Orpheus

Roman mosaic depicting Orpheus, wearing a Phrygian cap and surrounded by the beasts charmed by the music of his lyre.

Orpheus (Greek: Ὀρφεύς) was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth.

Quotes about Orpheus

• I have soared aloft with poetry and with high thought, and though I have laid my hand to many a reflection, I have found nothing stronger than Necessity, nor is there any cure for it in the Thracian tablets set down by the voice of Orpheus nor in all the simples which Phoebus harvested in aid of trouble-ridden mortals and gave to the sons of Asclepius.
  • Euripides, Alcestis, translation by David Kovacs

• Hard rocks he soften'd with persuasive song,
  And sooth'd the rivers as they roll'd along.
  Yon beeches tall, that bloom near Zona, still
  Remain memorials of his vocal skill:
  His lays Pieria's listening trees admire,
  And move in measures to his melting lyre.
  • Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica, translation by Francis Fawkes

• Here the sweet bard his tuneful lyre unstrung,
  And ceas'd the heavenly music of his tongue;
  But, with the sound entranc'd, the listening ear
  Still thought him singing, and still seem'd to hear.
  • Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica, translation by Francis Fawkes. Compare: "The angel ended, and in Adam's ear/ So charming left his voice, that he awhile/ Thought him still speaking, still stood fix'd to hear." John Milton, Paradise Lost (1667), VIII. 1–3.