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THE

FABL E

O F

DRYOP E.

SHE

Since

5

HE faid, and for her loft Galanthis fighs, When the fair Confort of her fon replies. you a fervant's ravifh'd form bemoan, And kindly figh for forrows not your own; Let me (if tears and grief permit) relate A nearer woe, a fifter's ftranger 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,

NOTES.

ΙΟ

with a relation of those of her own family, in particular the Transformation of her fifter Dryope, which is the subject of the ensuing able. P.

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Excipit Andraemon; et habetur conjuge felix.
Est lacus, acclivi devexo margine formam
Littoris efficiens: fummum myrteta coronant.
Venerat huc Dryope fatorum nescia; quóque
Indignere magis, Nymphis latura coronas.
Inque finu puerum, qui nondum impleverat annum,
Dulce ferebat onus; tepidique ope lactis alebat. 20
Haud procul a ftagno, Tyrios imitata colores,
In fpem baccarum florebat aquatica lotos.
Carpferat hinc Dryope, quos oblectamina nato 25
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.

Nefcierat foror hoc; quae cum perterrita retro 3 5

Andræmon lov'd; and, blefs'd in all those charms That pleas'd a God, fucceeded to her arms.

A lake there was, with shelving banks around, Whofe 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 pleasing charge) she prest Within her arms, and nourish'd at her breast. 20 Not diftant 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 die :

Of these she crop'd to please her infant fon,
And I myself the same rash act had done:
But lo! I faw, (as near her fide I ftood)
The violated bloffoms drop with blood.
Upon the tree I caft a frightful look;

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The trembling tree with fudden horror shook.

30

Lotis the nymph (if rural tales be true)

As from Priapus' lawless luft fhe flew,

Forfook her form; and fixing here became

A flow'ry plant, which still preserves her name. 34

This change unknown, astonish'd at the fight My trembling fifter strove to urge her flight;

40

Ire, et adoratis vellet difcedere Nymphis,
Haeferunt radice pedes. convellere pugnat:
Nec quidquam,nifi fumma,movet. fuccrefcit abimo,
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 rigescere sentit
Ubera: nec fequitur ducentem lacteus humor. 50
Spectatrix aderam fati crudelis; opemque
Non poteram tibi ferre,foror: quantumque valebám,
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 oscula ligno,

69

And first the pardon of the nymphs implor'd,
And those offended fylvan pow'rs ador'd:
But when the backward would have fled, fhe found
Her ftiff'ning feet were rooted in the ground: 40
In vain to free her faften'd feet the ftrove,
And as she struggles, only moves above;
She feels th' encroaching bark around her grow
By quick degrees, and cover all below:
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Surpriz'd at this, her trembling hand fhe heaves
To rend her hair; her hand is fill'd with leaves:
Where late was hair, the fhooting leaves are feen
To rife, and fhade her with a fudden green.
The child Amphiffus, to her bosom prest,
Perceiv'd a colder and a harder breast,

5.0

And found the springs, that ne'er till then deny'd
Their milky moisture, on a sudden dry'd,
I faw, unhappy! what I now relate,
And stood the helpless witness of thy fate,

Embrac'd thy boughs, thy rifing bark delay'd, 55
There wish'd to grow, and mingle shade with shade.
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

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