46. Hyacinthus

Most editors consider the last seven stories (46–52) to be later additions. Both the style of the writing and the structure of these “Pseudo-Palaephatus” stories, some of which do not actually include any kind of rationalization, are quite different from the rest of the collection. According to myth, Hyacinthus was a beautiful youth from Amyclae in Laconia. Apollo loved him, but so too, in some versions, did Zephyrus, the West Wind. When Hyacinthus preferred Apollo, Zephyrus became jealous. One day, while Apollo and Hyacinthus were exercising with a discus, Zephyrus blew the discus off course so that it struck and killed the boy. In grief, Apollo caused a flower to spring up from his blood: the hyacinth, whose petals were said to preserve letters recalling either Hyacinthus’s name or Apollo’s cry of mourning.

For the basic elements of this myth, see Lucian Dialogi Deorum 16. There are also a number of retellings of Hyacinthus’s death that omit Zephyrus, such as Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.162–219.

1

φιλότιμος ἦν ἀφ’ ὧν εἶχεν: “each was competing eagerly from whatever he had”; in other words, each god competed for Hyacinthus’s attention using whatever tools he had at his disposal. Compare Stern’s translation, “Each of them vied in his own special way.”

2

τὰ παρ’ ἐκείνου: i.e., from Apollo. Here ἐκεῖνος refers back to Apollo and οὗτος to Zephyrus; demonstratives often work this way in paired contrasts, but context decides. The article substantivizes the prepositional phrase, “the things from the former are.”

τὰ παρὰ τούτου: i.e., from Zephyrus.

3

τὸν δαίμονα: i.e., Apollo.

Ζέφυρον … ὁπλίζει πρὸς πόλεμον: the subject is Hyacinthus, who “arms” Zephyrus for (metaphorical) warfare by making him jealous.

4

ἦν γυμνασία τῷ μειρακίῳ: "there was exercise for the young man," i.e., he was exercising. τῷ μειρακίῳ is dative of possessor.

τιμωρία: supply ἦν.

5

δίσκος ἦν ὁ … διακονήσας: “It was a discus that served to.”

ὑπὸ τούτου: i.e., by Apollo.

ἀφεθείς: ptc. sing. aor. pass. masc. nom. > ἀφίημι.

ὑπ’ ἐκείνου: i.e., by Zephyrus.

ἐνεχθείς: ptc. sing. aor. pass. masc. nom. > φέρω.

6

οὐκ ἦν: “it was not possible that” + indirect statement.

τὴν Γῆν: subject accusative in indirect statement.

ἀφεῖναι: aor. infin. act. > ἀφίημι.

τοὔνομα δέχεται: i.e., the flower took its name from Hyacinthus.

            τοὔνομα: crasis for τὸ ὄνομα.

7

καὶ: adverbial.

τῆς προσηγορίας … τὸ προοίμιον: the upsilon (Υ) of Ὑάκινθος is visible on the petals of the Hyacinthus flower.