a

59

Surpriz'd at this, her trembling hand the heaves 49
To rend her hair; her hand is fill'd with leaves :
Where late was hair, the shooting leaves are seen
To'rise, and shade 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 sudden dry'd.
I saw, unhappy! what I now relate,
And stood the helpless witness of thy fate,
Embrac'd thy boughs, thy rising bark delay'd, 55
There wilh'd to grow, and mingle shade with shade.

Behold Andræmon and th' unhappy fire
Appear, and for their Dryope enquire ;
A springing tree for Dryope they find,
And print warm kisses on the panting rind.

60 Prostrate,

Fronde manum implevit: frondes caput omne tenebant,

45 At puer Amphiffos (namque hoc avus Eurytus illi Addiderat nomen) materna rigescere sentit Ubera : nec sequitur ducentem lacteus humor.

50 Spectatrix aderam fati crudelis; opemque Non poteram tibi ferre, foror : quantumque valebam, Crescentem truncum ramosque amplexa, morabar: 56 Et (fateor) volui sub eodem cortice condi. Ecce vir Andræmon, genitorque miferrimus, adsunt; Et quaerunt Dryopen; Dryopen quaerentibus illis Oftendi loton. tepido dant ofcula ligno,

60

65

Prostrate, 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 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, 70 No wilful crime this heavy vengeance bred; In mutual innocence our lives we led : If this be false, let these new greens decay, Let sounding axes lop my limbs away, And crackling flames on all my

honours

prey. 7-5 But from my branching arms this infant bear, Let some kind nurse supply a mother's care:

And

65

Adfulique suae radicibus arboris haerent.
Nil nisi jam faciem, quod non foret arbor, habebat.
Cara foror, lacrymae verso de corpore factis
Irrorant foliis : ac, dum licet, oraque praestant
Vocis iter, tales effundit in aëra questus.
Si
qua

fides miseris, hoc me per numina juro
Non meruisse nefas. patior fine crimine poenam. yo
Viximus innocuae: fi mentior, arida perdam,
Quas habeo, frondes; et caesa fecuribus urar. 75
Hunc tamen infantem maternis demite ramis,
Et date nutrici; noftraque sub 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 first his infant voice shall frame
Imperfect words, and lisp his mother's name,
To hail this tree; and say with weeping eyes,
Within this plant my hapless parent lies :
And when in youth he seeks the shady woods,
Oh, let him fly the crystal lakes and floods,
Nor touch the fatal flowers; but, warn’d by me,
Believe a Goddess shrin'd in every tree.
My sire, my sister, and my spouse, farewell!
If in
your

breasts or love or pity dwell,
Protect your plant, nor let my branches feel
The browzing cattle, or the piercing steel.
Farewell! and since I cannot bend to join
My lips to yours, advance at least to mine.
My son, thy mother's parting kiss receive,
While yet thy mother has a kiss to give.

90

a

95

I can

80

Cumque loqui poterit, matrem facitote falutet,
Et tristis dicat: Latet hoc sub stipite mater.
Stagna tamén timeat; nec carpat ab arbore flores :
Et frutices omnes corpus putet esse Dearum.
Care, vale, conjux, et tu germana, paterque !
Quis fi qua est pietas, ab acutae vulnere falcis,
A pecoris morsu frondes defendite noftras.
Et quoniam mihi fas ad vos incumbere non est,
Erigite huc artus, et ad oscula nostra venite,
Dum tangi possunt, parvumque

attollite natum. Plura loqui nequeo. nam jam per candida mollis

90

95

I can no more; the creeping rind invades
My closing lips, and hides my head in shades :
Remove your hands; the bark shall foon fuffice
Without their aid to seal these dying eyes.

She ceasd at once to speak, and ceas’d to be;
And all the nymph was lost within the tree;
Yet latent life through her new branches reign'd,
And long the plant a human heat retain'd.

100

Colla liber ferpet; summoque cacumine condor.
Ex oculis removete manus : sine munere veftro
Contegat inductus morientia lumina cortex.
Defierant simul ora loqui, fimul effe : diuque
Corpore mutato rami caluere recentes.

:

IOO

V E R T U M N U S

U

AND

Ρ Μ ο
P OM ON N A.

From Ovid's METAMORPHOSIS, Book XIV.

T'
HE fair Pomona flourish'd in his reign;

Of all the Virgins of the sylvan train,
None taught the trees a nobler race to bear,
Or more improv'd the vegetable care.
To her the shady grove, the flowery field,

5
The streams and fountains, no delights could yield;
'Twas all her joy the ripening fruits to tend,
And see the boughs with happy burthens bend.
The hook she bore instead of Cynthia's spear,
To lop the growth of the luxuriant year,
To decent form the lawless shoots to bring,
And teach th' obedient branches where to spring.

Now

5

R

EGE sub hoc Pomona fuit: qua nulla Latinas

Inter Hamadryadas coluit folertius hortos,
Nec fuit arborei ftudiofior altera foetûs :
Unde tenet nomen. non sylvas illa, nec amnes;
Rus amat, et ramos felicia poma ferentes.
Nec jaculo gravis eft, fed adunca dextera falce:
Qua modo luxuriem premit, et spatiantia paffim
Brachia compescit; fiffa modo cortice virgam
Inserit; et succos alieno praestat alumno,

10