f Mycenae, being
obliged to revenge the death of his children, whom the sons of
Taphius, king of the Teleboans, had killed in combat, returned
victorious, and brought back with him his flocks, which he had
recovered from Taphius. Amphitryon, who went to meet his uncle, to
congratulate him upon the success of his expedition, throwing his
club at a cow, which happened to stray from the herd, unfortunately
killed him. This accidental homicide lost him the kingdom of Mycenae,
which was to have formed the dower of Alcmena. Sthenelus, the
brother of Electryon, taking advantage of the public indignation,
which was the result of the accident, drove Amphitryon out of the
country of Argos, and made himself master of his brother's
dominions, which he left, at his death, to his son Eurystheus, the
inveterate persecutor of Hercules.

Amphitryon, obliged to retire to Thebes, was there absolved by
Creon; but when, as he thought, he was about to receive the hand of
Alcmena, who accompanied him to the court of that prince, she
declared that, not being satisfied with the revenge which her father
had taken on the Teleboans, she would consent to be the prize of him
who would undertake to declare war against them. Amphitryon accepted
these conditions, and, forming an alliance with Creon, Cephalus, and
some other princes, made a descent upon the islands which the enemy
possessed, and, making himself master of them, bestowed one of them
on his ally, Cephalus.

It was during this war that Hercules came into the world; and
whether Amphitryon had secretly consummated his marriage before his
departure, or whether he had returned privately to Thebes, or to
Tirynthus, where Hercules was said to have been born, it was
published, that Jupiter, to deceive Alcmena, had taken the form of
her husband, and was the father of the infant Hercules. If this is
not the true explanation of the story, it may have been invented to
conceal some intrigue in which Alcmena was detected; or, in process
of time, to account for the extraordinary strength and valour of
Hercules, it may have been said that Jupiter, and not Amphitryon,
was the father of Hercules. Indeed, we find Seneca, in one of his
Tragedies, putting these words into the mouth of Hercules:--
'Whether all that has been said upon this subject be held as
undoubted truth, or whether it proves to be but a fable, and that my
father w