Eurydice was the nymph wife of Orpheus. The music of Orpheus freed her spirit from the tree. But when fleeing from Aristaeus, she was bitten by a serpent and died. Orpheus commited to accomplish something no other man had ever done: he traveled to the underworld and by his music softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone. It was granted that Eurydice be allowed to return with him to the world of the living. But the condition was attached that he should walk in front of her and not look back until he had reached the upper world. In his anxiety, he broke his promise, and Eurydice vanished again from his sight and returned to stay in the underworld.