Fabula 22. Aeeta — “Aeetes”: the tasks set for the golden fleece, and Juno’s care for Jason. Latin from the standard text, with a new English translation below each paragraph. View:
1
Aeetae Solis filio erat responsum tam diu eum regnum habiturum quamdiu ea pellis quam Phrixus consecrauerat in fano Martis esset.
To Aeetes, son of the Sun, an answer had been given that he would hold the kingdom only so long as the skin which Phrixus had dedicated in the temple of Mars remained there.
2
itaque Aeeta Iasoni hanc simultatem constituit, si uellet pellem auratam auferre, tauros aeripedes qui flammas naribus spirabant iungeret adamanteo iugo, et araret dentesque draconis ex galea sereret, ex quibus gens armatorum statim enascerentur et se mutuo interficeret.
So Aeetes imposed this hostile condition on Jason, if he wished to carry off the gilded skin: he should yoke the bronze-footed bulls, which breathed flames from their nostrils, with a yoke of adamant, and plough, and sow the dragon’s teeth from a helmet, from which a race of armed men would at once spring up and kill one another.
3
Iuno autem Iasonem ob id semper uoluit seruatum quod, cum ad flumen uenisset uolens hominum mentes temptare, anum se simulauit et rogauit ut se transferrent; cum ceteri qui transierant despexissent, ille transtulit eam.
Juno, however, always wished Jason to be kept safe for this reason: when she had come to the river, wishing to test the character of men, she pretended to be an old woman and asked them to carry her across; when the others who had crossed despised her, he carried her across.
4
itaque cum sciret Iasonem sine Medeae consilio imperata perficere non posse, petit a Venere ut Medeae amorem iniceret. Iason a Medea Veneris impulsu amatus est; eius opera ab omni periculo liberatus est. nam cum tauris arasset et armati essent enati, Medeae monitu lapidem inter eos abiecit; illi inter se pugnantes alius alium interfecerunt. dracone autem uenenis sopito, pellem de fano sustulit, in patriamque cum Medea est profectus.
So, since she knew Jason could not accomplish what had been commanded without Medea’s counsel, she asked Venus to instil love [for him] in Medea. Jason was loved by Medea at Venus’s prompting; by her help he was freed from every danger. For when he had ploughed with the bulls and the armed men had sprung up, on Medea’s advice he threw a stone among them; they fought among themselves and killed one another. And when the dragon had been put to sleep with drugs, he took the skin from the temple and set out for home with Medea.
Notes
- Convention: the Latin gives the editor’s supplied letters in full, without brackets; the notes record them as < > for a supplement, [ ] for a deletion, and † for a corrupt word.
- Para 1–2: Ae<e>tae and Ae<e>ta are supplied in the text; transferre<n>t in para 3 and enascere<n>tur in para 2 are supplied (the [n] gives enascerentur).
- Para 2: simultatem is “enmity, hostility” — Aeetes sets a hostile task, not a neutral condition; the translation keeps “hostile condition” to carry that. ex galea has no possessive, so the English says “from a helmet”, not “from his helmet”.
- Para 3: this is the Juno-at-the-Euenus story already told in full in Fabula 13 — the duplication is Hyginus’s, kept in both places.
- Para 4: “love [for him]” — amorem iniceret is literally “put love into Medea”; “for him” is implied by the context and is bracketed. “Put to sleep with drugs” is uenenis sopito.
Next fabula: Absyrtus (Fabula 23). Corrections are welcome via the contact form; please say which paragraph you mean.