20 Beauty, the only true underlying theme that guides our editorial line, cannot stop at the surface with the aesthetics of fashion, yachts and luxury items. It’s time to go deeper, to look into ourselves, to understand what really is beautiful to us and what it means within our existence. This is why we’re enhancing the artistic content of Force One by introducing, through literature, one of the founding elements of life itself: Eros, which, in its exterior (but even more interior) manifestations, adds an element of reflection, perhaps more than others, to our search for beauty. We begin this exploration of literature and Eros in the most logical of ways, starting with the classics: the Greek mythology from which it all began
ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
THE GREEK MYTH AS THE GUIDE TOWARD AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE SELF. by Perla Orpheus and Eurydice is one of the better known Greek myths; it tells the story of the love between Orpheus, a poet and musician, and Eurydice, the exquisitely beautiful nymph. But as always happens in Greek tales, there is much more to it than a beautiful romantic story.
All creatures loved Orpheus for his artistic abilities. The poetry and music he made with the lyre had the power to fascinate both gods and men. He, however, only had eyes for the beautiful Eurydice. After winning the girl’s heart, he married her and the couple began an idyllic marriage. But their happiness vanished when the young Arista, son of the god Apollo, fell hopelessly in love with the nymph. Unfortunately for him, Eurydice did not reciprocate his love and refused his continual advances. One day while running through long grass in an attempt to escape Arista’s attentions, she stepped on a poisonous snake. The reptile bit her on the ankle and she died almost immediately. Devastated by the death of his beloved, Orpheus sang his
grief with his lyre and managed to move everything, living or not, in the world, even the Erinyes (the three daughters of Uranus, better known as the Furies – Ed.). Driven mad by his grief and absolutely incapable of imaging life without Eurydice, he decided to rescue his love at all cost and, without a care for his own destiny, descended into the underworld to appeal to Hades and Persephone. To achieve this he had to face numerous challenges, including Charon, the ferryman of Hades who carried the souls of the newly deceased across the Styx, and Cerberus the monstrous three-headed dog who guarded the entrance to the realm of Hades. He managed to enchant both with his music and arrived before Hades and Persephone to ask them to return his beloved Eurydice.
