I. KING ÆETES
They had come into a country that was the strangest of all countries,
and amongst a people that were the strangest of all peoples. They were
in the land, this people said, before the moon had come into the sky.
And it is true that when the great king of Egypt had come so far,
finding in all other places men living on the high hills and eating the
acorns that grew on the oaks there, he found in Colchis the city of Aea
with a wall around it and with pillars on which writings were graven.
That was when Egypt was called the Morning Land.
And many of the magicians of Egypt who had come with King Sesostris
stayed in that city of Aea, and they taught people spells that could
stay the moon in her going and coming, in her rising and setting.
Priests of the Moon ruled the city of Aea until King Æetes came.
Æetes had no need of their magic, for Helios, the bright Sun, was his
father, as he thought. Also, Hephaestus, the artisan of the gods, was
his friend, and Hephaestus made for him many wonderful things to be his
protection. Medea, too, his wise daughter, knew the secrets taught by
those who could sway the moon.
But Æetes once was made afraid by a dream that he had: he dreamt that a
ship had come up the Phasis, and then, sailing on a mist, had rammed
his palace that was standing there in all its strength and beauty until
it had fallen down. On the morning of the night that he had had this
dream Æetes called Medea, his wise daughter, and he bade her go to the
temple of Hecate, the Moon, and search out spells that might destroy
those who came against his city.
That morning the Argonauts, who had passed the night in the backwater
of the river, had two youths come to them. They were in a broken ship,
and they had one oar only. When Jason, after giving them food and fresh
garments, questioned them, he found out that these youths were of the
city of Aea, and that they were none others than the sons of
Phrixus--of Phrixus who had come there with the Golden Ram.
And the youths, Phrontis and Melas, were as amazed as was Jason when
they found out whose ship they had come aboard. For Jason was the
grandson of Cretheus, and Cretheus was the brother of Athamas, their
grandfather. They had ventured from Aea, where they had been reared,
thinking to reach the country of Athamas and lay claim to his
possessions. But they had been wrecked at a place not far from the
mouth of the Phasis, and with great pain and struggle they had made
their way back.
They were fearful of Aea and of their uncle King Æetes, and they would
gladly go with Jason and the Argonauts back to Greece. They would help
Jason, they said, to persuade Æetes to give the Golden Fleece peaceably
to them. Their mother was the daughter of Æetes--Chalciope, whom the
king had given in marriage to Phrixus, his guest.
A council of the Argonauts was held, and it was agreed that Jason
should go with two comrades to King Æetes, Phrontis and Melas going
also. They were to ask the king to give them the Golden Fleece and to
offer him a recompense. Jason took Peleus and Telamon with him.
As they came to the city a mist fell, and Jason and his comrades with
the sons of Phrixus went through the city without being seen. They came
before the palace of King Æetes. Then Phrontis and Melas were some way
behind. The mist lifted, and before the heroes was the wonder of the
palace in the bright light of the morning.
Vines with broad leaves and heavy clusters of fruit grew from column to
column, the columns holding a gallery up. And under the vines were the
four fountains that Hephaestus had made for King Æetes. They gushed out
into golden, silver, bronze, and iron basins. And one fountain gushed
out clear water, and another gushed out milk; another gushed out wine;
and another oil. On each side of the courtyard were the palace
buildings; in one King Æetes lived with Apsyrtus, his son, and in the
other Chalciope and Medea lived with their handmaidens.
Medea was passing from her father's house. The mist lifted suddenly and
she saw three strangers in the palace courtyard. One had a crimson
mantle on; his shoulders were such as to make him seem a man that a
whole world could not overthrow, and his eyes had all the sun's light
in them.
Amazed, Medea stood looking upon Jason, wondering at his bright hair
and gleaming eyes and at the lightness and strength of the hand that he
had raised. And then a dove flew toward her: it was being chased by a
hawk, and Medea saw the hawk's eyes and beak. As the dove lighted upon
her shoulder she threw her veil around it, and the hawk dashed itself
against a column. And as Medea, trembling, leaned against the column
she heard a cry from her sister, who was within.
For now Phrontis and Melas had come up, and Chalciope who was spinning
by the door saw them and cried out. All the servants rushed out. Seeing
Chalciope's sons there they, too, uttered loud cries, and made such
commotion that Apsyrtus and then King Æetes came out of the palace.
Jason saw King Æetes. He was old and white, but he had great green
eyes, and the strength of a leopard was in all he did. And Jason looked
upon Apsyrtus too; the son of Æetes looked like a Phoenician merchant,
black of beard and with rings in his ears, with a hooked nose and a
gleam of copper in his face.
Phrontis and Melas went from their mother's embrace and made reverence
to King Æetes. Then they spoke of the heroes who were with them, of
Jason and his two comrades. Æetes bade all enter the palace; baths were
made ready for them, and a banquet was prepared.
After the banquet, when they all sat together, Æetes addressing the
eldest of Chalciope's sons, said:
"Sons of Phrixus, of that man whom I honored above all men who came to
my halls, speak now and tell me how it is that you have come back to
Aea so soon, and who they are, these men who come with you?"
Æetes, as he spoke, looked sharply upon Phrontis and Melas, for he
suspected them of having returned to Aea, bringing these armed men with
them, with an evil intent. Phrontis looked at the King, and said:
"Æetes, our ship was driven upon the Island of Ares, where it was
almost broken upon the rocks. That was on a murky night, and in the
morning the birds of Ares shot their sharp feathers upon us. We pulled
away from that place, and thereafter we were driven by the winds back
to the mouth of the Phasis. There we met with these heroes who were
friendly to us. Who they are, what they have come to your city for, I
shall now tell you.
"A certain king, longing to drive one of these heroes from his land,
and hoping that the race of Cretheus might perish utterly, led him to
enter a most perilous adventure. He came here upon a ship that was made
by the command of Hera, the wife of Zeus, a ship more wonderful than
mortals ever sailed in before. With him there came the mightiest of the
heroes of Greece. He is Jason, the grandson of Cretheus, and he has
come to beg that you will grant him freely the famous Fleece of Gold
that Phrixus brought to Aea.
"But not without recompense to you would he take the Fleece. Already he
has heard of your bitter foes, the Sauromatae. He with his comrades
would subdue them for you. And if you would ask of the names and the
lineage of the heroes who are with Jason I shall tell you. This is
Peleus and this is Telamon; they are brothers, and they are sons of
AEacus, who was of the seed of Zeus. And all the other heroes who have
come with them are of the seed of the gods."
So Phrontis said, but the King was not placated by what he said. He
thought that the sons of Chalciope had returned to Aea bringing these
warriors with them so that they might wrest the kingship from him, or,
failing that, plunder the city. Æetes's heart was filled with wrath as
he looked upon them, and his eyes shone as a leopard's eyes.
"Begone from my sight," he cried, "robbers that ye are! Tricksters! If
you had not eaten at my table, assuredly I should have had your tongues
cut out for speaking falsehoods about the blessed gods, saying that
this one and that of your companions was of their divine race."
Telamon and Peleus strode forward with angry hearts; they would have
laid their hands upon King Æetes only Jason held them back. And then
speaking to the king in a quiet voice, Jason said:
"Bear with us, King Æetes, I pray you. We have not come with such evil
intent as you think. Ah, it was the evil command of an evil king that
sent me forth with these companions of mine across dangerous gulfs of
the sea, and to face your wrath and the armed men you can bring against
us. We are ready to make great recompense for the friendliness you may
show to us. We will subdue for you the Sauromatae, or any other people
that you would lord it over."
But Æetes was not made friendly by Jason's words. His heart was divided
as to whether he should summon his armed men and have them slain upon
the spot, or whether he should put them into danger by the trial he
would make of them.
At last he thought that it would be better to put them to the trial
that he had in mind, slaying them afterward if need be. And then he
spoke to Jason, saying:
"Strangers to Colchis, it may be true what my nephews have said. It may
be that ye are truly of the seed of the immortals. And it may be that I
shall give you the Golden Fleece to bear away after I have made trial
of you."
As he spoke Medea, brought there by his messenger so that she might
observe the strangers, came into the chamber. She entered softly and
she stood away from her father and the four who were speaking with him.
Jason looked upon her, and even although his mind was filled with the
thought of bending King Æetes to his will, he saw what manner of
maiden she was, and what beauty and what strength was hers.
She had a dark face that was made very strange by her crown of golden
hair. Her eyes, like her father's, were wide and full of light, and her
lips were so full and red that they made her mouth like an opening
rose. But her brows were always knit as if there was some secret anger
within her.
"With brave men I have no quarrel," said Æetes "I will make a trial of
your bravery, and if your bravery wins through the trial, be very sure
that you will have the Golden Fleece to bring back in triumph to Iolcus.
"But the trial that I would make of you is hard for a great hero even.
Know that on the plain of Ares yonder I have two fire-breathing bulls
with feet of brass. These bulls were once conquered by me; I yoked them
to a plow of adamant, and with them I plowed the field of Ares for four
plow-gates. Then I sowed the furrows, not with the seed that Demeter
gives, but with teeth of a dragon. And from the dragon's teeth that I
sowed in the field of Ares armed men sprang up. I slew them with my
spear as they rose around me to slay me. If you can accomplish this
that I accomplished in days gone by I shall submit to you and give you
the Golden Fleece. But if you cannot accomplish what I once
accomplished you shall go from my city empty-handed; for it is not
right that a brave man should yield aught to one who cannot show
himself as brave."
So Æetes said. Then Jason, utterly confounded, cast his eyes upon the
ground. He raised them to speak to the king, and as he did he found the
strange eyes of Medea upon him. With all the courage that was in him he
spoke:
"I will dare this contest, monstrous as it is. I will face this doom. I
have come far, and there is nothing else for me to do but to yoke your
fire-breathing bulls to the plow of adamant, and plow the furrows in
the field of Ares, and struggle with the Earth-born Men." As he said
this he saw the eyes of Medea grow wide as with fear.
Then Æetes, said, "Go back to your ship and make ready for the trial."
Jason, with Peleus and Telamon, left the chamber, and the king smiled
grimly as he saw them go. Phrontis and Melas went to where their mother
was. But Medea stayed, and Æetes looked upon her with his great
leopard's eyes. "My daughter, my wise Medea," he said, "go, put spells
upon the Moon, that Hecate may weaken that man in his hour of trial."
Medea turned away from her father's eyes, and went to her chamber.
II. MEDEA THE SORCERESS
She turned away from her father's eyes and she went into her own
chamber. For a long time she stood there with her hands clasped
together. She heard the voice of Chalciope lamenting because Æetes had
taken a hatred to her sons and might strive to destroy them. She heard
the voice of her sister lamenting, but Medea thought that the cause
that her sister had for grieving was small compared with the cause
that she herself had.
She thought on the moment when she had seen Jason for the first
time--in the courtyard as the mist lifted and the dove flew to her; she
thought of him as he lifted those bright eyes of his; then she thought
of his voice as he spoke after her father had imposed the dreadful
trial upon him. She would have liked then to have cried out to him, "O
youth, if others rejoice at the doom that you go to, I do not rejoice."
Still her sister lamented. But how great was her own grief compared to
her sister's! For Chalciope could try to help her sons and could lament
for the danger they were in and no one would blame her. But she might
not strive to help Jason nor might she lament for the danger he was in.
How terrible it would be for a maiden to help a stranger against her
father's design! How terrible it would be for a woman of Colchis to
help a stranger against the will of the king! How terrible it would be
for a daughter to plot against King Æetes in his own palace!
And then Medea hated Aea, her city. She hated the furious people who
came together in the assembly, and she hated the brazen bulls that
Hephaestus had given her father. And then she thought that there was
nothing in Aea except the furious people and the fire-breathing bulls.
O how pitiful it was that the strange hero and his friends should have
come to such a place for the sake of the Golden Fleece that was watched
over by the sleepless serpent in the grove of Ares!
Still Chalciope lamented. Would Chalciope come to her and ask her,
Medea, to help her sons? If she should come she might speak of the
strangers, too, and of the danger they were in. Medea went to her couch
and lay down upon it. She longed for her sister to come to her or to
call to her.
But Chalciope stayed in her own chamber. Medea, lying upon her couch,
listened to her sister's laments. At last she went near where Chalciope
was. Then shame that she should think so much about the stranger came
over her. She stood there without moving; she turned to go back to the
couch, and then trembled so much that she could not stir. As she stood
between her couch and her sister's chamber she heard the voice of
Chalciope calling to her.
She went into the chamber where her sister stood. Chalciope flung her
arms around her. "Swear," said she to Medea, "swear by Hecate, the
Moon, that you will never speak of something I am going to ask you."
Medea swore that she would never speak of it.
Chalciope spoke of the danger her sons were in. She asked Medea to
devise a way by which they could escape with the stranger from Aea. "In
Aea and in Colchis," she said, "there will be no safety for my sons
henceforth." And to save Phrontis and Melas, she said, Medea would have
to save the strangers also. Surely she knew of a charm that would save
the stranger from the brazen bulls in the contest on the morrow!
So Chalciope came to the very thing that was in Medea's mind. Her heart
bounded with joy and she embraced her. "Chalciope," she said, "I
declare that I am your sister, indeed--aye, and your daughter, too, for
did you not care for me when I was an infant? I will strive to save
your sons. I will strive to save the strangers who came with your sons.
Send one to the strangers--send him to the leader of the strangers, and
tell him that I would see him at daybreak in the temple of Hecate."
When Medea said this Chalciope embraced her again. She was amazed to
see how Medea's tears were flowing. "Chalciope," she said, "no one will
know the dangers that I shall go through to save them."
Swiftly then Chalciope went from the chamber. But Medea stayed there
with her head bowed and the blush of shame on her face. She thought
that already she had deceived her sister, making her think that it was
Phrontis and Melas and not Jason that was in her mind to save. And she
thought on how she would have to plot against her father and against
her own people, and all for the sake of a stranger who would sail away
without thought of her, without the image of her in his mind.
Jason, with Peleus and Telamon, went back to the Argo. His comrades
asked how he had fared, and when he spoke to them of the fire-breathing
bulls with feet of brass, of the dragon's teeth that had to be sown,
and of the Earth-born Men that had to be overcome, the Argonauts were
greatly cast down, for this task, they thought, was one that could not
be accomplished. He who stood before the fire-breathing bulls would
perish on the moment. But they knew that one amongst them must strive
to accomplish the task. And if Jason held back, Peleus, Telamon,
Theseus, Castor, Polydeuces, or any one of the others would undertake
it.
But Jason would not hold back. On the morrow, he said, he would strive
to yoke the fire-breathing, brazen-footed bulls to the plow of adamant.
If he perished the Argonauts should then do what they thought was
best--make other trials to gain the Golden Fleece, or turn their ship
and sail back to Greece.
While they were speaking, Phrontis, Chalciope's son, came to the ship.
The Argonauts welcomed him, and in a while he began to speak of his
mother's sister and of the help she could give. They grew eager as he
spoke of her, all except rough Arcas, who stood wrapped in his bear's
skin. "Shame on us," rough Arcas cried, "shame on us if we have come
here to crave the help of girls! Speak no more of this! Let us, the
Argonauts, go with swords into the city of Aea, and slay this king, and
carry off the Fleece of Gold."
Some of the Argonauts murmured approval of what Arcas said. But Orpheus
silenced him and them, for in his prophetic mind Orpheus saw something
of the help that Medea would give them. It would be well, Orpheus said,
to take help from this wise maiden; Jason should go to her in the
temple of Hecate. The Argonauts agreed to this; they listened to what
Phrontis told them about the brazen bulls, and the night wore on.
When darkness came upon the earth; when, at sea, sailors looked to the
Bear arid the stars of Orion; when, in the city, there was no longer
the sound of barking dogs nor of men's voices, Medea went from the
palace. She came to a path; she followed it until it brought her into
the part of the grove that was all black with the shadow that oak trees
made.
She raised up her hands and she called upon Hecate, the Moon. As she
did, there was a blaze as from torches all around, and she saw horrible
serpents stretching themselves toward her from the branches of the
trees. Medea shrank back in fear. But again she called upon Hecate. And
now there was a howling as from the hounds of Hades all around her.
Fearful, indeed, Medea grew as the howling came near her; almost she
turned to flee. But she raised her hands again and called upon Hecate.
Then the nymphs who haunted the marsh and the river shrieked, and at
those shrieks Medea crouched down in fear.
She called upon Hecate, the Moon, again. She saw the moon rise above
the treetops, and then the hissing and shrieking and howling died away.
Holding up a goblet in her hand Medea poured out a libation of honey to
Hecate, the Moon.
And then she went to where the moon made a brightness upon the ground.
There she saw a flower that rose above the other flowers--a flower that
grew from two joined stalks, and that was of the color of a crocus.
Medea cut the stalks with a brazen knife, and as she did there came a
deep groan out of the earth.
This was the Promethean flower. It had come out of the earth first when
the vulture that tore at Prometheus's liver had let fall to earth a
drop of his blood. With a Caspian shell that she had brought with her
Medea gathered the dark juice of this flower--the juice that went to
make her most potent charm. All night she went through the grove
gathering the juice of secret herbs; then she mingled them in a phial
that she put away in her girdle.
She went from that grove and along the river. When the sun shed its
first rays upon snowy Caucasus she stood outside the temple of Hecate.
She waited, but she had not long to wait, for, like the bright star
Sirius rising out of Ocean, soon she saw Jason coming toward her. She
made a sign to him, and he came and stood beside her in the portals of
the temple.
They would have stood face to face if Medea did not have her head bent.
A blush had come upon her face, and Jason seeing it, and seeing how her
head was bent, knew how grievous it was to her to meet and speak to a
stranger in this way. He took her hand and he spoke to her reverently,
as one would speak to a priestess.
"Lady," he said, "I implore you by Hecate and by Zeus who helps all
strangers and suppliants to be kind to me and to the men who have come
to your country with me. Without your help I cannot hope to prevail in
the grievous trial that has been laid upon me. If you will help us,
Medea, your name will be renowned throughout all Greece. And I have
hopes that you will help us, for your face and form show you to be one
who can be kind and gracious."
The blush of shame had gone from Medea's face and a softer blush came
over her as Jason spoke. She looked upon him and she knew that she
could hardly live if the breath of the brazen bulls withered his life
or if the Earth-born Men slew him. She took the charm from out her
girdle; ungrudgingly she put it into Jason's hands. And as she gave him
the charm that she had gained with such danger, the fear and trouble
that was around her heart melted as the dew melts from around the rose
when it is warmed by the first light of the morning.
Then they spoke standing close together in the portal of the temple.
She told him how he should anoint his body all over with the charm; it
would give him, she said, boundless and untiring strength, and make him
so that the breath of the bulls could not wither him nor the horns of
the bulls pierce him. She told him also to sprinkle his shield and his
sword with the charm.
And then they spoke of the dragon's teeth and of the Earth-born Men who
would spring from them. Medea told Jason that when they arose out of
the earth he was to cast a great stone amongst them. The Earth-born Men
would struggle about the stone, and they would slay each other in the
contest.
Her dark and delicate face was beautiful. Jason looked upon her, and it
came into his mind that in Colchis there was something else of worth
besides the Golden Fleece. And he thought that after he had won the
Fleece there would be peace between the Argonauts and King Æetes, and
that he and Medea might sit together in the king's hall. But when he
spoke of being joined in friendship with her father, Medea cried:
"Think not of treaties nor of covenants. In Greece such are regarded,
but not here. Ah, do not think that the king, my father, will keep any
peace with you! When you have won the Fleece you must hasten away. You
must not tarry in Aea."
She said this and her cheeks were wet with tears to think that he
should go so soon, that he would go so far, and that she would never
look upon him again. She bent her head again and she said: "Tell me
about your own land; about the place of your father, the place where
you will live when you win back from Colchis."
Then Jason told her of Icolus; he told her how it was circled by
mountains not so lofty as her Caucasus; he told her of the pasture
lands of Iolcus with their flocks of sheep; he told her of the Mountain
Pelion where he had been reared by Chiron, the ancient centaur; he told
her of his father who lingered out his life in waiting for his return.
Medea said: "When you go back to Iolcus do not forget me, Medea. I
shall remember you, Jason, even in my father's despite. And it will be
my hope that some rumor of you will come to me like some
messenger-bird. If you forget me may some blast of wind sweep me away
to Iolcus, and may I sit in your hall an unknown and an unexpected
guest!"
Then they parted; Medea went swiftly back to the palace, and Jason,
turning to the river, went to where the Argo was moored.
The heroes embraced and questioned him; he told them of Medea's counsel
and he showed them the charm she had given him. That savage man Arcas
scoffed at Medea's counsel and Medea's charm, saying that the Argonauts
had become poor-spirited indeed when they had to depend upon a girl's
help.
Jason bathed in the river; then he anointed himself with the charm; he
sprinkled his spear and shield and sword with it. He came to Arcas who
sat upon his bench, still nursing his anger, and he held the spear
toward him.
Arcas took up his heavy sword and he hewed at the butt of the spear.
The edge of the sword turned. The blade leaped back in his hand as if
it had been struck against an anvil. And Jason, feeling within him a
boundless and tireless strength, laughed aloud.
III. THE WINNING OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE
They took the ship out of the backwater and they brought her to a wharf
in the city. At a place that was called "The Ram's Couch" they fastened
the Argo. Then they marched to the field of Ares, where the king and
the Colchian people were.
Jason, carrying his shield and spear, went before the king. From the
king's hand he took the gleaming helmet that held the dragon's teeth.
This he put into the hands of Theseus, who went with him. Then with the
spear and shield in his hands, with his sword girt across his
shoulders, and with his mantle stripped off, Jason looked across the
field of Ares.
He saw the plow that he was to yoke to the bulls; he saw the yoke of
bronze near it; he saw the tracks of the bulls' hooves. He followed the
tracks until he came to the lair of the fire-breathing bulls. Out of
that lair, which was underground, smoke and fire belched. He set his
feet firmly upon the ground and he held his shield before him. He
awaited the onset of the bulls. They came clanging up with loud
bellowing, breathing out fire. They lowered their heads, and with
mighty, iron-tipped horns they came to gore and trample him.
Medea's charm had made him strong; Medea's charm had made his shield
impregnable. The rush of the bulls did not overthrow him. His comrades
shouted to see him standing firmly there, and in wonder the Colchians
gazed upon him. All round him, as from a furnace, there came smoke and
fire.
The bulls roared mightily. Grasping the horns of the bull that was upon
his right hand, Jason dragged him until he had brought him beside the
yoke of bronze. Striking the brazen knees of the bull suddenly with his
foot he forced him down. Then he smote the other bull as it rushed upon
him, and it too he forced down upon its knees.
Castor and Polydeuces held the yoke to him. Jason bound it upon the
necks of the bulls. He fastened the plow to the yoke. Then he took his
shield and set it upon his back, and grasping the handles of the plow
he started to make the furrow.
With his long spear he drove the bulls before him as with a goad.
Terribly they raged, furiously they breathed out fire. Beside Jason
Theseus went holding the helmet that held the dragon's teeth. The hard
ground was torn up by the plow of adamant, and the clods groaned as
they were cast up. Jason flung the teeth between the open sods, often
turning his head in fear that the deadly crop of the Earth-born Men
were rising behind him.
By the time that a third of the day was finished the field of Ares had
been plowed and sown. As yet the furrows were free of the Earth-born
Men. Jason went down to the river and filled his helmet full of water
and drank deeply. And his knees that were stiffened with the plowing he
bent until they were made supple again.
He saw the field rising into mounds. It seemed that there were graves
all over the field of Ares. Then he saw spears and shields and helmets
rising up out of the earth. Then armed warriors sprang up, a fierce
battle cry upon their lips.
Jason remembered the counsel of Medea. He raised a boulder that four
men could hardly raise and with arms hardened by the plowing he cast
it. The Colchians shouted to see such a stone cast by the hands of one
man. Right into the middle of the Earth-born Men the stone came. They
leaped upon it like hounds, striking at one another as they came
together. Shield crashed on shield, spear rang upon spear as they
struck at each other. The Earth-born Men, as fast as they arose, went
down before the weapons in the hands of their brethren.
Jason rushed upon them, his sword in his hand. He slew some that had
risen out of the earth only as far as the shoulders; he slew others
whose feet were still in the earth; he slew others who were ready to
spring upon him. Soon all the Earth-born Men were slain, and the
furrows ran with their dark blood as channels run with water in
springtime.
The Argonauts shouted loudly for Jason's victory. King Æetes rose from
his seat that was beside the river and he went back to the city. The
Colchians followed him. Day faded, and Jason's contest was ended.
But it was not the will of Æetes that the strangers should be let
depart peaceably with the Golden Fleece that Jason had won. In the
assembly place, with his son Apsyrtus beside him, and with the furious
Colchians all around him, the king stood: on his breast was the
gleaming corselet that Ares had given him, and on his head was that
golden helmet with its four plumes that made him look as if he were
truly the son of Helios, the Sun. Lightnings flashed from his great
eyes; he spoke fiercely to the Colchians, holding in his hand his
bronze-topped spear.
He would have them attack the strangers and burn the Argo. He would
have the sons of Phrixus slain for bringing them to Aea. There was a
prophecy, he declared, that would have him be watchful of the treachery
of his own offspring: this prophecy was being fulfilled by the children
of Chalciope; he feared, too, that his daughter, Medea, had aided the
strangers. So the king spoke, and the Colchians, hating all strangers,
shouted around him.
Word of what her father had said was brought to Medea. She knew that
she would have to go to the Argonauts and bid them flee hastily from
Aea. They would not go, she knew, without the Golden Fleece; then she,
Medea, would have to show them how to gain the Fleece.
Then she could never again go back to her father's palace, she could
never again sit in this chamber and talk to her handmaidens, and be
with Chalciope, her sister. Forever afterward she would be dependent on
the kindness of strangers. Medea wept when she thought of all this. And
then she cut off a tress of her hair and she left it in her chamber as
a farewell from one who was going afar. Into the chamber where
Chalciope was she whispered farewell.
The palace doors were all heavily bolted, but Medea did not have to
pull back the bolts. As she chanted her Magic Song the bolts softly
drew back, the doors softly opened. Swiftly she went along the ways
that led to the river. She came to where fires were blazing and she
knew that the Argonauts were there.
She called to them, and Phrontis, Chalciope's son, heard the cry and
knew the voice. To Jason he spoke, and Jason quickly went to where
Medea stood.
She clasped Jason's hand and she drew him with her. "The Golden
Fleece," she said, "the time has come when you must pluck the Golden
Fleece off the oak in the grove of Ares." When she said these words all
Jason's being became taut like the string of a bow.
It was then the hour when huntsmen cast sleep from their eyes--huntsmen
who never sleep away the end of the night, but who are ever ready to be
up and away with their hounds before the beams of the sun efface the
track and the scent of the quarry. Along a path that went from the
river Medea drew Jason. They entered a grove. Then Jason saw something
that was like a cloud filled with the light of the rising sun. It hung
from a great oak tree. In awe he stood and looked upon it, knowing that
at last he looked upon THE GOLDEN FLEECE.
His hand let slip Medea's hand and he went to seize the Fleece. As he
did he heard a dreadful hiss. And then he saw the guardian of the
Golden Fleece. Coiled all around the tree, with outstretched neck and
keen and sleepless eyes, was a deadly serpent. Its hiss ran all through
the grove and the birds that were wakening up squawked in terror.
Like rings of smoke that rise one above the other, the coils of the
serpent went around the tree--coils covered by hard and gleaming
scales. It uncoiled, stretched itself, and lifted its head to strike.
Then Medea dropped on her knees before it, and began to chant her Magic
Song.
As she sang, the coils around the tree grew slack. Like a dark,
noiseless wave the serpent sank down on the ground. But still its jaws
were open, and those dreadful jaws threatened Jason. Medea, with a
newly cut spray of juniper dipped in a mystic brew, touched its deadly
eyes. And still she chanted her Magic Song. The serpent's jaws closed;
its eyes became deadened; far through the grove its length was
stretched out.
Then Jason took the Golden Fleece. As he raised his hands to it, its
brightness was such as to make a flame on his face. Medea called to
him. He strove to gather it all up in his arms; Medea was beside him,
and they went swiftly on.
They came to the river and down to the place where the Argo was moored.
The heroes who were aboard started up, astonished to see the Fleece
that shone as with the lightning of Zeus. Over Medea Jason cast it, and
he lifted her aboard the Argo.
"O friends," he cried, "the quest on which we dared the gulfs of the
sea and the wrath of kings is accomplished, thanks to the help of this
maiden. Now may we return to Greece; now have we the hope of looking
upon our fathers and our friends once more. And in all honor will we
bring this maiden with us, Medea, the daughter of King Æetes."
Then he drew his sword and cut the hawsers of the ship, calling upon
the heroes to drive the Argo on. There was a din and a strain and a
splash of oars, and away from Aea the Argo dashed. Beside the mast
Medea stood; the Golden Fleece had fallen at her feet, and her head and
face were covered by her silver veil.
IV. THE SLAYING OF APSYRTUS
That silver veil was to be splashed with a brother's blood, and the
Argonauts, because of that calamity, were for a long time to be held
back from a return to their native land.
Now as they went down the river they saw that dangers were coming
swiftly upon them. The chariots of the Colchians were upon the banks.
Jason saw King Æetes in his chariot, a blazing torch lighting his
corselet and his helmet. Swiftly the Argo went, but there were ships
behind her, and they went swiftly too.
They came into the Sea of Pontus, and Phrontis, the son of Phrixus,
gave counsel to them. "Do not strive to make the passage of the
Symplegades," he said. "All who live around the Sea of Pontus are
friendly to King Æetes they will be warned by him, and they will be
ready to slay us and take the Argo. Let us journey up the River Ister,
and by that way we can come to the Thrinacian Sea that is close to your
land."
The Argonauts thought well of what Phrontis said; into the waters of
the Ister the ship was brought. Many of the Colchian ships passed by
the mouth of the river, and went seeking the Argo toward the passage of
the Symplegades.
But the Argonauts were on a way that was dangerous for them. For
Apsyrtus had not gone toward the Symplegades seeking the Argo. He had
led his soldiers overland to the River Ister at a place that was at a
distance above its mouth. There were islands in the river at that
place, and the soldiers of Apsyrtus landed on the islands, while
Apsyrtus went to the kings of the people around and claimed their
support.
The Argo came and the heroes found themselves cut off. They could not
make their way between the islands that were filled with the Colchian
soldiers, nor along the banks that were lined with men friendly to King
Æetes. Argo was stayed. Apsyrtus sent for the chiefs; he had men enough
to overwhelm them, but he shrank from a fight with the heroes, and he
thought that he might gain all he wanted from them without a struggle.
Theseus and Peleus went to him. Apsyrtus would have them give up the
Golden Fleece; he would have them give up Medea and the sons of Phrixus
also.
Theseus and Peleus appealed to the judgment of the kings who supported
Apsyrtus. Æetes, they said, had no more claim on the Golden Fleece. He
had promised it to Jason as a reward for tasks that he had imposed. The
tasks had been accomplished and the Fleece, no matter in what way it
was taken from the grove of Ares, was theirs. So Theseus and Peleus
said, and the kings who supported Apsyrtus gave judgment for the
Argonauts.
But Medea would have to be given to her brother. If that were done the
Argo would be let go on her course, Apsyrtus said, and the Golden
Fleece would be left with them. Apsyrtus said, too, that he would not
take Medea back to the wrath of her father; if the Argonauts gave her
up she would be let stay on the island of Artemis and under the
guardianship of the goddess.
The chiefs brought Apsyrtus's words back. There was a council of the
Argonauts, and they agreed that they should leave Medea on the island
of Artemis.
But grief and wrath took hold of Medea when she heard of this resolve.
Almost she would burn the Argo. She went to where Jason stood, and she
spoke again of all she had done to save his life and win the Golden
Fleece for the Argonauts. Jason made her look on the ships and the
soldiers that were around them; he showed her how these could overwhelm
the Argonauts and slay them all. With all the heroes slain, he said,
Medea would come into the hands of Apsyrtus, who then could leave her
on the island of Artemis or take her back to the wrath of her father.
But Medea would not consent to go nor could Jason's heart consent to
let her go. Then these two made a plot to deceive Apsyrtus.
"I have not been of the council that agreed to give you up to him,"
Jason said. "After you have been left there I will take you off the
island of Artemis secretly. The Colchians and the kings who support
them, not knowing that you have been taken off and hidden on the Argo,
will let us pass." This Medea and Jason planned to do, and it was an
ill thing, for it was breaking the covenant that the chiefs had entered
with Apsyrtus.
Medea then was left by the Argonauts on the island of Artemis. Now
Apsyrtus had been commanded by his father to bring her back to Aea; he
thought that when she had been left by the Argonauts he could force her
to come with him. So he went over to the island. Jason, secretly
leaving his companions, went to the island from the other side.
Before the temple of Artemis Jason and Apsyrtus came face to face. Both
men, thinking they had been betrayed to their deaths, drew their
swords. Then, before the vestibule of the temple and under the eyes of
Medea, Jason and Apsyrtus fought. Jason's sword pierced the son of
Æetes as he fell Apsyrtus cried out bitter words against Medea, saying
that it was on her account that he had come on his death. And as he
fell the blood of her brother splashed Medea's silver veil.
Jason lifted Medea up and carried her to the Argo. They hid the maiden
under the Fleece of Gold and they sailed past the ships of the
Colchians. When darkness came they were far from the island of Artemis.
It was then that they heard a loud wailing, and they knew that the
Colchians had discovered that their prince had been slain.
The Colchians did not pursue them. Fearing the wrath of Æetes they made
settlements in the lands of the kings who had supported A Apsyrtus;
they never went back to Aea; they called themselves Apsyrtians
henceforward, naming themselves after the prince they had come with.
They had escaped the danger that had hemmed them in, but the Argonauts,
as they sailed on, were not content; covenants had been broken, and
blood had been shed in a bad cause. And as they went on through the
darkness the voice of the ship was heard; at the sound of that voice
fear and sorrow came upon the voyagers, for they felt that it had a
prophecy of doom.
Castor and Polydeuces went to the front of the ship; holding up their
hands, they prayed. Then they heard the words that the voice uttered:
in the night as they went on the voice proclaimed the wrath of Zeus on
account of the slaying of Apsyrtus.
What was their doom to be? It was that the Argonauts would have to
wander forever over the gulfs of the sea unless Medea had herself
cleansed of her brother's blood. There was one who could cleanse
Medea--Circe, the daughter of Helios and Perse. The voice urged the
heroes to pray to the immortal gods that the way to the island of Circe
be shown to them.
V. MEDEA COMES TO CIRCE
They sailed up the River Ister until they came to the Eridanus, that
river across which no bird can fly. Leaving the Eridanus they entered
the Rhodanus, a river that rises in the extreme north, where Night
herself has her habitation. And voyaging up this river they came to the
Stormy Lakes. A mist lay upon the lakes night and day; voyaging through
them the Argonauts at last brought out their ship upon the Sea of
Ausonia.
It was Zetes and Calais, the sons of the North Wind, who brought the
Argo safely along this dangerous course. And to Zetes and Calais Iris,
the messenger of the gods, appeared and revealed to them where Circe's
island lay.
Deep blue water was all around that island, and on its height a marble
house was to be seen. But a strange haze covered everything as with a
veil. As the Argonauts came near they saw what looked to them like
great dragonflies; they came down to the shore, and then the heroes saw
that they were maidens in gleaming dresses.
The maidens waved their hands to the voyagers, calling them to come on
the island. Strange beasts came up to where the maidens were and made
whimpering cries.
The Argonauts would have drawn the ship close and would have sprung
upon the island only that Medea cried out to them. She showed them the
beasts that whimpered around the maidens, and then, as the Argonauts
looked upon them, they saw that these were not beasts of the wild.
There was something strange and fearful about them; the heroes gazed
upon them with troubled eyes. They brought the ship near, but they
stayed upon their benches, holding the oars in their hands.
Medea sprang to the island; she spoke to the maidens so that they
shrank away; then the beasts came and whimpered around her. "Forbear to
land here, O Argonauts," Medea cried, "for this is the island where men
are changed into beasts." She called to Jason to come; only Jason would
she have come upon the island.
They went swiftly toward the marble house, and the beasts followed
them, looking up at Jason and Medea with pitiful human eyes. They went
into the marble house of Circe, and as suppliants they seated
themselves at the hearth.
Circe stood at her loom, weaving her many-colored threads. Swiftly she
turned to the suppliants; she looked for something strange in them, for
just before they came the walls of her house dripped with blood and the
flame ran over and into her pot, burning up all the magic herbs she was
brewing. She went toward where they sat, Medea with her face hidden by
her hands, and Jason, with his head bent,--holding with its point in
the ground the sword with which he had slain the son of Æetes When
Medea took her hands away from before her face, Circe knew that, like
herself, this maiden was of the race of Helios. Medea spoke to her,
telling her first of the voyage of the heroes and of their toils;
telling her then of how she had given help to Jason against the will of
Æetes her father; telling her then, fearfully, of the slaying of
Apsyrtus. She covered her face with her robe as she spoke of it. And
then she told Circe she had come, warned by the judgment of Zeus, to
ask of Circe, the daughter of Helios, to purify her from the stain of
her brother's blood.
Like all the children of Helios, Circe had eyes that were wide and full
of life, but she had stony lips--lips that were heavy and moveless.
Bright golden hair hung smoothly along each of her sides. First she
held a cup to them that was filled with pure water, and Jason and Medea
drank from that cup.
Then Circe stayed by the hearth; she burnt cakes in the flame, and all
the while she prayed to Zeus to be gentle with these suppliants. She
brought both to the seashore. There she washed Medea's body and her
garments with the spray of the sea.
Medea pleaded with Circe to tell her of the life she foresaw for her,
but Circe would not speak of it. She told Medea that one day she would
meet a woman who knew nothing about enchantments but who had much human
wisdom. She was to ask of her what she was to do in her life or what
she was to leave undone. And whatever this woman out of her wisdom told
her, that Medea was to regard. Once more Circe offered them the cup
filled with clear water, and when they had drunken of it she left them
upon the seashore. As she went toward her marble house the strange
beasts followed Circe, whimpering as they went. Jason and Medea went
aboard the Argo, and the heroes drew away from Circe's island.
VI. IN THE LAND OF THE PHAEACIANS
Wearied were the heroes now. They would have fain gone upon the island
of Circe to rest there away from the oars and the sound of the sea. But
the wisest of them, looking upon the beasts that were men transformed,
held the Argo far off the shore. Then Jason and Medea came aboard, and
with heavy hearts and wearied arms they turned to the open sea again.
No longer had they such high hearts as when they drove the Argo between
the Clashers and into the Sea of Pontus. Now their heads drooped as
they went on, and they sang such songs as slaves sing in their hopeless
labor. Orpheus grew fearful for them now.
For Orpheus knew that they were drawing toward a danger. There was no
other way for them, he knew, but past the Island Anthemoessa in the
Tyrrhenian Sea where the Sirens were.
Once they had been nymphs and had tended Persephone before she was
carried off by Aidoneus to be his queen in the Underworld. Kind they
had been, but now they were changed, and they cared only for the
destruction of men.
All set around with rocks was the island where they were. As the Argo
came near, the Sirens, ever on the watch to draw mariners to their
destruction, saw them and came to the rocks and sang to them, holding
each other's hands.
They sang all together their lulling song. That song made the wearied
voyagers long to let their oars go with the waves, and drift, drift to
where the Sirens were. Bending down to them the Sirens, with soft hands
and white arms, would lift them to soft resting places. Then each of
the Sirens sang a clear, piercing song that called to each of the
voyagers. Each man thought that his own name was in that song. "O how
well it is that you have come near," each one sang, "how well it is
that you have come near where I have awaited you, having all delight
prepared for you!"
Orpheus took up his lyre as the Sirens began to sing. He sang to the
heroes of their own toils. He sang of them, how, gaunt and weary as
they were, they were yet men, men who were the strength of Greece, men
who had been fostered by the love and hope of their country. They were
the winners of the Golden Fleece and their story would be told forever.
And for the fame that they had won men would forego all rest and all
delight. Why should they not toil, they who were born for great labors
and to face dangers that other men might not face? Soon hands would be
stretched out to them--the welcoming hands of the men and women of
their own land.
So Orpheus sang, and his voice and the music of his lyre prevailed
above the Sirens' voices. Men dropped their oars, but other men
remained at their benches, and pulled steadily, if wearily, on. Only
one of the Argonauts, Butes, a youth of Iolcus, threw himself into the
water and swam toward the rocks from which the Sirens sang.
But an anguish that nearly parted their spirits from their bodies was
upon them as they went wearily on. Toward the end of the day they
beheld another island--an island that seemed very fair; they longed to
land and rest themselves there and eat the fruits of the island. But
Orpheus would not have them land. The island, he said, was Thrinacia.
Upon that island the Cattle of the Sun pastured, and if one of the
cattle perished through them their return home might not be won. They
heard the lowing of the cattle through the mist, and a deep longing for
the sight of their own fields, with a white house near, and flocks and
herds at pasture, came over the heroes. They came near the Island of
Thrinacia, and they saw the Cattle of the Sun feeding by the meadow
streams; not one of them was black; all were white as milk, and the
horns upon their heads were golden. They saw the two nymphs who herded
the kine--Phaethusa and Lampetia, one with a staff of silver and the
other with a staff of gold.
Driven by the breeze that came over the Thrinacian Sea the Argonauts
came to the land of the Phaeacians. It was a good land as they saw when
they drew near; a land of orchards and fresh pastures, with a white and
sun-lit city upon the height. Their spirits came back to them as they
drew into the harbor; they made fast the hawsers, and they went upon
the ways of the city.
And then they saw everywhere around them the dark faces of Colchian
soldiers. These were the men of King Æetes, and they had come overland
to the Phaeacian city, hoping to cut off the Argonauts. Jason, when he
saw the soldiers, shouted to those who had been left on the Argo, and
they drew out of the harbor, fearful lest the Colchians should grapple
with the ship and wrest from them the Fleece of Gold. Then Jason made
an encampment upon the shore, and the captain of the Colchians went
here and there, gathering together his men.
Medea left Jason's side and hastened through the city. To the palace of
Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians, she went. Within the palace she found
Arete, the queen. And Arete was sitting by her hearth, spinning golden
and silver threads.
Arete was young at that time, as young as Medea, and as yet no child
had been born to her. But she had the clear eyes of one who
understands, and who knows how to order things well. Stately, too, was
Arete, for she had been reared in the house of a great king. Medea came
to her, and fell upon her knees before her, and told her how she had
fled from the house of her father, King Æetes.
She told Arete, too, how she had helped Jason to win the Golden Fleece,
and she told her how through her her brother had been led to his death.
As she told this part of her story she wept and prayed at the knees of
the queen.
Arete was greatly moved by Medea's tears and prayers. She went to
Alcinous in his garden, and she begged of him to save the Argonauts
from the great force of the Colchians that had come to cut them off.
"The Golden Fleece," said Arete, "has been won by the tasks that Jason
performed. If the Colchians should take Medea, it would be to bring her
back to Aea and to a bitter doom. And the maiden," said the queen, "has
broken my heart by her prayers and tears."
King Alcinous said: "Æetes is strong, and although his kingdom is far
from ours, he can bring war upon us." But still Arete pleaded with him
to protect Medea from the Colchians. Alcinous went within; he raised up
Medea from where she crouched on the floor of the palace, and he
promised her that the Argonauts would be protected in his city.
Then the king mounted his chariot; Medea went with him, and they came
down to the seashore where the heroes had made their encampment. The
Argonauts and the Colchians were drawn up against each other, and the
Colchians far outnumbered the wearied heroes.
Alcinous drove his chariot between the two armies. The Colchians prayed
him to have the strangers make surrender to them. But the king drove
his chariot to where the heroes stood, and he took the hand of each,
and received them as his guests. Then the Colchians knew that they
might not make war upon the heroes. They drew off. The next day they
marched away.
It was a rich land that they had come to. Once Aristaeus dwelt there,
the king who discovered how to make bees store up their honey for men
and how to make the good olive grow. Macris, his daughter, tended
Dionysus, the son of Zeus, when Hermes brought him of the flame, and
moistened his lips with honey. She tended him in a cave in the
Phaeacian land, and ever afterward the Phaeacians were blessed with all
good things.
Now as the heroes marched to the palace of King Alcinous the people
came to meet them, bringing them sheep and calves and jars of wine and
honey. The women brought them fresh garments; to Medea they gave fine
linen and golden ornaments.
Amongst the Phaeacians who loved music and games and the telling of
stories the heroes stayed for long. There were dances, and to the
Phaeacians who honored him as a god, Orpheus played upon his lyre. And
every day, for the seven days that they stayed amongst them, the
Phaeacians brought rich presents to the heroes.
And Medea, looking into the clear eyes of Queen Arete, knew that she
was the woman of whom Circe had prophesied, the woman who knew nothing
of enchantments, but who had much human wisdom. She was to ask of her
what she was to do in her life and what she was to leave undone. And
what this woman told her Medea was to regard. Arete told her that she
was to forget all the witcheries and enchantments that she knew, and
that she was never to practice against the life of any one. This she
told Medea upon the shore, before Jason lifted her aboard the Argo.
VII. THEY COME TO THE DESERT LAND
And now with sail spread wide the Argo went on, and the heroes rested
at the oars. The wind grew stronger. It became a great blast, and for
nine days and nine nights the ship was driven fearfully along.
The blast drove them into the Gulf of Libya, from whence there is no
return for ships. On each side of the gulf there are rocks and shoals,
and the sea runs toward the limitless sand. On the top of a mighty tide
the Argo was lifted, and she was flung high up on the desert sands.
A flood tide such as might not come again for long left the Argonauts
on the empty Libyan land. And when they came forth and saw that vast
level of sand stretching like a mist away into the distance, a deadly
fear came over each of them. No spring of water could they descry; no
path; no herdsman's cabin; over all that vast land there was silence
and dead calm. And one said to the other: "What land is this? Whither
have we come? Would that the tempest had overwhelmed us, or would that
we had lost the ship and our lives between the Clashing Rocks at the
time when we were making our way into the Sea of Pontus."
And the helmsman, looking before him, said with a breaking heart: "Out
of this we may not come, even should the breeze blow from the land, for
all around us are shoals and sharp rocks--rocks that we can see
fretting the water, line upon line. Our ship would have been shattered
far from the shore if the tide had not borne her far up on the sand.
But now the tide rushes back toward the sea, leaving only foam on which
no ship can sail to cover the sand. And so all hope of our return is
cut off."
He spoke with tears flowing upon his cheeks, and all who had knowledge
of ships agreed with what the helmsman had said. No dangers that they
had been through were as terrible as this. Hopelessly, like lifeless
specters, the heroes strayed about the endless strand.
They embraced each other and they said farewell as they laid down upon
the sand that might blow upon them and overwhelm them in the night.
They wrapped their heads in their cloaks, and, fasting, they laid
themselves down.
Jason crouched beside the ship, so troubled that his life nearly went
from him. He saw Medea huddled against a rock and with her hair
streaming on the sand. He saw the men who, with all the bravery of
their lives, had come with him, stretched on the desert sand, weary and
without hope. He thought that they, the best of men, might die in this
desert with their deeds all unknown; he thought that he might never win
home with Medea, to make her his queen in Iolcus.
He lay against the side of the ship, his cloak wrapped around his head.
And there death would have come to him and to the others if the nymphs
of the desert had been unmindful of these brave men. They came to
Jason. It was midday then, and the fierce rays of the sun were
scorching all Libya. They drew off the cloak that wrapped his head;
they stood near him, three nymphs girded around with goatskins.
"Why art thou so smitten with despair?" the nymphs said to Jason. "Why
art thou smitten with despair, thou who hast wrought so much and hast
won so much? Up! Arouse thy comrades! We are the solitary nymphs, the
warders of the land of Libya, and we have come to show a way of escape
to you, the Argonauts.
"Look around and watch for the time when Poseidon's great horse shall
be unloosed. Then make ready to pay recompense to the mother that bore
you all. What she did for you all, that you all must do for her; by
doing it you will win back to the land of Greece." Jason heard them say
these words and then he saw them no more; the nymphs vanished amongst
the desert mounds.
Then Jason rose up. He did not know what to make out of what had been
told him, but there was courage now and hope in his heart. He shouted;
his voice was like the roar of a lion calling to his mate. At his shout
his comrades roused themselves; all squalid with the dust of the desert
the Argonauts stood around him.
"Listen, comrades, to me," Jason said, "while I speak of a strange
thing that has befallen me. While I lay by the side of our ship three
nymphs came before me. With light hands they drew away the cloak that
wrapped my head. They declared themselves to be the solitary nymphs,
the warders, of Libya. Very strange were the words they said to me.
When Poseidon's great horse shall be unloosed, they said, we were to
make the mother of us all a recompense, doing for her what she had done
for us all. This the nymphs told me to say, but I cannot understand the
meaning of their words."
There were some there who would not have given heed to Jason's words,
deeming them words without meaning. But even as he spoke a wonder came
before their eyes. Out of the far-off sea a great horse leaped. Vast he
was of size and he had a golden mane. He shook the spray of the sea off
his sides and mane. Past them he trampled and away toward the horizon,
leaving great tracks in the sand.
Then Nestor spoke rejoicingly. "Behold the great horse! It is the horse
that the desert nymphs spoke of, Poseidon's horse. Even now has the
horse been unloosed, and now is the time to do what the nymphs bade us
do.
"Who but Argo is the mother of us all? She has carried us. Now we must
make her a recompense and carry her even as she carried us. With
untiring shoulders we must bear Argo across this great desert.
"And whither shall we bear her? Whither but along the tracks that
Poseidon's horse has left in the sand! Poseidon's horse will not go
under the earth--once again he will plunge into the sea!"
So Nestor said and the Argonauts saw truth in his saying. Hope came to
them again--the hope of leaving that desert and coming to the sea.
Surely when they came to the sea again, and spread the sail and held
the oars in their hands, their sacred ship would make swift course to
their native land!
VIII. THE CARRYING OUT OF THE ARGO
With the terrible weight of the ship upon their shoulders the Argonauts
made their way across the desert, following the tracks of Poseidon's
golden-maned horse. Like a rounded serpent that drags with pain its
length along, they went day after day across that limitless land.
A day came when they saw the great tracks of the horse no more. A wind
had come up and had covered them with sand. With the mighty weight of
the ship upon their shoulders, with the sun beating upon their heads,
and with no marks on the desert to guide them, the heroes stood there,
and it seemed to them that the blood must gush up and out of their
hearts.
Then Zetes and Calais, sons of the North Wind, rose up upon their wings
to strive to get sight of the sea. Up, up, they soared. And then as a
man sees, or thinks he sees, at the month's beginning, the moon through
a bank of clouds, Zetes and Calais, looking over the measureless land,
saw the gleam of water. They shouted to the Argonauts; they marked the
way for them, and wearily, but with good hearts, the heroes went upon
the way.
They came at last to the shore of what seemed to be a wide inland sea.
They set Argo down from off their over-wearied shoulders and they let
her keel take water once more.
All salt and brackish was that water; they dipped their hands into and
tasted the salt. Orpheus was able to name the water they had come to;
it was that lake that was called after Triton, the son of Nereus, the
ancient one of the sea. They set up an altar and they made sacrifices
in thanksgiving to the gods.
They had come to water at last, but now they had to seek for other
water--for the sweet water that they could drink. All around them they
looked, but they saw no sign of a spring. And then they felt a wind
blow upon them--a wind that had in it not the dust of the desert but
the fragrance of growing things. Toward where that wind blew from they
went.
As they went on they saw a great shape against the sky; they saw
mountainous shoulders bowed. Orpheus bade them halt and turn their
faces with reverence toward that great shape: for this was Atlas the
Titan, the brother of Prometheus, who stood there to hold up the sky on
his shoulders.
Then they were near the place that the fragrance had blown from: there
was a garden there; the only fence that ran around it was a lattice of
silver. "Surely there are springs in the garden," the Argonauts said.
"We will enter this fair garden now and slake our thirst."
Orpheus bade them walk reverently, for all around them, he said, was
sacred ground. This garden was the Garden of the Hesperides that was
watched over by the Daughters of the Evening Land. The Argonauts looked
through the silver lattice; they saw trees with lovely fruit, and they
saw three maidens moving through the garden with watchful eyes. In this
garden grew the tree that had the golden apples that Zeus gave to Hera
as a wedding gift.
They saw the tree on which the golden apples grew. The maidens went to
it and then looked watchfully all around them. They saw the faces of
the Argonauts looking through the silver lattice and they cried out,
one to the other, and they joined their hands around the tree.
But Orpheus called to them, and the maidens understood the divine
speech of Orpheus. He made the Daughters of the Evening Land know that
they who stood before the lattice were men who reverenced the gods, who
would not strive to enter the forbidden garden. The maidens came toward
them. Beautiful as the singing of Orpheus was their utterance, but what
they said was a complaint and a lament.
Their lament was for the dragon Ladon, that dragon with a hundred heads
that guarded sleeplessly the tree that had the golden apples. Now that
dragon was slain. With arrows that had been dipped in the poison of the
Hydra's blood their dragon, Ladon, had been slain.
The Daughters of the Evening Land sang of how a mortal had come into
the garden that they watched over. He had a great bow, and with his
arrow he slew the dragon that guarded the golden apples. The golden
apples he had taken away; they had come back to the tree they had been
plucked from, for no mortal might keep them in his possession. So the
maidens sang Hespere, Eretheis, and Aegle--and they complained that
now, unhelped by the hundred-headed dragon, they had to keep guard over
the tree.
The Argonauts knew of whom they told the tale--Heracles, their comrade.
Would that Heracles were with them now!
The Hesperides told them of Heracles--of how the springs in the garden
dried up because of his plucking the golden apples. He came out of the
garden thirsting. Nowhere could he find a spring of water. To yonder
great rock he went. He smote it with his foot and water came out in
full floe.. Then he, leaning on his hands and with his chest upon the
ground, drank and drank from the water that flowed from the rifted rock.
The Argonauts looked to where the rock stood. They caught the sound of
water. They carried Medea over. And then, company after company, all
huddled together, they stooped down and drank their fill of the clear
good water. With lips wet with the water they cried to each other,
"Heracles! Although he is not with us, in very truth Heracles has saved
his comrades from deadly thirst!"
They saw his footsteps printed upon the rocks, and they followed them
until they led to the sand where no footsteps stay. Heracles! How glad
his comrades would have been if they could have had sight of him then!
But it was long ago before he had sailed with them--that Heracles had
been here.
Still hearing their complaint they turned back to the lattice, to where
the Daughters of the Evening Land stood. The Daughters of the Evening
Land bent their heads to listen to what the Argonauts told one another,
and, seeing them bent to listen, Orpheus told a story about one who had
gone across the Libyan desert, about one who was a hero like unto
Heracles.
THE STORY OF PERSEUS
Beyond where Atlas stands there is a cave where the strange women, the
ancient daughters of Phorcys, live. They have been gray from their
birth. They have but one eye and one tooth between them, and they pass
the eye and the tooth, one to the other, when they would see or eat.
They are called the Graiai, these two sisters.
Up to the cave where they lived a youth once came. He was beardless,
and the garb he wore was torn and travel-stained, but he had
shapeliness and beauty. In his leathern belt there was an exceedingly
bright sword; this sword was not straight like the swords we carry, but
it was hooked like a sickle. The strange youth with the bright, strange
sword came very quickly and very silently up to the cave where the
Graiai lived and looked over a high boulder into it.
One was sitting munching acorns with the single tooth. The other had
the eye in her hand. She was holding it to her forehead and looking
into the back of the cave. These two ancient women, with their gray
hair falling over them like thick fleeces, and with faces that were
only forehead and cheeks and nose and mouth, were strange creatures
truly. Very silently the youth stood looking at them.
"Sister, sister," cried the one who was munching acorns, "sister, turn
your eye this way. I heard the stir of something."
The other turned, and with the eye placed against her forehead looked
out to the opening of the cave. The youth drew back behind the boulder.
"Sister, sister, there is nothing there," said the one with the eye.
Then she said: "Sister, give me the tooth for I would eat my acorns.
Take the eye and keep watch."
The one who was eating held out the tooth, and the one who was watching
held out the eye. The youth darted into the cave. Standing between the
eyeless sisters, he took with one hand the tooth and with the other the
eye.
"Sister, sister, have you taken the eye?"
"I have not taken the eye. Have you taken the tooth?"
"I have not taken the tooth."
"Some one has taken the eye, and some one has taken the tooth."
They stood together, and the youth watched their blinking faces as they
tried to discover who had come into the cave, and who had taken the eye
and the tooth.
Then they said, screaming together: "Who ever has taken the eye and the
tooth from the Graiai, the ancient daughters of Phorcys, may Mother
Night smother him."
The youth spoke. "Ancient daughters of Phorcys," he said, "Graiai, I
would not rob from you. I have come to your cave only to ask the way to
a place."
"Ah, it is a mortal, a mortal," screamed the sisters. "Well, mortal,
what would you have from the Graiai?"
"Ancient Graiai," said the youth, "I would have you tell me, for you
alone know, where the nymphs dwell who guard the three magic
treasures--the cap of darkness, the shoes of flight, and the magic
pouch."
"We will not tell you, we will not tell you that," screamed the two
ancient sisters.
"I will keep the eye and the tooth," said the youth, "and I will give
them to one who will help me."
"Give me the eye and I will tell you," said one. "Give me the tooth and
I will tell you," said the other. The youth put the eye in the hand of
one and the tooth in the hand of the other, but he held their skinny
hands in his strong hands until they should tell him where the nymphs
dwelt who guarded the magic treasures. The Gray Ones told him. Then the
youth with the bright sword left the cave. As he went out he saw on the
ground a shield of bronze, and he took it with him.
To the other side of where Atlas stands he went. There he came upon the
nymphs in their valley. They had long dwelt there, hidden from gods and
men, and they were startled to see a stranger youth come into their
hidden valley. They fled away. Then the youth sat on the ground, his
head bent like a man who is very sorrowful.
The youngest and the fairest of the nymphs came to him at last. "Why
have you come, and why do you sit here in such great trouble, youth?"
said she. And then she said: "What is this strange sickle-sword that
you wear? Who told you the way to our dwelling place? What name have
you?"
"I have come here," said the youth, and he took the bronze shield upon
his knees and began to polish it, "I have come here because I want you,
the nymphs who guard them, to give to me the cap of darkness and the
shoes of flight and the magic pouch. I must gain these things; without
them I must go to my death. Why I must gain them you will know from my
story."
When he said that he had come for the three magic treasures that they
guarded, the kind nymph was more startled than she and her sisters had
been startled by the appearance of the strange youth in their hidden
valley. She turned away from him. But she looked again and she saw that
he was beautiful and brave looking. He had spoken of his death. The
nymph stood looking at him pitifully, and the youth, with the bronze
shield laid beside his knees and the strange hooked sword lying across
it, told her his story.
"I am Perseus," he said, "and my grandfather, men say, is king in
Argos. His name is Acrisius. Before I was born a prophecy was made to
him that the son of Danae, his daughter, would slay him. Acrisius was
frightened by the prophecy, and when I was born he put my mother and
myself into a chest, and he sent us adrift upon the waves of the sea.
"I did not know what a terrible peril I was in, for I was an infant
newly born. My mother was so hopeless that she came near to death. But
the wind and the waves did not destroy us: they brought us to a shore;
a shepherd found the chest, and he opened it and brought my mother and
myself out of it alive. The land we had come to was Seriphus. The
shepherd who found the chest and who rescued my mother and myself was
the brother of the king. His name was Dictys.
"In the shepherd's wattled house my mother stayed with me, a little
infant, and in that house I grew from babyhood to childhood, and from
childhood to boyhood. He was a kind man, this shepherd Dictys. His
brother Polydectes had put him away from the palace, but Dictys did not
grieve for that, for he was happy minding his sheep upon the hillside,
and he was happy in his little but of wattles and clay.
"Polydectes, the king, was seldom spoken to about his brother, and it
was years before he knew of the mother and child who had been brought
to live in Dictys's hut. But at last he heard of us, for strange things
began to be said about my mother--how she was beautiful, and how she
looked like one who had been favored by the gods. Then one day when he
was hurting, Polydectes the king came to the but of Dictys the shepherd.
"He saw Danae, my mother, there. By her looks he knew that she was a
king's daughter and one who had been favored by the gods. He wanted her
for his wife. But my mother hated this harsh and overbearing king, and
she would not wed with him. Often he came storming around the
shepherd's hut, and at last my mother had to take refuge from him in a
temple. There she became the priestess of the goddess.
"I was taken to the palace of Polydectes, and there I was brought up.
The king still stormed around where my mother was, more and more bent
on making her marry him. If she had not been in the temple where she
was under the protection of the goddess he would have wed her against
her will.
"But I was growing up now, and I was able to give some protection to my
mother. My arm was a strong one, and Polydectes knew that if he wronged
my mother in any way, I had the will and the power to be deadly to him.
One day I heard him say before his princes and his lords that he would
wed, and would wed one who was not Danae, I was overjoyed to hear him
say this. He asked the lords and the princes to come to the wedding
feast; they declared they would, and they told him of the presents they
would bring.
"Then King Polydectes turned to me and he asked me to come to the
wedding feast. I said I would come. And then, because I was young and
full of the boast of youth, and because the king was now ceasing to be
a terror to me, I said that I would bring to his wedding feast the head
of the Gorgon.
"The king smiled when he heard me say this, but he smiled not as a good
man smiles when he hears the boast of youth. He smiled, and he turned
to the princes and lords, and he said 'Perseus will come, and he will
bring a greater gift than any of you, for he will bring the head of her
whose gaze turns living creatures into stone.'
"When I heard the king speak so grimly about my boast the fearfulness
of the thing I had spoken of doing came over me. I thought for an
instant that the Gorgon's head appeared before me, and that I was then
and there turned into stone.
"The day of the wedding feast came. I came and I brought no gift. I
stood with my head hanging for shame. Then the princes and the lords
came forward, and they showed the great gifts of horses that they had
brought. I thought that the king would forget about me and about my
boast. And then I heard him call my name. 'Perseus,' he said, 'Perseus,
bring before us now the Gorgon's head that, as you told us, you would
bring for the wedding gift.'
"The princes and lords and people looked toward me, and I was filled
with a deeper shame. I had to say that I had failed to bring a present.
Then that harsh and overbearing king shouted at me. 'Go forth,' he
said, 'go forth and fetch the present that you spoke of. If you do not
bring it remain forever out of my country, for in Seriphus we will have
no empty boasters.' The lords and the princes applauded what the king
said; the people were sad for me and sad for my mother, but they might
not do anything to help me, so just and so due to me did the words of
the king seem. There was no help for it, and I had to go from the
country of Seriphus, leaving my mother at the mercy of Polydectes.
"I bade good-by to my sorrowful mother and I went from Seriphus--from
that land that I might not return to without the Gorgon's head. I
traveled far from that country. One day I sat down in a lonely place
and prayed to the gods that my strength might be equal to the will that
now moved in me--the will to take the Gorgon's head, and take from my
name the shame of a broken promise, and win back to Seriphus to save my
mother from the harshness of the king.
"When I looked up I saw one standing before me. He was a youth, too,
but I knew by the way he moved, and I knew by the brightness of his
face and eyes, that he was of the immortals. I raised my hands in
homage to him, and he came near me. 'Perseus,' he said, 'if you have
the courage to strive, the way to win the Gorgon's head will be shown
you.' I said that I had the courage to strive, and he knew that I was
making no boast.
"He gave me this bright sickle-sword that I carry. He told me by what
ways I might come near enough to the Gorgons without being turned into
stone by their gaze. He told me how I might slay the one of the three
Gorgons who was not immortal, and how, having slain her, I might take
her head and flee without being torn to pieces by her sister Gorgons.
"Then I knew that I should have to come on the Gorgons from the air. I
knew that having slain the one that could be slain I should have to fly
with the speed of the wind. And I knew that that speed even would not
save me--I should have to be hidden in my flight. To win the head and
save myself I would need three magic things--the shoes of flight and
the magic pouch, and the dogskin cap of Hades that makes its wearer
invisible.
"The youth said: 'The magic pouch and the shoes of flight and the
dogskin cap of Hades are in the keeping of the nymphs whose dwelling
place no mortal knows. I may not tell you where their dwelling place
is. But from the Gray Ones, from the ancient daughters of Phorcys who
live in a cave near where Atlas stands, you may learn where their
dwelling place is.'
"Thereupon he told me how I might come to the Graiai, and how I might
get them to tell me where you, the nymphs, had your dwelling. The one
who spoke to me was Hermes, whose dwelling is on Olympus. By this
sickle-sword that he gave me you will know that I speak the truth."
Perseus ceased speaking, and she who was the youngest and fairest of
the nymphs came nearer to him. She knew that he spoke truthfully, and
besides she had pity for the youth. "But we are the keepers of the
magic treasures," she said, "and some one whose need is greater even
than yours may some time require them from us. But will you swear that
you will bring the magic treasures back to us when you have slain the
Gorgon and have taken her head?"
Perseus declared that he would bring the magic treasures back to the
nymphs and leave them once more in their keeping. Then the nymph who
had compassion for him called to the others. They spoke together while
Perseus stayed far away from them, polishing his shield of bronze. At
last the nymph who had listened to him came back, the others following
her. They brought to Perseus and they put into his hands the things
they had guarded--the cap made from dogskin that had been brought up
out of Hades, a pair of winged shoes, and a long pouch that he could
hang across his shoulder.
And so with the shoes of flight and the cap of darkness and the magic
pouch, Perseus went to seek the Gorgons. The sickle-sword that Hermes
gave him was at his side, and on his arm he held the bronze shield that
was now well polished.
He went through the air, taking a way that the nymphs had shown him. He
came to Oceanus that was the rim around the world. He saw forms that
were of living creatures all in stone, and he knew that he was near the
place where the Gorgons had their lair.
Then, looking upon the surface of his polished shield, he saw the
Gorgons below him. Two were covered with hard serpent scales; they had
tusks that were long and were like the tusks of boars, and they had
hands of gleaming brass and wings of shining gold. Still looking upon
the shining surface of his shield Perseus went down and down. He saw
the third sister--she who was not immortal. She had a woman's face and
form, and her countenance was beautiful, although there was something
deadly in its fairness. The two scaled and winged sisters were asleep,
but the third, Medusa, was awake, and she was tearing with her hands a
lizard that had come near her.
Upon her head was a tangle of serpents all with heads raised as though
they were hissing. Still looking into the mirror of his shield Perseus
came down and over Medusa. He turned his head away from her. Then, with
a sweep of the sickle-sword he took her head off. There was no scream
from the Gorgon, but the serpents upon her head hissed loudly.
Still with his face turned from it he lifted up the head by its tangle
of serpents. He put it into the magic pouch. He rose up in the air. But
now the Gorgon sisters were awake. They had heard the hiss of Medusa's
serpents, and now they looked upon her headless body. They rose up on
their golden wings, and their brazen hands were stretched out to tear
the one who had slain Medusa. As they flew after him they screamed
aloud.
Although he flew like the wind the Gorgon sisters would have overtaken
him if he had been plain to their eyes. But the dogskin cap of Hades
saved him, for the Gorgon sisters did not know whether he was above or
below them, behind or before them. On Perseus went, flying toward where
Atlas stood. He flew over this place, over Libya. Drops of blood from
Medusa's head fell down upon the desert. They were changed and became
the deadly serpents that are on these sands and around these rocks. On
and on Perseus flew toward Atlas and toward the hidden valley where the
nymphs who were again to guard the magic treasures had their dwelling
place. But before he came to the nymphs Perseus had another adventure.
In Ethopia, which is at the other side of Libya, there ruled a king
whose name was Cepheus. This king had permitted his queen to boast that
she was more beautiful than the nymphs of the sea. In punishment for
the queen's impiety and for the king's folly Poseidon sent a monster
out of the sea to waste that country. Every year the monster came,
destroying more and more of the country of Ethopia. Then the king asked
of an oracle what he should do to save his land and his people. The
oracle spoke of a dreadful thing that he would have to do--he would
have to sacrifice his daughter, the beautiful Princess Andromeda.
The king was forced by his savage people to take the maiden Andromeda
and chain her to a rock on the seashore, leaving her there for the
monster to devour her, satisfying himself with that prey.
Perseus, flying near, heard the maiden's laments. He saw her lovely
body bound with chains to the rock. He came near her, taking the cap of
darkness off his head. She saw him, and she bent her head in shame, for
she thought that he would think that it was for some dreadful fault of
her own that she had been left chained in that place.
Her father had stayed near. Perseus saw him, and called to him, and
bade him tell why the maiden was chained to the rock. The king told
Perseus of the sacrifice that he had been forced to make. Then Perseus
came near the maiden, and he saw how she looked at him with pleading
eyes.
Then Perseus made her father promise that he would give Andromeda to
him for his wife if he should slay the sea monster. Gladly Cepheus
promised this. Then Perseus once again drew his sickle-sword; by the
rock to which Andromeda was still chained he waited for sight of the
sea monster.
It came rolling in from the open sea, a shapeless and unsightly thing.
With the shoes of flight upon his feet Perseus rose above it. The
monster saw his shadow upon the water, and savagely it went to attack
the shadow. Perseus swooped down as an eagle swoops down; with his
sickle-sword he attacked it, and he struck the hook through the
monster's shoulder. Terribly it reared up from the sea. Perseus rose
over it, escaping its wide-opened mouth with its treble rows of fangs.
Again he swooped and struck at it. Its hide was covered all over with
hard scales and with the shells of sea things, but Perseus's sword
struck through it. It reared up again, spouting water mixed with blood.
On a rock near the rock that Andromeda was chained to Perseus alighted.
The monster, seeing him, bellowed and rushed swiftly through the water
to overwhelm him. As it reared up he plunged the sword again and again
into its body. Down into the water the monster sank, and water mixed
with blood was spouted up from the depths into which it sank.
Then was Andromeda loosed from her chains. Perseus, the conqueror,
lifted up the fainting maiden and carried her back to the king's
palace. And Cepheus there renewed his promise to give her in marriage
to her deliverer.
Perseus went on his way. He came to the hidden valley where the nymphs
had their dwelling place, and he restored to them the three magic
treasures that they had given him--the cap of darkness, the shoes of
flight, and the magic pouch. And these treasures are still there, and
the hero who can win his way to the nymphs may have them as Perseus had
them.
Again he returned to the place where he had found Andromeda chained.
With face averted he drew forth the Gorgon's head from where he had
hidden it between the rocks. He made a bag for it out of the horny skin
of the monster he had slain. Then, carrying his tremendous trophy, he
went to the palace of King Cepheus to claim his bride.
Now before her father had thought of sacrificing her to the sea monster
he had offered Andromeda in marriage to a prince of Ethopia--to a
prince whose name was Phineus. Phineus did not strive to save
Andromeda. But, hearing that she had been delivered from the monster,
he came to take her for his wife; he came to Cepheus's palace, and he
brought with him a thousand armed men.
The palace of Cepheus was filled with armed men when Perseus entered
it. He saw Andromeda on a raised place in the hall. She was pale as
when she was chained to the rock, and when she saw him in the palace
she uttered a cry of gladness.
Cepheus, the craven king, would have let him who had come with the
armed bands take the maiden. Perseus came beside Andromeda and he made
his claim. Phineus spoke insolently to him, and then he urged one of
his captains to strike Perseus down. Many sprang forward to attack him.
Out of the bag Perseus drew Medusa's head. He held it before those who
were bringing strife into the hall. They were turned to stone. One of
Cepheus's men wished to defend Perseus: he struck at the captain who
had come near; his sword made a clanging sound as it struck this one
who had looked upon Medusa's head.
Perseus went from the land of Ethopia taking fair Andromeda with him.
They went into Greece, for he had thought of going to Argos, to the
country that his grandfather ruled over. At this very time Acrisius got
tidings of Danae, and her son, and he knew that they had not perished
on the waves of the sea. Fearful of the prophecy that told he would be
slain by his grandson and fearing that he would come to Argos to seek
him, Acrisius fled out of his country.
He came into Thessaly. Perseus and Andromeda were there. Now, one day
the old king was brought to games that were being celebrated in honor
of a dead hero. He was leaning on his staff, watching a youth throw a
metal disk, when something in that youth's appearance made him want to
watch him more closely. About him there was something of a being of the
upper air; it made Acrisius think of a brazen tower and of a daughter
whom he had shut up there.
He moved so that he might come nearer to the disk-thrower. But as he
left where he had been standing he came into the line of the thrown
disk. It struck the old man on the temple. He fell down dead, and as he
fell the people cried out his name--"Acrisius, King Acrisius!" Then
Perseus knew whom the disk, thrown by his hand, had slain.
And because he had slain the king by chance Perseus would not go to
Argos, nor take over the kingdom that his grandfather had reigned over.
With Andromeda he went to Seriphus where his mother was. And in
Seriphus there still reigned Polydectes, who had put upon him the
terrible task of winning the Gorgon's head.
He came to Seriphus and he left Andromeda in the but of Dictys the
shepherd. No one knew him; he heard his name spoken of as that of a
youth who had gone on a foolish quest and who would never again be
heard of. To the temple where his mother was a priestess he came.
Guards were placed all around it. He heard his mother's voice and it
was raised in lament: "Walled up here and given over to hunger I shall
be made go to Polydectes's house and become his wife. O ye gods, have
ye no pity for Danae, the mother of Perseus?"
Perseus cried aloud, and his mother heard his voice and her moans
ceased. He turned around and he went to the palace of Polydectes, the
king.
The king received him with mockeries. "I will let you stay in Seriphus
for a day," he said, "because I would have you at a marriage feast. I
have vowed that Danae, taken from the temple where she sulks, will be
my wife by to-morrow's sunset."
So Polydectes said, and the lords and princes who were around him
mocked at Perseus and flattered the king. Perseus went from them then.
The next day he came back to the palace. But in his hands now there was
a dread thing--the bag made from the hide of the sea monster that had
in it the Gorgon's head.
He saw his mother. She was brought in white and fainting, thinking that
she would now have to wed the harsh and overbearing king. Then she saw
her son, and hope came into her face.
The king seeing Perseus, said: "Step forward, O youngling, and see your
mother wed to a mighty man. Step forward to witness a marriage, and
then depart, for it is not right that a youth that makes promises and
does not keep them should stay in a land that I rule over. Step forward
now, you with the empty hands."
But not with empty hands did Perseus step forward. He shouted out: "I
have brought something to you at last, O king--a present to you and
your mocking friends. But you, O my mother, and you, O my friends,
avert your faces from what I have brought." Saying this Perseus drew
out the Gorgon's head. Holding it by the snaky locks he stood before
the company. His mother and his friends averted their faces. But
Polydectes and his insolent friends looked full upon what Perseus
showed. "This youth would strive to frighten us with some conjuror's
trick," they said. They said no more, for they became as stones, and as
stone images they still stand in that hall in Seriphus.
He went to the shepherd's hut, and he brought Dictys from it with
Andromeda. Dictys he made king in Polydectes's stead. Then with Danae
and Andromeda, his mother and his wife, he went from Seriphus.
He did not go to Argos, the country that his grandfather had ruled
over, although the people there wanted Perseus to come to them, and be
king over them. He took the kingdom of Tiryns in exchange for that of
Argos, and there he lived with Andromeda, his lovely wife out of
Ethopia. They had a son named Perses who became the parent of the
Persian people.
The sickle-sword that had slain the Gorgon went back to Hermes, and
Hermes took Medusa's head also. That head Hermes's divine sister set
upon her shield-Medusa's head upon the shield of Pallas Athene. O may
Pallas Athene guard us all, and bring us out of this land of sands and
stone where are the deadly serpents that have come from the drops of
blood that fell from the Gorgon's head!
They turned away from the Garden of the Daughters of the Evening Land.
The Argonauts turned from where the giant shape of Atlas stood against
the sky and they went toward the Tritonian Lake. But not all of them
reached the Argo. On his way back to the ship, Nauplius, the helmsman,
met his death.
A sluggish serpent was in his way--it was not a serpent that would
strike at one who turned from it. Nauplius trod upon it, and the
serpent lifted its head up and bit his foot. They raised him on their
shoulders and they hurried back with him. But his limbs became numb,
and when they laid him down on the shore of the lake he stayed
moveless. Soon he grew cold. They dug a grave for Nauplius beside the
lake, and in that desert land they set up his helmsman's oar in the
middle of his tomb of heaped stones.
And now like a snake that goes writhing this way and that way and that
cannot find the cleft in the rock that leads to its lair, the Argo went
hither and thither striving to find an outlet from that lake. No outlet
could they find and the way of their home-going seemed lost to them
again. Then Orpheus prayed to the son of Nereus, to Triton, whose name
was on that lake, to aid them.
Then Triton appeared. He stretched out his hand and showed them the
outlet to the sea. And Triton spoke in friendly wise to the heroes,
bidding them go upon their way in joy. "And as for labor," he said,
"let there be no grieving because of that, for limbs that have youthful
vigor should still toil."
They took up the oars and they pulled toward the sea, and Triton, the
friendly immortal, helped them on. He laid hold upon Argo's keel and he
guided her through the water. The Argonauts saw him beneath the water;
his body, from his head down to his waist, was fair and great and like
to the body of one of the other immortals. But below his body was like
a great fish's, forking this way and that. He moved with fins that were
like the horns of the new moon. Triton helped Argo along until they
came into the open sea. Then he plunged down into the abyss. The heroes
shouted their thanks to him. Then they looked at each other and
embraced each other with joy, for the sea that touched upon the land of
Greece was open before them.
IX. NEAR TO IOLCUS AGAIN
The sun sank; then that star came that bids the shepherd bring his
flock to the fold, that brings the wearied plowman to his rest. But no
rest did that star bring to the Argonauts. The breeze that filled the
sail died down; they furled the sail and lowered the mast; then, once
again, they pulled at the oars. All night they rowed, and all day, and
again when the next day came on. Then they saw the island that is
halfway to Greece the great and fair island of Crete.
It was Theseus who first saw Crete--Theseus who was to come to Crete
upon another ship. They drew the Argo near the great island; they
wanted water, and they were fain to rest there.
Minos, the great king, ruled over Crete. He left the guarding of the
island to one of the race of bronze, to Talos, who had lived on after
the rest of the bronze men had been destroyed. Thrice a day would Talos
stride around the island; his brazen feet were tireless.
Now Talos saw the Argo drawing near. He took up great rocks and he
hurled them at the heroes, and very quickly they had to draw their ship
out of range.
They were wearied and their thirst was consuming them. But still that
bronze man stood there ready to sink their ship with the great rocks
that he took up in his hands. Medea stood forward upon the ship, ready
to use her spells against the man of bronze.
In body and limbs he was made of bronze and in these he was
invulnerable. But beneath a sinew in his ankle there was a vein that
ran up to his neck and that was covered by a thin skin. If that vein
were broken Talos would perish.
Medea did not know about this vein when she stood forward upon the ship
to use her spells against him. Upon a cliff of Crete, all gleaming,
stood that huge man of bronze. Then, as she was ready to fling her
spells against him, Medea thought upon the words that Arete, the wise
queen, had given her that she was not to use spells and not to practice
against the life of any one.
But she knew that there was no impiety in using spells and practicing
against Talos, for Zeus had already doomed all his race. She stood upon
the ship, and with her Magic Song she enchanted him. He whirled round
and round. He struck his ankle against a jutting stone. The vein broke,
and that which was the blood of the bronze man flowed out of him like
molten lead. He stood towering upon the cliff. Like a pine upon a
mountaintop that the woodman had left half hewn through and that a
mighty wind pitches against, Talos stood upon his tireless feet,
swaying to and fro. Then, emptied of all his strength, Minos's man of
bronze fell into the Cretan Sea.
The heroes landed. That night they lay upon the land of Crete and
rested and refreshed themselves. When dawn came they drew water from a
spring, and once more they went on board the Argo.
A day came when the helmsman said, "To-morrow we shall see the shore of
Thessaly, and by sunset we shall be in the harbor of Pagasae. Soon, O
voyagers, we shall be back in the city from which we went to gain the
Golden Fleece."
Then Jason brought Medea to the front of the ship so that they might
watch together for Thessaly, the homeland. The Mountain Pelion came
into sight. Jason exulted as he looked upon that mountain; again he
told Medea about Chiron, the ancient centaur, and about the days of his
youth in the forests of Pelion.
The Argo went on; the sun sank, and darkness came on. Never was there
darkness such as there was on that night. They called that night
afterward the Pall of Darkness. To the heroes upon the Argo it seemed
as if black chaos had come over the world again; they knew not whether
they were adrift upon the sea or upon the River of Hades. No star
pierced the darkness nor no beam from the moon.
After a night that seemed many nights the dawn came. In the sunrise
they saw the land of Thessaly with its mountain, its forests, and its
fields. They hailed each other as if they had met after a long parting.
They raised the mast and unfurled the sail.
But not toward Pagasae did they go. For now the voice of Argo came to
them, shaking their hearts: Jason and Orpheus, Castor and Polydeuces,
Zetes and Calais, Peleus and Telamon, Theseus, Admetus, Nestor, and
Atalanta, heard the cry of their ship. And the voice of Argo warned
them not to go into the harbor of Pagasae.
As they stood upon the ship, looking toward Iolcus, sorrow came over
all the heroes, such sorrow as made their hearts nearly break. For long
they stood there in utter numbness.
Then Admetus spoke--Admetus who was the happiest of all those who went
in quest of the Golden Fleece. "Although we may not go into the harbor
of Pagasae, nor into the city of Iolcus," Admetus said, "still we have
come to the land of Greece. There are other harbors and other cities
that we may go into. And in all the places that we go to we will be
honored, for we have gone through toils and dangers, and we have
brought to Greece the famous Fleece of Gold."
So Admetus said, and their spirits came back again to the heroes--came
back to all of them save Jason. The rest had other cities to go to, and
fathers and mothers and friends to greet them in other places, but for
Jason there was only Iolcus.
Medea took his hand, and sorrow for him overcame her. For Medea could
divine what had happened in Iolcus and why it was that the heroes might
not go there.
It was to Corinth that the Argo went. Creon, the king of Corinth,
welcomed them and gave great honor to the heroes who had faced such
labors and such dangers to bring the world's wonder to Greece.
The Argonauts stayed together until they went to Calydon, to hunt the
boar that ravaged Prince Meleagrus's country. After that they
separated, each one going to his own land. Jason came back to Corinth
where Medea stayed. And in Corinth he had tidings of the happenings in
Iolcus.
King Pelias now ruled more fearfully in Iolcus, having brought down
from the mountains more and fiercer soldiers. And Æson, Jason's father,
and Alcimide, his mother, were now dead, having been slain by King
Pelias.
This Jason heard from men who came into Corinth from Thessaly. And
because of the great army that Pelias had gathered there, Jason might
not yet go into Iolcus, either to exact a vengeance, or to show the
people THE GOLDEN FLEECE that he had gone so far to gain.