turn in the keeping of women." So
he spake, and quickly they reached the back-water. And their comrades
joyfully questioned them, when they saw them close at hand; and to them
spoke Aeson's son grieved at heart:

(ll. 492-501) "My friends, the heart of ruthless Aeetes is utterly
filled with wrath against us, for not at all can the goal be reached
either by me or by you who question me. He said that two bulls with feet
of bronze pasture on the plain of Ares, breathing forth flame from their
jaws. And with these he bade me plough the field, four plough-gates; and
said that he would give me from a serpent's jaws seed which will raise
up earthborn men in armour of bronze; and on the same day I must slay
them. This task--for there was nothing better to devise--I took on
myself outright."

(ll. 502-514) Thus he spake; and to all the contest seemed one that
none could accomplish, and long, quiet and silent, they looked at one
another, bowed down with the calamity and their despair; but at last
Peleus spake with courageous words among all the chiefs: "It is time
to be counselling what we shall do. Yet there is not so much profit, I
trow, in counsel as in the might of our hands. If thou then, hero son
of Aeson, art minded to yoke Aeetes' oxen, and art eager for the toil,
surely thou wilt keep thy promise and make thyself ready. But if thy
soul trusts not her prowess utterly, then neither bestir thyself nor sit
still and look round for some one else of these men. For it is not I who
will flinch, since the bitterest pain will be but death."

(ll. 515-522) So spake the son of Aeacus; and Telamon's soul was
stirred, and quickly he started up in eagerness; and Idas rose up
the third in his pride; and the twin sons of Tyndareus; and with them
Oeneus' son who was numbered among strong men, though even the soft down
on his cheek showed not yet; with such courage was his soul uplifted.
But the others gave way to these in silence. And straightway Argus spake
these words to those that longed for the contest:

(ll. 523-539) "My friends, this indeed is left us at the last. But
I deem that there will come to you some timely aid from my mother.
Wherefore, eager though ye be, refrain and abide in your ship a little
longer as before, for it is better to forbear than recklessly to choose
an evil fate. There is a maiden, nurtured in the halls of Aeetes, whom
the goddess Hecate taught to handle magic herbs with exceeding skill
all that the land