Portentous now along the winding shores,
Hoarse-sounding Pagasaan Neptune roars.
Impatient Argo, the glad signal took,
While from her vocal keel loud murmurs broke;
Her keel of sacred oak, divinely wrought,
Itonian Pallas from Dodona brought.
On their allotted posts now rang'd along,
In seemly order, sat the princely throng:
Fast by each chief his glitt'ring armour flames;
The midmost station bold Ancæus claims,
With great Alcides, whose enormous might
Arm'd with a massy club provokes the fight,
Now plac'd beside him: in the yielding flood
The keel, deep-sinking, feels the demi-god.
Their hawsers now they loose, and on the brine
To Neptune pour the consecrated wine.
Then from his native shores sad Jason turns
His oft-reverted eye, and silent mourns.
As in Ortygia, or the Delphic fane,
Or where Ismenus laves Baotia's plain,
Apollo's altars round, the youthful choir,
The dance according with the sounding lyre,
The hallow'd ground with equal cadence beat,
And move in measure their harmonious feet:
Together so Thessalia's princes sweep
With well-tim'd oars the silver-curling deep,
While, raising high the Thracian harp, presides
Melodious Orpheus, and the movement guides.
On either side the dashing surges broke,
And fierce re-murmur'd to each mighty stroke;
Thick flash the brazen arms with streaming light,
While the swift bark pursues her rapid flight,
And ever as the sea-green tide she cleaves,
Foams the long track behind, and whitens all
the waves:
So shines the path, across some verdant plain,
Trac'd by the footsteps of the village swain.
Jove on that day from his celestial throne, And all th' immortal Pow'rs of heav'n look'd down,
The godlike chiefs and Argo to survey,
As through the deep they urg'd their daring way.
Then too on Pelion's cloud-topp'd summits stood
The Nymphs and Fauns, and Sisters of the wood,
With wonder viewing the tall pine below,
That shaded once the mountain's shaggy brow,
Now, fram'd by Pallas, o'er the sounding sea,
Thessalia's mighty heroes to convey.
But, lo! from Pelion's highest cliff descends,
And downward to the sea his footstep bends
The centaur Chiron; on the beach he stood,
And dipp'd his fetlocks in the hoary flood.
Then, waving his broad hand, the bark he hails,
And speeds with prosp'rous vows the parting
With him advanc'd his consort to the shore; The young Achilles in her arms she bore: Then raising high in air the pleasing load, To his fond sire the smiling infant show'd.
AMIDST them all, the son of Eson, chief,
Shone forth divinely in his comeliness,
And graces of his form. On him the maid
Held still her eyes askance, and gazed him o'er,
Through her transparent glistening veil; while
Consum'd her heart. Her mind, as in a dream,
Slid stealthily away, and hovering hung
On his departing footsteps. Sorrowing they
Went from the palace forth. Chalciope
Dreading Æetes' anger, hastening pass'd
Within her secret chamber, with her sons:
And thus Medea went, her soul absorb'd
In many musings, such as love incites,
Thoughts of deep care. Now all remember'd
things
In apparition rose before her eyes:
What was his aspect; what the robe he wore; What words he utter'd; in what posture placed, He on the couch reclined; and with what air He from the porch pass'd forth. Then red the blush
Burn'd on her cheek; while in her soul she thought
No other man existed like to him:
His voice was murmuring in her ears, and all
The charming words he utter'd. Now, disturb'd,
She trembled for his life; lest the fierce bulls,
Or lest Æetes should, himself, destroy
The man she loved: and she bewailed him now
As if already dead; and down her cheeks,
In deep commiseration, the soft tear
Flow'd anxiously. With piercing tone of grief
Her voice found utterance: "Why, unhappy one!
Am I thus wretched? What concerns it me,
Whether this paragon of heroes die
The death, or flee discomfited? And yet
He should unharm'd depart. Dread Hecate!
Be it thy pleasure! let him homeward pass,
And 'scape his threaten'd fate: or, if his fate
Beneath the bulls have destined him to fall,
First let him know, that in his wretched end
Medea does not glory." So disturb'd,
Mused the sad virgin in her anguish'd thoughts.
DELIBERATION OF MEDEA, ON HER PROMISE TO JASON.
NIGHT then brought darkness o'er the earth: at
The mariners their eyes from shipboard raised,
Fix'd on the star Orion, and the Bear.
The traveller and the keeper of the gate
Rock'd with desire of sleep; and slumber now
Fell heavy on some mother, who had wept
Her children in the grave. No bay of dogs,
No noise of tumult, stirr'd the city streets;
All hush'd in stillest darkness. But sweet sleep
Sooth'd not Medea. Many a busy thought,
For love of Jason, strain'd her wakeful eyes.
She fear'd the bulls, by whose o'er-mastering
strength
He, on the battle-field, may haply meet
Dishonourable death. With feverous throbs
The heart within her bosom restless heav'd.
As when the glitter of the sun, that springs
From water, in some cauldron freshly pour'd,
Or milk-pail, brandish'd quivers on the walls,
Darts in quick rings, and vibrates round and
round;
So was the virgin's heart, within her breast,
Turn'd to and fro. The tear, compassionate,
Stole trickling from her eyes, and inward grief
Prey'd with slow wasting on her pining frame;
Such weight of suffering did her sleepless love
Lay on her bosom. Now her will resolves
To gift the chief with drugs of charming power:
Now she abjures the thought; and she will die
Together with the man she loves. Anon
Her resolutions change; nor will she die
With him she loves, nor yield the charming drugs;
But calm, with unresisting apathy,
Long time she mused in doubt: life's pleasing
In smiling vision, flitted on her sight:
She thought upon the pleasures that are found
Among the living; she remember'd her
Of the gay playmates of her virgin hours:
The sun more pleasant in her fancy shone
Than ere his light had been; and, more and more,
Her fondness grew for each remember'd thing.
She then replaced the casket from her knees,
For Juno turn'd her heart; and, straight she long'd
Bear with his fate. Then sitting, while her For morning to appear, that she might give
Waver'd in musing doubt, aloud she spake :
"Still am I wretched with a choice of ills!
My mind is impotent of thought: no cure
For this, the torment irresistible,
That evermore consumes me. Would to heaven
That I had fallen by Diana's darts,
Ere I beheld him! Ere my sister's sons
Had gone for Greece, whence some unfriendly god
Or fury, brings these lamentable woes.
Then let him fight, and perish, if his fate
Decree that he shall die upon the field.
How should I shun my parents' eyes, and mix
The needful drugs? What speech can serve my
turn?
What fraud shall aid me, or what secret will?
Shall I, apart from his companions, see
The chief alone, and interchange kind words?
Wretch that I am! for if, indeed, he die,
How could I hope a respite for my woes?
Then were my sum of misery full, if he
Were reft of life. Away with modesty!
Away with decent forms! and let him go
Saved by my counsels, wheresoe'er he list.
And then, on that same day, when he achieves
The combat, let me die: to yon high beam,
Let me, suspended by the throat, expire;
Or drain the juices, that destroy the soul.
Yet man will cast reproaches, after life,
Upon my breathless body: and, from far,
Shall the whole city cry aloud, and rail
Upon my death; and here and there will throng
The Colchian women, and pursue with taunts
My memory: This maiden's heart was wrapt
So deeply in a stranger, that for him
She died, and stain'd her parents, and her house,
To love-sick frenzy yielding up herself.'
What shame will not be mine! Oh, misery!
Were it not better now, this very night,
Here in my chamber, to forsake my life?
So, by a sudden death, to 'scape at once
All this reproach; before my deeds have wrought
This foul disgrace, unworthy of a name?"
She said, and to her casket went, full-stored
With drugs: some healthful, some of deadly bane.
She placed it on her knees, and wept; the tears
Unceasing bathed her bosom; flowing forth,
Spite of herself, abundantly, for grief
Of her hard fate. And now the impulse rose,
To cull and taste the drugs that poison life.
She loosed the casket's fastenings; with ill hap
Gathering the mortal herbs, when, suddenly,
Came o'er her mind a horror of the grave.
The promis'd drugs of saving power, and greet
The face of Jason. Oft she drew the bolts
That closed her chamber door, and with long look
Watch'd for the light.
THE evening sun went down beneath the verge
Of dusky earth, far glancing o'er the hills
Of Ethiopia; and the Night arose,
And yoked her chariot-steeds. The heroes then
Spread at their anchorage their couch of rest.
But Jason, instant at the Bear's bright star,
Had turn'd the pole, and silence from the heaven
Suffused the depth of æther, took his way
To a lone spot, like some night-stealing thief,
With all things needful: he all needful things
In daylight had prepared: milk from the fold
Argus had brought, and a ewe lamb: the rest
He from the ship received. When now he saw
A spot remote from intercourse of men,
And stood, in quiet, midst the meadow streams:
Then in the sacred river bathed he all
His delicate body, duly purified;
And round him threw a sable cloak, the gift
Of that fair Lemnian, sad Hypsipyle:
Mournful memorial of her nuptial bed.
Then of a cubit's depth he dug the trench,
And piled the logs; and laid the lamb, its neck
Cut by the knife, in order on the pile;
Kindled the wood, from underneath, with fire,
And shed the mix'd libation, and invoked
Dread Hecate, to aid his bold emprise.
And, having call'd her name of terror, fell
Back from the altar. She the summons heard:
The powerful goddess, from earth's hollow depth,
At Jason's charming rite, ascended up;
Begirt with oaken boughs and grisly snakes,
And circled with the multitudinous glare
Of glimmering torches, while around her yell'd
The howl of subterraneous dogs; and where
Her footsteps trod, earth quak'd on every side.
The nymphs of marshes and of rivers shriek'd:
Whatever haunt that solitary spot
On Phasis' banks. Then fear on Jason fell:
But him with unreverted looks, his feet
Still bore right onward, that he might rejoice
His comrades. Morn, now rising in the east,
Cast streaks of light o'er snow-topp'd Caucasus—
When o'er his breast Æetes, arming, drew,
The firm-conjointed corslet, gift of Mars;
Who, with his own hands, rent the bloody spoil
From Minus, Thracia's giant. On his head
He placed a four-coned helm of burnish'd gold;
Resplendent, as the round sun when emerged
From ocean. Then he grasp'd the massive shield
Of many-folded hides, and clench'd the spear,
Weighty, enormous-which no single man
Of that heroic band, in combat match'd,
Might firm sustain, since Hercules was left
On distant shores. Hard by, Absyrtus stood,
And held the solid chariot for the king
On rocks of Caucasus-he where the bank
Of the broad river wound its bending verge.
But, when his comrades now had cast the cord
That moor'd the ship to land, forth Jason leap'd
From the high deck, with buckler and with
lance,
And went to front the combat: and he took
To mount; and straight he mounted and caught His helm of glittering brass, its hollow fill'd
The reins within his grasp, and rode, upborne Through the broad chariot-way, from forth the town,
To give the fight his presence. With them rush'd
The people in a torrent multitude.
As Neptune to the Isthmian contest speeds,
Climbing his car, or guides his rolling wheels
To Tænarus, or Lerna's lake; or seeks
Orchestus' grove; or lashes his fleet steeds
To Calaurea or Hæmonia's rock,
Or tree-embower'd Gerastus; so was seen
The king of Colchos. Jason now, with heed
Of wise Medea's counsels, liquefied
With the sharp serpent's teeth: the falchion slung
Athwart his shoulder: naked was his form.
He look'd, in part, another Mars-in part
Naked Apollo-girded o'er his breast
With sword of beamy gold. Then, traversing
The fallow with his eyes, he saw the yoke
Of brass, and plough of hardest adamant.
Still on he went, approaching near, and fix'd,
Hard by, his lance erect upon its point,
And laid his helmet down; and, with his shield
Upborne before him, touch'd the footmarks vast
Of those enormous bulls. They suddenly
From subterraneous caves, their rocky stall,
Enwrapt in sooty smoke rush'd forth at once,
The drug, and with it smear'd th' anointed Breathing the glare of flame. The heroes shrank, shield,
Shuddering as they beheld: but he with art
And the strong spear and sword. His comrades Eluded their assault, as, in the sea,
Essay'd to bend the weapons, nor avail'd With all their strength: the spear's unyielding beam
A rock awaits the waves, that turbid swell
With mighty rush of winds. Before him still
He held the buckler. They, with bellowing
Grew hard, and stiffen'd in their vigorous hands. Both thrust, and smote him with their sturdy
But Idas smote in wrath the spear-head's cross
With his huge sword: the clanging edge leap'd
As the reverberating hammer bounds
From the struck anvil. Joyful tumult rose
Among the heroes, in that victory's hope.
Himself he last anointed; and a strength
Intrepid, marvellous, unspeakable,
Enter'd his frame: his hands were sudden strung
With callous force, his muscles swell'd with
strength.
E'en as a war-horse, in the hope of fight,
Neighs, beating with his hoof the trampled
earth,
And, with raised ears, lifts glorying his arch'd neck,
High toss'd in air; so Jason, borne along
By new-strung vigour, moved his balanced limbs,
Oft pacing to and fro with lofty step:
And poising on his arm the brazen shield,
And brandishing the spear. A man had said
That stormy lightning glitter'd in dark air,
And ever and anon gleam'd from the clouds
That wafted blackening rain. Nor longer then
Abstain'd they from the contest; but all sate
Upon the rising benches of the bark,
And stretch'd with ease to reach that field of
Mars.
Such distance from the city opposite
Then intervened, as from the starting post
Spreads to the chariot's goal: when they who
guide
The funeral pageant of some monarch dead,
To horse and foot appoint the various games.
They came before Æetes, and the train
Of Colchian people. These stood ranged above,
But, as they rush'd against him, could not move,
Nor stagger his firm footing. And, as when
The bellows in the windy orifice
Of a smith's forge, now kindle to a blaze
The scorching flame, now cease their breezy
And deep the crackling roar is heard, while mounts,
Stirr'd from below, the fluctuating fire:
So they, with hollow blowings from their mouths
Breathed snorting forth the sharp and flickering
flame.
Still the life-threatening blaze enwrapp'd him
As if with sheeted lightning: him preserved
The virgin's drug. He then the right-hand bull
Grasp'd by his horn, and sternly press'd him
With his whole strength, till underneath the yoke
Of brass he bent him, prostrating to earth
On his bow'd knees, and tripping with swift foot
The brazen hoof. The other rushing on
He smote, and at a blow him, too, he fell'd
Doubling the knee. Then, casting on the ground
His huge-orb'd shield, now from their fiery
breath
Released, he strode, and kept them down, and held
From side to side, where, grovelling, each was fallen
Upon his foremost knees: Æetes gazed
In wonder on the vigour of the man.
The sons of Tyndarus, who long had look'd
Upon his prowess, close approaching, gave
The yoke from off the field, to throw around
The bulls' broad necks. He firmly bound the Through air the splendour flash'd from earth to thongs heaven; Clench'd in the midst, the brazen draught-beam As when on earth abundant snows have fallen— rais'd, The winds disperse again the wintry clouds In the dark night, and thick the crowded stars From the link'd yoke. They backward from the All glitter through the gloom; so gleam'd the
And fitted to the polish'd ring that hung
Retreated to the ship. But he again
Seized his round shield, and cast upon his back:
Then taking his strong helm, its hollow fill'd
With the sharp teeth, he grasp'd th' enormous
lance
Midway the shaft, and, as a Grecian swain
The ox-goad thrusts, so with his pointed spear
He smote their lingering sides, and turn'd at
will
The strong plough-staff of solid adamant.
They, struggling with immeasurable wrath,
Up-growing from the dusky-moulded soil.
But Jason then bethought him of the wile
Medea counsell'd, and from off the plain
Snatch'd a round stone, immense, a quoit for
Mars-
Not four strong youthful men had lifted it,
Though but a little. This within his gripe
He took, and hurl'd at distance, with full sway
Of his impulsive force, amid the host.
He back-receding, sate behind his shield
Hid, but courageous: then the Colchians sent
Breathed out the ravening flame; and such a A mighty outcry, as the sea, that shrill
Of hollow sound arose, as warring winds
In tempest breathe, when ocean-faring men
Furl the vast sail in fear. Not long they went,
Thus quicken'd by the goading spear, nor long
The rugged field was, transverse, plough'd and
broke
By those strong bulls and by that vigorous swain;
Ere, marvellous, in the furrows of the ground,
The clods, men-teeming, clash'd. He, following,
trod
The bulls' track'd steps with firm-set foot, and far
'Midst the plough'd glebe threw thick the serpent teeth.
His head still backward o'er his shoulder turn'd,
Lest the destroying crop of earth-born men
Should intercept his way. Right onward still
The bulls with brazen hoofs slow-striving toil'd.
Now when a third of wasted day was left
From rise of morn, and toil-worn labourers
call'd
On the sweet evening's yoke-releasing hour,
Then was the fallow of four-acred breadth
Plough'd through by that unwearied ploughman's
hand.
He loos'd the draught-beam from the harness'd bulls,
And scared them through the plains in startled flight;
He to the ship return'd; but bent his eye
Dashes, re-murmuring, on the pointed rocks.
But on Eetes, from that quoit's strong cast,
Foreboding silence fell. They, like swift dogs,
Raging in fierceness, on each other turn'd
Tumultuous battle. On their mother earth
By their own spears they sank, like pines, or
oaks,
Strew'd by a whirlwind in the mountain dale.
But, as a shooting star draws through the heavens
A fiery furrow, marvellous to men
That view the splendour dart through gloomy
air,
So Jason rush'd upon the earth-sprung host. Drawn from the scabbard waved his flashing sword,
And smote promiscuous; mowing with keen stroke
Some half-uprisen to air, high as the waist;
Some striving from the shoulders; some, but now
Erect, and others starting to their feet,
And hasting to the charge. As when a war
Is kindled on the borders, straight the swain,
Fearing lest others reap before the time
His harvest, takes his sickle newly sharp'd,
And hastening cuts the tender corn, nor waits
The warm sun's ripening beams to dry the grain;
So Jason reap'd the crop of earth-born men.
The furrows overflow'd with blood, as dikes
Fill'd from a fountain. Headlong fell they down,
And bit the rugged ground with hard clench'd
teeth.
On those man-teeming furrows. Thronging round, Some backwards fell; some on their elbows His comrades cheer'd him with emboldening
He, from the river current, in his helm
Drain'd a full draught, and slaked his panting
Then bent his pliant knees with motion light,
Fill'd with high courage, and impetuous zeal
Of daring as a boar that whets his fangs
Against the hunters, while the dropping foam
Flows from his chafing jaws upon the ground.
And now, from all the furrow'd plain uprose
The earth-born men; all bristling with strong
shields,
And barbed spears, and shining helms, a field
Hallow'd to Mars, the mortal-slayer god.
Some on their sides, and wallowing lay like
And many wounded, ere their footing trod
Earth's surface, far as into upper air
Their bodies half emerged, so far, below
The ground sunk down, and plunged their heads
yet dank
With the fresh mould. As when, profuse, the rain
Is pour'd from æther, the young fig-trees bow,
Torn from the roots, to earth; the gardener's toil
Is blasted, and dejection and sore grief
O'ercome the orchard's owner; so deep cares
Press'd on the sadden'd spirit of the king
Eetes, and he went, on his return
To his own city, with the Colchian train;
Casting within his troubled mind, how best
With sharper trial to confront the chiefs.
Day fell, and so the contest was fulfilled.
THE COMBAT BETWEEN POLLUX AND AMYCUS.*
FAST by the beach oxstalls and tents were spread
By bold Bebrycians, Amycus their head,
Whom, on the precincts of the winding shore,
A fair Bithynian Hamadryad bore
To genial Neptune, in base commerce join'd,
Proud Amycus, most barbarous of mankind.
Who made this stern, unequitable law,
Of mighty monsters, which the heaving earth,
Incens'd at Jove, brought forth, a formidable birth.
But Pollux shone like that mild star on high
Whose rising ray illumes the evening sky.
Down spread his cheek, ripe manhood's early
sign,
And in his eye fair beam'd the glance divine:
Such seem'd Jove's valiant son, supremely bright,
And equal to the lion in his might.
His arms he pois'd, advancing in the ring,
To try if still they kept their pristine spring-
If pliant still and vigorous as before,
Accustom'd to hard toil, the labour of the oar.
But Amycus aloof and silent stood,
That from his realm no stranger should with- Glar'd on his foe, and seem'd athirst for blood: draw,
Till first with him compell'd in fight to wield
The dreadful gauntlet in the listed field:
Unnumber'd guests his matchless prowess slew:
Stern he accosts swift Argo's valiant crew,
Curious the reason of their course to scan,
Who, whence they were: and scornful thus
began:
With that his squire Lycoreus in full view
Two pair of gauntlets in the circle threw,
Of barbarous fashion, harden'd, rough and dried;
Then thus the chief with insolence and pride:
"Lo, two stout pair, the choice I give to thee;
Accuse not fate, the rest belong to me.
Securely bind them, and hereafter tell
Thy friends how much thy prowess I excel:
"Learn what 'tis meet ye knew, ye vagrant Whether to make the cestus firm and good,
None that e'er touches on Bebrycia's coast,
Is hence by law permitted to depart,
Till match'd with me he prove the boxer's art.
Choose then a chief that can the gauntlet wield,
And let him try the fortune of the field:
If thus my edicts ye despise and me,
Yield to the last immutable decree."
Thus spoke the chief with insolent disdain,
And rous'd resentment in the martial train:
But most his words did Pollux' rage provoke,
Who thus, a champion for his fellows, spoke:
"Threat not, whoe'er thou art, the bloody fray;
Lo, we, obsequious, thy decrees obey!
Unforc'd this instant to the lists I go,
Thy rival I, thy voluntary foe."
Stung to the quick with this severe reply,
On him he turn'd his fury-flaming eye:
As the grim lion, pierced by some keen wound,
Whom hunters on the mountain-top surround;
Though close hemm'd in, his glaring eye-balls
glance
On him alone who threw the pointed lance.
Then Pollux doff'd his mantle, richly wrought,
Late from the Lemnian territory brought,
Which some fair nymph who had her flame
avow'd,
The pledge of hospitable love bestow'd:
His double cloak, with clasps of sable hue,
Bebrycia's ruler on the greensward threw,
And his rough sheep-hook of wild-olive made,
Which lately flourish'd in the woodland shade.
Then sought the heroes for a place at hand
Commodious for the fight, and on the strand
They placed their friends, who saw, with won-
dering eyes,
The chiefs how different, both in make and size:
For Amycus like fell Typhæus stood,
Enormous; or that miscreated brood
Or stain the cheeks of enemies with blood." Thus spoke he boastful; Pollux nought replied, But smiling chose the pair which lay beside. Castor, his brother both by blood and fame, And Talaus the son of Bias came;
Firm round his arms the gloves of death they bind,
And animate the vigour of his mind.
To Amycus Aratus, and his friend
Bold Ornytus, their kind assistance lend:
Alas! they little knew, this conflict o'er,
Those gauntlets never should be buckled more.
Accoutred thus each ardent hero stands,
And raises high in air his iron hands.
With clashing gauntlets fiercely now they close,
And mutual meditate death-dealing blows.
First Amycus a furious onset gave,
Like the rude shock of an impetuous wave,
That, heap'd on high by driving wind and tide,
Bursts thundering on some gallant vessel's side;
The wary pilot by superior skill
Foresees the storm, and shuns the menac'd ill.
Thus threatening Amycus on Pollux prest,
Nor suffer'd his antagonist to rest:
But Jove's brave son observes each coming blow,
Quick leaps aside, and disappoints the foe;
And where a weak unguarded part he spies,
There all the thunder of his arm he plies.
As busy shipwrights stoutly labouring strive
Through sturdy planks the piercing spikes to
From head to stern repeated blows go round, And ceaseless hammers send a various soundThus from their batter'd cheeks loud echoes
Their dash'd teeth crackled, and their jawbones rung:
Nor ceas'd they from the strokes that threaten'd
Till faint with toil they fairly gasp'd for breath:
Then first awhile remit the bloody fray,
* See this combat described by Theocritus, pp. 223, 224. | And panting wipe the copious sweat away.
|