206 
BRAMBLES AND BAY LEAVES. 
could the horses of Achilles have regaled themselves 
upon its herbage. It could not not have been any 
species of nymphma which so enchanted the companions 
of Ulysses when they landed on 
“ The land of lotos and the flowery coast 
Por, in describing the resources of the inhabitants of 
this region, the poet says— 
“ The trees around them all their fruit produce, 
Lotos the name, divine, nectareous juice.”* 
Ovid makes the same mistake, or rather adopts an 
error which had become very prevalent in his day; for, 
in his elegant fable of Dryope, he derives the name 
of the lotos from the nymph who escapes from the law¬ 
less lust of Priapus :— 
Not distant far a watery lotos grows; 
The spring was new, and all the verdant boughs, 
Adorned with blossoms, promised fruits that vie 
In glowing colours with the Tyrian dye. 
* * * * * # 
Upon the tree I cast a frightful look, 
The trembling tree with sudden horror shook. 
Lotos, the nymph (if rural tales he true), 
As from Priapus’ lawless lust she flew, 
Forsook her form; and fixing there, became 
A flowery plant, which still preserves her name.”* 
* Pope is inclined to believe that it is this kind of lotos which 
the companions of Ulysses tasted, and which was the reason why 
they were overcome with it; for, being a wine, it intoxicated them. 
f Lotis, or Lotus, a beautiful nymph, daughter of Neptune. 
Dryope, a virgin, iEchalia, beloved by Apollo, and afterwards 
married to Andrsemon, was said to have been changed into a lotos. 
