Chapter Henriette to Hercules Secundus of H by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Herb Trinity The botanical name is Viola tricolor. The word tricolor explains why it is called the Herb Trinity. It also explains the pet name of "Three-faces-under-a-hood;" but the very markings of the pansy resemble the name. (See Heart's Ease.)

Herba Sacra The "divine weed," vervain, said by the old Romans to cure the bites of all rabid animals to arrest the progress of venom, to cure the plague, to avert sorcery and witchcraft, to reconcile enemies, etc. So highly esteemed was it that feasts called Verbenalia were annually held in its honour. Heralds wore a wreath of vervain when they declared war; and the Druids held vervain in similar veneration.

"Lift your boughs of vervain blue,
Dipt in cold September dew;
And dash the moisture, chaste and clear,
O'er the ground, and through the air.
Now the place is purged and pure."
Mason.

Hercules (3 syl.), in astronomy, a large northern constellation.

"Those stars in the neighbourhood of Hercules are mostly found to be approaching the earth, and those which lie in the opposite direction to be receding from it." - Newcomb: Popular Astronomy, part iv. chap. i. p. 458.

Hercules (3 syl.). A Grecian hero, possessed of the utmost amount of physical strength and vigour that the human frame is capable of. He is represented as brawny, muscular, shortnecked, and of huge proportions. The Pythian told him if he would serve Eurystheus for twelve years he should become immortal; accordingly he bound himself to the Argive king, who imposed upon him twelve tasks of great difficulty and danger:
   (1) To slay the Nemean lion.
   (2) To kill the Lernean hydra.
   (3) To catch and retain the Arcadian stag.
   (4) To destroy the Erymanthian boar.
   (5) To cleanse the stables of King Augeas.
   (6) To destroy the cannibal birds of the Lake Stymphalis.
   (7) To take captive the Cretan bull.
   (8) To catch the horses of the Thracian Diomedes.
   (9) To get possession of the girdle of Hippolyte, Queen of the Amazons.
   (10) To take captive the oxen of the monster Geryon.
   (11) To get possession of the apples of the Hesperides.
   (12) To bring up from the infernal regions the three-headed dog Cerberos.

   The Nemean lion first he killed, then Lerne's hydra slew;
   Th' Arcadian stag and monster boar before Eurystheus drew;
   Cleansed Augeas' stalls, and made the birds from Lake Stymphalis flee;
   The Cretan bull, and Thracian mares, first seized and then set free;
   Took prize the Amazonian belt, brought Geryon's kine from Gades;
   Fetched apples from the Hesperides and Cerberos from Hades. E.C.B.

   The Attic Hercules. Theseus (2 syl.), who went about like Hercules, his great contemporary, destroying robbers and achieving wondrous exploits.
   The Egyptian Hercules. Sesostris. (Flourished B. C. 1500.)
   The Farnese Hercules. A celebrated work of art, copied by Glykon from an original by Lysippos. It exhibits the hero, exhausted by toil, leaning upon his club; his left hand rests upon his back, and grasps one of the apples of the Hesperides. A copy of this famous statue stands in the gardens of the Tuileries, Paris; but Glykon's statue is in the Farnese Palace at Rome. A beautiful description of this statue is given by Thomson (Liberty, iv.).
   The Jewish Hercules. Samson. (Died B. C. 1113.)

Hercules' Choice Immortality the reward of toil in preference to pleasure. Xenophon tells us when Hercules was a youth he was accosted by two women - Virtue and Pleasure - and asked to choose between them. Pleasure promised him all carnal delights, but Virtue promised immortality. Hercules gave his hand to the latter, and, after a life of toil, was received amongst the gods.

Hercules' Club A stick of unusual size and formidable appearance.

Hercules' Horse Arion, given him by Adrastos. It had the power of speech, and its feet on the right side were those of a man. (See Horse.)

Hercules' Labour or The labour of an Hercules. Very great toil. Hercules was appointed by Eurystheus (3 syl.) to perform twelve labours requiring enormous strength or dexterity.

"It was more than the labour of an Hercules could effect to make any tolerable way through your town." - Cumberland: The West Indian.

Hercules' Pillars Calpé and Abyla, one at Gibraltar and one at Ceuta, torn asunder by Hercules that the waters of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea might communicate with