354 HISTORY OF FRUITS. 



We climb'd the beach, and springs of water found, 

 Then spread our hasty banquet on the ground. 

 Three men were sent, deputed from the crew, 

 (An herald one) the dubious coast to view, 

 And learn what habitants possess the place. 

 They went, and found a hospitable race ; 

 Not prone to ill, nor strange to foreign guest. 

 They eat, they drink, and nature gives the feast ; 

 The trees around them all their fruit produce, 

 Lotos the name, divine, nectareous juice ! 

 (Thence called Lotophagi), which whoso tastes, 

 Insatiate riots in the sweet repasts, 

 Nor other home, nor other care intends, 

 But quits his house, his country, and his friends ; 

 The three we sent from off th' enchanting ground, 

 We dragg'd reluctant, and by force we bound ; 

 The rest in haste forsook the pleasing shore, 

 Or, the charm tasted, had return'd no mor.e. 



Horn. Odyss. 



From Ovid's elegant fable of Dryope, we learn the tra- 

 ditional origin of the name of this tree: 



Not distant far, a wat'ry lotus grows ; 



The spring was new, and all the verdant boughs, 



Adorn'd with blossoms, promis'd fruits that vie 



In glowing colours with the Tyrian die. 



******** 



Upon the tree I cast a frightful look, 

 The trembling tree with sudden horror shook, 

 Lotis the nymph (if rural tales be true), , 

 As from Priapus* lawless lust she flew, 

 Forsook her form ; and fixing, there became 

 A flow'ry plant, which still preserves her name, 



Theophrastus mentions the lotus fruit in his 4th book, 

 where he says, that it is of the size of a bean, and changes 

 its colour as it ripens. This author affirms, that the tree 

 is by its nature everlasting. 



