But I fear to set the unswerving justice of Zeus at nought. {1100}
Nor were this well done, to contemn, according to this thy thought,
Aiêtes:—of kinglier king than Aiêtes may no man tell.
Yea, war, if he list, shall he bring against Hellas, afar though he dwell.
Wherefore ’tis meet and right that the sentence be spoken of me
That in all men’s eyes shall be best, and I will not hide it from thee:—
If the damsel be virgin yet, I decree that the daughter be led
To the father: but if she minister unto a husband’s bed,
I will part not from husband wife; nor, if haply she bear ’neath her zone
His offspring, to foes will I yield up a child of Aison’s son.’