The Italian god of seasons and change who loved Pomona beyond Silvanus and Picus, tried every harvester's shape to reach her walled orchard, and at last won the hamadryad by the tale of Anaxarete and the crone's mask dropped.1
Ovid places Vertumnus among the Italian gods who courted Pomona on the Palatine — ever scaring thieves with pruning-hook or limb, more youthful than his years, and more constant in love than Silvanus or Picus, yet no more fortunate until he changed his strategy.2
He became rough reaper, hay-wreathed mower, fisherman, and soldier; failing still, he aged into a bent crone, praised the elm that married the vine, and warned Pomona with Iphis and Anaxarete's tale. Shedding the disguise, he stood before her as the radiant god of orchards and the turning year, and Pomona yielded — metamorphosis by persuasion, not punishment.3
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the spine ignites as you read · hover a bond on the card — every mention of them lights in the story