Brewer's: Hyacinth

according to Grecian fable, was the son of Amyclas, a Spartan king. The lad was beloved by Apollo and Zephyr, and as he preferred the sun-god, Zephyr drove Apollo's quoit at his head, and killed him. The blood became a flower, and the petals are inscribed with the boy's name. (Virgil Eclogues, iii. 106.)

The hyacinth bewrays the doleful `A I, And culls the tribute of Apollo's sigh. Scill on its bloom the mournful flower retains The lovely blue that dyed the stripling's veins.

Camoens: Lusiad, ix.

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