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DRYOPE

IN

ARBORE M.

DIXIT: et, admonitu veteris commota mi

niftrae,

Ingemuit; quam fic nurus eft adfata dolentem :
Te tamen, o genitrix, alienae fanguine veftro
Rapta movet facies. quid fi tibi mira fororis
Fata meae referam? quamquam lacrymaeque dolor-

que

Impediunt, prohibentque loqui. fuit unica matri
(Me pater ex alia genuit) notiffima forma
Oechalidum Dryope: quam virginitate carentem,
Vimque Dei paffam, Delphos Delonque tenentis,
Excipit Andraemon; et habetur conjuge felix.

NOTES.

ΤΟ

DRYOPE.] Upon occafion of the death of Hercules, his Mother Alcmena recounts her misfortunes to Iole, who anfwers with a relation of thofe of her own family, in par

THE

FABLE

.O F

DRYOPE.

D R

S

From the NINTH BOOK of

OVID'S METAMORPHOSES.

HE faid, and for her loft Galanthis fighs,

When the fair Confort of her fon replies.
Since 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 stranger fate.

No Nymph of all Echalia 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,
Andræmon lov'd; and, blefs'd in all thofe charms
That pleas'd a God, fucceeded to her arms.

NOTES.

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ticular the Transformation of her fifter Dryope, which is the fubject of the enfuing Fable. P.

VOL. II.

N

Eft lacus, acclivi devexo margine formam
Littoris efficiens: fummum myrteta coronant.
Venerat huc Dryope fatorum nefcia; quoque
Indignere magis, Nymphis latura coronas.

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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
Porrigeret flores: et idem factura videbar;
Namque aderam. vidi guttas e flore cruentas
Decidere; et tremulo ramos horrore moveri.

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Scilicet, ut referunt tardi nunc denique agreftes,

Lotis in hanc Nymphe, fugiens obscoena Priapi,
Contulerat verfos, fervato nomine, vultus.

Nefcierat foror hoc; quae cum perterrita retro 35 Ire et adoratis vellet difcedere Nymphis ;

Haeferunt radice pedes. convellere pugnat:

40

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A lake there was, with fhelving banks around, 15
Whofe verdant fummit fragrant myrtles crown'd.
Thefe fhades, unknowing of the fates, fhe fought,
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.
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 thefe fhe crop'd to please her infant fon,
And I myself the fame rafh 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;

The trembling tree with fudden horror fhook.
Lotis the nymph (if rural tales be true)
As from Priapus' lawless luft she flew,
Forfook her form; and fixing here became

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A flow'ry plant, which ftill preferves her name.
This change unknown, astonish'd at the fight 35
My trembling fifter ftrove to urge her flight,
And first the pardon of the nymphs implor'd,
And thofe offended fylvan pow'rs ador'd:

But when she backward would have fled, fhe found
Her stiff'ning feet were rooted in the ground :

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Nec quidquam, nifi fumma, movet. fuccrefcit ab imo,
Totaque paulatim lentus premit inguina cortex.
Ut vidit; conata manu laniare capillos,

Fronde manum implevit : frondes caput omne tene

bant.

At puer Amphiffos (namque hoc avus Eurytus illi
Addiderat nomen) materna rigefcere sentit
Ubera: nec fequitur ducentem lacteus humor.
Spectatrix aderam fati crudelis; opemque.

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Non poteram tibi ferre, foror: quantumque valebam,
Crefcentem truncum ramofque amplexa, morabar:
Et (fateor) volui fub eodem cortice condi.

Ecce vir Andraemon, genitorque miferrimus, adfunt:
Et quaerunt Dryopen: Dryopen quaerentibus illis
Oftendi loton. tepido dant ofcula ligno:
Adfufique fuae radicibus arboris haerent.

Nil nifi jam faciem, quod non foret arbor, habebas,
Cara foror. lacrymae verfo de corpore factis

60

Irrorant foliis: ac, dum licet, oraque praeftant 65 Vocis iter, tales effundit in aëra queftus:

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