NARCISSUS, in fabulous history, the son of the
river Cephissus and Liriope the daughter of Oceanus,
was a youth of great beauty. Tiresias foretold that
he should live till he saw himself. He despised all the
nymphs of the country; and made Echo languish till
she became a mere sound, by refusing to return her
passion: but one day coming weary and fatigued from
the chase, he stopped on the bank of a fountain to
quench his thirst: when, seeing his own form in the
water, he became so in love with the shadowy image,
that he languished till he died. On which the gods,
being moved at his death, changed him into the flower
which bears his name.