Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/411

Rh and Europe he erected two pillars (Calpe and Abyla) on the two sides of the straits of Gibraltar, which were hence called the pillars of Heracles. As on his journey Heracles was annoyed by the heat of the sun, he shot at Helios, who so much admired his boldness, that he presented him with a golden cup or boat, in which he sailed across the ocean to Erytheia. He there slew Eurytion, his dog, and Geryones, and sailed with his booty to Tartessus, where he returned the golden cup (boat) to Helios. On his way home he passed the Py- renees and the Alps, founded Alesia and Nemausus in Gaul, became the father of the Celts, and then proceeded to the Ligiirians, whose princes, Alebion and Dercynus, attempted to carry off his oxen, but were slain by him. In his contest with them, he was assisted by Zeus with a shower of stones, as he had not enough missiles ; hence the campus lapi- deus between Massilia and the river Rhodanus. From thence he proceeded through the country of the Tyrrhenians. In the neighbourhood of Rhegium one of his oxen jumped into the sea, and swam to Sicily, where Eryx, the son of Poseidon, caught and put him among his own cattle. Heracles him- self* followed, in search of the ox, and found him, but recovered him only after a fight with Eryx, in which the latter fell. According to Diodorus, who is very minute in this part of his narrative, Hera- cles returned home by land, through Italy and Illyricum ; but, according to others, he sailed across the Ionian and Adriatic seas. After reaching Thrace, Hera made his oxen mad and furious. When, in their pursuit, he came to the river Strymon, he made himself a road through it, by means of huge blocks of stone. On reaching the Hellespont, he had gradually recovered his oxen, and took them to Eurystheus, who sacrificed them to Hera. (Hes. Theog. 287, &c. ; Apollod. ii. 5. § 10; Diod. iv. 17, &c., v. 17, 25 ; Herod, iv. 8 ; Serv. ad Jen. vii. 662 ; Strab. iii. pp. 221, 258, &c. ; Dionys. i. 34; Pind. Nem. iii. 21.)

These ten labours were performed by Heracles in the space of eight years and one month ; but as Eurystheus declared two of them to have been per- formed unlawfully, he commanded him to accom- plish two more, viz. to fetch

11. Tlie golden apples of the Hesperides. This was particularly difficult, since Heracles did not know where to find them. They were the apples which Hera had received at her wedding from Ge, and which she had entrusted to the keeping of the Hesperides and the dragon Ladon, on Mount Atlas, in the country of the Hyperboreans. (Apol- lod. ii. 5. § 11.) In other accounts the apples are described as sacred to Aphrodite, Dionysus, or Helios ; but the abode of the Hesperides is placed by Kesiod, ApoUodorus, and others, in the west, while later writers specify more particularly certain places in Libya, or in the Atlantic Ocean. The men- tion of the Hyperboreans in this connection renders the matter very difficult, but it is possible that the ancients may have conceived the extreme north (the usual seat of the Hyperboreans), and the ex- treme west to be contiguous. Heracles, in order to find the gardens of the Hesperides, went to the river Echedorus, in Macedonia, after having killed Termerus in Thessaly. In Macedonia he killed Cycnus, the son of Ares and Pyrene, who had challenged him. He thence passed through Illyria, and arrived on the banks of the river Eridauus, and was infonned by the nymphs in what manner he might compel the prophetic Nereus to instmct him as to what road he should take. On the advice of Nereus he proceeded to Libya. ApoUodorus as- signs the fight with Antaeus, and the murder of Busiris, to this expedition ; both ApoUodorus and Diodorus now make Heracles travel further south and east: thus we find him in Ethiopia, where lie kills Emathion, in Arabia, and in Asia he advances as far as Mount Caucasus, where he killed the vulture which consumed the liver of Prometheus, and thus saved the Titan. At length Heracles arrived at Mount Atlas, among the Hyperboreans. Prometheus had advised him not to fetch the apples himself, but to send Atlas, and in the mean- time to carry the weight of heaven for him. Atlas accordingly fetched the apples, but on his return he refused to take the burden of heaven on his shoulders again, and declared that he himself would carry the apples to Eurystheus. Heracles, how- ever, contrived by a stratagem to get the apples and hastened away. On his return Eurystheus made him a present of the apples, but Heracles dedicated them to Athena, who, however, did not keep them, but restored them to their former place. Some traditions add to this account that Heracles killed the dragon Ladon. (Apollod. ii. 5. § 1 1 ; Diod. iv. 26, &c. ; Hes. Theog. 215, &c. ; Plin. H. N. vi. 31, 36 ; Plut. Tkes. 11 ; ApoUon. Rhod. iv. 1396, &c. ; Ilygin. Fab. 31, Foet. Astr. ii. 6 ; Eratosth. Catast. 3.)

12. Cerberus. To fetch this monster from the lower world is the crown of the twelve labours of Heracles, and is therefore usually reckoned as the twelfth or last in the series. 1 1 is the only one that is expressly mentioned in the Homeric poems. {Qd. xi. 623, &c.) Later writers have added to the simple story several particulars, such, e. g. that Heracles, previous to setting out on his expedition, was initiated by Eumolpus in the Eleusinian mys- teries, in order to purify him from the murder of the Centaurs. Accompanied by Hermes and Athena, < Heracles descended into Hades, near Cape Tae- narum, in Laconia. On his arrival most of the shades fled before him, and he found only Mele- ager and Medusa, with whom he intended to fight; but, on the command of Hermes, he left them in peace. Near the gates of Hades he met Theseus and Peirithous, who stretched their arms implor- ingly towards him. He delivered Theseus, but, when he attempted to do the same for Peirithous, the earth began to tremble. After having rolled the stone from Ascalaphus, he killed one of the oxen of Hades, in order to give the shades the blood to drink, and fought with Menoetius, the herdsman. Upon this, he asked Pluto permission to take Cerberus, and the request was granted, on condition of its being done without force of arms. This was accomplished, for Pleracles found Cer- berus on the Acheron, and, notwithstanding the bites of the dragon, he took the monster, and in the neighbourhood of Troezene he brought it to the upper world. The place where he appeared with Cerberus is not the same in all traditions, for some say that it was at Taenarum, others at Hermione, or Coroneia, and others again at Heracleia. When Cerberus appeared in the upper world, it is said that, unable to bear the light, he spit, and thus called forth the poisonous plant called aconitum. After having shown the monster to Eurystheus, Heracles took it back to the lower world. Some traditions connect the descent of Heracles into the