Aristaeus (air-is-TEE-us). A minor god, the son of Apollo. Aristaeus conceived a fancy for Eurydice, the wife of the minstrel Orpheus, and being used to indulging his every whim he chased after her. In her headlong effort to elude his pursuit, Eurydice stepped on a poisonous snake and died. Orpheus was so disconsolate that he journeyed to the Underworld to bring her back from the dead.