n what to them appeared an extraordinary
phenomenon. By way of embellishing their story, they tell us that Echo
was the daughter of the Air and the Tongue, and that the God Pan fell
in love with her; by which, probably, the simple fact is meant, that
some person, represented under the name of that god, endeavored to
trace the cause of this phenomenon.

If, however, we should endeavor to base the story upon purely
historical grounds, we may suppose that it took its rise from some
Nymph, who wandered so far into the woods as to be unable to find her
way out again; and from the fact that those who went to seek her,
hearing nothing but the echo of their own voices, brought back the
strange but unsatisfactory intelligence that the Nymph had been
changed into a voice.

FABLE VII. [III.402-510]

Narcissus falls in love with his own shadow, which he sees in a
fountain; and, pining to death, the Gods change him into a flower,
which still bears his name.

Thus had he deceived her, thus, too, other Nymphs that sprung from the
water or the mountains, thus the throng of youths before {them}.
Some one, therefore, who had been despised {by him}, lifting up his
hands towards heaven, said, "Thus, though he should love, let him not
enjoy what he loves!" Rhamnusia[74] assented to a prayer so reasonable.
There was a clear spring, like silver, with its unsullied waters, which
neither shepherds, nor she-goats feeding on the mountains, nor any other
cattle, had touched; which neither bird nor wild beast had disturbed,
nor bough falling from a tree. There was grass around it, which the
neighboring water nourished, and a wood, that suffered the stream to
become warm with no {rays of the} sun. Here the youth, fatigued both
with the labor of hunting and the heat, lay down, attracted by the
appearance of the spot, and the spring; and, while he was endeavoring to
quench his thirst, another thirst grew {upon him}.

While he is drinking, being attracted with the reflection of his own
form, seen {in the water}, he falls in love with a thing that has no
substance; {and} he thinks that to be a body, which is {but} a shadow.
He is astonished at himself, and remains unmoved with the same
countenance, like a statue formed of Parian marble.[75] Lying on the
ground, he gazes on his eyes {like} two stars, and fingers worthy of
Bacchus, and hair worthy of Apollo, and his youthful cheeks and ivory
neck, and the comeliness o