Pyramus & Thisbe (lines: 78-127)

In lines 78-127 in Pyramus & Thisbe, Ovid has used several rhetorical devices including:

1. In line 118 when Ovid writes; “nostril quoque sanguis haustus!” which translates into; “also drink our blood!” In this line Pyramus in shouting at the bloody garment to drink his blood as well as Thisbe’s. This is personification because a rag is an inanimate object and can not drink like a human can.

2. In line 119 when Ovid writes; “demisit in ilia ferrum” which translates into “plunged the sword into his genitals”. The word ‘ilia, illum’ means genitals and it is ironic that Pyramus stabbed himself there because that is where lovers connect and the whole reason that Pyramus and Thisbe had left the city was so they could physically be together. So it is ironic that Pyramus chose that spot to stab himself.

3. In lines 121-123 when Ovid writes; “Cruor emicat alte, non aliter quam cum vitiate fistula plumbo scinditur” which translates to; “blood spurts out high, no differently then when a defective lead pipe is cut.” This is a metaphor because it is a comparison that is comparing Pyrumus’s wound to a broken pipe.