Background to Jason’s Quest for the Golden Fleece

{I}n the tales above, you heard how Ino made the scythe from the cooked wheat that she had sowed, how Helle drowned in the sea, and how Phrixus crossed the sea and came to Colchis, and left the fleece there in the temple of Mars. Now you will hear why Jason went to seek the fleece and how he was able to conquer it. I will tell you everything in order. [1–7]

There was a powerful king in Argos, a wicked tyrant named Pelias. He ruled over large territories. The powerful king had a nephew, very brave, very wise, very courtly, very well-mannered, very esteemed, very skillful, and very cheerful. He was humble and obliging, well-mannered and amiable. The young man was named Jason. He was the nephew of Pelias and the son of Aeson. He was marvelously handsome. Nature had devoted both care and attention to forming him, in my opinion. She made him handsome in body and face; she formed him handsomely in all respects. Above all, she formed him with good qualities and morals, so that if he were loyal towards love, he would have no equal in the whole world. But when he grew up, he had so little loyalty towards love that it brought him grief and loss, as you can hear in the story. Know that no one can be happy, in the end, by being unfaithful to love. [8–37]

There was a lot to admire about the youth. He was more loved for his prowess than Pelias for his power. The wicked king was very envious of him. He thought that if he was alive much longer, Jason would dethrone him, and the fate and the prophecy about him that he feared so greatly would come true. Long ago, the king had heard a fate, a prophecy, that troubled and shook his whole heart. The prophecy, it seems to me, was that the first person the king would find who was both barefoot and shod would become king over the realm and Pelias would be disinherited. Pelias’s heart was very troubled. Soon after that, the king saw the youth, with one foot fully shod and the other completely bare. The king saw him one morning when he got up. It grieved him deeply.