HERCULES.

This celebrated hero was, after his death, as a reward for the many

courageous deeds he had performed, placed among the gods, and rewarded with

divine honours. It has been asserted that there were many of the same name,

some writers extending the number to forty-three; though of these the son

of Jupiter and Alcmena is the most celebrated, and as such, doubtless, many

of their actions have been attributed to him. In order to gain the

affections of Alcmena, Jupiter took the form of her husband, and from this

union was born Hercules, who was brought up at Tirynthus; Juno, however,

could not look upon him with pleasure, and before he was nine months old,

sent two snakes intending them to devour him. Far from fearing these

terrible enemies, the child grasped them boldly in both his hands, and

strangled them, while his brother Iphielus shrieked aloud in terror.

He was early instructed in those arts in which he afterwards became so

famous, for Castor taught him to fight, Eurytus to shoot with the bow and

arrows, and Autolycus to drive a chariot; after this, he perfected himself

under the tuition of the Centaur, Chiron. When in the eighteenth year of

his age, a huge lion devastated the people, and preyed on the flocks of

Amphitryon, laying waste also the adjacent country. From this monster

Hercules relieved them, and when Erginus, King of Orchomedas, sent for his

yearly tribute of one hundred crowns, Hercules mutilated the servants who

came to raise it, and on Erginus coming to avenge their death, he slew him,

and delivered his country from the inglorious tribute.

These heroic deeds soon became bruited abroad, and Creon, who reigned in

Thebes, rewarded his courage by giving him his daughter in marriage, and

entrusting him with the government of his people.

As Hercules was by the will of Jupiter, subjected to the power of

Eurystheus, the latter, jealous of the fame he was achieving, ordered him

to appear before him.

Proud of his strength and of his successes, the hero refused, and Juno to

punish him, struck him with a sudden madness, in which he killed his own

offspring, imagining them to be those of Eurystheus. {178}

_Hercules._ "Hast thou beheld the carnage of my sons?

_Theseus._ I heard, I saw the ills thou showest me.

_Hercules._ Why hast thou then unveiled me to the Sun?

_Theseus._ Why not? Can mortal man pollute the Gods?

_Hercules._ Fly, thou unhappy, my polluting guilt!

_Theseus._ Friends, from their friends, no stain of guilt contract.

_Hercules._ This hath my thanks, indeed, I thought thee good.

_Theseus._ And for that good deed, now I pity thee!

_Hercules._ I want thy pity, I have slain my sons.

_Theseus._ Thee, for thy grace, in other ills I mourn!

_Hercules._ Whom hast thou known involved in ills like these?

_Theseus._ Thy vast misfortunes reach from earth to heaven.

_Hercules._ I therefore am prepared, and fixed to die.

_Theseus._ And deemest thou the gods regard thy threats?

_Hercules._ The gods regard not me, nor I the gods!

_Theseus._ Forbear: lest thy proud words provoke worse ill.

_Hercules._ I now am full, and can contain no more.

_Theseus._ What dost thou? Whither doth thy rage transport thee?

_Hercules._ From whence I came, to death's dark realms I go.

_Theseus._ This is the language of a vulgar spirit.

_Hercules._ Thou from misfortune free, canst counsel me;

_Theseus._ Doth the much suffering Hercules say this?

_Hercules._ He had not suffered this, had ills a mean.

_Theseus._ The brave protector, the kind friend of men.

_Hercules._ They nought avail me.

_Theseus._ Greece will not suffer thee to die thus rashly.

_Hercules._ Now hear me whilst my arguments refute

All thy monitions. Whilst I yet

Hung on the breast, two hideous serpents came,

Sent by Juno to destroy me, rolled their spires

Within my cradle. When my age advanced

To youth's fresh bloom, why should I say what toils

I then sustained? What lions--what dire forms

Of Triple Typhons, or what giants, what

Of monsters banded in the Centaur war,

Did I not quell? The Hydra, raged around,

With heads still spouting from the sword I slew.

These and a thousand other toils endured,

To the dark regions of the dead I went,

To drag the triple headed dog to light,

That guards the gate of Pluto;--the command

Of stern Eurystheus. This last bloody deed,

(Wretch that I am!) the murder of my sons

Have I achieved, to crown my house with ills.

I am reduced to this unhappiness,

At my loved Thebes I cannot dwell, for here

What temple, what assembly of my friends

Can I approach? Pollutions rank as mine,

Allow no converse. Should I go to Argos?

How, since I fly my country, should I seek

Refuge in other states, malignant eyes

Would scowl on me when known, and bitter tongues

Goad me with these reproaches:--Is not this

The son of Jove, who slew his sons and wife?

Then bid me thence with curses on my head.

{179}

And to the man, whose former days were passed

In happier fortune, mournful is the change;

But him, that in distresses hath been trained,

Naught grieves, as though lie were allied to ills.

And to this misery shall I come, I ween.

The earth will cry aloud, forbidding me

To touch her soil, to pass its waves, the sea,

And every fountain whence the rivers flow.

Thus like Ixions, on the whirling wheel

In chains, will be my stake: and this were best,

That never Grecian might behold me more,

With whom in better days I have been happy.

Why therefore should I live? What blessing were it

To gain a useless and unhallowed life?"

After his recovery he consulted the oracle of Apollo, and was told that he

must act in compliance with the will of Jupiter, and be subservient to the

commands of Eurystheus for twelve years, and that after he had been

successful in the labours to be imposed upon him, he would be admitted

amongst the gods. This answer determined him to bear with fortitude

whatever gods or men might command, and Eurystheus, seeing so perfect a

hero subjected to him, ordered him to perform the most terrible and

dangerous deeds he could imagine, which are now generally known as the

twelve labours of Hercules.

The favors of the gods had completely armed him when he undertook his

labours. He had received a coat of arms and helmet from Minerva, a sword

from Mercury, a horse from Apollo, and from Vulcan a golden cuirass and

brazen buskin, with a celebrated club of brass, according to the opinion of

some writers, but more generally supposed to be of wood, and cut by the

hero himself in the forest of Nemaea. The first labour imposed upon

Hercules by Eurystheus, was to kill the lion of Nemaea, which ravaged the

country near Mycenae. The hero, unable to destroy him with his arrow,

boldly attacked him with his club, pursued him to his den, and after a

close and sharp engagement, he choked him to death. He carried the dead

beast on his shoulders to Mycenae, and ever after clothed himself with the

skin. Eurystheus was so astonished at the sight of the beast, and at the

courage of Hercules, that he ordered him never to enter the gates of the

city when he returned from his expeditions, but to wait for his orders

without the walls. He even made himself a hiding place into which he

retired whenever Hercules returned. The second labour of Hercules was to

destroy the Lernaean hydra, which had seven heads. This celebrated {180}

monster he attacked with his arrows, and soon after he came to a close

engagement, and by means of his heavy club, destroyed the heads of his

enemy. But this was productive of no advantage, for as soon as one head was

beaten to pieces by the club, immediately two sprang up, and the labour of

Hercules would have remained unfinished, had he not commanded his friend

Iolas, who accompanied him, to burn, with a hot iron, the root of the head

which he had crushed to pieces. This succeeded, and Hercules became

victorious, opened the belly of the monster, and dipped his arrow in the

gall, to render the wounds which he gave, fatal and incurable. He was

ordered in his third labour to bring alive and unhurt, into the presence of

Eurystheus, a stag, famous for its incredible swiftness, its golden horns,

and brazen feet. This celebrated animal frequented the neighbourhood of

Oenoe, and Hercules was employed for a whole year in continually pursuing

it; at last, he caught it in a trap, or when tired, or according to others

by slightly wounding it, and lessening its swiftness. As he returned

victorious, Diana snatched the stag from him, and severely reprimanded him

for molesting an animal which was sacred to her. Hercules pleaded

necessity, and by representing the commands of Eurystheus, he appeased the

goddess and obtained the beast. The [Illustration] fourth labour was to

bring alive to Eurystheus a wild boar which ravaged the neighbourhood of

Erymanthus. In this expedition he {181} destroyed the Centaurs, and caught

the boar by closely pursuing him through the deep snow. Eurystheus was so

frightened at the sight of the boar, that, according to Diodorus, he hid

himself in a brazen vessel for some days. In his fifth labour Hercules was

ordered to clean the stables of Augias, where three thousand oxen had been

confined for many years. For the sixth, he was ordered to kill the

carnivorous birds which ravaged the country near the lake Stymphalis, in

Arcadia. In his seventh, he brought alive into Peloponnesus a prodigious

wild bull, which laid waste the island of Crete. In his eighth, he was

employed in obtaining the mares of Diomedes, which fed upon human flesh. He

killed Diomedes, and gave him to be eaten by his mares, which he brought to

Eurystheus. They were sent to Mount Olympus by the King of Mycenae, where

they were devoured by the wild beasts; or, according to others, consecrated

to Jupiter, and their breed still existed in the age of Alexander the

Great. For his ninth labour, he was commanded to obtain the girdle of the

Queen of the Amazons. In his tenth, he killed the monster Geryon, King of

Gades, and brought to Argos his numerous flocks which fed upon human flesh.

The eleventh labour was to obtain apples from the garden of Hesperides,

three celebrated daughters of Hesperus, who were appointed to guard some

golden apples, given by Jupiter to Juno on the day of their marriage.

Ignorant of the precise situation of the beautiful garden containing them,

Hercules applied to the nymphs in the neighbourhood of the Po for

information, and was told that Nereus, if properly managed, would direct

him in his pursuits. The hero seized Nereus while he slept, and the sea

god, unable to escape from his grasp, answered all the questions he

proposed, which led him to Atlas, in Africa, and of him, he demanded three

of the golden apples. Atlas placed the burden of the heavens on the

shoulders of Hercules, and went in quest of the apples. At his return,

Hercules expressed a wish to ease his load by putting something on his

head, and when Atlas assisted him to remove the inconvenience, he artfully

left the burden, and seized the apples which Atlas had thrown on the

ground. According to other accounts, Hercules gathered them without the

assistance of Atlas, after killing a dragon which guarded the tree. {182}

The twelfth and last, and most dangerous of his labours, was to bring upon

earth the three-headed dog Cerberus. This was cheerfully undertaken by

Hercules, and he descended into hell by a cave on Mount Taenarus. He was

permitted by Pluto to carry away his friends Theseus and Pirithous, who

were condemned to punishment in hell; and Cerberus also was granted to his

prayers, provided he made use of no arms, but only force to drag him away.

Hercules, as some report, carried him back to hell, after he had brought

him before Eurystheus. Besides these arduous labours, which the jealousy of

Eurystheus imposed upon him, he also achieved others of his own accord,

equally great and celebrated.

He delivered Hesione, a daughter of Laomedon, King of Troy, from a sea

monster, to whom the Trojans yearly presented a marriageable maiden; and

when the hero had fulfilled his task, Laomedon refused to give him the

tribute of six beautiful horses, which he had promised to him. Hercules,

incensed at his treachery, besieged Troy, and put the king and his family

to the sword.

"First, two dread snakes, at Juno's vengeful nod,

Climbed round the cradle of the sleeping God;

Waked by the shrilling hiss, and rustling sound,

And shrieks of fair attendants trembling round,

Their gasping throats with clenching hands he holds;

Till death entwists their convoluted folds.

And in red torrents from her seven gold heads

Fell Hydra's blood in Lerna's lake he sheds;

Grasps Achelous with resistless force,

And drags the roaring river to his course:

Binds with loud bellowing and with hideous yell

The monster bull, and three-fold dog of hell."

"Then, where Nemea's howling forests wave,

He drives the Lion to his dusky cave;

Seized by the throat the howling fiend disarms,

And tears his gaping jaws with sinewy arms;

Lifts proud Anteus from his mother-plains,

And with strong grasp, the struggling giant strains;

Back falls his fainting head, and clammy hair,

Writhe his weak limbs, and flits his life in air;--

By steps reverted o'er the blood-dropped fen

He tracks huge Ceacus to his forest den!

Where breathing flames through brazen lips, he fled,

And shakes the rock-roofed cavern o'er his head!

Last, with wide arms the solid earth he tears,

Piles rock on rock, on mountain, mountain rears;

Heaves up huge Abyla in Afric's sand,

Crowns with huge Calpe Europe's salient strand,

Crests with opposing towers the splendid scene,

And pours from urns immense, the sea between.

Loud o'er her whirling flood Charybdis roars

Affrighted Scylla bellows round her shores,

Vesuvius groans through all his echoing caves,

And Etna thunders o'er the insurgent waves."

[Illustration: Hercules delivering Hesione.]

{183}

When these were performed, he became deeply enamoured of Iole, daughter of

Eurystheus, but she, being refused to his entreaties, he became insane a

second time, and murdered Iphitus, the only one of the sisters of Iole who

was willing to assist him in obtaining her.

After some time had passed, he was purified from this murder, and his

insanity was at an end. However, the gods were not satisfied, but

persecuted him still further, for he was smitten with an indisposition

which compelled him once more to consult the oracle of Delphi.

Not being pleased with the manner in which his application was received, he

resolved, in the heat of passion, to desecrate the sacred temple by

plundering it, and carrying away the holy tripod. Apollo opposed him, and a

fierce conflict ensued, to put an end to which, however, Jupiter interfered

with his Thunderbolts.

Indignant at the insult offered to the sacred edifice, the oracle declared

that it could only be wiped away by the hero becoming a slave, and

remaining in the most abject servitude for three years.

In compliance with the decree, Mercury, by the order of Jupiter, sold him

to Omphale, Queen of Lydia, as a slave. But his services to this queen so

astonished her, that she freed him from his servitude and married him. When

the term for which he had been sold expired, Hercules left her, and

returned to Peloponnessus, where he re-established Tyndaris on the throne

of Sparta.

After this, he became one of the numerous suitors of Dejanira, who had been

promised by her father in marriage to that one who should prove the

strongest of all his competitors. The most dangerous foe to Hercules was

Achelous, a river god, who, finding himself inferior in strength, changed

himself into a serpent, and afterwards into an ox. Serpent strangling was,

however, nothing new to Hercules, and he had but little trouble with his

enemy as an ox, until at last Achelous retired in disgrace to his bed of

waters.

After his marriage with Dejanira, he was compelled to leave his

father-in-law's kingdom, from having accidentally slain one of the

citizens. {184}

On his way to Ceyx, accompanied by Dejanira, he was stopped by a swollen

stream, and Nessus, the Centaur, offered to convey her safely on his back

to the opposite side of the river. As the hero's only anxiety was for her,

he accepted the offer with thanks, and when he saw them through the worst

part of the water in safety, prepared to follow, but no sooner had the

Centaur landed with Dejanira, than he attempted to offer violence to his

beautiful burthen, and to carry her away in the very sight of her husband.

The extraordinary efforts of the enraged Hercules, brought him up in time

to let fly a poisoned arrow at the ravisher, which mortally wounded him. In

his anguish, and burning for vengeance on his slayer, he gave Dejanira his

tunic, which was covered with his blood.

[Illustration]

"Take this," he said, feigning a repentance, "if ever your husband prove

unfaithful, it will recall him to your arms;" and with this he expired.

[Illustration: The Death of Nessus.]

{185}

"For now his bridal charge employed his cares.

The strong limbed Nessus thus officious cried,

For he the shallows of the stream had tried,

'Swim thou, Alcides, all thy strength prepare,

On yonder bank I'll lodge thy nuptial care.'

Th' Aonian chief to Nessus trusts his wife.

All pale, and trembling for her hero's life:

Clothed as he stood in the fierce lion's hide,

The laden quiver o'er his shoulder tied.

Far cross the stream his bow and club were cast,

Swift he plunged in, 'these billows shall be past,'

He said, nor sought where smoother waters glide

But stemmed the rapid dangers of the tide.

The bank he reached, again the bow he bears,

When, hark! his bride's known voice alarms his ears,

'Nessus, to thee I call,' aloud he cries,--

'Vain is thy trust in flight, be timely wise;

Thou monster double shaped, my right set free,

If thou no reverence owe my fame and me,

Yet kindred should thy lawless lust deny,

Think not perfidious wretch, from me to fly;

Tho' winged with horse's speed, wounds shall pursue,'

Swift as his words the fatal arrow flew,

The Centaur's back admits the feathered wood,

And thro' his breast the barbed arrow stood,

Which when in anguish, thro' the flesh he tore

From both the wounds gushed forth the spumy gore,

Mixed with the Lernaean venom, this he took,

Nor dire revenge his dying breast forsook,

His garment, in the reeking purple dyed

To rouse love's passion, he presents the bride."