THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO
THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO
THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO
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TABULA II.<br />
MORS PYRAMI ET THISBES: MINYEIDES IN VESPERTILIONES.<br />
Pyramus and Thisbe, two Babylonian lovers, whose parents are hostile, slay<br />
themselves under a mulberry-tree; upon which the mulberries, formerly<br />
white, become of the color of blood. After the relation of their stories, tho<br />
Minyeides are changed to bats.<br />
EXPLICATIO.<br />
LOVE stories, in the olden time, as at present, were subjects of attrac<br />
tion to gentle dames, and therefore the sisters preferred the fable of Py<br />
ramus and Thisbe, and especially as it was not a common one. The<br />
tragical story of these unhappy lovers was founded, possibly, on some<br />
historical occurrence that anciently took place at Babylon.<br />
The story .of their woes is told in simple, yet affecting language, and<br />
appeals the more strongly to the heart, that the poet lets unaffected nature<br />
speak in her own simplicity, rather than clothe his thoughts in the pomp<br />
of expression. Debarred all intercourse, their only language, for a time,<br />
is eloquent looks, and signs and tokens of love, until fortune discloses a<br />
cleft in the wall that divided their dwellings. Here they could sit and<br />
converse, and feel upon each other's cheek the warm breath as it came,<br />
and inhale it with a transport of love. How simple, and yet how natural,<br />
the momentary chiding of the envious wall, for parting them, and again the<br />
grateful recognition of what they owed to it! Here sitting, they passed the<br />
time, and after they had said farewell, with the simplicity of love, which<br />
is always childlike, each gave a kiss to the wall, intended for the other.<br />
They arrange a meeting, and the timid Thisbe dares the darkness and<br />
the forest, to meet her lover; " Love made her bold." Escaping from<br />
the lioness, she enters a cave with the loss of her veil, and returns to her<br />
appointment, to find her lover, through affection for her, slain by his own<br />
hand unconscious with the shades of death settling o'er his eyes, that<br />
open at the name of Thisbe, look upon her face, and then close for ever.<br />
Love, that had led her to dare the chances of death, now nerves her arm<br />
for death itself, and the same sword that had drunk his vital blood, is now<br />
driven to the heart of his unhappy mistress. She desires that the tree<br />
beneath which they are weltering, may record the story of their woes, and<br />
that the parents who opposed their union in life, may yet permit their<br />
dust to mingle after death.<br />
Of the mulberry there are three kinds, originally from three countries<br />
to which their colors are appropriate; the white mulberry of Asia; the<br />
red of America, and the black of Africa. Each variety of color is also<br />
distinguished by a different kind of bark and leaf. At Annapolis, in<br />
Maryland, there is a mulberry tree which has black fruit, although its<br />
leaves and bark evidently show it is of the white kind. A circumstance<br />
like this may have given rise to the Babylonian fiction. This Fable con<br />
tains a good moral, as it shows the evil consequences of clandestine<br />
attachments on the part of children, as well as the impropriety of arbi<br />
trary control on the part of parents<br />
266<br />
YRAMUS et Thisbe, juvenum pulcherriiivus alter,<br />
* Altera, quas Oriens habuit, prselata puellis,<br />
Contiguas tcnuere domos, ubi dicitur altam<br />
Coctilibus muris cinxisse Semiramis urbem.<br />
Notitiam primosque gradus vicinhi fecit: 5<br />
Tempore crevit amor: tffida? qucque jure coissent:<br />
Sed vetuere patres. Quod non potuere vctare;<br />
NOT^E.<br />
4. Coctilibus muris: with walls of brick. The walls<br />
of Babylon were considered one of the Seven Wonders<br />
of the world. According to Pliny, they were 60,000<br />
paces in circumference, 200 feet high, and 50 feet thick.<br />
They formed a square, each side of which was about 15<br />
miles long, and contained 25 gates, all of solid brass.<br />
4. A ll am vibim. B ubylon. This city is believed to<br />
have been planned by Belus. He built a portion of it,<br />
which was continued by Nebuchadnezzar. It was never<br />
finished. It was celebrated for its hanging gardens, pa-<br />
laces, canals, and immense walls.<br />
5. Primes gradus: the first steps; the first advances.<br />
6. Ttedte jure: by the ceremony of the torch. In an<br />
cient marriages, after the oath of fire and water, five<br />
torches were carried before the bride by as many boys,<br />
whose parentB were still living.<br />
7. Srd vet ii ere pal res: hut their fathers forbade. There<br />
is much in the story of these ill-fated lovers that reminds<br />
us of Romeo and Juliet:<br />
Two households, bolh alike in dignity.<br />
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,<br />
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,<br />
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.<br />
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes<br />
A pair of star-crossed lovers have their life;<br />
Whose rnisadvenlured, piteous overthrows<br />
Do, with their death, bury their parents* strife.<br />
PROLOGUE TO ROMEO AND JULIET<br />
• Ml<br />
.- .<br />
».«*',<br />
'<br />
267