When Hercules was sold into slavery to Omphale for the murder of Iphitus, Deianira and her children had to leave Tiryns. The wife of Hercules was given shelter by the king of the Thessalian city of Trakhina Keik. Three years and three months have already passed since Hercules left Deianira. Hercules' wife was worried about the fate of her husband. There was no news from Hercules. Dejanira didn’t even know if her husband was still alive. Deianira was tormented by heavy forebodings. She called her son Gill and said to him:
- Oh, my beloved son! It's a shame you're not looking for your father. It's been fifteen months now that he hasn't let anyone know about himself.
“If you can believe the rumors,” Gill answered his mother, “then they say that after my father had been a slave to Omphale for three years, when his period of slavery ended, he went with an army to Euboea to the city of Oichalia to take revenge on King Eurytus for the insult.”
- My son! - Gilla's mother interrupted, - your father Hercules has never left me before, leaving for great deeds, in such anxiety as the last time. Even when parting, he left me a tablet with an old prediction written on it, given to him in Dodona. It is said there that if Hercules spends three years and three months in a foreign land, then either death befalls him, or, upon returning home, he will lead a joyful and calm life. When Hercules left me, he left me an order that his children should inherit from the lands of his fathers in the event of his death. I'm worried about my husband's fate. After all, he told me about the siege of Oikhalia, that he would either die under the city, or, having taken it, he would live happily. No, my son, go, I pray you, find your father.
Gill, obedient to the will of his mother, set off on a long journey to Euboea, to Oichalia, to look for his father.
Some time later, after Gill left Trakhina, a messenger comes running to Dejanira. He tells her that Ambassador Lichas is coming from Hercules. Likhas will bring good news. Hercules is alive. He defeated Eurytus, took and destroyed the city of Oichalia and will soon return to Trakhina in the glory of victory. Following the messenger, Lichas comes to Deianira. He leads the captives, and among them Iola, daughter of Eurytus. Joyfully greets Deianir Lichas. Hercules' ambassador tells her that Hercules is still powerful and healthy. He plans to celebrate his victory and prepares to make rich sacrifices before he leaves Euboea. Dejanira looks at the prisoners; Noticing a beautiful woman among them, he asks Likhas:
- Tell me, Lichas, who is this woman? Who are her father and mother? She grieves the most. Isn't this the daughter of Eurytus himself?
But Lichas answers the wife of Hercules:
“I don’t know, queen, who she is.” This woman probably belongs to a noble Euboean family. She didn't say a word during the journey. She has been shedding tears of sorrow ever since she left her hometown.
- Unhappy! - exclaimed Dejanira, - I will not add new suffering to this grief! Lead the prisoners, Likhas, to the palace, I will now come after you!
Lichas went with the prisoners to the palace. As soon as he left, a servant approached Dejanira and said to her:
- Wait, queen, listen to me. Likhas did not tell you the whole truth. He knows who this woman is; This is Eurytus's daughter, Iola. Out of love for her, Hercules once competed with Eurytus in archery. The proud king did not give him, the winner, his daughter as a wife, as he had promised; having insulted him, he drove the great hero out of the city. For the sake of Iola, Hercules now took Oichalia and killed King Eurytus. The son of Zeus did not send Iola here as a slave - he wants to take her as his wife.
Dejanira was saddened. She reproaches Lichas for hiding the truth from her. Lichas confesses that Hercules, captivated by the beauty of Iola, really wants to marry her. Dejanira is grieving. Hercules forgot her during a long separation. Now he loves someone else. What should she, the unfortunate one, do? She loves the great son of Zeus and cannot give him to another. Dejanira, heartbroken, remembers the blood that the centaur Nessus once gave her, and what he told her before his death. Dejanira decides to resort to the blood of a centaur. After all, he told her: “Rub Hercules’ clothes with my blood, and he will love you forever, no woman will be dearer to him than you.” Dejanira is afraid to resort to a magical remedy, but her love for Hercules and the fear of losing him finally overcome her fears. She takes out the blood of Nessus, which she had kept in a vessel for so long so that a ray of sun would not fall on it, so that the fire of the hearth would not warm it. Dejanira rubs it on the luxurious cloak that she wove as a gift to Hercules, puts it in a tightly closed box, calls Lichas and says to him:
- Hurry, Lichas, to Euboea and take this box to Hercules. It contains a cloak. Let Hercules wear this cloak when he sacrifices to Zeus. Tell him that no mortal should put on this cloak except him, so that not even a ray of bright Helios touches the cloak before he puts it on. Hurry up, Lichas!
Likhas left with a cloak. After his departure, Deianira became restless. She went to the palace and, to her horror, saw that the wool with which she rubbed the cloak with the blood of Nessus had decayed. Dejanira threw this wool on the floor. A ray of sun fell on the wool and warmed the blood of the centaur, poisoned by the poison of the Lernaean hydra. Along with the blood, the hydra's poison heated up and turned the wool into ashes, and poisonous foam appeared on the floor where the wool lay. Dejanira was horrified; she is afraid that Hercules will die wearing a poisoned cloak. Hercules' wife is tormented more and more by the premonition of an irreparable misfortune.
A little time has passed since Lichas left for Euboea with a poisoned cloak. Gill, who has returned to Trakhina, enters the palace. He is pale, his eyes are full of tears. Looking at his mother, he exclaims:
- Oh, how I would like to see one of three things: either that you were not alive, or that someone else would call you mother, and not me, or that you would have a better mind than now! Know that you destroyed your own husband, my father!
- Oh woe! - Dejanira exclaimed in horror. - What are you saying, my son? Which person told you this? How can you blame me for such an atrocity!
“I myself saw my father’s suffering, I didn’t learn this from people!”
Gill tells his mother what happened on Mount Kaneion, near the city of Oichalia: Hercules, having erected an altar, was already preparing to make sacrifices to the gods and, first of all, to his father Zeus, when Lichas came with a cloak. The son of Zeus put on a cloak - a gift from his wife - and began the sacrifice. First, he sacrificed twelve selected bulls to Zeus, but in total the hero sacrificed one hundred sacrifices to the Olympian gods. The flames on the altars flared up brightly. Hercules stood reverently raising his hands to the sky and called on the gods. The fire that burned hotly on the altars warmed the body of Hercules, and sweat appeared on his body. Suddenly a poisoned cloak stuck to the hero’s body. Convulsions ran through Hercules' body. He felt terrible pain. Suffering terribly, the hero called Lichas and asked him why he had brought this cloak. What could innocent Lichas answer him? He could only say that Dejanira had sent him with the cloak. Hercules, unconscious of the terrible pain, grabbed Lichas by the leg and hit him against a rock, around which the sea waves were rustling. Likhas fell to his death. Hercules fell to the ground. He struggled in unspeakable pain. His cry carried far across Euboea. Hercules cursed his marriage to Deianira. The great hero called his son and with a heavy groan told him:
“Oh, my son, do not leave me in misfortune, even if death threatens you, do not leave me!” Lift me up! Take me away from here! Take me to a place where no mortal could see me. Oh, if you feel compassion for me, don’t let me die here!
They lifted Hercules, put him on a stretcher, and carried him to the ship to transport him to Trakhina. This is what Gill told his mother and ended the story with these words:
“Now you will all see the great son of Zeus here, maybe still alive, or maybe already dead.” Oh, may the harsh Erinyes and the avenger Dike punish you, mother! You have destroyed the best man the earth has ever bore! You will never see such a hero!
Silently she went to Dejanira's palace, without uttering a single word. There, in the palace, she grabbed a double-edged sword. The old nanny saw Dejanira. She calls Gill rather. Gill hurries to her mother, but she has already pierced her chest with a sword. With a loud cry, the unfortunate son rushed to his mother, he hugs her and covers her cold body with kisses.
At this time, the dying Hercules is brought to the palace. He fell asleep during the journey, but when the stretcher was lowered to the ground at the entrance to the palace, Hercules woke up. The great hero was unconscious of the terrible pain.
- Oh, great Zeus! - he exclaims, - what country am I in? Oh, where are you, men of Greece? Help me! For your sake, I cleared the earth and sea from monsters and evil, but now none of you wants to save me from severe suffering with fire or a sharp sword! Oh, you, brother of Zeus, great Hades, put me to sleep, put me to sleep, the unfortunate one, put to sleep the fast-flying death
“Father, listen to me, I beg you,” Gill asks with tears, “the mother unwittingly committed this crime.” Why do you want revenge? Having learned that she herself was the cause of your death, she pierced your heart with the tip of a sword.
- Oh, gods, she died, and I could not take revenge on her! It was not by my hand that the treacherous Dejanira died!
- Father, it’s not her fault! says Gill. “Seeing Iola, Euryta’s daughter, in her house, my mother wanted to use a magical means to return your love. She rubbed her cloak with the blood of the centaur Nessus, killed by your arrow, not knowing that this blood was poisoned by the poison of the Lernaean hydra.
- Oh, woe, woe! - Hercules exclaims. - So this is how the prediction of my father Zeus came true! He told me that I would not die by the hand of a living person, that I was destined to die from the machinations of Hades, who had descended into the dark kingdom. This is how Nessus, who was struck down by me, destroyed me! So this is the peace the oracle in Dodona promised me - the peace of death! Yes, it’s true - the dead have no worries! Fulfill my last wish, Gill! Take me and my faithful friends to high Oeta, build a funeral pyre on its top, lay me on the pyre and set it on fire. Do it quickly, stop my suffering!
- Oh, have mercy, father, are you really forcing me to be your killer! - Gill begs his father.
- No, you will not be a murderer, but a healer of my suffering! I still have a wish, make it come true too! - Hercules asks his son. - Take Eurytus’s daughter, Iola, as your wife.
But Gill refuses to fulfill his father’s request and says:
- No, father, I cannot marry the one who was responsible for the death of my mother!
- Oh, submit to my will, Gill! Don’t cause the subsided suffering in me again! Let me die in peace! - Hercules persistently begs his son.
Gill humbled himself and humbly answers his father:
- Okay, father. I will be submissive to your dying will.
Hercules hurries his son, asking him to quickly fulfill his last request.
- Hurry, my son! Hurry to put me on the fire before this unbearable torment begins again! Carry me! Goodbye Gill!
The friends of Hercules and Gill lifted the stretcher and carried Hercules to high Oeta. There they built a huge fire and laid the greatest of the heroes on it. The suffering of Hercules becomes more and more intense, the poison of the Lernaean hydra penetrates deeper into his body. Hercules tears off his poisoned cloak, it sticks tightly to his body; Hercules tears off pieces of skin along with his cloak, and the terrible torment becomes even more unbearable. The only salvation from these superhuman torments is death. It is easier to die in the flames of a fire than to endure them, but none of the hero’s friends dares to set the fire on fire. Finally, Philoctetes came to Oeta, Hercules persuaded him to set fire to the fire and, as a reward for this, gave him his bow and arrows, poisoned by the poison of the hydra. Philoctetes set the fire on fire, the flames of the fire flared up brightly, but the lightning of Zeus flashed even brighter. Thunder rolled across the sky. On a golden chariot, Pallas Athena and Hermes were brought to the fire and they carried the greatest of the heroes, Hercules, to the bright Olympus. The great gods met him there. Hercules became the immortal god. Hera herself, forgetting her hatred, gave Hercules her daughter, the eternally young goddess Hebe, as a wife. Since then, Hercules has lived on bright Olympus in the host of the great immortal gods. This was his reward for all his great deeds on earth, for all his great suffering.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru