Pyramus and Thisbe were two young Thebans, who, being greatly enamoured of one another, had their union opposed by their friends, between the families of whom there had been a variance for many years.

"But to prevent their wandering in the dark,

They both agree to fix upon a mark;

A mark that could not their designs expose:

The tomb of Venus was the mark they chose;

There they might rest secure beneath the shade,

Which boughs, with snowy fruit encumbered, made.

A wide spread mulberry tree its rise had took

Just in the margin of a gurgling brook."

Ovid.