And not long after, Theseus, being banished from his country, ended an illustrious life with an obscure death.

QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION.

Who was Jason; and why sent after the Golden Fleece?
What was the Golden Fleece?

Whence was the Hellespont named ?

By whose assistance did Jason procure the Fleece?
Who was Medea, and what were her actions?
Who was Theseus, and what were his actions?
Egean or Black Sea; why so called?

Who was Ariadne, and what happened to her?

What agreement was made between Theseus and Perithous; and what became of the latter?

Who were the Amazons; and what account is given of them?
What is the story of Hippolytus?
What became of Phædra and Theseus?

CHAPTER III.

CASTOR AND POLLUX.

CASTOR and Pollux are twin brothers, the sons of Jupiter and Leda, who was the wife of Tyndarus, king of Laconia, whom Jupiter loved, but could not succeed in his amour till he changed himself into a swan; which swan was afterwards made a constellation, Leda produced two eggs, which hatched the twin brothers. Out of one egg came Pollux and Helena, who sprang from Jupiter, and were therefore immortal. But out of the other, by Tyndarus her husband, came *Castor and Clytemneswho were mortal. Yet both Castor and Pollux are frequently called Tyndaridæ by the poets, as Helena is also called Tyndaris, from the same king Tyndarus.

tra,

* Hor. Sat. 1.

Castor and Pollux accompanied Jason when he sailed to Colchis; and, when he returned thence, they recovered their sister Helena from Theseus, who had stolen her, by overcoming the Athenians that fought for him, to whom their clemency and humanity were so great after the defeat, that the Athenians called them the sons of Jupiter; and hence white lambs were offered upon their altars. *But although they were both at the same birth, and, as some think out of the same egg, yet their tempers were different.

Castor being, as some say, a mortal person, was killed by Lynceus: upon which Pollux prayed to Jupiter to restore him to life again, and confer an immortality upon him. But this could not be granted. However, he obtained leave to divide his immortality between himself and his brother Castor, and thence it came to pass that they lived afterwards by turns every other day, or, as some say, every other fortnight. After the death of Castor, a kind of pyrrhick, or dance in armour, was instituted to his honour; which was performed by young men armed, and called "Castor's dance."

At length they both were translated into heaven, and made a constellation, which is still called Gemini. Sailors esteem these stars lucky and prosperous to them, because, when the Argonauts were driven

* "Castor gaudet equis: Ovo prognatus eodem,' Pugnis: quot capitum vivunt, totidem in studiorum Millia."

As many men, so many their delights.

Horat. Serm. 2. 1

"Sic fratem Pollux alterna morte redemit, Itque reditque viam."

Thus Pollux, offering his alternate life,
Could free his brother. They did daily go
By turns aloft, by turns descend below.

t Plin. l. 7. c. 5. 7. ap. Nat. Com.
Hor. Carm. 3.

Virg. En. 6.

by a violent tempest, two lambent flames settled upon the heads of Castor and Pollux, and a calm immediately ensued: from which a virtue more than human was thought to be lodged in these youths. If only one flame appeared, they called it Helena, and it was esteemed fatal and destructive to mari

ners.

There was a famous temple dedicated to Castor and Pollux in the Forum at Rome; for it was believed, that in the dangerous battle of the Romans with the Latins, they assisted the Romans, riding upon white horses. And hence came that form of swearing by the temple of Castor, which women only used, saying, *Ecastor: whereas, when men swore, they usually swore by Hercules, using the words +Hercule, Hercle, Hercules, Mehercules, Mehercule. But both men and women swore by the temple of Pollux, using the word Ædepol, an oath common to them both.

Clytemnestra was married to Agamemnon, whom, after his return from the siege of Troy, she killed, by the help of Ægisthus; with whom, in the mean time, she had lived. She attempted also to kill his son Orestes, and would have done so, if his sister Electra had not delivered him at the very point of destruction, sending him privately to Strophius, king of Phocis. After Orestes had lived there twelve years, he returned to his own country, and slew both Clytemnestra and Ægisthus. He killed also Pyrrhus, in the temple of Apollo; because he had car ried away Hermione, the daughter of Menelaus, who was first betrothed to Orestes. Therefore the Furies tormented him; neither could he obtain deliverance from them, till he had expiated his crimes

* Ecastor, et Ædepol. id est, per ædem Castoris et Pollucis, +Passim apud Terent. Plaut. Cicer. &c.

Soph. in Electr. Eurip, in Orest.

Cic. de Amicit.

at the altar of Diana Taurica, whither he was conducted by his friend Pylades, his perpetual companion and partner in all his dangers; *their friendship was so close and sacred, that either of them would die for the other.

The goddess Diana, who was worshipped in Taurica Chersonesus, or Cherronesus, a peninsula, so called from the Tauri, an ancient people of Scythia Europæ. She was worshipped with human victims; the lives and the blood of men being sacrificed to her. When Orestes went thither, his sister Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, was priestess to Diana Taurica: she was made priestess on the following occasion.

Agamemnon, king of the Argives, was, by the common consent of the Grecians, appointed general in their expedition against Troy; and after his return home, was killed by his own wife Clytemnestra. This Agamemnon killed a deer by chance, in the country of Aulis, which belonged to Diana; the goddess was angry, and caused such a calm, that for want of wind, the Grecian ships bound for Troy, were fixed and immoveable: upon this they consulted the soothsayers, who answered, †that they must satisfy the winds, and Diana, with some of the blood of Agamemnon. Therefore Ulysses was forthwith sent to bring away Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, from her mother, by a trick, under pretence of marrying her to Achilles. While the young lady stood at the altar to be sacrificed, the goddess pitied her, and substituted a hind in her stead, and sent her to Taurica Chersonesus; where, by the order of king Thoas, she presided over those sacrifices of the goddess, which were solemnized with human blood. When Orestes was brought thither by the inhabitants to be sacrificed, he was known and preEurip. in Iphig. in Taur.

+ Eurip. in Iphip. in Taur.