One evening, as Selene was driving noiselessly along, she suddenly stopped her horses; for there on the hillside she saw a handsome young shepherd fast asleep, his upturned face illumined by the moon's soft light. Selene wonderingly gazed upon his beauty, and before long felt her heart beat with more than admiration. Gliding gently from her chariot, she floated to his side, bent slowly, and dropped an airy kiss upon his slightly parted lips.

The youth Endymion, only partially awakened by this demonstration, half raised his fringed lids, and for a moment his sleep-dimmed eyes rested wonderingly upon the beautiful vision. That one glance, although it drove Selene away in great haste, kindled in his heart an inextinguishable passion. He rose with a start, and rubbed his sleepy eyes; but when he saw the moon, which he fancied close beside him, sailing away across the deep blue sky, he felt sure the whole occurrence had been but a dream, but so sweet a dream that he cast himself down upon his sword, hoping to woo it to visit him once more.

It did not come again that night, however; but the next night, as he lay on the self-same spot, it recurred in all its sweetness; and night after night it was repeated when the pale moonbeams fell athwart his sleeping face. Selene, fully as enamoured as he, could not bear to pass him by without a caress, and invariably left her chariot for a moment, as it touched the mountain peak, to run to him and snatch a hasty kiss. But, even when asleep, Endymion watched for her coming, and enjoyed the bliss of her presence; yet a spell seemed to prevent his giving any sign of consciousness.

Time pasted thus. Selene, who could not bear to think of the youth's beauty being marred by want, toil, and exposure, finally caused an eternal sleep to fall upon him, and bore him off to Mount Latmus, where she concealed him in a cave held sacred to her, and never profaned by human gaze. There each night the goddess paused to gaze enraptured upon his beloved countenance, and to press a soft kiss upon his unconscious lips. Such is the tale of Selene and her lowly lover, which has inspired poets of all ages.