I

THE ARGONAUTS

PART I

UNIV. OF

"How the Centaur* Trained the Heroes on Pelion:**

HAVE a tale of heroes who sailed away into a distant land, to win themselves renown forever in the adventure of the Golden Fleece.

2. Whither they sailed, I can not clearly tell. It all happened long ago; so long ago that it has all grown dim, like a dream which you dreamt last year. And why they went I can not tell: some say that it was to win gold. It may be so; but the noblest deeds which have been done on earth · have not been done for gold.

3. And what was that first Golden Fleece? The old Greeks said that it hung in Colchis,* nailed to a beech tree in the War-god's wood; and that it was the fleece of the wondrous ram which bore Phrixus* and Helle* across the Euxine* sea. For Phrixus and Helle were the children of the cloud-nymph and of Athamas,* the Minuan king. And when a famine came upon the land, their cruel stepmother Ino wished to kill them, that her own children might reign, and said they must be sacrificed on an altar to turn away the anger of the gods. So the poor children were brought to the altar, and the priest stood ready with his knife, when out of the clouds came the Golden Ram and took them on his back, and vanished. Then madness came upon that foolish king, Athamas, and ruin upon Ino and her children. For Athamas killed one of them in his fury, and Ino fled from him with the other in her arms and leapt from a cliff into the sea, and was changed into a dolphin, which wanders over the waves forever sighing, with its little one clapsed to its breast.

*All names followed by this mark will be found in the Pronunciation of Names at the back of the book.

4. But the people drove out King Athamas because he had. killed his child; and he roamed about in his misery till he eame to the Oracle in Delphi.* And the Oracle told him that he; must. wander for his sin till the wild beasts should feast him as their guest: So he went on in hunger and sorrow for many a weary day, till he saw a pack of wolves. The wolves were tearing a sheep; but when they saw Athamas they fled, and left the sheep for him, and he ate of it; and then he knew that the oracle was fulfilled at last. So he wandered no more; but settled and built a town, and became a king again. 5. But the ram carried the two children far away over land and sea, till he came to the Thracian Chersonese,* and there Helle fell into the sea. So those narrow straits are called "Hellespont" after her; and they bear that name until this day.

6. Then the ram flew on with Phrixus to the northeast across the sea which we call the Black Sea now; but the Greeks called it the Euxine.* And at last, they say, he stopped at Colchis; and there Phrixus married Chalciope,* the daughter of Eetes* the king; and offered the ram in sacrifice; and Eetes nailed the ram's fleece to a beech in the grove of Ares the War-god.

7. And after awhile Phrixus died and was buried, but his spirit had no rest; for he was buried far from his native land, and the pleasant hills of Hellas.* So he came in dreams to the heroes of the Minuai* and called sadly by their beds, "Come and set my spirit free, that I may go home to my fathers and my kinsfolk and the pleasant Minuan land."

8. And they asked, "How shall we set your spirit free?" 9. "You must sail over the sea to Colchis, and bring home the golden fleece; and then my spirit will come back with it, and I shall sleep with my fathers and have rest."

10. He came thus and called to them often; but when they woke they looked at each other and said, "Who dare sail to Colchis, or bring home the golden fleece?" And in all the

country none was brave enough to try it; for the man and the time were not come.

11. Phrixus had a cousin called Eson,* who was king of Holcos by the sea. There he ruled over the rich Minuan heroes, as Athamas his uncle ruled in Beotia,* and, like Athamas, he was an unhappy man. For he had a stepbrother named Pelias,* of whom some said that he was a nymph's son, and there were dark and sad tales about his birth. He grew up fierce and lawless, and did many a fearful deed; and at last he drove out Eson his stepbrother, and took the kingdom to himself and ruled over the rich Minuan heroes in Iolcos by the sea.

12. And Eson, when he was driven out, went sadly away out of the town leading his little son by the hand; and he said to himself, "I must hide the child in the mountains, or Pelias will surely kill him, because he is the heir."

13. So he went up from the sea across the valley, through the vineyards and the olive groves, and across the torrent of Anauros, toward Pelion, the ancient mountain, whose brows are white with snow.

*

14. He went up and up into the mountain, over marsh and crag and down, till the boy was tired and footsore, and Eson had to bear him in his arms, till he came to the mouth of a lonely cave at the foot of a mighty cliff.

15. Above the cliff the snow wreaths hung, dripping and cracking in the sun; but at its foot around the cave's mouth. grew all fair flowers and herbs, as if in a garden, ranged in order, each sort by itself. There they grew gaily in the sunshine and the spray of the torrent from above; while from the cave came the sound of music, and a man's voice singing to the harp.

16. Then Eson put down the lad, and whispered, "Fear not, but go in and whomsoever you shall find, lay your hands upon his knees and say, 'In the name of Zeus,* the father of gods and men, I am your guest from this day forth.'"'

17. Then the lad went in without trembling, for he too was a hero's son; but when he was within he stopped in wonder to listen to that magic song.

18. And there he saw the singer lying upon bearskins and fragrant boughs: Chiron, the ancient Centaur,* the wisest of all things beneath the sky. Down to the waist he was a man, but below he was a noble horse; his white hair rolled down over his broad shoulders, and his white beard over his broad brown chest; and his eyes were wise and mild, and his forehead like a mountain wall.

19. And in his hands he held a harp of gold, and struck it with a golden key; and as he struck he sang till his eyes glittered and filled all the cave with light.

20. And he sang of the birth of Time, and of the heavens and the dancing stars; and of the ocean, and the ether, and the fire, and the shaping of the wondrous earth. And he sang of the treasures of the hills, and the hidden jewels of the mine, and the veins of fire and metal, and the virtues of all healing herbs, and of the speech of birds, and of prophecy, and of hidden things to come.

21. Then he sang of health, and strength, and manhood, and a valiant heart; and of music, and hunting, and wrestling, and all the games which heroes love; and of travel, and wars, and sieges, and a noble death in fight; and then he sang of peace and plenty, and of equal justice in the land. And as he sang the boy listened wide-eyed, and forgot his errand in the song.

22. And at the last old Chiron was silent, and called the lad with a soft voice. And the lad ran trembling to him, and would have laid his hands upon his knees; but Chiron smiled. and said, "Call hither your father Eson, for I know you and all that has befallen, and saw you both afar in the valley, even before you left the town."

23. Then Eson came in sadly and Chiron asked him, "Why camest you not yourself to me, Eson?"