I like that version too but the formatting of the extra long lines really didn't do anything for me. The page looks like some kid had fun with the Enter button!
Hughes' Tales from Ovid is remarkable. It's not complete and not an attempt at a translation at all, really, but it's amazing poetry and story telling.
The first thing I did was check to see if Hughes had put his spin on Medea and Jason, and sadly he hasn't. But it's still amazing. I saw the stage version at the RSC in Stratford and it was stunning.
Translated by Frank Justus Miller (Copied Directly fro' a Digital Loeb Copy):
"BOOK VII
And now the Minyans were plowing the deep in their Thessalian ship. They had seen Phineus, spending his last days helpless in perpetual night; and the sons of Boreas had driven the harpies from the presence of the unhappy king. Having experienced many adventures under their illustrious leader Jason, they reached at last the swift waters of muddy Phasis. There, while they were approaching the king and demanding the fleece that Phrixus had given to him, while the dreadful condition with it's great tasks was being proposed to the Minyans, meanwhile the daughter of King Aeetes conceived an overpowering passion. Long she fought against it, and when by reason she could not rid her of her madness she cried : " In vain, Medea, do you fight. Some god or other is opposing you ; I wonder if this is not what is called love, or at least something like this. For why do the mandates of my father seem too harsh ? They certainly are too harsh. Why do I fear lest he perish whom I have but now seen for the first time ? What is the cause of all this fear ? Come, thrust from your maiden breast these flames that you feel, if you can, unhappy girl. Ah, if I could, I should be more myself. But some strange power holds me down against my will. Desire persuades me one way, reason another. I see the better and approve it, but I follow the worse. Why do you, a royal maiden, burn for a stranger, and think upon marriage with a foreign world ? This land also can give you something to love. Whether he live or die is in the lap of the gods. Yet may he live ! This I may pray for even without loving him. For what has Jason done r Who that is not heartless would not be moved by Jason's youth, his noble birth, his manhood ? Who, though the rest were lacking, would not be touched by his beauty.'' Certainly he has touched my heart. But unless I help him he will be breathed on by the bulls' fiery breath, and he will have to meet an enemy of his own sowing sprung from the earth, or he will be given as prey like any wild beast to tiie greedy dragon. If I permit this, then shall I confess that 1 am the child of a tigress and that I have iron and stone in my heart. But why can I not look on as he dies, and why is such a sight defilement for my eyes ? Why do I not urge on the bulls against him, and the fierce earth-born warriors, and the sleepless dragon ? Heaven forefend ! and yet that is not matter for my prayers, but for my deeds. Shall then betray my father's throne.'' and shall an unknown stranger be preserved by my aid, that, when saved by me, he may sail off without me, and become another's husband, while I, Medea, am left for punishment."
"BOOK VII
And now the Minyans were plowing the deep in their Thessalian ship. They had seen Phineus, spending his last days helpless in perpetual night; and the sons of Boreas had driven the harpies from the presence of the unhappy king. Having experienced many adventures under their illustrious leader Jason, they reached at last the swift waters of muddy Phasis. There, while they were approaching the king and demanding the fleece that Phrixus had given to him, while the dreadful condition with it's great tasks was being proposed to the Minyans, meanwhile the daughter of King Aeetes conceived an overpowering passion. Long she fought against it, and when by reason she could not rid her of her madness she cried : " In vain, Medea, do you fight. Some god or other is opposing you ; I wonder if this is not what is called love, or at least something like this. For why do the mandates of my father seem too harsh ? They certainly are too harsh. Why do I fear lest he perish whom I have but now seen for the first time ? What is the cause of all this fear ? Come, thrust from your maiden breast these flames that you feel, if you can, unhappy girl. Ah, if I could, I should be more myself. But some strange power holds me down against my will. Desire persuades me one way, reason another. I see the better and approve it, but I follow the worse. Why do you, a royal maiden, burn for a stranger, and think upon marriage with a foreign world ? This land also can give you something to love. Whether he live or die is in the lap of the gods. Yet may he live ! This I may pray for even without loving him. For what has Jason done r Who that is not heartless would not be moved by Jason's youth, his noble birth, his manhood ? Who, though the rest were lacking, would not be touched by his beauty.'' Certainly he has touched my heart. But unless I help him he will be breathed on by the bulls' fiery breath, and he will have to meet an enemy of his own sowing sprung from the earth, or he will be given as prey like any wild beast to tiie greedy dragon. If I permit this, then shall I confess that 1 am the child of a tigress and that I have iron and stone in my heart. But why can I not look on as he dies, and why is such a sight defilement for my eyes ? Why do I not urge on the bulls against him, and the fierce earth-born warriors, and the sleepless dragon ? Heaven forefend ! and yet that is not matter for my prayers, but for my deeds. Shall then betray my father's throne.'' and shall an unknown stranger be preserved by my aid, that, when saved by me, he may sail off without me, and become another's husband, while I, Medea, am left for punishment."
~Ice~