ython, the law of
nature being altered, was of both sexes first a man, then a woman. Thee
too, I pass by, O Celmus, now adamant, formerly most attached to Jupiter
{when} little; and the Curetes,[44] sprung from a plenteous shower of
rain; Crocus, too, changed, together with Smilax,[45] into little
flowers; and I will entertain your minds with a pleasing novelty."

[Footnote 43: _Shepherd of Ida._--Ver. 277. This may mean either
Daphnis of Crete, or of Phrygia; for in both those countries there
was a mountain named Ida.]

[Footnote 44: _The Curetes._--Ver. 282. According to Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, the Curetes were the ancient inhabitants of Crete.
We may here remark, that the story of their springing from the
earth after a shower of rain, seems to have no other foundation
than the fact of their having been of the race of the Titans; that
is, they were descended from Uranus, or Coelus and Tita, by which
names were meant the heaven and the earth.]

[Footnote 45: _Smilax._--Ver. 283. The dictionary meanings given
for this word are--1. Withwind, a kind of herb. 2. The yew tree.
3. A kind of oak. The Nymph was probably supposed to have been
changed into the first.]

EXPLANATION.

Most probably, the story of the shepherd Daphnis being turned into a
stone, was no other than an allegorical method of expressing the
insensibility of an individual. Thalia was the name of the Nymph who
was thus affronted by Daphnis.

The story of Scython changing his sex, is perhaps based upon the fact,
that the country of Thrace, which took the name of Thracia from a
famous sorceress, was before called Scython; and that as it lost a
name of the masculine gender for one of the feminine, in after times
it became reported that Scython had changed sexes.

Pliny tells us that Celmus was a young man of remarkable wisdom and
moderation, and that the passions making no impression on him, he was
changed into adamant. Some, however, assert that he was foster-father
to Jupiter, by whom he was enclosed in an impenetrable tower, for
revealing the immortality of the Gods.

According to one account, Crocus and Smilax were a constant and happy
married couple, who for their chaste and innocent life were said to
have been changed into flowers; but another story is, that Crocus was
a youth beloved by Smilax, and that on his rejecting the Nymph's
advances, the