thy own Thisbe, dearest, that
calls thee; hear me, and raise thy prostrate features.'

"At the name of Thisbe, Pyramus raised his eyes, now heavy with death,
and, after he had seen her, he closed them again. After she had
perceived her own garment, and beheld, too, the ivory {sheath}[25]
without its sword, she said, ''Tis thy own hand, and love, that has
destroyed thee, ill-fated {youth}! I, too, have a hand bold {enough} for
this one purpose; I have love as well; this shall give me strength for
the wound. I will follow thee in thy death, and I shall be called the
most unhappy cause and companion of thy fate, and thou who, alas!
couldst be torn from me by death alone, shalt not be able, even by
death, to be torn from me. And you, O most wretched parents of mine and
his, be but prevailed upon, in this one thing, by the entreaties of us
both, that you will not deny those whom their constant love {and} whom
their last moments have joined, to be buried in the same tomb. But thou,
O tree, which now with thy boughs dost overshadow the luckless body of
{but} one, art fated soon to cover {those} of two. Retain a token of
{this our} fate, and ever bear fruit black and suited for mourning, as a
memorial of the blood of us two.' {Thus} she said; and having fixed the
point under the lower part of her breast, she fell upon the sword, which
still was reeking with his blood.

"Her prayers, however, moved the Gods, {and} moved their parents. For
the color of the fruit, when it has fully ripened, is black;[26] and
what was left of them, from the funeral pile, reposed in the same urn."

[Footnote 1: _Minyas._--Ver. 1. Alcithoe was the daughter of
Minyas, who, according to some, was the son of Orchomenus,
according to others, his father. Pausanias says that the Boeotians,
over whom he reigned, were called 'Minyae' from him; but he makes
no allusion to the females who are here mentioned by Ovid.]

[Footnote 2: _Rites._--Ver. 1. 'Orgia:' this was the original name
of the Dionysia, or festival of Bacchus; but in time the word came
to be applied to any occasion of festivity.]

[Footnote 3: _Her sisters._--Ver. 3. The names of the sisters of
Alcithoe, according to Plutarch, were Aristippe and Leucippe. The
names of the three, according to AElian, were Alcathoe, Leucippe,
and Aristippe, who is sometimes called Arsinoe. The latter author
says, that the truth of the case was, that they were