THE AUGEAN STABLES.
According to legend one. of the twelve labours of Hercules was the cleansing of the Augean stables. Augcas, one of the Argonauts, had an immense number of oxen and goals, whose stables had never been cleaned out. Hercules undertook the task, on promise of a reward equal to onc-te.ntli the value of the cattle, and by diverting the course of a river swept the stables clean. Augeas protested that this artifice was unfair, withhold the reward, and drove his own son Phyleus from the kingdom because he supported Hercules. Hercules conquered the kingdom, put Augeas to death, and gave the crown to Phyleus. The expression "to cleanse the Augean stables'' is used in reference to any well-nigh impossible task of clearance, in either the moral or the physical sense.
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Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 70, 23 March 1940, Page 13
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132THE AUGEAN STABLES. Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 70, 23 March 1940, Page 13
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