Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/876

* HEBCULES. 806 HEBCTTLES. mene in lier husband's form, and by him she became the mother of Hercules, while by Amphi- tryon she conceived his twin brother Iphicles. The jealous Hera, throughout his life the enemy of Hercules, sent two serpents to destroy the in- fants in their cradle ; but the hero, who had been gifted by Zeus with superhuman strength, stran- gled them. Thebes is also the scene of the mad- ness of Hercules, immortalized by Euripides in his play, The ilan Hercules. In this fit he killed his children, and in some versions his wife, Me- gara, and was ordered by the Delphic oracle to expiate his crime by serving Eurystheus, King of Argos or Mycente. This feature seems much like an addition to bring the Theban hero into Argolis, and it is quite probable that the original Theban legend contained many exploits after- wards transferred to Peloponnesus. The killing of the lion of Mount Cithaeron can scarcely be other than a variant of the first labor. At Argos the central feature is the servitude to Eurys- theus. to which Hercules was bound even before his birth by a trick of Hera. To this servitude belongs a series of 'labors,' which were gradually fixed into a canon of twelve. The exact date wlien this was brought about is uncertain. It can scarcely be due to an early epic, for even in the fifth and fourth centuries there is no hard and fast line between the 'labors' and the other deeds, and the final classification appears first for us in the mythographers of Alexandria, who also arranged the jiarerga, or other deeds attrib- uted to the hero in appropriate places in the cycle. Traces of an earlier cycle of ten labors are perhaps to be found in the story that, because in the second Hercules had the aid of lolaus, and in the fifth concealed from Augeas that he was performing the command of Eurystheus, the lat- ter refused to count these and required the per- formance of the eleventh and twelfth. The first labor was to destroy the lion which haunted the forests of Nemea and Cleonae and could not be wounded by the arrows of a mortal. Hercules boldly attacked him with his club, but in vain, and he was finally obliged to strangle him with his hands. From this time he wore the lion's skin as armor. The second was to destroy the Lernsean hydra with its many heads, which he accomplished with the assistance of his friend lolaus. His third was to catch the Ar- cadian hind of Diana, famous for its swiftness, its golden horns, and its brazen feet. The fourth was to bring alive to Eurj'stheus a ild boar, which ravaged the neighborhood of Erymanthus. The fifth was to cleanse the stables of Augeas. King of Elis, where 3000 oxen had been confined for many years, a task which he accomplished in one day. by turning the river Alpheus or Peneus through the stables. His sixth was to destroy the carnivorous birds, with brazen wings, beaks, and claws, which ravaged the country near the Lake Stymphalus. in Arcadia. The seventh was to bring alive to Peloponnesus a bull, remark- able for his beauty and strength, which Poseidon had. upon his request, given to Minos, King of Crete, in order that he might sacrifice it. This, however. Minos afterwards refusing to do. Posei- don made the bull mad. and it laid waste the island. Hercules brought the bull on his shoul- ders to Eurystheus. who set it at liberty. It appears again as the Marathonian bull in the story of Theseus. The eighth labor was to ob- tain the mares of Diomedes, King of the Bistones in Thrace, which fed upon human flesh. Tlie ninth was to bring the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. The tenth labor was to kill the triple-bodied monster Geryon and bring his herds to Argos. The eleventh was to obtain the golden apples from the garden of the Hes- perides. Atlas, who knew where to find the ap- ples, brouglit them to Hercules, who meanwhile supported the vault of heaven; but according to others, Hercules went himself and stole the ap- ples, after slaying the dragon who guarded them. The last labor was to bring from the infernal regions the three-headed dog Cerberus. Hades promised him Cerberus on condition that he should not employ arms, but only force. When Hercules had brought the monster to Eurystheus, the latter, pale with fright, commanded him to be removed. Hercules set him at liberty, where- upon Cerberus immediately sank into the earth. Hercules was now tree from his state of servi- tude. Into the cycle of 'labors' are wrought many of the ixirerga performed by Hercules in his wan- derings. Thus the battle with the centaurs, a favorite subject in archaic art. was localized at Pholoe in Arcadia, and connected with the chase of the Erymanthian boar. On his journey to Thrace for the horses of Diomedes he was enter- tained by Admetus, and. after wrestling with Death, restored to him from the grave his wife, Alcestis. The tenth and eleventh labors, with their long journeys, gave opportunity for many scenes. The hero voyages toward the western home of Geryon in a bowl given him by the Sun, and on his return through Italy kills the robber Cacus, who stole his cattle, and dedicates the Ara Maxima at Rome. While in search of the apples of the Hesperides, he wrestles with Nere- ns, the Old Man of the Sea, slays in Libya the giant Ant.'eus, by his strength escapes from the Egyptian King. Busiris, who seeks to offer him as a sacrifice, and frees Prometheus from his captivity. He frees from Hades the captive Theseus. During the period of freedom from Eurystheus we find that Hercules made one of the Argonauts, and engaged in an expedition against Troy, because after freeing Hesione from a sea monster her father, Laomedon. had refused him his reward. In this period was also placed another fit of madness, in which he killed his friend Iphitus, and was in consequence required to serve the Lydian Queen. Omphale. The legends "that cluster about Mount (Eta are concerned with the death of the hero. He had won Deianira. daughter of (Eneus of Calydon, liy overcoming his rival, the river god Achelous. With her he "now repaired to Trachis. Having arrived at the river Evenus, he encountered the centaur Nessus. Hercules passed through on foot; but Nessus, under pretense of carrying Deianira over, attempted to offer her violence, whereupon Hercules slew him with an arrow- dipped in the poison of the Lernsean hydra. Nessus, before expiring, instructed Deianira that a robe dipped in his blood would prove an infal- lible philter to regain her husband's love. The hero now made war against Eurytus, King of CEchalia (who had defrauded him), slew him and his sons, and carried off his daughter lole. Thence he went to Cenaeon, in Eubcea, and erected an altar to Zeus Cenfeos. In order to celebrate the rite with due solemnity, he sent Lichas to Trachis for a white garment. Deianira, being