And now he snaps, and now he thinks to hold,
And brushes with his outstretch'd nose her heels;--
She trembling, half in doubt, or caught or no,
Springs from his jaws, and mocks his touching mouth.
Thus fled the virgin and the god;--he fleet
Through hope, and she through fear,--but wing'd by love
More rapid flew Apollo;--spurning rest,
Approach'd her close behind, and panting breath'd
Upon her floating tresses. Pale with dread,
Her strength exhausted in the lengthen'd flight,
Old Peneus' streams she saw, and loud exclaim'd:--
"O sire, assist me, if within thy streams
"Divinity abides. Let earth this form,
"Too comely for my peace, quick swallow up;
"Or change those beauties to an harmless shape."
Her prayer scarce ended, when her lovely limbs
A numbness felt; a tender rind enwraps
Her beauteous bosom; from her head shoots up
Her hair in leaves; in branches spread her arms;
Her feet but now so swift, cleave to the earth
With roots immoveable; her face at last
The summit forms; her bloom the same remains.
Still loves the god the tree, and on the trunk
His right hand placing, feels her breast yet throb,
Beneath the new-grown bark: around the boughs,
As yet her limbs, his clasping arms he throws;
And burning kisses on the wood imprints.
The wood his lips repels. Then thus the god:--
"O laurel, though to be my bride deny'd,
"Yet shalt thou be my tree; my temples bind;
"My lyre and quiver shalt thou still adorn:
"The brows of Latian conquerors shalt thou grace,
"When the glad people sing triumphant hymns,
"And the long pomp the capitol ascends.
"A faithful guard before Augustus' gates,
"On each side hung;--the sturdy oak between.
"And as perpetual youth adorns my head
"With locks unshorn, thou also still shalt bear
"Thy leafy honors in perpetual green."
Apollo ended, and the laurel bow'd
Her verdant summit as her grateful head.

Within AEmonia lies a grove, inclos'd
By steep and lofty hills on every side:
'Tis Tempe call'd. From lowest Pindus pour'd
Here Peneus rolls his foaming waves along:
Thick clouds of smoke, and dark and vapoury mists
The violent falls produce, sprinkling the tops
Of proudest forests with the plenteous dew;
And distant parts astounding with the roar.
Here holds the watery deity his throne;--
Here his retreat most sacred;--seated here,
Within the rock-form'd cavern, to the streams
And