Heroes: Volume II of Mythos

T HE M AGICAL D EATH OF P ELIAS Jason knelt before Pelias, the Fleece spread out before him. The successful return of Jason and his crew complete with Golden Fleece was the last thing that Pelias had expected or hoped for. Wicked men who send heroes on their quests always believe that they are sending them to certain death. Wicked men never learn, for wicked men have no interest in myths, legends and stories. If they had they would learn from them and triumph, so we must be glad of their ignorance and dullness of wits. ‘Sorry it took so long,’ said Jason, ‘but Colchis is a fair distance and there were one or two obstacles on the way.’ Pelias, under the curious gaze of his court, did his best to look pleased. ‘I accept this Fleece. It certainly looks genuine. You may leave.’ They withdrew. It was clear at once that Pelias had no intention of giving up his throne. What is more, Jason now discovered that his father and mother, Aeson and Alcimede, were dead. Some said that, along with his young brother Promachus, they had been executed by Pelias; others that a distraught Aeson had poisoned his wife and son and fallen on his own sword after Pelias told him that it was certain the Argo had sunk with all lives lost. ‘In either case,’ said Jason bitterly, ‘Pelias is responsible for their deaths.’ ‘Let me deal with that, darling,’ said Medea. ‘He’s your kinsman and it wouldn’t be right for you to be seen to end his life. You know how fussy gods and mortals are about such things.’ Medea befriended Pelias’s nine daughters, the PELIADES:fn76 ALCESTISfn77, ACASTUS, fn78, ANTINOË, ASTEROPEIA, EVADNE,fn79 HIPPOTHOË, AMPHINOME, PELOPIA and PISIDICE. ‘It is so sad that your father is growing old,’ she said to them. ‘My own father, Aeëtes, is twenty years Pelias’s senior, but he looks – and acts – young enough to be his grandson.’ ‘How is that?’ the daughters demanded. ‘I expect you’ve heard of my powers,’ said Medea. ‘They say you’re a witch!’ said Pelopia. ‘I always think that’s such a terrible word. I prefer ‘enchantress’. Yes, there are ways to make your father youthful, but I don’t suppose you’d be interested?’ ‘Oh, we would, we would!’ cried the girls, who loved their father very much. Medea now prepared a gruesome conjuring trick. With the girls watching in open-mouthed stupefaction, she took an old ram and cut its throat before butchering it into small pieces which she threw into a great cauldron. Next she sprinkled magic herbs into the pot and made dramatic passes over it with her hands. Suddenly, a bleating sound was heard and a lamb leapt alive from the cauldron and gambolled awayfn80. The girls gasped and clapped their hands. ‘There you are,’ said Medea, handing them a packet of herbs. ‘Now you try it. Don’t forget to move your hands exactly like this …’ She repeated the mystical gestures she had made over the pot. The girls ran to Pelias’s chamber where he was taking his afternoon nap. With cries of joy and excitement they slit his throat and cut him up. They carried the bloody chunks of his flesh to the cauldron, dropped them in, sprinkled in the herbs and made the magical passes with their hands. They waited breathlessly for a rejuvenated Pelias to spring from the pot, but strangely he did not. When they went sobbing to their brother Acastus and told him what they had done, he immediately knew that the girls had been tricked. ‘She gave you the wrong herbs, you fools!’fn81 Acastus arranged not only a grand funeral for his father, but funeral games too. They were to become the most famous yet celebrated, surpassed only by those held a generation later by Achilles to honour the death of his beloved friend PATROCLUS, cut down by HECTOR before the walls of Troy. Acastus was a far more likeable man than his fatherfn82 and the people of Iolcos believed him when he apportioned as much blame to Jason as to Medea for the death of Pelias. From being the popular hero Jason became overnight a loathed criminal. Until he atoned for the blood killing – Pelias was, after all, his unclefn83 – he could not even stay in Iolcos, let alone claim its throne. So Medea and Jason fled, leaving Acastus to rule the kingdom. The crew of the Argo dispersed, returning to their homes, lives and subsequent adventures. Many of them were to meet up again and join in the Calydonian boar hunt. Meanwhile, it is worth leaving Jason and Medea for a moment to relate the story of Ancaeus, the man who took over the duties of helmsman of the Argo following the death of Tiphys. Once the Argo had put in at Iolcos, Ancaeus made for his home island of Samos, just north of Patmos. Before he left to join the Argonauts, he had planted out a vineyard, which he hoped would be bearing grapes by the time he came backfn84 The island’s seer told Ancaeus that, while he would certainly return to Samos safe and sound, he would never taste the vineyard’s wine. On his return Ancaeus saw to his delight that the grapes had ripened beautifully and been turned into wine. He summoned the seer before him and raised a cup of the wine to his lips. ‘So much for your false prophecies,’ he said, waving the cup in the seer’s face. ‘I should sack you for incompetence.’ ‘There’s many a slip ’twixt cup and lip,’ said the seer.fn85 Just as Ancaeus was about to take a drink, a clamour rose up outside. A wild boar was ravaging the vineyard. Ancaeus put down the cup and ran out to inspect the damage. The boar charged out, tossed him on his tusks and gored him to death. The seer, fully aware that he had coined a new proverb that would be repeated for generations, picked up the cup of wine and drained it. The boar was later sent by Artemis to Calydon, as we shall find out when we follow the adventures of Atalanta.