CHAPTER X
THE ARGONAUTS
I
_How the Centaur Trained the Heroes on Pelion_
I have told you of a hero who fought with wild beasts and with wild men;
but now I have a tale of heroes who sailed away into a distant land to
win themselves renown forever, in the adventure of the Golden Fleece.
Whither they sailed, my children, I cannot clearly tell. It all happened
long ago; so long that it has all grown dim, like a dream which you
dreamed last year. And why they went, I cannot tell; some say that it
was to win gold. It may be so; but the noblest deeds which have been
done on earth, have not been done for gold. It was not for the sake of
gold that the Lord came down and died, and the Apostles went out to
preach the good news in all lands. The Spartans looked for no reward in
money when they fought and died at Thermopylae; and Socrates the wise
asked no pay from his countrymen, but lived poor and barefoot all his
days, only caring to make men good. And there are heroes in our days
also, who do noble deeds, but not for gold. Our discoverers did not go
to make themselves rich, when they sailed out one after another into the
dreary frozen seas; nor did the ladies, who went out last year, to
drudge in the hospitals of the East, making themselves poor, that they
might be rich in noble works. And young men, too, whom you know,
children, and some of them of your own kin, did they say to themselves,
"How much money shall I earn?" when they went out to the war, leaving
wealth, and comfort, and a pleasant home, and all that money can give,
to face hunger and thirst, and wounds and death, that they might fight
for their country and their Queen? No, children, there is a better thing
on earth than wealth, a better thing than life itself; and that is, to
have done something before you die, for which good men may honour you,
and God your Father smile upon your work.
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