Book Read Free

Reading Ovid

Page 23

by Peter Jones


  “Prame,” clāmāuit, “quis tē mihi cāsus †adēmit?

  Prame, respondē! tua tē, †cārissime, Thisbē

  †nōminat; exaudī, uultūsque attolle iacentēs!”

  ad nōmen †Thisbēs, oculōs iam morte grauātō

  145

  Pramus †ērēxit, uīsāque recondidit illā.’

  4.147–66: Thisbe laments and commits suicide too

  †‘quae postquam uestemque suam cognōuit, et ēnse

  uīdit †ebur uacuum, “tua tē manus” inquit “amorque

  perdidit, †īnfēlīx! est et mihi fortis^ in ūnum

  hoc ^manus, est et amor: dabit hīc †in uulnera uīrēs.

  150

  persequar †exstinctum, lētīque miserrima dīcar

  causa comesque tuī; †quīque a mē morte reuellī

  h sōlā poterās, poteris †nec morte reuellī.

  hoc tamen †ambōrum uerbīs estōte rogātī,

  ō multum miserī meus illīusque parentēs,

  155

  †ut, quōs certus amor, quōs hōra nouissima iūnxit,

  †compōnī tumulō nōn inuideātis eōdem.

  at †tū^ quae rāmīs ^arbor miserābile corpus

  nunc tegis ūnīus, mox es tēctūra duōrum,

  †signa tenē caedis, pullōsque et luctibus aptōs

  160

  semper habē fētūs, geminī †monimenta cruōris.”

  dīxit, et †aptātō pectus mucrōne sub īmum

  †incubuit ferrō, quod adhūc ā caede tepēbat.

  uōta tamen tetigēre deōs, tetigēre parentēs;

  nam color in pōmō est, ubi †permātūruit, āter,

  165

  quodque †rogīs superest, ūnā requiēscit in urnā.’

  Learning vocabulary for Passage 9, Pyramus and Thisbe

  āter ātr-a um black

  fēt-us ūs 4m. fruit

  laniō 1 tear at

  mōr-us ī 2f./mōr-um ī 2n. mulberry-tree

  murmur -is 3n. whisper

  pact-um ī 2n. agreement

  pact-us a um agreed

  pariēs pariet-is 3m. wall

  pōm-um ī 2n. fruit

  radi-us ī 2m. ray

  tumul-us ī 2m. tomb, mound, hill

  uēlāmen uēlāmin-is 3n. cloak

  Study section

  1. Write out and scan ll.142–6.

  2. Does tremebunda (133) agree better with Thisbe (understood subject) or membra (134)?

  3. If the text at 143 read cārissima with no commas, what would it mean? Which do you prefer?

  4. In what senses would you call this story ‘romantic’?

  5. ‘Pyramus and Thisbe wish to move away from “nods and signs” with which their love was first formulated to a real presence, in which the barriers of language are effaced and they can be truly together . . . Their failure is therefore inevitable, because there can be no such escape from language’ (Fowler, 2000, 161). Discuss.

  6. What do you make of Arthur Golding’s translation of ll.93–163? Is it fair to the spirit of Ovid?

  1 As soon as darkness once was come, straight Thisbe did devise 93

  A shift to wind her out of doors, that none that were within

  Perceive her. And, muffling her with clothes about her chin

  That no man might discern her face, to Ninus’ tomb she came

  5 Unto that tree and sat her down there underneath the same. 95

  Love made her bold. But see the chance: there comes besmeared with blood

  About the chaps a lioness all foaming from the wood

  From slaughter lately made of kine, to staunch her bloody thirst

  With water of the foresaid spring. Whom Thisbe spying first

  10 Afar by moonlight, thereupon with fearful steps gan fly 100

  And in a dark and irksome cave did hide herself thereby.

  And as she fled away for haste, she let her mantle fall,

  The which for fear she left behind, not looking back at all.

  Now when the cruel lioness her thirst had staunched well,

  15 In going to the wood she found the slender weed that fell

  From Thisbe, which with bloody teeth in pieces she did tear.

  The night was somewhat further spent ere Pyramus came there; 105

  Who, seeing in the subtle sand the print of lion’s paw,

  Waxed pale for fear. But when also the bloody cloak he saw

  20 All rent and torn, ‘One night’, he said, ‘shall lovers two confound,

  Of which long life deservèd she of all that live on ground.

  My soul deserves of this mischance the peril for to bear; 110

  I, wretch, have been the death of thee, which to this place of fear

  Did cause thee in the night to come and came not here before.

  25 My wicked limbs and wretched guts with cruel teeth therefore

  Devour ye, O ye lions all that in this rock do dwell!

  But cowards use to wish for death.’ The slender weed that fell 115

  From Thisbe up he takes and straight doth bear it to the tree

  Which was appointed erst the place of meeting for to be.

  30 And when he had bewept and kissed the garment which he knew,

  ‘Receive thou my blood too,’ quoth he. And therewithal he drew

  His sword, the which among his guts he thrust, and by and by

  Did draw it from the bleeding wound, beginning for to die, 120

  And cast himself upon his back. The blood did spin on high

  35 As, when a conduit-pipe is cracked, the water, bursting out,

  Doth shoot itself a great way off and pierce the air about.

  The leaves that were upon the tree, besprinkled with his blood, 125

  Were dyèd black. The root also, bestainèd as it stood,

  A deep dark purple colour straight upon the berries cast.

  40 Anon, scarce ridded of her fear with which she was aghast,

  For doubt of disappointing him comes Thisbe forth in haste

  And for her lover looks about, rejoicing for to tell

  How hardly she had scaped that night the danger that befell. 130

  And as she knew right well the place and fashion of the tree

  45 (As which she saw so late before), even so when she did see

  The colour of the berries turned, she was uncertain whether

  It were the tree at which they both agreed to meet together.

  While in this doubtful stound1 she stood, she cast her eye aside

  And there beweltered in his blood her lover she espied

  50 Lie sprawling with his dying limbs. At which she started back

  And lookèd pale as any box; a shuddering through her strake,

  Even like the sea which suddenly with whizzing noise doth move 135

  When with a little blast of wind it is but touched above.

  But when, approaching nearer him, she knew it was her love,

  55 She beat her breast, she shriekèd out, she tare her golden hairs

  And, taking him between her arms, did wash his wounds with tears.

  She ment2 her weeping with his blood and, kissing all his face 140

  (Which now became as cold as ice), she cried in woeful case,

  ‘Alas! What chance, my Pyramus, hath parted thee and me?

  60 Make answer, O my Pyramus! It is thy Thisb, even she

  Whom thou dost love most heartily that speaketh unto thee.

  Give ear and raise thy heavy head.’ He, hearing Thisbe’s name, 145

  Lift up his dying eyes and, having seen her, closed the same.

  But when she knew her mantle there and saw his scabbard lie

  65 Without the sword, ‘Unhappy man, thy love hath made thee die.

  Thy love’, she said, ‘hath made thee slay thyself. This hand of mine

  Is strong enough to do the like. My love no less than thine 150

  Shall give me force to work my wound. I will pursue the dead

  And, w
retched woman as I am, it shall of me be said

  70 That like as of thy death I was the only cause and blame,

  So am I thy companion eke and partner in the same.

  For death which only could, alas, asunder part us twain

  Shall never so dissever us but we will meet again.

  And you, the parents of us both, most wretched folk alive, 155

  75 Let this request that I shall make in both our names belive3

  Entreat you to permit that we, whom chaste and steadfast love

  And whom even death hath joined in one, may as it doth behove

  In one grave be together laid. And thou, unhappy tree,

  Which shroudest now the corse of one and shalt anon through me

  80 Shroud two, of this same slaughter hold the sicker signs for aye:

  Black be the colour of thy fruit and mourning-like alway, 160

  Such as the murder of us twain may evermore bewray.’

  This said, she took the sword yet warm with slaughter of her love

  And, setting it beneath her breast, did to her heart it shove.

  7. It is worth comparing the rude mechanicals’ version of this story in Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream (Act 5, scene 1). Shakespeare knew Ovid through Golding.

  1. stound = amazement

  2. ment = mixed

  3. belive = at once

  Vocabulary and grammar

  55 Oriēns Orient-is 3m. the East

  56 altera: take in order altera praelāta puellīs . . . quās

  praelāt-us a um exalted over (+ dat.) (praeferō)

  57 contigu-us a um adjacent

  dīcitur: subject is Semīramis, the founder and queen of Babylon (60 miles south of modern Baghdad; Herodotus, Histories 1.184). She was the widow of Ninus (88), after whom Nineveh was named

  58 coctil-is e built of baked (mud) bricks (Herodotus, Histories 1.179)

  59 nōtiti-a ae 1f. acquaintance

  grad-us ūs 4m. approach (i.e. steps towards each other)

  uīcīni-a ae 1f. proximity

  60 taed-a ae 1f. marriage (torch). Take with iūre

  coissent: note the conditional plupf. subj.

  61 quod: ‘the thing which’, explained in 62. There is an amusing jingling sound to 61

  62 ex aequō equally

  63 cōnsci-us a um complicit, who knows about it

  nūt-us ūs 4m. nod

  64 quōque magis . . . magis: + ind., ‘by how much the more . . . the more’, RL100B.5, WSuppl.syntax. Note the polyptoton of tegitur, tēctus and chiasmus with magis

  aestuō 1 blaze up

  65 findō 3 fidī fissum split (the subject of fissus erat is pariēs)

  rīm-a ae 1f. crack

  ōlim long ago

  66 cum fieret: i.e. when the wall was being built

  *pariēs pariet-is 3m. wall (separating the two properties). This scans as two syllables, the first heavy, as though the i were consonantal

  commūn-is e shared, common to (+ dat.)

  domuī: dat. of domus

  67 uiti-um ī 2n. fault

  nūllī: dat. of agent

  saecul-um ī 2n. age

  notō 1 notice

  68 uīdistis: Ovid drops into the 2nd pl. here (‘apostrophe’), addressing the two lovers

  69 illud: i.e. the crack in the wall

  70 *murmur -is 3n. whisper

  blanditi-a ae 1f. sweet nothing, endearment

  trānseō trānsīre 3 cross, pass

  71 hinc . . . illinc: chiasmus

  72 in uicēs in turn

  anhēlit-us ūs 4m. breath. The two are breathing each other’s breath in turn through the chink in the garden wall

  73 inuid-us a um envious

  obstō 1 get in the way of (+ dat.)

  74 quantum erat: ‘how much would it be [for you to, ut + subj.]’, i.e. how little it would cost you to . . . ; cf. RLS2(c)Notes(6)

  sinō 3 allow

  75 pateō 2 open up

  76 ingrāt-us a um ungrateful

  fateor 2 dep. admit

  77 quod: explains what the lovers owe – ‘the fact that . . .’

  amīcās: here used as an adjective

  trānsit-us ūs 4m. way of communicating, pathway

  78 nēquīquam in vain

  sēd-ēs is 3f. position, house

  79 noctem: note acc. with sub

  80 peruenientia: stress the per – the ōscula could not get through the wall

  81 poster-us a um the next (a golden line)

  nocturn-us a um of the night

  ignēs: i.e. the stars

  82 pruīnōs-us a um frosty

  *radi-us ī 2m. ray

  siccō 1 dry

  84 multa: n. pl. object of questī

  statuō 3 decide to/that they should (ut + subj. – temptent, relinquant, conueniant, lateant)

  silēns silent-is quiet, silent

  85 for-ēs ium 3f. pl. doors

  excēdō 3 depart

  86 tēct-um ī 2n. building

  87 nēue: ‘and lest’

  errandum: impersonal gerundive, ‘it is to be got lost by (dat.) them spatiantibus . . .’, ‘they should get lost as they . . .’, RLO(2)

  88 conueniō 3/4 meet (subj. after statuunt)

  bust-um ī 2n. tomb. When the romance of Ninus and Semiramis had passed into legend, we are told this modest monument was a mile high and a mile wide

  Nin-us ī 2m. Ninus (legendary founder of Ninevah and husband of Semiramis)

  89 niue-us a um snowy (white)

  ūber -is fertile

  *pōm-um ī 2n. fruit

  90 *mōr-us ī 2f./mōr-um ī 2n. mulberry-tree. Ovid brings in the mulberry, reminding us that the apparent purpose of this story was to explain how its fruit changed colour

  contermin-us a um next to (+ dat.). The location next to a fōns is important: it is the fōns that will attract the lion

  91 *pact-um ī 2n. agreement; pact-us a um agreed

  92 praecipitor 1 dep. plunge headlong. There is a neat chiastic balance to this line

  aquīs: i.e. dip below the horizon. The sun is presumed to disappear under the sea in the West, and at night to emerge from it in the East (it is irrelevant that it is quite difficult to see the sea from Babylon, the Mediterranean being about 500 miles west, the Persian gulf about 300 south-east)

  93 callid-us a um skilful

  tenebr-ae ārum 2f. pl. shadows, darkness

  uersō 1 manipulate, turn

  cardō cardin-is 3m. door(-hinge). A tense moment – will it creak?

  94 adopert-us a um covered, veiled (presumably with the uēlāmen, 101: preparation for what will follow)

  uultum: acc. of respect, RL6.3

  95 *tumul-us ī 2m. tomb, mound, hill

  96 audācem: understand ‘her’

  97 leaen-a ae 1f. lioness

  boum: gen. pl. of bōs, ‘bull, cow’, dependent on recentī caede

  spūmō 1 foam

  oblit-us a um smeared (oblinō)

  rict-us ūs 4m. jaw (acc. of respect after oblita)

  98 dēpōnō 3 quench

  99 quam: i.e. the lioness (connecting relative, RL107)

  Babylōni-us a um Babylonian

  100 fūgit . . . fugit (101): note the difference between these two forms

  101 tergō: ‘true’ abl., RL100A, Survey(a)

  *uēlāmen uēlāmin-is 3n. any sort of clothes or covering (cf. 94, which argues for headgear of some sort, and uestem 107)

  102 le-a ae 1f. lioness

  compescō 3 compescuī allay, quench

  104 cruentāt-us a um bloody

  *laniō 1 tear at

  amict-us ūs 4m. cloak, garment

  105 sērius later (Pramus 107 is subject)

  106 puluis puluer-is 3m. dust

  expallēscō 3 expalluī turn pale

  107 tingō 3tīnxī tīnctum tinge

  108 ūna . . . amantēs: a fine antithesis, at such an agonising moment

  110 nocēns nocent-is guilty

  mise
rand-us a um pitiable

  perimō 3 perēmī kill, destroy

  111 uenīrēs: iussī here is followed by the subj.

  112 dīuellō 3 tear apart

  113 scelerāt-us a um accursed (a ringing golden line)

  cōnsūmō 3 eat up

  uīscera-um 3n. pl. entrails

  mors-us ūs 4m. bite

  114 ō quīcumque: take with leōnēs

  habitō 1 live

  rūp-ēs is 3f. rock

  leō leōn-is 3m. lion

  115 timidī est: ‘it is [the characteristic] of the timidus . . .’, cf. RLL(d)1

  optāre: i.e. only/merely to wish for death

  nex nec-is 3f. death

  Thisbēs: Greek gen. s.

  118 haust-us ūs 4m. draught

  119 quōque: refers to ferrum

  accingō 3 accīnxī accīnctus gird oneself, put round oneself

  dēmittō 3 dēmīsī sink

  īli-a um 3n. pl. groin

  120 feruēns feruent-is fresh, hot

  121 resupīn-us a um on one’s back

  ēmicō 1 leap, spurt

  122 quam cum: + ind., ‘than when’

  uitiāt-us a um faulty

  fistul-a ae 1f. (water-)pipe

  plumb-um ī 2n. lead

  123 scindō 3 split

  stridēns strident-is hissing

  forāmen forāmin-is 3n. hole

  124 ēiaculor 1 dep. pump out

  ict-us ūs 4m. impact, blow

  rumpō 3 rip through, break

  125 arbore-us a um of a tree

  *fēt-us ūs 4m. fruit

  adspergō adspergin-is 3f. spattering

  *āter ātr-a um black

  126 madefact-us a um soaked

  rādīx rādīc-is 3f. root. A root soaked in blood would not from then on deliver a dark red tinge to the berries, but it makes a good story

  127 purpure-us a um purple (almost a golden line)

  tingō 3 tinge

  130 uītō 1 avoid. uītārit = uītāuerit (RLA4), subj. in an indirect question after nārrāre

  gestiō 4 desire keenly (to + inf.)

  131 fōrmam: i.e. the shape of the tree where they had agreed to meet

  132 incertam: i.e. Thisbe – she cannot understand why the tree has changed colour

  haec: i.e. the (proper) tree

  133 tremebund-us a um trembling

  pulsō 1 writhe on (+ acc.)

 

‹ Prev