Demigods and Heroes.
_Ques._ Who were the Demigods?
_Ans._ They were brave men, who had rendered themselves famous in life
by illustrious actions. After their death, their countrymen believed
that they were admitted among the gods, and gave them divine honors.
The circumstance of a mortal taking his place among the gods, was
called an Apotheosis.
_Ques._ Who was the most famous of the Demigods?
_Ans._ Hercules, the son of Jupiter and Alcmena. Juno hated him on his
mother's account, and resolved upon his destruction. For this purpose
she sent two monstrous serpents to kill him as he was sleeping in his
cradle. The infant hero awoke, and seizing the serpents in his hands,
strangled them both. Juno was not discouraged, and when Hercules was
grown up, devised new means to destroy him. She persuaded Jupiter to
put Hercules under the authority of Eurys´theus, king of Mycenæ, who
imposed upon the hero twelve Labors, or tasks, of great danger and
difficulty. Hercules was in doubt as to whether he should submit to
this injustice, and consulted the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. The
oracle told him that he must obey Eurys´theus, which he accordingly
did. Hercules had been carefully instructed by the Centaur Chiron, and
he was now equipped for his labors by the liberality of the gods. He
received a sword from Mercury, a bow from Apollo, a golden breastplate
from Vulcan, horses from Neptune, and a robe from Minerva.
_Ques._ Relate the Twelve Labors of Hercules.
_Ans._ They are briefly as follows:
_First._ He killed a terrible lion which raged in the Ne´mean forest.
Hercules is usually represented as clothed in the skin of this animal,
and leaning on the club which was his ordinary weapon.
_Second._ He destroyed the Hydra, a serpent with fifty heads, which
lived in the marshes of Lerna, and ravaged the surrounding country.
Hercules noticed that where he cut off one of the heads of this
serpent, two immediately sprang up. He commanded an attendant to burn
the wound with a firebrand, and by this means he at length cut off the
last head.
_Third._ He captured the savage wild boar of Mount Erymanthus, in
Arcadia, and brought it bound to Eurys´theus. The tyrant was so
frightened at the sight of the animal, that he shut himself up in a
brazen apartment of his palace.
_Fourth._ He caught, after a chase which lasted an entire year, a
famous stag which was sacred to Diana. It had golden horns and brazen
feet.
_Fifth._ He killed, or drove away from Lake Stympha´lus, certain
voracious birds which fed on human flesh.
_Sixth._ He defeated the Amazons, and obtained as a spoil, the girdle
of their queen, Hippol´yte.
_Seventh._ Three thousand oxen had been kept thirty years in the
stables of Au´geas, which had never been cleaned during the entire
period. Hercules was required to perform this task, which he effected
by turning the course of a river through the stables.
_Eighth._ He tamed the wild bull of Crete, and brought him bound to
Eurys´theus.
_Ninth._ He overcame Diome´des, tyrant of Thrace, who fed his horses
with the flesh of his guests. Hercules caused him, in turn, to serve
as food to these same horses.
_Tenth._ He overcame Ger´yon, who had three heads and three bodies.
Hercules brought into Italy the oxen of this monster, which were
accustomed to feed on human flesh.
_Eleventh._ He killed the dragon that watched the golden apple in the
garden of the Hesper´ides, and bore away the precious fruit.
_Twelfth._ Hercules descended alive into the infernal regions, and
brought from thence the three-headed dog, Cerberus.
_Ques._ Did Hercules perform any other great actions?
_Ans._ A vast number of exploits are attributed to him. There is a
plain near Narbonne, in France, covered with stones. The ancients said
that Hercules was contending on this spot with two giants, when, his
arrows becoming exhausted, he prayed to Jupiter for aid. The god sent
down a shower of great stones, with which Hercules put the giants to
flight.
_Ques._ Relate the death of Hercules?
_Ans._ This hero had slain the Centaur Nessus to revenge an insult
offered to his wife, Deiani´ra. When the monster was dying, he gave
Deiani´ra a charmed philter, telling her that if Hercules ever gave
her cause to doubt his affection, she could secure his constancy by
making him wear a garment which had been sprinkled with this potion.
The credulous Deiani´ra accepted the philter, which was nothing else
but the venom of the hydra which had been infused into the Centaur's
blood; and it was not long before her jealousy led her to use it as
she had been directed. Hercules had plundered Oechalia, and carried
off, among other captives, the beautiful I´ole, daughter of the king
of that city. The hero, who wished to keep a festival, and to offer
sacrifice in honor of his victory, sent for a splendid robe befitting
the occasion. Deiani´ra's jealousy was excited against I´ole by the
reports of the messenger, and she sent her husband a tunic
impregnated with the venom of the hydra. The poison soon began to
work, and Hercules endeavored in vain to tear off the tunic, which
clung to his flesh and consumed even the marrow of his bones. In his
fury he caught the youth who had brought him the garment, by the foot,
and hurled him into the sea. He then fled in his agony to the summit
of Mount Oeta, where he erected a funeral pyre with forest trees which
he tore up by the roots. On this he laid the skin of the Ne´mean lion
and his famous club, after which he ascended the pile and directed his
followers to set it on fire. All refused except Philocte´tes, who
pitied the sufferings of the dying hero, and obeyed his command. He
received the bow and arrows of Hercules as a reward for this service.
While the pyre was blazing, Jupiter sent a thunder-cloud, in which
Hercules was conveyed to Olympus. Here he was endowed with
immortality, and, according to some accounts, was reconciled with
Juno, who gave him her daughter Hebe in marriage.