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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Argonautica, 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'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: The Argonautica
+
+Author: Apollonius Rhodius
+
+Release Date: July 21, 2008 [EBook #830]
+Last updated: January 9, 2020
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ARGONAUTICA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Douglas B. Killings, and David Widger
+
+[Illustration] 
+
+
+
+
+The Argonautica
+
+by Apollonius Rhodius
+
+
+Originally written in Ancient Greek sometime in the 3rd Century B.C. by the
+Alexandrian poet Apollonius Rhodius (“Apollonius the Rhodian”).
+Translation by R.C. Seaton, 1912.
+
+SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY: ORIGINAL TEXT—
+
+Seaton, R.C. (Ed. & Trans.): “Apollonius Rhodius: Argonautica”
+(Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, 1912). Original Greek text with
+side-by-side English translation.
+
+OTHER TRANSLATIONS—
+
+Rieu, E.V. (Trans.): “Apollonius of Rhodes: The Voyage of the Argo”
+(Penguin Classics, London, 1959, 1971).
+
+RECOMMENDED READING—
+
+Euripides: “Medea”, “Hecabe”, “Electra”,
+and “Heracles”, translated by Philip Vellacott (Penguin Classics,
+London, 1963). Contains four plays by Euripides, two of which concern
+characters from “The Argonautica”.
+
+Contents
+
+ INTRODUCTION
+ THE ARGONAUTICA
+ BOOK I
+ BOOK II
+ BOOK III
+ BOOK IV
+ ENDNOTES
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+Much has been written about the chronology of Alexandrian literature
+and the famous Library, founded by Ptolemy Soter, but the dates of the
+chief writers are still matters of conjecture. The birth of Apollonius
+Rhodius is placed by scholars at various times between 296 and 260
+B.C., while the year of his death is equally uncertain. In fact, we
+have very little information on the subject. There are two “lives” of
+Apollonius in the Scholia, both derived from an earlier one which is
+lost. From these we learn that he was of Alexandria by birth,[1] that
+he lived in the time of the Ptolemies, and was a pupil of Callimachus;
+that while still a youth he composed and recited in public his
+_Argonautica_, and that the poem was condemned, in consequence of which
+he retired to Rhodes; that there he revised his poem, recited it with
+great applause, and hence called himself a Rhodian. The second “life”
+adds: “Some say that he returned to Alexandria and again recited his
+poem with the utmost success, so that he was honoured with the
+libraries of the Museum and was buried with Callimachus.” The last
+sentence may be interpreted by the notice of Suidas, who informs us
+that Apollonius was a contemporary of Eratosthenes, Euphorion and
+Timarchus, in the time of Ptolemy Euergetes, and that he succeeded
+Eratosthenes in the headship of the Alexandrian Library. Suidas also
+informs us elsewhere that Aristophanes at the age of sixty-two
+succeeded Apollonius in this office. Many modern scholars deny the
+“bibliothecariate” of Apollonius for chronological reasons, and there
+is considerable difficulty about it. The date of Callimachus’ _Hymn to
+Apollo_, which closes with some lines (105-113) that are admittedly an
+allusion to Apollonius, may be put with much probability at 248 or 247
+B.C. Apollonius must at that date have been at least twenty years old.
+Eratosthenes died 196-193 B.C. This would make Apollonius seventy-two
+to seventy-five when he succeeded Eratosthenes. This is not impossible,
+it is true, but it is difficult. But the difficulty is taken away if we
+assume with Ritschl that Eratosthenes resigned his office some years
+before his death, which allows us to put the birth of Apollonius at
+about 280, and would solve other difficulties. For instance, if the
+Librarians were buried within the precincts, it would account for the
+burial of Apollonius next to Callimachus—Eratosthenes being still
+alive. However that may be, it is rather arbitrary to take away the
+“bibliothecariate” of Apollonius, which is clearly asserted by Suidas,
+on account of chronological calculations which are themselves
+uncertain. Moreover, it is more probable that the words following “some
+say” in the second “life” are a remnant of the original life than a
+conjectural addition, because the first “life” is evidently incomplete,
+nothing being said about the end of Apollonius’ career.
+
+The principal event in his life, so far as we know, was the quarrel
+with his master Callimachus, which was most probably the cause of his
+condemnation at Alexandria and departure to Rhodes. This quarrel
+appears to have arisen from differences of literary aims and taste,
+but, as literary differences often do, degenerated into the bitterest
+personal strife. There are references to the quarrel in the writings of
+both. Callimachus attacks Apollonius in the passage at the end of the
+_Hymn to Apollo_, already mentioned, also probably in some epigrams,
+but most of all in his _Ibis_, of which we have an imitation, or
+perhaps nearly a translation, in Ovid’s poem of the same name. On the
+part of Apollonius there is a passage in the third book of the
+_Argonautica_ (ll. 927-947) which is of a polemical nature and stands
+out from the context, and the well-known savage epigram upon
+Callimachus.[2] Various combinations have been attempted by scholars,
+notably by Couat, in his _Poésie Alexandrine_, to give a connected
+account of the quarrel, but we have not _data_ sufficient to determine
+the order of the attacks, and replies, and counter-attacks. The _Ibis_
+has been thought to mark the termination of the feud on the curious
+ground that it was impossible for abuse to go further. It was an age
+when literary men were more inclined to comment on writings of the past
+than to produce original work. Literature was engaged in taking stock
+of itself. Homer was, of course, professedly admired by all, but more
+admired than imitated. Epic poetry was out of fashion and we find many
+epigrams of this period—some by Callimachus—directed against the
+“cyclic” poets, by whom were meant at that time those who were always
+dragging in conventional and commonplace epithets and phrases peculiar
+to epic poetry. Callimachus was in accordance with the spirit of the
+age when he proclaimed “a great book” to be “a great evil”, and sought
+to confine poetical activity within the narrowest limits both of
+subject and space. Theocritus agreed with him, both in principle and
+practice. The chief characteristics of Alexandrianism are well
+summarized by Professor Robinson Ellis as follows: “Precision in form
+and metre, refinement in diction, a learning often degenerating into
+pedantry and obscurity, a resolute avoidance of everything commonplace
+in subject, sentiment or allusion.” These traits are more prominent in
+Callimachus than in Apollonius, but they are certainly to be seen in
+the latter. He seems to have written the _Argonautica_ out of bravado,
+to show that he _could_ write an epic poem. But the influence of the
+age was too strong. Instead of the unity of an Epic we have merely a
+series of episodes, and it is the great beauty and power of one of
+these episodes that gives the poem its permanent value—the episode of
+the love of Jason and Medea. This occupies the greater part of the
+third book. The first and second books are taken up with the history of
+the voyage to Colchis, while the fourth book describes the return
+voyage. These portions constitute a metrical guide book, filled no
+doubt with many pleasing episodes, such as the rape of Hylas, the
+boxing match between Pollux and Amyeus, the account of Cyzicus, the
+account of the Amazons, the legend of Talos, but there is no unity
+running through the poem beyond that of the voyage itself.
+
+The Tale of the Argonauts had been told often before in verse and
+prose, and many authors’ names are given in the Scholia to Apollonius,
+but their works have perished. The best known earlier account that we
+have is that in Pindar’s fourth Pythian ode, from which Apollonius has
+taken many details. The subject was one for an epic poem, for its unity
+might have been found in the working out of the expiation due for the
+crime of Athamas; but this motive is barely mentioned by our author.
+
+As we have it, the motive of the voyage is the command of Pelias to
+bring back the golden fleece, and this command is based on Pelias’
+desire to destroy Jason, while the divine aid given to Jason results
+from the intention of Hera to punish Pelias for his neglect of the
+honour due to her. The learning of Apollonius is not deep but it is
+curious; his general sentiments are not according to the Alexandrian
+standard, for they are simple and obvious. In the mass of material from
+which he had to choose the difficulty was to know what to omit, and
+much skill is shown in fusing into a tolerably harmonious whole
+conflicting mythological and historical details. He interweaves with
+his narrative local legends and the founding of cities, accounts of
+strange customs, descriptions of works of art, such as that of Ganymede
+and Eros playing with knucklebones,[3] but prosaically calls himself
+back to the point from these pleasing digressions by such an expression
+as “but this would take me too far from my song.” His business is the
+straightforward tale and nothing else. The astonishing geography of the
+fourth book reminds us of the interest of the age in that subject,
+stimulated no doubt by the researches of Eratosthenes and others.
+
+The language is that of the conventional epic. Apollonius seems to have
+carefully studied Homeric glosses, and gives many examples of isolated
+uses, but his choice of words is by no means limited to Homer. He
+freely avails himself of Alexandrian words and late uses of Homeric
+words. Among his contemporaries Apollonius suffers from a comparison
+with Theocritus, who was a little his senior, but he was much admired
+by Roman writers who derived inspiration from the great classical
+writers of Greece by way of Alexandria. In fact Alexandria was a useful
+bridge between Athens and Rome. The _Argonautica_ was translated by
+Varro Atacinus, copied by Ovid and Virgil, and minutely studied by
+Valerius Flaccus in his poem of the same name. Some of his finest
+passages have been appropriated and improved upon by Virgil by the
+divine right of superior genius.[4] The subject of love had been
+treated in the romantic spirit before the time of Apollonius in
+writings that have perished, for instance, in those of Antimachus of
+Colophon, but the _Argonautica_ is perhaps the first poem still extant
+in which the expression of this spirit is developed with elaboration.
+The Medea of Apollonius is the direct precursor of the Dido of Virgil,
+and it is the pathos and passion of the fourth book of the “Aeneid”
+that keep alive many a passage of Apollonius.
+
+
+
+
+THE ARGONAUTICA
+
+BOOK I
+
+
+Beginning with thee, O Phoebus, I will recount the famous deeds of men
+of old, who, at the behest of King Pelias, down through the mouth of
+Pontus and between the Cyanean rocks, sped well-benched Argo in quest
+of the golden fleece.
+
+Such was the oracle that Pelias heard, that a hateful doom awaited him
+to be slain at the prompting of the man whom he should see coming forth
+from the people with but one sandal. And no long time after, in
+accordance with that true report, Jason crossed the stream of wintry
+Anaurus on foot, and saved one sandal from the mire, but the other he
+left in the depths held back by the flood. And straightway he came to
+Pelias to share the banquet which the king was offering to his father
+Poseidon and the rest of the gods, though he paid no honour to
+Pelasgian Hera. Quickly the king saw him and pondered, and devised for
+him the toil of a troublous voyage, in order that on the sea or among
+strangers he might lose his home-return.
+
+The ship, as former bards relate, Argus wrought by the guidance of
+Athena. But now I will tell the lineage and the names of the heroes,
+and of the long sea-paths and the deeds they wrought in their
+wanderings; may the Muses be the inspirers of my song!
+
+First then let us name Orpheus whom once Calliope bare, it is said,
+wedded to Thracian Oeagrus, near the Pimpleian height. Men say that he
+by the music of his songs charmed the stubborn rocks upon the mountains
+and the course of rivers. And the wild oak-trees to this day, tokens of
+that magic strain, that grow at Zone on the Thracian shore, stand in
+ordered ranks close together, the same which under the charm of his
+lyre he led down from Pieria. Such then was Orpheus whom Aeson’s son
+welcomed to share his toils, in obedience to the behest of Cheiron,
+Orpheus ruler of Bistonian Pieria.
+
+Straightway came Asterion, whom Cometes begat by the waters of eddying
+Apidanus; he dwelt at Peiresiae near the Phylleian mount, where mighty
+Apidanus and bright Enipeus join their streams, coming together from
+afar.
+
+Next to them from Larisa came Polyphemus, son of Eilatus, who aforetime
+among the mighty Lapithae, when they were arming themselves against the
+Centaurs, fought in his younger days; now his limbs were grown heavy
+with age, but his martial spirit still remained, even as of old.
+
+Nor was Iphiclus long left behind in Phylace, the uncle of Aeson’s son;
+for Aeson had wedded his sister Alcimede, daughter of Phylacus: his
+kinship with her bade him be numbered in the host.
+
+Nor did Admetus, the lord of Pherae rich in sheep, stay behind beneath
+the peak of the Chalcodonian mount.
+
+Nor at Alope stayed the sons of Hermes, rich in corn-land, well skilled
+in craftiness, Erytus and Echion, and with them on their departure
+their kinsman Aethalides went as the third; him near the streams of
+Amphrysus Eupolemeia bare, the daughter of Myrmidon, from Phthia; the
+two others were sprung from Antianeira, daughter of Menetes.
+
+From rich Gyrton came Coronus, son of Caeneus, brave, but not braver
+than his father. For bards relate that Caeneus though still living
+perished at the hands of the Centaurs, when apart from other chiefs he
+routed them; and they, rallying against him, could neither bend nor
+slay him; but unconquered and unflinching he passed beneath the earth,
+overwhelmed by the downrush of massy pines.
+
+There came too Titaresian Mopsus, whom above all men the son of Leto
+taught the augury of birds; and Eurydamas the son of Ctimenus; he dwelt
+at Dolopian Ctimene near the Xynian lake.
+
+Moreover Actor sent his son Menoetius from Opus that he might accompany
+the chiefs.
+
+Eurytion followed and strong Eribotes, one the son of Teleon, the other
+of Irus, Actor’s son; the son of Teleon renowned Eribotes, and of Irus
+Eurytion. A third with them was Oileus, peerless in courage and well
+skilled to attack the flying foe, when they break their ranks.
+
+Now from Euboea came Canthus eager for the quest, whom Canethus son of
+Abas sent; but he was not destined to return to Cerinthus. For fate had
+ordained that he and Mopsus, skilled in the seer’s art, should wander
+and perish in the furthest ends of Libya. For no ill is too remote for
+mortals to incur, seeing that they buried them in Libya, as far from
+the Colchians as is the space that is seen between the setting and the
+rising of the sun.
+
+To him Clytius and Iphitus joined themselves, the warders of Oechalia,
+sons of Eurytus the ruthless, Eurytus, to whom the Far-shooting god
+gave his bow; but he had no joy of the gift; for of his own choice he
+strove even with the giver.
+
+After them came the sons of Aeacus, not both together, nor from the
+same spot; for they settled far from Aegina in exile, when in their
+folly they had slain their brother Phoeus. Telamon dwelt in the Attic
+island; but Peleus departed and made his home in Phthia.
+
+After them from Cecropia came warlike Butes, son of brave Teleon, and
+Phalerus of the ashen spear. Alcon his father sent him forth; yet no
+other sons had he to care for his old age and livelihood. But him, his
+well-beloved and only son, he sent forth that amid bold heroes he might
+shine conspicuous. But Theseus, who surpassed all the sons of
+Erechtheus, an unseen bond kept beneath the land of Taenarus, for he
+had followed that path with Peirithous; assuredly both would have
+lightened for all the fulfilment of their toil.
+
+Tiphys, son of Hagnias, left the Siphaean people of the Thespians, well
+skilled to foretell the rising wave on the broad sea, and well skilled
+to infer from sun and star the stormy winds and the time for sailing.
+Tritonian Athena herself urged him to join the band of chiefs, and he
+came among them a welcome comrade. She herself too fashioned the swift
+ship; and with her Argus, son of Arestor, wrought it by her counsels.
+Wherefore it proved the most excellent of all ships that have made
+trial of the sea with oars.
+
+After them came Phlias from Araethyrea, where he dwelt in affluence by
+the favour of his father Dionysus, in his home by the springs of
+Asopus.
+
+From Argos came Talaus and Areius, sons of Bias, and mighty Leodocus,
+all of whom Pero daughter of Neleus bare; on her account the Aeolid
+Melampus endured sore affliction in the steading of Iphiclus.
+
+Nor do we learn that Heracles of the mighty heart disregarded the eager
+summons of Aeson’s son. But when he heard a report of the heroes’
+gathering and had reached Lyrceian Argos from Arcadia by the road along
+which he carried the boar alive that fed in the thickets of Lampeia,
+near the vast Erymanthian swamp, the boar bound with chains he put down
+from his huge shoulders at the entrance to the market-place of Mycenae;
+and himself of his own will set out against the purpose of Eurystheus;
+and with him went Hylas, a brave comrade, in the flower of youth, to
+bear his arrows and to guard his bow.
+
+Next to him came a scion of the race of divine Danaus, Nauplius. He was
+the son of Clytonaeus son of Naubolus; Naubolus was son of Lernus;
+Lernus we know was the son of Proetus son of Nauplius; and once Amymone
+daughter of Danaus, wedded to Poseidon, bare Nauplius, who surpassed
+all men in naval skill.
+
+Idmon came last of all them that dwelt at Argos, for though he had
+learnt his own fate by augury, he came, that the people might not
+grudge him fair renown. He was not in truth the son of Abas, but Leto’s
+son himself begat him to be numbered among the illustrious Aeolids; and
+himself taught him the art of prophecy—to pay heed to birds and to
+observe the signs of the burning sacrifice.
+
+Moreover Aetolian Leda sent from Sparta strong Polydeuces and Castor,
+skilled to guide swift-footed steeds; these her dearly-loved sons she
+bare at one birth in the house of Tyndareus; nor did she forbid their
+departure; for she had thoughts worthy of the bride of Zeus.
+
+The sons of Aphareus, Lynceus and proud Idas, came from Arene, both
+exulting in their great strength; and Lynceus too excelled in keenest
+sight, if the report is true that that hero could easily direct his
+sight even beneath the earth.
+
+And with them Neleian Periclymenus set out to come, eldest of all the
+sons of godlike Neleus who were born at Pylos; Poseidon had given him
+boundless strength and granted him that whatever shape he should crave
+during the fight, that he should take in the stress of battle.
+
+Moreover from Arcadia came Amphidamas and Cepheus, who inhabited Tegea
+and the allotment of Apheidas, two sons of Aldus; and Ancaeus followed
+them as the third, whom his father Lycurgus sent, the brother older
+than both. But he was left in the city to care for Aleus now growing
+old, while he gave his son to join his brothers. Antaeus went clad in
+the skin of a Maenalian bear, and wielding in his right hand a huge
+two-edged battleaxe. For his armour his grandsire had hidden in the
+house’s innermost recess, to see if he might by some means still stay
+his departure.
+
+There came also Augeias, whom fame declared to be the son of Helios; he
+reigned over the Eleans, glorying in his wealth; and greatly he desired
+to behold the Colchian land and Aeetes himself the ruler of the
+Colchians.
+
+Asterius and Amphion, sons of Hyperasius, came from Achaean Pellene,
+which once Pelles their grandsire founded on the brows of Aegialus.
+
+After them from Taenarus came Euphemus whom, most swift-footed of men,
+Europe, daughter of mighty Tityos, bare to Poseidon. He was wont to
+skim the swell of the grey sea, and wetted not his swift feet, but just
+dipping the tips of his toes was borne on the watery path.
+
+Yea, and two other sons of Poseidon came; one Erginus, who left the
+citadel of glorious Miletus, the other proud Ancaeus, who left
+Parthenia, the seat of Imbrasion Hera; both boasted their skill in
+seacraft and in war.
+
+After them from Calydon came the son of Oeneus, strong Meleagrus, and
+Laocoon—Laocoon the brother of Oeneus, though not by the same mother,
+for a serving-woman bare him; him, now growing old, Oeneus sent to
+guard his son: thus Meleagrus, still a youth, entered the bold band of
+heroes. No other had come superior to him, I ween, except Heracles, if
+for one year more he had tarried and been nurtured among the Aetolians.
+Yea, and his uncle, well skilled to fight whether with the javelin or
+hand to hand, Iphiclus son of Thestius, bare him company on his way.
+
+With him came Palaemonius, son of Olenian Lernus, of Lernus by repute,
+but his birth was from Hephaestus; and so he was crippled in his feet,
+but his bodily frame and his valour no one would dare to scorn.
+Wherefore he was numbered among all the chiefs, winning fame for Jason.
+
+From the Phocians came Iphitus sprung from Naubolus son of Ornytus;
+once he had been his host when Jason went to Pytho to ask for a
+response concerning his voyage; for there he welcomed him in his own
+hails.
+
+Next came Zetes and Calais, sons of Boreas, whom once Oreithyia,
+daughter of Erechtheus, bare to Boreas on the verge of wintry Thrace;
+thither it was that Thracian Boreas snatched her away from Cecropia as
+she was whirling in the dance, hard by Hissus’ stream. And, carrying
+her far off, to the spot that men called the rock of Sarpedon, near the
+river Erginus, he wrapped her in dark clouds and forced her to his
+will. There they were making their dusky wings quiver upon their ankles
+on both sides as they rose, a great wonder to behold, wings that
+gleamed with golden scales: and round their backs from the top of the
+head and neck, hither and thither, their dark tresses were being shaken
+by the wind.
+
+No, nor had Acastus son of mighty Pelias himself any will to stay
+behind in the palace of his brave sire, nor Argus, helper of the
+goddess Athena; but they too were ready to be numbered in the host.
+
+So many then were the helpers who assembled to join the son of Aeson.
+All the chiefs the dwellers thereabout called Minyae, for the most and
+the bravest avowed that they were sprung from the blood of the
+daughters of Minyas; thus Jason himself was the son of Alcimede who was
+born of Clymene the daughter of Minyas.
+
+Now when all things had been made ready by the thralls, all things that
+fully-equipped ships are furnished withal when men’s business leads
+them to voyage across the sea, then the heroes took their way through
+the city to the ship where it lay on the strand that men call Magnesian
+Pagasae; and a crowd of people hastening rushed together; but the
+heroes shone like gleaming stars among the clouds; and each man as he
+saw them speeding along with their armour would say:
+
+“King Zeus, what is the purpose of Pelias? Whither is he driving forth
+from the Panachaean land so great a host of heroes? On one day they
+would waste the palace of Aeetes with baleful fire, should he not yield
+them the fleece of his own goodwill. But the path is not to be shunned,
+the toil is hard for those who venture.”
+
+Thus they spake here and there throughout the city; but the women often
+raised their hands to the sky in prayer to the immortals to grant a
+return, their hearts’ desire. And one with tears thus lamented to her
+fellow:
+
+“Wretched Alcimede, evil has come to thee at last though late, thou
+hast not ended with splendour of life. Aeson too, ill-fated man! Surely
+better had it been for him, if he were lying beneath the earth,
+enveloped in his shroud, still unconscious of bitter toils. Would that
+the dark wave, when the maiden Helle perished, had overwhelmed Phrixus
+too with the ram; but the dire portent even sent forth a human voice,
+that it might cause to Alcimede sorrows and countless pains hereafter.”
+
+Thus the women spake at the departure of the heroes. And now many
+thralls, men and women, were gathered together, and his mother, smitten
+with grief for Jason. And a bitter pang seized every woman’s heart; and
+with them groaned the father in baleful old age, lying on his bed,
+closely wrapped round. But the hero straightway soothed their pain,
+encouraging them, and bade the thralls take up his weapons for war; and
+they in silence with downcast looks took them up. And even as the
+mother had thrown her arms about her son, so she clung, weeping without
+stint, as a maiden all alone weeps, falling fondly on the neck of her
+hoary nurse, a maid who has now no others to care for her, but she
+drags on a weary life under a stepmother, who maltreats her continually
+with ever fresh insults, and as she weeps, her heart within her is
+bound fast with misery, nor can she sob forth all the groans that
+struggle for utterance; so without stint wept Alcimede straining her
+son in her arms, and in her yearning grief spake as follows:
+
+“Would that on that day when, wretched woman that I am, I heard King
+Pelias proclaim his evil behest, I had straightway given up my life and
+forgotten my cares, so that thou thyself, my son, with thine own hands,
+mightest have buried me; for that was the only wish left me still to be
+fulfilled by time, all the other rewards for thy nurture have I long
+enjoyed. Now I, once so admired among Achaean women, shall be left
+behind like a bondwoman in my empty halls, pining away, ill-fated one,
+for love of thee, thee on whose account I had aforetime so much
+splendour and renown, my only son for whom I loosed my virgin zone
+first and last. For to me beyond others the goddess Eileithyia grudged
+abundant offspring. Alas for my folly! Not once, not even in nay dreams
+did I forebode this, that the flight of Phrixus would bring me woe.”
+
+Thus with moaning she wept, and her handmaidens, standing by, lamented;
+but Jason spake gently to her with comforting words:
+
+“Do not, I pray thee, mother, store up bitter sorrows overmuch, for
+thou wilt not redeem me from evil by tears, but wilt still add grief to
+grief. For unseen are the woes that the gods mete out to mortals; be
+strong to endure thy share of them though with grief in thy heart; take
+courage from the promises of Athena, and from the answers of the gods
+(for very favourable oracles has Phoebus given), and then from the help
+of the chieftains. But do thou remain here, quiet among thy handmaids,
+and be not a bird of ill omen to the ship; and thither my clansmen and
+thralls will follow me.”
+
+He spake, and started forth to leave the house. And as Apollo goes
+forth from some fragrant shrine to divine Delos or Claros or Pytho or
+to broad Lyeia near the stream of Xanthus, in such beauty moved Jason
+through the throng of people; and a cry arose as they shouted together.
+And there met him aged Iphias, priestess of Artemis guardian of the
+city, and kissed his right hand, but she had not strength to say a
+word, for all her eagerness, as the crowd rushed on, but she was left
+there by the wayside, as the old are left by the young, and he passed
+on and was gone afar.
+
+Now when he had left the well-built streets of the city, he came to the
+beach of Pagasae, where his comrades greeted him as they stayed
+together near the ship Argo. And he stood at the entering in, and they
+were gathered to meet him. And they perceived Aeastus and Argus coming
+from the city, and they marvelled when they saw them hasting with all
+speed, despite the will of Pelias. The one, Argus, son of Arestor, had
+cast round his shoulders the hide of a bull reaching to his feet, with
+the black hair upon it, the other, a fair mantle of double fold, which
+his sister Pelopeia had given him. Still Jason forebore from asking
+them about each point but bade all be seated for an assembly. And
+there, upon the folded sails and the mast as it lay on the ground, they
+all took their seats in order. And among them with goodwill spake
+Aeson’s son:
+
+“All the equipment that a ship needs for all is in due order—lies ready
+for our departure. Therefore we will make no long delay in our sailing
+for these things’ sake, when the breezes but blow fair. But,
+friends,—for common to all is our return to Hellas hereafter, and
+common to all is our path to the land of Aeetes—now therefore with
+ungrudging heart choose the bravest to be our leader, who shall be
+careful for everything, to take upon him our quarrels and covenants
+with strangers.”
+
+Thus he spake; and the young heroes turned their eyes towards bold
+Heracles sitting in their midst, and with one shout they all enjoined
+upon him to be their leader; but he, from the place where he sat,
+stretched forth his right hand and said:
+
+“Let no one offer this honour to me. For I will not consent, and I will
+forbid any other to stand up. Let the hero who brought us together,
+himself be the leader of the host.”
+
+Thus he spake with high thoughts, and they assented, as Heracles bade;
+and warlike Jason himself rose up, glad at heart, and thus addressed
+the eager throng:
+
+“If ye entrust your glory to my care, no longer as before let our path
+be hindered. Now at last let us propitiate Phoebus with sacrifice and
+straightway prepare a feast. And until my thralls come, the overseers
+of my steading, whose care it is to choose out oxen from the herd and
+drive them hither, we will drag down the ship to the sea, and do ye
+place all the tackling within, and draw lots for the benches for
+rowing. Meantime let us build upon the beach an altar to Apollo
+Embasius[5] who by an oracle promised to point out and show me the
+paths of the sea, if by sacrifice to him I should begin my venture for
+King Pelias.”
+
+He spake, and was the first to turn to the work, and they stood up in
+obedience to him; and they heaped their garments, one upon the other,
+on a smooth stone, which the sea did not strike with its waves, but the
+stormy surge had cleansed it long before. First of all, by the command
+of Argus, they strongly girded the ship with a rope well twisted
+within,[6] stretching it tight on each side, in order that the planks
+might be well compacted by the bolts and might withstand the opposing
+force of the surge. And they quickly dug a trench as wide as the space
+the ship covered, and at the prow as far into the sea as it would run
+when drawn down by their hands. And they ever dug deeper in front of
+the stem, and in the furrow laid polished rollers; and inclined the
+ship down upon the first rollers, that so she might glide and be borne
+on by them. And above, on both sides, reversing the oars, they fastened
+them round the thole-pins, so as to project a cubit’s space. And the
+heroes themselves stood on both sides at the oars in a row, and pushed
+forward with chest and hand at once. And then Tiphys leapt on board to
+urge the youths to push at the right moment; and calling on them he
+shouted loudly; and they at once, leaning with all their strength, with
+one push started the ship from her place, and strained with their feet,
+forcing her onward; and Pelian Argo followed swiftly; and they on each
+side shouted as they rushed on. And then the rollers groaned under the
+sturdy keel as they were chafed, and round them rose up a dark smoke
+owing to the weight, and she glided into the sea; but the heroes stood
+there and kept dragging her back as she sped onward. And round the
+thole-pins they fitted the oars, and in the ship they placed the mast
+and the well-made sails and the stores.
+
+Now when they had carefully paid heed to everything, first they
+distributed the benches by lot, two men occupying one seat; but the
+middle bench they chose for Heracles and Ancaeus apart from the other
+heroes, Ancaeus who dwelt in Tegea. For them alone they left the middle
+bench just as it was and not by lot; and with one consent they
+entrusted Tiphys with guarding the helm of the well-stemmed ship.
+
+Next, piling up shingle near the sea, they raised there an altar on the
+shore to Apollo, under the name of Actius[7] and Embasius, and quickly
+spread above it logs of dried olive-wood. Meantime the herdsmen of
+Aeson’s son had driven before them from the herd two steers. These the
+younger comrades dragged near the altars, and the others brought
+lustral water and barley meal, and Jason prayed, calling on Apollo the
+god of his fathers:
+
+“Hear, O King, that dwellest in Pagasae and the city Aesonis, the city
+called by my father’s name, thou who didst promise me, when I sought
+thy oracle at Pytho, to show the fulfilment and goal of my journey, for
+thou thyself hast been the cause of my venture; now do thou thyself
+guide the ship with my comrades safe and sound, thither and back again
+to Hellas. Then in thy honour hereafter we will lay again on thy altar
+the bright offerings of bulls—all of us who return; and other gifts in
+countless numbers I will bring to Pytho and Ortygia. And now, come,
+Far-darter, accept this sacrifice at our hands, which first of all we
+have offered thee for this ship on our embarcation; and grant, O King,
+that with a prosperous wind I may loose the hawsers, relying on thy
+counsel, and may the breeze blow softly with which we shall sail over
+the sea in fair weather.”
+
+He spake, and with his prayer cast the barley meal. And they two girded
+themselves to slay the steers, proud Ancaeus and Heracles. The latter
+with his club smote one steer mid-head on the brow, and falling in a
+heap on the spot, it sank to the ground; and Ancaeus struck the broad
+neck of the other with his axe of bronze, and shore through the mighty
+sinews; and it fell prone on both its horns. Their comrades quickly
+severed the victims’ throats, and flayed the hides: they sundered the
+joints and carved the flesh, then cut out the sacred thigh bones, and
+covering them all together closely with fat burnt them upon cloven
+wood. And Aeson’s son poured out pure libations, and Idmon rejoiced
+beholding the flame as it gleamed on every side from the sacrifice, and
+the smoke of it mounting up with good omen in dark spiral columns; and
+quickly he spake outright the will of Leto’s son:
+
+“For you it is the will of heaven and destiny that ye shall return here
+with the fleece; but meanwhile both going and returning, countless
+trials await you. But it is my lot, by the hateful decree of a god, to
+die somewhere afar off on the mainland of Asia. Thus, though I learnt
+my fate from evil omens even before now, I have left my fatherland to
+embark on the ship, that so after my embarking fair fame may be left me
+in my house.”
+
+Thus he spake; and the youths hearing the divine utterance rejoiced at
+their return, but grief seized them for the fate of Idmon. Now at the
+hour when the sun passes his noon-tide halt and the ploughlands are
+just being shadowed by the rocks, as the sun slopes towards the evening
+dusk, at that hour all the heroes spread leaves thickly upon the sand
+and lay down in rows in front of the hoary surf-line; and near them
+were spread vast stores of viands and sweet wine, which the cupbearers
+had drawn off in pitchers; afterwards they told tales one to another in
+turn, such as youths often tell when at the feast and the bowl they
+take delightful pastime, and insatiable insolence is far away. But here
+the son of Aeson, all helpless, was brooding over each event in his
+mind, like one oppressed with thought. And Idas noted him and assailed
+him with loud voice:
+
+“Son of Aeson, what is this plan thou art turning over in mind. Speak
+out thy thought in the midst. Does fear come on and master thee, fear,
+that confounds cowards? Be witness now my impetuous spear, wherewith in
+wars I win renown beyond all others (nor does Zeus aid me so much as my
+own spear), that no woe will be fatal, no venture will be unachieved,
+while Idas follows, even though a god should oppose thee. Such a
+helpmeet am I that thou bringest from Arene.”
+
+He spake, and holding a brimming goblet in both hands drank off the
+unmixed sweet wine; and his lips and dark cheeks were drenched with it;
+and all the heroes clamoured together and Idmon spoke out openly:
+
+“Vain wretch, thou art devising destruction for thyself before the
+time. Does the pure wine cause thy bold heart to swell in thy breast to
+thy ruin, and has it set thee on to dishonour the gods? Other words of
+comfort there are with which a man might encourage his comrade; but
+thou hast spoken with utter recklessness. Such taunts, the tale goes,
+did the sons of Aloeus once blurt out against the blessed gods, and
+thou dost no wise equal them in valour; nevertheless they were both
+slain by the swift arrows of Leto’s son, mighty though they were.”
+
+Thus he spake, and Aphareian Iclas laughed out, loud and long, and
+eyeing him askance replied with biting words:
+
+“Come now, tell me this by thy prophetic art, whether for me too the
+gods will bring to pass such doom as thy father promised for the sons
+of Aloeus. And bethink thee how thou wilt escape from my hands alive,
+if thou art caught making a prophecy vain as the idle wind.”
+
+Thus in wrath Idas reviled him, and the strife would have gone further
+had not their comrades and Aeson’s son himself with indignant cry
+restrained the contending chiefs; and Orpheus lifted his lyre in his
+left hand and made essay to sing.
+
+He sang how the earth, the heaven and the sea, once mingled together in
+one form, after deadly strife were separated each from other; and how
+the stars and the moon and the paths of the sun ever keep their fixed
+place in the sky; and how the mountains rose, and how the resounding
+rivers with their nymphs came into being and all creeping things. And
+he sang how first of all Ophion and Eurynome, daughter of Ocean, held
+the sway of snowy Olympus, and how through strength of arm one yielded
+his prerogative to Cronos and the other to Rhea, and how they fell into
+the waves of Ocean; but the other two meanwhile ruled over the blessed
+Titan-gods, while Zeus, still a child and with the thoughts of a child,
+dwelt in the Dictaean cave; and the earthborn Cyclopes had not yet
+armed him with the bolt, with thunder and lightning; for these things
+give renown to Zeus.
+
+He ended, and stayed his lyre and divine voice. But though he had
+ceased they still bent forward with eagerness all hushed to quiet, with
+ears intent on the enchanting strain; such a charm of song had he left
+behind in their hearts. Not long after they mixed libations in honour
+of Zeus, with pious rites as is customary, and poured them upon the
+burning tongues, and bethought them of sleep in the darkness.
+
+Now when gleaming dawn with bright eyes beheld the lofty peaks of
+Pelion, and the calm headlands were being drenched as the sea was
+ruffled by the winds, then Tiphys awoke from sleep; and at once he
+roused his comrades to go on board and make ready the oars. And a
+strange cry did the harbour of Pagasae utter, yea and Pelian Argo
+herself, urging them to set forth. For in her a beam divine had been
+laid which Athena had brought from an oak of Dodona and fitted in the
+middle of the stem. And the heroes went to the benches one after the
+other, as they had previously assigned for each to row in his place,
+and took their seats in due order near their fighting gear. In the
+middle sat Antaeus and mighty Heracles, and near him he laid his club,
+and beneath his tread the ship’s keel sank deep. And now the hawsers
+were being slipped and they poured wine on the sea. But Jason with
+tears held his eyes away from his fatherland. And just as youths set up
+a dance in honour of Phoebus either in Pytho or haply in Ortygia, or by
+the waters of Ismenus, and to the sound of the lyre round his altar all
+together in time beat the earth with swiftly-moving feet; so they to
+the sound of Orpheus’ lyre smote with their oars the rushing sea-water,
+and the surge broke over the blades; and on this side and on that the
+dark brine seethed with foam, boiling terribly through the might of the
+sturdy heroes. And their arms shone in the sun like flame as the ship
+sped on; and ever their wake gleamed white far behind, like a path seen
+over a green plain. On that day all the gods looked down from heaven
+upon the ship and the might of the heroes, half-divine, the bravest of
+men then sailing the sea; and on the topmost heights the nymphs of
+Pelion wondered as they beheld the work of Itonian Athena, and the
+heroes themselves wielding the oars. And there came down from the
+mountain-top to the sea Chiron, son of Philyra, and where the white
+surf broke he dipped his feet, and, often waving with his broad hand,
+cried out to them at their departure, “Good speed and a sorrowless
+home-return!” And with him his wife, bearing Peleus’ son Achilles on
+her arm, showed the child to his dear father.
+
+Now when they had left the curving shore of the harbour through the
+cunning and counsel of prudent Tiphys son of Hagnias, who skilfully
+handled the well-polished helm that he might guide them steadfastly,
+then at length they set up the tall mast in the mastbox, and secured it
+with forestays, drawing them taut on each side, and from it they let
+down the sail when they had hauled it to the top-mast. And a breeze
+came down piping shrilly; and upon the deck they fastened the ropes
+separately round the well-polished pins, and ran quietly past the long
+Tisaean headland. And for them the son of Oeagrus touched his lyre and
+sang in rhythmical song of Artemis, saviour of ships, child of a
+glorious sire, who hath in her keeping those peaks by the sea, and the
+land of Iolcos; and the fishes came darting through the deep sea, great
+mixed with small, and followed gambolling along the watery paths. And
+as when in the track of the shepherd, their master, countless sheep
+follow to the fold that have fed to the full of grass, and he goes
+before gaily piping a shepherd’s strain on Iris shrill reed; so these
+fishes followed; and a chasing breeze ever bore the ship onward.
+
+And straightway the misty land of the Pelasgians, rich in cornfields,
+sank out of sight, and ever speeding onward they passed the rugged
+sides of Pelion; and the Sepian headland sank away, and Sciathus
+appeared in the sea, and far off appeared Piresiae and the calm shore
+of Magnesia on the mainland and the tomb of Dolops; here then in the
+evening, as the wind blew against them, they put to land, and paying
+honour to him at nightfall burnt sheep as victims, while the sea was
+tossed by the swell: and for two days they lingered on the shore, but
+on the third day they put forth the ship, spreading on high the broad
+sail. And even now men call that beach Aphetae[8] of Argo.
+
+Thence going forward they ran past Meliboea, escaping a stormy beach
+and surf-line. And in the morning they saw Homole close at hand leaning
+on the sea, and skirted it, and not long after they were about to pass
+by the outfall of the river Amyrus. From there they beheld Eurymenae
+and the seawashed ravines of Ossa and Olympus; next they reached the
+slopes of Pallene, beyond the headland of Canastra, running all night
+with the wind. And at dawn before them as they journeyed rose Athos,
+the Thracian mountain, which with its topmost peak overshadows Lemnos,
+even as far as Myrine, though it lies as far off as the space that a
+well-trimmed merchantship would traverse up to mid-day. For them on
+that day, till darkness fell, the breeze blew exceedingly fresh, and
+the sails of the ship strained to it. But with the setting of the sun
+the wind left them, and it was by the oars that they reached Lemnos,
+the Sintian isle.
+
+Here the whole of the men of the people together had been ruthlessly
+slain through the transgressions of the women in the year gone by. For
+the men had rejected their lawful wives, loathing them, and had
+conceived a fierce passion for captive maids whom they themselves
+brought across the sea from their forays in Thrace; for the terrible
+wrath of Cypris came upon them, because for a long time they had
+grudged her the honours due. O hapless women, and insatiate in jealousy
+to their own ruin! Not their husbands alone with the captives did they
+slay on account of the marriage-bed, but all the males at the same
+time, that they might thereafter pay no retribution for the grim
+murder. And of all the women, Hypsipyle alone spared her aged father
+Thoas, who was king over the people; and she sent him in a hollow
+chest, to drift over the sea, if haply he should escape. And fishermen
+dragged him to shore at the island of Oenoe, formerly Oenoe, but
+afterwards called Sicinus from Sicinus, whom the water-nymph Oenoe bore
+to Thoas. Now for all the women to tend kine, to don armour of bronze,
+and to cleave with the plough-share the wheat-bearing fields, was
+easier than the works of Athena, with which they were busied aforetime.
+Yet for all that did they often gaze over the broad sea, in grievous
+fear against the Thracians’ coming. So when they saw Argo being rowed
+near the island, straightway crowding in multitude from the gates of
+Myrine and clad in their harness of war, they poured forth to the beach
+like ravening Thyiades: for they deemed that the Thracians were come;
+and with them Hypsipyle, daughter of Thoas, donned her father’s
+harness. And they streamed down speechless with dismay; such fear was
+wafted about them.
+
+Meantime from the ship the chiefs had sent Aethalides the swift herald,
+to whose care they entrusted their messages and the wand of Hermes, his
+sire, who had granted him a memory of all things, that never grew dim;
+and not even now, though he has entered the unspeakable whirlpools of
+Acheron, has forgetfulness swept over his soul, but its fixed doom is
+to be ever changing its abode; at one time to be numbered among the
+dwellers beneath the earth, at another to be in the light of the sun
+among living men. But why need I tell at length tales of Aethalides? He
+at that time persuaded Hypsipyle to receive the new-comers as the day
+was waning into darkness; nor yet at dawn did they loose the ship’s
+hawsers to the breath of the north wind.
+
+Now the Lemnian women fared through the city and sat down to the
+assembly, for Hypsipyle herself had so bidden. And when they were all
+gathered together in one great throng straightway she spake among them
+with stirring words:
+
+“O friends, come let us grant these men gifts to their hearts’ desire,
+such as it is fitting that they should take on ship-board, food and
+sweet wine, in order that they may steadfastly remain outside our
+towers, and may not, passing among us for need’s sake, get to know us
+all too well, and so an evil report be widely spread; for we have
+wrought a terrible deed and in nowise will it be to their liking,
+should they learn it. Such is our counsel now, but if any of you can
+devise a better plan let her rise, for it was on this account that I
+summoned you hither.”
+
+Thus she spake and sat upon her father’s seat of stone, and then rose
+up her dear nurse Polyxo, for very age halting upon her withered feet,
+bowed over a staff, and she was eager to address them. Near her were
+seated four virgins, unwedded, crowned with white hair. And she stood
+in the midst of the assembly and from her bent back she feebly raised
+her neck and spake thus:
+
+“Gifts, as Hypsipyle herself wishes, let us send to the strangers, for
+it is better to give them. But for you what device have ye to get
+profit of your life if the Thracian host fall upon us, or some other
+foe, as often happens among men, even as now this company is come
+unforeseen? But if one of the blessed gods should turn this aside yet
+countless other woes, worse than battle, remain behind, when the aged
+women die off and ye younger ones, without children, reach hateful old
+age. How then will ye live, hapless ones? Will your oxen of their own
+accord yoke themselves for the deep plough-lands and draw the
+earth-cleaving share through the fallow, and forthwith, as the year
+comes round, reap the harvest? Assuredly, though the fates till now
+have shunned me in horror, I deem that in the coming year I shall put
+on the garment of earth, when I have received my meed of burial even so
+as is right, before the evil days draw near. But I bid you who are
+younger give good heed to this. For now at your feet a way of escape
+lies open, if ye trust to the strangers the care of your homes and all
+your stock and your glorious city.”
+
+Thus she spake, and the assembly was filled with clamour. For the word
+pleased them. And after her straightway Hypsipyle rose up again, and
+thus spake in reply.
+
+“If this purpose please you all, now will I even send a messenger to
+the ship.”
+
+She spake and addressed Iphinoe close at hand: “Go, Iphinoe, and beg
+yonder man, whoever it is that leads this array, to come to our land
+that I may tell him a word that pleases the heart of my people, and bid
+the men themselves, if they wish, boldly enter the land and the city
+with friendly intent.”
+
+She spake, and dismissed the assembly, and thereafter started to return
+home. And so Iphinoe came to the Minyae; and they asked with what
+intent she had come among them. And quickly she addressed her
+questioners with all speed in these words:
+
+“The maiden Hypsipyle daughter of Thoas, sent me on my way here to you,
+to summon the captain of your ship, whoever he be, that she may tell
+him a word that pleases the heart of the people, and she bids
+yourselves, if ye wish it, straightway enter the land and the city with
+friendly intent.”
+
+Thus she spake and the speech of good omen pleased all. And they deemed
+that Thoas was dead and that his beloved daughter Hypsipyle was queen,
+and quickly they sent Jason on his way and themselves made ready to go.
+
+Now he had buckled round his shoulders a purple mantle of double fold,
+the work of the Tritonian goddess, which Pallas had given him when she
+first laid the keel-props of the ship Argo and taught him how to
+measure timbers with the rule. More easily wouldst thou cast thy eyes
+upon the sun at its rising than behold that blazing splendour. For
+indeed in the middle the fashion thereof was red, but at the ends it
+was all purple, and on each margin many separate devices had been
+skilfully inwoven.
+
+In it were the Cyclops seated at their imperishable work, forging a
+thunderbolt for King Zeus; by now it was almost finished in its
+brightness and still it wanted but one ray, which they were beating out
+with their iron hammers as it spurted forth a breath of raging flame.
+
+In it too were the twin sons of Antiope, daughter of Asopus, Amphion
+and Zethus, and Thebe still ungirt with towers was lying near, whose
+foundations they were just then laying in eager haste. Zethus on his
+shoulders was lifting the peak of a steep mountain, like a man toiling
+hard, and Amphion after him, singing loud and clear on his golden lyre,
+moved on, and a rock twice as large followed his footsteps.
+
+Next in order had been wrought Cytherea with drooping tresses, wielding
+the swift shield of Ares; and from her shoulder to her left arm the
+fastening of her tunic was loosed beneath her breast; and opposite in
+the shield of bronze her image appeared clear to view as she stood.
+
+And in it there was a well-wooded pasturage of oxen; and about the oxen
+the Teleboae and the sons of Eleetryon were fighting; the one party
+defending themselves, the others, the Taphian raiders, longing to rob
+them; and the dewy meadow was drenched with their blood, and the many
+were overmastering the few herdsmen.
+
+And therein were fashioned two chariots, racing, and the one in front
+Pelops was guiding, as he shook the reins, and with him was Hippodameia
+at his side, and in pursuit Myrtilus urged his steeds, and with him
+Oenomaus had grasped his couched spear, but fell as the axle swerved
+and broke in the nave, while he was eager to pierce the back of Pelops.
+
+And in it was wrought Phoebus Apollo, a stripling not yet grown up, in
+the act of shooting at mighty Tityos who was boldly dragging his mother
+by her veil, Tityos whom glorious Elate bare, but Earth nursed him and
+gave him second birth.
+
+And in it was Phrixus the Minyan as though he were in very deed
+listening to the ram, while it was like one speaking. Beholding them
+thou wouldst be silent and wouldst cheat thy soul with the hope of
+hearing some wise speech from them, and long wouldst thou gaze with
+that hope.
+
+Such then were the gifts of the Tritonian goddess Athena. And in his
+right hand Jason held a fardarting spear, which Atalanta gave him once
+as a gift of hospitality in Maenalus as she met him gladly; for she
+eagerly desired to follow on that quest; but he himself of his own
+accord prevented the maid, for he feared bitter strife on account of
+her love.
+
+And he went on his way to the city like to a bright star, which
+maidens, pent up in new-built chambers, behold as it rises above their
+homes, and through the dark air it charms their eyes with its fair red
+gleam and the maid rejoices, love-sick for the youth who is far away
+amid strangers, for whom her parents are keeping her to be his bride;
+like to that star the hero trod the way to the city. And when they had
+passed within the gates and the city, the women of the people surged
+behind them, delighting in the stranger, but he with his eyes fixed on
+the ground fared straight on, till he reached the glorious palace of
+Hypsipyle; and when he appeared the maids opened the folding doors,
+fitted with well-fashioned panels. Here Iphinoe leading him quickly
+through a fair porch set him upon a shining seat opposite her mistress,
+but Hypsipyle turned her eyes aside and a blush covered her maiden
+cheeks, yet for all her modesty she addressed him with crafty words:
+
+“Stranger, why stay ye so long outside our towers? for the city is not
+inhabited by the men, but they, as sojourners, plough the wheat-bearing
+fields of the Thracian mainland. And I will tell out truly all our evil
+plight, that ye yourselves too may know it well. When my father Thoas
+reigned over the citizens, then our folk starting from their homes used
+to plunder from their ships the dwellings of the Thracians who live
+opposite, and they brought back hither measureless booty and maidens
+too. But the counsel of the baneful goddess Cypris was working out its
+accomplishment, who brought upon them soul destroying infatuation. For
+they hated their lawful wives, and, yielding to their own mad folly,
+drove them from their homes; and they took to their beds the captives
+of their spear, cruel ones. Long in truth we endured it, if haply
+again, though late, they might change their purpose, but ever the
+bitter woe grew, twofold. And the lawful children were being
+dishonoured in their halls, and a bastard race was rising. And thus
+unmarried maidens and widowed mothers too wandered uncared for through
+the city; no father heeded his daughter ever so little even though he
+should see her done to death before his eyes at the hands of an
+insolent step-dame, nor did sons, as before, defend their mother
+against unseemly outrage; nor did brothers care at heart for their
+sister. But in their homes, in the dance, in the assembly and the
+banquet all their thought was only for their captive maidens; until
+some god put desperate courage in our hearts no more to receive our
+lords on their return from Thrace within our towers so that they might
+either heed the right or might depart and begone elsewhither, they and
+their captives. So they begged of us all the male children that were
+left in the city and went back to where even now they dwell on the
+snowy tilths of Thrace. Do ye therefore stay and settle with us; and
+shouldst thou desire to dwell here, and this finds favour with thee,
+assuredly thou shalt have the prerogative of my father Thoas; and I
+deem that thou wilt not scorn our land at all; for it is deepsoiled
+beyond all other islands that lie in the Aegaean sea. But come now,
+return to the ship and relate my words to thy comrades, and stay not
+outside our city.”
+
+She spoke, glozing over the murder that had been wrought upon the men;
+and Jason addressed her in answer:
+
+“Hypsipyle, very dear to our hearts is the help we shall meet with,
+which thou grantest to us who need thee. And I will return again to the
+city when I have told everything in order due. But let the sovereignty
+of the island be thine; it is not in scorn I yield it up, but grievous
+trials urge me on.”
+
+He spake, and touched her right hand; and quickly he turned to go back:
+and round him the young maids on every side danced in countless numbers
+in their joy till he passed through the gates. And then they came to
+the shore in smooth-running wains, bearing with them many gifts, when
+now he had related from beginning to end the speech which Hypsipyle had
+spoken when she summoned them; and the maids readily led the men back
+to their homes for entertainment. For Cypris stirred in them a sweet
+desire, for the sake of Hephaestus of many counsels, in order that
+Lemnos might be again inhabited by men and not be ruined.
+
+Thereupon Aeson’s son started to go to the royal home of Hypsipyle; and
+the rest went each his way as chance took them, all but Heracles; for
+he of his own will was left behind by the ship and a few chosen
+comrades with him. And straightway the city rejoiced with dances and
+banquets, being filled with the steam of sacrifice; and above all the
+immortals they propitiated with songs and sacrifices the illustrious
+son of Hera and Cypris herself. And the sailing was ever delayed from
+one day to another; and long would they have lingered there, had not
+Heracles, gathering together his comrades apart from the women, thus
+addressed them with reproachful words:
+
+“Wretched men, does the murder of kindred keep us from our native land?
+Or is it in want of marriage that we have come hither from thence, in
+scorn of our countrywomen? Does it please us to dwell here and plough
+the rich soil of Lemnos? No fair renown shall we win by thus tarrying
+so long with stranger women; nor will some god seize and give us at our
+prayer a fleece that moves of itself. Let us then return each to his
+own; but him leave ye to rest all day long in the embrace of Hypsipyle
+until he has peopled Lemnos with men-children, and so there come to him
+great glory.”
+
+Thus did he chide the band; but no one dared to meet his eye or to
+utter a word in answer. But just as they were in the assembly they made
+ready their departure in all haste, and the women came running towards
+them, when they knew their intent. And as when bees hum round fair
+lilies pouring forth from their hive in the rock, and all around the
+dewy meadow rejoices, and they gather the sweet fruit, flitting from
+one to another; even so the women eagerly poured forth clustering round
+the men with loud lament, and greeted each one with hands and voice,
+praying the blessed gods to grant him a safe return. And so Hypsipyle
+too prayed, seizing the hands of Aeson’s son, and her tears flowed for
+the loss of her lover:
+
+“Go, and may heaven bring thee back again with thy comrades unharmed,
+bearing to the king the golden fleece, even as thou wilt and thy heart
+desireth; and this island and my father’s sceptre will be awaiting
+thee, if on thy return hereafter thou shouldst choose to come hither
+again; and easily couldst thou gather a countless host of men from
+other cities. But thou wilt not have this desire, nor do I myself
+forbode that so it will be. Still remember Hypsipyle when thou art far
+away and when thou hast returned; and leave me some word of bidding,
+which I will gladly accomplish, if haply heaven shall grant me to be a
+mother.”
+
+And Aeson’s son in admiration thus replied: “Hypsipyle, so may all
+these things prove propitious by the favour of the blessed gods. But do
+thou hold a nobler thought of me, since by the grace of Pelias it is
+enough for me to dwell in my native land; may the gods only release me
+from my toils. But if it is not my destiny to sail afar and return to
+the land of Hellas, and if thou shouldst bear a male child, send him
+when grown up to Pelasgian Iolcus, to heal the grief of my father and
+mother if so be that he find them still living, in order that, far away
+from the king, they may be cared for by their own hearth in their
+home.”
+
+He spake, and mounted the ship first of all; and so the rest of the
+chiefs followed, and, sitting in order, seized the oars; and Argus
+loosed for them the hawsers from under the sea-beaten rock. Whereupon
+they mightily smote the water with their long oars, and in the evening
+by the injunctions of Orpheus they touched at the island of Electra,[9]
+daughter of Atlas, in order that by gentle initiation they might learn
+the rites that may not be uttered, and so with greater safety sail over
+the chilling sea. Of these I will make no further mention; but I bid
+farewell to the island itself and the indwelling deities, to whom
+belong those mysteries, which it is not lawful for me to sing.
+
+Thence did they row with eagerness over the depths of the black Sea,
+having on the one side the land of the Thracians, on the other Imbros
+on the south; and as the sun was just setting they reached the foreland
+of the Chersonesus. There a strong south wind blew for them; and
+raising the sails to the breeze they entered the swift stream of the
+maiden daughter of Athamas; and at dawn the sea to the north was left
+behind and at night they were coasting inside the Rhoeteian shore, with
+the land of Ida on their right. And leaving Dardania they directed
+their course to Abydus, and after it they sailed past Percote and the
+sandy beach of Abarnis and divine Pityeia. And in that night, as the
+ship sped on by sail and oar, they passed right through the Hellespont
+dark-gleaming with eddies.
+
+There is a lofty island inside the Propontis, a short distance from the
+Phrygian mainland with its rich cornfields, sloping to the sea, where
+an isthmus in front of the mainland is flooded by the waves, so low
+does it lie. And the isthmus has double shores, and they lie beyond the
+river Aesepus, and the inhabitants round about call the island the
+Mount of Bears. And insolent and fierce men dwell there, Earthborn, a
+great marvel to the neighbours to behold; for each one has six mighty
+hands to lift up, two from his sturdy shoulders, and four below,
+fitting close to his terrible sides. And about the isthmus and the
+plain the Doliones had their dwelling, and over them Cyzicus son of
+Aeneus was king, whom Aenete the daughter of goodly Eusorus bare. But
+these men the Earthborn monsters, fearful though they were, in nowise
+harried, owing to the protection of Poseidon; for from him had the
+Doliones first sprung. Thither Argo pressed on, driven by the winds of
+Thrace, and the Fair haven received her as she sped. There they cast
+away their small anchorstone by the advice of Tiphys and left it
+beneath a fountain, the fountain of Artaeie; and they took another meet
+for their purpose, a heavy one; but the first, according to the oracle
+of the Far-Darter, the Ionians, sons of Neleus, in after days laid to
+be a sacred stone, as was right, in the temple of Jasonian Athena.
+
+Now the Doliones and Cyzicus himself all came together to meet them
+with friendliness, and when they knew of the quest and their lineage
+welcomed them with hospitality, and persuaded them to row further and
+to fasten their ship’s hawsers at the city harbour. Here they built an
+altar to Ecbasian Apollo[10] and set it up on the beach, and gave heed
+to sacrifices. And the king of his own bounty gave them sweet wine and
+sheep in their need; for he had heard a report that whenever a godlike
+band of heroes should come, straightway he should meet it with gentle
+words and should have no thought of war. As with Jason, the soft down
+was just blooming on his chin, nor yet had it been his lot to rejoice
+in children, but still in his palace his wife was untouched by the
+pangs of child-birth, the daughter of Percosian Merops, fair-haired
+Cleite, whom lately by priceless gifts he had brought from her father’s
+home from the mainland opposite. But even so he left his chamber and
+bridal bed and prepared a banquet among the strangers, casting all
+fears from his heart. And they questioned one another in turn. Of them
+would he learn the end of their voyage and the injunctions of Pelias;
+while they enquired about the cities of the people round and all the
+gulf of the wide Propontis; but further he could not tell them for all
+their desire to learn. In the morning they climbed mighty Dindymum that
+they might themselves behold the various paths of that sea; and they
+brought their ship from its former anchorage to the harbour, Chytus;
+and the path they trod is named the path of Jason.
+
+But the Earthborn men on the other side rushed down from the mountain
+and with crags below blocked up the mouth of vast Chytus towards the
+sea, like men lying in wait for a wild beast within. But there Heracles
+had been left behind with the younger heroes and he quickly bent his
+back-springing bow against the monsters and brought them to earth one
+after another; and they in their turn raised huge ragged rocks and
+hurled them. For these dread monsters too, I ween, the goddess Hera,
+bride of Zeus, had nurtured to be a trial for Heracles. And therewithal
+came the rest of the martial heroes returning to meet the foe before
+they reached the height of outlook, and they fell to the slaughter of
+the Earthborn, receiving them with arrows and spears until they slew
+them all as they rushed fiercely to battle. And as when woodcutters
+cast in rows upon the beach long trees just hewn down by their axes, in
+order that, once sodden with brine, they may receive the strong bolts;
+so these monsters at the entrance of the foam-fringed harbour lay
+stretched one after another, some in heaps bending their heads and
+breasts into the salt waves with their limbs spread out above on the
+land; others again were resting their heads on the sand of the shore
+and their feet in the deep water, both alike a prey to birds and fishes
+at once.
+
+But the heroes, when the contest was ended without fear, loosed the
+ship’s hawsers to the breath of the wind and pressed on through the
+sea-swell. And the ship sped on under sail all day; but when night came
+the rushing wind did not hold steadfast, but contrary blasts caught
+them and held them back till they again approached the hospitable
+Doliones. And they stepped ashore that same night; and the rock is
+still called the Sacred Rock round which they threw the ship’s hawsers
+in their haste. Nor did anyone note with care that it was the same
+island; nor in the night did the Doliones clearly perceive that the
+heroes were returning; but they deemed that Pelasgian war-men of the
+Macrians had landed. Therefore they donned their armour and raised
+their hands against them. And with clashing of ashen spears and shields
+they fell on each other, like the swift rush of fire which falls on dry
+brushwood and rears its crest; and the din of battle, terrible and
+furious, fell upon the people of the Doliones. Nor was the king to
+escape his fate and return home from battle to his bridal chamber and
+bed. But Aeson’s son leapt upon him as he turned to face him, and smote
+him in the middle of the breast, and the bone was shattered round the
+spear; he rolled forward in the sand and filled up the measure of his
+fate. For that no mortal may escape; but on every side a wide snare
+encompasses us. And so, when he thought that he had escaped bitter
+death from the chiefs, fate entangled him that very night in her toils
+while battling with them; and many champions withal were slain;
+Heracles killed Telecles and Megabrontes, and Acastus slew Sphodris;
+and Peleus slew Zelus and Gephyrus swift in war. Telamon of the strong
+spear slew Basileus. And Idas slew Promeus, and Clytius Hyacinthus, and
+the two sons of Tyndareus slew Megalossaces and Phlogius. And after
+them the son of Oeneus slew bold Itomeneus, and Artaceus, leader of
+men; all of whom the inhabitants still honour with the worship due to
+heroes. And the rest gave way and fled in terror just as doves fly in
+terror before swift-winged hawks. And with a din they rustled in a body
+to the gates; and quickly the city was filled with loud cries at the
+turning of the dolorous fight. But at dawn both sides perceived the
+fatal and cureless error; and bitter grief seized the Minyan heroes
+when they saw before them Cyzicus son of Aeneus fallen in the midst of
+dust and blood. And for three whole days they lamented and rent their
+hair, they and the Dollones. Then three times round his tomb they paced
+in armour of bronze and performed funeral rites and celebrated games,
+as was meet, upon the meadow-plain, where even now rises the mound of
+his grave to be seen by men of a later day. No, nor was his bride
+Cleite left behind her dead husband, but to crown the ill she wrought
+an ill yet more awful, when she clasped a noose round her neck. Her
+death even the nymphs of the grove bewailed; and of all the tears for
+her that they shed to earth from their eyes the goddesses made a
+fountain, which they call Cleite,[11] the illustrious name of the
+hapless maid. Most terrible came that day from Zeus upon the Doliones,
+women and men; for no one of them dared even to taste food, nor for a
+long time by reason of grief did they take thought for the toil of the
+cornmill, but they dragged on their lives eating their food as it was,
+untouched by fire. Here even now, when the Ionians that dwell in
+Cyzicus pour their yearly libations for the dead, they ever grind the
+meal for the sacrificial cakes at the common mill.[12]
+
+After this, fierce tempests arose for twelve days and nights together
+and kept them there from sailing. But in the next night the rest of the
+chieftains, overcome by sleep, were resting during the latest period of
+the night, while Acastus and Mopsus the son of Ampyeus kept guard over
+their deep slumbers. And above the golden head of Aeson’s son there
+hovered a halcyon prophesying with shrill voice the ceasing of the
+stormy winds; and Mopsus heard and understood the cry of the bird of
+the shore, fraught with good omen. And some god made it turn aside, and
+flying aloft it settled upon the stern-ornament of the ship. And the
+seer touched Jason as he lay wrapped in soft sheepskins and woke him at
+once, and thus spake:
+
+“Son of Aeson, thou must climb to this temple on rugged Dindymum and
+propitiate the mother[13] of all the blessed gods on her fair throne,
+and the stormy blasts shall cease. For such was the voice I heard but
+now from the halcyon, bird of the sea, which, as it flew above thee in
+thy slumber, told me all. For by her power the winds and the sea and
+all the earth below and the snowy seat of Olympus are complete; and to
+her, when from the mountains she ascends the mighty heaven, Zeus
+himself, the son of Cronos, gives place. In like manner the rest of the
+immortal blessed ones reverence the dread goddess.”
+
+Thus he spake, and his words were welcome to Jason’s ear. And he arose
+from his bed with joy and woke all his comrades hurriedly and told them
+the prophecy of Mopsus the son of Ampycus. And quickly the younger men
+drove oxen from their stalls and began to lead them to the mountain’s
+lofty summit. And they loosed the hawsers from the sacred rock and
+rowed to the Thracian harbour; and the heroes climbed the mountain,
+leaving a few of their comrades in the ship. And to them the Macrian
+heights and all the coast of Thrace opposite appeared to view close at
+hand. And there appeared the misty mouth of Bosporus and the Mysian
+hills; and on the other side the stream of the river Aesepus and the
+city and Nepeian plain of Adrasteia. Now there was a sturdy stump of
+vine that grew in the forest, a tree exceeding old; this they cut down,
+to be the sacred image of the mountain goddess; and Argus smoothed it
+skilfully, and they set it upon that rugged hill beneath a canopy of
+lofty oaks, which of all trees have their roots deepest. And near it
+they heaped an altar of small stones, and wreathed their brows with oak
+leaves and paid heed to sacrifice, invoking the mother of Dindymum,
+most venerable, dweller in Phrygia, and Titias and Cyllenus, who alone
+of many are called dispensers of doom and assessors of the Idaean
+mother,—the Idaean Dactyls of Crete, whom once the nymph Anchiale, as
+she grasped with both hands the land of Oaxus, bare in the Dictaean
+cave. And with many prayers did Aeson’s son beseech the goddess to turn
+aside the stormy blasts as he poured libations on the blazing
+sacrifice; and at the same time by command of Orpheus the youths trod a
+measure dancing in full armour, and clashed with their swords on their
+shields, so that the ill-omened cry might be lost in the air the wail
+which the people were still sending up in grief for their king. Hence
+from that time forward the Phrygians propitiate Rhea with the wheel and
+the drum. And the gracious goddess, I ween, inclined her heart to pious
+sacrifices; and favourable signs appeared. The trees shed abundant
+fruit, and round their feet the earth of its own accord put forth
+flowers from the tender grass. And the beasts of the wild wood left
+their lairs and thickets and came up fawning on them with their tails.
+And she caused yet another marvel; for hitherto there was no flow of
+water on Dindymum, but then for them an unceasing stream gushed forth
+from the thirsty peak just as it was, and the dwellers around in after
+times called that stream, the spring of Jason. And then they made a
+feast in honour of the goddess on the Mount of Bears, singing the
+praises of Rhea most venerable; but at dawn the winds had ceased and
+they rowed away from the island.
+
+Thereupon a spirit of contention stirred each chieftain, who should be
+the last to leave his oar. For all around the windless air smoothed the
+swirling waves and lulled the sea to rest. And they, trusting in the
+calm, mightily drove the ship forward; and as she sped through the salt
+sea, not even the storm-footed steeds of Poseidon would have overtaken
+her. Nevertheless when the sea was stirred by violent blasts which were
+just rising from the rivers about evening, forspent with toil, they
+ceased. But Heracles by the might of his arms pulled the weary rowers
+along all together, and made the strong-knit timbers of the ship to
+quiver. But when, eager to reach the Mysian mainland, they passed along
+in sight of the mouth of Rhyndaeus and the great cairn of Aegaeon, a
+little way from Phrygia, then Heracles, as he ploughed up the furrows
+of the roughened surge, broke his oar in the middle. And one half he
+held in both his hands as he fell sideways, the other the sea swept
+away with its receding wave. And he sat up in silence glaring round;
+for his hands were unaccustomed to be idle.
+
+Now at the hour when from the field some delver or ploughman goes
+gladly home to his hut, longing for his evening meal, and there on the
+threshold, all squalid with dust, bows his wearied knees, and,
+beholding his hands worn with toil, with many a curse reviles his
+belly; at that hour the heroes reached the homes of the Cianian land
+near the Arganthonian mount and the outfall of Cius. Them as they came
+in friendliness, the Mysians, inhabitants of that land, hospitably
+welcomed, and gave them in their need provisions and sheep and abundant
+wine. Hereupon some brought dried wood, others from the meadows leaves
+for beds which they gathered in abundance for strewing, whilst others
+were twirling sticks to get fire; others again were mixing wine in the
+bowl and making ready the feast, after sacrificing at nightfall to
+Apollo Ecbasius.
+
+But the son of Zeus having duly enjoined on his comrades to prepare the
+feast took his way into a wood, that he might first fashion for himself
+an oar to fit his hand. Wandering about he found a pine not burdened
+with many branches, nor too full of leaves, but like to the shaft of a
+tall poplar; so great was it both in length and thickness to look at.
+And quickly he laid on the ground his arrow-holding quiver together
+with his bow, and took off his lion’s skin. And he loosened the pine
+from the ground with his bronze-tipped club and grasped the trunk with
+both hands at the bottom, relying on his strength; and he pressed it
+against his broad shoulder with legs wide apart; and clinging close he
+raised it from the ground deep-rooted though it was, together with
+clods of earth. And as when unexpectedly, just at the time of the
+stormy setting of baleful Orion, a swift gust of wind strikes down from
+above, and wrenches a ship’s mast from its stays, wedges and all; so
+did Heracles lift the pine. And at the same time he took up his bow and
+arrows, his lion skin and club, and started on his return.
+
+Meantime Hylas with pitcher of bronze in hand had gone apart from the
+throng, seeking the sacred flow of a fountain, that he might be quick
+in drawing water for the evening meal and actively make all things
+ready in due order against his lord’s return. For in such ways did
+Heracles nurture him from his first childhood when he had carried him
+off from the house of his father, goodly Theiodamas, whom the hero
+pitilessly slew among the Dryopians because he withstood him about an
+ox for the plough. Theiodamas was cleaving with his plough the soil of
+fallow land when he was smitten with the curse; and Heracles bade him
+give up the ploughing ox against his will. For he desired to find some
+pretext for war against the Dryopians for their bane, since they dwelt
+there reckless of right. But these tales would lead me far astray from
+my song. And quickly Hylas came to the spring which the people who
+dwell thereabouts call Pegae. And the dances of the nymphs were just
+now being held there; for it was the care of all the nymphs that
+haunted that lovely headland ever to hymn Artemis in songs by night.
+All who held the mountain peaks or glens, all they were ranged far off
+guarding the woods; but one, a water-nymph was just rising from the
+fair-flowing spring; and the boy she perceived close at hand with the
+rosy flush of his beauty and sweet grace. For the full moon beaming
+from the sky smote him. And Cypris made her heart faint, and in her
+confusion she could scarcely gather her spirit back to her. But as soon
+as he dipped the pitcher in the stream, leaning to one side, and the
+brimming water rang loud as it poured against the sounding bronze,
+straightway she laid her left arm above upon his neck yearning to kiss
+his tender mouth; and with her right hand she drew down his elbow, and
+plunged him into the midst of the eddy.
+
+Alone of his comrades the hero Polyphemus, son of Eilatus, as he went
+forward on the path, heard the boy’s cry, for he expected the return of
+mighty Heracles. And he rushed after the cry, near Pegae, like some
+beast of the wild wood whom the bleating of sheep has reached from
+afar, and burning with hunger he follows, but does not fall in with the
+flocks; for the shepherds beforehand have penned them in the fold, but
+he groans and roars vehemently until he is weary. Thus vehemently at
+that time did the son of Eilatus groan and wandered shouting round the
+spot; and his voice rang piteous. Then quickly drawing his great sword
+he started in pursuit, in fear lest the boy should be the prey of wild
+beasts, or men should have lain in ambush for him faring all alone, and
+be carrying him off, an easy prey. Hereupon as he brandished his bare
+sword in his hand he met Heracles himself on the path, and well he knew
+him as he hastened to the ship through the darkness. And straightway he
+told the wretched calamity while his heart laboured with his panting
+breath.
+
+“My poor friend, I shall be the first to bring thee tidings of bitter
+woe. Hylas has gone to the well and has not returned safe, but robbers
+have attacked and are carrying him off, or beasts are tearing him to
+pieces; I heard his cry.”
+
+Thus he spake; and when Heracles heard his words, sweat in abundance
+poured down from his temples and the black blood boiled beneath his
+heart. And in wrath he hurled the pine to the ground and hurried along
+the path whither his feet bore on his impetuous soul. And as when a
+bull stung by a gadfly tears along, leaving the meadows and the marsh
+land, and recks not of herdsmen or herd, but presses on, now without
+cheek, now standing still, and raising his broad neck he bellows
+loudly, stung by the maddening fly; so he in his frenzy now would ply
+his swift knees unresting, now again would cease from toil and shout
+afar with loud pealing cry.
+
+But straightway the morning star rose above the topmost peaks and the
+breeze swept down; and quickly did Tiphys urge them to go aboard and
+avail themselves of the wind. And they embarked eagerly forthwith; and
+they drew up the ship’s anchors and hauled the ropes astern. And the
+sails were bellied out by the wind, and far from the coast were they
+joyfully borne past the Posideian headland. But at the hour when
+gladsome dawn shines from heaven, rising from the east, and the paths
+stand out clearly, and the dewy plains shine with a bright gleam, then
+at length they were aware that unwittingly they had abandoned those
+men. And a fierce quarrel fell upon them, and violent tumult, for that
+they had sailed and left behind the bravest of their comrades. And
+Aeson’s son, bewildered by their hapless plight, said never a word,
+good or bad; but sat with his heavy load of grief, eating out his
+heart. And wrath seized Telamon, and thus he spake:
+
+“Sit there at thy ease, for it was fitting for thee to leave Heracles
+behind; from thee the project arose, so that his glory throughout
+Hellas should not overshadow thee, if so be that heaven grants us a
+return home. But what pleasure is there in words? For I will go, I
+only, with none of thy comrades, who have helped thee to plan this
+treachery.”
+
+He spake, and rushed upon Tiphys son of Hagnias; and his eyes sparkled
+like flashes of ravening flame. And they would quickly have turned back
+to the land of the Mysians, forcing their way through the deep sea and
+the unceasing blasts of the wind, had not the two sons of Thracian
+Boreas held back the son of Aeacus with harsh words. Hapless ones,
+assuredly a bitter vengeance came upon them thereafter at the hands of
+Heracles, because they stayed the search for him. For when they were
+returning from the games over Pelias dead he slew them in sea-girt
+Tenos and heaped the earth round them, and placed two columns above,
+one of which, a great marvel for men to see, moves at the breath of the
+blustering north wind. These things were thus to be accomplished in
+after times. But to them appeared Glaucus from the depths of the sea,
+the wise interpreter of divine Nereus, and raising aloft his shaggy
+head and chest from his waist below, with sturdy hand he seized the
+ship’s keel, and then cried to the eager crew:
+
+“Why against the counsel of mighty Zeus do ye purpose to lead bold
+Heracles to the city of Aeetes? At Argos it is his fate to labour for
+insolent Eurystheus and to accomplish full twelve toils and dwell with
+the immortals, if so be that he bring to fulfilment a few more yet;
+wherefore let there be no vain regret for him. Likewise it is destined
+for Polyphemus to found a glorious city at the mouth of Cius among the
+Mysians and to fill up the measure of his fate in the vast land of the
+Chalybes. But a goddess-nymph through love has made Hylas her husband,
+on whose account those two wandered and were left behind.”
+
+He spake, and with a plunge wrapped him about with the restless wave;
+and round him the dark water foamed in seething eddies and dashed
+against the hollow ship as it moved through the sea. And the heroes
+rejoiced, and Telamon son of Aeacus came in haste to Jason, and
+grasping his hand in his own embraced him with these words:
+
+“Son of Aeson, be not wroth with me, if in my folly I have erred, for
+grief wrought upon me to utter a word arrogant and intolerable. But let
+me give my fault to the winds and let our hearts be joined as before.”
+
+Him the son of Aeson with prudence addressed: “Good friend, assuredly
+with an evil word didst thou revile me, saying before them all that I
+was the wronger of a kindly man. But not for long will I nurse bitter
+wrath, though indeed before I was grieved. For it was not for flocks of
+sheep, no, nor for possessions that thou wast angered to fury, but for
+a man, thy comrade. And I were fain thou wouldst even champion me
+against another man if a like thing should ever befall me.”
+
+He spake, and they sat down, united as of old. But of those two, by the
+counsel of Zeus, one, Polyphemus son of Eilatus, was destined to found
+and build a city among the Mysians bearing the river’s name, and the
+other, Heracles, to return and toil at the labours of Eurystheus. And
+he threatened to lay waste the Mysian land at once, should they not
+discover for him the doom of Hylas, whether living or dead. And for him
+they gave pledges choosing out the noblest sons of the people and took
+an oath that they would never cease from their labour of search.
+Therefore to this day the people of Cius enquire for Hylas the son of
+Theiodamas, and take thought for the well-built Trachis. For there did
+Heracles settle the youths whom they sent from Cius as pledges.
+
+And all day long and all night the wind bore the ship on, blowing fresh
+and strong; but when dawn rose there was not even a breath of air. And
+they marked a beach jutting forth from a bend of the coast, very broad
+to behold, and by dint of rowing came to land at sunrise.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK II
+
+
+Here were the oxstalls and farm of Amycus, the haughty king of the
+Bebrycians, whom once a nymph, Bithynian Melie, united to Poseidon
+Genethlius, bare the most arrogant of men; for even for strangers he
+laid down an insulting ordinance, that none should depart till they had
+made trial of him in boxing; and he had slain many of the neighbours.
+And at that time too he went down to the ship and in his insolence
+scorned to ask them the occasion of their voyage, and who they were,
+but at once spake out among them all:
+
+“Listen, ye wanderers by sea, to what it befits you to know. It is the
+rule that no stranger who comes to the Bebrycians should depart till he
+has raised his hands in battle against mine. Wherefore select your
+bravest warrior from the host and set him here on the spot to contend
+with me in boxing. But if ye pay no heed and trample my decrees under
+foot, assuredly to your sorrow will stern necessity come upon you.”
+
+Thus he spake in his pride, but fierce anger seized them when they
+heard it, and the challenge smote Polydeuces most of all. And quickly
+he stood forth his comrades’ champion, and cried:
+
+“Hold now, and display not to us thy brutal violence, whoever thou art;
+for we will obey thy rules, as thou sayest. Willingly now do I myself
+undertake to meet thee.”
+
+Thus he spake outright; but the other with rolling eyes glared on him,
+like to a lion struck by a javelin when hunters in the mountains are
+hemming him round, and, though pressed by the throng, he reeks no more
+of them, but keeps his eyes fixed, singling out that man only who
+struck him first and slew him not. Hereupon the son of Tyndareus laid
+aside his mantle, closely-woven, delicately-wrought, which one of the
+Lemnian maidens had given him as a pledge of hospitality; and the king
+threw down his dark cloak of double fold with its clasps and the
+knotted crook of mountain olive which he carried. Then straightway they
+looked and chose close by a spot that pleased them and bade their
+comrades sit upon the sand in two lines; nor were they alike to behold
+in form or in stature. The one seemed to be a monstrous son of baleful
+Typhoeus or of Earth herself, such as she brought forth aforetime, in
+her wrath against Zeus; but the other, the son of Tyndareus, was like a
+star of heaven, whose beams are fairest as it shines through the
+nightly sky at eventide. Such was the son of Zeus, the bloom of the
+first down still on his cheeks, still with the look of gladness in his
+eyes. But his might and fury waxed like a wild beast’s; and he poised
+his hands to see if they were pliant as before and were not altogether
+numbed by toil and rowing. But Amycus on his side made no trial; but
+standing apart in silence he kept his eyes upon his foe, and his spirit
+surged within him all eager to dash the life-blood from his breast. And
+between them Lyeoreus, the henchman of Amycus, placed at their feet on
+each side two pairs of gauntlets made of raw hide, dry, exceeding
+tough. And the king addressed the hero with arrogant words:
+
+“Whichever of these thou wilt, without casting lots, I grant thee
+freely, that thou mayst not blame me hereafter. Bind them about thy
+hands; thou shalt learn and tell another how skilled I am to carve the
+dry oxhides and to spatter men’s cheeks with blood.”
+
+Thus he spake; but the other gave back no taunt in answer, but with a
+light smile readily took up the gauntlets that lay at his feet; and to
+him came Castor and mighty Talaus, son of Bias, and they quickly bound
+the gauntlets about his hands, often bidding him be of good courage.
+And to Amycus came Aretus and Ornytus, but little they knew, poor
+fools, that they had bound them for the last time on their champion, a
+victim of evil fate.
+
+Now when they stood apart and were ready with their gauntlets,
+straightway in front of their faces they raised their heavy hands and
+matched their might in deadly strife. Hereupon the Bebrycian king even
+as a fierce wave of the sea rises in a crest against a swift ship, but
+she by the skill of the crafty pilot just escapes the shock when the
+billow is eager to break over the bulwark—so he followed up the son of
+Tyndareus, trying to daunt him, and gave him no respite. But the hero,
+ever unwounded, by his skill baffled the rush of his foe, and he
+quickly noted the brutal play of his fists to see where he was
+invincible in strength, and where inferior, and stood unceasingly and
+returned blow for blow. And as when shipwrights with their hammers
+smite ships’ timbers to meet the sharp clamps, fixing layer upon layer;
+and the blows resound one after another; so cheeks and jaws crashed on
+both sides, and a huge clattering of teeth arose, nor did they cease
+ever from striking their blows until laboured gasping overcame both.
+And standing a little apart they wiped from their foreheads sweat in
+abundance, wearily panting for breath. Then back they rushed together
+again, as two bulls fight in furious rivalry for a grazing heifer. Next
+Amycus rising on tiptoe, like one who slays an ox, sprung to his full
+height and swung his heavy hand down upon his rival; but the hero
+swerved aside from the rush, turning his head, and just received the
+arm on his shoulder; and coming near and slipping his knee past the
+king’s, with a rush he struck him above the ear, and broke the bones
+inside, and the king in agony fell upon his knees; and the Minyan
+heroes shouted for joy; and his life was poured forth all at once.
+
+Nor were the Bebrycians reckless of their king; but all together took
+up rough clubs and spears and rushed straight on Polydeuces. But in
+front of him stood his comrades, their keen swords drawn from the
+sheath. First Castor struck upon the head a man as he rushed at him:
+and it was cleft in twain and fell on each side upon his shoulders. And
+Polydeuces slew huge Itymoneus and Mimas. The one, with a sudden leap,
+he smote beneath the breast with his swift foot and threw him in the
+dust; and as the other drew near he struck him with his right hand
+above the left eyebrow, and tore away his eyelid and the eyeball was
+left bare. But Oreides, insolent henchman of Amycus, wounded Talaus son
+of Bias in the side, but did not slay him, but only grazing the skin
+the bronze sped under his belt and touched not the flesh. Likewise
+Aretus with well-seasoned club smote Iphitus, the steadfast son of
+Eurytus, not yet destined to an evil death; assuredly soon was he
+himself to be slain by the sword of Clytius. Then Ancaeus, the
+dauntless son of Lycurgus, quickly seized his huge axe, and in his left
+hand holding a bear’s dark hide, plunged into the midst of the
+Bebrycians with furious onset; and with him charged the sons of Aeacus,
+and with them started warlike Jason. And as when amid the folds grey
+wolves rush down on a winter’s day and scare countless sheep, unmarked
+by the keen-scented dogs and the shepherds too, and they seek what
+first to attack and carry off; often glaring around, but the sheep are
+just huddled together and trample on one another; so the heroes
+grievously scared the arrogant Bebrycians. And as shepherds or
+beekeepers smoke out a huge swarm of bees in a rock, and they
+meanwhile, pent up in their hive, murmur with droning hum, till,
+stupefied by the murky smoke, they fly forth far from the rock; so they
+stayed steadfast no longer, but scattered themselves inland through
+Bebrycia, proclaiming the death of Amycus; fools, not to perceive that
+another woe all unforeseen was hard upon them. For at that hour their
+vineyards and villages were being ravaged by the hostile spear of Lycus
+and the Mariandyni, now that their king was gone. For they were ever at
+strife about the ironbearing land. And now the foe was destroying their
+steadings and farms, and now the heroes from all sides were driving off
+their countless sheep, and one spake among his fellows thus:
+
+“Bethink ye what they would have done in their cowardice if haply some
+god had brought Heracles hither. Assuredly, if he had been here, no
+trial would there have been of fists, I ween, but when the king drew
+near to proclaim his rules, the club would have made him forget his
+pride and the rules to boot. Yea, we left him uncared for on the strand
+and we sailed oversea; and full well each one of us shall know our
+baneful folly, now that he is far away.”
+
+Thus he spake, but all these things had been wrought by the counsels of
+Zeus. Then they remained there through the night and tended the hurts
+of the wounded men, and offered sacrifice to the immortals, and made
+ready a mighty meal; and sleep fell upon no man beside the bowl and the
+blazing sacrifice. They wreathed their fair brows with the bay that
+grew by the shore, whereto their hawsers were bound, and chanted a song
+to the lyre of Orpheus in sweet harmony; and the windless shore was
+charmed by their song; and they celebrated the Therapnaean son of
+Zeus.[14]
+
+But when the sun rising from far lands lighted up the dewy hills and
+wakened the shepherds, then they loosed their hawsers from the stem of
+the baytree and put on board all the spoil they had need to take; and
+with a favouring wind they steered through the eddying Bosporus.
+Hereupon a wave like a steep mountain rose aloft in front as though
+rushing upon them, ever upheaved above the clouds; nor would you say
+that they could escape grim death, for in its fury it hangs over the
+middle of the ship, like a cloud, yet it sinks away into calm if it
+meets with a skilful helmsman. So they by the steering-craft of Tiphys
+escaped, unhurt but sore dismayed. And on the next day they fastened
+the hawsers to the coast opposite the Bithynian land.
+
+There Phineus, son of Agenor, had his home by the sea, Phineus who
+above all men endured most bitter woes because of the gift of prophecy
+which Leto’s son had granted him aforetime. And he reverenced not a
+whit even Zeus himself, for he foretold unerringly to men his sacred
+will. Wherefore Zeus sent upon him a lingering old age, and took from
+his eyes the pleasant light, and suffered him not to have joy of the
+dainties untold that the dwellers around ever brought to his house,
+when they came to enquire the will of heaven. But on a sudden, swooping
+through the clouds, the Harpies with their crooked beaks incessantly
+snatched the food away from his mouth and hands. And at times not a
+morsel of food was left, at others but a little, in order that he might
+live and be tormented. And they poured forth over all a loathsome
+stench; and no one dared not merely to carry food to his mouth but even
+to stand at a distance; so foully reeked the remnants of the meal. But
+straightway when he heard the voice and the tramp of the band he knew
+that they were the men passing by, at whose coming Zeus’ oracle had
+declared to him that he should have joy of his food. And he rose from
+his couch, like a lifeless dream, bowed over his staff, and crept to
+the door on his withered feet, feeling the walls; and as he moved, his
+limbs trembled for weakness and age; and his parched skin was caked
+with dirt, and naught but the skill held his bones together. And he
+came forth from the hall with wearied knees and sat on the threshold of
+the courtyard; and a dark stupor covered him, and it seemed that the
+earth reeled round beneath his feet, and he lay in a strengthless
+trance, speechless. But when they saw him they gathered round and
+marvelled. And he at last drew laboured breath from the depths of his
+chest and spoke among them with prophetic utterance:
+
+“Listen, bravest of all the Hellenes, if it be truly ye, whom by a
+king’s ruthless command Jason is leading on the ship Argo in quest of
+the fleece. It is ye truly. Even yet my soul by its divination knows
+everything. Thanks I render to thee, O king, son of Leto, plunged in
+bitter affliction though I be. I beseech you by Zeus the god of
+suppliants, the sternest foe to sinful men, and for the sake of Phoebus
+and Hera herself, under whose especial care ye have come hither, help
+me, save an ill-fated man from misery, and depart not uncaring and
+leaving me thus as ye see. For not only has the Fury set her foot on my
+eyes and I drag on to the end a weary old age; but besides my other
+woes a woe hangs over me the bitterest of all. The Harpies, swooping
+down from some unseen den of destruction, ever snatch the food from my
+mouth. And I have no device to aid me. But it were easier, when I long
+for a meal, to escape my own thoughts than them, so swiftly do they fly
+through the air. But if haply they do leave me a morsel of food it
+reeks of decay and the stench is unendurable, nor could any mortal bear
+to draw near even for a moment, no, not if his heart were wrought of
+adamant. But necessity, bitter and insatiate, compels me to abide and
+abiding to put food in my cursed belly. These pests, the oracle
+declares, the sons of Boreas shall restrain. And no strangers are they
+that shall ward them off if indeed I am Phineus who was once renowned
+among men for wealth and the gift of prophecy, and if I am the son of
+my father Agenor; and, when I ruled among the Thracians, by my bridal
+gifts I brought home their sister Cleopatra to be my wife.”
+
+So spake Agenor’s son; and deep sorrow seized each of the heroes, and
+especially the two sons of Boreas. And brushing away a tear they drew
+nigh, and Zetes spake as follows, taking in his own the hand of the
+grief-worn sire:
+
+“Unhappy one, none other of men is more wretched than thou, methinks.
+Why upon thee is laid the burden of so many sorrows? Hast thou with
+baneful folly sinned against the gods through thy skill in prophecy?
+For this are they greatly wroth with thee? Yet our spirit is dismayed
+within us for all our desire to aid thee, if indeed the god has granted
+this privilege to us two. For plain to discern to men of earth are the
+reproofs of the immortals. And we will never check the Harpies when
+they come, for all our desire, until thou hast sworn that for this we
+shall not lose the favour of heaven.”
+
+Thus he spake; and towards him the aged sire opened his sightless eyes,
+and lifted them up and replied with these words:
+
+“Be silent, store not up such thoughts in thy heart, my child. Let the
+son of Leto be my witness, he who of his gracious will taught me the
+lore of prophecy, and be witness the ill-starred doom which possesses
+me and this dark cloud upon my eyes, and the gods of the underworld—and
+may their curse be upon me if I die perjured thus—no wrath from heaven
+will fall upon you two for your help to me.”
+
+Then were those two eager to help him because of the oath. And quickly
+the younger heroes prepared a feast for the aged man, a last prey for
+the Harpies; and both stood near him, to smite with the sword those
+pests when they swooped down. Scarcely had the aged man touched the
+food when they forthwith, like bitter blasts or flashes of lightning,
+suddenly darted from the clouds, and swooped down with a yell, fiercely
+craving for food; and the heroes beheld them and shouted in the midst
+of their onrush; but they at the cry devoured everything and sped away
+over the sea after; and an intolerable stench remained. And behind them
+the two sons of Boreas raising their swords rushed in pursuit. For Zeus
+imparted to them tireless strength; but without Zeus they could not
+have followed, for the Harpies used ever to outstrip the blasts of the
+west wind when they came to Phineus and when they left him. And as
+when, upon the mountain-side, hounds, cunning in the chase, run in the
+track of horned goats or deer, and as they strain a little behind gnash
+their teeth upon the edge of their jaws in vain; so Zetes and Calais
+rushing very near just grazed the Harpies in vain with their
+finger-tips. And assuredly they would have torn them to pieces, despite
+heaven’s will, when they had overtaken them far off at the Floating
+Islands, had not swift Iris seen them and leapt down from the sky from
+heaven above, and cheeked them with these words:
+
+“It is not lawful, O sons of Boreas, to strike with your swords the
+Harpies, the hounds of mighty Zeus; but I myself will give you a
+pledge, that hereafter they shall not draw near to Phineus.”
+
+With these words she took an oath by the waters of Styx, which to all
+the gods is most dread and most awful, that the Harpies would never
+thereafter again approach the home of Phineus, son of Agenor, for so it
+was fated. And the heroes yielding to the oath, turned back their
+flight to the ship. And on account of this men call them the Islands of
+Turning though aforetime they called them the Floating Islands. And the
+Harpies and Iris parted. They entered their den in Minoan Crete; but
+she sped up to Olympus, soaring aloft on her swift wings.
+
+Meanwhile the chiefs carefully cleansed the old man’s squalid skin and
+with due selection sacrificed sheep which they had borne away from the
+spoil of Amycus. And when they had laid a huge supper in the hall, they
+sat down and feasted, and with them feasted Phineus ravenously,
+delighting his soul, as in a dream. And there, when they had taken
+their fill of food and drink, they kept awake all night waiting for the
+sons of Boreas. And the aged sire himself sat in the midst, near the
+hearth, telling of the end of their voyage and the completion of their
+journey:
+
+“Listen then. Not everything is it lawful for you to know clearly; but
+whatever is heaven’s will, I will not hide. I was infatuated aforetime,
+when in my folly I declared the will of Zeus in order and to the end.
+For he himself wishes to deliver to men the utterances of the prophetic
+art incomplete, in order that they may still have some need to know the
+will of heaven.”
+
+“First of all, after leaving me, ye will see the twin Cyanean rocks
+where the two seas meet. No one, I ween, has won his escape between
+them. For they are not firmly fixed with roots beneath, but constantly
+clash against one another to one point, and above a huge mass of salt
+water rises in a crest, boiling up, and loudly dashes upon the hard
+beach. Wherefore now obey my counsel, if indeed with prudent mind and
+reverencing the blessed gods ye pursue your way; and perish not
+foolishly by a self-sought death, or rush on following the guidance of
+youth. First entrust the attempt to a dove when ye have sent her forth
+from the ship. And if she escapes safe with her wings between the rocks
+to the open sea, then no more do ye refrain from the path, but grip
+your oars well in your hands and cleave the sea’s narrow strait, for
+the light of safety will be not so much in prayer as in strength of
+hands. Wherefore let all else go and labour boldly with might and main,
+but ere then implore the gods as ye will, I forbid you not. But if she
+flies onward and perishes midway, then do ye turn back; for it is
+better to yield to the immortals. For ye could not escape an evil doom
+from the rocks, not even if Argo were of iron.”
+
+“O hapless ones, dare not to transgress my divine warning, even though
+ye think that I am thrice as much hated by the sons of heaven as I am,
+and even more than thrice; dare not to sail further with your ship in
+despite of the omen. And as these things will fall, so shall they fall.
+But if ye shun the clashing rocks and come scatheless inside Pontus,
+straightway keep the land of the Bithynians on your right and sail on,
+and beware of the breakers, until ye round the swift river Rhebas and
+the black beach, and reach the harbour of the Isle of Thynias. Thence
+ye must turn back a little space through the sea and beach your ship on
+the land of the Mariandyni lying opposite. Here is a downward path to
+the abode of Hades, and the headland of Acherusia stretches aloft, and
+eddying Acheron cleaves its way at the bottom, even through the
+headland, and sends its waters forth from a huge ravine. And near it ye
+will sail past many hills of the Paphlagonians, over whom at the first
+Eneteian Pelops reigned, and of his blood they boast themselves to be.”
+
+“Now there is a headland opposite Helice the Bear, steep on all sides,
+and they call it Carambis, about whose crests the blasts of the north
+wind are sundered. So high in the air does it rise turned towards the
+sea. And when ye have rounded it broad Aegialus stretches before you;
+and at the end of broad Aegialus, at a jutting point of coast, the
+waters of the river Halys pour forth with a terrible roar; and after it
+his flowing near, but smaller in stream, rolls into the sea with white
+eddies. Onward from thence the bend of a huge and towering cape reaches
+out from the land, next Thermodon at its mouth flows into a quiet bay
+at the Themiscyreian headland, after wandering through a broad
+continent. And here is the plain of Doeas, and near are the three
+cities of the Amazons, and after them the Chalybes, most wretched of
+men, possess a soil rugged and unyielding sons of toil, they busy
+themselves with working iron. And near them dwell the Tibareni, rich in
+sheep, beyond the Genetaean headland of Zeus, lord of hospitality. And
+bordering on it the Mossynoeci next in order inhabit the well-wooded
+mainland and the parts beneath the mountains, who have built in towers
+made from trees their wooden homes and well-fitted chambers, which they
+call Mossynes, and the people themselves take their name from them.
+After passing them ye must beach your ship upon a smooth island, when
+ye have driven away with all manner of skill the ravening birds, which
+in countless numbers haunt the desert island. In it the Queens of the
+Amazons, Otrere and Antiope, built a stone temple of Ares what time
+they went forth to war. Now here an unspeakable help will come to you
+from the bitter sea; wherefore with kindly intent I bid you stay. But
+what need is there that I should sin yet again declaring everything to
+the end by my prophetic art? And beyond the island and opposite
+mainland dwell the Philyres: and above the Philyres are the Macrones,
+and after them the vast tribes of the Becheiri. And next in order to
+them dwell the Sapeires, and the Byzeres have the lands adjoining to
+them, and beyond them at last live the warlike Colchians themselves.
+But speed on in your ship, till ye touch the inmost bourne of the sea.
+And here at the Cytaean mainland and from the Amarantine mountains far
+away and the Circaean plain, eddying Phasis rolls his broad stream to
+the sea. Guide your ship to the mouth of that river and ye shall behold
+the towers of Cytaean Aeetes and the shady grove of Ares, where a
+dragon, a monster terrible to behold, ever glares around, keeping watch
+over the fleece that is spread upon the top of an oak; neither by day
+nor by night does sweet sleep subdue his restless eyes.”
+
+Thus he spake, and straightway fear seized them as they heard. And for
+a long while they were struck with silence; till at last the hero, son
+of Aeson, spake, sore dismayed at their evil plight:
+
+“O aged sire, now hast thou come to the end of the toils of our
+sea-journeying and hast told us the token, trusting to which we shall
+make our way to Pontus through the hateful rocks; but whether, when we
+have escaped them, we shall have a return back again to Hellas, this
+too would we gladly learn from thee. What shall I do, how shall I go
+over again such a long path through the sea, unskilled as I am, with
+unskilled comrades? And Colchian Aea lies at the edge of Pontus and of
+the world.”
+
+Thus he spake, and him the aged sire addressed in reply: “O son, when
+once thou hast escaped through the deadly rocks, fear not; for a deity
+will be the guide from Aea by another track; and to Aea there will be
+guides enough. But, my friends, take thought of the artful aid of the
+Cyprian goddess. For on her depends the glorious issue of your venture.
+And further than this ask me not.”
+
+Thus spake Agenor’s son, and close at hand the twin sons of Thracian
+Boreas came darting from the sky and set their swift feet upon the
+threshold; and the heroes rose up from their seats when they saw them
+present. And Zetes, still drawing hard breath after his toil, spake
+among the eager listeners, telling them how far they had driven the
+Harpies and how his prevented their slaying them, and how the goddess
+of her grace gave them pledges, and how those others in fear plunged
+into the vast cave of the Dictaean cliff. Then in the mansion all their
+comrades were joyful at the tidings and so was Phineus himself. And
+quickly Aeson’s son, with good will exceeding, addressed him:
+
+“Assuredly there was then, Phineus, some god who cared for thy bitter
+woe, and brought us hither from afar, that the sons of Boreas might aid
+thee; and if too he should bring sight to thine eyes, verily I should
+rejoice, methinks, as much as if I were on my homeward way.”
+
+Thus he spake, but Phineus replied to him with downcast look: “Son of
+Aeson, that is past recall, nor is there any remedy hereafter, for
+blasted are my sightless eyes. But instead of that, may the god grant
+me death at once, and after death I shall take my share in perfect
+bliss.”
+
+Then they two returned answering speech, each to other, and soon in the
+midst of their converse early dawn appeared; and round Phineus were
+gathered the neighbours who used to come thither aforetime day by day
+and constantly bring a portion of their food. To all alike, however
+poor he was that came, the aged man gave his oracles with good will,
+and freed many from their woes by his prophetic art; wherefore they
+visited and tended him. And with them came Paraebius, who was dearest
+to him, and gladly did he perceive these strangers in the house. For
+long ere now the seer himself had said that a band of chieftains,
+faring from Hellas to the city of Aceres, would make fast their hawsers
+to the Thynian land, and by Zeus’ will would check the approach of the
+Harpies. The rest the old man pleased with words of wisdom and let them
+go; Paraebius only he bade remain there with the chiefs; and
+straightway he sent him and bade him bring back the choicest of his
+sheep. And when he had left the hall Phineus spake gently amid the
+throng of oarsmen:
+
+“O my friends, not all men are arrogant, it seems, nor unmindful of
+benefits. Even as this man, loyal as he is, came hither to learn his
+fate. For when he laboured the most and toiled the most, then the needs
+of life, ever growing more and more, would waste him, and day after day
+ever dawned more wretched, nor was there any respite to his toil. But
+he was paying the sad penalty of his father’s sin. For he when alone on
+the mountains, felling trees, once slighted the prayers of a Hamadryad,
+who wept and sought to soften him with plaintive words, not to cut down
+the stump of an oak tree coeval with herself, wherein for a long time
+she had lived continually; but he in the arrogance of youth recklessly
+cut it down. So to him the nymph thereafter made her death a curse, to
+him and to his children. I indeed knew of the sin when he came; and I
+bid him build an altar to the Thynian nymph, and offer on it an atoning
+sacrifice, with prayer to escape his father’s fate. Here, ever since he
+escaped the god-sent doom, never has he forgotten or neglected me; but
+sorely and against his will do I send him from my doors, so eager is he
+to remain with me in my affliction.”
+
+Thus spake Agenor’s son; and his friend straightway came near leading
+two sheep from the flock. And up rose Jason and up rose the sons of
+Boreas at the bidding of the aged sire. And quickly they called upon
+Apollo, lord of prophecy, and offered sacrifice upon the health as the
+day was just sinking. And the younger comrades made ready a feast to
+their hearts’ desire. Thereupon having well feasted they turned
+themselves to rest, some near the ship’s hawsers, others in groups
+throughout the mansion. And at dawn the Etesian winds blew strongly,
+which by the command of Zeus blow over every land equally.
+
+Cyrene, the tale goes, once tended sheep along the marsh-meadow of
+Peneus among men of old time; for dear to her were maidenhood and a
+couch unstained. But, as she guarded her flock by the river, Apollo
+carried her off far from Haemonia and placed her among the nymphs of
+the land, who dwelt in Libya near the Myrtosian height. And here to
+Phoebus she bore Aristaeus whom the Haemonians, rich in corn-land, call
+“Hunter” and “Shepherd”. Her, of his love, the god made a nymph there,
+of long life and a huntress, and his son he brought while still an
+infant to be nurtured in the cave of Cheiron. And to him when he grew
+to manhood the Muses gave a bride, and taught him the arts of healing
+and of prophecy; and they made him the keeper of their sheep, of all
+that grazed on the Athamantian plain of Phthia and round steep Othrys
+and the sacred stream of the river Apidanus. But when from heaven
+Sirius scorched the Minoan Isles, and for long there was no respite for
+the inhabitants, then by the injunction of the Far-Darter they summoned
+Aristaeus to ward off the pestilence. And by his father’s command he
+left Phthia and made his home in Ceos, and gathered together the
+Parrhasian people who are of the lineage of Lycaon, and he built a
+great altar to Zeus Icmaeus, and duly offered sacrifices upon the
+mountains to that star Sirius, and to Zeus son of Cronos himself. And
+on this account it is that Etesian winds from Zeus cool the land for
+forty days, and in Ceos even now the priests offer sacrifices before
+the rising of the Dog-star.
+
+So the tale is told, but the chieftains stayed there by constraint, and
+every day the Thynians, doing pleasure to Phineus, sent them gifts
+beyond measure. And afterwards they raised an altar to the blessed
+twelve on the sea-beach opposite and laid offerings thereon and then
+entered their swift ship to row, nor did they forget to bear with them
+a trembling dove; but Euphemus seized her and brought her all quivering
+with fear, and they loosed the twin hawsers from the land.
+
+Nor did they start unmarked by Athena, but straightway swiftly she set
+her feel on a light cloud, which would waft her on, mighty though she
+was, and she swept on to the sea with friendly thoughts to the oarsmen.
+And as when one roveth far from his native land, as we men often wander
+with enduring heart, nor is any land too distant but all ways are clear
+to his view, and he sees in mind his own home, and at once the way over
+sea and land seems slain, and swiftly thinking, now this way, now that,
+he strains with eager eyes; so swiftly the daughter of Zeus darted down
+and set her foot on the cheerless shore of Thynia.
+
+Now when they reached the narrow strait of the winding passage, hemmed
+in on both sides by rugged cliffs, while an eddying current from below
+was washing against the ship as she moved on, they went forward sorely
+in dread; and now the thud of the crashing rocks ceaselessly struck
+their ears, and the sea-washed shores resounded, and then Euphemus
+grasped the dove in his hand and started to mount the prow; and they,
+at the bidding of Tiphys, son of Hagnias, rowed with good will to drive
+Argo between the rocks, trusting to their strength. And as they rounded
+a bend they saw the rocks opening for the last time of all. Their
+spirit melted within them; and Euphemus sent forth the dove to dart
+forward in flight; and they all together raised their heads to look;
+but she flew between them, and the rocks again rushed together and
+crashed as they met face to face. And the foam leapt up in a mass like
+a cloud; awful was the thunder of the sea; and all round them the
+mighty welkin roared.
+
+The hollow caves beneath the rugged cliffs rumbled as the sea came
+surging in; and the white foam of the dashing wave spurted high above
+the cliff. Next the current whirled the ship round. And the rocks shore
+away the end of the dove’s tail-feathers; but away she flew unscathed.
+And the rowers gave a loud cry; and Tiphys himself called to them to
+row with might and main. For the rocks were again parting asunder. But
+as they rowed they trembled, until the tide returning drove them back
+within the rocks. Then most awful fear seized upon all; for over their
+head was destruction without escape. And now to right and left broad
+Pontus was seen, when suddenly a huge wave rose up before them, arched,
+like a steep rock; and at the sight they bowed with bended heads. For
+it seemed about to leap down upon the ship’s whole length and to
+overwhelm them. But Tiphys was quick to ease the ship as she laboured
+with the oars; and in all its mass the wave rolled away beneath the
+keel, and at the stern it raised Argo herself and drew her far away
+from the rocks; and high in air was she borne. But Euphemus strode
+among all his comrades and cried to them to bend to their oars with all
+their might; and they with a shout smote the water. And as far as the
+ship yielded to the rowers, twice as far did she leap back, and the
+oar, were bent like curved bows as the heroes used their strength.
+
+Then a vaulted billow rushed upon them, and the ship like a cylinder
+ran on the furious wave plunging through the hollow sea. And the
+eddying current held her between the clashing rocks; and on each side
+they shook and thundered; and the ship’s timbers were held fast. Then
+Athena with her left hand thrust back one mighty rock and with her
+right pushed the ship through; and she, like a winged arrow, sped
+through the air. Nevertheless the rocks, ceaselessly clashing, shore
+off as she passed the extreme end of the stern-ornament. But Athena
+soared up to Olympus, when they had escaped unscathed. And the rocks in
+one spot at that moment were rooted fast for ever to each other, which
+thing had been destined by the blessed gods, when a man in his ship
+should have passed between them alive. And the heroes breathed again
+after their chilling fear, beholding at the same time the sky and the
+expanse of sea spreading far and wide. For they deemed that they were
+saved from Hades; and Tiphys first of all began to speak:
+
+“It is my hope that we have safely escaped this peril—we, and the ship;
+and none other is the cause so much as Athena, who breathed into Argo
+divine strength when Argus knitted her together with bolts; and she may
+not be caught. Son of Aeson, no longer fear thou so much the hest of
+thy king, since a god hath granted us escape between the rocks; for
+Phineus, Agenor’s son, said that our toils hereafter would be lightly
+accomplished.”
+
+He spake, and at once he sped the ship onward through the midst of the
+sea past the Bithynian coast. But Jason with gentle words addressed him
+in reply: “Tiphys, why dost thou comfort thus my grieving heart? I have
+erred and am distraught in wretched and helpless ruin. For I ought,
+when Pelias gave the command, to have straightway refused this quest to
+his face, yea, though I were doomed to die pitilessly, torn limb from
+limb, but now I am wrapped in excessive fear and cares unbearable,
+dreading to sail through the chilling paths of the sea, and dreading
+when we shall set foot on the mainland. For on every side are unkindly
+men. And ever when day is done I pass a night of groans from the time
+when ye first gathered together for my sake, while I take thought for
+all things; but thou talkest at thine ease, eating only for thine own
+life; while for myself I am dismayed not a whit; but I fear for this
+man and for that equally, and for thee, and for my other comrades, if I
+shall not bring you back safe to the land of Hellas.”
+
+Thus he spake, making trial of the chiefs; but they shouted loud with
+cheerful words. And his heart was warmed within him at their cry and
+again he spake outright among them:
+
+“My friends, in your valour my courage is quickened. Wherefore now,
+even though I should take my way through the gulfs of Hades, no more
+shall I let fear seize upon me, since ye are steadfast amid cruel
+terrors. But now that we have sailed out from the striking rocks, I
+trow that never hereafter will there be another such fearful thing, if
+indeed we go on our way following the counsel of Phineus.”
+
+Thus he spake, and straightway they ceased from such words and gave
+unwearying labour to the oar; and quickly they passed by the swiftly
+flowing river Rhebas and the peak of Colone, and soon thereafter the
+black headland, and near it the mouth of the river Phyllis, where
+aforetime Dipsaeus received in his home the son of Athamas, when with
+his ram he was flying from the city of Orchomenus; and Dipsacus was the
+son of a meadow-nymph, nor was insolence his delight, but contented by
+his father’s stream he dwelt with his mother, pasturing his flocks by
+the shore. And quickly they sighted and sailed past his shrine and the
+broad banks of the river and the plain, and deep-flowing Calpe, and all
+the windless night and the day they bent to their tireless oars. And
+even as ploughing oxen toil as they cleave the moist earth, and sweat
+streams in abundance from flank and neck; and from beneath the yoke
+their eyes roll askance, while the breath ever rushes from their mouths
+in hot gasps; and all day long they toil, planting their hoofs deep in
+the ground; like them the heroes kept dragging their oars through the
+sea.
+
+Now when divine light has not yet come nor is it utter darkness, but a
+faint glimmer has spread over the night, the time when men wake and
+call it twilight, at that hour they ran into the harbour of the desert
+island Thynias and, spent by weary toil, mounted the shore. And to them
+the son of Leto, as he passed from Lycia far away to the countless folk
+of the Hyperboreans, appeared; and about his cheeks on both sides his
+golden locks flowed in clusters as he moved; in his left hand he held a
+silver bow, and on his back was slung a quiver hanging from his
+shoulders; and beneath his feet all the island quaked, and the waves
+surged high on the beach. Helpless amazement seized them as they
+looked; and no one dared to gaze face to face into the fair eyes of the
+god. And they stood with heads bowed to the ground; but he, far off,
+passed on to the sea through the air; and at length Orpheus spake as
+follows, addressing the chiefs:
+
+“Come, let us call this island the sacred isle of Apollo of the Dawn
+since he has appeared to all, passing by at dawn; and we will offer
+such sacrifices as we can, building an altar on the shore; and if
+hereafter he shall grant us a safe return to the Haemonian land, then
+will we lay on his altar the thighs of horned goats. And now I bid you
+propitiate him with the steam of sacrifice and libations. Be gracious,
+O king, be gracious in thy appearing.”
+
+Thus he spake, and they straightway built up an altar with shingle; and
+over the island they wandered, seeking if haply they could get a
+glimpse of a fawn or a wild goat, that often seek their pasture in the
+deep wood. And for them Leto’s son provided a quarry; and with pious
+rites they wrapped in fat the thigh bones of them all and burnt them on
+the sacred altar, celebrating Apollo, Lord of Dawn. And round the
+burning sacrifice they set up a broad dancing-ring, singing, “All hail
+fair god of healing, Phoebus, all hail,” and with them Oeagrus’ goodly
+son began a clear lay on his Bistonian lyre; how once beneath the rocky
+ridge of Parnassus he slew with his bow the monster Delphyne, he, still
+young and beardless, still rejoicing in his long tresses. Mayst thou be
+gracious! Ever, O king, be thy locks unshorn, ever unravaged; for so is
+it right. And none but Leto, daughter of Coeus, strokes them with her
+dear hands. And often the Corycian nymphs, daughters of Pleistus, took
+up the cheering strain crying “Healer”; hence arose this lovely refrain
+of the hymn to Phoebus.
+
+Now when they had celebrated him with dance and song they took an oath
+with holy libations, that they would ever help each other with concord
+of heart, touching the sacrifice as they swore; and even now there
+stands there a temple to gracious Concord, which the heroes themselves
+reared, paying honour at that time to the glorious goddess.
+
+Now when the third morning came, with a fresh west wind they left the
+lofty island. Next, on the opposite side they saw and passed the mouth
+of the river Sangarius and the fertile land of the Mariandyni, and the
+stream of Lycus and the Anthemoeisian lake; and beneath the breeze the
+ropes and all the tackling quivered as they sped onward. During the
+night the wind ceased and at dawn they gladly reached the haven of the
+Acherusian headland. It rises aloft with steep cliffs, looking towards
+the Bithynian sea; and beneath it smooth rocks, ever washed by the sea,
+stand rooted firm; and round them the wave rolls and thunders loud, but
+above, wide-spreading plane trees grow on the topmost point. And from
+it towards the land a hollow glen slopes gradually away, where there is
+a cave of Hades overarched by wood and rocks. From here an icy breath,
+unceasingly issuing from the chill recess, ever forms a glistening rime
+which melts again beneath the midday sun. And never does silence hold
+that grim headland, but there is a continual murmur from the sounding
+sea and the leaves that quiver in the winds from the cave. And here is
+the outfall of the river Acheron which bursts its way through the
+headland and falls into the Eastern sea, and a hollow ravine brings it
+down from above. In after times the Nisaean Megarians named it
+Soonautes[15] when they were about to settle in the land of the
+Mariandyni. For indeed the river saved them with their ships when they
+were caught in a violent tempest. By this way the heroes took the ship
+through[16] the Acherusian headland and came to land over against it as
+the wind had just ceased.
+
+Not long had they come unmarked by Lycus, the lord of that land, and
+the Mariandyni—they, the slayers of Amycus, according to the report
+which the people heard before; but for that very deed they even made a
+league with the heroes. And Polydeuces himself they welcomed as a god,
+flocking from every side, since for a long time had they been warring
+against the arrogant Bebrycians. And so they went up all together into
+the city, and all that day with friendly feelings made ready a feast
+within the palace of Lycus and gladdened their souls with converse.
+Aeson’s son told him the lineage and name of each of his comrades and
+the behests of Pelias, and how they were welcomed by the Lemnian women,
+and all that they did at Dolionian Cyzieus; and how they reached the
+Mysian land and Cius, where, sore against their will, they left behind
+the hero Heracles, and he told the saying of Glaucus, and how they slew
+the Bebrycians and Amycus, and he told of the prophecies and affliction
+of Phineus, and how they escaped the Cyanean rocks, and how they met
+with Leto’s son at the island. And as he told all, Lycus was charmed in
+soul with listening; and he grieved for Heracles left behind, and spake
+as follows among them all:
+
+“O friends, what a man he was from whose help ye have fallen away, as
+ye cleave your long path to Aeetes; for well do I know that I saw him
+here in the halls of Dascylus my father, when he came hither on foot
+through the land of Asia bringing the girdle of warlike Hippolyte; and
+me he found with the down just growing on my cheeks. And here, when my
+brother Priolas was slain by the Mysians—my brother, whom ever since
+the people lament with most piteous dirges—he entered the lists with
+Titias in boxing and slew him, mighty Titias, who surpassed all the
+youths in beauty and strength; and he dashed his teeth to the ground.
+Together with the Mysians he subdued beneath my father’s sway the
+Phrygians also, who inhabit the lands next to us, and he made his own
+the tribes of the Bithynians and their land, as far as the mouth of
+Rhebas and the peak of Colone; and besides them the Paphlagonians of
+Pelops yielded just as they were, even all those round whom the dark
+water of Billaeus breaks. But now the Bebrycians and the insolence of
+Amycus have robbed me, since Heracles dwells far away, for they have
+long been cutting off huge pieces of my land until they have set their
+bounds at the meadows of deep-flowing Hypius. Nevertheless, by your
+hands have they paid the penalty; and it was not without the will of
+heaven, I trow, that he brought war on the Bebrycians this day—he, the
+son of Tyndareus, when he slew that champion. Wherefore whatever
+requital I am now able to pay, gladly will I pay it, for that is the
+rule for weaker men when the stronger begin to help them. So with you
+all, and in your company, I bid Dascylus my son follow; and if he goes,
+you will find all men friendly that ye meet on your way through the sea
+even to the mouth of the river Thermodon. And besides that, to the sons
+of Tyndareus will I raise a lofty temple on the Acherusian height,
+which all sailors shall mark far across the sea and shall reverence;
+and hereafter for them will I set apart outside the city, as for gods,
+some fertile fields of the well-tilled plain.”
+
+Thus all day long they revelled at the banquet. But at dawn they hied
+down to the ship in haste; and with them went Lycus himself, when he
+had given them countless gifts to bear away; and with them he sent
+forth his son from his home.
+
+And here his destined fate smote Idmon, son of Abas, skilled in
+soothsaying; but not at all did his soothsaying save him, for necessity
+drew him on to death. For in the mead of the reedy river there lay,
+cooling his flanks and huge belly in the mud, a white-tusked boar, a
+deadly monster, whom even the nymphs of the marsh dreaded, and no man
+knew it; but all alone he was feeding in the wide fell. But the son of
+Abas was passing along the raised banks of the muddy river, and the
+boar from some unseen lair leapt out of the reed-bed, and charging
+gashed his thigh and severed in twain the sinews and the bone. And with
+a sharp cry the hero fell to the ground; and as he was struck his
+comrades flocked together with answering cry. And quickly Peleus with
+his hunting spear aimed at the murderous boar as he fled back into the
+fen; and again he turned and charged; but Idas wounded him, and with a
+roar he fell impaled upon the sharp spear. And the boar they left on
+the ground just as he had fallen there; but Idmon, now at the last
+gasp, his comrades bore to the ship in sorrow of heart, and he died in
+his comrades’ arms.
+
+And here they stayed from taking thought for their voyaging and abode
+in grief for the burial of their dead friend. And for three whole days
+they lamented; and on the next they buried him with full honours, and
+the people and King Lycus himself took part in the funeral rites; and,
+as is the due of the departed, they slaughtered countless sheep at his
+tomb. And so a barrow to this hero was raised in that land, and there
+stands a token for men of later days to see, the trunk of a wild olive
+tree, such as ships are built of; and it flourishes with its green
+leaves a little below the Acherusian headland. And if at the bidding of
+the Muses I must tell this tale outright, Phoebus strictly commanded
+the Boeotians and Nisaeans to worship him as guardian of their city,
+and to build their city round the trunk of the ancient wild olive; but
+they, instead of the god-fearing Aeolid Idmon, at this day honour
+Agamestor.
+
+Who was the next that died? For then a second time the heroes heaped up
+a barrow for a comrade dead. For still are to be seen two monuments of
+those heroes. The tale goes that Tiphys son of Hagnias died; nor was it
+his destiny thereafter to sail any further. But him there on the spot a
+short sickness laid to rest far from his native land, when the company
+had paid due honours to the dead son of Abas. And at the cruel woe they
+were seized with unbearable grief. For when with due honours they had
+buried him also hard by the seer, they cast themselves down in
+helplessness on the sea-shore silently, closely wrapped up, and took no
+thought for meat or drink; and their spirit drooped in grief, for all
+hope of return was gone. And in their sorrow they would have stayed
+from going further had not Hera kindled exceeding courage in Ancaeus,
+whom near the waters of Imbrasus Astypalaea bore to Poseidon; for
+especially was he skilled in steering and eagerly did he address
+Peleus:
+
+“Son of Aeacus, is it well for us to give up our toils and linger on in
+a strange land? Not so much for my prowess in war did Jason take me
+with him in quest of the fleece, far from Parthenia, as for my
+knowledge of ships. Wherefore, I pray, let there be no fear for the
+ship. And so there are here other men of skill, of whom none will harm
+our voyaging, whomsoever we set at the helm. But quickly tell forth all
+this and boldly urge them to call to mind their task.”
+
+Thus he spake; and Peleus’ soul was stirred with gladness, and
+straightway he spake in the midst of all: “My friends, why do we thus
+cherish a bootless grief like this? For those two have perished by the
+fate they have met with; but among our host are steersmen yet, and many
+a one. Wherefore let us not delay our attempt, but rouse yourselves to
+the work and cast away your griefs.”
+
+And him in reply Aeson’s son addressed with helpless words: “Son of
+Aeacus, where are these steersmen of thine? For those whom we once
+deemed to be men of skill, they even more than I are bowed with
+vexation of heart. Wherefore I forebode an evil doom for us even as for
+the dead, if it shall be our lot neither to reach the city of fell
+Aeetes, nor ever again to pass beyond the rocks to the land of Hellas,
+but a wretched fate will enshroud us here ingloriously till we grow old
+for naught.”
+
+Thus he spake, but Ancaeus quickly undertook to guide the swift ship;
+for he was stirred by the impulse of the goddess. And after him Erginus
+and Nauplius and Euphemus started up, eager to steer. But the others
+held them back, and many of his comrades granted it to Ancaeus.
+
+So on the twelfth day they went aboard at dawn, for a strong breeze of
+westerly wind was blowing. And quickly with the oars they passed out
+through the river Acheron and, trusting to the wind, shook out their
+sails, and with canvas spread far and wide they were cleaving their
+passage through the waves in fair weather. And soon they passed the
+outfall of the river Callichorus, where, as the tale goes, the Nysean
+son of Zeus, when he had left the tribes of the Indians and came to
+dwell at Thebes, held revels and arrayed dances in front of a cave,
+wherein he passed unsmiling sacred nights, from which time the
+neighbours call the river by the name of Callichorus[17] and the cave
+Aulion.[18]
+
+Next they beheld the barrow of Sthenelus, Actor’s son, who on his way
+back from the valorous war against the Amazons—for he had been the
+comrade of Heracles—was struck by an arrow and died there upon the
+sea-beach. And for a time they went no further, for Persephone herself
+sent forth the spirit of Actor’s son which craved with many tears to
+behold men like himself, even for a moment. And mounting on the edge of
+the barrow he gazed upon the ship, such as he was when he went to war;
+and round his head a fair helm with four peaks gleamed with its
+blood-red crest. And again he entered the vast gloom; and they looked
+and marvelled; and Mopsus, son of Ampycus, with word of prophecy urged
+them to land and propitiate him with libations. Quickly they drew in
+sail and threw out hawsers, and on the strand paid honour to the tomb
+of Sthenelus, and poured out drink offerings to him and sacrificed
+sheep as victims. And besides the drink offerings they built an altar
+to Apollo, saviour of ships, and burnt thigh bones; and Orpheus
+dedicated his lyre; whence the place has the name of Lyra.
+
+And straightway they went aboard as the wind blew strong; and they drew
+the sail down, and made it taut to both sheets; then Argo was borne
+over the sea swiftly, even as a hawk soaring high through the air
+commits to the breeze its outspread wings and is borne on swiftly, nor
+swerves in its flight, poising in the clear sky with quiet pinions. And
+lo, they passed by the stream of Parthenius as it flows into the sea, a
+most gentle river, where the maid, daughter of Leto, when she mounts to
+heaven after the chase, cools her limbs in its much-desired waters.
+Then they sped onward in the night without ceasing, and passed Sesamus
+and lofty Erythini, Crobialus, Cromna and woody Cytorus. Next they
+swept round Carambis at the rising of the sun, and plied the oars past
+long Aegialus, all day and on through the night.
+
+And straightway they landed on the Assyrian shore where Zeus himself
+gave a home to Sinope, daughter of Asopus, and granted her virginity,
+beguiled by his own promises. For he longed for her love, and he
+promised to grant her whatever her hearts desire might be. And she in
+her craftiness asked of him virginity. And in like manner she deceived
+Apollo too who longed to wed her, and besides them the river Halys, and
+no man ever subdued her in love’s embrace. And there the sons of noble
+Deimachus of Tricca were still dwelling, Deileon, Autolycus and
+Phlogius, since the day when they wandered far away from Heracles; and
+they, when they marked the array of chieftains, went to meet them and
+declared in truth who they were; and they wished to remain there no
+longer, but as soon as Argestes[19] blew went on ship-board. And so
+with them, borne along by the swift breeze, the heroes left behind the
+river Halys, and left behind his that flows hard by, and the delta-land
+of Assyria; and on the same day they rounded the distant headland of
+the Amazons that guards their harbour.
+
+Here once when Melanippe, daughter of Ares, had, gone forth, the hero
+Heracles caught her by ambuscade and Hippolyte gave him her glistening
+girdle as her sister’s ransom, and he sent away his captive unharmed.
+In the bay of this headland, at the outfall of Thermodon, they ran
+ashore, for the sea was rough for their voyage. No river is like this,
+and none sends forth from itself such mighty streams over the land. If
+a man should count every one he would lack but four of a hundred, but
+the real spring is only one. This flows down to the plain from lofty
+mountains, which, men say, are called the Amazonian mountains. Thence
+it spreads inland over a hilly country straight forward; wherefrom its
+streams go winding on, and they roll on, this way and that ever more,
+wherever best they can reach the lower ground, one at a distance and
+another near at hand; and many streams are swallowed up in the sand and
+are without a name; but, mingled with a few, the main stream openly
+bursts with its arching crest of foam into the inhospitable Pontus. And
+they would have tarried there and have closed in battle with the
+Amazons, and would have fought not without bloodshed for the Amazons
+were not gentle foes and regarded not justice, those dwellers on the
+Doeantian plain; but grievous insolence and the works of Ares were all
+their care; for by race they were the daughters of Ares and the nymph
+Harmonia, who bare to Ares war-loving maids, wedded to him in the glens
+of the Acmonian wood had not the breezes of Argestes come again from
+Zeus; and with the wind they left the rounded beach, where the
+Themiscyreian Amazons were arming for war. For they dwelt not gathered
+together in one city, but scattered over the land, parted into three
+tribes. In one part dwelt the Themiscyreians, over whom at that time
+Hippolyte reigned, in another the Lycastians, and in another the
+dart-throwing Chadesians. And the next day they sped on and at
+nightfall they reached the land of the Chalybes.
+
+That folk have no care for ploughing with oxen or for any planting of
+honey-sweet fruit; nor yet do they pasture flocks in the dewy meadow.
+But they cleave the hard iron-bearing land and exchange their wages for
+daily sustenance; never does the morn rise for them without toil, but
+amid bleak sooty flames and smoke they endure heavy labour.
+
+And straightway thereafter they rounded the headland of Genetaean Zeus
+and sped safely past the land of the Tibareni. Here when wives bring
+forth children to their husbands, the men lie in bed and groan with
+their heads close bound; but the women tend them with food, and prepare
+child-birth baths for them.
+
+Next they reached the sacred mount and the land where the Mossynoeci
+dwell amid high mountains in wooden huts,[20] from which that people
+take their name. And strange are their customs and laws. Whatever it is
+right to do openly before the people or in the market place, all this
+they do in their homes, but whatever acts we perform at home, these
+they perform out of doors in the midst of the streets, without blame.
+And among them is no reverence for the marriage-bed, but, like swine
+that feed in herds, no whit abashed in others’ presence, on the earth
+they lie with the women. Their king sits in the loftiest hut and
+dispenses upright judgments to the multitude, poor wretch! For if haply
+he err at all in his decrees, for that day they keep him shut up in
+starvation.
+
+They passed them by and cleft their way with oars over against the
+island of Ares all day long; for at dusk the light breeze left them. At
+last they spied above them, hurtling through the air, one of the birds
+of Ares which haunt that isle. It shook its wings down over the ship as
+she sped on and sent against her a keen feather, and it fell on the
+left shoulder of goodly Oileus, and he dropped his oar from his hands
+at the sudden blow, and his comrades marvelled at the sight of the
+winged bolt. And Eribotes from his seat hard by drew out the feather,
+and bound up the wound when he had loosed the strap hanging from his
+own sword-sheath; and besides the first, another bird appeared swooping
+down; but the hero Clytius, son of Eurytus—for he bent his curved bow,
+and sped a swift arrow against the bird—struck it, and it whirled round
+and fell close to the ship. And to them spake Amphidamas, son of Aleus:
+
+“The island of Ares is near us; you know it yourselves now that ye have
+seen these birds. But little will arrows avail us, I trow, for landing.
+But let us contrive some other device to help us, if ye intend to land,
+bearing in mind the injunction of Phineus. For not even could Heracles,
+when he came to Arcadia, drive away with bow and arrow the birds that
+swam on the Stymphalian lake. I saw it myself. But he shook in his hand
+a rattle of bronze and made a loud clatter as he stood upon a lofty
+peak, and the birds fled far off, screeching in bewildered fear.
+Wherefore now too let us contrive some such device, and I myself will
+speak, having pondered the matter beforehand. Set on your heads your
+helmets of lofty crest, then half row by turns, and half fence the ship
+about with polished spears and shields. Then all together raise a
+mighty shout so that the birds may be scared by the unwonted din, the
+nodding crests, and the uplifted spears on high. And if we reach the
+island itself, then make mighty noise with the clashing of shields.”
+
+Thus he spake, and the helpful device pleased all. And on their heads
+they placed helmets of bronze, gleaming terribly, and the blood-red
+crests were tossing. And half of them rowed in turn, and the rest
+covered the ship with spears and shields. And as when a man roofs over
+a house with tiles, to be an ornament of his home and a defence against
+rain, and one the fits firmly into another, each after each; so they
+roofed over the ship with their shields, locking them together. And as
+a din arises from a warrior-host of men sweeping on, when lines of
+battle meet, such a shout rose upward from the ship into the air. Now
+they saw none of the birds yet, but when they touched the island and
+clashed upon their shields, then the birds in countless numbers rose in
+flight hither and thither. And as when the son of Cronos sends from the
+clouds a dense hailstorm on city and houses, and the people who dwell
+beneath hear the din above the roof and sit quietly, since the stormy
+season has not come upon them unawares, but they have first made strong
+their roofs; so the birds sent against the heroes a thick shower of
+feather-shafts as they darted over the sea to the mountains of the land
+opposite.
+
+What then was the purpose of Phineus in bidding the divine band of
+heroes land there? Or what kind of help was about to meet their desire?
+
+The sons of Phrixus were faring towards the city of Orchomenus from
+Aea, coming from Cytaean Aeetes, on board a Colchian ship, to win the
+boundless wealth of their father; for he, when dying, had enjoined this
+journey upon them. And lo, on that day they were very near that island.
+But Zeus had impelled the north wind’s might to blow, marking by rain
+the moist path of Arcturus; and all day long he was stirring the leaves
+upon the mountains, breathing gently upon the topmost sprays; but at
+night he rushed upon the sea with monstrous force, and with his
+shrieking blasts uplifted the surge; and a dark mist covered the
+heavens, nor did the bright stars anywhere appear from among the
+clouds, but a murky gloom brooded all around. And so the sons of
+Phrixus, drenched and trembling in fear of a horrible doom, were borne
+along by the waves helplessly. And the force of the wind had snatched
+away their sails and shattered in twain the hull, tossed as it was by
+the breakers. And hereupon by heaven’s prompting those four clutched a
+huge beam, one of many that were scattered about, held together by
+sharp bolts, when the ship broke to pieces. And on to the island the
+waves and the blasts of wind bore the men in their distress, within a
+little of death. And straightway a mighty rain burst forth, and rained
+upon the sea and the island, and all the country opposite the island,
+where the arrogant Mossynoeci dwelt. And the sweep of the waves hurled
+the sons of Phrixus, together with their massy beam, upon the beach of
+the island, in the murky night; and the floods of rain from Zeus ceased
+at sunrise, and soon the two bands drew near and met each other, and
+Argus spoke first:
+
+“We beseech you, by Zeus the Beholder, whoever ye are, to be kindly and
+to help us in our need. For fierce tempests, falling on the sea, have
+shattered all the timbers of the crazy ship in which we were cleaving
+our path on business bent. Wherefore we entreat you, if haply ye will
+listen, to grant us just a covering for our bodies, and to pity and
+succour men in misfortune, your equals in age. Oh, reverence suppliants
+and strangers for Zeus’ sake, the god of strangers and suppliants. To
+Zeus belong both suppliants and strangers; and his eye, methinks,
+beholdeth even us.”
+
+And in reply the son of Aeson prudently questioned him, deeming that
+the prophecies of Phineus were being fulfilled: “All these things will
+we straightway grant you with right good will. But come tell me truly
+in what country ye dwell and what business bids you sail across the
+sea, and tell me your own glorious names and lineage.”
+
+And him Argus, helpless in his evil plight, addressed: “That one
+Phrixus an Aeolid reached Aea from Hellas you yourselves have clearly
+heard ere this, I trow; Phrixus, who came to the city of Aeetes,
+bestriding a ram, which Hermes had made all gold; and the fleece ye may
+see even now. The ram, at its own prompting, he then sacrificed to
+Zeus, son of Cronos, above all, the god of fugitives. And him did
+Aeetes receive in his palace, and with gladness of heart gave him his
+daughter Chalciope in marriage without gifts of wooing. [21] From those
+two are we sprung. But Phrixus died at last, an aged man, in the home
+of Aeetes; and we, giving heed to our father’s behests, are journeying
+to Orehomenus to take the possessions of Athamas. And if thou dost
+desire to learn our names, this is Cytissorus, this Phrontis, and this
+Melas, and me ye may call Argus.”
+
+Thus he spake, and the chieftains rejoiced at the meeting, and tended
+them, much marvelling. And Jason again in turn replied, as was fitting,
+with these words:
+
+“Surely ye are our kinsmen on my father’s side, and ye pray that with
+kindly hearts we succour your evil plight. For Cretheus and Athamas
+were brothers. I am the grandson of Cretheus, and with these comrades
+here I am journeying from that same Hellas to the city of Aeetes. But
+of these things we will converse hereafter. And do ye first put
+clothing upon you. By heaven’s devising, I ween, have ye come to my
+hands in your sore need.”
+
+He spake, and out of the ship gave them raiment to put on. Then all
+together they went to the temple of Ares to offer sacrifice of sheep;
+and in haste they stood round the altar, which was outside the roofless
+temple, an altar built of pebbles; within a black stone stood fixed, a
+sacred thing, to which of yore the Amazons all used to pray. Nor was it
+lawful for them, when they came from the opposite coast, to burn on
+this altar offerings of sheep and oxen, but they used to slay horses
+which they kept in great herds. Now when they had sacrificed and eaten
+the feast prepared, then Aeson’s son spake among them and thus began:
+
+“Zeus’ self, I ween, beholds everything; nor do we men escape his eye,
+we that be god-fearing and just, for as he rescued your father from the
+hands of a murderous step-dame and gave him measureless wealth besides;
+even so hath he saved you harmless from the baleful storm. And on board
+this ship ye may sail hither and thither, where ye will, whether to Aea
+or to the wealthy city of divine Orthomenus. For our ship Athena built
+and with axe of bronze cut her timbers near the crest of Pelion, and
+with the goddess wrought Argus. But yours the fierce surge hath
+shattered, before ye came nigh to the rocks which all day long clash
+together in the straits of the sea. But come, be yourselves our
+helpers, for we are eager to bring to Hellas the golden fleece, and
+guide us on our voyage, for I go to atone for the intended sacrifice of
+Phrixus, the cause of Zeus’ wrath against the sons of Aeolus.”
+
+He spake with soothing words; but horror seized them when they heard.
+For they deemed that they would not find Aeetes friendly if they
+desired to take away the ram’s fleece. And Argus spake as follows,
+vexed that they should busy themselves with such a quest:
+
+“My friends, our strength, so far as it avails, shall never cease to
+help you, not one whit, when need shall come. But Aeetes is terribly
+armed with deadly ruthlessness; wherefore exceedingly do I dread this
+voyage. And he boasts himself to be the son of Helios; and all round
+dwell countless tribes of Colchians; and he might match himself with
+Ares in his dread war-cry and giant strength. Nay, to seize the fleece
+in spite of Aeetes is no easy task; so huge a serpent keeps guard round
+and about it, deathless and sleepless, which Earth herself brought
+forth on the sides of Caucasus, by the rock of Typhaon, where Typhaon,
+they say, smitten by the bolt of Zeus, son of Cronos, when he lifted
+against the god his sturdy hands, dropped from his head hot gore; and
+in such plight he reached the mountains and plain of Nysa, where to
+this day he lies whelmed beneath the waters of the Serbonian lake.”
+
+Thus he spake, and straightway many a cheek grew pale when they heard
+of so mighty an adventure. But quickly Peleus answered with cheering
+words, and thus spake:
+
+“Be not so fearful in spirit, my good friend. For we are not so lacking
+in prowess as to be no match for Aeetes to try his strength with arms;
+but I deem that we too are cunning in war, we that go thither, near
+akin to the blood of the blessed gods. Wherefore if he will not grant
+us the fleece of gold for friendship’s sake, the tribes of the
+Colchians will not avail him, I ween.”
+
+Thus they addressed each other in turn, until again, satisfied with
+their feast, they turned to rest. And when they rose at dawn a gentle
+breeze was blowing; and they raised the sails, which strained to the
+rush of the wind, and quickly they left behind the island of Ares.
+
+And at nightfall they came to the island of Philyra, where Cronos, son
+of Uranus, what time in Olympus he reigned over the Titans, and Zeus
+was yet being nurtured in a Cretan cave by the Curetes of Ida, lay
+beside Philyra, when he had deceived Rhea; and the goddess found them
+in the midst of their dalliance; and Cronos leapt up from the couch
+with a rush in the form of a steed with flowing mane, but Ocean’s
+daughter, Philyra, in shame left the spot and those haunts, and came to
+the long Pelasgian ridges, where by her union with the transfigured
+deity she brought forth huge Cheiron, half like a horse, half like a
+god.
+
+Thence they sailed on, past the Macrones and the far-stretching land of
+the Becheiri and the overweening Sapeires, and after them the Byzeres;
+for ever forward they clave their way, quickly borne by the gentle
+breeze. And lo, as they sped on, a deep gulf of the sea was opened, and
+lo, the steep crags of the Caucasian mountains rose up, where, with his
+limbs bound upon the hard rocks by galling fetters of bronze,
+Prometheus fed with his liver an eagle that ever rushed back to its
+prey. High above the ship at even they saw it flying with a loud whirr,
+near the clouds; and yet it shook all the sails with the fanning of
+those huge wings. For it had not the form of a bird of the air but kept
+poising its long wing-feathers like polished oars. And not long after
+they heard the bitter cry of Prometheus as his liver was being torn
+away; and the air rang with his screams until they marked the ravening
+eagle rushing back from the mountain on the self-same track. And at
+night, by the skill of Argus, they reached broad-flowing Phasis, and
+the utmost bourne of the sea.
+
+And straightway they let down the sails and the yard-arm and stowed
+them inside the hollow mast-crutch, and at once they lowered the mast
+itself till it lay along; and quickly with oars they entered the mighty
+stream of the river; and round the prow the water surged as it gave
+them way. And on their left hand they had lofty Caucasus and the
+Cytaean city of Aea, and on the other side the plain of Ares and the
+sacred grove of that god, where the serpent was keeping watch and ward
+over the fleece as it hung on the leafy branches of an oak. And Aeson’s
+son himself from a golden goblet poured into the river libations of
+honey and pure wine to Earth and to the gods of the country, and to the
+souls of dead heroes; and he besought them of their grace to give
+kindly aid, and to welcome their ship’s hawsers with favourable omen.
+And straightway Ancaeus spake these words:
+
+“We have reached the Colchian land and the stream of Phasis; and it is
+time for us to take counsel whether we shall make trial of Aeetes with
+soft words, or an attempt of another kind shall be fitting.”
+
+Thus he spake, and by the advice of Argus Jason bade them enter a
+shaded backwater and let the ship ride at anchor off shore; and it was
+near at hand in their course and there they passed the night. And soon
+the dawn appeared to their expectant eyes.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK III
+
+
+Come now, Erato, stand by my side, and say next how Jason brought back
+the fleece to Iolcus aided by the love of Medea. For thou sharest the
+power of Cypris, and by thy love-cares dost charm unwedded maidens;
+wherefore to thee too is attached a name that tells of love.
+
+Thus the heroes, unobserved, were waiting in ambush amid the thick
+reed-beds; but Hera and Athena took note of them, and, apart from Zeus
+and the other immortals, entered a chamber and took counsel together;
+and Hera first made trial of Athena:
+
+“Do thou now first, daughter of Zeus, give advice. What must be done?
+Wilt thou devise some scheme whereby they may seize the golden fleece
+of Aeetes and bear it to Hellas, or can they deceive the king with soft
+words and so work persuasion? Of a truth he is terribly overweening.
+Still it is right to shrink from no endeavour.”
+
+Thus she spake, and at once Athena addressed her: “I too was pondering
+such thoughts in my heart, Hera, when thou didst ask me outright. But
+not yet do I think that I have conceived a scheme to aid the courage of
+the heroes, though I have balanced many plans.”
+
+She ended, and the goddesses fixed their eyes on the ground at their
+feet, brooding apart; and straightway Hera was the first to speak her
+thought: “Come, let us go to Cypris; let both of us accost her and urge
+her to bid her son (if only he will obey) speed his shaft at the
+daughter of Aeetes, the enchantress, and charm her with love for Jason.
+And I deem that by her device he will bring back the fleece to Hellas.”
+
+Thus she spake, and the prudent plan pleased Athena, and she addressed
+her in reply with gentle words:
+
+“Hera, my father begat me to be a stranger to the darts of love, nor do
+I know any charm to work desire. But if the word pleases thee, surely I
+will follow; but thou must speak when we meet her.”
+
+So she said, and starting forth they came to the mighty palace of
+Cypris, which her husband, the halt-footed god, had built for her when
+first he brought her from Zeus to be his wife. And entering the court
+they stood beneath the gallery of the chamber where the goddess
+prepared the couch of Hephaestus. But he had gone early to his forge
+and anvils to a broad cavern in a floating island where with the blast
+of flame he wrought all manner of curious work; and she all alone was
+sitting within, on an inlaid seat facing the door. And her white
+shoulders on each side were covered with the mantle of her hair and she
+was parting it with a golden comb and about to braid up the long
+tresses; but when she saw the goddesses before her, she stayed and
+called them within, and rose from her seat and placed them on couches.
+Then she herself sat down, and with her hands gathered up the locks
+still uncombed. And smiling she addressed them with crafty words:
+
+“Good friends, what intent, what occasion brings you here after so
+long? Why have ye come, not too frequent visitors before, chief among
+goddesses that ye are?”
+
+And to her Hera replied: “Thou dost mock us, but our hearts are stirred
+with calamity. For already on the river Phasis the son of Aeson moors
+his ship, he and his comrades in quest of the fleece. For all their
+sakes we fear terribly (for the task is nigh at hand) but most for
+Aeson’s son. Him will I deliver, though he sail even to Hades to free
+Ixion below from his brazen chains, as far as strength lies in my
+limbs, so that Pelias may not mock at having escaped an evil
+doom—Pelias who left me unhonoured with sacrifice. Moreover Jason was
+greatly loved by me before, ever since at the mouth of Anaurus in
+flood, as I was making trial of men’s righteousness, he met me on his
+return from the chase; and all the mountains and long ridged peaks were
+sprinkled with snow, and from them the torrents rolling down were
+rushing with a roar. And he took pity on me in the likeness of an old
+crone, and raising me on his shoulders himself bore me through the
+headlong tide. So he is honoured by me unceasingly; nor will Pelias pay
+the penalty of his outrage, unless thou wilt grant Jason his return.”
+
+Thus she spake, and speechlessness seized Cypris. And beholding Hera
+supplicating her she felt awe, and then addressed her with friendly
+words: “Dread goddess, may no viler thing than Cypris ever be found, if
+I disregard thy eager desire in word or deed, whatever my weak arms can
+effect; and let there be no favour in return.”
+
+She spake, and Hera again addressed her with prudence: “It is not in
+need of might or of strength that we have come. But just quietly bid
+thy boy charm Aeetes’ daughter with love for Jason. For if she will aid
+him with her kindly counsel, easily do I think he will win the fleece
+of gold and return to Iolcus, for she is full of wiles.”
+
+Thus she spake, and Cypris addressed them both: “Hera and Athena, he
+will obey you rather than me. For unabashed though he is, there will be
+some slight shame in his eyes before you; but he has no respect for me,
+but ever slights me in contentious mood. And, overborne by his
+naughtiness, I purpose to break his ill-sounding arrows and his bow in
+his very sight. For in his anger he has threatened that if I shall not
+keep my hands off him while he still masters his temper, I shall have
+cause to blame myself thereafter.”
+
+So she spake, and the goddesses smiled and looked at each other. But
+Cypris again spoke, vexed at heart: “To others my sorrows are a jest;
+nor ought I to tell them to all; I know them too well myself. But now,
+since this pleases you both, I will make the attempt and coax him, and
+he will not say me nay.”
+
+Thus she spake, and Hera took her slender hand and gently smiling,
+replied: “Perform this task, Cytherea, straightway, as thou sayest; and
+be not angry or contend with thy boy; he will cease hereafter to vex
+thee.”
+
+She spake, and left her seat, and Athena accompanied her and they went
+forth both hastening back. And Cypris went on her way through the glens
+of Olympus to find her boy. And she found him apart, in the blooming
+orchard of Zeus, not alone, but with him Ganymedes, whom once Zeus had
+set to dwell among the immortal gods, being enamoured of his beauty.
+And they were playing for golden dice, as boys in one house are wont to
+do. And already greedy Eros was holding the palm of his left hand quite
+full of them under his breast, standing upright; and on the bloom of
+his cheeks a sweet blush was glowing. But the other sat crouching hard
+by, silent and downcast, and he had two dice left which he threw one
+after the other, and was angered by the loud laughter of Eros. And lo,
+losing them straightway with the former, he went off empty handed,
+helpless, and noticed not the approach of Cypris. And she stood before
+her boy, and laying her hand on his lips, addressed him:
+
+“Why dost thou smile in triumph, unutterable rogue? Hast thou cheated
+him thus, and unjustly overcome the innocent child? Come, be ready to
+perform for me the task I will tell thee of, and I will give thee Zeus’
+all-beauteous plaything—the one which his dear nurse Adrasteia made for
+him, while he still lived a child, with childish ways, in the Idaean
+cave—a well-rounded ball; no better toy wilt thou get from the hands of
+Hephaestus. All of gold are its zones, and round each double seams run
+in a circle; but the stitches are hidden, and a dark blue spiral
+overlays them all. But if thou shouldst cast it with thy hands, lo,
+like a star, it sends a flaming track through the sky. This I will give
+thee; and do thou strike with thy shaft and charm the daughter of
+Aeetes with love for Jason; and let there be no loitering. For then my
+thanks would be the slighter.”
+
+Thus she spake, and welcome were her words to the listening boy. And he
+threw down all his toys, and eagerly seizing her robe on this side and
+on that, clung to the goddess. And he implored her to bestow the gift
+at once; but she, facing him with kindly words, touched his cheeks,
+kissed him and drew him to her, and replied with a smile:
+
+“Be witness now thy dear head and mine, that surely I will give thee
+the gift and deceive thee not, if thou wilt strike with thy shaft
+Aeetes’ daughter.”
+
+She spoke, and he gathered up his dice, and having well counted them
+all threw them into his mother’s gleaming lap. And straightway with
+golden baldric he slung round him his quiver from where it leant
+against a tree-trunk, and took up his curved bow. And he fared forth
+through the fruitful orchard of the palace of Zeus. Then he passed
+through the gates of Olympus high in air; hence is a downward path from
+heaven; and the twin poles rear aloft steep mountain tops the highest
+crests of earth, where the risen sun grows ruddy with his first beams.
+And beneath him there appeared now the life-giving earth and cities of
+men and sacred streams of rivers, and now in turn mountain peaks and
+the ocean all around, as he swept through the vast expanse of air.
+
+Now the heroes apart in ambush, in a back-water of the river, were met
+in council, sitting on the benches of their ship. And Aeson’s son
+himself was speaking among them; and they were listening silently in
+their places sitting row upon row: “My friends, what pleases myself
+that will I say out; it is for you to bring about its fulfilment. For
+in common is our task, and common to all alike is the right of speech;
+and he who in silence withholds his thought and his counsel, let him
+know that it is he alone that bereaves this band of its home-return. Do
+ye others rest here in the ship quietly with your arms; but I will go
+to the palace of Aeetes, taking with me the sons of Phrixus and two
+comrades as well. And when I meet him I will first make trial with
+words to see if he will be willing to give up the golden fleece for
+friendship’s sake or not, but trusting to his might will set at nought
+our quest. For so, learning his frowardness first from himself, we will
+consider whether we shall meet him in battle, or some other plan shall
+avail us, if we refrain from the war-cry. And let us not merely by
+force, before putting words to the test, deprive him of his own
+possession. But first it is better to go to him and win his favour by
+speech. Oftentimes, I ween, does speech accomplish at need what prowess
+could hardly catty through, smoothing the path in manner befitting. And
+he once welcomed noble Phrixus, a fugitive from his stepmother’s wiles
+and the sacrifice prepared by his father. For all men everywhere, even
+the most shameless, reverence the ordinance of Zeus, god of strangers,
+and regard it.”
+
+Thus he spake, and the youths approved the words of Aeson’s son with
+one accord, nor was there one to counsel otherwise. And then he
+summoned to go with him the sons of Phrixus, and Telamon and Augeias;
+and himself took Hermes’ wand; and at once they passed forth from the
+ship beyond the reeds and the water to dry land, towards the rising
+ground of the plain. The plain, I wis, is called Circe’s; and here in
+line grow many willows and osiers, on whose topmost branches hang
+corpses bound with cords. For even now it is an abomination with the
+Colchians to burn dead men with fire; nor is it lawful to place them in
+the earth and raise a mound above, but to wrap them in untanned oxhides
+and suspend them from trees far from the city. And so earth has an
+equal portion with air, seeing that they bury the women; for that is
+the custom of their land.
+
+And as they went Hera with friendly thought spread a thick mist through
+the city, that they might fare to the palace of Aeetes unseen by the
+countless hosts of the Colchians. But soon when from the plain they
+came to the city and Aeetes’ palace, then again Hera dispersed the
+mist. And they stood at the entrance, marvelling at the king’s courts
+and the wide gates and columns which rose in ordered lines round the
+walls; and high up on the palace a coping of stone rested on brazen
+triglyphs. And silently they crossed the threshold. And close by garden
+vines covered with green foliage were in full bloom, lifted high in
+air. And beneath them ran four fountains, ever-flowing, which
+Hephaestus had delved out. One was gushing with milk, one with wine,
+while the third flowed with fragrant oil; and the fourth ran with
+water, which grew warm at the setting of the Pleiads, and in turn at
+their rising bubbled forth from the hollow rock, cold as crystal. Such
+then were the wondrous works that the craftsman-god Hephaestus had
+fashioned in the palace of Cytaean Aeetes. And he wrought for him bulls
+with feet of bronze, and their mouths were of bronze, and from them
+they breathed out a terrible flame of fire; moreover he forged a plough
+of unbending adamant, all in one piece, in payment of thanks to Helios,
+who had taken the god up in his chariot when faint from the Phlegraean
+fight.[22] And here an inner-court was built, and round it were many
+well-fitted doors and chambers here and there, and all along on each
+side was a richly-wrought gallery. And on both sides loftier buildings
+stood obliquely. In one, which was the loftiest, lordly Aeetes dwelt
+with his queen; and in another dwelt Apsyrtus, son of Aeetes, whom a
+Caucasian nymph, Asterodeia, bare before he made Eidyia his wedded
+wife, the youngest daughter of Tethys and Oceanus. And the sons of the
+Colchians called him by the new name of Phaethon,[23] because he
+outshone all the youths. The other buildings the handmaidens had, and
+the two daughters of Aeetes, Chalciope and Medea. Medea then [they
+found] going from chamber to chamber in search of her sister, for Hera
+detained her within that day; but beforetime she was not wont to haunt
+the palace, but all day long was busied in Hecate’s temple, since she
+herself was the priestess of the goddess. And when she saw them she
+cried aloud, and quickly Chalciope caught the sound; and her maids,
+throwing down at their feet their yarn and their thread, rushed forth
+all in a throng. And she, beholding her sons among them, raised her
+hands aloft through joy; and so they likewise greeted their mother, and
+when they saw her embraced her in their gladness; and she with many
+sobs spoke thus:
+
+“After all then, ye were not destined to leave me in your heedlessness
+and to wander far; but fate has turned you back. Poor wretch that I am!
+What a yearning for Hellas from some woeful madness seized you at the
+behest of your father Phrixus. Bitter sorrows for my heart did he
+ordain when dying. And why should ye go to the city of Orchomenus,
+whoever this Orchomenus is, for the sake of Athamas’ wealth, leaving
+your mother alone to bear her grief?”
+
+Such were her words; and Aeetes came forth last of all and Eidyia
+herself came, the queen of Aeetes, on hearing the voice of Chalciope;
+and straightway all the court was filled with a throng. Some of the
+thralls were busied with a mighty bull, others with the axe were
+cleaving dry billets, and others heating with fire water for the baths;
+nor was there one who relaxed his toil, serving the king.
+
+Meantime Eros passed unseen through the grey mist, causing confusion,
+as when against grazing heifers rises the gadfly, which oxherds call
+the breese. And quickly beneath the lintel in the porch he strung his
+bow and took from the quiver an arrow unshot before, messenger of pain.
+And with swift feet unmarked he passed the threshold and keenly glanced
+around; and gliding close by Aeson’s son he laid the arrow-notch on the
+cord in the centre, and drawing wide apart with both hands he shot at
+Medea; and speechless amazement seized her soul. But the god himself
+flashed back again from the high-roofed hall, laughing loud; and the
+bolt burnt deep down in the maiden’s heart like a flame; and ever she
+kept darting bright glances straight up at Aeson’s son, and within her
+breast her heart panted fast through anguish, all remembrance left her,
+and her soul melted with the sweet pain. And as a poor woman heaps dry
+twigs round a blazing brand—a daughter of toil, whose task is the
+spinning of wool, that she may kindle a blaze at night beneath her
+roof, when she has waked very early—and the flame waxing wondrous great
+from the small brand consumes all the twigs together; so, coiling round
+her heart, burnt secretly Love the destroyer; and the hue of her soft
+cheeks went and came, now pale, now red, in her soul’s distraction.
+
+Now when the thralls had laid a banquet ready before them, and they had
+refreshed themselves with warm baths, gladly did they please their
+souls with meat and drink. And thereafter Aeetes questioned the sons of
+his daughter, addressing them with these words:
+
+“Sons of my daughter and of Phrixus, whom beyond all strangers I
+honoured in my halls, how have ye come returning back to Aea? Did some
+calamity cut short your escape in the midst? Ye did not listen when I
+set before you the boundless length of the way. For I marked it once,
+whirled along in the chariot of my father Helios, when he was bringing
+my sister Circe to the western land and we came to the shore of the
+Tyrrhenian mainland, where even now she abides, exceeding far from
+Colchis. But what pleasure is there in words? Do ye tell me plainly
+what has been your fortune, and who these men are, your companions, and
+where from your hollow ship ye came ashore.”
+
+Such were his questions, and Argus, before all his brethren, being
+fearful for the mission of Aeson’s son, gently replied, for he was the
+elder-born:
+
+“Aeetes, that ship forthwith stormy blasts tore asunder, and ourselves,
+crouching on the beams, a wave drove on to the beach of the isle of
+Enyalius [24] in the murky night; and some god preserved us. For even
+the birds of Ares that haunted the desert isle beforetime, not even
+them did we find. But these men had driven them off, having landed from
+their ship on the day before; and the will of Zeus taking pity on us,
+or some fate, detained them there, since they straightway gave us both
+food and clothing in abundance, when they heard the illustrious name of
+Phrixus and thine own; for to thy city are they faring. And if thou
+dost wish to know their errand, I will not hide it from time. A certain
+king, vehemently longing to drive this man far from his fatherland and
+possessions, because in might he outshone all the sons of Aeolus, sends
+him to voyage hither on a bootless venture; and asserts that the stock
+of Aeolus will not escape the heart-grieving wrath and rage of
+implacable Zeus, nor the unbearable curse and vengeance due for
+Phrixus, until the fleece comes back to Hellas. And their ship was
+fashioned by Pallas Athena, not such a one as are the ships among the
+Colchians, on the vilest of which we chanced. For the fierce waves and
+wind broke her utterly to pieces; but the other holds firm with her
+bolts, even though all the blasts should buffet her. And with equal
+swiftness she speedeth before the wind and when the crew ply the oar
+with unresting hands. And he hath gathered in her the mightiest heroes
+of all Achaea, and hath come to thy city from wandering far through
+cities and gulfs of the dread ocean, in the hope that thou wilt grant
+him the fleece. But as thou dost please, so shall it be, for he cometh
+not to use force, but is eager to pay thee a recompense for the gift.
+He has heard from me of thy bitter foes the Sauromatae, and he will
+subdue them to thy sway. And if thou desirest to know their names and
+lineage I will tell thee all. This man on whose account the rest were
+gathered from Hellas, they call Jason, son of Aeson, whom Cretheus
+begat. And if in truth he is of the stock of Cretheus himself, thus he
+would be our kinsman on the father’s side. For Cretheus and Athamas
+were both sons of Aeolus; and Phrixus was the son of Athamas, son of
+Aeolus. And here, if thou hast heard at all of the seed of Helios, thou
+dost behold Augeias; and this is Telamon sprung from famous Aeacus; and
+Zeus himself begat Aeacus. And so all the rest, all the comrades that
+follow him, are the sons or grandsons of the immortals.”
+
+Such was the tale of Argus; but the king at his words was filled with
+rage as he heard; and his heart was lifted high in wrath. And he spake
+in heavy displeasure; and was angered most of all with the son of
+Chalciope; for he deemed that on their account the strangers had come;
+and in his fury his eyes flashed forth beneath his brows:
+
+“Begone from my sight, felons, straightway, ye and your tricks, from
+the land, ere someone see a fleece and a Phrixus to his sorrow. Banded
+together with your friends from Hellas, not for the fleece, but to
+seize my sceptre and royal power have ye come hither. Had ye not first
+tasted of my table, surely would I have cut out your tongues and hewn
+off both hands and sent you forth with your feet alone, so that ye
+might be stayed from starting hereafter. And what lies have ye uttered
+against the blessed gods!”
+
+Thus he spake in his wrath; and mightily from its depths swelled the
+heart of Aeacus’ son, and his soul within longed to speak a deadly word
+in defiance, but Aeson’s son checked him, for he himself first made
+gentle answer:
+
+“Aeetes, bear with this armed band, I pray. For not in the way thou
+deemest have we come to thy city and palace, no, nor yet with such
+desires. For who would of his own will dare to cross so wide a sea for
+the goods of a stranger? But fate and the ruthless command of a
+presumptuous king urged me. Grant a favour to thy suppliants, and to
+all Hellas will I publish a glorious fame of thee; yea, we are ready
+now to pay thee a swift recompense in war, whether it be the Sauromatae
+or some other people that thou art eager to subdue to thy sway.”
+
+He spake, flattering him with gentle utterance; but the king’s soul
+brooded a twofold purpose within him, whether he should attack and slay
+them on the spot or should make trial of their might. And this, as he
+pondered, seemed the better way, and he addressed Jason in answer:
+
+“Stranger, why needest thou go through thy tale to the end? For if ye
+are in truth of heavenly race, or have come in no wise inferior to me,
+to win the goods of strangers, I will give thee the fleece to bear
+away, if thou dost wish, when I have tried thee. For against brave men
+I bear no grudge, such as ye yourselves tell me of him who bears sway
+in Hellas. And the trial of your courage and might shall be a contest
+which I myself can compass with my hands, deadly though it be. Two
+bulls with feet of bronze I have that pasture on the plain of Ares,
+breathing forth flame from their jaws; them do I yoke and drive over
+the stubborn field of Ares, four plough-gates; and quickly cleaving it
+with the share up to the headland, I cast into the furrows the seed,
+not the corn of Demeter, but the teeth of a dread serpent that grow up
+into the fashion of armed men; them I slay at once, cutting them down
+beneath my spear as they rise against me on all sides. In the morning
+do I yoke the oxen, and at eventide I cease from the harvesting. And
+thou, if thou wilt accomplish such deeds as these, on that very day
+shalt carry off the fleece to the king’s palace; ere that time comes I
+will not give it, expect it not. For indeed it is unseemly that a brave
+man should yield to a coward.”
+
+Thus he spake; and Jason, fixing his eyes on the ground, sat just as he
+was, speechless, helpless in his evil plight. For a long time he turned
+the matter this way and that, and could in no way take on him the task
+with courage, for a mighty task it seemed; and at last he made reply
+with crafty words:
+
+“With thy plea of right, Aeetes, thou dost shut me in overmuch.
+Wherefore also I will dare that contest, monstrous as it is, though it
+be my doom to die. For nothing will fall upon men more dread than dire
+necessity, which indeed constrained me to come hither at a king’s
+command.”
+
+Thus he spake, smitten by his helpless plight; and the king with grim
+words addressed him, sore troubled as he was: “Go forth now to the
+gathering, since thou art eager for the toil; but if thou shouldst fear
+to lift the yoke upon the oxen or shrink from the deadly harvesting,
+then all this shall be my care, so that another too may shudder to come
+to a man that is better than he.”
+
+He spake outright; and Jason rose from his seat, and Augeias and
+Telamon at once; and Argus followed alone, for he signed to his
+brothers to stay there on the spot meantime; and so they went forth
+from the hall. And wonderfully among them all shone the son of Aeson
+for beauty and grace; and the maiden looked at him with stealthy
+glance, holding her bright veil aside, her heart smouldering with pain;
+and her soul creeping like a dream flitted in his track as he went. So
+they passed forth from the palace sorely troubled. And Chalciope,
+shielding herself from the wrath of Aeetes, had gone quickly to her
+chamber with her sons. And Medea likewise followed, and much she
+brooded in her soul all the cares that the Loves awaken. And before her
+eyes the vision still appeared—himself what like he was, with what
+vesture he was clad, what things he spake, how he sat on his seat, how
+he moved forth to the door—and as she pondered she deemed there never
+was such another man; and ever in her ears rung his voice and the
+honey-sweet words which he uttered. And she feared for him, lest the
+oxen or Aeetes with his own hand should slay him; and she mourned him
+as though already slain outright, and in her affliction a round tear
+through very grievous pity coursed down her cheek; and gently weeping
+she lifted up her voice aloud:
+
+“Why does this grief come upon me, poor wretch? Whether he be the best
+of heroes now about to perish, or the worst, let him go to his doom.
+Yet I would that he had escaped unharmed; yea, may this be so, revered
+goddess, daughter of Perses, may he avoid death and return home; but if
+it be his lot to be o’ermastered by the oxen, may he first learn this,
+that I at least do not rejoice in his cruel calamity.”
+
+Thus then was the maiden’s heart racked by love-cares. But when the
+others had gone forth from the people and the city, along the path by
+which at the first they had come from the plain, then Argus addressed
+Jason with these words:
+
+“Son of Aeson, thou wilt despise the counsel which I will tell thee,
+but, though in evil plight, it is not fitting to forbear from the
+trial. Ere now thou hast heard me tell of a maiden that uses sorcery
+under the guidance of Hecate, Perses’ daughter. If we could win her aid
+there will be no dread, methinks, of thy defeat in the contest; but
+terribly do I fear that my mother will not take this task upon her.
+Nevertheless I will go back again to entreat her, for a common
+destruction overhangs us all.”
+
+He spake with goodwill, and Jason answered with these words: “Good
+friend, if this is good in thy sight, I say not nay. Go and move thy
+mother, beseeching her aid with prudent words; pitiful indeed is our
+hope when we have put our return in the keeping of women.” So he spake,
+and quickly they reached the back-water. And their comrades joyfully
+questioned them, when they saw them close at hand; and to them spoke
+Aeson’s son grieved at heart:
+
+“My friends, the heart of ruthless Aeetes is utterly filled with wrath
+against us, for not at all can the goal be reached either by me or by
+you who question me. He said that two bulls with feet of bronze pasture
+on the plain of Ares, breathing forth flame from their jaws. And with
+these he bade me plough the field, four plough-gates; and said that he
+would give me from a serpent’s jaws seed which will raise up earthborn
+men in armour of bronze; and on the same day I must slay them. This
+task—for there was nothing better to devise—I took on myself outright.”
+
+Thus he spake; and to all the contest seemed one that none could
+accomplish, and long, quiet and silent, they looked at one another,
+bowed down with the calamity and their despair; but at last Peleus
+spake with courageous words among all the chiefs: “It is time to be
+counselling what we shall do. Yet there is not so much profit, I trow,
+in counsel as in the might of our hands. If thou then, hero son of
+Aeson, art minded to yoke Aeetes’ oxen, and art eager for the toil,
+surely thou wilt keep thy promise and make thyself ready. But if thy
+soul trusts not her prowess utterly, then neither bestir thyself nor
+sit still and look round for some one else of these men. For it is not
+I who will flinch, since the bitterest pain will be but death.”
+
+So spake the son of Aeacus; and Telamon’s soul was stirred, and quickly
+he started up in eagerness; and Idas rose up the third in his pride;
+and the twin sons of Tyndareus; and with them Oeneus’ son who was
+numbered among strong men, though even the soft down on his cheek
+showed not yet; with such courage was his soul uplifted. But the others
+gave way to these in silence. And straightway Argus spake these words
+to those that longed for the contest:
+
+“My friends, this indeed is left us at the last. But I deem that there
+will come to you some timely aid from my mother. Wherefore, eager
+though ye be, refrain and abide in your ship a little longer as before,
+for it is better to forbear than recklessly to choose an evil fate.
+There is a maiden, nurtured in the halls of Aeetes, whom the goddess
+Hecate taught to handle magic herbs with exceeding skill all that the
+land and flowing waters produce. With them is quenched the blast of
+unwearied flame, and at once she stays the course of rivers as they
+rush roaring on, and checks the stars and the paths of the sacred moon.
+Of her we bethought us as we came hither along the path from the
+palace, if haply my mother, her own sister, might persuade her to aid
+us in the venture. And if this is pleasing to you as well, surely on
+this very day will I return to the palace of Aeetes to make trial; and
+perchance with some god’s help shall I make the trial.”
+
+Thus he spake, and the gods in their goodwill gave them a sign. A
+trembling dove in her flight from a mighty hawk fell from on high,
+terrified, into the lap of Aeson’s son, and the hawk fell impaled on
+the stern-ornament. And quickly Mopsus with prophetic words spake among
+them all:
+
+“For you, friends, this sign has been wrought by the will of heaven; in
+no other way is it possible to interpret its meaning better, than to
+seek out the maiden and entreat her with manifold skill. And I think
+she will not reject our prayer, if in truth Phineus said that our
+return should be with the help of the Cyprian goddess. It was her
+gentle bird that escaped death; and as my heart within me foresees
+according to this omen, so may it prove! But, my friends, let us call
+on Cytherea to aid us, and now at once obey the counsels of Argus.”
+
+He spake, and the warriors approved, remembering the injunctions of
+Phineus; but all alone leapt up Apharcian Idas and shouted loudly in
+terrible wrath: “Shame on us, have we come here fellow voyagers with
+women, calling on Cypris for help and not on the mighty strength of
+Enyalius? And do ye look to doves and hawks to save yourselves from
+contests? Away with you, take thought not for deeds of war, but by
+supplication to beguile weakling girls.”
+
+Such were his eager words; and of his comrades many murmured low, but
+none uttered a word of answer back. And he sat down in wrath; and at
+once Jason roused them and uttered his own thought: “Let Argus set
+forth from the ship, since this pleases all; but we will now move from
+the river and openly fasten our hawsers to the shore. For surely it is
+not fitting for us to hide any longer cowering from the battle-cry.”
+
+So he spake, and straightway sent Argus to return in haste to the city;
+and they drew the anchors on board at the command of Aeson’s son, and
+rowed the ship close to the shore, a little away from the back-water.
+
+But straightway Aeetes held an assembly of the Colchians far aloof from
+his palace at a spot where they sat in times before, to devise against
+the Minyae grim treachery and troubles. And he threatened that when
+first the oxen should have torn in pieces the man who had taken upon
+him to perform the heavy task, he would hew down the oak grove above
+the wooded hill, and burn the ship and her crew, that so they might
+vent forth in ruin their grievous insolence, for all their haughty
+schemes. For never would he have welcomed the Aeolid Phrixus as a guest
+in his halls, in spite of his sore need, Phrixus, who surpassed all
+strangers in gentleness and fear of the gods, had not Zeus himself sent
+Hermes his messenger down from heaven, so that he might meet with a
+friendly host; much less would pirates coming to his land be let go
+scatheless for long, men whose care it was to lift their hands and
+seize the goods of others, and to weave secret webs of guile, and harry
+the steadings of herdsmen with ill-sounding forays. And he said that
+besides all that the sons of Phrixus should pay a fitting penalty to
+himself for returning in consort with evildoers, that they might
+recklessly drive him from his honour and his throne; for once he had
+heard a baleful prophecy from his father Helios, that he must avoid the
+secret treachery and schemes of his own offspring and their crafty
+mischief. Wherefore he was sending them, as they desired, to the
+Achaean land at the bidding of their father—a long journey. Nor had he
+ever so slight a fear of his daughters, that they would form some
+hateful scheme, nor of his son Apsyrtus; but this curse was being
+fulfilled in the children of Chalciope. And he proclaimed terrible
+things in his rage against the strangers, and loudly threatened to keep
+watch over the ship and its crew, so that no one might escape calamity.
+
+Meantime Argus, going to Aeetes’ palace, with manifold pleading
+besought his mother to pray Medea’s aid; and Chalciope herself already
+had the same thoughts, but fear checked her soul lest haply either fate
+should withstand and she should entreat her in vain, all distraught as
+she would be at her father’s deadly wrath, or, if Medea yielded to her
+prayers, her deeds should be laid bare and open to view.
+
+Now a deep slumber had relieved the maiden from her love-pains as she
+lay upon her couch. But straightway fearful dreams, deceitful, such as
+trouble one in grief, assailed her. And she thought that the stranger
+had taken on him the contest, not because he longed to win the ram’s
+fleece, and that he had not come on that account to Aeetes’ city, but
+to lead her away, his wedded wife, to his own home; and she dreamed
+that herself contended with the oxen and wrought the task with
+exceeding ease; and that her own parents set at naught their promise,
+for it was not the maiden they had challenged to yoke the oxen but the
+stranger himself; from that arose a contention of doubtful issue
+between her father and the strangers; and both laid the decision upon
+her, to be as she should direct in her mind. But she suddenly,
+neglecting her parents, chose the stranger. And measureless anguish
+seized them and they shouted out in their wrath; and with the cry sleep
+released its hold upon her. Quivering with fear she started up, and
+stared round the walls of her chamber, and with difficulty did she
+gather her spirit within her as before, and lifted her voice aloud:
+
+“Poor wretch, how have gloomy dreams affrighted me! I fear that this
+voyage of the heroes will bring some great evil. My heart is trembling
+for the stranger. Let him woo some Achaean girl far away among his own
+folk; let maidenhood be mine and the home of my parents. Yet, taking to
+myself a reckless heart, I will no more keep aloof but will make trial
+of my sister to see if she will entreat me to aid in the contest,
+through grief for her own sons; this would quench the bitter pain in my
+heart.”
+
+She spake, and rising from her bed opened the door of her chamber,
+bare-footed, clad in one robe; and verily she desired to go to her
+sister, and crossed the threshold. And for long she stayed there at the
+entrance of her chamber, held back by shame; and she turned back once
+more; and again she came forth from within, and again stole back; and
+idly did her feet bear her this way and that; yea, as oft as she went
+straight on, shame held her within the chamber, and though held back by
+shame, bold desire kept urging her on. Thrice she made the attempt and
+thrice she checked herself, the fourth time she fell on her bed face
+downward, writhing in pain. And as when a bride in her chamber bewails
+her youthful husband, to whom her brothers and parents have given her,
+nor yet does she hold converse with all her attendants for shame and
+for thinking of him; but she sits apart in her grief; and some doom has
+destroyed him, before they have had pleasure of each other’s charms;
+and she with heart on fire silently weeps, beholding her widowed couch,
+in fear lest the women should mock and revile her; like to her did
+Medea lament. And suddenly as she was in the midst of her tears, one of
+the handmaids came forth and noticed her, one who was her youthful
+attendant; and straightway she told Chalciope, who sat in the midst of
+her sons devising how to win over her sister. And when Chalciope heard
+the strange tale from the handmaid, not even so did she disregard it.
+And she rushed in dismay from her chamber right on to the chamber where
+the maiden lay in her anguish, having torn her cheeks on each side; and
+when Chalciope saw her eyes all dimmed with tears, she thus addressed
+her:
+
+“Ah me, Medea, why dost thou weep so? What hath befallen thee? What
+terrible grief has entered thy heart? Has some heaven-sent disease
+enwrapt thy frame, or hast thou heard from our father some deadly
+threat concerning me and my sons? Would that I did not behold this home
+of my parents, or the city, but dwelt at the ends of the earth, where
+not even the name of Colchians is known!”
+
+Thus she spake, and her sister’s cheeks flushed; and though she was
+eager to reply, long did maiden shame restrain her. At one moment the
+word rose on the end of her tongue, at another it fluttered back deep
+within her breast. And often through her lovely lips it strove for
+utterance; but no sound came forth; till at last she spoke with
+guileful words; for the bold Loves were pressing her hard:
+
+“Chalciope, my heart is all trembling for thy sons, lest my father
+forthwith destroy them together with the strangers. Slumbering just now
+in a short-lived sleep such a ghastly dream did I see—may some god
+forbid its fulfilment and never mayst thou win for thyself bitter care
+on thy sons’ account.”
+
+She spake, making trial of her sister to see if she first would entreat
+help for her sons. And utterly unbearable grief surged over Chalciope’s
+soul for fear at what she heard; and then she replied: “Yea, I myself
+too have come to thee in eager furtherance of this purpose, if thou
+wouldst haply devise with me and prepare some help. But swear by Earth
+and Heaven that thou wilt keep secret in thy heart what I shall tell
+thee, and be fellow-worker with me. I implore thee by the blessed gods,
+by thyself and by thy parents, not to see them destroyed by an evil
+doom piteously; or else may I die with my dear sons and come back
+hereafter from Hades an avenging Fury to haunt thee.”
+
+Thus she spake, and straightway a torrent of tears gushed forth and low
+down she clasped her sister’s knees with both hands and let her head
+sink on to her breast. Then they both made piteous lamentation over
+each other, and through the halls rose the faint sound of women weeping
+in anguish. Medea, sore troubled, first addressed her sister:
+
+“God help thee, what healing can I bring thee for what thou speakest
+of, horrible curses and Furies? Would that it were firmly in my power
+to save thy sons! Be witness that mighty oath of the Colchians by which
+thou urgest me to swear, the great Heaven, and Earth beneath, mother of
+the gods, that as far as strength lies in me, never shalt thou fail of
+help, if only thy prayers can be accomplished.”
+
+She spake, and Chalciope thus replied: “Couldst thou not then, for the
+stranger—who himself craves thy aid—devise some trick or some wise
+thought to win the contest, for the sake of my sons? And from him has
+come Argus urging me to try to win thy help; I left him in the palace
+meantime while I came hither.”
+
+Thus she spake, and Medea’s heart bounded with joy within her, and at
+once her fair cheeks flushed, and a mist swam before her melting eyes,
+and she spake as follows: “Chalciope, as is dear and delightful to thee
+and thy sons, even so will I do. Never may the dawn appear again to my
+eyes, never mayst thou see me living any longer, if I should take
+thought for anything before thy life or thy sons’ lives, for they are
+my brothers, my dear kinsmen and youthful companions. So do I declare
+myself to be thy sister, and thy daughter too, for thou didst lift me
+to thy breast when an infant equally with them, as I ever heard from my
+mother in past days. But go, bury my kindness in silence, so that I may
+carry out my promise unknown to my parents; and at dawn I will bring to
+Hecate’s temple charms to cast a spell upon the bulls.”
+
+Thus Chalciope went back from the chamber, and made known to her sons
+the help given by her sister. And again did shame and hateful fear
+seize Medea thus left alone, that she should devise such deeds for a
+man in her father’s despite.
+
+Then did night draw darkness over the earth; and on the sea sailors
+from their ships looked towards the Bear and the stars of Orion; and
+now the wayfarer and the warder longed for sleep, and the pall of
+slumber wrapped round the mother whose children were dead; nor was
+there any more the barking of dogs through the city, nor sound of men’s
+voices; but silence held the blackening gloom. But not indeed upon
+Medea came sweet sleep. For in her love for Aeson’s son many cares kept
+her wakeful, and she dreaded the mighty strength of the bulls, beneath
+whose fury he was like to perish by an unseemly fate in the field of
+Ares. And fast did her heart throb within her breast, as a sunbeam
+quivers upon the walls of a house when flung up from water, which is
+just poured forth in a caldron or a pail may be; and hither and thither
+on the swift eddy does it dart and dance along; even so the maiden’s
+heart quivered in her breast. And the tear of pity flowed from her
+eyes, and ever within anguish tortured her, a smouldering fire through
+her frame, and about her fine nerves and deep down beneath the nape of
+the neck where the pain enters keenest, whenever the unwearied Loves
+direct against the heart their shafts of agony. And she thought now
+that she would give him the charms to cast a spell on the bulls, now
+that she would not, and that she herself would perish; and again that
+she would not perish and would not give the charms, but just as she was
+would endure her fate in silence. Then sitting down she wavered in mind
+and said:
+
+“Poor wretch, must I toss hither and thither in woe? On every side my
+heart is in despair; nor is there any help for my pain; but it burneth
+ever thus. Would that I had been slain by the swift shafts of Artemis
+before I had set eyes on him, before Chalciope’s sons reached the
+Achaean land. Some god or some Fury brought them hither for our grief,
+a cause of many tears. Let him perish in the contest if it be his lot
+to die in the field. For how could I prepare the charms without my
+parents’ knowledge? What story call I tell them? What trick, what
+cunning device for aid can I find? If I see him alone, apart from his
+comrades, shall I greet him? Ill-starred that I am! I cannot hope that
+I should rest from my sorrows even though he perished; then will evil
+come to me when he is bereft of life. Perish all shame, perish all
+glow; may he, saved by my effort, go scatheless wherever his heart
+desires. But as for me, on the day when he bides the contest in
+triumph, may I die either straining my neck in the noose from the
+roof-tree or tasting drugs destructive of life. But even so, when I am
+dead, they will fling out taunts against me; and every city far away
+will ring with my doom, and the Colchian women, tossing my name on
+their lips hither and thither, will revile me with unseemly mocking—the
+maid who cared so much for a stranger that she died, the maid who
+disgraced her home and her parents, yielding to a mad passion. And what
+disgrace will not be mine? Alas for my infatuation! Far better would it
+be for me to forsake life this very night in my chamber by some
+mysterious fate, escaping all slanderous reproach, before I complete
+such nameless dishonour.”
+
+She spake, and brought a casket wherein lay many drugs, some for
+healing, others for killing, and placing it upon her knees she wept.
+And she drenched her bosom with ceaseless tears, which flowed in
+torrents as she sat, bitterly bewailing her own fate. And she longed to
+choose a murderous drug to taste it, and now she was loosening the
+bands of the casket eager to take it forth, unhappy maid! But suddenly
+a deadly fear of hateful Hades came upon her heart. And long she held
+back in speechless horror, and all around her thronged visions of the
+pleasing cares of life. She thought of all the delightful things that
+are among the living, she thought of her joyous playmates, as a maiden
+will; and the sun grew sweeter than ever to behold, seeing that in
+truth her soul yearned for all. And she put the casket again from off
+her knees, all changed by the prompting of Hera, and no more did she
+waver in purpose; but longed for the rising dawn to appear quickly,
+that she might give him the charms to work the spell as she had
+promised, and meet him face to face. And often did she loosen the bolts
+of her door, to watch for the faint gleam: and welcome to her did the
+dayspring shed its light, and folk began to stir throughout the city.
+
+Then Argus bade his brothers remain there to learn the maiden’s mind
+and plans, but himself turned back and went to the ship.
+
+Now soon as ever the maiden saw the light of dawn, with her hands she
+gathered up her golden tresses which were floating round her shoulders
+in careless disarray, and bathed her tear-stained cheeks, and made her
+skin shine with ointment sweet as nectar; and she donned a beautiful
+robe, fitted with well-bent clasps, and above on her head, divinely
+fair, she threw a veil gleaming like silver. And there, moving to and
+fro in the palace, she trod the ground forgetful of the heaven-sent
+woes thronging round her and of others that were destined to follow.
+And she called to her maids. Twelve they were, who lay during the night
+in the vestibule of her fragrant chamber, young as herself, not yet
+sharing the bridal couch, and she bade them hastily yoke the mules to
+the chariot to bear her to the beauteous shrine of Hecate. Thereupon
+the handmaids were making ready the chariot; and Medea meanwhile took
+from the hollow casket a charm which men say is called the charm of
+Prometheus. If a man should anoint his body therewithal, having first
+appeased the Maiden, the only-begotten, with sacrifice by night, surely
+that man could not be wounded by the stroke of bronze nor would he
+flinch from blazing fire; but for that day he would prove superior both
+in prowess and in might. It shot up first-born when the ravening eagle
+on the rugged flanks of Caucasus let drip to the earth the blood-like
+ichor[25] of tortured Prometheus. And its flower appeared a cubit above
+ground in colour like the Corycian crocus, rising on twin stalks; but
+in the earth the root was like newly-cut flesh. The dark juice of it,
+like the sap of a mountain-oak, she had gathered in a Caspian shell to
+make the charm withal, when she had first bathed in seven ever-flowing
+streams, and had called seven times on Brimo, nurse of youth,
+night-wandering Brimo, of the underworld, queen among the dead,—in the
+gloom of night, clad in dusky garments. And beneath, the dark earth
+shook and bellowed when the Titanian root was cut; and the son of
+Iapetus himself groaned, his soul distraught with pain. And she brought
+the charm forth and placed it in the fragrant band which engirdled her,
+just beneath her bosom, divinely fair. And going forth she mounted the
+swift chariot, and with her went two handmaidens on each side. And she
+herself took the reins and in her right hand the well-fashioned whip,
+and drove through the city; and the rest, the handmaids, laid their
+hands on the chariot behind and ran along the broad highway; and they
+kilted up their light robes above their white knees. And even as by the
+mild waters of Parthenius, or after bathing in the river Amnisus,
+Leto’s daughter stands upon her golden chariot and courses over the
+hills with her swift-footed roes, to greet from afar some
+richly-steaming hecatomb; and with her come the nymphs in attendance,
+gathering, some at the spring of Amnisus itself, others by the glens
+and many-fountained peaks; and round her whine and fawn the beasts
+cowering as she moves along: thus they sped through the city; and on
+both sides the people gave way, shunning the eyes of the royal maiden.
+But when she had left the city’s well paved streets, and was
+approaching the shrine as she drove over the plains, then she alighted
+eagerly from the smooth-running chariot and spake as follows among her
+maidens:
+
+“Friends, verily have I sinned greatly and took no heed not to go among
+the stranger-folk[26] who roam over our land. The whole city is smitten
+with dismay; wherefore no one of the women who formerly gathered here
+day by day has now come hither. But since we have come and no one else
+draws near, come, let us satisfy our souls without stint with soothing
+song, and when we have plucked the fair flowers amid the tender grass,
+that very hour will we return. And with many a gift shall ye reach home
+this very day, if ye will gladden me with this desire of mine. For
+Argus pleads with me, also Chalciope herself; but this that ye hear
+from me keep silently in your hearts, lest the tale reach my father’s
+ears. As for yon stranger who took on him the task with the oxen, they
+bid me receive his gifts and rescue him from the deadly contest. And I
+approved their counsel, and I have summoned him to come to my presence
+apart from his comrades, so that we may divide the gifts among
+ourselves if he bring them in his hands, and in return may give him a
+baleful charm. But when he comes, do ye stand aloof.”
+
+So she spake, and the crafty counsel pleased them all. And straightway
+Argus drew Aeson’s son apart from his comrades as soon as he heard from
+his brothers that Medea had gone at daybreak to the holy shrine of
+Hecate, and led him over the plain; and with them went Mopsus, son of
+Ampycus, skilled to utter oracles from the appearance of birds, and
+skilled to give good counsel to those who set out on a journey.
+
+Never yet had there been such a man in the days of old, neither of all
+the heroes of the lineage of Zeus himself, nor of those who sprung from
+the blood of the other gods, as on that day the bride of Zeus made
+Jason, both to look upon and to hold converse with. Even his comrades
+wondered as they gazed upon him, radiant with manifold graces; and the
+son of Ampycus rejoiced in their journey, already foreboding how all
+would end.
+
+Now by the path along the plain there stands near the shrine a poplar
+with its crown of countless leaves, whereon often chattering crows
+would roost. One of them meantime as she clapped her wings aloft in the
+branches uttered the counsels of Hera:
+
+“What a pitiful seer is this, that has not the wit to conceive even
+what children know, how that no maiden will say a word of sweetness or
+love to a youth when strangers be near. Begone, sorry prophet, witless
+one; on thee neither Cypris nor the gentle Loves breathe in their
+kindness.”
+
+She spake chiding, and Mopsus smiled to hear the god-sent voice of the
+bird, and thus addressed them: “Do thou, son of Aeson, pass on to the
+temple, where thou wilt find the maiden; and very kind will her
+greeting be to thee through the prompting of Cypris, who will be thy
+helpmate in the contest, even as Phineus, Agenor’s son, foretold. But
+we two, Argus and I, will await thy return, apart in this very spot; do
+thou all alone be a suppliant and win her over with prudent words.”
+
+He spake wisely, and both at once gave approval. Nor was Medea’s heart
+turned to other thoughts, for all her singing, and never a song that
+she essayed pleased her long in her sport. But in confusion she ever
+faltered, nor did she keep her eyes resting quietly upon the throng of
+her handmaids; but to the paths far off she strained her gaze, turning
+her face aside. Oft did her heart sink fainting within her bosom
+whenever she fancied she heard passing by the sound of a footfall or of
+the wind. But soon he appeared to her longing eyes, striding along
+loftily, like Sirius coming from ocean, which rises fair and clear to
+see, but brings unspeakable mischief to flocks; thus then did Aeson’s
+son come to her, fair to see, but the sight of him brought love-sick
+care. Her heart fell from out her bosom, and a dark mist came over her
+eyes, and a hot blush covered her cheeks. And she had no strength to
+lift her knees backwards or forwards, but her feet beneath were rooted
+to the ground; and meantime all her handmaidens had drawn aside. So
+they two stood face to face without a word, without a sound, like oaks
+or lofty pines, which stand quietly side by side on the mountains when
+the wind is still; then again, when stirred by the breath of the wind,
+they murmur ceaselessly; so they two were destined to tell out all
+their tale, stirred by the breath of Love. And Aeson’s son saw that she
+had fallen into some heaven-sent calamity, and with soothing words thus
+addressed her:
+
+“Why, pray, maiden, dost thou fear me so much, all alone as I am? Never
+was I one of these idle boasters such as other men are—not even
+aforetime, when I dwelt in my own country. Wherefore, maiden, be not
+too much abashed before me, either to enquire whatever thou wilt or to
+speak thy mind. But since we have met one another with friendly hearts,
+in a hallowed spot, where it is wrong to sin, speak openly and ask
+questions, and beguile me not with pleasing words, for at the first
+thou didst promise thy sister to give me the charms my heart desires. I
+implore thee by Hecate herself, by thy parents, and by Zeus who holds
+his guardian hand over strangers and suppliants; I come here to thee
+both a suppliant and a stranger, bending the knee in my sore need. For
+without thee and thy sister never shall I prevail in the grievous
+contest. And to thee will I render thanks hereafter for thy aid, as is
+right and fitting for men who dwell far oft, making glorious thy name
+and fame; and the rest of the heroes, returning to Hellas, will spread
+thy renown and so will the heroes’ wives and mothers, who now perhaps
+are sitting on the shore and making moan for us; their painful
+affliction thou mightest scatter to the winds. In days past the maiden
+Ariadne, daughter of Minos, with kindly intent rescued Theseus from
+grim contests—the maiden whom Pasiphae daughter of Helios bare. But
+she, when Minos had lulled his wrath to rest, went aboard the ship with
+him and left her fatherland; and her even the immortal gods loved, and,
+as a sign in mid-sky, a crown of stars, which men call Ariadne’s crown,
+rolls along all night among the heavenly constellations. So to thee too
+shall be thanks from the gods, if thou wilt save so mighty an array of
+chieftains. For surely from thy lovely form thou art like to excel in
+gentle courtest.”
+
+Thus he spake, honouring her; and she cast her eyes down with a smile
+divinely sweet; and her soul melted within her, uplifted by his praise,
+and she gazed upon him face to face; nor did she know what word to
+utter first, but was eager to pour out everything at once. And forth
+from her fragrant girdle ungrudgingly she brought out the charm; and he
+at once received it in his hands with joy. And she would even have
+drawn out all her soul from her breast and given it to him, exulting in
+his desire; so wonderfully did love flash forth a sweet flame from the
+golden head of Aeson’s son; and he captivated her gleaming eyes; and
+her heart within grew warm, melting away as the dew melts away round
+roses when warmed by the morning’s light. And now both were fixing
+their eyes on the ground abashed, and again were throwing glances at
+each other, smiling with the light of love beneath their radiant brows.
+And at last and scarcely then did the maiden greet him:
+
+“Take heed now, that I may devise help for thee. When at thy coming my
+father has given thee the deadly teeth from the dragon’s jaws for
+sowing, then watch for the time when the night is parted in twain, then
+bathe in the stream of the tireless river, and alone, apart from
+others, clad in dusky raiment, dig a rounded pit; and therein slay a
+ewe, and sacrifice it whole, heaping high the pyre on the very edge of
+the pit. And propitiate only-begotten Hecate, daughter of Perses,
+pouring from a goblet the hive-stored labour of bees. And then, when
+thou hast heedfully sought the grace of the goddess, retreat from the
+pyre; and let neither the sound of feet drive thee to turn back, nor
+the baying of hounds, lest haply thou shouldst maim all the rites and
+thyself fail to return duly to thy comrades. And at dawn steep this
+charm in water, strip, and anoint thy body therewith as with oil; and
+in it there will be boundless prowess and mighty strength, and thou
+wilt deem thyself a match not for men but for the immortal gods. And
+besides, let thy spear and shield and sword be sprinkled. Thereupon the
+spear-heads of the earthborn men shall not pierce thee, nor the flame
+of the deadly bulls as it rushes forth resistless. But such thou shalt
+be not for long, but for that one day; still never flinch from the
+contest. And I will tell thee besides of yet another help. As soon as
+thou hast yoked the strong oxen, and with thy might and thy prowess
+hast ploughed all the stubborn fallow, and now along the furrows the
+Giants are springing up, when the serpent’s teeth are sown on the dusky
+clods, if thou markest them uprising in throngs from the fallow, cast
+unseen among them a massy stone; and they over it, like ravening hounds
+over their food, will slay one another; and do thou thyself hasten to
+rush to the battle-strife, and the fleece thereupon thou shalt bear far
+away from Aea; nevertheless, depart wherever thou wilt, or thy pleasure
+takes thee, when thou hast gone hence.”
+
+Thus she spake, and cast her eyes to her feet in silence, and her
+cheek, divinely fair, was wet with warm tears as she sorrowed for that
+he was about to wander far from her side over the wide sea: and once
+again she addressed him face to face with mournful words, and took his
+right hand; for now shame had left her eyes:
+
+“Remember, if haply thou returnest to thy home, Medea’s name; and so
+will I remember thine, though thou be far away. And of thy kindness
+tell me this, where is thy home, whither wilt thou sail hence in thy
+ship over the sea; wilt thou come near wealthy Orchomenus, or near the
+Aeaean isle? And tell me of the maiden, whosoever she be that thou hast
+named, the far-renowned daughter of Pasiphae, who is kinswoman to my
+father.”
+
+Thus she spake; and over him too, at the tears of the maiden, stole
+Love the destroyer, and he thus answered her:
+
+“All too surely do I deem that never by night and never by day will I
+forget thee if I escape death and indeed make my way in safety to the
+Achaean land, and Aeetes set not before us some other contest worse
+than this. And if it pleases thee to know about my fatherland, I will
+tell it out; for indeed my own heart bids me do that. There is a land
+encircled by lofty mountains, rich in sheep and in pasture, where
+Prometheus, son of Iapetus, begat goodly Deucalion, who first founded
+cities and reared temples to the immortal gods, and first ruled over
+men. This land the neighbours who dwell around call Haemonia. And in it
+stands Ioleus, my city, and in it many others, where they have not so
+much as heard the name of the Aeaean isle; yet there is a story that
+Minyas starting thence, Minyas son of Aeolus, built long ago the city
+of Orchomenus that borders on the Cadmeians. But why do I tell thee all
+this vain talk, of our home and of Minos’ daughter, far-famed Ariadne,
+by which glorious name they called that lovely maiden of whom thou
+askest me? Would that, as Minos then was well inclined to Theseus for
+her sake, so may thy father be joined to us in friendship!”
+
+Thus he spake, soothing her with gentle converse. But pangs most bitter
+stirred her heart and in grief did she address him with vehement words:
+
+“In Hellas, I ween, this is fair to pay heed to covenants; but Aeetes
+is not such a man among men as thou sayest was Pasiphae’s husband,
+Minos; nor can I liken myself to Ariadne; wherefore speak not of
+guest-love. But only do thou, when thou hast reached Iolcus, remember
+me, and thee even in my parents’ despite, will I remember. And from far
+off may a rumour come to me or some messenger-bird, when thou
+forgettest me; or me, even me, may swift blasts catch up and bear over
+the sea hence to Iolcus, that so I may cast reproaches in thy face and
+remind thee that it was by my good will thou didst escape. May I then
+be seated in thy halls, an unexpected guest!”
+
+Thus she spake with piteous tears falling down her cheeks, and to her
+Jason replied: “Let the empty blasts wander at will, lady, and the
+messenger-bird, for vain is thy talk. But if thou comest to those
+abodes and to the land of Hellas, honoured and reverenced shalt thou be
+by women and men; and they shall worship thee even as a goddess, for
+that by thy counsel their sons came home again, their brothers and
+kinsmen and stalwart husbands were saved from calamity. And in our
+bridal chamber shalt thou prepare our couch; and nothing shall come
+between our love till the doom of death fold us round.”
+
+Thus he spake; and her soul melted within her to hear his words;
+nevertheless she shuddered to behold the deeds of destruction to come.
+Poor wretch! Not long was she destined to refuse a home in Hellas. For
+thus Hera devised it, that Aeaean Medea might come to Ioleus for a bane
+to Pelias, forsaking her native land.
+
+And now her handmaids, glancing at them from a distance, were grieving
+in silence; and the time of day required that the maiden should return
+home to her mother’s side. But she thought not yet of departing, for
+her soul delighted both in his beauty and in his winsome words, but
+Aeson’s son took heed, and spake at last, though late: “It is time to
+depart, lest the sunlight sink before we know it, and some stranger
+notice all; but again will we come and meet here.”
+
+So did they two make trial of one another thus far with gentle words;
+and thereafter parted. Jason hastened to return in joyous mood to his
+comrades and the ship, she to her handmaids; and they all together came
+near to meet her, but she marked them not at all as they thronged
+around. For her soul had soared aloft amid the clouds. And her feet of
+their own accord mounted the swift chariot, and with one hand she took
+the reins, and with the other the whip of cunning workmanship, to drive
+the mules; and they rushed hasting to the city and the palace. And when
+she was come Chalciope in grief for her sons questioned her; but Medea,
+distraught by swiftly-changing thoughts, neither heard her words nor
+was eager to speak in answer to her questions. But she sat upon a low
+stool at the foot of her couch, bending down, her cheek leaning on her
+left hand, and her eyes were wet with tears as she pondered what an
+evil deed she had taken part in by her counsels.
+
+Now when Aeson’s son had joined his comrades again in the spot where he
+had left them when he departed, he set out to go with them, telling
+them all the story, to the gathering of the heroes; and together they
+approached the ship. And when they saw Jason they embraced him and
+questioned him. And he told to all the counsels of the maiden and
+showed the dread charm; but Idas alone of his comrades sat apart biting
+down his wrath; and the rest joyous in heart, at the hour when the
+darkness of night stayed them, peacefully took thought for themselves.
+But at daybreak they sent two men to go to Aeetes and ask for the seed,
+first Telamon himself, dear to Ares, and with him Aethalides, Hermes’
+famous son. So they went and made no vain journey; but when they came,
+lordly Aeetes gave them for the contest the fell teeth of the Aonian
+dragon which Cadmus found in Ogygian Thebes when he came seeking for
+Europa and there slew the—warder of the spring of Ares. There he
+settled by the guidance of the heifer whom Apollo by his prophetic word
+granted him to lead him on his way. But the teeth the Tritonian goddess
+tore away from the dragon’s jaws and bestowed as a gift upon Aeetes and
+the slayer. And Agenor’s son, Cadmus, sowed them on the Aonian plains
+and founded an earthborn people of all who were left from the spear
+when Ares did the reaping; and the teeth Aeetes then readily gave to be
+borne to the ship, for he deemed not that Jason would bring the contest
+to an end, even though he should cast the yoke upon the oxen.
+
+Far away in the west the sun was sailing beneath the dark earth, beyond
+the furthest hills of the Aethiopians; and Night was laying the yoke
+upon her steeds; and the heroes were preparing their beds by the
+hawsers. But Jason, as soon as the stars of Heliee, the bright-gleaming
+bear, had set, and the air had all grown still under heaven, went to a
+desert spot, like some stealthy thief, with all that was needful; for
+beforehand in the daytime had he taken thought for everything; and
+Argus came bringing a ewe and milk from the flock; and them he took
+from the ship. But when the hero saw a place which was far away from
+the tread of men, in a clear meadow beneath the open sky, there first
+of all he bathed his tender body reverently in the sacred river; and
+round him he placed a dark robe, which Hypsipyle of Lemnos had given
+him aforetime, a memorial of many a loving embrace. Then he dug a pit
+in the ground of a cubit’s depth and heaped up billets of wood, and
+over it he cut the throat of the sheep, and duly placed the carcase
+above; and he kindled the logs placing fire beneath, and poured over
+them mingled libations, calling on Hecate Brimo to aid him in the
+contests. And when he had called on her he drew back; and she heard
+him, the dread goddess, from the uttermost depths and came to the
+sacrifice of Aeson’s son; and round her horrible serpents twined
+themselves among the oak boughs; and there was a gleam of countless
+torches; and sharply howled around her the hounds of hell. All the
+meadows trembled at her step; and the nymphs that haunt the marsh and
+the river shrieked, all who dance round that mead of Amarantian Phasis.
+And fear seized Aeson’s son, but not even so did he turn round as his
+feet bore him forth, till he came back to his comrades; and now early
+dawn arose and shed her light above snowy Caucasus.
+
+Then Aeetes arrayed his breast in the stiff corslet which Ares gave him
+when he had slain Phlegraean Mimas with his own hands; and upon his
+head he placed a golden helmet with four plumes, gleaming like the
+sun’s round light when he first rises from Ocean. And he wielded his
+shield of many hides, and his spear, terrible, resistless; none of the
+heroes could have withstood its shock now that they had left behind
+Heracles far away, who alone could have met it in battle. For the king
+his well-fashioned chariot of swift steeds was held near at hand by
+Phaethon, for him to mount; and he mounted, and held the reins in his
+hands. Then from the city he drove along the broad highway, that he
+might be present at the contest; and with him a countless multitude
+rushed forth. And as Poseidon rides, mounted in his chariot, to the
+Isthmian contest or to Taenarus, or to Lerna’s water, or through the
+grove of Hyantian Onchestus, and thereafter passes even to Calaureia
+with his steeds, and the Haemonian rock, or well-wooded Geraestus; even
+so was Aeetes, lord of the Colchians, to behold.
+
+Meanwhile, prompted by Medea, Jason steeped the charm in water and
+sprinkled with it his shield and sturdy spear, and sword; and his
+comrades round him made proof of his weapons with might and main, but
+could not bend that spear even a little, but it remained firm in their
+stalwart hands unbroken as before. But in furious rage with them Idas,
+Aphareus’ son, with his great sword hewed at the spear near the butt,
+and the edge leapt back repelled by the shock, like a hammer from the
+anvil; and the heroes shouted with joy for their hope in the contest.
+And then he sprinkled his body, and terrible prowess entered into him,
+unspeakable, dauntless; and his hands on both sides thrilled vigorously
+as they swelled with strength. And as when a warlike steed eager for
+the fight neighs and beats the ground with his hoof, while rejoicing he
+lifts his neck on high with ears erect; in such wise did Aeson’s son
+rejoice in the strength of his limbs. And often hither and thither did
+he leap high in air tossing in his hands his shield of bronze and ashen
+spear. Thou wouldst say that wintry lightning flashing from the gloomy
+sky kept on darting forth from the clouds what time they bring with
+them their blackest rainstorm. Not long after that were the heroes to
+hold back from the contests; but sitting in rows on their benches they
+sped swiftly on to the plain of Ares. And it lay in front of them on
+the opposite side of the city, as far off as is the turning-post that a
+chariot must reach from the starting-point, when the kinsmen of a dead
+king appoint funeral games for footmen and horsemen. And they found
+Aeetes and the tribes of the Colchians; these were stationed on the
+Caucasian heights, but the king by the winding brink of the river.
+
+Now Aeson’s son, as soon as his comrades had made the hawsers fast,
+leapt from the ship, and with spear and shield came forth to the
+contest; and at the same time he took the gleaming helmet of bronze
+filled with sharp teeth, and his sword girt round his shoulders, his
+body stripped, in somewise resembling Ares and in somewise Apollo of
+the golden sword. And gazing over the field he saw the bulls’ yoke of
+bronze and near it the plough, all of one piece, of stubborn adamant.
+Then he came near, and fixed his sturdy spear upright on its butt, and
+taking his helmet, off leant it against the spear. And he went forward
+with shield alone to examine the countless tracks of the bulls, and
+they from some unseen lair beneath the earth, where was their strong
+steading, wrapt in murky smoke, both rushed out together, breathing
+forth flaming fire. And sore afraid were the heroes at the sight. But
+Jason, setting wide his feet, withstood their onset, as in the sea a
+rocky reef withstands the waves tossed by the countless blasts. Then in
+front of him he held his shield; and both the bulls with loud bellowing
+attacked him with their mighty horns; nor did they stir him a jot by
+their onset. And as when through the holes of the furnace the
+armourers’ bellows anon gleam brightly, kindling the ravening flame,
+and anon cease from blowing, and a terrible roar rises from the fire
+when it darts up from below; so the bulls roared, breathing forth swift
+flame from their mouths, while the consuming heat played round him,
+smiting like lightning; but the maiden’s charms protected him. Then
+grasping the tip of the horn of the right-hand bull, he dragged it
+mightily with all his strength to bring it near the yoke of bronze, and
+forced it down on to its knees, suddenly striking with his foot the
+foot of bronze. So also he threw the other bull on to its knees as it
+rushed upon him, and smote it down with one blow. And throwing to the
+ground his broad shield, he held them both down where they had fallen
+on their fore-knees, as he strode from side to side, now here, now
+there, and rushed swiftly through the flame. But Aeetes marvelled at
+the hero’s might. And meantime the sons of Tyndareus for long since had
+it been thus ordained for them—near at hand gave him the yoke from the
+ground to cast round them. Then tightly did he bind their necks; and
+lifting the pole of bronze between them, he fastened it to the yoke by
+its golden tip. So the twin heroes started back from the fire to the
+ship. But Jason took up again his shield and cast it on his back behind
+him, and grasped the strong helmet filled with sharp teeth, and his
+resistless spear, wherewith, like some ploughman with a Pelasgian goad,
+he pricked the bulls beneath, striking their flanks; and very firmly
+did he guide the well fitted plough handle, fashioned of adamant.
+
+The bulls meantime raged exceedingly, breathing forth furious flame of
+fire; and their breath rose up like the roar of blustering winds, in
+fear of which above all seafaring men furl their large sail. But not
+long after that they moved on at the bidding of the spear; and behind
+them the rugged fallow was broken up, cloven by the might of the bulls
+and the sturdy ploughman. Then terribly groaned the clods withal along
+the furrows of the plough as they were rent, each a man’s burden; and
+Jason followed, pressing down the cornfield with firm foot; and far
+from him he ever sowed the teeth along the clods as each was ploughed,
+turning his head back for fear lest the deadly crop of earthborn men
+should rise against him first; and the bulls toiled onwards treading
+with their hoofs of bronze.
+
+But when the third part of the day was still left as it wanes from
+dawn, and wearied labourers call for the sweet hour of unyoking to come
+to them straightway, then the fallow was ploughed by the tireless
+ploughman, four plough-gates though it was; and he loosed the plough
+from the oxen. Them he scared in flight towards the plain; but he went
+back again to the ship, while he still saw the furrows free of the
+earthborn men. And all round his comrades heartened him with their
+shouts. And in the helmet he drew from the river’s stream and quenched
+his thirst with the water. Then he bent his knees till they grew
+supple, and filled his mighty heart with courage, raging like a boar,
+when it sharpens its teeth against the hunters, while from its wrathful
+mouth plenteous foam drips to the ground. By now the earthborn men were
+springing up over all the field; and the plot of Ares, the
+death-dealer, bristled with sturdy shields and double-pointed spears
+and shining helmets; and the gleam reached Olympus from beneath,
+flashing through the air. And as when abundant snow has fallen on the
+earth and the storm blasts have dispersed the wintry clouds under the
+murky night, and all the hosts of the stars appear shining through the
+gloom; so did those warriors shine springing up above the earth. But
+Jason bethought him of the counsels of Medea full of craft, and seized
+from the plain a huge round boulder, a terrible quoit of Ares Enyalius;
+four stalwart youths could not have raised it from the ground even a
+little. Taking it in his hands he threw it with a rush far away into
+their midst; and himself crouched unseen behind his shield, with full
+confidence. And the Colchians gave a loud cry, like the roar of the sea
+when it beats upon sharp crags; and speechless amazement seized Aeetes
+at the rush of the sturdy quoit. And the Earthborn, like fleet-footed
+hounds, leaped upon one another and slew with loud yells; and on earth
+their mother they fell beneath their own spears, likes pines or oaks,
+which storms of wind beat down. And even as a fiery star leaps from
+heaven, trailing a furrow of light, a portent to men, whoever see it
+darting with a gleam through the dusky sky; in such wise did Aeson’s
+son rush upon the earthborn men, and he drew from the sheath his bare
+sword, and smote here and there, mowing them down, many on the belly
+and side, half risen to the air—and some that had risen as far as the
+shoulders—and some just standing upright, and others even now rushing
+to battle. And as when a fight is stirred up concerning boundaries, and
+a husbandman, in fear lest they should ravage his fields, seizes in his
+hand a curved sickle, newly sharpened, and hastily cuts the unripe
+crop, and waits not for it to be parched in due season by the beams of
+the sun; so at that time did Jason cut down the crop of the Earthborn;
+and the furrows were filled with blood, as the channels of a spring
+with water. And they fell, some on their faces biting the rough clod of
+earth with their teeth, some on their backs, and others on their hands
+and sides, like to sea-monsters to behold. And many, smitten before
+raising their feet from the earth, bowed down as far to the ground as
+they had risen to the air, and rested there with the damp of death on
+their brows. Even so, I ween, when Zeus has sent a measureless rain,
+new planted orchard-shoots droop to the ground, cut off by the root the
+toil of gardening men; but heaviness of heart and deadly anguish come
+to the owner of the farm, who planted them; so at that time did bitter
+grief come upon the heart of King Aeetes. And he went back to the city
+among the Colchians, pondering how he might most quickly oppose the
+heroes. And the day died, and Jason’s contest was ended.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK IV
+
+
+Now do thou thyself, goddess Muse, daughter of Zeus, tell of the labour
+and wiles of the Colchian maiden. Surely my soul within me wavers with
+speechless amazement as I ponder whether I should call it the lovesick
+grief of mad passion or a panic flight, through which she left the
+Colchian folk.
+
+Aeetes all night long with the bravest captains of his people was
+devising in his halls sheer treachery against the heroes, with fierce
+wrath in his heart at the issue of the hateful contest; nor did he deem
+at all that these things were being accomplished without the knowledge
+of his daughters.
+
+But into Medea’s heart Hera cast most grievous fear; and she trembled
+like a nimble fawn whom the baying of hounds hath terrified amid the
+thicket of a deep copse. For at once she truly forboded that the aid
+she had given was not hidden from her father, and that quickly she
+would fill up the cup of woe. And she dreaded the guilty knowledge of
+her handmaids; her eyes were filled with fire and her ears rung with a
+terrible cry. Often did she clutch at her throat, and often did she
+drag out her hair by the roots and groan in wretched despair. There on
+that very day the maiden would have tasted the drugs and perished and
+so have made void the purposes of Hera, had not the goddess driven her,
+all bewildered, to flee with the sons of Phrixus; and her fluttering
+soul within her was comforted; and then she poured from her bosom all
+the drugs back again into the casket. Then she kissed her bed, and the
+folding-doors on both sides, and stroked the walls, and tearing away in
+her hands a long tress of hair, she left it in the chamber for her
+mother, a memorial of her maidenhood, and thus lamented with passionate
+voice:
+
+“I go, leaving this long tress here in my stead, O mother mine; take
+this farewell from me as I go far hence; farewell Chalciope, and all my
+home. Would that the sea, stranger, had dashed thee to pieces, ere thou
+camest to the Colchian land!”
+
+Thus she spake, and from her eyes shed copious tears. And as a bondmaid
+steals away from a wealthy house, whom fate has lately severed from her
+native land, nor yet has she made trial of grievous toil, but still
+unschooled to misery and shrinking in terror from slavish tasks, goes
+about beneath the cruel hands of a mistress; even so the lovely maiden
+rushed forth from her home. But to her the bolts of the doors gave way
+self-moved, leaping backwards at the swift strains of her magic song.
+And with bare feet she sped along the narrow paths, with her left hand
+holding her robe over her brow to veil her face and fair cheeks, and
+with her right lifting up the hem of her tunic. Quickly along the dark
+track, outside the towers of the spacious city, did she come in fear;
+nor did any of the warders note her, but she sped on unseen by them.
+Thence she was minded to go to the temple; for well she knew the way,
+having often aforetime wandered there in quest of corpses and noxious
+roots of the earth, as a sorceress is wont to do; and her soul
+fluttered with quivering fear. And the Titanian goddess, the moon,
+rising from a far land, beheld her as she fled distraught, and fiercely
+exulted over her, and thus spake to her own heart:
+
+“Not I alone then stray to the Latinian cave, nor do I alone burn with
+love for fair Endymion; oft times with thoughts of love have I been
+driven away by thy crafty spells, in order that in the darkness of
+night thou mightest work thy sorcery at ease, even the deeds dear to
+thee. And now thou thyself too hast part in a like mad passion; and
+some god of affection has given thee Jason to be thy grievous woe.
+Well, go on, and steel thy heart, wise though thou be, to take up thy
+burden of pain, fraught with many sighs.”
+
+Thus spake the goddess; but swiftly the maiden’s feet bore her, hasting
+on. And gladly did she gain the high-bank of the river and beheld on
+the opposite side the gleam of fire, which all night long the heroes
+were kindling in joy at the contest’s issue. Then through the gloom,
+with clear-pealing voice from across the stream, she called on
+Phrontis, the youngest of Phrixus’ sons, and he with his brothers and
+Aeson’s son recognised the maiden’s voice; and in silence his comrades
+wondered when they knew that it was so in truth. Thrice she called, and
+thrice at the bidding of the company Phrontis called out in reply; and
+meantime the heroes were rowing with swift-moving oars in search of
+her. Not yet were they casting the ship’s hawsers upon the opposite
+bank, when Jason with light feet leapt to land from the deck above, and
+after him Phrontis and Argus, sons of Phrixus, leapt to the ground; and
+she, clasping their knees with both hands, thus addressed them:
+
+“Save me, the hapless one, my friends, from Aeetes, and yourselves too,
+for all is brought to light, nor doth any remedy come. But let us flee
+upon the ship, before the king mounts his swift chariot. And I will
+lull to sleep the guardian serpent and give you the fleece of gold; but
+do thou, stranger, amid thy comrades make the gods witness of the vows
+thou hast taken on thyself for my sake; and now that I have fled far
+from my country, make me not a mark for blame and dishonour for want of
+kinsmen.”
+
+She spake in anguish; but greatly did the heart of Aeson’s son rejoice,
+and at once, as she fell at his knees, he raised her gently and
+embraced her, and spake words of comfort: “Lady, let Zeus of Olympus
+himself be witness to my oath, and Hera, queen of marriage, bride of
+Zeus, that I will set thee in my halls my own wedded wife, when we have
+reached the land of Hellas on our return.”
+
+Thus he spake, and straightway clasped her right hand in his; and she
+bade them row the swift ship to the sacred grove near at hand, in order
+that, while it was still night, they might seize and carry off the
+fleece against the will of Aeetes. Word and deed were one to the eager
+crew. For they took her on board, and straightway thrust the ship from
+shore; and loud was the din as the chieftains strained at their oars,
+but she, starting back, held out her hands in despair towards the
+shore. But Jason spoke cheering words and restrained her grief.
+
+Now at the hour when men have cast sleep from their eyes~huntsmen, who,
+trusting to their bounds, never slumber away the end of night, but
+avoid the light of dawn lest, smiting with its white beams, it efface
+the track and scent of the quarry—then did Aeson’s son and the maiden
+step forth from the ship over a grassy spot, the “Ram’s couch” as men
+call it, where it first bent its wearied knees in rest, bearing on its
+back the Minyan son of Athamas. And close by, all smirched with soot,
+was the base of the altar, which the Aeolid Phrixus once set up to
+Zeus, the alder of fugitives, when he sacrificed the golden wonder at
+the bidding of Hermes who graciously met him on the way. There by the
+counsels of Argus the chieftains put them ashore.
+
+And they two by the pathway came to the sacred grove, seeking the huge
+oak tree on which was hung the fleece, like to a cloud that blushes red
+with the fiery beams of the rising sun. But right in front the serpent
+with his keen sleepless eyes saw them coming, and stretched out his
+long neck and hissed in awful wise; and all round the long banks of the
+river echoed and the boundless grove. Those heard it who dwelt in the
+Colchian land very far from Titanian Aea, near the outfall of Lycus,
+the river which parts from loud-roaring Araxes and blends his sacred
+stream with Phasis, and they twain flow on together in one and pour
+their waters into the Caucasian Sea. And through fear young mothers
+awoke, and round their new-born babes, who were sleeping in their arms,
+threw their hands in agony, for the small limbs started at that hiss.
+And as when above a pile of smouldering wood countless eddies of smoke
+roll up mingled with soot, and one ever springs up quickly after
+another, rising aloft from beneath in wavering wreaths; so at that time
+did that monster roll his countless coils covered with hard dry scales.
+And as he writhed, the maiden came before his eyes, with sweet voice
+calling to her aid sleep, highest of gods, to charm the monster; and
+she cried to the queen of the underworld, the night-wanderer, to be
+propitious to her enterprise. And Aeson’s son followed in fear, but the
+serpent, already charmed by her song, was relaxing the long ridge of
+his giant spine, and lengthening out his myriad coils, like a dark
+wave, dumb and noiseless, rolling over a sluggish sea; but still he
+raised aloft his grisly head, eager to enclose them both in his
+murderous jaws. But she with a newly cut spray of juniper, dipping and
+drawing untempered charms from her mystic brew, sprinkled his eyes,
+while she chanted her song; and all around the potent scent of the
+charm cast sleep; and on the very spot he let his jaw sink down; and
+far behind through the wood with its many trees were those countless
+coils stretched out.
+
+Hereupon Jason snatched the golden fleece from the oak, at the maiden
+bidding; and she, standing firm, smeared with the charm the monster’s
+head, till Jason himself bade her turn back towards their ship, and she
+left the grove of Ares, dusky with shade. And as a maiden catches on
+her finely wrought robe the gleam of the moon at the full, as it rises
+above her high-roofed chamber; and her heart rejoices as she beholds
+the fair ray; so at that time did Jason uplift the mighty fleece in his
+hands; and from the shimmering of the flocks of wool there settled on
+his fair cheeks and brow a red flush like a flame. And great as is the
+hide of a yearling ox or stag, which huntsmen call a brocket, so great
+in extent was the fleece all golden above. Heavy it was, thickly
+clustered with flocks; and as he moved along, even beneath his feet the
+sheen rose up from the earth. And he strode on now with the fleece
+covering his left shoulder from the height of his neck to his feet, and
+now again he gathered it up in his hands; for he feared exceedingly,
+lest some god or man should meet him and deprive him thereof.
+
+Dawn was spreading over the earth when they reached the throng of
+heroes; and the youths marvelled to behold the mighty fleece, which
+gleamed like the lightning of Zeus. And each one started up eager to
+touch it and clasp it in his hands. But the son of Aeson restrained
+them all, and threw over it a mantle newly-woven; and he led the maiden
+to the stern and seated her there, and spake to them all as follows:
+
+“No longer now, my friends, forbear to return to your fatherland. For
+now the task for which we dared this grievous voyage, toiling with
+bitter sorrow of heart, has been lightly fulfilled by the maiden’s
+counsels. Her—for such is her will—I will bring home to be my wedded
+wife; do ye preserve her, the glorious saviour of all Achaea and of
+yourselves. For of a surety, I ween, will Aeetes come with his host to
+bar our passage from the river into the sea. But do some of you toil at
+the oars in turn, sitting man by man; and half of you raise your
+shields of oxhide, a ready defence against the darts of the enemy, and
+guard our return. And now in our hands we hold the fate of our children
+and dear country and of our aged parents; and on our venture all Hellas
+depends, to reap either the shame of failure or great renown.”
+
+Thus he spake, and donned his armour of war; and they cried aloud,
+wondrously eager. And he drew his sword from the sheath and cut the
+hawsers at the stern. And near the maiden he took his stand ready armed
+by the steersman Aneaeus, and with their rowing the ship sped on as
+they strained desperately to drive her clear of the river.
+
+By this time Medea’s love and deeds had become known to haughty Aeetes
+and to all the Colchians. And they thronged to the assembly in arms;
+and countless as the waves of the stormy sea when they rise crested by
+the wind, or as the leaves that fall to the ground from the wood with
+its myriad branches in the month when the leaves fall—who could reckon
+their tale?—so they in countless number poured along the banks of the
+river shouting in frenzy; and in his shapely chariot Aeetes shone forth
+above all with his steeds, the gift of Helios, swift as the blasts of
+the wind. In his left hand he raised his curved shield, and in his
+right a huge pine-torch, and near him in front stood up his mighty
+spear. And Apsyrtus held in his hands the reins of the steeds. But
+already the ship was cleaving the sea before her, urged on by stalwart
+oarsmen, and the stream of the mighty river rushing down. But the king
+in grievous anguish lifted his hands and called on Helios and Zeus to
+bear witness to their evil deeds; and terrible threats he uttered
+against all his people, that unless they should with their own hands
+seize the maiden, either on the land or still finding the ship on the
+swell of the open sea, and bring her back, that so he might satisfy his
+eager soul with vengeance for all those deeds, at the cost of their own
+lives they should learn and abide all his rage and revenge.
+
+Thus spake Aeetes; and on that same day the Colchians launched their
+ships and cast the tackle on board, and on that same day sailed forth
+on the sea; thou wouldst not say so mighty a host was a fleet of ships,
+but that a countless flight of birds, swarm on swarm, was clamouring
+over the sea.
+
+Swiftly the wind blew, as the goddess Hera planned, so that most
+quickly Aeaean Medea might reach the Pelasgian land, a bane to the
+house of Pelias, and on the third morn they bound the ship’s stern
+cables to the shores of the Paphlagonians, at the mouth of the river
+Halys. For Medea bade them land and propitiate Hecate with sacrifice.
+Now all that the maiden prepared for offering the sacrifice may no man
+know, and may my soul not urge me to sing thereof. Awe restrains my
+lips, yet from that time the altar which the heroes raised on the beach
+to the goddess remains till now, a sight to men of a later day.
+
+And straightway Aeson’s son and the rest of the heroes bethought them
+of Phineus, how that he had said that their course from Aea should be
+different, but to all alike his meaning was dim. Then Argus spake, and
+they eagerly hearkened:
+
+“We go to Orchomenus, whither that unerring seer, whom ye met
+aforetime, foretold your voyage. For there is another course, signified
+by those priests of the immortal gods, who have sprung from Tritonian
+Thebes. As yet all the stars that wheel in the heaven were not, nor
+yet, though one should inquire, could aught be heard of the sacred race
+of the Danai. Apidanean Arcadians alone existed, Arcadians who lived
+even before the moon, it is said, eating acorns on the hills; nor at
+that time was the Pelasgian land ruled by the glorious sons of
+Deucalion, in the days when Egypt, mother of men of an older time, was
+called the fertile Morning-land, and the river fair-flowing Triton, by
+which all the Morning-land is watered; and never does the rain from
+Zeus moisten the earth; but from the flooding of the river abundant
+crops spring up. From this land, it is said, a king[27] made his way
+all round through the whole of Europe and Asia, trusting in the might
+and strength and courage of his people; and countless cities did he
+found wherever he came, whereof some are still inhabited and some not;
+many an age hath passed since then. But Aea abides unshaken even now
+and the sons of those men whom that king settled to dwell in Aea. They
+preserve the writings of their fathers, graven on pillars, whereon are
+marked all the ways and the limits of sea and land as ye journey on all
+sides round. There is a river, the uttermost horn of Ocean, broad and
+exceeding deep, that a merchant ship may traverse; they call it Ister
+and have marked it far off; and for a while it cleaves the boundless
+tilth alone in one stream; for beyond the blasts of the north wind, far
+off in the Rhipaean mountains, its springs burst forth with a roar. But
+when it enters the boundaries of the Thracians and Scythians, here,
+dividing its stream into two, it sends its waters partly into the
+Ionian sea,[28] and partly to the south into a deep gulf that bends
+upwards from the Trinaerian sea, that sea which lies along your land,
+if indeed Achelous flows forth from your land.”
+
+Thus he spake, and to them the goddess granted a happy portent, and all
+at the sight shouted approval, that this was their appointed path. For
+before them appeared a trail of heavenly light, a sign where they might
+pass. And gladly they left behind there the son of Lyeus and with
+canvas outspread sailed over the sea, with their eyes on the
+Paphlagonian mountains. But they did not round Carambis, for the winds
+and the gleam of the heavenly fire stayed with them till they reached
+Ister’s mighty stream.
+
+Now some of the Colchians, in a vain search, passed out from Pontus
+through the Cyanean rocks; but the rest went to the river, and them
+Apsyrtus led, and, turning aside, he entered the mouth called Fair.
+Wherefore he outstripped the heroes by crossing a neck of land into the
+furthest gulf of the Ionian sea. For a certain island is enclosed by
+Ister, by name Peuee, three-cornered, its base stretching along the
+coast, and with a sharp angle towards the river; and round it the
+outfall is cleft in two. One mouth they call the mouth of Narex, and
+the other, at the lower end, the Fair mouth. And through this Apsyrtus
+and his Colchians rushed with all speed; but the heroes went upwards
+far away towards the highest part of the island. And in the meadows the
+country shepherds left their countless flocks for dread of the ships,
+for they deemed that they were beasts coming forth from the
+monster-teeming sea. For never yet before had they seen seafaring
+ships, neither the Scythians mingled with the Thracians, nor the
+Sigynni, nor yet the Graucenii, nor the Sindi that now inhabit the vast
+desert plain of Laurium. But when they had passed near the mount
+Angurum, and the cliff of Cauliacus, far from the mount Angurum, round
+which Ister, dividing his stream, falls into the sea on this side and
+on that, and the Laurian plain, then indeed the Colchians went forth
+into the Cronian sea and cut off all the ways, to prevent their foes’
+escape. And the heroes came down the river behind and reached the two
+Brygean isles of Artemis near at hand. Now in one of them was a sacred
+temple; and on the other they landed, avoiding the host of Apsyrtus;
+for the Colchians had left these islands out of many within the river,
+just as they were, through reverence for the daughter of Zeus; but the
+rest, thronged by the Colchians, barred the ways to the sea. And so on
+other islands too, close by, Apsyrtus left his host as far as the river
+Salangon and the Nestian land.
+
+There the Minyae would at that time have yielded in grim fight, a few
+to many; but ere then they made a covenant, shunning a dire quarrel; as
+to the golden fleece, that since Aeetes himself had so promised them if
+they should fulfill the contests, they should keep it as justly won,
+whether they carried it off by craft or even openly in the king’s
+despite; but as to Medea—for that was the cause of strife—that they
+should give her in ward to Leto’s daughter apart from the throng, until
+some one of the kings that dispense justice should utter his doom,
+whether she must return to her father’s home or follow the chieftains
+to the land of Hellas.
+
+Now when the maiden had mused upon all this, sharp anguish shook her
+heart unceasingly; and quickly she called forth Jason alone apart from
+his comrades, and led him aside until they were far away, and before
+his face uttered her speech all broken with sobs:
+
+“What is this purpose that ye are now devising about me, O son of
+Aeson? Has thy triumph utterly cast forgetfulness upon thee, and
+reekest thou nothing of all that thou spakest when held fast by
+necessity? Whither are fled the oaths by Zeus the suppliants’ god,
+whither are fled thy honied promises? For which in no seemly wise, with
+shameless will, I have left my country, the glories of my home and even
+my parents—things that were dearest to me; and far away all alone I am
+borne over the sea with the plaintive kingfishers because of thy
+trouble, in order that I might save thy life in fulfilling the contests
+with the oxen and the earthborn men. Last of all the fleece—when the
+matter became known, it was by my folly thou didst win it; and a foul
+reproach have I poured on womankind. Wherefore I say that as thy child,
+thy bride and thy sister, I follow thee to the land of Hellas. Be ready
+to stand by me to the end, abandon me not left forlorn of thee when
+thou dost visit the kings. But only save me; let justice and right, to
+which we have both agreed, stand firm; or else do thou at once shear
+through this neck with the sword, that I may gain the guerdon due to my
+mad passion. Poor wretch! if the king, to whom you both commit your
+cruel covenant, doom me to belong to my brother. How shall I come to my
+father’s sight? Will it be with a good name? What revenge, what heavy
+calamity shall I not endure in agony for the terrible deeds I have
+done? And wilt thou win the return that thy heart desires? Never may
+Zeus’ bride, the queen of all, in whom thou dost glory, bring that to
+pass. Mayst thou some time remember me when thou art racked with
+anguish; may the fleece like a dream vanish into the nether darkness on
+the wings of the wind! And may my avenging Furies forthwith drive thee
+from thy country, for all that I have suffered through thy cruelty!
+These curses will not be allowed to fall unaccomplished to the ground.
+A mighty oath hast thou transgressed, ruthless one; but not long shalt
+thou and thy comrades sit at ease casting eyes of mockery upon me, for
+all your covenants.”
+
+Thus she spake, seething with fierce wrath; and she longed to set fire
+to the ship and to hew it utterly in pieces, and herself to fall into
+the raging flame. But Jason, half afraid, thus addressed her with
+gentle words:
+
+“Forbear, lady; me too this pleases not. But we seek some respite from
+battle, for such a cloud of hostile men, like to a fire, surrounds us,
+on thy account. For all that inhabit this land are eager to aid
+Apsyrtus, that they may lead thee back home to thy father, like some
+captured maid. And all of us would perish in hateful destruction, if we
+closed with them in fight; and bitterer still will be the pain, if we
+are slain and leave thee to be their prey. But this covenant will weave
+a web of guile to lead him to ruin. Nor will the people of the land for
+thy sake oppose us, to favour the Colchians, when their prince is no
+longer with them, who is thy champion and thy brother; nor will I
+shrink from matching myself in fight with the Colchians, if they bar my
+way homeward.”
+
+Thus he spake soothing her; and she uttered a deadly speech: “Take heed
+now. For when sorry deeds are done we must needs devise sorry counsel,
+since at first I was distraught by my error, and by heaven’s will it
+was I wrought the accomplishment of evil desires. Do thou in the
+turmoil shield me from the Colchians’ spears; and I will beguile
+Apsyrtus to come into thy hands—do thou greet him with splendid
+gifts—if only I could persuade the heralds on their departure to bring
+him alone to hearken to my words. Thereupon if this deed pleases thee,
+slay him and raise a conflict with the Colchians, I care not.”
+
+So they two agreed and prepared a great web of guile for Apsyrtus, and
+provided many gifts such as are due to guests, and among them gave a
+sacred robe of Hypsipyle, of crimson hue. The Graces with their own
+hands had wrought it for Dionysus in sea-girt Dia, and he gave it to
+his son Thoas thereafter, and Thoas left it to Hypsipyle, and she gave
+that fair-wrought guest-gift with many another marvel to Aeson’s son to
+wear. Never couldst thou satisfy thy sweet desire by touching it or
+gazing on it. And from it a divine fragrance breathed from the time
+when the king of Nysa himself lay to rest thereon, flushed with wine
+and nectar as he clasped the beauteous breast of the maiden-daughter of
+Minos, whom once Theseus forsook in the island of Dia, when she had
+followed him from Cnossus. And when she had worked upon the heralds to
+induce her brother to come, as soon as she reached the temple of the
+goddess, according to the agreement, and the darkness of night
+surrounded them, that so she might devise with him a cunning plan for
+her to take the mighty fleece of gold and return to the home of Aeetes,
+for, she said, the sons of Phrixus had given her by force to the
+strangers to carry off; with such beguiling words she scattered to the
+air and the breezes her witching charms, which even from afar would
+have drawn down the savage beast from the steep mountain-height.
+
+Ruthless Love, great bane, great curse to mankind, from thee come
+deadly strifes and lamentations and groans, and countless pains as well
+have their stormy birth from thee. Arise, thou god, and arm thyself
+against the sons of our foes in such guise as when thou didst fill
+Medea’s heart with accursed madness. How then by evil doom did she slay
+Apsyrtus when he came to meet her? For that must our song tell next.
+
+When the heroes had left the maiden on the island of Artemis, according
+to the covenant, both sides ran their ships to land separately. And
+Jason went to the ambush to lie in wait for Apsyrtus and then for his
+comrades. But he, beguiled by these dire promises, swiftly crossed the
+swell of the sea in his ship, and in dark night set foot on the sacred
+island; and faring all alone to meet her he made trial in speech of his
+sister, as a tender child tries a wintry torrent which not even strong
+men can pass through, to see if she would devise some guile against the
+strangers. And so they two agreed together on everything; and
+straightway Aeson’s son leapt forth from the thick ambush, lifting his
+bare sword in his hand; and quickly the maiden turned her eyes aside
+and covered them with her veil that she might not see the blood of her
+brother when he was smitten. And Jason marked him and struck him down,
+as a butcher strikes down a mighty strong-horned bull, hard by the
+temple which the Brygi on the mainland opposite had once built for
+Artemis. In its vestibule he fell on his knees; and at last the hero
+breathing out his life caught up in both hands the dark blood as it
+welled from the wound; and he dyed with red his sister’s silvery veil
+and robe as she shrank away. And with swift side-glance the
+irresistible pitiless Fury beheld the deadly deed they had done. And
+the hero, Aeson’s son, cut off the extremities of the dead man, and
+thrice licked up some blood and thrice spat the pollution from his
+teeth, as it is right for the slayer to do, to atone for a treacherous
+murder. And the clammy corpse he hid in the ground where even now those
+bones lie among the Apsyrtians.
+
+Now as soon as the heroes saw the blaze of a torch, which the maiden
+raised for them as a sign to pursue, they laid their own ship near the
+Colchian ship, and they slaughtered the Colchian host, as kites slay
+the tribes of wood-pigeons, or as lions of the wold, when they have
+leapt amid the steading, drive a great flock of sheep huddled together.
+Nor did one of them escape death, but the heroes rushed upon the whole
+crew, destroying them like a flame; and at last Jason met them, and was
+eager to give aid where none was needed; but already they were taking
+thought for him too. Thereupon they sat to devise some prudent counsel
+for their voyage, and the maiden came upon them as they pondered, but
+Peleus spake his word first:
+
+“I now bid you embark while it is still night, and take with your oars
+the passage opposite to that which the enemy guards, for at dawn when
+they see their plight I deem that no word urging to further pursuit of
+us will prevail with them; but as people bereft of their king, they
+will be scattered in grievous dissension. And easy, when the people are
+scattered, will this path be for us on our return.”
+
+Thus he spake; and the youths assented to the words of Aeacus’ son. And
+quickly they entered the ship, and toiled at their oars unceasingly
+until they reached the sacred isle of Electra, the highest of them all,
+near the river Eridanus.
+
+But when the Colchians learnt the death of their prince, verily they
+were eager to pursue Argo and the Minyans through all the Cronian sea.
+But Hera restrained them by terrible lightnings from the sky. And at
+last they loathed their own homes in the Cytaean land, quailing before
+Aeetes’ fierce wrath; so they landed and made abiding homes there,
+scattered far and wide. Some set foot on those very islands where the
+heroes had stayed, and they still dwell there, bearing a name derived
+from Apsyrtus; and others built a fenced city by the dark deep Illyrian
+river, where is the tomb of Harmonia and Cadmus, dwelling among the
+Encheleans; and others live amid the mountains which are called the
+Thunderers, from the day when the thunders of Zeus, son of Cronos,
+prevented them from crossing over to the island opposite.
+
+Now the heroes, when their return seemed safe for them, fared onward
+and made their hawsers fast to the land of the Hylleans. For the
+islands lay thick in the river and made the path dangerous for those
+who sailed thereby. Nor, as aforetime, did the Hylleans devise their
+hurt, but of their own accord furthered their passage, winning as
+guerdon a mighty tripod of Apollo. For tripods twain had Phoebus given
+to Aeson’s son to carry afar in the voyage he had to make, at the time
+when he went to sacred Pytho to enquire about this very voyage; and it
+was ordained by fate that in whatever land they should be placed, that
+land should never be ravaged by the attacks of foemen. Therefore even
+now this tripod is hidden in that land near the pleasant city of
+Hyllus, far beneath the earth, that it may ever be unseen by mortals.
+Yet they found not King Hyllus still alive in the land, whom fair
+Melite bare to Heracles in the land of the Phaeacians. For he came to
+the abode of Nausithous and to Macris, the nurse of Dionysus, to
+cleanse himself from the deadly murder of his children; here he loved
+and overcame the water nymph Melite, the daughter of the river Aegaeus,
+and she bare mighty Hyllus. But when he had grown up he desired not to
+dwell in that island under the rule of Nausithous the king; but he
+collected a host of native Phaeacians and came to the Cronian sea; for
+the hero King Nausithous aided his journey, and there he settled, and
+the Mentores slew him as he was fighting for the oxen of his field.
+
+Now, goddesses, say how it is that beyond this sea, near the land of
+Ausonia and the Ligystian isles, which are called Stoechades, the
+mighty tracks of the ship Argo are clearly sung of? What great
+constraint and need brought the heroes so far? What breezes wafted
+them?
+
+When Apsyrtus had fallen in mighty overthrow Zeus himself, king of
+gods, was seized with wrath at what they had done. And he ordained that
+by the counsels of Aeaean Circe they should cleanse themselves from the
+terrible stain of blood and suffer countless woes before their return.
+Yet none of the chieftains knew this; but far onward they sped starting
+from the Hyllean land, and they left behind all the islands that were
+beforetime thronged by the Colchians—the Liburnian isles, isle after
+isle, Issa, Dysceladus, and lovely Pityeia. Next after them they came
+to Corcyra, where Poseidon settled the daughter of Asopus, fair-haired
+Corcyra, far from the land of Phlius, whence he had carried her off
+through love; and sailors beholding it from the sea, all black with its
+sombre woods, call it Corcyra the Black. And next they passed Melite,
+rejoicing in the soft-blowing breeze, and steep Cerossus, and Nymphaea
+at a distance, where lady Calypso, daughter of Atlas, dwelt; and they
+deemed they saw the misty mountains of Thunder. And then Hera bethought
+her of the counsels and wrath of Zeus concerning them. And she devised
+an ending of their voyage and stirred up storm-winds before them, by
+which they were caught and borne back to the rocky isle of Electra. And
+straightway on a sudden there called to them in the midst of their
+course, speaking with a human voice, the beam of the hollow ship, which
+Athena had set in the centre of the stem, made of Dodonian oak. And
+deadly fear seized them as they heard the voice that told of the
+grievous wrath of Zeus. For it proclaimed that they should not escape
+the paths of an endless sea nor grievous tempests, unless Circe should
+purge away the guilt of the ruthless murder of Apsyrtus; and it bade
+Polydeuces and Castor pray to the immortal gods first to grant a path
+through the Ausonian sea where they should find Circe, daughter of
+Perse and Helios.
+
+Thus Argo cried through the darkness; and the sons of Tyndareus uprose,
+and lifted their hands to the immortals praying for each boon: but
+dejection held the rest of the Minyan heroes. And far on sped Argo
+under sail, and entered deep into the stream of Eridanus; where once,
+smitten on the breast by the blazing bolt, Phaethon half-consumed fell
+from the chariot of Helios into the opening of that deep lake; and even
+now it belcheth up heavy steam clouds from the smouldering wound. And
+no bird spreading its light wings can cross that water; but in
+mid-course it plunges into the flame, fluttering. And all around the
+maidens, the daughters of Helios, enclosed in tall poplars, wretchedly
+wail a piteous plaint; and from their eyes they shed on the ground
+bright drops of amber. These are dried by the sun upon the sand; but
+whenever the waters of the dark lake flow over the strand before the
+blast of the wailing wind, then they roll on in a mass into Eridanus
+with swelling tide. But the Celts have attached this story to them,
+that these are the tears of Leto’s son, Apollo, that are borne along by
+the eddies, the countless tears that he shed aforetime when he came to
+the sacred race of the Hyperboreans and left shining heaven at the
+chiding of his father, being in wrath concerning his son whom divine
+Coronis bare in bright Lacereia at the mouth of Amyrus. And such is the
+story told among these men. But no desire for food or drink seized the
+heroes nor were their thoughts turned to joy. But they were sorely
+afflicted all day, heavy and faint at heart, with the noisome stench,
+hard to endure, which the streams of Eridanus sent forth from Phaethon
+still burning; and at night they heard the piercing lament of the
+daughters of Helios, wailing with shrill voice; and, as they lamented,
+their tears were borne on the water like drops of oil.
+
+Thence they entered the deep stream of Rhodanus which flows into
+Eridanus; and where they meet there is a roar of mingling waters. Now
+that river, rising from the ends of the earth, where are the portals
+and mansions of Night, on one side bursts forth upon the beach of
+Ocean, at another pours into the Ionian sea, and on the third through
+seven mouths sends its stream to the Sardinian sea and its limitless
+bay.[29] And from Rhodanus they entered stormy lakes, which spread
+throughout the Celtic mainland of wondrous size; and there they would
+have met with an inglorious calamity; for a certain branch of the river
+was bearing them towards a gulf of Ocean which in ignorance they were
+about to enter, and never would they have returned from there in
+safety. But Hera leaping forth from heaven pealed her cry from the
+Hercynian rock; and all together were shaken with fear of her cry; for
+terribly crashed the mighty firmament. And backward they turned by
+reason of the goddess, and noted the path by which their return was
+ordained. And after a long while they came to the beach of the surging
+sea by the devising of Hera, passing unharmed through countless tribes
+of the Celts and Ligyans. For round them the goddess poured a dread
+mist day by day as they fared on. And so, sailing through the midmost
+mouth, they reached the Stoechades islands in safety by the aid of the
+sons of Zeus; wherefore altars and sacred rites are established in
+their honour for ever; and not that sea-faring alone did they attend to
+succour; but Zeus granted to them the ships of future sailors too. Then
+leaving the Stoechades they passed on to the island Aethalia, where
+after their toil they wiped away with pebbles sweat in abundance; and
+pebbles like skin in colour are strewn on the beach;[30] and there are
+their quoits and their wondrous armour; and there is the Argoan harbour
+called after them.
+
+And quickly from there they passed through the sea, beholding the
+Tyrrhenian shores of Ausonia; and they came to the famous harbour of
+Aeaea, and from the ship they cast hawsers to the shore near at hand.
+And here they found Circe bathing her head in the salt sea-spray, for
+sorely had she been scared by visions of the night. With blood her
+chambers and all the walls of her palace seemed to be running, and
+flame was devouring all the magic herbs with which she used to bewitch
+strangers whoever came; and she herself with murderous blood quenched
+the glowing flame, drawing it up in her hands; and she ceased from
+deadly fear. Wherefore when morning came she rose, and with sea-spray
+was bathing her hair and her garments. And beasts, not resembling the
+beasts of the wild, nor yet like men in body, but with a medley of
+limbs, went in a throng, as sheep from the fold in multitudes follow
+the shepherd. Such creatures, compacted of various limbs, did each
+herself produce from the primeval slime when she had not yet grown
+solid beneath a rainless sky nor yet had received a drop of moisture
+from the rays of the scorching sun; but time combined these forms and
+marshalled them in their ranks; in such wise these monsters shapeless
+of form followed her. And exceeding wonder seized the heroes, and at
+once, as each gazed on the form and face of Circe, they readily guessed
+that she was the sister of Aeetes.
+
+Now when she had dismissed the fears of her nightly visions,
+straightway she fared backwards, and in her subtlety she bade the
+heroes follow, charming them on with her hand. Thereupon the host
+remained stedfast at the bidding of Aeson’s son, but Jason drew with
+him the Colchian maid. And both followed the selfsame path till they
+reached the hall of Circe, and she in amaze at their coming bade them
+sit on brightly burnished seats. And they, quiet and silent, sped to
+the hearth and sat there, as is the wont of wretched suppliants. Medea
+hid her face in both her hands, but Jason fixed in the ground the
+mighty hilted sword with which he had slain Aeetes’ son; nor did they
+raise their eyes to meet her look. And straightway Circe became aware
+of the doom of a suppliant and the guilt of murder. Wherefore in
+reverence for the ordinance of Zeus, the god of suppliants, who is a
+god of wrath yet mightily aids slayers of men, she began to offer the
+sacrifice with which ruthless suppliants are cleansed from guilt when
+they approach the altar. First, to atone for the murder still
+unexpiated, she held above their heads the young of a sow whose dugs
+yet swelled from the fruit of the womb, and, severing its neck,
+sprinkled their hands with the blood; and again she made propitiation
+with other drink offerings, calling on Zeus the Cleanser, the protector
+of murder-stained suppliants. And all the defilements in a mass her
+attendants bore forth from the palace—the Naiad nymphs who ministered
+all things to her. And within, Circe, standing by the hearth, kept
+burning atonement-cakes without wine, praying the while that she might
+stay from their wrath the terrible Furies, and that Zeus himself might
+be propitious and gentle to them both, whether with hands stained by
+the blood of a stranger or, as kinsfolk, by the blood of a kinsman,
+they should implore his grace.
+
+But when she had wrought all her task, then she raised them up and
+seated them on well polished seats, and herself sat near, face to face
+with them. And at once she asked them clearly of their business and
+their voyaging, and whence they had come to her land and palace, and
+had thus seated themselves as suppliants at her hearth. For in truth
+the hideous remembrance of her dreams entered her mind as she pondered;
+and she longed to hear the voice of the maiden, her kinswoman, as soon
+as she saw that she had raised her eyes from the ground. For all those
+of the race of Helios were plain to discern, since by the far flashing
+of their eyes they shot in front of them a gleam as of gold. So Medea
+told her all she asked—the daughter of Aeetes of the gloomy heart,
+speaking gently in the Colchian tongue, both of the quest and the
+journeyings of the heroes, and of their toils in the swift contests,
+and how she had sinned through the counsels of her much-sorrowing
+sister, and how with the sons of Phrixus she had fled afar from the
+tyrannous horrors of her father; but she shrank from telling of the
+murder of Apsyrtus. Yet she escaped not Circe’s ken; nevertheless, in
+spite of all, she pitied the weeping maiden, and spake thus:
+
+“Poor wretch, an evil and shameful return hast thou planned. Not for
+long, I ween, wilt thou escape the heavy wrath of Aeetes; but soon will
+he go even to the dwellings of Hellas to avenge the blood of his son,
+for intolerable are the deeds thou hast done. But since thou art my
+suppliant and my kinswoman, no further ill shall I devise against thee
+at thy coming; but begone from my halls, companioning the stranger,
+whosoever he be, this unknown one that thou hast taken in thy father’s
+despite; and kneel not to me at my hearth, for never will I approve thy
+counsels and thy shameful flight.”
+
+Thus she spake, and measureless anguish seized the maid; and over her
+eyes she cast her robe and poured forth a lamentation, until the hero
+took her by the hand and led her forth from the hall quivering with
+fear. So they left the home of Circe.
+
+But they were not unmarked by the spouse of Zeus, son of Cronos; but
+Iris told her when she saw them faring from the hall. For Hera had
+bidden her watch what time they should come to the ship; so again she
+urged her and spake:
+
+“Dear Iris, now come, if ever thou hast fulfilled my bidding, hie thee
+away on light pinions, and bid Thetis arise from the sea and come
+hither. For need of her is come upon me. Then go to the sea-beaches
+where the bronze anvils of Hephaestus are smitten by sturdy hammers,
+and tell him to still the blasts of fire until Argo pass by them. Then
+go to Aeolus too, Aeolus who rules the winds, children of the clear
+sky; and to him also tell my purpose so that he may make all winds
+cease under heaven and no breeze may ruffle the sea; yet let the breath
+of the west wind blow until the heroes have reached the Phaeacian isle
+of Alcinous.”
+
+So she spake, and straightway Iris leapt down from Olympus and cleft
+her way, with light wings outspread. And she plunged into the Aegean
+Sea, where is the dwelling of Nereus. And she came to Thetis first and,
+by the promptings of Hera, told her tale and roused her to go to the
+goddess. Next she came to Hephaestus, and quickly made him cease from
+the clang of his iron hammers; and the smoke-grimed bellows were stayed
+from their blast. And thirdly she came to Aeolus, the famous son of
+Hippotas. And when she had given her message to him also and rested her
+swift knees from her course, then Thetis leaving Nereus and her sisters
+had come from the sea to Olympus to the goddess Hera; and the goddess
+made her sit by her side and uttered her word:
+
+“Hearken now, lady Thetis, to what I am eager to tell thee. Thou
+knowest how honoured in my heart is the hero, Aeson’s son, and the
+others that have helped him in the contest, and how I saved them when
+they passed between the Wandering rocks,[31] where roar terrible storms
+of fire and the waves foam round the rugged reefs. And now past the
+mighty rock of Scylla and Charybdis horribly belching, a course awaits
+them. But thee indeed from thy infancy did I tend with my own hands and
+love beyond all others that dwell in the salt sea because thou didst
+refuse to share the couch of Zeus, for all his desire. For to him such
+deeds are ever dear, to embrace either goddesses or mortal women. But
+in reverence for me and with fear in thy heart thou didst shrink from
+his love; and he then swore a mighty oath that thou shouldst never be
+called the bride of an immortal god. Yet he ceased not from spying thee
+against thy will, until reverend Themis declared to him the whole
+truth, how that it was thy fate to bear a son mightier than his sire;
+wherefore he gave thee up, for all his desire, fearing lest another
+should be his match and rule the immortals, and in order that he might
+ever hold his own dominion. But I gave thee the best of the sons of
+earth to be thy husband, that thou mightest find a marriage dear to thy
+heart and bear children; and I summoned to the feast the gods, one and
+all. And with my own hand I raised the bridal torch, in return for the
+kindly honour thou didst pay me. But come, let me tell a tale that
+erreth not. When thy son shall come to the Elysian plain, he whom now
+in the home of Cheiron the Centaur water-nymphs are tending, though he
+still craves thy mother milk, it is fated that he be the husband of
+Medea, Aeetes’ daughter; do thou aid thy daughter-in-law as a
+mother-in-law should, and aid Peleus himself. Why is thy wrath so
+steadfast? He was blinded by folly. For blindness comes even upon the
+gods. Surely at my behest I deem that Hephaestus will cease from
+kindling the fury of his flame, and that Aeolus, son of Hippotas, will
+check his swift rushing winds, all but the steady west wind, until they
+reach the havens of the Phaeacians; do thou devise a return without
+bane. The rocks and the tyrannous waves are my fear, they alone, and
+them thou canst foil with thy sisters’ aid. And let them not fall in
+their helplessness into Charybdis lest she swallow them at one gulp, or
+approach the hideous lair of Scylla, Ausonian Scylla the deadly, whom
+night-wandering Hecate, who is called Crataeis,[32] bare to Phoreys,
+lest swooping upon them with her horrible jaws she destroy the chiefest
+of the heroes. But guide their ship in the course where there shall be
+still a hair’s breadth escape from destruction.”
+
+Thus she spake, and Thetis answered with these words: “If the fury of
+the ravening flame and the stormy winds cease in very deed, surely will
+I promise boldly to save the ship, even though the waves bar the way,
+if only the west wind blows fresh and clear. But it is time to fare on
+a long and measureless path, in quest of my sisters who will aid me,
+and to the spot where the ship’s hawsers are fastened, that at early
+dawn the heroes may take thought to win their home-return.”
+
+She spake, and darting down from the sky fell amid the eddies of the
+dark blue sea; and she called to aid her the rest of the Nereids, her
+own sisters; and they heard her and gathered together; and Thetis
+declared to them Hera’s behests, and quickly sped them all on their way
+to the Ausonian sea. And herself, swifter than the flash of an eye or
+the shafts of the sun, when it rises upwards from a far-distant land,
+hastened swiftly through the sea, until she reached the Aeaean beach of
+the Tyrrhenian mainland. And the heroes she found by the ship taking
+their pastime with quoits and shooting of arrows; and she drew near and
+just touched the hand of Aeaeus’ son Peleus, for he was her husband;
+nor could anyone see her clearly, but she appeared to his eyes alone,
+and thus addressed him:
+
+“No longer now must ye stay sitting on the Tyrrhenian beach, but at
+dawn loosen the hawsers of your swift ship, in obedience to Hera, your
+helper. For at her behest the maiden daughters of Nereus have met
+together to draw your ship through the midst of the rocks which are
+called Planctae, [33] for that is your destined path. But do thou show
+my person to no one, when thou seest us come to meet time, but keep it
+secret in thy mind, lest thou anger me still more than thou didst anger
+me before so recklessly.”
+
+She spake, and vanished into the depths of the sea; but sharp pain
+smote Peleus, for never before had he seen her come, since first she
+left her bridal chamber and bed in anger, on account of noble Achilles,
+then a babe. For she ever encompassed the child’s mortal flesh in the
+night with the flame of fire; and day by day she anointed with ambrosia
+his tender frame, so that he might become immortal and that she might
+keep off from his body loathsome old age. But Peleus leapt up from his
+bed and saw his dear son gasping in the flame; and at the sight he
+uttered a terrible cry, fool that he was; and she heard it, and
+catching up the child threw him screaming to the ground, and herself
+like a breath of wind passed swiftly from the hall as a dream and leapt
+into the sea, exceeding wroth, and thereafter returned not again.
+Wherefore blank amazement fettered his soul; nevertheless he declared
+to his comrades all the bidding of Thetis. And they broke off in the
+midst and hurriedly ceased their contests, and prepared their meal and
+earth-strewn beds, whereon after supper they slept through the night as
+aforetime.
+
+Now when dawn the light-bringer was touching the edge of heaven, then
+at the coming of the swift west wind they went to their thwarts from
+the land; and gladly did they draw up the anchors from the deep and
+made the tackling ready in due order; and above spread the sail,
+stretching it taut with the sheets from the yard-arm. And a fresh
+breeze wafted the ship on. And soon they saw a fair island,
+Anthemoessa, where the clear-voiced Sirens, daughters of Achelous, used
+to beguile with their sweet songs whoever cast anchor there, and then
+destroy him. Them lovely Terpsichore, one of the Muses, bare, united
+with Achelous; and once they tended Demeter’s noble daughter still
+unwed, and sang to her in chorus; and at that time they were fashioned
+in part like birds and in part like maidens to behold. And ever on the
+watch from their place of prospect with its fair haven, often from many
+had they taken away their sweet return, consuming them with wasting
+desire; and suddenly to the heroes, too, they sent forth from their
+lips a lily-like voice. And they were already about to cast from the
+ship the hawsers to the shore, had not Thracian Orpheus, son of
+Oeagrus, stringing in his hands his Bistonian lyre, rung forth the
+hasty snatch of a rippling melody so that their ears might be filled
+with the sound of his twanging; and the lyre overcame the maidens’
+voice. And the west wind and the sounding wave rushing astern bore the
+ship on; and the Sirens kept uttering their ceaseless song. But even so
+the goodly son of Teleon alone of the comrades leapt before them all
+from the polished bench into the sea, even Butes, his soul melted by
+the clear ringing voice of the Sirens; and he swam through the dark
+surge to mount the beach, poor wretch. Quickly would they have robbed
+him of his return then and there, but the goddess that rules Eryx,
+Cypris, in pity snatched him away, while yet in the eddies, and
+graciously meeting him saved him to dwell on the Lilybean height. And
+the heroes, seized by anguish, left the Sirens, but other perils still
+worse, destructive to ships, awaited them in the meeting-place of the
+seas.
+
+For on one side appeared the smooth rock of Scylla; on the other
+Charybdis ceaselessly spouted and roared; in another part the Wandering
+rocks were booming beneath the mighty surge, where before the burning
+flame spurted forth from the top of the crags, above the rock glowing
+with fire, and the air was misty with smoke, nor could you have seen
+the sun’s light. Then, though Hephaestus had ceased from his toils, the
+sea was still sending up a warm vapour. Hereupon on this side and on
+that the daughters of Nereus met them; and behind, lady Thetis set her
+hand to the rudder-blade, to guide them amid the Wandering rocks. And
+as when in fair weather herds of dolphins come up from the depths and
+sport in circles round a ship as it speeds along, now seen in front,
+now behind, now again at the side and delight comes to the sailors; so
+the Nereids darted upward and circled in their ranks round the ship
+Argo, while Thetis guided its course. And when they were about to touch
+the Wandering rocks, straightway they raised the edge of their garments
+over their snow-white knees, and aloft, on the very rocks and where the
+waves broke, they hurried along on this side and on that apart from one
+another. And the ship was raised aloft as the current smote her, and
+all around the furious wave mounting up broke over the rocks, which at
+one time touched the sky like towering crags, at another, down in the
+depths, were fixed fast at the bottom of the sea and the fierce waves
+poured over them in floods. And the Nereids, even as maidens near some
+sandy beach roll their garments up to their waists out of their way and
+sport with a shapely-rounded ball; then they catch it one from another
+and send it high into the air; and it never touches the ground; so they
+in turn one from another sent the ship through the air over the waves,
+as it sped on ever away from the rocks; and round them the water
+spouted and foamed. And lord Hephaestus himself standing on the summit
+of a smooth rock and resting his massy shoulder on the handle of his
+hammer, beheld them, and the spouse of Zeus beheld them as she stood
+above the gleaming heaven; and she threw her arms round Athena, such
+fear seized her as she gazed. And as long as the space of a day is
+lengthened out in springtime, so long a time did they toil, heaving the
+ship between the loud-echoing rocks; then again the heroes caught the
+wind and sped onward; and swiftly they passed the mead of Thrinacia,
+where the kine of Helios fed. There the nymphs, like sea-mews, plunged
+beneath the depths, when they had fulfilled the behests of the spouse
+of Zeus. And at the same time the bleating of sheep came to the heroes
+through the mist and the lowing of kine, near at hand, smote their
+ears. And over the dewy leas Phaethusa, the youngest of the daughters
+of Helios, tended the sheep, bearing in her hand a silver crook; while
+Lampetia, herding the kine, wielded a staff of glowing orichalcum[34]
+as she followed. These kine the heroes saw feeding by the river’s
+stream, over the plain and the water-meadow; not one of them was dark
+in hue but all were white as milk and glorying in their horns of gold.
+So they passed them by in the day-time, and when night came on they
+were cleaving a great sea-gulf, rejoicing, until again early rising
+dawn threw light upon their course.
+
+Fronting the Ionian gulf there lies an island in the Ceraunian sea,
+rich in soil, with a harbour on both sides, beneath which lies the
+sickle, as legend saith—grant me grace, O Muses, not willingly do I
+tell this tale of olden days—wherewith Cronos pitilessly mutilated his
+father; but others call it the reaping-hook of Demeter, goddess of the
+nether world. For Demeter once dwelt in that island, and taught the
+Titans to reap the ears of corn, all for the love of Macris. Whence it
+is called Drepane,[35] the sacred nurse of the Phaeacians; and thus the
+Phaeacians themselves are by birth of the blood of Uranus. To them came
+Argo, held fast by many toils, borne by the breezes from the Thrinacian
+sea; and Alcinous and his people with kindly sacrifice gladly welcomed
+their coming; and over them all the city made merry; thou wouldst say
+they were rejoicing over their own sons. And the heroes themselves
+strode in gladness through the throng, even as though they had set foot
+in the heart of Haemonia; but soon were they to arm and raise the
+battle-cry; so near to them appeared a boundless host of Colchians, who
+had passed through the mouth of Pontus and between the Cyanean rocks in
+search of the chieftains. They desired forthwith to carry off Medea to
+her father’s house apart from the rest, or else they threatened with
+fierce cruelty to raise the dread war-cry both then and thereafter on
+the coming of Aeetes. But lordly Alcinous checked them amid their
+eagerness for war. For he longed to allay the lawless strife between
+both sides without the clash of battle. And the maiden in deadly fear
+often implored the comrades of Aeson’s son, and often with her hands
+touched the knees of Arete, the bride of Aleinous:
+
+“I beseech thee, O queen, be gracious and deliver me not to the
+Colchians to be borne to my father, if thou thyself too art one of the
+race of mortals, whose heart rushes swiftly to ruin from light
+transgressions. For my firm sense forsook me—it was not for wantonness.
+Be witness the sacred light of Helios, be witness the rites of the
+maiden that wanders by night, daughter of Perses. Not willingly did I
+haste from my home with men of an alien race; but a horrible fear
+wrought on me to bethink me of flight when I sinned; other device was
+there none. Still my maiden’s girdle remains, as in the halls of my
+father, unstained, untouched. Pity me, lady, and turn thy lord to
+mercy; and may the immortals grant thee a perfect life, and joy, and
+children, and the glory of a city unravaged!”
+
+Thus did she implore Arete, shedding tears, and thus each of the
+chieftains in turn:
+
+“On your account, ye men of peerless might, and on account of my toils
+in your ventures am I sorely afflicted; even I, by whose help ye yoked
+the bulls, and reaped the deadly harvest of the earthborn men; even I,
+through whom on your homeward path ye shall bear to Haemonia the golden
+fleece. Lo, here am I, who have lost my country and my parents, who
+have lost my home and all the delights of life; to you have I restored
+your country and your homes; with eyes of gladness ye will see again
+your parents; but from me a heavy-handed god has raft all joy; and with
+strangers I wander, an accursed thing. Fear your covenant and your
+oaths, fear the Fury that avenges suppliants and the retribution of
+heaven, if I fall into Aeetes’ hands and am slain with grievous
+outrage. To no shrines, no tower of defence, no other refuge do I pay
+heed, but only to you. Hard and pitiless in your cruelty! No reverence
+have ye for me in your heart though ye see me helpless, stretching my
+hands towards the knees of a stranger queen; yet, when ye longed to
+seize the fleece, ye would have met all the Colchians face to thee and
+haughty Aeetes himself; but now ye have forgotten your courage, now
+that they are all alone and cut off.”
+
+Thus she spake, beseeching; and to whomsoever she bowed in prayer, that
+man tried to give her heart and to check her anguish. And in their
+hands they shook their sharp pointed spears, and drew the swords from
+their sheaths; and they swore they would not hold back from giving
+succour, if she should meet with an unrighteous judgement. And the host
+were all wearied and Night came on them, Night that puts to rest the
+works of men, and lulled all the earth to sleep; but to the maid no
+sleep brought rest, but in her bosom her heart was wrung with anguish.
+Even as when a toiling woman turns her spindle through the night, and
+round her moan her orphan children, for she is a widow, and down her
+cheeks fall the tears, as she bethinks her how dreary a lot hath seized
+her; so Medea’s cheeks were wet; and her heart within her was in agony,
+pierced with sharp pain.
+
+Now within the palace in the city, as aforetime, lay lordly Alcinous
+and Arete, the revered wife of Alcinous, and on their couch through the
+night they were devising plans about the maiden; and him, as her wedded
+husband, the wife addressed with loving words:
+
+“Yea, my friend, come, save the woe-stricken maid from the Colchians
+and show grace to the Minyae. Argos is near our isle and the men of
+Haemonia; but Aeetes dwells not near, nor do we know of Aeetes one
+whit: we hear but his name; but this maiden of dread suffering hath
+broken my heart by her prayers. O king, give her not up to the
+Colchians to be borne back to her father’s home. She was distraught
+when first she gave him the drugs to charm the oxen; and next, to cure
+one ill by another, as in our sinning we do often, she fled from her
+haughty sire’s heavy wrath. But Jason, as I hear, is bound to her by
+mighty oaths that he will make her his wedded wife within his halls.
+Wherefore, my friend, make not, of thy will, Aeson’s son to be
+forsworn, nor let the father, if thou canst help, work with angry heart
+some intolerable mischief on his child. For fathers are all too jealous
+against their children; what wrong did Nycteus devise against Antiope,
+fair of face! What woes did Danae endure on the wide sea through her
+sire’s mad rage! Of late, and not far away, Echetus in wanton cruelty
+thrust spikes of bronze in his daughter’s eyes; and by a grievous fate
+is she wasting away, grinding grains of bronze in a dungeon’s gloom.”
+
+Thus she spake, beseeching; and by his wife’s words his heart was
+softened, and thus he spake:
+
+“Arete, with arms I could drive forth the Colchians, showing grace to
+the heroes for the maiden’s sake. But I fear to set at nought the
+righteous judgment of Zeus. Nor is it well to take no thought of
+Aeetes, as thou sayest: for none is more lordly than Aeetes. And, if he
+willed, he might bring war upon Hellas, though he dwell afar. Wherefore
+it is right for me to deliver the judgement that in all men’s eyes
+shall be best; and I will not hide it from thee. If she be yet a maid I
+decree that they carry her back to her father; but if she shares a
+husband’s bed, I will not separate her from her lord; nor, if she bear
+a child beneath her breast, will I give it up to an enemy.”
+
+Thus he spake, and at once sleep laid him to rest. And she stored up in
+her heart the word of wisdom, and straightway rose from her couch and
+went through the palace; and her handmaids came hasting together,
+eagerly tending their mistress. But quietly she summoned her herald and
+addressed him, in her prudence urging Aeson’s son to wed the maiden,
+and not to implore Alcinous; for he himself, she said, will decree to
+the Colchians that if she is still a maid he will deliver her up to be
+borne to her father’s house, but that if she shares a husband’s bed he
+will not sever her from wedded love.
+
+Thus she spake, and quickly from the hall his feet bore him, that he
+might declare to Jason the fair-omened speech of Arete and the counsel
+of godfearing Alcinous. And he found the heroes watching in full armour
+in the haven of Hyllus, near the city; and out he spake the whole
+message; and each hero’s heart rejoiced; for the word that he spake was
+welcome.
+
+And straightway they mingled a bowl to the blessed ones, as is right,
+and reverently led sheep to the altar, and for that very night prepared
+for the maiden the bridal couch in the sacred cave, where once dwelt
+Macris, the daughter of Aristaeus, lord of honey, who discovered the
+works of bees and the fatness of the olive, the fruit of labour. She it
+was that first received in her bosom the Nysean son of Zeus in Abantian
+Euboea, and with honey moistened his parched lips when Hermes bore him
+out of the flame. And Hera beheld it, and in wrath drove her from the
+whole island. And she accordingly came to dwell far off, in the sacred
+cave of the Phaeacians, and granted boundless wealth to the
+inhabitants. There at that time did they spread a mighty couch; and
+thereon they laid the glittering fleece of gold, that so the marriage
+might be made honoured and the theme of song. And for them nymphs
+gathered flowers of varied hue and bore them thither in their white
+bosoms; and a splendour as of flame played round them all, such a light
+gleamed from the golden tufts. And in their eyes it kindled a sweet
+longing; yet for all her desire, awe withheld each one from laying her
+hand thereon. Some were called daughters of the river Aegaeus; others
+dwelt round the crests of the Meliteian mount; and others were woodland
+nymphs from the plains. For Hera herself, the spouse of Zeus, had sent
+them to do honour to Jason. That cave is to this day called the sacred
+cave of Medea, where they spread the fine and fragrant linen and
+brought these two together. And the heroes in their hands wielded their
+spears for war, lest first a host of foes should burst upon them for
+battle unawares, and, their heads enwreathed with leafy sprays, all in
+harmony, while Orpheus’ harp rang clear, sang the marriage song at the
+entrance to the bridal chamber. Yet not in the house of Alcinous was
+the hero, Aeson’s son, minded to complete his marriage, but in his
+father’s hall when he had returned home to Ioleus; and such was the
+mind of Medea herself; but necessity led them to wed at this time. For
+never in truth do we tribes of woe-stricken mortals tread the path of
+delight with sure foot; but still some bitter affliction keeps pace
+with our joy. Wherefore they too, though their souls were melted with
+sweet love, were held by fear, whether the sentence of Alcinous would
+be fulfilled.
+
+Now dawn returning with her beams divine scattered the gloomy night
+through the sky; and the island beaches laughed out and the paths over
+the plains far off, drenched with dew, and there was a din in the
+streets; the people were astir throughout the city, and far away the
+Colchians were astir at the bounds of the isle of Macris. And
+straightway to them went Alcinous, by reason of his covenant, to
+declare his purpose concerning the maiden, and in his hand he held a
+golden staff, his staff of justice, whereby the people had righteous
+judgments meted out to them throughout the city. And with him in order
+due and arrayed in their harness of war went marching, band by band,
+the chiefs of the Phaeacians. And from the towers came forth the women
+in crowds to gaze upon the heroes; and the country folk came to meet
+them when they heard the news, for Hera had sent forth a true report.
+And one led the chosen ram of his flock, and another a heifer that had
+never toiled; and others set hard by jars of wine for mixing; and the
+smoke of sacrifice leapt up far away. And women bore fine linen, the
+fruit of much toil, as women will, and gifts of gold and varied
+ornaments as well, such as are brought to newly-wedded brides; and they
+marvelled when they saw the shapely forms and beauty of the gallant
+heroes, and among them the son of Oeagrus, oft beating the ground with
+gleaming sandal, to the time of his loud-ringing lyre and song. And all
+the nymphs together, whenever he recalled the marriage, uplifted the
+lovely bridal-chant; and at times again they sang alone as they circled
+in the dance, Hera, in thy honour; for it was thou that didst put it
+into the heart of Arete to proclaim the wise word of Alcinous. And as
+soon as he had uttered the decree of his righteous judgement, and the
+completion of the marriage had been proclaimed, he took care that thus
+it should abide fixed; and no deadly fear touched him nor Aeetes’
+grievous wrath, but he kept his judgement fast bound by unbroken oaths.
+So when the Colchians learnt that they were beseeching in vain and he
+bade them either observe his judgements or hold their ships away from
+his harbours and land, then they began to dread the threats of their
+own king and besought Alcinous to receive them as comrades; and there
+in the island long time they dwelt with the Phaeacians, until in the
+course of years, the Bacchiadae, a race sprung from Ephyra,[36] settled
+among them; and the Colchians passed to an island opposite; and thence
+they were destined to reach the Ceraunian hills of the Abantes, and the
+Nestaeans and Oricum; but all this was fulfilled after long ages had
+passed. And still the altars which Medea built on the spot sacred to
+Apollo, god of shepherds, receive yearly sacrifices in honour of the
+Fates and the Nymphs. And when the Minyae departed many gifts of
+friendship did Alcinous bestow, and many Arete; moreover she gave Medea
+twelve Phaeacian handmaids from the palace, to bear her company. And on
+the seventh day they left Drepane; and at dawn came a fresh breeze from
+Zeus. And onward they sped borne along by the wind’s breath. Howbeit
+not yet was it ordained for the heroes to set foot on Achaea, until
+they had toiled even in the furthest bounds of Libya.
+
+Now had they left behind the gulf named after the Ambracians, now with
+sails wide spread the land of the Curetes, and next in order the narrow
+islands with the Echinades, and the land of Pelops was just descried;
+even then a baleful blast of the north wind seized them in mid-course
+and swept them towards the Libyan sea nine nights and as many days,
+until they came far within Syrtis, wherefrom is no return for ships,
+when they are once forced into that gulf. For on every hand are shoals,
+on every hand masses of seaweed from the depths; and over them the
+light foam of the wave washes without noise; and there is a stretch of
+sand to the dim horizon; and there moveth nothing that creeps or flies.
+Here accordingly the flood-tide—for this tide often retreats from the
+land and bursts back again over the beach coming on with a rush and
+roar—thrust them suddenly on to the innermost shore, and but little of
+the keel was left in the water. And they leapt forth from the ship, and
+sorrow seized them when they gazed on the mist and the levels of vast
+land stretching far like a mist and continuous into the distance; no
+spot for water, no path, no steading of herdsmen did they descry afar
+off, but all the scene was possessed by a dead calm. And thus did one
+hero, vexed in spirit, ask another:
+
+“What land is this? Whither has the tempest hurled us? Would that,
+reckless of deadly fear, we had dared to rush on by that same path
+between the clashing rocks! Better were it to have overleapt the will
+of Zeus and perished in venturing some mighty deed. But now what should
+we do, held back by the winds to stay here, if ever so short a time?
+How desolate looms before us the edge of the limitless land!”
+
+Thus one spake; and among them Ancaeus the helmsman, in despair at
+their evil case, spoke with grieving heart: “Verily we are undone by a
+terrible doom; there is no escape from ruin; we must suffer the
+cruellest woes, having fallen on this desolation, even though breezes
+should blow from the land; for, as I gaze far around, on every side do
+I behold a sea of shoals, and masses of water, fretted line upon line,
+run over the hoary sand. And miserably long ago would our sacred ship
+have been shattered far from the shore; but the tide itself bore her
+high on to the land from the deep sea. But now the tide rushes back to
+the sea, and only the foam, whereon no ship can sail, rolls round us,
+just covering the land. Wherefore I deem that all hope of our voyage
+and of our return is cut off. Let someone else show his skill; let him
+sit at the helm the man that is eager for our deliverance. But Zeus has
+no will to fulfil our day of return after all our toils.”
+
+Thus he spake with tears, and all of them that had knowledge of ships
+agreed thereto; but the hearts of all grew numb, and pallor overspread
+their cheeks. And as, like lifeless spectres, men roam through a city
+awaiting the issue of war or of pestilence, or some mighty storm which
+overwhelms the countless labours of oxen, when the images of their own
+accord sweat and run down with blood, and bellowings are heard in
+temples, or when at mid-day the sun draws on night from heaven, and the
+stars shine clear through the mist; so at that time along the endless
+strand the chieftains wandered, groping their way. Then straightway
+dark evening came upon them; and piteously did they embrace each other
+and say farewell with tears, that they might, each one apart from his
+fellow, fall on the sand and die. And this way and that they went
+further to choose a resting-place; and they wrapped their heads in
+their cloaks and, fasting and unfed, lay down all that night and the
+day, awaiting a piteous death. But apart the maidens huddled together
+lamented beside the daughter of Aeetes. And as when, forsaken by their
+mother, unfledged birds that have fallen from a cleft in the rock chirp
+shrilly; or when by the banks of fair-flowing Pactolus, swans raise
+their song, and all around the dewy meadow echoes and the river’s fair
+stream; so these maidens, laying in the dust their golden hair, all
+through the night wailed their piteous lament. And there all would have
+parted from life without a name and unknown to mortal men, those
+bravest of heroes, with their task unfulfilled; but as they pined in
+despair, the heroine-nymphs, warders of Libya, had pity on them, they
+who once found Athena, what time she leapt in gleaming armour from her
+father’s head, and bathed her by Trito’s waters. It was noon-tide and
+the fiercest rays of the sun were scorching Libya; they stood near
+Aeson’s son, and lightly drew the cloak from his head. And the hero
+cast down his eyes and looked aside, in reverence for the goddesses,
+and as he lay bewildered all alone they addressed him openly with
+gentle words:
+
+“Ill-starred one, why art thou so smitten with despair? We know how ye
+went in quest of the golden fleece; we know each toil of yours, all the
+mighty deeds ye wrought in your wanderings over land and sea. We are
+the solitary ones, goddesses of the land, speaking with human voice,
+the heroines, Libya’s warders and daughters. Up then; be not thus
+afflicted in thy misery, and rouse thy comrades. And when Amphitrite
+has straightway loosed Poseidon’s swift-wheeled car, then do ye pay to
+your mother a recompense for all her travail when she bare you so long
+in her womb; and so ye may return to the divine land of Achaea.”
+
+Thus they spake, and with the voice vanished at once, where they stood.
+But Jason sat upon the earth as he gazed around, and thus cried:
+
+“Be gracious, noble goddesses of the desert, yet the saying about our
+return I understand not clearly. Surely I will gather together my
+comrades and tell them, if haply we can find some token of our escape,
+for the counsel of many is better.”
+
+He spake, and leapt to his feet, and shouted afar to his comrades, all
+squalid with dust, like a lion when he roars through the woodland
+seeking his mate; and far off in the mountains the glens tremble at the
+thunder of his voice; and the oxen of the field and the herdsmen
+shudder with fear; yet to them Jason’s voice was no whit terrible the
+voice of a comrade calling to his friends. And with looks downcast they
+gathered near, and hard by where the ship lay he made them sit down in
+their grief and the women with them, and addressed them and told them
+everything:
+
+“Listen, friends; as I lay in my grief, three goddesses girded with
+goat-skins from the neck downwards round the back and waist, like
+maidens, stood over my head nigh at hand; and they uncovered me,
+drawing my cloak away with light hand, and they bade me rise up myself
+and go and rouse you, and pay to our mother a bounteous recompense for
+all her travail when she bare us so long in her womb, when Amphitrite
+shall have loosed Poseidon’s swift-wheeled car. But I cannot fully
+understand concerning this divine message. They said indeed that they
+were heroines, Libya’s warders and daughters; and all the toils that we
+endured aforetime by land and sea, all these they declared that they
+knew full well. Then I saw them no more in their place, but a mist or
+cloud came between and hid them from my sight.”
+
+Thus he spake, and all marvelled as they heard. Then was wrought for
+the Minyae the strangest of portents. From the sea to the land leapt
+forth a monstrous horse, of vast size, with golden mane tossing round
+his neck; and quickly from his limbs he shook off abundant spray and
+started on his course, with feet like the wind. And at once Peleus
+rejoiced and spake among the throng of his comrades:
+
+“I deem that Poseidon’s ear has even now been loosed by the hands of
+his dear wife, and I divine that our mother is none else than our ship
+herself; for surely she bare us in her womb and groans unceasingly with
+grievous travailing. But with unshaken strength and untiring shoulders
+will we lift her up and bear her within this country of sandy wastes,
+where yon swift-footed steed has sped before. For he will not plunge
+beneath the earth; and his hoof-prints, I ween, will point us to some
+bay above the sea.”
+
+Thus he spake, and the fit counsel pleased all. This is the tale the
+Muses told; and I sing obedient to the Pierides, and this report have I
+heard most truly; that ye, O mightiest far of the sons of kings, by
+your might and your valour over the desert sands of Libya raised high
+aloft on your shoulders the ship and all that ye brought therein, and
+bare her twelve days and nights alike. Yet who could tell the pain and
+grief which they endured in that toil? Surely they were of the blood of
+the immortals, such a task did they take on them, constrained by
+necessity. How forward and how far they bore her gladly to the waters
+of the Tritonian lake! How they strode in and set her down from their
+stalwart shoulders!
+
+Then, like raging hounds, they rushed to search for a spring; for
+besides their suffering and anguish, a parching thirst lay upon them,
+and not in vain did they wander; but they came to the sacred plain
+where Ladon, the serpent of the land, till yesterday kept watch over
+the golden apples in the garden of Atlas; and all around the nymphs,
+the Hesperides, were busied, chanting their lovely song. But at that
+time, stricken by Heracles, he lay fallen by the trunk of the
+apple-tree; only the tip of his tail was still writhing; but from his
+head down his dark spine he lay lifeless; and where the arrows had left
+in his blood the bitter gall of the Lernaean hydra, flies withered and
+died over the festering wounds. And close at hand the Hesperides, their
+white arms flung over their golden heads, lamented shrilly; and the
+heroes drew near suddenly; but the maidens, at their quick approach, at
+once became dust and earth where they stood. Orpheus marked the divine
+portent, and for his comrades addressed them in prayer: “O divine ones,
+fair and kind, be gracious, O queens, whether ye be numbered among the
+heavenly goddesses, or those beneath the earth, or be called the
+Solitary nymphs; come, O nymphs, sacred race of Oceanus, appear
+manifest to our longing eyes and show us some spring of water from the
+rock or some sacred flow gushing from the earth, goddesses, wherewith
+we may quench the thirst that burns us unceasingly. And if ever again
+we return in our voyaging to the Achaean land, then to you among the
+first of goddesses with willing hearts will we bring countless gifts,
+libations and banquets.”
+
+So he spake, beseeching them with plaintive voice; and they from their
+station near pitied their pain; and lo! First of all they caused grass
+to spring from the earth; and above the grass rose up tall shoots, and
+then flourishing saplings grew standing upright far above the earth.
+Hespere became a poplar and Eretheis an elm, and Aegle a willow’s
+sacred trunk. And forth from these trees their forms looked out, as
+clear as they were before, a marvel exceeding great, and Aegle spake
+with gentle words answering their longing looks:
+
+“Surely there has come hither a mighty succour to your toils, that most
+accursed man, who robbed our guardian serpent of life and plucked the
+golden apples of the goddesses and is gone; and has left bitter grief
+for us. For yesterday came a man most fell in wanton violence, most
+grim in form; and his eyes flashed beneath his scowling brow; a
+ruthless wretch; and he was clad in the skin of a monstrous lion of raw
+hide, untanned; and he bare a sturdy bow of olive, and a bow, wherewith
+he shot and killed this monster here. So he too came, as one traversing
+the land on foot, parched with thirst; and he rushed wildly through
+this spot, searching for water, but nowhere was he like to see it. Now
+here stood a rock near the Tritonian lake; and of his own device, or by
+the prompting of some god, he smote it below with his foot; and the
+water gushed out in full flow. And he, leaning both his hands and chest
+upon the ground, drank a huge draught from the rifted rock, until,
+stooping like a beast of the field, he had satisfied his mighty maw.”
+
+Thus she spake; and they gladly with joyful steps ran to the spot where
+Aegle had pointed out to them the spring, until they reached it. And as
+when earth-burrowing ants gather in swarms round a narrow cleft, or
+when flies lighting upon a tiny drop of sweet honey cluster round with
+insatiate eagerness; so at that time, huddled together, the Minyae
+thronged about the spring from the rock. And thus with wet lips one
+cried to another in his delight:
+
+“Strange! In very truth Heracles, though far away, has saved his
+comrades, fordone with thirst. Would that we might find him on his way
+as we pass through the mainland!”
+
+So they spake, and those who were ready for this work answered, and
+they separated this way and that, each starting to search. For by the
+night winds the footsteps had been effaced where the sand was stirred.
+The two sons of Boreas started up, trusting in their wings; and
+Euphemus, relying on his swift feet, and Lynceus to cast far his
+piercing eyes; and with them darted off Canthus, the fifth. He was
+urged on by the doom of the gods and his own courage, that he might
+learn for certain from Heracles where he had left Polyphemus, son of
+Eilatus; for he was minded to question him on every point concerning
+his comrade. But that hero had founded a glorious city among the
+Mysians, and, yearning for his home-return, had passed far over the
+mainland in search of Argo; and in time he reached the land of the
+Chalybes, who dwell near the sea; there it was that his fate subdued
+him. And to him a monument stands under a tall poplar, just facing the
+sea. But that day Lynceus thought he saw Heracles all alone, far off,
+over measureless land, as a man at the month’s beginning sees, or
+thinks he sees, the moon through a bank of cloud. And he returned and
+told his comrades that no other searcher would find Heracles on his
+way, and they also came back, and swift-footed Euphemus and the twin
+sons of Thracian Boreas, after a vain toil.
+
+But thee, Canthus, the fates of death seized in Libya. On pasturing
+flocks didst thou light; and there followed a shepherd who, in defence
+of his own sheep, while thou weft leading them off[37] to thy comrades
+in their need, slew thee by the cast of a stone; for he was no
+weakling, Caphaurus, the grandson of Lycoreian Phoebus and the chaste
+maiden Acacallis, whom once Minos drove from home to dwell in Libya,
+his own daughter, when she was bearing the gods’ heavy load; and she
+bare to Phoebus a glorious son, whom they call Amphithemis and Garamas.
+And Amphithemis wedded a Tritonian nymph; and she bare to him Nasamon
+and strong Caphaurus, who on that day in defending his sheep slew
+Canthus. But he escaped not the chieftains’ avenging hands, when they
+learned the deed he had done. And the Minyae, when they knew it,
+afterwards took up the corpse and buried it in the earth, mourning; and
+the sheep they took with them.
+
+Thereupon on the same day a pitiless fate seized Mopsus too, son of
+Ampycus; and he escaped not a bitter doom by his prophesying; for there
+is no averting of death. Now there lay in the sand, avoiding the midday
+heat, a dread serpent, too sluggish of his own will to strike at an
+unwilling foe, nor yet would he dart full face at one that would shrink
+back. But into whatever of all living beings that life-giving earth
+sustains that serpent once injects his black venom, his path to Hades
+becomes not so much as a cubit’s length, not even if Paeeon, if it is
+right for me to say this openly, should tend him, when its teeth have
+only grazed the skin. For when over Libya flew godlike Perseus
+Eurymedon for by that name his mother called him—bearing to the king
+the Gorgon’s head newly severed, all the drops of dark blood that fell
+to the earth, produced a brood of those serpents. Now Mopsus stepped on
+the end of its spine, setting thereon the sole of his left foot; and it
+writhed round in pain and bit and tore the flesh between the shin and
+the muscles. And Medea and her handmaids fled in terror; but Canthus
+bravely felt the bleeding wound; for no excessive pain harassed him.
+Poor wretch! Already a numbness that loosed his limbs was stealing
+beneath his skin, and a thick mist was spreading over his eyes.
+Straightway his heavy limbs sank helplessly to the ground and he grew
+cold; and his comrades and the hero, Aeson’s son, gathered round,
+marvelling at the close-coming doom. Nor yet though dead might he lie
+beneath the sun even for a little space. For at once the poison began
+to rot his flesh within, and the hair decayed and fell from the skin.
+And quickly and in haste they dug a deep grave with mattocks of bronze;
+and they tore their hair, the heroes and the maidens, bewailing the
+dead man’s piteous suffering; and when he had received due burial
+rites, thrice they marched round the tomb in full armour, and heaped
+above him a mound of earth.
+
+But when they had gone aboard, as the south wind blew over the sea, and
+they were searching for a passage to go forth from the Tritonian lake,
+for long they had no device, but all the day were borne on aimlessly.
+And as a serpent goes writhing along his crooked path when the sun’s
+fiercest rays scorch him; and with a hiss he turns his head to this
+side and that, and in his fury his eyes glow like sparks of fire, until
+he creeps to his lair through a cleft in the rock; so Argo seeking an
+outlet from the lake, a fairway for ships, wandered for a long time.
+Then straightway Orpheus bade them bring forth from the ship Apollo’s
+massy tripod and offer it to the gods of the land as propitiation for
+their return. So they went forth and set Apollo’s gift on the shore;
+then before them stood, in the form of a youth, farswaying Triton, and
+he lifted a clod from the earth and offered it as a stranger’s gift,
+and thus spake:
+
+“Take it, friends, for no stranger’s gift of great worth have I here by
+me now to place in the hands of those who beseech me. But if ye are
+searching for a passage through this sea, as often is the need of men
+passing through a strange land, I will declare it. For my sire Poseidon
+has made me to be well versed in this sea. And I rule the shore if
+haply in your distant land you have ever heard of Eurypylus, born in
+Libya, the home of wild beasts.”
+
+Thus he spake, and readily Euphemus held out his hands towards the
+clod, and thus addressed him in reply:
+
+“If haply, hero, thou knowest aught of Apis[38] and the sea of Minos,
+tell us truly, who ask it of you. For not of our will have we come
+hither, but by the stress of heavy storms have we touched the borders
+of this land, and have borne our ship aloft on our shoulders to the
+waters of this lake over the mainland, grievously burdened; and we know
+not where a passage shows itself for our course to the land of Pelops.”
+
+So he spake; and Triton stretched out his hand and showed afar the sea
+and the lake’s deep mouth, and then addressed them: “That is the outlet
+to the sea, where the deep water lies unmoved and dark; on each side
+roll white breakers with shining crests; and the way between for your
+passage out is narrow. And that sea stretches away in mist to the
+divine land of Pelops beyond Crete; but hold to the right, when ye have
+entered the swell of the sea from the lake, and steer your course
+hugging the land, as long as it trends to the north; but when the coast
+bends, falling away in the other direction, then your course is safely
+laid for you if ye go straight forward from the projecting cape. But go
+in joy, and as for labour let there be no grieving that limbs in
+youthful vigour should still toil.”
+
+He spake with kindly counsel; and they at once went aboard, intent to
+come forth from the lake by the use of oars. And eagerly they sped on;
+meanwhile Triton took up the mighty tripod, and they saw him enter the
+lake; but thereafter did no one mark how he vanished so near them along
+with the tripod. But their hearts were cheered, for that one of the
+blessed had met them in friendly guise. And they bade Aeson’s son offer
+to him the choicest of the sheep and when he had slain it chant the
+hymn of praise. And straightway he chose in haste and raising the
+victim slew it over the stern, and prayed with these words:
+
+“Thou god, who hast manifested thyself on the borders of this land,
+whether the daughters born of the sea call thee Triton, the great
+sea-marvel, or Phoreys, or Nereus, be gracious, and grant the return
+home dear to our hearts.”
+
+He spake, and cut the victim’s throat over the water and cast it from
+the stern. And the god rose up from the depths in form such as he
+really was. And as when a man trains a swift steed for the broad
+race-course, and runs along, grasping the bushy mane, while the steed
+follows obeying his master, and rears his neck aloft in his pride, and
+the gleaming bit rings loud as he champs it in his jaws from side to
+side; so the god, seizing hollow Argo’s keel, guided her onward to the
+sea. And his body, from the crown of his head, round his back and waist
+as far as the belly, was wondrously like that of the blessed ones in
+form; but below his sides the tail of a sea monster lengthened far,
+forking to this side and that; and he smote the surface of the waves
+with the spines, which below parted into curving fins, like the horns
+of the new moon. And he guided Argo on until he sped her into the sea
+on her course; and quickly he plunged into the vast abyss; and the
+heroes shouted when they gazed with their eyes on that dread portent.
+There is the harbour of Argo and there are the signs of her stay, and
+altars to Poseidon and Triton; for during that day they tarried. But at
+dawn with sails outspread they sped on before the breath of the west
+wind, keeping the desert land on their right. And on the next morn they
+saw the headland and the recess of the sea, bending inward beyond the
+jutting headland. And straightway the west wind ceased, and there came
+the breeze of the clear south wind; and their hearts rejoiced at the
+sound it made. But when the sun sank and the star returned that bids
+the shepherd fold, which brings rest to wearied ploughmen, at that time
+the wind died down in the dark night; so they furled the sails and
+lowered the tall mast and vigorously plied their polished oars all
+night and through the day, and again when the next night came on. And
+rugged Carpathus far away welcomed them; and thence they were to cross
+to Crete, which rises in the sea above other islands.
+
+And Talos, the man of bronze, as he broke off rocks from the hard
+cliff, stayed them from fastening hawsers to the shore, when they came
+to the roadstead of Dicte’s haven. He was of the stock of bronze, of
+the men sprung from ash-trees, the last left among the sons of the
+gods; and the son of Cronos gave him to Europa to be the warder of
+Crete and to stride round the island thrice a day with his feet of
+bronze. Now in all the rest of his body and limbs was he fashioned of
+bronze and invulnerable; but beneath the sinew by his ankle was a
+blood-red vein; and this, with its issues of life and death, was
+covered by a thin skin. So the heroes, though outworn with toil,
+quickly backed their ship from the land in sore dismay. And now far
+from Crete would they have been borne in wretched plight, distressed
+both by thirst and pain, had not Medea addressed them as they turned
+away:
+
+“Hearken to me. For I deem that I alone can subdue for you that man,
+whoever he be, even though his frame be of bronze throughout, unless
+his life too is everlasting. But be ready to keep your ship here beyond
+the cast of his stones, till he yield the victory to me.”
+
+Thus she spake; and they drew the ship out of range, resting on their
+oars, waiting to see what plan unlooked for she would bring to pass;
+and she, holding the fold of her purple robe over her cheeks on each
+side, mounted on the deck; and Aeson’s son took her hand in his and
+guided her way along the thwarts. And with songs did she propitiate and
+invoke the Death-spirits, devourers of life, the swift hounds of Hades,
+who, hovering through all the air, swoop down on the living. Kneeling
+in supplication, thrice she called on them with songs, and thrice with
+prayers; and, shaping her soul to mischief, with her hostile glance she
+bewitched the eyes of Talos, the man of bronze; and her teeth gnashed
+bitter wrath against him, and she sent forth baneful phantoms in the
+frenzy of her rage.
+
+Father Zeus, surely great wonder rises in my mind, seeing that dire
+destruction meets us not from disease and wounds alone, but lo! even
+from afar, may be, it tortures us! So Talos, for all his frame of
+bronze, yielded the victory to the might of Medea the sorceress. And as
+he was heaving massy rocks to stay them from reaching the haven, he
+grazed his ankle on a pointed crag; and the ichor gushed forth like
+melted lead; and not long thereafter did he stand towering on the
+jutting cliff. But even as some huge pine, high up on the mountains,
+which woodmen have left half hewn through by their sharp axes when they
+returned from the forest—at first it shivers in the wind by night, then
+at last snaps at the stump and crashes down; so Talos for a while stood
+on his tireless feet, swaying to and fro, when at last, all
+strengthless, fell with a mighty thud. For that night there in Crete
+the heroes lay; then, just as dawn was growing bright, they built a
+shrine to Minoan Athena, and drew water and went aboard, so that first
+of all they might by rowing pass beyond Salmone’s height.
+
+But straightway as they sped over the wide Cretan sea night scared
+them, that night which they name the Pall of Darkness; the stars
+pierced not that fatal night nor the beams of the moon, but black chaos
+descended from heaven, or haply some other darkness came, rising from
+the nethermost depths. And the heroes, whether they drifted in Hades or
+on the waters, knew not one whit; but they committed their return to
+the sea in helpless doubt whither it was bearing them. But Jason raised
+his hands and cried to Phoebus with mighty voice, calling on him to
+save them; and the tears ran down in his distress; and often did he
+promise to bring countless offerings to Pytho, to Amyclae, and to
+Ortygia. And quickly, O son of Leto, swift to hear, didst thou come
+down from heaven to the Melantian rocks, which lie there in the sea.
+Then darting upon one of the twin peaks, thou raisedst aloft in thy
+right hand thy golden bow; and the bow flashed a dazzling gleam all
+round. And to their sight appeared a small island of the Sporades, over
+against the tiny isle Hippuris, and there they cast anchor and stayed;
+and straightway dawn arose and gave them light; and they made for
+Apollo a glorious abode in a shady wood, and a shady altar, calling on
+Phoebus the “Gleamer”, because of the gleam far-seen; and that bare
+island they called Anaphe,[39] for that Phoebus had revealed it to men
+sore bewildered. And they sacrificed all that men could provide for
+sacrifice on a desolate strand; wherefore when Medea’s Phaeacian
+handmaids saw them pouring water for libations on the burning brands,
+they could no longer restrain laughter within their bosoms, for that
+ever they had seen oxen in plenty slain in the halls of Alcinous. And
+the heroes delighted in the jest and attacked them with taunting words;
+and merry railing and contention flung to and fro were kindled among
+them. And from that sport of the heroes such scoffs do the women fling
+at the men in that island whenever they propitiate with sacrifices
+Apollo the gleaming god, the warder of Anaphe.
+
+But when they had loosed the hawsers thence in fair weather, then
+Euphemus bethought him of a dream of the night, reverencing the
+glorious son of Maia. For it seemed to him that the god-given clod of
+earth held in his palm close to his breast was being suckled by white
+streams of milk, and that from it, little though it was, grew a woman
+like a virgin; and he, overcome by strong desire, lay with her in
+love’s embrace; and united with her he pitied her, as though she were a
+maiden whom he was feeding with his own milk; but she comforted him
+with gentle words:
+
+“Daughter of Triton am I, dear friend, and nurse of thy children, no
+maiden; Triton and Libya are my parents. But restore me to the
+daughters of Nereus to dwell in the sea near Anaphe; I shall return
+again to the light of the sun, to prepare a home for thy descendants.”
+
+Of this he stored in his heart the memory, and declared it to Aeson’s
+son; and Jason pondered a prophecy of the Far-Darter and lifted up his
+voice and said:
+
+“My friend, great and glorious renown has fallen to thy lot. For of
+this clod when thou hast cast it into the sea, the gods will make an
+island, where thy children’s children shall dwell; for Triton gave this
+to thee as a stranger’s gift from the Libyan mainland. None other of
+the immortals it was than he that gave thee this when he met thee.”
+
+Thus he spake; and Euphemus made not vain the answer of Aeson’s son;
+but, cheered by the prophecy, he cast the clod into the depths.
+Therefrom rose up an island, Calliste, sacred nurse of the sons of
+Euphemus, who in former days dwelt in Sintian Lemnos, and from Lemnos
+were driven forth by Tyrrhenians and came to Sparta as suppliants; and
+when they left Sparta, Theras, the goodly son of Autesion, brought them
+to the island Calliste, and from himself he gave it the name of Thera.
+But this befell after the days of Euphemus.
+
+And thence they steadily left behind long leagues of sea and stayed on
+the beach of Aegina; and at once they contended in innocent strife
+about the fetching of water, who first should draw it and reach the
+ship. For both their need and the ceaseless breeze urged them on. There
+even to this day do the youths of the Myrmidons take up on their
+shoulders full-brimming jars, and with swift feet strive for victory in
+the race.
+
+Be gracious, race of blessed chieftains! And may these songs year after
+year be sweeter to sing among men. For now have I come to the glorious
+end of your toils; for no adventure befell you as ye came home from
+Aegina, and no tempest of winds opposed you; but quietly did ye skirt
+the Cecropian land and Aulis inside of Euboea and the Opuntian cities
+of the Locrians, and gladly did ye step forth upon the beach of
+Pagasae.
+
+
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+
+1 “Or of Naucratis”, according to Aelian and Athenaeus.
+
+2 Anth. Pal. xl. 275.
+
+3 iii. 117-124.
+
+4 _e.g._ compare _Aen._ iv. 305 foll. with Ap. Rh. iv. 355 foll.;
+_Aen._ iv. 327-330 with Ap. Rh. I. 897, 898; _Aen._ iv. 522 foll., with
+Ap. Rh. iii. 744 foll.
+
+5 _i.e._ God of embarcation.
+
+6 Or, reading ἔκτοθεν, “they strongly girded the ship outside with a
+well-twisted rope.” In either case there is probably no allusion to
+ὐποζώματα (ropes for undergirding) which were carried loose and only
+used in stormy weather.
+
+7 _i.e._ God of the shore.
+
+8 _i.e._ The Starting.
+
+9 Samothrace.
+
+10 _i.e._ god of disembarcation.
+
+11 Cleite means illustrious.
+
+12 _i.e._ to avoid grinding it at home.
+
+13 Rhea.
+
+14 _i.e._ Polydeuces.
+
+15 _i.e._ Saviour of Sailors.
+
+16 _i.e._ through the ravine that divides the headland.
+
+17 _i.e._ river of fair dances.
+
+18 _i.e._ the bedchamber.
+
+19 The north-west wind.
+
+20 Called “Mossynes”.
+
+21 _i.e._ without exacting gifts from the bridegroom. So in the “Iliad”
+ix. 146: Agamemnon offers Achilles any of his three daughters ἀνάεδνος.
+
+22 _i.e._ the fight between the gods and the giants.
+
+23 _i.e._ the Shining One.
+
+24 A name of Ares.
+
+25 _i.e._ the liquid that flows in the veins of gods.
+
+26 Or, reading μήνιμ’, “took no heed of the cause of wrath with the
+stranger-folk.”
+
+27 The allusion is to Sesotris. See Herodotus ii. 102 foll.
+
+28 Or, reading ἠμετέρην, “into our sea”. The Euxine is meant in any
+case and the word Ionian is therefore wrong.
+
+29 Apollonius seems to have thought that the Po, the Rhone, and the
+Rhine are all connected together.
+
+30 _i.e._ like the scrapings from skin, ἀποστλεγγίσματα; see Strabo p.
+224 for this adventure.
+
+31 The _Symplegades_ are referred to, where help was given by Athena,
+not by Hera. It is strange that no mention is made of the _Planctae_,
+properly so called, past which they are soon to be helped. Perhaps some
+lines have fallen out.
+
+32 _i.e._ the Mighty One.
+
+33 _i.e._ the Wanderers.
+
+34 A fabulous metal, resembling gold in appearance.
+
+35 _i.e._ the Sickle-island.
+
+36 The old name of Corinth.
+
+37 This seems to be the only possible translation, but the optative is
+quite anomalous. We should expect ἐκόμιζες.
+
+38 An old name of the Peloponnesus.
+
+39 _i.e._ the isle of Revealing. 
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Argonautica, by Apollonius Rhodius
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