Herʹcules (3 syl.)
.A Grecian hero, possessed of the utmost amount of physical strength and vigour that the human frame is capable of. He is represented as brawny, muscular, shortnecked, and of huge proportions. The Pythĭan told him if he would serve Eurysʹtheus for twelve years he should become immortal; accordingly he bound himself to the Argive king, who imposed upon him twelve tasks of great difficulty and danger:
(1) To slay the Nemʹean lion.
(2) To kill the Lerʹnean hydra.
(4) To destroy the Erymanʹthian boar.
(5) To cleanse the stables of King Auʹgeas.
(7) To take captive the Cretan bull.
(8) To catch the horses of the Thracian Diomeʹdēs.
(10) To take captive the oxen of the monster Gerʹyõn.
(11) To get possession of the apples of the Hesperʹidēs.
The Nemʹean lion first he killed, then Lernēs hydra slew;
Thʹ Arcaʹdian stag and monster boar before Eurysʹtheus drew;
Cleansed Auʹgeasʹ stalls, and made the birds from Lake Stymphaʹlis flee;
The Cretan bull and Thracian marcs, first seized and then set free;
Took prize the Amazoʹnian belt, brought Gerʹyon’s kine from Gādēs;
Fetched apples from the Hesperidēs and Cerʹberos from Hādēs.
The Attic Herculēs. Theseus (2 syl.), who went about like Herculēs, his great contemporary, destroying robbers and achieving wondrous exploits.
The Egyptian Herculēs. Sesostris. (Flourished B.C. 1500.)
The Farneʹsē Herculēs. A celebrated work of art, copied by Glykon from an original by Lysippos. It exhibits the hero, exhausted by toil, leaning upon his club; his left hand rests upon his back, and grasps one of the apples of the Hesperiʹdēs. A copy of this famous statue stands in the gardens of the Tuileries, Paris; but Glykon’s statue is in the Farnese Palace at Rome. A beautiful description of this statue is given by Thomson (Liberty, iv.).
