So may no froft, when early buds appear,
Deftroy the promise of the youthful year;
Nor winds, when first your florid orchard blows,
Shake the light bloffoms from their blasted boughs!
This when the various God had urg'd in vain,
He ftrait affum'd his native form again;
Such, and fo bright an aspect now he bears,
As when thro' clouds th' emerging fun appears,
And thence exerting his refulgent ray,
Difpels the darkness, and reveals the day.
Force he prepar'd, but check'd the rash design;
For when, appearing in a form divine,
The Nymph furveys him, and beholds the grace
Of charming features, and a youthful face;
It her foft breaft confenting paffions move,
And the warm maid confefs'd a mutual love.
Sic tibi nec vernum nafcentia frigus adurat
Poma: nec excutiant rapidi florentia venti.
Hæc ubi nequicquam formas Deus aptus in omnes,
Edidit; in juvenem rediit, & anilia demit
Inftrumenta fibi: talifque adparuit illi,
Qualis ubi oppofitos nitidiffima folis imago
Evicit nubes, nullâque obftante reluxit.
Vimque parat, fed vi non eft opus: inque figura
Capta Dei Nympha eft, & mutua vulnera fentit.
Upon occafion of the death of Hercules, his mother Alcmena recounts her misfortunes to Iole, who answers with a relation of those of her own family, in particular the transformation of her fifter Dryope, which is the fubject of the enfuing Fable.
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;
DIXIT: &, admonitu veteris commoto miniftræ,
Ingemuit; quam fic nurus eft adfata gementem:
Te tamen, o genetrix, alienæ à fanguine veftro
Rapta movet facies. Quid fi tibi mira fororis
Let me (if tears and grief permit) relate
A nearer woe, a Sifter's stranger fate.
No Nymph of all Oechalia could compare
For beauteous form with Dryope the fair,
Her tender mother's only hope and pride,
(My felf the offspring of a second bride.)
This Nymph comprefs'd by him who rules the day,
Whom Delphi and the Delian ifle obey,
Andramon lov'd; and blefs'd in all those charms
That pleas'd a God, fucceeded to her arms.
A lake there was, with fhelving banks around,
Whose verdant fummit fragrant myrtles crown'd.
These 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 breast.
Fata mea referam? quamquam lacrymæque dolorque
Impediunt, prohibentque loqui. Fuit unica matri
(Me pater ex aliâ genuit) notiffima formâ
Oechalidum Dryope: quem virginitate carentem,
Vimque Dei palam Delphos Delonque tenentis,
Excipit Andramon; & habetur conjuge felix.
Eft lacus, acclivis devexo margine formam
Litoris efficiens: fummum myrteta coronant.
Venerat buc Dryope fatorum nefcia, quoque
Indignere magis, Nymphis latura coronas.
Inque finu puerum, qui nondum impleverat annum,
Dulce ferebat onus: tepidique ope lactis alebat.
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