But misfortune appeared to cling to all who were favoured by Apollo, for as
they played at quoits with Zephyr, the latter fired by jealousy, blew the
quoit of Apollo on the forehead of the unhappy mortal, who fell dead upon
the green turf on which they were playing; while his blood sinking into the
ground, produced the flower which still bears his name.
[Illustration]
"Flower! with a curious eye we scan
Thy leaf, and there discover
How passion triumphed--pain began--
Or in the immortal, or the man,
The hero, or the lover.
"The disk is hurled:--ah! fatal flight!
Low droops that beauteous brow:
But oh! the Delian's pang! his light
Of joy lies quenched in sorrow's night:
The deathless record _thou_.
"Or, do they tell, these mystic signs,
The self destroyer's madness?
Phrensy, ensanguined wreaths entwines:
The sun of chivalry declines;--
The wreck of glory's gladness!"
Apollo was so disconsolate at the death of Hyacinth, that, as we have seen,
he changed his blood into a flower which bore his name, and placed his body
among the constellations. {39}
The Spartans established yearly festivals in his honour, which continued
for three days; they did not adorn their hair with garlands during their
festivals, nor eat bread, but fed only upon sweetmeats. They did not even
sing Paeans in honour of Apollo, or observe any of the solemnities usual at
other sacrifices.
----"Pitying the sad death
Of Hyacinthus when the cruel breath
Of Zephyr slew him, Zephyr, penitent,
Who now, ere Phoebus mounts the firmament,
Fondles the flower amid the sobbing rain."