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:
Remove your hands, the bark fhall foon fuffice
Without their aid to feal these dying eyes.
She ceas'd at once to speak, and ceas'd to be; 100 And all the nymph was loft within the tree; Yet latent life thro' her new branches reign'd, And long the plant a human heat retain'd.
EGE fub hoc Pomona fuit: qua nulla Latinas
Inter Hamadryadas coluit folertius hortos,
Nec fuit arborei ftudiofior altera foetus :
Unde tenet nomen, non fylvas illa, nec amnes;
Rus amat, et ramos felicia poma ferentes.
Nec jaculo gravis eft, fed adunca dextera falce:
Qua modo luxuriem premit, et fpatiantia paffim
Brachia compefcit; fiffa modo cortice virgam
Inferit; et fuccos alieno praeftat alumno.
Nec patitur fentire fitim: bibulaeque recurvas
Radicis fibras labentibus irrigat undis.
Hic amor, hoc ftudium: Veneris quoque nulla cupido.
POMO NA.
From the FOURTEENTH Book of
HE fair Pomona flourish'd in his reign;
Of all the Virgins of the fylvan train, None taught the trees a nobler race to bear, Or more improv'd the vegetable care. To her the fhady grove, the flow'ry field, The streams and fountains, no delights could yield; 'Twas all her joy the ripening fruits to tend, And fee 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 the cleft rind inserted graffs receives, And yields an offspring more than nature gives; Now fliding streams the thirsty plants renew, And feed their fibres with reviving dew.
These cares alone her virgin breaft employ, Averfe from Venus and the nuptial joy.
Vim tamen agreftûm metuens, pomaria claudit
Intus, et acceffus prohibet refugitque viriles.
Quid non et Satyri, faltatibus apta juventus,
Fecere, et pinu praecincti cornua Panes,
Sylvanufque fuis femper juvenilior annis,
Quique Deus fures, vel falce, vel inguine terret,
Ut poterentur ea? fed enim fuperabat amando
Hos quoque Vertumnus: neque erat felicior illis.
O quoties habitu duri mefforis, ariftas.
Corbe tulit, verique fuit mefforis imago!
Tempora faepe gerens foeno religata recenti,
Defectum poterat gramen verfaffe videri,
Saepe manu ftimulos rigida portabat; ut illum
Jurares feffos modo disjunxiffe juvencos.
Falce data frondator erat, vitifque putator.
Induerat fcalas, lecturum poma putares.
Miles erat gladio, pifcator arundine, fumta..
Denique per multas aditum fibi faepe figuras
Repperit, ut caperet fpectatae gaudia formae.
Her private orchards, wall'd on ev'ry fide,
To lawless fylvans all access deny'd.
How oft the Satyrs and the wanton Fawns,
Who haunt the forefts, or frequent the lawns,
The God whofe enfign fcares the birds of prey,
And old Silenus, youthful in decay,
Employ'd their wiles, and unavailing care,
To pass the fences, and furprize the fair?
Like thefe, Vertumnus own'd his faithful flame,
Like these, rejected by the scornful dame.
To gain her fight a thousand forms he wears,
And first a reaper from the field appears,
Sweating he walks, while loads of golden grain
O'ercharge the fhoulders of the seeming fwain.
Oft o'er his back a crooked fcythe is laid,
And wreaths of hay his fun-burnt temples shade:
Oft in his harden'd hand a goad he bears,
Like one who late unyok'd the fweating steers.
Sometimes his pruning-hook corrects, the vines,
And the loofe ftraglers to their ranks confines.
Now gath'ring what the bounteous year allows,
He pulls ripe apples from the bending boughs.
A foldier now, he with his fword appears;
A fisher next, his trembling angle bears;
Each shape he varies, and each art he tries,
On her bright charms to feaft his longing eyes.
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