Jason and the Argonauts

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Jason and the Argonauts Page 15

by Apollonius Of Rhodes

Medea. Sudden muteness gripped her spirit.

  The god, then, fluttered from the high-roofed hall,

  375 (286)cackling, and the arrow burned like fire

  deep, deep down beneath the maiden’s heart.

  She fired scintillating glances over

  and over at the son of Aeson. Anguish

  quickened her heart and panted in her breast,

  380and she could think of him, him only, nothing

  but him, as sweet affliction drained her soul.

  As when a workwoman, a hireling drudge

  whose livelihood is spinning yarn from wool,

  piles kindling around a burning brand

  385so that there might be light beneath the roof

  at night, since she has woken very early,

  and from that one small brand a fire spreads

  marvelously and eats up all the twigs,

  so all-consuming Eros curled around

  390 (296)Medea’s heart and blazed there secretly.

  Her tender cheeks kept turning pale, then crimson,

  pale, then crimson, in her mind’s confusion.

  After the slaves had laid the banquet out,

  and all the guests had washed off their exhaustion

  395in nice warm baths, they satisfied their hearts

  with meat and drink. Soon, though, Aeëtes questioned

  his daughter’s sons, addressing them just so:

  “Sons of my daughter, offspring of that Phrixus

  I honored more than any other guest

  400who lived at court, how has it come about

  that you have made your way back to Aea?

  Did some misfortune cut your voyage short?

  No, no, you wouldn’t listen when I warned you

  about the endless distance of the journey.

  405 (309)I saw the whole route once while flying in

  my father Helius’ chariot.

  We were resettling my sister Circe

  way out west and flew a great long while

  before we stopped at the Tyrrhenian coast

  410where she is living to this day, far, far

  from Colchis. But what joy is there in stories?

  Come, tell me what misfortune spoiled your trip,

  who are these men attending you, and where

  you beached your hollow ship on disembarking.”

  415So he demanded. Argus answered first,

  before his brothers, since he was the eldest

  and most intent on aiding Jason’s quest:

  “Furious storms, Aeëtes, quickly splintered

  our ship and, as we huddled on the wreckage,

  420 (322)a roller rose out of the night and swept us

  ashore upon the Isle of Enyalius.

  Clearly some god was guarding us, because

  we never ran into the birds of Ares,

  the ones that used to make that rock their home.

  425These men, you see, had scared the birds away

  when they had disembarked the day before.

  It must have been the will of Zeus, or Fate,

  that pitied us and sent these men to save us.

  As soon as they had heard the famous name

  430of Phrixus (and your name as well), they gave us

  clothes and provisions, more than we required.

  You see, they had been sailing to your city.

  If you would like to know their journey’s purpose,

  it’s not a mystery:

  A certain king

  435 (334)passionately desired to drive this fellow

  far from his homeland and estate because

  he far surpassed all Aeolus’ offspring

  in battle prowess. So the king dispatched him

  on an adventure, an impossible quest.

  440This king maintains the heirs of Aeolus

  will not escape the heart-confounding grudge

  and punishment of unrelenting Zeus,

  nor Phrixus’ insufferable sentence

  and curse on them, until the fleece at last

  returns to Greece.

  445Pallas Athena built

  their ship, a ship unlike the vessels found

  among the Colchians. I swear, we happened

  to take the worst of these—the churning sea

  and gale winds quickly battered it to pieces.

  450 (343)Their tight-knit ship, however, holds together,

  even though every gale at once should storm her.

  She runs with equal speed both under sail

  and when the oarsmen with persistent strokes

  muscle her onward. Here’s the man who gathered

  455the mightiest warriors in Greece aboard her

  and set out for your city. He has traveled

  through many cities and unfathomed seas,

  confident you will give the fleece to him.

  Their quest will turn out just as you decide

  460because this man has not arrived among us

  with outrage in his hands, but eager, rather,

  to offer fitting payment for the gift—

  he heard from me about the Sauromatae,

  your fiercest rivals, and would gladly force them

  under your scepter.

  465 (354)If you wish to know

  their names and pedigrees, I shall be happy

  to tell you them. This fellow here, the one

  for whom the others gathered out of Hellas,

  is known as Jason, son of Aeson, son

  470of Cretheus. And if he is indeed

  of Cretheus’ stock, he would be kinsman

  to us on our father’s side because

  Cretheus and Athamas both were sons

  of Aeolus, and Phrixus was the son

  475of Aeolid Athamas. Surely, king,

  you’ve heard of Helius’ son Augeas—

  he’s standing here—and this here’s Telamon,

  the son of famed Aeacus, son of Zeus.

  Likewise the others traveling with them

  480 (366)are all the sons or grandsons of immortals.”

  So Argus sought to win Aeëtes over.

  The king, however, when he heard this speech,

  boiled with wrath. His heart shot up in anger.

  He raged widely, but most against the sons of

  485Chalciope, because he thought they’d guided

  the strangers there on purpose. In his fury

  his eyes were flashing underneath his brows:

  “Get from my sight, you scoundrels, right this minute!

  Pack up your tricks and get out of my land

  490before someone starts ogling the fleece

  and visits Phrixus in the Underworld!

  I greatly doubt you fellows leagued together

  and sailed from Hellas to retrieve the fleece—

  no, you desire my realm and royal scepter.

  495 (377)If you had not first tasted of my table,

  rest assured, I would have cut your tongues out,

  lopped your hands off and dispatched you homeward

  wearing your feet alone, so that you never

  come back a second time. What blasphemy

  500you have pronounced against the blessed gods!”

  Thus King Aeëtes raged and so incensed

  Telamon’s spirit that the latter burned

  to utter deadly insults in reply.

  Jason, however, cut him off by speaking

  505gentle words before the curses flew:

  “Aeëtes, I beseech you, please be lenient

  toward this expedition. By no means

  are we
here visiting your court in Cyta

  with the intentions you impute to us.

  510 (389)What man would hazard of his own free will

  voyaging over such high-swelling seas

  to steal another man’s possession? Fate,

  rather, and an abominable tyrant’s

  heartless insistence have compelled this visit.

  515Bestow a favor on your suppliants,

  and I shall speak of you as of a god

  throughout the land of Hellas. Furthermore,

  we are prepared to pay immediate

  indemnity in battle, whether you

  520might wish us to subdue beneath your scepter

  the Sauromatae or some other tribe.”

  So he proposed, with soft persuasion aiming

  to sway Aeëtes. But the king was mulling

  divided purposes within his chest:

  525 (398)whether to charge and slay them then and there

  or test their mettle first. The latter course

  seemed better in the end, and he responded:

  “Stranger, why should you tell your whole tale through?

  If you were truly sired by deities

  530and have arrived no weaker than I am

  in strength for my possession, I shall give you

  the fleece to carry home, if that’s your wish,

  but only if you pass my test. By no means

  am I tightfisted with distinguished men,

  535not like that king in Greece you told me of.

  The contest will be one of strength and mettle,

  one I myself perform with my own hands,

  life-threatening though it be.

  I am the owner

  of two bronze-footed oxen. As they graze

  540 (410)the plain of Ares, fire rather often

  shoots from their mouths. Once I have yoked their necks,

  I drive them over all four stubborn acres

  of Ares’ fallows. Yes, I cleave the plain

  from end to end up to the riverbank,

  545casting into the furrows all the while

  not seed to summon up Demeter’s grain,

  but fangs instead, fangs from a wondrous serpent.

  They sprout up in the shape of armed and armored

  soldiers and, when they charge in all around me,

  550I harvest them at once beneath my spear.

  I yoke the bulls at daybreak and at dusk

  rest from the reaping.

  On the very day

  that you complete these tasks as I do, you

  may take the fleece back to that king of yours.

  555 (420)Until you do, though, you should not expect

  I will bestow the golden prize upon you.

  It’s unbecoming for a gentleman

  to yield to a man of lesser birth.”

  Such was his challenge. Jason fixed his eyes

  560before his feet in silence and remained

  speechless and lost in the predicament.

  He sat a long time wondering what to do,

  but there was no way to accept the labor

  with confidence—it seemed impossible.

  565He came out, in the end, with wary words:

  “Aeëtes, your demand, though justified,

  leaves me no choice, it seems. Therefore I, too,

  shall risk the contest, daunting though it be,

  and though it be my doom to die of it.

  570 (430)Nothing harder can befall a man

  than dire necessity. Necessity

  has driven me to you—a king’s insistence.”

  So Jason answered, stricken with despair.

  Seeing that he was paralyzed, Aeëtes

  575dismissed him with a still more heinous threat:

  “Go now with your companions, since you are

  so keen to try. But if you balk at yoking

  the bulls or harvesting the deadly crop,

  the consequences I have outlined here

  580will then befall you, so that in the future

  base men will shrink from troubling their betters.”

  Such was his bluntness. Jason left his couch,

  and Telamon arose, and then Augeas.

  But, of the sons of Phrixus, only Argus

  585 (441)departed with their party—he had signaled

  his brothers to remain behind at home.

  They all strode from the hall, and Jason shone

  brilliantly in his grace and beauty, gorgeous

  above the others, and the maiden fixed

  590her eyes, sidelong, on him, appraising him

  obliquely from behind her veil. Her heart

  was smoldering in its distress. Her soul,

  like a pursuing dream, went fluttering

  about his footsteps as he walked. And so,

  595in great dismay, the heroes left the palace.

  On guard against the anger of Aeëtes,

  Chalciope retreated with her sons

  swiftly into her room. Medea followed,

  her heart obsessing over all the worries

  600 (453)love excites. The vision still appeared

  before her eyes: what he himself was like,

  what clothing he had worn, what he had said,

  how he had sat upon his chair, and how

  walked out the door. When she considered him,

  605she thought that she had never seen his equal.

  His voice and luscious phrases sounded over

  and over in her ears. She feared for him—

  the oxen or invincible Aeëtes

  would slay him, and she grieved and grieved as though

  610he were already dead. At her bereavement

  round tears of earnest pity wet her cheeks.

  So she was softly sobbing when she mourned:

  “Why has this woe assailed me? I am ruined.

  Whether he be the greatest of the heroes

  615 (465)who now is doomed to perish, or the weakest,

  let him meet his fate. I would prefer, though,

  that he escape uninjured. Hecate,

  daughter of Perses, Holy Queen of Dread,

  please help him to survive and sail for home.

  620But if his fate requires that he die

  beneath the oxen, let him first know this—

  his sad misfortune gives me no delight.”

  Such were the love cares torturing her heart.

  While Argus and the heroes were proceeding

  625out of the city and its press of people

  down the road they took in from the plain,

  Argus offered Jason a suggestion:

  “Son of Aeson, you may scorn the counsel

  that I will give you now but, all the same,

  630 (476)though you are in a bind, it is unseemly

  to shirk the trial. You have already heard me

  talking about a girl, a witch who learned

  black arts from Perses’ daughter Hecate.

  If we can find a way to win her over,

  635you need no longer fear Aeëtes’ trial

  will end with your demise. I am afraid, though,

  very afraid, my mother will refuse

  to help us in this matter. All the same,

  I shall return and plead our case to her

  640because the same doom hangs above us all.”

  Thus in a friendly fashion he proposed,

  and Jason said:

  “Dear comrade, if this plan

  seems prudent to you, I do not oppose it.

  Go and beseech your mother, beg for help

  645 (487)wit
h carefully selected words. But, mind you,

  if we entrust our homecoming to women,

  our hopes are very pitiful indeed.”

  So he responded, and they quickly reached

  the river marsh. Their comrades in excitement

  650shouted out questions when they saw them coming,

  but Jason gave a sorrowful response:

  “My friends, inflexible Aeëtes wildly

  rages against us in his heart of hearts.

  No need for me to tell you all the details;

  655no need for you to question me about them.

  In sum, he spoke of two bronze-footed bulls

  that graze the plain of Ares, how they shoot

  fire out of their mouths. He challenged me

  to plow four fallow acres with the things.

  660 (498)He will provide, he said, the following seed:

  fangs from a serpent’s jaws, and from these fangs

  armed men, earth-nurtured soldiers, will emerge.

  The very hour they sprout I must destroy them.

  Since I could not come up with something better,

  665I vowed to take the challenge on myself.”

  So he explained. The contest seemed a labor

  none could accomplish, so they stood awhile

  unspeaking, silent, eying one another.

  Thoughts of catastrophe and then despair

  670oppressed them. Then at long last Peleus

  spoke words of inspiration to his comrades:

  “It’s time to make a plan, though there is less

  profit in talk, I think, than our own strength.

  Heroic son of Aeson, if you truly

  675 (508)do intend to yoke the bulls, that is,

  if you are passionate to win the contest,

  keep your word and gird yourself for action.

  But if your heart does not have perfect faith

  in your ability, do not, yourself,

  680attempt it nor sit swiveling your eyes

  in search of someone else to do the labor,

  since I am not the sort that runs and hides.

  The worst that I can suffer will be death.”

  So Peleus proclaimed, and Telamon

  685was moved as well to stand as a contestant.

  The third to rise was haughty Idas, then

  Tyndareus’ sons stood up beside him

  and, finally, the son of Oeneus,

  who made the cut of foremost fighters, though

  690 (519)the down had not yet flowered on his cheeks,

  because so great a battle lust inspired him.

  The other men deferred to them in silence.

  Argus, however, quickly spoke his mind

  to all those who were keen to try the contest:

  695“Friends, yours would be an act of desperation.

 

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