(3.576-608) But straightway Aeetes held an assembly of the Colchians far aloof from his palace at a spot where they sat in times before, to devise against the Minyae grim treachery and troubles. And he threatened that when first the oxen should have torn in pieces the man who had taken upon him to perform the heavy task, he would hew down the oak grove above the wooded hill, and burn the ship and her crew, that so they might vent forth in ruin their grievous insolence, for all their haughty schemes. For never would he have welcomed the Aeolid Phrixus as a guest in his halls, in spite of his sore need, Phrixus, who surpassed all strangers in gentleness and fear of the gods, had not Zeus himself sent Hermes his messenger down from heaven, so that he might meet with a friendly host; much less would pirates coming to his land be let go scatheless for long, men whose care it was to lift their hands and seize the goods of others, and to weave secret webs of guile, and harry the steadings of herdsmen with ill-sounding forays. And he said that besides all that the sons of Phrixus should pay a fitting penalty to himself for returning in consort with evildoers, that they might recklessly drive him from his honour and his throne; for once he had heard a baleful prophecy from his father Helios, that he must avoid the secret treachery and schemes of his own offspring and their crafty mischief. Wherefore he was sending them, as they desired, to the Achaean land at the bidding of their father -- a long journey. Nor had he ever so slight a fear of his daughters, that they would form some hateful scheme, nor of his son Apsyrtus; but this curse was being fulfilled in the children of Chalciope. And he proclaimed terrible things in his rage against the strangers, and loudly threatened to keep watch over the ship and its crew, so that no one might escape calamity.
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576 Αὐτίκα δ' Αἰήτης ἀγορὴν ποιήσατο Κόλχων
577 νόσφιν ἑοῖο δόμου, τόθι περ καὶ πρόσθε κάθιζον,
578 ἀτλήτους Μινύῃσι δόλους καὶ κήδεα τεύχων.
579 στεῦτο δ', ἐπεί κεν πρῶτα βόες διαδηλήσωνται
580 ἄνδρα τόν, ὅς ῥ' ὑπέδεκτο βαρὺν καμέεσθαι ἄεθλον,
581 δρυμὸν ἀναρρήξας λασίης καθύπερθε: κολώνης
582 αὔτανδρον φλέξειν δόρυ νήιον, ὄφρ' ἀλεγεινὴν
583 ὕβριν ἀποφλύξωσιν ὑπέρβια μηχανόωντες.
584 οὐδὲ γὰρ Αἰολίδην Φρίξον μάλα περ χατέοντα
585 δέχθαι ἐνὶ μεγάροισιν ἐφέστιον, ὃς περὶ πάντων
586 ξείνων μελιχίῃ τε θεουδείῃ τ' ἐκέκαστο,
587 εἰ μή οἱ Ζεὺς αὐτὸς ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ ἄγγελον ἧκεν
588 Ἑρμείαν, ὥς κεν προσκηδέος ἀντιάσειεν:
589 μὴ καὶ ληιστῆρας ἑὴν ἐς γαῖαν ἰόντας
590 ἔσσεσθαι δηναιὸν ἀπήμονας, οἷσι μέμηλεν
591 ὀθνείοις ἐπὶ χεῖρα ἑὴν κτεάτεσσιν ἀείρειν,
592 κρυπταδίους τε δόλους τεκταινέμεν, ἠδὲ βοτήρων
593 αὔλια δυσκελάδοισιν ἐπιδρομίῃσι δαΐξαι.
594 νόσφι δὲ οἷ αὐτῷ φάτ' ἐοικότα μείλια τίσειν
595 υἱῆας Φρίξοιο, κακορρέκτῃσιν ὀπηδοὺς
596 ἀνδράσι νοστήσαντας ὁμιλαδόν, ὄφρα ἑ τιμῆς
597 καὶ σκήπτρων ἐλάσειαν ἀκηδέες: ὥς ποτε βάξιν
598 λευγαλέην οὗ πατρὸς ἐπέκλυεν Ἠελίοιο,
599 χρειώ μιν πυκινόν τε δόλον βουλάς τε γενέθλης
600 σφωιτέρης ἄτην τε πολύτροπον ἐξαλέασθαι:
601 τῶ καὶ ἐελδομένους πέμπειν ἐς Ἀχαιίδα γαῖαν
602 πατρὸς ἐφημοσύνῃ, δολιχὴν ὁδόν. οὐδὲ θυγατρῶν
603 εἶναί οἱ τυτθόν γε δέος, μή πού τινα μῆτιν
604 φράσσωνται στυγερήν, οὐδ' υἱέος Ἀψύρτοιο:
605 ἀλλ' ἐνὶ Χαλκιόπης γενεῇ τάδε λυγρὰ τετύχθαι.
606 καί ῥ' ὁ μὲν ἄσχετα ἔργα πιφαύσκετο δημοτέροισιν
607 χωόμενος: μέγα δέ σφιν ἀπείλεε νῆά τ' ἔρυσθαι
608 ἠδ' αὐτούς, ἵνα μήτις ὑπὲκ κακότητος ἀλύξῃ.
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