`` Go , '' replied the oaken image , `` go , summon all the heroes of Greece . '' And , in fact , considering what a great deed was to be done , could any advice be wiser than this which Jason received from the figure-head of his vessel ? He lost no time in sending messengers to all the cities , and making known to the whole people of Greece , that Prince Jason , the son of King Jason , was going in quest of the Fleece of Gold , and that he desired the help of forty-nine of the bravest and strongest young men alive , to row his vessel and share his dangers . And Jason himself would be the fiftieth . At this news , the adventurous youths , all over the country , began to bestir themselves . Some of them had already fought with giants , and slain dragons ; and the younger ones , who had not yet met with such good fortune , thought it a shame to have lived so long without getting astride of a flying serpent , or sticking their spears into a Chimaera , or , at least , thrusting their right arms down a monstrous lion 's throat . There was a fair prospect that they would meet with plenty of such adventures before finding the Golden Fleece . As soon as they could furbish up their helmets and shields , therefore , and gird on their trusty swords , they came thronging to Iolchos , and clambered on board the new galley . Shaking hands with Jason , they assured him that they did not care a pin for their lives , but would help row the vessel to the remotest edge of the world , and as much farther as he might think it best to go . Many of these brave fellows had been educated by Chiron , the four-footed pedagogue , and were therefore old schoolmates of Jason , and knew him to be a lad of spirit . The mighty Hercules , whose shoulders afterwards upheld the sky , was one of them . And there were Castor and Pollux , the twin brothers , who were never accused of being chicken-hearted , although they had been hatched out of an egg ; and Theseus , who was so renowned for killing the Minotaur , and Lynceus , with his wonderfully sharp eyes , which could see through a millstone , or look right down into the depths of the earth , and discover the treasures that were there ; and Orpheus , the very best of harpers , who sang and played upon his lyre so sweetly , that the brute beasts stood upon their hind legs , and capered merrily to the music . Yes , and at some of his more moving tunes , the rocks bestirred their moss-grown bulk out of the ground , and a grove of forest trees uprooted themselves , and , nodding their tops to one another , performed a country dance . One of the rowers was a beautiful young woman , named Atalanta , who had been nursed among the mountains by a bear . So light of foot was this fair damsel , that she could step from one foamy crest of a wave to the foamy crest of another , without wetting more than the sole of her sandal . She had grown up in a very wild way , and talked much about the rights of women , and loved hunting and war far better than her needle . But in my opinion , the most remarkable of this famous company were two sons of the North Wind -LRB- airy youngsters , and of rather a blustering disposition -RRB- who had wings on their shoulders , and , in case of a calm , could puff out their cheeks , and blow almost as fresh a breeze as their father . I ought not to forget the prophets and conjurors , of whom there were several in the crew , and who could foretell what would happen to-morrow or the next day , or a hundred years hence , but were generally quite unconscious of what was passing at the moment . Jason appointed Tiphys to be helmsman because he was a star-gazer , and knew the points of the compass . Lynceus , on account of his sharp sight , was stationed as a look-out in the prow , where he saw a whole day 's sail ahead , but was rather apt to overlook things that lay directly under his nose .
If the sea only happened to be deep enough , however , Lynceus could tell you exactly what kind XXXXX rocks or sands were at the bottom of it ; and he often cried out to his companions , that they were sailing over heaps of sunken treasure , which yet he was none the richer for beholding .
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