Jason and the Argonauts (7 page)

a strong youth, not yet fully grown, and launching

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a shaft at giant Tityus, who was rashly

tearing the veil from Apollo's mother—

Tityus whom divine Elara carried

but Earth brought forth and suckled like a midwife.

Phrixus the Minyan was there as well,

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depicted as if he were giving ear

to what the ram was saying. Yes, the ram

seemed to be speaking. If you watched the scene

you would be mute with wonder, duped by art,

intent on overhearing something wise.

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And you would gaze a long time waiting for it.

Such was the gift of the Itonian goddess

Athena. In his right hand Jason gripped

the long-range throwing spear that Atalanta

once gave him as a gift on Maenalus.

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She had been pleased to meet him and was eager

to undertake the quest, but he decided

against her in the end, because he feared

the ugly rivalries that lust provokes.

He strode on toward the city
like the star

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young brides who are confined to new-built chambers

watch rising radiantly above their houses.

They stand adazzle as its twinkling crimson

shines through the dark-blue night and charms their eyes.

As it ascends, the virgin, too, delights

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in longing for a youth, the groom for whom

her parents have preserved her as a bride.

But he is off somewhere, some distant city,

dealing with strangers. Brilliant like that star,

Jason came marching in the envoy's tracks.

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When they had passed the gates into the city,

the females all came swarming up behind him,

admiring a strange new male. He fixed

his gaze steadfastly on the ground until

he reached Hypsipyle's sunlit abode.

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At his approach, the serving women parted

a pair of finely chiseled double doors.

Iphinoa then led him through a courtyard

and seated him upon a shining couch

facing her mistress, who, with eyes downcast,

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released a blush across her maiden cheeks.

For all her modesty, she told him lies:

“Why, stranger, have you sat so long outside

our circuit walls? As you can see, no males

inhabit here. They up and emigrated

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and now are furrowing the harvest-bearing

fields of the Thracian mainland. I shall tell you

truthfully all about our whole misfortune

so that you know the facts as well as I.

Back when my father Thoas ruled this city

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our men would sail abroad and from their ships

pillage the dwellings of the Thracian tribes

who hold the mainland opposite the island.

And when they sailed back home to us, they brought

countless spoils, including captive girls.

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This was a plot, though, working toward fulfillment,

a vicious plot of Cypris. Yes, she struck them

with heart-corrupting madness. Husbands started

spurning their wedded wives and went so far,

once they had given way to the affliction,

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to drive us from our homes and sleep instead

with women captured by their spears. The fiends!

We let it go for quite some time indeed,

thinking they would come to change their minds,

but their diseased condition only worsened

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and soon was twice as shameless as before.

Legitimate descendants were compelled

to yield pride of place in their own homes.

A bastard populace was rising up.

Maidens and widowed housewives were abandoned

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to walk the streets just as they were, disowned.

A father never showed the least concern

for his own daughter, even if he saw her

brutalized by a merciless stepmother

before his very eyes, and sons no longer

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avenged disgraceful slander of their mothers,

and brothers cut the sisters from their hearts.

At home, at dances, feasts, and the assembly

the captive girls held sway, and so it went—

until a god inspired us to vengeance

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and we barred the gates against our husbands

when they returned from pillaging the Thracians.

We told them they must change their ways or pack up

their concubines and settle somewhere else.

After demanding all the children—all

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the boys, that is—within our walls, they left

and settled on the snowy plains of Thrace,

where they are living still. And that is why

you and your men should settle down with us.

If you are willing and would find it pleasant

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to stay with us, you could assume the kingship

and honors of my father Thoas. You

will not be disappointed in our soil,

I think. Ours is the richest, the most fruitful

of all the islands riding the Aegean.

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Go now and tell your friends what I propose—

and please do not remain outside the city.”

So she proposed, with half-truths glossing over

the massacre that had been perpetrated

against the Lemnian males. Jason replied:

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“Hypsipyle, we gratefully accept

the heartfelt aid that you are offering

to ease our desperate need. After reporting

the details to my men, I will return here.

But let the royal scepter and the island

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remain in your possession. I am not

refusing them from scorn, no, but because

pressing adventures speed me on my way.”

With this he clasped her right hand and at once

went back the way he came. Around him maidens

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from all directions gathered in excitement,

a swarm of them, until he passed the gate.

Later, once Jason had reported all

Hypsipyle had told him at the palace,

another company of girls arrived

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in smooth-wheeled wagons, bearing countless tokens

of friendship to the heroes on the shore.

Eagerly, then, the females led the males

into their homes for entertainment. Cypris,

you see, had roused them all with sweet desire—

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she did this as a favor for Hephaestus,

so that the isle of Lemnos might again

fill up with men and rest secure thereafter.

The son of Aeson sought Hypsipyle's

royal estate, and his companions each

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landed wherever chance received them—all

but Heracles. He of his own free will

remained beside the
Argo
with a few

select companions. Soon the city turned

to dancing, banqueting, and pleasure. Incense

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of offerings suffused the atmosphere,

and all their songs and prayers celebrated,

before the other gods, famous Hephaestus

Hera's son and
Cypris Queen of Love.

And so from day to day the journey languished.

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The heroes would have idled there still longer

had Heracles not called them all together,

without the women, and reproached them thus:

“Fools, what prevents us from returning home—

what, have we shed our kinsmen's blood? Have we

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set sail to seek fiancées in contempt

of ladies on the mainland? Are we planning

to divvy up the fertile fields of Lemnos

and settle here for good? We won't accrue

glory while cooped up here with foreign girls

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for years on end. No deity is going

to nab the fleece in answer to our prayers

and send it flying back to us. Come, then,

let's each go off and tend his own affairs.

And as for
that
one—leave him to enjoy

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Hypsipyle's bedchamber day and night

until he peoples Lemnos with his sons,

and deathless glory catches up with him.”

So he condemned his comrades. None of them

dared meet his gaze or make excuses, no,

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they hurried as they were from the assembly

to get the
Argo
ready for departure.

The women ran to find them when they heard.

As bees swarm from a rocky hive and buzz

about the handsome lilies, and the dewy

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meadow itself rejoices as they flit

from bloom to bloom collecting sweet fruition,

so did the women press around the men

and weep as they embraced them one last time,

entreating all the blessed gods to grant them

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safe passage home. So, too, Hypsipyle

took Jason's hands in hers and prayed, and tears

were tumbling for her lover's loss:

“Go now,

and may the gods protect you and your comrades

from harm, so that you live to give your king

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the golden fleece. That is your heart's desire.

This island and my father's royal scepter

will still be yours if, after you are home,

you ever wish to come back here again.

How easily you could amass a vast

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following out of the surrounding cities!

But you will not desire this future, no,

my heart foresees that it will not be so.

Promise that, both abroad and safe at home,

you will remember me from time to time—

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Hypsipyle. But, please, what should I do

if the immortals grace me with a child?

I shall obey your will with all my heart.”

Stirred to esteem, the son of Aeson answered:

“Hypsipyle, I pray the blessed gods

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accomplish everything as you desire it.

Still, you must check your wild expectations

where I'm concerned, since it will be enough

for me to live again in my own land

at Pelias' mercy. All I ask

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is that the gods preserve me on my quest.

But if my fate forbid that I return,

after a lengthy journey, home to Greece,

and you have borne a son, hold on to him

until he comes of age and send him then

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to Iolcus in Pelasgia to ease

my parents' grief (if they are still alive),

so that they may be safe in their own home,

comfortable and far from Pelias.”

He spoke these final words and was the first

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to board the ship. The other heroes followed,

took up their oars, and manned the benches. Argus

loosed the hawser from a sea-washed rock,

and soon the heroes were exuberantly

slapping the water with their lengthy oars.

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At Orpheus' bidding they debarked

that evening on the island of Electra,

Atlas' daughter, so that they might suffer

gentle induction, learn her secret rites,

and cruise more safely through the chilling sea.

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But I shall speak no further of such matters.

Farewell, Electra, and farewell, you powers

whose task it is to guard and keep the secrets

of which it is forbidden me to sing.

Off Samothrace they briskly pulled their oars

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over the Black Gulf's depths. The land of Thrace

was larboard, and the isle of Imbros starboard

there on the seaward side, and just at sunset

they reached a finger of the Chersonese.

A stiff south wind was blowing for them there,

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so they unfurled the canvas to the gale's

beneficence and soon approached the roiling

narrows of Helle daughter of Athamas.

By morning they had left the sea astern.

(They had, in fact, been sailing all night long

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within a farther sea between the headlands

of Rhoeteum.) The land of Ida starboard,

Dardania abaft, they passed Abydos,

Percota, sandy beaches in Abarnis,

and holy Pityeia. Thus they crossed

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by oar and sail before the next sunrise

the whole length of the Hellespont and all

its dark whirlpools.

There is a lofty island

that slopes on all sides down to the Propontis.

A steep and sea-washed spit of land connects it

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to mainland Phrygia and a wealth of grain.

Two of its shores are welcoming to ships,

both of them north of the Asepus River.

The island had the name of Black Bear Mountain,

and there were
savage Earthborn Giants on it,

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great wonders for the locals to behold:

six rippling arms grew out of each of them—

two sprouting out of their colossal shoulders,

four farther down along their frightening flanks.

The Doliones dwelled there, all the same,

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along the spit and island's rim. Their king was

Cyzicus son of Aeneus. Aeneta,

daughter of divine Eusorus, bore him.

Though wild and violent, the Earthborn Giants

never attacked the Dolionan people

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because they were descended from Poseidon—

he guarded them.

A Thracian gale impelled

the
Argo
toward this island, and the heroes