Excipit Andraemon; et habetur conjuge felix.
Eft lacus, acclivi devexo margine formam
15
Littoris efficiens: fummum myrteta coronant.
Veneret huc Dryope fatorum nefcia; quoque
Indignere magis, Nymphis latura coronas.
Inque finu fuerum, qui nondum impleverat annum,
Dulce ferebat onus; tepidique ope lactis alebat. 20
Haud procul a stagno, Tyrios imitata colores,
In fpem baccarum florebat aquatica lotos.
Carpferat hinc Dryope, quos oblectamina nato
Porrigeret, flores: et idem factura videbar
Namque aderam. vidi guttas e flore cruentas
Decidere; et tremulo ramos horrore moveri.
Scilicet, ut referunt tardi nunc denique agreftes,
Lotis in hanc Nymphe, fugiens obscoena Priapi,
Contulerat verfos, fervato nomine, vultus.
24
;
30
Nefcierat foror hoc; quae cum perterrita retro 35
Andræmon lov'd; and, bless'd in all those charms That pleas'd a God, fucceeded to her arms. 14
A lake there was, with shelving banks around,
Whose verdant fummit fragrant myrtles crown'd.
These shades, unknowing of the fates, fhe fought,
And to the Naiads flow'ry garlands brought;
Her fmiling babe (a pleafing, charge) she prest
Within her arms, and nourish'd at her breaft. 20
Not distant far a watry Lotos grows,
The spring was new, and all the verdant boughs
Adorn'd with bloffoms promis'd fruits that vie
In glowing colours with the Tyrian dye :
Of these she crop'd to please her infant fon, 25
And I myself the fame rash act had done:
But lo! I faw, (as near her fide I ftood,)
The violated bloffoms drop with blood;
Upon the tree I cast a frightful look ;
The trembling tree with fudden horror fhook. 30
Lotis the nymph (if rural tales be true)
As from Priapus' lawless luft she flew,
Forfook her form; and fixing here became
A flow'ry plant, which ftill preferves her name.
This change unknown, aftonish'd at the fight 35
My trembling fifter ftrove to urge her flight:
Ire, et adoratis vellet difcedere Nymphis,
Haefurunt radice pedes. convellere pugnat:
Nec quidquam, nifi fumma, movet. fuccrefcit ab
imo,
40
Totaque paulatim lentus premit inguina cortex.
Ut vidit, conata manu laniare capillos,
Fronde manum implevit, frondes caput omne te-
nebant.
45
At puer Amphiffos (namque hoc avus Eurytus illi
Addiderat nomen) materna rigefcere fentit
Ubera: nec fequitur ducentem lacteus humor. 50
Spectatrix aderam fati crudelis; opemque
Non poteram tibi ferre, foror: quantumque vale-
bam,
Crefcentem truncum ramofque amplexa, morabar:
Et (fateor) volui fub eodem cortice condi.
Ecce vir Andraemon, genitorque miferrimus, ad-
funt ;
Et quaerunt Dryopen: Dryopen quaerentibus illis Oftendi loton. tepido dant ofcula ligno: 60
And first the pardon of the nymphs implor'd And those offended fylvan pow'rs ador'd: But when fhe backward would have fled, fhe found Her stiffning feet were rooted in the ground: 40 In vain to free her faften'd feet she ftrove, And, as she struggles, only moves above; She feels th' encroaching bark around her grow By quick degrees, and cover all below: 44 Surpriz'd at this, her trembling hand the heaves To rend her hair; her hand is fill'd with leaves : Where late was hair the shooting leaves are seen To rife, and fhade her with a fudden green. The child Amphiffus, to her bofom prest, Perceiv'd a colder and a harder breast, 50 And found the springs, that ne'er 'till then deny'd Their milky moisture, on a sudden dry’d. I saw, unhappy! what I now relate, And stood the helpless witness of thy fate, Embrac'd thy boughs, thy rifing bark delay'd, 55 There wifh'd to grow, and mingle shade with fhade.
Behold Andræmon and th' unhappy fire Appear, and for their Dryope enquire; A fpringing tree for Dryope they find, And print warm kiffes on the panting rind. 60
Adfufique fuae radicibus arboris haerent.
Nil nifi jam faciem, quod non foret arbor, habebas,
Cara foror. lacrymae verfo de corpore factis
Irrorant foliis: ac, dum licet, oraque praestant 65
Vocis iter, tales effundit in aëra queftus :
Si qua fides miferis, hoc me per numina juro
Non meruiffe nefas. patior fine crimine poenam.
Viximus innocuae: fi mentior, arida perdam,
Quas habeo, frondes; et caesa securibus urar. 75
Hunc tamen infantem maternis demite ramis,
Et date nutrici; noftraque fub arbore faepe
Lac facitote bibat; noftraque fub arbore ludat.
Cumque loqui poterit, matrem facitote falutet, 80
Et triftis dicat, Latet hoc fub ftipite mater.
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