Augias

and Augeas , son of Eleus, or Elius, was one of the Argonauts, and afterwards ascended the throne of Elis. He had an immense number of oxen and goats, and the stables in which they were kept had never been cleaned, so that the task seemed an impo ibility to any man. Hercules undertook it, on promise of receiving as a reward the tenth part of the herds of Augias, or something equivalent. The hero changed the course of the river Alpheus, or, according to others, of the Peneus, which immediately carried away the dung and filth from the stables. Augias refused the promised recompense on pretence that Hercules had made use of artifice, and had not experienced any labour or trouble, and he further drove his own son Phyleus from his kingdom, because he supported the claims of the hero. The refusal was a declaration of war. Hercules conquered Elis, put to death Augias, and gave the crown to Phyleus. Pausanias says, bk. 5 , chs. 2 & 3, that Hercules spared the life of Augias for the sake of his son, and that Phyleus went to settle in Dulichium; and that at the death of Augias his other son, Agasthenes succeeded to the throne. Augias received, after his death, the honours which were generally paid to a hero. Augias has been called the son of Sol, because Elius signifies the sun. The proverb of Augean stable is now applied to an impo ibility. Hyginus , fables 14, 30, 157.— Pliny , bk. 17 , ch. 9 .— Strabo , bk. 8 .— Apollo dor us , bk. 2 .