She spoke and she was seen no more. Then Jason went on his way to the city that Cretheus, his grandfather, had founded and that his father Æson had once ruled over. He came into that city, a tall, great-limbed, unknown youth, dressed in a strange fashion, and having but one sandal on.
2
King Pelias
THAT day King Pelias, walking through the streets of his city, saw coming toward him a youth who was half shod. He remembered the words of the oracle that bade him beware of a half-shod man, and straightway he gave orders to his guards to lay hands upon the youth.
But the guards wavered when they went toward him, for there was something about the youth that put them in awe of him. He came with the guards, however, and he stood before the king’s judgment seat.
Fearfully did Pelias look upon him. But not fearfully did the youth look upon the king. With head lifted high he cried out, “Thou art Pelias, but I do not salute thee as king. Know that I am Jason, the son of Æson from whom thou hast taken the throne and scepter that were rightfully his.”
King Pelias looked to his guards. He would have given them a sign to destroy the youth’s life with their spears, but behind his guards he saw a threatening multitude—the dwellers of the city of Iolcus; they gathered around, and Pelias knew that he had become more and more hated by them. And from the multitude a cry went up, “Æson, Æson! May Æson come back to us! Jason, son of Æson! May nothing evil befall thee, brave youth!”
Then Pelias knew that the youth might not be slain. He bent his head while he plotted against him in his heart. Then he raised his eyes, and looking upon Jason he said, “O goodly youth, it well may be that thou art the son of Æson, my brother. I am well pleased to see thee here. I have had hopes that I might be friends with Æson, and thy coming here may be the means to the renewal of our friendship. We two brothers may come together again. I will send for thy father now, and he will be brought to meet thee in my royal palace. Go with my guards and with this rejoicing people, and in a little while thou and I and thy father Æson will sit at a feast of friends.”
So Pelias said, and Jason went with the guards and the crowd of people, and he came to the palace of the king and he was brought within. The maids led him to the bath and gave him new robes to wear. Dressed in these Jason looked a prince indeed.
But all that while King Pelias remained on his judgment seat with his crowned head bent down. When he raised his head his dark brows were gathered together and his thin lips were very close. He looked to the swords and spears of his guards, and he made a sign to the men to stand close to him. Then he left the judgment seat and he went to the palace.
3
The Golden Fleece
THEY brought Jason into a hall where Æson, his father, waited. Very strange did this old and grave-looking man appear to him. But when Æson spoke, Jason remembered the tone of his father’s voice and he clasped him to him. And his father knew him even without the sight of the ruby ring which Jason had upon his finger.
Then the young man began to tell of the centaur and of his life upon the Mountain Pelion. As they were speaking together Pelias came to where they stood, Pelias in the purple robe of a king and with the crown upon his head. Æson tightly clasped Jason as if he had become fearful for his son. Pelias smilingly took the hand of the young man and the hand of his brother, and he bade them both welcome to his palace.
Then, walking between them, the king brought the two into the feasting hall. The youth who had known only the forest and the mountainside had to wonder at the beauty and the magnificence of all he saw around him. On the walls were bright pictures; the tables were of polished wood, and they had vessels of gold and dishes of silver set upon them; along the walls were vases of lovely shapes and colors, and everywhere there were baskets heaped with roses white and red.
The king’s guests were already in the hall, young men and elders, and maidens went amongst them carrying roses which they strung into wreaths for the guests to put upon their heads. A soft-handed maiden gave Jason a wreath of roses and he put it on his head as he sat down at the king’s table. When he looked at all the rich and lovely things in that hall, and when he saw the guests looking at him with friendly eyes, Jason felt that he was indeed far away from the dim spaces of the mountain forest and from the darkness of the centaur’s cave.
Rich food and wine such as he had never dreamt of tasting were brought to the tables. He ate and drank, and his eyes followed the fair maidens who went through the hall. He thought how glorious it was to be a king. He heard Pelias speak to Æson, his father, telling him that he was old and that he was weary of ruling; that he longed to make friends, and that he would let no enmity now be between him and his brother. And he heard the king say that he, Jason, was young and courageous, and that he would call upon him to help to rule the land, and that, in a while, Jason would bear full sway over the kingdom that Cretheus had founded.
So Pelias spoke to Æson as they both sat together at the king’s high table. But Jason, looking on them both, saw that the eyes that his father turned on him were full of warnings and mistrust.
After they had eaten King Pelias made a sign, and a cup-bearer bringing a richly wrought cup came and stood before the king. The king stood up, holding the cup in his hands, and all in the hall waited silently. Then Pelias put the cup into Jason’s hands and he cried out in a voice that was heard all through the hall, “Drink from this cup, O nephew Jason! Drink from this cup, O man who will soon come to rule over the kingdom that Cretheus founded!”
All in the hall stood up and shouted with delight at that speech. But the king was not delighted with their delight, Jason saw. He took the cup and he drank the rich wine; pride grew in him; he looked down the hall and he saw faces all friendly to him; he felt as a king might feel, secure and triumphant. And then he heard King Pelias speaking once more.
“This is my nephew Jason, reared and fostered in the centaur’s cave. He will tell you of his life in the forest and the mountains—his life that was like to the life of the half gods.”
Then Jason spoke to them, telling them of his life on the Mountain Pelion. When he had spoken, Pelias said:
“I was bidden by the oracle to beware of the man whom I should see coming toward me half shod. But, as you all see, I have brought the half-shod man to my palace and my feasting hall, so little do I dread the anger of the gods.
“And I dread it little because I am blameless. This youth, the son of my brother, is strong and courageous, and I rejoice in his strength and courage, for I would have him take my place and reign over you. Ah, that I were as young as he is now! Ah, that I had been reared and fostered as he was reared and fostered by the wise centaur and under the eyes of the immortals! Then would I do that which in my youth I often dreamed of doing! Then would I perform a deed that would make my name and the name of my city famous throughout all Greece! Then would I bring from far Colchis, the famous Fleece of Gold that King Æetes keeps guard over!”
He finished speaking, and all in the hall shouted out, “The Golden Fleece, the Golden Fleece from Colchis!” Jason stood up, and his father’s hand gripped him. But he did not heed the hold of his father’s hand, for “The Golden Fleece, the Golden Fleece!” rang in his ears, and before his eyes were the faces of those who were all eager for the sight of the wonder that King Æetes kept guard over.
Then said Jason, “Thou hast spoken well, O King Pelias! Know, and know all here assembled, that I have heard of the Golden Fleece and of the dangers that await on any one who should strive to win it from King Æetes’s care. But know, too, that I would strive to win the Fleece and bring it to Iolcus, winning fame both for myself and for the city.”
When he had spoken he saw his father’s stricken eyes; they were fixed upon him. But he looked from them to the shining eyes of the young men who were even then pressing around where he stood. “Jason, Jason!” they shouted. “The Golden Fleece for Iolcus!”
“King Pelias knows that the winning of the Golden Fleece
is a feat most difficult,” said Jason. “But if he will have built for me a ship that can make the voyage to far Colchis, and if he will send throughout all Greece the word of my adventuring so that all the heroes who would win fame might come with me, and if ye, young heroes of Iolcus, will come with me, I will peril my life to win the wonder that King Æetes keeps guard over.”
He spoke and those in the hall shouted again and made clamor around him. But still his father sat gazing at him with stricken eyes.
King Pelias stood up in the hall and holding up his scepter he said, “O my nephew Jason, and O friends assembled here, I promise that I will have built for the voyage the best ship that ever sailed from a harbor in Greece. And I promise that I will send throughout all Greece a word telling of Jason’s voyage so that all heroes desirous of winning fame may come to help him and to help all of you who may go with him to win from the keeping of King Æetes the famous Fleece of Gold.”
So King Pelias said, but Jason, looking to the king from his father’s stricken eyes, saw that he had been led by the king into the acceptance of the voyage so that he might fare far from Iolcus, and perhaps lose his life in striving to gain the wonder that King Æetes kept guarded. By the glitter in Pelias’s eyes he knew the truth. Nevertheless Jason would not take back one word that he had spoken; his heart was strong within him, and he thought that with the help of the bright-eyed youths around and with the help of those who would come to him at the word of the voyage, he would bring the Golden Fleece to Iolcus and make famous for all time his own name.
4
The Assembling of the Heroes and the Building of the Ship
FIRST there came the youths CASTOR and POLYDEUCES. They came riding on white horses, two noble-looking brothers. From Sparta they came, and their mother was Leda, who, after the twin brothers, had another child born to her—Helen, for whose sake the sons of many of Jason’s friends were to wage war against the great city of Troy. These were the first heroes who came to Iolcus after the word had gone forth through Greece of Jason’s adventuring in quest of the Golden Fleece.
And then there came one who had both welcome and reverence from Jason; this one came without spear or bow, bearing in his hands a lyre only. He was ORPHEUS, and he knew all the ways of the gods and all the stories of the gods; when he sang to his lyre the trees would listen and the beasts would follow him. It was Chiron who had counseled Orpheus to go with Jason; Chiron the centaur had met him as he was wandering through the forests on the Mountain Pelion and had sent him down into Iolcus.
Then there came two men well skilled in the handling of ships—TIPHYS and NAUPLIUS. Tiphys knew all about the sun and winds and stars, and all about the signs by which a ship might be steered, and Nauplius had the love of Poseidon, the god of the sea.
Afterward there came, one after the other, two who were famous for their hunting. No two could be more different than these two were. The first was ARCAS. He was dressed in the skin of a bear; he had red hair and savage-looking eyes, and for arms he carried a mighty bow with bronze-tipped arrows. The folk were watching an eagle as he came into the city—an eagle that was winging its way far, far up in the sky. Arcas drew his bow, and with one arrow he brought the eagle down.
The other hunter was a girl, ATALANTA. Tall and bright-haired was Atalanta, swift and good with the bow. She had dedicated herself to Artemis, the guardian of the wild things, and she had vowed that she would remain unwedded. All the heroes welcomed Atalanta as a comrade, and the maiden did all the things that the young men did.
There came a hero who was less youthful than Castor or Polydeuces; he was a man good in council named NESTOR. Afterward Nestor went to the war against Troy, and then he was the oldest of the heroes in the camp of Agamemnon.
Two brothers came who were to be special friends of Jason’s—PELEUS and TELAMON. Both were still youthful and neither had yet achieved any notable deed. Afterward they were to be famous, but their sons were to be even more famous, for the son of Telamon was strong Aias, and the son of Peleus was great Achilles.
Another who came was ADMETUS; afterward he became a famous king. The God Apollo once made himself a shepherd and he kept the flocks of King Admetus.
And there came two brothers, twins, who were a wonder to all who beheld them. ZETES and CALAIS they were named; their mother was Oreithyia, the daughter of Erechtheus, King of Athens, and their father was Boreas, the North Wind. These two brothers had on their ankles wings that gleamed with golden scales; their black hair was thick upon their shoulders, and it was always being shaken by the wind.
With Zetes and Calais there came a youth armed with a great sword whose name was THESEUS. Theseus’s father was an unknown king; he had bidden the mother show their son where his sword was hidden. Under a great stone the king had hidden it before Theseus was born. Before he had grown out of his boyhood Theseus had been able to raise the stone and draw forth his father’s sword. As yet he had done no great deed, but he was resolved to win fame and to find his unknown father.
On the day that the messengers had set out to bring through Greece the word of Jason’s going forth in quest of the Golden Fleece the woodcutters made their way up into the forests of Mount Pelion; they began to fell trees for the timbers of the ship that was to make the voyage to far Colchis.
Great timbers were cut and brought down to Pagasæ, the harbor of Iolcus. On the night of the day he had helped to bring them down Jason had a dream. He dreamt that She whom he had seen in the forest ways and afterward by the River Anaurus appeared to him. And in his dream the goddess bade him rise early in the morning and welcome a man whom he would meet at the city’s gate—a tall and gray-haired man who would have on his shoulders tools for the building of a ship.
He went to the city’s gate and he met such a man. ARGUS was his name. He told Jason that a dream had sent him to the city of Iolcus. Jason welcomed him and lodged him in the king’s palace, and that day the word went through the city that the building of the great ship would soon be begun.
But not with the timbers brought from Mount Pelion did Argus begin. Walking through the palace with Jason he noted a great beam in the roof. That beam, he said, had been shown him in his dream; it was from an oak tree in Dodona, the grove of Zeus. A sacred power was in the beam, and from it the prow of the ship should be fashioned. Jason had them take the beam from the roof of the palace; it was brought to where the timbers were, and that day the building of the great ship was begun.
Then all along the waterside came the noise of hammering; in the street where the metalworkers were came the noise of beating upon metals as the smiths fashioned out of bronze armor for the heroes and swords and spears. Every day, under the eyes of Argus the master, the ship that had in it the beam from Zeus’s grove was built higher and wider. And those who were building the ship often felt going through it tremors as of a living creature.
When the ship was built and made ready for the voyage a name was given to it—the Argo it was called. And naming themselves from the ship the heroes called themselves the ARGONAUTS. All was ready for the voyage, and now Jason went with his friends to view the ship before she was brought into the water.
Argus the master was on the ship, seeing to it that the last things were being done before Argo was launched. Very grave and wise looked Argus—Argus the builder of the ship. And wonderful to the heroes the ship looked now that Argus, for their viewing, had set up the mast with the sails and had even put the oars in their places. Wonderful to the heroes Argo looked with her long oars and her high sails, with her timbers painted red and gold and blue, and with a marvelous figure carved upon her prow. All over the ship Jason’s eyes went. He saw a figure standing by the mast; for a moment he looked on it, and then the figure became shadowy. But Jason knew that he had looked upon the goddess whom he had seen in the ways of the forest and had seen afterward by the rough Anaurus.
Then mast and sails were taken down and the oars were left in the ship, and the Argo was launched into the water. The her
oes went back to the palace of King Pelias to feast with the king’s guests before they took their places on the ship, setting out on the voyage to far Colchis.
When they came into the palace they saw that another hero had arrived. His shield was hung in the hall; the heroes all gathered around, amazed at the size and the beauty of it. The shield shone all over with gold. In its center was the figure of Fear—of Fear that stared backward with eyes burning as with fire. The mouth was open and the teeth were shown. And other figures were wrought around the figure of Fear—Strife and Pursuit and Flight; Tumult and Panic and Slaughter. The figure of Fate was there dragging a dead man by the feet; on her shoulders Fate had a garment that was red with the blood of men.
Around these figures were heads of snakes, heads with black jaws and glittering eyes, twelve heads such as might affright any man. And on other parts of the shield were shown the horses of Ares, the grim god of war. The figure of Ares himself was shown also. He held a spear in his hand, and he was urging the warriors on.
Around the inner rim of the shield the sea was shown, wrought in white metal. Dolphins swam in the sea, fishing for little fishes that were shown there in bronze. Around the rim chariots were racing along with wheels running close together; there were men fighting and women watching from high towers. The awful figure of the Darkness of Death was shown there, too, with mournful eyes and the dust of battles upon her shoulders. The outer rim of the shield showed the Stream of Ocean, the stream that encircles the world; swans were soaring above and swimming on its surface.
All in wonder the heroes gazed on the great shield, telling each other that only one man in all the world could carry it—Heracles the son of Zeus. Could it be that Heracles had come amongst them? They went into the feasting hall and they saw one there who was tall as a pine tree, with unshorn tresses of hair upon his head. Heracles indeed it was! He turned to them a smiling face with smiling eyes. Heracles! They all gathered around the strongest hero in the world, and he took the hand of each in his mighty hand.
The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles Page 2