,802 H E R C 
Ciipid, -who infolcntly breaks to pieces his'arraws ar.d 
his chib, to intimate the pa (lion of love in the hero, 
who fullered himfelf to be beaten and ridiculed by 
Omphale, who deeded herfelf in his armour while he 
was fitting to fpin with her female fervants. The chil¬ 
dren of Hercules are as numerous as the labours and 
difficulties which he underwent; and indeed they be¬ 
came fo powerful loon after his death, that they alone 
had the courage to invade all Peloponnefus. See. He- 
SACt: dm. He was fatlver of Deicooii and Theriitiachus, 
bv Megara.; of Ctefippus, by Aftydamia; of Palemon, 
by Auronoe ; of Everes, by Parthenope ; of Glyrifon- 
etes, Gyneus, and Odites, by Dejanira ; of TitefTalns, 
by Cfalcibpe ; of Th.efialus, by-Epicafte ; of Tlepole- 
mus, by Aftyoche; of Agathyrfus, Gelon, and Scytlia, 
by Echidna, &c. Sucli are the mod ftriking charadter- 
iftics of the life of Hercules; who is faid to have fup- 
ported for a while the weight of the heavens upon his 
Ihoulders, and'to have feparated, by .the force of his 
arm, the celebrated mountains which were afterwards 
called'the boundaries of his labours; which, opened a 
'communication between the Mediterranean and Atlantic 
leas, now the (trait of Gibraltar; on each fide of which, 
on the mod elevated points, his pillars were erected. 
■See Gibraltar, vol. viii. p.555. 
' Hercules is held out by the ancients as a true pat¬ 
tern of virtue and piety ; and, as his whole life had 
"been employed for the benefit of mankind, fo he was 
defefvedly rewarded with immortality., His judicious 
choice pf virtue, in preference to plea lure, as deferibed 
by Xenophon, is well known; arid this accounts for fo 
"many temples having been eredled to his memory in 
ancient Greece, and her extenfive colonies. 
M. Dupuis, in his “ Origin of the Modes of Pagan 
Wordiip,” has endeavoured to lliow that the fable of 
Hercules and his twelve labours, was, among the an¬ 
cients, typical or deferiplive of the fun in his padage 
through the twelve fig'ns of the zodiac : viz .—Labour I. 
Viclory of Hercules over the Nemaean lion. Month i. 
p a -j]air C of the fun into the lion, termed the Nemaean 
lion, fixed by the celedial Hercules.— Labour II. Vidtory 
of Hercules over the hydra of Lerna. Month ii. Padage 
of the fun into the fign of the virgin, called Ceres, who 
was adored at Lerna, marked by the letting of the ce- 
leftial hydra, called the Hydra of Lerna.— Labour 111. 
Hofpitality of the centaur to Hercules, and combat of 
the centaurs about a calk of wine. Vidtory of Hercules 
over the centaurs. Defeat of a formidable boar, which 
ravaged the Erymanthian ferell. Month iu. Padage of 
the Lin into the fign Libra, at the beginning of autumn, 
fixed by the fifing of the centaur, who received Hercules 
hofpitably, and who is alfo reprefented with a lkin full 
of wine, and witli a thyrfus adorned by vine-leaves and 
bunches of grapes. Riling of the bear, called the boar, 
and the animal of Erymanthus.— Labour W . Triumph of 
Hercules over a.doe with golden horns and feet of brafs, 
which he took on the fea-lhore, where die was lying 
at red. Month iv. Padage of the fun into the Scorpion, 
fixed by the letting of Cadiope, a conftellation on which 
formerly was reprefented a dote.— Labour V . Hercules, 
near S'tymphajus, chafes the birds known by the name 
of birds of lake Stymphalus, and exhibited in the me¬ 
dals of Perinthus, to the number of three. Month v. 
Padage of the fun into Sagittarius, or the Archer, con¬ 
fect ated to Diana, who had a luperb temple at Srym- 
phalus, where were feen the Stymphalian birds. This 
padage is fixed by the rifing of the three birds of the 
milky way, the vulture, the fwan, and the eagle pierced 
by the arrow, of He'reules.— LabourVl. Hercules cleanfes 
the Augean liable. Augeus was the 1'on, according to 
dome, of the Sun; according to others, of Neptune. He 
introduced into the. liable the waters of Peneus, or, as 
fome pretend, of Alpheus, which waters Elis, and on 
whofe banks the Olympic games were celebrated. 
Month vi. Padage of the fun into the fign or the celeftial 
U L E S’. 
llation of the goat, othervvife Capricorn, the feat of 
Pan, the god of flocks; the goaf with a filh’s tail, the 
fon of Neptune according.to lome, and the grandfon of 
the Sun according to others. The pa'ftage is marked 
by the fetting of the ftream of Aquarius, of which the 
end runs into the llation of Capricorn, and. its fource is 
in the hands of Arifieus, fon of the river. Peneus, and 
who dwelt on his banks.-— Labour VII. Hercules arrives 
at Elis, on the banks of the Alpheirs. He is mounted 
on the horfe Arion. He brings with him the Cretan 
bull, which had been in love with Pafiphae, ana after¬ 
wards ravaged the plains of Marathon. He caufes the 
Olympic games tb be celebrated, and firft engages in 
them himfelf. He kills the vulture of Prometheus. 
Month vii. Padage of the fun into the fign Aquarius, and 
into that part of the heavens in whicli was annually 
found that full moon which ferved to fix the Olympic 
games. This padage was marked by the vulture, placed 
in the Iky befide the conftellation called Prometheus, at 
rhe fame time that the celeftial bull (called the bull of 
Pafiphae-, ofEuropa, and of Marathon) culminated in 
the meridian, and at the letting of the horfe Arion or of 
Pegafus.— Labour VIII. Conqueft by Hercules of the 
horfes of Diomede, the fon of Cyrene. - Month viii. Paflage 
of the fun into the fifties, fixed by the heliacal rifing of 
Pegafus, who advances his head over Aquarius or Arif- 
ten:-, the fon of Cyrene.— Labour IX. Hercules embarks 
on-board the Argo, in quell of the golden fleece. He 
combats the Amazons, daughters of Mars, from whom 
he vvrefts a fuperb girdle or ceftus; and he.delivers a 
virgin, expofed to a whale or fea-monfter, like to that 
which Andromeda, the daughter of Cafliopasa, was ex¬ 
pofed. Month ix. Padage of the fun into the ram, con- 
1'ecrated to Mars, and ftill called the ram of Phryxus or 
of the golden fleece. This paflage is marked by the 
riling of Argo; by the fetting of Andromeda and of her 
girdle ; by that of the whale; by the riling of Medula ; 
and by the fetting of queen Calliope.— Labour X, Her¬ 
cules, after his voyage into. Colchis with the Argonauts, 
naffies into'Hefperia t,o conquer the oxen of Geryon, kills 
that cruel prince who persecuted the Atlantides, and 
arrives at the palace of Faunus in Italy, ,at the fetting 
of the Pleiades. Month x. The (nil quits the rant of 
Phryxus, and pafles into the bull. This paflage is 
marked by the fetting of Orion, who was in love with 
the Atlantides or Pleiades; by that of the. herdfman, 
who tended the oxen of Icarus; of the river Eriijanus; 
by the, rifing. of the Atlantides, and by that of the goat, 
the wife of Pan or Faunas.;— Labour XI. Hercules con¬ 
quers Cerberus, and chains down Cygnus, at the mo¬ 
ment the dog-ftar fcorches the earth with his fires. 
Month xi. The paflage of the fun to Gemini is indicated 
by the fetting of the dog Procvon; by the cofmical 
riling of the great dog, above .which afeends Hydra; 
and by the evening,srifing of tlie fwan,(Cygnus).— 
Labour XII. Hercules travels into Hefperia to gather 
apples, guarded by a dragon, which, it is faid, is that 
of the pole of our fpheres ; or, according to others, to 
carry off fneep with golden fleeces. He makes difpofi- 
tions for a lacrifice, and puts on a robe dipped in the 
blood of a centaur, which he had killed in palling a ri¬ 
ver. This robe occaflons his death,' and fo tends his 
mortal career. Month x ii. The fun enters Cancer,’at 
the fetting of the ftream of Aquarius, and ot the cen¬ 
taur who is facrificing on an altar; at the riling of the 
Ihepherd and his flock; and at the moment at which 
Herculesiis abont^to let towards the weftern regions, 
denominated Hefperia; he is followed by the dragon of 
the pole, the guardian of the Hefperides, which falls 
near him towards the weft. 
HER'CULES, in aftronomy, a eonftellation of the 
northern iiemil'phere, and one of the forty-eight old 
cohftellations mentioned by ancient writers. It is not 
known by what name it was diftinguilhed by the Egyp¬ 
tians and others before the Greeks. The!? latter, per- 
1 haps 
