After his labours Hercules went to Thebes and gave Megara to Iolaus,1 and, wishing himself to wed, he ascertained that Eurytus, prince of Oechalia, had proposed the hand of his daughter Iole as a prize to him who should vanquish himself and his sons in archery.2 So he came to Oechalia, and though he proved himself better than them at archery, yet he did not get the bride; for while Iphitus, the elder of Eurytus's sons, said that Iole should be given to Hercules, Eurytus and the others refused, and said they feared that, if he got children, he would again kill his offspring.3
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1 With this and what follows down to the adventure with Syleus, compare Diod. 4.31 (who seems to be following the same authority as Apollodorus); Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.412-435.
2 Compare Scholiast on Hom. Il. 5.392; Soph. Trach. 260ff., with the Scholiast on Soph. Trach. 266; Scholiast on Eur. Hipp. 545.
3 As he had killed the children he had by Megara. See Apollod. 2.4.12.
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