And long as the space of a day is lengthened out in the spring,
So long was the time that they laboured, heaving with might and main
The ship through the thunderous-echoing rocks, till the wind again
Blew out the canvas; and onward they ran, and swiftly they sped
By the meads of Thrinakria’s isle, where the kine of the Sun-god fed.
Then the Nymphs in the semblance of sea-mews down through abysses of brine
Plunged, when wrought was the hest of Zeus’s Bride divine.
Then through the air did there come to the heroes a bleating of sheep,
And a lowing of kine full nigh to their ears floated over the deep.
There a shepherdess-goddess pastured the sheep o’er the dewy lea,
Phaëthusa—youngest of all the Sun-god’s daughters was she—
Bearing a shepherd’s crook of silver the while in her hand;
And Lampetiê herded the kine, and of mountain-brass was the wand
That she swayed as she followed their steps: and the heroes themselves espied
Those herds by the river that pastured, the sliding gleam beside,
O’er the plain and the water-meadow: was none amid all that herd
Dun-hued of hide, but all white even as milk appeared.
And a glory of golden horns on the stately heads of them shone.
So they passed in the daytime the Sun-god’s herds, and as night drew on,
They went cleaving the great sea-gulf rejoicing, until once more
The Child of the Mist, the Dawning, flashed on their sea-path hoar.
Now fronting the mouth of the gulf Ionian lieth an isle
In the sea Keraunian, forest-mantled, with deep rich soil,
Whereunder the sickle, saith legend, is lying—vouchsafe me your grace,
Song-goddesses: loth do I speak of the tale of the olden days—
Wherewithal the strength of his father by Kronos was ruthlessly shorn:
(But of some is it called Demêter-of-Hades’ Reaper of Corn:
For Demêter in that land wont to abide in the days of old,
And she taught the Titans to reap the cornfield’s spears of gold,
Of her love unto Makris): the Sickle-land is it named therefrom,
The Phaeacians’ hallowed nurse: and by lineage so these come
Of Ouranus’ very blood, and his sons the Phaeacians be.
So Argo through much tribulation came from Thrinakria’s sea
With the breeze to the land Phaeacian. With welcoming sacrifice
Alkinoüs the king and his people received them in kindly wise:
And all the city with riot of mirth o’er the far-driven ones
Rejoiced: thou hadst said that they joyed o’er their own re-given sons.
And the heroes themselves through the throng in gladness triumphant strode,
Even as though the heart of Haimonia-land they trod.
But now were they like to be donning their mail for the onset-cry,
So mighty a host of Kolchian men appeared hard by,
Which down through the gorge of the Pontus, and on through the Crags Dark-blue
Had passed to the uttermost sea in quest of the hero-crew.
And Medea they chiefly were eager to hale to her father’s house
Without parley, or threatened else that the war-yell dolorous
Should be raised for the slaughter-vengeance unrelenting and stern
Both then, and when led by Aiêtes their host should thereafter return.
Yet Alkinoüs the king restrained them amidst of their lust for the fray;
For he greatly desired without the clash of the strife to allay
The haughty-hearted feud betwixt the war-hosts twain.
But the maiden in deadly fear besought again and again
The comrades of Aison’s son; and again and again did she cling
With her hands round the knees of Arêtê, the wife of Alkinoüs the king:
“I kneel unto thee, O Queen!—be gracious, and yield me not now
To the Kolchians to hale to my father, if thou art of humankind, thou
Which livest by bread—of the hearts into folly that swiftliest rush,
Whom lightest transgression adown the abysses of ruin doth push,
Even so as my wisdom forsook me—nay, but it was not done
By reason of lust: be witness the sacred light of the sun:
Be witness the rites of Perseus’ daughter, which haunteth the night,
That not of my will with men of an alien land in flight
Did I haste from mine home; but horrible dread on my spirit wrought
To bethink me of fleeing thus when I sinned: other help there was not,
Neither hope. My maidenhead yet unmarred abideth and clean,
As it was in the halls of my father. Have pity upon me, O Queen;
And incline unto mercy the heart of thy lord! May the Deathless so
A life all-perfect on thee, all happiness bestow,
And sons, and the boast of a city unravaged of any foe!”
So bowed at Arêtê’s knees did she weep, and so beseech;
And thus to the heroes appealed she, turning to each after each:
“For your sakes, O ye chiefest of might, and for your emprise,
Am I hounded of terrors thus, even I, by whose device
Ye bowed the bulls to the yoke, and reaped that deadly swath
Of the Earth-born Men—even I, through whom on the homeward path
Ye shall bear the Fleece of Gold full soon to Haimonia’s shore—
Even I, who have lost my country, my parents have lost evermore,
Have lost mine home, have lost all pleasures of life that I knew,
But to you have restored your country, your homes have restored unto you;
And with rapture-litten eyes your parents again shall ye see.
But from me—a tyrannous god all happiness reft from me;
And with alien men do I wander forlorn, an accursèd wight!
Dread ye the covenant-troth and the oaths: the Avenging Sprite
Of the suppliants dread, and the Gods’ retribution, if ever I come
To Aiêtes’ hands, amid outrage and agony meeting my doom!
No temple have I, neither tower of salvation, nor refuge beside:
You cast I before me, mine only shield in the perilous tide.
Hard hearts unrelenting and ruthless!—ye know not reverence, ye,
For the suppliant, though ye behold as I stretch despairingly
Mine hands to the knees of a stranger queen. Yet the Kolchian array,
One and all, had ye faced, when ye thirsted to bear the Fleece away:
Yea, Aiêtes the proud had ye faced:—but your manhood hath fainted, is flown
Now, when your foes from their helpers be sundered, a handful alone.”
So passioned and prayed Medea. To whomso she bowed in prayer,
Ever he heartened her, fain to assuage her anguished despair.
And their keen-whetted lances in wrathful-quivering hands did they shake,
And unscabbarded swords; and they swore they would fail
