Orpheus, by his skill in music, obtains from Pluto the restoration of his wife Eurydice on condition of not looking behind him till his arrival in the upper regions: his promises are for gotten; and he turns to gaze on his long-lost wife, who instantly vanishes from his eyes—Her husband, in despair, totally separates himself from the society of mankind.
Thence, in his saffron robe, for distant Thrace, Hymen departs, through air’s unmeasured space, By Orpheus call’d, the nuptial power attends, But with ill-omen’d augury descends; Nor cheerful look’d the god, nor prosperous spoke, Nor blazed his torch, but wept in hissing smoke. In vain they whirl it round, in vain they shake, No rapid motion can its flames awake.
With dread these inauspicious signs were view’d, And soon a more disastrous end ensued; For as the bride, amid the Naiad train, Ran joyful, sporting o’er the flow’ry plain, A venom’d viper bit her as she pass’d; Instant she fell, and sudden breathed her last.