Book 3

3. Come now, Erato, stand beside me, and tell me how from this place Jason carried the fleece back to Iolcus by Medea's love. For you too share in Cypris' portion, and with your cares you enchant unwedded girls; therefore a lovely name has been fastened upon you.

So the heroes waited, hidden in the close reeds, lying in ambush unobserved. But Hera and Athena marked them, and withdrawing apart from Zeus himself and the other immortal gods, they went into a chamber and took counsel; and Hera first put Athena to the test: "Do you now first begin, daughter of Zeus, with your counsel. What is to be done? Will you devise some trick by which they may seize the golden fleece of Aeetes and bring it to Hellas, or persuade him with soft and winning words? For truly he is dreadfully overweening. Yet it is right to shrink from no attempt."

So she spoke; and at once Athena answered her: "Hera, you ask me outright of these very things that I myself was turning over in my mind. But I do not yet see how to contrive that trick which might profit the heart of the heroes; I have weighed many plans and am at a loss."

She spoke, and both fixed their eyes upon the ground before their feet, each pondering apart within herself. And straightway Hera, devising, was first to speak her thought: "Come, let us go to Cypris; let us both go to her and urge her to tell her boy, if he will obey, to charm with his arrows Aeetes' daughter, skilled in many drugs, and shoot her into love of Jason. For I think that by her counsels he will bring the fleece to Hellas."

So she spoke; and her shrewd plan pleased Athena, and again she answered her with gentle words: "Hera, my father bore me ignorant of such shafts, nor do I know any charm to wake desire. But if this plan is pleasing to you, then I will follow; only you must speak the word when we meet her."

She spoke, and they rose and went to the great house of Cypris, which her husband, the lame god, had built for her when first he led her from Zeus to be his bride. Entering the court, they stood beneath the gallery of the chamber where the goddess made ready the bed of Hephaestus. But he had gone at dawn to forge and anvil, into a broad recess of the wandering island, where he worked all manner of cunning bronze by the blast of fire; and she, alone, sat within the house upon a wrought chair, facing the doors. Letting her hair fall over her white shoulders on either side she was combing it with a golden comb, about to braid the long locks; but seeing them before her she checked herself, and called them within, and rose from her chair, and set them on couches; then afterward she too sat down, and with her hands bound up her uncombed hair. And smiling she addressed them with wheedling words: "Dear ones, what purpose and what need brings you here after so long? Why have you come, you who till now have not been overfrequent, since you are above the goddesses?"

To her Hera made answer and spoke: "You mock us; but our hearts are stirred with calamity. For already Aeson's son holds his ship fast in the river Phasis, he and all the others who follow for the fleece. For all of them, now that the task is near at hand, we fear terribly, but most of all for Aeson's son. Him, even if he sails to Hades' realm to free Ixion from his bonds of bronze below, I will save, so far as the strength is in my limbs, that Pelias may not mock and escape an evil doom, he who left me without honour among his sacrifices. And besides, even before this Jason was greatly dear to me, ever since at the outpouring of the brimming Anaurus he met me as I made trial of the righteousness of men, returning from the hunt; and all the mountains were sprinkled with snow, and the towering peaks, and down from them the torrents rolled, roaring as they swept along. In the likeness of an old woman he took pity on me, and lifting me up he himself carried me on his shoulders across the rushing water. Therefore he is honoured by me unceasingly; nor would Pelias pay the penalty of his outrage, unless you grant him his homecoming."

So she spoke; but speechlessness seized Cypris at her words. She felt awe to see Hera entreating her, and then she addressed her with gentle words: "Dread goddess, may no other thing prove worse than Cypris, if indeed I scorn your wish, in word or in deed, whatever these feeble hands can do. And let there be no recompense due to me in return."

So she spoke; and Hera again answered thoughtfully: "It is not for lack of force that we come, nor of hands. But just so, in quiet, bid your boy to charm Aeetes' maiden daughter with love of Aeson's son. For if she takes counsel kindly on his side, I think that he will easily win the golden fleece and return to Iolcus, since she is full of guile."

So she spoke; and Cypris said to them both: "Hera, and Athena, he would obey you two far more than me. For though he is shameless, there will be some little reverence in his eyes before you; but for me he has no regard, and ever wrangling he scorns me. Indeed I have a mind, beset with his wickedness, to break in pieces his ill-sounding arrows together with his bow before his face. For thus in his anger he threatened me, that if I do not keep my hands far from him while still he holds his temper in check, then afterward I shall have only myself to blame."

So she spoke; and the goddesses smiled and looked at one another. But she answered again, grieved: "To others my sorrows are a laughingstock; nor need I tell them to all; enough that I myself know. But now, since this is dear to you both, I will make the attempt and coax him, and he will not refuse."

So she spoke; and Hera touched her slender hand, and gently smiling addressed her in turn: "So now, Cytherea, perform this task at once, as you say; and be not vexed, nor quarrel in anger with your boy; for hereafter he will give over."

She spoke, and left her seat; and Athena went with her; and both went back the way they came. And she herself went too along the glens of Olympus, to find her boy. She found him apart, in the rich orchard of Zeus, not alone, but with Ganymede, whom once Zeus had settled in heaven to dwell among the immortals, charmed by his beauty. With golden dice, such as boys of one age play with, they were sporting together. And already greedy Eros held his hand filled to the brim beneath his breast, standing upright; and a sweet flush bloomed upon his cheeks. But the other sat crouched close by, silent and downcast; he had two left, and one after another he kept tossing them away, vexed at the other's laughter. And losing these too soon after the first, he went off empty-handed and helpless, nor did he notice Cypris drawing near. She stood facing her boy, and at once, taking him by the chin, she spoke: "Why do you smile so, you unspeakable rogue? Did you cheat him unfairly, taking advantage of one who is a novice? But come, do for me readily the task I shall name; and I will give you Zeus's lovely plaything, that one which his dear nurse Adrasteia made for him in the Idaean cave while he was still a babe at play— a well-rounded ball, than which you could not get from the hands of Hephaestus any better toy. Its rings are wrought of gold; and round each one double seams curve all about it; and the joins are hidden; and over all there runs a winding band of dark blue. But if you cast it in your hands, like a star it sends a flaming track through the air. This I will give you; but charm the daughter of Aeetes, and shoot her into love of Jason; and let there be no delay. For then the favour would be the fainter."

So she spoke; and the word was welcome to him as he heard it. He threw down all his toys, and with both hands clung unceasingly on this side and that to the goddess's robe. And he begged her to give it at once; but she with gentle words met him, and drawing him to her cheek, kissed him and held him close, and answered, smiling: "Now be this dear head of yours my witness, and my own, that truly I will give you the gift, and not deceive you, if you will plant your shaft in the daughter of Aeetes."

She spoke; and he gathered up the dice, and after he had counted them all well, threw them into his mother's shining lap. At once he slung over his shoulder the quiver hung by its golden strap, where it leaned against a tree-trunk, and took up his curved bow. And he went out through the fruitful orchard of Zeus's house. And then he passed through the gates of Olympus, of the upper air; from there a downward path leads, the path of heaven; and the two poles bear aloft the peaks of the towering mountains, the summits of earth, where the rising sun reddens with his first rays. Below, now the life-giving earth and the cities of men came into view, and the sacred streams of rivers, and now again the crags, and round about the sea, as he passed through the wide air.

But the heroes apart, upon the benches of their ship in the river, hidden by the marsh, were holding council. And Aeson's son himself was speaking; and they listened quietly, seated each in his place in order: "Friends, what pleases me myself I will declare; but it is for you to give it its accomplishment. For our need is common, and common are the words to all alike; and whoever in silence keeps back his thought and plan, let him know that he alone bears away the homecoming of this voyage. The rest of you stay quiet by the ship with your weapons; but I will go to the house of Aeetes, taking the sons of Phrixus and two companions besides. And first I will make trial with words, meeting him, to see whether he will give the golden fleece in friendship, or not, and trusting in his strength dishonour us who come for it. For thus, learning his ill-will from himself beforehand, we shall consider whether we shall meet him in battle, or whether some other plan will be of help to us, kept back from the war-cry. And let us not, by force alone, before we have made trial with words, deprive him of this his own possession. But first it is better to go and win him over with speech. Often, I tell you, a word easily accomplishes what valour could scarcely achieve, smoothing the matter fittingly, as need requires. And he too once received blameless Phrixus, fleeing his stepmother's guile and his father's sacrifice. For all men everywhere, even the most shameless of men, reverence the law of Zeus the guardian of strangers, and heed it."

So he spoke; and the young men approved the word of Aeson's son with one accord, nor was there any who bade otherwise. And then he urged the sons of Phrixus and Telamon to follow, and Augeias; and he himself took the staff of Hermes. And straightway, beyond the ship's reeds and water, they stepped out onto dry land, upon the rising ground of the plain. This place is called Circaeum; and there in a row grow many willows and tamarisks, and on the topmost branches of them corpses hang bound with cords. For even now it is an abomination to the Colchians to burn dead men with fire; nor in the earth is it lawful to lay them and heap a mound above, but wrapping them in untanned ox-hides to hang them from trees far from the city. Yet earth has its equal share with air, since they bury in the ground their women: for such is the ordinance of their custom.

As they went, Hera, devising kindness for them, spread a thick mist through the city, that they might pass unseen by the countless throng of the Colchians as they went to Aeetes. But quickly, when from the plain they reached the city and the halls of Aeetes, then again Hera scattered the cloud. And they stood at the entrance, marvelling at the king's courts and the wide gates and the columns that rose in rows about the walls; and over the house a coping of stone was fitted upon bronze triglyphs. In peace they then passed over the threshold. And near it cultivated vines, thick with green leaves, rose aloft in full bloom. And beneath them four ever-flowing fountains ran, which Hephaestus had dug. And one gushed with milk, another with wine, and a third flowed with fragrant oil; and one ran with water, which grew warm when the Pleiades were setting, and again, when they rose, in turn bubbled up from the hollow rock cold as crystal. Such, then, in the halls of Cytaean Aeetes were the marvellous works that cunning Hephaestus contrived. And he made him bulls with feet of bronze, and of bronze were their mouths, and from them they breathed a dread blaze of fire. And besides he forged a plough of one piece of stubborn adamant, paying recompense to Helios, who had received him in his chariot spent with the strife on the Phlegraean plain. And there too a middle court was built; and upon it were many well-fitted folding doors and chambers on this side and that; and a richly wrought gallery ran along on either hand. And slantwise on both sides stood loftier buildings. In one of these, the one that was the highest, the lord Aeetes dwelt with his wife; and in another dwelt Apsyrtus, the son of Aeetes. Him the Caucasian nymph Asterodeia bore before Aeetes took to wife Eidyia his wedded spouse, the youngest born of Tethys and Oceanus. And the sons of the Colchians called him by the name Phaethon, because he was preeminent among all the youths. The rest were kept by the handmaids and by Aeetes' two daughters, Chalciope and Medea. And her—Medea—the heroes met as she went from chamber to chamber to find her sister; for Hera kept her at home; before this she was not often in the halls, but all day long she busied herself about the temple of Hecate, since she was the goddess's own priestess— and as she saw them nearby, she cried out; and Chalciope heard sharply; and the handmaids, throwing down before their feet their yarn and spindles, all together ran out of doors. And she, with them, seeing her sons, raised her hands aloft in joy; and they likewise greeted their mother, and embraced her at the sight, glad of heart. And lamenting she spoke this word: "After all, then, you were not to leave me to my grief and wander far away; fate has turned you back to me. Wretched that I am, what longing for Hellas, out of some baleful ruin, by the charge of Phrixus your father, did you conceive? Dying, he laid grievous sorrows upon my heart. And why should you go to the city of Orchomenus, whoever this Orchomenus is, for the sake of the possessions of Athamas, leaving your own mother in her grief?"

So she spoke; and Aeetes came forth last to the door, and Eidyia herself, the wife of Aeetes, came out, hearing Chalciope; and at once the whole court was filled with the throng. Some of the servants busied themselves about a great bull; others split dry wood with bronze; others heated water for the bath; nor was there any who slackened from his toil, serving the king.

Meanwhile Eros came unseen through the grey air, in turmoil, even as the gadfly rises against young heifers, the fly that herdsmen call the breese. And quickly, stringing his bow under the lintel in the porch, he took from the quiver an unshot arrow, freighted with groans. And unseen with swift feet he crossed the threshold, glancing keenly about; and crouching small at Aeson's son's feet he set the notch in the middle of the string, and drawing it straight apart with both his hands he loosed it upon Medea; and speechless amazement seized her heart. And he himself darted back, laughing, out of the high-roofed hall; but the shaft burned deep within the maiden beneath her heart, like a flame; and ever and again she cast bright glances toward Aeson's son, and her shrewd wits fluttered from her breast with anguish, and she held no other remembrance, and her soul melted with sweet pain. As a woman heaps dry twigs about a blazing brand, a working-woman whose task is the spinning of wool, that she may kindle a light under her roof by night, having risen very early; and from the small brand the fire wakes wondrously and consumes all the twigs together; so, coiled beneath her heart, fell Love burned in secret, unseen; and her tender cheeks turned now pale, now red, in the distraction of her mind.

When the servants had set the meal ready before them, and they themselves had refreshed themselves with warm baths, gladly they pleased their hearts with food and drink. And after that Aeetes asked the sons of his daughter, addressing them with these encouraging words: "Sons of my child and of Phrixus, whom above all strangers I honoured in my halls, how have you come back to Aea? Did some calamity break your course midway as you sped? You did not heed me when I warned you of the boundless measure of the way. For I knew it once, whirled in the chariot of my father Helios, when he was bringing my sister Circe into the western land, and we came to the shore of the Tyrrhenian mainland, where even now she dwells, very far away from the Colchian land. But what pleasure is there in words? Tell me clearly what has befallen you, and who are these men that follow you, and where you stepped from your hollow ship."

As he questioned thus, before his brothers Argus, fearing for the company of Aeson's son, spoke gently, since he was the elder: "Aeetes, that ship the gusty storms scattered at once; and as we crouched upon the timbers the wave cast us up onto the dry land of the island of Enyalius in the murky night; and some god saved us. For even the birds of Ares that before now haunted that desolate island—not even those did we find. But these men had driven them away, going ashore from their ship the day before; and the will of Zeus, pitying us, kept them there, or else some fate, since at once they gave us food enough and clothing, hearing the glorious name of Phrixus and of yourself; for they are journeying to your city. And if you wish to know their need, I will not hide it from you. A certain king, eager to drive this man far from his country and his possessions, because in valour he was preeminent among all the sons of Aeolus, sends him here to make this impossible journey; and he declares that the Aeolids' race shall not escape the heart-grieving wrath of relentless Zeus, nor his anger, nor the unendurable pollution and the penalty for Phrixus, until the fleece comes to Hellas. And Pallas Athena built the ship, not such a one as the ships are among the Colchian men, the worst of which we chanced upon. For utterly the raging water and the wind tore it apart; but the other holds fast in its bolts, even if all the storms bear down upon it. And it runs as fast before the wind as when the men themselves press it on unceasingly with their hands at the oars. Having gathered into it the best of the heroes of all Achaea, he has come to your city, having wandered through many cities and seas of the dread brine, in the hope you will grant him the fleece. But as you see fit, so it shall be; for he does not come to use force; he is eager to render you a worthy recompense for the gift, since he has heard from me of those great foes, the Sauromatae, whom he will subdue beneath your sceptre. And if you wish indeed to know the names and lineage, who they are, I will tell you each thing. This man, for whose sake the others were gathered from Hellas, they call Jason, son of Aeson, son of Cretheus. And if he is truly of the stock of Cretheus himself, then he would be a kinsman of ours on the father's side. For both Cretheus and Athamas were sons of Aeolus; and Phrixus in turn was the son of Athamas the son of Aeolus. And this man, if you have heard of any offspring of Helios, you behold to be Augeias; and this is Telamon, sprung from most glorious Aeacus; and Zeus himself begot Aeacus. And so too all the rest, all the comrades who follow, are sons and grandsons of the immortals."

Such things Argus told; but the king's spirit swelled with anger as he listened; and high his mind soared in his wrath. And he spoke in indignation; and he was most enraged with the sons of Chalciope; for on their account, he supposed, the strangers had come; and his eyes flashed beneath his brows in his fury: "Out of my sight at once, you villains, go back with your tricks out of the land, before someone sees a baleful fleece and a Phrixus! Joining at once from Hellas, not for the fleece but for my sceptre and royal honour, you come here. If you had not first touched my table, truly I would have cut out your tongues and hewn off both your hands and sent you forth with only your feet, that you might be restrained from setting out even hereafter, seeing what lies too you have invented against the blessed gods."

So he spoke in his anger; and greatly the heart of Aeacus' son swelled within from the depths; and his spirit longed to speak a deadly word in answer face to face; but Aeson's son restrained him; for he himself first answered with soft words: "Aeetes, bear with this expedition of mine. For not at all do we come to your city and halls as you perhaps suppose, nor of our own desire. Who would willingly endure to cross so great a swell of sea for another's possession? But a divinity and the cruel command of a wicked king has stirred me. Grant a favour to your suppliants; and through all Hellas I will bear your divine renown; and indeed we are already ready to pay you swift recompense in war, whether it is the Sauromatae you desire, or some other people you would subdue beneath your sceptre."

So he spoke, fawning with gentle voice; but the other's spirit seethed within his breast with a twofold purpose, whether to set upon them and slay them there outright, or to make trial of their strength. This seemed to him the better as he pondered; and he answered him with these words: "Stranger, why recount each thing at length? For if you are truly the race of gods, or otherwise have come no worse than I against another's goods, I will give you the golden fleece to take, if you wish, when you have been tried. For toward brave men I grudge nothing, such as you tell me is he who rules in Hellas. And the trial of your courage and strength shall be a contest, which I myself accomplish with my hands, deadly though it is. Two bulls of bronze feet range the plain of Ares, breathing flame from their mouths; these I yoke and drive over the stubborn fallow of Ares, four acres, and quickly cutting it to the boundary with the plough I cast into the furrows not the seed of Demeter's grain, but the teeth of a dread serpent, which grow into the bodies of armed men. These then, slaying them on the spot, I cut down with my spear as they rise against me on every side. At dawn I yoke the oxen, and at the hour of evening I cease from the harvest. And you, if you accomplish these things thus, on the same day shall carry off this fleece to the king's house; but before that I will not give it, do not hope for it. For indeed it is unseemly that a man who is born noble should yield to a meaner man."

So he spoke; and Jason, fixing his eyes upon the ground before his feet, sat just so, speechless, helpless in his trouble. For a long time he turned the plan over, and could in no way take it up boldly, since the deed appeared great. At last, answering, he addressed him with cunning words: "Aeetes, with full justice you hold me hard pressed. Therefore I too will dare this contest, overweening as it is, even if it is my fate to die. For no other thing more dreadful will lie upon men than harsh necessity, which has compelled me to come even here at a king's bidding."

So he spoke, smitten with helplessness; but the other addressed him in his distress with terrible words: "Go now to the company, since you are eager for the labour; but if you should shrink from lifting the yoke upon the oxen, or draw back from the deadly harvest, then all these things shall be my care, so that another man too may shudder to go after a better man."

So he spoke openly; and Jason rose from his seat, and Augeias and Telamon at once; and Argus followed, alone, for he had signed midway to his brothers to remain there yet; and they went out of the hall. And wondrously among them all shone the son of Aeson in beauty and grace; and upon him the maiden, casting a sidelong glance past her bright veil, gazed, her heart smouldering with anguish; and her mind like a dream crept hovering after him as he went.

And so they went out of the house, sorrowing. And Chalciope, guarding herself against Aeetes' wrath, went quickly to her chamber with her sons. And Medea likewise withdrew; and much in her heart she pondered, all that the Loves stir one to care for. And still before her eyes all things appeared, himself, what he was like, and in what robes he was clad, what he said, how he sat upon his seat, how toward the door he went; nor did she think, in her brooding, that any other man was such as he; and ever in her ears there rang his voice and the honey-sweet words that he had spoken. And she trembled for him, lest the bulls or Aeetes himself should destroy him; and she mourned as though he were already quite dead, and down her tender cheeks a tear ran from most piteous pity in her cares; and softly weeping she shrilly lifted up her voice: "Why does this grief possess me, wretched as I am? Whether he, of all the heroes, is to perish the foremost, or whether the worse, let him be gone. And yet would that he might escape unharmed. Yes, lady goddess, daughter of Perses, may this come to pass, that he return home escaping his doom; but if it is his fate to be slain by the bulls, may he learn this first, that I take no pleasure in his cruel ruin."

So the maiden was distraught in mind with her cares.

But they, when they had passed beyond the people and the city by the road by which they had come up from the plain, then Argus addressed Jason with these words: "Aeson's son, you will scorn the counsel that I shall tell; but it is not fitting to give up the trial in our distress. You have yourself heard from me before of a certain maiden who works charms by the counsels of Hecate, daughter of Perses. If we could win her over, I think there would be no more fear for you in the contest, of being overcome; but I am terribly afraid that my mother will not undertake this for me. Nevertheless I will go back again to entreat her, since a common ruin hangs over us all."

So he spoke with good will; and Jason answered him with these words: "Good friend, if this is pleasing to you, I do not object. Go then, and with shrewd words stir your mother with entreaty; yet feeble is the hope that has arisen for us, when we entrust our homecoming to women."

So he spoke; and quickly they reached the marsh again. But their comrades joyfully questioned them, when they saw them present; and to them Aeson's son spoke this word in grief: "Friends, the heart of pitiless Aeetes is set against us outright in anger; for each thing has no end either for me or for you if you should ask. He said that two bulls of bronze feet range the plain of Ares, breathing flame from their mouths. And on these he bade me plough up four acres of fallow; and he will give from a serpent's jaws a seed that sends up earthborn men in armour of bronze; and on that same day I must slay them. This—since there was no other better thing to devise—I undertook outright."

So he spoke; and to all the contest seemed impossible, and long in silence and speechless they looked at one another, downcast with calamity and helplessness; but at last Peleus spoke boldly among all the chieftains: "It is time to take counsel what we shall do. Yet I do not think there is so much profit in counsel as in the strength of our hands. If now you yourself purpose to yoke the bulls of Aeetes, hero, son of Aeson, and are eager for the labour, then truly, keeping your promise, you may make ready; but if your spirit does not trust altogether in its own valour, neither hasten yourself, nor look about to any other of these men sitting by. For I will not hold back, since death will be the worst of pains."

So spoke Aeacus' son; and Telamon's spirit was stirred; and eagerly he sprang up swiftly; and third Idas rose, mighty in pride, and upon them the sons of Tyndareus; and with them too the son of Oeneus, counted among grown men, though not so much as the down was sprouting on his cheeks; with such strength was his spirit lifted. But the others yielded and kept silence. And straightway Argus spoke this word to them who longed for the contest: "Friends, truly this is our last resort. But I think there will be some timely help for you from my mother. Therefore, eager as you are, restrain yourselves in the ship a little while yet, as before, since even to hold back is after all better than to seize a wretched doom by recklessness. A certain maiden is reared in the halls of Aeetes, whom the goddess Hecate taught beyond all others to handle drugs, all that the mainland and the brimming water bring forth. With these even the breath of unwearying fire is softened, and she stays at once the rivers that flow loud-roaring, and binds the stars and the paths of the sacred moon. Of her we bethought ourselves as we came hither along the path from the hall, whether she, being our mother's sister, might be able to persuade our mother to aid us in the contest. And if this is pleasing to you too, then I will go this very day back to the house of Aeetes to make trial; and perhaps with some god's help I shall succeed."

So he spoke; and the gods in their kindness gave them a sign. A trembling dove, fleeing the might of a hawk, fell from on high in terror into the lap of Aeson's son; and the hawk dashed itself upon the ship's stern. And quickly Mopsus spoke this word of prophecy among them all: "For you, friends, this sign is wrought by the will of the gods; nor is there any better way to interpret it, than to approach the maiden with words, plying her with every device. And I think she will not refuse, if truly Phineus said that our homecoming would lie with the goddess Cypris. The gentle bird of hers escaped its doom; and as my heart within my breast forebodes from this omen, so may it come to pass. But, friends, calling on Cytherea to aid us, now obey the counsels of Argus."

So he spoke; and the young men approved, remembering the charges of Phineus. Only Idas, son of Aphareus, leapt up, terribly indignant, and cried out with a great voice: "Alas, have we come here as fellow-voyagers with women, who call on Cypris to be our helper, and no longer on the great might of Enyalius? And looking to doves and hawks, do you hold back from the contest? Be gone, and let no warlike deeds be your concern, but to beguile feeble maidens with prayers!"

So he spoke in his eagerness; and many of the comrades murmured low, yet none spoke a word against him to his face. And in his anger he then sat down; and Jason at once, rousing their resolve, spoke his mind thus: "Let Argus set out from the ship, since this is pleasing to all; but we ourselves will now openly make fast our cables to the shore from the river. For surely it is fitting no longer to hide cowering from the war-cry."

So he spoke; and at once he sent him off to go quickly back into the city; and they, drawing up the anchor-stones of the ship at the bidding of Aeson's son, rowed it a little out of the marsh and beached it on the dry land.

But straightway Aeetes held an assembly of the Colchians apart from his own house, where also before they used to sit, devising unbearable treacheries and woes for the Minyae. He vowed that, as soon as the bulls had torn in pieces the man who had undertaken to accomplish the heavy contest, he would tear up the thicket above the shaggy hill and burn the ship with all its crew, that they might spew out their grievous insolence, plotting their overweening deeds. For he said he would never have received the Aeolid Phrixus as a guest in his halls, however much he needed it, Phrixus who excelled all strangers in gentleness and fear of the gods, had not Zeus himself sent from heaven Hermes as messenger, that he might meet with a kindly host; much less would robbers coming into his land be long unpunished, men whose care it is to lay their hands upon the goods of strangers, and to contrive secret treacheries, and to ravage the steadings of herdsmen with ill-sounding raids. And besides he said that the sons of Phrixus would pay him a fitting recompense, since they had come back in company with evildoing men, that they might drive him from his honour and his sceptre, heedless of him; even as once a baleful oracle he had heard from his father Helios, that he must avoid the cunning treachery and the plans of his own offspring and their manifold mischief; therefore he was sending them, eager as they were, to the Achaean land at their father's bidding, a long journey. And of his daughters he had not the least fear, that they might devise some hateful plot, nor of his son Apsyrtus; but in the race of Chalciope these woes were appointed to be. And he declared his unbearable purposes to the people in his wrath; and greatly he threatened to guard the ship and the men themselves, that none might escape from ruin.

Meanwhile, going to the house of Aeetes, Argus tried to persuade his mother with all manner of words to entreat Medea to help them; and she herself had already thought of this; but fear held back her spirit, lest perhaps she should plead in vain and beyond what was fated, since the girl was dismayed by her father's deadly wrath, or lest, if she yielded to the prayers, the deeds should become clear and open.

But upon the maiden a deep sleep relieved her of her griefs as she lay back upon her bed. And straightway beguiling dreams, such as come to one in distress, baneful, kept troubling her. She thought the stranger had taken up the contest, not at all eager to carry off the ram's fleece, nor for the sake of that had he come to the city of Aeetes, but that he might lead her to his own home as his wedded wife; and she dreamed that she herself about the bulls was contending, accomplishing it very easily; but that her own parents made light of the promise, because they had not bidden the girl to yoke the bulls, but him himself; and from this there arose a quarrel of dispute between her father and the strangers; and to her both gave it over to decide as she should choose in her own mind. And she suddenly, scorning her parents, chose the stranger; and unspeakable grief seized them, and they cried out in anger; and with the cry sleep released her. Trembling she started up in fear, and round about the walls of the chamber she looked; and hardly did she gather her spirit back into her breast as before, and lifted up a wailing voice: "Wretched that I am, how the heavy dreams have frightened me! I fear lest this journey of the heroes bring some great evil. My heart is in a flutter for the stranger. Let him woo some Achaean girl far away among his own people; but let maidenhood and my parents' house be my concern. Yet, putting on a shameless heart, no longer apart from my sister will I make trial, whether she may ask me to help in the contest, grieving for her sons; that would quench the bitter pain in my heart."

She spoke, and rose and opened the doors of her chamber, barefoot, in a single garment; and indeed she longed to go to her sister, and she crossed the threshold of the court. But long she stayed there in the porch of her chamber, held back by shame; and she turned back again behind her, wheeling about; and from within she came out again, and shrank back inside; her feet bore her this way and that to no purpose; whenever she set out, shame held her back within; and held back by shame, bold desire urged her on. Three times she made the attempt, three times she held back; the fourth time she fell prone upon her bed, writhing. As when a bride mourns in her chamber her vigorous husband, to whom her brothers and parents had given her, nor does she yet mingle with all her handmaids out of modesty and discretion, but sits grieving in a corner; and some doom has destroyed him, before the two could take delight in each other's love; and she, burning within, weeps in silence, looking on her widowed bed, lest the women mock her with their jeers; like her Medea lamented. And as she wept, one of the handmaids, coming up midway, suddenly noticed her, one who was her young attendant; and at once she told Chalciope; and she among her sons sat planning how to win over her sister. But even so she did not disbelieve, when she heard from the handmaid the unlooked-for word; and amazed she rushed straight from chamber to chamber, where the girl lay grieving, and had torn her cheeks on either side; and when she saw her eyes defiled with tears, she spoke to her: "Ah me, Medea, why do you shed these tears? What has befallen you? What dread grief has come upon your heart? Has some heaven-sent sickness coursed through your limbs, or have you learned of some deadly threat from our father against me and my sons? Would that I might look upon neither this house of my parents, nor the city, but dwell at the ends of the earth, where not even the name of the Colchians is known."

So she spoke; and the girl's cheeks flushed; and long did maidenly shame keep her back from answering, eager though she was. Now the word would rise to the very tip of her tongue, now it flew back down within her breast. Often it surged to her lovely lips to be told; but no further came the sound; at last she spoke thus, with guile; for bold Loves pressed hard upon her: "Chalciope, my heart is in a flutter for your sons, lest my father destroy them at once together with the stranger men. Such things, sinking into brief sleep just now, I saw in baleful dreams, which may some god render of no effect, nor may you take grievous sorrow for your sons."

So she spoke, making trial of her sister, whether she would first entreat her to aid her children. But unbearable anguish overwhelmed her sister's spirit with terror at what she heard; and she answered thus with words: "I too came after all these things, pondering, whether you might devise and contrive some help with me. But swear by Earth and Heaven that what I tell you you will keep in your heart, and be a fellow-worker with me. I beseech you by the blessed gods, and by yourself and your parents, not to see them destroyed by an evil doom, wretchedly; or else may I, dying together with my dear sons, become afterward a hateful Fury upon you from Hades."

So she spoke, and at once a flood of tears poured forth; and below she clasped her sister's knees with both her hands, and let her head fall upon her lap. Then a piteous wailing they raised, each over the other; and a thin moaning rose through the house of the two grieving in their sorrows. And Medea first addressed her in distress: "Strange one, what remedy can I work for you, who speak of curses and hateful Furies? Would that it lay firmly in my power to save your sons. Let the dread oath of the Colchians be my witness, by which you yourself bid me swear, great Heaven, and Earth below, mother of the gods, that with all the strength that is in me I will not fail you, if you ask things that can be done."

She spoke; and Chalciope answered her with these words: "Could you not then, for the stranger, since he too is in need, devise some trick or some plan for the contest, for my sons' sake? And from him comes Argus, urging me to make trial of your aid; midway I left him in the house when I came here."

So she spoke; and within the heart of Medea leapt with joy, and her fair skin flushed all at once, and a mist came over her as she was warmed with gladness, and she spoke this word: "Chalciope, as is dear and delightful to you both, so will I do. For may the dawn not shine in my eyes, nor may you look on me alive much longer, if I hold anything dearer than your life, or than your sons, who are indeed my brothers, dear kinsmen and of my own age. And so too I declare myself to be your sister and your child, since you reared me at your breast as one of them, a little child, as I ever heard from my mother. But go, hide my favour in silence, that I may escape my parents' notice while I prepare the promise; and at dawn I will bring to the temple of Hecate charms to enchant the bulls."

So she went again out of the chamber, and told her sons of their aunt's help. But again shame and hateful fear seized her, left alone, to be contriving such things against her father, on a man's behalf.

Night then drew darkness over the earth; and on the sea the sailors looked from their ships toward the Bear and the stars of Orion; and now the wayfarer and the gatekeeper longed for sleep; and some mother of dead children a deep slumber enfolded; nor was there any more barking of dogs through the city, nor ringing sound; silence held the darkening gloom. But by no means did sweet sleep seize Medea. For many cares wakened her in her longing for Aeson's son, fearing the mighty strength of the bulls, by which he was destined to perish by an unseemly fate on the plain of Ares. And fast her heart throbbed within her breast, as when a sunbeam quivers within a house, darting up from water just now poured into a cauldron or perhaps into a pail; and here and there in the swift eddy it is shaken as it leaps; so too within her breast the girl's heart quivered. And a tear of pity flowed from her eyes; and within anguish ever tormented her, smouldering through her flesh, about the fine sinews and beneath the lowest nape of the head, where the most grievous pain sinks in, whenever the unwearying Loves cast their sorrows upon the heart. And she said to herself, now that she would give the charms to enchant the bulls, now that she would not; and that she herself would perish too; and then again that she would neither die herself, nor give the charms, but would just endure her ruin in quiet. Then sitting down she pondered, and spoke aloud: "Wretched that I am, here am I, between one evil and another. On every side my wits are helpless; nor is there any defence against my pain; but it burns me steadily, without ceasing. Would that I had been slain before by the swift arrows of Artemis, before I had set eyes on him, before the sons of Chalciope had come to the Achaean land. Them some god or some Fury brought hither from there, much-lamented sorrows for us. Let him perish in the contest, if it is his fate to die on the plain. For how could I prepare the charms unnoticed by my parents? What story shall I tell? What trick, what cunning device shall there be for my aid? Shall I greet him alone, apart from his comrades, when I see him? Ill-starred that I am! I do not hope, even if he should die, to find rest from my griefs; then evil would come to me, when he is bereft of life. Away with shame, away with my glory! And he, saved by my will, unharmed, where it pleases his heart, there let him go. But I, on the very day he accomplishes the contest, let me die, either fastening a noose about my throat to the roof-beam, or tasting drugs that destroy the spirit. Yet even so, when I am dead, they will cast scoffs at me hereafter; and far off the whole city will cry aloud my doom; and the Colchian women, bearing me about on their lips, this way and that, will mock me shamefully— the girl who, caring so for a foreign man, died, who disgraced her house and her parents, yielding to wantonness. What shame will not be mine? Ah me, for my ruin! Truly it would be far better this very night to leave my life in my chamber by an unlooked-for doom, escaping all evil reproaches, before I accomplish these shameful and unspeakable deeds."

She spoke, and went to fetch a casket, in which lay many drugs, some healing, some destroying. And setting it upon her knees she wept; and she drenched her bosom unceasingly with tears, which flowed unstanched just so, as she bitterly bewailed her own doom. And she longed to choose out the drugs that destroy the spirit, that she might taste them. And now she was loosing the fastenings of the casket, eager to take them out, ill-fated one. But suddenly a deadly dread of hateful Hades came over her heart. And long she was held in speechlessness, and round about her all the heart-pleasing cares of life appeared. She remembered the delights, all that there are among the living; she remembered her glad companions, such as a girl knows; and the sun grew sweeter for her to behold than before, if in truth her mind reached after each thing. And she set the casket back again from her knees, turned about by the promptings of Hera, and no longer debated her plans this way and that; but she longed for dawn to appear at once, that she might give him the enchanting charms by agreement, and meet him face to face. And often she loosed the bolts of her doors, watching for the gleam; and gladly to her the light shed by the Dawn-born, and people stirred throughout the city.

Then Argus bade his brothers stay yet there, that they might learn the mind and counsels of the girl; but he himself went on ahead, withdrawing first to the ship.

And she, when first she saw the dawn shining, the maiden, bound up with her hands her golden hair, which had hung loose and unkempt in her neglect, and cleansed her dry cheeks; and with ambrosial ointment she brightened her skin; and she put on a lovely robe, fitted with well-curved clasps; and over her divine head she threw a silvery veil. And there in the house, moving about, she trod the floor, forgetting her griefs that lay before her feet, the wondrous ones, and others that were to grow hereafter. And she called to her handmaids, who in all were twelve, who lodged in the porch of her fragrant chamber, her companions, not yet sharing the bed with men, to yoke the mules in haste to the chariot, to carry her to the lovely temple of Hecate. Then the handmaids made ready the chariot; and she meanwhile took out from the hollow casket a drug which they say is called the drug of Prometheus. If a man, having appeased the only-begotten maiden with nightly sacrifice, should anoint his body with it, then truly he could neither be cut by strokes of bronze, nor would he yield to blazing fire; but in valour too he would be the better that day, alike in might. It first sprang up when the flesh-eating eagle let drip to the ground on the Caucasian crags the bloody ichor of suffering Prometheus. And its flower appeared a cubit high above, in colour like the Corycian crocus, raised on twin stalks; but in the earth the root was like flesh newly cut. The dark juice of it, like the black sap of a mountain oak, she had gathered in a Caspian shell to make her charm, having bathed seven times in ever-flowing streams, and seven times having called on Brimo, nurse of youth, Brimo, night-wanderer, of the underworld, queen of the dead, in the murky night, in dark garments. And with a bellowing the dark earth shook beneath as the Titan root was cut; and groaned himself the son of Iapetus, his spirit distracted with pain. This she drew forth and set in a fragrant band, which was tied about her ambrosial breast. And going out of doors she stepped upon the swift chariot; and with her two handmaids mounted on either side. And she herself took the reins and the well-made whip in her right hand, and drove through the city; and the other handmaids, holding to the chariot-frame behind, ran along the broad highway; and their thin tunics they lifted up to the white of the knee. And as by the warm waters of Parthenius, or having bathed in the river Amnisus, Leto's daughter, standing on her golden chariot, drives with her swift deer over the hills, coming from afar to a rich-savoured hecatomb; and with her follow the nymphs, her attendants, gathered some at the very spring of Amnisus, and others about the groves and the many-fountained peaks; and round about the beasts fawn and whimper, cowering as she goes; so they sped through the city; and on either side the people gave way, avoiding the eyes of the royal maiden. But when she had left the well-built streets of the city, and reached the temple, driving across the plains, then she stepped down eagerly there from the swift-wheeled chariot, and spoke thus among her handmaids: "Friends, truly I have greatly erred, and did not consider that I ought not to go among foreign men, who roam over our land. The whole city is smitten with helplessness; and so none of those women have come up here who before gathered here day by day. But since we have come, and no one else approaches, come, let us satisfy our hearts to the full with sweet song, and gathering the lovely flowers of the soft grass, then at the same hour we will return. And you shall come home with many gifts this day, if you will agree with me in this desire. For Argus turns me with his words, and so too does Chalciope; but keep in your minds, hearing this in silence from me, that no word may reach my father's ears. They bid me, taking gifts, to rescue the stranger who undertook the contest with the bulls from his deadly trials. But I approved the plan, and I bid him come into my sight alone, apart from his comrades, that we may divide the gifts among ourselves, if he brings and gives them, and may give him in turn a worse drug. But stand apart from me when he comes."

So she spoke; and the cunning plan pleased them all. And straightway, drawing Aeson's son alone from his comrades, Argus, when now he heard from his brothers that she had gone in the morning to the holy temple of Hecate, led him across the plain; and with them went Mopsus, son of Ampycus, skilled to interpret the birds that appeared, and skilled to give good counsel to those who set out.

Never yet was there such a man among men of former times, neither of those who are the race of Zeus himself, nor of those who sprang from the blood of the other immortals, as Jason was made that day by the wife of Zeus, both to look upon face to face, and to speak with. And gazing on him his very comrades marvelled, shining with grace; and the son of Ampycus rejoiced in the journey, already foreseeing each thing.

There is, along the path of the plain near the temple, a poplar luxuriant with countless leaves, on which the chattering crows often roosted. One of them midway, flapping her wings high on the topmost boughs, rebuked the counsels of Hera: "A glory-less seer is this, who does not even know in his mind what children know, that neither pleasant nor lovely word will a maiden speak to a youth, while strangers follow at his side. Be gone, foul-prophesying, ill-counselling seer! Neither Cypris nor the gentle loving Loves breathe upon you."

So she spoke in reproach; and Mopsus smiled, hearing the heaven-sent voice of the bird, and spoke thus: "Go you to the temple of the goddess, where you will find the girl, son of Aeson; and very kindly you will meet her by the counsels of Cypris, who shall be your fellow-worker in the contest, as before Phineus the son of Agenor foretold. But we two, Argus and I, will withdraw, awaiting you when you come, in this very place; and you, alone, entreat her, winning her over with shrewd words."

He spoke with full wisdom; and both approved nearby.

Nor indeed did the heart of Medea turn to think of other things, for all her singing; and no song that she played at, none pleased her long to amuse herself with. But helpless she kept breaking off, nor ever held her eyes steady among the throng of her handmaids; but toward the paths she kept gazing far off, turning aside her cheek. And often her heart broke within her breast, whenever she fancied the sound of a footstep or of the wind passing by. But not long after he appeared to her in her longing, springing up on high like Sirius from Ocean, who indeed rises fair and clear to behold, but brings unspeakable woe upon the flocks; so to her there came, fair to look upon, the son of Aeson, but by his appearing he woke the pain of ill-starred love. And her heart fell from her breast, and her eyes grew dim of themselves; and a warm flush seized her cheeks. Her knees she had no strength to lift, either backward or forward, but beneath her her feet were fixed fast. And meanwhile all her handmaids had withdrawn apart from them. And the two stood speechless and without voice facing each other, like oaks, or like tall pines, which stand rooted side by side quietly in the mountains, in a windless calm; but afterward again, by a gust of wind stirred, they murmur endlessly; so these two were destined to speak much under the breath of Love.

And Aeson's son knew that she had fallen into love-stricken distress by heaven's decree, and spoke this soothing word: "Why, maiden, do you so dread me, who am alone? I am not, like other vainglorious men there are, not even when I dwelt in my own country was I before. So do not be too shy of me, girl, either to ask whatever you wish, or to say anything. But since we have come together with kindly intent, in a holy place, where it is not lawful to do wrong, speak openly and ask; nor with pleasant words beguile me, since at the first you promised to your sister to give me welcome charms. I beseech you by Hecate herself and by your parents and by Zeus, who holds out his hand over strangers and suppliants; both as suppliant and stranger I come hither to you, entreating you in bitter necessity. For without you I shall not be superior in the grievous contest. And to you I would render thanks hereafter for your aid, as is right, as befits those who dwell far apart, making your name and fair renown; and so too the other heroes will glorify you, returning to Hellas, and the wives of heroes and their mothers, who perhaps already sit on the shores and lament for us; their grievous pains you might scatter. Once too Theseus was delivered from his evil trials by the maiden, daughter of Minos, kindly-minded Ariadne, whom Pasiphae, daughter of Helios, bore. But she, when Minos had lulled his wrath, sat with him in the ship and left her country; and her the immortals themselves loved, and as a sign for her in mid-air a crown of stars, which men call Ariadne's, wheels all night long among the heavenly constellations. So too for you there shall be thanks from the gods, if you save so great a company of noble men. For truly you seem from your form to be adorned with gentle courtesies."

So he spoke, glorifying her; and she, casting down her eyes to one side, smiled a nectarous smile; and her spirit melted within uplifted by his praise, and she looked up straight into his eyes; nor did she know what word to speak first, but longed to pour out all things at once together. And without restraint she drew forth from the fragrant band the charm; and he straightway received it gladly in his hands. And now she would even have drawn all her soul from her breast and given it him, rejoicing, at his desire; such love flashed its sweet flame from the golden head of Aeson's son; and it caught up the glances of her eyes; and her heart within grew warm, melting, as the dew melts about the roses, warmed by the morning beams. And the two now would fix their eyes upon the ground, abashed, now again would cast their glances upon each other, smiling with love beneath their bright brows. And at last, hardly, the girl addressed him thus: "Mark now, how I will devise aid for you. When at your coming my father gives into your hands from the serpent's jaws the deadly teeth to sow, then, watching for the dividing of midnight, having bathed in the streams of the unwearying river, alone, apart from the others, in dark garments, dig a round pit; and in it slay a ewe lamb, and lay it whole upon the fire, having heaped the pyre well over the pit itself. And propitiate the only-begotten Hecate, daughter of Perses, pouring from the cup the hive-labours of bees. And there, when you have remembered and appeased the goddess, draw back from the pyre; and let no sound, either of feet, move you to turn back behind, nor barking of dogs, lest by spoiling each thing you yourself come not duly to your comrades. And at dawn, having steeped this charm, like an ointment strip and anoint your body; and in it there will be boundless might and great strength, and you would say that you matched not men, but the immortal gods. And besides, let your spear too be sprinkled, and your shield, and your sword. Then the points of the earthborn men could not cut through you, nor the irresistible darting flame of the deadly bulls. Yet such you will not be for long, but for that one day; still, never withdraw from the contest. And I will tell you another help besides. At once, when you have yoked the strong bulls, and quickly with your hands and your valour have ploughed up all the stubborn fallow, and they, the Giants, now spring up along the furrows where the serpent's teeth are sown upon the dark clod, if you see many rising from the fallow, secretly cast among them a heavy stone; and over it they, like ravening dogs over their food, will slay one another; and you yourself hasten to rush into the fray. And the fleece, for that reason, to Hellas you shall carry far away from Aea; yet go nonetheless wherever you please, or wherever you are minded to go, when you have set out."

So she spoke, and in silence cast her eyes to the ground before her feet, and wet her divine cheek with warm tears, weeping, that he was to wander far away from her over the sea; and with a sorrowful word, face to face, again she addressed him, and took him by his right hand; for now shame had left her eyes: "Remember, if ever you come back home again, the name of Medea; and so I likewise, even when you are far away, will remember you. But tell me kindly this, where lie your halls, where now from here will you cross over the sea in your ship; will you come near to rich Orchomenus, or near the isle of Aeaea? And tell me of the maiden, whoever this is you named, the renowned daughter of Pasiphae, who is of one stock with my father."

So she spoke; and over him too the tears of the maiden brought stealing fell Love, and he answered thus: "Truly I think that neither by night nor ever by day shall I forget you, if I escape my doom, and if in truth I flee unscathed to Achaea, and if Aeetes sets no other worse contest before us. But if it pleases you to know of our country, I will tell it; for my heart too greatly bids me. There is a land ringed about by lofty mountains, rich in flocks and good pasture, where Prometheus, son of Iapetus, begot good Deucalion, who first made cities and built temples to the immortals, and first was king over men. The neighbouring peoples call that land Haemonia. In it is Iolcus, my city, and in it also many other cities are inhabited, where not even the name of the isle of Aeaea is heard. Yet Minyas they say, setting out, Aeolian Minyas, from there once founded the city of Orchomenus on the borders of the Cadmeans. But why do I tell you all these idle things, of our home and of far-famed Ariadne, daughter of Minos, by which glorious name they called that lovely maiden, of whom you ask me? Would that, as Minos then agreed with Theseus concerning her, so your father might be in friendship with us."

So he spoke, soothing her with gentle words. But the most grievous anguish stirred her heart, and in her sorrow she addressed him with a piercing word: "In Hellas perhaps this is well, to observe agreements. But Aeetes is not such a man among men as you said Minos was, the husband of Pasiphae; nor with Ariadne do I match myself; therefore do not speak of hospitality. But only do you remember me, when you reach Iolcus; and you I will remember, even against the will of my parents. And may there come to us from afar some rumour, or some messenger bird, when you have forgotten me; or may swift storms snatch me up over the sea from here to Iolcus and carry me, that I may bring reproaches before your eyes, and remind you that you escaped by my will. Would that I might then unannounced be a guest in your halls."

So she spoke, pouring piteous tears down her cheeks; and to her he answered insinuatingly: "Strange one, let the empty storms wander idly, and so too the messenger bird, since you speak vain things. But if you should come to those abodes and the land of Hellas, honoured and revered you will be among women and men; and they will tend you wholly as a goddess, because by your counsel their sons returned home, and by it again their brothers and kinsmen and stout husbands were saved enough from ruin. And our bridal bed in our wedded chamber you shall prepare; nor shall anything part us from our love, until death, appointed, enfolds us round."

So he spoke; and within her her spirit melted at his words; yet she shuddered to look upon the dread deeds before her. Poor wretch! Not long was she to refuse to dwell in Hellas. For thus Hera devised it, that Aeaean Medea might come, an evil to Pelias, to holy Iolcus, leaving her native land.

And now the handmaids, watching from afar, were grieved in silence; and the hour of the day was passing for the maiden to go back home to her mother. But she did not yet think of returning, for her spirit delighted both in his form and in his winning words, until at last Aeson's son, wary, spoke late: "It is time to depart, lest the light of the sun set first and overtake us, and some stranger notice each thing; but we will meet again, coming here."

So they two with gentle words made trial of each other thus far; and then again they parted. Jason went off rejoicing to his comrades and the ship; and she to her handmaids; and they came up to meet her all together; but she did not notice them as they thronged about her. For her soul had flown aloft among the clouds. And with feet that moved of themselves she stepped upon the swift chariot, and with one hand took the reins, and with the other the whip of cunning work, to drive the mules; and they toward the city sped hastening to the halls. And as she came Chalciope, grieving for her sons, questioned her; but she, helpless in her wavering, neither heard the words, nor was minded to answer her questioning. And she sat upon a low stool below her couch, leaning sideways, her cheek upon her left hand; and moist were her eyes within their lids, as she pondered what an evil deed she had shared by her counsel.

But Aeson's son, when he had mingled again with his comrades in the place where he had left them when he withdrew, set out to go with them, telling them each thing, to the throng of the heroes; and together they came near the ship. And they embraced him when they saw him, and questioned him. And he told them all of the girl's counsels, and showed the dread drug; but alone of his comrades Idas sat apart, gnawing his anger; while the rest, glad of heart, since the darkness of night now stayed them, took their ease about their own concerns. But at dawn they sent two men to go to Aeetes and ask for the seed, first warlike Telamon himself, and with him Aethalides, the renowned son of Hermes. And they went, nor did they make their journey in vain; for when they came the lord Aeetes gave them, for the contest, the harsh teeth of the Aonian dragon, which in Ogygian Thebes Cadmus, when he came seeking Europa, slew, where it kept guard over the spring of Ares; and there he settled, led by the cow which Apollo gave him by his oracles to be the guide of his way. These the Tritonian goddess drew from the jaws and gave to Aeetes as a gift, together with the slayer himself. And Cadmus, son of Agenor, sowing them over the Aonian plains, set up an earthborn people, all that were left of those reaped by the spear of Ares; and these Aeetes then gave to be carried to the ship readily, since he did not think Jason would accomplish the end of the contest, even if he should cast the yoke upon the oxen.

The sun was sinking far away beneath the dark earth in the west, beyond the farthest peaks of the Ethiopians; and Night laid the yoke upon her horses; and the heroes made ready their beds beside the cables. But Jason, as soon as the stars of the bright-shining Bear of Helice had declined, and the heaven became wholly calm, went off to a desolate place, like some stealthy thief, with all that he needed; for beforehand he had provided each thing by day: a ewe and milk Argus had brought from outside the flock, and the rest he took from the ship itself. But when he saw a place that was away from the tread of men, in the open under clear pure meadows, there first of all he bathed his tender body reverently in the divine river; and about him a cloak of dark hue he put on, which before Hypsipyle of Lemnos had given him, a memorial of their close love. Then digging a pit a cubit deep in the ground he heaped the billets, and over it cut the throat of the lamb, and stretched it duly above; and he kindled the logs, setting fire beneath, and poured mingled libations over it, calling on Brimo Hecate to aid him in the contest. And when he had called on her he went back again; and she, hearing, the dread goddess, came up from the uttermost depths to the sacrifice of Aeson's son; and round about her were wreathed terrible serpents amid oak-branches. And there flashed an endless gleam of torches; and about her the hounds of the underworld bayed with sharp barking. And all the meadows trembled along her path; and the marsh-nymphs and river-nymphs cried aloud, who circle round about that meadow of Phasis by Amarantus. And dread indeed seized Aeson's son; yet even so his feet bore him on, glancing back, until he reached his comrades as he went; and already over the snowy heights of Caucasus the early-born Dawn shed light as she rose.

And then Aeetes put on about his breast the stiff corselet, which Ares had given him, having slain Phlegraean Mimas with his own hands; and on his head he set a golden four-crested helmet, shining like the rounded radiance of the sun, when first it rises from Ocean. And he wielded his shield of many hides, and his spear, dread, irresistible; this no other man of the heroes could have withstood, since they had left Heracles far behind, who alone could have warred against it face to face. And nearby Phaethon held for him the well-made chariot of swift-footed horses to mount; and he himself mounted, and took the reins in his hands. And out of the city he drove along the broad highway, that he might be present at the contest; and with him a countless host poured forth. And as Poseidon goes to the Isthmian games, mounted in his chariot, or to Taenarus, or to the water of Lerna, or through the grove of Hyantian Onchestus, and goes thereafter with his horses to Calaureia, and the Haemonian rock, or to wooded Geraestus; such was Aeetes, lord of the Colchians, to behold.

Meanwhile, by the instructions of Medea, Jason steeped the charms and sprinkled both his shield and his strong spear, and about them his sword; and his comrades made trial of the weapons, pressing hard, but could not bend that spear even a little, but just so unbroken it held firm in their mighty hands. But Idas, son of Aphareus, raging furiously at them, struck near the butt with his great sword; but the edge leaped back like a hammer from an anvil, rebounding; and they shouted, the heroes, glad in their hopes of the contest. And then he too sprinkled himself; and a dread valour entered him, unspeakable and fearless; and on either side his hands quivered, swelling with strength. And as when a war-horse, eager for battle, neighing prances and beats the ground, while above exulting it lifts its neck with ears erect; such was Aeson's son, exulting in the strength of his limbs. And often this way and that he sprang aloft with bounding step, brandishing in his hands the bronze shield and the ashen spear. You would say that through the dark sky there darted a wintry lightning flash, leaping out frequently from the clouds, when after it they bring the blackest rain. And then not for long were they to hold back from the contests; but seated in order on the benches swiftly they hastened to the plain of Ares. It lay as far in front, on the opposite side of the city, as is the turning-post from the starting-line that a chariot can reach, when for a king who has died his kinsmen set games for foot-racers and horsemen. And they found Aeetes and the throngs of the other Colchians, some standing on the Caucasian crags, and the king himself winding along beside the river's edge.

And Aeson's son, when his comrades had made fast the stern-cables, then with spear and shield went forth to the contest, leaping from the ship; and at once he took the gleaming helmet of bronze, full of sharp teeth, and his sword about his shoulders, his body bare, in part like Ares, in part like Apollo of the golden sword. And glancing over the field he saw the bronze yokes of the bulls, and beside them the plough of one piece of stubborn adamant. Then he came near and fixed his mighty spear, upright on its butt, and laying his helmet against it set it down. And he went forward with his shield alone, tracking the countless footprints of the bulls; and they, from somewhere out of an unseen cavern beneath the earth, where were their strong stalls wrapped about with murky smoke, both came forth together, breathing flame of fire. And the heroes were afraid when they saw them. But he, planting his feet well, withstood them as they came on, as a sea-rock abides the waves driven by countless gusts. And before him he held his shield to face them; and the two with bellowing struck it with their strong horns; yet not a whit did they shift him as they charged. And as when in the perforated melting-pots the bellows of smiths now blaze brightly, kindling the deadly fire, and now cease from their blast, and a dread roar rises from it, whenever it darts up from below; so they, breathing the swift flame from their mouths, roared; and the consuming heat played about him, striking like the lightning-flash; but the girl's charms protected him. And he, seizing the tip of the right bull's horn, dragged it with all his might mightily, to bring it near the bronze yoke, and threw it down on the ground on its knees, swiftly striking with his foot its foot of bronze. So too the other he tripped upon its knees as it charged, smitten with a single blow. And casting wide his broad shield to the ground, on this side and that standing firm, he held both of them fallen upon their fore-knees, dashing straight through the flame. And Aeetes marvelled at the man's strength. And meanwhile the sons of Tyndareus—for so it had long been arranged for them— brought him near the yoke from the ground to cast about them. And he bound their necks well; and lifting up between them the bronze plough-pole, he fitted it to the yoke by its sharp tip. And the two back from the fire to the ship withdrew. But he again, taking up his shield, set it on his back behind, and grasped the helmet full of sharp teeth, and his irresistible spear, with which, like a labourer goading with a Pelasgian prick, he pricked the oxen beneath, stabbing their flanks; and very steadily he guided the well-fitted plough-handle, wrought of adamant. And they for a while raged exceedingly, breathing fierce flame of fire; and their breath rose like the roar of blustering winds, which most of all fearing, seafarers furl their great sail. But not long after, urged on by the spear, they went; and the rugged fallow was broken up behind, cleft by the strength of the bulls and the mighty ploughman. And dreadfully the clods crashed together along the furrows of the plough, breaking, each a man's burden; and he himself followed, pressing the plough-tail down with his stout foot; and far from himself he kept casting the teeth ever along the ploughed clod, glancing back, lest the deadly crop of earthborn men should rise against him first; and they pressed on labouring with their bronze hooves. And when the third part of the waning day is left from dawn, and the weary labourers call for the welcome unyoking-time to come quickly, then the fallow was ploughed by the unwearying ploughman, though it was four acres; and he loosed the ploughs from the oxen. And these he scared off to flee toward the plain; but he himself went back again to the ship, while still he saw the furrows empty of the earthborn men. And about him his comrades heartened him with words. And he from the river's stream drew water in his very helmet and quenched his thirst; and bent his knees, light and supple, and filled his great spirit with valour, raging like a boar, which whets its teeth against the hunting men, and round about much foam drips to the ground from its mouth in its rage. And now over all the field the earthborn were springing up; and the precinct of Ares the destroyer of men bristled with stout shields and double-pointed spears and gleaming helmets; and the gleam reached from below to Olympus, flashing through the air. And as when, after much snow has fallen to the ground, the gusts again scatter the wintry clouds in the murky night, and all together appear the gleaming stars shining through the gloom; so they shone, springing up above the earth. But Jason remembered the counsels of cunning Medea, and seized from the plain a great rounded stone, the dread quoit of Ares Enyalius; not four young men in their prime could have lifted it a little from the earth. This, taking it in his hand, he hurled from afar into their midst, springing up; and he himself crouched beneath his shield, unseen, in confidence. And the Colchians shouted greatly, as when the sea roars, thundering on sharp reefs; and speechless amazement seized Aeetes at the cast of the mighty quoit. And they, like swift hounds leaping about, slew one another with a roar; and upon the earth their mother they fell beneath their own spears, like pines or oaks, which the gusts of wind shake down. And as a fiery star darts from heaven, trailing a furrow of light, a portent to men who behold it flashing through the dark air; such was the son of Aeson as he rushed upon the earthborn, and drew his naked sword from the sheath, and reaped them in confusion, mowing them down, many while still half-risen to the air with belly and flanks; and some reaching up to the shoulders; some newly standing; and some already hurrying on their feet to battle. And as when, at a war stirred up over boundaries, a husbandman, fearing lest his fields be cut down before him, seizing in his hands a curved newly-whetted sickle, hastens and reaps the unripe corn, nor waits for it to dry in season under the rays of the sun; so then he reaped the crop of earthborn men; and with blood the furrows, like the channels of fountains, were filled with streams. And they fell, some biting with their teeth the rough clod prone, some backward, some upon elbow and side, like sea-monsters in form to behold. And many, smitten before they could lift their foot from the earth, as far as they had thrust up into the air, so much to the ground sank down, leaning with their drooping heads. Even so perhaps young shoots, when Zeus has rained unspeakably, newly-reared in a plantation, droop to the ground broken from the root, the labour of garden men; and dejection and deadly grief come upon the planter and lord of the plot; so then upon the lord Aeetes heavy anguish came beneath his heart. And he went back to the city among the Colchians, brooding how most swiftly he might thwart them.

And the day ended, and Jason's contest was accomplished.