The ​Orphic Argonautica 1 csillagozás

Suddenly the pit blazed up, and the deadly fire crackled, and the unclean flame sent high its smoke. At once, on the far side of the fire, the terrible, fearful, savage goddesses arose. One had a body of iron. The dead call her Pandora. With her came one who takes on various shapes, having three heads, a deadly monster you do not wish to know: Hecate of Tartarus. From her left shoulder leapt a horse with a long mane. On her right shoulder there could be seen a dog with a maddened face. The middle head had the shape of a lion [or snake] of wild form. In her hand she held a well-hilted sword. Pandora and Hecate circled the pit, moving this way and that, and the Furies leapt with them. Suddenly the wooden guardian statue of Artemis dropped its torches from its hands and raised its eyes to heaven.

When in Egypt and Libya, I came forth as an oracle of men and revealed the secret rites, my mother watched over my furious inspirations and led me thence to another home, where I might come upon old age and the finality of death.

And trembling they agreed to the oath with one soul, and they gave the signal of their assent with their hands.

The Heroes eagerly approached this place upon my advice, Samothrace of the sacred rites of the gods that may not be defiled by men, for great is the utility of these rites to sailing men, and indeed to all men.

The powerful Polydeuces therefore killed him, beating his head (like a thunderbolt) with his boxing glove.

There was the stream of Araxes, the loud-sounding river, from which Thermodon, and Phasis, and Tanais flow, where there are the famous tribes of Colchi and Heniochi and Abasgi.

But noble Jason stood out as the most handsome of all. Hera honored him in every way, giving him surpassing beauty, stature, and manliness.

For before the house of Aeëtes and a rushing river, a fifty-four foot high enclosure stood before us, defended by towers and polished blocks of iron, crowned by seven defensive walls in a circle. Within it were three gigantic gates of bronze, between which ran a wall, and atop this, golden battlements. At one of the gateposts there stood [a statue of] the far-seeing queen, scattering with her motion the radiance of fire, whom the Colchians propitiate as Artemis of the gate, resounding with the chase, terrible for men to see, and terrible to hear, unless one approaches the sacred rites and purification, the rites kept hidden by the priestess who was initiated, Medea, unfortunate in marriage, along with the girls of Cyta. No mortal, whether native or stranger, entered that way, crossing over the threshold, for the terrible Goddess kept them away by all means, breathing madness into her fire-eyed dogs.

On this, spread over a long branch, hung the Golden Fleece, over which a terrible snake continuously watched, a serpent dangerous to men and indescribable. It was covered in golden scales and wound about the tree trunk with its huge coils, watching over the tomb of Zeus Chamaizelos ["earth-bound" or chthonic Zeus] while guarding the Fleece. Untiring, exempt from sleep, it kept guard over its charges, casting its gray eyes all about.

We suffered a great enemy on Crete, when we observed a bronze giant who allowed no one to go into the harbor. And so, driven back into a narrow passage by the low echo of a sea wave, we suddenly feared being covered by a black tempest lest we be dashed upon the gloomy and forbidding rocks. But from nearby, far-throwing Paean hear our cries. He shot a dart from rocky Delos and revealed himself in the middle of the Sporades on the island which all the neighboring peoples called Anaphe.