Essay --

Daphne was Apollos first love. It was not brought about by accident, but by the malice of Cupid. Apollo saw the boy playing with his deflect and arrows and being himself elated with his recent victory oer Python, he tell to him, What have you to do with warlike weapons, saucy boy? Leave them for transfer worthy of them, Behold the conquest I have won by means of them over the vast serpent who stretched his poisonous body over acres of the plain Be content with your torch, child, and kindle up your flames, as you c totally them, where you will, but presume not to meddle with my weapons. Venuss boy hear these words, and rejoined, Your arrows whitethorn strike all things else, Apollo, but mine shall strike you. So saying, he took his stand on a rock of Parnassus, and drew from his flap two arrows of different workmanship, hotshot to excite love, the other to repel it. The creator was of gold and sharp pointed, the latter blunt and tipped with lead. With the leaden whoreson he str uck the nymph Daphne, the daughter of the river god Peneus, and with the golden one Apollo, through the heart. Forthwith the god was seized with love for the maiden, and she abhorred the thought of loving. Her delight was in woodland sports and in the spoils of the chase. lovers sought her, but she spurned them all, ranging the woods, and taking no thought of Cupid nor of Hymen. Her father often said to her, Daughter, you owe me a son-in-law you owe me grandchildren. She, hating the thought of marriage as a crime, with her beautiful pillowcase tinged all over with blushes, threw her weapons around her fathers neck, and said, Dearest father, grant me this favour, that I may always remain unmarried, like Diana. He consented, but at the equivalent time said, Your own face will forbid ... ...ll her limbs her bosom began to be enclosed in a tender bark her hair became leaves her arms became branches her foot stuck fast in the ground, as a root her face became a tree-top, retaining no thing of its former self but its beauty, Apollo stood amazed. He moved(p) the stem, and felt the flesh tremble under the new bark. He embraced the branches, and lavished kisses on the wood. The branches shrank from his lips. Since you cannot be my wife, said he, you shall assuredly be my tree. I will pay you for my crown I will decorate with you my harp and my quiver and when the bulky Roman conquerors lead up the triumphal pomp to the Capitol, you shall be twine into wreaths for their brows. And, as eternal youth is mine, you also shall be always green, and your tack know no decay. The nymph, now changed into a Laurel tree, bowed its take in grateful acknowledgment