After this, a tenth labour was imposed upon him by Eurystheus, and that was to drive away the oxen of Gerion that pastured in Iberia near to the ocean. Hercules, perceiving he could not perform this task without much trouble and great preparation, set forth a brave fleet, and manned it with such a number of seamen and soldiers as such an expedition justly required: for it was noised abroad through the whole world, that Chrysaor (so called from his riches) king of Iberia9, had three sons10, strong bodied men, and famous for martial affairs, and that each of them had great armies of valiant men constantly at hand attending upon them, which was the reason Eurystheus imposed this task upon him, conceiving this expedition was greater than he was ever able to perform: but Hercules undertook this with as much confidence as he had done those before, and commanded forces to be raised in Crete, whence he resolved to set forth, this island being the most convenient port from whence to make any expedition into any part of the world. Before he set sail, mighty honours were conferred upon him by the inhabitants; in grateful return for which favours he freed the island from wild beasts, so that no hurtful creatures, such as bears, wolves, serpents, and such like, remained there ever after. He did these things in reverence to the island, because it was reported that Jupiter was bred and born there. Loosing thence, he arrived at Libya. Here, in the first place, he challenged and slew Antaeus (famous for his great strength and skill in wrestling), who was used to kill the strangers he wrestled with, after he had mastered them. Then he destroyed the wild beasts in the deserts, and made Africa so quiet and improveable, (which was before full of hurtful creatures), that every part was fit for tillage, and planting of fruit-trees; the whole country productive of wine and oil. In short, he so improved Libya, (which, by reason of the multitude of wild beasts, was before uninhabitable), that no country in the world afterwards exceeded it for fertility and richness of soil. In like manner he so purged the nation from wicked men and insolent tyrants, that he put all the cities into a flourishing state and condition. It is therefore reported that he was prosecuted with the hatred and opposition of all sorts of dreadful wild beasts, and of wicked men; for, when he was an infant in his cradle, he was assaulted by serpents, and, when he was a man, he was vexed and perplexed with the commands of a proud and unjust tyrant.