thou wouldst be silent and wouldst cheat thy soul with the hope of
hearing some wise speech from them, and long wouldst thou gaze with that
hope.

Such then were the gifts of the Tritonian goddess Athena. And in his
right hand Jason held a far-darting spear, which Atalanta gave him once
as a gift of hospitality in Maenalus as she met him gladly; for she
eagerly desired to follow on that quest; but he himself of his own
accord prevented the maid, for he feared bitter strife on account of her
love.

And he went on his way to the city like to a bright star, which maidens,
pent up in new-built chambers, behold as it rises above their homes, and
through the dark air it charms their eyes with its fair red gleam and
the maid rejoices, love-sick for the youth who is far away amid
strangers, for whom her parents are keeping her to be his bride; like to
that star the hero trod the way to the city. And when they had passed
within the gates and the city, the women of the people surged behind
them, delighting in the stranger, but he with his eyes fixed on the
ground fared straight on, till he reached the glorious palace of
Hypsipyle; and when he appeared the maids opened the folding doors,
fitted with well-fashioned panels. Here Iphinoe leading him quickly
through a fair porch set him upon a shining seat opposite her mistress,
but Hypsipyle turned her eyes aside and a blush covered her maiden
cheeks, yet for all her modesty she addressed him with crafty words:

"Stranger, why stay ye so long outside our towers? for the city is not
inhabited by the men, but they, as sojourners, plough the wheat-bearing
fields of the Thracian mainland. And I will tell out truly all our evil
plight, that ye yourselves too may know it well. When my father Thoas