Orpheus was the hero-singer of the Thracians, who in the ancient times dwelt at the foot of the mountains Olympus, Parnassus, and Helicon. He was the son of Apollo[9] and the muse Calliope[10] and the husband of Eurydice. His name became so celebrated among later poets that his power of song was said to have produced most marvellous effects. When he struck his lute, the fable says, the lions of the forest fawned upon him like dogs, rivers halted in their course, and the trees and rocks listened to him. He accompanied the Argonauts on their expedition and accomplished by his music many marvellous escapes for them. When he returned from the expedition his young wife, Eurydice, and her companions danced upon a beautiful grass plat one day. While engaged in their sports a snake stung her in the foot and she died in the very bloom of her youth.[11] The inconsolable husband poured out his grief in tones that filled all hearts with sorrow. Taking his lute, he ventured to the entrance of the underworld, Tartarus, and entreated Persephone, spouse of Hades, god of the underworld, to give him back Eurydice. The bars of the gate flew back as he sang. With ever tenderer tones he approached the place where departed spirits wander. Cerberus, the three-headed dog who guards the entrance, quietly wagged his tail as he passed, Ixion’s wheel stood still,[12] and Sisyphus stopped his fruitless task to listen to him.[13]