Idyll 22

22. The Dioscuri We sing of the two sons of Leda and of Zeus, lord of the aegis,

Castor, and Polydeuces, dread to provoke in boxing

when he has bound his hands amid the thongs of oxhide.

Twice and a third time we sing the male children

of the Thestiad maiden, the two Lacedaemonian brothers,

saviors of men when they are already on the razor's edge,

and of horses thrown into confusion in the bloody throng,

and of ships that, defying the setting and the rising

stars of heaven, have met with cruel gales.

The winds raise a great wave against their stern,

or from the prow, or wherever each wind's will is,

and fling it into the hold, and shatter both

the sides; and all the tackle hangs with the sail,

snapped off at random; and much rain pours from heaven

as night comes on; and the wide sea roars,

beaten by the blasts and the unbreaking hail.

But even so you draw the ships up from the deep,

with the very sailors who thought they would die;

and at once the winds cease, and a shining calm

is over the sea; and the clouds run apart this way and that;

and the Bears appear, and between the Asses the dim

Manger, betokening all fair weather for sailing.

O helpers of mortals, both of you, both dear,

horsemen, lyre-players, athletes, singers;

shall I begin to sing first of Castor, or of Polydeuces?

Hymning both, I will sing first of Polydeuces.

Now Argo, having escaped the rocks that clash into one

and the deadly mouth of snowy Pontus,

came to the Bebrycians, bearing the dear children of the gods.

There down a single ladder from both

sides of Jason's ship many men descended.

Going ashore upon the deep sand and the sheltered beach

they spread their beds and worked the fire-sticks in their hands.

But Castor of the swift colts and ruddy Polydeuces

both wandered alone, straying from their comrades,

gazing on the wild woodland of every kind upon the mountain.

They found an ever-flowing spring under a smooth rock,

filled with water unpolluted; and below

the pebbles showed like crystal and silver

from the depth; and tall pines grew near,

and white poplars and plane-trees and tufted cypresses,

and fragrant flowers, dear works to the shaggy bees,

all that teem over the meadows at the ending of spring.

There a monstrous man sat in the open,

dread to behold, his ears crushed with hard fists;

his huge chest was rounded, and his back broad,

with iron flesh, like a hammered colossus.

And on his solid arms, below the top of the shoulder,

the muscles stood like rounded boulders, which a torrent

river, rolling them, has polished round in its great eddies;

and over his back and neck there hung,

slung by the paws, a lion's skin.

To him first the prize-winning Polydeuces spoke.

Polydeuces

Hail, stranger, whoever you are. What men are these, whose land is this?

Amycus

How am I to be glad, when I see men I have not seen before?

Polydeuces

Take heart. Do not think you look on unjust men or on the sons of unjust men.

Amycus

I take heart, and it is not from you that I need to learn that.

Polydeuces

Are you savage, ill-tempered toward all, or insolent?

Amycus

Such as you see; and at least I do not trespass on your land.

Polydeuces

Come, then, and having had a guest's gifts you may go home again.

Amycus

Do not entertain me, and what is from me is not ready either.

Polydeuces

Strange man, would you not even give me a drink of this water?

Amycus

You will know it, if thirst parches your dry lips.

Polydeuces

Silver, or what is the price, tell me, by which we might persuade you?

Amycus

Raise your hands, one against one, standing face to face with your man.

Polydeuces

A boxer, or one who strikes the leg too with the foot?

Amycus

. . . With your eyes straight ahead,

strain at the boxing, and do not spare your skill.

Polydeuces

And who is he against whom I am to set my hands and my thongs?

Amycus

You see him near; the boxer will not be called a woman.

Polydeuces

And is there a prize ready, for which we two shall contend?

Amycus

I shall be yours, and you shall be called mine, if I win.

Polydeuces

Such are the battles of crested cocks.

Amycus

Then, whether we are like cocks or lions,

we will not fight for any other prize.

So spoke Amycus, and taking a hollow shell he blew a blast.

And quickly the long-haired Bebrycians gathered

beneath the shady plane-trees at the blowing of the shell.

So too Castor, preeminent in war, went and called

all the heroes from the Magnesian ship.

And when they had strengthened their hands with thongs

of oxhide and wound the long straps about their arms,

they came together into the midst, breathing slaughter at each other.

There much labor befell them in their eagerness,

which of them should get the light of the sun behind his back;

by your skill you slipped past the great man, Polydeuces,

and all the face of Amycus was struck by the rays.

But he, angered in his heart, rushed forward,

aiming with his hands. As he came on, the son of Tyndareus

struck the tip of his chin; and he was stirred more than before,

and joined battle in confusion, and bore down heavily, leaning

toward the ground. The Bebrycians cheered, and on the other side

the heroes encouraged mighty Polydeuces,

fearing lest somehow, bearing down on him, he might overpower him

in the narrow space, a man like Tityus.

But the son of Zeus, taking his stand here and there,

cut him with both hands by turns, and checked the rush

of the son of Poseidon, overweening as he was.

He stood reeling with the blows, and spat out crimson

blood; and all the chiefs together shouted,

as they saw the grievous wounds about his mouth and jaws;

and his eyes were narrowed in his swollen face.

Then the lord confounded him, feinting idly with his hands

on every side; but when he saw him at a loss,

he drove his fist above the middle of his nose, beneath the brow,

and tore all his forehead to the bone. And he, struck,

was stretched on his back among the flourishing leaves.

There a bitter fight arose again when he stood up;

and they slew each other, smiting with the hard thongs.

But he, the chief of the Bebrycians, plied his hands

at the chest and outside the neck; while with unsightly blows

the unconquered Polydeuces mangled all his face.

And his flesh shrank with sweat, and from a great man

he soon became small; while the other ever bore limbs

grown sturdier as the toil went on, and better in color.

How then did the son of Zeus bring down the gluttonous man?

Tell, goddess, for you know; and I, the interpreter of others,

will speak as you will, and however it is dear to you yourself.

Now he, longing to do some great deed,

seized with his left the left hand of Polydeuces,

leaning aside from his guard, and stepping in with the other

he brought up his broad fist from his right flank.

And had it reached him, he would have hurt the king of Amyclae;

but he ducked his head aside, and with his strong hand at the same time

struck him under the left temple and threw his weight on the shoulder;

and the black blood gushed swiftly from the gaping temple;

and with his left he smote the mouth, and the close-set teeth rattled;

and ever with a sharper rain of blows he marred the face,

until he crushed the cheeks. And on the ground he lay

senseless, and held up both his hands together,

renouncing the fight, since he was near to death.

And though you had the mastery, you did him no wanton wrong,

boxer Polydeuces; but he swore you a great oath,

calling on his father Poseidon out of the sea,

never again of his own will to be grievous to strangers.

And so you are hymned by me, lord. And you, Castor, I will sing,

son of Tyndareus, swift with the colts, spear-wielder, bronze-armored.

The two sons of Zeus had snatched up and were carrying off

the two daughters of Leucippus; and the two of them in turn,

the brother sons of Aphareus, were pursuing them hotly,

the bridegrooms-to-be, Lynceus and mighty Idas.

But when they came to the tomb of dead Aphareus,

all together they leapt from their chariots upon each other,

weighed down with spears and hollow shields.

And Lynceus spoke out, shouting loud from beneath his helmet:

Strange men, why are you so eager for battle? How are you so harsh

over other men's brides, with bare swords in your hands?

To us Leucippus betrothed these his daughters,

to us long before; this marriage was sworn to us;

but you, against all decency, with other men's beds in view,

with cattle and mules and other goods

have turned the man aside, and stolen the marriage with gifts.

Truly, often before to your faces, to both of you,

I myself said this, though I am no man of many words:

It is not thus, dear men, that it befits chiefs

to woo wives for whom bridegrooms are already ready.

Wide is Sparta, wide is Elis where horses run,

and Arcadia rich in flocks, and the cities of the Achaeans,

and Messene and Argos and all the Sisyphian shore;

there are reared, beneath their own parents,

countless girls, lacking neither in form nor in sense.

Of these it is easy for you to marry whichever you wish;

for many would wish to be the fathers-in-law of good men;

and you are distinguished among all heroes,

both your fathers and, from above, all your fathers' blood.

But, friends, let this marriage come to its end

for us; and for you two let us all devise another.

Many such things I urged, but they went off into the wet wave,

borne by the wind's breath, and no grace followed my words.

For you two are not to be charmed, and are pitiless. But even now

be persuaded; for both of you are our cousins on the father's side.

But if your hearts long for war, and we must

break out the kindred strife and bathe our spears in blood,

then let Idas, and my own brother, mighty Polydeuces,

hold back their hands from the hateful fray,

and let us two, I and Castor, decide it in battle,

being the younger born. And let us not leave too great a grief

for our parents. Enough is one corpse from one house;

and the rest, all of them, will gladden their comrades,

bridegrooms instead of corpses, and will wed these

girls; with a small evil it is fitting to end a great quarrel.

So he spoke; and the god was not to make his words vain.

For the two who were the elder in birth took the armor

from their shoulders to the ground; and Lynceus came into the midst,

shaking his strong spear beneath the rim of his shield;

and so likewise Castor leveled the sharp points

of his spear; and the plumes nodded on both their crests.

First with their spears, aiming, they had labor

with each other, if anywhere they might see a part of the flesh bared.

But the spear-points, before they had hurt either man,

were broken, fixed in the dread shields.

Then both, drawing their swords from the scabbard, again

wrought slaughter on each other; and there was no respite from the fight.

Many a thrust at the broad shield and the horsehair-crested helmet

Castor made, and many a thrust, exact of eye, did Lynceus make

at the other's shield, and his point reached only as far as the crimson crest.

But Castor lopped off the tip of his hand at the wrist

as he carried the sharp sword, stepping up under it with his left

foot; and Lynceus, struck, dropped his sword, and at once turned to flee

toward his father's tomb, where mighty Idas

lay leaning and watched the kindred battle of the men.

But the son of Tyndareus, darting after him, drove the broad sword

clean through his flank and his navel; and the bronze at once

scattered his entrails within; and Lynceus fell forward on his face,

and heavy sleep ran down upon his eyelids.

Nor indeed did Laocoosa see the other of her sons

at his father's hearth accomplishing a happy marriage.

For Messenian Idas, swiftly tearing up the standing pillar

from the tomb of Aphareus,

was about to hurl it at the slayer of his own brother;

but Zeus came to the rescue, and struck the carved marble

from his hands, and consumed Idas himself with the flaming thunderbolt.

So it is no light thing to war against the sons of Tyndareus.

They themselves prevail, and they are sprung from one who prevailed.

Hail, children of Leda, and to our hymns send

ever a noble glory; for dear are all singers

to the sons of Tyndareus and to Helen and to the other heroes

who laid Ilium waste, helping Menelaus.

For you, lords, the Chian singer wrought renown,

hymning the city of Priam and the ships of the Achaeans

and the battles of Ilium and Achilles, that tower of the war-cry;

and to you I too bring the soothing strains of the clear-voiced Muses,

such as they themselves provide and as my house affords.

And of all gifts to the gods, songs are the fairest.