Orpheus, Eurydice, and Hermes
Source
Roman marble relief (Augustan copy of 5th c. BC Greek original), from Torre del Greco — Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples
The trail
Reading Boethius → Song XII 'Orpheus and Eurydice' → searched for the ancient relief of the backward look
The passage
For Orpheus — woe is me! — On his Eurydice — Day's threshold all but won — Looked, lost, and was undone!
Three figures: Hermes the psychopomp on the left (he has seen this before, he will see it again), Eurydice veiled in the center (already belonging to death), Orpheus on the right reaching for her face. The tenderness is the catastrophe. He is not dramatic. He is just reaching for her. And that is the whole disaster. The looking back did not cause the loss. The loss was the condition of the game.