Jason and the Argonauts

by Apollonius Of Rhodes

  1335 (1033)an ewe’s throat, drained the blood into the pit,

  and laid the carcass, whole, upon a fire

  that you have duly built up round the edges,

  call upon Hecate, the only child

  of Perses, while decanting from a goblet

  1340the comb-begotten labor of the bees.

  Then, after you have dutifully sought

  Hecate’s favor, turn and leave. Make certain

  neither the sound of footsteps nor the baying

  of dogs moves you to turn and look behind you,

  1345or you will cancel all that you have done

  and fail to come back ready to your comrades.

  At daybreak steep the drug I have provided

  in pure spring water, strip off all your clothes,

  and rub your body with it as with oil.

  1350 (1044)There will be awesome power and boundless valor

  within it. You will find your strength a match

  not for mere mortals but the deathless gods.

  Sprinkle your shield, sword, and spear with it.

  The weapons of the earthborn men will never

  1355injure you then, nor the unbearable fire

  that shoots out of the deadly bulls. Not long

  will you be so enhanced, just one day only.

  Be sure, then, not to shrink before the challenge.

  And I shall grace you with a second favor:

  1360once you have yoked the mighty bulls and swiftly

  with might and main plowed up the stubborn fallows,

  then, as the earthborn men are sprouting skyward

  out of the snake’s fangs planted in the furrows,

  cast a stone into their midst, a large one.

  1365 (1057)Make certain no one sees you. They will slaughter

  each other over it, like wild dogs

  contending over scraps of food. Make sure

  that you yourself then rush into the fray.

  Because of your successes you will carry

  1370the fleece back into Hellas, to some place

  far from Aea. Go, though, all the same,

  wherever you desire, wherever you

  insist on going once you spread your sail.”

  With that, she fixed her eyes before her feet

  1375in silence and suffused her gleaming cheeks

  with sultry tears, bereft because he soon

  would sail the sea far, far away from her.

  She took his hand and gazed upon his face.

  Modesty left her eyes, and yet again

  in agony she spoke to him:

  1380 (1069)“Remember

  the name Medea if, by chance, you live

  to come back home. When you are far away

  I shall remember yours as well. Please, though,

  kindly inform me where your home might be.

  1385Where will you go when you go sailing off

  across the sea? Will you approach luxurious

  Orchomenus or skirt Aeaea Island?

  And please do tell me more about that girl,

  the one you named, you know, the famous daughter

  1390of Pasiphae, who is my father’s sister.”

  Such were her inquiries, and devastating

  affection crept up over him, because

  she was a maiden, crying. So he answered:

  “Never, day or night, shall I forget you—

  1395 (1080)that is, so long as I escape my death

  and do return uninjured to Achaea,

  and if Aeëtes doesn’t force still worse

  trials upon us. If you wish to know

  about my homeland, I will tell you of it.

  1400My heart as well commands I do as much:

  there is a broad plain ringed by lofty mountains,

  a sheep land rich in pasture. It was there

  Prometheus, the son of Iapetus,

  begat the excellent Deucalion

  1405who was the first to draw up plans for cities

  and raise temples to the immortal gods.

  He also was the first to serve as king.

  My people call this land Haemonia.

  My city Iolcus stands in it, and in it

  1410 (1092)stand a hundred other cities where

  the name Aea never has been heard.

  And, yes, a legend states that Minyas,

  a son of Aeolus, once left this land

  to build the city of Orchomenus

  1415on the Cadmeians’ eastern border. Why, though,

  do I keep rambling on about my home

  and Minos’ most reverend daughter

  Ariadne? (That’s the famous name

  the lovely maiden you have asked about

  1420once called her own.) I pray that, just as Minos

  eventually accepted Theseus,

  your father may be joined to us in friendship.”

  So he responded, stroking her with soothing

  utterances. Most distressing worries, though,

  1425 (1104)kept troubling her heart, and she was sad

  when she addressed these throbbing words to him:

  “Although in Hellas it may be considered

  noble to keep one’s word, Aeëtes differs

  greatly in that regard from Minos, husband

  1430of Pasiphae—that man you mentioned to me.

  Nor do I rank myself with Ariadne.

  Say nothing, therefore, of a fond guest-friendship.

  But think of me when you return to Iolcus,

  and I shall think of you in spite of all

  1435my parents say. May news or bird of omen

  bring us together, when we live apart.

  Yet, if I slip your mind, may sudden storm winds

  snatch me aloft and carry me to Iolcus,

  so that I may confront you face-to-face,

  1440 (1115)reproaching you, reminding you that you

  escaped this land alive by my assistance.

  Yes, may I then appear out of the blue

  and haunt you right beside your palace hearth.”

  So she proclaimed, with liquid sorrow streaming

  1445down her cheeks. After a while he answered:

  “Sad maiden, let your storm winds rove

  in vain and all your birds and rumors, too.

  You’re talking nonsense. If you come to Greece

  and any of those places you have mentioned,

  1450men and women will esteem and love you,

  yes, they will venerate you like a goddess,

  some because your counsel helped their sons

  come home alive, others because you saved

  their brothers, relatives, and valiant husbands

  1455 (1127)from such great trouble. In our wedding chamber

  you shall enjoy the marriage bed with me,

  and nothing shall divide us from our love

  until our predetermined end enshrouds us.”

  So he explained. The heart within her melted

  1460to hear it, but she shuddered as it did,

  imagining the crime she would commit.

  Poor maiden, she would not long shrink from living

  in Hellas. Hera had already ruled

  Medea of Aea would forsake

  1465her fatherland and come to holy Iolcus

  to ruin Pelias.

  Meanwhile the handmaids

  watching them in silence from afar

  grew agitated: daylight was expiring;

  Medea should be home beside her mother.

  1470 (1140)The girl herself had not yet thought of leaving,

  since she
was so bewitched by Jason’s beauty

  and winning words. It was the son of Aeson

  who sensed the hour and said to her at last:

  “It’s time for us to go, or else the sun

  1475will set before you reach the court, and someone

  will note your absence and discover all.

  But we will come back here and meet again.”

  They tested one another with endearments

  so far, then turned and went their separate ways,

  1480Jason departing to his crew and ship

  in an exultant mood, she to her handmaids.

  They all went out to meet her, but she hardly

  noticed them gathering around her, no,

  her soul was flying through the clouds. Her feet

  1485 (1152)all on their own conveyed her to the wagon.

  One hand reached out to take the reins, the other

  the intricately braided whip, and off

  the mules went toward the city and the palace.

  When they returned, Chalciope of course

  1490asked questions, since she hoped to save her sons.

  The girl, though, spun by swiftly shifting thoughts,

  heard nothing and was not disposed to answer.

  She settled on a stool beside her bed,

  cheek resting flat upon her clenched left hand,

  1495and worried, teary-eyed, about the plot

  she had devised, how traitorous it was.

  When Jason joined his comrades at the spot

  where he had left them to approach Medea,

  he set out with them toward their shore-side camp,

  1500 (1165)recounting what she’d said along the way.

  They reached the ship together. When the heroes

  caught sight of Aeson’s son, they greeted him

  with questions, and he told them all about

  the maiden’s scheme and showed the potent drug.

  1505Though Idas sat apart from his companions

  and gnawed his anger, all the rest were joyful

  and, when the lateness of the hour compelled them,

  cheerfully went about their chores.

  At daybreak

  they sent a pair of soldiers to Aeëtes

  1510to fetch the seed—Telamon, dear to Ares,

  and Hermes’ famous son Aethalides.

  Nor did this embassy set out in vain:

  when they arrived haughty Aeëtes gave them

  the dire fangs of the Aonian serpent

  they needed for the contest.

  1515 (1178)While in Hellas

  searching for Europa, Cadmus found

  this serpent watching over Ares’ spring

  in ancient Thebes. He slew it there and founded

  a town at the direction of the heifer

  1520that gave him guidance, as the Lord Apollo

  had prophesied. Tritonian Athena

  knocked the fangs out of the serpent’s jaws

  and gave half to Aeëtes, half to Cadmus

  the son of Agenor, the monster’s slayer,

  1525who planted them in the Aonian plain

  and took as citizens those earthborn men

  left over after Ares harvested

  the others with his spear.

  Aeëtes gave them

  the serpent’s fangs to carry to the ship

  1530 (1189)and did so gladly since he never thought

  Jason would actually complete the labor,

  even if he somehow yoked the oxen.

  The sun god Helius was gliding under

  the twilit earth beyond the farthest summits

  1535of Aethiopia, and Night was yoking

  her mares, and all the men had made their beds

  beside the Argo’s cables—all but Jason.

  Once the Greater Bear, the constellation

  Helica, had descended, and the air

  1540had gone completely still beneath the heavens,

  he slipped off like some calculating thief

  to a deserted spot with the supplies

  he needed. He had spent the whole day fretting

  over the details. Argus had already

  1545 (1199)brought in an ewe and fresh milk from the sheepfold,

  and Jason fetched the rest out of the Argo.

  When he had found a spot out of the way

  and free of traffic, a deserted heath

  beneath an open sky, he duly bathed

  1550his supple body in a sacred stream,

  then wrapped around his limbs a pure-black mantle,

  the one that Lemnian Hypsipyle

  had given him as a memento of

  innumerable vehement caresses.

  1555He dug a pit, a cubit wide and deep,

  placed logs and sticks therein, and lit a bonfire,

  then slit a sheep’s throat over it and duly

  laid on the victim. Once the fire was burning

  solidly upward from the woodpile’s base,

  1560 (1210)he poured a mix of liquid offerings

  upon it, begging Brimo Hecate

  please to assist him in the coming trial.

  After the prayer, he backed up without turning.

  The awesome goddess heard him and ascended

  1565through deep moist caverns to accept his gifts,

  and horrid serpents crowned her head, with oak leaves

  mixed in among them, and the glow of torches

  gleamed far and wide, and hellhounds howled keenly

  around her, and the swampy meadow trembled

  1570beneath her footsteps. All the moorland nymphs,

  the ones who traipse in rings around the flats

  of Amaranthian Phasis, trilled and shrieked.

  Though awe instantly gripped the son of Aeson,

  he never once turned round and looked behind him,

  1575 (1222)and so his feet returned him to his comrades.

  The Early-Rising Dawn, by then, had climbed

  over the snowcapped peaks of the Caucasus.

  Aeëtes, meanwhile, round his torso bound

  a hard breastplate, a special gift from Ares.

  1580The god, in fact, had worn this very armor

  when he had cut Phlegraean Mimas down.

  Then King Aeëtes put his helmet on,

  a four-plumed marvel, golden and as bright as

  sunlight emerging from the River Ocean.

  1585Next he took up a buckler thick with bull hide

  and formidable spear. None of the heroes

  could have withstood it, no, not since the hero

  Heracles left the roster. He alone

  could have opposed that mighty shaft in battle.

  1590 (1235)Phaëthon was waiting near at hand

  holding a tight-knit chariot and team

  of fleet-foot stallions for the king to mount.

  Aeëtes soon got in, received the reins,

  and took the broad cart road out of the city

  1595to reach the field of contest. Countless rushing

  citizens thronged around him. Think of how

  the god Poseidon travels in his war car

  to Isthmia to watch the sacred games,

  or Lerna’s spring, Taenarus or the holy

  1600greenery of Hyantian Onchestus

  before proceeding to Calaurea,

  Haemonian Petra, forested Geraestus—

  that’s how Aeëtes looked, the Colchian chieftain,

  riding behind a team of chargers.

  Jason,

  1605 (1246)meanwhile, obeyed the precepts of Medea,

  steeped the magi
c herbs and laved his shield,

  sword, and sturdy spear with the concoction.

  When his companions pounded on the spear

  to test its fortitude, they failed to blemish

  1610the metal even a little—it emerged

  fresh and undented from their mighty blows.

  When Idas son of Aphareus wildly

  hacked at the spear butt with his giant broadsword,

  the blade rebounded, and the clang resembled

  1615that of a hammer that has struck an anvil,

  and all the heroes whooped with ecstasy

  before the trial.

  As soon as Jason rubbed

  his body with the salve, he felt divine

  and boundless vigor welling up within him.

  1620 (1258)His hands were tingling, quivering with vim.

  Think of a warhorse eager for a fight,

  the way it neighs and stamps the ground, the way

  it rears its neck and pricks its ears, exulting—

  that’s how the son of Aeson looked, exulting

  1625in the excitement of his newfound strength.

  The way he ran around, kicked up his heels,

  and waved his ash-wood spear and big bronze shield,

  you would have thought of winter lightning flashing

  against a pitch-black sky, the bright forks shooting

  1630from clouds that bring a thunderstorm in tow.

  No longer wary of the trial, the heroes

  took their places at the rowing benches

  and fought the stream. The plain of Ares lay

  upriver on the far side of the city

  1635 (1272)as distant from them as a chariot

  must travel from the starting line to reach

  the turning post, when a deceased king’s kinsmen

  put on games for charioteers and sprinters

  to do him honor. When the heroes landed,

  1640they found the Colchians sitting at the foot

  of the Caucasus while Aeëtes wheeled

  his chariot along the riverbank.

  Soon as his shipmates bound the hawsers, Jason

  vaulted ashore and swaggered to the lists,

  1645on one arm shield and spear and in the other

  the burnished bowl of a bronze helmet, brimful

  of jagged fangs. Save for these armaments,

  he was all nude, like Ares, some would say,

  or Lord Apollo of the golden sword.

  1650 (1284)His sweeping survey of the fallows found

  a bronze yoke and a plow compact as iron,

  its haft and harrow hewn out of one trunk.

  Nimbly he jogged out to the plow and yoke,

  planted the spear butt in the soil, propped the

  1655helm up against the shaft. Then, stripping down