Hercules

The Roman story of Hercules is set after his tenth labor, the seizure of Geryon's cattle. Livy says he swam the Tiber with the herd and lay down to rest near the river (Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.7.3-7). A shepherd named Cacus stole the finest cattle and dragged them backwards by the tails into his cave, so that the hoofprints pointed away from it (Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.7.3-7). When the cattle lowed, Hercules found the cave and killed Cacus with his club (Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.7.3-7).

Virgil tells the same episode more darkly through King Evander, who is welcoming Aeneas on the site of the future Rome. In the Aeneid, Cacus is a half-human monster, the son of Vulcan, who spews smoke and flame from his mouth (Aeneid 8.190-199). Hercules comes from killing Geryon and Cacus steals four bulls and four heifers (Aeneid 8.200-212). Hercules tears open the cave and kills the monster, and the villagers celebrate (Aeneid 8.219-267).

In Livy's telling, Evander recognizes the stranger as Hercules, son of Jupiter, and says his mother's prophecy foretold that Hercules would join the gods and receive an altar that the most powerful nation would call the Ara Maxima (Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.7.9-10). Hercules accepts the omen, and the first sacrifice is made at once. The two leading local families, the Potitii and the Pinarii, are invited to the feast, and the Potitii conduct the rite for many ages (Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.7.11-14). Livy adds that Romulus adopted this cult alone of all foreign rites (Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.7.15).

Virgil shows the cult in action. At Evander's feast the Salian priests sing a hymn to Hercules that lists his labors, ending with a plea that he bless his altars and his people, calling him Jove's true son (Aeneid 8.285-302). Evander also tells Aeneas that Hercules once entered his humble home, and that Aeneas too should dare to scorn wealth (Aeneid 8.320-369).

Roman writers were less certain about how a hero became a god. Cicero says men who did important service to the public were raised to heaven by fame, and he names Hercules first among them (De Natura Deorum 2.62). Elsewhere Cicero lists several different Herculeses in the older histories, which shows that the name covered more than one tradition (De Natura Deorum 3.42). Ovid gives the apotheosis in the Metamorphoses. Hercules is burned on Mount Oeta, and Jupiter tells the gods that only the mortal part will be consumed (Metamorphoses 9.172-272). The site's Heracles page covers the labors and the Greek versions.