Book 2
Hellenistic Apollonius Rhodius Greek- There were the steadings of oxen and the farmstead of Amycus, king of the Bebrycians, whom once the nymph Bithynian Melie bore, having lain with Poseidon, god of begetting, the most overbearing of men; who laid down a shameful law even for strangers, that none should depart before making trial of his boxing; and many of the dwellers round about he had slain. And then too, coming to the ship, in his insolence he scorned to ask of their voyage, who they were, and spoke at once this word among them all: "Listen, you sea-rovers, to what it is fitting you should know. It is the law that no stranger who comes among the Bebrycians shall depart again, before he has lifted his hands against my hands in combat. So choose me out the best from your company, and set him here to contend in boxing on the spot. But if you trample heedlessly upon my ordinances, then surely a harsh constraint will follow to your sorrow." So he spoke, high-minded; and as they heard, fierce anger seized them; but the challenge struck Polydeuces most of all. And at once he stood forth, the champion of his comrades, and spoke: "Hold now, and do not show us your cruel violence, whoever you boast to be; for we will yield to your laws, as you declare. Of my own will I now promise you to meet you." So he spoke plainly; and the other glared, rolling his eyes, like a lion struck by a javelin, which in the mountains men beset on every side; though hemmed in by the throng, he heeds them no longer, but keeps his gaze on the one man alone, the one who struck him first, yet did not bring him down. Then the son of Tyndareus laid aside his fine-woven cloak, of delicate make, which one of the Lemnian women had given him to be his guest-gift; and the other cast down his dark double mantle with its brooches and the rough shepherd's crook which he carried, of mountain-bred wild olive. And at once, looking about for a place that pleased them near at hand, they seated all their comrades apart on the sands, not alike in build or in stature to behold. But the one seemed the monstrous child of deadly Typhoeus, or even of Earth herself, such as in former days, in her wrath against Zeus, she bore; while the other, like a heavenly star, the son of Tyndareus, whose gleams are fairest as it shines through the night of evening. Such was the son of Zeus, the down just rising on his cheeks, his eyes still bright. But his strength and fury grew like a wild beast's; and he swung his arms to try them, whether they were still nimble as before, and not heavy together with toil and rowing. But Amycus made no such trial; in silence at a distance he stood and fixed his eyes on him, and his heart yearned to dash the blood from his breast. And between them the servant of Amycus, Lycoreus, laid down before their feet on either side two thongs of rawhide, dried and hardened all through. Then Amycus addressed him with overweening words: "Whichever of these you wish, without lot will I bestow on you of my own will, that you may not blame me afterward. But bind them about your hands; you will know, and may tell another, how skilled I am to cut dry oxhides and to spatter men's cheeks with blood." So he spoke; but Polydeuces made no answering retort. With a faint smile he took, just as they lay before him, the thongs at his feet; and Castor came to face him, and great Talaus son of Bias; and quickly they bound the thongs about him, with much encouragement to his prowess. And to the other came Aretus and Ornytus; but they knew not, poor fools, that they were binding them for the last time in an evil hour. Now when they had armed themselves with the thongs, standing apart, at once they lifted their heavy hands before their faces, and bore their fury against each other, meeting in combat. Then the king of the Bebrycians, like a wave of the sea that rears up rough against a swift ship, while she, by a little, through the skill of her cunning helmsman, escapes, as the surge strains to break in over the bulwark; so he, threatening, pressed on the son of Tyndareus, nor let him have respite. But the other, unwounded ever by his craft, kept dodging the charge; and quickly marking out the brutal boxing, where his strength was matchless and where the weaker, he stood unflinching and met hand with hand against him. And as when men, shipwrights, drive close-fitting ship-timbers over sharp bolts, beating them with hammers, and blow falls on blow in unceasing din; so the cheeks of both and the jaws rang; and a grinding of teeth rose up unspeakable, nor did they cease from wounding, blow on blow, until the deadly panting overcame them both. And standing a little apart they wiped from their brows the streaming sweat, panting in their weary breath. Then again they rushed together face to face, like two bulls contending in fury over a grazing cow. Then Amycus next, rising on tiptoe, like an ox-feller, stretched himself up and brought down his heavy hand upon him; but the other, as he sprang, slipped aside, bending his head, and took the blow on his shoulder by a little; and coming close, knee against knee, he struck him with a darting blow above the ear, and shattered the bones within; and he in his agony fell on his knees; and the heroes the Minyans, shouted aloud; and his life poured out in a flood. Nor indeed did the Bebrycian men forsake their king; but all together, raising their hard clubs and their javelins, they came straight on against Polydeuces. But before him his comrades stood with keen-edged swords drawn from their scabbards. First, Castor smote upon the head a man who rushed at him; and it, cleft on either side, was split asunder, falling this way and that upon his shoulders. And Polydeuces himself struck monstrous Itymoneus and Mimas, the one beneath the breast, leaping on him with a swift kick of his foot, and cast him in the dust; and as the other drew near, with his right hand he smote him above the left brow, and tore his eyelid, and the eyeball was left bare. And Oreides, the overweening squire of Amycus's might, wounded Talaus son of Bias in the flank, yet did not slay him, but only so far as the skin the bronze leapt below his girdle, untouching the bowels. And likewise Aretus with his hard club struck and battered Iphitus, the steadfast son of Eurytus, not yet doomed to an evil death; in truth he was soon to be slain by the sword of Clytius. And then Ancaeus, the bold son of Lycurgus, swiftly arrayed against them, holding up his great axe and in his left hand a black bear's hide, sprang into the midst in fury against the Bebrycians; and together with him rushed the sons of Aeacus, and with them warlike Jason rose up. And as when grey wolves on a winter's day spring out and panic countless sheep in the steadings, unseen by the keen-scented dogs and the shepherds themselves, and seek which they may first leap upon and seize, glaring about them all together; and the sheep on every side are crowded, falling upon one another; so these grievously routed the overweening Bebrycians. And as shepherds or beekeepers smoke out a great swarm of bees in a rock, and they meanwhile, gathered close in their hive, hum and are driven in confusion, but forth, in the sooty smoke choked, they dart far from the rock; so these no longer held their ground steadfastly, but scattered into the heart of Bebrycia, to bring the tidings of Amycus's death; poor fools, nor did they perceive that another unseen woe was near them. For their vineyards were being ravaged and their dwellings, in that hour, by the hostile spear of Lycus and the men of the Mariandyni, while their king was away. For they ever fought over the iron-bearing land. And by now these were laying waste their steadings and folds; and now the heroes were driving off countless flocks in roundup; and one said among them: "Bethink you what they would have done in their cowardice, had a god but brought Heracles too here. For I think, indeed, that, had he been present, there would have been no contest of fists; but when Amycus came to declare his laws, the club would have made him forget his arrogance and his laws together. Yes, indeed, we left that man uncared-for on the land and sailed over the sea; and bitterly each one of us shall come to know our grievous loss, now he is far away." So he spoke; but all these things were wrought by the counsels of Zeus. And then they stayed there through the dusk, and tended the wounds of the stricken men, and, having offered sacrifice to the immortals, made ready a great supper; nor did sleep take any of them beside the mixing-bowl and the burning offerings. And wreathing their fair brows above with the bay that grew by the shore, where the stern-cables were made fast, they sang a harmonious hymn to the lyre of Orpheus in tune; and round about them the windless shore was soothed as they sang; and they hymned the Therapnaean son of Zeus. But when the sun lit up the dewy hills, rising from the world's edge, and woke the shepherds, then loosing their cables from the foot of the bay-tree, and stowing aboard such plunder as they needed to carry, they steered with the breeze up the eddying Bosporus. There a wave like a steep mountain is borne up before them, ever rushing on, like one about to leap, heaved high above the clouds; nor would you say they could escape an evil doom, for very fiercely above the middle of the ship it hangs, like a cloud. Yet for all that it sinks down, if she meet with a good helmsman. So these too, by the skill of Tiphys, sailed on, unharmed indeed, yet in fear. And on the next day they made their cables fast to the Bithynian land opposite. There by the shore Phineus, son of Agenor, had his house, who beyond all men endured the most grievous sufferings because of the gift of prophecy, which long before Leto's son had bestowed on him; nor did he stand in awe even of Zeus himself, to declare truly to men the sacred purpose. Therefore the god sent upon him a long old age, and took from his eyes the sweet light; nor did he let him have joy of the boundless dainties which the dwellers round about, ever inquiring of his oracles, kept gathering to his house. But suddenly, darting near through the clouds, the Harpies snatched it ever from his mouth and his hands with their beaks, without ceasing. And at times there was left of his food nothing at all, at times a little, that he might live on in his grief. And over it they shed a putrid stench; nor could anyone bear even to carry food to his lips, but stood far off; such a reek breathed from the leavings of his meal. But straightway, hearing the voice and the tramp of the company, he knew that these very men, passing by, were they at whose coming it was decreed by Zeus that he should have joy of his food. Rising up from his bed, like a lifeless dream, leaning on his staff, on his shriveled feet he went to the door, feeling along the walls; and his limbs trembled as he went with feebleness and age; and his squalid skin was caked with dirt, and only his skin held his bones together. And coming out of the hall he sat down, his knees grown heavy, on the courtyard threshold; and a dark swoon enwrapped him, and the earth all around seemed to him to be borne away below, and in feeble stupor he sank down speechless. And they, when they saw him, gathered standing round about in amazement. But he, scarcely from his deepest breast drawing breath, spoke among them with his prophetic art: "Hear me, most excellent of all the Hellenes, if indeed you are they whom by the cruel command of the king Jason leads on the ship Argo after the fleece. You are they truly. Even now my mind knows each thing by its prophecies. Thanks to you, O lord, son of Leto, even in grievous sufferings I cling to my joy. By Zeus the god of suppliants, who is most dread to sinful men, and for the sake of Phoebus and of Hera herself I beseech you, she for whose sake beyond all the gods you have come, help me, deliver an ill-fated man from outrage, and do not depart, leaving me in my misery thus. For not only has the Fury set her heel upon my eyes, and I drag out an old age unwinding to its end; but yet another evil, bitterest of all, hangs upon my woes. The Harpies snatch the food from my mouth, swooping down from some unseen place of ruin. And I have no device to aid me. But more easily could I forget my own mind when set on a meal, than escape them; so swiftly do they fly through the air. And if ever they do leave me a morsel of food, it breathes this rotten and unbearable reek of stench; nor could any mortal endure to come near for even a moment, not though his heart were forged of adamant. But bitter and insatiate necessity holds me to remain, and remaining to put the food in my cursed belly. These it is decreed shall be driven off by the sons of Boreas. Nor, strangers though they are, will they fail to defend me, if indeed I am that Phineus once renowned among men for wealth and prophecy, and Agenor was my father; and their sister, when I was king among the Thracians, Cleopatra, I led with bridal gifts to my house as wife." So spoke the son of Agenor; and a deep sorrow took each of the heroes, and most of all the two sons of Boreas. And wiping away a tear, the two drew near, and thus spoke Zetes, taking in his hand the hand of the grieving old man: "Ah, wretched one, no other man, I think, is more pitiable than you among men. Why are so many sorrows fastened on you? Have you sinned against the gods in your deadly folly, knowing the prophetic arts? Is that why they rage so greatly against you? Yet our spirit within is dismayed, for all our longing to help, if indeed the god has set this privilege upon us two. For plain to mortals are the rebukes of the immortals. And we will not before restrain the Harpies as they come, much as we long to, until you swear that for this we shall not lose the favor of the gods." So he spoke; and toward him the old man opened wide his empty sockets, lifting them, and answered with these words: "Be silent; do not cast such thoughts into your mind, my child. Let the son of Leto be my witness, who graciously taught me the prophetic arts; and let the ill-named fate be witness, which is my lot, and this blind cloud upon my eyes, and the powers below, the spirits, who would show no favor even to me when dead, that no anger shall come from the gods on account of your aid." Then the two were eager to defend him with their oaths. And quickly the younger men prepared a feast for the old man, the last prey for the Harpies; and the two stood near, that with their swords they might drive them off as they swooped. And just as the old man first touched the food, the Harpies at once, like cruel blasts or like lightning-flashes, unforeseen, sprang from the clouds and rushed on with a cry, ravening for the food; and the heroes, seeing them, shouted in their midst; but they, with that very cry, having gulped down everything, were borne away over the sea, far off; and an unbearable stench was left behind. And after them the two sons of Boreas holding up their swords, ran in pursuit. For Zeus put in them tireless fury; and without Zeus they could not have followed, since the Harpies ever outsped the blasts of the west wind whenever they came to Phineus and went back from him. And as when on the mountain-slopes hounds skilled in the chase track horned goats or deer and run on, and, stretching out a little behind, snap their teeth in vain at the very tips of their jaws; so Zetes and Calais, darting very close, clutched at the Harpies' tips with their hands, but in vain. And now they would surely have torn them in pieces, against the gods' will, overtaking them far off at the Floating Isles, had not swift Iris seen them, and leapt down through the air from heaven, and checked them with these warning words: "It is not lawful, O sons of Boreas, to strike with swords the Harpies, the hounds of great Zeus; but I myself will give you an oath that they shall no more come near him." So speaking she swore by the water of Styx, which to the gods is most dread and most awful of all, that these would never again draw near the house of Agenor's son Phineus, since it was so fated. And they, yielding to the oath, turned back again to the ship to save themselves. And the Strophades men afterward call those islands for this cause, which before they called the Floating Isles. And the Harpies and Iris parted. The Harpies sank into a cavern of Minoan Crete; but Iris darted up to Olympus, soaring on her swift wings. Meanwhile the chieftains cleansed the old man's filthy skin on every side, and chose out and sacrificed the sheep which they had carried off from the spoils of Amycus. But when they had set a great supper in the halls, they sat and feasted; and with them Phineus feasted ravenously, gladdening his heart as if in a dream. There, when they had had their fill of food and drink, all night long they waited, watching for the sons of Boreas. And the old man himself sat in their midst by the hearth, telling the ends of the voyage and the accomplishment of the journey: "Listen now. It is not lawful for you to learn all things exactly; but what is the gods' good pleasure, I will not conceal. I erred before in my folly against the mind of Zeus, declaring my oracles in their order and to the end. For thus he himself wills, to reveal to men prophecies that are incomplete in their divination, that they may still have need of the gods' purpose. First of all, when you have set out from me, you shall see the Dark Rocks, the two, in the narrows of the sea, from which I declare that no one has ever wholly escaped. For they are not fixed with roots below, but ever clash together, face to face, into one, and above them a great mass of the sea's water rears up, boiling; and harshly it roars about the rugged shore. Now therefore obey my counsel, if indeed with prudent mind and reverence for the blessed gods you make your trial; and do not perish in self-chosen ruin foolishly, or rush on, following the rashness of youth. First send forth a dove from the ship to make trial, and let her go ahead. And if she safely flies through the rocks, on her wings, into the open sea, then no longer hold back yourselves from the passage, but, gripping the oars well in your hands, cleave the strait of the sea; since light will be of no such avail in prayers, as the strength of your hands. Therefore let all else go, and labor with good heart boldly; though before that I forbid you not to entreat the gods. But if she fly straight on and perish between them, then turn back; for it is far better to yield to the immortals. For you could not escape an evil doom from the rocks, not though the Argo were made of iron. O wretched men, do not dare to go beyond my prophecies, even if you suppose me three times more hateful to the sons of Heaven than I am, and to be loathed even more: do not dare to pass beyond the bird's sign in your ship. And these things, however they fall, so they shall be. But if you escape the clashing of the rocks unscathed within the Pontus, at once, keeping the land of the Bithynians on your right, sail on, watchful of the breakers, until again rounding the swift-flowing river Rhebas and the Black Headland, you come to the harbor of the Thynian island. From there, not very far across the sea, you shall run ashore on the land of the Mariandyni on the opposite coast. There is a path that descends to Hades, and the jutting Acherusian headland stretches up on high, and eddying Acheron, cleaving through it below, casts forth its outpourings from a great ravine in the headland. And close upon it you shall sail past the many hills of the Paphlagonians, over whom Enetian Pelops first was king, and of whose blood they boast to be sprung. There is a headland facing the Bear of Helice, steep on every side, and they call it Carambis, about whose top, toward the north, the storm-blasts are split; so high, turned toward the open sea, it reaches into the sky. For one who rounds it a long beach lies stretched out; and now, at the bounds of the long beach, on a jutting shore, the streams of the river Halys pour out with a terrible roar; and after it, flowing near, the Iris, smaller, rolls in white eddies into the sea. And thence onward a great and lofty elbow juts out from the land; and beyond it the mouth of the Thermodon in a calm gulf, beneath the Themiscyrean headland, flows out, after passing through a broad mainland. There is the plain of Doeas, and close by are the three cities of the Amazons; and after them the most wretched of men, the Chalybes, hold a rugged and stubborn land, toilers; and they are busied about works of iron. And near them dwell the Tibareni, rich in sheep, beyond the Genetaean headland of Zeus the god of strangers. And next to them the Mossynoeci hold the wooded mainland in order, and the foothills, having built their houses in wooden towers. Passing them you shall run ashore on a smooth island, driving off by every device the brazen, shameless birds, which haunt in countless numbers the desolate island. There the queens of the Amazons, Otrere and Antiope, built a temple of Ares of stone, when they went forth to war. There for you, out of the cruel sea, comes a help unspeakable; therefore in kindness I bid you hold there. But why must I again sin by declaring each thing through and through in my prophecy? And beyond the island, on the opposite mainland, the Philyres pasture their flocks; and above the Philyres are the Macrones; and after them the boundless tribes of the Becheiri. And next to them the Sapeires dwell; and the Byzeres beyond them, their neighbors, above whom now the warlike Colchians themselves are settled. But in your ship press on, until you draw near the innermost sea. There, on the Cytaean mainland, and from the Amarantine mountains far off, and from the Circaean plain, eddying Phasis casts its broad stream into the sea. Driving your ship to the outpourings of that river, you shall see the towers of Cytaean Aeetes, and the shadowy grove of Ares, where, spread upon the top of an oak, a serpent, a dread marvel to behold, keeps watch all about with wary gaze; nor by day nor by night does sweet sleep subdue his shameless eyes." So he spoke; and straightway fear took them as they listened. And long they were smitten with speechlessness; until at last spoke the hero, son of Aeson, helpless in their plight: "Old man, now you have reached the ends of the labors of the voyage and the sign by which, trusting in it, we shall pass through the dread rocks into the Pontus; but whether again, if we escape these, there will be a homeward return for us to Hellas, that too I would gladly learn from you. How shall I do it, how shall I go again over so great a path of the sea, a novice with comrades that are novices too? And the Colchian land lies at the farthest bounds of the Pontus and the earth." So he spoke; and the old man answered and said: "My child, when first you have escaped through the deadly rocks, take heart; for a god will guide another voyage from Aea; and to Aea guides enough you shall have. But, friends, take thought of the wily aid of the goddess Cypris. For on her the glorious ends of the labors depend. And ask me no further than this." So spoke the son of Agenor; and close upon him the two sons of Thracian Boreas, darting down from the sky, set their swift feet upon the threshold; and the heroes sprang up from their seats, when they saw them present. And Zetes, to their eager questions, still gasping much with breathless toil, told how far off they had driven the Harpies, and how Iris kept them from slaying them, and how the goddess in her kindness gave her oath, and how they sank in fear into the vast cavern of the Dictaean cliff. And then all the comrades in the house were glad, and Phineus himself, at the tidings. And quickly to him the son of Aeson, in his great kindness, spoke: "Surely then there was some god, Phineus, who cared for your grievous affliction, and brought us hither from far away, that the sons of Boreas might defend you; and if he should give light to your eyes too, then truly I think I should rejoice as much as if I came back home returning." So he spoke; but the other, downcast, answered him: "Son of Aeson, that is past recall, nor is there any remedy hereafter; for my emptied eye-sockets are burned away. But in its stead may the god grant me death at once, and dead I shall partake of all delights." So the two spoke thus to one another in turn. And straightway, not long after, while they conversed, there appeared the Dawn-child; and round him the neighbors gathered, men who even before were wont to come there day by day, ever bringing alike their share of food. To all these the old man, however humble he might come, gave kindly oracles, and from many he loosed their sufferings by his prophecy; therefore they visited and tended him. And with them came Paraebius, who of all was dearest to him; and gladly he marked them in the house. For long before he had himself foretold that a company of the chieftains of men, going forth from Hellas to the city of Aeetes, would make fast their cables to the Thynian land, and that these by the will of Zeus would stay the Harpies as they came. Then having satisfied the others with prudent words, the old man sent them off; but Paraebius alone he bade remain there with the chieftains; and quickly he sent him forth, urging him to bring of his sheep whichever was the best. And when he had gone from the hall, gently he spoke among the gathered oarsmen: "O friends, not all men, then, are overweening, nor forgetful of kindness. As this man too, such as he is, came here to learn his fate. For when he had toiled most and labored most, then more and more the ever-pressing need of livelihood wore him down; and day upon day there rose a fouler one, nor was there any respite for him in his toil. But he was paying the evil penalty for his father's transgression. For that man, alone in the mountains cutting trees, once scorned the prayers of a hamadryad nymph, who, lamenting, sought to soften him with earnest words, not to cut down the trunk of an oak of her own age, on which for a long span of years she had passed her unbroken life; but he foolishly cut it down in the arrogance of youth. To him then the nymph gave a fruitless doom thereafter, to himself and to his children. As for me, when he came, I knew his transgression; and I bade him build an altar to the Thynian nymph and offer atoning sacrifices upon it, praying to escape his father's fate. There, when he had fled the god-sent doom, never did he forget me, nor scorn me; but hardly, against his will, do I send him from my door, since he is eager to stay by me in my grief." So spoke the son of Agenor; and the man at once close at hand came, leading two sheep from the flock. And Jason rose up, and the sons of Boreas rose, at the old man's command. And quickly, calling on prophetic Apollo, they sacrificed at the hearth as the day was waning. And the younger of the comrades made ready a pleasing feast. There, when they had feasted well, some by the ship's cables, and some in the house, lay down all together to sleep. And at dawn the Etesian winds rose up, which over all the earth alike blow by such an ordinance of Zeus. Cyrene, the tale runs, once tended sheep by the marsh of Peneus among men of old; for she loved her maidenhood and an unsullied bed. But Apollo caught her up as she tended her flock by the river, far from Haemonia, and set her among the earth-nymphs, who dwelt in Libya by the Myrtosian height. There she bore Aristaeus to Phoebus, whom the cornland-rich Haemonians call the Hunter and the Shepherd. For in his love the god made her a long-lived nymph there, and a huntress; and his son he brought as an infant to be reared in the caves of Chiron. And to him, when he was grown, the Muses betrothed a bride, and taught him healing and the art of prophecy; and they made him keeper of their sheep, all that grazed on the Athamantian plain of Phthia and about steep Othrys and the sacred stream of the river Apidanus. But when from heaven Sirius scorched the Minoan islands, and there was for long no remedy for the dwellers there, then they called him, by the commands of the Far-Shooter, as a deliverer from the plague. And he, by his father's bidding, left Phthia, and settled in Ceos, gathering a folk of Parrhasians, who are of the lineage of Lycaon, and built a great altar to Zeus Icmaeus, and duly offered sacrifices in the mountains to that star, Sirius itself, and to Zeus, son of Cronus. For this cause the Etesian breezes from Zeus cool the earth for forty days; and in Ceos even now the priests offer sacrifices before the rising of the Dog. And these things, then, are so told. But the chieftains stayed there, held back; and the Thynians, gratifying Phineus, sent him countless gifts of hospitality all day long. And after that, having built an altar to the twelve blessed ones on the sea's edge across the way, and laid offerings on it, they went aboard the swift ship to row; nor did they forget the timorous dove among them; but Euphemus carried her, gripping her in his hand, cowering in fear; and they loosed the double cables from the land. Nor did they escape the notice of Athena as they set out; but at once, in haste, setting her feet upon a cloud, a light one, that might bear her, mighty though she was, she sped to go to the sea, in kindness for the oarsmen. And as when a man, wandering far from his homeland, such as we, long-suffering men, often wander, and no land is too remote, but all the paths are clear before him, and he sees in his mind his own home, and at once the way by sea and by land appears to him, and now here, now there, keenly pondering, he scans it with his eyes; so swiftly the daughter of Zeus, darting down, set her foot on the inhospitable Thynian shore. And they, when they came to the strait of the winding passage, hemmed in on either side by rugged crags, while an eddying current from below dashed up against the ship as she went, and in great fear they sailed forward, and now the din of the clashing rocks ceaselessly smote their ears, and the sea-washed shores resounded, then Euphemus rose, gripping the dove in his hand, to mount upon the prow; and at the command of Tiphys son of Hagnias they plied a steady stroke of the oars, that thereafter they might drive through the rocks, trusting in their strength. And rounding the bend they saw the rocks opening for the last time of all. And their spirit melted within them; and Euphemus sent the dove to dart on her wings; and all of them together lifted their heads, watching; and through the rocks she flew; and the two rocks again, rushing together face to face, both meeting at once, crashed. And much foam rose up, flung high like a cloud; and the sea roared terribly; and all about the great sky thundered. And the hollow caverns beneath the rugged crags boomed as the sea washed in; and high upon the cliff the white spray of the surging wave was spewed up. Then the current whirled the ship round about. And the rocks shore off the very tips of the dove's tail-feathers; but she darted away unharmed. And the rowers shouted aloud; and Tiphys himself cried out to row with all their might. For the rocks were opening apart again. And trembling held them as they rowed, until the very flood-tide, surging back as it rose, carried them in among the rocks. Then most terrible fear seized them all; for over their heads hung inescapable death. And now on this side and on that the broad Pontus was visible, and suddenly before them rose a great wave arching, like a sheer cliff; and seeing it they bowed with heads aslant. For it seemed about to fall and overwhelm the whole ship. But Tiphys forestalled it, easing her, heavy under the rowing, in time; and the great mass rolled away beneath the keel, and from astern lifted the ship herself and bore her far from the rocks; and high in the air she was carried aloft. And Euphemus, going among all his comrades, kept shouting to fall to the oars with all their strength; and they with a cry smote the water. And as far as the ship gave way before the rowers, twice as far she leapt back; and the oars were bent like curved bows, as the heroes strained. And straight from there a curving wave swept down upon them, and at once, like a roller, she ran upon the furious wave, plunging headlong down the hollow sea. And in the midst of the Clashers the eddying current held her; and on either side they swayed and roared; and the ship's timbers were held fast. And then Athena thrust back the sturdy rock with her left hand, and with her right pushed the ship clean through to pass. And she, like a winged arrow, sped through the air aloft. Yet even so the rocks shore off the topmost ornaments of the stern-curve, clashing ceaselessly together. But Athena sprang up to Olympus, when they had escaped unharmed. And the rocks were rooted fast in one place close to one another forever, which indeed was fated by the blessed gods, when once a man should pass through them in his ship. And they, recovering now from their chilling fear, breathed again, gazing at the air and the wide expanse of the sea spread far before them. For they thought they had been saved out of Hades; and Tiphys first began to speak: "I trust that, with the ship herself, we have surely escaped this peril; nor is any other to blame so much as Athena, who breathed divine strength into her, when Argus fitted her together with bolts; and it is not lawful that she be taken. Son of Aeson, no longer so fear the command of your king, now that a god has granted us to flee through the rocks; since hereafter Phineus, the son of Agenor, said the labors would be easily accomplished." He spoke, and at once steered the ship onward through the open sea past the Bithynian land, in the midst of it. But Jason with gentle words addressed him in answer: "Tiphys, why do you comfort me thus in my grief? I have erred and blundered into an evil and irreparable folly. For I ought, when Pelias gave the command, straightway to have refused this voyage to his face, even though I was destined pitilessly to die, torn limb from limb; but now I am burdened with excessive fear and unbearable cares, loathing to sail over the chill paths of the sea in the ship, and loathing whenever we set foot on the mainland. For everywhere there are hostile men. And ever I keep a night of groaning after the day, ever since first for my sake you gathered together, taking thought for each thing. But you speak easily, caring only for your own life; while I for myself am not dismayed in the least; but for this man and for that alike, and for you, and for my other comrades I fear, if I should not bring you back unharmed to the land of Hellas." So he spoke, making trial of the chieftains; and they shouted with bold words. And his heart was warmed within him at their cries, and again he spoke openly among them: "O friends, in your valor my courage grows. Therefore now, not even if I were to set out through the chasms of Hades, would I take on fear any more, since you stand steadfast in grievous terrors. But now that we have sailed out from the Clashing Rocks, I think there will be no more hereafter another such fear, if indeed following the counsel of Phineus we go our way." So he spoke, and at once they ceased from such talk, and held to the unceasing toil of rowing; and quickly they passed the swift-flowing river Rhebas and the crag of Colone, and not long after sailed past the Black Headland, and then by the mouths of the Phyllis, where in former days Dipsacus received in his house the son of Athamas, when with the ram he fled from the city of Orchomenus; and a meadow-nymph bore him; nor did insolence please him, but contentedly by the waters of his father he dwelt with his mother, pasturing flocks along the shore. And soon his shrine, and the broad shores of the river and its plain, and deep-flowing Calpe they gazed upon and passed by; and through that day and the windless night they pressed on with their tireless oars. And as when laboring oxen cleave the sodden field, toiling, and abundant sweat flows from their flanks and necks; and their eyes roll askance beneath the yoke; and the parched breath roars ceaselessly from their mouths; and on the ground they dig in their hoofs, toiling all day long; like them the heroes drew their oars through the sea. And at the hour when there is neither the divine light yet, nor any longer deep darkness, but a faint glimmer has spread over the night, the hour men call twilight when they wake, then, sailing into the harbor of the desert Thynian island, they stepped ashore, weary with their grievous toil. And to them the son of Leto, returning from Lycia far away to the boundless folk of the Hyperborean men, appeared; and the golden locks on either side of his cheeks flowed in clusters as he went; in his left hand he held a silver bow, and about his back his quiver was slung across his shoulders; and beneath his feet the whole island quaked, and the waves washed over the land. And amazement, helpless, seized them as they saw; nor did anyone dare to look straight into the fair eyes of the god. And they stood, bowing their heads down to the ground; but he, far off, went on his way to the sea through the air; and at last thus Orpheus spoke this word, declaring to the chieftains: "Come now, let us call this island sacred to Apollo of the Dawn, since to all of us he appeared passing by at dawn; and we will sacrifice such things as are at hand, setting up an altar on the shore; and if hereafter he grant us a safe return to the Haemonian land, then we will lay on it the thigh-pieces of horned goats. But now I bid you propitiate him only with the savor and libations. Be gracious, lord, be gracious in your appearing." So he spoke; and they at once built an altar of small stones; and they ranged over the island, searching whether they might see any of the young deer or wild goats, such as feed in plenty in the deep wood. And to them the son of Leto granted a quarry; and of them all reverently they burned the thigh-pieces in double folds on the holy altar, glorifying Apollo of the Dawn. And about the burning offerings they set up a wide dance, singing of fair Iepaeon, Iepaeon Phoebus, in their hymn; and with them the goodly son of Oeagrus on his Bistonian lyre led the clear song: how once beneath the rocky ridge of Parnassus he slew monstrous Delphyne with his arrows, a boy still naked, still glorying in his locks. Be gracious! Ever, lord, may your hair be unshorn, ever unravaged; for so it is right. And only she herself, Leto daughter of Coeus, strokes it in her dear hands. And the Corycian nymphs, daughters of Pleistus, oft heartened him with their words, crying "Healer!"; and hence arose this fair refrain to Phoebus. But when in the dance and song they had hymned him, with pure libations they swore that they would ever aid one another in oneness of heart, touching the offerings; and even now there stands there a temple of kindly Concord, which they themselves raised then, honoring that most glorious goddess. And when the third dawn came, then thereafter with a fresh west wind they left the steep island. And thence, on the opposite side, the mouth of the river Sangarius and the rich land of the Mariandyni and the streams of the Lycus and the Anthemoeisian lake they gazed on and passed by; and beneath the breeze the ropes and all the ship's gear shook as they sailed on. And at dawn, the wind having dropped through the night, gladly they came to the harbor of the Acherusian headland. It rises with sheer cliffs, looking out to the Bithynian sea; and beneath it smooth rocks are rooted, washed by the sea; and around them the rolling wave roars loudly; but above, spreading plane-trees grow upon its topmost height. And from it, sloping inward toward the mainland, there lies a hollow glen below, where is the cave of Hades, sheltered with wood and rocks, and from it a breath of frost, breathing forth from the chill recess unceasingly, ever forms a glistening white rime, which melts in the midday sun. And silence never holds that grim headland, but together it groans beneath the sounding sea and the leaves stirred by the winds from its depths. And there too are the outpourings of the river Acheron, which bursts forth through the headland, casting itself into the sea toward the east; and a hollow ravine brings it down from above. In later days the Nisaean Megarians named it Soonautes, the Savior of Sailors, when they were about to settle the land of the Mariandyni. For it saved them with their very ships, when they were caught in an evil storm. There the heroes at once with their ship, past the Acherusian headland, ran in, the wind just dropping, facing it. Nor for long did they escape the notice of Lycus, lord of that land, and the Mariandynian men, as they moored, the slayers of Amycus, by the report which they had heard before; but for that very cause they made a treaty with them. And Polydeuces himself they welcomed like a god, gathering from every side; for in truth for long those people had warred face to face with the overweening Bebrycians. And so all together, within the halls of Lycus, that day in friendship, going up into the city, they busied themselves with the feast, and delighted their hearts with talk. The son of Aeson told him the lineage and the name of each of his comrades, and the commands of Pelias, and how they were entertained by the Lemnian women, and all that they did concerning Dolionian Cyzicus; and how they came to the Mysian land and to Cius, where they left the hero Heracles against their will, and the saying of Glaucus he declared, and how they slew the Bebrycians and Amycus, and he told the prophecies and the suffering of Phineus, and how they escaped the Dark Rocks, and how they met the son of Leto on the island. And as he told it in order, Lycus was charmed in his heart at the hearing; and grief took him for Heracles left behind, and he spoke this word among them all: "O friends, of what a man's aid you are bereft as you press on to Aeetes on so long a voyage. For well I knew him, having seen him here in the halls of my father Dascylus, when on foot through the Asian mainland he came hither, carrying off the girdle of warlike Hippolyte; and he found me with the down just growing on my cheeks. There, when my brother Priolas had died at the hands of the Mysian men, whom the people lament with most piteous dirges ever since, in the games he overcame Titias the boxer, a strong man, who excelled all the young men in beauty and might; and he dashed his teeth to the ground. And he subdued, under my father, together with the Mysians, the Phrygians too, who dwell on the lands bordering ours, and won the tribes of the Bithynians, with their very land, as far as the mouth of the Rhebas and the crag of Colone; and the Pelopian Paphlagonians too yielded just so, all those whom the dark water of the Billaeus encircles. But now the Bebrycians and the insolence of Amycus, who dwelt far off, have robbed me of Heracles, long cutting off land enough from us, until they set their boundaries at the meadows of deep-flowing Hypius. Yet from you they paid the penalty; nor do I think it was without the gods' will that on this day he brought war upon them, the son of Tyndareus, upon the Bebrycians, when he slew that man. Therefore now, whatever favor I am able to pay, I will pay gladly. For this is the way of weaker men, when stronger ones begin to do them good. As a common companion for you all to follow I will urge on Dascylus, my son; and with him going, surely among kindly men you shall meet across the sea, all the way to the mouth of the Thermodon. And apart, to the sons of Tyndareus, high on the Acherusian headland I will set up a lofty shrine; and it, far off, all sailors over the sea, beholding, shall propitiate; and I will mark out for them hereafter, before the city, as for gods, rich plowlands of the well-tilled plain." So then all day long they made merry over the feast. And at dawn they went down in haste to the ship; and Lycus himself went with them, bestowing countless gifts to carry; and he sent his son forth from his halls to go. There the appointed fate smote Idmon, son of Abas, skilled in prophecy. But his prophecies in no way saved him, since necessity drove him to be slain; for there lay in the marsh of the reedy river, cooling its flanks and its huge belly in the mud, a boar with gleaming tusks, a deadly creature, whom even the very marsh-haunting nymphs dreaded; nor did any man know of him; and alone he fed in the broad fen. But the son of Abas was passing along the muddy ridges of the river; and the boar, from some unseen lurking-place, leaping high out of the reeds, gashed his thigh with a charge, and severed the sinews through, bone and all. And with a sharp cry he fell to the ground; and as he was struck the men shouted all together in answer. And Peleus straightway reached out with his javelin at the deadly boar as it rushed away into the marsh; and it charged at him again face to face; but Idas wounded it, and bellowing it fell upon the swift spear. And him they left there on the ground where he had fallen; but Idmon his comrades bore to the ship, gasping out his life, grieving; and in the hands of his comrades he died. There then they were stayed from caring for the voyage, and stayed in grief for the burial of the dead man. For three whole days they mourned; and on the next they buried him with great pomp; and the people joined in the funeral rites, with King Lycus himself; and beside him countless sheep, as is the custom for the dead, they slew as funeral offerings. And so a barrow of this man is heaped up in that land, and there is a sign upon it even for men of later days to see, a roller from a ship's wild olive; and it flourishes with leaves a little below the Acherusian headland. And if I must declare this too, plainly, at the Muses' bidding, Phoebus expressly bade the Boeotians and Nisaeans propitiate him as guardian of their city, and about that roller of the ancient wild olive to found a town; but they, instead of the god-fearing Aeolid Idmon, even now honor Agamestor. For who else died? Since the heroes then heaped up yet again a barrow for a comrade who had perished. For two memorials of those men are still to be seen. The tale is that Tiphys, son of Hagnias, died; nor was it his fate to sail any farther. But him too a brief sickness laid to rest there, far from his homeland, while the company paid funeral rites to the body of Abas's son. And they took on unbearable grief at the deadly affliction. For when they had buried him too, close by, there in their helplessness, falling down before the sea, wrapped close and still, they took no thought either of food or of drink; and they sank in their spirit with sorrow, since their homecoming was now far from hope. And now they would have been held back still further, grieving, had not Hera cast great courage into Ancaeus, whom by the Imbrasian waters Astypalaea bore to Poseidon; for beyond all he was well skilled at steering; and rushing on he spoke to Peleus: "Son of Aeacus, how is it good, neglecting the labors, to be so long in a foreign land? It is not for skill in war that Jason brings me after the fleece so much, away from Parthenia, as for knowledge of ships. Therefore let there be no fear at all for you about the ship. For there are other men here too who are skilled, and whichever of them we set at the stern, none will mar the voyage. But quickly, telling all this to him, boldly rouse him to take thought again of the venture." So he spoke; and Peleus's heart leapt up with gladness. And at once, not long after, he spoke among them all: "Strange men, why do we hold this grief thus to no purpose? For those men perished, perhaps, by the fate they were allotted; but among our company there are steersmen, and many. Therefore let us not delay our attempt; but rouse yourselves to the work, casting off your sorrows." And to him in turn the son of Aeson answered, helpless: "Son of Aeacus, where are these steersmen? For those whom before we boasted to be skilled, they, downcast, are more grieved even than I. Therefore I foresee an evil doom for us, together with the dead, if neither to the city of deadly Aeetes shall it be granted us to go, nor again to come to the land of Hellas outside the rocks, but here on the spot an evil doom shall cover us inglorious, growing old to no purpose." So he spoke; but Ancaeus very eagerly undertook to guide the swift ship; for he was moved by the god's impulse. And after him Erginus and Nauplius and Euphemus rose up, eager to steer. But these they held back; and to Ancaeus many of the comrades assented. At dawn, then, on the twelfth day, they embarked; for a strong west wind was blowing for them. Quickly they crossed the Acheron with their oars, and trusting in the wind they spread their sails, and far forward, with the sails wide open, they cut their voyage in fair weather. And soon by the outpourings of the river Callichorus they came, where they say the Nysaean son of Zeus, when he left the tribes of the Indians and went to settle in Thebes, held his revels, and set up dances before a cave, in which he passed unsmiling, holy nights; from which the dwellers round about call the river Callichorus and the cave Aulion by name. And thence they beheld the tomb of Sthenelus, son of Actor, who, returning from the bold war against the Amazons —for he had gone up together with Heracles— smitten by an arrow, there died on the seashore. And no further then did they sail on. For Persephone herself sent up the tearful soul of Actor's son, which begged but for a little to see men of its own kind. And stepping upon the rim of the barrow he gazed at the ship, such as he was when he went to war; and about his head the fair four-crested helmet with its scarlet plume shone bright. And then again he sank into the great darkness; and they, seeing it, were amazed; and Mopsus, son of Ampycus, prophesying, roused them to put ashore and propitiate him with libations. And they quickly furled the sail, and casting out the cables, busied themselves about the tomb of Sthenelus on the beach, and poured drink-offerings for him, and burned sheep as sacrifice. And apart from the drink-offerings, to Apollo, savior of ships, they built an altar and burned the thigh-pieces; and Orpheus set up his lyre; whence the place is called Lyra. And at once, as the wind drove them on, they went aboard the ship; and they drew down the sail and stretched it out to both sheets; and she was borne over the sea swiftly, as when through the air on high a hawk sets its pinion to the breeze and is borne swiftly, nor shakes its wing, resting at ease on its still wings in fair weather. And now they passed the sea-flowing streams of the Parthenius, gentlest of rivers, in which the daughter of Leto, when from the hunt she ascends to heaven, cools her body in its delightful waters. And then, speeding on without ceasing through the night, they passed Sesamus and the lofty Erythini, and Crobialus and Cromna and woody Cytorus. And thence again, rounding Carambis with the sun's rays, they rowed past the long beach with their oars all that day, and through the night that followed. And at once they set foot on the Assyrian land, where Sinope, daughter of Asopus, Zeus settled, and granted her her maidenhood, beguiled by his own promise. For he longed for her love; and he promised her to grant whatever she should set her heart upon. And she in her cunning asked for her maidenhood. And so too she deceived Apollo, who longed to lie with her, and the river Halys after them; nor did any of men ever subdue her in his longing embrace. And there the sons of noble Deimachus of Tricca, Deileon and Autolycus and Phlogius, were then still dwelling, having strayed from Heracles; and they, when they saw the company of the chieftains, truly declared themselves, coming to meet them; nor did they wish to stay there any longer, but aboard the ship, as Argestes blew, they went straightway. And with them, borne thereafter by the swift breeze, they left the river Halys, left the Iris that flows beside it, and the alluvial land of Assyria; and on that same day they rounded, far off, the harbor-holding headland of the Amazons. There once the heroine Melanippe, daughter of Ares, going forth, the hero Heracles caught by ambush, and as ransom Hippolyte gave him her glittering girdle for her sister; and he sent her back unharmed. In the gulf of that headland, at the outpourings of the Thermodon, they put in, for the sea was rising against them as they journeyed. And no river is like this one, nor does any pour so many streams from itself over the land, casting them apart. It would lack but four of a hundred, if one should count each; but the single true source is one. It comes down from the lofty mountains to the mainland, which they say are called the Amazonian. From there it spreads inward over the steep land, straight on; therefore its courses are winding, and ever this way and that, wherever it best chances on low ground, it twists; one part far off, and one near; and many channels are nameless, wherever they steal away; but openly, mingled with a few, it pours into the Inhospitable Sea over its arching headland. And now, had they lingered, they would have joined battle with the Amazons, nor would they have contended without bloodshed— for the Amazons were not at all kindly, nor regarding justice did they dwell about the Doeantian plain; but grievous insolence and the works of Ares were their care; for indeed they were the offspring of Ares and of the nymph Harmonia, who bore to Ares his war-loving daughters, having lain with him in the glens of the Acmonian grove— had not the breezes of Argestes come again from Zeus; and with the wind they left the curving shore, where the Themiscyrean Amazons were arming. For they did not dwell gathered in one city, but throughout the land, divided according to their tribes, in three parts; apart these very ones, over whom then ruled Hippolyte, and apart the Lycastians dwelt, and apart the javelin-throwing Chadesians. And on the next day and the night that followed they came to the land of the Chalybes. For these there is no care of plowing oxen, nor any other planting of honey-hearted fruit; nor do they pasture flocks in the dewy meadow. But cleaving the hard, iron-bearing earth, they barter for their living wage; nor ever for them does the dawn rise without toil, but in the black soot and smoke they bear their heavy labor. And after them at once, rounding the headland of Genetaean Zeus, they passed safely along the Tibarenian land. There, when the women bear children to their men, the men themselves groan, lying upon their beds, with their heads bound up; but the women tend them well with food, and prepare for them the baths of childbirth. And next to these they passed the sacred mountain and the land where the Mossynoeci dwell in the mountains in their wooden towers, and are named from them. Other are their custom and their ordinances. Whatever it is lawful to do openly, either among the people or in the assembly, all this they contrive within their houses; but whatever we do indoors, that they do without reproach out of doors in the midst of the streets. Nor is there any shame of the bed in public, but, like swine at pasture, in no way abashed by those present, they couple on the ground in common union of women. And in his highest tower the king sits and gives straight judgments to his many people, the hapless man. For if perchance he err in his judging, they shut him up that day and keep him without food. Passing them by, and now near the opposite side of the island of Ares, they cut their voyage with rowing by day; for the warm breeze had failed at nightfall. And now they saw above them, darting through the air, one of the birds of Ares that haunt the island, which, shaking its wings over the speeding ship, let fly at it a sharp feather; and it fell on the left shoulder of divine Oileus; and he let his oar fall from his hands, stricken; and his comrades marveled at the winged shaft. And Erybotes, sitting beside him, drew it out, and bound up the wound, loosing the strap that hung from his own scabbard. And another appeared, flying on after the first; but the hero Clytius son of Eurytus—for he had already bent his curved bow, and let fly his swift shaft at the bird—then struck it; and whirling round it fell close by the swift ship. And Amphidamas, son of Aleus, spoke among them: "The island of Ares is near us; you yourselves know it too, having seen these birds. But I do not think arrows will avail us much for the landing. So let us devise some other helpful plan, if you mean to put ashore, mindful of Phineus, as he charged us. For not even Heracles, when he came to Arcadia, was able to drive off with his arrows the swimming birds of the Stymphalian lake—this I myself saw. But, shaking a brazen rattle in his hands, he made a din on a lofty crag; and they fled far off, shrieking in bewildered fear. Therefore now let us too devise some such plan; and I myself, having pondered it before, will tell it. Setting upon your heads your high-crested helmets, let half of you row in turn, and half fence the ship with polished spears and shields. And all together raise a mighty shout, in a body, that they may be frightened at the unwonted din and the nodding crests and the spears upraised above. And if we reach the island itself, then thereafter with clamor raise a monstrous din upon your shields." So he spoke; and the helpful plan pleased them all. And about their heads they set their helmets of bronze, gleaming terribly, and upon them the crests waved scarlet. And half of them rowed in turn, and the others covered the ship with spears and shields. And as when a man roofs over the wall of a house with tiles, to be both the dwelling's beauty and a shelter from the rain, and one tile fits firmly against another, overlapping; so they roofed the ship, fitting it together with shields. And such a cry as rises from the din of war of men in motion, when the battle-lines clash, such a shout was scattered up from the ship into the air. And they saw no more of the birds; but when, drawing near the island, they clashed upon their shields, at once in countless numbers, scattered here and there, the birds rose fluttering. And as when the son of Cronus sends a thick hail from the clouds upon a city and the houses, and beneath them the dwellers, hearing the rattle upon their roofs, sit in silence, since the season of storm has not caught them unawares, but they made fast their roofs beforehand; so the birds let fly their close-set feathers at them, darting up high over the sea to the mountains of the land on the far side. What then was the purpose of Phineus, to bid them put ashore here, this divine company of heroic men? Or what benefit was about to come to their longing? The sons of Phrixus, on their way to the city of Orchomenus from Aea, from Cytaean Aeetes, having gone aboard a Colchian ship, that they might win the boundless wealth of their father; for he, dying, had charged them with this journey. And indeed they were very near the island on that day. But Zeus roused the might of the north wind to blow, marking with rain the watery path of Arcturus; and by day it stirred the leaves on the mountains a little upon the topmost branches, blowing gently; but by night it came monstrous upon the sea, and raised the wave, shrieking with its blasts; and a black mist wrapped the sky, nor anywhere did the bright stars appear out of the clouds, but a murky gloom was set fast all around. And so, drenched, trembling at hateful death, the sons of Phrixus were borne helpless under the waves. And the might of the wind snatched away their sails, and the ship herself it broke in two, as she was shaken by the surge. There by the prompting of the gods, four though they were, they laid hold of a great beam, one of the many that were scattered, joined by sharp bolts, when the ship was shattered. And toward the island, just short of death, the waves and the gusts of wind bore them, in their distress. And straightway a furious rain burst, and it rained on the sea and the island and all the land which, facing the island, the overweening Mossynoeci inhabited. And the rush of the wave, with the mighty beam, cast the sons of Phrixus upon the shores of the island through the murky night; and the boundless rain from Zeus ceased with the sun; and soon they came near and met one another, and Argus first spoke this word: "We beseech you, by Zeus the Overseer, whoever of men you are, to be kind and to aid us in our need. For rough storms, falling upon the sea, have scattered all the timbers of the wretched ship, in which we were cutting our way, embarked upon a venture. Therefore now we entreat you, if you will hearken, to give us so much as a covering for our bodies, and to save men in their misfortune, taking pity on those of like age. But reverence suppliant strangers, for the sake of Zeus the god of strangers and of suppliants; for to Zeus belong both suppliants and strangers; and he, surely, is our Overseer too." And to him in turn the son of Aeson questioned wisely, thinking that the prophecies of Phineus were being fulfilled: "All these things we will at once provide for you in kindness. But come, tell me truly, in what part of the land you dwell, and what need bids you journey over the sea, and your own glorious name, and your lineage." And Argus answered him, helpless in his misfortune: "That one Phrixus, an Aeolid, came from Hellas to Aea, truly I think you have heard before yourselves, Phrixus, who went up to the city of Aeetes, mounted on the ram which Hermes made golden; and the fleece you might see even now. Then by his own counsel he sacrificed it to Zeus, son of Cronus, the god of refuge, above all gods. And him Aeetes received in his hall, and gave him his daughter Chalciope, without bride-gifts, in the gladness of his heart. From these two we are the offspring. But Phrixus now has died, grown old, in the halls of Aeetes; and we, at once heeding our father's commands, are journeying to Orchomenus for the possessions of Athamas. And if indeed you desire to learn our names also, this one's name is Cytissorus, and this one's Phrontis, and this one's Melas; and me you may call Argus." So he spoke; and the chieftains rejoiced at the meeting, and tended them in amazement. And Jason in turn answered with these fitting words: "Surely then you are kinsmen of mine on my father's side, and beseech us in kindness to aid you in your misfortune. For Cretheus and Athamas were brothers. And I am the grandson of Cretheus, and with these comrades I journey from Hellas itself to the city of Aeetes. But of these things we will speak together again hereafter. Now clothe yourselves first; by the prompting, I think, of the immortals you have come into my hands in your need." He spoke, and gave them from the ship garments to put on. And then all together they went to the temple of Ares, to sacrifice sheep; and in haste they stood about the altar, which was outside the roofless temple, of small stones; and within a black stone was set fast, a holy thing, to which once all the Amazons used to pray. Nor was it lawful for them, when they came from the opposite shore, to burn on this altar the offerings of sheep and oxen; but they cut up horses, which they keep in plenty. But when, having sacrificed, they had partaken of the ready feast, then the son of Aeson spoke and began his words: "Zeus in truth beholds all things; nor do we men escape him ever, who are god-fearing and just. For as he rescued your father from murder at his stepmother's hands, and gave him besides boundless wealth; so too he has now saved you unharmed from the deadly storm. And it is possible on this ship to journey this way or that, wherever you please, whether to Aea, or to the wealthy city of divine Orchomenus. For Athena fashioned it, and hewed with the axe the timbers about the peak of Pelion; and with her Argus built it. But that ship of yours the evil wave shattered, before you even came near the rocks which, in the narrow sea, clash together all day long with one another. But come, do you too be helpers to us, who seek to bring to Hellas the golden fleece, and guides of our voyage, since I set out to atone for the sacrifice of Phrixus, the wrath of Zeus against the Aeolids." So he spoke, soothing them; but they shuddered as they heard. For they did not think they would find Aeetes kindly, if they sought to carry off the fleece of the ram; and thus spoke Argus, vexed that they busied themselves with such a venture: "O friends, our strength, so far as it goes, shall never be withheld from aid, not in the least, when need comes upon us. But Aeetes is fitted out with deadly cruelties, terribly; therefore I am greatly afraid to sail. And he boasts to be the son of Helios; and round about him dwell the boundless tribes of the Colchians; and he might match even Ares in his terrible war-cry and his great strength. Nor indeed is it easy to take the fleece, away from Aeetes, such a serpent guards it round and round, deathless and sleepless, which Earth herself brought forth on the slopes of Caucasus, by the Typhaonian rock, where they say Typhaon, smitten by the thunderbolt of Zeus son of Cronus, when he stretched out his sturdy hands against him, let warm blood drip from his head; and so he came to the mountains and the Nysaean plain, where even now he lies submerged in the waters of the Serbonian lake." So he spoke; and the cheeks of many turned pale at once, when they heard of so great a trial. But quickly Peleus answered with bold words, and spoke: "Do not, good friend, be so greatly afraid in your heart. For we are not so lacking in valor that we should be weaker than Aeetes to make trial of him with arms. But I think that we too, knowing war, are come there, sprung from near the blood of the blessed gods. Therefore, if he will not in friendship grant the golden fleece, I do not expect the tribes of the Colchians will avail him." So they spoke to one another in turn, until again, sated with food, they lay down to sleep. And at dawn, as they awoke, a fair-blowing breeze arose; and they raised the sails, which under the rush of the wind were stretched taut; and swiftly they left behind the island of Ares. And in the night that followed they passed the island of Philyra; there Cronus, son of Uranus, while in Olympus he reigned over the Titans, and Zeus was still being reared in the Cretan cave by the Idaean Curetes, lay with Philyra, deceiving Rhea. But the goddess caught them on the bed between them; and he, springing up from the bed, rushed off in the form of a long-maned horse; but she in shame, leaving that place and those haunts, Philyra, daughter of Ocean, went to the long mountains of the Pelasgians, where she bore monstrous Chiron, half like a horse, half like a god, from that union of the bed. And thence again they passed by the Macrones and the boundless land of the Becheiri and the overweening Sapeires, and the Byzeres after them; for ever onward they cut their way in haste, borne by the warm wind. And now, as they journeyed, the recess of the Pontus opened before them. And now the steep crags of the Caucasian mountains rose up, sheer, where, his limbs bound about the rugged rocks with chains of bronze that none can loose, Prometheus fed with his liver an eagle that ever darted back again. At evening they saw it with a sharp whir on high flying over the ship, near the clouds; yet even so it shook all the sails, fanning by with its wings. For it had not the form of a bird of the air, but plied its swift pinions like polished oars. And not long after they heard the deeply groaning cry of Prometheus as his liver was torn out; and the air rang with his shrieking, until again they saw the flesh-eating eagle darting back the same way from the mountain. And by night, through the skill of Argus, they came to broad-flowing Phasis and the farthest bounds of the sea. And at once the sails and the sailyard within the hollow mast-rest they furled and stowed away; and the mast itself they straightway lowered, laying it aslant; and quickly with their oars they drove into the great stream of the river; and it on every side gave way before them, foaming. And they kept on their left hand steep 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 kept watch and guarded the fleece, spread upon the leafy branches of an oak. And the son of Aeson himself poured into the river from a golden cup libations of pure, honey-sweet wine, to Earth and to the gods of the land and to the souls of the dead heroes; and he prayed that they be kindly helpers without harm, and that they graciously receive the ship's cables. And at once Ancaeus spoke this word among them: "To the Colchian land, then, we have come, and to the streams of Phasis; and it is time for us to take counsel among ourselves, whether we shall make trial of Aeetes with gentleness, or whether some other approach shall serve." So he spoke; and again, at the urging of Argus, Jason bade them haul the ship high upon its moorings, driving into a shady marsh; and it was near at hand as they journeyed, where through the dusk they bivouacked. And not long after, Dawn appeared to them in their longing.