Τ' ΗΕ

F A B L E

OF

DR Y OP E. RY

SHWE

HE said, and for her loft Galanthis fighs,

When the fair Confort of her son replies. Since you a servant's ravish'd form bemoan, And kindly sigh for sorrows not your own; Let me (if tears and grief permit) relate 5 A nearer woe, a fifter'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 compress’d by him who rules the day, Whom Delphi and the Delian isle obey,

I

Excipit Andraemon; et habetur conjuge felix.
Eft lacus, acclivi devexo margine formam 15
Littoris efficiens: summum myrteta coronant.
Venerat huc Dryope fatorum nescia; quóque
Indignere magis, Nymphis latura coronas.
Inque sinu puerum, 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.
Carpserat hinc Dryope, quos oblectamina nato 25
Potrigeret, 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 agrestes,
Lotis in hanc Nymphe, fugiens obscoena Priapi,
Contulerat versos, servato nomine, vultus.

Nefcierat foror hoc; quae cum perterrita retro35 Andræmon lov'd; and, bless’d in all those charms That pleas'd a God, succeeded to her arms.

A lake there was, with shelving banks around, Whose verdant summit fragrant myrtles crown'd. These shades, unknowing of the fates, she fought And to the Naiads flow’ry garlands brought: Her smiling babe (a pleasing charge) The prest 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 die Of these she crop'd to please her infant son, 25 And I myself the same rash act had done: But lo! I saw, (as near her side I stood) The violated blossoms drop with blood. Upon the tree I cast a frightful look; The trembling tree with sudden horror shook. 30 Lotis the nymph (if rural tales be true) As from Priapus' lawless lust she flew, Forsook 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 sister ftrove to urge he: light;

Ire, et adoratis vellet discedere Nymphis,
Haeserunt radice pedes. convellere pugnat :

40 Nec quidquam, nisi summa, movet. succrescitabimo, Totaque paulatim lentus premit inguina coi tex. Ut vidit, conata manu laniare capillos, Fronde manum implevit: frondes caput omne tenebant.

45 At puer Amphiffos (namque hoc avus Euryuus illi Addiderat nomen) materna rigefcere sentit Ubera: nec sequitur ducentem lacteus humor. 50 Spectatrix aderam fati crudelis; opemque Non poteram tibi ferre,foror: quantumque valebám, Crescentem truncum ramosque amplexa, morabar; Et (fateor) volui sub eodem cortice condi. Ecce vir Andraemon, genitorque miserrimus, ad

sunt; Et quaerunt Dryopen: Dryopen quaerentibus illis Oftendi loton. tepido dant oscula ligno, 60

And first the pardon of the nymphs implor’d,
And those offended sylvan pow'rs ador’d:
But when the backward would have fled, the found
Her stiff’ning feet were rooted in the ground: 40
In vain to free her fasten'd feet the strove,
And as the 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 she heaves To rend her hair; her hand is fill'd with leaves :

; Where late was hair, the shooting leaves are seen To rise, and shade her with a sudden

green. The child Amphissus, to her bosom prest, Perceiv'd a colder and a harder breast, 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 rising 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 springing tree for Dryope they find, And print warm kisses on the panting rind. 60

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