His morning meal, roast meat and Dorian bread

No ploughman would a larger loaf desire;
His evening meal (the day already sped),
Was very light, nor such as needed fire.

He always wore, bare to his knees, a plain attire.

IDYL XXV.

HERCULES, THE LION-SLAYER.

ARGUMENT.

Hercules, in quest of Augeias, falls in with one of the dependants of that personage. He is amazed at the sight of his herds, having no notion that even ten kings together possessed such wealth. He accompanies Augeias and his son while they inspect the stalls and the business going on there. In the morning he accompanies Phyleus to the city, and communicates to him, on the road, the particulars of his adventure with the Nemean lion, whose hide is hanging from his shoulders. The beginning, and some think the conclusion also, of this Idyl is wanting in the original.

IDYL XXV.

HERCULES, THE LION-SLAYER.

WHEN to perform his fated lord's behest,
Amphitryon's son, with toils and perils tried,
Hero with the prodigious breadth of breast,-
In his right hand his club, the lion's hide
Hung from his shoulders by the fore feet tied,—
To the rich vale of fruitful Elis came,

Where the sweet waters of Alpheus glide,

Seeing herds, flocks, and pastures, none might claim, But only wealthiest lord, some prince well known to fame,

He asked a countryman, whose watchful care O'erlooked the grounds (his task was his delight), "Good friend! wilt tell a traveller, whose are

These herds, and flocks, and pastures infinite?

He is, I well may guess, the favourite

Of the Olympian gods. Here should abide
Those I am come to seek." The man, at sight
And claim of stranger, quickly laid aside

The work he had in hand, and courteously replied:

"What thou dost ask I willingly will tell,
Good stranger! for I fear the heavy wrath
Of Hermes, the way-god; of all who dwell
Above us, most is he provoked, when scath
Or scorn is done to him who asks his path.
Not in one pasture all the flocks appear,
Nor in one region, King Augeias hath :

Some pasture where Elisson glides; some, where Alpheus; at vine-clad Buprasion some; some, here:

"And every flock has its particular fold.
Their pasture never fails his numerous kine
In the green lowlands that receiving hold
The gush of Peneus, and the dew divine:
As in the genial moisture they recline,

The meads throw up soft herbage, which supplies

The strength of the horned kind. Beyond the shine

Of the far-gliding river-turn your eyes

A little to the left-their stalled inclosure lies;