The river god Cephissus enfolded the nymph Liriope in the windings of his stream, and from that embrace she bore Narcissus, whose beauty would be the ruin of all who beheld him and of himself.
Echo fell in love with Narcissus but could only repeat his words, cursed by Hera. When Narcissus cruelly rejected her, Echo withdrew to mountain caves and wasted away until only her voice remained.
When the river god Ameinus, rejected by Narcissus, prayed for retribution, Eros struck Narcissus with desire for his own reflection, condemning him to waste away gazing at the face he could never possess.
⚠ In Ovid's Metamorphoses 3.402-406, Nemesis curses Narcissus; Conon's Narrationes 24 substitutes a rejected suitor Ameinus whose prayer to the gods triggers the punishment.
Nemesis punished Narcissus for his cruel rejection of all who loved him by leading him to a pool where he fell hopelessly in love with his own reflection and wasted away.
Even in the underworld after death, Narcissus bent over the River Styx to gaze at his own reflection in the dark waters, according to Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Tiresias prophesied that Narcissus would live a long life only if he never came to know himself. The prophecy was fulfilled when Narcissus recognized his own reflection and wasted away by the pool.
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