TITHONUS, in fabulous history, the son of Laomedon king of Troy, and the brother of Priamus; was beloved by Aurora, who carried him to Delos, thence to Ethiopia, and at last to heaven, where she prevailed on the Destinies to bestow upon him the gift of immortality; but forgot to add that of youth, which could only render the present valuable. At length Tithonus grew so old that he was obliged to be rocked to sleep like an infant, when Aurora, not being able to put an end to his misery by death, transformed him into a grasshopper; which renews its youth by casting his skin, and in its chirping retains the loquacity of old age.