Andræmon lov'd; and, bless'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.
Thefe fhades, unknowing of the fates, fhe fought,
And to the Naiads flowery garlands brought;
Her fmiling babe (a pleafing charge) fhe preft
Within her arms, and nourish'd at her breast.
Not diftant far, a watery 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 these she 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 stood)
The violated bloffoms 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 cast 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, astonish'd at the sight,
My trembling fifter ftrove to urge her flight:
And first the pardon of the nymphs implor'd,
And thofe offended fylvan powers ador'd:
But when the backward would have fled, fhe 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 obfcoena 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 shooting leaves are feen
To rife, and fhade her with a fudden green.
The child Amphiffus, to her bofom press'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 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 fhade with fhade.
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.
Fronde manum implevit: frondes caput omne tenebant,
puer Amphiffos (namque hoc avus Eurytus illi Addiderat nomen) materna rigefcere 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 oscula ligno,
Proftrate, with tears their kindred plant bedew,
And clofe 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 every leaf distils a trickling tear,
And strait a voice, while yet a voice remains,
Thus through the trembling boughs in fighs complains:
If to the wretched any faith be given,
I swear by all th' unpitying powers of Heaven,
No wilful crime this heavy vengeance bred;
In mutual innocence our lives we led:
If this be falfe, let thefe 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 nurfe fupply a mother's care:
Adfufique fuae radicibus arboris haerent.
Nil nifi jam faciem, quod non foret arbor, habebat.
Cara foror, lacrymae verfo de corpore
Irrorant foliis ac, dum licet, oraque praeftant
Vocis iter, tales effundit in aëra queftus.
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 caefa fecuribus urar.
Hunc tamen infantem maternis demite ramis,
Et date nutrici; noftraque fub arbora saepe
Lac facitote bibat; noftraque fub arbore ludat.
And to his mother let him oft be led,
Sport in her shades, and in her shades be fed;
Teach him, when firft his infant voice fhall frame
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 flowers; but, warn'd by me,
Believe a Goddess fhrin'd in every tree.
My fire, my fifter, and my spouse, farewell!
If in your breafts or love or pity dwell,
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.
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!
Quîs 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
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