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dusk. At dawn, though,
    the heroes still had not unbound the hawsers
    because a stiff north wind was blowing.
    880 Meanwhile,
    the Lemnian women all throughout the city
    had left their homes and gathered for assembly.
    Hypsipyle herself had summoned them.
    When they had found their places, she proposed:
    885 (657) “Dear women, come now, let us give these men
    sufficient gifts, the sorts of things that sailors
    stow in the hold—provisions, honeyed wine—
    so that they will remain outside our ramparts.
    Otherwise, when they come to beg supplies,
    890 they will discover what we’ve done, and thus
    a bad report of us will travel far and wide.
    Yes, we have done a horrid, horrid thing,
    and knowing it would hardly warm their hearts.
    This is the plan before us. If some woman
    895 among you can propose a better one,
    come, let her stand up and reveal it now—
    that is the reason I convened this council.”
    So Hypsipyle proclaimed, then settled
    again upon her father’s marble throne,
    900 (669) and her beloved nurse Polyxo stood up,
    using a cane to prop her palsied legs
    and shriveled feet, since she was keen to speak.
    Around her sat four women who, although
    they still were maidens and had never married,
    905 were garlanded with heads of pure-white hair.
    Steady at last and facing the assembly,
    Polyxo strained to lift her neck just slightly
    above her stooping shoulders and proposed:
    â€œLet us by all means send the strangers presents,
    910 just as Hypsipyle has recommended.
    It’s best that way. But as for all of you,
    what plan do
you
have to defend yourselves
    if, say, a Thracian army or some other
    enemy force invades? Out in the world
    915 (680) such raids are common. Witness, for example,
    this group that has arrived out of the blue.
    Furthermore, even if some blessed god
    should drive them off, a thousand other troubles
    worse than war await you in the future.
    920 When all us older women pass away
    and you, the younger ones, attain a childless
    and cruel dotage, how will you get by?
    Poor women. Will the oxen yoke themselves
    as favors to you in the loamy fields?
    925 Will they pull the furrow-cleaving harrow
    over the acres of their own volition?
    And who will reap the grain when summer ends?
    My case is different. Though the gods of death
    thus far have shuddered at the sight of me,
    930 (691) I’m certain that before the next year’s out,
    long, long before such troubles come about,
    I will have drawn a gown of earth around me
    and earned my share of reliquary honors.
    Still, I entreat you girls to think ahead.
    935 Right now a perfect means of upkeep lies
    before your feet. All you must do is hand
    your houses, property, and dazzling city
    over to the strangers to maintain.”
    So she proposed. A murmur filled the assembly:
    940 her speech made sense. As soon as she was finished,
    Hypsipyle stood up again and answered:
    â€œIf all of you approve of this proposal,
    I shall be so immodest as to send
    an envoy to their ship at once.”
    So spoke she
    945 (702) and told Iphinoa, who was at hand:
    â€œPlease go and ask the man that leads their party
    (whichever he might be) to come and visit
    my royal palace so that I may make him
    a proposition that will warm his heart.
    950 Also, be sure to ask his comrades please
    to come inside our land and city walls
    without concern, provided they are friendly.”
    Once she had sent the message, she dissolved
    the council and departed toward the palace.
    955 Iphinoa sought out the Minyans,
    and, when they asked why she had come, she greeted
    her questioners at once with this announcement:
    â€œQueen Hypsipyle the heir of Thoas
    has sent me here to summon your commander
    960 (713) (whichever he might be), so she can make him
    a proposition that will warm his heart.
    Also, she wishes to invite you others
    to come inside our land and city walls
    without concern, provided you are friendly.”
    965 So she announced, and all