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Jason and Medea
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The Golden Fleece
and the Heroes Who
Lived before Achilles
By Padraig Colum
Illustrations by Willy Pogany
1921
The Macmillan Company, New York
to
the children of
Susan and Llewellyn Jones
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CONTENTS
Part I. The Voyage to Colchis
I. The Youth Jason
II. King Pelias
III. The Golden Fleece
IV. The Assembling of the Heroes and the Building of the Ship
V. The _Argo_
The Beginning of Things
VI. Polydeuces’ Victory and Heracles’ Loss
VII. King Phineus
VIII. King Phineus’s Counsel; The Landing in Lemnos
IX. The Lemnian Maidens
Demeter and Persephone
Atalanta’s Race
X. The Departure from Lemnos
The Golden Maid
XI. The Passage of the Symplegades
XII. The Mountain Caucasus
Prometheus
Part II. The Return to Greece
I. King Æetes
II. Medea the Sorceress
III. The Winning of the Golden Fleece
IV. The Slaying of Apsyrtus
V. Medea Comes to Circe
VI. In the Land of the Phæacians
VII. They Come to the Desert Land
VIII. The Carrying of the Argo
The Story of Perseus
IX. Near to Iolcus Again
Part III. The Heroes of the Quest
I. Atalanta the Huntress
II. Peleus and His Bride from the Sea
III. Theseus and the Minotaur
IV. The Life and Labors of Heracles
The Battle of the Frogs and Mice
V. Admetus
VI. How Orpheus the Minstrel Went Down to the World of the Dead
VII. Jason and Medea
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ILLUSTRATIONS
Jason and Medea
the _Argo_
Hylas
Persephone and Aidoneus
Atalanta’s Last Race
Prometheus
The Field of the Dragon’s Teeth
Perseus and Andromeda
PART I. THE VOYAGE TO COLCHIS
I. The Youth Jason
[Decorative first letter]
_A_ MAN in the garb of a slave went up the side of that mountain that is
all covered with forest, the Mountain Pelion. He carried in his arms a
little child.
When it was full noon the slave came into a clearing of the forest so
silent that it seemed empty of all life. He laid the child down on the
soft moss, and then, trembling with the fear of what might come before
him, he raised a horn to his lips and blew three blasts upon it.
Then he waited. The blue sky was above him, the great trees stood away
from him, and the little child lay at his feet. He waited, and then he
heard the thud-thud of great hooves. And then from between the trees he
saw coming toward him the strangest of all beings, one who was half man
and half horse; this was Chiron the centaur.
Chiron came toward the trembling slave. Greater than any horse was
Chiron, taller than any man. The hair of his head flowed back into his
horse’s mane, his great beard flowed over his horse’s chest; in his man’s
hand he held a great spear.
Not swiftly he came, but the slave could see that in those great limbs
of his there was speed like to the wind’s. The slave fell upon his knees.
And with eyes that were full of majesty and wisdom and limbs that were
full of strength and speed, the king-centaur stood above him. “O my lord,”
the slave said, “I have come before thee sent by Æson, my master, who told
me where to come and what blasts to blow upon the horn. And Æson, once
King of Iolcus, bade me say to thee that if thou dost remember his ancient
friendship with thee thou wilt, perchance, take this child and guard and
foster him, and, as he grows, instruct him with thy wisdom.”
“For Æson’s sake I will rear and foster this child,” said Chiron the
king-centaur in a deep voice.
The child lying on the moss had been looking up at the four-footed and
two-handed centaur. Now the slave lifted him up and placed him in the
centaur’s arms. He said:
“Æson bade me tell thee that the child’s name is Jason. He bade me give
thee this ring with the great ruby in it that thou mayst give it to the
child when he is grown. By this ring with its ruby and the images engraved
on it Æson may know his son when they meet after many years and many
changes. And another thing Æson bade me say to thee, O my lord Chiron: not
presumptuous is he, but he knows that this child has the regard of the
immortal Goddess Hera, the wife of Zeus.”
Chiron held Æson’s son in his arms, and the little child put hands into
his great beard. Then the centaur said, “Let Æson know that his son will
be reared and fostered by me, and that, when they meet again, there will
be ways by which they will be known to each other.”
[Illustration]
Saying this Chiron the centaur, holding the child in his arms, went
swiftly toward the forest arches; then the slave took up the horn and went
down the side of the Mountain Pelion. He came to where a horse was hidden,
and he mounted and rode, first to a city, and then to a village that was
beyond the city.
All this was before the famous walls of Troy were built; before King
Priam had come to the throne of his father and while he was still known,
not as Priam, but as Podarces. And the beginning of all these happenings
was in Iolcus, a city in Thessaly.
Cretheus founded the city and had ruled over it in days before King
Priam was born. He left two sons, Æson and Pelias. Æson succeeded his
father. And because he was a mild and gentle man the men of war did not
love Æson; they wanted a hard king who would lead them to conquests.
Pelias, the brother of Æson, was ever with the men of war; he knew what
mind they had toward Æson and he plotted with them to overthrow his
brother. This they did, and they brought Pelias to reign as king in
Iolcus.
The people loved Æson and they feared Pelias. And because the people
loved him and would be maddened by his slaying, Pelias and the men of war
left him living. With his wife, Alcimide, and his infant son, Æson went
from the city, and in a village that was at a distance from Iolcus he
found a hidden house and went to dwell in it.
Æson would have lived content there were it not that he was fearful for
Jason, his infant son. Jason, he knew, would grow into a strong and a bold
youth, and Pelias, the king, would be made uneasy on his account. Pelias
would slay the son, and perhaps would slay the father for the son’s sake
when his memory would come to be less loved by the people. Æson thought of
such things in his hidden house, and he pondered on ways to have his son
reared away from Iolcus and the dread and the power of King Pelias.
He had for a friend one who was the wisest of all creatures—Chiron the
centaur; Chiron who was half man and half horse; Chiron who had lived and
was yet to live measureless years. Chiron had fostered Heracles, and it
might be that he would not refuse to foster Jason, Æson’s child.
Away in the fastnesses of Mount Pelion Chiron dwelt; once Æson had been
with him and had seen the centaur hunt with his great bow and his great
spears. And Æson knew a way that one might come to him; Chiron himself had
told him of the way.
Now there was a slave in his house who had been a huntsman and who knew
all the ways of the Mountain Pelion. Æson talked with this slave one day,
and after he had talked with him he sat for a long time over the cradle of
his sleeping infant. And then he spoke to Alcimide, his wife, telling her
of a parting that made her weep. That evening the slave came in and Æson
took the child from the arms of the mournful-eyed mother and put him in
the slave’s arms. Also he gave him a horn and a ring with a great ruby in
it and mystic images engraved on its gold. Then when the ways were dark
the slave mounted a horse, and, with the child in his arms, rode through
the city that King Pelias ruled over. In the morning he came to that
mountain that is all covered with forest, the Mountain Pelion. And that
evening he came back to the village and to Æson’s hidden house, and he
told his master how he had prospered.
Æson was content thereafter although he was lonely and although his wife
was lonely in their childlessness. But the time came when they rejoiced
that their child had been sent into an unreachable place. For messengers
from King Pelias came inquiring about the boy. They told the king’s
messengers that the child had strayed off from his nurse, and that whether
he had been slain by a wild beast or had been drowned in the swift River
Anaurus they did not know.
The years went by and Pelias felt secure upon the throne he had taken
from his brother. Once he sent to the oracle of the gods to ask of it
whether he should be fearful of anything. What the oracle answered was
this: that King Pelias had but one thing to dread—the coming of a
half-shod man.
The centaur nourished the child Jason on roots and fruits and honey; for
shelter they had a great cave that Chiron had lived in for numberless
years. When he had grown big enough to leave the cave Chiron would let
Jason mount on his back; with the child holding on to his great mane he
would trot gently through the ways of the forest.
Jason began to know the creatures of the forest and their haunts.
Sometimes Chiron would bring his great bow with him; then Jason, on his
back, would hold the quiver and would hand him the arrows. The centaur
would let the boy see him kill with a single arrow the bear, the boar, or
the deer. And soon Jason, running beside him, hunted too.
No heroes were ever better trained than those whose childhood and youth
had been spent with Chiron the king-centaur. He made them more swift of
foot than any other of the children of men. He made them stronger and more
ready with the spear and bow. Jason was trained by Chiron as Heracles just
before him had been trained, and as Achilles was to be trained afterward.
Moreover, Chiron taught him the knowledge of the stars and the wisdom
that had to do with the ways of the gods.
Once, when they were hunting together, Jason saw a form at the end of an
alley of trees—the form of a woman it was—of a woman who had on her head a
shining crown. Never had Jason dreamt of seeing a form so wondrous. Not
very near did he come, but he thought he knew that the woman smiled upon
him. She was seen no more, and Jason knew that he had looked upon one of
the immortal goddesses.
All day Jason was filled with thought of her whom he had seen. At night,
when the stars were out, and when they were seated outside the cave,
Chiron and Jason talked together, and Chiron told the youth that she whom
he had seen was none other than Hera, the wife of Zeus, who had for his
father Æson and for himself an especial friendliness.
So Jason grew up upon the mountain and in the forest fastnesses. When he
had reached his full height and had shown himself swift in the hunt and
strong with the spear and bow, Chiron told him that the time had come when
he should go back to the world of men and make his name famous by the
doing of great deeds.
And when Chiron told him about his father Æson—about how he had been
thrust out of the kingship by Pelias, his uncle—a great longing came upon
Jason to see his father and a fierce anger grew up in his heart against
Pelias.
Then the time came when he bade good-by to Chiron his great instructor;
the time came when he went from the centaur’s cave for the last time, and
went through the wooded ways and down the side of the Mountain Pelion. He
came to the river, to the swift Anaurus, and he found it high in flood.
The stones by which one might cross were almost all washed over; far apart
did they seem in the flood.
Now as he stood there pondering on what he might do there came up to him
an old woman who had on her back a load of brushwood. “Wouldst thou
cross?” asked the old woman. “Wouldst thou cross and get thee to the city
of Iolcus, Jason, where so many things await thee?”
Greatly was the youth astonished to hear his name spoken by this old
woman, and to hear her give the name of the city he was bound for.
“Wouldst thou cross the Anaurus?” she asked again. “Then mount upon my
back, holding on to the wood I carry, and I will bear thee over the
river.”
Jason smiled. How foolish this old woman was to think that she could
bear him across the flooded river! She came near him and she took him in
her arms and lifted him up on her shoulders. Then, before he knew what she
was about to do, she had stepped into the water.
From stone to stepping-stone she went, Jason holding on to the wood that
she had drawn to her shoulders. She left him down upon the bank. As she
was lifting him down one of his feet touched the water; the swift current
swept away a sandal.
He stood on the bank knowing that she who had carried him across the
flooded river had strength from the gods. He looked upon her, and behold!
she was transformed. Instead of an old woman there stood before him one
who had on a golden robe and a shining crown. Around her was a wondrous
light—the light of the sun when it is most golden. Then Jason knew that
she who had carried him across the broad Anaurus was the goddess whom he
had seen in the ways of the forest—Hera, great Zeus’s wife.
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“Go into Iolcus, Jason,” said great Hera to him, “go into Iolcus, and in
whatever chance doth befall thee act as one who has the eyes of the
immortals upon him.”
She spoke and she was seen no more. Then Jason went on his way to the
city that Cretheus, his grandfather, had founded and that his father Æson
had once ruled over. He came into that city, a tall, great-limbed, unknown
youth, dressed in a strange fashion, and having but one sandal on.
II. King Pelias
[Decorative first letter]
_T_HAT day King Pelias, walking through the streets of his city, saw
coming toward him a youth who was half shod. He remembered the words of
the oracle that bade him beware of a half-shod man, and straightway he
gave orders to his guards to lay hands upon the youth.
But the guards wavered when they went toward him, for there was
something about the youth that put them in awe of him. He came with the
guards, however, and he stood before the king’s judgment seat.
Fearfully did Pelias look upon him. But not fearfully did the youth look
upon the king. With head lifted high he cried out, “Thou art Pelias, but I
do not salute thee as king. Know that I am Jason, the son of Æson from
whom thou hast taken the throne and scepter that were rightfully his.”
King Pelias looked to his guards. He would have given them a sign to
destroy the youth’s life with their spears, but behind his guards he saw a
threatening multitude—the dwellers of the city of Iolcus; they gathered
around, and Pelias knew that he had become more and more hated by them.
And from the multitude a cry went up, “Æson, Æson! May Æson come back to
us! Jason, son of Æson! May nothing evil befall thee, brave youth!”
Then Pelias knew that the youth might not be slain. He bent his head
while he plotted against him in his heart. Then he raised his eyes, and
looking upon Jason he said, “O goodly youth, it well may be that thou art
the son of Æson, my brother. I am well pleased to see thee here. I have
had hopes that I might be friends with Æson, and thy coming here may be
the means to the renewal of our friendship. We two brothers may come
together again. I will send for thy father now, and he will be brought to
meet thee in my royal palace. Go with my guards and with this rejoicing
people, and in a little while thou and I and thy father Æson will sit at a
feast of friends.”
So Pelias said, and Jason went with the guards and the crowd of people,
and he came to the palace of the king and he was brought within. The maids
led him to the bath and gave him new robes to wear. Dressed in these Jason
looked a prince indeed.
But all that while King Pelias remained on his judgment seat with his
crowned head bent down. When he raised his head his dark brows were
gathered together and his thin lips were very close. He looked to the
swords and spears of his guards, and he made a sign to the men to stand
close to him. Then he left the judgment seat and he went to the palace.
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III. The Golden Fleece
[Decorative first letter]
_T_HEY brought Jason into a hall where Æson, his father, waited. Very
strange did this old and grave-looking man appear to him. But when Æson
spoke, Jason remembered the tone of his father’s voice and he clasped him
to him. And his father knew him even without the sight of the ruby ring
which Jason had upon his finger.
Then the young man began to tell of the centaur and of his life upon the
Mountain Pelion. As they were speaking together Pelias came to where they
stood, Pelias in the purple robe of a king and with the crown upon his
head. Æson tightly clasped Jason as if he had become fearful for his son.
Pelias smilingly took the hand of the young man and the hand of his
brother, and he bade them both welcome to his palace.
Then, walking between them, the king brought the two into the feasting
hall. The youth who had known only the forest and the mountainside had to
wonder at the beauty and the magnificence of all he saw around him. On the
walls were bright pictures; the tables were of polished wood, and they had
vessels of gold and dishes of silver set upon them; along the walls were
vases of lovely shapes and colors, and everywhere there were baskets
heaped with roses white and red.
The king’s guests were already in the hall, young men and elders, and
maidens went amongst them carrying roses which they strung into wreaths
for the guests to put upon their heads. A soft-handed maiden gave Jason a
wreath of roses and he put it on his head as he sat down at the king’s
table. When he looked at all the rich and lovely things in that hall, and
when he saw the guests looking at him with friendly eyes, Jason felt that
he was indeed far away from the dim spaces of the mountain forest and from
the darkness of the centaur’s cave.
Rich food and wine such as he had never dreamt of tasting were brought
to the tables. He ate and drank, and his eyes followed the fair maidens
who went through the hall. He thought how glorious it was to be a king. He
heard Pelias speak to Æson, his father, telling him that he was old and
that he was weary of ruling; that he longed to make friends, and that he
would let no enmity now be between him and his brother. And he heard the
king say that he, Jason, was young and courageous, and that he would call
upon him to help to rule the land, and that, in a while, Jason would bear
full sway over the kingdom that Cretheus had founded.
So Pelias spoke to Æson as they both sat together at the king’s high
table. But Jason, looking on them both, saw that the eyes that his father
turned on him were full of warnings and mistrust.
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After they had eaten King Pelias made a sign, and a cup-bearer bringing
a richly wrought cup came and stood before the king. The king stood up,
holding the cup in his hands, and all in the hall waited silently. Then
Pelias put the cup into Jason’s hands and he cried out in a voice that was
heard all through the hall, “Drink from this cup, O nephew Jason! Drink
from this cup, O man who will soon come to rule over the kingdom that
Cretheus founded!”
All in the hall stood up and shouted with delight at that speech. But
the king was not delighted with their delight, Jason saw. He took the cup
and he drank the rich wine; pride grew in him; he looked down the hall and
he saw faces all friendly to him; he felt as a king might feel, secure and
triumphant. And then he heard King Pelias speaking once more.
“This is my nephew Jason, reared and fostered in the centaur’s cave. He
will tell you of his life in the forest and the mountains—his life that
was like to the life of the half gods.”
Then Jason spoke to them, telling them of his life on the Mountain
Pelion. When he had spoken, Pelias said:
“I was bidden by the oracle to beware of the man whom I should see
coming toward me half shod. But, as you all see, I have brought the
half-shod man to my palace and my feasting hall, so little do I dread the
anger of the gods.
“And I dread it little because I am blameless. This youth, the son of my
brother, is strong and courageous, and I rejoice in his strength and
courage, for I would have him take my place and reign over you. Ah, that I
were as young as he is now! Ah, that I had been reared and fostered as he
was reared and fostered by the wise centaur and under the eyes of the
immortals! Then would I do that which in my youth I often dreamed of
doing! Then would I perform a deed that would make my name and the name of
my city famous throughout all Greece! Then would I bring from far Colchis
the famous Fleece of Gold that King Æetes keeps guard over!”
He finished speaking, and all in the hall shouted out, “The Golden
Fleece, the Golden Fleece from Colchis!” Jason stood up, and his father’s
hand gripped him. But he did not heed the hold of his father’s hand, for
“The Golden Fleece, the Golden Fleece!” rang in his ears, and before his
eyes were the faces of those who were all eager for the sight of the
wonder that King Æetes kept guard over.
Then said Jason, “Thou hast spoken well, O King Pelias! Know, and know
all here assembled, that I have heard of the Golden Fleece and of the
dangers that await on any one who should strive to win it from King
Æetes’s care. But know, too, that I would strive to win the Fleece and
bring it to Iolcus, winning fame both for myself and for the city.”
When he had spoken he saw his father’s stricken eyes; they were fixed
upon him. But he looked from them to the shining eyes of the young men who
were even then pressing around where he stood. “Jason, Jason!” they
shouted. “The Golden Fleece for Iolcus!”
“King Pelias knows that the winning of the Golden Fleece is a feat most
difficult,” said Jason. “But if he will have built for me a ship that can
make the voyage to far Colchis, and if he will send throughout all Greece
the word of my adventuring so that all the heroes who would win fame might
come with me, and if ye, young heroes of Iolcus, will come with me, I will
peril my life to win the wonder that King Æetes keeps guard over.”
He spoke and those in the hall shouted again and made clamor around him.
But still his father sat gazing at him with stricken eyes.
King Pelias stood up in the hall and holding up his scepter he said, “O
my nephew Jason, and O friends assembled here, I promise that I will have
built for the voyage the best ship that ever sailed from a harbor in
Greece. And I promise that I will send throughout all Greece a word
telling of Jason’s voyage so that all heroes desirous of winning fame may
come to help him and to help all of you who may go with him to win from
the keeping of King Æetes the famous Fleece of Gold.”
So King Pelias said, but Jason, looking to the king from his father’s
stricken eyes, saw that he had been led by the king into the acceptance of
the voyage so that he might fare far from Iolcus, and perhaps lose his
life in striving to gain the wonder that King Æetes kept guarded. By the
glitter in Pelias’s eyes he knew the truth. Nevertheless Jason would not
take back one word that he had spoken; his heart was strong within him,
and he thought that with the help of the bright-eyed youths around and
with the help of those who would come to him at the word of the voyage, he
would bring the Golden Fleece to Iolcus and make famous for all time his
own name.
IV. The Assembling of the Heroes and the Building of the Ship
[Decorative first letter]
_F_IRST there came the youths CASTOR and POLYDEUCES. They came riding on
white horses, two noble-looking brothers. From Sparta they came, and their
mother was Leda, who, after the twin brothers, had another child born to
her—Helen, for whose sake the sons of many of Jason’s friends were to wage
war against the great city of Troy. These were the first heroes who came
to Iolcus after the word had gone forth through Greece of Jason’s
adventuring in quest of the Golden Fleece.
And then there came one who had both welcome and reverence from Jason;
this one came without spear or bow, bearing in his hands a lyre only. He
was ORPHEUS, and he knew all the ways of the gods and all the stories of
the gods; when he sang to his lyre the trees would listen and the beasts
would follow him. It was Chiron who had counseled Orpheus to go with
Jason; Chiron the centaur had met him as he was wandering through the
forests on the Mountain Pelion and had sent him down into Iolcus.
Then there came two men well skilled in the handling of ships—TIPHYS and
NAUPLIUS. Tiphys knew all about the sun and winds and stars, and all about
the signs by which a ship might be steered, and Nauplius had the love of
Poseidon, the god of the sea.
Afterward there came, one after the other, two who were famous for their
hunting. No two could be more different than these two were. The first was
ARCAS. He was dressed in the skin of a bear; he had red hair and
savage-looking eyes, and for arms he carried a mighty bow with
bronze-tipped arrows. The folk were watching an eagle as he came into the
city—an eagle that was winging its way far, far up in the sky. Arcas drew
his bow, and with one arrow he brought the eagle down.
The other hunter was a girl, ATALANTA. Tall and bright-haired was
Atalanta, swift and good with the bow. She had dedicated herself to
Artemis, the guardian of the wild things, and she had vowed that she would
remain unwedded. All the heroes welcomed Atalanta as a comrade, and the
maiden did all the things that the young men did.
There came a hero who was less youthful than Castor or Polydeuces; he
was a man good in council named NESTOR. Afterward Nestor went to the war
against Troy, and then he was the oldest of the heroes in the camp of
Agamemnon.
Two brothers came who were to be special friends of Jason’s—PELEUS and
TELAMON. Both were still youthful and neither had yet achieved any notable
deed. Afterward they were to be famous, but their sons were to be even
more famous, for the son of Telamon was strong Aias, and the son of Peleus
was great Achilles.
Another who came was ADMETUS; afterward he became a famous king. The God
Apollo once made himself a shepherd and he kept the flocks of King
Admetus.
And there came two brothers, twins, who were a wonder to all who beheld
them. ZETES and CALAIS they were named; their mother was Oreithyia, the
daughter of Erechtheus, King of Athens, and their father was Boreas, the
North Wind. These two brothers had on their ankles wings that gleamed with
golden scales; their black hair was thick upon their shoulders, and it was
always being shaken by the wind.
With Zetes and Calais there came a youth armed with a great sword whose
name was THESEUS. Theseus’s father was an unknown king; he had bidden the
mother show their son where his sword was hidden. Under a great stone the
king had hidden it before Theseus was born. Before he had grown out of his
boyhood Theseus had been able to raise the stone and draw forth his
father’s sword. As yet he had done no great deed, but he was resolved to
win fame and to find his unknown father.
On the day that the messengers had set out to bring through Greece the
word of Jason’s going forth in quest of the Golden Fleece the woodcutters
made their way up into the forests of Mount Pelion; they began to fell
trees for the timbers of the ship that was to make the voyage to far
Colchis.
[Illustration]
Great timbers were cut and brought down to Pagasæ, the harbor of Iolcus.
On the night of the day he had helped to bring them down Jason had a
dream. He dreamt that She whom he had seen in the forest ways and
afterward by the River Anaurus appeared to him. And in his dream the
goddess bade him rise early in the morning and welcome a man whom he would
meet at the city’s gate—a tall and gray-haired man who would have on his
shoulders tools for the building of a ship.
He went to the city’s gate and he met such a man. ARGUS was his name. He
told Jason that a dream had sent him to the city of Iolcus. Jason welcomed
him and lodged him in the king’s palace, and that day the word went
through the city that the building of the great ship would soon be begun.
But not with the timbers brought from Mount Pelion did Argus begin.
Walking through the palace with Jason he noted a great beam in the roof.
That beam, he said, had been shown him in his dream; it was from an oak
tree in Dodona, the grove of Zeus. A sacred power was in the beam, and
from it the prow of the ship should be fashioned. Jason had them take the
beam from the roof of the palace; it was brought to where the timbers
were, and that day the building of the great ship was begun.
Then all along the waterside came the noise of hammering; in the street
where the metalworkers were came the noise of beating upon metals as the
smiths fashioned out of bronze armor for the heroes and swords and spears.
Every day, under the eyes of Argus the master, the ship that had in it the
beam from Zeus’s grove was built higher and wider. And those who were
building the ship often felt going through it tremors as of a living
creature.
When the ship was built and made ready for the voyage a name was given
to it—the ARGO it was called. And naming themselves from the ship the
heroes called themselves the ARGONAUTS. All was ready for the voyage, and
now Jason went with his friends to view the ship before she was brought
into the water.
Argus the master was on the ship, seeing to it that the last things were
being done before _Argo_ was launched. Very grave and wise looked
Argus—Argus the builder of the ship. And wonderful to the heroes the ship
looked now that Argus, for their viewing, had set up the mast with the
sails and had even put the oars in their places. Wonderful to the heroes
_Argo_ looked with her long oars and her high sails, with her timbers
painted red and gold and blue, and with a marvelous figure carved upon her
prow. All over the ship Jason’s eyes went. He saw a figure standing by the
mast; for a moment he looked on it, and then the figure became shadowy.
But Jason knew that he had looked upon the goddess whom he had seen in the
ways of the forest and had seen afterward by the rough Anaurus.
Then mast and sails were taken down and the oars were left in the ship,
and the _Argo_ was launched into the water. The heroes went back to the
palace of King Pelias to feast with the king’s guests before they took
their places on the ship, setting out on the voyage to far Colchis.
When they came into the palace they saw that another hero had arrived.
His shield was hung in the hall; the heroes all gathered around, amazed at
the size and the beauty of it. The shield shone all over with gold. In its
center was the figure of Fear—of Fear that stared backward with eyes
burning as with fire. The mouth was open and the teeth were shown. And
other figures were wrought around the figure of Fear—Strife and Pursuit
and Flight; Tumult and Panic and Slaughter. The figure of Fate was there
dragging a dead man by the feet; on her shoulders Fate had a garment that
was red with the blood of men.
Around these figures were heads of snakes, heads with black jaws and
glittering eyes, twelve heads such as might affright any man. And on other
parts of the shield were shown the horses of Ares, the grim god of war.
The figure of Ares himself was shown also. He held a spear in his hand,
and he was urging the warriors on.
Around the inner rim of the shield the sea was shown, wrought in white
metal. Dolphins swam in the sea, fishing for little fishes that were shown
there in bronze. Around the rim chariots were racing along with wheels
running close together; there were men fighting and women watching from
high towers. The awful figure of the Darkness of Death was shown there,
too, with mournful eyes and the dust of battles upon her shoulders. The
outer rim of the shield showed the Stream of Ocean, the stream that
encircles the world; swans were soaring above and swimming on its surface.
All in wonder the heroes gazed on the great shield, telling each other
that only one man in all the world could carry it—Heracles the son of
Zeus. Could it be that Heracles had come amongst them? They went into the
feasting hall and they saw one there who was tall as a pine tree, with
unshorn tresses of hair upon his head. Heracles indeed it was! He turned
to them a smiling face with smiling eyes. Heracles! They all gathered
around the strongest hero in the world, and he took the hand of each in
his mighty hand.
V. The _Argo_
[Decorative first letter]
_T_HE heroes went the next day through the streets of Iolcus down to where
the ship lay. The ways they went through were crowded; the heroes were
splendid in their appearance, and Jason amongst them shone like a star.
The people praised him, and one told the other that it would not be long
until they would win back to Iolcus, for this band of heroes was strong
enough, they said, to take King Æetes’s city and force him to give up to
them the famous Fleece of Gold. Many of the bright-eyed youths of Iolcus
went with the heroes who had come from the different parts of Greece.
[Illustration]
the _Argo_
As they marched past a temple a priestess came forth to speak to Jason;
Iphias was her name. She had a prophecy to utter about the voyage. But
Iphias was very old, and she stammered in her speech to Jason. What she
said was not heard by him. The heroes went on, and ancient Iphias was left
standing there as the old are left by the young.
The heroes went aboard the _Argo_. They took their seats as at an
assembly. Then Jason faced them and spoke to them all.
“Heroes of the quest,” said Jason, “we have come aboard the great ship
that Argus has built, and all that a ship needs is in its place or is
ready to our hands. All that we wait for now is the coming of the
morning’s breeze that will set us on our way for far Colchis.
“One thing we have first to do—that is, to choose a leader who will
direct us all, one who will settle disputes amongst ourselves and who will
make treaties between us and the strangers that we come amongst. We must
choose such a leader now.”
Jason spoke, and some looked to him and some looked to Heracles. But
Heracles stood up, and, stretching out his hand, said:
“Argonauts! Let no one amongst you offer the leadership to me. I will
not take it. The hero who brought us together and made all things ready
for our going—it is he and no one else who should be our leader in this
voyage.”
So Heracles said, and the Argonauts all stood up and raised a cry for
Jason. Then Jason stepped forward, and he took the hand of each Argonaut
in his hand, and he swore that he would lead them with all the mind and
all the courage that he possessed. And he prayed the gods that it would be
given to him to lead them back safely with the Golden Fleece glittering on
the mast of the _Argo_.
They drew lots for the benches they would sit at; they took the places
that for the length of the voyage they would have on the ship. They made
sacrifice to the gods and they waited for the breeze of the morning that
would help them away from Iolcus.
And while they waited Æson, the father of Jason, sat at his own hearth,
bowed and silent in his grief. Alcimide, his wife, sat near him, but she
was not silent; she lamented to the women of Iolcus who were gathered
around her. “I did not go down to the ship,” she said, “for with my grief
I would not be a bird of ill omen for the voyage. By this hearth my son
took farewell of me—the only son I ever bore. From the doorway I watched
him go down the street of the city, and I heard the people shout as he
went amongst them, they glorying in my son’s splendid appearance. Ah, that
I might live to see his return and to hear the shout that will go up when
the people look on Jason again! But I know that my life will not be spared
so long; I will not look on my son when he comes back from the dangers he
will run in the quest of the Golden Fleece.”
Then the women of Iolcus asked her to tell them of the Golden Fleece,
and Alcimide told them of it and of the sorrows that were upon the race of
Æolus.
Cretheus, the father of Æson and Pelias, was of the race of Æolus, and
of the race of Æolus, too, was Athamas, the king who ruled in Thebes at
the same time that Cretheus ruled in Iolcus. And the first children of
Athamas were Phrixus and Helle.
“Ah, Phrixus and ah, Helle,” Alcimide lamented, “what griefs you have
brought on the race of Æolus! And what griefs you yourselves suffered! The
evil that Athamas, your father, did you lives to be a curse to the line of
Æolus!
“Athamas was wedded first to Nephele, the mother of Phrixus and Helle,
the youth and maiden. But Athamas married again while the mother of these
children was still living, and Ino, the new queen, drove Nephele and her
children out of the king’s palace.
“And now was Nephele most unhappy. She had to live as a servant, and her
children were servants to the servants of the palace. They were clad in
rags and had little to eat, and they were beaten often by the servants who
wished to win the favor of the new queen.
“But although they wore rags and had menial tasks to do, Phrixus and
Helle looked the children of a queen. The boy was tall, and in his eyes
there often came the flash of power, and the girl looked as if she would
grow into a lovely maiden. And when Athamas, their father, would meet them
by chance he would sigh, and Queen Ino would know by that sigh that he had
still some love for them in his heart. Afterward she would have to use all
the power she possessed to win the king back from thinking upon his
children.
“And now Queen Ino had children of her own. She knew that the people
reverenced the children of Nephele and cared nothing for her children. And
because she knew this she feared that when Athamas died Phrixus and Helle,
the children of Nephele, would be brought to rule in Thebes. Then she and
her children would be made to change places with them.
“This made Queen Ino think on ways by which she could make Phrixus and
Helle lose their lives. She thought long upon this, and at last a
desperate plan came into her mind.
“When it was winter she went amongst the women of the countryside, and
she gave them jewels and clothes for presents. Then she asked them to do
secretly an unheard-of thing. She asked the women to roast over their
fires the grains that had been left for seed. This the women did. Then
spring came on, and the men sowed in the fields the grain that had been
roasted over the fires. No shoots grew up as the spring went by. In summer
there was no waving greenness in the fields. Autumn came, and there was no
grain for the reaping. Then the men, not knowing what had happened, went
to King Athamas and told him that there would be famine in the land.
“The king sent to the temple of Artemis to ask how the people might be
saved from the famine. And the guardians of the temple, having taken gold
from Queen Ino, told them that there would be worse and worse famine and
that all the people of Thebes would die of hunger unless the king was
willing to make a great sacrifice.
“When the king asked what sacrifice he should make he was told by the
guardians of the temple that he must sacrifice to the goddess his two
children, Phrixus and Helle. Those who were around the king, to save
themselves from famine after famine, clamored to have the children
sacrificed. Athamas, to save his people, consented to the sacrifice.
“They went toward the king’s palace. They found Helle by the bank of the
river washing clothes. They took her and bound her. They found Phrixus,
half naked, digging in a field, and they took him, too, and bound him.
That night they left brother and sister in the same prison. Helle wept
over Phrixus, and Phrixus wept to think that he was not able to do
anything to save his sister.
“The servants of the palace went to Nephele, and they mocked at her,
telling her that her children would be sacrificed on the morrow. Nephele
nearly went wild in her grief. And then, suddenly, there came into her
mind the thought of a creature that might be a helper to her and to her
children.
“This creature was a ram that had wings and a wonderful fleece of gold.
The god of the sea, Poseidon, had sent this wonderful ram to Athamas and
Nephele as a marriage gift. And the ram had since been kept in a special
fold.
“To that fold Nephele went. She spent the night beside the ram praying
for its help. The morning came and the children were taken from their
prison and dressed in white, and wreaths were put upon their heads to mark
them as things for sacrifice. They were led in a procession to the temple
of Artemis. Behind that procession King Athamas walked, his head bowed in
shame.
“But Queen Ino’s head was not bowed; rather she carried it high, for her
thought was all upon her triumph. Soon Phrixus and Helle would be dead,
and then, whatever happened, her own children would reign after Athamas in
Thebes.
“Phrixus and Helle, thinking they were taking their last look at the
sun, went on. And even then Nephele, holding the horns of the golden ram,
was making her last prayer. The sun rose and as it did the ram spread out
its great wings and flew through the air. It flew to the temple of
Artemis. Down beside the altar came the golden ram, and it stood with its
horns threatening those who came. All stopped in surprise. Still the ram
stood with threatening head and great golden wings spread out. Then
Phrixus ran from those who were holding him and laid his hands upon the
ram. He called to Helle and she, too, came to the golden creature. Phrixus
mounted on the ram and he pulled Helle up beside him. Then the golden ram
flew upward. Up, up, it went, and with the children upon its back it
became like a star in the day-lit sky.
“Then Queen Ino, seeing the children saved by the golden ram, shrieked
and fled away from that place. Athamas ran after her. As she ran and as he
followed hatred for her grew up within him. Ino ran on and on until she
came to the cliffs that rose over the sea. Fearing Athamas who came behind
her she plunged down. But as she fell she was changed by Poseidon, the god
of the sea. She became a seagull. Athamas, who followed her, was changed
also; he became the sea eagle that, with beak and talons ever ready to
strike, flies above the sea.
“And the golden ram with wings outspread flew on and on. Over the sea it
flew while the wind whistled around the children. On and on they went, and
the children saw only the blue sea beneath them. Then poor Helle, looking
downward, grew dizzy. She fell off the golden ram before her brother could
take hold of her. Down she fell, and still the ram flew on and on. She was
drowned in that sea. The people afterward named it in memory of her,
calling it ‘Hellespont’—‘Helle’s Sea.’
“On and on the ram flew. Over a wild and barren country it flew and
toward a river. Upon that river a white city was built. Down the ram flew,
and alighting on the ground, stood before the gate of that city. It was
the city of Aea, in the land of Colchis.
“The king was in the street of the city, and he joined with the crowd
that gathered around the strange golden creature that had a youth upon its
back. The ram folded its wings and then the youth stood beside it. He
spoke to the people, and then the king—Æetes was his name—spoke to him,
asking him from what place he had come, and what was the strange creature
upon whose back he had flown.
“To the king and to the people Phrixus told his story, weeping to tell
of Helle and her fall. Then King Æetes brought him into the city, and he
gave him a place in the palace, and for the golden ram he had a special
fold made.
“Soon after the ram died, and then King Æetes took its golden fleece and
hung it upon an oak tree that was in a place dedicated to Ares, the god of
war. Phrixus wed one of the daughters of the king, and men say that
afterward he went back to Thebes, his own land.
“And as for the Golden Fleece it became the greatest of King Æetes’s
treasures. Well indeed does he guard it, and not with armed men only, but
with magic powers. Very strong and very cunning is King Æetes, and a
terrible task awaits those who would take away from him that Fleece of
Gold.”
So Alcimide spoke, sorrowfully telling to the women the story of the
Golden Fleece that her son Jason was going in quest of. So she spoke, and
the night waned, and the morning of the sailing of the _Argo_ came on.
And when the Argonauts beheld the dawn upon the high peaks of Pelion
they arose and poured out wine in offering to Zeus, the highest of the
gods. Then _Argo_ herself gave forth a strange cry, for the beam from
Dodona that had been formed into her prow had endued her with life. She
uttered a strange cry, and as she did the heroes took their places at the
benches, one after the other, as had been arranged by lot, and Tiphys, the
helmsman, went to the steering place. To the sound of Orpheus’s lyre they
smote with oars the rushing sea water, and the surge broke over the oar
blades. The sails were let out and the breeze came into them, piping
shrilly, and the fishes came darting through the green sea, great and
small, and followed them, gamboling along the watery paths. And Chiron,
the king-centaur, came down from the Mountain Pelion, and standing with
his feet in the foam cried out, “Good speed, O Argonauts, good speed, and
a sorrowless return.”
The Beginning of Things
Orpheus sang to his lyre, Orpheus the minstrel, who knew the ways and
the stories of the gods; out in the open sea on the first morning of the
voyage Orpheus sang to them of the beginning of things.
He sang how at first Earth and Heaven and Sea were all mixed and mingled
together. There was neither Light nor Darkness then, but only a Dimness.
This was Chaos. And from Chaos came forth Night and Erebus. From Night was
born Æther, the Upper Air, and from Night and Erebus wedded there was born
Day.
And out of Chaos came Earth, and out of Earth came the starry Heaven.
And from Heaven and Earth wedded there were born the Titan gods and
goddesses—Oceanus, Cœus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus; Theia, Rhea, Themis,
Mnemosyne, gold-crowned Phœbe, and lovely Tethys. And then Heaven and
Earth had for their child Cronos, the most cunning of all.
Cronos wedded Rhea, and from Cronos and Rhea were born the gods who were
different from the Titan gods.
But Heaven and Earth had other children—Cottus, Briareus, and Gyes.
These were giants, each with fifty heads and a hundred arms. And Heaven
grew fearful when he looked on these giant children, and he hid them away
in the deep places of the Earth.
Cronos hated Heaven, his father. He drove Heaven, his father, and Earth,
his mother, far apart. And far apart they stay, for they have never been
able to come near each other since. And Cronos married to Rhea had for
children Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Aidoneus, and Poseidon, and these all
belonged to the company of the deathless gods. Cronos was fearful that one
of his sons would treat him as he had treated Heaven, his father. So when
another child was born to him and his wife Rhea he commanded that the
child be given to him so that he might swallow him. But Rhea wrapped a
great stone in swaddling clothes and gave the stone to Cronos. And Cronos
swallowed the stone, thinking to swallow his latest-born child.
That child was Zeus. Earth took Zeus and hid him in a deep cave and
those who minded and nursed the child beat upon drums so that his cries
might not be heard. His nurse was Adrastia; when he was able to play she
gave him a ball to play with. All of gold was the ball, with a dark-blue
spiral around it. When the boy Zeus would play with this ball it would
make a track across the sky, flaming like a star.
Hyperion the Titan god wed Theia the Titan goddess, and their children
were Helios, the bright Sun, and Selene, the clear Moon. And Cœus wed
Phœbe, and their children were Leto, who is kind to gods and men, and
Asteria of happy name, and Hecate, whom Zeus honored above all. Now the
gods who were the children of Cronos and Rhea went up unto the Mountain
Olympus, and there they built their shining palaces. But the Titan gods
who were born of Heaven and Earth went up to the Mountain Othrys, and
there they had their thrones.
Between the Olympians and the Titan gods of Othrys a war began. Neither
side might prevail against the other. But now Zeus, grown up to be a
youth, thought of how he might help the Olympians to overthrow the Titan
gods.
He went down into the deep parts of the Earth where the giants Cottus,
Briareus, and Gyes had been hidden by their father. Cronos had bound them,
weighing them down with chains. But now Zeus loosed them and the
hundred-armed giants in their gratitude gave him the lightning and showed
him how to use the thunderbolt.
Zeus would have the giants fight against the Titan gods. But although
they had mighty strength Cottus, Briareus, and Gyes had no fire of courage
in their hearts. Zeus thought of a way to give them this courage; he
brought the food and drink of the gods to them, ambrosia and nectar, and
when they had eaten and drunk their spirits grew within the giants, and
they were ready to make war upon the Titan gods.
“Sons of Earth and Heaven,” said Zeus to the hundred-armed giants, “a
long time now have the Dwellers on Olympus been striving with the Titan
gods. Do you lend your unconquerable might to the gods and help them to
overthrow the Titans.”
Cottus, the eldest of the giants, answered, “Divine One, through your
devising we are come back again from the murky gloom of the mid Earth and
we have escaped from the hard bonds that Cronus laid upon us. Our minds
are fixed to aid you in the war against the Titan gods.”
So the hundred-armed giants said, and thereupon Zeus went and he
gathered around him all who were born of Cronos and Rhea. Cronos himself
hid from Zeus. Then the giants, with their fifty heads growing from their
shoulders and their hundred hands, went forth against the Titan gods. The
boundless sea rang terribly and the earth crashed loudly; wide Heaven was
shaken and groaned, and high Olympus reeled from its foundation. Holding
huge rocks in their hands the giants attacked the Titan gods.
Then Zeus entered the war. He hurled the lightning; the bolts flew thick
and fast from his strong hand, with thunder and lightning and flame. The
earth crashed around in burning, the forests crackled with fire, the ocean
seethed. And hot flames wrapped the earth-born Titans all around. Three
hundred rocks, one upon another, did Cottus, Briareus, and Gyes hurl upon
the Titans. And when their ranks were broken the giants seized upon them
and held them for Zeus.
But some of the Titan gods, seeing that the strife for them was vain,
went over to the side of Zeus. These Zeus became friendly with. But the
other Titans he bound in chains and he hurled them down to Tartarus.
As far as Earth is from Heaven so is Tartarus from Earth. A brazen anvil
falling down from Heaven to Earth nine days and nine nights would reach
the earth upon the tenth day. And again, a brazen anvil falling from Earth
nine nights and nine days would reach Tartarus upon the tenth night.
Around Tartarus runs a fence of bronze and Night spreads in a triple line
all about it, as a necklace circles the neck. There Zeus imprisoned the
Titan gods who had fought against him; they are hidden in the misty gloom,
in a dank place, at the ends of the Earth. And they may not go out, for
Poseidon fixed gates of bronze upon their prison, and a wall runs all
round it. There Cottus, Briareus, and Gyes stay, guarding them.
And there, too, is the home of Night. Night and Day meet each other at
that place, as they pass a threshold of bronze. They draw near and they
greet one another, but the house never holds them both together, for while
one is about to go down into the house, the other is leaving through the
door. One holds Light in her hand and the other holds in her arms Sleep.
There the children of dark Night have their dwellings—Sleep, and Death,
his brother. The sun never shines upon these two. Sleep may roam over the
wide earth, and come upon the sea, and he is kindly to men. But Death is
not kindly, and whoever he seizes upon, him he holds fast.
There, too, stands the hall of the lord of the Underworld, Aidoneus, the
brother of Zeus. Zeus gave him the Underworld to be his dominion when he
shared amongst the Olympians the world that Cronos had ruled over. A
fearful hound guards the hall of Aidoneus: Cerberus he is called; he has
three heads. On those who go within that hall Cerberus fawns, but on those
who would come out of it he springs and would devour them.
Not all the Titans did Zeus send down to Tartarus. Those of them who had
wisdom joined him, and by their wisdom Zeus was able to overcome Cronos.
Then Cronos went to live with the friendly Titan gods, while Zeus reigned
over Olympus, becoming the ruler of gods and men.
So Orpheus sang, Orpheus who knew the ways and the histories of the
gods.
VI. Polydeuces’ Victory and Heracles’ Loss
[Decorative first letter]
_A_LL the places that the Argonauts came nigh to and went past need not be
told—Melibœa, where they escaped a stormy beach; Homole, from where they
were able to look on Ossa and holy Olympus; Lemnos, the island that they
were to return to; the unnamed country where the Earth-born Men abide,
each having six arms, two growing from his shoulders, and four fitting
close to his terrible sides; and then the Mountain of the Bears, where
they climbed, to make sacrifice there to Rhea, the mighty mother of the
gods.
Afterward, for a whole day, no wind blew and the sail of the _Argo_ hung
slack. But the heroes swore to each other that they would make their ship
go as swiftly as if the storm-footed steeds of Poseidon were racing to
overtake her. Mightily they labored at the oars, and no one would be first
to leave his rower’s bench.
And then, just as the breeze of the evening came up, and just as the
rest of the heroes were leaning back, spent with their labor, the oar that
Heracles still pulled at broke, and half of it was carried away by the
waves. Heracles sat there in ill humor, for he did not know what to do
with his unlaboring hands.
All through the night they went on with a good breeze filling their
sails, and next day they came to the mouth of the River Cius. There they
landed so that Heracles might get himself an oar. No sooner did they set
their feet upon the shore than the hero went off into the forest, to pull
up a tree that he might shape into an oar.
Where they had landed was near to the country of the Bebrycians, a rude
people whose king was named Amycus. Now while Heracles was away from them
this king came with his followers—huge, rude men, all armed with clubs,
down to where the Argonauts were lighting their fires on the beach.
He did not greet them courteously, asking them what manner of men they
were and whither they were bound, nor did he offer them hospitality.
Instead, he shouted at them insolently:
“Listen to something that you rovers had better know. I am Amycus, and
any stranger that comes to this land has to get into a boxing bout with
me. That’s the law that I have laid down. Unless you have one amongst you
who can stand up to me you won’t be let go back to your ship. If you don’t
heed my law, look out, for something’s going to happen to you.”
So he shouted, that insolent king, and his followers raised their clubs
and growled approval of what their master said. But the Argonauts were not
dismayed at the words of Amycus. One of them stepped toward the
Bebrycians. He was Polydeuces, good at boxing.
“Offer us no violence, king,” said Polydeuces. “We are ready to obey the
law that you have laid down. Willingly do I take up your challenge, and I
will box a bout with you.”
The Argonauts cheered when they saw Polydeuces, the good boxer, step
forward, and when they heard what he had to say. Amycus turned and shouted
to his followers, and one of them brought up two pairs of boxing
gauntlets—of rough cowhide they were. The Argonauts feared that
Polydeuces’ hands might have been made numb with pulling at the oar, and
some of them went to him, and took his hands and rubbed them to make them
supple; others took from off his shoulders his beautifully colored mantle.
Amycus straightway put on his gauntlets and threw off his mantle; he
stood there amongst his followers with his great arms crossed, glowering
at the Argonauts as a wild beast might glower. And when the two faced each
other Amycus seemed like one of the Earth-born Men, dark and hugely
shaped, while Helen’s brother stood there light and beautiful. Polydeuces
was like that star whose beams are lovely at evening-tide.
[Illustration]
Like the wave that breaks over a ship and gives the sailors no respite
Amycus came on at Polydeuces. He pushed in upon him, thinking to bear him
down and overwhelm him. But as the skillful steersman keeps the ship from
being overwhelmed by the monstrous wave, so Polydeuces, all skill and
lightness, baffled the rushes of Amycus. At last Amycus, standing on the
tips of his toes and rising high above him, tried to bring down his great
fist upon the head of Polydeuces. The hero swung aside and took the blow
on his shoulder. Then he struck his blow. It was a strong one, and under
it the king of the Bebrycians staggered and fell down. “You see,” said
Polydeuces, “that we keep your law.”
The Argonauts shouted, but the rude Bebrycians raised their clubs to
rush upon them. Then would the heroes have been hard pressed, and forced,
perhaps, to get back to the _Argo_. But suddenly Heracles appeared amongst
them, coming up from the forest.
He carried a pine tree in his hands with all its branches still upon it,
and seeing this mighty-statured man appear with the great tree in his
hands, the Bebrycians hurried off, carrying their fallen king with them.
Then the Argonauts gathered around Polydeuces, saluted him as their
champion, and put a crown of victory upon his head. Heracles, meanwhile,
lopped off the branches of the pine tree and began to fashion it into an
oar.
The fires were lighted upon the shore, and the thoughts of all were
turned to supper. Then young Hylas, who used to sit by Heracles and keep
bright the hero’s arms and armor, took a bronze vessel and went to fetch
water.
Never was there a boy so beautiful as young Hylas. He had golden curls
that tumbled over his brow. He had deep blue eyes and a face that smiled
at every glance that was given him, at every word that was said to him.
Now as he walked through the flowering grasses, with his knees bare, and
with the bright vessel swinging in his hand, he looked most lovely.
Heracles had brought the boy with him from the country of the Dryopians;
he would have him sit beside him on the bench of the _Argo_, and the ill
humors that often came upon him would go at the words and the smile of
Hylas.
Now the spring that Hylas was going toward was called Pegæ, and it was
haunted by the nymphs. They were dancing around it when they heard Hylas
singing. They stole softly off to watch him. Hidden behind trees the
nymphs saw the boy come near, and they felt such love for him that they
thought they could never let him go from their sight.
They stole back to their spring, and they sank down below its clear
surface. Then came Hylas singing a song that he had heard from his mother.
He bent down to the spring, and the brimming water flowed into the
sounding bronze of the pitcher. Then hands came out of the water. One of
the nymphs caught Hylas by the elbow; another put her arms around his
neck, another took the hand that held the vessel of bronze. The pitcher
sank down to the depths of the spring. The hands of the nymphs clasped
Hylas tighter, tighter; the water bubbled around him as they drew him
down. Down, down they drew him, and into the cold and glimmering cave
where they live.
[Illustration]
Hylas
There Hylas stayed. But although the nymphs kissed him and sang to him,
and showed him lovely things, Hylas was not content to be there.
Where the Argonauts were the fires burned, the moon arose, and still
Hylas did not return. Then they began to fear lest a wild beast had
destroyed the boy. One went to Heracles and told him that young Hylas had
not come back, and that they were fearful for him. Heracles flung down the
pine tree that he was fashioning into an oar, and he dashed along the way
that Hylas had gone as if a gadfly were stinging him. “Hylas, Hylas,” he
cried. But Hylas, in the cold and glimmering cave that the nymphs had
drawn him into, did not hear the call of his friend Heracles.
All the Argonauts went searching, calling as they went through the
island, “Hylas, Hylas, Hylas!” But only their own calls came back to them.
The morning star came up, and Tiphys, the steersman, called to them from
the _Argo_. And when they came to the ship Tiphys told them that they
would have to go aboard and make ready to sail from that place.
They called to Heracles, and Heracles at last came down to the ship.
They spoke to him, saying that they would have to sail away. Heracles
would not go on board. “I will not leave this island,” he said, “until I
find young Hylas or learn what has happened to him.”
Then Jason arose to give the command to depart. But before the words
were said Telamon stood up and faced him. “Jason,” he said angrily, “you
do not bid Heracles come on board, and you would have the _Argo_ leave
without him. You would leave Heracles here so that he may not be with us
on the quest where his glory might overshadow your glory, Jason.”
Jason said no word, but he sat back on his bench with head bowed. And
then, even as Telamon said these angry words, a strange figure rose up out
of the waves of the sea.
It was the figure of a man, wrinkled and old, with seaweed in his beard
and his hair. There was a majesty about him, and the Argonauts all knew
that this was one of the immortals—he was Nereus, the ancient one of the
sea.
“To Heracles, and to you, the rest of the Argonauts, I have a thing to
say,” said the ancient one, Nereus. “Know, first, that Hylas has been
taken by the nymphs who love him and who think to win his love, and that
he will stay forever with them in their cold and glimmering cave. For
Hylas seek no more. And to you, Heracles, I will say this: Go aboard the
_Argo_ again; the ship will take you to where a great labor awaits you,
and which, in accomplishing, you will work out the will of Zeus. You will
know what this labor is when a spirit seizes on you.” So the ancient one
of the sea said, and he sank back beneath the waves.
Heracles went aboard the _Argo_ once more, and he took his place on the
bench, the new oar in his hand. Sad he was to think that young Hylas who
used to sit at his knee would never be there again. The breeze filled the
sail, the Argonauts pulled at the oars, and in sadness they watched the
island where young Hylas had been lost to them recede from their view.
VII. King Phineus
[Decorative first letter]
_S_AID Tiphys, the steersman: “If we could enter the Sea of Pontus, we
could make our way across that sea to Colchis in a short time. But the
passage into the Sea of Pontus is most perilous, and few mortals dare even
to make approach to it.”
Said Jason, the chieftain of the host: “The dangers of the passage,
Tiphys, we have spoken of, and it may be that we shall have to carry
_Argo_ overland to the Sea of Pontus. But you, Tiphys, have spoken of a
wise king who is hereabouts, and who might help us to make the dangerous
passage. Speak again to us, and tell us what the dangers of the passage
are, and who the king is who may be able to help us to make these dangers
less.”
Then said Tiphys, the steersman of the _Argo_: “No ship sailed by
mortals has as yet gone through the passage that brings this sea into the
Sea of Pontus. In the way are the rocks that mariners call The Clashers.
These rocks are not fixed as rocks should be, but they rush one against
the other, dashing up the sea, and crushing whatever may be between. Yea,
if _Argo_ were of iron, and if she were between these rocks when they met,
she would be crushed to bits. I have sailed as far as that passage, but
seeing The Clashers strike together I turned back my ship, and journeyed
as far as the Sea of Pontus overland.
“But I have been told of one who knows how a ship may be taken through
the passage that The Clashers make so perilous. He who knows is a king
hereabouts, Phineus, who has made himself as wise as the gods. To no one
has Phineus told how the passage may be made, but knowing what high favor
has been shown to us, the Argonauts, it may be that he will tell us.”
So Tiphys said, and Jason commanded him to steer the _Argo_ toward the
city where ruled Phineus, the wise king.
To Salmydessus, then, where Phineus ruled, Tiphys steered the _Argo_.
They left Heracles with Tiphys aboard to guard the ship, and, with the
rest of the heroes, Jason went through the streets of the city. They met
many men, but when they asked any of them how they might come to the
palace of King Phineus the men turned fearfully away.
They found their way to the king’s palace. Jason spoke to the servants
and bade them tell the king of their coming. The servants, too, seemed
fearful, and as Jason and his comrades were wondering what there was about
him that made men fearful at his name, Phineus, the king, came amongst
them.
Were it not that he had a purple border to his robe no one would have
known him for the king, so miserable did this man seem. He crept along,
touching the walls, for the eyes in his head were blind and withered. His
body was shrunken, and when he stood before them leaning on his staff he
was like to a lifeless thing. He turned his blinded eyes upon them,
looking from one to the other as if he were searching for a face.
Then his sightless eyes rested upon Zetes and Calais, the sons of
Boreas, the North Wind. A change came into his face as it turned upon
them. One would think that he saw the wonder that these two were endowed
with—the wings that grew upon their ankles. It was a while before he
turned his face from them; then he spoke to Jason and said:
“You have come to have counsel with one who has the wisdom of the gods.
Others before you have come for such counsel, but seeing the misery that
is visible upon me they went without asking for counsel. I would strive to
hold you here for a while. Stay, and have sight of the misery the gods
visit upon those who would be as wise as they. And when you have seen the
thing that is wont to befall me, it may be that help will come from you
for me.”
Then Phineus, the blind king, left them, and after a while the heroes
were brought into a great hall, and they were invited to rest themselves
there while a banquet was being prepared for them.
The hall was richly adorned, but it looked to the heroes as if it had
known strange happenings; rich hangings were strewn upon the ground, an
ivory chair was overturned, and the dais where the king sat had stains
upon it. The servants who went through the hall making ready the banquet
were white-faced and fearful.
The feast was laid on a great table, and the heroes were invited to sit
down to it. The king did not come into the hall before they sat down, but
a table with food was set before the dais. When the heroes had feasted,
the king came into the hall. He sat at the table, blind, white-faced, and
shrunken, and the Argonauts all turned their faces to him.
Said Phineus, the blind king: “You see, O heroes, how much my wisdom
avails me. You see me blind and shrunken, who tried to make myself in
wisdom equal to the gods. And yet you have not seen all. Watch now and see
what feasts Phineus, the wise king, has to delight him.”
He made a sign, and the white-faced and trembling servants brought food
and set it upon the table that was before him. The king bent forward as if
to eat, and they saw that his face was covered with the damp of fear. He
took food from the dish and raised it to his mouth. As he did, the doors
of the hall were flung open as if by a storm. Strange shapes flew into the
hall and set themselves beside the king. And when the Argonauts looked
upon them they saw that these were terrible and unsightly shapes.
[Illustration]
They were things that had the wings and claws of birds and the heads of
women. Black hair and gray feathers were mixed upon them; they had red
eyes, and streaks of blood were upon their breasts and wings. And as the
king raised the food to his mouth they flew at him and buffeted his head
with their wings, and snatched the food from his hands. Then they devoured
or scattered what was upon the table, and all the time they screamed and
laughed and mocked.
“Ah, now ye see,” Phineus panted, “what it is to have wisdom equal to
the wisdom of the gods. Now ye all see my misery. Never do I strive to put
food to my lips but these foul things, the Harpies, the Snatchers, swoop
down and scatter or devour what I would eat. Crumbs they leave me that my
life may not altogether go from me, but these crumbs they make foul to my
taste and my smell.”
And one of the Harpies perched herself on the back of the king’s throne
and looked upon the heroes with red eyes. “Hah,” she screamed, “you bring
armed men into your feasting hall, thinking to scare us away. Never,
Phineus, can you scare us from you! Always you will have us, the
Snatchers, beside you when you would still your ache of hunger. What can
these men do against us who are winged and who can travel through the ways
of the air?”
So said the unsightly Harpy, and the heroes drew together, made fearful
by these awful shapes. All drew back except Zetes and Calais, the sons of
the North Wind. They laid their hands upon their swords. The wings on
their shoulders spread out and the wings at their heels trembled. Phineus,
the king, leaned forward and panted: “By the wisdom I have I know that
there are two amongst you who can save me. O make haste to help me, ye who
can help me, and I will give the counsel that you Argonauts have come to
me for, and besides I will load down your ship with treasure and costly
stuffs. Oh, make haste, ye who can help me!”
Hearing the king speak like this, the Harpies gathered together and
gnashed with their teeth, and chattered to one another. Then, seeing Zetes
and Calais with their hands upon their swords, they rose up on their wings
and flew through the wide doors of the hall. The king cried out to Zetes
and Calais. But the sons of the North Wind had already risen with their
wings, and they were after the Harpies, their bright swords in their
hands.
On flew the Harpies, screeching and gnashing their teeth in anger and
dismay, for now they felt that they might be driven from Salmydessus,
where they had had such royal feasts. They rose high in the air and flew
out toward the sea. But high as the Harpies rose, the sons of the North
Wind rose higher. The Harpies cried pitiful cries as they flew on, but
Zetes and Calais felt no pity for them, for they knew that these dread
Snatchers, with the stains of blood upon their breasts and wings, had
shown pity neither to Phineus nor to any other.
On they flew until they came to the island that is called the Floating
Island. There the Harpies sank down with wearied wings. Zetes and Calais
were upon them now, and they would have cut them to pieces with their
bright swords, if the messenger of Zeus, Iris, with the golden wings, had
not come between.
“Forbear to slay the Harpies, sons of Boreas,” cried Iris warningly,
“forbear to slay the Harpies that are the hounds of Zeus. Let them cower
here and hide themselves, and I, who come from Zeus, will swear the oath
that the gods most dread, that they will never again come to Salmydessus
to trouble Phineus, the king.”
The heroes yielded to the words of Iris. She took the oath that the gods
most dread—the oath by the Water of Styx—that never again would the
Harpies show themselves to Phineus. Then Zetes and Calais turned back
toward the city of Salmydessus. The island that they drove the Harpies to
had been called the Floating Island, but thereafter it was called the
Island of Turning. It was evening when they turned back, and all night
long the Argonauts and King Phineus sat in the hall of the palace and
awaited the return of Zetes and Calais, the sons of the North Wind.
VIII. King Phineus’s Counsel; The Landing in Lemnos
[Decorative first letter]
_T_HEY came into King Phineus’s hall, their bright swords in their hands.
The Argonauts crowded around them and King Phineus raised his head and
stretched out his thin hands to them. And Zetes and Calais told their
comrades and told the king how they had driven the Harpies down to the
Floating Island, and how Iris, the messenger of Zeus, had sworn the great
oath that was by the Water of Styx that never again would the Snatchers
show themselves in the palace.
Then a great golden cup brimming with wine was brought to the king. He
stood holding it in his trembling hands, fearful even then that the
Harpies would tear the cup out of his hands. He drank—long and deeply he
drank—and the dread shapes of the Snatchers did not appear. Down amongst
the heroes he came and he took into his the hands of Zetes and Calais, the
sons of the North Wind.
“O heroes greater than any kings,” he said, “ye have delivered me from
the terrible curse that the gods had sent upon me. I thank ye, and I thank
ye all, heroes of the quest. And the thanks of Phineus will much avail you
all.”
Clasping the hands of Zetes and Calais he led the heroes through hall
after hall of his palace and down into his treasure chamber. There he
bestowed upon the banishers of the Harpies crowns and arm rings of gold
and richly colored garments and brazen chests in which to store the
treasure that he gave. And to Jason he gave an ivory-hilted and
gold-encased sword, and on each of the voyagers he bestowed a rich gift,
not forgetting the heroes who had remained on the _Argo_, Heracles and
Tiphys.
They went back to the great hall, and a feast was spread for the king
and for the Argonauts. They ate from rich dishes and they drank from
flowing wine cups. Phineus ate and drank as the heroes did, and no dread
shapes came before him to snatch from him nor to buffet him. But as Jason
looked upon the man who had striven to equal the gods in wisdom, and noted
his blinded eyes and shrunken face, he resolved never to harbor in his
heart such presumption as Phineus had harbored.
When the feast was finished the king spoke to Jason, telling him how the
_Argo_ might be guided through the Symplegades, the dread passage into the
Sea of Pontus. He told them to bring their ship near to the Clashing
Rocks. And one who had the keenest sight amongst them was to stand at the
prow of the ship holding a pigeon in his hands. As the rocks came together
he was to loose the pigeon. If it found a space to fly through they would
know that the _Argo_ could make the passage, and they were to steer
straight toward where the pigeon had flown. But if it fluttered down to
the sea, or flew back to them, or became lost in the clouds of spray, they
were to know that the _Argo_ might not make that passage. Then the heroes
would have to take their ship overland to where they might reach the Sea
of Pontus.
That day they bade farewell to Phineus, and with the treasures he had
bestowed upon them they went down to the _Argo_. To Heracles and Tiphys
they gave the presents that the king had sent them. In the morning they
drew the _Argo_ out of the harbor of Salmydessus, and set sail again.