VERTUMNUS

AND

POMONA:

From the FoURTEENTH Book of

OVID'S METAMORPHOSES.

Inter Hamadryadas coluit solertius hortos,
Nec fuit arborei studiosior altera foetus :
Unde tenet nomen. non sylvas illa, nec amnes; 5
Rus amat, et ramos felicia poma ferentes.
Nec jaculo gravis est, sed adunca dextera falce: 10
Qua modo luxuriem premit, et spatiantia paffim
Brachia compefcit; fissa modo cortice virgam
Inferit; et succos alieno praeftat alumno.

VERTUMNUS

AND

POMONA.

HE fair Pomona flourish'd

TH

in his reign;

5

Of all the Virgins of the sylvan train, None taught the trees a nobler race to bear, Or more improv'd the vegetable care. To her the shady grove, the flow'ry field, The streams and fountains, no delights could yield; 'Twas all her joy the ripening fruits to tend, And fee the boughs with happy burthens bend. The hook she bore instead of Cynthia's spear,

To lop the growth of the luxuriant year,
To decent form the lawless shoots to bring,

10

And teach th' obedient branches where to spring.

Now the cleft rind inserted graffs receives,

And yields an offspring more than nature gives;

Nec patitur sentire sitim: bibulaeque recurvas 15 Radicis fibras labentibus irrigat undis.

Hic amor, hoc studium: Veneris quoque nulla cupido.

20

Vim tamen agrestûm metuens, pomaria claudit
Intus, et accessus prohibet refugitque viriles.
Quid non et Satyri, saltatibus apta juventus,
Fecere, et pinu praecincti cornua Panes,
Sylvanusque suis semper juvenilior annis,
Quique Deus fures, vel falce, vel inguine terret,
Ut poterentur ea? sed enim superabat amando 25
Hos quoque Vertumnus: neque erat felicior illis.
O quoties habitu duri messoris aristas
Corbe tulit, verique fuit messoris imago!
Tempora faepe gerens foeno religata recenti,
Defectum poterat gramen versasse videri.
Saepe manu stimulos rigida portabat; ut illum
Jurares feffos modo disjunxisse juvencos.

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20

25

:

Now fliding streams the thirsty plants renew, Is
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 sylvans 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 surprize the fair?
Like these, Vertumnus own'd his faithful flame,
Like these, rejected by the scornful dame.
To gain her fight a thousand forms he wears,
And first a reaper from the field appears,
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 sun-burnt temples shade:
Oft in his harden'd hand a goad he bears,
Like one who late unyok'd the sweating steers.
Sometimes his pruning-hook corrects the vines,
And the loose straglers to their ranks confines.

§

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