Leaving your mother alone to bear her burden of woe?’
So spake she, and last came forth Aiêtes hastening,
And came Eiduia herself, the wife of Aiêtes the king,
When the outcry of Chalkiopê she heard. And the court straightway {270}
Was filled with a noisy throng; for some of the thralls ’gan flay
A huge ox, some with the brass ’gan cleave the billets dry,
And some with the fire ’gan heat the baths. There was none thereby
That lagged in his task, as they toiled beneath that stern king’s eye.
But Eros the while through the mist-grey air passed all unseen
Troubling them, even as heifers that hear the piping keen