The Argonautica

Under the weight of accursed fear, the maiden often

entreated Aeson's comrades, often stretching hands

to Queen Arete's knees, the wife of King Alcinous:

Queen, I clasp your knees. Be gracious; do not surrender me

to the Colchians to carry me back to my father, if you too

are yourself born among the mortal race, whose mind

runs swiftest into ruin through the lightest errors.

So my firm understanding fell utterly away, though not through

wanton desire. Let the sacred light of the Sun bear witness,

the rites of Perses' daughter, roaming through dark night,

that I did not willingly depart among these foreign men;

hateful terror drove me from there and swayed my judgment

to recall this flight once I had sinned; no other counsel

remained. My maiden girdle stays securely mine,

as in my father's halls: still pure, unstained, inviolate.

Have pity, lady; make your royal husband merciful;

deathless gods grant you a life fulfilled and radiant glory,

fair children, lasting fame for your unconquered city.

Such were the words she spoke at Arete's knees, shedding tears;

such, in turn, she addressed to every man among the heroes:

For you--far, far the noblest men--and for the trials

I bore for your sake--now I suffer; by my power alone

you yoked the bulls and reaped the deadly harvest of men

earthborn; through my aid you journey now homeward to Haemonia,