Gods, Heroes and Men of Ancient Greece: Part 2

Iron is their metal, and they make tools and armour of iron; they never cease to toil and labour day or night, and they never cease fighting with one another.

The question then came, whether he should launch his thunderbolts on the world, and set it afire; but Zeus was afraid that so great a conflagration might rise to the upper air, and set that also on fire, so that the Olympians themselves would be burnt up.

But Heraclês lifted up his head, and clutched the throats of the two serpents, and held them writhing until their lives were throttled out of them.

And one of them ran in front, to get the first word; and he saw that she was tall and handsome, and decked out in gay finery, with her cheeks rather too red to be natural...

The woman answered, “My real name is Pleasure, but my enemies call me Vice.”

Heraclês saw this one also to be tall and handsome, but after a different fashion; for she was stately and dignified, and of a noble look; her dress was all white, truth was in her eyes, and modesty in her manners.

If you wish to enjoy the fruits of the earth, you must plough and sow, and reap and mow.

But Virtue said, “Such pleasure as hers leads only to surfeit and weariness; he that tries to be happy, never succeeds; but he that does noble deeds gains happiness without trying.”

While he was there a lion came down from the hills and attacked the cattle; but Heraclês killed the lion, called the Lion of Cithairon, which was the name of the hill country whence he came.

But soon after this a terrible misfortune happened to Heraclês; for madness came upon him, sent by the goddess Hera, who was always his enemy: and Heraclês in his madness killed his own children. When he recovered, he sought how he might atone for his deed, and asked the oracle at Delphi what he should do.

But soon after this a terrible misfortune happened to Heraclês; for madness came upon him, sent by the goddess Hera, who was always his enemy: and Heraclês in his madness killed his own children. When he recovered, he sought how he might atone for his deed, and asked the oracle at Delphi what he should do.

Heraclês hid by the way, and let fly a shaft at him; but the arrow slid off his skin, for he could not be wounded by iron, or bronze, or stone.

Heraclês kept the bile of the serpent to dip his arrows in, and thus a wound from his arrows brought death with it.

Thus he managed to make peace with Artemis, and brought the doe to his tyrannical master.

One of them, named Pholos, had a cask of wine; and he said, when he saw Heraclês, “Come into my cave, sir, and let me entertain you; I have a fine drink here which I have been keeping specially for your visit.”

After this, Heraclês went on in search of the boar; and he chased him about in the snow, until the boar fell exhausted in a thicket.

No doubt his talk with Prometheus had sharpened his wits, for he did not show anger or apprehension, whatever he felt.

And so you see Heraclês led the life he had chosen when he was a young man; and these years of penance under Eurystheus he spent in exploring the world, and clearing it of dangerous monsters, and making it better for men to live in.

Some of them were worthy of Heraclês, for she made him clear out the robbers and brigands from her country.

He used to catch wayfarers, and rob them, and make them dig about his vines with a spade; Heraclês knocked him on the head with his own spade.

He trussed them up like a pair of fowls, and hung them head downwards on the two ends of a pole, and then he set off, carrying the pole across his shoulders, like a milkman.

Omphalê also liked a joke; so she used to make Heraclês put on her dress, and she put on his lion-skin, and then she gave him a distaff and spindle, and made him spin wool into thread.

Then Heraclês went away, and soon came back with a fleet; they besieged Troy, and broke through the wall, and stormed the city.

The King of Calydon had a beautiful daughter, named Deïaneira, and she was wooed by the god of the great river Acheloös, which runs through the country.

The gods were an unruly company, and they were apt to rebel if they could, since each thought he could do the job better than Zeus, and wanted to be on the top.

Then indeed there was consternation in earth and heaven. The rocks melted, and the seas dried up; and all the constellations of the sky were shaken.

Meanwhile, Zeus had returned from his excursion, and found his thunder and lightnings gone, and confusion all over the high heaven.

You make your reedy tune, and I will make a thundery tune.

Typhon piled up rocks and crags for his two hundred hands to throw; and he shouted loud boasts to the winds.

“Cadmos, you waste your time in wandering round
To seek a bull that never can be found.
Outside my sanctuary as you pass
You’ll see a dun cow feeding on the grass,
Marked with a moon of white on either side

But the spring was guarded by a terrible dragon, which darted forth and bit one man, and strangled another, until Cadmos’s company ran off in dismay.

Then he took the baby, and dandled him on his arm, and flew off to find a nurse.

He could only lament, and he could not even keep his daughter, for Hera soon sent her a guardian.

After this, wherever he went he was attended by troops of followers: old Seilenos, a lover of wine, but sage and prudent; frisky Satyrs, bold as lions before a fight, timid as hares in the fight; women maddened with wine, for they never knew when to stop; nymphs, and graces, and dancing maids.

After this, wherever he went he was attended by troops of followers: old Seilenos, a lover of wine, but sage and prudent; frisky Satyrs, bold as lions before a fight, timid as hares in the fight; women maddened with wine, for they never knew when to stop; nymphs, and graces, and dancing maids.

Vine-leaves and tendrils budded out of the sails on each side, and bunches of grapes hung down, while ivy crawled up the mast.

The feast was ready, the courtiers were in their places, and Midas began by taking up a goblet of wine, to drink their health.

Asclepios learnt all this from him, but he paid most attention to the healing herbs, and the salves for curing wounds, and the magical ditties; for he cared nothing about hunting or war.

Then Zeus struck Asclepios with a thunderbolt, and killed him. But Apollo his father begged Zeus to relent, and Zeus revived Asclepios, and placed him among the stars.

One of them is “Panacea,” which we use to mean a drug that cures everything; and one is Hygieia, which people who like long words use instead of health when they talk about “hygiene,” just to show off.