From Libya Heracles passed into Egypt, where the cruel king Busiris was in the habit of seizing all strangers who entered the country and sacrificing them to Zeus. Heracles would have suffered a similar fate, had he not broken the chains laid upon him, and slain the king and his son. His indulgence at the richly-furnished table of the king was a feature in the story which afforded no small amusement to the comic writers, who were especially fond of jesting on the subject of the healthy and heroic appetite of Heracles. From Egypt the hero made his way into Æthiopia, where he slew Emathion, the son of Tithonus and Eos, for his cruelty to strangers. He next crossed the sea to India, and thence came to the Caucasus, where he set Prometheus free and destroyed the vulture that preyed on his liver. After Prometheus had described to him the long road to the Hesperides, he passed through Scythia, and came at length to the land of the Hyperboreans, where Atlas bore the pillars of heaven on his shoulders. This was the end of his journey, for Atlas, at his request, fetched the apples, whilst Heracles supported the heavens. Here again the comic poets introduced an amusing scene. Atlas, having once tasted the delights of freedom, betrayed no anxiety to relieve his substitute, but offered, instead, to bear the apples himself to Eurystheus. Heracles, however, proved even more cunning than he, for, apparently agreeing to the proposition, he asked Atlas just to relieve him until he had arranged more comfortably a cushion for his back. When Atlas good-humouredly consented, Heracles of course left him in his former position, and made off with the apples. Another account states that he descended himself into the garden and slew the hundred-headed dragon who kept guard over the trees.
12. Cerberus.—The most daring of all the feats of Heracles, and that which bears the palm from all the others, and is in consequence, always put at the end of his labours, was the bringing of Cerberus from the lower world. In this undertaking, which is mentioned even by Homer, he was accompanied by Hermes and Athene, though he had hitherto been able to dispense with divine aid. He is commonly reported to have made his descent into the lower world at Cape Tænarum in Laconia. Close to the gates of Hades he found the adventurous heroes Theseus and Pirithoüs, who had gone down to carry off Persephone, fastened to a rock. He succeeded in setting Theseus free, but Pirithoüs he was obliged to leave behind him, because of the violent earthquake which occurred when he attempted to touch him. After several further adventures, he entered the presence of the lord of the lower world. Hades consented to his taking Cerberus, on condition that he should master him without using any weapons. Heracles seized the furious beast, and, having chained him, he brought him to Eurystheus, and afterwards carried him back to his place in the lower world. The completion of this task released Heracles from his servitude to Eurystheus.
III. Deeds of Heracles after his Service.—1. The Murder of Iphitus and Contest with Apollo.—The hero, after his release from servitude, returned to Thebes, where he gave his wife Megara in marriage to Iolaüs. He then proceeded to the court of Eurytus, king of Œchalia, who had promised his beautiful daughter Iole in marriage to the man who should vanquish himself and his sons in shooting with the bow. The situation of Œchalia is variously given; sometimes it is placed in Thessaly, sometimes in the Peloponnesus, on the borders of Arcadia and Messenia, and sometimes in the island of Eubœa, close to Eretria. Heracles gained a most complete victory; but Eurytus, nevertheless, refused to give him his daughter, reproaching him with the murder of his children by Megara, and with his ignominious bondage to Eurystheus. Heracles, with many threats of future vengeance, withdrew, and when, not long afterwards, Iphitus, the son of Eurytus, fell into his hands, he cast him from the highest tower of his citadel in Tiryns. This somewhat treacherous action being at variance with the general character of the hero, the story subsequently arose that Iphitus was a friend of Heracles, and had advocated his cause with Eurytus, and that Heracles only treated him thus in a fit of insanity. The bloody deed was fraught with the gravest consequences. After seeking purification and absolution in vain among men, Heracles came to Delphi, in order to seek the aid and consolation of the oracle. But Apollo, with whom the royal family of Œchalia stood in high favour, rejected him; whereupon Heracles forced his way into the temple, and was already in the act of bearing away the holy tripod, in order to erect an oracle of his own, when he was confronted by the angry deity. A fearful combat would doubtless have ensued, if the father of gods and men himself had not interfered to prevent this unnatural strife between his favourite sons by separating the combatants with his lightning. Heracles was now commanded by the Pythian priestess to allow himself to be sold by Hermes into slavery for three years, to expiate the murder of Iphitus.
2. Heracles in the Service of Omphale.—This portion of the story is of Lydian origin, but was cleverly interwoven with the Greek legend. The Lydians, in fact, honoured a sun-hero called Sandon, who resembled Heracles in many respects, as the ancestor of their kings. The oriental character of the Lydian Heracles at once manifests itself in the fact that he here appears as entirely devoted to sensual pleasures, becoming effeminate in the society of women, and allowing himself to be clothed in female attire, whilst his mistress Omphale donned his lion-skin and club, and flaunted up and down before him. He did not always linger in such inactivity, however; sometimes the old desire for action urged him forth to gallant deeds. Thus he vanquished and chastised the Cercopes, a race of goblins who used to trick and waylay travellers. He also slew Syleus, who compelled all passing travellers to dig in his vineyard; which formed the subject of a satyric drama of Euripides.
3. His Expedition against Troy.—After performing several other feats in the service of Omphale, Heracles again became free. He now appears to have undertaken an expedition against the faithless Laomedon, king of Troy, in company with other Greek heroes, such as Peleus, Telamon, and Oïcles, whose number increased as time went on. The city was taken by storm: Oïcles, indeed, was slain, but, on the other hand, Laomedon and all his sons except Podarces fell before the arrows of Heracles. Hesione, the daughter of the king, was given by Heracles to his friend Telamon, and became by him the mother of Teucer. She received permission from Heracles to release one of the prisoners, and chose her brother Podarces, who afterwards bore the name of Priamus (the redeemed), and continued the race of Dardanus in Ilium.
4. The Peloponnesian Expeditions of Heracles.—The legend relates that the hero now undertook his long-deferred expedition against Augeas, which was the means of kindling a Messenian and Lacedæmonian war. After assembling an army in Arcadia, which was joined by many gallant Greek heroes, he advanced against Elis. Heracles, however, fell sick; and in his absence his army was attacked and driven back with great loss by the brave Actoridæ or Molionidæ, the nephews of Augeas. It was only after Heracles had slain these heroes in an ambuscade at Cleonæ, as they were on their way to the Isthmian games, that he succeeded in penetrating into Elis. He then slew Augeas, and gave the kingdom to his son Phyleus, with whom he was on friendly terms. It was on this occasion that he instituted the Olympic games. He then marched against Pylus, either because its king, Neleus, had given assistance to the Molionidæ, or else because Neleus had refused to purify him from the murder of Iphitus. This expedition against Pylus was subsequently greatly embellished by the poets, who made it into a great battle of the gods, one part of whom fought for Neleus, and the other part for Heracles. The chief feature was the combat between Heracles and Periclymenus, the bravest of the sons of Neleus, who had received from Poseidon, the tutelary deity of the Pylians, the power of transforming himself into any kind of animal. The result of the combat was of course a complete victory for Heracles. Neleus, with his eleven gallant sons, was slain, and only the youngest, Nestor, remained to perpetuate the celebrated race. The Lacedæmonian expedition of Heracles, which follows close on that against Pylus, was undertaken against Hippocoön, the half-brother of Tyndareüs, whom he had expelled. Hippocoön was defeated and slain by Heracles, who gave his kingdom to Tyndareüs. On this occasion Heracles was assisted by Cepheus, king of Tegea, with his twenty sons, a circumstance which is only mentioned on account of a remarkable legend connected with his stay in Tegea. Heracles is here said to have left Auge, the beautiful sister of Cepheus, and priestess of Athene, pregnant with Telephus, whose wondrous adventures have occupied artists and poets alike. Auge concealed her child in the grove of Athene, whereupon the angry goddess visited the land with a famine. Aleüs, the father of Auge, on discovering the fact, caused the child to be exposed, and sold the mother beyond the sea. Auge thus came into Mysia, where the king Teuthras made her his wife. Telephus was suckled by a hind. He grew up, and ultimately, after some wonderful adventures, succeeded in finding his mother. He succeeded Teuthras, and, later, became embroiled with the Greeks when they landed on their expedition against Troy, on which occasion he was wounded by Achilles. Telephus, among all the sons of Heracles, is said to have borne the greatest resemblance to his father.
5. Acheloüs, Nessus, Cycnus.—The next episode in the history of the hero is his wooing of Deïanira, the daughter of Œneus, king of Ætolia. Œneus is celebrated as the first cultivator of the vine in that country, and as the father of the Ætolian heroes, Meleager and Tydeus. The river-god Acheloüs was also a suitor for the hand of Deïanira, and as neither he nor Heracles would relinquish their claim, it was decided by the combat between the rivals[[8]] so often described by the poets. The power of assuming various forms was of little use to Acheloüs, for, having finally transformed himself into a bull, he was deprived of a horn by Heracles, and compelled to declare himself vanquished. Heracles restored him his horn, and received in exchange that of the goat Amalthea. After his marriage with Deïanira, Heracles lived for some time happily at the court of his father-in-law, where his son Hyllus was born. In consequence of an accidental murder, he was obliged to leave Ætolia and retire to the court of his friend Ceÿx, king of Trachis, at the foot of Mount Œta. On the road occurred his celebrated adventure with the Centaur Nessus. On coming to the river Evenus, Heracles entrusted Deïanira to Nessus to carry across, whilst he himself waded through the swollen stream. The Centaur, induced by the beauty of his burden, attempted to carry off Deïanira, but was pierced by an arrow of Heracles, and expiated his attempt with his life. He avenged himself by giving Deïanira some of his blood to make a magic salve, with which he assured her she could always secure the love of her husband.
[8]. The most beautiful description exists in a chorus in the Trachiniæ of Sophocles, and in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
On reaching Trachis they were hospitably received by Ceÿx. Heracles first defeated the Dryopes, and assisted the Dorian king Ægimius in his contest with the Lapithæ. He next engaged in his celebrated combat with Cycnus, the son of Ares, which took place at Iton, in the neighbourhood of the Gulf of Pagasæ. Heracles not only slew his opponent, but even wounded the god of war himself, who had come to the assistance of his son. This contest is the subject of the celebrated poem called the Shield of Hercules, which goes under the name of Hesiod.
IV. Death and Apotheosis.—The death of Heracles, of which we learn most from the masterly description of Sophocles in the Trachiniæ, is generally supposed to have been connected with his expedition against Eurytus. The hero, who could not forget the ignominious treatment he had received at the hands of Eurytus, now marched with an army from Trachis against Œchalia. The town and citadel were taken by storm, and Eurytus and his sons slain; whilst the beautiful Iole, who was still unmarried, fell into the hands of the conqueror. Heracles now withdrew with great booty, but halted on the promontory of Cenæum, opposite the Locrian coast, to raise an altar and offer a solemn sacrifice of thanksgiving to his father Zeus. Deïanira, who was tormented with jealous misgivings concerning Iole, thought it was now high time to make use of the charm of Nessus. She accordingly sent her husband a white sacrificial garment, which she anointed with the ointment prepared from the blood of the Centaur. Heracles donned the garment without suspicion, but scarcely had the flames from the altar heated the poison than it penetrated the body of the unhappy hero. In the most fearful agony he strove to tear off the garment, but in vain, for it stuck like a plaster to his skin; and where he succeeded in rending it away by force, it tore out great pieces of his flesh at the same time. In his frenzy he seized the herald Lichas, the bearer of the unfortunate present, and violently dashed him in pieces against a rock of the sea. In this state Heracles was brought to Trachis, where he found that Deïanira, full of sorrow and despair on learning the consequences of her act, had put an end to her own life. Convinced that cure was hopeless, the dying hero proceeded from Trachis to Œta, and there erected a funeral pile on which to end his torments. None of those around him, however, would consent to set the pile on fire, until Pœas, the father of Philoctetes, happened to pass by, and rendered him the service, in return for which Heracles presented him with his bow and arrows. As the flames rose high, a cloud descended from heaven, and, amid furious peals of thunder, a chariot with four horses, driven by Athene, appeared and bore the illustrious hero to Olympus, where he was joyfully received by the gods. He here became reconciled to Hera, who gave him the hand of her beauteous daughter Hebe in marriage.