Hercules's Return to Hell

Hercules took the dark path which before him had been trodden only by the Greek heroes Orpheus and Theseus, and Perithus. Hercules passed the furious, undaunted eyes beneath the writhing serpents of their hair. He came at last into the terrible presence of black Pluto himself, who sat in his dark throne with his young wife, Prossopina, beside him. To the king and queen of the dead, Hercules explained the reason of his coming. Go, said Pluto, and so long as you use no weapon, but only your bare hands. You may take my watchdog Cerberus to the upper air. Then he made one more request, which was at