[2] Bach used the aria "Schlafe, mein Liebster" in a revised form in Und es waren Hirten in derselben Gegend, Part II of his Christmas Oratorio.

[5] The aria adopts the "echo" form prominent in early Italian opera: another alto voice engages in imitative exchanges with Hercules and with the instrumental lines.

[6] Virtue proceeds with a secco recitative and "ebullient" aria entreating Hercules to follow the right path that he might "soar on his wings like an eagle to the stars".

This moves into a long duet aria "with all the quiet tranquility of a love song but, perhaps, one that commits minds and emotions rather than bodies".

The character of Mercury appears for the first time in the penultimate movement, accompanied by a "haze of God-like mysticism" created by the strings.