The Price of One’s Word: The Lessons of Heracles’ Seventh Labour
It complements the story of the Cretan Bull.
How many times have you gone back on your word? And have you ever truly broken a commitment?
Lying is part of human behaviour. We do it with different intentions and on very different scales. We are not surprised when a child hides the truth to avoid being punished by their parents, or when someone exaggerates their abilities in a job interview.
But not all lies carry the same weight.
Breaking a promise has a particular quality: when we give our word, we allow another person to trust us and act accordingly. Breaking it does not only mean having said something that was untrue. It also means breaking the trust we had created.
Then the question becomes inevitable: are some deceptions acceptable while others are not? Can a lie be justified? Or should a given word always be inviolable?
For millennia, religions, philosophers, and thinkers have tried to answer these questions. In the Old Testament, the commandment against bearing false witness places truth among the pillars of moral conduct. Centuries later, philosophers such as Immanuel Kant would take this demand even further, questioning whether there could ever be any circumstance that morally justifies a lie.
The myths of ancient Greece are no strangers, either, to the consequences of failing to keep one’s word. The seventh labour of Heracles is born precisely from a promise that a king chose not to honour.
The Greed of King Minos
The story of the Cretan Bull begins before Heracles ever sets foot on the island.
Minos aspired to the throne of Crete, but his right to rule was being questioned. To prove that he had the favour of the gods, he prayed to Poseidon to make a bull rise from the waters, and promised to sacrifice it in his honour.
The god agreed. From the sea emerged an extraordinary animal, a magnificent white bull that gave Minos the proof he needed to legitimise his power. But then came the moment to fulfil his promise.
Captivated by the animal’s beauty, Minos decided to keep it among his herds and sacrifice another bull in its place. He had obtained what he wanted. Now, however, the price he had promised to pay seemed too high.
And here we find the first great lesson of the story: a promise does not prove its value when we make it, but when the time comes to honour it.
Poseidon, furious at the deception, made the bull turn wild. The animal that had once symbolised divine favour became an uncontrollable force that began to devastate Crete.
Minos had gained power thanks to his word. By breaking it, he lost control of the consequences.
Taking Problems by the Horns
When Heracles arrives in Crete, the problem has already grown far beyond the decision that caused it.
The bull roams freely across the island, and no one is able to control it. Before attempting to capture it, Heracles presents himself before King Minos and obtains his consent to take the animal away if he manages to subdue it.
At this point, the story changes protagonist.
Minos had created the problem by avoiding the cost of his decision. Heracles, by contrast, has no shortcut available to him. If he wants to complete the labour, he will have to confront that uncontrolled force directly.
And that is exactly what he does. He does not kill the bull. He does not try to run from it or wait for it to disappear. He subdues it. The image of Heracles overpowering the animal inevitably brings to mind an expression that, with small variations, exists in different languages: to take the bull by the horns. To face a problem directly. To stop avoiding it and accept that it is up to us to act. The coincidence is especially meaningful in this story.
Minos spends years living with the consequences of his decision. Heracles arrives and faces them.
Until someone takes the bull by the horns, the problem keeps running free.
Perhaps this is the second great lesson of the myth: we may lose control of the consequences of our decisions, but that does not remove our responsibility to face them.
Our word creates trust. Commitment gives it value.
And when that word is broken, sooner or later someone will have to take the bull by the horns.
