The Twelfth Labor--Herakles Fetches Cerberus Out Of Hades

According to the terms of the doom that was laid upon Herakles, the performance of the last task was to free him from Eurystheus. Eleven were now fulfilled and the tyrant's heart failed him when he thought of what he might expect at the hands of the hero he had used so ill when once he was free from his power.

Cowards always fear those whom they have ill-treated, so he determined to send Herakles on an errand from which he thought he could not possibly return. He had come back unharmed from every known and unknown country on the face of the earth, but who was ever known to return alive from the land of the dead? So Eurystheus as a last task ordered him to go down to Hades and bring out alive Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guards the entrance to the lower world, feeling sure that Herakles would remain forever in Hades.

Cerberus was a terrible monster. Besides having three heads, he had a tail which ended in a serpent's head, and all along his spine he had serpents' heads instead of hair. His duty was to see that no dead should escape from Hades after once entering its gates.

There was a long dark cave leading down to Hades and the river Styx flowed across it. A white-haired old ferryman, Charon by name, waited with his boat on the shore to carry the spirits of all who died. There they were met by Minos, the great judge, who told them whether they could go into the fields of the Blessed or whether they were doomed to the region of the Unhappy. Charon's boat was but a delicate skiff and adapted only to carrying souls without bodies, so Herakles was not a welcome passenger.

Herakles found his way into Hades in spite of all the difficulties, and presenting himself to Pluto, the King of the Dead, begged him to give him the Dog.

Pluto replied: "Take him and lead him out into the world and thou shalt have him. But thou must not use any weapon." Herakles answered, "I will use no weapon but my hands, and with them alone I will conquer him." Wearing his breastplate and clad in the lion's skin he approached Cerberus, who stood on guard at the gates. He threw his arms around the Dog's three heads and pressed them with all his might. The Dog fought with great fury, and bit him with the snake's mouth which he had at the end of his tail. Herakles threw his lion's skin over the head of the Dog and dragged him out by another gate into the daylight. Cerberus had never seen the light of the sun and was frightened beyond measure. He foamed at the mouth, and wherever the foam fell upon the ground it caused a poisonous plant to grow.

Herakles took Cerberus to Eurystheus, who was not pleased to see the Dog or the Hero. Then he carried him back to Hades and restored him to Pluto, and so were the twelve great labors ended.