A. Myth
P., the Roman goddess of fruit trees, has no Greek equivalent. Ovid (Ov. Met. 14,622–771) describes her as a chaste tree-nymph who lived at the time of the Alban king Procas, and tells how she was wooed by numerous dei agresti (‘rural gods’), including Silenus (Silen, Satyr) and Priapus, but most urgently by Vertumnus ¶ (= V.), who, as his name, derived from vertere (‘to turn’), suggests, is capable of taking any shape. After V. has approached P.’s garden in various male personas (as a reaper, tiller,…