They took their places, they attacked, they
retired, they rushed again to the conflict. They
stood firm, and they yielded not. Long they
bravely wrestled and fought; till at length
Hercules by his might overcame Achelous and bore
him to the ground. He pressed him down, and,
while the fallen river-god lay panting for breath,
the hero seized him by the neck.

Then did Achelous have recourse to his magic
arts. Transforming himself into a serpent he
escaped from the hero. He twisted his body into
winding folds, and darted out his forked tongue
with frightful hissings.

But Hercules laughed mockingly, and cried out:
``Ah, Achelous! While yet in my cradle I strangled
two serpents! And what art thou compared
to the Hydra whose hundred heads I cut off?
Every time I cut of I one head two others grew in
its place. Yet did I conquer that horror, in spite
of its branching serpents that darted from every
wound! Thinkest thou, then, that I fear thee,
thou mimic snake?'' And even as he spake he
gripped, as with a pair of pincers, the back of the
river-god's head.

And Achelous struggled in vain to escape.
Then, again having recourse to his magic, he