r
large sail. But not long after that they moved on at the bidding of the
spear; and behind them the rugged fallow was broken up, cloven by the
might of the bulls and the sturdy ploughman. Then terribly groaned the
clods withal along the furrows of the plough as they were rent, each a
man's burden; and Jason followed, pressing down the cornfield with firm
foot; and far from him he ever sowed the teeth along the clods as each
was ploughed, turning his head back for fear lest the deadly crop
of earthborn men should rise against him first; and the bulls toiled
onwards treading with their hoofs of bronze.

(ll. 1340-1407) But when the third part of the day was still left as
it wanes from dawn, and wearied labourers call for the sweet hour of
unyoking to come to them straightway, then the fallow was ploughed by
the tireless ploughman, four plough-gates though it was; and he loosed
the plough from the oxen. Them he scared in flight towards the plain;
but he went back again to the ship, while he still saw the furrows free
of the earthborn men. And all round his comrades heartened him with
their shouts. And in the helmet he drew from the river's stream and
quenched his thirst with the water. Then he bent his knees till they
grew supple, and filled his mighty heart with courage, raging like a
boar, when it sharpens its teeth against the hunters, while from its
wrathful mouth plenteous foam drips to the ground. By now the earthborn
men were springing up over all the field; and the plot of Ares, the
death-dealer, bristled with sturdy shields and double-pointed spears and
shining helmets; and the gleam reached Olympus from beneath, flashing
through the air. And as when abundant snow has fallen on the earth and
the storm blasts have dispersed the wintry clouds under the murky night,
and all the hosts of the stars appear shining through the gloom; so did
those warriors shine springing up above the earth. But Jason bethought
him of the counsels of Medea full of craft, and seized from the plain
a huge round boulder, a terrible quoit of Ares Enyalius; four stalwart
youths could not have raised it from the ground even a little. Taking
it in his hands he threw it with a rush far away into their midst; and
himself crouched unseen behind his shield, with full confidence. And the
Colchians gave a loud cry, like the roar of the sea when it beats upon
sharp crags; and speechless amazement seized Aeetes at the rush of the
sturdy quoit. And the