The Golden Fleece

by Robert Graves

  He sat on the ground nursing his wound and said: ‘Farewell, dear comrades. The bird promised me gold if I followed him. Now I must die, but I feel no excessive pain. Bury me handsomely and speak well of me when I am dead.’ Then the numbness from the poison spread swiftly through his limbs, a mist clouded his eyes, and he sank back.

  Under the torrid Libyan sun a corpse soon stinks; and the venom of the snake working within the body of Mopsus began to rot the flesh before the very eyes of his comrades and make the hair fall out. They quickly borrowed mattocks from the Ausensians and dug him a deep grave while his corpse was hissing on the pyre that they had heaped and lighted. When all the flesh was consumed they piled a barrow over his bones, and three times marched about it in full armour, mourning grievously for him and tearing out their hair by handfuls; while the shameless vulture circled screaming overhead, baulked of its hoped-for repast.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  The Argo Comes Home

  It was dangerously late in the year to undertake a voyage that could not be expected to last less than two months, but the winds and weather proved wonderfully favourable from the day that the Argonauts sailed out into the Libyan Sea by the Gabes river, to the day that they finally disembarked at Pagasae. Throughout their long coasting of the Double Gulf of Syrtis they did not spend longer than could be avoided at any place where they touched; for no cities or other places of attraction were to be found anywhere along the whole length – not even the well-known settlement of Oea was worth a visit. This coast was possessed by savages no less strange than those whom they had visited in the eastern gulf of the Black Sea.

  First, in order, they visited the Lotus-eaters, the indolent inhabitants of the large rocky island of Meninx, where the Argonauts went ashore for water. These Lotus-eaters, as their name implies, subsist largely on the sweet berry of the loosely branched, silver-leaved lotus, or jujube bush, that grows spontaneously in every rock-crevice or secluded nook. They own flocks of sheep, besides, for their provision of milk and wool, but consider the eating of roast mutton a loathsome act, worse than cannibalism. From the lotus berry they brew a wine of such strength that it is said to impair disastrously the memory of those who drink it: after only a few draughts they forget the names of their friends and relatives and even of the blessed gods. On Meninx the Argonauts found good water and partook of the lotus berry, compressed into sweet round cakes; but they refused to touch lotus wine, because Nauplius warned them against it. They had learned at last not to invite trouble by dangerous experiment.

  Next the Argo came to the territory of the Gindanaeans, who are shepherds, goatherds, and tunny-fishers; they also feed upon the lotus, but do not brew lotus wine. Here for the first time the Argonauts saw date-palms growing, like tall pillars with feathery tops, and tasted the sticky yellow fruit, which is slow to ripen. The Gindanaean women wear about their ankles as many linen bandages as they have companied with men, and are the dominant sex, being the guardians of the wells. They would not let the Argonauts, those who were sent to fetch water, draw even a bucketful until they had companied with them and each provided a strip of linen to bandage his bride. The women were handsome, though exceedingly brown in colour, and the Argonauts, who were commanded by Echion, were pleased to give them the pleasure that they demanded. The Gindanaean men were not jealous of this act, but showed indecent curiosity, resenting to be driven away from the scene; however, at Echion’s request the women compelled them to go off and wash themselves in the sea.

  The coast of the gulf along which they now sailed was low, sandy, and featureless; and scarcely a vestige of green was to be seen anywhere. On the seventh day they came to Oea, which lies in the middle of the Double Gulf. Oea is an encampment rather than a town. The capacious harbour, protected by reefs from the fury of the North-East Wind, is used by Greek merchants who come to fetch off the local products, such as ostrich-skins, sponges, and herb-benjamin (a condiment of great relish); they can sometimes buy ivory and other outlandish products conveyed in Egyptian caravans. The caravans come in winter-time along the route, connecting the numerous oases of the interior, which ends at this point, and return in early spring. However, since the trading season was over for the year, the Argonauts found only native Macaeans at Oea, not a single Greek or Egyptian. The Macaeans grow a tuft of hair in the very centre of their skulls, shaving the rest. They revere the ostrich and live in skin tents.

  At Oea Jason washed the Fleece in the fifth of the seven prescribed rivers, the narrow Cinyps, which empties into the Libyan Sea. His companions also bought Greek water-jars of large size and filled them from the same stream.

  From Oea, they continued for two whole days to sail past the territory of the Macaeans, and towards evening of the second day came up with what had seemed in the distance to be three islands; these were three cliffs of a rocky promontory, fledged with palm-trees. In the distance a flock of sheep were seen to be pastured, which gave the Argonauts an irresistible hankering after roast mutton. The three Sinopeans, with Idas, Lynceus, and Canthus the brother of Polyphemus, were at once sent out by Jason to obtain ten ewes or wethers from the shepherds – less would not suffice them. They overtook the flock at dusk, but the Macaean shepherds, rejecting the gifts offered them, refused to yield even a single sheep. In the battle that was then joined, the shepherds, who were marvellously agile, acquitted themselves with courage beyond the ordinary, four men against six; and before Idas could spit them all, one after the other, with his broad spear, their leader had aimed a sling-stone at Canthus, whirling it with great strength and deadly aim, which struck him full upon the temple and broke the bones of his skull.

  Sorrowfully they took Canthus up and buried him by the sea, dancing about his pyre in armour and tearing out their hair. They also raised a lofty cairn of white boulders above his bones, so that sailors in after-years might beach their ships close by and pour libations to him. But they themselves had no fear of the ghost of Canthus; it had slaked its thirst well on the blood of four adversaries and a hundred sheep beside, which though thin, the Argonauts found tasty enough. They feasted on well-roasted mutton, with a sauce of barley and herb-benjamin that the Phaeacian girls knew how to prepare.

  Next they came to lagoons, salt marshes, and quicksands, extending for a hundred miles or more. This part of the gulf has a remarkably chaotic appearance, being neither firm land nor yielding sea. Some poets say that at the original creation of the world by the Goddess Eurynome she was distracted by the sight of a horned asp which she had involuntarily called into being, and that she left the Syrtis unfinished. Nauplius kept the Argo well clear of this treacherous coast.

  Next they came to the territory of the swarthy Psyllians, who dare to eat snakes and lizards and, according to the account given by Nauplius, are proof against the venom even of the asp. Nauplius declared that if ever a Psyllian child is bitten by an asp and dies, his mother flings the corpse into the desert without any funeral as being a monster, no true Psyllian. Medea mocked at this story, remarking that the Psyllians are no more proof against snake-venom than any other people, but use placatory charms and anoint themselves with a juice obnoxious to snakes of all sorts. She declared that in their public displays, when they encourage great hooded serpents to bite them, the Psyllians doubtless cheat the populace by first secretly removing the venom-fangs with the jerk of a rag placed between each serpent’s teeth. As for the eating of snakes’ flesh, she said, that was no wonder; for it is not poisonous, but only disagreeably tough and rank. The Argonauts did not therefore trouble to visit the Psyllians, whom hitherto they had regarded as a marvellous people. They sailed onwards past red cliffs and intervening beaches of white sand, behind which rose coast hills of uniform height, treeless and clothed in scorched grass. Gazelle were sighted from time to time, but no other four-footed animals of any great size.

  Next they came to the territory of the Nasamonians, who occupy the firmer parts of the Eastern Gulf. The Nasamonians differ from the tribes to the westward by wor
shipping a Father God of a sort and practising marriage of a sort. However, the men are not jealous of the chastity of their wives; the husband allows his wedding-guests to enjoy his wife, one after the other in order of rank, so long as each one brings her a suitable love-gift. A rich man marries several wives; but the poor man, who cannot afford to maintain even one, attends all the weddings and is therefore not deprived of the natural pleasures of love. However the Argonauts did not meet with many members of this numerous tribe for the greater part of them were, as usual, spending their summer in the oases of date-palms which mark the desolate interior of Libya as spots do the pelt of a leopard; they would not return until the rains of winter had reclothed the coastal hills with grass and flowers to plump up their lean cattle.

  When the Argonauts went ashore at a substantial settlement in the eastern angle of the gulf, being again in need of water, the leader of the few remaining Nasamonians insisted that Echion, who had come forward as herald, should swear a treaty of friendship with him. The Nasamonian drank water from the palm of Echion’s hand, and gave him water to drink from his own. This method of sealing a treaty Echion found most disagreeable. The Nasamonian had filthy hands covered with sores, and the water, which was procured by digging in the sand near the beach, was brackish and tasted disagreeably of sulphur. Nevertheless, Echion behaved with impeccable courtesy, as a herald should.

  They were obliged to wait here until the West Wind that had carried them so well and so far should be succeeded by the South Wind; for the coast now curved northward. The Nasamonians fed them generously meanwhile, but upon food that was by no means to their liking – strips of lean beef dried in the sun, and the powdered bodies of locusts mixed with dried milk. On the sixth day the South Wind blew.

  It was with pleasure that, not long afterwards, they reached the fertile land of Cyrene, where the soil is deep and all manner of trees and grasses flourish. The Cyreneans, a cultivated and hospitable folk with some knowledge of Greek, entertained them kindly for the sake of the wonderful tales that they told of their travels. Here Jason bought provisions for the next stage of their voyage, which was to Greece by way of Crete, and he and his comrades tasted fresh barley-bread for the first time since they had quitted Corfu. The place from which they finally sailed was Darnis, where they washed the Fleece in the sixth of the prescribed seven rivers, the Darnis, which empties into the Cyrenaic Sea. This sweet-watered stream passes through a deep ravine, the sides of which are clothed in wild olive, pine, and cypress. They found well-tended fig-orchards here and newly planted vineyards, and at a farewell feast the Darnians crowned them with garlands, crammed their mouths with fat roast beef, and would at first take no recompense; but the Argonauts pressed gold upon them for the beautification of their temples.

  From Darnis, with a fine south-easterly breeze, they came to Crete by the dawn of the third day, and woke to find Mount Dicte towering before them. They had a mind to land at Hierapytna, a strong town situated on a plain projecting from the coast; but the chief magistrate, wearing a bronze helmet, a bronze breastplate, and bronze greaves, stood on a pinnacle of rock close to the landing-place and shouted roughly to them to sheer off, since Minyan ships were not welcome in Crete. Armed townsmen flocked about him, clashing their weapons together, and pelted the Argo with pebbles and stones. The Argonauts debated whether to attack Hierapytna and put all the inhabitants to the sword; but more prudent counsels prevailed when Medea offered to punish the magistrate with a blow dealt from a distance.

  They backed the Argo out of bowshot and Medea mounted into the bows. Throwing the fold of her purple robe over her head, she made magic beneath it. She could be heard chanting and praying alternately, and at last thrust out her head and gave the magistrate, whose name was Talus, such a Gorgon look, with gnashing of teeth and rolling of eyes and waggling of tongue, that he fainted for fear and fell down from the pinnacle of rock where he was standing. He broke his leg in three places, cut the principal artery of his ankle, and bled to death within the hour; for the townsmen, in terror of Medea, dared not come to his rescue.

  The Argonauts rowed away to the eastward, laughing for pleasure, and rounded the rugged eastern tip of Crete. At dawn of the next day they reached Minoa, where Argus was well known to the townspeople, and there revictualled the ship. The river Minos, which empties into the Cretan Sea, was the last of the seven prescribed rivers in which they washed the Fleece. Now it was thoroughly cleansed and acceptable to Zeus.

  They sailed at noon from Minoa and continued all night, with a southerly wind filling their sail. The sky clouded over and, though the sea was not remarkably rough, this was the darkest night of the whole voyage, with no moon or stars or any other source of light at all. It was then that Euphemus lost the holy clod of earth given him by the Tritonian chieftain, for they shipped a deal of water about midnight. A black chaos descended from Heaven and nobody had the least notion how far the Argo had come or on what course; but they sailed on trustingly. At dawn the sky suddenly cleared and when the first rays of the rising sun gilded the bald cliffs of the island of Anaphe they saw that some deity had guided them well between the two rocky islets that lie off its southern shore at a distance of some four miles. They disembarked on a beach of yellow sand and lighted a fire of driftwood, hoping either to purchase a sheep or to hunt down a goat or some other animal for sacrifice to Radiant Apollo. But Anaphe at this time was not tenanted either by men or by any birds or beasts fit for sacrifice. The Argonauts were forced to pour libations of pure water over the burning brands, which made the Phaeacian girls laugh until their tears flowed.

  Then Idas said: ‘For laughing at us, girls, I will chastise your over-modest bottoms for you with the flat of my hand!’

  The girls defended themselves with lighted brands and handfuls of sand, amid general merriment and much screaming; and Idas chastised each bottom in turn, though the girls burned him well for his pains and nearly blinded him with sand. This incident is now annually recalled by the pious Anapheans in their meatless sacrifice to Apollo; and with ‘the hand of Idas’, the girls are still merrily chastised in the God’s honour.

  It was at Anaphe, too, that Medea was led by a woodpecker to a hollow tree, the base of which, because of its bulges and bosses, closely resembled the shape of a matronly woman. Medea understood the language of birds and, on the advice of the woodpecker, desired Argus to fell the tree for her. This he did, and with axe, tar, and minium, obeying her instructions, he converted the base into a frightful statue of Thracian Artemis, which he carried down to the beach and placed, veiled in cloaks, aboard the Argo.

  From Anaphe they sailed not to Aegina, as some pretend, but between happy Naxos and Paros of the white marble rocks; and in the night left Delos astern on the starboard counter. The three staunchest devotees of Apollo, namely Idmon, Iphitus, and Mopsus, were all dead by this time; had they been living, they would have prevailed on Jason to land on Delos and dance all day.

  Tenos and Andros likewise were also left astern, and no adventure befell the Argonauts as, sailing along the holy coast of Euboea, they passed by the land of Cadmus, and Aulis, and the Locrian shore and rounded the flat and lentisk-clothed Cape Caeneon, where Euboea ends; and more than seven months after their departure they re-entered the Pagasaean Gulf and stepped boldly ashore upon the well-remembered beach.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  The Death of Pelias

  It was already night; nevertheless, Jason desired his comrades to light a fire of driftwood at once on the deserted beach of Pagasae, while he obtained suitable beasts for sacrifice to Apollo of Disembarkations in gratitude for the Argo’s safe return. They could find no dry driftwood, but, at the suggestion of Acastus, broke into a marine storehouse and lighted a fine blaze with the oars and benches that they found inside.

  Jason went with Peleus to the same farmhouse from which he had once fetched wine for Hercules to drink, and rapped on the door with the pommel of his sword. The farmer who came, bill-hook in hand, to open the
door, blinked confusedly at his visitors, having been aroused from his first sleep, the deepest and sweetest of the whole night; but then let out a shrill cry and tried to slam the door in their faces. Jason thrust his foot between the door and the door-post and asked him: ‘Friend, why do you shrink from Jason, the only son of Aeson your King, and treat him as though he were a nocturnal robber?’

  The farmer, trembling and stuttering, replied: ‘O my lord Jason, you are dead, do you not know that? You were shipwrecked and drowned on your homeward voyage from Sicily two months ago. You are only the ghost of Jason, not Jason himself.’

  Jason was vexed. He and Peleus together thrust the door open with their shoulders, and soon convinced the farmer of his mistake by pummelling him with their fists. Still trembling and quivering, he conducted them to his well-stocked byres, where by lantern light they chose two beautiful young bulls for sacrifice. These the farmer led out by their ringed snouts down to the misty beach, which was now splendidly illuminated, because the Argonauts were feeding the fire with tar and turpentine and resin from the storehouse. At once Jason immolated the bulls on the very altar that he had heaped to Apollo of Embarkations on the day that the Argo was launched.