Part 14 (1/2)
The chiefs brought Apsyrtus's words back. There was a council of the Argonauts, and they agreed that they should leave Medea on the island of Artemis.
But grief and wrath took hold of Medea when she heard of this resolve.
Almost she would burn the _Argo_. She went to where Jason stood, and she spoke again of all she had done to save his life and win the Golden Fleece for the Argonauts. Jason made her look on the s.h.i.+ps and the soldiers that were around them; he showed her how these could overwhelm the Argonauts and slay them all. With all the heroes slain, he said, Medea would come into the hands of Apsyrtus, who then could leave her on the island of Artemis or take her back to the wrath of her father.
But Medea would not consent to go nor could Jason's heart consent to let her go. Then these two made a plot to deceive Apsyrtus.
”I have not been of the council that agreed to give you up to him,”
Jason said. ”After you have been left there I will take you off the island of Artemis secretly. The Colchians and the kings who support them, not knowing that you have been taken off and hidden on the _Argo_, will let us pa.s.s.” This Medea and Jason planned to do, and it was an ill thing, for it was breaking the covenant that the chiefs had entered with Apsyrtus.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
Medea then was left by the Argonauts on the island of Artemis. Now Apsyrtus had been commanded by his father to bring her back to Aea; he thought that when she had been left by the Argonauts he could force her to come with him. So he went over to the island. Jason, secretly leaving his companions, went to the island from the other side.
Before the temple of Artemis Jason and Apsyrtus came face to face. Both men, thinking they had been betrayed to their deaths, drew their swords.
Then, before the vestibule of the temple and under the eyes of Medea, Jason and Apsyrtus fought. Jason's sword pierced the son of aeetes; as he fell Apsyrtus cried out bitter words against Medea, saying that it was on her account that he had come on his death. And as he fell the blood of her brother splashed Medea's silver veil.
Jason lifted Medea up and carried her to the _Argo_. They hid the maiden under the Fleece of Gold and they sailed past the s.h.i.+ps of the Colchians.
When darkness came they were far from the island of Artemis. It was then that they heard a loud wailing, and they knew that the Colchians had discovered that their prince had been slain.
The Colchians did not pursue them. Fearing the wrath of aeetes they made settlements in the lands of the kings who had supported Apsyrtus; they never went back to Aea; they called themselves Apsyrtians henceforward, naming themselves after the prince they had come with.
They had escaped the danger that had hemmed them in, but the Argonauts, as they sailed on, were not content; covenants had been broken, and blood had been shed in a bad cause. And as they went on through the darkness the voice of the s.h.i.+p was heard; at the sound of that voice fear and sorrow came upon the voyagers, for they felt that it had a prophecy of doom.
Castor and Polydeuces went to the front of the s.h.i.+p; holding up their hands, they prayed. Then they heard the words that the voice uttered: in the night as they went on the voice proclaimed the wrath of Zeus on account of the slaying of Apsyrtus.
What was their doom to be? It was that the Argonauts would have to wander forever over the gulfs of the sea unless Medea had herself cleansed of her brother's blood. There was one who could cleanse Medea-Circe, the daughter of Helios and Perse. The voice urged the heroes to pray to the immortal G.o.ds that the way to the island of Circe be shown to them.
V. Medea Comes to Circe
[Decorative first letter]
_T_HEY sailed up the River Ister until they came to the Erida.n.u.s, that river across which no bird can fly. Leaving the Erida.n.u.s they entered the Rhoda.n.u.s, a river that rises in the extreme north, where Night herself has her habitation. And voyaging up this river they came to the Stormy Lakes.
A mist lay upon the lakes night and day; voyaging through them the Argonauts at last brought out their s.h.i.+p upon the Sea of Ausonia.
It was Zetes and Calais, the sons of the North Wind, who brought the _Argo_ safely along this dangerous course. And to Zetes and Calais Iris, the messenger of the G.o.ds, appeared and revealed to them where Circe's island lay.
Deep blue water was all around that island, and on its height a marble house was to be seen. But a strange haze covered everything as with a veil. As the Argonauts came near they saw what looked to them like great dragonflies; they came down to the sh.o.r.e, and then the heroes saw that they were maidens in gleaming dresses.
The maidens waved their hands to the voyagers, calling them to come on the island. Strange beasts came up to where the maidens were and made whimpering cries.
The Argonauts would have drawn the s.h.i.+p close and would have sprung upon the island only that Medea cried out to them. She showed them the beasts that whimpered around the maidens, and then, as the Argonauts looked upon them, they saw that these were not beasts of the wild. There was something strange and fearful about them; the heroes gazed upon them with troubled eyes. They brought the s.h.i.+p near, but they stayed upon their benches, holding the oars in their hands.
Medea sprang to the island; she spoke to the maidens so that they shrank away; then the beasts came and whimpered around her. ”Forbear to land here, O Argonauts,” Medea cried, ”for this is the island where men are changed into beasts.” She called to Jason to come; only Jason would she have come upon the island.