Is there a myth were Heracles chooses duty over pleasure?

Question

Last year, I was handed a worksheet. It was an excerpt of an autobiography if I recall correctly.

One part I remember in particular involved Heracles, that he was given a choice between duty and pleasure.

Can anyone recall a myth like this?

Answer 1

This is The Choice of Hercules, or sometimes Hercules at the Crossroads, a story that was once rather highly regarded. First told by Prodicus, whose works have been lost. Prodicus was apparantly a friend of Socrates, and is mentioned by Plato and Xenophon, through which some of his teachings survive. This one comes from Xenophon's Memorabilia, 2.1.29-40 (here is a a free translation into English)

Hercules at the crossroads is a rather simple parable, where the young hero meets two ladies, one clad simply and with modest manners, the other clad more richly and revealing. The latter urges him to choose a life of pleasure, while the former tells him to live a life of virtue, and that the joy of doing what is right and just will be greater than the simple pleasures of a dissipated life.

The story was taken up in renaissance and baroque art, and there are several paintings that depict the scene, as well as retellings in operatic and poetic form.