GRECIAN MYTHOLOGY. 107 
ing the Phorminx, an ancient stringed instrument resembling the modern 
harp (pl. 28, jig. 4); or holds some other instrument (pl. 15, fig. 11). As 
Nomios, the pastoral god, he is seated on a rock, tending the flocks of king 
Admetos ; the mantle is spread beneath him, the lyre in his right hand, and 
near him the shepherd’s crook (pl. 28, jig. 2). We have also copied a 
beautiful bust of this god (pl. 28, fig. 1), where the hair is heavy and long; 
and another (pl. 18, fig. 14) in which the hair is parted and lies close to the 
head. 
The myths of Apollo rank among the most interesting of antiquity, 
and many incidents connected with his history have been made the 
subjects of excellent works of art. We have already described the peril 
attending him while Python pursued his mother Leto, and now only add 
that while he sat with his sister on the arm of the trembling fugitive, he 
reached with his little hand for the monster as though it were a toy (pi. 20, 
jig. 5). His first employment was that of a herdsman. While a boy he 
tended the sacred cattle of the gods, and at a later period the horses of 
Eumotlos, and the cattle on Mount Ida. For a long time also after his 
expulsion from Olympos by Zeus, he guarded the cattle of Admetos king of 
Phere, and during this time rendered his master important services. The 
king loved Alcestis, daughter of Pelias, but could obtain her only on the con- 
dition of visiting her in a chariot drawn by a lion and a boar; and Apollo 
taught him how to tame and harness these animals, when he received his 
bride from the astonished father, and formed with her a happy alliance. 
While young, Apollo had the misfortune accidentally to kill two of his 
best friends. Wyacinthos, son of king Amyclas, was his favorite, with whom 
he frequently practised in games of skill. PJ. 28, fig. 3, represents the noble 
boy leaning against a tree, and near him his divine friend. Once, however, 
while they were exercising with the quoit, Zephyrus (west wind), who 
envied the boy the favor of the god, turned aside the disk of Apollo, so that 
it struck Hyacinthos on the temple and killed him instantly. Inconsolable 
at his loss, the god caused the hyacinth to spring up and bloom on the spot 
where his favorite fell. 
His other friend, Cyparissos, had tamed a doe which he prized very highly. 
Apollo, while hunting, either through mistake or ignorance shot it, where- 
upon Cyparissos died of grief. Apollo immediately changed the friend for 
whom he mourned into a cypress, and this tree has ever since been regarded 
as the symbol of grief for departed loved ones. 
While most of Apollo’s numerous love-suits proved fortunate, some were 
disastrous. Among others he strongly loved Coronis, the sister of Jzion, 
the most lovely of the Thessalonian maidens, and felt assured that she 
reciprocated his passion. By means of the prudent raven, of whose pro- 
phetic powers Apollo availed himself, and which is represented perched on 
the lid of the caldron on the sacred tripod (pl. 17, jig. 28), he discovered 
that Coronis was deluding him, and secretly favoring Jschys, son of Elatus. 
In a fit of exasperation he slew the faithless one with an arrow, and because 
the raven had not earlier warned him of the deception, or else persisted in 
its silence, he changed his white plumage to black. Not less unpropitious 
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