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 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 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 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 nurse supply a mother's care;
Adfufique fuae radicibus arboris haerent.
Nil nifi jam faciem, quod non foret arbor, habebat.
Cara foror, lacrymae verso 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 habeo, frondes; et caesa securibus urar.
Hunc tamen infantem maternis demite ramis,
Et date nutrici; noftraque fub arbora faepe
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 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 shady woods,
Oh, let him fly the crystal lakes and floods,
Nor touch the fatal flowers; but, warn'd by me,
Believe a Goddess fhrin'd in every 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 kifs to give.
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 fi qua eft pietas, ab acutae vulnere falcis,
A pecoris morfu frondes defendite noftras.
Et quoniam mihi fas ad vos incumbere non est,
Erigite huc artus, et ad ofcula nostra venite,
Dum tangi poffunt, parvumque attollite natum.
Plura loqui nequeo. nam jam per candida mollis
I can no more; the creeping rind invades
My clofing lips, and hides my head in fhades:
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;
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.
Colla liber ferpet; fummoque cacumine condor.
Ex oculis removete manus: fine munere veftro
Contegat inductus morientia lumina cortex.
Defierant fimul ora loqui, fimul effe: diuque
Corpore mutato rami caluere recentes.
From OVID'S METAMORPHOSIS, Book XIV.
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 fhady grove, the flowery 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 fhe bore inftead of Cynthia's fpear,
To lop the growth of the luxuriant year,
To decent form the lawless shoots to bring,
And teach th' obedient branches where to spring.
EGE fub hoc Pomona fuit: qua nulla Latinas
Inter Hamadryadas coluit folertius hortos,
Nec fuit arborei ftudiofior altera foetûs:
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,
Now the cleft rind inferted 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 breast employ,
Averfe from Venus and the nuptial joy.
Her private orchards, wall'd on every fide,
To lawless fylvans all accefs deny'd.
How oft the Satyrs and the wanton Fawns,
Who haunt the forefts, or frequent the lawns,
The God whose ensign scares 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 thefe, rejected by the fcornful dame.
Nec patitur fentire fitim; bibulaeque recurvas
Radicis fibras labentibus irrigat undis.
Hic amor, hoc ftudium: Veneris quoque nulla cupido. Vim tamen agreftûm metuens, pomaria claudit
Intus, et acceffus prohibet refugitque viriles.
Quid non et Satyri, faltatibus apta juventus,
Fecere, et pinu praecin&ti cornua Panes,
Sylvanufque fuis femper juvenilior annis,
Quique Deus fures, vel falce, vel inguine terret,
Ut potirentur ea? fed enim fuperabat amando
Hos quoque Vertumnus: neque erat felicior illis.
O quoties habitu duri mefforis ariftas
Corbe tulit, verique fuit mefforis imago!
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