Daphne

Daughter of a river-god, loved by Apollo. She fled from the amorous god, and escaped by being changed into a laurel, thenceforth the favourite tree of the sun-god.

“Nay, lady, sit. If I but wave this wand,

Your nerves are all chainʹd up in alabaster,

And you a statue, or, as Daphnë was,

Root-bound, that fled Apollo.”

Milton: Comus, 678–681.

· ·

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

See Also: