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Speranza
Narciso is known from relatively recent sources.
Various allusions provide clues to his geographical roots.
He is the son of Cephissus, a name borne by several rivers, the largest of which, and the only one to which children are imputed, flowed from Phocis into Lake Copais in wester Boeotia.
The Theban soothsayer Tiresias is involved in the legend of Narciso.
Furthermore, we are indepted to Conon for what must be the original version of the story.
Narciso, a very handsome young man from Thespiae, wants no part of love.
Another young man, Ameinias, falls in love with Narciso.
But Narciso repeatedly spurns him.
One day, Narciso even sends Ameinias an ironic gift: a sword.
Aimeinias takes this sowrd and stabs himself in front of Narciso's house, cursing his beloved as he dies.
Shortly thereafter, Narciso sees his reflection in a well and falls in love with himself.
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This unbearable contradiction is the cause of his suicide.
As a result, the Thespians dedicated a temple to love, the cause of this terrible tragedy.
From the blood of Narciso there grew a plant: the narciso.
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An original version depicts Narciso as a Euboean from Eretria.
A certain Epops, or Eypo, kills Narciso, and the story ends similarly with the growth of a plant.
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