Euristeo

Heracles.

A toil for King Eurystheus, lord of Tyrans.

Chorus.

And whither journeyest? To what wanderings yoked? heracles for thracian diomedes four-horse chariot chorus how canst thou sure he is unknown to thee heracles unknown to land bistonian fared i never chorus not save by battle may those steeds be won heracles yet flinch i may not from the appointed toils chorus thy life or his a triumph or a grave Heracles, not this the first time I have run such course.

The oracle's answer would bind him for years to come.

He was to serve King Eurystheus of Mycenae, a far lesser man than Heracles, in every meaningful way but standing alone and complete without complaint whatever tasks the king chose to demand of him.

Eurystheus, weak in himself and deeply resentful of Heracles' overwhelming strength, set him ten labors meant from the very start to be entirely impossible for any mortal to survive, let alone actually complete.

He was to kill the Nemean lion, a beast whose hide no weapon of any kind could pierce, and whose den, a cave with two mouths, Heracles sealed with boulders on one side before entering through the other to corner it.

His arrows and sword both failed uselessly against its impenetrable skin, so he wrestled the creature to the ground and strangled it with his bare hands instead, wearing its pelt ever afterward as his own personal armor, the lion's great head serving from then on as his helmet, worn open-jawed above his own face.

once he discovered it was Diomedes who had trained the horses to crave human flesh in the first place.

He returned successfully with the girdle of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, though Hera's own interference, spreading a false rumor that Heracles secretly intended to kidnap the queen, turned what should have been a peaceful exchange between them into a bloody misunderstanding that ultimately cost hippolyta her own life and he drove home the cattle of the three-bodied giant geryon from the very edge of the known world killing both the giant's two-headed guard dog and Garion himself along the way home.

Because Eurystheus judged that Heracles had received outside help with the Hydra from his own nephew and had additionally been paid for cleaning the stables rather than completing the task purely as a labor in its own right, he refused to count either of those two among the original ten.

From this day forth, thy name shall be not Alcides, but Heracles.

Thou shalt go to Eurystheus, thy cousin, in Mycenae, and serve him in all things.

When the labors he shall lay upon thee are accomplished, and when the rest of thy life is lived out, thou shalt become one of the immortals.

Heracles, on hearing these words, set out for Mycenae.

He, a towering man, stood before a king who sat there weak and trembling.

And Heracles said, I have come to take up the labors that you will lay upon me.

Speak now, Eurystheus, and tell me what you would have me do.

Eurystheus, that weak king, looking on the young man who stood as tall and as firm as one of the immortals, had a heart that was filled with hatred.

Nor do we learn that Heracles of the mighty heart disregarded the eager summons of Aeson's son.

But when he heard a report of the hero's gathering, and had reached Lyrcean Argus from Arcadia by the road along which he carried the boar alive that fed in the thickets of Lampia near the vast Erymanthian swamp, the boar bound with chains he put down from his huge shoulders at the entrance to the marketplace of Mycenae, and himself of his own will set out against the purpose of Eurystheus.

And with him went Hylas, a brave comrade in the flower of youth, to bear his arrows and to guard his bow.

Next to him came a scion of the race of divine Danaus, Nauplius.

And I were fain thou wouldst even champion me against another man, if a like thing should ever befall me.

He spake, and they sat down, united as of old.

But of those two, by the counsel of Zeus, one, Polyphemus son of Euelathus, was destined to found and build a city among the Mysians, bearing the river's name, and the other, Heracles, to return and toil at the labours of Eurystheus.

And he threatened to lay waste the Mysian land at once, should they not discover for him the doom of Hylas, whether living or dead.

But from Pylos we beheld on the poops of Gerenian Nestor a sign bull-footed to view, his neighbor Alpheus.

But there were twelve beaks of Aenian ships which King Gyneus led, and near these again the chieftains of Elis, whom all the people named Achaeans, and o'er these Eurystheus had power.

But the white-oared Taphian host led, which Meges ruled, the offspring of Phyleus, leaving the isle Achinades, inaccessible to sailors.

And Ajax, the foster child of Salamis, joined the right horn to the left, to which he was stationed nearest, joining them with his furthermost ships, with twelve most swift vessels, as I heard, and beheld the naval people.

At Delphi, at the shrine of Apollo, the priestess purified him, and when she had purified him, she uttered this prophecy: From this day forth thy name shall be not Alcides, but Heracles.

Thou shalt go to Eurystheus, thy cousin, in Mycenae, and serve him in all things.

When the labors he shall lay upon thee are accomplished, and when the rest of thy life is lived out, thou shalt become one of the immortals.

Heracles, on hearing these words, set out for Mycenae.

He, a towering man, stood before a king who sat there weak and trembling.

And Heracles said, I have come to take up the labors that you will lay upon me.

Speak now, Eurystheus, and tell me what you would have me do.

Eurystheus, that weak king, looking on the young man who stood as tall and as firm as one of the immortals, had a heart that was filled with hatred.

To him Clytius and Iphitus joined themselves, the warders of Ecalia.

Sons of Eurytus the ruthless Eurytus to whom the far-shooting god gave his bow but he had no joy of the gift for of his own choice he strove even with the giver after them came the sons of Aeacus not both together nor from the same spot for they settled far from Aegina in exile when in their folly they had slain their brother Phpheus Telamon dwelt in the Attic island but Peleus departed and made his home in Phthia after them from Cecropia came warlike Butes son of brave Tileon and Phalerus of the ashen spear Alcon his father sent him forth yet no other sons had he to care for his old age and livelihood but him his well-beloved and only son he sent forth that amid bold heroes he might shine conspicuous but Theseus who surpassed all the sons of Erichthius an unseen bond kept beneath the land of Taenarus for he had followed that path with Pirithous assuredly both would have lightened for all the fulfilment of their toil Tiphys son of Hegneus left the Siphean people of the Thespians well skilled to foretell the rising wave on the broad sea and well skilled to infer from sun and star the stormy winds and the time for sailing Tritonian Athena herself urged him to join the band of chiefs and he came among them a welcome comrade she herself too fashioned the swift ship and with her Argus son of Arista wrought it by her counsels wherefore it proved the most excellent of all ships that have made trial of the sea with oars after them came Phlegyas from Erythrae where he dwelt in affluence by the favour of his father Dionysus in his home by the springs of Asopus from Argos came Talaus and Areius sons of Bias and mighty Leodocus all of whom Pero daughter of Neleus bare on her account the Aeolid Melampus endured sore affliction in the steading of Iphiclus nor do we learn that Heracles of the mighty heart disregarded the eager summons of Iason's son but when he heard a report of the heroes gathering and had reached Lercaean Argos from Arcadia by the road along which he carried the boar alive that fed in the thickets of Lympia near the vast Erymanthian swamp the boar bound with chains he put down from his huge shoulders at the entrance to the marketplace of Mycenae and himself of his own will set out against the purpose of Eurystheus and with him went Hylas a brave comrade in the flower of youth to bear his arrows and to guard his bow next to him came a scion of the race of divine Danaus Nauplius he was the son of Clytoneus son of Nobilus Nobilus was son of Lernus Lernus we know was the son of Prytus son of Nauplius and once Amymone daughter of Danaus wedded to Poseidon bare Nauplius who surpassed all men in naval skill Idmon came last of all them that dwelt at Argos for though he had learned his own fate by augury he came that the people might not grudge him fair renown he was not in truth the son of Abas but Leto's son himself begat him to be numbered among the illustrious Aeolids and himself taught him the art of prophecy to pay heed to birds and to observe the signs of the burning sacrifice moreover Aetolian Leda sent from Sparta strong Polydeuces and Castor skilled to guide swift-footed steeds these her dearly loved sons she bare at one birth in the house of Tyndareus nor did she forbid their departure for she had thoughts worthy of the bride of Zeus the son of Aphareus Lynceus and proud Idas came from Oeni both exulting in their great strength and Lynceus too excelled in keenest sight if the report is true that that hero could easily direct his sight even beneath the earth and with them Pylean Periclymenus set out to come eldest of all the sons of godlike Neleus who were born at Pylos Poseidon had given him boundless strength and granted him that whatever shape he should crave during the fight that he should take in the stress of battle moreover from Arcadia came Amphidamas and Cepheus who inhabited Tegea and the allotment of Ophietus two sons of Aldus and Enceus followed them as the third whom his father Lycurgus sent the brother older than both but he was left in the city to care for Alectryone now growing old while he gave his son to join his brothers Antaeus went clad in the skin of a Maenalian bear and wielding in his right hand a huge two-edged battle-axe for his armour his grandsire had hidden in the house's innermost recess to see if he might by some means still stay his departure There came also Ogyges, whom fame declared to be the son of Helios.

He reigned over the Eleans, glorying in his wealth, and greatly he desired to behold the Colchian land and Aeetes himself, the ruler of the Colchians.

Asterius and Amphion, sons of Hyperasius, came from Achaean Pylae, which once Peleus, their grandsire, founded on the brows of Aegialus.

And I were fain thou wouldst even champion me against another man, if a like thing should ever befall me.

He spake, and they sat down, united as of old.

But of those two, by the counsel of Zeus, one, Polyphemus, son of Eilatus, was destined to found and build a city among the Mysians, bearing the river's name, and the other, Heracles, to return and toil at the labors of Eurystheus.

And he threatened to lay waste the Mysian land at once should they not discover for him the doom of Hylas, whether living or dead; and for him they gave pledges, choosing out the noblest sons of the people, and they took an oath that they would never cease from their labour of search.

Heracles.

A toil for King Eurystheus, lord of Tyrans.

Chorus.

And whither journeyest? To what wanderings yoked? heracles for thracian diomedes four-horse chariot chorus how canst thou sure he is unknown to thee heracles unknown to land bystonian fared i never chorus not save by battle may those steeds be won heracles yet flinch i may not from the appointed toils chorus thy life or his a triumph or a grave heracles not this the first time i have run such course chorus what profit is it if thou slay their lord heracles those steeds shall i drive back to tiryn's king chorus hard task to set the bit betwixt their jaws heracles that shall i if their nostrils breathe not fire chorus yea but with ravening jaws do they rend men heracles go to thus banquet mountain beasts not horses chorus nay thou shalt see their cribs with gore be spattered heracles whom boasteth he for father he that reared them chorus ares the king of thracia's golden shield heracles thou sayest such toil my fate imposeth still harsh evermore up hillward straining aye if i must still in battle close with sons gotten of ares with lycaon first and cycnus then and lo i come to grapple the third strife this with yon steeds and their lord but never man shall see alcmenes child quailing before the hand of any foe chorus lo there himself the ruler of the land admetus cometh forth his palace hall enter admetus admetus hail o thou sprung from zeus and perseus blood heracles admetus hail thou too thessalia's king admetus hail would i were yet thy good heart i know herakles wherefore for mourning shaven show'st thou thus admetus this day must i commit to earth a corpse herakles now heaven forfend thou mourn'st for children dead admetus in mine home live the babes whom i begat herakles sooth death ripe were thy sire if he be gone admetus he liveth and my mother heracles heracles surely o surely not thy wife admetus admetus twofold must be mine answer touching her heracles or hath she died say'st thou or liveth yet admetus she is and she is not here lies my sorrow heracles nothing the more i know dark saying's thine admetus know'st not the doom whereon she needs must light heracles i know she pledged herself to die for thee admetus how lives she then if she to this consented heracles mourn not thy wife ere dead abide the hour admetus dead is the doomed and no more is the dead heracles diverse are these to be and not to be admetus this heracles thy sentence that is mine heracles but now why weep'st thou what dear friend is dead admetus a woman hers the memory we mourn heracles some stranger born or nigh of kin to thee admetus a stranger born yet near and dear to us heracles how died a stranger then in house of thine admetus an orphan here she dwelt her father dead heracles would we had found thee mourning not admetus i so what purpose lurketh neath thy word heracles on will i to another host's hearth welcome admetus it cannot be may no such evil come heracles a burden unto mourners comes the guest admetus dead are the dead but enter thou mine house heracles twere shame to banquet in the house of weeping admetus aloof the guest bowers are where we will lodge thee heracles let me pass on and have my thanks unmeasured admetus unto another's hearth thou canst not go to an attendant ho thou lead on open the guest bowers looking away from these our chambers tell my stewards to set on me in plenty shut withal the midcourt doors if fits not that the guests the while they feast hear wailings and be vexed exit heracles chorus what dost thou such affliction at the door and guests for thee admetus art thou mad admetus but had i driven him from my home and city who came my guest then hadst thou praised me more nay sooth for mine affliction so had grown no less and more inhospitable aye and to mine ills were added this beside that this my home were call'd guest hating hall yea and myself have proved him kindliest host whene'er to argos thirsty plain i fared why hide then the dread presence in the house when came a friend thyself hast named him friend never had he been one to pass my doors had he one whit of mine afflictions known to some i wot not wise herein i seem nor wilt thou praise but mine halls have not learned to thrust away nor to dishonour guests chorus strophe i halls thronged of the guests ever welcome o dwelling of a hero for ever the home of the free the lord of the lyre-strings sweet beyond telling apollo hath deigned to sojourn in thee amid thine habitations a shepherd of sheep the flocks of admetus he scorned not to keep while the shepherd's bridal strains soft swelling from his pipe pealed over the slant sloped antistrophe i and the spotted lynxes for joy of thy singing mixed with thy flocks and from athrys's bell trooped tawny lions the witchery winging notes brought dancing around thy shell phoebus the dappled fawn from the shadow of the tall trespines tripping forth to the meadow beating time to the chime of the rapture ringing music with light feet tranced by its spell strophe too wherefore the flocks of my lord unnumbered by the bibian mere fair rippling stray where the steeds of the sun halt darkness cumbered by molossian marches far away the borders lie of his golden grain and his rolling stretches of pasture plain and the havenless beach gean hath slumbered under pelion long neath this piece of his sway antistrophe too and now with the tears from his eyes fast raining thrown wide are his palace doors to the guest while newly his heart neath its burden is straining for the wife that hath died in his halls distressed for to honour's heights are the high-born lifted and the good are with truest wisdom gifted and there broods on mine heart bright trust unwaning that the god reverer shall yet be blest admetus o kindly presence of pharaean men this corpse even now with all things meet my servants bear on their shoulders to the tomb and pyre wherefore as custom is hail ye the dead on the last journey as she goeth forth chorus lo i behold thy sire with aged foot advancing and attendants in their hands bear ornaments to deck the dead withal enter ferez with attendants bearing gifts ferez i come in thine affliction sorrowing son a noble wife and virtuous hast thou lost none will gainsay yet these calamities we needs must bear how hard to bear soever receive these ornaments and let her pass beneath the earth well may the corpse be honoured of her who for thy life's sake died my son who made me not unchilded left me not forlorn of thee to pine in woeful eld in all her sister's eyes she hath crowned her life with glory daring such a deed as this o saviour of my son who us upraisest in act to fall all hail may bliss be thine even in hades thus to wed i say profiteth men or nothing worth is marriage bidden of me thou com'st not to this burial nor count i thine the presence of a friend thine ornaments she never shall put on she shall be buried needing nought of thine thou grieve thou shouldst have grieved in my death-hour thou stoodst aloof the old didst leave the young to die and wilt thou wail upon this corpse true father of my body thou wast not nor she that said she bare me and was called my mother gave me birth of bondman blood to thy wife's breast was i brought privily put to the test thou showest who thou art and i account me not thy true-born son peerless of men and soulless cowardice so old and standing on the verge of life yet hadst no will yet hadst no heart to die for thine own son ye suffered her a woman not of our house whom i with righteous cause might count alone my mother and my father yet here was honour hadst thou dared the strife in dying for thy son a paltry space to cling to life in any wise was left then had i lived and she through days to come nor i left lorn should thus mine ills bemoan yet all that may the fortunate betide fell to thy lot in manhood's prime a king me hadst thou son and heir unto thine house so that thou wast not dying like to leave a childless home for stranger folk to spoil nor canst thou say that flouting thy grey hairs i gave thee o'er to death whose reverence for thee was passing word and this the thank that thou and she that bare me render me wherefore make haste beget the other sons to foster thy grey hairs to compass thee with death's observance and lay out thy corpse not i with this mine hand will bury thee for thee dead am i if i see the light another saviour found i call me son to her and loving fosterer of her age for not the aged pray for death's release plaining of age and weary wearing time let death draw near who then would die not one no more is eld a burden unto them chorus o hush suffice the affliction at the doors o son infuriate not thy father's soul phares son whom think'st thou some lydian slave or phrygian bought with thy money thus beratest thou what know'st thou not that i thessalian am sprung from thessalian sire freeman true-born this insolence passeth hurling malapert words on me not lightly thus shalt thou come off thee i begat and nurtured of mine house the heir no debt is mine to die for thee not from our sires such custom we received that sires for sons should die no greek law this born for thyself wast thou to fortune good or evil all thy dues from us thou hast or many folk thou rulest wide demesnes shall i leave thee to me my fathers left them what is my wrong my robbery of thee for me die thou not i die not for thee thou joy'st to see light shall thy father joy not sooth i account our time beneath the earth long and our life-space short yet is it sweet shamelessly hast thou fought against thy death thy life is but transgression of thy doom and murder of thy wife my cowardice this from thee dastard worsted by a woman who died for thee the glorious gallant youth cunning device hast thou devised to die never cajoling still wife after wife to die for thee and dost revile thy friends who will not so and thou the coward thou peace e'en bethink thee if thou lovest thy life so all love theirs thou if thou speakest evil of us shalt hear much evil in that true chorus ye have said too much thou now and he before refrain old sire from railing on thy son admetus say on say on i have said if hearing truth gall thee thou shouldst not have done me wrong phares i had done more wrong had i died for thee admetus what for the young and old is death the same phares one life to live not twain this is our due admetus have thy desire one life outlasting zeus phares dost curse thy parents who hast had no wrong admetus i whom i marked love-sick for dateless life phares what art not burying her in thine own stead admetus a token dastard of thy cowardice phares i did her not to death thou canst not say it admetus may'st thou feel thy need of me some day phares woo many women that the more may die admetus this taunt strikes thee tis thou wast loth to die phares sweet is yon sun-god's light yea it is sweet admetus base is thy spirit and unmeet for men phares no aged corpse thou bearest inly laughing admetus yet shalt thou die in ill-fame when thou diest pher not reck i of ill-speaking o'er my grave admetus ah me how full of shamelessness is eld pher not shameless she but senseless hast thou found her edmetus begone lead me to bury this my dead pheres i go her murderer will bury her thou shalt yet answer for it to her kin surely acastus is no more a man if he of thee claim not his sister's blood exit admetus avaunt with her that kenneleth with thee childless grow old as ye deserve while lives your child ye shall not come beneath one roof with me if need were to renounce by heralds thy fatherhood i had renounced it now let us for we must bear the present ill pass on to lay our dead upon the pyre chorus alas for the loving and daring farewell to the noblest and best may hermes conduct thee down faring kindly and hades to rest receive thee if any atonement for ills even there may be tied to the good o thine be enthronement by hades bride exeunt omnes in funeral procession end of part two recording by expatriate in bangor part three of alcestis by euripides

He grasped the throat of each serpent with his tiny fingers and choked both to death.

When he had grown to manhood, he was forced by the will of the gods to become the slave of a hard-hearted cousin of his, named Eurystheus, who was king of Mycenae.

Eurystheus set twelve tasks for Hercules.

The first was to kill the Nemean lion.

This was a ferocious animal that lived in the forest of Nemea, and ate a child or grown person every two or three days.

But Hercules drove the lion before him into a cave, and, following boldly, grasped the beast about the neck and choked it to death.

That done, he stripped off its skin, which he ever after wore as a cloak.

When the Nemean lion had been killed, Eurystheus said to Hercules, You must now kill the hydra that lives in the marsh of Lerna.