The Transformation of Daphne into a Lawrel



1:607 The first and fairest of his loves, was she
1:608 Whom not blind fortune, but the dire decree
1:609 Of angry Cupid forc'd him to desire:
1:610 Daphne her name, and Peneus was her sire.
1:611 Swell'd with the pride, that new success attends,
1:612 He sees the stripling, while his bow he bends,
1:613 And thus insults him: Thou lascivious boy,
1:614 Are arms like these for children to employ?
1:615 Know, such atchievements are my proper claim;
1:616 Due to my vigour, and unerring aim:
1:617 Resistless are my shafts, and Python late
1:618 In such a feather'd death, has found his fate.
1:619 Take up the torch (and lay my weapons by),
1:620 With that the feeble souls of lovers fry.
1:621 To whom the son of Venus thus reply'd,
1:622 Phoebus, thy shafts are sure on all beside,
1:623 But mine of Phoebus, mine the fame shall be
1:624 Of all thy conquests, when I conquer thee.

1:625 He said, and soaring, swiftly wing'd his flight:
1:626 Nor stopt but on Parnassus' airy height.
1:627 Two diff'rent shafts he from his quiver draws;
1:628 One to repel desire, and one to cause.
1:629 One shaft is pointed with refulgent gold:
1:630 To bribe the love, and make the lover bold:
1:631 One blunt, and tipt with lead, whose base allay
1:632 Provokes disdain, and drives desire away.
1:633 The blunted bolt against the nymph he drest:
1:634 But with the sharp transfixt Apollo's breast.

1:635 Th' enamour'd deity pursues the chace;
1:636 The scornful damsel shuns his loath'd embrace:
1:637 In hunting beasts of prey, her youth employs;
1:638 And Phoebe rivals in her rural joys.
1:639 With naked neck she goes, and shoulders bare;
1:640 And with a fillet binds her flowing hair.
1:641 By many suitors sought, she mocks their pains,
1:642 And still her vow'd virginity maintains.
1:643 Impatient of a yoke, the name of bride
1:644 She shuns, and hates the joys, she never try'd.
1:645 On wilds, and woods, she fixes her desire:
1:646 Nor knows what youth, and kindly love, inspire.
1:647 Her father chides her oft: Thou ow'st, says he,
1:648 A husband to thy self, a son to me.
1:649 She, like a crime, abhors the nuptial bed:
1:650 She glows with blushes, and she hangs her head.
1:651 Then casting round his neck her tender arms,
1:652 Sooths him with blandishments, and filial charms:
1:653 Give me, my Lord, she said, to live, and die,
1:654 A spotless maid, without the marriage tye.
1:655 'Tis but a small request; I beg no more
1:656 Than what Diana's father gave before.
1:657 The good old sire was soften'd to consent;
1:658 But said her wish wou'd prove her punishment:
1:659 For so much youth, and so much beauty join'd,
1:660 Oppos'd the state, which her desires design'd.

1:661 The God of light, aspiring to her bed,
1:662 Hopes what he seeks, with flattering fancies fed;
1:663 And is, by his own oracles, mis-led.
1:664 And as in empty fields the stubble burns,
1:665 Or nightly travellers, when day returns,
1:666 Their useless torches on dry hedges throw,
1:667 That catch the flames, and kindle all the row;
1:668 So burns the God, consuming in desire,
1:669 And feeding in his breast a fruitless fire:
1:670 Her well-turn'd neck he view'd (her neck was bare)
1:671 And on her shoulders her dishevel'd hair;
1:672 Oh were it comb'd, said he, with what a grace
1:673 Wou'd every waving curl become her face!
1:674 He view'd her eyes, like heav'nly lamps that shone,
1:675 He view'd her lips, too sweet to view alone,
1:676 Her taper fingers, and her panting breast;
1:677 He praises all he sees, and for the rest
1:678 Believes the beauties yet unseen are best:
1:679 Swift as the wind, the damsel fled away,
1:680 Nor did for these alluring speeches stay:
1:681 Stay Nymph, he cry'd, I follow, not a foe.
1:682 Thus from the lyon trips the trembling doe;
1:683 Thus from the wolf the frighten'd lamb removes,
1:684 And, from pursuing faulcons, fearful doves;
1:685 Thou shunn'st a God, and shunn'st a God, that loves.
1:686 Ah, lest some thorn shou'd pierce thy tender foot,
1:687 Or thou shou'dst fall in flying my pursuit!
1:688 To sharp uneven ways thy steps decline;
1:689 Abate thy speed, and I will bate of mine.
1:690 Yet think from whom thou dost so rashly fly;
1:691 Nor basely born, nor shepherd's swain am I.
1:692 Perhaps thou know'st not my superior state;
1:693 And from that ignorance proceeds thy hate.
1:694 Me Claros, Delphi, Tenedos obey;
1:695 These hands the Patareian scepter sway.
1:696 The King of Gods begot me: what shall be,
1:697 Or is, or ever was, in Fate, I see.
1:698 Mine is th' invention of the charming lyre;
1:699 Sweet notes, and heav'nly numbers, I inspire.
1:700 Sure is my bow, unerring is my dart;
1:701 But ah! more deadly his, who pierc'd my heart.
1:702 Med'cine is mine; what herbs and simples grow
1:703 In fields, and forrests, all their pow'rs I know;
1:704 And am the great physician call'd, below.
1:705 Alas that fields and forrests can afford.
1:706 No remedies to heal their love-sick lord!
1:707 To cure the pains of love, no plant avails:
1:708 And his own physick, the physician falls.

1:709 She heard not half; so furiously she flies;
1:710 And on her ear th' imperfect accent dies,
1:711 Fear gave her wings; and as she fled, the wind
1:712 Increasing, spread her flowing hair behind;
1:713 And left her legs and thighs expos'd to view:
1:714 Which made the God more eager to pursue.
1:715 The God was young, and was too hotly bent
1:716 To lose his time in empty compliment:
1:717 But led by love, and fir'd with such a sight,
1:718 Impetuously pursu'd his near delight.

1:719 As when th' impatient greyhound slipt from far,
1:720 Bounds o'er the glebe to course the fearful hare,
1:721 She in her speed does all her safety lay;
1:722 And he with double speed pursues the prey;
1:723 O'er-runs her at the sitting turn, and licks
1:724 His chaps in vain, and blows upon the flix:
1:725 She scapes, and for the neighb'ring covert strives,
1:726 And gaining shelter, doubts if yet she lives:
1:727 If little things with great we may compare,
1:728 Such was the God, and such the flying fair,
1:729 She urg'd by fear, her feet did swiftly move,
1:730 But he more swiftly, who was urg'd by love.
1:731 He gathers ground upon her in the chace:
1:732 Now breathes upon her hair, with nearer pace;
1:733 And just is fast'ning on the wish'd embrace.
1:734 The nymph grew pale, and in a mortal fright,
1:735 Spent with the labour of so long a flight;
1:736 And now despairing, cast a mournful look
1:737 Upon the streams of her paternal brook;
1:738 Oh help, she cry'd, in this extreamest need!
1:739 If water Gods are deities indeed:
1:740 Gape Earth, and this unhappy wretch intomb;
1:741 Or change my form, whence all my sorrows come.
1:742 Scarce had she finish'd, when her feet she found
1:743 Benumb'd with cold, and fasten'd to the ground:
1:744 A filmy rind about her body grows;
1:745 Her hair to leaves, her arms extend to boughs:
1:746 The nymph is all into a lawrel gone;
1:747 The smoothness of her skin remains alone.
1:748 Yet Phoebus loves her still, and casting round
1:749 Her bole, his arms, some little warmth he found.
1:750 The tree still panted in th' unfinish'd part:
1:751 Not wholly vegetive, and heav'd her heart.
1:752 He fixt his lips upon the trembling rind;
1:753 It swerv'd aside, and his embrace declin'd.
1:754 To whom the God, Because thou canst not be
1:755 My mistress, I espouse thee for my tree:
1:756 Be thou the prize of honour, and renown;
1:757 The deathless poet, and the poem, crown.
1:758 Thou shalt the Roman festivals adorn,
1:759 And, after poets, be by victors worn.
1:760 Thou shalt returning Caesar's triumph grace;
1:761 When pomps shall in a long procession pass.
1:762 Wreath'd on the posts before his palace wait;
1:763 And be the sacred guardian of the gate.
1:764 Secure from thunder, and unharm'd by Jove,
1:765 Unfading as th' immortal Pow'rs above:
1:766 And as the locks of Phoebus are unshorn,
1:767 So shall perpetual green thy boughs adorn.
1:768 The grateful tree was pleas'd with what he said;
1:769 And shook the shady honours of her head.