This Nymph comprefs'd by him who rules the day,
Whom Delphi and the Delian ifle obey,
Andræmon lov'd; and, bless'd in all thofe charms
That pleas'd a God, fucceeded to her arms.
A lake there was, with fhelving banks around, 15 Whofe 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 preft Within her arms, and nourish'd at her breast. Not diftant far, a wat'ry 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 dye : Of thefe fhe 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 stood) The violated blossoms drop with blood.
Oechalidum Dryope: quam virginitate carentem,
Vimque Dei paffam, Delphos Delonque tenentis,
Excipit Andraemon; et habetur conjuge felix.
Eft lacus, acclivi devexo margine formam
Littoris efficiens: fummum myrteta coronant.
Venerat huc Dryope fatorum nescia; 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
Porrigeret, flores: et idem factura videbar;
Namque aderam. vidi guttae flore cruentas
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
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, the found
Her ftiff'ning feet were rooted in the ground:
In vain to free her faften'd feet fhe ftrove,
And as the struggles, only moves above;
She feels th' encroaching bark around her grow
By quick degrees, and cover all below:
Surpriz'd at this, her trembling hand fhe 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 sudden green.
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.
Ut vidit, conatà manu laniare capillos,
Fronde manum implevit: frondes caput omne tene
At puer Amphiffos (namque hoc avus Eurytus illi
Addiderat nomen) materna rigefcere fentit
The child Amphiffus, to her bofom prefs'd,
Perceiv'd a colder and a harder breast,
And found the springs, that ne'er till then deny`d
Their milky moisture, on a fudden dry'd.
I faw, unhappy! what I now relate,
And stood the helpless witness of thy fate,
Embrac'd thy boughs, thy rifing 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 diftills a trickling tear,
And ftrait a voice, while yet a voice remains,
Thus thro' the trembling boughs in fighs complains:
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.
Eące 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, habebat.
Cara foror, lacrymae verfo de corpore factis
Irrorant foliis ac, dum licet, oraque praeftant 65
Vocis iter, tales effundit in aëra queftus
If to the wretched any faith be giv❜n,
I fwear by all th' unpitying pow'rs of Heav'n,
No wilful crime this heavy vengeance bred;
In mutual innocence our lives we led:
If this be falfe, let these new greens decay,
Let founding axes lop my limbs away,
And crackling flames on all my honours prey.
But from my branching arms this infant bear,
Let fome kind nurse supply a mother's care :
And to his mother let him oft be led,
Sport in her fhades, and in her fhades be fed;
Teach him, when his first infant voice shall frame 8℗
Imperfect words, and lifp his mother's name,
To hail this tree; and fay with weeping eyes,
Within this plant my hapless parent lies:
And when in youth he feeks the fhady woods,
Oh, let him fly the crystal lakes and floods,
Nor touch the fatal flow'rs; but, warn'd by me,
Believe a Goddess shrin'd in ev'ry tree.
My fire, my fifter, and my spouse, farewell!
If in your breafts or love, or pity dwell,
Si qua fides miferis, hoc me per numina juro
Non meruiffe nefas. patior fine crimine poenam.
Viximus innocuae: fi mentior, arida perdam,
Quas habeo, frondes; et caesa securibus urar.
Hunc tamen infantem maternis demite ramis,
Et date nutrici; noftraque fub arbora 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 !
Protect your plant, nor let my branches feel
The browzing cattle, or the piercing steel.
Farewell! and fince I cannot bend to join
My lips to yours, advance at least to mine.
My fon, thy mother's parting kiss receive,
While yet thy mother has a kifs to give.
I can no more; the creeping rind invades
My closing lips, and hides my head in shades:
Remove your hands; the bark shall foon fuffice
Without their aid to feal thefe dying eyes.
She ceas'd at once to speak, and ceas'd to be ; 100 And all the nymph was loft within the tree; Yet latent life thro' her new branches reign'd, And long the plant a human heat retain'd.
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 nostra venite,
Dum tangi poffunt, parvumque attollite natum.
Plura loqui nequeo. nam jam per candida mollis
Colla liber ferpet; fummoque cacumine condor.
Ex oculis removete manus: fine munere veftro
Contegat inductus morientia lumina cortex.
Defierant fimul ora loqui. fimul effe: diuque
Corpore mutato rami caluere recentes.
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