before the Siege of Troy was undertaken. They are famous for their fraternal affection. Endowed with various manly virtues, Castor, a horse-tamer, Pollux, a boxer, they made all expeditions in common. Together, they joined the Calydonian hunt. Together, they accompanied the Argonauts. During the voyage to Colchis it is said that, a storm arising, Orpheus prayed to the Samothracian gods, and played on his harp, and that when the storm ceased, stars appeared on the heads of the brothers. Hence they came to be honored as patrons of voyagers.

When Theseus and his friend Pirithoüs had carried off Helen from Sparta, the youthful heroes, Castor and Pollux, with their followers, hasted to her rescue. Theseus being absent from Attica, the brothers recovered their sister. Still later, we find Castor and Pollux engaged in a combat with Idas and Lynceus of Messene, whose brides they had attempted to abduct. Castor was slain ; but Pollux, inconsolable for the loss of his brother, besought Jupiter to be permitted to give his own life as a ransom for him. Jupiter so far consented as to allow the two brothers to enjoy the boon of life alternately, each spending one day under the earth and the next in the heavenly abodes. According to another version, Jupiter rewarded the attachment of the brothers by placing them among the stars as Gemini, the Twins. They received heroic honors as the Tyndarida (sons of Tyndareus); divine honors they received under the name of Dioscuri (sons of Jove).

So like they were, no mortal
Might one from other know;
White as snow their armor was,
Their steeds were white as snow.

Never on earthly anvil

Did such rare armor gleam,

And never did such gallant steeds
Drink of an earthly stream.

1 Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome, The Battle of Lake Regillus.

Her loveliness with shame and with surprise

Froze my swift speech: she turning on my face

The star-like sorrows of immortal eyes,

Spoke slowly in her place.

"I had great beauty: ask thou not my name:
No one can be more wise than destiny.

Many drew swords and died. Where'er I came

I brought calamity." 1

§ 167. Its Origin. At the nuptials of Peleus and Thetis all the gods had been invited with the exception of Eris, or Discord. Enraged at her exclusion, the goddess threw a golden apple among the guests, with the inscription, "For the fairest." Thereupon Juno, Venus, and Minerva each claimed the apple. Not willing to decide so delicate a matter, Jupiter sent the goddesses to Mount Ida, where Paris, son of Priam, king of Troy, was tending his flocks; and to him was committed the judgment. The goddesses appeared before him. Juno promised him power and riches, Minerva glory and renown in war, Venus the fairest of women for his wife, — each attempting to bias the judge in her own favor. Paris decided in favor of the last, thus making the two other goddesses his enemies. Under the protection of the goddess of love, he soon afterwards sailed to Greece. Here, he was hospitably received by Menelaüs, whose wife, Helen, as fairest of her sex, was unfortunately the prize destined for Paris. This fair queen had in time past been sought by numerous suitors; but before her decision was made known, they all, at the suggestion of Ulysses, son of Laërtes, king of Ithaca, had taken an oath that they would sustain her choice and avenge her cause if necessary. She was living happily with Menelaus when Paris becoming their guest made love to her; and then, aided by Venus, persuaded her to elope with him, and carried her to Troy. From this cause arose the famous Trojan War, the theme of the greatest poems of antiquity, those of Homer and Vergil.

Menelaüs called upon the chieftains of Greece to aid him in recovering his wife. They came forward with a few exceptions. Ulysses, for instance, who had married a cousin of Helen's, Penelope," daughter of Icarius, was happy in his wife and child, and loth to embark in the troublesome affair. Pala

1 From Tennyson's Dream of Fair Women.

2§ 173.

The am

medes was sent to urge him. But when Palamedes arrived at Ithaca, Ulysses pretended madness. He yoked an ass and an ox together to the plough, and began to sow salt. bassador, to try him, placed the infant Telemachus before the plough, whereupon the father turning the plough aside, showed

that his insanity was a mere pretence. Being himself gained for the undertaking, Ulysses lent his aid to bring in other reluctant chiefs, especially Achilles, son of Peleus and Thetis. Thetis being herself one of the immortals, and knowing that her son was fated to perish before Troy if he went on the expedition, endeavored to prevent his going. She, accordingly, sent him to the court of King Lycomedes