What this project is about.
This one is from Book 10.
How long it took to read this (aloud): 5 mins 1s
What it’s “about”: A boy favoured of the gods get thwacked with a discus and dies – discuss.
Words I didn’t know: none
Quotable quotes:
The god went ranging after boyish pleasures
And strolled suburban Sparta, field and river.
Bored with the arts of music and long bow,
He found distraction near his lover’s home.
Humble as any mountain guide or shepherd,
He earned bird nets, tended dogs and leashed them,
And joined the boy in day-long mountain climbing.
This native life stirred Phoebus’ appetite
And made the boy more charming now than ever.
When Phoebus-Titan came at noon, half way
Between grey morning and the evening’s pallor,
The lovers, naked, sleeked themselves with oil,
And stood at discus-throw.
YEAH, this will not end well.
As in a garden, if one breaks a flower,
Cnsp violet or poppy or straight lily
Erect with yellow stamens pointed high,
The flower wilts, head toppled into earth,
So bent the dying face of Hyacinthus,
Staring at nothingness toward breast and shoulder.
And
As God Apollo spoke his prophecies,
The blood that filled the grasses at his feet
Turned to a brighter dye than Tynan purple,
And from its lips there came a lily flower,
And yet, unlike the silver-white of lilies,
Its colour was a tinted, pinkish blue.
AND
“Nor were the women more attractive cattle:
They went to bed with anyone who’d take them,
And laughed at Venus when her back was turned;
And since they could not blush, their faces paled;
It was no wonder that they turned to stone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyacinth_(mythology)
One day they decided to have a friendly competition by taking turns to throw the discus, which resulted in Apollo accidentally killing Hyacinthus.[2][15] In Ovid’s telling of the story, the lovers stripped and oiled themselves for the contest. Apollo threw first, with a strength so great that the discus split the clouds in the sky. Eager to retrieve the discus, Hyacinthus ran behind it to catch it. But as it hit the ground, the discus bounced back, hitting Hyacinthus’ head and wounding him fatally.[16] An alternative version of the myth holds Zephyrus responsible for the death of Hyacinthus. Jealous that Hyacinthus preferred the radiant Apollo, Zephyrus blew Apollo’s quoit boisterously off course to kill Hyacinthus.[3][17][18]
How it lands to my eco-sensibility: xx
Obvious allusions, ways it was used (that I am aware of already) : xx
What I know I didn’t ‘get’: xx
To my knowledge, who’s used it why/how (RACC): xx
Further research questions: xx
Anything else: xx
marchudson.net 
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