(4.685-717) Now when she had dismissed the fears of her nightly visions, straightway she fared backwards, and in her subtlety she bade the heroes follow, charming them on with her hand. Thereupon the host remained stedfast at the bidding of Aeson's son, but Jason drew with him the Colchian maid. And both followed the selfsame path till they reached the hall of Circe, and she in amaze at their coming bade them sit on brightly burnished seats. And they, quiet and silent, sped to the hearth and sat there, as is the wont of wretched suppliants. Medea hid her face in both her hands, but Jason fixed in the ground the mighty hilted sword with which he had slain Aeetes' son; nor did they raise their eyes to meet her look. And straightway Circe became aware of the doom of a suppliant and the guilt of murder. Wherefore in reverence for the ordinance of Zeus, the god of suppliants, who is a god of wrath yet mightily aids slayers of men, she began to offer the sacrifice with which ruthless suppliants are cleansed from guilt when they approach the altar. First, to atone for the murder still unexpiated, she held above their heads the young of a sow whose dugs yet swelled from the fruit of the womb, and, severing its neck, sprinkled their hands with the blood; and again she made propitiation with other drink offerings, calling on Zeus the Cleanser, the protector of murder- stained suppliants. And all the defilements in a mass her attendants bore forth from the palace -- the Naiad nymphs who ministered all things to her. And within, Circe, standing by the hearth, kept burning atonement-cakes without wine, praying the while that she might stay from their wrath the terrible Furies, and that Zeus himself might be propitious and gentle to them both, whether with hands stained by the blood of a stranger or, as kinsfolk, by the blood of a kinsman, they should implore his grace.
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685 Ἡ δ' ὅτε δὴ νυχίων ἀπὸ δείματα πέμψεν ὀνείρων,
686 αὐτίκ' ἔπειτ' ἄψορρον ἀπέστιχε: τοὺς δ' ἅμ' ἕπεσθαι,
687 χειρὶ καταρρέξασα, δολοφροσύνῃσιν ἄνωγεν.
688 ἔνθ' ἤτοι πληθὺς μὲν ἐφετμαῖς Αἰσονίδαο
689 μίμνεν ἀπηλεγέως: ὁ δ' ἐρύσσατο Κολχίδα κούρην.
690 ἄμφω δ' ἑσπέσθην αὐτὴν ὁδόν, ἔστ' ἀφίκοντο
691 Κίρκης ἐς μέγαρον: τοὺς δ' ἐν λιπαροῖσι κέλευεν
692 ἥγε θρόνοις ἕζεσθαι, ἀμηχανέουσα κιόντων.
693 τὼ δ' ἄνεῳ καὶ ἄναυδοι ἐφ' ἑστίῃ ἀίξαντε
694 ἵζανον, ἥ τε δίκη λυγροῖς ἱκέτῃσι τέτυκται,
695 ἡ μὲν ἐπ' ἀμφοτέραις θεμένη χείρεσσι μέτωπα,
696 αὐτὰρ ὁ κωπῆεν μέγα φάσγανον ἐν χθονὶ πήξας,
697 ᾧπέρ τ' Αἰήταο πάιν κτάνεν: οὐδέ ποτ' ὄσσε
698 ἰθὺς ἐνὶ βλεφάροισιν ἀνέσχεθον. αὐτίκα δ' ἔγνω
699 Κίρκη φύξιον οἶτον ἀλιτροσύνας τε φόνοιο.
700 τῶ καὶ ὀπιζομένη Ζηνὸς θέμιν Ἱκεσίοιο,
701 ὃς μέγα μὲν κοτέει, μέγα δ' ἀνδροφόνοισιν ἀρήγει,
702 ῥέζε θυηπολίην, οἵῃ τ' ἀπολυμαίνονται
703 νηλειεῖς ἱκέται, ὅτ' ἐφέστιοι ἀντιόωσιν.
704 πρῶτα μὲν ἀτρέπτοιο λυτήριον ἥγε φόνοιο
705 τειναμένη καθύπερθε συὸς τέκος, ἧς ἔτι μαζοὶ
706 πλήμμυρον λοχίης ἐκ νηδύος, αἵματι χεῖρας
707 τέγγεν, ἐπιτμήγουσα δέρην: αὖτις δὲ καὶ ἄλλοις
708 μείλισσεν χύτλοισι, καθάρσιον ἀγκαλέουσα
709 Ζῆνα, παλαμναίων τιμήορον ἱκεσιάων.
710 καὶ τὰ μὲν ἀθρόα πάντα δόμων ἐκ λύματ' ἔνεικαν
711 νηιάδες πρόπολοι, ταί οἱ πόρσυνον ἕκαστα.
712 ἡ δ' εἴσω πελάνους μείλικτρά τε νηφαλίῃσιν
713 καῖεν ἐπ' εὐχωλῇσι παρέστιος, ὄφρα χόλοιο
714 σμερδαλέας παύσειεν Ἐρινύας, ἠδὲ καὶ αὐτὸς
715 εὐμειδής τε πέλοιτο καὶ ἤπιος ἀμφοτέροισιν,
716 εἴτ' οὖν ὀθνείῳ μεμιασμένοι αἵματι χεῖρας,
717 εἴτε καὶ ἐμφύλῳ προσκηδέες ἀντιόωσιν.
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