The Argonautica

the hollow of a rock, send out their piercing cries,

or on Pactolus' lovely banks, where bright streams flow,

swans set their song astir; the dewy meadow rings,

and lovely river channels echo their resounding song,

thus all the maidens laid gold hair upon the dust

and all night long they wailed their pitiable lament.

And there they all would surely have lost their lives forever,

nameless, unseen, unknown to all earth-dwelling people,

the best of heroes, doomed to leave their labor unfinished.

But heroine nymphs took pity as helplessness wasted them,

the guardians of Libya, who once went to meet Athena

when Athena sprang all-gleaming forth from her father's head,

and meeting beside Lake Triton, they bathed her in its waters.

It was the noonday hour, and the sun's most piercing rays

were scorching Libya; the goddesses stood beside Jason

with gentle hands they drew the cloak from Jason's head.

He turned his eyes backward and looked to the other side.

He revered the gods; the goddesses singled Jason out

and spoke to him in soothing, gentle words as he stood dazed:

Ill-fated man, why are you struck by such utter helplessness?

We know how you went after the Golden Fleece; we know each

one of your labors, all you endured upon the dry land,

and mighty deeds achieved while wandering far over sea.

We are lone chthonian goddesses who speak with mortal voices,