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Women, who still to Venus' altars fly,
Nor dare but only on her aid rely.

No warlike deeds your dastard souls inflame:
To you is Mars an unregarded name.
As doves or falcons but direct your flight,
You flinch at danger, and you dread the fight.
Go; and all manly, martial toils forbear,
Sue to weak women, and deceive the fair."

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Furious he spoke; a general murmur ran 610 Thro' the whole train; yet none oppos'd the man: Indignant then he sat. Of dauntless breast Thus son's son the listening train address'd: "This instant Argus to the town I send, For thus the general suffrages intend: Meanwhile approach we wearer to the land, And fix, in sight, our halsers to the strand: Ill suits us longer thus to lie conceal'd; We neither shun, nor dread the fighting field." He said, and Argus went without delay, And to the city backward sped his way; At Jason's call they ply the labouring oar, And land their beds and couches on the shore. Meantime the king a council call'd, and sat, (So were they wont) without the palace-gate. Assembled there, unceasing toils they plann'd, And wiles destructive to the Grecian band. Thus he ordain'd, that when the bulls had slain And stretch'd this dauntless hero on the plain, Himself would lay the lofty forest low, And for the funeral-pile prepare the bough: Their boasted ship should be consum'd with fire, And every traitor in the flames expire. No hospitable rites had Phrixus shar'd, Though much he wish'd and merited regard, Had not Jove hasten'd Hermes from above To win his favour and bespeak his love. Were these invaders of his native soil To thrive unpunish'd by rapacious spoil, Soon would they make his lowing herds a prey, 640 And drive the shepherds and their flocks away. But Pbrixus' sons, who join'd the lawless crew, He vow'd with double vengeance to pursue: Base plunderers! come to spoil him of his crown, So had the Sun, his sapient sire, foreshown: Who wan'd bim to suspect his faithless race, And dread from them destruction and disgrace. Therefore dismiss'd he, by his sire's cominand, The youths far distant, ev'n to Grecian land. His daughters gave him no perplexing care, 650 Nor young Absyrtus, his adopted heir; But from Chalciope's detested race He look'd for injuries, and fear'd disgrace. Thas stern denouncing, as with rage he swells, Death on each daring subject that rebels,

His guards he charg'd, and threaten'd vengeance due,

If either 'scap'd, the vessel or the crew.

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Swift to the palace Argus now repairs, And to his pitying mother pours his pray'rs, That she might importune Medea's aid; Nor bad the queen her son's request delay'd, But boding fears her willing mind restrain, Lest all her fond entreaties should be vain; And should the project be disclos'd to view, Her father's ire the magic maid must rue. As on her couch reclin'd the virgin lay, Soft slumbers chas'd her anxious cares away; But frantic dreams, which love-sick minds infest,

Present false terrours, and disturb her rest.

670

Her hero seem'd the task to undertake,
But not for honour, or the fleece's sake;
For her alone he risk'd the glorious strife,
To gain her love, and win her for his wife.
She then in dreams her utmost succour lends,
And with the buils herself in fight contends.
Her parents she, in fancied rage, aver'd
False and regardless of their promis'd word,
Who Jason doom'd the brazen bulls to foil,
But made not her a partner of the toil.
Then warm disputes and fierce contentions reign,
Between eta and the Grecian train:
On her decision both the parties wait,
And deem what she determines to be fate.
In spite of parents, the fond maid express'd
Her choice in favour of her godlike guest.
Rage wrung their souls, and grief, and dire dismay,
Till the loud clamour chas'd her sleep away.
Trembling she starts; pale fears confus'd her look;
Her soul reviv'd, and thus the virgin spoke: 689

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"Alas! what frightful dreams alarm my breast For these fam'd chiefs, but most the royal guest? I fear, some mighty mischief will ensue From this bold leader and his gallant crew. Yes, let him wed far off some Greciau dame: Be mine my parents' house, my virgin's fame. If from my headstrong purpose I refrain, My sister's counsel might relieve my pain: Oh! for her sons would she my aid implore, My griefs would cease, my sorrows be no more!" She said, and rose, no longer deign'd to wait, 700 But pass'd the threshold of her sister's gate, Barefoot, undrest; long time she there remain'd, (For modest fears her passing step restrain'd;) Then back retreats; new courage soon acquires; Again advances, and again retires: Passions so various sway'd the virgin's breast, That when fierce love impell'd her, fear repress'd: Thrice she e say'd, and thrice retreating fled; Then on the pillow sunk her drooping head.

As some young damsel, whom her friends had join'd 710

In marriage to the darling of her mind,
Conceal'd in secret, mourns her blooming mate
Snatch'd from her arms by some untimely fate,
Ere yet kind Heaven indulg'd them to employ
The golden moments in connubial joy:

In silence she, tho' stung with torturing grief,
Seeks on the widow'd bed the wish'd relief;
Looks eager round, then sheds the trembling tear,
Screen'd from the female eye, and tongue severe.
Thus mourn'd Medea, not unseen; her pain 720
Was mark'd by one, the youngest of her train!
Who told Chalciope Medea's grief;
And the sad tale exceeded her belief!
Her sons consulting, she with them essay'd
To sooth the sorrows of the love-sick maid.
Iustant she rose, and trembling with dismay
Came to the chamber where her sister lay;
Torn were her cheeks, the tears her grief confess'd;
And thus Chalciope the maid address'd:

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"Say, why those tears that thus incessant fall? What mighty ills your feeble mind appal? Say, does some heaven-sent woe your grief in

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She said: Medea's cheeks the crimson stain'd; She strove to speak, but shame her words restrain'd.

Now on her lips the ready accents hung,
Now stifled in her breast: her faltering tongue
Long time the purpose of her soul withheld,
Artful at length she spoke, by love impell'd:

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All night the sailor marks the northern team, And golden circlet of Orion's beam:

810

A deep repose the weary watchman shares, And the faint wanderer sleeps away his cares; Ev'n the fond maid, while yet all breathless lies Her child of love, in slumber seals her eyes: No sound of village-dog, no noise invades The death-like silence of the midnight shades; Alone Medea wakes: to love a prey, Restless she rolls, and groans the night away: For lovely Jason cares on cares succeed, Lest vanquish'd by the bulls her hero bleed; In sad review dire scenes of horrours rise, 750 Quick beats her heart, from thought to thought she flies:

"Dire fears, Chalciope, my soul dismay,
Lest with these guests my sire thy children slay,
My frightful dreams such horrid scenes present:
May some kind deity these woes prevent!
Lest for thy sons the tears eternal flow:"
Thus spoke the maid, inquisitive in woe,
If haply, for her children's fate afraid,
Chalciope might first solicit aid.

Mix'd grief and terrour all the mother shook,
At last, impassion'd, thus she trembling spoke:
"Tis for their sakes I now before thee stand;
Lend me, O lend thy salutary hand!
But swear by Earth and Heaven what I unfold
Rests in thy bosom, never to be told:
By the great gods, and all that's dear I call,
Swear thou wilt never see my children fall,
Lest I too perish, and in fell despight
Rise a dread fury from the shades of night."
Earnest she spoke, and tears incessant shed,
Then on her sister's breast reclin'd her head,
And mix'd their mutual sighs; groan answer'd

groan,

And the wide palace echo'd to their moan. Medea thus in mournful terms replies:

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"Alas! what succour can my thoughts devise, Thus with thy cruel menaces oppress'd? Oh, still uninjur'd may thine offspring rest! By Heaven above I swear, and Earth below, Earth, the great mother of the gods, I vow, (If aught my power can do, or words persuade) To give thee counsel, and to lend my aid." Thus spoke the maid; and thus Chalciope; "Perhaps, in favour of my sons and me, Thy mind, to save the hero, might impart Some secret counsel, some mysterious art. From Jason Argus comes, imploring aid; They rest their safety on the magic maid." Thus she; with joy exults the virgin's heart, 780 And rising blushes rosy charms impart; But soon o'ercast with grief she thus reply'd: "To serve thee, sister, be no art untry'd. Ne'er may I see with pleasurable eyes In yon bright orient cheerful morning rise, If aught on Earth be half so dear to me As is the welfare of thy sons and thee. As brethren they my fond regard engage, By blood related, and the same our age. My sister, most esteen'd, and ever dear, Thee with a daughter's love, I still revere. For with thy children, nurs'd by thee, I shar'd (So fame reports) a mother's fond regard. Go then, and from my prying parents hide The means of succour which I now provide. All-potent spells will I, at dawn of day, To Hecate's mysterious shrine convey.” Pleas'd with the tale, Chalciope departs, And with the proffer'd aid transports her children's hearts,

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As from the stream-stor'd vase with dubious ray
The sun-beams dancing from the surface play;
Now here, now there the trembling radiance falls,
Alternate flashing round th' illumin'd walls: 821
Thus fluttering bounds the trembling virgin's blood,
And from her eyes descends a pearly flood.
Now raving with resistless flames she glows,
Now sick with love she melts with softer woes,
The tyrant god, of every thought possess'd,
Beats in each pulse, and stings and racks her

breast:

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| Tost in a giddy whirl of strong desire,
I glow, I burn, yet bless the pleasing fire:
Oh! had this spirit from its prison fled,
By Dian sent to wander with the dead,
Fre the proud Grecians view'd the Colchian skies,
Ere Jason, lovely Jason, met these eyes!
Hell gave the shining mischief to our coast,
Medea saw him, and Medea's lost→→→
But why these sorrows? if the powers on high
His death decree, die, wretched Jason, die !
Shall I elude my sire? my art betray?
Ah, me! what words shall purge the guilt away!
But could I yield-O whither must 1 run
To find the chief-whom virtue bids me shun?
Shall 1, all lost to shame, to Jason fly?
And yet I must-if Jason bleeds I die!
Honour farewell! adieu for ever shame!
Hail black disgrace! and branded be my fame!
Live, Jason, live! enjoy the vital air!

850

Live thro' my aid! and fly where winds can bear.
But when he flies, cords, poisons, lend your powers;
That day Medea treads th' infernal shores!
Yet what reproach will after death be cast?
The maids of Colchos will my honour blast-
I hear them cry- the false Medea's dead, 860
Thro' guilty passion for a stranger's bed;
Medea, careless of her virgin fame,
Preferr'd a stranger to a father's name!'
O may I rather yield this vital breath,
Than bear that base dishonour worse than death!"
Thus wail'd the fair, and seiz'd, with horrid joy,
Drugs foes to life, and potent to destroy;
A magazine of death! again she pours
From her swoln eye-lids tears in shining show'rs.
With grief insatiate, comfortless she stands, 870
And opes the casket, but with trembling hands.

880

A sudden fear her labouring soul invades,
Struck with the horrours of th' infernal shades:
She stands deep-musing with a faded brow,
Absorb'd in thought, a monument of woe!
While all the comforts that on life attend,
The cheerful converse, and the faithful friend,
By thought deep imag'd in her bosom play,
Endearing life, and charm despair away.
Enliv'ning suns with sweeter light arise,
And every object brightens to her eyes.
Then from her hand the baneful drugs she throws,
Consents to live, recover'd from her woes;
Resolv'd the magic virtue to betray,
She waits the dawn, and calls the lazy day:
Time seems to stand, or backward drive his wheels;
The hours she chides, and eyes the eastern hills:
At length the morn displays her rosy light,
And the whole town stands pictur'd to her sight.
Back to the ship (his brothers left behind
To mark the motions of Medea's mind)
Argus return'd; meanwhile her golden hair,
That flow'd diffusive in the wanton air,
The virgin binds; then wipes the tears away,
And from her eyes bids living lightning play;
On every limb refreshing unguents pours,
Unguents, that breathe of Heaven, in copious

show'rs.

890

Her robe she next assumes; bright clasps of gold
Close to the lessening waist the robe infold:
Down from her swelling loins the rest unbound 900
Floats in rich waves redundant o'er the ground:
Then takes her veil, and stately treads the room
With graceful ease, regardless of her doom.

910

Thus forward moves the fairest of her kind, Blind to the future, to the present blind. Twelve maids, attendants on her virgin bow'r, Alike unconscious of the bridal hour, Join to the car her mules; dire rites to pay, To Hecate's fair fane she bends her way. A juice she bears, whose magic virtue tames (Thro' fell Persephone) the rage of flames: For one whole day it gives the hero might, To stand secure of harms in mortal fight; It mocks the sword; the sword without a wound Leaps as from marble shiver'd to the ground. This plant, which rough Caucasean mountains bore, Sprung from the venom of Prometheus' gore. (While on the wretch the savage eagle storm'd) In colour like Corycian crocus form'd: On two tall stems up-springs the flowery shoot, A cubit high; like red raw flesh its root. From this root's juice, as black as that distill'd From mountain beeches, the fair maid had fill'd A Caspian conch; but first, as best beseems, Array'd in black seven times in living streams She bath'd; and call'd seven times on Brimo's

name,

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At midnight hour, the ghost-compelling dame.
She pluck'd the root, Earth murmur'd from below,
And sad Prometheus groan'd with agonizing woe.
This root the Colchian maid selecting plac'd 930
In the rich zone that bound her slender waist:
Then issuing mounts the car, but not alone,
On either side two lovely damsels shone:
Her hand with skill th' embroider'd rein controls,
Back fly the streets as swift the chariot rolls.
Along the wheel-worn road they speed their way,
The domes retreat, the sinking towers decay:
Bare to the knee succinct a damsel-train
Close throng behind them, hastening to the plain.

440

As when her limbs divine Diana laves In fair Parthenius, or th' Amnesian waves, Sublime in royal state the bounding roes Whirl her bright car along the mountain brows: Swift to some sacred feast the goddess moves, The nymphs attend that haunt the shady groves; Th' Amnesian fount or silver-streaming rills, Nymphs of the vales, or Oreads of the hills: The fawning beasts before the goddess play, Or, trembling, savage adoration pay:

Thus on her car sublime the nymph appears, 950
The crowd falls back, and, as she moves, reveres:
Swift to the fane aloft her course she bends,
The fane she reaches, and on earth descends;
Then to her train" Ah, me! I fear we stray,
Misled by folly to this lonely way!

Alas! should Jason with his Greeks appear,
Where should we fly? I fear, alas, I fear!

No more the Colchian youths, and virgin train,
Haunt the cool shade, or tread in dance the plain.
But since alone with sports beguile your
hours,

970

960 Collect sweet herbs, and pluck the fairest flow'rs: If due attention to my words ye pay, With richest spoils ye shall return to day. For Argus and Chalciope require, (But sacred keep this secret from my sire) That for large presents, for my succour paid, To this rash stranger I should lend my aid. I pass'd my word, and soon without his train The Grecian will attend me at the faue: In equal portions we the spoil will shareFor him a dose more fatal I prepareBut when he comes, ye nymphs, retire apart." She spoke; the nymphs approv'd the virgin's art. When Argus heard the maid with early day To Hecate's fair fane would speed her way, He beckon'd Jason from his bold compeers Apart, and Mopsus most renown'd of seers; For prescient Mopsus every omen knew Of birds that parting or approaching flew. No mortal ever of the first-born race Display'd like Jason such superior grace, Whether from demigods he trac'd his line, Or Jove himself immortal and divine, As grac'd by Juno, Jove's imperial queen, With soft address, and dignity of mien. His comrades gaz'd with wonder as he went; Mopsus foresaw and hail'd the blest event. Hard by the path, and near the temple, stands A poplar tall that wide its arins expands; Here frequent rooks their airy pastime take, 990 And on the boughs their spray-form'd mansions make:

980

One shook its pinions, (louder than the rest)
And croaking, thus Saturnia's mind express'd:
"Vain seer! whose divinations fail to tell
Those plain events which children know so well;
That maids will not, with comrades in the train,
Tell the soft love-tale to their favour'd swain.
False prophet, hence! for thee nor love inspires,
Nor Venus gratifies with soft desires."

Then Mopsus laugh'd, as scoffing thus she spoke,
To hear the bird her dark predictions croak; 1001
And thus: " Hence, Jason, to the fane, and find
The maiden to thy warmest wishes kind;
Venus approves, and fortune will ensue,
If what prophetic Phineus said prove true.
Myself and Argus here will wait apart,
Go and unfold the secrets of thy heart;

Be every mode of soft persuasion try'd."
He counsel'd wisely, and the chief comply'd.

Meanwhile the maid her secret thoughts enjoy'd,
And one dear object all her soul employ'd: 1011
Her train's gay sports no pleasure can restore,
Vain was the dance, and music charm'd no more;
She hates each object, every face offends,
In every wish her soul to Jason sends;
With sharpen'd eyes the distant lawn explores,
To find the hero whom her soul adores;
'At every whisper of the passing air,

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She starts, she turns, and hopes her Jason there;
Again she fondly looks, nor looks in vain,
He comes, her Jason shines along the plain.
As when, emerging from the watery way,
Refulgent Sirius lifts his golden ray,
He shines terrific! for his burning breath
Taints the red air with fevers, plagues, and death;
Such to the nymph approaching Jason shows,
.Bright author of unutterable woes;
Before her eyes a swimming darkness spread,
Her flush'd cheeks glow'd, her very heart was dead:
No more her knees their wonted office knew, 1030
Fix'd, without motion, as to earth they grew.
Her train recedes-the meeting lovers gaze
In silent wonder, and in still amaze.
As two fair cedars on the mountain's brow,
Pride of the groves! with roots adjoining grow;
Erect and motionless the stately trees
Short time remain, while sleeps each fanning breeze,
Till from th' Æolian caves a blast unbound
Bends their proud tops, and bids their boughs re-
sound:

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Thus gazing they; till by the breath of love, Strongly at last inspir'd, they speak, they move; With smiles the love-sick virgin he survey'd, And fondly thus address'd the blooming maid:

"Dismiss, my fair, my love, thy virgin fear; 'Tis Jason speaks, no enemy is here! Dread not in me a haughty heart to find, In Greece I bore no proud inhuman mind. Whom would'st thou fly? stay, lovely virgin, stay!

Speak every thought! far hence be fears away!
Speak! and be truth in every accent found! 1050
Scorn to deceive! we tread on hallow'd ground.
By the stern power who guards this sacred place,
By the fam'd authors of thy royal race;
By Jove, to whom the stranger's cause belongs,
To whom the suppliant, and who feels their wrongs;
O guard me, save me, in the needful hour!
Without thy aid thy Jason is no more.
To thee a suppliant, in distress I bend,
To thee a stranger, one who wants a friend!
Then, when between us seas and mountains rise,
Medea's name shall sound in distant skies; 1061
All Greece to thee shall owe her heroes' fates,
And bless Medea thro' her hundred states.
The mother and the wife, who now in vain
Roll their sad eyes fast-streaming o'er the main,
Shall stay their tears: the mother, and the wife,
Shall bless thee for a son's or husband's life!
Fair Ariadne, sprung from Minos' bed,
Sav'd valiant Theseus, and with Theseus filed,
Forsook her father, and her native plain,
And stem'd the tumults of the surging main;
Yet the stern sire relented, and forgave
The maid, whose only crime it was to save;
Ev'n the just gods forgave: and now on high
A star she shines, and beautifies the sky:

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What blessings then shall righteous Heaven decree
For all our heroes sav'd, and sav'd by thee?
Heaven gave thee not to kill, so soft an air;
And cruelty sure never look'd so fair!"

He ceas'd, but left so charming on her ear 1080
His voice, that listening still she seem'd to hear;
Her eyes to earth she bends with modest grace,
And Heaven in smiles is open'd on her face.
A look she steals; but rosy blushes spread
O'er her fair cheek, and then she hangs her head.
A thousand words at once to speak she tries;
In vain but speaks a thousand with her eyes;
Trembling the shining casket she expands,
Then gives the magic virtue to his hands;
And had the power been granted to convey 1090
Her heart had given her very heart away.
For Jason beam'd in beauty's charms so bright,
The maid admiring languish'd with delight.
Thus, when the rising Sun appears in view,
On the fair rose dissolves the radiant dew.
Now on the ground both cast their bashful eyes,
Both view each other now with wild surprise.
The rosy smiles now dimpling on their cheeks,
The fair at length in faltering accents speaks:
"Observant thou to my advice attend,
And hear what succour I propose to lend.
Soon as my sire Eeta shall bestow
The dragon's teeth in Mars's field to sow,
The foll'wing night in equal shares divide;
Bathe well thy limbs in some perennial tide;
Then all retir'd, thyself in black array,
Dig the round foss, and there a victim slay,
A female lamb; the carcase place entire
Above the foss, then light the sacred pyre,
And Perseus' daughter, Hecate, appease
With honey, sweetest labour of the bees;
This done, retreat, nor, while the relics burn,
Let howling dogs provoke thee to return,
Nor human footsteps; lest thou render vain
The charm, and with dishonour join thy train.
Next morn, the whole enchantment to fulfil,
This magic unguent on thy limbs distil:

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Then thou with ease wilt strong and graceful move,

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Not like a mortal, but the gods above.
Forget not with this unguent to besmear
Thy sword, thy buckler, and tremendous spear:
No giant's falchions then can harm thy frame,
Nor the fell rage of bulls expiring flame.
One day, nor longer, wilt thou keep the field;
Nor thou to perils, nor to labour yield.

But mark my words; when thou, with ceaseless tõil, Hast yok'd the bulls and plough'd the stubbora soil;

And seest up-springing on the teeth-sown land
Of giant foes a formidable band,

1131

Hurl slily 'midst their ranks a rough hard stone,
And they, like dogs contending for a bone,
Will slay each other: thou with speed renew
The glowing fight, and conquest will ensue.
Thus shalt thou bear from Æa's realms to Greece,
If such thy fix'd resolve, the golden fleece."

This said, her eyes were fix'd upon the ground,
And her fair cheeks with streaming sorrows drown'd;
Desponding anguish seiz'd her gentle mind,
Lest he should leave her comfortless behind.
Imbolden'd thus, him by the hand she press'd,
And in the language of her soul address'd; 1141
"If safely hence thou sail'st, O, think of me
As I for ever shall remember thee!

And freely tell me, to relieve my pain,

Where lies thy home beyond the boundless main?
Say, is Orchomenos thy native soil?

Or dwell'st thou nearer on th' Ææan isle?
Let me that far-fam'd virgin's name inquire,
Who boasts the same high lineage with my sire."
She said; her tears his soft compassion won,
And thus the chief, by love inspir'd, begun: 1151
"While on my fancy bright ideas play,
Thy image never from my soul shall stray,
If safe I sail, preserv'd by thee, to Greece,
Nor heavier labours interrupt my peace.
But if the distant country where I dwell
Thy will demands, my ready tongue shall tell.
A land there is which lofty hills surround,
For fertile pastures and rith herds renown'd,
Where from Prometheus good Deucalion came,
His royal heir, Hæmonia is the name.
Deucalion here the first foundations laid

1161

Of towns, built fanes, and men by empire sway'd;
There my lolcos stands, and many more
Fair ample cities, that adorn the shore.
What time, as rumour'd by the voice of fame,
Folian Minyas to that country came,

He built, close bordering on the Theban ground,
Orchomenos, a city far renown'd.

1180

But why your wonder should I vainly raise? 1170
My birth-place tell, and Ariadne's praise?
For this the virgin's name you now inquire,
A lovely maid, and Minos is her sire.
Oh! may, like hers, your sire propitious prove,
Who honour'd Theseus with his daughter's love!"
Complacent thus he sooth'd her sorrowing soul;
Yet anxious cares within her bosom roll.
"Perchance in Greece," the pensive maid rejoin'd,
"Oaths are rever'd, and solemn compacts bind.
But Minos greatly differs from my sire,
Nor I to Ariadne's charms aspire.
Then mention hospitality no more;
But, safe conducted to thy native shore,
Grant this, 'tis all I ask, Oh! think of me,
As I for ever shall remember thee,
In my great site, the Colchian king's despite:
But if thy pride my ardent passion slight,
Fame, or some bird the hateful news will bring;
Then will I chase thee on the tempest's wing,
Brand thy false heart, thy curs'd familiar be, 1190
And prove thouw'st thy life, thy all to me."
Medea thus, and tears abundant shed;
And mildly thus the son of Æson said:
"In vain, dear nymph,thy missive bird shall soar
Thro' air sublime, in vain the tempest roar.
But if towards Greece thou deign'st thy course to
bear,

Immortal honours shall attend thee there;
There husbands, brothers, sons, so long deplor'd,
Safe to their native land by thee restor❜d,
Shall as a goddess reverence thy name,
And pay thee rites which only gods can claim.
But would'st thou grace my bed with bridal

state,

Our love can only be dissolv'd by fate."

1200

His words with raptures all her soul subdue;
Yet gloomy objects rise before her view,
Ordain'd, ere long, Thessalia's realms to see;
For such was Juno's absolute decree,

That soon to Greece the Colchian maid should go,
To Pelias, source of unremitting woe.
Meanwhile apart her anxious handmaids stay,
In silence waiting till the close of day:

1211

Such pleasing transports in her bosom roll,
His form, his words so captivate her soul,
On feather'd feet the hours unheeded filed,
Which warn'd her home: "Hence" (cautious Jason
said)

"Hence let us hasten unperceiv'd away,

And here enraptur'd pass some future day."

Thus the blest hours in converse sweet they

spent,

1220

And both unwilling from the temple went;
He to his comrades bordering on the main,
The fair Medea to her virgin train.
Her train approach'd, but stood unnotic'd by;
Her soul sublime expatiates in the sky.
Her rapid car she mounts; this hand sustains
The polish'd thong, and that the flowing reins.
Fleet o'er the plain the nimble mules convey'd
To a's walls the love-transported maid.
Meanwhile Chalciope astonish'd stands,
And instant tidings of her sons demands;
In vain: sad cares had clos'd Medea's ears, 1230
No answers gives she, and no questions hears;
But on a footstool low, beside her bed,

All bath'd in tears she sits; her hand sustains her head.

There sits she pondering, in a pensive state,
What dire distresses on her counsels wait.
But Jason, eager to return, withdrew
With his two friends, and join'd his social crew,
Who throng'd impatient round, while he display'd
The secret counsels of the Colchian maid,
And show'd the potent herbs: Idas apart
Conceal'd the choler rankling in his heart.
Meanwhile the rest, when glimmering day-light
clos'd,

1240

Wrapp'd in the mantle of the night repos'd.
Next morn they sent thalides the son
Of Mercury, and valiant Telamon,
(For thus in council had the Greeks decreed)
Of fierce Eta to demand the seed,
The serpent's teeth, whose ever-wakeful sight
Watch'd o'er the fountain of the god of fight.
This baneful monster was by Cadmus slain, 1250
Seeking Europa o'er the Theban plain;
An heifer to his seat of regal sway,
So will'd prophetic Phoebus, led the way.
These teeth Minerva from the monster rent,
And part to Cadmus and eta sent:
Sow'd on Bocotia's ample plains, from those
A hardy race of earth-born giants rose.
To Jason these he gave, a precious spoil;
Nor, tho' his matchless arm the bulls might foil,
Deem'd he, that victory would crown his toil.
The Sun now sinking with a feeble ray
To distant Ethiopians slop'd his way;
Night yok'd her steeds: the Grecian heroes
spread

1261

Around the halsers and the sails their bed.
The northern Bear was sunk beneath the hills,
And all the air a solemn silence fills:
Jason to lonely haunts pursu'd his way;
(All rites adjusted the preceding day)
'Twas Argus' care a lambkin to provide,
And milk, the rest the ready ship supply'd. 1270
A sweet sequester'd spot the hero found,
Where silence reigns, and welling streams abound;
And here, observant of due rites, he laves,
His limbs immerging in the cleansing waves;
Then o'er his shoulders, pledge of favours past,
The gift of fair Hypsipyia, he cast,

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