{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XVII/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XVII","id":"wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XVII","license":"Public Domain / CC-BY-SA (see source)","rights_basis":"wikisource_site_inclusion_policy","source":"wikisource","source_url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Fable/Chapter_XVII","summary":null,"tags":["Headers_applying_DefaultSort_key","Subpages"],"text":"XVII. THE GOLDEN FLEECE \u2014 MEDEA\n\nIn very ancient times there lived in Thessaly a king and queen\nnamed Athamas and Nephele. They had two children, a boy and a\ngirl. After a time Athamas grew indifferent to his wife, put her\naway, and took another. Nephele suspected danger to her children\nfrom the influence of the step-mother, and took measures to send\nthem out of her reach. Mercury assisted her, and gave her a ram\nwith a golden fleece, on which she set the two children, trusting\nthat the ram would convey them to a place of safety. The ram\nvaulted into the air with the children on his back, taking his\ncourse to the East, till when crossing the strait that divides\nEurope and Asia, the girl, whose name was Helle, fell from his\nback into the sea, which from her was called the Hellespont,\u2014now\nthe Dardanelles. The ram continued his career till he reached the\nkingdom of Colchis, on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, where\nhe safely landed the boy Phryxus, who was hospitably received by\nAeetes, king of the country. Phryxus sacrificed the ram to\nJupiter, and gave the Golden Fleece to \u00c6etes, who placed it in a\nconsecrated grove, under the care of a sleepless dragon.\n\nThere was another kingdom in Thessaly near to that of Athamas, and\nruled over by a relative of his. The king \u00c6son, being tired of\nthe cares of government, surrendered his crown to his brother\nPelias on condition that he should hold it only during the\nminority of Jason, the son of \u00c6son. When Jason was grown up and\ncame to demand the crown from his uncle, Pelias pretended to be\nwilling to yield it, but at the same time suggested to the young\nman the glorious adventure of going in quest of the Golden Fleece,\nwhich it was well known was in the kingdom of Colchis, and was, as\nPelias pretended, the rightful property of their family. Jason was\npleased with the thought, and forthwith made preparations for the\nexpedition. At that time the only species of navigation known to\nthe Greeks consisted of small boats or canoes hollowed out from\ntrunks of trees, so that when Jason employed Argus to build him a\nvessel capable of containing fifty men, it was considered a\ngigantic undertaking. It was accomplished, however, and the vessel\nnamed \"Argo,\" from the name of the builder. Jason sent his\ninvitation to all the adventurous young men of Greece, and soon\nfound himself at the head of a band of bold youths, many of whom\nafterwards were renowned among the heroes and demigods of Greece.\nHercules, Theseus, Orpheus, and Nestor were among them. They are\ncalled the Argonauts, from the name of their vessel.\n\nThe \"Argo\" with her crew of heroes left the shores of Thessaly and\nhaving touched at the Island of Lemnos, thence crossed to Mysia\nand thence to Thrace. Here they found the sage Phineus, and from\nhim received instruction as to their future course. It seems the\nentrance of the Euxine Sea was impeded by two small rocky islands,\nwhich floated on the surface, and in their tossings and heavings\noccasionally came together, crushing and grinding to atoms any\nobject that might be caught between them. They were called the\nSymplegades, or Clashing Islands. Phineus instructed the Argonauts\nhow to pass this dangerous strait. When they reached the islands\nthey let go a dove, which took her way between the rocks, and\npassed in safety, only losing some feathers of her tail. Jason and\nhis men seized the favorable moment of the rebound, plied their\noars with vigor, and passed safe through, though the islands\nclosed behind them, and actually grazed their stern. They now\nrowed along the shore till they arrived at the eastern end of the\nsea, and landed at the kingdom of Colchis.\n\nJason made known his message to the Colchian king, \u00c6etes, who\nconsented to give up the golden fleece if Jason would yoke to the\nplough two fire-breathing bulls with brazen feet, and sow the\nteeth of the dragon which Cadmus had slain, and from which it was\nwell known that a crop of armed men would spring up, who would\nturn their weapons against their producer. Jason accepted the\nconditions, and a time was set for making the experiment.\nPreviously, however, he found means to plead his cause to Medea,\ndaughter of the king. He promised her marriage, and as they stood\nbefore the altar of Hecate, called the goddess to witness his\noath. Medea yielded, and by her aid, for she was a potent\nsorceress, he was furnished with a charm, by which he could\nencounter safely the breath of the fire-breathing bulls and the\nweapons of the armed men.\n\nAt the time appointed, the people assembled at the grove of Mars,\nand the king assumed his royal seat, while the multitude covered\nthe hill-sides. The brazen-footed bulls rushed in, breathing fire\nfrom their nostrils that burned up the herbage as they passed. The\nsound was like the roar of a furnace, and the smoke like that of\nwater upon quick-lime. Jason advanced boldly to meet them. His\nfriends, the chosen heroes of Greece, trembled to behold him.\nRegardless of the burning breath, he soothed their rage with his\nvoice, patted their necks with fearless hand, and adroitly slipped\nover them the yoke, and compelled them to drag the plough. The\nColchians were amazed; the Greeks shouted for joy. Jason next\nproceeded to sow the dragon's teeth and plough them in. And soon\nthe crop of armed men sprang up, and, wonderful to relate! no\nsooner had they reached the surface than they began to brandish\ntheir weapons and rush upon Jason. The Greeks trembled for their\nhero, and even she who had provided him a way of safety and taught\nhim how to use it, Medea herself, grew pale with fear. Jason for a\ntime kept his assailants at bay with his sword and shield, till,\nfinding their numbers overwhelming, he resorted to the charm which\nMedea had taught him, seized a stone and threw it in the midst of\nhis foes. They immediately turned their arms against one another,\nand soon there was not one of the dragon's brood left alive. The\nGreeks embraced their hero, and Medea, if she dared, would have\nembraced him too.\n\nIt remained to lull to sleep the dragon that guarded the fleece,\nand this was done by scattering over him a few drops of a\npreparation which Medea had supplied. At the smell he relaxed his\nrage, stood for a moment motionless, then shut those great round\neyes, that had never been known to shut before, and turned over on\nhis side, fast asleep. Jason seized the fleece and with his\nfriends and Medea accompanying, hastened to their vessel before\n\u00c6etes the king could arrest their departure, and made the best of\ntheir way back to Thessaly, where they arrived safe, and Jason\ndelivered the fleece to Pelias, and dedicated the \"Argo\" to\nNeptune. What became of the fleece afterwards we do not know, but\nperhaps it was found after all, like many other golden prizes, not\nworth the trouble it had cost to procure it.\n\n\u00a0\n\nThis is one of those mythological tales, says a late writer, in\nwhich there is reason to believe that a substratum of truth\nexists, though overlaid by a mass of fiction. It probably was the\nfirst important maritime expedition, and like the first attempts\nof the kind of all nations, as we know from history, was probably\nof a half-piratical character. If rich spoils were the result it\nwas enough to give rise to the idea of the golden fleece.\n\nAnother suggestion of a learned mythologist, Bryant, is that it is\na corrupt tradition of the story of Noah and the ark. The name\n\"Argo\" seems to countenance this, and the incident of the dove is\nanother confirmation.\n\n\u00a0\n\nPope, in his \"Ode on St. Cecilia's Day,\" thus celebrates the\nlaunching of the ship \"Argo,\" and the power of the music of\nOrpheus, whom he calls the Thracian:\n\n\"So when the first bold vessel dared the seas,\n\nHigh on the stern the Thracian raised his strain,\n\nWhile Argo saw her kindred trees\n\nDescend from Pelion to the main.\n\nTransported demigods stood round,\n\nAnd men grew heroes at the sound.\"\n\nIn Dyer's poem of \"The Fleece\" there is an account of the ship\n\"Argo\" and her crew, which gives a good picture of this primitive\nmaritime adventure:\n\n\"From every region of \u00c6gea's shore\n\nThe brave assembled; those illustrious twins\n\nCastor and Pollux; Orpheus, tuneful bard;\n\nZetes and Calais, as the wind in speed;\n\nStrong Hercules and many a chief renowned.\n\nOn deep Iolcos' sandy shore they thronged,\n\nGleaming in armor, ardent of exploits;\n\nAnd soon, the laurel cord and the huge stone\n\nUplifting to the deck, unmoored the bark;\n\nWhose keel of wondrous length the skilful hand\n\nOf Argus fashioned for the proud attempt;\n\nAnd in the extended keel a lofty mast\n\nUpraised, and sails full swelling; to the chiefs\n\nUnwonted objects. Now first, now they learned\n\nTheir bolder steerage over ocean wave,\n\nLed by the golden stars, as Chiron's art\n\nHad marked the sphere celestial,\" etc.\n\nHercules left the expedition at Mysia, for Hylas, a youth beloved\nby him, having gone for water, was laid hold of and kept by the\nnymphs of the spring, who were fascinated by his beauty. Hercules\nwent in quest of the lad, and while he was absent the \"Argo\" put\nto sea and left him. Moore, in one of his songs, makes a beautiful allusion to this incident:\n\n\"When Hylas was sent with his urn to the fount,\n\nThrough fields full of light and with heart full of play,\n\nLight rambled the boy over meadow and mount,\n\nAnd neglected his task for the flowers in the way.\n\n\"Thus many like me, who in youth should have tasted\n\nThe fountain that runs by Philosophy's shrine,\n\nTheir time with the flowers on the margin have wasted,\n\nAnd left their light urns all as empty as mine.\"\n\nMEDEA AND \u00c6SON\n\nAmid the rejoicings for the recovery of the Golden Fleece, Jason\nfelt that one thing was wanting, the presence of \u00c6son, his\nfather, who was prevented by his age and infirmities from taking\npart in them. Jason said to Medea, \"My spouse, would that your\narts, whose power I have seen so mighty for my aid, could do me\none further service, take some years from my life and add them to\nmy father's.\" Medea replied, \"Not at such a cost shall it be done,\nbut if my art avails me, his life shall be lengthened without\nabridging yours.\" The next full moon she issued forth alone, while\nall creatures slept; not a breath stirred the foliage, and all was\nstill. To the stars she addressed her incantations, and to the\nmoon; to Hecate, the goddess of the underworld, and to Tellus the\ngoddess of the earth, by whose power plants potent for enchantment\nare produced. She invoked the gods of the woods and caverns, of\nmountains and valleys, of lakes and rivers, of winds and vapors.\nWhile she spoke the stars shone brighter, and presently a chariot\ndescended through the air, drawn by flying serpents. She ascended\nit, and borne aloft made her way to distant regions, where potent\nplants grew which she knew how to select for her purpose. Nine\nnights she employed in her search, and during that time came not\nwithin the doors of her palace nor under any roof, and shunned all\nintercourse with mortals.\n\nShe next erected two altars, the one to Hecate, the other to Hebe,\nthe goddess of youth, and sacrificed a black sheep, pouring\nlibations of milk and wine. She implored Pluto and his stolen\nbride that they would not hasten to take the old man's life. Then\nshe directed that \u00c6son should be led forth, and having thrown him\ninto a deep sleep by a charm, had him laid on a bed of herbs, like\none dead. Jason and all others were kept away from the place, that\nno profane eyes might look upon her mysteries. Then, with\nstreaming hair, she thrice moved round the altars, dipped flaming\ntwigs in the blood, and laid them thereon to burn. Meanwhile the\ncaldron with its contents was got ready. In it she put magic\nherbs, with seeds and flowers of acrid juice, stones from the\ndistant east, and sand from the shore of all-surrounding ocean;\nhoar frost, gathered by moonlight, a screech owl's head and wings,\nand the entrails of a wolf. She added fragments of the shells of\ntortoises, and the liver of stags,\u2014animals tenacious of life,\u2014\nand the head and beak of a crow, that outlives nine generations of\nmen. These with many other things \"without a name\" she boiled\ntogether for her purposed work, stirring them up with a dry olive\nbranch; and behold! the branch when taken out instantly became\ngreen, and before long was covered with leaves and a plentiful\ngrowth of young olives; and as the liquor boiled and bubbled, and\nsometimes ran over, the grass wherever the sprinklings fell shot\nforth with a verdure like that of spring.\n\nSeeing that all was ready, Medea cut the throat of the old man and\nlet out all his blood, and poured into his mouth and into his\nwound the juices of her caldron. As soon as he had completely\nimbibed them, his hair and beard laid by their whiteness and\nassumed the blackness of youth; his paleness and emaciation were\ngone; his veins were full of blood, his limbs of vigor and\nrobustness. \u00c6son is amazed at himself, and remembers that such as\nhe now is, he was in his youthful days, forty years before.\n\nMedea used her arts here for a good purpose, but not so in another\ninstance, where she made them the instruments of revenge. Pelias,\nour readers will recollect, was the usurping uncle of Jason, and\nhad kept him out of his kingdom. Yet he must have had some good\nqualities, for his daughters loved him, and when they saw what\nMedea had done for \u00c6son, they wished her to do the same for their\nfather. Medea pretended to consent, and prepared her caldron as\nbefore. At her request an old sheep was brought and plunged into\nthe caldron. Very soon a bleating was heard in the kettle, and\nwhen the cover was removed, a lamb jumped forth and ran frisking\naway into the meadow. The daughters of Pelias saw the experiment\nwith delight, and appointed a time for their father to undergo the\nsame operation. But Medea prepared her caldron for him in a very\ndifferent way. She put in only water and a few simple herbs. In\nthe night she with the sisters entered the bed chamber of the old\nking, while he and his guards slept soundly under the influence of\na spell cast upon them by Medea. The daughters stood by the\nbedside with their weapons drawn, but hesitated to strike, till\nMedea chid their irresolution. Then turning away their faces, and\ngiving random blows, they smote him with their weapons. He,\nstarting from his sleep, cried out, \"My daughters, what are you\ndoing? Will you kill your father?\" Their hearts failed them and\ntheir weapons fell from their hands, but Medea struck him a fatal\nblow, and prevented his saying more.\n\nThen they placed him in the caldron, and Medea hastened to depart\nin her serpent-drawn chariot before they discovered her treachery,\nor their vengeance would have been terrible. She escaped, however,\nbut had little enjoyment of the fruits of her crime. Jason, for\nwhom she had done so much, wishing to marry Creusa, princess of\nCorinth, put away Medea. She, enraged at his ingratitude, called\non the gods for vengeance, sent a poisoned robe as a gift to the\nbride, and then killing her own children, and setting fire to the\npalace, mounted her serpent-drawn chariot and fled to Athens,\nwhere she married King \u00c6geus, the father of Theseus, and we shall\nmeet her again when we come to the adventures of that hero.\n\nThe incantations of Medea will remind the reader of those of the\nwitches in \"Macbeth.\" The following lines are those which seem\nmost strikingly to recall the ancient model:\n\n\"Round about the caldron go;\n\nIn the poisoned entrails throw.\n\n\u2022\u2022\u2022Fillet of a fenny snake\n\nIn the caldron boil and bake;\n\nEye of newt and toe of frog,\n\nWool of bat and tongue of dog,\n\nAdder's fork and blind-worm's sting,\n\nLizard's leg and howlet's wing:\n\n\u2022\u2022\u2022Maw of ravening salt-sea shark,\n\nRoot of hemlock digged in the dark,\" etc\n\n\u2014Macbeth, Act IV, Scene 1\n\nAnd again:\n\nMacbeth.\u2014What is't you do?\n\nWitches.\u2014A deed without a name.\n\nThere is another story of Medea almost too revolting for record\neven of a sorceress, a class of persons to whom both ancient and\nmodern poets have been accustomed to attribute every degree of\natrocity. In her flight from Colchis she had taken her young\nbrother Absyrtus with her. Finding the pursuing vessels of \u00c6etes\ngaining upon the Argonauts, she caused the lad to be killed and\nhis limbs to be strewn over the sea. \u00c6etes on reaching the place\nfound these sorrowful traces of his murdered son; but while he\ntarried to collect the scattered fragments and bestow upon them an\nhonorable interment, the Argonauts escaped.\n\n\u00a0\n\nIn the poems of Campbell will be found a translation of one of the\nchoruses of the tragedy of \"Medea,\" where the poet Euripides has\ntaken advantage of the occasion to pay a glowing tribute to\nAthens, his native city. It begins thus:\n\n\"O haggard queen! to Athens dost thou guide\n\nThy glowing chariot, steeped in kindred gore;\n\nOr seek to hide thy damned parricide\n\nWhere peace and justice dwell for evermore?\"","title":"The Age of Fable/Chapter XVII","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":2994}