fight his arrows were consumed, so that he wanted arms, he prayed to Jupiter, and obtained from him a shower of stones, with which he defeated and put to flight his adversaries. This, they say, happened in that part of France, anciently called Gallia Narbonensis; which place is called the Stony Plain, Campus Lapideus. 16. When Atlas was weary of his burden, Hercules took the heavens upon his shoulders. He overcame the robber Cacus, who spit fire, and strangled him. He shot the eagle that devoured the liver of Prometheus, as he lay chained to the rock. And he slew Theodamus, the father of Hylas, because he denied him victuals; but he took care of Hylas, and was kind to him. 17. He delivered *Hesione, daughter of Laomedon, king of Troy, from the whale in this manner; he raised, on a sudden, a bank in the place where Hesione was to be devoured, and stood armed before it; and when the whale came seeking his prey, Hercules leaped into his mouth, slided down his throat, destroyed him and came away safe. Laomedon, after this, broke his word, and refused to give Hercules the reward he promised; therefore he took it by force, and pillaged the city of Troy ; giving to Telamon, who first mounted the wall, the lady Hesione, as a part of the booty. 18. In fighting for Deianira, Hercules overcame Achelous, the son of Oceanus and Terra, though Achelous first turned himself into a serpent, then into a bull. By plucking one of his horns off, he obliged him to yield; but Achelous purchased his horn again; giving Amalthæa's horn in its stead. The meaning of which is this: Achelous is a river of Greece, whose course winds like a serpent; its stream is so rapid, that it makes furrows where it * Ovid Met. 11. flows, and a noise like the roaring of a bull: and indeed it is common among the poets to compare a river to a bull. This river divided itself into two streams, but Hercules forced it into one channel; that is, he broke off one of the horns or streams. The lands thus drained became fertile; so that Hercules is said to have received the horn of plenty. 19. Deianira was daughter of Eneus, king of Etolia. Hercules carried her to be married, and in their way they were stopped by a river: but the centaur Nessus offered to carry Deianira over upon his back. Nessus, when she was over, insulted her; which Hercules observing, while he swam, shot him with an arrow. When Nessus was dying, he gave Deianira his bloody coat, and told her, if a husband wore that coat, he would never follow unlawful pursuits. The credulous lady soon after experienced the virtue of it, far otherwise than she expected. For Hercules, who had surmounted so many and so great labours, was at length overcome by the charms of Omphale, queen of Lydia, and, to gratify her, changed his club into a distaff, and his arrows into a spindle. His love also to Iole, daughter of Eurytus, king of Oechalia, brought on him destruction. For his wife Deianira being desirous of turning him from unlawful objects, sent him Nessus' coat to put on when he went to sacrifice; which drove him into such distraction, that he burned himself on the pile he had raised, and was accounted among the number of gods. The lines of Virgil in praise of the hero, shall finish my description. -"ut prima noverca Monstra manu, geminosque primus eliserit angues; Te Stigii tremuere lacus; te janitor Orci, First, how the mighty babe, when swath'd in bands, With lolling tongue, lay fawning at thy feet, QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION. Who were the Semi-Dei? What account is given of the heroes ? Who was the twin-brother of Hercules; and for what was he celebrated? How did Juno act with regard to Hercules? By whom was she reconciled; and what was the consequence of the reconciliation ? What were the proper names of Hercules; and how did he derive them? Why was Hercules subject to Euristheus? Repeat the Latin lines descriptive of Hercules' labours: What was his first labour? What was his second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth. ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth? What did he do with regard to Antæus? How did he act with Busiris ? Why did he kill the giants Albion and Bergeon? What was his conduct with regard to Atlas, Cacus, Prometheus, and Theodamus? How did he deliver Hesione? What is the meaning of the fable of Achelous? CHAPTER II. JASON. THESEUS. JASON, the son of Eson, king of Thessalia, by Alcimede, was an infant when his father died, so that his uncle Pelius administered the government. When he came of age, he demanded possession of the crown; but Pelius advised him to Colchis, under pretence of gaining the golden fleece thence, though his real intention was to kill him with the labour and danger of the journey. The golden fleece was the hide of a ram, of a white or purple colour, which was given to Phryxus, son of Athamus and Nephele, by his mother. Phryxus and his sister Helle, fearing the designs of their stepmother Ino, got on a ram to save themselves by flight. But while they swam over the narrowest part of Pontus, Helle, affrighted at the tossing of the waves, fell down; whence the sea was called Hellespont. Phryxus was carried over safe; and went to Eta, king of Colchis, a country of Asia, near the Pontus; where he was kindly received, and sacrificed the ram to Jupiter, or Mars, who afterwards placed it among the constellations. Only his hide or fleece was hung up in a grove sacred to Mars. It was called the Golden Fleece, because it was of a golden colour; and it was guarded by bulls that breathed fire from their nostrils, and by a vast and watchful dragon, as a sacred and divine pledge, and as a thing of the greatest importance. Jason went on board a ship called Argo, from the builder of that name; and chose forty-nine noble companions, who, from the ship, were called Argonautæ, among whom were Hercules, Orpheus, Castor, and Pollux. In his voyage, he visited Hipsyphile, queen of Lemnos, who had twins by him. Then, after a long voyage, and many dangers, he arrived at Colchis, and demanded the Golden Fleece of king Æta, who granted his request, on condition that he tamed the bulls which guarded it; killed the dragon, and sowed his teeth in the ground; and lastly, destroyed the soldiers who sprang from the ground where these teeth were sown. Jason undertook the thing, and was delivered from manifest destruction by the assistance of Medea, the king's daughter, who was in love with him. For, observing her directions, he overcame the bulls, laid the dragon asleep, carried away the fleece, and fled by night, carrying Medea with him, whom he afterward married. Æta pursued them, but his daughter, to stop his pursuit, tore her brother Absyrtus, who went with her, in pieces, and scattered the limbs on the road; that when her father saw the torn members of his son, he might stop to gather them up. So Jason and the Argonautæ returned to their own country, where Medea by her charms restored Jason's father, the old decrepid Eson, to youth again; though some say that Æson died before their return. After this, Jason divorcing himself from Medea, he married Creusa, the daughter of Creon, king of Corinth and Medea, to revenge his perfidiousness, not only murdered the two children that she had by him in his own sight, but, in the next place, enclosed fire in a little box, and sent it to Creusa, who opened the box, and by the fire which burst out of it, was burnt, together with the whole court. When she had done this, the admirable sorceress flew by magic |