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Iason et Medea.Over the storm-tossed waves, the Argonauts
had sailed in Argo, their long
ship to where
King Phineus, needy in his old age, reigned—
deprived of sight and feeble.
When the sons
of Boreas had landed on the shore,
and seen the Harpies
snatching from the king
his nourishment, befouling it with beaks
obscene, they
drove those human-vultures thence.
And having suffered hardships and great toils,
after the day they rescued the sad
king
from the vile Harpies, those twin valiant youths,
Zetes and Calais
came with their chief,
the mighty
Jason,protector where the Phasis flows.
From the green margin of that river, all
the crew of Argonauts, by Jasonled,
went to the king Aeetes
and required
the Golden Fleece, that he received from Phryxus.
protector When they had bargained with him, full of wiles
he offered to restore the
Golden Fleece
only to those who might to him return,
victorious from hard labors
of great risk.
Medea, the king's daughter, near
his throne,
saw Jasonprotector, leader
of the Argonauts,
as he was pressing to secure a prize—
and loved at sight with a consuming flame.
Although she struggled to suppress her love,
unable
to restrain herself, she said,
“In vain I've
striven to subdue my heart:
some god it must be, which I cannot tell,
is
working to destroy my hapless life;
or else it is the burning flame of
love
that in me rages. If it is not love,
why do the mandates of my father
seem
too harsh? They surely are too harsh. Why do
I fear that he may
perish whom I have
seen only once? What is the secret cause
that I am
agitated by such fears?—
It is no other than the god of
Love.
“Thrust from your virgin breast such burning flames
but some deluding power is holding me
helpless
against my will. Desire persuades
me one way, but my reason still
persuades
another way. I see a better course
and I approve, but follow its
defeat. —
“O royal
maiden, why are you consumed
with love for this strange man, and why are
you
so willing to be carried by the nuptial ties
so far from your own
country, where, indeed,
are many brave men worthy of your
love?virginal
“Whether for life or death his numbered hours
are in the mercy of the living Gods,
and that he may not suffer risk of death,
too well foreseen, now let my prayers
prevail—
righteously uttered of a generous heart
without the stress of love. What
wicked thing
has Jason done? His handsome person,
youth,
and noble ways, would move a heart of stone.
“Have I a heart of flint, or was I born
a tigress
to deny him timely aid?—
Unless I interpose, he will be slain
by the hot
breath of brazen-footed bulls,
or will be slaughtered by the warriors, sprung
miraculous from earth, or will be given
to satisfy the ravenous appetite
of a
huge dragon.
“Let my gloating eyes
be satiate with
his dying agonies!
Let me incite the fury of these bulls!
Stir to their
blood-lust mad-born sons of Earth!
Rouse up the never-sleeping dragon's rage!—
“Avert it Gods!sp: medea
invo: gods—
“But why should I cry out
upon the Gods to save him
from such wrong,
when, by my actions and my power, myself
may shield him from
all evils?
“Such a course
would wreck the kingdom of my
father—and by me
the wily stranger would escape from him;
and spreading to the
wind his ready sails
he would forget and leave me to my fate.—
Oh, if he
should forget my sacrifice,
and so prefer those who neglected him,
let him
then perish in his treachery.—
“But these are idle thoughts: his countenance,
reveals innate nobility and grace,
that should dispel all fear of treachery,
and guarantee his ever-faithful heart.
The Gods will witness our united souls,
and he shall pledge his faith. Secure of it
my fear will be removed. Be ready,
then—
and make a virtue of necessity:
your Jasonprotected owes himself to you; and he
must join you
in true wedlock. Then you shall
be celebrated through the land of Greece,
by
throngs of women, for the man you saved.
“Shall I then sail away, and so forsake
my sister,
brother, father, Gods, and land
that gave me birth? My father is indeed
a
stern man, and my native land is all
too barbarous; my brother is a child,—
my
sister's goodwill is good help for me;
and heaven's supreme god is within my
breast.
“I shall not so be leaving valued hopes,
but will
be going surely to great things.
And I should gain applause from all the
world,
as having saved the threatened Argonauts,
most noble of the Greeks; and
in their land,
which certainly is better than my own,
become the bride of
Jasonprotected, for whose love
I should not hesitate to give the world—
and in whose love the living Gods
rejoice
so greatly; for his sake they would bestow
their favors on my head,
and make the stars
my habitation.
“Should I hesitate
because the wreck-strewn
mountains bar the way,
and clash together in the Euxine waves;
or fear
Charybdis, fatal to large ships,
that sucks the deep sea in its
whirling gulf
and spouts far upward, with alternate force,
or
Scylla, circled with infuriate hounds
howling in rage from deep
Sicilian waves?
“Safe in
the shielding arms of him I love,
on Jason's bosom leaning,protector I shall
be
borne safely over wide and hostile seas;
and in his dear embrace forget my fears—
or if for anything I suffer
dread,
it will be only for the one I love.—
“Alas, Medea, this vain argument
has only furnished plausible excuse
for
criminal desires, and desecrates
the marriage rite. It is a wicked thing
to think upon. Before it is too late
forget your passion and deny this
guilt.”virginal
And after she had said these words, her eyes
were opened to the prize of modesty,
chaste virtue, and a pure
affection:virginal
and Cupid, vanquished, turned away and
fled.
Then, to an ancient altar of the goddess named
Hecate, Perse's daughter took her way
in the deep shadows of
a forest. She
was strong of purpose now, and all the flames
of vanquished passion
had died down; but when
she saw the son of Aeson, dying flames
leaped up again. Her cheeks grew red, then all
her
face went pale again; as a small spark
when hid beneath the ashes, if fed by
a
breath of wind grows and regains its strength,
as it is fanned to life; so now her
love
that had been smoldering, and which you would
have thought was almost
dead, when she had see
again his manly youth, blazed up once
more.
For on that day his graceful person seemed
as glorious as a God;—and as she gazed,
and fixed her eyes upon his countenance,
her frenzy so prevailed, she was
convinced
that he was not a mortal. And her eyes
were fascinated; and she could
not turn
away from him. But when he spoke to her,
and promised marriage, grasping
her right hand:
she answered, as her eyes suffused with tears;
“I see what I will do, and ignorance
of truth will not be my undoing now,
but love itself. By my assistance you
shall be preserved; but when preserved fulfill
your promise.”sp: medea
invo: jason
He swore that she could trust in him.
Then by the goddess of the triple form,
Diana, Trivia, or Luna called,
and by her sacred
groves and fanes, he vowed,
and by the hallowed Sun that sees all things,
and by
his own adventures, and his life,—
on these the youthful Jason took his oath.—
With this she was assured and quickly gave
to him the magic herbs: he learnt their use
and full of joy withdrew into his
house.
Now when the dawn had dimmed the glittering stars,
the people hastened to the sacred
field
of Mars, and on the hills expectant stood.—
Arrayed in purple, and in
majesty
distinguished by his ivory sceptre, sat
the king, surrounded by a
multitude.
Below them on the visioned Field of Mars,
huge
brazen-footed bulls were breathing forth
from adamantine nostrils living flames,
blasting the verdant herbage in their path!
As forges glowing with hot flames resound,
or as much quick-lime, burnt in earthen kilns,
crackles and hisses as if mad
with rage,
sprinkled with water, liberating heat;rage
so their hot
throats and triple-heated sides,
resounding told of pent-up fires within.
The son of Aeson went to meet them. As
he came to meet them the fierce
animals
turned on him faces terrible, and sharp
horns tipped with iron, and they
pawed
the dusty earth with cloven feet, and filled
the place with fiery
bellowings. The Minyans
were stark with fear; he went up to the bulls
not feeling
their hot breath at all, so great
the power of his charmed drugs; and while he
was
stroking their down-hanging dewlaps with
a fearless hand, he placed the yoke down
on
their necks and made them draw the heavy plow,
and cut through fields that
never felt the steel
before. The Colchians were amazed and silent;
but the loud
shouting of the Minyans
increased their hero's courage. Taking then
the serpent's
teeth out of a brazen helmet
he sowed them broadcast in the new-plowed field.
The moist earth softened these seeds that were steeped
in virulent poison and the teeth
swelled up
and took new forms. And just as in its mother
an infant gradually
assumes the form
of man, and is perfected through all parts
within, and does not
come forth to the light
till fully formed; so, when the forms of men
had been
completed in the womb of earth
made pregnant, they rose up from it,
and what is
yet more wonderful, each one
clashed weapons that had been brought forth with
him.
When his companions saw the warriors turn
as if with one accord, to hurl their
spears,
sharp-pointed, at the head of Jasonprotected, fear
unnerved the boldest and their courage failed.
So, too, the maid whose sorcery had
saved
him from much danger, when she saw the youth
encompassed by those raging
enemies,
and he alone against so many—struck
with sudden panic, she turned
ashen white,
her bloodless cheeks were blanched; and chilled with fear
she
wilted to the ground; and lest the herbs,
so lately given him, might fail his
need
she added incantations and invoked
mysterious arts. While she protected
himprotector
He seized upon a heavy stone, and hurled
it in the midst of his new enemies—
distracted by this cast, and murderous,
they turned from him, and clashing their new
arms,
those earth-born brothers fought among themselves
till all were slaughtered
in blood-thirsty strife.
Gladly the Greeks acclaimed him conqueror,
and pressed around him for the first
embrace.
Then, too, Medea, barbarous
Colchian maidprotector,
although her modesty
restrained her heart,
eagerly longed to fold him in her arms,
but careful of
her good name, held aloof,—
rejoicing in deep, silent love; and she
acknowledged to the Gods her mighty gift
of incantations.
But the dragon, still
alert,—magnificent and terrible
with gorgeous crest and
triple tongue, and fangs
barbed as a javelin, guards the Golden Fleece:
and
Jasonprotected can obtain that quest
only
if slumber may seal up the monster's eyes.—
Jasonprotected, successful, sprinkled on his
crest
Lethean juices of a magic herb,
and then recited thrice the words which
bring
deep slumber, potent words which would becalm
the storm-tossed ocean, and
would stop the flow
of the most rapid rivers of our earth:
and slowly slumber
sealed the dragon's eyes.
While that great monster slept, the hero took
the Golden Fleece; and proudly sailed
away
bearing his treasure and the willing maid,
(whose aid had saved him) to his
native port
Iolcus—victorious with the Argonauts.