HE faid, and for her loft Galanthis fighs,
When the fair Confort of her fon replies:
Since you a fervant's ravifh'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 Oechalia 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 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 thofe charms
That pleas'd a God, succeeded to her arms.
A lake there was, with fhelving banks around,
Whofe verdant fummit fragrant myrtles crown'd.
These 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 fpring was new, and all the verdant boughs,
Adorn'd with blossoms, promis'd fruits that vie
In glowing colours with the Tyrian dye :
Of these she cropp'd to please her infant son,
And I myself the fame rash act had done:
But lo! I faw (as near her fide I ftood)
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 ftagno, 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 lock;
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 flowery plant, which still preserves her name.
This change unknown, astonish'd at the fight,
My trembling fifter strove to urge her flight :
And firft 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 fhe ftrove,
And, as she struggles, 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 the heaves
To rend her hair; her hand is fill'd with leaves:
Where late was hair, the fhooting leaves are feen
Torife, and fhade her with a sudden green.
The child Amphissus, to her bosom 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 fudden dry'd.
I saw, 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 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 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 ofcüla ligno,
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 every leaf diftils a trickling tear,
And ftrait a voice, while yet a voice remains,
Thus through the trembling boughs in fighs complains:
If to the wretched any faith be given,
I fwear by all th' unpitying powers of Heaven,
No wilful crime this heavy vengeance bred;
In mutual innocence our lives we led:
If this be false, 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 nurse 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 factis
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 habee, frondes; et caefa fecuribus urar.
Hunc tamen infantem maternis demite ramis,
Et date nutrici; noftraque fub arbora faepe
Lac facitote bibat; noftraque fub arbore ludat.
|