o detain AEetes,
Medea throws behind the mangled remains of her own brother, Apsyrtos, and
the Colchians pursue no further than the scene of this bloody deed. The
savagery of this act survives even in the work of a poet so late as
Apollonius Rhodius (iv. 477), where we read how Jason performed a rite of
savage magic, mutilating the body of Apsyrtos in a manner which was
believed to appease the avenging ghost of the slain. 'Thrice he tasted
the blood, thrice spat it out between his teeth,' a passage which the
Scholiast says contains the description of an archaic custom popular
among murderers.

Beyond Tomi, where a popular etymology fixed the 'cutting up' of
Apsyrtos, we need not follow the fortunes of Jason and Medea. We have
already seen the wooer come to the hostile being, win his daughter's
love, achieve the adventures by her aid, and flee in her company,
delaying, by a horrible device, the advance of the pursuers. To these
incidents in the tale we confine our attention.

Many explanations of the Jason myth have been given by Scholars who
thought they recognised elemental phenomena in the characters. As usual
these explanations differ widely. Whenever a myth has to be interpreted,
it is certain that one set of Scholars will discover the sun and the
dawn, where another set will see the thunder-cloud and lightning. The
moon is thrown in at pleasure. Sir G. W. Cox determines {96} 'that the
name Jason (Iason) must be classed with the many others, Iasion, Iamus,
Iolaus, Iaso, belonging to the same root.' Well, what is the root?
Apparently the root is 'the root i, as denoting a crying colour, that is,
a loud colour' (ii. 81). Seemingly (i. 229) violet is a loud colour,
and, wherever you have the root i, you have 'the violet-tinted morning
from which the sun is born.' Medea is 'the daughter of the sun,' and
most likely, in her 'beneficent aspect,' is the dawn. But (ii. 81, note)
ios has another meaning, 'which, as a spear, represents the far-darting
ray of the sun'; so that, in one way or another, Jason is connected with
the violet-tinted morning or with the sun's rays. This is the gist of
the theory of Sir George Cox.

Preller {97a} is another Scholar, with another set of etymologies. Jason
is derived, he thinks, from [Greek], to heal, because Jason studied
medicine under the Centaur Chiron. This is the view of the Scholiast on
Apollonius Rhodius (i. 554). Jason, to Preller's mind, is a form of
Asclepius