Jason and the Golden Fleece

Book 3 opens with a call to the muse Erato, who has “a share of Cyprus’ power” (66). As the Argonauts wait out of sight, Hera asks Athena for a plan, then suggests they ask for Aphrodite’s help. In Aphrodite’s chamber, Hera expresses her fondness for Jason, since he once helped her cross a flooded stream when she appeared in the guise of a helpless elderly woman. Hera asks Aphrodite to instruct Eros to shoot Medea with an arrow so that she will fall in love with and help Jason. Aphrodite complains that Eros does not listen to her, prompting Hera and Athena to smile and exchange a glance. Aphrodite is hurt by them but agrees to appeal to Eros.

Aphrodite finds him playing with Ganymede. She promises Eros a ball that once belonged to Zeus when he was a little boy in exchange for shooting Medea with one of his arrows. Eros wants the toy immediately, but Aphrodite says he must complete his task first. He grabs his bow and quiver and sets off. Meanwhile, Jason tells the Argonauts that he wants to at least try to win over Aietes with a rational argument before resorting to violence. He sets off for the palace with Phrixos’ sons to appeal to Aietes. There, he meets Medea, who screams, bringing Chalkiope, Aietes’ daughter and Medea’s sister, running. Seeing her sons, Chalkiope rejoices. During the commotion to welcome them, Eros stealthily strikes Medea with one of his arrows, filling her with “a sweet aching” (72).

At a feast for Phrixos’ sons, Aietes asks them why they aborted their journey. Worried for the Argonauts and eager to soothe their grandfather, Argos relates their shipwreck and the help they received from Jason, who is on a quest to appease Zeus and dispel the pollution Phrixos caused by bringing the fleece back to Hellas. He explains that the Argonauts’ ship was crafted by Athena herself and they are willing to offer compensation for the fleece. Aietes immediately becomes enraged, accusing them of trying to usurp him. Urging calm, Jason reiterates his offer of compensation. Aietes considers killing them on the spot but decides it would be better to test their strength. He claims he will allow them to take the fleece if they can yoke his fire-breathing bulls, drive them through Ares’ plain, and sow and harvest a crop of dragon's teeth, which sprout into armed warriors. Though distraught at the daunting prospect, Jason agrees. As the Argonauts file out with Argos, Medea is entranced by Jason's beauty. Worried for him, she weeps and prays to Hekate.

Argos suggests to Jason that they appeal to Medea, since she is a priestess of Hekate and has the ability to make potions and cast spells. When Jason tells the Argonauts about the task Aietes set for him, they are silent. Peleus replies that if Jason is not up to Aietes’ task, he will act himself. The idea elicits support from Telamon, Idas, and the Boreads, but Argos has a different plan. He will ask his mother to appeal to Medea. At his words, the gods send a favorable omen that Mopsos interprets to mean they must appeal to Aphrodite. Idas complains they are more concerned with “how your prayers can deceive cowardly girls” than with warfare, but he is ignored (79).

Aietes calls an assembly of Colchians to plot against the Argonauts. Privately, he also wants to rid himself of Phrixos’ sons, pursuant to an oracle he once received to “beware of the crafty treachery and schemes of his own family” (80). Meanwhile, Argos and Chalkiope agree on a strategy to gain the help of Medea, who decides to help her sister after dreaming about Jason, despite being tortured by indecision. After a serving girl reports to Chalkiope that Medea is lamenting, Chalkiope goes to her. Medea claims she is concerned for her nephews, prompting Chalkiope to ask for help. Medea agrees but later feels shame, her desire for Jason battling her fear of censure. She remains awake all night assessing the dangers Jason faces and how best to help him. Lamenting her fate, she considers killing herself, but her fear of death and love of life stop her, because Hera changed her mind.

At dawn, Medea gathers her maidens and proceeds to Hekate’s shrine, taking with her “the drug of Prometheus,” a balm that renders the wearer temporarily invulnerable (85-6). Medea tells her maidens to stay away while she speaks to Jason, claiming that she plans to trick him to get gifts. Argos and Mopsos accompany Jason, and a crow, “through the will of Hera,” mocks them that girls in love do not reveal their feelings in the presence of others (87). Mopsos sends Jason to Medea alone. Jason and Medea meet privately, and he tells her that if she helps him, as Ariadne helped Theseus, he will make sure her name is sung. She gives him the drug, and they gaze adoringly at each other. She instructs him to sacrifice and offer libations to Hekate, anoint his body with the drug, and provoke the dragon teeth warriors to kill each other by throwing a stone among them.

Weeping, Medea asks him to remember her after he leaves. At the sight of her tears, “deadly love crept over Jason also” (91). He tells her about his home and wishes that her father would come to terms with him as Minos did with Theseus. Medea says Aietes is not like Minos, nor is she like Ariadne, adding “do not speak of friendly hospitality” (91). She warns him that if a rumor reaches her that he has forgotten her, she may turn up at his palace, then dissolves into tears again. Jason assures Medea that all Hellas will honor her for saving the Argonauts and pledges to marry her. She shudders thinking of “the terrible things she had done” (92). The following morning, Jason receives the dragon teeth seeds from Aietes and, at sundown, begins his preparations per Medea’s instructions. Hekate appears to him to accept his sacrifices, terrifying him and the nymphs in the area.

The following day, Aietes dresses in battle armor and weapons to watch Jason attempt his tasks. Jason and the Argonauts head to Ares’ plain, where Aietes and the Colchians are waiting. The bulls charge Jason, but Medea’s drugs protect him, enabling him to subdue, yoke, and drive the bulls. After scattering the teeth, Jason releases the bulls, drinks some water, and stretches. When the warriors begin to emerge from the ground, he throws a large stone amongst them, and, in confusion, they begin attacking each other. Jason joins the fray, cutting them down until they are all dead. Aietes is furious and returns to the city with the Colchians, plotting how to thwart the Argonauts.