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1. Text (translated by A.D. Melville)
BOOK X ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
Thence(from Crete where where Iphis and lanthe took place) Hymen(Roman god of marriage) came, in saffron mantle clad, At Orpheus' summons through the boundless sky To Thessaly, but vain the summons proved. (preshadowing the failure of his song in the future) True he was present, but no hallowed words He brought nor happy smiles nor lucky sign; Even the torch he held sputtered throughout With smarting smoke, and caught no living flame For all his brandishing. The ill-starred rite Led to a grimmer end. The new-wed bride, Roaming with her gay Naiads(a type of female spirit, or nymph of fountains or springs) through the grass. Fell dying when a serpent struck her heel. And when at last the bard of Rhodope(Orpheus) Had mourned his fill in the wide world above, He dared descend through Taenarus(Cape matapan in Greece)’ dark gate To Hades to make trial of the shades; And through the thronging wraiths(spirits of dead people) and grave-spent ghosts He came to pale Persephone and him, Lord of the shades, who rules the unlovely realm, And as he struck his lyre’s sad chords he said: ‘Ye deities who rule the world below, Whither we mortal creatures all return, If simple truth, direct and genuine, May by your leave be told, I have come down Not with intent to see the glooms of Hell, Nor to enchain the triple snake-haired necks Of Cerberus, but for my dear wife’s sake, In whom a trodden viper poured his venom And stole her budding years. My heart has sought Strength to endure; the attempt I’ll not deny; But love has won, a god whose fame is fair In the world above; but here I doubt, though here Too, I surmise; and if that ancient tale Of ravishment(Hades' abduction of Persephone) is true, you too were joined In love. Now by these regions filled with fear, By this huge chaos, these vast silent realms, Reweave, I implore, the fate unwound too fast Of my Eurydice. To you are owed Ourselves and all creation; a brief while We linger; then we hasten, late or soon, To one abode; here one road leads us all; Here in the end is home; over humankind Your kingdom keeps the longest sovereignty. She too, when ripening years reach their due term, Shall own(acknowledge) your rule. The favour that I ask Is but to enjoy her love; and, if the Fates Will not reprieve her, my resolve is clear Not to return: may two deaths give you cheer.’ So to the music of his strings he sang, And all the bloodless spirits wept to hear; Laid down their urns; the vultures left their feast, Then first by that sad singing overwhelmed, The Furies' cheeks, it’s said, were wet with tears; And Hades’ queen and he whose sceptre rules The Underworld could not deny the prayer, And called Eurydice. She was among The recent ghosts and, limping from her wound, Came slowly forth; and Orpheus took his bride And with her this compact(contract, covenant) that, till he reach The world above and leave Avernus' vale, He look not back or else the gift would fail. The track climbed upwards, steep and indistinct, Through the hushed silence and the murky gloom; And now they neared the edge of the bright world, And, fearing lest she faint, longing to look, He turned his eyes-and straight she slipped away. He stretched his arms to hold her-to be held- And clasped, poor soul, naught but the yielding air. And she, dying again, made no complaint (For what complaint had she save she was loved?)(mysogyny?) And breathed a faint farewell, and turned again Back to the land of spirits whence she came. The double death of his Eurydice Stole Orpheus’ wits away; (like him who saw In dread the three-necked hound of Hell with chains Fast round his middle neck, and never lost His terror till he lost his nature too And turned to stone; or Olenos, who took Upon himself the charge and claimed the guilt When his ill-starred Lethaea trusted to Her beauty, hearts once linked so close, and now Two rocks on runnelled Ida’s mountainside). He longed, he begged, in vain to be allowed To cross the stream of Styx a second time. The ferryman(Charon) repulsed him. Even so For seven days he sat upon the bank, Unkempt and fasting, anguish, grief and tears His nourishment, and cursed Hell’s cruelty. Then he withdrew to soaring Rhodope And Haemus(a mountain in Thrace) battered by the northern gales. Three times the sun had reached the watery Fish(pisces, 拱绊扁磊府) That close the year, while Orpheus held himself Aloof from love of women, hurt perhaps By ill-success or bound by plighted troth(faithfulness, one's promise to marry). Yet many a woman burned with passion for The bard, and many grieved at their repulse. It was his lead that taught the folk of Thrace The love for tender boys, to pluck the buds, The brief springtime, with manhood still to come.
 
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