Orpheus and Eurydice

Ovid's Metamorphoses, book 11 (Latin 11.51--75)

Mandelbaum, p.349b

The Shade of Orpheus / descends beneath the earth. The poet knows / each place that he had visited before; / and searching through the fields of pious souls / he finds Eurydice.

And there they walk/ together now: at times they are side by side; / at times she walks ahead with him behind; / at other times it's Orpheus who leads---/ but without any need to fear should he / turn round to see his own Eurydice.

Melville, p.250--251

The ghost of Orpheus passed to the Underworld, / And all the places that he'd seen before / He recognized again and, searching through / The Elysian fields, he found Eurydice / And took her in his arms with leaping heart. /

There hand in hand they stroll, the two together; / Sometimes he follows as she walks in front, / Sometimes he goes ahead and gazes back---/ No danger now---at his Eurydice.

McCarter, p.309

Beneath the earth, the ghost knows all the places / he saw before. He finds Eurydice / in blessed fields. His yearning arms embrace her.

They stroll, now side by side, now as he follows, / now as he leads. And Orpheus in safety / can turn and look at his Eurydice.