Metapontus threatened her that if she did not give birth to heirs, he would drive her out of his kingdom, so Theano tasked some servants to find her an infant she could pass as her own.
[5][6] But as fate had it, Theano soon fell pregnant and was delivered of twin boys of her own, but Metapontus continued to favour those he deemed his ‘firstborns’, who grew to be very handsome.
[8] When all four had gone to the mountains, Theano's sons did as told, but Aeolus and Boeotus were able to overpower and kill them with the aid of their biological father Poseidon.
[4] Aeolus and Boeotus would eventually learn the truth from Poseidon himself and reunite with their mother Melanippe, who then married the widowed Metapontus and became the new queen of Icaria.
[10] Although Hyginus writes 'Icaria', the setting of the events must have been Italia (particularly the region of Bruttium and south Lucania), in accordance with other versions and the town of Metapontium being situated there.