And as each one's conquest is, in the track of his Leader, the only
true Conqueror, so Hercules, in spite of all the grotesque adjuncts
that the lower inventions of the heathen hung round him, is a far
closer likeness of manhood--as, indeed, the proverbial use of some of
his tasks testifies--and of repentant man conquering himself. 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.

C. M. YONGE.
Nov. 8, 1875.