The
great crime, after which his life was a bondage of expiation; the
choice between Virtue and Vice; the slain passion; the hundred-headed
sin for ever cropping up again; the winning of the sacred emblem of
purity;--then the subduing of greed; the cleansing of long-neglected
uncleanness; the silencing of foul tongues; the remarkable contest
with the creature which had become a foe, because, after being
devoted for sacrifice, it was spared; the obtaining the girdle of
strength; the recovery of the spoil from the three-fold enemy; the
gaining of the fruit of life; immediately followed by the victory
over the hell-hound of death; and lastly, the attainment of
immortality--all seem no fortuitous imagination, but one of those
when "thoughts beyond their thoughts to those old bards were given."
I have not followed all these meanings, for this is not an allegory,
but a mere distant following rather of the spirit than the letter of
the old Greek tale of the Twelve Tasks. Neither have I adhered to
every incident of Hercules' life; and the most touching and beautiful
of all--the rescue of Alcestis, would hardly bear to come in merely
as an episode, in this weak and presumptuous endeavour to show that
the half-divine, patient conqueror is not merely a classic invention,
but that he and his labours belong in some form or other to all times
and all surroundings.
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