Lives of Alcyone

Nevertheless it was to the eldest son that the father booked to
mend the fortunes of his house, not by his own exertions, but by a
fortunate chance. Pollux happened to have been born at a certain
conjunction of the planets, on the name-day of the local ruler; and
consequently by the advice of his astrologers that ruler had
bequeathed great wealth to him, though he had seen him only as a
baby, and knew little of his later life. In all ways, therefore, Alcyone
had to be sacrificed to Pollux; for example, when they grew up
Alcyone fell deeply in love and wished to marry, but could not do so
because Pollux, being the eldest, must marry, in order to carry on
the family, and a brave show must be made at his wedding, and
there was not money enough for two.
So Pollux married Adrona, but did not long remain faithful to
her; he got himself entangled in some disreputable transactions and
finally disappeared with another woman (Melpo). The father felt that
all this bad behaviour of Pollux, and also his disappearance, must at
any cost be kept from the knowledge of the Raja, lest he should
withdraw his legacy; so he ordered Alcyone to personate Pollux
(which he could easily do, as there was a close resemblance
between them), and, though this was most distasteful to him, he had
to obey.
So it was given out that it was Alcyone who had gone on a
journey, and that, because of that, Pollux had to change his mode of
life and stay more at home, Alcyone entirely avoided the friends and
the haunts of Pollux, and in this way escaped detection. He held the
position of Pollux for some years, and gradually built up for him a
reputation vastly better than his own. He entirely declined however
to take his brother’ s wife, as the father wished him to do. When