\n\tHylas <\/em>is a member of the expedition of the Argonauts <\/em>to search the Golden Fleece<\/em>; at some point, they have made landfall in the country Cio <\/em>for the night; Hylax <\/em>goes to fetch water for dinner; Nymphs <\/em>of the river, loved by the young warrior, kidnapped and immersed him in water; his companions, especially his friend Hercules <\/em>captivated by her beauty, come to look for, but they do not found him; the ship continues its course, leaving Hercules <\/em>to land, who then walk to Colchis<\/em>; Later they will know the truth of what happened; Hylas<\/em>, kidnapped by the Nymphs<\/em>, had become a divine being.<\/p>\n \n\tThis myth of the Nymphs, Ondinas, Naiad, Nereids<\/em>, dancing in the water where they live or in nearby meadows, and snatching mortals who have the misfortune of seeing them, has even reached our time in beliefs or folklore, such as the Asturian Xanas<\/em> in Spain..<\/p>\n \n\tThe myth already appears in the literature of V century BC and it is popular in the Hellenistic period. They are well known in the versions of Theocritus Idyll XIII<\/em> and in Apollonius of Rhodes<\/em> in the Argonautica<\/em>. Interestingly it does not appear in the paintings of the attics or Sicilian Greek<\/em> vases.<\/p>\n \n\tI reproduce the version of Theocritus<\/em> and leave to the end of the article the very large and interesting version of Apollonius<\/em> to ease the text.<\/p>\n \n\tTheocritus, Idyl XIII. Hylas<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tFrom what god soever sprung, Nicias, Love was not, as we seem to think, born for us alone; nor first unto us of mortal flesh that cannot see the morrow, look things of beauty beautiful. For Amphitryon’s brazen-heart son that braved the roaring lion, he too once loved a lad, to wit the beauteous Hylas of the curly locks, and even as father his son, had taught him all the lore that made himself a good man and brought him fame; and would never leave him, neither if Day had risen to the noon, nor when Dawn’s white steeds first galloped up in to the home of Zeus, nor yet when the twittering chickens went scurrying at the flapping of their mother’s wings to their bed upon the smoky hen-roost. This did he that he might have the lad fashioned to his mind, and that pulling a straight furrow from the outset the same might come to be a true man.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \n\tNow when Jason son of Aeson was to go to fetch the Golden Fleece with his following of champions that were chosen of the best out of all the cities in the land, then came there with them to the rich Iolcus the great man of toil who was son of the high-born Alcmena of Midea, and went down with Hylas at his side to that good ship Argo, even to her that speeding ungrazed clean through the blue Clappers, ran into Phasis bay as an eagle into a great gulf whereafter those Clappers have stood still, reefs ever more.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \n\tAnd at the rising of the Pleiads, what time of the waning spring the young lambs find pasture in the uplands, then it was that that divine flower of hero-folk was minded of its voyaging, and taking seat in the Argo’s hull came after two days’ blowing of the Southwind to the Hellespont, and made haven within Propontis at the spot where furrow is broadened and share brightened by the oxen of the Cianians. Being gone forth upon the strand, as for their supper they were making it ready thwart by thwart; but one couch was strown them for all, for they found to their hand a meadow that furnished good store of litter, and thence did cut them taper rushes and tall bedstraw.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \n\tMeanwhile the golden-haired Hylas was gone to bring water against supper for his own Heracles and for the valiant Telamon – for they two did ever eat together at a common board – bone with a brazen ewer. Ere long he espied a spring; in a hollow it lay, whereabout there grew many herbs, as well blue swallow-wort and fresh green maidenhair as blooming parsley and tangled deergrass. Now in the midst of the water there was a dance of the Nymphs afoot, of those Nymphs who, like the water, take no rest, those Nymphs who are the dread Goddesses of the country-folk, Eunica to wit and Malis and Nycheia with the springtime eyes. And there, when the lad put forth the capacious pitcher in haste to dip it in, lo! with one accord they all clung fast to his arm, because love of the young Argive had fluttered all their render breasts. And down he sank into the black water headlong, as when a falling star will sink headlong in the main and a mariner cry to his shipmates ‘Hoist away, my lads; the breeze freshens.’ Then took the Nymphs the weeping lad upon their knees and offered him comfort of gentle speech.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \n\tMeantime the son of Amphitryon was grown troubled for the child, and gone forth with that bow of his that was bent Scythian-wise and the cudgel that was ever in the grasp of his right hand. Thrice cried he on Hylas as loud as his deep throttle could belch sound; thrice likewise did the child make answer, albeit his voice came thin from the water and he that was hard by seemed very far away. When a fawn cries in the hills, some ravening lion will speed from his lair to get him a meal so ready; and even so went Heracles wildly to and fro amid the pathless brake, and covered much country because of his longing for the child. As lovers know no flinching, so endless was the toil of his wandering by wood and wold, and all Jason’s business was but a by-end. And all the while the ship stood tackle aloft, and so far as might be, laden, and the heroes passed thee night a-clearing of the channel, waiting upon Heracles. But he alas! was running whithersoever his feet might carry him, in a frenzy, the god did rend so cruelly the heart within him.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \n\tThus came fairest Hylas to be numbered of the Blest, and the heroes to gird at Heracles for a deserter because he wandered and left the good ship of the thirty thwarts. Nevertheless he made the inhospitable land of the Colchians afoot.<\/strong><\/em> (Translated by J.M. Edmonds)<\/p>\n \n\tThey are numerous texts and ancient references to this myth; I reproduce any of them:<\/p>\n \n\tApollonius of Rhodes<\/em> tells us in the Argonautica, I, 1171-1357<\/em>: I reproduce it at the end of this article. It is a very interesting text that gives a slightly different version.<\/p>\n \n\tVirgil <\/em>makes a quick reference to it on the Eclogue VI, 40 et seq .:<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tHinc lapides Pyrrhae iactos, Saturnia regna, \n\tThen sang he of the stones by Pyrrha cast, \n\tOvid also on Ars amandi, II,110<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tSis licet antiquo Nireus adamatus Homero, \n\tThough you should be Nireus,be praised by ancient Homer, and the charming Hylas, carried off by the criminality of the Naiads; that you may retain your mistress, and not have to wonder that you are deserted, add the endowments of the mind to the advantages of the person<\/em><\/strong>. (Translator: Henry T. Riley)<\/p>\n \n\tPropertius<\/em>, inspired by Apolonius and Theocritus<\/em>, writes the poem Elegies, I,20:<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tHoc pro continuo te, Galle, monemus amore, \n\tAddressed to Gallus<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \n\tI make you this warning, Gallus, in favor of continuous love \n\tThe version of Apollonius<\/em>, which I reproduce below, inspired several poets of the Flavian <\/em>period. Valerius Flaccus, III, 545-564; Martial VI, 68.9; VII, 15.1 to 1; IX, 65.14. Statius: Silvae, I, 5.22; III, 4, 42-43.<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tValerius Flaccus Argonautica, III, 545-564:<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tSo saying she puts up a swift hart through the trackless brushwood, all lofty-antlered, right in the lad’s path. By tardy flight and lengthy halt it challenges his ardour, and provokes him to content in speed of foot. Hylas adventures, and madly afire for so near a quarry, gives chase, while Alcides looking after him urges him on with cheering cry. And now both are out of sight, when as the boy presses on and with weary arm threatens a shot the stag leads him far onward to where a bright fountain gushes forth, and himself with light bound springs clear over the pool. Thus is the lad’s hope baffled nor is he fain to struggle farther; and since sweat had bathed his limbs sand labouring breast, he greedily sinks beside the pleasant stream. Even as the light that shifts and plays upon a lake, when Cynthia looks forth from heaven or the bright wheel of Phoebus in mid course passes by, so doth he shed a gleam upon the waters; he heeds not the shadow of the Nymph or her hair or the sound of her as she rises to embrace him. Greedily casting her arms about him, as he calls, alack! too late for help and utters the name of his mighty friend, she draws him down; for her strength is aided by his falling weight.<\/strong><\/em> (TRANSLATED BY J. H. MOZLEY )<\/p>\n \n\tsic ait et celerem frondosa per avia cervum \n\tMartial <\/em>also makes reference to it on several occasions, for example in VI, 68<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tLXVIII. TO CASTRICUS, ON THE DEATH OF THE YOUNG EUTYCHUS.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \n\tBewail your crime, you Naiads, bewail it through the whole Lucrine lake, and may Thetis herself hear your mourning! Eutychus, your sweet inseparable companion, Castricus, has been snatched away from you, and has perished amid the waters of Bais. He was the partner and kind consoler of all your cares: he was the delight, the Alexis, of our poet. Was it that the amorous nymph saw your charms exposed beneath the crystal waves, and thought that she was sending back Hylas to Hercules? Or has Salmacis at length left her effeminate Hermaphroditus, attracted by the embrace of a tender but vigorous youth? Whatever it may be, whatever the cause of a bereavement so sudden, may the earth and the water, I pray, be propitious to you.<\/strong><\/em> (anonymous translation published in the Bohn edition)<\/p>\n \n\tFlete nefas vestrum, sed toto flete Lucrino, \n\tMartial, VII,15<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tTO ARGYNNUS.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \n\tWhat boy is this that retreats from the sparkling waters of Ianthis, and flees from the Naiad their mistress? Is it Hylas? Well is it that Hercules is honoured in this wood, and that he so closely watches these waters. You may minister at these fountains, Argynnus, in security; the Nymphs will do you no harm; beware lest the guardian himself should wish to do so.<\/strong><\/em> (anonymous translation published in the Bohn edition)<\/p>\n \n\tQuis puer hic nitidis absistit Ianthidos undis? \n\tStatius, Silvae, I,5,22<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tite. deae virides, liquidosque advertite vultus \n\tYou, who with guilt have defamed the honour of the streams, I care not to solicit: far hence remove thou, O Salmacis, with thy deceiving fount, and the river of Cebrenis left forlorn, that grief made dry, and the ravisher of Hercules’ young ward!”But ye Nymphs who dwell in Latium and on the Seven Heights and make Thybris swell with your fresh waters, ye whom headlong Anio delights and the Maiden destined to welcome the swimmer, and Marcia that brings down the Marsian snow and cold, ye whose travelling waves flood through the lofty masonry and are carried high in air over countless arches-<\/strong><\/em> (Translated by J.H.Mozley. The Loeb Classical Library)<\/p>\n \n\tStatius Silvae III, 4, 40 ss.<\/em><\/p>\n \n\t… cedet tibi Latmius ultro \n\t…Straightway will the Latmiam yield to thee, and the Sangarian youth,and he whom the fruitless image in the fountain and barren love consumed. The Nymph of the dark-blue water would have preferred thee,and grasped thy urn and drawn thee doen more boldly. Thou, boy,dost surpass them all; only he to whom I shall give thee is more beautiful.<\/strong><\/em> (Translated by J.H.Mozley. The Loeb Classical Library)<\/p>\n \n\tAlthough, as I said, this ground of Hylas does not appear in the paintings of Greek <\/em>vases of Attica <\/em>or Sicily<\/em>, itself stucco reliefs instead it appears profusely in wall paintings, in stucco reliefs, in sculptural reliefs, on works of gold and especially in mosaics, which have been preserved better. All these representations are spread over several sites and appear between the beginning of the empire and the V century, totaling no less than forty. Of course it was an oft-repeated theme in mosaics adorning the mansions of the rich men at the time. We found it in Italy, Africa, Hispania, Gaul.<\/em>..<\/p>\n \n\tThere are more than fifteen in the vicinity of Pompeii <\/em>and Herculaneum <\/em>and Stabiae<\/em>, (where especially the murals paintings are ). Mosaics appear in Saint Colombe<\/em> in France<\/em>, in Thina <\/em>in Carthage<\/em>, Constantine <\/em>and Djemila <\/em>in Algeria<\/em>, Volubilis <\/em>in Morocco<\/em>, at various points in Rome <\/em>(Via Appia, Bassus Iunius Basilica, Via Flaminia at the tomb of the Nasoni<\/em>). They appear sculptural reliefs, coins, etc.<\/p>\n \n\tThat it was why the theme of pictures of some painters, we also deduct from Petronius <\/em>in his Satyricon, 83<\/em>, where a painting of the Greek painter Apelles <\/em>with this motive is described, though it may well just be a literary creation without which there had been a painting about we know nothing more:<\/p>\n \n\tPetronius, Satyricon, 83<\/em>:<\/p>\n \n\tI took a walk through all the public arcades and) entered a picture-gallery, which contained a wonderful collection of pictures in various styles. I beheld works from the hand of Zeuxis, still undimmed by the passage of the years, and contemplated, not without a certain awe, the crude drawings of Protogenes, which equalled the reality of nature herself; but when I stood before the work of Apelles, the kind which the Greeks call "Monochromatic," verily, I almost worshipped, for the outlines of the figures were drawn with such subtlety of touch, and were so life-like in their precision, that you would have thought their very souls were depicted. Here, an eagle was soaring into the sky bearing the shepherd of Mount Ida to heaven; there, the comely Hylas was struggling to escape from the embrace of the lascivious Naiad. Here, too, was Apollo, cursing his murderous hand and adorning his unstrung lyre with the flower just created. Standing among these lovers, which were only painted, "It seems that even the gods are wracked by love," I cried aloud, as if I were in a wilderness. "Jupiter could find none to his taste, even in his own heaven, so he had to sin on earth, but no one was betrayed by him! The nymph who ravished Hylas would have controlled her passion had she thought Hercules was coming to forbid it. Apollo recalled the spirit of a boy in the form of a flower, and all the lovers of Fable enjoyed Love's embraces without a rival, but I took as a comrade a friend more cruel than Lycurgus!<\/strong><\/em>" (translation by W. C. Firebaugh)<\/p>\n \n\tIn pinacothecam perveni vario genere tabularum mirabilem. Nam et Zeuxidos manus vidi nondum vetustatis iniuria victas, et Protogenis rudimenta cum ipsius naturae veritate certantia non sine quodam horrore tractavi. Jam vero Apellis quam Graeci mon(kthmon appellant, etiam adoravi. Tanta enim subtilitate extremitates imaginum erant ad similitudinem praecisae, ut crederes etiam animorum esse picturam. Hinc aquila ferebat caelo sublimis Idaeum, illinc candidus Hylas repellebat improbam Naida. Damnabat Apollo noxias manus lyramque resolutam modo nato flore honorabat. Inter quos etiam pictorum amantium vultus tanquam in solitudine exclamavi: "Ergo amor etiam deos tangit. Iuppiter in caelo suo non invenit quod diligeret, sed peccaturus in terris nemini tamen iniuriam fecit. Hylan Nympha praedata temperasset amori suo, si venturum ad interdictum Herculem credidisset. Apollo pueri umbram revocavit in florem, et omnes fabulae quoque sine aemulo habuerunt complexus. At ego in societatem recepi hospitem Lycurgo crudeliorem."<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tThe mosaics usually decorate the rooms according to what they represent. So it is logical that the Muses <\/em>or Graces <\/em>adorn spaces dedicated to literary or artistic delight, that mosaics depicting hunting scenes decorate large salons of rich and idle landowners; that paintings or referring to love mosaics decorate more intimate spaces, such as bedrooms.<\/p>\n \n\tThe abduction of Hylas <\/em>by the Nymphs <\/em>has various interpretations. The most obvious, if not the only, seems certainly the rapture of love; Hylas <\/em>was abducted by the force of love, by passion. Moreover, on several occasions this theme appears along with other of certain similarity: Artemis <\/em>and Actaeon<\/em>, Pyramus <\/em>and Thisbe<\/em>, Amymone <\/em>and Poseidon<\/em>, Narcissus<\/em>, nymphs <\/em>and satyrs<\/em>, Selene <\/em>and Endymion<\/em>, etc. This was a commonplace in antiquity, and the first apologists and church fathers, as I will say later, criticize and often grouped them. Clearly, if the scene appears in a sarcophagus, it seems more logical to interpret as abduction by the gods after death, as the way of life to the world of the dead.<\/p>\n \n\tIn his pictorial or musivarish representation there are numerous variations, but also some iconographic and compositional unity, quasi fossilized: Hylas <\/em>with the pitcher at the banks of the river or lake, a fully bent knee, resting on a rock, while the other leg, stretched, is in the water, anticipating the time of the fall; the nymphs taking his arms, at other times the legs or torso. \n\tIn Spain <\/em>there have been found several mosaics depicting the myth in Los Villares<\/em>, near the La Bañeza<\/em> in Leon<\/em>, in Carranque <\/em>and in Italica<\/em>. I will devote specially my attention to this latter by its special features.<\/p>\n \n\t \n\tMosaic Hylas and the Nymphs. Quintana del Marco (Provincial Archaeological Museum of León).<\/em><\/p>\n \n\t \n\tRoman Villa of Carranque (Toledo. Spain<\/em>)<\/p>\n \n\tThe myth appears in Italica as the central emblem of a geometric mosaic of great dimension. It was first interpreted as the god Neptune <\/em>or Neaereus<\/em>; later García Bellido<\/em> then definitively identified it as the abduction of Hylas<\/em>. In 1962 it was transferred to the Archaeological Museum of Seville<\/em>, where it continues beeing.<\/p>\n \n\tAlthough the plane of the house in which it appears is not clear, it is certainly an area of some privacy, because it is not open to the peristyle, away from the meeting rooms, in the center of a large mosaic geometric meandering form swastikas, perhaps in the entrance area to the bedrooms or cubicula. This would support its erotic-romantic interpretation.<\/p>\n \n\t \n\t \n\tIn this mosaic of Italica <\/em>the central iconographic motif is the abduction of Hylas<\/em>. On the left they appear three nymphs<\/em>, who grip the hero, who appears naked with chlamys, spear and amphora or jar to collect water. On the right the male figure of Heracles <\/em>appears with raised right arm and mantle and mace on the left. By setting background gloom and dark tones (the myth takes place in a forest at dusk), by the water delicately suggested, the trees stripped of leaves and the arrangement of the characters, this mosaic seems to be the the transposition of a pictorial model that on turn follows a Hellenistic model. The composition is very dramatic: the three nymphs, Hylas <\/em>about to disappear in the water, on the other side Heracles alarmed when it is supposed that Hylas <\/em>is dipping immediately. Like some Pompeian<\/em> paintings and unlike most paintings, the figure of Hylas <\/em>is not centered. As in almost all tiles, it is represented with a bent knee on a rock and the other leg over the water. Commentators often noted as the most outstanding feature the appearance of Heracles<\/em>, who usually does not appear in either, except in Italica, because they focus on the essential motive of the myth: the rapture.<\/p>\n \n\tHowever there are an exceptional detail that is not highlighted. Generally the Nymphs <\/em>grab arms, legs and even the chest or torso of Hylas<\/em>. In this mosaic, exceptionally, one of the nymphs just grabs his penis, which supports the erotic-festive interpretation.<\/p>\n \n\t \n\tI do not know another similar representation. If this is a unique case, we should perhaps relate it to the old and extraordinary sense of humor that the southern lands of Hispania <\/em>had already developed when it was not yet called Andalusia <\/em>but Baetica<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tSo it's incomprehensible the prudery of the Archaeological Museum of Seville<\/em> which reproduces it in a souvenir postcard or merchanding, but only from the waist up. But putting some doors in Andalusia<\/em> seems a meaningless and impossible task.<\/p>\n \n\t \n\tThe myth has obvious erotic sense and that explains that often and as in the case of Italica<\/em>, these mosaics appear far from the central colonnade of Roman <\/em>houses and at rather more hidden area, often at the entrances to cubiculum or bedroom. It confirms this erotic sense that also it appears often associated with other myths, both literary texts as pictorial representations or “musivaria<\/em>” representations, such as the abduction of Ganymede <\/em>("the most beautiful of mortals<\/em>" according Iliad, XX, 231<\/em>) by Jupiter<\/em>, Hyacinth<\/em>, accidentaly killed by Apollo<\/em>, Actaeon <\/em>watching Diana <\/em>in the bath, Narcissus <\/em>reflecting his beautiful face in the water, with a similar result as Hylas <\/em>…<\/p>\n \n\tSome Christian <\/em>writers found already that Ganymede<\/em>, Hyacinth <\/em>and Hylas <\/em>agreed that they aroused the gay character in the gods (Hylas<\/em>, although kidnapped by the Nymphs<\/em>, was loved by Hercules<\/em>).<\/p>\n \n\tClement of Alexandria says<\/em> so in Protrepticus II, 33.5<\/em>:<\/p>\n \n\tHeracles is the son of Zeus, begotten in this long night. And a true son he is; for long and weary as the time was in which he accomplished his twelve labours, yet in a single night he corrupted the fifty daughters of Thestius, becoming at once bridegroom and adulterer to all these maidens. Not without reason, then, do the poets dub him “abandoned” and “doer of evil deeds.” It would be a long story to relate his varied adulteries and his corruption of boys. For your gods did not abstain from boys. One [Heracles] loved Hylas, another [Apollo] Hyacinthus, another [Poseidon] Chrysippus, another [Zeus] Ganymedes. These are the gods your wives are to worship! Such they must pray for their own husbands to be, similar models of virtue, – that they may be like the gods by aspiring after equally high ideals! Let these be they whom your boys are trained to reverence, in order that they may grow to manhood with the gods ever before them as a manifest pattern of fornication! But perhaps in the case of the gods, it is the males only who rush eagerly after sexual delights while<\/strong><\/em>. (Translated by Butterworth, G W. Loeb Classical Library Volume 92. Cambridge, MA. Harvard Universrity Press. 1919.)<\/p>\n \n\tAlso Firmicus Maternus<\/em> says on De errore profanarum religionum 12,2;<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tAdulterio delectatur aliquis: Iovem respicit, et inde cupiditatis suae fomenta conquirit; Probat imitatur et laudat, quod deus sus in cygno fallit, in tauro rapit ludit in satyro, et ut liberalis in flagitiis esse consuescat, quod inclusam regiam virginem auro largiter fluente corruperit. Puerorum aliquis delectatur amplexibus: Ganymedem in sinu Iovis quaerat, Herculem videat Hylam impatiente amore quaerentem, Hyacinthi desiderio captum Apollinem discat, Chrysippum alius, alius Pelopem videat, ut per deos suos sibi licere dicat quicquid hodie severissime Romanis legibus vindicatur.<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tOne person is fond of adultery; well, he cats a glance at Jupiter and in that quarter finds encouragement for his passion. He approves, imitates, and glorifies the fact that his god was a deceiver in the shape of a swan, a kidnaper in the of a bull, a hoaxer in the shape of a satyr, and (as if fain to cultivate the habit of generosity –but for debauched purposes) a briber who corrupted with with lavishly flowing gold the princess maiden pent. Another person is fond of the embraces of boys: well,let him look for Ganymede in Jupiter’s bosom, let him see Hercules questing after Hylas with the impatience of love, let him learn how Apollo was overcome with desire for Hyacinthus, let someone else look at the case of Crhysippus,and another at that of Pelops, so that he may declare that his gods authorize him to do whatever is todfay most severely punished by the laws of Rome<\/strong><\/em>. (Firmicus Maternus: The Error of the Pagan Religions Translator Clarence A. Forbes.Edit. Paulister Press, 1970)<\/p>\n \n\tAlso Arnobius <\/em>on Seven Books against the Heathen (Adversus Nationes), IV,26,10.<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tQuid quod non contenti feminei generis adtribuisse diis curas etiam sexus adiungitis adamatos ab his mares? Hylam nescio quis diligit, Hyacintho est alius occupatus, ille Pelopis desideriis flagrat, hic in Chrysippum suspirat ardentius, Catamitus rapitur deliciarum futurus et poculorum custos, et ut Iovis dicatur pullus, in partibus Fabius aduritur mollibus obsignaturque posticis..<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tMoreover, not content to have ascribed to the gods love of women, do you also say that they lusted after men? Some one loves Hylas; another is engaged with Hyacinthus; that one burns with desire for Pelops; this one sighs more ardently for Chrysippus; Catamitus is carried off to be a favourite and cup-bearer; and Fabius, that he may be called Jove's darling, is branded on the soft parts, and marked in the hinder<\/strong><\/em>. (Trans. Christian Classics Ethereal Library (English ed.). IntraText Digital Library.)<\/p>\n
\n\tCaucasiasque refert volucres, furtumque Promethei:
\n\this adiungit, Hylan nautae quo fonte relictum
\n\tclamassent, ut litus “Hyla, Hyla!” omne sonaret.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tof Saturn's reign, and of Prometheus' theft,
\n\tand the Caucasian birds, and told withal
\n\tnigh to what fountain by his comrades left
\n\tthe mariners cried on Hylas till the shore
\n\tthen re-echoed “Hylas, Hylas!”<\/strong><\/em>
\n\t(English (J. B. Greenough, 1895)<\/p>\n
\n\t Naïadumque tener crimine raptus Hylas,
\n\tUt dominam teneas, nec te mirere relictum,
\n\t Ingenii dotes corporis adde bonis.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tquod tibi ne vacuo defluat ex animo:
\n\tsaepe imprudenti fortuna occurrit amanti:
\n\tcrudelis Minyis sic erat Ascanius.
\n\test tibi non infra specie, non nomine dispar,
\n\tTheiodamanteo proximus ardor Hylae:
\n\thuic tu, sive leges Umbrae rate flumina silvae,
\n\tsive Aniena tuos tinxerit unda pedes,
\n\tsive Gigantei spatiabere litoris ora,
\n\tsive ubicumque vago fluminis hospitio,
\n\tNympharum semper cupidas defende rapinas
\n\t(non minor Ausoniis est amor Adryasin);
\n\tne tibi sit duros montes et frigida saxa,
\n\tGalle, neque expertos semper adire lacus.
\n\tquae miser ignotis error perpessus in oris
\n\tHerculis indomito fleverat Ascanio.
\n\tnamque ferunt olim Pagasae navalibus Argo
\n\tegressam longe Phasidos isse viam,
\n\tet iam praeteritis labentem Athamantidos undis
\n\tMysorum scopulis applicuisse ratem.
\n\thic manus heroum, placidis ut constitit oris,
\n\tmollia composita litora fronde tegit.
\n\tat comes invicti iuvenis processerat ultra
\n\traram sepositi quaerere fontis aquam.
\n\thunc duo sectati fratres, Aquilonia proles
\n\t(nunc superat Zetes, nunc superat Calais),
\n\toscula suspensis instabant carpere plantis,
\n\toscula et alterna ferre supina fuga.
\n\tille sed extrema pendentes ludit in ala
\n\tet volucris ramo summovet insidias.
\n\tiam Pandioniae cessit genus Orithyiae:
\n\tah dolor! ibat Hylas, ibat Hamadryasin.
\n\thic erat Arganthi Pege sub vertice montis,
\n\tgrata domus Nymphis umida Thyniasin,
\n\tquam supra nulli pendebant debita curae
\n\troscida desertis poma sub arboribus,
\n\tet circum irriguo surgebant lilia prato
\n\tcandida purpureis mixta papaveribus.
\n\tquae modo decerpens tenero pueriliter ungui
\n\tproposito florem praetulit officio,
\n\tet modo formosis incumbens nescius undis
\n\terrorem blandis tardat imaginibus.
\n\ttandem haurire parat demissis flumina palmis
\n\tinnixus dextro plena trahens umero.
\n\tcuius ut accensae Dryades candore puellae
\n\tmiratae solitos destituere choros
\n\tprolapsum et leviter facili traxere liquore,
\n\ttum sonitum rapto corpore fecit Hylas.
\n\tcui procul Alcides ter 'Hyla!' respondet: at illi
\n\tnomen ab extremis montibus aura refert.
\n\this, o Galle, tuos monitus servabis amores,
\n\tformosum ni vis perdere rursus Hylan.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\t(so that you don't lose your mind and forget):
\n\tDisaster often comes to the unsuspecting lover.
\n\tThe cruel Ascanius made that plain to the Argonauts.
\n\tYour boy approximates Theiodamantean Hylas,
\n\tin appearance as much as in name.
\n\tSo, whether you choose streams in shady woods,
\n\tor the Anio's wave touches your feet,
\n\twhether you stroll on the Gigantean coast's shore,
\n\ton the wandering welcome of the stream, wherever,
\n\talways be on the lookout for ravenous Nymphs' attacks on him
\n\t(love isn't weaker for Italian Hadryades).
\n\tDon't insist on trekking to hard mounts and
\n\tfrigid rock, Gallus, or to unexplored lakes:
\n\tHercules wept by the untameable Ascanius
\n\twhen he came wandering to foreign shores.
\n\tThey say the Argo set off from the port at Pagasa
\n\tto make the long journey to Colchis;
\n\talready the gliding raft has crossed the Hellespont's waves
\n\tand has come ashore on Mysian rocks.
\n\tHere, the band of heroes, standing on the calm shore,
\n\tcovers a coast decorated in lush foliage.
\n\tBut the unconquered youth's companion has gone
\n\tbeyond, to seek fresh water from a hidden spring.
\n\tTwo brothers follow him, Aquilonian seed,
\n\tZetes is above him and above him Calais,
\n\tstanding with hands poised to snatch kisses,
\n\tto smother him with kisses, one at a time.
\n\tHe hangs beneath a high wing, hidden,
\n\tand shoos away the rapid pranksters with his stick.
\n\tAlready the race of Pandionian Orithyia has ceased.
\n\to for shame! Hylas was on his way, on his way to the Hamadryads.
\n\tHe was in Pege, the wet abode favored by
\n\tthe Thynian Nymphs, beneath the peak of Mount Arganthus.
\n\tDewy fruit hung from wild trees,
\n\tproduct of no human labor,
\n\tand shining lilies flourished all over in the damp grass,
\n\tmixed with purple poppies.
\n\tLike a child, he'd pluck them with his delicate nail,
\n\tpreferring the flower to his assigned duty.
\n\tAnd now, lying mindless near the beautiful water,
\n\the prolongs his dallying with the lovely reflections.
\n\tAt last, he prepares to draw water with cupped palms,
\n\tpropped on his right arm, drinking his fill.
\n\tThe Dryad nymphs are excited by his whiteness,
\n\tthey break off their usual chorus and stare.
\n\tLightly, they draw him, slipping, into the gentle water.
\n\tThen, his body caught, Hylas raises a shout.
\n\tFar off, Hercules sends a response, but the breeze
\n\treturns the name from distant mountains.
\n\tYou've been warned, Gallus: protect your love.
\n\tYou appear to have trusted your beautiful Hylas to the Nymphs.<\/strong><\/em>
\n\t(Vincent Katz. trans. Los Angeles. Sun & Moon Press. 1995.)<\/p>\n
\n\tsuscitat ac iuveni sublimem cornibus offert.
\n\tille animos tardusque fugae longumque resistens
\n\tsollicitat suadetque pari contendere cursu.
\n\tcredit Hylas praedaeque ferox ardore propinquae
\n\tinsequitur; simul Alcides hortatibus urget
\n\tprospiciens; iamque ex oculis aufertur uterque,
\n\tcum puerum instantem quadripes fessaque minantem
\n\ttela manu procul ad nitidi spiracula fontis
\n\tducit et intactas levis ipse superfugit undas.
\n\thoc pueri spes lusa18 modo est, nec tendere certat
\n\tamplius; utque artus et concita pectora sudor
\n\tdiluerat, gratos avidus procumbit ad amnes.19
\n\tstagna vaga sic luce micant, ubi Cynthia caelo
\n\tprospicit aut medii transit rota candida Phoebi:
\n\ttale iubar diffundit aquis; nil umbra comaeque
\n\tturbavitque sonus surgentis ad oscula Nymphae.
\n\tilla avidas iniecta manus heu sera cientem
\n\tauxilia et magni referentem nomen amici
\n\tdetrahit; adiutae prono nam pondere vires.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tNaides, et luctus sentiat ipsa Thetis.
\n\tInter Baianas raptus puer occidit undas
\n\tEutychos ille, tuum, Castrice, dulce latus.
\n\t5Hic tibi curarum socius blandumque levamen,
\n\tHic amor, hic nostri vatis Alexis erat.
\n\tNumquid te vitreis nudum lasciva sub undis
\n\tVidit et Alcidae nympha remisit Hylan?
\n\tAn dea femineum iam neglegit Hermaphroditum
\n\t10Amplexu teneri sollicitata viri?
\n\tQuidquid id est, subitae, quaecumque est causa rapinae,
\n\tSit, precor, et tellus mitis et unda tibi.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tEffugit dominam Naida numquid Hylas?
\n\tO bene, quod silva colitur Tirynthius ista
\n\tEt quod amatrices tam prope servat aquas!
\n\tSecurus licet hos fontes, Argynne, ministres:
\n\tNil facient Nymphae: ne velit ipse, cave.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tet vitreum teneris crimen redimite corymbis,
\n\tveste nihil tectae, quales emergitis altis
\n\tfontibus et visu Satyros torquetis amantes,
\n\tNon vos, quae culpa decus infamastis aquarum,
\n\tquae culpa decus infamastis aquarum. 3 4 [p. 60]
\n\t20sollicitare iuvat: procul hinc et fonte doloso
\n\tSalmacis et viduae Cebrenidos arida luctu
\n\tflumina et Herculei praedatrix cedat alumni,
\n\tvos mihi, quae Latium septenaque culmina, nymphae,
\n\tincolitis Thybrimque novis attollitis undis,
\n\t25quas praeceps Anien atque exceptura natatus
\n\tVirgo iuvat Marsasque nives et frigora ducens
\n\tMarcia, praecelsis quarum vaga molibus unda
\n\tcrescit et innumero pendens transmittitur arcu—:<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tSangariusque puer quemque irrita fontis imago
\n\tet sterilis consumpsit amor. te caerula Nais
\n\tmallet et adprensa traxisset fortius urna.
\n\ttu, puer, ante omnis; solus formosior ille,
\n\tcui daberis.’ sic orsa leves secum ipsa per auras
\n\ttollit olorinaque iubet considere biga.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/imgs\/arts\/hylas_1c.jpg\")
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