Note to The Merchant of Venice, 3.2.54-57. "much more love, / Than young Alcides, when he did redeem / The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy / To the sea-monster"


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The Merchant of Venice,
Act 3, Scene 2, lines 54-57.
much more love, / Than young Alcides, when he did redeem / The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy / To the sea-monster: —"Alcides" was an earlier name of Hercules. Hercules' motive in rescuing the Trojan princess Hesione from a sea-monster to which she was to be sacrificed was not love but a desire for the horses which had been promised as a reward. howling: lamenting.
Hercules saves Hesione; 15th-century miniature
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