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Hylas was the young man whom
Heracles 1 loved. He
was ravished away by
NYMPHS in Mysia on
account of his beauty, and was never found again.
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One of the
ARGONAUTS
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Hylas joined, along with his friend
Heracles 1, the
expedition of the
ARGONAUTS that sailed
to Colchis, in the eastern coast of what is today
known as the Black Sea, in order to fetch the
Golden Fleece. Very soon he became famous for
having mysteriously disappeared without leaving any
trace when the
ARGONAUTS came to
Mysia in Asia Minor.
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Polyphemus 1 heard something
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There he was sent to fetch water, and was
ravished by NYMPHS on
account of his beauty. But nobody saw anything, and
no traces of him were ever found. According to what
has been reported, when this happened, the Argonaut
Polyphemus 1 heard Hylas cry out. They say that he
then took his sword believing that the handsome
young man had been attacked by robbers, and went
searching for him. Polyphemus 1 did not find Hylas,
but instead fell in with
Heracles 1, and told
him that something had happened to their comrade.
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Three ARGONAUTS
lost for the expedition
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Heracles 1 and
Polyphemus 1 started then a fruitless search, for
Hylas was never seen again. And as they were busy
searching for Hylas, they were themselves lost for
the rest of the
ARGONAUTS, and the
ship put to sea.
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Heracles 1 calls
him
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Others have said that Hylas went to fetch water
in the river Ascanius while
Heracles 1 was cooking
for the ARGONAUTS. As
Hylas never returned (and they again say that the
NYMPHS of the river
captured him), Heracles
1 left the
ARGONAUTS, and not
knowing why his friend had vanished, went around
searching and calling his name aloud.
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Turned into an echo
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Now, some believe that the
NYMPHS, fearing that
Heracles 1 would
finally find him, turned Hylas into an echo, so
that when Heracles 1
called "Hylas", he would hear "Hylas" back. They
add that Heracles 1,
having done the impossible in order to find his
friend, returned and joined the rest of the
ARGONAUTS, but that he
left Polyphemus 1 in charge of looking for the
young man.
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"Hylas, Hylas, Hylas ..."
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But Polyphemus 1 died an old man without ever
finding Hylas, and it is said that later sacrifices
were offered by the locals to celebrate Hylas, in
which the priest called him thrice "Hylas, Hylas,
Hylas ...", receiving, as before, the same answer
from the echo: "Hylas, Hylas, Hylas ..."
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Hylas made immortal in a cave
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Still others have said that
Heracles 1 was hunting
when Hylas, hiding himself, followed him. However,
they say, Hylas lost his way, and wandering through
the woods, he came to the cave of the
NYMPHS. When these saw
the young beauty approaching, they captured him in
order to make him immortal and ageless. As the
winds were then favourable, the
ARGONAUTS decided to
sail away, and it was Polyphemus 1, who climbing a
rock, called the two absent
ARGONAUTS for the last
time without receiving any answer.
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Plunged into the spring
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It has also been told that Hylas, when he went
to fetch water with a pitcher of bronze in hand for
the evening meal, came to the spring called Pegae.
They said that the dances of the
NYMPHS were then just
being held when he arrived, and that a naiad, who
some call Dryope 4, was just rising from the
spring. It was night, for they tell that the full
moon beams smote Hylas' face. This naiad, it is
told, fell immediately in love with Hylas, and when
he dipped the pitcher in the stream, she laid one
arm around his neck, yearning to kiss him, and with
her other hand she drew him down and plunged him
into the water.
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Hylas was lost when he
went to fetch water
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Spicy gossip
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This is what happened to Hylas. And because he
and Heracles 1 were so
close friends, they were believed to be lovers, and
became the object of all kinds of spicy gossip. For
many have thought that
Heracles 1's strong
complexion fitted perfectly the delicate beauty of
Hylas. There have also been those who have found of
the utmost interest to know all details about what
is really going on in those chambers which they are
not allowed to enter. And some, condemning these
relationships, have refused to call them love.
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Opinion of a wise man
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So, for example, a wise man from Alexandria (not
for being born there, but because he was a priest
in that city), being in possession of knowledge
about the gods, and about the only God, and about
the true nature of things, gave his opinion on
these matters, more than one thousand years after
Hylas' time, with these words:
"For your gods
did not abstain even from boys. One loved Hylas,
another Hyacinthus, another Pelops, another Chrysippus, another
Ganymedes. These are the gods your wives are
to worship!" [Clement of Alexandria,
Exhortation
to the Greeks 2.28P]
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What the wise man did not say
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And he could have added that this was the hate
of love, the irreligiosity of religion, the
profanation of worship, the shame of pride, the
debauchery of abstinence, the scandal of solemnity,
the vice of virtue, the adultery of fidelity, and
the lasciviousness of decency.
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What he added
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But being a better writer, he proceeded instead
to demonstrate that women, being no better than men
in these tales, rush as eagerly as them, after
sexual delights.
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Powerful god
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Now, Love is a god
impossible to catch. For he accepts instructions
from nobody and disregards, when he pleases, human
wisdom, which is for the gods as that of apes is
for men. And Love being
everywhere, he assumes different forms. But those
who seek to hurt and force others through
persecution do worse, and therefore make themselves
inferior to those, who accepting the command of
Love as they understand it
and feel it, live happily themselves in common
agreement, neither hurting nor forcing anyone.
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Nobody knows what exactly
happens to those captured by the
NYMPHS
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