The Argonautica
so was Aeetes, lord of the Colchians, to behold.
Meanwhile, prompted by Medea, Jason steeped the charm in water and
sprinkled with it his shield and sturdy spear, and sword; and his
comrades round him made proof of his weapons with might and main, but
could not bend that spear even a little, but it remained firm in their
stalwart hands unbroken as before. But in furious rage with them Idas,
Aphareus’ son, with his great sword hewed at the spear near the butt,
and the edge leapt back repelled by the shock, like a hammer from the
anvil; and the heroes shouted with joy for their hope in the contest.
And then he sprinkled his body, and terrible prowess entered into him,
unspeakable, dauntless; and his hands on both sides thrilled vigorously
as they swelled with strength. And as when a warlike steed eager for
the fight neighs and beats the ground with his hoof, while rejoicing he
lifts his neck on high with ears erect; in such wise did Aeson’s son
rejoice in the strength of his limbs. And often hither and thither did
he leap high in air tossing in his hands his shield of bronze and ashen
spear. Thou wouldst say that wintry lightning flashing from the gloomy
sky kept on darting forth from the clouds what time they bring with
them their blackest rainstorm. Not long after that were the heroes to
hold back from the contests; but sitting in rows on their benches they
sped swiftly on to the plain of Ares. And it lay in front of them on
the opposite side of the city, as far off as is the turning-post that a
chariot must reach from the starting-point, when the kinsmen of a dead
king appoint funeral games for footmen and horsemen. And they found
Aeetes and the tribes of the Colchians; these were stationed on the
Caucasian heights, but the king by the winding brink of the river.
Now Aeson’s son, as soon as his comrades had made the hawsers fast,
leapt from the ship, and with spear and shield came forth to the
contest; and at the same time he took the gleaming helmet of bronze
filled with sharp teeth, and his sword girt round his shoulders, his
body stripped, in somewise resembling Ares and in somewise Apollo of
the golden sword. And gazing over the field he saw the bulls’ yoke of
bronze and near it the plough, all of one piece, of stubborn adamant.
Then he came near, and fixed his sturdy spear upright on its butt, and
taking his helmet, off leant it against the spear. And he went forward
with shield alone to examine the countless tracks of the bulls, and
they from some unseen lair beneath the earth, where was their strong
steading, wrapt in murky smoke, both rushed out together, breathing
forth flaming fire. And sore afraid were the heroes at the sight. But
Jason, setting wide his feet, withstood their onset, as in the sea a
rocky reef withstands the waves tossed by the countless blasts. Then in
front of him he held his shield; and both the bulls with loud bellowing
attacked him with their mighty horns; nor did they stir him a jot by
their onset. And as when through the holes of the furnace the
armourers’ bellows anon gleam brightly, kindling the ravening flame,
and anon cease from blowing, and a terrible roar rises from the fire
when it darts up from below; so the bulls roared, breathing forth swift
flame from their mouths, while the consuming heat played round him,
smiting like lightning; but the maiden’s charms protected him. Then
grasping the tip of the horn of the right-hand bull, he dragged it
mightily with all his strength to bring it near the yoke of bronze, and
forced it down on to its knees, suddenly striking with his foot the
foot of bronze. So also he threw the other bull on to its knees as it
rushed upon him, and smote it down with one blow. And throwing to the
ground his broad shield, he held them both down where they had fallen
on their fore-knees, as he strode from side to side, now here, now
there, and rushed swiftly through the flame. But Aeetes marvelled at
the hero’s might. And meantime the sons of Tyndareus for long since had
it been thus ordained for them—near at hand gave him the yoke from the
ground to cast round them. Then tightly did he bind their necks; and
lifting the pole of bronze between them, he fastened it to the yoke by
its golden tip. So the twin heroes started back from the fire to the
ship. But Jason took up again his shield and cast it on his back behind
him, and grasped the strong helmet filled with sharp teeth, and his
resistless spear, wherewith, like some ploughman with a Pelasgian goad,
he pricked the bulls beneath, striking their flanks; and very firmly
did he guide the well fitted plough handle, fashioned of adamant.
The bulls meantime raged exceedingly, breathing forth furious flame of
fire; and their breath rose up like the roar of blustering winds, in
fear of which above all seafaring men furl their large sail. But not
long after that they moved on at the bidding of the spear; and behind
them the rugged fallow was broken up, cloven by the might of the bulls
and the sturdy ploughman. Then terribly groaned the clods withal along
the furrows of the plough as they were rent, each a man’s burden; and
Jason followed, pressing down the cornfield with firm foot; and far
from him he ever sowed the teeth along the clods as each was ploughed,
turning his head back for fear lest the deadly crop of earthborn men
should rise against him first; and the bulls toiled onwards treading
with their hoofs of bronze.
But when the third part of the day was still left as it wanes from
dawn, and wearied labourers call for the sweet hour of unyoking to come
to them straightway, then the fallow was ploughed by the tireless
ploughman, four plough-gates though it was; and he loosed the plough
from the oxen. Them he scared in flight towards the plain; but he went
back again to the ship, while he still saw the furrows free of the
earthborn men. And all round his comrades heartened him with their
shouts. And in the helmet he drew from the river’s stream and quenched
his thirst with the water. Then he bent his knees till they grew
supple, and filled his mighty heart with courage, raging like a boar,
when it sharpens its teeth against the hunters, while from its wrathful
mouth plenteous foam drips to the ground. By now the earthborn men were
springing up over all the field; and the plot of Ares, the
death-dealer, bristled with sturdy shields and double-pointed spears
and shining helmets; and the gleam reached Olympus from beneath,
flashing through the air. And as when abundant snow has fallen on the
earth and the storm blasts have dispersed the wintry clouds under the
murky night, and all the hosts of the stars appear shining through the
gloom; so did those warriors shine springing up above the earth. But
Jason bethought him of the counsels of Medea full of craft, and seized
from the plain a huge round boulder, a terrible quoit of Ares Enyalius;
four stalwart youths could not have raised it from the ground even a
little. Taking it in his hands he threw it with a rush far away into
their midst; and himself crouched unseen behind his shield, with full
confidence. And the Colchians gave a loud cry, like the roar of the sea
when it beats upon sharp crags; and speechless amazement seized Aeetes
at the rush of the sturdy quoit. And the Earthborn, like fleet-footed
hounds, leaped upon one another and slew with loud yells; and on earth
their mother they fell beneath their own spears, likes pines or oaks,
which storms of wind beat down. And even as a fiery star leaps from
heaven, trailing a furrow of light, a portent to men, whoever see it
darting with a gleam through the dusky sky; in such wise did Aeson’s
son rush upon the earthborn men, and he drew from the sheath his bare
sword, and smote here and there, mowing them down, many on the belly
and side, half risen to the air—and some that had risen as far as the
shoulders—and some just standing upright, and others even now rushing
to battle. And as when a fight is stirred up concerning boundaries, and
a husbandman, in fear lest they should ravage his fields, seizes in his
hand a curved sickle, newly sharpened, and hastily cuts the unripe
crop, and waits not for it to be parched in due season by the beams of
the sun; so at that time did Jason cut down the crop of the Earthborn;
and the furrows were filled with blood, as the channels of a spring
with water. And they fell, some on their faces biting the rough clod of
earth with their teeth, some on their backs, and others on their hands
and sides, like to sea-monsters to behold. And many, smitten before
raising their feet from the earth, bowed down as far to the ground as
they had risen to the air, and rested there with the damp of death on
their brows. Even so, I ween, when Zeus has sent a measureless rain,
new planted orchard-shoots droop to the ground, cut off by the root the
toil of gardening men; but heaviness of heart and deadly anguish come
to the owner of the farm, who planted them; so at that time did bitter
grief come upon the heart of King Aeetes. And he went back to the city
among the Colchians, pondering how he might most quickly oppose the
heroes. And the day died, and Jason’s contest was ended.
BOOK IV
Now do thou thyself, goddess Muse, daughter of Zeus, tell of the labour
and wiles of the Colchian maiden. Surely my soul within me wavers with
speechless amazement as I ponder whether I should call it the lovesick
grief of mad passion or a panic flight, through which she left the
Colchian folk.
Aeetes all night long with the bravest captains of his people was
devising in his halls sheer treachery against the heroes, with fierce
wrath in his heart at the issue of the hateful contest; nor did he deem
at all that these things were being accomplished without the knowledge
of his daughters.
But into Medea’s heart Hera cast most grievous fear; and she trembled
like a nimble fawn whom the baying of hounds hath terrified amid the
thicket of a deep copse. For at once she truly forboded that the aid
she had given was not hidden from her father, and that quickly she
would fill up the cup of woe. And she dreaded the guilty knowledge of
her handmaids; her eyes were filled with fire and her ears rung with a
terrible cry. Often did she clutch at her throat, and often did she
drag out her hair by the roots and groan in wretched despair. There on
that very day the maiden would have tasted the drugs and perished and
so have made void the purposes of Hera, had not the goddess driven her,
all bewildered, to flee with the sons of Phrixus; and her fluttering
soul within her was comforted; and then she poured from her bosom all
the drugs back again into the casket. Then she kissed her bed, and the
folding-doors on both sides, and stroked the walls, and tearing away in
her hands a long tress of hair, she left it in the chamber for her
mother, a memorial of her maidenhood, and thus lamented with passionate
voice:
“I go, leaving this long tress here in my stead, O mother mine; take
this farewell from me as I go far hence; farewell Chalciope, and all my
home. Would that the sea, stranger, had dashed thee to pieces, ere thou
camest to the Colchian land!”
Thus she spake, and from her eyes shed copious tears. And as a bondmaid
steals away from a wealthy house, whom fate has lately severed from her
native land, nor yet has she made trial of grievous toil, but still
unschooled to misery and shrinking in terror from slavish tasks, goes
about beneath the cruel hands of a mistress; even so the lovely maiden
rushed forth from her home. But to her the bolts of the doors gave way
self-moved, leaping backwards at the swift strains of her magic song.
And with bare feet she sped along the narrow paths, with her left hand
holding her robe over her brow to veil her face and fair cheeks, and