Apollo was passionately fond of a youth named Hyacinthus. He accompanied him in his sports, carried the nets when he went fishing, led the dogs when he went to hunt, followed him in his excursions1 in the mountains, and neglected for him his lyre2 and his arrows. One day they played a game of quoits3 together, and Apollo, heaving aloft the discus,4 with strength mingled with skill, sent it high and far. Hyacinthus watched it as it flew and excited with the sport, ran forward to seize it, eager to make his throw, when the quoit bounded from the earth and stuck him in the forehead. He fainted and fell. The god, as pale as himself, raised him and tried all his art to stanch5 the wound and retain the flitting life, but all in vain; the hurt was past the power of medicine. Q1 As, when one has broken the stem of a lily in the garden, it hangs its head and turns its flowers to the earth, so the head of the dying boy, as if too heavy for his neck, fell over on his shoulder. “Thou diest, Hyacinth,” so spoke Phoebus,6 “robbed of thy youth by me. Thine is the suffering, mine the crime. Would that I could die for thee! But since that may not be thou shalt live with me in memory and in song. My lyre shall celebrate thee, my song shall tell thy fate, and thou shalt become a flower inscribed with my regret.” While Apollo spoke, behold the blood which had flowed of hue more beautiful than the Tyrian7 sprang up, resembling the lily, if it were not that this is purple and that silvery white.8 And this was not enough for Phoebus; but to confer still greater honor, he marked the petals with his sorrow, and inscribed “Ah! Ah!” upon them, as we see to this day. The flower bears the name of Hyacinthus, and with every returning spring revives the memory of his fate. Q2
It means life that is passing away quickly. Referring to Death.
Explanation:
"The god, as pale as himself, raised him and tried all his art to stanch the wound and retain the flitting life, but all in vain; the hurt was past the power of medicine."
From the passage above it can be seen that the god Apollo was trying to save the life of his friend hyacinthus but life was slipping away too qiukly from the young man. So much so that even Apollo could do nothing about his dying friend.
major events of the early years of the civil war from 1861-1863:
The Civil War began. The South had advantages as they were better prepared, had better war plans and generals. North was not well prepared and did not have good generals to command their soldiers.
Major events of the middle years of the civil war from 1863-1865:
As the war dragged on, the advantages of the North from having more factories and better economy showed their effects to the various battles. Key victories for the North at Gettysburg, Forts Henry and Donelson .
Major events of the ending years of the civil war after 1865:
After Gettysburg and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, the South recognized it was losing the war. Cities of Petersberg and Richmond were taken by the North. The South retreated further and further. Even after Lincoln was killed in an assassination in 1865, the South had lost and surrendered.
