Meanwhile she took out of the hollow casket the drug they call Promethean. If a man first wins over the Maiden, the only-begotten, with offerings by night, and then anoints his body with it, no blow of bronze can wound him and blazing fire will not make him give way; for that one day he is better than other men in prowess and in strength.

The Promethean drug. Whoever wins "the only-begotten Maiden" with offerings at night and anoints himself with it cannot be hurt by bronze or fire, and for that one day is stronger than any man. Who the Maiden is was already argued over: Mooney takes κούρη as Persephone, the Kore of Attic cult, while the French editor de Mirmont refers it to Hecate, the only daughter of Perses, as Hesiod calls her (Theogony 426, 448). This is the drug that saves Jason, the gift Pindar tells in a few lines and Apollodorus in one (Pythian 4.220–222; Library 1.9.23). Apollonius gives it a recipe, an origin and a ritual.