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Rh inquire how painters represented him. He is delineated on vases either as doing valiant deeds with his club or by his fatal arrows, or as indulging himself with the wine-cup. In one instance his weapons have been stolen from him by the God of Love, and he himself is running after a girl who has carried off his pitcher. The tragedians also do not treat him with much ceremony in their dramas: he was only a Bœotian hero, and so they took liberties with him.

This choral song, the last in the play, comes immediately before the reappearance of Hercules with the rescued Alcestis:—

I too have been borne along

Through the airy realms of song.

Searched I have historic page,

Yet ne'er found in any age

Power that with thine can vie,

Masterless Necessity.

Thee nor Orpheus' mystic scrolls

Graved by him on Thracian pine,

Thee nor Phœbus' art controls,

Æsculapian art divine.

Of the Powers thou alone

Altar hast not, image, throne:

Sacrifices wilt thou none.—

Pains too sharp for mortal state

Lay not on me, mighty Fate.

Jove doth aye thy hests fulfil,

His to work and thine to will.

Hardest iron delved from mine

Thou canst break and bend and twine:

Harsh in purpose, heart of stone,

Mercy is to thee unknown.