The Argonautica

to pass the night with goddesses or else with mortal women.

Instead, my honor and deep fear possessed your heart,

you kept away; and afterward Zeus swore a prodigious oath

that no immortal god would ever call you wife.

Still his relentless stalking pressed against your will,

until the elder goddess Themis told the whole truth:

that fate decreed you bear a son stronger than his father;

therefore Zeus, though deeply longing, yielded his pursuit,

afraid another equal lord might rise and rule among

the deathless gods, while Zeus kept sovereign power forever.

But I gave you the finest husband among all earth-dwelling men,

to enter joyous marriage, pleasing your own spirit,

and bear children. I summoned the gods to your wedding feast,

all equally; I raised the bridal torch in my hands

of bridal flame, repaying gracious honor shown.

But come, and I shall now tell you a tale that cannot prove false.

Once your son reaches the Elysian plain at last,

the child now kept in Chiron the Centaur's dwelling,

the Naiads tend as the infant still longs for your own milk,

your son becomes the husband of Aeetes' noble daughter,

Medea. Even as mother-in-law, give your daughter-in-law aid,

and Peleus. What makes your anger stand so stubbornly fixed?

He went astray; delusion visits even gods.

Surely my commands will make Hephaestus still his work