ith her
blood-stained mouth.

"Pyramus, going out later {than Thisbe}, saw the evident footmarks of a
wild beast, in the deep dust, and grew pale all over his face. But, as
soon as he found her veil, as well, dyed with blood, he said: 'One night
will be the ruin of two lovers, of whom she was the most deserving of a
long life. My soul is guilty; 'tis I that have destroyed thee, much to
be lamented; who bade thee to come by night to places full of terror,
and came not hither first. O, whatever lions are lurking beneath this
rock, tear my body in pieces, and devour my accursed entrails with
ruthless jaws. But it is the part of a coward to wish for death.' He
takes up the veil of Thisbe, and he takes it with himself to the shade
of the tree agreed on, and, after he has bestowed tears on the
well-known garment, he gives kisses {to the same}, and he says,
'Receive, now, a draught of my blood as well!' and then plunges the
sword, with which he is girt, into his bowels; and without delay, as he
is dying, he draws it out of the warm wound. As he falls on his back
upon the ground, the blood spurts forth on high, not otherwise than as
when a pipe is burst on the lead decaying,[22] and shoots out afar the
liquid water from the hissing flaw, and cleaves the air with its jet.
The fruit of the tree, by the sprinkling of the blood, are changed to a
dark tint, and the root, soaked with the gore, tints the hanging
mulberries with a purple hue. Behold! not yet having banished her fear,
{Thisbe} returns, that she may not disappoint her lover, and seeks for
the youth both with her eyes and her affection, and longs to tell him
how great dangers she has escaped. And when she observes the spot, and
the altered appearance of the tree, she doubts if it is the same, so
uncertain does the color of the fruit make her. While she is in doubt,
she sees palpitating limbs throbbing upon the bloody ground; she draws
back her foot, and having her face paler than box-wood,[23] she shudders
like the sea, which trembles[24] when its surface is skimmed by a gentle
breeze. But, after pausing a time, she had recognized her own lover, she
smote her arms, undeserving {of such usage}, and tearing her hair, and
embracing the much-loved body, she filled the gashes with her tears, and
mingled her {tokens of} sorrow with his blood; and imprinting kisses on
his cold features, she exclaimed, 'Pyramus! what disaster has taken thee
away from me? Pyramus! answer me; 'tis