Or Mitra, to whofe beams the Perfian bows,
And pays, in hollow rocks, his awful vows;
Mitra, whofe head the blaze of light adorns,
Who grafps the ftruggling heifer's lunar horns.
Frugiferum, feu Perfei fub rupibus antri
Indignata fequi torquentem cornua Mitram.
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;
Let me (if tears and grief permit) relate
A nearer woe, a fifter'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,
(Myself the offspring of a fecond bride)
This Nymph compress'd by him who rules the day,
Whom Delphi and the Delian isle obey,
DIXIT: et, admonitu veteris commota miniftrae,
Ingemuit; quam fic nurus eft adfata dolentem :
Te tamen, o genitrix, alienae fanguine vestro
Rapta movet facies. quid fi tibi mira fororis
Fata meae referam? quanquam lacrymaeque dolorque
Impediunt, prohibentque loqui. fuit unica matri
(Me pater ex alia genuit) notiffima formâ
Andræmon 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,
Whofe verdant fummit fragrant myrtles crown'd.
Thefe fhades, unknowing of the fates, fhe fought,
And to the Naiads flowery garlands brought;
Her fmiling babe (a pleasing charge) the prest
Within her arms, and nourish'd at her breast.
Not diftant far, a watery Lotos grows,
The fpring 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 cropp'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 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 stagno, Tyrios imitata colores,
In fpem baccarum florebat aquatica lotos.
Carpferat hinc Dryope, quos oblectamina nato
Porrigeret, flores: et idem factura videbar ;
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
A flowery plant, which still preserves her name.
This change unknown, aftonish'd at the fight,
My trembling fifter ftrove to urge her flight:
And first the pardon of the nymphs implor'd,
And those offended sylvan powers ador'd :
But when the backward would have fled, the found
Her ftiffening feet were rooted in the ground:
In vain to free her faften'd feet she strove,
And, as fhe ftruggles, only moves above;
She feels th' encroaching bark around her grow
By quick degrees, and cover all below:
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
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, conata manu laniare capillos,
Surpriz'd at this, her trembling hand she heaves
To rend her hair; her hand is fill'd with leaves :
Where late was hair, the fhooting leaves are feen
To rife, and fhade her with a fudden green.
The child Amphiffus, to her bofom prefs'd,
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,
And stood the helpless witness of thy fate,
Embrac'd thy boughs, thy rising bark delay'd,
There wifh'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 kisses on the panting rind.
Fronde manum implevit: frondes caput omne tene
At puer Amphiffos (namque hoc avus Eurytus illi
Addiderat nomen) materna rigescere sentit
Ubera: nec fequitur ducentem lacteus humor.
Spectatrix aderam fati crudelis; opemque
Non poteram tibi ferre, foror: quantumque valebam, Crefcentem truncum ramofque amplexa, morabar: 55 Et (fateor) volui fub eodem cortice condi.
Ecce vir Andræmon, genitorque miferrimus, adfunt; Et quaerunt Dryopen; Dryopen quaerentibus illis Oftendi loton. tepido dant ofcula ligno,
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