(4.123-161) And they two by the pathway came to the sacred grove, seeking the huge oak tree on which was hung the fleece, like to a cloud that blushes red with the fiery beams of the rising sun. But right in front the serpent with his keen sleepless eyes saw them coming, and stretched out his long neck and hissed in awful wise; and all round the long banks of the river echoed and the boundless grove. Those heard it who dwelt in the Colchian land very far from Titanian Aea, near the outfall of Lycus, the river which parts from loud-roaring Araxes and blends his sacred stream with Phasis, and they twain flow on together in one and pour their waters into the Caucasian Sea. And through fear young mothers awoke, and round their new-born babes, who were sleeping in their arms, threw their hands in agony, for the small limbs started at that hiss. And as when above a pile of smouldering wood countless eddies of smoke roll up mingled with soot, and one ever springs up quickly after another, rising aloft from beneath in wavering wreaths; so at that time did that monster roll his countless coils covered with hard dry scales. And as he writhed, the maiden came before his eyes, with sweet voice calling to her aid sleep, highest of gods, to charm the monster; and she cried to the queen of the underworld, the night-wanderer, to be propitious to her enterprise. And Aeson's son followed in fear, but the serpent, already charmed by her song, was relaxing the long ridge of his giant spine, and lengthening out his myriad coils, like a dark wave, dumb and noiseless, rolling over a sluggish sea; but still he raised aloft his grisly head, eager to enclose them both in his murderous jaws. But she with a newly cut spray of juniper, dipping and drawing untempered charms from her mystic brew, sprinkled his eyes, while she chanted her song; and all around the potent scent of the charm cast sleep; and on the very spot he let his jaw sink down; and far behind through the wood with its many trees were those countless coils stretched out.
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123 τὼ δὲ δι' ἀτραπιτοῖο μεθ' ἱερὸν ἄλσος ἵκοντο,
124 φηγὸν ἀπειρεσίην διζημένω, ᾗ ἔπι κῶας
125 βέβλητο, νεφέλῃ ἐναλίγκιον, ἥ τ' ἀνιόντος
126 ἠελίου φλογερῇσιν ἐρεύθεται ἀκτίνεσσιν.
127 αὐτὰρ ὁ ἀντικρὺ περιμήκεα τείνετο δειρὴν
128 ὀξὺς ἀύπνοισιν προϊδὼν ὄφις ὀφθαλμοῖσιν
129 νισσομένους, ῥοίζει δὲ πελώριον: ἀμφὶ δὲ μακραὶ
130 ἠιόνες ποταμοῖο καὶ ἄσπετον ἴαχεν ἄλσος.
131 ἔκλυον οἳ καὶ πολλὸν ἑκὰς Τιτηνίδος Αἴης
132 Κολχίδα γῆν ἐνέμοντο παρὰ προχοῇσι Αύκοιο,
133 ὅς τ' ἀποκιδνάμενος ποταμοῦ κελάδοντος Ἀράξεω
134 Φάσιδι συμφέρεται ἱερὸν ῥόον: οἱ δὲ συνάμφω
135 Καυκασίην ἅλαδ' εἰς ἓν ἐλαυνόμενοι προχέουσιν.
136 δείματι δ' ἐξέγροντο λεχωίδες, ἀμφὶ δὲ παισὶν
137 νηπιάχοις, οἵ τέ σφιν ὑπ' ἀγκαλίδεσσιν ἴαυον,
138 ῥοίζῳ παλλομένοις χεῖρας βάλον ἀσχαλόωσαι.
139 ὡς δ' ὅτε τυφομένης ὕλης ὕπερ αἰθαλόεσσαι
140 καπνοῖο στροφάλιγγες ἀπείριτοι εἱλίσσονται,
141 ἄλλη δ' αἶψ' ἑτέρῃ ἐπιτέλλεται αἰὲν ἐπιπρὸ
142 νειόθεν εἰλίγγοισιν ἐπήορος ἐξανιοῦσα:
143 ὧς τότε κεῖνο πέλωρον ἀπειρεσίας ἐλέλιξεν
144 ῥυμβόνας ἀζαλέῃσιν ἐπηρεφέας φολίδεσσιν.
145 τοῖο δ' ἑλισσομένοιο κατ' ὄμματα νίσσετο κούρη,
146 Ὕπνον ἀοσσητῆρα, θεῶν ὕπατον, καλέουσα
147 ἡδείῃ ἐνοπῇ, θέλξαι τέρας: αὖε δ' ἄνασσαν
148 νυκτιπόλον, χθονίην, εὐαντέα δοῦναι ἐφορμήν.
149 εἵπετο δ' Αἰσονίδης πεφοβημένος, αὐτὰρ ὅγ' ἤδη
150 οἴμῃ θελγόμενος δολιχὴν ἀνελύετ' ἄκανθαν
151 γηγενέος σπείρης, μήκυνε δὲ μυρία κύκλα,
152 οἷον ὅτε βληχροῖσι κυλινδόμενον πελάγεσσιν
153 κῦμα μέλαν κωφόν τε καὶ ἄβρομον: ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔμπης
154 ὑψοῦ σμερδαλέην κεφαλὴν μενέαινεν ἀείρας
155 ἀμφοτέρους ὀλοῇσι περιπτύξαι γενύεσσιν.
156 ἡ δέ μιν ἀρκεύθοιο νέον τετμηότι θαλλῷ
157 βάπτουσ' ἐκ κυκεῶνος ἀκήρατα φάρμακ' ἀοιδαῖς
158 ῥαῖνε κατ' ὀφθαλμῶν: περί τ' ἀμφί τε νήριτος ὀδμὴ
159 φαρμάκου ὕπνον ἔβαλλε: γένυν δ' αὐτῇ ἐνὶ χώρῃ
160 θῆκεν ἐρεισάμενος: τὰ δ' ἀπείρονα πολλὸν ὀπίσσω
161 κύκλα πολυπρέμνοιο διὲξ ὕλης τετάνυστο.
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