May 19 2009
Achelous And Hercules/ Thomas Hart Benton
Achelous and Hercules battled over the beautiful Dejanira.
The river god Achelous said ” . . .this man who boasts himself the son of Jove, it is either a false pretense, or disgraceful of him if true, for it cannot be true except by his mother’s shame. ”
As he said this Hercules scowled and with difficulty restrained his rage. “My hand will answer better than my tongue. I yield you the victory in words but trust my cause to the strife of deeds.”
At first Achelous took the form of a serpent but Hercules said “It was the labor of my infancy to conquer snakes”. So he assumed the form of a bull and Hercules threw him down and tore off one of his horns. The Naiades took it, consecrated it and filled it with fragrant flowers. Plenty adopted it and it was called Cornucopia.
Thomas Menton’s work also touched on the most compelling events of the late 1940’s. America’s agricultural bounty was airlifted to Europe following WW2 through the Marshall plan.
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