Eft lacus, acclivi devexo margine formam
Littoris efficiens: fummum myrteta coronant.
Venerat huc Dryope fatorum nefcia; quóque
Indignere magis, Nymphis latura coronas.
Inque finu puerum, qui nondum impleverat annum,
Dulce ferebat onus; tepidique ope lactis alebat. zo
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.
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: Nec quidquam, nifi fumma, movet. fuccrefcit ab imo, Totaque paulatim lentus premit inguina cortex.
40
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 fmiling babe (a pleafing charge) she prest Within her arms, and nourish'd at her breaft. 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 fon, 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 caft a frightful look; The trembling tree with fudden horror shook. Lotis the nymph (if rural tales be true). As from Priapus' lawless luft fhe flew, Forfook her form; and fixing here became 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 firft the pardon of the nymphs implor'd, And thofe offended fylvan pow'rs ador'd: But when the backward would have fled, fhe found Her ftiffining feet were rooted in the ground: In vain to free her faften'd feet she strove, And as fhe ftruggles, only moves above;
Ut vidit, conata manu laniare capillos,
Fronde manum implevit: frondes caput omne tene-
bant.
45
At puer Amphiffos (namque hoc avus Eurytus illi
Addiderat nomen) materna rigescere fentit
Ubera: nec fequitur ducentem lacteus humor.
Spectatrix aderam fati crudelis; opemque
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.
60
Nil nifi jam faciem, quod non foret arbor, habebas,
Cara foror. lacrymae verfo de corpore factis
Irrorant foliis ac, dum licet, oraque praeftant 65
Vocis iter, tales effundit in aëra queftus :
Si qua fides miferis, hoc me per numina juro
Non meruiffe nefas, patior fine crimine poenam. 70
She feels th' encroaching bark around her grow
By quick degrees, and cover all below:
Surpriz'd at this, her trembling hand fhe heaves 45
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 Amphiffus, to her bosom 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 sudden dry'd.
I faw, unhappy! what I now relate,
55
And stood the helpless witness of thy fate,
Embrac'd thy boughs, thy rising bark delay'd,
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.
Proftrate, with tears their kindred plant bedew,
And close embrace, as to the roots they grew.
The face was all that now remain'd of thee,
No more a woman, nor yet quite a tree;
Thy branches hung with humid pearls appear,
From ev'ry leaf distills a trickling tear,
And strait a voice, while yet a voice remains,
Thus thro' the trembling boughs in fighs complains:
If to the wretched any faith be giv'n,
I swear by all th' unpitying pow'rs of heav'n, 70
2
Viximus innocuae: fi mentior, arida perdam,
Quas habeo, frondes; et caesa securibus urar.
Hunc tamen infantem maternis demite ramis,
Et date nutrici; noftraque fub arbore faepe
Lac facitote bibat; noftraque fub arbore ludat.
Cumque loqui poterit, matrem facitote falutet,
Et triftis dicat, Latet hoc fub ftipite mater.
Stagna tamen timeat; nec carpat ab arbore flores:
Et frutices omnes corpus putet effe Dearum.
Care, vale, conjux, et tu germana, paterque !
Quis fi qua eft pietas, ab acutae vulnere falcis,
A pecoris morfu frondes defendite noftras.
Et quoniam mihi fas ad vos incumbere non eft,
Erigite huc artus, et ad ofcula noftra venite,
Dum tangi poffunt, parvumqué attollite natum.
Plura loqui nequeo. nam jam per candida mollis
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