Page:Star Lore Of All Ages, 1911.pdf/289

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The appearance of the Twins, Castor and Pollux, was hailed as the harbinger of fair summer weather, and they were symbolised by the figure of two stars over a ship.

In the Acts of the Apostles we read that St. Paul sailed from Malta to Syracuse in an Alexandrian ship whose sign was Castor and Pollux, and among the Romans it was very common to place the effigies of the Twins in the prows of vessels.

Castor and Pollux became enamoured of the betrothed daughters of Leucippus, brother of Tyndarus, and resolved to supplant their rivals. A battle ensued, in which Castor killed Lynceus, and was himself killed by Idas. Pollux thereupon killed Idas, but being himself immortal, and most tenderly attached to his brother, he was unwilling to survive him. He therefore besought Jupiter to restore Castor to life. Jupiter granted his request, and made Castor immortal. Consequently as long as one was upon earth, so long was the other detained in the infernal regions, and they thus alternately lived and died every day. As Homer puts it: