And at day dawn they looked eastward, and midway between the sea and the
sky they saw white snow peaks hanging glittering sharp and bright above
the clouds. And they knew that they were come to Caucasus, at the end of
all the earth; Caucasus the highest of all mountains, the father of the
rivers of the East. On his peak lies chained the Titan, while a vulture
tears his heart; and at his feet are piled dark forests round the magic
Colchian land.
And they rowed three days to the eastward, while Caucasus rose higher
hour by hour, till they saw the dark stream of Phasis rushing headlong
to the sea, and shining above the treetops, the golden roofs of King
Aietes, the child of the sun.
Then out spoke Ancaios the helmsman: "We are come to our goal at last;
for there are the roofs of Aietes, and the woods where all poisons grow;
but who can tell us where among them is hid the golden fleece? Many a
toil must we bear ere we find it, and bring it home to Greece."
But Jason cheered the heroes, for his heart was high and bold; and he
said: "I will go alone up to Aietes, though he be the child of the sun,
and win him with soft words. Better so than to go altogether, and to
come to blows at once." But the Minuai would not stay behind, so they
rowed boldly up the stream.
And a dream came to Aietes, and filled his heart with fear. He thought
he saw a shining star, which fell into his daughter's lap; and that
Medeia his daughter took it gladly, and carried it to the river side,
and cast it in, and there the whirling river bore it down, and out into
the Euxine Sea.
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