Hebe

His crime had been the revealing of state secrets.

There Ulysses saw Hercules, not that Hercules who enjoys immortal life in heaven among the gods and is married to Hebe or youth, but his shadow which remains below.

About him the dead flopped as thick as bats, hovering around and cuffing at his head.

He stands with his dreadful bow, ever in the act to shoot.

and unable to tear the garment free without tearing his own flesh away with it, he built his own funeral pyre on Mount Oeta and climbed onto it himself rather than continue suffering.

As the flames rose around him, Zeus looked down on his son's final agony, and in recognition of everything Heracles had endured and accomplished across his entire mortal life, drew him up to Olympus and granted him a place among the gods at last, where he was reconciled with Hera at last and given Hebe, goddess of youth, as his own immortal wife.

It is worth pausing on one final detail linking the two heroes of this chapter together.

easy to miss since their stories are so rarely told side by side.

All the immortals now welcomed Tantalus with friendly looks and words of greeting, and one who seemed the youngest of the goddesses presented him with a shining cup, into which he poured wine the color of dark mountain honey.

Fill our cups to the brim, Hebe, my daughter, said Zeus to the beautiful cupbearer, and drink, every one of you, to this friend of ours, who played the host to us so well.

To our host, King Tantalus! To our host, King Tantalus! cried the golden-haired Apollo, and the rest, as they drank, repeated, To King Tantalus! and then all together cried, Hail, mortal! Hail, guest of Zeus! Hail, friend of the gods! Now Tantalus no sooner tasted the drink of the gods, which men call nectar, than he was filled with such mirth and gladness as he had ever known.

No other immortal can know, save those few who are permitted to share the banquet of Zeus, for nectar is brewed with honey from celestial flowers and with the juice of apples that grow in the enchanted isles of the sunset, and they who drink it have perpetual youth and joy.

But how would it be if your life were full of misery instead of happiness? Think what it would mean to you then, to know you could not die.

Beware, moreover, that you presume not to give our gift to others, for that were deadly sin." These words, which he was to remember when too late, gave the king a vague feeling of dread, as if some unknown evil was about to befall him.

And he was glad that Hebe at this moment filled his cup with nectar, and Apollo took his lyre and sang a joyous song.

When this was ended, Zeus called him to his side and said, "Now, Tantalus, I, who was your guest, have given you feast for feast.

Him the unending gifts the gods enjoy, and the sufferings of men, and all that they endure at the hands of the deathless gods, and how they live witless and helpless and cannot find healing for death or defense against old age.

Meanwhile, the rich-tressed graces and cheerful seasons dance with Harmonia and Hebe and Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus, holding each other by the wrist.

and among them sings one not mean or puny but tall to look upon and enviable and mean artemis who delights in arrows sister of apollo Among them sport Ares and the keen-eyed slayer of Argus, while Apollo plays his lyre, stepping high and featly, and a radiance shines around him, the gleaming of his feet in close woven vest.

And they, even gold-tressed Leto and wise Zeus, rejoice in their great hearts as they watch their dear son playing among the undying gods.

Alcmena bare him in Thebes, the city of lovely dances, when the dark-clouded son of Cronos had lain with her.

Once he used to wander over unmeasured tracts of land and sea at the bidding of King Eurystheus, and himself did many deeds of violence and endured many.

but now he lives happily in the glorious home of snowy Olympus, and has neat-ankled Hebe for his wife.

Hail, Lord, son of Zeus, give me success and prosperity.

All the immortals now welcomed Tantalus with friendly looks and words of greeting, and one who seemed the youngest of the goddesses presented him with a shining cup, into which he poured wine the color of dark mountain honey.

"Fill our cups to the brim, Hebe, my daughter," said Zeus to the beautiful cupbearer, "and drink, every one of you, to this friend of ours, who played the host to us so well.

To our host, King Tantalus!" "To our host, King Tantalus!" cried the golden-haired Apollo.

And the rest, as they drank, repeated, "To King Tantalus!" And then all together cried, "Hail, mortal! Hail, guest of Zeus! Hail, friend of the gods!" Now Tantalus no sooner tasted the drink of the gods, which men call nectar, than he was filled with such mirth and gladness as he had ever known.

But how would it be if your life were full of misery instead of happiness? Think what it would mean to you then, to know you could not die.

Beware, moreover, that you presume not to give our gift to others, for that were deadly sin." These words, which he was to remember when too late, gave the king a vague feeling of dread, as if some unknown evil was about to befall him.

And he was glad that Hebe at this moment filled his cup with nectar, and Apollo took his lyre and sang a joyous song.

When this was ended, Zeus called him to his side and said, "Now, Tantalus, I, who was your guest, have given you feast for feast.

All the immortals now welcomed Tantalus with friendly looks and words of greeting, and one who seemed the youngest of the goddesses presented him with a shining cup, into which he poured wine the color of dark mountain honey.

Fill our cups to the brim, Hebe, my daughter, said Zeus to the beautiful cupbearer, and drink, every one of you, to this friend of ours, who played the host to us so well.

To our host, King Tantalus! To our host, King Tantalus! cried the golden-haired Apollo.

And the rest, as they drank, repeated, To King Tantalus! And then all together cried, Hail, mortal! Hail, guest of Zeus! Hail, friend of the gods! Now Tantalus no sooner tasted the drink of the gods, which men call nectar, than he was filled with such mirth and gladness as he had ever known.

But how would it be if your life were full of misery instead of happiness? Think what it would mean to you then to know you could not die.

Beware, moreover, that you presume not to give our gift to others, for that were deadly sin." These words, which he was to remember when too late, gave the king a vague feeling of dread, as if some unknown evil was about to befall him.

And he was glad that Hebe at this moment filled his cup with nectar, and Apollo took his lyre and sang a joyous song.

When this was ended, Zeus called him to his side and said, "Now, Tantalus, I, who was your guest, have given you feast for feast.

All the immortals now welcomed Tantalus with friendly looks and words of greeting, and one who seemed the youngest of the goddesses presented him with a shining cup, into which he poured wine the color of dark mountain honey.

"Fill our cups to the brim, Hebe, my daughter," said Zeus to the beautiful cupbearer, "and drink, every one of you, to this friend of ours, who played the host to us so well.

To our host, King Tantalus!" "To our host, King Tantalus!" cried the golden-haired Apollo.

And the rest, as they drank, repeated, "To King Tantalus!" And then all together cried, "Hail, mortal! Hail, guest of Zeus! Hail, friend of the gods!" Now Tantalus no sooner tasted the drink of the gods, which men call nectar, than he was filled with such mirth and gladness as he had ever known.

But how would it be if your life were full of misery instead of happiness? Think what it would mean to you then to know you could not die.

Beware, moreover, that you presume not to give our gift to others, for that were deadly sin." These words, which he was to remember when too late, gave the king a vague feeling of dread, as if some unknown evil was about to befall him.

And he was glad that Hebe at this moment filled his cup with nectar, and Apollo took his lyre and sang a joyous song.

When this was ended, Zeus called him to his side and said, "Now, Tantalus, I, who was your guest, have given you feast for feast.

End of chapter 1 CHAPTER II DUCALION AND THE FLOOD Upon Olympus there was for every god a shining palace of brass, built by Vulcan and the Cyclops, and every day the gods gathered in the great banqueting hall of Jupiter to feast upon ambrosia and drink nectar from goblets of gold.

At the banquets they were served by a lovely maiden named Hebe, who was the goddess of youth.

While they feasted, Apollo played on his lyre and the muses sang.

The muses were the nine goddesses of poetry, arts, and sciences.

A friend kindled the pyre, and the hero's body was burned to ashes.

Then a cloud, gleaming as though on fire, descended through the air, and amid the peeling of thunder the mighty spirit was born to the skies.

There Jupiter made him one of the gods, and gave him the beautiful goddess Hebe for a wife.

End of chapter 5

[laughs] And yeah, it just says it's the phantom of Heracles that's here.

No, no, no, no, no, no. It's Hebe that's the child-

Oh, Hebe.

Yeah, okay

... of mighty Zeus and golden Hera.