{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_2395/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_2395","id":"gutenberg_2395","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2395","summary":null,"tags":["Argonauts (Greek mythology) -- Juvenile literature","Category: Adventure","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Mythology, Greek -- Juvenile literature"],"text":"Produced by Dianne Bean.  HTML version by Al Haines.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE GOLDEN FLEECE AND THE HEROES WHO LIVED BEFORE ACHILLES\n\n\nBY\n\nPADRAIC COLUM\n\n\n\n1921\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\nPART I. The Voyage to Colchis\n\n    I. THE YOUTH JASON\n   II. KING PELIAS\n  III. THE GOLDEN FLEECE\n   IV. THE ASSEMBLING OF THE HEROES AND THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP\n    V. THE ARGO\n   VI. POLYDEUCES' VICTORY AND HERACLES' LOSS\n  VII. KING PHINEUS\n VIII. KING PHINEUS'S COUNSEL; THE LANDING IN LEMNOS\n   IX. THE LEMNIAN MAIDENS\n    X. THE DEPARTURE FROM LEMNOS\n   XI. THE PASSAGE OF THE SYMPLEGADES\n  XII. THE MOUNTAIN CAUCASUS\n\n\n\nPART II. The Return To Greece\n\n    I. KING \u00c6ETES\n   II. MEDEA THE SORCERESS\n  III. THE WINNING OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE\n   IV. THE SLAYING OF APSYRTUS\n    V. MEDEA COMES TO CIRCE\n   VI. IN THE LAND OF THE PHAEACIANS\n  VII. THEY COME TO THE DESERT LAND\n VIII. THE CARRYING OF THE ARGO\n   IX. NEAR TO IOLCUS AGAIN\n\n\n\nPART III. The Heroes of the Quest\n\n    I. ATALANTA THE HUNTRESS\n   II. PELEUS AND HIS BRIDE FROM THE SEA\n  III. THESEUS AND THE MINOTAUR\n   IV. THE LIFE AND LABORS OF HERACLES\n    V. ADMETUS\n   VI. HOW ORPHEUS THE MINSTREL WENT DOWN TO THE WORLD OF THE DEAD\n  VII. JASON AND MEDEA\n\n\n\n\nPART I. The Voyage to Colchis\n\n\n\nI. THE YOUTH JASON\n\nA man in the garb of a slave went up the side of that mountain that is\nall covered with forest, the Mountain Pelion. He carried in his arms a\nlittle child.\n\nWhen it was full noon the slave came into a clearing of the forest so\nsilent that it seemed empty of all life. He laid the child down on the\nsoft moss, and then, trembling with the fear of what might come before\nhim, he raised a horn to his lips and blew three blasts upon it.\n\nThen he waited. The blue sky was above him, the great trees stood away\nfrom him, and the little child lay at his feet. He waited, and then he\nheard the thud-thud of great hooves. And then from between the trees he\nsaw coming toward him the strangest of all beings, one who was half man\nand half horse; this was Chiron the centaur.\n\nChiron came toward the trembling slave. Greater than any horse was\nChiron, taller than any man. The hair of his head flowed back into his\nhorse's mane, his great beard flowed over his horse's chest; in his\nman's hand he held a great spear.\n\nNot swiftly he came, but the slave could see that in those great limbs\nof his there was speed like to the wind's. The slave fell upon his\nknees. And with eyes that were full of majesty and wisdom and limbs\nthat were full of strength and speed, the king-centaur stood above him.\n\"O my lord,\" the slave said, \"I have come before thee sent by \u00c6son, my\nmaster, who told me where to come and what blasts to blow upon the\nhorn. And \u00c6son, once King of Iolcus, bade me say to thee that if thou\ndost remember his ancient friendship with thee thou wilt, perchance,\ntake this child and guard and foster him, and, as he grows, instruct\nhim with thy wisdom.\"\n\n\"For \u00c6son's sake I will rear and foster this child,\" said Chiron the\nking-centaur in a deep voice.\n\nThe child lying on the moss had been looking up at the four-footed and\ntwo-handed centaur. Now the slave lifted him up and placed him in the\ncentaur's arms. He said:\n\n\"\u00c6son bade me tell thee that the child's name is Jason. He bade me give\nthee this ring with the great ruby in it that thou mayst give it to the\nchild when he is grown. By this ring with its ruby and the images\nengraved on it \u00c6son may know his son when they meet after many years\nand many changes. And another thing \u00c6son bade me say to thee, O my lord\nChiron: not presumptuous is he, but he knows that this child has the\nregard of the immortal Goddess Hera, the wife of Zeus.\"\n\nChiron held \u00c6son's son in his arms, and the little child put hands into\nhis great beard. Then the centaur said, \"Let \u00c6son know that his son\nwill be reared and fostered by me, and that, when they meet again,\nthere will be ways by which they will be known to each other.\"\n\nSaying this Chiron the centaur, holding the child in his arms, went\nswiftly toward the forest arches; then the slave took up the horn and\nwent down the side of the Mountain Pelion. He came to where a horse was\nhidden, and he mounted and rode, first to a city, and then to a village\nthat was beyond the city.\n\nAll this was before the famous walls of Troy were built; before King\nPriam had come to the throne of his father and while he was still\nknown, not as Priam, but as Podarces. And the beginning of all these\nhappenings was in Iolcus, a city in Thessaly.\n\nCretheus founded the city and had ruled over it in days before King\nPriam was born. He left two sons, \u00c6son and Pelias. \u00c6son succeeded his\nfather. And because he was a mild and gentle man, the men of war did\nnot love \u00c6son; they wanted a hard king who would lead them to conquests.\n\nPelias, the brother of \u00c6son, was ever with the men of war; he knew what\nmind they had toward \u00c6son and he plotted with them to overthrow his\nbrother. This they did, and they brought Pelias to reign as king in\nIolcus.\n\nThe people loved \u00c6son; and they feared Pelias. And because the people\nloved him and would be maddened by his slaying, Pelias and the men of\nwar left him living. With his wife, Alcimide, and his infant son, \u00c6son\nwent from the city, and in a village that was at a distance from Iolcus\nhe found a hidden house and went to dwell in it.\n\n\u00c6son would have lived content there were it not that he was fearful for\nJason, his infant son. Jason, he knew, would grow into a strong and a\nbold youth, and Pelias, the king, would be made uneasy on his account.\nPelias would slay the son, and perhaps would slay the father for the\nson's sake when his memory would come to be less loved by the people.\n\u00c6son thought of such things in his hidden house, and he pondered on\nways to have his son reared away from Iolcus and the dread and the\npower of King Pelias.\n\nHe had for a friend one who was the wisest of all creatures Chiron the\ncentaur; Chiron who was half man and half horse; Chiron who had lived\nand was yet to live measureless years. Chiron had fostered Heracles,\nand it might be that he would not refuse to foster Jason, \u00c6son's child.\n\nAway in the fastnesses of Mount Pelion Chiron dwelt; once \u00c6son had been\nwith him and had seen the centaur hunt with his great bow and his great\nspears. And \u00c6son knew a way that one might come to him; Chiron himself\nhad told him of the way.\n\nNow there was a slave in his house who had been a huntsman and who knew\nall the ways of the Mountain Pelion. \u00c6son talked with this slave one\nday, and after he had talked with him he sat for a long time over the\ncradle of his sleeping infant. And then he spoke to Alcimide, his wife,\ntelling her of a parting that made her weep. That evening the slave\ncame in and \u00c6son took the child from the arms of the mournful-eyed\nmother and put him in the slave's arms. Also he gave him a horn and a\nring with a great ruby in it and mystic images engraved on its gold.\nThen when the ways were dark the slave mounted a horse, and, with the\nchild in his arms, rode through the city that King Pelias ruled over.\nIn the morning he came to that mountain that is all covered with\nforest, the Mountain Pelion. And that evening he came back to the\nvillage and to \u00c6son's hidden house, and he told his master how he had\nprospered.\n\n\u00c6son was content thereafter although he was lonely and although his\nwife was lonely in their childlessness. But the time came when they\nrejoiced that their child had been sent into an unreachable place. For\nmessengers from King Pelias came inquiring about the boy. They told the\nking's messengers that the child had strayed off from his nurse, and\nthat whether he had been slain by a wild beast or had been drowned in\nthe swift River Anaurus they did not know.\n\nThe years went by and Pelias felt secure upon the throne he had taken\nfrom his brother. Once he sent to the oracle of the gods to ask of it\nwhether he should be fearful of anything. What the oracle answered was\nthis: that King Pelias had but one thing to dread--the coming of a\nhalf-shod man.\n\nThe centaur nourished the child Jason on roots and fruits and honey;\nfor shelter they had a great cave that Chiron had lived in for\nnumberless years. When he had grown big enough to leave the cave Chiron\nwould let Jason mount on his back; with the child holding on to his\ngreat mane he would trot gently through the ways of the forest.\n\nJason began to know the creatures of the forest and their haunts.\nSometimes Chiron would bring his great bow with him; then Jason, on his\nback, would hold the quiver and would hand him the arrows. The centaur\nwould let the boy see him kill with a single arrow the bear, the boar,\nor the deer. And soon Jason, running beside him, hunted too.\n\nNo heroes were ever better trained than those whose childhood and youth\nhad been spent with Chiron the king-centaur. He made them more swift of\nfoot than any other of the children of men. He made them stronger and\nmore ready with the spear and bow. Jason was trained by Chiron as\nHeracles just before him had been trained, and as Achilles was to be\ntrained afterward.\n\nMoreover, Chiron taught him the knowledge of the stars and the wisdom\nthat had to do with the ways of the gods.\n\nOnce, when they were hunting together, Jason saw a form at the end of\nan alley of trees--the form of a woman it was--of a woman who had on\nher head a shining crown. Never had Jason dreamt of seeing a form so\nwondrous. Not very near did he come, but he thought he knew that the\nwoman smiled upon him. She was seen no more, and Jason knew that he had\nlooked upon one of the immortal goddesses.\n\nAll day Jason was filled with thought of her whom he had seen. At\nnight, when the stars were out, and when they were seated outside the\ncave, Chiron and Jason talked together, and Chiron told the youth that\nshe whom he had seen was none other than Hera, the wife of Zeus, who\nhad for his father \u00c6son and for himself an especial friendliness.\n\nSo Jason grew up upon the mountain and in the forest fastnesses. When\nhe had reached his full height and had shown himself swift in the hunt\nand strong with the spear and bow, Chiron told him that the time had\ncome when he should go back to the world of men and make his name\nfamous by the doing of great deeds.\n\nAnd when Chiron told him about his father \u00c6son--about how he had been\nthrust out of the kingship by Pelias, his uncle a great longing came\nupon Jason to see his father and a fierce anger grew up in his heart\nagainst Pelias.\n\nThen the time came when he bade good-by to Chiron his great instructor;\nthe time came when he went from the centaur's cave for the last time,\nand went through the wooded ways and down the side of the Mountain\nPelion. He came to the river, to the swift Anaurus, and he found it\nhigh in flood. The stones by which one might cross were almost all\nwashed over; far apart did they seem in the flood.\n\nNow as he stood there pondering on what he might do there came up to\nhim an old woman who had on her back a load of brushwood. \"Wouldst thou\ncross?\" asked the old woman. \"Wouldst thou cross and get thee to the\ncity of Iolcus, Jason, where so many things await thee?\"\n\nGreatly was the youth astonished to hear his name spoken by this old\nwoman, and to hear her give the name of the city he was bound for.\n\"Wouldst thou cross the Anaurus?\" she asked again. \"Then mount upon my\nback, holding on to the wood I carry, and I will bear thee over the\nriver.\"\n\nJason smiled. How foolish this old woman was to think that she could\nbear him across the flooded river! She came near him and she took him\nin her arms and lifted him up on her shoulders. Then, before he knew\nwhat she was about to do, she had stepped into the water.\n\nFrom stone to stepping-stone she went, Jason holding on to the wood\nthat she had drawn to her shoulders. She left him down upon the bank.\nAs she was lifting him down one of his feet touched the water; the\nswift current swept away a sandal.\n\nHe stood on the bank knowing that she who had carried him across the\nflooded river had strength from the gods. He looked upon her, and\nbehold! she was transformed. Instead of an old woman there stood before\nhim one who had on a golden robe and a shining crown. Around her was a\nwondrous light--the light of the sun when it is most golden. Then Jason\nknew that she who had carried him across the broad Anaurus was the\ngoddess whom he had seen in the ways of the forest--Hera, great Zeus's\nwife.\n\n\"Go into Iolcus, Jason,\" said great Hera to him, \"go into Iolcus, and\nin whatever chance doth befall thee act as one who has the eyes of the\nimmortals upon him.\"\n\nShe spoke and she was seen no more. Then Jason went on his way to the\ncity that Cretheus, his grandfather, had founded and that his father\n\u00c6son had once ruled over. He came into that city, a tall, great-limbed,\nunknown youth, dressed in a strange fashion, and having but one sandal\non.\n\n\n\nII. KING PELIAS\n\nThat day King Pelias, walking through the streets of his city, saw\ncoming toward him a youth who was half shod. He remembered the words of\nthe oracle that bade him beware of a half-shod man, and straightway he\ngave orders to his guards to lay hands upon the youth.\n\nBut the guards wavered when they went toward him, for there was\nsomething about the youth that put them in awe of him. He came with the\nguards, however, and he stood before the king's judgment seat.\n\nFearfully did Pelias look upon him. But not fearfully did the youth\nlook upon the king. With head lifted high he cried out, \"Thou art\nPelias, but I do not salute thee as king. Know that I am Jason, the son\nof \u00c6son from whom thou hast taken the throne and scepter that were\nrightfully his.\"\n\nKing Pelias looked to his guards. He would have given them a sign to\ndestroy the youth's life with their spears, but behind his guards he\nsaw a threatening multitude--the dwellers of the city of Iolcus; they\ngathered around, and Pelias knew that he had become more and more hated\nby them. And from the multitude a cry went up, \"\u00c6son, \u00c6son! May \u00c6son\ncome back to us! Jason, son of \u00c6son! May nothing evil befall thee,\nbrave youth!\"\n\nThen Pelias knew that the youth might not be slain. He bent his head\nwhile he plotted against him in his heart. Then he raised his eyes, and\nlooking upon Jason he said, \"O goodly youth, it well may be that thou\nart the son of \u00c6son, my brother. I am well pleased to see thee here. I\nhave had hopes that I might be friends with \u00c6son, and thy coming here\nmay be the means to the renewal of our friendship. We two brothers may\ncome together again. I will send for thy father now, and he will be\nbrought to meet thee in my royal palace. Go with my guards and with\nthis rejoicing people, and in a little while thou and I and thy father\n\u00c6son will sit at a feast of friends.\"\n\nSo Pelias said, and Jason went with the guards and the crowd of people,\nand he came to the palace of the king and he was brought within. The\nmaids led him to the bath and gave him new robes to wear. Dressed in\nthese Jason looked a prince indeed.\n\nBut all that while King Pelias remained on his judgment seat with his\ncrowned head bent down. When he raised his head his dark brows were\ngathered together and his thin lips were very close. He looked to the\nswords and spears of his guards, and he made a sign to the men to stand\nclose to him. Then he left the judgment seat and he went to the palace.\n\n\n\nIII. THE GOLDEN FLEECE\n\nThey brought Jason into a hall where \u00c6son, his father, waited. Very\nstrange did this old and grave-looking man appear to him. But when \u00c6son\nspoke, Jason remembered even without the sight of the ruby ring the\ntone of his father's voice and he clasped him to him. And his father\nknew him even without the sight of the ruby ring which Jason had upon\nhis finger.\n\nThen the young man began to tell of the centaur and of his life upon\nthe Mountain Pelion. As they were speaking together Pelias came to\nwhere they stood, Pelias in the purple robe of a king and with the\ncrown upon his head. \u00c6son tightly clasped Jason as if he had become\nfearful for his son. Pelias smilingly took the hand of the young man\nand the hand of his brother, and he bade them both welcome to his\npalace.\n\nThen, walking between them, the king brought the two into the feasting\nhall. The youth who had known only the forest and the mountainside had\nto wonder at the beauty and the magnificence of all he saw around him.\nOn the walls were bright pictures; the tables were of polished wood,\nand they had vessels of gold and dishes of silver set upon them; along\nthe walls were vases of lovely shapes and colors, and everywhere there\nwere baskets heaped with roses white and red.\n\nThe king's guests were already in the hall, young men and elders, and\nmaidens went amongst them carrying roses which they strung into wreaths\nfor the guests to put upon their heads. A soft-handed maiden gave Jason\na wreath of roses and he put it on his head as he sat down at the\nking's table. When he looked at all the rich and lovely things in that\nhall, and when he saw the guests looking at him with friendly eyes,\nJason felt that he was indeed far away from the dim spaces of the\nmountain forest and from the darkness of the centaur's cave.\n\nRich food and wine such as he had never dreamt of tasting were brought\nto the tables. He ate and drank, and his eyes followed the fair maidens\nwho went through the hall. He thought how glorious it was to be a king.\nHe heard Pelias speak to \u00c6son, his father, telling him that he was old\nand that he was weary of ruling; that he longed to make friends, and\nthat he would let no enmity now be between him and his brother. And he\nheard the king say that he, Jason, was young and courageous, and that\nhe would call upon him to help to rule the land, and that, in a while,\nJason would bear full sway over the kingdom that Cretheus had founded.\n\nSo Pelias spoke to \u00c6son as they both sat together at the king's high\ntable. But Jason, looking on them both, saw that the eyes that his\nfather turned on him were full of warnings and mistrust.\n\nAfter they had eaten King Pelias made a sign, and a cupbearer bringing\na richly wrought cup came and stood before the king. The king stood up,\nholding the cup in his hands, and all in the hall waited silently. Then\nPelias put the cup into Jason's hands and he cried out in a voice that\nwas heard all through the hall, \"Drink from this cup, O nephew Jason!\nDrink from this cup, O man who will soon come to rule over the kingdom\nthat Cretheus founded!\"\n\nAll in the hall stood up and shouted with delight at that speech. But\nthe king was not delighted with their delight, Jason saw. He took the\ncup and he drank the rich wine; pride grew in him; he looked down the\nhall and he saw faces all friendly to him; he felt as a king might\nfeel, secure and triumphant. And then he heard King Pelias speaking\nonce more.\n\n\"This is my nephew Jason, reared and fostered in the centaur's cave. He\nwill tell you of his life in the forest and the mountains, his life\nthat was like to the life of the half gods.\"\n\nThen Jason spoke to them, telling them of his life on the Mountain\nPelion. When he had spoken, Pelias said:\n\n\"I was bidden by the oracle to beware of the man whom I should see\ncoming toward me half shod. But, as you all see, I have brought the\nhalf-shod man to my palace and my feasting hall, so little do I dread\nthe anger of the gods.\n\n\"And I dread it little because I am blameless. This youth, the son of\nmy brother, is strong and courageous, and I rejoice in his strength and\ncourage, for I would have him take my place and reign over you. Ali,\nthat I were as young as he is now! Ali, that I had been reared and\nfostered as he was reared and fostered by the wise centaur and under\nthe eyes of the immortals! Then would I do that which in my youth I\noften dreamed of doing! Then would I perform a deed that would make my\nname and the name of my city famous throughout all Greece! Then would I\nbring from far Colchis, the famous Fleece of Gold that King \u00c6etes keeps\nguard over!\"\n\nHe finished speaking, and all in the hall shouted out, \"The Golden\nFleece, the Golden Fleece from Colchis!\" Jason stood up, and his\nfather's hand gripped him. But he did not heed the hold of his father's\nhand, for \"The Golden Fleece, the Golden Fleece!\" rang in his ears, and\nbefore his eyes were the faces of those who were all eager for the\nsight of the wonder that King \u00c6etes kept guard over.\n\nThen said Jason, \"Thou hast spoken well, O King Pelias! Know, and know\nall here assembled, that I have heard of the Golden Fleece and of the\ndangers that await on any one who should strive to win it from King\n\u00c6etes's care. But know, too, that I would strive to win the Fleece and\nbring it to Iolcus, winning fame both for myself and for the city.\"\n\nWhen he had spoken he saw his father's stricken eyes; they were fixed\nupon him. But he looked from them to the shining eyes of the young men\nwho were even then pressing around where he stood. \"Jason, Jason!\" they\nshouted. \"The Golden Fleece for Iolcus!\"\n\n\"King Pelias knows that the winning of the Golden Fleece is a feat most\ndifficult,\" said Jason. \"But if he will have built for me a ship that\ncan make the voyage to far Colchis, and if he will send throughout all\nGreece the word of my adventuring so that all the heroes who would win\nfame might come with me, and if ye, young heroes of Iolcus, will come\nwith me, I will peril my life to win the wonder that King \u00c6etes keeps\nguard over.\"\n\nHe spoke and those in the hall shouted again and made clamor around\nhim. But still his father sat gazing at him with stricken eyes.\n\nKing Pelias stood up in the hall and holding up his scepter he said, \"O\nmy nephew Jason, and O friends assembled here, I promise that I will\nhave built for the voyage the best ship that ever sailed from a harbor\nin Greece. And I promise that I will send throughout all Greece a word\ntelling of Jason's voyage so that all heroes desirous of winning fame\nmay come to help him and to help all of you who may go with him to win\nfrom the keeping of King \u00c6etes the famous Fleece of Gold.\"\n\nSo King Pelias said, but Jason, looking to the king from his father's\nstricken eyes, saw that he had been led by the king into the acceptance\nof the voyage so that he might fare far from Iolcus, and perhaps lose\nhis life in striving to gain the wonder that King \u00c6etes kept guarded.\nBy the glitter in Pelias's eyes he knew the truth. Nevertheless Jason\nwould not take back one word that he had spoken; his heart was strong\nwithin him, and he thought that with the help of the bright-eyed youths\naround and with the help of those who would come to him at the word of\nthe voyage, he would bring the Golden Fleece to Iolcus and make famous\nfor all time his own name.\n\n\n\nIV. THE ASSEMBLING OF THE HEROES AND THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP\n\nFirst there came the youths Castor and Polydeuces. They came riding on\nwhite horses, two noble-looking brothers. From Sparta they came, and\ntheir mother was Leda, who, after the twin brothers, had another child\nborn to her--Helen, for whose sake the sons of many of Jason's friends\nwere to wage war against the great city of Troy. These were the first\nheroes who came to Iolcus after the word had gone forth through Greece\nof Jason's adventuring in quest of the Golden Fleece.\n\nAnd then there came one who had both welcome and reverence from Jason;\nthis one came without spear or bow, bearing in his hands a lyre only.\nHe was Orpheus, and he knew all the ways of the gods and all the\nstories of the gods; when he sang to his lyre the trees would listen\nand the beasts would follow him. It was Chiron who had counseled\nOrpheus to go with Jason; Chiron the centaur had met him as he was\nwandering through the forests on the Mountain Pelion and had sent him\ndown into Iolcus.\n\nThen there came two men well skilled in the handling of ships--Tiphys\nand Nauplius. Tiphys knew all about the sun and winds and stars, and\nall about the signs by which a ship might be steered, and Nauplius had\nthe love of Poseidon, the god of the sea.\n\nAfterward there came, one after the other, two who were famous for\ntheir hunting. No two could be more different than these two were. The\nfirst was Arcas. He was dressed in the skin of a bear; he had red hair\nand savage-looking eyes, and for arms he carried a mighty bow with\nbronze-tipped arrows. The folk were watching an eagle as he came into\nthe city, an eagle that was winging its way far, far up in the sky.\nArcas drew his bow, and with one arrow he brought the eagle down.\n\nThe other hunter was a girl, Atalanta. Tall and brighthaired was\nAtalanta, swift and good with the bow. She had dedicated herself to\nArtemis, the guardian of the wild things, and she had vowed that she\nwould remain unwedded. All the heroes welcomed Atalanta as a comrade,\nand the maiden did all the things that the young men did.\n\nThere came a hero who was less youthful than Castor or Polydeuces; he\nwas a man good in council named Nestor. Afterward Nestor went to the\nwar against Troy, and then he was the oldest of the heroes in the camp\nof Agamemnon.\n\nTwo brothers came who were to be special friends of Jason's--Peleus and\nTelamon. Both were still youthful and neither had yet achieved any\nnotable deed. Afterward they were to be famous, but their sons were to\nbe even more famous, for the son of Telamon was strong Aias, and the\nson of Peleus was great Achilles.\n\nAnother who came was Admetus; afterward he became a famous king. The\nGod Apollo once made himself a shepherd and he kept the flocks of King\nAdmetus.\n\nAnd there came two brothers, twins, who were a wonder to all who beheld\nthem. Zetes and Calais they were named; their mother was Oreithyia, the\ndaughter of Erechtheus, King of Athens, and their father was Boreas,\nthe North Wind. These two brothers had on their ankles wings that\ngleamed with golden scales; their black hair was thick upon their\nshoulders, and it was always being shaken by the wind.\n\nWith Zetes and Calais there came a youth armed with a great sword whose\nname was Theseus. Theseus's father was an unknown king; he had bidden\nthe mother show their son where his sword was hidden. Under a great\nstone the king had hidden it before Theseus was born. Before he had\ngrown out of his boyhood Theseus had been able to raise the stone and\ndraw forth his father's sword. As yet he had done no great deed, but he\nwas resolved to win fame and to find his unknown father.\n\nOn the day that the messengers had set out to bring through Greece the\nword of Jason's going forth in quest of the Golden Fleece the\nwoodcutters made their way up into the forests of Mount Pelion; they\nbegan to fell trees for the timbers of the ship that was to make the\nvoyage to far Colchis.\n\nGreat timbers were cut and brought down to Pagasae, the harbor of\nIolcus. On the night of the day he had helped to bring them down Jason\nhad a dream. He dreamt that she whom he had seen in the forest ways and\nafterward by the River Anaurus appeared to him. And in his dream the\ngoddess bade him rise early in the morning and welcome a man whom he\nwould meet at the city's gate--a tall and gray-haired man who would\nhave on his shoulders tools for the building of a ship.\n\nHe went to the city's gate and he met such a man. Argus was his name.\nHe told Jason that a dream had sent him to the city of Iolcus. Jason\nwelcomed him and lodged him in the king's palace, and that day the word\nwent through the city that the building of the great ship would soon be\nbegun.\n\nBut not with the timbers brought from Mount Pelion did Argus begin.\nWalking through the palace with Jason he noted a great beam in the\nroof. That beam, he said, had been shown him in his dream; it was from\nan oak tree in Dodona, the grove of Zeus. A sacred power was in the\nbeam, and from it the prow of the ship should be fashioned. Jason had\nthem take the beam from the roof of the palace; it was brought to where\nthe timbers were, and that day the building of the great ship was begun.\n\nThen all along the waterside came the noise of hammering; in the street\nwhere the metalworkers were came the noise of beating upon metals as\nthe smiths fashioned out of bronze armor for the heroes and swords and\nspears. Every day, under the eyes of Argus the master, the ship that\nhad in it the beam from Zeus's grove was built higher and wider. And\nthose who were building the ship often felt going through it tremors as\nof a living creature.\n\nWhen the ship was built and made ready for the voyage a name was given\nto it--the Argo it was called. And naming themselves from the ship the\nheroes called themselves the Argonauts. All was ready for the voyage,\nand now Jason went with his friends to view the ship before she was\nbrought into the water.\n\nArgus the master was on the ship, seeing to it that the last things\nwere being done before Argo was launched. Very grave and wise looked\nArgus--Argus the builder of the ship. And wonderful to the heroes the\nship looked now that Argus, for their viewing, had set up the mast with\nthe sails and had even put the oars in their places. Wonderful to the\nheroes Argo looked with her long oars and her high sails, with her\ntimbers painted red and gold and blue, and with a marvelous figure\ncarved upon her prow. All over the ship Jason's eyes went. He saw a\nfigure standing by the mast; for a moment he looked on it, and then the\nfigure became shadowy. But Jason knew that he had looked upon the\ngoddess whom he had seen in the ways of the forest and had seen\nafterward by the rough Anaurus.\n\nThen mast and sails were taken down and the oars were left in the ship,\nand the Argo was launched into the water. The heroes went back to the\npalace of King Pelias to feast with the king's guests before they took\ntheir places on the ship, setting out on the voyage to far Colchis.\n\nWhen they came into the palace they saw that another hero had arrived.\nHis shield was hung in the hall; the heroes all gathered around, amazed\nat the size and the beauty of it. The shield shone all over with gold.\nIn its center was the figure of Fear--of Fear that stared backward with\neyes burning as with fire. The mouth was open and the teeth were shown.\nAnd other figures were wrought around the figure of Fear--Strife and\nPursuit and Flight; Tumult and Panic and Slaughter. The figure of Fate\nwas there dragging a dead man by the feet; on her shoulders Fate had a\ngarment that was red with the blood of men.\n\nAround these figures were heads of snakes, heads with black jaws and\nglittering eyes, twelve heads such as might affright any man. And on\nother parts of the shield were shown the horses of Ares, the grim god\nof war. The figure of Ares himself was shown also. He held a spear in\nhis hand, and he was urging the warriors on.\n\nAround the inner rim of the shield the sea was shown, wrought in white\nmetal. Dolphins swam in the sea, fishing for little fishes that were\nshown there in bronze. Around the rim chariots were racing along with\nwheels running close together; there were men fighting and women\nwatching from high towers. The awful figure of the Darkness of Death\nwas shown there, too, with mournful eyes and the dust of battles upon\nher shoulders. The outer rim of the shield showed the Stream of Ocean,\nthe stream that encircles the world; swans were soaring above and\nswimming on its surface.\n\nAll in wonder the heroes gazed on the great shield, telling each other\nthat only one man in all the world could carry it--Heracles the son of\nZeus. Could it be that Heracles had come amongst them? They went into\nthe feasting hall and they saw one there who was tall as a pine tree,\nwith unshorn tresses of hair upon his head. Heracles indeed it was! He\nturned to them a smiling face with smiling eyes. Heracles! They all\ngathered around the strongest hero in the world, and he took the hand\nof each in his mighty hand.\n\n\n\nV. THE ARGO\n\nThe heroes went the next day through the streets of Iolcus down to\nwhere the ship lay. The ways they went through were crowded; the heroes\nwere splendid in their appearance, and Jason amongst them shone like a\nstar.\n\nThe people praised him, and one told the other that it would not be\nlong until they would win back to Iolcus, for this band of heroes was\nstrong enough, they said, to take King \u00c6etes's city and force him to\ngive up to them the famous Fleece of Gold. Many of the bright-eyed\nyouths of Iolcus went with the heroes who had come from the different\nparts of Greece.\n\nAs they marched past a temple a priestess came forth to speak to Jason;\nIphias was her name. She had a prophecy to utter about the voyage. But\nIphias was very old, and she stammered in her speech to Jason. What she\nsaid was not heard by him. The heroes went on, and ancient Iphias was\nleft standing there as the old are left by the young.\n\nThe heroes went aboard the Argo. They took their seats as at an\nassembly. Then Jason faced them and spoke to them all.\n\n\"Heroes of the quest,\" said Jason, \"we have come aboard the great ship\nthat Argus has built, and all that a ship needs is in its place or is\nready to our hands. All that we wait for now is the coming of the\nmorning's breeze that will set us on our way for far Colchis.\n\n\"One thing we have first to do--that is, to choose a leader who will\ndirect us all, one who will settle disputes amongst ourselves and who\nwill make treaties between us and the strangers that we come amongst.\nWe must choose such a leader now.\"\n\nJason spoke, and some looked to him and some looked to Heracles. But\nHeracles stood up, and, stretching out his hand, said:\n\n\"Argonauts! Let no one amongst you offer the leadership to me. I will\nnot take it. The hero who brought us together and made all things ready\nfor our going--it is he and no one else who should be our leader in\nthis voyage.\"\n\nSo Heracles said, and the Argonauts all stood up and raised a cry for\nJason. Then Jason stepped forward, and he took the hand of each\nArgonaut in his hand, and he swore that he would lead them with all the\nmind and all the courage that he possessed. And he prayed the gods that\nit would be given to him to lead them back safely with the Golden\nFleece glittering on the mast of the Argo.\n\nThey drew lots for the benches they would sit at; they took the places\nthat for the length of the voyage they would have on the ship. They\nmade sacrifice to the gods and they waited for the breeze of the\nmorning that would help them away from Iolcus.\n\nAnd while they waited \u00c6son, the father of Jason, sat at his own hearth,\nbowed and silent in his grief. Alcimide, his wife, sat near him, but\nshe was not silent; she lamented to the women of Iolcus who were\ngathered around her. \"I did not go down to the ship,\" she said, \"for\nwith my grief I would not be a bird of ill omen for the voyage. By this\nhearth my son took farewell of me--the only son I ever bore. From the\ndoorway I watched him go down the street of the city, and I heard the\npeople shout as he went amongst them, they glorying in my son's\nsplendid appearance. Ah, that I might live to see his return and to\nhear the shout that will go up when the people look on Jason again! But\nI know that my life will not be spared so long; I will not look on my\nson when he comes back from the dangers he will run in the quest of the\nGolden Fleece.\"\n\nThen the women of Iolcus asked her to tell them of the Golden Fleece,\nand Alcimide told them of it and of the sorrows that were upon the race\nof Aeolus.\n\nCretheus, the father of \u00c6son, and Pelias, was of the race of Aeolus,\nand of the race of Aeolus, too, was Athamas, the king who ruled in\nThebes at the same time that Cretheus ruled in Iolcus. And the first\nchildren of Athamas were Phrixus and Helle.\n\n\"Ah, Phrixus and ah, Helle,\" Alcimide lamented, \"what griefs you have\nbrought on the race of Aeolus! And what griefs you yourselves suffered!\nThe evil that Athamas, your father, did you lives to be a curse to the\nline of Aeolus!\n\n\"Athamas was wedded first to Nephele, the mother of Phrixus and Helle,\nthe youth and maiden. But Athamas married again while the mother of\nthese children was still living, and Ino, the new queen, drove Nephele\nand her children out of the king's palace.\n\n\"And now was Nephele most unhappy. She had to live as a servant, and\nher children were servants to the servants of the palace. They were\nclad in rags and had little to eat, and they were beaten often by the\nservants who wished to win the favor of the new queen.\n\n\"But although they wore rags and had menial tasks to do, Phrixus and\nHelle looked the children of a queen. The boy was tall, and in his eyes\nthere often came the flash of power, and the girl looked as if she\nwould grow into a lovely maiden. And when Athamas, their father, would\nmeet them by chance he would sigh, and Queen Ino would know by that\nsigh that he had still some love for them in his heart. Afterward she\nwould have to use all the power she possessed to win the king back from\nthinking upon his children.\n\n\"And now Queen Ino had children of her own. She knew that the people\nreverenced the children of Nephele and cared nothing for her children.\nAnd because she knew this she feared that when Athamas died Phrixus and\nHelle, the children of Nephele, would be brought to rule in Thebes.\nThen she and her children would be made to change places with them.\n\n\"This made Queen Ino think on ways by which she could make Phrixus and\nHelle lose their lives. She thought long upon this, and at last a\ndesperate plan came into her mind.\n\n\"When it was winter she went amongst the women of the countryside, and\nshe gave them jewels and clothes for presents. Then she asked them to\ndo secretly an unheard-of thing. She asked the women to roast over\ntheir fires the grains that had been left for seed. This the women did.\nThen spring came on, and the men sowed in the fields the grain that had\nbeen roasted over the fires. No shoots grew up as the spring went by.\nIn summer there was no waving greenness in the fields. Autumn came, and\nthere was no grain for the reaping. Then the men, not knowing what had\nhappened, went to King Athamas and told him that there would be famine\nin the land.\n\n\"The king sent to the temple of Artemis to ask how the people might be\nsaved from the famine. And the guardians of the temple, having taken\ngold from Queen Ino, told them that there would be worse and worse\nfamine and that all the people of Thebes would die of hunger unless the\nking was willing to make a great sacrifice.\n\n\"When the king asked what sacrifice he should make he was told by the\nguardians of the temple that he must sacrifice to the goddess his two\nchildren, Phrixus and Helle. Those who were around the king, to save\nthemselves from famine after famine, clamored to have the children\nsacrificed. Athamas, to save his people, consented to the sacrifice.\n\n\"They went toward the king's palace. They found Helle by the bank of\nthe river washing clothes. They took her and bound her. They found\nPhrixus, half naked, digging in a field, and they took him, too, and\nbound him. That night they left brother and sister in the same prison.\nHelle wept over Phrixus, and Phrixus wept to think that he was not able\nto do anything to save his sister.\n\n\"The servants of the palace went to Nephele, and they mocked at her,\ntelling her that her children would be sacrificed on the morrow.\nNephele nearly went wild in her grief. And then, suddenly, there came\ninto her mind the thought of a creature that might be a helper to her\nand to her children.\n\n\"This creature was a ram that had wings and a wonderful fleece of gold.\nThe god of the sea, Poseidon, had sent this wonderful ram to Athamas\nand Nephele as a marriage gift. And the ram had since been kept in a\nspecial fold.\n\n\"To that fold Nephele went. She spent the night beside the ram praying\nfor its help. The morning came and the children were taken from their\nprison and dressed in white, and wreaths were put upon their heads to\nmark them as things for sacrifice. They were led in a procession to the\ntemple of Artemis. Behind that procession King Athamas walked, his head\nbowed in shame.\n\n\"But Queen Ino's head was not bowed; rather she carried it high, for\nher thought was all upon her triumph. Soon Phrixus and Helle would be\ndead, and then, whatever happened, her own children would reign after\nAthamas in Thebes.\n\n\"Phrixus and Helle, thinking they were taking their last look at the\nsun, went on. And even then Nephele, holding the horns of the golden\nram, was making her last prayer. The sun rose and as it did the ram\nspread out its great wings and flew through the air. It flew to the\ntemple of Artemis. Down beside the altar came the golden ram, and it\nstood with its horns threatening those who came. All stopped in\nsurprise. Still the ram stood with threatening head and great golden\nwings spread out. Then Phrixus ran from those who were holding him and\nlaid his hands upon the ram. He called to Helle and she, too, came to\nthe golden creature. Phrixus mounted on the ram and he pulled Helle up\nbeside him. Then the golden ram flew upward. Up, up, it went, and with\nthe children upon its back it became like a star in the day-lit sky.\n\n\"Then Queen Ino, seeing the children saved by the golden ram, shrieked\nand fled away from that place. Athamas ran after her. As she ran and as\nhe followed hatred for her grew up within him. Ino ran on and on until\nshe came to the cliffs that rose over the sea. Fearing Athamas who came\nbehind her she plunged down. But as she fell she was changed by\nPoseidon, the god of the sea. She became a seagull. Athamas, who\nfollowed her, was changed also; he became the sea eagle that, with beak\nand talons ever ready to strike, flies above the sea.\n\n\"And the golden ram with wings outspread flew on and on. Over the sea\nit flew while the wind whistled around the children. On and on they\nwent, and the children saw only the blue sea beneath them. Then poor\nHelle, looking downward, grew dizzy. She fell off the golden ram before\nher brother could take hold of her. Down she fell, and still the ram\nflew on and on. She was drowned in that sea. The people afterward named\nit in memory of her, calling it 'Hellespont'--'Helle's Sea.'\n\n\"On and on the ram flew. Over a wild and barren country it flew and\ntoward a river. Upon that river a white city was built. Down the ram\nflew, and alighting on the ground, stood before the gate of that city.\nIt was the city of Aea, in the land of Colchis.\n\n\"The king was in the street of the city, and he joined with the crowd\nthat gathered around the strange golden creature that had a youth upon\nits back. The ram folded its wings and then the youth stood beside it.\nHe spoke to the people, and then the king--\u00c6etes was his name--spoke to\nhim, asking him from what place he had come, and what was the strange\ncreature upon whose back he had flown.\n\n\"To the king and to the people Phrixus told his story, weeping to tell\nof Helle and her fall. Then King \u00c6etes brought him into the city, and\nhe gave him a place in the palace, and for the golden ram he had a\nspecial fold made.\n\n\"Soon after the ram died, and then King \u00c6etes took its golden fleece\nand hung it upon an oak tree that was in a place dedicated to Ares, the\ngod of war. Phrixus wed one of the daughters of the king, and men say\nthat afterward he went back to Thebes, his own land.\n\n\"And as for the Golden Fleece it became the greatest of King \u00c6etes's\ntreasures. Well indeed does he guard it, and not with armed men only,\nbut with magic powers. Very strong and very cunning is King \u00c6etes, and\na terrible task awaits those who would take away from him that Fleece\nof Gold.\"\n\nSo Alcimide spoke, sorrowfully telling to the women the story of the\nGolden Fleece that her son Jason was going in quest of. So she spoke,\nand the night waned, and the morning of the sailing of the Argo came on.\n\nAnd when the Argonauts beheld the dawn upon the high peaks of Pelion\nthey arose and poured out wine in offering to Zeus, the highest of the\ngods. Then Argo herself gave forth a strange cry, for the beam from\nDodona that had been formed into her prow had endued her with life. She\nuttered a strange cry, and as she did the heroes took their places at\nthe benches, one after the other, as had been arranged by lot, and\nTiphys, the helmsman, went to the steering place. To the sound of\nOrpheus's lyre they smote with oars the rushing sea water, and the\nsurge broke over the oar blades. The sails were let out and the breeze\ncame into them, piping shrilly, and the fishes came darting through the\ngreen sea, great and small, and followed them, gamboling along the\nwatery paths. And Chiron, the king-centaur, came down from the Mountain\nPelion, and standing with his feet in the foam cried out, \"Good speed,\nO Argonauts, good speed, and a sorrowless return.\"\n\n\n\nTHE BEGINNING OF THINGS\n\nOrpheus sang to his lyre, Orpheus the minstrel, who knew the ways and\nthe stories of the gods; out in the open sea on the first morning of\nthe voyage Orpheus sang to them of the beginning of things.\n\nHe sang how at first Earth and Heaven and Sea were all mixed and\nmingled together. There was neither Light nor Darkness then, but only a\nDimness. This was Chaos. And from Chaos came forth Night and Erebus.\nFrom Night was born Aether, the Upper Air, and from Night and Erebus\nwedded there was born Day.\n\nAnd out of Chaos came Earth, and out of Earth came the starry Heaven.\nAnd from Heaven and Earth wedded there were born the Titan gods and\ngoddesses--Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus; Theia, Rhea,\nThemis, Mnemosyne, gold-crowned Phoebe, and lovely Tethys. And then\nHeaven and Earth had for their child Cronos, the most cunning of all.\n\nCronos wedded Rhea, and from Cronos and Rhea were born the gods who\nwere different from the Titan gods.\n\nBut Heaven and Earth had other children--Cottus, Briareus, and Gyes.\nThese were giants, each with fifty heads and a hundred arms. And Heaven\ngrew fearful when he looked on these giant children, and he hid them\naway in the deep places of the Earth.\n\nCronos hated Heaven, his father. He drove Heaven, his father, and\nEarth, his mother, far apart. And far apart they stay, for they have\nnever been able to come near each other since. And Cronos married to\nRhea had for children Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Aidoneus, and Poseidon,\nand these all belonged to the company of the deathless gods. Cronos was\nfearful that one of his sons would treat him as he had treated Heaven,\nhis father. So when another child was born to him and his wife Rhea he\ncommanded that the child be given to him so that he might swallow him.\nBut Rhea wrapped a great stone in swaddling clothes and gave the stone\nto Cronos. And Cronos swallowed the stone, thinking to swallow his\nlatest-born child.\n\nThat child was Zeus. Earth took Zeus and hid him in a deep cave and\nthose who minded and nursed the child beat upon drums so that his cries\nmight not be heard. His nurse was Adrastia; when he was able to play\nshe gave him a ball to play with. All of gold was the ball, with a\ndark-blue spiral around it. When the boy Zeus would play with this ball\nit would make a track across the sky, flaming like a star.\n\nHyperion the Titan god wed Theia the Titan goddess, and their children\nwere Hellos, the bright Sun, and Selene, the clear Moon. And Coeus wed\nPhoebe, and their children were Leto, who is kind to gods and men, and\nAsteria of happy name, and Hecate, whom Zeus honored above all. Now the\ngods who were the children of Cronos and Rhea went up unto the Mountain\nOlympus, and there they built their shining palaces. But the Titan gods\nwho were born of Heaven and Earth went up to the Mountain Othrys, and\nthere they had their thrones.\n\nBetween the Olympians and the Titan gods of Othrys a war began. Neither\nside might prevail against the other. But now Zeus, grown up to be a\nyouth, thought of how he might help the Olympians to overthrow the\nTitan gods.\n\nHe went down into the deep parts of the Earth where the giants Cottus,\nBriareus, and Gyes had been hidden by their father. Cronos had bound\nthem, weighing them down with chains. But now Zeus loosed them and the\nhundred-armed giants in their gratitude gave him the lightning and\nshowed him how to use the thunderbolt.\n\nZeus would have the giants fight against the Titan gods. But although\nthey had mighty strength Cottus, Briareus, and Gyes had no fire of\ncourage in their hearts. Zeus thought of a way to give them this\ncourage; he brought the food and drink of the gods to them, ambrosia\nand nectar, and when they had eaten and drunk their spirits grew within\nthe giants, and they were ready to make war upon the Titan gods.\n\n\"Sons of Earth and Heaven,\" said Zeus to the hundred-armed giants, \"a\nlong time now have the Dwellers on Olympus been striving with the Titan\ngods. Do you lend your unconquerable might to the gods and help them to\noverthrow the Titans.\"\n\nCottus, the eldest of the giants, answered, \"Divine One, through your\ndevising we are come back again from the murky gloom of the mid Earth\nand we have escaped from the hard bonds that Cronos laid upon us. Our\nminds are fixed to aid you in the war against the Titan gods.\"\n\nSo the hundred-armed giants said, and thereupon Zeus went and he\ngathered around him all who were born of Cronos and Rhea. Cronos\nhimself hid from Zeus. Then the giants, with their fifty heads growing\nfrom their shoulders and their hundred hands, went forth against the\nTitan gods. The boundless sea rang terribly and the earth crashed\nloudly; wide Heaven was shaken and groaned, and high Olympus reeled\nfrom its foundation. Holding huge rocks in their hands the giants\nattacked the Titan gods.\n\nThen Zeus entered the war. He hurled the lightning; the bolts flew\nthick and fast from his strong hand, with thunder and lightning and\nflame. The earth crashed around in burning, the forests crackled with\nfire, the ocean seethed. And hot flames wrapped the earth-born Titans\nall around. Three hundred rocks, one upon another, did Cottus,\nBriareus, and Gyes hurl upon the Titans. And when their ranks were\nbroken the giants seized upon them and held them for Zeus.\n\nBut some of the Titan gods, seeing that the strife for them was vain,\nwent over to the side of Zeus. These Zeus became friendly with. But the\nother Titans he bound in chains and he hurled them down to Tartarus.\n\nAs far as Earth is from Heaven so is Tartarus from Earth. A brazen\nanvil falling down from Heaven to Earth nine days and nine nights would\nreach the earth upon the tenth day. And again, a brazen anvil falling\nfrom Earth nine nights and nine days would reach Tartarus upon the\ntenth night. Around Tartarus runs a fence of bronze and Night spreads\nin a triple line all about it, as a necklace circles the neck. There\nZeus imprisoned the Titan gods who had fought against him; they are\nhidden in the misty gloom, in a dank place, at the ends of the Earth.\nAnd they may not go out, for Poseidon fixed gates of bronze upon their\nprison, and a wall runs all round it. There Cottus, Briareus, and Gyes\nstay, guarding them.\n\nAnd there, too, is the home of Night. Night and Day meet each other at\nthat place, as they pass a threshold of bronze. They draw near and they\ngreet one another, but the house never holds them both together, for\nwhile one is about to go down into the house, the other is leaving\nthrough the door. One holds Light in her hand and the other holds in\nher arms Sleep.\n\nThere the children of dark Night have their dwellings--Sleep, and\nDeath, his brother. The sun never shines upon these two. Sleep may roam\nover the wide earth, and come upon the sea, and he is kindly to men.\nBut Death is not kindly, and whoever he seizes upon, him he holds fast.\n\nThere, too, stands the hall of the lord of the Underworld, Aidoneus,\nthe brother of Zeus. Zeus gave him the Underworld to be his dominion\nwhen he shared amongst the Olympians the world that Cronos had ruled\nover. A fearful hound guards the hall of Aidoneus: Cerberus he is\ncalled; he has three heads. On those who go within that hall Cerberus\nfawns, but on those who would come out of it he springs and would\ndevour them.\n\nNot all the Titans did Zeus send down to Tartarus. Those of them who\nhad wisdom joined him, and by their wisdom Zeus was able to overcome\nCronos. Then Cronos went to live with the friendly Titan gods, while\nZeus reigned over Olympus, becoming the ruler of gods and men.\n\nSo Orpheus sang, Orpheus who knew the ways and the histories of the\ngods.\n\n\n\nVI. POLYDEUCES' VICTORY AND HERACLES' LOSS\n\nAll the places that the Argonauts came nigh to and went past need not\nbe told--Meliboea, where they escaped a stormy beach; Homole, from\nwhere they were able to look on Ossa and holy Olympus; Lemnos, the\nisland that they were to return to; the unnamed country where the\nEarth-born Men abide, each having six arms, two growing from his\nshoulders, and four fitting close to his terrible sides; and then the\nMountain of the Bears, where they climbed, to make sacrifice there to\nRhea, the mighty mother of the gods.\n\nAfterward, for a whole day, no wind blew and the sail of the Argo hung\nslack. But the heroes swore to each other that they would make their\nship go as swiftly as if the storm-footed steeds of Poseidon were\nracing to overtake her. Mightily they labored at the oars, and no one\nwould be first to leave his rower's bench.\n\nAnd then, just as the breeze of the evening came up, and just as the\nrest of the heroes were leaning back, spent with their labor, the oar\nthat Heracles still pulled at broke, and half of it was carried away by\nthe waves. Heracles sat there in ill humor, for he did not know what to\ndo with his unlaboring hands.\n\nAll through the night they went on with a good breeze filling their\nsails, and next day they came to the mouth of the River Cius. There\nthey landed so that Heracles might get himself an oar. No sooner did\nthey set their feet upon the shore than the hero went off into the\nforest, to pull up a tree that he might shape into an oar.\n\nWhere they had landed was near to the country of the Bebrycians, a rude\npeople whose king was named Amycus. Now while Heracles was away from\nthem this king came with his followers, huge, rude men, all armed with\nclubs, down to where the Argonauts were lighting their fires on the\nbeach.\n\nHe did not greet them courteously, asking them what manner of men they\nwere and whither they were bound, nor did he offer them hospitality.\nInstead, he shouted at them insolently:\n\n\"Listen to something that you rovers had better know. I am Amycus, and\nany stranger that comes to this land has to get into a boxing bout with\nme. That's the law that I have laid down. Unless you have one amongst\nyou who can stand up to me you won't be let go back to your ship. If\nyou don't heed my law, look out, for something's going to happen to\nyou.\"\n\nSo he shouted, that insolent king, and his followers raised their clubs\nand growled approval of what their master said. But the Argonauts were\nnot dismayed at the words of Amycus. One of them stepped toward the\nBebrycians. He was Polydeuces, good at boxing.\n\n\"Offer us no violence, king,\" said Polydeuces. \"We are ready to obey\nthe law that you have laid down. Willingly do I take up your challenge,\nand I will box a bout with you.\"\n\nThe Argonauts cheered when they saw Polydeuces, the good boxer, step\nforward, and when they heard what he had to say. Amycus turned and\nshouted to his followers, and one of them brought up two pairs of\nboxing gauntlets--of rough cowhide they were. The Argonauts feared that\nPolydeuces' hands might have been made numb with pulling at the oar,\nand some of them went to him, and took his hands and rubbed them to\nmake them supple; others took from off his shoulders his beautifully\ncolored mantle.\n\nAmycus straightway put on his gauntlets and threw off his mantle; he\nstood there amongst his followers with his great arms crossed,\nglowering at the Argonauts as a wild beast might glower. And when the\ntwo faced each other Amycus seemed like one of the Earthborn Men, dark\nand hugely shaped, while Helen's brother stood there light and\nbeautiful. Polydeuces was like that star whose beams are lovely at\nevening-tide.\n\nLike the wave that breaks over a ship and gives the sailors no respite\nAmycus came on at Polydeuces. He pushed in upon him, thinking to bear\nhim down and overwhelm him. But as the skillful steersman keeps the\nship from being overwhelmed by the monstrous wave, so Polydeuces, all\nskill and lightness, baffled the rushes of Amycus. At last Amycus,\nstanding on the tips of his toes and rising high above him, tried to\nbring down his great fist upon the head of Polydeuces. The hero swung\naside and took the blow on his shoulder. Then he struck his blow. It\nwas a strong one, and under it the king of the Bebrycians staggered and\nfell down. \"You see,\" said Polydeuces, \"that we keep your law.\"\n\nThe Argonauts shouted, but the rude Bebrycians raised their clubs to\nrush upon them. Then would the heroes have been hard pressed, and\nforced, perhaps, to get back to the Argo. But suddenly Heracles\nappeared amongst them, coming up from the forest.\n\nHe carried a pine tree in his hands with all its branches still upon\nit, and seeing this mighty-statured man appear with the great tree in\nhis hands, the Bebrycians hurried off, carrying their fallen king with\nthem. Then the Argonauts gathered around Polydeuces, saluted him as\ntheir champion, and put a crown of victory upon his head. Heracles,\nmeanwhile, lopped off the branches of the pine tree and began to\nfashion it into an oar.\n\nThe fires were lighted upon the shore, and the thoughts of all were\nturned to supper. Then young Hylas, who used to sit by Heracles and\nkeep bright the hero's arms and armor, took a bronze vessel and went to\nfetch water.\n\nNever was there a boy so beautiful as young Hylas. He had golden curls\nthat tumbled over his brow. He had deep blue eyes and a face that\nsmiled at every glance that was given him, at every word that was said\nto him. Now as he walked through the flowering grasses, with his knees\nbare, and with the bright vessel swinging in his hand, he looked most\nlovely. Heracles had brought the boy with him from the country of the\nDryopians; he would have him sit beside him on the bench of the Argo,\nand the ill humors that often came upon him would go at the words and\nthe smile of Hylas.\n\nNow the spring that Hylas was going toward was called Pegae, and it was\nhaunted by the nymphs. They were dancing around it when they heard\nHylas singing. They stole softly off to watch him. Hidden behind trees\nthe nymphs saw the boy come near, and they felt such love for him that\nthey thought they could never let him go from their sight.\n\nThey stole back to their spring, and they sank down below its clear\nsurface. Then came Hylas singing a song that he had heard from his\nmother. He bent down to the spring, and the brimming water flowed into\nthe sounding bronze of the pitcher. Then hands came out of the water.\nOne of the nymphs caught Hylas by the elbow; another put her arms\naround his neck, another took the hand that held the vessel of bronze.\nThe pitcher sank down to the depths of the spring. The hands of the\nnymphs clasped Hylas tighter, tighter; the water bubbled around him as\nthey drew him down. Down, down they drew him, and into the cold and\nglimmering cave where they live.\n\nThere Hylas stayed. But although the nymphs kissed him and sang to him,\nand showed him lovely things, Hylas was not content to be there.\n\nWhere the Argonauts were the fires burned, the moon arose, and still\nHylas did not return. Then they began to fear lest a wild beast had\ndestroyed the boy. One went to Heracles and told him that young Hylas\nhad not come back, and that they were fearful for him. Heracles flung\ndown the pine tree that he was fashioning into an oar, and he dashed\nalong the way that Hylas had gone as if a gadfly were stinging him.\n\"Hylas, Hylas,\" he cried. But Hylas, in the cold and glimmering cave\nthat the nymphs had drawn him into, did not hear the call of his friend\nHeracles.\n\nAll the Argonauts went searching, calling as they went through the\nisland, \"Hylas, Hylas, Hylas!\" But only their own calls came back to\nthem. The morning star came up, and Tiphys, the steersman, called to\nthem from the Argo. And when they came to the ship Tiphys told them\nthat they would have to go aboard and make ready to sail from that\nplace.\n\nThey called to Heracles, and Heracles at last came down to the ship.\nThey spoke to him, saying that they would have to sail away. Heracles\nwould not go on board. \"I will not leave this island,\" he said, \"until\nI find young Hylas or learn what has happened to him.\"\n\nThen Jason arose to give the command to depart. But before the words\nwere said Telamon stood up and faced him. \"Jason,\" he said angrily,\n\"you do not bid Heracles come on board, and you would have the Argo\nleave without him. You would leave Heracles here so that he may not be\nwith us on the quest where his glory might overshadow your glory,\nJason.\"\n\nJason said no word, but he sat back on his bench with head bowed. And\nthen, even as Telamon said these angry words, a strange figure rose up\nout of the waves of the sea.\n\nIt was the figure of a man, wrinkled and old, with seaweed in his beard\nand his hair. There was a majesty about him, and the Argonauts all knew\nthat this was one of the immortals--he was Nereus, the ancient one of\nthe sea.\n\n\"To Heracles, and to you, the rest of the Argonauts, I have a thing to\nsay,\" said the ancient one, Nereus. \"Know, first, that Hylas has been\ntaken by the nymphs who love him and who think to win his love, and\nthat he will stay forever with them in their cold and glimmering cave.\nFor Hylas seek no more. And to you, Heracles, I will say this: Go\naboard the Argo again; the ship will take you to where a great labor\nawaits you, and which, in accomplishing, you will work out the will of\nZeus. You will know what this labor is when a spirit seizes on you.\" So\nthe ancient one of the sea said, and he sank back beneath the waves.\n\nHeracles went aboard the Argo once more, and he took his place on the\nbench, the new oar in his hand. Sad he was to think that young Hylas\nwho used to sit at his knee would never be there again. The breeze\nfilled the sail, the Argonauts pulled at the oars, and in sadness they\nwatched the island where young Hylas had been lost to them recede from\ntheir view.\n\n\n\nVII. KING PHINEUS\n\nSaid Tiphys, the steersman: \"If we could enter the Sea of Pontus, we\ncould make our way across that sea to Colchis in a short time. But the\npassage into the Sea of Pontus is most perilous, and few mortals dare\neven to make approach to it.\"\n\nSaid Jason, the chieftain of the host: \"The dangers of the passage,\nTiphys, we have spoken of, and it may be that we shall have to carry\nArgo overland to the Sea of Pontus. But You, Tiphys, have spoken of a\nwise king who is hereabouts, and who might help us to make the\ndangerous passage. Speak again to us, and tell us what the dangers of\nthe passage are, and who the king is who may be able to help us to make\nthese dangers less.\"\n\nThen said Tiphys, the steersman of the Argo: \"No ship sailed by mortals\nhas as yet gone through the passage that brings this sea into the Sea\nof Pontus. In the way are the rocks that mariners call The Clashers.\nThese rocks are not fixed as rocks should be, but they rush one against\nthe other, dashing up the sea, and crushing whatever may be between.\nYea, if Argo were of iron, and if she were between these rocks when\nthey met, she would be crushed to bits. I have sailed as far as that\npassage, but seeing The Clashers strike together I turned back my ship,\nand journeyed as far as the Sea of Pontus overland.\n\n\"But I have been told of one who knows how a ship may be taken through\nthe passage that The Clashers make so perilous. He who knows is a king\nhereabouts, Phineus, who has made himself as wise as the gods. To no\none has Phineus told how the passage may be made, but knowing what high\nfavor has been shown to us, the Argonauts, it may be that he will tell\nus.\"\n\nSo Tiphys said, and Jason commanded him to steer the Argo toward the\ncity where ruled Phineus, the wise king.\n\nTo Salmydessus, then, where Phineus ruled, Tiphys steered the Argo.\nThey left Heracles with Tiphys aboard to guard the ship, and, with the\nrest of the heroes, Jason went through the streets of the city. They\nmet many men, but when they asked any of them how they might come to\nthe palace of King Phineus the men turned fearfully away.\n\nThey found their way to the king's palace. Jason spoke to the servants\nand bade them tell the king of their coming. The servants, too, seemed\nfearful, and as Jason and his comrades were wondering what there was\nabout him that made men fearful at his name, Phineus, the king, came\namongst them.\n\nWere it not that he had a purple border to his robe no one would have\nknown him for the king, so miserable did this man seem. He crept along,\ntouching the walls, for the eyes in his head were blind and withered.\nHis body was shrunken, and when he stood before them leaning on his\nstaff he was like to a lifeless thing. He turned his blinded eyes upon\nthem, looking from one to the other as if he were searching for a face.\n\nThen his sightless eyes rested upon Zetes and Calais, the sons of\nBoreas, the North Wind. A change came into his face as it turned upon\nthem. One would think that he saw the wonder that these two were\nendowed with--the wings that grew upon their ankles. It was awhile\nbefore he turned his face from them; then he spoke to Jason and said:\n\n\"You have come to have counsel with one who has the wisdom of the gods.\nOthers before you have come for such counsel, but seeing the misery\nthat is visible upon me they went without asking for counsel: I would\nstrive to hold you here for a while. Stay, and have sight of the misery\nthe gods visit upon those who would be as wise as they. And when you\nhave seen the thing that is wont to befall me, it may be that help will\ncome from you for me.\"\n\nThen Phineus, the blind king, left them, and after a while the heroes\nwere brought into a great hall, and they were invited to rest\nthemselves there while a banquet was being prepared for them. The hall\nwas richly adorned, but it looked to the heroes as if it had known\nstrange happenings; rich hangings were strewn upon the ground, an ivory\nchair was overturned, and the dais where the king sat had stains upon\nit. The servants who went through the hall making ready the banquet\nwere white-faced and fearful.\n\nThe feast was laid on a great table, and the heroes were invited to sit\ndown to it. The king did not come into the hall before they sat down,\nbut a table with food was set before the dais. When the heroes had\nfeasted, the king came into the hall. He sat at the table, blind,\nwhite-faced, and shrunken, and the Argonauts all turned their faces to\nhim.\n\nSaid Phineus, the blind king: \"You see, O heroes, how much my wisdom\navails me. You see me blind and shrunken, who tried to make myself in\nwisdom equal to the gods. And yet you have not seen all. Watch now and\nsee what feasts Phineus, the wise king, has to delight him.\"\n\nHe made a sign, and the white-faced and trembling servants brought food\nand set it upon the table that was before him. The king bent forward as\nif to eat, and they saw that his face was covered with the damp of\nfear. He took food from the dish and raised it to his mouth. As he did,\nthe doors of the hall were flung open as if by a storm. Strange shapes\nflew into the hall and set themselves beside the king. And when the\nArgonauts looked upon them they saw that these were terrible and\nunsightly shapes.\n\nThey were things that had the wings and claws of birds and the heads of\nwomen. Black hair and gray feathers were mixed upon them; they had red\neyes, and streaks of blood were upon their breasts and wings. And as\nthe king raised the food to his mouth they flew at him and buffeted his\nhead with their wings, and snatched the food from his hands. Then they\ndevoured or scattered what was upon the table, and all the time they\nscreamed and laughed and mocked.\n\n\"Ah, now ye see,\" Phineus panted, \"what it is to have wisdom equal to\nthe wisdom of the gods. Now ye all see my misery. Never do I strive to\nput food to my lips but these foul things, the Harpies, the Snatchers,\nswoop down and scatter or devour what I would eat. Crumbs they leave me\nthat my life may not altogether go from me, but these crumbs they make\nfoul to my taste and my smell.\"\n\nAnd one of the Harpies perched herself on the back of the king's throne\nand looked upon the heroes with red eyes. \"Hah,\" she screamed, \"you\nbring armed men into your feasting hall, thinking to scare us away.\nNever, Phineus, can you scare us from you! Always you will have us, the\nSnatchers, beside you when you would still your ache of hunger. What\ncan these men do against us who are winged and who can travel through\nthe ways of the air?\"\n\nSo said the unsightly Harpy, and the heroes drew together, made fearful\nby these awful shapes. All drew back except Zetes and Calais, the sons\nof the North Wind. They laid their hands upon their swords. The wings\non their shoulders spread out and the wings at their heels trembled.\nPhineus, the king, leaned forward and panted: \"By the wisdom I have I\nknow that there are two amongst you who can save me. O make haste to\nhelp me, ye who can help me, and I will give the counsel that you\nArgonauts have come to me for, and besides I will load down your ship\nwith treasure and costly stuffs. Oh, make haste, ye who can help me!\"\n\nHearing the king speak like this, the Harpies gathered together and\ngnashed with their teeth, and chattered to one another. Then, seeing\nZetes and Calais with their hands upon their swords, they rose up on\ntheir wings and flew through the wide doors of the hall. The king cried\nout to Zetes and Calais. But the sons of the North Wind had already\nrisen with their wings, and they were after the Harpies, their bright\nswords in their hands.\n\nOn flew the Harpies, screeching and gnashing their teeth in anger and\ndismay, for now they felt that they might be driven from Salmydessus,\nwhere they had had such royal feasts. They rose high in the air and\nflew out toward the sea. But high as the Harpies rose, the sons of the\nNorth Wind rose higher. The Harpies cried pitiful cries as they flew\non, but Zetes and Calais felt no pity for them, for they knew that\nthese dread Snatchers, with the stains of blood upon their breasts and\nwings, had shown pity neither to Phineus nor to any other.\n\nOn they flew until they came to the island that is called the Floating\nIsland. There the Harpies sank down with wearied wings. Zetes and\nCalais were upon them now, and they would have cut them to pieces with\ntheir bright swords, if the messenger of Zeus, Iris, with the golden\nwings, had not come between.\n\n\"Forbear to slay the Harpies, sons of Boreas,\" cried Iris warningly,\n\"forbear to slay the Harpies that are the hounds of Zeus. Let them\ncower here and hide themselves, and I, who come from Zeus, will swear\nthe oath that the gods most dread, that they will never again come to\nSalmydessus to trouble Phineus, the king.\"\n\nThe heroes yielded to the words of Iris. She took the oath that the\ngods most dread--the oath by the Water of Styx--that never again would\nthe Harpies show themselves to Phineus. Then Zetes and Calais turned\nback toward the city of Salmydessus. The island that they drove the\nHarpies to had been called the Floating Island, but thereafter it was\ncalled the Island of Turning. It was evening when they turned back, and\nall night long the Argonauts and King Phineus sat in the hall of the\npalace and awaited the return of Zetes and Calais, the sons of the\nNorth Wind.\n\n\n\nVIII. KING PHINEUS'S COUNSEL; THE LANDING IN LEMNOS\n\nThey came into King Phineus's hall, their bright swords in their hands.\nThe Argonauts crowded around them and King Phineus raised his head and\nstretched out his thin hands to them. And Zetes and Calais told their\ncomrades and told the king how they had driven the Harpies down to the\nFloating Island, and how Iris, the messenger of Zeus, had sworn the\ngreat oath that was by the Water of Styx that never again would the\nSnatchers show themselves in the palace.\n\nThen a great golden cup brimming with wine was brought to the king. He\nstood holding it in his trembling hands, fearful even then that the\nHarpies would tear the cup out of his hands. He drank--long and deeply\nhe drank--and the dread shapes of the Snatchers did not appear. Down\namongst the heroes he came and he took into his the hands of Zetes and\nCalais, the sons of the North Wind.\n\n\"O heroes greater than any kings,\" he said, \"ye have delivered me from\nthe terrible curse that the gods had sent upon me. I thank ye, and I\nthank ye all, heroes of the quest. And the thanks of Phineus will much\navail you all.\"\n\nClasping the hands of Zetes and Calais he led the heroes through hall\nafter hall of his palace and down into his treasure chamber. There he\nbestowed upon the banishers of the Harpies crowns and arm rings of gold\nand richly-colored garments and brazen chests in which to store the\ntreasure that he gave. And to Jason he gave an ivory-hilted and\ngolden-cased sword, and on each of the voyagers he bestowed a rich\ngift, not forgetting the heroes who had remained on the Argo, Heracles\nand Tiphys.\n\nThey went back to the great hall, and a feast was spread for the king\nand for the Argonauts. They ate from rich dishes and they drank from\nflowing wine cups. Phineus ate and drank as the heroes did, and no\ndread shapes came before him to snatch from him nor to buffet him. But\nas Jason looked upon the man who had striven to equal the gods in\nwisdom, and noted his blinded eyes and shrunken face, he resolved never\nto harbor in his heart such presumption as Phineus had harbored.\n\nWhen the feast was finished the king spoke to Jason, telling him how\nthe Argo might be guided through the Symplegades, the dread passage\ninto the Sea of Pontus. He told them to bring their ship near to the\nClashing Rocks. And one who had the keenest sight amongst them was to\nstand at the prow of the ship holding a pigeon in his hands. As the\nrocks came together he was to loose the pigeon. If it found a space to\nfly through they would know that the Argo could make the passage, and\nthey were to steer straight toward where the pigeon had flown. But if\nit fluttered down to the sea, or flew back to them, or became lost in\nthe clouds of spray, they were to know that the Argo might not make\nthat passage. Then the heroes would have to take their ship overland to\nwhere they might reach the Sea of Pontus.\n\nThat day they bade farewell to Phineus, and with the treasures he had\nbestowed upon them they went down to the Argo. To Heracles and Tiphys\nthey gave the presents that the king had sent them. In the morning they\ndrew the Argo out of the harbor of Salmydessus, and set sail again.\n\nBut not until long afterward did they come to the Symplegades, the\npassage that was to be their great trial. For they landed first in a\ncountry that was full of woods, where they were welcomed by a king who\nhad heard of the voyagers and of their quest. There they stayed and\nhunted for many days in the woods. And there a great loss befell the\nArgonauts, for Tiphys, as he went through the woods, was bitten by a\nsnake and died. He who had braved so many seas and so many storms lost\nhis life away from the ship. The Argonauts made a tomb for him on the\nshore of that land--a great pile of stones, in which they fixed upright\nhis steering oar. Then they set sail again, and Nauplius was made the\nsteersman of the ship.\n\nThe course was not so clear to Nauplius as it had been to Tiphys. The\nsteersman did not find his bearings, and for many days and nights the\nArgo was driven on a backward course. They came to an island that they\nknew to be that Island of Lemnos that they had passed on the first days\nof the voyage, and they resolved to rest there for a while, and then to\npress on for the passage into the Sea of Pontus.\n\nThey brought the Argo near the shore. They blew trumpets and set the\nloudest-voiced of the heroes to call out to those upon the island. But\nno answer came to them, and all day the Argo lay close to the island.\n\nThere were hidden people watching them, people with bows in their hands\nand arrows laid along the bowstrings. And the people who thus\nthreatened the unknowing Argonauts were women and young girls.\n\nThere were no men upon the Island of Lemnos. Years before a curse had\nfallen upon the people of that island, putting strife between the men\nand the women. And the women had mastered the men and had driven them\naway from Lemnos. Since then some of the women had grown old, and the\ngirls who were children when their fathers and brothers had been\nbanished were now of an age with Atalanta, the maiden who went with the\nArgonauts.\n\nThey chased the wild beasts of the island, and they tilled the fields,\nand they kept in good repair the houses that were built before the\nbanishing of the men. The older women served those who were younger,\nand they had a queen, a girl whose name was Hypsipyle.\n\nThe women who watched with bows in their hands would have shot their\narrows at the Argonauts if Hypsipyle's nurse, Polyxo, had not stayed\nthem. She forbade them to shoot at the strangers until she had brought\nto them the queen's commands.\n\nShe hastened to the palace and she found the young queen weaving at a\nloom. She told her about the ship and the strangers on board the ship,\nand she asked the queen what word she should bring to the guardian\nmaidens.\n\n\"Before you give a command, Hypsipyle,\" said Polyxo, the nurse,\n\"consider these words of mine. We, the elder women, are becoming\nancient now; in a few years we will not be able to serve you, the\nyounger women, and in a few years more we will have gone into the grave\nand our places will know us no more. And you, the younger women, will\nbe becoming strengthless, and no more will be you able to hunt in the\nwoods nor to till the fields, and a hard old age will be before you.\n\n\"The ship that is beside our shore may have come at a good time. Those\non board are goodly heroes. Let them land in Lemnos, and stay if they\nwill. Let them wed with the younger women so that there may be husbands\nand wives, helpers and helpmeets, again in Lemnos.\"\n\nHypsipyle, the queen, let the shuttle fall from her hands and stayed\nfor a while looking full into Polyxo's face. Had her nurse heard her\nsay something like this out of her dreams, she wondered? She bade the\nnurse tell the guardian maidens to let the heroes land in safety, and\nthat she herself would put the crown of King Thoas, her father, upon\nher head, and go down to the shore to welcome them.\n\nAnd now the Argonauts saw people along the shore and they caught sight\nof women's dresses. The loudest-voiced amongst them shouted again, and\nthey heard an answer given in a woman's voice. They drew up the Argo\nupon the shore, and they set foot upon the land of Lemnos.\n\nJason stepped forth at the head of his comrades, and he was met by\nHypsipyle, her father's crown upon her head, at the head of her\nmaidens. They greeted each other, and Hypsipyle bade the heroes come\nwith them to their town that was called Myrine and to the palace that\nwas there.\n\nWonderingly the Argonauts went, looking on women's forms and faces and\nseeing no men. They came to the palace and went within. Hypsipyle\nmounted the stone throne that was King Thoas's and the four maidens who\nwere her guards stood each side of her. She spoke to the heroes in\ngreeting and bade them stay in peace for as long as they would. She\ntold them of the curse that had fallen upon the people of Lemnos, and\nof how the menfolk had been banished. Jason, then, told the queen what\nvoyage he and his companions were upon and what quest they were making.\nThen in friendship the Argonauts and the women of Lemnos stayed\ntogether--all the Argonauts except Heracles, and he, grieving still for\nHylas, stayed aboard the Argo.\n\n\n\nIX. THE LEMNIAN MAIDENS\n\nAnd now the Argonauts were no longer on a ship that was being dashed on\nby the sea and beaten upon by the winds. They had houses to live in;\nthey had honey-tasting things to eat, and when they went through the\nisland each man might have with him one of the maidens of Lemnos. It\nwas a change that was welcome to the wearied voyagers.\n\nThey helped the women in the work of the fields; they hunted the beasts\nwith them, and over and over again they were surprised at how\nskillfully the women had ordered all affairs. Everything in Lemnos was\nstrange to the Argonauts, and they stayed day after day, thinking each\nday a fresh adventure.\n\nSometimes they would leave the fields and the chase, and this hero or\nthat hero, with her who was his friend amongst the Lemnian maidens,\nwould go far into that strange land and look upon lakes that were all\ncovered with golden and silver water lilies, or would gather the blue\nflowers from creepers that grew around dark trees, or would hide\nthemselves so that they might listen to the quick-moving birds that\nsang in the thickets. Perhaps on their way homeward they would see the\nArgo in the harbor, and they would think of Heracles who was aboard,\nand they would call to him. But the ship and the voyage they had been\non now seemed far away to them, and the Quest of the Golden Fleece\nseemed to them a story they had heard and that they had thought of, but\nthat they could never think on again with all that fervor.\n\nWhen Jason looked on Hypsipyle he saw one who seemed to him to be only\nchildlike in size. Greatly was he amazed at the words that poured forth\nfrom her as she stood at the stone throne of King Thoas--he was amazed\nas one is amazed at the rush of rich notes that comes from the throat\nof a little bird; all that she said was made lightning-like by her\neyes--her eyes that were not clear and quiet like the eyes of the\nmaidens he had seen in Iolcus, but that were dark and burning. Her\nmouth was heavy and this heavy mouth gave a shadow to her face that,\nbut for it, was all bright and lovely.\n\nHypsipyle spoke two languages--one, the language of the mothers of the\nwomen of Lemnos, which was rough and harsh, a speech to be flung out to\nslaves, and the other the language of Greece, which their fathers had\nspoken, and which Hypsipyle spoke in a way that made it sound like\nstrange music. She spoke and walked and did all things in a queenlike\nway, and Jason could see that, for all her youth and childlike size,\nHypsipyle was one who was a ruler.\n\nFrom the moment she took his hand it seemed that she could not bear to\nbe away from him. Where he walked, she walked too; where he sat she sat\nbefore him, looking at him with her great eyes while she laughed or\nsang.\n\nLike the perfume of strange flowers, like the savor of strange fruit\nwas Hypsipyle to Jason. Hours and hours he would spend sitting beside\nher or watching her while she arrayed herself in white or in brightly\ncolored garments. Not to the chase and not into the fields did Jason\ngo, nor did he ever go with the others into the Lemnian land; all day\nhe sat in the palace with her, watching her, or listening to her\nsinging, or to the long, fierce speeches that she used to make to her\nnurse or to the four maidens who attended her.\n\nIn the evening they would gather in the hall of the palace, the\nArgonauts and the Lemnian maidens who were their comrades. There were\ndances, and always Jason and Hypsipyle danced together. All the Lemnian\nmaidens sang beautifully, but none of them had any stories to tell.\n\nAnd when the Argonauts would have stories told, the Lemnian maidens\nwould forbid any tale that was about a god or a hero; only stories that\nwere about the goddesses or about some maiden would they let be told.\n\nOrpheus, who knew the histories of the gods, would have told them many\nstories, but the only story of his that they would come from the dance\nto listen to was a story of the goddesses, of Demeter and her daughter\nPersephone.\n\n\n\nDemeter And Persephone\n\nI\n\nOnce when Demeter was going through the world, giving men grain to be\nsown in their fields, she heard a cry that came to her from across high\nmountains and that mounted up to her from the sea. Demeter's heart\nshook when she heard that cry, for she knew that it came to her from\nher daughter, from her only child, young Persephone.\n\nShe stayed not to bless the fields in which the grain was being sown,\nbut she hurried, hurried away, to Sicily and to the fields of Enna,\nwhere she had left Persephone. All Enna she searched, and all Sicily,\nbut she found no trace of Persephone, nor of the maidens whom\nPersephone had been playing with. From all whom she met she begged for\ntidings, but although some had seen maidens gathering flowers and\nplaying together, no one could tell Demeter why her child had cried out\nnor where she had since gone to.\n\nThere were some who could have told her. One was Cyane, a water nymph.\nBut Cyane, before Demeter came to her, had been changed into a spring\nof water. And now, not being able to speak and tell Demeter where her\nchild had gone to and who had carried her away, she showed in the water\nthe girdle of Persephone that she had caught in her hands. And Demeter,\nfinding the girdle of her child in the spring, knew that she had been\ncarried off by violence.  She lighted a torch at Etna's burning\nmountain, and for nine days and nine nights she went searching for her\nthrough the darkened places of the earth.\n\nThen, upon a high and a dark hill, the Goddess Demeter came face to\nface with Hecate, the Moon. Hecate, too, had heard the cry of\nPersephone; she had sorrow for Demeter's sorrow: she spoke to her as\nthe two stood upon that dark, high hill, and told her that she should\ngo to Helios for tidings--to bright Helios, the watcher for the gods,\nand beg Helios to tell her who it was who had carried off by violence\nher child Persephone.\n\nDemeter came to Helios. He was standing before his shining steeds,\nbefore the impatient steeds that draw the sun through the course of the\nheavens. Demeter stood in the way of those impatient steeds; she begged\nof Helios who sees all things upon the earth to tell her who it was had\ncarried off by violence, Persephone, her child.\n\nAnd Helios, who may make no concealment, said: \"Queenly Demeter, know\nthat the king of the Underworld, dark Aidoneus, has carried off\nPersephone to make her his queen in the realm that I never shine upon.\"\nHe spoke, and as he did, his horses shook their manes and breathed out\nfire, impatient to be gone. Helios sprang into his chariot and went\nflashing away.\n\nDemeter, knowing that one of the gods had carried off Persephone\nagainst her will, and knowing that what was done had been done by the\nwill of Zeus, would go no more into the assemblies of the gods. She\nquenched the torch that she had held in her hands for nine days and\nnine nights; she put off her robe of goddess, and she went wandering\nover the earth, uncomforted for the loss of her child. And no longer\ndid she appear as a gracious goddess to men; no longer did she give\nthem grain; no longer did she bless their fields. None of the things\nthat it had pleased her once to do would Demeter do any longer.\n\n\n\nII\n\nPersephone had been playing with the nymphs who are the daughters of\nOcean--Phaeno, Ianthe, Melita, Ianeira, Acast--in the lovely fields of\nEnna. They went to gather flowers--irises and crocuses, lilies,\nnarcissus, hyacinths and roseblooms--that grow in those fields. As they\nwent, gathering flowers in their baskets, they had sight of Pergus, the\npool that the white swans come to sing in.\n\nBeside a deep chasm that had been made in the earth a wonder flower was\ngrowing--in color it was like the crocus, but it sent forth a perfume\nthat was like the perfume of a hundred flowers. And Persephone thought\nas she went toward it that having gathered that flower she would have\nsomething much more wonderful than her companions had.\n\nShe did not know that Aidoneus, the lord of the Underworld, had caused\nthat flower to grow there so that she might be drawn by it to the chasm\nthat he had made.\n\nAs Persephone stooped to pluck the wonder flower, Aidoneus, in his\nchariot of iron, dashed up through the chasm, and grasping the maiden\nby the waist, set her beside him. Only Cyane, the nymph, tried to save\nPersephone, and it was then that she caught the girdle in her hands.\n\nThe maiden cried out, first because her flowers had been spilled, and\nthen because she was being reft away. She cried out to her mother, and\nher cry went over high mountains and sounded up from the sea. The\ndaughters of Ocean, affrighted, fled and sank down into the depths of\nthe sea.\n\nIn his great chariot of iron that was drawn by black steeds Aidoneus\nrushed down through the chasm he had made. Into the Underworld he went,\nand he dashed across the River Styx, and he brought his chariot up\nbeside his throne. And on his dark throne he seated Persephone, the\nfainting daughter of Demeter.\n\n\n\nIII\n\nNo more did the Goddess Demeter give grain to men; no more did she\nbless their fields: weeds grew where grain had been growing, and men\nfeared that in a while they would famish for lack of bread.\n\nShe wandered through the world, her thought all upon her child,\nPersephone, who had been taken from her. Once she sat by a well by a\nwayside, thinking upon the child that she might not come to and who\nmight not come to her.\n\nShe saw four maidens come near; their grace and their youth reminded\nher of her child. They stepped lightly along, carrying bronze pitchers\nin their hands, for they were coming to the Well of the Maiden beside\nwhich Demeter sat.\n\nThe maidens thought when they looked upon her that the goddess was some\nancient woman who had a sorrow in her heart. Seeing that she was so\nnoble and so sorrowful-looking, the maidens, as they drew the clear\nwater into their pitchers, spoke kindly to her.\n\n\"Why do you stay away from the town, old mother?\" one of the maidens\nsaid. \"Why do you not come to the houses? We think that you look as if\nyou were shelterless and alone, and we should like to tell you that\nthere are many houses in the town where you would be welcomed.\"\n\nDemeter's heart went out to the maidens, because they looked so young\nand fair and simple and spoke out of such kind hearts. She said to\nthem: \"Where can I go, dear children? My people are far away, and there\nare none in all the world who would care to be near me.\"\n\nSaid one of the maidens: \"There are princes in the land who would\nwelcome you in their houses if you would consent to nurse one of their\nyoung children. But why do I speak of other princes beside Celeus, our\nfather? In his house you would indeed have a welcome. But lately a baby\nhas been born to our mother, Metaneira, and she would greatly rejoice\nto have one as wise as you mind little Demophoon.\"\n\nAll the time that she watched them and listened to their voices Demeter\nfelt that the grace and youth of the maidens made them like Persephone.\nShe thought that it would ease her heart to be in the house where these\nmaidens were, and she was not loath to have them go and ask of their\nmother to have her come to nurse the infant child.\n\nSwiftly they ran back to their home, their hair streaming behind them\nlike crocus flowers; kind and lovely girls whose names are well\nremembered--Callidice and Cleisidice, Demo and Callithoe. They went to\ntheir mother and they told her of the stranger-woman whose name was\nDoso. She would make a wise and a kind nurse for little Demophoon, they\nsaid. Their mother, Metaneira, rose up from the couch she was sitting\non to welcome the stranger. But when she saw her at the doorway, awe\ncame over her, so majestic she seemed.\n\nMetaneira would have her seat herself on the couch but the goddess took\nthe lowliest stool, saying in greeting: \"May the gods give you all\ngood, lady.\"\n\n\"Sorrow has set you wandering from your good home,\" said Metaneira to\nthe goddess, \"but now that you have come to this place you shall have\nall that this house can bestow if you will rear up to youth the infant\nDemophoon, child of many hopes and prayers.\"\n\nThe child was put into the arms of Demeter; she clasped him to her\nbreast, and little Demophoon looked up into her face and smiled. Then\nDemeter's heart went out to the child and to all who were in the\nhousehold.\n\nHe grew in strength and beauty in her charge. And little Demophoon was\nnot nourished as other children are nourished, but even as the gods in\ntheir childhood were nourished. Demeter fed him on ambrosia, breathing\non him with her divine breath the while. And at night she laid him on\nthe hearth, amongst the embers, with the fire all around him. This she\ndid that she might make him immortal, and like to the gods.\n\nBut one night Metaneira looked out from the chamber where she lay, and\nshe saw the nurse take little Demopho\u00f6n and lay him in a place on the\nhearth with the burning brands all around him. Then Metaneira started\nup, and she sprang to the hearth, and she snatched the child from\nbeside the burning brands. \"Demopho\u00f6n, my son,\" she cried, \"what would\nthis stranger-woman do to you, bringing bitter grief to me that ever I\nlet her take you in her arms?\"\n\nThen said Demeter: \"Foolish indeed are you mortals, and not able to\nforesee what is to come to you of good or of evil.\"\n\n\"Foolish indeed are you, Metaneira, for in your heedlessness you have\ncut off this child from an immortality like to the immortality of the\ngods themselves. For he had lain in my bosom and had become dear to me\nand I would have bestowed upon him the greatest gift that the Divine\nOnes can bestow, for I would have made him deathless and unaging. All\nthis, now, has gone by. Honor he shall have indeed, but Demophoon will\nknow age and death.\"\n\nThe seeming old age that was upon her had fallen from Demeter; beauty\nand stature were hers, and from her robe there came a heavenly\nfragrance. There came such light from her body that the chamber shone.\nMetaneira remained trembling and speechless, unmindful even to take up\nthe child that had been laid upon the ground.\n\nIt was then that his sisters heard Demophoon wail; one ran from her\nchamber and took the child in her arms; another kindled again the fire\nupon the hearth, and the others made ready to bathe and care for the\ninfant. All night they cared for him, holding him in their arms and at\ntheir breasts, but the child would not be comforted, becauses the\nnurses who handled him now were less skillful than was the\ngoddess-nurse.\n\nAnd as for Demeter, she left the house of Celeus and went upon her way,\nlonely in her heart, and unappeased. And in the world that she wandered\nthrough, the plow went in vain through the ground; the furrow was sown\nwithout any avail, and the race of men saw themselves near perishing\nfor lack of bread.\n\nBut again Demeter came near the Well of the Maiden. She thought of the\ndaughters of Celeus as they came toward the well that day, the bronze\npitchers in their hands, and with kind looks for the stranger--she\nthought of them as she sat by the well again. And then she thought of\nlittle Demophoon, the child she had held at her breast. No stir of\nliving was in the land near their home, and only weeds grew in their\nfields. As she sat there and looked around her there came into\nDemeter's heart a pity for the people in whose house she had dwelt.\n\nShe rose up and she went to the house of Celeus. She found him beside\nhis house measuring out a little grain. The goddess went to him and she\ntold him that because of the love she bore his household she would\nbless his fields so that the seed he had sown in them would come to\ngrowth. Celeus rejoiced, and he called all the people together, and\nthey raised a temple to Demeter. She went through the fields and\nblessed them, and the seed that they had sown began to grow. And the\ngoddess for a while dwelt amongst that people, in her temple at Eleusis.\n\n\n\nIV\n\nBut still she kept away from the assemblies of the gods. Zeus sent a\nmessenger to her, Iris with the golden wings, bidding her to Olympus.\nDemeter would not join the Olympians. Then, one after the other, the\ngods and goddesses of Olympus came to her; none were able to make her\ncease from grieving for Persephone, or to go again into the company of\nthe immortal gods.\n\nAnd so it came about that Zeus was compelled to send a messenger down\nto the Underworld to bring Persephone back to the mother who grieved so\nmuch for the loss of her. Hermes was the messenger whom Zeus sent.\nThrough the darkened places of the earth Hermes went, and he came to\nthat dark throne where the lord Aidoneus sat, with Persephone beside\nhim. Then Hermes spoke to the lord of the Underworld, saying that Zeus\ncommanded that Persephone should come forth from the Underworld that\nher mother might look upon her.\n\nThen Persephone, hearing the words of Zeus that might not be gainsaid,\nuttered the only cry that had left her lips since she had sent out that\ncry that had reached her mother's heart. And Aidoneus, hearing the\ncommand of Zeus that might not be denied, bowed his dark, majestic head.\n\nShe might go to the Upperworld and rest herself in the arms of her\nmother, he said. And then he cried out: \"Ah, Persephone, strive to feel\nkindliness in your heart toward me who carried you off by violence and\nagainst your will. I can give to you one of the great kingdoms that the\nOlympians rule over. And I, who am brother to Zeus, am no unfitting\nhusband for you, Demeter's child.\"\n\nSo Aidoneus, the dark lord of the Underworld said, and he made ready\nthe iron chariot with its deathless horses that Persephone might go up\nfrom his kingdom.\n\nBeside the single tree in his domain Aidoneus stayed the chariot. A\nsingle fruit grew on that tree, a bright pomegranate fruit. Persephone\nstood up in the chariot and plucked the fruit from the tree. Then did\nAidoneus prevail upon her to divide the fruit, and, having divided it,\nPersephone ate seven of the pomegranate seeds.\n\nIt was Hermes who took the whip and the reins of the chariot. He drove\non, and neither the sea nor the water-courses, nor the glens nor the\nmountain peaks stayed the deathless horses of Aidoneus, and soon the\nchariot was brought near to where Demeter awaited the coming of her\ndaughter.\n\nAnd when, from a hilltop, Demeter saw the chariot approaching, she flew\nlike a wild bird to clasp her child. Persephone, when she saw her\nmother's dear eyes, sprang out of the chariot and fell upon her neck\nand embraced her. Long and long Demeter held her dear child in her\narms, gazing, gazing upon her. Suddenly her mind misgave her. With a\ngreat fear at her heart she cried out: \"Dearest, has any food passed\nyour lips in all the time you have been in the Underworld?\"\n\nShe had not tasted food in all the time she was there, Persephone said.\nAnd then, suddenly, she remembered the pomegranate that Aidoneus had\nasked her to divide. When she told that she had eaten seven seeds from\nit Demeter wept, and her tears fell upon Persephone's face.\n\n\"Ah, my dearest,\" she cried, \"if you had not eaten the pomegranate\nseeds you could have stayed with me, and always we should have been\ntogether. But now that you have eaten food in it, the Underworld has a\nclaim upon you. You may not stay always with me here. Again you will\nhave to go back and dwell in the dark places under the earth and sit\nupon Aidoneus's throne. But not always you will be there. When the\nflowers bloom upon the earth you shall come up from the realm of\ndarkness, and in great joy we shall go through the world together,\nDemeter and Persephone.\"\n\nAnd so it has been since Persephone came back to her mother after\nhaving eaten of the pomegranate seeds. For two seasons of the year she\nstays with Demeter, and for one season she stays in the Underworld with\nher dark lord. While she is with her mother there is springtime upon\nthe earth. Demeter blesses the furrows, her heart being glad because\nher daughter is with her once more. The furrows become heavy with\ngrain, and soon the whole wide earth has grain and fruit, leaves and\nflowers. When the furrows are reaped, when the grain has been gathered,\nwhen the dark season comes, Persephone goes from her mother, and going\ndown into the dark places, she sits beside her mighty lord Aidoneus and\nupon his throne. Not sorrowful is she there; she sits with head\nunbowed, for she knows herself to be a mighty queen. She has joy, too,\nknowing of the seasons when she may walk with Demeter, her mother, on\nthe wide places of the earth, through fields of flowers and fruit and\nripening grain.\n\nSuch was the story that Orpheus told--Orpheus who knew the histories of\nthe gods.\n\nA day came when the heroes, on their way back from a journey they had\nmade with the Lemnian maidens, called out to Heracles upon the Argo.\nThen Heracles, standing on the prow of the ship, shouted angrily to\nthem. Terrible did he seem to the Lemnian maidens, and they ran off,\ndrawing the heroes with them. Heracles shouted to his comrades again,\nsaying that if they did not come aboard the Argo and make ready for the\nvoyage to Colchis, he would go ashore and carry them to the ship, and\nforce them again to take the oars in their hands.\n\nNot all of what Heracles said did the Argonauts hear.\n\nThat evening the men were silent in Hypsipyle's hall, and it was\nAtalanta, the maiden, who told the evening's story.\n\n\n\nAtalanta's Race\n\nThere are two Atalantas, she said; she herself, the Huntress, and\nanother who is noted for her speed of foot and her delight in the\nrace--the daughter of Schoeneus, King of Boeotia, Atalanta of the Swift\nFoot.\n\nSo proud was she of her swiftness that she made a vow to the gods that\nnone would be her husband except the youth who won past her in the\nrace. Youth after youth came and raced against her, but Atalanta, who\ngrew fleeter and fleeter of foot, left each one of them far behind her.\nThe youths who came to the race were so many and the clamor they made\nafter defeat was so great, that her father made a law that, as he\nthought, would lessen their number. The law that he made was that the\nyouth who came to race against Atalanta and who lost the race should\nlose his life into the bargain. After that the youths who had care for\ntheir lives stayed away from Boeotia.\n\nOnce there came a youth from a far part of Greece into the country that\nAtalanta's father ruled over. Hippomenes was his name. He did not know\nof the race, but having come into the city and seeing the crowd of\npeople, he went with them to the course. He looked upon the youths who\nwere girded for the race, and he heard the folk say amongst themselves,\n\"Poor youths, as mighty and as high-spirited as they look, by sunset\nthe life will be out of each of them, for Atalanta will run past them\nas she ran past the others.\" Then Hippomenes spoke to the folk in\nwonder, and they told him of Atalanta's race and of what would befall\nthe youths who were defeated in it. \"Unlucky youths,\" cried Hippomenes,\n\"how foolish they are to try to win a bride at the price of their\nlives.\"\n\nThen, with pity in his heart, he watched the youths prepare for the\nrace. Atalanta had not yet taken her place, and he was fearful of\nlooking upon her. \"She is a witch,\" he said to himself, \"she must be a\nwitch to draw so many youths to their deaths, and she, no doubt, will\nshow in her face and figure the witch's spirit.\"\n\nBut even as he said this, Hippomenes saw Atalanta. She stood with the\nyouths before they crouched for the first dart in the race. He saw that\nshe was a girl of a light and a lovely form. Then they crouched for the\nrace; then the trumpets rang out, and the youths and the maiden darted\nlike swallows over the sand of the course.\n\nOn came Atalanta, far, far ahead of the youths who had started with\nher. Over her bare shoulders her hair streamed, blown backward by the\nwind that met her flight. Her fair neck shone, and her little feet were\nlike flying doves. It seemed to Hippomenes as he watched her that there\nwas fire in her lovely body. On and on she went as swift as the arrow\nthat the Scythian shoots from his bow. And as he watched the race he\nwas not sorry that the youths were being left behind. Rather would he\nhave been enraged if one came near overtaking her, for now his heart\nwas set upon winning her for his bride, and he cursed himself for not\nhaving entered the race.\n\nShe passed the last goal mark and she was given the victor's wreath of\nflowers. Hippomenes stood and watched her and he did not see the youths\nwho had started with her--they had thrown themselves on the ground in\ntheir despair.\n\nThen wild, as though he were one of the doomed youths, Hippomenes made\nhis way through the throng and came before the black-bearded King of\nBoeotia. The king's brows were knit, for even then he was pronouncing\ndoom upon the youths who had been left behind in the race. He looked\nupon Hippomenes, another youth who would make the trial, and the frown\nbecame heavier upon his face.\n\nBut Hippomenes saw only Atalanta. She came beside her father; the\nwreath was upon her head of gold, and her eyes were wide and tender.\nShe turned her face to him, and then she knew by the wildness that was\nin his look that he had come to enter the race with her. Then the flush\nthat was on her face died away, and she shook her head as if she were\nimploring him to go from that place.\n\nThe dark-bearded king bent his brows upon him and said, \"Speak, O\nyouth, speak and tell us what brings you here.\"\n\nThen cried Hippomenes as if his whole life were bursting out with his\nwords: \"Why does this maiden, your daughter, seek an easy renown by\nconquering weakly youths in the race? She has not striven yet. Here\nstand I, one of the blood of Poseidon, the god of the sea. Should I be\ndefeated by her in the race, then, indeed, might Atalanta have\nsomething to boast of.\"\n\nAtalanta stepped forward and said: \"Do not speak of it, youth. Indeed I\nthink that it is some god, envious of your beauty and your strength,\nwho sent you here to strive with me and to meet your doom. Ah, think of\nthe youths who have striven with me even now! Think of the hard doom\nthat is about to fall upon them! You venture your life in the race, but\nindeed I am not worthy of the price. Go hence, O stranger youth, go\nhence and live happily, for indeed I think that there is some maiden\nwho loves you well.\"\n\n\"Nay, maiden,\" said Hippomenes, \"I will enter the race and I will\nventure my life on the chance of winning you for my bride. What good\nwill my life and my spirit be to me if they cannot win this race for\nme?\"\n\nShe drew away from him then and looked upon him no more, but bent down\nto fasten the sandals upon her feet. And the black-bearded king looked\nupon Hippomenes and said, \"Face, then, this race to-morrow. You will be\nthe only one who will enter it. But bethink thee of the doom that\nawaits thee at the end of it.\" The king said no more, and Hippomenes\nwent from him and from Atalanta, and he came again to the place where\nthe race had been run.\n\nHe looked across the sandy course with its goal marks, and in his mind\nhe saw again Atalanta's swift race. He would not meet doom at the hands\nof the king's soldiers, he knew, for his spirit would leave him with\nthe greatness of the effort he would make to reach the goal before her.\nAnd he thought it would be well to die in that effort and on that sandy\nplace that was so far from his own land.\n\nEven as he looked across the sandy course now deserted by the throng,\nhe saw one move across it, coming toward him with feet that did not\nseem to touch the ground. She was a woman of wonderful presence. As\nHippomenes looked upon her he knew that she was Aphrodite, the goddess\nof beauty and of love.\n\n\"Hippomenes,\" said the immortal goddess, \"the gods are mindful of you\nwho are sprung from one of the gods, and I am mindful of you because of\nyour own worth. I have come to help you in your race with Atalanta, for\nI would not have you slain, nor would I have that maiden go unwed. Give\nyour greatest strength and your greatest swiftness to the race, and\nbehold! here are wonders that will prevent the fleet-footed Atalanta\nfrom putting all her spirit into the race.\"\n\nAnd then the immortal goddess held out to Hippomenes a branch that had\nupon it three apples of shining gold.\n\n\"In Cyprus,\" said the goddess, \"where I have come from, there is a tree\non which these golden apples grow. Only I may pluck them. I have\nbrought them to you, Hippomenes. Keep them in your girdle, and in the\nrace you will find out what to do with them, I think.\"\n\nSo Aphrodite said, and then she vanished, leaving a fragrance in the\nair and the three shining apples in the hands of Hippomenes. Long he\nlooked upon their brightness. They were beside him that night, and when\nhe arose in the dawn he put them in his girdle. Then, before the\nthrong, he went to the place of the race.\n\nWhen he showed himself beside Atalanta, all around the course were\nsilent, for they all admired Hippomenes for his beauty and for the\nspirit that was in his face; they were silent out of compassion, for\nthey knew the doom that befell the youths who raced with Atalanta.\n\nAnd now Schoeneus, the black-bearded king, stood up, and he spoke to\nthe throng, saying, \"Hear me all, both young and old: this youth,\nHippomenes, seeks to win the race from my daughter, winning her for his\nbride. Now, if he be victorious and escape death I will give him my\ndear child, Atalanta, and many fleet horses besides as gifts from me,\nand in honor he shall go back to his native land. But if he fail in the\nrace, then he will have to share the doom that has been meted out to\nthe other youths who raced with Atalanta hoping to win her for a bride.\"\n\nThen Hippomenes and Atalanta crouched for the start. The trumpets were\nsounded and they darted off.\n\nSide by side with Atalanta, Hippomenes went. Her flying hair touched\nhis breast, and it seemed to him that they were skimming the sandy\ncourse as if they were swallows. But then Atalanta began to draw away\nfrom him. He saw her ahead of him, and then he began to hear the words\nof cheer that came from the throng \"Bend to the race, Hippomenes! Go\non, go on! Use your strength to the utmost.\" He bent himself to the\nrace, but further and further from him Atalanta drew.\n\nThen it seemed to him that she checked her swiftness a little to look\nback at him. He gained on her a little. And then his hand touched the\napples that were in his girdle. As it touched them it came into his\nmind what to do with the apples.\n\nHe was not far from her now, but already her swiftness was drawing her\nfurther and further away. He took one of the apples into his hand and\ntossed it into the air so that it fell on the track before her.\n\nAtalanta saw the shining apple. She checked her speed and stooped in\nthe race to pick it up. And as she stooped Hippomenes darted past her,\nand went flying toward the goal that now was within his sight.\n\nBut soon she was beside him again. He looked, and he saw that the goal\nmarks were far, far ahead of him. Atalanta with the flying hair passed\nhim, and drew away and away from him. He had not speed to gain upon her\nnow, he thought, so he put his strength into his hand and he flung the\nsecond of the shining apples. The apple rolled before her and rolled\noff the course. Atalanta turned off the course, stooped and picked up\nthe apple.\n\nThen did Hippomenes draw all his spirit into his breast as he raced on.\nHe was now nearer to the goal than she was. But he knew that she was\nbehind him, going lightly where he went heavily. And then she was\nbeside him, and then she went past him. She paused in her speed for a\nmoment and she looked back on him.\n\nAs he raced on, his chest seemed weighted down and his throat was\ncrackling dry. The goal marks were far away still, but Atalanta was\nnearing them. He took the last of the golden apples into his hand.\nPerhaps she was now so far that the strength of his throw would not be\ngreat enough to bring the apple before her.\n\nBut with all the strength he could put into his hand he flung the\napple. It struck the course before her feet and then went bounding\nwide. Atalanta swerved in her race and followed where the apple went.\nHippomenes marvelled that he had been able to fling it so far. He saw\nAtalanta stoop to pick up the apple, and he bounded on. And then,\nalthough his strength was failing, he saw the goal marks near him. He\nset his feet between them and then fell down on the ground.\n\nThe attendants raised him up and put the victor's wreath upon his head.\nThe concourse of people shouted with joy to see him victor. But he\nlooked around for Atalanta and he saw her standing there with the\ngolden apples in her hands. \"He has won,\" he heard her say, \"and I have\nnot to hate myself for bringing a doom upon him. Gladly, gladly do I\ngive up the race, and glad am I that it is this youth who has won the\nvictory from me.\"\n\nShe took his hand and brought him before the king. Then Schoeneus, in\nthe sight of all the rejoicing people, gave Atalanta to Hippomenes for\nhis bride, and he bestowed upon him also a great gift of horses. With\nhis dear and hard-won bride, Hippomenes went to his own country, and\nthe apples that she brought with her, the golden apples of Aphrodite,\nwere reverenced by the people.\n\n\n\nX. THE DEPARTURE FROM LEMNOS\n\nA day came when Heracles left the Argo and went on the Lemnian land. He\ngathered the heroes about him, and they, seeing Heracles come amongst\nthem, clamored to go to hunt the wild bulls that were inland from the\nsea.\n\nSo, for once, the heroes left the Lemnian maidens who were their\nfriends. Jason, too, left Hypsipyle in the palace and went with\nHeracles. And as they went, Heracles spoke to each of the heroes,\nsaying that they were forgetting the Fleece of Gold that they had\nsailed to gain.\n\nJason blushed to think that he had almost let go out of his mind the\nquest that had brought him from Iolcus. And then he thought upon\nHypsipyle and of how her little hand would stay in his, and his own\nhand became loose upon the spear so that it nearly fell from him. How\ncould he, he thought, leave Hypsipyle and this land of Lemnos behind?\n\nHe heard the clear voice of Atalanta as she, too, spoke to the\nArgonauts. What Heracles said was brave and wise, said Atalanta.\nForgetfulness would cover their names if they stayed longer in\nLemnos--forgetfulness and shame, and they would come to despise\nthemselves. Leave Lemnos, she cried, and draw Argo into the sea, and\ndepart for Colchis.\n\nAll day the Argonauts stayed by themselves, hunting the bulls. On their\nway back from the chase they were met by Lemnian maidens who carried\nwreaths of flowers for them. Very silent were the heroes as the maidens\ngreeted them. Heracles went with Jason to the palace, and Hypsipyle,\nseeing the mighty stranger coming, seated herself, not on the couch\nwhere she was wont to sit looking into the face of Jason, but on the\nstone throne of King Thoas, her father. And seated on that throne she\nspoke to Jason and to Heracles as a queen might speak.\n\nIn the hall that night the heroes and the Lemnian maidens who were with\nthem were quiet. A story was told; Castor began it and Polydeuces ended\nit. And the story that Helen's brothers told was:\n\n\n\nThe Golden Maid\n\nEpimetheus the Titan had a brother who was the wisest of all\nBeings--Prometheus called the Foreseer. But Epimetheus himself was\nslow-witted and scatter-brained. His wise brother once sent him a\nmessage bidding him beware of the gifts that Zeus might send him.\nEpimetheus heard, but he did not heed the warning, and thereby he\nbrought upon the race of men troubles and cares.\n\nPrometheus, the wise Titan, had saved men from a great trouble that\nZeus would have brought upon them. Also he had given them the gift of\nfire. Zeus was the more wroth with men now because fire, stolen from\nhim, had been given them; he was wroth with the race of Titans, too,\nand he pondered in his heart how he might injure men, and how he might\nuse Epimetheus, the mindless Titan, to further his plan.\n\nWhile he pondered there was a hush on high Olympus, the mountain of the\ngods. Then Zeus called upon the artisan of the gods, lame Hephaestus,\nand he commanded him to make a being out of clay that would have the\nlikeness of a lovely maiden. With joy and pride Hephaestus worked at\nthe task that had been given him, and he fashioned a being that had the\nlikeness of a lovely maiden, and he brought the thing of his making\nbefore the gods and the goddesses.\n\nAll strove to add a grace or a beauty to the work of Hephaestus. Zeus\ngranted that the maiden should see and feel. Athene dressed her in\ngarments that were as lovely as flowers. Aphrodite, the goddess of\nlove, put a charm on her lips and in her eyes. The Graces put necklaces\naround her neck and set a golden crown upon her head. The Hours brought\nher a girdle of spring flowers. Then the herald of the gods gave her\nspeech that was sweet and flowing. All the gods and goddesses had given\ngifts to her, and for that reason the maiden of Hephaestus's making was\ncalled Pandora, the All-endowed.\n\nShe was lovely, the gods knew; not beautiful as they themselves are,\nwho have a beauty that awakens reverence rather than love, but lovely,\nas flowers and bright waters and earthly maidens are lovely. Zeus\nsmiled to himself when he looked upon her, and he called to Hermes who\nknew all the ways of the earth, and he put her into the charge of\nHermes. Also he gave Hermes a great jar to take along; this jar was\nPandora's dower.\n\nEpimetheus lived in a deep-down valley. Now one day, as he was sitting\non a fallen pillar in the ruined place that was now forsaken by the\nrest of the Titans, he saw a pair coming toward him. One had wings, and\nhe knew him to be Hermes, the messenger of the gods. The other was a\nmaiden. Epimetheus marveled at the crown upon her head and at her\nlovely garments. There was a glint of gold all around her. He rose from\nwhere he sat upon the broken pillar and he stood to watch the pair.\nHermes, he saw, was carrying by its handle a great jar.\n\nIn wonder and delight he looked upon the maiden. Epimetheus had seen no\nlovely thing for ages. Wonderful indeed was this Golden Maid, and as\nshe came nearer the charm that was on her lips and in her eyes came to\nthe Earth-born One, and he smiled with more and more delight.\n\nHermes came and stood before him. He also smiled, but his smile had\nsomething baleful in it. He put the hands of the Golden Maid into the\ngreat soft hand of the Titan, and he said, \"O Epimetheus, Father Zeus\nwould be reconciled with thee, and as a sign of his good will he sends\nthee this lovely goddess to be thy companion.\"\n\nOh, very foolish was Epimetheus the Earth-born One! As he looked upon\nthe Golden Maid who was sent by Zeus he lost memory of the wars that\nZeus had made upon the Titans and the Elder Gods; he lost memory of his\nbrother chained by Zeus to the rock; he lost memory of the warning that\nhis brother, the wisest of all beings, had sent him. He took the hands\nof Pandora, and he thought of nothing at all in all the world but her.\nVery far away seemed the voice of Hermes saying, \"This jar, too, is\nfrom Olympus; it has in it Pandora's dower.\"\n\nThe jar stood forgotten for long, and green plants grew over it while\nEpimetheus walked in the garden with the Golden Maid, or watched her\nwhile she gazed on herself in the stream, or searched in the untended\nplaces for the fruits that the Elder Gods would eat, when they feasted\nwith the Titans in the old days, before Zeus had come to his power. And\nlost to Epimetheus was the memory of his brother now suffering upon the\nrock because of the gift he had given to men.\n\nAnd Pandora, knowing nothing except the brightness of the sunshine and\nthe lovely shapes and colors of things and the sweet taste of the\nfruits that Epimetheus brought to her, could have stayed forever in\nthat garden.\n\nBut every day Epimetheus would think that the men and women of the\nworld should be able to talk to him about this maiden with the\nwonderful radiance of gold, and with the lovely garments, and the\nmarvelous crown. And one day he took Pandora by the hand, and he\nbrought her out of that deep-lying valley, and toward the homes of men.\nHe did not forget the jar that Hermes had left with her. All things\nthat belonged to the Golden Maid were precious, and Epimetheus took the\njar along.\n\nThe race of men at the time were simple and content. Their days were\npassed in toil, but now, since Prometheus had given them fire, they had\ngood fruits of their toil. They had well-shaped tools to dig the earth\nand to build houses. Their homes were warmed with fire, and fire burned\nupon the altars that were upon their ways.\n\nGreatly they reverenced Prometheus, who had given them fire, and\ngreatly they reverenced the race of the Titans. So when Epimetheus came\namongst them, tall as a man walking with stilts, they welcomed him and\nbrought him and the Golden Maid to their hearths. And Epimetheus showed\nPandora the wonderful element that his brother had given to men, and\nshe rejoiced to see the fire, clapping her hands with delight. The jar\nthat Epimetheus brought he left in an open place.\n\nIn carrying it up the rough ways out of the valley Epimetheus may have\nknocked the jar about, for the lid that had been tight upon it now\nfitted very loosely. But no one gave heed to the jar as it stood in the\nopen space where Epimetheus had left it.\n\nAt first the men and women looked upon the beauty of Pandora, upon her\nlovely dresses, and her golden crown and her girdle of flowers, with\nwonder and delight. Epimetheus would have every one admire and praise\nher. The men would leave off working in the fields, or hammering on\niron, or building houses, and the women would leave off spinning or\nweaving, and come at his call, and stand about and admire the Golden\nMaid. But as time went by a change came upon the women: one woman would\nweep, and another would look angry, and a third would go back sullenly\nto her work when Pandora was admired or praised.\n\nOnce the women were gathered together, and one who was the wisest\namongst them said: \"Once we did not think about ourselves, and we were\ncontent. But now we think about ourselves, and we say to ourselves that\nwe are harsh and ill-favored indeed compared to the Golden Maid that\nthe Titan is so enchanted with. And we hate to see our own men praise\nand admire her, and often, in our hearts, we would destroy her if we\ncould.\"\n\n\"That is true,\" the women said. And then a young woman cried out in a\nmost yearnful voice, \"O tell us, you who are wise, how can we make\nourselves as beautiful as Pandora!\"\n\nThen said that woman who was thought to be wise, \"This Golden Maid is\nLovely to look upon because she has lovely apparel and all the means of\nkeeping herself lovely. The gods have given her the ways, and, so her\nskin remains fair, and her hair keeps its gold, and her lips are ever\nred and her eyes shining. And I think that the means that she has of\nkeeping lovely are all in that jar that Epimetheus brought with her.\"\n\nWhen the woman who was thought to be wise said this, those around her\nwere silent for a while. But then one arose and another arose, and they\nstood and whispered together, one saying to the other that they should\ngo to the place where the jar had been left by Epimetheus, and that\nthey should take out of it the salves and the charms and the washes\nthat would leave them as beautiful as Pandora.\n\nSo the women went to that place. On their way they stopped at a pool\nand they bent over to see themselves mirrored in it, and they saw\nthemselves  with dusty and unkempt hair, with large and knotted hands,\nwith troubled eyes, and with anxious mouths.\n\nThey frowned as they looked upon their images, and they said in harsh\nvoices that in a while they would have ways of making themselves as\nlovely as the Golden Maid.\n\nAnd as they went on they saw Pandora. She was playing in a flowering\nfield, while Epimetheus, high as a man upon stilts, went gathering the\nblossoms of the bushes for her. They went on, and they came at last to\nthe place where Epimetheus had left the jar that held Pandora's dower.\n\nA great stone jar it was; there was no bird, nor flower, nor branch\npainted upon it. It stood high as a woman's shoulder. And as the women\nlooked on it they thought that there were things enough in it to keep\nthem beautiful for all the days of their lives. But each one thought\nthat she should not be the last to get her hands into it.\n\nOnce the lid had been fixed tightly down on the jar. But the lid was\nshifted a little now. As the hands of the women grasped it to take off\nthe lid the jar was cast down, and the things that were inside spilled\nthemselves forth.\n\nThey were black and gray and red; they were crawling and flying things.\nAnd, as the women looked, the things spread themselves abroad or\nfastened themselves upon them.\n\nThe jar, like Pandora herself, had been made and filled out of the ill\nwill of Zeus. And it had been filled, not with salves and charms and\nwashes, as the women had thought, but with Cares and Troubles. Before\nthe women came to it one Trouble had already come forth from the\njar--Self-thought that was upon the top of the heap. It was\nSelf-thought that had afflicted the women, making them troubled about\ntheir own looks, and envious of the graces of the Golden Maid.\n\nAnd now the others spread themselves out--Sickness and War and Strife\nbetween friends. They spread themselves abroad and entered the houses,\nwhile Epimetheus, the mindless Titan, gathered flowers for Pandora, the\nGolden Maid.\n\nLest she should weary of her play he called to her. He would take her\ninto the houses of men. As they drew near to the houses they saw a\nwoman seated on the ground, weeping; her husband had suddenly become\nhard to her and had shut the door on her face.\n\nThey came upon a child crying because of a pain that he could not\nunderstand. And then they found two men struggling, their strife being\non account of a possession that they had both held peaceably before.\n\nIn every house they went to Epimetheus would say, \"I am the brother of\nPrometheus, who gave you the gift of fire.\" But instead of giving them\na welcome the men would say, \"We know nothing about your relation to\nPrometheus. We see you as a foolish man upon stilts.\"\n\nEpimetheus was troubled by the hard looks and the cold words of the men\nwho once had reverenced him. He turned from the houses and went away.\nIn a quiet place he sat down, and for a while he lost sight of Pandora.\nAnd then it seemed to him that he heard the voice of his wise and\nsuffering brother saying, \"Do not accept any gift that Zeus may send\nyou.\"\n\nHe rose up and he hurried away from that place, leaving Pandora playing\nby herself. There came into his scattered mind Regret and Fear. As he\nwent on he stumbled. He fell from the edge of a cliff, and the sea\nwashed away the body of the mindless brother of Prometheus.\n\nNot everything had been spilled out of the jar that had been brought\nwith Pandora into the world of men. A beautiful, living thing was in\nthat jar also. This was Hope. And this beautiful, living thing had got\ncaught under the rim of the jar and had not come forth with the others.\nOne day a weeping woman found Hope under the rim of Pandora's jar and\nbrought this living thing into the house of men. And now because of\nHope they could see an end to their troubles. And the men and women\nroused themselves in the midst of their afflictions and they looked\ntoward gladness. Hope, that had been caught under the rim of the jar,\nstayed behind the thresholds of their houses.\n\nAs for Pandora, the Golden Maid, she played on, knowing only the\nbrightness of the sunshine and the lovely shapes of things. Beautiful\nwould she have seemed to any being who saw her, but now she had strayed\naway from the houses of men and Epimetheus was not there to look upon\nher. Then Hephaestus, the lame artisan of the gods, left down his tools\nand went to seek her. He found Pandora, and he took her back to\nOlympus. And in his brazen house she stays, though sometimes at the\nwill of Zeus she goes down into the world of men.\n\nWhen Polydeuces had ended the story that Castor had begun, Heracles\ncried out: \"For the Argonauts, too, there has been a Golden Maid--nay,\nnot one, but a Golden Maid for each. Out of the jar that has been with\nher ye have taken forgetfulness of your honor. As for me, I go back to\nthe Argo lest one of these Golden Maids should hold me back from the\nlabors that make great a man.\"\n\nSo Heracles said, and he went from Hypsipyle's hall. The heroes looked\nat each other, and they stood up, and shame that they had stayed so\nlong away from the quest came over each of them. The maidens took their\nhands; the heroes unloosed those soft hands and turned away from them.\n\nHypsipyle left the throne of King Thoas and stood before Jason. There\nwas a storm in all her body; her mouth was shaken, and a whole life's\ntrouble was in her great eyes. Before she spoke Jason cried out: \"What\nHeracles said is true, O Argonauts! On the Quest of the Golden Fleece\nour lives and our honors depend. To Colchis--to Colchis must we go!\"\n\nHe stood upright in the hall, and his comrades gathered around him. The\nLemnian maidens would have held out their arms and would have made\ntheir partings long delayed, but that a strange cry came to them\nthrough the night. Well did the Argonauts know that cry--it was the cry\nof the ship, of Argo herself. They knew that they must go to her now or\nstay from the voyage for ever. And the maidens knew that there was\nsomething in the cry of the ship that might not be gainsaid, and they\nput their hands before their faces, and they said no other word.\n\nThen said Hypsipyle, the queen, \"I, too, am a ruler, Jason, and I know\nthat there are great commands that we have to obey. Go, then, to the\nArgo. Ah, neither I nor the women of Lemnos will stay your going now.\nBut to-morrow speak to us from the deck of the ship and bid us\nfarewell. Do not go from us in the night, Jason.\"\n\nJason and the Argonauts went from Hypsipyle's hall. The maidens who\nwere left behind wept together. All but Hypsipyle. She sat on the\nthrone of King Thoas and she had Polyxo, her nurse, tell her of the\nways of Jason's voyage as he had told of them, and of all that he would\nhave to pass through. When the other Lemnian women slept she put her\nhead upon her nurse's, knees and wept; bitterly Hypsipyle wept, but\nsoftly, for she would not have the others hear her weeping.\n\nBy the coming of the morning's light the Argonauts had made all ready\nfor their sailing. They were standing on the deck when the light came,\nand they saw the Lemnian women come to the shore. Each looked at her\nfriend aboard the Argo, and spoke, and went away. And last, Hypsipyle,\nthe queen, came. \"Farewell, Hypsipyle,\" Jason said to her, and she, in\nher strange way of speaking, said:\n\n\"What you told us I have remembered--how you will come to the dangerous\npassage that leads into the Sea of Pontus, and how by the flight of a\npigeon you will know whether or not you may go that way. O Jason, let\nthe dove you fly when you come to that dangerous place be Hypsipyle's.\"\n\nShe showed a pigeon held in her hands. She loosed it, and the pigeon\nalighted on the ship, and stayed there on pink feet, a white-feathered\npigeon. Jason took up the pigeon and held it in his hands, and the Argo\ndrew swiftly away from the Lemnian land.\n\n\n\nXI. THE PASSAGE OF THE SYMPLEGADES\n\nThey came near Salmydessus, where Phineus, the wise king, ruled, and\nthey sailed past it; they sighted the pile of stones, with the oar\nupright upon it that they had raised on the seashore over the body of\nTiphys, the skillful steersman whom they had lost; they sailed on until\nthey heard a sound that grew more and more thunderous, and then the\nheroes said to each other, \"Now we come to the Symplegades and the\ndread passage into the Sea of Pontus.\"\n\nIt was then that Jason cried out: \"Ah, when Pelias spoke of this quest\nto me, why did I not turn my head away and refuse to be drawn into it?\nSince we came near the dread passage that is before us I have passed\nevery night in groans. As for you who have come with me, you may take\nyour ease, for you need care only for your own lives. But I have to\ncare for you all, and to strive to win for you all a safe return to\nGreece. Ah, greatly am I afflicted now, knowing to what a great peril I\nhave brought you!\"\n\nSo Jason said, thinking to make trial of the heroes. They, on their\npart, were not dismayed, but shouted back cheerful words to him. Then\nhe said: \"O friends of mine, by your spirit my spirit is quickened. Now\nif I knew that I was being borne down into the black gulfs of Hades, I\nshould fear nothing, knowing that you are constant and faithful of\nheart.\"\n\nAs he said this they came into water that seethed all around the ship.\nThen into the hands of Euphemus, a youth of Iolcus, who was the\nkeenest-eyed amongst the Argonauts, Jason put the pigeon that Hypsipyle\nhad given him. He bade him stand by the prow of the Argo, ready to\nloose the pigeon as the ship came nigh that dreadful gate of rock.\n\nThey saw the spray being dashed around in showers; they saw the sea\nspread itself out in foam; they saw the high, black rocks rush\ntogether, sounding thunderously as they met. The caves in the high\nrocks rumbled as the sea surged into them, and the foam of the dashing\nwaves spurted high up the rocks.\n\nJason shouted to each man to grip hard on the oars. The Argo dashed on\nas the rocks rushed toward each other again. Then there was such noise\nthat no man's voice could be heard above it.\n\nAs the rocks met, Euphemus loosed the pigeon. With his keen eyes he\nwatched her fly through the spray. Would she, not finding an opening to\nfly through, turn back? He watched, and meanwhile the Argonauts gripped\nhard on the oars to save the ship from being dashed on the rocks. The\npigeon fluttered as though she would sink down and let the spray drown\nher. And then Euphemus saw her raise herself and fly forward. Toward\nthe place where she had flown he pointed. The rowers gave a loud cry,\nand Jason called upon them to pull with might and main.\n\nThe rocks were parting asunder, and to the right and left broad Pontus\nwas seen by the heroes. Then suddenly a huge wave rose before them, and\nat the sight of it they all uttered a cry and bent their heads. It\nseemed to them that it would dash down on the whole ship's length and\noverwhelm them all. But Nauplius was quick to ease the ship, and the\nwave rolled away beneath the keel, and at the stern it raised the Argo\nand dashed her away from the rocks.\n\nThey felt the sun as it streamed upon them through the sundered rocks.\nThey strained at the oars until the oars bent like bows in their hands.\nThe ship sprang forward. Surely they were now in the wide Sea of Pontus!\n\nThe Argonauts shouted. They saw the rocks behind them with the sea fowl\nscreaming upon them. Surely they were in the Sea of Pontus--the sea\nthat had never been entered before through the Rocks Wandering. The\nrocks no longer dashed together; each remained fixed in its place, for\nit was the will of the gods that these rocks should no more clash\ntogether after a mortal's ship had passed between them.\n\nThey were now in the Sea of Pontus, the sea into which flowed the river\nthat Colchis was upon--the River Phasis. And now above Jason's head the\nbird of peaceful days, the Halcyon, fluttered, and the Argonauts knew\nthat this was a sign from the gods that the voyage would not any more\nbe troublous.\n\n\n\nXII. THE MOUNTAIN CAUCASUS\n\nThey rested in the harbor of Thynias, the desert island, and sailing\nfrom there they came to the land of the Mariandyni, a people who were\nconstantly at war with the Bebrycians; there the hero Polydeuces was\nwelcomed as a god. Twelve days afterward they passed the mouth of the\nRiver Callichorus; then they came to the mouth of that river that flows\nthrough the land of the Amazons, the River Thermodon. Fourteen days\nfrom that place brought them to the island that is filled with the\nbirds of Ares, the god of war. These birds dropped upon the heroes\nheavy, pointed feathers that would have pierced them as arrows if they\nhad not covered themselves with their shields; then by shouting, and by\nstriking their shields with their spears, they raised such a clamor as\ndrove the birds away.\n\nThey sailed on, borne by a gentle breeze, until a gulf of the sea\nopened before them, and lo! a mountain that they knew bore some mighty\nname. Orpheus, looking on its peak and its crags, said, \"Lo, now! We,\nthe Argonauts, are looking upon the mountain that is named Caucasus!\"\n\nWhen he declared the name the heroes all stood up and looked on the\nmountain with awe. And in awe they cried out a name, and that name was\n\"Prometheus!\"\n\nFor upon that mountain the Titan god was held, his limbs bound upon the\nhard rocks by fetters of bronze. Even as the Argonauts looked toward\nthe mountain a great shadow fell upon their ship, and looking up they\nsaw a monstrous bird flying. The beat of the bird's wings filled out\nthe sail and drove the Argo swiftly onward. \"It is the bird sent by\nZeus,\" Orpheus said. \"It is the vulture that every day devours the\nliver of the Titan god.\" They cowered down on the ship as they heard\nthat word--all the Argonauts save Heracles; he stood upright and looked\nout toward where the bird was flying. Then, as the bird came near to\nthe mountain, the Argonauts heard a great cry of anguish go up from the\nrocks.\n\n\"It is Prometheus crying out as the bird of Zeus flies down upon him,\"\nthey said to one another. Again they cowered down on the ship, all save\nHeracles, who stayed looking toward where the great vulture had flown.\n\nThe night came and the Argonauts sailed on in silence, thinking in awe\nof the Titan god and of the doom that Zeus had inflicted upon him.\nThen, as they sailed on under the stars, Orpheus told them of\nPrometheus, of his gift to men, and of the fearful punishment that had\nbeen meted out to him by Zeus.\n\n\n\nPrometheus\n\nThe gods more than once made a race of men: the first was a Golden\nRace. Very close to the gods who dwell on Olympus was this Golden Race;\nthey lived justly although there were no laws to compel them. In the\ntime of the Golden Race the earth knew only one season, and that season\nwas everlasting Spring. The men and women of the Golden Race lived\nthrough a span of life that was far beyond that of the men and women of\nour day, and when they died it was as though sleep had become\neverlasting with them. They had all good things, and that without\nlabor, for the earth without any forcing bestowed fruits and crops upon\nthem. They had peace all through their lives, this Golden Race, and\nafter they had passed away their spirits remained above the earth,\ninspiring the men of the race that came after them to do great and\ngracious things and to act justly and kindly to one another.\n\nAfter the Golden Race had passed away, the gods made for the earth a\nsecond race--a Silver Race. Less noble in spirit and in body was this\nSilver Race, and the seasons that visited them were less gracious. In\nthe time of the Silver Race the gods made the seasons--Summer and\nSpring, and Autumn and Winter. They knew parching heat, and the bitter\nwinds of winter, and snow and rain and hail. It was the men of the\nSilver Race who first built houses for shelter. They lived through a\nspan of life that was longer  than our span, but it was not long enough\nto give wisdom to them. Children were brought up at their mothers'\nsides for a hundred years, playing at childish things. And when they\ncame to years beyond  a hundred they quarreled with one another, and\nwronged one another, and did not know enough to give reverence to the\nimmortal gods. Then, by the will of Zeus, the Silver Race passed away\nas the  Golden Race had passed away. Their spirits stay in the\nUnderworld, and they are called by men the blessed spirits of the\nUnderworld.\n\nAnd then there was made the third race--the Race of Bronze. They were a\nrace great of stature, terrible and strong. Their armor was of bronze,\ntheir swords were of bronze, their implements were of bronze, and of\nbronze, too, they made their houses. No great span of life was theirs,\nfor with the weapons that they took in their terrible hands they slew\none another. Thus they passed away, and went down under the earth to\nHades, leaving no name that men might know them by.\n\nThen the gods created a fourth race--our own: a Race of Iron. We have\nnot the justice that was amongst the men of the Golden Race, nor the\nsimpleness that was amongst the men of the Silver Race, nor the stature\nnor the great strength that the men of the Bronze Race possessed. We\nare of iron that we may endure. It is our doom that we must never cease\nfrom labor and that we must very quickly grow old.\n\nBut miserable as we are to-day, there was a time when the lot of men\nwas more miserable. With poor implements they had to labor on a hard\nground. There was less justice and kindliness amongst men in those days\nthan there is now.\n\nOnce it came into the mind of Zeus that he would destroy the fourth\nrace and leave the earth to the nymphs and the satyrs. He would destroy\nit by a great flood. But Prometheus, the--Titan god who had given aid\nto Zeus against the other Titans--Prometheus, who was called the\nForeseer--could not consent to the race of men being destroyed utterly,\nand he considered a way of saving some of them. To a man and a woman,\nDeucalion and Pyrrha, just and gentle people, he brought word of the\nplan of Zeus, and he showed them how to make a ship that would bear\nthem through what was about to be sent upon the earth.\n\nThen Zeus shut up in their cave all the winds but the wind that brings\nrain and clouds. He bade this wind, the South Wind, sweep over the\nearth, flooding it with rain. He called upon Poseidon and bade him to\nlet the sea pour in upon the land. And Poseidon commanded the rivers to\nput forth all their strength, and sweep dykes away, and overflow their\nbanks.\n\nThe clouds and the sea and the rivers poured upon the earth. The flood\nrose higher and higher, and in the places where the pretty lambs had\nplayed the ugly sea calves now gambolled; men in their boats drew\nfishes out of the tops of elm trees, and the water nymphs were amazed\nto come on men's cities under the waves.\n\nSoon even the men and women who had boats were overwhelmed by the rise\nof water--all perished then except Deucalion and Pyrrha, his wife; them\nthe waves had not overwhelmed, for they were in a ship that Prometheus\nhad shown them how to build. The flood went down at last, and Deucalion\nand Pyrrha climbed up to a high and a dry ground. Zeus saw that two of\nthe race of men had been left alive. But he saw that these two were\njust and kindly, and had a right reverence for the gods. He spared\nthem, and he saw their children again peopling the earth.\n\nPrometheus, who had saved them, looked on the men and women of the\nearth with compassion. Their labor was hard, and they wrought much to\ngain little. They were chilled at night in their houses, and the winds\nthat blew in the daytime made the old men and women bend double like a\nwheel. Prometheus thought to himself that if men and women had the\nelement that only the gods knew of--the element of fire--they could\nmake for themselves implements for labor; they could build houses that\nwould keep out the chilling winds, and they could warm themselves at\nthe blaze.\n\nBut the gods had not willed that men should have fire, and to go\nagainst the will of the gods would be impious. Prometheus went against\nthe will of the gods. He stole fire from the altar of Zeus, and he hid\nit in a hollow fennel stalk, and he brought it to men.\n\nThen men were able to hammer iron into tools, and cut down forests with\naxes, and sow grain where the forests had been. Then were they able to\nmake houses that the storms could not overthrow, and they were able to\nwarm themselves at hearth fires. They had rest from their labor at\ntimes. They built cities; they became beings who no longer had heads\nand backs bent but were able to raise their faces even to the gods.\n\nAnd Zeus spared the race of men who had now the sacred element of fire.\nBut he knew that Prometheus had stolen this fire even from his own\naltar and had given it to men. And he thought on how he might punish\nthe great Titan god for his impiety.\n\nHe brought back from the Underworld the giants that he had put there to\nguard the Titans that had been hurled down to Tartarus. He brought back\nGyes, Cottus, and Briareus, and he commanded them to lay hands upon\nPrometheus and to fasten him with fetters to the highest, blackest crag\nupon Caucasus. And Briareus, Cottus, and Gyes seized upon the Titan\ngod, and carried him to Caucasus, and fettered him with fetters of\nbronze to the highest, blackest crag--with fetters of bronze that may\nnot be broken. There they have left the Titan stretched, under the sky,\nwith the cold winds blowing upon him, and with the sun streaming down\non him. And that his punishment might exceed all other punishments Zeus\nhad sent a vulture to prey upon him--a vulture that tears at his liver\neach day.\n\nAnd yet Prometheus does not cry out that he has repented of his gift to\nman; although the winds blow upon him, and the sun streams upon him,\nand the vulture tears at his liver, Prometheus will not cry out his\nrepentance to heaven. And Zeus may not utterly destroy him. For\nPrometheus the Foreseer knows a secret that Zeus would fain have him\ndisclose. He knows that even as Zeus overthrew his father and made\nhimself the ruler in his stead, so, too, another will overthrow Zeus.\nAnd one day Zeus will have to have the fetters broken from around the\nlimbs of Prometheus, and will have to bring from the rock and the\nvulture, and into the Council of the Olympians, the unyielding Titan\ngod.\n\nWhen the light of the morning came the Argo was very near to the\nMountain Caucasus. The voyagers looked in awe upon its black crags.\nThey saw the great vulture circling over a high rock, and from beneath\nwhere the vulture circled they heard a weary cry. Then Heracles, who\nall night had stood by the mast, cried out to the Argonauts to bring\nthe ship near to a landing place.\n\nBut Jason would not have them go near; fear of the wrath of Zeus was\nstrong upon him; rather, he bade the Argonauts put all their strength\ninto their rowing, and draw far off from that forbidden mountain.\nHeracles, not heeding what Jason ordered, declared that it was his\npurpose to make his way up to the black crag, and, with his shield and\nhis sword in his hands, slay the vulture that preyed upon the liver of\nPrometheus.\n\nThen Orpheus in a clear voice spoke to the Argonauts. \"Surely some\nspirit possesses Heracles,\" he said. \"Despite all we do or say he will\nmake his way to where Prometheus is fettered to the rock. Do not\ngainsay him in this! Remember what Nereus, the ancient one of the sea,\ndeclared! Did Nereus not say that a great labor awaited Heracles, and\nthat in the doing of it he should work out the will of Zeus? Stay him\nnot! How just it would be if he who is the son of Zeus freed from his\ntorments the much-enduring Titan god!\"\n\nSo Orpheus said in his clear, commanding voice. They drew near to the\nMountain Caucasus. Then Heracles, gripping the sword and shield that\nwere the gifts of the gods, sprang out on the landing place. The\nArgonauts shouted farewell to him. But he, filled as he was with an\novermastering spirit, did not heed their words.\n\nA strong breeze drove them onward; darkness came down, and the Argo\nwent on through the night. With the morning light those who were\nsleeping were awakened by the cry of Nauplius--\"Lo! The Phasis, and the\nutmost bourne of the sea!\" They sprang up, and looked with many strange\nfeelings upon the broad river they had come to.\n\nHere was the Phasis emptying itself into the Sea of Pontus! Up that\nriver was Colchis and the city of King \u00c6etes, the end of their voyage,\nthe place where was kept the Golden Fleece! Quickly they let down the\nsail; they lowered the mast and they laid it along the deck; strongly\nthey grasped the oars; they swung the Argo around, and they entered the\nbroad stream of the Phasis.\n\nUp the river they went with the Mountain Caucasus on their left hand,\nand on their right the groves and gardens of Aea, King \u00c6etes's city. As\nthey went up the stream, Jason poured from a golden cup an offering to\nthe gods. And to the dead heroes of that country the Argonauts prayed\nfor good fortune to their enterprise.\n\nIt was Jason's counsel that they should not at once appear before King\n\u00c6etes, but visit him after they had seen the strength of his city. They\ndrew their ship into a shaded backwater, and there they stayed while\nday grew and faded around them.\n\nNight came, and the heroes slept upon the deck of Argo. Many things\ncame back to them in their dreams or through their half-sleep: they\nthought of the Lemnian maidens they had parted from; of the Clashing\nRocks they had passed between; of the look in the eyes of Heracles as\nhe raised his face to the high, black peak of Caucasus. They slept, and\nthey thought they saw before them THE GOLDEN FLEECE; darkness\nsurrounded it; it seemed to the dreaming Argonauts that the darkness\nwas the magic power that King \u00c6etes possessed.\n\n\n\n\nPART II. The Return To Greece\n\n\n\nI. KING \u00c6ETES\n\nThey had come into a country that was the strangest of all countries,\nand amongst a people that were the strangest of all peoples. They were\nin the land, this people said, before the moon had come into the sky.\nAnd it is true that when the great king of Egypt had come so far,\nfinding in all other places men living on the high hills and eating the\nacorns that grew on the oaks there, he found in Colchis the city of Aea\nwith a wall around it and with pillars on which writings were graven.\nThat was when Egypt was called the Morning Land.\n\nAnd many of the magicians of Egypt who had come with King Sesostris\nstayed in that city of Aea, and they taught people spells that could\nstay the moon in her going and coming, in her rising and setting.\nPriests of the Moon ruled the city of Aea until King \u00c6etes came.\n\n\u00c6etes had no need of their magic, for Helios, the bright Sun, was his\nfather, as he thought. Also, Hephaestus, the artisan of the gods, was\nhis friend, and Hephaestus made for him many wonderful things to be his\nprotection. Medea, too, his wise daughter, knew the secrets taught by\nthose who could sway the moon.\n\nBut \u00c6etes once was made afraid by a dream that he had: he dreamt that a\nship had come up the Phasis, and then, sailing on a mist, had rammed\nhis palace that was standing there in all its strength and beauty until\nit had fallen down. On the morning of the night that he had had this\ndream \u00c6etes called Medea, his wise daughter, and he bade her go to the\ntemple of Hecate, the Moon, and search out spells that might destroy\nthose who came against his city.\n\nThat morning the Argonauts, who had passed the night in the backwater\nof the river, had two youths come to them. They were in a broken ship,\nand they had one oar only. When Jason, after giving them food and fresh\ngarments, questioned them, he found out that these youths were of the\ncity of Aea, and that they were none others than the sons of\nPhrixus--of Phrixus who had come there with the Golden Ram.\n\nAnd the youths, Phrontis and Melas, were as amazed as was Jason when\nthey found out whose ship they had come aboard. For Jason was the\ngrandson of Cretheus, and Cretheus was the brother of Athamas, their\ngrandfather. They had ventured from Aea, where they had been reared,\nthinking to reach the country of Athamas and lay claim to his\npossessions. But they had been wrecked at a place not far from the\nmouth of the Phasis, and with great pain and struggle they had made\ntheir way back.\n\nThey were fearful of Aea and of their uncle King \u00c6etes, and they would\ngladly go with Jason and the Argonauts back to Greece. They would help\nJason, they said, to persuade \u00c6etes to give the Golden Fleece peaceably\nto them. Their mother was the daughter of \u00c6etes--Chalciope, whom the\nking had given in marriage to Phrixus, his guest.\n\nA council of the Argonauts was held, and it was agreed that Jason\nshould go with two comrades to King \u00c6etes, Phrontis and Melas going\nalso. They were to ask the king to give them the Golden Fleece and to\noffer him a recompense. Jason took Peleus and Telamon with him.\n\nAs they came to the city a mist fell, and Jason and his comrades with\nthe sons of Phrixus went through the city without being seen. They came\nbefore the palace of King \u00c6etes. Then Phrontis and Melas were some way\nbehind. The mist lifted, and before the heroes was the wonder of the\npalace in the bright light of the morning.\n\nVines with broad leaves and heavy clusters of fruit grew from column to\ncolumn, the columns holding a gallery up. And under the vines were the\nfour fountains that Hephaestus had made for King \u00c6etes. They gushed out\ninto golden, silver, bronze, and iron basins. And one fountain gushed\nout clear water, and another gushed out milk; another gushed out wine;\nand another oil. On each side of the courtyard were the palace\nbuildings; in one King \u00c6etes lived with Apsyrtus, his son, and in the\nother Chalciope and Medea lived with their handmaidens.\n\nMedea was passing from her father's house. The mist lifted suddenly and\nshe saw three strangers in the palace courtyard. One had a crimson\nmantle on; his shoulders were such as to make him seem a man that a\nwhole world could not overthrow, and his eyes had all the sun's light\nin them.\n\nAmazed, Medea stood looking upon Jason, wondering at his bright hair\nand gleaming eyes and at the lightness and strength of the hand that he\nhad raised. And then a dove flew toward her: it was being chased by a\nhawk, and Medea saw the hawk's eyes and beak. As the dove lighted upon\nher shoulder she threw her veil around it, and the hawk dashed itself\nagainst a column. And as Medea, trembling, leaned against the column\nshe heard a cry from her sister, who was within.\n\nFor now Phrontis and Melas had come up, and Chalciope who was spinning\nby the door saw them and cried out. All the servants rushed out. Seeing\nChalciope's sons there they, too, uttered loud cries, and made such\ncommotion that Apsyrtus and then King \u00c6etes came out of the palace.\n\nJason saw King \u00c6etes. He was old and white, but he had great green\neyes, and the strength of a leopard was in all he did. And Jason looked\nupon Apsyrtus too; the son of \u00c6etes looked like a Phoenician merchant,\nblack of beard and with rings in his ears, with a hooked nose and a\ngleam of copper in his face.\n\nPhrontis and Melas went from their mother's embrace and made reverence\nto King \u00c6etes. Then they spoke of the heroes who were with them, of\nJason and his two comrades. \u00c6etes bade all enter the palace; baths were\nmade ready for them, and a banquet was prepared.\n\nAfter the banquet, when they all sat together, \u00c6etes addressing the\neldest of Chalciope's sons, said:\n\n\"Sons of Phrixus, of that man whom I honored above all men who came to\nmy halls, speak now and tell me how it is that you have come back to\nAea so soon, and who they are, these men who come with you?\"\n\n\u00c6etes, as he spoke, looked sharply upon Phrontis and Melas, for he\nsuspected them of having returned to Aea, bringing these armed men with\nthem, with an evil intent. Phrontis looked at the King, and said:\n\n\"\u00c6etes, our ship was driven upon the Island of Ares, where it was\nalmost broken upon the rocks. That was on a murky night, and in the\nmorning the birds of Ares shot their sharp feathers upon us. We pulled\naway from that place, and thereafter we were driven by the winds back\nto the mouth of the Phasis. There we met with these heroes who were\nfriendly to us. Who they are, what they have come to your city for, I\nshall now tell you.\n\n\"A certain king, longing to drive one of these heroes from his land,\nand hoping that the race of Cretheus might perish utterly, led him to\nenter a most perilous adventure. He came here upon a ship that was made\nby the command of Hera, the wife of Zeus, a ship more wonderful than\nmortals ever sailed in before. With him there came the mightiest of the\nheroes of Greece. He is Jason, the grandson of Cretheus, and he has\ncome to beg that you will grant him freely the famous Fleece of Gold\nthat Phrixus brought to Aea.\n\n\"But not without recompense to you would he take the Fleece. Already he\nhas heard of your bitter foes, the Sauromatae. He with his comrades\nwould subdue them for you. And if you would ask of the names and the\nlineage of the heroes who are with Jason I shall tell you. This is\nPeleus and this is Telamon; they are brothers, and they are sons of\nAEacus, who was of the seed of Zeus. And all the other heroes who have\ncome with them are of the seed of the gods.\"\n\nSo Phrontis said, but the King was not placated by what he said. He\nthought that the sons of Chalciope had returned to Aea bringing these\nwarriors with them so that they might wrest the kingship from him, or,\nfailing that, plunder the city. \u00c6etes's heart was filled with wrath as\nhe looked upon them, and his eyes shone as a leopard's eyes.\n\n\"Begone from my sight,\" he cried, \"robbers that ye are! Tricksters! If\nyou had not eaten at my table, assuredly I should have had your tongues\ncut out for speaking falsehoods about the blessed gods, saying that\nthis one and that of your companions was of their divine race.\"\n\nTelamon and Peleus strode forward with angry hearts; they would have\nlaid their hands upon King \u00c6etes only Jason held them back. And then\nspeaking to the king in a quiet voice, Jason said:\n\n\"Bear with us, King \u00c6etes, I pray you. We have not come with such evil\nintent as you think. Ah, it was the evil command of an evil king that\nsent me forth with these companions of mine across dangerous gulfs of\nthe sea, and to face your wrath and the armed men you can bring against\nus. We are ready to make great recompense for the friendliness you may\nshow to us. We will subdue for you the Sauromatae, or any other people\nthat you would lord it over.\"\n\nBut \u00c6etes was not made friendly by Jason's words. His heart was divided\nas to whether he should summon his armed men and have them slain upon\nthe spot, or whether he should put them into danger by the trial he\nwould make of them.\n\nAt last he thought that it would be better to put them to the trial\nthat he had in mind, slaying them afterward if need be. And then he\nspoke to Jason, saying:\n\n\"Strangers to Colchis, it may be true what my nephews have said. It may\nbe that ye are truly of the seed of the immortals. And it may be that I\nshall give you the Golden Fleece to bear away after I have made trial\nof you.\"\n\nAs he spoke Medea, brought there by his messenger so that she might\nobserve the strangers, came into the chamber. She entered softly and\nshe stood away from her father and the four who were speaking with him.\nJason looked upon her, and even although his mind was filled with the\nthought of bending King \u00c6etes to his will,  he saw what manner of\nmaiden she was, and what beauty and what strength  was hers.\n\nShe had a dark face that was made very strange by her crown of golden\nhair. Her eyes, like her father's, were wide and full of light, and her\nlips were so full and red that they made her mouth like an opening\nrose. But her brows were always knit as if there was some secret anger\nwithin her.\n\n\"With brave men I have no quarrel,\" said \u00c6etes \"I will make a trial of\nyour bravery, and if your bravery wins through the trial, be very sure\nthat you will have the Golden Fleece to bring back in triumph to Iolcus.\n\n\"But the trial that I would make of you is hard for a great hero even.\nKnow that on the plain of Ares yonder I have two fire-breathing bulls\nwith feet of brass. These bulls were once conquered by me; I yoked them\nto a plow of adamant, and with them I plowed the field of Ares for four\nplow-gates. Then I sowed the furrows, not with the seed that Demeter\ngives, but with teeth of a dragon. And from the dragon's teeth that I\nsowed in the field of Ares armed men sprang up. I slew them with my\nspear as they rose around me to slay me. If you can accomplish this\nthat I accomplished in days gone by I shall submit to you and give you\nthe Golden Fleece. But if you cannot accomplish what I once\naccomplished you shall go from my city empty-handed; for it is not\nright that a brave man should yield aught to one who cannot show\nhimself as brave.\"\n\nSo \u00c6etes said. Then Jason, utterly confounded, cast his eyes upon the\nground. He raised them to speak to the king, and as he did he found the\nstrange eyes of Medea upon him. With all the courage that was in him he\nspoke:\n\n\"I will dare this contest, monstrous as it is. I will face this doom. I\nhave come far, and there is nothing else for me to do but to yoke your\nfire-breathing bulls to the plow of adamant, and plow the furrows in\nthe field of Ares, and struggle with the Earth-born Men.\" As he said\nthis he saw the eyes of Medea grow wide as with fear.\n\nThen \u00c6etes, said, \"Go back to your ship and make ready for the trial.\"\nJason, with Peleus and Telamon, left the chamber, and the king smiled\ngrimly as he saw them go. Phrontis and Melas went to where their mother\nwas. But Medea stayed, and \u00c6etes looked upon her with his great\nleopard's eyes. \"My daughter, my wise Medea,\" he said, \"go, put spells\nupon the Moon, that Hecate may weaken that man in his hour of trial.\"\nMedea turned away from her father's eyes, and went to her chamber.\n\n\n\nII. MEDEA THE SORCERESS\n\nShe turned away from her father's eyes and she went into her own\nchamber. For a long time she stood there with her hands clasped\ntogether.  She heard the voice of Chalciope lamenting because \u00c6etes had\ntaken a  hatred to her sons and might strive to destroy them. She heard\nthe voice of her sister lamenting, but Medea thought that the cause\nthat her sister  had for grieving was small compared with the cause\nthat she herself had.\n\nShe thought on the moment when she had seen Jason for the first\ntime--in the courtyard as the mist lifted and the dove flew to her; she\nthought of him as he lifted those bright eyes of his; then she thought\nof his voice as he spoke after her father had imposed the dreadful\ntrial upon him. She would have liked then to have cried out to him, \"O\nyouth, if others rejoice at the doom that you go to, I do not rejoice.\"\n\nStill her sister lamented. But how great was her own grief compared to\nher sister's! For Chalciope could try to help her sons and could lament\nfor the danger they were in and no one would blame her. But she might\nnot strive to help Jason nor might she lament for the danger he was in.\nHow terrible it would be for a maiden to help a stranger against her\nfather's design! How terrible it would be for a woman of Colchis to\nhelp a stranger against the will of the king! How terrible it would be\nfor a daughter to plot against King \u00c6etes in his own palace!\n\nAnd then Medea hated Aea, her city. She hated the furious people who\ncame together in the assembly, and she hated the brazen bulls that\nHephaestus had given her father. And then she thought that there was\nnothing in Aea except the furious people and the fire-breathing bulls.\nO how pitiful it was that the strange hero and his friends should have\ncome to such a place for the sake of the Golden Fleece that was watched\nover by the sleepless serpent in the grove of Ares!\n\nStill Chalciope lamented. Would Chalciope come to her and ask her,\nMedea, to help her sons? If she should come she might speak of the\nstrangers, too, and of the danger they were in. Medea went to her couch\nand lay down upon it. She longed for her sister to come to her or to\ncall to her.\n\nBut Chalciope stayed in her own chamber. Medea, lying upon her couch,\nlistened to her sister's laments. At last she went near where Chalciope\nwas. Then shame that she should think so much about the stranger came\nover her. She stood there without moving; she turned to go back to the\ncouch, and then trembled so much that she could not stir. As she stood\nbetween her couch and her sister's chamber she heard the voice of\nChalciope calling to her.\n\nShe went into the chamber where her sister stood. Chalciope flung her\narms around her. \"Swear,\" said she to Medea, \"swear by Hecate, the\nMoon, that you will never speak of something I am going to ask you.\"\nMedea swore that she would never speak of it.\n\nChalciope spoke of the danger her sons were in. She asked Medea to\ndevise a way by which they could escape with the stranger from Aea. \"In\nAea and in Colchis,\" she said, \"there will be no safety for my sons\nhenceforth.\" And to save Phrontis and Melas, she said, Medea would have\nto save the strangers also. Surely she knew of a charm that would save\nthe stranger from the brazen bulls in the contest on the morrow!\n\nSo Chalciope came to the very thing that was in Medea's mind. Her heart\nbounded with joy and she embraced her. \"Chalciope,\" she said, \"I\ndeclare that I am your sister, indeed--aye, and your daughter, too, for\ndid you not care for me when I was an infant? I will strive to save\nyour sons. I will strive to save the strangers who came with your sons.\nSend one to the strangers--send him to the leader of the strangers, and\ntell him that I would see him at daybreak in the temple of Hecate.\"\n\nWhen Medea said this Chalciope embraced her again. She was amazed to\nsee how Medea's tears were flowing. \"Chalciope,\" she said, \"no one will\nknow the dangers that I shall go through to save them.\"\n\nSwiftly then Chalciope went from the chamber. But Medea stayed there\nwith her head bowed and the blush of shame on her face. She thought\nthat already she had deceived her sister, making her think that it was\nPhrontis and Melas and not Jason that was in her mind to save. And she\nthought on how she would have to plot against her father and against\nher own people, and all for the sake of a stranger who would sail away\nwithout thought of her, without the image of her in his mind.\n\nJason, with Peleus and Telamon, went back to the Argo. His comrades\nasked how he had fared, and when he spoke to them of the fire-breathing\nbulls with feet of brass, of the dragon's teeth that had to be sown,\nand of the Earth-born Men that had to be overcome, the Argonauts were\ngreatly cast down, for this task, they thought, was one that could not\nbe accomplished. He who stood before the fire-breathing bulls would\nperish on the moment. But they knew that one amongst them must strive\nto accomplish the task. And if Jason held back, Peleus, Telamon,\nTheseus, Castor, Polydeuces, or any one of the others would undertake\nit.\n\nBut Jason would not hold back. On the morrow, he said, he would strive\nto yoke the fire-breathing, brazen-footed bulls to the plow of adamant.\nIf he perished the Argonauts should then do what they thought was\nbest--make other trials to gain the Golden Fleece, or turn their ship\nand sail back to Greece.\n\nWhile they were speaking, Phrontis, Chalciope's son, came to the ship.\nThe Argonauts welcomed him, and in a while he began to speak of his\nmother's sister and of the help she could give. They grew eager as he\nspoke of her, all except rough Arcas, who stood wrapped in his bear's\nskin. \"Shame on us,\" rough Arcas cried, \"shame on us if we have come\nhere to crave the help of girls! Speak no more of this! Let us, the\nArgonauts, go with swords into the city of Aea, and slay this king, and\ncarry off the Fleece of Gold.\"\n\nSome of the Argonauts murmured approval of what Arcas said. But Orpheus\nsilenced him and them, for in his prophetic mind Orpheus saw something\nof the help that Medea would give them. It would be well, Orpheus said,\nto take help from this wise maiden; Jason should go to her in the\ntemple of Hecate. The Argonauts agreed to this; they listened to what\nPhrontis told them about the brazen bulls, and the night wore on.\n\nWhen darkness came upon the earth; when, at sea, sailors looked to the\nBear arid the stars of Orion; when, in the city, there was no longer\nthe sound of barking dogs nor of men's voices, Medea went from the\npalace. She came to a path; she followed it until it brought her into\nthe part of the grove that was all black with the shadow that oak trees\nmade.\n\nShe raised up her hands and she called upon Hecate, the Moon. As she\ndid, there was a blaze as from torches all around, and she saw horrible\nserpents stretching themselves toward her from the branches of the\ntrees. Medea shrank back in fear. But again she called upon Hecate. And\nnow there was a howling as from the hounds of Hades all around her.\nFearful, indeed, Medea grew as the howling came near her; almost she\nturned to flee. But she raised her hands again and called upon Hecate.\nThen the nymphs who haunted the marsh and the river shrieked, and at\nthose shrieks Medea crouched down in fear.\n\nShe called upon Hecate, the Moon, again. She saw the moon rise above\nthe treetops, and then the hissing and shrieking and howling died away.\nHolding up a goblet in her hand Medea poured out a libation of honey to\nHecate, the Moon.\n\nAnd then she went to where the moon made a brightness upon the ground.\nThere she saw a flower that rose above the other flowers--a flower that\ngrew from two joined stalks, and that was of the color of a crocus.\nMedea cut the stalks with a brazen knife, and as she did there came a\ndeep groan out of the earth.\n\nThis was the Promethean flower. It had come out of the earth first when\nthe vulture that tore at Prometheus's liver had let fall to earth a\ndrop of his blood. With a Caspian shell that she had brought with her\nMedea gathered the dark juice of this flower--the juice that went to\nmake her most potent charm. All night she went through the grove\ngathering the juice of secret herbs; then she mingled them in a phial\nthat she put away in her girdle.\n\nShe went from that grove and along the river. When the sun shed its\nfirst rays upon snowy Caucasus she stood outside the temple of Hecate.\nShe waited, but she had not long to wait, for, like the bright star\nSirius rising out of Ocean, soon she saw Jason coming toward her. She\nmade a sign to him, and he came and stood beside her in the portals of\nthe temple.\n\nThey would have stood face to face if Medea did not have her head bent.\nA blush had come upon her face, and Jason seeing it, and seeing how her\nhead was bent, knew how grievous it was to her to meet and speak to a\nstranger in this way. He took her hand and he spoke to her reverently,\nas one would speak to a priestess.\n\n\"Lady,\" he said, \"I implore you by Hecate and by Zeus who helps all\nstrangers and suppliants to be kind to me and to the men who have come\nto your country with me. Without your help I cannot hope to prevail in\nthe grievous trial that has been laid upon me. If you will help us,\nMedea, your name will be renowned throughout all Greece. And I have\nhopes that you will help us, for your face and form show you to be one\nwho can be kind and gracious.\"\n\nThe blush of shame had gone from Medea's face and a softer blush came\nover her as Jason spoke. She looked upon him and she knew that she\ncould hardly live if the breath of the brazen bulls withered his life\nor if the Earth-born Men slew him. She took the charm from out her\ngirdle; ungrudgingly she put it into Jason's hands. And as she gave him\nthe charm that she had gained with such danger, the fear and trouble\nthat was around her heart melted as the dew melts from around the rose\nwhen it is warmed by the first light of the morning.\n\nThen they spoke standing close together in the portal of the temple.\nShe told him how he should anoint his body all over with the charm; it\nwould give him, she said, boundless and untiring strength, and make him\nso that the breath of the bulls could not wither him nor the horns of\nthe bulls pierce him. She told him also to sprinkle his shield and his\nsword with the charm.\n\nAnd then they spoke of the dragon's teeth and of the Earth-born Men who\nwould spring from them. Medea told Jason that when they arose out of\nthe earth he was to cast a great stone amongst them. The Earth-born Men\nwould struggle about the stone, and they would slay each other in the\ncontest.\n\nHer dark and delicate face was beautiful. Jason looked upon her, and it\ncame into his mind that in Colchis there was something else of worth\nbesides the Golden Fleece. And he thought that after he had won the\nFleece there would be peace between the Argonauts and King \u00c6etes, and\nthat he and Medea might sit together in the king's hall. But when he\nspoke of being joined in friendship with her father, Medea cried:\n\n\"Think not of treaties nor of covenants. In Greece such are regarded,\nbut not here. Ah, do not think that the king, my father, will keep any\npeace with you! When you have won the Fleece you must hasten away. You\nmust not tarry in Aea.\"\n\nShe said this and her cheeks were wet with tears to think that he\nshould go so soon, that he would go so far, and that she would never\nlook upon him again. She bent her head again and she said: \"Tell me\nabout your own land; about the place of your father, the place where\nyou will live when you win back from Colchis.\"\n\nThen Jason told her of Icolus; he told her how it was circled by\nmountains not so lofty as her Caucasus; he told her of the pasture\nlands of Iolcus with their flocks of sheep; he told her of the Mountain\nPelion where he had been reared by Chiron, the ancient centaur; he told\nher of his father who lingered out his life in waiting for his return.\n\nMedea said: \"When you go back to Iolcus do not forget me, Medea. I\nshall remember you, Jason, even in my father's despite. And it will be\nmy hope that some rumor of you will come to me like some\nmessenger-bird. If you forget me may some blast of wind sweep me away\nto Iolcus, and may I sit in your hall an unknown and an unexpected\nguest!\"\n\nThen they parted; Medea went swiftly back to the palace, and Jason,\nturning to the river, went to where the Argo was moored.\n\nThe heroes embraced and questioned him; he told them of Medea's counsel\nand he showed them the charm she had given him. That savage man Arcas\nscoffed at Medea's counsel and Medea's charm, saying that the Argonauts\nhad become poor-spirited indeed when they had to depend upon a girl's\nhelp.\n\nJason bathed in the river; then he anointed himself with the charm; he\nsprinkled his spear and shield and sword with it. He came to Arcas who\nsat upon his bench, still nursing his anger, and he held the spear\ntoward him.\n\nArcas took up his heavy sword and he hewed at the butt of the spear.\nThe edge of the sword turned. The blade leaped back in his hand as if\nit had been struck against an anvil. And Jason, feeling within him a\nboundless and tireless strength, laughed aloud.\n\n\n\nIII. THE WINNING OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE\n\nThey took the ship out of the backwater and they brought her to a wharf\nin the city. At a place that was called \"The Ram's Couch\" they fastened\nthe Argo. Then they marched to the field of Ares, where the king and\nthe Colchian people were.\n\nJason, carrying his shield and spear, went before the king. From the\nking's hand he took the gleaming helmet that held the dragon's teeth.\nThis he put into the hands of Theseus, who went with him. Then with the\nspear and shield in his hands, with his sword girt across his\nshoulders, and with his mantle stripped off, Jason looked across the\nfield of Ares.\n\nHe saw the plow that he was to yoke to the bulls; he saw the yoke of\nbronze near it; he saw the tracks of the bulls' hooves. He followed the\ntracks until he came to the lair of the fire-breathing bulls. Out of\nthat lair, which was underground, smoke and fire belched. He set his\nfeet firmly upon the ground and he held his shield before him. He\nawaited the onset of the bulls. They came clanging up with loud\nbellowing, breathing out fire.  They lowered their heads, and with\nmighty, iron-tipped horns they  came to gore and trample him.\n\nMedea's charm had made him strong; Medea's charm had made his shield\nimpregnable. The rush of the bulls did not overthrow him. His comrades\nshouted to see him standing firmly there, and in wonder the Colchians\ngazed upon him. All round him, as from a furnace, there came smoke and\nfire.\n\nThe bulls roared mightily. Grasping the horns of the bull that was upon\nhis right hand, Jason dragged him until he had brought him beside the\nyoke of bronze. Striking the brazen knees of the bull suddenly with his\nfoot he forced him down. Then he smote the other bull as it rushed upon\nhim, and it too he forced down upon its knees.\n\nCastor and Polydeuces held the yoke to him. Jason bound it upon the\nnecks of the bulls. He fastened the plow to the yoke. Then he took his\nshield and set it upon his back, and grasping the handles of the plow\nhe started to make the furrow.\n\nWith his long spear he drove the bulls before him as with a goad.\nTerribly they raged, furiously they breathed out fire. Beside Jason\nTheseus went holding the helmet that held the dragon's teeth. The hard\nground was torn up by the plow of adamant, and the clods groaned as\nthey were cast up. Jason flung the teeth between the open sods, often\nturning his head in fear that the deadly crop of the Earth-born Men\nwere rising behind him.\n\nBy the time that a third of the day was finished the field of Ares had\nbeen plowed and sown. As yet the furrows were free of the Earth-born\nMen. Jason went down to the river and filled his helmet full of water\nand drank deeply. And his knees that were stiffened with the plowing he\nbent until they were made supple again.\n\nHe saw the field rising into mounds. It seemed that there were graves\nall over the field of Ares. Then he saw spears and shields and helmets\nrising up out of the earth. Then armed warriors sprang up, a fierce\nbattle cry upon their lips.\n\nJason remembered the counsel of Medea. He raised a boulder that four\nmen could hardly raise and with arms hardened by the plowing he cast\nit. The Colchians shouted to see such a stone cast by the hands of one\nman. Right into the middle of the Earth-born Men the stone came. They\nleaped upon it like hounds, striking at one another as they came\ntogether. Shield crashed on shield, spear rang upon spear as they\nstruck at each other. The Earth-born Men, as fast as they arose, went\ndown before the weapons in the hands of their brethren.\n\nJason rushed upon them, his sword in his hand. He slew some that had\nrisen out of the earth only as far as the shoulders; he slew others\nwhose feet were still in the earth; he slew others who were ready to\nspring upon him. Soon all the Earth-born Men were slain, and the\nfurrows ran with their dark blood as channels run with water in\nspringtime.\n\nThe Argonauts shouted loudly for Jason's victory. King \u00c6etes rose from\nhis seat that was beside the river and he went back to the city. The\nColchians followed him. Day faded, and Jason's contest was ended.\n\nBut it was not the will of \u00c6etes that the strangers should be let\ndepart peaceably with the Golden Fleece that Jason had won. In the\nassembly place, with his son Apsyrtus beside him, and with the furious\nColchians all around him, the king stood: on his breast was the\ngleaming corselet that Ares had given him, and on his head was that\ngolden helmet with its four plumes that made him look as if he were\ntruly the son of Helios, the Sun. Lightnings flashed from his great\neyes; he spoke fiercely to the Colchians, holding in his hand his\nbronze-topped spear.\n\nHe would have them attack the strangers and burn the Argo. He would\nhave the sons of Phrixus slain for bringing them to Aea. There was a\nprophecy, he declared, that would have him be watchful of the treachery\nof his own offspring: this prophecy was being fulfilled by the children\nof Chalciope; he feared, too, that his daughter, Medea, had aided the\nstrangers. So the king spoke, and the Colchians, hating all strangers,\nshouted around him.\n\nWord of what her father had said was brought to Medea. She knew that\nshe would have to go to the Argonauts and bid them flee hastily from\nAea. They would not go, she knew, without the Golden Fleece; then she,\nMedea, would have to show them how to gain the Fleece.\n\nThen she could never again go back to her father's palace, she could\nnever again sit in this chamber and talk to her handmaidens, and be\nwith Chalciope, her sister. Forever afterward she would be dependent on\nthe kindness of strangers. Medea wept when she thought of all this. And\nthen she cut off a tress of her hair and she left it in her chamber as\na farewell from one who was going afar. Into the chamber where\nChalciope was she whispered farewell.\n\nThe palace doors were all heavily bolted, but Medea did not have to\npull back the bolts. As she chanted her Magic Song the bolts softly\ndrew back, the doors softly opened. Swiftly she went along the ways\nthat led to the river. She came to where fires were blazing and she\nknew that the Argonauts were there.\n\nShe called to them, and Phrontis, Chalciope's son, heard the cry and\nknew the voice. To Jason he spoke, and Jason quickly went to where\nMedea stood.\n\nShe clasped Jason's hand and she drew him with her. \"The Golden\nFleece,\" she said, \"the time has come when you must pluck the Golden\nFleece off the oak in the grove of Ares.\" When she said these words all\nJason's being became taut like the string of a bow.\n\nIt was then the hour when huntsmen cast sleep from their eyes--huntsmen\nwho never sleep away the end of the night, but who are ever ready to be\nup and away with their hounds before the beams of the sun efface the\ntrack and the scent of the quarry. Along a path that went from the\nriver Medea drew Jason. They entered a grove. Then Jason saw something\nthat was like a cloud filled with the light of the rising sun. It hung\nfrom a great oak tree. In awe he stood and looked upon it, knowing that\nat last he looked upon THE GOLDEN FLEECE.\n\nHis hand let slip Medea's hand and he went to seize the Fleece. As he\ndid he heard a dreadful hiss. And then he saw the guardian of the\nGolden Fleece. Coiled all around the tree, with outstretched neck and\nkeen and sleepless eyes, was a deadly serpent. Its hiss ran all through\nthe grove and the birds that were wakening up squawked in terror.\n\nLike rings of smoke that rise one above the other, the coils of the\nserpent went around the tree--coils covered by hard and gleaming\nscales. It uncoiled, stretched itself, and lifted its head to strike.\nThen Medea dropped on her knees before it, and began to chant her Magic\nSong.\n\nAs she sang, the coils around the tree grew slack. Like a dark,\nnoiseless wave the serpent sank down on the ground. But still its jaws\nwere open, and those dreadful jaws threatened Jason. Medea, with a\nnewly cut spray of juniper dipped in a mystic brew, touched its deadly\neyes. And still she chanted her Magic Song. The serpent's jaws closed;\nits eyes became deadened; far through the grove its length was\nstretched out.\n\nThen Jason took the Golden Fleece. As he raised his hands to it, its\nbrightness was such as to make a flame on his face. Medea called to\nhim. He strove to gather it all up in his arms; Medea was beside him,\nand they went swiftly on.\n\nThey came to the river and down to the place where the Argo was moored.\nThe heroes who were aboard started up, astonished to see the Fleece\nthat shone as with the lightning of Zeus. Over Medea Jason cast it, and\nhe lifted her aboard the Argo.\n\n\"O friends,\" he cried, \"the quest on which we dared the gulfs of the\nsea and the wrath of kings is accomplished, thanks to the help of this\nmaiden. Now may we return to Greece; now have we the hope of looking\nupon our fathers and our friends once more. And in all honor will we\nbring this maiden with us, Medea, the daughter of King \u00c6etes.\"\n\nThen he drew his sword and cut the hawsers of the ship, calling upon\nthe heroes to drive the Argo on. There was a din and a strain and a\nsplash of oars, and away from Aea the Argo dashed. Beside the mast\nMedea stood; the Golden Fleece had fallen at her feet, and her head and\nface were covered by her silver veil.\n\n\n\nIV. THE SLAYING OF APSYRTUS\n\nThat silver veil was to be splashed with a brother's blood, and the\nArgonauts, because of that calamity, were for a long time to be held\nback from a return to their native land.\n\nNow as they went down the river they saw that dangers were coming\nswiftly upon them. The chariots of the Colchians were upon the banks.\nJason saw King \u00c6etes in his chariot, a blazing torch lighting his\ncorselet and his helmet. Swiftly the Argo went, but there were ships\nbehind her, and they went swiftly too.\n\nThey came into the Sea of Pontus, and Phrontis, the son of Phrixus,\ngave counsel to them. \"Do not strive to make the passage of the\nSymplegades,\" he said. \"All who live around the Sea of Pontus are\nfriendly to King \u00c6etes they will be warned by him, and they will be\nready to slay us and take the Argo. Let us journey up the River Ister,\nand by that way we can come to the Thrinacian Sea that is close to your\nland.\"\n\nThe Argonauts thought well of what Phrontis said; into the waters of\nthe Ister the ship was brought. Many of the Colchian ships passed by\nthe mouth of the river, and went seeking the Argo toward the passage of\nthe Symplegades.\n\nBut the Argonauts were on a way that was dangerous for them. For\nApsyrtus had not gone toward the Symplegades seeking the Argo. He had\nled his soldiers overland to the River Ister at a place that was at a\ndistance above its mouth. There were islands in the river at that\nplace, and the soldiers of Apsyrtus landed on the islands, while\nApsyrtus went to the kings of the people around and claimed their\nsupport.\n\nThe Argo came and the heroes found themselves cut off. They could not\nmake their way between the islands that were filled with the Colchian\nsoldiers, nor along the banks that were lined with men friendly to King\n\u00c6etes. Argo was stayed. Apsyrtus sent for the chiefs; he had men enough\nto overwhelm them, but he shrank from a fight with the heroes, and he\nthought that he might gain all he wanted from them without a struggle.\n\nTheseus and Peleus went to him. Apsyrtus would have them give up the\nGolden Fleece; he would have them give up Medea and the sons of Phrixus\nalso.\n\nTheseus and Peleus appealed to the judgment of the kings who supported\nApsyrtus. \u00c6etes, they said, had no more claim on the Golden Fleece. He\nhad promised it to Jason as a reward for tasks that he had imposed. The\ntasks had been accomplished and the Fleece, no matter in what way it\nwas taken from the grove of Ares, was theirs. So Theseus and Peleus\nsaid, and the kings who supported Apsyrtus gave judgment for the\nArgonauts.\n\nBut Medea would have to be given to her brother. If that were done the\nArgo would be let go on her course, Apsyrtus said, and the Golden\nFleece would be left with them. Apsyrtus said, too, that he would not\ntake Medea back to the wrath of her father; if the Argonauts gave her\nup she would be let stay on the island of Artemis and under the\nguardianship of the goddess.\n\nThe chiefs brought Apsyrtus's words back. There was a council of the\nArgonauts, and they agreed that they should leave Medea on the island\nof Artemis.\n\nBut grief and wrath took hold of Medea when she heard of this resolve.\nAlmost she would burn the Argo. She went to where Jason stood, and she\nspoke again of all she had done to save his life and win the Golden\nFleece for the Argonauts. Jason made her look on the ships and the\nsoldiers that were around them; he showed her how these could overwhelm\nthe Argonauts and slay them all. With all the heroes slain, he said,\nMedea would come into the hands of Apsyrtus, who then could leave her\non the island of Artemis or take her back to the wrath of her father.\n\nBut Medea would not consent to go nor could Jason's heart consent to\nlet her go. Then these two made a plot to deceive Apsyrtus.\n\n\"I have not been of the council that agreed to give you up to him,\"\nJason said. \"After you have been left there I will take you off the\nisland of Artemis secretly. The Colchians and the kings who support\nthem, not knowing that you have been taken off and hidden on the Argo,\nwill let us pass.\" This Medea and Jason planned to do, and it was an\nill thing, for it was breaking the covenant that the chiefs had entered\nwith Apsyrtus.\n\nMedea then was left by the Argonauts on the island of Artemis. Now\nApsyrtus had been commanded by his father to bring her back to Aea; he\nthought that when she had been left by the Argonauts he could force her\nto come with him. So he went over to the island. Jason, secretly\nleaving his companions, went to the island from the other side.\n\nBefore the temple of Artemis Jason and Apsyrtus came face to face. Both\nmen, thinking they had been betrayed to their deaths, drew their\nswords. Then, before the vestibule of the temple and under the eyes of\nMedea, Jason and Apsyrtus fought. Jason's sword pierced the son of\n\u00c6etes as he fell Apsyrtus cried out bitter words against Medea, saying\nthat it was on her account that he had come on his death. And as he\nfell the blood of her brother splashed Medea's silver veil.\n\nJason lifted Medea up and carried her to the Argo. They hid the maiden\nunder the Fleece of Gold and they sailed past the ships of the\nColchians. When darkness came they were far from the island of Artemis.\nIt was then that they heard a loud wailing, and they knew that the\nColchians had discovered that their prince had been slain.\n\nThe Colchians did not pursue them. Fearing the wrath of \u00c6etes they made\nsettlements in the lands of the kings who had supported A Apsyrtus;\nthey never went back to Aea; they called themselves Apsyrtians\nhenceforward, naming themselves after the prince they had come with.\n\nThey had escaped the danger that had hemmed them in, but the Argonauts,\nas they sailed on, were not content; covenants had been broken, and\nblood had been shed in a bad cause. And as they went on through the\ndarkness the voice of the ship was heard; at the sound of that voice\nfear and sorrow came upon the voyagers, for they felt that it had a\nprophecy of doom.\n\nCastor and Polydeuces went to the front of the ship; holding up their\nhands, they prayed. Then they heard the words that the voice uttered:\nin the night as they went on the voice proclaimed the wrath of Zeus on\naccount of the slaying of Apsyrtus.\n\nWhat was their doom to be? It was that the Argonauts would have to\nwander forever over the gulfs of the sea unless Medea had herself\ncleansed of her brother's blood. There was one who could cleanse\nMedea--Circe, the daughter of Helios and Perse. The voice urged the\nheroes to pray to the immortal gods that the way to the island of Circe\nbe shown to them.\n\n\n\nV. MEDEA COMES TO CIRCE\n\nThey sailed up the River Ister until they came to the Eridanus, that\nriver across which no bird can fly. Leaving the Eridanus they entered\nthe Rhodanus, a river that rises in the extreme north, where Night\nherself has her habitation. And voyaging up this river they came to the\nStormy Lakes. A mist lay upon the lakes night and day; voyaging through\nthem the Argonauts at last brought out their ship upon the Sea of\nAusonia.\n\nIt was Zetes and Calais, the sons of the North Wind, who brought the\nArgo safely along this dangerous course. And to Zetes and Calais Iris,\nthe messenger of the gods, appeared and revealed to them where Circe's\nisland lay.\n\nDeep blue water was all around that island, and on its height a marble\nhouse was to be seen. But a strange haze covered everything as with a\nveil. As the Argonauts came near they saw what looked to them like\ngreat dragonflies; they came down to the shore, and then the heroes saw\nthat they were maidens in gleaming dresses.\n\nThe maidens waved their hands to the voyagers, calling them to come on\nthe island. Strange beasts came up to where the maidens were and made\nwhimpering cries.\n\nThe Argonauts would have drawn the ship close and would have sprung\nupon the island only that Medea cried out to them. She showed them the\nbeasts that whimpered around the maidens, and then, as the Argonauts\nlooked upon them, they saw that these were not beasts of the wild.\nThere was something strange and fearful about them; the heroes gazed\nupon them with troubled eyes. They brought the ship near, but they\nstayed upon their benches, holding the oars in their hands.\n\nMedea sprang to the island; she spoke to the maidens so that they\nshrank away; then the beasts came and whimpered around her. \"Forbear to\nland here, O Argonauts,\" Medea cried, \"for this is the island where men\nare changed into beasts.\" She called to Jason to come; only Jason would\nshe have come upon the island.\n\nThey went swiftly toward the marble house, and the beasts followed\nthem, looking up at Jason and Medea with pitiful human eyes. They went\ninto the marble house of Circe, and as suppliants they seated\nthemselves at the hearth.\n\nCirce stood at her loom, weaving her many-colored threads. Swiftly she\nturned to the suppliants; she looked for something strange in them, for\njust before they came the walls of her house dripped with blood and the\nflame ran over and into her pot, burning up all the magic herbs she was\nbrewing. She went toward where they sat, Medea with her face hidden by\nher hands, and Jason, with his head bent,--holding with its point in\nthe ground the sword with which he had slain the son of \u00c6etes When\nMedea took her hands away from before her face, Circe knew that, like\nherself, this maiden was of the race of Helios. Medea spoke to her,\ntelling her first of the voyage of the heroes and of their toils;\ntelling her then of how she had given help to Jason against the will of\n\u00c6etes her father; telling her then, fearfully, of the slaying of\nApsyrtus. She covered her face with her robe as she spoke of it. And\nthen she told Circe she had come, warned by the judgment of Zeus, to\nask of Circe, the daughter of Helios, to purify her from the stain of\nher brother's blood.\n\nLike all the children of Helios, Circe had eyes that were wide and full\nof life, but she had stony lips--lips that were heavy and moveless.\nBright golden hair hung smoothly along each of her sides. First she\nheld a cup to them that was filled with pure water, and Jason and Medea\ndrank from that cup.\n\nThen Circe stayed by the hearth; she burnt cakes in the flame, and all\nthe while she prayed to Zeus to be gentle with these suppliants. She\nbrought both to the seashore. There she washed Medea's body and her\ngarments with the spray of the sea.\n\nMedea pleaded with Circe to tell her of the life she foresaw for her,\nbut Circe would not speak of it. She told Medea that one day she would\nmeet a woman who knew nothing about enchantments but who had much human\nwisdom. She was to ask of her what she was to do in her life or what\nshe was to leave undone. And whatever this woman out of her wisdom told\nher, that Medea was to regard. Once more Circe offered them the cup\nfilled with clear water, and when they had drunken of it she left them\nupon the seashore. As she went toward her marble house the strange\nbeasts followed Circe, whimpering as they went. Jason and Medea went\naboard the Argo, and the heroes drew away from Circe's island.\n\n\n\nVI. IN THE LAND OF THE PHAEACIANS\n\nWearied were the heroes now. They would have fain gone upon the island\nof Circe to rest there away from the oars and the sound of the sea. But\nthe wisest of them, looking upon the beasts that were men transformed,\nheld the Argo far off the shore. Then Jason and Medea came aboard, and\nwith heavy hearts and wearied arms they turned to the open sea again.\n\nNo longer had they such high hearts as when they drove the Argo between\nthe Clashers and into the Sea of Pontus. Now their heads drooped as\nthey went on, and they sang such songs as slaves sing in their hopeless\nlabor. Orpheus grew fearful for them now.\n\nFor Orpheus knew that they were drawing toward a danger. There was no\nother way for them, he knew, but past the Island Anthemoessa in the\nTyrrhenian Sea where the Sirens were.\n\nOnce they had been nymphs and had tended Persephone before she was\ncarried off by Aidoneus to be his queen in the Underworld. Kind they\nhad been, but now they were changed, and they cared only for the\ndestruction of men.\n\nAll set around with rocks was the island where they were. As the Argo\ncame near, the Sirens, ever on the watch to draw mariners to their\ndestruction, saw them and came to the rocks and sang to them, holding\neach other's hands.\n\nThey sang all together their lulling song. That song made the wearied\nvoyagers long to let their oars go with the waves, and drift, drift to\nwhere the Sirens were. Bending down to them the Sirens, with soft hands\nand white arms, would lift them to soft resting places. Then each of\nthe Sirens sang a clear, piercing song that called to each of the\nvoyagers. Each man thought that his own name was in that song. \"O how\nwell it is that you have come near,\" each one sang, \"how well it is\nthat you have come near where I have awaited you, having all delight\nprepared for you!\"\n\nOrpheus took up his lyre as the Sirens began to sing. He sang to the\nheroes of their own toils. He sang of them, how, gaunt and weary as\nthey were, they were yet men, men who were the strength of Greece, men\nwho had been fostered by the love and hope of their country. They were\nthe winners of the Golden Fleece and their story would be told forever.\nAnd for the fame that they had won men would forego all rest and all\ndelight. Why should they not toil, they who were born for great labors\nand to face dangers that other men might not face? Soon hands would be\nstretched out to them--the welcoming hands of the men and women of\ntheir own land.\n\nSo Orpheus sang, and his voice and the music of his lyre prevailed\nabove the Sirens' voices. Men dropped their oars, but other men\nremained at their benches, and pulled steadily, if wearily, on. Only\none of the Argonauts, Butes, a youth of Iolcus, threw himself into the\nwater and swam toward the rocks from which the Sirens sang.\n\nBut an anguish that nearly parted their spirits from their bodies was\nupon them as they went wearily on. Toward the end of the day they\nbeheld another island--an island that seemed very fair; they longed to\nland and rest themselves there and eat the fruits of the island. But\nOrpheus would not have them land. The island, he said, was Thrinacia.\nUpon that island the Cattle of the Sun pastured, and if one of the\ncattle perished through them their return home might not be won. They\nheard the lowing of the cattle through the mist, and a deep longing for\nthe sight of their own fields, with a white house near, and flocks and\nherds at pasture, came over the heroes. They came near the Island of\nThrinacia, and they saw the Cattle of the Sun feeding by the meadow\nstreams; not one of them was black; all were white as milk, and the\nhorns upon their heads were golden. They saw the two nymphs who herded\nthe kine--Phaethusa and Lampetia, one with a staff of silver and the\nother with a staff of gold.\n\nDriven by the breeze that came over the Thrinacian Sea the Argonauts\ncame to the land of the Phaeacians. It was a good land as they saw when\nthey drew near; a land of orchards and fresh pastures, with a white and\nsun-lit city upon the height. Their spirits came back to them as they\ndrew into the harbor; they made fast the hawsers, and they went upon\nthe ways of the city.\n\nAnd then they saw everywhere around them the dark faces of Colchian\nsoldiers. These were the men of King \u00c6etes, and they had come overland\nto the Phaeacian city, hoping to cut off the Argonauts. Jason, when he\nsaw the soldiers, shouted to those who had been left on the Argo, and\nthey drew out of the harbor, fearful lest the Colchians should grapple\nwith the ship and wrest from them the Fleece of Gold. Then Jason made\nan encampment upon the shore, and the captain of the Colchians went\nhere and there, gathering together his men.\n\nMedea left Jason's side and hastened through the city. To the palace of\nAlcinous, king of the Phaeacians, she went. Within the palace she found\nArete, the queen. And Arete was sitting by her hearth, spinning golden\nand silver threads.\n\nArete was young at that time, as young as Medea, and as yet no child\nhad been born to her. But she had the clear eyes of one who\nunderstands, and who knows how to order things well. Stately, too, was\nArete, for she had been reared in the house of a great king. Medea came\nto her, and fell upon her knees before her, and told her how she had\nfled from the house of her father, King \u00c6etes.\n\nShe told Arete, too, how she had helped Jason to win the Golden Fleece,\nand she told her how through her her brother had been led to his death.\nAs she told this part of her story she wept and prayed at the knees of\nthe queen.\n\nArete was greatly moved by Medea's tears and prayers. She went to\nAlcinous in his garden, and she begged of him to save the Argonauts\nfrom the great force of the Colchians that had come to cut them off.\n\"The Golden Fleece,\" said Arete, \"has been won by the tasks that Jason\nperformed. If the Colchians should take Medea, it would be to bring her\nback to Aea and to a bitter doom. And the maiden,\" said the queen, \"has\nbroken my heart by her prayers and tears.\"\n\nKing Alcinous said: \"\u00c6etes is strong, and although his kingdom is far\nfrom ours, he can bring war upon us.\" But still Arete pleaded with him\nto protect Medea from the Colchians. Alcinous went within; he raised up\nMedea from where she crouched on the floor of the palace, and he\npromised her that the Argonauts would be protected in his city.\n\nThen the king mounted his chariot; Medea went with him, and they came\ndown to the seashore where the heroes had made their encampment. The\nArgonauts and the Colchians were drawn up against each other, and the\nColchians far outnumbered the wearied heroes.\n\nAlcinous drove his chariot between the two armies. The Colchians prayed\nhim to have the strangers make surrender to them. But the king drove\nhis chariot to where the heroes stood, and he took the hand of each,\nand received them as his guests. Then the Colchians knew that they\nmight not make war upon the heroes. They drew off. The next day they\nmarched away.\n\nIt was a rich land that they had come to. Once Aristaeus dwelt there,\nthe king who discovered how to make bees store up their honey for men\nand how to make the good olive grow. Macris, his daughter, tended\nDionysus, the son of Zeus, when Hermes brought him of the flame, and\nmoistened his lips with honey. She tended him in a cave in the\nPhaeacian land, and ever afterward the Phaeacians were blessed with all\ngood things.\n\nNow as the heroes marched to the palace of King Alcinous the people\ncame to meet them, bringing them sheep and calves and jars of wine and\nhoney. The women brought them fresh garments; to Medea they gave fine\nlinen and golden ornaments.\n\nAmongst the Phaeacians who loved music and games and the telling of\nstories the heroes stayed for long. There were dances, and to the\nPhaeacians who honored him as a god, Orpheus played upon his lyre. And\nevery day, for the seven days that they stayed amongst them, the\nPhaeacians brought rich presents to the heroes.\n\nAnd Medea, looking into the clear eyes of Queen Arete, knew that she\nwas the woman of whom Circe had prophesied, the woman who knew nothing\nof enchantments, but who had much human wisdom. She was to ask of her\nwhat she was to do in her life and what she was to leave undone. And\nwhat this woman told her Medea was to regard. Arete told her that she\nwas to forget all the witcheries and enchantments that she knew, and\nthat she was never to practice against the life of any one. This she\ntold Medea upon the shore, before Jason lifted her aboard the Argo.\n\n\n\nVII. THEY COME TO THE DESERT LAND\n\nAnd now with sail spread wide the Argo went on, and the heroes rested\nat the oars. The wind grew stronger. It became a great blast, and for\nnine days and nine nights the ship was driven fearfully along.\n\nThe blast drove them into the Gulf of Libya, from whence there is no\nreturn for ships. On each side of the gulf there are rocks and shoals,\nand the sea runs toward the limitless sand. On the top of a mighty tide\nthe Argo was lifted, and she was flung high up on the desert sands.\n\nA flood tide such as might not come again for long left the Argonauts\non the empty Libyan land. And when they came forth and saw that vast\nlevel of sand stretching like a mist away into the distance, a deadly\nfear came over each of them. No spring of water could they descry; no\npath; no herdsman's cabin; over all that vast land there was silence\nand dead calm. And one said to the other: \"What land is this? Whither\nhave we come? Would that the tempest had overwhelmed us, or would that\nwe had lost the ship and our lives between the Clashing Rocks at the\ntime when we were making our way into the Sea of Pontus.\"\n\nAnd the helmsman, looking before him, said with a breaking heart: \"Out\nof this we may not come, even should the breeze blow from the land, for\nall around us are shoals and sharp rocks--rocks that we can see\nfretting the water, line upon line. Our ship would have been shattered\nfar from the shore if the tide had not borne her far up on the sand.\nBut now the tide rushes back toward the sea, leaving only foam on which\nno ship can sail to cover the sand. And so all hope of our return is\ncut off.\"\n\nHe spoke with tears flowing upon his cheeks, and all who had knowledge\nof ships agreed with what the helmsman had said. No dangers that they\nhad been through were as terrible as this. Hopelessly, like lifeless\nspecters, the heroes strayed about the endless strand.\n\nThey embraced each other and they said farewell as they laid down upon\nthe sand that might blow upon them and overwhelm them in the night.\nThey wrapped their heads in their cloaks, and, fasting, they laid\nthemselves down.\n\nJason crouched beside the ship, so troubled that his life nearly went\nfrom him. He saw Medea huddled against a rock and with her hair\nstreaming on the sand. He saw the men who, with all the bravery of\ntheir lives, had come with him, stretched on the desert sand, weary and\nwithout hope. He thought that they, the best of men, might die in this\ndesert with their deeds all unknown; he thought that he might never win\nhome with Medea, to make her his queen in Iolcus.\n\nHe lay against the side of the ship, his cloak wrapped around his head.\nAnd there death would have come to him and to the others if the nymphs\nof the desert had been unmindful of these brave men. They came to\nJason. It was midday then, and the fierce rays of the sun were\nscorching all Libya. They drew off the cloak that wrapped his head;\nthey stood near him, three nymphs girded around with goatskins.\n\n\"Why art thou so smitten with despair?\" the nymphs said to Jason. \"Why\nart thou smitten with despair, thou who hast wrought so much and hast\nwon so much? Up! Arouse thy comrades! We are the solitary nymphs, the\nwarders of the land of Libya, and we have come to show a way of escape\nto you, the Argonauts.\n\n\"Look around and watch for the time when Poseidon's great horse shall\nbe unloosed. Then make ready to pay recompense to the mother that bore\nyou all. What she did for you all, that you all must do for her; by\ndoing it you will win back to the land of Greece.\" Jason heard them say\nthese words and then he saw them no more; the nymphs vanished amongst\nthe desert mounds.\n\nThen Jason rose up. He did not know what to make out of what had been\ntold him, but there was courage now and hope in his heart. He shouted;\nhis voice was like the roar of a lion calling to his mate. At his shout\nhis comrades roused themselves; all squalid with the dust of the desert\nthe Argonauts stood around him.\n\n\"Listen, comrades, to me,\" Jason said, \"while I speak of a strange\nthing that has befallen me. While I lay by the side of our ship three\nnymphs came before me. With light hands they drew away the cloak that\nwrapped my head. They declared themselves to be the solitary nymphs,\nthe warders, of Libya. Very strange were the words they said to me.\nWhen Poseidon's great horse shall be unloosed, they said, we were to\nmake the mother of us all a recompense, doing for her what she had done\nfor us all. This the nymphs told me to say, but I cannot understand the\nmeaning of their words.\"\n\nThere were some there who would not have given heed to Jason's words,\ndeeming them words without meaning. But even as he spoke a wonder came\nbefore their eyes. Out of the far-off sea a great horse leaped. Vast he\nwas of size and he had a golden mane. He shook the spray of the sea off\nhis sides and mane. Past them he trampled and away toward the horizon,\nleaving great tracks in the sand.\n\nThen Nestor spoke rejoicingly. \"Behold the great horse! It is the horse\nthat the desert nymphs spoke of, Poseidon's horse. Even now has the\nhorse been unloosed, and now is the time to do what the nymphs bade us\ndo.\n\n\"Who but Argo is the mother of us all? She has carried us. Now we must\nmake her a recompense and carry her even as she carried us. With\nuntiring shoulders we must bear Argo across this great desert.\n\n\"And whither shall we bear her? Whither but along the tracks that\nPoseidon's horse has left in the sand! Poseidon's horse will not go\nunder the earth--once again he will plunge into the sea!\"\n\nSo Nestor said and the Argonauts saw truth in his saying. Hope came to\nthem again--the hope of leaving that desert and coming to the sea.\nSurely when they came to the sea again, and spread the sail and held\nthe oars in their hands, their sacred ship would make swift course to\ntheir native land!\n\n\n\nVIII. THE CARRYING OUT OF THE ARGO\n\nWith the terrible weight of the ship upon their shoulders the Argonauts\nmade their way across the desert, following the tracks of Poseidon's\ngolden-maned horse. Like a rounded serpent that drags with pain its\nlength along, they went day after day across that limitless land.\n\nA day came when they saw the great tracks of the horse no more. A wind\nhad come up and had covered them with sand. With the mighty weight of\nthe ship upon their shoulders, with the sun beating upon their heads,\nand with no marks on the desert to guide them, the heroes stood there,\nand it seemed to them that the blood must gush up and out of their\nhearts.\n\nThen Zetes and Calais, sons of the North Wind, rose up upon their wings\nto strive to get sight of the sea. Up, up, they soared. And then as a\nman sees, or thinks he sees, at the month's beginning, the moon through\na bank of clouds, Zetes and Calais, looking over the measureless land,\nsaw the gleam of water. They shouted to the Argonauts; they marked the\nway for them, and wearily, but with good hearts, the heroes went upon\nthe way.\n\nThey came at last to the shore of what seemed to be a wide inland sea.\nThey set Argo down from off their over-wearied shoulders and they let\nher keel take water once more.\n\nAll salt and brackish was that water; they dipped their hands into and\ntasted the salt. Orpheus was able to name the water they had come to;\nit was that lake that was called after Triton, the son of Nereus, the\nancient one of the sea. They set up an altar and they made sacrifices\nin thanksgiving to the gods.\n\nThey had come to water at last, but now they had to seek for other\nwater--for the sweet water that they could drink. All around them they\nlooked, but they saw no sign of a spring. And then they felt a wind\nblow upon them--a wind that had in it not the dust of the desert but\nthe fragrance of growing things. Toward where that wind blew from they\nwent.\n\nAs they went on they saw a great shape against the sky; they saw\nmountainous shoulders bowed. Orpheus bade them halt and turn their\nfaces with reverence toward that great shape: for this was Atlas the\nTitan, the brother of Prometheus, who stood there to hold up the sky on\nhis shoulders.\n\nThen they were near the place that the fragrance had blown from: there\nwas a garden there; the only fence that ran around it was a lattice of\nsilver. \"Surely there are springs in the garden,\" the Argonauts said.\n\"We will enter this fair garden now and slake our thirst.\"\n\nOrpheus bade them walk reverently, for all around them, he said, was\nsacred ground. This garden was the Garden of the Hesperides that was\nwatched over by the Daughters of the Evening Land. The Argonauts looked\nthrough the silver lattice; they saw trees with lovely fruit, and they\nsaw three maidens moving through the garden with watchful eyes. In this\ngarden grew the tree that had the golden apples that Zeus gave to Hera\nas a wedding gift.\n\nThey saw the tree on which the golden apples grew. The maidens went to\nit and then looked watchfully all around them. They saw the faces of\nthe Argonauts looking through the silver lattice and they cried out,\none to the other, and they joined their hands around the tree.\n\nBut Orpheus called to them, and the maidens understood the divine\nspeech of Orpheus. He made the Daughters of the Evening Land know that\nthey who stood before the lattice were men who reverenced the gods, who\nwould not strive to enter the forbidden garden. The maidens came toward\nthem. Beautiful as the singing of Orpheus was their utterance, but what\nthey said was a complaint and a lament.\n\nTheir lament was for the dragon Ladon, that dragon with a hundred heads\nthat guarded sleeplessly the tree that had the golden apples. Now that\ndragon was slain. With arrows that had been dipped in the poison of the\nHydra's blood their dragon, Ladon, had been slain.\n\nThe Daughters of the Evening Land sang of how a mortal had come into\nthe garden that they watched over. He had a great bow, and with his\narrow he slew the dragon that guarded the golden apples. The golden\napples he had taken away; they had come back to the tree they had been\nplucked from, for no mortal might keep them in his possession. So the\nmaidens sang Hespere, Eretheis, and Aegle--and they complained that\nnow, unhelped by the hundred-headed dragon, they had to keep guard over\nthe tree.\n\nThe Argonauts knew of whom they told the tale--Heracles, their comrade.\nWould that Heracles were with them now!\n\nThe Hesperides told them of Heracles--of how the springs in the garden\ndried up because of his plucking the golden apples. He came out of the\ngarden thirsting. Nowhere could he find a spring of water. To yonder\ngreat rock he went. He smote it with his foot and water came out in\nfull floe.. Then he, leaning on his hands and with his chest upon the\nground, drank and drank from the water that flowed from the rifted rock.\n\nThe Argonauts looked to where the rock stood. They caught the sound of\nwater. They carried Medea over. And then, company after company, all\nhuddled together, they stooped down and drank their fill of the clear\ngood water. With lips wet with the water they cried to each other,\n\"Heracles! Although he is not with us, in very truth Heracles has saved\nhis comrades from deadly thirst!\"\n\nThey saw his footsteps printed upon the rocks, and they followed them\nuntil they led to the sand where no footsteps stay. Heracles! How glad\nhis comrades would have been if they could have had sight of him then!\nBut it was long ago before he had sailed with them--that Heracles had\nbeen here.\n\nStill hearing their complaint they turned back to the lattice, to where\nthe Daughters of the Evening Land stood. The Daughters of the Evening\nLand bent their heads to listen to what the Argonauts told one another,\nand, seeing them bent to listen, Orpheus told a story about one who had\ngone across the Libyan desert, about one who was a hero like unto\nHeracles.\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF PERSEUS\n\nBeyond where Atlas stands there is a cave where the strange women, the\nancient daughters of Phorcys, live. They have been gray from their\nbirth. They have but one eye and one tooth between them, and they pass\nthe eye and the tooth, one to the other, when they would see or eat.\nThey are called the Graiai, these two sisters.\n\nUp to the cave where they lived a youth once came. He was beardless,\nand the garb he wore was torn and travel-stained, but he had\nshapeliness and beauty. In his leathern belt there was an exceedingly\nbright sword; this sword was not straight like the swords we carry, but\nit was hooked like a sickle. The strange youth with the bright, strange\nsword came very quickly and very silently up to the cave where the\nGraiai lived and looked over a high boulder into it.\n\nOne was sitting munching acorns with the single tooth. The other had\nthe eye in her hand. She was holding it to her forehead and looking\ninto the back of the cave. These two ancient women, with their gray\nhair falling over them like thick fleeces, and with faces that were\nonly forehead and cheeks and nose and mouth, were strange creatures\ntruly. Very silently the youth stood looking at them.\n\n\"Sister, sister,\" cried the one who was munching acorns, \"sister, turn\nyour eye this way. I heard the stir of something.\"\n\nThe other turned, and with the eye placed against her forehead looked\nout to the opening of the cave. The youth drew back behind the boulder.\n\"Sister, sister, there is nothing there,\" said the one with the eye.\n\nThen she said: \"Sister, give me the tooth for I would eat my acorns.\nTake the eye and keep watch.\"\n\nThe one who was eating held out the tooth, and the one who was watching\nheld out the eye. The youth darted into the cave. Standing between the\neyeless sisters, he took with one hand the tooth and with the other the\neye.\n\n\"Sister, sister, have you taken the eye?\"\n\n\"I have not taken the eye. Have you taken the tooth?\"\n\n\"I have not taken the tooth.\"\n\n\"Some one has taken the eye, and some one has taken the tooth.\"\n\nThey stood together, and the youth watched their blinking faces as they\ntried to discover who had come into the cave, and who had taken the eye\nand the tooth.\n\nThen they said, screaming together: \"Who ever has taken the eye and the\ntooth from the Graiai, the ancient daughters of Phorcys, may Mother\nNight smother him.\"\n\nThe youth spoke. \"Ancient daughters of Phorcys,\" he said, \"Graiai, I\nwould not rob from you. I have come to your cave only to ask the way to\na place.\"\n\n\"Ah, it is a mortal, a mortal,\" screamed the sisters. \"Well, mortal,\nwhat would you have from the Graiai?\"\n\n\"Ancient Graiai,\" said the youth, \"I would have you tell me, for you\nalone know, where the nymphs dwell who guard the three magic\ntreasures--the cap of darkness, the shoes of flight, and the magic\npouch.\"\n\n\"We will not tell you, we will not tell you that,\" screamed the two\nancient sisters.\n\n\"I will keep the eye and the tooth,\" said the youth, \"and I will give\nthem to one who will help me.\"\n\n\"Give me the eye and I will tell you,\" said one. \"Give me the tooth and\nI will tell you,\" said the other. The youth put the eye in the hand of\none and the tooth in the hand of the other, but he held their skinny\nhands in his strong hands until they should tell him where the nymphs\ndwelt who guarded the magic treasures. The Gray Ones told him. Then the\nyouth with the bright sword left the cave. As he went out he saw on the\nground a shield of bronze, and he took it with him.\n\nTo the other side of where Atlas stands he went. There he came upon the\nnymphs in their valley. They had long dwelt there, hidden from gods and\nmen, and they were startled to see a stranger youth come into their\nhidden valley. They fled away. Then the youth sat on the ground, his\nhead bent like a man who is very sorrowful.\n\nThe youngest and the fairest of the nymphs came to him at last. \"Why\nhave you come, and why do you sit here in such great trouble, youth?\"\nsaid she. And then she said: \"What is this strange sickle-sword that\nyou wear? Who told you the way to our dwelling place? What name have\nyou?\"\n\n\"I have come here,\" said the youth, and he took the bronze shield upon\nhis knees and began to polish it, \"I have come here because I want you,\nthe nymphs who guard them, to give to me the cap of darkness and the\nshoes of flight and the magic pouch. I must gain these things; without\nthem I must go to my death. Why I must gain them you will know from my\nstory.\"\n\nWhen he said that he had come for the three magic treasures that they\nguarded, the kind nymph was more startled than she and her sisters had\nbeen startled by the appearance of the strange youth in their hidden\nvalley. She turned away from him. But she looked again and she saw that\nhe was beautiful and brave looking. He had spoken of his death. The\nnymph stood looking at him pitifully, and the youth, with the bronze\nshield laid beside his knees and the strange hooked sword lying across\nit, told her his story.\n\n\"I am Perseus,\" he said, \"and my grandfather, men say, is king in\nArgos. His name is Acrisius. Before I was born a prophecy was made to\nhim that the son of Danae, his daughter, would slay him. Acrisius was\nfrightened by the prophecy, and when I was born he put my mother and\nmyself into a chest, and he sent us adrift upon the waves of the sea.\n\n\"I did not know what a terrible peril I was in, for I was an infant\nnewly born. My mother was so hopeless that she came near to death. But\nthe wind and the waves did not destroy us: they brought us to a shore;\na shepherd found the chest, and he opened it and brought my mother and\nmyself out of it alive. The land we had come to was Seriphus. The\nshepherd who found the chest and who rescued my mother and myself was\nthe brother of the king. His name was Dictys.\n\n\"In the shepherd's wattled house my mother stayed with me, a little\ninfant, and in that house I grew from babyhood to childhood, and from\nchildhood to boyhood. He was a kind man, this shepherd Dictys. His\nbrother Polydectes had put him away from the palace, but Dictys did not\ngrieve for that, for he was happy minding his sheep upon the hillside,\nand he was happy in his little but of wattles and clay.\n\n\"Polydectes, the king, was seldom spoken to about his brother, and it\nwas years before he knew of the mother and child who had been brought\nto live in Dictys's hut. But at last he heard of us, for strange things\nbegan to be said about my mother--how she was beautiful, and how she\nlooked like one who had been favored by the gods. Then one day when he\nwas hurting, Polydectes the king came to the but of Dictys the shepherd.\n\n\"He saw Danae, my mother, there. By her looks he knew that she was a\nking's daughter and one who had been favored by the gods. He wanted her\nfor his wife. But my mother hated this harsh and overbearing king, and\nshe would not wed with him. Often he came storming around the\nshepherd's hut, and at last my mother had to take refuge from him in a\ntemple. There she became the priestess of the goddess.\n\n\"I was taken to the palace of Polydectes, and there I was brought up.\nThe king still stormed around where my mother was, more and more bent\non making her marry him. If she had not been in the temple where she\nwas under the protection of the goddess he would have wed her against\nher will.\n\n\"But I was growing up now, and I was able to give some protection to my\nmother. My arm was a strong one, and Polydectes knew that if he wronged\nmy mother in any way, I had the will and the power to be deadly to him.\nOne day I heard him say before his princes and his lords that he would\nwed, and would wed one who was not Danae, I was overjoyed to hear him\nsay this. He asked the lords and the princes to come to the wedding\nfeast; they declared they would, and they told him of the presents they\nwould bring.\n\n\"Then King Polydectes turned to me and he asked me to come to the\nwedding feast. I said I would come. And then, because I was young and\nfull of the boast of youth, and because the king was now ceasing to be\na terror to me, I said that I would bring to his wedding feast the head\nof the Gorgon.\n\n\"The king smiled when he heard me say this, but he smiled not as a good\nman smiles when he hears the boast of youth. He smiled, and he turned\nto the princes and lords, and he said 'Perseus will come, and he will\nbring a greater gift than any of you, for he will bring the head of her\nwhose gaze turns living creatures into stone.'\n\n\"When I heard the king speak so grimly about my boast the fearfulness\nof the thing I had spoken of doing came over me. I thought for an\ninstant that the Gorgon's head appeared before me, and that I was then\nand there turned into stone.\n\n\"The day of the wedding feast came. I came and I brought no gift. I\nstood with my head hanging for shame. Then the princes and the lords\ncame forward, and they showed the great gifts of horses that they had\nbrought. I thought that the king would forget about me and about my\nboast. And then I heard him call my name. 'Perseus,' he said, 'Perseus,\nbring before us now the Gorgon's head that, as you told us, you would\nbring for the wedding gift.'\n\n\"The princes and lords and people looked toward me, and I was filled\nwith a deeper shame. I had to say that I had failed to bring a present.\nThen that harsh and overbearing king shouted at me. 'Go forth,' he\nsaid, 'go forth and fetch the present that you spoke of. If you do not\nbring it remain forever out of my country, for in Seriphus we will have\nno empty boasters.' The lords and the princes applauded what the king\nsaid; the people were sad for me and sad for my mother, but they might\nnot do anything to help me, so just and so due to me did the words of\nthe king seem. There was no help for it, and I had to go from the\ncountry of Seriphus, leaving my mother at the mercy of Polydectes.\n\n\"I bade good-by to my sorrowful mother and I went from Seriphus--from\nthat land that I might not return to without the Gorgon's head. I\ntraveled far from that country. One day I sat down in a lonely place\nand prayed to the gods that my strength might be equal to the will that\nnow moved in me--the will to take the Gorgon's head, and take from my\nname the shame of a broken promise, and win back to Seriphus to save my\nmother from the harshness of the king.\n\n\"When I looked up I saw one standing before me. He was a youth, too,\nbut I knew by the way he moved, and I knew by the brightness of his\nface and eyes, that he was of the immortals. I raised my hands in\nhomage to him, and he came near me. 'Perseus,' he said, 'if you have\nthe courage to strive, the way to win the Gorgon's head will be shown\nyou.' I said that I had the courage to strive, and he knew that I was\nmaking no boast.\n\n\"He gave me this bright sickle-sword that I carry. He told me by what\nways I might come near enough to the Gorgons without being turned into\nstone by their gaze. He told me how I might slay the one of the three\nGorgons who was not immortal, and how, having slain her, I might take\nher head and flee without being torn to pieces by her sister Gorgons.\n\n\"Then I knew that I should have to come on the Gorgons from the air. I\nknew that having slain the one that could be slain I should have to fly\nwith the speed of the wind. And I knew that that speed even would not\nsave me--I should have to be hidden in my flight. To win the head and\nsave myself I would need three magic things--the shoes of flight and\nthe magic pouch, and the dogskin cap of Hades that makes its wearer\ninvisible.\n\n\"The youth said: 'The magic pouch and the shoes of flight and the\ndogskin cap of Hades are in the keeping of the nymphs whose dwelling\nplace no mortal knows. I may not tell you where their dwelling place\nis. But from the Gray Ones, from the ancient daughters of Phorcys who\nlive in a cave near where Atlas stands, you may learn where their\ndwelling place is.'\n\n\"Thereupon he told me how I might come to the Graiai, and how I might\nget them to tell me where you, the nymphs, had your dwelling. The one\nwho spoke to me was Hermes, whose dwelling is on Olympus. By this\nsickle-sword that he gave me you will know that I speak the truth.\"\n\nPerseus ceased speaking, and she who was the youngest and fairest of\nthe nymphs came nearer to him. She knew that he spoke truthfully, and\nbesides she had pity for the youth. \"But we are the keepers of the\nmagic treasures,\" she said, \"and some one whose need is greater even\nthan yours may some time require them from us. But will you swear that\nyou will bring the magic treasures back to us when you have slain the\nGorgon and have taken her head?\"\n\nPerseus declared that he would bring the magic treasures back to the\nnymphs and leave them once more in their keeping. Then the nymph who\nhad compassion for him called to the others. They spoke together while\nPerseus stayed far away from them, polishing his shield of bronze. At\nlast the nymph who had listened to him came back, the others following\nher. They brought to Perseus and they put into his hands the things\nthey had guarded--the cap made from dogskin that had been brought up\nout of Hades, a pair of winged shoes, and a long pouch that he could\nhang across his shoulder.\n\nAnd so with the shoes of flight and the cap of darkness and the magic\npouch, Perseus went to seek the Gorgons. The sickle-sword that Hermes\ngave him was at his side, and on his arm he held the bronze shield that\nwas now well polished.\n\nHe went through the air, taking a way that the nymphs had shown him. He\ncame to Oceanus that was the rim around the world. He saw forms that\nwere of living creatures all in stone, and he knew that he was near the\nplace where the Gorgons had their lair.\n\nThen, looking upon the surface of his polished shield, he saw the\nGorgons below him. Two were covered with hard serpent scales; they had\ntusks that were long and were like the tusks of boars, and they had\nhands of gleaming brass and wings of shining gold. Still looking upon\nthe shining surface of his shield Perseus went down and down. He saw\nthe third sister--she who was not immortal. She had a woman's face and\nform, and her countenance was beautiful, although there was something\ndeadly in its fairness. The two scaled and winged sisters were asleep,\nbut the third, Medusa, was awake, and she was tearing with her hands a\nlizard that had come near her.\n\nUpon her head was a tangle of serpents all with heads raised as though\nthey were hissing. Still looking into the mirror of his shield Perseus\ncame down and over Medusa. He turned his head away from her. Then, with\na sweep of the sickle-sword he took her head off. There was no scream\nfrom the Gorgon, but the serpents upon her head hissed loudly.\n\nStill with his face turned from it he lifted up the head by its tangle\nof serpents. He put it into the magic pouch. He rose up in the air. But\nnow the Gorgon sisters were awake. They had heard the hiss of Medusa's\nserpents, and now they looked upon her headless body. They rose up on\ntheir golden wings, and their brazen hands were stretched out to tear\nthe one who had slain Medusa. As they flew after him they screamed\naloud.\n\nAlthough he flew like the wind the Gorgon sisters would have overtaken\nhim if he had been plain to their eyes. But the dogskin cap of Hades\nsaved him, for the Gorgon sisters did not know whether he was above or\nbelow them, behind or before them. On Perseus went, flying toward where\nAtlas stood. He flew over this place, over Libya. Drops of blood from\nMedusa's head fell down upon the desert. They were changed and became\nthe deadly serpents that are on these sands and around these rocks. On\nand on Perseus flew toward Atlas and toward the hidden valley where the\nnymphs who were again to guard the magic treasures had their dwelling\nplace. But before he came to the nymphs Perseus had another adventure.\n\nIn Ethopia, which is at the other side of Libya, there ruled a king\nwhose name was Cepheus. This king had permitted his queen to boast that\nshe was more beautiful than the nymphs of the sea. In punishment for\nthe queen's impiety and for the king's folly Poseidon sent a monster\nout of the sea to waste that country. Every year the monster came,\ndestroying more and more of the country of Ethopia. Then the king asked\nof an oracle what he should do to save his land and his people. The\noracle spoke of a dreadful thing that he would have to do--he would\nhave to sacrifice his daughter, the beautiful Princess Andromeda.\n\nThe king was forced by his savage people to take the maiden Andromeda\nand chain her to a rock on the seashore, leaving her there for the\nmonster to devour her, satisfying himself with that prey.\n\nPerseus, flying near, heard the maiden's laments. He saw her lovely\nbody bound with chains to the rock. He came near her, taking the cap of\ndarkness off his head. She saw him, and she bent her head in shame, for\nshe thought that he would think that it was for some dreadful fault of\nher own that she had been left chained in that place.\n\nHer father had stayed near. Perseus saw him, and called to him, and\nbade him tell why the maiden was chained to the rock. The king told\nPerseus of the sacrifice that he had been forced to make. Then Perseus\ncame near the maiden, and he saw how she looked at him with pleading\neyes.\n\nThen Perseus made her father promise that he would give Andromeda to\nhim for his wife if he should slay the sea monster. Gladly Cepheus\npromised this. Then Perseus once again drew his sickle-sword; by the\nrock to which Andromeda was still chained he waited for sight of the\nsea monster.\n\nIt came rolling in from the open sea, a shapeless and unsightly thing.\nWith the shoes of flight upon his feet Perseus rose above it. The\nmonster saw his shadow upon the water, and savagely it went to attack\nthe shadow. Perseus swooped down as an eagle swoops down; with his\nsickle-sword he attacked it, and he struck the hook through the\nmonster's shoulder. Terribly it reared up from the sea. Perseus rose\nover it, escaping its wide-opened mouth with its treble rows of fangs.\nAgain he swooped and struck at it. Its hide was covered all over with\nhard scales and with the shells of sea things, but Perseus's sword\nstruck through it. It reared up again, spouting water mixed with blood.\nOn a rock near the rock that Andromeda was chained to Perseus alighted.\nThe monster, seeing him, bellowed and rushed swiftly through the water\nto overwhelm him. As it reared up he plunged the sword again and again\ninto its body. Down into the water the monster sank, and water mixed\nwith blood was spouted up from the depths into which it sank.\n\nThen was Andromeda loosed from her chains. Perseus, the conqueror,\nlifted up the fainting maiden and carried her back to the king's\npalace. And Cepheus there renewed his promise to give her in marriage\nto her deliverer.\n\nPerseus went on his way. He came to the hidden valley where the nymphs\nhad their dwelling place, and he restored to them the three magic\ntreasures that they had given him--the cap of darkness, the shoes of\nflight, and the magic pouch. And these treasures are still there, and\nthe hero who can win his way to the nymphs may have them as Perseus had\nthem.\n\nAgain he returned to the place where he had found Andromeda chained.\nWith face averted he drew forth the Gorgon's head from where he had\nhidden it between the rocks. He made a bag for it out of the horny skin\nof the monster he had slain. Then, carrying his tremendous trophy, he\nwent to the palace of King Cepheus to claim his bride.\n\nNow before her father had thought of sacrificing her to the sea monster\nhe had offered Andromeda in marriage to a prince of Ethopia--to a\nprince whose name was Phineus. Phineus did not strive to save\nAndromeda. But, hearing that she had been delivered from the monster,\nhe came to take her for his wife; he came to Cepheus's palace, and he\nbrought with him a thousand armed men.\n\nThe palace of Cepheus was filled with armed men when Perseus entered\nit. He saw Andromeda on a raised place in the hall. She was pale as\nwhen she was chained to the rock, and when she saw him in the palace\nshe uttered a cry of gladness.\n\nCepheus, the craven king, would have let him who had come with the\narmed bands take the maiden. Perseus came beside Andromeda and he made\nhis claim. Phineus spoke insolently to him, and then he urged one of\nhis captains to strike Perseus down. Many sprang forward to attack him.\nOut of the bag Perseus drew Medusa's head. He held it before those who\nwere bringing strife into the hall. They were turned to stone. One of\nCepheus's men wished to defend Perseus: he struck at the captain who\nhad come near; his sword made a clanging sound as it struck this one\nwho had looked upon Medusa's head.\n\nPerseus went from the land of Ethopia taking fair Andromeda with him.\nThey went into Greece, for he had thought of going to Argos, to the\ncountry that his grandfather ruled over. At this very time Acrisius got\ntidings of Danae, and her son, and he knew that they had not perished\non the waves of the sea. Fearful of the prophecy that told he would be\nslain by his grandson and fearing that he would come to Argos to seek\nhim, Acrisius fled out of his country.\n\nHe came into Thessaly. Perseus and Andromeda were there. Now, one day\nthe old king was brought to games that were being celebrated in honor\nof a dead hero. He was leaning on his staff, watching a youth throw a\nmetal disk, when something in that youth's appearance made him want to\nwatch him more closely. About him there was something of a being of the\nupper air; it made Acrisius think of a brazen tower and of a daughter\nwhom he had shut up there.\n\nHe moved so that he might come nearer to the disk-thrower. But as he\nleft where he had been standing he came into the line of the thrown\ndisk. It struck the old man on the temple. He fell down dead, and as he\nfell the people cried out his name--\"Acrisius, King Acrisius!\" Then\nPerseus knew whom the disk, thrown by his hand, had slain.\n\nAnd because he had slain the king by chance Perseus would not go to\nArgos, nor take over the kingdom that his grandfather had reigned over.\nWith Andromeda he went to Seriphus where his mother was. And in\nSeriphus there still reigned Polydectes, who had put upon him the\nterrible task of winning the Gorgon's head.\n\nHe came to Seriphus and he left Andromeda in the but of Dictys the\nshepherd. No one knew him; he heard his name spoken of as that of a\nyouth who had gone on a foolish quest and who would never again be\nheard of. To the temple where his mother was a priestess he came.\nGuards were placed all around it. He heard his mother's voice and it\nwas raised in lament: \"Walled up here and given over to hunger I shall\nbe made go to Polydectes's house and become his wife. O ye gods, have\nye no pity for Danae, the mother of Perseus?\"\n\nPerseus cried aloud, and his mother heard his voice and her moans\nceased. He turned around and he went to the palace of Polydectes, the\nking.\n\nThe king received him with mockeries. \"I will let you stay in Seriphus\nfor a day,\" he said, \"because I would have you at a marriage feast. I\nhave vowed that Danae, taken from the temple where she sulks, will be\nmy wife by to-morrow's sunset.\"\n\nSo Polydectes said, and the lords and princes who were around him\nmocked at Perseus and flattered the king. Perseus went from them then.\nThe next day he came back to the palace. But in his hands now there was\na dread thing--the bag made from the hide of the sea monster that had\nin it the Gorgon's head.\n\nHe saw his mother. She was brought in white and fainting, thinking that\nshe would now have to wed the harsh and overbearing king. Then she saw\nher son, and hope came into her face.\n\nThe king seeing Perseus, said: \"Step forward, O youngling, and see your\nmother wed to a mighty man. Step forward to witness a marriage, and\nthen depart, for it is not right that a youth that makes promises and\ndoes not keep them should stay in a land that I rule over. Step forward\nnow, you with the empty hands.\"\n\nBut not with empty hands did Perseus step forward. He shouted out: \"I\nhave brought something to you at last, O king--a present to you and\nyour mocking friends. But you, O my mother, and you, O my friends,\navert your faces from what I have brought.\" Saying this Perseus drew\nout the Gorgon's head. Holding it by the snaky locks he stood before\nthe company. His mother and his friends averted their faces. But\nPolydectes and his insolent friends looked full upon what Perseus\nshowed. \"This youth would strive to frighten us with some conjuror's\ntrick,\" they said. They said no more, for they became as stones, and as\nstone images they still stand in that hall in Seriphus.\n\nHe went to the shepherd's hut, and he brought Dictys from it with\nAndromeda. Dictys he made king in Polydectes's stead. Then with Danae\nand Andromeda, his mother and his wife, he went from Seriphus.\n\nHe did not go to Argos, the country that his grandfather had ruled\nover, although the people there wanted Perseus to come to them, and be\nking over them. He took the kingdom of Tiryns in exchange for that of\nArgos, and there he lived with Andromeda, his lovely wife out of\nEthopia. They had a son named Perses who became the parent of the\nPersian people.\n\nThe sickle-sword that had slain the Gorgon went back to Hermes, and\nHermes took Medusa's head also. That head Hermes's divine sister set\nupon her shield-Medusa's head upon the shield of Pallas Athene. O may\nPallas Athene guard us all, and bring us out of this land of sands and\nstone where are the deadly serpents that have come from the drops of\nblood that fell from the Gorgon's head!\n\nThey turned away from the Garden of the Daughters of the Evening Land.\nThe Argonauts turned from where the giant shape of Atlas stood against\nthe sky and they went toward the Tritonian Lake. But not all of them\nreached the Argo. On his way back to the ship, Nauplius, the helmsman,\nmet his death.\n\nA sluggish serpent was in his way--it was not a serpent that would\nstrike at one who turned from it. Nauplius trod upon it, and the\nserpent lifted its head up and bit his foot. They raised him on their\nshoulders and they hurried back with him. But his limbs became numb,\nand when they laid him down on the shore of the lake he stayed\nmoveless. Soon he grew cold. They dug a grave for Nauplius beside the\nlake, and in that desert land they set up his helmsman's oar in the\nmiddle of his tomb of heaped stones.\n\nAnd now like a snake that goes writhing this way and that way and that\ncannot find the cleft in the rock that leads to its lair, the Argo went\nhither and thither striving to find an outlet from that lake. No outlet\ncould they find and the way of their home-going seemed lost to them\nagain. Then Orpheus prayed to the son of Nereus, to Triton, whose name\nwas on that lake, to aid them.\n\nThen Triton appeared. He stretched out his hand and showed them the\noutlet to the sea. And Triton spoke in friendly wise to the heroes,\nbidding them go upon their way in joy. \"And as for labor,\" he said,\n\"let there be no grieving because of that, for limbs that have youthful\nvigor should still toil.\"\n\nThey took up the oars and they pulled toward the sea, and Triton, the\nfriendly immortal, helped them on. He laid hold upon Argo's keel and he\nguided her through the water. The Argonauts saw him beneath the water;\nhis body, from his head down to his waist, was fair and great and like\nto the body of one of the other immortals. But below his body was like\na great fish's, forking this way and that. He moved with fins that were\nlike the horns of the new moon. Triton helped Argo along until they\ncame into the open sea. Then he plunged down into the abyss. The heroes\nshouted their thanks to him. Then they looked at each other and\nembraced each other with joy, for the sea that touched upon the land of\nGreece was open before them.\n\n\n\nIX. NEAR TO IOLCUS AGAIN\n\nThe sun sank; then that star came that bids the shepherd bring his\nflock to the fold, that brings the wearied plowman to his rest. But no\nrest did that star bring to the Argonauts. The breeze that filled the\nsail died down; they furled the sail and lowered the mast; then, once\nagain, they pulled at the oars. All night they rowed, and all day, and\nagain when the next day came on. Then they saw the island that is\nhalfway to Greece the great and fair island of Crete.\n\nIt was Theseus who first saw Crete--Theseus who was to come to Crete\nupon another ship. They drew the Argo near the great island; they\nwanted water, and they were fain to rest there.\n\nMinos, the great king, ruled over Crete. He left the guarding of the\nisland to one of the race of bronze, to Talos, who had lived on after\nthe rest of the bronze men had been destroyed. Thrice a day would Talos\nstride around the island; his brazen feet were tireless.\n\nNow Talos saw the Argo drawing near. He took up great rocks and he\nhurled them at the heroes, and very quickly they had to draw their ship\nout of range.\n\nThey were wearied and their thirst was consuming them. But still that\nbronze man stood there ready to sink their ship with the great rocks\nthat he took up in his hands. Medea stood forward upon the ship, ready\nto use her spells against the man of bronze.\n\nIn body and limbs he was made of bronze and in these he was\ninvulnerable. But beneath a sinew in his ankle there was a vein that\nran up to his neck and that was covered by a thin skin. If that vein\nwere broken Talos would perish.\n\nMedea did not know about this vein when she stood forward upon the ship\nto use her spells against him. Upon a cliff of Crete, all gleaming,\nstood that huge man of bronze. Then, as she was ready to fling her\nspells against him, Medea thought upon the words that Arete, the wise\nqueen, had given her that she was not to use spells and not to practice\nagainst the life of any one.\n\nBut she knew that there was no impiety in using spells and practicing\nagainst Talos, for Zeus had already doomed all his race. She stood upon\nthe ship, and with her Magic Song she enchanted him. He whirled round\nand round. He struck his ankle against a jutting stone. The vein broke,\nand that which was the blood of the bronze man flowed out of him like\nmolten lead. He stood towering upon the cliff. Like a pine upon a\nmountaintop that the woodman had left half hewn through and that a\nmighty wind pitches against, Talos stood upon his tireless feet,\nswaying to and fro. Then, emptied of all his strength, Minos's man of\nbronze fell into the Cretan Sea.\n\nThe heroes landed. That night they lay upon the land of Crete and\nrested and refreshed themselves. When dawn came they drew water from a\nspring, and once more they went on board the Argo.\n\nA day came when the helmsman said, \"To-morrow we shall see the shore of\nThessaly, and by sunset we shall be in the harbor of Pagasae. Soon, O\nvoyagers, we shall be back in the city from which we went to gain the\nGolden Fleece.\"\n\nThen Jason brought Medea to the front of the ship so that they might\nwatch together for Thessaly, the homeland. The Mountain Pelion came\ninto sight. Jason exulted as he looked upon that mountain; again he\ntold Medea about Chiron, the ancient centaur, and about the days of his\nyouth in the forests of Pelion.\n\nThe Argo went on; the sun sank, and darkness came on. Never was there\ndarkness such as there was on that night. They called that night\nafterward the Pall of Darkness. To the heroes upon the Argo it seemed\nas if black chaos had come over the world again; they knew not whether\nthey were adrift upon the sea or upon the River of Hades. No star\npierced the darkness nor no beam from the moon.\n\nAfter a night that seemed many nights the dawn came. In the sunrise\nthey saw the land of Thessaly with its mountain, its forests, and its\nfields. They hailed each other as if they had met after a long parting.\nThey raised the mast and unfurled the sail.\n\nBut not toward Pagasae did they go. For now the voice of Argo came to\nthem, shaking their hearts: Jason and Orpheus, Castor and Polydeuces,\nZetes and Calais, Peleus and Telamon, Theseus, Admetus, Nestor, and\nAtalanta, heard the cry of their ship. And the voice of Argo warned\nthem not to go into the harbor of Pagasae.\n\nAs they stood upon the ship, looking toward Iolcus, sorrow came over\nall the heroes, such sorrow as made their hearts nearly break. For long\nthey stood there in utter numbness.\n\nThen Admetus spoke--Admetus who was the happiest of all those who went\nin quest of the Golden Fleece. \"Although we may not go into the harbor\nof Pagasae, nor into the city of Iolcus,\" Admetus said, \"still we have\ncome to the land of Greece. There are other harbors and other cities\nthat we may go into. And in all the places that we go to we will be\nhonored, for we have gone through toils and dangers, and we have\nbrought to Greece the famous Fleece of Gold.\"\n\nSo Admetus said, and their spirits came back again to the heroes--came\nback to all of them save Jason. The rest had other cities to go to, and\nfathers and mothers and friends to greet them in other places, but for\nJason there was only Iolcus.\n\nMedea took his hand, and sorrow for him overcame her. For Medea could\ndivine what had happened in Iolcus and why it was that the heroes might\nnot go there.\n\nIt was to Corinth that the Argo went. Creon, the king of Corinth,\nwelcomed them and gave great honor to the heroes who had faced such\nlabors and such dangers to bring the world's wonder to Greece.\n\nThe Argonauts stayed together until they went to Calydon, to hunt the\nboar that ravaged Prince Meleagrus's country. After that they\nseparated, each one going to his own land. Jason came back to Corinth\nwhere Medea stayed. And in Corinth he had tidings of the happenings in\nIolcus.\n\nKing Pelias now ruled more fearfully in Iolcus, having brought down\nfrom the mountains more and fiercer soldiers. And \u00c6son, Jason's father,\nand Alcimide, his mother, were now dead, having been slain by King\nPelias.\n\nThis Jason heard from men who came into Corinth from Thessaly. And\nbecause of the great army that Pelias had gathered there, Jason might\nnot yet go into Iolcus, either to exact a vengeance, or to show the\npeople THE GOLDEN FLEECE that he had gone so far to gain.\n\n\n\n\nPART III. The Heroes of the Quest\n\n\n\nI. ATALANTA THE HUNTRESS\n\nI\n\nThey came once more together, the heroes of the quest, to hunt a boar\nin Calydon--Jason and Peleus came, Telamon, Theseus, and rough Arcas,\nNestor and Helen's brothers Polydeuces and Castor. And, most noted of\nall, there came the Arcadian huntress maid, Atalanta.\n\nBeautiful they all thought her when they knew her aboard the Argo. But\neven more beautiful Atalanta seemed to the heroes when she came amongst\nthem in her hunting gear. Her lovely hair hung in two bands across her\nshoulders, and over her breast hung an ivory quiver filled with arrows.\nThey said that her face with its wide and steady eyes was maidenly for\na boy's, and boyish for a maiden's face. Swiftly she moved with her\nhead held high, and there was not one amongst the heroes who did not\nsay, \"Oh, happy would that man be whom Atalanta the unwedded would take\nfor her husband!\"\n\nAll the heroes said it, but the one who said it most feelingly was the\nprince of Calydon, young Meleagrus. He more than the other heroes felt\nthe wonder of Atalanta's beauty.\n\nNow the boar they had come to hunt was a monster boar. It had come into\nCalydon and it was laying waste the fields and orchards and destroying\nthe people's cattle and horses. That boar had been sent into Calydon by\nan angry divinity. For when Oeneus, the king of the country, was making\nsacrifice to the gods in thanksgiving for a bounteous harvest, he had\nneglected to make sacrifice to the goddess of the wild things, Artemis.\nIn her anger Artemis had sent the monster boar to lay waste Oeneus's\nrealm.\n\nIt was a monster boar indeed--one as huge as a bull, with tusks as\ngreat as an elephant's; the bristles on its back stood up like spear\npoints, and the hot breath of the creature withered the growth on the\nground. The boar tore up the corn in the fields and trampled down the\nvines with their clusters and heavy bunches of grapes; also it rushed\nagainst the cattle and destroyed them in the fields. And no hounds the\nhuntsmen were able to bring could stand before it. And so it came to\npass that men had to leave their farms and take refuge behind the walls\nof the city because of the ravages of the boar. It was then that the\nrulers of Calydon sent for the heroes of the quest to join with them in\nhunting the monster.\n\nCalydon itself sent Prince Meleagrus and his two uncles, Plexippus and\nToxeus. They were brothers to Meleagrus's mother, Alth\u00e6a. Now Alth\u00e6a\nwas a woman who had sight to see mysterious things, but who had also a\nwayward and passionate heart. Once, after her son Meleagrus was born,\nshe saw the three Fates sitting by her hearth. They were spinning the\nthreads of her son's life, and as they spun they sang to each other,\n\"An equal span of life we give to the newborn child, and to the billet\nof wood that now rests above the blaze of the fire.\" Hearing what the\nFates sang and understanding it Alth\u00e6a had sprung up from her bed, had\nseized the billet of wood, and had taken it out of the fire before the\nflames had burnt into it.\n\nThat billet of wood lay in her chest, hidden away. And Meleagrus nor\nany one else save Alth\u00e6a knew of it, nor knew that the prince's life\nwould last only for the space it would be kept from the burning. On the\nday of the hunting he appeared as the strongest and bravest of the\nyouths of Calydon. And he knew not, poor Meleagrus, that the love for\nAtalanta that had sprung into his heart was to bring to the fire the\nbillet of wood on which his life depended.\n\n\nII\n\nAs Atalanta went, the bow in her hands, Prince Meleagrus pressed behind\nher. Then came Jason and Peleus, Telamon, Theseus and Nestor. Behind\nthem came Meleagrus's dark-browed uncles, Plexippus and Toxeus. They\ncame to a forest that covered the side of a mountain. Huntsmen had\nassembled here with hounds held in leashes and with nets to hold the\nrushing quarry. And when they had all gathered together they went\nthrough the forest on the track of the monster boar.\n\nIt was easy to track the boar, for it had left a broad trail through\nthe forest. The heroes and the huntsmen pressed on. They came to a\nmarshy covert where the boar had its lair. There was a thickness of\nosiers and willows and tall bullrushes, making a place that it was hard\nfor the hunters to go through.\n\nThey roused the boar with the blare of horns and it came rushing out.\nFoam was on its tusks, and its eyes had in them the blaze of fire. On\nthe boar came, breaking down the thicket in its rush. But the heroes\nstood steadily with the points of their spears toward the monster.\n\nThe hounds were loosed from their leashes and they dashed toward the\nboar. The boar slashed them with its tusks and trampled them into the\nground. Jason flung his spear. The spear went wide of the mark.\nAnother, Arcas, cast his, but the wood, not the point of the spear,\nstruck the boar, rousing it further. Then its eyes flamed, and like a\ngreat stone shot from a catapult the boar rushed on the huntsmen who\nwere stationed to the right. In that rush it flung two youths prone\nupon the ground.\n\nThen might Nestor have missed his going to Troy and his part in that\nstory, for the boar swerved around and was upon him in an instant.\nUsing his spear as a leaping pole he vaulted upward and caught the\nbranches of a tree as the monster dashed the spear down in its rush. In\nrage the beast tore at the trunk of the tree. The heroes might have\nbeen scattered at this moment, for Telamon had fallen, tripped by the\nroots of a tree, and Peleus had had to throw himself upon him to pull\nhim out of the way of danger, if Polydeuces and Castor had not dashed\nup to their aid. They came riding upon high white horses, spears in\ntheir hands. The brothers cast their spears, but neither spear struck\nthe monster boar.\n\nThen the boar turned and was for drawing back into the thicket. They\nmight have lost it then, for its retreat was impenetrable. But before\nit got clear away Atalanta put an arrow to the string, drew the bow to\nher shoulder, and let the arrow fly. It struck the boar, and a patch of\nblood was seen upon its bristles. Prince Meleagrus shouted out, \"O\nfirst to strike the monster! Honor indeed shall you receive for this,\nArcadian maid.\"\n\nHis uncles were made wroth by this speech, as was another, the\nArcadian, rough Arcas. Arcas dashed forward, holding in his hands a\ntwo-headed axe. \"Heroes and huntsmen,\" he cried, \"you shall see how a\nman's strokes surpass a girl's.\" He faced the boar, standing on tiptoe\nwith his axe raised for the stroke. Meleagrus's uncles shouted to\nencourage him. But the boar's tusks tore him before Arcas's axe fell,\nand the Arcadian was trampled upon the ground.\n\nThe boar, roused again by Atalanta's arrow, turned on the hunters.\nJason hurled a spear again. It swerved and struck a hound and pinned it\nto the ground. Then, speaking the name of Atalanta, Meleagrus sprang\nbefore the heroes and the huntsmen. He had two spears in his hands. The\nfirst missed and stuck quivering in the ground. But the second went\nright through the back of the monster boar. It whirled round and round,\nspouting out blood and foam. Meleagrus pressed on, and drove his\nhunting knife through the shoulders of the monster.\n\nHis uncles, Plexippus and Toxeus, were the first to come to where the\nmonster boar was lying outstretched. \"It is well, the deed you have\ndone, boy,\" said one; \"it is well that none of the strangers to our\ncountry slew the boar. Now will the head and tusks of the monster adorn\nour hall, and men will know that the arms of our house can well protect\nthis land.\"\n\nBut one word only did Meleagrus say, and that word was the name,\n\"Atalanta.\" The maiden came and Meleagrus, his spear upon the head,\nsaid, \"Take, O fair Arcadian, the spoil of the chase. All know that it\nwas you who inflicted the first wound upon the boar.\"\n\nPlexippus and Toxeus tried to push him away, as if Meleagrus was still\na boy under their tutoring. He shouted to them to stand off, and then\nhe hacked out the terrible tusks and held them toward Atalanta.\n\nShe would have taken them, for she, who had never looked lovingly upon\na youth, was moved by the beauty and the generosity of Prince\nMeleagrus. She would have taken from him the spoil of the chase. But as\nshe held out her arms Meleagrus's uncles struck them with the poles of\ntheir spears. Heavy marks were made on the maiden's white arms. Madness\nthen possessed Meleagrus, and he took up his spear and thrust it, first\ninto the body of Plexippus and then into the body of Toxeus. His\nthrusts were terrible, for he was filled with the fierceness of the\nhunt, and his uncles fell down in death.\n\nThen a great horror came over all the heroes. They raised up the bodies\nof Plexippus and Toxeus and carried them on their spears away from the\nplace of the hunting and toward the temple of the gods. Meleagrus\ncrouched down upon the ground in horror of what he had done. Atalanta\nstood beside him, her hand upon his head.\n\n\nIII\n\nAlth\u00e6a was in the temple making sacrifice to the gods. She saw men come\nin carrying across their spears the bodies of two men. She looked and\nshe saw that the dead men were her two brothers, Plexippus and Toxeus.\n\nThen she beat her breast and she filled the temple with the cries of\nher lamentation. \"Who has slain my brothers? Who has slain my\nbrothers?\" she kept crying out.\n\nThen she was told that her son Meleagrus had slain her brothers. She\nhad no tears to shed then, and in a hard voice she asked, \"Why did my\nson slay Plexippus and Toxeus, his uncles?\"\n\nThe one who was wroth with Atalanta, Arcas the Arcadian, came to her\nand told her that her brothers had been slain because of a quarrel\nabout the girl Atalanta.\n\n\"My brothers have been slain because a girl bewitched my son; then\naccursed be that son of mine,\" Alth\u00e6a cried. She took off the\ngold-fringed robe of a priestess, and she put on a black robe of\nmourning.\n\nHer brothers, the only sons of her father, had been slain, and for the\nsake of a girl. The image of Atalanta came before her, and she felt she\ncould punish dreadfully her son. But her son was not there to punish;\nhe was far away, and the girl for whose sake he had killed Plexippus\nand Toxeus was with him.\n\nThe rage she had went back into her heart and made her truly mad. \"I\ngave Meleagrus life when I might have let it go from him with the\nburning billet of wood,\" she cried, \"and now he has taken the lives of\nmy brothers.\" And then her thought went to the billet of wood that was\nhidden in the chest.\n\nBack to her house she went, and when she went within she saw a fire of\npine knots burning upon the hearth. As she looked upon their burning a\nscorching pain went through her. But she went from the hearth,\nnevertheless, and into the inner room. There stood the chest that she\nhad not opened for years. She opened it now, and out of it she took the\nbillet of wood that had on it the mark of the burning.\n\nShe brought it to the hearth fire. Four times she went to throw it into\nthe fire, and four times she stayed her hand. The fire was before her,\nbut it was in her too. She saw the images of her brothers lying dead,\nand, saying that he who had slain them should lose his life, she threw\nthe billet of wood into the fire of pine knots.\n\nStraightway it caught fire and began to burn. And Alth\u00e6a cried, \"Let\nhim die, my son, and let naught remain; let all perish with my\nbrothers, even the kingdom that Oeneus, my husband, founded.\"\n\nThen she turned away and remained stiffly standing by the hearth, the\nlife withered up within her. Her daughters came and tried to draw her\naway, but they could not--her two daughters, Gorge and Deianira.\n\nMeleagrus was crouching upon the ground with Atalanta watching beside\nhim. Now he stood up, and taking her hand he said, \"Let me go with you\nto the temple of the gods where I shall strive to make atonement for\nthe deed I have done to-day.\"\n\nShe went with him. But even as they came to the street of the city a\nsharp and a burning pain seized upon Meleagrus. More and more burning\nit grew, and weaker and weaker he became. He could not have moved\nfurther if it had not been for the aid of Atalanta. Jason and Peleus\nlifted him across the threshold and carried him into the temple of the\ngods.\n\nThey laid him down with his head upon Atalanta's lap. The pain within\nhim grew fiercer and fiercer, but at last it died down as the burning\nbillet of wood sank down into the ashes. The heroes of the quest stood\naround, all overcome with woe. In the street they heard the\nlamentations for Plexippus and Toxeus, for Prince Meleagrus, and for\nthe passing of the kingdom founded by Oeneus. Atalanta left the temple,\nand attended by the two brothers on the white horses, Polydeuces and\nCastor, she went back to Arcady.\n\n\n\nII. PELEUS AND HIS BRIDE FROM THE SEA\n\nI\n\nPrince Peleus came on his ship to a bay on the coast of Thessaly. His\npainted ship lay between two great rocks, and from its poop he saw a\nsight that enchanted him. Out from the sea, riding on a dolphin, came a\nlovely maiden. And by the radiance of her face and limbs Peleus knew\nher for one of the immortal goddesses.\n\nNow Peleus had borne himself so nobly in all things that he had won the\nfavor of the gods themselves. Zeus, who is highest amongst the gods,\nhad made this promise to Peleus he would honor him as no one amongst\nthe sons of men had been honored before, for he would give him an\nimmortal goddess to be his bride.\n\nShe who came out of the sea went into a cave that was overgrown with\nvines and roses. Peleus looked into the cave and he saw her sleeping\nupon skins of the beasts of the sea. His heart was enchanted by the\nsight, and he knew that his life would be broken if he did not see this\ngoddess day after day. So he went back to his ship and he prayed: \"O\nZeus, now I claim the promise that you once made to me. Let it be that\nthis goddess come with me, or else plunge my ship and me beneath the\nwaves of the sea.\"\n\nAnd when Peleus said this he looked over the land and the water for a\nsign from Zeus.\n\nEven then the goddess sleeping in the cave had dreams such as had never\nbefore entered that peaceful resting place of hers. She dreamt that she\nwas drawn away from the deep and the wide sea. She dreamt that she was\nbrought to a place that was strange and unfree to her. And as she lay\nin the cave, sleeping, tears that might never come into the eyes of an\nimmortal lay around her heart.\n\nBut Peleus, standing on his painted ship, saw a rainbow touch upon the\nsea. He knew by that sign that Iris, the messenger of Zeus, had come\ndown through the air. Then a strange sight came before his eyes. Out of\nthe sea rose the head of a man; wrinkled and bearded it was, and the\neyes were very old. Peleus knew that he who was there before him was\nNereus, the ancient one of the sea.\n\nSaid old Nereus: \"Thou hast prayed to Zeus, and I am here to speak an\nanswer to thy prayer. She whom you have looked upon is Thetis, the\ngoddess of the sea. Very loath will she be to take Zeus's command and\nwed with thee. It is her desire to remain in the sea, unwedded, and she\nhas refused marriage even with one of the immortal gods.\"\n\nThen said Peleus, \"Zeus promised me an immortal bride. If Thetis may\nnot be mine I cannot wed any other, goddess or mortal maiden.\"\n\n\"Then thou thyself wilt have to master Thetis,\" said Nereus, the wise\none of the sea. \"If she is mastered by thee, she cannot go back to the\nsea. She will strive with all her strength and all her wit to escape\nfrom thee; but thou must hold her no matter what she does, and no\nmatter how she shows herself. When thou hast seen her again as thou\ndidst see her at first, thou wilt know that thou hast mastered her.\"\nAnd when he had said this to Peleus, Nereus, the ancient one of the\nsea, went under the waves.\n\n\nII\n\nWith his hero's heart beating more than ever it had beaten yet, Peleus\nwent into the cave. Kneeling beside her he looked down upon the\ngoddess. The dress she wore was like green and silver mail. Her face\nand limbs were pearly, but through them came the radiance that belongs\nto the immortals.\n\nHe touched the hair of the goddess of the sea, the yellow hair that was\nso long that it might cover her all over. As he touched her hair she\nstarted up, wakening suddenly out of her sleep. His hands touched her\nhands and held them. Now he  knew that if he should loose his hold upon\nher she would escape from him into the depths of the sea, and that\nthereafter no command from the immortals would bring her to him.\n\nShe changed into a white bird that strove to bear itself away. Peleus\nheld to its wings and struggled with the bird. She changed and became a\ntree. Around the trunk of the tree Peleus clung. She changed once more,\nand this time her form became terrible: a spotted leopard she was now,\nwith burning eyes; but Peleus held to the neck of the fierce-appearing\nleopard and was not affrighted by the burning eyes. Then she changed\nand became as he had seen her first--a lovely maiden, with the brow of\na goddess, and with long yellow hair.\n\nBut now there was no radiance in her face or in her limbs. She looked\npast Peleus, who held her, and out to the wide sea. \"Who is he,\" she\ncried, \"who has been given this mastery over me?\"\n\nThen said the hero: \"I am Peleus, and Zeus has given me the mastery\nover thee. Wilt thou come with me, Thetis? Thou art my bride, given me\nby him who is highest amongst the gods, and if thou wilt come with me,\nthou wilt always be loved and reverenced by me.\"\n\n\"Unwillingly I leave the sea,\" she cried, \"unwillingly I go with thee,\nPeleus.\"\n\nBut life in the sea was not for her any more now that she was mastered.\nShe went to Peleus's ship and she went to Phthia, his country. And when\nthe hero and the sea goddess were wedded the immortal gods and\ngoddesses came to their hall and brought the bride and the bridegroom\nwondrous gifts. The three sisters who are called the Fates came also.\nThese wise and ancient women said that the son born of the marriage of\nPeleus and Thetis would be a man greater than Peleus himself.\n\n\nIII\n\nNow although a son was born to her, and although this son had something\nof the radiance of the immortals about him, Thetis remained forlorn and\nestranged. Nothing that her husband did was pleasing to her. Prince\nPeleus was in fear that the wildness of the sea would break out in her,\nand that some great harm would be wrought in his house.\n\nOne night he wakened suddenly. He saw the fire upon his hearth and he\nsaw a figure standing by the fire. It was Thetis, his wife. The fire\nwas blazing around something that she held in her hands. And while she\nstood there she was singing to herself a strange-sounding song.\n\nAnd then he saw what Thetis held in her hands and what the fire was\nblazing around; it was the child, Achilles.\n\nPrince Peleus sprang from the bed and caught Thetis around the waist\nand lifted her and the child away from the blazing fire. He put them\nboth upon the bed, and he took from her the child that she held by the\nheel. His heart was wild within him, for the thought that wildness had\ncome over his wife, and  that she was bent upon destroying their child.\nBut Thetis looked on him from under those goddess brows of hers and she\nsaid to him: \"By the divine power that I still possess I would have\nmade the child invulnerable; but the heel by which I held him has not\nbeen endued by the fire and in that place some day he may be stricken.\nAll that the fire covered is invulnerable, and no weapon that strikes\nthere can destroy his life. His heel I cannot now make invulnerable,\nfor now the divine power is gone out of me.\"\n\nWhen she said this Thetis looked full upon her husband, and never had\nshe seemed so unforgiving as she was then. All the divine radiance that\nhad remained with her was gone from her now, and she seemed a\nwhite-faced and bitter-thinking woman. And when Peleus saw that such a\ngreat bitterness faced him he fled from his house.\n\nHe traveled far from his own land, and first he went to the help of\nHeracles, who was then in the midst of his mighty labors. Heracles was\nbuilding a wall around a city. Peleus labored, helping him to raise the\nwall for King Laomedon. Then, one night, as he walked by the wall he\nhad helped to build, he heard voices speaking out of the earth. And one\nvoice said: \"Why has Peleus striven so hard to raise a wall that his\nson shall fight hard to overthrow?\" No voice replied. The wall was\nbuilt, and Peleus departed. The city around which the wall was built\nwas the great city of Troy.\n\nIn whatever place he went Peleus was followed by the hatred of the\npeople of the sea, and above all by the hatred of the nymph who is\ncalled Psamathe. Far, far from his own country he went, and at last he\ncame to a country of bright valleys that was ruled over by a kindly\nking--by Ceyx, who was called the Son of the Morning Star.\n\nBright of face and kindly and peaceable in all his ways was this king,\nand kindly and peaceable was the land that he ruled over. And when\nPrince Peleus went to him to beg for his protection, and to beg for\nunfurrowed fields where he might graze his cattle, Ceyx raised him up\nfrom where he knelt. \"Peaceable and plentiful is the land,\" he said,\n\"and all who come here may have peace and a chance to earn their food.\nLive where you will, O stranger, and take the unfurrowed fields by the\nseashore for pasture for your cattle.\"\n\nPeace came into Peleus's heart as he looked into the untroubled face of\nCeyx, and as he looked over the bright valleys of the land he had come\ninto. He brought his cattle to the unfurrowed fields by the seashore\nand he left herdsmen there to tend them. And as he walked along these\nbright valleys he thought upon his wife and upon his son Achilles, and\nthere were gentle feelings in his breast. But then he thought upon the\nenmity of Psamathe, the woman of the sea, and great trouble came over\nhim again. He felt he could not stay in the palace of the kindly king.\nHe went where his herdsmen camped and he lived with them. But the sea\nwas very near and its sound tormented him, and as the days went by,\nPeleus, wild looking and shaggy, became more and more unlike the hero\nwhom once the gods themselves had honored.\n\nOne day as he was standing near the palace having speech with the king,\na herdsman ran to him and cried out: \"Peleus, Peleus, a dread thing has\nhappened in the unfurrowed fields.\" And when he had got his breath the\nherdsman told of the thing that had happened.\n\nThey had brought the herd down to the sea. Suddenly, from the marshes\nwhere the sea and land came together, a monstrous beast rushed out upon\nthe herd; like a wolf this beast was, but with mouth and jaws that were\nmore terrible than a wolf's even. The beast seized upon the cattle. Yet\nit was not hunger that made it fierce, for the beasts that it killed it\ntore, but did not devour. Tit rushed on and on, killing and tearing\nmore and more of the herd. \"Soon,\" said the herdsman, \"it will have\ndestroyed all in the herd, and then it will not spare to destroy the\nother flocks and herds that are in the land.\"\n\nPeleus was stricken to hear that his herd was being destroyed, but more\nstricken to know that the land of a friendly king would be ravaged, and\nravaged on his account. For he knew that the terrible beast that had\ncome from where the sea and the land joined had been sent by Psamathe.\nHe went up on the tower that stood near the king's palace. He was able\nto look out on the sea and able to look over all the land. And looking\nacross the bright valleys he saw the dread beast. He saw it rush\nthrough his own mangled cattle and fall upon the herds of the kindly\nking. He looked toward the sea and he prayed to Psamathe to spare the\nland that he had come to. But, even as he prayed, he knew that Psamathe\nwould not harken to him. Then he made a prayer to Thetis, to his wife\nwho had seemed so unforgiving. He prayed her to deal with Psamathe so\nthat the land of Ceyx would not be altogether destroyed.\n\nAs he looked from the tower he saw the king come forth with arms in his\nhands for the slaying of the terrible beast. Peleus felt fear for the\nlife of the kindly king. Down from the tower he came, and taking up his\nspear he went with Ceyx.\n\nSoon, in one of the brightest of the valleys, they came upon the beast;\nthey came between it and a herd of silken-coated cattle. Seeing the men\nit rushed toward them with blood and foam upon its jaws. Then Peleus\nknew that the spears they carried would be of little use against the\nraging beast. His only thought was to struggle with it so that the king\nmight be able to save himself.\n\nAgain he lifted up his hands and prayed to Thetis to draw away\nPsamathe's enmity. The beast rushed toward them; but suddenly it\nstopped. The bristles upon its body seemed to stiffen. The gaping jaws\nbecame fixed. The hounds that were with them dashed upon the beast, but\nthen fell back with yelps of disappointment. And when Peleus and Ceyx\ncame to where it stood they found that the monstrous beast had been\nturned into stone.\n\nAnd a stone it remains in that bright valley, a wonder to all the men\nof Ceyx's land. The country was spared the ravages of the beast. And\nthe heart of Peleus was uplifted to think that Thetis had harkened to\nhis prayer and had prevailed upon Psamathe to forego her enmity. Not\naltogether unforgiving was his wife to him.\n\nThat day he went from the land of the bright valleys, from the land\nruled over by the kindly Ceyx, and he came back to rugged Phthia, his\nown country. When he came near his hall he saw two at the doorway\nawaiting him. Thetis stood there, and the child Achilles was by her\nside. The radiance of the immortals was in her face no longer, but\nthere was a glow there, a glow of welcome for the hero Peleus. And thus\nPeleus, long tormented by the enmity of the sea-born ones, came back to\nthe wife he had won from the sea.\n\n\n\nIII. THESEUS AND THE MINOTAUR\n\nI\n\nThereafter Theseus made up his mind to go in search of his father, the\nunknown king, and Medea, the wise woman, counseled him to go to Athens.\nAfter the hunt in Calydon he set forth. On his way he fought with and\nslew two robbers who harassed countries and treated people unjustly.\n\nThe first was Sinnias. He was a robber who slew men cruelly by tying\nthem to strong branches of trees and letting the branches fly apart. On\nhim Theseus had no mercy. The second was a robber also, Procrustes: he\nhad a great iron bed on which he made his captives lie; if they were\ntoo long for that bed he chopped pieces off them, and if they were too\nshort he stretched out their bodies with terrible racks. On him,\nlikewise, Theseus had no mercy; he slew Procrustes and gave liberty to\nhis captives.\n\nThe King of Athens at the time was named \u00c6geus. He was father of\nTheseus, but neither Theseus nor he knew that this was so. Aethra was\nhis mother, and she was the daughter of the King of Troezen. Before\nTheseus was born his father left a great sword under a stone, telling\nAethra that the boy was to have the sword when he was able to move that\nstone away.\n\nKing \u00c6geus was old and fearful now: there were wars and troubles in the\ncity; besides, there was in his palace an evil woman, a witch, to whom\nthe king listened. This woman heard that a proud and fearless young man\nhad come into Athens, and she at once thought to destroy him.\n\nSo the witch spoke to the fearful king, and she made him believe that\nthis stranger had come into Athens to make league with his enemies and\ndestroy him. Such was her power over \u00c6geus that she was able to\npersuade him to invite the stranger youth to a feast in the palace, and\nto give him a cup that would have poison in it.\n\nTheseus came to the palace. He sat down to the banquet with the king.\nBut before the cup was brought something moved him to stand up and draw\nforth the sword that he carried. Fearfully the king looked upon the\nsword. Then he saw the heavy ivory hilt with the curious carving on it,\nand he knew that this was the sword that he had once laid under the\nstone near the palace of the King of Troezen. He questioned Theseus as\nto how he had come by the sword, and Theseus told him how Aethra his\nmother, had shown him where it was hidden, and how he had been able to\ntake it from under the stone before he was grown a youth. More and more\n\u00c6geus questioned him, and he came to know that the youth before him was\nhis son indeed. He dashed down the cup that had been brought to the\ntable, and he shook all over with the thought of how near he had been\nto a terrible crime. The witch-woman watched all that passed; mounting\non a car drawn by dragons she made flight from Athens.\n\nAnd now the people of the city, knowing that it was he who had slain\nthe robbers Sinnias and Procrustes, rejoiced to have Theseus amongst\nthem. When he appeared as their prince they rejoiced still more. Soon\nhe was able to bring to an end the wars in the city and the troubles\nthat afflicted Athens.\n\n\nII\n\nThe greatest king in the world at that time was Minos, King of Crete.\nMinos had sent his son to Athens to make peace and friendship between\nhis kingdom and the kingdom of King \u00c6geus. But the people of Athens\nslew the son of King Minos, and because \u00c6geus had not given him the\nprotection that a king should have given a stranger come upon such an\nerrand he was deemed to have some part in the guilt of his slaying.\n\nMinos, the great king, was wroth, and he made war on Athens, wreaking\ngreat destruction upon the country and the people. Moreover, the gods\nthemselves were wroth with Athens; they punished the people with\nfamine, making even the rivers dry up. The Athenians went to the oracle\nand asked Apollo what they should do to have their guilt taken away.\nApollo made answer that they should make peace with Minos and fulfill\nall his demands.\n\nAll this Theseus now heard, learning for the first time that behind the\nwars and troubles in Athens there was a deed of evil that \u00c6geus, his\nfather, had some guilt in.\n\nThe demands that King Minos made upon Athens were terrible. He demanded\nthat the Athenians should send into Crete every year seven youths and\nseven maidens as a price for the life of his son. And these youths and\nmaidens were not to meet death merely, nor were they to be reared in\nslavery they were to be sent that a monster called the Minotaur might\ndevour them.\n\nYouths and maidens had been sent, and for the third time the messengers\nof King Minos were coming to Athens. The tribute for the Minotaur was\nto be chosen by lot. The fathers and mothers were in fear and\ntrembling, for each man and woman thought that his or her son or\ndaughter would be taken for a prey for the Minotaur.\n\nThey came together, the people of Athens, and they drew the lots\nfearfully. And on the throne above them all sat their pale-faced king,\n\u00c6geus, the father of Theseus.\n\nBefore the first lot was drawn Theseus turned to all of them and said,\n\"People of Athens, it is not right that your children should go and\nthat I, who am the son of King \u00c6geus, should remain behind. Surely, if\nany of the youths of Athens should face the dread monster of Crete, I\nshould face it. There is one lot that you may leave undrawn. I will go\nto Crete.\"\n\nHis father, on hearing the speech of Theseus, came down from his throne\nand pleaded with him, begging him not to go. But the will of Theseus\nwas set; he would go with the others and face the Minotaur. And he\nreminded his father of how the people had complained, saying that if\n\u00c6geus had done the duty of a king, Minos's son would not have been\nslain and the tribute to the Minotaur would have not been demanded. It\nwas the passing about of such complaints that had led to the war and\ntroubles that Theseus found on his coming to Athens.\n\nAlso Theseus told his father and told the people that he had hope in\nhis hands--that the hands that were strong enough to slay Sinnias and\nProcrustes, the giant robbers, would be strong enough to slay the dread\nmonster of Crete. His father at last consented to his going. And\nTheseus was able to make the people willing to believe that he would be\nable to overcome the Minotaur, and so put an end to the terrible\ntribute that was being exacted from them.\n\nWith six other youths and seven maidens Theseus went on board of the\nship that every year brought to Crete the grievous tribute. This ship\nalways sailed with black sails. But before it sailed this time King\n\u00c6geus gave to Nausitheus, the master of the ship, a white sail to take\nwith him. And he begged Theseus, that in case he should be able to\novercome the monster, to hoist the white sail he had given. Theseus\npromised he would do this. His father would watch for the return of the\nship, and if the sail were black he would know that the Minotaur had\ndealt with his son as it had dealt with the other youths who had gone\nfrom Athens. And if the sail were white \u00c6geus would have indeed cause\nto rejoice.\n\n\nIII\n\nAnd now the black-sailed ship had come to Crete, and the youths and\nmaidens of Athens looked from its deck on Knossos, the marvelous city\nthat Daedalus the builder had built for King Minos. And they saw the\npalace of the king, the red and black palace in which was the\nlabyrinth, made also by Daedalus, where the dread Minotaur was hidden.\n\nIn fear they looked upon the city and the palace. But not in fear did\nTheseus look, but in wonder at the magnificence of it all--the harbor\nwith its great steps leading up into the city, the far-spreading palace\nall red and black, and the crowds of ships with their white and red\nsails. They were brought through the city of Knossos to the palace of\nthe king. And there Theseus looked upon Minos. In a great red chamber\non which was painted the sign of the axe, King Minos sat.\n\nOn a low throne he sat, holding in his hand a scepter on which a bird\nwas perched. Not in fear, but steadily, did Theseus look upon the king.\nAnd he saw that Minos had the face of one who has thought long upon\ntroublesome things, and that his eyes were strangely dark and deep. The\nking noted that the eyes of Theseus were upon him, and he made a sign\nwith his head to an attendant and the attendant laid his hand upon him\nand brought Theseus to stand beside the king. Minos questioned him as\nto who he was and what lands he had been in, and when he learned that\nTheseus was the son of \u00c6geus, the King of Athens, he said the name of\nhis son who had been slain, \"Androgeus, Androgeus,\" over and over\nagain, and then spoke no more.\n\nWhile he stood there beside the king there came into the chamber three\nmaidens; one of them, Theseus knew, was the daughter of Minos. Not like\nthe maidens of Greece were the princess and her two attendants: instead\nof having on flowing garments and sandals and wearing their hair bound,\nthey had on dresses of gleaming material that were tight at the waists\nand bell-shaped; the hair that streamed on their shoulders was made\nwavy; they had on high shoes of a substance that shone like glass.\nNever had Theseus looked upon maidens who were so strange.\n\nThey spoke to the king in the strange Cretan language; then Minos's\ndaughter made reverence to her father, and they went from the chamber.\nTheseus watched them as they went through a long passage, walking\nslowly on their high-heeled shoes.\n\nThrough the same passage the youths and maidens of Athens were\nafterward brought. They came into a great hall. The walls were red and\non them were paintings in black--pictures of great bulls with girls and\nslender youths struggling with them. It was a place for games and\nshows, and Theseus stood with the youths and maidens of Athens and with\nthe people of the palace and watched what was happening.\n\nThey saw women charming snakes; then they saw a boxing match, and\nafterward they all looked on a bout of wrestling. Theseus looked past\nthe wrestlers and he saw, at the other end of the hall, the daughter of\nKing Minos and her two attendant maidens.\n\nOne broad-shouldered and bearded man--overthrew all the wrestlers who\ncame to grips with him. He stood there boastfully, and Theseus was made\nangry by the man's arrogance. Then, when no other wrestler would come\nagainst him, he turned to leave the arena.\n\nBut Theseus stood in his way and pushed him back. The boastful man laid\nhands upon him and pulled him into the arena. He strove to throw\nTheseus as he had thrown the others; but he soon found that the youth\nfrom Greece was a wrestler, too, and that he would have to strive hard\nto overthrow him.\n\nMore eagerly than they had watched anything else the people of the\npalace and the youths and maidens of Athens watched the bout between\nTheseus and the lordly wrestler. Those from Athens who looked upon him\nnow thought that they had never seen Theseus look so tall and so\nconquering before; beside the slender, dark-haired people of Crete he\nlooked like a statue of one of the gods.\n\nVery adroit was the Cretan wrestler, and Theseus had to use all his\nstrength to keep upon his feet; but soon he mastered the tricks that\nthe wrestler was using against him. Then the Cretan left aside his\ntricks and began to use all his strength to throw Theseus.\n\nSteadily Theseus stood and the Cretan wrestler was spent and gasping in\nthe effort to throw him. Then Theseus made him feel his grip. He bent\nhim backward, and then, using all his strength suddenly, forced him to\nthe ground. All were filled with wonder at the strength and power of\nthis youth from overseas.\n\nFood and wine were given the youths and maidens of Athens, and they\nwith Theseus were let wander through the grounds of the palace. But\nthey could make no escape, for guards followed them and the way to the\nships was filled with strangers who would not let them pass. They\ntalked to each other about the Minotaur, and there was fear in every\nword they said. But Theseus went from one to the other, telling them\nthat perhaps there was a way by which he could come to the monster and\ndestroy it. And the youths and maidens, remembering how he had\noverthrown the lordly wrestler, were comforted a little, thinking that\nTheseus might indeed be able to destroy the Minotaur and so save all of\nthem.\n\n\nIV\n\nTheseus was awakened by some one touching him. He arose and he saw a\ndark-faced servant, who beckoned to him. He left the little chamber\nwhere he had been sleeping, and then he saw outside one who wore the\nstrange dress of the Cretans.\n\nWhen Theseus looked full upon her he saw that she was none other than\nthe daughter of King Minos. \"I am Ariadne,\" she said, \"and, O youth\nfrom Greece, I have come to save you from the dread Minotaur.\"\n\nHe looked upon Ariadne's strange face with its long, dark eyes, and he\nwondered how this girl could think that she could save him and save the\nyouths and maidens of Athens from the Minotaur. Her hand rested upon\nhis arm, and she led him into the chamber where Minos had sat. It was\nlighted now by many little lamps.\n\n\"I will show the way of escape to you,\" said Ariadne.\n\nThen Theseus looked around, and he saw that none of the other youths\nand maidens were near them, and he looked on Ariadne again, and he saw\nthat the strange princess had been won to help him, and to help him\nonly.\n\n\"Who will show the way of escape to the others?\" asked Theseus.\n\n\"Ah,\" said the Princess Ariadne, \"for the others there is no way of\nescape.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said Theseus, \"I will not leave the youths and maidens of\nAthens who came with me to Crete to be devoured by the Minotaur.\"\n\n\"Ah, Theseus,\" said Ariadne, \"they cannot escape the Minotaur. One only\nmay escape, and I want you to be that one. I saw you when you wrestled\nwith Deucalion, our great wrestler, and since then I have longed to\nsave you.\"\n\n\"I have come to slay the Minotaur,\" said Theseus, \"and I cannot hold my\nlife as my own until I have slain it.\"\n\nSaid Ariadne, \"If you could see the Minotaur, Theseus, and if you could\nmeasure its power, you would know that you are not the one to slay it.\nI think that only Talos, that giant who was all of bronze, could have\nslain the Minotaur.\"\n\n\"Princess,\" said Theseus, \"can you help me to come to the Minotaur and\nlook upon it so that I can know for certainty whether this hand of mine\ncan slay the monster?\"\n\n\"I can help you to come to the Minotaur and look upon it,\" said Ariadne.\n\n\"Then help me, princess,\" cried Theseus; \"help me to come to the\nMinotaur and look upon it, and help me, too, to get back the sword that\nI brought with me to Crete.\"\n\n\"Your sword will not avail you against the Minotaur,\" said Ariadne;\n\"when you look upon the monster you will know that it is not for your\nhand to slay.\"\n\n\"Oh, but bring me my sword, princess,\" cried Theseus, and his hands\nwent out to her in supplication.\n\n\"I will bring you your sword,\" said she.\n\nShe took up a little lamp and went through a doorway, leaving Theseus\nstanding by the low throne in the chamber of Minos. Then after a little\nwhile she came back, bringing with her Theseus's great ivory-hilted\nsword.\n\n\"It is a great sword,\" she said; \"I marked it before because it is your\nsword, Theseus. But even this great sword will not avail against the\nMinotaur.\"\n\n\"Show me the way to come to the Minotaur, O Ariadne,\" cried Theseus.\n\nHe knew that she did not think that he would deem himself able to\nstrive with the Minotaur, and that when he looked upon the dread\nmonster he would return to her and then take the way of his escape.\n\nShe took his hand and led him from the chamber of Minos. She was not\ntall, but she stood straight and walked steadily, and Theseus saw in\nher something of the strange majesty that he had seen in Minos the king.\n\nThey came to high bronze gates that opened into a vault. \"Here,\" said\nAriadne, \"the labyrinth begins. Very devious is the labyrinth, built by\nDaedalus, in which the Minotaur is hidden, and without the clue none\ncould find a way through the passages. But I will give you the clue so\nthat you may look upon the Minotaur and then come back to me. Theseus,\nnow I put into your hand the thread that will guide you through all the\nwindings of the labyrinth. And outside the place where the Minotaur is\nyou will find another thread to guide you back.\"\n\nA cone was on the ground and it had a thread fastened to it. Ariadne\ngave Theseus the thread and the cone to wind it around. The thread as\nhe held it and wound it around the cone would bring him through all the\nwindings and turnings of the labyrinth.\n\nShe left him, and Theseus went on. Winding the thread around the cone\nhe went along a wide passage in the vault. He turned and came into a\npassage that was very long. He came to a place in this passage where a\ndoor seemed to be, but within the frame of the doorway there was only a\nblank wall. But below that doorway there was a flight of six steps, and\ndown these steps the thread led him. On he went, and he crossed the\nmarks that he himself had made in the dust, and he thought he must have\ncome back to the place where he had parted from Ariadne. He went on,\nand he saw before him a flight of steps. The thread did not lead up the\nsteps; it led into the most winding of passages. So sudden were the\nturnings in it that one could not see three steps before one. He was\ndazed by the turnings of this passage, but still he went on. He went up\nwinding steps and then along a narrow wall. The wall overhung a broad\nflight of steps, and Theseus had to jump to them. Down the steps he\nwent and into a wide, empty hall that had doorways to the right hand\nand to the left hand. Here the thread had its end. It was fastened to a\ncone that lay on the ground, and beside this cone was another--the clue\nthat was to bring him back.\n\nNow Theseus, knowing he was in the very center of the labyrinth, looked\nall around for sight of the Minotaur. There was no sight of the monster\nhere. He went to all the doors and pushed at them, and some opened and\nsome remained fast. The middle door opened. As it did Theseus felt\naround him a chilling draft of air.\n\nThat chilling draft was from the breathing of the monster. Theseus then\nsaw the Minotaur. It lay on the ground, a strange, bull-faced thing.\n\nWhen the thought came to Theseus that he would have to fight that\nmonster alone and in that hidden and empty place all delight left him;\nhe grew like a stone; he groaned, and it seemed to him that he heard\nthe voice of Ariadne calling him back. He could find his way back\nthrough the labyrinth and come to her. He stepped back, and the door\nclosed on the Minotaur, the dread monster of Crete.\n\nIn an instant Theseus pushed the door again. He stood within the hall\nwhere the Minotaur was, and the heavy door shut behind him. He looked\nagain on that dark, bull-faced thing. It reared up as a horse rears and\nTheseus saw that it would crash down on him and tear him with its\ndragon claws. With a great bound he went far away from where the\nmonster crashed down. Then Theseus faced it: he saw its thick lips and\nits slobbering mouth; he saw that its skin was thick and hard.\n\nHe drew near the monster, his sword in his hand. He struck at its eyes,\nand his sword made a great dint. But no blood came, for the Minotaur\nwas a bloodless monster. From its mouth and nostrils came a draft that\ncovered him with a chilling slime.\n\nThen it rushed upon him and overthrew him, and Theseus felt its\nterrible weight upon him. But he thrust his sword upward, and it reared\nup again, screaming with pain. Theseus drew himself away, and then he\nsaw it searching around and around, and he knew he had made it\nsightless. Then it faced him; all the more fearful it was because from\nits wounds no blood came.\n\nAnger flowed into Theseus when he saw the monster standing frightfully\nbefore him; he thought of all the youths and maidens that this\nbloodless thing had destroyed, and all the youths and maidens that it\nwould destroy if he did not slay it now. Angrily he rushed upon it with\nhis great sword. It clawed and tore him, and it opened wide its most\nevil mouth as if to draw him into it. But again he sprang at it; he\nthrust his great sword through its neck, and he left his sword there.\n\nWith the last of his strength he pulled open the heavy door and he went\nout from the hall where the Minotaur was. He picked up the thread and\nhe began to wind it as he had wound the other thread on his way down.\nOn he went, through passage after passage, through chamber after\nchamber. His mind was dizzy, and he had little thought for the way he\nwas going. His wounds and the chill that the monster had breathed into\nhim and his horror of the fearful and bloodless thing made his mind\nalmost forsake him. He kept the thread in his hand and he wound it as\nhe went on through the labyrinth. He stumbled and the thread broke. He\nwent on for a few steps and then he went back to find the thread that\nhad fallen out of his hands. In an instant he was in a part of the\nlabyrinth that he had not been in before.\n\nHe walked a long way, and then he came on his own footmarks as they\ncrossed themselves in the dust. He pushed open a door and came into the\nair. He was now by the outside wall of the palace, and he saw birds\nflying by him. He leant against the wall of the palace, thinking that\nhe would strive no more to find his way through the labyrinth.\n\n\nV\n\nThat day the youths and maidens of Athens were brought through the\nlabyrinth and to the hall where the Minotaur was. They went through the\npassages weeping and lamenting. Some cried out for Theseus, and some\nsaid that Theseus had deserted them. The heavy door was opened. Then\nthose who were with the youths and maidens saw the Minotaur lying stark\nand stiff with Theseus's sword through its neck. They shouted and blew\ntrumpets and the noise of their trumpets filled the labyrinth. Then\nthey turned back, bringing the youths and maidens with them, and a\nwhisper went through the whole palace that the Minotaur had been slain.\nThe youths and maidens were lodged in the chamber where Minos gave his\njudgments.\n\n\nVI\n\nTheseus, wearied and overcome, fell into a deep sleep by the wall of\nthe palace. He awakened with a feeling that the claw of the Minotaur\nwas upon him. There were stars in the sky above the high palace wall,\nand he saw a dark-robed and ancient man standing beside him. Theseus\nknew that this was Daedalus, the builder of the palace and the\nlabyrinth. Daedalus called and a slim youth came Icarus, the son of\nDaedalus. Minos had set father and son apart from the rest of the\npalace, and Theseus had come near the place where they were confined.\nIcarus came and brought him to a winding stairway and showed him a way\nto go.\n\nA dark-faced servant met and looked him full in the face. Then, as if\nhe knew that Theseus was the one whom he had been searching for, he led\nhim into a little chamber where there were three maidens. One started\nup and came to him quickly, and Theseus again saw Ariadne.\n\nShe hid him in the chamber of the palace where her singing birds were,\nand she would come and sit beside him, asking about his own country and\ntelling him that she would go with him there. \"I showed you how you\nmight come to the Minotaur,\" she said, \"and you went there and you slew\nthe monster, and now I may not stay in my father's palace.\"\n\nAnd Theseus thought all the time of his return, and of how he might\nbring the youths and maidens of Athens back to their own people. For\nAriadne, that strange princess, was not dear to him as Medea was dear\nto Jason, or Atalanta the Huntress to young Meleagrus.\n\nOne sunset she led him to a roof of the palace and she showed him the\nharbor with the ships, and she showed him the ship with the black sail\nthat had brought him to Knossos. She told him she would take him aboard\nthat ship, and that the youths and maidens of Athens could go with\nthem. She would bring to the master of the ship the seal of King Minos,\nand the master, seeing it, would set sail for whatever place Theseus\ndesired to go.\n\nThen did she become dear to Theseus because of her great kindness, and\nhe kissed her eyes and swore that he would not go from the palace\nunless she would come with him to his own country. The strange princess\nsmiled and wept as if she doubted what he said. Nevertheless, she led\nhim from the roof and down into one of the palace gardens. He waited\nthere, and the youths and maidens of Athens were led into the garden,\nall wearing cloaks that hid their forms and faces. Young Icarus led\nthem from the grounds of the palace and down to the ships. And Ariadne\nwent with them, bringing with her the seal of her father, King Minos.\n\nAnd when they came on board of the black-sailed ship they showed the\nseal to the master, Nausitheus, and the master of the ship let the sail\ntake the breeze of the evening, and so Theseus went away from Crete.\n\n\nVII\n\nTo the Island of Naxos they sailed. And when they reached that place\nthe master of the ship, thinking that what had been done was not in\naccordance with the will of King Minos, stayed the ship there. He\nwaited until other ships came from Knossos. And when they came they\nbrought word that Minos would not slay nor demand back Theseus nor the\nyouths and maidens of Athens. His daughter, Ariadne, he would have\nback, to reign with him over Crete.\n\nThen Ariadne left the black-sailed ship, and went back to Crete from\nNaxos. Theseus let the princess go, although he might have struggled to\nhold her. But more strange than dear did Ariadne remain to Theseus.\n\nAnd all this time his father, \u00c6geus, stayed on the tower of his palace,\nwatching for the return of the ship that had sailed for Knossos. The\nlife of the king wasted since the departure of Theseus, and now it was\nbut a thread. Every day he watched for the return of the ship, hoping\nagainst hope that Theseus would return alive to him. Then a ship came\ninto the harbor. It had black sails. \u00c6geus did not know that Theseus\nwas aboard of it, and that Theseus in the hurry of his flight and in\nthe sadness of his parting from Ariadne had not thought of taking out\nthe white sail that his father had given to Nausitheus.\n\nJoyously Theseus sailed into the harbor, having slain the Minotaur and\nlifted for ever the tribute put upon Athens. Joyously he sailed into\nthe harbor, bringing back to their parents the youths and maidens of\nAthens. But the king, his father, saw the black sails on his ship, and\nstraightway the thread of his life broke, and he died on the roof of\nthe tower which he had built to look out on the sea.\n\nTheseus landed on the shore of his own country. He had the ship drawn\nup on the beach and he made sacrifices of thanksgiving to the gods.\nThen he sent messengers to the city to announce his return. They went\ntoward the city, these joyful messengers, but when they came to the\ngate they heard the sounds of mourning and lamentation. The mourning\nand the lamentation were for the death of the king, Theseus's father.\nThey hurried back and they came to Theseus where he stood on the beach.\nThey brought a wreath of victory for him, but as they put it into his\nhand they told him of the death of his father. Then Theseus left the\nwreath on the ground, and he wept for the death of \u00c6geus--of \u00c6geus, the\nhero, who had left the sword under the stone for him before he was born.\n\nThe men and women who came to the beach wept and laughed as they\nclasped in their arms the children brought back to them. And Theseus\nstood there, silent and bowed; the memory of his last moments with his\nfather, of his fight with the Minotaur, of his parting with\nAriadne--all flowed back upon him. He stood there with head bowed, the\nman who might not put upon his brows the wreath of victory that had\nbeen brought to him.\n\n\nVIII\n\nThere had come into the city a youth of great valor whose name was\nPeirithous: from a far country he had come, filled with a desire of\nmeeting Theseus, whose fame had come to him. The youth was in Athens at\nthe time Theseus returned. He went down to the beach with the\ntownsfolk, and he saw Theseus standing alone with his head bowed down.\nHe went to him and he spoke, and Theseus lifted his head and he saw\nbefore him a young man of strength and beauty. He looked upon him, and\nthe thought of high deeds came into his mind again. He wanted this\nyoung man to be his comrade in dangers and upon quests. And Peirithous\nlooked upon Theseus, and he felt that he was greater and nobler than he\nhad thought. They became friends and sworn brothers, and together they\nwent into far countries.\n\nNow there was in Epirus a savage king who had a very fair daughter. He\nhad named this daughter Persephone, naming her thus to show that she\nwas held as fast by him as that other Persephone was held who ruled in\nthe Underworld. No man might see her, and no man might wed her. But\nPeirithous had seen the daughter of this king, and he desired above all\nthings to take her from her father and make her his wife. He begged\nTheseus to help him enter that king's palace and carry off the maiden.\n\nSo they came to Epirus, Theseus and Peirithous, and they entered the\nking's palace, and they heard the bay of the dread hound that was there\nto let no one out who had once come within the walls. Suddenly the\nguards of the savage king came upon them, and they took Theseus and\nPeirithous and they dragged them down into dark dungeons.\n\nTwo great chairs of stone were there, and Theseus and Peirithous were\nleft seated in them. And the magic powers that were in the chairs of\nstone were such that the heroes could not lift themselves out of them.\nThere they stayed, held in the great stone chairs in the dungeons of\nthat savage king.\n\nThen it so happened that Heracles came into the palace of the king. The\nharsh king feasted Heracles and abated his savagery before him. But he\ncould not forbear boasting of how he had trapped the heroes who had\ncome to carry off Persephone. And he told how they could not get out of\nthe stone chairs and how they were held captive in his dark dungeon.\nHeracles listened, his heart full of pity for the heroes from Greece\nwho had met with such a harsh fate. And when the king mentioned that\none of the heroes was Theseus, Heracles would feast no more with him\nuntil he had promised that the one who had been his comrade on the Argo\nwould be let go.\n\nThe king said he would give Theseus his liberty if Heracles would carry\nthe stone chair on which he was seated out of the dungeon and into the\nouter world. Then Heracles went down into the dungeon. He found the two\nheroes in the great chairs of stone. But one of them, Peirithous, no\nlonger breathed. Heracles took the great chair of stone that Theseus\nwas seated in, and he carried it up, up, from the dungeon and out into\nthe world. It was a heavy task even for Heracles. He broke the chair in\npieces, and Theseus stood up, released.\n\nThereafter the world was before Theseus. He went with Heracles, and in\nthe deeds that Heracles was afterward to accomplish Theseus shared.\n\n\n\nIV. THE LIFE AND LABORS OF HERACLES\n\nI\n\nHeracles was the son of Zeus, but he was born into the family of a\nmortal king. When he was still a youth, being overwhelmed by a madness\nsent upon him by one of the goddesses, he slew the children of his\nbrother Iphicles. Then, coming to know what he had done, sleep and rest\nwent from him: he went to Delphi, to the shrine of Apollo, to be\npurified of his crime.\n\nAt Delphi, at the shrine of Apollo, the priestess purified him, and\nwhen she had purified him she uttered this prophecy: \"From this day\nforth thy name shall be, not Alcides, but Heracles. Thou shalt go to\nEurystheus, thy cousin, in Mycen\u00e6, and serve him in all things. When\nthe labors he shall lay upon thee are accomplished, and when the rest\nof thy life is lived out, thou shalt become one of the immortals.\"\nHeracles, on hearing these words, set out for Mycen\u00e6.\n\nHe stood before his cousin who hated him; he, a towering man, stood\nbefore a king who sat there weak and trembling. And Heracles said, \"I\nhave come to take up the labors that you will lay upon me; speak now,\nEurystheus, and tell me what you would have me do.\"\n\nEurystheus, that weak king, looking on the young man who stood as tall\nand as firm as one of the immortals, had a heart that was filled with\nhatred. He lifted up his head and he said with a frown:\n\n\"There is a lion in Nemea that is stronger and more fierce than any\nlion known before. Kill that lion, and bring the lion's skin to me that\nI may know that you have truly performed your task.\" So Eurystheus\nsaid, and Heracles, with neither shield nor arms, went forth from the\nking's palace to seek and to combat the dread lion of Nemea.\n\nHe went on until he came into a country where the fences were\noverthrown and the fields wasted and the houses empty and fallen. He\nwent on until he came to the waste around that land: there he came on\nthe trail of the lion; it led up the side of a mountain, and Heracles,\nwithout shield or arms, followed the trail.\n\nHe heard the roar of the lion. Looking up he saw the beast standing at\nthe mouth of a cavern, huge and dark against the sunset. The lion\nroared three times, and then it went within the cavern.\n\nAround the mouth were strewn the bones of creatures it had killed and\ncarried there. Heracles looked upon them when he came to the cavern. He\nwent within. Far into the cavern he went, and then he came to where he\nsaw the lion. It was sleeping.\n\nHeracles viewed the terrible bulk of the lion, and then he looked upon\nhis own knotted hands and arms. He remembered that it was told of him\nthat, while still a child of eight months, he had strangled a great\nserpent that had come to his cradle to devour him. He had grown and his\nstrength had grown too.\n\nSo he stood, measuring his strength and the size of the lion. The\nbreath from its mouth and nostrils came heavily to him as the beast\nslept, gorged with its prey. Then the lion yawned. Heracles sprang on\nit and put his great hands upon its throat. No growl came out of its\nmouth, but the great eyes blazed while the terrible paws tore at\nHeracles. Against the rock Heracles held the beast; strongly he held\nit, choking it through the skin that was almost impenetrable. Terribly\nthe lion struggled; but the strong hands of the hero held around its\nthroat until it struggled no more.\n\nThen Heracles stripped off that impenetrable skin from the lion's body;\nhe put it upon himself for a cloak. Then, as he went through the\nforest, he pulled up a young oak tree and trimmed it and made a club\nfor himself. With the lion's skin over him--that skin that no spear or\narrow could pierce--and carrying the club in his hand he journeyed on\nuntil he came to the palace of King Eurystheus.\n\nThe king, seeing coming toward him a towering man all covered with the\nhide of a monstrous lion, ran and hid himself in a great jar. He lifted\nthe lid up to ask the servants what was the meaning of this terrible\nappearance. And the servants told him that it was Heracles come back\nwith the skin of the lion of Nemea. On hearing this Eurystheus hid\nhimself again.\n\nHe would not speak with Heracles nor have him come near him, so fearful\nwas he. But Heracles was content to be left alone. He sat down in the\npalace and feasted himself.\n\nThe servants came to the king; Eurystheus lifted the lid of the jar and\nthey told him how Heracles was feasting and devouring all the goods in\nthe palace. The king flew into a rage, but still he was fearful of\nhaving the hero before him. He issued commands through his heralds\nordering Heracles to go forth at once and perform the second of his\ntasks.\n\nIt was to slay the great water snake that made its lair in the swamps\nof Lerna. Heracles stayed to feast another day, and then, with the\nlion's skin across his shoulders and the great club in his hands, he\nstarted off. But this time he did not go alone; the boy Iolaus went\nwith him.\n\n\nHeracles and Iolaus went on until they came to the vast swamp of Lerna.\nRight in the middle of the swamp was the water snake that was called\nthe Hydra. Nine heads it had, and it raised them up out of the water as\nthe hero and his companion came near. They could not cross the swamp to\ncome to the monster, for man or beast would sink and be lost in it.\n\nThe Hydra remained in the middle of the swamp belching mud at the hero\nand his companion. Then Heracles took up his bow and he shot flaming\narrows at its heads. It grew into such a rage that it came through the\nswamp to attack him. Heracles swung his club. As the Hydra came near he\nknocked head after head off its body.\n\nBut for every head knocked off two grew upon the Hydra. And as he\nstruggled with the monster a huge crab came out of the swamp, and\ngripping Heracles by the foot tried to draw him in. Then Heracles cried\nout. The boy Iolaus came; he killed the crab that had come to the\nHydra's aid.\n\nThen Heracles laid hands upon the Hydra and drew it out of the swamp.\nWith his club he knocked off a head and he had Iolaus put fire to where\nit had been, so that two heads might not grow in that place. The life\nof the Hydra was in its middle head; that head he had not been able to\nknock off with his club. Now, with his hands he tore it off, and he\nplaced this head under a great stone so that it could not rise into\nlife again. The Hydra's life was now destroyed. Heracles dipped his\narrows into the gall of the monster, making his arrows deadly; no thing\nthat was struck by these arrows afterward could keep its life.\n\nAgain he came to Eurystheus's palace, and Eurystheus, seeing him, ran\nagain and hid himself in the jar. Heracles ordered the servants to tell\nthe king that he had returned and that the second labor was\naccomplished.\n\nEurystheus, hearing from the servants that Heracles was mild in his\nways, came out of the jar. Insolently he spoke. \"Twelve labors you have\nto accomplish for me,\" said he to Heracles, \"and eleven yet remain to\nbe accomplished.\"\n\n\"How?\" said Heracles. \"Have I not performed two of the labors? Have I\nnot slain the lion of Nemea and the great water snake of Lerna?\"\n\n\"In the killing of the water snake you were helped by Iolaus,\" said the\nking, snapping out his words and looking at Heracles with shifting\neyes. \"That labor cannot be allowed you.\"\n\nHeracles would have struck him to the ground. But then he remembered\nthat the crime that he had committed in his madness would have to be\nexpiated by labors performed at the order of this man. He looked full\nupon Eurystheus and he said, \"Tell me of the other labors, and I will\ngo forth from Mycen\u00e6 and accomplish them.\"\n\nThen Eurystheus bade him go and make clean the stables of King Augeias.\nHeracles came into that king's country. The smell from the stables was\nfelt for miles around. Countless herds of cattle and goats had been in\nthe stables for years, and because of the uncleanness and the smell\nthat came from it the crops were withered all around. Heracles told the\nking that he would clean the stables if he were given one tenth of the\ncattle and the goats for a reward.\n\nThe king agreed to this reward. Then Heracles drove the cattle and the\ngoats out of the stables; he broke through the foundations and he made\nchannels for the two rivers Alpheus and Peneius. The waters flowed\nthrough the stables, and in a day all the uncleanness was washed away.\nThen Heracles turned the rivers back into their own courses.\n\nHe was not given the reward he had bargained for, however.\n\nHe went back to Mycen\u00e6 with the tale of how he had cleaned the stables.\n\"Ten labors remain for me to do now,\" he said.\n\n\"Eleven,\" said Eurystheus. \"How can I allow the cleaning of King\nAugeias's stables to you when you bargained for a reward for doing it?\"\n\nThen while Heracles stood still, holding himself back from striking\nhim, Eurystheus ran away and hid himself in the jar. Through his\nheralds he sent word to Heracles, telling him what the other labors\nwould be.\n\nHe was to clear the marshes of Stymphalus of the maneating birds that\ngathered there; he was to capture and bring to the king the\ngolden-horned deer of Coryneia; he was also to capture and bring alive\nto Mycea\u00e6 the boar of Erymanthus.\n\nHeracles came to the marshes of Stymphalus. The growth of jungle was so\ndense that he could not cut his way through to where the man-eating\nbirds were; they sat upon low bushes within the jungle, gorging\nthemselves upon the flesh they had carried there.\n\nFor days Heracles tried to hack his way through. He could not get to\nwhere the birds were. Then, thinking he might not be able to accomplish\nthis labor, he sat upon the ground in despair.\n\nIt was then that one of the immortals appeared to him; for the first\nand only time he was given help from the gods.\n\nIt was Athena who came to him. She stood apart from Heracles, holding\nin her hands brazen cymbals. These she clashed together. At the sound\nof this clashing the Stymphalean birds rose up from the low bushes\nbehind the jungle. Heracles shot at them with those unerring arrows of\nhis. The maneating birds fell, one after the other, into the marsh.\n\nThen Heracles went north to where the Coryneian deer took her pasture.\nSo swift of foot was she that no hound nor hunter had ever been able to\novertake her. For the whole of a year Heracles kept Golden Horns in\nchase, and at last, on the side of the Mountain Artemision, he caught\nher. Artemis, the goddess of the wild things, would have punished\nHeracles for capturing the deer, but the hero pleaded with her, and she\nrelented and agreed to let him bring the deer to Mycen\u00e6 and show her to\nKing Eurystheus. And Artemis took charge of Golden Horns while Heracles\nwent off to capture the Erymanthean boar.\n\nHe came to the city of Psophis, the inhabitants of which were in deadly\nfear because of the ravages of the boar. Heracles made his way up the\nmountain to hunt it. Now on this mountain a band of centaurs lived, and\nthey, knowing him since the time he had been fostered by Chiron,\nwelcomed Heracles. One of them, Pholus, took Heracles to the great\nhouse where the centaurs had their wine stored.\n\nSeldom did the centaurs drink wine; a draft of it made them wild, and\nso they stored it away, leaving it in the charge of one of their band.\nHeracles begged Pholus to give him a draft of wine; after he had begged\nagain and again the centaur opened one of his great jars.\n\nHeracles drank wine and spilled it. Then the centaurs that were without\nsmelt the wine and came hammering at the door, demanding the drafts\nthat would make them wild. Heracles came forth to drive them away. They\nattacked him. Then he shot at them with his unerring arrows and he\ndrove them away. Up the mountain and away to far rivers the centaurs\nraced, pursued by Heracles with his bow.\n\nOne was slain, Pholus, the centaur who had entertained him. By accident\nHeracles dropped a poisoned arrow on his foot. He took the body of\nPholus up to the top of the mountain and buried the centaur there.\nAfterward, on the snows of Erymanthus, he set a snare for the boar and\ncaught him there.\n\nUpon his shoulders he carried the boar to Mycea\u00e6 and he led the deer by\nher golden horns. When Eurystheus bad looked upon them the boar was\nslain, but the deer was loosed and she fled back to the Mountain\nArtemision.\n\nKing Eurystheus sat hidden in the great jar, and he thought of more\nterrible labors he would make Heracles engage in. Now he would send him\noversea and make him strive with fierce tribes and more dread monsters.\nWhen he had it all thought out he had Heracles brought before him and\nhe told him of these other labors.\n\nHe was to go to savage Thrace and there destroy the man-eating horses\nof King Diomedes; afterward he was to go amongst the dread women, the\nAmazons, daughters of Ares, the god of war, and take from their queen,\nHippolyte, the girdle that Ares had given her; then he was to go to\nCrete and take from the keeping of King Minos the beautiful bull that\nPoseidon had given him; afterward he was to go to the Island of\nErytheia and take away from Geryoneus, the monster that had three\nbodies instead of one, the herd of red cattle that the two-headed hound\nOrthus kept guard over; then he was to go to the Garden of the\nHesperides, and from that garden he was to take the golden apples that\nZeus had given to Hera for a marriage gift--where the Garden of the\nHesperides was no mortal knew.\n\nSo Heracles set out on a long and perilous quest. First he went to\nThrace, that savage land that was ruled over by Diomedes, son of Ares,\nthe war god. Heracles broke into the stable where the horses were; he\ncaught three of them by their heads, and although they kicked and bit\nand trampled he forced them out of the stable and down to the seashore,\nwhere his companion, Abderus, waited for him. The screams of the fierce\nhorses were heard by the men of Thrace, and they, with their king, came\nafter Heracles. He left the horses in charge of Abderus while he fought\nthe Thracians and their savage king.\n\nHeracles shot his deadly arrows amongst them, and then he fought with\ntheir king. He drove them from the seashore, and then he came back to\nwhere he had left Abderus with the fierce horses.\n\nThey had thrown Abderus upon the ground, and they were trampling upon\nhim. Heracles drew his bow and he shot the horses with the unerring\narrows that were dipped with the gall of the Hydra he had slain.\nScreaming, the horses of King Diomedes raced toward the sea, but one\nfell and another fell, and then, as it came to the line of the foam,\nthe third of the fierce horses fell. They were all slain with the\nunerring arrows. Then Heracles took up the body of his companion and he\nburied it with proper rights, and over it he raised a column.\nAfterward, around that column a city that bore the name of Heracles's\nfriend was built.\n\nThen toward the Euxine Sea he went. There, where the River Themiscyra\nflows into the sea he saw the abodes of the Amazons. And upon the rocks\nand the steep place he saw the warrior women standing with drawn bows\nin their hands. Most dangerous did they seem to Heracles. He did not\nknow how to approach them; he might shoot at them with his unerring\narrows, but when his arrows were all shot away, the Amazons, from their\nsteep places, might be able to kill him with the arrows from their bows.\n\nWhile he stood at a distance, wondering what he might do, a horn was\nsounded and an Amazon mounted upon a white stallion rode toward him.\nWhen the warrior-woman came near she cried out, \"Heracles, the Queen\nHippolyte permits you to come amongst the Amazons. Enter her tent and\ndeclare to the queen what has brought you amongst the never-conquered\nAmazons.\"\n\nHeracles came to the tent of the queen. There stood tall Hippolyte with\nan iron crown upon her head and with a beautiful girdle of bronze and\niridescent glass around her waist. Proud and fierce as a mountain eagle\nlooked the queen of the Amazons: Heracles did not know in what way he\nmight conquer her. Outside the tent the Amazons stood; they struck\ntheir shields with their spears, keeping up a continuous savage din.\n\n\"For what has Heracles come to the country of the Amazons?\" Queen\nHippolyte asked.\n\n\"For the girdle you wear,\" said Heracles, and he held his hands ready\nfor the struggle.\n\n\"Is it for the girdle given me by Ares, the god of war, that you have\ncome, braving the Amazons, Heracles?\" asked the queen.\n\n\"For that,\" said Heracles.\n\n\"I would not have you enter into strife with the Amazons,\" said Queen\nHippolyte. And so saying she drew off the girdle of bronze and\niridescent glass, and she gave it into his hands.\n\nHeracles took the beautiful girdle into his hands. Fearful he was that\nsome piece of guile was being played upon him, but then he looked into\nthe open eyes of the queen and he saw that she meant no guile. He took\nthe girdle and he put it around his great brows; then he thanked\nHippolyte and he went from the tent. He saw the Amazons standing on the\nrocks and the steep places with bows bent; unchallenged he went on, and\nhe came to his ship and he sailed away from that country with one more\nlabor accomplished.\n\nThe labor that followed was not dangerous. He sailed over sea and he\ncame to Crete, to the land that King Minos ruled over. And there he\nfound, grazing in a special pasture, the bull that Poseidon had given\nKing Minos. He laid his hands upon the bull's horns and he struggled\nwith him and he overthrew him. Then he drove the bull down to the\nseashore.\n\nHis next labor was to take away the herd of red cattle that was owned\nby the monster Geryoneus. In the Island of Erytheia, in the middle of\nthe Stream of Ocean, lived the monster, his herd guarded by the\ntwo-headed hound Orthus--that hound was the brother of Cerberus, the\nthree-headed hound that kept guard in the Underworld.\n\nMounted upon the bull given Minos by Poseidon, Heracles fared across\nthe sea. He came even to the straits that divide Europe from Africa,\nand there he set up two pillars as a memorial of his journey--the\nPillars of Heracles that stand to this day. He and the bull rested\nthere. Beyond him stretched the Stream of Ocean; the Island of Erytheia\nwas there, but Heracles thought that the bull would not be able to bear\nhim so far.\n\nAnd there the sun beat upon him, and drew all strength away from him,\nand he was dazed and dazzled by the rays of the sun. He shouted out\nagainst the sun, and in his anger he wanted to strive against the sun.\nThen he drew his bow and shot arrows upward. Far, far out of sight the\narrows of Heracles went. And the sun god, Helios, was filled with\nadmiration for Heracles, the man who would attempt the impossible by\nshooting arrows at him; then did Helios fling down to Heracles his\ngreat golden cup.\n\nDown, and into the Stream of Ocean fell the great golden cup of Helios.\nIt floated there wide enough to hold all the men who might be in a\nship. Heracles put the bull of Minos into the cup of Helios, and the\ncup bore them away, toward the west, and across the Stream of Ocean.\n\nThus Heracles came to the Island of Erytheia. All over the island\nstraggled the red cattle of Geryoneus, grazing upon the rich pastures.\nHeracles, leaving the bull of Minos in the cup, went upon the island;\nhe made a club for himself out of a tree and he went toward the cattle.\n\nThe hound Orthus bayed and ran toward him; the two-headed hound that\nwas the brother of Cerberus sprang at Heracles with poisonous foam upon\nhis jaws. Heracles swung his club and struck the two heads off the\nhound. And where the foam of the hound's jaws dropped down a poisonous\nplant sprang up. Heracles took up the body of the hound, and swung it\naround and flung it far out into the Ocean.\n\nThen the monster Geryoneus came upon him. Three bodies he had instead\nof one; he attacked Heracles by hurling great stones at him. Heracles\nwas hurt by the stones. And then the monster beheld the cup of Helios,\nand he began to hurl stones at the golden thing, and it seemed that he\nmight sink it in the sea, and leave Heracles without a way of getting\nfrom the island. Heracles took up his bow and he shot arrow after arrow\nat the monster, and he left him dead in the deep grass of the pastures.\n\nThen he rounded up the red cattle, the bulls and the cows, and he drove\nthem down to the shore and into the golden cup of Helios where the bull\nof Minos stayed. Then back across the Stream of Ocean the cup floated,\nand the bull of Crete and the cattle of Geryoneus were brought past\nSicily and through the straits called the Hellespont. To Thrace, that\nsavage land, they came. Then Heracles took the cattle out, and the cup\nof Helios sank in the sea. Through the wild lands of Thrace he drove\nthe herd of Geryoneus and the bull of Minos, and he came into Mycea\u00e6\nonce more.\n\nBut he did not stay to speak with Eurystheus. He started off to find\nthe Garden of the Hesperides, the Daughters of the Evening Land. Long\ndid he search, but he found no one who could tell him where the garden\nwas. And at last he went to Chiron on the Mountain Pelion, and Chiron\ntold Heracles what journey he would have to make to come to the\nHesperides, the Daughters of the Evening Land.\n\nFar did Heracles journey; weary he was when he came to where Atlas\nstood, bearing the sky upon his weary shoulders. As he came near he\nfelt an undreamt-of perfume being wafted toward him. So weary was he\nwith his journey and all his toils that he would fain sink down and\ndream away in that evening land. But he roused himself, and he\njourneyed on toward where the perfume came from. Over that place a star\nseemed always about to rise.\n\nHe came to where a silver lattice fenced a garden that was full of the\nquiet of evening. Golden bees hummed through the air, and there was the\nsound of quiet waters. How wild and laborious was the world he had come\nfrom, Heracles thought! He felt that it would be hard for him to return\nto that world.\n\nHe saw three maidens. They stood with wreaths upon their heads and\nblossoming branches in their hands. When the maidens saw him they came\ntoward him crying out: \"O man who has come into the Garden of the\nHesperides, go not near the tree that the sleepless dragon guards!\"\nThen they went and stood by a tree as if to keep guard over it. All\naround were trees that bore flowers and fruit, but this tree had golden\napples amongst its bright green leaves.\n\nThen he saw the guardian of the tree. Beside its trunk a dragon lay,\nand as Heracles came near the dragon showed its glittering scales and\nits deadly claws.\n\nThe apples were within reach, but the dragon, with its glittering\nscales and claws, stood in the way. Heracles shot an arrow; then a\ntremor went through Ladon, the sleepless dragon; it screamed and then\nlay stark. The maidens cried in their grief; Heracles went to the tree,\nand he plucked the golden apples and he put them into the pouch he\ncarried. Down on the ground sank the Hesperides, the Daughters of the\nEvening Land, and he heard their laments as he went from the enchanted\ngarden they had guarded.\n\nBack from the ends of the earth came Heracles, back from the place\nwhere Atlas stood holding the sky upon his weary shoulders. He went\nback through Asia and Libya and Egypt, and he came again to Mycea\u00e6 and\nto the palace of Eurystheus.\n\nHe brought to the king the herd of Geryoneus; he brought to the king\nthe bull of Minos; he brought to the king the girdle of Hippolyte; he\nbrought to the king the golden apples of the Hesperides. And King\nEurystheus, with his thin white face, sat upon his royal throne and he\nlooked over all the wonderful things that the hero had brought him. Not\npleased was Eurystheus; rather was he angry that one he hated could win\nsuch wonderful things.\n\nHe took into his hands the golden apples of the Hesperides. But this\nfruit was not for such as he. An eagle snatched the branch from his\nhand, and the eagle flew and flew until it came to where the Daughters\nof the Evening Land wept in their garden. There the eagle let fall the\nbranch with the golden apples, and the maidens set it back upon the\ntree, and behold! it grew as it had been growing before Heracles\nplucked it.\n\nThe next day the heralds of Eurystheus came to Heracles and they told\nhim of the last labor that he would have to set out to accomplish--this\ntime he would have to go down into the Underworld, and bring up from\nKing Aidoneus's realm Cerberus, the three-headed hound.\n\nHeracles put upon him the impenetrable lion's skin and set forth once\nmore. This might indeed be the last of his life's labors: Cerberus was\nnot an earthly monster, and he who would struggle with Cerberus in the\nUnderworld would have the gods of the dead against him.\n\nBut Heracles went on. He journeyed to the cave Tainaron, which was an\nentrance to the Underworld. Far into that dismal cave he went, and then\ndown, down, until he came to Acheron, that dim river that has beyond it\nonly the people of the dead. Cerberus bayed at him from the place where\nthe dead cross the river. Knowing that he was no shade, the hound\nsprang at Heracles, but he could neither bite nor tear through that\nimpenetrable lion's skin. Heracles held him by the neck of his middle\nhead so that Cerberus was neither able to bite nor tear nor bellow.\n\nThen to the brink of Acheron came Persephone, queen of the Underworld.\nShe declared to Heracles that the gods of the dead would not strive\nagainst him if he promised to bring Cerberus back to the Underworld,\ncarrying the hound downward again as he carried him upward.\n\nThis Heracles promised. He turned around and he carried Cerberus, his\nhands around the monster's neck while foam dripped from his jaws. He\ncarried him on and upward toward the world of men. Out through a cave\nthat was in the land of Troezen Heracles came, still carrying Cerberus\nby the neck of his middle head.\n\nFrom Troezen to Mycea\u00e6 the hero went and men fled before him at the\nsight of the monster that he carried. On he went toward the king's\npalace. Eurystheus was seated outside his palace that day, looking at\nthe great jar that he had often hidden in, and thinking to himself that\nHeracles would never appear to affright him again. Then Heracles\nappeared. He called to Eurystheus, and when the king looked up he held\nthe hound toward him. The three heads grinned at Eurystheus; he gave a\ncry and scrambled into the jar. But before his feet touched the bottom\nof it Eurystheus was dead of fear. The jar rolled over, and Heracles\nlooked upon the body that was all twisted with fright. Then he turned\naround and made his way back to the Underworld. On the brink of Acheron\nhe loosed Cerberus, and the bellow of the three-headed hound was heard\nagain.\n\n\nII\n\nIt was then that Heracles was given arms by the gods the sword of\nHermes, the bow of Apollo, the shield made by Hephaestus; it was then\nthat Heracles joined the Argonauts and journeyed with them to the edge\nof the Caucasus, where, slaying the vulture that preyed upon\nPrometheus's liver, he, at the will of Zeus, liberated the Titan.\nThereafter Zeus and Prometheus were reconciled, and Zeus, that neither\nmight forget how much the enmity between them had cost gods and men,\nhad a ring made for Prometheus to wear; that ring was made out of the\nfetter that had been upon him, and in it was set a fragment of the rock\nthat the Titan had been bound to.\n\nThe Argonauts had now won back to Greece. But before he saw any of them\nhe had been in Oichalia, and had seen the maiden Iole.\n\nThe king of Oichalia had offered his daughter Iole in marriage to the\nhero who could excel himself and his sons in shooting with arrows.\nHeracles saw Iole, the blue-eyed and childlike maiden, and he longed to\ntake her with him to some place near the Garden of the Hesperides. And\nIole looked on him, and he knew that she wondered to see him so tall\nand so strongly knit even as he wondered to see her so childlike and\ndelicate.\n\nThen the contest began. The king and his sons shot wonderfully well,\nand none of the heroes who stood before Heracles had a chance of\nwinning. Then Heracles shot his arrows. No matter how far away they\nmoved the mark, Heracles struck it and struck the very center of it.\nThe people wondered who this great archer might be. And then a name was\nguessed at and went around--Heracles!\n\nWhen the king heard the name of Heracles he would not let him strive in\nthe contest any more. For the maiden Iole would not be given as a prize\nto one who had been mad and whose madness might afflict him again. So\nthe king said, speaking in judgment in the market place.\n\nRage came on Heracles when he heard this judgment given. He would not\nlet his rage master him lest the madness that was spoken of should come\nwith his rage. So he left the city of Oichalia declaring to the king\nand the people that he would return.\n\nIt was then that, wandering down to Crete, he heard of the Argonauts\nbeing near. And afterward he heard of them being in Calydon, hunting\nthe boar that ravaged Oeneus's country. To Calydon Heracles went. The\nheroes had departed when he came into the country, and all the city was\nin grief for the deaths of Prince Meleagrus and his two uncles.\n\nOn the steps of the temple where Meleagrus and his uncles had been\nbrought Heracles saw Deianira, Meleagrus's sister. She was pale with\nher grief, this tall woman of the mountains; she looked like a\npriestess, but also like a woman who could cheer camps of men with her\ncounsel, her bravery, and her good companionship; her hair was very\ndark and she had dark eyes.\n\nStraightway she became friends with Heracles; and when they saw each\nother for a while they loved each other. And Heracles forgot Iole, the\nchildlike maiden whom he had seen in Oichalia.\n\nHe made himself a suitor for Deianira, and those who protected her were\nglad of Heracles's suit, and they told him they would give him the\nmaiden to marry as soon as the mourning for Prince Meleagrus and his\nuncles was over. Heracles stayed in Calydon, happy with Deianira, who\nhad so much beauty, wisdom, and bravery.\n\nBut then a dreadful thing happened in Calydon; by an accident, while\nusing his strength unthinkingly, Heracles killed a lad who was related\nto Deianira. He might not marry her now until he had taken punishment\nfor slaying one who was close to her in blood.\n\nAs a punishment for the slaying it was judged that Heracles should be\nsold into slavery for three years. At the end of his three years'\nslavery he could come back to Calydon and wed Deianira.\n\nAnd so Heracles and Deianira were parted. He was sold as a slave in\nLydia; the one who bought him was a woman, a widow named Omphale. To\nher house Heracles went, carrying his armor and wearing his lion's\nskin. And Omphale laughed to see this tall man dressed in a lion's skin\ncoming to her house to do a servant's tasks for her.\n\nShe and all in her house kept up fun with Heracles. They would set him\nto do housework, to carry water, and set vessels on the tables, and\nclear the vessels away. Omphale set him to spin with a spindle as the\nwomen did. And often she would put on Heracles's lion skin and go about\ndragging his club, while he, dressed in woman's garb, washed dishes and\nemptied pots.\n\nBut he would lose patience with these servant's tasks, and then Omphale\nwould let him go away and perform some great exploit. Often he went on\nlong journeys and stayed away for long times. It was while he was in\nslavery to Omphale that he liberated Theseus from the dungeon in which\nhe was held with Peirithous, and it was while he still was in slavery\nthat he made his journey to Troy.\n\nAt Troy he helped to repair for King Laomedon the great walls that\nyears before Apollo and Poseidon had built around the city. As a reward\nfor this labor he was offered the Princess Hesione in marriage; she was\nthe daughter of King Laomedon, and the sister of Priam, who was then\ncalled, not Priam but Podarces. He helped to repair the wall, and two\nof the Argonauts were there to aid him: one was Peleus and the other\nwas Telamon. Peleus did not stay for long: Telamon stayed, and to\nreward Telamon Heracles withdrew his own claim for the hand of the\nPrincess Hesione. It was not hard on Heracles to do this, for his\nthoughts were ever upon Deianira.\n\nBut Telamon rejoiced, for he loved Hesione greatly. On the day they\nmarried Heracles showed the two an eagle in the sky. He said it was\nsent as an omen to them--an omen for their marriage. And in memory of\nthat omen Telamon named his son \"Aias\"; that is, \"Eagle.\"\n\nThen the walls of Troy were repaired and Heracles turned toward Lydia,\nOmphale's home. Not long would he have to serve Omphale now, for his\nthree years' slavery was nearly over. Soon he would go back to Calydon\nand wed Deianira.\n\nAs he went along the road to Lydia he thought of all the pleasantries\nthat had been made in Omphale's house and he laughed at the memory of\nthem. Lydia was a friendly country, and even though he had been in\nslavery Heracles had had his good times there.\n\nHe was tired with the journey and made sleepy with the heat of the sun,\nand when he came within sight of Omphale's house he lay down by the\nside of the road, first taking off his armor, and laying aside his bow,\nhis quiver, and his shield. He wakened up to see two men looking down\nupon him; he knew that these were the Cercopes, robbers who waylaid\ntravelers upon this road. They were laughing as they looked down on\nhim, and Heracles saw that they held his arms and his armor in their\nhands.\n\nThey thought that this man, for all his tallness, would yield to them\nwhen he saw that they had his arms and his armor. But Heracles sprang\nup, and he caught one by the waist and the other by the neck, and he\nturned them upside down and tied them together by the heels. Now he\nheld them securely and he would take them to the town and give them\nover to those whom they had waylaid and robbed. He hung them by their\nheels across his shoulders and marched on.\n\nBut the robbers, as they were being bumped along, began to relate\npleasantries and mirthful tales to each other, and Heracles, listening,\nhad to laugh. And one said to the other, \"O my brother, we are in the\nposition of the frogs when the mice fell upon them with such fury.\" And\nthe other said, \"Indeed nothing can save us if Zeus does not send an\nally to us as he sent an ally to the frogs.\" And the first robber said,\n\"Who began that conflict, the frogs or the mice?\" And thereupon the\nsecond robber, his head reaching down to Heracles's waist, began:\n\n\nTHE BATTLE OF THE FROGS AND MICE\n\nA warlike mouse came down to the brink of a pond for no other reason\nthan to take a drink of water. Up to him hopped a frog. Speaking in the\nvoice of one who had rule and authority, the frog said:\n\n\"Stranger to our shore, you may not know it, but I am Puff Jaw, king of\nthe frogs. I do not speak to common mice, but you, as I judge, belong\nto the noble and kingly sort. Tell me your race. If I know it to be a\nnoble one I shall show you my kingly friendship.\"\n\nThe mouse, speaking haughtily, said: \"I am Crumb Snatcher, and my race\nis a famous one. My father is the heroic Bread Nibbler, and he married\nQuern Licker, the lovely daughter of a king. Like all my race I am a\nwarrior who has never been wont to flinch in battle. Moreover, I have\nbeen brought up as a mouse of high degree, and figs and nuts, cheese\nand honeycakes is the provender that I have been fed on.\"\n\nNow this reply of Crumb Snatcher pleased the kingly frog greatly. \"Come\nwith me to my abode, illustrious Crumb Snatcher,\" said he, \"and I shall\nshow you such entertainment as may be found in the house of a king.\"\n\nBut the mouse looked sharply at him. \"How may I get to your house?\" he\nasked. \"We live in different elements, you and I. We mice want to be in\nthe driest of dry places, while you frogs have your abodes in the\nwater.\"\n\n\"Ah,\" answered Puff jaw, \"you do not know how favored the frogs are\nabove all other creatures. To us alone the gods have given the power to\nlive both in the water and on the land. I shall take you to my land\npalace that is the other side of the pond.\"\n\n\"How may I go there with you?\" asked Crumb Snatcher the mouse,\ndoubtfully.\n\n\"Upon my back,\" said the frog. \"Up now, noble Crumb Snatcher. And as we\ngo I will show you the wonders of the deep.\"\n\nHe offered his back and Crumb Snatcher bravely mounted. The mouse put\nhis forepaws around the frog's neck. Then Puff jaw swam out. Crumb\nSnatcher at first was pleased to feel himself moving through the water.\nBut as the dark waves began to rise his mighty heart began to quail. He\nlonged to be back upon the land. He groaned aloud.\n\n\"How quickly we get on,\" cried Puff Jaw; \"soon we shall be at my land\npalace.\"\n\nHeartened by this speech, Crumb Snatcher put his tail into the water\nand worked it as a steering oar. On and on they went, and Crumb\nSnatcher gained heart for the adventure. What a wonderful tale he would\nhave to tell to the clans of the mice!\n\nBut suddenly, out of the depths of the pond, a water snake raised his\nhorrid head. Fearsome did that head seem to both mouse and frog. And\nforgetful of the guest that he carried upon his back, Puff jaw dived\ndown into the water. He reached the bottom of the pond and lay on the\nmud in safety.\n\nBut far from safety was Crumb Snatcher the mouse. He sank and rose, and\nsank again. His wet fur weighed him down. But before he sank for the\nlast time he lifted up his voice and cried out and his cry was heard at\nthe brink of the pond:\n\n\"Ah, Puff Jaw, treacherous frog! An evil thing you have done, leaving\nme to drown in the middle of the pond. Had you faced me on the land I\nshould have shown you which of us two was the better warrior. Now I\nmust lose my life in the water. But I tell you my death shall not go\nunavenged--the cowardly frogs will be punished for the ill they have\ndone to me who am the son of the king of the mice.\"\n\nThen Crumb Snatcher sank for the last time. But Lick Platter, who was\nat the brink of the pond, had heard his words. Straightway this mouse\nrushed to the hole of Bread Nibbler and told him of the death of his\nprincely son.\n\nBread Nibbler called out the clans of the mice. The warrior mice armed\nthemselves, and this was the grand way of their arming:\n\nFirst, the mice put on greaves that covered their forelegs. These they\nmade out of bean shells broken in two. For shield, each had a lamp's\ncenterpiece. For spears they had the long bronze needles that they had\ncarried out of the houses of men. So armed and so accoutered they were\nready to war upon the frogs. And Bread Nibbler, their king, shouted to\nthem: \"Fall upon the cowardly frogs, and leave not one alive upon the\nbank of the pond. Henceforth that bank is ours, and ours only. Forward!\"\n\nAnd, on the other side, Puff jaw was urging the frogs to battle. \"Let\nus take our places on the edge of the pond,\" he said, \"and when the\nmice come amongst us, let each catch hold of one and throw him into the\npond. Thus we will get rid of these dry bobs, the mice.\"\n\nThe frogs applauded the speech of their king, and straightway they went\nto their armor and their weapons. Their legs they covered with the\nleaves of mallow. For breastplates they had the leaves of beets.\nCabbage leaves, well cut, made their strong shields. They took their\nspears from the pond side--deadly pointed rushes they were, and they\nplaced upon their heads helmets that were empty snail shells. So armed\nand so accoutered they were ready to meet the grand attack of the mice.\n\nWhen the robber came to this part of the story Heracles halted his\nmarch, for he was shaking with laughter. The robber stopped in his\nstory. Heracles slapped him on the leg and said: \"What more of the\nheroic exploits of the mice?\" The second robber said, \"I know no more,\nbut perhaps my brother at the other side of you can tell you of the\nmighty combat between them and the frogs.\" Then Heracles shifted the\nfirst robber from his back to his front, and the first robber said: \"I\nwill tell you what I know about the heroical combat between the frogs\nand the mice.\" And thereupon he began:\n\nThe gnats blew their trumpets. This was the dread signal for war.\n\nBread Nibbler struck the first blow. He fell upon Loud Crier the frog,\nand overthrew him. At this Loud Crier's friend, Reedy, threw down spear\nand shield and dived into the water. This seemed to presage victory for\nthe mice. But then Water Larker, the most warlike of the frogs, took up\na great pebble and flung it at Ham Nibbler who was then pursuing Reedy.\nDown fell Ham Nibbler, and there was dismay in the ranks of the mice.\n\nThen Cabbage Climber, a great-hearted frog, took up a clod of mud and\nflung it full at a mouse that was coming furiously upon him. That\nmouse's helmet was knocked off and his forehead was plastered with the\nclod of mud, so that he was well-nigh blinded.\n\nIt was then that victory inclined to the frogs. Bread Nibbler again\ncame into the fray. He rushed furiously upon Puff jaw the king.\n\nLeeky, the trusted friend of Puff jaw, opposed Bread Nibbler's\nonslaught. Mightily he drove his spear at the king of the mice. But the\npoint of the spear broke upon Bread Nibbler's shield, and then Leeky\nwas overthrown.\n\nBread Nibbler came upon Puff jaw, and the two great kings faced each\nother. The frogs and the mice drew aside, and there was a pause in the\ncombat. Bread Nibbler the mouse struck Puff jaw the frog terribly upon\nthe toes.\n\nPuff jaw drew out of the battle. Now all would have been lost for the\nfrogs had not Zeus, the father of the gods, looked down upon the battle.\n\n\"Dear, dear,\" said Zeus, \"what can be done to save the frogs? They will\nsurely be annihilated if the charge of yonder mouse is not halted.\"\n\nFor the father of the gods, looking down, saw a warrior mouse coming on\nin the most dreadful onslaught of the whole battle. Slice Snatcher was\nthe name of this warrior. He had come late into the field. He waited to\nsplit a chestnut in two and to put the halves upon his paws. Then,\nfuriously dashing amongst the frogs, he cried out that he would not\nleave the ground until he had destroyed the race, leaving the bank of\nthe pond a playground for the mice and for the mice alone.\n\nTo stop the charge of Slice Snatcher there was nothing for Zeus to do\nbut to hurl the thunderbolt that is the terror of gods and men.\n\nFrogs and mice were awed by the thunder and the flame. But still the\nmice, urged on by Slice Snatcher, did not hold back from their\nonslaught upon the frogs.\n\nNow would the frogs have been utterly destroyed; but, as they dashed\non, the mice encountered a new and a dreadful army. The warriors in\nthese ranks had mailed backs and curving claws. They had bandy legs and\nlong-stretching arms. They had eyes that looked behind them. They came\non sideways. These were the crabs, creatures until now unknown to the\nmice. And the crabs had been sent by Zeus to save the race of the frogs\nfrom utter destruction.\n\nComing upon the mice they nipped their paws. The mice turned around and\nthey nipped their tails. In vain the boldest of the mice struck at the\ncrabs with their sharpened spears. Not upon the hard shells on the\nbacks of the crabs did the spears of the mice make any dint. On and on,\non their queer feet and with their terrible nippers, the crabs went.\nBread Nibbler could not rally them any more, and Slice Snatcher ceased\nto speak of the monument of victory that the mice would erect upon the\nbank of the pond. With their heads out of the water they had retreated\nto, the frogs watched the finish of the battle. The mice threw down\ntheir spears and shields and fled from the battleground. On went the\ncrabs as if they cared nothing for their victory, and the frogs came\nout of the water and sat upon the bank and watched them in awe.\n\nHeracles had laughed at the diverting tale that the robbers had told\nhim; he could not bring them then to a place where they would meet with\ncaptivity or death. He let them loose upon the highway, and the robbers\nthanked him with high-flowing speeches, and they declared that if they\nshould ever find him sleeping by the roadway again they would let him\nlie. Saying this they went away, and Heracles, laughing as he thought\nupon the great exploits of the frogs and mice, went on to Omphale's\nhouse.\n\nOmphale, the widow, received him mirthfully, and then set him to do\ntasks in the kitchen while she sat and talked to him about Troy and the\naffairs of King Laomedon. And afterward she put on his lion's skin, and\nwent about in the courtyard dragging the heavy club after her.\nMirthfully and pleasantly she made the rest of his time in Lydia pass\nfor Heracles, and the last day of his slavery soon came, and he bade\ngood-by to Omphale, that pleasant widow, and to Lydia, and he started\noff for Calydon to claim his bride Deianira.\n\nBeautiful indeed Deianira looked now that she had ceased to mourn for\nher brother, for the laughter that had been under her grief always now\nflashed out even while she looked priestess-like and of good counsel;\nher dark eyes shone like stars, and her being had the spirit of one who\nwanders from camp to camp, always greeting friends and leaving friends\nbehind her. Heracles and Deianira wed, and they set out for Tiryns,\nwhere a king had left a kingdom to Heracles.\n\nThey came to the River Evenus. Heracles could have crossed the river by\nhimself, but he could not cross it at the part he came to, carrying\nDeianira. He and she went along the river, seeking a ferry that might\ntake them across. They wandered along the side of the river, happy with\neach other, and they came to a place where they had sight of a centaur.\n\nHeracles knew this centaur. He was Nessus, one of the centaurs whom he\nhad chased up the mountain the time when he went to hunt the\nErymanthean boar. The centaurs knew him, and Nessus spoke to Heracles\nas if he had friendship for him. He would, he said, carry Heracles's\nbride across the river.\n\nThen Heracles crossed the river, and he waited on the other side for\nNessus and Deianira. Nessus went to another part of the river to make\nhis crossing. Then Heracles, upon the other bank, heard screams--the\nscreams of his wife, Deianira. He saw that the centaur was savagely\nattacking her.\n\nThen Heracles leveled his bow and he shot at Nessus. Arrow after arrow\nhe shot into the centaur's body. Nessus loosed his hold on Deianira,\nand he lay down on the bank of the river, his lifeblood streaming from\nhim.\n\nThen Nessus, dying, but with his rage against Heracles unabated,\nthought of a way by which the hero might be made to suffer for the\ndeath he had brought upon him. He called to Deianira, and she, seeing\nhe could do her no more hurt, came close to him. He told her that in\nrepentance for his attack upon her he would bestow a great gift upon\nher. She was to gather up some of the blood that flowed from him; his\nblood, the centaur said, would be a love philter, and if ever her\nhusband's love for her waned it would grow fresh again if she gave to\nhim something from her hands that would have this blood upon it.\n\nDeianira, who had heard from Heracles of the wisdom of the centaurs,\nbelieved what Nessus told her. She took a phial and let the blood pour\ninto it. Then Nessus plunged into the river and died there as Heracles\ncame up to where Deianira stood.\n\nShe did not speak to him about the centaur's words to her, nor did she\ntell him that she had hidden away the phial that had Nessus's blood in\nit. They crossed the river at another point and they came after a time\nto Tiryns and to the kingdom that had been left to Heracles.\n\nThere Heracles and Deianira lived, and a son who was named Hyllos was\nborn to them. And after a time Heracles was led into a war with\nEurytus--Eurytus who was king of Oichalia.\n\nWord came to Deianira that Oichalia was taken by Heracles, and that the\nking and his daughter Iole were held captive. Deianira knew that\nHeracles had once tried to win this maiden for his wife, and she feared\nthat the sight of Iole would bring his old longing back to him.\n\nShe thought upon the words that Nessus had said to her, and even as she\nthought upon them messengers came from Heracles to ask her to send him\na robe--a beautifully woven robe that she had--that he might wear it\nwhile making a sacrifice. Deianira took down the robe; through this\nrobe, she thought, the blood of the centaur could touch Heracles and\nhis love for her would revive. Thinking this she poured Nessus's blood\nover the robe.\n\nHeracles was in Oichalia when the messengers returned to him. He took\nthe robe that Deianira sent, and he went to a mountain that overlooked\nthe sea that he might make the sacrifice there. Iole went with him.\nThen he put on the robe that Deianira had sent. When it touched his\nflesh the robe burst into flame. Heracles tried to tear it off, but\ndeeper and deeper into his flesh the flames went. They burned and\nburned and none could quench them.\n\nThen Heracles knew that his end was near. He would die by fire, and\nknowing that he piled up a great heap of wood and he climbed upon it.\nThere he stayed with the flaming robe burning into him, and he begged\nof those who passed to fire the pile that his end might come more\nquickly.\n\nNone would fire the pile. But at last there came that way a young\nwarrior named Philoctetes, and Heracles begged of him to fire the pile.\nPhiloctetes, knowing that it was the will of the gods that Heracles\nshould die that way, lighted the pile. For that Heracles bestowed upon\nhim his great bow and his unerring arrows. And it was this bow and\nthese arrows, brought from Philoctetes, that afterward helped to take\nPriam's city.\n\nThe pile that Heracles stood upon was fired. High up, above the sea,\nthe pile burned. All who were near that burning fled--all except Iole,\nthat childlike maiden. She stayed and watched the flames mount up and\nup. They wrapped the sky, and the voice of Heracles was heard calling\nupon Zeus. Then a great chariot came and Heracles was borne away to\nOlympus. Thus, after many labors, Heracles passed away, a mortal\npassing into an immortal being in a great burning high above the sea.\n\n\n\nV. ADMETUS\n\nI\n\nIt happened once that Zeus would punish Apollo, his son. Then he\nbanished him from Olympus, and he made him put off his divinity and\nappear as a mortal man. And as a mortal Apollo sought to earn his bread\namongst men. He came to the house of King Admetus and took service with\nhim as his herdsman.\n\nFor a year Apollo served the young king, minding his herds of black\ncattle. Admetus did not know that it was one of the immortal gods who\nwas in his house and in his fields. But he treated him in friendly\nwise, and Apollo was happy whilst serving Admetus.\n\nAfterward people wondered at Admetus's ever-smiling face and\never-radiant being. It was the god's kindly thought of him that gave\nhim such happiness. And when Apollo was leaving his house and his\nfields he revealed himself to Admetus, and he made a promise to him\nthat when the god of the Underworld sent Death for him he would have\none more chance of baffling Death than any mortal man.\n\nThat was before Admetus sailed on the Argo with Jason and the\ncompanions of the quest. The companionship of Admetus brought happiness\nto many on the voyage, but the hero to whom it gave the most happiness\nwas Heracles. And often Heracles would have Admetus beside him to tell\nhim about the radiant god Apollo, whose bow and arrows Heracles had\nbeen given.\n\nAfter that voyage and after the hunt in Calydon Admetus went back to\nhis own land. There he wed that fair and loving woman, Alcestis. He\nmight not wed her until he had yoked lions and leopards to the chariot\nthat drew her. This was a feat that no hero had been able to\naccomplish. With Apollo's aid he accomplished it. Thereafter Admetus,\nhaving the love of Alcestis, was even more happy than he had been\nbefore.\n\nOne day as he walked by fold and through pasture field he saw a figure\nstanding beside his herd of black cattle. A radiant figure it was, and\nAdmetus knew that this was Apollo come to him again. He went toward the\ngod and he made reverence and began to speak to him. But Apollo turned\nto Admetus a face that was without joy.\n\n\"What years of happiness have been mine, O Apollo, through your\nfriendship for me,\" said Admetus. \"Ah, as I walked my pasture land\ntoday it came into my mind how much I loved this green earth and the\nblue sky! And all that I know of love and happiness has come to me\nthrough you.\"\n\nBut still Apollo stood before him with a face that was without joy. He\nspoke and his voice was not that clear and vibrant voice that he had\nonce in speaking to Admetus. \"Admetus, Admetus,\" he said, \"it is for me\nto tell you that you may no more look on the blue sky nor walk upon the\ngreen earth. It is for me to tell you that the god of the Underworld\nwill have you come to him. Admetus, Admetus, know that even now the god\nof the Underworld is sending Death for you.\"\n\nThen the light of the world went out for Admetus, and he heard himself\nspeaking to Apollo in a shaking voice: \"O Apollo, Apollo, thou art a\ngod, and surely thou canst save me! Save me now from this Death that\nthe god of the Underworld is sending for me!\"\n\nBut Apollo said, \"Long ago, Admetus, I made a bargain with the god of\nthe Underworld on thy behalf. Thou hast been given a chance more than\nany mortal man. If one will go willingly in thy place with Death, thou\ncanst still live on. Go, Admetus. Thou art well loved, and it may be\nthat thou wilt find one to take thy place.\"\n\nThen Apollo went up unto the mountaintop and Admetus stayed for a while\nbeside the cattle. It seemed to him that a little of the darkness had\nlifted from the world. He would go to his palace. There were aged men\nand women there, servants and slaves, and one of them would surely be\nwilling to take the king's place and go with Death down to the\nUnderworld.\n\nSo Admetus thought as he went toward the palace. And then he came upon\nan ancient woman who sat upon stones in the courtyard, grinding corn\nbetween two stones. Long had she been doing that wearisome labor.\nAdmetus had known her from the first time he had come into that\ncourtyard as a little child, and he had never seen aught in her face\nbut a heavy misery. There she was sitting as he had first known her,\nwith her eyes bleared and her knees shaking, and with the dust of the\ncourtyard and the husks of the corn in her matted hair. He went to her\nand spoke to her, and he asked her to take the place of the king and go\nwith Death.\n\nBut when she heard the name of Death horror came into the face of the\nancient woman, and she cried out that she would not let Death come near\nher. Then Admetus left her, and he came upon another, upon a sightless\nman who held out a shriveled hand for the food that the servants of the\npalace might bestow upon him. Admetus took the man's shriveled hand,\nand he asked him if he would not take the king's place and go with\nDeath that was coming for him. The sightless man, with howls and\nshrieks, said he would not go.\n\nThen Admetus went into the palace and into the chamber where his bed\nwas, and he lay down upon the bed and he lamented that he would have to\ngo with Death that was coming for him from the god of the Underworld,\nand he lamented that none of the wretched ones around the palace would\ntake his place.\n\nA hand was laid upon him. He looked up and he saw his tall and\ngrave-eyed wife, Alcestis, beside him. Alcestis spoke to him slowly and\ngravely. \"I have heard what you have said, O my husband,\" said she.\n\"One should go in your place, for you are the king and have many great\naffairs to attend to. And if none other will go, I, Alcestis, will go\nin your place, Admetus.\"\n\nIt had seemed to Admetus that ever since he had heard the words of\nApollo that heavy footsteps were coming toward him. Now the footsteps\nseemed to stop. It was not so terrible for him as before. He sprang up,\nand he took the hands of Alcestis and he said, \"You, then, will take my\nplace?\"\n\n\"I will go with Death in your place, Admetus,\" Alcestis said.\n\nThen, even as Admetus looked into her face, he saw a pallor come upon\nher; her body weakened and she sank down upon the bed. Then, watching\nover her, he knew that not he but Alcestis would go with Death. And the\nwords he had spoken he would have taken back--the words that had\nbrought her consent to go with Death in his place.\n\nPaler and weaker Alcestis grew. Death would soon be here for her. No,\nnot here, for he would not have Death come into the palace. He lifted\nAlcestis from the bed and he carried her from the palace. He carried\nher to the temple of the gods. He laid her there upon the bier and\nwaited there beside her. No more speech came from her. He went back to\nthe palace where all was silent--the servants moved about with heads\nbowed, lamenting silently for their mistress.\n\n\nII\n\nAs Admetus was coming back from the temple he heard a great shout; he\nlooked up and saw one standing at the palace doorway. He knew him by\nhis lion's skin and his great height. This was Heracles--Heracles come\nto visit him, but come at a sad hour. He could not now rejoice in the\ncompany of Heracles. And yet Heracles might be on his way from the\naccomplishment of some great labor, and it would not be right to say a\nword that might turn him away from his doorway; he might have much need\nof rest and refreshment.\n\nThinking this Admetus went up to Heracles and took his hand and\nwelcomed him into his house. \"How is it with you, friend Admetus?\"\nHeracles asked. Admetus would only say that nothing was happening in\nhis house and that Heracles, his hero-companion, was welcome there. His\nmind was upon a great sacrifice, he said, and so he would not be able\nto feast with him.\n\nThe servants brought Heracles to the bath, and then showed him where a\nfeast was laid for him. And as for Admetus, he went within the chamber,\nand knelt beside the bed on which Alcestis had lain, and thought of his\nterrible loss.\n\nHeracles, after the bath, put on the brightly colored tunic that the\nservants of Admetus brought him. He put a wreath upon his head and sat\ndown to the feast. It was a pity, he thought, that Admetus was not\nfeasting with him. But this was only the first of many feasts. And\nthinking of what companionship he would have with Admetus, Heracles\nleft the feasting hall and came to where the servants were standing\nabout in silence.\n\n\"Why is the house of Admetus so hushed to-day?\" Heracles asked.\n\n\"It is because of what is befalling,\" said one of the servants.\n\n\"Ah, the sacrifice that the king is making,\" said Heracles. \"To what\ngod is that sacrifice due?\"\n\n\"To the god of the Underworld,\" said the servant. \"Death is coming to\nAlcestis the queen where she lies on a bier in the temple of the gods.\"\n\nThen the servant told Heracles the story of how Alcestis had taken her\nhusband's place, going in his stead with Death. Heracles thought upon\nthe sorrow of his friend, and of the great sacrifice that his wife was\nmaking for him. How noble it was of Admetus to bring him into his house\nand give entertainment to him while such sorrow was upon him. And then\nHeracles felt that another labor was before him.\n\n\"I have dragged up from the Underworld,\" he thought, \"the hound that\nguards those whom Death brings down into the realm of the god of the\nUnderworld. Why should I not strive with Death? And what a noble thing\nit would be to bring back this faithful woman to her house and to her\nhusband! This is a labor that has not been laid upon me, and it is a\nlabor I will undertake.\" So Heracles said to himself.\n\nHe left the palace of Admetus and he went to the temple of the gods. He\nstood inside the temple and he saw the bier on which Alcestis was laid.\nHe looked upon the queen. Death had not touched her yet, although she\nlay so still and so silent. Heracles would watch beside her and strive\nwith Death for her.\n\nHeracles watched and Death came. When Death entered the temple Heracles\nlaid hands upon him. Death had never been gripped by mortal hands and\nhe strode on as if that grip meant nothing to him. But then he had to\ngrip Heracles. In Death's grip there was a strength beyond strength.\nAnd upon Heracles a dreadful sense of loss came as Death laid hands\nupon him a sense of the loss of light and the loss of breath and the\nloss of movement. But Heracles struggled with Death although his breath\nwent and his strength seemed to go from him. He held that stony body to\nhim, and the cold of that body went through him, and its stoniness\nseemed to turn his bones to stone, but still Heracles strove with him,\nand at last he overthrew him and he held Death down upon the ground.\n\n\"Now you are held by me, Death,\" cried Heracles. \"You are held by me,\nand the god of the Underworld will be--made angry because you cannot go\nabout his business--either this business or any other business. You are\nheld by me, Death, and you will not be let go unless you promise to go\nforth from this temple without bringing one with you.\" And Death,\nknowing that Heracles could hold him there, and that the business of\nthe god of the Underworld would be left undone if he were held,\npromised that he would leave the temple without bringing one with him.\nThen Heracles took his grip off Death, and that stony shape went from\nthe temple.\n\nSoon a flush came into the face of Alcestis as Heracles watched over\nher. Soon she arose from the bier on which she had been laid. She\ncalled out to Admetus, and Heracles went to her and spoke to her,\ntelling her that he would bring her back to her husband's house.\n\n\nIII\n\nAdmetus left the chamber where his wife had lain and stood before the\ndoor of his palace. Dawn was coming, and as he looked toward the temple\nhe saw Heracles coming to the palace. A woman came with him. She was\nveiled, and Admetus could not see her features.\n\n\"Admetus,\" Heracles said, when he came before him, \"Admetus, there is\nsomething I would have you do for me. Here is a woman whom I am\nbringing back to her husband. I won her from an enemy. Will you not\ntake her into your house while I am away on a journey?\"\n\n\"You cannot ask me to do this, Heracles,\" said Admetus. \"No woman may\ncome into the house where Alcestis, only yesterday, had her life.\"\n\n\"For my sake take her into your house,\" said Heracles. \"Come now,\nAdmetus, take this woman by the hand.\"\n\nA pang came to Admetus as he looked at the woman who stood beside\nHeracles and saw that she was the same stature as his lost wife. He\nthought that he could not bear to take her hand. But Heracles pleaded\nwith him, and he took her by the hand.\n\n\"Now take her across your threshold, Admetus,\" said Heracles.\n\nHardly could Admetus bear to do this--hardly could he bear to think of\na strange woman being in his house and his own wife gone with Death.\nBut Heracles pleaded with him, and by the hand he held he drew the\nwoman across his threshold.\n\n\"Now raise her veil, Admetus,\" said Heracles.\n\n\"This I cannot do,\" said Admetus. \"I have had pangs enough. How can I\nlook upon a woman's face and remind myself that I cannot look upon\nAlcestis's face ever again?\"\n\n\"Raise her veil, Admetus,\" said Heracles. Then Admetus raised the veil\nof the woman he had taken across the threshold of his house. He saw the\nface of Alcestis. He looked again upon his wife brought back from the\ngrip of Death by Heracles, the son of Zeus. And then a deeper joy than\nhe had ever known came to Admetus. Once more his wife was with him, and\nAdmetus the friend of Apollo and the friend of Heracles had all that he\ncared to have.\n\n\n\nVI. HOW ORPHEUS THE MINSTREL WENT DOWN TO THE WORLD OF THE DEAD\n\nMany were the minstrels who, in the early days, went through the world,\ntelling to men the stories of the gods, telling of their wars and their\nbirths. Of all these minstrels none was so famous as Orpheus who had\ngone with the Argonauts; none could tell truer things about the gods,\nfor he himself was half divine.\n\nBut a great grief came to Orpheus, a grief that stopped his singing and\nhis playing upon the lyre. His young wife Eurydice was taken from him.\nOne day, walking in the garden, she was bitten on the heel by a\nserpent, and straightway she went down to the world of the dead.\n\nThen everything in this world was dark and bitter for the minstrel\nOrpheus; sleep would not come to him, and for him food had no taste.\nThen Orpheus said: \"I will do that which no mortal has ever done\nbefore; I will do that which even the immortals might shrink from\ndoing: I will go down into the world of the dead, and I will bring back\nto the living and to the light my bride Eurydice.\"\n\nThen Orpheus went on his way to the valley of Acherusia which goes\ndown, down into the world of the dead. He would never have found his\nway to that valley if the trees had not shown him the way. For as he\nwent along Orpheus played upon his lyre and sang, and the trees heard\nhis song and they were moved by his grief, and with their arms and\ntheir heads they showed him the way to the deep, deep valley of\nAcherusia.\n\nDown, down by winding paths through that deepest and most shadowy of\nall valleys Orpheus went. He came at last to the great gate that opens\nupon the world of the dead. And the silent guards who keep watch there\nfor the rulers of the dead were affrighted when they saw a living\nbeing, and they would not let Orpheus approach the gate.\n\nBut the minstrel, knowing the reason for their fear, said: \"I am not\nHeracles come again to drag up from the world of the dead your\nthree-headed dog Cerberus. I am Orpheus, and all that my hands can do\nis to make music upon my lyre.\"\n\nAnd then he took the lyre in his hands and played upon it. As he\nplayed, the silent watchers gathered around him, leaving the gate\nunguarded. And as he played the rulers of the dead came forth, Aidoneus\nand Persephone, and listened to the words of the living man.\n\n\"The cause of my coming through the dark and fearful ways,\" sang\nOrpheus, \"is to strive to gain a fairer fate for Eurydice, my bride.\nAll that is above must come down to you at last, O rulers of the most\nlasting world. But before her time has Eurydice been brought here. I\nhave desired strength to endure her loss, but I cannot endure it. And I\ncome before you, Aidoneus and Persephone, brought here by Love.\"\n\nWhen Orpheus said the name of Love, Persephone, the queen of the dead,\nbowed her young head, and bearded Aidoneus, the king, bowed his head\nalso. Persephone remembered how Demeter, her mother, had sought her all\nthrough the world, and she remembered the touch of her mother's tears\nupon her face. And Aidoneus remembered how his love for Persephone had\nled him to carry her away from the valley in the upper world where she\nhad been gathering flowers. He and Persephone bowed their heads and\nstood aside, and Orpheus went through the gate and came amongst the\ndead.\n\nStill upon his lyre he played. Tantalus--who, for his crimes, had been\ncondemned to stand up to his neck in water and yet never be able to\nassuage his thirst--Tantalus heard, and for a while did not strive to\nput his lips toward the water that ever flowed away from him;\nSisyphus--who had been condemned to roll up a hill a stone that ever\nrolled back Sisyphus heard the music that Orpheus played, and for a\nwhile he sat still upon his stone. And even those dread ones who bring\nto the dead the memories of all their crimes and all their faults, even\nthe Eumenides had their cheeks wet with tears.\n\nIn the throng of the newly come dead Orpheus saw Eurydice. She looked\nupon her husband, but she had not the power to come near him. But\nslowly she came when Aidoneus called her. Then with joy Orpheus took\nher hands.\n\nIt would be granted them--no mortal ever gained such privilege before\nto leave, both together, the world of the dead, and to abide for\nanother space in the world of the living. One condition there would\nbe--that on their way up through the valley of Acherusia neither\nOrpheus nor Eurydice should look back.\n\nThey went through the gate and came amongst the watchers that are\naround the portals. These showed them the path that went up through the\nvalley of Acherusia. That way they went, Orpheus and Eurydice, he going\nbefore her.\n\nUp and up through the darkened ways they went, Orpheus knowing, that\nEurydice was behind him, but never looking back upon her. But as he\nwent, his heart was filled with things to tell--how the trees were\nblossoming in the garden she had left; how the water was sparkling in\nthe fountain; how the doors of the house stood open, and how they,\nsitting together, would watch the sunlight on the laurel bushes. All\nthese things were in his heart to tell her, to tell her who came behind\nhim, silent and unseen.\n\nAnd now they were nearing the place where the valley of Acherusia\nopened on the world of the living. Orpheus looked on the blue of the\nsky. A white-winged bird flew by. Orpheus turned around and cried, \"O\nEurydice, look upon the world that I have won you back to!\"\n\nHe turned to say this to her. He saw her with her long dark hair and\npale face. He held out his arms to clasp her. But in that instant she\nslipped back into the depths of the valley. And all he heard spoken was\na single word, \"Farewell!\" Long, long had it taken Eurydice to climb so\nfar, but in the moment of his turning around she had fallen back to her\nplace amongst the dead.\n\nDown through the valley of Acherusia Orpheus went again. Again he came\nbefore the watchers of the gate. But now he was not looked at nor\nlistened to, and, hopeless, he had to return to the world of the living.\n\nThe birds were his friends now, and the trees and the stones. The birds\nflew around him and mourned with him; the trees and stones often\nfollowed him, moved by the music of his lyre. But a savage band slew\nOrpheus and threw his severed head and his lyre into the River Hebrus.\nIt is said by the poets that while they floated in midstream the lyre\ngave out some mournful notes and the head of Orpheus answered the notes\nwith song.\n\nAnd now that he was no longer to be counted with the living, Orpheus\nwent down to the world of the dead, not going now by that steep descent\nthrough the valley of Acherusia, but going down straightway. The silent\nwatchers let him pass, and he went amongst the dead and saw his\nEurydice in the throng. Again they were together, Orpheus and Eurydice,\nand as they went through the place that King Aidoneus ruled over, they\nhad no fear of looking back, one upon the other.\n\n\n\nVII. JASON AND MEDEA\n\nJason and Medea, unable to win to Iolcus, staved at Corinth, at the\ncourt of King Creon. Creon was proud to have Jason in his city, but of\nMedea the king was fearful, for he had heard how she had brought about\nthe death of Apsyrtus, her brother.\n\nMedea wearied of this long waiting in the palace of King Creon. A\nlonging came upon her to exercise her powers of enchantment. She did\nnot forget what Queen Arete had said to her--that if she wished to\nappease the wrath of the gods she should have no more to do with\nenchantments. She did not forget this, but still there grew in her a\nlonging to use all her powers of enchantment.\n\nAnd Jason, at the court of King Creon, had his longings, too. He longed\nto enter Iolcus and to show the people the Golden Fleece that he had\nwon; he longed to destroy Pelias, the murderer of his mother and\nfather; above all he longed to be a king, and to rule in the kingdom\nthat Cretheus had founded.\n\nOnce Jason spoke to Medea of his longing. \"O Jason,\" Medea said, \"I\nhave done many things for thee and this thing also I will do. I will go\ninto Iolcus, and by my enchantments I will make clear the way for the\nreturn of the Argo and for thy return with thy comrades-yea, and for\nthy coming to the kingship, O Jason.\"\n\nHe should have remembered then the words of Queen Arete to Medea, but\nthe longing that he had for his triumph and his revenge was in the way\nof his remembering. He said, \"O Medea, help me in this with all thine\nenchantments and thou wilt be more dear to me than ever before thou\nwert.\"\n\nMedea then went forth from the palace of King Creon and she made more\nterrible spells than ever she had made in Colchis. All night she stayed\nin a tangled place weaving her spells. Dawn came, and she knew that the\nspells she had woven had not been in vain, for beside her there stood a\ncar that was drawn by dragons.\n\nMedea the Enchantress had never looked on these dragon shapes before.\nWhen she looked upon them now she was fearful of them. But then she\nsaid to herself, \"I am Medea, and I would be a greater enchantress and\na more cunning woman than I have been, and what I have thought of, that\nwill I carry out.\" She mounted the car drawn by the dragons, and in the\nfirst light of the day she went from Corinth.\n\nTo the places where grew the herbs of magic Medea journeyed in her\ndragon-drawn car--to the Mountains Ossa, Pelion, Oethrys, Pindus, and\nOlympus; then to the rivers Apidanus, Enipeus, and Peneus. She gathered\nherbs on the mountains and grasses on the rivers' banks; some she\nplucked up by the roots and some she cut with the curved blade of a\nknife. When she had gathered these herbs and grasses she went back to\nCorinth on her dragon-drawn car.\n\nThen Jason saw her; pale and drawn was her face, and her eyes were\nstrange and gleaming. He saw her standing by the car drawn by the\ndragons, and a terror of Medea came into his mind. He went toward her,\nbut in a harsh voice she bade him not come near to disturb the brewing\nthat she was going to begin. Jason turned away. As he went toward the\npalace he saw Glauce, King Creon's daughter; the maiden was coming from\nthe well and she carried a pitcher of water. He thought how fair Glauce\nlooked in the light of the morning, how the wind played with her hair\nand her garments, and how far away she was from witcheries and\nenchantments.\n\nAs for Medea, she placed in a heap beside her the magic herbs and\ngrasses she had gathered. Then she put them in a bronze pot and boiled\nthem in water from the stream. Soon froth came on the boiling, and\nMedea stirred the pot with a withered branch of an apple tree. The\nbranch was withered it was indeed no more than a dry stick, but as she\nstirred the herbs and grasses with it, first leaves, then flowers, and\nlastly, bright gleaming apples came on it. And when the pot boiled over\nand drops from it fell upon the ground, there grew up out of the dry\nearth soft grasses and flowers. Such was the power of renewal that was\nin the magical brew that Medea had made.\n\nShe filled a phial with the liquid she had brewed, and she scattered\nthe rest in the wild places of the garden. Then, taking the phial and\nthe apples that had grown on the withered branch, she mounted the car\ndrawn by the dragons, and she went once more from Corinth.\n\nOn she journeyed in her dragon-drawn car until she came to a place that\nwas near to Iolcus. There the dragons descended. They had come to a\ndark pool. Medea, making herself naked, stood in that dark pool. For a\nwhile she looked down upon herself, seeing in the dark water her white\nbody and her lovely hair. Then she bathed herself in the water. Soon a\ndread change came over her: she saw her hair become scant and gray, and\nshe saw her body become bent and withered. She stepped out of the pool\na withered and witchlike woman; when she dressed herself the rich\nclothes that she had worn before hung loosely upon her, and she looked\nthe more forbidding because of them. She bade the dragons go, and they\nflew through the air with the empty car. Then she hid in her dress the\nphial with the liquid she had brewed and, the apples that had grown\nupon the withered branch. She picked up a stick to lean upon, and with\nthe gait of an ancient woman she went hobbling upon the road to Iolcus.\n\nOn the streets of the city the fierce fighting men that Pelias had\nbrought down from the mountains showed themselves; few of the men or\nwomen of the city showed themselves even in the daytime. Medea went\nthrough the city and to the palace of King Pelias. But no one might\nenter there, and the guards laid hands upon her and held her.\n\nMedea did not struggle with them. She drew from the folds of her dress\none of the gleaming apples that she carried and she gave it to one of\nthe guards. \"It is for King Pelias,\" she said. \"Give the apple to him\nand then do with me as the king would have you do.\"\n\nThe guards brought the gleaming apple to the king. When he had taken it\ninto his hand and had smelled its fragrance, old trembling Pelias asked\nwhere the apple had come from. The guards told him it had been brought\nby an ancient woman who was now outside seated on a stone in the\ncourtyard.\n\nHe looked on the shining apple and he felt its fragrance and he could\nnot help thinking, old trembling Pelias, that this apple might be the\nmeans of bringing him back to the fullness of health and courage that\nhe had had before. He sent for the ancient woman who had brought it\nthat she might tell him where it had come from and who it was that had\nsent it to him. Then the guards brought Medea before him.\n\nShe saw an old man, white-faced and trembling, with shaking hands and\neyes that looked on her fearfully. \"Who are you,\" he asked, \"and from\nwhence came the apple that you had them bring me?\"\n\nMedea, standing before him, looked a withered and shrunken beldame, a\nwoman bent with years, but yet with eyes that were bright and living.\nShe came near him and she said: \"The apple, O King, came from the\ngarden that is watched over by the Daughters of the Evening Land. He\nwho eats it has a little of the weight of old age taken from him. But\nthings more wonderful even than the shining apples grow in that far\ngarden. There are plants there the juices of which make youthful again\nall aged and failing things. The apple would bring you a little way\ntoward the vigor of your prime. But the juices I have can bring you to\na time more wonderful--back even to the strength and the glory of your\nyouth.\"\n\nWhen the king heard her say this a light came into his heavy eyes, and\nhis hands caught Medea and drew her to him. \"Who are you?\" he cried,\n\"who speak of the garden watched over by the Daughters of the Evening\nLand? Who are you who speak of juices that can bring back one to the\nstrength and glory of his youth?\"\n\nMedea answered: \"I am a woman who has known many and great griefs, O\nking. My griefs have brought me through the world. Many have searched\nfor the garden watched over by the Daughters of the Evening Land, but I\ncame to it unthinkingly, and without wanting them I gathered the\ngleaming apples and took from the plants there the juices that can\nbring youth back.\"\n\nPelias said: \"If you have been able to come by those juices, how is it\nthat you remain in woeful age and decrepitude?\"\n\nShe said: \"Because of my many griefs, king, I would not renew my life.\nI would be ever nearer death and the end of all things. But you are a\nking and have all things you desire at your hand--beauty and state and\npower. Surely if any one would desire it, you would desire to have\nyouth back to you.\"\n\nPelias, when he heard her say this, knew that besides youth there was\nnothing that he desired. After crimes that had gone through the whole\nof his manhood he had secured for himself the kingdom that Cretheus had\nfounded. But old age had come on him, and the weakness of old age, and\nthe power he had won was falling from his hands. He would be overthrown\nin his weakness, or else he would soon come to die, and there would be\nan end then to his name and to his kingship.\n\nHow fortunate above all kings he would be, he thought, if it could be\nthat some one should come to him with juices that would renew his\nyouth! He looked longingly into the eyes of the ancient-seeming woman\nbefore him, and he said: \"How is it that you show no gains from the\njuices that you speak of? You are old and in woeful decrepitude. Even\nif you would not win back to youth you could have got riches and state\nfor that which you say you possess.\"\n\nThen Medea said: \"I have lost so much and have suffered so much that I\nwould not have youth back at the price of facing the years. I would\nsink down to the quiet of the grave. But I hope for some ease before I\ndie--for the ease that is in king's houses, with good food to eat, and\nrest, and servants to wait upon one's aged body. These are the things I\ndesire, O Pelias, even as you desire youth. You can give me such\nthings, and I have come to you who desire youth eagerly rather than to\nkings who have a less eager desire for it. To you I will give the\njuices that bring one back to the strength and the glory of youth.\"\n\nPelias said: \"I have only your word for it that you possess these\njuices. Many there are who come and say deceiving things to a king.\"\n\nSaid Medea: \"Let there be no more words between us, O king. To-morrow I\nwill show you the virtue of the juices I have brought with me. Have a\ngreat vat prepared--a vat that a man could lay himself in with the\nwater covering him. Have this vat filled with water, and bring to it\nthe oldest creature you can get--a ram or a goat that is the oldest of\ntheir flock. Do this, O king, and you will be shown a thing to wonder\nat and to be hopeful over.\"\n\nSo Medea said, and then she turned around and left the king's presence.\nPelias called to his guards and he bade them take the woman into their\ncharge and treat her considerately. The guards took Medea away. Then\nall day the king mused on what had been told him and a wild hope kept\nbeating about his heart. He had the servants prepare a great vat in the\nlower chambers, and he had his shepherd bring him a ram that was the\noldest in the flock.\n\nOnly Medea was permitted to come into that chamber with the king; the\nways to it were guarded, and all that took place in it was secret.\nMedea was brought to the closed door by her guard. She opened it and\nshe saw the king there and the vat already prepared; she saw a ram\ntethered near the vat.\n\nMedea looked upon the king. In the light of the torches his face was\nwhite and fierce and his mouth moved gaspingly. She spoke to him\nquietly, and said: \"There is no need for you to hear me speak. You will\nwatch a great miracle, for behold! the ram which is the oldest and\nfeeblest in the flock will become young and invigorated when it comes\nforth from this vat.\"\n\nShe untethered the ram, and with the help of Pelias drew it to the vat.\nThis was not hard to do, for the beast was very feeble; its feet could\nhardly bear it upright, its wool was yellow and stayed only in patches\non its shrunken body. Easily the beast was forced into the vat. Then\nMedea drew the phial out of her bosom and poured into the water some of\nthe brew she had made in Creon's garden in Corinth. The water in the\nvat took on a strange bubbling, and the ram sank down.\n\nThen Medea, standing beside the vat, sang an incantation.\n\n\"O Earth,\" she sang, \"O Earth who dost provide wise men with potent\nherbs, O Earth help me now. I am she who can drive the clouds; I am she\nwho can dispel the winds; I am she who can break the jaws of serpents\nwith my incantations; I am she who can uproot living trees and rocks;\nwho can make the mountains shake; who can bring the ghosts from their\ntombs. O Earth, help me now.\" At this strange incantation the mixture\nin the vat boiled and bubbled more and more. Then the boiling and\nbubbling ceased. Up to the surface came the ram. Medea helped it to\nstruggle out of the vat, and then it turned and smote the vat with its\nhead.\n\nPelias took down a torch and stood before the beast. Vigorous indeed\nwas the ram, and its wool was white and grew evenly upon it. They could\nnot tether it again, and when the servants were brought into the\nchamber it took two of them to drag away the ram.\n\nThe king was most eager to enter the vat and have Medea put in the brew\nand speak the incantation over it. But Medea bade him wait until the\nmorrow. All night the king lay awake, thinking of how he might regain\nhis youth and his strength and be secure and triumphant thereafter.\n\nAt the first light he sent for Medea and he told her that he would have\nthe vat made ready and that he would go into it that night. Medea\nlooked upon him, and the helplessness that he showed made her want to\nwork a greater evil upon him, or, if not upon him, upon his house. How\nsoon it would have reached its end, all her plot for the destruction of\nthis king! But she would leave in the king's house a misery that would\nnot have an end so soon.\n\nSo she said to the king: \"I would say the incantation over a beast of\nthe field, but over a king I could not say it. Let those of your own\nblood be with you when you enter the vat that will bring such change to\nyou. Have your daughters there. I will give them the juice to mix in\nthe vat, and I will teach them the incantation that has to be said.\"\n\nSo she said, and she made Pelias consent to having his daughters and\nnot Medea in the chamber of the vat. They were sent for and they came\nbefore Medea, the daughters of King Pelias.\n\nThey were women who had been borne down by the tyranny of their father;\nthey stood before him now, two dim-eyed creatures, very feeble and\nfearful. To them Medea gave the phial that had in it the liquid to mix\nin the vat; also she taught them the words of the incantation, but she\ntaught them to use these words wrongly.\n\nThe vat was prepared in the lower chambers; Pelias and his daughters\nwent there, and the chamber was guarded, and what happened there was in\nsecret. Pelias went into the vat; the brew was thrown into it, and the\nvat boiled and bubbled as before. Pelias sank down in it. Over him then\nhis daughters said the magic words as Medea had taught them.\n\nPelias sank down, but he did not rise again. The hours went past and\nthe morning came, and the daughters of King Pelias raised frightened\nlaments. Over the sides of the vat the mixture boiled and bubbled, and\nPelias was to be seen at the bottom with his limbs stiffened in death.\n\nThen the guards came, and they took King Pelias out of the vat and left\nhim in his royal chamber. The word went through the palace that the\nking was dead. There was a hush in the palace then, but not the hush of\ngrief. One by one servants and servitors stole away from the palace\nthat was hated by all. Then there was clatter in the streets as the\nfierce fighting men from the mountains galloped away with what plunder\nthey could seize. And through all this the daughters of King Pelias sat\ncrouching in fear above the body of their father.\n\nAnd Medea, still an ancient woman seemingly, went through the crowds\nthat now came on the streets of the city. She told those she went\namongst that the son of \u00c6son was alive and would soon be in their\nmidst. Hearing this the men of the city formed a council of elders to\nrule the people until Jason's coming. In such way Medea brought about\nthe end of King Pelias's reign.\n\nIn triumph she went through the city. But as she was passing the temple\nher dress was caught and held, and turning around she faced the ancient\npriestess of Artemis, Iphias. \"Thou art \u00c6etes's daughter,\" Iphias said,\n\"who in deceit didst come into Iolcus. Woe to thee and woe to Jason for\nwhat thou hast done this day! Not for the slaying of Pelias art thou\nblameworthy, but for the misery that thou hast brought upon his\ndaughters by bringing them into the guilt of the slaying. Go from the\ncity, daughter of King \u00c6tes; never, never wilt thou come back into it.\"\n\nBut little heed did Medea pay to the ancient priestess, Iphias. Still\nin the guise of an old woman she went through the streets of the city,\nand out through the gate and along the highway that led from Iolcus. To\nthat dark pool she came where she had bathed herself before. But now\nshe did not step into the pool nor pour its water over her shrinking\nflesh; instead she built up two altars of green sods an altar to Youth\nand an altar to Hecate, queen of the witches; she wreathed them with\ngreen boughs from the forest, and she prayed before each. Then she made\nherself naked, and she anointed herself with the brew she had made from\nthe magical herbs and grasses. All marks of age and decrepitude left\nher, and when she stood over the dark pool and looked down on herself\nshe saw that her body was white and shapely as before, and that her\nhair was soft and lovely.\n\nShe stayed all night between the tangled wood and the dark pool, and\nwith the first light the car drawn by the scaly dragons came to her.\nShe mounted the car, and she journeyed back to Corinth.\n\nInto Jason's mind a fear of Medea had come since the hour when he had\nseen her mount the car drawn by the scaly dragons. He could not think\nof her any more as the one who had been his companion on the Argo. He\nthought of her as one who could help him and do wonderful things for\nhim, but not as one whom he could talk softly and lovingly to. Ah, but\nif Jason had thought less of his kingdom and less of his triumphing\nwith the Fleece of Gold, Medea would not have had the dragons come to\nher.\n\nAnd now that his love for Medea had altered, Jason noted the loveliness\nof another--of Glauce, the daughter of Creon, the King of Corinth. And\nGlauce, who had red lips and the eyes of a child, saw in Jason who had\nbrought the Golden Fleece out of Colchis the image of every hero she\nhad heard about in stories. Creon, the king, often brought Jason and\nGlauce together, for his hope was that the hero would wed his daughter\nand stay in Corinth and strengthen his kingdom. He thought that Medea,\nthat strange woman, could not keep a companionship with Jason.\n\nTwo were walking in the king's garden, and they were Jason and Glauce.\nA shadow fell between them, and when Jason looked up he saw Medea's\ndragon car. Down flew the dragons, and Medea came from the car and\nstood between Jason and the princess. Angrily she spoke to him. \"I have\nmade the kingdom ready for your return,\" she said, \"but if you would go\nthere you must first let me deal in my own way with this pretty\nmaiden.\" And so fiercely did Medea look upon her that Glance shrank\nback and clung to Jason for protection. \"O, Jason,\" she cried, \"thou\ndidst say that I am such a one as thou didst dream of when in the\nforest with Chiron, before the adventure of the Golden Fleece drew thee\naway from the Grecian lands. Oh, save me now from the power of her who\ncomes in the dragon car.\" And Jason said: \"I said all that thou hast\nsaid, and I will protect thee, O Glauce.\"\n\nAnd then Medea thought of the king's house she had left for Jason, and\nof the brother whom she had let be slain, and of the plot she had\ncarried out to bring Jason back to Iolcus, and a great fury came over\nher. In her hand she took foam from the jaws of the dragons, and she\ncast the foam upon Glauce, and the princess fell back into the arms of\nJason with the dragon foam burning into her.\n\nThen, seeing in his eyes that he had forgotten all that he owed to her\nthe winning of the Golden Fleece, and the safety of Argo, and the\ndestruction of the power of King Pelias seeing in his eyes that Jason\nhad forgotten all this, Medea went into her dragon-borne car and spoke\nthe words that made the scaly dragons bear her aloft. She flew from\nCorinth, leaving Jason in King Creon's garden with Glauce dying in his\narms. He lifted her up and laid her upon a bed, but even as her friends\ncame around her the daughter of King Creon died.\n\nAnd Jason? For long he stayed in Corinth, a famous man indeed, but one\nsorrowful and alone. But again there grew in him the desire to rule and\nto have possessions. He called around him again the men whose home was\nin Iolcus--those who had followed him as bright-eyed youths when he\nfirst proclaimed his purpose of winning the Fleece of Gold. He called\nthem around him, and he led them on board the Argo. Once more they\nlifted sails, and once more they took the Argo into the open sea.\n\nToward Iolcus they sailed; their passage was fortunate, and in a short\ntime they brought the Argo safely into the harbor of Pagasae. Oh, happy\nwere the crowds that came thronging to see the ship that had the famous\nFleece of Gold upon her masthead, and green and sweet smelling were the\ngarlands that the people brought to wreathe the heads of Jason and his\ncompanions! Jason looked upon the throngs, and he thought that much had\ngone from him, but he thought that whatever else had gone something\nremained to him--to be a king and a great ruler over a people.\n\nAnd so Jason came back to Iolcus. The Argo he made a blazing pile of in\nsacrifice to Poseidon, the god of the sea. The Golden Fleece he hung in\nthe temple of the gods. Then he took up the rule of the kingdom that\nCretheus had founded, and he became the greatest of the kings of Greece.\n\nAnd to Iolcus there came, year after year, young men who would look\nupon the gleaming thing that was hung there in the temple of the gods.\nAnd as they looked upon it, young man after young man, the thought\nwould come to each that he would make himself strong enough and heroic\nenough to win for his country something as precious as Jason's GOLDEN\nFLEECE. And for all their lives they kept in mind the words that Jason\nhad inscribed upon a pillar that was placed beside the Fleece of\nGold--the words that Triton spoke to the Argonauts when they were fain\nto win their way out of the inland sea:--\n\nTHAT IS THE OUTLET TO THE SEA, WHERE THE DEEP WATER LIES UNMOVED AND\nDARK; ON EACH SIDE ROLL WHITE BREAKERS WITH SHINING CRESTS; AND THE WAY\nBETWEEN FOR YOUR PASSAGE OUT IS NARROW. BUT GO IN JOY, AND AS FOR LABOR\nLET THERE BE NO GRIEVING THAT LIMBS IN YOUTHFUL VIGOR SHOULD STILL TOIL.","title":"The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":75416}