ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE: A DESCENT INTO HADES
Metamorphoses 10.1–77, 11.61–66
Inauspicious omens precede the death of Eurydice.
Inde per immensum, croceo velatus amictu, aethera digreditur Ciconumque Hymenaeus ad oras tendit, et Orphea nequiquam voce vocatur. Adfuit ille quidem, sed nec sollemnia verba 5 nec laetos vultus nec felix attulit omen; fax quoque quam tenuit lacrimoso stridula fumo usque fuit nullosque invenit motibus ignes. Exitus auspicio gravior. Nam nupta per herbas dum nova, Naiadum turba comitata, vagatur, 10 occidit in talum serpentis dente recepto.
Orpheus’ visits the underworld and pleas on behalf of Eurydice.
Orpheus, Eurydice, and Hermes Marble relief Roman copy of Greek original 5th century B.C. Museo Archeologico Nazionale Naples, Italy
Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.
“Proserpine” (Persephone) Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1874 Tate Gallery London, Great Britain
Tate Gallery, London/Art Resource, NY.
Quam satis ad superas postquam Rhodopeius auras deflevit vates, ne non temptaret et umbras, ad Styga Taenaria est ausus descendere porta, perque leves populos simulacraque functa sepulcro 15 Persephonen adiit inamoenaque regna tenentem umbrarum dominum, pulsisque ad carmina nervis sic ait: “O positi sub terra numina mundi, in quem reccidimus, quidquid mortale creamur, si licet et, falsi positis ambagibus oris, 20 vera loqui sinitis, non huc, ut opaca viderem Tartara, descendi, nec uti villosa colubris terna Medusaei vincirem guttura monstri. Causa viae est coniunx in quam calcata venenum vipera diffudit crescentesque abstulit annos. 25 Posse pati volui, nec me temptasse negabo; vicit Amor. Supera deus hic bene notus in ora est; an sit et hic, dubito. Sed et hic tamen auguror esse, famaque si veteris non est mentita rapinae, vos quoque iunxit Amor. Per ego haec loca plena timoris, 30 per Chaos hoc ingens vastique silentia regni, Eurydices, oro, properata retexite fata. Omnia debentur vobis paulumque morati serius aut citius sedem properamus ad unam. Tendimus huc omnes, haec est domus ultima, vosque 35 humani generis longissima regna tenetis. Haec quoque, cum iustos matura peregerit annos, iuris erit vestri; pro munere poscimus usum. Quod si fata negant veniam pro coniuge, certum est nolle redire mihi; leto gaudete duorum.”
13. Styga: Greek acc. of Styx, the Styx, a river in the Underworld.
Taenaria…porta:by the gate of Taenarus, a supposed entrance to Hades in the southern tip of Greece; ABL. OF ROUTE.
14. functa: fungi, + abl., to perform, experience; with simulacra (simulacrum, phantom, ghost)…sepulcro, ghosts which had experienced burial (without which they would have to wander in Limbo across the Styx outside of Hades).
15. Persephonen: Greek acc.; Persephone, daughter of the grain-goddess Ceres and wife of Pluto, lord of the dead, was queen of the Underworld.
inamoena:unpleasant.
16. umbrarum dominum: i.e., Pluto; the circumlocution is made all the more effective through ENJAMBEMENT and the booming ASSONANCE, which Ovid accentuates by positioning each of the -um syllables under the ictus.
ad carmina: i.e., to accompany his songs; Orpheus does not merely address Pluto and Persephone, but tries to charm them with his singing.
nervis: nervus, lit., sinew = string of a lyre.
17. numina: numen, divine will, divinity, god.
18. reccidimus: reccidere, to fall back, sink, descend.
quidquid: essentially = qui, looking back to the subj. of reccidimus, hence creamur not creatur.
19. positis: = depositis.
ambagibus: ambages,circumlocution, ambiguity.
20. loqui: sc. me as subj.
huc: adv., to this place, here.
opaca:shady, dark.
21. Tartara: n. pl., Tartarus, the abode of the dead, Hades.
uti: = ut.
villosa…monstri (22): the INTERLOCKED WORD ORDER of the nouns and adjs. (ABACAC) suits the image of Cerberus’ three heads bristling (villosa) with snakes (colubris, from colubra).
22. terna: = tria; the distributive numerals (e.g., ternus, three each) were sometimes used by poets instead of the cardinals, especially when a pl. Noun constituted a set, like the three heads of Cerberus, the savage hound who guarded the entrance to Hades.
Medusaei:Medusa-like; Cerberus was born of the snake-monster Echidna, one of Medusa’s sisters, and like Medusa had snakes for hair.
vincirem: vincire,to bind, tie; Hercules had bound and carried off Cerberus as one of his labors.
guttura: guttur,throat; Ovid focuses on the guttura vs. the capita because of the vb. vincire.
23. coniunx: wife.
calcata:trodden upon, stepped on.
venenum:poison.
24. crescentes: here, burgeoning, budding.
25. pati: sc. mortem coniugis.
