Met. 7.159Haemoniae mātrēs prō gnātīs dōna receptīs
160grandaevīque ferunt patrēs congestaque flammā
tūra liquefaciunt, inductaque cornibus aurum
victima vōta cadit.The Haemonian mothers and aged fathers bring gifts for their sons' return, and melt heaped incense in the flame, and the vowed victim falls with gold laid on its horns. Met. 7.162Sed abest grātantibus Aeson,
iam propior lētō fessusque senīlibus annīs.But Aeson is absent from the rejoicing, now nearer to death and worn out with the years of age. Met. 7.164Cum sīc Aesonidēs: "Ō cui dēbēre salūtem
165cōnfiteor, coniūnx, quamquam mihi cūncta dedistī
excessitque fidem meritōrum summa tuōrum,
sī tamen hoc possunt (quid enim nōn carmina possunt?),
dēme meīs annīs et dēmptōs adde parentī."Then the son of Aeson spoke thus: 'O wife, to whom I confess I owe my safety, although you have given me everything and the sum of your services has surpassed belief, yet if they can do this (for what can spells not do?), take from my years and add what you take to my father.' Met. 7.169Nec tenuit lacrimās.Nor did he hold back his tears.
Met. 7.169Mōta est pietāte rogantis,
170dissimilemque animum subiit Aeēta relictus.She was moved by the devotion of his request, and the thought of Aeetes, left behind, stole into her heart, so unlike his. Met. 7.171Nec tamen adfectūs tālēs cōnfessa "quod" inquit
"excidit ōre tuō, coniūnx, scelus?Yet without confessing such feelings, she said, 'What crime, husband, has fallen from your lips? Met. 7.172ergō ego cuiquam
posse tuae videor spatium trānscrībere vītae?Do you think, then, that I can transfer a span of your life to anyone? Met. 7.174Nec sinat hoc Hecatē, nec tū petis aequa.Hecate would not allow it, nor is what you ask fair. Met. 7.174Sed istō,
175quod petis, experiar maius dare mūnus Iāsōn.But I shall try to give a greater gift than the one you ask, Jason. Met. 7.176Arte meā socerī longum temptābimus aevum,
nōn annīs renovāre tuīs: modo dīva trifōrmis
adiuvet et praesēns ingentibus adnuat ausīs."By my art I shall attempt to renew your father's long life, not with your years: only let the three-formed goddess help, and be present and assent to this mighty venture.' Met. 7.179Trēs aberant noctēs, ut cornua tōta coīrent
180efficerentque orbem.Three nights were wanting before the horns would meet completely and make the orb.
Met. 7.180Postquam plēnissima fulsit
et solidā terrās spectāvit imāgine lūna,
ēgreditur tēctīs vestēs indūta recīnctās,
nūda pedem, nūdōs umerīs īnfūsa capillōs,
fertque vagōs mediae per mūta silentia noctis
185incomitāta gradūs.After the moon shone at her fullest and looked on the earth with solid form, she goes out of the house, dressed in ungirt robes, barefoot, her bare hair spread over her shoulders, and, unaccompanied, directs her wandering steps through the mute silences of midnight. Met. 7.185Hominēs volucrēsque ferāsque
solverat alta quiēs: nūllō cum murmure saepēs,
inmōtaeque silent frondēs, silet ūmidus āēr;Deep rest had released men and birds and beasts: the hedges are silent without a murmur, and the motionless leaves are silent, the damp air is silent; Met. 7.188sīdera sōla micant.only the stars twinkle. Met. 7.188Ad quae sua bracchia tendēns
ter sē convertit, ter sūmptīs flūmine crīnem
190inrōrāvit aquīs ternīsque ululātibus ōra
solvit et, in dūrā submissō poplite terrā,
"Nox" ait "arcānīs fīdissima, quaeque diurnīs
aurea cum lūnā succēditis ignibus astra,
tūque triceps Hecatē, quae coeptīs cōnscia nostrīs
195adiūtrīxque venīs cantūsque artisque magōrum,
quaeque magōs, Tellūs, pollentibus īnstruis herbīs,
auraeque et ventī montēsque amnēsque lacūsque
dīque omnēs nemorum, dīque omnēs noctis adeste.Stretching her arms to them, she turned round three times, three times sprinkled her hair with water taken from the stream, and three times opened her lips in wailing cries, and, kneeling on the hard ground, said: 'Night, most faithful to mysteries, and you golden stars, who with the moon succeed the fires of day, and you, three-headed Hecate, who come knowing my undertakings and as helper of the spells and arts of magicians, and you, Earth, who furnish magicians with potent herbs, and breezes and winds and mountains and rivers and lakes, and all you gods of the groves, all you gods of the night, be present.
Met. 7.199Quōrum ope, cum voluī, rīpīs mīrantibus amnēs
200in fontēs rediēre suōs, concussaque sistō,
stantia concutiō cantū freta, nūbila pellō
nūbilaque indūcō, ventōs abigōque vocōque,
vīpereās rumpō verbīs et carmine faucēs,
vīvaque saxa suā convulsaque rōbora terrā
205et silvās moveō, iubeōque tremēscere montēs
et mūgīre sōlum mānēsque exīre sepulcrīs.With your help, when I have wished it, rivers have run back to their sources while their banks marvelled; by my chant I calm troubled seas and trouble calm ones, I drive away clouds and bring on clouds, I drive off winds and summon them, I burst the jaws of serpents with words and song, and I move living rocks, and oaks torn from their soil, and forests, and I bid mountains tremble and the ground bellow and the ghosts come out of their tombs. Met. 7.207Tē quoque, Lūna, trahō, quamvīs Temesaea labōrēs
aera tuōs minuant;You too, Moon, I draw down, although Temesan bronze lessens your labours; Met. 7.208currus quoque carmine nostrō
pallet avī, pallet nostrīs Aurōra venēnīs.my grandfather's chariot too pales at my song, Dawn pales at my poisons.
Met. 7.210Vōs mihi taurōrum flammās hebetāstis et uncō
impatiēns oneris collum pressistis arātrō,
vōs serpentigenīs in sē fera bella dedistis
custōdemque rudem somnō sōpīstis et aurum
vindice dēceptō Grāiās mīsistis in urbēs.You dulled the bulls' flames for me and pressed the neck that would not bear a burden under the curved plough; you turned savage war upon themselves for the serpent-born, and put to sleep the guardian that knew no slumber, and, deceiving its defender, sent the gold to Greek cities. Met. 7.215Nunc opus est sūcīs, per quōs renovāta senectūs
in flōrem redeat prīmōsque reconligat annōs.Now there is need of juices by which old age, renewed, may return to its bloom and gather back its earliest years. Met. 7.217Et dabitis.And you will give them. Met. 7.217Neque enim micuērunt sīdera frūstrā,
nec frūstrā volucrum trāctus cervīce dracōnum
currus adest."For not in vain have the stars glittered, nor in vain is the chariot here, drawn by the necks of winged dragons.' Met. 7.219Aderat dēmissus ab aethere currus.There was the chariot, sent down from the sky. Met. 7.220Quō simul adscendit frēnātaque colla dracōnum
permulsit manibusque levēs agitāvit habēnās,
sublīmis rapitur subiectaque Thessala Tempē
dēspicit et Thrēces regiōnibus applicat anguēs:
et quāsque Ossa tulit quāsque altus Pēlion herbās
225Othrysque Pindusque et Pindō maior Olympus
perspicit, et placitās partim rādīce revellit,
partim succīdit curvāmine falcis aēnae.As soon as she mounted it and stroked the bridled necks of the dragons and shook the light reins with her hands, she is carried aloft and looks down on Thessalian Tempe beneath her, and steers her serpents to chosen regions: and she surveys the herbs that Ossa bore and lofty Pelion, and Othrys and Pindus and Olympus, greater than Pindus, and those that pleased her she partly tore up by the root, partly cut with the curve of a bronze sickle.
Met. 7.228Multa quoque Apidanī placuērunt grāmina rīpīs,
multa quoque Amphrȳsī neque erās inmūnis, Enīpeu;Many herbs too pleased her on the banks of Apidanus, many too on the banks of Amphrysus, nor were you exempt, Enipeus; Met. 7.230nec nōn Pēnēos, nec nōn Sperchēidēs undae
contribuēre aliquid iuncōsaque lītora Boebēs.Peneus too, and the waters of Spercheus too, contributed something, and the reedy shores of Boebe. Met. 7.232Carpsit et Euboicā vīvāx Anthēdone grāmen,
nōndum mūtātō vulgātum corpore Glaucī.She plucked too at Euboean Anthedon the life-giving grass, not yet famous through the changing of Glaucus' body. Met. 7.234Et iam nōna diēs currū pennīsque dracōnum
235nōnaque nox omnēs lūstrantem vīderat agrōs,
cum rediit.And now the ninth day and the ninth night had seen her traversing all the fields with her chariot and the dragons' wings, when she returned. Met. 7.236Neque erant tāctī, nisi odōre, dracōnēs,
et tamen annōsae pellem posuēre senectae.And the dragons had been touched by nothing but the smell, and yet they shed the skin of their long years of age.