Jason and the Argonauts (Penguin Classics)
Page 23
inflict unending torture on his daughter,
if you can stop it. Parents can oppress
their children overmuch. Consider what
Nycteus did to fair Antiope
1390and what afflictions Danaë endured
at sea through her own father’s wickedness.
In fact, not long ago or far away,
that wicked king Echetus jabbed bronze brooches
into his daughter’s eyeballs. Now she labors
1395 (1095)under a grievous fate, forever grinding
grains of bronze in an unlighted dungeon.”
So she pleaded, and the king’s heart softened
under his wife’s persuasion. He replied:
“Arete, I could have my soldiers scatter
1400the Colchians as a favor to the heroes,
and all for that girl’s sake, but I am loath
to disrespect the stringent laws of Zeus.
Nor is it wise to disregard Aeëtes,
as you propose. No one alive is more
1405kingly than King Aeëtes. If he wanted,
he could bring war down on Hellas, even
from far away. Therefore, I must deliver
a judgment that will seem disinterested
in all men’s eyes. But I will not conceal it
1410 (1106)from you: I shall command the Colchians
to bring the girl back home if she is still
a virgin. But if she is not a virgin,
I shall not divide her from her husband
nor shall I yield unto her enemies
1415the child she may be bearing in her womb.”
So he disclosed and went to sleep at once.
His wife, though, stored his wisdom in her heart,
rose from her bed, and hurried through the palace,
and all her serving ladies rushed together
1420to wait on her. She whispered for a herald
and sent a message, prudently advising
the son of Aeson to deflower the girl
and not risk pleading with Alcinoös.
And she revealed her husband would deliver
1425 (1117)the following judgment to the Colchians:
that, If Medea has remained a virgin,
he will dispatch her to her father’s home;
but if she has been sleeping with a husband,
he will not divide connubial love.
1430So she reported, and the herald’s feet
whisked him out of the palace to deliver
Arete’s favorable news to Jason,
along with good Alcinoös’ verdict.
The messenger directly found the heroes
1435sitting under arms and keeping watch
beside the city in the port of Hyllus.
He told them everything, and his report
so pleased them that their spirits grew ecstatic.
Frantically, then, they mixed wine in a bowl
1440 (1129)to offer the immortals, as is proper,
and duly dragged sheep to the sacred altar.
Yes, that very night they made the maiden
a bridal bed within the sacred cave
where Macris once had lived.
She was the daughter
1445of Aristeaus, lord of honey. He
it was who first invented apiculture
and olive pressing, after much hard work.
Off in Abantian Euboea, Macris,
his daughter, was the first nursemaid to hold
1450Zeus’ Nysaean son up to her bosom.
She also wet his holy lips with honey
once Hermes had retrieved him from the flames.
Hera had seen her, though, and out of spite
exiled her from the island. Macris, then,
1455 (1140)went off and settled in this sacred cave
and gave the Phaeacians great abundance.
They laid a mighty mattress in the cave
and spread the glinting golden fleece upon it
so that the wedding would be more distinctive
1460and memorable in song. The nymphs collected
colorful flowers and brought them in protruding
from their resplendent bosoms. Over them
a glimmer as of fire was flickering,
so scintillating was the light that issued
1465out of the golden wool. It sparked sweet yearning
in all their eyes, but modesty restrained
each of the nymphs, in spite of her desire,
from reaching out and fondling the fleece.
The nymphs had come from various places: some were
1470 (1149)daughters of the Aegaeus River, others
were dwellers on the peak of Melita,
and others wood nymphs from the tablelands.
Hera herself, the wedded wife of Zeus,
had summoned them to pay respects to Jason,
1475and to this day the grotto where the nymphs
laid out the sweetly fragrant sheets and married
Jason and Medea bears the name
Medea’s Cave.
Meanwhile the heroes took
their spears in hand in case some gang of foemen
1480dashed upon them unforeseen. They also
garlanded their heads with leafy sprigs
and to the thrum of Orpheus’ lyre
melodiously sang the wedding hymn
outside the entrance to the bridal chamber.
1485 (1161)Alcinoös’ realm was not the place
where Jason son of Aeson had desired
to consummate the marriage, no, he rather
had hoped to do it in his father’s palace
once he returned. The girl had hoped so, too.
1490Necessity, however, had compelled them
to make love then and there.
The truth is, we
the members of the woe-struck tribes of mortals
never tread the pathways to delight
with confidence. Some bitter anguish always
1495shambles along beside our happiness.
Thus, after Jason and Medea’s souls
dissolved in sweet lovemaking, terror gripped them:
Would King Alcinoös, in fact, deliver
the verdict Queen Arete had described?
1500 (1170)Dawn had returned, and her ambrosial beams
scattered the dusky darkness from the sky.
The island beaches laughed, the dew-drenched pathways
laughed as they ran in from the distant plains,
and there was movement in the streets, the townsfolk
1505were stirring, and the Colchians were stirring
out on the farthest spit of Macris Island.
Alcinoös, in keeping with his promise,
went out to them at once to speak his mind
about Medea. In his hand he held
1510a golden staff, the staff of law, with which
he rendered rightful judgments to the people
throughout the city. Phaeacian nobles
marched behind him in their battle armor,
and women swarmed out of the city gate
1515 (1183)to see the heroes. Country folk as well
came in to hear Alcinoös because
Hera had made sure news was sent abroad.
One of them picked the best ram in his flock
and drove him there; another led a heifer
1520that had not yet been broken to the yoke;
still others set up mixing bowls for wine,
and the aroma wafted far and wide.
Women presented garments they had woven,
as women will, along with gifts of gold
1525and every sort of splendor customary
for newlyweds. They stood awhile admiring
the builds and faces of the famous heroes
and there among them Orpheus, tapping out
a merry tempo with a purple sandal
1530 (1195)while strummin
g something gorgeous on his lyre.
And when the heroes sang the wedding hymn
the Naiads sang as well, sometimes in answer,
sometimes a wholly separate part, while dancing
a cyclic dance, and in your honor, Hera,
1535because you were the one who put the thought
into Arete’s mind to warn the couple
about Alcinoös’ wise decision.
Once he had given his momentous verdict,
Alcinoös upheld it to the letter.
1540By then the consummation of the marriage
was widely known, but neither King Aeëtes’
grudging anger nor the fear of battle
swayed his mind, since he had bound both parties
by steadfast oaths to reverence his ruling.
1545 (1206)So, when the Colchians perceived appeals
were useless, and Alcinoös insisted
they either heed his word or keep their ships
far from his harbors, they were all so frightened
of King Aeëtes’ threats that they entreated
1550Alcinoös to welcome them as allies.
They lived awhile among the Phaeacians
until some tribesmen from Ephyra called
the Bacchidae arrived and settled there
among them. So the Colchian soldiers picked up
1555and settled on the island opposite.
From there they moved, at destiny’s behest,
to the Ceraunian hills of the Abantes
and then to Oricum and the Nesteians,
but all this happened many ages later.
1560 (1217)The shrines Medea founded in the precinct
of Nomian Apollo still receive
annual sacrifices to the Moirae
and nymphs. Alcinoös bestowed rich gifts
upon the Minyans at their departure,
1565and Queen Arete did the same. What’s more,
she gave the girl twelve Phaeacian handmaids
out of the palace store to wait upon her.
They left Drepana on the seventh day.
A stiff, favorable wind arose from Zeus
1570that morning, and the ship was speeding onward
before the gale. Still, it was not their fate
to rest their feet upon Achaean land,
no, not until they suffered further, farther
away in distant Libya. Soon the heroes
1575 (1228)had left astern the Ambracian Gulf,
soon they had skirted, with their sails spread wide,
the Curetes’ dominion and a string
of islands, the Echinades among them.
But, at the very moment when the land
1580of Pelops had arisen into view,
a dismal gust of wind out of the north
seized them midcourse and carried them away
across the Libyan Sea for nine whole nights
and nine whole days until they coasted deep
1585into the Syrtes. Any ship that hits them
never can sail back out to sea again.
Shallows are everywhere, and everywhere
tangles of bracken washed out of the depths.
The sea scurf passes over them in silence.
1590 (1240)The sand extends to the horizon. Nothing
that walks or flies is ever stirring there.
Over and over flood tides leave the mainland
and then come rushing back to drag salt water
across the sand. One of these tides abruptly
1595dropped the Argo so far up the beach
that little of the keel was still in water.
So all the heroes jumped out of the ship,
and sorrow struck them when they saw the sky
and the expanse of endless land extending,
1600just like the sky, into the endless distance.
No path, no herdsman’s shelter, no oasis
appeared. A dead calm haunted everything.
They said to one another in despair:
“Where have the storm winds landed us? Where are we?
1605 (1251)If only we had laughed at deadly fear
and risked retreating back out through the Rocks
the way we came. It surely had been better
if we had gone against the will of Zeus
and died attempting something glorious.
1610Now if the winds compel us to remain here
even a short time, what are we to do?
The coast of this vast land is too, too barren.”
So each of them exclaimed. Ancaeus even,
their helmsman, helpless to relieve their troubles,
1615addressed them bleakly as they sat there grieving:
“I’m sorry—we must die a shameful death.
There’s no escaping this catastrophe.
Even if gale winds blow in from the land,
we’ve foundered on a desert. All the worst
1620 (1264)a mortal can endure is now before us.
However far I stare into the distance,
I see more ocean shallows, brackish water
ceaselessly washing over dull gray sand.
This holy vessel would have roughly foundered
1625far from the beach, except the surf itself
swept it at high tide inland from the bay.
Now that the tide has drained back out again,
only a surf too thin for sailing laps
about us, lightly covering the sand.
1630That’s why I say all hope of sailing home
is severed from us. Let some other man
display his skill. He’s welcome to sit down
and take the tiller if he wants to save us,
but Zeus, it seems, has no desire whatever
1635 (1276)to land us at our port of embarkation
in Hellas, even after all our efforts.”
So Ancaeus spoke and broke down weeping.
The men with nautical experience
agreed with his despair. All hearts were ice,
1640all cheeks surrendering to sallowness.
Just as when people wander through a city
like breathless ghosts, awaiting their destruction
by war or plague or some relentless flood
that will erase the oxen’s work afield,
1645and all because odd omens have been witnessed—
statues spontaneously sweating blood,
roars sounding, mouthless, from the holy groves—
and high noon only means more night in heaven,
and stars do not stop shining all day long,
1650 (1288)so did the heroes wander without purpose
along the endless shore.
A somber dusk
too soon came over them and, sadly, then,
they wrapped their arms around each other, wept,
and said good-bye, so that they each could then
1655go off alone, fall in the sand, and die.
They staggered off, each farther than the last,
to pick their final resting places. Heads
shrouded by their cloaks, they lay unnourished,
weakening, all night long, all day, awaiting
1660the most horrendous death imaginable.
The handmaids shuffled to a place apart
and clustered, wailing, round Aeëtes’ daughter.
As unfledged nestlings chirrup desperately
when they have tumbled from a cliff-side nest,
1665 (1301)or swans release their dying proclamations
from banks along the gorgeous Pactolus,
and dew-drenched glades are echoing around them,
and, echoing, the river’s handsome current,
so did the maidens loose their long blond hair,
1670drape it along the dust, and wail all night
a pitiful lament.
And now these men,
these heroes, would have left their lives behind
and no names, no renown for later men
to study, and their mission would have failed.
1675But, as they withered there in helplessness,
the local nymphs, the guardians of Libya,
took pity on them. Once upon a time,
these goddesses had come to tend Athena
after she leapt out of her father’s head
1680 (1311)sublimely armed. These were the goddesses
who bathed her in the tide of Triton Lake.
The hour was noon. The sun’s most cruel rays
were scorching Libya. These powers gathered
around the son of Aeson, and their fingers
1685gently tugged the mantle from his head.
He dropped his gaze out of respect for them,
but they were bright before him and addressed him,
terrified as he was, with soothing words:
“Unlucky fellow, why has feebleness
1690afflicted you? We know about your journey,
how you were questing for the golden fleece.
We know your labors, too, the mighty deeds
you have performed while wandering across
the land and sea. We are the Lonely Ones,
1695 (1323)daughters and guardians of Libya,
fluent in human utterance. Stand up now.
Stop grumbling and carrying on like this.
Go rouse your men. As soon as Amphitrite
unyokes Poseidon’s smooth-wheeled chariot,
1700you and your comrades must repay your mother
for all the pain she suffered bearing you
so long inside her womb, and you may yet
come to the holy country of Achaea.”
So they spoke and vanished in a flash
1705from where they had been standing, and their voices
faded away. But Jason started upright,
looked everywhere around him, and implored:
“Be kind, you noble powers of the dunes,
though I confess the meaning of your words
1710 (1334)about our journey home eluded me.
Still, I shall rouse my friends and tell them all
you told me in the hope that we can find
some sign to guide us out of this morass.
In counsel many men outdistance one.”
1715So he implored and leapt up, cloaked in dust
from head to foot. He shouted to his comrades
far into the distance, as a lion
wandering through a forest roars to summon
his mate, and even distant mountain valleys
1720tremble at the sound, and all the herdsmen
and oxen shake with fear. (But Jason’s cry
was not at all upsetting to his men
because it was the bellow of a friend
calling to friends.) The heroes gathered round him,