Chapter XVIII

Hyacinthus

The youngest of the sons of the Laconian king, Amyclas, was Hyacinthus. Phoebus Apollo beheld the beautiful boy, who soon became his favorite. He sought at first to elevate him to Olympus that he might be ever near him; but a sad fate prevented this and cut him down in the very flower of his youth.

Apollo often forsook sacred Delphi in order to enjoy the company of his favorite at the river of Eurotas in the neighborhood of the unwalled city of Sparta. He left his lyre and bow and joined Hyacinthus in hunting among the hills of Taygetus. Once at noontime, when the sun was sending down its hottest rays, both threw aside their garments, anointed their bodies with oil, and began throwing the discus.

Apollo was the first to take the heavy weight and hurled it so powerfully that it pierced the clouds. He waited long for the discus to fall to earth again. Eager to imitate his teacher, the boy sprang forward to make his throw, but suddenly was felled to the earth by Apollo's discus. Apollo rushed to him and sought to animate his stiffened limbs. He wiped the blood from the dreadful wounds, applied healing balms, and sought to stay the fleeing spirit of his favorite. But it was in vain. Like a broken flower in the garden, the poor boy's head drooped, exhausted, upon Apollo's breast. Apollo called him tender names and bedewed his face with bitter tears. Oh, that he were not a god so that he might die for him!

At last he cried out: "No, sweet child, thou shalt not wholly die. As a flower thou shalt tell of my sorrow." As Apollo said this, lo, from the streaming blood which reddened the grass sprang a flower of dark lustre like Tyrian purple, lily formed upon a stalk rich in blossoms, and showing upon its little leaves in clear form the sigh of the god: "A I, A I"; that is, "Alas! Alas!"

Thus originated the Spring flower which bears the name of the favorite of the god and speedily dies as did he--a type of the transitoriness of all beautiful things on earth. In Laconia when the Summer came they always had a great festival in honor of Hyacinthus and his divine friends, the hyacinths, whereby they kept the boy in memory--sorrowfully, as one who perished early, but joyously, as one beloved of the gods and deified.

Footnotes

[1]The Titans in Greek mythology were descended from Uranus and Gaea (Heaven and Earth). In the latest legends, Titan, father of the Titans, gave up supreme power to Cronus, his younger brother, but finally regained it. He in turn was overcome by Zeus.

[2]Cronus, father of Zeus, was a Titan, and was dethroned by Zeus after he had usurped the government of the world. The Romans identified him with Saturn.

[3]Vulcan, in mythology, was the son of Jupiter and Juno.

[4]The legend also states that hope remained in the box.

[5]Oceanus in Greek mythology is typical of the ocean and stream earlier than Poseidon.

[6]Themis in mythology was the goddess of justice and peace.

[7]Doris in mythology was the wife of Nereus, a seer dwelling in the Ægean Sea, and had fifty daughters, called Nereids.

[8]The myth also states that Phaëthon had three sisters--Phaëthusa, Lampetié, and Phoebé--and that while they were lamenting Phaëthon's death, Zeus turned them into poplar trees, weeping amber instead of tears.

[9]He is also said in another myth to have been the son of Oeagrus, a Thracian river god.

[10]The muse of epic poetry.

[11]Another version of the myth relates that Aristæus, son of Apollo and Cyrene, loved Eurydice and when she repulsed him he pushed her into a wood where the serpent stung her, and that the nymphs revenged her death by the destruction of his bees.

[12]Ixion is said to have been punished by Jupiter for insulting Juno. He was struck by a thunderbolt and sent to Tartarus, where he was tied to a wheel which never ceased revolving.

[13]Sisyphus was a famous robber killed by Theseus. His punishment was to roll a great rock to the top of a hill which no sooner reached the top than it rolled down again.

[14]Ceres' daughter was Persephone, who was stolen by Pluto.

[15]In the Roman mythology, Mars.

[16]Hera is Juno in the Roman mythology.

[17]Phlegyas was the father of Ixion, and a Thessalian king.

[18]Mount Sipylus is near Smyrna.

[19]Europa, daughter of Agenor and sister of Cadmus, was abducted by Zeus, who took her to Crete. She was the mother of Minos and Rhadamanthus, judges in the lower world.

[20]Cadmus is also reputed to have been the introducer of the letters of the Greek alphabet.

[21]Eryx, a city and mountain in western Sicily, now known as Monte San Giuliano, near Palermo.

LIFE STORIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

_Translated from the German by_ GEORGE P. UPTON

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