The Argonautica

reveres and regards the sacred law of Zeus of Strangers.

So he spoke; all the young men praised the counsel of Jason,

united; no dissenter proposed an alternative counsel.

Then he summoned Phrixus' sons and Telamon to follow,

and Augeias; Jason himself took the staff of Hermes,

and swiftly left the ship, crossing water and the reeds,

stepping out onto dry ground toward the rise of the plain.

The place is called the Circaean Plain; there, many

osiers and willows have grown in long rows beside one another,

and from their topmost boughs dead bodies hang bound with ropes.

Even today the Colchians still count it defilement

to burn the bodies of men who have died; nor in earth is it lawful

to lay them out for burial and heap a mound above them,

but they must enfold the dead completely in raw oxhide

and hang them from trees far away from the city. Yet earth has

an equal portion with air, since in earth they entomb all the women;

Such justice and custom stand as their country's native law.

As they went on, Hera devised a kindness to aid them,

spread a deep bank of mist through the city, so they might pass unseen

by the countless Colchian people while going to Aeetes' halls.

Swiftly they left the plain and reached the city and palace

of Aeetes, Hera again broke apart and dispersed the cloud.

They stood at the entrance, astonished to see the king's precinct,

the wide gates and columns encircling all of the walls,