To him the hero, who proclaimed himselfa favored son of Neptune, answered now;“Declare the reason of your heavy sighs,and how your horn was broken?” And at oncethe Calydonian River-God replied,binding with reeds his unadorned rough locks:“It is a mournful task you have required,for who can wish to tell his own disgrace?But truly I shall speak without disguise,for my defeat, if rightly understood,should be my glory.—Even to have foughtin battle with a hero of such might,affords me consolation.“Deianira(you may have heard some tales of her) was oncethe envied hope of many. She was thena lovely virgin.—I, among the restwho loved this maiden, entered the fair homeof her great father Oeneus, and I said;“‘Consider all my claims, Parthaon's son,for I am come to plead your daughter's causeand mine—So you may make me son-in-law.,—’no sooner was it said, than Herculesin such words also claimed the virgin's hand:all others quickly yielded to our claims.“He boasted his descent from Jupiter;the glory of his labors and great deedsperformed at his unjust stepmother's wish.“But as he was not then a God, it seemeddisgraceful if my state should yield my right;so I contended with these haughty words,‘Why should this alien of a foreign land,contending for your daughter, match himselfto me! king of the waters in this realm!For as I wind around, across your lands,I must be of your people, and a partof your great state. Oh, let it not be said,because the jealous Juno had no thoughtto punish me by labors, my descentis not so regal! This tremendous boast,that you, Alcmena's son, are sprung from Jove,falls at the touch of truth;—or it revealsthe shame of a weak mother, who so gainedyour doubtful glory of descent from Heaven!Prove your descent from Jupiter is false,or else confess you are the son of shame!’“But Hercules, unable to controlthe flame of his great wrath, scowled as I spoke.He briefly answered me, ‘My hand excelsmy tongue; let me now overcome in fight,and I may suffer your offence of words.’“Full of unvented rage he rushed on me,but firm I stood, ashamed to yield a foot—I had so largely boasted, no retreat was left,and so I doffed my green robe—Striking guard,with clenched hands doubled at my breast,I stood my ground. He scooped up in his handfine, yellow dust; and tossed it on the airso that the tawny powder sprinkled us;quick-shifting then he sought to strike my neck,or feint at my quick-moving legs, and turnswift moving to attack me at all points.But as a huge cliff in the sea remainsunmoved, unshaken by the sounding waves,so my great size, against his vain attacks,defended me securely—Back we went;retiring for a space; then rushed againtogether, furious, and with foot to foot,determined not to yield, defiant stood,till, forward-bending from my waist and hips,I pressed my forehead against his and lockedhis fingers into mine: so, have I seentwo strong bulls rush in combat for the goodof some smooth heifer in the pasture—whilethe herd a-tremble and uncertain, wait;ready to give allegiance to the onemost worthy of dominion.“Thrice in vainHercules strove to push my breast from his,but I pressed ever closer—till, the fourthattempt succeeding, he unloosed my grip,and breaking from my circling arms drew back,and struck me such a buffet with his hand,it twisted me about, and instantlyhe clung with all his weight upon my back—“Believe me I have not suppressed the truth.Nor shall I try to gain applause not due:I seemed to bear a mountain on my back. —straining and dripping sweat, I broke his hold,—with great exertion I unlocked his grip.He pressed upon me, as I strained for breath,preventing a renewal of my strength,and seized upon my neck. Then at the last,my bent knee went down on the gritty earth,I bit the sand. So, worsted in my strength,I sought diversion by an artifice,and changed me to a serpent.—I then slippedfrom his tight clutches my great length, and coiledmy body now transformed to snaky folds—hissing I darted my divided tongue.“But Hercules, Alcides, only laughedand in derision of my scheming, said,‘It was the pastime of my cradle daysto strangle better snakes than you—and thoughyour great length may excel all of your kind,how small a part of that Lernaean snakewould you—one serpent be? It grew from woundsI gave (at first it had one hundred heads)and every time I severed one head fromits neck two grew there in the place of one,by which its strength increased. This creature thenoutbranching with strong serpents, sprung from deathand thriving on destruction, I destroyed.—What do you think will then become of you,disguised so in deceitful serpent-form,wielding a borrowed weapon not your own“And after he had ridiculed me thus,he gouged his fingers underneath my jaws,so that my throat was tortured, as if squeezedwith forceps, while I struggled in his grip.“Twice was I vanquished, there remained to mea third form so again I changed to seema savage bull, and with my limbs renewedin that form fought once more. He threw his armsabout the left side of my ponderous neck,and dragging on me followed as I ran.He seized on my hard horns, and, tugging turnedand twisted me, until he fastened themfirm in the surface of the earth; and pushedme, helpless, to the shifting sand beneath.Not yet content he laid his fierce right handon my tough horn, and broke and tore it frommy mutilated head.—This horn, now heapedwith fruits delicious and sweet-smelling flowers,the Naiads have held sacred from that hour,devoted to the bounteous goddess Plenty.’All this the River-god said; then a nymph,a lovely nymph like fair Diana dressed,whose locks were flowing down on either side,came graceful to the board, and brought to themof Autumn's plenty in an ample horn,and gave to them selected apples fora second course.And now, as early dawnappeared, and as the rising sunlight flashedon golden summits of surrounding hills,the young men waited not until the streamsubsiding, had resumed its peaceful way,but all arose, reluctant, and went forth.Then Achelous, in his moving waves,hid his fine rustic features and his head,scarred by the wound which gave the Horn of Plenty.
Quae gemitus truncaeque deo Neptunius heroscausa rogat frontis, cum sic Calydonius amniscoepit inornatos redimitus harundine crines:“Triste petis munus. Quis enim sua proelia victuscommemorare velit? Referam tamen ordine. Nec tamturpe fuit vinci, quam contendisse decorum est,magnaque dat nobis tantus solacia victor.Nomine siqua suo fando pervenit ad auresDeianira tuas—quondam pulcherrima virgomultorumque fuit spes invidiosa procorum.Cum quibus ut soceri domus est intrata petiti,“accipe me generum,” dixi “Parthaone nate:”dixit et Alcides. Alii cessere duobus.Ille Iovem socerum dare se famamque laborumet superata suae referebat iussa novercae.Contra ego “turpe deum mortali cedere” dixi(nondum erat ille deus), “regem me cernis aquarumcursibus obliquis inter tua regna fluentum.Nec gener externis hospes tibi missus ab oris,sed popularis ero et rerum pars una tuarum.Tantum ne noceat, quod me nec regia Iunoodit et omnis abest iussorum poena laborum.Nam, quo te iactas, Alcmena nate, creatum,Iuppiter aut falsus pater est, aut crimine verus.Matris adulterio patrem petis. Elige, fictumesse Iovem malis, an te per dedecus ortum.”Talia dicentem iamdudum lumine torvospectat et accensae non fortiter imperat iraeverbaque tot reddit: “Melior mihi dextera lingua.Dummodo pugnando superem, tu vince loquendo,”congrediturque ferox. Puduit modo magna locutumcedere: reieci viridem de corpore vestembracchiaque opposui tenuique a pectore varasin statione manus et pugnae membra paravi.Ille cavis hausto spargit me pulvere palmisinque vicem fulvae tactu flavescit harenae.Et modo cervicem, modo crura micantia captat,aut captare putes, omnique a parte lacessit.Me mea defendit gravitas frustraque petebar,haud secus ac moles, quam magno murmure fluctusoppugnant: manet illa suoque est pondere tuta.Digredimur paulum rursusque ad bella coimus,inque gradu stetimus, certi non cedere; eratquecum pede pes iunctus, totoque ego pectore pronuset digitos digitis et frontem fronte premebam.Non aliter vidi fortes concurrere tauros,cum pretium pugnae toto nitidissima saltuexpetitur coniunx: spectant armenta paventquenescia, quem maneat tanti victoria regni.Ter sine profectu voluit nitentia contrareicere Alcides a se mea pectora; quartoexcutit amplexus adductaque bracchia solvit,inpulsumque manu (certum est mihi vera fateri)protinus avertit tergoque onerosus inhaesit.Siqua fides neque ficta mihi nunc gloria vocequaeritur, inposito pressus mihi monte videbar.Vix tamen inserui sudore fluentia multobracchia, vix solvi duros a corpore nexus:instat anhelanti prohibetque resumere vires,et cervice mea potitur. Tum denique telluspressa genu nostro est, et harenas ore momordi.Inferior virtute meas divertor ad artes,elaborque viro longum formatus in anguem.Qui postquam flexos sinuavi corpus in orbescumque fero movi linguam stridore bisulcam,risit et inludens nostras Tirynthius artes“cunarum labor est angues superare mearum,”dixit “et ut vincas alios, Acheloe, dracones,pars quota Lernaeae serpens eris unus echidnae?Vulneribus fecunda suis erat illa, nec ullumde centum numero caput est inpune recisum,quin gemino cervix herede valentior esset.Hanc ego ramosam natis e caede colubriscrescentemque malo domui domitamque reclusi.Quid fore te credas, falsum qui versus in anguemarma aliena moves, quem forma precaria celat?”Dixerat, et summo digitorum vincula colloinicit: angebar ceu guttura forcipe pressus,pollicibusque meas pugnabam evellere fauces.Sic quoque devicto restabat tertia tauriforma trucis: tauro mutatus membra rebello.Induit ille toris a laeva parte lacertos,admissumque trahens sequitur depressaque duracornua figit humo meque alta sternit harena.Nec satis hoc fuerat: rigidum fera dextera cornudum tenet, infregit truncaque a fronte revellit.Naides hoc, pomis et odoro flore repletum,sacrarunt, divesque meo Bona Copia cornu est.”Dixerat, et nymphe ritu succincta Dianae,una ministrarum, fusis utrimque capillis,incessit totumque tulit praedivite cornuautumnum et mensas, felicia poma, secundas.Lux subit, et primo feriente cacumina solediscedunt iuvenes: neque enim dum flumina pacemet placidos habeant lapsus totaeque residant,opperiuntur, aquae. Vultus Achelous agresteset lacerum cornu mediis caput abdidit undis.
Loss of his horn had greatly humbled him,it was so cherished though his only loss, —but he could hide the sad disgrace with reedsand willow boughs entwined about his head.O, Nessus! your fierce passion for the samemaid utterly destroyed even you, pierced throughthe body by a flying arrow-point.Returning to the city of his birthgreat Hercules, the son of Jupiter,with his new bride, arrived upon the bankof swift Evenus—after winter rainshad swollen it so far beyond its wont,that, full of eddies, it was found to beimpassable. The hero stood there, bravebut anxious for his bride. Nessus, the centaur,strong-limbed and well-acquainted with those fords,came up to him and said, “Plunge in the floodand swim with unimpeded strength—for withmy help she will land safely over there.”And so the hero, with no thought of doubt,trusted the damsel to the centaur's care,though she was pale and trembling with her fearof the swift river and the centaur's aid.This done, the hero, burdened as he waswith quiver and the lion skin (for hehad tossed his club and curving bow acrossthe river to the other bank), declared,“Since I have undertaken it, at oncethis rushing water must be overcome.”And instantly, he plunged in without thoughtof where he might cross with most ease, for sohe scorned to take advantage of smooth water.And after he had gained the other bank,while picking up his bow which there was thrown,he heard his wife's voice, anxious for his help.He called to Nessus who was in the actthen to betray his trust: “Vain confidence!You are not swift enough, vile ravisher!You two-formed monster Nessus, I warn you!Hear me, and never dare to come betweenme and my love. If fear has no restraint,your father's dreadful fate on whirling wheel,should frighten you from this outrageous act:for you cannot escape, although you trustthe fleet-foot effort of a rapid horse.I cannot overtake you with my feetbut I can shoot and halt you with a wound.”his deed sustained the final warning word.He shot an arrow through the centaur's back,so that the keen barb was exposed beyondhis bleeding breast. He tore it from both wounds,and life-blood spurted instantly, mixed withthe deadly poison of Lernaean hydra.This Nessus caught, and muttering, “I shall notdie unavenged”, he gave his tunic, soakedwith blood to Deianira as a gift;and said, “Keep this to strengthen waning love.”Now many years passed by, and all the deeds,and labors of the mighty Hercules,gave to the wide world his unequalled fame;and finally appeased the hatred ofhis fierce stepmother.All victoriousreturning from Oechalia, he preparedto offer sacrifice, when at Cenaeum,upon an altar he had built to Jupiter,but tattling Rumor, swollen out of truthfrom small beginning to a wicked lie,declared brave Hercules, Amphitryon's son,was burning for the love of Iole.And Deianira—his fond wife—convincedherself, the wicked rumor must be true.Alarmed at the report of his new love,at first, poor wife, she was dissolved in tears,and then she sank in grievous misery.But soon in angry mood, she rose and said:“Why should I give up to my sorrow whileI drown my wretched spirit in weak tears?Let me consider an effectual check—while it is possible—even beforeshe comes, invader of my lawful bed:shall I be silent or complain of it?Must I go back to Calydon or stay?Shall I depart unbidden, from my house?Or, if no other method can prevail,shall I oppose my rival's first approach?O shade of Meleager, let me proveI am yet worthy to be called your sister;and in the desperate slaughter of this rival,the world, astonished, may be taught to fearthe vengeance of an injured woman's rage.”So, torn by many moods, at last her mindfixed on one thought:—she might still keep his love,could certainly restore it, if she sentto him the tunic soaked in Nessus' blood.Unknowingly, she gave the fatal causeof her own woe to trusting Lichas, whomshe urged in gentle words to take the gift,from her to her loved husband Hercules.He, unsuspecting, put the tunic on,all covered with Lernaean hydra's poison.The hero then was casting frankincenseinto the sacred flames, and pouring wineon marble altars, as his holy prayerswere floating to the Gods. The hallowed heatstriking upon his poisoned vesture, causedEchidna-bane to melt into his flesh.As long as he was able he withstoodthe torture. His great fortitude was strong.But when at last his anguish overcameeven his endurance, he filled all the wildof Oeta with his cries: he overturnedthose hallowed altars, then in frenzied hastehe strove to pull the tunic from his back.The poisoned garment, cleaving to him, rippedhis skin, heat-shriveled, from his burning flesh.Or, tightening on him, as his great strength pulled,stripped with it the great muscles from his limbs,leaving his huge bones bare.Even his bloodaudibly hissed, as red-hot blades when theyare plunged in water, so the burning baneboiled in his veins. Great perspiration streamedfrom his dissolving body, as the heatconsumed his entrails; and his sinews cracked,brittle when burnt. The marrow in his bonesdissolved, as it absorbed the venom-heat.
Hunc tamen ablati domuit iactura decoris,cetera sospes habet; capitis quoque fronde salignaaut super inposita celatur harundine damnum.At te, Nesse ferox, eiusdem virginis ardorperdiderat volucri traiectum terga sagitta.Namque nova repetens patrios cum coniuge murosvenerat Eueni rapidas Iove natus ad undas.Uberior solito, nimbis hiemalibus auctusverticibusque frequens erat atque inpervius amnis.Intrepidum pro se, curam de coniuge agentemNessus adit, membrisque valens scitusque vadorum,“officio” que “meo ripa sistetur in illahaec,” ait “Alcide. Tu viribus utere nando!”pallentemque metu fluviumque ipsumque timentemtradidit Aonius pavidam Calydonida Nesso.Mox, ut erat, pharetraque gravis spolioque leonis(nam clavam et curvos trans ripam miserat arcus),“quandoquidem coepi, superentur flumina!” dixit,nec dubitat nec, qua sit clementissimus amnis,quaerit et obsequio deferri spernit aquarum.Iamque tenens ripam, missos cum tolleret arcus,coniugis agnovit vocem: Nessoque parantifallere depositum “quo te fiducia” clamat“vana pedum, violente, rapit? Tibi, Nesse biformis,dicimus. Exaudi nec res intercipe nostras!Si te nulla mei reverentia movit, at orbesconcubitus vetitos poterant inhibere paterni.Haud tamen effugies, quamvis ope fidis equina:vulnere, non pedibus te consequar.” Ultima dictares probat, et missa fugientia terga sagittatraicit: exstabat ferrum de pectore aduncum.Quod simul evulsum est, sanguis per utrumque foramenemicuit mixtus Lernaei tabe veneni.Excipit hunc Nessus “neque enim moriemur inulti”secum ait et calido velamina tincta cruoredat munus raptae velut inritamen amoris.Longa fuit medii mora temporis, actaque magniHerculis inplerant terras odiumque novercae.Victor ab Oechalia Cenaeo sacra parabatvota Iovi, cum Fama loquax praecessit ad aures,Deianira, tuas, quae veris addere falsagaudet et e minimo sua per mendacia crescit,Amphitryoniaden Ioles ardore teneri.Credit amans, venerisque novae perterrita famaindulsit primo lacrimis flendoque doloremdiffudit miseranda suum; mox deinde “quid autemflemus?” ait “paelex lacrimis laetabitur istis.Quae quoniam adveniet, properandum aliquidque novandum est,dum licet et nondum thalamos tenet altera nostros.Conquerar an sileam? Repetam Calydona morerne?Excedam tectis an, si nihil amplius, obstem?Quid si me, Meleagre, tuam memor esse sororemforte paro facinus, quantumque iniuria possitfemineusque dolor, iugulata paelice testor?”In cursus animus varios abit: omnibus illispraetulit inbutam Nesseo sanguine vestemmittere, quae vires defecto reddat amori.Ignaroque Lichae, quid tradat, nescia, luctusipsa suos tradit blandisque (miserrima!) verbis,dona det illa viro, mandat. Capit inscius herosinduiturque umeris Lernaeae virus echidnae.Tura dabat primis et verba precantia flammisvinaque marmoreas patera fundebat in aras:incaluit vis illa mali resolutaque flammisHerculeos abiit late dilapsa per artus.Dum potuit, solita gemitum virtute repressit;victa malis postquam est patientia, reppulit arasinplevitque suis nemorosam vocibus Oeten.Nec mora, letiferam conatur scindere vestem:qua trahitur, trahit illa cutem, foedumque relatu,aut haeret membris frustra temptata revelli,aut laceros artus et grandia detegit ossa.Ipse cruor, gelido ceu quondam lamina candenstincta lacu, stridit coquiturque ardente veneno.
There was no limit to his misery;raising both hands up towards the stars of heaven,he cried, “Come Juno, feast upon my death;feast on me, cruel one, look down from yourexalted seat; behold my dreadful endand glut your savage heart! Oh, if I maydeserve some pity from my enemy,from you I mean, this hateful life of minetake from me—sick with cruel sufferingand only born for toil. The loss of lifewill be a boon to me, and surely isa fitting boon, such as stepmothers give!“Was it for this I slew Busiris, whodefiled his temples with the strangers' blood?For this I took his mother's strength from fierceantaeus—that I did not show a fearbefore the Spanish shepherd's triple form?Nor did I fear the monstrous triple formof Cerberus.—And is it possiblemy hands once seized and broke the strong bull's horns?And Elis knows their labor, and the wavesof Stymphalus, and the Parthenian woods.For this the prowess of these hands securedthe Amazonian girdle wrought of gold;and did my strong arms, gather all in vainthe fruit when guarded by the dragon's eyes.The centaurs could not foil me, nor the boarthat ravaged in Arcadian fruitful fields.Was it for this the hydra could not gaindouble the strength from strength as it was lost?And when I saw the steeds of Thrace, so fatwith human blood, and their vile mangers heapedwith mangled bodies, in a righteous rageI threw them to the ground, and slaughtered them,together with their master! In a caveI crushed the Nemean monster with these arms;and my strong neck upheld the wide-spread sky!And even the cruel Juno, wife of Jove—is weary of imposing heavy toils,but I am not subdued performing them.“A new calamity now crushes me,which not my strength, nor valor, nor the useof weapons can resist. Devouring flameshave preyed upon my limbs, and blasting heatnow shrivels the burnt tissue of my frame.But still Eurystheus is alive and well!And there are those who yet believe in Gods!”Just as a wild bull, in whose body spearsare rankling, while the frightened hunter fliesaway for safety, so the hero rangedover sky-piercing Oeta; his huge groans,his awful shrieks resounding in those cliffs.At times he struggles with the poisoned robe.Goaded to fury, he has razed great trees,and scattered the vast mountain rocks around!And stretched his arms towards his ancestral skies!So, in his frenzy, as he wandered there,he chanced upon the trembling Lichas, crouchedin the close covert of a hollow rock.Then in a savage fury he cried out,“Was it you, Lichas, brought this fatal gift?Shall you be called the author of my death?”Lichas, in terror, groveled at his feet,and begged for mercy—“Only let me live!”But seizing on him, the crazed Hero whirledhim thrice and once again about his head,and hurled him, shot as by a catapult,into the waves of the Euboic Sea.While he was hanging in the air, his formwas hardened; as, we know, rain drops may firstbe frozen by the cold air, and then changeto snow, and as it falls through whirling windsmay press, so twisted, into round hailstones:even so has ancient lore declared that whenstrong arms hurled Lichas through the mountain airthrough fear, his blood was curdled in his veins.No moisture left in him, he was transformedinto a flint-rock. Even to this day,a low crag rising from the waves is seenout of the deep Euboean Sea, and holdsthe certain outline of a human form,so sure]y traced, the wary sailors fearto tread upon it, thinking it has life,and they have called it Lichas ever since.But, O illustrious son of Jupiter!How many of the overspreading trees,thick-growing on the lofty mountain-peakof Oeta, did you level to the ground,and heap into a pyre! And then you badeobedient Philoctetes light a torchbeneath it, and then take in recompenseyour bow with its capacious quiver fullof arrows, arms that now again would seethe realm of Troy. And as the pyre beganto kindle with the greedy flames, you spreadthe Nemean lion skin upon the top,and, club for pillow, you lay down to sleep,as placid as if, with abounding cupsof generous wine and crowned with garlands, youwere safe, reclining on a banquet-couch.And now on every side the spreading flameswere crackling fiercely, as they leaped from earthupon the careless limbs of Hercules.He scorned their power. The Gods felt fearfor earth's defender and their sympathygave pleasure to Saturnian Jove — he knewtheir thought—and joyfully he said to them:“Your sudden fear is surely my delight,O heavenly Gods! my heart is lifted upand joy prevails upon me, in the thoughtthat I am called the Father and the Kingof all this grateful race of Gods. I knowmy own beloved offspring is securein your declared protection: your concernmay justly evidence his worth, whose deedsgreat benefits bestowed. Let not vain thoughtsalarm you, nor the rising flames of Oeta;for Hercules who conquered everything,shall conquer equally the spreading fireswhich now you see: and all that part of him,celestial — inherited of me—immortal, cannot feel the power of death.It is not subject to the poison-heat.And therefore, since his earth-life is now lost,him I'll translate, unshackled from all dross,and purified, to our celestial shore.I trust this action seems agreeableto all the Deities surrounding me.If any jealous god of heaven should grieveat the divinity of Hercules,he may begrudge the prize but he will knowat least 'twas given him deservedly,and with this thought he must approve the deed.”The Gods confirmed it: and though Juno seemedto be contented and to acquiesce,her deep vexation was not wholly hid,when Jupiter with his concluding wordsso plainly hinted at her jealous mind.Now, while the Gods conversed, the mortal partof Hercules was burnt by Mulciber;but yet an outline of a spirit-formremained. Unlike the well-known mortal shapederived by nature of his mother, hekept traces only of his father, Jove.And as a serpent, when it is revivedfrom its old age, casts off the faded skin,and fresh with vigor glitters in new scales,so, when the hero had put off all dross,his own celestial, wonderful appeared,majestic and of godlike dignity.And him, the glorious father of the Godsin the great chariot drawn by four swift steeds,took up above the wide-encircling clouds,and set him there amid the glittering stars.
Nec modus est: sorbent avidae praecordia flammae,caeruleusque fluit toto de corpore sudor,ambustique sonant nervi: caecaque medullistabe liquefactis tollens ad sidera palmas“cladibus,” exclamat “Saturnia, pascere nostris,pascere et hanc pestem specta, crudelis, ab altocorque ferum satia. Vel si miserandus et hosti,hoc est, si tibi sum, diris cruciatibus aegraminvisamque animam natamque laboribus aufer:hoc mihi munus erit; decet haec dare dona novercam.Ergo ego foedantem peregrino templa cruoreBusirin domui saevoque alimenta parentisAntaeo eripui? Nec me pastoris Hiberiforma triplex, nec forma triplex tua, Cerbere, movit?Vosne, manus, validi pressistis cornua tauri?Vestrum opus Elis habet, vestrum Stymphalides undaePartheniumque nemus? Vestra virtute relatusThermodontiaco caelatus balteus auropomaque ab insomni concustodita dracone?Nec mihi Centauri potuere resistere, nec miArcadiae vastator aper? Nec profuit hydraecrescere per damnum geminasque resumere vires?Quid tum? Thracis equos humano sanguine pinguesplenaque corporibus laceris praesepia vidivisaque deieci dominumque ipsosque peremi.His elisa iacet moles Nemeaea lacertis,hac caelum cervice tuli. Defessa iubendo estsaeva Iovis coniunx: ego sum indefessus agendo.Sed nova pestis adest, cui nec virtute resistinec telis armisque potest. Pulmonibus erratignis edax imis perque omnes pascitur artus.At valet Eurystheus!—et sunt qui credere possintesse deos!” Dixit, perque altam saucius Oetenhaud aliter graditur, quam si venabula tauruscorpore fixa gerat, factique refugerit auctor.Saepe illum gemitus edentem, saepe frementem,saepe retemptantem totas infringere vestessternentemque trabes irascentemque videresmontibus aut patrio tendentem bracchia caelo.Ecce Lichan trepidum latitantem rupe cavataadspicit, utque dolor rabiem conlegerat omnem,“tune, Licha,” dixit “feralia dona dedisti?Tune meae necis auctor eris?” Tremit ille pavetquepallidus et timide verba excusantia dicit.Dicentem genibusque manus adhibere parantemcorripit Alcides et terque quaterque rotatummittit in Euboicas tormento fortius undas.Ille per aerias pendens induruit auras,utque ferunt imbres gelidis concrescere ventis,inde nives fieri, nivibus quoque molle rotatisadstringi et spissa glomerari grandine corpus:sic illum validis iactum per inane lacertisexsanguemque metu nec quicquam umoris habentemin rigidos versum silices prior edidit aetas.Nunc quoque in Euboico scopulus brevis eminet altogurgite et humanae servat vestigia formae;quem, quasi sensurum, nautae calcare verenturappellantque Lichan.—At tu, Iovis inclita proles,arboribus caesis, quas ardua gesserat Oete,inque pyram structis, arcum pharetramque capacemregnaque visuras iterum Troiana sagittasferre iubes Poeante satum. Quo flamma ministro estsubdita; dumque avidis comprenditur ignibus agger,congeriem silvae Nemeaeo vellere summamsternis et inposita clavae cervice recumbis,haud alio vultu, quam si conviva iaceresinter plena meri redimitus pocula sertis.Iamque valens et in omne latus diffusa sonabatsecurosque artus contemptoremque petebatflamma suum; timuere dei pro vindice terrae.Quos ita (sensit enim) laeto Saturnius oreIuppiter adloquitur: “Nostra est timor iste voluptas,o superi, totoque libens mihi pectore grator,quod memoris populi dicor rectorque paterque,et mea progenies vestro quoque tuta favore est.Nam quamquam ipsius datis hoc inmanibus actis,obligor ipse tamen. Sed enim ne pectora vanofida metu paveant: Oetaeas spernite flammas!Omnia qui vicit, vincet, quos cernitis, ignesnec nisi materna Vulcanum parte potentemsentiet: aeternum est a me quod traxit et expersatque inmune necis nullaque domabile flamma.Idque ego defunctum terra caelestibus orisaccipiam, cunctisque meum laetabile factumdis fore confido. Siquis tamen Hercule, siquisforte deo doliturus erit, data praemia nolet,sed meruisse dari sciet invitusque probabit.”Adsensere dei: coniunx quoque regia visa estcetera non duro, duro tamen ultima vultudicta tulisse Iovis seque indoluisse notatam.Interea quodcumque fuit populabile flammaeMulciber abstulerat, nec cognoscenda remansitHerculis effigies; nec quicquam ab imagine ductummatris habet, tantumque Iovis vestigia servat.Utque novus serpens posita cum pelle senectaluxuriare solet squamaque nitere recenti,sic, ubi mortales Tirynthius exuit artus,parte sui meliore viget maiorque videricoepit et augusta fieri gravitate verendus.Quem pater omnipotens inter cava nubila raptumquadriiugo curru radiantibus intulit astris.
Even Atlas felt the weight of Heaven increase,but King Eurystheus, still implacable,vented his baffled hatred on the sonsof the great hero. Then the Argive mother,Alcmena, spent and anxious with long cares,the burden of her old age and her fears,could pass the weary hours with Iolein garrulous narrations of his worth,his mighty labors and her own sad days.Iole, by command of Hercules,had been betrothed to Hyllus, and by himwas gravid, burdened with a noble child.And so to Iole, Alcmena toldthis story of the birth of Hercules:—“Ah, may the Gods be merciful to youand give you swift deliverance in that hourwhen needful of all help you must call outfor Ilithyia, the known goddess ofall frightened mothers in their travail, shewhom Juno's hatred overcame and madeso dreadful against me. For, when my hourof bearing Hercules was very near,and when the tenth sign of the zodiacwas traversed by the sun, my burden thenbecame so heavy, and the one I boreso large, you certainly could tell that Jovemust be the father of the unborn child.“At last, no longer able to endure—ah me, a cold sweat seizes on me now;only to think of it renews my pains!Seven days in agony, as many nights,exhausted in my dreadful misery,I stretched my arms to heaven and invokedLucina and three Nixian deitiesthe guardians of birth. Lucina came;but before then she had been pledged to givemy life to cruel Juno. While Lucinasat on the altar near the door and listened,with her right knee crossed over her left knee,with fingers interlocked, she stopped the birth:and in low muttered tones she chanted Charmswhich there prevented my deliverance.“I fiercely struggled, and insane with painshrieked vain revilings against Jupiter;I longed for death, and my delirious wordsthen should have moved the most unfeeling rocks.The Theban matrons, eager to help me,stood near me while they asked the aid of Heaven.“And there was present of the common class,my maid Galanthis—with her red-gold hair—efficient and most willing to obeyher worthy character deserved my love.She felt assured, Juno unjustly workedsome spell of strong effect against my life.And when this maid beheld Lucina perchedso strangely on the altar, with her fingersinwoven on her knees and tightly pressedtogether, in a gripping finger-comb,she guessed that jealous Juno was the cause.Quick-witted, in a ringing voice this maidcried out, ‘Congratulations! All is well!Alcmena is delivered—a fine childso safely brought forth—her true prayers approved!’“Lucina, who presides at birth, surprisedleaped up, unclenched her hands, as one amazed.Just as her hands unfastened, and her kneeswere parted from their stricture, I could feelthe bonds of stricture loosen; and withoutmore labor was delivered of my child.“'Tis said, Galanthis laughed and ridiculedthe cheated deity; and as she laughedthe vixen goddess caught her by the hairand dragging her upon the ground, while shewas struggling to arise, held her, and theretransformed both of her arms to animalforelegs. Her old activity remained;her hair was not changed, but she did not keepher maiden form: and ever since that day,because she aided with deceitful lips,her offspring are brought forth through the same mouth.Changed to a weasel she dwells now with me.”
Sensit Atlas pondus.—Neque adhuc Stheneleius irassolverat Eurystheus odiumque in prole paternumexercebat atrox. At longis anxia curisArgolis Alcmene, questus ubi ponat aniles,cui referat nati testatos orbe labores,cuive suos casus, Iolen habet. Herculis illamimperiis thalamoque animoque receperat Hyllusinpleratque uterum generoso semine, cum sicincipit Alcmene: “Faveant tibi numina saltemconripiantque moras, tum cum matura vocabispraepositam timidis parientibus Ilithyiam,quam mihi difficilem Iunonis gratia fecit.Namque laboriferi cum iam natalis adessetHerculis et decimum premeretur sidere signum,tendebat gravitas uterum mihi, quodque ferebam,tantum erat, ut posses auctorem dicere tectiponderis esse Iovem. Nec iam tolerare laboresulterius poteram: quin nunc quoque frigidus artus,dum loquor, horror habet, parsque est meminisse doloris.Septem ego per noctes, totidem cruciata diebus,fessa malis tendensque ad caelum bracchia magnoLucinam Nixosque pares clamore vocabam.Illa quidem venit, sed praecorrupta meumquequae donare caput Iunoni vellet iniquae.Utque meos audit gemitus, subsedit in illaante fores ara dextroque a poplite laevumpressa genu digitis inter se pectine iunctissustinuit partus. Tacita quoque carmina vocedixit, et inceptos tenuerunt carmina partus.Nitor et ingrato facio convicia demensvana Iovi cupioque mori moturaque durosverba queror silices. Matres Cadmeides adsuntvotaque suscipiunt exhortanturque dolentem.Una ministrarum, media de plebe, Galanthis,flava comas, aderat, faciendis strenua iussis,officiis dilecta suis. Ea sensit iniquanescio quid Iunone geri, dumque exit et intratsaepe fores, divam residentem vidit in arabracchiaque in genibus digitis conexa tenentem,et “quaecumque es,” ait “dominae gratare: levata estArgolis Alcmene potiturque puerpera voto.”Exsiluit iunctasque manus pavefacta remisitdiva potens uteri: vinclis levor ipsa remissis.Numine decepto risisse Galanthida fama est:ridentem prensamque ipsis dea saeva capillistraxit, et e terra corpus relevare volentemarcuit inque pedes mutavit bracchia primos.Strenuitas antiqua manet, nec terga coloremamisere suum: forma est diversa priori.Quae quia mendaci parientem iuverat ore,ore parit nostrasque domos, ut et ante, frequentat.”
When she had ended the sad tale, she heaveda deep sigh, in remembrance of her tried,beloved servant; and her daughter-in-lawIole kindly answered in these words:“O my dear mother, if you weep becauseof her who was your servant, now transformedinto a weasel, how can you supportthe true narration of my sister's fate;which I must tell to you, although my tearsand sorrows hinder and forbid my speech?“Most beautiful of all Oechalian maids,was Dryope, her mother's only child,for you must know I am the daughter ofmy father's second wife. She is not nowa maid; because, through violence of himwho rules at Delphi and at Delos, shewas taken by Andraemon, who since thenhas been accounted happy in his wife.“There is a lake surrounded by sweet lawns,encircling beauties, where the upper slopeis crowned with myrtles in fair sunny groves.Without a thought of danger Dryopein worship one day went to gather flowers,(who hears, has greater cause to be indignant)delightful garlands, for the water-nymphs,and, in her bosom, carried her dear son,not yet a year old, whom she fed for love.Not far from that dream-lake, in moisture grewa lotus, beautiful in purple bloom,the blossoms promising its fruit was near.“At play with her sweet infant, Dryopeplucked them as toys for him. I, too, was there,eagerly, also, I put forth my hand,and was just ready to secure a spray,when I was startled by some drops of blooddown-falling from the blossoms which were plucked;and even the trembling branches shook in dread.“Who wills, the truth of this may learn from allquaint people of that land, who still relatethe Story of Nymph Lotis. She, they say,while flying from the lust of Priapus,was transformed quickly from her human shape,into this tree, though she has kept her name.“But ignorant of all this, Dryope,alarmed, decided she must now return;so, having first adored the hallowed nymphs,upright she stood, and would have moved away,but both her feet were tangled in a root.There, as she struggled in its tightening hold,she could move nothing save her upper parts;and growing from that root, live bark beganto gather slowly upward from the ground,spreading around her, till it touched her loins:in terror when she saw the clinging growth,she would have torn her hair out by the roots,but, when she clutched at it, her hands were filledwith lotus leaves grown up from her changed head.“Alas, her little son, Amphissos, felthis mother's bosom harden to his touch,and no life-stream refreshed his eager lips.And while I saw your cruel destiny,O my dear sister! and could give no help,I clung to your loved body and aroundthe growing trunk and branches, hoping soto stop their evil growth; and I confess,endeavored there to hide beneath the bark.“And, oh! Andraemon and her father, thenappeared to me while they were sadly seekingfor Dryope: so there I had to showthe lotus as it covered her, and theygave kisses to the warm wood, and prostrate fellupon the ground, and clung to growing rootsof their new darling tree, transformed from her.—Dear sister, there was nothing of yourselfremaining but your face; and I could seeyour tears drop slowly on the trembling leaveswhich had so marvellously grown on you;and while your lips remained uncovered, allthe air surrounding, echoed your complaint:—“If oaths of wretched women can have force,I swear I have not merited this fate!Though innocent, to suffer punishment!And if one word of my complaint is false,I pray I may soon wither, and my leavesfall from me as in blight, and let the axedevote me, wretched to the flames. But takethis infant from my branches to a nurse;and let him often play beneath his tree,—his mother always. Let him drink his milkbeneath my shade. When he has learned to talklet him salute me, and in sorrow say“In this tree-trunk my mother is concealed.”O, let him dread the fate that lurks in ponds,and let him often play beneath his tree,—and let him be persuaded every shrubcontains the body of a goddess. — Ah!Farewell my husband,—sister, — and farewellmy father! If my love remain in youremember to protect my life from harm,so that the pruning-knife may never clipmy branches, and protect my foliage fromthe browsing sheep.“I cannot stoop to you;0h, if you love me, lift your lips to mine,and let me kiss you, if but once again,before this growing lotus covers me.Lift up my darling infant to my lips.How can I hope to say much more to you?The new bark now is creeping up my neck,and creeping downward from my covered brow!Ah, do not close my live eyes with your hands;there is no need of it, for growing barkwill spread and darken them before I die!’Such were the last words her poor smothered lipscould utter; for she was so quickly changed;and long thereafter the new branches keptthe warmth of her lost body, so transformed.”And all the while that Iole told this,tearful in sorrow for her sister's fate,Alcmena weeping, tried to comfort her.But as they wept together, suddenlya wonderful event astonished them;for, standing in the doorway, they beheldthe old man Iolaus, known to them,but now transformed from age to youth, he seemedalmost a boy, with light down on his cheeks:for Juno's daughter Hebe, had renewedhis years to please her husband, Hercules.Just at the time when ready to make oath,she would not grant such gifts to other men—Themis had happily prevented her.“For even now,” she said, “a civil strifeis almost ready to break forth in Thebes,and Capaneus shall be invincibleto all save the strong hand of Jove himself;and there two hostile brothers shall engagein bloody conflict; and Amphiarausshall see his own ghost, deep in yawning earth.“His own son, dutiful to him, shall beboth just and unjust in a single deed;for he, in vengeance for his father's death,shall slay his mother, and confounded loseboth home and reason,—persecuted bothby the grim Furies and the awful ghostof his own murdered mother; this untilhis wife, deluded, shall request of himthe fatal golden necklace, and untilthe sword of Phegeus drains his kinsman's blood.“And then at last his wife Callirhoeshall supplicate the mighty Jupiterto grant her infant sons the added yearsof youthful manhood. Then shall Jupiterlet Hebe, guardian of ungathered days,grant from the future to Callirhoe's sons,the strength of manhood in their infancy.Do not let their victorious father's deathbe unavenged a long while. Jove prevailedupon, will claim beforehand all the giftsof Hebe, who is his known daughter-in-law,and his step-daughter, and with one act changeCallirhoe's beardless boys to men of size.”
Dixit, et admonitu veteris commota ministraeingemuit. Quam sic nurus est adfata dolentem:“Te tamen, o genetrix, alienae sanguine vestrorapta movet facies. Quid si tibi mira sororisfata meae referam? quamquam lacrimaeque dolorqueimpediunt prohibentque loqui. Fuit unica matri(me pater ex alia genuit) notissima formaOechalidum Dryope. Quam virginitate carentemvimque dei passam Delphos Delumque tenentisexcipit Andraemon, et habetur coniuge felix.Est lacus adclivis devexo margine formamlitoris efficiens: summum myrteta coronant.Venerat huc Dryope fatorum nescia, quoqueindignere magis, nymphis latura coronas;inque sinu puerum, qui nondum impleverat annum,dulce ferebat onus tepidique ope lactis alebat.Haud procul a stagno Tyrios imitata coloresin spem bacarum florebat aquatica lotos.Carpserat hinc Dryope, quos oblectamina natoporrigeret, flores, et idem factura videbar(namque aderam): vidi guttas e flore cruentasdecidere et tremulo ramos horrore moveri.Scilicet, ut referunt tardi nunc denique agrestes,Lotis in hanc nymphe, fugiens obscena Priapi,contulerat versos servato nomine, vultus.Nescierat soror hoc. Quae cum perterrita retroire et adoratis vellet discedere nymphis,haeserunt radice pedes. Convellere pugnat,nec quicquam nisi summa movet. Subcrescit ab imototaque paulatim lentus premit inguina cortex.Ut vidit, conata manu laniare capillos,fronde manum implevit: frondes caput omne tenebant.At puer Amphissos (namque hoc avus Eurytus illiaddiderat nomen) materna rigescere sentitubera, nec sequitur ducentem lacteus umor.Spectatrix aderam facti crudelis opemquenon poteram tibi ferre, soror; quantumque valebam,crescentem truncum ramosque amplexa morabaret, fateor, volui sub eodem cortice condi.Ecce vir Andraemon genitorque miserrimus adsuntet quaerunt Dryopen: Dryopen quaerentibus illisostendi loton. Tepido dant oscula lignoadfusique suae radicibus arboris haerent.Nil nisi iam faciem, quod non foret arbor, habebatcara soror: lacrimae misero de corpore factisinrorant foliis, et, dum licet oraque praestantvocis iter, tales effundit in aera questus:“Siqua fides miseris, hoc me per numina iuronon meruisse nefas: patior sine crimine poenam.Viximus innocuae: si mentior, arida perdamquas habeo, frondes et caesa securibus urar.Hunc tamen infantem maternis demite ramiset date nutrici; nostraque sub arbore saepelac facitote bibat nostraque sub arbore ludat!Cumque loqui poterit, matrem facitote salutet,et tristis dicat “latet hoc in stipite mater.”Stagna tamen timeat nec carpat ab arbore flores,et frutices omnes corpus putet esse deorum!Care vale coniunx, et tu, germana, paterque!Qui, siqua est pietas, ab acutae vulnere falcis,a pecoris morsu frondes defendite nostras.Et quoniam mihi fas ad vos incumbere non est,erigite huc artus et ad oscula nostra venite,dum tangi possunt, parvumque attollite natum.Plura loqui nequeo. Nam iam per candida molliscolla liber serpit, summoque cacumine condor.Ex oculis removete manus: sine munere vestrocontegat inductus morientia lumina cortex!”Desierant simul ora loqui, simul esse, diuquecorpore mutato rami caluere recentes.”Dumque refert Iole factum mirabile, dumqueEurytidos lacrimas admoto pollice siccatAlcmene (flet et ipsa tamen), conpescuit omnemres nova tristitiam. Nam limine constitit altopaene puer dubiaque tegens lanugine malasora reformatus primos Iolaus in annos.Hoc illi dederat Iunonia muneris Hebe,victa viri precibus. Quae cum iurare pararetdona tributuram post hunc se talia nulli,non est passa Themis: “Nam iam discordia Thebaebella movent” dixit “Capaneusque nisi ab Iove vincihaud poterit, fientque pares in vulnere fratres,subductaque suos manes tellure videbitvivus adhuc vates; ultusque parente parentemnatus erit facto pius et sceleratus eodem;attonitusque malis exsul mentisque domusque,vultibus Eumenidum matrisque agitabitur umbris,donec eum coniunx fatale poposcerit aurum,cognatumque latus Phegeius hauserit ensis.Tum demum magno petet hos Acheloia supplexab Iove Callirhoe natis infantibus annosneve necem sinat esse diu victoris inultam,Iuppiter his motus privignae dona nurusquepraecipiet facietque viros inpubibus annis.”