"The Golden Fleece," said Arete, "has been won by
the tasks that Jason performed. If the Colchians should take
Medea, it would be to bring her back to Aea and to a bitter doom.
And the maiden," said the queen, "has broken my heart by her
prayers and tears."
King Alcinous said: "Aeetes is strong, and although his kingdom
is far from ours, he can bring war upon us." But still Arete
pleaded with him to protect Medea from the Colchians. Alcinous
went within; he raised up Medea from where she crouched on the
floor of the palace, and he promised her that the Argonauts would
be protected in his city.
Then the king mounted his chariot; Medea went with him, and they
came down to the seashore where the heroes had made their
encampment. The Argonauts and the Colchians were drawn up against
each other, and the Colchians far outnumbered the wearied heroes.
Alcinous drove his chariot between the two armies. The Colchians
prayed him to have the strangers make surrender to them. But the
king drove his chariot to where the heroes stood, and he took the
hand of each, and received them as his guests. Then the Colchians
knew that they might not make war upon the heroes. They drew off.
The next day they marched away.
It was a rich land that they had come to. Once Aristaeus dwelt
there, the king who discovered how to make bees store up their
honey for men and how to make the good olive grow. Macris, his
daughter, tended Dionysus, the son of Zeus, when Hermes brought
him of the flame, and moistened his lips with honey.
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