XXVIIII Alcimena
Amphitryon cum abesset ad expugnandam Oechaliam, Alcimena existimans Iovem coniugem suum esse eum thalamis recepit. qui cum in thalamos venisset et ei referret quae in Oechalia gessisset, ea credens coniugem esse cum eo concubuit. qui tam libens cum ea concubuit, ut unum diem usurparet duas noctes congeminaret, ita ut Alcimena tam longam noctem ammiraretur. postea cum nunciaretur ei coniugem victorem adesse, minime curavit, quod iam putabat se coniugem suum vidisse. qui cum [Amphitryon] in regiam intrasset et eam videret neglegentius securam mirari coepit et queri quod se advenientem non excepisset. cui Alcimena respondit: ‘iam pridem venisti et mecum concubuisti et mihi narrasti quae in Oechalia gessisses’. Quae cum signa omnia diceret, sensit Amphitryon numen aliquod f⟨ut⟩uisse pro se; ex qua die cum ea non concubuit. quae ex Iove compressa peperit Herculem.
29. Alcmene
While Amphitryon was away to take Oechalia, Alcmene, thinking that Zeus was her husband, received him in her chamber. When he had come into the chamber and told her what he had done at Oechalia, she, believing he was her husband, lay with him. He lay with her so willingly that he took over one day and joined two nights together, so that Alcmene wondered at so long a night. Afterwards, when she was told that her husband had come back victorious, she cared not at all, because she thought she had already seen her husband. When [Amphitryon] came into the palace and saw her carelessly unconcerned, he began to marvel and to complain that she had not welcomed him on his arrival. Alcmene answered him: ‘You came long ago, and lay with me, and told me what you had done in Oechalia.’ When she told all the tokens, Amphitryon realised that some divinity had been in his place; from that day he did not lie with her. She, having been lain with by Zeus, bore Heracles.
XXX Herculis athla XII ab Eurystheo imperata
[Infans cum esset dracones duabus manibus necavit quos Iuno miserat, unde †primigenius est dictus.] Leonem Nemeum, quem Luna nutrierat, in antro †Amphriso atrotum necavit. cuius pellem pro tegumento habuit. Hydram Lernaeam Typhonis filiam cum capitibus novem ad fontem Lernaeum interfecit. haec tantam vim veneni habuit ut afflatu homines necaret; et si quis eam dormientem transierat, vestigia eius afflabat, et malorum cruciatu moriebatur. hanc Minerva monstrante interfecit et exinteravit et eius felle sagittas suas tinxit: itaque quidquid postea sagittis fixerat mortem non effugiebat unde postea et ipse periit in Phrygia. Aprum Erymanthium occidit. Cervum [ferocem in Arcadia] cum cornibus aureis vivum in conspectum Eurysthei regis adduxit. Aves Stymphalides in insula Martis quae emissis pennis suis iaculabantur sagittis interfecit. Augiae regis [stercus] bobile uno die purgavit maiorem partem Iove adiutore flumine *ammisso totum stercus abluit. Taurum, cum quo Pasiphae concubuit, ex Creta insula Mycenas vivum adduxit. Diomedem Thraciae regem et equos quattuor eius qui carne humana vescebantur cum Abdero famulo interfecit. equorum autem nomina Podargus Lampon Xanthus Dinus. Hippolyten Amazonam Martis et Otrerae reginae filiam *. cui reginae [Amazonis] balteum detraxit. tum Antiopam captivam Theseo donavit. Geryonem Chrysaoris filium trimembrem uno telo interfecit. Draconem immanem Typhonis filium qui mala aurea Hesperidum servare solitus erat ad montem Atlantem interfecit et Eurystheo regi mala attulit. Canem Cerberum Typhonis filium ab inferis * regi in conspectum adduxit.
30. The twelve labours of Heracles set by Eurystheus
[When he was an infant he killed with his two hands the serpents which Hera had sent, from which he was called †primigenius.] The Nemean lion, which the Moon had nourished, he killed in a cave, †Amphriso atrotum. He kept its hide as a covering. The Lernaean Hydra, daughter of Typhon, with nine heads, he killed at the Lernaean spring. It had such a strength of poison that it killed men by its breath; and if anyone had passed by it while it slept, it breathed on his footprints, and he died in the torment of his sufferings. With Athena's guidance he killed it and gutted it, and dipped his arrows in its gall; so whatever he afterwards struck with his arrows did not escape death, and from this he himself afterwards perished in Phrygia. He killed the Erymanthian boar. He brought alive into the sight of King Eurystheus the [fierce] stag with golden horns [in Arcadia]. He killed with arrows the Stymphalian birds on the island of Ares, which shot their feathers like darts. He cleaned out in one day the [dung of the] cattle-stall of King Augeas; with Zeus' help, a river being let in, he washed away all the dung, the greater part. He brought alive from the island of Crete to Mycenae the bull with which Pasiphae had lain. He killed Diomedes, king of Thrace, and his four horses, which fed on human flesh, with his attendant Abderus. The names of the horses are Podargus, Lampon, Xanthus, Dinus. Hippolyte, the Amazon, daughter of Ares and of Queen Otrera *. From this queen [of the Amazons] he took her belt. Then he gave the captive Antiope to Theseus. He killed Geryon, son of Chrysaor, three-bodied, with a single missile. He killed at Mount Atlas the huge serpent, son of Typhon, which used to guard the golden apples of the Hesperides, and brought the apples to King Eurystheus. He brought the dog Cerberus, son of Typhon, from the underworld * into the sight of the king.
XXXI Parerga eiusdem
Antaeum Terrae filium in Libya occidit. hic cogebat hospites secum luctari et delassatos interficiebat. hunc luctando necavit. Busiridem in Aegypto qui hospites immolare solitus erat. huius legem cum audiit passus est se cum infula ad aram adduci. Busiris autem cum vellet deos imprecari, Hercules eum clava ac ministros sacrorum interfecit. Cygnum Martis filium armis superatum * occidit. quo cum Mars venisset et armis propter filium contendere vellet cum eo, Iovis inter eos fulmen misit atque ita eos distraxit. Cetum cui Hesione fuit apposita Troiae occidit. Laomedontem patrem Hesiones quod eam non reddebat sagittis interfecit. Aethonem aquilam quae Prometheo cor exedebat sagittis interfecit. [Lycum Neptuni filium, quod Megaram Creontis filiam uxorem eius et filios Therimachum et †Ophiten occidere voluit, interfecit.]
Achelous fluvius in omnes figuras se immutabat. hic cum Hercule propter Deianirae coniugium cum pugnaret in taurum se convertit, cui Hercules cornu detraxit. quod cornu Hesperidibus sive nymphis donavit, quod eae pomis replerunt et cornu copiae appellarunt. [Neleum Hippocoontis filium cum decem filiis occidit, quoniam is eum purgare [sive lustrare] noluit tunc cum Megaram Creontis filiam uxorem suam et filios Therimachum et †Ophiten interfecerat. Eurytum quod Iolen filiam eius in coniugium petiit et ille eum repudiavit occidit. Centaurum Nessum quod Deianiram violare voluit occidit. Eurytionem centaurum quod Deianiram Dexameni filiam speratam suam uxorem petiit occidit.]
31. Heracles' side-exploits
He killed Antaeus, son of Earth, in Libya. This man forced guests to wrestle with him and killed them when they were worn out. He killed him by wrestling. Busiris in Egypt, who was accustomed to sacrifice guests. When he heard his law, he allowed himself to be led to the altar with the sacrificial fillet. But when Busiris was about to call on the gods, Heracles killed him with his club, along with the servants of the sacrifice. Cycnus, son of Ares, overcome in arms, he killed *. When Ares came there and wished to fight him with arms for his son, Zeus sent a thunderbolt between them and so parted them. He killed the sea-monster to which Hesione had been exposed, at Troy. Laomedon, Hesione's father, he killed with arrows, because he would not give her back. The eagle Aethon, which ate Prometheus' heart, he killed with arrows. [Lycus, son of Poseidon, because he wished to kill Megara, daughter of Creon, his wife, and his sons Therimachus and †Ophites, he killed.]
The river Achelous used to change himself into every shape. When he fought with Heracles for the marriage of Deianira, he turned into a bull, and Heracles tore a horn from him. This horn he gave to the Hesperides or nymphs, who filled it with fruit and called it the cornucopia (horn of plenty). [He killed Neleus, son of Hippocoon, with his ten sons, because he had refused to purify [or: cleanse] him at the time when he had killed Megara, daughter of Creon, his wife, and his sons Therimachus and †Ophites. He killed Eurytus because he refused him when he asked for his daughter Iole in marriage. He killed the centaur Nessus because he wished to violate Deianira. He killed the centaur Eurytion because he sought as wife Deianira, daughter of Dexamenus, his betrothed.]
XXXII Megara
Hercules cum ad canem tricipitem esset missus ab Eurystheo rege et Lycus Neptuni filius putasset eum periisse, Megaram Creontis filiam uxorem eius et filios Therimachum et Diopithen interficere voluit et regnum occupare. Hercules eo intervenit et Lycum interfecit. postea ab Iunone insania obiecta Megaram et filios Therimachum et Diopithen interfecit. Postquam suae mentis compos est factus ab Apolline petiit dari sibi responsum quomodo scelus purgaret. Cui Apollo sortem quod reddere noluit, Hercules iratus de fano eius tripodem sustulit, (quem postea Iovis iussu reddidit) et nolentem sortem dare iussit. Hercules ob id a Mercurio Omphalae reginae in servitutem datus est.
32. Megara
When Heracles had been sent by King Eurystheus to the three-headed dog, and Lycus, son of Poseidon, thought that he had perished, he wished to kill Megara, daughter of Creon, Heracles' wife, and her sons Therimachus and Diopithes, and to seize the kingdom. Heracles arrived there and killed Lycus. Afterwards, driven mad by Hera, he killed Megara and his sons Therimachus and Diopithes. When he had recovered his senses, he asked Apollo to give him an oracle as to how he might purge the crime. Because Apollo did not wish to give him the oracle, Heracles in anger took a tripod from his shrine (which he afterwards returned at Zeus' command) and ordered the god, who was unwilling, to give the oracle. For this Heracles was given by Hermes into servitude to Queen Omphale.
XXXIII Centauri
Hercules cum in hospitium ad Dexamenum regem venisset eiusque filiam Deianiram devirginasset fidemque dedisset se eam uxorem ducturum, post discessum eius Eurytion Ixionis et Nubis filius centaurus petit Deianiram uxorem. cuius pater vim timens pollicitus est se daturum. die constituto venit cum fratribus ad nuptias. Hercules intervenit et Centaurum interfecit, suam speratam abduxit. [Item, aliis in nuptiis. Pirithous Hippodamiam Adrasti filiam cum uxorem duceret, vino pleni Centauri conati sunt rapere uxores Lapithis. eos centauri multos interfecerunt, ab ipsis * interierunt.]
33. The Centaurs
When Heracles had come as a guest to King Dexamenus and had deflowered his daughter Deianira and had given his word that he would marry her, after his departure the centaur Eurytion, son of Ixion and Nubes (Cloud), asked for Deianira as wife. Her father, fearing violence, promised to give her. On the appointed day he came with his brothers to the wedding. Heracles intervened, killed the Centaur, and led away his betrothed. [Likewise at another wedding. When Pirithous was marrying Hippodamia, daughter of Adrastus, the Centaurs, full of wine, tried to carry off the Lapiths' wives. The Centaurs killed many of them, and * perished at their hands [?].]
XXXIIII Nessus
Nessus Ixionis et Nubis filius Centaurus rogatus ab Deianira ut se flumen Euenum transferret †quam *sublatam in flumine ipso violare voluit. Hoc Hercules cum intervenisset et Deianira eius fidem implorasset Nessum sagittis confixit. Ille moriens, cum sciret sagittas hydrae Lernaeae felle tinctas quantam vim haberent veneni, sanguinem suum exceptum Deianirae dedit et id philtrum esse dixit: si vellet ne se coniunx sperneret, eo iuberet vestem eius perungi. id Deianira credens conditum diligenter servavit.
34. Nessus
The Centaur Nessus, son of Ixion and Nubes, being asked by Deianira to carry her across the river Evenus, †quam *, lifted up in the river itself, wished to violate her. When Heracles had intervened and Deianira had appealed to his protection, he pierced Nessus with arrows. Dying, since he knew how great a force of poison the arrows had, dipped in the gall of the Lernaean Hydra, he gave Deianira his blood, which she collected, and said it was a love-charm: if she wished that her husband should not scorn her, she should order his garment to be smeared with it. Deianira believed this and kept it carefully stored away.
XXXV Iole
Hercules cum Iolen Euryti filiam in coniugium petiisset ⟨et⟩ ille eum repudiasset Oechaliam expugnavit. qui ut a virgine rogatur parentes eius coram ea interficere velle coepit. illa animo pertinacior parentes suos ante se necari est perpessa. quos omnes cum interfecisset Iolen captivam ad Deianiram praemisit.
35. Iole
When Heracles had asked Iole, daughter of Eurytus, in marriage and Eurytus had refused him, he took Oechalia by storm. When he was begged by the maiden [to spare them] [?], he began to want to kill her parents in her presence. She, more stubborn in spirit, endured to see her parents killed before her. When he had killed them all, he sent Iole ahead as a captive to Deianira.
XXXVI Deianira
Deianira Oenei filia Herculis uxor cum vidit Iolen virginem captivam eximiae formae esse adductam verita est ne se coniugio privaret. itaque memor Nessei praecepti, vestem tinctam centauri sanguine Herculi qui ferret, nomine Licham famulum misit. inde paulum, quod in terram deciderat et id sol attigit, ardere coepit. Quod Deianira ut vidit, aliter esse ac Nessus dixerat intellexit et qui revocaret eum cui vestem dederat misit. Quam Hercules iam induerat statimque flagrare coepit. qui cum se in flumen coniecisset ut ardorem exstingueret maior flamma exibat, demere autem cum vellet viscera sequebantur. Tunc Hercules Licham qui vestem attulerat ‘rotatum’ in mare iaculatus est, qui quo loco cecidit petra nata est quae Lichas appellatur. Tunc dicitur Philoctetes Poeantis filius pyram in monte Oetaeo construxisse Herculi eumque accendisse mortalitatem. ob id beneficium Philocteti Hercules arcus et sagittas donavit. Deianira autem ob factum Herculis ipsa se interfecit.
36. Deianira
When Deianira, wife of Heracles and daughter of Oeneus, saw that the maiden Iole, a captive of outstanding beauty, had been brought, she feared that she would deprive her of her marriage. So, mindful of Nessus' instruction, she sent a garment dyed with the centaur's blood, with the servant Lichas by name, to carry it to Heracles. A little of it, which had fallen to the ground and which the sun touched, began to burn. When Deianira saw this, she understood that it was otherwise than Nessus had said and sent someone to recall the man to whom she had given the garment. Heracles had already put it on and at once began to burn. When he had thrown himself into a river to put out the burning, a greater flame came out, and when he tried to take the garment off, his flesh came with it. Then Heracles hurled Lichas, who had brought the garment, ‘whirled’ into the sea; and where he fell a rock grew which is called Lichas. Then Philoctetes, son of Poeas, is said to have built a pyre on Mount Oeta for Heracles and lit it, [burning off his] mortality. For this kindness Heracles gave Philoctetes his bow and arrows. Deianira, because of what had happened to Heracles, killed herself.
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