Endy̆mion

, a shepherd, son of Æthlius and Calyce. It is said that he required of Jupiter to grant to him to be always young, and to sleep as much as he would; whence came the proverb of Endymionis somnum dormire , to expre a long sleep. Diana saw him naked as he slept on mount Latmos, and was so struck with his beauty that she came down from heaven every night to enjoy his company. Endymion married Chromia daughter of Itonus, or, according to some, Hyperipne daughter of Arcas, by whom he had three sons, Pæon, Epeus, and Æolus, and a daughter called Eurydice; and so little ambitious did he show himself of sovereignty, that he made his crown the prize of the best racer among his sons, an honourable distinction which was gained by Epeus. The fable of Endymion’s amours with Diana, or the moon, arises from his knowledge of astronomy, and as he pa ed the night on some high mountain, to observe the heavenly bodies, it has been reported that he was courted by the moon. Some suppose that there were two of that name, the son of a king of Elis, and the shepherd or astronomer of Caria. The people of Heraclea maintained that Endymion died on mount Latmos, and the Eleans pretended to show his tomb at Olympia in Peloponnesus. Pro pert i us , bk. 2 , poem 25.— Cicero , Tusculanæ Dis put at i ones , bk. 1 .— Juvenal , satire 10.— Theocritus , poem 3.— Pausanias , bk. 5 , ch. 1 ; bk. 6 , ch. 20 .