1495among ourselves about our kinship later.
Put on some clothing now. I do believe
you were marooned here by some god’s design.”
So he proclaimed and gave them clothes to wear
out of the Argo. Linked in friendship, then,
1500 (1170)they strode to Ares’ shrine to slaughter sheep
and offer them in sacrifice. Assembled
before the roofless temple, they assumed
their places round an altar built of fieldstone.
A black stone lay half-buried in the earth
1505within the precinct. It was to this stone
the Amazons had once all prayed. In fact,
whenever they would venture from the mainland,
their laws prevented them from burning oxen
or sheep as sacrifices on this altar;
1510rather, they butchered horses, giant horses
they fattened for a year. Only after
the heroes had performed the sacrifice
and dined upon the feast they had prepared,
did Jason speak among them. He began:
1515 (1179)“Zeus truly must be minding these affairs.
Whether devout or cruel and sacrilegious,
we mortals never can escape his gaze.
Zeus, for example, saved your father Phrixus
from murder at his mad stepmother’s hands
1520and gave him boundless wealth besides. So, also,
he brought you safe out of the deadly storm.
Our ship can sail wherever one might wish—
Aea or that rich and holy city
Orchomenus. Athena planned it out
1525and with a bronze ax on the peak of Pelion
felled trees for planks, and Argus built it with her.
Your ship, though, cracked beneath the savage swell
before it even reached the Rocks that run
crashing together in the Pontic strait.
1530 (1192)Come, then, and be our helpers, too: we seek
the golden fleece to bring back home to Hellas.
Come, guide our course. I’m going to atone for
Phrixus’ forced escape, which is the reason
Zeus has been angry with the Aeolids.”
1535So Jason solaced them. The brothers, though,
cringed upon hearing of the quest. They thought
Aeëtes was unlikely to be gentle
with men that sought to take the fleece from him,
and Argus tried to talk them out of it:
1540“My friends, whatever strength we have to help you
shall never fail to serve your cause. We shall assist you
whenever need arrives. Aeëtes, though,
has fortified himself in dreadful fashion
with savage cruelty, so I greatly doubt
your quest will be successful.
1545 (1203)King Aeëtes
boasts he was born the son of Helius,
and countless tribes of Colchians support him.
The man could rival Ares with his war cry,
muscle, and vigor. Nor would it be easy
1550to steal the fleece without Aeëtes’ knowledge.
The dragon standing sentinel before it
is of the worst sort—deathless, never-sleeping.
Mother Earth begot it on the slopes
of the Caucasus, on the Rock of Typhon—
1555you know, where Typhon with his mighty hand grip
climbed up to challenge Zeus. The legends tell us
Cronian Zeus’ lightning blasted him
right there atop the jagged peak, and steamy
blood came welling up out of his head.
1560 (1214)He dragged himself, then, wounded, toward
the mountains
and reached the plain of Nysa where he lies
submerged beneath the tide of Lake Serbonis
down to this very day.”
So Argus warned them.
When the heroes learned what was before them,
1565terror blanched their cheeks, that is, the cheeks
of all but Peleus. He answered Argus
straight off, with resolution in his voice:
“My friend, don’t try to spook us with your talk.
We’re not so inexperienced in warcraft
1570that we would fall beneath Aeëtes’ arms.
No, we are heading in prepared, I think,
since we are offspring of the blessed gods.
So, if the king will not do us a favor
and offer up the fleece, I doubt his countless
1575 (1225)Colchians will be much assistance to him.”
So they conversed awhile among themselves,
then feasted once again and went to sleep.
A breeze was blowing when they rose that morning,
so they set forth, the sail stretched taut before
1580the onrush of the wind, and soon enough
they left the Isle of Ares in their wake.
That night they passed the island of Philyra.
Here, back when Cronus, Ouranos’ youngest,
ruled his Titan kin on Mount Olympus
1585(and infant Zeus was in a cave on Crete
tended by the Idaean Curetes),
Cronus went off to meet up with Philyra
behind his consort Rhea’s back. When Rhea
caught them in the act of making love,
1590 (1237)he changed himself into a long-maned horse,
kicked himself out of bed, and galloped off.
Philyra, daughter of the Ocean, left
her dear old home and island in disgrace
and settled down among the lofty mountains
1595of the Pelasgians, and there it was
she foaled at length Cheiron: half man, half horse,
product of an extra-species union.
From there they sailed on, skirting the Macrones,
the never-ending land of the Becheiri,
1600the proud Sapeires, even the Byzeri.
So, swept along by favorable winds,
they ever onward cleaved their course. And now
the far end of the Pontic Sea appeared
before their rapid progress. Now arose
1605 (1247)the summits of the sheer Caucasus Mountains
where Prometheus was hung, his limbs
fixed to a rough cliff face by cuffs of bronze.
He served his liver to an eagle daily;
daily the bird returned to rip it out.
1610The heroes spotted outspread wings toward dusk
passing above the masthead near the clouds.
The huge and churning pennons loudly whispered,
puffing the sails. No, this was not a normal
bird of the air, but bigger, and it worked
1615its feathered wings like smoothly polished oars.
They soon discerned Prometheus’ anguished
howl as, again, his liver was devoured.
The air was full of shrieks until they saw
the cruel eagle flying from the mountain
back the way that it had come.
1620 (1260)That evening,
under Argus’ unfailing guidance,
they reached wide-flowing Phasis and the eastmost
edge of the Pontic Sea. Straightway they struck
the sail and yardarm, stowed them in the hold,
1625and then stepped down the mast and laid it out
beside them. Quickly under oar, they entered
the river’s mighty current, and it yielded,
foaming, before them. The sublime Caucasus
and the Cytaean city of Aea
1630were larboard, and to port the plain of Ares
and Ares’ sacred orchard, where the dragon
kept constant watch beneath the fleece spread out
across the crown of a luxuriant oak.
And Jason from a golden goblet poured
1635 (1271)honey-sweet offerings of unmixed wine
into the river, asking that the Earth,
the local deities, and all the shades
of the indigenous departed heroes
please be kind, benign, and blameless helpers
1640and warmly welcome Argo to their shores.
Ancaeus, then, announced:
“We now have reached
the river Phasis and the land of Colchis.
The time has come to plan among ourselves
whether to ply Aeëtes with persuasion
1645or whether other means will serve us best.”
So he announced. At Argus’ suggestion
Jason told the crew to keep the ship
afloat at anchor after they had reached
a green lagoon inside the river’s mouth,
1650 (1285)and so they spent the night. A few hours later
day broke, the day that they had been expecting.
BOOK 3
Come now, Erato, stand beside me, tell me
how, through the passion of Medea, Jason
returned the fleece to Iolcus. Yes, you, too,
enjoy your share of Cypris’ dominion.
5Your magic spellbinds marriageable maidens
with thoughts of love, and that is why, Erato,
Eros is in the lovely name you bear.
We left the heroes hiding in a blind
among some thickly growing reeds. Athena
10and Hera spotted them, despite their cover,
and slipped into a room to plait a plot
apart from Zeus and all the other gods.
Hera was first to ask what should be done:
“Since you are Zeus’ daughter, you should be
15 (12)the first to give advice. What should we do?
Can you devise some scheme by which the heroes
strip the golden fleece from King Aeëtes
and bring it back to Hellas? No, he’s not
the sort they could persuade with honeyed phrases.
20In fact, that man is such an awful bully
that we should shun no means of thwarting him.”
So she confided, and Athena answered:
“Hera, I also have been meditating
upon this matter, but my mind, for all
25the many tactics I have weighed and measured,
has failed to find one that will do the trick.”
With that, they fixed their eyes upon the floor
and stood there each in her own world. Hera
first broke the silence to propose a plan:
30 (25)“Come, let us go find Cyprian Aphrodite
and tell her that she must approach her son
and pressure him to sink a shaft into
Aeëtes’ daughter, drug-adept Medea,
so that the girl is struck with lust for Jason.
35I am quite certain that, with her assistance,
Jason will bring the fleece back home to Greece.”
So she proposed. The shrewd scheme satisfied
Athena, and she uttered honeyed words:
“Hera, I am as my father made me—
40oblivious to that little fellow’s arrows.
Love charms and all such things are lost upon me.
Still, if you like this plan, I’ll go along . . .
please, though, do all the talking when we see her.”
So spoke she, and they rose and promenaded
45 (36)over to Cypris’ colossal palace
(the one her hobbled husband had constructed
before he led her out of Zeus’ halls).
Once inside the walls, they reached a courtyard
and strode on to the chamber that the goddess
50shared with her man Hephaestus. He himself
had gone at daybreak to his forge and anvils
in a vast cavern on a Floating Island
where he would daily cast with blasts of fire
ingenious miracles of metalwork.
55So, left alone again, the goddess Cypris
was lounging on a couch inlaid with bronze.
Her mane of hair let down and dangling over
either spotless shoulder, she was using
a golden comb to work the tangles out
60 (47)before she wove the tresses into braids.
Soon as she saw the goddesses before her,
she paused and bade them enter. Then she rose,
sat them on couches, sat herself back down,
and tied her hair above her head because
65there still was brushing to be done. All smiles,
she greeted them with pointed deference:
“Dear ladies, welcome! Why, what pressing purpose
could bring such reverend matrons to my home?
What has come over you? Before today
70you never over-often deigned to pay me
such honor, since you move in higher spheres.”
Hera retorted then: “You mock us, dear.
But, seriously now, we face a matter
of life or death. Already Aeson’s son
75 (58)and all who follow questing for the fleece
at anchor ride beside the banks of Phasis.
Now that the crucial moment is at hand,
we’re worried to distraction for them all,
but most for Jason. Though he chart a course
80far off to Hades’ palace to release
Ixion from his bondage, all my strength,
so long as strength remains, shall go to guard him.
Nor shall I suffer Pelias to shirk
a well-earned death and live to laugh at me.
85Rash fool! To fail to pay my shrines their due!
But it was well before that king’s neglect
that Jason proved his worth and won my favor:
when the Anauros crested, chest-high, over
the ford, he strode up glistening from the hunt,
90 (69)and I was out inspecting men’s behavior.
Snowy, the mountain summits shone; runoff
through channel and ravine rolled rushing, swirling,
tumbling down. He pitied at the crossing
the weathered flesh I wore as a disguise.
95Once I was muscled up onto his back,
he shouldered me across the heaving rapids—
hence my unquenchable esteem for him.
But Pelias will not be forced to pay
for his atrocities unless you, dear,
100contrive safe passage for the son of Aeson.”
The queen had spoken. Cypris for a time
sat dumbstruck at the sight of Hera begging.
When she replied, she spoke in humbler guise:
“Queen, nothing would be more depraved than I,
105 (80)if I make light of your appeal, denying
helpful suggestion or whatever labor
impotent hands could work on your behalf.
Nor do I ask a favor in return.”
So Cypris spoke, and Hera in her turn
110uttered a calculated repartee:
“We’ve not come for your brawn or broadsword, dear.
All you must do is tell your son to spark
passion for Jason in Aeëtes’ daughter.
For if she takes an interest in the man,
115she cherishes his cause and, when she does,
our hero will with trifling labor seize
the golden fleece and coast back home to Iolcus—
trust me, that girl was simply made for guile.”
So Hera spoke her mind, and Cypris voiced
120 (90)the following reply to both of them:
“But ladies, listen, little Eros sooner
would heed your will than mine. Brash as he is,
his eyes might show some glimmer of respect
before such stately figures as yourselves.
125My discipline means nothing to him. Always
willful and wild, he cackles
when I chide him.
Why, sick of all his antics, I once threatened,
in view of all the gods, to snap in half
his dismal-whizzing darts and short bow, too.
130Only wound up the more, the little monster
menaced me thus: If you don’t keep your mitts
far from my darts and let me get my way,
you might regret, Mommy, what you have done.”
So she lamented. Hera and Athena
135 (101)smiled and bandied glances back and forth,
so she exclaimed again in agitation:
“Yes, yes, the whole world titters at my troubles.
I shouldn’t publish them to all and sundry.
My private misery already more than
140suffices. All the same, because you both
have taken such an interest in the matter,
I shall sound him out, speak sweetly to him,
and never take his back talk for an answer.”
So Cypris promised them, and Hera squeezed
145her slender hand and spoke the final word:
“Accomplish now, forthwith, what we require
just as we said and just as you have promised.
And, dear, don’t pout so, squabbling with your boy—
he will be all grown up before you know it.”
150 (111)She rose and, with Athena at her heels,
paraded back up to her husband’s palace.
Cypris in turn wound around Mount Olympus,
searching the valleys for her wayward son.
The garden was blooming, and she found him there,
155but not alone; there, too, was Ganymede
whose bloom had moved the king of gods to make
a home for him in heaven among the immortals.
Cozy as neighbor boys, they played at dice
(there even dice are golden). Little Eros
160stood clutching greedily against his breast
fists full of winnings. An impassioned flush
seethed on his cheeks. His playmate, though, sat silent
and grimaced as he sent his two last dice
tumbling, one by one, into the dirt.
165 (124)Ganymede frowned, Love cackled, and indeed
the last were lost as quickly as the rest.
The loser stalked off, cleaned out, empty-fisted,
failing to notice Cypris on the path.
She strode across the playground, chucked her son
170under the chin and gently scolded him:
“Mischievous little imp, why are you smirking?
Have you been bad and tricked a toddler? Well,
if you are good and do what Mommy says,
she has a treat for you. A nice bright ball!
175All striped and shiny! Once upon a time
Jason and the Argonauts (Penguin Classics) Page 13
