La légende de Pomone, CSR AG 263

Translation

Among the Hamadryad nymphs, the harshest cultivator
Of gardens was Pomona; to whom the care of orchard fruit
And the fenced gardens of the country,
And to marry vines to elms, and to prune with a curved
Sickle the foliage, and to graft scions onto an unwilling trunk, belonged.

And to load pear trees with fruit, and to add wine to apples;
And to sprinkle the laboring gardens with fountains,
Where the twisted cucumber, and the gourd with swollen belly
Lies long, and the cabbage inclines on a prostrate stalk:
Only the neglected arugula lay among the brambles.

A nymph impatient of men, devoted to the pursuit of cultivation,
Fled the lascivious country-dwelling gods, the Fauns,
And although Vertumnus, having suffered endless rebuffs,
Finding it fitting to vary his appearance into all kinds of shapes,
Simulated an old woman, and sat upon the clods:

And to ears rigid with Paphian voices soothing,
Honor is returned to the gardens, worthy of Bacchus or Apollo,
And the hidden ancient form of youth is renewed;
The Goddess was conquered, and confessing an equal fire with a blush,
She went into his embrace, suffused in her very marrow. C. Schonaeus.

A.D. 1605
Abr. Bloemaert inven.
I. Saenredam sculp.
Ger. Valk excud.