Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/567

Rh JASON. son of Aeolus, and who was on that account like- wise destined to die, was saved by his own rela- tives, who lamented over him as though he were dead, and entrusted him to Cheiron to be educated. (Pind. Nem. iii. 94.) Pelias was now advised by an oracle to be on his guard against a man with only one shoe. Once when Pelias oli'ered up a sa- crifice to Poseidon, he invited among others Jason. The latter arrived with only one sandal, having lost the other in crossing the river Anaurus, on the banks of which he lived as a peasant. Another tradition represents Jason as coming in Magnesian costume from Mount Pelion. (Pind. Pytli. iv. 140 ; Apollod. i. 9. § 16.) Instead of the river Anaurus, others mention the Evenus or Enipeus, and it is added that Hera, being in love with Jason, assumed the appearance of an old woman, and standing on the bank of the river, requested him to carry her across, and that Jason in so doing lost one of his sandals. (Hygin. Fa6. 13.) Others again relate that Jason, uninvited by Pelias, came from Mount Pelion to lolcus, found his aged father Aeson still alive, and demanded the throne of Pelias, who had usurped it, or had undertaken the government as the guardian of Jason. (Schol. ad Horn. Od. xii. 70.) Pelias consented to surrender the throne, but demanded of Jason to remove the curse which rested on the family of the Aeolidae, by fetching the golden fleece, and soothing the spirit of Phrixus. (Pind. Pyth. iv. 1 09, &c. ; Diod. iv. 40.) The common story, however, goes on to say that on the arrival of Jason at lolcus, Pelias remembered the oracle about the man with one shoe, and asked Jason what he would do if he were told by an oracle that he should be killed by one of his sub- jects? Jason, on the suggestion of Hera, wlio hated Pelias, answered, that he would send him out to fetch the golden fleece. Pelias accordingly ordered Jason to fetch the golden fleece, which was in the possession of king Aeetes in Colchis, and Avas guarded by an ever-watcliful dragon. At the request of Jason, Argus, a son of Phrixus or Ares- tor, built the ship Argo, and the principal heroes of Greece being invited to join the expedition, Jason and his companions embarked at lolcus. They lirst landed in Lemnos, which was governed by Hypsipyle, by whom Jason became the father of Euneus and Nebrophonus (or, as others call him, Deiphilus, or Thoas ; Hygin. Fab. 15 ; Horn.//, vii. 468). After many adventures, Jason and his companions arrived in Colchis, the kingdom of Aeetes. While Jason was meditating upon the manner in whieh he might fulfil the conditions under which Aeetes had promised to surrender the golden fleece, the sorceress Medeia, the daughter of Aeetes and Idyia, fell in love with him, and from fear lest he should be killed by the brazen-footed and fire-breathing bulls whom Jason was to yoke to a plough, she promised to assist him, and sur- render the fleece to him, if he would take an oath that he would make her his wife, and take her to Greece. When Jason promised to do so, Medeia gave him an ointment, with which he was to anoint his body, shield and spear, and which was to make him for one day invulnerable by fire and iron. She further informed him, that from the teeth of the dragon which he was to sow in the field ploughed with the above-mentioned bull, armed men would rise against him, and she commanded him to throw stones among them, adding, that as they would fight about those stones, they would destroy one JASON. 653 another, or it would be easy for him to destroy them. Jason now succeeded in doing as he was bid by Aeetes, but the latter, nevertheless, refused giving up the golden fleece, for he had formed the secret plan of burning the ship Argo, and destroy- ing the Argonauts. But Medeia prevented this, and in the night she conducted her beloved to the fleece, sent the dragon to sleep, and having taken possession of the fleece, she embarked with Jason in the ship Argo. Her brother Absyrtus accom- panied them. According to some, Jason, previous to his departure, fought with Aeetes, and killed him, and Jason, who was wounded, was cured by Medeia, (Diod. iv. 4, 8.) But, according to the common story, Aeetes pursued the fugitives, and as he was near overtakiiig them, Medeia killed her brother Absyrtus, and scattered the parts of his body into the sea as she fled. The collecting of these scattered limbs detained Aeetes ; Jason and Medeia thus escaped, and Aeetes buried the col- lected limbs of Absyrtus in a place which was hence called Tomi (pieces, from t^ixvw ; Steph, Byz. s. V. To^eus). The Argonauts were subse- quently purified by Circe from the murder of Ab- syrtus. When they arrived in the island of the Phaeacians, the Colchians who had been sent out in their pursuit overtook them, and demanded the surrender of Medeia. Alcinous promised to give her up, in case of her not being actually married to Jason, and Arete, the wife of Alcinous, contrived to hurry the marriage, in order to avoid the ne- cessity of surrendering Medeia. At length J'ason and Medeia arrived at lolcus. According to Ovid {Met. vii. 162, &c.), Jason found his aged father Aeson still alive, and Medeia made him young again ; but according to the common tradition, Pe- lias, not believing that the Argonauts would ever return, had in the mean time resolved to kill Aeson. But the latter begged to be pennitted to put an end to his own life, drank the blood of a bull which he sacrificed, and thus died. Jason's mother cursed Pelias for this crime, and made away with herself (Diod. iv. 50) ; and Pelias killed her sur- viving young son Promachus. After the perpetra- tion of tiiese crimes Jason arrived, and delivered the fleece to Pelias. He then dedicated the ship Argo to Poseidon on the Isthmus, and called upon Medeia to take vengeance on Pelias. Medeia pre- vailed on the daughters of Pelias to cut their father to pieces and boil them, pretending that thereby they would restore him to youth and vigour, as she had before changed a ram into a lamb, by boiling the dissected parts of his body in a cauldron. But Pelias remained dead, and his son Acastus expelled Jason and Medeia from lolcus. According to other traditions, Jason, after having taken vengeance ou Pelias, spared the other members of the family, and even raised Acastus to the throne. (Diod. iv. 52, &c. ; Hygin. Fab. 24.) Tlie earliest legends do not mention Jason's expulsion from lolcus, for Hesiod {Theog. 982, &c.) simply relates that Jason returned to lolcus, and became by Medeia the fa- ther of Medeius, who was educated by Cheiron on the neighbouring Pelion. But according to tlie common account, Jason and Medeia went from lolcus to Corinth, where they lived happy for a period of ten years, until Creon, king of Thebes, i)etrothed his daughter Glance or Creusa to Jason, and thus led him to desert Medeia. Medeia in- voked the gods by vvhom Jascm had sworn to be faithful to htr, and sent to Glance a poisoned gai^