Context
The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice starts at the beginning of Book X of the Metamorphoses. The story before, which ends Book IX, is of Iphis and Ianthe. At the end of the story, Iphis is transformed into a man and the two get married, with Hymen, the god of marriage, watching over. Book X and the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, begins with Hymen being called by Orpheus to witness his wedding, where he is to marry Eurydice. However, he only sees the aftermath, in which Eurydice is bitten by a snake and dies. Orpheus, distraught, travels across the Styx and into the Underworld to confront the ruler of the dead, Hades, and his wife Persephone.
Orpheus sings a song so beautiful and sorrowful that it brings everyone in the Underworld, including the Furies, those in Tartarus, and Persephone and Hades themselves, to tears. Hades agrees to give Eurydice a second chance on one condition: Orpheus could not look back at her while leading her back into the world of the living. Orpheus agrees, but just before they reach the entrance to the mortal world he glances backward to make sure that she is there. Eurydice is swept away, and the story ends with Orpheus spending the next few years mourning her death and never loving a woman again. However, he does have love for young boys. This transitions into the next story, which is about Cyparissus, a boy loved by Apollo. He accidentally killed his pet stag and was transformed into a Cypress tree. Orpheus goes to the clearing where this had happened, and sings of boys loved by gods and girls punished by love. He spends the rest of Book X singing of these stories, and at the beginning of Book XI, he is killed by the women who wanted him but whom he did not love. All of nature grieves for him, and Orpheus enters the Underworld to find Eurydice.
One of the first tellings of this story was by Vergil. In his works, Eurydice was bitten by a viper because she fell while being chased by a Satyr. Ovid’s version, however, says that she was dancing with naiads. In Plato’s version of the story, Orpheus is seen in a more negative light. Plato represented him as a coward because instead of dying to be with Eurydice, he tried to bring her back to life.
Orpheus sings a song so beautiful and sorrowful that it brings everyone in the Underworld, including the Furies, those in Tartarus, and Persephone and Hades themselves, to tears. Hades agrees to give Eurydice a second chance on one condition: Orpheus could not look back at her while leading her back into the world of the living. Orpheus agrees, but just before they reach the entrance to the mortal world he glances backward to make sure that she is there. Eurydice is swept away, and the story ends with Orpheus spending the next few years mourning her death and never loving a woman again. However, he does have love for young boys. This transitions into the next story, which is about Cyparissus, a boy loved by Apollo. He accidentally killed his pet stag and was transformed into a Cypress tree. Orpheus goes to the clearing where this had happened, and sings of boys loved by gods and girls punished by love. He spends the rest of Book X singing of these stories, and at the beginning of Book XI, he is killed by the women who wanted him but whom he did not love. All of nature grieves for him, and Orpheus enters the Underworld to find Eurydice.
One of the first tellings of this story was by Vergil. In his works, Eurydice was bitten by a viper because she fell while being chased by a Satyr. Ovid’s version, however, says that she was dancing with naiads. In Plato’s version of the story, Orpheus is seen in a more negative light. Plato represented him as a coward because instead of dying to be with Eurydice, he tried to bring her back to life.