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 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,
(Myfelf the offspring of a fecond bride.)
This Nymph comprefs'd by him who rules the day, Whom Delphi and the Delian isle obey,
a relation of thofe of her own family, in particular the Transformation of her fifter Dryope, which is the fubject of the enfu-. ing Fable. P.
Excipit Andraemon; et habetur conjuge felix.
Eft lacus, acclivi devexo margine formam
Littoris efficiens: fummum myrteta coronant.
Venerat huc Dryope fatorum nefcia; quoque
Indignere magis, Nymphis latura coronas.
Inque finu puerum, qui nondum impleverat annum,
Dulce ferebat onus: tepidique ope lactis alebat.
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.
Nfcierat foror hoc; quae cum perterrita retro 35
Andræmon lov'd; and, bless'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, she fought,
And to the Naiads flow'ry garlands brought;
Her fmiling babe (a pleafing charge) she preft
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 bloffoms promis'd fruits that vie
In glowing colours with the Tyrian die :
Of these she crop❜d to please her infant son,
And I myself the fame rash act had done:
But lo! I faw, (as near her fide I ftood)
The violated bloffoms drop with blood;
Upon the tree I cast a frightful look ;
The trembling tree with fudden horror fhook. 30
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 still preserves her name. 34
This change unknown, astonish'd at the fight
My trembling fifter ftrove to urge her flight,
Ire et adoratis vellet difcedere Nymphis;
Haeferunt radice pedes. convellere pugnat:
Nec quidquam,nifi fumma, movet. fuccrescit ab imo,
Totaque paulatim lentus premit inguina cortex.
Ut vidit; conata manu laniare capillos,
Fronde manum implevit: frondes caput omne te
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 valebam,
Crefcentem truncum ramofquc amplexa, morabar:
Et (fateor) volui fub eodem cortice condi.
Ecce vir Andraemon, genitorque miferrimus, ad
Et quaerunt Dryopen: Dryopen quaerentibus illis Oftendi loton. tepido dant ofcula ligno:
And first the pardon of the nymphs implor'd,
And those offended fylvan 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 she strove,
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 fhooting leaves are seen
To rife, and shade her with a fudden green.
The child Amphiffus, to her bofom 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 saw, 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.
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