Met. 7.238Cōnstitit adveniēns citrā līmenque forēsque
et tantum caelō tegitur refugitque virīlēs
240contāctūs statuitque ārās dē caespite bīnās,
dexteriōre Hecatēs, ast laevā parte Iuventae.On arriving she stopped short of the threshold and doors and is covered by the sky alone, and she shuns contact with men and sets up two altars of turf, on the right one to Hecate, on the left one to Youth. Met. 7.242Hās ubi verbēnīs silvāque incīnxit agrestī.When she had wreathed these with sacred boughs and woodland foliage, Met. 7.243haud procul ēgestā scrobibus tellūre duābus
sacra facit cultrōsque in guttura velleris ātrī
245conicit et patulās perfundit sanguine fossās.not far off, having dug out earth to make two pits, she performs the rites, and plunges knives into the throats of a black-fleeced sheep, and floods the wide trenches with blood. Met. 7.246Tum super invergēns liquidī carchēsia vīnī
alteraque invergēns tepidī carchēsia lactis
verba simul fūdit terrēnaque nūmina cīvit
umbrārumque rogat raptā cum coniuge rēgem,
250nē properent artūs animā fraudāre senīlī.Then, pouring over them cups of liquid wine, and pouring cups of warm milk as well, she poured out words at the same time, and summoned the powers of the earth, and begs the king of the shades, with his stolen wife, not to hasten to rob the old man's limbs of life.
Met. 7.251Quōs ubi plācāvit precibusque et murmure longō,
Aesonis effētum prōferrī corpus ad aurās
iussit et in plēnōs resolūtum carmine somnōs,
exanimī similem, strātīs porrēxit in herbīs.When she had appeased them with prayers and long murmuring, she ordered Aeson's worn-out body to be brought out into the open air, and, having loosed him into deep sleep by a spell, she stretched him out like a dead man on a bed of herbs. Met. 7.255Hinc procul Aesonidēn, procul hinc iubet īre ministrōs
et monet arcānīs oculōs removēre profānōs.She bids the son of Aeson go far from here, the attendants far from here, and warns them to remove profane eyes from her mysteries. Met. 7.257Diffugiunt iussī.As bidden, they scatter. Met. 7.257Passīs Mēdēa capillīs
bacchantum rītū, flagrantēs circuit ārās
multifidāsque facēs in fossā sanguinis ātrā
260tingit et īnfectās geminīs accendit in ārīs
terque senem flammā, ter aquā, ter sulphure lūstrat.Medea, with streaming hair, in the manner of the Bacchantes, circles the blazing altars, and dips many-cleft torches in the black trench of blood, and lights them, thus dyed, on the twin altars, and three times purifies the old man with fire, three times with water, three times with sulphur.
Met. 7.262Intereā validum positō medicāmen aēnō
fervet et exsultat spūmīsque tumentibus albet.Meanwhile the potent drug in the bronze pot set on the fire boils and leaps and whitens with swelling foam. Met. 7.264Illīc Haemoniā rādīcēs valle resectās
265sēminaque flōrēsque et sūcōs incoquit ātrōs.In it she boils roots cut in a Haemonian valley, and seeds and flowers and dark juices. Met. 7.266Adicit extrēmō lapidēs oriente petītōs
et quās Oceanī refluum mare lāvit harēnās,
addit et exceptās lūnā pernocte pruīnās
et strigis īnfāmēs ipsīs cum carnibus alās
270inque virum solitī vultūs mūtāre ferīnōs
ambiguī prōsecta lupī;She adds stones sought from the farthest east, and sands which the ebbing sea of Ocean has washed; she adds too hoarfrost gathered under the all-night moon, and the ill-famed wings of a screech owl along with its very flesh, and the entrails of a shape-shifting werewolf, which was wont to change its beast's face into a man's; Met. 7.271nec dēfuit illīs
squāmea Cīnyphiī tenuis membrāna chelydrī
vīvācisque iecur cervī;nor were there lacking to these the thin scaly skin of a Cinyphian water-snake and the liver of a long-lived stag; Met. 7.273quibus īnsuper addit
ōra caputque novem cornīcis saecula passae.to which she adds besides the beak and head of a crow that had lived through nine generations.
Met. 7.275Hīs et mīlle aliīs postquam sine nōmine rēbus
prōpositum īnstrūxit mortālī barbara maius
ārentī rāmō iamprīdem mītis olīvae
omnia cōnfūdit summīsque inmiscuit īma.When with these and a thousand other nameless things the barbarian woman had prepared her design, greater than mortal, she stirred everything together with a branch of gentle olive long since dried up, and mixed the bottom with the top. Met. 7.279Ecce vetus calidō versātus stīpes aēnō
280fit viridis prīmō, nec longō tempore frondēs
induit et subitō gravidīs onerātur olīvīs.Look, the old stick, turned in the hot pot, first becomes green, and in no long time puts on leaves, and suddenly is laden with heavy olives. Met. 7.282At quācumque cavīs spūmās ēiēcit aēnīs
ignis et in terram guttae cecidēre calentēs,
vernat humus, flōrēsque et mollia pābula surgunt.But wherever the fire threw foam from the hollow pot and hot drops fell onto the ground, the earth grows springlike, and flowers and soft pasture spring up. Met. 7.285Quae simul ac vīdit, strictō Mēdēa reclūdit
ēnse senis iugulum, veteremque exīre cruōrem
passa, replet sūcīs.As soon as Medea saw this, she drew her sword and opened the old man's throat, and, letting the old blood run out, fills him with the juices.
Met. 7.287Quōs postquam combibit Aeson
aut ōre acceptōs aut vulnere, barba comaeque
cānitiē positā nigrum rapuēre colōrem,
290pulsa fugit maciēs, abeunt pallorque situsque,
adiectōque cavae supplentur corpore rūgae,
membraque luxuriant.When Aeson had drunk them in, taken either through his mouth or through his wound, his beard and hair, putting off their whiteness, swiftly took on a black colour; his leanness is driven off and flees, pallor and decay depart, the hollow wrinkles are filled out with added flesh, and his limbs grow lusty. Met. 7.292Aeson mīrātur et ōlim
ante quater dēnōs hunc sē reminīscitur annōs.Aeson marvels, and remembers that he was like this forty years before. Met. 7.294Vīderat ex altō tantī mīrācula mōnstrī
295Līber, et admonitus iuvenēs nūtrīcibus annōs
posse suīs reddī, capit hoc ā Colchide mūnus.Liber had seen from on high the miracle of so great a wonder, and, reminded that his nurses could have their youthful years restored to them, receives this gift from the Colchian woman.