VERTUMNUS

AND

POMONA:

From the FOURTEENTH Book of

OVID'S METAMORPHOSES.

VERTUMNUS

E T

POMON A.

EGE fub hoc Pomona fuit: qua nulla La-
tinas

R

Inter Hamadryadas coluit folertius hortos,
Nec fuit arborei ftudiofior altera foetûs:
Unde tenet nomen. non fylvas illa, nec amnes; 5
Rus amat, et ramos felicia
poma ferentes.

Nec jaculo gravis eft, fed adunca dextera falce : 10
Qua modo luxuriem premit, et fpatiantia paffim
Brachia compefcit; fiffa modo cortice virgam
Inferit; et fuccos alieno praeftat alumno.

VERTUMNUS

AND

POMON A.

TH

HE fair Pomona flourish'd in his reign; Of all the Virgins of the fylvan train, None taught the trees a nobler race to bear, Or more improv❜d the vegetable carę.

5

To her the fhady grove, the flow'ry field,
The streams and fountains no delights could yield;
'Twas all her joy the rip'ning fruits to tend,
And fee the boughs with happy burthens bend.
The hook the bore instead of Cynthia's fpear,
To lop the growth of the luxuriant year,
To decent form the lawless shoots to bring,
And teach th' obedient branches where to spring.
Now the cleft rind inferted graffs receives,
And yields an offspring more than nature gives;

Nec patitur fentire fitim : bibulaeque recurvas 15
Radicis fibras labentibus irrigat undis.
Hic amor, hoc ftudium: Veneris quoque

nulla cu

pido.

Vim tamen agreftûm metuens, pomaria claudit
Intus, et acceffus prohibet refugitque viriles. 20
Quid non et Satyri, faltatibus apta juventus,
Fecere, et pinu praecincti cornua Panes,
Sylvanufque fuis femper juvenilior annis,
Quique Deus furės, vel falce, vel inguine terret,
Ut poterentur ea? fed enim fuperabat amando
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Hos quoque
Vertumnus: neque erat felicior illis.
O quoties habitu duri mefforis ariftas
Corbe tulit, verique fuit mefforis imago!
Tempora faepe gerens foeno religata recenti,
Defectum poterat gramen verfaffe videri.
Saepe manu ftimulos rigida portabat ; ut illum 35
Jurares feffos modo disjunxiffe juvencos.

Now fliding streams the thirsty plants renew, 15 And feed their fibres with reviving dew.

These cares alone her virgin breast employ, Averse from Venus and the nuptial joy. Her private orchards, wall'd on ev'ry fide, To lawless fylvans all access deny'd. How oft the Satyrs and the wanton Fawns, Who haunt the forefts, or frequent the lawns, The God whose ensign scares the birds of prey, And old Silenus, youthful in decay, Employ'd their wiles, and unavailing care, To pass the fences, and furprize the fair? Like these, Vertumnus own'd his faithful flame, Like these, rejected by the fcornful dame. To gain her fight a thousand forms he wears; And first a reaper from the field appears, 30 Sweating he walks, while loads of golden grain O'ercharge the shoulders of the seeming swain. Oft o'er his back a crooked scythe is laid, And wreaths of hay his fun-burnt temples shade: Oft in his harden'd hand a goad he bears, 35 Like one who late unyok'd the sweating steers. Sometimes his pruning-hook corrects the vines, And the loose stragglers to their ranks confines, VOL. II. R

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