Stygian waters and Aeson

Meaning

II.4.34 makes the Stygian waters the means of putting the watchful dragon to sleep until it emits no more fire or smoke. The author immediately glosses this as dissolving it again and fixing it again with its spirit. Prepared Mercury alone remains incapable of the double result. Medea’s final teaching is named as fermentation and conjunction of the Sun’s butter with the paste of that prepared Mercury, pictured also as earth receiving pure wheat. The butter belongs to the Sun and the paste to Mercury; these unspecified figures must not be conflated or assembled into a recipe.

The double treasure distinguishes Jason's acquisition of wealth from Aeson's restored health. Rejuvenation is a mythic model for the claimed medicine, not a verified case of an elderly patient recovering youth. The passage further distinguishes the apparent inflammability or venom of a surface condition from the hidden fixed, life-preserving power at the centre. Its eau de vie must not be silently changed into eau de vigne: life and vine are different readings with different implications.