Argonauts (Greek mythology); Jason -- (Mythological character); Medea, consort of Aegeus, King of Athens (Mythological character)
Megabrontes, and Acastus slew Sphodris; and Peleus slew Zelus and
Gephyrus swift in war. Telamon of the strong spear slew Basileus. And
Idas slew Promeus, and Clytius Hyacinthus, and the two sons of Tyndareus
slew Megalossaces and Phlogius. And after them the son of Oeneus slew
bold Itomeneus, and Artaceus, leader of men; all of whom the inhabitants
still honour with the worship due to heroes. And the rest gave way and
fled in terror just as doves fly in terror before swift-winged hawks.
And with a din they rushed in a body to the gates; and quickly the city
was filled with loud cries at the turning of the dolorous fight. But at
dawn both sides perceived the fatal and cureless error; and bitter grief
seized the Minyan heroes when they saw before them Cyzicus son of Aeneus
fallen in the midst of dust and blood. And for three whole days they
lamented and rent their hair, they and the Doliones. Then three times
round his tomb they paced in armour of bronze and performed funeral
rites and celebrated games, as was meet, upon the meadow-plain, where
even now rises the mound of his grave to be seen by men of a later day.
No, nor was his bride Cleite left behind her dead husband, but to crown
the ill she wrought an ill yet more awful, when she clasped a noose
round her neck. Her death even the nymphs of the grove bewailed; and of
all the tears for her that they shed to earth from their eyes the
goddesses made a fountain, which they call Cleite,[1] the illustrious
name of the hapless maid. Most terrible came that day from Zeus upon the
Doliones, women and men; for no one of them dared even to taste food,
nor for a long time by reason of grief did they take thought for the
toil of the cornmill, but they dragged on their lives eating their food
as it was, untouched by fire. Here even now, when the Ionians that dwell
in Cyzicus pour their yearly libations for the dead, they ever grind the
meal for the sacrificial cakes at the common mill.[2]
[Footnote 1: Cleite means illustrious.]
[Footnote 2: i.e. to avoid grinding it at home.]
After this, fierce tempests arose for twelve days and nights together
and kept them there from sailing. But in the next night the rest of the
chieftains, overcome by sleep, were resting during the latest period of
the night, while Acastus and Mopsus the son of Ampycus kept guard over
their deep slumbers. And above the golden head of Aeson's son there
hovered a halcyon prophesying with shrill voice the ceasing of the
stormy winds; and Mopsus heard and understood the cry of the bird of the
shore, fraught with good omen. And some god made it turn aside, and
flying aloft it settled upon the stern-ornament of the ship. And the
seer touched Jason as he lay wrapped in soft sheepskins and woke him at
once, and thus spake:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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