ST
HE faid, and for her loft Galanthis fighs,
When the fair Confort of her fon replies.
Since you a fervant's ravish'd form bemoan,
And kindly figh for forrows not your own,
Let me (if tears and grief permit) relate
A nearer woe, a sister's stranger fate.
No nymph of all Oechalia could compare
For beauteous form with Dryope the fair,
Her tender mother's only hope and pride,
(Myself the offspring of a second bride.)
This Nymph comprefs'd by him who rules the day,
Whom Delphi and the Delian ifle obey,
IO
NOTES.
fwers with a relation of those of her own family, in particular the Transformation of her fifter Dryope, which is the subject of the enfuing Fable. P.
Excipit Andraemon; et habetur conjuge felix.
Eft lacus, acclivi devexo margine formam
15
Littoris efficiens: fummum myrteta coronant.
Veneret huc Dryope fatorum nescia; 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. 30
Scilicet, ut referunt tardi nunc denique agreftes,
Lotis in hanc Nymphe, fugiens obfcoena Priapi,
Contulerat verfos, fervato nomine, vultus.
24
;
Nefcierat foror hoc; quae cum perterritaretro 35
Andræmon lov'd; and, blefs'd in all thofe charms That pleas'd a God, fucceeded to her arms. 14
A lake there was, with fhelving banks around, Whofe verdant fummit fragrant myrtles crown'd. These shades, unknowing of the fates, she fought, And to the Naiads flow'ry garlands brought; Her smiling babe (a pleafing charge) fhe preft Within her arms, and nourish'd at her breast. 20 Not distant far a watry Lotos grows,
The spring was new, and all the verdant boughs
Adorn'd with blossoms 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 stood,)
The violated blossoms drop with blood;
Upon the tree I caft a frightful look ;
The trembling tree with fudden horror fhook.
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 preserves her name.
This change unknown, astonish'd at the fight 35 My trembling fister strove 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
44
And firft the pardon of the nymphs implor'd
And those offended sylvan pow'rs ador❜d:
But when the backward would have fled, she found
Her stiff'ning feet were rooted in the ground: 40
In vain to free her faften'd feet fhe ftrove,
And, as she struggles, only moves above;
She feels th' encroaching bark around her
By quick degrees, and cover all below:
Surpriz'd at this, her trembling hand she 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 bosom prest,
Perceiv'd a colder and a harder breast,
And found the fprings, that ne'er 'till then deny'd
Their milky moisture, on a fudden dry'd.
I faw, unhappy! what I now relate,
And stood the helpless witness of thy fate,
Embrac'd thy boughs, thy rising bark delay'd, 55
There wish'd to grow, and mingle shade with
fhade.
50
Behold Andræmon and th' unhappy fire
Appear, and for their Dryope enquire;
A springing tree for Dryope they find,
And print warm kiffes on the panting rind. 60
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