'Farewell,' he cries, and with that word he died,
'Farewell,' the miserable nymph replied.
Now pale and breathless on the grass he lies,
For death had shut his miserable eyes."
The Gods, however, taking pity upon his melancholy fate, changed him into the flower Narcissus.
Many morals have been attempted to be deduced from this beautiful fable, but in none of them have their authors been very successful, unless we may gather a warning of the fatal effects of self-love.
"What first inspired a bard of old to sing
Narcissus pining o'er the mountain spring?
In some delicious ramble, he had found
A little space, with boughs all woven round,