Note 483 — NEW ENGLISH CANAAN OR NEW CANAAN. (continued 3)

The reference here is to the story of Demophoön and Phyllis, told by Ovid (Heroides, II.) Demophoön, son of Theseus and Phædra, accompanied the Greeks to Troy; and on his return, Phyllis, the daughter of the Thracian king Sithon, fell in love with him, and he consented to marry her. But before the nuptials were celebrated, he went to Attica to settle his affairs at home, and as he tarried longer than Phyllis had expected, she began to think that she was forgotten, and put an end to her life. She was metamorphosed into a tree. (See Smith’s Dictionary, title Demophoön.)