“Ovid” Luca Signorelli, 15th century Duomo, Orvieto, Italy
Scala/Art Resource, NY.
55. Pyramus et Thisbe: there were rivers with these names in Cilicia, but the two characters are known from no source earlier than Ovid.
iuvenum…alter…altera…puellis (56): CHIASMUS; the device is very common in Ovid.
56. quas: antecedent is puellis.
praelata: praeferre,to prefer.
57. tenuere: = tenuerunt (so also vetuere, potuere, etc., below).
dicitur: the subj. is Semiramis, wife of the Assyrian king Ninus, reputed to have been the builder of Babylon.
altam: with urbem, both positioned at line’s end; adj.-noun pairs are often widely separated in Ovid, frequently for some special effect (as here, perhaps, to suggest the grandeur of the city).
58. coctilibus: lit., cooked or baked, hence made of brick.
muris: murus,wall.
cinxisse: cingere,to surround.
59. notitiam: notitia, acquaintance.
gradus: acc. pl., steps; sc. amoris, or this may be, with notitiam, a HENDIADYS (the first steps of their relationship).
vicinia:proximity, i.e., their being neighbors.
60. taedae: taeda, torch, marriage torch (carried in the wedding procession).
iure: here, (legal) bond.
coissent: coire,to come together, be joined; POTENTIAL SUBJUNCT.
61. vetuere: vetare, to forbid, prevent.
quod:what, that which; the following cl. is antecedent.
62. ex aequo: idiom, equally; the line’s symmetry and the spondaic rhythms help to emphasize the equality and intensity of the lovers’ feelings.
captis…mentibus: sc. amore.
63. conscius: witness.
abest: note the shift from the perf. tenses of the preceding sent. to the HIST. PRES. in this sent., lending further intensity and vividness to the narrative.
nutu: nutus,nod.
64. quoque: = et quo, ABL. OF DEGREE OF DIFFERENCE; quoque magis…(eo) magis, and the more…the more.
magis tegitur, tectus magis: CHIASMUS.
aestuat: aestuare,to burn, blaze;ignis is subj. of both this vb. and tegitur.
65. fissus erat: findere, to split; the subj. is paries, wall (of a house).
tenui:slender, thin.
rima:crack.
duxerat: here, had developed.
66. utrique: each.
67. vitium: here, flaw, defect.
nulli: dat. with notatum, known (to).
saeculum:age, generation.
68. primi: as often, Lat. employs an adj. where Eng. would use an adv. (so also tutae, safely, in 69).
amantes: the partic. functions as a noun, lovers; Ovid addresses the two in a dramatic APOSTROPHE.
PYRAMUS AND THISBE
