and he drew from the sheath his bare sword, and smote here and there,
mowing them down, many on the belly and side, half risen to the air--and
some that had risen as far as the shoulders--and some just standing
upright, and others even now rushing to battle. And as when a fight is
stirred up concerning boundaries, and a husbandman, in fear lest they
should ravage his fields, seizes in his hand a curved sickle, newly
sharpened, and hastily cuts the unripe crop, and waits not for it to be
parched in due season by the beams of the sun; so at that time did Jason
cut down the crop of the Earthborn; and the furrows were filled with
blood, as the channels of a spring with water. And they fell, some on
their faces biting the rough clod of earth with their teeth, some on
their backs, and others on their hands and sides, like to sea-monsters
to behold. And many, smitten before raising their feet from the earth,
bowed down as far to the ground as they had risen to the air, and rested
there with the damp of death on their brows. Even so, I ween, when Zeus
has sent a measureless rain, new planted orchard-shoots droop to the
ground, cut off by the root--the toil of gardening men; but heaviness of
heart and deadly anguish come to the owner of the farm, who planted
them; so at that time did bitter grief come upon the heart of King
Aeetes. And he went back to the city among the Colchians, pondering how
he might most quickly oppose the heroes. And the day died, and Jason's
contest was ended.




BOOK IV


SUMMARY OF BOOK IV