DIXIT: et, admonitu veteris commota ministræ,
Ingemuit; quam fic nurus eft adfata dolentem:
Te tamen, o genitrix, alienæ fanguine veftro
Rapta movet facies. quid fi tibi mira fororis
Fata meæ referam? quamquam lacrymæque dolorque
Impediunt, prohibentque loqui. fuit unica matri
(Me pater ex alia genuit) notiffima forma
Echalidum Dyrope: quam virginitate carentem,
Vimque Dei paffam, Delphos Delonque tenentis,
Excipit Andræmon; 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.
SHE 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 ftranger fate.
No nymph of all Echalia could compare
For beauteous form with Dryope the fair,
Her tender mother's only hope and pride,
(Myfelf the offspring of a fecond bride.)
This Nymph comprefs'd by him who rules the day,
Whom Delphi and the Delian ifle obey,
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, 15 Whofe verdant fummit fragrant myrtles crown'd. These fhades, unknowing of the fates, she 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.
DRYOPF.] Upon occafion of the death of Hercules, his mother Alcmena recounts her misfortunes to Iole, who answers with a relation of thofe of her own family, in particular the tranfformations of her fifter Dryope, which is the fubject of the enfuing fable.
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 guttas e flore cruentas
Decidere; et tremulo ramos horrore moveri.
Scilicet, ut referunt tardi nunc denique agreftes,
Lotis in hanc Nymphe, fugiens obfcœna Priapi,
Contulerat verfos, fervato nomine, vultus.
Nefcierat foror hoc; quæ cum perterrita retro 35 Ire, et adoratis vellet difcedere Nymphis,
Hæferunt radice pedes. convellere pugnat:
Nec quidquam, nifi fumma, movet. fuccrefcit ab imo,
Totaque paulatim lentus premit inguina cortex.
Ut vidit, conata manu laniare capillos,
Fronde manum implevit, frondes caput omne tenebant.
At puer Amphiffos (namque hoc avus Eurytus illi
Addiderat nomen) materna rigefcere fentit
Ubera: nec fequitur ducentem lacteus humor.
Not distant far a watry 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 side I stood,)
The violated bloffoms drop with blood;
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 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 first the pardon of the nymphs implor'd
And thofe offended fylvan pow'rs ador'd;
But when she backward would have fled, she found
Her stiff'ning feet were rooted in the ground:
In vain to free her fasten'd feet she strove,
And, as she 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 45
To rend her hair; her hand is fill'd with leaves:
Where late was hair the shooting leaves are seen
To rife, and shade her with a sudden green,
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