Hyʹacinth

according to Grecian fable, was the son of Amȳclas, 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.

Still on its bloom the mournful flower retains

The lovely blue that dyed the stripling’s veins.ʹ

Camoens: Lusiad, ix.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.