HERACLES’S stepfather Amphitryon trained his boy in all the warlike arts, and did not forget music and letters.
But knowledge does not always confer wisdom, and after Heracles, blinded by rage, had killed his over-critical music tutor with a single blow, he took himself deep into the forest to think.
To his surprise, there two ladies found him. Both were dazzlingly beautiful. One stood before him in sensuous colours and glittering jewellery, but the other was clad in simple white.
The first was Vice, and she said: “Choose me, and your life shall be ceaseless pleasure, and no effort of mind or body will be demanded of you.”
But other was Virtue, and she said: “Choose me, and you will have the honour of your countrymen, but I cannot promise a life without labour, for no man may reap where he does not sow.”
And Heracles chose the path of Virtue — both the sweet, and the bitter.
Précis
After one criticism too many from his music tutor, Heracles snapped, and struck him down dead with a single blow. Appalled, he went to the forest to think, and there was met by Vice and Virtue, in female form. Vice offered him a life of ease and pleasure, but Heracles chose Virtue: a life of honour, but great hardship. (59 / 60 words)