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THE

FABLE

OF

DRYOPE.

S

HE faid, and for her loft Galanthis sighs,
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 fifter's stranger fate.

5

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 fecond bride.) This Nymph compress'd by him who rules the day,

10

Whom Delphi and the Delian ifle obey,

NOTES.

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

Excipit Andraemon; et habetur conjuge felix.
Est lacus, acclivi devexo margine formam
Littoris efficiens: summum myrteta coronant.
Venerat huc Dryope fatorum nefcia; quoque

15

Indignere magis, Nymphis latura coronas.
Inque finu 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.
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 agrestes,
Lotis in hanc Nymphe, fugiens obscoena Priapi,
Contulerat verfos, fervato nomine, vultus.

Nescierat 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 sought And to the Naiads flow'ry garlands brought: Her smiling babe (a pleasing charge) she 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 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 cast a frightful look; The trembling tree with fudden 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 preferves her name. 34 This change unknown, astonish'd at the fight My trembling fister strove to urge her flight:

40

Ire, et adoratis vellet discedere Nymphis,
Haeserunt radice pedes. convellere pugnat :
Nec quidquam, nisi summa, 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 Amphissos (namque hoc avus Eurytus illi
Addiderat nomen) materna rigefcere sentit
Ubera: nec sequitur ducentem lacteus humor. 50
Spectatrix aderam fati crudelis; opemque

Non poteram tibi ferre, foror: quantumque valebam,
Crefcentem truncum ramosque 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 first 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 fasten'd feet she strove,
And as the struggles, only moves above;
She feels th' encroaching bark around her grow
By quick degrees, and cover all below:
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 shade her with a fudden 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 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

50

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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