I. Daughter of Jupiler and Leda, sister of Castor and Pollux and of Clytemnestra, and wife of Menelaüs, who, on account of her beauty, was carried off by Paris to Troy, and thus became the cause of the Trojan war, Cic. Phil. 2, 22, 55; Verg. A. 7, 364; Ov. M. 13, 200; 14, 669; Prop. 3, 8 (4, 7), 32; 3, 14 (4, 13), 19; Hor. C. 1, 3, 2; 4, 9, 16; id. S. 1, 3, 107; Hyg. Fab. 81 and 118: “Penelope venit, abit Helene,” a Helen, Mart. 1, 62, 6.—
B. Transf., in naut. lang., a single star appearing to mariners, which was regarded as an unfavorable prognostic; while a double light, which was conceived to be favorable, was called Castor and Pollux, Plin. 2, 37, 37, § 101; cf. Stat. Th. 7, 792; id. S. 3, 2, 11.—
II. The surname of the mother of the emperor Constantine, Eutr. 10, 5; Aur. Vict. Epit. 41; Inscr. Grut. 284, 1.
