The Argonautica

to heed the birds and read the signs of offerings aflame.

And Aetolian Leda sent forth mighty Polydeuces

and Castor, taught in the handling of swift-footed horses,

from Sparta; there in Tyndareus' halls she bore the twins,

her cherished sons in one birth; she did not oppose them

as they departed; she pondered counsels befitting Zeus' bed.

Then Aphareus' sons, Lynceus and proud-hearted Idas,

came out from Arene, filled with confidence in great strength,

both men; and Lynceus far excelled in keenness of eyesight,

if rumor indeed tells truth: that man, as fame reports,

could easily cast his gaze even under the earth.

Next Neleus' son Periclymenus rose to depart,

the eldest of all the sons begotten there in Pylos

of godlike Neleus; Poseidon granted boundless prowess,

and any form he prayed to take became his own

while fighting: he took that form in the close press of battle.

Then Amphidamas came, and Cepheus, both from Arcadia,

men who dwelt in Tegea and the allotted land of Apheidas,

sons of Aleus; a third companion followed close,

Ancaeus, whom his father Lycurgus sent forth on the journey,

their elder brother by birth; Lycurgus remained there

within the city to care for Aleus, now growing old,

but sent his son away to join his own two brothers.

He went clad in the hide of a great Maenalian bear,