Eurystheus

This the many do not know, but, because he was abroad on campaign and guarding his realm, they say that Eurystheus was king at that time — a man who was the most industrious of all and far superior to those there.

But Eurystheus they think rules over him and gives him orders—Eurystheus, whom they have counted worth nothing, and no one ever prayed or sacrificed to Eurystheus.

And the golden apples which he fetched, those of the Hesperides, he took and gave to Eurystheus;

if I had had the sense to foresee all this, when Eurystheus sent him to the house of Hades, to fetch the hell-hound from Erebos, he would never have come back alive out of the deep waters of the river Styx.

he was son of Kopreus who was wont to take the orders of King Eurystheus to mighty Herakles, but the son was far better in excellence [ aretê] than the father in every way;

and he was ever angry with her when he saw his son groaning under the cruel labors [ athloi] that Eurystheus laid upon him.

such a hero shall there come to Pheres’ halls, by Eurystheus sent to fetch a team of steeds from the wintry world of Thrace;

I am performing a labour for Tirynthian Eurystheus.

The steeds will I drive away to the Tirynthian king.

But thou art void of sense, and so is he, who lords it o’er Argos, the son of Sthenelus,

for countless warriors are awaiting my return, and king Eurystheus in person at their head;

this city can secure as friends Argos, with its far-reaching arm, and Eurystheus’ might complete;

then crossing the heights of Hebrus that flow with silver, he still toiled on for the tyrant of Mycenae.

so he, wishing to lighten my affliction and to find a home in his own land, offered Eurystheus a mighty price for my recall:

Is the monster really lodged in the house of Eurystheus?

Yes, Athens single-handed sustained the greatest dangers against the power of Eurystheus, put an end to his insolence, and freed Heracles’ sons from the fears by which they were continually beset.

Ponder well the fact (to touch upon examples from the distant past) that while no man, whether poet or writer of prose, would applaud the wealth of Tantalus, or the rule of Pelops, or the power of Eurystheus, all the world, with one accord, would praise—next to the unrivalled excellence of Heracles and the goodness of Theseus—the men who marched against Troy and all others who have proved to be like them.

Moreover, they were styled the saviors of the sons of Heracles, who himself was the savior of the rest of mankind, when they arrived in this land as suppliants, fleeing before Eurystheus.

“We, among all the allies, have always had the right to hold this position in all campaigns, of the united Peloponnesian armies, both ancient and recent, ever since that time when the Heraclidae after Eurystheus ' death attempted to return to the Peloponnese.

With them we vanquished those who then inhabited the Peloponnese, and we broke the pride of Eurystheus.

From him Zeus took away sense, so that he left his home and his parents and went to do honor to the wicked Eurystheus—unhappy man!

Once he used to wander over unmeasured tracts of land and sea at the bidding of King Eurystheus, and himself did many deeds of violence and endured many;

Now if I were to recount the wars of old which they fought against the Amazons or the Thracians or the Peloponnesians who under the leadership of Eurystheus invaded Attica, no doubt I should be thought to speak on matters ancient and remote from the present situation;

but after the death of Eurystheus they fixed their habitation among the Dorians.

Searching into the meaning of the oracle, they found, first, that Argos belonged to them by right of their being next of kin, for after the death of Eurystheus they were the sole survivors of Perseus’ line;

again, by the Peloponnesians, led by Eurystheus, who not only refused to make amends to Heracles for his ill-treatment of him but brought an army against our ancestors with the object of seizing by force the sons of Heracles, who had taken refuge with us.

for the Athenians went to war against the Thebans in the cause of those who had fallen in the battle, and against the power of Eurystheus in the cause of the sons of Heracles.

The sons of Heracles, on the other hand, came fleeing the persecution of Eurystheus, ignoring the other states as not capable of succouring them in their distress, and looking upon our city as the only one great enough to make return for the benefits which their father had bestowed upon all mankind.

and, although he had throughout all his life inflicted his orders and indignities on one whose nature transcended that of man, and who, being the son of Zeus, possessed, while still a mortal, the strength of a god, yet, when Eurystheus offended against us, he suffered so complete a reverse that he fell into the power of Heracles’ sons and came to a shameful end.

and that afterwards still greater power fell to the lot of his descendants, as Eurystheus was killed in Attica by the Heraclidae, and Atreus was his mother's brother, and Eurystheus, when going on the expedition, intrusted Mycenae and the government to Atreus, on the ground of their connexion;

And while that other deed was also noble, when you checked the insolence of Eurystheus and preserved the sons of Heracles, would it not surely be an even nobler one if you saved from perishing, not merely the founders, but the whole state as well?