The Fate of Daphnis is a Fate too known,
Whom an enamour'd Nymph transform'd to Stone,
Because she fear'd another Nymph might see
The lovely Youth, and love as much as she:
So strange the Madness is of Jealousie!
Nor shall I tell, what Changes Scython made,
And how he walk'd a Man, or tripp'd a Maid.
You too would peevish frown, and Patience want
To hear, how Celmis grew an Adamant.
He once was dear to Jove, and saw of old
Jove, when a Child, but what he saw, he told.
Crocus, and Smilax may be turn'd to Flow'rs,
And the Curetes spring from bounteous Show'rs;
I pass a hundred Legends stale, as these,
And with sweet Novelty your Taste will please.
The Story of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus.
By Mr. Addison.
How Salmacis, with weak enfeebling Streams
Softens the Body, and unnerves the Limbs,
And what the secret Cause, shall here be shown;
The Cause is secret, but th' Effect is known.
The Naids nurst an Infant heretofore,
That Cytherea once to Hermes bore:
From both th' Illustrious Authors of his Race
The Child was nam'd; nor was it hard to trace
Both the bright Parents thro' the Infant's Face.
When fifteen Years, in Ida's cool Retreat,
The Boy had told, he left his Native Seat,
And sought fresh Fountains in a foreign Soil:
The Pleasure lessen'd the attending Toil.
With eager Steps the Lycian Fields he crost,
And Fields that border on the Lycian Coast;
