The Argonauts

ACTUS PRIMUS 9 WOMEN. Ah, there’s a fine retort ! PELIAS. Goddesses speak and men list reverently. Could she not find a fitter messenger? JASON. Her cause is Jason’s. Jason therefore speaks. P PELIAS. Aha! A suppliant to our clemency! I did mistake the gesture and the sword Angrily gripped, the foot flung terribly Foremost, the fierce, constrainéd attitude. But—as a suppliant! Tell thy woeful tale, Sad youth! Some woman thou hast loved and lost? JASON. Thou hast robbed me of this kingdom. Thou hast kept My father (poor half-witted man!) a slave And parasite about thy court (one grief The more I add to this account of thine!) Myself a babe thou didst seek out to slay, And, I being hid, with fish-hooks bent with lies And gilded with most specious promises, Cunningly angled for old Chiron’s grace To catch me yet. Athena hears me swear To right all this—nay, answer me before Anger get all the spoil of me, and drink Thy life-blood in one gulp! Descend that dais!