ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
He that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.—Job vii. 9.
Our last picture showed us a struggle in which Death was conquered. This one illustrates another old Greek story—the story of a fight with Death that failed. It is by Mr. G. F. Watts, one of the most famous of living painters, and it is called "Orpheus and Eurydice."
According to the old fable Orpheus was a great musician, so skilful that he could tame wild beasts, and even make the trees and rocks move by the sweet melodies which he played. Eurydice was his wife, and one day she trod on a snake, which bit her, so that she died, and went down into the world of ghosts. Orpheus loved her so much that he followed her into that gloomy place, taking his lyre with him. He played such entrancing music that all the ghosts were spellbound. Even Persephone, the stern Queen of the Dead, was so touched that she gave him leave to take Eurydice back with him to the land of the living. But she warned him that he must not look back till they were both safely out in the upper world. Orpheus was glad beyond measure, and meant to obey the warning. But he was so anxious about Eurydice, that just before they had passed the gate of the under world he looked round, to make sure that she was near him. In an instant she was whirled away back, to dwell for ever among the dead. Orpheus came forth alone, twice bereaved, and more than doubly sad.
Mr. Watts has painted several pictures of Orpheus and Eurydice. Some of them show the figures at full length, but the one in our illustration is less complete. Still it contains the principal points that are to be seen in the other companion paintings. The scene is the gloomy gateway of the world of the dead. It is all rough and rocky and dark. Through its opening you catch a glimpse of the bright upper world, and of the blue sky with its white clouds. Orpheus stands in the shadow. His body has the glow of life and health. He wears his minstrel's garland on his brow. But his face is full of anguish. For he has looked backwards, and he sees that Eurydice, who is close behind him, is a pale corpse again. Her arms, that have just been stretched out to clasp his neck, have lost their power and are falling down lifelessly. Her head is drooping upon her shoulder. Her eyes are closed, and her fair face is turned towards the under world. One of the pictures shows a lily which has dropped from her hand, and lies trailing and broken among the stones at her feet. Her long golden hair is blowing backwards into the dark. The right arm of Orpheus is stretched out in a vain attempt to grasp her, and to hold her back from being carried away by the resistless power that draws her. His left hand holds his lyre, and all its strings save one are broken. His eye is fixed on Eurydice's face in a gaze of hopeless pain. The picture is terrible rather than beautiful to look upon. It tells us how, in the sad, dark heathen world, before Christ came, men thought that though Love might sometimes seem stronger than Death, Death was really stronger than Love.
Now the story of Orpheus has an interest for us in more ways than one. The early Christians liked to think of the resemblance between Orpheus and Christ. They saw in the minstrel, who tamed the wild beasts with his music, a type of the gracious and gentle Saviour who came to subdue the evil passions of men's hearts, and to change confusion and strife into harmony and peace. In the pictures which they have left in the Roman Catacombs Christ is very frequently represented under the figure of the fabled musician. He appears as a young man sitting beneath a tree, wearing a country cloak and cap, and with a harp on His knee. The lion, the wolf, the leopard, the horse, the sheep, the serpent, and the tortoise are gathered round Him, and peacocks and other birds are perched upon the branches of the tree.
But our picture leads us rather to think of the difference between Orpheus and Christ. Christ's love, unlike the love of Orpheus, is stronger than death. It brought back to life the little daughter of Jairus, who had died just before He came to her father's house. It brought back the widow's son at Nain, when his body was being carried to the grave. It brought back Lazarus of Bethany, after he had been dead four days. The love of Christ took Him into the world of the dead Himself, that He might return as a Conqueror. It sets free all His disciples from the power of death. It brings them all back, not to this world of sin and sorrow, where they would have to die again, but into the better world of heaven, where they have everlasting life and gladness. What the old heathen Greeks dreamed of hopelessly has come to pass. What Orpheus could not do for Eurydice because of his weakness and forgetfulness, Jesus Christ in His strength and wisdom can do for you and me. He will do it if we trust Him. His disciples need never be troubled by the old despairing thought, He that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.