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
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.
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,
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)wit
h 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 sorrowful 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.