Understanding Virgil: A Dummie's Guide to the Myth
So based on this version of the myth by Virgil, the simple story is that shortly after her marriage to Orpheus, Eurydice was seen by the shepherd, Aristaeus, while she was wandering by the river bank with her fellow nymphs. Aristaeus, having seen her beauty, tried to pursue Eurydice, who fled from him quickly. However, as she did so, she didn't notice a water snake hidden in the long grass, who bit her foot. As Eurydice died, the nymphs began crying hysterically, and Virgil also describes how the entire land and its people were in dismay over her death.
Orpheus, in his grief, took comfort in playing his lyre alone on the shore as he sang to his dead wife. Orpheus then decides to travel the path of Taenarus to the gate of the Underworld, the dark grove of fear and dead souls. He pleads to Hades, god of the Underworld, to beg Hades for his wife's life back. Orpheus plays a song for Hades and Persephone, which affects the entire Underworld and 'stops time' itself: "Death's very home and holy of holies was shaken / To hear that song:" Ixion's wheel stopped turning, the three-headed guard dog, Cerberus', mouths gaped open and the lost souls gathered to hear his song. Some accounts of the myth say that even Hades shed a tear for Orpheus' beautiful verse.
Eurydice was freed by Hades to return with Orpheus, under one condition made by Persephone (given her Roman name 'Proserpine' in Virgil): that Orpheus do not turn around and look at his wife until they reach the upper air. So they travelled the paths of the Underworld in this way, she following behind him. But when they were just about to reach the upper air, Orpheus, forgetting Persephone's condition in a moment of passion, turned to cast a quick glance at his lover to make sure she was still behind him. Once again, Eurydice was dragged back into the Underworld, dying a second time in a wisp of smoke and leaving Orpheus grasping at empty air.
Orpheus, in his grief, took comfort in playing his lyre alone on the shore as he sang to his dead wife. Orpheus then decides to travel the path of Taenarus to the gate of the Underworld, the dark grove of fear and dead souls. He pleads to Hades, god of the Underworld, to beg Hades for his wife's life back. Orpheus plays a song for Hades and Persephone, which affects the entire Underworld and 'stops time' itself: "Death's very home and holy of holies was shaken / To hear that song:" Ixion's wheel stopped turning, the three-headed guard dog, Cerberus', mouths gaped open and the lost souls gathered to hear his song. Some accounts of the myth say that even Hades shed a tear for Orpheus' beautiful verse.
Eurydice was freed by Hades to return with Orpheus, under one condition made by Persephone (given her Roman name 'Proserpine' in Virgil): that Orpheus do not turn around and look at his wife until they reach the upper air. So they travelled the paths of the Underworld in this way, she following behind him. But when they were just about to reach the upper air, Orpheus, forgetting Persephone's condition in a moment of passion, turned to cast a quick glance at his lover to make sure she was still behind him. Once again, Eurydice was dragged back into the Underworld, dying a second time in a wisp of smoke and leaving Orpheus grasping at empty air.