rd trials, but that he would be glorious at last, and
be blest among the gods. The other was Vice, and she tried to wile him
by a smooth life among wine-cups and dances and flowers and sports, all
to be enjoyed at once. But the choice of Hercules was Virtue, and it was
well for him, for Jupiter, to make up for Juno's cheat, had sworn that,
if he fulfilled twelve tasks which Eurystheus should put upon him, he
should be declared worthy of being raised to the gods at his death.

[Picture: Scene in the Arachnaean Mountains near Argos]

Eurystheus did not know that in giving these tasks he was making his
cousin fulfil his course; but he was afraid of such a mighty man, and
hoped that one of these would be the means of getting rid of him. So
when he saw Hercules at Argos, with a club made of a forest tree in his
hand, and clad in the skin of a lion which he had slain, Eurystheus bade
him go and kill a far more terrible lion, of giant brood, and with a skin
that could not be pierced, which dwelt in the valley of Nemea. The fight
was a terrible one; the lion could not be wounded, and Hercules was
forced to grapple with it, and strangle it in his arms. He lost a finger
in the struggle, but at last the beast died in his grasp, and he carried
it on his back to Argos, where Eurystheus was so much frightened at the
grim sight that he fled away to hide himself, and commanded Hercules not
to bring his monsters within the gates of the city.

[Picture: Hercules fighting the Lion] There was a second labour ready for
Hercules--namely, the destroying a serpent with nine heads, called Hydra,
whose lair was the marsh of Lerna. Hercules went to the battle, and
managed to crush one head with his club, but that moment two sprang up in
its place; moreover, a huge crab came out of the swamp, and began to
pinch his heels. Still he did not lose heart, but, calling his friend
Iolaus, he bade him take a fire-brand and burn the necks as fast as he
cut off the heads; and thus at last they killed the creature, and
Hercules dipped his arrows in its poisonous blood, so that their least
wound became fatal. Eurystheus said that it had not been a fair victory,
since Hercules had been helped, and Juno put the crab into the skies as
the constellation Cancer; while a labour to patience was next devised for
Hercules--namely, the chasing of the Arcadian stag, which was sacred to
Diana, and had golden horns and brazen hoofs. Hercules hunted it up