the two of them forever. They were not
to serve as saviors only on that voyage,
but Zeus bestowed on them the privilege
835of saving future sailors’ vessels, too.
Once past the Stoechades, the heroes reached
the island of Aethalia and there,
exhausted, scrubbed away their scum of sweat
with pebbles, and the pebbles on that beach
840 (657)are fleshy colored to this very day.
Their discuses of stone and marvelous tackle
are still there also, and the site is named
The Argo’s Anchorage because of them.
From there they sailed swiftly through the heaving
845Ausonian Sea with the Tyrrhenian coast
in view beside them. After they arrived
at the illustrious harbor of Aeaea,
they tied the lines up at the nearest shore.
And there was Circe in the sea spray washing
850her hair because a dream had troubled her.
During the night it seemed that all the walls
and chambers of her house were dripping blood,
and flames were eating up the cache of drugs
with which she had, up to that time, bewitched
855 (668)whoever came to visit. She herself
had quenched the flames with sacrificial blood
and so recovered from her horrid fright.
And that was why she rose at dawn and went
to wash her hair and clothing in the surf.
860And there were beasts around her that resembled
neither carnivorous animals nor humans
in any normal way but some mélange
of limbs from each. These creatures followed Circe,
as flocks of sheep in countless numbers follow
their shepherd from the fold.
865Long, long ago,
before dry weather had solidified
the soil, before, as well, it had received
moisture enough beneath the arid sun,
Earth made this sort of thing all on her own,
870 (680)a kind with mixed-up limbs, out of the slime.
And Time, then, sorted out and reassembled
the animals at long last into species.
Crossed like those ancient creatures, the amorphous
monsters of Circe followed in her train.
875Boundless amazement overcame the heroes,
and when they gazed on Circe’s skin and eyes,
they knew at once she was Aeëtes’ sister.
When she had cleansed the terror of her nightmares,
she turned homeward and bade the heroes follow
880by slyly stroking them as she went by.
The crew, however, at a nod from Jason,
remained behind, and he alone escorted
the Colchian maiden, and the two of them
followed the path until they reached the palace.
885 (692)Though Circe was disturbed by their arrival,
she bade them rest at ease on polished chairs.
They sprinted to the hearth, though, without speaking
and sat there, in accordance with the customs
that rule the rueful rites of supplication.
890Medea hid her beauty in her hands,
and Jason plunged straight down into the floor
the sword with which he killed Aeëtes’ son,
and they did not lift up their eyes and look
upon the goddess. Thus she knew, straight off,
895their lot was exile and their crime kin-murder.
So, in accordance with the rites of Zeus
the God of Suppliants who, on the one hand,
mightily despises murderers
and, on the other, mightily defends them,
900 (702)she made the sacrifice required to cleanse
the suppliants sitting, tainted, at her hearth:
First, to expunge the deed’s contamination,
Circe picked out and held above their heads
the offspring of a swollen-uddered sow.
905Then, opening the piglet’s throat, she lathered
Jason’s and Medea’s hands with blood.
A second time with different libations
she made an offering to Zeus Purgation,
the last defense of suppliant homicides.
910The Naiad slaves who served her every need
then whisked the toxic stuff out of the palace.
Circe herself beside the hearth fire offered
wineless libations and devotional cakes
as gifts to soothe the dogged Furies’ rage
915 (715)and soften Zeus to leniency, regardless
of whether they implored his grace with hands
tainted by foreign or familial blood.
When she had finished with the expurgation,
she told them they could rise, then seated them
920on polished chairs and took a seat before them.
She was the first to speak, inquiring all
about their quest, its purpose and the place
from which they came to seek her land and palace,
and why they had collapsed beside her hearth.
925The troubling specifics of her nightmare
recurred to her as she assessed the couple.
What’s more, she had been eager to discover
their language ever since the maiden first
lifted her gaze up from the ground. You see,
930 (727)all of the sun god Helius’ descendants
are easy to identify because
their radiant eyes emit a light like gold.
All earnestness, Aeëtes’ daughter answered
each of her questions in the Colchian tongue.
935She told her of the heroes’ quest and travels,
how they had toiled in the awful contest,
how she had erred by heeding her distracted
sister, and how, among the sons of Phrixus,
she had escaped her father’s dreadful threats.
940She left the murder of Absyrtus out
but Circe, all the same, surmised the crime,
pitied her sobbing niece and said:
“Poor wretch!
Look what a scandalous, obscene elopement
you have devised. No, I do not expect
945 (740)you will escape Aeëtes’ brutal rage
for long. He shortly will be hunting even
the citizens of Hellas to avenge
his son’s assassination. It was you
who perpetrated those appalling crimes.
950Still, since you are my niece and at my knees,
I shall refrain, now that you’re here, from making
further trouble for you. Go on, now.
Please leave my home and take this stranger with you—
whoever he might be that you have taken,
955against your father’s wishes, as your own.
Don’t bother sitting at my hearth again
and supplicating me for help, because
your reckless schemes and impudent elopement
are things of which I never shall approve.”
960 (749)So Circe scolded, and insufferable
agony gripped the girl. She pulled a robe
over her eyes and poured forth liquid grief
until the hero took her by the hand
and led her, quivering, across the threshold.
965And so they made their way from Circe’s palace.
Cronian Zeus’ wife had not been left
unbriefed of their departure. Iris saw them
leave the palace and informed her mistress,
Hera, who had commanded her to note
970when they departed for the ship, and Hera
gave Iris fresh instructions:
“Iris darling,
if ever in the past you have performed
my bidding, set out on your rapid wings
and summon Thetis up out of the sea
975 (759)to join me here. I have a need of her.
Next, travel to the shores where heavy hammers
pound the big bronze anvils of Hephaestus.
Tell him to pacify his fiery forges
until the heroes’ ship has passed them. Next,
980find Aeolus, who regulates the gales,
those naughty children of the upper air,
and give him my instructions: he must temper
all the winds of heaven so that not
the slightest breeze disturbs the sea, except
985a kind west wind, until the heroes reach
Alcinoös’ Phaeacian kingdom.”
So she commanded. Iris flew at once
down from Olympus on extended wings,
tapered and glided into the Aegean
990 (772)just over Nereus’ deep-sea palace.
To execute the first of her three tasks
she swam in search of Thetis and delivered
the message, just as Hera had instructed,
to call the sea nymph up to talk with her.
995Next, Iris paid a visit to Hephaestus
and told him to desist forthwith from swinging
his iron hammer. Then at last she reached
Aeolus, famous son of Hippotas.
While she was giving him the news and resting
1000her swift knees from her travels, Thetis left
Nereus and her sisters, swam, then flew
up to Olympus and the goddess Hera,
and Hera offered her a seat and said:
“Hear, goddess Thetis, what I want to tell you.
1005 (784)You know how highly Jason and his comrades
rate in my love. You know I pushed them safely
through the Clashing Rocks, when forks of fire
were violently thundering above them
and waves were boiling round the jagged headlands.
1010Now their journey leads them past imposing
Cape Scylla and Charybdis’ eruptions.
But listen. Ever since you were an infant,
I myself have nursed and cherished you
more than the other ocean goddesses
1015because you never dared to go to bed
with Zeus, though he was sorely yearning for it—
yes, he has always had his love affairs
with mortals and immortals, too. But you
were fearful in your thoughts because you so . . .
esteemed me.
1020 (798)Though he swore a mighty oath:
Never would you be called the wife of god,
he never did abstain from leering at you—
against your will, of course—no, not until
venerable Themis told him what would happen,
1025how it was fated you would bear a son
mightier than his father. So at last
he gave you up, for all of his desire,
so that no one would be his match and rule
the gods in lieu of him, but he would keep
his empery forever.
1030So I gave you
the finest of the mortals for a husband
so that you might enjoy a heartfelt wedding
and bear a child. I summoned all the gods
down for the wedding feast, and I myself
1035 (809)held up the bridal torch in my own hands
to pay you for the kind esteem you gave me.
Now let me tell the truth about the future:
your son—the one the Naiads now are nursing
in Centaur Cheiron’s cave, the one who wants
1040his mother’s milk—that very son of yours
will come one day to the Elysian Fields,
and it is fated that he wed Medea,
Aeëtes’ daughter, there. Mother-in-law,
therefore, protect your son’s betrothed-to-be,
1045along with Peleus. Why do you hold
so fixed a grudge against him? He was foolish,
but folly sometimes blinds immortals, too.
I am quite confident that on my orders
Hephaestus will desist awhile from stoking
1050 (820)his forges to a rage, and Aeolus
the son of Hippotas will check the gusts
of rushing winds, that is, except for Zephyr,
until they reach the Phaeacian harbor.
You must guarantee the men safe passage.
1055My worst fears are the rocks and toppling waves,
but you can foil them with your sisters’ help.
Prevent my friends from plunging, through ineptness,
into Charybdis—she would suck them down
and keep them there. Also be sure they skirt
1060the loathsome lair of Ausonian Scylla,
fell Scylla, whom the prowling goddess known
sometimes as Hecate, sometimes Crataeis,
conceived from Phorcys. Mind their course or else
this fiend will swoop down with her horrid maws
1065 (831)and gobble up the finest of my heroes.
Yes, guide the Argo so that they escape,
if only by a hairsbreadth, their demise.”
Such were the queen’s commands, and Thetis answered:
“If all the gales and furious lightning flashes
1070do, in fact, relent, then I assure you
I will be bold and push the ship through safely,
even if waves arise to check its progress,
so long as Zephyr keeps on stiffly blowing.
1075long, indescribable journey through the sea
to ask my sisters’ help. Then I shall swim
to where the ship’s stern cables have been fastened
so that the heroes at the break of dawn
will turn their thoughts again toward sailing home.”
1080 (842)With that, the goddess plummeted from heaven
and splashed into the churning dark-blue waves
to summon all her sister Nereids.
They heard and, when they were assembled, Thetis
delivered Hera’s orders and at once
1085deployed them all to the Ausonian Sea.
Then she herself, more rapid than a glint
of light or sunbeam clearing the horizon,
shot through the depths until she reached Aeaea
on the Tyrrhenian coast. She found the heroes
1090beside the Argo, playing skip-the-stone
and shooting arrows. Thetis on the sly
came close and squeezed the hand of Peleus
son of Aeacus, since he was her husband.
None of the others could perceive her, no,
1095 (855)she showed herself to him alone. She told him:
“No longer rest on the Tyrrhenian coast
but loose the cables of your speedy ship
at dawn—thus you will be obeying Hera,
your helper, since it is at her command
1100the maiden Nereids have all assembled
to guard your ship and guide it safely through
the rocks they call the Ever-Floating Islands,
because that is your fated route. But you—
when you perceive me coming with my sisters,
1105do not divulge my presence to your comrades,
no, keep it quiet or you will enrage me
still more than when your reckless shout enraged me.”
So she explained and plunged into the depths,
and withering sorrow seized on him because
1110 (867)his wife had never paid a visit to him
since she had first bereaved his bed and bedroom—
their son, the great Achilles, then an infant,
had been the reason for her anger.
Thetis,
you see, was burning off his mortal nature
1115each night within the hearth fire and by day
rubbing his tender body with ambrosia
to make him an immortal and prevent
grotesque old age from ravaging his body.
Peleus, though, leapt out of bed one night,
1120spotted his dear son writhing in the flames
and raised a frightening cry—the fool.
When Thetis
heard him, she snatched the baby up and hurled him,
screaming, onto the ground, and she herself,
her body like a breeze or dream, went swiftly
1125 (878)out of the palace, jumped into the sea,
and never came back home to him. That’s why
mute helplessness had bound and gagged his thoughts.
Nevertheless, he brought himself to tell
all Thetis’ instructions to his comrades.
1130They stopped at once and set aside their games.
Then, after building fires and strewing leaf beds
along the beach, they dined and slept the night
as usual.
When day-reviving Dawn
had lightened heaven’s rim, a swift west wind
1135arose with her, and they embarked and mounted
the rowing benches. Quickly, then, they weighed
the anchor stone and set the gear in order.
Once under sail, they used the sheets to pull
the canvas taut, and stiff winds drove the Argo
onward.
1140 (892)Soon they spotted Anthemousa,
the gorgeous island where the clear-voiced Sirens,
daughters of Acheloös, sang sweet songs
to lure in and ruin every sailor
who passed their shores. Shapely Terpsichore,
1145a Muse, once bedded down with Acheloös
and bore them to him. Ages back, the Sirens
had waited on Demeter’s noble daughter
and sang their odes to her while she was still
unmarried. Now, though, they appeared part bird,
part maiden to the eyes.