As Orpheus uttered his plea, the souls of the departed gathered
in a multitude to listen, Tartarus opened, the Furies with their snakes
and Cerberus with his three heads remained open-mouthed in wonder,
and Ixion's wheel was motionless in the wind.
in a multitude to listen, Tartarus opened, the Furies with their snakes
and Cerberus with his three heads remained open-mouthed in wonder,
and Ixion's wheel was motionless in the wind.
Ovid - 1934 - Metamorphoses in European Culture - v2
.
.
.
.
340
Pygmalion . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Myrrha . . . . . . . . . . . 346
Venus and Adonis . . . . . . . . . . 358
Hippomenes and Atalanta . . . . . . . . 366
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? ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
Orpheus and Eurydice
After the marriage of Iphis and Ianthe, said Ovid, the god Hymen
traveled through the air to Thrace and attended the wedding of
Orpheus. Tradition had not spoken of the two weddings as occurring so
nearly at the same time. Ovid invented the idea, to provide a convenient
means for introducing the stories of his Tenth Book. In accord with the
usual Greek and Roman belief, he spoke of Hymen as bearing a lighted
torch and as wearing a saffron colored robe. But, although Hymen was
present, he maintained an ominous silence, and his torch burned with
great difficulty. Ovid proceeded to give the tragic sequel.
Orpheus appears to have been originally a hero of Thracian myth.
In many respects he was associated with the Thracian god Bacchus.
Diodorus described him as a prince who lived two generations after the
time of the god's earthly career, and who brought order into his re-
ligion. In Greek literature the earliest known allusion to Orpheus oc-
curred towards the end of the sixth century B. C. At that time Ibycus
referred to him as a renowned musician and poet of early days. Not
long afterwards Pindar added that Orpheus accompanied Jason in the
voyage of the Argo, an idea which became regularly a part of the tradi-
tion. Ovid was unable to mention this idea because he wanted to intro-
duce Orpheus at a later period of time.
The mother of Orpheus usually was thought to have been the Epic
Muse Calliope. His father sometimes was thought to have been Apollo,
an idea recorded by Pindar. Much oftener the father was said to have
been a Thracian named Oeagrus. Pindar in a different passage seemed
to imply that Apollo had assumed the form of Oeagrus, and this idea was
repeated by Propertius. Later in the Tenth Book Ovid showed Orpheus
referring to Calliope as his mother and to Apollo as his father.
Early tradition seems to have declared that, when Orpheus died, he
went down into Hades and remained there, wearing a Thracian costume
and singing to the accompaniment of his lyre. In Plato's Apology,
Socrates referred to Orpheus as one of the illustrious dead whom he
longed to meet in a future life. Greek vase painters of the fourth cen-
tury B. C. often pictured Orpheus among other famous characters of
Hades, and Vergil in his Aeneid repeated the same idea, adding that
Orpheus resided with other good souls in the Fortunate Groves.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
Not until a rather late period does the tradition of Orpheus appear
to have mentioned his wife. Hermesianax gave her name as Agriope, but
most authors called her Eurydice. It was reported that, soon after her
marriage to Orpheus, she died and that Orpheus undertook to bring her
back from the World of the Dead. The belief that a living person has
visited the realm of shades, in order to recover one of the departed, has
been common in the lore of primitive peoples. Tales of this kind have
been told by many Indian tribes of North America, by many peoples of
the South Sea islands, and by several peoples of Asia. And the same
idea appeared in the Christian belief that Jesus descended into Hell and
brought forth the good souls of Old Testament times. Usually tradition
has imagined the hero as making his expedition in order to recover a
single person of whom he was especially fond. The Greek Bacchus
wished to regain his mother, and the Assyrian goddess, Ishtar, went in
quest of her lover, Tammuz. Often the purpose was to recover a lost
wife. This was the object of the New Zealand warrior, Hutu, and of the
Greek hero Orpheus.
In a few tales of this kind -- one of them the tradition of Christ
descending into Hell -- the attempt succeeded. And in the Greek tale
of Pollux in quest of his brother, the outcome was partial success, for
Pollux and Castor were allowed to return on alternate days and enjoy
their lives in the world of sunlight. But usually the attempt failed, and
this was true in the case of Orpheus. Plato in the Symposium attributed
failure to lack of courage on the part of the hero. Orpheus, he said, was
unwilling to die for the sake of love, after the manner of Alcestis.
Instead, he tried to regain his wife by trickery. The deities of Hades
were offended and gave him only a wraith, which'he could not hold. But
ordinarily Orpheus was thought to have shown ample courage and to
have failed for a different cause.
In many tales of a hero desiring to recover one of the dead, the
desire was granted on condition that a certain act should be avoided.
The parties concerned were to observe a taboo. They disregarded the
prohibition, and disaster followed. A certain Huron warrior was allowed
to recover his dead sister, on condition that his friends should avoid
looking at her, until the process should be complete. The warrior re-
turned safely from the World of the Dead carrying in two gourds the
dead woman's soul and brain. Exhuming her body, he conveyed it into
the hut occupied by his friends and poured in the contents of the gourds.
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? ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
But, as the woman stirred with returning life, his friends looked towards
her, and the spirit departed.
Often the hero himself was thought to have broken the taboo. The
Japanese deity Izanami would have regained his wife, if he had not
yielded to fatal curiosity. A similar fault was believed to have defeated
Orpheus. In his case the prohibition resembled that which an angel of
the Lord imposed on Lot and his household -- to refrain from looking
back while departing from Sodom and Gomorrah. According to Vergil
in the Culex, both Orpheus and Eurydice were forbidden to look back
while departing from Hades. But ordinarily the prohibition was thought
of as applying only to Orpheus. He was to lead his wife from Hades to
the world of the living and to avoid looking back at her, until they were
safely within the light of day.
Euripides was the first author who is known to have mentioned the
story. In his Alcestis he observed that Orpheus descended into Hades,
without fear of the grim ferr\man Charon or of Cerberus, and by the
charm of his hymns induced Proserpina and Pluto to let him take
Eurydice back. Euripides implied that Orpheus not only played the
lyre but also sang, and that his success was due partly to the persuasive
words of the song. All subsequent authors appear to have agreed with
this idea, but some of them noted only the music of the lyre. Euripides
indicated that Proserpina took the chief part in arranging for the re-
turn of Eurydice, an idea that usually was repeated afterwards. Her-
mesianax in his Leontium told how Orpheus was able to reach the court
of Pluto. By the charm of music he first persuaded Charon to ferry him
over the River Styx and then overcame the opposition of Cerberus. This
part of the tale Ovid afterwards mentioned in his Art of Love.
The Manual was the earliest work to record the story. It noted
briefly the following particulars. Eurydice died from the bite of a
snake. Orpheus descended into Hades and besought Pluto to let her re-
turn with him. The god consented, on condition that Orpheus refrain
from turning to look at her until he should arrive at his own house.
Orpheus disregarded the condition, and Eurydice turned back. The
idea that Eurydice perished by venom of a snake was repeated after-
wards by all who mentioned the circumstances of her death. An artist
illustrating a manuscript of Vergil pictured two snakes attacking her
as she entered a cave. But most authorities agreed with the Manual
that she was the victim of only one.
In Alexandrian times the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice attracted
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
many authors and artists. It was retold by at least one author whom
we cannot identify and whose work has been lost. This author added a
number of details. He noted that Eurydice trod inadvertently on the
snake. Orpheus entered Hades at Taenerus, on the southern extremity
of Greece. Although other entrances to Hades were much nearer to
Thrace, that of Taenerus was the most famous, and afterwards the idea
that Orpheus entered there appears always to have been accepted.
Probably the unknown Alexandrian author noted that Orpheus returned
by way of Taenerus, for this idea was recorded later by Seneca. The
Alexandrian author appears to have mentioned the theme of the per-
suasive song, for Hyginus afterwards declared that Orpheus sang in
praise of the gods. Alexandrian artists recorded a further circumstance.
When Orpheus disregarded the warning, Mercury appeared and escorted
Eurydice back to Hades. More than one painting showed Eurydice
bidding Orpheus farewell and Mercury taking her by the arm in order
to lead her away.
In the Culex, Vergil recorded many particulars of the tale. Orpheus,
he said, relied on the power of his lyre and so ventured to encounter the
perils of Hades -- Cerberus, the fiery river Phlegethon, Minos as judge
of souls, the mournful realms, and Tartarus beset with cruel night.
Charmed by the lyre of Orpheus, Proserpina granted him Eurydice. But
Vergil implied that her grant was defeated by the superior power of
Death. Orpheus, anxious for kisses, disregarded the warning of the
gods. Eurydice still remains in Hades, withdrawn in sorrow from the
company of other heroines. In the Aeneid, Vergil repeated the idea that
Orpheus entered Hades because he was confident in the power of his lyre.
In the Georgics, Vergil retold the story at some length. He intro-
duced a new element into the tale. The home of Orpheus and Eurydice,
he said, was near Mt. Rhodope in southern Thrace. Tradition had re-
corded that the herdsman Aristaeus once inhabited the same part of
Thrace, and Nicander in his Melissourgica seems to have told how in
this region Aristaeus lost all his bees. Vergil attributed the loss to his
having occasioned the death of Eurydice. In giving the circumstances
he imitated a myth of Daedalion and Hesperie, which Ovid afterwards
repeated in his Eleventh Book. Aristaeus, meeting with Eurydice on
the bank of the River Strymon, proceeded to court her. She fled along
the grassy margin of the stream, trod on the snake, and was bitten. In
actual cases of snake bite, the poison is fatal only after a period of at
least a quarter of an hour, and usually much longer. But in the myth
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? ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
of Hesperie, death followed almost immediately. The nymph expired as
Daedalion seized her in his arms. Vergil seemed to imagine death as
equally rapid in the case of Eurydice.
Her companions, the Dryads, lamented her, and all Thrace joined
in the mourning. Orpheus first endeavored to dispel his grief hy playing
the lyre and singing all day on the lonely shore. Then he descended into
Hades and appealed to the king of that forbidding realm.
Without attempting a clear and consistent account of the Lower
World, Vergil noted many localities associated with its mystery and
dread.
As Orpheus uttered his plea, the souls of the departed gathered
in a multitude to listen, Tartarus opened, the Furies with their snakes
and Cerberus with his three heads remained open-mouthed in wonder,
and Ixion's wheel was motionless in the wind. Vergil did not mention the
purport of the song or state the condition imposed on Orpheus. He indi-
cated that Proserpina offered the terms and Pluto consented to them.
Orpheus then led Eurydice away. Vergil spoke of their path as taking
them up a steep ascent to Lake Avernus, a few miles from his own home
at Naples.
At the last moment Orpheus paused and in pardonable madness
looked back. In the Cvlex, Vergil had spoken of him as impatient to
embrace Eurydice, but in the Georgics he left the motive indefinite. Three
times, he said, a crash was heard in the pools of Avernus. Eurydice re-
proached Orpheus for destroying the happiness of both and spoke of
being overcome with sleep. As Orpheus tried to embrace her and longed
to speak, she escaped his grasp and vanished. Vergil appears to have
imagined that her light spirit fell backwards into the air and floated
down to the shores of the River Styx. He mentioned her as drifting
away, pale and cold in Charon's barge. Vergil noted that Orpheus tried
to follow her but that Charon would not convey him a second time over
the River Styx.
Orpheus, returning to Thrace, continued in mourning for Eurydice.
Eventually he became a god and punished Aristaeus with loss of his bees.
Vergil seemed to imply that Orpheus became a deity of the Lower World
and rejoined his lost wife, for he noted that, when Aristaeus had offered
reparation, the spirit of Eurydice was appeased.
Of all versions of the tragic story Vergil's was the most beautiful.
By Ovid's time it had become famous. In retelling the same tale Ovid
could not hope to equal his great predecessor, but he was sure to invite
comparison. His purpose was to make the new version different, to re-
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
tain the chief incidents, but continually to vary details. Although he
followed Vergil in some respects, especially in his vague allusion to local-
ities, he continually showed his ability to move on different ground --
to omit circumstances included by Vergil and to introduce new circum-
stances of his own. A reader might prefer the version of the Georgics,
but he would be glad to supplement it with the account of Ovid.
Since tradition usually had regarded Aristaeus as the father of
Actaeon (Bk. 3), considerations of time made it necessary for Ovid to
omit his part in the tale. Ovid spoke of Eurydice as walking with some
companions along the grassy river bank. Vergil had called these com-
panions tree nymphs (Dryads), but Ovid imagined them more appro-
priately as water nymphs (Naiads). With the Alexandrian author,
Ovid agreed that by mere inadvertence, Eurydice trod on a hidden snake.
This departure from Vergil gave him the further advantage that later
he could tell a different story of Hesperie. According to Ovid, the ser-
pent bit Eurydice in the heel. Ovid indicated only the mourning of
Orpheus.
After mentioning a descent at Taenerus, he spoke of Orpheus as
traversing the region of ghosts who had received burial and as coming
to Proserpina and Pluto. Ovid gave the words of the song. He seems to
have invented the ideas, aided by some details in Vergil's Aeneid. Vergil
had suggested that one reason for the descent of Aeneas into Hades had
been that the gods wanted to have him see the realms of the dead. Vergil
had shown the guide, Sibylla, disclaiming any intention to carry off
Cerberus, after the manner of Hercules (cf. Bk. 7). Ovid showed Orpheus
declaring that he came neither to see the realm of Tartarus nor to cap-
ture Cerberus. He came because his wife had died prematurely from the
bite of a viper. Although he had endeavored to bear the loss, he had
been overcome by Love, a god famous not only in the world of sunlight
but apparently in Hades also, for Love was said to have caused the mar-
riage of Pluto and Proserpina. Here Ovid seemed to recall his own
version of the tale (Bk. 5).
Orpheus urged the infernal deities to unravel the fate of Eurydice,
alluding to a famous belief that patterns of human life are woven by the
Fates (cf. Arachne, Bk. 6). Vergil in his Aeneid had associated Chaos
with the Lower World. Accordingly, Ovid showed Orpheus appealing
to Proserpina and Pluto in the name of these fearful places, of huge
Chaos, and the silence of the vast kingdom. An invocation of this kind
would be impressive for the reader but unlikely to persuade the infernal
deities.
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? ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
Orpheus proceeded to another idea. It is the destiny of every
mortal, he declared, to spend only a short life above and then to descend
into Hades for the rest of eternity. Through all this length of time he
is destined to be a subject of Pluto and Proserpina. In the natural
course of events Eurydice soon would finish her allotted years on earth
and return to this lower realm. Until then, he desired her as a favor.
But he feared lest a matter of this kind should be under the superior
jurisdiction of the Fates. A similar idea, that only the Fates could
make a human being older or younger than his appointed age, Ovid had
used in the tale of Iolaiis (Bk. 9). Should the Fates refuse to give up
Eurydice, Orpheus continued, he himself would remain in Hades.
Vergil had spoken of the song as arousing wonder throughout the
Lower World. Ovid thought of it as arousing pity. The ghosts and even
the Furies wept. Vergil had mentioned the song's affording relief to
Ixion. Following Vergil's suggestion, other Roman poets had elaborated
the idea that on some occasion there was temporary relief for the cele-
brated criminals of Hades. Horace declared in an ode that Mercury
with his lyre tamed Cerberus, made Ixion and Tityus smile in their
anguish, and caused the Danaids joleave their urns unfilled. In another
ode, he observed that after Sapphoand Alcaeus had gone down to the
Lower World, they often warbled laments to the accompaniment of the
lyre. Their song calmed Cerberus and the snakes of the Furies, and they
beguiled Prometheus and Tantalus fromVsuffering and Orion from hunt-
ing. Propertius described Cornelia, the wife of his patron, as praying
that, while she was being judged in Hades, general peace might prevail:
that Furies might stand idle and Sisyphus be freed from his boulder,
the wheel of Ixion might be silent, and water be caught by Tantalus, and
that Cerbeyus might refrain from attacking any shade.
Remembering all these passages but especially those of Horace,
Ovid gave a full enumeration. He suited the detail to his own purpose.
While Orpheus lamented to the accompaniment of the lyre, he said,
Tantalus refrained from catching at the water, the wheel of Ixion
stopped in amazement, the vulture no longer fed on Tityus, the Danaids
rested from their urns, Sisyphus remained seated on his boulder, and the
cheeks of the Furies were wet with tears. In this description Ovid fol-
lowed the usual idea that Tartarus and its famous criminals were always
visible from the rest of Hades. Vergil both in the Georgics and in the
Aeneid had thought of Tartarus as shut off by a high wall and gate.
Ovid noted, as one effect of Orpheus, how the Danaids were relieved
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
from their futile labor of carrying water in urns full of holes. His idea
was in strange contrast with the older conception of this punishment.
According to early Greek vase paintings, the task was assigned to those
-- both men and women -- who had failed to become initiated into the
Orphic rites of Bacchus. It had no relation to the Danaids. This idea
was repeated in a painting of Polygnotus and in a dialogue of Plato.
And Plato in his Gorgias may have alluded to it, when he observed that
wisdom in thoughtless minds is like water in a sieve. It would have been
strange for Orpheus to relieve those who were punished for disregard of
his teaching.
According to the older view, the Danaids were not guilty of any
crime. Aeschylus in his Suppliants appears to have exonerated them
because they killed husbands who were forced on them. Early tradition
spoke of their becoming nymphs associated with wells. But at the end
of the fourth century B. C. a dialogue mistakenly attributed to Plato
described them as guilty of murder and assigned to them the traditional
punishment of carrying urns in Hades. The new idea became very pop-
ular, and Ovid followed it in his tale of Orpheus.
The Queen and King of Hades, he said, could not refuse the singer's
request. Presumably they could not resist the persuasion of his appeal.
They summoned Eurydice from among the newly arrived shades. She
came slowly, because she still was lame from the wound. This pathetic
detail was in accord with a world-wide belief of primitive men that an
injury which occurs to the body of a dead person will continue to afflict
the spirit. Vergil in his Aeneid had given the belief prominence when he
described the shade of Dei'phobus as appearing with an extremely muti-
lated face. But the idea that Eurydice suffered from lameness was not in
harmony with Ovid's later account of her following Orpheus up a diffi-
cult path to the world above. Ovid stated the condition that Orpheus
was not to look back at his wife until they had passed beyond the realm
of Hades.
Then, following the implication of Vergil, he noted clearly the cir-
cumstance of the path's leading them up a steep slope to Avernus. Ovid
left no doubt as to the reason why his hero forgot the warning. Orpheus
wanted to reassure himself that Eurydice was following. This idea seems
to have been original with Ovid. As Eurydice glided away towards the
depths, Ovid continued, Orpheus tried vainly to hold her. Ovid recalled
Vergil's statement that, when Aeneas attempted to hold the departing
shade of Creiisa, he embraced only yielding air. He mentioned a similar
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? ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
experience of Orpheus. Vergil had shown Eurydice complaining to her
husband. But Ovid declared that she could not complain of his loving
her and that she merely uttered the word "farewell", which hardly
reached his ears. Ovid gave the impression that she drifted back all the
way to her former place in Hades.
On losing his wife a second time, Ovid continued, Orpheus resembled
a man who had been turned into stone. Ovid likened him first to a name-
less man, who, seeing Hercules drag forth Cerberus, was petrified with
terror, and then to Olenus and Lethaea, who became two stones on the
Mt. Ida near Troy. Ovid added that Lethaea was transformed for boast-
ing over much of her own beauty and that Olenus, who was innocent of
the offence, volunteered to share the fate of his beloved. Ovid implied
that his Roman audience was familiar with both stories. We know them
only from him. By alluding to these tales, he was able to give his account
the needed metamorphosis, but at the cost of diverting the reader's atten-
tion unduly from Orpheus.
Following Vergil, Ovid noted that Charon refused to convey Or-
pheus a second time over the River Styx. Ovid invented the idea that
Orpheus remained seven days on the bank, squalid and fasting. And, as
in the case of the psalmist and of Clytie (Bk. 4), tears were his only
nourishment. At last Orpheus returned, lamenting, to his native coun-
try-
During the later Roman period Seneca made a rather long allu-
sion to Orpheus in his Hercules on Mt. Oeta, Hyginus retold the tale
briefly in his Astronomy, and Boethius recalled a few circumstances in
order to point the moral that one must not look back at worldly joys,
while ascending to heaven. On the whole, these authors followed either
Greek versions of the tale or the account in Vergil's Georgics. But Sen-
eca noted Ovid's idea that Pluto could not resist the plea of Orpheus and
showed Pluto declaring himself overcome. Claudian recalled Ovid, as
he told how the sufferers in Hades were relieved at the arrival of Proser-
pina.
With the fall of Rome, Ovid's narrative of Orpheus and Eurydice
became the only full account which remained accessible. It was well
known and exceedingly popular with medieval authors. Probably it en-
couraged even the anonymous account of a French poet who followed
Boethius. This author told how a fiend guided Orpheus down to the
Lower World and on the way back caused him to turn by making a sud-
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
den uproar behind him. Undoubtedly Ovid's narrative contributed to
the work of many authors who relied chiefly on earlier medieval versions.
Both the Flamenca and the Romance of the Seven Sages alluded
to the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. Petrarch referred to it in his
double sestina and in his Triumph of Love. In an ode to Laura, he re-
called the accident of treading on the snake. Nicholas Trivet recorded
the tale of Eurydice in his Chronicle, inspiring later the Scottish poeti-
cal version of Henryson. And Guillaume de Machaut retold the myth
in his Comfort d'Ami.
Meanwhile the Bretons had made over the classic story into an
elaborate Celtic fairy tale. The chief circumstances of their version
were as follows. Orpheus and Eurydice were king and queen of Thrace.
One day, after the queen had appeared to be a long time asleep in her
garden, she awoke and acted as if she were in a frenzy. Orpheus eventu-
ally learned from her that a king of fairy land, with a company of
knights and ladies, had carried her off to his castle and had brought her
back, with the assurance that on the morrow he would take her again
and forever. Although King Orpheus appointed many knights to pre-
vent the abduction, the queen vanished from among them. After arrang-
ing the affairs of his kingdom, Orpheus withdrew into the forest, taking
only his haxp. For ten years he lived a wretched life but often en-
thralled the wild birds and beasts with his music. At last he saw Eury-
dice with some other ladies, and, following them, at last gained admit-
tance to the court of fairy land. By his music he so delighted both king
and queen that the king granted him in advance any reward that he
might ask. Orpheus begged for the return of Eurydice, and the king con-
sented. After further adventures Orpheus and Eurydice regained their
throne and lived happily to the end of their days.
In this lay, more than in any other medieval version of a classic
tale, the ancient theme was permeated with the lore of Celtic fairy land.
The lay of Orpheus appeared at least as early as the middle of the twelfth
century and was mentioned by Marie de France. It inspired three very
popular medieval romances -- the first in French, the second in English,
and the third in Italian. And the English poem is the only known ex-
ample of a medieval romance which afterwards inspired a popular
ballad. *
With the coming of the Renaissance, Vergil's treatments of the
*The French and the Italian romances were called Sir Orfeo. The English ro-
mance was called, in one version, Kyng Orfew and, in another version Orpheo and
Heurodis.
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? ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
theme became accessible. His Cvlex probably suggested to Spenser the
idea that Scudamour, rescuing Amoret from the Temple of Venus was
threatened by enemies, as Orpheus recovering Eurydice was threatened
by Cerberus. The Georgics influenced many authors, notably Ariosto in
his drama Orpheus and Aristaeus, and Landor in a narrative poem.
But Ovid's version continued to be the most accessible and the best
known, and almost always it contributed at least a few details to the
modern author.
Three leading poets retold the familiar tale: Lope de Vega in his
play, The Constant Husband, Phineas Fletcher in The Purple Island,
and Pope in the Ode on St. Cecilia's Day.
Pygmalion . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Myrrha . . . . . . . . . . . 346
Venus and Adonis . . . . . . . . . . 358
Hippomenes and Atalanta . . . . . . . . 366
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? ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
Orpheus and Eurydice
After the marriage of Iphis and Ianthe, said Ovid, the god Hymen
traveled through the air to Thrace and attended the wedding of
Orpheus. Tradition had not spoken of the two weddings as occurring so
nearly at the same time. Ovid invented the idea, to provide a convenient
means for introducing the stories of his Tenth Book. In accord with the
usual Greek and Roman belief, he spoke of Hymen as bearing a lighted
torch and as wearing a saffron colored robe. But, although Hymen was
present, he maintained an ominous silence, and his torch burned with
great difficulty. Ovid proceeded to give the tragic sequel.
Orpheus appears to have been originally a hero of Thracian myth.
In many respects he was associated with the Thracian god Bacchus.
Diodorus described him as a prince who lived two generations after the
time of the god's earthly career, and who brought order into his re-
ligion. In Greek literature the earliest known allusion to Orpheus oc-
curred towards the end of the sixth century B. C. At that time Ibycus
referred to him as a renowned musician and poet of early days. Not
long afterwards Pindar added that Orpheus accompanied Jason in the
voyage of the Argo, an idea which became regularly a part of the tradi-
tion. Ovid was unable to mention this idea because he wanted to intro-
duce Orpheus at a later period of time.
The mother of Orpheus usually was thought to have been the Epic
Muse Calliope. His father sometimes was thought to have been Apollo,
an idea recorded by Pindar. Much oftener the father was said to have
been a Thracian named Oeagrus. Pindar in a different passage seemed
to imply that Apollo had assumed the form of Oeagrus, and this idea was
repeated by Propertius. Later in the Tenth Book Ovid showed Orpheus
referring to Calliope as his mother and to Apollo as his father.
Early tradition seems to have declared that, when Orpheus died, he
went down into Hades and remained there, wearing a Thracian costume
and singing to the accompaniment of his lyre. In Plato's Apology,
Socrates referred to Orpheus as one of the illustrious dead whom he
longed to meet in a future life. Greek vase painters of the fourth cen-
tury B. C. often pictured Orpheus among other famous characters of
Hades, and Vergil in his Aeneid repeated the same idea, adding that
Orpheus resided with other good souls in the Fortunate Groves.
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
Not until a rather late period does the tradition of Orpheus appear
to have mentioned his wife. Hermesianax gave her name as Agriope, but
most authors called her Eurydice. It was reported that, soon after her
marriage to Orpheus, she died and that Orpheus undertook to bring her
back from the World of the Dead. The belief that a living person has
visited the realm of shades, in order to recover one of the departed, has
been common in the lore of primitive peoples. Tales of this kind have
been told by many Indian tribes of North America, by many peoples of
the South Sea islands, and by several peoples of Asia. And the same
idea appeared in the Christian belief that Jesus descended into Hell and
brought forth the good souls of Old Testament times. Usually tradition
has imagined the hero as making his expedition in order to recover a
single person of whom he was especially fond. The Greek Bacchus
wished to regain his mother, and the Assyrian goddess, Ishtar, went in
quest of her lover, Tammuz. Often the purpose was to recover a lost
wife. This was the object of the New Zealand warrior, Hutu, and of the
Greek hero Orpheus.
In a few tales of this kind -- one of them the tradition of Christ
descending into Hell -- the attempt succeeded. And in the Greek tale
of Pollux in quest of his brother, the outcome was partial success, for
Pollux and Castor were allowed to return on alternate days and enjoy
their lives in the world of sunlight. But usually the attempt failed, and
this was true in the case of Orpheus. Plato in the Symposium attributed
failure to lack of courage on the part of the hero. Orpheus, he said, was
unwilling to die for the sake of love, after the manner of Alcestis.
Instead, he tried to regain his wife by trickery. The deities of Hades
were offended and gave him only a wraith, which'he could not hold. But
ordinarily Orpheus was thought to have shown ample courage and to
have failed for a different cause.
In many tales of a hero desiring to recover one of the dead, the
desire was granted on condition that a certain act should be avoided.
The parties concerned were to observe a taboo. They disregarded the
prohibition, and disaster followed. A certain Huron warrior was allowed
to recover his dead sister, on condition that his friends should avoid
looking at her, until the process should be complete. The warrior re-
turned safely from the World of the Dead carrying in two gourds the
dead woman's soul and brain. Exhuming her body, he conveyed it into
the hut occupied by his friends and poured in the contents of the gourds.
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? ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
But, as the woman stirred with returning life, his friends looked towards
her, and the spirit departed.
Often the hero himself was thought to have broken the taboo. The
Japanese deity Izanami would have regained his wife, if he had not
yielded to fatal curiosity. A similar fault was believed to have defeated
Orpheus. In his case the prohibition resembled that which an angel of
the Lord imposed on Lot and his household -- to refrain from looking
back while departing from Sodom and Gomorrah. According to Vergil
in the Culex, both Orpheus and Eurydice were forbidden to look back
while departing from Hades. But ordinarily the prohibition was thought
of as applying only to Orpheus. He was to lead his wife from Hades to
the world of the living and to avoid looking back at her, until they were
safely within the light of day.
Euripides was the first author who is known to have mentioned the
story. In his Alcestis he observed that Orpheus descended into Hades,
without fear of the grim ferr\man Charon or of Cerberus, and by the
charm of his hymns induced Proserpina and Pluto to let him take
Eurydice back. Euripides implied that Orpheus not only played the
lyre but also sang, and that his success was due partly to the persuasive
words of the song. All subsequent authors appear to have agreed with
this idea, but some of them noted only the music of the lyre. Euripides
indicated that Proserpina took the chief part in arranging for the re-
turn of Eurydice, an idea that usually was repeated afterwards. Her-
mesianax in his Leontium told how Orpheus was able to reach the court
of Pluto. By the charm of music he first persuaded Charon to ferry him
over the River Styx and then overcame the opposition of Cerberus. This
part of the tale Ovid afterwards mentioned in his Art of Love.
The Manual was the earliest work to record the story. It noted
briefly the following particulars. Eurydice died from the bite of a
snake. Orpheus descended into Hades and besought Pluto to let her re-
turn with him. The god consented, on condition that Orpheus refrain
from turning to look at her until he should arrive at his own house.
Orpheus disregarded the condition, and Eurydice turned back. The
idea that Eurydice perished by venom of a snake was repeated after-
wards by all who mentioned the circumstances of her death. An artist
illustrating a manuscript of Vergil pictured two snakes attacking her
as she entered a cave. But most authorities agreed with the Manual
that she was the victim of only one.
In Alexandrian times the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice attracted
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
many authors and artists. It was retold by at least one author whom
we cannot identify and whose work has been lost. This author added a
number of details. He noted that Eurydice trod inadvertently on the
snake. Orpheus entered Hades at Taenerus, on the southern extremity
of Greece. Although other entrances to Hades were much nearer to
Thrace, that of Taenerus was the most famous, and afterwards the idea
that Orpheus entered there appears always to have been accepted.
Probably the unknown Alexandrian author noted that Orpheus returned
by way of Taenerus, for this idea was recorded later by Seneca. The
Alexandrian author appears to have mentioned the theme of the per-
suasive song, for Hyginus afterwards declared that Orpheus sang in
praise of the gods. Alexandrian artists recorded a further circumstance.
When Orpheus disregarded the warning, Mercury appeared and escorted
Eurydice back to Hades. More than one painting showed Eurydice
bidding Orpheus farewell and Mercury taking her by the arm in order
to lead her away.
In the Culex, Vergil recorded many particulars of the tale. Orpheus,
he said, relied on the power of his lyre and so ventured to encounter the
perils of Hades -- Cerberus, the fiery river Phlegethon, Minos as judge
of souls, the mournful realms, and Tartarus beset with cruel night.
Charmed by the lyre of Orpheus, Proserpina granted him Eurydice. But
Vergil implied that her grant was defeated by the superior power of
Death. Orpheus, anxious for kisses, disregarded the warning of the
gods. Eurydice still remains in Hades, withdrawn in sorrow from the
company of other heroines. In the Aeneid, Vergil repeated the idea that
Orpheus entered Hades because he was confident in the power of his lyre.
In the Georgics, Vergil retold the story at some length. He intro-
duced a new element into the tale. The home of Orpheus and Eurydice,
he said, was near Mt. Rhodope in southern Thrace. Tradition had re-
corded that the herdsman Aristaeus once inhabited the same part of
Thrace, and Nicander in his Melissourgica seems to have told how in
this region Aristaeus lost all his bees. Vergil attributed the loss to his
having occasioned the death of Eurydice. In giving the circumstances
he imitated a myth of Daedalion and Hesperie, which Ovid afterwards
repeated in his Eleventh Book. Aristaeus, meeting with Eurydice on
the bank of the River Strymon, proceeded to court her. She fled along
the grassy margin of the stream, trod on the snake, and was bitten. In
actual cases of snake bite, the poison is fatal only after a period of at
least a quarter of an hour, and usually much longer. But in the myth
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? ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
of Hesperie, death followed almost immediately. The nymph expired as
Daedalion seized her in his arms. Vergil seemed to imagine death as
equally rapid in the case of Eurydice.
Her companions, the Dryads, lamented her, and all Thrace joined
in the mourning. Orpheus first endeavored to dispel his grief hy playing
the lyre and singing all day on the lonely shore. Then he descended into
Hades and appealed to the king of that forbidding realm.
Without attempting a clear and consistent account of the Lower
World, Vergil noted many localities associated with its mystery and
dread.
As Orpheus uttered his plea, the souls of the departed gathered
in a multitude to listen, Tartarus opened, the Furies with their snakes
and Cerberus with his three heads remained open-mouthed in wonder,
and Ixion's wheel was motionless in the wind. Vergil did not mention the
purport of the song or state the condition imposed on Orpheus. He indi-
cated that Proserpina offered the terms and Pluto consented to them.
Orpheus then led Eurydice away. Vergil spoke of their path as taking
them up a steep ascent to Lake Avernus, a few miles from his own home
at Naples.
At the last moment Orpheus paused and in pardonable madness
looked back. In the Cvlex, Vergil had spoken of him as impatient to
embrace Eurydice, but in the Georgics he left the motive indefinite. Three
times, he said, a crash was heard in the pools of Avernus. Eurydice re-
proached Orpheus for destroying the happiness of both and spoke of
being overcome with sleep. As Orpheus tried to embrace her and longed
to speak, she escaped his grasp and vanished. Vergil appears to have
imagined that her light spirit fell backwards into the air and floated
down to the shores of the River Styx. He mentioned her as drifting
away, pale and cold in Charon's barge. Vergil noted that Orpheus tried
to follow her but that Charon would not convey him a second time over
the River Styx.
Orpheus, returning to Thrace, continued in mourning for Eurydice.
Eventually he became a god and punished Aristaeus with loss of his bees.
Vergil seemed to imply that Orpheus became a deity of the Lower World
and rejoined his lost wife, for he noted that, when Aristaeus had offered
reparation, the spirit of Eurydice was appeased.
Of all versions of the tragic story Vergil's was the most beautiful.
By Ovid's time it had become famous. In retelling the same tale Ovid
could not hope to equal his great predecessor, but he was sure to invite
comparison. His purpose was to make the new version different, to re-
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
tain the chief incidents, but continually to vary details. Although he
followed Vergil in some respects, especially in his vague allusion to local-
ities, he continually showed his ability to move on different ground --
to omit circumstances included by Vergil and to introduce new circum-
stances of his own. A reader might prefer the version of the Georgics,
but he would be glad to supplement it with the account of Ovid.
Since tradition usually had regarded Aristaeus as the father of
Actaeon (Bk. 3), considerations of time made it necessary for Ovid to
omit his part in the tale. Ovid spoke of Eurydice as walking with some
companions along the grassy river bank. Vergil had called these com-
panions tree nymphs (Dryads), but Ovid imagined them more appro-
priately as water nymphs (Naiads). With the Alexandrian author,
Ovid agreed that by mere inadvertence, Eurydice trod on a hidden snake.
This departure from Vergil gave him the further advantage that later
he could tell a different story of Hesperie. According to Ovid, the ser-
pent bit Eurydice in the heel. Ovid indicated only the mourning of
Orpheus.
After mentioning a descent at Taenerus, he spoke of Orpheus as
traversing the region of ghosts who had received burial and as coming
to Proserpina and Pluto. Ovid gave the words of the song. He seems to
have invented the ideas, aided by some details in Vergil's Aeneid. Vergil
had suggested that one reason for the descent of Aeneas into Hades had
been that the gods wanted to have him see the realms of the dead. Vergil
had shown the guide, Sibylla, disclaiming any intention to carry off
Cerberus, after the manner of Hercules (cf. Bk. 7). Ovid showed Orpheus
declaring that he came neither to see the realm of Tartarus nor to cap-
ture Cerberus. He came because his wife had died prematurely from the
bite of a viper. Although he had endeavored to bear the loss, he had
been overcome by Love, a god famous not only in the world of sunlight
but apparently in Hades also, for Love was said to have caused the mar-
riage of Pluto and Proserpina. Here Ovid seemed to recall his own
version of the tale (Bk. 5).
Orpheus urged the infernal deities to unravel the fate of Eurydice,
alluding to a famous belief that patterns of human life are woven by the
Fates (cf. Arachne, Bk. 6). Vergil in his Aeneid had associated Chaos
with the Lower World. Accordingly, Ovid showed Orpheus appealing
to Proserpina and Pluto in the name of these fearful places, of huge
Chaos, and the silence of the vast kingdom. An invocation of this kind
would be impressive for the reader but unlikely to persuade the infernal
deities.
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? ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
Orpheus proceeded to another idea. It is the destiny of every
mortal, he declared, to spend only a short life above and then to descend
into Hades for the rest of eternity. Through all this length of time he
is destined to be a subject of Pluto and Proserpina. In the natural
course of events Eurydice soon would finish her allotted years on earth
and return to this lower realm. Until then, he desired her as a favor.
But he feared lest a matter of this kind should be under the superior
jurisdiction of the Fates. A similar idea, that only the Fates could
make a human being older or younger than his appointed age, Ovid had
used in the tale of Iolaiis (Bk. 9). Should the Fates refuse to give up
Eurydice, Orpheus continued, he himself would remain in Hades.
Vergil had spoken of the song as arousing wonder throughout the
Lower World. Ovid thought of it as arousing pity. The ghosts and even
the Furies wept. Vergil had mentioned the song's affording relief to
Ixion. Following Vergil's suggestion, other Roman poets had elaborated
the idea that on some occasion there was temporary relief for the cele-
brated criminals of Hades. Horace declared in an ode that Mercury
with his lyre tamed Cerberus, made Ixion and Tityus smile in their
anguish, and caused the Danaids joleave their urns unfilled. In another
ode, he observed that after Sapphoand Alcaeus had gone down to the
Lower World, they often warbled laments to the accompaniment of the
lyre. Their song calmed Cerberus and the snakes of the Furies, and they
beguiled Prometheus and Tantalus fromVsuffering and Orion from hunt-
ing. Propertius described Cornelia, the wife of his patron, as praying
that, while she was being judged in Hades, general peace might prevail:
that Furies might stand idle and Sisyphus be freed from his boulder,
the wheel of Ixion might be silent, and water be caught by Tantalus, and
that Cerbeyus might refrain from attacking any shade.
Remembering all these passages but especially those of Horace,
Ovid gave a full enumeration. He suited the detail to his own purpose.
While Orpheus lamented to the accompaniment of the lyre, he said,
Tantalus refrained from catching at the water, the wheel of Ixion
stopped in amazement, the vulture no longer fed on Tityus, the Danaids
rested from their urns, Sisyphus remained seated on his boulder, and the
cheeks of the Furies were wet with tears. In this description Ovid fol-
lowed the usual idea that Tartarus and its famous criminals were always
visible from the rest of Hades. Vergil both in the Georgics and in the
Aeneid had thought of Tartarus as shut off by a high wall and gate.
Ovid noted, as one effect of Orpheus, how the Danaids were relieved
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
from their futile labor of carrying water in urns full of holes. His idea
was in strange contrast with the older conception of this punishment.
According to early Greek vase paintings, the task was assigned to those
-- both men and women -- who had failed to become initiated into the
Orphic rites of Bacchus. It had no relation to the Danaids. This idea
was repeated in a painting of Polygnotus and in a dialogue of Plato.
And Plato in his Gorgias may have alluded to it, when he observed that
wisdom in thoughtless minds is like water in a sieve. It would have been
strange for Orpheus to relieve those who were punished for disregard of
his teaching.
According to the older view, the Danaids were not guilty of any
crime. Aeschylus in his Suppliants appears to have exonerated them
because they killed husbands who were forced on them. Early tradition
spoke of their becoming nymphs associated with wells. But at the end
of the fourth century B. C. a dialogue mistakenly attributed to Plato
described them as guilty of murder and assigned to them the traditional
punishment of carrying urns in Hades. The new idea became very pop-
ular, and Ovid followed it in his tale of Orpheus.
The Queen and King of Hades, he said, could not refuse the singer's
request. Presumably they could not resist the persuasion of his appeal.
They summoned Eurydice from among the newly arrived shades. She
came slowly, because she still was lame from the wound. This pathetic
detail was in accord with a world-wide belief of primitive men that an
injury which occurs to the body of a dead person will continue to afflict
the spirit. Vergil in his Aeneid had given the belief prominence when he
described the shade of Dei'phobus as appearing with an extremely muti-
lated face. But the idea that Eurydice suffered from lameness was not in
harmony with Ovid's later account of her following Orpheus up a diffi-
cult path to the world above. Ovid stated the condition that Orpheus
was not to look back at his wife until they had passed beyond the realm
of Hades.
Then, following the implication of Vergil, he noted clearly the cir-
cumstance of the path's leading them up a steep slope to Avernus. Ovid
left no doubt as to the reason why his hero forgot the warning. Orpheus
wanted to reassure himself that Eurydice was following. This idea seems
to have been original with Ovid. As Eurydice glided away towards the
depths, Ovid continued, Orpheus tried vainly to hold her. Ovid recalled
Vergil's statement that, when Aeneas attempted to hold the departing
shade of Creiisa, he embraced only yielding air. He mentioned a similar
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? ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
experience of Orpheus. Vergil had shown Eurydice complaining to her
husband. But Ovid declared that she could not complain of his loving
her and that she merely uttered the word "farewell", which hardly
reached his ears. Ovid gave the impression that she drifted back all the
way to her former place in Hades.
On losing his wife a second time, Ovid continued, Orpheus resembled
a man who had been turned into stone. Ovid likened him first to a name-
less man, who, seeing Hercules drag forth Cerberus, was petrified with
terror, and then to Olenus and Lethaea, who became two stones on the
Mt. Ida near Troy. Ovid added that Lethaea was transformed for boast-
ing over much of her own beauty and that Olenus, who was innocent of
the offence, volunteered to share the fate of his beloved. Ovid implied
that his Roman audience was familiar with both stories. We know them
only from him. By alluding to these tales, he was able to give his account
the needed metamorphosis, but at the cost of diverting the reader's atten-
tion unduly from Orpheus.
Following Vergil, Ovid noted that Charon refused to convey Or-
pheus a second time over the River Styx. Ovid invented the idea that
Orpheus remained seven days on the bank, squalid and fasting. And, as
in the case of the psalmist and of Clytie (Bk. 4), tears were his only
nourishment. At last Orpheus returned, lamenting, to his native coun-
try-
During the later Roman period Seneca made a rather long allu-
sion to Orpheus in his Hercules on Mt. Oeta, Hyginus retold the tale
briefly in his Astronomy, and Boethius recalled a few circumstances in
order to point the moral that one must not look back at worldly joys,
while ascending to heaven. On the whole, these authors followed either
Greek versions of the tale or the account in Vergil's Georgics. But Sen-
eca noted Ovid's idea that Pluto could not resist the plea of Orpheus and
showed Pluto declaring himself overcome. Claudian recalled Ovid, as
he told how the sufferers in Hades were relieved at the arrival of Proser-
pina.
With the fall of Rome, Ovid's narrative of Orpheus and Eurydice
became the only full account which remained accessible. It was well
known and exceedingly popular with medieval authors. Probably it en-
couraged even the anonymous account of a French poet who followed
Boethius. This author told how a fiend guided Orpheus down to the
Lower World and on the way back caused him to turn by making a sud-
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? METAMORPHOSES -- BOOK TEN
den uproar behind him. Undoubtedly Ovid's narrative contributed to
the work of many authors who relied chiefly on earlier medieval versions.
Both the Flamenca and the Romance of the Seven Sages alluded
to the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. Petrarch referred to it in his
double sestina and in his Triumph of Love. In an ode to Laura, he re-
called the accident of treading on the snake. Nicholas Trivet recorded
the tale of Eurydice in his Chronicle, inspiring later the Scottish poeti-
cal version of Henryson. And Guillaume de Machaut retold the myth
in his Comfort d'Ami.
Meanwhile the Bretons had made over the classic story into an
elaborate Celtic fairy tale. The chief circumstances of their version
were as follows. Orpheus and Eurydice were king and queen of Thrace.
One day, after the queen had appeared to be a long time asleep in her
garden, she awoke and acted as if she were in a frenzy. Orpheus eventu-
ally learned from her that a king of fairy land, with a company of
knights and ladies, had carried her off to his castle and had brought her
back, with the assurance that on the morrow he would take her again
and forever. Although King Orpheus appointed many knights to pre-
vent the abduction, the queen vanished from among them. After arrang-
ing the affairs of his kingdom, Orpheus withdrew into the forest, taking
only his haxp. For ten years he lived a wretched life but often en-
thralled the wild birds and beasts with his music. At last he saw Eury-
dice with some other ladies, and, following them, at last gained admit-
tance to the court of fairy land. By his music he so delighted both king
and queen that the king granted him in advance any reward that he
might ask. Orpheus begged for the return of Eurydice, and the king con-
sented. After further adventures Orpheus and Eurydice regained their
throne and lived happily to the end of their days.
In this lay, more than in any other medieval version of a classic
tale, the ancient theme was permeated with the lore of Celtic fairy land.
The lay of Orpheus appeared at least as early as the middle of the twelfth
century and was mentioned by Marie de France. It inspired three very
popular medieval romances -- the first in French, the second in English,
and the third in Italian. And the English poem is the only known ex-
ample of a medieval romance which afterwards inspired a popular
ballad. *
With the coming of the Renaissance, Vergil's treatments of the
*The French and the Italian romances were called Sir Orfeo. The English ro-
mance was called, in one version, Kyng Orfew and, in another version Orpheo and
Heurodis.
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? ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
theme became accessible. His Cvlex probably suggested to Spenser the
idea that Scudamour, rescuing Amoret from the Temple of Venus was
threatened by enemies, as Orpheus recovering Eurydice was threatened
by Cerberus. The Georgics influenced many authors, notably Ariosto in
his drama Orpheus and Aristaeus, and Landor in a narrative poem.
But Ovid's version continued to be the most accessible and the best
known, and almost always it contributed at least a few details to the
modern author.
Three leading poets retold the familiar tale: Lope de Vega in his
play, The Constant Husband, Phineas Fletcher in The Purple Island,
and Pope in the Ode on St. Cecilia's Day.
