Gods, Heroes and Men of Ancient Greece: Part 3

The women set up a loud lamentation in the house, they beat their breasts, they tore their hair, as the fashion was; finally, they made a funeral, and draped the bier with purple, and pretended to bury the child.

You and I are of the same race, and it is a shame for kinsmen to quarrel and fight.

Keep your flocks and herds, keep your house and your wealth; but give me the sceptre and the throne which belonged to my father, that no violence may arise between us.

I am old, and you are young, and you may be able to quell the anger of the gods below.

As he let down his urn into a pool, the nymph of the pool saw this beautiful boy, and stretched up her arm to embrace him; she loved him so much, that she drew him down to the water, and he was seen no more.

He had the gift of foretelling the future, and he told too much; so blindness was sent upon him by Zeus, and he was persecuted by the Harpies.

Let us divide ourselves; one half shall row, and one half shall put on their helmets, with nodding plumes, and hold up their spears, and make a roof over the rowers with their shields.

“Good friends, what brings you here? I have not seen you this long time; you do not often visit my humble home.”

Once I was on earth, trying men, to see how they behaved: I took on me the likeness of an ugly old crone, and sat down by the side of a rushing river, when he came along.

“He is a naughty boy, and will not do what I tell him. He is more likely to listen to you than to me. I mean to break his bow and arrows before his eyes, the little wretch! And he says that if I touch him, he will make me repent it!”

So they went out into the orchard, and there they found Cupid playing with young Ganymede, a boy whom Zeus had taken a fancy to, and so had sent his eagle which caught him up into the skies and brought him to Olympos to be his cup-bearer at table.

Fate has sent us, and the bidding of a presumptuous King.

I have two bulls, with brazen feet, and brazen mouths, who breathe fire out of their mouths. These bulls I yoke, and plough the fields of Arês; and into the furrows I cast not seed, but teeth from the Theban dragon, which Athena gave me when the dragon was killed by Cadmos.

If you can yoke the bulls, and plough the field, and kill the crop of armed men, I will give you the Golden Fleece.

Jason was abashed by this; he did not know what to say; and the King sat, smiling grimly at him.

But when the heroes were by themselves, the son of Phrixos said, “There is one thing that can help us. There is a maiden here who knows all manner of drugs and spells; if she would help us, we might succeed. I will ask my mother to entreat her.”

Meanwhile the sons of Phrixos had returned to Jason, and told him to meet Medeia at the shrine of Hecatê; led by them, Jason came to the tryst, and Medeia saw him come.

At last, Jason said, “Maiden, why do you fear me so
 much? I am not a man of violence; I come in friendship to this holy place, as your suppliant, to crave your help. For surely one so lovely as you are, must be full of gentle courtesy.”

King Aiêtês was in full armour, and handed to Jason the helmet with the dragon’s teeth; and they repaired to the spot.

The earth-born men yelled, and rushed together, fighting over the stone; and Jason rushed on them, hewing them down, some with head and shoulders above the ground, some half risen to the air, some just standing upright, or making their first rush to battle.

As they came near, the serpent, which never slept, saw them with his keen eyes, and hissed loudly at them, wreathing his coils all about.

By this time, Medeia’s flight was known, and the people saw that the ship Argo was gone from her moorings.

Then they passed into the Danube, and rowed up the stream, until after a long time they passed from the Danube into the Rhone, and from the Rhone into the Rhine, and from the Rhine into the Ocean Stream, which encompasses the earth all around.

While Jason was away, Pelias had killed his old father; for he never expected Jason to return, and never meant to keep his promise, and make Jason King. Jason was very angry at this, as you may imagine, and asked Medeia to punish the treachery of Pelias.

She got an old ram, and cut it up, and boiled it in a cauldron with some of her magical drugs, and sang charms about it, and lo and behold, out of the cauldron skipped a young lamb!