284 S Y L V A BOOK iv 



In watry vales, where pleasant fountains flow, 

 Their fragrant berries, lovely bay-trees show, 

 With leaves for ever green, nor can we guess 

 By their endowments their extraction less. 

 The charming nymph liv'd by clear Peneus side, 

 And might to Jove himself have been ally'd, 

 But that she chose in virtues paths to tread, 

 And thought a god unworthy of her bed. 

 Phoebus, whose darts of late successful prov'd 

 In Python's death, expected to be lov'd ; 

 And had she not withstood blind Cupid's pow'r, 

 The fiery steeds and heav'n had been her dow'r : 

 But she by her refusal more obtain'd, 

 And losing him, immortal honour gain'd, 

 Cherish'd by thee, Apollo. Temples wear 

 The bays, and ev'ry clam'rous theater. 

 !_ The Capitol it self, and the proud gate 

 Of great Tarpeian Jove they celebrate. 

 Into the Delphick rites, the stars they dive, 

 And all the hidden laws of fate perceive. 

 They in the field (where death and danger's found, 

 Where clashing arms, and louder trumpets sound) 

 Incite true courage : Hence the bays, each muse, 

 Th' inspiring god, and all good poets chuse. 



Persian Ligustrum grows among the rest, 



Whose azure flowers imitate the crest 



Of an exotick fowl ; they first appear 



When the warm sun and kinder spring draws near, 



Then the green leaves upon the boughs depend, 



And sweet perfumes into the air ascend. 



Pomegranates next their glory vindicate, 



Their boughs in gardens pleasing charms create : 



Nothing their flaming purple can exceed, 



From the green leaf the golden flow'rs proceed : 



Whose splendor, and the various curls they yield, 



Add more than usual beauty to the field. 



As soon as e're the flowers fade away, 



Yet to preserve their lustre from decay, 



To them the fruit succeeds, which in a round 



Conforms it self, whose top is ever crown'd 



In seats apart, stain'd with the Tyrian dye, 



