The last labour: Cerberus, the three-headed hound at the gate of the Underworld. Heracles must go there alive.
The Labours of Heracles · C2+
Labour Twelve: Cerberus
Fewer or less, infer or imply, flout or flaunt, principle or principal, nonplussed, hung or hanged, effect or affect, fortuitous, whose for things, and were: the finest distinctions in English, for a journey into the Underworld.
🐕 Play the story too: in the gamebook, you are Heracles.Play the gamebook →
SOPHIA
PHILO
And we will meet somebody we know.
The story
After the old stories of Heracles
Fewer travellers have returned from Hades than from any other journey. Charon, the ferryman, had never met a living man who refused to pay; he was utterly nonplussed.
Near the gate, Heracles found Theseus stuck on the chair of forgetting. The meeting was fortuitous: nobody could have planned it. Heracles hoped to effect his release, and pulled him free.
Heracles did not flout the laws of the Underworld; he asked permission. From Hades’s silence, he inferred that he had it. On principle, Hades never allowed the living to leave, but he let Heracles take Cerberus, if he used no weapons.
Heracles wrestled the hound at the gate, whose hinges had not moved in a thousand years, while the lion skin hung from his shoulders. “If Cerberus were ever to escape,” Hades had warned, “the dead would follow him.” So Heracles brought him back.
Fewer or less; whose for things
PHILO
Fewer travellers, not less. They can be counted.
DEMETRIA
And “the gate, whose hinges…”: whose works for things too.
SOPHIA
Careful English: fewer + countable plurals, less + uncountables. whose can refer to things; the alternative is of which.
Infer or imply; flout or flaunt
DEMETRIA
Hades’s silence implied permission; Heracles inferred it.
SOPHIA
The speaker implies; the listener infers. And flout a rule (disregard it) vs flaunt your wealth (show it off).
Principle; effect; hung
PHILO
On principle. To effect a release. The skin hung from his shoulders.
SOPHIA
principle = a rule; principal = main, or the head of a school. effect (verb) = bring about; affect = influence. hung for things; hanged only for executions.
Nonplussed; fortuitous; were
MARCOS
Charon was nonplussed, so he was calm?
SOPHIA
Traditionally, no: nonplussed = baffled. fortuitous = by chance, not necessarily lucky. And formal conditionals use were: If Cerberus were to escape… Twelve labours, from I am so happy to here. Well done.
Sophia’s summary
| Form | Use | From the story |
|---|---|---|
| fewer / less; whose (things) | countable / uncountable; possession | fewer travellers; the gate whose hinges… |
| infer / imply; flout / flaunt | conclude / suggest; disregard / show off | He inferred permission. |
| principle / principal; effect / affect | rule / main; bring about / influence | on principle; effect his release |
| hung / hanged; nonplussed; fortuitous | objects / executions; baffled; by chance | The skin hung from his shoulders. |
| if… were (to) | formal conditional | If he were to escape… |
Practice
Answer all the questions, then press “Check my answers”. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Choose
Choose the form careful writers prefer.
1. ___ travellers return from Hades.
2. From the silence, he ___ that he could go.
3. He did not ___ the laws of the Underworld.
4. On ___, the living may not leave.
5. The lion skin ___ from his shoulders.
6. He hoped to ___ Theseus’s release.
B · Write
Write the missing word.
7. Charon was utterly : nobody had ever refused to pay. (baffled)
8. The meeting was : nobody planned it. (by chance)
9. the gate, hinges had not moved for centuries
10. If Cerberus to escape, the dead would follow.
C · Right or wrong?
Is it correct in careful English?
11. “Less people came than expected.”
12. “Are you implying that I lied?”
13. “They flaunted the rules openly.”
Now play Labour Twelve yourself, as Heracles!Play the gamebook →