The Argonautica

before appointed death folds both of us round at last.

So he spoke; the sound made all her inward spirit melt,

yet still she shuddered to behold the ruinous deeds ahead.

Poor wretch; not long was she destined to keep refusing

to dwell in Hellas; for Hera had devised this outcome,

that a terrible bane for Pelias might come to sacred Iolcus,

Medea of Aea, leaving her own fatherland behind.

Already the handmaids, watching the pair from far away,

were grieving in silence; the hour of day demanded now

that the maiden return home to dwell with her own mother.

But still she gave no thought to making her journey home, for

her spirit rejoiced alike in his beauty and beguiling words,

until Aeson's son, watchful though very late, spoke out:

It is high time to depart before radiant sunlight fades,

lest a stranger watching closely discover all that has happened;

but we will come here again and meet another time.

Thus far the two made trial of each other with gentle words;

but afterward they parted. Jason then, for his own part,

set out rejoicing, back to his comrades and to the vessel,

while she went to her handmaids; all of them drew near her

together at once, but she never saw them crowding around.

For her soul had flown through the clouds, high in middle air.

Her feet of their own will climbed aboard the swift wagon,

and one hand took the reins, while the other took the whip,