Nemean

Pindar

Pindar. Arnson Svarlien, Diane, translator. Created for the Perseus Project, 1990.

  1. he did not escape the notice of gold-throned Hera when he was placed in his saffron swaddling-clothes. But the queen of the gods,
  2. stung in her heart, immediately sent serpents. The doors opened, and they crept into the spacious inner-chamber, eager to coil their swift jaws around the babies. But Heracles lifted his head straight up, and had his first experience of battle,
  3. seizing
  4. the two necks of the serpents in his two irresistible hands. When they were strangled, time squeezed the breath of life out of their unspeakable limbs. Unbearable fear [*](Reading with Snell δέος for βέλος. ) struck the women who were then helping Alcmena at her bedside;