Spectatrix aderam fati crudelis: opemque
Non poteram tibi ferre, foror: quantumque valebam,
Crefcentem truncum ramofque amplexa, morabar :
Et (fateor) volui fub eodem cortice condi.
Ecce vir Andræmon, genitorque miferrimus, adfunt ;
Et quærunt Dryopen: Dryopen quærentibus illis
Oftendi loton, tepido dant ofcula ligno;
Adfufique fuæ radicibus arboris hærent,
Nil nisi jam faciem, quod non foret arbor, habebas,
Cara foror. lacrymæ verfo de corpore factis
Irrorant foliis ac, dum licet, oraque præftant
Vocis iter, tales effundit in aëra queftus;
fides miferis, hoc me per numina juro Non meruiffe nefas. patior fine crimine pœnam.
VER. 67. If to the wretched] This tranflation is faulty. To clear herself from the imputation of falling under this judgment of heaven, by any crime of her's, fhe bears witness to the behaviour of her husband and father, equally at least with her own; but why that introduction, "Si qua fides," believe me? And by what figure
The child Amphiffus, to her bofom prest,
Perceiv'd a colder and a harder breast,
And found the fprings, 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 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.
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 ev'ry leaf diftills 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 giv'n,
I fwear by all th' unpitying pow'rs of heav'n,
figure is mutual innocence put for mutual harmony? Nothing is more common in verfe than to use the first plural for the fingular: "Patior fine crimine, & viximus innocuæ," is but one and the fame perfon; a teftimony of her own innocence, but not of the mutual concord between her relations. BOWYER.
Viximus innocuæ: fi mentior, arida perdam,
Quas habeo, frondes; et cæfa fecuribus urar.
Hunc tamen infantem maternis demite ramis,
Et date nutrici; noftraque fub arbore fæpe
Lac facitote bibat; noftraque fub arbore ludat.
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 fiqua eft pietas, ab acutæ 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
Colla liber ferpit; fummoque cacumine condor,
No wilful crime this heavy vengeance bred;
In mutual innocence our lives we led:
If this be falfe, let these 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:
And to his mother let him oft be led,
Sport in her shades, and in her fhades be fed;
Teach him, when first 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 seeks the fhady woods,
Oh! let him fly the crystal lakes and floods,
Nor touch the fatal flow'rs; but, warn'd by me,
Believe a goddess fhrin'd in ev'ry tree.
My fire, my fifter, 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 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 kiss to give.
I can no more; the creeping rind invades
My clofing lips, and hides my head in shades;
Ex oculis removete manus. fine munere veftro
Contegat inductus morientia lumina cortex.
Defierant fimul ora loqui, fimul effe: diuque
Corpore mutato rami caluere recentes.
|