s of the South they came wafted to the mouth of the
Axine sea; there they founded a shrine and sacred close of Poseidon,
god of seas, where was a red herd of Thracian bulls, and a new-built
altar of stone with hollow top[13].

Then as they set forth toward an exceeding peril they prayed the lord
of ships that they might shun the terrible shock of the clashing
rocks: for they were twain that had life, and plunged along more
swiftly than the legions of the bellowing winds; but that travel of
the seed of gods made end of them at last[14].

After that they came to the Phasis; there they fought with dark-faced
Kolchians even in the presence of Aietes. And there the queen of
keenest darts, the Cyprus-born, first brought to men from Olympus the
frenzied bird, the speckled wry-neck[15], binding it to a four-spoked
wheel without deliverance, and taught the son of Aison to be wise in
prayers and charms, that he might make Medea take no thought to honour
her parents, and longing for Hellas might drive her by persuasion's
lash, her heart afire with love.

Then speedily she showed him the accomplishment of the tasks her
father set, and mixing drugs with oil gave him for his anointment
antidotes of cruel pain, and they vowed to be joined together in sweet
wedlock.

But when Aietes had set in the midst a plough of adamant, and oxen
that from tawny jaws breathed flame of blazing fire, and with bronze
hoofs smote the earth in alternate steps, and had led them and yoked
them single-handed, he marked out in a line straight furrows, and for
a fathom's length clave the back of the loamy earth; then he spake
thus: 'This work let your king, whosoever he be that hath command
of the ship, accomplish me, and then let him bear away with him the
imperishable coverlet, the fleece glittering with tufts of gold.'

He said, and Jason flung off from him his saffron mantle, and putting
his trust in God betook himself to the work; and the fire made him not
to shrink, for that he had had heed to the bidding of the stranger
maiden skilled in all pharmacy. So he drew to him the plough and
made fast by force the bulls' necks in the harness, and plunged the
wounding goad into the bulk of their huge sides, and with manful
strain fulfilled the measure of his work. And a cry without speech
came from Aietes in his agony, at the marvel of the power he beheld.

Then to the strong man his comrades stretched forth their hands, and
crowned him with green wreath