114 THE WONDER-BOOK OF HORSES 



pursued them right and left, and paused not until 

 the victory was assured. But when we looked 

 around for the princely pair that had led us so 

 valiantly, they were nowhere to be fovind; they 

 had vanished as suddenly as they had come 

 among us. It is to them that all honor is due for 

 saving Rome, and did I but know their names 

 they should not want for a fitting monument." 

 Then Sergius, the pontiff, rose and spoke: 

 " Romans," said he, " the gods have been with 

 us, and it is they who have saved our city and 

 our homes. These white strangers are the great 

 twin brethren, Castor and Pollux, and the white 

 horses which they rode are the immortal steeds 

 Cyllarus and Harpagus ; and we shall be wanting 

 in gratitude if we fail to give them due honor." 

 Thereupon the dictator, Aulus Postumius Al- 

 binus, vowed to build a temple to the Great Twin 

 Brethren, on that spot where they paused to wash 

 their steeds — and there, as you see, it stands to- 

 day. And every year, on the ides of Quintilis, 

 the Roman equites, mounted on their best horses, 

 ride in procession through the streets to the door 

 of the temple, and all the people delight in honor- 

 ing the memory of Castor and Pollux and their 

 two gallant steeds, Cyllarus and Harpagus. 



