384 pfant "bore, "begeT^^/, anE "bijric/. 



Both faint, both pale and breathless now appear, 

 The boy with pain, the am'rous god with fear. 

 He ran, and rais'd him bleeding from the ground, 

 Chafes his cold limbs, and wipes the fatal wound : 

 Then herbs of noblest juice in vain applies ; 

 The wound is mortal, and his skill defies." 

 »♦♦♦♦** 

 While Phcebus thus the laws of fate reveal'd, 

 Behold the blood which stained the verdant field 

 Is blood no longer ; but a flower full blown 

 Far brighter than the Tyrian scarlet shone. 

 A Lily's form it took ; its purple hue 

 Was all that made a diff 'rence to the view. 

 Nor stopp'd he here ; the god upon its leaves 

 The sad expression of his sorrow leaves ; 

 And to this hour the mournful purple wears 

 At, Ai, inscribed in funeral characters. 

 Nor are the Spartans, who so much are famed 

 For virtue, of their Hyacinth ashamed ; 

 But still with pompous woe and solemn state. 

 The Hyacinthian feasts they yearly celebrate." — Ozill. 



The solemnities called Hyacinihia lasted three days, during which 

 the people ate no bread, but subsisted on sweetmeats, and abstained 

 from decorating their hair with garlands, as on ordinary occasions. 

 On the second day, a troop of youths entertained spectators by 

 playing upon the harp and flute, and chanting choruses in honour 

 of Apollo. Numbers appeared mounted upon richly-caparisoned 

 horses, wtio sang rustic songs, and were accompanied by a throng 

 dancing to vocal and instrumental music. Females engaged in 

 chariot races, and the most beautiful maidens, sumptuously attired, 

 drove about in splendidly adorned vehicles, singing hymns. 

 Hundreds of vicStims were offered on the altars of Apollo ; and the 

 votaries with free-handed hospitality entertained their friends and 



slaves. Many allusions are made by the poets to the mournful 



letters A I, supposed to be visible on the petals of 



" The languid Hyacinth, who wears 

 His bitter sorrows painted on his bosom." 



Hunt, after entering into the vexed question as to the particular 

 flower alluded to by Ovid, quotes a passage from Moschus, which 

 he thus translates : — 



" Now tell your story, Hyacinth, and show 

 Ai, Ai, the more amidst your sanguine woe." 



There has been much diversity of opinion expressed about the 

 Hyacinth of the ancient poets. The claims of the modern flower 

 to be the purple blossom that sprang from the blood of Hyacinthus 

 are disputed, and the general opinion is that the Martagon Lily 

 was the plant referred to by the poet. The Gladiolus and the 

 Larkspur, however, have both been named as the flower bearing 

 the expression of grief A I, A I, on the petals. Homer mentions 



