This young man, whose name is so famous, has a very short history. Some poets say he was a kind, some a hunter, but most of them say he was a shepherd. All agree that he was of surpassing beauty and that was the cause of his unique fate. As Endymion guarded his flock of sheep she, the Moon Selene, often looked over him in love. She often came down to Earth to caress Endymion and stare at his gracefulness in sleep. In all the stories about him he sleeps forever, immortal, but never conscious. Night after night the Moon covered him with her kisses. It is said that this eternal slumber was her doing. She lulled him to sleep so as to be able to find him and caress him as she so pleased. But it is said, too, that her passion brings her only a burden of pain, fraught with many sighs.