CHAPTER I.

HERCULES. HIS NAMES AND LABOURS.

In the last division of the Fabulous Pantheon, are described the images of the Indigetes, or Semi-Dei, and the Heroes.

The Semi-Dei, Haiba [Hemitheoi,] or DemiTous, w

inds,

world for the good

in St. Augustine, distinguishes them from the Heroes. He thinks that Heros was one of Juno's sous, and that the name Heros is derived from Ha [Hera,] Juno's name in the Greek language. Others think that the word comes from pa [era,] "the earth;" because men owe their original to it. Others again think it comes from pws [eros,]" love;" for heroes are the most illustrious product of love, and are themselves, as Hierocles observes, full of love. But others think that this name is derived from Epew [ereo,] "to plead," and is given them because heroes are very elegant, and most powerful, and skilful in rhetoric. Or, lastly, it is thought that the word comes

from apern [arete,]" virtue ;" for heroes are endued with many virtues. But let us speak particularly concerning some of these heroes, of whom the most famous was Hercules.

There were many heroes called Hercules, but (as *Cicero says) the famous actions of them all are ascribed to him who was the son of Jupiter, by Alcmena, the wife of Amphytrio, king of Thebes.

When Amphytrio was absent, Jupiter put on his shape and dress, and came to Alcmena; who, thinking that her husband was returned, entertained the deceitful god, and had by him a son, whose limbs were extraordinary and wonderfully large, his constitution robust, and his body full of vigor. Before this, Alcmena had conceived a son by her husband. This son and Hercules were twins; his name was Iphiclus; he was wonderfully swift in running:

"Nam super extremás segetum currebat aristas,
Nec siccos fructus lædebat pondere plantæ."

Orph. in Hymn.

He over standing corn would run, and ne'er
In his swift motion bruise the tender ear..

When Juno had discovered the conduct, of Jupiter, she began to hate Hercules so violently, that she endeavoured to ruin him. First, she obtained an edict from Jupiter, which she endeavoured to turn to his utter destruction; for the wife of Sthenelus, king of Mycenæ, was pregnant with Euristheus, at the same time when Alcmena was with Hercules. Jupiter ordained, that whichever of the two children was born first, he should be superior to the other: Juno accelerated Euristheus' birth, so that he was born after seven months, and came into the world before Hercules. Again, she sent two vipers to destroy him when he lay crying in the cradle: but it

*De Nat. Deor. 2..

was in vain; for the valiant infant griped them in his hands till they perished by his grasp, as we are told by Ovid, in his epistles. At length, by the mediation of Pallas, Juno was reconciled to the noble youth, and suckled him, but he drew the milk with suck violence, that she violently put him away, and some of her milk was spilt; falling upon the sky, it made the Milkyway, which is in Greek rana živ [Galaxia.] Some of it passed through the clouds, and fell on the earth; and where it fell lilies sprang up: hence some call these the "roses of Juno.'

He had two proper names, Hercules and Alcides; but his sirnames are innumerable. His parents called him * Alcides, from his extraordinary strength, in which he greatly excelled all mankind. He was afterward called Hercules, † from the glory which Juno caused him for when she exposed him to the greatest dangers, she rendered him most illustrious, and by enjoining him so many labors, she only exercised his patience and courage.

Hercules was subjected to Euristheus, not only by the edict of Jupiter and unkindness of Juno, but also because the oracle of Apollo at Delphi advised and persuaded him to submit himself, and obey Euristheus' commands; and especially, to undergo, willingly, the twelve labors which his master should lay upon him. Hercules obeyed the Fates, and served Euristheus twelve years: he performed the most dangerous and difficult commands with a suitable courage and success. Some say, that Hercules served him voluntarily, and performed these difficult tasks, to show how great love he bore Euristheus.

Though Hercules performed an infinite number of great and memorable actions, twelve are especially celebrated: and those twelve are comprised

* Ab άλxЯ robur.

Juno Grace dicitur npa, et xλsos gloria, unde nomen Hercules.

as many Latin verses, translated out of the

Greek :

"Prima Cleonei tolerata ærumna leonis.

Proxima Lernæam ferro et face contudit hydram.
Mox Erymantheum vis tertia perculit aprum.
Eripidis quarto tulit aurea cornua cervi.
Stymphalidas pepulit volucres discrimine quinto.
Threiciam sexto spoliavit Amazóna baltheo.
Septima in Augeæ stabulis impensa laboris.
Octava expulso numeratur,adorea tauro.
In Diomedis victor jam nona quadrigis.
Geryone extincto decimam dat Iberia palmam.
Undecimum mala Hesperidum distracta triumphum.
Cerberus extremi suprema est meta laboris."

-The Cleonian lion first he kills;

With fire and sword then Lerna's pest he quells;
Of the wild boar he clears th' Er'manthean fields;
The brass-foot stag with golden antlers yields:
He Stympha clears of man-devouring birds;
And next the bouncing Amazon ungirds:
The stables of king Augeas he cleans;
The Cretan bull he vanquishes and chains:
Diomedes' horses him their conqu'ror own;
Then he brings low three-headed Geryon :
Hesperian apples next his name sustains;
And his last labour Cerberus enchains.

The particular account of these twelve is this: The first labour of Hercules. was, that he tore in pieces, with his nails, the lion in the woods of Nemæa, which, some say, fell from the orb of the moon, and was invulnerable by any weapon. This place was also named Cleone, from which the lion was also called Cleoneus. He afterwards skinned the lion, and with the skin made himself a shield and a breast-plate.

ds;

2. There was a hydra, a serpent in the lake Lerna, in the field of Argos, that had seven heads some say nine, others fifty. When any of these heads were cut off, another presently sprang up in the place of it unless the blood which issued from the wound was stopped.

Iolaus, the son of Iphiclus, procured for him lighted brands from the neighbouring wood, and with them Hercules stanched the blood issuing from the wounds he made. This seasonable assistance was not forgotten; for when Iolaus was grown to decrepid age, Hercules, by his prayers, restored him to. his youth again. Ovid. Met. 9.

3. He bound the wild boar, whose fierceness and bigness were equally admirable, in the mountain Erymanthus of Arcadia; and afterwards brought it to Euristheus.

4. He was ordered to bring to Mycena a hind, whose feet were brass, and horns gold. Nobody dared to wound her, because she was consecrated to Diana, nor could any body outrun her yet Hercules hunted her a year, on foot, caught her, and brought her away on his shoulders.

5. He partly killed and partly drove away the birds called Stymphalides, from lake Stymphalus, which used to feed upon man's flesh.

6. He defeated the army of the Amazons, and took from Hyppolite, their queen, the finest belt in the world.

7. He in one day cleansed the stable of Augeas, by turning the course of a river into it. This stable had never been cleansed, although three thousand oxen stabled in it thirty years. Whence, when we would express a work of immense labour and toil, in proverbial speech, we call it "cleansing the Augean stable."

8. He tamed a great bull, that did much mischief in the island of Crete, and brought him bound to Euristheus.

*er

9. He overcame Diomedes, the most cruel tyrant of Thrace, who fed his horses with the flesh oft; its guests. Hercules bound him, and threw him where it eaten by those horses to which the t

posed others.