that rises from opposing hordes when soldiers
dash together, and the ranks collide.
Soon enough, every single bird had vanished.
But when the heroes neared the shore and clashed
1390their shields, thousands of them of a sudden
took to the air and flew in all directions.
Just as the son of Cronus shoots thick hail
down out of thunderheads onto the homes
of people sitting patiently inside,
1395 (1085)listening to the rattle at their ease
because the stormy months are no surprise,
and they have wisely reinforced their roofs,
so did the birds rain feathered missiles down
as they went flying off across the ocean
1400toward the massifs that mark the world’s end.
But what did Phineus really have in mind
in telling that divine brigade of heroes
to anchor there? What benefit would come
to them thereafter, as they hoped it might?
1405The sons of Phrixus had embarked upon
a Colchian ship and sailed out of Aea,
away from Cyta and Aeëtes, hoping
to reach the city of Orchomenus
and win the boundless riches of their father.
1410 (1096)This voyage was his dying proclamation.
But, on the day they neared the Isle of Ares,
Zeus urged the potent north wind on to blow
and marked Arcturus’ wet route with showers.
All day long he gently shook the topmost
1415leaves of the mountain forests but at night
swooped monstrously down upon the sea
with shriek and bluster puffing up the tide.
A dark mist veiled the heavens, and the stars
did not shine anywhere beyond the clouds.
1420A murky gloom was brooding all around.
Half-drowned and dreading an abysmal death,
the sons of Phrixus weltered at the waves’ whim.
The gales had long since snatched their sails away,
the roll shaken the ship, the hull broken
1425 (1110)in half, and now, just as the gods had planned,
the four of them were clinging to some flotsam
tightly fitted dowels had held together
when the ship broke up.
The wind and waves
carried the helpless men off toward the island,
1430and they were close to drowning. Then another
horrendous squall erupted, and the rain
assailed the sea, the island, and the whole
coastline opposing it as far away
as where the haughty Mossynoeci dwelt.
1435The swollen tide threw all the sons of Phrixus,
together with the planks, onto the shore.
The night had been a black one, but the torrents
Zeus had been hurling at them ceased at dawn,
and soon the two groups happened on each other.
1440 (1122)Argus the son of Phrixus called out first:
“Please, in the name of Zeus of Supplication
we beg of you, whoever you might be,
to take us in and help us in our need.
The dire storm winds, you see, roughed up the sea
1445and broke apart the wretched ship on which
we had embarked out of necessity
to carry us across the swell. Therefore,
as suppliants we beg you please be kind
and give us clothes, enough to shield our skin.
1450Please be compassionate and rescue men
like you, your age-mates, who are in distress.
Yes, honor us as guests and suppliants,
since guests and suppliants belong to Zeus,
and he, I hope, is watching over us.”
1455 (1134)Though Jason was suspecting all the while
that Phineus’ words were being fulfilled,
he tactfully inquired in response:
“Yes, we are well-disposed. We shall provide you
with all you need. But tell me where you hail from,
1460what circumstances drove you on this voyage,
and what good names and pedigrees are yours.”
All desperation in his shipwrecked state,
Argus replied:
“Not many years ago
a son of Aeolus named Phrixus traveled
1465from Hellas to Aea—I suspect
you know the tale. He rode a flying ram
(and golden, too, since Hermes gilded it)
the whole way to the city of Aeëtes,
and still today the fleece is lying spread
1470 (1145)across the crown of a luxuriant oak.
The ram, you see, could talk as well and ordered
Phrixus to slaughter it in sacrifice
to Zeus the Exiles’ God, the son of Cronus,
before the other gods. Aeëtes welcomed
1475Phrixus into his court and gave his daughter
Chalciope to him, without the bride-price,
out of the kindness of his heart.
We four
are products of their love. But Phrixus, old
already at the time of his arrival,
1480died at Aeëtes’ court. We have resolved
to satisfy our father’s dying wish
by sailing to Orchomenus to claim
Athamas’ estate. If you would like
to know our names, this here is Cytissorus,
1485 (1155)this is Phrontis, this is Melas here,
and you may call me Argus.”
So he told them.
The heroes in delight and wonder greeted
the strangers, and the son of Aeson answered:
“It is as kinsmen on my father’s side
1490that you entreat us to relieve your plight:
Cretheus was the brother of Athamas,
and I, the grandson of that Cretheus,
am sailing from the very Greece you speak of
to King Aeëtes’ city. We shall talk
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 brou
ght 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,
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