Venus, after shedding many tears at his death, changed him into a flower.
"And in his blood, that on the ground lay spilled,
A purple flower sprung up, checkered with white;
Resembling well his pale cheeks and the blood,
Which in round drops upon their whiteness stood."
Shakspere.
Proserpine is said to have restored him to life, on condition of his spending six months of the year with her, and six with Venus, but this is a fable meant to apply to the alternate return of summer and winter.
"There is a flower, Anemone,
The mourner's path it cheers:
Lo! Venus, bowed with agony,