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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