half
dead, and bathing his body in his own blood, she rapidly descended, and
rent both her garments and her hair, and she smote her breast with her
distracted hands. And complaining of the Fates, she says, 'But, however,
all things shall not be in your power; the memorials of my sorrow,
Adonis, shall ever remain; and the representation of thy death, repeated
yearly, shall exhibit an imitation of my mourning. But thy blood shall
be changed into a flower. Was it formerly allowed thee, Persephone, to
change the limbs[65] of a female into fragrant mint; and shall the hero,
the son of Cinyras, {if} changed, be a cause of displeasure against me?'
Having thus said, she sprinkles his blood with odoriferous nectar,
which, touched by it, effervesces, just as the transparent bubbles are
wont to rise in rainy weather. Nor was there a pause longer than a full
hour, when a flower sprang up from the blood, of the same colour {with
it}, such as the pomegranates are wont to bear, which conceal their
seeds beneath their tough rind. Yet the enjoyment of it is but
short-lived; for the same winds[66] which give it a name, beat it down,
as it has but a slender hold, and is apt to fall by reason of its
extreme slenderness."

[Footnote 64: _In her light chariot._--Ver. 717. 'Vecta levi curru
Cytherea,' Clarke quaintly renders, 'The Cytherean Goddess riding
in her light chair.']

[Footnote 65: _To change the limbs._--Ver. 729. Proserpine was
said to have changed the Nymph, 'Mentha,' into a plant of that
name, which we call 'mint.' Some writers say that she found her
intriguing with Pluto while, according to other writers, she was
the mistress of Pollux.]

[Footnote 66: _The same winds._--Ver. 739. The flower which sprang
from the blood of Adonis was the anemone, or wind-flower, of which
Pliny the Elder says-- 'This flower never opens but when the wind
is blowing, from which too, it receives its name, as +anemos+
means the wind.' --(Book i. c. 23).]

EXPLANATION.

Theocritus, Bion, Hyginus, and Antoninus Liberalis, beside several
other authors, relate the history of the loves of Venus and Adonis.
They inform us of many particulars which Ovid has here neglected to
remark. They say that Mars, jealous of the passion which Venus had
for Adonis, implored the aid of Diana, who, to gratify his revenge,
sent the boar that destroyed the youth. According to some writers,
it was Ap