I.a forest and marsh near Argos, through which flowed a stream of the same name; the abode of the Lernæan Hydra, which Hercules slew with the help of Iolāus, and then drained the marsh: “belua Lernae,” Verg. A. 6, 287: “anguifera,” Stat. S. 2, 181: “fecunda veneno,” id. Theb. 9, 340: “haec dextra Lernam Placavit, Cic. poët. Tusc. 2, 9, 22: et Lerne pulsa tridente palus,” Prop. 2, 26, 48 (3, 22, 20), where Müll. Lernae: Lerne, also a town situated there, acc. to Mel. 2, 3, 9.—Hence,
II. Lernaeus , a, um, adj., Lernæan: “pestis,” Lucr. 5, 26: “anguis,” Verg. A. 8, 300: “hydra,” Prop. 2, 19, 9: “mixtus Lernaei labe veneni,” Ov. M. 9, 130: “sagittae,” with which Hercules killed the Hydra, Luc. 6, 392: cancer, killed by Hercules at the same time with the Hydra, Col. poët. 10, 313. —
B. Poet., transf., Argive, Grecian: “Lernaei reges,” Stat. Th. 5, 499: “alumni,” id. ib. 4, 638: “coloni,” id. ib. 3, 461.
