A Pom-
peiian mural showed Jason and Pelias, Micon and Cydias pictured the
company of heroes and their ship, and Lysippus represented them in
sculpture.
peiian mural showed Jason and Pelias, Micon and Cydias pictured the
company of heroes and their ship, and Lysippus represented them in
sculpture.
Ovid - 1934 - Metamorphoses in European Culture - v2
He differed from Pindar regarding
the circumstances under which Jason began the quest. Learning who
Jason was, he said, Pelias asked him what he would do if he were king
and if he were told that a certain man was to cause his death. Jason re-
plied that he would send him in quest of the Golden Fleece. The Manual,
repeating this account, added that his answer was inspired by Juno,
divine ally of Jason.
Pherecydes recorded a second labor imposed on Jason. In a Finnish
epic, the Kalevala, the old enchantress required Ilmarinen to plow a field,
the upturned soil of which became alive with vipers. A similar task fell
to Jason. Many teeth of the Theban dragon had not been planted by
Cadmus (cf. Bk. 3) but had been conveyed by Athena to Aeetes. The
latter required Jason to plant them and to encounter the crop of war-
riors which they would produce. In the Kalevala the daughter of the
enchantress taught Ilmarinen how to subdue the vipers; and, in the
account of Pherecydes, Medea taught Jason how to destroy the warriors
sprung from the dragon's teeth. Jason threw stones among them; the
warriors, believing that their neighbors had hit them, fought among
themselves; and then Jason attacked them with his sword. This adven-
ture became one of the most famous incidents in the story of Jason.
Apollonius gave a different reason for the strife among the warriors.
Jason, he said, rolled among them a boulder to which Medea had given
such magic properties that it drove them mad.
In the popular fairy tale the enchanter usually pursued the eloping
hero and heroine. To delay him, the heroine cast behind her various
objects, which proved formidable obstacles for the pursuer. A comb
would turn into a range of hills, and a bottle of water might expand into
a lake. By this means the youth and maiden were able to escape.
A similar event Pherecydes recorded in the story of Jason and
Medea. Even after Jason performed the labors, he said, Aeetes refused
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
to give him the Fleece. Jason had to seize it and flee in his ship. Although
the Argo had been regarded as the first vessel on the sea, Pherecydes de-
clared that Aeetes had a ship and gave chase. Medea cast behind her
objects intended to delay him. But they were not of the usual harmless
variety. Previous accounts had shown Medea as a gentle, beneficent
maiden. It was true that she secretly thwarted her father and fled with
a stranger. But her father was first a cruel ogre and then a barbarous
Colchian and the youth was leader of the choicest heroes of Greece. In
addition Medea's father had tried both cruelly and treacherously to
withhold an object essential to the welfare of Jason and his kindred.
Under these circumstances the scrupulous Pindar thought that even her
failings leaned to virtue's side. But Pherecydes pictured Medea as her-
self a barbarous Colchian. When she fled with Jason, she took away her
infant brother Absyrtus ; and, when her father gave chase, she killed the
child and scattered his limbs over the sea. It was the pious duty of bury-
ing them which delayed the father and permitted the lovers to escape.
In the Colchian Women Sophocles treated the labors of J ason and
added further details. Not far from the home of Aeetes, he observed,
Prometheus was chained to a Caucasian crag and was assailed periodi-
cally by a vulture. Where his blood dripped on the soil below, there grew
a supernatural plant, the juice of which would give immunity to fire and
metallic weapons. By anointing the Greek hero with this juice, Medea
made it possible for him to conquer the fiery bulls and earthborn
warriors. The idea was repeated by Apollonius and became the usual
account.
In another play, the Scythian Women, Sophocles gave a new story
of Absyrtus. The Argo had arrived at the European shore of the Black
Sea, when Medea discovered that her father was pursuing. To delay him,
she cut Absyrtus to pieces, put the child's head on a conspicuous rock
near the shore and then scattered his limbs over the neighboring fields.
From this event the place acquired its historical name of Tomis (Mincy).
Ovid afterwards alluded to the version of Sophocles in his Amores and
his Epistle of Hypsipyle and he retold it in a Pontic Epistle.
Euripides in his Medea referred often to the events at Colchis and
introduced many new ideas. Jason, he said, promised to be faithful to
Medea and to make her his wife, and Medea in return made possible not
only his performance of the labors but his victory over the dragon. Both
these circumstances appeared regularly in subsequent versions of the
story. In his reference to the dragon, Euripides implied that the reptile
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? JASON AND MEDEA
was not killed but merely stupified and that Medea accomplished this by
a magic potion. The new idea was stated clearly by Apollonius and other
subsequent authors. Euripides emphasized the moral issues involved and
gave a very unfavorable impression of Medea. Presenting the view of a
hostile speaker, he declared that her motive was shameless lust and her
actions included treason and fratricide. Many authors showed the
influence of this devastating attack. Horace and Propertius spoke em-
phatically of Medea's shameless character; Apollonius felt that her
conduct needed every possible extenuation. Euripides, desiring perhaps
to heighten the unfavorable impression, implied that Medea did not wait
until she was pursued but killed Absyrtus in the palace and strewed his
limbs over the Colchian fields. To this version Ovid alluded in his Epistle
of Medea. The work of Euripides enjoyed immense popularity among
the Greeks. Both Ennius and Accius adapted it for the Roman stage,
and Ovid mentioned it in a Pontic Epistle.
Meanwhile Herodotus dealt with some of the traditional adventures
of Jason and offered a rationalized account. Although he agreed with
Pindar that Jason visited Libya, he differed as to the circumstances.
Before going in quest of the Fleece, he said, Jason attempted a voyage
round the Peloponnesus to Delphi. At the southern extremity of Greece
a storm caught the Argo and drove it across the Mediterranean. It
arrived in Libya and Lake Tritonis, but from the north. Apollonius
repeated the idea, but he imagined the adventure as occurring near the
end of Jason's voyage back to Iolcus.
After the excursion to Libya, Herodotus continued, Jason pro-
ceeded to Colchis. Noting that Colchians were distinguished by the
swarthy appearance and peculiar customs of the Egyptians, Herodotus
suggested their being descendants of a garrison left by the mythical
Egyptian conqueror Sesostris. Apollonius repeated this opinion, but he
described Medea herself as having long and beautiful yellow hair. Ac-
cording to Herodotus, the Greeks visited Colchis for purposes of trade,
but on their departure they carried off the princess Medea.
Herodotus told a new story of the pursuit. Aeetes, he said, did not
himself give chase but sent a ship with a herald to demand reparation
for the injury. The Colchians overtook the Greeks and delivered their
message. But the Greeks replied that Asiatic nations had given no rep-
aration for Io and should receive none for Medea. With this answer the
Colchians were obliged to let them go. Callimachus repeated the idea
that Aeetes despatched only part of his followers. Remembering the tale
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
of Europa (Bk. 2), he added that Aeetes also forbade their returning
without Medea. The Colchians therefore continued on through the
Hellespont and round the shores of Greece and finally settled in Epirus
and Illyria. Lycophron recorded the name of their Illyrian settlement
as Polae.
According to the usual tradition, the ship Argo went ultimately to
Corinth and remained there. Aratus imagined, however, that it entered
the skies as the constellation Argo of the southern hemisphere.
Apollonius made the whole story of Jason's voyage the theme of an
interesting and often beautiful poetic narrative. Although the Odyssey
had spoken of Juno as friendly to the Greek hero, Apollonius was the
first to suggest a cause. Jason, finding the goddess disguised as an old
woman, had carried her over the swollen river Anaurus. During the pas-
sage, Apollonius continued, he lost a sandal, and for this reason he ap-
peared in Iolcus with only one. Another cause for Juno's friendliness
was her strong dislike of Pelias. Apollonius offered no explanation, but
the Manual afterwards told the story as follows. Cretheus, becoming
weary of Tyro, mother of Pelias, took a second wife. The latter, abusing
Tyro, roused the anger of Pelias. Drawing his sword, he pursued her
into a temple of Juno and killed her before the shrine, and instead of
offering the goddess atonement, he continued afterwards to neglect and
defy her.
After telling of Jason's departure in the Argo, Apollonius repeated
the traditional adventures of the outward voyage and added many
others. One of these was important for his narrative of the events in
Colchis. Phrixus, he said, had four sons and before his death he urged
them to revisit Greece and to obtain their inherited property. Ship-
wrecked on an island, they were rescued by Jason and readily undertook
to help him win the Fleece. At first King Aeetes received Jason and his
new friends hospitably. But, when the oldest son of Phrixus told the
cause of Jason's voyage, Aeetes remembered that an oracle had warned
him to fear the plots of his own descendants. Imagining that it referred
to the sons of Phrixus, Aeetes not only imposed formidable labors but
planned secretly to burn the Argo and massacre the entire crew.
In the hands of Apollonius, the familiar tale of Jason and Medea
became the first romantic love story of ancient times. Apollonius was
careful to enlist the reader's sympathy for Medea and to give her every
possible extenuation. He had pictured Aeetes as even more cruel and
treacherous than previous authors suggested, and he showed that Medea
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? JASON AND MEDEA
guessed this treachery from the beginning. With Pindar he agreed that
Venus inspired Medea's love for Jason, but he imagined that she did this
by having Cupid shoot her with an arrow. Although Medea was priestess
of Hecate and an enchantress skilled in herbs, Apollonius presented her
as still young and naive. Maidenly bashfulness and duty yielded but
slowly to love. With sympathy and understanding, Apollonius recorded
every stage of the losing struggle.
After hours of wakeful meditation, Medea visited Chalciope to ask
for her aid. She argued plausibly that Chalciope's sons were likely to
share the fate of Jason and the Argonauts. Apollonius represented
Chalciope as much older than Medea and as having almost a mother's
authority, for she had reared her younger sister with her own children.
Persuaded already by the oldest son of Phrixus, Chalciope not only ap-
proved of Medea's request but urged her to meet Jason at the temple of
Hecate and provide him with the charm necessary for accomplishing his
labors. Although Medea promised to do this at dawn, she still recoiled
at the thought of betraying her father and was about to drink poison,
when she was checked suddenly by the recollection of life's hopes and
joys. * Jason, gifted by his divine allies with an almost supernaturally
attractive appearance, proceeded to the temple. Medea at first was
speechless with conflicting emotions. In the course of a long, very inter-
esting interview, she told Jason the use of the charm and Jason offered
her marriage.
When Jason performed the labors, Pindar had mentioned the dis-
pleasure of Aeetes, and Pherecydes had mentioned his refusal to give up
the Fleece. Apollonius imagined that he went much further. Guessing
that Jason had received help from his daughters, the king summoned his
chieftains, in order to plan the speedy destruction of the Argo. Medea
realized that her own life was in danger and she again thought of suicide.
Juno persuaded her to escape with Jason. Hastening by night to his
camp, she warned him of his peril and required him to swear that he
would make her his wife. She then led him to the oak tree on which
Aeetes had hung the Fleece.
After the departure from Colchis, Apollonius introduced many fur-
ther changes. The idea that Jason returned prosaically by way of the
Propontis had not satisfied the Greeks. A certain Timagetes thought
that he might have sailed up the Danube and arrived at the headwaters
*To Goethe this beautiful passage probably suggested a similar event near the
beginning of his Faust.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
of the Adriatic Sea. Apollonius gladly followed the suggestion. Although
he recorded the death of Absyrtus, he altered almost all the circum-
stances. Absyrtus, he said, was only a half brother of Medea and was
much older. At the head of a Colchian fleet he overtook the Argo near
the Adriatic Sea. There Medea lured him into an ambush, but it was
Jason who committed the treacherous murder. The archipelago in which
the event occurred was known afterwards as the Absyrtus Islands. This
account was repeated later by Hyginus and by Valerius Flaccus.
After the murder, Apollonius continued, Jason and Medea were
obliged to sail by way of the rivers Po and Rhone to the western Medi-
terranean in order to obtain purification from Circe. Their voyage then
took them past the Sirens and the Wanderers. This route, according to
the Odyssey, would have avoided the perils of Scylla and Charybdis. But
the Wanderers now were associated with the Lipari Islands, and Scylla
and Charybdis were localized in the Straits of Messina. It seemed likely
that Jason would encounter all these perils, and Apollonius declared that
he did. Callimachus had imagined that a fleet of Colchians, which had
been despatched in pursuit of Jason, sailed by way of the Propontis to
the coast of Epirus. These Colchians, said Apollonius, met the Argo-
nauts at the island of Corcyra. Jason had intended to defer his mar-
riage with Medea until he arrived in Iolcus, but he found it necessary to
marry her in order to secure protection from King Alcinous.
The narrative of Apollonius gave the fullest and most interesting
story of Jason's voyage. It influenced all subsequent accounts of Jason
which appeared in ancient times and also Vergil's even greater story of
Dido and Aeneas. A Latin translation of Apollonius by Varro of Atax
was admired greatly by Propertius and Ovid. It is doubtful whether
Ovid knew the original.
Influenced by the version of Apollonius, Lycophron gave a more
fantastic account of the Colchian pursuit. The dragon, recovering from
the effect of the magic potion, followed the Argo to Corcyra and harried
King Alcinous until it was destroyed by Diomed.
The Manual repeated briefly the greater part of the story of the
Argo. Regarding the events in Colchis, it differed from Apollonius at
many points. It ascribed Medea's actions to sudden, but wholly natural,
passion, and it did not indicate her hesitation. Jason himself made the
request for the Fleece. The Manual did not imply that Aeetes was
friendly in the beginning and did not mention the oracle. It said nothing
of Jason's receiring aid from the sons of Phrixus or from Chalciope.
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? JASON AND MEDEA
Medea required Jason to promise marriage before giving him the pro-
tective charm. Regarding the death of Absyrtus, the Manual agreed
with Pherecydes that his body was strewn over the sea and with Sopho-
cles that it was buried at Tomis. It recorded the return voyage up the
Danube and on through the Straits of Messina but said nothing of an
excursion to Libya.
Greek artists frequently treated the story of the Argo.
A Pom-
peiian mural showed Jason and Pelias, Micon and Cydias pictured the
company of heroes and their ship, and Lysippus represented them in
sculpture. Vase painters showed Jason taking the Fleece.
Apollonius and the Manual had assumed that Jason could travel
by water from the Danube to the Adriatic Sea. Further geographical
knowledge proved this impossible. Later Alexandrians then suggested
still another route. After leaving Colchis, Jason proceeded northwards
to the mouth of the Don and up this river to a stream which entered the
Baltic Sea. He cruised along the western shore of Europe by way of
Ireland and returned through the Straits of Gibraltar. This idea influ-
enced the Greek poem ascribed to Orpheus and the Roman narrative of
Valerius Flaccus.
Vergil, Horace, and Propertius alluded frequently to the myth of
the Argo, showing particular interest in the labors of Jason. Vergil
noted in the Georgics that fiery bulls and dragon's teeth were happily
absent from Italy. Horace pictured Hannibal as declaring that the de-
feated Romans raised new armies as quickly as the soil of Thebes or
Colchis.
Ovid took great interest in the myth of the Argo and mentioned it
often in his poetry. In his Epistle of Hypsipyle, he dealt with Jason's
adventure on the island of Lemnos and he brought a new element into
the tale.
Although savage peoples often have shown a stoical courage in the
face of danger and physical pain, they rarely have been ascetic. And
this has been true also of their mythical heroes. If a mythical hero was
obliged to reside for a while in a strange land, the savages imagined that
during his sojourn there he would be glad to make some attractive
woman his paramour and that, when his affairs took him elsewhere, he
would leave her without compunction. Such conduct was not regarded as
sensual or fickle. The remarkable thing in the minds of savages was not
that the hero dallied a while with a paramour but that, instead of con-
tinuing with her indefinitely, he had the strength of character to resume
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
his difficult quest. If the hero was a married man, his dalliance while
unavoidably absent from his wife was not regarded as disloyalty, either
by public opinion or by the wife. His departure was not resented by the
paramour. She would prefer to keep him longer and might use any avail-
able means to prevent his going. But when it became clear that he would
leave her, the paramour accepted the fact with entire good humor.
Such complacency on all sides appeared in more than one myth of
early Greece. In the Odyssey Ulysses remained for a year with Circe,
becoming the father of two sons, and he spent seven years with Calypso.
But, persisting in his desire to reach Ithaca, he left these two goddesses;
each of them gave him a kind farewell and much helpful advice about his
voyage; and he was rewarded at last by a safe arrival in his kingdom
and a cordial welcome from his wife Penelope. Greek authors frequently
repeated the story, the Manual adding that Calypso bore a son Latinus,
and Ovid himself retold the adventure with Circe (Bk. 14).
While Hercules was delayed in the region of the Black Sea, Hero-
dotus tells us, he consorted with Echidna long enough to become the
father of three sons. Then he resumed his quest. Echidna, consenting
to his departure, was anxious only to learn his wishes about the rearing
of the sons. Jason remained a year with Hypsipyle, becoming the father
of two sons, and then continued his voyage to Colchis. And Apollonius
imagined that Hypsipyle made a similar amicable arrangement as to the
care of their children. Nor did she complain because Jason was leaving
her island exposed to attack by the Thracians. Probably she thought
herself fortunate to have enjoyed his protection for a year.
Vergil gave Aeneas a similar adventure with Dido. Driven to Car-
thage by a storm, Aeneas remained with the queen through the ensuing
winter and then gave up further indulgence in order to found his king-
dom in Italy. All this followed the usual course of Greek tradition. But
Vergil presented the situation as tragic. Aeneas, grieving deeply at the
suffering of Dido, remained faithful to duty. Dido, alarmed at the danger
of hostile neighbors, wild with sorrow and indignation at the loss of
Aeneas, protested violently and killed herself on a funeral pyre. It was
impossible to read Vergil's tale without misgivings as to the conduct of
Aeneas and sympathy for the anguish of the deserted woman. And Vergil
related the adventure to further ill consequences of a momentous nature,
for he associated the curse of Dido with terrible wars between Carthage
and Rome. Dalliance in a remote land was cruel to the woman and might
prove very dangerous for the hero's country.
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? JASON AND MEDEA
Ovid showed Vergil's influence in much of his amatory poetry.
His Remedies for Love described Circe as remonstrating disconsolately
against the departure of Ulysses and even as using the language of
Vergil's heroine. In the Epistle of Dido Ovid told how the queen of Car-
thage sent a letter after Aeneas complaining of his infidelity and her
forlorn condition. In other epistles of the Heroides Ovid imagined that
heroines of mythology composed similar letters full of bitter reproach.
And he pictured Hypsipyle as writing an epistle of this kind to Jason.
The Epistle of Hypsipyle made a deep impression on the medieval poets,
notably Chaucer, and affected their whole conception of Jason's char-
acter. They presented him as a deliberate seducer of women, not only in
his dealings with Hypsipyle but also in his treatment of Medea.
Ovid referred often to the adventures in Colchis. In a Pontic Epistle
he spoke of Cupid's visiting the region of the Black Sea to enlist Medea's
aid for Jason. The Epistle of Medea referred at some length to the
courtship of the lovers, agreeing with Apollonius as to the part played
by the sons of Phrixus and by Chalciope. The Epistle of Hypsipyle
made abundant allusion to the labors of Jason and to ensuing events.
Ovid showed the queen of Lemnos characterizing Medea as unworthy of
Jason, on the ground that she was a barbarian, a practiser of witch-
craft, a traitress to sire and country, and the cruel murderess of her
brother.
For the Metamorphoses Ovid thought it wise to leave out much of
the traditional story of the Argo. The account of Phrixus and the ram
he was reserving for the Fasti. The sequence of time in his Metamor-
phoses required him to imagine Jason as active so long after Athamas
that it would be difficult to repeat the interview with Pelias, and the
same sequence required him to imagine Jason as appearing so long be-
fore the time of Hercules and other traditional members of the crew that
it would be impossible to repeat the usual list. But later, in the tale of
Ajax and Ulysses (Bk. 13), Ovid referred inconsistently to Telamon as
a follower of Jason. In one epistle of the Heroides Ovid had told already
of Hypsipyle, and in another he had indicated the part played by the
sons of Phrixus. All this material Ovid excluded from his account in
the Metamorphoses.
Ovid noted that Zetes and Calais rescued Phineus from the Harpies.
At this point he said nothing further about the adventure, but later he
agreed with Vergil that Aeneas found the Harpies living in the Stro-
phades Islands (Bk. 13). In the Epistle of Medea Ovid had referred to
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
the Symplegades as identical with the Wanderers, and as encountered in
the voyage back to Iolcus. Adopting the same idea in the Metamor-
phoses, he passed immediately to the events at Colchis.
In the Epistle of Medea Ovid had followed Apollonius. He de-
scribed Aeetes as friendly in the beginning, and he implied that inter-
vention by a deity was the cause of Medea's violent love. In the Meta-
morphoses Ovid followed the Manual. He indicated that Aeetes always
was hostile and that Medea was influenced only by her natural feelings.
This allowed him to vary his account, and it had a further advantage.
In the tales of Daphne (Bk. 1) and of Proserpina (Bk. 5) Ovid already
had told of Cupid's shooting an arrow in order to cause violent passion,
and he did not wish to include a similar incident in the tale of Jason.
But later he spoke vaguely of the god of love as overcoming Medea's
resistance.
Ovid then turned at once to the love of Medea and Jason. Like
Apollonius, he wished to enlist the reader's sympathy for them, but he
dealt with the moral issues more severely.
During the night after Jason's interview with Aeetes, Apollonius
aad shown Chalciope urging Medea to help the Argonauts and arrang-
ing to have her meet Jason in the temple of Hecate. Ovid assumed that
his readers would be familiar with these events; and, since he had men-
tioned them in the Heroides, he proceeded at once to the reflections of
Medea. By this means he avoided some inconvenient explanation, but he
left the situation obscure.
Apollonius had used a lengthy narrative, with a number of solilo-
quies, in order to show the growth of Medea's passion. For dramatic
effect Ovid wished to shorten the account. In the epistles of the Heroides
he often had given the essential part of a tale by writing what was equiv-
alent to a single monologue. It occurred to him that he might give the
essential part of the present story in one soliloquy of the heroine.
Although his method in the Heroides was good, it had required him often
to imagine that a letter was written under very improbable circum-
stances and always to include material that was necessary for the
reader's understanding of the situation but was difficult to present with
good effect. In the story of Medea these objections would not occur. It
was probable that she would review her problem in dramatic meditation.
It was possible to reserve explanations for the accompanying narrative.
In the Heroides Ovid had shown his heroines meditating unhappily
about past events, but in the soliloquy of Medea he would picture a more
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? JASON AND MEDEA
dramatic situation. Medea would consider her course in the future and
would hesitate between prudence and passion. To Ovid it suggested the
idea of a debate. Euripides in a number of dramas, one of them his
Medea, had shown two characters presenting the two sides of an im-
portant moral issue. Vergil had followed his example in a conversation
between Dido and Anna, and in Vergil's tale the issue lay between duty
and love. Euripides had gone a step further. In his Meleager he showed
Althaea herself presenting both sides of a moral issue, duty to her
brothers conflicting with duty to her son (cf. Bk. 8). Ovid followed
both Vergil and Euripides. He pictured Medea debating the opposite
claims of duty and love and herself presenting both sides of the issue.
For the material used in the soliloquy Ovid drew chiefly on Apol-
lonius, but he introduced important ideas suggested by Euripides and
Vergil.
Medea guessed, he said, that a deity was overcoming her resistance.
Naively she wondered if the strange experience could be love. Then she
tried to calm her agitation. It was neither reasonable to feel such anxiety
for a stranger nor in accord with maidenly modesty to entertain such a
passion. But she could not follow the course of reason. Euripides had
shown his Medea declaring that her judgment was better than her
wishes. He had shown Phaedra confessing that she knew what was best
but she did not do it. Ovid imagined his Medea as stating the case with
even more tragic clarity: "I see the better course, and I approve it; I
follow the worse. "
Medea reflected that, if she was going to love a man, he ought to be
a Colchian. She added quickly, however, that only a heartless person
could be indifferent to Jason's merit and his imminent peril; and she
mentioned the fiery bulls, the warriors, and the unsleeping dragon. Dido
had accused Aeneas of being so cruel that he must have been nursed by
Hyrcanian tigresses. Medea stated the thought even more emphatically.
To be indifferent, she would have to be the offspring of a tigress. But
pity without action would be of no avail. She must betray her father and
become liable to punishment for treason.
Jason might treat her with ingratitude. He might sail away indif-
ferent to her fate and marry a princess of Greece. Medea recoiled indig-
nantly at the thought of his preferring another woman to her, who had
sacrificed so much for his sake, and held it better for him to perish at
once. Under the circumstances these reflections were natural; but Ovid
also expected his readers to know that, after returning to Greece, Jason
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
really showed ingratitude of this kind and Medea resented it in a still
more terrible way. At the moment, Ovid continued, Medea rejected the
thought of Jason's proving ungrateful. According to Apollonius, Jason
had inferred from Medea's appearance that she would act graciously.
Ovid attributed a similar inference to Medea. Jason's expression, his
noble mind, his gracious appearance assured her that he would be hon-
orable and appreciative. The Manual had spoken of Medea as requiring
him to promise in advance that he would make her his wife. Ovid showed
her devising this plan as further reassurance against her fear. She then
reflected on the advantages which would be hers in such a marriage.
She should have the profound gratitude of Jason and his people. Her
future husband would feel always that he owed his life to her kindness;
the Greek matrons would acclaim her as the preserver of their sons.
Medea hesitated again at the sacrifice which her departure would
require. She must leave sister, brother, father, gods, and native land.
But the loss did not appear too great. Her brother was an infant, her
father was a ferocious man, her land was barbarous, and Love, the great-
est god, was in her breast. Apollonius had noted that Chalciope urged
Medea to help the Argonauts, in order to protect the sons of Phrixus.
Ovid added, therefore, that Medea's sister was favorable to her project.
But in the new context this implied that she favored her marrying Jason
-- an improbable idea and a strange reason for leaving her with equa-
nimity. Apollonius had told how Medea grieved at departing from her
mother and how she left a tress of hair as an affectionate memento. In
the Epistle of Medea, Ovid had spoken of her as forsaking a loved
mother. But in the Metamorphoses he ignored this idea because he did
not wish to confuse the issue between prudence and passion. Euripides,
presenting the view of Jason, had observed that when Medea left bar-
barous Colchis, she obtained in compensation an acquaintance with the
famous cities of civilized Greece. Ovid pictured Medea as herself, look-
ing forward to this compensation. And he added --- rather without war-
rant -- that even before the coming of the Argo, the fame of the Greek
cities had spread to Colchis. But her greatest comfort would be such a
husband as Jason. Ovid imagined her as repeating the idea of Apol-
lonius that she should be called loved of the gods and echoing the famous
phrase of Horace that with her head she should touch the stars.
Still another deterrent occurred to Medea, the mysterious perils of
the sea. Since the Colchians had a fleet of ships, it might be possible for
her to know something of those perils which were most famous. Ovid
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? JASON AND MEDEA
showed Medea speaking vaguely of the Symplegades, of Charybdis, and
of Scylla barking in Sicilian waters and so alluding unconsciously to
the chief perils that she was soon to encounter. Ovid did not attempt to
give a clear description of their nature because he planned to do this
later. In the speech of Pythagoras (Bk. 15) he would have occasion to
mention the Symplegades as mountains which originally kept dashing
together with high flung spray but which afterwards became immovable.
And he was to deal with Charybdis and Scylla in his account of Aeneas.
Medea reassured herself on this point also. With Jason protecting her
she could have no fear, unless it were for the safety of her husband.
the circumstances under which Jason began the quest. Learning who
Jason was, he said, Pelias asked him what he would do if he were king
and if he were told that a certain man was to cause his death. Jason re-
plied that he would send him in quest of the Golden Fleece. The Manual,
repeating this account, added that his answer was inspired by Juno,
divine ally of Jason.
Pherecydes recorded a second labor imposed on Jason. In a Finnish
epic, the Kalevala, the old enchantress required Ilmarinen to plow a field,
the upturned soil of which became alive with vipers. A similar task fell
to Jason. Many teeth of the Theban dragon had not been planted by
Cadmus (cf. Bk. 3) but had been conveyed by Athena to Aeetes. The
latter required Jason to plant them and to encounter the crop of war-
riors which they would produce. In the Kalevala the daughter of the
enchantress taught Ilmarinen how to subdue the vipers; and, in the
account of Pherecydes, Medea taught Jason how to destroy the warriors
sprung from the dragon's teeth. Jason threw stones among them; the
warriors, believing that their neighbors had hit them, fought among
themselves; and then Jason attacked them with his sword. This adven-
ture became one of the most famous incidents in the story of Jason.
Apollonius gave a different reason for the strife among the warriors.
Jason, he said, rolled among them a boulder to which Medea had given
such magic properties that it drove them mad.
In the popular fairy tale the enchanter usually pursued the eloping
hero and heroine. To delay him, the heroine cast behind her various
objects, which proved formidable obstacles for the pursuer. A comb
would turn into a range of hills, and a bottle of water might expand into
a lake. By this means the youth and maiden were able to escape.
A similar event Pherecydes recorded in the story of Jason and
Medea. Even after Jason performed the labors, he said, Aeetes refused
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
to give him the Fleece. Jason had to seize it and flee in his ship. Although
the Argo had been regarded as the first vessel on the sea, Pherecydes de-
clared that Aeetes had a ship and gave chase. Medea cast behind her
objects intended to delay him. But they were not of the usual harmless
variety. Previous accounts had shown Medea as a gentle, beneficent
maiden. It was true that she secretly thwarted her father and fled with
a stranger. But her father was first a cruel ogre and then a barbarous
Colchian and the youth was leader of the choicest heroes of Greece. In
addition Medea's father had tried both cruelly and treacherously to
withhold an object essential to the welfare of Jason and his kindred.
Under these circumstances the scrupulous Pindar thought that even her
failings leaned to virtue's side. But Pherecydes pictured Medea as her-
self a barbarous Colchian. When she fled with Jason, she took away her
infant brother Absyrtus ; and, when her father gave chase, she killed the
child and scattered his limbs over the sea. It was the pious duty of bury-
ing them which delayed the father and permitted the lovers to escape.
In the Colchian Women Sophocles treated the labors of J ason and
added further details. Not far from the home of Aeetes, he observed,
Prometheus was chained to a Caucasian crag and was assailed periodi-
cally by a vulture. Where his blood dripped on the soil below, there grew
a supernatural plant, the juice of which would give immunity to fire and
metallic weapons. By anointing the Greek hero with this juice, Medea
made it possible for him to conquer the fiery bulls and earthborn
warriors. The idea was repeated by Apollonius and became the usual
account.
In another play, the Scythian Women, Sophocles gave a new story
of Absyrtus. The Argo had arrived at the European shore of the Black
Sea, when Medea discovered that her father was pursuing. To delay him,
she cut Absyrtus to pieces, put the child's head on a conspicuous rock
near the shore and then scattered his limbs over the neighboring fields.
From this event the place acquired its historical name of Tomis (Mincy).
Ovid afterwards alluded to the version of Sophocles in his Amores and
his Epistle of Hypsipyle and he retold it in a Pontic Epistle.
Euripides in his Medea referred often to the events at Colchis and
introduced many new ideas. Jason, he said, promised to be faithful to
Medea and to make her his wife, and Medea in return made possible not
only his performance of the labors but his victory over the dragon. Both
these circumstances appeared regularly in subsequent versions of the
story. In his reference to the dragon, Euripides implied that the reptile
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? JASON AND MEDEA
was not killed but merely stupified and that Medea accomplished this by
a magic potion. The new idea was stated clearly by Apollonius and other
subsequent authors. Euripides emphasized the moral issues involved and
gave a very unfavorable impression of Medea. Presenting the view of a
hostile speaker, he declared that her motive was shameless lust and her
actions included treason and fratricide. Many authors showed the
influence of this devastating attack. Horace and Propertius spoke em-
phatically of Medea's shameless character; Apollonius felt that her
conduct needed every possible extenuation. Euripides, desiring perhaps
to heighten the unfavorable impression, implied that Medea did not wait
until she was pursued but killed Absyrtus in the palace and strewed his
limbs over the Colchian fields. To this version Ovid alluded in his Epistle
of Medea. The work of Euripides enjoyed immense popularity among
the Greeks. Both Ennius and Accius adapted it for the Roman stage,
and Ovid mentioned it in a Pontic Epistle.
Meanwhile Herodotus dealt with some of the traditional adventures
of Jason and offered a rationalized account. Although he agreed with
Pindar that Jason visited Libya, he differed as to the circumstances.
Before going in quest of the Fleece, he said, Jason attempted a voyage
round the Peloponnesus to Delphi. At the southern extremity of Greece
a storm caught the Argo and drove it across the Mediterranean. It
arrived in Libya and Lake Tritonis, but from the north. Apollonius
repeated the idea, but he imagined the adventure as occurring near the
end of Jason's voyage back to Iolcus.
After the excursion to Libya, Herodotus continued, Jason pro-
ceeded to Colchis. Noting that Colchians were distinguished by the
swarthy appearance and peculiar customs of the Egyptians, Herodotus
suggested their being descendants of a garrison left by the mythical
Egyptian conqueror Sesostris. Apollonius repeated this opinion, but he
described Medea herself as having long and beautiful yellow hair. Ac-
cording to Herodotus, the Greeks visited Colchis for purposes of trade,
but on their departure they carried off the princess Medea.
Herodotus told a new story of the pursuit. Aeetes, he said, did not
himself give chase but sent a ship with a herald to demand reparation
for the injury. The Colchians overtook the Greeks and delivered their
message. But the Greeks replied that Asiatic nations had given no rep-
aration for Io and should receive none for Medea. With this answer the
Colchians were obliged to let them go. Callimachus repeated the idea
that Aeetes despatched only part of his followers. Remembering the tale
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
of Europa (Bk. 2), he added that Aeetes also forbade their returning
without Medea. The Colchians therefore continued on through the
Hellespont and round the shores of Greece and finally settled in Epirus
and Illyria. Lycophron recorded the name of their Illyrian settlement
as Polae.
According to the usual tradition, the ship Argo went ultimately to
Corinth and remained there. Aratus imagined, however, that it entered
the skies as the constellation Argo of the southern hemisphere.
Apollonius made the whole story of Jason's voyage the theme of an
interesting and often beautiful poetic narrative. Although the Odyssey
had spoken of Juno as friendly to the Greek hero, Apollonius was the
first to suggest a cause. Jason, finding the goddess disguised as an old
woman, had carried her over the swollen river Anaurus. During the pas-
sage, Apollonius continued, he lost a sandal, and for this reason he ap-
peared in Iolcus with only one. Another cause for Juno's friendliness
was her strong dislike of Pelias. Apollonius offered no explanation, but
the Manual afterwards told the story as follows. Cretheus, becoming
weary of Tyro, mother of Pelias, took a second wife. The latter, abusing
Tyro, roused the anger of Pelias. Drawing his sword, he pursued her
into a temple of Juno and killed her before the shrine, and instead of
offering the goddess atonement, he continued afterwards to neglect and
defy her.
After telling of Jason's departure in the Argo, Apollonius repeated
the traditional adventures of the outward voyage and added many
others. One of these was important for his narrative of the events in
Colchis. Phrixus, he said, had four sons and before his death he urged
them to revisit Greece and to obtain their inherited property. Ship-
wrecked on an island, they were rescued by Jason and readily undertook
to help him win the Fleece. At first King Aeetes received Jason and his
new friends hospitably. But, when the oldest son of Phrixus told the
cause of Jason's voyage, Aeetes remembered that an oracle had warned
him to fear the plots of his own descendants. Imagining that it referred
to the sons of Phrixus, Aeetes not only imposed formidable labors but
planned secretly to burn the Argo and massacre the entire crew.
In the hands of Apollonius, the familiar tale of Jason and Medea
became the first romantic love story of ancient times. Apollonius was
careful to enlist the reader's sympathy for Medea and to give her every
possible extenuation. He had pictured Aeetes as even more cruel and
treacherous than previous authors suggested, and he showed that Medea
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? JASON AND MEDEA
guessed this treachery from the beginning. With Pindar he agreed that
Venus inspired Medea's love for Jason, but he imagined that she did this
by having Cupid shoot her with an arrow. Although Medea was priestess
of Hecate and an enchantress skilled in herbs, Apollonius presented her
as still young and naive. Maidenly bashfulness and duty yielded but
slowly to love. With sympathy and understanding, Apollonius recorded
every stage of the losing struggle.
After hours of wakeful meditation, Medea visited Chalciope to ask
for her aid. She argued plausibly that Chalciope's sons were likely to
share the fate of Jason and the Argonauts. Apollonius represented
Chalciope as much older than Medea and as having almost a mother's
authority, for she had reared her younger sister with her own children.
Persuaded already by the oldest son of Phrixus, Chalciope not only ap-
proved of Medea's request but urged her to meet Jason at the temple of
Hecate and provide him with the charm necessary for accomplishing his
labors. Although Medea promised to do this at dawn, she still recoiled
at the thought of betraying her father and was about to drink poison,
when she was checked suddenly by the recollection of life's hopes and
joys. * Jason, gifted by his divine allies with an almost supernaturally
attractive appearance, proceeded to the temple. Medea at first was
speechless with conflicting emotions. In the course of a long, very inter-
esting interview, she told Jason the use of the charm and Jason offered
her marriage.
When Jason performed the labors, Pindar had mentioned the dis-
pleasure of Aeetes, and Pherecydes had mentioned his refusal to give up
the Fleece. Apollonius imagined that he went much further. Guessing
that Jason had received help from his daughters, the king summoned his
chieftains, in order to plan the speedy destruction of the Argo. Medea
realized that her own life was in danger and she again thought of suicide.
Juno persuaded her to escape with Jason. Hastening by night to his
camp, she warned him of his peril and required him to swear that he
would make her his wife. She then led him to the oak tree on which
Aeetes had hung the Fleece.
After the departure from Colchis, Apollonius introduced many fur-
ther changes. The idea that Jason returned prosaically by way of the
Propontis had not satisfied the Greeks. A certain Timagetes thought
that he might have sailed up the Danube and arrived at the headwaters
*To Goethe this beautiful passage probably suggested a similar event near the
beginning of his Faust.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
of the Adriatic Sea. Apollonius gladly followed the suggestion. Although
he recorded the death of Absyrtus, he altered almost all the circum-
stances. Absyrtus, he said, was only a half brother of Medea and was
much older. At the head of a Colchian fleet he overtook the Argo near
the Adriatic Sea. There Medea lured him into an ambush, but it was
Jason who committed the treacherous murder. The archipelago in which
the event occurred was known afterwards as the Absyrtus Islands. This
account was repeated later by Hyginus and by Valerius Flaccus.
After the murder, Apollonius continued, Jason and Medea were
obliged to sail by way of the rivers Po and Rhone to the western Medi-
terranean in order to obtain purification from Circe. Their voyage then
took them past the Sirens and the Wanderers. This route, according to
the Odyssey, would have avoided the perils of Scylla and Charybdis. But
the Wanderers now were associated with the Lipari Islands, and Scylla
and Charybdis were localized in the Straits of Messina. It seemed likely
that Jason would encounter all these perils, and Apollonius declared that
he did. Callimachus had imagined that a fleet of Colchians, which had
been despatched in pursuit of Jason, sailed by way of the Propontis to
the coast of Epirus. These Colchians, said Apollonius, met the Argo-
nauts at the island of Corcyra. Jason had intended to defer his mar-
riage with Medea until he arrived in Iolcus, but he found it necessary to
marry her in order to secure protection from King Alcinous.
The narrative of Apollonius gave the fullest and most interesting
story of Jason's voyage. It influenced all subsequent accounts of Jason
which appeared in ancient times and also Vergil's even greater story of
Dido and Aeneas. A Latin translation of Apollonius by Varro of Atax
was admired greatly by Propertius and Ovid. It is doubtful whether
Ovid knew the original.
Influenced by the version of Apollonius, Lycophron gave a more
fantastic account of the Colchian pursuit. The dragon, recovering from
the effect of the magic potion, followed the Argo to Corcyra and harried
King Alcinous until it was destroyed by Diomed.
The Manual repeated briefly the greater part of the story of the
Argo. Regarding the events in Colchis, it differed from Apollonius at
many points. It ascribed Medea's actions to sudden, but wholly natural,
passion, and it did not indicate her hesitation. Jason himself made the
request for the Fleece. The Manual did not imply that Aeetes was
friendly in the beginning and did not mention the oracle. It said nothing
of Jason's receiring aid from the sons of Phrixus or from Chalciope.
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? JASON AND MEDEA
Medea required Jason to promise marriage before giving him the pro-
tective charm. Regarding the death of Absyrtus, the Manual agreed
with Pherecydes that his body was strewn over the sea and with Sopho-
cles that it was buried at Tomis. It recorded the return voyage up the
Danube and on through the Straits of Messina but said nothing of an
excursion to Libya.
Greek artists frequently treated the story of the Argo.
A Pom-
peiian mural showed Jason and Pelias, Micon and Cydias pictured the
company of heroes and their ship, and Lysippus represented them in
sculpture. Vase painters showed Jason taking the Fleece.
Apollonius and the Manual had assumed that Jason could travel
by water from the Danube to the Adriatic Sea. Further geographical
knowledge proved this impossible. Later Alexandrians then suggested
still another route. After leaving Colchis, Jason proceeded northwards
to the mouth of the Don and up this river to a stream which entered the
Baltic Sea. He cruised along the western shore of Europe by way of
Ireland and returned through the Straits of Gibraltar. This idea influ-
enced the Greek poem ascribed to Orpheus and the Roman narrative of
Valerius Flaccus.
Vergil, Horace, and Propertius alluded frequently to the myth of
the Argo, showing particular interest in the labors of Jason. Vergil
noted in the Georgics that fiery bulls and dragon's teeth were happily
absent from Italy. Horace pictured Hannibal as declaring that the de-
feated Romans raised new armies as quickly as the soil of Thebes or
Colchis.
Ovid took great interest in the myth of the Argo and mentioned it
often in his poetry. In his Epistle of Hypsipyle, he dealt with Jason's
adventure on the island of Lemnos and he brought a new element into
the tale.
Although savage peoples often have shown a stoical courage in the
face of danger and physical pain, they rarely have been ascetic. And
this has been true also of their mythical heroes. If a mythical hero was
obliged to reside for a while in a strange land, the savages imagined that
during his sojourn there he would be glad to make some attractive
woman his paramour and that, when his affairs took him elsewhere, he
would leave her without compunction. Such conduct was not regarded as
sensual or fickle. The remarkable thing in the minds of savages was not
that the hero dallied a while with a paramour but that, instead of con-
tinuing with her indefinitely, he had the strength of character to resume
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
his difficult quest. If the hero was a married man, his dalliance while
unavoidably absent from his wife was not regarded as disloyalty, either
by public opinion or by the wife. His departure was not resented by the
paramour. She would prefer to keep him longer and might use any avail-
able means to prevent his going. But when it became clear that he would
leave her, the paramour accepted the fact with entire good humor.
Such complacency on all sides appeared in more than one myth of
early Greece. In the Odyssey Ulysses remained for a year with Circe,
becoming the father of two sons, and he spent seven years with Calypso.
But, persisting in his desire to reach Ithaca, he left these two goddesses;
each of them gave him a kind farewell and much helpful advice about his
voyage; and he was rewarded at last by a safe arrival in his kingdom
and a cordial welcome from his wife Penelope. Greek authors frequently
repeated the story, the Manual adding that Calypso bore a son Latinus,
and Ovid himself retold the adventure with Circe (Bk. 14).
While Hercules was delayed in the region of the Black Sea, Hero-
dotus tells us, he consorted with Echidna long enough to become the
father of three sons. Then he resumed his quest. Echidna, consenting
to his departure, was anxious only to learn his wishes about the rearing
of the sons. Jason remained a year with Hypsipyle, becoming the father
of two sons, and then continued his voyage to Colchis. And Apollonius
imagined that Hypsipyle made a similar amicable arrangement as to the
care of their children. Nor did she complain because Jason was leaving
her island exposed to attack by the Thracians. Probably she thought
herself fortunate to have enjoyed his protection for a year.
Vergil gave Aeneas a similar adventure with Dido. Driven to Car-
thage by a storm, Aeneas remained with the queen through the ensuing
winter and then gave up further indulgence in order to found his king-
dom in Italy. All this followed the usual course of Greek tradition. But
Vergil presented the situation as tragic. Aeneas, grieving deeply at the
suffering of Dido, remained faithful to duty. Dido, alarmed at the danger
of hostile neighbors, wild with sorrow and indignation at the loss of
Aeneas, protested violently and killed herself on a funeral pyre. It was
impossible to read Vergil's tale without misgivings as to the conduct of
Aeneas and sympathy for the anguish of the deserted woman. And Vergil
related the adventure to further ill consequences of a momentous nature,
for he associated the curse of Dido with terrible wars between Carthage
and Rome. Dalliance in a remote land was cruel to the woman and might
prove very dangerous for the hero's country.
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? JASON AND MEDEA
Ovid showed Vergil's influence in much of his amatory poetry.
His Remedies for Love described Circe as remonstrating disconsolately
against the departure of Ulysses and even as using the language of
Vergil's heroine. In the Epistle of Dido Ovid told how the queen of Car-
thage sent a letter after Aeneas complaining of his infidelity and her
forlorn condition. In other epistles of the Heroides Ovid imagined that
heroines of mythology composed similar letters full of bitter reproach.
And he pictured Hypsipyle as writing an epistle of this kind to Jason.
The Epistle of Hypsipyle made a deep impression on the medieval poets,
notably Chaucer, and affected their whole conception of Jason's char-
acter. They presented him as a deliberate seducer of women, not only in
his dealings with Hypsipyle but also in his treatment of Medea.
Ovid referred often to the adventures in Colchis. In a Pontic Epistle
he spoke of Cupid's visiting the region of the Black Sea to enlist Medea's
aid for Jason. The Epistle of Medea referred at some length to the
courtship of the lovers, agreeing with Apollonius as to the part played
by the sons of Phrixus and by Chalciope. The Epistle of Hypsipyle
made abundant allusion to the labors of Jason and to ensuing events.
Ovid showed the queen of Lemnos characterizing Medea as unworthy of
Jason, on the ground that she was a barbarian, a practiser of witch-
craft, a traitress to sire and country, and the cruel murderess of her
brother.
For the Metamorphoses Ovid thought it wise to leave out much of
the traditional story of the Argo. The account of Phrixus and the ram
he was reserving for the Fasti. The sequence of time in his Metamor-
phoses required him to imagine Jason as active so long after Athamas
that it would be difficult to repeat the interview with Pelias, and the
same sequence required him to imagine Jason as appearing so long be-
fore the time of Hercules and other traditional members of the crew that
it would be impossible to repeat the usual list. But later, in the tale of
Ajax and Ulysses (Bk. 13), Ovid referred inconsistently to Telamon as
a follower of Jason. In one epistle of the Heroides Ovid had told already
of Hypsipyle, and in another he had indicated the part played by the
sons of Phrixus. All this material Ovid excluded from his account in
the Metamorphoses.
Ovid noted that Zetes and Calais rescued Phineus from the Harpies.
At this point he said nothing further about the adventure, but later he
agreed with Vergil that Aeneas found the Harpies living in the Stro-
phades Islands (Bk. 13). In the Epistle of Medea Ovid had referred to
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
the Symplegades as identical with the Wanderers, and as encountered in
the voyage back to Iolcus. Adopting the same idea in the Metamor-
phoses, he passed immediately to the events at Colchis.
In the Epistle of Medea Ovid had followed Apollonius. He de-
scribed Aeetes as friendly in the beginning, and he implied that inter-
vention by a deity was the cause of Medea's violent love. In the Meta-
morphoses Ovid followed the Manual. He indicated that Aeetes always
was hostile and that Medea was influenced only by her natural feelings.
This allowed him to vary his account, and it had a further advantage.
In the tales of Daphne (Bk. 1) and of Proserpina (Bk. 5) Ovid already
had told of Cupid's shooting an arrow in order to cause violent passion,
and he did not wish to include a similar incident in the tale of Jason.
But later he spoke vaguely of the god of love as overcoming Medea's
resistance.
Ovid then turned at once to the love of Medea and Jason. Like
Apollonius, he wished to enlist the reader's sympathy for them, but he
dealt with the moral issues more severely.
During the night after Jason's interview with Aeetes, Apollonius
aad shown Chalciope urging Medea to help the Argonauts and arrang-
ing to have her meet Jason in the temple of Hecate. Ovid assumed that
his readers would be familiar with these events; and, since he had men-
tioned them in the Heroides, he proceeded at once to the reflections of
Medea. By this means he avoided some inconvenient explanation, but he
left the situation obscure.
Apollonius had used a lengthy narrative, with a number of solilo-
quies, in order to show the growth of Medea's passion. For dramatic
effect Ovid wished to shorten the account. In the epistles of the Heroides
he often had given the essential part of a tale by writing what was equiv-
alent to a single monologue. It occurred to him that he might give the
essential part of the present story in one soliloquy of the heroine.
Although his method in the Heroides was good, it had required him often
to imagine that a letter was written under very improbable circum-
stances and always to include material that was necessary for the
reader's understanding of the situation but was difficult to present with
good effect. In the story of Medea these objections would not occur. It
was probable that she would review her problem in dramatic meditation.
It was possible to reserve explanations for the accompanying narrative.
In the Heroides Ovid had shown his heroines meditating unhappily
about past events, but in the soliloquy of Medea he would picture a more
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? JASON AND MEDEA
dramatic situation. Medea would consider her course in the future and
would hesitate between prudence and passion. To Ovid it suggested the
idea of a debate. Euripides in a number of dramas, one of them his
Medea, had shown two characters presenting the two sides of an im-
portant moral issue. Vergil had followed his example in a conversation
between Dido and Anna, and in Vergil's tale the issue lay between duty
and love. Euripides had gone a step further. In his Meleager he showed
Althaea herself presenting both sides of a moral issue, duty to her
brothers conflicting with duty to her son (cf. Bk. 8). Ovid followed
both Vergil and Euripides. He pictured Medea debating the opposite
claims of duty and love and herself presenting both sides of the issue.
For the material used in the soliloquy Ovid drew chiefly on Apol-
lonius, but he introduced important ideas suggested by Euripides and
Vergil.
Medea guessed, he said, that a deity was overcoming her resistance.
Naively she wondered if the strange experience could be love. Then she
tried to calm her agitation. It was neither reasonable to feel such anxiety
for a stranger nor in accord with maidenly modesty to entertain such a
passion. But she could not follow the course of reason. Euripides had
shown his Medea declaring that her judgment was better than her
wishes. He had shown Phaedra confessing that she knew what was best
but she did not do it. Ovid imagined his Medea as stating the case with
even more tragic clarity: "I see the better course, and I approve it; I
follow the worse. "
Medea reflected that, if she was going to love a man, he ought to be
a Colchian. She added quickly, however, that only a heartless person
could be indifferent to Jason's merit and his imminent peril; and she
mentioned the fiery bulls, the warriors, and the unsleeping dragon. Dido
had accused Aeneas of being so cruel that he must have been nursed by
Hyrcanian tigresses. Medea stated the thought even more emphatically.
To be indifferent, she would have to be the offspring of a tigress. But
pity without action would be of no avail. She must betray her father and
become liable to punishment for treason.
Jason might treat her with ingratitude. He might sail away indif-
ferent to her fate and marry a princess of Greece. Medea recoiled indig-
nantly at the thought of his preferring another woman to her, who had
sacrificed so much for his sake, and held it better for him to perish at
once. Under the circumstances these reflections were natural; but Ovid
also expected his readers to know that, after returning to Greece, Jason
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
really showed ingratitude of this kind and Medea resented it in a still
more terrible way. At the moment, Ovid continued, Medea rejected the
thought of Jason's proving ungrateful. According to Apollonius, Jason
had inferred from Medea's appearance that she would act graciously.
Ovid attributed a similar inference to Medea. Jason's expression, his
noble mind, his gracious appearance assured her that he would be hon-
orable and appreciative. The Manual had spoken of Medea as requiring
him to promise in advance that he would make her his wife. Ovid showed
her devising this plan as further reassurance against her fear. She then
reflected on the advantages which would be hers in such a marriage.
She should have the profound gratitude of Jason and his people. Her
future husband would feel always that he owed his life to her kindness;
the Greek matrons would acclaim her as the preserver of their sons.
Medea hesitated again at the sacrifice which her departure would
require. She must leave sister, brother, father, gods, and native land.
But the loss did not appear too great. Her brother was an infant, her
father was a ferocious man, her land was barbarous, and Love, the great-
est god, was in her breast. Apollonius had noted that Chalciope urged
Medea to help the Argonauts, in order to protect the sons of Phrixus.
Ovid added, therefore, that Medea's sister was favorable to her project.
But in the new context this implied that she favored her marrying Jason
-- an improbable idea and a strange reason for leaving her with equa-
nimity. Apollonius had told how Medea grieved at departing from her
mother and how she left a tress of hair as an affectionate memento. In
the Epistle of Medea, Ovid had spoken of her as forsaking a loved
mother. But in the Metamorphoses he ignored this idea because he did
not wish to confuse the issue between prudence and passion. Euripides,
presenting the view of Jason, had observed that when Medea left bar-
barous Colchis, she obtained in compensation an acquaintance with the
famous cities of civilized Greece. Ovid pictured Medea as herself, look-
ing forward to this compensation. And he added --- rather without war-
rant -- that even before the coming of the Argo, the fame of the Greek
cities had spread to Colchis. But her greatest comfort would be such a
husband as Jason. Ovid imagined her as repeating the idea of Apol-
lonius that she should be called loved of the gods and echoing the famous
phrase of Horace that with her head she should touch the stars.
Still another deterrent occurred to Medea, the mysterious perils of
the sea. Since the Colchians had a fleet of ships, it might be possible for
her to know something of those perils which were most famous. Ovid
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? JASON AND MEDEA
showed Medea speaking vaguely of the Symplegades, of Charybdis, and
of Scylla barking in Sicilian waters and so alluding unconsciously to
the chief perils that she was soon to encounter. Ovid did not attempt to
give a clear description of their nature because he planned to do this
later. In the speech of Pythagoras (Bk. 15) he would have occasion to
mention the Symplegades as mountains which originally kept dashing
together with high flung spray but which afterwards became immovable.
And he was to deal with Charybdis and Scylla in his account of Aeneas.
Medea reassured herself on this point also. With Jason protecting her
she could have no fear, unless it were for the safety of her husband.
