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VERTUM NUS

AND

POMON A.

From the FOURTEENTH BOOK of

OVID'S METAMORPHOSES.

VERTUMNUS

AND

POMON A.

THE fair Pomona flourish'd in his reign;
Of all the Virgins of the fylvan train,
None taught the trees a nobler race to bear,
Or more improv'd the vegetable care.
To her the fhady grove, the flow'ry field,
The streams and fountains, no delights could yield;
'Twas all her joy the rip'ning fruits to tend,
And fee the boughs with happy burthens bend.
The hook fhe bore instead of Cynthia's fpear,
To lop the growth of the luxuriant year,
To decent form the lawless fhoots to bring,
And teach th' obedient branches where to spring.
Now the cleft rind inferted graffs receives,
And yields an offspring more than nature gives ;

R

EGE fub hoc Pomona fuit: qua nulla Latinas Inter Hamadryadas coluit folertius hortos, Nec fuit arborei ftudiofior altera foetûs: Unde tenet nomen. non fylvas illa, nec amnes; Rus amat, et ramos felicia poma ferentes. Nec jaculo gravis eft, fed adunca dextera falce: Qua modo luxuriem premit, et fpatiantia paffim Brachia compefcit; fiffa modo cortice virgam Inferit; et fuccos alieno praeftat alumno,

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Now fliding streams the thirfty plants renew,
And feed their fibres with reviving dew.

These cares alone her virgin breast employ,
Averfe from Venus and the nuptial joy.
Her private orchards, wall'd on ev'ry fide,
To lawless fylvans all access deny'd.
How oft the Satyrs and the wanton Fawns,
Who haunt the forefts, or frequent the lawns,
The God whofe enfign scares the birds of prey,
And old Silenus, youthful in decay,
Employ'd their wiles, and unavailing care,
To pafs the fences, and furprize the fair?

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Like thefe, Vertumnus own'd his faithful flame,
Like these, rejected by the fcornful 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 feeming fwain.

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Nec patitur fentire fitim; bibulaeque recurvas
Radicis fibras labentibus irrigat undis.

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Hic amor, hoc ftudium: Veneris quoque nulla cupido.
Vim tamen agreftûm metuens, pomaria claudit
Intus, et acceffus prohibet refugitque viriles.
Quid non et Satyri, faltatibus apta juventus,
Fecere, et pinu praecincti cornua Panes,
Sylvanufque fuis femper juvenilior annis,
Quique Deus fures, vel falce, vel inguine terret,
Ut potirentur ea? fed enim fuperabat amando
Hos quoque Vertumnus: neque erat felicior illis.
O quoties habiti duri mefforis ariftas
Corbe tulit, verique fuit mefforis imago!

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Oft o'er his back a crooked feythe is laid,
And wreaths of hay his fun-burnt temples fhade:
Oft in his harden'd hand a goad he bears,
Like one who late unyok'd the fweating fteers.
Sometimes his pruning-hook corrects the vines,
And the loose stragglers to their ranks confines.
Now gath'ring what the bounteous year allows,
He pulls ripe apples from the bending boughs.
A foldier now, he with his fword appears ;
A fisher next, his trembling angle bears;
Each shape he varies, and each art he tries,
On her bright charms to feaft his longing eyes.
A female form at last Vertumnus wears,
With all the marks of rev'rend age appears,
His temples thinly spread with filver hairs;
Prop'd on his ftaff, and ftooping as he goes,
A painted mitre shades his furrow'd brows.
The God in this decrepit form array'd,
The gardens enter'd, and the fruit furvey'd;
And Happy you! (he thus addrefs'd the maid)

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Tempora faepe gerens foeno religata recenti,
Defectum poterat gramen verfasse videri.
Saepe manu ftimulos rigida portabat; ut illum
Jurares feffos modo disjunxiffe juvencos.
Falce data frondator erat, vitifque putator :
Induerat fcalas, lecturum poma putares:
Miles erat gladio, pifcator arundine fumta.
Denique per multas aditum fibi faepe figuras
Repperit, ut caperet fpectatae gaudia formae.
Ille etiam picta redimitus tempora mitra,
Innitens baculo, pofitis ad tempora canis,
Adfimulavit annum: cultofque intravit in hortos;
Pomaque mirata eft: Tantoque potentior, inquit.

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