Now, if ye had broken not bread at my table or ever ye spake,
Your tongues had I surely cut out, and had hewn from the wrist each hand,
And had sent you forth with naught but your feet to fare through the land:
So should ye refrain you thereafter from coming on suchlike quest!— {380}
Lo, and the lies ye have spoken concerning the Gods ever-blest!’
So passioned the king: but even to its depths the spirit burned
Of Aiakus’ son, and hotly his soul within him yearned
To fling back a deadly defiance. But Jason, or ever he spake,
Stayed him, and gently speaking an answer of peace did he make:
‘Bear with me, Aiêtes, as touching this Quest: no such wild dream