Jason and the Argonauts

by Apollonius Of Rhodes

  that rises from opposing hordes when soldiers

  dash together, and the ranks collide.

  Soon enough, every single bird had vanished.

  But when the heroes neared the shore and clashed

  1390their shields, thousands of them of a sudden

  took to the air and flew in all directions.

  Just as the son of Cronus shoots thick hail

  down out of thunderheads onto the homes

  of people sitting patiently inside,

  1395 (1085)listening to the rattle at their ease

  because the stormy months are no surprise,

  and they have wisely reinforced their roofs,

  so did the birds rain feathered missiles down

  as they went flying off across the ocean

  1400toward the massifs that mark the world’s end.

  But what did Phineus really have in mind

  in telling that divine brigade of heroes

  to anchor there? What benefit would come

  to them thereafter, as they hoped it might?

  1405The sons of Phrixus had embarked upon

  a Colchian ship and sailed out of Aea,

  away from Cyta and Aeëtes, hoping

  to reach the city of Orchomenus

  and win the boundless riches of their father.

  1410 (1096)This voyage was his dying proclamation.

  But, on the day they neared the Isle of Ares,

  Zeus urged the potent north wind on to blow

  and marked Arcturus’ wet route with showers.

  All day long he gently shook the topmost

  1415leaves of the mountain forests but at night

  swooped monstrously down upon the sea

  with shriek and bluster puffing up the tide.

  A dark mist veiled the heavens, and the stars

  did not shine anywhere beyond the clouds.

  1420A murky gloom was brooding all around.

  Half-drowned and dreading an abysmal death,

  the sons of Phrixus weltered at the waves’ whim.

  The gales had long since snatched their sails away,

  the roll shaken the ship, the hull broken

  1425 (1110)in half, and now, just as the gods had planned,

  the four of them were clinging to some flotsam

  tightly fitted dowels had held together

  when the ship broke up.

  The wind and waves

  carried the helpless men off toward the island,

  1430and they were close to drowning. Then another

  horrendous squall erupted, and the rain

  assailed the sea, the island, and the whole

  coastline opposing it as far away

  as where the haughty Mossynoeci dwelt.

  1435The swollen tide threw all the sons of Phrixus,

  together with the planks, onto the shore.

  The night had been a black one, but the torrents

  Zeus had been hurling at them ceased at dawn,

  and soon the two groups happened on each other.

  1440 (1122)Argus the son of Phrixus called out first:

  “Please, in the name of Zeus of Supplication

  we beg of you, whoever you might be,

  to take us in and help us in our need.

  The dire storm winds, you see, roughed up the sea

  1445and broke apart the wretched ship on which

  we had embarked out of necessity

  to carry us across the swell. Therefore,

  as suppliants we beg you please be kind

  and give us clothes, enough to shield our skin.

  1450Please be compassionate and rescue men

  like you, your age-mates, who are in distress.

  Yes, honor us as guests and suppliants,

  since guests and suppliants belong to Zeus,

  and he, I hope, is watching over us.”

  1455 (1134)Though Jason was suspecting all the while

  that Phineus’ words were being fulfilled,

  he tactfully inquired in response:

  “Yes, we are well-disposed. We shall provide you

  with all you need. But tell me where you hail from,

  1460what circumstances drove you on this voyage,

  and what good names and pedigrees are yours.”

  All desperation in his shipwrecked state,

  Argus replied:

  “Not many years ago

  a son of Aeolus named Phrixus traveled

  1465from Hellas to Aea—I suspect

  you know the tale. He rode a flying ram

  (and golden, too, since Hermes gilded it)

  the whole way to the city of Aeëtes,

  and still today the fleece is lying spread

  1470 (1145)across the crown of a luxuriant oak.

  The ram, you see, could talk as well and ordered

  Phrixus to slaughter it in sacrifice

  to Zeus the Exiles’ God, the son of Cronus,

  before the other gods. Aeëtes welcomed

  1475Phrixus into his court and gave his daughter

  Chalciope to him, without the bride-price,

  out of the kindness of his heart.

  We four

  are products of their love. But Phrixus, old

  already at the time of his arrival,

  1480died at Aeëtes’ court. We have resolved

  to satisfy our father’s dying wish

  by sailing to Orchomenus to claim

  Athamas’ estate. If you would like

  to know our names, this here is Cytissorus,

  1485 (1155)this is Phrontis, this is Melas here,

  and you may call me Argus.”

  So he told them.

  The heroes in delight and wonder greeted

  the strangers, and the son of Aeson answered:

  “It is as kinsmen on my father’s side

  1490that you entreat us to relieve your plight:

  Cretheus was the brother of Athamas,

  and I, the grandson of that Cretheus,

  am sailing from the very Greece you speak of

  to King Aeëtes’ city. We shall talk

  1495among ourselves about our kinship later.

  Put on some clothing now. I do believe

  you were marooned here by some god’s design.”

  So he proclaimed and gave them clothes to wear

  out of the Argo. Linked in friendship, then,

  1500 (1170)they strode to Ares’ shrine to slaughter sheep

  and offer them in sacrifice. Assembled

  before the roofless temple, they assumed

  their places round an altar built of fieldstone.

  A black stone lay half-buried in the earth

  1505within the precinct. It was to this stone

  the Amazons had once all prayed. In fact,

  whenever they would venture from the mainland,

  their laws prevented them from burning oxen

  or sheep as sacrifices on this altar;

  1510rather, they butchered horses, giant horses

  they fattened for a year. Only after

  the heroes had performed the sacrifice

  and dined upon the feast they had prepared,

  did Jason speak among them. He began:

  1515 (1179)“Zeus truly must be minding these affairs.

  Whether devout or cruel and sacrilegious,

  we mortals never can escape his gaze.

  Zeus, for example, saved your father Phrixus

  from murder at his mad stepmother’s hands

  1520and gave him boundless wealth besides. So, also,

  he brou
ght you safe out of the deadly storm.

  Our ship can sail wherever one might wish—

  Aea or that rich and holy city

  Orchomenus. Athena planned it out

  1525and with a bronze ax on the peak of Pelion

  felled trees for planks, and Argus built it with her.

  Your ship, though, cracked beneath the savage swell

  before it even reached the Rocks that run

  crashing together in the Pontic strait.

  1530 (1192)Come, then, and be our helpers, too: we seek

  the golden fleece to bring back home to Hellas.

  Come, guide our course. I’m going to atone for

  Phrixus’ forced escape, which is the reason

  Zeus has been angry with the Aeolids.”

  1535So Jason solaced them. The brothers, though,

  cringed upon hearing of the quest. They thought

  Aeëtes was unlikely to be gentle

  with men that sought to take the fleece from him,

  and Argus tried to talk them out of it:

  1540“My friends, whatever strength we have to help you

  shall never fail to serve your cause. We shall assist you

  whenever need arrives. Aeëtes, though,

  has fortified himself in dreadful fashion

  with savage cruelty, so I greatly doubt

  your quest will be successful.

  1545 (1203)King Aeëtes

  boasts he was born the son of Helius,

  and countless tribes of Colchians support him.

  The man could rival Ares with his war cry,

  muscle, and vigor. Nor would it be easy

  1550to steal the fleece without Aeëtes’ knowledge.

  The dragon standing sentinel before it

  is of the worst sort—deathless, never-sleeping.

  Mother Earth begot it on the slopes

  of the Caucasus, on the Rock of Typhon—

  1555you know, where Typhon with his mighty hand grip

  climbed up to challenge Zeus. The legends tell us

  Cronian Zeus’ lightning blasted him

  right there atop the jagged peak, and steamy

  blood came welling up out of his head.

  1560 (1214)He dragged himself, then, wounded, toward

  the mountains

  and reached the plain of Nysa where he lies

  submerged beneath the tide of Lake Serbonis

  down to this very day.”

  So Argus warned them.

  When the heroes learned what was before them,

  1565terror blanched their cheeks, that is, the cheeks

  of all but Peleus. He answered Argus

  straight off, with resolution in his voice:

  “My friend, don’t try to spook us with your talk.

  We’re not so inexperienced in warcraft

  1570that we would fall beneath Aeëtes’ arms.

  No, we are heading in prepared, I think,

  since we are offspring of the blessed gods.

  So, if the king will not do us a favor

  and offer up the fleece, I doubt his countless

  1575 (1225)Colchians will be much assistance to him.”

  So they conversed awhile among themselves,

  then feasted once again and went to sleep.

  A breeze was blowing when they rose that morning,

  so they set forth, the sail stretched taut before

  1580the onrush of the wind, and soon enough

  they left the Isle of Ares in their wake.

  That night they passed the island of Philyra.

  Here, back when Cronus, Ouranos’ youngest,

  ruled his Titan kin on Mount Olympus

  1585(and infant Zeus was in a cave on Crete

  tended by the Idaean Curetes),

  Cronus went off to meet up with Philyra

  behind his consort Rhea’s back. When Rhea

  caught them in the act of making love,

  1590 (1237)he changed himself into a long-maned horse,

  kicked himself out of bed, and galloped off.

  Philyra, daughter of the Ocean, left

  her dear old home and island in disgrace

  and settled down among the lofty mountains

  1595of the Pelasgians, and there it was

  she foaled at length Cheiron: half man, half horse,

  product of an extra-species union.

  From there they sailed on, skirting the Macrones,

  the never-ending land of the Becheiri,

  1600the proud Sapeires, even the Byzeri.

  So, swept along by favorable winds,

  they ever onward cleaved their course. And now

  the far end of the Pontic Sea appeared

  before their rapid progress. Now arose

  1605 (1247)the summits of the sheer Caucasus Mountains

  where Prometheus was hung, his limbs

  fixed to a rough cliff face by cuffs of bronze.

  He served his liver to an eagle daily;

  daily the bird returned to rip it out.

  1610The heroes spotted outspread wings toward dusk

  passing above the masthead near the clouds.

  The huge and churning pennons loudly whispered,

  puffing the sails. No, this was not a normal

  bird of the air, but bigger, and it worked

  1615its feathered wings like smoothly polished oars.

  They soon discerned Prometheus’ anguished

  howl as, again, his liver was devoured.

  The air was full of shrieks until they saw

  the cruel eagle flying from the mountain

  back the way that it had come.

  1620 (1260)That evening,

  under Argus’ unfailing guidance,

  they reached wide-flowing Phasis and the eastmost

  edge of the Pontic Sea. Straightway they struck

  the sail and yardarm, stowed them in the hold,

  1625and then stepped down the mast and laid it out

  beside them. Quickly under oar, they entered

  the river’s mighty current, and it yielded,

  foaming, before them. The sublime Caucasus

  and the Cytaean city of Aea

  1630were larboard, and to port the plain of Ares

  and Ares’ sacred orchard, where the dragon

  kept constant watch beneath the fleece spread out

  across the crown of a luxuriant oak.

  And Jason from a golden goblet poured

  1635 (1271)honey-sweet offerings of unmixed wine

  into the river, asking that the Earth,

  the local deities, and all the shades

  of the indigenous departed heroes

  please be kind, benign, and blameless helpers

  1640and warmly welcome Argo to their shores.

  Ancaeus, then, announced:

  “We now have reached

  the river Phasis and the land of Colchis.

  The time has come to plan among ourselves

  whether to ply Aeëtes with persuasion

  1645or whether other means will serve us best.”

  So he announced. At Argus’ suggestion

  Jason told the crew to keep the ship

  afloat at anchor after they had reached

  a green lagoon inside the river’s mouth,

  1650 (1285)and so they spent the night. A few hours later

  day broke, the day that they had been expecting.

  BOOK 3

  Come now, Erato, stand beside me, tell me

  how, through the passion of Medea, Jason

  returned the fleece to Iolcus. Yes,
you, too,

  enjoy your share of Cypris’ dominion.

  5Your magic spellbinds marriageable maidens

  with thoughts of love, and that is why, Erato,

  Eros is in the lovely name you bear.

  We left the heroes hiding in a blind

  among some thickly growing reeds. Athena

  10and Hera spotted them, despite their cover,

  and slipped into a room to plait a plot

  apart from Zeus and all the other gods.

  Hera was first to ask what should be done:

  “Since you are Zeus’ daughter, you should be

  15 (12)the first to give advice. What should we do?

  Can you devise some scheme by which the heroes

  strip the golden fleece from King Aeëtes

  and bring it back to Hellas? No, he’s not

  the sort they could persuade with honeyed phrases.

  20In fact, that man is such an awful bully

  that we should shun no means of thwarting him.”

  So she confided, and Athena answered:

  “Hera, I also have been meditating

  upon this matter, but my mind, for all

  25the many tactics I have weighed and measured,

  has failed to find one that will do the trick.”

  With that, they fixed their eyes upon the floor

  and stood there each in her own world. Hera

  first broke the silence to propose a plan:

  30 (25)“Come, let us go find Cyprian Aphrodite

  and tell her that she must approach her son

  and pressure him to sink a shaft into

  Aeëtes’ daughter, drug-adept Medea,

  so that the girl is struck with lust for Jason.

  35I am quite certain that, with her assistance,

  Jason will bring the fleece back home to Greece.”

  So she proposed. The shrewd scheme satisfied

  Athena, and she uttered honeyed words:

  “Hera, I am as my father made me—

  40oblivious to that little fellow’s arrows.

  Love charms and all such things are lost upon me.

  Still, if you like this plan, I’ll go along . . .

  please, though, do all the talking when we see her.”

  So spoke she, and they rose and promenaded

  45 (36)over to Cypris’ colossal palace

  (the one her hobbled husband had constructed

  before he led her out of Zeus’ halls).

  Once inside the walls, they reached a courtyard

  and strode on to the chamber that the goddess

  50shared with her man Hephaestus. He himself

  had gone at daybreak to his forge and anvils

  in a vast cavern on a Floating Island