Achelous relates to Theseus the contest between himself and Hercules for the hand of Dejanira, who becomes the wife of the latter.
Theseus requests the god to tell his woes, Whence his maim’d brow, and whence his groans arose: When thus the Calydonian stream replied, With twining reeds his careless tresses tied: “Ungrateful is the tale, for who can bear, When conquer’d, to rehearse the shameful war? Yet I’ll the melancholy story trace; So great a conqueror softens the disgrace: Nor was it still so mean the prize to yield, As great and glorious to dispute the field.