Jason and the Argonauts (Penguin Classics)

by Apollonius Of Rhodes

  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 brought 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

  where he would daily cast with blasts of fire

  ingenious miracles of metalwork.

  55So, left alone again, the goddess Cypris

  was lounging on a couch inlaid with bronze.

  Her mane of hair let down and dangling over

  either spotless shoulder, she was using

  a golden comb to work the tangles out

  60 (47)before she wove the tresses into braids.

  Soon as she saw the goddesses before her,

  she paused and bade them enter. Then she rose,

  sat them on couches, sat herself back down,

  and tied her hair above her head because

  65there still was brushing to be done. All smiles,

  she greeted them with pointed deference:

  “Dear ladies, welcome! Why, what pressing purpose

  could bring such reverend matrons to my home?

  What has come over you? Before today

  70you never over-often deigned to pay me

  such honor, since you move in higher spheres.”

  Hera retorted then: “You mock us, dear.

  But, seriously now, we face a matter

  of life or death. Already Aeson’s son

  75 (58)and all who follow questing for the fleece

  at anchor ride beside the banks of Phasis.

  Now that the crucial moment is at hand,

  we’re worried to distraction for them all,

  but most for Jason. Though he chart a course

  80far off to Hades’ palace to release

  Ixion from his bondage, all my strength,

  so long as strength remains, shall go to guard him.

  Nor shall I suffer Pelias to shirk

  a well-earned death and live to laugh at me.

  85Rash fool! To fail to pay my shrines their due!

  But it was well before that king’s neglect

  that Jason proved his worth and won my favor:

  when the Anauros crested, chest-high, over

  the ford, he strode up glistening from the hunt,

  90 (69)and I was out inspecting men’s behavior.

  Snowy, the mountain summits shone; runoff

  through channel and ravine rolled rushing, swirling,

  tumbling down. He pitied at the crossing

  the weathered flesh I wore as a disguise.

  95Once I was muscled up onto his back,

  he shouldered me across the heaving rapids—

  hence my unquenchable esteem for him.

  But Pelias will not be forced to pay

  for his atrocities unless you, dear,

  100contrive safe passage for the son of Aeson.”

  The queen had spoken. Cypris for a time

  sat dumbstruck at the sight of Hera begging.

  When she replied, she spoke in humbler guise:

  “Queen, nothing would be more depraved than I,

  105 (80)if I make light of your appeal, denying

  helpful suggestion or whatever labor

  impotent hands could work on your behalf.

  Nor do I ask a favor in return.”

  So Cypris spoke, and Hera in her turn

  110uttered a calculated repartee:

  “We’ve not come for your brawn or broadsword, dear.

  All you must do is tell your son to spark

  passion for Jason in Aeëtes’ daughter.

  For if she takes an interest in the man,

  115she cherishes his cause and, when she does,

  our hero will with trifling labor seize

  the golden fleece and coast back home to Iolcus—

  trust me, that girl was simply made for guile.”

  So Hera spoke her mind, and Cypris voiced

  120 (90)the following reply to both of them:

  “But ladies, listen, little Eros sooner

  would heed your will than mine. Brash as he is,

  his eyes might show some glimmer of respect

  before such stately figures as yourselves.

  125My discipline means nothing to him. Always

  willful and wild, he cackles
when I chide him.

  Why, sick of all his antics, I once threatened,

  in view of all the gods, to snap in half

  his dismal-whizzing darts and short bow, too.

  130Only wound up the more, the little monster

  menaced me thus: If you don’t keep your mitts

  far from my darts and let me get my way,

  you might regret, Mommy, what you have done.”

  So she lamented. Hera and Athena

  135 (101)smiled and bandied glances back and forth,

  so she exclaimed again in agitation:

  “Yes, yes, the whole world titters at my troubles.

  I shouldn’t publish them to all and sundry.

  My private misery already more than

  140suffices. All the same, because you both

  have taken such an interest in the matter,

  I shall sound him out, speak sweetly to him,

  and never take his back talk for an answer.”

  So Cypris promised them, and Hera squeezed

  145her slender hand and spoke the final word:

  “Accomplish now, forthwith, what we require

  just as we said and just as you have promised.

  And, dear, don’t pout so, squabbling with your boy—

  he will be all grown up before you know it.”

  150 (111)She rose and, with Athena at her heels,

  paraded back up to her husband’s palace.

  Cypris in turn wound around Mount Olympus,

  searching the valleys for her wayward son.

  The garden was blooming, and she found him there,

  155but not alone; there, too, was Ganymede

  whose bloom had moved the king of gods to make

  a home for him in heaven among the immortals.

  Cozy as neighbor boys, they played at dice

  (there even dice are golden). Little Eros

  160stood clutching greedily against his breast

  fists full of winnings. An impassioned flush

  seethed on his cheeks. His playmate, though, sat silent

  and grimaced as he sent his two last dice

  tumbling, one by one, into the dirt.

  165 (124)Ganymede frowned, Love cackled, and indeed

  the last were lost as quickly as the rest.

  The loser stalked off, cleaned out, empty-fisted,

  failing to notice Cypris on the path.

  She strode across the playground, chucked her son

  170under the chin and gently scolded him:

  “Mischievous little imp, why are you smirking?

  Have you been bad and tricked a toddler? Well,

  if you are good and do what Mommy says,

  she has a treat for you. A nice bright ball!

  175All striped and shiny! Once upon a time