Hercules at the crossroads

Albrecht Dürer's Hercules at the Crossroads (1498): Hercules and Virtue on the right attack Vice who reclines with a satyr on the left.[1]

Hercules at the crossroads, also known as the Choice of Hercules and the Judgement of Hercules, is an ancient Greek parable attributed to Prodicus and known from Xenophon. It concerns the young Heracles (also known to the Romans as Hercules) who is offered a choice between Vice (Kakia) and Virtue (Arete)—a life of pleasure or one of hardship and honour. In the early modern period it became a popular motif in Western art.

  1. ^ "Hercules at the crossroads". Collection online. British Museum.