Of thy sire he may hale thee like to a captive battle-thrall. {400}
Howbeit should we in hateful destruction all be slain
If we closed in the fight with these; and therein were bitterer pain,
If we leave thee a prey no less unto these, and withal we die.
But now shall this covenant find us a path of guile, whereby
To destroy him. The folk of the land shall not be fain as before
To favour the Kolchians in thee, when their king shall be with them no more,
He who forsooth as thy champion and brother doth claim thee to-day.
Yea also, I will not refrain me from matching my might in the fray
With the Kolchian men, if then they bar mine homeward way.’