Mythological Allusions in The Duchess of Malfi

Act III

Ant. O, fie upon this single life! forgo it.

We read how Daphne, for her peevish [flight,]1

Became a fruitless bay-tree; Syrinx turn'd

To the pale empty reed; Anaxarete

Was frozen into marble: whereas those

Which married, or prov'd kind unto their friends,

Were by a gracious influence transhp'd

Into the olive, pomegranate, mulberry,

Became flowers, precious stones, or eminent stars.