The Argonautica
in council, sitting on the benches of their ship. And Aeson’s son
himself was speaking among them; and they were listening silently in
their places sitting row upon row: “My friends, what pleases myself
that will I say out; it is for you to bring about its fulfilment. For
in common is our task, and common to all alike is the right of speech;
and he who in silence withholds his thought and his counsel, let him
know that it is he alone that bereaves this band of its home-return. Do
ye others rest here in the ship quietly with your arms; but I will go
to the palace of Aeetes, taking with me the sons of Phrixus and two
comrades as well. And when I meet him I will first make trial with
words to see if he will be willing to give up the golden fleece for
friendship’s sake or not, but trusting to his might will set at nought
our quest. For so, learning his frowardness first from himself, we will
consider whether we shall meet him in battle, or some other plan shall
avail us, if we refrain from the war-cry. And let us not merely by
force, before putting words to the test, deprive him of his own
possession. But first it is better to go to him and win his favour by
speech. Oftentimes, I ween, does speech accomplish at need what prowess
could hardly catty through, smoothing the path in manner befitting. And
he once welcomed noble Phrixus, a fugitive from his stepmother’s wiles
and the sacrifice prepared by his father. For all men everywhere, even
the most shameless, reverence the ordinance of Zeus, god of strangers,
and regard it.”
Thus he spake, and the youths approved the words of Aeson’s son with
one accord, nor was there one to counsel otherwise. And then he
summoned to go with him the sons of Phrixus, and Telamon and Augeias;
and himself took Hermes’ wand; and at once they passed forth from the
ship beyond the reeds and the water to dry land, towards the rising
ground of the plain. The plain, I wis, is called Circe’s; and here in
line grow many willows and osiers, on whose topmost branches hang
corpses bound with cords. For even now it is an abomination with the
Colchians to burn dead men with fire; nor is it lawful to place them in
the earth and raise a mound above, but to wrap them in untanned oxhides
and suspend them from trees far from the city. And so earth has an
equal portion with air, seeing that they bury the women; for that is
the custom of their land.
And as they went Hera with friendly thought spread a thick mist through
the city, that they might fare to the palace of Aeetes unseen by the
countless hosts of the Colchians. But soon when from the plain they
came to the city and Aeetes’ palace, then again Hera dispersed the
mist. And they stood at the entrance, marvelling at the king’s courts
and the wide gates and columns which rose in ordered lines round the
walls; and high up on the palace a coping of stone rested on brazen
triglyphs. And silently they crossed the threshold. And close by garden
vines covered with green foliage were in full bloom, lifted high in
air. And beneath them ran four fountains, ever-flowing, which
Hephaestus had delved out. One was gushing with milk, one with wine,
while the third flowed with fragrant oil; and the fourth ran with
water, which grew warm at the setting of the Pleiads, and in turn at
their rising bubbled forth from the hollow rock, cold as crystal. Such
then were the wondrous works that the craftsman-god Hephaestus had
fashioned in the palace of Cytaean Aeetes. And he wrought for him bulls
with feet of bronze, and their mouths were of bronze, and from them
they breathed out a terrible flame of fire; moreover he forged a plough
of unbending adamant, all in one piece, in payment of thanks to Helios,
who had taken the god up in his chariot when faint from the Phlegraean
fight.[22] And here an inner-court was built, and round it were many
well-fitted doors and chambers here and there, and all along on each
side was a richly-wrought gallery. And on both sides loftier buildings
stood obliquely. In one, which was the loftiest, lordly Aeetes dwelt
with his queen; and in another dwelt Apsyrtus, son of Aeetes, whom a
Caucasian nymph, Asterodeia, bare before he made Eidyia his wedded
wife, the youngest daughter of Tethys and Oceanus. And the sons of the
Colchians called him by the new name of Phaethon,[23] because he
outshone all the youths. The other buildings the handmaidens had, and
the two daughters of Aeetes, Chalciope and Medea. Medea then [they
found] going from chamber to chamber in search of her sister, for Hera
detained her within that day; but beforetime she was not wont to haunt
the palace, but all day long was busied in Hecate’s temple, since she
herself was the priestess of the goddess. And when she saw them she
cried aloud, and quickly Chalciope caught the sound; and her maids,
throwing down at their feet their yarn and their thread, rushed forth
all in a throng. And she, beholding her sons among them, raised her
hands aloft through joy; and so they likewise greeted their mother, and
when they saw her embraced her in their gladness; and she with many
sobs spoke thus:
“After all then, ye were not destined to leave me in your heedlessness
and to wander far; but fate has turned you back. Poor wretch that I am!
What a yearning for Hellas from some woeful madness seized you at the
behest of your father Phrixus. Bitter sorrows for my heart did he
ordain when dying. And why should ye go to the city of Orchomenus,
whoever this Orchomenus is, for the sake of Athamas’ wealth, leaving
your mother alone to bear her grief?”
Such were her words; and Aeetes came forth last of all and Eidyia
herself came, the queen of Aeetes, on hearing the voice of Chalciope;
and straightway all the court was filled with a throng. Some of the
thralls were busied with a mighty bull, others with the axe were
cleaving dry billets, and others heating with fire water for the baths;
nor was there one who relaxed his toil, serving the king.
Meantime Eros passed unseen through the grey mist, causing confusion,
as when against grazing heifers rises the gadfly, which oxherds call
the breese. And quickly beneath the lintel in the porch he strung his
bow and took from the quiver an arrow unshot before, messenger of pain.
And with swift feet unmarked he passed the threshold and keenly glanced
around; and gliding close by Aeson’s son he laid the arrow-notch on the
cord in the centre, and drawing wide apart with both hands he shot at
Medea; and speechless amazement seized her soul. But the god himself
flashed back again from the high-roofed hall, laughing loud; and the
bolt burnt deep down in the maiden’s heart like a flame; and ever she
kept darting bright glances straight up at Aeson’s son, and within her
breast her heart panted fast through anguish, all remembrance left her,
and her soul melted with the sweet pain. And as a poor woman heaps dry
twigs round a blazing brand—a daughter of toil, whose task is the
spinning of wool, that she may kindle a blaze at night beneath her
roof, when she has waked very early—and the flame waxing wondrous great
from the small brand consumes all the twigs together; so, coiling round
her heart, burnt secretly Love the destroyer; and the hue of her soft
cheeks went and came, now pale, now red, in her soul’s distraction.
Now when the thralls had laid a banquet ready before them, and they had
refreshed themselves with warm baths, gladly did they please their
souls with meat and drink. And thereafter Aeetes questioned the sons of
his daughter, addressing them with these words:
“Sons of my daughter and of Phrixus, whom beyond all strangers I
honoured in my halls, how have ye come returning back to Aea? Did some
calamity cut short your escape in the midst? Ye did not listen when I
set before you the boundless length of the way. For I marked it once,
whirled along in the chariot of my father Helios, when he was bringing
my sister Circe to the western land and we came to the shore of the
Tyrrhenian mainland, where even now she abides, exceeding far from
Colchis. But what pleasure is there in words? Do ye tell me plainly
what has been your fortune, and who these men are, your companions, and
where from your hollow ship ye came ashore.”
Such were his questions, and Argus, before all his brethren, being
fearful for the mission of Aeson’s son, gently replied, for he was the
elder-born:
“Aeetes, that ship forthwith stormy blasts tore asunder, and ourselves,
crouching on the beams, a wave drove on to the beach of the isle of
Enyalius [24] in the murky night; and some god preserved us. For even
the birds of Ares that haunted the desert isle beforetime, not even
them did we find. But these men had driven them off, having landed from
their ship on the day before; and the will of Zeus taking pity on us,
or some fate, detained them there, since they straightway gave us both
food and clothing in abundance, when they heard the illustrious name of
Phrixus and thine own; for to thy city are they faring. And if thou
dost wish to know their errand, I will not hide it from time. A certain
king, vehemently longing to drive this man far from his fatherland and
possessions, because in might he outshone all the sons of Aeolus, sends
him to voyage hither on a bootless venture; and asserts that the stock
of Aeolus will not escape the heart-grieving wrath and rage of
implacable Zeus, nor the unbearable curse and vengeance due for
Phrixus, until the fleece comes back to Hellas. And their ship was
fashioned by Pallas Athena, not such a one as are the ships among the
Colchians, on the vilest of which we chanced. For the fierce waves and
wind broke her utterly to pieces; but the other holds firm with her
bolts, even though all the blasts should buffet her. And with equal
swiftness she speedeth before the wind and when the crew ply the oar
with unresting hands. And he hath gathered in her the mightiest heroes
of all Achaea, and hath come to thy city from wandering far through
cities and gulfs of the dread ocean, in the hope that thou wilt grant
him the fleece. But as thou dost please, so shall it be, for he cometh
not to use force, but is eager to pay thee a recompense for the gift.
He has heard from me of thy bitter foes the Sauromatae, and he will
subdue them to thy sway. And if thou desirest to know their names and
lineage I will tell thee all. This man on whose account the rest were
gathered from Hellas, they call Jason, son of Aeson, whom Cretheus
begat. And if in truth he is of the stock of Cretheus himself, thus he
would be our kinsman on the father’s side. For Cretheus and Athamas
were both sons of Aeolus; and Phrixus was the son of Athamas, son of
Aeolus. And here, if thou hast heard at all of the seed of Helios, thou
dost behold Augeias; and this is Telamon sprung from famous Aeacus; and
Zeus himself begat Aeacus. And so all the rest, all the comrades that
follow him, are the sons or grandsons of the immortals.”
Such was the tale of Argus; but the king at his words was filled with
rage as he heard; and his heart was lifted high in wrath. And he spake
in heavy displeasure; and was angered most of all with the son of
Chalciope; for he deemed that on their account the strangers had come;
and in his fury his eyes flashed forth beneath his brows:
“Begone from my sight, felons, straightway, ye and your tricks, from
the land, ere someone see a fleece and a Phrixus to his sorrow. Banded
together with your friends from Hellas, not for the fleece, but to
seize my sceptre and royal power have ye come hither. Had ye not first
tasted of my table, surely would I have cut out your tongues and hewn
off both hands and sent you forth with your feet alone, so that ye
might be stayed from starting hereafter. And what lies have ye uttered
against the blessed gods!”