Zeus was a baby in a cave on Ida
and liked to play, so Adrasteia, his nanny,
made him this pretty toy. Handy Hephaestus
himself could not devise a finer plaything:
180 (137)Golden circlets hold the whole together.
Parallel hoops are sewn slantwise around them
to cinch them tight, and blue streaks round these hoops
in spirals wind and wander, hiding all
the seams and stitches. Toss it up, a train
185trails after, glittering like a comet’s tail—
this will be your reward, but not before
you shoot Medea full of love for Jason.
Now go and do the deed; don’t drag your feet,
for Mommy’s kindness, later, may be less.”
190So spoke she, and the words fell welcome on
his eager ears. Scattering dice before him,
he ran to hang upon his mother’s skirts
with clenched fists and demanded his reward:
Now, Mommy, no, right now! To soothe the fit,
195 (150)she pinched his cheeks and kissed him, hugged him close,
and, smirking, promised:
“Let your head and mine
attest the bargain: I shall not deceive you.
There—I have sworn. Now, if you want the toy,
go sink a shaft deep in Aeëtes’ daughter.”
200So spoke she, and the god snatched up the dice,
reckoned the sum, and stuffed his mother’s pockets
full of them. Then he ran and grabbed his quiver
from where it leaned, ready, against a tree,
slung it about him with a strap of gold,
205and gathered up his crooked little bow.
Brilliant around him bloomed the garden of Zeus,
the groves and orchards, but the boy rushed on,
flew through the gates of high Olympus.
Thence
opens the downward path; there double peaks
210 (162)like pillars of the earth vault ever upward
to keep the sky from falling; there the sun,
first upon rising in the morning, ruddies
the summits with extended beam. As Eros
was coasting unobstructed through the air,
215plump tilth and bustling towns and nymph-abounding
waterways passed into his view and then
strange ridges and a rounded swatch of sea.
The heroes, though, remained apart, concealed
among the river rushes, strategizing.
220Jason was speaking, and the men were seated
in order bench by bench, in silence, listening:
“Comrades, the plan I now shall lay before you
strikes me as wisest. Yours will be the task
of bringing it to pass. Our need is shared,
225 (174)and counsel, too, is shared among us all.
The man who locks his thoughts and wisdom up
in reticence should know that he alone
is keeping all of us from heading home.
While you remain at ease but under arms
230here on the Argo, I shall make my way
to King Aeëtes’ palace—I myself,
the sons of Phrixus, and two other men.
Once I am granted audience, I shall test him
with words to find out whether he is willing
235to give the golden fleece up out of friendship
or whether he will balk, trust in his strength,
and block our quest. Thus we can sound the depth
of our distress and next consider whether
the implements of war will serve us better
240 (185)or double-dealing, if we rule out war.
We shouldn’t simply take the man’s possession
until we have at least assessed his mind.
Surely it’s wiser to approach him first
and try to win him over with entreaties.
245In rough spots words have often smoothed the way
and won what valor only could have won
with toil and sweat.
Consider this: Aeëtes
once welcomed worthy Phrixus when the latter
was running from his stepmother’s deceit
250and slaughter at his father’s hands. All men,
even the most contemptuous of them,
dread and revere the covenants of Zeus
the God of Guest and Host.”
So Jason spoke,
and all the heroes rushed to voice approval.
255 (195)No one proposed a different course, so Jason
bade Telamon, Augeas, and the sons
of Phrixus join him in his embassy
and took the staff of Hermes in his hand.
They wasted no time disembarking over
260the rushes where the upward sloping bank
afforded solid ground. This tract is known
as Circe’s Plain, and tamarisks and willows
grow there in rows, and corpses wrapped in cables
dangle earthward from the overstory.
265Down to this very day it is taboo
among the Colchians to cremate males
upon their death. Nor does their faith allow them
to lay the bodies in the earth and heap
barrows above them. Rather, they are shrouded
270 (207)in uncured hide and dangled from the treetops
outside the city. Still, the earth receives
as many corpses as the air because
their females’ bodies are, in fact, interred.
Such are the equitable customs there.
275Hera helped the heroes travel safely
by casting thick mist down around the city
so that they would escape the notice of
the multitudinous throngs of Colchians.
Soon as the heroes passed out of the plain
280into the town and palace, Hera scattered
the cloud away. They stood there in the entry
marveling at the royal court—the wide
gateways, the columns standing, rank on rank,
along the walls, and, higher up, the bronze
285 (218)capitals holding up a marble cornice.
They softly crossed the threshold. All around them
high-climbing vines, prolific strands of leaves,
had broken into bloom. Beneath them bubbled
four ever-flowing springs for which Hephaestus
290himself had dug the channels. One was flowing
with milk, and one with wine, a third contained
a stream of fragrant oil, and the fourth
was limpid water that, they say, ran hot
after the setting of the Pleiades
295but at their rising jetted chill as crystal
out of the hollow rock. Such were the wonders
Hephaestus fashioned for Aeëtes’ palace
at Cyta.
He had forged for him as well
bronze-footed bulls with brazen mouths that breathed
300 (231)shocking, abominable blasts of flame.
What’s more, he made an indestructible plow
out of a single block of adamant
to pay a favor back to Helius
who had picked up Hephaestus in his war car
305when he was faint from waging war at Phlegra.
A central iron door was built there, too.
Beyond it many sturdy double doors
and living chambers ran in both directions.
Along each side a fine arcade extended,
310and crosswise to them in the wings loftier
apartments stood. In one of them, the highest,
Aeëtes slept beside his wife. Absyrtus,
his son, inhabited another of them.
Asterodeia, a Caucasian nymph,
315 (243)bore him before Aeëtes wed Eidyia,
Tethys’ and Ocean’s youngest
daughter.
The Colchians, however, took to calling
Absyrtus “Phaëthon” (the Shining One)
since he outshone the other boys his age.
320In other lower rooms, Aeëtes’ daughters
Medea and Chalciope resided,
along with all their maids.
It was Medea
that Jason and his party met by chance
when they were wandering from room to room
325to find Chalciope. Hera had made
Medea stay at home that day on purpose.
The girl, you see, was rarely at the palace
but usually working all day long
as priestess at the shrine of Hecate.
330 (253)Soon as the maiden saw that men were coming,
she shrieked. Chalciope could not but hear it,
and when her handmaids dropped their wool and spindles
and rushed out all together in a crowd,
she went as well and, when she saw her sons,
335flung out her hands for joy. Her sons as well
flung out their hands for joy at seeing her
and hugged her warmly. Sobbing, she exclaimed:
“So, you were not, in fact, about to leave me
so thoughtlessly and travel far away.
340Fate has returned you. How distraught I was!
A wild and senseless lust to sail to Greece
had taken hold of you, a dire delusion,
all at your father Phrixus’ behest.
His dying proclamation to you tortured
345 (265)my heart with netherworldly afflictions.
Why risk a voyage to the place they call
Orchomenus, whatever that might be,
to claim some King Athamas’ estate?
Why leave me here to bear my grief alone?”
350So she lamented. Last of all, Aeëtes
emerged from his apartment with the queen,
Eidyia, when they heard Chalciope.
A bustle filled the court, the sounds of servants—
some of them readying a massive bull
355for slaughter, some with brazen axes splitting
wood for the fire, and others boiling water
for baths before the feast. Not one of them
was stinting in his service to the king.
And Eros was descending all the while,
360 (276)descending through the lustrous air, unseen
but as rambunctious as the stinging fly
that oxherds call the “goad,” the kind that nettles
heifers. In an instant he was there,
bracing his back against the antechamber’s
365doorpost. He deftly strung his little bow
and from the quiver chose a virgin arrow
laden with future groans. His speedy feet
whisked him across the threshold, he himself
unnoticed as he keenly scanned the scene.
370Then, crouching low beneath the son of Aeson,
he nocked the arrow midway up the string,
and, parting bow and string with both hands, shot
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
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