Pyramus Was The Handsomest Youth

1
Pyramus and Thisbe – Ovid 1
Pyramus was the handsomest youth, and Thisbe the fairest maiden, in all
Babylonia, where Semiramis2 reigned. Their parents occupied adjoining houses;
and neighborhood brought the young people together, and acquaintance ripened
into love. They would gladly have married, but their parents forbade. One thing,
however, they could not forbid that love should glow with equal ardor in the
bosoms of both. They conversed by signs and glances, and the fire burned more
intensely for being covered up. In the wall that parted the two houses, there was
a crack, caused by some fault in the structure. No one had remarked it before,
but the lovers discovered it. What will love not discover? It afforded a passage
to the voice; and tender messages used to pass backward and forward through
the gap. As they stood, Pyramus on this side, Thisbe on that, their breaths would
mingle. “Cruel wall,” they said, “why do you keep two lovers apart? But we will
not be ungrateful. We owe you, we confess, the privilege of transmitting loving
words to willing ears.” Such words they uttered on different sides of the wall; and
when night came and they must say farewell, they pressed their lips upon the
wall, she on her side, he on his, as they could come no nearer.
One morning, when Aurora3 had put out the stars, and the sun had melted
the frost from the grass, they met at the accustomed spot. Then, after lamenting
their hard fate, they agreed that next night, when all was still, they would slip
away from watchful eyes, leave their dwellings and walk out into the fields; and to
ensure a meeting, repair to a well-known edifice, standing without the city's
bounds, called the tomb of Ninus4, and that the one who came first should await
the other at the foot of a certain tree. It was a white mulberry tree and stood near
a cool spring. All was agreed on, and they waited impatiently for the sun to go
1
Ovid (43BC – 17BC): Roman poet who wrote about love
2
Queen of Babylon
3
Roman Goddess of Dawn
4
King Ninus, king of Babylon
2
down beneath the waters and night to rise up from them. Then cautiously Thisbe
stole forth, unobserved by the family, her head covered with a veil, made her way
to the monument and sat down under the tree. As she sat alone in the dim light
of the evening, she spied a lioness, her jaws reeking with recent slaughter,
approaching the fountain to slake her thirst. Thisbe fled at the sight, and sought
refuge in the hollow of a rock. As she fled, she dropped her veil. The lioness,
after drinking at the spring, turned to retreat to the woods, and seeing the veil on
the ground, tossed and rent it with her bloody mouth.
Pyramus, having been delayed, now approached the place of meeting.

He saw in the sand the footsteps of the lion, and the color fled from his cheeks at
the sight. Presently he found the veil all rent and bloody. "Oh, hapless girl," said
he, "I have been the cause of thy death! Thou, more worthy of life than I, hast
fallen the first victim. I will follow. I am the guilty cause, in tempting thee forth to
a place of such peril, and not being myself on the spot to guard thee. Come
forth, ye lions, from the rocks, and tear this guilty body with your teeth" He took
up the veil, carried it with him to the appointed tree, and covered it with kisses
and with tears. "My blood also shall stain your texture," said he, and drawing his
sword plunged it into his heart. The blood spurted from the wound, and tinged
the white mulberries5 of the tree all red; and sinking into the earth reached the
roots, so that the red color mounted through the trunk to the fruit.
By this time, Thisbe, still trembling with fear, yet wishing not to disappoint
her lover, stepped cautiously forth, looking anxiously for the youth, eager to tell
him the danger she had escaped. When she came to the spot and saw the
changed color of the mulberries, she doubted whether it was the same place.
While she hesitated, she saw the form of one struggling in the agonies of death.
She started back; a shudder ran through her frame as a ripple on the face of the
still water when a sudden breeze sweeps over it. But as soon as she recognized
her lover, she screamed and beat her breast; embracing the lifeless body,
pouring tears into its wounds, and imprinting kisses on the cold lips. “Oh,
5
a berry originally grown for feeding silkworms, also grown for its fruit
3
Pyramus,” she cried, “What has done this? Answer me, Pyramus; it is your own
Thisbe that speaks. Hear me, dearest, and lift that drooping head!” At the name
of Thisbe, Pyramus opened his eyes, and then closed them again. She saw her
veil stained with blood and the scabbard6 empty of its sword. “Thy own hand has
slain thee, and for my sake,” she said. “I too can be brave for once, and my love
is as strong as thine. I will follow thee in death, for I have been the cause; and
death, which alone could part us, shall not prevent my joining thee. And ye,
unhappy parents of us both, deny us not our united request. As love and death
have joined us, let one tomb contain us. And thou, tree, retain the marks of
slaughter. Let thy berries still serve for memorials of our blood.” So saying, she
plunged the sword into her chest.
Her parents acceded to her wish; the gods also ratified it. The two bodies
were buried in one sepulcher7, and the tree ever after brought forth purple
berries, as it does to this day.
6
sheath for holding a sword
7
a small room or monument, cut in rock or built of stone, in which a dead person is laid
or buried

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1

Pyramus and Thisbe – Ovid 1

Pyramus, having been delayed, now approached the place of meeting.

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