Ovid drops the mic: Roman sewers (Metamorphoses 4.120-127)
#philologydust #ovid #metamorphoses
Pyramus dies with blood that spurts like a Roman sewer:
et iacuit resupinus humo: cruor emicat alte, non aliter, quam cum vitiato fistula plumbo scinditur et tenui stridente foramine lognas eiaculatur aquas atque ictibus aera rumpit.
Here's Raeburn: As he lay stretched out on the earth, his blood leapt up in a long jet, just as a spurt from a waterpipe, bursting because of its faulty leadwork, gushes out through a tiny crack to create a hissing fountain of water and cuts the air with its impact.