Pyramus and Thisbe TRANSLATION

‘Pyramus et Thisbe, iuvenum pulcherrimus alter,

altera, quas Oriens habuit, praelata puellis,

contiguas tenuere domos, ubi dicitur altam

coctilibus muris cinxisse Semiramis urbem.

notitiam primosque gradus vinicia fecit

Pyramus and Thisbe, one the most beautiful of young men, the other preferred to all the girls whom the East held, lived in neighbouring homes, where Semiramis is said to have surrounded the towering city with mud-brick walls. Their nearness formed the first steps of their acquaintance.

tempore crevit amor; taedae quoque iure coissent,               

sed vetuere patres: quod non potuere vetare,

ex aequo captis ardebant mentibus ambo.

conscius omnis abest; nutu signisque loquuntur,

quoque magis tegitur, tectus magis aestuat ignis.

In time, their love grew; and they would have come together in lawful marriage, but their fathers forbade it: [though this was] something that they could not forbid, they were both on fire, their hearts captivated equally.

Everyone aware is absent; they speak with a nod and signs, and the more it is hidden, the more the hidden fire blazes. 

fissus erat tenui rima, quam duxerat olim,               

cum fieret, paries domui communis utrique.

id vitium nulli per saecula longa notatum [est] -

quid non sentit amor? - primi vidistis amantes

et vocis fecistis iter, tutaeque per illud

murmure blanditiae minimo transire solebant.   

The wall had split with a thin crack, which once had developed when it was being built, shared between each house.

That flaw was spotted by nobody, through the long ages - what does love not feel? - you lovers were the first to see [it], and you formed a path for your speech, and your loving words grew accustomed to cross safely through that [crack] with the tiniest whisper.

saepe, ubi constiterant hinc Thisbe, Pyramus illinc,

inque vices fuerat captatus anhelitus oris,

"invide" dicebant "paries, quid amantibus obstas?

quantum erat, ut sineres toto nos corpore iungi

aut, hoc si nimium est, vel ad oscula danda pateres?  

Often, when they had set up their positions, Thisbe on one side, Pyramus on the other, and in turn their breath had been seized upon from their mouth, they would say “envious wall, why do you stand in the way of us lovers? How much would it have cost for you to allow us to join our whole bodies, or, if this is too much, to be open to the giving of kisses?

nec sumus ingrati: tibi nos debere fatemur,

quod datus est verbis ad amicas transitus auris."

talia diversa nequiquam sede locuti

sub noctem dixere "vale" partique dedere

oscula quisque suae non pervenientia contra.   

We are not ungrateful; we admit that we owe to you the fact that a passage was granted for our words to loving ears.”

And so they spoke of such things, in vain, sitting separately, and at nightfall they said “farewell” and each gave kisses to their side [of the wall], which did not reach through to the other side. 

postera nocturnos Aurora removerat ignes,

solque pruinosas radiis siccaverat herbas:

ad solitum coiere locum. tum murmure parvo

multa prius questi statuunt, ut nocte silenti

fallere custodes foribusque excedere temptent,               

cumque domo exierint, urbis quoque tecta relinquant,

neve sit errandum lato spatiantibus arvo,

The next Dawn had removed the fires of night, and the sun had dried the frosty grass with its rays; they came to their accustomed place.

Then with a small whisper, having first made many complaints, they decide that they will try, in the silence of the night, to deceive the guards and go beyond the doors, and once they have left their home, they will abandon the buildings of the city, and, so that they not get lost walking about in the open country, 

conveniant ad busta Nini lateantque sub umbra

arboris: arbor ibi niveis uberrima pomis,

ardua morus, erat, gelido contermina fonti.

pacta placent; et lux, tarde discedere visa,

praecipitatur aquis, et aquis nox exit ab isdem.

they will meet at the grave of Ninus and lie hidden beneath the shade of the tree; the tree there was a tall mulberry tree, overladen with white fruits, next to an icy-cold fountain.

Their plan is pleasing [to them]; and light, seeming slow to depart, rushes headlong into the waters, and night emerges from the same waters.

 'callida per tenebras versato cardine Thisbe

egreditur fallitque suos adopertaque vultum

pervenit ad tumulum dictaque sub arbore sedit. 

audacem faciebat amor. venit ecce recenti

caede leaena boum spumantis oblita rictus

depositura sitim vicini fontis in unda;

Clever Thisbe, having turned the hinge [of the door] steps out through the darkness and deceives her parents and, with her face covered, reaches the tomb and sits under the appointed tree.

Love was making her brave. Look, there comes a lioness, with her foaming jaws smeared with fresh slaughter, ready to quench her thirst in the water of the nearby spring;

quam procul ad lunae radios Babylonia Thisbe

vidit et obscurum timido pede fugit in antrum,               

dumque fugit, tergo velamina lapsa reliquit.

ut lea saeva sitim multa conpescuit unda,

dum redit in silvas, inventos forte sine ipsa

ore cruentato tenues laniavit amictus.

Babylonian Thisbe saw the lioness from far away, by the light of the moon, and fled into a dark cave with her fearful step, and while she fled, she dropped her cloak which had fallen from her back.

When the savage lioness overcame her thirst with lots of water, as she returned into the woods, she tore at the thin cloak, which she had found by chance without its owner, in her bloody jaw. 

serius egressus vestigia vidit in alto               

pulvere certa ferae totoque expalluit ore

Pyramus; ut vero vestem quoque sanguine tinctam

repperit, "una duos" inquit "nox perdet amantes,

e quibus illa fuit longa dignissima vita;

Having left too late, Pyramus saw the footprints in the deep dust, clearly those of a wild beast, and grew pale in his whole expression; when indeed he also discovered the garment, stained with blood, he said “one night destroys two lovers,of whom she was the most worthy of a long life; 

nostra nocens anima est. ego te, miseranda, peremi,               

in loca plena metus qui iussi nocte venires

nec prior huc veni. nostrum divellite corpus

et scelerata fero consumite viscera morsu,

o quicumque sub hac habitatis rupe leones!

Mine is the guilty soul. I have destroyed you, pitiable girl, I who gave the order that you come by night into places full of fear, and did not come here first. Tear up my body and consume my wicked flesh with your fierce bite, o all you lions who live beneath this rock!

sed timidi est optare necem." velamina Thisbes               

tollit et ad pactae secum fert arboris umbram,

utque dedit notae lacrimas, dedit oscula vesti,

"accipe nunc" inquit "nostri quoque sanguinis haustus!"

Though it is the act of a coward to choose death.”

He picks up the clothing of Thisbe and carries it with him to the the shade of the chosen tree, and as he gave tears to the familiar garment, he gave it kisses [too], and said “now receive also a drink of my blood!”

quoque erat accinctus, demisit in ilia ferrum,

nec mora, ferventi moriens e vulnere traxit.               

ut iacuit resupinus humo, cruor emicat alte,

non aliter quam cum vitiato fistula plumbo

scinditur et tenui stridente foramine longas

eiaculatur aquas atque ictibus aera rumpit.

And the sword with which he had been equipped, he now plunged into his side. Without delay, dying, he dragged [the sword] from the warm wound.

As he lay on his back on the ground, his blood spurts out high up, just as when a pipe, when the lead has been damaged, is split and, from a thin, hissing crack, spurts out water far and wide  and breaks through the air with its impact. 

arborei fetus adspergine caedis in atram               

vertuntur faciem, madefactaque sanguine radix

purpureo tinguit pendentia mora colore.

The fruits of the tree, sprinkled with blood, change their appearance to a dark red, and the root, drenched with blood, stains the hanging mulberries with a purple hue.

'ecce metu nondum posito, ne fallat amantem,

illa redit iuvenemque oculis animoque requirit,

quantaque vitarit narrare pericula gestit;               

utque locum et visa cognoscit in arbore formam,

sic facit incertam pomi color: haeret, an haec sit.

Look, with her fear not yet put aside, lest she disappoint her lover, Thisbe returns and looks for the young man with her eyes and heart, delighted to tell him what great dangers she has avoided; and though she recognises the place and the shape of the familiar tree, the colour of the fruit makes her unsure. She waits there, perhaps this is it.

dum dubitat, tremebunda videt pulsare cruentum

membra solum, retroque pedem tulit, oraque buxo

pallidiora gerens exhorruit aequoris instar,               

quod tremit, exigua cum summum stringitur aura.

While she hesitates, she sees trembling limbs beating the bloody ground, and she drew back her foot, bearing a face whiter than boxwood, and shuddered, just like the the sea, which trembles, when it is touched on the surface by a slight breeze.

sed postquam remorata suos cognovit amores,

percutit indignos claro plangore lacertos

et laniata comas amplexaque corpus amatum

vulnera supplevit lacrimis fletumque cruori               

miscuit et gelidis in vultibus oscula figens

"Pyrame," clamavit, "quis te mihi casus ademit?

Pyrame, responde! tua te carissima Thisbe

nominat; exaudi vultusque attolle iacentes!"

But after, having hindered a little longer, she recognised her love, she struck her innocent arms with a clear wail of grief, and having torn at her hair and embraced the body of her lover she filled his wounds with tears and mixed her tears with his blood and pressing her kisses on his cold wounds, she shouted

“Pyramus, what disaster has taken you from me? Pyramus, reply! Your most beloved Thisbe is calling your name; listen and lift your drooping face!”

ad nomen Thisbes oculos a morte gravatos               

Pyramus erexit visaque recondidit illa.

quae postquam vestemque suam cognovit et ense

vidit ebur vacuum, "tua te manus" inquit "amorque

perdidit, infelix! est et mihi fortis in unum

hoc manus, est et amor: dabit hic in vulnera vires.

At Thisbe’s name, Pyramus raised his eyes, heavy with death, and, having seen her, buried them again.

She, after she recognised her cloak and after she saw the ivy scabbard without its sword, she said “your own hand and love destroyed you, unhappy boy! I have a strong hand for this one deed, and I have love, too: this will give me strength in wounds.

persequar extinctum letique miserrima dicar

causa comesque tui: quique a me morte revelli

heu sola poteras, poteris nec morte revelli.

I will follow you in death, and I will be said [to have been] a most wretched cause and companion to you in death: alas, you could be torn from me by death alone, you will not be torn [from me] by death.

hoc tamen amborum verbis estote rogati,

o multum miseri meus illiusque parentes,               

ut, quos certus amor, quos hora novissima iunxit,

conponi tumulo non invideatis eodem;

at tu quae ramis arbor miserabile corpus

nunc tegis unius, mox es tectura duorum,

signa tene caedis pullosque et luctibus aptos               

semper habe fetus, gemini monimenta cruoris."

This however let there be for both of us, having asked with words, o our such miserable parents, mine and his, us for whom love is certain, and whom the latest hour has joined, do not deny to lay us together in the same tomb; but you, the tree that now covers with your branches a miserable body of one, soon you will cover [the bodies of] two, keep the symbols of our death and always bear fruit dark-coloured suited to mourning, as a monument for our twin blood.’

dixit et aptato pectus mucrone sub imum

incubuit ferro, quod adhuc a caede tepebat.

vota tamen tetigere deos, tetigere parentes;

nam color in pomo est, ubi permaturuit, ater,               

quodque rogis superest, una requiescit in urna.'

She spoke, and, with the blade pointed below the depth of her chest, she fell forward onto the sword, which was still warm from his death.

However her prayers touched the gods, and touched her parents; for the colour of the fruit is black, when it has ripened, and that which was remaining from the funeral pyre, rested together in a single urn.”