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)with 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 so
rrowful 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.
It’s likely that my mother will provide
crucial support, so, eager as you are,
remain here on the ship a little longer
just as before, since holding back is better
700than rashly snatching up a dreadful doom.
There is a girl, a maiden. King Aeëtes
raised her here at court, and Hecate
has taught her to prepare with perfect skill
all the magic herbs that earth and water
705 (531)nurture to growth. Armed with these tinctures, she
can blunt the fury of relentless fire,
check suddenly a roaring river’s spate,
pause stars, and halt the holy moon’s advance.
As we were coming back along the road
710out of the court, I thought of her and thought
to ask my mother to persuade this girl,
her sister, to assist us in the contest.
If all of you agree to my proposal,
I shall return to King Aeëtes’ palace
715this very day and see what I can do.
With god’s assistance my attempt will prosper.”
So he submitted, and the gods provided
a sign to show their will: a timid dove
that happened to be fleeing from a hawk
720 (542)dropped, in confusion, into Jason’s lap,
and its assailant then impaled itself
upon the splintered stern post. Mopsus swiftly
interpreted the omen for his comrades:
“My friends, this auspice has appeared for you
725with god’s approval. There’s no better way
to read the sign than that we should approach
the girl and win her over with persuasion.
She won’t refuse, I think, if Phineus
has rightly prophesied that our return
730lies with the goddess Cypris, since it was
her gentle bird that just escaped its doom.
And as the heart within me reads this omen,
so may it now be brought to pass. Come, friends,
first call on Cytherea to protect us,
735 (554)then go and act on Argus’ proposal.”
So he interpreted, and all the heroes
took thought of Phineus’ prophecy
and shouted in approval. Only Idas
the son of Aphareus started up
740and grumbled an abominable reproach:
“My, my, have we come here as fellow crewmen
to women, now that we are asking Cypris
for help and not the mighty Enyalius?
Look at you—ogling hawks and doves and shirking
745heroic labors. On your way, then, boys.
Neglect the work of soldiers; go and woo
fainthearted maidens over to our cause.”
So growled he in a huff. Though many heroes
murmured words of muted disapproval,
750 (565)none of them spoke against him, so he gruffly
sat down again, and Jason spoke his mind
to the assembly, rousing them to action:
“Now, since everyone agrees, let Argus
head to the palace. We ourselves should loosen
755our cables from the riverbank and fix them
openly to the mainland. Lurking here
like coward ne’er-do-wells is unbecoming.”
So he commanded and at once dispatched
Argus at full speed back toward town again
760while all the others heeded Jason’s orders,
weighed the anchor stone, and rowed the ship
ashore a short ways from the river flats.
Aeëtes, meanwhile, had convened the Colchians
far from the palace at the council place
765 (577)where they had often met, and they were planning
atrocious schemes and torments for the Minyans.
Aeëtes vowed that, once the bulls had ravaged
the man who had agreed to undergo
the lethal labor, he would fell the oaks
770atop the wooded banks and torch the ship
and all the men aboard it, so that they
might scream away their wicked insolence,
and all their wanton scheming come to nothing.
He never would have welcomed to his hearth
775Phrixus the son of Aeolus, despite
the fact that he surpassed all other guests
in piety and kindness, and despite
his desperate need, had Zeus himself not sent
Hermes from heaven as a messenger
780 (588)to make sure Phrixus found his host receptive.
So much the less, then, would the band of pirates
who had descended on his land abide there,
uninjured, long. Their only interest
was laying hands on other people’s goods,
785hatching dishonest plots, and plundering
the herdsmen’s steadings in tumultuous raids.
He added that, beyond these penalties,
the sons of Phrixus personally should pay him
fitting indemnities for bringing home
790impetuous marauders who were plotting
to drive him from his throne and royal power.
In fact, his father Helius had once
uttered a baleful prophecy that warned him
to be on guard against clandestine plots
795 (601)and treachery within his family—
/>
that was the reason he had sent the boys
out of the way to Hellas, though the trip
was what they wanted and their father’s bidding.
He knew his daughters never could devise
800infernal schemes, nor could his son Absyrtus.
No, he assumed Chalciope’s sons only
would bring the prophecy to its fulfillment.
So in his rage he spoke of horrid deeds
among his subjects and with mighty threats
805warned them to watch the ship and heroes closely
and make sure none of them escaped destruction.
Argus, meanwhile, had reached Aeëtes’ palace
and with resourceful pleading urged his mother
to ask the girl for help. Chalciope
810 (612)had thought of this already, but a fear
had gripped her heart, a fear that fate would stop her
or her appeals would come to naught because
the girl would dread their father’s deadly anger
or, even if the girl agreed to help them,
815their plan would be discovered and forestalled.
The girl herself was lying on her bed.
Deep sleep at first relieved her of her torment,
but soon beguiling, violent dreams assailed her,
as often happens with an anxious girl.
820She dreamed the stranger undertook the trial
not from a need to bring the fleece to Hellas,
no, that was not why he had visited
Aeëtes’ palace; rather, he had come
to take her back home as his wedded wife.
825 (623)She dreamed that she herself had undertaken
the contest and performed the tasks with ease,
but that her parents backed out of the promise
since they had set the labor of the yoking
not for their daughter but the visitor
830alone. And then a two-edged quarrel broke out
between her father and the visitors.
Both sides submitted to her arbitration
and bade her side with whom her heart preferred.
Straight off she chose the stranger and ignored
835her parents. Infinite resentment gripped them.
They howled in rage and at their howling sleep
released her. She awoke in shock and shivered,
her wild eyes swiveling from wall to wall
around the room. She strained to pull her spirit
840 (635)back down inside herself and said aloud:
“Oh, how these baneful dreams have frightened me.
I fear the coming of these heroes means
catastrophe. My thoughts keep fluttering
around that stranger. Let him go and woo
845a Greek girl far away among his people.
Maidenhood and the palace of my parents
Jason and the Argonauts (Penguin Classics) Page 15
