To be indifferent, she would have to be the
offspring
of a tigress.
Ovid - 1934 - Metamorphoses in European Culture - v2
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.
Vergil had spoken of Dido as hesitating between duty and love and
then declaring emphatically that she would follow duty, and later he had
spoken of her as using the term "marriage" for her relations to Aeneas
and with a good name covering sin. Both passages influenced Ovid in the
conclusion of Medea's soliloquy. Medea had spoken of fearing for her
husband. The word brought a sudden revulsion of feeling. She re-
proached herself for giving the name marriage to her intended relations
and for using a specious name to hide her sin. In horror she bade herself,
while it still was possible, to shun the crime. Ovid indicated the moment
when reason prevailed and love defeated was on the point of flight.
In a passage of only sixty lines, Ovid had presented well the issue
before Medea, he had awakened sympathetic interest in his heroine, and
without sacrificing probability he had given his readers a surprise. After
drifting far in accordance both with the traditional story and with self-
indulgent passion, Medea had been able to draw back and resolve to
follow reason and virtue.
Ovid came now to the meeting at the temple of Hecate. Apollonius
had given a picturesque description of Medea as she drove out in her
chariot, with twelve handmaidens attending. Ovid, intent on her con-
flicting motives, had no time for such decorative detail. Medea went
forth to the temple, he said, strong in her righteous resolve.
Dido had been unable to keep her resolution. When she met Aeneas
at the cave, love returned with overwhelming force. A similar fate Ovid
imagined in the case of Medea. When she met Jason at the temple, love
revived, she reddened and grew pale. Improving on a hint of Apollonius,
Ovid compared her love to a tiny spark, which lies hidden in the ashes
and which a breath of wind revives in all its previous flame. So Medea's
passion, all but dead, blazed up at the sight of Jason. Ovid spoke of this
as natural, because Jason appeared even more attractive than usual.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
For the early part of the interview, Ovid followed Apollonius. He
pictured the abashed silence of Medea, and he said that Jason spoke
first, requesting her aid. In the Epistle of Medea Ovid had declared that
Jason not only offered marriage but promised it of his own accord. In
the Metamorphoses, Ovid repeated the circumstance and then made an
important innovation. Medea, bursting into tears, confessed that she
did wrong and knew it, because she was overcome by love. Although
Ovid habitually had made it clear that his evil characters did wrong de-
liberately, he never before had shown one of them admitting it. After-
wards he showed another example in the story of Myrrha (Bk. 10).
Medea then assured Jason that she would help him. She urged him to
remember his promise. Regarding the moral issue of Medea's betraying
her father and her country, Jason was silent. Euripides had emphasized
the idea that he was willing to profit by Medea's crimes. Ovid may have
assumed that his readers would be familiar with the passage and would
notice how on this important occasion Jason made no attempt either to
assure her that she was doing right or to dissuade her from doing wrong.
Ovid noted that Jason swore to be faithful, and he emphasized the sol-
emnity of the oath.
The rest of that day, according to Apollonius, had been uneventful
and the next day had been given to obtaining the dragon's teeth and
performing certain weird rites essential to the effect of the charm, so
that it was not until the dawn of the third day that Jason undertook the
required labors. But Ovid omitted the intervening circumstances and
assigned the labors to the second day.
In regard to the setting Ovid followed Apollonius. He told how the
spectators looked on from the hills above and how King Aeetes sat
among them in all his regal state. For the details of the conflict Ovid
drew on his own imagination. Briefly and vividly he recorded the ap-
proach of the bulls, the alarm of the Argonauts, the intrepid courage of
Jason. Ovid imagined the charm as able not only to protect Jason but
also to subdue the bulls. After stroking their dewlaps, Jason harnessed
them to the plow and began cultivating the field.
Indicating the excitement of the spectators, Ovid proceeded to his
planting of the formidable teeth. He spoke of them as dipped in poison,
probably because the Theban dragon was supposed to have a poisonous
bite. When covered with the earth, he continued, the teeth swelled and,
before emerging, they assumed the complete human form, just as a child
assumes the complete human form before leaving the womb. In the tale
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? JASON AND MEDEA
of Cadmus, Ovid had pictured the warriors rising slowly from the ground,
and so he did not repeat the description here. Appearing fully armed,
he said, they levelled their spears at Jason and filled the Greeks with
alarm for their leader. In the Epistle of Medea he had declared that
Jason took no part in the combat, and he now repeated this idea. The
Argonauts rejoiced and embraced their victorious chief, and Ovid added,
not very happily, that, if Medea had not feared publicity, she would
have followed their example.
Assuming that his readers would remember how Aeetes refused to
give up the Fleece, Ovid proceeded immediately to the encounter with
the dragon. Pindar had mentioned the creature's gleaming eyes and
speckled back. Apollonius had noted its keen eyes, myriad coils, hard
dry scales, and fear-inspiring hiss. Ovid in the Epistle of Medea had
spoken of the dragon as hissing and rattling its scales. In the Meta-
morphoses he gave a different description, suggested in one detail by
Vergil's Georgics. The tongue of a serpent is divided into two parts,
which move rapidly about the jaws in order to catch vibrations of sound.
This twofold division Ovid mentioned later in his tale of Achelous and
Hercules (Bk. 9). Vergil described a serpent's tongue as divided into
three parts, an idea which became general with Roman poets. Ovid re-
ferred to the Colchian dragon as conspicuous by reason of its crest,
hooked fangs, and triple tongue.
Apollonius had supposed that Medea sprinkled the dragon with
Lethaean juice and chanted a magic spell. Ovid had followed him in the
Heroides, but in the Metamorphoses he attributed the act to Jason and
so gave a further impression of his courage. Apollonius and the Manual
had spoken of the Golden Fleece as hung from the limbs of an oak. Pre-
sumably Ovid agreed with them; but, using an ambiguous phrase, he
told of the dragon's watching over a golden tree.
The rest of the story had nothing valuable for Ovid's present pur-
pose. Although he had shown Medea committing treason for the sake of
love, he was anxious to keep the reader's sympathy with her and there-
fore could say nothing about the traditional murder of Absyrtus. The
chief perils met in the return voyage he was reserving for his account of
Aeneas. Of Jason and Medea he said only that at last they came safely
to Iolcus.
In Ovid's narrative the most novel and dramatic incident had been
the soliloquy of the Colchian princess -- her debating whether she would
betray her father for the sake of the Greek hero. Impressed by the
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
effectiveness of his innovation, Ovid imitated it in many subsequent tales
of the Metamorphoses. In all these tales a heroine at a critical point
debated her future conduct, and in each there was still further resem-
blance to the soliloquy of Medea. Atalanta too, would have found it
expedient to let the hero incur his fate (Bk. 10). Byblis (Bk. 9) and
Myrrha (Bk. 10) debated a grave moral issue. Scylla (Bk. 8) pondered
the question whether she would betray her father for the sake of love.
Althaea (Bk. 8) and Iphis (Bk. 9) ended with a resolve to follow duty.
But despite essential likeness Ovid contrived so to vary the circum-
stances as to make every soliliquy interesting and distinct.
Within brief compass Ovid had given a good story of the events in
Colchis and had presented Medea as an interesting romantic heroine.
Although later authors dealing with the subject made some use of mate-
rial in Ovid's other poetry and in the work of Roman authors after his
time, they found the Metamorphoses their most available and most im-
portant source of information.
Several leading poets used Ovid while treating the whole story of
the Argo. Valerius Flaccus showed his influence in a new Argonautica.
Both Lope de Vega and Corneille followed him in their plays called The
Golden Fleece, and Calderon treated similar material in his drama, The
Three Greatest Prodigies.
Other poets were content with brief allusion to the Argo or to the
Fleece. Petrarch declared even Jason's ship inferior to the one which
carried Laura. Marlowe suggested that, if Leander's hair had been
transported to the shore of Colchos, it would have persuaded the Greek
heroes to hazard more than they ventured for the Fleece. Shakespeare
observed in The Merchant of Venice that Portia's sunny locks
Hang on her temples like a golden fleece,
Which makes her seat of Belmont Colchos' strand,
And many Jasons come in quest of her.
Still other poets, following Ovid, treated of the events in Colchis.
Remembering that Valerius Flaccus had given Jason an adventure at
Troy, Benoit de St. Maure commenced his Roman de Troie with a long
account of Jason's Colchian experiences. In accord with the practice
of medieval romance, he showed Medea aggressively courting Jason. He
also changed many of Ovid's details. The Italian Guido della Colonna
and the Germans Herbort von Fritzlar and Conrad von Wiirtemburg
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? JASON AND MEDEA
regarded these alterations of detail as a mistake and while translating
Benoit's poem they were careful to reject most of his innovations. Jean
de Meun retold Ovid's tale in the Romance of the Rose. Spenser imag-
ined that the story of Jason and Medea was carved in ivory on Acrasia's
gate.
Many poets showed particular interest in the love story of Jason
and Medea. Chretien de Troyes in Sir Cliges pictured Loredamor as
falling in love under circumstances resembling those of Medea and as
reflecting in a similar monologue that reason was of no avail against
love. His heroine Fenice pondered in a monologue the danger that Cliges
might deceive her and decided, like Medea, that his appearance and man-
ner justified perfect confidence. Fenice also had a nurse, Thessala, who
knew more witchcraft than Medea. Chaucer in his Legend of Good
Women used chiefly the Heroides and later versions than Ovid's; but he
too remembered that Medea was reassured by Jason's appearance and
bearing. In the Knight's Tale he referred to love as inspiring the en-
chantments of Circe and Medea. Tasso described the enchantress
Armida as excelling in beauty both Medea and Circe.
The circumstances under which Medea yielded to temptation in-
terested a number of the greatest poets. Ovid had shown her stating
clearly, both in her soliloquy and in her interview with Jason, that she
knowingly did wrong. The first of these statements had the more obvious
effect. Cowper used it as the text for a poem against the slave trade.
Petrarch, reflecting that he ought to renounce love and worldly glory,
confessed that he too saw the better way and followed the worse. Ariosto
echoed the same idea in a sonnet. In Paradise Regained Milton showed
Satan observing that most men admire virtue who follow not her lore.
Both of Medea's declarations appear to have made a deep impression
on Shakespeare and to have influenced the method by which he pre-
sented his three chief villains, Richard Third, Iago, and Edmund.
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.
Vergil had spoken of Dido as hesitating between duty and love and
then declaring emphatically that she would follow duty, and later he had
spoken of her as using the term "marriage" for her relations to Aeneas
and with a good name covering sin. Both passages influenced Ovid in the
conclusion of Medea's soliloquy. Medea had spoken of fearing for her
husband. The word brought a sudden revulsion of feeling. She re-
proached herself for giving the name marriage to her intended relations
and for using a specious name to hide her sin. In horror she bade herself,
while it still was possible, to shun the crime. Ovid indicated the moment
when reason prevailed and love defeated was on the point of flight.
In a passage of only sixty lines, Ovid had presented well the issue
before Medea, he had awakened sympathetic interest in his heroine, and
without sacrificing probability he had given his readers a surprise. After
drifting far in accordance both with the traditional story and with self-
indulgent passion, Medea had been able to draw back and resolve to
follow reason and virtue.
Ovid came now to the meeting at the temple of Hecate. Apollonius
had given a picturesque description of Medea as she drove out in her
chariot, with twelve handmaidens attending. Ovid, intent on her con-
flicting motives, had no time for such decorative detail. Medea went
forth to the temple, he said, strong in her righteous resolve.
Dido had been unable to keep her resolution. When she met Aeneas
at the cave, love returned with overwhelming force. A similar fate Ovid
imagined in the case of Medea. When she met Jason at the temple, love
revived, she reddened and grew pale. Improving on a hint of Apollonius,
Ovid compared her love to a tiny spark, which lies hidden in the ashes
and which a breath of wind revives in all its previous flame. So Medea's
passion, all but dead, blazed up at the sight of Jason. Ovid spoke of this
as natural, because Jason appeared even more attractive than usual.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
For the early part of the interview, Ovid followed Apollonius. He
pictured the abashed silence of Medea, and he said that Jason spoke
first, requesting her aid. In the Epistle of Medea Ovid had declared that
Jason not only offered marriage but promised it of his own accord. In
the Metamorphoses, Ovid repeated the circumstance and then made an
important innovation. Medea, bursting into tears, confessed that she
did wrong and knew it, because she was overcome by love. Although
Ovid habitually had made it clear that his evil characters did wrong de-
liberately, he never before had shown one of them admitting it. After-
wards he showed another example in the story of Myrrha (Bk. 10).
Medea then assured Jason that she would help him. She urged him to
remember his promise. Regarding the moral issue of Medea's betraying
her father and her country, Jason was silent. Euripides had emphasized
the idea that he was willing to profit by Medea's crimes. Ovid may have
assumed that his readers would be familiar with the passage and would
notice how on this important occasion Jason made no attempt either to
assure her that she was doing right or to dissuade her from doing wrong.
Ovid noted that Jason swore to be faithful, and he emphasized the sol-
emnity of the oath.
The rest of that day, according to Apollonius, had been uneventful
and the next day had been given to obtaining the dragon's teeth and
performing certain weird rites essential to the effect of the charm, so
that it was not until the dawn of the third day that Jason undertook the
required labors. But Ovid omitted the intervening circumstances and
assigned the labors to the second day.
In regard to the setting Ovid followed Apollonius. He told how the
spectators looked on from the hills above and how King Aeetes sat
among them in all his regal state. For the details of the conflict Ovid
drew on his own imagination. Briefly and vividly he recorded the ap-
proach of the bulls, the alarm of the Argonauts, the intrepid courage of
Jason. Ovid imagined the charm as able not only to protect Jason but
also to subdue the bulls. After stroking their dewlaps, Jason harnessed
them to the plow and began cultivating the field.
Indicating the excitement of the spectators, Ovid proceeded to his
planting of the formidable teeth. He spoke of them as dipped in poison,
probably because the Theban dragon was supposed to have a poisonous
bite. When covered with the earth, he continued, the teeth swelled and,
before emerging, they assumed the complete human form, just as a child
assumes the complete human form before leaving the womb. In the tale
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? JASON AND MEDEA
of Cadmus, Ovid had pictured the warriors rising slowly from the ground,
and so he did not repeat the description here. Appearing fully armed,
he said, they levelled their spears at Jason and filled the Greeks with
alarm for their leader. In the Epistle of Medea he had declared that
Jason took no part in the combat, and he now repeated this idea. The
Argonauts rejoiced and embraced their victorious chief, and Ovid added,
not very happily, that, if Medea had not feared publicity, she would
have followed their example.
Assuming that his readers would remember how Aeetes refused to
give up the Fleece, Ovid proceeded immediately to the encounter with
the dragon. Pindar had mentioned the creature's gleaming eyes and
speckled back. Apollonius had noted its keen eyes, myriad coils, hard
dry scales, and fear-inspiring hiss. Ovid in the Epistle of Medea had
spoken of the dragon as hissing and rattling its scales. In the Meta-
morphoses he gave a different description, suggested in one detail by
Vergil's Georgics. The tongue of a serpent is divided into two parts,
which move rapidly about the jaws in order to catch vibrations of sound.
This twofold division Ovid mentioned later in his tale of Achelous and
Hercules (Bk. 9). Vergil described a serpent's tongue as divided into
three parts, an idea which became general with Roman poets. Ovid re-
ferred to the Colchian dragon as conspicuous by reason of its crest,
hooked fangs, and triple tongue.
Apollonius had supposed that Medea sprinkled the dragon with
Lethaean juice and chanted a magic spell. Ovid had followed him in the
Heroides, but in the Metamorphoses he attributed the act to Jason and
so gave a further impression of his courage. Apollonius and the Manual
had spoken of the Golden Fleece as hung from the limbs of an oak. Pre-
sumably Ovid agreed with them; but, using an ambiguous phrase, he
told of the dragon's watching over a golden tree.
The rest of the story had nothing valuable for Ovid's present pur-
pose. Although he had shown Medea committing treason for the sake of
love, he was anxious to keep the reader's sympathy with her and there-
fore could say nothing about the traditional murder of Absyrtus. The
chief perils met in the return voyage he was reserving for his account of
Aeneas. Of Jason and Medea he said only that at last they came safely
to Iolcus.
In Ovid's narrative the most novel and dramatic incident had been
the soliloquy of the Colchian princess -- her debating whether she would
betray her father for the sake of the Greek hero. Impressed by the
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK SEVEN
effectiveness of his innovation, Ovid imitated it in many subsequent tales
of the Metamorphoses. In all these tales a heroine at a critical point
debated her future conduct, and in each there was still further resem-
blance to the soliloquy of Medea. Atalanta too, would have found it
expedient to let the hero incur his fate (Bk. 10). Byblis (Bk. 9) and
Myrrha (Bk. 10) debated a grave moral issue. Scylla (Bk. 8) pondered
the question whether she would betray her father for the sake of love.
Althaea (Bk. 8) and Iphis (Bk. 9) ended with a resolve to follow duty.
But despite essential likeness Ovid contrived so to vary the circum-
stances as to make every soliliquy interesting and distinct.
Within brief compass Ovid had given a good story of the events in
Colchis and had presented Medea as an interesting romantic heroine.
Although later authors dealing with the subject made some use of mate-
rial in Ovid's other poetry and in the work of Roman authors after his
time, they found the Metamorphoses their most available and most im-
portant source of information.
Several leading poets used Ovid while treating the whole story of
the Argo. Valerius Flaccus showed his influence in a new Argonautica.
Both Lope de Vega and Corneille followed him in their plays called The
Golden Fleece, and Calderon treated similar material in his drama, The
Three Greatest Prodigies.
Other poets were content with brief allusion to the Argo or to the
Fleece. Petrarch declared even Jason's ship inferior to the one which
carried Laura. Marlowe suggested that, if Leander's hair had been
transported to the shore of Colchos, it would have persuaded the Greek
heroes to hazard more than they ventured for the Fleece. Shakespeare
observed in The Merchant of Venice that Portia's sunny locks
Hang on her temples like a golden fleece,
Which makes her seat of Belmont Colchos' strand,
And many Jasons come in quest of her.
Still other poets, following Ovid, treated of the events in Colchis.
Remembering that Valerius Flaccus had given Jason an adventure at
Troy, Benoit de St. Maure commenced his Roman de Troie with a long
account of Jason's Colchian experiences. In accord with the practice
of medieval romance, he showed Medea aggressively courting Jason. He
also changed many of Ovid's details. The Italian Guido della Colonna
and the Germans Herbort von Fritzlar and Conrad von Wiirtemburg
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? JASON AND MEDEA
regarded these alterations of detail as a mistake and while translating
Benoit's poem they were careful to reject most of his innovations. Jean
de Meun retold Ovid's tale in the Romance of the Rose. Spenser imag-
ined that the story of Jason and Medea was carved in ivory on Acrasia's
gate.
Many poets showed particular interest in the love story of Jason
and Medea. Chretien de Troyes in Sir Cliges pictured Loredamor as
falling in love under circumstances resembling those of Medea and as
reflecting in a similar monologue that reason was of no avail against
love. His heroine Fenice pondered in a monologue the danger that Cliges
might deceive her and decided, like Medea, that his appearance and man-
ner justified perfect confidence. Fenice also had a nurse, Thessala, who
knew more witchcraft than Medea. Chaucer in his Legend of Good
Women used chiefly the Heroides and later versions than Ovid's; but he
too remembered that Medea was reassured by Jason's appearance and
bearing. In the Knight's Tale he referred to love as inspiring the en-
chantments of Circe and Medea. Tasso described the enchantress
Armida as excelling in beauty both Medea and Circe.
The circumstances under which Medea yielded to temptation in-
terested a number of the greatest poets. Ovid had shown her stating
clearly, both in her soliloquy and in her interview with Jason, that she
knowingly did wrong. The first of these statements had the more obvious
effect. Cowper used it as the text for a poem against the slave trade.
Petrarch, reflecting that he ought to renounce love and worldly glory,
confessed that he too saw the better way and followed the worse. Ariosto
echoed the same idea in a sonnet. In Paradise Regained Milton showed
Satan observing that most men admire virtue who follow not her lore.
Both of Medea's declarations appear to have made a deep impression
on Shakespeare and to have influenced the method by which he pre-
sented his three chief villains, Richard Third, Iago, and Edmund.
