fabulous history, the wife of Orpheus, who flying from the attempted ravishment of Aristaeus, was slain by a serpent. Her husband went down to the shades, and by the force of his music persuaded Pluto and Proserpine to allow him to carry back his wife to earth, a favour which they granted, provided he did not look on her till he reached the light; but in a moment of affection and forgetfulness he broke the condition, and Eurydice vanished from his sight.