A river here he view'd fo lovely bright,
It fhew'd the bottom in a fairer light,
Nor kept a fand conceal'd from human fight:
The ftream produc'd nor flimy ooze, nor weeds,
Nor miry rushes, nor the fpiky reeds;
But dealt enriching moisture all around,
The fruitful banks with chearful verdure crown'd,
And kept the fpring eternal on the ground.
A nymph prefides, nor practis'd in the chace,
Nor fkilul at the bow, nor at the race:
Of all the blue-ey'd daughters of the main,
The only ftranger to Diana's train :
Her fifters often, as 'tis said, would cry,
"Fy Salmacis, what always idle! fy,
"Or take thy quiver, or thy arrows feize,
"And mix the toils of hunting with thy ease."
Nor quiver the nor arrows e'er would seize,
Nor mix the toils of hunting with her eafe.
But oft would bathe her in the crystal tide,
Oft with a comb her dewy locks divide ;
Now in the limpid streams the view'd her face,
And dreft her image in the floating glass :
On beds of leaves the now repos'd her limbs,
Now gather'd flowers that grew about her streams;
And then by chance was gathering, as fhe stood
To view the boy, and long for what she view'd.
Fain wou'd fhe meet the youth with hafty feet, She fain wou'd meet him, but refus❜d to meet
Before her looks were fet with niceft care,
And well deferv'd to be reputed fair.
Bright youth, fhe cries, whom all my features prove "A God, and, if a God, the God of love;
"But if a mortal, bleft thy nurse's breast:
"Bleft are thy parents, and thy fifters blest ; "But oh how bleft! how more than bleft thy bride, "Ally'd in blifs, if any yet ally'd.
"If so, let mine the ftol'n enjoyments be;
"If not, behold a willing bride in me."
The boy knew nought of love, and toucht with shame, He ftrove, and blusht, but ftill the blush became ; In rifing blushes till fresh beauties rofe;
The funny fide of fruit fuch blushes shows,
And fuch the moon, when all her filver white
Turns in eclipfes to a ruddy light.
The nymph ftill begs, if not a nobler bliss
A cold falute at least, a fifter's kifs:
And now prepares to take the lovely boy
Between her arms. He, innocently coy,
Replies, "Or leave me to myself alone,
"You rude uncivil nymph, or I'll be gone.
"Fair ftranger then, fays fhe, it shall be fo;"
And, for fhe fear'd his threat, the feign'd to go;
But hid within a covert's neighb'ring green,
She kept him ftill in fight, herself unseen.
The boy now fancies all the danger o'er,
And innocently sports about the fhore,
Playful and wanton to the ftream he trips,
And dips his foot, and shivers as he dips.
The coolness pleas'd him, and with eager haste
His airy garments on the banks he caft;
His godlike features, and his heav'nly hue,
And all his beauties were expos'd to view.
His naked limbs the nymph with rapture spies,
While hotter paffions in her bofom rise,
Flush in her cheeks, and fparkle in her eyes.
She longs, the burns to clasp him in her arms,
And looks and fighs, and kindles at his charms.
Now all undreft upon the banks he stood,
And clapt his fides, and leapt into the flood:
His lovely limbs the filver waves divide,
His limbs appear more lovely through the tide;
As lilies fhut within a cryftal cafe,
Receive a gloffy luftre from the glass,
"He's mine, he's all my own," the Naïad cries, And flings off all, and after him the flies.
And now the fastems on him as he swims,
And holds him clofe, and wraps about his limbs.
The more the boy refifted, and was coy,
The more she clapt, and kist the struggling boy.
So when the wrigling fnake is fnatch'd on high
In eagle's claws, and hiffes in the sky,
Around the foe his twirling tail he flings,
And twifts her legs, and writhes about her wings.
The reftless boy ftill obftinately ftrove
To free himself, and still refus'd her love.
Amidft his limbs fhe kept her limbs intwin'd,
"And why, coy youth, fhe cries, why thus unkind!
"Oh may the gods thus keep us ever join'd!
"Oh may we never, never part again!"
So pray'd the nymph, nor did she pray in vain:
For now the finds him, as his limbs she preft,
Grow nearer ftill, and nearer to her breaft;
"Till, piercing each the other's flesh, they run
Together, and incorporate in one:
Laft in one face are both their faces join'd,
As when the stock and grafted twig combin'd
Shoot up the fame, and wear a common rind :
Both bodies in a single body mix,
A fingle body with a double sex.
The boy, thus loft in woman, now survey'd The river's guilty ftream, and thus he pray'd, (He pray'd, but wonder'd at his softer tone, Surpris'd to hear a voice but half his own).
You parent gods, whofe heav'nly names I bear,
Hear your Hermaphrodite, and grant my pray'r;
Oh grant, that whomfoe'er these streams contain,
If man he enter'd, he may rise again
Supple, unfinew'd, and but half a man!
The heavenly parents anfwer'd, from on high,
Their two-fhap'd fon, the double votary;
Then gave a fecret virtue to the flood,
And ting'd its fource to make his wishes good.
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