunning-hearted spake; - And a huge round boulder up from the earth in his grasp did he take-- - A terrible quoit for Arês the War-god: there should not be found - Four stalwart men of strength to upraise it a span from the ground. - This caught he up in his hand, and afar with a leap did he throw - Into their midst, and behind his buckler himself crouched low - Awelessly. Loudly the Kolchians shouted--it rang as the roar - Of the shouting sea when his surges over the sharp reefs pour. {1370} - But speechless amazement seized on Aiêtes at that vast sweep - Of the massy crag: and the Earth-born as fleetfoot hounds 'gan leap - Each on his fellow, and yelling they slew: the embattled lines - On their mother the earth, by their own spears slain, were falling, - as pines - Or as oaks which the down-rushing blasts of the tempest have - scourged and riven. - And even as leapeth a fiery star from the depths of the heaven, - Trailing behind him a splendour, a marvel to men which mark - How he darteth in shattering glories athwart the firmament's dark, - Even so seemed Aison's son on the Earth-born rushing: he bare - His sword from the scabbard outflashed; and here he smote them and - there, {1380} - Mowing them down: full many on belly or flank did he smite - Which had won to the air waist-high, and some which had risen to - light - But shoulder-high, and some as they stood but now upright, - And other some, even as their feet 'gan strain in the onset of fight. - And like as, when round the marches the war upstarteth from sleep, - A husbandman, fearing lest foemen the toil of his hands may reap, - Graspeth a curvèd sickle newly-whetted in hand, - And moweth in haste the crop yet green, neither letteth it stand - Until it be parched in the season due by the shafts of the sun; - Even so of the Earth-born the harvest he reaped; and with blood did - they run, {1390} - Those furrows, as hurrying runnels that brim from a fountain's - plashing. - Fast fell they, some on their faces, bowing their knees, and gnashing - Their teeth on the rough clods--this one stayed on his palm, and he - On his side: as they wallowed they seemed as the monster-brood of - the sea. - And many, or ever their feet from beneath the earth had come, - Pierced through, from the height whereunto they had risen, even - therefrom - Down-drooping, were resting their death-dewed brows on the earth - again. - Even so, I ween, when Zeus down-poureth the measureless rain, - Droop orchard-shoots new-planted, till low on the earth they lie, - Snapped hard by the roots, that the gardener's toil is doubled - thereby, {1400} - And there come on the heart of the lord of the vineyard, which - planted the same, - Confusion of face and deadly anguish in such wise came - On Aiêtes the king vexation of spirit and heaviness. - And back to the city he wended amidst of the Kolchian press, - Dark-plotting to bring the heroes' purpose with speed to nought. - And the daylight died, and Jason's mighty achievement was wrought. - - - THE FOURTH BOOK - - NOW take thou up the story, O Goddess of Song, and sing - The afflictions and thoughts of the Kolchian maid; for as touching - this thing - In a tempest of wilderment whirled is my soul, that I know not to - say - Whether for bitter infatuate passion she fled away - From the land of the Kolchian folk, or driven of panic dismay. - Now the king in the midst of his Kolchian princes and men of might - Against the heroes devising treachery sat through the night - In his halls, and hot in his soul did the vehement anger rise - For the trial whose issue he loathed, and he weened not in any wise - That unhelped of his daughters had Jason prevailed that task to - fulfil. {10} - But Medea's spirit did Hêrê with woefullest anguish thrill: - And she quaked like a fawn light-footed, the which the hounds' deep - bay - Hath scared, the while in the tangled depths of a copse she lay. - For straightway she surely foreboded that nothing concealed should - remain - Of her help, and for this should she fill up a cup of uttermost bane. - And her maids which were privy thereto she dreaded, and filled were - her eyes - With fire, and the ears of her rang with a sound as of awful cries. - And ofttimes she clutched at her throat, and moaned in her wretched - despair, - As once and again she rent the tresses of her hair. - And there had the maiden beyond her weird her own death wrought {20} - By tasting of poison; and Hêrê's purpose had come to nought, - But for this, that the Goddess stirred her to flee in her panic dread - With Phrixus' sons. So her fluttering spirit was comforted - In her breast; and into her bosom in eager haste did she pour - All mingled her spell-drugs and poisons, her casket's deadly store. - And she kissed her bed, and her hands on the walls with loving caress - Lingered: she kissed the posts of the doors; and one long tress - She severed, and left it her bower within, for her mother to be - A memorial of maidenhood's days, and with passionate voice moaned - she: - 'This tress in mine own stead leave I, or ever I go, unto thee, {30} - My mother; and, far though I wend, yet take farewell from me! - Farewell thou, Chalkiopê, and mine home!--Would God that the wave, - Ere thou cam'st to the Kolchian land, O stranger, had yawned for thy - grave!' - So spake she, and down from her eyelids in floods the teardrops ran. - Then, even as stealeth forth from the house of a wealthy man - A bondmaid, whom fate but newly hath torn from her fatherland-soil, - Who never till now hath tasted the lot of bitter toil, - But unschooled to misery, shrinking in horror from slavery - Under the cruel hands of a mistress, forth doth she flee; - Even so from her home forth hasted the lovely maid that day. {40} - Yea, and the bolts of the doors self-moving to her gave way - Leaping aback at the swift-breathed spell of her magic song. - And with feet unsandalled she ran the narrow lanes along, - While her left hand gathered a fold of her mantle, to screen from - sight - Her brows and her face and her lovely cheeks, the while with her - right - The hem of the skirt of her tunic she held upraised from the ground. - And swiftly without the towers that girded the wide burg round - By the darkling path in her terror she came; and no man knew - Of the warders thereof, but past them all unseen she flew. - Thence marked she well to the temple the way, nor unweeting she was - {50} - Of the path, for that oft thereby in her questing she wont to pass - Seeking for corpses and deadly roots, as the wont is still - Of the sorceress. Ever with quivering dread did the heart of her - thrill. - And Titania beheld her, as upward she floated from heaven's far - bourne, - As she wandered distraught; and the white Moon-goddess in - triumph-scorn - Over Medea exulted, and thus to her heart 'gan say: - 'Ha, not I only adown to the Latmian cavern stray, - Nor I alone for Endymion the comely with love am afire! - Ha, many a time when mine heart was yearning with hot desire, - Did thy strong spells drive me from heaven, that thou in the rayless - night {60} - Unhindered might'st work thy sorceries, deeds that are aye thy - delight. - Now thou too hast part in the same infatuate passion, I trow, - And a god of affliction hath made this Jason a torment and woe - Unto thee! Pass on, and harden thine heart, be thou never so wise, - To take up thy burden of anguish, thy doom full-fraught with sighs.' - So spake she; but swiftly the maid's feet bare her, as onward she - strained; - And glad was she when the height of the bank of the river she gained. - And overagainst her beheld the splendour of fire: nightlong - For joy of the trial triumphant they fed it, the hero-throng. - And she lifted her voice clear-pealing: across the darkness she - cried: {70} - To the youngest of Phrixus' children she called from the farther - side, - Unto Phrontis: and he with his brother discerned Medea's call; - And the son of Aison knew it; and hushed were the heroes all - In amazement, so soon as they knew of a certainty whose was the cry. - Thrice called she aloud, and thrice, as his company bade reply, - Phrontis in answer shouted, the while with swift-plied oar - The heroes were rowing their ship unto where she stood on the shore. - Not yet to the land were they casting the hawsers forth of the ship, - When lo! to the shore with feet light-bounding did Jason leap - From the height of the deck-planks; and after him Phrontis to land - hath sprung, {80} - And Argus, the children of Phrixus. About their knees she clung, - Clasping them round with clinging hands, and Medea cried: - 'Deliver me, O my friends, the hapless!--yea, and beside - Save from Aiêtes yourselves: for all hath been brought to light, - Yea, all: and there cometh no help therefor. But speed we our flight - In your ship, ere the king shall have mounted his swift-horsed car - for the chase. - And the Fleece of Gold will I give you: with slumber-spells will I - daze - Its serpent warder. But thou in thy comrades' presence take - The Gods to witness the vows which thy lips, O stranger, spake - Unto me: neither make me, when hence I have fled and afar from my - land, {90} - An outcast dishonoured, as one by whose side no kinsman doth stand.' - In anguish she spake: but with gladness exceeding the heart 'gan - stir - Of Aison's son. At his knees as she bowed, he uplifted her - Gently, and straightway embraced her, and spake to her words of - cheer: - 'Lady, let Zeus himself the Olympian my troth-plight hear; - Let Hêrê of Wedlock, the Bride of Zeus, in witness be near, - That I surely will make thee mine own true wife mine halls within - Whensoever returning again unto Hellas-land I shall win.' - He spake, and her hand with his right hand caught in the clasp of - love. - Then did the maiden bid them to speed to the sacred grove {100} - The swift ship straightway, that so, ere Aiêtes was ware, they might - seize - And bear away in the darkness of night the Golden Fleece. - Even with the word was the deed performed by the eager men; - For they took her aboard, and forth from the land their galley then - Thrust they: with plashing loud the pinewood oars 'gan strain - In the hands of the chieftains. But backward darting the maiden again - Outstretched her despairing hands to the shore: but Jason spake - Comforting words, and restrained her whose heart went nigh to break. - In the hour when men from their eyes the fetters of slumber cast, - Even huntsmen, which put their trust in their hounds, nor ever waste - {110} - In slumber the end of the night, but the light of the sun they - prevent, - Lest, ere they be forth, he efface the track of the beasts, and the - scent - Of the quarry, with stainless-gleaming shafts down-smiting thereon; - Even then with the maid from the galley forth stepped Aison's son - On a grassy sward. The Couch of the Ram men call that spot, - For that there he rested first his knees with toil overwrought, - As he bare on his back the Minyan scion of Athamas. - And anigh it all smoke-besmirched the base of an altar there was, - Which the Aiolid Phrixus to Zeus the Preserver of Exiles did build, - And the Golden Marvel offered thereon, as, gracious-willed, {120} - Hermes bade, in the way as he met him. The hero-crew - There set them aland, as Argus gave them counsel to do. - So these twain fared by the pathway that led to the sacred grove, - Seeking the oak-tree marvellous-huge, mid the branches whereof - Was hanging the Fleece, like a morning-cloud that flusheth red - In the beams of the sun as he riseth up from his ocean-bed. - But barring their path did the neck exceeding long uprise - Of the serpent glaring upon them with keen unsleeping eyes - As they came; and in awful wise did he hiss; and the banks of the - flood - Far-stretching echoed, and sighed the measureless depths of the - wood. {130} - The people that dwell from Titanian Aia far away - In the Kolchian land by the outfall of Lykus heard, even they-- - Of Lykus, which parteth his flow from Araxes' rattle and roar, - And blendeth with Phasis his sacred stream, and these twain pour - Their mingled waters in one to the dark Caucasian sea. - Young mothers in terror awoke, and their hands in agony - Cast they around their babes new-born, in their arms which slept, - As the tiny limbs with the horror of that hiss thrilled and leapt. - And even as when, above a smouldering faggot-pile, - The eddies of smoke roll upward in murky coil on coil, {140} - One after another swiftly ever on high they spring - From beneath in wavering wreaths uprushing and hovering; - Even so that monster was writhing and heaving the endless trail - Of his coils overlapped with the myriad-ranged harsh-crackling scale. - But, even as he writhed him, came before his eyes the maid, - With sweet voice summoning Sleep, most mighty of Gods, to her aid, - On the monster to cast his spell: and to her that through night's - deep mirk - Paceth, the Underworld Queen, she cried to speed her work. - And followed her Aison's son in fear: but, lulled by the song, - The serpent by this was relaxing the thorn-ridge endless-long {150} - Of his Titan-spires, and was lengthening out his coils untold, - Even as a dark wave over a sluggish sea slow-rolled, - A dumb and a thunderless surge: yet still, in despite of the spell, - His grisly head he uplifted on high, with purpose fell - To encompass the twain with the grip of his murderous jaws: but she, - Dipping the newly-slivered spray of a juniper-tree - In her mystic brewis, singing--singing--rained down fast - Untempered spells on his eyne, and about him and o'er him was cast - Sleep by the drug's strong fume; and his dragon-jaws he laid - On the earth in the selfsame place, and his endless coils through - the shade {160} - Of the myriad stems of the forest stretching afar were unrolled. - Then from the oak-tree the hero snatched the Fleece of Gold - At the maiden's bidding. Unswerving all the while she stayed - And smeared on the head of the monster her unguent, till Jason bade, - Till himself said, 'Turn we again, and fare to the galley aback.' - Then left she the War-god's grove, where the vast shades brooded - black. - And even as a maiden may catch on her vesture of delicate thread - The light of the mid-month's moon, when she saileth the heavens - overhead - Her high-roofed bridal bower, and her heart in her breast is aglow - With joy that her eyes behold that lovely splendour; so {170} - Exulting did Jason the mighty Fleece in his hands upraise. - And suddenly over his forehead and over his sunburnt face - From its shimmering flocks there rested a flush that flamelike - shined. - And great as the hide of a yearling steer, or the fell of a hind - That is callèd a brocket in speech of the hunters of the wold, - So great was its length and its breadth all overtufted with gold, - Heavy with flocks thick-clustered; and ever as onward he passed - From under his feet the earth an answering sheen upcast. - Now veiling the man's left shoulder the gleaming burden shone - Down-trailed from the height of his neck to his heel as he trod, and - anon {180} - Did he gather it up in his clutch, for that sorely he feared the - while - Lest a God or a man might meet him and wrest from his hands the - spoil. - Dawn over the earth was spread, and now those twain returned - To their company. Marvelled the youths to behold how the great - Fleece burned - A splendour as lightning of Zeus. Upsprang they, for eager-keen - Was each man to touch the glory, and clasp it his hands between. - But the son of Aison withheld them: a mantle thereover he threw - New-woven, to hide it. To Argo's stern the maiden he drew, - And he seated her there; and he spake to the heroes all his rede: - 'No longer forbear now, friends, to your fatherland homeward to - speed: {190} - For the emprise now for the which we dared the peril and pain - Of a desperate voyage, toiling with bitter travail and strain, - All this by the maiden's counsels lightly hath been fulfilled. - To the home-land her will I bring--yea, so herself hath willed-- - My bride true-wedded: but ye, forasmuch as the saviour she is - Of all Achaia-land, and of your own souls, I wis, - Save her; for surely, I ween, will Aiêtes with all his array - Go forth, with intent from the river seaward to bar our way. - Now down through the ship, man ranged after man in order arow, - Shall the half of you sit at the oars to toil, that the half of you - so {200} - May uplift the ox-hide shields for a fence from the darts of the foe, - Guarding our home-return. Lo, now in our hands do we bear - Our children, our fatherland dearly-beloved, and the silver hair - Of our sires; and with this our venture the fate of Hellas is bound, - Or to reap confusion of face, or a glory far-renowned.' - So spake he, and donned his harness of fight; and shouted the crew - With wondrous-eager souls; and forth of the scabbard he drew - His sword, and the ship's stern-hawsers he severed in twain with the - brand. - And hard by the maiden, in armour clad, hath he taken his stand - By Ankaius the helmsman, and flashed the oars as the good ship raced, - {210} - As to speed her forth of the river they strained in desperate haste. - But by this to Aiêtes the king and to all the Kolchians known - Was Medea's love, and revealed were all the deeds she had done. - And they swarmed to the gathering-place in their harness of battle, - untold - As the crested waves of the sea by the stormy wind uprolled, - Or as leaves of the forest myriad-branched that earthward sail - In the month of the fall of the leaf--whereof who telleth the tale? - So numberless these went pouring the banks of the river along - With frenzy of shouting: on fair-fashioned chariot amidst of the - throng - Glorious Aiêtes showed above all with his steeds, the gift {220} - Of the Sun-god; for even as the blasts of the wind were they - passing-swift. - In his left hand his shapely-rounded buckler on high did he rear, - And a pine-brand exceeding huge in his right: and his giant spear - Beside him rose up straight and high; and the reins of the car - Absyrtus grasped in his hands. But Argo by this was afar - Cleaving the brine, to the stalwart oarsmen's stroke as she leapt - By the down-rushing flood of the mighty river seaward swept. - But the king in a madness of anguish uplifted his hands to the sky: - To the Sun and to Zeus, the beholders of evil deeds, did he cry; - And he turned him to all his host, and he shouted terribly: {230} - 'Except ye lay hands on the maiden, and seize, or on land it may be, - Or finding their ship yet tossed on the swell of the open sea, - And bring her, that so I may glut my fury, wherewith I burn - For revenge, on your own heads all these things shall light: ye - shall learn - The measure of all my wrath and all my revenging then.' - So spake Aiêtes: on that same day did the Kolchian men - Launch forth their galleys, and cast in the ships their - tackling-array, - And the selfsame day sailed forth on the sea: thou wouldst not say - That so mighty a host was this of ships, but in crowd on crowd - The nations of bird-folk over the sea were clamouring loud. {240} - Swiftly the wind blew, even as Hêrê the Goddess planned, - To the end that Aiaian Medea might reach the Pelasgian land - Right soon, that in her might the bane of Pelias' house be found. - So the men with the third day's dawn the hawsers of Argo bound - To the Paphlagons' strand, where the sea and the waters of Halys - meet: - For Medea bade them to land, and with sacrifice to entreat - Hekatê's grace. What things for that incantation of hell - The maiden prepared and offered, thereof let no man tell. - Let my spirit enkindle me not to darken therewith my lay! - Yea, awe refraineth my lips. Yet the altar on that far day {250} - To the Goddess upreared by the heroes hard by the breaking sea - Yet standeth, a sign to be seen of the children of days to be. - Straightway to Aison's son, and the heroes withal, came back - Remembrance of Phineus, and how that he spake of another track - To be found from Aia: howbeit to all was his meaning dim, - Till Argus arose and spake, and eager they hearkened to him: - 'We may win to Orchomenus, whither the prophecy bade us fare - Of the seer unerring, whose guests in the days overpast ye were. - For another voyaging-course there is, a sea-path shown - By the priests of the Deathless, the sons of Thêbê, Tritonis' town. - {260} - Not yet was the star-host, that whirl round heaven their chariots - of fire: - Not yet of the sacred Danaan race, though a man should inquire, - Aught might he hear. Apidanian Arcadians alone on the earth - Dwelt--the Arcadians which lived, or ever the moon had birth, - Mid the mountains acorn-sustained, it is told. No sceptred hand - Of Deukalion's glorious line ruled then the Pelasgian land, - In the days when men called Egypt, the fruitful land of corn, - The Morning-land, the mother of peoples elder-born. - And of Trito her fair-flowing river was named, of whom all the plain - Of the Morning-land is watered; for never descendeth the rain {270} - From Zeus thereupon: from his floods the stintless harvests spring. - From that land, say they, a certain king went journeying - All Europe and Asia through, by the strength and the prowess made - bold - And the aweless might of his people, and cities he builded untold - Whithersoever he came, whereof some remain to this day, - Some not, for that long generations since then have passed away. - But Aia abideth unshaken: a nation the sons' sons yet - Abide of the men whose dwelling in Aia the hero set. - And graven memorials these men keep of their fathers' days - Upon pillars, whereon is every bourne and all the ways {280} - Of the watery waste and the land, as ye journey on all sides round. - Now a river, the uttermost horn of the Ocean, therein is found, - Wide and exceeding deep, that a dromond may sail the same. - Far on their chart have they traced it, and Ister they named its - name. - And awhile through the boundless tilthland it cleaveth its way afar - As but one; for beyond the North-wind's blasts its fountains are, - Where midst the Rhipaian mountains it bursteth forth in thunder: - But so soon as it parteth the Thracian and Scythian marches asunder, - There is it cleft in twain, and the half of its flood it sendeth - Hereby to the sea Ionian, the residue southward trendeth {290} - Where a deep gulf up from the sea Trinacrian northward bendeth-- - That sea which lieth beside your land, if the tale be true - That forth of your land Acheloüs the river fleeteth thereto.' - So spake he; and sent by the Goddess a happy portent came; - And all they looking thereunto hailed it with joyful acclaim - For a sign that their voyaging-track was this: for a splendour in - heaven - Shone in a far-stretching furrow to point where their path was given. - And there glad-hearted they left the son of Lykus, and fled - With wide-spread canvas over the sea, looking back as they sped - On the Paphlagonian Hills, neither rounded Karambis-head, {300} - Forasmuch as the breezes held, and the heavenly fire's long gleam - Shone ever before, till they won unto Ister's mighty stream. - Now the rest of the Kolchian host, when nothing their search - availed, - Forth through the Crags Dark-blue from the Pontus-sea had sailed. - But others went to the river, whose chieftain Absyrtus was; - And unto the Fair Mouth turning aside from the sea did he pass, - And prevented them, mooring beyond the neck of land that ran - Athwart the innermost gulf of the sea Ionian. - For around the island Peukê the waters of Ister pour, - An isle three-cornered, whose breadth looketh out on the breakers - hoar, {310} - And the narrow point up-stream, and about it the flood's outfall - Is cleft in twain; and the one the passage of Narex they call; - And that on the nether side the Fair Mouth: even thereby - The Kolchian array with Absyrtus anchored hastily; - While the heroes sailed far up to the uttermost spur of the isle. - Now the field-abiding shepherds forsook in the meadows the while - Flocks without number, for dread of the ships; for they weened that - these - Were beasts that had risen out of the monster-teeming seas. - For never on galleys that ride the waves had they gazed ere then, - Nor they, nor the Thracian Scythians, nor yet the Sigynian men, {320} - Nor yet the Graukenian folk, nor the Sindian tribes that abide - Round Laurium now, on the steppes of the wilderness boundless-wide. - But when they had run by Angurus, the Kauliac cliffs withal-- - Afar from Angurus the mountain riseth their long rock-wall-- - Around which Ister divideth, and this way and that way run - His rushing waters, and out to the Laurian plain they won, - Then forth to the Kronian Sea the Kolchians came, and beset - All the outgoings thereof, that the quarry might 'scape not their - net. - So Argo, descending behind them the flood, passed forth hard by - Where islands twain, the Brygêïan Isles of Artemis, lie. {330} - Now it fell that in one of these a hallowed temple stood; - In the other the heroes, avoiding Absyrtus' multitude - Landed, seeing the foe had left those twin isles void - Of their host, for awe of the Daughter of Zeus; but all beside, - Thronged with the Kolchian men, barred every seaward way. - Yea, too, of their host upon other isles hard by left they - Which betwixt the Nestian land and Salanko the river lay. - There, being few against many, that day had the Minyan men - Yielded in that grim fight to their foes: howbeit ere then - Made they a covenant, fain that the strife should abide unstriven. - {340} - For the Golden Fleece,--forasmuch as Aiêtes' pledge had been given - To the heroes therefor, if the ordeal they dared, and accomplished - the toil-- - That prize should they keep, as lawfully won; yea, whether their - guile - Or their strength in the king's despite had prevailed that splendour - to win. - But as touching Medea--for stubborn the wrangling waxed herein-- - Unto Lêto's Daughter, aloof from the throng, should they give her - in ward, - Till her cause should be judged of a king, some justice-dispensing - lord, - Whether he doom that they yield her up to return to the home - Of her father, or doom her to Hellas-land with the heroes to come. - Now so soon as the maiden mused upon all things purposed of these, - {350} - With keen-thrilling anguish her heart was tempest-tossed without - cease: - And straightway she called forth Jason aloof from his comrades alone, - And she led him away and away, till far apart were they gone: - There uttered she speech all broken with sobs, as she looked in his - eyes: - 'O Aison's son, what purpose is this that now ye devise - Touching me? Hath thy triumph brought utter forgetfulness unto thee? - Dost thou nothing regard thy promises, all that thou spakest to me - In stress of thy need? Where now are the oaths of the Suppliants' - King - Zeus?--and thine honied promises, whither have these taken wing? - By reason of these, in unseemly wise, with passion unshamed {360} - I forsook my fatherland home, and the glory of halls far-famed, - Yea, and my parents--all that was most unto me; and I sail - Far over the sea alone, where the plaintive sea-mews wail, - Because of thy trouble, that I might redeem from destruction thy life - To accomplish the fire-bulls' quelling, the Earth-born giants' - strife. - Yea, and the very Fleece, for the which ye had sailed to our shore, - All by my folly ye won. Foul shame thereby did I pour - On womankind! Wherefore, I say, as thy daughter, thy wife, I stand, - Yea, and thy sister, who follow thee back unto Hellas-land. - Oh now with purpose of heart stand by me, neither forsake me {370} - Afar and forlorn of thee, to the gathering of kings to betake thee! - But in any wise save me; and sealed abide thy solemn vow, - Which is plighted, by justice of man and of God; or else do thou - Shear, of thy pity, this my throat with thy falchion through, - That so for my frenzied love I may reap the guerdon due. - O heartless!--if that he doom that my brother's prey I remain, - This king unto whose stern judgment ye now would commit, ye twain, - Your cruel covenant, how shall I come to my father's sight? - With glory in sooth!--what revenges, what devilish torment will light - Upon me!--what agony-cup shall I drain for the dreadful deed {380} - That I wrought! Oh, never think that in bliss your return shall - speed! - Ne'er may the World's Queen, bride of Zeus, accomplish for thee-- - She in whom thou delightest--this! Then may'st thou remember me - When anguish-racked: may the Fleece like a dream fleet away from - thine hand - Down the wind to the netherworld-gloom! Be thou chased from thy - fatherland - By the Spirits of Vengeance for me, even after the measure of all - That through thy betrayal I suffered! That earthward my curses - should fall - Unaccomplished, shall God forbid; for a great oath thou hast - transgressed, - O ruthless! Not long, for all this covenant-plight, at rest - From your troubles, on me shall ye wink with the eye, to make me - your jest.' {390} - So spake she, seething with vehement rage: fierce-eager was she - To fire the ship, and to hew it in pieces utterly, - And to hurl herself mid the ravening flame. But, half-adread, - Did Jason essay to soothe her with gentle words; and he said: - 'Ah, lady, forbear: me too this covenant liketh not. - Only a little delay from the strife herein have we sought: - Such a host of foes like a cloud of fire is on every side - For thy sake. Yea, and the folk which in this same land abide - Be eager to help Absyrtus, that back again to the hall - Of thy sire he may hale thee like to a captive battle-thrall. {400} - Howbeit should we in hateful destruction all be slain - If we closed in the fight with these; and therein were bitterer pain, - If we leave thee a prey no less unto these, and withal we die. - But now shall this covenant find us a path of guile, whereby - To destroy him. The folk of the land shall not be fain as before - To favour the Kolchians in thee, when their king shall be with them - no more, - He who forsooth as thy champion and brother doth claim thee to-day. - Yea also, I will not refrain me from matching my might in the fray - With the Kolchian men, if then they bar mine homeward way.' - For her comfort he spake; but with deadly words did she make reply: - {410} - 'Give heed now:--it needs must be, when peril and shame are nigh, - That we likewise counsel thereafter. Distraught I was at the first - In mine error, and god-misguided accomplished desires accurst. - Do thou be my shield from the Kolchian spears in the toil of the - strife, - And I will beguile this man to lay in thine hands his life. - He shall come: and with dazzling gifts of welcoming win thou his - heart, - If I haply persuade the heralds to hold themselves apart, - And draw him alone unto me to hearken the thing I would say. - Then thou, if this deed be good in thy sight--I say not nay-- - Slay him, and meet thereafter the Kolchian men in the fray.' {420} - Even so these twain consented, and twined the net of guile - For Absyrtus; and many a gift of welcome prepared they the while. - And with these a sacred mantle, a woven crimson flame, - Gave they, Hypsipylê's gift. The Graces had fashioned the same - For the God Dionysus in sea-girt Dia; and he on his son, - Thoas, bestowed it; and this at his fleeing Hypsipylê won. - And, with many a lovely marvel, that parting-gift wrought fair - She gave unto Aison's son. Thine hands would linger there - Touching, thine eyes beholding, ever unsatisfied. - And a scent ambrosial breathed therefrom, since that sweet tide {430} - When the King Nysaian himself thereon lay down to rest, - With wine and with nectar flushed, lay clasping the beauteous breast - Of the maiden the daughter of Minos, who sailed from the Knossian - land - With Theseus, and there was forsaken of him upon Dia's strand. - And Medea wrought on the heralds--for subtlest speech did she frame - To beguile them--when unto the Goddess's temple Absyrtus came - For the covenant's sake, and when night's black pall should around - them be rolled, - To depart, that with him she might plot to take that Fleece of Gold - From the heroes, and bearing the prize with him to fare again - To Aiêtes' halls, for that Phrixus' sons by force had ta'en {440} - And had given her unto the strangers a captive to bear overseas. - Even so she beguiled them; and wide through the air and afar on the - breeze - Cast she her witchery-spells, of might to draw from his lair - On the trackless mountain the wild beast, lurk he how distant soe'er. - Ah, ruthless Love, great grief, great curse to the sons of earth! - Of thee fell feuds, and anguish-moans, and laments have birth; - From thee therewithal unnumbered woes as a flood forth burst. - 'Gainst the sons of our foes, thou god, array thee battle-athirst, - As when thou didst thrill the heart of Medea with madness accurst! - But how, when to meet her he came, by an evil doom did she quell - {450} - Absyrtus?--for this thing next must the song in order tell. - When the heroes had left the maiden on Artemis' island-strand - By the covenant, ran they their ships in a several place aland, - Even Kolchians and Minyans. Then to his ambush did Jason hie, - For Absyrtus to lie in wait, and for them of his company. - And now that hero, deathward-beguiled by their promise dread, - Over the swell of the sea in his galley swiftly sped, - And under the mirk night stepped on the Isle of the Holy Place, - And alone fared onward to meet his sister face to face, - And to try her with words,--as though some tender child should try - {460} - A wintertide torrent, when strong men may not cross thereby!-- - If perchance she would weave him a treachery-snare for the - stranger-crew. - And now were they making agreement for all these things, they two, - When suddenly out of the gloom of his ambush the Aisonid leapt - Uplifting his naked sword in his hand: and the maiden swept - Her veil o'er her eyes, as she turned them away for averting of guilt - That she might not behold the blood of her slaughtered brother spilt, - And him, as a flesher felleth a strong-horned bull, even so - Did he mark him, and smite him, hard by the fane which long ago - The Brygians which dwelt on the mainland-shore unto Artemis wrought. - {470} - In the porchway thereof on his knees he fell; and the hero caught - In his hands, as he gasped his latest breath, the dark-red tide - As it welled from the gash, and he hurled that murder-rain, that it - dyed - Crimson her silver veil and her robe, as she shrank aside. - And with swift side-glance the all-quelling Vengeance-fiend espied, - And her pitiless eye beheld that murderous deed they had done. - But the ends of the dead man's limbs then severed Aison's son: - Thrice licked he the blood from the sod, thrice spat it again to the - dust, - As the slayer must do that atonement be made for the - treachery-thrust. - Then hid he the clammy corpse in the ground, where unto this day - {480} - In the land of Absyrtan men be those bones lapped in clay. - Now the heroes the while gazed forth through the night, and beheld - where shone - The glare of a torch which the maiden upraised for a sign to set on; - And alongside the Kolchian galley they laid their ship straightway, - And they slaughtered the crew of the Kolchians, even as wild hawks - slay - The tribes of the woodland cushats, or lions of the wold - Drive huddled a mighty flock, when they leap to the midst of the - fold. - No, of them all was there none that escaped, but on all that throng - Even as flame making havoc they rushed; and it seemed o'erlong - Ere Jason, afire for their helping, came: no need of his aid - Had they; nay rather for him by this were their hearts afraid. {490} - Thereafter they sat them down to devise for their voyaging - Deep counsel; and, yet as they mused, stole into the midst of the - ring - The maiden. And Peleus resolved him the first, and he spake the - thing: - 'Now call I upon you to enter up into the ship, and to row - Cleaving your sea-path onward, while yet it is night, and the foe - Tarry; for when with the dawn they shall see and be ware of their - plight, - There is no man, I trust me, who, bidding them follow the track of - your flight, - Shall win them to hearken a word; but, as folk of their king bereft, - With grievous dissension shall these, and with faction, asunder be - cleft. {500} - Wherefore our path henceforward,--when sundered our foemen are - Each from his fellow,--to Hellas home shall be easier far.' - He spake, and the young men praised the counsel of Aiakus' child; - And they entered the ship with haste, and they grasped the oars, and - they toiled - Without rest, till they won by the sacred isle of Elektra--the same - Of the eyots is highest--and so to the river Eridanus came. - Now the Kolchians, so soon as the doom of their murdered king they - knew, - Eager were they for Argo to search and her Minyan crew - Through all the Kronian Sea: but Hêrê held them back - By terrible lightnings that flashed evermore from the cloudy rack, - {510} - That they shuddered at last when they thought on their homes in - Kytaia-land, - And quailed for Aiêtes' wrath, and a king's avenging hand. - So went they ashore, and abiding homes in the land they made - Far-scattered; for some set foot on the selfsame isles where stayed - The heroes;--the name of Absyrtus yet do the islanders bear;-- - By the river Illyrican's darkling depths did others rear - A tower-girt burg where the tomb of Harmonia and Kadmus doth stand: - With Enchelean men do they dwell: and some in the mountain-land - Amidst of the ridges abide which the Crests of Thunder they call - Since the day when crashed the thunders of Zeus their souls to - appal, {520} - That they crossed not over the flood to the isle, on the heroes to - fall. - Now these, when they weened that the home-return's grim peril was - past, - Who had gotten so far on now, made Argo's hawsers fast - To the strand Hyllaian; for thick in the river the eyots lie, - And a troublous track they make it for them that would voyage - thereby. - And the folk Hyllaian devised not their hurt, as in that past day: - Nay, rather they did their endeavour to help them forth on their way. - And they won for their guerdon the mighty tripod Apollo gave. - For tripods twain had Phœbus bestowed, far over the wave - To be borne in the Quest of Aison's son, when to Pytho's shrine {530} - He wended, to ask touching this same voyage the purpose divine. - And this was their weird, that in whatso land those tripods were - placed, - That land no foes breaking in thereupon should prevail to waste. - Wherefore in that land yet by Hyllê's pleasant town - That tripod abideth, hidden beneath the earth deep down, - That the talisman so may continue of men unseen for aye. - Howbeit their king no longer alive in the land found they, - Even Hyllus, whom Melitê lovely-faced unto Herakles bare - In Phaeacia-land; for of old to the halls did the hero fare - Of Nausithous and Makris, the nurse of the God Dionysus: defiled - {540} - With the blood of his children, he came to be cleansed. There saw he - the child - Of Aigaius the river, even the Naiad Melitê: - And he loved her, and humbled the maid, and Hyllus the strong bare - she - In Phaeacia-land. And he dwelt in Nausithous' halls awhile, - Being yet but a little one: but he left thereafter the isle. - For, as waxed within him his might, he brooked no longer to stay - At a king's beck there in the island that owned Nausithous' sway. - But he fared to the Kronian Sea, and a host of her sons forth led - From Phaeacia-land: yea, also the king his journeying sped, - The hero Nausithous. There did he stablish his home, and was slain - {550} - Defending his kine from the Mentors, the rovers of the main. - Now, Goddesses, tell how Argo's wondrous ensign came - Without this sea, by Ausonia-land, and the isles men name - The 'Long Row,' lone sea-cradles that nurse a Ligurian seed-- - How stood clear forth mid-sea--what strong constraint, what need - Thitherward led her, what breezes they were that wafted her speed. - 'Twas, I ween, when Absyrtus had fallen in mighty overthrow, - That the wrath of Zeus, the King of the Gods, for their deed was - aglow. - Yet he ordained the transgressors to cleanse them of murder's stain - By the counsels of Circê, and so, after measureless travail and - pain, {560} - Home to return; yet this of the princes did no man know. - But they sped, when the land Hyllaian sank on the sea-marge low, - Afar; and they left behind them the isles that were thronged erewhile - With the Kolchians, isle Liburnian ranged in the sea after isle, - Issa, Dyskeladus, then Pityeia's lovely shore. - So passed they these, and overagainst Kerkyra they bore. - There was it Poseidon caused Asôpus' daughter to rest, - When by reason of love he wafted Kerkyra the beautiful-tressed - From the land of Phlius afar: and mariners marking it swell - Blackening up from the sea, while all about it fell {570} - The folds of its darkling forests, named it Kerkyra the Black. - Thence sped they by Melitê, glad for the breeze blowing soft on - their track. - By Kerôsus the steep, and, far in the offing and faint as it showed, - By Nymphaia they fleeted, the isle where the Lady Kalypso abode, - The daughter of Atlas: and misty and doubtful appeared to their ken - The Crests of Thunder. And known unto Hêrê even then - Were the counsels of Zeus concerning these, and his mighty wrath. - Yet devised she how that great voyage should prosper, and full in - their path - Uproused she against them the storm-winds, which caught them, and - backward swept - To Elektra's rocky isle. But, from surge unto surge as they leapt, - {580} - Suddenly heard they a beam with a man's voice cry unto them - Out of the hollow ship, the which in the midst of the stem - Athênê had set--it was hewn from an oak in Dodona that grew; - And deadliest fear laid hold upon them as they hearkened thereto, - To the voice revealing the wrath of Zeus, and the stern decree - Which ordained that they should not escape from the paths of an - endless sea, - And affliction of tempests, till Circê should purge the guilt away - Of Absyrtus' ruthless murder. Moreover the voice bade pray - Polydeukes and Kastor withal to the Gods everlasting, to grant - First through the Ausonian sea a path to the secret haunt {590} - Of Circê, the daughter whom Persê unto the Sun-god bare. - So Argo cried through the darkness: uprose that god-born pair, - Tyndareus' sons, and their hands to the deathless Gods did they raise - Praying the prayer commanded; but hushed in awed amaze - Were the rest of the Minyan heroes. On under canvas, and on, - Leapt Argo, till deep within Eridanus' river they won. - There, stricken of old on the breast with the smouldering levin-fire, - Phaethon half-consumed from the car of his Sun-god sire - Fell into the gulf of the fathomless mere; and the seething stream - From his burning wound even yet upbelcheth clouds of steam. {600} - Neither across that water outspreading her pinions light - Any fowl of the air may win her way, but, even mid-flight - Faint-fluttering, down mid the flame it plungeth. On either side - Round poplars slim the Sun-god's daughters in slow dance glide, - In misery wailing a piteous plaint, and adown from their eyne - Raining to earth do the glittering drops of amber shine. - These, parched by the beams of the sun, lie strewn at their feet on - the sand; - But whensoever the blasts of the wailing wind on the strand - Are dashing the dark mere's surging billows and onward hurling, - Then to Eridanus roll they, a huddled throng on-whirling {610} - In a rippling stream. Now a legend thereof do the Kelt-folk tell - How that these which in eddies be tossed be the tears from Apollo - that fell, - Even Lêto's son, which he shed without number in ancient days, - What time he came to the Hyperboreans' sacred race, - By his father's threatenings driven from the sunlit heaven to the - earth, - Wroth for his son, unto whom Karônis the Nymph gave birth - In bright Lakyreia, where Amyrus' outfall seaward is rolled. - Yea, such is the tale of these that amidst that people is told. - And, thereon as they sailed, no care for meat nor for drink had they, - Neither turned their thoughts unto gladness; but ever day by day - {620} - Sorely afflicted they were till their burdened hearts grew faint - With the noisome stench that uprose, the unendurable taint - From Eridanus' streams that reeked of Phaethon burning still. - And ever by night they hearkened the shriek of the long wail shrill - From the Sun-god's daughters lamenting. Their tears, as they mourned - and wept, - Like drops from the fruit of the olive adown to the waters were - swept. - Thence into Rhodanus ran they, whose deep-flowing waters fleet - Into Eridanus' stream: and where the great floods meet, - Roar they turmoiling and seething. Now Rhodanus cometh from far, - From the ends of the earth, where the portals of Night and her - mansions are. {630} - Thence bursteth he forth, and divideth his stream; for the one part - roareth - To the beaches of Ocean, and one to the sea Ionian poureth; - And a third to the main Sardinian, the sea-gulf limitless-vast, - Through seven mouths sendeth his flood. So from Rhodanus forth they - passed, - And they drave over wintry meres wide-spread--none telleth their - bound-- - Over the Keltic mainland, and well-nigh there had they found - Inglorious doom: for a certain branch turns sidewards flowing - To the Ocean-gulf; thereinto were these, of the peril unknowing, - At point to thrust, and never alive had they won thereout. - But forth out of heaven Hêrê darted, and pealed her shout {640} - From the rock Herkynian: with fear were they shaken because of her - cry - As one man all, for terribly crashed the wide-arched sky. - Backward they turned at the Goddess's warning, and then were they - ware - Of the track, whereby for their home-return they needs must fare. - So at last came they to a beach where the sea-surge moaning rolled, - By Hêrê's devising, through tribes of the Keltic folk untold - And Ligurians passing unharmed; for about them a mist-veil dread - Day after day, as homeward they fared, did the Goddess spread. - And so through the midmost mouth of the river Argo sailed, - And safe on the 'Long Row Isles' did they land; for the prayers had - prevailed {650} - Of the sons of Zeus; for the which cause altars and temples aye - Unto these have been reared: nor with those sea-farers alone went - they - As helpers, but Zeus made these all mariners' saviours to be. - So the 'Long Row' left they, and on to Aithalia sped oversea. - There in athlete-strife did they supple their limbs, till the sweat - of them dripped - As rain, and the pebbles are flecked as with scarf-skin - strigil-stripped - To this day; and their quoits and their wondrous armour are there, - all stone; - And yet in the name of the haven the glory of Argo is shown. - And swiftly speeding thence they fleeted the sea-swell o'er, - To Ausonia's strand Tyrrhenian lifting their eyes evermore. {660} - And they came to Aiaia's haven renowned, and forth of the prow - The hawsers adown to the strand they cast. And Circê now - There did they find, in the spray of the surf as she bathed her head, - For that dreams of the night had made the Spell-queen sorely adread. - For with blood did it seem that her palace-chambers, and every wall, - Were running, and flame was devouring her magic herbs, even all - Wherewith she was wont to bewitch what strangers soever came. - And herself with the blood of murder quenched that red-glowing flame, - Scooping it up with her hands: so ceased she from deadly dismay. - Wherefore, when dawning uprose, in the sea-surf's flashing spray - {670} - At her waking she washed her vesture and bathed her braided hair. - And beasts--not like unto ravening beasts of the wold these were, - Nor in likeness fashioned as men, but as though from a medley-heap - They had gotten their limbs--in a throng followed after her, even as - sheep - From the folds in their multitudes following after the shepherd go. - Such shapes from the slime primeval did earth first cause to grow, - Herself the creator, compacted of limbs in confusion blent, - Ere yet into hardness she grew 'neath a rainless firmament, - Neither yet from the shafts of a scorching sun had she gotten her - dews - Of refreshing: but these as the ranks of an army did Time confuse, - {680} - As he marshalled them forth into being:--such monsters after her - pressed. - And exceeding amazement fell on the heroes; and each man guessed, - As he gazed upon Circê's form, and the eyes unsoftened with ruth, - That this should be none save Aiêtes' sister in very sooth. - So when she had bidden her terrors of dreams of the night to flee, - Back straightway she paced; and the heroes she bade in her subtlety - To follow, with witching beck of her fingers charming them on. - Yet steadfastly tarried the throng at the hest of Aison's son - In their place: but he went, and beside him the Kolchian maiden he - drew. - So trod they the selfsame path till they entered in, those two, {690} - Into Circê's hall. In amaze at their coming, the Sorcery-queen - Bade them to sit them down upon thrones of burnished sheen. - But soundless and wordless they sped to her hearthstone's hallowed - place, - And there sat, after the wont of the suppliant in evil case; - And Medea bowed her adown, and in both hands hid her face. - But Jason set in the earth his mighty-hilted sword - Wherewithal he had slain Aiêtes' son; and his eyes guilt-lowered - Rose never to meet her glance. And straightway Circê was ware - Of the vengeance-hounded feet, and the hands that the bloodstain - bare. - Therefore for awe of the statutes of Zeus the Suppliant-ward, {700} - The Manslayer's Champion, yea, an exceeding jealous lord, - She offered the sacrifice whereby they are cleansed from their guilt, - When they come to his mercy-seat, by whose fierce hands blood hath - been spilt. - First, to atone for the murder inexpiate yet, she held - Forth over their heads the young of a swine whose dugs yet swelled - From the fruit of the womb; thereafter she severed its throat, and - she dyed - Their hands with the blood, and again with other drink-offerings - beside - Made the atonement, calling on Zeus, the Cleanser of all, - The Avenger of suppliants murder-stained, on his name which call. - Then all that in cleansing she used from the mansion her handmaids - bore, {710} - The Naiad-nymphs, which ministered whatso she needed therefor. - But Circê abode by the hearth, and thereon without wine did she burn, - Praying the while, the atonement-cakes, to the end she might turn - From their anger the terrible Vengeance-fiends, and that Zeus might - be wrought - Unto mercy and grace to the suppliants twain, his pardon who sought, - Whether they bowed at his throne for the life of a stranger shed, - Or their kindred hands with the blood of their nearest and dearest - were red. - But when she had wrought all so, and the work of atonement was done, - Then raised she them up, and seated them each on a gleaming throne, - And herself sat nigh them, and eye to eye she straitly inquired {720} - Wherefore they voyaged thus, and the thing that their hearts desired, - And from what far shore they had come to her land and her - palace-home, - And in suppliance sat on her threshold; for into her soul had there - come, - As she pondered, a hideous thought, as her dreams in remembrance - returned, - And to hear the voice of the maiden her kinswoman sorely she yearned; - For she knew her, so soon as she lifted her down-drooped eyes from - the earth, - For that plain to discern were all which drew from the Sun their - birth, - Forasmuch as they lightened afar a splendour like as of gold - From the flashings of their eyes upon whoso their face should behold. - So Medea told unto her all things that she craved to know, {730} - Speaking the Kolchian tongue with utterance gentle and low,-- - Deep-hearted Aiêtes' child--of the Quest, of the paths where fared - The heroes, of all the conflicts sharp and stern that they dared; - How herself into sin by her woeful sister's pleading was led, - And how from her father's tyrannous terrors afar she had fled - With Phrixus' sons. But from this she shrank, that nothing she said - Of Absyrtus' murder; yet Circê discerned it: but pity-stirred - By her woe-stricken kinswoman's tears, she answered and spake the - word: - 'Ah wretch! thou hast found thee an evil and shameful homeward path! - Not long, I ween, shalt thou 'scape from Aiêtes' terrible wrath. - {740} - Nay, but full soon will he go to the dwellings of Hellas-land - To avenge the blood of his son, the unspeakable deed of thine hand. - Yet, forasmuch as my suppliant thou art, and my sister withal, - None other harm unto thee at thy coming of me shall befall. - But begone from mine halls, companion who art in an alien's flight-- - Whosoe'er be this fellow unknown thou hast ta'en in thy father's - despite!-- - Nay, knee me no knees, earth-croucher! Naught shalt thou win save - blame, - Save a curse for thine heart's devices, for this thy flight of - shame!' - So spake she; and comfortless grief overwhelmed Medea: she cast - Her robe o'er her eyes, and she wailed and wailed, till the hero at - last {750} - By the hand upraised her, and forth of the palace-doors he led, - As she quivered with terror: and so from the mansions of Circê they - fled. - Yet they passed not unmarked of the Bride of Zeus; but Iris bore - Tidings to her, when she spied them faring forlorn from her door. - For Hêrê had bidden her watch what time they should wend to the ship. - So again on her message she sped her, and spake with eager lip: - 'Dear Iris, if ever mine hest thou fulfilledst in days overpast, - Now hie thee away, upon hurrying pinions speeding fast. - Hitherward bid thou Thetis to come to me, up from the sea - Rising: for need of her cometh to me. Thence hasten thee {760} - Unto the echoing beaches whereon the brazen rows - Of the Fire-god's anvils are smitten with thunderous-crashing blows. - Speak to him to still the fire-blast's breathings, till Argo thereby - Shall have sped: thereafter shalt thou with my message to Aiolus - fly-- - Aiolus, king of the welkin-begotten winds of the sky:-- - Thou tell him my purpose, that all blasts under the firmament - He may hush to rest, and let not a wandering gust be sent - To ruffle the face of the sea: let Zephyr alone blow on, - Until to Alkinoüs' isle Phaeacian the heroes have won.' - So spake she: forthright from the verge of Olympus did Iris leap - {770} - Cleaving the welkin, outspreading her light wings. Into the deep - Aegean she plunged, even there where the mansions of Nereus stand. - And first unto Thetis she came, and according to all the command - Of Hêrê she spake, and uproused her to Heaven's Queen to soar. - Next unto Hephaistus she came, and with speed at her word he forbore - From the clanging of hammers of iron; and stayed from their - tempest-blast - Were the smoke-grimed bellows. Thereafter on to the third hath she - passed, - Aiolus, Hippotas' glorious son. And even the while - Her message she told, and her swift knees rested from journeying - toil, - Thetis from Nereus had gone and her sisters, and up from the sea - {780} - And Olympus-ward to the presence of Hêrê the Queen passed she. - And she caused her to sit by her side, and she uttered forth the - word: - 'Hear, Goddess Thetis, the thing that my spirit to tell thee is - stirred. - Thou knowest how honoured is Aison's son of me in mine heart, - And they that with him in the toil of the Quest have borne their - part. - Alone did I save them then through the Clashing Rocks when they flew, - When lightened the terrible flames, when the storm of the fire-blast - blew, - When white were the ragged reefs with the spume of the boiling surge. - But a path by Scylla the Rock and Charybdis' fathomless gorge - Dreadly outbelching, awaits them:--O Thetis, I nursed thee of yore, - {790} - Even I, when thou wast but a wordless babe, and I loved thee more - Than the others thy fellows, the Maids in the halls of brine which - abide, - Because thou refusedst, for all his desire, to couch by the side - Of Zeus--ay, so evermore be his thoughts all lust for embrace - Of a Goddess immortal, or couch of a princess of mortal race! - But for reverence of me, and for sacred fear which the heart of thee - bare, - Didst thou shrink from his love: thereafter a mighty oath he sware - That never shouldst thou be called the bride of a God undying; - Yet for all this spared not, but followed thee sore loth, lustfully - eyeing, - Till reverend Themis revealed unto him all Fate's decree, {800} - How that thy weird was to bear a son who should mightier be - Than his father: wherefore, for all his desire, he refrained, for - dread - Lest another should rise up matching his might, and should rule in - his stead - O'er the Deathless, and so should himself not hold the dominion for - aye. - But the best of the sons of earth for thine husband I found, in the - day - That saw thine espousals, that sweetness of marriage might comfort - thee, - And babes: and the Gods to the feast of thy solemnity, - Even all, did I bid: in mine own hands then did the splendour shine - Of the bridal torch, to requite that love, that honour of thine. - Go to now, a word will I tell thee, a prophecy faithful and fast: - {810} - What time thy son to the plain Elysian shall come at the last-- - Thy son, who now in the dwellings of Cheiron the Centaur-king, - Forlorn of the mother's breast, is nursed by the Maids of the - Spring-- - There is it his weird to wed Aiêtes' daughter; but thou, - Medea's mother that shalt be, help thy daughter now, - Yea, Peleus withal--ha! why is thine anger quenchless-hot? - Folly was his; yet even the Gods may be folly-distraught. - Of a surety, I ween, by my behests shall Hephaistus cease - To cause the might of his fire to burn; and Hippotades, - Aiolus, all the rushing wings of his winds shall refrain, {820} - Save only the steadfast-breathing West, till the heroes shall gain - The havens Phaeacian. Devise for them thou a return without bane. - For the crags and the tyrannous-buffeting surges make me afraid, - These only; and these shall be foiled, if thou and thy sisters aid. - In 'wildered amazement suffer them not to thrust their keel - Charybdis-ward, lest down through her jaws to destruction they reel. - Neither suffer thou them to approach unto Scylla's hideous lair-- - Ausonian Scylla the deadly, whom nightmare Hekatê bare, - Even she whom Krataiïs they call, to the Ancient of the sea-- - Lest with her horrible jaws down-swooping suddenly {830} - She destroy of the heroes the chiefest. But guide thou onward the - ship - In the course where still is a hairbreadth escape from destruction's - grip.' - So spake she, and Thetis to her made answer with suchlike word: - 'If the might of the ravening fire and the winds' breath fury-stirred - Shall in very deed be refrained, would I of a surety essay-- - Yea, I would pledge me, what though the surges should bar their way, - To bring their ship safe through, if the West blow fresh and strong. - But now is it time that I fare on the far track measureless-long - Unto my sisters--they which herein shall strengthen mine hand,-- - And to where the ship's stern-hawsers be cast forth on to the - strand, {840} - That the men may at dawn take thought for the home-return to their - land.' - She spake, and departed, and plunged from the height of the heaven - mid swirls - Of the dark-blue sea; and she called to her sisters, the - Nereïd-girls, - To come to her help: and the Maids of the Sea, so soon as they heard, - Gathered; and Thetis told them according to Hêrê's word; - And she sped them all to the sea Ausonian thence forthright. - And swifter herself than the flash of an eye, or the arrows of light - Of the sun, from the uttermost bourne when his chariot-wheels - upflame, - On through the water she fleeted and flashed, until she came - Unto the beach Aiaian of that Tyrrhenian main. {850} - And she found by the galley the heroes: the shaft on the string did - they strain - For their sport, and the javelin they hurled: but she stole unto - Peleus' side, - And she touched his hand; for of old had he won her, his - Goddess-bride. - But the eyes of the others were holden: to him did the Goddess - appear, - Of his eyes only discerned; and she murmured low in his ear: - 'No longer now on the beaches Tyrrhenian sitting abide; - But cast ye the hawsers of Argo loose with the dawning-tide, - Obeying your helper Hêrê's command; for at her behest - The Sea-maids, daughters of Nereus, all to the trysting have pressed, - Through the midst of the Rocks which the Wanderers hight your galley - to speed {860} - Safe; for thereby is your course, and the path by fate decreed. - But see that thou show me to none, when thine eyes my form discern - Mid the Nymphs, as we meet thee, lest hotter thou cause mine anger - to burn - Than when erst thou didst kindle my spirit to anger swift and stern.' - She spake, and she plunged through abysses of sea, and he saw her - no more: - And sharp pain smote him, who had not beheld her theretofore - Since the day she forsook her bridal bower and her couch at the - first, - When for noble Achilles their babe into sudden anger she burst. - For the mortal flesh of her child did the Goddess encompass aye - Through the midst of the night with flames of fire, and day by day - {870} - With ambrosia anointed his tender frame, to make him thereby - Immortal, that loathly eld might come not his body anigh. - But Peleus from slumber upstarted, and saw his beloved son - Gasping mid flame; and he sent abroad, as he looked thereon, - A terrible cry in his folly exceeding. She heard him, and whirled - The babe aloft, and screaming adown on the earth she hurled: - And herself like a breath of the wind, or a dream at the breaking - of sleep, - Forth of the hall flitted swiftly, and into the sea did she leap - In her anger: and never thereafter returned she thither again. - Amazement fettered his soul: but, for all his 'wildered pain, {880} - To his comrades he spake forth all the commands of his Goddess-wife. - So these in the midst brake off, and refrained from the - athlete-strife; - And the meat of the eventide and the earth-strawn beds they dight, - Whereon, having supped, as aforetime they laid them and slept - through the night. - When Dawn 'gan sprinkle the sky from her chalice of light - overbrimming, - Even then, when the wings of the West-wind the face of the waters - were skimming, - They went up from the strand, and they sat on the thwarts, and - aboard they drew - Blithely the anchor-stones from the deep, and in order due - The rest of the tackling all they lashed, and the sail spread wide - On high from the yard-arm, straining it taut with the sheets of - hide. {890} - Onward the fresh breeze wafted the ship: full soon they beheld - A fair isle flower-bestarred, where the Siren Destroyers dwelled, - Acheloüs' clear-voiced daughters, whose sweet songs wont to beguile - With their witchery whosoe'er cast anchor anigh that isle. - They were children whom lovely Terpsichorê, one of the Muses, bore - To the flood Acheloüs: and unto Dêmêter's daughter of yore, - When she yet was unwedded, the noble Persephonê, ministered they, - As in blended chorus they sang: but as birds in the latter day - Were they fashioned in part to behold, and as maidens in part they - were. - And aye keeping watch from the harbour-cliffs overbeetling their - lair, {900} - From many an one had they reft sweet home-return, whom they slew - With wasting consuming them. Lo, on a sudden to Argo's crew - Pealed from their lips their clear-sweet voice. From the galley now - Were they even at point to cast the hawser ashore from the prow; - But Thracian Orpheus matched him against that demon choir, - And the hands of Oiagrius' scion swept the Bistonian lyre; - And the march of the song o'er the rippling melody rang ever higher, - Till their ears were filled with the chiming and thrilled with the - triumph of sound, - And the Sea-maids' shrilling chant in the storm of the lyre was - drowned. - On flitted the ship, by the West-wind borne and the sighing swell - {910} - Upleaping astern; and bootless the weird song failed and fell:-- - Not bootless all, for that Teleon's goodly son did leap - From the polished thwart, ere his comrades could stay him, into the - deep, - Butes, whose soul was bewitched by the Sirens' clear-ringing breath; - And he swam through the purple surge to tread that strand of death. - Doomed wretch!--full soon had they robbed him there of his - home-return; - But for him did the Cyprian Lady of Eryx in pity yearn, - And she snatched him away from the swirling wave, and safe she bore - Of her grace to dwell on the height Lilybœan on Sicily's shore. - So in anguish of spirit they left him: but perils worse than these - {920} - Awaited them--shipwrecking gulfs in the meeting-place of the seas. - For on this side Scylla's smooth sheer crag uptowering loomed, - And on that side Charybdis seething in ceaseless thunder boomed; - And otherwhere, swung by the mighty surge, met clanging and crashing - The Wandering Rocks, where afront were the spurts of fire - out-flashing - From the crests of the cliffs, o'er the crag red-glowing on high - that burned. - And with smoke was the air all mistily shrouded: thou hadst not - discerned - The beams of the sun. Then, albeit Hephaistus refrained from his - toil, - With the hot uprushing steam did the sea yet bubble and boil. - Then Nereus' daughters from this side and that side the heroes met, - {930} - And Thetis the Goddess her hand to the blade of the rudder set; - And onward amidst of the Wandering Rocks the ship haled they. - And as when o'er the face of a summer sea the dolphins play - Circling around a ship as she runneth before the wind, - One while in front of her stern beheld, one while behind, - And alongside anon: and the shipmen be blithe for their gambolling; - So darted they up from the depths, so circled, a glimmering ring, - Round Argo the ship; and Thetis was steering her course through all. - And when now was the galley at point on the Wandering Rocks to fall, - Straightway they kilted their skirts above their snowy knees, {940} - And high on the crests of the skerries, the breaking of madding seas, - To this side and that side they sped, far ranged apart to stand. - Sea-cataracts crashed on her beam, fierce surges on either hand - Higher upsoaring and higher o'er the rocks were bursting and - streaming; - And these now towered to the welkin, as mountain-crags in seeming, - And now, whelmed down the abyss, on the Ocean's nethermost floor - Grounded they: over their crests did the triumphing rollers roar. - But the Nereïds, as maidens that flit to and fro on a sandy beach, - With parted gown-laps kilted about the waist of each, - Sport with a shapely rounded ball: one tosseth it on, {950} - And her fellow receiveth; and high 'twixt heaven and earth is it gone - Sped from her hand to the welkin; and never it toucheth the ground, - So from one unto other's hand passed on did the galley bound - Through the air o'er the crests of the waves as they sped her, clear - alway - Of the rocks; and around her the water upbelching was seething aye. - And the Fire-king's self on the ridge of a surf-lashed scaur was - there, - While his sturdy hammer the weight of his massy shoulder bare. - Thence marvelling gazed Hephaistus: the bride of Zeus looked down - Where she stood in the sunlit heaven, and round Athênê had thrown - Her arms, in such faintness of fear, as she looked thereon, did she - cling. {960} - And long as the space of a day is lengthened out in the spring, - So long was the time that they laboured, heaving with might and main - The ship through the thunderous-echoing rocks, till the wind again - Blew out the canvas; and onward they ran, and swiftly they sped - By the meads of Thrinakria's isle, where the kine of the Sun-god fed. - Then the Nymphs in the semblance of sea-mews down through abysses of - brine - Plunged, when wrought was the hest of Zeus's Bride divine. - Then through the air did there come to the heroes a bleating of - sheep, - And a lowing of kine full nigh to their ears floated over the deep. - There a shepherdess-goddess pastured the sheep o'er the dewy lea, - {970} - Phaëthusa--youngest of all the Sun-god's daughters was she-- - Bearing a shepherd's crook of silver the while in her hand; - And Lampetiê herded the kine, and of mountain-brass was the wand - That she swayed as she followed their steps: and the heroes - themselves espied - Those herds by the river that pastured, the sliding gleam beside, - O'er the plain and the water-meadow: was none amid all that herd - Dun-hued of hide, but all white even as milk appeared. - And a glory of golden horns on the stately heads of them shone. - So they passed in the daytime the Sun-god's herds, and as night drew - on, - They went cleaving the great sea-gulf rejoicing, until once more - {980} - The Child of the Mist, the Dawning, flashed on their sea-path hoar. - Now fronting the mouth of the gulf Ionian lieth an isle - In the sea Keraunian, forest-mantled, with deep rich soil, - Whereunder the sickle, saith legend, is lying--vouchsafe me your - grace, - Song-goddesses: loth do I speak of the tale of the olden days-- - Wherewithal the strength of his father by Kronos was ruthlessly - shorn: - (But of some is it called Demêter-of-Hades' Reaper of Corn: - For Demêter in that land wont to abide in the days of old, - And she taught the Titans to reap the cornfield's spears of gold, - Of her love unto Makris): the Sickle-land is it named therefrom, - {990} - The Phaeacians' hallowed nurse: and by lineage so these come - Of Ouranus' very blood, and his sons the Phaeacians be. - So Argo through much tribulation came from Thrinakria's sea - With the breeze to the land Phaeacian. With welcoming sacrifice - Alkinoüs the king and his people received them in kindly wise: - And all the city with riot of mirth o'er the far-driven ones - Rejoiced: thou hadst said that they joyed o'er their own re-given - sons. - And the heroes themselves through the throng in gladness triumphant - strode, - Even as though the heart of Haimonia-land they trod. - But now were they like to be donning their mail for the onset-cry, - {1000} - So mighty a host of Kolchian men appeared hard by, - Which down through the gorge of the Pontus, and on through the Crags - Dark-blue - Had passed to the uttermost sea in quest of the hero-crew. - And Medea they chiefly were eager to hale to her father's house - Without parley, or threatened else that the war-yell dolorous - Should be raised for the slaughter-vengeance unrelenting and stern - Both then, and when led by Aiêtes their host should thereafter - return. - Yet Alkinoüs the king restrained them amidst of their lust for the - fray; - For he greatly desired without the clash of the strife to allay - The haughty-hearted feud betwixt the war-hosts twain. {1010} - But the maiden in deadly fear besought again and again - The comrades of Aison's son; and again and again did she cling - With her hands round the knees of Arêtê, the wife of Alkinoüs the - king: - 'I kneel unto thee, O Queen!--be gracious, and yield me not now - To the Kolchians to hale to my father, if thou art of humankind, thou - Which livest by bread--of the hearts into folly that swiftliest rush, - Whom lightest transgression adown the abysses of ruin doth push, - Even so as my wisdom forsook me--nay, but it was not done - By reason of lust: be witness the sacred light of the sun: - Be witness the rites of Perseus' daughter, which haunteth the night, - {1020} - That not of my will with men of an alien land in flight - Did I haste from mine home; but horrible dread on my spirit wrought - To bethink me of fleeing thus when I sinned: other help there was - not, - Neither hope. My maidenhead yet unmarred abideth and clean, - As it was in the halls of my father. Have pity upon me, O Queen; - And incline unto mercy the heart of thy lord! May the Deathless so - A life all-perfect on thee, all happiness bestow, - And sons, and the boast of a city unravaged of any foe!' - So bowed at Arêtê's knees did she weep, and so beseech; - And thus to the heroes appealed she, turning to each after each: - {1030} - 'For your sakes, O ye chiefest of might, and for your emprise, - Am I hounded of terrors thus, even I, by whose device - Ye bowed the bulls to the yoke, and reaped that deadly swath - Of the Earth-born Men--even I, through whom on the homeward path - Ye shall bear the Fleece of Gold full soon to Haimonia's shore-- - Even I, who have lost my country, my parents have lost evermore, - Have lost mine home, have lost all pleasures of life that I knew, - But to you have restored your country, your homes have restored unto - you; - And with rapture-litten eyes your parents again shall ye see. - But from me--a tyrannous god all happiness reft from me; {1040} - And with alien men do I wander forlorn, an accursèd wight! - Dread ye the covenant-troth and the oaths: the Avenging Sprite - Of the suppliants dread, and the Gods' retribution, if ever I come - To Aiêtes' hands, amid outrage and agony meeting my doom! - No temple have I, neither tower of salvation, nor refuge beside: - You cast I before me, mine only shield in the perilous tide. - Hard hearts unrelenting and ruthless!--ye know not reverence, ye, - For the suppliant, though ye behold as I stretch despairingly - Mine hands to the knees of a stranger queen. Yet the Kolchian array, - One and all, had ye faced, when ye thirsted to bear the Fleece away: - {1050} - Yea, Aiêtes the proud had ye faced:--but your manhood hath fainted, - is flown - Now, when your foes from their helpers be sundered, a handful alone.' - So passioned and prayed Medea. To whomso she bowed in prayer, - Ever he heartened her, fain to assuage her anguished despair. - And their keen-whetted lances in wrathful-quivering hands did they - shake, - And unscabbarded swords; and they swore they would fail not her help - nor forsake, - If the strange king touching the maiden unrighteous judgment spake. - And lo, mid the throng as they wrangled, the night, that putteth to - sleep - The labours of men, stole o'er them, and all the earth did she steep - In the balm of her quiet: but not on the maid fell slumber's peace - {1060} - One whit, but her heart in her bosom for anguish writhed without - cease. - Even as when a toiling woman windeth her thread - Through the night, and her fatherless children around her be moaning - for bread, - For that widowed she is; and adown her cheeks stream ever the tears - As she thinketh upon this dreary lot that hath darkened her years; - Even so were the maid's cheeks wet, and her heart evermore in her - breast - On the anguish-thorn impaled was writhing in wild unrest. - But amidst of the city the palace within, as in days gone by, - Alkinoüs the king, and the lady of queenliest majesty, - The wife of Alkinoüs, lay in their bed, and many a word {1070} - Through the darkness in counsel they spake of the maiden; and thus - to her lord - With loving and earnest speech made answer the queen, and she said: - 'Yea, O my beloved--yet save, I beseech thee, the woe-stricken maid - From the Kolchians, showing a grace to the Minyan men. For anigh - To our isle lieth Argos; the men of Haimonia dwell hard by. - But Aiêtes--he dwelleth not even anear, and nought do we know - Of Aiêtes: we hear but his name. But the maiden's awful woe, - When she made supplication, mine heart within my breast hath torn. - Yield her not up to the Kolchians, my king, to her sire to be borne. - In madness she sinned at the first, when she gave him the charm that - should tame {1080} - The bulls; and with wrong to amend that wrong--ay, ofttimes the same - In our sinning we do!--she straightway essayed; and, shrinking in - fear - From her proud sire's tyrannous wrath, she fled. Now the man, as I - hear, - This Jason, is bound by mighty oaths, which his own lips said, - When he pledged him to make her, his halls within, his wife true-wed. - Wherefore, beloved, constrain not Aison's son to forswear - His oath, of thy will, nor consent that the sire from the daughter - should tear - Her life in the rage of his soul amid pangs unendurably keen: - For cruelly jealous against their daughters are fathers, I ween. - What vengeance did Nykteus wreak on Antiopê lovely-faced! {1090} - What woes were of Danaê borne on the wide sea's desolate waste - Through her sire's mad rage! And of late, nor afar, it came to pass - That wanton-tyrannous Echetus thrust the goads of brass - Through the eyes of his daughter: and wasted and worn by her woeful - doom, - She is grinding the grain of brass in a hovel's dungeon-gloom.' - So spake she beseeching; and softened so was the heart of the king - By the words of his wife, and he spake in such wise answering: - 'Arêtê, the Kolchian men would I even, in harness arrayed, - Drive forth of the land, for a grace to the heroes, to save yon maid. - But I fear to set the unswerving justice of Zeus at nought. {1100} - Nor were this well done, to contemn, according to this thy thought, - Aiêtes:--of kinglier king than Aiêtes may no man tell. - Yea, war, if he list, shall he bring against Hellas, afar though he - dwell. - Wherefore 'tis meet and right that the sentence be spoken of me - That in all men's eyes shall be best, and I will not hide it from - thee:-- - If the damsel be virgin yet, I decree that the daughter be led - To the father: but if she minister unto a husband's bed, - I will part not from husband wife; nor, if haply she bear 'neath her - zone - His offspring, to foes will I yield up a child of Aison's son.' - So spake he, and round him straight did the veil of slumber close. - {1110} - But she laid up his wisdom her heart within; and she straightway - uprose - From her couch in the palace: the women her handmaids with hurrying - feet - Came, eagerly tending their lady the Queen with service meet. - And she silently summoned her herald, and spake in his ears her - request - To be instant in bidding Aison's son, at his Queen's behest, - To wed with the maiden, nor more with Alkinoüs the king to plead; - For himself to the Kolchians would go and pronounce the doom decreed, - That, if she were virgin yet, he would render her up to be led - To her father: but if she ministered unto a husband's bed, - Not then would he sever the wife from the love of the lawfully wed. - {1120} - So spake she, and forth of the hall the feet of the herald sped - Unto Jason, Arêtê the Queen's fair-omened message to bring, - And Alkinoüs' counsel, the word of the god-revering king. - And the heroes he found by the ship in their war-gear abiding awake - In the haven of Hyllus, anigh to the city; and out he spake - The Queen's whole message, and each man's spirit was - gladness-stirred, - Forasmuch as he spake in their ears an exceeding welcome word. - Straightway they mingled the bowl to the Gods that abide for aye; - And with reverent hands to the altar the victim-sheep drew they. - And the selfsame night for the maiden prepared they the couch of - the bride {1130} - In a hallowed cave, where of old time Makris wont to abide, - The child of the Honey-lord, Aristaius, whose wisdom discerned - The toils of the bees, and the wealth of the labour of olives - learned. - And she was the first that received and in sheltering bosom bore - The child Nysaian of Zeus, on Eubœa's Abantian shore. - And with honey she moistened his lips, where the dew of life was - dried - When Hermes bare him out of the fire. But Hêrê espied, - And from all the isle that Nymph in her fierceness of anger she - drave. - Wherefore she dwelt far thence in the holy Phaeacian cave, - And blessing and weal beyond word to the folk of the land she gave. - {1140} - Even there did they spread them the mighty couch and thereover they - laid - The glittering Golden Fleece, that the marriage so might be made - Honoured, a song in the mouths of bards. Flowers manifold-fair - The Nymphs in their snowy bosoms gathered, and thitherward bare. - And a splendour like as of fire glowed round those shapes divine, - Such glory-gleams from the golden tufts did shimmer and shine. - Sweet longing lit up their eyes: howbeit did awe withhold - Each one, though she yearned to lay but her hand on the wonder of - gold. - And of that bright throng the river Aigaius' daughters were some, - And some on the crests of Melitê dwelt in their mountain-home; {1150} - And forest-glen Nymphs of the plains were some: for Zeus's bride, - Even Hêrê, had sent them for honour to Jason's marriage-tide. - That cave is to this day named Medea's Sacred Grot, - Forasmuch as to wedlock's solemnities there these twain they brought, - When the odorous-sweet fine linen they spread. And the heroes without - Guarded them war-spear in hand, lest haply for battle the rout - Of their foes unawares should set on them, or ever the rites were - sped. - And with sprays of bounteous leaf did they wreathe each man his head; - And in harmony all, while clear the harp of Orpheus rang, - At the entering-in of the cave the bridal hymn they sang. {1160} - Yet not in Alkinoüs' home the hero Aison's son, - But in halls of his father, the goal of marriage full fain had won, - When home he returned to Iolkos, and so withal was the mind - Of Medea, but hard compulsion constrained them now to be joined. - But even as never the tribes of the woe-stricken children of earth - May tread full-footed the path of delight, but still with our mirth - Hand in hand goeth pacing affliction bitter as gall, - So these, when melted with rapture of love were their souls, were - thrall - Unto dread, what things of Alkinoüs' sentence should haply befall. - So soon as the dawn with her beams ambrosial climbed heaven's - height, {1170} - And scattered the gloomy night through the welkin, and laughed in - her light - The island-beaches, and all the paths through the plains that wound - Dew-gleaming afar, and awoke in the streets a murmur of sound, - And her folk were astir through the town, and astir was the Kolchian - host - In their camp far off on the bounds of the Makrian sea-ringed coast. - Then straightway Alkinoüs hied him, by covenant-plight to hold, - To utter his purpose as touching the maiden. His sceptre of gold, - His staff of justice, he bare, wherewith to the multitude - Of the city were meted the statutes with righteousness endued. - And beside him, in ordered ranks arrayed in their harness of fight, - {1180} - Squadron by squadron were marching Phaeacia's chiefest of might. - And forth from the tower-girt city in throngs the women broke - To gaze on the heroes; and men therewithal of the country-folk - Met them, which heard the tidings; for Hêrê afar had sped - A rumour that erred not: and one a lamb unblemished led, - The choice of the sheep: with a heifer unlaboured one drew nigh; - And others were ranging the earthen jars of wine hard by - To mingle. The sacrifice-smoke was wafted far away. - Came women with webs of costly labour, as women may, - And with trinkets of gold, and with manifold ornaments therebeside, - {1190} - Such gifts as be wont to be brought to the newly-wedded bride. - And they marvelled beholding the heroes' stature and comeliness, - As they towered o'er the throng, and Oiagrius' scion amidst of the - press, - As in time to the harmony-ringing lyre and the chanted strain - Ever he smote and anon with his glittering sandal the plain. - And the Nymphs all blending their voices, when marriage-notes chimed - on the string, - Uplifted the lovely bridal chant, and anon would they sing - Alone and unprompted the song, as the wreaths of their dances they - twined. - O Hêrê, of thee was it done; for thou puttedst it into the mind - Of Arêtê to tell Alkinoüs' prudent word of the night. {1200} - But so soon as the king had pronounced the decree of unswerving - right, - And when now was the marriage accomplished proclaimed in all men's - ears, - Then took he heed that it so should abide: no deadly fears - Touched him, nor Aiêtes' terrible wrath might his purpose shake; - But he held by the word he had plighted, the oath that he would not - break. - And when now were the Kolchians ware that in vain they besought him - to swerve, - And when now he commanded them--'Either obey my decree and observe, - Or forth of my havens and land afar shall your galleys sail';-- - Then in that hour for their own king's threatenings 'gan they quail, - And besought him amongst his folk to receive them. So there in the - land {1210} - Long time with the people Phaeacian dwelt the Kolchian band, - Till the Bacchiad lords, which by lineage sprang from Ephyrê, - As the years passed, settled amidst them, and they to the isle - oversea - Sailed: thence to the Thunder-hills of Abantian men must they go, - And therefrom to the folk Nestaian, and on to Oricum so. - But the river of time ere then down many a year must flow. - But still to the altars the yearly sacrifice men bring - For the Fates and the Nymphs in the fane of Apollo the Shepherd-king, - Which altars Medea builded. And gifts, ere they passed o'er the wave, - Full many Alkinoüs gave them, and many Arêtê gave. {1220} - Thereafter withal on Medea Phaeacian handmaid-thralls - Twelve did the Queen bestow, to follow her forth of her halls. - On the seventh day sailed they away from Drepanê. Came with the morn - A fresh breeze sent of Zeus: and so by the wind's breath borne - Onward and onward they ran. Howbeit not yet on the strand - Of Achaia by doom of the God might they tread, that hero-band, - Till yet they had toiled in the uttermost parts of Libya-land. - And now by the bay that is named the Ambracian Gulf had they sped, - And now had they left the Aetolian land with sail wide spread; - And thereafter the isles in the narrow Echinad strait that lie; - {1230} - And Pelops' land in the offing but now might they dimly descry: - Even then were they snatched away by the North-wind's baleful blast - In mid course: on to the Libyan sea did it sweep them fast - Nine nights together, and days as many, until they had run - Into the Syrtis afar, wherefrom returning is none - For ships, when a storm-driven galley within that gulf shall be - found. - For on every hand be shoals, and the tangled weed all round - Of the deep, and the salt foam-scum over all doth mantle and cling. - Into haziest distance stretcheth the land: no living thing - There moveth that creepeth or flieth. On that drear coast by the - sweep {1240} - Of the flood-tide--for ofttimes the outrushing ebb draweth back to - the deep - Far off from the land, and again with gurgling rush and roar - Cometh bursting over his beaches--afar on the innermost shore - Were they suddenly thrust, that the keel's full depth was covered - no more. - Then leapt they forth of the ship, and in trouble of soul did they - gaze - On the dimness, the long low backs of the land all formless haze - Far stretching away unbroken. Nor stream nor spring they espied, - Neither path, nor, how distant soe'er, a steading thereon they - descried - Of herdmen, but all the landskip in dead calm folded lay. - And in sore vexation of spirit did hero to hero say: {1250} - 'What manner of land is this? Whither now hath the tempest's sway - Hurled us? Would God we had dared, all reckless of deadly dismay, - To rush right on through the path of the rocks of the grim sea-gate! - Verily better it were, had we overleapt the fate - Of Zeus, in daring a deed of heroic mood to have died! - But now, what thing should we do, which be prisoned by winds to abide - Here, though but a little span we continue?--in such drear wise - The plain of the limitless land stretcheth up to the lowering skies.' - So cried they: thereafter in utter despair for their evil case - Ankaius the helmsman spake with anguish-darkened face: {1260} - 'Yea verily, ghastliest doom hath undone us. Escape there is not - From destruction: for us but remaineth to suffer the cruellest lot, - Which have fallen on this desolation; yea, even though a breath - there should be - Of air from the land, forasmuch as nought save shoals do I see, - Afar as I gaze o'er the waters around; and scantly the brine - Overscaleth the hoary sands in foam-fretted line upon line. - Yea, and our god-built ship had to shards been wretchedly torn - Long since far off from the shore, but that out of the sea was it - borne - By the flood-tide's self uplifted, and high on the land was it - thrown. - But the tide now raceth aback to the deep, and foam alone {1270} - Whereon saileth no keel, rolleth on, and but thinly the earth hath - it veiled. - Wherefore, I trow, all hope of our sailing hath utterly failed-- - All hope of return! Let another man show sea-craft herein. - Lo, there is the helm--whosoever is fain our deliverance to win, - Let him sit in my seat. But little doth Zeus desire, I wot, - To crown with a day of return the toils we have suffered and - wrought.' - So spake he, weeping the while; and the others agreed thereto, - Even all which had knowledge of ships; and all the hearts of them - grew - Chilly and numb, and over their cheeks was paleness shed. - And even as, like unto lifeless spectres of folk long dead, {1280} - Men creep through the streets of a town, and despairing the issue - await - Of famine or leaguer of war, or a tempest unspeakably great - Which hath swept o'er the land, and hath flooded the labours of oxen - untold; - Or when great gouts of blood from the images sweating have rolled, - Or when from the shrines of the temple ghostly bellowings wail, - Or the sun o'er the day's mid noontide draweth the night's black veil - Out of heaven, and the glittering stars come forth in splendour pale; - So stricken, the chieftains then by the strand's verge endless-wide - Roamed loitering on. And at one stride came dark eventide. - And piteously around each other their arms did they throw {1290} - With weeping farewell, that each from his fellow apart might go - To die, and might fling him adown on the sand to wait for the end. - So this way and that way to choose their couch of the night did they - wend; - And each in the folds of his mantle enshrouded his head, and they lay - Fasting and thirsting there through the livelong night and the day - Awaiting a piteous death. And the handmaids huddled in fear - Round Aiêtes' daughter apart shrilled lamentation drear. - And as when, of their mother forsaken, fledglings shrilly cheep, - Which have fallen to earth from a cleft in a sheer scaur's - precipice-steep, - Or as when 'twixt the low-browed banks of Pactolus' fair-flowing - stream {1300} - The swans are upraising their song, and the meadow of dewy gleam - Murmureth round, and murmur the river's ripples fair; - So the handmaidens bowing low in the dust their golden hair, - All through the night were uplifting their pitiful wail of despair. - And now out of life had they slidden, had vanished from human ken, - And the name and the fame of them never more had been heard among - men, - Those noblest of heroes!--their task unaccomplished had ended then: - Howbeit the Heroine-nymphs had pity of them as they pined - In helpless despair, the Warders of Libya, they that did find - Athênê, what time from the head of her father, in battle-gear {1310} - All flashing, she sprang, and the new-born bathed they in Trito's - mere. - The noon of the day it was, and the sun upon Libya-land - Burned with his fiercest beams: by Aison's son did they stand, - And the mantle-shroud from his head with soft light touch drew they. - But the hero, downward drooping his eyes, thence turned them away, - For awe of the shapes divine: but with gentle words of cheer - With open face did they speak unto him in his 'wildered fear: - 'Ill-starred one, wherefore so grievously smitten art thou with - despair? - We know how ye fared for the Golden Fleece: of your toils we be ware, - Even all the strength-overmastering labours on land that ye proved, - {1320} - And all ye endured on the face of the watery deep as ye roved. - The Solitary Ones of the land, the Heroines, are we, - Warders and daughters of Libya, which speak which our voices to thee. - Up then: let thy spirit not thus to affliction of misery yield, - And uprouse thy comrades, so soon as the steeds of the car - swift-wheeled - Of Poseidon, by Amphitritê loosed from the yoke, run free. - Unto your mother the nursing-debt then render ye - For all her travail, when long she bare you her womb within. - So haply again unto hallowed Achaia-land shall ye win.' - So spake they, and vanished, there as they stood, in the selfsame - place {1330} - Where murmured their voices close in his ear: and with startled gaze - Staring around, on the earth sat Jason, and cried in amaze: - 'Be gracious, ye glorious Goddesses, lone in the desert which dwell! - Yet what this word of our home-coming meaneth I wot not well. - I will gather my comrades, and tell them, and learn what token is - this - Of escape:--in the multitude of counsellors safety there is.' - Then he leapt to his feet, and he shouted afar o'er the desolate - shore, - All dust-begrimed, as a lion that seeking his mate doth roar - Up and down through the forest-gloom: deep glens through many a hill - Far off at the sound of his voice's thunder shuddering thrill, {1340} - And tremble the oxen that roam the meads with exceeding fear, - And the herders of kine: but never a whit dismaying to hear - Was the hero's cry to his friends when the voice of his shouting - they heard. - And they gathered with down-drooped eyes to his side, and they sat - at his word - Sore troubled anigh where lay the ship; and the women withal - With the heroes mingled sat; and he spake, and he told them all: - 'Hearken, O friends, for in this mine affliction Goddesses three, - In vesture of goatskins girded about, from neck unto knee - Overdrooping their shoulders and waists, as maidens of earth to - behold, - Stood over mine head full nigh, and they drew my mantle's fold {1350} - Away from mine head with fingers light, and they bade me arise - From my couch of despair, bade rouse you up in the selfsame wise. - And they bade us to render our mother the nursing-debt again-- - Seeing that long in her womb she bare us with travail-pain-- - Whensoever the steeds of the swift-wheeled car of the Lord of the Sea - Amphitritê should loose from the yoke. Howbeit it is not in me - To divine what their prophecy meaneth. They named them, that - stranger-band, - Heroines, daughters of Libya, and Warders of the Land. - Yea, whatsoever toils we endured in our journeying - By land or by sea, said they, they were ware of everything. {1360} - No longer thereafter I saw them in place, but there came between - A mist or a cloud--they appeared, and lo! they were no more seen.' - He spake, and they marvelled all such tale to hear him tell. - Then to the Minyan men a most strange wonder befell: - For out of the sea to the land did a horse gigantic bound - With golden mane far-streaming that tossed his shoulders around. - And with one swift stamp he shook from his shoulders the briny spray, - And onward he galloped with feet like the blast of the wind: - straightway - Unto the throng of his comrades did Peleus rejoicing say: - 'The steed of the car of the Lord of the Sea!--unyoked hath he - been {1370} - Even but now by the hands of his dear-loved wife, I ween. - And our mother--none other is this, I divine, than the good ship - there, - Argo; for verily us within her womb she bare - With grievous anguish of travail groaning unceasingly. - Her therefore with stalwart strength and with tireless shoulders we - Will uplift, and afar o'er the wastes of the sandy land from the - shore - Will we bear her, where yonder steed hath with swift feet sped - before. - For he will not, he, sink into the earth, but his hoof-prints shall - go - Pointing the way for us inland afar from the sea, I trow.' - So did he speak: of his keen-witted counsel were all they fain. - {1380} - Lo, this is the song of the Muses, and I but sing their strain, - The Pierides' servant; and this true tale in mine ears hath been told - That ye, O mightiest far of the sons of the kings of old, - By your manhood and might o'er the sands of Libya's desert drear - Bare high over earth your galley and all her voyaging-gear, - On your shoulders laid, yea, bare her through long days two and ten, - And nights as many. That cup of affliction and travail then, - What tongue could tell it, which these in their toil filled up - full-brim? - Of a truth of the blood of the Deathless they were, such labour grim - Did they take on them, onward driven and on by Necessity's goad, - {1390} - Till afar mid the ripples of Trito's mere how triumphantly strode, - How gladly adown from their stalwart shoulders they set their load! - Then rushing, like unto hounds in the wild hunt's frenzy-burst, - Sought they a spring, for that now was there added parching thirst - Unto all their affliction and manifold anguish; nor toiled they in - vain - Wandering there; for lo, they came to the sacred plain - Where but yesterday Ladon the Serpent of Libya in Atlas' garden - Kept watch o'er the Apples of Gold; and the Nymphs around their - warden, - The Hesperides, rested never, chanting their lovely song. - But now by the arrows of Herakles stricken he lay along {1400} - By the trunk of the apple-tree: only the tip of his tail had strength - To quiver yet, but adown from his head, through all the length - Of his dark chine, lifeless he lay. Where the arrows had left in his - blood - The bitter gall of the Hydra of Lerna, a swarming brood - Of flies o'er the venom-festering wounds of him crawled and clung. - And thereby the Hesperides over their golden heads had flung - Their white arms, shrilling their wail. And the wanderers suddenly - drew - Anear, and to dust and to earth straightway, when the hero-crew - Came hastily on, did they turn even there. But Orpheus was ware - Of the portent divine, and he stood, and he spake to the Nymphs in - prayer: {1410} - 'Divine Ones, lovely and kindly, O Queens, be gracious ye, - Whether amongst the Heavenly Goddesses numbered ye be, - Or the Earthly, or whether they name you the Lone Ones, Nymphs - divine, - Come, O ye Nymphs, come, daughters of Ocean's sacred line! - Appear ye in manifest form to our longing eyes, and show - Some spring gushing forth from the rock, some sacred upwelling flow - From the bosom of Earth, O shapes divine, that the thirst which doth - burn - Our tongues without cease may be quenched; and if ever again we - return - Unto Achaia-land in our weariful voyaging, - Then, as to the chiefest in heaven, to you which have done this - thing {1420} - Gifts and libations and feasts with grateful love will we bring.' - So spake he, praying with earnest voice; and they from anear - Pitied their pain. And first did they cause green grass to appear - From the earth, and above the grass rose saplings tall, and these - Thereafter in fulness of bloom grew up into fair young trees: - Tall-standing and straight, high up from the face of the earth they - towered. - In a poplar was Hesperê veiled, Erythêis an elm embowered, - And Aiglê a sacred willow. And out of the stems of them, lo! - Appeared they, and like as before they had been, so again did they - show, - A marvel exceeding great: and Aiglê silence brake, {1430} - And with gentle words in their longing ears she answered and spake: - 'Of a surety for blessing to you and deliverance out of your toil, - Hitherward came but now one ruthless and shameless, to spoil - Our guardian serpent of life; and the Goddesses' apples of gold - He plucked, and he bare them away, and he left us sorrowful-souled. - For there came yestreen a man most fell in wanton despite, - Grim-shapen, whose eyes 'neath his scowling brows flashed terrible - light, - A pitiless man: in a monster lion's fell untanned, - Raw hide, was he clad, with a stubborn olive-wood staff in his hand, - And a bow, with the arrows whereof he shot yon dragon dead. {1440} - And he came, he also, as one that afoot overland hath sped, - Thirst-parched: and questing for water with diligent haste he sought - Through all this place--but, I ween, he was like to behold it not! - Howbeit a certain rock by the mere Tritonian stood: - This, or of his own device, or a God wrought so on his mood, - Did he smite with his foot, and forth did the water in full burst - flow. - Then down to the earth on his hands and his breast he bowed him low; - And out of the rifted rock an unspeakable draught he swilled, - Till his mighty maw, down-stooped like a beast of the field, he had - filled.' - So spake she; and they right glad thence hasted, until they came - {1450} - To the place where Aiglê had told of the spring; and they found the - same. - And as when earth-burrowing ants swarm round their narrow pit, - All hurrying to and fro, or when clustering flies, that have lit - Where lieth a drop of the honey sweet, a tiny gout, - Insatiate-eager are thronging, so in a huddled rout - The Minyans round that rock-spring crowded on every side. - And with wet lips thus in his gladness hero to hero cried: - 'O strange!--how hath Herakles saved his companions forspent with - stress - Of thirst, though afar he were! Would God that he yet might bless - The eyes of us finding him faring on through the wilderness!' {1460} - Then shouted in answer they which were ready-dight for the deed. - And they parted, and this way and that way questing the lost did - they speed. - For the tracks of the hero by winds of the night had been wholly - effaced, - As they drifted the sand. And away did Boreas' two sons haste, - Putting trust in their wings; and Euphêmus trusting his feet flying - fast, - And Lynkeus the piercing glance of his eyes afar to cast: - And Kanthus, the fifth of the searchers, darted away with the rest, - Whom the doom of the Gods and his manfulness drave to essay that - quest, - That of Herakles' mouth for certain tidings he so might inquire - Where he left Polyphemus, Eilatus' son; for with earnest desire - {1470} - Was he fain to ask of the hero concerning his lost friend's fate:-- - But he mid the Mysians had builded a city glorious and great; - Then yearning for home came o'er him, and seeking Argo he passed - Far over the mainland, until he came to the land at the last - Of the sea-board Chalybans: there 'neath the mastering doom did he - fall, - And there up-piled is his grave-mound under a poplar tall - Facing the sea. But Lynkeus deemed that he spied that day - Over measureless spaces of land lone-faring and far away - Herakles--saw him as one that hath seen or hath thought he hath seen - The moon, when the month is young, through mist-veils floating - between. {1480} - To his comrades returned he, and told them that quester thereafter - should see - The hero no more as he journeyed. In like wise came those three, - Even Euphêmus the swift of foot, and the scions twain - Of the Thracian Wind of the North, having toiled and striven in vain. - But, Kanthus, in Libya thee did the fell Fates bring to thine end. - Upon pasturing flocks didst thou light; and the shepherd, that wont - to tend - Those sheep, in defending them smote thee, when thou thereof wast - fain - To take for thy comrades' need, and there of his hand was thou slain - By the cast of a stone; for in sooth no weakling there kept ward, - Kaphaurus, the grandson of Phœbus, Lykoreia's Lord, {1490} - And of fair Akakallis the princess, whom Minos drave from her home - In Libya to dwell, when the fruit of a God was found in her womb, - His daughter she; and a glorious son unto Phœbus she bare, - Amphithemis namèd, and Garamas--twofold the names of him were. - And a Nymph, the Lady of Trito's Lake, did Amphithemis wed; - And Nasamon's might and Kaphaurus the strong she bare to his bed, - Even him which smote down Kanthus, defending his sheep as he fought. - Yet from the chieftains' avenging hands escaped he not, - When they learned what deed he had done; and the Minyans sought - their dead, - And they took up the corse, and they laid him to rest in the strait - earth-bed, {1500} - Mourning, and took thereafter the slayer's sheep for a prey. - There also Mopsus, Ampykus' son, in the selfsame day - Did a pitiless fate cut off. Stern doom might he nowise shun - By his prophecy-lore, forasmuch as avoidance of death is there none. - For a dread snake lay mid the sand from the mid-noon sun to hide, - Too sluggish to strike of his will at such as would turn aside; - Nor yet would he dart full face upon one that in fear shrank back. - Yet into whomso but once he should spit his venom black, - Of all that on life-sustaining earth draw living breath, - Not a cubit's length should be left of his path to the mansion of - Death, {1510} - No, not though the Healer God--if this I may say, nor sin-- - Should medicine him, if only his teeth should have grazed but the - skin. - For when over Libya flying godlike Perseus came-- - Who is also Eurymedon; so did his mother name his name-- - As unto the king the Gorgon's head new-severed he bore, - Whatsoever to earth dropped down of the dark-red gouts of gore, - All quickened, and serpents thereof of the selfsame brood did there - spring. - Now Mopsus pressed on the ridge of the spine of the deadly thing, - Setting his left foot-sole thereupon; and the beast in his pain - Writhed round it: the flesh 'twixt ankle and calf in his fangs hath - he ta'en, {1520} - And he tare it, the while Medea and all her handmaids fled - In affright. Howbeit the seer was handling, nothing adread, - The bleeding wound; for the pain not grievously vexed his soul. - Ah wretch!--for already a numbness of deadly slumber stole - Unstringing his sinews: a thick mist flooded his eyes all round. - Straightway his burdened limbs all helplessly sank to the ground, - And chill did he grow. And his comrades, and Aison's son, amazed - At the strokes fast-falling of doom, on the dead man thronging gazed. - Yet not for a little space, albeit but newly dead, - Might he lie in the sun, for that fast through his flesh 'gan - corruption to spread {1530} - From the venom: the very hair from the skin like slime was cast. - Therefore they straightway delved them a deep trench, labouring fast - With mattocks of brass; and in mourning thereafter their hair did - they rend, - Both they and the maidens, bewailing the dead man's pitiful end. - Round the hero meetly entombed then thrice in their warrior-gear - Marched they, and over his grave the earth-mound high did they rear. - But when now they were gone aboard of the ship, and the South-wind - blew - Over the sea, they must needs make guess of the strait wherethrough - They should win forth out of Tritônis' mere; neither any device - Long had they, but all day long were they drifting in aimless wise. - {1540} - And as writheth a serpent along his crooked path, when beat - The rays of the sun on the land, and scorch him with fiercest heat, - And with hissing to this side and that side he turneth his head, and - his eyne, - Like unto sparks that leap from the furnace, glitter and shine - For his fury, until to his lair through a cleft of the rock he may - creep; - So Argo, seeking a mouth of the mere, a fairway deep, - Long time tacked to and fro. Then Orpheus suddenly spake, - That Apollo's massy tripod forth of the ship they should take, - And propitiate the Gods of the land therewith for their home-going's - sake. - So went they, and set Apollo's goodly gift on the shore. {1550} - Then stood before them one, the form of a youth who bore, - Even Triton the Wide-dominioned. From earth he uplifted a clod, - And he held it forth for his Stranger's Gift; and spake the God: - 'Receive it, my friends: no gift exceeding goodly to see - Here have I now to give unto them which seek unto me. - But and if ye inquire touching this sea's paths--as many a time - Is the need of men whose journeyings pass through an alien clime-- - I will tell you, seeing Poseidon hath made me to understand - This sea, for that he is my father, and I am the king of the land - By the sea--if perchance to your ears from afar Eurypylus' name, - {1560} - Son of the Land of the Beasts of Ravin, from Libya came.' - He spake, and Euphêmus outstretched his hands right joyfully - That gift of the clod to receive, and answering thus spake he: - 'If thou peradventure of Atthis and Minos' sea dost know, - O hero, to us who inquire the truth unfailing show. - For not of our will have we hitherward come, but the tempests' might - Hath hurled us afar, on the borders of this your land to light: - And our galley, shoulder-uplifted, a weary burden, I wis, - Through the desert we bare to the waves of thy mere. But we know not - this, - Whereby we shall sail thereout to win unto Pelops' land.' {1570} - He spake, and afar that other pointed, outstretching his hand - To the sea, and the mouth of the deep-channelled mere, and he spake - the word: - 'Lo, yonder lieth the path to the sea, where the deeps unstirred - Darkest are gleaming: on either hand roll breakers white - Green-glimmering under their shivering crests, and on forthright - Through the lane of the breakers a straight path lieth to win from - the mere. - And yon sea misty in distance beyond Crete stretcheth clear - To the sacred land of Pelops. But rightward still steer ye, - When forth of the mere ye have thrust, and ye ride on the swell of - the sea. - And so long speed ye onward your course, close-hugging the land, - {1580} - Till ye come to an inland-trending gulf; and then shall ye stand - Boldly across to the ness where endeth the sweep of the shore - Beyond. Therefrom shall your course be perplexity-troubled no more. - Now pass on your way rejoicing: let no man grieve the while - That your limbs must labour, while yet ye have strength of your - youth for toil.' - With kindly counsel he spake; and they hied them aboard once more, - With intent to get them forth of the mere by toil of the oar. - On sped they with eager purpose: and now did Triton take - On his shoulder the mighty tripod; and now did he enter the lake, - And they saw:--but thereafter did no man mark how he vanished from - sight {1590} - With the tripod, anigh though he were. Then each man's heart grew - light, - For that now for their helping had met them one of the Gods - ever-blest. - And they cried unto Aison's son to take of their sheep the best, - And to sacrifice to the God, and to chant the hymn of praise. - Then straightway he chose it in haste, and the victim on high did he - raise, - And slew it there on the stern, and the sacrifice-prayer he cried: - 'Thou God, who hast manifested thyself on the mere's lone side,-- - Whether Triton the great sea-marvel thou be, or whether thy name - Be Phorkys or Nereus mid Sea-nymphs of Nereus' loins which came,-- - Be gracious thou, and vouchsafe heart-gladdening home-return.' {1600} - So praying he severed the throat of the victim, and down from the - stern - Mid the waves did he cast it. Out of the deep yet again did he rise: - In his own true form as a God was he manifest unto their eyes. - And as when one traineth a fleet-foot steed for the broad - race-course, - Grasping the flowing mane of the hest-obeying horse, - Running lightly beside him, while high he is arching his neck in his - pride, - And followeth on, and the gleaming bit, as from side to side - He rolleth it 'twixt his champing jaws, is clashing and ringing; - Even so with his hand to the keel of hollow Argo clinging, - Seaward he thrust her; and all his form, from the stately crown - {1610} - Of his head, over back and waist and navel, thus far down - Was his wondrous shape even such as the Gods ever-blessèd are. - But down from his loins the tail of a sea-beast lengthened far - Forking to this side and that, and he lashed the face of the tide - With his spines, which parted below into fins outcurving wide - In fashion like to the horns of the moon when the month is new. - Onward he drave her, till sped from the thrust of his hand she flew - To the sea: then sank he mid fathomless depths, and the heroes all - Shouted, whose eyes beheld that awesome marvel befall. - There is the haven of Argo, and there are the signs of her stay: - {1620} - There stand to Poseidon and Triton altars unto this day; - Forasmuch as for that day tarried they there. But with sail outspread - At the dawning again before the West-wind's breath they fled. - And ever they kept the while that desert land to the right. - On the morning thereafter the ness they beheld, and the long - sea-bight - Inland-trending beyond that seaward-jutting ness. - Then straightway the West-wind failed them, but blew the breath no - less - Of the cloudless South; and their hearts rejoiced, in the sail as it - sighed. - And the sun went down, and uprose the star of the folding-tide, - Which bringeth from labour rest unto ploughmen toil-fordone. {1630} - Even then, when the wind died down as the darkling night drew on, - Furled they the idle sail, and the mast exceeding tall - They lowered, and now to the toil of the polished oar did they fall - All through the night and the day, and, when failed the light of the - day, - Through the night thereafter, till rugged Karpathos far away - Welcomed them: thence did they shape their course unto where rose - high - Crete above all the rest of the isles in the sea which lie. - There Talos, the man of brass, from the stubborn scaur as he tore - Rock-shards, withstood them from making the hawsers fast to the - shore, - When came to the roadstead of Dirkê's haven the sea-worn ones. {1640} - Now he was the last of the brazen stock of the Ash-tree's sons: - In the days of the Sons of the Gods none other on earth abode. - Him on Europa to guard her island Kronion bestowed; - And thrice round Crete each day with his brazen feet he strode. - Now in all the rest of his body and limbs was he fashioned of brass - Which might not be broken: howbeit a blood-red vein there was - By his ankle beneath the sinew, and guarded therewithin - Were the issues of life and of death by nought save a film of skin. - And the men were with travail outworn, yet aloof from the land drew - they - Their ship with the backward sweep of the oars, in exceeding dismay. - {1650} - To the outsea now from Crete had they turned them in plight forlorn, - Tormented with thirst, and by all their travail-pain outworn; - But, even as they turned them, Medea spake to the hero-crew: - 'Hear me: alone, I ween, can I for your helping subdue - Yon man, whosoever he be, though fashioned of brass all through - Be his body, except he have life everlasting added thereto. - But consent ye to keep hereby your galley beyond the flight - Of his stones, till he yield unto me his overmastered might.' - Then backed they the galley, beyond the cast of his arm, to rest - On the oars; and they waited to see what counsel, of all unguessed, - {1660} - She would bring to pass. Then on either side of her cheeks did she - hold - For a veil before her face her purple mantle's fold. - Then up to the deck she went, and her hand did Aison's son - Grasp in his own, and from thwart to thwart so led her on. - And the spell-chant raised she: the Fates with singing invoked she - there, - Devourers of souls, swift hounds of Hades, through all the air - Which be hovering ever, and swoop on the doomed the living among. - Bowing the knee unto these three times she invoked them with song, - And thrice with prayer; and with soul unto mischief shapen she cast - The glance of the evil eye upon Talos, his vision to blast. {1670} - And her teeth gnashed fury accursèd upon him, the arms of her waved - Beckonings of doom, as of one that in frenzy of hatred raved. - Zeus Father, awe as a wind on my spirit bloweth chill, - Seeing how by disease not alone, nor by wounds, the doom of ill - Meeteth us, yea, how one from afar shall work our bane! - Even as he, though brazen, yielded yet to be slain - By the might of Medea the sorceress. Then, as he heaved on high - The massy rocks to withstand them from coming the haven anigh, - On a spur of the crag did he graze his heel, and the ichor-flood - Like melting lead gushed forth: nor long thereafter he stood {1680} - Towering up on the rock out-jutting that frowned o'er the brine. - But, even as high on the mountain side a giant pine,-- - Which the woodmen have left, when adown from the forest at even they - hie, - With the keen axe half hewn through,--as the winds of the night pass - by, - Shivereth first in the blast, and swayeth; but, snapt ere long - At the stump, down falleth; so he on his feet all tireless-strong - For a little space yet stood, yet swayed he to and fro. - Thereafter all strengthless fell with a mighty crash their foe. - For that night there on the shore of Crete did the heroes lie; - But thereafter, so soon as the glow of the dawn overflushed the sky, - {1690} - A fane to Athênê Minôïs builded they thereby. - Then water they drew them, and hied them aboard, that with oars - swift-sped - Before all else they might pass beyond Salmônê's Head. - But even as they ran over Crete's wide sea, all suddenly came - A horror of darkness on them, which the Pall of Blackness they name, - The Night of Destruction. No stars shone through it, no faint ray - gleamed - Of the moon: black chaos from heaven descended, or haply upstreamed - Darkness that might be felt from the depths of the nethermost hell. - And whether through Hades they drifted, or heaved on the waters' - swell, - Nowise they knew; but unto the sea in helpless despair {1700} - They committed their home-return, to bear as it would. But in prayer - Cried Jason with mighty voice, and to Phœbus his hands did he raise, - Calling on him to save them, the while the tears ran down his face - In his trouble. To Pytho and Amyklae promised he once and again - Offerings unnumbered to bear, and gifts to Ortygia's fane. - And thou, O Lêto's son, wast swift to hear: from on high - Unto Melas' rocks thou descendedst, amidst of the sea which lie. - Twin peaks hath the isle: upon one thereof didst thou dart, and stand - Uplifting on high thy golden bow in a God's right hand. - Flashed round thee on every side the bow's bright splendour-sheen. - {1710} - Then of the voyagers' eyes was a little island seen - Of the Sporades, overagainst Hippuris' tiny isle. - There cast they anchor, and waited: and soon Dawn's rosy smile - Flushed up through the sky. In a tree-shadowed dell to Apollo they - made - A goodly hallowed place, and an altar mid twilight of shade. - And the Splendour-god, because of the splendour that far-seen flamed, - Phœbus they called; and Anaphê, 'Isle of Revealing,' they named - That rock, for that Phœbus revealed it to men bewildered sore. - And they sacrificed whatso men might provide on a desolate shore - For the sacrifice: but when, for that wine they had none, they shed - {1720} - Water over the brands on the altar glowing red, - Medea's Phaeacian maidens beholding them could not refrain - The laughter their bosoms within any more; for that oxen slain - For the sacrifice in Alcinoüs' halls had they seen full oft. - But the heroes with mirthful hearts cast back their railing, and - scoffed - With gibing words: and so, like the flame's light-flickering play, - Flashed taunts 'twixt these and contention of jesting. And unto this - day, - From the old song-sport of the heroes, in that isle women fling - Even such light scoffs at the men when gifts of atonement they bring - To Apollo the Splendour-god, unto Anaphê's Warder-king. {1730} - But when thence they had loosed the hawsers, when summer-winds blew - light, - Then did Euphêmus call to remembrance a dream of the night, - In his awe of the glorious son of Maia. For lo, him thought - That the god-given clod in his palm close unto his breast he had - caught. - And therefrom like a suckling babe white streams of milk it drew, - Till the clod, for all that so little it were, to a woman grew - Like to a virgin. In love's embrace, by desire overborne, - Did he lie with the damsel: yet even as a maiden for ruth did he - mourn - To have humbled her whom the very milk of his breast had fed. - But she with unangry words spake comfort to him, and she said: {1740} - 'Offspring of Triton am I, and the nurse of thy children to be: - No maid, dear friend; for that Triton and Libya gave birth unto me. - But me to the maidens the Daughters of Nereus do thou restore - To dwell in the sea nigh Anaphê's isle. I shall rise once more - To the light of the sun, for thy children's children a home - prepared.' - Now his heart called this to remembrance; and all that dream he - declared - Unto Aison's son: then he mused in his soul on a prophecy - Of the Smiter from Far, and he uttered his thought, and thus spake - he: - 'O strange!--of a surety a weird of glorious renown is thine! - For the Gods shall make this clod, when thou castest it into the - brine, {1750} - An island, wherein thy children's children hereafter shall live. - For this was the stranger's-gift which Triton did freely give - To thine hand on the Libyan shore. Of the Gods that abide for aye - None other was he who gave, when he met thee there in the way.' - He spake, and Euphêmus set not at nought that answering word; - But his heart for the Aisonid's oracle-promise was gladness-stirred; - And he cast 'mid the surges the clod. Thence rose up an isle from - the sea, - Kallistê, the sacred nurse of Euphêmus' children to be, - Which in Sintian Lemnos wont to dwell in the ancient days, - And from Lemnos were driven forth by men of Tyrrhenian race; {1760} - And to Sparta as suppliants came they: from Sparta fared they on, - Until they were led of Thôras, Autesion's mighty son, - To Kallistê: then changed they its name, and Thôra the isle did they - call - From their chief:--but after Euphêmus' days did this befall. - Thence parting, unhindered o'er long sea-rollers untold did they - fare - Till they stayed on Aigina's beach; and in innocent rivalry there - Hero with hero contended, the while the water they drew, - Who first should draw it, and who to the ship win first of the crew. - For their need, and withal the fresh strong breeze, bade hasten away. - Wherefore it cometh that yet do the youths of the Myrmidons lay {1770} - On their shoulders the jars full-brimmed, and burdened so do they - speed - With light-running feet o'er the race-course striving for victory's - meed. - Be gracious, O blest generation of chieftains!--may these lays ring - Year after year in the ears of men ever sweeter to sing! - For now at the last am I come to the glorious ending of all, - To the bourne of your travail: for struggle nor strife did - thereafter befall - Unto you, as homeward-bound from Aigina did Argo flee, - Neither tempest of winds brake forth; but over a peaceful sea - By the land of Kekrops, by Aulis coasting, and under the lee - Of Eubœa, by cities Opuntian of Lokrian men did ye fleet, {1780} - Till with rapture of welcome on Pagasae's strand ye set your feet. - - [The End] - - - EDITOR'S NOTE - -_This rendering of the_ 'Argonautica,' _now first published, has -been translated from the original Greek by_ Arthur S. Way, M.A., -_the gifted translator of_ 'Homer's Iliad _and_ Odyssey,' '_the_ -Tragedies _of_ Euripides,' _and_ '_the_ Epodes _of_ Horace.' _In the -accompanying 'Epilogue' the translator summarises the literary -history of the poem, and indicates its place in Greek literature. -The earlier English versions of the poem are the verse renderings -by_ Fawkes _and_ Green (1780), _and_ Preston (1803). _These -translations are in the style of Pope; Preston's effort is the -better; it is in three volumes, the second and third containing -elaborate introductions and notes. The two poetical versions have -been long out of print, and are now very rare. There is also an -English prose rendering by_ Coleridge (Bohn, 1889). - -_As in the case of_ Chapman's 'Iliads,' _the Publishers have thought -it well to allow the type to run into the margin, so as to avoid the -turning of the lines._ - -_The General Editor desires to thank_ Mr. Way _for generously -placing this new version of the old poem at his disposal for -inclusion in the present series; he feels sure that many readers -will appreciate this new-old treasure from 'the realms of gold.'_ - - I. G. - -_Shakespeare's Day_, 1901. - - - THE TRANSLATOR'S EPILOGUE - -The historian, if asked to name the country and the period in which -literary men--not popular novelists, but men whose incentive to -labour is the love of literature, science, research--were in the -most enviable position, would go very far back from the present time, -and point to Egypt as the country, and the three centuries before -Christ as the period. 'The history of literature,' it has been said, -'is hardly anything but a martyrology, as though there were a -conspiracy of ingratitude among men:' but the respect, honour and -support accorded to literary genius under the Ptolemies form a -striking contrast to its fate in other lands and epochs. - -When, on the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 B.C., his vast -empire was divided amongst his generals, one of them, Ptolemy Soter, -became king of Egypt. Once established in his kingdom, he soon proved -that he was very much more than a mere soldier. He was a man of -brains, with a taste for literature, and a love for those who pursued -it. His successors were worthy of him: the Ptolemies created an era in -the history of literature; they made learning the fashion, and -scholars, poets and men of science honourable. - -Ptolemy I. (Soter) built at Alexandria a magnificent palace of -learning, the Museum. This 'Temple of the Muses' was such in a -very literal sense, and so was very much more than a museum in the -restricted sense now commonly understood. It was a Residential Royal -Academy of Literature, the Resident Fellows of which were literary -men. The first great annexe to the Museum was a Library, which the -king spared no expense to make complete, and thus he attracted -scholars from all Greek-speaking countries. His successor further -enlarged the library, and added galleries of pictures and statues, and -commenced a natural history museum. So it went on: Ptolemy after -Ptolemy added to the completeness and magnificence of the now -world-famous library, and amassed wealth of art-treasures and -curiosities from all parts of the world. The foundation was richly -endowed, so that the poets, scholars and scientists who dwelt there -lived without a care, in sheltered comfort (Timon the Phliasian -satirically called it 'the coop'), with every advantage for the -prosecution of their labours, and (after the days of Ptolemy V. -204-181 B.C.) the prospect of a pension. There was a hall where they -all dined, the king himself being sometimes of the company. Through -generation after generation this institution was the hobby of the -kings of Egypt, some of whom were themselves proud to be of the -brotherhood of authors, and who vied with each other in fostering -genius, talent and plodding industry, with a splendour, lavishness and -zeal unapproached in any other age or country. It was Ptolemy II. -(Philadelphus) under whose auspices was produced the great translation -of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, known as the Septuagint, from which -the authors of the New Testament quote. When Egypt passed under the -dominion of Rome, the Museum and its endowments did not suffer. Livy -speaks of it as a noble monument of the wealth of the Egyptian kings; -and Ammianus Marcellinus says that till the time of Aurelian (A.D. -270-275), the Museum 'continued to be the habitation of scholars.' -The College, or Royal Society of Literature, so nobly housed, was -under the government of a President, nominated first by the Ptolemies, -afterwards by the Roman Emperors. - -Of course, patronage cannot create genius, though it can provide -conditions favourable to its development; and but few men of genius -appeared during this long period of the establishment and endowment of -literature. But the general level of culture was raised, and the -amount of literary work done was immense. A great deal of learned -labour was expended upon the interpretation of Homer. 'It may indeed -be said,' remarks Prof. Mahaffy, 'that all philology among the Greeks, -all textual and grammatical criticism, arose from the desire to -purify and to understand the text of Homer, and then of other old -poets.' At the same time, however, while nothing was more -meritorious than the _rôle_ of the commentator on Homer, nothing was -less so than any attempt to imitate him, or to revive, in any shape or -form, epic poetry. It was settled as an axiom beyond controversy that -the age of great sustained poems was past, that the age of literary -gem-work, of perfect finish in minute details, 'of art for art's -sake,' had come to stay. So poets were to restrict themselves to -'short swallow-flights of song,' fables, hymns to various deities -and sacred places, elegies, epigrams, the one thing needful being that -every line should be a model of polished brilliance, and that each -poem should be a mine of learned allusion. Of this literary faith and -practice the great champion and exponent was Callimachus.[1] He was, -in the days of Ptolemy Philadelphus {285-247 B.C.), President of the -Museum, and, in Prof. Murray's words, 'was perhaps the most -influential personality in literature between Plato and Cicero.' -Philologist, archaeologist, historian, dramatist, poet, -critic--there was scarcely a department of literature in which he -did not, in the view of his contemporaries, excel; and his industry -was enormous. As an example of the scale on which he worked, it is -sufficient to mention just one of his many productions--an -Encyclopædia of Literature, biographical, bibliographical and -critical, in one hundred and twenty books. The prestige of his -official position, coupled with his exact interpretation of the -demands and capacities of his age, made him the autocrat of letters. -He carved with incisive criticism, and lashed with merciless ridicule, -the _Thebaid_, an epic written by Antimachus of Colophon in imitation -of Homer, a work which the Emperor Hadrian, long afterwards, -pronounced superior to Homer's--from which fact we learn more -perhaps of Hadrian than of the _Thebaid_. We can faintly imagine, -then, with what scornful indignation Callimachus heard that a pupil of -his own, a young inmate of the Museum, who owed all his literary -culture to its head, had revolted from the cardinal principles of the -one literary faith, had actually written an epic! - -Apollonius, son of Illeus (or Silleus), born, about 270 B.C., at -Naucratis (or, according to other accounts, at Alexandria), was -kindled by his studies in Homer to attempt a theme never yet worthily -sung--the story of the Quest of the Golden Fleece by heroes who -were the fathers of those whose exploits Homer sang. He can hardly -have been ignorant of his master's views on the subject of modern -epics; but he may well have felt some confidence that he could do that -which would prove them wrong, and may have given Callimachus credit -for magnanimity enough to confess himself mistaken when confronted -with the actual achievement of that which he had pronounced -impossible. - -He completed his task, and gave a public reading of his epic, probably -in the lecture-hall of the Museum. Its reception was a bitter -disappointment for him. The audience took its cue from the -all-powerful President; and before the storm of impatient -interruptions, angry disapproval and contemptuous laughter the poor -lad--he was not twenty--broke down, 'flushing crimson with -mortification,' as the old Greek biographer graphically records. He -recognised only too clearly who had taken the lead in crushing him, -and tried to retaliate in satirical verse and stinging epigram. But it -is given to few to be as effective with this weapon as Dryden or -Byron, and Apollonius found that his enemy's artillery, discharged -as it was from the vantage-ground of social influence and official -authority, overmatched his own. Callimachus was not ashamed to put -forth all his strength against his young and friendless opponent; and -his bitter satire, _The Ibis_,[2] seems to have displayed no little -ability and power of invective. It long survived the occasion for -which it was written, and must have been, in its kind, of some merit, -since, personal and local though it was, its celebrity lasted till the -Augustan age of Rome. Ovid took it as his model in his satirical poem -of the same name. - -The young poet found literary life in Alexandria made impossible for -him, and (invited perhaps by sympathisers) he sailed thence to Rhodes. -He there produced a revised version of his epic, and was comforted by -the applause with which the Rhodians received it. Honoured by all, and -presented with the freedom of the city, he gratefully took for his -country the land where he was appreciated, and was proud to be known -as 'Apollonius of Rhodes.' He lived there many years, a renowned -poet, and a popular professor of rhetoric. Meanwhile at Alexandria his -old enemy died: the old literary cliques were no more: the fame of the -prophet who had been without honour in his own country had recrossed -the sea: men longed to atone for the neglect which was a discredit to -themselves; and Apollonius was given to understand that a warm welcome -was prepared for him in the land of his birth. The temptation to -triumph on the scene of his humiliation was irresistible. He returned -to Egypt: he read his poem to enthusiastic audiences: the opportune -death of Eratosthenes, who had succeeded Callimachus as President and -Chief Librarian, created a vacancy for which Apollonius was acclaimed -the only possible successor. So, installed as the head of the culture -and learning of the Greek world, he lived days of peaceful industry -and satisfied ambition, till, full of years and honours, he passed -away, and, as though to symbolise forgiveness and oblivion of old -feuds, was buried beside his old master, Callimachus. - -Like all the Alexandrian scholars, he was busy with his pen to the -last. His most important works, besides the 'Tale of the Argonauts,' -were the 'Foundations,' poems embodying the stories or legends of the -origin or foundation of famous cities, such as Rhodes, Cnidus, -Alexandria. But of them all only nine and a half lines survive, and -it is on the _Argonautica_ that his fame must rest. The poem is, like -the epics of Vergil, Tasso, Tennyson, the work of a student, and not, -like those of Homer, the work of a man who had been a part of the -life he described. Apollonius connected the Argonauts with all the -legends or myths belonging to the places they might be supposed to -have visited, gathering materials for this part of his work from the -rich libraries in which he wrote. Hence we find traces of his having -more matter than he quite knew what to do with; and his digressions -on the origins of cities, names, rites, and so forth, are occasionally -such as the average reader will skip. Still, all together, they do not -occupy proportionally as much space as the similarly little-read -Catalogue of the Ships in the _Iliad_. - -There can be no doubt that the _Argonautica_ was for the ancients the -one great epic between Homer and Vergil. Even contemporaries wrote -commentaries on it. It was popular among the Romans. P. T. Varro -earned fame by his translation of it, and Val. Flaccus wrote a Latin -Argonautica, which was but a free translation of the Greek original. -But his noblest eulogy will be found in the pages of Vergil, who drew -no small part of his inspiration from him, transferring to his -_Æneid_ at least a score of episodes, similes, or picturesque -touches. - -On the other hand, Apollonius is very far from being an imitator of -Homer. He is, indeed, considering the atmosphere in which his genius -was trained, amazingly original; and it is not the least proof of his -genius that he recognised that his strength lay in the very things -which were either neglected, or lightly touched on, by Homer. The -elaborate picturesqueness and unfailing _verve_ with which he -describes the coasting voyages, the weird desolation of the Libyan -sands, the gauntlet-fight, the battle with the giants, the passage of -the Clashing Crags, and that of the Wandering Rocks, the ploughing -with the brazen bulls, and many other such incidents, are examples of -work of which Homer gives but slight and occasional examples: while -the great and crowning achievement of the poem, the story of Medea's -passion, with its fierce fervour, its thrilling pathos, its lovely -tenderness and virginal purity, its strangely modern introspectiveness -and analysis of motives, is absolutely without parallel, not in Homer -alone, but in any Greek poet whose works have come down to us. Even -Vergil, with all his human sympathy, with all the advantage of having -such a model before him, cannot rise to the same height: the love of -Dido is a pale reflex of that of Medea. It is curious, too, to note -that, even in the minor matter of similes, Apollonius remains -original. In only one (Bk. II. 541-548, where he somewhat expands -Homer's thought) can he be charged with imitation. - -The argument has been well summed up by Prof. R. Ellis:--'For -Apollonius the problem was how to write an epic which should be -modelled on the Homeric epics, yet be so completely different as to -suggest, not resemblance, but contrast. We think no one who has read -even a hundred lines of the poem can fail to be struck by this. It is -in fact the reason why it is a success. The _Argonautica_ could not -have been written without the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_, but it is in no -sense an echo of either. Nay, we believe that a minute examination of -Apollonius' language and rhythm would show that he placed himself -under the most rigid laws of _intentional dissimilarity_. Not that -this is more than one element of his success. His genius is quite as -real an element; and no one will deny this who has studied the -successive phases of Medea's passion in Book III. If, indeed, -greatness could be tested by the extent of influence after death, the -poem of Apollonius can rank only with the best works of Greek -literature.' - - - FOOTNOTES - - [1] - To him is attributed the saying, 'A great book is a great evil.' - - [2] - 'The Bird of the Nile' in satirical allusion to Apollonius' birthplace - being beside that river. - - - TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES - -Alterations to the text: - -[Book I, l. 1263] Change "In fury _in_ flung to the earth the -pine..." to _he_. - -[Book IV] Add missing line numbers: 20 to "And there had the maiden -beyond...", and 1170 to "So soon as the dawn with her...". - -[Book IV, l. 754] Change "Tidings to her, _whan_ she spied..." to -_when_. - -Note: minor spelling inconsistencies (_e.g._ Arês/Ares, Lêto/Leto, -Tritônis/Tritonis, etc.) were left as-is. - - [End of Text] - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF THE ARGONAUTS *** - -***** This file should be named 64235-0.txt or 64235-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - https://www.gutenberg.org/6/4/2/3/64235/ - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Tale of the Argonauts</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Apollonius Rhodius</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Editor: Israel Gollancz</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Translator: Arthur S. Way</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 08, 2021 [eBook #64235]<br /> -[Most recently updated: April 27, 2022]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: David Thomas</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF THE ARGONAUTS ***</div> - -<div class="title"> -<h1>The Tale of the Argonauts</h1> - -By<br/> -Apollonius of Rhodes<br/> -<br/> -Translated into English Verse by<br/> -Arthur S. Way<br/> -<br/> -Edited by<br/> -Israel Gollancz, M.A.<br/> -<br/><br/><br/> -Published by J.M. Dent and Co.<br/> -Aldine House, London W.C.<br/> -1901 -</div> - - -<div class="fig_full"> -<img src="./images/img_001.jpg" alt="Argo between Scylla and Charybdis" /> -</div> - - -<div class="toc"> -<h2>CONTENTS</h2> -<a href="#top">The Tale of the Argonauts</a><br/> -<a href="#book1">THE FIRST BOOK</a><br/> -<a href="#book2">THE SECOND BOOK</a><br/> -<a href="#book3">THE THIRD BOOK</a><br/> -<a href="#book4">THE FOURTH BOOK</a><br/> -<br/> -<a href="#ednote">Editor’s Note</a><br/> -<a href="#epilogue">The Translator’s Epilogue</a><br/> -<a href="#footnotes">Footnotes</a> -</div> - - -<h2 id="top">The Tale of the Argonauts</h2> - -<h3 class="nobreak" id="book1">THE FIRST BOOK</h3> - -<p class="i0"><span class="sc">First</span> in my song shalt thou be, O Phœbus, the song that I sing</p> -<p class="i0">Of the heroes of old, who sped, at the hest of Pelias the king,</p> -<p class="i0">When down through the gorge of the Pontus-sea, through the Crags Dark-blue,</p> -<p class="i0">On the Quest of the Fleece of Gold the strong-ribbed Argo flew.</p> - -<p class="i1">For an oracle came unto Pelias, how that in days to be</p> -<p class="i0">A terrible doom should be dealt him of him whom his eyes should see</p> -<p class="i0">From the field coming in, with the one foot only sandal-shod.</p> -<p class="i0">Nor long thereafter did Jason fulfil the word of the God:</p> -<p class="i0">For in wading the rush of Amaurus swollen with winter-tide rain</p> -<p class="i0">One sandal plucked he forth of the mire, but the one was he fain {10}</p> -<p class="i0">To leave in the depths, for the swirl of the waters to sweep to the main.</p> -<p class="i0">Straightway to the presence of Pelias he came, and his hap was to light</p> -<p class="i0">On a banquet, the which unto Father Poseidon the king had dight,</p> -<p class="i0">And the rest of the Gods, but Pelasgian Hêrê he heeded not.</p> -<p class="i0">And the king beheld him, and straightway laid for his life the plot,</p> -<p class="i0">And devised for him toil of a troublous voyage, that lost in the sea,</p> -<p class="i0">Or lost amid alien men his home-return might be.</p> - -<p class="i1">Of the ship and her fashioning, bards of the olden time have told</p> -<p class="i0">How Argus wrought, how Athênê made him cunning-souled.</p> -<p class="i0">But now be it mine the lineage and names of her heroes to say, {20}</p> -<p class="i0">And to tell of the long sea-paths whereover they needs must stray,</p> -<p class="i0">And the deeds that they wrought:—may the Muses vouchsafe to inspire the lay.</p> - -<p class="i1">Of Orpheus first will I sing, of the child that Calliopê bare,</p> -<p class="i0">As telleth the tale, for she loved Oeagrus, Thracia’s heir.</p> -<p class="i0">By the peak Pimplean was born the Song-queen’s wondrous child;</p> -<p class="i0">For they tell how he charmed by the voice of his song on the mountains wild</p> -<p class="i0">The stubborn rocks into life, made rivers their flowing refrain,</p> -<p class="i0">And the wildwood oaks this day be memorials of that weird strain;</p> -<p class="i0">For they burgeon and bloom by Zonê yet on the Thracian shore,</p> -<p class="i0">Ranked orderly line upon line, the selfsame trees which of yore, {30}</p> -<p class="i0">Spell-drawn by his lyre, from Pieria followed the minstrel on.</p> -<p class="i0">Such an one was the Orpheus that Aison’s son for a helper won</p> -<p class="i0">For his high emprise, when he followed the pointing of Cheiron’s hand,—</p> -<p class="i0">Orpheus, who ruled o’er the Bistonid folk in Pieria-land.</p> - -<p class="i1">And swiftly Asterion came, whom Komêtês begat by the side</p> -<p class="i0">Of Apidanus, there where his seaward-swirling waters glide;</p> -<p class="i0">In Peiresiae he dwelt, anigh to Phyllêion’s leafy crest.</p> -<p class="i0">Mighty Apidanus, sacred Enipeus, have thitherward pressed</p> -<p class="i0">To mingle the waters, far-severed that rise from the earth’s deep breast.</p> - -<p class="i1">Polyphemus forsook Larissa, and unto Jason he sought; {40}</p> -<p class="i0">Eilatus’ son: in his youth mid the Lapithan heroes he fought.</p> -<p class="i0">When the Lapithans armed them for fight, when the Centaur host they quelled,</p> -<p class="i0">Their youngest he was; but now were his limbs sore burdened with eld.</p> -<p class="i0">Yet even as of old his heart with the spirit of battle swelled.</p> - -<p class="i1">Nor in Phylakê Iphiklus tarried to waste an inglorious life,</p> -<p class="i0">Uncle of Aison’s child, for that Aison had taken to wife</p> -<p class="i0">His sister the Phylakid maiden Alkimêdê: wherefore strong</p> -<p class="i0">Was the love of his kin to constrain him to join that hero-throng.</p> - -<p class="i1">Neither Admêtus in Pherae, the goodly land of sheep,</p> -<p class="i0">In his palace would tarry beneath Chalkodon’s mountain-steep. {50}</p> - -<p class="i1">Neither in Alopê tarried Echion and Erytus, sons</p> -<p class="i0">Of Hermes, wealthy in corn-land, crafty-hearted ones.</p> -<p class="i0">And their kinsman, the third with these, came forth, on the Quest as they hied,</p> -<p class="i0">Aithalides: where the streams of Amphrysus softly slide,</p> -<p class="i0">Him Eupolemeia the Phthian, Myrmidon’s daughter, bare,</p> -<p class="i0">But offspring of Antianeira the Menetid those twain were.</p> - -<p class="i1">Came thither Korônus, forsaking Gyrton the wealthy town:</p> -<p class="i0">Right valiant was Kaineus’ son, yet he passed not his father’s renown.</p> -<p class="i0">For of Kaineus the poets have sung, how smitten of Centaurs he died,</p> -<p class="i0">Who could not be slain, when alone in his prowess, with none beside, {60}</p> -<p class="i0">He drave them before him in rout, but they rallied, and charged afresh,</p> -<p class="i0">Yet availed not their fury to thrust him aback, nor to pierce his flesh;</p> -<p class="i0">But unconquered, unflinching, down to the underworld he passed,</p> -<p class="i0">Battered from life by the storm of the massy pines that they cast.</p> - -<p class="i1">And came Titaresian Mopsus withal, unto whom was given</p> -<p class="i0">Of Lêto’s son above all men the lore of the birds of the heaven.</p> -<p class="i0">And there was Eurydamas, Ktimenus’ son, which dwelt in the land</p> -<p class="i0">Of Dolopian folk: by the Xynian mere did his palace stand.</p> - -<p class="i1">And from Opus Menoitius fared at Aktor his father’s behest</p> -<p class="i0">To the end he might go with the chieftains of men on the glorious Quest. {70}</p> - -<p class="i1">And Eurytion hath followed with these; Eribôtes the mighty is gone,</p> -<p class="i0">This, Teleon’s scion, and that, of Irus, Aktor’s son;</p> -<p class="i0">For in sooth it was Teleon begat Eribôtes the glory-crowned,</p> -<p class="i0">And Irus, Eurytion. With these was a third, Oïleus, found,</p> -<p class="i0">Peerless in manhood, exceeding cunning to follow the flight</p> -<p class="i0">Of the foe, when the reeling battalions were shattered before his might.</p> - -<p class="i1">Came the son of Kanêthus the scion of Abas; with eager speed</p> -<p class="i0">Came Kanthus forth of Eubœa: it was not fate-decreed</p> -<p class="i0">That again he should turn and behold Kerinthus, for doomed was he,</p> -<p class="i0">Even he and Mopsus withal, the wise in augury, {80}</p> -<p class="i0">To perish in Libya, lost in the waste of a wide sand-sea.</p> -<p class="i0">Sooth, never was mischief removed too far to be found of the doomed;</p> -<p class="i0">Forasmuch as in Libya’s desert were even these entombed,</p> -<p class="i0">As far from the Kolchian land as the space outstretched between</p> -<p class="i0">The sun’s uprising, and where the setting thereof is seen.</p> - -<p class="i1">And Klytius and Iphitus gathered to that great mustering,</p> -<p class="i0">Oichalia’s warders, children of Eurytus, ruthless king,</p> -<p class="i0">Who received of Far-smiter a bow; but he had no profit thereof,</p> -<p class="i0">For in archery-skill with the giver’s self he wantonly strove.</p> - -<p class="i1">And with these fared Aiakus’ sons, yet not from the selfsame place, {90}</p> -<p class="i0">Nor together, for far had they wandered away from the home of their race,</p> -<p class="i0">Aegina, what time in their folly the blood of their brother they spilt,</p> -<p class="i0">Even Phokus: to Salamis Telamon bare his burden of guilt:</p> -<p class="i0">But Peleus roved till in Phthia the halls of the outcast he built.</p> - -<p class="i1">And with these from Kekropia Boutes, a lord of battle-fame,</p> -<p class="i0">Stout Teleon’s son, and Phalêrus the mighty spearman came.</p> -<p class="i0">It was Alkon his father that sent him forth: no sons save him</p> -<p class="i0">Had the ancient to cherish his age and his light of life grown dim:</p> -<p class="i0">Yet, albeit his only-begotten he was, and the last of his line,</p> -<p class="i0">He sent him, that so amidst valour of heroes his prowess should shine. {100}</p> -<p class="i0">But Theseus, of all the sons of Erechtheus most renowned,</p> -<p class="i0">At Tainarum under the earth by an unseen fetter was bound.</p> -<p class="i0">For he trod the Path of Fear with Peirithoüs; else that Quest</p> -<p class="i0">By the might of these had been lightlier compassed of all the rest.</p> - -<p class="i1">And Tiphys, Hagnias’ son, hath forsaken the Thespians that dwell</p> -<p class="i0">In the city of Siphas: of all men keenest was he to foretell</p> -<p class="i0">The wrath of the waves on the broad sea, keen to foreknow from afar</p> -<p class="i0">The blasts of the storm, and to guide the galley by sun and by star.</p> -<p class="i0">’Twas Athênê Tritonis herself that made him eager-souled</p> -<p class="i0">To join that muster of heroes that longed his face to behold; {110}</p> -<p class="i0">For she fashioned the sea-swift ship, and Argus but wrought as she planned,</p> -<p class="i0">Arestor’s son, for the Goddess’s counsels guided his hand:</p> -<p class="i0">Therefore amongst all ships unmatched was the ship that he made,</p> -<p class="i0">Even all that with swinging oars the paths of the sea have essayed.</p> - -<p class="i1">Came Phlias withal from Araithyriae to essay the Quest,</p> -<p class="i0">From a wealthy home, for the toil of his hands had the Wine-god blessed,</p> -<p class="i0">His father, where welleth Asôpus up from the green hill’s breast.</p> - -<p class="i1">From Argos did sons of Bias, Arêius and Talaus, come,</p> -<p class="i0">And mighty Laodokus, fruit of Nêleus’ daughter’s womb,</p> -<p class="i0">Even Pero, for whose sake Aiolus’ scion Melampus bore {120}</p> -<p class="i0">In Iphiklus’ steading affliction of bonds exceeding sore.</p> - -<p class="i1">Nor yet did the prowess of mighty-hearted Herakles fail</p> -<p class="i0">The longing of Aison’s son for his helping, as telleth the tale.</p> -<p class="i0">But as soon as the flying rumour of gathering heroes he heard,</p> -<p class="i0">He turned from the track that he trod from Arcadia Argos-ward,</p> -<p class="i0">On the path that he paced as he bare that boar alive from the glen</p> -<p class="i0">Of Lampeia, wherein he had battened, the vast Erymanthian fen.</p> -<p class="i0">At the entering-in of Mycenae’s market-stead he cast</p> -<p class="i0">From his mighty shoulders the beast, as he writhed in his bonds knit fast:</p> -<p class="i0">But himself of his own will, thrusting Eurystheus’ purpose aside, {130}</p> -<p class="i0">Hasted away; and Hylas, his henchman true and tried,</p> -<p class="i0">Which bare his arrows and warded his bow, with the hero hath hied.</p> - -<p class="i1">Therewithal hath the scion of god-descended Danaus gone,</p> -<p class="i0">Nauplius, born unto King Klytonêus, Naubolus’ son;</p> -<p class="i0">And of Lernus Naubolus sprang; and Lernus, as bards have told,</p> -<p class="i0">Of Proitus, Nauplius’ son; and unto Poseidon of old</p> -<p class="i0">Amymônê, Danaus’ daughter, who couched in the God’s embrace,</p> -<p class="i0">Bare Nauplius, chief in the seafarer’s craft of the Earth-born race.</p> - -<p class="i1">Last cometh Idmon the seer, of all that in Argos dwell,</p> -<p class="i0">Cometh knowing the doom he hath heard the birds of heaven foretell, {140}</p> -<p class="i0">Lest the people should haply begrudge him a hero’s glorious fame:</p> -<p class="i0">Yet not of the very loins of Abas the doomed seer came;</p> -<p class="i0">But the son of Lêto begat him to share the noble name</p> -<p class="i0">Of Aetolia’s sons, and in prophecy-lore he made him wise,</p> -<p class="i0">And in signs of the fowl of the heaven and tokens ’mid flame that rise.</p> - -<p class="i1">Polydeukes the strong did Aetolia’s Princess Leda speed</p> -<p class="i0">From Sparta, and Kastor cunning to rein the fleetfoot steed.</p> -<p class="i0">These twain in Tyndareus’ palace, her dearly-beloved, her pride,</p> -<p class="i0">That lady at one birth bare; howbeit she nowise denied</p> -<p class="i0">Their prayer to depart, for her spirit was worthy of Zeus’ bride. {150}</p> - -<p class="i1">Apharetus’ children, Lynkeus and Idas the arrogant-souled,</p> -<p class="i0">From Arênê went forth: in their prowess exceeding were these overbold,</p> -<p class="i0">Even both; but Lynkeus for eyes of keenest ken was renowned,</p> -<p class="i0">If in sooth that story be true, that, though one lay underground,</p> -<p class="i0">Yet lightly of Lynkeus’ eyes should the gloom-swathed corpse be found.</p> - -<p class="i1">And with these Periklymenus Neleus’ son was enkindled to fare,</p> -<p class="i0">Eldest of all the sons that the Lady of Pylos bare</p> -<p class="i0">Unto Neleus the godlike; and might unmeasured Poseidon gave</p> -<p class="i0">To the prince, and a boon moreover, that whatso shape he should crave,</p> -<p class="i0">That, as he fought in the shock of the meeting ranks, he should have. {160}</p> - -<p class="i1">From Arcadia Amphidamas and Kepheus came for the Quest,</p> -<p class="i0">Who were dwellers in Tegea-town, and the land that Apheidas possessed,</p> -<p class="i0">Two scions of Aleus; yea and a third followed even as they went,</p> -<p class="i0">Ankaius: Lykurgus his father was minded the lad to have sent,</p> -<p class="i0">Being elder brother to these, but himself was constrained to stay</p> -<p class="i0">In the city with Aleus, tending the dear head silver-grey.</p> -<p class="i0">Howbeit in charge to his brethren twain he gave the lad.</p> -<p class="i0">So he went, and the fell of a bear Maenalian for buckler he had,</p> -<p class="i0">And a battle-axe huge his right hand swung; for his armour of fight</p> -<p class="i0">Had his old grandsire in a secret chamber hidden from sight, {170}</p> -<p class="i0">If haply so he might cripple the wings of the eagle’s flight.</p> - -<p class="i1">Fared thither Augeias; they named him in songs of the olden day</p> -<p class="i0">The Sun-god’s child, and the hero in Elis-land bare sway</p> -<p class="i0">In pride of his wealth: but he longed to behold the Kolchian coast,</p> -<p class="i0">And to look upon mighty Aiêtes the lord of the Kolchian host.</p> - -<p class="i1">Asterius came, and Amphion, the sons that a fair queen bore,</p> -<p class="i0">When Pellênê’s king Hyperasius dwelt in the city of yore</p> -<p class="i0">By Pelles their grandsire built ’neath the cliffs of Achaia’s shore.</p> - -<p class="i1">Euphêmus from Tainarus came to be joined to their company,</p> -<p class="i0">Europê’s child; and the swiftest of all men on Earth was he: {180}</p> -<p class="i0">For the daughter of Tityos the giant couched in Poseidon’s embrace;</p> -<p class="i0">And this their son would run o’er the grey sea’s weltering face,</p> -<p class="i0">Neither sank in the surge his fast-flying steps, but, with footsole alone</p> -<p class="i0">Bedewed with the spray, on his watery path was he wafted on.</p> - -<p class="i1">Sons of Poseidon beside him withal two other came,</p> -<p class="i0">One leaving Miletus afar, the city of haughty fame,</p> -<p class="i0">Even Erginus, and one from Imbrasian Hêrê’s fane</p> -<p class="i0">Parthenia, Ankaius the mighty; and men of renown were the twain</p> -<p class="i0">In the craft of the sea, and withal in the toil of the battle-strain.</p> - -<p class="i1">Hasting from Kalydon Oineus’ son to their muster hath hied, {190}</p> -<p class="i0">Meleager the stalwart; and there was Laocoön still at his side,</p> -<p class="i0">Brother to Oineus; but not of the selfsame womb were they,</p> -<p class="i0">For a handmaid bare him; and him, though flecked was his hair with grey,</p> -<p class="i0">For guide and for guard to his son hath Oineus the old king sent.</p> -<p class="i0">So it fell that a beardless lad to the valorous gathering went</p> -<p class="i0">Of heroes; yet no man of all that came had the deeds outdone</p> -<p class="i0">Of the lad, save Herakles, if that he might but have tarried on</p> -<p class="i0">One year mid Aetolia’s sons, till he grew to his strength, I ween.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, and his mother’s brother, a javelin-hurler keen,</p> -<p class="i0">And a warrior tried, when foot is set against foot in the fray, {200}</p> -<p class="i0">Iphiklus, Thestius’ scion, trod the selfsame way.</p> - -<p class="i1">Came Palaimonius, whose grandsire was Olenius, and his sire</p> -<p class="i0">Lernus in name; but in birth was he child of the Lord of Fire:</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore he halted in either foot; but his bodily frame</p> -<p class="i0">And his prowess might no man contemn, for which cause also his name</p> -<p class="i0">Was found with the mighty who won for Jason deathless fame.</p> - -<p class="i1">Came Iphitus, Ornytus’ son, from Phokis withal for the Quest,</p> -<p class="i0">Of Naubolus’ line: in the days overpast was Jason his guest,</p> -<p class="i0">What time unto Pytho he fared to inquire of the high Gods’ doom</p> -<p class="i0">Touching the Quest; for he welcomed him then in his mountain home. {210}</p> - -<p class="i1">And Zetes and Kalais withal, the North-wind’s children, were there,</p> -<p class="i0">Whom Oreithyia, Erechtheus’ daughter, to Boreas bare</p> -<p class="i0">In the uttermost part of wintry Thrace; for the God swooped down,</p> -<p class="i0">And the Thracian North-wind snatched her away from Kekrops’ town,</p> -<p class="i0">Even as she whirled in the dance on the lawn by Ilissus’ flow.</p> -<p class="i0">And he brought her afar to the place where standeth the crag men know</p> -<p class="i0">For the Rock of Sarpedon, whereby doth Erginus the river glide:</p> -<p class="i0">And he shrouded her round with viewless clouds, and he made her his bride.</p> -<p class="i0">And lo, on the ankles of these did quivering pinions unfold,</p> -<p class="i0">Strong wings, as in air they upleapt, a marvel great to behold, {220}</p> -<p class="i0">Gleaming with golden scales; and about their shoulders strayed,</p> -<p class="i0">Down-streaming from neck and from head in the glory of youth arrayed,</p> -<p class="i0">Dark tresses that tossed in the rushing breezes amidst them that played.</p> - -<p class="i1">Yea, and Akastus, his own son, had no will to abide</p> -<p class="i0">That day with his mighty sire in the halls of Pelias’ pride.</p> -<p class="i0">Nor would Argus be left, who had wrought as Athênê guided his hand;</p> -<p class="i0">But these twain needs must be numbered too with the glorious band.</p> - -<p class="i1">This is the tale of the helpers with Aison’s son that were found:</p> -<p class="i0">These be the men whom the folk, even all which dwelt around,</p> -<p class="i0">Called ever the Minyan Chiefs: for of those that went on the Quest {230}</p> -<p class="i0">Born of the daughters of Minyas’ blood were the most and the best.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, she which had borne this Jason to emprise perilous-wild,</p> -<p class="i0">Alkimedê, also was daughter of Klymenê, Minyas’ child.</p> - -<p class="i1">Now when all things ready were made by the hands of many a thrall,</p> -<p class="i0">Even whatso the galley for sea ready-dight should be furnished withal,</p> -<p class="i0">When traffic lureth the shipmen afar to an alien land,</p> -<p class="i0">Then through the city they passed to their ship, where she lay on the strand</p> -<p class="i0">Which is called Magnesian Pagasae. Ever, as onward they strode,</p> -<p class="i0">To right and to left a mingled multitude ran: but they showed</p> -<p class="i0">Radiant amidst them as stars amid clouds; and some ’gan cry, {240}</p> -<p class="i0">As they gazed on the glorious forms that in harness of war swept by:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘What is in Pelias’ thoughts, King Zeus, that so goodly a band</p> -<p class="i0">Of heroes is hurled by him forth of the Panachaian land?</p> -<p class="i0">In the day of their coming with ravening fire the halls shall they fill</p> -<p class="i0">Of Aiêtes, except he shall yield them the Fleece of his own good will.</p> -<p class="i0">But a long way lieth between, unaccomplished yet is the toil.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake they on this side and that through the city: the women the while,</p> -<p class="i0">Heavenward uplifting their hands, to the Gods that abide for aye</p> -<p class="i0">Made vehement prayer for the heart’s delight of the homecoming day.</p> -<p class="i0">And one to another made answer, and moaned, as her tears fell fast: {250}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Hapless Alkimedê, thee too evil hath found at the last;</p> -<p class="i0">Nor to thee was vouchsafed amid bliss to the end of thy days to attain!</p> -<p class="i0">Woe’s me for Aison the ill-starred!—verily this had been gain</p> -<p class="i0">For him, if rolled in his shroud before this woeful day,</p> -<p class="i0">Deep under Earth, with the cup of affliction untasted, he lay:</p> -<p class="i0">And O that the darkling surge, when Hellê the maiden died,</p> -<p class="i0">Had whelmed down Phrixus too with the ram!—but a man’s voice cried</p> -<p class="i0">From the throat of the monster, the portent accurst, that so it might doom</p> -<p class="i0">For Alkimedê sorrow and griefs untold in the days to come.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So ’mid the moan of the women marched the heroes along. {260}</p> -<p class="i0">And by this were the thralls and the handmaids gathered in one great throng.</p> -<p class="i0">Then fell on his neck his mother, and sharply the anguish-thorn</p> -<p class="i0">Pierced each soft breast, the while his father, the eld-forlorn,</p> -<p class="i0">Close-swathed as a corpse on his bed, lay groaning and groaning again.</p> -<p class="i0">But the hero essayed to hush their laments and assuage their pain</p> -<p class="i0">With words of cheer, and he spake, ‘Take up my war-array,’</p> -<p class="i0">To the thralls, and with downcast eyes did these in silence obey.</p> -<p class="i0">But his mother, as round her child her arms at the first she had flung,</p> -<p class="i0">So clave she, and wept without stint: as the motherless maiden she clung,</p> -<p class="i0">Whose forlorn little arms clasp fondly her grey old nurse, when the tide {270}</p> -<p class="i0">Cometh up of her woe:—she hath no one to love her nor comfort beside;</p> -<p class="i0">And a weary lot is hers ’neath a stepdame’s tyrannous sway,</p> -<p class="i0">Who with bitter revilings evil-entreateth her youth alway:</p> -<p class="i0">And her heart as she waileth is cramped as by chains in her frenzied despair,</p> -<p class="i0">That she cannot sob forth the anguish that struggleth for utterance there:</p> -<p class="i0">So stintlessly wept Alkimedê, so in her arms did she strain</p> -<p class="i0">Her son; and she cried from the depths of her love and her yearning pain:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Oh, that on that same day when I, the affliction-oppressed,</p> -<p class="i0">Hearkened the voice of Pelias the king, and his evil behest,</p> -<p class="i0">I had yielded up the ghost, and forgotten to mourn and to weep, {280}</p> -<p class="i0">That thyself, that thine own dear hands, in the grave might have laid me to sleep,</p> -<p class="i0">O my beloved!—for this was the one wish unfulfilled:</p> -<p class="i0">But with other thy nursing-dues long had mine heart in contentment been stilled.</p> -<p class="i0">And I, of Achaia’s daughters the envied in days that are gone,</p> -<p class="i0">Like a bondwoman now in tenantless halls shall be left alone,</p> -<p class="i0">Pining, a hapless mother, in yearning for thee, my pride</p> -<p class="i0">And exceeding delight in the days overpast, for whom I untied</p> -<p class="i0">For the first time and last my zone; for to me beyond others the doom</p> -<p class="i0">Of the stern Birth-goddess begrudged abundant fruit of the womb.</p> -<p class="i0">Ah me for my blindness of heart!—not once, not in dreams, might I see {290}</p> -<p class="i0">The vision of Phrixus’ deliverance turned to a curse for me!’</p> - -<p class="i1">So mourned she, and ever she moaned amidst of her speech, and thereby</p> -<p class="i0">Stood her handmaids, and echoed her wail, an exceeding bitter cry.</p> -<p class="i0">But the hero with gentle words for her comfort made answer, and spake:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Fill me not thus overmeasure with anguish of soul for thy sake,</p> -<p class="i0">Mother mine, forasmuch as from evil thou shalt not redeem me so</p> -<p class="i0">By thy tears, but shalt add the rather woe unto weight of woe.</p> -<p class="i0">For the Gods mete out unto mortals afflictions unforeseen:</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore be strong to endure their doom, though thine anguish be keen.</p> -<p class="i0">Take comfort to think that Athênê hereunto our courage hath stirred: {300}</p> -<p class="i0">Remember the oracles: call to remembrance how good was the word</p> -<p class="i0">Of Phœbus: be glad for this hero-array for mine help that is come.</p> -<p class="i0">Now, mother, do thou with thine handmaids in quiet abide in thine home,</p> -<p class="i0">Neither be as a bird ill-omened to bode my ship ill-speed;</p> -<p class="i0">And escort of clansmen and thralls thy son to the galley shall lead.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he, and turned him, and forth of his halls his way hath he ta’en.</p> -<p class="i0">And as goeth Apollo forth of his incense-bearing fane,</p> -<p class="i0">Through Delos the hallowed, or Klaros, or Pytho the place of his shrine,</p> -<p class="i0">Or Lycia the wide, where the waters of Xanthus ripple and shine,</p> -<p class="i0">So seemed he, as onward he pressed through the throng, and a loud acclaim {310}</p> -<p class="i0">Of their mingled cheering arose. And there met him an ancient dame,</p> -<p class="i0">Iphias, priestess of Artemis warder of tower and wall.</p> -<p class="i0">At his right hand caught she, and kissed it, but spake no word at all,</p> -<p class="i0">For she could not, how fain soe’er, so pressed the multitude on;</p> -<p class="i0">And she drifted away to the fringe of the crowd, and was left alone,</p> -<p class="i0">As the old be left by the young: and he passed on afar, and was gone.</p> - -<p class="i1">So when he had left the streets of the city builded fair,</p> -<p class="i0">To the beach Pagasaean he came, and his comrades hailed him there</p> -<p class="i0">In a throng abiding beside the Argo ship as she lay</p> -<p class="i0">By the river’s mouth, and overagainst her gathered they. {320}</p> -<p class="i0">And they looked, and behold, Adrastus and Argus hasting amain</p> -<p class="i0">Thitherward from the city, and sorely they marvelled, beholding the twain</p> -<p class="i0">Despite the purpose of Pelias thitherward hurrying fast.</p> -<p class="i0">On his shoulders a bull’s hide Argus the son of Arestor had cast,</p> -<p class="i0">Great, dark with the fell; but the prince in a mantle fair was arrayed,</p> -<p class="i0">Twofold: Pelopeia his sister the gift in his hand had laid.</p> -<p class="i0">Howbeit Jason forbare to ask them of this or of that;</p> -<p class="i0">But he bade them for council sit them down where the others sat.</p> -<p class="i0">So there upon folded sails, and the mast as it lay along,</p> -<p class="i0">Row upon row were the heroes sitting all in a throng; {330}</p> -<p class="i0">And to these of his heart’s good will the son of Aison spake:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘What things soever it needeth that sea-bound galleys should take,</p> -<p class="i0">All this ready dight for our going lieth in seemly array.</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore for these things’ sake will we make no longer delay</p> -<p class="i0">From our sailing, so soon as the breezes but blow for the voyage begun.</p> -<p class="i0">But, friends—since in hope for the home-return to our land we be one,</p> -<p class="i0">And one in the way we must take to Aiêtes, the path of the Quest,</p> -<p class="i0">Therefore do ye now choose with hearts ungrudging our best</p> -<p class="i0">To be chief and captain, to order all our goings aright,</p> -<p class="i0">To take on him our quarrels with aliens, and pledge our covenant-plight.’ {340}</p> - -<p class="i1">He spake, and the youths upon valiant Herakles turned their eyes,</p> -<p class="i0">As he sat in their midst, and from all the heroes did one shout rise,</p> -<p class="i0">Crying ‘Our captain be thou!’—but not from his place he stirred;</p> -<p class="i0">But he stretched his right hand forth, and he answered and spake the word:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Let no man offer this honour to me: I will nowise consent;</p> -<p class="i0">And if any man else would arise, I will also withstand his intent.</p> -<p class="i0">The selfsame man who assembled our band, let him too lead.’</p> - -<p class="i1">He spake in his greatness of soul, and they shouted, praising the rede</p> -<p class="i0">Of Herakles: then did Jason the warrior wight rejoice;</p> -<p class="i0">And he sprang to his feet, and he spake in their midst with eager voice: {350}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘If indeed ye be minded on me this glorious charge to cast,</p> -<p class="i0">Let our voyaging tarry no more; suffice the delays overpast.</p> -<p class="i0">But now, even now, let us offer to Phœbus the sacrifice meet,</p> -<p class="i0">And prepare us a feast even here; and, while yet tarry the feet</p> -<p class="i0">Of my thralls, overseers of my steading, which bear in charge my command</p> -<p class="i0">Fitly to choose for us beasts from the herd, and to drive to the strand,</p> -<p class="i0">We will launch on the sea our ship, we will set up her tackling therein,</p> -<p class="i0">And thwart by thwart cast lots for the place each oarsman shall win.</p> -<p class="i0">To Apollo, the Seafarers’ Saviour, uppile we then on the beach</p> -<p class="i0">An altar; for whatso I needs must do hath he promised to teach, {360}</p> -<p class="i0">And to show us the paths of the sea, if first with sacrifice</p> -<p class="i0">I seek unto him, or ever I strive with the king for the prize.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he, and turned him first to the work; and, his call to obey,</p> -<p class="i0">The heroes arose, and their garments row upon row heaped they</p> -<p class="i0">On a smooth rock-shelf: the waves of the sea beat not thereon;</p> -<p class="i0">But the dash of the stormy brine had cleansed it long agone.</p> -<p class="i0">Then, giving heed to the counsels of Argus, stoutly they braced</p> -<p class="i0">The ship with a hawser deftly twisted that girded her waist;</p> -<p class="i0">For they strained it from side to side, that the beams to the bolts might hold</p> -<p class="i0">Fast, and withstand the might of the meeting surge on-rolled. {370}</p> -<p class="i0">And a trench, in compass as great as the width of the galley, they delved;</p> -<p class="i0">And overagainst her prow to the sea so far it shelved</p> -<p class="i0">As the space that the hull should run, by the might of their hands on-sped:</p> -<p class="i0">And deepening ever afront of her stern they scooped that bed.</p> -<p class="i0">And smoothly-shaven rollers they laid in the furrow arow.</p> -<p class="i0">Then down on the foremost rollers slowly they tilted her prow,</p> -<p class="i0">That adown them one after other with one smooth rush she might slide.</p> -<p class="i0">Thereafter above did they pass the oars from side to side;</p> -<p class="i0">To the tholes did they lash them, outstanding a cubit on either hand;</p> -<p class="i0">And to right of the ship and to left at these did they take their stand; {380}</p> -<p class="i0">And with chest and with hands against them they bare, and to and fro</p> -<p class="i0">Went Tiphys the while, to shout in the season the yo-heave-ho.</p> -<p class="i0">Then gave he the word with a mighty shout, and the youths forthright</p> -<p class="i0">Drave her with one rush down, as they thrust with their uttermost might,</p> -<p class="i0">From her berth in the sand, as with feet hard-straining strongly they stept</p> -<p class="i0">Forcing her forward, and Pelian Argo seaward swept</p> -<p class="i0">Full swiftly, and shouted they all, as to right and to left they leapt.</p> -<p class="i0">And under the massy keel’s heavy grinding groaned aloud</p> -<p class="i0">The rollers, and spirted about them the smoke in a dusky cloud</p> -<p class="i0">’Neath the crushing weight: and into the sea she slid, and her crew {390}</p> -<p class="i0">Back with the hawsers warped her, and stayed her as onward she flew.</p> -<p class="i0">Then the oars to the tholes they fitted on either side, and the mast</p> -<p class="i0">And the well-fashioned sails, and the tackling withal, therein they cast.</p> - -<p class="i1">But soon as with diligent heed they had ordered all things so,</p> -<p class="i0">First cast they the lots for the thwarts whereat each man should row,</p> -<p class="i0">Allotting one unto two men still; but the midmost thwart</p> -<p class="i0">For Herakles chose they first, from the rest of the heroes apart;</p> -<p class="i0">And Ankaius the dweller in Tegea-town for his fellow they chose.</p> -<p class="i0">So the midmost place of the benches they left unchallenged to those,</p> -<p class="i0">Neither cast for them lots; and with one consent of the voices of them {400}</p> -<p class="i0">Unto Tiphys was given the helm of the galley of goodly stem.</p> - -<p class="i1">Then did they heap of the stones of the shingle, and, nigh at hand</p> -<p class="i0">To the sea, an altar they reared to Apollo the Lord of the Strand,</p> -<p class="i0">Who is called the Lord of the farers a-shipboard withal, and in haste</p> -<p class="i0">Billets of olive-wood sapless and dry thereon they placed.</p> -<p class="i0">And by this were the herdmen of Aison’s son drawn nigh thereto</p> -<p class="i0">Bringing oxen twain from the herd; and these the young men drew</p> -<p class="i0">And set them beside the altar; and others stood thereby</p> -<p class="i0">With the water of sacrifice and the meal. And now drew nigh</p> -<p class="i0">Jason, and unto Apollo his fathers’ god did he cry: {410}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Hearken, O King, who in Pagasae dwellest, whose fair halls be</p> -<p class="i0">In the city Aisonian, named of my sire, who didst promise to me,</p> -<p class="i0">When I sought unto thee at Pytho, to point me my journey’s goal</p> -<p class="i0">And fulfilment; for thou, even thou, to the emprise didst kindle my soul.</p> -<p class="i0">Now therefore my ship with my comrades safe and sound bring thou</p> -<p class="i0">Thither, and back unto Hellas again: and to thee do we vow,</p> -<p class="i0">For as many of us as shall win safe home, on thine altar to lay</p> -<p class="i0">Burnt offerings so many of goodly bulls: therewithal will I pay</p> -<p class="i0">At Pytho thy shrine, and Ortygia, other gifts beyond price.</p> -<p class="i0">Come then, Far-smiter, accept at our hands this sacrifice, {420}</p> -<p class="i0">Which now, at our going abroad, for the sake of this our ship</p> -<p class="i0">We offer, our first of all: and with prosperous weird may I slip</p> -<p class="i0">The hawsers, by thy devising: and soft bid blow the breeze</p> -<p class="i0">Whereby we may fare on ever through calm of summer seas.’</p> - -<p class="i1">With the prayer then cast he the meal: and now for the slaughtering these</p> -<p class="i0">Girded themselves, Ankaius the mighty, and Herakles.</p> -<p class="i0">And this with his club on the forehead smote the steer mid-head;</p> -<p class="i0">And heavily all in a heap to the earth it dropped down dead.</p> -<p class="i0">And Ankaius hewed with his brazen axe at the second steer</p> -<p class="i0">On the broad neck: clean through the sinews strong thereof did it shear; {430}</p> -<p class="i0">And there on the earth, with horns doubled under its chest, it lay.</p> -<p class="i0">And swiftly their comrades severed the throats, and the skins did they flay,</p> -<p class="i0">And they sundered the joints, and they carved, and the sacred thighs they cut out,</p> -<p class="i0">And they laid them together, and closely with fat they wrapped them about,</p> -<p class="i0">And burnt on the cloven wood: drink-offerings unmingled of wine</p> -<p class="i0">Poured Aison’s son; and Idmon rejoiced, beholding shine</p> -<p class="i0">The splendour that gleamed all round from the sacrifice and the smoke,</p> -<p class="i0">As forth for an omen of good in wavering wreaths it broke.</p> -<p class="i0">And the purpose of Leto’s son, nothing doubting, straightway he spoke:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘For you ’tis ordained of the doom of the Gods and of each man’s fate {440}</p> -<p class="i0">Hither to win with the Fleece; but meanwhile lie in wait</p> -<p class="i0">Toils without number, as thither ye fare, and as backward ye hie.</p> -<p class="i0">But for me by the hateful doom of a God is it fated to die</p> -<p class="i0">Far hence, I know not where, on the Asian mainland shore.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, this is my doom: by birds evil-boding I knew it before;</p> -<p class="i0">Yet from my fatherland went I: to sail in your galley I came,</p> -<p class="i0">That so to mine house might be left the renown of a hero’s name.’</p> - -<p class="i1">He spake, and the young men, hearing the words of the prophet, were glad</p> -<p class="i0">For their home-return, but for Idmon’s doom were their hearts made sad.</p> -<p class="i0">And so, at the hour when the sun from his noon-halt sinketh adown, {450}</p> -<p class="i0">And over the harvest-lands the long rock-shadows are thrown,</p> -<p class="i0">As the sun to the eventide dusk slow-slideth aslant from the sky,</p> -<p class="i0">Even then did the heroes all on the sands of the beach pile high</p> -<p class="i0">A couch of the wildwood leaves, and in front of the surf-line hoar</p> -<p class="i0">Row upon row lay down, and beside them was measureless store</p> -<p class="i0">Of meats, and of sweet strong wine which the cupbearers poured for them out</p> -<p class="i0">From the pitchers: thereafter they told, as each man’s turn came about,</p> -<p class="i0">Story and legend, as young men oft at the feast and the bowl</p> -<p class="i0">Will take their delight, when insatiate violence is far from their soul.</p> -<p class="i0">But there was Aison’s son, as a man in a nightmare dream, {460}</p> -<p class="i0">Struggling with deep dark thoughts, and as one distraught did he seem;</p> -<p class="i0">And Idas marked him askance, and he shouted in scoffing tone:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘What thoughts to and fro in thine heart art thou turning, thou Aison’s son?</p> -<p class="i0">Speak out in our midst thy mind! Hath fear in thy spirit awoke</p> -<p class="i0">Overmastering thee—that thing which dazeth dastard folk?</p> -<p class="i0">Be witness my furious spear, wherewithal beyond others I win</p> -<p class="i0">Renown in the wars—nor is Zeus so present a helper therein,</p> -<p class="i0">Nor so mighty to save as my spear—that on thee no deadly bane</p> -<p class="i0">Shall light, nor shall any strife of thine hands be striven in vain,</p> -<p class="i0">While Idas attendeth thee, not though against thee a God should arise. {470}</p> -<p class="i0">Such a helper is this thou hast won from Arênê for thine emprise.’</p> - -<p class="i1">He spake, and the brimming beaker with both hands lifted he up,</p> -<p class="i0">And the strong wine drank unmingled, and dashed with the dew of the cup</p> -<p class="i0">Were his lips and his swarthy cheeks: but a startled clamour broke</p> -<p class="i0">From all together; and openly Idmon rebuked him, and spoke:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Beshrew thee!—thy thoughts thus soon to thyself are deadly and fell!</p> -<p class="i0">Hath the strong wine caused thy reckless heart for thy ruin to swell</p> -<p class="i0">In thy breast, and eggeth thee on to set the Gods at nought?</p> -<p class="i0">Other words of comfort there be wherewithal a man might have sought</p> -<p class="i0">To hearten his friend; but thy words were wholly presumptuous-bold! {480}</p> -<p class="i0">So blustered, as telleth the tale, against the Blessèd of old</p> -<p class="i0">The sons of Alôeus: and thou—thou art nothing so mighty as they</p> -<p class="i0">In manhood: yet both did the swift shafts overmaster and slay</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Son of Latona, though giants they were and passing strong.’</p> - -<p class="i1">Then Aphareus’ son brake forth into laughter loud and long,</p> -<p class="i0">And blinking upon him in drunken wise flung back the jeer:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Come now, by thy deep divination reveal unto me, thou seer,</p> -<p class="i0">If the Gods for me also be bringing to pass such doom as that</p> -<p class="i0">Which was dealt of that father of thine to the sons that Alôeus begat.</p> -<p class="i0">And bethink thee how thou shalt escape from mine hands alive, if we find {490}</p> -<p class="i0">Thee guilty of boding a prophecy vain as the idle wind!’</p> - -<p class="i1">Wrathfuller waxed he in railing: and now had the strife run high,</p> -<p class="i0">But amidst of their wrangling their comrades with loud indignant cry,</p> -<p class="i0">With Aison’s son, restrained them:—and lo, with his lyre upheld</p> -<p class="i0">In his left hand, Orpheus arose, and the fountain of song upwelled.</p> - -<p class="i1">And he sang how in the beginning the earth and the heaven and the sea</p> -<p class="i0">In the selfsame form were blended together in unity,</p> -<p class="i0">And how baleful contention each from other asunder tore;</p> -<p class="i0">And he sang of the goal of the course in the firmament fixed evermore</p> -<p class="i0">For the stars and the moon, and the printless paths of the journeying sun, {500}</p> -<p class="i0">And how the mountains arose, how rivers that babbling run,</p> -<p class="i0">They and their Nymphs, were born, and whatso moveth on Earth;</p> -<p class="i0">And he sang how Ophion at first, and Eurynomê, Ocean’s birth,</p> -<p class="i0">In lordship of all things sat on Olympus’ snow-crowned height;</p> -<p class="i0">And how Ophion must yield unto Kronos’ hands and his might,</p> -<p class="i0">And she unto Rhea, and into the Ocean’s waves plunged they.</p> -<p class="i0">O’er the blessed Titan-gods these twain for a space held sway,</p> -<p class="i0">While Zeus as yet was a child, while yet as a child he thought,</p> -<p class="i0">And dwelt in the cave Dictaean, while yet the time was not</p> -<p class="i0">When the Earth-born Cyclops the thunderbolt’s strength to his hands should give, {510}</p> -<p class="i0">Even thunder and lightning: by these doth Zeus his glory receive.</p> - -<p class="i1">Low murmured the lyre, and slept, and the voice divine was still:</p> -<p class="i0">But moveless the heads of them all are bending forward, and thrill</p> -<p class="i0">Their eager-listening ears, through the hush as they strain, in thrall</p> -<p class="i0">To the spell; such wondrous glamour the song hath cast over all.</p> -<p class="i0">And a little thereafter they mingled, even as is meet and right,</p> -<p class="i0">The wine, and poured on the tongues where the altar-fires blazed bright.</p> -<p class="i0">Then turned they to sleep, and around them were folded the wings of the night.</p> - -<p class="i1">But when radiant Dawn with her flashing eyes on the steeps looked down</p> -<p class="i0">Of Pelion’s crests, and, washed by the wind, the forelands that frown {520}</p> -<p class="i0">Over the tossing sea rose sharp and clear to view,</p> -<p class="i0">Then Tiphys awoke, and he hasted the Argo’s hero-crew</p> -<p class="i0">To hie them aboard, and to range the oars in order due.</p> -<p class="i0">And a weird dread cry from the haven of Pagasae rang to them; yea,</p> -<p class="i0">From Pelian Argo herself came a voice, bidding hasten away:</p> -<p class="i0">For within her a beam divine had been laid, which Athênê brought</p> -<p class="i0">From the oak Dodonaean, and into the midst of her stem was it wrought.</p> -<p class="i0">So the heroes went up to the thwarts, and twain after twain arow,</p> -<p class="i0">Even as fell the places by lot but a little ago,</p> -<p class="i0">Orderly ranged sat down, and by each was his harness of fight. {530}</p> -<p class="i0">On the midmost Ankaius, and next him Herakles’ giant might</p> -<p class="i0">Sat, and beside him he laid his club; and the keel of the ship</p> -<p class="i0">Under his massy tread plunged deep. And now did they slip</p> -<p class="i0">The hawsers, and poured on the sea the wine. Tear-dimmed that day</p> -<p class="i0">Were Jason’s eyes, from the fatherland-home as he turned them away.</p> -<p class="i0">And these—as the youths that in Pytho begin unto Phœbus the dance,</p> -<p class="i0">In Ortygia, or there where Ismenus’ ripples in sunlight glance,</p> -<p class="i0">Hand in hand to the notes of the lyre his altar around</p> -<p class="i0">With rhythmical fall of the feet swift-circling beat the ground,—</p> -<p class="i0">So smote with the oars, by the lyre of Orpheus timing the stroke, {540}</p> -<p class="i0">The sea’s wild water, and over the blades the surges broke.</p> -<p class="i0">And on this side and that with the foam the dark brine seething flashed;</p> -<p class="i0">Like muttered thunder it sounded by strokes of the mighty updashed.</p> -<p class="i0">And glanced in the sun like flame, as the ship winged onward her flight,</p> -<p class="i0">Their armour: the wake far-weltering ever behind gleamed white,</p> -<p class="i0">As an oft-trodden path through a grassy plain lieth clear in sight.</p> -<p class="i0">And all the Gods that day from the height of the heaven looked down</p> -<p class="i0">On the ship, and the might of the demigod heroes, the men of renown,</p> -<p class="i0">Sailing the sea; and afar on the crests of the hill-tops lone</p> -<p class="i0">The Maids of the Mountain, the Pelian Nymphs, in amaze looked on {550}</p> -<p class="i0">At the work of Athênê Itônis, the heroes’ goodly array,</p> -<p class="i0">As the ashen blades in their hands kept time with measured sway.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, and there came one down from the mountain’s height to the shore,</p> -<p class="i0">Even Cheiron, Philyra’s son, and plashed the surf-wash hoar</p> -<p class="i0">On his feet, as his broad hand waving many a farewell sent,</p> -<p class="i0">And he shouted, ‘Good speed, and a sorrowless home-return!’ as they went.</p> -<p class="i0">And there was his wife, with Peleus’ babe in her arms held high,</p> -<p class="i0">Achilles, waving a greeting as sped his sire thereby.</p> - -<p class="i1">So when they had rounded the headland, and left the haven behind</p> -<p class="i0">By the cunning and wisdom of Hagnias’ son the prudent of mind,— {560}</p> -<p class="i0">Even of Tiphys, who swayed in the master-craftsman’s grip</p> -<p class="i0">The helm smooth-shaven, to guide unswerving the course of the ship,—</p> -<p class="i0">Then set they up in the centre-block the towering mast,</p> -<p class="i0">And on either hand strained taut the stays, and they lashed them fast;</p> -<p class="i0">And the sail they unfurled therefrom, from the yard-arm spreading it wide.</p> -<p class="i0">And a breeze shrill-piping upsprang, and the sheets upon either side</p> -<p class="i0">O’er the polished pins on the deck then cast they in order meet;</p> -<p class="i0">And past the long Tisaian ness did they restfully fleet.</p> -<p class="i0">And Orpheus, in song whose rhythmical cadence kept time to the lyre,</p> -<p class="i0">Sang of the Saviour of Ships, the Child of the Glorious Sire, {570}</p> -<p class="i0">Artemis, she that hath those crags of the sea in her keeping,</p> -<p class="i0">The Lady that wardeth Iolkos-land. And the fishes leaping</p> -<p class="i0">Up from the deep sea came, and, drawn by the spell of the lay,</p> -<p class="i0">Both small and great followed gambolling over the watery way.</p> -<p class="i0">And as when in the track of a shepherd, the warder of flocks on the wold,</p> -<p class="i0">Follow sheep that have fed to the full of the grass, a throng untold,</p> -<p class="i0">And he goeth before with his shrill reed piping them home to the fold,</p> -<p class="i0">As sweetly he fluteth a shepherd’s strain,—so over the seas</p> -<p class="i0">Followed the fishes: on wafted her ever the chasing breeze.</p> - -<p class="i1">And ere long melting in haze the Pelasgians’ land of corn {580}</p> -<p class="i0">Sank out of sight; and past Mount Pelion’s cliffs were they borne</p> -<p class="i0">Aye running onward; and sank in the offing the Sepian strand,</p> -<p class="i0">And sea-girt Skiathos rose, and a far-away gleam of sand,</p> -<p class="i0">The Peiresian beach and Magnesian, clear in the summer air</p> -<p class="i0">On the mainland; and lo, the barrow of Dolops: at eventide there</p> -<p class="i0">Beached they the ship, for against them the veering breeze had turned.</p> -<p class="i0">And they honoured the dead, and victims of sheep in the gloaming they burned,</p> -<p class="i0">While the sea-surge stormily tossed. Two days to and fro on the shore</p> -<p class="i0">They loitered, but ran on the third their galley asea once more;</p> -<p class="i0">And the broad sail spread they on high, and the keel from the strand shot away: {590}</p> -<p class="i0">Men call it ‘The Launching of Argo’—Aphetai—unto this day.</p> - -<p class="i1">Onward they ran, ever onward: they left Meliboia behind;</p> -<p class="i0">They caught but a glimpse of the foam-flecked beach of the stormy wind:</p> -<p class="i0">And with dawning on Homolê looked they, and lo, it was looming anigh;</p> -<p class="i0">Broad-couched on the breast of the waters it lay as they passed it by.</p> -<p class="i0">Thereafter full soon by the outfall of Amyrus’ flood must they fly.</p> -<p class="i0">Eurymenê then, and the surf-tormented gorges they spied</p> -<p class="i0">Of Olympus’ and Ossa’s seaward face: wind-wafted they ride</p> -<p class="i0">By the slopes of Pallênê; beyond Kanastra’s foreland-height</p> -<p class="i0">They passed, running lightly before the breath of the breeze in the night. {600}</p> -<p class="i0">And before them at dawn on-speeding the pillar of Athos rose,</p> -<p class="i0">The Thracian mountain: its topmost peak’s dark shadow it throws</p> -<p class="i0">Far as a merchantman goodly-rigged in a day might win,</p> -<p class="i0">Even to Lemnos’ isle, and the city Myrinê therein.</p> -<p class="i0">And the wind blew all that day till the folds of the darkness fell,</p> -<p class="i0">Blew ever fresh, and the sail strained over the broad sea-swell.</p> -<p class="i0">Howbeit the wind’s breath failed them at going down of the sun:</p> -<p class="i0">So to Lemnos the craggy, the Sintian isle, by rowing they won.</p> - -<p class="i1">There all the men of the nation together pitilessly</p> -<p class="i0">By the violent hands of the women were slain in the year gone by; {610}</p> -<p class="i0">Forasmuch as the hearts of the men from their lawful wives had turned,</p> -<p class="i0">And in love for their captive handmaids with baleful passion they burned,</p> -<p class="i0">Maids that themselves from the Thracian land in foray had brought</p> -<p class="i0">Oversea:—’twas the wrath of the Cyprian Queen that curse had wrought,</p> -<p class="i0">Because that for long they had left her unhonoured by sacrifice:—</p> -<p class="i0">Ah hapless, whose hungering jealousy craved that woeful price!</p> -<p class="i0">For not with the captives their husbands alone for the sin did they slay,</p> -<p class="i0">But every male therewithal, lest perchance in the coming day</p> -<p class="i0">Out of these might arise an avenger for that grim murder’s sake.</p> -<p class="i0">In one alone for an aged sire did compassion awake, {620}</p> -<p class="i0">Hypsipylê, daughter of Thoas, the king of the folk of the land.</p> -<p class="i0">In an ark did she send him to drift o’er the sea from the murder-strand,</p> -<p class="i0">If he haply might ’scape. And fisher-folk saved him and brought to the isle</p> -<p class="i0">Which men call Sikinus now, but Oinoë named it erewhile;</p> -<p class="i0">For from Sikinus folk renamed it, the child whom the Maid of the Spring,</p> -<p class="i0">Oinoë, bare, when she couched in love with Thoas the king.</p> - -<p class="i1">So it came to pass that for these to tend the kine, and to wear</p> -<p class="i0">War-harness of brass, and to furrow the wheat-bearing land with the share,</p> -<p class="i0">In the eyes of them all seemed task more light than Athênê’s toil</p> -<p class="i0">Wherewithal were their hands aforetime busy: yet all the while {630}</p> -<p class="i0">Across the broad sea ever they cast and anon their eyes</p> -<p class="i0">With a haunting fear lest the Thracian sails in the offing should rise.</p> - -<p class="i1">So when they beheld the Argo’s oars flashing down to their coast,</p> -<p class="i0">Forth from the gates of Myrinê straightway in one great host</p> -<p class="i0">Clad in their harness of battle down to the beach they poured</p> -<p class="i0">Like unto ravening Thyiads: they weened that the Thracian horde</p> -<p class="i0">Were come: and there was Hypsipylê clad in the war-array</p> -<p class="i0">Of Thoas her father: and all these speechless with wildered dismay</p> -<p class="i0">Streamed down,—such panic was wafted about them all that day.</p> - -<p class="i1">But forth of the galley the while had the chieftains sent to the shore {640}</p> -<p class="i0">Aithalides, their herald swift, the man who bore</p> -<p class="i0">Charge of their messages, yea, and the wand they committed to him</p> -<p class="i0">Of Hermes his sire, who had given him memory never made dim</p> -<p class="i0">Of all things:—yea, nor forgetfulness swept even now o’er his soul</p> -<p class="i0">Of long-left Acheron’s flow, where the torrents unspeakable roll.</p> -<p class="i0">For the doom of his spirit is fixed, to and fro evermore is it swept,</p> -<p class="i0">Now numbered with ghosts underground, now back to the light hath it leapt,</p> -<p class="i0">To the beams of the sun among living men:—but why should I tell</p> -<p class="i0">The story of Aithalides that all men know full well?</p> -<p class="i0">Of him was Hypsipylê won to receive that sea-borne array {650}</p> -<p class="i0">As waned the day to the gloaming: yet not with the new-born day</p> -<p class="i0">Unmoored they the ship for the North-wind’s breathing to waft away.</p> - -<p class="i1">Through the city the daughters of Lemnos into the folkmote pressed,</p> -<p class="i0">And there sat down, as Hypsipylê’s self sent forth her behest.</p> -<p class="i0">So when they were gathered in one great throng to the market-stead,</p> -<p class="i0">For their counselling straightway she rose in the midst of them all, and she said:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Friends, now, an ye will, good store of gifts to the men give we,</p> -<p class="i0">Even such as is meet that the farers a-shipboard should bear oversea,</p> -<p class="i0">Even meats and the sweet strong wine, that without our towers so</p> -<p class="i0">They may bide, nor for need’s sake passing amidst of us to and fro {660}</p> -<p class="i0">May know of us all too well, and our evil report shall go</p> -<p class="i0">Afar, for a terrible deed have we wrought, and in no wise, I trow,</p> -<p class="i0">Good in their sight shall it seem, if they haply shall hear the tale.</p> -<p class="i0">Lo, this is our counsel, and this, meseemeth, best shall avail.</p> -<p class="i0">But if any amidst you hath counsel that better shall serve our need</p> -<p class="i0">Let her rise; for to this have I summoned you, even the giving of rede.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she, and sat her down on the ancient chair of stone</p> -<p class="i0">That of old was her sire’s, and Polyxo her nurse uprose thereupon.</p> -<p class="i0">On her wrinkle-shrivelled feet she halted for very eld</p> -<p class="i0">Bowed over a staff; but with longing for speech the heart in her swelled. {670}</p> -<p class="i0">And hard by her side were there sitting ancient maidens four,</p> -<p class="i0">Virgins, whose heads with the thin white hair were silvered o’er.</p> -<p class="i0">And amidst of the folkmote stood she, and up from her crook-bowed back</p> -<p class="i0">Feebly a little she lifted her neck, and in this wise spake:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Gifts, even as unto the lady Hypsipylê seemeth meet,</p> -<p class="i0">Send we to the strangers, for thus were it better their coming to greet.</p> -<p class="i0">But you—by what art or device shall ye save your souls alive</p> -<p class="i0">If a Thracian host burst on you, or cometh in battle to strive</p> -<p class="i0">Some other foe?—there be many such chances to men that befall,</p> -<p class="i0">Even as now yon array cometh unforeseen of us all. {680}</p> -<p class="i0">But if one of the Blessèd should turn this affliction away, there remain</p> -<p class="i0">Countless afflictions beside, far worse than the battle’s strain.</p> -<p class="i0">For when through the gates of the grave the older women have passed,</p> -<p class="i0">And childless the younger have won to a joyless eld at the last,</p> -<p class="i0">How then will ye live, O hapless?—what, will the beasts freewilled</p> -<p class="i0">On their own necks cast the yoke, to the end that your lands may be tilled?</p> -<p class="i0">And the furrow-sundering share will they drag through the heavy loam?</p> -<p class="i0">And, as rolleth the year round, straight will they bring you the harvest home?</p> -<p class="i0">Now, albeit from me the Fates still shrink as in loathing and fear,</p> -<p class="i0">Yet surely on me, when the feet draw nigh of another year, {690}</p> -<p class="i0">The earth shall lie, when the burial rites have been rendered to me,</p> -<p class="i0">Even as is due, and the evil days I shall not see.</p> -<p class="i0">But for you which be younger, I counsel you, give good heed unto this,</p> -<p class="i0">For that now at your feet an open way of deliverance there is,</p> -<p class="i0">If ye will but commit your dwellings and all your spoil to the guard</p> -<p class="i0">Of the strangers, yea, and your goodly city for these to ward.’</p> - -<p class="i1">She spake, and with clamour the folkmote was filled, for good in their eyes</p> -<p class="i0">Was the word, and straightway thereafter again did Hypsipylê rise,</p> -<p class="i0">And her voice pealed over the multitude, stilling the mingled cries:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘If in sooth in the sight of you all well-pleasing is this same rede, {700}</p> -<p class="i0">Unto the ship straightway a messenger hence will I speed.’</p> - -<p class="i1">To Iphinoê which waited beside her spake she her hest:</p> -<p class="i0">‘Up, Iphinoê, and to yonder man bear this my request,</p> -<p class="i0">That he come to our town, even he who is chief of the strangers’ array,</p> -<p class="i0">For the word that pleaseth the heart of my people to him would I say.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, and his fellows bid thou to light in friendship down</p> -<p class="i0">On our shore, if they will, and to enter undismayed our town.’</p> - -<p class="i1">She spake, and dismissed the assembly, and homeward she wended her way;</p> -<p class="i0">But Iphinoê to the Minyans went; and they bade her say</p> -<p class="i0">What was the mind wherewithal she was come, and what her need. {710}</p> -<p class="i0">And straightway she told them the words of her message with eager speed:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘The daughter of Thoas, Hypsipylê, sent me hither away</p> -<p class="i0">To summon the lord of your ship, and the captain of your array,</p> -<p class="i0">That the will of her folk she may tell him, their heart’s desire this day.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, and his fellows she biddeth to light in friendship down</p> -<p class="i0">On our shore, if they will, and to enter undismayed our town.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she, and fair in the sight of them all was the word that she said;</p> -<p class="i0">For they deemed that Hypsipylê reigned in the room of Thoas dead,</p> -<p class="i0">His daughter, his well-beloved; and they hasted Jason to meet</p> -<p class="i0">The island-queen, and they dight them to follow their captain’s feet. {720}</p> - -<p class="i1">Then he flung o’er his shoulders the web by the Goddess Itonian wrought;</p> -<p class="i0">In the clasp of a brooch were the folds of the purple of Pallas caught,</p> -<p class="i0">Which she gave, when for Argo’s building the keel-props first she dight,</p> -<p class="i0">And taught him with rule of the shipwright to measure her timbers aright.</p> -<p class="i0">More easy it were in sooth on the sun at his rising to gaze</p> -<p class="i0">Than to fasten thine eyes on the flush of its glory, its splendour-blaze.</p> -<p class="i0">For the fashion thereof in the midst was fiery crimson glow,</p> -<p class="i0">And the top was of purple throughout; and above on the marge and below</p> -<p class="i0">Picture by picture did many a broidered marvel show.</p> - -<p class="i1">For therein were the Cyclopes bowed o’er their work that perisheth not, {730}</p> -<p class="i0">Forging the levin of Zeus the King, and so far was it wrought</p> -<p class="i0">In its fiery splendour, that yet of its flashes there lacked but one:</p> -<p class="i0">And the giant smiths with their sledges of iron were smiting thereon;</p> -<p class="i0">While forth of it spurts as of flaming breath ever leapt and anon.</p> - -<p class="i1">And there were the sons of Asôpus’ daughter Antiopê set,</p> -<p class="i0">Amphion and Zethus: and Thêbê, with towers ungirded as yet,</p> -<p class="i0">Stood nigh them; and lo, the foundations thereof were they laying but now</p> -<p class="i0">In fierce haste. Zethus had heaved a craggy mountain’s brow</p> -<p class="i0">On his shoulders: as one hard straining in toil did the image appear.</p> -<p class="i0">And Amphion the while to his golden lyre sang loud and clear, {740}</p> -<p class="i0">On-pacing; and twice so great was the rock that followed anear.</p> - -<p class="i1">And next Kythereia with tresses heavily drooping was shown;</p> -<p class="i0">And the buckler of onset of Arês she bare: from her shoulder the zone</p> -<p class="i0">Of her tunic over her left arm fell with a careless grace</p> -<p class="i0">Low over her breast; and ever she seemed on the shield to gaze,</p> -<p class="i0">On the face that out of its brazen mirror smiled to her face.</p> - -<p class="i1">And therein was a herd of shaggy kine; for the winning thereof</p> -<p class="i0">Elektryon’s sons and Teleboan raiders in battle strove:</p> -<p class="i0">For these were defending their own; but the Taphian rovers were fain</p> -<p class="i0">To rob them; and drenched was the dewy meadow with that red rain. {750}</p> -<p class="i0">But with that overmastering host were the herdmen striving in vain.</p> - -<p class="i1">And therein had been fashioned chariots twain in the race that sped.</p> -<p class="i0">And Pelops was guiding the car that afront in the contest fled;</p> -<p class="i0">And Hippodameia beside him rode that fateful race.</p> -<p class="i0">And rushing behind him Myrtilus scourging his steeds gave chase;</p> -<p class="i0">And Oinomaus with him had couched his lance with a murderous face.</p> -<p class="i0">But, as snapt at the nave the axle, aslant was he falling in dust,</p> -<p class="i0">Even as at Pelops’ back he was aiming the treacherous thrust.</p> - -<p class="i1">And therein was Phœbus Apollo, a slender stripling yet,</p> -<p class="i0">Shooting at him who the ravisher’s hand to the veil had set {760}</p> -<p class="i0">Of his mother, at Tityos the giant, whom Elarê bare; but the Earth</p> -<p class="i0">Nursed him, and hid in her womb, and gave to him second birth.</p> - -<p class="i1">And Phrixus the Minyan was there; and it seemed that unto the ram</p> -<p class="i0">He verily hearkened; it seemed that a voice from the gold-fleeced came.</p> -<p class="i0">Thou wert hushed to behold them—wouldst cheat thy soul with the hope that perchance</p> -<p class="i0">Forth of the lifeless lips would break the utterance</p> -<p class="i0">Of speech—ay, long wouldst thou gaze in expectation’s trance.</p> - -<p class="i1">Such was the gift of Athênê, the Goddess Itonian’s toil.</p> -<p class="i0">And a lance far-leaping he grasped in his right hand, given erewhile</p> -<p class="i0">Of the maid Atalanta on Mainalus’ height for the pledge of a friend. {770}</p> -<p class="i0">Gladly she met him, for sorely her soul desired to wend</p> -<p class="i0">On the Quest: howbeit the hero himself withheld the maid,</p> -<p class="i0">For the peril of bitter strife for her love’s sake made him afraid.</p> - -<p class="i1">So he hied him to go to the town, as the radiant star to behold</p> -<p class="i0">Which a maid, as she draweth her newly-woven curtain’s fold,</p> -<p class="i0">Beholdeth, as over her dwelling upward it floateth fair;</p> -<p class="i0">And it charmeth her eyes, flashing out of the depths of the darkling air</p> -<p class="i0">Flushed with a crimson glory: the maid’s heart leapeth then</p> -<p class="i0">Lovesick for the youth who is far away amid alien men,</p> -<p class="i0">Her betrothed, unto whom her parents shall wed her on some glad day: {780}</p> -<p class="i0">So as a star was the hero treading the cityward way.</p> - -<p class="i1">So when he had passed through the gates, and within the city he came,</p> -<p class="i0">The women thereof thronged after, and wafted him blithe acclaim,</p> -<p class="i0">Having joy of the stranger: but earthward ever his eyes he cast,</p> -<p class="i0">Pacing unfaltering on till he came to the palace at last</p> -<p class="i0">Of Hypsipylê: then at the hero’s appearing the maids flung wide</p> -<p class="i0">The gates and the fair-fashioned boards of the leaves on either side.</p> -<p class="i0">Then through the beautiful hall did Iphinoê lead on</p> -<p class="i0">Swiftly, and caused him to sit on a tinsel-glittering throne</p> -<p class="i0">Facing the Queen; and Hypsipylê turned her eyes away, {790}</p> -<p class="i0">For the maiden blood flushed hot in her cheek. But her shame that day</p> -<p class="i0">Tied not her tongue, and with crafty-winsome words did she say:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Stranger, wherefore so long have ye tarried without our towers?</p> -<p class="i0">Forasmuch as no man dwelleth within this city of ours;</p> -<p class="i0">But these have betaken them hence to dwell on the Thracian shore,</p> -<p class="i0">And there are they ploughing the wheat-bearing lands. I will tell thee o’er</p> -<p class="i0">The evil tale, to the end ye also may understand.</p> -<p class="i0">In the days when Thoas my father was king o’er the folk of the land,</p> -<p class="i0">My people in ships from Lemnos over the sea-ridges rode,</p> -<p class="i0">And harried the homes of the Thracians that overagainst us abode; {800}</p> -<p class="i0">And with booty untold they returned, and with many a captive maid.</p> -<p class="i0">But the curse of a baneful Goddess upon them now was laid;</p> -<p class="i0">For the Cyprian caused on their souls heart-ruining blindness to fall,</p> -<p class="i0">That they hated their lawful wives, and forth from bower and hall</p> -<p class="i0">At the beck of their folly they drove the Lemnian matrons away,</p> -<p class="i0">And beside those spear-won thralls in the bed of love they lay—</p> -<p class="i0">Cruel ones! Sooth, long time we endured it, if haply again,</p> -<p class="i0">Though late, their hearts might be turned; but our wrong and our bitter pain</p> -<p class="i0">Waxed evermore twofold; and the children of true-born blood</p> -<p class="i0">In our halls were dishonoured, and grew up amidst us a bastard brood. {810}</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, and our maids unwedded, and widowed wives thereto,</p> -<p class="i0">Uncared for about our city wandered to and fro.</p> -<p class="i0">No father had heeded, no, never so little, his daughter’s plight,</p> -<p class="i0">Not though before his eyes he beheld her slain outright</p> -<p class="i0">By a tyrannous stepdame’s hands: and sons would defend no more</p> -<p class="i0">A mother from outrage and shame, as they wont in the days of yore.</p> -<p class="i0">No love for a sister then the heart of the brother bore.</p> -<p class="i0">But only the handmaid-thralls in the home found grace in their sight,</p> -<p class="i0">In the dance, in the market-place, and whenso the banquet was dight.</p> -<p class="i0">Till at last some God in our hearts this desperate courage awoke, {820}</p> -<p class="i0">No more to receive them, when back they returned from the Thracian folk,</p> -<p class="i0">Our towers within, that so they might heed the right, or begone</p> -<p class="i0">Hence to another land, even they and their thralls war-won.</p> -<p class="i0">Then required they of us their sons, even what manchild soe’er</p> -<p class="i0">Had been left in the town, and returned unto Thrace; and to this day there</p> -<p class="i0">The Lemnian men on the snowy Thracian corn-lands dwell.</p> -<p class="i0">Then tarry ye sojourning here: and if haply it please thee well</p> -<p class="i0">To abide in the land, and it seem to thee good, of a surety thine</p> -<p class="i0">Shall be Thoas my father’s honour. I ween this land of mine</p> -<p class="i0">Thou shalt scorn not, for passing fruitful it is above all the rest {830}</p> -<p class="i0">Of the myriad isles that lie on the broad Aegean’s breast.</p> -<p class="i0">But come now, go to thy galley, and tell these words of ours</p> -<p class="i0">Unto thy comrades, nor longer tarry without our towers.’</p> - -<p class="i1">She ended, with fair words veiling the deed of murder dread</p> -<p class="i0">Done on the men; and the hero answered the queen, and he said:</p> -<p class="i0">‘Hypsipylê, passing welcome this thy request shall be</p> -<p class="i0">Which thou tenderest us, whose desire withal is now unto thee.</p> -<p class="i0">Back through thy town will I come, when an end I have made to say</p> -<p class="i0">All this to my fellows in order: howbeit let all the sway</p> -<p class="i0">And the lordship be thine in the island. I make not in scorn my request, {840}</p> -<p class="i0">But a sore task thrusteth me onward still, and I may not rest.’</p> -<p class="i0">He spake, and the queen’s right hand hath he touched, and aback to the strand</p> -<p class="i0">He hath turned him to go; and around him the maidens on either hand</p> -<p class="i0">Danced blithely, a throng unnumbered, till forth of the gates he had strode.</p> -<p class="i0">Thereafter the women loaded them wains smooth-running, and rode</p> -<p class="i0">Down to the beach, and gifts of greeting they bare good store,</p> -<p class="i0">When now to his fellows the hero had told the message o’er,</p> -<p class="i0">Which Hypsipylê spake unto him when she sent and bade him come.</p> -<p class="i0">And with little ado the maidens drew the heroes home</p> -<p class="i0">To their halls; for sweet desire did the Lady of Cyprus awake, {850}</p> -<p class="i0">For a grace to Hephaistus the Lord of Craft, that Lemnos might take</p> -<p class="i0">New life, and unruined be peopled of men once more for his sake.</p> -<p class="i0">Now into Hypsipylê’s royal palace Aison’s son</p> -<p class="i0">Hath passed, and the rest, as it happed unto each man, so are they gone,</p> -<p class="i0">Save Herakles only; for still with the ship would the hero abide,</p> -<p class="i0">For he willed it so, and a few his chosen comrades beside.</p> -<p class="i0">And straightway rejoiced the city with dance and with festival,</p> -<p class="i0">And was filled with sacrifice-steam to the Deathless: but most of all</p> -<p class="i0">Honoured they Hêrê’s glorious son, and atonement’s price</p> -<p class="i0">To the Cyprian Queen they paid with song and with sacrifice. {860}</p> -<p class="i0">And ever from day unto day did the heroes their sailing forbear,</p> -<p class="i0">Loth to depart; and long had they tarried loitering there,</p> -<p class="i0">But Herakles gathered his comrades, and drew from the women apart,</p> -<p class="i0">And with words of upbraiding he spake, and rebuked them indignant of heart:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘What, sirs, is it blood of kindred spilt that maketh us roam</p> -<p class="i0">From our land?—or came ye, because that ye found no brides at home,</p> -<p class="i0">Hitherward, scorning the maidens of Greece? Doth it please you to toil</p> -<p class="i0">Here dwelling, and driving the plough through the soft smooth Lemnian soil?</p> -<p class="i0">Good sooth, but little renown shall we win of our tarrying</p> -<p class="i0">Here long time with the stranger women! No God will bring {870}</p> -<p class="i0">That Fleece unto us, nor wrest from its warder, for our request!</p> -<p class="i0">Forth let us go each man to his place—<i>him</i> leave ye to rest</p> -<p class="i0">All day on Hypsipylê’s couch, till he people from shore to shore</p> -<p class="i0">Lemnos with menfolk: great his renown shall be therefor!’</p> - -<p class="i1">So did he chide with the band; was none dared meet his eye,</p> -<p class="i0">Neither look in his face, nor was any man found that essayed reply.</p> -<p class="i0">But straight from his presence, to make their departing ready, they went</p> -<p class="i0">In haste; and the women came running, so soon as they knew their intent.</p> -<p class="i0">And as when round beautiful lilies the wild bees hum at their toil,</p> -<p class="i0">From their hive in the rock forth pouring; the dew-sprent meadow the while {880}</p> -<p class="i0">Around them rejoiceth, and hovering, stooping, now and again</p> -<p class="i0">They sip of the sweet flower-fountains—in such wise round the men</p> -<p class="i0">Forth streamed the women with yearning faces, making their moan;</p> -<p class="i0">And with hands caressing and soft sad words did they greet each one,</p> -<p class="i0">Beseeching the Blessed to grant them a home-coming void of bane.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, so doth Hypsipylê pray, as her clinging fingers strain</p> -<p class="i0">The hand of Jason, and stream her tears with the parting-pain:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Go thou, and thee may the Gods with thy comrades scathless bring</p> -<p class="i0">Back to the home-land, bearing the Fleece of Gold to the king,</p> -<p class="i0">Even as thou wilt, and thine heart desireth: and this mine isle, {890}</p> -<p class="i0">And my father’s sceptre withal, shall wait for thee the while,</p> -<p class="i0">If haply, thine home-coming won, thou wouldst choose to come hither again.</p> -<p class="i0">Thou couldst gather from other cities a host unnumbered of men</p> -<p class="i0">Lightly—ah, but the longing shall never awaken in thee;</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, and mine own heart bodeth that this shall never be!</p> -<p class="i0">Yet O remember Hypsipylê whilst thou art far away,</p> -<p class="i0">And when home thou hast won; and leave me a word that thy love shall obey</p> -<p class="i0">With joy, if the Gods shall vouchsafe me to bear a son to my lord.’</p> - -<p class="i1">Lovingly looked on her Aison’s son, and he spake the word:</p> -<p class="i0">‘Hypsipylê, so may the Gods bring all these blessings to be! {900}</p> -<p class="i0">Howbeit a better wish than this frame thou for me;</p> -<p class="i0">Forasmuch as by Pelias’ grace it sufficeth me still to live</p> -<p class="i0">In the home-land—only the Gods from my toils deliverance give!</p> -<p class="i0">But and if to return to the land of Hellas be not my doom,</p> -<p class="i0">Afar as I sail, and a fair manchild be the fruit of thy womb,</p> -<p class="i0">To Pelasgian Iolkos send him, when boyhood and manhood be met,</p> -<p class="i0">To my father and mother, to solace their grief,—if living yet</p> -<p class="i0">Haply he find them,—that so, in the stead of the prince their son,</p> -<p class="i0">They may win in their halls a dear one, to brighten the hearth left lone.’</p> -<p class="i0">He spake, and was gone; and afront of his fellows he strode to the ship, {910}</p> -<p class="i0">And the rest of the chiefs followed on, and the oars in their hands did they grip,</p> -<p class="i0">Row upon row as they sat; and the hawsers did Argus cast</p> -<p class="i0">Loose from the rock brine-lashed; and mightily then and fast</p> -<p class="i0">Fell they to smiting with oars long-bladed the seething wave.</p> -<p class="i0">And at even by Orpheus’ counsel the keel ashore they drave</p> -<p class="i0">On the isle of Elektra the daughter of Atlas, that there they might learn</p> -<p class="i0">The mystic rites whose unveiling is not soul-daunting nor stern,</p> -<p class="i0">And safelier so might voyage over the chill grey sea:—</p> -<p class="i0">No more will I speak of the Hidden Things—but a blessing be</p> -<p class="i0">Upon that same isle, and the Gods there dwelling, to whom belong {920}</p> -<p class="i0">Those rites whereof it is not vouchsafed that we tell in song.</p> - -<p class="i1">And from thence o’er the Black Sea’s depths unfathomed they sped with the oar,</p> -<p class="i0">To leftward keeping the land of Thrace, and to rightward the shore</p> -<p class="i0">Of Imbros overagainst it; and, even as sank the sun,</p> -<p class="i0">Unto the long sea-foreland of Chersonese they won.</p> -<p class="i0">There did the strong swift south-wind blow, and the sail they spread</p> -<p class="i0">To the breeze, and into the outward-rushing waters they sped</p> -<p class="i0">Of Athamas’ daughter: and lo, astern with the morning light</p> -<p class="i0">The outsea lay, and along Rhœteion’s beach in the night</p> -<p class="i0">They coasted, and still on their right the land Idaean lay. {930}</p> -<p class="i0">And they left Dardania behind, and Abydos-ward steered they.</p> -<p class="i0">By Perkotê in that same night, and Abarnis’ stretches of sand</p> -<p class="i0">Onward they glided, and past Pityeia the hallowed land.</p> -<p class="i0">And the selfsame night, as with sails and with oars sped Argo on,</p> -<p class="i0">Through the sea-gorge darkly-swirling of Hellespont they won.</p> - -<p class="i1">Now within the Propontis an island there is, both high and steep;</p> -<p class="i0">Short space from the corn-blest Phrygian land doth it rise from the deep</p> -<p class="i0">Seaward-sloped: to the mainland stretched a neck of land</p> -<p class="i0">Low as the wash of the sea; so the place hath a twofold strand.</p> -<p class="i0">And beyond the waterfloods of Aisêpus the river they lie. {940}</p> -<p class="i0">The Hill of the Bears it is called of them that dwell thereby.</p> -<p class="i0">And cruel oppressors and fierce have there their robber-hold,</p> -<p class="i0">Earth-born, a marvel great for the dwellers around to behold.</p> -<p class="i0">Six mighty arms each monster uplifteth against a foe,</p> -<p class="i0">Even two from his brawny shoulders that spring, and therebelow</p> -<p class="i0">Four other, that out of his sides exceeding terrible grow.</p> -<p class="i0">Now Dolian men on the isthmus abode, and about the plain;</p> -<p class="i0">And amidst them did Kyzikus, hero-son of Aineus, reign,</p> -<p class="i0">The son whom Ainêtê, the daughter of godlike Eusôrus, bare.</p> -<p class="i0">But these men the Earth-born giants, how mighty and dreadful soe’er, {950}</p> -<p class="i0">In no wise harried: their shield and defender Poseidon became,</p> -<p class="i0">For himself had begotten of old the first of the Dolian name.</p> -<p class="i0">Thitherward Argo, as chased by the Thracian breezes she fled,</p> -<p class="i0">Pressed, and the goodly haven received her as onward she sped.</p> -<p class="i0">And their light-weight anchor-stone did they cast away thereby</p> -<p class="i0">By Tiphys’ behest, and they left it beside the fountain to lie,</p> -<p class="i0">By Artakia’s spring; and another they chose, huge, meet for their need.</p> -<p class="i0">Howbeit their first, by Archer Apollo’s oracle-rede,</p> -<p class="i0">The Ionian Neleïds laid thereafter, a hallowed stone,</p> -<p class="i0">In the shrine of Athênê, Jason’s friend, as was meet to be done. {960}</p> - -<p class="i1">And in all lovingkindness the Dolians came, and to meet them pressed</p> -<p class="i0">Kyzikus’ self, when their lineage he heard, and was ware of the Quest,</p> -<p class="i0">And knew what heroes were these; and with glad guest-welcome they met,</p> -<p class="i0">And besought them to speed in their rowing a short space onward yet,</p> -<p class="i0">And to fasten the hawser within the city’s haven fair.</p> -<p class="i0">To Apollo the Lord of Landing they builded an altar there:</p> -<p class="i0">By the strand they upreared it, and there did the smoke of the sacrifice rise;</p> -<p class="i0">And sweet strong wine did the king’s self give them, their need to suffice,</p> -<p class="i0">And sheep therewithal: for an oracle rang in his ears—‘In the day</p> -<p class="i0">When a godlike band of heroes shall come, meet thou their array {970}</p> -<p class="i0">With welcome of love, and thou shalt not bethink thee at all of the fray.’</p> -<p class="i0">And, like unto Jason, the soft down bloomed on the young king’s chin;</p> -<p class="i0">Neither yet was he gladdened with laughter of children his halls within;</p> -<p class="i0">For the pangs of the travailing hour not yet to his bride had been known,</p> -<p class="i0">Even to the lady born of Merops, Perkosius’ son,</p> -<p class="i0">Fair-tressed Kleitê. But now had she passed from her sire’s halls forth</p> -<p class="i0">On the mainland-shore, when he won her with gifts of priceless worth.</p> -<p class="i0">But for all this left he his bridal bower and the bed of his bride,</p> -<p class="i0">And arrayed them a banquet, and cast from his heart all fear aside.</p> -<p class="i0">And they questioned each other, the king and the heroes. Of them would he learn {980}</p> -<p class="i0">The end whereunto they voyaged, and Pelias’ bidding stern.</p> -<p class="i0">Of the dwellers around, and their cities, they asked and were fain to be taught</p> -<p class="i0">Touching all the gulf of Propontis the wide: but the king knew nought</p> -<p class="i0">Beyond to tell them, albeit with eager desire they sought.</p> -<p class="i0">So at dawn did they climb huge Dindymus’ sides, with purpose to gaze</p> -<p class="i0">With their own eyes over the unknown sea and her trackless ways;—</p> -<p class="i0">But forth of the outer haven first their galley they rowed;—</p> -<p class="i0">Still Jason’s Path is it named, that mountain-track they trode.</p> - -<p class="i1">But the earth-born giants the while rushed down from the mountain-side,</p> -<p class="i0">And the seaward mouth they blocked of the haven of Chytos the wide {990}</p> -<p class="i0">With crags, like men that lie in wait for a wolf in his lair.</p> -<p class="i0">Howbeit with them that were younger had Herakles tarried there;</p> -<p class="i0">And he leapt to his feet, and against them his back-springing bow did he strain.</p> -<p class="i0">One after other he stretched them on earth; and the giants amain</p> -<p class="i0">Heaved up huge jagged rocks, and hurled them against their foe.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, for that terrible monster-brood was nurtured, I trow,</p> -<p class="i0">Of Hêrê, the bride of Zeus, for a trial of Herakles.</p> -<p class="i0">Therewithal came the rest of their fellows, returning to battle with these</p> -<p class="i0">Or ever they won the mountain-crest. To the slaughter they fell</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Earth-born brood, those heroes: with arrows some did they quell, {1000}</p> -<p class="i0">And some on the points of their spears they received, until they had slain</p> -<p class="i0">All that to grapple of fight had rushed so furious-fain.</p> -<p class="i0">And even as when the woodmen with axes have smitten, and throw</p> -<p class="i0">The long beams down on the strand of the sea ranged row upon row,—</p> -<p class="i0">For the brine-sodden wood shall grip the strong bolts faster so,—</p> -<p class="i0">Even so at the entering-in of the foam-fringed haven they lay</p> -<p class="i0">One after other; some in a huddled heap where the spray</p> -<p class="i0">Dashed over their heads and their breasts, the while, stretched high on the land,</p> -<p class="i0">Stiffened their limbs: there were some yet again, whose heads on the sand</p> -<p class="i0">Rested, the while in the heaving waters swayed their feet;— {1010}</p> -<p class="i0">But doomed were they all alike for the birds’ and the fishes’ meat.</p> - -<p class="i1">And the heroes, so soon as the peril afar from their emprise was driven,</p> -<p class="i0">Cast loose the hawsers of Argo before the breezes of heaven.</p> -<p class="i0">Forth shot she, and onward they drave, fast cleaving the broad sea-swell.</p> -<p class="i0">All day under canvas she ran: howbeit, as twilight fell</p> -<p class="i0">No longer the wind-rush steadily held, but the veering blast</p> -<p class="i0">Caught them, and swept them aback, till it brought them again at the last</p> -<p class="i0">To the guest-fain Dolian men. Then stepped they ashore in the gloom</p> -<p class="i0">Of the night; and unto this day is it called the Rock of Doom</p> -<p class="i0">Round which the hawsers of Argo in blind haste now did they pass; {1020}</p> -<p class="i0">Neither did any man deem that the selfsame island it was;</p> -<p class="i0">Nor yet were the Dolians ware that again in the night to their coast</p> -<p class="i0">The heroes were come, but haply they weened that a Makrian host</p> -<p class="i0">Of Pelasgian men for war had sailed to their land overseas:</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore their armour they donned, and uplifted their hands against these.</p> -<p class="i0">And with onset of spears and with clashing of shields met they in the strife,</p> -<p class="i0">Like to the vehement blast of flame which hath leapt into life</p> -<p class="i0">Mid the copses dry, and the red tongues climb: and the battle-din then</p> -<p class="i0">Fearful and furious fell in the midst of the Dolian men.</p> -<p class="i0">Nor may Kyzikus now overleap his weird, and aback from the war {1030}</p> -<p class="i0">Win home to the bower of love and the arms of his bride any more.</p> -<p class="i0">But, even as he turned on him, full on the king leapt Aison’s son,</p> -<p class="i0">And stabbed in the midst of his breast, and shattered was all the bone</p> -<p class="i0">Around the spear, and falling in death-throes down on the sands</p> -<p class="i0">He filled up the measure of Fate. To escape her resistless hands</p> -<p class="i0">Is vouchsafed unto none: as a wide snare compassed we are with her bands.</p> -<p class="i0">Even so, as he weened that the bitterness now of death was past</p> -<p class="i0">At the hands of the heroes, lo, in her gin were his feet caught fast</p> -<p class="i0">In the night, as he battled with them, and many a champion withal</p> -<p class="i0">Was slain with the king; by Herakles’ hands did Telekles fall, {1040}</p> -<p class="i0">And fell Megabrontes; and Sphodris Akastus overthrew;</p> -<p class="i0">And Zelys, Gephyrus withal, the battle-swift Peleus slew.</p> -<p class="i0">Telamon’s ashen spear through Basileus’ heart is thrust;</p> -<p class="i0">Died Promeus by Idas, and Klytius laid Hyakinthus in dust;</p> -<p class="i0">And the Tyndarids twain slew Phlogius, slew Megalossakes;</p> -<p class="i0">And valiant Itymoneus fell before Oineus’ son amid these,</p> -<p class="i0">And Artakes with him, a chieftain of men: and unto this day</p> -<p class="i0">Unto all these slain do the people the worship of heroes pay.</p> -<p class="i0">Then wavered the ranks and broke; then fled they in panic affright,</p> -<p class="i0">As before the swift-winged hawks doth a cloud of doves take flight. {1050}</p> -<p class="i0">Through the gates in a huddled rout they poured, and the town straightway</p> -<p class="i0">With the war-yell was filled, and backward rolled was the woeful fray.</p> -<p class="i0">But at dawn were they ware, both these and those, of the cureless ill,</p> -<p class="i0">Of the ruinous error; and now did bitter anguish fill</p> -<p class="i0">The Minyan heroes, beholding before them Aineus’ child</p> -<p class="i0">Stretched in the dust, and Kyzikus lying blood-defiled.</p> -<p class="i0">For three whole days with rending of hair did they mourn his doom,</p> -<p class="i0">Even they with the Dolian folk. Thereafter about his tomb</p> -<p class="i0">Three times in their brazen armour the round of lament did they pace,</p> -<p class="i0">And buried him: funeral games held they in the selfsame place, {1060}</p> -<p class="i0">As was meet, in the meadow-plain where yet before the eyes</p> -<p class="i0">Of the folk of the latter day doth the heap of his grave-mound rise.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, neither would Kleitê his wife any more mid the living abide,</p> -<p class="i0">Forlorn of her lord; but a woefuller evil she added beside</p> -<p class="i0">To the evil done, when clasping her neck with the noose she died.</p> -<p class="i0">Ah, but the Wildwood Maids made moan for the beautiful dead;</p> -<p class="i0">And of all the tears that to earth from their eyes for her sake they shed</p> -<p class="i0">A fountain the Goddesses made, and the name of it far and wide</p> -<p class="i0">Hath been heard, even Kleitê, the name of a most unhappy bride.</p> -<p class="i0">Ah, that was the darkest day that from Zeus did ever befall {1070}</p> -<p class="i0">The daughters and sons of the Dolian race, and in none of them all</p> -<p class="i0">Was there spirit to taste of food, and their hands for a weary while</p> -<p class="i0">By reason of grief hung down, and forgat the millstone’s toil:</p> -<p class="i0">But their lives dragged on, while untouched of the fire was the food that they ate.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, the Ionian folk that in Kyzikus dwell even yet,</p> -<p class="i0">When they pour drink-offerings year by year, at the city’s mill</p> -<p class="i0">Grind ever their corn, for the querns in the houses of mourning are still.</p> - -<p class="i1">And the wild winds woke at the sound of their mourning to shriek and to rave</p> -<p class="i0">Twelve days, twelve nights; and prisoned by wrath of wind and wave</p> -<p class="i0">Tarried the heroes from sailing, until, on the thirteenth night, {1080}</p> -<p class="i0">When the rest of the wanderers lay for the last time bowed by the might</p> -<p class="i0">Of slumber on that drear shore, while watch and ward was kept</p> -<p class="i0">Of Akastus and Mopsus Ampykus’ son over them that slept,—</p> -<p class="i0">Then over the golden head of Aison’s son did there fly</p> -<p class="i0">A kingfisher: clear through the hush his happy-boding cry</p> -<p class="i0">Rang for the lulling of winds; and Mopsus hearkening caught</p> -<p class="i0">The shore-bird’s note, and he knew it with happy omen fraught.</p> -<p class="i0">And a God’s hand guided its wing, that it wheeled and shot to the height</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Argo’s stern, and thereon hath it stayed its arrowy flight.</p> -<p class="i0">And the seer touched Jason, there on the fleeces soft as he lay {1090}</p> -<p class="i0">Of the sheep, and from slumber he roused him with haste, and thus did he say:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Aison’s son, thou must climb to the temple that standeth there</p> -<p class="i0">On Dindymus’ rugged height, and make to the Mother thy prayer,</p> -<p class="i0">The fair-throned Mother of all the Blest: and the stormy blast</p> -<p class="i0">Shall be stilled. For but now hath a cry by mine ears on the night-wind passed,</p> -<p class="i0">The weird sea-kingfisher’s cry; and around thy slumbering head</p> -<p class="i0">Wheeling its flight, it uttered the thing that my lips have said.</p> -<p class="i0">For swayed by her power be the winds, and the sea, and the earth below,</p> -<p class="i0">Yea also Olympus crowned with the everlasting snow.</p> -<p class="i0">And to her, when to heaven from her hills she ascendeth, doth Zeus give place, {1100}</p> -<p class="i0">Even Kronos’ son himself, and all the Deathless Race</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Blessèd in reverence bow before her awful face.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he: to hear that word the heart of Jason leapt.</p> -<p class="i0">Gladsome he sprang from his couch, and his comrades, there as they slept,</p> -<p class="i0">Did he waken in haste; and he told, as they gathered around him to hear,</p> -<p class="i0">The prophecy spoken of Mopsus Ampykus’ son, the seer.</p> -<p class="i0">Then steers from the byre the young men drave, and with speed they pressed</p> -<p class="i0">Up the steep hill-path with the beasts, till they won to the mountain’s crest.</p> -<p class="i0">From the Rock of Doom did others the hawsers of Argo slip:</p> -<p class="i0">To the Thracian haven they rowed, and leapt to the strand; and the ship {1110}</p> -<p class="i0">There guarded they left, for there tarried behind of their fellows a few.</p> -<p class="i0">And from Dindymus saw they the Makrian cliffs, and full in view</p> -<p class="i0">The stretch of the Thracian Coast oversea on this side lay,</p> -<p class="i0">And the Bosporus misty-dim, and the blue hills far away</p> -<p class="i0">Of Mysia-land, and the river Aisêpus on that side flowed,</p> -<p class="i0">And the town and the plain Nepeian of Adresteia showed.</p> -<p class="i0">Then found they the sturdy stock of a vine in the forest that grew,</p> -<p class="i0">A tree exceeding old: with the axes the same did they hew</p> -<p class="i0">For the Mountain-goddess’s sacred image: with cunning skill</p> -<p class="i0">Of the craftsman did Argus carve it; and so on the rugged hill {1120}</p> -<p class="i0">Did they set it up: for the shrine thereof stood tall oaks round,</p> -<p class="i0">Which of all trees root them the deepest beneath the face of the ground.</p> -<p class="i0">Then of loose stones built they an altar: with leaves from the oaken spray</p> -<p class="i0">They wreathed it around, and the sacrifice thereupon did they lay.</p> -<p class="i0">On the Mother majestic, on Dindymê’s Queen, the while did they call,</p> -<p class="i0">Who dwelleth in Phrygia: on Tityas they cried, on Kyllênê withal,</p> -<p class="i0">Who alone be called the Dispensers of Doom—by the judgment-seat</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Mother Idaean who sit—by all that priesthood of Crete,</p> -<p class="i0">The Daktylians of Ida, born in the cave Dictaean of yore</p> -<p class="i0">When the Nymph Anchialê clutched in the throes of travail, and tore {1130}</p> -<p class="i0">With the fingers of either hand the earth by Oaxus’ shore.</p> -<p class="i0">Knelt Aison’s son to the Goddess, and prayed her with earnest cries</p> -<p class="i0">To turn the tempest away, on the flame of the sacrifice</p> -<p class="i0">As he poured the wine. And the youths therewithal at Orpheus’ command</p> -<p class="i0">Trode round her altar the measure, an armour-sheathèd band,</p> -<p class="i0">And clashed with their swords on their shields, that the sound that boded them ill</p> -<p class="i0">Might be lost in the air, the wail for the dead, which the people still</p> -<p class="i0">In grief for their king sent up; for which cause unto this day</p> -<p class="i0">With timbrel and drum the Phrygians worship to Rhea pay.</p> -<p class="i0">And the Goddess of them that sought her was found, and inclined her ear {1140}</p> -<p class="i0">To the sacrifice-prayer: of her grace did tokens of good appear.</p> -<p class="i0">For the trees shed fruit in abundance down, and around their feet</p> -<p class="i0">The earth mid her tender grass with flowers unsown was sweet.</p> -<p class="i0">And the beasts of the wildwood came, forsaking thicket and lair,</p> -<p class="i0">Fawning with swaying tails: and another marvel there</p> -<p class="i0">Did the Goddess create, for that Dindymus never theretofore</p> -<p class="i0">With watersprings flowed; but now did a sudden torrent pour</p> -<p class="i0">From her thirsty crest, and the Fountain of Jason they name it still,</p> -<p class="i0">The folk that in after days dwell round that sacred hill.</p> -<p class="i0">In the Goddess’s honour a feast on the Bears’ Hill then dight they, {1150}</p> -<p class="i0">And Rhea the all-majestic they hymned: but at dawn of the day</p> -<p class="i0">Stilled were the winds, and with oars from the island sped they away.</p> - -<p class="i1">Then hero was kindled with hero in gallant contention to try</p> -<p class="i0">Who last should be spent and refrain; for the peace of a windless sky</p> -<p class="i0">Laid level the swirls of the sea, and lulled to sleep the wave.</p> -<p class="i0">And putting their trust in the calm, ever onward and onward they drave</p> -<p class="i0">The ship by their might; and with her, through the brine as she darted and leapt,</p> -<p class="i0">Not even the storm-footed steeds of Poseidon the pace had kept.</p> -<p class="i0">Howbeit the surges awoke as from sleep, as the keen blasts blew,</p> -<p class="i0">Which swooped from the river-gorges as day to the evenfall drew: {1160}</p> -<p class="i0">And the heroes forspent with toiling refrained, save only one</p> -<p class="i0">Who by might of his hands tugged onward his weary comrades alone;</p> -<p class="i0">Even Herakles: quivered the strong-knit beams as he strained to the stroke.</p> -<p class="i0">But when, as they fled by the mainland-shore of the Mysian folk,</p> -<p class="i0">And Rhyndakus’ outfall they sighted, and, huge against the sky,</p> -<p class="i0">Aigaion’s cairn, past Phrygia a little, and slipped thereby,</p> -<p class="i0">Even then, through the furrows of roughened surge as he tugged and tore,</p> -<p class="i0">Snapped he the ashen blade, and, grasping the half of the oar</p> -<p class="i0">Yet in his hands, back Herakles fell, and the half swept down</p> -<p class="i0">The tossing wake of the ship. But he rose, and with angry frown {1170}</p> -<p class="i0">Sat gazing around, for his hands endured not idle to lie.</p> - -<p class="i1">’Twas the hour when the delver or ploughman aback from the field doth hie</p> -<p class="i0">With joy to his hut, and his soul sore craveth the eventide meat,</p> -<p class="i0">And bow on the threshold his knees, and totter his weary feet.</p> -<p class="i0">All dust-besprent he beholdeth his cramped hands worn with toil,</p> -<p class="i0">With many a curse reviling the taskmaster Belly the while,—</p> -<p class="i0">Then came they to where in the land Kianian nestle her homes</p> -<p class="i0">’Neath Arganthônê, where Kios against the sea-tide foams.</p> -<p class="i0">Then as friends greet friends did the Mysians with kindly welcoming</p> -<p class="i0">Meet them, the people that dwelt in the land, and gifts did they bring, {1180}</p> -<p class="i0">Even sheep, and wine without stint therewithal gave they for their need.</p> -<p class="i0">Then sapless logs did some of them gather, and grass from the mead</p> -<p class="i0">Did some bring in, whereof great store for their couches they mowed,</p> -<p class="i0">The while in the hands of some the whirling fire-sticks glowed.</p> -<p class="i0">Some mingled the wine in the mazer, and ready the feast they dight,</p> -<p class="i0">Doing sacrifice to Apollo as deepened the shades of night.</p> - -<p class="i1">But Zeus’ son spake to his comrades meetly the feast to prepare:</p> -<p class="i0">But into the forest himself hath hied, to the end that there,</p> -<p class="i0">Or ever he supped, for the grip of his hands he might fashion an oar.</p> -<p class="i0">Then found he a pine as he roved, and scant was the burden it bore {1190}</p> -<p class="i0">Of boughs, nor with heavy-clustering leaves was its shade made dim;</p> -<p class="i0">But like to the shaft it rose of a poplar tall and slim:</p> -<p class="i0">Even such was the measure thereof to behold in height and in girth.</p> -<p class="i0">Swiftly his arrow-fraught quiver hath Herakles cast to the earth</p> -<p class="i0">With the shafts therein: from his shoulders the lion’s hide did he strip.</p> -<p class="i0">With his brass-heavy club at its roots he smote, till he loosed earth’s grip.</p> -<p class="i0">Low down did he grasp the stem about with either hand,</p> -<p class="i0">Putting trust in his might: with shoulder against it thrust did he stand</p> -<p class="i0">With feet wide set. From the ground, deep-rooted albeit it grew,</p> -<p class="i0">Hath his grip upheaved it with all the clods that clave thereto. {1200}</p> -<p class="i0">And as when unawares the mast of a ship, in the very hour</p> -<p class="i0">When Orion’s storm-fraught setting is working in baleful power,</p> -<p class="i0">Is struck from on high by a tempest’s swiftly-swooping squall,</p> -<p class="i0">And with snapped stays rent from its box, and the wedges therewithal,</p> -<p class="i0">Even so he upwrenched that tree; and he gathered up arrows and bow,</p> -<p class="i0">And the lion’s hide, and his club; and he hasted him backward to go.</p> - -<p class="i1">But Hylas the while with a pitcher of brass from the throng hath hied</p> -<p class="i0">Seeking a spring’s pure flow; for the feast of the eventide</p> -<p class="i0">To draw for him water against his return, and withal to prepare</p> -<p class="i0">With speed all things for the time when again his lord should be there. {1210}</p> -<p class="i0">For in suchlike service did Herakles nurture the lad and train</p> -<p class="i0">From the day when, a captive child, by the hero’s hand he was ta’en</p> -<p class="i0">From the home of his father Theodamas, slain in Dryopian land</p> -<p class="i0">Without ruth, when he dared for his ploughteam’s sake ’gainst the hero to stand.</p> -<p class="i0">For it fell, as Theodamas clave with the share the fallow field,</p> -<p class="i0">That mischief befell him; for Herakles came, and he bade him to yield</p> -<p class="i0">The heifer he ploughed withal unto him in his heart’s despite:</p> -<p class="i0">For against the Dryopian folk was he seeking occasion of fight,</p> -<p class="i0">For their bane, forasmuch as reckless of right in the land dwelt they:—</p> -<p class="i0">But the story thereof should lead me far from my song astray. {1220}</p> -<p class="i0">So in haste to the fountain he hied him, and Pegae hight that spring</p> -<p class="i0">Of the people that dwell in the field thereabout: and the dancing-ring</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Nymphs, as it chanced, was there; for all these loved full well—</p> -<p class="i0">Even all the Nymphs that about that fair hill wont to dwell—</p> -<p class="i0">In hymns through the night-tide ringing to chant unto Artemis still.</p> -<p class="i0">But they which inherit the mountain-crest, or the rushing rill,</p> -<p class="i0">And the Forest-haunters, were ranged from the fountain far away.</p> -<p class="i0">But it fell that the Water-nymph came floating up that day</p> -<p class="i0">From the depths of the fair-flowing spring:—lo, over her bendeth his face</p> -<p class="i0">In the rosy flush of its beauty, its manifold winsome grace. {1230}</p> -<p class="i0">For the full moon casting her beams from the height of the firmament</p> -<p class="i0">Smote him, and faintness of love on her soul the Cyprian sent,</p> -<p class="i0">And scarce she unravelled her thoughts in sweet confusion blent.</p> -<p class="i0">But over the fountain’s brim as aforetime aslant hath he bowed,</p> -<p class="i0">And plunged in the ripple the pitcher: the water gurgled loud</p> -<p class="i0">As into the echoing brass it poured; and the Fountain-maid</p> -<p class="i0">Her left arm slid from the depths, and around his neck was it laid</p> -<p class="i0">In her yearning to kiss those dainty lips, while, clutched by her right,</p> -<p class="i0">Drawn down was his arm, and through swirling eddies he sank from the light.</p> - -<p class="i1">But his cry as he sank was heard of one of his comrades alone {1240}</p> -<p class="i0">Who trod that fountainward path, Polyphemus, Eilatus’ son,</p> -<p class="i0">To meet that giant hero when back he should fare to the feast.</p> -<p class="i0">By Pegae, following the cry, hath he rushed, like a wildwood beast</p> -<p class="i0">Unto whom from far away hath been wafted the bleating of sheep,</p> -<p class="i0">And with famine afire he pursueth; howbeit he may not leap</p> -<p class="i0">On the prey, for already the shepherds have penned them safe from the foe;</p> -<p class="i0">And in vehement rage must he moan and howl, till aweary he grow;</p> -<p class="i0">So Eilatus’ son made vehement moan, and he roamed to and fro</p> -<p class="i0">About the place; and his voice rang piteous, broken with woe.</p> -<p class="i0">Then suddenly drew he his mighty blade, and he rushed to pursue, {1250}</p> -<p class="i0">If perchance he were seized of beasts, or from ambush a robber-crew</p> -<p class="i0">Had leapt on him faring alone, and were haling afar their prey.</p> -<p class="i0">Then, even as he shook in his hand his naked sword, in the way</p> -<p class="i0">Came Herakles’ self to meet him, a giant form that sped</p> -<p class="i0">To the ship through the gloom; and he knew him, and straightway a tale most dread</p> -<p class="i0">He told, while laboured with heavy panting his heart, and he said:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘God help thee, that I first bring to thee tidings of bitter pain!</p> -<p class="i0">Hylas hath gone to the spring, and returned not alive again!</p> -<p class="i0">Or robbers have seized him, and hale him away to captivity,</p> -<p class="i0">Or evil beasts are rending:—I heard but now his cry.’ {1260}</p> - -<p class="i1">Upon Herakles’ temples then did the great sweat-gouts upstart,</p> -<p class="i0">As he heard him speak, and the dark blood curdled about his heart.</p> -<p class="i0" id="fix_b1_l1263a">In fury he flung to the earth the pine, and along that path</p> -<p class="i0">Rushed, whithersoever his feet might hurry his aimless wrath.</p> -<p class="i0">And as, stung by a gadfly, a bull rusheth onward frenzy-stirred</p> -<p class="i0">Forsaking the meadows and marshlands, the while of herdsman or herd</p> -<p class="i0">He taketh no heed, pressing on in his wild course now without check,</p> -<p class="i0">Now making a moment’s stand, and uplifting his massive neck,</p> -<p class="i0">He uttereth bellowings, mad with the sting of the cruel breese;</p> -<p class="i0">So he in his frenzy now would be plying his strong swift knees {1270}</p> -<p class="i0">Unresting, and now from his toil would he cease for a moment’s space,</p> -<p class="i0">And shouted:—the mighty voice rang far through the lonely place.</p> - -<p class="i1">Eftsoons the morning-star rose over the mountain’s crest,</p> -<p class="i0">And the winds swept down from the gorges; and Tiphys cried on the rest</p> -<p class="i0">To get them aboard in haste, and to hearken the wind’s behest.</p> -<p class="i0">So with eager speed they embarked, and the anchor-stones of the ship</p> -<p class="i0">Heaved they aboard, and the hawsers thereof in haste did they slip.</p> -<p class="i0">And the midst of the sail bellied out with the blast, and far away</p> -<p class="i0">From the sea-strand with joy by Poseidon’s foreland wafted were they.</p> -<p class="i0">But it fell, in the hour when the dawn glad-eyed from the heaven doth beam, {1280}</p> -<p class="i0">From the east uprising, and all the earth-ways clearer gleam,</p> -<p class="i0">And the dewy wolds are a-sparkle beneath her flashing sheen,</p> -<p class="i0">Then were they ware of those that forsaken unwares had been.</p> -<p class="i0">Then mighty contention arose, and an indignation-burst</p> -<p class="i0">Most vehement-fierce, that any should go, and forsake the first</p> -<p class="i0">Of their comrades in prowess. But Aison’s son distraught with amaze</p> -<p class="i0">Spake never a word or bad or good in their evil case;</p> -<p class="i0">But devouring his soul he sat ’neath wilderment’s heavy load.</p> -<p class="i0">Then Telamon’s wrath waxed hot, and thus with the prince he chode:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Ha! sit thou there at thine ease!—good sooth, for thy profit was this, {1290}</p> -<p class="i0">That Herakles thus should be left; thou givest no counsel, I wis,</p> -<p class="i0">Lest haply his glory in Hellas should overshadow thee,</p> -<p class="i0">If the Gods peradventure vouchsafe us the home-return to see!—</p> -<p class="i0">What pleasure in words?—I will go, I only, with none of these</p> -<p class="i0">Thy comrades, who plotted with thee this treason to Herakles.’</p> - -<p class="i1">He spake, and on Tiphys Hagnias’ son he rushed, and his ire</p> -<p class="i0">Gleamed through his eyes as the leaping flame of the ravening fire.</p> -<p class="i0">And now to the land of the Mysian men had they won back again</p> -<p class="i0">In despite of the driving surge, and the head-wind’s ceaseless strain;</p> -<p class="i0">But the two winged sons of Thracian Boreas rose thereupon, {1300}</p> -<p class="i0">And with fierce stern words from his purpose withheld they Aiakus’ son.</p> -<p class="i0">Unhappy they!—grim vengeance thereafter did Herakles wreak</p> -<p class="i0">Upon these who withheld the rest which were fain for the lost to seek.</p> -<p class="i0">For when from the games over Pelias dead they were wending again</p> -<p class="i0">Homeward, in Tenos the sea-girt he slew them; and heaped o’er the slain</p> -<p class="i0">The earth, and above that grave-mound reared he pillars twain,</p> -<p class="i0">The one whereof, a marvel exceeding for men to behold,</p> -<p class="i0">Sways to and fro in the blast when the North-wind whistleth cold.</p> -<p class="i0">Ay, so in the after-time these things were ordained to be.</p> -<p class="i0">But now did Glaukus appear unto them from the depths of the sea, {1310}</p> -<p class="i0">The servant of Nereus divine, the far-discerning seer.</p> -<p class="i0">High out of the waves his shaggy head and his breast did he rear</p> -<p class="i0">Even to the waist, and his brawny hand did the God stretch out</p> -<p class="i0">To the keel of the ship, and unto her eager crew did he shout:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Wherefore be ye thus purposed against great Zeus’ decrees</p> -<p class="i0">Unto Aiêtes’ city to bring bold Herakles?</p> -<p class="i0">Lo, this is his weird—in the land of Argos labouring</p> -<p class="i0">To accomplish toils full twelve for Eurystheus the tyrannous king,</p> -<p class="i0">And to dwell with the Deathless Ones, if he bring to fulfilment yet</p> -<p class="i0">A few more toils: grieve ye not therefore with vain regret. {1320}</p> -<p class="i0">Polyphemus’ weird likewise is to rear, where Kios doth fall</p> -<p class="i0">Into the sea, ’mid the Mysians a glorious city’s wall,</p> -<p class="i0">And to find in the Chalybes’ land the doom that endeth all.</p> -<p class="i0">But Hylas a Goddess-nymph of her love for her spouse hath taken,</p> -<p class="i0">For whose sake wandered away those twain unawares forsaken.’</p> - -<p class="i1">Then downward he plunged, and he wrapped him about with the waves white-wreathing,</p> -<p class="i0">And around him the darkling water foamed in eddies seething.</p> -<p class="i0">And he loosed from his hand the hollow ship through the brine to flee;</p> -<p class="i0">And the heroes were glad: then rose up Telamon hastily,</p> -<p class="i0">And Aiakus’ son unto Jason strode, and his hand did he take {1330}</p> -<p class="i0">In the compassing grasp of his own, and embraced him, and thus he spake:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Be nowise wroth with me, Aison’s son, if folly-distraught</p> -<p class="i0">I have sinned in mine ignorance: anguish exceeding upon me hath wrought</p> -<p class="i0">To utter an arrogant word which I could not refrain: let us cast</p> -<p class="i0">To the winds my transgression, and knit be our hearts as in days overpast.’</p> - -<p class="i1">Answered him Aison’s son, and in courteous wise spake he:</p> -<p class="i0">‘Ah, friend, of a truth ’twas a bitter word that thou spakest to me,</p> -<p class="i0">When thou saidst in the midst of us all that a traitor I was unto him</p> -<p class="i0">Who to me was a friend!—yet I will not nurse wrath brooding grim,</p> -<p class="i0">Though vexed was my soul at the first; since not as for flocks of sheep {1340}</p> -<p class="i0">Didst thou chafe and wast wroth, nor for hoarded wealth of a treasure-heap,</p> -<p class="i0">But all for a comrade’s sake. I were fain thou wouldst champion so</p> -<p class="i0">Even me, if need should be ever, against another foe.’</p> - -<p class="i1">He spake, and they sat them down, as in days overpast made one.</p> -<p class="i0">But their lost—by the counsel of Zeus, Polyphemus Eilatus’ son</p> -<p class="i0">Was doomed mid the Mysian men to build a city, to bear</p> -<p class="i0">The name of the river thereby: but aback must Herakles fare</p> -<p class="i0">At Eurystheus’ labours to toil. But he threatened in anger hot</p> -<p class="i0">To waste the Mysian land, if her folk for him found not</p> -<p class="i0">What doom upon Hylas had lighted, if dead or alive he were. {1350}</p> -<p class="i0">And pledges they gave for the lost, in that sons most noble and fair</p> -<p class="i0">Of their people they chose, and for hostages gave, and an oath they swore</p> -<p class="i0">That they would not refrain from the toil of the search for evermore.</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore for tidings of Hylas the Kians unto this day,</p> -<p class="i0">For Theiodamas’ son, of the stranger inquire: the warders aye</p> -<p class="i0">Guard Trêchis the fair-built; for there did the hero cause to abide</p> -<p class="i0">The sons that they sent for their ransom to turn his fury aside.</p> - -<p class="i1">And the wind all day bare onward the galley and all night through</p> -<p class="i0">With a fresh strong blast: but when dawning arose, the breath of it blew</p> -<p class="i0">No whit any more; and they spied jutting forth from a curve of the land {1360}</p> -<p class="i0">A foreland, and broad to behold that dark height swelled from the strand.</p> -<p class="i0">So they bent to the oars, and at sunrise the keel up-furrowed the sand.</p> - - -<h3 id="book2">THE SECOND BOOK</h3> - -<p class="i0"><span class="sc">There</span> were there steadings of cattle, and Amykus’ farms were there,</p> -<p class="i0">Proud king of Bebrykian men, whom erst a wood-nymph bare;</p> -<p class="i0">For Bithynian Meliê couched with Poseidon the Lord of Birth.</p> -<p class="i0">Overweening was this their son above all the children of Earth,</p> -<p class="i0">Who even on wayfaring strangers his tyrannous ordinance laid</p> -<p class="i0">That they should not depart from his land till that trial of prowess were made</p> -<p class="i0">Against him with the fist: and neighbours full many he smote that they died.</p> -<p class="i0">And now to the galley he came; but he scorned in the height of his pride</p> -<p class="i0">To inquire of them wherefore they voyaged, or ask what men were they:</p> -<p class="i0">But with sudden defiance he challenged them all, and thus did he say: {10}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Sea-rovers, hearken the thing that is meet and right ye should know.</p> -<p class="i0">This is the ordinance—none may depart, from my country to go,</p> -<p class="i0">Even none who hath come to Bebrykia’s folk out of alien lands,</p> -<p class="i0">Or ever against mine hands he hath lifted in battle his hands.</p> -<p class="i0">Choose for you therefore the mightiest man of all your array,</p> -<p class="i0">And set ye him here for the strife of the fist against me this day.</p> -<p class="i0">But and if ye shall shrink from the trial, and trample my laws underfoot,</p> -<p class="i0">Verily mighty constraint shall pursue you with bitter pursuit.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he in pride overweening, and came upon them as they heard</p> -<p class="i0">Fierce anger, but most by his threatening vaunt Polydeukes was stirred. {20}</p> -<p class="i0">Straightway he stood for his fellows’ champion forth, and he cried:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Peace!—threaten not us, whatsoever the name that hath puffed thee with pride,</p> -<p class="i0">With brutal mishandling:—yea, unto these thy laws will we bow.</p> -<p class="i0">Even I right willingly offer me—lo, I will meet thee now.’</p> - -<p class="i1">Roundly he spake; and with rolling eyes glared on him the king</p> -<p class="i0">As a lion javelin-smitten, when out on the mountains the ring</p> -<p class="i0">Of the hunters hemmeth him round; but, albeit encompassed about</p> -<p class="i0">By the throng, he heedeth them not, but his glance ever searcheth him out,</p> -<p class="i0">Him only, which wounded him first, yet quelled him not with the stroke.</p> -<p class="i0">Then Tyndareus’ son laid by his goodly-woven cloak {30}</p> -<p class="i0">Of delicate threads, a gift of remembrance for sweet days past</p> -<p class="i0">Of a daughter of Lemnos. His mantle’s dark folds Amykus cast,</p> -<p class="i0">With the clasps thereof, to the ground, and the shepherd’s staff that he bore,</p> -<p class="i0">The rugged olive his hand from the windy hill-slope tore.</p> -<p class="i0">Then looked they, and chose for the combat a spot that was good in their sight;</p> -<p class="i0">And all their companions they bade sit down to left and to right.</p> -<p class="i0">Then stood they forth, nor in form nor in stature alike to behold:</p> -<p class="i0">But the one might be seed of Typhôeus the fell, or a monster of old,</p> -<p class="i0">Ay, even as one of the giant brood of Earth, which she bare</p> -<p class="i0">To wreak upon Zeus her wrath: but Tyndareus’ son showed fair {40}</p> -<p class="i0">As the star of the heaven, whose loveliest beams through the fading blue</p> -<p class="i0">Shine in the eventide, when the wings of the night drop dew.</p> -<p class="i0">Even such was the child of Zeus, and the soft down bloomed on his chin,</p> -<p class="i0">And bright were his dancing eyes: but waxed his breast within</p> -<p class="i0">His fury and might like a wild beast’s rage; and he struck out fast</p> -<p class="i0">With his hands, making trial if swift were their play, as in days overpast,</p> -<p class="i0">Uncramped by the stress of toil and the strain of the weary oar.</p> -<p class="i0">But Amykus proved not his limbs, but he glared on his foe evermore</p> -<p class="i0">Standing in silence aloof, and he yearned in eager mood</p> -<p class="i0">To smite and bespatter the hero’s breast with the spurting blood. {50}</p> -<p class="i0">And between them Lykôreus, Amykus’ henchman, cast on the ground</p> -<p class="i0">In front of their feet the fighting-gauntlets with thongs overbound,</p> -<p class="i0">Strips of the raw hide, dry, all ridged with wrinkles were they.</p> -<p class="i0">Then unto the hero the giant with arrogant words ’gan say:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Whichsoever thou wilt, lo, freely and willingly grant I to thee,</p> -<p class="i0">Without casting of lots, that thou mayst not hereafter murmur at me.</p> -<p class="i0">Now bind them about thine hands: thou shalt learn, and to others shall tell</p> -<p class="i0">How featly I carve the tough bull-hides, how passing well</p> -<p class="i0">I wield them withal, to bedabble with blood the jaws of men.’</p> - -<p class="i1">He spake, but the hero scorned with wrangling to answer again: {60}</p> -<p class="i0">And he made no ado, but the pair lying nighest his feet, the same</p> -<p class="i0">Lightly smiling he took. Then unto him Kastor came,</p> -<p class="i0">And Talaus the mighty, the scion of Bias: they bound on his wrists</p> -<p class="i0">The gauntlets in haste, oft bidding him play the man in the lists.</p> -<p class="i0">And to Amykus Ornytus came and Arêtus; but naught knew they—</p> -<p class="i0">Fools!—that they girded a doomed man then for his latest fray.</p> - -<p class="i1">So when they were ready, and forth in the lists stood face to face,</p> -<p class="i0">Straightway in front of their bodies their brawny hands did they raise.</p> -<p class="i0">Then closed they, and matched their might in the grim play furiously.</p> -<p class="i0">And now the Bebrykian king, as a charging wave of the sea {70}</p> -<p class="i0">With storm-roughened crest overarcheth a ship, and would surely o’erwhelm,</p> -<p class="i0">But that scantly she ’scapeth by wisdom of him that swayeth the helm,</p> -<p class="i0">When over her bulwark to hurl itself mad is the surge of the wave;</p> -<p class="i0">So followed he hard upon Tyndareus’ son to daunt him: he gave</p> -<p class="i0">No respite. The hero by cunning keeping him scatheless aye</p> -<p class="i0">Baffled his every rush: well marked he his brutal play,</p> -<p class="i0">To wot if the giant in might were haply resistless, or no.</p> -<p class="i0">So ever he faced him and warded, and flashed back blow for blow.</p> -<p class="i0">And even as when the shipwrights with hammers mightily swinging</p> -<p class="i0">Smite on the beams of a galley, driving the clamps close-clinging {80}</p> -<p class="i0">Sharply together, that bang upon clang cometh crashing and ringing,</p> -<p class="i0">And the air is a-shiver; so crack ’neath the buffets the cheeks of the twain,</p> -<p class="i0">So crash their jaws, and so clatter their teeth as the swift blows rain.</p> -<p class="i0">Nor flinch they nor falter, but facing each other smite they amain,</p> -<p class="i0">Till spent are they both, and for laboured panting they needs must refrain.</p> -<p class="i0">Then standing apart for a little they wiped from their foreheads away</p> -<p class="i0">The streaming sweat, while their deep chests heaved with the toil of the fray.</p> -<p class="i0">Then each against other again they rushed, as when on the lea</p> -<p class="i0">Two bulls for a heifer are fighting in fury of rivalry.</p> -<p class="i0">Then mid their battle did Amykus up to his full height spring {90}</p> -<p class="i0">Like an ox-slayer straining a-tiptoe—downward the weight did he swing</p> -<p class="i0">Of his gauntleted hand on the hero; but swerving swift from the stroke</p> -<p class="i0">By a turn of his head hath he foiled him, hath caught on his shoulder and broke</p> -<p class="i0">Its force,—he hath slipped past the knee of the giant his knee,—he hath rushed</p> -<p class="i0">With his whole weight dashing his fist ’neath his ear, and the bones hath he crushed,</p> -<p class="i0">That for agony down on his knees he sank, and the Minyans’ shout</p> -<p class="i0">Rang; and with one great gasp was the giant’s life poured out.</p> - -<p class="i1">Uprose the Bebrykian men to avenge the wild king’s fall:</p> -<p class="i0">And full upon Polydeukes as one man rushed they all</p> -<p class="i0">With rugged clubs and with javelins tossing in furious hands. {100}</p> -<p class="i0">But his comrades afront of him closed, and they drew their keen-whetted brands</p> -<p class="i0">Out of their scabbards: and Kastor the first with the sword-sweep cleft</p> -<p class="i0">The head of a foe, as against him he rushed; and to right and to left</p> -<p class="i0">Upon either shoulder aslant did the ghastly halves of it fall.</p> -<p class="i0">Polydeukes o’erthrew the giant Itymoneus, Mimas withal;</p> -<p class="i0">For, weaponless, one with a sudden leap did he spurn on the breast</p> -<p class="i0">With his foot, and in dust he fell; and one, as to conflict he pressed,</p> -<p class="i0">Over the left brow smote he with swift right hand, and he tare</p> -<p class="i0">The eyelid away, that it left the wretch’s eyeball bare.</p> -<p class="i0">And Oreides, Amykus’ henchman, a brawny champion, {110}</p> -<p class="i0">Stabbed with his lance at the flank of Talaus, Bias’ son;</p> -<p class="i0">Howbeit he slew him not, but sliding along the skin</p> -<p class="i0">The brass sped under his belt, neither tasted the flesh within.</p> -<p class="i0">And Arêtus at Iphitus smote with a club of the knotted oak,</p> -<p class="i0">That Eurytus’ scion, the battle-bider, reeled from the stroke.</p> -<p class="i0">Howbeit not yet was the hero doomed unto deadly bane;</p> -<p class="i0">Nay, soon was the smiter’s self by Klytius’ sword to be slain.</p> -<p class="i0">Then did Ankaius the dauntless son of Lykurgus in haste</p> -<p class="i0">Swing up his mighty axe, and around his left arm cast</p> -<p class="i0">The bear’s dark fell for a shield, and amidst the Bebrykian array {120}</p> -<p class="i0">In fury of onset he plunged, and beside him charged to the fray</p> -<p class="i0">Aiakus’ sons, and Jason the valiant leapt to the fight.</p> -<p class="i0">And as when mid the folds the grey wolves scare in huddled affright</p> -<p class="i0">Vast throngs of sheep on a wintry day, having rushed on the pen</p> -<p class="i0">By the keen-nosed dogs unscented, unmarked of the shepherd’s ken;</p> -<p class="i0">And in fury they seek to leap the fence, and to seize the prey,</p> -<p class="i0">Glaring and glaring, a fierce-eyed ring; and, shrinking away</p> -<p class="i0">Upon every side, on each other trample the sheep; even so</p> -<p class="i0">Drave they in ghastly rout the haughty Bebrykian foe.</p> -<p class="i0">And as when bee-keepers or shepherds fill with the stifling smoke {130}</p> -<p class="i0">The cleft of a rock where dwell the honey-fashioning folk,</p> -<p class="i0">And the bees for a while all thronging within their cavern-home,</p> -<p class="i0">Murmur with muffled hum, till, driven at last therefrom</p> -<p class="i0">By the murky fume, they pour from the crag, and they flee away;</p> -<p class="i0">Even so not long they abode, but scattered in disarray</p> -<p class="i0">Through Bebrykia bearing the tidings of Amykus’ doom did they fly.</p> -<p class="i0">Fools!—nothing they knew of another woe even then drawn nigh</p> -<p class="i0">All unforeseen, for their orchards were wasted in that same hour,</p> -<p class="i0">And amidst of their hamlets did Lykus’ ravening spears devour,</p> -<p class="i0">And the Mariandynians slew, forasmuch as their king was afar, {140}</p> -<p class="i0">For that aye for the iron-bearing land were the nations at war.</p> -<p class="i0">So now had the spoilers fallen on garth and byre and fold;</p> -<p class="i0">While seaward the heroes headed their sheep in throngs untold,</p> -<p class="i0">And this one to that one cried the while they drave the prey:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Bethink ye, what price had they paid for their felon folly to-day,</p> -<p class="i0">If haply a God had but brought our Herakles hither to aid!</p> -<p class="i0">Ha! surely had he but been here, no trial, I ween, had been made</p> -<p class="i0">Of strife with the fists; but so soon as the caitiff drew nigh to proclaim</p> -<p class="i0">His ordinance, straightway the club should have made him forget the same,</p> -<p class="i0">Even as he spake it, yea, and forget the might of his hand. {150}</p> -<p class="i0">Ah, but we left him, we left him, alone on a desolate strand,</p> -<p class="i0">And we sailed away oversea:—full soon shall we know, each one,</p> -<p class="i0">Our baneful folly, seeing our mightiest champion is gone!’</p> - -<p class="i1">But the counsels of Zeus had wrought all this, beyond their ken.</p> -<p class="i0">So here through the night they abode, and the hurts of the wounded men</p> -<p class="i0">They tended, and slew to the Gods everlasting the sacrifice;</p> -<p class="i0">And a mighty supper they dight: fell sleep upon no man’s eyes,</p> -<p class="i0">By the bowl as they sat and the blazing altar the long night through,</p> -<p class="i0">With their golden locks enwreathed with the leaves of a bay that grew</p> -<p class="i0">Hard by the strand, about whose stem was their hawser bound. {160}</p> -<p class="i0">And to Orpheus’ lyre they chanted; their voices’ blended sound</p> -<p class="i0">Rang tunefully: all the breathless beach lay tranced with the spell</p> -<p class="i0">Of the song; for of Zeus of Therapnae’s child did the sweet hymn tell.</p> - -<p class="i1">Over the dusky hills did the light of the new sun leap,</p> -<p class="i0">As he rose from his far sea-bourn, as he roused the shepherds from sleep.</p> -<p class="i0">Then from the stem of the bay did the heroes their hawser uncoil,</p> -<p class="i0">And they laid in the galley so much as sufficed for their need of the spoil;</p> -<p class="i0">And before the breeze up swirling Bosporus’ flood they steered.</p> -<p class="i0">There steep and high the surge, as a mountain’s crown upreared</p> -<p class="i0">Afront of the prow, rusheth on them as leapeth a beast on the prey,— {170}</p> -<p class="i0">Higher, still higher upheaved to the clouds: thou wouldst verily say,</p> -<p class="i0">‘They cannot escape grim doom, for that full o’er the galley’s side</p> -<p class="i0">Swingeth its madding crest like a cloud!’ Yet a bark may ride</p> -<p class="i0">Safe even o’er such, if she have but a helmsman good at need.</p> -<p class="i0">And by Tiphys’ steering-craft even so did the heroes speed</p> -<p class="i0">Through the peril unscathed, yet sore dismayed. So the wild day passed,</p> -<p class="i0">And the night; and with dawn on Bithynia’s shore the anchor they cast.</p> - -<p class="i1">There hard by the sea had Phineus Agênor’s son his abode,</p> -<p class="i0">Who endured above all men trouble and anguish, a baleful load.</p> -<p class="i0">For a spirit of prophecy Lêto’s son had bestowed of old {180}</p> -<p class="i0">On him; yet he thrust all reverence aside, and to mortals foretold</p> -<p class="i0">The sacred purpose of Zeus, the mind of Heaven’s King.</p> -<p class="i0">Therefore did Zeus requite him with eld long-lingering;</p> -<p class="i0">And he took from his eyes the pleasant light, and he suffered him not</p> -<p class="i0">To have joy of the meats untold which the dwellers around aye brought,</p> -<p class="i0">What time to his halls they resorted the purpose of heaven to hear.</p> -<p class="i0">But out of their caverns of cloud ever suddenly swooping anear</p> -<p class="i0">The Harpies would snatch them away from his lips and his hands evermore</p> -<p class="i0">With their talons, and whiles was there left unto him of all that store</p> -<p class="i0">No whit, and whiles but a crumb, that for torment his life might be spared. {190}</p> -<p class="i0">And they poured over all a loathly stench: was none that dared,</p> -<p class="i0">I say not, to carry thereof to his mouth, but even to stand</p> -<p class="i0">Far off, so foully the remnants reeked of the banquet banned.</p> -<p class="i0">But now, on his ears as their voices and tramp of their coming brake,</p> -<p class="i0">He knew that the men were at hand whereof Zeus’ oracle spake</p> -<p class="i0">That their coming should bring for him respite, in peace to eat his bread.</p> -<p class="i0">And he rose from his couch, as a shadowy dream might rise from a bed,</p> -<p class="i0">Bowed over his staff, and with wrinkled feet ’gan creep to the door</p> -<p class="i0">Groping along the walls; and for helplessness trembled sore</p> -<p class="i0">And for age his limbs as he moved, and with filth was his parchèd skin {200}</p> -<p class="i0">All leprous, and nought save this enwrapped the bones within.</p> -<p class="i0">So forth of the hall he came, and he bowed on the threshold-stone</p> -<p class="i0">His weary knees; and a swoon, like a dark pall over him thrown,</p> -<p class="i0">Enshrouded him; under his feet him seemed that the earth reeled round;</p> -<p class="i0">And he lay in a strengthless trance, and his lips could frame no sound.</p> -<p class="i0">And the heroes beheld him, and round about in a throng they pressed</p> -<p class="i0">And marvelled; until at the last the man from the depth of his breast</p> -<p class="i0">Drew laboured and difficult breath, and uttered his prophecy:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Hearken, ye noblest of Hellas’ sons, if ye verily be</p> -<p class="i0">The self-same heroes that Jason leadeth forth on the Quest {210}</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Golden Fleece in Argo the ship at a King’s grim hest.</p> -<p class="i0">Of a surety ye be: my soul hath knowledge of everything</p> -<p class="i0">By her divination yet. Thanks therefore to thee, O King,</p> -<p class="i0">O Son of Lêto, I render from depths of affliction and woe!</p> -<p class="i0">O friends, by the Suppliants’ Zeus, who is ever the sternest foe</p> -<p class="i0">Of transgressors—for Phœbus’ sake, and in awful Hêrê’s name</p> -<p class="i0">I beseech—by the Gods I implore you in whose care hither ye came,</p> -<p class="i0">Help me: deliver from anguish a most ill-fated man,</p> -<p class="i0">Neither hasten away uncaring and leave me in bale and ban,</p> -<p class="i0">As ye find me: for not on mine eyes alone hath the fierce foot trode {220}</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Vengeance-fiend, and I drag to the end eld’s weary load;</p> -<p class="i0">But a curse more bitter than all still hangeth over mine head,</p> -<p class="i0">For the Harpies are wont evermore to snatch from my lips my bread,</p> -<p class="i0">Swooping adown from a den of destruction, a viewless lair.</p> -<p class="i0">Neither find I any device for mine help: nay, easier it were</p> -<p class="i0">To escape the ken of mine own heart’s thoughts when I crave to be fed,</p> -<p class="i0">Than theirs; so swift through the welkin on hovering wings are they sped.</p> -<p class="i0">But if haply ever they leave but a morsel of meat on my board,</p> -<p class="i0">It reeketh with most unendurable strength of a stench abhorred.</p> -<p class="i0">No man, no, not for an instant, might dare draw nigh to the same, {230}</p> -<p class="i0">Not though in his breast were a heart forged all of adamant frame.</p> -<p class="i0">But me of a surety doth hard compelling of hunger constrain</p> -<p class="i0">To abide, and abiding to stay this famine’s gnawing pain.</p> -<p class="i0">But those my tormentors, an oracle saith, shall be made to flee</p> -<p class="i0">By Boreas’ sons; neither strangers shall my deliverers be,</p> -<p class="i0">If indeed I be Phineus, renowned among men in the days long gone</p> -<p class="i0">For my wealth and my soothsaying lore, if Agênor called me son,</p> -<p class="i0">If the sister of these, Kleopatra, when over the Thracians I reigned,</p> -<p class="i0">Came to mine halls, a bride by a royal bride-price gained.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So ended Agênor’s son, and compassion’s o’ermastering pain {240}</p> -<p class="i0">Thrilled all the heroes, but chiefly the North-wind’s scions twain.</p> -<p class="i0">Brushing the tears from their eyes they drew nigh him, and Zethes spake;</p> -<p class="i0">And the hand of the grief-worn sire in his hand with the word did he take:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘O hapless, none other is more afflicted than thou, I trow,</p> -<p class="i0">Among men!—ah, wherefore on thee is there heaped such a burden of woe?</p> -<p class="i0">Baleful in sooth was the folly wherewith through thy prophecy-lore</p> -<p class="i0">Against Gods thou transgressedst: for this was their anger exceeding sore.</p> -<p class="i0">Howbeit our spirit within us, although we be fain, is afraid</p> -<p class="i0">To help thee, if on us indeed a God this honour hath laid.</p> -<p class="i0">For to dwellers on Earth the rebukes of Immortals be plain to discern; {250}</p> -<p class="i0">And we dare not chase yon Harpies from thee, howsoever we yearn</p> -<p class="i0">For thine help, in the hour of their coming, except thou swear to us first</p> -<p class="i0">That for this we shall lose not the high Gods’ favour, as men accurst.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he: the stricken in years uplifted and opened wide</p> -<p class="i0">His sightless eyes straightway, and with swift words Phineus replied:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Hush!—thrust not such thoughts, my son, on a spirit affliction-filled!</p> -<p class="i0">Be witness Latona’s son, who taught to me gracious-willed</p> -<p class="i0">Prophecy-lore; and be witness this mine ill-starred doom,</p> -<p class="i0">And this dark cloud on mine eyes, and the Gods of the Underworld Gloom,—</p> -<p class="i0">May their curse, if I die with a lie on my tongue, be upon me for aye!— {260}</p> -<p class="i0">That on you no wrath of the Gods shall descend for your help this day.’</p> - -<p class="i1">Then by the oath were they kindled to help him, and fled their fears.</p> -<p class="i0">And the young men straightway made ready the meat for the stricken in years,—</p> -<p class="i0">The last ordained for the Harpies’ spoil,—and anigh to him stood</p> -<p class="i0">Those twain, to smite with the sword those fiends when they swooped on the food.</p> -<p class="i0">Then first his hands on the meats did he lay, that grey-haired sire:—</p> -<p class="i0">But sudden as bitter blasts, or as flashes of levin-fire,</p> -<p class="i0">Unawares from the clouds they had darted, and swooping adown they yelled</p> -<p class="i0">Their awful scream, fierce-eager for prey; but the heroes beheld,</p> -<p class="i0">And shouted amidst of their onrush. The fiends at the challenge of war {270}</p> -<p class="i0">Swift ravined the meats from the boards, and over the sea afar</p> -<p class="i0">Soared they away, but there did their foul sick stench remain.</p> -<p class="i0">Then straightway hard on their track did the North-wind’s scions twain</p> -<p class="i0">Uplifting their swords follow after them fast, for with tireless might</p> -<p class="i0">Zeus filled them: howbeit they had not prevailed to follow their flight</p> -<p class="i0">But with Zeus’s help, for that faster than Zephyrus’ blasts they darted</p> -<p class="i0">Evermore, when on Phineus they swooped, and whene’er from the wretch they departed.</p> -<p class="i0">And as when on the mountain-ridges keen hounds cunning in chase</p> -<p class="i0">On the track of the hornèd goats or the deer hard-following race</p> -<p class="i0">Swiftly, and ever a little behind the prey as they strain, {280}</p> -<p class="i0">Snap at the haunch of the quarry, and clash their teeth in vain;</p> -<p class="i0">So Zetes and Kalaïs rushed ever nearer with eager grip,</p> -<p class="i0">Clutched at them, smote at them, missed but by sword-point or finger-tip.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, even despite Heaven’s will had they rent them limb from limb,</p> -<p class="i0">Overtaking them far away where the Floating Islands swim,—</p> -<p class="i0">But Iris the Storm-foot beheld them, and downward she plunged from the sky</p> -<p class="i0">Through a whirlwind of air, and with words of restraining aloud did she cry:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Sons of the North-wind, forefended it is that ye smite with the sword</p> -<p class="i0">The Harpies, great Zeus’s hounds; but myself will pronounce the word</p> -<p class="i0">Of the oath that shall hold them from lighting again on the ancient’s board.’ {290}</p> - -<p class="i1">Then spake she the words of the Oath of the Styx, the oath most dread</p> -<p class="i0">Unto all the Gods, whose reverence guardeth the words once said,</p> -<p class="i0">That the Harpies should never thereafter draw nigh unto Phineus’ hall,</p> -<p class="i0">To the home of Agênor’s son, for so was it doomed to befall.</p> -<p class="i0">To the oath then yielded the heroes, and backward they turned their flight</p> -<p class="i0">Unto the ship; and the Strophads, the Isles of Return, were they hight</p> -<p class="i0">Therefrom, which of old the Floating Isles had been called of men.</p> -<p class="i0">And the Harpies and Iris parted, and into their cavern-den</p> -<p class="i0">In Krêtê, the land of Minos, they plunged: but Olympus-ward</p> -<p class="i0">Uplifted ’twixt heaven and earth on her swift wings Iris soared. {300}</p> - -<p class="i1">But the heroes bathed and anointed the skin all fouled and sere</p> -<p class="i0">Of the ancient the while; and the choice of the fatlings they slew for their cheer,</p> -<p class="i0">Of the flock which they bare away of the spoil of Amykus dead.</p> -<p class="i0">So when in the halls a plenteous eventide-feast they had spread,</p> -<p class="i0">They feasted; and Phineus amidst them was like unto them that dream,</p> -<p class="i0">As from ravenous hunger he cheered his heart, so strange did it seem.</p> -<p class="i0">So there, when with meats and with wine they had satisfied all their need,</p> -<p class="i0">Through the long night kept they vigil, and waited for Boreas’ seed.</p> -<p class="i0">And the ancient sat in their midst in the ruddy glow of the fire;</p> -<p class="i0">And he told of their voyaging’s bourn, and the end of their desire: {310}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Give ear unto me:—forefended it is that ye hear all through</p> -<p class="i0">Your fate:—whatsoe’er seemeth good to the Gods I will hide not from you.</p> -<p class="i0">Mad was I of yore, when I spake unto Earth’s sons Zeus’s will</p> -<p class="i0">In all points unto the end: for this is his pleasure still</p> -<p class="i0">To reveal unto men his oracles short of the fulness of doom,</p> -<p class="i0">That so they may lean on the Gods, and faith and prayer have room.</p> - -<p class="i1">The Rocks Kyanean first, when that gotten ye are from me,</p> -<p class="i0">In the place where the two seas meet, the Dark Blue Crags, shall ye see.</p> -<p class="i0">Through that dread pass no pilot, I ween, hath prevailed to go;</p> -<p class="i0">For rooted they are not to earth on foundations of rock therebelow; {320}</p> -<p class="i0">But with rush and recoil unceasingly each against other they clash:</p> -<p class="i0">High over them archeth the crested brine, and the foam-feathers flash</p> -<p class="i0">From the seething cauldron: the precipice-foreland thundereth aye.</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore to this my counsel give good heed, and obey,</p> -<p class="i0">If indeed with prudent soul and with fear of the Gods on high</p> -<p class="i0">Ye essay this Quest, that by doom self-sought ye may not die</p> -<p class="i0">As the fool, nor in rashness of youth essay to rush thereby.</p> -<p class="i0">First with a bird, with a white-winged dove, shall ye make assay,</p> -<p class="i0">Speeding her flight from the ship’s prow. If she shall win her way</p> -<p class="i0">Safe ’twixt the Crags of Terror, and out to the open sea, {330}</p> -<p class="i0">No longer thereafter from daring the selfsame path shrink ye;</p> -<p class="i0">But grip ye the oars in your hands, and put forth your uttermost might</p> -<p class="i0">Cleaving the gorge of the sea, for that safety’s deliverance-light</p> -<p class="i0">Shall not be in prayer so much as the strength of your hands and the strain.</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore let all else be, and toil ye with might and main</p> -<p class="i0">Boldly: but ere then pray as ye list; I say not nay.</p> -<p class="i0">But and if the death-trap clutch in the midst the dove, and slay,</p> -<p class="i0">Then sail ye aback; for better by far it is that ye</p> -<p class="i0">Should yield to the Deathless. The evil fate should ye nowise flee</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Rocks—no, not though fashioned of iron your Argo should be. {340}</p> -<p class="i0">O wretches, dare not to transgress the warning my tongue hath given,</p> -<p class="i0">Though thrice so much ye account me abhorred of the Dwellers in Heaven—</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, though it were more than thrice—as I am by my grievous sin,</p> -<p class="i0">Yet dare not to flout the omen, to thrust your galley therein!</p> -<p class="i0">And these things shall fall as they haply shall fall. But if scatheless ye shun</p> -<p class="i0">The rush of the Clashing Rocks, and the Pontus Sea shall be won,</p> -<p class="i0">Sailing therefrom, the Bithynians’ land to your right shall ye keep,</p> -<p class="i0">Ever heedfully standing out from the reefs, until ye shall sweep</p> -<p class="i0">Round the outfall of swift-flowing Rheba, and round the headland dark,</p> -<p class="i0">And within the haven of Thynê’s isle shall anchor your bark. {350}</p> -<p class="i0">Thence turn ye aback for a little space o’er the long sea-swell,</p> -<p class="i0">Till ye beach your keel on the strand where the Mariandynians dwell.</p> -<p class="i0">Thereby is a path through darkness descending to Hades’ hall,</p> -<p class="i0">And the Cape Acherusian towereth upward, a giant wall.</p> -<p class="i0">And swirling Acheron cleaving the mountain’s heart unseen</p> -<p class="i0">Suddenly poureth forth his flood from a mighty ravine.</p> -<p class="i0">Thereby many column-hills of the Paphlagonian shore</p> -<p class="i0">Shall ye pass, the nation whose king was in Enetê born of yore,</p> -<p class="i0">Even Pelops; and yet do they boast them sprung from his princely line.</p> -<p class="i0">And a headland there is, looking full where the circling Bear doth shine, {360}</p> -<p class="i0">A crag exceeding steep, and Karambis it hath to name.</p> -<p class="i0">The blasts of the North-wind are sundered about the crest of the same,</p> -<p class="i0">So sheer doth it spring from the sea, so sharply it cleaveth the air.</p> -<p class="i0">Now when ye have rounded the same, lo, stretcheth before you there</p> -<p class="i0">A great beach: far at the end of the gleaming strand’s long sweep</p> -<p class="i0">’Neath a jutting foreland the waters of Halys seaward leap</p> -<p class="i0">Terribly roaring; and hard thereby doth Iris go,</p> -<p class="i0">A lesser river, whose swirls soft-rippling gently flow.</p> -<p class="i0">And onward from thence is the bend of a huge cape towering high</p> -<p class="i0">Up from the land, and the mouth of the river Thermodon thereby, {370}</p> -<p class="i0">Where the height Themiskyrian watcheth the sleeping bay at its side,</p> -<p class="i0">Cometh murmuring still of her journeyings over the mainland wide.</p> -<p class="i0">There is the plain of Doias, the cities three rise near</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Amazon Maids: then they whose lot is of all most drear,</p> -<p class="i0">The Chalybes, dwell in a rugged land on a stubborn soil,</p> -<p class="i0">Smithying-craftsmen; in forging of iron ever they toil.</p> -<p class="i0">And anigh to them dwell Tibarenians, lords of many sheep,</p> -<p class="i0">Past Zeus the Defender of Strangers, the fane upon Genetê’s steep.</p> -<p class="i0">And next unto these, on their marches, the Mossynœcians dwell</p> -<p class="i0">In a land of forests, in many a mountain-cradled dell, {380}</p> -<p class="i0">Whose homes be in towers of timber, fashioned and carven well.</p> -<p class="i0">But coast past these, and beach your keel on a smooth isle: there</p> -<p class="i0">Beat back with your uttermost cunning the ravening scourge of the air,</p> -<p class="i0">Those birds, which in countless multitudes haunt, men say, the strand</p> -<p class="i0">Of the desolate isle;—therein doth a temple of Arês stand</p> -<p class="i0">Of stone, which was built by the queens of the Amazon war-array,</p> -<p class="i0">Otrêrê and Antiopê, what time they marched to the fray;—</p> -<p class="i0">For there shall a help for your need from the bitter sea arise</p> -<p class="i0">Unlooked-for: wherefore, abide there, with kindly intent I advise.</p> -<p class="i0">But now what do I, transgressing again?—what need that I {390}</p> -<p class="i0">Should tell to you every whit of the tale of my prophecy?</p> -<p class="i0">Onward away from the isle, on the mainland shore’s far side,</p> -<p class="i0">The Philyrans dwell, and beyond the Philyran folk abide</p> -<p class="i0">The Makrônes, and next, the Becheirian tribes, a host untold.</p> -<p class="i0">Next after these the Sapeirians’ land shall your eyes behold.</p> -<p class="i0">Next these the Bezyrans, their neighbours, dwell; and beyond, at last,</p> -<p class="i0">Even the warrior Kolchians: yet shall ye speed on past</p> -<p class="i0">Your galley, till stayed at the uttermost bourn of the sea ye are.</p> -<p class="i0">There over the mainland Kytaian, from Amaranth mountains afar,</p> -<p class="i0">And over the plain Kirkaian rolling evermore, {400}</p> -<p class="i0">His broad flood into the sea doth eddying Phasis pour.</p> -<p class="i0">Into the selfsame river’s mouth your galley bring:</p> -<p class="i0">Then on the towers shall ye look of Kytaian Aiêtes the king,</p> -<p class="i0">And the War-god’s grove dim-shadowed. And high on a dark oak-tree</p> -<p class="i0">Hangeth the Fleece; and a dragon, a monster fearful to see,</p> -<p class="i0">Ever glareth around, keeping watch and ward: never dawn doth arise,</p> -<p class="i0">Neither darkness descendeth, when sweet sleep quelleth his ruthless eyes.’</p> - -<p class="i1">Even so did he speak: straightway as they heard were they thrilled with fear.</p> -<p class="i0">Long speechless they sat, till brake at the last that silence drear</p> -<p class="i0">Aison’s son, sore wildered that boding of evil to hear: {410}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘O ancient, now hast thou come to the bourn of the toils we must know</p> -<p class="i0">On the sea, and hast told us the token, by trust wherein we may go</p> -<p class="i0">Through the baleful rocks, and win unto Pontus: but if once more,</p> -<p class="i0">If through these we escape, we shall homeward return unto Hellas’ shore,</p> -<p class="i0">Exceeding fain were I this also to learn of thee.</p> -<p class="i0">How shall I do?—how track such a measureless path o’er the sea,</p> -<p class="i0">Who am but a youth, and with youths?—and behold, this Kolchian land</p> -<p class="i0">At the ends of the earth doth lie, on the great sea’s uttermost strand.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So did he cry; but answered the ancient, and spake yet again:</p> -<p class="i0">‘My son, when once thou hast safely fled through the Rocks of Bane, {420}</p> -<p class="i0">Fear not, for a God shall show thee another voyaging-track</p> -<p class="i0">From Aia: yea, after Aia guides shalt thou nowise lack.</p> -<p class="i0">But, friends, of the guileful aid of the Cyprian Queen take thought;</p> -<p class="i0">For of her unto glorious issues shall all your toils be wrought.</p> -<p class="i0">And now of the things yet lying beyond these ask me nought.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So answered Agênor’s son; and lo, those twain stood nigh,</p> -<p class="i0">The sons of the Thracian North-wind, swooping adown from the sky.</p> -<p class="i0">On the threshold their swift feet set they; and straight from his carven chair</p> -<p class="i0">Each hero upsprang, beholding the champions suddenly there.</p> -<p class="i0">Eager for tidings were they; and Zetes, still as he drew {430}</p> -<p class="i0">Hard breath from the toil of the hunting, told them how far they flew</p> -<p class="i0">Chasing them, told how Iris restrained them at point to slay;</p> -<p class="i0">Of the oaths which the Goddess gave of her grace; how in sore dismay</p> -<p class="i0">’Neath Dictê’s cliff in a cavern vast they had plunged out of sight.</p> -<p class="i0">Then were the heroes all in the mansion filled with delight</p> -<p class="i0">For the tidings, and Phineus withal. Then spake unto him straightway</p> -<p class="i0">Aison’s son, and with love overflowing his soul ’gan say:—</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Of a surety a God, O Phineus, there was, in compassion that bent</p> -<p class="i0">To look on thy grievous affliction, and us from afar he sent</p> -<p class="i0">Hither, that Boreas’ sons might drive thy tormentors from thee. {440}</p> -<p class="i0">Now if he would give but light to thine eyes, such gladness in me</p> -<p class="i0">Would stir, as though with the Fleece I were come to mine home, I trow.’</p> - -<p class="i1">He spake, but the head of the ancient sank, and he answered low:</p> -<p class="i0">‘Nay, Aison’s son, it is past recall: no dawn shall arise</p> -<p class="i0">Balm-breathing on them, for blasted are these my sightless eyes.</p> -<p class="i0">Nay, death let a God bestow right speedily, rather than this:</p> -<p class="i0">Then, when I am dead, shall I enter at last into perfect bliss.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake they, and each unto other the answering speech returned.</p> -<p class="i0">And amidst of their converse in no long space the dawn-flush burned</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Child of the Mist: then gathered the neighbours to Phineus’ door {450}</p> -<p class="i0">Which in time past day by day wont thither to come evermore;</p> -<p class="i0">And, despite the curse, from their own a portion of meat each brought.</p> -<p class="i0">And to all did the ancient—yea, to the poor whose hands bare nought—</p> -<p class="i0">Speak kindly his oracles; yea, from afflictions many he freed</p> -<p class="i0">By his soothsaying: wherefore they came, and they ministered unto his need.</p> -<p class="i0">And came with the rest Paraibius, he that was dearest of all</p> -<p class="i0">Unto him, and with joy was he ware of the presences thronging the hall.</p> -<p class="i0">For the ancient to him long since had foretold that a chieftain-band,</p> -<p class="i0">Unto Aiêtes’ city faring from Hellas-land,</p> -<p class="i0">On the beach of the Thynian coast should make their hawsers fast, {460}</p> -<p class="i0">And by these should the Harpies of Zeus be restrained from tormenting at last.</p> -<p class="i0">So with words of wisdom and love the ancient gladdened each heart</p> -<p class="i0">Ere he let them go; but Paraibius suffered he not to depart,</p> -<p class="i0">But bade him abide with the chieftains, and sent him, making request</p> -<p class="i0">Of his friend to go to the flock, and to bring the goodliest</p> -<p class="i0">Of the sheep unto him. So when to perform his behest he had sped,</p> -<p class="i0">To the chieftains gathered there spake Phineus, and lovingly said:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘O friends, not every man is overweening of mood,</p> -<p class="i0">Neither forgetful of kindness; so loyal of heart and so good</p> -<p class="i0">Is yon man. Hither he came on a day to inquire of his fate: {470}</p> -<p class="i0">For, when never so hard he toiled, sore labouring early and late,</p> -<p class="i0">Yet ever his need grew greater, his poverty waxed alway,</p> -<p class="i0">With leanness wasting his frame: day followed on evil day</p> -<p class="i0">Yet worse: no respite there was to his weariful pain. But herein</p> -<p class="i0">Was this man paying the debt of his father’s ancient sin.</p> -<p class="i0">For once on the mountains alone the trees of the forest felling</p> -<p class="i0">He had set at nought the prayers of a Nymph in an oak-tree dwelling.</p> -<p class="i0">For with earnest entreaty she moaned her request, and besought him with tears</p> -<p class="i0">To spare that trunk which had grown with her growth, wherewith through the years</p> -<p class="i0">Of long generations her life was bound; but in folly and pride {480}</p> -<p class="i0">Of his youthful arrogance hewed he on: and the Tree-nymph died.</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore the Wood-maid caused that her death thereafter should be</p> -<p class="i0">For a curse unto him and his children. And I, when he came unto me,</p> -<p class="i0">Knew of the ancient sin; and an altar I bade him raise</p> -<p class="i0">To the Thynian Nymph, and atonement-victims to give to the blaze,</p> -<p class="i0">Praying to ’scape from the weird pronounced on his father of yore.</p> -<p class="i0">Then, when from the doom of the Goddess deliverance came, never more</p> -<p class="i0">Forgat he me, nor neglected: and sorely against his will</p> -<p class="i0">From my doors do I send him fain to attend mine afflictions still.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake Agenor’s son; and straightway returned again {490}</p> -<p class="i0">His friend with fatlings twain from the flock. Rose Jason then</p> -<p class="i0">And rose the North-wind’s sons at the ancient prophet’s word.</p> -<p class="i0">Eftsoons called they on the name of Apollo the Prophecy-lord;</p> -<p class="i0">Then slew they the sheep on the hearth as sloped the sun to the west.</p> -<p class="i0">And the younger men of their band made ready the plenteous feast.</p> -<p class="i0">So when they had eaten, they turned to their rest, as each man chose,</p> -<p class="i0">By the hawsers of Argo these, through the mansion in clusters those.</p> -<p class="i0">But at dawn the Etesian breezes blew, which o’er every land</p> -<p class="i0">Equally blow in their season by Zeus’s high command.</p> - -<p class="i1">Kyrênê, ’tis told, in the meads where Peneios’ waters roll {500}</p> -<p class="i0">Pastured her sheep in the olden days; for dear to her soul</p> -<p class="i0">Were her maidenhood and her couch unstained: but, even as she strayed</p> -<p class="i0">By the stream with her flock, did Apollo snatch from the earth the maid</p> -<p class="i0">From Haimonia afar, and mid Chthonian Nymphs did he set her down,</p> -<p class="i0">Where over their Libyan haunts the steeps Myrtosian frown.</p> -<p class="i0">There did she bear Aristaius, and Phœbus’ son did they call</p> -<p class="i0">In Haimonia the Shepherd Lord, and the Mighty Hunter withal;</p> -<p class="i0">For the God of his love to a Nymph transformed her, and made her there</p> -<p class="i0">The Lady of the Land, long-lived: but his child he bare,</p> -<p class="i0">A babbling infant yet, to be nurtured in Cheiron’s cave. {510}</p> -<p class="i0">And to him, when he grew unto manhood, a bride the Muses gave;</p> -<p class="i0">And cunning in healing they taught him, with prophecy-wisdom they fed;</p> -<p class="i0">And their tender of sheep did they make him, that all their flocks he led,</p> -<p class="i0">In the plain Athamantian of Phthia that pastured, by Othrys’ side,</p> -<p class="i0">And where the sacred streams of the river Apidanus glide.</p> -<p class="i0">But when Sirius glared on the isles of Minos with scorching blaze,</p> -<p class="i0">Neither came to the dwellers therein any respite for many days,</p> -<p class="i0">For this Aristaius they sent, by the Archer-god’s command,</p> -<p class="i0">To avert the plague; and he left at his father’s behest the land</p> -<p class="i0">Of Phthia, and dwelt in Kos, and assembled thither the folk {520}</p> -<p class="i0">Of Parrhasia, even the people sprung from Lykaon’s stock.</p> -<p class="i0">So to Rain-giver Zeus he builded a mighty altar there,</p> -<p class="i0">And he offered sacrifice meet to the star of the fiery glare</p> -<p class="i0">On the hills, and to Zeus himself the son of Kronos; and so</p> -<p class="i0">O’er the earth from Zeus the cool Etesian winds yet blow</p> -<p class="i0">For forty days: and, or ever the red Dog-star doth rise,</p> -<p class="i0">The priests in Kos unto this day offer him sacrifice.</p> - -<p class="i1">So telleth the tale: and there were the heroes constrained to stay</p> -<p class="i0">Land-bound by the selfsame winds. But the Thynians day by day,</p> -<p class="i0">Of their love for Phineus, brought to them gifts of abundant cheer. {530}</p> -<p class="i0">And thereafter unto the Blessèd Twelve did the wanderers rear</p> -<p class="i0">On the further strand an altar, and victims offered they there</p> -<p class="i0">Ere they entered the sea-swift galley to row: yet forgat not to bear</p> -<p class="i0">In Argo a trembling dove, but Euphêmus clutched her fast</p> -<p class="i0">In his hand, as with terror she shrank and cowered; and so at the last</p> -<p class="i0">Loose from the Thynian land the hawsers twain they cast.</p> - -<p class="i1">Yet not unmarked of Athênê onward again did they fare:</p> -<p class="i0">Swiftly her feet hath she set on a cloud light-floating in air</p> -<p class="i0">Which should waft her along, for she caused that the weight divine it bore.</p> -<p class="i0">So seaward she swept to the help of the toilers at the oar. {540}</p> -<p class="i0">And as when one roveth afar from his own land,—oftentimes thus</p> -<p class="i0">We men in our hardihood wander, and no land seemeth to us</p> -<p class="i0">Too far away, but all paths lie within our ken,—</p> -<p class="i0">And he thinketh upon his home, and all in a moment then</p> -<p class="i0">Him seemeth the track over sea and o’er land thereunto lieth plain,</p> -<p class="i0">And the eyes of his soul in his eager pondering thitherward strain;</p> -<p class="i0">Even so swiftly the Daughter of Zeus through the welkin hath sped,</p> -<p class="i0">Till her feet on the perilous strand of the coast Bithynian tread.</p> - -<p class="i1">So when they were come to the narrow gorge of the winding strait</p> -<p class="i0">Where to right and to left stern cliffs pent in that grim sea-gate, {550}</p> -<p class="i0">Then the swirling rush of the surf dashed, bursting up from below,</p> -<p class="i0">O’er the ship as she went, and onward in sore dismay did they row.</p> -<p class="i0">And now the thud of the rocks, as each against other they clashed,</p> -<p class="i0">Ceaselessly smote on their ears, and thundered the cliffs brine-lashed.</p> -<p class="i0">Even then Euphêmus uprose firm-grasping the dove in his hand,</p> -<p class="i0">And on to the prow he strode, and the oarsmen obeyed the command</p> -<p class="i0">Of Tiphys Hagnias’ son, that they rowed with might and main</p> -<p class="i0">To drive the Argo betwixt the rocks through the perilous lane,</p> -<p class="i0">Putting their trust in their strength; and the crags, as asunder they leapt,</p> -<p class="i0">Opening they saw—of all men last—round a bend as they swept. {560}</p> -<p class="i0">And their spirit was melted within them:—but now Euphêmus hath sped</p> -<p class="i0">The flight of the wings of the dove: each man uplifted his head,</p> -<p class="i0">Watching what now should befall:—on, onward between them, on</p> -<p class="i0">Flew she; but face to face those charging walls of stone</p> -<p class="i0">Came rushing together, and crashed, and the seething brine uproared</p> -<p class="i0">Vast-volumed like to a cloud; and the madding sea-gulf roared</p> -<p class="i0">With an awful voice, and thundered the welkin wide all round.</p> -<p class="i0">And out of the caverns under the rugged cliffs the sound</p> -<p class="i0">Of a hollow rumbling came, as the sea surged inward; and high</p> -<p class="i0">O’er the cliffs from the dashing waves did the spurts of the white foam fly. {570}</p> -<p class="i0">The ship broached-to in the wave-rush: shorn by the rocks was the tip</p> -<p class="i0">Of the dove’s tail-feathers; but onward she flew, by the death-gin’s grip</p> -<p class="i0">Unscathed. Loud shouted the oarsmen; and Tiphys cried to them then</p> -<p class="i0">To row with their might, for the crags were parting asunder again.</p> -<p class="i0">But for trembling they faltered in rowing, until the indraught caught</p> -<p class="i0">The ship in the strength of its sweep back-swinging; and lo, they were brought</p> -<p class="i0">Betwixt those rocks. Then fell upon all most ghastly dread,</p> -<p class="i0">For destruction that none could escape was hanging above each head.</p> -<p class="i0">Even now through the gap wide Pontus to right and to left was beheld:</p> -<p class="i0">But all unawares at their bows a mighty surge upswelled {580}</p> -<p class="i0">Overbowed like a precipice-frown; and they saw as the green arch gleamed,</p> -<p class="i0">And with cowering heads did they shut their eyes—to their souls it seemed</p> -<p class="i0">That down on the ship’s whole length it would leap, and overwhelm;</p> -<p class="i0">But, while yet to the rowing she laboured, did Tiphys’ touch on the helm</p> -<p class="i0">Ease her, and under the keel hath it rolled, as leapt the prow:</p> -<p class="i0">High hath it lifted the stern, and afar hath it swept her now</p> -<p class="i0">From the rocks, and the galley ’twixt earth and heaven was tossed on high.</p> -<p class="i0">But Euphêmus strode down the line of the rowers with cheering cry</p> -<p class="i0">To bend to the oars with their uttermost might: and they tore through the deep</p> -<p class="i0">The blades with a shout. And far as a ship to the stroke will leap, {590}</p> -<p class="i0">Even twice so far leapt Argo away, and the tough oars bent</p> -<p class="i0">Like bended bows, such might to the stroke the heroes lent.</p> -<p class="i0">On-rushing, up-towering, a breaker came, overarched like a cave;</p> -<p class="i0">But suddenly light as a roller she rode the furious wave.</p> -<p class="i0">Forward through yawning gulfs she plunged; but caught was her prow</p> -<p class="i0">By a whirlpool sea-rush betwixt the Clashers:—on each side now</p> -<p class="i0">Swaying forward they thundered, and shivered the hull to the coming shock.</p> -<p class="i0">Then did Athênê backward thrust one massy rock</p> -<p class="i0">With her left hand, touching their bark with her right to speed her through;</p> -<p class="i0">On, like a wingèd arrow ’twixt billow and air she flew. {600}</p> -<p class="i0">Yet shorn away was the tip of the galley’s arching stern</p> -<p class="i0">By the rocks in their clash never-resting. Then did Athênê return</p> -<p class="i0">Far up to Olympus soaring, when now their peril was past.</p> -<p class="i0">But the Crags in the selfsame place that moment were rooted fast</p> -<p class="i0">Each hard against other for ever, as fated they were to remain</p> -<p class="i0">By the Blest, when a man in his ship should have passed therethrough unslain.</p> -<p class="i0">And now for the first from dismay blood-curdling did those breathe free,</p> -<p class="i0">Now gazing around on the sky, now o’er the expanse of sea</p> -<p class="i0">Far stretching away; for they weened that from Hades safe they had fled.</p> -<p class="i0">Then first of them Tiphys brake that awe-struck hush, and he said: {610}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Now I deem we have ’scaped it, we and the Argo, in very deed:</p> -<p class="i0">And herein none other, save only Athênê, hath helped us at need,</p> -<p class="i0">Who breathed into Argo spirit divine, when Argus the wright</p> -<p class="i0">Knit her with bolts, that she could not be trapped in doom’s despite.</p> -<p class="i0">O Aison’s son, for the hest of thy king no more fear thou,</p> -<p class="i0">Since a God hath vouchsafed unto us to flee all scatheless now</p> -<p class="i0">Through yonder rocks: yea, all thy toils which are yet to be done</p> -<p class="i0">Shall lightly be compassed, as Phineus foretold, Agênor’s son.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he; and forward past the Bithynian land he sped</p> -<p class="i0">The ship right on through the midst of the sea. But Jason said— {620}</p> -<p class="i0">And sad was his voice and low as he answered the hero-chief:—</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Ah, Tiphys, to what end thus wouldst thou hearten me in my grief?</p> -<p class="i0">I have sinned: with baneful and cureless madness have I transgressed.</p> -<p class="i0">For I ought, in the very hour when Pelias uttered his hest,</p> -<p class="i0">To have straightway refused this Quest, yea, though I were doomed to die</p> -<p class="i0">By the hands of tormentors, limb from limb hewn pitilessly.</p> -<p class="i0">But exceeding dread and cares unendurable now be mine,</p> -<p class="i0">With haunting fear as I sail the sea’s chill paths of brine</p> -<p class="i0">In the ship, and with haunting fear wheresoever we set our feet</p> -<p class="i0">On the land, for that foes evermore on every shore do we meet. {630}</p> -<p class="i0">And ever, when past is the day, through a night of sighs I wake,</p> -<p class="i0">Even from the hour when first ye gathered for Jason’s sake,</p> -<p class="i0">For all things aye taking thought. With a light heart cheerily</p> -<p class="i0">Thou speak’st, who for nought but thine own life needest to care; but I</p> -<p class="i0">For mine own care never a jot; but for this man and that man’s bane,</p> -<p class="i0">And for thee, and for other my comrades I bear this burden of pain,</p> -<p class="i0">Lest haply never I bring you alive unto Hellas again.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he, trying the heroes’ souls; but with words of cheer</p> -<p class="i0">Shouted they: glowed his heart that gallant chiding to hear.</p> -<p class="i0">And again he uplifted his voice, and he hailed that hero-crew: {640}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘O friends, your manful spirit hath quickened my courage anew.</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore, not though through abysses of Hades my way should be,</p> -<p class="i0">Will I suffer that dread shall lay hold on my soul, so steadfast do ye</p> -<p class="i0">Abide amid heart-wringing terror—yea, seeing that now through the strait</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Clashing Rocks we have sailed, I trow there lieth in wait</p> -<p class="i0">No terror hereafter like unto this, if in truth we obey</p> -<p class="i0">The counsel of Phineus the seer, as we track the printless way.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he; from words of misgiving their lips thenceforth they refrained:</p> -<p class="i0">But they fell to the ceaseless labour of rowing; and quickly they gained</p> -<p class="i0">Rheba the swift-flowing river: Kotône’s height they descried, {650}</p> -<p class="i0">And shortly thereafter past the Headland Dark did they glide.</p> -<p class="i0">Thereby was Phyllêis’ outfall, where in the days bygone</p> -<p class="i0">In the halls of his palace Dipsakus welcomed Athamas’ son,</p> -<p class="i0">What time from Orchomenus-city he fled, on the winged ram borne.</p> -<p class="i0">A Nymph of the Mead was his mother: the tyrant’s arrogant scorn</p> -<p class="i0">He loathed, but contented beside his father’s streams dwelt he</p> -<p class="i0">With his mother, and pastured his sheep in the meadows beside the sea.</p> -<p class="i0">And quickly they sighted his shrine, and the broad low banks of the stream,</p> -<p class="i0">And the plain, and of Kalpê’s deep-flowing waters they caught the gleam</p> -<p class="i0">For a moment, and passed it by, and still, when the daylight waned, {660}</p> -<p class="i0">’Neath the stars of the windless night at the tireless oars they strained.</p> -<p class="i0">And even as ploughing oxen cleaving the rain-soaked soil</p> -<p class="i0">Labour the furrows adown, and abundant sweat of their toil</p> -<p class="i0">Streameth from flank and from neck, and aye from beneath the yoke</p> -<p class="i0">Are the tired beasts turning their eyes askance; and as furnace-smoke</p> -<p class="i0">In hot gasps snort they the breath from their mouths; and, deep in the clay</p> -<p class="i0">Thrusting their hoofs, at the plough they tug through the livelong day;</p> -<p class="i0">So toiled those heroes tugging the oars through the brine alway.</p> - -<p class="i1">When the dawn divine not yet hath arisen, nor utter night</p> -<p class="i0">Reigneth, but over the darkness stealeth a faint grey light,— {670}</p> -<p class="i0">The twilight-tide is it named of slumber-stinted men,—</p> -<p class="i0">Into a desolate Thynian island’s haven then</p> -<p class="i0">They ran, and with weary toil sore-spent won they to the strand.</p> -<p class="i0">And to them lo, Lêto’s son, coming up from the Libyan land,</p> -<p class="i0">As he fared to the countless folk of the Hyperborean race,</p> -<p class="i0">Appeared; and his tresses golden-gleaming about his face,</p> -<p class="i0">Ever, as onward he moved, in the breezes floated and swung.</p> -<p class="i0">In his left hand held he the silver bow, and his quiver slung</p> -<p class="i0">From his shoulders was gleaming adown his back: and the isle all o’er</p> -<p class="i0">Quaked ’neath his feet, and surged the billow high on the shore. {680}</p> -<p class="i0">Then fell on them ’wildered fear as they looked: was none dared turn</p> -<p class="i0">His face to gaze with his eyes on the God’s eyes lovely and stern.</p> -<p class="i0">But with heads bowed down to the earth they stood: and onward he passed</p> -<p class="i0">Faring afar through the air to the sea. Then Orpheus at last</p> -<p class="i0">After long hush spake, and he cried to the hero-chieftains all:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Come now, an ye will, this island the Sacred Isle let us call</p> -<p class="i0">Of Apollo the Dawn-god, seeing at dawning revealed to our eyes</p> -<p class="i0">O’er the isle he hath passed. Such things as we have let us sacrifice,</p> -<p class="i0">On the shore upbuilding an altar: and if in the days to come</p> -<p class="i0">To Haimonia-land he vouchsafe us return, safe-speeding us home, {690}</p> -<p class="i0">Then with the thighs of hornèd goats will we pay our vow.</p> -<p class="i0">But with sacrifice-steam and libation I bid you propitiate now</p> -<p class="i0">The God. Be gracious, O King manifested!—be gracious thou!’</p> - -<p class="i1">So did he counsel: an altar with speed ’gan these uppile</p> -<p class="i0">Of shingle, and those through the island wandered, seeking the while</p> -<p class="i0">If they haply might light on a fawn, or the wild goat’s restless brood</p> -<p class="i0">That in multitudes seek their pasturage far in the depths of the wood.</p> -<p class="i0">And Lêto’s son unto these gave booty; and carving out</p> -<p class="i0">The thighs, on the altar they laid them with fat-folds wrapped about:</p> -<p class="i0">And they burnt them, hailing Apollo the Lord of the Fair Dayspring. {700}</p> -<p class="i0">And around the blaze they stood in a wide encompassing ring:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘All hail, fair Healer Apollo! Hail, thou Healer of Bane!’</p> -<p class="i0">They sang: and amidst them Oeagrius’ goodly son hath ta’en</p> -<p class="i0">The Bistonian lyre, and uplifted his voice in the clear-ringing lay,</p> -<p class="i0">Singing how on the rocky flanks of Parnassus once on a day</p> -<p class="i0">Delphinê the monster the young God slew with his arrow-flight,</p> -<p class="i0">When he yet was a beardless youth, rejoicing in locks of light:—</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Be gracious!’ he sang, ‘Unshorn, O King, be thy tresses aye,</p> -<p class="i0">Ever unravaged, as Heaven’s will is! One only may lay</p> -<p class="i0">Love-lingering hands thereupon, even Lêto Kôeus’ child.’ {710}</p> -<p class="i0">And the daughters of Pleistus oft, the Korykian Nymphs of the wild,</p> -<p class="i0">Caught up the refrain—‘Hail, Healer!’ their gladdening echoes ring.</p> -<p class="i0">So born was the lovely hymn that to Phœbus yet men sing.</p> - -<p class="i1">Then, when with the dance and the song they had honoured the God, they swore,</p> -<p class="i0">By the holy libations taking the oath, that evermore</p> -<p class="i0">They would stand each one by his fellow, and help in unity.</p> -<p class="i0">On the victims laid they their hands as they spake; and yet may ye see</p> -<p class="i0">A temple to gracious Unity there, which their own hands reared</p> -<p class="i0">In the day that they took for their wayfaring-fellow the Goddess revered.</p> - -<p class="i1">And now when the dawn of the third day came, a fresh strong wind {720}</p> -<p class="i0">From the west upsprang, and they left the island-cliffs behind.</p> -<p class="i0">Overagainst the mouth of the river Sangarius then,</p> -<p class="i0">And the land exceeding rich of the Mariandynian men,</p> -<p class="i0">The streams of Lykus, the mere of Anthemoïsia—these</p> -<p class="i0">They sighted, and ran thereby, and ever the sheets in the breeze</p> -<p class="i0">Quivered, and all the tackling, as onward they sped their flight.</p> -<p class="i0">But at dawn—forasmuch as the wind had fallen asleep in the night—</p> -<p class="i0">Gladly the haven they won of the Acherusian Head.</p> -<p class="i0">Upward it soareth to heaven with cliffs no foot may tread,</p> -<p class="i0">Fronting the sea Bithynian; below it the craggy rocks {730}</p> -<p class="i0">Ever lashed by the brine stand rooted: around them with thunder-shocks</p> -<p class="i0">Ever crashes the wallowing surge; and above the turmoil on high</p> -<p class="i0">Wide-spreading planes on the brow of the mountain rest on the sky.</p> -<p class="i0">And aback of the headland, and sloped therefrom away from the shore</p> -<p class="i0">Is a glen in a hollow: therein is a cave, even Hades’ Door,</p> -<p class="i0">With forest and rocks overroofed, and thereout an icy breath,</p> -<p class="i0">Chill-blowing unceasingly up from unfathomed abysses of death,</p> -<p class="i0">Freezeth the dews evermore, neither melteth the glistering rime</p> -<p class="i0">From the leaves, till the hour when the sun to his noonday height doth climb.</p> -<p class="i0">And o’er that headland grim doth silence never brood, {740}</p> -<p class="i0">But it murmureth ever with sound confused of the booming flood</p> -<p class="i0">And of leaves that shiver in blasts from the mountain-clefts that blow.</p> -<p class="i0">There also the outfall is of the river Acheron’s flow:</p> -<p class="i0">Through the heart of the headland bursting it hurleth its flood to the sea</p> -<p class="i0">Eastward, through yawning chasms plunging suddenly.</p> -<p class="i0">But ‘Saviour of Sailors’ in days thereafter called they its name,</p> -<p class="i0">Even Megaran folk of Nisaia, when seeking a home they came</p> -<p class="i0">In the Mariandynian land; for deliverance from peril it gave</p> -<p class="i0">Unto them and their ships from the stress of stormy wind and wave.</p> -<p class="i0">Through the gorge of the cape Acherusian ran the heroes their prow, {750}</p> -<p class="i0">And seaward-facing abode; for the wind had lulled but now.</p> - -<p class="i1">Nor long unmarked of Lykus, the lord of the selfsame land,</p> -<p class="i0">And the Mariandynian folk, they came, that hero-band,</p> -<p class="i0">The slayers of Amykus, seeing their rumour before them had run:</p> -<p class="i0">So a league with the wanderers made they because of the great deed done.</p> -<p class="i0">And, for Prince Polydeukes, they hailed him as though of the Gods he were,</p> -<p class="i0">Thither flocking from every side; for through many a stormy year</p> -<p class="i0">Had they warred with the proud Bebrykians, and faced the battle-blast.</p> -<p class="i0">So they went up into the city, and all together they passed</p> -<p class="i0">Into Lykus’ palace, and that day through by the meat and the bowl {760}</p> -<p class="i0">In all lovingkindness they sat, and with converse gladdened their soul.</p> -<p class="i0">And Aison’s scion his lineage told, and the names of the rest</p> -<p class="i0">Of the hero-helpers withal, and the tale of Pelias’ hest;</p> -<p class="i0">And how the women of Lemnos in kindness dealt with them well;</p> -<p class="i0">And of all that in Kyzikus, land of the Dolian men, befell;</p> -<p class="i0">How to Mysia they came, and to Kios, where Herakles lion-souled</p> -<p class="i0">Sore loth they forsook; and the words of the Sea-god Glaukus he told;</p> -<p class="i0">And how they laid the Bebrykian people and Amykus low;</p> -<p class="i0">And of Phineus’ prophecies told he and all his weary woe;</p> -<p class="i0">And how they escaped through the Crags Dark-blue, and beheld on the isle {770}</p> -<p class="i0">Lêto’s son: and still, as he told all, Lykus the while</p> -<p class="i0">Hearkened in gladness of soul; but with grief did the heart of him ache</p> -<p class="i0">For Herakles left behind, and unto them all he spake:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘O friends, what a hero’s help ye have lost for the way ye must go</p> -<p class="i0">Far-sailing to halls of Aiêtes!—myself have beheld him, and know</p> -<p class="i0">What manner of man he was; for in Daskylus’ halls did he stand,</p> -<p class="i0">Even here in the halls of my sire, when he marched through the Asian land</p> -<p class="i0">Afoot, that belt of the battle-revelling queen to win,</p> -<p class="i0">Hippolytê: then did he find me with youth’s soft down on my chin.</p> -<p class="i0">Here, when Priolaus my brother was unto his grave-mound borne,— {780}</p> -<p class="i0">Who was slain by our Mysian foes, and for whom the people mourn</p> -<p class="i0">With exceeding piteous dirges from that day forth,—in the lists</p> -<p class="i0">Against Titias the strong he stood, and prevailed in the strife of the fists</p> -<p class="i0">Over him who amidst of our young men never his match had found</p> -<p class="i0">In stature and might: but Herakles dashed his teeth on the ground.</p> -<p class="i0">Beneath my father’s sceptre withal the Mysians he bowed,</p> -<p class="i0">And the Phrygians, for hard by our marches their fields our foemen ploughed.</p> -<p class="i0">And the tribes of Bithynians he smote, and won their land by his might,</p> -<p class="i0">Even to the outfall of Rheba, and unto Kolonê’s height.</p> -<p class="i0">And the Paphlagonians of Pelops yielded, nor faced that foe, {790}</p> -<p class="i0">Even all round whom Billaios’ darkling waters flow.</p> -<p class="i0">Then came the Bebrykians; and Amykus’ lawless tyranny,</p> -<p class="i0">While Herakles dwelt afar, reft these my possessions from me,</p> -<p class="i0">Long carving out of my land huge cantles, till stretched the line</p> -<p class="i0">Of their bounds to the meads where Hypius’ deep-flowing waters shine.</p> -<p class="i0">But ye made them to pay requital for all: it was not, I wot,</p> -<p class="i0">But by will of the Gods that war by Tyndareus’ son was brought</p> -<p class="i0">That day on Bebrykia’s sons, when their champion giant he slew.</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore what thanks soever Lykus may render to you</p> -<p class="i0">With joy will I render; for meet and right it is that the weak, {800}</p> -<p class="i0">When the strong for their helping arise, by deeds their thanks should speak.</p> -<p class="i0">Lo, Daskylus now will I bid that he be of your company,</p> -<p class="i0">Even my son, and if this man your fellow in wayfaring be,</p> -<p class="i0">With kindly greeting shall all men hail you, and welcome fain</p> -<p class="i0">Through all your way, till the mouth of the river Thermodon ye gain.</p> -<p class="i0">But to Tyndareus’ sons on the Acherusian foreland’s steep</p> -<p class="i0">A temple on high will I rear: far off across the deep</p> -<p class="i0">Shall seafarers mark that fane, and to these in prayer shall they call.</p> -<p class="i0">Rich fields of the fertile plain will I set apart withal</p> -<p class="i0">Unto them, as unto the Gods, without the city-wall.’ {810}</p> - -<p class="i1">Even so through the livelong day at the banquet revelled they on.</p> -<p class="i0">But with dawning down to the strand they hied them, in haste to be gone.</p> -<p class="i0">Then went with them Lykus, and gifts in their galley to bear gave he</p> -<p class="i0">Without number, and sent his son, their voyaging comrade to be.</p> - -<p class="i1">There did the doom fate-spoken descend upon Abas’ son,</p> -<p class="i0">Idmon, in soothsaying peerless: but safety for him was there none</p> -<p class="i0">In his soothsaying lore, for that now must he die by the doom decreed.</p> -<p class="i0">For it chanced that there lay in a reedy river’s water-mead,</p> -<p class="i0">Cooling his flanks and his mighty belly wallowed in mire,</p> -<p class="i0">A wild boar gleaming-tusked, so baleful a monster and dire {820}</p> -<p class="i0">That of him were the meadow-haunting Nymphs themselves adread.</p> -<p class="i0">No man knew his lair; alone in the fen wide-stretching he fed.</p> -<p class="i0">But it chanced unto Abas’ son o’er the marshy rises to fare</p> -<p class="i0">Of the plain, and the beast on a sudden, forth of his unseen lair</p> -<p class="i0">High-leaping out of the reed-bed, gashed in his sidelong rush</p> -<p class="i0">His thigh, that the sinews were severed, and snapped was the bone by the tush.</p> -<p class="i0">With one sharp cry to the earth he fell, and with answering shout</p> -<p class="i0">His comrades ran to the stricken; and Peleus in haste thrust out</p> -<p class="i0">With his hunting-spear, as the murderous monster fled to the fen.</p> -<p class="i0">Then turned he, and charged full on them; but Idas stabbed him then, {830}</p> -<p class="i0">And harshly screaming he fell impaled on the keen spear-head.</p> -<p class="i0">There on the earth as he lay, unheeded they left him dead.</p> -<p class="i0">But their friend to the galley in death-throes gasping his comrades bore</p> -<p class="i0">Sore grieved: but he died in their arms or ever they reached the shore.</p> - -<p class="i1">Then from their voyaging stayed they, they cared not now to depart:</p> -<p class="i0">To their dead friend’s burial turned they in heaviness of heart.</p> -<p class="i0">For three whole days they wailed, and their dead, when the fourth day broke,</p> -<p class="i0">Did they bury as one of the princes; and Lykus and all his folk</p> -<p class="i0">Had part in the woeful rites; and victims of sheep not a few,</p> -<p class="i0">As meet and right for the dead it is, by his grave they slew. {840}</p> -<p class="i0">And a barrow that standeth yet unto this man there did they raise,</p> -<p class="i0">And a token is there, to be seen by the men of the unborn days,</p> -<p class="i0">A galley’s roller of olive-wood; into leaf doth it break</p> -<p class="i0">But a little below Acherusia’s height: and—if I may speak</p> -<p class="i0">This too by the power of the Muses that stirreth within my breast—</p> -<p class="i0">To Bœotian men and Nisaian Apollo spake his behest,</p> -<p class="i0">Worship to him as unto their city’s protector to pay,</p> -<p class="i0">And around that ancient olive a city’s foundations to lay.</p> -<p class="i0">But by this is tradition dim, and they render the honour-meed</p> -<p class="i0">Unto one Agamestor, and not unto Idmon, Aiolus’ seed. {850}</p> - -<p class="i1">Now who was the next that died?—for the heroes again in grief</p> -<p class="i0">Another earth-mound heaped for another perished chief:</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, there be memorials twain of the wanderers yet high-reared.</p> -<p class="i0">Now telleth the tale how Tiphys the Hagniad died; for his weird</p> -<p class="i0">Was to voyage no further thereafter; but him, far away from his home,</p> -<p class="i0">Short sickness hushed into sleep, the endless sleep of the tomb,</p> -<p class="i0">While yet were the death-rites rendered to Abas’ son by the folk:</p> -<p class="i0">And grief unendurable seized them for this new ruin-stroke.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, and when hard by the seer him too they had buried there,</p> -<p class="i0">On the shore of the sea did they cast them adown in utter despair, {860}</p> -<p class="i0">Rolled in their mantles from head to foot, all hushed: no part</p> -<p class="i0">Had meat nor drink in their thoughts; but in bitterness of heart</p> -<p class="i0">They spake not, for hope of returning was dead in each man’s breast.</p> -<p class="i0">And for grief had they gone no further, had there made end of the Quest,</p> -<p class="i0">But that Hêrê enkindled exceeding courage within the soul</p> -<p class="i0">Of Ankaius, whom Astypaleia, where Imbrasus’ waters roll,</p> -<p class="i0">Bare to the Sea-god, a man most deft in the steering of ships.</p> -<p class="i0">So now unto Peleus he turned him, and spake with eager lips:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Is it well done, Aiakus’ son, that, forgetting the great work, we</p> -<p class="i0">On an alien shore should linger and linger?—I, even he {870}</p> -<p class="i0">Whom Jason brought on the Quest of the Fleece from Parthenia afar,</p> -<p class="i0">Have knowledge of ships,—yea, even beyond my cunning in war.</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore, as touching the plight of our ship, no whit fear thou.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, others in steering deft came hitherward with us, I trow:</p> -<p class="i0">Whomsoever of these at the helm we set, no hurt shall befall</p> -<p class="i0">Our seafaring. Haste then, and unto our fellows tell forth all,</p> -<p class="i0">And unto the high emprise arouse them with heartening word.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he; the soul of the other with gladness exceeding was stirred.</p> -<p class="i0">No whit did he tarry, but straight in the midst of them all did he say,</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Ho, friends!—why cherish we thus a bootless sorrow for aye? {880}</p> -<p class="i0">For I ween these twain by the doom first drawn with their life’s lot died:</p> -<p class="i0">But in this our array there be found with us other helmsmen beside,</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, many an one: let us put them to proof: make we no stay;</p> -<p class="i0">But rouse ye unto the deed, and cast your griefs away.’</p> - -<p class="i1">But in helpless despair unto him did the son of Aison say:</p> -<p class="i0">‘O Aiakus’ son, these helmsmen of thine—now where be they?</p> -<p class="i0">For they which concerning their cunning therein once vaunted loud,</p> -<p class="i0">Even these yet more than I with vexation of spirit are bowed.</p> -<p class="i0">For us then, as for the dead, ill doom doth mine heart foretell,</p> -<p class="i0">Whose lot shall be never to win to the town of Aiêtes the fell, {890}</p> -<p class="i0">No, neither ever again to pass through the grim sea-gate</p> -<p class="i0">To the land of Hellas returning; but now shall an evil fate,</p> -<p class="i0">As we wax old deedless, enshroud us nameless and fameless here.’</p> - -<p class="i1">He spake: but Ankaius eagerly proffered himself to steer</p> -<p class="i0">The sea-swift ship; for within him the power of the Goddess was strong.</p> -<p class="i0">Erginus and Nauplius then, and Euphêmus forth from the throng</p> -<p class="i0">Strode, eager all for the helm: but their comrades drew back these,</p> -<p class="i0">For that none would they have but Ankaius to guide them over the seas.</p> - -<p class="i1">So then on the twelfth day hied them adown the Argo’s crew</p> -<p class="i0">At dawn; for the West-wind now, the mighty wafter, blew. {900}</p> -<p class="i0">Speedily out of the Acheron’s mouth with the oars they passed,</p> -<p class="i0">And they shook the broad sail forth to the wind, and far and fast</p> -<p class="i0">With outspread canvas cleaving the leagues of summer wave,</p> -<p class="i0">By the outfall of Kallichorus the river swiftly they drave,</p> -<p class="i0">The place where the child Nysaian of Zeus, as the tale doth tell,</p> -<p class="i0">When, leaving the tribes of the Indians, in Thêbê he came to dwell,</p> -<p class="i0">Held revel, and dances in front of the cave did the God array</p> -<p class="i0">Wherein, through the nights unsmiling, in hallowed slumber he lay.</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore the people called it the River of Dances Fair,</p> -<p class="i0">And the cavern the Bedchamber, seeing a God once slumbered there. {910}</p> - -<p class="i1">Thereafter espied they the barrow of Sthenelus, Aktor’s son,</p> -<p class="i0">Who, when from valorous battle against the Amazon</p> -<p class="i0">He was turning aback,—for with Herakles thither to war had he hied,—</p> -<p class="i0">By an arrow was smitten, and there on the surf-lashed sea-strand died.</p> -<p class="i0">Nor yet for a space did they sail on thence; for Persephonê, won</p> -<p class="i0">By his prayers and tears, sent forth the spirit of Aktor’s son</p> -<p class="i0">A moment to gaze upon men of passions like to his own.</p> -<p class="i0">So he mounted the crest of his barrow: on Argo looked he down,</p> -<p class="i0">Even such to behold as when to the war he went. On his head</p> -<p class="i0">His beautiful helm four-crested flashed with its plume blood-red. {920}</p> -<p class="i0">Then down into blackness of darkness returned he: they looked thereon,</p> -<p class="i0">And marvelled. Then by the word of prophecy Ampykus’ son,</p> -<p class="i0">Mopsus, caused them to land, and to pay drink-offerings due.</p> -<p class="i0">So furled they the sail in haste, and the hawsers forth they threw;</p> -<p class="i0">And there on the strand round Sthenelus’ grave-mound gathered they.</p> -<p class="i0">Drink-offerings they poured, and the fatlings of sacrifice did they slay.</p> -<p class="i0">And, besides the libations, an altar they built, laying thighs on the blaze</p> -<p class="i0">To Apollo the Saviour of Ships; and his lyre did Orpheus upraise</p> -<p class="i0">And dedicate; wherefore the ‘Lyre’ from that day called they the place.</p> - -<p class="i1">Then straight, when the wind blew strong, did they board the galley again, {930}</p> -<p class="i0">And they dropped the sail from the yard, and the feet thereof did they strain</p> -<p class="i0">On either hand with the sheets; and over the sea did she fly</p> -<p class="i0">Swift-racing, as when some hawk through the welkin soaring high</p> -<p class="i0">To the breeze committeth his wings, and is borne fast: onward sweeping</p> -<p class="i0">He stirreth them not, on restful pinions in mid-heaven sleeping.</p> -<p class="i0">And lo, by the streams of Parthenius’ seaward-murmuring water,</p> -<p class="i0">Most softly-sliding of rivers, they passed, where Lêto’s Daughter,</p> -<p class="i0">What time from the hunting she cometh, ere up to the heaven she go,</p> -<p class="i0">In its lovely ripples cooleth her limbs from the summer-glow.</p> -<p class="i0">Then through the night-tide onward and onward unresting they sped. {940}</p> -<p class="i0">Past Sêsamus, past the long Erythinian steeps they fled;</p> -<p class="i0">By Krôbialus and by Krômne, Kytôrus the forest-crowned;</p> -<p class="i0">Then, as the sun’s shafts glanced o’er the waters, swept they around</p> -<p class="i0">Karambis; and still by an endless strand the oars they plied</p> -<p class="i0">Through the livelong day, and on through the night, when the daylight died.</p> - -<p class="i1">On the shore of Assyria they landed, where Zeus to Sinopê, the child</p> -<p class="i0">Of Asôpus, had given a home. By his own rash promise beguiled</p> -<p class="i0">Zeus’ self bestowed on the maiden the gift of her maidenhood.</p> -<p class="i0">For he longed for her love, and he promised that, whatsoever she would,</p> -<p class="i0">He would give her her heart’s desire, and he sealed the pledge with his nod: {950}</p> -<p class="i0">And she in her subtlety asked her maidenhood of the God.</p> -<p class="i0">So in like wise made she a mock of Apollo, whose soul was fain</p> -<p class="i0">Of her couch, and of Halys the river withal. Nor did any man gain</p> -<p class="i0">His desire, in the arms of love to embrace her, and humble her pride.</p> -<p class="i0">Now there did noble Trikkaian Deïmachus’ sons abide,—</p> -<p class="i0">Even three, Deïleon, Autolykus, Phlogius withal, were these,—</p> -<p class="i0">Since the day when they wandered away from the host of Herakles.</p> -<p class="i0">And these, when they marked draw near the warrior-chiefs’ array,</p> -<p class="i0">Went shoreward to meet them, and told them in all truth who were they.</p> -<p class="i0">Neither willed they there to abide any longer, but fared with the crew {960}</p> -<p class="i0">In Argo, so soon as the cloud-dispelling south-wind blew.</p> -<p class="i0">So in their company went they borne by the breeze swift-blowing,</p> -<p class="i0">And Halys the river they left, and Iris beside him flowing,</p> -<p class="i0">And the river-delta land of Assyria: the selfsame day</p> -<p class="i0">They rounded the headland that sheltered the Amazons’ harbour-bay.</p> - -<p class="i1">Melanippê, Arêtus’ child, forth-faring, by ambuscade</p> -<p class="i0">Of Herakles there was caught, and her sister Hippolytê paid</p> -<p class="i0">For her ransom the Belt of renown, the splendour-gleaming band:</p> -<p class="i0">So the hero sent her back, and she gat no hurt of his hand.</p> -<p class="i0">In the harbour that beareth her name, where seaward Thermodon pours {970}</p> -<p class="i0">Ran they ashore, for that contrary now was the wind to their course.</p> -<p class="i0">That river—on earth there is not his like; there is none that doth spread</p> -<p class="i0">Over the land so many streams from his fountain-head.</p> -<p class="i0">There should lack but four of a hundred, if one should tell them o’er</p> -<p class="i0">Each after each, and from one true fountain do all these pour.</p> -<p class="i0">Down from the mountains high to the plains it sendeth its rills,</p> -<p class="i0">From the heights which be called, men say, the Amazonian Hills.</p> -<p class="i0">Thence over the hilly country inland-straying they flow</p> -<p class="i0">Ever onward, albeit their paths in manifold windings go</p> -<p class="i0">This way and that evermore, wheresoever on low-lying ground {980}</p> -<p class="i0">They may light, so roll they along; and this one afar shall be found,</p> -<p class="i0">And that one anear; and nameless many an one is lost</p> -<p class="i0">Swallowed up in the sands; and a blended remnant of all that host</p> -<p class="i0">Into perilous Pontus plunge with arching crests high-tossed.</p> -<p class="i0">And, there as they tarried, in battle against the Amazon horde</p> -<p class="i0">Had they closed, and in that grim strife had blood been as water outpoured;</p> -<p class="i0">For all ungentle the Amazons are, neither have they regard</p> -<p class="i0">Unto justice, the terrible ones who the plain Doiantian ward;</p> -<p class="i0">But the deeds of the War-god they love, and outrage of tyrannous scorn;</p> -<p class="i0">For the daughters of Ares they are, of the Nymph Harmonia born: {990}</p> -<p class="i0">For she bare to the Man-destroyer the battle-revelling maids,</p> -<p class="i0">When their couch was spread mid the folds of Alkmonian forest-glades:—</p> -<p class="i0">But again from Zeus ’gan blow the breath of the fair south-wind;</p> -<p class="i0">So sped by the blast they left the rounded foreland behind,</p> -<p class="i0">While the Themiskyreian Amazons yet were arming for war:</p> -<p class="i0">For in one great city assembled they dwelt not, but sundered afar</p> -<p class="i0">From their fellows throughout the land were the tribes of them parted in three;</p> -<p class="i0">In the one place Themiskyreians, whose queen was Hippolytê</p> -<p class="i0">In that old time; and there the Lykastians dwelt, and anon</p> -<p class="i0">Dart-hurling Chadisians yonder. The next day sped they on, {1000}</p> -<p class="i0">And at nightfall unto the land of the Chalyban men they won.</p> - -<p class="i1">That folk drive never the ploughing oxen afield: no part</p> -<p class="i0">Have they in the planting of fruit that as honey is sweet to the heart;</p> -<p class="i0">Neither lead they the pasturing flocks over meadows a-glitter with dew:</p> -<p class="i0">But the ribs of the stubborn earth for the treasure of iron they hew,</p> -<p class="i0">And by merchandise of the same do they live: never dawning broke</p> -<p class="i0">Bringing respite of toil unto them, but ever midst mirk of smoke</p> -<p class="i0">And flame at the forge are they moiling and plying the weary stroke.</p> - -<p class="i1">Round the headland of Zeus the All-begetter swept they then;</p> -<p class="i0">And safely they sped by the land of the Tibarenian men. {1010}</p> -<p class="i0">When a woman in that land beareth a child to her lord, on his bed</p> -<p class="i0">Doth her husband cast him adown, and he groaneth with close-swathed head</p> -<p class="i0">As in anguish of travail, the while the woman with tender care</p> -<p class="i0">Doth nurse him and feed, and for him the child-birth bath doth prepare.</p> - -<p class="i1">The Sacred Mountain thereafter, and that land passed they by</p> -<p class="i0">Wherein the Mossynœcians dwell amid mountains high</p> -<p class="i0">In their towers of timber goodly-wrought, and they call the same</p> -<p class="i0">‘Mossyni,’ wherefrom moreover the nation hath gotten its name.</p> -<p class="i0">Strange is the justice of these, and customs uncouth have they.</p> -<p class="i0">Whatsoe’er we be wont to do before men in the sight of the day, {1020}</p> -<p class="i0">Or the market-stead, all this they perform their houses within;</p> -<p class="i0">And whatso we do in our chambers apart, they account it not sin</p> -<p class="i0">Without, in the midst of the streets of their city, to do unblamed.</p> -<p class="i0">No modesty have they in love, but as rooting swine unshamed,</p> -<p class="i0">No whit abashed for the eyes of beholders that stand thereby,</p> -<p class="i0">On the earth for their bed of love with their women unwedded they lie.</p> -<p class="i0">In their loftiest block-house sitteth their king, and holdeth his court,</p> -<p class="i0">Decreeing his righteous judgments to them that thither resort.</p> -<p class="i0">Ah, luckless wight!—if perchance in his sentence he swerve from the right,</p> -<p class="i0">Unto prison they hale him, therein to fast till falleth the night. {1030}</p> - -<p class="i1">These passed they by, and well-nigh overagainst the shores</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Isle of Ares they cleft them a path with unresting oars</p> -<p class="i0">Through the livelong day, for the gentle breeze in the gloaming died.</p> -<p class="i0">Then all in a moment one of the War-god’s birds they espied,</p> -<p class="i0">Which haunt that isle, through the welkin darting high overhead;</p> -<p class="i0">And behold, his pinions he shook, and down on the ship as she sped</p> -<p class="i0">A feather keen hath he shot: to the leftward shoulder it sprang</p> -<p class="i0">Of Oïleus: he dropped from his hands his oar at the sudden pang</p> -<p class="i0">Of the stroke, and they marvelled all when the feather-arrow they saw.</p> -<p class="i0">But the shaft from the flesh did his rowing-mate Eribôtes draw; {1040}</p> -<p class="i0">And he bound up the wound; for his baldric-band he unclasped, that bare</p> -<p class="i0">His sword-sheath hanging beside him. Sweeping on through the air</p> -<p class="i0">Came another of those fell birds: but already the bow was bent</p> -<p class="i0">Of the hero Klytius, Eurytus’ son: from the string hath he sent</p> -<p class="i0">A swift-flying arrow against that fowl, and the shaft struck home.</p> -<p class="i0">Down whirling beside the swift ship splashed the bird in the foam.</p> -<p class="i0">Then cried Amphidamas Aleüs’ son, and thus spake he:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Nigh to us now is the Island of Ares: ye know it, who see</p> -<p class="i0">Yon fowl of ravin; and little shall arrows avail us, I trow,</p> -<p class="i0">To win us a peaceful landing thereon; but contrive we now {1050}</p> -<p class="i0">Some other device for our help, if indeed we be minded to land,</p> -<p class="i0">Remembering Phineus’ word, and the sightless seer’s command.</p> -<p class="i0">For not great Herakles’ self, to Arcadia-land when he came,</p> -<p class="i0">Availed with his arrows to drive away those birds that swam</p> -<p class="i0">The Stymphalian mere: yea, I with mine eyes beheld that thing.</p> -<p class="i0">But he stood on a crag exceeding high, loud-clattering</p> -<p class="i0">With clash and clang in his hands his brazen battle-gear;</p> -<p class="i0">And far away did they flee wild-screaming in panic fear.</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore contrive we now even such device as his,—</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, I will speak it, who heretofore have thought upon this:— {1060}</p> -<p class="i0">Set we upon our heads our helmets of lofty crest,</p> -<p class="i0">And changing about in turn let the half of us row, and the rest</p> -<p class="i0">With polished lances and bucklers fence the galley about;</p> -<p class="i0">And all with one accord upraise ye a mighty shout,</p> -<p class="i0">That the birds by the noise may be scared, by the wild unwonted cry,</p> -<p class="i0">As they look on our nodding crests and the bright spears tossed on high.</p> -<p class="i0">And if through the storm of their shafts to the island itself we shall win,</p> -<p class="i0">Then with clashing of brazen bucklers raise ye a mighty din.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he, and good in the sight of them all that counsel seemed.</p> -<p class="i0">On the heads of the heroes straightway the brazen helmets gleamed {1070}</p> -<p class="i0">Terribly flashing; above them tossed the plumes blood-red.</p> -<p class="i0">And the half of them now in their turn the galley with oars on-sped;</p> -<p class="i0">And with lances and shields did the rest for Argo a covering raise.</p> -<p class="i0">And as when with tiling a man hath roofed his dwelling-place,</p> -<p class="i0">For a beauty upon his abode and a fence from the rain thereto,</p> -<p class="i0">And close-set each after each are they ranged in order due;</p> -<p class="i0">Even so did they lock their shields, so roofed they the galley o’er.</p> -<p class="i0">And as when from a warrior-throng upriseth the onset-roar,</p> -<p class="i0">When the ranks are sweeping on, when the squadrons in battle close,</p> -<p class="i0">Even so from the galley on high to the welkin the shout of them rose. {1080}</p> -<p class="i0">Now none of the birds yet saw they: but when, as they touched the strand</p> -<p class="i0">Of the island, they clashed on their bucklers, straightway on every hand</p> -<p class="i0">From the earth by tens of thousands uprose they in sudden dread.</p> -<p class="i0">And as when by the Son of Kronos the hail thick-falling is shed</p> -<p class="i0">From the clouds on a town and its dwellings; the house-abiders the while,</p> -<p class="i0">As they hearken the clatter that rattles unceasing on timber and tile,</p> -<p class="i0">Untroubled are sitting: the stormy tide hath smitten the roof</p> -<p class="i0">Not unforeseen; long since had they made all tempest-proof:</p> -<p class="i0">So on the men thick-showering feather-shafts did they pour,</p> -<p class="i0">As they darted on high o’er the sea to the hills on the farther shore. {1090}</p> - -<p class="i1">Now what was the purpose of Phineus in bidding that hero-array</p> -<p class="i0">Land on the War-god’s isle? What help against the day</p> -<p class="i0">Of their need were they destined to win of their tarrying there on the way?</p> - -<p class="i1">The sons of Phrixus unto Orchomenus voyaging</p> -<p class="i0">Had been sent from Aia forth by Kytaian Aiêtes the king.</p> -<p class="i0">In a galley of Kolchis they sailed, that the measureless wealth might be theirs</p> -<p class="i0">Of their sire, for in death had he so commanded these his heirs.</p> -<p class="i0">And exceeding nigh that day to the isle had they drawn; but lo,</p> -<p class="i0">The might of the wind of the north did Zeus awaken to blow,</p> -<p class="i0">Marking with rain the watery path of Arcturus the star. {1100}</p> -<p class="i0">Yet through the day-tide he stirred but the leaves on the mountains afar,</p> -<p class="i0">Breathing but lightly over the uttermost ends of the sprays:</p> -<p class="i0">But at night on the sea he descended, a tempest-Titan, to raise</p> -<p class="i0">The surge with his blasts wild-shrieking: a black mist shrouded the sky,</p> -<p class="i0">And never the gleam of a star might the mariners’ ken descry</p> -<p class="i0">Through the clouds, but over the sea’s face brooded murky gloom.</p> -<p class="i0">And the sons of Phrixus quaking for fear of a horrible doom</p> -<p class="i0">Were helplessly hurled o’er the surges, and drenched with the flying spume.</p> -<p class="i0">And the sail by the might of the blast was snatched away, and crashed</p> -<p class="i0">Their ship’s hull, shattered in twain by the breakers thereover that dashed. {1110}</p> -<p class="i0">Then by the Gods’ own prompting they clutched, and as one man clung</p> -<p class="i0">Those four to a mighty spar,—for that many an one had been flung</p> -<p class="i0">Wide from the scattered wreck,—firm-knit by the strong bolts’ clasp;</p> -<p class="i0">And on to the isle, evermore but a little beyond death’s grasp,</p> -<p class="i0">The waves and the sweep of the tempest bare them in misery.</p> -<p class="i0">Then burst forth rain: no tongue could tell it,—it rained on the sea,</p> -<p class="i0">On the island; and overagainst the island the floods of it fell</p> -<p class="i0">Over all the land where the lawless Mossynœcians dwell.</p> -<p class="i0">And along with the massy beam the sweep of the surges bore</p> -<p class="i0">The sons of Phrixus on to the island’s rocky shore {1120}</p> -<p class="i0">In the black dark night. But the floods of Zeus-descended rain</p> -<p class="i0">Ceased with the dawn: and they met full soon, those companies twain.</p> -<p class="i0">Then Argus first found voice, and to Argo’s crew spake he:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘We beseech you by All-beholder Zeus, whosoever ye be</p> -<p class="i0">Of men, to have mercy and succour us now in our helplessness;</p> -<p class="i0">For buffeted long have we been on the sea by the rough winds’ stress,</p> -<p class="i0">Till sundered and shattered the beams of our crazy galley were.</p> -<p class="i0">By your knees we entreat you then, if ye haply will hearken our prayer,</p> -<p class="i0">To cover our nakedness now, and to take us whither ye go:</p> -<p class="i0">As youths taking pity on youths, compassionate ye our woe! {1130}</p> -<p class="i0">O reverence ye the strangers and suppliants for Zeus’s sake,</p> -<p class="i0">Who is Lord of the stranger and suppliant—yea, both names we take,</p> -<p class="i0">Even strangers and suppliants of Zeus; and over us all is his eye.’</p> - -<p class="i1">But with heedful questioning then did Aison’s son reply,</p> -<p class="i0">For he weened that fulfilment of Phineus’ prophecy now was nigh:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘All these will we give straightway with kindly heart and hand.</p> -<p class="i0">But prithee now answer me truth, and tell how name ye the land</p> -<p class="i0">Wherein ye be dwellers;—for what need thus have ye sailed the sea?</p> -<p class="i0">And your names of renown tell out, and the lineage whereof ye be.’</p> - -<p class="i1">Then Argus, as one in despairing wretchedness, answered low: {1140}</p> -<p class="i0">‘How Phrixus the Aiolid came unto Aia from Hellas, I trow,</p> -<p class="i0">Yourselves have certainly heard, have heard ere this the renown</p> -<p class="i0">Of Phrixus, who came on a day to Aiêtes’ fortress-town</p> -<p class="i0">Bestriding the ram which Hermes created all of gold:</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, and the fleece thereof this day may ye yet behold;</p> -<p class="i0">For the ram by the beast’s own counsel a sacrifice did he give</p> -<p class="i0">To Kronion the Fugitives’ Zeus. And him did Aiêtes receive</p> -<p class="i0">In his palace, and gave him to wife his daughter Chalkiopê,</p> -<p class="i0">Nor for gifts of wooing he asked, in the joy of his heart and the glee.</p> -<p class="i0">Of these twain we be the children; but Phrixus our father hath died, {1150}</p> -<p class="i0">An old man stricken with years, in Aiêtes’ halls of pride.</p> -<p class="i0">And straightway we, giving heed to the word that our father spake,</p> -<p class="i0">To Orchomenus journey, Athamas’ goods in possession to take.</p> -<p class="i0">And if, as thy word was, thou wouldst that our names be made known unto thee,</p> -<p class="i0">Behold, Kytisôrus is this man named, and Phrontis he;</p> -<p class="i0">And yonder is Melas, and Argus me myself shall ye call.’</p> - -<p class="i1">He spake, and for this forgathering glad were the heroes all:</p> -<p class="i0">And they ministered unto them, marvelling much: but Jason again</p> -<p class="i0">Spake as was meet and right, for his heart of the tidings was fain:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Lo now, of a surety kinsmen ye are of my sire, which have prayed {1160}</p> -<p class="i0">That with merciful hearts we would look upon this your affliction, and aid.</p> -<p class="i0">For of one blood, even brethren, Kretheus and Athamas were;</p> -<p class="i0">And Kretheus’ grandson am I, with these my companions who fare</p> -<p class="i0">From the selfsame Hellas, and unto Aiêtes’ city I sail.</p> -<p class="i0">But of all these things to commune shall another time avail.</p> -<p class="i0">But now put raiment upon you: it came to pass, I trow,</p> -<p class="i0">By devising of Gods that ye came to mine hands in your sore need so.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he, and out of the ship he gave them raiment to don.</p> -<p class="i0">And all together now unto Ares’ fane are they gone</p> -<p class="i0">For the sacrificing of sheep, and in all haste round about {1170}</p> -<p class="i0">The altar they ranged them, which stood that roofless fane without,</p> -<p class="i0">An altar of pebbles: within was a mighty stone upreared,</p> -<p class="i0">A holy thing, which of yore the Amazons all revered.</p> -<p class="i0">And it was not their wont, from the further strand when they came o’er the deep,</p> -<p class="i0">On this same altar to burn in sacrifice oxen nor sheep;</p> -<p class="i0">But horses they slew, and for this great herds were they wont to keep.</p> -<p class="i0">There sacrificed they, and they ate of the flesh of the victims slain.</p> -<p class="i0">Then Aison’s son in their midst uprose, and he spake yet again:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Zeus’ self upon all things looketh, nor ever escape we his ken</p> -<p class="i0">Of a surety, such as be god-revering and righteous men. {1180}</p> -<p class="i0">Even so your father delivered he out of the murderous hand</p> -<p class="i0">Of a stepdame, and gave to him measureless wealth in a far-away land:</p> -<p class="i0">And even so you also scatheless again did he save</p> -<p class="i0">From the baleful storm. Now in this ship, whithersoever ye crave,</p> -<p class="i0">This way or that, may ye fare; or aback unto Aia’s shore,</p> -<p class="i0">Or the wealthy city that godlike Orchomenus builded of yore.</p> -<p class="i0">For our ship did Athênê fashion, and clave her beams with the brass</p> -<p class="i0">By Pelion’s crest, and her fellow-craftsman our Argus was.</p> -<p class="i0">But that your galley was shattered, and whelmed in ruining surge,</p> -<p class="i0">Ere nigh to the rocks ye came, the which in the wild sea-gorge {1190}</p> -<p class="i0">Each against other the livelong day are clashing amain.</p> -<p class="i0">But go to now, be ye helpers with us; for lo, we be fain</p> -<p class="i0">To bring that Fleece of Gold to the land of Hellas again.</p> -<p class="i0">Be our voyaging guides. Lo, thus do I sail to atone for their deed</p> -<p class="i0">Who would sacrifice Phrixus, and brought Zeus’ wrath upon Aiolus’ seed.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he exhorting, and ceased; but with horror they heard that thing,</p> -<p class="i0">For they deemed they should find Aiêtes nowise a gentle king</p> -<p class="i0">Who would win that Fleece of the Ram. Then Argus spake the word,</p> -<p class="i0">In vexation of spirit that these unto suchlike quest should be stirred:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘O friends, so far as availeth our strength, no whit at all {1200}</p> -<p class="i0">Our help shall fail you at need, what trial soever befall.</p> -<p class="i0">But terribly armed is Aiêtes with murderous cruelty;</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore I dread exceedingly thither to fare oversea.</p> -<p class="i0">And he vaunteth himself the Sun-god’s seed, and around him dwell</p> -<p class="i0">The Kolchian tribes untold. In the awful onset-yell,</p> -<p class="i0">And in giant strength, might he match him with Ares’ self in the fray.</p> -<p class="i0">Nay, nay, not easy it is to take that Fleece away</p> -<p class="i0">From Aiêtes, so mighty a serpent around and about it is coiled,</p> -<p class="i0">Deathless and sleepless. The Earth brought forth that dragon-child</p> -<p class="i0">Mid Caucasus’ glens, where the Rock Typhonian standeth: they say {1210}</p> -<p class="i0">There Typhon, smitten by levin-bolts of Zeus, in the day</p> -<p class="i0">When against Kronion he lifted his brawny hands in fight,</p> -<p class="i0">Dropped from his head hot-gushing the gore, and in such ill plight</p> -<p class="i0">To the hills and the Plain Nisaian he came, and to this day there</p> -<p class="i0">’Neath the waters whelmed doth he lie of the dark Serbonian mere.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he, and many a face of them that heard grew white</p> -<p class="i0">To know what manner of emprise was this. But spake forthright</p> -<p class="i0">Peleus, and answered with words of gallant chiding, and said:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Nay, good my friend, not thus let thy spirit be over-adread,</p> -<p class="i0">For that not so lacking in prowess be we, that our hearts should fear {1220}</p> -<p class="i0">To make trial of manhood against Aiêtes in battle-gear.</p> -<p class="i0">Nay, but I trow we also have somewhat of cunning in war</p> -<p class="i0">Which thitherward fare; for by blood of the kin of the Blessèd we are.</p> -<p class="i0">If therefore in all lovingkindness he yield not the Fleece of Gold,</p> -<p class="i0">Little, I ween, shall avail him his Kolchian tribes untold.’</p> - -<p class="i1">In such wise each unto other they spake, and in such wise replied,</p> -<p class="i0">Till they turned to their rest, fulfilled of the feast of the eventide.</p> -<p class="i0">And at dawn, when they wakened from slumber, a light wind softly blew;</p> -<p class="i0">And they hoised up the sail: in the breeze of the morning the canvas drew.</p> -<p class="i0">And away from the War-god’s Island sped they far and fast; {1230}</p> -<p class="i0">And now at the falling of night by Philyra’s island they passed.</p> -<p class="i0">There Kronos, Ouranos’ son, what time in Olympus he reigned</p> -<p class="i0">O’er the Titans, and Zeus yet a babe in the Cretan Cave was sustained</p> -<p class="i0">In life by the priests, the Curêtes of Ida,—with Philyra lay</p> -<p class="i0">When he baffled Rheia’s watch; but the Goddess amidst of their play</p> -<p class="i0">Came suddenly on them: and Kronos leapt from the dalliance-bed,</p> -<p class="i0">And away in the form of a steed of tossing mane he sped.</p> -<p class="i0">But Ocean’s daughter forsook that land and folk in her shame;</p> -<p class="i0">And unto the long Pelasgian ridges Philyra came,</p> -<p class="i0">Where Cheiron the monster, the half of him horse, but otherwhere {1240}</p> -<p class="i0">Goodly to see as a God, for a pledge of love she bare.</p> - -<p class="i1">Thence past the Makronian people, and past the far-stretching land</p> -<p class="i0">Of Becheirans they ran, past overweening Sapeirans’ strand,</p> -<p class="i0">And past the Byzêrans thereafter; for forward cleaving the seas</p> -<p class="i0">Went rushing the prow evermore, on-borne by the gentle breeze.</p> -<p class="i0">And to them, as they sped by, opened a Pontic gulf cleft deep;</p> -<p class="i0">And lo, the Caucasian mountains’ precipice-wall rose steep—</p> -<p class="i0">Sheer cliffs; and Prometheus there, with his limbs to the rough rocks gripped</p> -<p class="i0">By brazen gyves, whose knots no writhings have riven nor slipped,</p> -<p class="i0">Fed with his liver an eagle that aye swooped back on the prey. {1250}</p> -<p class="i0">High over their mast at even a whir and a rush heard they;</p> -<p class="i0">And anigh to the clouds they beheld it: yet even from that far height</p> -<p class="i0">Did it shake the sail with the fanning of those vast pinions’ flight:</p> -<p class="i0">For the form and the measure thereof was like no fowl of the air,</p> -<p class="i0">But as polished oars most huge its swift-swaying wing-feathers were.</p> -<p class="i0">Nor long thereafter they heard an exceeding bitter cry,</p> -<p class="i0">As torn was Prometheus’ liver, and rang the vault of the sky</p> -<p class="i0">With his screaming, until again from the mountain darting back</p> -<p class="i0">They marked where the ravening eagle sped on the selfsame track.</p> -<p class="i0">And at nightfall, by guidance of Argus, the broad-flowing stream did they gain {1260}</p> -<p class="i0">Of Phasis, and there was the uttermost bourne of the Pontic main.</p> - -<p class="i1">Then straightway the sail they furled, and the yard-arm let they fall,</p> -<p class="i0">And stowed in the mast-trough then; and the mast unstepped they withal,</p> -<p class="i0">And lowered in haste, till it lay along: then rowed they fast</p> -<p class="i0">Into the river’s mighty stream; round the prow as they passed</p> -<p class="i0">He surged as he yielded them way; and they had on the leftward hand</p> -<p class="i0">High Caucasus now, and the city Kytaian of Aia-land;</p> -<p class="i0">And to rightward the plain and the holy grove of the War-god lay</p> -<p class="i0">Where keepeth the serpent watch and ward on the Fleece alway,</p> -<p class="i0">As it hangeth amidst of the thick-leaved boughs of an oak outspread. {1270}</p> -<p class="i0">And Aison’s son himself from a golden chalice shed</p> -<p class="i0">Into the river libations of sweet unmingled wine</p> -<p class="i0">Unto Earth, to the Gods of the land, to the Spirits of Heroes divine</p> -<p class="i0">Which had died, and with bowed knees prayed them their sorrowless help to give</p> -<p class="i0">Of their grace, and with welcome propitious the hawsers of Argo receive.</p> -<p class="i0">Then straightway Ankaios spake the word to his fellows, and cried:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Lo now, to the Kolchian land have we won, where the waters glide</p> -<p class="i0">Of Phasis:—the time is come for counsel, to choose our part,</p> -<p class="i0">If with soft words now we shall make assay of Aiêtes’ heart,</p> -<p class="i0">Or if other endeavour perchance shall avail us in this our need.’ {1280}</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he, and Jason thereon commanded, by Argus’ rede,</p> -<p class="i0">To a backwater leaf-overshadowed to run the galley aside,</p> -<p class="i0">And to warp her up to the anchor-stone, off-shore to ride:</p> -<p class="i0">Now the place was anigh to them then. So slept they there through the night,</p> -<p class="i0">And soon to their longing eyes appeared the dawning’s light.</p> - - -<h3 id="book3">THE THIRD BOOK</h3> - -<p class="i0"><span class="sc">Come</span>, Erato, now, stand by me: of thy lips let me be taught</p> -<p class="i0">In what manner thereafter Jason the Fleece to Iolkos brought</p> -<p class="i0">Through the love of Medea: for thou in the things by the Cyprian ordained</p> -<p class="i0">Hast part, and maidens unwedded by thine enchantments are chained;</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore it is that a name that telleth of love thou hast gained.</p> - -<p class="i1">So there in the close-pleached covert of river-reeds unseen</p> -<p class="i0">Did the heroes in ambush wait. Then marked them Hêrê the queen</p> -<p class="i0">And Athênê withal; and aloof from Zeus’ self turned they aside,</p> -<p class="i0">And the rest of the Gods everlasting, and into a chamber they hied</p> -<p class="i0">For counsel: and first spake Hêrê, to try Athênê therein: {10}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Thyself now first, O daughter of Zeus, our counsel begin.</p> -<p class="i0">What needeth to do? Wilt thou frame some subtle device, that these</p> -<p class="i0">May win from Aiêtes and bear unto Hellas the Golden Fleece?</p> -<p class="i0">Or with words shall they overpersuade him, with soft speech melt him to ruth?</p> -<p class="i0">Now nay, for a proud and haughty scorner he is in sooth:</p> -<p class="i0">Yet it may not in any wise be that our emprise turn aside.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So did she speak; and straightway to her Athênê replied:</p> -<p class="i0">‘Yea, mine heart even as thine herein was pondering</p> -<p class="i0">When with questions thou searchedst me, Hêrê. Howbeit, as touching the thing,</p> -<p class="i0">Not yet in mine heart have I found this wile, which shall help the need {20}</p> -<p class="i0">Of the soul of the chieftains: and yet have I mused upon many a rede.’</p> - -<p class="i1">She spake; and their eyes on the threshold before their feet they cast,</p> -<p class="i0">As they pondered of this and of that, till Hêrê cried at the last—</p> -<p class="i0">For a thought in her heart had birth, and her word was first again:—</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Let us hence to the Cyprian Queen; and when we be come, we twain</p> -<p class="i0">Will pray her to bid her son, if perchance he will do this deed,</p> -<p class="i0">At Aiêtes’ sorceress-daughter a shaft from his bow to speed,</p> -<p class="i0">And bewitch her with love for Jason: by her devising, I trow,</p> -<p class="i0">Bearing the Fleece away unto Hellas the hero shall go.’</p> - -<p class="i1">She spake; and her counsel of wisdom pleased Athênê well; {30}</p> -<p class="i0">And she answered—and now from her lips soft words of persuasion fell:—</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Hêrê, my father begat me unweeting of shafts of love:</p> -<p class="i0">Nothing I know of desire, or the magic spells thereof.</p> -<p class="i0">But if this word pleaseth thyself, of a truth will I go with thee.</p> -<p class="i0">Yet thou must speak our request when the Cyprian’s face we see.’</p> - -<p class="i1">Then soared they away, and unto the mighty palace they came</p> -<p class="i0">Of Kypris: her lord the Halt-foot God had builded the same</p> -<p class="i0">For his bride, when he led her forth from the halls of Zeus of yore.</p> -<p class="i0">So they entered the courts, and under the chamber-corridor</p> -<p class="i0">Stood, where the hands of the Goddess the couch of Hephaistus prepared. {40}</p> -<p class="i0">But he at the dawning thence to his forges and anvils had fared</p> -<p class="i0">In the cavern wide of a sea-washed isle, where he aye wrought on</p> -<p class="i0">With the fire-blasts fashioning manifold marvels: but she alone</p> -<p class="i0">Facing the doors of the palace sat in a carven chair.</p> -<p class="i0">Over her shoulders white had she loosened the waves of her hair,</p> -<p class="i0">And a golden comb through their ripples she drew, and now would she braid</p> -<p class="i0">The long plaits up; but before her beheld she the twain, and she stayed</p> -<p class="i0">Her hand, and she rose from her throne, and she bade them within her hall,</p> -<p class="i0">And on couches she caused them to sit; thereafter herself withal</p> -<p class="i0">Sat down, and her uncombed tresses coiled she about her head; {50}</p> -<p class="i0">And smiling innocent-arch to the Goddesses twain she said:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Dear sisters, what purpose or need hath brought you hither at last</p> -<p class="i0">Who have tarried so long afar? Why come ye? In days overpast</p> -<p class="i0">Not oft hath your presence been here—too great for such as I!’</p> - -<p class="i1">Then unto her did Hêrê with stately speech reply:</p> -<p class="i0">‘Thou mockest, the while our heart with calamity’s shadow is dark,</p> -<p class="i0">For that even now in Phasis the river moored is the bark</p> -<p class="i0">Of Aison’s son, and the rest on the Quest of the Fleece that have come.</p> -<p class="i0">For all their sakes—for that nigh is the deed and the hour of doom—</p> -<p class="i0">Exceeding sorely we fear, but most for Aison’s son. {60}</p> -<p class="i0">Him I—yea, though unto Hades now he were voyaging on</p> -<p class="i0">To break those fetters of brass wherewithal Ixion is bound—</p> -<p class="i0">Will deliver, so far as strength in these my limbs is found,</p> -<p class="i0">Lest Pelias should laugh, having ’scaped the doom, his iniquity’s price,</p> -<p class="i0">Who in pride of his heart hath left me unhonoured with sacrifice.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, and before that Jason was passing dear unto me,</p> -<p class="i0">Even since, when Anaurus’ outfall in full flood poured to the sea,</p> -<p class="i0">In the day when men’s heart-righteousness fain would I prove and know,</p> -<p class="i0">Coming back from the hunting he met me; and all overmantled with snow</p> -<p class="i0">Were the mountain-ridges and towering peaks, and adown from them poured {70}</p> -<p class="i0">The winter-tide floods, and the rolling torrents rattled and roared;</p> -<p class="i0">And he pitied the grey old crone, and he took me up at my prayer,</p> -<p class="i0">And over the seaward-madding flood on his shoulders he bare.</p> -<p class="i0">Therefore I honour him now, and will honour: unharmed shall he be</p> -<p class="i0">Of Pelias’ spite,—yea, though his return be unaided of thee.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she: the lips of Kypris could frame no word for a space,</p> -<p class="i0">In her awe to behold great Hêrê asking of her a grace.</p> -<p class="i0">And with courteous-gentle speech then spake she answering:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘O Goddess dread, may there never be found any viler thing</p> -<p class="i0">Than Kypris, if I shall set at naught desire of thine {80}</p> -<p class="i0">Or in word or in deed, whatsoever these frail hands of mine</p> -<p class="i0">May avail; and for all that I do nor thank nor requital would I.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she; and Hêrê again in her wisdom made reply:</p> -<p class="i0">‘It is nowise for lack of might that we come, nor of strength of hand.</p> -<p class="i0">But thou to thy child in peaceful quietness speak thy command</p> -<p class="i0">To bewitch Aiêtes’ daughter with love for Aison’s seed;</p> -<p class="i0">For if she with her counsel shall help him, with loving favour lead,</p> -<p class="i0">Lightly, I ween, shall the hero win the Fleece of Gold,</p> -<p class="i0">And return to Iolkos, seeing the maiden is subtle-souled.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So did she speak; and the Lady of Cyprus answered thereto: {90}</p> -<p class="i0">‘Hêrê, Athênê, my child would render obedience to you</p> -<p class="i0">More than to me: in your presence a little abashed shall he be,</p> -<p class="i0">Bold boy though he be:—but nothing at all he regardeth me.</p> -<p class="i0">But ever he striveth against me, and laugheth mine hests to scorn.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, I am minded, by that his naughtiness overborne,</p> -<p class="i0">His evil-sounding shafts and his bow therewithal to break</p> -<p class="i0">Full in his sight: for of late this threat in his anger he spake,</p> -<p class="i0">That, if I refrained not mine hands while his passion within him was strong,</p> -<p class="i0">My scathe upon mine own head should be, upon me the wrong.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she: the Goddesses smiled, and each in her fellow’s eyes {100}</p> -<p class="i0">Looked: but again she spake, and her speech was burdened with sighs:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Unto others my griefs be for laughter alone, and I ought not so</p> -<p class="i0">To tell them to all:—enough that mine heart must its bitterness know.</p> -<p class="i0">Howbeit, if this be all your soul’s desire this day,</p> -<p class="i0">I will try, and with soft words win him: he shall not say me nay.’</p> - -<p class="i1">She spake; and with touch caressing did Hêrê her slim hand take,</p> -<p class="i0">And, softly smiling the while, she answered, and thus she spake:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Even so, Kythereia, with speed perform thou this our request</p> -<p class="i0">As thou sayest; and vex not thyself, neither strive with angered breast</p> -<p class="i0">With thy child: from his troubling of thee hereafter shalt thou have rest.’ {110}</p> - -<p class="i1">She spake, and she rose from her seat, and Athênê passed at her side,</p> -<p class="i0">As forth they sped and away, they twain: but the Cyprian hied</p> -<p class="i0">To Olympus, and down its ridges, seeking her child, she passed.</p> -<p class="i0">And in Zeus’s fruitful orchard-close she found him at last,</p> -<p class="i0">Not alone, Ganymedes was with him, the boy whom Zeus on a day</p> -<p class="i0">From earth unto heaven had brought to abide with Immortals for aye,</p> -<p class="i0">When he greatly desired his beauty. With golden dice these two</p> -<p class="i0">Were playing, even as boys like-minded be wont to do.</p> -<p class="i0">And already Eros the greedy the palm of his left hand pressed,</p> -<p class="i0">Filled full with the golden spoils of his winning, against his breast, {120}</p> -<p class="i0">Standing upright; the while a sweet flush mantled and glowed</p> -<p class="i0">O’er the bloom of his cheeks: but the other was crouching on bent knees bowed</p> -<p class="i0">In downcast silence: he had but twain; on the earth he flung</p> -<p class="i0">One after other, by Eros’s gibing laughter stung.</p> -<p class="i0">But, even as fared the former, he lost them, the last of his dice;</p> -<p class="i0">And with empty and helpless hands he went; and his down-drooped eyes</p> -<p class="i0">Marked not the coming of Kypris. Before her child did she stand,</p> -<p class="i0">And with loving chiding she spake, as she laid on his lips her hand:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Why smil’st thou in triumph, thou naughty varlet? Hast thou not beguiled</p> -<p class="i0">Thy playmate?—and fairly hast thou overcome that innocent child? {130}</p> -<p class="i0">Go to now, accomplish my bidding, the thing that I shall ask;</p> -<p class="i0">And the plaything exceeding fair of Zeus shall requite thy task,</p> -<p class="i0">Which was fashioned by Adresteia his nurse for her babe’s delight,</p> -<p class="i0">When, a child, he thought as a child, in the cave ’neath Ida’s height.</p> -<p class="i0">A ball fair-rounded it is: no goodlier toy, I wot,</p> -<p class="i0">Couldst thou get thee mid all the marvels by hands of Hephaistus wrought.</p> -<p class="i0">Of gold be the zones of it fashioned; and round each several one</p> -<p class="i0">Twofold be the seams of broidery-thread that encircling run.</p> -<p class="i0">But the stitches thereof be hidden: there coileth around them all</p> -<p class="i0">A spiral of blue. From thine hand if thou cast it on high, that ball {140}</p> -<p class="i0">Even as a star shall flash through the air in a fiery glow.</p> -<p class="i0">This will I give thee—but thou must bewitch with a shaft from thy bow</p> -<p class="i0">Aiêtes’ daughter with love for Jason. But see that herein</p> -<p class="i0">Thou tarry not; else a meaner requital than this shalt thou win.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she, and welcome the word was; with gladness he heard that thing:</p> -<p class="i0">And he cast away those toys, and with eager hands did he cling</p> -<p class="i0">Clasping the Goddess’s raiment about on either side.</p> -<p class="i0">And he pleaded with her even then to bestow it: but Kypris replied</p> -<p class="i0">With gentle words,—and his cheeks unto hers she drew the while,</p> -<p class="i0">And clasping him close she kissed him, and answer she made with a smile: {150}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Be witness now thy beloved head, yea, also mine,</p> -<p class="i0">That I will not defraud thee: indeed and in truth the gift shall be thine,</p> -<p class="i0">When the heart of Aiêtes’ daughter is pierced by thine arrow divine.’</p> - -<p class="i1">Then gathered he up his dice, and the tale of them heedfully told,</p> -<p class="i0">And he cast them into his mother’s glistering bosom-fold.</p> -<p class="i0">By his baldric of gold he slung from his shoulder the quiver that leant</p> -<p class="i0">On a tree-trunk, and took the bow for sorrow of mortals bent.</p> -<p class="i0">From the fruitful orchard of Zeus’s palace forth did he fare,</p> -<p class="i0">And thereafter came to Olympus’ portals high in air.</p> -<p class="i0">Thence is a sheer-descending path from the height of the sky; {160}</p> -<p class="i0">And there the Poles, twin mountains, uplift their heads on high,</p> -<p class="i0">Precipice-steeps, earth’s loftiest-towering crests, whereon</p> -<p class="i0">With his earliest rays at the dawning uplifted resteth the sun.</p> -<p class="i0">Far under, the life-sustaining earth and the cities slept</p> -<p class="i0">Of men, and the sacred rivers; anon before him upleapt</p> -<p class="i0">Hill-peaks, and outspread the sea, through the wide air on as he swept.</p> - -<p class="i1">Now the heroes apart on the thwarts of their galley in ambush yet,</p> -<p class="i0">Where the backwater gleamed of the river, for taking of counsel were met:</p> -<p class="i0">And the son of Aison himself was speaking, and all they heard,</p> -<p class="i0">As row upon row in their places they sat, and none spake word: {170}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘O friends, of a truth the thing that seemeth good in mine eyes,</p> -<p class="i0">That will I utter; howbeit with you the fulfilment lies.</p> -<p class="i0">This Quest all share, and in counsel and speech all ye have part.</p> -<p class="i0">Whosoever in silence withholdeth his rede and the thoughts of his heart,</p> -<p class="i0">Let him know, he only bereaveth of home-return our Quest.</p> -<p class="i0">Now I counsel that ye by the ship with your war-gear abide at rest.</p> -<p class="i0">But I, even I, will go forth first to Aiêtes’ hall.</p> -<p class="i0">I will take but the sons of Phrixus, and twain of the rest therewithal.</p> -<p class="i0">And I, when I meet him, with words will first make trial, to know</p> -<p class="i0">If he haply for lovingkindness the Fleece of Gold will bestow, {180}</p> -<p class="i0">Or will grant it not, but in pride of his might will set us at naught.</p> -<p class="i0">For so, when the lesson of evil first by himself hath been taught,</p> -<p class="i0">Shall we then advise us, whether the ordeal of battle to try,</p> -<p class="i0">Or if other device shall avail us, refraining the onset-cry.</p> -<p class="i0">But let us not rashly, or ever persuasion be put to the test,</p> -<p class="i0">Despoil this man of his own possession:—nay, it were best</p> -<p class="i0">To come before him, and first with speech his grace to win:—</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, oft fair speech hath prevailed in a matter, and lightly—wherein</p> -<p class="i0">Little had prowess availed—for that winsomely it stole</p> -<p class="i0">On the heart: yea hereby Phrixus wrought on the grim king’s soul, {190}</p> -<p class="i0">When a stepdame’s guile and the sacrifice-stroke of a father he fled,</p> -<p class="i0">To receive him: in no man’s breast is shame so utterly dead,</p> -<p class="i0">But he honoureth Guest-ward Zeus, and regardeth his ordinance dread.’</p> - -<p class="i1">Then praised they with one accord the counsel of Aison’s seed,</p> -<p class="i0">Nor did any man turn therefrom, to utter another rede.</p> -<p class="i0">Then called he on Phrixus’ children to follow, and chose of his band</p> -<p class="i0">Telamon and Augeias; moreover himself took Hermes’ wand.</p> -<p class="i0">Forthright from the ship over water and reed-fringed river-side</p> -<p class="i0">Passed they, and out beyond o’er the swell of the plain they hied.</p> -<p class="i0">The Plain Kirkaian, I wot, is it called, and, row upon row, {200}</p> -<p class="i0">Willows and osiers there exceeding many grow.</p> -<p class="i0">Mid their topmost branches cord-bound corpses be hanging there;</p> -<p class="i0">For to Kolchians unto this day an abomination it were</p> -<p class="i0">To burn on the pyre their men which have died; nor yet in the ground</p> -<p class="i0">Is their wont to lay them, and heap thereover the token-mound.</p> -<p class="i0">But in hides untanned of oxen they roll them, and hang midst trees</p> -<p class="i0">Without the city. Yet earth hath equal share in these</p> -<p class="i0">With the air; for in graves of the earth be they wont their women to lay.</p> -<p class="i0">Lo, this is their custom, and this their ordinance for aye.</p> - -<p class="i1">Now, anigh as they drew, did Hêrê with loving thought for the men {210}</p> -<p class="i0">Spread thick mist all through the city, that so they might ’scape the ken</p> -<p class="i0">Of the thousands there, to Aiêtes’ hall while fared they on.</p> -<p class="i0">And when from the plain to Aiêtes’ city and palace they won,</p> -<p class="i0">Then straightway Hêrê scattered again that cloudy haze.</p> -<p class="i0">At the entrance they stood, and they looked on the courts of the king in amaze,</p> -<p class="i0">On the gateways wide, and the columns that all around the walls</p> -<p class="i0">In ordered lines uprose; and high on the roofs of the halls</p> -<p class="i0">Did a coping of stone upon rows of brazen triglyphs lie.</p> -<p class="i0">And over the threshold in peace they went. And hard thereby</p> -<p class="i0">Were garden-vines in fulness of blossom, mantled o’er {220}</p> -<p class="i0">With green leaves, high uplifted in air. And fountains four</p> -<p class="i0">Ever-flowing beneath them ran, which were delved with magic spell</p> -<p class="i0">By Hephaistus, the one whereof did with gushing of milk upwell,</p> -<p class="i0">And the second with wine, and the third with incense-breathing oil.</p> -<p class="i0">And with water the fourth ran; steaming for heat did the same upboil</p> -<p class="i0">At the setting-tide of the Pleiads; but out of its rock-hewn cave</p> -<p class="i0">Cold even as ice in their rising-season bubbled the wave.</p> -<p class="i0">Even such were the marvellous works that Hephaistus the craftwise God</p> -<p class="i0">Fashioned within Kytaian Aiêtes’ palace-abode.</p> -<p class="i0">And he wrought for him brazen-footed bulls, and their mouths were of brass, {230}</p> -<p class="i0">And the terrible splendour of blazing flame the breath of them was.</p> -<p class="i0">Moreover a plough of unbending adamant, all in one,</p> -<p class="i0">Did he forge for him, making therein his requital of thanks to the Sun,</p> -<p class="i0">Who had taken him up in his chariot, faint from the Phlegra fight.</p> -<p class="i0">There also was builded the inner court, and around it were pight</p> -<p class="i0">Many chambers on either hand with two-leaved doors fair-dight;</p> -<p class="i0">And without them a rich-wrought corridor ran to left and to right;</p> -<p class="i0">And athwart them the loftiest buildings rose upon either side,</p> -<p class="i0">Whereof one over its fellows uplifted its crest of pride:</p> -<p class="i0">Therein with his queen Aiêtes abode, the lord of the land; {240}</p> -<p class="i0">And thereby did the mansion fair of his son Absyrtus stand,</p> -<p class="i0">Whom a Nymph Caucasian, Asterodeia, bare to his bed</p> -<p class="i0">Or ever he led Eiduia home, his wife true-wed,</p> -<p class="i0">Daughter of Tethys and Ocean, even their youngest one:</p> -<p class="i0">But the sons of the Kolchians gave him a new name, Phaëthon,</p> -<p class="i0">‘The Shining,’ for all the youths were in beauty by him outshone.</p> -<p class="i0">In the rest did the handmaid-train and Aiêtes’ daughters abide,</p> -<p class="i0">Chalkiopê and Medea. And now had Medea hied</p> -<p class="i0">From her chamber forth to her sister’s; for Hêrê restrained her that day</p> -<p class="i0">That she went not abroad: but little she wont theretofore to stay {250}</p> -<p class="i0">In the palace, but all day long in the temple of Hekatê</p> -<p class="i0">Her conversation she had, for the Goddess’s priestess was she.</p> -<p class="i0">And she saw them, and cried aloud; and suddenly heard was her call</p> -<p class="i0">Of Chalkiopê: and her handmaids down at their feet let fall</p> -<p class="i0">Their yarn and their threads, and forth of the chamber ran they all</p> -<p class="i0">In a throng, and amidst them the mother: and there beholding her sons</p> -<p class="i0">She cast up her hands in her gladness; and those re-given ones</p> -<p class="i0">Greeted their mother, and lovingly gazed on her, folding her round</p> -<p class="i0">With their arms, till her words mid sobbings broken utterance found:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘So then ye were not to leave me in lonely childless pain, {260}</p> -<p class="i0">And to wander afar; and fate hath turned you backward again.</p> -<p class="i0">O hapless I!—what yearning for Hellas awoke in your breasts,</p> -<p class="i0">By some strange woeful madness, at Phrixus your father’s behests?</p> -<p class="i0">Bitter affliction did he ordain, when dying he lay,</p> -<p class="i0">For mine heart!—O why to Orchomenus’ city far away—</p> -<p class="i0">Whosoe’er this Orchomenus be—for Athamas’ wealth should ye go,</p> -<p class="i0">Leaving your mother alone to bear her burden of woe?’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she, and last came forth Aiêtes hastening,</p> -<p class="i0">And came Eiduia herself, the wife of Aiêtes the king,</p> -<p class="i0">When the outcry of Chalkiopê she heard. And the court straightway {270}</p> -<p class="i0">Was filled with a noisy throng; for some of the thralls ’gan flay</p> -<p class="i0">A huge ox, some with the brass ’gan cleave the billets dry,</p> -<p class="i0">And some with the fire ’gan heat the baths. There was none thereby</p> -<p class="i0">That lagged in his task, as they toiled beneath that stern king’s eye.</p> - -<p class="i1">But Eros the while through the mist-grey air passed all unseen</p> -<p class="i0">Troubling them, even as heifers that hear the piping keen</p> -<p class="i0">Of the gadfly—‘the breese’ do the herders of oxen name the thing.</p> -<p class="i0">In the forecourt beneath the lintel swiftly his bow did he string:</p> -<p class="i0">From his quiver took he a shaft sigh-laden, unshot before:</p> -<p class="i0">With swift feet all unmarked hath he passed the threshold o’er, {280}</p> -<p class="i0">Keen-glancing around: he hath glided close by Aison’s son:</p> -<p class="i0">He hath grasped the string in the midst, and the arrow-notch laid thereon.</p> -<p class="i0">Straightway he strained it with both hands sundered wide apart,</p> -<p class="i0">And he shot at Medea; and speechless amazement filled her heart.</p> -<p class="i0">And the God himself from the high-roofed hall forth-flashing returned</p> -<p class="i0">Laughing aloud. Deep down in the maiden’s bosom burned</p> -<p class="i0">His arrow like unto flame; and at Aison’s son she cast</p> -<p class="i0">Side-glances of love evermore; and panted hard and fast</p> -<p class="i0">’Neath its burden the heart in her breast, nor did any remembrance remain</p> -<p class="i0">Of aught beside, but her soul was melted with rapturous pain. {290}</p> -<p class="i0">And as some poor daughter of toil, who hath distaff ever in hand,</p> -<p class="i0">Heapeth the slivers of wood about a blazing brand</p> -<p class="i0">To lighten her darkness with splendour her rafters beneath, when her eyes</p> -<p class="i0">Have prevented the dawn; and the flame, upleaping in wondrous wise</p> -<p class="i0">From the one little torch, ever waxing consumeth all that heap;</p> -<p class="i0">So, burning in secret, about her heart did he coil and creep,</p> -<p class="i0">Love the destroyer: her soft cheeks’ colour went and came,</p> -<p class="i0">Pale now, and anon, through her soul’s confusion, with crimson aflame.</p> - -<p class="i1">Now when ready-dight was the banquet by labour of handmaid and thrall,</p> -<p class="i0">And by steaming baths’ refreshment their faces were lightened withal, {300}</p> -<p class="i0">Gladly they feasted and drank till their souls were satisfied.</p> -<p class="i0">Thereafter unto the sons of his daughter Aiêtes cried:</p> -<p class="i0">And this was the word of his mouth, as inquisition he made:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Ye sons of my daughter and Phrixus, the man unto whom I paid</p> -<p class="i0">Honour above all men that have stood mine halls within,</p> -<p class="i0">How came ye to Aia returning?—did some dark curse of sin</p> -<p class="i0">Break short in the midst your escape? Ye would not hear nor obey</p> -<p class="i0">Me, when I set before you the endless length of the way.</p> -<p class="i0">For I marked it, when once I was whirled in my father the Sun-god’s car,</p> -<p class="i0">In the day wherein he wafted my sister Kirkê afar {310}</p> -<p class="i0">Unto Hesperia-land, till the chariot at last made stay</p> -<p class="i0">On the Tyrrhene mainland-shore, where even unto this day</p> -<p class="i0">She abideth, exceeding far from the land where the Kolchians dwell.</p> -<p class="i0">What profit or pleasure in words? Speak out and plainly tell</p> -<p class="i0">What happed in the midst of your journey, and say who these men be</p> -<p class="i0">That have come with you hither. And where from your galley ashore came ye?’</p> - -<p class="i1">So did he question; and answered him Argus before the rest—</p> -<p class="i0">But his heart misgave him concerning the son of Aison’s quest;—</p> -<p class="i0">With soft words spake he, seeing that he was the elder-born:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Aiêtes, that our ship full quickly asunder was torn {320}</p> -<p class="i0">By stormy blasts, and we, unto beams of the wreck as we clung,</p> -<p class="i0">On the beach of the War-god’s Isle by the sweep of the surges were flung</p> -<p class="i0">In the murky night. Some God from destruction redeemed us, I trow;</p> -<p class="i0">For even the birds of Ares, that wont to haunt ere now</p> -<p class="i0">That desolate isle of the sea, even these we found no more;</p> -<p class="i0">But these men drave them away when they landed the day before</p> -<p class="i0">From their galley: and there by the purpose of Zeus, compassionate</p> -<p class="i0">Of our plight, were they kept from departing, or bound peradventure by fate.</p> -<p class="i0">Straightway to our need with food and with raiment they ministered,</p> -<p class="i0">So soon as the name of Phrixus the far-renowned they heard, {330}</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, and thine own: for unto thy town be they voyaging.</p> -<p class="i0">And if thou wouldst know their need, I will hide not from thee the thing.</p> -<p class="i0">A certain king being fain with exceeding vehement spite</p> -<p class="i0">From his land and possessions to drive this man, forasmuch as in might</p> -<p class="i0">Of his hands he was peerless amongst the heroes of Aiolus’ seed,</p> -<p class="i0">Sendeth him hither on desperate venture. For fate had decreed</p> -<p class="i0">That Aiolus’ line shall escape not the soul-afflicting ire</p> -<p class="i0">Of implacable Zeus, and his wrath, and the curse unendurably dire,</p> -<p class="i0">And the vengeance for Phrixus, till cometh to Hellas the Fleece of Gold.</p> -<p class="i0">And his ship did Pallas Athênê fashion: not such is her mould {340}</p> -<p class="i0">As the fashioning is of the ships that be found ’mid the Kolchian folk—</p> -<p class="i0">Whereof our hap was the vilest, for even at a touch it broke</p> -<p class="i0">Of the raging surge and the wind;—but this ship holdeth fast,</p> -<p class="i0">Gripped by her bolts, through the buffeting fury of every blast.</p> -<p class="i0">And swiftly alike she runneth before the wind, and when</p> -<p class="i0">She is sped by the oars unresting in hands of stalwart men.</p> -<p class="i0">He hath gathered within her whatso mightiest heroes there are</p> -<p class="i0">In Achaia-land, and hath come to thy city from wandering far</p> -<p class="i0">By cities, by dread sea-gulfs, if thou haply wouldst grant his request,</p> -<p class="i0">That the thing he desireth may be: for nowise he cometh to wrest {350}</p> -<p class="i0">Aught from thine hands by force: he is minded to pay unto thee</p> -<p class="i0">Fair quittance for this thy gift. Of the bitter enmity</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Sauromatai hath he heard; he will quell them to bow to thy sway.</p> -<p class="i0">And their name and their lineage, if fain thou wouldst hear them, as thou dost say,</p> -<p class="i0">What men they be, I will tell to thee all in order due.</p> -<p class="i0">This man, for whose helping assembled from Hellas a hero-crew,</p> -<p class="i0">Jason they call him, the son of Aison, Krêtheus’ seed.</p> -<p class="i0">Now, if this man of Krêtheus’ lineage cometh in very deed,</p> -<p class="i0">Of a truth by the father’s blood shall he be of kin unto us,</p> -<p class="i0">For that Krêtheus and Athamas both were the children of Aiolus, {360}</p> -<p class="i0">And Phrixus moreover was child of Athamas, Aiolus’ son.</p> -<p class="i0">And, if aught thou know’st of the Sun-god’s seed, lo, here is one,</p> -<p class="i0">Augeias; and Telamon this, the son of the mighty in fame</p> -<p class="i0">Aiakus; yea, and of Zeus’s loins great Aiakus came.</p> -<p class="i0">And in like wise all the rest, which have hither companioned his way,</p> -<p class="i0">The sons and the grandsons they are of the Gods which abide for aye.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So Argus spake: but the wrath of the king waxed hot as he heard,</p> -<p class="i0">And his soul like a stormy sea with a tempest of fury was stirred.</p> -<p class="i0">Fuming he spake—with the sons of his daughter above the rest</p> -<p class="i0">Was he wroth, for he weened that of these had Jason been moved to the Quest: {370}</p> -<p class="i0">And the light of his anger leapt from his eyes as levin-flame:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘And will ye not straightway be gone from my sight, ye felons of shame,</p> -<p class="i0">And depart from the land afar with the guile of your treachery,</p> -<p class="i0">Ere a bitter Fleece and a bitter Phrixus here ye see,</p> -<p class="i0">With your friends back faring to Hellas? Not for the Fleece come ye!</p> -<p class="i0">Nay, but my sceptre and kingly honour ye come to take!</p> -<p class="i0">Now, if ye had broken not bread at my table or ever ye spake,</p> -<p class="i0">Your tongues had I surely cut out, and had hewn from the wrist each hand,</p> -<p class="i0">And had sent you forth with naught but your feet to fare through the land:</p> -<p class="i0">So should ye refrain you thereafter from coming on suchlike quest!— {380}</p> -<p class="i0">Lo, and the lies ye have spoken concerning the Gods ever-blest!’</p> - -<p class="i1">So passioned the king: but even to its depths the spirit burned</p> -<p class="i0">Of Aiakus’ son, and hotly his soul within him yearned</p> -<p class="i0">To fling back a deadly defiance. But Jason, or ever he spake,</p> -<p class="i0">Stayed him, and gently speaking an answer of peace did he make:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Bear with me, Aiêtes, as touching this Quest: no such wild dream</p> -<p class="i0">To thy city and halls hath brought us as thou peradventure dost deem.</p> -<p class="i0">Nought such do we covet:—what man of his will, from an alien to wrest</p> -<p class="i0">His possessions, would fare over such wide seas? By the ruthless behest</p> -<p class="i0">Of a tyrannous king was I hitherward sent, and the doom of a God. {390}</p> -<p class="i0">Show favour to this our entreaty; and so will I publish abroad</p> -<p class="i0">Thy name and thy glory all Hellas through. Yea, ready we are</p> -<p class="i0">To render for this unto thee requital of service in war,</p> -<p class="i0">Whether it be that ye fain would bow the Sauromatans’ pride</p> -<p class="i0">Under your sceptred sway, or whatso nation beside.’</p> - -<p class="i1">Then ceased he, with gentle utterance proffering love: but the king</p> -<p class="i0">A twofold purpose the while in his soul was pondering,</p> -<p class="i0">Whether to make assault on them then and there, and to slay,</p> -<p class="i0">Or to put their might to the test. And he counted the better way,</p> -<p class="i0">Thus as he pondered, the second, and answered in subtlety: {400}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Stranger, what hast thou to do to tell all this unto me?</p> -<p class="i0">For if ye be seed of the Gods in truth, or if ye which have hied</p> -<p class="i0">To the aliens’ land be peers of Aiêtes in aught beside,</p> -<p class="i0">I will give thee to bear away, if thou wilt, the Fleece of Gold,</p> -<p class="i0">When first I have tried thee. Nought I begrudge to the hero-souled,</p> -<p class="i0">Even as ye tell me of him that in Hellas beareth sway.</p> -<p class="i0">And the test of your valour and prowess shall be a certain essay,</p> -<p class="i0">Which mine own hands compass, fraught though it be with deadly bane.</p> -<p class="i0">Two brazen-footed bulls have I: on the War-god’s plain</p> -<p class="i0">They pasture: the breath from their mouths in flames of fire doth stream. {410}</p> -<p class="i0">These yoke I, and drive through the War-god’s stubborn glebe that team,</p> -<p class="i0">Four ploughgates; and even to the end my ploughshare cleaveth it fast.</p> -<p class="i0">No seed of the Lady of Corn in the furrows thereof do I cast,</p> -<p class="i0">But the teeth of a terrible serpent; and up from the earth they grow</p> -<p class="i0">In fashion of armèd men; but straightway I lay them low</p> -<p class="i0">With the thrusts of my spear, as around me they throng, a battle-ring.</p> -<p class="i0">With the dawning I yoke my team, and I cease from mine harvesting</p> -<p class="i0">At the eventide hour. And thou, if thou bring such deeds to pass,</p> -<p class="i0">That day shalt win this Fleece, as thy king’s commandment was.</p> -<p class="i0">But I give it thee not ere then; neither hope it; for shame should it be {420}</p> -<p class="i0">That a mighty champion should yield to a man that is worser than he.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he: but silent the hero sat, with his eyes on the ground.</p> -<p class="i0">Speechless he sat: no help for the desperate evil he found.</p> -<p class="i0">Long time he communed with his heart; no way through the darkness gleamed</p> -<p class="i0">To take on him stoutly the task, for a mighty deed it seemed.</p> -<p class="i0">But late and at last he spake, and he answered warily:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Full straitly, Aiêtes, within thy right art thou shutting me.</p> -<p class="i0">Yet this will I dare, this emprise mighty beyond all thought;</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, though my doom be to die: for a man may light upon nought</p> -<p class="i0">More dread to encounter than ruthless fate’s overmastering hand, {430}</p> -<p class="i0">Which hitherward also constrained me to come at a king’s command.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he, filled with despair; but the king made answer to him,</p> -<p class="i0">Sore troubled there as he sat, with words exceeding grim:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Come then to the gathering, thou who art fain this toil to essay.</p> -<p class="i0">But if thou shalt fear on the necks of the oxen the yoke to lay,</p> -<p class="i0">Or if from the deadly harvesting backward thou shrink in dismay,</p> -<p class="i0">Then will I look unto this, that another, taught by thee,</p> -<p class="i0">May shudder to come in such malapert sort to a mightier than he.’</p> - -<p class="i1">Roundly he spake, and he ceased; and Jason uprose from his seat,</p> -<p class="i0">And Augeias and Telamon with him; but followed them only the feet {440}</p> -<p class="i0">Of Argus; for even at the moment a sign to his brethren he cast</p> -<p class="i0">There in their place to tarry: so forth of the hall they passed.</p> -<p class="i0">But the son of Aison outshone all there in wondrous wise</p> -<p class="i0">In goodlihead and in grace: ever wandered the maiden’s eyes</p> -<p class="i0">Askance unto him, as she stealthily parted her veil’s soft gleam.</p> -<p class="i0">And her heart was a smouldering fire of pain; and her soul, as a dream,</p> -<p class="i0">Stole after her love, flitting still in his track as his feet fared on.</p> -<p class="i0">So they from the halls in exceeding vexation of spirit are gone.</p> -<p class="i0">But Chalkiopê, from the wrath of Aiêtes shrinking in dread,</p> -<p class="i0">Hastily unto her bower with those her sons had fled. {450}</p> -<p class="i0">And Medea thereafter followed; and surged like a rushing river</p> -<p class="i0">The thoughts through her breast—the thoughts that Love awakeneth ever.</p> -<p class="i0">And before her eyes the vision of all evermore she had—</p> -<p class="i0">Himself, even like as he was, and the vesture wherein he was clad,</p> -<p class="i0">How he spake, how he sat on his seat, how forth of the doors he strode,</p> -<p class="i0">And she dreamed as she mused that all the world beside had showed</p> -<p class="i0">None other such man. In her ears evermore the music rung</p> -<p class="i0">Of his voice, and the words that in sweetness of honey had dropped from his tongue.</p> -<p class="i0">And she trembled for him, lest the bulls or Aiêtes himself might slay</p> -<p class="i0">Her beloved, and took up a mourning for him, as though he lay {460}</p> -<p class="i0">Dead even now; and adown her cheeks soft-stealing tears</p> -<p class="i0">Flowed, of her measureless pity, her burden of haunting fears.</p> -<p class="i0">And she mourned, and the low lamentation wailed from her tortured breast:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Why, wretch that I am, is this anguish upon me?—or be he the best</p> -<p class="i0">Of heroes, who now is to perish, or be he the vilest of all,</p> -<p class="i0">Let him go to his doom!—yet O that on him no scathe might fall!</p> -<p class="i0">Oh might it be so, thou Daughter of Perseus, Goddess revered!</p> -<p class="i0">Oh might he but win home, ’scaping his doom!—but if this be his weird,</p> -<p class="i0">By the bulls to be overmastered, or ever it be too late</p> -<p class="i0">Might he know it, that I be not forced to exult o’er the thing that I hate!’ {470}</p> - -<p class="i1">So was the maiden distraught by the cares that racked her mind.</p> -<p class="i0">But when those others had left the folk and the city behind,</p> -<p class="i0">On the path whereby at the first from the river-plain they had gone,</p> -<p class="i0">Even then, and with these words, Argus spake unto Aison’s son:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘This counsel of mine, O Aison’s son, thou wilt haply despise:</p> -<p class="i0">Yet in desperate strait to forbear from the trial seemeth not wise.</p> -<p class="i0">Thou hast heard me tell of a maiden that practiseth sorcery</p> -<p class="i0">Under the teaching of Perseus’ daughter Hekatê.</p> -<p class="i0">Now if we might win her to help us, thou needest not fear any more</p> -<p class="i0">To be vanquished in this thine endeavour:—howbeit my fear is sore {480}</p> -<p class="i0">Lest haply my mother will take not upon her to move her thereto.</p> -<p class="i0">Yet in any wise back will I wend to essay what entreaty may do;</p> -<p class="i0">For over us all alike is destruction hanging this day.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he in kindness of heart, and in answer did Jason say:</p> -<p class="i0">‘Dear friend, if this seemeth good in thy sight, I say not nay.</p> -<p class="i0">Hasten thou then, and with words of weight to thy mother pray</p> -<p class="i0">Till thou stir her to help us:—howbeit a pitiful hope is the best</p> -<p class="i0">For our home-return, if this in the keeping of women must rest.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he; and soon to the backwater came he: with hearts full fain</p> -<p class="i0">Did their comrades greet them, and question, beholding them again. {490}</p> -<p class="i0">But unto them Aison’s son in heaviness spake the word:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘O friends, the heart of Aiêtes the ruthless is wholly stirred</p> -<p class="i0">With anger against us: of all those things whereof ye inquire</p> -<p class="i0">Nor for me nor for you appeareth the goal of our desire.</p> -<p class="i0">Two brazen-footed bulls on the War-god’s plain, he saith,</p> -<p class="i0">Pasture; in flames of fire from the mouths of them streameth the breath:</p> -<p class="i0">And with these must I plough him ploughgates four of a fallow field;</p> -<p class="i0">And seed of a serpent’s jaws will he give, and for crop shall it yield</p> -<p class="i0">Earth-born warriors in harness of brass. In the selfsame day</p> -<p class="i0">These must I slay. And of this—for I found no better way, {500}</p> -<p class="i0">In mine heart as I pondered—I promised outright to make essay.’</p> - -<p class="i1">He spake, and it seemed unto all an impossible task. For a space</p> -<p class="i0">Silent they sat, and each man gazed in his fellow’s face,</p> -<p class="i0">By despair bowed down, by calamity crushed, till Peleus at last</p> -<p class="i0">With stout words spake to hearten the heroes all aghast:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Full time is it now to be counselling what we shall do. In rede</p> -<p class="i0">Small profit, I trow, shall be found; strong hands must help our need.</p> -<p class="i0">If thou then art minded to yoke the bulls of Aiêtes the king,</p> -<p class="i0">O hero Aison’s son, and thine heart is good for the thing,</p> -<p class="i0">Up then, and keep thy promise, and gird up thy loins for the toil. {510}</p> -<p class="i0">But if aught thine heart mistrusteth her manhood, and feareth the foil,</p> -<p class="i0">Neither goad thyself on, nor yet for another of these look round</p> -<p class="i0">As thou sitt’st in their midst: for one that shall nowise flinch hath been found,</p> -<p class="i0">Even I; for the bitterest pang is but death, to which all men are bound.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake Aiakus’ son; and Telamon’s spirit was stirred,</p> -<p class="i0">And swiftly in haste he uprose; and Idas uprose for the third</p> -<p class="i0">With heart uplifted; and rose the sons of Tyndareus then;</p> -<p class="i0">And rose with them Oineus’ son, who was numbered among strong men,</p> -<p class="i0">Albeit not yet so much as the tender down on his chin</p> -<p class="i0">Showed; with such hero-might was his spirit uplifted within. {520}</p> -<p class="i0">But the rest unto these gave place, and were still: then spake straightway</p> -<p class="i0">Argus to these for the contest that longed, and thus did he say:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Friends, haply to this may we come at the last: but ere that be,</p> -<p class="i0">Help for our need shall be found with my mother, it seemeth me.</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore refrain you a little yet, how eager soe’er,</p> -<p class="i0">And abide in the ship as aforetime: for better it is to forbear,</p> -<p class="i0">Than reckless-hearted to choose the path to destruction’s lair.</p> -<p class="i0">In the halls of Aiêtes nurtured a certain maiden doth dwell</p> -<p class="i0">Whom Hekatê taught strange cunning in herbs of the witch-wife’s spell,</p> -<p class="i0">Even all that on solid land or in fleeting water grow. {530}</p> -<p class="i0">And therewith she turneth to balm the fireblast’s fervent glow,</p> -<p class="i0">And rivers in mid rush roaring she suddenly causeth to stand,</p> -<p class="i0">And constraineth the stars and the paths of the holy moon with a band.</p> -<p class="i0">Of her we bethought us, the while from the palace we trod the way,</p> -<p class="i0">If haply my mother, seeing that sisters born be they,</p> -<p class="i0">Could persuade this maiden, that so for the contest her help she may lend.</p> -<p class="i0">And if this thing appeareth good in your eyes, of a truth will I wend</p> -<p class="i0">To the palace-hall of Aiêtes aback this selfsame day</p> -<p class="i0">To try her:—a God peradventure will help when I make essay.’</p> - -<p class="i1">He spake, and the Gods of their kindness sent forth a sign in their sight; {540}</p> -<p class="i0">For a fearful dove from the might of a hawk swift-winging her flight</p> -<p class="i0">From on high into Jason’s bosom fell in her panic affright.</p> -<p class="i0">But the hawk swooped blindly, and fluttered impaled on the high stern-crest.</p> -<p class="i0">Then on Mopsus a spirit of prophecy came, and he cried to the rest:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Unto you, O friends, by the will of the Gods this token is sent;</p> -<p class="i0">For in none other wise shall ye better interpret the sign’s intent</p> -<p class="i0">That we seek to the maiden, and woo her with speech of entreaty fair</p> -<p class="i0">With our uttermost wit; and I ween she will not reject our prayer,</p> -<p class="i0">If Phineus foretold that your home-return should be brought to pass</p> -<p class="i0">With help of the Cyprian Goddess. Her gentle bird it was {550}</p> -<p class="i0">That escaped from destruction. As now mine heart doth in vision foresee</p> -<p class="i0">As touching this omen, O that so in the end it may be!</p> -<p class="i0">Friends, let us cry to the Queen of Kythera to help our need;</p> -<p class="i0">And straightway obey ye the counsel of Argus with diligent heed.’</p> - -<p class="i1">He spake, and the young men praised it, calling to mind the word</p> -<p class="i0">Of Phineus the prophet; but Idas alone rose anger-stirred</p> -<p class="i0">Shouting aloud in his fierceness of wrath, and thus did he say:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Out on it!—were women our voyaging-fellows through all that way?</p> -<p class="i0">We men that be calling on Kypris now for our help to arise,</p> -<p class="i0">And not on the War-god’s mighty strength?—and by turning your eyes {560}</p> -<p class="i0">On doves and on hawks shall ye ’scape from the toil, shall ye win the prize?</p> -<p class="i0">Away!—let the deeds of war no more in your hearts find place,</p> -<p class="i0">But the cunning in pleading that winneth a weakling maiden’s grace!’</p> - -<p class="i1">Even so hot-hearted he spake; and many of them that heard</p> -<p class="i0">Low murmured thereat; howbeit none of them answered a word.</p> -<p class="i0">Then sat he down yet scowling in wrath; and rose thereupon</p> -<p class="i0">Jason to stir them to deeds, and thus spake Aison’s son:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Let Argus be sent from the ship, seeing all commend this thing;</p> -<p class="i0">But let us which remain from her hiding-place in the river bring</p> -<p class="i0">And openly moor to the shore our galley; for now gone by {570}</p> -<p class="i0">Is the time for hiding as cravens that cower from the onset-cry.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So did he speak: and he hasted the feet of Argus again</p> -<p class="i0">To return to the city with speed, and the hawsers drew they then</p> -<p class="i0">Out of the stream inboard at Aison’s son’s command;</p> -<p class="i0">And a little above the backwater rowed they the galley aland.</p> - -<p class="i1">But Aiêtes assembled for council the Kolchian men in haste</p> -<p class="i0">Aloof from his halls, in the place where they gathered in days overpast,</p> -<p class="i0">Devising against the Minyans trouble and treachery grim.</p> -<p class="i0">And he purposed, so soon as the bulls should have torn him limb from limb,—</p> -<p class="i0">This man who had taken upon him the heavy task to fulfil,— {580}</p> -<p class="i0">To hew the oak-grove down that crested the shaggy hill,</p> -<p class="i0">And to burn the ship and her crew, that so amid fume and flame</p> -<p class="i0">They might vent that insolence forth for a king’s defiance that came.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, and he had not received, he said, even Aiolus’ son</p> -<p class="i0">In his halls in his sorest need, even Phrixus, the man who outshone</p> -<p class="i0">All strangers in courtesy and in fear of the Gods on high,</p> -<p class="i0">But that Zeus’ self sent unto him his messenger down from the sky,</p> -<p class="i0">Even Hermes, bidding him give to the stranger the welcoming hand.</p> -<p class="i0">How much less therefore, when pirate-rovers came to his land,</p> -<p class="i0">Should they long ’scape griefs of their own, the caitiffs whose only toil {590}</p> -<p class="i0">Was to stretch forth their hands in the taking of other men’s goods for a spoil,</p> -<p class="i0">And to weave dark webs of guile, and on herdmen folk to fall</p> -<p class="i0">With soul-dismaying shouts, and to harry steading and stall?</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, and the sons of Phrixus should render to him therebeside</p> -<p class="i0">Meet penalty, they who had dared in returning thither to guide</p> -<p class="i0">Felons, consorting with men which were minded to drive even him</p> -<p class="i0">Light-hearted from honour and sceptre; as spake that prophecy grim,</p> -<p class="i0">The warning whereof he heard from his father the Sun erewhile,</p> -<p class="i0">Bidding him, ‘See thou beware of thine offspring’s secret guile,</p> -<p class="i0">And the plots of thy seed, and the curse of their crafty iniquity;’ {600}</p> -<p class="i0">For which cause also he sent them, even as they craved, oversea,</p> -<p class="i0">By their father’s behest, to Achaia a long way:—yet there came</p> -<p class="i0">On his soul no shadow of fear of his daughters, lest these should frame</p> -<p class="i0">Treason: no fear of his son Absyrtus his heart had chilled;</p> -<p class="i0">But he said, ‘In the children of Chalkiopê shall the curse be fulfilled.’</p> -<p class="i0">And bodings of awful revenge on the strangers foamed on his lip</p> -<p class="i0">In his fury; for loudly he threatened to hale to the flames their ship</p> -<p class="i0">And her crew, that none through the meshes of ruin’s net might slip.</p> -<p class="i0">But Argus had gone to the halls of Aiêtes the while, and with speech</p> -<p class="i0">Of manifold pleading now did the prince his mother beseech {610}</p> -<p class="i0">To pray to Medea to help them; yea, and herself theretofore</p> -<p class="i0">Was full of the selfsame thought, but the fear on her soul lay sore</p> -<p class="i0">Lest haply fate should withstand, and in vain she should speak her fair,</p> -<p class="i0">For her dread of her father’s deadly wrath; or if to her prayer</p> -<p class="i0">She should yield, yet all should be brought to light, and her deeds laid bare.</p> - -<p class="i1">Now the maiden had cast her down on her couch, and slumber deep</p> -<p class="i0">Of her anguish relieved her; but straightway dreams came haunting her sleep,</p> -<p class="i0">Such visions dark and deceitful as trouble the anguish-distraught.</p> -<p class="i0">For it seemed that the stranger had taken upon him the task; but she thought</p> -<p class="i0">That it was not the Fleece of the Ram that he longed to win for a prize, {620}</p> -<p class="i0">Nor yet for the sake of this had he fared in any wise</p> -<p class="i0">To Aiêtes’ city, but only to lead her, his wedded wife,</p> -<p class="i0">Unto his home; and she dreamed that herself did wrestle in strife</p> -<p class="i0">With the bulls, and exceeding lightly the mighty labour she wrought.</p> -<p class="i0">Howbeit thereafter her parents set their promise at naught,</p> -<p class="i0">For that not to their child, but to him, was the challenge to yoke that team.</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore contention of wrangling clashed through her troubled dream</p> -<p class="i0">’Twixt her sire and the strangers: and lo, in her hand the decision they laid,</p> -<p class="i0">That the issue should follow her will, and the thoughts of the heart of the maid.</p> -<p class="i0">And straightway the stranger she chose: all reverence thrust she aside {630}</p> -<p class="i0">For her parents; and measureless anguish seized them, and loud they cried</p> -<p class="i0">In their fury, and sleep forsook her at that heart-thrilling sound.</p> -<p class="i0">And all a-quiver with fear she upstarted: she stared all round</p> -<p class="i0">On the walls of her chamber; her fluttering spirit back to her breast</p> -<p class="i0">Scarce drew she: the words like a panic-struck throng through her pale lips pressed:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘O wretched I!—how nightmare visions my spirit appal!</p> -<p class="i0">I fear me lest awful ills from the heroes’ voyage befall:</p> -<p class="i0">And my heart, my heart for the stranger is tossed in a storm of dismay.</p> -<p class="i0">Let him woo some girl in his own Achaia far away,</p> -<p class="i0">And be maidenhood mine, and mine in the house of my parents to stay! {640}</p> -<p class="i0">Yet—yet—though mine heart be by love made reckless, the desperate deed</p> -<p class="i0">I will try not unbid by my sister—never!—except she plead</p> -<p class="i0">With Medea to help in the toil, in her anguish of fear for the sake</p> -<p class="i0">Of her sons: this might peradventure assuage my sore heart-ache.’</p> - -<p class="i1">She spake, and she rose from her bed, and she opened her chamber door</p> -<p class="i0">Barefooted, in vesture of linen alone; and she yearned full sore</p> -<p class="i0">To go to her sister, and over the threshold stole the maid:</p> -<p class="i0">Yet lingering—lingering—long at the door of the chamber she stayed</p> -<p class="i0">Held by her shame. Then backward in sudden panic she fled,</p> -<p class="i0">And into her bower she darted, and shrank to the shadows in dread. {650}</p> -<p class="i0">And backward and forward her purposeless feet ever paced in vain;</p> -<p class="i0">For whenso she braced her to go, shame fettered her feet with its chain,</p> -<p class="i0">And ever as shame plucked back, bold passion spurred her amain.</p> -<p class="i0">Thrice she essayed, thrice stayed she; but now at the fourth essay</p> -<p class="i0">Down on her bed on her face did she cast her, and writhing she lay.</p> -<p class="i0">And as when some bride in her desolate bower for her lord maketh moan,</p> -<p class="i0">Unto whom her brethren and parents espoused her a little agone;</p> -<p class="i0">And for shame and for thinking on him awhile she cannot face</p> -<p class="i0">The eyes of her handmaids, but silent she sits in a secret place.</p> -<p class="i0">Some doom hath destroyed him, or ever the crown of their desire {660}</p> -<p class="i0">Was attained of these: and there in her chamber, with heart on fire</p> -<p class="i0">Stilly she sitteth and weepeth, beholding her couch left lorn;</p> -<p class="i0">Stilly—for fear of the mock of the women, the laugh of their scorn</p> -<p class="i0">Like her did Medea make moan: but with sob and with broken cry</p> -<p class="i0">While yet she lamented, it chanced one heard as she passed thereby,</p> -<p class="i0">Which had been from a child a handmaid tending her lady’s bower</p> -<p class="i0">So she told it to Chalkiopê: now she sat in the selfsame hour</p> -<p class="i0">With her sons, devising to win her sister to help their need;</p> -<p class="i0">And she hearkened the strange tale told of the handmaid with diligent heed,</p> -<p class="i0">Neither put it lightly aside; but she hastened in startled dismay {670}</p> -<p class="i0">Forth of her bower and on to the bower where the maiden lay</p> -<p class="i0">Anguish-racked, while her frenzied fingers tore each cheek.</p> -<p class="i0">And her eyes all drowned in tears she beheld, and thus did she speak:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Ah me, Medea, ah me!—and why art thou weeping so?</p> -<p class="i0">What hath befallen?—how came to thine heart this terrible woe?</p> -<p class="i0">Is it some disease heaven-sent that hath suddenly smitten thy frame?</p> -<p class="i0">Or what, hast thou heard some deadly threat from our father that came</p> -<p class="i0">Touching me and my sons? Would God I had never so much as seen</p> -<p class="i0">My parents’ home, nor the town, but my dwelling afar had been</p> -<p class="i0">At the ends of the earth, where never was heard the Kolchian name!’ {680}</p> - -<p class="i1">She spake: but Medea’s cheeks flushed crimson; and maiden shame</p> -<p class="i0">From the answer she yearned full sore to render withheld her long.</p> -<p class="i0">And now was the word awake, and fluttered upon her tongue,</p> -<p class="i0">And backward anon to her breast it flew like a startled bird.</p> -<p class="i0">And often she parted her lovely lips to utter the word;</p> -<p class="i0">Yet fainted her voice on the threshold of speech: but at last of her guile</p> -<p class="i0">Thus spake she—and ever the bold Loves thrust her onward the while:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘O Chalkiopê, mine heart for thy sons is disquieted sore,</p> -<p class="i0">Lest my father destroy them forthright with the men from the alien shore;</p> -<p class="i0">So ghastly a dream, while a moment I slumbered, but now did I see— {690}</p> -<p class="i0">And oh may the Gods forefend that the vision accomplished should be,</p> -<p class="i0">Forbid that thy love for thy sons should be made heart-anguish to thee!’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she, proving her sister, longing to hear her pray,</p> -<p class="i0">Unprompted of her, for her help for her sons in the evil day.</p> -<p class="i0">Strong anguish swept o’er the mother’s soul like a surging tide,</p> -<p class="i0">For her terror at that she had heard, and with fervent beseeching she cried:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Yea, and to this same end did I come with eager speed,</p> -<p class="i0">If with me thou wouldst haply devise and prepare some help for our need.</p> -<p class="i0">But swear thou by Earth and by Heaven that thou wilt conceal in thine heart</p> -<p class="i0">Whatsoever I say unto thee, and wilt bear therein thy part. {700}</p> -<p class="i0">By the Blessèd I pray thee, by thine own soul, by thy parents’ name,</p> -<p class="i0">That thou see not my sons in torment destroyed by a doom of shame</p> -<p class="i0">Horribly: else with my dear-loved sons will I die, and come</p> -<p class="i0">A hateful vengeance-spirit to haunt thee from Hades’ home!’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she, and straightway gushed her tears in torrent flow;</p> -<p class="i0">And around her knees did she fling her arms in a passion of woe,</p> -<p class="i0">And adown on her bosom she bowed her head; and there they two</p> -<p class="i0">Over each other made piteous lament, and the dim halls through</p> -<p class="i0">Went wailing low the sound of anguished women’s cry.</p> -<p class="i0">And to her disquieted sorely Medea made reply: {710}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘God help thee!—what healing can I bring thee?—what talk is thine</p> -<p class="i0">Of horrible curses and vengeance-spirits!—would God it were mine,</p> -<p class="i0">Mine by a power firm-stablished, to save thy sons from bane!</p> -<p class="i0">Be witness—the mighty oath of the Kolchians, the oath thou art fain</p> -<p class="i0">I should swear—be witness the broad-arched Heaven, and the Earth below,</p> -<p class="i0">Mother of Gods, that, so far as the bounds of my strength may go,</p> -<p class="i0">I will fail thee not, if thy prayer be a boon that man may bestow.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she, and Chalkiopê made answer to her, and she said:</p> -<p class="i0">‘Now couldst thou not dare for the stranger—himself too asketh thine aid—</p> -<p class="i0">By wile or by wisdom achievement of this emprise to win {720}</p> -<p class="i0">For the sake of my sons? Lo, now is his messenger Argus within,</p> -<p class="i0">Praying that I would essay to win for them help of thy grace.</p> -<p class="i0">In the mid-court left I him when I came to seek thy face.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she, and bounded within her Medea’s heart for delight:</p> -<p class="i0">Her fair skin suddenly crimsoned, and swam before her sight</p> -<p class="i0">A mist, as she flushed and burned; and answer she made thereunto:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Chalkiopê, according to that which is pleasing to you,</p> -<p class="i0">Even so will I do. May I see with mine eyes the dawn not again,</p> -<p class="i0">Nor mayst thou behold me long in the land of living men,</p> -<p class="i0">If I count aught dearer to me than the lives of thee and thine, {730}</p> -<p class="i0">Even thy sons: for verily these be brethren mine,</p> -<p class="i0">My kinsmen belovèd, my childhood-playmates: myself I call</p> -<p class="i0">Thine own, own sister, my sister’s own little daughter withal,</p> -<p class="i0">Since even as them the baby me to thy breast didst thou hold:</p> -<p class="i0">So still have I heard the tale by the lips of my mother told.</p> -<p class="i0">But go thou, in silence bury this my kindness, that so</p> -<p class="i0">I may work out unwares to my parents my promise. At dawn will I go</p> -<p class="i0">Unto Hekatê’s fane, to bear thither the drugs that shall cast a spell</p> -<p class="i0">On the bulls for the stranger for whose sake all this strife befell.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So the mother returned from the chamber, and spake to her sons full fain {740}</p> -<p class="i0">Of her sister’s help. But now did the tide of shame again</p> -<p class="i0">And of terrible fear o’er the soul of Medea in solitude rise,</p> -<p class="i0">That she in her sire’s despite for a man such deeds should devise.</p> - -<p class="i1">Then night drew darkness over the earth; on the lonely sea</p> -<p class="i0">The sailors gazed from their ships on the Bear and the flashing three</p> -<p class="i0">Of Orion; and came upon every wayfarer longing for sleep,</p> -<p class="i0">And on each gate-warder; and mothers, that daylong wont to weep</p> -<p class="i0">For children dead, with the peace of slumber were folded around.</p> -<p class="i0">No barking of dogs through the city there was any more, no sound</p> -<p class="i0">Of voices, but all the blackening gloom was with silence bound. {750}</p> -<p class="i0">But not o’er Medea did sleep sweet dews of forgetfulness shake;</p> -<p class="i0">For many a care in her yearning for Jason held her awake,</p> -<p class="i0">Adread of the mighty strength of the bulls, ’neath the fury of whom</p> -<p class="i0">He must die in the War-god’s acre, must die by a shameful doom.</p> -<p class="i0">And with thick fast throbbings struggled the heart in her breast alway;</p> -<p class="i0">As when on the wall of a dwelling the leaping sunbeams play</p> -<p class="i0">Flung up from the water that into a caldron but now fell plashing,</p> -<p class="i0">Or into a pail, and hither and thither the sunbeam flashing</p> -<p class="i0">In lightning eddy and flicker is dancing in mad unrest,</p> -<p class="i0">So quivered and fluttered the heart within the maiden’s breast. {760}</p> -<p class="i0">And the tears from her eyes were flowing for ruth, and through all her frame</p> -<p class="i0">Like a smouldering fire her anguish burned, and coiled its flame</p> -<p class="i0">Round every fine-strung nerve, and thrilled to her beating brain</p> -<p class="i0">Where sharpest of all the pang strikes in, when the shafts of pain</p> -<p class="i0">Are shot to the heart by the Loves that rest them never from harm.</p> -<p class="i0">And now did she say that the drugs she would give that should bind with a charm</p> -<p class="i0">The bulls, and now would she not, but with him would she cease to live.</p> -<p class="i0">Swift changed her mood: she would not die, she, nor the drugs would she give,</p> -<p class="i0">But in silence endure her fate, the curse that was doomed to betide.</p> -<p class="i0">Then, there as she sat, she wavered this way and that, and she cried: {770}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Oh hapless I, whether this way or that into ruin I fall!</p> -<p class="i0">On every hand is despair for my soul: no help is at all</p> -<p class="i0">From woe, but it burneth, a furnace unquenchèd!—would God it had been</p> -<p class="i0">Mine to be slain ere this by the shafts of the Huntress-queen,</p> -<p class="i0">Or ever I saw him, or came to Achaia-land the sons</p> -<p class="i0">Of Chalkiopê, whom a God, or the awful Avenging Ones</p> -<p class="i0">Hither, for sorrow to us, and for many a tear, have led!</p> -<p class="i0">—Let him perish amidst of the struggle, if this be his weird, to be sped</p> -<p class="i0">On the fallows of doom!—for how shall I ’scape my parents’ ken</p> -<p class="i0">As the drugs I prepare? With what manner of words shall I blind them then? {780}</p> -<p class="i0">What wile, what cunning device for mine hero’s help shall I find?</p> -<p class="i0">If I see him apart from his friends, shall I meet him with greeting kind?</p> -<p class="i0">O ill-starred!—though he should die, yet cannot I hope that so</p> -<p class="i0">Assuaging should come of my pain: nay, this should be but for my woe</p> -<p class="i0">If he of his life were bereft—oh, get thee behind me, shame!</p> -<p class="i0">Beauty, avaunt!—So scatheless by mine endeavour he came</p> -<p class="i0">Out of peril, then might he fare wheresoever seemeth him best.</p> -<p class="i0">But for me—on the selfsame day when triumphant he bideth the test,</p> -<p class="i0">Then let me die, from the rafters straining my neck in the noose,</p> -<p class="i0">Or tasting of poisons that rend the soul from the body loose. {790}</p> -<p class="i0">Ah, but after my dying!—what scoffs and what mocks will they fling</p> -<p class="i0">On my grave!—and far and near how every city will ring</p> -<p class="i0">With the tale of my doom; and from lip to lip shall be tossed the jeer,</p> -<p class="i0">And a mock shall I be in the mouths of the daughters of Kolchis that sneer,</p> -<p class="i0">“Lo, she that so lovingly cared for a man of an alien race</p> -<p class="i0">That she died!—lo, she that on home and on parents heaped disgrace,</p> -<p class="i0">Giving reins to her lust!” What shame should not be loaded on me?</p> -<p class="i0">Ah me, my infatuate folly!—better by far should it be</p> -<p class="i0">In this same night to forsake my life these chambers within</p> -<p class="i0">By a fate of mystery, ’scaping from slander’s fiendish din, {800}</p> -<p class="i0">Or ever that hideous befouling, that nameless defilement, I win!’</p> - -<p class="i1">She spake, and she rose, and a casket she brought, wherein there lay</p> -<p class="i0">Many a drug, some helpful to heal, some mighty to slay.</p> -<p class="i0">On her knees she laid it, and brake into weeping: her bosom-fold</p> -<p class="i0">Was wet with her tears; from the wounds unstanched of her heart they rolled,</p> -<p class="i0">As she bitterly wailed for her fate: and her soul was exceeding fain</p> -<p class="i0">To choose her a murderous drug, and to taste oblivion of pain.</p> -<p class="i0">And the eager fingers now of the hapless maid ’gan part</p> -<p class="i0">The bands of the casket, to take it forth—but, with sudden start,</p> -<p class="i0">With an awful fear of Hades the hateful shuddered her heart. {810}</p> -<p class="i0">Long spellbound sat she in speechless horror: around her thronged</p> -<p class="i0">Visions of all sweet things for the which through life she had longed.</p> -<p class="i0">She thought of the hours delightsome the lot of the living that fill,</p> -<p class="i0">And she thought of her merry playmates, even as a maiden will.</p> -<p class="i0">And sweeter than ever was grown the sun unto her to behold—</p> -<p class="i0">No marvel, seeing she yearned for all so passionate-souled!</p> -<p class="i0">So she put from her knees the casket, and laid it down again</p> -<p class="i0">All changed by the promptings of Hêrê: no more did she waver then</p> -<p class="i0">In her purpose; but now did she long for the dawning with speed to awake,</p> -<p class="i0">For the dayspring to rise, that so to her hero the drugs she might take {820}</p> -<p class="i0">For the spell, as her covenant pledged her, and meet him face to face.</p> -<p class="i0">And many a time she unbarred the doors of her chamber, to gaze</p> -<p class="i0">Forth for the far faint gleam, and welcome flashed upon her</p> -<p class="i0">The Child of the Mist, and throughout the city the folk ’gan stir.</p> - -<p class="i1">Then Argus spake to his brethren, bidding them there to abide</p> -<p class="i0">To learn the mind of the maiden, and how should her purpose betide;</p> -<p class="i0">But himself turned backward again, and unto the galley he hied.</p> - -<p class="i1">Now soon as the maiden beheld the splendour of dawn outrolled</p> -<p class="i0">O’er the heavens, gathered she up with her hands her tresses of gold,</p> -<p class="i0">Which over her shoulders in careless disarray hung loose: {830}</p> -<p class="i0">And she bathed her feverish cheeks, and with perfume shed from the cruse</p> -<p class="i0">All nectar-scented her body shone; and a robe fair-wrought</p> -<p class="i0">She donned, and with brooches cunningly-fashioned its folds upcaught.</p> -<p class="i0">And the cloud of a veil did she cast o’er her head unearthly fair,</p> -<p class="i0">And as silver it shimmered: she trode the floors of the palace there</p> -<p class="i0">Pacing unfaltering to and fro, forgetful of all</p> -<p class="i0">Those heaven-sent woes at the door, and of others that yet should befall.</p> -<p class="i0">And she summoned her bower-maidens; twelve by tale were they:</p> -<p class="i0">Through the night at the entering-in of her odorous chamber they lay,</p> -<p class="i0">Young as herself, nor yet on the bridal couch embraced. {840}</p> -<p class="i0">And these she commanded to harness the mules to the wain in haste</p> -<p class="i0">To bear their lady to Hekatê’s passing-beautiful fane.</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore the bower-maidens hasted and harnessed the mules to the wain.</p> -<p class="i0">And Medea the while took forth from the casket a drug of might,</p> -<p class="i0">The magic root that they say is the Herb of Prometheus hight.</p> -<p class="i0">For if any with midnight sacrifice upon Daira shall call,</p> -<p class="i0">The only-begotten, and smear his body therewithal,</p> -<p class="i0">No stroke of brazen weapon shall wound the flesh of him,</p> -<p class="i0">No, nor from blazing fire shall he flinch; but his strength of limb</p> -<p class="i0">And his prowess throughout that day shall all their might confound. {850}</p> -<p class="i0">First-born it upshot from the clod in the hour when dropped to the ground</p> -<p class="i0">From the ravening eagle’s beak, where the crags of Caucasus frowned,</p> -<p class="i0">The ichor, the blood of a God, of Prometheus in torments bound.</p> -<p class="i0">And the flower of it blossomed a cubit the face of the earth above:</p> -<p class="i0">As the glow of the crocus Corycian, so was the hue thereof,</p> -<p class="i0">Upborne upon pale stalks twain, and below in its earthy bed</p> -<p class="i0">The root thereof as flesh new-severed was crimson-red.</p> -<p class="i0">And the blood thereof, like a mountain-oak’s dark sap, in a shell</p> -<p class="i0">From Caspian strand she gathered, to weave thereof a spell,</p> -<p class="i0">When seven times she had bathed her in waters unresting that glide, {860}</p> -<p class="i0">And seven times upon Brimo the Nursing-mother had cried—</p> -<p class="i0">Night-wandering Brimo, the Underworld Goddess, the Queen of the dead—</p> -<p class="i0">And in dusky vesture clad through the blackness of night did she tread.</p> -<p class="i0">And the dark earth shuddered and quaked deep down with muttering moan,</p> -<p class="i0">As the Titan root was severed; yea, and Iapetus’ son</p> -<p class="i0">In frenzy of heart-wringing agony groaned a fearful groan.</p> -<p class="i0">This, from the casket ta’en, in her odorous girdle she laid,</p> -<p class="i0">The girdle enclasping the waist divinely sweet of the maid.</p> -<p class="i0">Then forth of the portal she paced, and she set her foot on the wain,</p> -<p class="i0">And beside her went upon either hand bower-maidens twain. {870}</p> -<p class="i0">To her left hand gave they the reins, and the fair-fashioned whip hath she ta’en</p> -<p class="i0">In her right; and adown through the city she drave; and the rest of the train</p> -<p class="i0">Of her handmaids laid their hands on the wain, behind it to run</p> -<p class="i0">Adown the highway broad, for their tunics delicate-spun</p> -<p class="i0">Each maiden had kilted up above her ivory knee.</p> -<p class="i0">’Twas as when, where Parthenius’ soft-flowing ripples slide through the lea,</p> -<p class="i0">Or as when, coming up from her bath in Amnisus’ crystalline water,</p> -<p class="i0">High-borne on her golden chariot rideth Latona’s Daughter,</p> -<p class="i0">Driving betwixt the hills the fleetfoot roes of her car,</p> -<p class="i0">To greet the sacrifice-steam of a hecatomb afar; {880}</p> -<p class="i0">And the Nymphs in throngs upon throngs attend her, gathering some</p> -<p class="i0">By the green well-head of Amnisus’ self, and others that come</p> -<p class="i0">By the glens and the fountain-flashing heights; and fawn and whine</p> -<p class="i0">The cowering beasts, as onward cometh the presence divine:</p> -<p class="i0">So through the city they sped, and to this side and that of the street</p> -<p class="i0">The people made way, neither dared they the eyes of the princess to meet.</p> -<p class="i0">But when she had left behind her the city’s fair-paved ways,</p> -<p class="i0">And was now drawn nigh, as she drave through the plain, to the holy place,</p> -<p class="i0">Then from the smooth-running wain she stept to the earth straightway</p> -<p class="i0">In haste; and unto her maidens thus did Medea say: {890}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘O friends, I have verily grievously sinned, for I took no thought</p> -<p class="i0">To have nought to do with the strangers whose wandering feet have sought</p> -<p class="i0">Our land:—lo now, with amazement’s perplexity smitten sore</p> -<p class="i0">Is all the city, that none of the women, which heretofore</p> -<p class="i0">Hitherward have assembled day by day, be now gathered here.</p> -<p class="i0">But seeing that we be come, and that none beside draweth near,</p> -<p class="i0">Come then, with delightsome song without stint or stay let us sing</p> -<p class="i0">To our soul’s satisfying, and pluck we the lovely flowers that spring</p> -<p class="i0">Mid the tender grass; and in this same hour on the homeward way</p> -<p class="i0">Will we wend. Ye also with many a gift shall return this day {900}</p> -<p class="i0">Homeward, if now with mine heart’s desire ye will gladden me.</p> -<p class="i0">For the pleading of Argus prevaileth with me, and of Chalkiopê:—</p> -<p class="i0">But hide in your hearts that ye hear from me; let your lips be dumb,</p> -<p class="i0">Lest to my father’s ears peradventure the story should come:—</p> -<p class="i0">They beseech me to take rich gifts, and to save in his emprise fell</p> -<p class="i0">Yon stranger who took it upon him the might of the bulls to quell.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, and their counsel was good in mine eyes, that I bade him appear</p> -<p class="i0">In my presence this day, alone, with none of his comrades near,</p> -<p class="i0">That we may divide those presents amongst us, if haply he bring</p> -<p class="i0">The gifts in his hand, and may give him a spell-drug, a balefuller thing {910}</p> -<p class="i0">Than the strength of the bulls. But stand ye aloof when he draweth anigh.’</p> -<p class="i0">So spake she, and pleased them all her counsel of subtlety.</p> - -<p class="i1">Now Argus apart from his comrades had sundered Aison’s son,</p> -<p class="i0">So soon as he heard from his brethren how that Medea had gone</p> -<p class="i0">Forth in the misty dawning to fare unto Hekatê’s fane;</p> -<p class="i0">And over the plain did he lead him, and Mopsus companioned the twain,</p> -<p class="i0">Ampykus’ son, most wise to interpret the tokens aright</p> -<p class="i0">Of the coming of birds, and the signs to discern of their parting flight.</p> - -<p class="i1">Never yet had there been such a man in the days of the men of old—</p> -<p class="i0">Nor of them of the lineage of Zeus, nor the champions hero-souled {920}</p> -<p class="i0">Which sprang from the blood of the rest of the Gods that endure for aye—</p> -<p class="i0">Such a man as the bride of Zeus made Jason to be that day</p> -<p class="i0">In glory of bodily presence, in witchery of his tongue.</p> -<p class="i0">And ever his comrades gazing upon him in wonderment hung</p> -<p class="i0">On his radiance of manifold grace: and glad for the way they should wend</p> -<p class="i0">Waxed Ampykus’ son, as foreboding, I trow, how all should end.</p> - -<p class="i1">Now there is by the path through the plain, as ye draw to the temple anigh,</p> -<p class="i0">A poplar that waveth his tresses of countless leaves on high;</p> -<p class="i0">And thereon had the crows ever-babbling pitched as it were their tent,</p> -<p class="i0">Whereof one, clapping her pinions, beneath her as these twain went, {930}</p> -<p class="i0">The counsel of Hêrê chanted, mid high boughs swayed to and fro:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Lo there, what a pitiful seer!—even that which the children know</p> -<p class="i0">His wit can in no wise conceive, how that no word sweet and dear</p> -<p class="i0">Maiden will murmur to man, while strangers be loitering near!</p> -<p class="i0">Avaunt, vile prophet and witless!—on thee not the Cyprian Queen,</p> -<p class="i0">On thee not the gentle Loves of their kindness are breathing, I ween!’</p> - -<p class="i1">So ceased the voice of her chiding, and Mopsus smiled to hear</p> -<p class="i0">The heaven-sent cry of the bird, and spake to the heroes the seer:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Now pass thou on to the Goddess’s temple: therein shalt thou find</p> -<p class="i0">The maiden, O Aison’s son: thou shalt prove her passing kind {940}</p> -<p class="i0">By the promptings of Kypris, who also thine helper shall be in thy toil,</p> -<p class="i0">Even as prophesied Phineus, Agênor’s son, erewhile.</p> -<p class="i0">But we twain, Argus and I, thy coming again will abide</p> -<p class="i0">Aloof, yea, in this same place: but thou, with none beside,</p> -<p class="i0">With wise words plead with the maiden, and win her thy will to do.’</p> -<p class="i0">So in his wisdom he spake, and the others consented thereto.</p> - -<p class="i1">But Medea—her thoughts unto nought else turned, upon nought could be stayed,</p> -<p class="i0">Howsoever she sang—but never a song, howsoe’er she essayed,</p> -<p class="i0">Pleased her, that long its melody winged her feet for the dance;</p> -<p class="i0">But ever she faltered amidst them, her eyes ever wandered askance {950}</p> -<p class="i0">Away from the throng of her maidens unresting; and over the ways,</p> -<p class="i0">Turning aside her cheeks, far off ever strained she her gaze.</p> -<p class="i0">O the heart in her breast oft fainted, whenever in fancy she heard</p> -<p class="i0">Fleet past her the sound of a footfall, the breath of a breeze as it stirred.</p> -<p class="i0">But it was not long ere the hero appeared to her yearning eyes</p> -<p class="i0">Stately striding, as out of the ocean doth Sirius uprise,</p> -<p class="i0">Who climbeth the sky most glorious and clear to discern from afar,</p> -<p class="i0">But unto the flocks for measureless mischief a baleful star:</p> -<p class="i0">Even so came Aison’s son to the maiden glorious to see,—</p> -<p class="i0">But with Jason’s appearing dawned on her troublous misery. {960}</p> -<p class="i0">Then it seemed as her heart dropped out of her bosom; a dark mist came</p> -<p class="i0">Over her eyes, and hot in her cheeks did the blushes flame.</p> -<p class="i0">Nor backward nor forward a step could she stir: all strength was gone</p> -<p class="i0">From her knees; and her feet to the earth seemed rooted; and one after one</p> -<p class="i0">Her handmaidens all drew back, and with him was she left alone.</p> - -<p class="i1">So these twain stood—all stirless and wordless stood face to face:</p> -<p class="i0">As oaks they seemed, or as pines upsoaring in stately grace,</p> -<p class="i0">Which side by side all still mid the mountains rooted stand</p> -<p class="i0">When winds are hushed; but by breath of the breeze when at last they are fanned,</p> -<p class="i0">Stir they with multitudinous murmur and sigh—so they {970}</p> -<p class="i0">By love’s breath stirred were to pour out all in their hearts that lay.</p> - -<p class="i1">Then Aison’s son beheld how the maiden’s soul was adread</p> -<p class="i0">With wilderment heaven-sent, and kindly-courteous he said:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Wherefore, O maiden, dost fear me so sorely, alone as I am?</p> -<p class="i0">Never was I as the loud-tongued blusterers, void of shame,</p> -<p class="i0">No, not when aforetime I dwelt in my fatherland oversea:</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore be thou not, maiden, over-abashed before me,</p> -<p class="i0">That thou shouldst not inquire whatsoever thou wilt, or utter thy mind.</p> -<p class="i0">But, seeing we twain be met with friendly hearts and kind</p> -<p class="i0">In a place where sin is of heaven accurst, in a hallowed spot, {980}</p> -<p class="i0">Speak thou, and question withal as thou wilt: but beguile me not</p> -<p class="i0">With pleasant words, forasmuch as thou gavest thy promise erewhile</p> -<p class="i0">To thy sister, to give me the charm that I long for, the herbs of guile.</p> -<p class="i0">I beseech thee in Hekatê’s name—for the sake of thy parents I pray,</p> -<p class="i0">And of Zeus, that o’er stranger and suppliant stretcheth his hand alway!</p> -<p class="i0">Lo, a suppliant am I, a stranger withal, which am come to thee here,</p> -<p class="i0">In sore straits bending the knee; for in this my task of fear</p> -<p class="i0">Shall I nowise prevail, except I be holpen of thine and thee.</p> -<p class="i0">And to thee will I render requital of thanks in the days to be—</p> -<p class="i0">As is meet and right for them in a far-away land which dwell— {990}</p> -<p class="i0">Making glorious thy name and thy fame, and mine hero-companions shall tell</p> -<p class="i0">The story of thy renown, when to Hellas again they have won;</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, and the heroes’ wives and mothers, who now make moan</p> -<p class="i0">For us, I ween, on the strand as they sit by the sighing brine:</p> -<p class="i0">And to scatter in air their bitter affliction is thine—is thine!</p> -<p class="i0">Not I were the first—was Theseus not saved from the ordeal grim</p> -<p class="i0">By Minos’ child for her kindness’ sake which she bare unto him,</p> -<p class="i0">Ariadne, born of the Sun-god’s daughter Pasiphaê?</p> -<p class="i0">But she, when slumbered the wrath of Minos, over the sea</p> -<p class="i0">Sailed with the hero, forsaking her land. The Immortals divine {1000}</p> -<p class="i0">Loved well that maid: in the midst of the firmament set is her sign,</p> -<p class="i0">A crown of stars, which they name Ariadne’s diadem,</p> -<p class="i0">All night circling amidst of the signs that the heavens begem.</p> -<p class="i0">Thou also shalt have of the Gods like thanks, if thou shalt redeem</p> -<p class="i0">From destruction so goodly a host of heroes—ah, needs must it seem</p> -<p class="i0">That through form so lovely as thine should the beauty of kindness beam!’</p> - -<p class="i1">Extolling her so spake he; and her eyelids drooped, while played</p> -<p class="i0">A nectar-smile on her lips; and melted the heart of the maid</p> -<p class="i0">By his praising uplifted: her eyes are a moment upraised to his eyes,</p> -<p class="i0">And all speech faileth: no word at the first to her lips may rise; {1010}</p> -<p class="i0">But in one breath yearned she to speak forth all her joy and her pain.</p> -<p class="i0">And with hand ungrudging forth from her odorous zone hath she ta’en</p> -<p class="i0">The charm, and he straightway received it into his hands full fain.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, now would she even have drawn forth all her soul from her breast,</p> -<p class="i0">And had laid it with joy in his hands for her gift, had he made request,</p> -<p class="i0">So wondrously now from the golden head of Aison’s son</p> -<p class="i0">Did Love out-lighten the witchery-flame; and her sweet eyes shone</p> -<p class="i0">With the gleam that he stole therefrom, and her heart glowed through and through</p> -<p class="i0">Melting for rapture away, from the lips of the rose as the dew</p> -<p class="i0">At the sun’s kiss melteth away, when the dayspring is kindled anew. {1020}</p> -<p class="i0">And these twain now on the earth were fixing their eyes abashed,</p> -<p class="i0">And anon yet again their glances each on the other they flashed,</p> -<p class="i0">As with radiant eyelids they smiled a heart-beguiling smile:</p> -<p class="i0">And bespake him the maiden at last, yet scarce after all this while:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Give thou heed now, that my counsel may haply be for thine aid.</p> -<p class="i0">What time at thy coming my father within thine hands shall have laid</p> -<p class="i0">The crop of the serpent’s jaws for thy sowing, the teeth of bane,</p> -<p class="i0">Then shalt thou watch for the hour when the night is sundered in twain.</p> -<p class="i0">Then thou, when first in the river’s tireless flow thou hast bathed,</p> -<p class="i0">Alone, with none other beside thee, in night-hued vesture swathed, {1030}</p> -<p class="i0">Shalt dig thee a rounded pit, and over the dark earth-bowl</p> -<p class="i0">Shalt thou slaughter a ewe, and shalt burn the unsevered carcase whole</p> -<p class="i0">On a pyre, the which on the very brink of the pit thou hast piled,</p> -<p class="i0">And propitiate only-begotten Hekatê, Perseus’ child,</p> -<p class="i0">Out of a chalice pouring the hive-stored toil of the bee.</p> -<p class="i0">So when thou hast sought the grace of the Goddess heedfully,</p> -<p class="i0">Then turn thee to pass from the pyre, and beware lest any sound</p> -<p class="i0">Or of footfalls behind thee startle thee, so that thou turn thee round,</p> -<p class="i0">Or of baying of hounds, lest all that is wrought be undone thereby,</p> -<p class="i0">And thyself to thine hero-companions never again draw nigh. {1040}</p> -<p class="i0">And in water at dawn shalt thou steep this herb, and thy limbs shalt thou bare,</p> -<p class="i0">And even as with oil shalt anoint thee therewith; and prowess there</p> -<p class="i0">Shalt thou find, and strength exceeding great: thou wouldst nowise say</p> -<p class="i0">That with men thou couldst match thee in might, but with Gods that abide for aye.</p> -<p class="i0">Therewithal be thy lance and thy buckler besprent with the magic dew,</p> -<p class="i0">And thy sword: then shall not the spear-heads prevail to pierce thee through</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Earth-born men, nor the fiery breath of the bulls of bane</p> -<p class="i0">Unendurably darting. Yet no long time shalt thou thus remain,</p> -<p class="i0">But only for that same day: notwithstanding flinch not thou</p> -<p class="i0">From the toil; and another thing yet for thine help will I tell to thee now: {1050}</p> -<p class="i0">So soon as the mighty bulls thou hast yoked, and by manifold toil</p> -<p class="i0">And by strength of thine hands hast sped the share through the stubborn soil,</p> -<p class="i0">And adown the furrows the bristling harvest of giants shall stand,</p> -<p class="i0">Where fell on the dusky clods the serpent’s teeth from thine hand,</p> -<p class="i0">Even as thou mark’st them in throngs through the fallows upbursting to day,</p> -<p class="i0">Cast thou in their midst unawares a massy stone: and they,</p> -<p class="i0">As ravening hounds o’er a gobbet of flesh that wrangle, shall slay</p> -<p class="i0">Each one his fellow: thou also in battle-fury shalt fall</p> -<p class="i0">On the rout. So the Golden Fleece unto Hellas, if this be all,</p> -<p class="i0">From Aia afar shalt thou bear:—O yea, turn thou and depart {1060}</p> -<p class="i0">Whithersoever it pleaseth thee: seek the desire of thine heart!’</p> - -<p class="i1">She spake, and her eyes to the earth at her feet in silence she cast;</p> -<p class="i0">And her cheeks divinely fair were wet as her tears fell fast,</p> -<p class="i0">As she sorrowed because that far and afar from her side o’er the main</p> -<p class="i0">He must wander away. And she looked in his eyes, and she spake yet again</p> -<p class="i0">With mournful word, and his right hand now hath she ta’en in her own;</p> -<p class="i0">For the shamefastness now from her eyes on the wings of love had flown:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘But O remember, if ever thou com’st to thine home afar,</p> -<p class="i0">Medea’s name: and in like wise I, when sundered we are,</p> -<p class="i0">Will forget thee not. But tell, of thy good will, where is thine home, {1070}</p> -<p class="i0">Whitherward bound thou wilt fare in thy galley over the foam.</p> -<p class="i0">Is it unto Orchomenus’ wealthy burg that thy feet shall go?</p> -<p class="i0">Or anigh to Aiaia’s isle? Of the maiden fain would I know,</p> -<p class="i0">Some maiden far-renowned, whom thou namedst the daughter, I wis,</p> -<p class="i0">Of Pasiphaê: kinswoman unto my sire that lady is.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So did she speak; and over him stole, as the maiden wept,</p> -<p class="i0">Love the victorious; and answering speech to his lips hath leapt:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Yea, verily, never by night, I ween, and by day nevermore</p> -<p class="i0">Shalt thou be forgotten of me, if unto Achaia’s shore</p> -<p class="i0">Unscathed I shall ’scape indeed, and Aiêtes before me set, {1080}</p> -<p class="i0">For mine hands to achieve, none other toil more desperate yet.</p> -<p class="i0">But if this hath pleased thee, to learn what land I call mine own,</p> -<p class="i0">I will tell thee—yea, and mine own heart biddeth me make it known</p> -<p class="i0">A country there is—steep mountain-ramparts around it run—</p> -<p class="i0">A land of streams and of pastures, wherein Iapetus’ son,</p> -<p class="i0">Even Prometheus, begat the valiant Deukalion,</p> -<p class="i0">Who of all men was first that builded a city, or reared a fane</p> -<p class="i0">To the Deathless, and first was he of the kings over men that reign.</p> -<p class="i0">That land do the folk that around it dwell Haimonia call.</p> -<p class="i0">Therein is my city Iolkos found: therein withal {1090}</p> -<p class="i0">Stand many beside, where not so much have they heard as the name</p> -<p class="i0">Of Aiaia’s isle: but rumour hath told how Minyas came</p> -<p class="i0">Thereout, even Minyas Aiolus’ son, and builded the town</p> -<p class="i0">Of Orchomenus; over the marches Kadmeian her towers look down.</p> -<p class="i0">Yet why should I speak things vain as the wild winds’ empty sound</p> -<p class="i0">Of our home, of the daughter of Minos, the princess far-renowned</p> -<p class="i0">Ariadne—the glorious name whereby that heart’s desire</p> -<p class="i0">Was called among men, the maiden of whom thou dost inquire?</p> -<p class="i0">Would God that, even as Minos his heart unto Theseus inclined</p> -<p class="i0">For her sake, so would thy father with me be in friendship joined!’ {1100}</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he, with tender words and caressing the maiden to woo.</p> -<p class="i0">But anguish exceeding bitter was thrilling the heart of her through:</p> -<p class="i0">And in sorrow of spirit with vehement words she made reply:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘O haply in Hellas ’tis good to be heedful of friendship’s tie:</p> -<p class="i0">But Aiêtes is not such a man among men as thou saidst but now</p> -<p class="i0">Was Minos, Pasiphaê’s lord; and with Ariadne, I trow,</p> -<p class="i0">May I nowise compare me: wherefore of guest-love speak not thou.</p> -<p class="i0">Only remember thou me, when safe thou hast sped thy flight</p> -<p class="i0">To Iolkos; and I will remember—yea, in my parents’ despite</p> -<p class="i0">Will remember thee: and from far may a rumour come unto me, {1110}</p> -<p class="i0">Or a messenger-bird with the tidings, when I am forgotten of thee!</p> -<p class="i0">Or me, even me, may the swift-winged blasts from the earth’s breast tear,</p> -<p class="i0">And away hence over the sea to the land of Iolkos bear,</p> -<p class="i0">That so I might cast reproaches on thee, yea, unto thy face,</p> -<p class="i0">And remind thee that all by mine help thou escapedst—but oh that my place</p> -<p class="i0">That day were of right in thine halls, the place of a queen at the board!’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she, and down her cheeks the piteous tears aye poured.</p> -<p class="i0">But he caught up her words even there, and with comforting speech did he say:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘O stricken one, leave thou the empty blasts at their will to stray,</p> -<p class="i0">And the messenger-bird to roam, for thy words are but vanity! {1120}</p> -<p class="i0">But if ever thou come unto those abodes, if Hellas thou see,</p> -<p class="i0">Honour and worship of men and of women then shall be thine;</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, they shall reverence thee as a very presence divine,</p> -<p class="i0">Because that again to their homes did the sons of the Hellenes win</p> -<p class="i0">By thy devising, yea, and the brethren of these, and their kin;</p> -<p class="i0">And many a stalwart husband of thee hath received his life.</p> -<p class="i0">Then shalt thou enter the bridal bower with me—my wife;</p> -<p class="i0">And nothing shall come between our love, and nothing shall sunder,</p> -<p class="i0">Till death’s shroud fold us around, and our hearts are chilled thereunder.’</p> - -<p class="i1">He spake, and to hear him her soul was melted within her then: {1130}</p> -<p class="i0">Yet she shuddered to see the deeds whose end was beyond her ken.</p> -<p class="i0">Ah hapless!—not long was she doomed to refuse a home in the land</p> -<p class="i0">Of Hellas, for hereunto was she guided of Hêrê’s hand,</p> -<p class="i0">To the end that for Pelias’ bane Aiaian Medea might come</p> -<p class="i0">Unto Iolkos the hallowed, forsaking her fatherland-home.</p> - -<p class="i1">But by this from afar were the handmaids glancing towards these twain</p> -<p class="i0">Full oft in disquiet; for need was now, as the day ’gan wane,</p> -<p class="i0">That the maiden unto her mother should turn her homeward again.</p> -<p class="i0">But she thought not yet of departing, such joy did her spirit take</p> -<p class="i0">Alike in his goodlihead, and the winsome words that he spake. {1140}</p> -<p class="i0">But Aison’s son took heed, and late and at last did he say:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Lo now, it is time to depart, lest the sun’s light fade away</p> -<p class="i0">Before we be ware, and lest some stranger should haply espy</p> -<p class="i0">All this. Yet again will we meet, coming hitherward, thou and I.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So in sweetest communion did these try each the other’s heart</p> -<p class="i0">Thus far; and thereafter they sundered. And now did Jason depart</p> -<p class="i0">Unto his friends and the ship, while his heart for joy beat high;</p> -<p class="i0">And she to her handmaids, and all in a troop did these draw nigh</p> -<p class="i0">To meet her: she marked them not, as unto her side they drew;</p> -<p class="i0">For her soul to the clouds had soared far up ’twixt earth and the blue. {1150}</p> -<p class="i0">And with feet that moved in a dream she mounted the fleet-running wain:</p> -<p class="i0">In her left hand grasped she the reins, in her right the whip hath she ta’en</p> -<p class="i0">Curious-fashioned, to drive the mules; and fast did they flee,</p> -<p class="i0">As on to the city they sped and the palace; and Chalkiopê</p> -<p class="i0">’Gan ask her of all that befell, for her sons’ sake anguish-stirred;</p> -<p class="i0">But rapt in a trance of thoughts back-drifting she heard not a word,</p> -<p class="i0">And to all that eager questioning never a word she said:</p> -<p class="i0">But adown on a lowly stool did she sit at the foot of the bed,</p> -<p class="i0">On her left hand propping her cheek as she wearily drooped aside;</p> -<p class="i0">And with tears were her eyes brimming over, as surged the dark chill tide {1160}</p> -<p class="i0">Of remembrance of emprise dread that the covenant bound her to bide.</p> - -<p class="i1">Now when Aison’s son had wended aback to the place where stayed</p> -<p class="i0">His comrades, what time he had left them in faring to meet the maid.</p> -<p class="i0">Then, telling them all the story the while, with these did he hie</p> -<p class="i0">To the throng of the heroes; and now to the galley drew they anigh.</p> -<p class="i0">And they saw him, and lovingly greeted, and asked him of all that befell:</p> -<p class="i0">And he in the midst of them all did the maiden’s counsels tell;</p> -<p class="i0">And he showed them the dread spell-drug. One only of all sat apart,</p> -<p class="i0">Idas, nursing his wrath: but the others with joyful heart</p> -<p class="i0">Turned them, when darkness fell, their hands from their labour to stay, {1170}</p> -<p class="i0">And in great peace laid them down to their rest: but with dawning day</p> -<p class="i0">To Aiêtes, to ask for the seed of the serpent, sent they away</p> -<p class="i0">Two men; and foremost Telamon Arês-beloved they sent,</p> -<p class="i0">And Aithalides, glorious scion of Hermes, beside him went.</p> -<p class="i0">So went they, and not for nought, for to these at their coming were given</p> -<p class="i0">Of Aiêtes the king the teeth for the grim strife hard to be striven,</p> -<p class="i0">The teeth of the dragon Aonian, that, seeking the wide world through</p> -<p class="i0">For Europa, Kadmus found in Ogygian Thêbê, and slew,</p> -<p class="i0">The monster that lurked, a warder, beside the Aretian spring.</p> -<p class="i0">There also he dwelt, by the heifer led, which Apollo the king {1180}</p> -<p class="i0">By the word of prophecy gave for his guide, that he should not stray.</p> -<p class="i0">These teeth did Tritonis the Goddess tear from its jawbone away,</p> -<p class="i0">And the gift on Aiêtes and him that had slain the beast she bestowed.</p> -<p class="i0">On the plain Aonian Kadmus the teeth of the serpent sowed;</p> -<p class="i0">And an earth-born nation was founded there of Agênor’s son,</p> -<p class="i0">The remnant left when the harvest of Arês’ spear was done.</p> -<p class="i0">So the teeth to bear to the galley Aiêtes gave full fain,</p> -<p class="i0">For he weened that to win to the goal of his task he should strive in vain,</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, though to the yoking of those dread bulls he should haply attain.</p> - -<p class="i1">And the sun down under the dark earth far away in the west, {1190}</p> -<p class="i0">Beyond the uttermost hills of the Aethiops, sank to his rest;</p> -<p class="i0">And the Night was laying her yoke on the necks of her steeds. Then spread</p> -<p class="i0">On the shore by the hawsers of Argo the heroes each his bed.</p> -<p class="i0">But Jason, so soon as the flashing stars of the circling Bear</p> -<p class="i0">Had set, and under the firmament hushed was all the air,</p> -<p class="i0">Unto the wilderness even as a thief all stealthily hied</p> -<p class="i0">With whatso was needful; for all had he taken thought to provide</p> -<p class="i0">In the day: and fared with him Argus, and milk from the flock he bore,</p> -<p class="i0">And a ewe therewithal; for these had he ta’en from the galley’s store.</p> -<p class="i0">But when he beheld the place, which was far aloof from the tread {1200}</p> -<p class="i0">Of men, where under the unscreened sky the clear meads spread,</p> -<p class="i0">There first of all in the flow of the sacred river he bathed</p> -<p class="i0">His limbs full reverently, and all his body he swathed</p> -<p class="i0">In a dark-hued cloak, which Hypsipylê, daughter of Lemnos’ race,</p> -<p class="i0">Gave him aforetime, memorial of many a loving embrace.</p> -<p class="i0">Thereafter he digged him a pit in the plain of a cubit wide,</p> -<p class="i0">And the billets he heaped, and the lamb’s throat cut by the dark pit’s side.</p> -<p class="i0">And the carcase he stretched on the pile, and he thrust thereunder the fire</p> -<p class="i0">And kindled the brands, and mingled libations he poured on the pyre,</p> -<p class="i0">Calling on Hekatê Brimo to draw for his helper nigh. {1210}</p> - -<p class="i1">And when he had called on her, backward he fared, and she hearkened his cry.</p> -<p class="i0">Out of nethermost caverns of darkness the Awful Queen drew near</p> -<p class="i0">To the Aisonid’s sacrifice, and about her did shapes of fear,</p> -<p class="i0">Even serpents, in horrible wreaths and knots, mid the oak-boughs hang:</p> -<p class="i0">And flashed a fitful splendour of torches unnumbered; and rang</p> -<p class="i0">Around her wild and high the baying of hounds of hell.</p> -<p class="i0">And all the meadow-land trembled under her tread; and the yell</p> -<p class="i0">Pealed of the marish-haunting Nymphs of the river, that dance</p> -<p class="i0">In the pastures wherethrough Amaryntian Phasis’ ripples glance.</p> -<p class="i0">And terror gat hold upon Aison’s son; but, for all his dread, {1220}</p> -<p class="i0">Yet he turned him not round as his feet thence bore him, until he had sped</p> -<p class="i0">Back to his friends: and by this over Caucasus’ snow-flecked height,</p> -<p class="i0">As she rose, was the Dawn mist-cradled shooting her shafts of light.</p> - -<p class="i1">And now did Aiêtes array in the corslet of stubborn mould</p> -<p class="i0">His breast, the corslet that Arês gave, in the day when rolled</p> -<p class="i0">Mimas of Phlegra beneath his hands in the dust of doom.</p> -<p class="i0">And he set on his head the golden helmet of fourfold plume</p> -<p class="i0">Flaming like to the world-encompassing sun’s red gleam,</p> -<p class="i0">When first in the dawning he leapeth up from the Ocean-stream.</p> -<p class="i0">He uplifted his manifold-plated shield, and he grasped in his hand {1230}</p> -<p class="i0">His terrible spear and resistless: was none that before it might stand</p> -<p class="i0">Of the rest of the heroes, since Herakles now they had left afar:</p> -<p class="i0">He only against it had matched his might in the shock of war.</p> -<p class="i0">And his fair-fashioned chariot of fleet-footed steeds was stayed for the king</p> -<p class="i0">By Phaethon hard by; then to the chariot-floor did he spring;</p> -<p class="i0">And he drew through his fingers the reins, and forth of the city-gate</p> -<p class="i0">Drove he along the broad highway, by the lists of fate</p> -<p class="i0">To stand; and a countless multitude hastened forth at his side.</p> -<p class="i0">And as when to the Isthmian athlete-strife Poseidon doth ride</p> -<p class="i0">High-borne on his car, or Tainarus-wards, or to Lerna’s mere, {1240}</p> -<p class="i0">Or Hyantian Onchestus, the temple-grove that the nations revere;</p> -<p class="i0">And as when to Kalaurea oft-times his chariot-wheels have rolled,</p> -<p class="i0">And Haimonia’s rock, and Geraistus’ town that the forests enfold,</p> -<p class="i0">Even so was Aiêtes, lord of the Kolchian folk, to behold.</p> - -<p class="i1">But Jason the while, obeying the rede from Medea that came,</p> -<p class="i0">In water hath steeped that drug; and he sprinkled his shield with the same,</p> -<p class="i0">And his sturdy spear and his sword; and his comrades with might and main</p> -<p class="i0">Made proof of his harness, thronging around: yet essayed they in vain</p> -<p class="i0">To bend that spear, though it were but a little; but evermore</p> -<p class="i0">Unyielding and stark it abode in their strong hands, even as before. {1250}</p> -<p class="i0">But Idas, Aphareus’ son—for with wrath was the heart of him black—</p> -<p class="i0">With his great sword hewed at the shaft by the butt; but the blade leapt back</p> -<p class="i0">As hammer from anvil, jarred by the shock; and a mighty shout</p> -<p class="i0">From the heroes rejoicing in hope of the trial’s end rang out.</p> -<p class="i0">Thereafter his own limbs Jason sprinkled; and lo, he was filled</p> -<p class="i0">With terrible prowess, unspeakable, aweless; the hands of him thrilled</p> -<p class="i0">Tingling with strength, as waxed their sinews with gathering might.</p> -<p class="i0">And even as when a battle-steed afire for the fight</p> -<p class="i0">Leapeth and neigheth and paweth the ground, and glorying rears</p> -<p class="i0">His neck like a stormy-crested billow, and pricketh his ears, {1260}</p> -<p class="i0">Even so in the pride of his prowess triumphant was Aison’s son,</p> -<p class="i0">And hither and thither on high he bounded now and anon,</p> -<p class="i0">In his hands uptossing his brazen shield and his spear’s tough ash.</p> -<p class="i0">Thou hadst said that adown through the murky welkin the leaping flash</p> -<p class="i0">Of the tempest-levin was gleaming and flickering once and again</p> -<p class="i0">From the clouds that are bringing hard after their burden of blackest rain.</p> -<p class="i0">Nor long time now would they tarry from faring forth to essay</p> -<p class="i0">The emprise, but row after row upon Argo’s thwarts sat they,</p> -<p class="i0">And onward exceeding swiftly to Arês’ plain they sped.</p> -<p class="i0">Overagainst the city so far before them it spread {1270}</p> -<p class="i0">As the space from the start to the turning-post that the car must win</p> -<p class="i0">What time, when a king unto Hades hath passed, his princely kin</p> -<p class="i0">For hero and horse ordain the strife of the funeral game.</p> -<p class="i0">There found they Aiêtes, and other the tribes of the Kolchian name,</p> -<p class="i0">The folk on the cliffs Caucasian in lines far-stretching arrayed,</p> -<p class="i0">While the king by the winding brink of the river their coming stayed.</p> - -<p class="i1">And Aison’s son, when his comrades had made the hawsers fast,</p> -<p class="i0">Then with his spear and his shield to the mighty trial passed,</p> -<p class="i0">Bounding from Argo forth; and there was he bearing with him</p> -<p class="i0">His gleaming helm with the dragon’s sharp teeth filled to the brim, {1280}</p> -<p class="i0">With his brand on his shoulders slung, bare-limbed, and in some wise seeming</p> -<p class="i0">As Arês, in some wise Apollo the lord of the sword gold-gleaming.</p> -<p class="i0">O’er the fallow he glanced, and the brazen yoke of the bulls he espied.</p> -<p class="i0">And the plough, hewn solid of massy adamant, therebeside.</p> -<p class="i0">So he strode thereunto, and beside it his strong spear planted upright</p> -<p class="i0">On the butt-spike thereof, and leaning against it the morion he pight.</p> -<p class="i0">Then tracing the countless tracks of the bulls right on did he fare</p> -<p class="i0">With nought but his shield: but suddenly forth from an unseen lair,</p> -<p class="i0">From a den in the bowels of the earth, wherein was their grimly stall,</p> -<p class="i0">Whereover the lurid-gleaming smoke ever hung as a pall, {1290}</p> -<p class="i0">Forth rushed they together as one, outbreathing the splendour of flame;</p> -<p class="i0">And the heroes quaked when they saw. But Jason, as onward they came,</p> -<p class="i0">Set wide his feet; and even as a rock in the sea doth abide</p> -<p class="i0">The charging surges whereon the scourging storm-blasts ride,</p> -<p class="i0">Before him he held to withstand them his shield; and the terrible twain</p> -<p class="i0">Their strong horns bellowing dashed against it with might and main:</p> -<p class="i0">Nevertheless by their onset they stirred him never a jot.</p> -<p class="i0">And even as when the armourers’ bellows of stout hide wrought</p> -<p class="i0">In the piercèd melting-pot anon with murmur and sigh</p> -<p class="i0">Kindle the ravening flame, and anon doth the breath of them die; {1300}</p> -<p class="i0">And an awful roar goeth up therefrom as the flames leap higher</p> -<p class="i0">From beneath, even so these twain outbreathing the rushing fire</p> -<p class="i0">Roared from their mouths, and about him as lightning leapt and played</p> -<p class="i0">The devouring blaze: yet warded him ever the spells of the maid.</p> -<p class="i0">Then grasped he the tip of the horn of the right-hand monster, and so</p> -<p class="i0">Mightily haled with his uttermost strength, till he bowed it low</p> -<p class="i0">To the brazen yoke, and, striking its hoof of brass with his foot,</p> -<p class="i0">Suddenly cast it adown on its knees, and its fellow brute,</p> -<p class="i0">Even as it charged him, with one thrust down on its knees did he throw.</p> -<p class="i0">Then his broad shield cast he away on the ground, and, to and fro {1310}</p> -<p class="i0">To this side and that side striding, he kept them fall’n in their place</p> -<p class="i0">On their fore-knees, swiftly moving athwart the fervent blaze,</p> -<p class="i0">While marvelled the king at the hero’s might. Then drew nigh two,</p> -<p class="i0">Even Tyndareus’ sons—for that thus long since had he bidden them do;—</p> -<p class="i0">And they lifted and gave him the yoke on the necks of the bulls to be bound:</p> -<p class="i0">And deftly thereon did he bind it, and ’twixt them upraised from the ground</p> -<p class="i0">The brazen pole, and he made it fast by its pointed tip</p> -<p class="i0">Unto the yoke: and they twain back from the fire to the ship</p> -<p class="i0">Withdrew. Then he caught up again, and cast on his shoulders his shield</p> -<p class="i0">Behind him; the helmet strong with the serpent’s sharp teeth filled {1320}</p> -<p class="i0">He grasped, and his spear resistless, wherewith, as a ploughman wight</p> -<p class="i0">Pricketh his oxen with goad Pelasgian, so did he smite</p> -<p class="i0">The flanks of the monsters, and starkly and steadily still did he hold</p> -<p class="i0">Unswerving the plough-heft cunningly fashioned of adamant mould.</p> -<p class="i0">But the bulls were raging the while with fury exceeding sore</p> -<p class="i0">Outbreathing the ravening splendour of fire: as that mad roar</p> -<p class="i0">Of the buffeting winds was the blast of their breath, when the seafarers quail</p> -<p class="i0">At their yelling above all else, and furl the straining sail.</p> -<p class="i0">Yet it was not long ere the beasts, as the stern spear bade them to toil,</p> -<p class="i0">Moved on, and behind them was broken the fallow’s rugged soil {1330}</p> -<p class="i0">Cloven apart by the might of the bulls and the ploughman strong.</p> -<p class="i0">And terribly crashed and groaned, the ploughshare’s furrows along,</p> -<p class="i0">The clods uprent, of a man’s load each, and with sturdy stride</p> -<p class="i0">Trampling the path the hero followed, and aye flung wide</p> -<p class="i0">The teeth of the serpent over the clods upheaved by the share,</p> -<p class="i0">Ever heedfully turning his head, lest haply, or e’er he was ware,</p> -<p class="i0">The harvest fell of the Earth-born against him should rise: and with strain</p> -<p class="i0">Of brazen hoofs on laboured the while that fearsome twain.</p> -<p class="i0">And it was so, that when the third part now was left of the day,</p> -<p class="i0">From the dawn as it waned, when the toil-forwearied labourers pray {1340}</p> -<p class="i0">‘O come to us, sweet unyoking-tide! O tarry thou not!’</p> -<p class="i0">Even then by the stalwart ploughman the fallowfield’s earing was wrought,</p> -<p class="i0">For all it was ploughgates four; and the bulls from the yoke loosed he,</p> -<p class="i0">And with shouting and smiting he scared them over the plain to flee.</p> -<p class="i0">Then back toward Argo he hied him again, while yet all clear</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Earth-born brood the furrows he saw; and with cheer on cheer</p> -<p class="i0">His comrades hailed him and heartened. He plunged the brazen gleam</p> -<p class="i0">Of his helm mid the river’s waters, and slaked his thirst from the stream.</p> -<p class="i0">Then bent he his knees till supple they grew; and he filled with might</p> -<p class="i0">His great heart, battle-aflame as a boar, when he whetteth for fight {1350}</p> -<p class="i0">Against the hunters his tushes, and drippeth the plenteous froth</p> -<p class="i0">Down from his jaws to the ground, as he churneth their foam in his wrath.</p> -<p class="i0">Now by this was the harvest of Earth-born men over all that field</p> -<p class="i0">Upspringing; and all round bristled with thronging shield on shield</p> -<p class="i0">And with battle-spears twy-pointed, and morions glorious-gleaming</p> -<p class="i0">The garth of the death-dealing War-god: the splendour thereof upstreaming</p> -<p class="i0">Through the welkin lightened, and up to the heaven of heavens did it go.</p> -<p class="i0">And as when on the face of the earth hath fallen abundant snow,</p> -<p class="i0">And the wind-blasts chase the wintry clouds in scattered rout</p> -<p class="i0">Under the mirk of the night, and all the hosts shine out {1360}</p> -<p class="i0">Of the stars through the darkness glittering; so those Earth-born men</p> -<p class="i0">Flashed, o’er the face of the ground upgrowing: but Jason then</p> -<p class="i0">Remembered the rede that Medea the cunning-hearted spake;</p> -<p class="i0">And a huge round boulder up from the earth in his grasp did he take—</p> -<p class="i0">A terrible quoit for Arês the War-god: there should not be found</p> -<p class="i0">Four stalwart men of strength to upraise it a span from the ground.</p> -<p class="i0">This caught he up in his hand, and afar with a leap did he throw</p> -<p class="i0">Into their midst, and behind his buckler himself crouched low</p> -<p class="i0">Awelessly. Loudly the Kolchians shouted—it rang as the roar</p> -<p class="i0">Of the shouting sea when his surges over the sharp reefs pour. {1370}</p> -<p class="i0">But speechless amazement seized on Aiêtes at that vast sweep</p> -<p class="i0">Of the massy crag: and the Earth-born as fleetfoot hounds ’gan leap</p> -<p class="i0">Each on his fellow, and yelling they slew: the embattled lines</p> -<p class="i0">On their mother the earth, by their own spears slain, were falling, as pines</p> -<p class="i0">Or as oaks which the down-rushing blasts of the tempest have scourged and riven.</p> -<p class="i0">And even as leapeth a fiery star from the depths of the heaven,</p> -<p class="i0">Trailing behind him a splendour, a marvel to men which mark</p> -<p class="i0">How he darteth in shattering glories athwart the firmament’s dark,</p> -<p class="i0">Even so seemed Aison’s son on the Earth-born rushing: he bare</p> -<p class="i0">His sword from the scabbard outflashed; and here he smote them and there, {1380}</p> -<p class="i0">Mowing them down: full many on belly or flank did he smite</p> -<p class="i0">Which had won to the air waist-high, and some which had risen to light</p> -<p class="i0">But shoulder-high, and some as they stood but now upright,</p> -<p class="i0">And other some, even as their feet ’gan strain in the onset of fight.</p> -<p class="i0">And like as, when round the marches the war upstarteth from sleep,</p> -<p class="i0">A husbandman, fearing lest foemen the toil of his hands may reap,</p> -<p class="i0">Graspeth a curvèd sickle newly-whetted in hand,</p> -<p class="i0">And moweth in haste the crop yet green, neither letteth it stand</p> -<p class="i0">Until it be parched in the season due by the shafts of the sun;</p> -<p class="i0">Even so of the Earth-born the harvest he reaped; and with blood did they run, {1390}</p> -<p class="i0">Those furrows, as hurrying runnels that brim from a fountain’s plashing.</p> -<p class="i0">Fast fell they, some on their faces, bowing their knees, and gnashing</p> -<p class="i0">Their teeth on the rough clods—this one stayed on his palm, and he</p> -<p class="i0">On his side: as they wallowed they seemed as the monster-brood of the sea.</p> -<p class="i0">And many, or ever their feet from beneath the earth had come,</p> -<p class="i0">Pierced through, from the height whereunto they had risen, even therefrom</p> -<p class="i0">Down-drooping, were resting their death-dewed brows on the earth again.</p> -<p class="i0">Even so, I ween, when Zeus down-poureth the measureless rain,</p> -<p class="i0">Droop orchard-shoots new-planted, till low on the earth they lie,</p> -<p class="i0">Snapped hard by the roots, that the gardener’s toil is doubled thereby, {1400}</p> -<p class="i0">And there come on the heart of the lord of the vineyard, which planted the same,</p> -<p class="i0">Confusion of face and deadly anguish in such wise came</p> -<p class="i0">On Aiêtes the king vexation of spirit and heaviness.</p> -<p class="i0">And back to the city he wended amidst of the Kolchian press,</p> -<p class="i0">Dark-plotting to bring the heroes’ purpose with speed to nought.</p> - -<p class="i1">And the daylight died, and Jason’s mighty achievement was wrought.</p> - - -<h3 id="book4">THE FOURTH BOOK</h3> - -<p class="i0"><span class="sc">Now</span> take thou up the story, O Goddess of Song, and sing</p> -<p class="i0">The afflictions and thoughts of the Kolchian maid; for as touching this thing</p> -<p class="i0">In a tempest of wilderment whirled is my soul, that I know not to say</p> -<p class="i0">Whether for bitter infatuate passion she fled away</p> -<p class="i0">From the land of the Kolchian folk, or driven of panic dismay.</p> - -<p class="i1">Now the king in the midst of his Kolchian princes and men of might</p> -<p class="i0">Against the heroes devising treachery sat through the night</p> -<p class="i0">In his halls, and hot in his soul did the vehement anger rise</p> -<p class="i0">For the trial whose issue he loathed, and he weened not in any wise</p> -<p class="i0">That unhelped of his daughters had Jason prevailed that task to fulfil. {10}</p> - -<p class="i1">But Medea’s spirit did Hêrê with woefullest anguish thrill:</p> -<p class="i0">And she quaked like a fawn light-footed, the which the hounds’ deep bay</p> -<p class="i0">Hath scared, the while in the tangled depths of a copse she lay.</p> -<p class="i0">For straightway she surely foreboded that nothing concealed should remain</p> -<p class="i0">Of her help, and for this should she fill up a cup of uttermost bane.</p> -<p class="i0">And her maids which were privy thereto she dreaded, and filled were her eyes</p> -<p class="i0">With fire, and the ears of her rang with a sound as of awful cries.</p> -<p class="i0">And ofttimes she clutched at her throat, and moaned in her wretched despair,</p> -<p class="i0">As once and again she rent the tresses of her hair.</p> -<p class="i0">And there had the maiden beyond her weird her own death wrought {20}</p> -<p class="i0">By tasting of poison; and Hêrê’s purpose had come to nought,</p> -<p class="i0">But for this, that the Goddess stirred her to flee in her panic dread</p> -<p class="i0">With Phrixus’ sons. So her fluttering spirit was comforted</p> -<p class="i0">In her breast; and into her bosom in eager haste did she pour</p> -<p class="i0">All mingled her spell-drugs and poisons, her casket’s deadly store.</p> -<p class="i0">And she kissed her bed, and her hands on the walls with loving caress</p> -<p class="i0">Lingered: she kissed the posts of the doors; and one long tress</p> -<p class="i0">She severed, and left it her bower within, for her mother to be</p> -<p class="i0">A memorial of maidenhood’s days, and with passionate voice moaned she:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘This tress in mine own stead leave I, or ever I go, unto thee, {30}</p> -<p class="i0">My mother; and, far though I wend, yet take farewell from me!</p> -<p class="i0">Farewell thou, Chalkiopê, and mine home!—Would God that the wave,</p> -<p class="i0">Ere thou cam’st to the Kolchian land, O stranger, had yawned for thy grave!’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she, and down from her eyelids in floods the teardrops ran.</p> -<p class="i0">Then, even as stealeth forth from the house of a wealthy man</p> -<p class="i0">A bondmaid, whom fate but newly hath torn from her fatherland-soil,</p> -<p class="i0">Who never till now hath tasted the lot of bitter toil,</p> -<p class="i0">But unschooled to misery, shrinking in horror from slavery</p> -<p class="i0">Under the cruel hands of a mistress, forth doth she flee;</p> -<p class="i0">Even so from her home forth hasted the lovely maid that day. {40}</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, and the bolts of the doors self-moving to her gave way</p> -<p class="i0">Leaping aback at the swift-breathed spell of her magic song.</p> -<p class="i0">And with feet unsandalled she ran the narrow lanes along,</p> -<p class="i0">While her left hand gathered a fold of her mantle, to screen from sight</p> -<p class="i0">Her brows and her face and her lovely cheeks, the while with her right</p> -<p class="i0">The hem of the skirt of her tunic she held upraised from the ground.</p> -<p class="i0">And swiftly without the towers that girded the wide burg round</p> -<p class="i0">By the darkling path in her terror she came; and no man knew</p> -<p class="i0">Of the warders thereof, but past them all unseen she flew.</p> -<p class="i0">Thence marked she well to the temple the way, nor unweeting she was {50}</p> -<p class="i0">Of the path, for that oft thereby in her questing she wont to pass</p> -<p class="i0">Seeking for corpses and deadly roots, as the wont is still</p> -<p class="i0">Of the sorceress. Ever with quivering dread did the heart of her thrill.</p> -<p class="i0">And Titania beheld her, as upward she floated from heaven’s far bourne,</p> -<p class="i0">As she wandered distraught; and the white Moon-goddess in triumph-scorn</p> -<p class="i0">Over Medea exulted, and thus to her heart ’gan say:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Ha, not I only adown to the Latmian cavern stray,</p> -<p class="i0">Nor I alone for Endymion the comely with love am afire!</p> -<p class="i0">Ha, many a time when mine heart was yearning with hot desire,</p> -<p class="i0">Did thy strong spells drive me from heaven, that thou in the rayless night {60}</p> -<p class="i0">Unhindered might’st work thy sorceries, deeds that are aye thy delight.</p> -<p class="i0">Now thou too hast part in the same infatuate passion, I trow,</p> -<p class="i0">And a god of affliction hath made this Jason a torment and woe</p> -<p class="i0">Unto thee! Pass on, and harden thine heart, be thou never so wise,</p> -<p class="i0">To take up thy burden of anguish, thy doom full-fraught with sighs.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she; but swiftly the maid’s feet bare her, as onward she strained;</p> -<p class="i0">And glad was she when the height of the bank of the river she gained.</p> -<p class="i0">And overagainst her beheld the splendour of fire: nightlong</p> -<p class="i0">For joy of the trial triumphant they fed it, the hero-throng.</p> -<p class="i0">And she lifted her voice clear-pealing: across the darkness she cried: {70}</p> -<p class="i0">To the youngest of Phrixus’ children she called from the farther side,</p> -<p class="i0">Unto Phrontis: and he with his brother discerned Medea’s call;</p> -<p class="i0">And the son of Aison knew it; and hushed were the heroes all</p> -<p class="i0">In amazement, so soon as they knew of a certainty whose was the cry.</p> -<p class="i0">Thrice called she aloud, and thrice, as his company bade reply,</p> -<p class="i0">Phrontis in answer shouted, the while with swift-plied oar</p> -<p class="i0">The heroes were rowing their ship unto where she stood on the shore.</p> -<p class="i0">Not yet to the land were they casting the hawsers forth of the ship,</p> -<p class="i0">When lo! to the shore with feet light-bounding did Jason leap</p> -<p class="i0">From the height of the deck-planks; and after him Phrontis to land hath sprung, {80}</p> -<p class="i0">And Argus, the children of Phrixus. About their knees she clung,</p> -<p class="i0">Clasping them round with clinging hands, and Medea cried:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Deliver me, O my friends, the hapless!—yea, and beside</p> -<p class="i0">Save from Aiêtes yourselves: for all hath been brought to light,</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, all: and there cometh no help therefor. But speed we our flight</p> -<p class="i0">In your ship, ere the king shall have mounted his swift-horsed car for the chase.</p> -<p class="i0">And the Fleece of Gold will I give you: with slumber-spells will I daze</p> -<p class="i0">Its serpent warder. But thou in thy comrades’ presence take</p> -<p class="i0">The Gods to witness the vows which thy lips, O stranger, spake</p> -<p class="i0">Unto me: neither make me, when hence I have fled and afar from my land, {90}</p> -<p class="i0">An outcast dishonoured, as one by whose side no kinsman doth stand.’</p> - -<p class="i1">In anguish she spake: but with gladness exceeding the heart ’gan stir</p> -<p class="i0">Of Aison’s son. At his knees as she bowed, he uplifted her</p> -<p class="i0">Gently, and straightway embraced her, and spake to her words of cheer:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Lady, let Zeus himself the Olympian my troth-plight hear;</p> -<p class="i0">Let Hêrê of Wedlock, the Bride of Zeus, in witness be near,</p> -<p class="i0">That I surely will make thee mine own true wife mine halls within</p> -<p class="i0">Whensoever returning again unto Hellas-land I shall win.’</p> - -<p class="i1">He spake, and her hand with his right hand caught in the clasp of love.</p> -<p class="i0">Then did the maiden bid them to speed to the sacred grove {100}</p> -<p class="i0">The swift ship straightway, that so, ere Aiêtes was ware, they might seize</p> -<p class="i0">And bear away in the darkness of night the Golden Fleece.</p> -<p class="i0">Even with the word was the deed performed by the eager men;</p> -<p class="i0">For they took her aboard, and forth from the land their galley then</p> -<p class="i0">Thrust they: with plashing loud the pinewood oars ’gan strain</p> -<p class="i0">In the hands of the chieftains. But backward darting the maiden again</p> -<p class="i0">Outstretched her despairing hands to the shore: but Jason spake</p> -<p class="i0">Comforting words, and restrained her whose heart went nigh to break.</p> - -<p class="i1">In the hour when men from their eyes the fetters of slumber cast,</p> -<p class="i0">Even huntsmen, which put their trust in their hounds, nor ever waste {110}</p> -<p class="i0">In slumber the end of the night, but the light of the sun they prevent,</p> -<p class="i0">Lest, ere they be forth, he efface the track of the beasts, and the scent</p> -<p class="i0">Of the quarry, with stainless-gleaming shafts down-smiting thereon;</p> -<p class="i0">Even then with the maid from the galley forth stepped Aison’s son</p> -<p class="i0">On a grassy sward. The Couch of the Ram men call that spot,</p> -<p class="i0">For that there he rested first his knees with toil overwrought,</p> -<p class="i0">As he bare on his back the Minyan scion of Athamas.</p> -<p class="i0">And anigh it all smoke-besmirched the base of an altar there was,</p> -<p class="i0">Which the Aiolid Phrixus to Zeus the Preserver of Exiles did build,</p> -<p class="i0">And the Golden Marvel offered thereon, as, gracious-willed, {120}</p> -<p class="i0">Hermes bade, in the way as he met him. The hero-crew</p> -<p class="i0">There set them aland, as Argus gave them counsel to do.</p> -<p class="i0">So these twain fared by the pathway that led to the sacred grove,</p> -<p class="i0">Seeking the oak-tree marvellous-huge, mid the branches whereof</p> -<p class="i0">Was hanging the Fleece, like a morning-cloud that flusheth red</p> -<p class="i0">In the beams of the sun as he riseth up from his ocean-bed.</p> -<p class="i0">But barring their path did the neck exceeding long uprise</p> -<p class="i0">Of the serpent glaring upon them with keen unsleeping eyes</p> -<p class="i0">As they came; and in awful wise did he hiss; and the banks of the flood</p> -<p class="i0">Far-stretching echoed, and sighed the measureless depths of the wood. {130}</p> -<p class="i0">The people that dwell from Titanian Aia far away</p> -<p class="i0">In the Kolchian land by the outfall of Lykus heard, even they—</p> -<p class="i0">Of Lykus, which parteth his flow from Araxes’ rattle and roar,</p> -<p class="i0">And blendeth with Phasis his sacred stream, and these twain pour</p> -<p class="i0">Their mingled waters in one to the dark Caucasian sea.</p> -<p class="i0">Young mothers in terror awoke, and their hands in agony</p> -<p class="i0">Cast they around their babes new-born, in their arms which slept,</p> -<p class="i0">As the tiny limbs with the horror of that hiss thrilled and leapt.</p> -<p class="i0">And even as when, above a smouldering faggot-pile,</p> -<p class="i0">The eddies of smoke roll upward in murky coil on coil, {140}</p> -<p class="i0">One after another swiftly ever on high they spring</p> -<p class="i0">From beneath in wavering wreaths uprushing and hovering;</p> -<p class="i0">Even so that monster was writhing and heaving the endless trail</p> -<p class="i0">Of his coils overlapped with the myriad-ranged harsh-crackling scale.</p> -<p class="i0">But, even as he writhed him, came before his eyes the maid,</p> -<p class="i0">With sweet voice summoning Sleep, most mighty of Gods, to her aid,</p> -<p class="i0">On the monster to cast his spell: and to her that through night’s deep mirk</p> -<p class="i0">Paceth, the Underworld Queen, she cried to speed her work.</p> -<p class="i0">And followed her Aison’s son in fear: but, lulled by the song,</p> -<p class="i0">The serpent by this was relaxing the thorn-ridge endless-long {150}</p> -<p class="i0">Of his Titan-spires, and was lengthening out his coils untold,</p> -<p class="i0">Even as a dark wave over a sluggish sea slow-rolled,</p> -<p class="i0">A dumb and a thunderless surge: yet still, in despite of the spell,</p> -<p class="i0">His grisly head he uplifted on high, with purpose fell</p> -<p class="i0">To encompass the twain with the grip of his murderous jaws: but she,</p> -<p class="i0">Dipping the newly-slivered spray of a juniper-tree</p> -<p class="i0">In her mystic brewis, singing—singing—rained down fast</p> -<p class="i0">Untempered spells on his eyne, and about him and o’er him was cast</p> -<p class="i0">Sleep by the drug’s strong fume; and his dragon-jaws he laid</p> -<p class="i0">On the earth in the selfsame place, and his endless coils through the shade {160}</p> -<p class="i0">Of the myriad stems of the forest stretching afar were unrolled.</p> -<p class="i0">Then from the oak-tree the hero snatched the Fleece of Gold</p> -<p class="i0">At the maiden’s bidding. Unswerving all the while she stayed</p> -<p class="i0">And smeared on the head of the monster her unguent, till Jason bade,</p> -<p class="i0">Till himself said, ‘Turn we again, and fare to the galley aback.’</p> -<p class="i0">Then left she the War-god’s grove, where the vast shades brooded black.</p> -<p class="i0">And even as a maiden may catch on her vesture of delicate thread</p> -<p class="i0">The light of the mid-month’s moon, when she saileth the heavens overhead</p> -<p class="i0">Her high-roofed bridal bower, and her heart in her breast is aglow</p> -<p class="i0">With joy that her eyes behold that lovely splendour; so {170}</p> -<p class="i0">Exulting did Jason the mighty Fleece in his hands upraise.</p> -<p class="i0">And suddenly over his forehead and over his sunburnt face</p> -<p class="i0">From its shimmering flocks there rested a flush that flamelike shined.</p> -<p class="i0">And great as the hide of a yearling steer, or the fell of a hind</p> -<p class="i0">That is callèd a brocket in speech of the hunters of the wold,</p> -<p class="i0">So great was its length and its breadth all overtufted with gold,</p> -<p class="i0">Heavy with flocks thick-clustered; and ever as onward he passed</p> -<p class="i0">From under his feet the earth an answering sheen upcast.</p> -<p class="i0">Now veiling the man’s left shoulder the gleaming burden shone</p> -<p class="i0">Down-trailed from the height of his neck to his heel as he trod, and anon {180}</p> -<p class="i0">Did he gather it up in his clutch, for that sorely he feared the while</p> -<p class="i0">Lest a God or a man might meet him and wrest from his hands the spoil.</p> - -<p class="i1">Dawn over the earth was spread, and now those twain returned</p> -<p class="i0">To their company. Marvelled the youths to behold how the great Fleece burned</p> -<p class="i0">A splendour as lightning of Zeus. Upsprang they, for eager-keen</p> -<p class="i0">Was each man to touch the glory, and clasp it his hands between.</p> -<p class="i0">But the son of Aison withheld them: a mantle thereover he threw</p> -<p class="i0">New-woven, to hide it. To Argo’s stern the maiden he drew,</p> -<p class="i0">And he seated her there; and he spake to the heroes all his rede:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘No longer forbear now, friends, to your fatherland homeward to speed: {190}</p> -<p class="i0">For the emprise now for the which we dared the peril and pain</p> -<p class="i0">Of a desperate voyage, toiling with bitter travail and strain,</p> -<p class="i0">All this by the maiden’s counsels lightly hath been fulfilled.</p> -<p class="i0">To the home-land her will I bring—yea, so herself hath willed—</p> -<p class="i0">My bride true-wedded: but ye, forasmuch as the saviour she is</p> -<p class="i0">Of all Achaia-land, and of your own souls, I wis,</p> -<p class="i0">Save her; for surely, I ween, will Aiêtes with all his array</p> -<p class="i0">Go forth, with intent from the river seaward to bar our way.</p> -<p class="i0">Now down through the ship, man ranged after man in order arow,</p> -<p class="i0">Shall the half of you sit at the oars to toil, that the half of you so {200}</p> -<p class="i0">May uplift the ox-hide shields for a fence from the darts of the foe,</p> -<p class="i0">Guarding our home-return. Lo, now in our hands do we bear</p> -<p class="i0">Our children, our fatherland dearly-beloved, and the silver hair</p> -<p class="i0">Of our sires; and with this our venture the fate of Hellas is bound,</p> -<p class="i0">Or to reap confusion of face, or a glory far-renowned.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he, and donned his harness of fight; and shouted the crew</p> -<p class="i0">With wondrous-eager souls; and forth of the scabbard he drew</p> -<p class="i0">His sword, and the ship’s stern-hawsers he severed in twain with the brand.</p> -<p class="i0">And hard by the maiden, in armour clad, hath he taken his stand</p> -<p class="i0">By Ankaius the helmsman, and flashed the oars as the good ship raced, {210}</p> -<p class="i0">As to speed her forth of the river they strained in desperate haste.</p> - -<p class="i1">But by this to Aiêtes the king and to all the Kolchians known</p> -<p class="i0">Was Medea’s love, and revealed were all the deeds she had done.</p> -<p class="i0">And they swarmed to the gathering-place in their harness of battle, untold</p> -<p class="i0">As the crested waves of the sea by the stormy wind uprolled,</p> -<p class="i0">Or as leaves of the forest myriad-branched that earthward sail</p> -<p class="i0">In the month of the fall of the leaf—whereof who telleth the tale?</p> -<p class="i0">So numberless these went pouring the banks of the river along</p> -<p class="i0">With frenzy of shouting: on fair-fashioned chariot amidst of the throng</p> -<p class="i0">Glorious Aiêtes showed above all with his steeds, the gift {220}</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Sun-god; for even as the blasts of the wind were they passing-swift.</p> -<p class="i0">In his left hand his shapely-rounded buckler on high did he rear,</p> -<p class="i0">And a pine-brand exceeding huge in his right: and his giant spear</p> -<p class="i0">Beside him rose up straight and high; and the reins of the car</p> -<p class="i0">Absyrtus grasped in his hands. But Argo by this was afar</p> -<p class="i0">Cleaving the brine, to the stalwart oarsmen’s stroke as she leapt</p> -<p class="i0">By the down-rushing flood of the mighty river seaward swept.</p> -<p class="i0">But the king in a madness of anguish uplifted his hands to the sky:</p> -<p class="i0">To the Sun and to Zeus, the beholders of evil deeds, did he cry;</p> -<p class="i0">And he turned him to all his host, and he shouted terribly: {230}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Except ye lay hands on the maiden, and seize, or on land it may be,</p> -<p class="i0">Or finding their ship yet tossed on the swell of the open sea,</p> -<p class="i0">And bring her, that so I may glut my fury, wherewith I burn</p> -<p class="i0">For revenge, on your own heads all these things shall light: ye shall learn</p> -<p class="i0">The measure of all my wrath and all my revenging then.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake Aiêtes: on that same day did the Kolchian men</p> -<p class="i0">Launch forth their galleys, and cast in the ships their tackling-array,</p> -<p class="i0">And the selfsame day sailed forth on the sea: thou wouldst not say</p> -<p class="i0">That so mighty a host was this of ships, but in crowd on crowd</p> -<p class="i0">The nations of bird-folk over the sea were clamouring loud. {240}</p> - -<p class="i1">Swiftly the wind blew, even as Hêrê the Goddess planned,</p> -<p class="i0">To the end that Aiaian Medea might reach the Pelasgian land</p> -<p class="i0">Right soon, that in her might the bane of Pelias’ house be found.</p> -<p class="i0">So the men with the third day’s dawn the hawsers of Argo bound</p> -<p class="i0">To the Paphlagons’ strand, where the sea and the waters of Halys meet:</p> -<p class="i0">For Medea bade them to land, and with sacrifice to entreat</p> -<p class="i0">Hekatê’s grace. What things for that incantation of hell</p> -<p class="i0">The maiden prepared and offered, thereof let no man tell.</p> -<p class="i0">Let my spirit enkindle me not to darken therewith my lay!</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, awe refraineth my lips. Yet the altar on that far day {250}</p> -<p class="i0">To the Goddess upreared by the heroes hard by the breaking sea</p> -<p class="i0">Yet standeth, a sign to be seen of the children of days to be.</p> - -<p class="i1">Straightway to Aison’s son, and the heroes withal, came back</p> -<p class="i0">Remembrance of Phineus, and how that he spake of another track</p> -<p class="i0">To be found from Aia: howbeit to all was his meaning dim,</p> -<p class="i0">Till Argus arose and spake, and eager they hearkened to him:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘We may win to Orchomenus, whither the prophecy bade us fare</p> -<p class="i0">Of the seer unerring, whose guests in the days overpast ye were.</p> -<p class="i0">For another voyaging-course there is, a sea-path shown</p> -<p class="i0">By the priests of the Deathless, the sons of Thêbê, Tritonis’ town. {260}</p> -<p class="i0">Not yet was the star-host, that whirl round heaven their chariots of fire:</p> -<p class="i0">Not yet of the sacred Danaan race, though a man should inquire,</p> -<p class="i0">Aught might he hear. Apidanian Arcadians alone on the earth</p> -<p class="i0">Dwelt—the Arcadians which lived, or ever the moon had birth,</p> -<p class="i0">Mid the mountains acorn-sustained, it is told. No sceptred hand</p> -<p class="i0">Of Deukalion’s glorious line ruled then the Pelasgian land,</p> -<p class="i0">In the days when men called Egypt, the fruitful land of corn,</p> -<p class="i0">The Morning-land, the mother of peoples elder-born.</p> -<p class="i0">And of Trito her fair-flowing river was named, of whom all the plain</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Morning-land is watered; for never descendeth the rain {270}</p> -<p class="i0">From Zeus thereupon: from his floods the stintless harvests spring.</p> -<p class="i0">From that land, say they, a certain king went journeying</p> -<p class="i0">All Europe and Asia through, by the strength and the prowess made bold</p> -<p class="i0">And the aweless might of his people, and cities he builded untold</p> -<p class="i0">Whithersoever he came, whereof some remain to this day,</p> -<p class="i0">Some not, for that long generations since then have passed away.</p> -<p class="i0">But Aia abideth unshaken: a nation the sons’ sons yet</p> -<p class="i0">Abide of the men whose dwelling in Aia the hero set.</p> -<p class="i0">And graven memorials these men keep of their fathers’ days</p> -<p class="i0">Upon pillars, whereon is every bourne and all the ways {280}</p> -<p class="i0">Of the watery waste and the land, as ye journey on all sides round.</p> -<p class="i0">Now a river, the uttermost horn of the Ocean, therein is found,</p> -<p class="i0">Wide and exceeding deep, that a dromond may sail the same.</p> -<p class="i0">Far on their chart have they traced it, and Ister they named its name.</p> -<p class="i0">And awhile through the boundless tilthland it cleaveth its way afar</p> -<p class="i0">As but one; for beyond the North-wind’s blasts its fountains are,</p> -<p class="i0">Where midst the Rhipaian mountains it bursteth forth in thunder:</p> -<p class="i0">But so soon as it parteth the Thracian and Scythian marches asunder,</p> -<p class="i0">There is it cleft in twain, and the half of its flood it sendeth</p> -<p class="i0">Hereby to the sea Ionian, the residue southward trendeth {290}</p> -<p class="i0">Where a deep gulf up from the sea Trinacrian northward bendeth—</p> -<p class="i0">That sea which lieth beside your land, if the tale be true</p> -<p class="i0">That forth of your land Acheloüs the river fleeteth thereto.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he; and sent by the Goddess a happy portent came;</p> -<p class="i0">And all they looking thereunto hailed it with joyful acclaim</p> -<p class="i0">For a sign that their voyaging-track was this: for a splendour in heaven</p> -<p class="i0">Shone in a far-stretching furrow to point where their path was given.</p> -<p class="i0">And there glad-hearted they left the son of Lykus, and fled</p> -<p class="i0">With wide-spread canvas over the sea, looking back as they sped</p> -<p class="i0">On the Paphlagonian Hills, neither rounded Karambis-head, {300}</p> -<p class="i0">Forasmuch as the breezes held, and the heavenly fire’s long gleam</p> -<p class="i0">Shone ever before, till they won unto Ister’s mighty stream.</p> - -<p class="i1">Now the rest of the Kolchian host, when nothing their search availed,</p> -<p class="i0">Forth through the Crags Dark-blue from the Pontus-sea had sailed.</p> -<p class="i0">But others went to the river, whose chieftain Absyrtus was;</p> -<p class="i0">And unto the Fair Mouth turning aside from the sea did he pass,</p> -<p class="i0">And prevented them, mooring beyond the neck of land that ran</p> -<p class="i0">Athwart the innermost gulf of the sea Ionian.</p> -<p class="i0">For around the island Peukê the waters of Ister pour,</p> -<p class="i0">An isle three-cornered, whose breadth looketh out on the breakers hoar, {310}</p> -<p class="i0">And the narrow point up-stream, and about it the flood’s outfall</p> -<p class="i0">Is cleft in twain; and the one the passage of Narex they call;</p> -<p class="i0">And that on the nether side the Fair Mouth: even thereby</p> -<p class="i0">The Kolchian array with Absyrtus anchored hastily;</p> -<p class="i0">While the heroes sailed far up to the uttermost spur of the isle.</p> -<p class="i0">Now the field-abiding shepherds forsook in the meadows the while</p> -<p class="i0">Flocks without number, for dread of the ships; for they weened that these</p> -<p class="i0">Were beasts that had risen out of the monster-teeming seas.</p> -<p class="i0">For never on galleys that ride the waves had they gazed ere then,</p> -<p class="i0">Nor they, nor the Thracian Scythians, nor yet the Sigynian men, {320}</p> -<p class="i0">Nor yet the Graukenian folk, nor the Sindian tribes that abide</p> -<p class="i0">Round Laurium now, on the steppes of the wilderness boundless-wide.</p> -<p class="i0">But when they had run by Angurus, the Kauliac cliffs withal—</p> -<p class="i0">Afar from Angurus the mountain riseth their long rock-wall—</p> -<p class="i0">Around which Ister divideth, and this way and that way run</p> -<p class="i0">His rushing waters, and out to the Laurian plain they won,</p> -<p class="i0">Then forth to the Kronian Sea the Kolchians came, and beset</p> -<p class="i0">All the outgoings thereof, that the quarry might ’scape not their net.</p> -<p class="i0">So Argo, descending behind them the flood, passed forth hard by</p> -<p class="i0">Where islands twain, the Brygêïan Isles of Artemis, lie. {330}</p> -<p class="i0">Now it fell that in one of these a hallowed temple stood;</p> -<p class="i0">In the other the heroes, avoiding Absyrtus’ multitude</p> -<p class="i0">Landed, seeing the foe had left those twin isles void</p> -<p class="i0">Of their host, for awe of the Daughter of Zeus; but all beside,</p> -<p class="i0">Thronged with the Kolchian men, barred every seaward way.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, too, of their host upon other isles hard by left they</p> -<p class="i0">Which betwixt the Nestian land and Salanko the river lay.</p> - -<p class="i1">There, being few against many, that day had the Minyan men</p> -<p class="i0">Yielded in that grim fight to their foes: howbeit ere then</p> -<p class="i0">Made they a covenant, fain that the strife should abide unstriven. {340}</p> -<p class="i0">For the Golden Fleece,—forasmuch as Aiêtes’ pledge had been given</p> -<p class="i0">To the heroes therefor, if the ordeal they dared, and accomplished the toil—</p> -<p class="i0">That prize should they keep, as lawfully won; yea, whether their guile</p> -<p class="i0">Or their strength in the king’s despite had prevailed that splendour to win.</p> -<p class="i0">But as touching Medea—for stubborn the wrangling waxed herein—</p> -<p class="i0">Unto Lêto’s Daughter, aloof from the throng, should they give her in ward,</p> -<p class="i0">Till her cause should be judged of a king, some justice-dispensing lord,</p> -<p class="i0">Whether he doom that they yield her up to return to the home</p> -<p class="i0">Of her father, or doom her to Hellas-land with the heroes to come.</p> - -<p class="i1">Now so soon as the maiden mused upon all things purposed of these, {350}</p> -<p class="i0">With keen-thrilling anguish her heart was tempest-tossed without cease:</p> -<p class="i0">And straightway she called forth Jason aloof from his comrades alone,</p> -<p class="i0">And she led him away and away, till far apart were they gone:</p> -<p class="i0">There uttered she speech all broken with sobs, as she looked in his eyes:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘O Aison’s son, what purpose is this that now ye devise</p> -<p class="i0">Touching me? Hath thy triumph brought utter forgetfulness unto thee?</p> -<p class="i0">Dost thou nothing regard thy promises, all that thou spakest to me</p> -<p class="i0">In stress of thy need? Where now are the oaths of the Suppliants’ King</p> -<p class="i0">Zeus?—and thine honied promises, whither have these taken wing?</p> -<p class="i0">By reason of these, in unseemly wise, with passion unshamed {360}</p> -<p class="i0">I forsook my fatherland home, and the glory of halls far-famed,</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, and my parents—all that was most unto me; and I sail</p> -<p class="i0">Far over the sea alone, where the plaintive sea-mews wail,</p> -<p class="i0">Because of thy trouble, that I might redeem from destruction thy life</p> -<p class="i0">To accomplish the fire-bulls’ quelling, the Earth-born giants’ strife.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, and the very Fleece, for the which ye had sailed to our shore,</p> -<p class="i0">All by my folly ye won. Foul shame thereby did I pour</p> -<p class="i0">On womankind! Wherefore, I say, as thy daughter, thy wife, I stand,</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, and thy sister, who follow thee back unto Hellas-land.</p> -<p class="i0">Oh now with purpose of heart stand by me, neither forsake me {370}</p> -<p class="i0">Afar and forlorn of thee, to the gathering of kings to betake thee!</p> -<p class="i0">But in any wise save me; and sealed abide thy solemn vow,</p> -<p class="i0">Which is plighted, by justice of man and of God; or else do thou</p> -<p class="i0">Shear, of thy pity, this my throat with thy falchion through,</p> -<p class="i0">That so for my frenzied love I may reap the guerdon due.</p> -<p class="i0">O heartless!—if that he doom that my brother’s prey I remain,</p> -<p class="i0">This king unto whose stern judgment ye now would commit, ye twain,</p> -<p class="i0">Your cruel covenant, how shall I come to my father’s sight?</p> -<p class="i0">With glory in sooth!—what revenges, what devilish torment will light</p> -<p class="i0">Upon me!—what agony-cup shall I drain for the dreadful deed {380}</p> -<p class="i0">That I wrought! Oh, never think that in bliss your return shall speed!</p> -<p class="i0">Ne’er may the World’s Queen, bride of Zeus, accomplish for thee—</p> -<p class="i0">She in whom thou delightest—this! Then may’st thou remember me</p> -<p class="i0">When anguish-racked: may the Fleece like a dream fleet away from thine hand</p> -<p class="i0">Down the wind to the netherworld-gloom! Be thou chased from thy fatherland</p> -<p class="i0">By the Spirits of Vengeance for me, even after the measure of all</p> -<p class="i0">That through thy betrayal I suffered! That earthward my curses should fall</p> -<p class="i0">Unaccomplished, shall God forbid; for a great oath thou hast transgressed,</p> -<p class="i0">O ruthless! Not long, for all this covenant-plight, at rest</p> -<p class="i0">From your troubles, on me shall ye wink with the eye, to make me your jest.’ {390}</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she, seething with vehement rage: fierce-eager was she</p> -<p class="i0">To fire the ship, and to hew it in pieces utterly,</p> -<p class="i0">And to hurl herself mid the ravening flame. But, half-adread,</p> -<p class="i0">Did Jason essay to soothe her with gentle words; and he said:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Ah, lady, forbear: me too this covenant liketh not.</p> -<p class="i0">Only a little delay from the strife herein have we sought:</p> -<p class="i0">Such a host of foes like a cloud of fire is on every side</p> -<p class="i0">For thy sake. Yea, and the folk which in this same land abide</p> -<p class="i0">Be eager to help Absyrtus, that back again to the hall</p> -<p class="i0">Of thy sire he may hale thee like to a captive battle-thrall. {400}</p> -<p class="i0">Howbeit should we in hateful destruction all be slain</p> -<p class="i0">If we closed in the fight with these; and therein were bitterer pain,</p> -<p class="i0">If we leave thee a prey no less unto these, and withal we die.</p> -<p class="i0">But now shall this covenant find us a path of guile, whereby</p> -<p class="i0">To destroy him. The folk of the land shall not be fain as before</p> -<p class="i0">To favour the Kolchians in thee, when their king shall be with them no more,</p> -<p class="i0">He who forsooth as thy champion and brother doth claim thee to-day.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea also, I will not refrain me from matching my might in the fray</p> -<p class="i0">With the Kolchian men, if then they bar mine homeward way.’</p> - -<p class="i1">For her comfort he spake; but with deadly words did she make reply: {410}</p> -<p class="i0">‘Give heed now:—it needs must be, when peril and shame are nigh,</p> -<p class="i0">That we likewise counsel thereafter. Distraught I was at the first</p> -<p class="i0">In mine error, and god-misguided accomplished desires accurst.</p> -<p class="i0">Do thou be my shield from the Kolchian spears in the toil of the strife,</p> -<p class="i0">And I will beguile this man to lay in thine hands his life.</p> -<p class="i0">He shall come: and with dazzling gifts of welcoming win thou his heart,</p> -<p class="i0">If I haply persuade the heralds to hold themselves apart,</p> -<p class="i0">And draw him alone unto me to hearken the thing I would say.</p> -<p class="i0">Then thou, if this deed be good in thy sight—I say not nay—</p> -<p class="i0">Slay him, and meet thereafter the Kolchian men in the fray.’ {420}</p> - -<p class="i1">Even so these twain consented, and twined the net of guile</p> -<p class="i0">For Absyrtus; and many a gift of welcome prepared they the while.</p> -<p class="i0">And with these a sacred mantle, a woven crimson flame,</p> -<p class="i0">Gave they, Hypsipylê’s gift. The Graces had fashioned the same</p> -<p class="i0">For the God Dionysus in sea-girt Dia; and he on his son,</p> -<p class="i0">Thoas, bestowed it; and this at his fleeing Hypsipylê won.</p> -<p class="i0">And, with many a lovely marvel, that parting-gift wrought fair</p> -<p class="i0">She gave unto Aison’s son. Thine hands would linger there</p> -<p class="i0">Touching, thine eyes beholding, ever unsatisfied.</p> -<p class="i0">And a scent ambrosial breathed therefrom, since that sweet tide {430}</p> -<p class="i0">When the King Nysaian himself thereon lay down to rest,</p> -<p class="i0">With wine and with nectar flushed, lay clasping the beauteous breast</p> -<p class="i0">Of the maiden the daughter of Minos, who sailed from the Knossian land</p> -<p class="i0">With Theseus, and there was forsaken of him upon Dia’s strand.</p> -<p class="i0">And Medea wrought on the heralds—for subtlest speech did she frame</p> -<p class="i0">To beguile them—when unto the Goddess’s temple Absyrtus came</p> -<p class="i0">For the covenant’s sake, and when night’s black pall should around them be rolled,</p> -<p class="i0">To depart, that with him she might plot to take that Fleece of Gold</p> -<p class="i0">From the heroes, and bearing the prize with him to fare again</p> -<p class="i0">To Aiêtes’ halls, for that Phrixus’ sons by force had ta’en {440}</p> -<p class="i0">And had given her unto the strangers a captive to bear overseas.</p> -<p class="i0">Even so she beguiled them; and wide through the air and afar on the breeze</p> -<p class="i0">Cast she her witchery-spells, of might to draw from his lair</p> -<p class="i0">On the trackless mountain the wild beast, lurk he how distant soe’er.</p> - -<p class="i1">Ah, ruthless Love, great grief, great curse to the sons of earth!</p> -<p class="i0">Of thee fell feuds, and anguish-moans, and laments have birth;</p> -<p class="i0">From thee therewithal unnumbered woes as a flood forth burst.</p> -<p class="i0">’Gainst the sons of our foes, thou god, array thee battle-athirst,</p> -<p class="i0">As when thou didst thrill the heart of Medea with madness accurst!</p> -<p class="i0">But how, when to meet her he came, by an evil doom did she quell {450}</p> -<p class="i0">Absyrtus?—for this thing next must the song in order tell.</p> - -<p class="i1">When the heroes had left the maiden on Artemis’ island-strand</p> -<p class="i0">By the covenant, ran they their ships in a several place aland,</p> -<p class="i0">Even Kolchians and Minyans. Then to his ambush did Jason hie,</p> -<p class="i0">For Absyrtus to lie in wait, and for them of his company.</p> -<p class="i0">And now that hero, deathward-beguiled by their promise dread,</p> -<p class="i0">Over the swell of the sea in his galley swiftly sped,</p> -<p class="i0">And under the mirk night stepped on the Isle of the Holy Place,</p> -<p class="i0">And alone fared onward to meet his sister face to face,</p> -<p class="i0">And to try her with words,—as though some tender child should try {460}</p> -<p class="i0">A wintertide torrent, when strong men may not cross thereby!—</p> -<p class="i0">If perchance she would weave him a treachery-snare for the stranger-crew.</p> -<p class="i0">And now were they making agreement for all these things, they two,</p> -<p class="i0">When suddenly out of the gloom of his ambush the Aisonid leapt</p> -<p class="i0">Uplifting his naked sword in his hand: and the maiden swept</p> -<p class="i0">Her veil o’er her eyes, as she turned them away for averting of guilt</p> -<p class="i0">That she might not behold the blood of her slaughtered brother spilt,</p> -<p class="i0">And him, as a flesher felleth a strong-horned bull, even so</p> -<p class="i0">Did he mark him, and smite him, hard by the fane which long ago</p> -<p class="i0">The Brygians which dwelt on the mainland-shore unto Artemis wrought. {470}</p> -<p class="i0">In the porchway thereof on his knees he fell; and the hero caught</p> -<p class="i0">In his hands, as he gasped his latest breath, the dark-red tide</p> -<p class="i0">As it welled from the gash, and he hurled that murder-rain, that it dyed</p> -<p class="i0">Crimson her silver veil and her robe, as she shrank aside.</p> -<p class="i0">And with swift side-glance the all-quelling Vengeance-fiend espied,</p> -<p class="i0">And her pitiless eye beheld that murderous deed they had done.</p> -<p class="i0">But the ends of the dead man’s limbs then severed Aison’s son:</p> -<p class="i0">Thrice licked he the blood from the sod, thrice spat it again to the dust,</p> -<p class="i0">As the slayer must do that atonement be made for the treachery-thrust.</p> -<p class="i0">Then hid he the clammy corpse in the ground, where unto this day {480}</p> -<p class="i0">In the land of Absyrtan men be those bones lapped in clay.</p> - -<p class="i1">Now the heroes the while gazed forth through the night, and beheld where shone</p> -<p class="i0">The glare of a torch which the maiden upraised for a sign to set on;</p> -<p class="i0">And alongside the Kolchian galley they laid their ship straightway,</p> -<p class="i0">And they slaughtered the crew of the Kolchians, even as wild hawks slay</p> -<p class="i0">The tribes of the woodland cushats, or lions of the wold</p> -<p class="i0">Drive huddled a mighty flock, when they leap to the midst of the fold.</p> -<p class="i0">No, of them all was there none that escaped, but on all that throng</p> -<p class="i0">Even as flame making havoc they rushed; and it seemed o’erlong</p> -<p class="i0">Ere Jason, afire for their helping, came: no need of his aid</p> -<p class="i0">Had they; nay rather for him by this were their hearts afraid. {490}</p> -<p class="i0">Thereafter they sat them down to devise for their voyaging</p> -<p class="i0">Deep counsel; and, yet as they mused, stole into the midst of the ring</p> -<p class="i0">The maiden. And Peleus resolved him the first, and he spake the thing:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Now call I upon you to enter up into the ship, and to row</p> -<p class="i0">Cleaving your sea-path onward, while yet it is night, and the foe</p> -<p class="i0">Tarry; for when with the dawn they shall see and be ware of their plight,</p> -<p class="i0">There is no man, I trust me, who, bidding them follow the track of your flight,</p> -<p class="i0">Shall win them to hearken a word; but, as folk of their king bereft,</p> -<p class="i0">With grievous dissension shall these, and with faction, asunder be cleft. {500}</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore our path henceforward,—when sundered our foemen are</p> -<p class="i0">Each from his fellow,—to Hellas home shall be easier far.’</p> - -<p class="i1">He spake, and the young men praised the counsel of Aiakus’ child;</p> -<p class="i0">And they entered the ship with haste, and they grasped the oars, and they toiled</p> -<p class="i0">Without rest, till they won by the sacred isle of Elektra—the same</p> -<p class="i0">Of the eyots is highest—and so to the river Eridanus came.</p> - -<p class="i1">Now the Kolchians, so soon as the doom of their murdered king they knew,</p> -<p class="i0">Eager were they for Argo to search and her Minyan crew</p> -<p class="i0">Through all the Kronian Sea: but Hêrê held them back</p> -<p class="i0">By terrible lightnings that flashed evermore from the cloudy rack, {510}</p> -<p class="i0">That they shuddered at last when they thought on their homes in Kytaia-land,</p> -<p class="i0">And quailed for Aiêtes’ wrath, and a king’s avenging hand.</p> -<p class="i0">So went they ashore, and abiding homes in the land they made</p> -<p class="i0">Far-scattered; for some set foot on the selfsame isles where stayed</p> -<p class="i0">The heroes;—the name of Absyrtus yet do the islanders bear;—</p> -<p class="i0">By the river Illyrican’s darkling depths did others rear</p> -<p class="i0">A tower-girt burg where the tomb of Harmonia and Kadmus doth stand:</p> -<p class="i0">With Enchelean men do they dwell: and some in the mountain-land</p> -<p class="i0">Amidst of the ridges abide which the Crests of Thunder they call</p> -<p class="i0">Since the day when crashed the thunders of Zeus their souls to appal, {520}</p> -<p class="i0">That they crossed not over the flood to the isle, on the heroes to fall.</p> - -<p class="i1">Now these, when they weened that the home-return’s grim peril was past,</p> -<p class="i0">Who had gotten so far on now, made Argo’s hawsers fast</p> -<p class="i0">To the strand Hyllaian; for thick in the river the eyots lie,</p> -<p class="i0">And a troublous track they make it for them that would voyage thereby.</p> -<p class="i0">And the folk Hyllaian devised not their hurt, as in that past day:</p> -<p class="i0">Nay, rather they did their endeavour to help them forth on their way.</p> -<p class="i0">And they won for their guerdon the mighty tripod Apollo gave.</p> -<p class="i0">For tripods twain had Phœbus bestowed, far over the wave</p> -<p class="i0">To be borne in the Quest of Aison’s son, when to Pytho’s shrine {530}</p> -<p class="i0">He wended, to ask touching this same voyage the purpose divine.</p> -<p class="i0">And this was their weird, that in whatso land those tripods were placed,</p> -<p class="i0">That land no foes breaking in thereupon should prevail to waste.</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore in that land yet by Hyllê’s pleasant town</p> -<p class="i0">That tripod abideth, hidden beneath the earth deep down,</p> -<p class="i0">That the talisman so may continue of men unseen for aye.</p> -<p class="i0">Howbeit their king no longer alive in the land found they,</p> -<p class="i0">Even Hyllus, whom Melitê lovely-faced unto Herakles bare</p> -<p class="i0">In Phaeacia-land; for of old to the halls did the hero fare</p> -<p class="i0">Of Nausithous and Makris, the nurse of the God Dionysus: defiled {540}</p> -<p class="i0">With the blood of his children, he came to be cleansed. There saw he the child</p> -<p class="i0">Of Aigaius the river, even the Naiad Melitê:</p> -<p class="i0">And he loved her, and humbled the maid, and Hyllus the strong bare she</p> -<p class="i0">In Phaeacia-land. And he dwelt in Nausithous’ halls awhile,</p> -<p class="i0">Being yet but a little one: but he left thereafter the isle.</p> -<p class="i0">For, as waxed within him his might, he brooked no longer to stay</p> -<p class="i0">At a king’s beck there in the island that owned Nausithous’ sway.</p> -<p class="i0">But he fared to the Kronian Sea, and a host of her sons forth led</p> -<p class="i0">From Phaeacia-land: yea, also the king his journeying sped,</p> -<p class="i0">The hero Nausithous. There did he stablish his home, and was slain {550}</p> -<p class="i0">Defending his kine from the Mentors, the rovers of the main.</p> - -<p class="i1">Now, Goddesses, tell how Argo’s wondrous ensign came</p> -<p class="i0">Without this sea, by Ausonia-land, and the isles men name</p> -<p class="i0">The ‘Long Row,’ lone sea-cradles that nurse a Ligurian seed—</p> -<p class="i0">How stood clear forth mid-sea—what strong constraint, what need</p> -<p class="i0">Thitherward led her, what breezes they were that wafted her speed.</p> - -<p class="i1">’Twas, I ween, when Absyrtus had fallen in mighty overthrow,</p> -<p class="i0">That the wrath of Zeus, the King of the Gods, for their deed was aglow.</p> -<p class="i0">Yet he ordained the transgressors to cleanse them of murder’s stain</p> -<p class="i0">By the counsels of Circê, and so, after measureless travail and pain, {560}</p> -<p class="i0">Home to return; yet this of the princes did no man know.</p> -<p class="i0">But they sped, when the land Hyllaian sank on the sea-marge low,</p> -<p class="i0">Afar; and they left behind them the isles that were thronged erewhile</p> -<p class="i0">With the Kolchians, isle Liburnian ranged in the sea after isle,</p> -<p class="i0">Issa, Dyskeladus, then Pityeia’s lovely shore.</p> -<p class="i0">So passed they these, and overagainst Kerkyra they bore.</p> -<p class="i0">There was it Poseidon caused Asôpus’ daughter to rest,</p> -<p class="i0">When by reason of love he wafted Kerkyra the beautiful-tressed</p> -<p class="i0">From the land of Phlius afar: and mariners marking it swell</p> -<p class="i0">Blackening up from the sea, while all about it fell {570}</p> -<p class="i0">The folds of its darkling forests, named it Kerkyra the Black.</p> -<p class="i0">Thence sped they by Melitê, glad for the breeze blowing soft on their track.</p> -<p class="i0">By Kerôsus the steep, and, far in the offing and faint as it showed,</p> -<p class="i0">By Nymphaia they fleeted, the isle where the Lady Kalypso abode,</p> -<p class="i0">The daughter of Atlas: and misty and doubtful appeared to their ken</p> -<p class="i0">The Crests of Thunder. And known unto Hêrê even then</p> -<p class="i0">Were the counsels of Zeus concerning these, and his mighty wrath.</p> -<p class="i0">Yet devised she how that great voyage should prosper, and full in their path</p> -<p class="i0">Uproused she against them the storm-winds, which caught them, and backward swept</p> -<p class="i0">To Elektra’s rocky isle. But, from surge unto surge as they leapt, {580}</p> -<p class="i0">Suddenly heard they a beam with a man’s voice cry unto them</p> -<p class="i0">Out of the hollow ship, the which in the midst of the stem</p> -<p class="i0">Athênê had set—it was hewn from an oak in Dodona that grew;</p> -<p class="i0">And deadliest fear laid hold upon them as they hearkened thereto,</p> -<p class="i0">To the voice revealing the wrath of Zeus, and the stern decree</p> -<p class="i0">Which ordained that they should not escape from the paths of an endless sea,</p> -<p class="i0">And affliction of tempests, till Circê should purge the guilt away</p> -<p class="i0">Of Absyrtus’ ruthless murder. Moreover the voice bade pray</p> -<p class="i0">Polydeukes and Kastor withal to the Gods everlasting, to grant</p> -<p class="i0">First through the Ausonian sea a path to the secret haunt {590}</p> -<p class="i0">Of Circê, the daughter whom Persê unto the Sun-god bare.</p> -<p class="i0">So Argo cried through the darkness: uprose that god-born pair,</p> -<p class="i0">Tyndareus’ sons, and their hands to the deathless Gods did they raise</p> -<p class="i0">Praying the prayer commanded; but hushed in awed amaze</p> -<p class="i0">Were the rest of the Minyan heroes. On under canvas, and on,</p> -<p class="i0">Leapt Argo, till deep within Eridanus’ river they won.</p> -<p class="i0">There, stricken of old on the breast with the smouldering levin-fire,</p> -<p class="i0">Phaethon half-consumed from the car of his Sun-god sire</p> -<p class="i0">Fell into the gulf of the fathomless mere; and the seething stream</p> -<p class="i0">From his burning wound even yet upbelcheth clouds of steam. {600}</p> -<p class="i0">Neither across that water outspreading her pinions light</p> -<p class="i0">Any fowl of the air may win her way, but, even mid-flight</p> -<p class="i0">Faint-fluttering, down mid the flame it plungeth. On either side</p> -<p class="i0">Round poplars slim the Sun-god’s daughters in slow dance glide,</p> -<p class="i0">In misery wailing a piteous plaint, and adown from their eyne</p> -<p class="i0">Raining to earth do the glittering drops of amber shine.</p> -<p class="i0">These, parched by the beams of the sun, lie strewn at their feet on the sand;</p> -<p class="i0">But whensoever the blasts of the wailing wind on the strand</p> -<p class="i0">Are dashing the dark mere’s surging billows and onward hurling,</p> -<p class="i0">Then to Eridanus roll they, a huddled throng on-whirling {610}</p> -<p class="i0">In a rippling stream. Now a legend thereof do the Kelt-folk tell</p> -<p class="i0">How that these which in eddies be tossed be the tears from Apollo that fell,</p> -<p class="i0">Even Lêto’s son, which he shed without number in ancient days,</p> -<p class="i0">What time he came to the Hyperboreans’ sacred race,</p> -<p class="i0">By his father’s threatenings driven from the sunlit heaven to the earth,</p> -<p class="i0">Wroth for his son, unto whom Karônis the Nymph gave birth</p> -<p class="i0">In bright Lakyreia, where Amyrus’ outfall seaward is rolled.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, such is the tale of these that amidst that people is told.</p> -<p class="i0">And, thereon as they sailed, no care for meat nor for drink had they,</p> -<p class="i0">Neither turned their thoughts unto gladness; but ever day by day {620}</p> -<p class="i0">Sorely afflicted they were till their burdened hearts grew faint</p> -<p class="i0">With the noisome stench that uprose, the unendurable taint</p> -<p class="i0">From Eridanus’ streams that reeked of Phaethon burning still.</p> -<p class="i0">And ever by night they hearkened the shriek of the long wail shrill</p> -<p class="i0">From the Sun-god’s daughters lamenting. Their tears, as they mourned and wept,</p> -<p class="i0">Like drops from the fruit of the olive adown to the waters were swept.</p> - -<p class="i1">Thence into Rhodanus ran they, whose deep-flowing waters fleet</p> -<p class="i0">Into Eridanus’ stream: and where the great floods meet,</p> -<p class="i0">Roar they turmoiling and seething. Now Rhodanus cometh from far,</p> -<p class="i0">From the ends of the earth, where the portals of Night and her mansions are. {630}</p> -<p class="i0">Thence bursteth he forth, and divideth his stream; for the one part roareth</p> -<p class="i0">To the beaches of Ocean, and one to the sea Ionian poureth;</p> -<p class="i0">And a third to the main Sardinian, the sea-gulf limitless-vast,</p> -<p class="i0">Through seven mouths sendeth his flood. So from Rhodanus forth they passed,</p> -<p class="i0">And they drave over wintry meres wide-spread—none telleth their bound—</p> -<p class="i0">Over the Keltic mainland, and well-nigh there had they found</p> -<p class="i0">Inglorious doom: for a certain branch turns sidewards flowing</p> -<p class="i0">To the Ocean-gulf; thereinto were these, of the peril unknowing,</p> -<p class="i0">At point to thrust, and never alive had they won thereout.</p> -<p class="i0">But forth out of heaven Hêrê darted, and pealed her shout {640}</p> -<p class="i0">From the rock Herkynian: with fear were they shaken because of her cry</p> -<p class="i0">As one man all, for terribly crashed the wide-arched sky.</p> -<p class="i0">Backward they turned at the Goddess’s warning, and then were they ware</p> -<p class="i0">Of the track, whereby for their home-return they needs must fare.</p> -<p class="i0">So at last came they to a beach where the sea-surge moaning rolled,</p> -<p class="i0">By Hêrê’s devising, through tribes of the Keltic folk untold</p> -<p class="i0">And Ligurians passing unharmed; for about them a mist-veil dread</p> -<p class="i0">Day after day, as homeward they fared, did the Goddess spread.</p> -<p class="i0">And so through the midmost mouth of the river Argo sailed,</p> -<p class="i0">And safe on the ‘Long Row Isles’ did they land; for the prayers had prevailed {650}</p> -<p class="i0">Of the sons of Zeus; for the which cause altars and temples aye</p> -<p class="i0">Unto these have been reared: nor with those sea-farers alone went they</p> -<p class="i0">As helpers, but Zeus made these all mariners’ saviours to be.</p> -<p class="i0">So the ‘Long Row’ left they, and on to Aithalia sped oversea.</p> -<p class="i0">There in athlete-strife did they supple their limbs, till the sweat of them dripped</p> -<p class="i0">As rain, and the pebbles are flecked as with scarf-skin strigil-stripped</p> -<p class="i0">To this day; and their quoits and their wondrous armour are there, all stone;</p> -<p class="i0">And yet in the name of the haven the glory of Argo is shown.</p> - -<p class="i1">And swiftly speeding thence they fleeted the sea-swell o’er,</p> -<p class="i0">To Ausonia’s strand Tyrrhenian lifting their eyes evermore. {660}</p> -<p class="i0">And they came to Aiaia’s haven renowned, and forth of the prow</p> -<p class="i0">The hawsers adown to the strand they cast. And Circê now</p> -<p class="i0">There did they find, in the spray of the surf as she bathed her head,</p> -<p class="i0">For that dreams of the night had made the Spell-queen sorely adread.</p> -<p class="i0">For with blood did it seem that her palace-chambers, and every wall,</p> -<p class="i0">Were running, and flame was devouring her magic herbs, even all</p> -<p class="i0">Wherewith she was wont to bewitch what strangers soever came.</p> -<p class="i0">And herself with the blood of murder quenched that red-glowing flame,</p> -<p class="i0">Scooping it up with her hands: so ceased she from deadly dismay.</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore, when dawning uprose, in the sea-surf’s flashing spray {670}</p> -<p class="i0">At her waking she washed her vesture and bathed her braided hair.</p> -<p class="i0">And beasts—not like unto ravening beasts of the wold these were,</p> -<p class="i0">Nor in likeness fashioned as men, but as though from a medley-heap</p> -<p class="i0">They had gotten their limbs—in a throng followed after her, even as sheep</p> -<p class="i0">From the folds in their multitudes following after the shepherd go.</p> -<p class="i0">Such shapes from the slime primeval did earth first cause to grow,</p> -<p class="i0">Herself the creator, compacted of limbs in confusion blent,</p> -<p class="i0">Ere yet into hardness she grew ’neath a rainless firmament,</p> -<p class="i0">Neither yet from the shafts of a scorching sun had she gotten her dews</p> -<p class="i0">Of refreshing: but these as the ranks of an army did Time confuse, {680}</p> -<p class="i0">As he marshalled them forth into being:—such monsters after her pressed.</p> -<p class="i0">And exceeding amazement fell on the heroes; and each man guessed,</p> -<p class="i0">As he gazed upon Circê’s form, and the eyes unsoftened with ruth,</p> -<p class="i0">That this should be none save Aiêtes’ sister in very sooth.</p> - -<p class="i1">So when she had bidden her terrors of dreams of the night to flee,</p> -<p class="i0">Back straightway she paced; and the heroes she bade in her subtlety</p> -<p class="i0">To follow, with witching beck of her fingers charming them on.</p> -<p class="i0">Yet steadfastly tarried the throng at the hest of Aison’s son</p> -<p class="i0">In their place: but he went, and beside him the Kolchian maiden he drew.</p> -<p class="i0">So trod they the selfsame path till they entered in, those two, {690}</p> -<p class="i0">Into Circê’s hall. In amaze at their coming, the Sorcery-queen</p> -<p class="i0">Bade them to sit them down upon thrones of burnished sheen.</p> -<p class="i0">But soundless and wordless they sped to her hearthstone’s hallowed place,</p> -<p class="i0">And there sat, after the wont of the suppliant in evil case;</p> -<p class="i0">And Medea bowed her adown, and in both hands hid her face.</p> -<p class="i0">But Jason set in the earth his mighty-hilted sword</p> -<p class="i0">Wherewithal he had slain Aiêtes’ son; and his eyes guilt-lowered</p> -<p class="i0">Rose never to meet her glance. And straightway Circê was ware</p> -<p class="i0">Of the vengeance-hounded feet, and the hands that the bloodstain bare.</p> -<p class="i0">Therefore for awe of the statutes of Zeus the Suppliant-ward, {700}</p> -<p class="i0">The Manslayer’s Champion, yea, an exceeding jealous lord,</p> -<p class="i0">She offered the sacrifice whereby they are cleansed from their guilt,</p> -<p class="i0">When they come to his mercy-seat, by whose fierce hands blood hath been spilt.</p> -<p class="i0">First, to atone for the murder inexpiate yet, she held</p> -<p class="i0">Forth over their heads the young of a swine whose dugs yet swelled</p> -<p class="i0">From the fruit of the womb; thereafter she severed its throat, and she dyed</p> -<p class="i0">Their hands with the blood, and again with other drink-offerings beside</p> -<p class="i0">Made the atonement, calling on Zeus, the Cleanser of all,</p> -<p class="i0">The Avenger of suppliants murder-stained, on his name which call.</p> -<p class="i0">Then all that in cleansing she used from the mansion her handmaids bore, {710}</p> -<p class="i0">The Naiad-nymphs, which ministered whatso she needed therefor.</p> -<p class="i0">But Circê abode by the hearth, and thereon without wine did she burn,</p> -<p class="i0">Praying the while, the atonement-cakes, to the end she might turn</p> -<p class="i0">From their anger the terrible Vengeance-fiends, and that Zeus might be wrought</p> -<p class="i0">Unto mercy and grace to the suppliants twain, his pardon who sought,</p> -<p class="i0">Whether they bowed at his throne for the life of a stranger shed,</p> -<p class="i0">Or their kindred hands with the blood of their nearest and dearest were red.</p> - -<p class="i1">But when she had wrought all so, and the work of atonement was done,</p> -<p class="i0">Then raised she them up, and seated them each on a gleaming throne,</p> -<p class="i0">And herself sat nigh them, and eye to eye she straitly inquired {720}</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore they voyaged thus, and the thing that their hearts desired,</p> -<p class="i0">And from what far shore they had come to her land and her palace-home,</p> -<p class="i0">And in suppliance sat on her threshold; for into her soul had there come,</p> -<p class="i0">As she pondered, a hideous thought, as her dreams in remembrance returned,</p> -<p class="i0">And to hear the voice of the maiden her kinswoman sorely she yearned;</p> -<p class="i0">For she knew her, so soon as she lifted her down-drooped eyes from the earth,</p> -<p class="i0">For that plain to discern were all which drew from the Sun their birth,</p> -<p class="i0">Forasmuch as they lightened afar a splendour like as of gold</p> -<p class="i0">From the flashings of their eyes upon whoso their face should behold.</p> -<p class="i0">So Medea told unto her all things that she craved to know, {730}</p> -<p class="i0">Speaking the Kolchian tongue with utterance gentle and low,—</p> -<p class="i0">Deep-hearted Aiêtes’ child—of the Quest, of the paths where fared</p> -<p class="i0">The heroes, of all the conflicts sharp and stern that they dared;</p> -<p class="i0">How herself into sin by her woeful sister’s pleading was led,</p> -<p class="i0">And how from her father’s tyrannous terrors afar she had fled</p> -<p class="i0">With Phrixus’ sons. But from this she shrank, that nothing she said</p> -<p class="i0">Of Absyrtus’ murder; yet Circê discerned it: but pity-stirred</p> -<p class="i0">By her woe-stricken kinswoman’s tears, she answered and spake the word:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Ah wretch! thou hast found thee an evil and shameful homeward path!</p> -<p class="i0">Not long, I ween, shalt thou ’scape from Aiêtes’ terrible wrath. {740}</p> -<p class="i0">Nay, but full soon will he go to the dwellings of Hellas-land</p> -<p class="i0">To avenge the blood of his son, the unspeakable deed of thine hand.</p> -<p class="i0">Yet, forasmuch as my suppliant thou art, and my sister withal,</p> -<p class="i0">None other harm unto thee at thy coming of me shall befall.</p> -<p class="i0">But begone from mine halls, companion who art in an alien’s flight—</p> -<p class="i0">Whosoe’er be this fellow unknown thou hast ta’en in thy father’s despite!—</p> -<p class="i0">Nay, knee me no knees, earth-croucher! Naught shalt thou win save blame,</p> -<p class="i0">Save a curse for thine heart’s devices, for this thy flight of shame!’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she; and comfortless grief overwhelmed Medea: she cast</p> -<p class="i0">Her robe o’er her eyes, and she wailed and wailed, till the hero at last {750}</p> -<p class="i0">By the hand upraised her, and forth of the palace-doors he led,</p> -<p class="i0">As she quivered with terror: and so from the mansions of Circê they fled.</p> - -<p class="i1">Yet they passed not unmarked of the Bride of Zeus; but Iris bore</p> -<p class="i0" id="fix_b4_l754a">Tidings to her, when she spied them faring forlorn from her door.</p> -<p class="i0">For Hêrê had bidden her watch what time they should wend to the ship.</p> -<p class="i0">So again on her message she sped her, and spake with eager lip:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Dear Iris, if ever mine hest thou fulfilledst in days overpast,</p> -<p class="i0">Now hie thee away, upon hurrying pinions speeding fast.</p> -<p class="i0">Hitherward bid thou Thetis to come to me, up from the sea</p> -<p class="i0">Rising: for need of her cometh to me. Thence hasten thee {760}</p> -<p class="i0">Unto the echoing beaches whereon the brazen rows</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Fire-god’s anvils are smitten with thunderous-crashing blows.</p> -<p class="i0">Speak to him to still the fire-blast’s breathings, till Argo thereby</p> -<p class="i0">Shall have sped: thereafter shalt thou with my message to Aiolus fly—</p> -<p class="i0">Aiolus, king of the welkin-begotten winds of the sky:—</p> -<p class="i0">Thou tell him my purpose, that all blasts under the firmament</p> -<p class="i0">He may hush to rest, and let not a wandering gust be sent</p> -<p class="i0">To ruffle the face of the sea: let Zephyr alone blow on,</p> -<p class="i0">Until to Alkinoüs’ isle Phaeacian the heroes have won.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she: forthright from the verge of Olympus did Iris leap {770}</p> -<p class="i0">Cleaving the welkin, outspreading her light wings. Into the deep</p> -<p class="i0">Aegean she plunged, even there where the mansions of Nereus stand.</p> -<p class="i0">And first unto Thetis she came, and according to all the command</p> -<p class="i0">Of Hêrê she spake, and uproused her to Heaven’s Queen to soar.</p> -<p class="i0">Next unto Hephaistus she came, and with speed at her word he forbore</p> -<p class="i0">From the clanging of hammers of iron; and stayed from their tempest-blast</p> -<p class="i0">Were the smoke-grimed bellows. Thereafter on to the third hath she passed,</p> -<p class="i0">Aiolus, Hippotas’ glorious son. And even the while</p> -<p class="i0">Her message she told, and her swift knees rested from journeying toil,</p> -<p class="i0">Thetis from Nereus had gone and her sisters, and up from the sea {780}</p> -<p class="i0">And Olympus-ward to the presence of Hêrê the Queen passed she.</p> -<p class="i0">And she caused her to sit by her side, and she uttered forth the word:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Hear, Goddess Thetis, the thing that my spirit to tell thee is stirred.</p> -<p class="i0">Thou knowest how honoured is Aison’s son of me in mine heart,</p> -<p class="i0">And they that with him in the toil of the Quest have borne their part.</p> -<p class="i0">Alone did I save them then through the Clashing Rocks when they flew,</p> -<p class="i0">When lightened the terrible flames, when the storm of the fire-blast blew,</p> -<p class="i0">When white were the ragged reefs with the spume of the boiling surge.</p> -<p class="i0">But a path by Scylla the Rock and Charybdis’ fathomless gorge</p> -<p class="i0">Dreadly outbelching, awaits them:—O Thetis, I nursed thee of yore, {790}</p> -<p class="i0">Even I, when thou wast but a wordless babe, and I loved thee more</p> -<p class="i0">Than the others thy fellows, the Maids in the halls of brine which abide,</p> -<p class="i0">Because thou refusedst, for all his desire, to couch by the side</p> -<p class="i0">Of Zeus—ay, so evermore be his thoughts all lust for embrace</p> -<p class="i0">Of a Goddess immortal, or couch of a princess of mortal race!</p> -<p class="i0">But for reverence of me, and for sacred fear which the heart of thee bare,</p> -<p class="i0">Didst thou shrink from his love: thereafter a mighty oath he sware</p> -<p class="i0">That never shouldst thou be called the bride of a God undying;</p> -<p class="i0">Yet for all this spared not, but followed thee sore loth, lustfully eyeing,</p> -<p class="i0">Till reverend Themis revealed unto him all Fate’s decree, {800}</p> -<p class="i0">How that thy weird was to bear a son who should mightier be</p> -<p class="i0">Than his father: wherefore, for all his desire, he refrained, for dread</p> -<p class="i0">Lest another should rise up matching his might, and should rule in his stead</p> -<p class="i0">O’er the Deathless, and so should himself not hold the dominion for aye.</p> -<p class="i0">But the best of the sons of earth for thine husband I found, in the day</p> -<p class="i0">That saw thine espousals, that sweetness of marriage might comfort thee,</p> -<p class="i0">And babes: and the Gods to the feast of thy solemnity,</p> -<p class="i0">Even all, did I bid: in mine own hands then did the splendour shine</p> -<p class="i0">Of the bridal torch, to requite that love, that honour of thine.</p> -<p class="i0">Go to now, a word will I tell thee, a prophecy faithful and fast: {810}</p> -<p class="i0">What time thy son to the plain Elysian shall come at the last—</p> -<p class="i0">Thy son, who now in the dwellings of Cheiron the Centaur-king,</p> -<p class="i0">Forlorn of the mother’s breast, is nursed by the Maids of the Spring—</p> -<p class="i0">There is it his weird to wed Aiêtes’ daughter; but thou,</p> -<p class="i0">Medea’s mother that shalt be, help thy daughter now,</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, Peleus withal—ha! why is thine anger quenchless-hot?</p> -<p class="i0">Folly was his; yet even the Gods may be folly-distraught.</p> -<p class="i0">Of a surety, I ween, by my behests shall Hephaistus cease</p> -<p class="i0">To cause the might of his fire to burn; and Hippotades,</p> -<p class="i0">Aiolus, all the rushing wings of his winds shall refrain, {820}</p> -<p class="i0">Save only the steadfast-breathing West, till the heroes shall gain</p> -<p class="i0">The havens Phaeacian. Devise for them thou a return without bane.</p> -<p class="i0">For the crags and the tyrannous-buffeting surges make me afraid,</p> -<p class="i0">These only; and these shall be foiled, if thou and thy sisters aid.</p> -<p class="i0">In ’wildered amazement suffer them not to thrust their keel</p> -<p class="i0">Charybdis-ward, lest down through her jaws to destruction they reel.</p> -<p class="i0">Neither suffer thou them to approach unto Scylla’s hideous lair—</p> -<p class="i0">Ausonian Scylla the deadly, whom nightmare Hekatê bare,</p> -<p class="i0">Even she whom Krataiïs they call, to the Ancient of the sea—</p> -<p class="i0">Lest with her horrible jaws down-swooping suddenly {830}</p> -<p class="i0">She destroy of the heroes the chiefest. But guide thou onward the ship</p> -<p class="i0">In the course where still is a hairbreadth escape from destruction’s grip.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she, and Thetis to her made answer with suchlike word:</p> -<p class="i0">‘If the might of the ravening fire and the winds’ breath fury-stirred</p> -<p class="i0">Shall in very deed be refrained, would I of a surety essay—</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, I would pledge me, what though the surges should bar their way,</p> -<p class="i0">To bring their ship safe through, if the West blow fresh and strong.</p> -<p class="i0">But now is it time that I fare on the far track measureless-long</p> -<p class="i0">Unto my sisters—they which herein shall strengthen mine hand,—</p> -<p class="i0">And to where the ship’s stern-hawsers be cast forth on to the strand, {840}</p> -<p class="i0">That the men may at dawn take thought for the home-return to their land.’</p> - -<p class="i1">She spake, and departed, and plunged from the height of the heaven mid swirls</p> -<p class="i0">Of the dark-blue sea; and she called to her sisters, the Nereïd-girls,</p> -<p class="i0">To come to her help: and the Maids of the Sea, so soon as they heard,</p> -<p class="i0">Gathered; and Thetis told them according to Hêrê’s word;</p> -<p class="i0">And she sped them all to the sea Ausonian thence forthright.</p> -<p class="i0">And swifter herself than the flash of an eye, or the arrows of light</p> -<p class="i0">Of the sun, from the uttermost bourne when his chariot-wheels upflame,</p> -<p class="i0">On through the water she fleeted and flashed, until she came</p> -<p class="i0">Unto the beach Aiaian of that Tyrrhenian main. {850}</p> -<p class="i0">And she found by the galley the heroes: the shaft on the string did they strain</p> -<p class="i0">For their sport, and the javelin they hurled: but she stole unto Peleus’ side,</p> -<p class="i0">And she touched his hand; for of old had he won her, his Goddess-bride.</p> -<p class="i0">But the eyes of the others were holden: to him did the Goddess appear,</p> -<p class="i0">Of his eyes only discerned; and she murmured low in his ear:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘No longer now on the beaches Tyrrhenian sitting abide;</p> -<p class="i0">But cast ye the hawsers of Argo loose with the dawning-tide,</p> -<p class="i0">Obeying your helper Hêrê’s command; for at her behest</p> -<p class="i0">The Sea-maids, daughters of Nereus, all to the trysting have pressed,</p> -<p class="i0">Through the midst of the Rocks which the Wanderers hight your galley to speed {860}</p> -<p class="i0">Safe; for thereby is your course, and the path by fate decreed.</p> -<p class="i0">But see that thou show me to none, when thine eyes my form discern</p> -<p class="i0">Mid the Nymphs, as we meet thee, lest hotter thou cause mine anger to burn</p> -<p class="i0">Than when erst thou didst kindle my spirit to anger swift and stern.’</p> - -<p class="i1">She spake, and she plunged through abysses of sea, and he saw her no more:</p> -<p class="i0">And sharp pain smote him, who had not beheld her theretofore</p> -<p class="i0">Since the day she forsook her bridal bower and her couch at the first,</p> -<p class="i0">When for noble Achilles their babe into sudden anger she burst.</p> -<p class="i0">For the mortal flesh of her child did the Goddess encompass aye</p> -<p class="i0">Through the midst of the night with flames of fire, and day by day {870}</p> -<p class="i0">With ambrosia anointed his tender frame, to make him thereby</p> -<p class="i0">Immortal, that loathly eld might come not his body anigh.</p> -<p class="i0">But Peleus from slumber upstarted, and saw his beloved son</p> -<p class="i0">Gasping mid flame; and he sent abroad, as he looked thereon,</p> -<p class="i0">A terrible cry in his folly exceeding. She heard him, and whirled</p> -<p class="i0">The babe aloft, and screaming adown on the earth she hurled:</p> -<p class="i0">And herself like a breath of the wind, or a dream at the breaking of sleep,</p> -<p class="i0">Forth of the hall flitted swiftly, and into the sea did she leap</p> -<p class="i0">In her anger: and never thereafter returned she thither again.</p> - -<p class="i1">Amazement fettered his soul: but, for all his ’wildered pain, {880}</p> -<p class="i0">To his comrades he spake forth all the commands of his Goddess-wife.</p> -<p class="i0">So these in the midst brake off, and refrained from the athlete-strife;</p> -<p class="i0">And the meat of the eventide and the earth-strawn beds they dight,</p> -<p class="i0">Whereon, having supped, as aforetime they laid them and slept through the night.</p> - -<p class="i1">When Dawn ’gan sprinkle the sky from her chalice of light overbrimming,</p> -<p class="i0">Even then, when the wings of the West-wind the face of the waters were skimming,</p> -<p class="i0">They went up from the strand, and they sat on the thwarts, and aboard they drew</p> -<p class="i0">Blithely the anchor-stones from the deep, and in order due</p> -<p class="i0">The rest of the tackling all they lashed, and the sail spread wide</p> -<p class="i0">On high from the yard-arm, straining it taut with the sheets of hide. {890}</p> - -<p class="i1">Onward the fresh breeze wafted the ship: full soon they beheld</p> -<p class="i0">A fair isle flower-bestarred, where the Siren Destroyers dwelled,</p> -<p class="i0">Acheloüs’ clear-voiced daughters, whose sweet songs wont to beguile</p> -<p class="i0">With their witchery whosoe’er cast anchor anigh that isle.</p> -<p class="i0">They were children whom lovely Terpsichorê, one of the Muses, bore</p> -<p class="i0">To the flood Acheloüs: and unto Dêmêter’s daughter of yore,</p> -<p class="i0">When she yet was unwedded, the noble Persephonê, ministered they,</p> -<p class="i0">As in blended chorus they sang: but as birds in the latter day</p> -<p class="i0">Were they fashioned in part to behold, and as maidens in part they were.</p> -<p class="i0">And aye keeping watch from the harbour-cliffs overbeetling their lair, {900}</p> -<p class="i0">From many an one had they reft sweet home-return, whom they slew</p> -<p class="i0">With wasting consuming them. Lo, on a sudden to Argo’s crew</p> -<p class="i0">Pealed from their lips their clear-sweet voice. From the galley now</p> -<p class="i0">Were they even at point to cast the hawser ashore from the prow;</p> -<p class="i0">But Thracian Orpheus matched him against that demon choir,</p> -<p class="i0">And the hands of Oiagrius’ scion swept the Bistonian lyre;</p> -<p class="i0">And the march of the song o’er the rippling melody rang ever higher,</p> -<p class="i0">Till their ears were filled with the chiming and thrilled with the triumph of sound,</p> -<p class="i0">And the Sea-maids’ shrilling chant in the storm of the lyre was drowned.</p> -<p class="i0">On flitted the ship, by the West-wind borne and the sighing swell {910}</p> -<p class="i0">Upleaping astern; and bootless the weird song failed and fell:—</p> -<p class="i0">Not bootless all, for that Teleon’s goodly son did leap</p> -<p class="i0">From the polished thwart, ere his comrades could stay him, into the deep,</p> -<p class="i0">Butes, whose soul was bewitched by the Sirens’ clear-ringing breath;</p> -<p class="i0">And he swam through the purple surge to tread that strand of death.</p> -<p class="i0">Doomed wretch!—full soon had they robbed him there of his home-return;</p> -<p class="i0">But for him did the Cyprian Lady of Eryx in pity yearn,</p> -<p class="i0">And she snatched him away from the swirling wave, and safe she bore</p> -<p class="i0">Of her grace to dwell on the height Lilybœan on Sicily’s shore.</p> -<p class="i0">So in anguish of spirit they left him: but perils worse than these {920}</p> -<p class="i0">Awaited them—shipwrecking gulfs in the meeting-place of the seas.</p> -<p class="i0">For on this side Scylla’s smooth sheer crag uptowering loomed,</p> -<p class="i0">And on that side Charybdis seething in ceaseless thunder boomed;</p> -<p class="i0">And otherwhere, swung by the mighty surge, met clanging and crashing</p> -<p class="i0">The Wandering Rocks, where afront were the spurts of fire out-flashing</p> -<p class="i0">From the crests of the cliffs, o’er the crag red-glowing on high that burned.</p> -<p class="i0">And with smoke was the air all mistily shrouded: thou hadst not discerned</p> -<p class="i0">The beams of the sun. Then, albeit Hephaistus refrained from his toil,</p> -<p class="i0">With the hot uprushing steam did the sea yet bubble and boil.</p> -<p class="i0">Then Nereus’ daughters from this side and that side the heroes met, {930}</p> -<p class="i0">And Thetis the Goddess her hand to the blade of the rudder set;</p> -<p class="i0">And onward amidst of the Wandering Rocks the ship haled they.</p> -<p class="i0">And as when o’er the face of a summer sea the dolphins play</p> -<p class="i0">Circling around a ship as she runneth before the wind,</p> -<p class="i0">One while in front of her stern beheld, one while behind,</p> -<p class="i0">And alongside anon: and the shipmen be blithe for their gambolling;</p> -<p class="i0">So darted they up from the depths, so circled, a glimmering ring,</p> -<p class="i0">Round Argo the ship; and Thetis was steering her course through all.</p> -<p class="i0">And when now was the galley at point on the Wandering Rocks to fall,</p> -<p class="i0">Straightway they kilted their skirts above their snowy knees, {940}</p> -<p class="i0">And high on the crests of the skerries, the breaking of madding seas,</p> -<p class="i0">To this side and that side they sped, far ranged apart to stand.</p> -<p class="i0">Sea-cataracts crashed on her beam, fierce surges on either hand</p> -<p class="i0">Higher upsoaring and higher o’er the rocks were bursting and streaming;</p> -<p class="i0">And these now towered to the welkin, as mountain-crags in seeming,</p> -<p class="i0">And now, whelmed down the abyss, on the Ocean’s nethermost floor</p> -<p class="i0">Grounded they: over their crests did the triumphing rollers roar.</p> -<p class="i0">But the Nereïds, as maidens that flit to and fro on a sandy beach,</p> -<p class="i0">With parted gown-laps kilted about the waist of each,</p> -<p class="i0">Sport with a shapely rounded ball: one tosseth it on, {950}</p> -<p class="i0">And her fellow receiveth; and high ’twixt heaven and earth is it gone</p> -<p class="i0">Sped from her hand to the welkin; and never it toucheth the ground,</p> -<p class="i0">So from one unto other’s hand passed on did the galley bound</p> -<p class="i0">Through the air o’er the crests of the waves as they sped her, clear alway</p> -<p class="i0">Of the rocks; and around her the water upbelching was seething aye.</p> -<p class="i0">And the Fire-king’s self on the ridge of a surf-lashed scaur was there,</p> -<p class="i0">While his sturdy hammer the weight of his massy shoulder bare.</p> -<p class="i0">Thence marvelling gazed Hephaistus: the bride of Zeus looked down</p> -<p class="i0">Where she stood in the sunlit heaven, and round Athênê had thrown</p> -<p class="i0">Her arms, in such faintness of fear, as she looked thereon, did she cling. {960}</p> -<p class="i0">And long as the space of a day is lengthened out in the spring,</p> -<p class="i0">So long was the time that they laboured, heaving with might and main</p> -<p class="i0">The ship through the thunderous-echoing rocks, till the wind again</p> -<p class="i0">Blew out the canvas; and onward they ran, and swiftly they sped</p> -<p class="i0">By the meads of Thrinakria’s isle, where the kine of the Sun-god fed.</p> -<p class="i0">Then the Nymphs in the semblance of sea-mews down through abysses of brine</p> -<p class="i0">Plunged, when wrought was the hest of Zeus’s Bride divine.</p> -<p class="i0">Then through the air did there come to the heroes a bleating of sheep,</p> -<p class="i0">And a lowing of kine full nigh to their ears floated over the deep.</p> -<p class="i0">There a shepherdess-goddess pastured the sheep o’er the dewy lea, {970}</p> -<p class="i0">Phaëthusa—youngest of all the Sun-god’s daughters was she—</p> -<p class="i0">Bearing a shepherd’s crook of silver the while in her hand;</p> -<p class="i0">And Lampetiê herded the kine, and of mountain-brass was the wand</p> -<p class="i0">That she swayed as she followed their steps: and the heroes themselves espied</p> -<p class="i0">Those herds by the river that pastured, the sliding gleam beside,</p> -<p class="i0">O’er the plain and the water-meadow: was none amid all that herd</p> -<p class="i0">Dun-hued of hide, but all white even as milk appeared.</p> -<p class="i0">And a glory of golden horns on the stately heads of them shone.</p> -<p class="i0">So they passed in the daytime the Sun-god’s herds, and as night drew on,</p> -<p class="i0">They went cleaving the great sea-gulf rejoicing, until once more {980}</p> -<p class="i0">The Child of the Mist, the Dawning, flashed on their sea-path hoar.</p> - -<p class="i1">Now fronting the mouth of the gulf Ionian lieth an isle</p> -<p class="i0">In the sea Keraunian, forest-mantled, with deep rich soil,</p> -<p class="i0">Whereunder the sickle, saith legend, is lying—vouchsafe me your grace,</p> -<p class="i0">Song-goddesses: loth do I speak of the tale of the olden days—</p> -<p class="i0">Wherewithal the strength of his father by Kronos was ruthlessly shorn:</p> -<p class="i0">(But of some is it called Demêter-of-Hades’ Reaper of Corn:</p> -<p class="i0">For Demêter in that land wont to abide in the days of old,</p> -<p class="i0">And she taught the Titans to reap the cornfield’s spears of gold,</p> -<p class="i0">Of her love unto Makris): the Sickle-land is it named therefrom, {990}</p> -<p class="i0">The Phaeacians’ hallowed nurse: and by lineage so these come</p> -<p class="i0">Of Ouranus’ very blood, and his sons the Phaeacians be.</p> -<p class="i0">So Argo through much tribulation came from Thrinakria’s sea</p> -<p class="i0">With the breeze to the land Phaeacian. With welcoming sacrifice</p> -<p class="i0">Alkinoüs the king and his people received them in kindly wise:</p> -<p class="i0">And all the city with riot of mirth o’er the far-driven ones</p> -<p class="i0">Rejoiced: thou hadst said that they joyed o’er their own re-given sons.</p> -<p class="i0">And the heroes themselves through the throng in gladness triumphant strode,</p> -<p class="i0">Even as though the heart of Haimonia-land they trod.</p> - -<p class="i1">But now were they like to be donning their mail for the onset-cry, {1000}</p> -<p class="i0">So mighty a host of Kolchian men appeared hard by,</p> -<p class="i0">Which down through the gorge of the Pontus, and on through the Crags Dark-blue</p> -<p class="i0">Had passed to the uttermost sea in quest of the hero-crew.</p> -<p class="i0">And Medea they chiefly were eager to hale to her father’s house</p> -<p class="i0">Without parley, or threatened else that the war-yell dolorous</p> -<p class="i0">Should be raised for the slaughter-vengeance unrelenting and stern</p> -<p class="i0">Both then, and when led by Aiêtes their host should thereafter return.</p> -<p class="i0">Yet Alkinoüs the king restrained them amidst of their lust for the fray;</p> -<p class="i0">For he greatly desired without the clash of the strife to allay</p> -<p class="i0">The haughty-hearted feud betwixt the war-hosts twain. {1010}</p> -<p class="i0">But the maiden in deadly fear besought again and again</p> -<p class="i0">The comrades of Aison’s son; and again and again did she cling</p> -<p class="i0">With her hands round the knees of Arêtê, the wife of Alkinoüs the king:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘I kneel unto thee, O Queen!—be gracious, and yield me not now</p> -<p class="i0">To the Kolchians to hale to my father, if thou art of humankind, thou</p> -<p class="i0">Which livest by bread—of the hearts into folly that swiftliest rush,</p> -<p class="i0">Whom lightest transgression adown the abysses of ruin doth push,</p> -<p class="i0">Even so as my wisdom forsook me—nay, but it was not done</p> -<p class="i0">By reason of lust: be witness the sacred light of the sun:</p> -<p class="i0">Be witness the rites of Perseus’ daughter, which haunteth the night, {1020}</p> -<p class="i0">That not of my will with men of an alien land in flight</p> -<p class="i0">Did I haste from mine home; but horrible dread on my spirit wrought</p> -<p class="i0">To bethink me of fleeing thus when I sinned: other help there was not,</p> -<p class="i0">Neither hope. My maidenhead yet unmarred abideth and clean,</p> -<p class="i0">As it was in the halls of my father. Have pity upon me, O Queen;</p> -<p class="i0">And incline unto mercy the heart of thy lord! May the Deathless so</p> -<p class="i0">A life all-perfect on thee, all happiness bestow,</p> -<p class="i0">And sons, and the boast of a city unravaged of any foe!’</p> - -<p class="i1">So bowed at Arêtê’s knees did she weep, and so beseech;</p> -<p class="i0">And thus to the heroes appealed she, turning to each after each: {1030}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘For your sakes, O ye chiefest of might, and for your emprise,</p> -<p class="i0">Am I hounded of terrors thus, even I, by whose device</p> -<p class="i0">Ye bowed the bulls to the yoke, and reaped that deadly swath</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Earth-born Men—even I, through whom on the homeward path</p> -<p class="i0">Ye shall bear the Fleece of Gold full soon to Haimonia’s shore—</p> -<p class="i0">Even I, who have lost my country, my parents have lost evermore,</p> -<p class="i0">Have lost mine home, have lost all pleasures of life that I knew,</p> -<p class="i0">But to you have restored your country, your homes have restored unto you;</p> -<p class="i0">And with rapture-litten eyes your parents again shall ye see.</p> -<p class="i0">But from me—a tyrannous god all happiness reft from me; {1040}</p> -<p class="i0">And with alien men do I wander forlorn, an accursèd wight!</p> -<p class="i0">Dread ye the covenant-troth and the oaths: the Avenging Sprite</p> -<p class="i0">Of the suppliants dread, and the Gods’ retribution, if ever I come</p> -<p class="i0">To Aiêtes’ hands, amid outrage and agony meeting my doom!</p> -<p class="i0">No temple have I, neither tower of salvation, nor refuge beside:</p> -<p class="i0">You cast I before me, mine only shield in the perilous tide.</p> -<p class="i0">Hard hearts unrelenting and ruthless!—ye know not reverence, ye,</p> -<p class="i0">For the suppliant, though ye behold as I stretch despairingly</p> -<p class="i0">Mine hands to the knees of a stranger queen. Yet the Kolchian array,</p> -<p class="i0">One and all, had ye faced, when ye thirsted to bear the Fleece away: {1050}</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, Aiêtes the proud had ye faced:—but your manhood hath fainted, is flown</p> -<p class="i0">Now, when your foes from their helpers be sundered, a handful alone.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So passioned and prayed Medea. To whomso she bowed in prayer,</p> -<p class="i0">Ever he heartened her, fain to assuage her anguished despair.</p> -<p class="i0">And their keen-whetted lances in wrathful-quivering hands did they shake,</p> -<p class="i0">And unscabbarded swords; and they swore they would fail not her help nor forsake,</p> -<p class="i0">If the strange king touching the maiden unrighteous judgment spake.</p> -<p class="i0">And lo, mid the throng as they wrangled, the night, that putteth to sleep</p> -<p class="i0">The labours of men, stole o’er them, and all the earth did she steep</p> -<p class="i0">In the balm of her quiet: but not on the maid fell slumber’s peace {1060}</p> -<p class="i0">One whit, but her heart in her bosom for anguish writhed without cease.</p> -<p class="i0">Even as when a toiling woman windeth her thread</p> -<p class="i0">Through the night, and her fatherless children around her be moaning for bread,</p> -<p class="i0">For that widowed she is; and adown her cheeks stream ever the tears</p> -<p class="i0">As she thinketh upon this dreary lot that hath darkened her years;</p> -<p class="i0">Even so were the maid’s cheeks wet, and her heart evermore in her breast</p> -<p class="i0">On the anguish-thorn impaled was writhing in wild unrest.</p> - -<p class="i1">But amidst of the city the palace within, as in days gone by,</p> -<p class="i0">Alkinoüs the king, and the lady of queenliest majesty,</p> -<p class="i0">The wife of Alkinoüs, lay in their bed, and many a word {1070}</p> -<p class="i0">Through the darkness in counsel they spake of the maiden; and thus to her lord</p> -<p class="i0">With loving and earnest speech made answer the queen, and she said:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Yea, O my beloved—yet save, I beseech thee, the woe-stricken maid</p> -<p class="i0">From the Kolchians, showing a grace to the Minyan men. For anigh</p> -<p class="i0">To our isle lieth Argos; the men of Haimonia dwell hard by.</p> -<p class="i0">But Aiêtes—he dwelleth not even anear, and nought do we know</p> -<p class="i0">Of Aiêtes: we hear but his name. But the maiden’s awful woe,</p> -<p class="i0">When she made supplication, mine heart within my breast hath torn.</p> -<p class="i0">Yield her not up to the Kolchians, my king, to her sire to be borne.</p> -<p class="i0">In madness she sinned at the first, when she gave him the charm that should tame {1080}</p> -<p class="i0">The bulls; and with wrong to amend that wrong—ay, ofttimes the same</p> -<p class="i0">In our sinning we do!—she straightway essayed; and, shrinking in fear</p> -<p class="i0">From her proud sire’s tyrannous wrath, she fled. Now the man, as I hear,</p> -<p class="i0">This Jason, is bound by mighty oaths, which his own lips said,</p> -<p class="i0">When he pledged him to make her, his halls within, his wife true-wed.</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore, beloved, constrain not Aison’s son to forswear</p> -<p class="i0">His oath, of thy will, nor consent that the sire from the daughter should tear</p> -<p class="i0">Her life in the rage of his soul amid pangs unendurably keen:</p> -<p class="i0">For cruelly jealous against their daughters are fathers, I ween.</p> -<p class="i0">What vengeance did Nykteus wreak on Antiopê lovely-faced! {1090}</p> -<p class="i0">What woes were of Danaê borne on the wide sea’s desolate waste</p> -<p class="i0">Through her sire’s mad rage! And of late, nor afar, it came to pass</p> -<p class="i0">That wanton-tyrannous Echetus thrust the goads of brass</p> -<p class="i0">Through the eyes of his daughter: and wasted and worn by her woeful doom,</p> -<p class="i0">She is grinding the grain of brass in a hovel’s dungeon-gloom.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she beseeching; and softened so was the heart of the king</p> -<p class="i0">By the words of his wife, and he spake in such wise answering:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Arêtê, the Kolchian men would I even, in harness arrayed,</p> -<p class="i0">Drive forth of the land, for a grace to the heroes, to save yon maid.</p> -<p class="i0">But I fear to set the unswerving justice of Zeus at nought. {1100}</p> -<p class="i0">Nor were this well done, to contemn, according to this thy thought,</p> -<p class="i0">Aiêtes:—of kinglier king than Aiêtes may no man tell.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, war, if he list, shall he bring against Hellas, afar though he dwell.</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore ’tis meet and right that the sentence be spoken of me</p> -<p class="i0">That in all men’s eyes shall be best, and I will not hide it from thee:—</p> -<p class="i0">If the damsel be virgin yet, I decree that the daughter be led</p> -<p class="i0">To the father: but if she minister unto a husband’s bed,</p> -<p class="i0">I will part not from husband wife; nor, if haply she bear ’neath her zone</p> -<p class="i0">His offspring, to foes will I yield up a child of Aison’s son.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he, and round him straight did the veil of slumber close. {1110}</p> -<p class="i0">But she laid up his wisdom her heart within; and she straightway uprose</p> -<p class="i0">From her couch in the palace: the women her handmaids with hurrying feet</p> -<p class="i0">Came, eagerly tending their lady the Queen with service meet.</p> -<p class="i0">And she silently summoned her herald, and spake in his ears her request</p> -<p class="i0">To be instant in bidding Aison’s son, at his Queen’s behest,</p> -<p class="i0">To wed with the maiden, nor more with Alkinoüs the king to plead;</p> -<p class="i0">For himself to the Kolchians would go and pronounce the doom decreed,</p> -<p class="i0">That, if she were virgin yet, he would render her up to be led</p> -<p class="i0">To her father: but if she ministered unto a husband’s bed,</p> -<p class="i0">Not then would he sever the wife from the love of the lawfully wed. {1120}</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she, and forth of the hall the feet of the herald sped</p> -<p class="i0">Unto Jason, Arêtê the Queen’s fair-omened message to bring,</p> -<p class="i0">And Alkinoüs’ counsel, the word of the god-revering king.</p> -<p class="i0">And the heroes he found by the ship in their war-gear abiding awake</p> -<p class="i0">In the haven of Hyllus, anigh to the city; and out he spake</p> -<p class="i0">The Queen’s whole message, and each man’s spirit was gladness-stirred,</p> -<p class="i0">Forasmuch as he spake in their ears an exceeding welcome word.</p> - -<p class="i1">Straightway they mingled the bowl to the Gods that abide for aye;</p> -<p class="i0">And with reverent hands to the altar the victim-sheep drew they.</p> -<p class="i0">And the selfsame night for the maiden prepared they the couch of the bride {1130}</p> -<p class="i0">In a hallowed cave, where of old time Makris wont to abide,</p> -<p class="i0">The child of the Honey-lord, Aristaius, whose wisdom discerned</p> -<p class="i0">The toils of the bees, and the wealth of the labour of olives learned.</p> -<p class="i0">And she was the first that received and in sheltering bosom bore</p> -<p class="i0">The child Nysaian of Zeus, on Eubœa’s Abantian shore.</p> -<p class="i0">And with honey she moistened his lips, where the dew of life was dried</p> -<p class="i0">When Hermes bare him out of the fire. But Hêrê espied,</p> -<p class="i0">And from all the isle that Nymph in her fierceness of anger she drave.</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore she dwelt far thence in the holy Phaeacian cave,</p> -<p class="i0">And blessing and weal beyond word to the folk of the land she gave. {1140}</p> -<p class="i0">Even there did they spread them the mighty couch and thereover they laid</p> -<p class="i0">The glittering Golden Fleece, that the marriage so might be made</p> -<p class="i0">Honoured, a song in the mouths of bards. Flowers manifold-fair</p> -<p class="i0">The Nymphs in their snowy bosoms gathered, and thitherward bare.</p> -<p class="i0">And a splendour like as of fire glowed round those shapes divine,</p> -<p class="i0">Such glory-gleams from the golden tufts did shimmer and shine.</p> -<p class="i0">Sweet longing lit up their eyes: howbeit did awe withhold</p> -<p class="i0">Each one, though she yearned to lay but her hand on the wonder of gold.</p> -<p class="i0">And of that bright throng the river Aigaius’ daughters were some,</p> -<p class="i0">And some on the crests of Melitê dwelt in their mountain-home; {1150}</p> -<p class="i0">And forest-glen Nymphs of the plains were some: for Zeus’s bride,</p> -<p class="i0">Even Hêrê, had sent them for honour to Jason’s marriage-tide.</p> -<p class="i0">That cave is to this day named Medea’s Sacred Grot,</p> -<p class="i0">Forasmuch as to wedlock’s solemnities there these twain they brought,</p> -<p class="i0">When the odorous-sweet fine linen they spread. And the heroes without</p> -<p class="i0">Guarded them war-spear in hand, lest haply for battle the rout</p> -<p class="i0">Of their foes unawares should set on them, or ever the rites were sped.</p> -<p class="i0">And with sprays of bounteous leaf did they wreathe each man his head;</p> -<p class="i0">And in harmony all, while clear the harp of Orpheus rang,</p> -<p class="i0">At the entering-in of the cave the bridal hymn they sang. {1160}</p> -<p class="i0">Yet not in Alkinoüs’ home the hero Aison’s son,</p> -<p class="i0">But in halls of his father, the goal of marriage full fain had won,</p> -<p class="i0">When home he returned to Iolkos, and so withal was the mind</p> -<p class="i0">Of Medea, but hard compulsion constrained them now to be joined.</p> -<p class="i0">But even as never the tribes of the woe-stricken children of earth</p> -<p class="i0">May tread full-footed the path of delight, but still with our mirth</p> -<p class="i0">Hand in hand goeth pacing affliction bitter as gall,</p> -<p class="i0">So these, when melted with rapture of love were their souls, were thrall</p> -<p class="i0">Unto dread, what things of Alkinoüs’ sentence should haply befall.</p> - -<p class="i1">So soon as the dawn with her beams ambrosial climbed heaven’s height, {1170}</p> -<p class="i0">And scattered the gloomy night through the welkin, and laughed in her light</p> -<p class="i0">The island-beaches, and all the paths through the plains that wound</p> -<p class="i0">Dew-gleaming afar, and awoke in the streets a murmur of sound,</p> -<p class="i0">And her folk were astir through the town, and astir was the Kolchian host</p> -<p class="i0">In their camp far off on the bounds of the Makrian sea-ringed coast.</p> -<p class="i0">Then straightway Alkinoüs hied him, by covenant-plight to hold,</p> -<p class="i0">To utter his purpose as touching the maiden. His sceptre of gold,</p> -<p class="i0">His staff of justice, he bare, wherewith to the multitude</p> -<p class="i0">Of the city were meted the statutes with righteousness endued.</p> -<p class="i0">And beside him, in ordered ranks arrayed in their harness of fight, {1180}</p> -<p class="i0">Squadron by squadron were marching Phaeacia’s chiefest of might.</p> -<p class="i0">And forth from the tower-girt city in throngs the women broke</p> -<p class="i0">To gaze on the heroes; and men therewithal of the country-folk</p> -<p class="i0">Met them, which heard the tidings; for Hêrê afar had sped</p> -<p class="i0">A rumour that erred not: and one a lamb unblemished led,</p> -<p class="i0">The choice of the sheep: with a heifer unlaboured one drew nigh;</p> -<p class="i0">And others were ranging the earthen jars of wine hard by</p> -<p class="i0">To mingle. The sacrifice-smoke was wafted far away.</p> -<p class="i0">Came women with webs of costly labour, as women may,</p> -<p class="i0">And with trinkets of gold, and with manifold ornaments therebeside, {1190}</p> -<p class="i0">Such gifts as be wont to be brought to the newly-wedded bride.</p> -<p class="i0">And they marvelled beholding the heroes’ stature and comeliness,</p> -<p class="i0">As they towered o’er the throng, and Oiagrius’ scion amidst of the press,</p> -<p class="i0">As in time to the harmony-ringing lyre and the chanted strain</p> -<p class="i0">Ever he smote and anon with his glittering sandal the plain.</p> -<p class="i0">And the Nymphs all blending their voices, when marriage-notes chimed on the string,</p> -<p class="i0">Uplifted the lovely bridal chant, and anon would they sing</p> -<p class="i0">Alone and unprompted the song, as the wreaths of their dances they twined.</p> -<p class="i0">O Hêrê, of thee was it done; for thou puttedst it into the mind</p> -<p class="i0">Of Arêtê to tell Alkinoüs’ prudent word of the night. {1200}</p> -<p class="i0">But so soon as the king had pronounced the decree of unswerving right,</p> -<p class="i0">And when now was the marriage accomplished proclaimed in all men’s ears,</p> -<p class="i0">Then took he heed that it so should abide: no deadly fears</p> -<p class="i0">Touched him, nor Aiêtes’ terrible wrath might his purpose shake;</p> -<p class="i0">But he held by the word he had plighted, the oath that he would not break.</p> -<p class="i0">And when now were the Kolchians ware that in vain they besought him to swerve,</p> -<p class="i0">And when now he commanded them—‘Either obey my decree and observe,</p> -<p class="i0">Or forth of my havens and land afar shall your galleys sail’;—</p> -<p class="i0">Then in that hour for their own king’s threatenings ’gan they quail,</p> -<p class="i0">And besought him amongst his folk to receive them. So there in the land {1210}</p> -<p class="i0">Long time with the people Phaeacian dwelt the Kolchian band,</p> -<p class="i0">Till the Bacchiad lords, which by lineage sprang from Ephyrê,</p> -<p class="i0">As the years passed, settled amidst them, and they to the isle oversea</p> -<p class="i0">Sailed: thence to the Thunder-hills of Abantian men must they go,</p> -<p class="i0">And therefrom to the folk Nestaian, and on to Oricum so.</p> -<p class="i0">But the river of time ere then down many a year must flow.</p> -<p class="i0">But still to the altars the yearly sacrifice men bring</p> -<p class="i0">For the Fates and the Nymphs in the fane of Apollo the Shepherd-king,</p> -<p class="i0">Which altars Medea builded. And gifts, ere they passed o’er the wave,</p> -<p class="i0">Full many Alkinoüs gave them, and many Arêtê gave. {1220}</p> -<p class="i0">Thereafter withal on Medea Phaeacian handmaid-thralls</p> -<p class="i0">Twelve did the Queen bestow, to follow her forth of her halls.</p> -<p class="i0">On the seventh day sailed they away from Drepanê. Came with the morn</p> -<p class="i0">A fresh breeze sent of Zeus: and so by the wind’s breath borne</p> -<p class="i0">Onward and onward they ran. Howbeit not yet on the strand</p> -<p class="i0">Of Achaia by doom of the God might they tread, that hero-band,</p> -<p class="i0">Till yet they had toiled in the uttermost parts of Libya-land.</p> - -<p class="i1">And now by the bay that is named the Ambracian Gulf had they sped,</p> -<p class="i0">And now had they left the Aetolian land with sail wide spread;</p> -<p class="i0">And thereafter the isles in the narrow Echinad strait that lie; {1230}</p> -<p class="i0">And Pelops’ land in the offing but now might they dimly descry:</p> -<p class="i0">Even then were they snatched away by the North-wind’s baleful blast</p> -<p class="i0">In mid course: on to the Libyan sea did it sweep them fast</p> -<p class="i0">Nine nights together, and days as many, until they had run</p> -<p class="i0">Into the Syrtis afar, wherefrom returning is none</p> -<p class="i0">For ships, when a storm-driven galley within that gulf shall be found.</p> -<p class="i0">For on every hand be shoals, and the tangled weed all round</p> -<p class="i0">Of the deep, and the salt foam-scum over all doth mantle and cling.</p> -<p class="i0">Into haziest distance stretcheth the land: no living thing</p> -<p class="i0">There moveth that creepeth or flieth. On that drear coast by the sweep {1240}</p> -<p class="i0">Of the flood-tide—for ofttimes the outrushing ebb draweth back to the deep</p> -<p class="i0">Far off from the land, and again with gurgling rush and roar</p> -<p class="i0">Cometh bursting over his beaches—afar on the innermost shore</p> -<p class="i0">Were they suddenly thrust, that the keel’s full depth was covered no more.</p> -<p class="i0">Then leapt they forth of the ship, and in trouble of soul did they gaze</p> -<p class="i0">On the dimness, the long low backs of the land all formless haze</p> -<p class="i0">Far stretching away unbroken. Nor stream nor spring they espied,</p> -<p class="i0">Neither path, nor, how distant soe’er, a steading thereon they descried</p> -<p class="i0">Of herdmen, but all the landskip in dead calm folded lay.</p> -<p class="i0">And in sore vexation of spirit did hero to hero say: {1250}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘What manner of land is this? Whither now hath the tempest’s sway</p> -<p class="i0">Hurled us? Would God we had dared, all reckless of deadly dismay,</p> -<p class="i0">To rush right on through the path of the rocks of the grim sea-gate!</p> -<p class="i0">Verily better it were, had we overleapt the fate</p> -<p class="i0">Of Zeus, in daring a deed of heroic mood to have died!</p> -<p class="i0">But now, what thing should we do, which be prisoned by winds to abide</p> -<p class="i0">Here, though but a little span we continue?—in such drear wise</p> -<p class="i0">The plain of the limitless land stretcheth up to the lowering skies.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So cried they: thereafter in utter despair for their evil case</p> -<p class="i0">Ankaius the helmsman spake with anguish-darkened face: {1260}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Yea verily, ghastliest doom hath undone us. Escape there is not</p> -<p class="i0">From destruction: for us but remaineth to suffer the cruellest lot,</p> -<p class="i0">Which have fallen on this desolation; yea, even though a breath there should be</p> -<p class="i0">Of air from the land, forasmuch as nought save shoals do I see,</p> -<p class="i0">Afar as I gaze o’er the waters around; and scantly the brine</p> -<p class="i0">Overscaleth the hoary sands in foam-fretted line upon line.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, and our god-built ship had to shards been wretchedly torn</p> -<p class="i0">Long since far off from the shore, but that out of the sea was it borne</p> -<p class="i0">By the flood-tide’s self uplifted, and high on the land was it thrown.</p> -<p class="i0">But the tide now raceth aback to the deep, and foam alone {1270}</p> -<p class="i0">Whereon saileth no keel, rolleth on, and but thinly the earth hath it veiled.</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore, I trow, all hope of our sailing hath utterly failed—</p> -<p class="i0">All hope of return! Let another man show sea-craft herein.</p> -<p class="i0">Lo, there is the helm—whosoever is fain our deliverance to win,</p> -<p class="i0">Let him sit in my seat. But little doth Zeus desire, I wot,</p> -<p class="i0">To crown with a day of return the toils we have suffered and wrought.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he, weeping the while; and the others agreed thereto,</p> -<p class="i0">Even all which had knowledge of ships; and all the hearts of them grew</p> -<p class="i0">Chilly and numb, and over their cheeks was paleness shed.</p> -<p class="i0">And even as, like unto lifeless spectres of folk long dead, {1280}</p> -<p class="i0">Men creep through the streets of a town, and despairing the issue await</p> -<p class="i0">Of famine or leaguer of war, or a tempest unspeakably great</p> -<p class="i0">Which hath swept o’er the land, and hath flooded the labours of oxen untold;</p> -<p class="i0">Or when great gouts of blood from the images sweating have rolled,</p> -<p class="i0">Or when from the shrines of the temple ghostly bellowings wail,</p> -<p class="i0">Or the sun o’er the day’s mid noontide draweth the night’s black veil</p> -<p class="i0">Out of heaven, and the glittering stars come forth in splendour pale;</p> -<p class="i0">So stricken, the chieftains then by the strand’s verge endless-wide</p> -<p class="i0">Roamed loitering on. And at one stride came dark eventide.</p> -<p class="i0">And piteously around each other their arms did they throw {1290}</p> -<p class="i0">With weeping farewell, that each from his fellow apart might go</p> -<p class="i0">To die, and might fling him adown on the sand to wait for the end.</p> -<p class="i0">So this way and that way to choose their couch of the night did they wend;</p> -<p class="i0">And each in the folds of his mantle enshrouded his head, and they lay</p> -<p class="i0">Fasting and thirsting there through the livelong night and the day</p> -<p class="i0">Awaiting a piteous death. And the handmaids huddled in fear</p> -<p class="i0">Round Aiêtes’ daughter apart shrilled lamentation drear.</p> -<p class="i0">And as when, of their mother forsaken, fledglings shrilly cheep,</p> -<p class="i0">Which have fallen to earth from a cleft in a sheer scaur’s precipice-steep,</p> -<p class="i0">Or as when ’twixt the low-browed banks of Pactolus’ fair-flowing stream {1300}</p> -<p class="i0">The swans are upraising their song, and the meadow of dewy gleam</p> -<p class="i0">Murmureth round, and murmur the river’s ripples fair;</p> -<p class="i0">So the handmaidens bowing low in the dust their golden hair,</p> -<p class="i0">All through the night were uplifting their pitiful wail of despair.</p> -<p class="i0">And now out of life had they slidden, had vanished from human ken,</p> -<p class="i0">And the name and the fame of them never more had been heard among men,</p> -<p class="i0">Those noblest of heroes!—their task unaccomplished had ended then:</p> -<p class="i0">Howbeit the Heroine-nymphs had pity of them as they pined</p> -<p class="i0">In helpless despair, the Warders of Libya, they that did find</p> -<p class="i0">Athênê, what time from the head of her father, in battle-gear {1310}</p> -<p class="i0">All flashing, she sprang, and the new-born bathed they in Trito’s mere.</p> -<p class="i0">The noon of the day it was, and the sun upon Libya-land</p> -<p class="i0">Burned with his fiercest beams: by Aison’s son did they stand,</p> -<p class="i0">And the mantle-shroud from his head with soft light touch drew they.</p> -<p class="i0">But the hero, downward drooping his eyes, thence turned them away,</p> -<p class="i0">For awe of the shapes divine: but with gentle words of cheer</p> -<p class="i0">With open face did they speak unto him in his ’wildered fear:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Ill-starred one, wherefore so grievously smitten art thou with despair?</p> -<p class="i0">We know how ye fared for the Golden Fleece: of your toils we be ware,</p> -<p class="i0">Even all the strength-overmastering labours on land that ye proved, {1320}</p> -<p class="i0">And all ye endured on the face of the watery deep as ye roved.</p> -<p class="i0">The Solitary Ones of the land, the Heroines, are we,</p> -<p class="i0">Warders and daughters of Libya, which speak which our voices to thee.</p> -<p class="i0">Up then: let thy spirit not thus to affliction of misery yield,</p> -<p class="i0">And uprouse thy comrades, so soon as the steeds of the car swift-wheeled</p> -<p class="i0">Of Poseidon, by Amphitritê loosed from the yoke, run free.</p> -<p class="i0">Unto your mother the nursing-debt then render ye</p> -<p class="i0">For all her travail, when long she bare you her womb within.</p> -<p class="i0">So haply again unto hallowed Achaia-land shall ye win.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake they, and vanished, there as they stood, in the selfsame place {1330}</p> -<p class="i0">Where murmured their voices close in his ear: and with startled gaze</p> -<p class="i0">Staring around, on the earth sat Jason, and cried in amaze:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Be gracious, ye glorious Goddesses, lone in the desert which dwell!</p> -<p class="i0">Yet what this word of our home-coming meaneth I wot not well.</p> -<p class="i0">I will gather my comrades, and tell them, and learn what token is this</p> -<p class="i0">Of escape:—in the multitude of counsellors safety there is.’</p> - -<p class="i1">Then he leapt to his feet, and he shouted afar o’er the desolate shore,</p> -<p class="i0">All dust-begrimed, as a lion that seeking his mate doth roar</p> -<p class="i0">Up and down through the forest-gloom: deep glens through many a hill</p> -<p class="i0">Far off at the sound of his voice’s thunder shuddering thrill, {1340}</p> -<p class="i0">And tremble the oxen that roam the meads with exceeding fear,</p> -<p class="i0">And the herders of kine: but never a whit dismaying to hear</p> -<p class="i0">Was the hero’s cry to his friends when the voice of his shouting they heard.</p> -<p class="i0">And they gathered with down-drooped eyes to his side, and they sat at his word</p> -<p class="i0">Sore troubled anigh where lay the ship; and the women withal</p> -<p class="i0">With the heroes mingled sat; and he spake, and he told them all:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Hearken, O friends, for in this mine affliction Goddesses three,</p> -<p class="i0">In vesture of goatskins girded about, from neck unto knee</p> -<p class="i0">Overdrooping their shoulders and waists, as maidens of earth to behold,</p> -<p class="i0">Stood over mine head full nigh, and they drew my mantle’s fold {1350}</p> -<p class="i0">Away from mine head with fingers light, and they bade me arise</p> -<p class="i0">From my couch of despair, bade rouse you up in the selfsame wise.</p> -<p class="i0">And they bade us to render our mother the nursing-debt again—</p> -<p class="i0">Seeing that long in her womb she bare us with travail-pain—</p> -<p class="i0">Whensoever the steeds of the swift-wheeled car of the Lord of the Sea</p> -<p class="i0">Amphitritê should loose from the yoke. Howbeit it is not in me</p> -<p class="i0">To divine what their prophecy meaneth. They named them, that stranger-band,</p> -<p class="i0">Heroines, daughters of Libya, and Warders of the Land.</p> -<p class="i0">Yea, whatsoever toils we endured in our journeying</p> -<p class="i0">By land or by sea, said they, they were ware of everything. {1360}</p> -<p class="i0">No longer thereafter I saw them in place, but there came between</p> -<p class="i0">A mist or a cloud—they appeared, and lo! they were no more seen.’</p> - -<p class="i1">He spake, and they marvelled all such tale to hear him tell.</p> -<p class="i0">Then to the Minyan men a most strange wonder befell:</p> -<p class="i0">For out of the sea to the land did a horse gigantic bound</p> -<p class="i0">With golden mane far-streaming that tossed his shoulders around.</p> -<p class="i0">And with one swift stamp he shook from his shoulders the briny spray,</p> -<p class="i0">And onward he galloped with feet like the blast of the wind: straightway</p> -<p class="i0">Unto the throng of his comrades did Peleus rejoicing say:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘The steed of the car of the Lord of the Sea!—unyoked hath he been {1370}</p> -<p class="i0">Even but now by the hands of his dear-loved wife, I ween.</p> -<p class="i0">And our mother—none other is this, I divine, than the good ship there,</p> -<p class="i0">Argo; for verily us within her womb she bare</p> -<p class="i0">With grievous anguish of travail groaning unceasingly.</p> -<p class="i0">Her therefore with stalwart strength and with tireless shoulders we</p> -<p class="i0">Will uplift, and afar o’er the wastes of the sandy land from the shore</p> -<p class="i0">Will we bear her, where yonder steed hath with swift feet sped before.</p> -<p class="i0">For he will not, he, sink into the earth, but his hoof-prints shall go</p> -<p class="i0">Pointing the way for us inland afar from the sea, I trow.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So did he speak: of his keen-witted counsel were all they fain. {1380}</p> -<p class="i0">Lo, this is the song of the Muses, and I but sing their strain,</p> -<p class="i0">The Pierides’ servant; and this true tale in mine ears hath been told</p> -<p class="i0">That ye, O mightiest far of the sons of the kings of old,</p> -<p class="i0">By your manhood and might o’er the sands of Libya’s desert drear</p> -<p class="i0">Bare high over earth your galley and all her voyaging-gear,</p> -<p class="i0">On your shoulders laid, yea, bare her through long days two and ten,</p> -<p class="i0">And nights as many. That cup of affliction and travail then,</p> -<p class="i0">What tongue could tell it, which these in their toil filled up full-brim?</p> -<p class="i0">Of a truth of the blood of the Deathless they were, such labour grim</p> -<p class="i0">Did they take on them, onward driven and on by Necessity’s goad, {1390}</p> -<p class="i0">Till afar mid the ripples of Trito’s mere how triumphantly strode,</p> -<p class="i0">How gladly adown from their stalwart shoulders they set their load!</p> - -<p class="i1">Then rushing, like unto hounds in the wild hunt’s frenzy-burst,</p> -<p class="i0">Sought they a spring, for that now was there added parching thirst</p> -<p class="i0">Unto all their affliction and manifold anguish; nor toiled they in vain</p> -<p class="i0">Wandering there; for lo, they came to the sacred plain</p> -<p class="i0">Where but yesterday Ladon the Serpent of Libya in Atlas’ garden</p> -<p class="i0">Kept watch o’er the Apples of Gold; and the Nymphs around their warden,</p> -<p class="i0">The Hesperides, rested never, chanting their lovely song.</p> -<p class="i0">But now by the arrows of Herakles stricken he lay along {1400}</p> -<p class="i0">By the trunk of the apple-tree: only the tip of his tail had strength</p> -<p class="i0">To quiver yet, but adown from his head, through all the length</p> -<p class="i0">Of his dark chine, lifeless he lay. Where the arrows had left in his blood</p> -<p class="i0">The bitter gall of the Hydra of Lerna, a swarming brood</p> -<p class="i0">Of flies o’er the venom-festering wounds of him crawled and clung.</p> -<p class="i0">And thereby the Hesperides over their golden heads had flung</p> -<p class="i0">Their white arms, shrilling their wail. And the wanderers suddenly drew</p> -<p class="i0">Anear, and to dust and to earth straightway, when the hero-crew</p> -<p class="i0">Came hastily on, did they turn even there. But Orpheus was ware</p> -<p class="i0">Of the portent divine, and he stood, and he spake to the Nymphs in prayer: {1410}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Divine Ones, lovely and kindly, O Queens, be gracious ye,</p> -<p class="i0">Whether amongst the Heavenly Goddesses numbered ye be,</p> -<p class="i0">Or the Earthly, or whether they name you the Lone Ones, Nymphs divine,</p> -<p class="i0">Come, O ye Nymphs, come, daughters of Ocean’s sacred line!</p> -<p class="i0">Appear ye in manifest form to our longing eyes, and show</p> -<p class="i0">Some spring gushing forth from the rock, some sacred upwelling flow</p> -<p class="i0">From the bosom of Earth, O shapes divine, that the thirst which doth burn</p> -<p class="i0">Our tongues without cease may be quenched; and if ever again we return</p> -<p class="i0">Unto Achaia-land in our weariful voyaging,</p> -<p class="i0">Then, as to the chiefest in heaven, to you which have done this thing {1420}</p> -<p class="i0">Gifts and libations and feasts with grateful love will we bring.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake he, praying with earnest voice; and they from anear</p> -<p class="i0">Pitied their pain. And first did they cause green grass to appear</p> -<p class="i0">From the earth, and above the grass rose saplings tall, and these</p> -<p class="i0">Thereafter in fulness of bloom grew up into fair young trees:</p> -<p class="i0">Tall-standing and straight, high up from the face of the earth they towered.</p> -<p class="i0">In a poplar was Hesperê veiled, Erythêis an elm embowered,</p> -<p class="i0">And Aiglê a sacred willow. And out of the stems of them, lo!</p> -<p class="i0">Appeared they, and like as before they had been, so again did they show,</p> -<p class="i0">A marvel exceeding great: and Aiglê silence brake, {1430}</p> -<p class="i0">And with gentle words in their longing ears she answered and spake:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Of a surety for blessing to you and deliverance out of your toil,</p> -<p class="i0">Hitherward came but now one ruthless and shameless, to spoil</p> -<p class="i0">Our guardian serpent of life; and the Goddesses’ apples of gold</p> -<p class="i0">He plucked, and he bare them away, and he left us sorrowful-souled.</p> -<p class="i0">For there came yestreen a man most fell in wanton despite,</p> -<p class="i0">Grim-shapen, whose eyes ’neath his scowling brows flashed terrible light,</p> -<p class="i0">A pitiless man: in a monster lion’s fell untanned,</p> -<p class="i0">Raw hide, was he clad, with a stubborn olive-wood staff in his hand,</p> -<p class="i0">And a bow, with the arrows whereof he shot yon dragon dead. {1440}</p> -<p class="i0">And he came, he also, as one that afoot overland hath sped,</p> -<p class="i0">Thirst-parched: and questing for water with diligent haste he sought</p> -<p class="i0">Through all this place—but, I ween, he was like to behold it not!</p> -<p class="i0">Howbeit a certain rock by the mere Tritonian stood:</p> -<p class="i0">This, or of his own device, or a God wrought so on his mood,</p> -<p class="i0">Did he smite with his foot, and forth did the water in full burst flow.</p> -<p class="i0">Then down to the earth on his hands and his breast he bowed him low;</p> -<p class="i0">And out of the rifted rock an unspeakable draught he swilled,</p> -<p class="i0">Till his mighty maw, down-stooped like a beast of the field, he had filled.’</p> - -<p class="i1">So spake she; and they right glad thence hasted, until they came {1450}</p> -<p class="i0">To the place where Aiglê had told of the spring; and they found the same.</p> -<p class="i0">And as when earth-burrowing ants swarm round their narrow pit,</p> -<p class="i0">All hurrying to and fro, or when clustering flies, that have lit</p> -<p class="i0">Where lieth a drop of the honey sweet, a tiny gout,</p> -<p class="i0">Insatiate-eager are thronging, so in a huddled rout</p> -<p class="i0">The Minyans round that rock-spring crowded on every side.</p> -<p class="i0">And with wet lips thus in his gladness hero to hero cried:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘O strange!—how hath Herakles saved his companions forspent with stress</p> -<p class="i0">Of thirst, though afar he were! Would God that he yet might bless</p> -<p class="i0">The eyes of us finding him faring on through the wilderness!’ {1460}</p> - -<p class="i1">Then shouted in answer they which were ready-dight for the deed.</p> -<p class="i0">And they parted, and this way and that way questing the lost did they speed.</p> -<p class="i0">For the tracks of the hero by winds of the night had been wholly effaced,</p> -<p class="i0">As they drifted the sand. And away did Boreas’ two sons haste,</p> -<p class="i0">Putting trust in their wings; and Euphêmus trusting his feet flying fast,</p> -<p class="i0">And Lynkeus the piercing glance of his eyes afar to cast:</p> -<p class="i0">And Kanthus, the fifth of the searchers, darted away with the rest,</p> -<p class="i0">Whom the doom of the Gods and his manfulness drave to essay that quest,</p> -<p class="i0">That of Herakles’ mouth for certain tidings he so might inquire</p> -<p class="i0">Where he left Polyphemus, Eilatus’ son; for with earnest desire {1470}</p> -<p class="i0">Was he fain to ask of the hero concerning his lost friend’s fate:—</p> -<p class="i0">But he mid the Mysians had builded a city glorious and great;</p> -<p class="i0">Then yearning for home came o’er him, and seeking Argo he passed</p> -<p class="i0">Far over the mainland, until he came to the land at the last</p> -<p class="i0">Of the sea-board Chalybans: there ’neath the mastering doom did he fall,</p> -<p class="i0">And there up-piled is his grave-mound under a poplar tall</p> -<p class="i0">Facing the sea. But Lynkeus deemed that he spied that day</p> -<p class="i0">Over measureless spaces of land lone-faring and far away</p> -<p class="i0">Herakles—saw him as one that hath seen or hath thought he hath seen</p> -<p class="i0">The moon, when the month is young, through mist-veils floating between. {1480}</p> -<p class="i0">To his comrades returned he, and told them that quester thereafter should see</p> -<p class="i0">The hero no more as he journeyed. In like wise came those three,</p> -<p class="i0">Even Euphêmus the swift of foot, and the scions twain</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Thracian Wind of the North, having toiled and striven in vain.</p> - -<p class="i1">But, Kanthus, in Libya thee did the fell Fates bring to thine end.</p> -<p class="i0">Upon pasturing flocks didst thou light; and the shepherd, that wont to tend</p> -<p class="i0">Those sheep, in defending them smote thee, when thou thereof wast fain</p> -<p class="i0">To take for thy comrades’ need, and there of his hand was thou slain</p> -<p class="i0">By the cast of a stone; for in sooth no weakling there kept ward,</p> -<p class="i0">Kaphaurus, the grandson of Phœbus, Lykoreia’s Lord, {1490}</p> -<p class="i0">And of fair Akakallis the princess, whom Minos drave from her home</p> -<p class="i0">In Libya to dwell, when the fruit of a God was found in her womb,</p> -<p class="i0">His daughter she; and a glorious son unto Phœbus she bare,</p> -<p class="i0">Amphithemis namèd, and Garamas—twofold the names of him were.</p> -<p class="i0">And a Nymph, the Lady of Trito’s Lake, did Amphithemis wed;</p> -<p class="i0">And Nasamon’s might and Kaphaurus the strong she bare to his bed,</p> -<p class="i0">Even him which smote down Kanthus, defending his sheep as he fought.</p> -<p class="i0">Yet from the chieftains’ avenging hands escaped he not,</p> -<p class="i0">When they learned what deed he had done; and the Minyans sought their dead,</p> -<p class="i0">And they took up the corse, and they laid him to rest in the strait earth-bed, {1500}</p> -<p class="i0">Mourning, and took thereafter the slayer’s sheep for a prey.</p> -<p class="i0">There also Mopsus, Ampykus’ son, in the selfsame day</p> -<p class="i0">Did a pitiless fate cut off. Stern doom might he nowise shun</p> -<p class="i0">By his prophecy-lore, forasmuch as avoidance of death is there none.</p> -<p class="i0">For a dread snake lay mid the sand from the mid-noon sun to hide,</p> -<p class="i0">Too sluggish to strike of his will at such as would turn aside;</p> -<p class="i0">Nor yet would he dart full face upon one that in fear shrank back.</p> -<p class="i0">Yet into whomso but once he should spit his venom black,</p> -<p class="i0">Of all that on life-sustaining earth draw living breath,</p> -<p class="i0">Not a cubit’s length should be left of his path to the mansion of Death, {1510}</p> -<p class="i0">No, not though the Healer God—if this I may say, nor sin—</p> -<p class="i0">Should medicine him, if only his teeth should have grazed but the skin.</p> -<p class="i0">For when over Libya flying godlike Perseus came—</p> -<p class="i0">Who is also Eurymedon; so did his mother name his name—</p> -<p class="i0">As unto the king the Gorgon’s head new-severed he bore,</p> -<p class="i0">Whatsoever to earth dropped down of the dark-red gouts of gore,</p> -<p class="i0">All quickened, and serpents thereof of the selfsame brood did there spring.</p> -<p class="i0">Now Mopsus pressed on the ridge of the spine of the deadly thing,</p> -<p class="i0">Setting his left foot-sole thereupon; and the beast in his pain</p> -<p class="i0">Writhed round it: the flesh ’twixt ankle and calf in his fangs hath he ta’en, {1520}</p> -<p class="i0">And he tare it, the while Medea and all her handmaids fled</p> -<p class="i0">In affright. Howbeit the seer was handling, nothing adread,</p> -<p class="i0">The bleeding wound; for the pain not grievously vexed his soul.</p> -<p class="i0">Ah wretch!—for already a numbness of deadly slumber stole</p> -<p class="i0">Unstringing his sinews: a thick mist flooded his eyes all round.</p> -<p class="i0">Straightway his burdened limbs all helplessly sank to the ground,</p> -<p class="i0">And chill did he grow. And his comrades, and Aison’s son, amazed</p> -<p class="i0">At the strokes fast-falling of doom, on the dead man thronging gazed.</p> -<p class="i0">Yet not for a little space, albeit but newly dead,</p> -<p class="i0">Might he lie in the sun, for that fast through his flesh ’gan corruption to spread {1530}</p> -<p class="i0">From the venom: the very hair from the skin like slime was cast.</p> -<p class="i0">Therefore they straightway delved them a deep trench, labouring fast</p> -<p class="i0">With mattocks of brass; and in mourning thereafter their hair did they rend,</p> -<p class="i0">Both they and the maidens, bewailing the dead man’s pitiful end.</p> -<p class="i0">Round the hero meetly entombed then thrice in their warrior-gear</p> -<p class="i0">Marched they, and over his grave the earth-mound high did they rear.</p> - -<p class="i1">But when now they were gone aboard of the ship, and the South-wind blew</p> -<p class="i0">Over the sea, they must needs make guess of the strait wherethrough</p> -<p class="i0">They should win forth out of Tritônis’ mere; neither any device</p> -<p class="i0">Long had they, but all day long were they drifting in aimless wise. {1540}</p> -<p class="i0">And as writheth a serpent along his crooked path, when beat</p> -<p class="i0">The rays of the sun on the land, and scorch him with fiercest heat,</p> -<p class="i0">And with hissing to this side and that side he turneth his head, and his eyne,</p> -<p class="i0">Like unto sparks that leap from the furnace, glitter and shine</p> -<p class="i0">For his fury, until to his lair through a cleft of the rock he may creep;</p> -<p class="i0">So Argo, seeking a mouth of the mere, a fairway deep,</p> -<p class="i0">Long time tacked to and fro. Then Orpheus suddenly spake,</p> -<p class="i0">That Apollo’s massy tripod forth of the ship they should take,</p> -<p class="i0">And propitiate the Gods of the land therewith for their home-going’s sake.</p> -<p class="i0">So went they, and set Apollo’s goodly gift on the shore. {1550}</p> -<p class="i0">Then stood before them one, the form of a youth who bore,</p> -<p class="i0">Even Triton the Wide-dominioned. From earth he uplifted a clod,</p> -<p class="i0">And he held it forth for his Stranger’s Gift; and spake the God:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Receive it, my friends: no gift exceeding goodly to see</p> -<p class="i0">Here have I now to give unto them which seek unto me.</p> -<p class="i0">But and if ye inquire touching this sea’s paths—as many a time</p> -<p class="i0">Is the need of men whose journeyings pass through an alien clime—</p> -<p class="i0">I will tell you, seeing Poseidon hath made me to understand</p> -<p class="i0">This sea, for that he is my father, and I am the king of the land</p> -<p class="i0">By the sea—if perchance to your ears from afar Eurypylus’ name, {1560}</p> -<p class="i0">Son of the Land of the Beasts of Ravin, from Libya came.’</p> - -<p class="i1">He spake, and Euphêmus outstretched his hands right joyfully</p> -<p class="i0">That gift of the clod to receive, and answering thus spake he:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘If thou peradventure of Atthis and Minos’ sea dost know,</p> -<p class="i0">O hero, to us who inquire the truth unfailing show.</p> -<p class="i0">For not of our will have we hitherward come, but the tempests’ might</p> -<p class="i0">Hath hurled us afar, on the borders of this your land to light:</p> -<p class="i0">And our galley, shoulder-uplifted, a weary burden, I wis,</p> -<p class="i0">Through the desert we bare to the waves of thy mere. But we know not this,</p> -<p class="i0">Whereby we shall sail thereout to win unto Pelops’ land.’ {1570}</p> - -<p class="i1">He spake, and afar that other pointed, outstretching his hand</p> -<p class="i0">To the sea, and the mouth of the deep-channelled mere, and he spake the word:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Lo, yonder lieth the path to the sea, where the deeps unstirred</p> -<p class="i0">Darkest are gleaming: on either hand roll breakers white</p> -<p class="i0">Green-glimmering under their shivering crests, and on forthright</p> -<p class="i0">Through the lane of the breakers a straight path lieth to win from the mere.</p> -<p class="i0">And yon sea misty in distance beyond Crete stretcheth clear</p> -<p class="i0">To the sacred land of Pelops. But rightward still steer ye,</p> -<p class="i0">When forth of the mere ye have thrust, and ye ride on the swell of the sea.</p> -<p class="i0">And so long speed ye onward your course, close-hugging the land, {1580}</p> -<p class="i0">Till ye come to an inland-trending gulf; and then shall ye stand</p> -<p class="i0">Boldly across to the ness where endeth the sweep of the shore</p> -<p class="i0">Beyond. Therefrom shall your course be perplexity-troubled no more.</p> -<p class="i0">Now pass on your way rejoicing: let no man grieve the while</p> -<p class="i0">That your limbs must labour, while yet ye have strength of your youth for toil.’</p> - -<p class="i1">With kindly counsel he spake; and they hied them aboard once more,</p> -<p class="i0">With intent to get them forth of the mere by toil of the oar.</p> -<p class="i0">On sped they with eager purpose: and now did Triton take</p> -<p class="i0">On his shoulder the mighty tripod; and now did he enter the lake,</p> -<p class="i0">And they saw:—but thereafter did no man mark how he vanished from sight {1590}</p> -<p class="i0">With the tripod, anigh though he were. Then each man’s heart grew light,</p> -<p class="i0">For that now for their helping had met them one of the Gods ever-blest.</p> -<p class="i0">And they cried unto Aison’s son to take of their sheep the best,</p> -<p class="i0">And to sacrifice to the God, and to chant the hymn of praise.</p> -<p class="i0">Then straightway he chose it in haste, and the victim on high did he raise,</p> -<p class="i0">And slew it there on the stern, and the sacrifice-prayer he cried:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Thou God, who hast manifested thyself on the mere’s lone side,—</p> -<p class="i0">Whether Triton the great sea-marvel thou be, or whether thy name</p> -<p class="i0">Be Phorkys or Nereus mid Sea-nymphs of Nereus’ loins which came,—</p> -<p class="i0">Be gracious thou, and vouchsafe heart-gladdening home-return.’ {1600}</p> - -<p class="i1">So praying he severed the throat of the victim, and down from the stern</p> -<p class="i0">Mid the waves did he cast it. Out of the deep yet again did he rise:</p> -<p class="i0">In his own true form as a God was he manifest unto their eyes.</p> -<p class="i0">And as when one traineth a fleet-foot steed for the broad race-course,</p> -<p class="i0">Grasping the flowing mane of the hest-obeying horse,</p> -<p class="i0">Running lightly beside him, while high he is arching his neck in his pride,</p> -<p class="i0">And followeth on, and the gleaming bit, as from side to side</p> -<p class="i0">He rolleth it ’twixt his champing jaws, is clashing and ringing;</p> -<p class="i0">Even so with his hand to the keel of hollow Argo clinging,</p> -<p class="i0">Seaward he thrust her; and all his form, from the stately crown {1610}</p> -<p class="i0">Of his head, over back and waist and navel, thus far down</p> -<p class="i0">Was his wondrous shape even such as the Gods ever-blessèd are.</p> -<p class="i0">But down from his loins the tail of a sea-beast lengthened far</p> -<p class="i0">Forking to this side and that, and he lashed the face of the tide</p> -<p class="i0">With his spines, which parted below into fins outcurving wide</p> -<p class="i0">In fashion like to the horns of the moon when the month is new.</p> -<p class="i0">Onward he drave her, till sped from the thrust of his hand she flew</p> -<p class="i0">To the sea: then sank he mid fathomless depths, and the heroes all</p> -<p class="i0">Shouted, whose eyes beheld that awesome marvel befall.</p> -<p class="i0">There is the haven of Argo, and there are the signs of her stay: {1620}</p> -<p class="i0">There stand to Poseidon and Triton altars unto this day;</p> -<p class="i0">Forasmuch as for that day tarried they there. But with sail outspread</p> -<p class="i0">At the dawning again before the West-wind’s breath they fled.</p> -<p class="i0">And ever they kept the while that desert land to the right.</p> -<p class="i0">On the morning thereafter the ness they beheld, and the long sea-bight</p> -<p class="i0">Inland-trending beyond that seaward-jutting ness.</p> -<p class="i0">Then straightway the West-wind failed them, but blew the breath no less</p> -<p class="i0">Of the cloudless South; and their hearts rejoiced, in the sail as it sighed.</p> -<p class="i0">And the sun went down, and uprose the star of the folding-tide,</p> -<p class="i0">Which bringeth from labour rest unto ploughmen toil-fordone. {1630}</p> -<p class="i0">Even then, when the wind died down as the darkling night drew on,</p> -<p class="i0">Furled they the idle sail, and the mast exceeding tall</p> -<p class="i0">They lowered, and now to the toil of the polished oar did they fall</p> -<p class="i0">All through the night and the day, and, when failed the light of the day,</p> -<p class="i0">Through the night thereafter, till rugged Karpathos far away</p> -<p class="i0">Welcomed them: thence did they shape their course unto where rose high</p> -<p class="i0">Crete above all the rest of the isles in the sea which lie.</p> - -<p class="i1">There Talos, the man of brass, from the stubborn scaur as he tore</p> -<p class="i0">Rock-shards, withstood them from making the hawsers fast to the shore,</p> -<p class="i0">When came to the roadstead of Dirkê’s haven the sea-worn ones. {1640}</p> -<p class="i0">Now he was the last of the brazen stock of the Ash-tree’s sons:</p> -<p class="i0">In the days of the Sons of the Gods none other on earth abode.</p> -<p class="i0">Him on Europa to guard her island Kronion bestowed;</p> -<p class="i0">And thrice round Crete each day with his brazen feet he strode.</p> -<p class="i0">Now in all the rest of his body and limbs was he fashioned of brass</p> -<p class="i0">Which might not be broken: howbeit a blood-red vein there was</p> -<p class="i0">By his ankle beneath the sinew, and guarded therewithin</p> -<p class="i0">Were the issues of life and of death by nought save a film of skin.</p> -<p class="i0">And the men were with travail outworn, yet aloof from the land drew they</p> -<p class="i0">Their ship with the backward sweep of the oars, in exceeding dismay. {1650}</p> -<p class="i0">To the outsea now from Crete had they turned them in plight forlorn,</p> -<p class="i0">Tormented with thirst, and by all their travail-pain outworn;</p> -<p class="i0">But, even as they turned them, Medea spake to the hero-crew:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Hear me: alone, I ween, can I for your helping subdue</p> -<p class="i0">Yon man, whosoever he be, though fashioned of brass all through</p> -<p class="i0">Be his body, except he have life everlasting added thereto.</p> -<p class="i0">But consent ye to keep hereby your galley beyond the flight</p> -<p class="i0">Of his stones, till he yield unto me his overmastered might.’</p> - -<p class="i1">Then backed they the galley, beyond the cast of his arm, to rest</p> -<p class="i0">On the oars; and they waited to see what counsel, of all unguessed, {1660}</p> -<p class="i0">She would bring to pass. Then on either side of her cheeks did she hold</p> -<p class="i0">For a veil before her face her purple mantle’s fold.</p> -<p class="i0">Then up to the deck she went, and her hand did Aison’s son</p> -<p class="i0">Grasp in his own, and from thwart to thwart so led her on.</p> -<p class="i0">And the spell-chant raised she: the Fates with singing invoked she there,</p> -<p class="i0">Devourers of souls, swift hounds of Hades, through all the air</p> -<p class="i0">Which be hovering ever, and swoop on the doomed the living among.</p> -<p class="i0">Bowing the knee unto these three times she invoked them with song,</p> -<p class="i0">And thrice with prayer; and with soul unto mischief shapen she cast</p> -<p class="i0">The glance of the evil eye upon Talos, his vision to blast. {1670}</p> -<p class="i0">And her teeth gnashed fury accursèd upon him, the arms of her waved</p> -<p class="i0">Beckonings of doom, as of one that in frenzy of hatred raved.</p> - -<p class="i1">Zeus Father, awe as a wind on my spirit bloweth chill,</p> -<p class="i0">Seeing how by disease not alone, nor by wounds, the doom of ill</p> -<p class="i0">Meeteth us, yea, how one from afar shall work our bane!</p> -<p class="i0">Even as he, though brazen, yielded yet to be slain</p> -<p class="i0">By the might of Medea the sorceress. Then, as he heaved on high</p> -<p class="i0">The massy rocks to withstand them from coming the haven anigh,</p> -<p class="i0">On a spur of the crag did he graze his heel, and the ichor-flood</p> -<p class="i0">Like melting lead gushed forth: nor long thereafter he stood {1680}</p> -<p class="i0">Towering up on the rock out-jutting that frowned o’er the brine.</p> -<p class="i0">But, even as high on the mountain side a giant pine,—</p> -<p class="i0">Which the woodmen have left, when adown from the forest at even they hie,</p> -<p class="i0">With the keen axe half hewn through,—as the winds of the night pass by,</p> -<p class="i0">Shivereth first in the blast, and swayeth; but, snapt ere long</p> -<p class="i0">At the stump, down falleth; so he on his feet all tireless-strong</p> -<p class="i0">For a little space yet stood, yet swayed he to and fro.</p> -<p class="i0">Thereafter all strengthless fell with a mighty crash their foe.</p> -<p class="i0">For that night there on the shore of Crete did the heroes lie;</p> -<p class="i0">But thereafter, so soon as the glow of the dawn overflushed the sky, {1690}</p> -<p class="i0">A fane to Athênê Minôïs builded they thereby.</p> -<p class="i0">Then water they drew them, and hied them aboard, that with oars swift-sped</p> -<p class="i0">Before all else they might pass beyond Salmônê’s Head.</p> - -<p class="i1">But even as they ran over Crete’s wide sea, all suddenly came</p> -<p class="i0">A horror of darkness on them, which the Pall of Blackness they name,</p> -<p class="i0">The Night of Destruction. No stars shone through it, no faint ray gleamed</p> -<p class="i0">Of the moon: black chaos from heaven descended, or haply upstreamed</p> -<p class="i0">Darkness that might be felt from the depths of the nethermost hell.</p> -<p class="i0">And whether through Hades they drifted, or heaved on the waters’ swell,</p> -<p class="i0">Nowise they knew; but unto the sea in helpless despair {1700}</p> -<p class="i0">They committed their home-return, to bear as it would. But in prayer</p> -<p class="i0">Cried Jason with mighty voice, and to Phœbus his hands did he raise,</p> -<p class="i0">Calling on him to save them, the while the tears ran down his face</p> -<p class="i0">In his trouble. To Pytho and Amyklae promised he once and again</p> -<p class="i0">Offerings unnumbered to bear, and gifts to Ortygia’s fane.</p> -<p class="i0">And thou, O Lêto’s son, wast swift to hear: from on high</p> -<p class="i0">Unto Melas’ rocks thou descendedst, amidst of the sea which lie.</p> -<p class="i0">Twin peaks hath the isle: upon one thereof didst thou dart, and stand</p> -<p class="i0">Uplifting on high thy golden bow in a God’s right hand.</p> -<p class="i0">Flashed round thee on every side the bow’s bright splendour-sheen. {1710}</p> -<p class="i0">Then of the voyagers’ eyes was a little island seen</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Sporades, overagainst Hippuris’ tiny isle.</p> -<p class="i0">There cast they anchor, and waited: and soon Dawn’s rosy smile</p> -<p class="i0">Flushed up through the sky. In a tree-shadowed dell to Apollo they made</p> -<p class="i0">A goodly hallowed place, and an altar mid twilight of shade.</p> -<p class="i0">And the Splendour-god, because of the splendour that far-seen flamed,</p> -<p class="i0">Phœbus they called; and Anaphê, ‘Isle of Revealing,’ they named</p> -<p class="i0">That rock, for that Phœbus revealed it to men bewildered sore.</p> -<p class="i0">And they sacrificed whatso men might provide on a desolate shore</p> -<p class="i0">For the sacrifice: but when, for that wine they had none, they shed {1720}</p> -<p class="i0">Water over the brands on the altar glowing red,</p> -<p class="i0">Medea’s Phaeacian maidens beholding them could not refrain</p> -<p class="i0">The laughter their bosoms within any more; for that oxen slain</p> -<p class="i0">For the sacrifice in Alcinoüs’ halls had they seen full oft.</p> -<p class="i0">But the heroes with mirthful hearts cast back their railing, and scoffed</p> -<p class="i0">With gibing words: and so, like the flame’s light-flickering play,</p> -<p class="i0">Flashed taunts ’twixt these and contention of jesting. And unto this day,</p> -<p class="i0">From the old song-sport of the heroes, in that isle women fling</p> -<p class="i0">Even such light scoffs at the men when gifts of atonement they bring</p> -<p class="i0">To Apollo the Splendour-god, unto Anaphê’s Warder-king. {1730}</p> - -<p class="i1">But when thence they had loosed the hawsers, when summer-winds blew light,</p> -<p class="i0">Then did Euphêmus call to remembrance a dream of the night,</p> -<p class="i0">In his awe of the glorious son of Maia. For lo, him thought</p> -<p class="i0">That the god-given clod in his palm close unto his breast he had caught.</p> -<p class="i0">And therefrom like a suckling babe white streams of milk it drew,</p> -<p class="i0">Till the clod, for all that so little it were, to a woman grew</p> -<p class="i0">Like to a virgin. In love’s embrace, by desire overborne,</p> -<p class="i0">Did he lie with the damsel: yet even as a maiden for ruth did he mourn</p> -<p class="i0">To have humbled her whom the very milk of his breast had fed.</p> -<p class="i0">But she with unangry words spake comfort to him, and she said: {1740}</p> - -<p class="i1">‘Offspring of Triton am I, and the nurse of thy children to be:</p> -<p class="i0">No maid, dear friend; for that Triton and Libya gave birth unto me.</p> -<p class="i0">But me to the maidens the Daughters of Nereus do thou restore</p> -<p class="i0">To dwell in the sea nigh Anaphê’s isle. I shall rise once more</p> -<p class="i0">To the light of the sun, for thy children’s children a home prepared.’</p> - -<p class="i1">Now his heart called this to remembrance; and all that dream he declared</p> -<p class="i0">Unto Aison’s son: then he mused in his soul on a prophecy</p> -<p class="i0">Of the Smiter from Far, and he uttered his thought, and thus spake he:</p> - -<p class="i1">‘O strange!—of a surety a weird of glorious renown is thine!</p> -<p class="i0">For the Gods shall make this clod, when thou castest it into the brine, {1750}</p> -<p class="i0">An island, wherein thy children’s children hereafter shall live.</p> -<p class="i0">For this was the stranger’s-gift which Triton did freely give</p> -<p class="i0">To thine hand on the Libyan shore. Of the Gods that abide for aye</p> -<p class="i0">None other was he who gave, when he met thee there in the way.’</p> - -<p class="i1">He spake, and Euphêmus set not at nought that answering word;</p> -<p class="i0">But his heart for the Aisonid’s oracle-promise was gladness-stirred;</p> -<p class="i0">And he cast ’mid the surges the clod. Thence rose up an isle from the sea,</p> -<p class="i0">Kallistê, the sacred nurse of Euphêmus’ children to be,</p> -<p class="i0">Which in Sintian Lemnos wont to dwell in the ancient days,</p> -<p class="i0">And from Lemnos were driven forth by men of Tyrrhenian race; {1760}</p> -<p class="i0">And to Sparta as suppliants came they: from Sparta fared they on,</p> -<p class="i0">Until they were led of Thôras, Autesion’s mighty son,</p> -<p class="i0">To Kallistê: then changed they its name, and Thôra the isle did they call</p> -<p class="i0">From their chief:—but after Euphêmus’ days did this befall.</p> - -<p class="i1">Thence parting, unhindered o’er long sea-rollers untold did they fare</p> -<p class="i0">Till they stayed on Aigina’s beach; and in innocent rivalry there</p> -<p class="i0">Hero with hero contended, the while the water they drew,</p> -<p class="i0">Who first should draw it, and who to the ship win first of the crew.</p> -<p class="i0">For their need, and withal the fresh strong breeze, bade hasten away.</p> -<p class="i0">Wherefore it cometh that yet do the youths of the Myrmidons lay {1770}</p> -<p class="i0">On their shoulders the jars full-brimmed, and burdened so do they speed</p> -<p class="i0">With light-running feet o’er the race-course striving for victory’s meed.</p> - -<p class="i1">Be gracious, O blest generation of chieftains!—may these lays ring</p> -<p class="i0">Year after year in the ears of men ever sweeter to sing!</p> -<p class="i0">For now at the last am I come to the glorious ending of all,</p> -<p class="i0">To the bourne of your travail: for struggle nor strife did thereafter befall</p> -<p class="i0">Unto you, as homeward-bound from Aigina did Argo flee,</p> -<p class="i0">Neither tempest of winds brake forth; but over a peaceful sea</p> -<p class="i0">By the land of Kekrops, by Aulis coasting, and under the lee</p> -<p class="i0">Of Eubœa, by cities Opuntian of Lokrian men did ye fleet, {1780}</p> -<p class="i0">Till with rapture of welcome on Pagasae’s strand ye set your feet.</p> - -<p class="end">[The End]</p> - - -<h2 id="ednote"> -EDITOR’S NOTE -</h2> - -<p> -<i>This rendering of the</i> ‘Argonautica,’ <i>now first published, has -been translated from the original Greek by</i> Arthur S. Way, M.A., -<i>the gifted translator of</i> ‘Homer’s Iliad <i>and</i> Odyssey,’ ‘<i>the</i> -Tragedies <i>of</i> Euripides,’ <i>and</i> ‘<i>the</i> Epodes <i>of</i> Horace.’ <i>In the -accompanying ‘Epilogue’ the translator summarises the literary -history of the poem, and indicates its place in Greek literature. -The earlier English versions of the poem are the verse renderings -by</i> Fawkes <i>and</i> Green (1780), <i>and</i> Preston (1803). <i>These -translations are in the style of Pope; Preston’s effort is the -better; it is in three volumes, the second and third containing -elaborate introductions and notes. The two poetical versions have -been long out of print, and are now very rare. There is also an -English prose rendering by</i> Coleridge (Bohn, 1889). -</p> - -<p> -<i>As in the case of</i> Chapman’s ‘Iliads,’ <i>the Publishers have thought -it well to allow the type to run into the margin, so as to avoid the -turning of the lines.</i> -</p> - -<p> -<i>The General Editor desires to thank</i> Mr. Way <i>for generously -placing this new version of the old poem at his disposal for -inclusion in the present series; he feels sure that many readers -will appreciate this new-old treasure from ‘the realms of gold.’</i> -</p> - -<p class="sign1"> -I. G. -</p> - -<p> -<i>Shakespeare’s Day</i>, 1901. -</p> - - -<h2 id="epilogue"> -THE TRANSLATOR’S EPILOGUE -</h2> - -<p class="noindent"> -<span class="sc">The</span> historian, if asked to name the country and the period in which -literary men—not popular novelists, but men whose incentive to -labour is the love of literature, science, research—were in the -most enviable position, would go very far back from the present time, -and point to Egypt as the country, and the three centuries before -Christ as the period. ‘The history of literature,’ it has been said, -‘is hardly anything but a martyrology, as though there were a -conspiracy of ingratitude among men:’ but the respect, honour and -support accorded to literary genius under the Ptolemies form a -striking contrast to its fate in other lands and epochs. -</p> - -<p> -When, on the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 B.C., his vast -empire was divided amongst his generals, one of them, Ptolemy Soter, -became king of Egypt. Once established in his kingdom, he soon proved -that he was very much more than a mere soldier. He was a man of -brains, with a taste for literature, and a love for those who pursued -it. His successors were worthy of him: the Ptolemies created an era in -the history of literature; they made learning the fashion, and -scholars, poets and men of science honourable. -</p> - -<p> -Ptolemy I. (Soter) built at Alexandria a magnificent palace of -learning, the Museum. This ‘Temple of the Muses’ was such in a -very literal sense, and so was very much more than a museum in the -restricted sense now commonly understood. It was a Residential Royal -Academy of Literature, the Resident Fellows of which were literary -men. The first great annexe to the Museum was a Library, which the -king spared no expense to make complete, and thus he attracted -scholars from all Greek-speaking countries. His successor further -enlarged the library, and added galleries of pictures and statues, and -commenced a natural history museum. So it went on: Ptolemy after -Ptolemy added to the completeness and magnificence of the now -world-famous library, and amassed wealth of art-treasures and -curiosities from all parts of the world. The foundation was richly -endowed, so that the poets, scholars and scientists who dwelt there -lived without a care, in sheltered comfort (Timon the Phliasian -satirically called it ‘the coop’), with every advantage for the -prosecution of their labours, and (after the days of Ptolemy V. -204-181 B.C.) the prospect of a pension. There was a hall where they -all dined, the king himself being sometimes of the company. Through -generation after generation this institution was the hobby of the -kings of Egypt, some of whom were themselves proud to be of the -brotherhood of authors, and who vied with each other in fostering -genius, talent and plodding industry, with a splendour, lavishness and -zeal unapproached in any other age or country. It was Ptolemy II. -(Philadelphus) under whose auspices was produced the great translation -of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, known as the Septuagint, from which -the authors of the New Testament quote. When Egypt passed under the -dominion of Rome, the Museum and its endowments did not suffer. Livy -speaks of it as a noble monument of the wealth of the Egyptian kings; -and Ammianus Marcellinus says that till the time of Aurelian (A.D. -270-275), the Museum ‘continued to be the habitation of scholars.’ -The College, or Royal Society of Literature, so nobly housed, was -under the government of a President, nominated first by the Ptolemies, -afterwards by the Roman Emperors. -</p> - -<p> -Of course, patronage cannot create genius, though it can provide -conditions favourable to its development; and but few men of genius -appeared during this long period of the establishment and endowment of -literature. But the general level of culture was raised, and the -amount of literary work done was immense. A great deal of learned -labour was expended upon the interpretation of Homer. ‘It may indeed -be said,’ remarks Prof. Mahaffy, ‘that all philology among the Greeks, -all textual and grammatical criticism, arose from the desire to -purify and to understand the text of Homer, and then of other old -poets.’ At the same time, however, while nothing was more -meritorious than the <i>rôle</i> of the commentator on Homer, nothing was -less so than any attempt to imitate him, or to revive, in any shape or -form, epic poetry. It was settled as an axiom beyond controversy that -the age of great sustained poems was past, that the age of literary -gem-work, of perfect finish in minute details, ‘of art for art’s -sake,’ had come to stay. So poets were to restrict themselves to -‘short swallow-flights of song,’ fables, hymns to various deities -and sacred places, elegies, epigrams, the one thing needful being that -every line should be a model of polished brilliance, and that each -poem should be a mine of learned allusion. Of this literary faith and -practice the great champion and exponent was Callimachus.[<a href="#fn1b" id="fn1a">1</a>] He was, -in the days of Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-247 B.C.), President of the -Museum, and, in Prof. Murray’s words, ‘was perhaps the most -influential personality in literature between Plato and Cicero.’ -Philologist, archaeologist, historian, dramatist, poet, -critic—there was scarcely a department of literature in which he -did not, in the view of his contemporaries, excel; and his industry -was enormous. As an example of the scale on which he worked, it is -sufficient to mention just one of his many productions—an -Encyclopædia of Literature, biographical, bibliographical and -critical, in one hundred and twenty books. The prestige of his -official position, coupled with his exact interpretation of the -demands and capacities of his age, made him the autocrat of letters. -He carved with incisive criticism, and lashed with merciless ridicule, -the <i>Thebaid</i>, an epic written by Antimachus of Colophon in imitation -of Homer, a work which the Emperor Hadrian, long afterwards, -pronounced superior to Homer’s—from which fact we learn more -perhaps of Hadrian than of the <i>Thebaid</i>. We can faintly imagine, -then, with what scornful indignation Callimachus heard that a pupil of -his own, a young inmate of the Museum, who owed all his literary -culture to its head, had revolted from the cardinal principles of the -one literary faith, had actually written an epic! -</p> - -<p> -Apollonius, son of Illeus (or Silleus), born, about 270 B.C., at -Naucratis (or, according to other accounts, at Alexandria), was -kindled by his studies in Homer to attempt a theme never yet worthily -sung—the story of the Quest of the Golden Fleece by heroes who -were the fathers of those whose exploits Homer sang. He can hardly -have been ignorant of his master’s views on the subject of modern -epics; but he may well have felt some confidence that he could do that -which would prove them wrong, and may have given Callimachus credit -for magnanimity enough to confess himself mistaken when confronted -with the actual achievement of that which he had pronounced -impossible. -</p> - -<p> -He completed his task, and gave a public reading of his epic, probably -in the lecture-hall of the Museum. Its reception was a bitter -disappointment for him. The audience took its cue from the -all-powerful President; and before the storm of impatient -interruptions, angry disapproval and contemptuous laughter the poor -lad—he was not twenty—broke down, ‘flushing crimson with -mortification,’ as the old Greek biographer graphically records. He -recognised only too clearly who had taken the lead in crushing him, -and tried to retaliate in satirical verse and stinging epigram. But it -is given to few to be as effective with this weapon as Dryden or -Byron, and Apollonius found that his enemy’s artillery, discharged -as it was from the vantage-ground of social influence and official -authority, overmatched his own. Callimachus was not ashamed to put -forth all his strength against his young and friendless opponent; and -his bitter satire, <i>The Ibis</i>,[<a href="#fn2b" id="fn2a">2</a>] seems to have displayed no little -ability and power of invective. It long survived the occasion for -which it was written, and must have been, in its kind, of some merit, -since, personal and local though it was, its celebrity lasted till the -Augustan age of Rome. Ovid took it as his model in his satirical poem -of the same name. -</p> - -<p> -The young poet found literary life in Alexandria made impossible for -him, and (invited perhaps by sympathisers) he sailed thence to Rhodes. -He there produced a revised version of his epic, and was comforted by -the applause with which the Rhodians received it. Honoured by all, and -presented with the freedom of the city, he gratefully took for his -country the land where he was appreciated, and was proud to be known -as ‘Apollonius of Rhodes.’ He lived there many years, a renowned -poet, and a popular professor of rhetoric. Meanwhile at Alexandria his -old enemy died: the old literary cliques were no more: the fame of the -prophet who had been without honour in his own country had recrossed -the sea: men longed to atone for the neglect which was a discredit to -themselves; and Apollonius was given to understand that a warm welcome -was prepared for him in the land of his birth. The temptation to -triumph on the scene of his humiliation was irresistible. He returned -to Egypt: he read his poem to enthusiastic audiences: the opportune -death of Eratosthenes, who had succeeded Callimachus as President and -Chief Librarian, created a vacancy for which Apollonius was acclaimed -the only possible successor. So, installed as the head of the culture -and learning of the Greek world, he lived days of peaceful industry -and satisfied ambition, till, full of years and honours, he passed -away, and, as though to symbolise forgiveness and oblivion of old -feuds, was buried beside his old master, Callimachus. -</p> - -<p> -Like all the Alexandrian scholars, he was busy with his pen to the -last. His most important works, besides the ‘Tale of the Argonauts,’ -were the ‘Foundations,’ poems embodying the stories or legends of the -origin or foundation of famous cities, such as Rhodes, Cnidus, -Alexandria. But of them all only nine and a half lines survive, and -it is on the <i>Argonautica</i> that his fame must rest. The poem is, like -the epics of Vergil, Tasso, Tennyson, the work of a student, and not, -like those of Homer, the work of a man who had been a part of the -life he described. Apollonius connected the Argonauts with all the -legends or myths belonging to the places they might be supposed to -have visited, gathering materials for this part of his work from the -rich libraries in which he wrote. Hence we find traces of his having -more matter than he quite knew what to do with; and his digressions -on the origins of cities, names, rites, and so forth, are occasionally -such as the average reader will skip. Still, all together, they do not -occupy proportionally as much space as the similarly little-read -Catalogue of the Ships in the <i>Iliad</i>. -</p> - -<p> -There can be no doubt that the <i>Argonautica</i> was for the ancients the -one great epic between Homer and Vergil. Even contemporaries wrote -commentaries on it. It was popular among the Romans. P. T. Varro -earned fame by his translation of it, and Val. Flaccus wrote a Latin -Argonautica, which was but a free translation of the Greek original. -But his noblest eulogy will be found in the pages of Vergil, who drew -no small part of his inspiration from him, transferring to his -<i>Æneid</i> at least a score of episodes, similes, or picturesque -touches. -</p> - -<p> -On the other hand, Apollonius is very far from being an imitator of -Homer. He is, indeed, considering the atmosphere in which his genius -was trained, amazingly original; and it is not the least proof of his -genius that he recognised that his strength lay in the very things -which were either neglected, or lightly touched on, by Homer. The -elaborate picturesqueness and unfailing <i>verve</i> with which he -describes the coasting voyages, the weird desolation of the Libyan -sands, the gauntlet-fight, the battle with the giants, the passage of -the Clashing Crags, and that of the Wandering Rocks, the ploughing -with the brazen bulls, and many other such incidents, are examples of -work of which Homer gives but slight and occasional examples: while -the great and crowning achievement of the poem, the story of Medea’s -passion, with its fierce fervour, its thrilling pathos, its lovely -tenderness and virginal purity, its strangely modern introspectiveness -and analysis of motives, is absolutely without parallel, not in Homer -alone, but in any Greek poet whose works have come down to us. Even -Vergil, with all his human sympathy, with all the advantage of having -such a model before him, cannot rise to the same height: the love of -Dido is a pale reflex of that of Medea. It is curious, too, to note -that, even in the minor matter of similes, Apollonius remains -original. In only one (Bk. II. 541-548, where he somewhat expands -Homer’s thought) can he be charged with imitation. -</p> - -<p> -The argument has been well summed up by Prof. R. Ellis:—‘For -Apollonius the problem was how to write an epic which should be -modelled on the Homeric epics, yet be so completely different as to -suggest, not resemblance, but contrast. We think no one who has read -even a hundred lines of the poem can fail to be struck by this. It is -in fact the reason why it is a success. The <i>Argonautica</i> could not -have been written without the <i>Iliad</i> and <i>Odyssey</i>, but it is in no -sense an echo of either. Nay, we believe that a minute examination of -Apollonius’ language and rhythm would show that he placed himself -under the most rigid laws of <i>intentional dissimilarity</i>. Not that -this is more than one element of his success. His genius is quite as -real an element; and no one will deny this who has studied the -successive phases of Medea’s passion in Book III. If, indeed, -greatness could be tested by the extent of influence after death, the -poem of Apollonius can rank only with the best works of Greek -literature.’ -</p> - - -<h2 id="footnotes"> -FOOTNOTES -</h2> - -<p> -[<a href="#fn1a" id="fn1b">1</a>] -To him is attributed the saying, ‘A great book is a great evil.’ -</p> - -<p> -[<a href="#fn2a" id="fn2b">2</a>] -‘The Bird of the Nile’ in satirical allusion to Apollonius’ birthplace -being beside that river. -</p> - - -<h2> -TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES -</h2> - -<p class="noindent"> -Alterations to the text: -</p> - -<p> -[<a href="#fix_b1_l1263a" id="fix_b1_l1263b">Book I, l. 1263</a>] Change “In fury <i>in</i> flung to the earth the -pine...” to <i>he</i>. -</p> - -<p> -[Book IV] Add missing line numbers: 20 to “And there had the maiden -beyond...”, and 1170 to “So soon as the dawn with her...”. -</p> - -<p> -[<a href="#fix_b4_l754a" id="fix_b4_l754b">Book IV, l. 754</a>] Change “Tidings to her, <i>whan</i> she spied...” to -<i>when</i>. -</p> - -<p> -Note: minor spelling inconsistencies (<i>e.g.</i> Arês/Ares, Lêto/Leto, -Tritônis/Tritonis, etc.) were left as-is. -</p> - -<p class="end">[End of Text]</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF THE ARGONAUTS ***</div> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>This file should be named 64235-h.htm or 64235-h.zip</div> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in https://www.gutenberg.org/6/4/2/3/64235/</div> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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