set a feast before them of swine’s flesh, and venison, and good wine;
and young Achilles served them, and carried the golden goblet round. And
after supper all the heroes clapped their hands, and called on Orpheus
to sing; but he refused, and said, “How can I, who am the younger, sing
before our ancient host?” So they called on Chiron to sing, and Achilles
brought him his harp; and he began a wondrous song, a famous story of
old time, of the fight between the Centaurs and the Lapithai, which you
may still see carved in stone. He sang how his brothers came to ruin by
their folly, when they were mad with wine; and how they and the heroes
fought, with fists, and teeth, and the goblets from which they drank; and
how they tore up the pine-trees in their fury, and hurled great crags of
stone, while the mountains thundered with the battle, and the land was
wasted far and wide; till the Lapithai drove them from their home in the
rich Thessalian plains to the lonely glens of Pindus, leaving Chiron all
alone. And the heroes praised his song right heartily; for some of them
had helped in that great fight.
Then Orpheus took the lyre, and sang of Chaos, and the making of the
wondrous World, and how all things sprang from Love, who could not live
alone in the Abyss. And as he sang, his voice rose from the cave, above
the crags, and through the tree-tops, and the glens of oak and pine.
And the trees bowed their heads when they heard it, and the gray rocks
cracked and rang, and the forest beasts crept near to listen, and the
birds forsook their nests and hovered round. And old Chiron clapped his
hands together, and beat his hoofs upon the ground, for wonder at that
magic song.
Then Peleus kissed his boy, and wept over him, and they went down to the
ship; and Chiron came down with them, weeping, and kissed them one by
one, and blessed them, and promised to them great renown. And the heroes
wept when they left him, till their great hearts could weep no more; for
he was kind and just and pious, and wiser than all beasts and men. Then
he went up to a cliff, and prayed for them, that they might come home
safe and well; while the heroes rowed away, and watched him standing on
his cliff above the sea, with his great hands raised toward heaven, and
his white locks waving in the wind; and they strained their eyes to watch
him to the last, for they felt that they should look on him no more.
So they rowed on over the long swell of the sea, past Olympus, the seat
of the Immortals, and past the wooded bays of Athos, and Samothrace the
sacred isle; and they came past Lemnos to the Hellespont, and through
the narrow strait of Abydos, and so on into the Propontis, which we
call Marmora now. And there they met with Cyzicus, ruling in Asia over
the Dolions, who, the songs say, was the son of Æneas, of whom you will
hear many a tale some day. For Homer tells us how he fought at Troy, and
Virgil how he sailed away and founded Rome. Now Cyzicus, the songs say,
welcomed the heroes, for his father had been one of Chiron’s scholars;
so he welcomed them, and feasted them, and stored their ship with corn
and wine, and cloaks and rugs, the songs say, and shirts, of which no
doubt they stood in need.
But at night, while they lay sleeping, came down on them terrible men,
who lived with the bears in the mountains, like Titans or giants in
shape; for each of them had six arms, and they fought with young firs and
pines. But Hercules killed them all before morn with his deadly poisoned
arrows; but among them, in the darkness, he slew Cyzicus the kindly
prince.
Then they got to their ship and to their oars, and Tiphys bade them cast
off the hawsers and go to sea. But as he spoke a whirlwind came, and spun
the _Argo_ round, and twisted the hawsers together, so that no man could
loose them. Then Tiphys dropped the rudder from his hand, and cried,
“This comes from the gods above.” But Jason went forward, and asked
counsel of the magic bough.
Then the magic bough spoke, and answered, “This is because you have slain
Cyzicus your friend. You must appease his soul, or you will never leave
this shore.”
Jason went back sadly, and told the heroes what he had heard. And they
leaped on shore, and searched till dawn; and at dawn they found the
body, all rolled in dust and blood, among the corpses of those monstrous
beasts. And they wept over their kind host, and laid him on a fair bed,
and heaped a huge mound over him, and offered black sheep at his tomb,
and Orpheus sang a magic song to him, that his spirit might have rest.
And then they held games at the tomb, after the custom of those times,
and Jason gave prizes to each winner. To Ancæus he gave a golden cup,
for he wrestled best of all; and to Hercules, a silver one, for he was
the strongest of all; and to Castor, who rode best, a golden crest; and
Pollux the boxer had a rich carpet, and to Orpheus for his song a sandal
with golden wings. But Jason himself was the best of all the archers, and
the Minuai crowned him with an olive crown; and so, the songs say, the
soul of good Cyzicus was appeased and the heroes went on their way in
peace.
But when Cyzicus’ wife heard that he was dead she died likewise of grief;
and her tears became a fountain of clear water, which flows the whole
year round.
Then they rowed away, the songs say, along the Mysian shore, and past the
mouth of Rhindacus, till they found a pleasant bay, sheltered by the long
ridges of Arganthus, and by high walls of basalt rock. There they ran the
ship ashore upon the yellow sand, and furled the sail, and took the mast
down, and lashed it in its crutch. And next they let down the ladder, and
went ashore to sport and rest.
There Hercules went away into the woods, bow in hand, to hunt wild deer;
and Hylas the fair boy slipped away after him, and followed him by
stealth, until he lost himself among the glens, and sat down weary to
rest himself by the side of a lake; and there the water nymphs came up
to look at him, and loved him, and carried him down under the lake to be
their playfellow, forever happy and young. And Hercules sought for him
in vain, shouting his name till all the mountains rang; but Hylas never
heard him, far down under the sparkling lake. So while Hercules wandered
searching for him, a fair breeze sprang up, and Hercules was nowhere to
be found; and the _Argo_ sailed away, and Hercules was left behind, and
never saw the noble Phasian stream.
Then the Minuai came to a doleful land, where Amycus the giant ruled, and
cared nothing for the laws of Jupiter, but challenged all strangers to
box with him, and those whom he conquered he slew. But Pollux the boxer
struck him a harder blow than he ever felt before, and slew him; and the
Minuai went on up the Bosphorus, till they came to the city of Phineus,
the fierce Bithynian king; for Zetes and Calais bade Jason land there,
because they had a work to do.
They went up from the shore toward the city, through forests white with
snow; and Phineus came out to meet them with a lean and woeful face, and
said, “Welcome, gallant heroes, to the land of bitter blasts, the land of
cold and misery; yet I will feast you as best I can.” And he led them in,
and set meat before them; but before they could put their hands to their
mouths, down came two fearful monsters, the like of whom man never saw;
for they had the faces and the hair of fair maidens, but the wings and
claws of hawks; and they snatched the meat from off the table, and flew
shrieking out above the roofs.
Then Phineus beat his breast and cried, “These are the Harpies, whose
names are the Whirlwind and the Swift, the daughters of Wonder and of
the Amber-nymph, and they rob us night and day. They carried off the
daughters of Pandareus, whom all the gods had blessed; for Venus fed them
on Olympus with honey and milk and wine; and Juno gave them beauty and
wisdom, and Minerva skill in all the arts; but when they came to their
wedding, the Harpies snatched them both away, and gave them to be slaves
to the Fates and live in horror all their days. And now they haunt me,
and my people, and the Bosphorus, with fearful storms and sweep away our
food from off our tables, so that we starve in spite of all our wealth.”
Then up rose Zetes and Calais, the winged sons of the North Wind, and
said, “Do you not know us, Phineus, and these wings which grow upon our
backs?” And Phineus hid his face in terror; but he answered not a word.
“Because you have been a traitor, Phineus, the Harpies haunt you night
and day. Where is Cleopatra our sister, your wife, whom you keep in
prison? and where are her two children, whom you blinded in your rage, at
the bidding of an evil woman, and cast them out upon the rocks? Swear to
us that you will right our sister, and cast out that wicked woman; and
then we will free you from your plague, and drive the whirlwind maidens
to the south; but if not, we will put out your eyes, as you put out the
eyes of your own sons.”
Then Phineus swore an oath to them, and drove out the wicked woman; and
Jason took those two poor children, and cured their eyes with magic
herbs.
But Zetes and Calais rose up sadly and said, “Farewell now, heroes all;
farewell, our dear companions, with whom we played on Pelion in old
times; for a fate is laid upon us, and our day is come at last, in which
we must hunt the whirlwinds over land and sea forever; and if we catch
them they die, and if not, we die ourselves.”
At that all the heroes wept; but the two young men sprang aloft into the
air after the Harpies, and the battle of the winds began. The heroes
trembled in silence as they heard the shrieking of the blasts; while
the palace rocked and all the city, and great stones were torn from the
crags, and the forest pines were hurled earthward, north and south and
east and west, and the Bosphorus boiled white with foam, and the clouds
were dashed against the cliffs.
But at last the battle ended, and the Harpies fled screaming toward the
south, and the sons of the North Wind rushed after them, and brought
clear sunshine where they passed. For many a league they followed them,
over all the isles of the Cyclades, and away to the southwest across
Hellas, till they came to the Ionian Sea, and there they fell upon the
Echinades, at the mouth of the Achelous; and those isles were called the
Whirlwind Isles for many a hundred years. But what became of Zetes and
Calais I know not, for the heroes never saw them again: and some say
that Hercules met them, and quarrelled with them, and slew them with his
arrows; and some say that they fell down from weariness and the heat of
the summer sun, and that the Sun-god buried them among the Cyclades, in
the pleasant Isle of Tenos; and for many hundred years their grave was
shown there, and over it a pillar, which turned to every wind. But those
dark storms and whirlwinds haunt the Bosphorus until this day.
But the Argonauts went eastward, and out into the open sea, which we now
call the Black Sea, but it was called the Euxine then. No Greek had ever
crossed it, and all feared that dreadful sea, and its rocks, and shoals,
and fogs, and bitter freezing storms; and they told strange stories of
it, some false and some half true, how it stretched northward to the ends
of the earth, and the sluggish Putrid Sea, and the everlasting night, and
the regions of the dead. So the heroes trembled, for all their courage,
as they came into that wild Black Sea, and saw it stretching out before
them, without a shore, as far as eye could see.
And first Orpheus spoke, and warned them, “We shall come now to the
wandering blue rocks; my mother warned me of them, Calliope, the immortal
muse.”
Soon they saw the blue rocks shining like spires and castles of gray
glass, while an ice-cold wind blew from them and chilled the heroes’
hearts. As they neared they could see them heaving, as they rolled upon
the long set waves, crashing and grinding together, till the roar went up
to heaven. The sea sprang up in spouts between them, and swept round them
in white sheets of foam; but their heads swung nodding high in air, while
the wind whistled shrill among the crags.
The heroes’ hearts sank within them, and they lay upon their oars in
fear; but Orpheus called to Tiphys the helmsman, “Between them we must
pass; so look ahead for an opening, and be brave, for Juno is with us.”
But Tiphys the cunning helmsman stood silent, clenching his teeth, till
he saw a heron come flying mast-high toward the rocks, and hover a while
before them, as if looking for a passage through. Then he cried, “Juno
has sent us a pilot; let us follow the cunning bird.”
Then the heron flapped to and fro a moment, till he saw a hidden gap,
and into it he rushed like an arrow, while the heroes watched what would
befall. And the blue rocks clashed together as the bird flew swiftly
through; but they struck but a feather from his tail, and then rebounded
apart at the shock.
Then Tiphys cheered the heroes, and they shouted; and the oars bent
like withes beneath their strokes as they rushed between those toppling
ice-crags and the cold blue lips of death. And ere the rocks could meet
again they had passed them, and were safe out in the open sea.
After that they sailed on wearily along the Asian coast, by the Black
Cape and Thyneis, where the hot stream of Thymbris falls into the sea,
and Sangarius, whose waters float on the Euxine, till they came to Wolf
the river, and to Wolf the kindly king. And there died two brave heroes,
Idmon and Tiphys the wise helmsman; one died of an evil sickness, and one
a wild boar slew. So the heroes heaped a mound above them, and set upon
it an oar on high, and left them there to sleep together, on the far-off
Lycian shore. But Idas killed the boar, and avenged Tiphys; and Ancaios
took the rudder and was helmsman, and steered them on toward the east.
And they went on past Sinope, and many a mighty river’s mouth, and past
many a barbarous tribe, and the cities of the Amazons, the warlike women
of the East, till all night they heard the clank of anvils and roar
of furnace-blasts, and the forge-fires shone like sparks through the
darkness in the mountain glens aloft; for they were come to the shores
of the Chalybes, the smiths who never tire, but serve Mars the cruel
War-god, forging weapons day and night.
At day-dawn they looked eastward, and midway between the sea and the sky
they saw white snow-peaks hanging, glittering sharp and bright above the
clouds. And they knew that they were come to Caucasus, at the end of
all the earth: Caucasus the highest of all mountains, the father of the
rivers of the East. On this peak lies chained the Titan, while a vulture
tears his heart; and at his feet are piled dark forests round the magic
Colchian land.
And they rowed three days to the eastward, while Caucasus rose higher
hour by hour, till they saw the dark stream of Phasis rushing headlong
to the sea, and, shining above the tree-tops, the golden roofs of King
Aietes, the child of the Sun. Then out spoke Ancaios the helmsman, “We
are come to our goal at last, for there are the roofs of Aietes, and the
woods where all poisons grow; but who can tell us where among them is hid
the Golden Fleece? Many a toil must we bear ere we find it, and bring it
home to Greece.”
But Jason cheered the heroes, for his heart was high and bold; and he
said, “I will go alone up to Aietes, though he be the child of the Sun,
and win him with soft words. Better so than to go all together, and to
come to blows at once.” But the Minuai would not stay behind, so they
rowed boldly up the stream.
And a dream came to Aietes, and filled his heart with fear. He thought he
saw a shining star, which fell into his daughter’s lap; and that Medea
his daughter took it gladly, and carried it to the river-side, and cast
it in, and there the whirling river bore it down, and out into the Black
Sea. Then he leaped up in fear, and bade his servants bring his chariot,
that he might go down to the river-side and appease the nymphs, and
the heroes whose spirits haunt the bank. So he went down in his golden
chariot, and his daughters by his side, Medea the fair witch-maiden, and
Chalciope, who had been Phrixus’ wife, and behind him a crowd of servants
and soldiers, for he was a rich and mighty prince.
As he drove down by the reedy river he saw _Argo_ sliding up beneath the
bank, and many a hero in her, like Immortals for beauty and for strength,
as their weapons glittered round them in the level morning sunlight,
through the white mist of the stream. But Jason was the noblest of all;
for Juno, who loved him, gave him beauty and tallness and vigorous
manhood.
And when they came near together and looked into each other’s eyes the
heroes were awed before Aietes as he shone in his chariot, like his
father the glorious Sun; for his robes were of rich gold tissue, and the
rays of his diadem flashed fire, and in his hand he bore a jewelled
scepter, which glittered like the stars; and sternly he looked at them
under his brows, and sternly he spoke and loud: “Who are you, and what
want you here, that you come to the shore of Cutaia? Do you take no
account of my rule, nor of my people the Colchians who serve me, who
never tired yet in the battle, and know well how to face an invader?”
And the heroes sat silent before the face of that ancient king. But Juno
the awful goddess put courage into Jason’s heart, and he rose and shouted
loudly in answer, “We are no pirates nor lawless men. We come not to
plunder and to ravage, or carry away slaves from your land; but my uncle
the son of Neptune, Pelias the Minuan king, he it is who has set me on a
quest to bring home the Golden Fleece. And these, too, my bold comrades,
are no nameless men; for some are the sons of Immortals, and some of
heroes far renowned. And we, too, never tire in battle, and know well how
to give blows and to take: yet we wish to be guests at your table: it
will be better so for both.”
Then Aietes’ rage rushed up like a whirlwind, and his eyes flashed fire
as he heard; but he crushed his anger down in his breast, and spoke
mildly a cunning speech:
“If you will fight for the fleece with my Colchians, then many a man must
die. But do you indeed expect to win from me the fleece in fight? So few
you are that if you be worsted I can load your ship with your corpses.
But if you will be ruled by me, you will find it better far to choose the
best man among you, and let him fulfil the labors which I demand. Then I
will give him the Golden Fleece for a prize and a glory to you all.”
So saying, he turned his horses and drove back in silence to the town.
And the Minuai sat silent with sorrow, and longed for Hercules and his
strength; for there was no facing the thousands of the Colchians and the
fearful chance of war.
But Chalciope, Phrixus’ widow, went weeping to the town; for she
remembered her Minuan husband, and all the pleasures of her youth, while
she watched the fair faces of his kinsmen, and their long locks of golden
hair. And she whispered to Medea, her sister, “Why should all these
brave men die? why does not my father give them up the fleece, that my
husband’s spirit may have rest?”
And Medea’s heart pitied the heroes, and Jason most of all; and she
answered, “Our father is stern and terrible, and who can win the Golden
Fleece?” But Chalciope said, “These men are not like our men; there is
nothing which they cannot dare nor do.”
And Medea thought of Jason and his brave countenance, and said, “If there
was one among them who knew no fear, I could show him how to win the
fleece.”
So in the dusk of evening they went down to the river-side, Chalciope
and Medea the witch-maiden, and Argus, Phrixus’ son. And Argus the boy
crept forward, among the beds of reeds, till he came where the heroes
were sleeping, on the thwarts of the ship, beneath the bank, while Jason
kept ward on shore, and leaned upon his lance full of thought. And the
boy came to Jason, and said: “I am the son of Phrixus, your cousin; and
Chalciope my mother waits for you, to talk about the Golden Fleece.”
Then Jason went boldly with the boy, and found the two princesses
standing; and when Chalciope saw him she wept, and took his hands, and
cried: “O cousin of my beloved, go home before you die!”
“It would be base to go home now, fair princess, and to have sailed all
these seas in vain.” Then both the princesses besought him; but Jason
said, “It is too late.”
“But you know not,” said Medea, “what he must do who would win the
fleece. He must tame the two brazen-footed bulls, who breathe devouring
flame; and with them he must plow ere nightfall four acres in the field
of Mars; and he must sow them with serpents’ teeth, of which each tooth
springs up into an armed man. Then he must fight with all those warriors;
and little will it profit him to conquer them, for the fleece is guarded
by a serpent, more huge than any mountain pine; and over his body you
must step if you would reach the Golden Fleece.”
Then Jason laughed bitterly. “Unjustly is that fleece kept here, and by
an unjust and lawless king; and unjustly shall I die in my youth, for I
will attempt it ere another sun be set.”
Then Medea trembled, and said, “No mortal man can reach that fleece
unless I guide him through. For round it, beyond the river, is a wall
full nine ells high, with lofty towers and buttresses, and mighty
gates of threefold brass; and over the gates the wall is arched, with
golden battlements above. And over the gateway sits Brimo, the wild
witch-huntress of the woods, brandishing a pine-torch in her hands, while
her mad hounds howl around. No man dare meet her or look on her, but only
I her priestess, and she watches far and wide lest any stranger should
come near.”
“No wall so high but it may be climbed at last, and no wood so thick but
it may be crawled through; no serpent so wary but he may be charmed, or
witch-queen so fierce but spells may soothe her; and I may yet win the
Golden Fleece, if a wise maiden help bold men.”
And he looked at Medea cunningly, and held her with his glittering eye,
till she blushed and trembled, and said: “Who can face the fire of the
bull’s breath, and fight ten thousand armed men?”
“He whom you help,” said Jason, flattering her, “for your fame is spread
over all the earth. Are you not the queen of all enchantresses, wiser
even than your sister Circe, in her fairy island in the West?”
“Would that I were with my sister Circe in her fairy island in the West,
far away from sore temptation and thoughts which tear the heart! But if
it must be so—for why should you die?—I have an ointment here; I made it
from the magic ice-flower which sprang from Prometheus’ wound, above the
clouds on Caucasus, in the dreary fields of snow. Anoint yourself with
that, and you shall have in you seven men’s strength; and anoint your
shield with it, and neither fire nor sword can harm you. But what you
begin you must end before sunset, for its virtue lasts only one day. And
anoint your helmet with it before you sow the serpents’ teeth; and when
the sons of earth spring up, cast your helmet among their ranks, and the
deadly crop of the War-god’s field will mow itself, and perish.”
Then Jason fell on his knees before her, and thanked her and kissed her
hands; and she gave him the vase of ointment, and fled trembling through
the reeds. And Jason told his comrades what had happened, and showed them
the box of ointment; and all rejoiced but Idas, and he grew mad with envy.
At sunrise Jason went and bathed, and anointed himself from head to foot,
and his shield, and his helmet, and his weapons, and bade his comrades
try the spell. So they tried to bend his lance, but it stood like an iron
bar; and Idas in spite hewed at it with his sword, but the blade flew to
splinters in his face. Then they hurled their lances at his shield, but
the spear-points turned like lead; and Caineus tried to throw him, but he
never stirred a foot; and Pollux struck him with his fist a blow which
would have killed an ox, but Jason only smiled, and the heroes danced
about him with delight; and he leaped, and ran, and shouted in the joy
of that enormous strength, till the sun rose, and it was time to go and
claim Aietes’ promise.
So he sent up Telamon and Aithalides to tell Aietes that he was ready for
the fight; and they went up among the marble walls and beneath the roofs
of gold, and stood in Aietes’ hall while he grew pale with rage.
“Fulfil your promise to us, child of the blazing Sun. Give us the
serpents’ teeth, and let loose the fiery bulls; for we have found a
champion among us who can win the Golden Fleece.”