he smooth-running chariot and spake as follows
among her maidens:

[Footnote 1: i.e. the liquid that flows in the veins of gods.]

"Friends, verily have I sinned greatly and took no heed not to go among
the stranger-folk[1] who roam over our land. The whole city is smitten
with dismay; wherefore no one of the women who formerly gathered here
day by day has now come hither. But since we have come and no one else
draws near, come, let us satisfy our souls without stint with soothing
song, and when we have plucked the fair flowers amid the tender grass,
that very hour will we return. And with many a gift shall ye reach home
this very day, if ye will gladden me with this desire of mine. For Argus
pleads with me, also Chalciope herself; but this that ye hear from me
keep silently in your hearts, lest the tale reach my father's ears. As
for yon stranger who took on him the task with the oxen, they bid me
receive his gifts and rescue him from the deadly contest. And I approved
their counsel, and I have summoned him to come to my presence apart from
his comrades, so that we may divide the gifts among ourselves if he
bring them in his hands, and in return may give him a baleful charm. But
when he comes, do ye stand aloof."

[Footnote 1: Or, reading [Greek: menim], "took no heed of the cause of
wrath with the stranger-folk"]

So she spake, and the crafty counsel pleased them all. And straightway
Argus drew Aeson's son apart from his comrades as soon as he heard from
his brothers that Medea had gone at daybreak to the holy shrine of
Hecate, and led him over the plain; and with them went Mopsus, son of
Ampycus, skilled to utter oracles from the appearance of birds, and
skilled to give good counsel to those who set out on a journey.

Never yet had there been such a man in the days of old, neither of all
the heroes of the lineage of Zeus himself, nor of those who sprung from
the blood of the other gods, as on that day the bride of Zeus made
Jason, both to look upon and to hold converse with. Even his comrades
wondered as they gazed upon him, radiant with manifold graces; and the
son of Ampycus rejoiced in their journey, already foreboding how all
would end.

Now by the path along the plain there stands near the shrine a poplar
with its crown of countless leaves, whereon often chattering crows would
roost. One of them meantime as she clapped her wings aloft in the
brandies uttered the counsels of Hera:

"What a pitiful seer is