Part 17 (1/2)

The valley of Nemea was infested by a terrible lion; Eurystheus ordered Hercules to bring him the skin of this monster. After using in vain his club and arrows against the lion, Hercules strangled the animal with his hands. He returned, carrying the dead lion on his shoulders; but Eurystheus was so frightened at the sight of it, and at this proof of the prodigious strength of the hero, that he ordered him to deliver the accounts of his exploits in the future outside the town.[67:1]

To show the courage of Hercules, it is said that he entered the cave where the lion's lair was, closed the entrance behind him, and at once grappled with the monster.[67:2]

Samson is said to have torn asunder the _jaws_ of the lion, and we find him generally represented slaying the beast in that manner. So likewise, was this the manner in which Hercules disposed of the Nemean lion.[67:3]

The skin of the lion, Hercules tore off with his fingers, and knowing it to be impenetrable, resolved to wear it henceforth.[67:4] The statues and paintings of Hercules either represent him carrying the lion's skin over his arm, or wearing it hanging down his back, the skin of its head fitting to his crown like a cap, and the fore-legs knotted under his chin.[67:5]

Samson's second exploit was when he went down to Ashkelon and slew thirty men.

Hercules, when returning to Thebes from the lion-hunt, and wearing its skin hanging from his shoulders, as a sign of his success, met the heralds of the King of the Minyae, coming from Orchomenos to claim the annual tribute of a hundred cattle, levied on Thebes. Hercules cut off the ears and noses of the heralds, bound their hands, and sent them home.[67:6]

Samson's third exploit was when he caught three hundred foxes, and took fire-brands, and turned them tail to tail, and put a fire-brand in the midst between two tails, and let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines.

There is no such feature as this in the legends of Hercules, the nearest to it in resemblance is when he encounters and kills the Learnean Hydra.[67:7] During this encounter a _fire-brand_ figures conspicuously, and _the neighboring wood is set on fire_.[67:8]

We have, however, an explanation of this portion of the legend, in the following from Prof. Steinthal:

At the festival of Ceres, held at Rome, in the month of April, a fox-hunt through the circus was indulged in, _in which burning torches were bound to the foxes' tails_.

This was intended to be a symbolical reminder of the damage done to the fields by mildew, called the ”_red fox_,” which was exorcised in various ways at this momentous season (the last third of April). It is the time of the _Dog-Star_, at which the mildew was most to be feared; if at that time great solar heat follows too close upon the h.o.a.r-frost or dew of the cold nights, this mischief rages like a burning fox through the corn-fields.[68:1]

He also says that:

”This is the sense of the story of the foxes, which Samson caught and sent into the Philistines' fields, with fire-brands fastened to their tails, to burn the crops. Like the lion, the fox is an animal that indicated the solar heat, being well suited for this both by its color and by its long-haired tail.”[68:2]

Bouchart, in his ”Hierozoicon,” observes that:

”At this period (_i. e._, the last third of April) they cut the corn in Palestine and Lower Egypt, and a few days after the setting of the Hyads arose the _Fox_, in whose train or tail comes the fires or torches of the dog-days, represented among the Egyptians by red marks painted on the backs of their animals.”[68:3]

Count de Volney also tells us that:

”The inhabitants of Ca.r.s.eoles, an ancient city of Latium, every year, in a religious festival, burned a number of foxes _with torches tied to their tails_. They gave, as the reason for this whimsical ceremony, that their corn had been formerly burnt by a fox to whose tail a young man had fastened a bundle of lighted straw.”[68:4]

He concludes his account of this peculiar ”religious festival,” by saying:

”This is exactly the story of Samson with the Philistines, but it is a Phenician tale. _Car-Seol_ is a compound word in that tongue, signifying _town of foxes_. The Philistines, originally from Egypt, do not appear to have had any colonies.

The Phenicians had a great many; and it can scarcely be admitted that they borrowed this story from the Hebrews, as obscure as the Druses are in our own times, or that a simple adventure gave rise to a religious ceremony; _it evidently can only be a mythological and allegorical narration_.”[68:4]

So much, then, for the foxes and fire-brands.

Samson's fourth exploit was when he smote the Philistines ”hip and thigh,” ”with great slaughter.”

It is related of Hercules that he had a combat with an _army_ of Centaurs, who were armed with pine sticks, rocks, axes, &c. They flocked in wild confusion, and surrounded the _cave_ of Pholos, where Hercules was, when a violent fight ensued. Hercules was obliged to contend against this large armed force single-handed, but he came off victorious, and slew a great number of them.[69:1] Hercules also encountered and fought against _an army of giants_, at the Phlegraean fields, near c.u.mae.[69:2]

Samson's next wonderful exploit was when ”three thousand men of Judah”

bound him with _cords_ and brought him up into Lehi, when the Philistines were about to take his life. The cords with which he was bound immediately became as flax, and loosened from off his hands. He then, with the jaw-bone of an a.s.s, slew one thousand Philistines.[69:3]

A very similar feature to this is found in the history of Hercules. He is made prisoner by the Egyptians, who wish to take his life, but while they are preparing to slay him, he breaks loose his bonds--having been tied with _cords_--and kills Buseris, the leader of the band, _and the whole retinue_.[69:4]

On another occasion, being refused shelter from a storm at Kos, he was enraged at the inhabitants, and accordingly _destroyed the whole town_.[69:5]