[Illustration]
The sorrow and love of Orpheus penetrated the hearts of Pluto and
Proserpine; they consented to restore him to the arms of Eurydice, if he
could forbear to look behind him before he reached the borders of hell.
Gladly were these conditions accepted by Orpheus, and already was he by the
river Styx, eager to be conveyed across by the infernal boatman, when a
touching thought of Eurydice and her love crossed his mind, and he looked
back.
"Near the confines of ethereal air,
Unmindful and unable to forbear,
Mistrusting also lest her steps might stray,
And gladsome of the glimpse of dawning day,
He stopped--looked back--(what cannot love persuade?)
To take one view of the unhappy maid.
His longing eyes impatient backward cast,
To catch a lover's look--but looked his last:
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Here all his pains were lost, one greedy look,
Defeats his hopes, and Hell's conditions broke,
A fatal messenger from Pluto flew,
And snatched the forfeit from a second view,
For instant dying, she again descends,
While he to empty air his arms extends!"