s to King Eurystheus. They sang
of his weary journey, when he roamed through the land of the
Ethiopians and came to the wild and desolate heights of Caucasus--how
he saw a giant form high on the naked rock, and the vulture which
gnawed the Titan's heart with its beak. They told how he slew the
bird, and smote off the cruel chains, and set Prometheus free. They
sang how Eurystheus laid on him a fruitless task, and sent him down to
the dark land of King Hades to bring up the monster, Kerberos; how,
upon the shore of the gloomy Acheron, he found the mighty hound who
guards the home of Hades and Persephone; how he seized him in his
strong right hand and bore him to King Eurystheus. They sang of the
days when he toiled in the land of Queen Omphale, beneath the Libyan
sun; how he destroyed the walls of Ilion when Laomedon was King, and
how he went to Kalydon and wooed and won Deianeira, the daughter of
the chieftain, Oineus.

Long time he abode in Kalydon, and the people of the land loved him
for his kindly deeds. But one day his spear smote the boy, Eunomos,
and his father was not angry, because he knew that Herakles sought not
to slay him. Yet Herakles would go forth from the land, for his heart
was grieved for the death of the child. So he journeyed to the banks
of the Evenos, where he smote the centaur, Nessos, because he sought
to lay hands on Deianeira. Swiftly the poison from the barb of the
spear ran through the centaur's veins; but Nessos knew how to avenge
himself on Herakles, and with a faint voice he besought Deianeira to
fill a shell with his blood, so that, if ever she lost the love of
Herakles, she might win it again by spreading it on a robe for him to
wear.

So Nessos died, and Herakles went to the land of Trachis, and there
Deianeira abode while he journeyed to the eastern sea. Many times the
moon waxed and waned in the heaven, and the corn sprang up from the
ground and gave its golden harvest, but Herakles came not back. At
last the tidings came how he had done great deeds in distant lands,
how Eurytos, the King of Oechalia, was slain, and how, among the
captives, was the daughter of the King, the fairest of all the maidens
of the land.

Then the words of Nessos came back to Deianeira, and she hastened to
anoint a broidered robe, for she thought only that the love of
Herakles had passed away from her, and that she must win it to herself
again. So with words of love and honor, she sent the gift for Herak