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(From The Fleece, Book II)
IN eldest times, when kings and hardy chiefs | |
| In bleating sheepfolds met, for purest wool | |
| Phœnicia’s hilly tracts were most renowned, | |
| And fertile Syria’s and Judæa’s land, | |
| Hermon, and Seir, and Hebron’s brooky sides: | 5 |
| Twice with the murex, crimson hue, they tinged | |
| The shining fleeces: hence their gorgeous wealth; | |
| And hence arose the walls of ancient Tyre. | |
| Next busy Colchis, blessed with frequent rains, | |
| And lively verdure (who the lucid stream | 10 |
| Of Phasis boasted, and a portly race | |
| Of fair inhabitants) improved the fleece; | |
| When, o’er the deep by flying Phryxus brought, | |
| The famed Thessalian ram enriched her plains. | |
| This rising Greece with indignation viewed | 15 |
| And youthful Jason an attempt conceived | |
| Lofty and bold: along Peneus’ banks, | |
| Around Olympus’ brows, the Muses’ haunts, | |
| He roused the brave to redemand the fleece. | |
| Attend, ye British swains, the ancient song. | 20 |
| From every region of Ægea’s shore | |
| The brave assembled; those illustrious twins, | |
| Castor and Pollux; Orpheus, tuneful bard! | |
| Zetes and Calais, as the wind in speed; | |
| Strong Hercules; and many a chief renowned. | 25 |
| On deep Iolcos’ sandy shore they thronged, | |
| Gleaming in armor, ardent of exploits; | |
| And soon, the laurel cord and the huge stone | |
| Uplifting to the deck, unmoored the bark; | |
| Whose keel, of wondrous length, the skilful hand | 30 |
| Of Argus fashioned for the proud attempt; | |
| And in th’ extended keel a lofty mast | |
| Upraised, and sails full-swelling; to the chiefs | |
| Unwonted objects; now first, now they learned | |
| Their bolder steerage over ocean wave, | 35 |
| Led by the golden stars, as Chiron’s art | |
| Had marked the sphere celestial. Wide abroad | |
| Expands the purple deep: the cloudy isles, | |
| Scyros and Scopelos and Icos rise, | |
| And Halonesos: soon huge Lemnos heaves | 40 |
| Her azure head above the level brine, | |
| Shakes off her mists, and brightens all her cliffs: | |
| While they, her flattering creeks and opening bowers | |
| Cautious approaching, in Myrina’s port | |
| Cast out the cabled stone upon the strand. | 45 |
| Next to the Mysian shore they shape their course, | |
| But with too eager haste: in the white foam | |
| His oar Alcides breaks; howe’er, not long | |
| The chase detains; he springs upon the shore, | |
| And, rifting from the roots a tapering pine, | 50 |
| Renews his stroke. Between the threatening towers | |
| Of Hellespont they ply the rugged surge, | |
| To Hero’s and Leander’s ardent love | |
| Fatal: then smooth Propontis’ widening wave, | |
| That like a glassy lake expands, with hills; | 55 |
| Hills above hills, and gloomy woods, begirt. | |
| And now the Thracian Bosphorus they dare, | |
| Till the Symplegades, tremendous rocks, | |
| Threaten approach; but they, unterrified, | |
| Through the sharp-pointed cliffs and thundering floods | 60 |
| Cleave their bold passage: nathless by the crags | |
| And torrents sorely shattered: as the strong | |
| Eagle or vulture, in the entangling net | |
| Involved, breaks through, yet leaves his plumes behind. | |
| Thus, through the wide waves, their slow way they force | 65 |
| To Thynia’s hospitable isle. The brave | |
| Pass many perils, and to fame by such | |
| Experience rise. Refreshed, again they speed | |
| From cape to cape, and view unnumbered streams, | |
| Halys, with hoary Lycus, and the mouths | 70 |
| Of Asparus and Glaucus, rolling swift | |
| To the broad deep their tributary waves; | |
| Till in the long-sought harbor they arrive | |
| Of golden Phasis. Foremost on the strand | |
| Jason advanced: the deep capacious bay, | 75 |
| The crumbling terrace of the marble port, | |
| Wondering he viewed, and stately palace-domes, | |
| Pavilions proud of luxury: around, | |
| In every glittering hall, within, without, | |
| O’er all the timbrel-sounding squares and streets, | 80 |
| Nothing appeared but luxury, and crowds | |
| Sunk deep in riot. To the public weal | |
| Attentive none he found: for he, their chief | |
| Of shepherds, proud Æétes, by the name | |
| Sometimes of king distinguished, ’gan to slight | 85 |
| The shepherd’s trade, and turn to song and dance: | |
| Even Hydrus ceased to watch; Medea’s songs | |
| Of joy and rosy youth and beauty’s charms, | |
| With magic sweetness lulled his cares asleep, | |
| Till the bold heroes grasped the golden fleece. | 90 |
| Nimbly they winged the bark, surrounded soon | |
| By Neptune’s friendly waves: secure they speed | |
| O’er the known seas, by every guiding cape, | |
| With prosperous return. The myrtle shores, | |
| And glassy mirror of Iolcos’ lake, | 95 |
| With loud acclaim received them. Every vale | |
| And every hillock touched the tuneful stops | |
| Of pipes unnumbered, for the ram regained. | |
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