1335 (1033)an ewe’s throat, drained the blood into the pit,
and laid the carcass, whole, upon a fire
that you have duly built up round the edges,
call upon Hecate, the only child
of Perses, while decanting from a goblet
1340the comb-begotten labor of the bees.
Then, after you have dutifully sought
Hecate’s favor, turn and leave. Make certain
neither the sound of footsteps nor the baying
of dogs moves you to turn and look behind you,
1345or you will cancel all that you have done
and fail to come back ready to your comrades.
At daybreak steep the drug I have provided
in pure spring water, strip off all your clothes,
and rub your body with it as with oil.
1350 (1044)There will be awesome power and boundless valor
within it. You will find your strength a match
not for mere mortals but the deathless gods.
Sprinkle your shield, sword, and spear with it.
The weapons of the earthborn men will never
1355injure you then, nor the unbearable fire
that shoots out of the deadly bulls. Not long
will you be so enhanced, just one day only.
Be sure, then, not to shrink before the challenge.
And I shall grace you with a second favor:
1360once you have yoked the mighty bulls and swiftly
with might and main plowed up the stubborn fallows,
then, as the earthborn men are sprouting skyward
out of the snake’s fangs planted in the furrows,
cast a stone into their midst, a large one.
1365 (1057)Make certain no one sees you. They will slaughter
each other over it, like wild dogs
contending over scraps of food. Make sure
that you yourself then rush into the fray.
Because of your successes you will carry
1370the fleece back into Hellas, to some place
far from Aea. Go, though, all the same,
wherever you desire, wherever you
insist on going once you spread your sail.”
With that, she fixed her eyes before her feet
1375in silence and suffused her gleaming cheeks
with sultry tears, bereft because he soon
would sail the sea far, far away from her.
She took his hand and gazed upon his face.
Modesty left her eyes, and yet again
in agony she spoke to him:
1380 (1069)“Remember
the name Medea if, by chance, you live
to come back home. When you are far away
I shall remember yours as well. Please, though,
kindly inform me where your home might be.
1385Where will you go when you go sailing off
across the sea? Will you approach luxurious
Orchomenus or skirt Aeaea Island?
And please do tell me more about that girl,
the one you named, you know, the famous daughter
1390of Pasiphae, who is my father’s sister.”
Such were her inquiries, and devastating
affection crept up over him, because
she was a maiden, crying. So he answered:
“Never, day or night, shall I forget you—
1395 (1080)that is, so long as I escape my death
and do return uninjured to Achaea,
and if Aeëtes doesn’t force still worse
trials upon us. If you wish to know
about my homeland, I will tell you of it.
1400My heart as well commands I do as much:
there is a broad plain ringed by lofty mountains,
a sheep land rich in pasture. It was there
Prometheus, the son of Iapetus,
begat the excellent Deucalion
1405who was the first to draw up plans for cities
and raise temples to the immortal gods.
He also was the first to serve as king.
My people call this land Haemonia.
My city Iolcus stands in it, and in it
1410 (1092)stand a hundred other cities where
the name Aea never has been heard.
And, yes, a legend states that Minyas,
a son of Aeolus, once left this land
to build the city of Orchomenus
1415on the Cadmeians’ eastern border. Why, though,
do I keep rambling on about my home
and Minos’ most reverend daughter
Ariadne? (That’s the famous name
the lovely maiden you have asked about
1420once called her own.) I pray that, just as Minos
eventually accepted Theseus,
your father may be joined to us in friendship.”
So he responded, stroking her with soothing
utterances. Most distressing worries, though,
1425 (1104)kept troubling her heart, and she was sad
when she addressed these throbbing words to him:
“Although in Hellas it may be considered
noble to keep one’s word, Aeëtes differs
greatly in that regard from Minos, husband
1430of Pasiphae—that man you mentioned to me.
Nor do I rank myself with Ariadne.
Say nothing, therefore, of a fond guest-friendship.
But think of me when you return to Iolcus,
and I shall think of you in spite of all
1435my parents say. May news or bird of omen
bring us together, when we live apart.
Yet, if I slip your mind, may sudden storm winds
snatch me aloft and carry me to Iolcus,
so that I may confront you face-to-face,
1440 (1115)reproaching you, reminding you that you
escaped this land alive by my assistance.
Yes, may I then appear out of the blue
and haunt you right beside your palace hearth.”
So she proclaimed, with liquid sorrow streaming
1445down her cheeks. After a while he answered:
“Sad maiden, let your storm winds rove
in vain and all your birds and rumors, too.
You’re talking nonsense. If you come to Greece
and any of those places you have mentioned,
1450men and women will esteem and love you,
yes, they will venerate you like a goddess,
some because your counsel helped their sons
come home alive, others because you saved
their brothers, relatives, and valiant husbands
1455 (1127)from such great trouble. In our wedding chamber
you shall enjoy the marriage bed with me,
and nothing shall divide us from our love
until our predetermined end enshrouds us.”
So he explained. The heart within her melted
1460to hear it, but she shuddered as it did,
imagining the crime she would commit.
Poor maiden, she would not long shrink from living
in Hellas. Hera had already ruled
Medea of Aea would forsake
1465her fatherland and come to holy Iolcus
to ruin Pelias.
Meanwhile the handmaids
watching them in silence from afar
grew agitated: daylight was expiring;
Medea should be home beside her mother.
1470 (1140)The girl herself had not yet thought of leaving,
since she
was so bewitched by Jason’s beauty
and winning words. It was the son of Aeson
who sensed the hour and said to her at last:
“It’s time for us to go, or else the sun
1475will set before you reach the court, and someone
will note your absence and discover all.
But we will come back here and meet again.”
They tested one another with endearments
so far, then turned and went their separate ways,
1480Jason departing to his crew and ship
in an exultant mood, she to her handmaids.
They all went out to meet her, but she hardly
noticed them gathering around her, no,
her soul was flying through the clouds. Her feet
1485 (1152)all on their own conveyed her to the wagon.
One hand reached out to take the reins, the other
the intricately braided whip, and off
the mules went toward the city and the palace.
When they returned, Chalciope of course
1490asked questions, since she hoped to save her sons.
The girl, though, spun by swiftly shifting thoughts,
heard nothing and was not disposed to answer.
She settled on a stool beside her bed,
cheek resting flat upon her clenched left hand,
1495and worried, teary-eyed, about the plot
she had devised, how traitorous it was.
When Jason joined his comrades at the spot
where he had left them to approach Medea,
he set out with them toward their shore-side camp,
1500 (1165)recounting what she’d said along the way.
They reached the ship together. When the heroes
caught sight of Aeson’s son, they greeted him
with questions, and he told them all about
the maiden’s scheme and showed the potent drug.
1505Though Idas sat apart from his companions
and gnawed his anger, all the rest were joyful
and, when the lateness of the hour compelled them,
cheerfully went about their chores.
At daybreak
they sent a pair of soldiers to Aeëtes
1510to fetch the seed—Telamon, dear to Ares,
and Hermes’ famous son Aethalides.
Nor did this embassy set out in vain:
when they arrived haughty Aeëtes gave them
the dire fangs of the Aonian serpent
they needed for the contest.
1515 (1178)While in Hellas
searching for Europa, Cadmus found
this serpent watching over Ares’ spring
in ancient Thebes. He slew it there and founded
a town at the direction of the heifer
1520that gave him guidance, as the Lord Apollo
had prophesied. Tritonian Athena
knocked the fangs out of the serpent’s jaws
and gave half to Aeëtes, half to Cadmus
the son of Agenor, the monster’s slayer,
1525who planted them in the Aonian plain
and took as citizens those earthborn men
left over after Ares harvested
the others with his spear.
Aeëtes gave them
the serpent’s fangs to carry to the ship
1530 (1189)and did so gladly since he never thought
Jason would actually complete the labor,
even if he somehow yoked the oxen.
The sun god Helius was gliding under
the twilit earth beyond the farthest summits
1535of Aethiopia, and Night was yoking
her mares, and all the men had made their beds
beside the Argo’s cables—all but Jason.
Once the Greater Bear, the constellation
Helica, had descended, and the air
1540had gone completely still beneath the heavens,
he slipped off like some calculating thief
to a deserted spot with the supplies
he needed. He had spent the whole day fretting
over the details. Argus had already
1545 (1199)brought in an ewe and fresh milk from the sheepfold,
and Jason fetched the rest out of the Argo.
When he had found a spot out of the way
and free of traffic, a deserted heath
beneath an open sky, he duly bathed
1550his supple body in a sacred stream,
then wrapped around his limbs a pure-black mantle,
the one that Lemnian Hypsipyle
had given him as a memento of
innumerable vehement caresses.
1555He dug a pit, a cubit wide and deep,
placed logs and sticks therein, and lit a bonfire,
then slit a sheep’s throat over it and duly
laid on the victim. Once the fire was burning
solidly upward from the woodpile’s base,
1560 (1210)he poured a mix of liquid offerings
upon it, begging Brimo Hecate
please to assist him in the coming trial.
After the prayer, he backed up without turning.
The awesome goddess heard him and ascended
1565through deep moist caverns to accept his gifts,
and horrid serpents crowned her head, with oak leaves
mixed in among them, and the glow of torches
gleamed far and wide, and hellhounds howled keenly
around her, and the swampy meadow trembled
1570beneath her footsteps. All the moorland nymphs,
the ones who traipse in rings around the flats
of Amaranthian Phasis, trilled and shrieked.
Though awe instantly gripped the son of Aeson,
he never once turned round and looked behind him,
1575 (1222)and so his feet returned him to his comrades.
The Early-Rising Dawn, by then, had climbed
Aeëtes, meanwhile, round his torso bound
a hard breastplate, a special gift from Ares.
1580The god, in fact, had worn this very armor
when he had cut Phlegraean Mimas down.
Then King Aeëtes put his helmet on,
a four-plumed marvel, golden and as bright as
sunlight emerging from the River Ocean.
1585Next he took up a buckler thick with bull hide
and formidable spear. None of the heroes
could have withstood it, no, not since the hero
Heracles left the roster. He alone
could have opposed that mighty shaft in battle.
1590 (1235)Phaëthon was waiting near at hand
holding a tight-knit chariot and team
of fleet-foot stallions for the king to mount.
Aeëtes soon got in, received the reins,
and took the broad cart road out of the city
1595to reach the field of contest. Countless rushing
citizens thronged around him. Think of how
the god Poseidon travels in his war car
to Isthmia to watch the sacred games,
or Lerna’s spring, Taenarus or the holy
1600greenery of Hyantian Onchestus
before proceeding to Calaurea,
Haemonian Petra, forested Geraestus—
that’s how Aeëtes looked, the Colchian chieftain,
riding behind a team of chargers.
Jason,
1605 (1246)meanwhile, obeyed the precepts of Medea,
steeped the magi
c herbs and laved his shield,
sword, and sturdy spear with the concoction.
When his companions pounded on the spear
to test its fortitude, they failed to blemish
1610the metal even a little—it emerged
fresh and undented from their mighty blows.
When Idas son of Aphareus wildly
hacked at the spear butt with his giant broadsword,
the blade rebounded, and the clang resembled
1615that of a hammer that has struck an anvil,
and all the heroes whooped with ecstasy
before the trial.
As soon as Jason rubbed
his body with the salve, he felt divine
and boundless vigor welling up within him.
1620 (1258)His hands were tingling, quivering with vim.
Think of a warhorse eager for a fight,
the way it neighs and stamps the ground, the way
it rears its neck and pricks its ears, exulting—
that’s how the son of Aeson looked, exulting
1625in the excitement of his newfound strength.
The way he ran around, kicked up his heels,
and waved his ash-wood spear and big bronze shield,
you would have thought of winter lightning flashing
against a pitch-black sky, the bright forks shooting
1630from clouds that bring a thunderstorm in tow.
No longer wary of the trial, the heroes
took their places at the rowing benches
and fought the stream. The plain of Ares lay
upriver on the far side of the city
1635 (1272)as distant from them as a chariot
must travel from the starting line to reach
the turning post, when a deceased king’s kinsmen
put on games for charioteers and sprinters
to do him honor. When the heroes landed,
1640they found the Colchians sitting at the foot
of the Caucasus while Aeëtes wheeled
his chariot along the riverbank.
Soon as his shipmates bound the hawsers, Jason
vaulted ashore and swaggered to the lists,
1645on one arm shield and spear and in the other
the burnished bowl of a bronze helmet, brimful
of jagged fangs. Save for these armaments,
he was all nude, like Ares, some would say,
or Lord Apollo of the golden sword.
1650 (1284)His sweeping survey of the fallows found
a bronze yoke and a plow compact as iron,
its haft and harrow hewn out of one trunk.
Nimbly he jogged out to the plow and yoke,
planted the spear butt in the soil, propped the
1655helm up against the shaft. Then, stripping down