Jason and the Argonauts (Penguin Classics)

Home > Other > Jason and the Argonauts (Penguin Classics) > Page 23
Jason and the Argonauts (Penguin Classics) Page 23

by Apollonius Of Rhodes


  inflict unending torture on his daughter,

  if you can stop it. Parents can oppress

  their children overmuch. Consider what

  Nycteus did to fair Antiope

  1390and what afflictions Danaë endured

  at sea through her own father’s wickedness.

  In fact, not long ago or far away,

  that wicked king Echetus jabbed bronze brooches

  into his daughter’s eyeballs. Now she labors

  1395 (1095)under a grievous fate, forever grinding

  grains of bronze in an unlighted dungeon.”

  So she pleaded, and the king’s heart softened

  under his wife’s persuasion. He replied:

  “Arete, I could have my soldiers scatter

  1400the Colchians as a favor to the heroes,

  and all for that girl’s sake, but I am loath

  to disrespect the stringent laws of Zeus.

  Nor is it wise to disregard Aeëtes,

  as you propose. No one alive is more

  1405kingly than King Aeëtes. If he wanted,

  he could bring war down on Hellas, even

  from far away. Therefore, I must deliver

  a judgment that will seem disinterested

  in all men’s eyes. But I will not conceal it

  1410 (1106)from you: I shall command the Colchians

  to bring the girl back home if she is still

  a virgin. But if she is not a virgin,

  I shall not divide her from her husband

  nor shall I yield unto her enemies

  1415the child she may be bearing in her womb.”

  So he disclosed and went to sleep at once.

  His wife, though, stored his wisdom in her heart,

  rose from her bed, and hurried through the palace,

  and all her serving ladies rushed together

  1420to wait on her. She whispered for a herald

  and sent a message, prudently advising

  the son of Aeson to deflower the girl

  and not risk pleading with Alcinoös.

  And she revealed her husband would deliver

  1425 (1117)the following judgment to the Colchians:

  that, If Medea has remained a virgin,

  he will dispatch her to her father’s home;

  but if she has been sleeping with a husband,

  he will not divide connubial love.

  1430So she reported, and the herald’s feet

  whisked him out of the palace to deliver

  Arete’s favorable news to Jason,

  along with good Alcinoös’ verdict.

  The messenger directly found the heroes

  1435sitting under arms and keeping watch

  beside the city in the port of Hyllus.

  He told them everything, and his report

  so pleased them that their spirits grew ecstatic.

  Frantically, then, they mixed wine in a bowl

  1440 (1129)to offer the immortals, as is proper,

  and duly dragged sheep to the sacred altar.

  Yes, that very night they made the maiden

  a bridal bed within the sacred cave

  where Macris once had lived.

  She was the daughter

  1445of Aristeaus, lord of honey. He

  it was who first invented apiculture

  and olive pressing, after much hard work.

  Off in Abantian Euboea, Macris,

  his daughter, was the first nursemaid to hold

  1450Zeus’ Nysaean son up to her bosom.

  She also wet his holy lips with honey

  once Hermes had retrieved him from the flames.

  Hera had seen her, though, and out of spite

  exiled her from the island. Macris, then,

  1455 (1140)went off and settled in this sacred cave

  and gave the Phaeacians great abundance.

  They laid a mighty mattress in the cave

  and spread the glinting golden fleece upon it

  so that the wedding would be more distinctive

  1460and memorable in song. The nymphs collected

  colorful flowers and brought them in protruding

  from their resplendent bosoms. Over them

  a glimmer as of fire was flickering,

  so scintillating was the light that issued

  1465out of the golden wool. It sparked sweet yearning

  in all their eyes, but modesty restrained

  each of the nymphs, in spite of her desire,

  from reaching out and fondling the fleece.

  The nymphs had come from various places: some were

  1470 (1149)daughters of the Aegaeus River, others

  were dwellers on the peak of Melita,

  and others wood nymphs from the tablelands.

  Hera herself, the wedded wife of Zeus,

  had summoned them to pay respects to Jason,

  1475and to this day the grotto where the nymphs

  laid out the sweetly fragrant sheets and married

  Jason and Medea bears the name

  Medea’s Cave.

  Meanwhile the heroes took

  their spears in hand in case some gang of foemen

  1480dashed upon them unforeseen. They also

  garlanded their heads with leafy sprigs

  and to the thrum of Orpheus’ lyre

  melodiously sang the wedding hymn

  outside the entrance to the bridal chamber.

  1485 (1161)Alcinoös’ realm was not the place

  where Jason son of Aeson had desired

  to consummate the marriage, no, he rather

  had hoped to do it in his father’s palace

  once he returned. The girl had hoped so, too.

  1490Necessity, however, had compelled them

  to make love then and there.

  The truth is, we

  the members of the woe-struck tribes of mortals

  never tread the pathways to delight

  with confidence. Some bitter anguish always

  1495shambles along beside our happiness.

  Thus, after Jason and Medea’s souls

  dissolved in sweet lovemaking, terror gripped them:

  Would King Alcinoös, in fact, deliver

  the verdict Queen Arete had described?

  1500 (1170)Dawn had returned, and her ambrosial beams

  scattered the dusky darkness from the sky.

  The island beaches laughed, the dew-drenched pathways

  laughed as they ran in from the distant plains,

  and there was movement in the streets, the townsfolk

  1505were stirring, and the Colchians were stirring

  out on the farthest spit of Macris Island.

  Alcinoös, in keeping with his promise,

  went out to them at once to speak his mind

  about Medea. In his hand he held

  1510a golden staff, the staff of law, with which

  he rendered rightful judgments to the people

  throughout the city. Phaeacian nobles

  marched behind him in their battle armor,

  and women swarmed out of the city gate

  1515 (1183)to see the heroes. Country folk as well

  came in to hear Alcinoös because

  Hera had made sure news was sent abroad.

  One of them picked the best ram in his flock

  and drove him there; another led a heifer

  1520that had not yet been broken to the yoke;

  still others set up mixing bowls for wine,

  and the aroma wafted far and wide.

  Women presented garments they had woven,

  as women will, along with gifts of gold

  1525and every sort of splendor customary

  for newlyweds. They stood awhile admiring

  the builds and faces of the famous heroes

  and there among them Orpheus, tapping out

  a merry tempo with a purple sandal

  1530 (1195)while strummin
g something gorgeous on his lyre.

  And when the heroes sang the wedding hymn

  the Naiads sang as well, sometimes in answer,

  sometimes a wholly separate part, while dancing

  a cyclic dance, and in your honor, Hera,

  1535because you were the one who put the thought

  into Arete’s mind to warn the couple

  about Alcinoös’ wise decision.

  Once he had given his momentous verdict,

  Alcinoös upheld it to the letter.

  1540By then the consummation of the marriage

  was widely known, but neither King Aeëtes’

  grudging anger nor the fear of battle

  swayed his mind, since he had bound both parties

  by steadfast oaths to reverence his ruling.

  1545 (1206)So, when the Colchians perceived appeals

  were useless, and Alcinoös insisted

  they either heed his word or keep their ships

  far from his harbors, they were all so frightened

  of King Aeëtes’ threats that they entreated

  1550Alcinoös to welcome them as allies.

  They lived awhile among the Phaeacians

  until some tribesmen from Ephyra called

  the Bacchidae arrived and settled there

  among them. So the Colchian soldiers picked up

  1555and settled on the island opposite.

  From there they moved, at destiny’s behest,

  to the Ceraunian hills of the Abantes

  and then to Oricum and the Nesteians,

  but all this happened many ages later.

  1560 (1217)The shrines Medea founded in the precinct

  of Nomian Apollo still receive

  annual sacrifices to the Moirae

  and nymphs. Alcinoös bestowed rich gifts

  upon the Minyans at their departure,

  1565and Queen Arete did the same. What’s more,

  she gave the girl twelve Phaeacian handmaids

  out of the palace store to wait upon her.

  They left Drepana on the seventh day.

  A stiff, favorable wind arose from Zeus

  1570that morning, and the ship was speeding onward

  before the gale. Still, it was not their fate

  to rest their feet upon Achaean land,

  no, not until they suffered further, farther

  away in distant Libya. Soon the heroes

  1575 (1228)had left astern the Ambracian Gulf,

  soon they had skirted, with their sails spread wide,

  the Curetes’ dominion and a string

  of islands, the Echinades among them.

  But, at the very moment when the land

  1580of Pelops had arisen into view,

  a dismal gust of wind out of the north

  seized them midcourse and carried them away

  across the Libyan Sea for nine whole nights

  and nine whole days until they coasted deep

  1585into the Syrtes. Any ship that hits them

  never can sail back out to sea again.

  Shallows are everywhere, and everywhere

  tangles of bracken washed out of the depths.

  The sea scurf passes over them in silence.

  1590 (1240)The sand extends to the horizon. Nothing

  that walks or flies is ever stirring there.

  Over and over flood tides leave the mainland

  and then come rushing back to drag salt water

  across the sand. One of these tides abruptly

  1595dropped the Argo so far up the beach

  that little of the keel was still in water.

  So all the heroes jumped out of the ship,

  and sorrow struck them when they saw the sky

  and the expanse of endless land extending,

  1600just like the sky, into the endless distance.

  No path, no herdsman’s shelter, no oasis

  appeared. A dead calm haunted everything.

  They said to one another in despair:

  “Where have the storm winds landed us? Where are we?

  1605 (1251)If only we had laughed at deadly fear

  and risked retreating back out through the Rocks

  the way we came. It surely had been better

  if we had gone against the will of Zeus

  and died attempting something glorious.

  1610Now if the winds compel us to remain here

  even a short time, what are we to do?

  The coast of this vast land is too, too barren.”

  So each of them exclaimed. Ancaeus even,

  their helmsman, helpless to relieve their troubles,

  1615addressed them bleakly as they sat there grieving:

  “I’m sorry—we must die a shameful death.

  There’s no escaping this catastrophe.

  Even if gale winds blow in from the land,

  we’ve foundered on a desert. All the worst

  1620 (1264)a mortal can endure is now before us.

  However far I stare into the distance,

  I see more ocean shallows, brackish water

  ceaselessly washing over dull gray sand.

  This holy vessel would have roughly foundered

  1625far from the beach, except the surf itself

  swept it at high tide inland from the bay.

  Now that the tide has drained back out again,

  only a surf too thin for sailing laps

  about us, lightly covering the sand.

  1630That’s why I say all hope of sailing home

  is severed from us. Let some other man

  display his skill. He’s welcome to sit down

  and take the tiller if he wants to save us,

  but Zeus, it seems, has no desire whatever

  1635 (1276)to land us at our port of embarkation

  in Hellas, even after all our efforts.”

  So Ancaeus spoke and broke down weeping.

  The men with nautical experience

  agreed with his despair. All hearts were ice,

  1640all cheeks surrendering to sallowness.

  Just as when people wander through a city

  like breathless ghosts, awaiting their destruction

  by war or plague or some relentless flood

  that will erase the oxen’s work afield,

  1645and all because odd omens have been witnessed—

  statues spontaneously sweating blood,

  roars sounding, mouthless, from the holy groves—

  and high noon only means more night in heaven,

  and stars do not stop shining all day long,

  1650 (1288)so did the heroes wander without purpose

  along the endless shore.

  A somber dusk

  too soon came over them and, sadly, then,

  they wrapped their arms around each other, wept,

  and said good-bye, so that they each could then

  1655go off alone, fall in the sand, and die.

  They staggered off, each farther than the last,

  to pick their final resting places. Heads

  shrouded by their cloaks, they lay unnourished,

  weakening, all night long, all day, awaiting

  1660the most horrendous death imaginable.

  The handmaids shuffled to a place apart

  and clustered, wailing, round Aeëtes’ daughter.

  As unfledged nestlings chirrup desperately

  when they have tumbled from a cliff-side nest,

  1665 (1301)or swans release their dying proclamations

  from banks along the gorgeous Pactolus,

  and dew-drenched glades are echoing around them,

  and, echoing, the river’s handsome current,

  so did the maidens loose their long blond hair,

  1670drape it along the dust, and wail all night

  a pitiful lament.

  And now these men,

  these heroes, would have left their lives behind

 
and no names, no renown for later men

  to study, and their mission would have failed.

  1675But, as they withered there in helplessness,

  the local nymphs, the guardians of Libya,

  took pity on them. Once upon a time,

  these goddesses had come to tend Athena

  after she leapt out of her father’s head

  1680 (1311)sublimely armed. These were the goddesses

  who bathed her in the tide of Triton Lake.

  The hour was noon. The sun’s most cruel rays

  were scorching Libya. These powers gathered

  around the son of Aeson, and their fingers

  1685gently tugged the mantle from his head.

  He dropped his gaze out of respect for them,

  but they were bright before him and addressed him,

  terrified as he was, with soothing words:

  “Unlucky fellow, why has feebleness

  1690afflicted you? We know about your journey,

  how you were questing for the golden fleece.

  We know your labors, too, the mighty deeds

  you have performed while wandering across

  the land and sea. We are the Lonely Ones,

  1695 (1323)daughters and guardians of Libya,

  fluent in human utterance. Stand up now.

  Stop grumbling and carrying on like this.

  Go rouse your men. As soon as Amphitrite

  unyokes Poseidon’s smooth-wheeled chariot,

  1700you and your comrades must repay your mother

  for all the pain she suffered bearing you

  so long inside her womb, and you may yet

  come to the holy country of Achaea.”

  So they spoke and vanished in a flash

  1705from where they had been standing, and their voices

  faded away. But Jason started upright,

  looked everywhere around him, and implored:

  “Be kind, you noble powers of the dunes,

  though I confess the meaning of your words

  1710 (1334)about our journey home eluded me.

  Still, I shall rouse my friends and tell them all

  you told me in the hope that we can find

  some sign to guide us out of this morass.

  In counsel many men outdistance one.”

  1715So he implored and leapt up, cloaked in dust

  from head to foot. He shouted to his comrades

  far into the distance, as a lion

  wandering through a forest roars to summon

  his mate, and even distant mountain valleys

  1720tremble at the sound, and all the herdsmen

  and oxen shake with fear. (But Jason’s cry

  was not at all upsetting to his men

  because it was the bellow of a friend

  calling to friends.) The heroes gathered round him,

 

‹ Prev