Helen Rescued by Castor and Pollux, Jean-Bruno Gassies, 1817

The Fateful Children of Leda

Ausonius, Epigrams 66 “De Castore, Polluce, et Helena”  Those children whom you see born From a threefold egg, assign them To doubtful fathers and doubtful Mothers, too.  For Nemesis Conceived them, but pregnant Leda Nurtured them in her womb; Tyndareus is their father And Jupiter, too: the former Thinks himself the father, The latter knows he is. Istos tergemino nasci quos cernis ab ovo, patribus ambiguis et matribus adsere natos. hos genuit Nemesis sed Leda puerpura fovit; Tyndareus pater his et Iuppiter: hic putat, hic scit.

Leda and the Swan, Jacopo Pontormo (1494-1557)