THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

TABULA II.
MORS PYRAMI ET THISBES: MINYEIDES IN VESPERTILIONES.
Pyramus and Thisbe, two Babylonian lovers, whose parents are hostile, slay
themselves under a mulberry-tree; upon which the mulberries, formerly
white, become of the color of blood. After the relation of their stories, tho
Minyeides are changed to bats.
EXPLICATIO.
LOVE stories, in the olden time, as at present, were subjects of attrac
tion to gentle dames, and therefore the sisters preferred the fable of Py
ramus and Thisbe, and especially as it was not a common one. The
tragical story of these unhappy lovers was founded, possibly, on some
historical occurrence that anciently took place at Babylon.
The story .of their woes is told in simple, yet affecting language, and
appeals the more strongly to the heart, that the poet lets unaffected nature
speak in her own simplicity, rather than clothe his thoughts in the pomp
of expression. Debarred all intercourse, their only language, for a time,
is eloquent looks, and signs and tokens of love, until fortune discloses a
cleft in the wall that divided their dwellings. Here they could sit and
converse, and feel upon each other's cheek the warm breath as it came,
and inhale it with a transport of love. How simple, and yet how natural,
the momentary chiding of the envious wall, for parting them, and again the
grateful recognition of what they owed to it! Here sitting, they passed the
time, and after they had said farewell, with the simplicity of love, which
is always childlike, each gave a kiss to the wall, intended for the other.
They arrange a meeting, and the timid Thisbe dares the darkness and
the forest, to meet her lover; " Love made her bold." Escaping from
the lioness, she enters a cave with the loss of her veil, and returns to her
appointment, to find her lover, through affection for her, slain by his own
hand unconscious with the shades of death settling o'er his eyes, that
open at the name of Thisbe, look upon her face, and then close for ever.
Love, that had led her to dare the chances of death, now nerves her arm
for death itself, and the same sword that had drunk his vital blood, is now
driven to the heart of his unhappy mistress. She desires that the tree
beneath which they are weltering, may record the story of their woes, and
that the parents who opposed their union in life, may yet permit their
dust to mingle after death.
Of the mulberry there are three kinds, originally from three countries
to which their colors are appropriate; the white mulberry of Asia; the
red of America, and the black of Africa. Each variety of color is also
distinguished by a different kind of bark and leaf. At Annapolis, in
Maryland, there is a mulberry tree which has black fruit, although its
leaves and bark evidently show it is of the white kind. A circumstance
like this may have given rise to the Babylonian fiction. This Fable con
tains a good moral, as it shows the evil consequences of clandestine
attachments on the part of children, as well as the impropriety of arbi
trary control on the part of parents
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YRAMUS et Thisbe, juvenum pulcherriiivus alter,
* Altera, quas Oriens habuit, prselata puellis,
Contiguas tcnuere domos, ubi dicitur altam
Coctilibus muris cinxisse Semiramis urbem.
Notitiam primosque gradus vicinhi fecit: 5
Tempore crevit amor: tffida? qucque jure coissent:
Sed vetuere patres. Quod non potuere vctare;
NOT^E.
4. Coctilibus muris: with walls of brick. The walls
of Babylon were considered one of the Seven Wonders
of the world. According to Pliny, they were 60,000
paces in circumference, 200 feet high, and 50 feet thick.
They formed a square, each side of which was about 15
miles long, and contained 25 gates, all of solid brass.
4. A ll am vibim. B ubylon. This city is believed to
have been planned by Belus. He built a portion of it,
which was continued by Nebuchadnezzar. It was never
finished. It was celebrated for its hanging gardens, pa-
laces, canals, and immense walls.
5. Primes gradus: the first steps; the first advances.
6. Ttedte jure: by the ceremony of the torch. In an
cient marriages, after the oath of fire and water, five
torches were carried before the bride by as many boys,
whose parentB were still living.
7. Srd vet ii ere pal res: hut their fathers forbade. There
is much in the story of these ill-fated lovers that reminds
us of Romeo and Juliet:
Two households, bolh alike in dignity.
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers have their life;
Whose rnisadvenlured, piteous overthrows
Do, with their death, bury their parents* strife.
PROLOGUE TO ROMEO AND JULIET
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