!" she
repeated, "Alas!" with re-echoing voice; and when he struck his arms
with his hands, she, too, returned the like sound of a blow.

His last accents, as he looked into the water, as usual, were these:
"Ah, youth, beloved in vain!" and the spot returned just as many words;
and after he had said, "Farewell!" Echo, too, said, "Farewell!" He laid
down his wearied head upon the green grass, {when} night closed the eyes
that admired the beauty of their master; and even then, after he had
been received into the infernal abodes, he used to look at himself in
the Stygian waters. His Naiad sisters lamented him, and laid their
hair,[77] cut off, over their brother; the Dryads, too, lamented him,
{and} Echo resounded to their lamentations. And now they were preparing
the funeral pile, and the shaken torches, and the bier. The body was
nowhere {to be found}. Instead of his body, they found a yellow flower,
with white leaves encompassing it in the middle.

[Footnote 74: _Rhamnusia._--Ver. 406. Nemesis, the Goddess of
Retribution, and the avenger of crime, was the daughter of
Jupiter. She had a famous temple at Rhamnus, one of the 'pagi,' or
boroughs of Athens. Her statue was there, carved by Phidias out of
the marble which the Persians brought into Greece for the purpose
of making a statue of Victory out of it, and which was thus
appropriately devoted to the Goddess of Retribution. This statue
wore a crown, and had wings, and holding a spear of ash in the
right hand, it was seated on a stag.]

[Footnote 75: _Parian marble._--Ver. 419. Paros was an island in
the AEgean sea, one of the Cyclades; it was famous for the valuable
quality of its marble, which was especially used for the purpose
of making statues of the Gods.]

[Footnote 76: _Regard for food._--Ver. 437. 'Cereris.' The name of
the Goddess of corn is here used instead of bread itself.]

[Footnote 77: _Laid their hair._--Ver. 506. It was the custom
among the ancients for females, when lamenting the dead, not only
to cut off their hair, but to lay it on the body, when extended
upon the funeral pile.]

EXPLANATION.

If this story is based upon any historical facts, they are entirely
lost to us; as all we learn from history concerning Narcissus, is the
fact that he was a Thespian by birth. The Fable seems rather to be
intended as a useful moral lesson, disclosing the fatal effects