le as lambs. The madly
rushing torrents stopped their rapid course, and the very mountains and
trees moved from their places at the sound of his entrancing melodies.

Orpheus became united to a lovely nymph named Eurydice, the daughter of the
sea-god Nereus, whom he fondly loved. She was no less attached to him, and
their married life was full of joy and happiness. But it was only
short-lived; for Aristaeus,[31] the half-brother of Orpheus, having fallen
in love with the beautiful Eurydice, forcibly endeavoured to take her from
her husband, and as she fled across some fields to elude his pursuit, she
was bitten in the foot by a venomous snake, which lay concealed in the long
grass. Eurydice died of the wound, and her sorrowing husband filled the
groves and valleys with his piteous and unceasing lamentations.

His longing to behold her once more became at last so unconquerable, that
he determined to brave the horrors of the lower world, in order to entreat
Aides to restore to him his beloved wife. Armed only with his golden lyre,
the gift of Apollo, he descended into the gloomy depths of Hades, where his
heavenly music arrested for a while the torments of the unhappy sufferers.
The stone of Sisyphus remained motionless; Tantalus forgot his perpetual
thirst; the wheel of Ixion ceased to revolve; and even the Furies shed
tears, and withheld for a time their persecutions. Undismayed at the scenes
of horror and suffering which met his view on every side, he pursued his
way until he arrived at the palace of Aides. Presenting himself before the
throne on which sat the stony-hearted king and his consort Persephone,
Orpheus recounted his woes to the sound of his lyre. Moved to pity by his
sweet strains, they listened to his {82} melancholy story, and consented to
release Eurydice on condition that he should not look upon her until they
reached the upper world. Orpheus gladly promised to comply with this
injunction, and, followed by Eurydice, ascended the steep and gloomy path
which led to the realms of life and light. All went well until he was just
about to pass the extreme limits of Hades, when, forgetting for the moment
the hard condition, he turned to convince himself that his beloved wife was
really behind him. The glance was fatal, and destroyed all his hopes of
happiness; for, as he yearningly stretched out his arms to embrace her, she
was caught back, and vanished from his sight for ever. The grief of Orpheus
at this seco