IF I WERE A GREEK TRAGEDY....

I would be Euridice.

The other night I went to the "Opera" with my friend Becca and we saw Orfeo and Euridice. This is one of my favorite Greek myths. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this myth, Orfeo, or as he sometimes referred, Orpheus, was the son of Apollo and the Muse Calliope. Apollo presented Orfeo with a lyre when he was young and he played constantly and with so much heart that it wasn't long before he reached perfection and there was not a God or human or creature who could withstand the charm of his music. Orfeo fell deeply in love with Euridice, a forest nymph and they were married. Shortly after the marriage, Euridice was wandering through the forest with her fellow nymphs and was bitten by a snake and died. Orfeo was overcome with immense grief and he played and sang out this grief to all that would listen. He was so overpowered by his despair that he made the decision to descend to the underworld and bring Euridice back with him. He descended through crowds of ghosts and presented himself at the gates to the underworld before Hades and Persephone. Accompanying the words with his lyre he sang "I come to seek my wife, whose opening years the poisonous viper's fang has brought to an untimely end. Love, Eros, has led me here, Love, a god all powerful with us who dwell on the earth, and, if old traditions say true, not less so here. I implore you by these abodes full of terror, these realms of silence and uncreated things, unite again the tread of Euridice's life. We all are destined to you, and sooner or later must pass to your domain. She too, when she shall have filled her term of life, will rightly be yours. But till then grant her to me, I beseech you. If you deny me I cannot return alone; you shall triumph in teh death of us both." As he sang, the very guests of the underworld were brought to tears. It is said that for the first time the cheeks of the Furies were wet with tears. Persephone could not resist and even Hades himself gave way. They brought Euridice forth. Orfeo was permitted to leave with Euridice on one condition, that he not turn and look at her till they should reach the upper air. In this fashion they made their way through dark and steep passages, he leading, she following, in complete silence. They had nearly reached the outlet into the upper world, when Orfeo, in a moment of forgetfulness, to assure himself that she was still following, cast a glance behing him. She was instantly taken away. Stretching out their arms to embrace each other, they grasped only the air. Dying now for a second time, she yet cannot reproach her husband, for how can she blame his impatience to behold her? "Farewell," she said, "a last farewell," and was hurried away. Orfeo tried to follow, but was denied. He stayed in the underworld for seven days in great despair. The Thracian maidens tried to no avail to entice him. They became so enraged at him that they tore him limb from limb, and threw his head and his lyre into the river Hebrus, down which they floated, murmuring sad music, to which the shores responded a plaintive symphony. The Muses gathered up the fragments of his body and buried them at Libertha, where the nightingale is said to sing over his grave more sweetly than in any other part of Greece. His Lyre was placed among the stars. It is known as the constellation Lyra His shade passed a second time to Tartarus, where he sought out his Euridice and embraced her with eager arms. They roam the happy fields together now, sometimes he leading, sometimes she; and Orfeo gazes as much as he will up on her, no longer incurring a penalty for a thoughtless glance.

Although I consider myself to be somewhat of a unique "Greek Tragedy," this just seems like a "Trisyn-esque" story in itself. I would find the perfect guy and then die shortly after we were married. One who was so deeply enamored with me that he would brave the very depths of the underworld to bring me back to him, only for him to cave at the last minute and cause me to die a second death! However, I can't ignore that they were re-united in death. There's a little hope for you. But I do love this one and wanted to share it with you!