Does anybody know if the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice appears in the text De Rerum Natura by Lucretius?

Question

I just took one of my finals that included passage identification, and although I hadn't thought Lucretius would be on my exam, I felt that the excerpt which included a reference to Orpheus and Eurydice was from De Rerum Natura. Unfortunately my copy of the book is not with me and I cannot check and it is literally KILLING me. Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

In Greek legend, Orpheus (Greek: Ὀρφεύς) was the chief representative of the arts of song and the lyre, and of great importance in the religious history of Greece.

Orpheus was the son of Apollo and the Muse Calliope. He was presented by his father with a Lyre and taught to play upon it, which he did to such perfection that nothing could withstand the charm of his music.

Hymen had been called to bless with his presence the nuptials of Orpheus with Eurydice; but though he attended, he brought no happy omens with him. His very torch smoked and brought tears into their eyes. In coincidence with such prognostics, Eurydice, shortly after her marriage, while wandering with the nymphs, her companions, was seen by the shepherd Aristaeus, who was struck with her beauty and made advances to her. She fled, and in flying trod upon a snake in the grass, was bitten in the foot, and died.

Answer 2

I'm afraid not - at least I think so. I searched through an online edition of De Rerum Natura, for "orfe" or "orphe", and had no hits. But of course I could have missed it. You can search for yourself at http://www.fh-augsburg.de/~harsch/Chronologia/Lsante01/Lucretius/luc_rer0.html or http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=785. - Ovid is the first Latin poet I think of in connection with Orpheus and Eurydice (Metamorphoses, X-XI).

Answer 3

Interesting