FIRST VATICAN MYTHOGRAPHER
(Mythographus Vaticanus primus)
c. 875-1075 CE
The Vatican mythographers are so named because their three books of mythology were found bound together in the Vatican archive. The first of these documents, known as the FIRST VATICAN MYTHOGRAPHER, is frequently suggested to have been written around the 9th or 10th century CE based upon the dating of the more recent sources the author used. The author is anonymous and writes in a plain, direct style with little additional commentary. I have made the translation of four chapters devoted to the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece from the 1803 first edition and 1834 corrected printing of the Latin text of the Mythographer, including variant spellings and mistakes the Mythographer made in his storytelling. Note, for example, that the author confuses Pelias and Peleus, as well as the dragon whose teeth Jason sewed and the dragon Jason killed. Additional references to incidents touching on the Argonauts' journey occur in the work, but the following chapters are those that deal primarily with Jason.
Translation © 2011 Jason Colavito. All rights reserved.
23. On Phrixus and Helle
Phrixus and Helle were siblings and the children of King Athamas and Nephele. When they were wandering in the woods they were stricken with madness by Liber. Their mother Nephele is said to have come to them and presented them with a ram distinguished by its golden fleece and ordered her children to climb up on the aforementioned ram and to go to King Oeeta in Colchis and there sacrifice the ram. – Or, in another version: When Nephele, who is also Nubes, incited by the madness of Father Liber, made for the woods and did not return to her husband’s hearth, Athamas brought home a stepmother named Ino for his children Phrixus and Helle: plotting death from a stepmother’s hatred, she asked the matrons to destroy the grain that was to be sewn; for which reason a famine was born. When the community had sent to Apollo for a consultation, Ino bribed those who had been sent to report that the oracle said the children of Nephele must be sacrificed: and she said they had burned the grain. Their father, fearing the hatred of the people, entrusted the children to their stepmother’s judgment, but in secret he gave them a remedy: For he sent forth Phrixus, ignorant of his own death, to lead away the ram that had the Golden Fleece. Urged on by the command of Juno to run away with his sister, he forthwith escaped death with her. Then when they floated above the sea while clinging to the ram, the girl Helle fell down into the sea: For from her it is called the Hellespont. Phrixus, delivered to Colchis, sacrificed the ram and consecrated the Golden Fleece in the temple of Mars, where an unsleeping dragon guarded it. King Oeeta received Phrixus cheerfully, and he gave him a daughter as a wife. When Phrixus received children from her, Oeeta, so that he would not expel him from the kingdom (for he had been given a divine prophesy to beware death by a foreigner) killed Phrixus. But his sons climbed into a ship to go over to their grandfather Athamas. Aeson received them after they were shipwrecked. Afterward, Jason set out for Colchis to take the Golden Fleece, and he killed the dragon, and he took away the Fleece.
24. On Pelias and Jason
Pelias, or Peleus, king of the Peloponnesus, was the brother of Aeson, whose son was named Jason. Accordingly, the aforementioned Pelias feared his brother’s son due to his strength and uprightness, lest he might expel him from the kingdom. And for this reason he sent him to Colchis, thence to bring back the Golden Fleece on which Jupiter had ascended to the heavens. For he thought this would cause his (Jason’s) death. But a certain Argus made a ship which was called Argo after his name; and after this ship Jason and his companions were called Argonauts. In truth, Typhis was the steersman. While sailing to Colchis, on route they came to Troy: King Laomedon of Troy did not allow them to go into the port. Then they went back and told of what King Laomedon of Troy did to them. For this reason Pelias and Hercules came to Troy, by whom it was conquered and Laomedon killed.
25. On Jason
Under the command of Apollo’s oracle, Jason sought to snatch the Golden Fleece, which Phrixus had consecrated to Mars. To get hold of it, he must first place under the yoke two bulls that were untamable among the Colchians. Medea, the greatest of sorceresses, marveled at his beauty. Through her sorcery, she drove him to bring the bulls under the yoke and to kill the sleepless dragon. He sewed its teeth once it was killed and the bulls breathing Vulcan’s fire yoked: the men born from this cut one another down with mutual wounds. Moreover, King Oeeta had proposed these conditions to him, for Apollo had answered that he would continue to reign so long as the fleece was in the temple. After taking possession of the Golden Fleece, Jason later had Medea as a wife. But when he brought in a mistress of the name Glauce, daughter of Creon, Medea gave the mistress a tunic laced with poison and garlic: When she had put it on, she began to be burned alive by fire. Then Medea, not putting up with the soul of Jason raging against her, fled on a winged serpent.
188. On Medea, Jason, Aeson, and the Nurses of Father Liber
After Jason had led Medea to Greece, he had sex with her, as he had promised her marriage. As she was a clever expert in many things, he asked her to restore his father Aeson’s youth. As the love she had for him had not yet been put aside, refusing him nothing, she set up a bronze cauldron and cooked many kinds of plants which she knew and had obtained from diverse regions. She immersed Aeson, who had been killed, in the warm herbs, and she brought him through in his original vigor. When Father Liber noticed that Aeson’s old age had been expelled by Medea’s medicines, he asked her to bring help to his nurses and to restore them to the vigor of youth. Impelled by his authority and assistance, she gave to Liber an everlasting favor by the same medicines with which she had restored Aeson to his first blush of youth.
Translation © 2011 Jason Colavito. All rights reserved.
23. On Phrixus and Helle
Phrixus and Helle were siblings and the children of King Athamas and Nephele. When they were wandering in the woods they were stricken with madness by Liber. Their mother Nephele is said to have come to them and presented them with a ram distinguished by its golden fleece and ordered her children to climb up on the aforementioned ram and to go to King Oeeta in Colchis and there sacrifice the ram. – Or, in another version: When Nephele, who is also Nubes, incited by the madness of Father Liber, made for the woods and did not return to her husband’s hearth, Athamas brought home a stepmother named Ino for his children Phrixus and Helle: plotting death from a stepmother’s hatred, she asked the matrons to destroy the grain that was to be sewn; for which reason a famine was born. When the community had sent to Apollo for a consultation, Ino bribed those who had been sent to report that the oracle said the children of Nephele must be sacrificed: and she said they had burned the grain. Their father, fearing the hatred of the people, entrusted the children to their stepmother’s judgment, but in secret he gave them a remedy: For he sent forth Phrixus, ignorant of his own death, to lead away the ram that had the Golden Fleece. Urged on by the command of Juno to run away with his sister, he forthwith escaped death with her. Then when they floated above the sea while clinging to the ram, the girl Helle fell down into the sea: For from her it is called the Hellespont. Phrixus, delivered to Colchis, sacrificed the ram and consecrated the Golden Fleece in the temple of Mars, where an unsleeping dragon guarded it. King Oeeta received Phrixus cheerfully, and he gave him a daughter as a wife. When Phrixus received children from her, Oeeta, so that he would not expel him from the kingdom (for he had been given a divine prophesy to beware death by a foreigner) killed Phrixus. But his sons climbed into a ship to go over to their grandfather Athamas. Aeson received them after they were shipwrecked. Afterward, Jason set out for Colchis to take the Golden Fleece, and he killed the dragon, and he took away the Fleece.
24. On Pelias and Jason
Pelias, or Peleus, king of the Peloponnesus, was the brother of Aeson, whose son was named Jason. Accordingly, the aforementioned Pelias feared his brother’s son due to his strength and uprightness, lest he might expel him from the kingdom. And for this reason he sent him to Colchis, thence to bring back the Golden Fleece on which Jupiter had ascended to the heavens. For he thought this would cause his (Jason’s) death. But a certain Argus made a ship which was called Argo after his name; and after this ship Jason and his companions were called Argonauts. In truth, Typhis was the steersman. While sailing to Colchis, on route they came to Troy: King Laomedon of Troy did not allow them to go into the port. Then they went back and told of what King Laomedon of Troy did to them. For this reason Pelias and Hercules came to Troy, by whom it was conquered and Laomedon killed.
25. On Jason
Under the command of Apollo’s oracle, Jason sought to snatch the Golden Fleece, which Phrixus had consecrated to Mars. To get hold of it, he must first place under the yoke two bulls that were untamable among the Colchians. Medea, the greatest of sorceresses, marveled at his beauty. Through her sorcery, she drove him to bring the bulls under the yoke and to kill the sleepless dragon. He sewed its teeth once it was killed and the bulls breathing Vulcan’s fire yoked: the men born from this cut one another down with mutual wounds. Moreover, King Oeeta had proposed these conditions to him, for Apollo had answered that he would continue to reign so long as the fleece was in the temple. After taking possession of the Golden Fleece, Jason later had Medea as a wife. But when he brought in a mistress of the name Glauce, daughter of Creon, Medea gave the mistress a tunic laced with poison and garlic: When she had put it on, she began to be burned alive by fire. Then Medea, not putting up with the soul of Jason raging against her, fled on a winged serpent.
188. On Medea, Jason, Aeson, and the Nurses of Father Liber
After Jason had led Medea to Greece, he had sex with her, as he had promised her marriage. As she was a clever expert in many things, he asked her to restore his father Aeson’s youth. As the love she had for him had not yet been put aside, refusing him nothing, she set up a bronze cauldron and cooked many kinds of plants which she knew and had obtained from diverse regions. She immersed Aeson, who had been killed, in the warm herbs, and she brought him through in his original vigor. When Father Liber noticed that Aeson’s old age had been expelled by Medea’s medicines, he asked her to bring help to his nurses and to restore them to the vigor of youth. Impelled by his authority and assistance, she gave to Liber an everlasting favor by the same medicines with which she had restored Aeson to his first blush of youth.