Editing Cyparissus (section)

=== The commentaries of Servius and the Vatican Mythographer ===
[[File:Dish GiorgioAndreoli Cyparissus.jpg|thumb|250px|Three scenes from the myth of Cyparissus on 16th-century [[lusterware]] by [[Giorgio Andreoli]]; the god who embraces the transforming youth holds a branch in his hand]]

According to one of the [[Vatican Mythographers]], another Roman tradition makes the lover out to be the woodland god [[Silvanus (mythology)|Silvanus]].<ref>Ronald E. Pepin, ''The Vatican Mythographers'', 2008:17</ref> An invocation by [[Virgil]] of "Silvanus who bears the slender cypress uprooted"<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Georgics]]'' 1.20: ''et teneram ab radice ferens, Silvane, cupressum.''</ref> was explained in the [[Commentary (philology)|commentary]] of [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]]<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], note to ''Georgics'' 1.20 ([https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0092%3Abook%3D1%3Acommline%3D20 Latin]).</ref> as alluding to a love affair. In his brief account, Servius differs from Ovid mainly in substituting Silvanus for Apollo, but also changes the gender of the deer and makes the god responsible for its death:

<blockquote>
Silvanus loved a boy ''(puer)'' named Cyparissus who had a tame deer. When Silvanus unintentionally killed her, the boy was consumed by sorrow. The lover-god turned him into the tree that has his name, which he is said to carry as a consolation.<ref>''Hic amavit puerum Cyparissum nomine, qui habebat mansuetissimam cervam. hanc cum Silvanus nescius occidisset, puer est extinctus dolore: quem amator deus in cupressum arborem nominis eius vertit, quam pro solacio portare dicitur.''</ref>
</blockquote>

It is unclear whether Servius is inventing an ''[[aition]]'', a story to explain why Silvanus was depicted holding an evergreen bough, or recording an otherwise unknown version.<ref>Peter F. Dorcey, ''The Cult of Silvanus: A Study in Roman Folk Religion'' (Brill, 1992), pp. 15–16. Servius also mentions this version in his note to ''Eclogue'' 10.26.</ref> Elsewhere, Servius mentions a version in which the lover of Cyparissus was [[Zephyrus]], the West Wind.<ref>Servius, note to ''[[Aeneid]]'' 3.680.</ref> The cypress, he notes, was associated with the [[Greek underworld|underworld]], either because they don't grow back when pruned too severely, or because in [[Attica]] households in mourning are garlanded with cypress.<ref>''Ergo cupressi quasi infernae, vel quia succisae non renascuntur, vel quia apud Atticos funestae domus huius fronde velantur.''</ref>