Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/203

 KASTOR AND POLLUX. 171 Iheir own. To reenge and reimburse themselves, the Tyndarids invaded Messenia, placing themselves in ambush in the hollow of an ancient oak. But Ljnkeus, endued with preternatural pow- ers of vision, mounted to the top of Taygetus, from whence, as he could see over the whole Peleponnesus, he detected them in their chosen place of concealment. Such was the narrative of the ancient Cyprian Verses. Kastor perished by the hand of Idas. Lynkeus by that of Pollux. Idas, seizing a stone pillar from the tomb of his father Aphareus, hurled it at Pollux, knocked him down and stunned him ; but Zeus, interposing at the critical moment for the protection of his son, killed Idas with a thunder- bolt. Zeus would have conferred upon Pollux the gift of immor- tality, but the latter could not endure existence without his brother: he entreated permission to share the gift with Kastor, and both were accordingly permitted to live, but only on every other day. 1 The Dioskuri, or sons of Zeus, as the two Spartan heroes, Kastor and Pollux, were denominated, were recognized in the historical days of Greece as gods, and received divine honors. This is even noticed in a passage of the Odyssey, 2 which is at any rate a very old interpolation, as well as in one of the Homeric hymns. What is yet more remarkable is, that they were invoked during storms at sea, as the special and all-powerful protectors of the endangered mariner, although their attributes and their celebrity seem to be of a character so dissimilar. They were worshipped throughout most parts of Greece, but with preeminent sanctity at Sparta. Kastor and Pollux being removed, the Spartan genealogy passes from Tyndareus to Menelaus, and from him to Orestes. Originally it appears that Messene was a name for the western portion of Lacdnia, bordering on what was called Pylos : it is so represented in the Odyssey, and Ephorus seems to have included it amongst the possessions of Orestes and his descendants. 1 Cypria Carm. Fragm. 8. p. 13, Diintzcr. Lycophron, 538-566 with Schol. Apollod. iii. 11, 1. Pindar, Nem. x. 55-90. irep^fiepov u-davacriav also Homer, Odyss. xi. 302, with the Commentary of Nitzsch, vol. iii. p. 245. The combat thus ends more favorably to the Tyndarids; but probably tha account least favorable to them is the oldest, since their dignity went on con tinually increasing, until at last they became great deities. ' Odyss. xxi. 15. Diodor. xv. 66.