The Argonautica

whom the goddess Hecate taught beyond all others to fashion

drugs the dry land and the streaming water bring into being;

by these she soothes the breath of the flame that is never wearied,

and at once makes rivers halt though they run with a roar,

and binds the stars and sacred moon to fixed courses.

We thought of Medea while coming here by the palace path,

to see if our mother, Medea's own sister by birth,

could persuade her to grant strong aid throughout the contest.

If all approve this counsel, I shall set out on the journey

back on this selfsame day, returning to Aeetes' palace

to make the trial; perhaps some god will grant success.

So he spoke; and the gods, looking kindly, gave them an omen.

A trembling dove fled the force of a hawk that pursued it,

terrified high overhead, fell into the lap of Aeson's son;

the hawk fell transfixed on the sternpiece. Then swiftly did Mopsus,

speaking as seer in their midst, declare this word to them all:

Friends, this sign has been wrought for you by the will of immortals;

there is no better way, nor another more fitting, to read it:

seek out the maiden with words, applying our every resource of

all-varied cunning. I think she will not spurn our counsel,

if Phineus spoke truly, promising homecoming through the goddess Cypris.

That dove was Cypris' gentle bird and escaped from death.

As my heart, deep within me, foresees what this omen is showing,

so may it all in the end come to pass as the sign has portended.