ASPECTS OF

APULEIUS' GOLDEN ASS

VOLUME II

CUPID AND PSYCHE

A COLLECTION OF,ORIGINAL PAPERS

EDITED BY
M. ZIMMERMAN, V. HUNINK, TH.D. MCCREIGHT
D. VAN MAL-MAEDER, S. PANAYOTAKIS,
V. SCHMIDT, B. WESSELING

EGBERT FORSTEN.
GRONINGEN 1998
ISBN 90 6980 121 3

Copyright © Egbert Forsten, Groningen Ben Hijmans et Rudi van der Paardt

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be in studiis Apuleianis valde curiosis
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmilled, in gratas gratias meminerunt
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, huius libri editores
photocopying, recording, or othenvise, withouz the prior
writlen permission of the publisher.
 Preface

This volume arises out of the sessions of the 'Groningen Commentaries on

Apuleius' group, who are at present working on the commentary on Cupid
and Psyche. During our discussion of various chapters of Cupid and Psyche
it became increasingly evident that we should single out some aspects of this
part of Apuleius' novel for separate treatment, not least because, in the course
of their work on these chapters, some members of the group had already
encountered aspects which deserved fuller treatment than could be given in a
lemma of the commentary. We then decided to invite contributions from other
colleagues who we knew were researching various aspects of the tale. Some
of the articles published here were first presented as papers during an inspiring
'Cupid and Psyche day' of the 19th Groningen Colloquium on the Novel in
1996.
With these points of departure in mind, it will immediately become clear
that this volume should in no way be considered a replacement for the solid
anthology edited by G. Binder and R. Merkelbach published in 1968. A glance
at the general bibliography and references in the footnotes of the articles shows
that many authors in our volume acknowledge their debt to that anthology, on
whose foundations they build.
Another debt owed by Apuleian scholarship is to Carl Schlarn, who has
left us a number of influential studies. In this volume his work on Platonica in
the Metamorphoses of Apuleius (Schlam 1970) is renewed by the contribution
of O'Brien. She studies Cupid and Psyche as an explanation, in the mode of
platonic myth, of Apuleius' discourse theory. To Schlarn we also owe some
thorough overviews and assessments of the scholarly search for the sources of
Apuleius' myth, both in the eighth chapter of his 1992 monograph and in his
contribution in GCN 5 (1993), 64-73. In the latter he confidently asserts: "The
Apuleian tale created rather than preserved a myth of Cupid and Psyche"; and
in his monograph (Schlam 1992, 90) he remarks: ''The focus of our thinking
about the Apuleian narrative should shift from where it came from to where
it is going." Schlam would, however, certainly have welcomed the way in
which, in this volume, the question of 'where the Apuleian narrative came
from' is raised once again by Dowden, who opens our eyes to the philosophical
viii Preface
and religious discourses very much alive in the intellectual circles in which
Apuleius participated, and against the background of which he created the tale
of Cupid and Psyche.
In our forthcoming commentary we give much attention to the integration
of Cupid and Psyche into the whole of the Metamorphoses. The reader of this
volume will notice that in many of the essays collected here the central tale of
Apuleius' novel is not studied in isolation, but as an integral part of the eleven
books of the Metamorphoses (especially by Smith and James, but also by Dow-
den, van Mai-Maeder/Zimmerman, Keulen and Panayotakis).
A number of articles presents recent findings in matters of intertextual-
ity (Mattiacci, Harrison, Smith) and interdiscursivity (Dowden, O'Brien).
Other articles explore aspects of a narratological nature (Van Mai-Maeder/
Zimmerman), or employ insights of modem linguistic theory to shed light on
Apuleius' structuring of the narrative of Cupid and Psyche (Pinkster). Arche-
ological finds prove to be helpful in shaping our ideas on how contemporary
readers would view the description of Cupid's palace (Brodersen). Some
articles single out special passages whose rich imagery deserves elaborate
treatment (Keulen, Panayotakis).
On the whole, the subjects covered in the articles collected here and outlined
above reflect the choices which the group has made for its commentary. Al-
though the reception of Apuleius' tale in visual art will in our commentary fig-
ure only occasionally in notes, we are glad to present in this volume one contri-
bution on this subject by our Groningen colleague Jan de Jong. He investigates
the creative way in which some Italian Renaissance painters handled the tale of
Cupid and Psyche in their works. Most often they did not render the story lit-
erally, but purposefully 'translated' the hwnor and ingenuity of Apuleius' text
into their own medium, just as writers, including Apuleius himself, often 'trans-
late' works of art into literary descriptions of them.
In this collection of papers on aspects of Cupid and Psyche by different au-
thors the reader will at times be confronted by diverging perspectives on the
tale or its various episodes. It has never been the aim of the editors to smooth
out such differences. The tale of Cupid and Psyche is like a multi-faceted di-
amond and it will continue to provoke varied interpretations depending on the
angle from which it is viewed.
In 1978 Ben Hijmans and his younger colleague Rudi van der Paardt pub-
lished a collection of original papers on 'Aspects of Apuleius' Golden Ass'. In
the years since then this has proved to be an important and influential collection,
consulted not only by all the specialists involved in Apuleian studies but also
by a much wider circle of readers. We are, as in so many other ways, following
the lead of the editors of 'Aspects 1978' in presenting here a second volume of
Preface IX
'Aspects of Apuleius' Golden Ass'. We unanimously decided to dedicate this
new volume, now devoted entirely to aspects of Cupid and Psyche, to Hijmans
and van der Paardt, thereby acknowledging our great debt to these two scholars.
Because of other obligations they are no longer active members of the commen-
tary group, but both are still taking a strong interest in Apuleian studies. During
the past decades they not only placed the work of the Groningen Apuleius group
on the map of international studies on the ancient novel, but also encouraged
the present members of the group, who now try to carry forward the commen-
tary work in their spirit. The special form of group discussion developed over
the years around the 'Groningen Commentaries on Apuleius' was established
by them and continues to be inspired by them. We dare to hope that this second
volume of 'Aspects' too will find its way to a wide circle of readers.
We feel privileged in always being able to rely on the support and interest
of Egbert Fors ten, the publisher not only of our series of 'Groningen Commen-
taries on Apuleius', but also of the first volume of' Aspects of Apuleius' Golden
Ass' (1978) and of the Groningen Colloquia on the Novel. A unique form of co-
operation has grown up between him and our research group over these many
years and it is with particular pleasure that we now present this volume as its lat-
est, but certainly not last, product. We also would like to thank RoelfBarkhuis,
who with great accuracy and thoroughness has taken care of the practical exe-
cution of the elegant design of this book, in close communication in every way
with Egbert Forsten and ourselves.
The editors would also like to thank Justa Renner, the administrator of the
Centre for Classical, Oriental, Medieval and Renaissance Studies (COMERS),
for lending us the financial support through which this publication was made
possible.
Maaike Zimmerman and Stelios Panayotakis
 Contents

K. Dowden (Birmingham)
Cupid and Psyche: A Question of the Vision of Apuleius I

M. O'Brien (Maynooth)
'For every tatter in its mortal dress': Love, the Soul and her Sisters 23

P. James (Milton Keynes)

The Unbearable Lightness of Being: Levis Amor in the
Metamorphoses of Apuleius 35

S.J. Harrison (Oxford)

Some Epic Structures in Cupid and Psyche 51

W.S. Smith (Albuquerque)

Cupid and Psyche Tale: Mirror of the Novel 69

D. van Mai-Maeder and M. Zimmerman (Groningen)

The Many Voices in Cupid and Psyche 83

H. Pinkster (Amsterdam)
The use of narrative tenses in Apuleius' Amor and Psyche I 03

S. Brodersen (Mi.inchen)
Cupids Palace-A Roman Villa (Apul. Met. 5,1) 113

S. Mattiacci (Siena)
Neoteric and Elegiac Echoes in the Tale of Cupid and Psyche
by Apuleius 127

S. Piinayotakis (Rethymno/Groningen)
ll'.oJJ,\:t·
Slander and War Imagery in Apuleius' Tale of Cupid and Psyche
(Apul. Met. 5,5-5,21) 151
xii Contents

W.H. Keulen (Groningen)

A Bird's Chatter: Fonn and Meaning in Apuleius' Met. 5,28 165

J.L. de Jong (Groningen)

'II pittore a le volte epuro poeta ':
Cupid and Psyche in Italian Renaissance Painting Cupid & Psyche
(with an appendix, illustrations and a specialized bibliography) 189 A Question of the Vision of Apuleius
General Bibliography 217
General IEdex Ken Dowden
229
Birmingham

Apuleius' Sincerity

There is no doubt that the author of the Golden Ass professed Platonism. This
is not something which we need to read out of his text, as we might in the case
of Heliodoros (Dowden 1996). We know that the real Apuleius propagated
Platonic ideas in his Carthaginian period, that he translated the Phaedo, knew
his Platonic texts - and other philosophical texts - in detail and generally, as
Hijmans has shown 1, saw Platonism and philosophy as a way of life, a bios.
Perhaps the likeliest assumption is that he adopted Platonism, taking it to his
heart in some way, at that formative stage of his education, in Athens. This
gives us a lifelong portrait of Apuleius philosophus Platonicus. It begins in
Athens and continues through his Roman period, where I have argued that he
wrote the Golden Ass in the early 150s (Dowden 1994 ); it then goes on past the
phi/osophus fonnonsus ('pretty philosopher') of Oea, onward to the megastar
of Carthage and the author of surely authentic books de Platone to Faustino
filio ('On Plato - to his son 2 Faustinus').
Yet, Platonism in the novel lies outside the mainstream of modem criticism
and is perhaps cffsagreeable to a 'stakeholder' culture where individual readers
cease to be educated by literature (or 'the Greek achievement') and prefer to
engage democratically in its activities. These shifts in focus may indeed have
the advantage of constantly renewing our literature and describing what these
works can do for people of our age, but there is also ~ttendant danger of
e~cluding Apuleius' own design from his novel. On some theories this may not

> 1 Hijmans 1987,passim but e.g. 396-7, 416-7, 422, and esp. 470, a compelling vision.
2 'This is what the Latin says though scholars h.ave tried to evade the obvious meaning and to
allege, for instance, a fictional addressee - see Hijmans 1987, 414 for more information.
 2 Ken Dowden
matter, but it is surely an analytic truth that it should matter to any student of
the ancient world. In any case, it will be seen that this biographically derived
world-view and 'mythology' informs the text.
•tit was Ap:n]eius like? He seeas_to m~gt~Victorian',
When, as a sophist, he performs his Platonic pieces, ~--~tancls
if not so stiff.
hi a position of
authority in front of his audience, dictating views. Most exactly, he perpetu-
ates the master-pupil relationship, or extends the guru-disciple relationship, of
Athenian philosophers to the Gelliuses and Apuleiuses of the young cultural
elite. More impressionistically, he resembles one great Victorian expression of
authority - the conductor wielding the newly-invented baton before an inter-
nal audience (the orchestra) and the audience proper. In the world of Gellius
and Lucian it was the job of self-professed philosophers to lead and guide their
audiences, as we can see from Gellius' pilgrimage to the hut (ashram?) of Pere-
grinus outside Athens and from Lucian's vitriolic testimony to the very special
character of Peregrinus.
If, then, we find areas of Apuleius' novel where religious and philosophi-
3
cal issues are in some way raised, what interest might Apuleius have in these
ideas- and what interest should we ourselves take in them? Cupid and Psyche,
the structural equivalent of Aeneas' katabasis (descent to the underworld), is
the crucial point for this decision. Perhaps it is a 'folk-tale', a popular story of
some sort engagingly incorporated into high literature, or perhaps we should
pay attention to the hellenistic literary colour and enjoy this souvenird'Apollo-
n;us. Though Fehling exploded the idea of Grimm-style folk-tale in Apuleius 4
i_!_isdoubtless true that ~~ori~~ h~llenistic approaches uncover some-
thing of valuejn the text. At the samP-time botlrn.P.W-9~]:°es conform to nwdem
critical culture and both evade the question of meaning. E~en,-howevei; if"ilPla-
tonic dimension is admitted in Cupid a~ Psyche, will we be prepared to talk of
more than just another colour on Apuleius' palette, part of the 'literary texture'
and surface gloss? That restrictive approach, comfortable for our irrev~tent if
aesth~~ age, is IllS<>lll~ ruinger, maybe, of disparaging Apuleius, COIIlQllJ:!fient
~-d the faith he- and others of his age - lived by 5.
3 ~losophy and religion are scarcely separable; cf. Hijmans 1987, 397 and n.7, and Dowden
1996, 2~ (on Heliodoros). ~------------
4 Fehling 1977.
5 Why exactly does Kenney 1990b, 193 n.59 feel it necessary to argue that Apuleius need not?
have studied his Phaedrus very closely or approve the idea that 'a vague knowledge of Eros
in the Pnaedrus' was just part of the rhetorician's stock-in trade? And why does Edwards
1992, 93 feel it necessary to distance Apuleius from the world of Gnostic ideas and to dub
him 'only an occasional philosopher'? Would we say such things to Apuleius' own face?
For a sensitive and balanced ~~~~s~~l!t2f thena~e ~d _depthof Apuleius' Platonism -
and how b.eacquired it -now see Sandy 1997, 22-36 and eh. s-:--- ----------·
Cupid & Psyche 3
It is a convenient fiction, which scholars of religion now challenge, that the
faith of the pagan Roman aristocracy was in some way less than that of the
emerging Christian competition 6 • Apuleius the committed Platonist is not an
isolated phenomenon: I have drawn attention elsewhere to the similarities be-
tween Justin, who slipped from Platonism to Christianity, and Apuleius and also
to the conflict between Justin and that Roman establishment to which Apuleius
was personally attached (Dowden 1994, 429-30). Fronto sniped at the Chris-
tians in the course of an oration in the Senate and Marcus Aurelius had no time
for them and their martyrs ( 11.3.2). Christians were found so offensive that we
can be sure of the depth of pagan conviction 7 •
Despite the indiscriminacy of characterising a whole age at once, we can
still affirm that the age in which Apuleius lived was one which was particu-
larly concerned to reassert traditionaloand historic values - the resurrection of
the vocabulary ofEnnius and Plautus is not so very different from Herodes At-
ticus declaiming on the theme of Nicias in Sicily (Philostratus, Vit.Soph. 574).
Faced with the challenge of new developments, notably in religion and philoso-
phy, Antonine intellectuals could either incorporate the new into authorised tra-
ditional discourse or, if as in the case of Christianity this was impossible, reject
it outright. One feels the force behind that rejection in the case of the Miller's
Wife (9,14) whose monotheism is firmly attached to herffagitia ('crimes' - so
Apuleius is no Pliny) and also in the case of the Dea Syria (8,27), a cult firmly
rejected also by Floros. Conversely however, Isis is accommodated into appro-
priate discourse through that ambitious myrionymity (11,5, which nevertheless
is careful to exclude the Dea Syria) which reached out through the figure of the
moon ultimately. to a philosophical divinity. So too the priest Mithras is a de-
liberately dissonant note to emphasise the broader a licabili of
~en correc y un ers o m establishment language.
To sum up my rather general argument so far: we should not be tempted
by priorities in modern criticism or by our own personal disinclinations to cast
aspersions on the commitment of Apuleius to Platonic philosophy. His was a
committed age on whose firm rocks Justin and other Christians shipwrecked
,/
themselves.
...:._
......._ Ideas in Dialogue (Rome in the 150s): Psyche and the Valentinians
c::.__ Rome in the early 150s was philosophically and religiously alive. This was the
environment in which Marcus Aurelius was growing to maturity - appreciat-
< 6 E.g., Wilken 1984, eh. ill 'The Piety of the Persecutors'.
7 On hostility to Christians, see, e.g., Sordi 1988, 160-1. Fronto's speech concerned with
Christians probably only in passing, Lane Fox 1986, 427.
 4 Ken Dowden
ing the dour stoicism of Claudius Maximus (M. Aur. l.15.1, 1.16.3). The influ-
ence of Sextus nephew of Plutarch still lingered on (as we can see, e.g., from
Met. 1.2). Apuleius, if I am right, was busy an the Golden Ass and if I am
wrong Viasail the same in Rome at a forrnativejntellectual age, allowed only
towrite nu ae ('Trivia') by evolutionist criticism. Christians irritated Lollius
rbicus the praefectus ur 1 an Justin in particular complains to him in his Sec-
ond Apology about the martyrdom of Ptolemaeus, an event which may underlie
Apuleiu s' tale of the Miller's Wife 8• At this same time Valentinus was preach-
ing and writing up an esoteric Gnostic soteriology and already had his follow-
ers: he had arrived in Rome a Christian around 136--40, but split with the more
orthodox Christians probably on the accession of Pius I in 142. He and his fol-
lowers nevertheless remained within the church, despite hostility from people
like Justin and, in the next generation, from Irenaeus of Lyon who catalogued
and denounced Gnostic heresies. Valentinus himself was still in Rome in the
time of PopeAnicetus (155-66) 9 • It is not clear to me bow small a place in-
tellectual Rome was, or how ideas were disseminated between very different
intellectual camps: public lectures like those of Maximus a generation later 10
and public disputes, like that between Justin and the cynic Crescens, are clearly
an important part. It is likely that these camps were aware of each other and that
their membership even overlapped and, on occasion, defected. Val_entin_u_S pla-
tonised_and gnosticised Christianity Gust as Lucian's Peregrinu;..bandoned it)
and appears from his fragments to be, in Stead's words, 'a biblical Platonist';
indeed, Chadwick has called him 'the most obviously Platonic of all known
gnostics•H. Conver~ely, Justin (and others like him 12) moved on from Platon-
i~_t_o~()~~ry-~~_ye_C§s~~tf thouifliesbll wore Pliii<:>.hl9-~lQilnng.
How
did Apuleius view Vale11tin_11s? The rnore-acGef)taWe-f~J,tianity? And
then thereisVa!entinus' disciple Ptolemaeus who could just have been the very
same person as the Christian martyred around 152 (above).
Whate~~ctly-iYalentinus,~ op~sed to his follo:wers,J<111_g_l_I! is not easy to
state defirutlvely . But what 1s of mterest for us is the system attributed to his
pupil Ptolemaeus by Irenaeus, which doubtless draws heavily on Valentinus'
8 Dowden 1994, 429-30; Baldwin 1989, 55_
9 Dawso111992, 127; Foerster 1972, i.121 (with slightly different dates). 'Remained until An-
icetus'; Irenaeus Haer. 3,4,3_
10 Under Commodus in the 190s; full title: Maximus of Tyre, Lectures Given in Rome during
his Fir.litVisit (Ma~[µou Tup[ou ,wv EV< Pwµn 6iaAE~E<,}V ,Tj<;1tpW,T)<;
tmoT)µ[a<;).
11 G.C. St~ in Layton 1980, 78. Intriguingly, he sees Valentinus' Aeons as a development of
the Platoruc Forms (ibid. 88). Chadwick in Layton 1980, 11-12. · 12. 'She represents the evil (i.e. responsible for the origin of evil) world-soul, which is also
12 Tatian, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria - Wlosok 1960, 113-4 and nn.
13 See, e.g., G.C. Stead in Layton 1980, 75ff; G. Quispe! ibid. 123-5; Quispe! 1947; Stead 1969.
Cupid & Psyche 5
original myth. Heinrici (1897, 410-17) found ~n
P~develo ment 14 ofValentinus' myth of Sophia and Cupid and Psy-
che in an article which I myself built on in I 980 15. These similarities go e-
yond coincidence and represent something more specific than Heinrici's (416)
'dieselbe Sehnsucht nach Erlosung' as may be seen from the following analysis
of Ptolemaeus' myth under headings emphasising shared features.
Vocabulary
Aeon an immaterial, intellectual, godlike being.
Achamoth the 'Anxiety' of Sophia.
Pleroma the Plenitude, Gnostic heaven, where deficiencies do not ex-
ist 16.
psyche an intermediate substance between nous (the higher, intellec-
tual and moral part of us) and worldly material (e.g., body).
I the story centres on a heroine - both are Soul;
There is one Sophia in Valentinus himself 17 , but two, with characteristic
Gnostic proliferation, in Ptolemaeus - Sophia 18 and, a sort of avatar,
Sophia Achamoth. On any Platonic reading, Sophia is the World-Soul and
necessarily a prototype for our soul 19• One reason for this depiction is
that, in the ideology of traditional Mediterranean cultures, a single female
is obviously deficient and requires a husband, a ou(uyoc; (cf. Scopello
1985, 120).
14 Both Heinrici 1897 and Dowden 1981 make the mistake of attributing Ptolemaeus' system,
without further thought, to Valentinus.
15 Gnostic ideas are taken up again, apparently without knowledge ofHeinrici 1897 or Dowden
1981 (or Dowden 1982), by Edwards 1992, 87-92.
16 For a study of pleroma, see MacDerrnot 1981, 76-81.
17 Quispe! 1947, 45, based on Iren. adv.haer_ 1,11,1. Cf. Stead 1969, 88-89, with the qualifi-
cation 'one erring Sophia'_
18 SUJprisingly, Sophia is declared to be the 'father' of (female) Achamoth at Iren. 1.4.1; even
more curiously, Sophia is declared 'male and a father' at Philo, de Juga 52. Generally on
Philo as a seedbed for the Gnostic Sophia, see Stead 1969, 96-7 and Pearson 1984, 314,
discussing R.M. Wilson, The Gnostic Problem: a study of the relations between Hellenistic
Judaism and the Gnostic Heresy, London 1958, 183-202.
19 World-Soul, cf. Plotinus 2.9 (Against the Gnostics) §4, with H. Chadwick in Layton 1980,
the prototype of the human soul which falls from its true home through attachment to matter'
(my parentheses}, Stead 1969, 100- thus both Venus-Isis and Psyche.
6 Ken Dowden
2 tE:t!Jallgf~o_p_1!!~~Y~l:!e
iscaused by a culpable_a£.!i>JJryip.z_t<lapP.!l:~e_nd
( spirit {1tvEU[J.ll"tCl
God20;_ ... --·~------
'Silence' restrains Nous from the attempt to reveal the limitless character
of God to the Aeons, but Sophia tries to grasp it anyway and this is where
trouble begins; this was a fit of passion without the participation of her hus-
band, and it consisted in the ~ ~TI}mc;-rnu m:npoc;(lren. adv.haer. 1.2.1-2).
3 the soul is rescued as the result of an act of grace 2 1, by the intervention of
a diune redeemer;
WITHIN THE PLEROMA:Christ and the Holy Spirit are sent to bring the
Aeons to an understanding of the Father (lren. 1,2,5).
OUTSIDETHE PLEROMA:Achamoth, deserted by the Logos, searches for
the light (of the Pleroma) and suffers woefully (Iren. 1,4, 1). The Paraclete
'i.e. the Saviour' (standing in for Christ) is sent to rescue her (Iren. 1,4,5).
4 the soul is married to the redeemer and has offspring 22 .
WITHIN THE PLEROMA:the Aeons are now all transformed into Noes
(nous's, Iren. 1,2,6).
OUTSIDETHE PLEROMA:Achamoth is cured of her passions and, receiv-
ing with joy the vision of the lights of the Paraclete's attendant Angels,
becomes pregnant by them. (lren. 1,4,5).
AT THE END: 'When all the seed (of the Church) is perfected, Achamoth
its mother will move from the place of Middleness and come within the
Pleroma and receive her bridegroom the Saviour who is born from all (the
Aeons?) so that there may be a marriage of Saviour and Sophia Achamoth
. . . and the Pneumatics, taking off their souls and becoming intellectual
20 Thistranscendence of God is familiaralsoin Philo,cf. Pearson'saccountof Jonas(Pearson
1984,304-6), andis animportantfeatureof thenewPythagoreanising Platonismof Eudoros
whichmayunderliethe 'mainstream'whichI discussin section4 below,cf. Wlosok1960,
53,DiUon1977,127-8.
21 Kenne:y1990a.14usefullystressesthestrictlyundeservedcharacterof thesalvationof both
PsycheandLucius.Scopello1985,30comments,on EA 135.4-15(seebelow),'bienquela
collaborationde l'amesoitnecessaire,c'est par la gracequ'on obtientle salut'
22 Thiscorresponds to thedoctrine(G.C.Steadin Layton1980,92)thattheelectwillbeunited
with heavenlybridegroomsand enterthepleroma (Gnosticheaven/Olympus) 'becoming
themselves intelligibleAeons'(Clement,Excerpta ex Theodoto 64,I). Theactualoffspring,
Voluptas (Met. 6,24),is parallelled
in theTreatise witlwUl Title (NagHarnmadill,5)109,16-
22 (Painchaud1995,174-5)whereEros,descendingto thelevelof earth,begets~oov~ (the
Greekwordis actuallyin the Coptictext);Painchaud(1995,364)implausibly derivesthe
GnosticusefromApuleius''versionduconte',butusefullycomparesPhilo,de Opijicur161.
Cupid & Psyche 7
voEpa.), entering imperceptibly and unseen within the
Pleroma will be given away as brides to the Angels about the Saviour ...
for nothing of soul-character (4iux~x6v) may enter the Pleroma.' (Iren.
1,7,1)23_
This is not just the sort of system that was in the air. It is a specific system of ap-
p~--~]!Qs.fioytbm :an~Jnten!!~l!.:~~~e.spci~d.§_!&!!if!£~t}y_ with that /
of Cupid and Psyche. Notably, curiositas causes th~~-~!.f~~tl!!e distinctive ~ //
to this Gnostic system~- f
----niere 1s muctrthaf is unknown and much that requires further research
here. Curiositas or periergia in the sense of 'culpable looking' requires an
agre~dliistory of its own 26, but it does appear to be new at around this time in
a myth of a Fall and the Latin word, as is well known, only breaks through with
Apuleius. Conceptually, it cl~arly belongs to.mys.te,:y_!~~<?n,as a corollary of
the secrecy which is its defining characteristic. The act of grace surely belongs
here too 27: the ancestor is Demeter saving Kore from the world of death into
which she has fallen through her own fault; and another comparand is Isis
saving Osiris from death. But there may be another comparand that produces
the gender distribution and marriage that we have in our two myths - Dionysos
and Ariadne.
What we are seeing is the reconciliation of alternative discourses. Plato <C
himself is somewhat godless. The souimiislrise-drrough its internal efforts,
~it-has-the natura.Lfoo;e of the divine love to draw it UJ!,_ Ifie language
of the Symposium or of wings and white horse in the Phaedrus do not supply
Apuleius with the moment of grace - or indeed the Isiac last book. The one
exception may be that moment in the Politicus (273de) when the resumption
23 Also,withsignificantimplications forascribingthiselementto Valentinus, in Oernent,Ex-
cerpta ex Theodoto 63,l; cf. Quispe!1947,72-73,44.
24 Evidently,if Ptolemaeus wasthemartyr of c. 152.Butequallythesystemi~repoaedalready
fii Irenaeus1nTsn.-- --- . . . .
25 Cf. Stead 1969,78 (characteristic of his versionA), and Plotinos2.9,4(not mentioned);
Scopello1985,66 comesstraightoutandcallsthisValentinian causeof the fall 'curiositas'.
Particularto Valentinus: 'Thenatureof Sophia'sfaultis one of themostvariablefeaturesof
the myth';Stead1969,102.
26 Thebibliography onApuleiancuriositas is of coursesizeable,butI drawparticularattention
to Moreschini1978,eh.iiiforhisbalancebetweentechnicalphilosophic referenceandwider
reference.
27 Edwards1992,81-2 citesPlotinos3.5.9for the momentof salvation:psyche livingwith
nous(= Cupid;cf. Dowden1982),separatedfromnous, and thenonceagainbeingfilled
(plerotheisa, cf.theGnostic pleroma) withlogoi. ButinasmuchasPlotinosherecallsto mind
a momentof salvation(andit is veryabstract-howexactlydoesa soulget a logoi-refill?),
he is reflectingreligioustradition.
8 Ken Dowden
of control of a faltering universe by its demiurge provides a distant ancestor
for Apuleius' episode.J:onYers_~Jy,.the_!<!llgµageof Eleusiniano_!'Jsiacmyth
doe~ not on._itsown _S!l-I?Qlyj!l!!!Jlectµ_aldemands of the highest form of Greek
relig~~f!__!l_!_!_ti1-_i!__~
__JTIYth-:~.---fifst-- by- 'Orphi<:'_tl)ixµceis2S-,-
l?y_t~st
influenti~ly thro'-!Khthe PlatQ!!!_£_ intellectual koine. Thus the function, for
instance, of Plutarch's Isis and Osiri; 1sic,- ctriw-theisis religion into Platonic
and intellectual discourse - it is an aggressive, and authorising, act of inter-
pretation 29• Equally, Gnosticism is about discourse or it is about nothing. In it
are blended Platonic-koine cosmology (e.g., from the 1imaios), doctrine of the
soul (presumably from the mysteries, translated into para-Platonic intellectual
language 30), and the jargon-delight of eastern and Egyptian magico-mysticism
- whence Barbelo and Achamoth and so on. This multiplicity of sources
matters because it has the effect of cumulating authority.
Cupid and.Psyche's relationship to Valentinian discourse is close enough for
~oces ta he identjfieq.Themulfiplecos-rriic-levelsandbeings liaveTaigely
been stripped out. What is left is Venus as elementorum origo initialis ('first
principle of the elements' 31 , Met. 4,30 - in Gnostic-speak perhaps the arkhe
of the Aeons). This is a light and ironic touch, given her characterisation in the
text, but itis a revealing one. Venus is the driving force behind this myth as Isis,
equally saeculorum origo initialis ('first principle of the Aeons'?, Met. 11,5),
will be for the whole novel. What looks like jest now becomes serious later, as
the process of metamorphosis of Venus into Isis charges Venus retrospectively
with significance. The female appears thrice over in Ptolemaeus (Ennoia is the
consort of the ultimate, original god; Sophia falls and is recovered, leaving be-
hind only Achamoth): in Apuleius Psyche is confused with Venus - and Isis
somehow lies behind Fortuna. In the foreground for Apuleius' story, however,
is the individual Psyche, more human, less cosmic.
I attempted to discern the detail of the Platonic discourse in my 'Psyche on
the Rock' of 1982. That article attempted to read Cupid and Psyche as a Philo,
a Plutarch(l,2; 2,3) or, later, a Plotinos would have read it-even if its allegori-
cal method seemed to recreate the critical approach of Fulgentius, anathema to a
28 F. Graf, Eleusis und die orphische Dichtung Athens, Berlin 1974.
29 Similarly later Julian's Hymn to the Mother of the Gods I 66b makes her acceptable to think-
ing circles by depicting her as the source of the intellectual and demiurgic gods.
30 Dillon 1977, 384-9, if unsympathetically, charts something of the use Gnostics such as
Yalentinus made of Plato. Whittaker 1987, 121-3 accommodates Gnosticism more gener-
ously withinthe developing climate of ideas that also included Middle Platonism.
31 'Elements' include such things as Heaven, Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Sun, Moon, and even the
Aeon; cf. Reitzenstein 1927, 225; there is also a discussion in Griffiths 1975, 301-3.
Cupid & Psyche 9
sensitive and learned modern scholar 32 • Yet, if Apuleius was a serious Platonist
(and who are we to deny that he was, accusing him of empty posturing and hyp-
ocritical gamesmanship?) and ifhe was acquainted with the discourses in which
intellectuals described the mysteries and in which Valentin us and his friends de-
scribed cosmogony and the soul, then he would have understood 'Psyche on the
Rock'. I do not believe, however, that it is a complete account of the Platonism
of our myth. One obvious lack is that it does not take account of the particular
vices which the sisters show, worldly ones as Carl Schlam emphasised (Schlam
1992, 96), or the particular virtues which Psyche attempts to leamprogrediens
1 ad modestiam ('on her first steps to decency and propriety'), something which
it might be illuminating to do in the company of de Platone, Bk 2.
So, Cupid and Psyche must have some place in _this dialogue of ideas.
Otherwise, paradoxica.Ilyffwoulo6enecessacy--to~~ppose that Apuleius, an
expert in Platonic discourse and a person initiated in religions, had found this
story in some more or less contemporary author and used only its folksy shell,
emptying out its religio-philosophical contents. Where, then, does it fit in the
stemma of mid-2nd century ideas? Given the way in which Ptolemaeus and
Valentinus built on their predecessors, it is practically impossible that these
Gnostics were influenced by a youthful Apuleius. There remain two possibil-
ities: either there was a common source for the introduction of curiositas (a
mystery-source? Aristophontes of Athens?), or Apuleius is re-setting Gnostic
mythology. In either case, w~ius is in effect doing is to transpose the
Valentinian myth into discourse culturally-:iccepfaok to the Roman estab-
~. a
Thus Cupid anif"PsycneTs conservative woix,-ofiliCalftiie-s-ame
colonises new religious ground. Platonic or mystic thesis, confronted with
Gnostic antithesis yields Apuleian synthesis.
32 'Tanto vale, allora, riprendere ii metodo e le conclusioni de! Dowden che richiamano, l'uno
e le altre, Fulgenzio ... Credo che non sia necessario dar troppo peso a questo revival di
Fulgenzio', Moreschini 1994, 63--4. Is the problem perhaps that Cupid & Psyche actually
requires, in part, a particularly literal form of intertextuality (allegory) to which modem crit-
ics find it hard to subscribe (though late antiquity and the renaissance could do so readily,
cf. Moreschini 1994, 26)? So, to say that 'Charite is Dido' is interesting and provocative be-
cause obviously approximate and tantalising, but to say that 'Psyche is soul and Cupid hei:
personal dairrwn, Platonic Love' is to be wooden, literal, and 1500 years out of date like
Fulgentius. Cupid & Psyche perhaps exhibits what one might term the intertextuality of the
matrix. This, I think, explains ~triking paradax •bara Mm:eschiniwho wriles brilliantly
on Apuleio e il platonisrrw (Fire11¥ 1978) must ~~E!. £1_p~,,Q!:_l0Q_J_ar~ H!!!!..!Qf Platonism
in_tfi_e_ii<I~e1andfo.
its central m.J'!QL_miseen abyme. A_11uleius'philosophica too canberefared
'to Gnostic thought: see, on the de Platone 190--1 and such issues as negative theology, van
den Broek 1996, ch.3.
10 Ken Dowden
Apuleius is not alone in working up a soul story with Gnostic affiliation.
Amongst the Nag Hammadi texts (11,6) is the Exegesis of the Soul, a story of
the soul's fall, disgrace, suffering, longing, marriage and redemption, with what
Scopello identifies as novelistic characteristics 33 • Its date is unclear: the Coptic
manuscript could be around 330/340 34 , but the Greek original could be almost
any date before that - maybe not so much later than Apuleius and Valentinus.
Plainly this text, with its striking analogies to Apuleius' story, has a philosoph-
ical and c11lticpurpose, rather like the one which Lucretius' persona advances,
to sugar the pill. Apuleius' story on the other hand imbues a work of literature
with meaning. But, whatever the differences in how one weighs content and
delectation, the Exegesis adds to the evidence for the context and interpreta-
tion of Apuleius' central tale. It is full of suggestive detail, of which l list some
as I do not have room here for a complete review:
1 it uses the model of Odysseus' return
Odysseus is recalled, on Kalypso's island weeping, suffering, deceived,
desiring return and needing the indispensable help of heaven (Athena) to
do so. EA 136,27-35, Scopello 1985, 27 f.
2 it stresses the need for suffering and prayer as preliminaries to salvation
It cites Odysseus' need to call on Athena and John 6,44 (EA 135,1)
(Scopello 1985, 30). These details are relevant to Cupid saving Psyche
and Isis saving Lucius.
3 the primordial condition of the soul is as a virgin beside the Father
EA 127,22-24, Scopello 1985, 45. This recalls the funeral procession of
Psyche and suggests her kingly father should hint at God, as in Fulgentius'
interpretation, a detail which even I (cf. Moreschini 1994, 64 and my n. 32
above!) had not been ready to adopt at 1982, 338.
33 Scopello 1985, 46--48, 96, clearly under the influence of M. Philonenko, whose Joseph et
Aseneth (Leiden 1968) had been distinguished by its knowledge ofnovel material. We need
to think, however, of a much less antiseptic world than one where the Greek novel itself is
the source for the supposedly novelistic characteristics of this reworking of the soul story;
this type of fiction is already in a way present in Philo's Old Testament and has a com-
plex and contaminated near-Eastern tradition as well as Greco-Roman; Scopello's focus on
an Alexandrian milieu for the author of the Exegesis (1985, 97, 100) is obviously benefi-
cial. I am grateful to an anonymous reader for drawing my attention to Scopello's excellent
volume.
34 Scopello 1985, I; clearly not composed in Coptic, cf. ibid. 13---16.
Cupid & Psyche 11
4 the soul is depicted as a slave
EA 128,7-11, Scopello 1985, 45.
5 p.e;,civoux(change-of-mind) is the &px~ (beginning) of salvation, a defini-
tive and instant change of mentality
EA 135,21, Scopello 1985, 83 f., citing also Philo de mutatione 123 and
quod deterius 95. The instant nature of mind-change may resolve some
Apuleian difficulties, namely (1) the understanding of why Psyche at 6,5
simply renounces hope and gives herself up to the police; (2) why the sal-
vation of Lucius the ass is not so much a gradual, Teruienzroman, business
but a matter of perception, despair and prayer at 11,1.
Metamorphoses: cosmos, love and sleep
It is no surprise that metamorphosis turns out to be the key to the novel and its
parts. A welcome tendency in criticism focused on the word 'intertextuality'
has been to increase our sensitivity to evocation and mutation. It is therefore an
entirely logical consequence that Apuleius' Metamorphoses, both because of
the allusive nature of the author's writing and thinking and because of its sub-
ject and thematic method, should be renewed by this type of critical attention.
There is now no longer any need to be worried by the different senses appar-
en~n tQ_ijiitheme~{ ~~ri.@itqs or thevana6Te751amew~;ss of sleep
in~~~~!: Nor perhaps do we needtg wrnzy aboutthecgnflicting levets of
seriousness invited by the author or suggested byhis material. Nor does7l>sy-
cii"eon the Rock' need to be difficult to assimilate: it explore; a particular area
of the intertextuality of Cupid arui Psyche, one which will not correspond to the
reading of many modern critics, though I allege that it does correspond to the
reading and intellectual environment of Apuleius himself. Even 'folk-tale' is an.
important intertext for the post-Grimm Nachleben of Apuleius, though I allege
that Apuleius would not have understood the concept of 'folk-tale----;-1ind that,
had it been explained to him, he would have viewed it with patrician contempt.
Cupid and Psyche is a vitatstepping-stone in the metamorphosis of themes
towarctsffieii ult:imate;i_gttlficance. The cosmic power oflsis (which a Valenti-
nus would certainly highlight) is already present in Venus, and is in fact prefig-
ured in the portrait of the witches. In 1,8, an important chapter for the themes
of the novel, the cosmic powers of Meroe are described (caelwn deponere -
'bringing the sky down' - and so on) and culminate in the ability Tartarum
ipsum inluminare ('to illuminate Tartarus itself'). This is a skill also, appar-
ently, possessed by Pamphile (2,5) and will recur, transfigured, in the final book
 12
Ken Dowden
Cupid & Psyche 13
at the heart of Lucius' mystery experience - nocte . . .
coruscantem lumine ('in the middle of the . medza v1d1so/em _candi~ dormiens cadaver ('nothing other than a sleeping corpse', Thelyphron and the
bright light' 11 23 35) _ and L . hi mg~t I saw the sun gleaming with corpse now merged). A metamorphosis has taken place: no longer is failure of
, , ucms mself will appear ad i t S 1·
natus ('decked out like the Sun' 11 24) Thi . . n~ ar o zs exor- vigilance the fault; rather, it is the opposite excess, too much looking (curiosi-
. , , . s dazzlIM light m th d rlrna.
1s, then, long thematised b th . ..._:.;;;=-e- e J~r~ss fas.). But the principal difference is Psyche's unlooked-for and unexpected res-

('flashing with extreme brilliance' ~h;;;

- voluptas Veneria ('Venus' ple ' ,
~£ ~:•d,
lamp in hand, and beholds :e ra~i:me ~at Psyc~e illicitly approaches Cupid,

.
splendore nimiofulgurante
e sexual nature of the witches
cue by Cupid - alias Amor the polar opposite of Somnus, Amor who has the
power of vigilandi 42_.
Psyche's first sleep (5, 1) is refreshing and comes as she leaves the mortal
d asure, sexual pleasure') with Mer (1 8) th
anger of nexus Venerius ('sexual liaison') with p . oe ' ' e world (at 'death') and enters the divine world. Both sleeps seem incorporated,
crucial metamorphosis of the lov th . ~phde (2,6) - prepare the transmuted, into the pivotal sleep of Lucius at 11,1. Distanced now from the
and Psyche which mak ·bt theme mto longmg for the divine in Cupid bustle of the profane world (the Judgment of Paris that gives the prize to Venus,
SI ' es poss1 e e asexual ardor for Isis in Book 1137
eep too metamorphoses during the novel U . . cf. that other Venus in Cupid and Psyche), Lucius finds himself at the sea shore,
can be c~lpable. The clearest illustration is in the!;~ ~t~ ~nd:syche sleep as Justin once had 43, at his moment of conversion. Exhausted, he lays himself
one of S1senna's Milesian Tales 38) wh h. . b . . . e yp on (perhaps down in quodam mollissimo harenae gremio ('in a very gentle lap of sand',
2 22) over the cad tha ere is Jo is to vzgzlare ('stay awake' 10,35; cf. Psyche's fiorentis cespitis gremio, 'lap of luxuriant grass', 4,35) and
' aver t turns out to bear his nam B '
('deep sleep') takes hold of him and he looks as d de. thuta somnus profundus he is overwhelmed by a dulcis somnus ('sweet sleep', cf. dulce conquievit, 'she
th e w1tc· hes gam • access and heh" If. . ea as e corpse (2 ' 25) . Th us took a sweet rest', 5,1) 44 • He is about to enter his own Cupid's palace. But now
from witches if ui_ise is _mutilated. So, it seems,~ are safe he wakes and feels the divinity is at hand; he does not actually hear voices, like
dri th you are awake, an mterestmg proposition, which also see1ru t
-~ry of Socrates and Aristomenes39 Tii ··· , --~--- 0 Psyche or the middle-Platonic Socrates 45 • Like Psyche (5,3), if with more reli-
who iamsopliiissiertebaTaliius·~- . ere IS no hope f?r .:,ocrates, gious intensity, he washes. He prays and now, as for Psyche at her second sleep,
1 11) Ari l oy now was fast asleep and snonng deeply'
, . stomenes on the other hand 'thr h £ ' an act of grace occurs: the agent is no longer the intermediary daimon Cupid,
first for some while' Th he dr ou~ ear stays awake (invigilo) at but Isis the transmuted Venus, the very rerum naturae parens ('parent of the
· en ops off and hke latron ('b · d ,
theme waiting to take off)40 th .t h . es ngan s , another universe', 11,5).
second sleep at 6 21 Psyche' o e w1thcebsbreak m. This takes us to Psyche's These instances of sleep are the transition to another world, or to other-
' ' · pens e ox she h · df
sis, breaching mystic rules as an . . . as game rom her kataba- world_!in.e.stThat other world is, in several representations such as, maybe. that
Father Dionysos (Apol. 55) - 'w~~t: patns mysta - initiate into the rites of of Heliodoros, our real home and the prototype for the journey is the return of
she is aware of Deme , . ow: Psyche herself must also know if Odysseus, allegorised (cf. Dowden 1996, esp. 280). The echoes of Cupid and
es' 6 2)41 Imm d" lter s t~c1ta secreta c1starum ('silent secrets of the box-
' , . e iate y she Is overwhelmed by cul abl 1 . Psyche are peculiarly dense at the moment when Odysseus arrives home at
nus ac vere Stygius ('hellish sl d . P e s eep, mfemus som- Ithaca after all his trials. Conveyed by the supernatural skill of the Phaeacians
eep an truly Stygian'); she is nihil aliud quam
(cf. Zephyrs), alone of his comrades (whose atasthalie was their undoing, cf.
35 The brilliant light is used in a verbal echo in de deo . Psyche's sisters), he is left in a mysterious landscape surrounded by wealth.
to evoke the transcendent god so im "bi Soc. 3 (coruscamine lumen candidum)
1960, 226). • poss1 e to apprehend, of Plato's Timaeus 28c (Wlosok At this key moment of transition from one world to another, Odysseus -
36 'The whole chapter · d d - ·
is crow e with suggestions of brilliant r ht d
remarks, cf. also Kenney 1990a, 169 and GCA (f: rth . ig an splendour'' as a referee 42 This, admittedly, in a rather bathetic passage of the de deo Socralis (§ 155), cf. Habermehl
37 This is, of course a dialectt·c betw •H I o conung) ad 5,22. 1996, 122, attempting with some difficulty (n.25) to link this surely relevant binary opposi-
• een eaven y and p d · 1
7 (si: also Keulen in this volume). an ermc ove, cf. Kenney 1990b, 176-- tion to Cupid and Psyche. Beaujeu 1973, 237 n.3 refers to their presence in the iconography
38 Pupillus ego Mile10 profectus 2 2 l. see H . . G of a Louvre sarcophagus, an interesting context (cf. below).
39 Cf. also Lucius h : .' '. amson m CN 9, 1998. 43 Justin, Dialogue wilh Tl)-piw, 2-3. Dowden 1994, 429, 433--4.
• w o must ev1g1larem the house of Pamphile (2 6)
40 Do wden 1993, 97-8; 104--6. , · 44 I find it hard not to refer this rest to the Gnostic &.va.mxu<nc;
- the repose that results from
41 On the cista mystica see Merkelbach 43 who n t . . union with the divine (Scopello 1985, 78) - on which a book can be, and has been, written:
tably in view of the thesis I am presentin~ on ro:::a:::rpe3'."ance m funerary art ~d, no- J. Helderman, Die Anapausis im Evangelium Veritatis (=Nag Hammadi Studies 18), Leiden
cretorum capax at 11,ll. Demeter's cista. hi w· h ng, I~ ~p~arance as the c1sta se- 1984.
is g ig led by Hemnc1 1897, 406. 45 Apuleius, de deo Socratis; Plutarch, de genio Socratis; Maximus of Tyre, Or. 8-9.
 14 Ken Dowden
in a remarkable and beautiful inspiration of antiquity's greatest poet - is
asleep. Dulce conquievit. As the Phaeacians arrive with Odysseus, there is an
ekphrasi.s with something iconic about it. It is the harbour of Phorkys (Odyssey
13,96), a portus Quietis ('harbour of Rest', Met. 11,15) if ever there was one,
and it is here that we find Porphyry's Cave of the Nymphs (Od. 13,103), with
bees and their honey, ever-flowing water and the entrances for men (to the
North wind) and gods (to the South wind). When Odysseus wakes, he meets
the goddess Athene herself, her identity concealed only a little longer, and he
is Home - though some trials await him. This, of course, is Odysseus' second
(significant) sleep. I shall return to his first presently.
Philo, Gnostics and the Platonic Mainstream
Philo's method in interpreting the Old Testament, broadly, is to highlight
themes and (very often) to assign them a significance in the light of the soul's
journey through life and its attempt to return where it belongs. We are perhaps
not inclined to associate ourselves with his reading of these texts, though if he
had written the Old Testament we might be obliged to. The case is not dissim-
ilar for the allei!orjsing of Homer to which Philo's method is very obviously
jndebte~ and in both cases the function of this style of intefj)~~i:ationis to map
soteriological material onto texts which the interpreter wishes to be vehicles
of authority. In the case of Homer this is to borrow the authority which Greek
culture generally assigned to the author; in the case of the Old Testament,
this is to accredit non-Greek scripture by bringing it within accepted Greek
intellectual discourse and values 46.
It is important for Philo that the discourse which be adopts is one which is
shared and recognised by the Greek soteriological theoreticians. This is vital for
us, because so far from Philo displaying some deviant mode of interpretation,
he is in fact the most copious evidence for what bad been a widespread type of
reading, in an area of shortage of surviving evidence (otherwise I should have
bad to rely on such limited texts as Pseudo-Herakleitos, Cornutus, Numenios
and, proleptically, Porphyry on the Cave of the Nymphs). It is a difficult problem
fo.rscbQli!I_s_ofP_hjl<>Jodecide quite bow to describe the refatfonshlpsubsisting
between Philo and what we generally term 'Gnosticism', 6111 there is no doubt
oftliereiationship 47 . So, for in~tance, Stead once observed that 'One canrecon-
46 Of course it also does much more than this ideologically; see Dawson 1992, I 13.
47 Precisely where one positions the following in relation to each other is a matter of schol-
arly dispute, well outlined by Pearson I 9S4 and visible throughout the ANRW II 21. l vol-
ume: Philo, mythological Gnosis, philosophical Gnosis, mainstream philosophy, and what-
ever doctrine was believed by participants in various mystery religions.
Cupid & Psyche 15
struct most of the presuppositions of Valentinus merely by rearranging Philo's
mental furniture' 48 . It is equally clear that this is more than just a question of ap-
parently marginal Philo and Gnostics: the third term is the mainstream source of
accreditation which these marginal thinkers lean on, again difficult to describe
with precision. Layton bas characterised this as 'a non-Christian esoteric phi-
losophy somewhat resembling gnostic myth and imagery' (Layton 1987, xvi).
Wlosok, in the words of Pearson,
argues that (at the latest) by the time of the beginning of the Empire, there
existed a Platonizing pagan myst~ .. ~s. -~~
in which.-c~!!=.m
mystery-rites-were--mterprefeciallegorically, in. th~ Ughtof a Plato!}ism
colouredb)'?ifoo-Pythag,oreani~m ... Philo is a product of this development
and its most important representative 49 .
Alexandria clearly had a particular importance in these developments, repre-
senting a melting-pot where Jewish, Platonic, mystic and early Gnostic ideas
might meet and crossfertilise 50 . It could even be that these feminine heroics in
soul-stories such as Apuleius' Cupid and Psyche are in some measure influ-
enced by the Jewish tradition of figures such as Esther, Judithand Susanna. as
Scopello (1985, 51) argues in the case of Gnostic soul stories.
My thesis for Apuleius' Cupid and Psyche is that Alll!k:iusthe Middle-Platonist
an~with an interest in the soul and mystcry-religi~,-represents th~n-
str'e.un oii-wruclf
PhttoaiioValenuniii-oiew {maced Valentinus ;-ay also have
kfiown Philolfifectry5t·:: an:,rApuleius could well have heard and read Valenti-
nus) and which they and others like them in turn probably modified. The dif-
ference from our interpretative point of view, however, is that Philo may not
have written the Old Testament, but Apuleius did write Cupid and Psyche and
it therefore authentically bears the sorts of meanings which Philo foists onto
I the Old Testament and which a Pseudo-Herakleitos foists onto Homer (though
I
'l 48 Stead 1969, 90; cf. Stead in Layton 1980, 934, clearly perceiving Philo and the Gnostics.
I as sharing a particular Platonic vision. See also G. Quispel, 'Philo und die altchristliche
Haresie', ThZ 5 (1949) 429-36.
49 Pearson 1984, 310, with convenient brevity reporting Wlosok 1960, esp. 4&-179.
50 Cf. van den Broek I 9%, ch.7 ('Jewish and Platonic Speculations in early Alexandrian Theol-
ogy: Eugnostus [Eugnostus the Blessed is a Nag Hamrnadi text], Philo, Valentinus, and Ori-
gen'), and 127: 'the Valentinian Ogdoad depends on a Platonized amplified Jewish-Gnostic
myth of Anthropos and Sophia of the type found in Eugnostus'.
51 Dawson (1992, 18) and Layton (1987, xvi) think that Valentinus may have known Philo's
work - he did after all live for the first 35--40 years of his life in Alexandria (cf. Dawson
127). Chronologically, Valentinus could without difficulty have heard Philo.
 16 Ken Dowden
perhaps Vergil did too?) 52 . It is therefore entirely intelligible why Cupid and
Psyche looks so very similar to the Valentinian myth of Sophia and why it re-
sponds, as I shall now show, to important elements in a Philonic reading.
Philo, Gnostics and the Platonic Mainstream on Sleep
One key theme to which Philo assigns a value is sleep. The asketes ('trainee'),
making earnest steps towards virtue, has good days and bad days, 'sometimes
living and awake, sometimes dead or asleep' (de somniis 1,150). Those who
lead a life of luxury mistakenly think themselves fortunate, but in fact 'their
whole life is sleep and dream' (de somniis 1,121). 'Deep and resounding sleep,
by which every worthless man is held fast, robs the mind of true perceptions
and fills it with false images and untrustworthy apparitions' (de somniis 2,162).
Happy those who, like 'people rising from a deep sleep, suddenly, effortlessly
and with no trouble see the whole kosmos' (quod Deus immutabilis sit 97). In-
deed the image of 'deep sleep' is common in Philo, where it had been unknown
in Plato 53 . And the five daughters ofZelophahad (Numbers 27), an allegory for
the senses, pointed out that their father had no sons, only daughters, 'since that
which is inclined to remember, being naturally up and awake, begets males,
but that which is inclined to forget, allowing sleep of the logismos ('reasoning
faculty'), begets females' (de migratione 206). 'Sleep is a blind thing' (de mi-
gratione 222). 'If the mind is hann-free and unimpaired, harassed by none of
the iniquities or feelings that produce the derangement of drunkenness, it will
renounce sleep, which implants forgetfulness and hesitation in the face of what
needs to bedone, and welcoming wakefulness will be sharp-sighted for all that
needs to beseen' (de sobrietate 5). However, the most relevant passage comes
in the de somniis at 1,165:
All you sou "vine erotes_('passionate loves', 'Eroses'),
~~~~--as ~deep.sleep ;mg_Q.i§~l ~t: hurry totlieachcired
sight, setliiig aside the slow and dithering hesitation (oknos), so that you can
perceive all the sights and sounds which the master of ceremonies has put
on for your benefit.
Philo's attitude to sleep comes rather suddenly as a settled image (though he
of course knows other, less symbolic, uses of the word). It is clearly building
on something in the Hellenistic interpretative tradition that is not fully visible
52 On writer as allegorist, see further section 6 below.
53 From tl!e TLG CD-ROM: no combinations of f:laOuc;and u1t'.1oc;in Plato, but plenty in Philo;
e.g. Cher. 62, Deus immutabilis 39, Abraham 10.
I
1
~
Cupid & Psyche
to us. Some obiter dicta of Plato have evidently been taken up - a passage of
the Republic that we shall consider later and Laws 808b-c where night-time
activity is recommended:
17
I
I
A lot of sleep is not naturally suitable for our bodies or for our souls or for ac-
tions in this situation. People asleep are useless and might as well be dead 54 •
I
j
To this, I very much suspect, is added a reading of O<i~ant)
sleep, as his crew open the bag of winds (a sort of cista on this reading), an
action which prevents his return to his fatherland.
1
Other more centrally Greco-Roman writers knew this theme. 1know of two
instances in ~- In an important passage which looks from our limited
knowledge like the stepping stone between the Politicus and Apuleius, Plutarch
talks of how the World-Soul goes to sleep and forgets its duties, dragged down
by body and its own nature 55 , but its better aspect rouses it again towards the
example of god (de animae procreatione 1026e-f) 56 • The second example, in
his Amatorius, exhibits 'waking' amidst other related motifs: giving in effect an
exegesis of thePhaedrus (esp. 250a-256e), he talks about how Eros helps the
soul recall what it has forgotten (764-e)57 . This is an experience like awakening
to a great light. In fact the soul's waking time, says Plutarch waxing Plotinian,
is Yonder (764-f).,!,ove 'raises the soul and escorts it up, in a kindly w~y_jyf.
grace) like a mystagogos beside one iv a W)!J:U'')'-rite' (765a) 58 • There indeed
is something reminiscent of ritual about the episode of sleep and raising in the
<
Psyche story.
By the time of the generation after Apuleius' stay in Rome 59 , in a series re-
vealingly given in Rome, Maximus of Tyre gave a lecture (10 'If Instances of
Learning are Recall') on soul, nous, the association of soul with worthy dai-
mon (10,9). There he talks of 'much darkness and deep sleep overtaking the
54 The passage is cited by H. Baiz, s.v. 'u1t'.loc;' in: G. Friedrich (ed.), Theologisches Worter-
buch zum Neuen Testament, vol. 8 pp. 545-556 a1 p. 547.
55 The fact that the baser elements are innate in the soul and that the higher are an apport from
god is reflected in the sisters being Psyche's family, but her husband Cupid not being so. See
also O'Brien in this volume.
56 The theme is also found in Albinos 14, as i~ noted by Dillon 1977, 205-6, who finds the
provenance of the idea puzzling. Stead I 969, IOI emphasises the particular closeness of the
de procreatione to Valentinian thought.
57 In addition this obviously requires connection with Apuleius himself on Amor and Somnus
(see above).
58 Cited by Kenney 1990b, 193.
59 Dating to Commodus in the Souda s.v. 'Maximos'; Eusebios confuses him with Oaudius
Maximus the stoic gentleman (cf. M.B.Trapp, Maximus Tyrius (sic) Dissenationes, Stuttgart
& Leipzig 1994, lvi).
18 Ken Dowden
conceptions of the soul' (10,6) and remarks how life is for our souls 'a long
dream lasting many years' (10,1).
l
The theme recurs frequently in the Gnostics: 'of the most constant and
widest use is the image of sleep' (Jonas 69), belonging with 'drunkenness'
and 'oblivion' as characteristics of the soul in its earthly existence, an ex-
istence 'Which takes on the characteristics of a former underworld (Jonas
68). Jonas cites inter alia the Hymn of the Pearl (which Merkelbach used to
illuminate the sense of Heliodoros) and the Corpus Henneticum 1,27 which
reproaches 'earthbom men' for 'giving themselves to drunkenness, sleep and
the ignorance of God'. Most startlingly, the Gospel of Truth, a work which
authors (e.g., Dawson) often attribute to Valentinus himself, presents the
Aeons as falling from the godhead through an ignorance depicted insistently
as equivalent to being sunk in sleep - a sleep from which the Spirit must come
and wake them, so rescuing them 60. This is clearly by now very close indeed
to Psyche's sleep and Cupid's awakening of her.
Perhaps this image is best explained, a hundred years after Apuleius, by
Plotinos:
So the soul dies, in the sense that a soul can, and its death is, still plunged in
the body, to sink in material (hyle) and to be filled with it and, emerging, to
lie there until it can somehow leap up and get its face out of the mud. This is
what is meant by 'arriving in Hades to fall asleep'. (Plotinos, Ennead 1,8,13
fin.)
'This passage', said Thomas Taylor (1790/1), 'doubtless alludes to the antient
and beautiful story of Cupid and Psyche, in which Psyche is said to fall asleep in
Hades; and this through rashly attempting to behold corporeal beauty: and the
observation of Plotinos will enable the profound and contemplative reader to
unfold the greater part of the mysteries contained in this elegant fable' 61 . But
as Thomas Taylor also goes on to observe, the ultimate source for this motif
(as my quotation marks around 'arriving in Hades to fall asleep' show) is Plato
himself. At Republic 534c, the Good is under discussion: unless people have a
reasoned understanding of the Good, they have no knowledge of it, or of any-
thing good, at all. They may have opinion but 'dreaming and dozing through
their present life, before ever they wake up here, they have arrived in Hades and
have fallen totally asleep'. This is by no means what Apuleius or these other au-
thorities have been saying, but it looks as though it may well be a passage that
60 Gospel of Truth§§ 29-30 in J.M. Robinson (ed.), The Nag Hammadi Library, Leiden 1977,
43.
61 From Th. Taylor, 'A Dissertation on the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries', reprinted in K.
Raine & G.M. Harper, Thomas Taylor the Platonist: Selected Writings, London 1969, 348-9.
Cupid & Psyche 19
has developed in commentary within the Platonic koine into the standard sym-
bolic account which we see explicitly given by Plotinos (within which after all
he incorporates a souvenir of it). It is striking also that in Apuleius the arrival in
Hades of Psyche is so closely associated with her sleep, as though this passage
of Plato was at some level in Apuleius' mind as he wrote.
Psyche and Mythology: Ariadne, Andromeda, Sappho
It is difficult to accommodate Satyrs and Maenads within an account of Greek
mythology because they are mainly generic, decorative figures, without a
myth 62 . Eros and Psyche likewise seem to be primarily decorative characters
but for Apuleius' novel - otherwise their story is not on general release,
though Plotinos and Fulgentius allude to tellings 63 • This leads in the LTMC
article on 'Psyche' to a mistaken attempt to structure generic representations
(admittedly sometimes incorporated by Apuleius or his source into the story)
around Apuleius' account as though his account was 'the myth' 64 .
The full curiosity of this situation has not been grasped. For Apuleius it is ar-
tificial (ifit is not taboo) to tell a story of Cupid and Psyche. The story-vacuum
of these genre-figures can only suck in motifs that characterise other stories ac-
cording to the intended dynamics of the Cupid and Psyche tale. Thus, more than
ever, Cupid and Psyche needs to be interpreted by the intertexts that flow in to
fill the void. But there is another aspect too: why and where are Cupid and Psy-
che, as genre figures, so very important? Naturally, they appear in many differ-
ent artistic contexts and not always with the same significance (Schlam 1976).
But a crucial role for them is on sarcophagi, where they are evidently well suited
to express eschatological hope in the li24tpf the Plato:mc Jwme.
e s1 uation of Apuleius bears an interesting resemblance to the situation
of Valentinus as perceived by Dawson in a recent book on the development of
allegorical reading. F~~J:>a:wSOll,~hilo-iepr~~i:1~~ f!rst ~t;\ge-iA-whiGh.3ll.egory' 1
is used to reconstruct an existing text. But V: resents a new and more
advanced stage, where tiie1~ocy to allegory leads to the~ of a
new text thante~its pow~~ fr~_lll_ o~t:_r:_
irn)2~~itly allegorised, texts.
--~---------------
62 K. Dowden, Uses of Greek Mythology, London 1992, 166.
63 Plotinus, Ennead 3,5,2-3, 6,9,9 'which is why Eros and Psyche are paired together both in
art and in myth'; Fulgentius, Mythologiae 3,6 on Aristophontes of Athens who told the same
story as Apuleius enonni verborum circuitu in the course of his Dysaresteia.
64 I am in the good company of Carl Schlam (1976, 32): 'Virtually none of the representations
can be interpreted reliably as illustrating a narrative ... Some incidents in the tale may, on
the other hand, reflect representations.'
20 Ken Dowden
Curiously enough, this mode of interpretation as composition gains much
of its effectiveness precisely because the new story contains oblique, some-
times nearly subliminal, echoes of the old story. (Dawson 1992, 130)
I have suggested above that an obvious mythic intertext for Psyche's second
< Perseus is played by Cupid, though he transmutes into the monster in the sis-
sleep is Ariadne - asleep, but rescued and immortalised by Dionysos. This does
more than fill the story-vacuum: it puts a slant on the Cupid and Psyche story
which Apuleius (or his source) is constructing. Cista, Ariadne, and flagellation
alla Villa Item 65 (with another depiction ofDionysos and Ariadne) suggest the
Dionysos- · · · know, do not gu~1,§,t.}latApuleius was initi-
~ted (A~l. ~5) ~d which may well have been popul~-i~omeatthistime
if w~ can ju ge from the Torr~ Nova inscription 66 . OQ_ubtlessthis D__j_onysia~
mystlc context does not explam all, but equally it is impossible to excludell
~an element.in...the-~x tluiiApufeius is putting forwardTiiis IS sup-
ported especially strongly by the sarcophagi. Koch and Sichtermann observe
that in the city of Rome the discovery of Ariadne by Dionysos is the most fre-
quent Dionysiac myth depicted, occurring some 23 times 67• It is not difficult
to see why this should be an especially appropriate theme for sarcophagi: the
soul, now asleep in death, is taken up to heaven. As Icard-Gianolio's analy-
sis in UMC sh~ws 68, Psyche is co~~c pr~~~~s!~!1s69, is found in
~e legend ~1on,:sos~. and in one particular sarcophagus 'Amor
tlent une torche pres de Bacchus banquefaiiI avecArianea qm Psyche •rte
une guirlande'. Regardless of Apuleius' expertise in monumental masonry, we
can see the climate of ideas that surrounded him and how mythology, including
Psyche's second sleep, might be read. One further, extraordinary, example de-
mands our attention: in the tomb in Rome on the Viale Manzoni there is a figure
depicted as Ariadne, who appears to require interpretation in a Gnostic context.
This Ariadne, Carcopino once suggested (1956,126), is in fact the fallen Sophia
of the Valentinians awaiting the Redeemer.
What then of Psyche on the rock (4,32-35)? Here she is clearly Andromeda,
from the involvement of parents, hybristic comparison with the divinity and
65 Cf. Merkelbach 1962, 48-9.
66 AJA 37 (1933) 232-3. Jeanmaire 1951, 470-1. Agripinilla's son was consul in 150· her fam-
ily came from Lesbos and the inscription has been drawn into connection with U:ngus, not
only by Merkelbach 1962, 192-4.
67 Koch-Sichtermann 1982, 193. 'L'art tardif manifestera une predilection pour le motif de la
rencontre d' Ariane endormie ... ', Jeanmaire 1951 345
68 LIMC 7.1 p. 572; cf. Koch-Sichtermann 1982, 215 o~ 'die Darstellung des schlafenden
Paares von Eros und Psyche neben der schlafenden Ariadne auf dionysischen Sarkophagen •.
See also Schlam 1976, eh. v, esp. p. 22.
69 'The monuments associate Eros and Psyche most closely with Dionysos among the divini-
ties', Schlam 1976, 23.
Cupid & Psyche 21
punishment by exposure to a monster 7°. In this case, the part of the winged
ters' febrile imagination-as evidence that they cannot 'read' Cupid. It is worth
noting that .a.pajnti!}_gQf.Andromec_la, is foundin.tw.p.other novels. In Achilles
T~tius it figure~~ ~e auth~~·~g~e of cat 1µ1dm<>~S~_-with_the1eader.point-
i11_guTiiiiiateiy
to Leukippe 's capture ~d]~~.ilS."?: In Heliodoros, it underpins
the whole-story - with\vhatever significance one is prepared to attribute to it (I
consider there are Platonic depths here - Dowden 1996). But in any case this
is another myth that, given the right context is a salvation myth ('Verheissung
einer Rettung der Seele <lurchGott', in the words ofMerkelbach 1962, 11), and
the casting of Psyche, the Soul, as both Andromeda and Ariadne gives away the
agenda. In fact Perseus and Andromeda are rare on sarcophagi, though in Ro-
man art as a whole Perseus and Andromeda is more popular than the Medusa
episodes 72 . For a real parallel, one needs to go, as Merkelbach ( 1962, 12 n. l)
has said, to the depiction of the similar story of Herakles and Hesione on the
vault of the Basilica at the Porta Maggiore.
A final intertext, observed by Kerenyi 73 , should be taken fully into account.
Psyche is not chained to her rock (as you might expect from Andromeda). She
is 'stood' on a high peak, in summo cacumine statutam, and left crying. As she
weeps, the aura molliter spirantis 'Zephyri ('breeze of a Zephyr blowing gen-
tly') carries her gradually down. Has she jumped? Perhaps not-it is left for her
sisters to display their temeritas by going that far (5,14; cf. 5,27). But the in-
tertext remains ~pho leaping from the rock of Leu_lgls...anicon which formed
t~~_ofall !he ~Jthology assembled by Pyth~oreans fouJ:ie_roof of
their_basilica~L!h~_Porta Maggiore. The rock is sacred to Apollo, god of P~y-
che's oracle. Sappho, as can be-seen from Ovid Heroides 15 74 , has come for
70 See, e.g., Merkelbach 1962, 11 (Kenney 1990a, 19 n.81 rightly stresses the oddity of my
missing this point in Dowden 1982). Schiesaro 1988, 147 also cites Andromeda (as well as
Iphigeneia, Dido and Medea, intertexts which are less close and less useful for interpreta-
tion), signalling notably the account of Manilius 5,538 ff. and esp. 545 ff.
71 S. Bartsch, Decoding the Ancient Novel, Princeton 1989, ch.2.
72 Rare, Koch--Sichtermann 180; Andromeda not Medusa; L.J. Roccos in LIMC 7.1 p. 347, cf.
K. Schauenburg in LIMC I. I pp. 778-84.
73 C. Kerenyi, 'Der Sprung vom Leukasfelsen: Zur Wiirdigung des unterirdischen Kultraumes
von Porta Maggiore in Rom', ARW24 (1926) 61-72 at pp. 70-1; Merkelbach 1962, 13.
74 Carcopino 1956,10-11. It looks to me as thoughApuleius has been reading Heroides 15, as
it includes, though not in a comparable structure, a number of the elements of Cupid and
Psyche: the silva where Sappho rests her lassos anus (143--62) has some of the character-
istics of the grove at Cupid's palace; mollis Amor and his pennae appear at 179, 'Zephyri at
208, Venusona mari at 213, and Cupido at 215; in addition, Phaon (cf. Cupid) is the missing
master of the grove_
 I
22 Ken Dowden

rebirth andpourvaincre /'amour profane dont elle etait consumee. ltis the au-
rae ('breezes') which Sappho invokes (177) to save her in her fall. Tu quoque,
mollis Amor, pennas suppone cadenti ('You too, gentle Eros, place wings be-
neath me as I fall', 179) 75 . Thus the fourth book closes and Psyche lands in the
fifth.
Conclusion
Cupid and Psyche, then, is a part of Apuleius' work that bears a non-
coincidental resemblance to Ptolemaeus' myth of Sophia Achamoth. Its
significance must be judged, not only by the literary context from which
modem critics tend to arrive, but by the actual environment of ideas, so far
as we can reconstruct it, which immeisea'-Aputeius liimself. The Valentinian
Christians are one testimony to that environment. Others include the mythic
themes of sarcophagi, pagan religion (notably that of Dionysos) and phi-
losophy, the type of views held by opinion-leaders and intellectual outcasts
(notably the orthodox Christians) in Rome in Apuleius' day.
Where contemporary evidence runs out, rather than judge too much by that
portion of the iceberg which we can see, we should take soundings to gauge
the character of that part which we cannot see. Here Philo may be a century
earlier, may be a Jew and may be in Alexandria, but there are filflisputable intel-
lectual links to Philo's world which Valentinus and his disciples demonstrate.
Later, Plotinos delivers a developed version ofthis frad1tton. Where the line
fr~Phi~IliliOs. the~iincfsApuieiiis:My·~~~te~tion
is simply that the Cupid and Psyche of this middle Platonist needs to be in-
terpreted in the light of that tradition and that, displaying the themes it does,
it evidently must be. 'One feels', said Henry Chadwick (in Layton 1980, 13),
'that gnosticism would have exercised powerful attractions over such a man,
with his strong interests in religion, sex and magic'. Maybe so, but Gnosticism
is not a marginal guirk for which our Apuleius must be made to sign up: it is
--~--=--- ..--·--·- ...
avisible offshoot of the Plalonising myste;y thoughUQ wllich mainstreamau- ___
thors--- might
.
be expected
. ·----· __
to _.,,,_,.
subscribe.
75 The fact of 'Pythagorean' speculation about Sappho and Phaon is attested by Pliny, Nat.
22,20.
'For every tatter in its mortal dress':
Love, the Soul and her Sisters
Maeve C. O'Brien
Maynooth
Unattractive and seemingly incidental, Psyche's nameless sisters harrass their
sibling until she is finally saved by Cupid 1• Psyche and her god eventually find
rest among gods who charm in Lucretius, Vrrgil and Ovid, and who delight us
all in Apuleius' Metamorphoses.
Introduction
Apuleius persuasively and implicitly invites one to view the story as allegory:
soul led astray and saved from evil by love. As such Cupid and Psyche will con-
tain components offolktale and philosophical allegory 2 . But the much vaunted
and explicit directive, lector intende: laetaberis (Apul. Met. 1, l ), advocates de-
light rather than instruction revealing Cupid and Psyche for what it is, an amus-
ing narrative illustrating the evils of illusion in the sublunary world. Psyche's
sisters are persuaders, talkers, experts in invention method and delivery 3. They
and Cupid vy for possession of Psyche. Cupid and the sisters are at odds in this
respect, but their methods for gaining control of Psyche are remarkably sirni-
Met. 5,1: the sisters call on their sister by name: nomine proprio. Toe sisters themselves re-
main unnamed. The quotation in the title of this paper is taken from Sailing to Byzantium by
W.B. Yeats.
2 Purser 1910, 128--131; Grima! 1963, 7; Robino 1966, 67; Thibau 1965; Schlarn 1970, 480;'
Schlam 1971, 285-309; Wright 1971; Stabryla 1973; Penwill 1975, 59; Katz 1976, 111;
Walsh 1981; For the opposing view, Moreschini 1994, 62- 77.
3 They resolve to lie to their parents, Met. 5, 11, and 14. They hide their true feelings, 5, 15, and
17. They state that their speech will make Psyche's good fortune real, 5, 10, Psyche becomes
convinced by their assertion that her husband is a serpent, 5,18, and she believes that those
who told her sisters such things do not appear to be telling lies, 5,19.
24 Maeve C. O'Brien
lar: they bewitch her with talk 4 • Cupid charms with the fantasia of his 'golden
house' (domus aurea) and its 'household of voices' (vocesfamulae). The sisters
terrify with stories of dragons and monsters, stories they know to be lies, since
they realise Psyche is married to a god not a monster (deus maritus, 'divine hus-
band': 5,9). Psyche, similar to many a hapless reader, is at a loss drawn one way
then the other. The sisters' rhetoric proves too powerful and she succumbs, only
to recognise the error of her ways. Then she is separated from Cupid, although
she tries to prevent his leaving by clinging to his foot as he departs the scene
(5,24) 5 .
In order to make anything of this one should tum towards Apuleius rather
than away from him. For example, what he says about gods as they appear in
literature is instructive. On the god of Socrates finds Apuleius maintaining that
the gods in literature are daemons not gods at all, and that poets portray gods
as lovers and haters of human beings in works of literature (Apul. Soc. 145-
6). The soul is extensively discussed in On Plato and his Teaching, and de-
monology in On the god of Socrates 6 . Now Psyche or soul is, according to
Apuleius' demonology, a daemon too. Are her sisters daemonic also?
Psyche and her sisters
Should the sisters and Psyche be seen as parts of the tripartite soul? The sisters
and Psyche as parts of the tripartite soul would answer the question regarding
the daemonic nature of the sisters and explain why they are unnamed 7 • Victims
4 Cf. Me 1. 5,6, Cupid: monuit ... neue se ... de tanto fortunarum suggestu pessum deiciat: 'he
warned her... not to cast herself down from the exalted height of her fortunes', and 5, I 0, one
of the sisters: nee sum mulier nee omnino spiro, nisi eam pessum de tantis opibus deicero:
'I am no woman, I have no breath in me at all, if I do not cast her down from that pile of
wealth'. Psyche starts inventing things, 5,8, and 15, so her sisters conclude that she is telling
a huge lie, monstruoso ... mendacio; mendacio ... confingere, 5, 16. Cf. Plato Rep. 493, on the
sophist as keeperof a monster (the vulgar throng) whose habits he knows, but the monster
is reall:y in charge; Rep. 589b on the persuasive powers of the lower and upper parts of the
soul. Also Phaedrus 269 and Phaedo 89c-9Ic.
5 Cf. Plato, Phaedrus 248c.
6 The soul is part of the primary essence: Apul. Pl. 193 (cf. Plato, Phaedo 80a), and is the
mistress of the body: Apul. Pl. 207. The soul is the sanctuary of virtue and is itself a dae-
mon: Apul. Soc. 150. Really good people such as Socrates have a guardian daemon: Soc.
157 (cf. Plato, Phaedo 107d), which functions much as a Genius: Pl. 206, and this soul is
the place/abode of the Genius, locus genialis: Pl. 253. Souls which have left the body after
death are Lemures, good ones being Lares, and bad ones Larvae: Soc. 152-4. Daemons: in
Apulei\lS, Soc. 132; Pl. 204; 206; De Mundo 343 = Apology 43,2; Asclepius 33; see Hijmans
1987, 442. Cf. Plato, Rep. 392a; 427b; 617d; Laws 713d, 717b; see also Habermehl 1996.
7 Apul. Pl. 207 on the three parts of the soul, the rational, the spirited and the libidinous ele-
ments (quoted below, section 3). Cf. Plato, Tim. 69c-70e; Rep. 439d. Cf. also Plato, Craty-
I
I 'For every tatter in its mortal dress' 25
il of persuasion, much as Psyche, we are enticed by Apuleius to view Psyche as
the immortal part of the soul, opposed as she is to her mortal and greedy sis-
If ters, even though she has died and might technically be seen as a Lar, a good
soul which has left the body 8. But it must be said that she is not a Lar either
C
because, however much she guards her domus aurea, she is not discarnate, she
has not left her mortal shape because she becomes pregnant. Similarly, we are
very much enticed to view the sisters as types of larvae, bad souls which have
left the body, who wander about acting maliciously. Indeed they are similar, but
since they have not left their bodies either and are not dead, it cannot be stated
that they are larvae in a technical sense. Nor are they the mortal parts of the
soul technically, especially since they are older than Psyche 9. The sisters and
Psyche should not be seen as parts of the tripartite soul, and to employ such a
reading would be oversimplifying both the texts of Apuleius and of Plato. Cu-
pid and Psyche is an amusing story not a technical philosophical treatise. What
can be observed, however, is that Apuleius uses his knowledge of demonology,
the soul, and Platonism generally and his imagination in the portrayal of Soul
tom between worldly and other-worldly. Apuleius' own formulation of Platon-
ism contributes greatly to the literary construction that is Cupid and Psyche.
Psyche
Apuleius, with Plato, affirms that the human soul is tripartite. Each part of the
soul is assigned todlffeient parts ofiii.e bodyi 0 : - .. --- --- -· -
'And since he [Plato] considers that there are three parts of the soul, there is
the first the rational. that is the best part of the soul (mentis optumam por-
tionem). This part, he says, lives in the citadel of the head. Next is the spir-
ited part which lies withdrawn a distance from reason towards a domicile in
the heart. The final part of the soul is the part concerned with desire and the
appetites which has its home in the lower reaches of the abdomen as in a kind
of 'greasy spoon', or the murky depths of some baths, havens of vice and
lus 385b2--cl 7, on falsehood, and 429c6-430a5, where empty sounds are compared to false
naming. Apuleius is playing safe by not naming the sisters at all; cf. Plato, Sophist 259e5-
6; 262b9--c7, where the difference between sentences (logoi) and names (onomata) is noted
and the problem of false speech is solved, because we can state falsehoods only by producing
logoi; onomata on their own do not state anything at all.
8 Cf. n. 6; on opposition of parts of soul cf: Apul. Apo/. 49; Plato, nm.69d-f and 4 ld.
9 Apul. Met. 4,28; cf. Met. 5,10.
10 Cf. Plato, Tim. 69c-70e and Rep. 439d. See J. Moline, 'Plato and the Complexity of the Psy-
che', Archiv tier Geschichte der Philosophie 60 (1978), 1-26; also, J. Moline, Plato's Theory
of Understanding, Wisconsin 1981.
26 Maeve C. O'Brien
degradation. Accordingly, this last part seems to be regulated further away
from wisdom in case it disturbs, by its unfortunate proximity, the rational
part in the very exercise of its thoughts as it is about to consult the interests
and the well-being of others from its perch above. Indeed, he says the whole
of a person is in his head and expression, for prudence and all the senses are
not contained anywhere else except that part of the body'. (Pl. 207)
This definition is reiterated taking into account the actual interaction of the three
parts of the soul:
'Then again he says the soul is tripartite: the first is the rational part of it,
the second more inclined to anger and sensitive, the third the appetitive. We
call this last likewise the passionate part. When reason controls the whole
soul, then the living being has health, strength and beauty. And, when the
two lower parts obey it [rational part], being harmonious among themselves,
anger and pleasure seek nothing nor move anything because reason judged
it useless. Likewise, when parts of the soul are kept in due proportion, which
makes for uniformity, the body is broken by no disturbance'. (Pl. 216)
The sisters are angry and greedy, always seeking jewels and pleasure and in this
sense only do conform to the picture painted here of the angry and passionate
parts of the soul. One sister is greedy and has a mean husband, the other has an
impotent one (Met. 5,9; 10). As tormented souls appropriately enough they are
faithless she-wolves (lupulae), Lamiae, Furies and Sirens II.
Psyche is an intermediary between her sisters and Cupid, who represent ig-
norance and knowledge respectively. Plato's definition of the primary good ac-
cording to Apuleius illustrates the function of soul as the intermediary between
knowledge and ignorance 12•
'The primary good is that which is true and divine, loveable and desirable,
whose beauty the rational souls (mentes) seek, drawn (with nature as a
guide) to love of it.' (Pl. 221)
The notion of soul as an intermediary is very much what one sees in On the
god of Socrates. Here the human soul is a daemon (150), and desire for virtue
11 Met. 5,7: ajjlictas animas; 5,27; 5,ll: pe,jidae lupulae (cf. Plato, Phaedo 8la:---83c);5,ll:
lamiae, (also called lemures); 5,12 and 21 taeterrimae furiae, and after they leave Psyche,
the sisters seem to harass her still, plagued as she is by savage furies infestis furiis; 5, 12:
'sisters ... like Sirens aloft on their crag they make the rocks ring with their deadly voices'.
Cf. Plato, Symp. 216a: Socrates' words charm Alcibiades; cf. also Phaedrus 259a.
12 Cf. Plato, Symp. 204b, Love is a philosopher because he is a mean between ignorance and
wisdom, '.1°dalso a sorcerer and intermediary between divine and mortal (Symp. 202e).
'For every tatter in its mortal dress' 27
and knowledge is bona cupido 13. Now, true desire for good lives in the soul
of the philosopher, even when the soul is incarnate in a living person (156-
7). Apuleius calls this impetus a type of superior daemon, an intimate friend,
far contubemio familiaris, and it is Socrates' particular daimonion 14 . Observe
that this is the way Cupid is Psyche's intimate friend. Apuleius, however, is
not crystal clear about the embodiment of this particular daemon, but he must
mean one to view it as incarnate. The contradiction can be resolved: as has been
said, Socrates' daimonion is incarnate and living in the recesses of the soul
(157) 15. In Soc. 166 it is explicitly stated that Socrates' daemon, the philoso-
pher's daimonion, is similar to Homer's Minerva where Minerva is seen as an
external daemon whom only Achilles sees (166), and who is personified as Pru-
dentia guiding Ulysses (177). Minerva must be viewed as a metaphor for far
contubemio familiaris, in other words a poetic device, especially in view of
Apuleius' assertion that the gods in poetry are daemons, not gods (145-ti) 16•
Therefore, Apuleius implies that Socrates' daimonion is embodied. This is
exactly the relation between Cupid and Psyche in the Metamorphoses. There-
fore, it can be said at this point that Cupid is similar to the highest part of the
soul, Psyche to the middle part, and the sisters to the lowest part.
Cupid
Psyche, intermediary between knowledge and ignorance, is being guided by
Cupid towards virtue and knowledge. Cupid is as the superior daemon which is
reported to live in the soul even when the soul is incarnate ( 156-7). Technically,
Apuleius names the superior daemon lar contubemio familiaris, and equates it
with the protective daimonion which lives in the philosopher's soul. As stated
above, Apuleius uses examples from literature to illustrate his concept of this
daimonion, Homer's Minerva visible only to Achilles, or Minerva as Pruden-
tia guiding Ulysses. Cupid also operates under false pretences. He is similar
to the daimonion, but only poetico ritu, not technically. A daemon he is, but
in literature. He exhorts Psyche to desire the best for herself as Minerva does
to Achilles or Ulysses, and is similar to Socrates' daimonion (163), but above
13 Hijmans 1987, 444, a bona cupido is a god. Cupid is bona cupido, the desire Psyche has for
good. Therefore he is a kind of guardian daemon. Apuleius calls Socrates' guardian daemon
deo suo (Soc. 162), as well as daemon elsewhere.
14 Eros as daemon commonly noted, but not as daimonion; cf. Schlam 1992, 90; Beaujeu 1975,
86-7; Grimal 1963, 23; on ambiguity of Amor as god and daemon, Morescbini 1965, 31 and
45; Dowden 1982, 336-352.
15 Cf. the good soul which has left the body, l.ar familiaris (152).
16 Cf. Soc. 121 Minerva in a quote from Ennius.

28 Maeve C. O'Brien
all he is Cupid whose 'boyish wantonness' ([uxuria puerilis) is described by
Jupiter:
'The one notorious in everyday conversation (cotidianisjabulis) on account
of his adulteries and all kinds of wrong doing'. (Met. 6,2)
Cupid, is so to speak, both Amor I and Amor II simultaneously, but primar-
ily Il 17 . Jupiter's excursus on Cupid's actions against himself (Met. 6,22), all
familiar in literature, is echoed amusingly seven chapters later (6,28-29), in
Charite's promise to Lucius of immortality in literature; likewise, Cupid's ac-
tion in saving Psyche is finnly placed in the context of myths which represent
gods sa-vinghumans. One is drawn back to the start of Psyche's adventure when
she was wafted down the cliff (Met. 4,35). She is brought to a house which was
fashioned by a divine craftsman (Met. 5,1), for whom? Especially for mighty
Jupiter when he was engaged in dealings with humans. Cupid seems to exem-
plify Plato's criticism in the Republic of stories of gods which propound a false
notion of divinity, for example Zeus being seduced by Hera to distract him from
the Trojan war 18. These stories have a deleterious effect on the soul, and Plato
goes so far as to say that the soul becomes corrupt under the influence of the
Olympians 19•
In the Metamorphoses Cupid also represents the desire soul has for good
and so is similar to Minerva-Prudentia, and so he is both Amor I and Amor
II simultaneously. Prudentia, in philosophical terms, is defined by Apuleius
in fairly standard fashion. It is practical knowledge or foresight, the ability to
recognise the difference between good and evil and is one of the special virtues
of the higher part of the soul 20. The virtue with which it is most often com-
bined is .sapientia, theoretical knowledge or wisdom, especially of the Ideas, as
Plato would have it, or of things human and divine as in Cicero 21 . Apuleius, the
philosopher, knows this. Apuleius the orator has also seen the hackneyed for-
mula in Quintilian' s discussion of the perfect orator, where this paragon of elo-
quence must have knowledge of 'things human and divine' (Quint. Inst. 12,2,8-
9). And how will the philosopher achieve excellence in this area? According to
Apuleius through hearing and sight which are of great importance to the soul.
This accords with Plato's Timaeus (45a-d). But whereas Plato exalts both func-
17 Kenneyl990b, 175-198.
18 Plato, Rep. 377 and 389d-390c.
19 Plato, Phaedrus 250c-25la; cf. Symp. 210a; Rep. 514a. Cf. Schlam 1970, 485. On mixture
of serious and frivolous in the literature of the second century, Beaujeu 1975, 94.
20 Cf. Cicero, ND 3,15,38.
21 Plato, Ep. 6, 322d 5-6; Cic. De Off. 1,43,153; Beaujeu 1973, 289 n. 5.
29
'For every tatter in its mortal dress'
tions of sight and hearing, Apuleius mentions hearing alone as ~ing of the ut-
most importance especially in relation to sapientia and prudentia:
'But it is through his sense of hearing that anything more lofty can come to
I him through which he gains practical and theoretical knowledge (pruden-
tia~ sapientiamque), and measures the metres of oratory.' (Pl. 211)
Speech heard and really understood is humanity's supreme asset:
'Th ali ade of the teeth and the charm of the mouth itself comes to the
ep s h Ii .. alt
aid of speech, because the mouth, which is given to ot er vmg arum .s o
satisfy their need for food and fill their bellies, is, on the other hand, g1v~n
to humans to be at hand for true reason and for the most sweet ~peech, ~n
order that that speech discloses the sentiments which were conceived of m
22
the heart by practical knowledge'. (Pl. 212)
Cupid-Prudentia, in the Metamorphoses, seeks to coromunic~te through his
voice, and there is an embargo on looking at him. As Prudentl~ he represents
·at ·mpetus of the highest part of the soul towards
the spec1 1 .
seeking knowledge
, da · ·
and good. This impetus Apuleius identifies with the philo~opher s _zmonzon
a
and also the highest virtue, virtue which is called a _witness and Judge of
· · · (PI. 228) . Virrtue is the means by which one can reach the
all our act1v1ues
primary good (Pl. 221), and is the best dress of the soul:
'Plato says virtue is the best dress of the soul (mentis) and_the ~~re nobl_y
hich makes one harmonious with himself. And, m addition, he 1s
d ed W
aorn, - - fri d
tranquil and even composed, one to whom [the soul] is an mtrmate en •
The soul makes him agreeable to himself and to others not only through
speech but also through deeds'. (Pl. 227)
Here the impetus, or bona cupido (Pl. 151-2) of the soul tow~ds- knowledge is
identified as a virtue and also as an intimate friend to the s~ul, s1ID1larto the c~n-
cept of lar contubemio Jamiliaris 23 • This is Cupid's relauon to Psyche. C~p1d,
too, communicates with Psyche through speech and deeds but not throu~ sight.
In addition, he tries to make her see the evil of her_sisters m~ch as the virtue of
prudentia attempts to do for Soul (Pl. 228). Cupid 1s Prudenua, the best dress of
the soul attempting to lead Psyche towards knowledge. S~uls, hampered as they
are by their tattered mortal dress, find this road a very difficult one, so Psyche,
sadly, will not listen. Desire (if not anger) has entrammelled her. Observe that
22 Plato, Tim. 75d-e; Cic. ND. 2,59,148; cf. 3,31,77; Quint Inst. 2,16,12-15.
23 Apul. Soc. }56-7; cf. Plato, Tim. 89d-90d. Also, Osborne 1994, 92.
30 Maeve C. O'Brien
the rational part of the soul which houses and nurtures the virtues of wisdom
(sapientia) and practical knowledge (prudentia), is most injured by a stubborn
disinclination to learn (indocilitas). This disinclination to learn manifests itself
in inexperience and silliness, the former of which is especially pernicious to
wisdom and the latter to practical knowledge (Pl. 226). Psyche has often been
seen as simplex, for this very reason: she will not listen to Cupid 24• But why
should, or could she? Cupid, as the mischievious Cupid of literature, is not to
be trusted; he has even deceived Venus so that the marriage he entered into with
Psyche is a false one. Psyche is also beset by the deceitfulness of her sisters 25 .
Similar to Charite, the whole world in which she finds herself is one of sem-
blances and inexplicableness 26 •
This idea is a familiar one and surfaces many times in the Metamorphoses 21•
What is remarkable about it in Cupid and Psyche is that while Soul can be de-
ceived primarily by speech it can also be 'saved' and brought to true know ledge
by speech. Cupid and the sisters cajole, admonish, scare and persuade Psyche
in turns. Notable in Apuleius' description of the guardian daimonion is the dis-
covery that this entity has a voice 28 . This 'voice' is sent by the gods and it is
the voice Socrates hears which prevents him from doing evil and ensures that he
is delivered from evil, but primarily it saves him from being captivated by the
voices of others29. But Socrates obeys his daemon while Psyche does not listen
to Cupid, who admonishes her much as Socrates' daemon does him 30• 'Others'
are those who would lead the philosopher's soul away from true knowledge.
They gather in streets and alleyways and think not with the intellect but with
the ears 3 1. The sisters are such as these, and are referred to appropriately as
'pretended' sisters 32 •
24 A·yche maga witch, Met. 6,16; cf. B.L. Hijmans, review Kenney 1990a, in Gnomon, 67,3
(1995). 219.
25 Met. 6,22, Cupid's 'lustful adventures on earth', and his affair with Psyche, Met. 5,28-29.
Sisters' powers of persuasion, 5,16; cunning, 5,15 and 17; dangerous conversation leading
to a trap, 5,15; weave the most colourful yam. 5, 16. Cf. Eros in Plato, Symp. 203d.
26 Strabyla 1973, 268. Met. 8,2-ll: Thrasyllus.
27 Smith 1994, 1575-1599; Fick 1985, 132-147.
28 Soc. 163; 166; cf. Pl. 250.
29 Soc. 164: ne quisquam arbitraretur omina eum vulgo loquentium captitasse: 'that no one
should think that he (sc. Socrates) overheard snatches of predictions from common people
talking'; cf. Pl. 231. Also, Met. 5,24: Cupid reminds Psyche of how he warned tier gently to
beware of her sisters.
30 Soc. 162, this is why Socrates venerates his daemon: animum suum col ere ( 168); cultus dae-
monis is nothing other than allegiance to philosophy (169 and 170). Cf. Met. 5,25.
31 Soc. 165; cf. 166, and Pl. 251. Also, Plato, Symp. 173a: Apollodorus wanders around not
knowing the true road of philosophy.
32 Met. 5,14; cf. 5,12. Their love for Psyche is false, simulata, 5,15.
'For every tatter in its mortal dress' 31
Discourse: the route to true knowledge
The importance of speech to Apuleius cannot be overrated and proper speech
is the result of the study of philosophy 33 • Apuleius even reserves special place
34
for rhetoric in a recast of Plato's famous scheme in the Gorgias . Apuleius
rearranges it and makes three changes. 'The craft of law' (not sophistry) imi-
tates legislation, and sophistry now imitates juridical method. Rhetoric is left
out by Apuleius, just as dialectic is by Plato, indicating that Apuleius' notion
of rhetoric is something which approximates dialectic, and so emphasizes the
importance of rhetoric for Apuleius. Elsewhere Apuleius asserts that there are
two levels of discourse (Pl. 200). One language is the persuasive and captivat-
ing discourse of the sensible world, the other, which is rational and eternal, be-
longs to the intelligible world (Pl. 194). Both discourses can be used by the
soul. One is a discipline which contemplates the good and is used by the good
soul which strives for an eternal and constant account of things (Pl. 231). This
is achieved by piercing reasoning and the gaze of the soul (Pl. 200). An evil
soul may make sense of his existence only through fortuitous conjecture (Pl.
200), using a science of flattery which captivates by verisimilitude and has no
rational system (Pl. 231). The good soul is godlike (Pl. 230; 252) and the best is
the sage who strives to copy God in so far as he is able, this extends to his use of
language also. In Apuleian Platonic terms, this is the highest form of knowledge
and desire for it is the highest form of love which motivates the most virtuous,
Apuleius' perfect souled philosopher for instance. That this sage has achieved
the highest form of wisdom not only his deeds, but also his words bear witness,
and he achieves true knowledge suddenly and is suddenly made complete:
' ... suddenly he is made complete, suddenly this (soul) touches the outer
35
reaches of past and future time and is in some way eternal'. (Pl. 248)
This mystical experience, which Apuleius surely copies from the Symposium,
means the key to wisdom is within, in the soul:
'In effect, therefore, it must be reckoned that he who knows the good things
is likewise a desirer of these things. He alone is inflamed with by good de-
sires who looks on that highest good with the eyes of the soul. This is a wise
man'. (Pl. 251) 36
33 Pl. 211; 189; cf. Flor. 7,26.
34 Plato, Gorg. 465b, and Apul. Pl. 232-234. Cf. O'Brien 1991, 39-50.
35 The same is said of Plato, Soc. 124.
36 During the process of the lover's initiation in the Symposium of Plato, attention is paid to
rhetoric. On the first rung where the philosopher loves one body he must 'beget beautiful
32 Maeve C. O'Brien
Apuleius' perfect-souled philosopher is as the one Diotima describes as an ini-
tiate into the highest mysteries of Eros (Plato, Symp. 209a-212c). The philoso-
pher can catch a glimpse of the highest god or gods sometimes by the sight
of the soul 37. When Psyche looks at her beloved Cupid, Apuleius exploits his
knowledge of philosophical niceties once again in a literary context. Piercing
reasoning and the gaze of the soul (Pl. 200) are transformed into the piercing
arrows of Cupid and into the curious glance of an unrestrained and ignorant
Psyche 38 • Further, since this act was unbidden, Psyche as any initiate does not
reach immortality, although Jupiter helps confer a kind of immortality on her
subsequently (Met. 6,23). As in Plato, true communion with the gods is when
one beholds them with the proper organ, and then one lays hold of the truth
and not images of it (Plato, Symp. 212a). But this never really happens to Psy-
che. On Cupid's instigation, she is saved by Jupiter and made immortal even
though she has not achieved the highest level of knowledge, nor does she learn
the language appropriate to this knowledge. Her curiosity is still similis (Met.
6,21), similar to what it was before. Cupid too has not changed and Apuleius
remarks that he has really reverted to type (Met. 6,22). His wings are refreshed
by rest and his arrows are as sharp as ever (Met. 6,21). Psyche's initiation into
the Olympian family is merely similis, a pen-picture of a true initiation of Soul.
Compare Lucius' revelation in Book 11:
'My talent is too puny to sing your praises ... I have neither the richness of
speech ... nor a thousand mouths or as many tongues, nor an endless and un-
inhibited flow of words to express my feelings about your majesty. There-
fore I shall be sure ... to preserve your divine countenance and your most
holy godhead in the recess of my heart, and there I shall forever guard and
gaze on it with the eyes of the mind (imaginabor)', (Met. 11,25)
spoken like a true Platonist, or more correctly like an untrue Platonist! Apuleius
is here describing how there is a discourse for both sensible and intelligible ex-
istences, though the latter is very hard to describe. Apuleius attempts to illus-
trate that all visions to do with Isis are more to be trusted than anything Lu-
cius sees in reality, even the Isis procession is special compared to others in the
speech' (Symp. 210a). When he has reached the stage where he loves souls he must 'beget
and seek such talks that will make young people better' (210c). Next, the philosopher-lover
must turn to contemplation of knowledge or beauty itself, and in contemplation make many
beautiful and magnificent speeches and thoughts (210d). Finally, the lover will see an Idea
of Beauty which will appear to him suddenly (210e; cf. 211b) and so the philosopher-lover
will become the friend of gods and even perhaps immortal (212a).
37 Apul. Soc. 121; 128; cf. Pl. 237; 251; Mun. 357, and Flor. 2,61; Soc. 124.
38 Met. 5,23. Cf. Pl. 200; 251. Cf. De Filippo 1990, 471-92.
'For every tatter in its mortal dress' 33
pageant 39 . Her 'image' cannot be described at all, in contrast to the other hu-
morous contrivances in the parade (MeJ. 11,11; 8). Lucius has finally stopped
listening to the charming words of Sirens such as Photis, and now listens with
his mind to Isis and achieves a state of pleasure which cannot be described (Met.
11,24). Before Lucius regains his human form, he protests that he cannot do
40
justice to the beauty oflsis in words, yet Isis is described luxuriantly • Lucius
41
speaks with his flagging soul, because he is still a dumb ass • In the descrip-
tion of Cupid Psyche too does not speak direct] y to the reader, but the narrator of
the tale describes Cupid luxuriantly (Met. 5,22-3). As soon as both Lucius and
42
Psyche see their respective gods, their souls are recreated . Psyche listened
to Sirens, her sisters, who charmed her away from the path of true knowledge
(Met. 5, 12). Lucius listened to tales of witches, prophecies of soothsayers, and
to scheming Photis and the she-wolves of Thessaly 43 • The sisters too are evil
and full of trickery and armed as Lamiae. They are intent on invading Psyche's
soul, similar to those very creations mentioned in Plato's Republic (318d). Poets
invent such creatures, not the gods, because the gods are not magicians practis-
ing metamorphosis, and leading us astray by lies 44• The sisters are creations of
such discourse as poets use, a language which shows the nature of this world of
semblance dangerous to Psyche, and indeed to all who use it 45 • Cupid is that im-
petus which leads Psyche away from danger, but he is presented poetico ritu,
as is the description of lnysses' daemon which protects him from the Sirens
(Apul. Soc. 178).
Conclusion
Cupid and Psyche is an explanation in the mode of platonic myth, of Apuleius'
discourse theory. The one language leads soul into illusions, and exponents of
it are the sisters. The soul has access to the other language through its special
daemon, Cupid. In the novel, Cupid may be said to represent the highest part
of the soul as Apuleius describes it in his version of Plato's philosophy. Psy-
che is the middle part of the soul The sisters are similar to the lowest parts of
39 Met. 11,13; 19; 20; 27; 29, visions of Isis; Met. 11,8; 9. Isis procession.
40 Lucius' protests, Met. 11,3, and 25; description oflsis, Met. 11,3-4.
41 Met. 11,3; metamorphosis: Met. 11,13.
42 Met. 5,22, and 11,22.
43 Met. 3,13, 'cape... de perfida muliere uindictam'. Psyche's sisters, perjidae lupulae, 5,11;
also 15 and 19; Photis,facinerossimam ... feminam, Met. 3,26; she-wolves, Met. 3,22.
44 Plato, Rep. 383a. Cf. de Rornilly 1979, 157.
45 The magical effect of the sisters' language is turned against them and causes their destruc-
tion, Met. 5,27.
34 Maeve C. O'Brien

the soul. The pleasure resulting from the union of Cupid and Psyche is heralded
and explained, and mirrors the inexplicable pleasure of Lucius' union with Isis.
The arnbi"alent nature of the discourse which produces the pleasurable effect
of both stories, if not both unions, is such that it cannot describe true voluptas
which is of the unambivalent world of the Forms, and is later adverted to appro-
priately as pleasure which cannot be made known in words (Met. 11,24). This
does not mean that the voluptas which results from Cupid and Psyche is to be
less esteemed. Rather, in literary mode (this is a novel after all), the myth em-
phasizes the potency of the very language the Sirens sing, and which the soul The Unbearable Lightness of Being:
must almost always sing for every tatter in her mortal dress. The rightful place Levis Amor in the Metamorphoses of Apuleius
of Cupid and Psyche in the sensible world is emphasized by the ass who wishes
that he has a pen to record so a pretty story (Met. 11,25).

Paula James
Milton Keynes

Introduction

The story of Cupid and Psyche provides the attentive reader with a rich store
of thematic signifiers. There seems to be no end to interrelationships with the
mainframe narrative that this anilisfabula ('old wives' tale') has produced. We
are almost spoiled for choice in the search for main links, because correspon-
dences multiply along with the commentators on the novel of Apuleius. For this
reason the discovery of further connections between the characters and content
of the subsidiary story and the adventures of the hero, Lucius, is as likely to con-
fuse as to clarify the function of the fairy story within the fantasy. However, that
is a risk all devotees of Apuleius gladly take in order to alert the reader to the
fascinating fragmentations of motifs that characterise his narrative.
The following is a further contribution to the ongoing discussion of inter-
linking motifs between the stories of Lucius and Psyche. It will explore the
experience of Lucius and Psyche with the divine by focusing upon their re-
lationship with the supernatural attribute of lightness, in itself an ambiguous
and complex characteristic enjoyed by the gods. The rich literary texture of the
Psyche narrative does not rest solely upon its '(arious ffipijses~f e ic and ele-
~v--.v,,.,- )
giac scenes and motifs. Psyche's unwilling numicry or
ll."" W...l-.
aiw
tie 1ove,8 •dess ~r
unique relationship with Cupid bring a number of conceptual " ~~ p1ay.
It will be argued that Lucius who overhears her story intermeshes with these 1
strands on a particular as well as on a general level.
 36 Paula James
Why fly? Surveying metaphors and motivations
Lucius' tendency toward Icarianism manifests itself through a variety of chan-
nels. Newbold (1991 1) investigates it as psychological state, to be understood
within the cultural context of 'fear of the female' and 'mother fixation'. New-
bold's approach lends a conceptual coherence to the flight theme in the novel,
with the satisfying conclusion that Lucius ascends to mature acceptance of the
truly caring goddess, and that this simultaneously signals his transcendance to
'tertiary cognition'. In the case of Lucius, then, there are sophisticated psycho-
logical motives behind his urges towards Icarianism or flight fantasies. New-
bold (1991, 404) discusses the complex agenda of ascensionism and descen-
sionism, applying to Lucius the general observation: 'Cynosural narcissism, an
ambition or fiery aspiration to become the object of amazement, applause and
admiration, is an element in fantasies of flight and may be present in heroic
striving.' Elsewhere, Newbold (1985) has associated shape shifting, sometimes
involving aerial flight, with counter phobic strategies to shame and as a way of
hiding from view, subsuming one's identity 2 .
Avoiding descent and gravitational pulls is a valuable and privileged
attribute to possess. Myths of magical flight have a universal diffusion and are
found in the most ancient fables and folk-lore as a feature of archaic culture 3•
For the shaman and those gaining the privilege of partaking in the supernatural
by virtue of their intelligence and attainment of perfection, levitation is part
of the package. It is said of the shaman that 'he who understands has wings'
(Eliade 1960, 106 on the Pancavimca Brahmana IV.1.13) 4 •
I have nOI attempted to pursue Newbold's thesis concerning the psychological aspects
of Icarianism, such as narcissism and infantile grandiosity, although the latter especially
would form the basis for a fascinating neo-Platonic symposium on the Eros/Amor figure in
literature.
2 This explanation for the urge towards metamorphosis and lcarianism, although not in rela-
tion toApuleius, appears in Newbold 1985. The theory that Lucius is literally pursuing the
dignitas he lost at the Risus Festival - hence the double entendre of dignitatem pinnarum
at 3,23-was aired by James 1991. For comparisons between Psyche and Phaethon and the
dangen of 'brash flight', see Krabbe 1989, 58-59.
3 Here I draw principally on the survey and analysis in Eliade 1960. See especially Eliade
1960, 104: 'Space takes on quite a different aspect in the countless myths, tales and legends
concerning human or superhuman beings who fly away into Heaven and travel freely be-
tween Earth and Heaven, whether they do so with the aid of birds' feathers or by any other
means. It is not the speed with which they fly, nor the dramatic intensity of the aerial voyage
that characterise this complex of myth and folk-lore; it is the fact that weight is abolished,
that an ontological mutation has occurred in the human being himself.'
4 At the risk of exposing myself to the charge of levitas, l shall mention the 1996 UK advert
for deodorant which showed a young man with artificial wings plummeting seaward while
The UnbearableLightness of Being 37
The impulses towards Icarianism within the two human players, Lucius and
Psyche, have a variety of motivations but whatever the reasons for their desire,
they invariably contemplate dangerous boundary crossing. It is not a new ap-
proach to link Lucius and Psyche on the basis of their aspirations to the divine 5.
It will be suggested that Apuleius connects the characters on a more specific
level by exploiting and relocating the multi-layered nature of lightness enjoyed
by the god who looms large over both their stories.
Psyche's story deals obliquely with the acquisition of wings and the gift of
flight. Newbold mentions her only in passing, as a secondary character who suc-
cessfully confronts and negotiates the hostility of the Great Mother figure. Nor
does the phylogenetic framework erected by Newbold allow for a full explo-
ration of the link between Lucius and the character of Cupid, as he is presented
in the fable. This relationship invites further comparisons, for the attempted
mimicry of the winged god by the hero (Lucius heedlessly aspires to enjoy Cu-
pid's infamous manoeuvrability, by means of a metamorphosis, at 3,22) is com-
plemented by a subtext of imitation from the moment of the metamorphosis. In
this respect, Lucius parallels Psyche's unwitting impersonation of Venus. Both
the primary narrative hero and the secondary narrative heroine are drawn into
some inherent ambiguities that characterise the Levitasof both love god and love
goddess.
Psyche's name means Soul but the wings which often appear in artistic de-
pictions of the soul are conspicuously absent (Schlam 1991, 91). Psyche's lack,
or perhaps we should say her loss, of lightness tends to bring a trail of philo-
sophical nuances in its wake. The episode which seems most fruitful for Pla-
tonic scholars is Cupid's disillusionment with and desertion of Psyche once
she has broken his taboo and looked upon him sleeping. His rude awakening
is matched by her disappointment and despair at his rapid departure. He flies
from her embrace, for she cannot cling on to his legs any longer (5,24). This
scene has been read as an allegory of the contaminated soul which in a state
of corruption grows heavy, loses its wings and falls to earth. The interpretation
can be summarised as follows 6.
In the Platonic philosophical system the souls of those who have achieved
temperance and true virtue depart their earthly life with wings. The less suc-
cessful souls have at least a craving for wings and having made the heavenly
a suitably scent sprayed glamour girl flew effortlessly over the ocean. The voice over ex-
plained: 'Icarus had a sister.'
5 For a guarded articulation of the philosophical correspondences and the conclusion that the
situation of Psyche is in some sense a comment on Lucius' own, see Kenney 1990b.
6 I am indebted to Anna Crabbe's article dealing with the mythology of wings (Crabbe 1981).
The Ovidian references are also taken from this learned discussion.
38 Paula James
journey are not required to go down to the darkness beneath the earth but rather
to travel together and to grow their wings on the way. Heaven is their spiritual
patria, their homecoming. It is interesting that Ovid in Tristia 3,8 longs to take
wings and fly home but in his treatment of the Daedalus myth (Met. 8, I 82-234)
he implies that Icarus lacked the wisdom essential to use the gift. The philo-
sophical point (Crabbe 1981, 321) is obvious: the acquisition of wings for the
body rather than the soul is likely to end in disaster: this is a lesson that could
be applied to both Psyche and Lucius.
The privilege of being or the desire to be physically airborne and to have
wings affects Lucius on a less literal level. At the outset of the novel he implies
the metaphor of the soaring intellect, that looking above and beyond the limited
mortal capacity has its own rewards:
Minus hercule calles pravissimis opinionibus ea putari mendacia quae vel
auditu nova vel visu rudia vel certe supra captum cogitationis ardua videan-
tur.
'You are not being very clever, by Hercules, if your wrong-headed opinions
make you judge as false what seems new to the ear or unfamiliar to the eye
or even too difficult for the intellect to grasp;' (1,3) 7
The reward of suspending disbelief is the gaining of the high and heady nature
of aesthetic pleasure. At 1,20, the hero suggests that his horse has scaled the
ridge effortlessly because he has been no burden to him. Lucius attributes his
weightlessness to the fact that his ears, delighted by and absorbed in Aristome-
nes' tale of magic, have actually carried him over the hill!
Equally avidly does Lucius the Ass listen to the fable of Cupid and Psyche.
The circumstances of this experience are very different for it occurs shortly af-
ter a disastrous metamorphosis which has rooted Lucius firmly to the ground
in a downward spiral of degradation. He had intended to be soaring upwards
towards the heavens. It would seem that his desires have been cruelly mocked
and yet be enjoys an aesthetic 'transportation' as audience to the bellafabella.
The potential of this concept of lightness is not easily exhausted. The eval-
uation of metaphors of flight in relation to poetic creativity and indeed artistic
ingenuity has been subtly analysed by Sharrock (1994, 92-125) who cites its
prevalence throughout classical literature. Daedalus strove to be as light as Cu-
pid and to escape from Minos by manufacturing wings. Ovid's interpretation of
the Icarus myth is bound to attract readings of the 'artist's aspirations' nature.
The fact that Daedalus was also known to have played the part of the love god
7 All translations of Apuleius are taken fromJ. Arthur Hanson's Loeb edition, Harvard 1989.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being 39
by constructing a false cow hide and horns for Pasiphae and enticing the bull
into a sexual union with the queen 8 is surprisingly neglected by commentators.
Neither imitation of Cupid has a happy outcome.
Lucius' desire to be airborne can only cautiously be translated into a
metaphor of the aspiring artist. Nevertheless, the fictional narrator is asso-
ciated with fame through books both in the preface and in the prophecy of
Diophanes, and it is interesting that he bewails his inability to fix the fable of
I Psyche into the enduring medium of the written word. Contrast his imagined
and hoped-for metamorphosis into a soaring eagle, a loaded symbol for
poetic endeavour in Pindar 9 and we can add yet another dimension to Icarian
endeavours by fallible humans.
Levis Amor, the winged Cupid, Lucius' role model for his newly trans-
formed self, before the magic goes wrong, also suggests the fickleness of love.
In the case of Psyche, Love's lightness of touch and his ability to effect an
easy flight away from the havoc he causes are put to the test. In the mythical
fable the love god acquires a wife and child and is obliged by Jupiter to settle
down - Cupid as a family man transforms his very nature; a quirky transition
from Puck to paterfamilias, thus Jupiter:
I Tollenda est omnis occasio, et luxuria puerilis nuptialibus pedicis alliganda.
I 'We must remove every opportunity, and chain his boyhood self-indulgence
with the shackles of matrimony.' (6,23)
I
It has been argued, however, that such a resolution only highlights this tale as
anilis fabula, sheer escapist entertainment that bears no relation to harsh reality.
(James 1987, 120--121). The destructive powers of Amor outside the confines
of the fable, are in no way diminished. Cupido is a pernicious influence operat-
ing in a great number of the narratives, and almost invariably demonstrating the
difficulty of controlling wayward passion, a motif also explored at Met. 10,2.
This type of lightness of being, the essence of the love god, has grave conse-
quences, as the old woman acknowledges at the outset of her story of Psyche:
Et vocat confestim puerum suum pinnatum et satis temerarium, qui malis
suis moribus contempta disciplina publica, jlammis et sagittis armatus, per
8 Ov. Ars 1,325-326: hanc tamen implevit, vacca deceptus acema, ID~ gregis, et partu
proditu.s auctor erat: 'The leader of the herd impregnated her, deceived by a maple wood
cow, and the offspring betrayed the sire.'
9 Sharrock 1994, 124. For the guidance of Eros in beholding the universe and the power of
the overview in the context of philosophy, see R. M. Jones, 'Posidonius and the Flight of
the Mind through the Universe', CPh 5,21 (1926), 97-113, esp. 102-103 for the Platonic
associations of winged flight.
40 Paula James
alienas domos nocte discurrens et omnium matrimonia corrumpens, impune
commitit tantaflagitia et nihil prorsus bonifacit.
'So she quickly sent for her son, that winged and headstrong boy who, with
his bad character and his disdain for public order, goes running about at night
through other folk's houses armed with flames and arrows, ruining every-
one's marriages, and commits the most shameful acts with impunity and ac-
complishes absolutely no good.' (4,30)
Subverting Identities: Psyche's transforming effect
The divinely beautiful heroine of the story causes some interesting fragmenta-
tions in the identities of both love gods (James 1987, 140-159). So abnormal
is the situation she creates that Venus and Cupid in one respect or another are
in danger of losing their lightness of touch. Firstly, her beauty challenges the
worship of Venus, for whom she is mistaken and whose honours she unwill-
ingly receives from the public. This causes a significant change in the laughter-
loving goddess. Venus becomes grimmer and grimmer and is forced to restate
her more serious aspect as primal mother of all that exists (rerum naturae prisca
parens, 4,30) 10.
Venus' overriding anxiety concerns possible 'contamination' from her mor-
tal substitute, Psyche. Her human rival is a mortal and a partaker in earthly pol-
lution. Like any human, Psyche will return to dust and ashes and that would
bring the deathlessness of the gods into question. Psyche, like Lucius the ass
who is listening to the story, is earthbound and faces degeneration, physical de-
cay and a return to the earth:
Et nomen meum caelo conditum terrenis sordibus profanatur! Nimirum
communi numinis piamento vicariae venerationis incertum sustinebo, et
imaginem meam circumferet puella moritura.
'My name which is founded in heaven is being profaned with earthly pollu-
tion. Am I to endure the uncertain position of vicarious veneration by shar-
ing our deity's worship, and is a girl subject to death to walk around bearing
my lilceness?' (4,30)
I O Subsequently she is to call upon Sobrietas to assist her in the punishment of Cupid:
'Petamne auxilium ab inimica mea Sobrietate, quam propter huius luxurimn ojfendi
saepiw? At rusticae squalentisquefeminae colloquium prorsus [adhibendum est] horresco.'
'Should I ask for help from my enemy Temperance, whom I have so often offended precisely
because of my son's extravagance? But I shudder at the thought of talking to that crude and
dirty woman'. (5,30)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being 41
This is a particularly ironic statement 'from the other side'. The general public
who so eagerly embraced the new Venus did so with the implication that the true
I
Venus was a kind of last year's model. At least one explanation of the advent of
Psyche suggested that the earth itself had furnished human worshippers with a
replacement of the goddess. This report assumes the existence of a Venus who
! is rather tarnished and in need of a fresh bloom:
t
I ... vel certe rursum novo caelestium stillarum germine non maria, sed ter-
ras, Venerem aliam virginali flare praeditam pullulasse.
I•
1i
' ... or, if that was not so, that in a new germination of sky born drops, not
I the ocean but the earth had sprouted another Venus, this one endowed with
the bloom of virginity.' (4,28)
I
Jjl
The sea born goddess passes judgement on the unfortunate impersonator. Venus
i
i returns to her element and the contrast between imitation and the genuine article
I
is emphasized by the loving and lingering description of the aerial and ethereal
goddess skimming the waves and taking to the air accompanied by an entourage
of birds (4,31). In fact, Venus on more than one occasion moves fairly effort-
lessly from the punitive and humourless pursuer of Psyche to the more familiar
j figure of grace and beauty. She flies flamboyantly skywards at 6,6 after organ-
'l
ising a wanted notice for Psyche. Carried aloft in her chariot and surrounded by
numerous birds, she once again demonstrates the true nature of divinity borne
lightly through the upper air 11.
Psyche, although unaware of the vengeance set in motion by Venus, is, nev-
ertheless, deeply unhappy and isolated through her exceptional beauty. She has
I
-.
been put on a pedestal by the reactions of her fellow humans and looked upon
!I as a perfect statue. Psyche represents a quirky reversal of the Pygmalion myth,
.
t
••
as related by Ovid in Book Ten of his Metamorphoses. Ovid's king had created
I the perfect woman in the likeness of Venus, as he was reacting with disgust to
t and rejecting all available earthly partners 12• Psyche is not sought after by any
Ii suitors and has subsequently no manoeuvrability, no movement nor any choice
.
!
of mortal lovers. Her unwitting crime of supernatural beauty carries its own
11 I am grateful for the observation from one of my critical readers that Venus needs the assis-
tance of birds for her supernatural flights.
12 The lifelike statue and the challenges set up by art as illusion is a vital but never-ending
issue. Psyche's status as an eternally virginal representation of Venus, indeed an unattainable
one, stands in contrast to Pygmalion's Eburnea, also a Venus substitute and with whom he
takes great liberties! Pygmalion's goddess statue is certainly not untouchable. Most of the
ramifications are explored in 'Womanufacture' by Alison Sharrock. IRS 81 (1991), 36-49,
and also in Elsner and Sharrock 1991.
42 Paula James
punishment because in the eyes of the beholders she has undergone a metamor-
phosis into an unapproachable goddess.
It talces the will and special talents of the love god to release Psyche from
the sterile and liminal existence she experiences among mortals and to set her
up in supernatural surroundings suited to her appearance. Cupid has been re-
cruited by his mother to inflict a humiliating passion on Psyche, but he manip-
ulates events so that he may carry the princess off to his country palace. The
charade with the oracle and the mock sacrifice engineered by Cupid saves her
from her state of uneasy incongruity. Psyche is transported as if weightless from
the rock to the palace by the West Wmd. Psyche has been regarded like a deity
and worshipped as if she is a piece of perfect workmanship, the finished statue,
simulaeromfabre politum at 4,32. Zephyrus 'breathes life' into her garments at
4,35 13. She will now enter a setting appropriate to her seemingly divine status.
The enchanted phase in Psyche's life, when, according to her jealous sis-
ters, she walksand breathes the very goddess (5,10: iam iam sursum respicit et
deam spirat mulier), is brought to an end by her own gullibility. Her disobedi-
ence towards the god breaks the spell cast by her beauty. It interrupts the pro-
cess that initiated the uncharacteristic actions of Cupid in his brief role play as
devoted and indulgent husband. As far as he is able, the love god had settled
down and submitted to some form of commitment. When Psyche breaks the
taboo and looks upon Cupid she is aroused to breathless desire by his beauti-
ful feathery wings, lovingly described at 5,22 and clearly the most seductive of
his attributes: per umeros volatilis dei pinnae roseidae mieanti flore eandieant,
et quamvis alis quieseentibus extimae plumulae tenellae ac delicatae tremule
resultantes inquieta lasciviunt. 'Along the shoulders of the winged god white
feathers glistened like flowers in the morning dew; and although his wings were
at rest, soft and delicate little plumes along their edges quivered restlessly in
wanton play.'
The revelation and its consequences are famous - these very wings enable
Cupid to fly from her grasp; volatilis implies more than the mere physical
description of 'winged'. Before abandoning his foolish wife, he makes the
startling confession that he had not only disobeyed his mother but had delib-
13 lbere is a slight verbal echo here of the description of the statue of Diana in the courtyard
of Bynhena at 2,4. In the midst of winged victories who look ready for flight, poised pre-
cariously on the surface of rolling spheres, the goddess appears to be running forward, her
gannents lifting in the wind. The stirring of the statue-like Psyche's clothes keeps the statue
motif in the reader's mind, which in itself is a significant symbol for the hero, Lucius, but
perhaps also suggests imitation of another goddess by the unwitting Psyche. It might be in-
terpreted as a sign of the heroine's arrival into a supernatural world.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being 43
erately wounded himself in order to become her lover. The process of falling
in love can only be initiated by the weapons of the love god, so this is logical
enough but the way in which Cupid carried out his self sacrifice is significant:
... ipse potius amator advolavi tibi. Sed hoe feci leviter, scio, et praeclarus
ille sagittarius ipse me telo meo pereussi teque eoniugem meamfeci ...
' ... Instead I flew to you as your lover. But that was a frivolous thing to do,
I know. Illustrious archer that I am, I shot myself with my own weapon and
made you my wife.' (5,24)
Hoe leviter feci could indicate Cupid's lack of concern for the repercussions
and subsequent sufferings, a charge frequently levelled at him for his cavalier
use of his weapons against others. (This is the interpretation suggested by Han-
son's translation). At least one scholar has focused upon it as proof of the split
personality, the two Cupids who appear in the story (Kenney 1990b). Alterna-
tively and in line with the discourse of love poetry the god of love had fallen in
love with no intention of developing a serious passion, just as Horace suggests
he can sing lightly of love even when he is suffering the flame of passion (Hor.
Cann. 1,6, Horace's Reeusatio and exploitation of the militia amoris motif ends
on precisely this note of levity).
The love god, one suspects, by his very nature can only do things lightly and
irresponsibly; hence Ovid's use of Levisfor the love poet, and the intimation that
lightness also characterises the poetic material of love, as well as the love poet's
attitude 14• When all this is talcen into account, the change that has occurred in
the essential nature of the love god stands out in sharper relief and its ironies
are not lost upon Apuleius. Although Cupid uses his lightness and employs his
wings to abandon Psyche, he is wounded physically and heavy hearted in his
inner self. Witness the speech to Psyche at 5,24 which is uttered by the god as
a stern reprimand and reveals his serious state of mind. Rather like Venus who
suddenly discovers morality in this unusual situation, Cupid attracts the phrase
graviter eommotus affatur. He would not normally be expected to feel or speak
14 Amores 3, 1,41 swn levis, et mecum levis est mea cura, Cupido: 'I am light, as is my subject,
Cupid.' Ovid also emphasizes how hard it is to pin down the Love God: Ars 2, 17-20 (et levis
est, et habet geminas, quibus avolet alas). One complicating factor in all this, not entirely
unrelated to the dual nature of the gods as light and heavy at the same time, is the fact that
weighty epic poetry is depicted as soaring. The opening lines ofOvid'sAnwres 1,1 have the
poet confessing in the pentameter line that he was unable to 'rise to the occasion', i.e. the
writing of epic promised in the previous hexameter.
 45
The UnbearableLightness of Being
44 Paula James
let her sink. Her attempt to throw herself from the cliff to the river when faced
in this way 15. with her second dangerous task is thwarted by the reed which shows her how
to gather the sheeps' wool at 6,12. She is not allowed to test out the laws of
flight alone will punish her ~o~ . s ye e ~d to emphasize as he does so that his
Although he manages to fly f p h gravity that she so ruthlessly exploits to engineer her sisters' deaths. During her
and subsequently 'grounded' :1s ~capac1htated by the accident with the hot oil ordeals at the hands of a vindictive Venus, Jupiter's own eagle bales her out by
d . y enus w en she finds out about his latest e the benefit of his own wings and gathers the water from the precipitous rocks
capa e. Cupid, then, temporarily loses his lightness in th s- at 6,15. The tower speaks to her on her third attempt at suicide, as she is about
and simultaneously Psyche as yet with t . more an one respect
with a vengeance, to her m~rtal and e~u wmgs, appears _to have returned, to throw herself from the great height and find a direct way to Hades, 6,18.
attempt to cling to Cupid's le s as he tak y l~vel: An added rrony to her failed All her mortal limitations are compensated for through the oblique inter-
at this point technical! g. . es flight is that she is heavily pregnant vention of the love god. He makes a crucial last minute appearance when Psy-
, y grav1ssuna and bound to fall to th d che falls at the last post, unable to complete her ascent on the errand to Pros-
longer leads a channed existence but thi . th d e groun . She no
of her div· . sis not e en of the story. Attributes erpina: 6,21. The narrator makes the point that he flies even faster now that his
of these s:iata::i::~t:n~ p%~!1:
_inh~r
0rd
eals to _come,and not the least wings have been rested. Cupid, up to his old tricks, flies up to Olympus in or-
der to lobby Jupiter. Jupiter does all the talking, indicating perhaps that Cupid
have lost upon the departure olthe g:i~ns is the very lightness she appears to 16
really has reverted to type (ad armillum redit, 6,22), no longer being the ac-
At Psyc~e,_statim resurgentis eius crure dextero manibus amb b tive mover in a fantasy and myth of his own. Psyche becomes immortal and
to, subhm1s evectionis appendix miseranda et
comhuitat~~
extrema consequia, tandemfessa de~:;t;;!~;:
tor m1iacentem d eserens, mvo
. lavlt. prox1mam
.
. a us arrep~

cupressum· de eus
penduh
. . ama-
I
r:: gives birth to Voluptas, a problematic resolution to the story on a number of
levels. She has at least put down the burden of this ambivalently viewed in-
fant- whether she has reached a soul's state of grace is another question. It has
cacwnine sic eam graviter commotus affatur. ' que eius a to been argued that she has failed to attain real knowledge or immortality (Pen will

f'But _as he _r?se Psyche quickly grasped his right leg with both hands 1975).
. ormmg_a pitiable appendage to his soaring flight and a trailm· tt hm , Sic rite Psyche convenit in manum Cupidinis; et nascitur illis maturo partu
m dangling · hi g a ac ent
she fell to th~o;~::n~e p:.ougt the c~oudy regions. At last, exhausted, .filia, quam Voluptatem nominamus.
. r vme over did not desert her as she la on th
'Thus in proper form Psyche was given in marriage to Cupid. And when her
ground, but flew to a cypress nearby from whose hi h s . y e
her in deep distress.' ( ,24 ) ' g ummithe spoke to time was come, a daughter was born to them, whom we call by the name
5
Pleasure.' (6,24)
Psyche's saving grace An interesting variation on the theme of Psyche's redemption and happy end-
ing appears in Cocteau's film La Belle et la Bete. This classic piece of cinema
The first instance of Psyche's continued status as uxor . . . . .
to drown herself at 5 25 Th . bo Cupidm1s 1sher failure produces, evidently by accident rather than design, a seductive amalgam of cer-
, . e nver yantly bears her up, simply refusing to
tain key themes in Apuleius' novel. Cocteau seems not to have known the ori-
gin of the fairy story which was his inspiration 17• Elsom suggested that Belle
15 Cupid is destined to be chained in Psyche's permanent embrace for
ble. There are literary vignettes predatin d . the purposes of the fa-
Cupid. Propertius 2 12 13-16 1 g an postdatmg Apuleius which describe a trapped
. th ' ' ' wry Y suggests that Cupid has take 16 The phrase ad armillum revertit is applied to the lustful baker's wife (9,29). She employs
m e poet's tormented bosom. Presumabl Theocri s' . . n up permanent residence
is along the same lines It is the effi ts f y . tu descnpllon of Eros as baros I heavy magic arts against her husband after the humiliation he has forced upon her lover. The lover
236 . . ec o pass10n we are dealing with h O .d is mocked for his immature attempts to be an adulterer and to break up properly sanctioned
, •~ a complex visual wordplay, depicts a drunken Cu . . ere.. VI 'Ars 1,229-
Gravis, heavy with wine, he has to shake t hi . p•~ With s~den wmgs unable to fly. marriages (9,28).
Cupid makes an appearance in Aus . , ~ -~ mcapac1tated wmgs. A similarly clogged 17 Cocteau assumed a Scottish derivation. See the intriguing article by Elsom 1989. For a re-
ement is Stygian darkness when th oLruus odup~': C~iatus. In this case the offending el- cent survey of the problems of origins and the place of Apuleius' fable in folk tradition, see
th e ove g 1s 1oolish enough t th
e Underworld, only to be seized and tortured b Y ,.iemale VIct.Jms
. . oofcross
passione (45-55).
boundaries to Schlam 1993.
46 Paula James
becomes a frivolous coquette once her beast lover regains his handsome hu-
man form. Up to that point in the story she has been a restrained young woman,
full of gravitas in all her behaviour. Her would be mortal lover, Avenant, goes
on a mission to rescue her, plunges to his death through the beast's forbidden
treasure dome and is simultaneously reborn as the bewitched prince. The dying
beast is transformed into Avenant's double once Beauty utters the magic words
of love and promises to be his wife 18• Avenant has spent the film indulging in
slavish pleasures but resurrected as the prince he flies upwards with a suddenly
coquettish Belle in his arms. Presumably both have acquired sufficient frivolity
in the bantering exchange that ensues to become physically lightweight, hence
the magical ending. It could be argued that Belle has compromised her integrity
and ended up with the earthly Avenant after all.
The Lightness of Lucius
Lucius is already associated with Psyche in so far as he presumed to play the
winged Cupid and has suffered a very different metamorphosis on the appli-
cation of the wrong ointment: ' ... ac iam perfice ut meae Veneri Cupido pin-
natus assistam tibi' ' ... and make me stand beside you now, a winged Cupid
next to my Venus' (3,22). This was the plan but his attempt at upward mobility
is sabotaged, apparently without malice aforethought, by Fotis. Significantly,
Lucius has already offended his lover when he confessed his desire to stand,
like a winged Cupid, at her side. Fotis is angry and suspicious about his excited
anticipation of being Cupido pinnatus.
One way of reading this scene is to assume that Fotis does not wish to be
matched in her own mimicry of Venus; like any witch she demands single
minded devotion from her lovers. She does not take kindly to Lucius in the
guise of a light and flighty lover. His actual access to the air will permit him to
become free-floating and fickle. Fotis' complaint at 3,22 prefigures Psyche's
despair when Cupid takes flight: 'Hunc a/item factum ubi quaeram, videbo
quando?' 'If you get wings, where will I ever find you and when will I see you
again?'. Lucius understands the message and hastily dispenses with the image
of an elusive Cupid, pointing out that he will resemble instead the ill-omened
owl who risks capture and nailing to the door 19 •
18 It is interesting but obviously not deliberate that the film version includes a dazzling white
steed as the magical servant of the Beast. Avenant steals the horse sent to fetch Beauty and
makes his way to the palace on a rescue mission. However, he is overcome with desire for
the treasure and sidetracked from his heroic task. Lucius' white steed in the main narrative
of the Metamorplwsesis dubbed Candidus on his meaningful re-appearance in Book 11.
19 The substitution of the owl for the eagle and the Cupid figure is noted by Fick (1985, 144-
The UnbearableLightnessof Being 47
However, the Love God once invoked tends to be ubiquitous. In spite of the
travesty of Lucius' dreams upon his transformation into an ass, the link with
Cupid proves difficult to break. Lucius gains winged flight, for instance, but
only in the sarcastic metaphors of his tormenters who laugh at his Pegasus-like
swiftness, when he attempts to escape them: 'at paulo ante pinnatum Pegasi
vincebas celeritatem' 'And yet just a little while ago you were surpassing the
winged velocity of Pegasus' (6,30) 20 .
Eliade (1960, 103--104) makes an important distinction between the dizzy
trajectory in a horizontal direction which enables heroes to escape danger and
the kind of exceptional flight heavenward which involves a change of dimen-
sion. Meaningful flight and release from gravity are less easy to achieve: 'The
symbolism of the "flight" invariably expresses the abolition of the human con-
dition, transcendence and freedom.' (Eliade 1960, 110). There is also the ap-
pearance of the ass with the wings in the procession at the Isis Festival in Book
11, which could be seen as a comic symbol of Lucius' earlier aspirations.
Quirkier connections
Toe reader's and Lucius' introduction to Amor in propria persona early in the
Cupid and Psyche narrative presents him as puer pinnatus, the wayward and
winged boy who causes havoc in human houses and, like a thief in the night,
destroys families with impunity. The Cupid who carries off Psyche does get
a taste of his own medicine when the sisters threaten to destroy his home and
happiness and Psyche is urged to be vigilant against the attack. What is also
significant, however, is the similarity between the disruptive Cupid and Lucius
himself, in the fictitious role ascribed to the hero by the townsfolk of Hypata.
Lucius is assumed guilty of the raid on his host's house. This is how the rumour
is reported by one of the robbers who were the real culprits.
Plusculisque ibidem diebus demoratus,falsis amoribus ancillae Milonis an-
imum irrepens, ianuae claustra sedulo exploravit et ipsa membra in quis
omnis patrimonium condi solebat curiose perspexerat.
'While staying there for a few days, having wormed his way into the af-
fections of Milo's maid with false protestations of love, he had thoroughly
146), who re-interprets this scene in the light of the true transportation of the soul which ~u-
cius enjoys as a worshipper of Isis. Fick emphasizes moments of revelation both for Lucius
and Psyche in order to clarify the presence of true deities and their effects upon the human
observer in contrast to the cheap thrill of magic moments.
20 Lucius implies his identification with Pegasus at 7 ,26 when he calls his temporary owner
'My Bellerophon'.
 48 Paula James
investigated the locks on the doors and carefully explored that very part of
the house in which all the family wealth was stored.' (7, 1)
This false accusation recalls the nightmare Lucius the man suffered at the Risus
festival in Book 3 when the hero was dragged to a very public mock trial to
be convicted of murder. In that case, it turned out that he was the victim of a
practical joke in the context of a religious celebration. However, the second ac-
cusation of robbery is evidently seriously believed. This cruel joke of fate de-
picts Lucius as a fickle lover, a robber of households who escapes on his white
horse with supernatural speed. Lucius the ass is unable to utter the words non
feci, whereas the Cupid of the housekeeper's story freely admits to his actions
hoe leviter feci (5,24). There is clearly something to unravel in these correspon-
d~nces. It grieves the ass to be thus falsely maligned. To add insult to injury, it
remforces the reversal of Lucius' fortunes by a mocking and momentary meta-
morphosis of the hero into an unassailable Cupid figure; in the alternative real-
ity of rumour, he escapes with impunity and upon a 'winged' steed.
At 7 ,21 the ass is once again criminalised, this time by the tormenting boy
who plays upon the lustful reputation of asses to convince his audience of Lu-
cius' s Lotharian excesses. Lucius is jokingly referred to as talis amator,Jestivus
amasio, a real lover-boy! The terms in which his attempts at lovemaking are
couched 'inhians illicitas atque incognitas temptat libidines etferinas volup-
tates aversa Venere invitat ad nuptias' 'then breathing hard, he attempts illicit
and unheard-of lusts, and urges upon the victims of his bestial desires a union
to whi~h Venus is averse' sound like another recycling of a scene from the story
of Cupid and Psyche. The passage recalls the opposition and shocked anger of
the love goddess at her son's illicit marriage and sexual relations at 5,29.
However, even as an ass, Lucius is called upon to play the great lover, and
with a beautiful matrona, in the final stages of his ass life. The seduction of the
ass at 10,21-22, who is anxious and hesitant to force himselfon an 'ill matched'
paru_ier, again echoes the inset tale, this time the endearments lavished upon
Cupid by Psyche at 5,6, persuasions he cannot resist, in spite of the danger of
succumbing to her requests.
At the end of Book 10 (10,35) Lucius runs away from the distasteful and
~gerous enactment of sexual passion in the arena, a performance put on by his
nch master, Thiasus, and in which the ass is to copulate with a condemned crim-
inal. Lucius is eventually rescued by Isis, in a divine encounter with the goddess
rising, perhaps like a new Venus, from the sea. Lucius' new-found faith seems
to put a stop to his wayward libido and he, like Cupid, accepts some controls
upon his love-life, when he enters the priesthood of the goddess. We cannot
be sure that this represents a permanent break upon his earthly desires, but he
The Unbearable Lightness of Being 49
seems to have escaped the most destructive and disruptive aspects of Amor. Isis
has returned Lucius to his beloved self; his prayer at 11,2 has been answered:
redde me conspectui meorum, redde meo Lucio 'restore me to the sight of my
own people, return me to the Lucius I was.'
This is rather like the reunion the reader might expect for a storm tossed
Liebespaar in the Greek romantic novel; Lucius enjoys a bizarre restoration to
his other, non-ass, self. It would be no surprise to find Eros / Amor the presid-
ing deity, in one guise or another, in that kind of happy ending, but in fact he
has been expelled by Isis. She offers the true voluptas, a higher form of plea-
sure for the hero, most clearly articulated at 11,24 when Lucius gazes upon her
statue and is overcome with an indefinable joy, inexplicabili voluptate (Fick
1985, 145).
Conclusion
J
l
Psyche and Lucius are the key but not the only figures who demonstrate elemen-
tal properties of Levis Amor on the actual and metaphorical plane. Although
both of them are welcomed into 'spiritualised' states, there is a question mark
i over their ultimate happiness and an ambiguity about the nature of their encoun-
I
J ters with the divine. Psyche's story 'mythologises' the metaphor of Love in a
d cleverly conceived narrative where his polarities can be teased out as the story
j
'! unfolds. The fable allows the author to articulate the attributes of 'Love' by
; concretising the love god as a character in his own narrative 21 .
The love god's pervasive presence also underpins the progress of the hero
throughout the 'surrounding' novel. Cupid is the manipulator of passions who
inspires some of the lightest and darkest moments in the narrative; frivolous and
tragic secondary stories are propelled along by his activities. lbis portrayal of
Cupid, and his effects on human affairs, is inevitably bound up with definitions
of the novel itself. Light hearted entertainment in parts and heavy handed pros-
elytising in others, it continues to baffle readers who find its full import and
prevailing tone as elusive as the love god himself.
21 Both Kenney (1990a) and Harrison (in this volume) have noted the similarities between the
story of love told in the cave by the robber housekeeper and the experience with Diotima
related by Socrates in the Symposium. The wickedest explanation for this correspondence,
penned as it was by a follower of Plato, Apuleius himself, is that the old woman in the Meta-
morphoses is Diotima delira et temulenta.
 Some Epic Structures in Cupid and Psyche*

l Stephen J. Harrison
i Oxford

That some elements of the Cupid and Psyche episode in Apuleius' Metamor-
phoses (hereinafter C &P) have epic affinities is a familiar idea to Apuleian
scholars. Most notably, that Psyche's descent to the Underworld (Met. 6.16 :
140, 11-6.21 : 144,24) echoes that of Aeneas in Aeneid 6 has long been recog-
nised (cf. most recently Finkelpearl 1990), and further epic allusions have been
identified and discussed (to be found most conveniently in Kenney 1990a).
This treatment proposes to consider some of the larger structures in C&P from
an epic point of view, and to argue that the depth of epic allusion in the episode
differentiates it to some degree from the rest of the Metamorphoses. 1bis is not
of course to deny that epic is echoed in the rest of the Metamorphoses, 1 but
rather to imply that it is more important in the literary texture of C&P than in
the remainder of the novel. 1bis is partly because the literary texture of C&P
is consistently more dense than that of almost any other part of the novel, but
also partly because the literary character of C&P relies to a larger extent than
other parts on the use of recognisably epic structures.

1 Cupid & Psyche's Epic Frame (not forgetting Plato)

Owing to its apparently self-contained character, C&P has often been consid-
ered outside its larger context within the Metamorphoses as a whole. This,
·J though convenient for the separate editions of the episode which have often

* A version of this paper was delivered at the 19th Groningen Colloquium on the Novel in May
1996. I should like to thank Dr Maaike Zimmerman for the invitation to speak. and for her
peerless conference organisation.
For recent work on the epic texture of other parts of the Metamorphoses cf. Harrison
1990, Frangoulidis 1991a and 1992, Shumate 1996, Harrison (forthcoming) and Graverini
(forthcoming).
 52 S.J. Harrison
appeared since the eighteenth century, 2 obscures certain important ways in
which its location and function in the novel as a whole affect its interpretation
and literary texture. The generally agreed view of modern scholars is that C &P
provides evident links with the rest of the novel through such elements as the
analogy between Lucius and Psyche, both characters who at first come to grief
through weakness and curiositas, then wander and undergo a series of labours
and sufferings, and who are finally rescued by the action of divine grace. 3
Though this central truth is important for my argument, and I shall return to it
below, my particular concern for the moment is with the way in which C &P
fits into the fonnal structure of the novel. It is the longest of the many inserted
tales in the Metamorphoses by a long way, extending for about two books;
none of the others extends even to a single book. This great length is evidently
meant to remind the reader of the long inserted tales of the Odyssey and the
Aeneid, particularly that of Aeneas in the Aeneid, similarly extending for two
books, fi]ling the whole of Aeneid 2 and 3. Though echoes of the Odyssey are
clearly detectable in the Metamorphoses (see Harrison 1990), the Aeneid here
provides a more convenient and a more easily recognised model for Apuleius
and his Latin readership, and in comparing it the reader finds obvious and
immediate differences.
First, though C&P is in effect two books long like Aeneid 2-3, it is irnme-
diately obvious that its boundaries are not co-extensive with those of the books
of the Metamorphoses: it begins just before the end of Book 4 (4.28 : 96,16)
and ends not long before the end of Book 6 (6.24 : 147,2). This plainly ex-
ploits the possibilities of coincidence or disjunction of plot-segmentation and
book-structure, with plot-segments crossing the boundaries between books.
This technique originates in epic, going back to the post-Alexandrian text of
Homer, and was perhaps most familiar to the original readers of Apuleius'
work in Ovid's homonymous Metamorphoses. 4 But Vergil is largely an excep-
tion: almost all the books of the Aeneid finish at the end of a plot-segment or
other strong closural point. 5 The Apuleian bridging of book-divisions may be
2 The earliest separate edition I have found is Northius 1789, a publication clearly related to
contemporary German interest in folklore and fairy-tales.
3 See the succinct summary at Kenney 1990a, 13-17; another clear statement in Wlosok 1969.
4 For the technique in Homer cf. Taplin 1992, 285-93 (on the Iliad; for the Odyssey see e.g.
Od. 5-6, dealt with in 2 below); in Ovid see Met. l-2, 7-8, 8-9.
5 A partial exception is Aeneid 6- 7, where the burial of Caieta at the beginning of Book 7 is
clearly a hangover from Book 6, a brilliantly paradoxical effect at what is clearly a principal
division in the poem between the 'Odyssean' Books 1-6 and the 'Iliadic' Books 7-12. For
the transitions between the books of the Aeneid in general cf. Harrison 1980.
Some Epic Structures in Cupid and Psyche 53
an attempt to distance this two-book inserted tale from its evident Vergilian
model: it is both like and unlike the self-contained two-book tale of the Aeneid,
just as the eleven books of the Metamorphoses as a whole, about which there
has been much interesting speculation (cf. Heller 1983), is nearly but not quite
the twelve books of the Aeneid. 6 These formal features are consistent with
the general approach of the Metamorphoses to epic models. Poems like the
Odyssey and Aeneid are used frequently in it, but often in such a way as to
make it clear that the world of the Metamorphoses, at least at the level of its
primary narrative, is different from that of the epic - low-life, entertaining and
sensationalising rather than uplifting and edifying. 7
Another fundamental difference, transforming the lofty world of the epic
into the more dubious domain of the novel, is the choice of narrator for C&P.
The tale is not as in the Aeneid a stirring autobiographical homodiegetic nar-
rative (i.e. with its narrator as participant) 8 told by the work's most important
character, the male heroic protagonist Aeneas, but a heterodiegetic story (i.e.
one not concerning the narrator) announced as a frivolous fiction and narrated
by an anonymous old woman of little importance in the novel's plot. C&P is
presented as literally an invented 'old wives' tale' (4.27 : 96,15 anilibusque
fabulis; cf. Winkler 1985, 53-6), the opposite of Aeneas' story, whose 'male'
realistic and veridical quality is never to be doubted. In Aeneid 2-3 Aeneas'
narrative is throughout coloured by his own perceptions and emotions, looking
back on traumatic events in his own life, producing in Book 2 especially a no-
tably dramatic and personal eyewitness account; by contrast, the focalisation
of the old woman, her point of view as narrator, is barely perceptible in C&P, 9
and the reader's attention is drawn to Apuleius himself as the 'real' narrator
very early on (see section 3 below).
But this apparent detached frivolity and insignificance of C&P, marked
by the marginal status of its narrator, is of course only superficial. Seemingly
unlike the heroic narrative of Aeneas, which is weighty both in its themes
6 For an interesting alternative view that the eleven books of the Met. represent an incomplete
text, cf. van Mai-Maeder 1997.
7 For the same approach cf. Harrison 1990 and Harrison, forthcoming.
8 On the various narratological terms used in what follows (homodiegetic, heterodiegetic,
analepsis, prolepsis, focalisation, extradiegetic, intradiegetic) see Bal 1975 and Genette
1980; for a useful application to Homer cf. de Jong 1987, and for an application to Apuleius
see Hijmans et al. l 995, 7-12.
9 Apart perhaps from the romantic element in the story (girl gets boy), which might be seen
as a 'female' interest in some sense. For arguments that the tale represents the interests of
the anus, cf. James 1987, 123-5. See also, now, Panayotakis 1997, 36-38; van Mai-Maeder
& Zimmerman in this volume.
54 S.J. Harrison
(the sack of Troy and the Trojans' wanderings, traditional epic matter) and in
its consequences for the plot of the poem (it clearly helps Dido fall in love
with Aeneas - see below), C&P is both announced by its narrator as a story to
comfort a distressed young woman (4.27: 96,14-15 sed ego te narrationibus
lepidis anilibusque fabulis protinus avocabo), and received by the listening
Lucius-ass as a pretty but insignificant fiction (6.25 : 147,4-6 sed astans
ego non procul dolebam mehercules quod pugillares et stilum non habebam
qui tarn bellam fabellam praenotarem). But this posture is one of the many
narratological ironies of the Metamorphoses, on two different levels. 10 ~.
for Lucius-ass, the secondary intradiegetic narratee after the young girl, C&P
is in fact far from frivolous, since, as already suggested above, it prefigures
in the character of Psyche the future of Lucius himself, as an erring mortal
rescued by divine intervention from the consequences of his own mistakes.
In fact, it is as fundamentally important for Lucius as it is possible to be. As
usual in the novel, Lucius, whether in human or asinine form, fails to spot the
relevance of an inserted tale to his own case. 11 Second, for the extradiegetic
narratee, the reader, and particularly for th~ second-tune reader who knows
the novel's conclusion, C&P provides a key element in the unity of the novel's
plot: without the analogy of Lucius and Psyche, the reader is left with relatively
little to link the mistakes and wanderings of Lucius in Books 3-4 and 7-10
and his divine salvation in Book 11.
This narratological irony for other narratees is repeated most spectacularly
on the I~f the primary intradiegetic narr~e of the tale, the distressed
young woman who will only be named as Charite at a much later stage (7.12:
163,10). 12 For her the tale has an obvious~nce and comforting function,
being the story of a young woman who overcame danger and tribulation to be
reunited in marriage with her beloved partner, appealing to her own situation
as a bride kidnapped by robbers from her own wedding (4.26: 94,16 ff.), who
has had a nightmare about the death of her ijance (4.27 : 95,16 ff.); no doubt
it is partly calculated by the cynical old woman (who bears some resemblance
here to an elegiac Jena) 13 to assuage the particular worries of her charge and
keep her quiet, as she had been previously instructed by her robber masters
10 On narratological play in the Met. see of course Winkler 1985, though this is not one of his
examp]es. In fact, Winkler's book steers off C&P, devoting ~_one short section to its con-
tent (8~-9_31and does not expl01t the prolepticparallels between Lucius and Psyche as one
iiught expect.
11 See the important treatment of the tales and their relation to Lucius in Tatum 1969.
12 Suspense may be one reason for this, though generally Apuleius seems to enjoy not naming
characters until he has to: cf. Brotherton I 934. On the first naming of Charite see further
Frangoulidis 1991b.
13 Both io her cynical manipulation of a younger woman for personal gain and in her alcoholic
Some Epic Structures in Cupid and Psyche 55
(4.24: 93,7-8 anui praecipiunt adsidens eam blando quantum posset solaretur
alloquio), whose interest she plainly promotes (4.25: 94,11-13), though some
fellow-feeling with a distressed female need not be excluded here. In her
fictional tale the old woman apparently seems to tell more than she knows,
as the novel's second-time reader is aware: Charite will indeed be reunited
with her beloved Tlepolemus, as the events of Book 7 will show. But this is
surely a reasonable guess on the old woman's part, since the robbers have
already made it plain that their main purpose is extortion, and that they expect
Charite's parents swiftly to pay a ransom which will enable her to return to
her family (4.23: 92,24 ff.). However, as the second-time reader is also aware,
Charite's end will not be the happy end of Psyche in C&P: though Charite and
Tlepolemus are married in Book 7 and their story seems to end happily at that
point (7 .14), Book 8 begins with the sudden and unexpected news that Charite
is dead, and the tragic second part of her story is then narrated (8.1-14).
It is this second part of Charite's story which particular} links her to
the inserte e o Aeneas in Aeneid 2-3. As the primary narratee of C&P,
Charite clearly b~~ ~ome- resembiance- to Dido, the primary narratee of
Aeneas' narrative. On the purely formal level, both are impressionable female
auditors of two-book inserted tales; but the connection is thematic as well as
formal. Charite's later story as narrated in Book 8 will depict her in an act of
vengeance and (in particular) a suicide-scene which plainly recall Dido's role
in the Aeneid, with a number of verbal echoes; both are women who listen
to a tale and ultimately erupt into acts of violent passion which end in their
deaths (cf. Forbes 1943-4, Walsh 1970, 53-4). This parallel of Charite and
Dido as narratees can be interestingly explored further. Aeneas' tale in the
Aeneid has some moments which are particularly relevant to Dido, especially
the narrative of the disappearance of Creusa, Aeneas' first wife. At the end of
Aeneid 2 (735-95), Aeneas tells how Creusa vanished in the departure from
Troy and how he returned at great personal risk to search for her, a search
which was cut short by Creusa's appearance as a divine figure who has been
rescued by the goddess Cybele. She tells him (2.776-89) not to lament for her,
and that he will marry another royal wife (regia coniunx) when he comes to
the end of his wanderings, in a land in the West (terram Hesperiam) with a
river called the Lydian Tiber (Lydius ... Thybris). There is every chance that
this episode is perceived by the listening Dido as relevant to herself and her
own erotic interest in Aeneas, which is set up by Juno and Venus in Book 1
and is clearly operative by the beginning of Aeneid 4, where it is evident that
tendencies (6.25 : 147,3 temulenta) ; for the latter compare the well-named Dipsas of Ovid
(Am.l.8.34) and the Acanthis of Propertius (4-5.75).
56 S.J. Harrison
Aeneas' narrative has made him very attractive to Dido (4.9-30). Aeneas has
shown both that he is good husband-material in his devotion to his wife, 14
and that he is available for marriage again. Dido may even think that she is
the royal wife predicted by Creusa - her country is after all west of Troy,
and the mention of the Lydian Tiber may be unconsciously suppressed as
an emotionally inconvenient detail, along with the clear indication at Aeneid
3.163-71 that Italy is Aeneas' ultimate destination.
Thus both Charite and Dido are linked as narratees by the possibilities of
erotic fulfilment offered by their respective inserted tales: in C&P, as befits a
novelistic narrative, that erotic fulfilment is the climax of the tale, the marriage
of Cupid and Psyche, while in the Aeneid it exists perhaps only in the mind of
the listening Dido as a personal and partial inference from Aeneas' narrative,
since auditors less engaged than Dido might have realised from Book 3 that Ae-
neas would not be able to marry her and settle in Carthage, but must go to Italy.
Dido in fact supplies a romantic and marginal view of an epic tale: Aeneas tells
a story about the death of Troy and the struggle to locate a proto-Rome, but Dido
receives it as extended evidence of Aeneas' marital suitability (Aeneid 4.9-19),
ignoring its essential message that Aeneas' state must be founded in the correct
location - not Carthage, but Italy. This partial and s~rficial reading or even
?fan inserted tale is echoed in the reception~f(&~_i!}_the Meia-
ffi!_S_reading
morphos~s, but not in the figure of Charite, whose reaction is not recorded-but
who may be supposed to be comforted (her lamentation is no longer mentioned
after its end). Dido's misreading is in f~ct echoed inJh<::_r~actionof Lucius-ass,
who as already noted can see nothing rele\'.apJ to himself in th~~~Icie;tlypar-
<!_llclstoryofr~ych~ -- - -- - -- ---
The parallel between Charite and Dido, long since noted for the later part of
Charite's story in Book 8, can thus be extended to her role as narratee for C&P:
she begins in the Dido-role as the primary female narratee of the great two-book
tale, goes on to diverge from the Dido-model in the apparently happy ending of
her story in Book 7, and then resumes her previous Dido-identity in her death
in Book 8. This kind of subtle re-use of epic models is typical of Apuleian im-
itatio-technique, as is his tendency to adapt and vary epic narratological fea-
tures. 15 Aeneas' tale in Aeneid 2-3 is an ~~ge~c!':11~~~sis, a flashback
14 Though the fact that Aeneas left Creusa last in the order of march to leave Troy (2.72S), a
decision which allows her to disappear, might have given Dido pause for thought (this is a
man for whom his mission and his (male) family come before his erotic partners).
15 For another example of Apuleian adaptation of a Vergilian narratological device, compare
the waJ in which the ekphrasis of the Actaeon-statue at Met. 2.4 : 27, 7ff anticipates Lucius'
future, just like the proleptic ekphrasis of the temple of Juno at Aen£id l.45J--93 - see the
discussion in Harrison, forthcoming.
Some Epic Structures in Cupid and Psyche 57
summarising real past events which have already taken place outside the linear
chronology of the work; C&P, by contrast, seems to narrate fictional events
of no real standing, but in fact turns out, at least on the S)'.!!l.~l~c.:_levt!_l,to ~e
an intradiegetic prolepsis, an anticipation 9ffu1:JJ.reeye11.t_~ within the _novelit-
self. This {s·.i~leve~ variation of the original narrative function of the Vergilian
model.
It is important to stress again that despite its use and variation of the epic nar-
ratological frame of the long intradiegetic tale, C&P is not a purely epic episode
which has simply been set in a novelistic context. Though it is often more el-
evated than other parts of the Metamorphoses in its themes and language, it!~
firmly anchored in the lower context of the novel by such elements as the comic
as
andreal~tiZ°~ha:ract~risation of figures such the vain socialite Venus and the
jealous and sexually ·deprived sisters ~f ~che. Even in pui-ely narratological
terms: ~tepic·i~- the-~~ly ldn[of tixt--i~ play-in C&P: much has been made of
the famous allusion to Plato's P~!.!'.§_(248c) at _5.24: 121,18 ff., with many
tempted to a thoroughgoing PI.i:tonicallegorisation ·of the whole story. 16 ~ 1
not wishing__~.Q~I_lY ~orne eJ~~~nt of allegory to a sto(l'. w~er~__Qle protagonis!s 1· L____.
are called -~Q~ __and _s_cml _arid_~€! _the_literal_l!leanings of th?~e .!!~~s __ ~e 11 "- -
explicitly point~~cmt ~y_r~11!~~_ord=play, 17 my own general view is that \
allusions to Plato provide not an ideological or philosophical key to the Meta-
m--;,:,;-,;;;;.~:imt
a de~~strati~th~ilior's literary learnfni The Phaedrus,
alluded to elsewhere in the Metamorphose;(Met. f.18: 17,3 ff.~ Phaedrus
229a), seems to have been the most read of Plato's dialogues in Apuleius' pe-
riod (cf. Trapp 1990), and of course its subjects of Love and the Soul are rel-
evant to C&P. But Plato also provides an important precedent for the narrato-
logical frame of C&P, which operates alongside the epic model of Aeneid 2-3.
In the Symposium, another dialogue well known in the second century and
plainly known to Apuleius (Apol.12, Kenney 1990b), the assembled company
at the symposium compete in praising the god Love (Cupid). The climax occurs
when Socrates tells the assembled come~Y of how the true na~ Love ~~
reveale~ to tihiibi 14e-pri~~tess1}io.tima-qf_MaQJ1pr,a (2{Hd-212c) : Diotima
claims that Love's true object is the beauty of the soul, not the body, and that
thus he is the greatest of the gods, drawing man towards contemplation of the
divine. Here is an inserted tale in which a woman gives an account of love and
the soul, Cupid and Psyche, a Platonic model for the narrative frame of C&P.
16 Cf. e.g. Hooker 1955, Dowden 1982, and most recently and subtly Kenney 1990b. The tra•
dition of allegorising C&P goes as far back as Fulgentius in the sixth century (Myth. 3.6).
17 Cf. S.6: 108,4 tuae Psychesdulcisanima, 5.13: ll4,l Psychaeanimam, 6.2: l30,l4Psyches
animae; 5.23 : 121,6 in Amoris incidit amorem ... cupidin£ fraglans Cupidinis (see Kenney
1990a on all these passages).
 58 S.J. Harrison
But as with the epic links already discussed, the differences are as interesting
as the similarities: in Apuleius the tale about Love and the Soul is narrated not
bt_~gnified priestess with a ponderous n~~_,_QiQ..tjma,'honoured.by Zeus.',
bu,!._
by a nameless and undignified old woman, a delira et temulenla anicula
(6.25 : 147,3--4). In Apuleius, I would claim, Plato's elevated scenario is re-
duced to the low-life world of the novel, and the Platonic contents of C&P are
l~ise meant primarily for entertlgnment and literary display rather thaJ)~n-
~ne philosophi~~ exposi~~- · storm, the revenge of Poseidon, falls asleep, aided by Athene (5.491-2); it is
2 Epic Structures within Cupid and Psyche - Books and Labours
The standard view of the internal structure of C&P, at least in the Anglophone
world, is that proposed by Walsh, giving five 'acts'. 18
Act One: Ira Veneris 4.28.1-35.4
Act Two: Amor Cupidinis 5.1.1-24.5
Act Three: Psyche errans 5.25.1-6.8.3
Act Four: Psyche apud Venerem 6.8.4-21.2
Act Fi"e: Felix coniugium 6.21.3-24.4
The dramatic connection suggested by the five-act structure is itself interesting,
especially as there were a number of dramas in the Renaissance and later based
on C&P, 19 and the segmentation it produces is a neat and reasonable division
of the material. But there are other divisions within C&P, divisions which have
authorial sanction rather than deriving from critical conjecture, namely those
between the books. Already mentioned earlier is the epic tension between book-
end and plot-segment, which C&P as a whole clearly exploits to the maximum
by beginning not long before the end of Book 4 and ending not long before the
end of Book 6: thus the episode has two book-endings and two book-openings
in mid-co11rse,rather than the one of each it would have if it were exactly two
books long. In this section I would like to look further at the beginnings and
endings of books within C&P, and at how they recall and rework epic models.
The most obvious starting-point is to consider the effect achieved by be-
ginning C&P only a few pages before the end of a book (4.28, with the book
ending at 4.35). In terms of the division of plot-material, the background and
18 It is adopted by Kenney 1990a, with small variations (his five 'acts' are called Psyche inno-
cens, Psyche oocens, Psyche errans, Psyche patiens and Psyche felix, and the divisions are
made at the same places except that between 'acts' four and five, placed by Kenney at 6.8 :
133, 16 rather than 6.8 : 133,24.
19 Several of these are treated by Moreschini I 994.
Some Epic Structures in Cupid and Psyche 59
scene-setting to the love-story of Cupid and Psyche is compressed into 4.28-
35, so that Book 5 can begin with Psyche settled in Cupid's palace and about
to meet her beloved, a new departure in a new location; the result in 4.28-35 is
apassage of very dense literary texture, which will be examined in section 3 be-
low. But the end of Book 4 and the beginning of Book 5 are worth considering
closer in terms of a particular epic model. At the end of Odyssey 5, Odysseus,
cast ashore in an unknown land after being battered and wrecked by a mighty
only some way into Book 6 that he wakes up (6.119) and discovers that he is in
fact in Phaeacia. The transition between Metamorphoses 4 and 5 can be seen as
a version of this. At the end of Book 4, Psyche, after going through the ordeal
of exposure on the rock, the revenge of Venus, is taken by divine means to a
restful and unknown place. True, she does not fall asleep until the beginning of
Book 5 (5.1.I ), so that Metamorphoses 4 does not close exactly like Odyssey 5
with the divinely-inspired sleep of the protagonist, but the pattern of travel to an
unknown new country, followed by divinely-aided rest after divinely-inspired
tribulation, and waking up conscious of a new location, are all elements shared
by the two inter-book transitions.
This resemblance is supported by the parallels between the two new
locations where the protagonists find themselves. Psyche is in the realm of
Cupid, which combines a beautiful garden, briefly described as a traditional
locus amoenus (5.1 : 103,10-11) with a magic palace of superhuman afChitec-
ture and ornament (5.1 : 103,12-13 domus regia ... aedificata non humanis
manibus sed divinis artibus) which receives a full formal ekphrasis (5.1 :
103,15-104,12). This evidently recalls the domain of Alcinous as described
in Odyssey 7.81-132, which likewise combines a palace of similar splendid
magnificence and superhuman architecture (note the mention of Hephaestus'
contribution to the decorations at 7.91-4) with a beautiful garden, again
described as an ideal landscape. Of course, the palace and garden of Alcinous
are a standard model for any description of a luxurious house with gardens
(see e.g. Kenney 1990a, 137), but the implication that the m_agicand luxurious
realm of Cupid has some resemblance to the sumptuous and slightly surreal
Phaeacia is neat and appropriate, and seems to be specifically operating here. If
this is so, then there is every reason to link the scenes in which Psyche arrives
there, separated by a book-division, to the scenes in which Odysseus arrives at
Phaeacia, similarly separated by a book-division. In both cases the protagonist
receives a pleasant surprise in the new book. When Odysseus finally wakes
up, his first thought (not unnaturally, given his past experiences) is that his
new hosts may be like the Cyclops and Laestrygonians (6.119-20), violent,
wild and unjust, but immediately he encounters the obviously unthreatening

60 S.J. Harrison
Nausicaa and her retinue. Likewise, when Psyche first comes to the realm of
Cupid, she does not meet the violent monster which the oracle has led her
to expect (and which might still encounter her even in the flowery meadows
of the end of Book 4, a notoriously dangerous location for young women in
myth 20 ), but a luxurious and tranquil existence.
Another possible epic model for the transition between Metamorphoses 4
I
and 5 comes from Ovid, whose homonymous Metamorphoses is sometimes un-
derestimated as a source for Apuleius' novel. 21 Ovid too has a transition be-
tween two books which involves an arrival at a new location at the end of a
book, followed by a book which begins with the description of a magic divine
palace. This is Metamorphoses l-2, where Phaethon travels to the extreme East
to meet his father Apollo/Helios at the end of Book 1 (l.779 patriosque adit
impiger ortus), and Book 2 opens with the famous ekphrasis of the Palace of
the Sun (2.1-18; for an analysis cf. Brown 1987). Ovid's palace is plainly rec-
ollected in Apuleius (cf. Bomer 1969, 237: but the point here is not just that one
literary palace echoes another, but also that Apuleius has noted the location of
Ovid's palace at the beginning of a book but some way into a narrative episode
(the episode of Phaethon begins at l.750, like that of C&P not long before the
end of a book), and has followed in his novel the epic tension between book-end
and plot-segment.
We might similarly consider why the following book-division between
Metamorphoses 5 and 6 occurs where it does in the plot. Here at first glance
there seems little epic connection: Book 5 finishes with a neat comic climax,
Venus' indignant exit to the sea (5.28: 125,8 ff.), her home in C&P (her marine
departure here recalls by ring-composition that at 4.31 : 99,12 ff. 22), after
her unsatisfactory encounter with Ceres and Juno, which has no evident epic
precedent at the end of a book, and Book 6 begins with the wandering Psyche's
vain mission to the temple of Ceres. Of course, there are vain missions by
females to the temples of female goddesses in epic (Iliad 6.286 ff., echoed at
Aeneid l.479 ff.), but neither is located at the opening of a book. But Psyche's
visit to the temple of Ceres does recall a temple visit at the beginning of a
20 It was from such landscapes that both Proserpina and Europa famously suffered violent kid-
nap while picking llowers-cf. Hom Hymn. 2.6, Moschus Europa 35---6,72-3. Itis clear that
even well into Book 5 Psyche has fears about her husband's possible bestial character, played
upon by her sisters (5.17: 116, 16ft).
21 For partial correctives see Scotti 1982, Krabbe 1989, 37-7-3.
22 The stress on Venus' marine home reflects traditional associations, but there is also some
sense that Venus is using it as a Roman matron would the female baths - note the large escort
of 4.31 : 99, l 7ff, like the large escort accompanying an important Roman matrona wherever
she went, and the specific detail of Venus 5.28: 125,ll lavantem natantemque, very much
bathing behaviour.
Some Epic Structures in Cupid and Psyche 61
famous epic book, this time by a male protagonist. At the beginning of Aeneid
6, Aeneas arrives at the Cumaean temple of Apollo. This is on a high hill, as
many temples were in antiquity (6.9-10 arces quibus altus Apollo/praesidet);
the temple of Ceres in Apuleius has a similar location (Met. 6.1 : 129,5-6)
prospecto templo quodam in ardui mantis vertice). In that temple Aeneas
sees some decorations, which like those he had witnessed in the temple of
Juno in Aeneid 1 have a symbolic proleptic function: the scenes of death
and inextricable wandering which he sees in the temples of Curnaean Apollo
anticipate his descent into the Underworld later in that same book, as scholars
have several times argued. 23 In the temple of Juno, Psyche sees no particular
decorations, but she does encounter Ceres and pray to her, evoking in particular
her daughter Proserpina's descent to and ascent from the Underworld (6.2 :
130.11 ff. et inluminarum Proserpinae nuptiarum demeacula et luminosarum
filiae inventionum remeacula). This is no casual allusion: later in this book,
Psyche, a newly-married young woman like Proserpina before her, will simi-
larly descend to the Underworld and return as the last of the labours imposed
by Venus. As already noted, that katabasis contains strong verbal and thematic
resemblances to that of Aeneas in Aeneid 6 (Finkelpearl 1990). Thus both
Psyche and Aeneas, at the beginning of the book of which their katabasis is
the climax, and indeed at the beginning of the sixth book of the work in which
they appear, visit a temple in which indirect proleptic allusion is made to that
coming katabasis. This seems far from coincidental: once more the Apuleian c,;
text is clearly aware of the book-divisions of its epic intertext. f'l--~•;,
,.
Another epic structure operating in the narrative of C&P, though not i- ~-;_..,:
connected with epic book-divisions, is that of P~urs. There are
four of these, a number which might plausibly be seen as an appropriate
reduction in the miniaturised circumstances of the two books of C&P o~ the
traditional Twelve Labours of Hercules (cf. e.g. Apollodorus Bihl. 2.5), which
had long been an epic theme in antiquity, for example in the lost Herakleia
of the fifth-century B.C. Greek epic poet Panyassis (Matthews 1974, 21-5).
The analogies between the Labours of Hercules and the tribulations of Psyche
are interestingly close. Both sets of labours could be represented as imposed
on a mortal by a resentful goddess, Hercules' Juno matching Psyche's Venus
(cf. Aeneid 8.291-3), and both mortals finally fulfil their labours and become
immortal themselves. 24 Psyche's final a~eosis and role on Olympus is
-------~"
in fact very like that of IfercuieS:-wii~- ended by being reconciled-to 1l!D<>,
-- -. ..-·-·-
...... ..
23 Cf. Enk: 1958, Poschl 1975.
24 There are also of course similar parallels to be drawn between Psyche and Aeneas, another
labouring mortal who finally achieves apotheosis - see section 3 below.
 62 S.J. Harrison
being_~d~~ to Olympus and IT1_¥l)'ing_lter d_al!ght!:!r
__
Het,e (e.g. Odyssey
11.602-3 ), Just as Venus fin~_~lyal!o~~-rsyche's marriage to her son Cupid
~<:1elevation to divine status, and shows her reversal of
enmity towards her
wedding (6.24: 146,21-2). Like the Labours of Hercules (cf.
by dan~i_ng_3:t_the
e.g. Apollodorus Bibi. 2.5.12), those of Psyche culminate in the ultimate test
of descent to and return from the Underworld (6.16: 140,16 ff.); like Hercules .
(but unlilce Aeneas) __ sheis_instru.cted to bring something back, not the dog
~J~art of Pro~erpii:i_~~i6eau!J(6T6:T4b;19-=--.2op 0 -·--- - -- ---~ ; ~
But the labours of Hercules are not the only epic quests mirrored in Psy- i
che's four tasks. The secoi~~-of_~:_m (6.11 : 136,16 ff.) is ob'_'.iouslybased on
the-~~~n~~t~ca '.1fl~ th~ Odyssey (Kenney 1990a, 205): Psyche." instructed by
Venus to obtam some of the wool from a vicious flock of golden-fleeced sheep d·_a_),J _
(clearlt~ no~e~stic ver~ion of Jaso!1 and ~e Argonauts),_ is enabled to do so
by the friendly mtervent10n of a reed, recalling the scene m Odyssey 4, where ~
Menelaus, similarly set the impossible task of capturing Proteus amid his flock
of seals, accomplishes it by the advice of the sea-nymph Eidothea. Thus we find
two heroic deeds of epic condensed into the rather more domestic (but still dan-
gerous) task of the girl Psyche; the slightly comic and whimsical tum given to
this heroic material in the novel is noteworthy, and shows again how Apuleius
transforms his epic models in a way suitable for his rather different work.
This modi~~<1:ti_on of epjc_is alSQ__§.QQ__\:Y!l
if! a dj__ff~nL~·ay in_tbe details of
Psyche's_first labour. Here she is set by Venus to sort out a heap of different
types of seeds into its constituent types (6.10: 135,6 ff.). This nature of this task,
and the fact that Psyche manages to accomplish it with the aid of friendly and
speaking ants, both have familiar analogues in later folk-tales (cf. Swahn 1955,
253-4, Hoevcls 1979, 186-8), but the Apuleian epi~itselfplainly based
on a Vergilian passage rather than embodying a folk-tale. 27 As Kenney 1990a,
204 briefly notes, the labouring ants recall the famous simile at Aeneid 4.402-
7, where the Trojan sailors busy in their preparations for leaving Carthage are
compared t~ hard at work shifting wheat-grain, moving a vast pile one
grain at a time:
"
~4 t ~'",
Cl
_ft:/i..i::·c"--"'/'Jt-~/~~- (__
- t '--·'"- "' - -
..
I1 Some Epic Structures in Cupid and Psyche 63
1
J ac velut ingentem formicae farris acervum
f
~
I cum populant, hiemis memores, tectoque reponunt:
it nigrum campis agmen, praedamque per herbas
convectant calle angusto: pars grandia trudunt
] obnixae frumenta umeris, pars agmina cogunt
~ castigantque moras, opere omnis semita fervet.
}
The ants are evidently personified, a feature which naturally suits the com-
J parandum, Aeneas' men: the military terminology (populant, campis agmen,
r,:-~;~j praedam, agmina cogunt) suggests the military efficiency of the Trojans as
J/_;,{ they prepare to leave Carthage. This personification is repeated more literally
in the Apuleian context, where the ants are made not just to act like men
t:;r·.J.-
:: but also to speak like them. The idea that animals ~gh_t~ak is also an
1
epic feature w!>JcltgQ~~-~~ck__!__o J:12!!!~!" ...JQ__
~_chi!!~( e_!l:!"~or9i11ary
_ta!Ki!lg
horse Xanthus at Iliad 19.404-24. The speaking ant in particular is also
part of a literary tradition,--though admittedly a literary tradition which has
strong popular connections, the animal fable (for speaking ants in fable texts
cf. Phaedrus 4.25, Babrius 140, Perry Aesopica 112). Further subtle means
of transformation can be noted: the Apuleian context simply modifies the
Vergilian piecemeal removal of a pile of the same grain 28 into the piecemeal
separation of a pile of different grains into its constituent types: in botb con-
texts the labour involves a mighty heap (Aeneid 4.402 ingentem ... acervum,
Met. 6.10 : 136,2-3 totum digerunt acervum). Thus one of the key pieces
of evidence for those who believe that C&P has genuine folkloric elements
c.____------------·---· ~-·- -------- ···-
actually detj".es from the ech~~f!g_and variation o( an epic '!1<>,del. The same
liriks with a literary modei rather than folklore can be seen in the third labour,
fetching the water of the Styx from a lofty mountain (6.13 : 138,7 ff.), which
is again taken direct from an epic source, the Th;.9.gony ofJ:{esj~ (782-7),
rather than from some universal myth of the 'water oflife' (cf. Kenney 1990a,
208, to which nothing needs to be added). Epic models thus have an important
role to play in asserting that the texture of C&P is primarily literary rather than

le C\ - v_µ,_;__ a»~
...,_ ) i""t
~~1 ~ r' ~ ·'· Xtl[e,._ov<-,;
O
'f. ,::,.Q_ .J. •tr'.C ,;,),
t !
00'-•- ~:..:__
'f',t.:,. t'

.-w
... ~

,i
folkloric.

i ......,..:..-~ c0s. :.~cvi..~"\JJ-.LAh

...µ::·,/ _"'.'_·:-•,,..-~1
.i .', ~_..:,...-~< · · t
__
3 Cupid and Psyche's Programmatic Opening: Epic Modifications
25 Apuleius' marriage-feast marking Psyche's reception into Olympus also recalls that of Her- cl_;.f~
cules in Pindar Nem. 1.69-72. ~ ,:,- -
26 Psy_che•.smissio~ to the Underworld is also influenced by that of Orpheus, searching for Eu- ("'~,,.[.,; I should like to conclude with a look in some detail at the opening of C&P
ry<!ice, in ~eo~1cs 4 - cf. Hai:nson: forthcoming. ~ ,\~
,,_,;___·_· (Metamorphoses 4.28-35), in order to stress the particularly epic nature of this
1
27 Thi~ !277, ,0 ,,_._.,.
relationship of folk-tale 10 C&Pj_s close to that of Fehli.....!!& I
~amely that f_&P depends almost entirely on lite!!'1'I3-~~r_f!13J1-(!_n folk:tale sourc«es,and x,..~2~i
m~eed that ~any folk-tales can be argued_to derive directly from Apuleius via such folk- t..:-.1.------~! 28 Note thatfrumenta at 4.406 indicates individual grains of any cereal, not a different type of
lonsts/class1cal scholars as the brothers Gamm, rather than the other way round. ~'.lb ! cereal fromfar.
n.) q•. [
...-- -.__ I

'~o.Jl.-Q___
i
r ;,:; \ I
 Some Epic Structures in Cupid and Psyche 65
64 S .J. Harrison

- ~- _ '"','_;:,.'.l" section, which helps to set the tone for the rest of the tale. The famous opening is no doubt that Apuleius, unlike the Greek novelists, is writing for a Latin-
--~-_,-_.-~J,.;.Q..of C~P at 4.28: ?~,16 makes so~e immediate points about literary texture:~ speaking readership, probably a Roman readership, 31 who would naturally not
-:-..,~-.1. ant m quadam c1vztate_!.e.~_et regma. Advocates of the folk-tale have pointed be so interested in Greek locations as the readers of Greek novels. It is notable
,._,._;;,0.:_i::!.~o two features of this opening sentence - its 'once upon a time' formula and that the only location mentioned in C&P, apart from the oracle of Apollo at
the lack of geographical specification (fioev~li 1979~4). But the \,rice
upon a Didyma, is Rome: Venus famously asks for her advertisement for the runaway
'-1;;,-,::~~~-. time' formula is atTeast as much literary ~pular, ~din particular recalls the 'slave' Psyche to be placed at the metae Murtiae, the turning-posts of the Cir-
:;·,,::·~;:._.,,.openingsof extant Gr~k J!.OVels. 29 This is not a casual echo, since the story of cus Maximus (6.8: 133,2~21), a well-known and indeed notorious location
;.: ·.c:·-~·,'.lJ;~~a~lllem~11~-9f th~Gre~½-fo_m~!c__no~J, now conv;nli~tlyli;t~d in the centre of the imperial city. 32 The vagueness of the Greek landscape of
m Kenney 1990a. This mtroduces the idea that m formal terms C&P is a novel the Metamorphoses is a reflection of a relatively uninterested Romanocentric
within a novel, a sort of l?'lisee_noflyme (cf. Dallenbach 1989, 57-8), which readership, not of misty folk-tale origins.
of course suits well the common view that the content of the tale thematically The strong novelistic colouring of the opening of C &P, well documented
reflects the content of the Metamorphoses as a whole. This is in fact marked by Kenney, is succeeded by an evidently epic feature - the irruption into the
by Apuleius himself at 4.32: 100,19, where the text refers to Milesiae condi- tale of the indignant goddess Venus at 4.29 : 98,4 ff. As many have observed,
-:. . .,o _to rem as a Latin-speaker, an evident reference to the real extradiegetic narratQr, Ap~ius' Ve~_11~~}_t:~!y_r1e<::ajl§_
the_hY~.t~_':7enu~a_tthe_o~ni_ng<>!_Lll_~re~us'
0::.:. " Apl:l~~~~•~a~~~-!11.an the fiction_alintradiegetic narrator, the old woman (cf. van De Reniin'flatura (see Kenney 1990a, 121, and Sch1esaro 1988), but Just
,:·. c: -.:der Paardt 1981). This seems to characterise C&P in particular as a Milesian as important are the verbal echoes here of another appearance by an angry
-~- -;_."-:f:>tale, something of a difficulty, since it is preci;ely the absence~~:~~~ oh goddess at the beginning of a narrative work - Juno's appearance in the first
1 ~~
0
)- tlte no_toriousMiles_ianelements ?_f_se~s~tionalis~an_dpof!!_~gr.aphy whic_h~f- \ scene of the Aeneid. These again have been long noted (Kenney, ibid.), but
_--,, ;_:;: __f~~ntiate @~!ong_1_~~1!~.tale__ from the <>thertajes of the Metamo1J2ho.§~_s. But their larger programmatic func~o_nof s_uggestil!ga gen~~ anal<?~>'- ~!we~n
i.;, -,as mterpreters have pomted out (e.g. Winkler 1985, 53-4), the only other ref- the-plot-ofC&P and-the plot of the Aeneid has not been sufficiently stressed.
~,~-"_,~,.,~1.-. erence to Milesian tales is in the prologue to the whole work (1.1 sermone isto Both open .dter a prologue section setting the scene and explaining why the
'_-:\__--· Milesio), and Milesiae at 4.32 : 100,19 therefore refers similarly½?_!!!~-~~~!_~ protagonist is persecuted by a particular goddess with the appearance of that
, __.· ·• __-,,_.;, ~r.,~.!m:!han C&J:!?_~articul~}° But the fact remains that the reference is goddess, making an indignl!_f!t~~~h and initiating acti~l!_~l_iicl!_
i~J>C)t~ntially
1
placed m the programmatic opening to C&P: perhaps, in addition to pointing disastrous for the pr~ai~nisL This immediately sets up a rather unlikely
, tup the general parallels between this episode and the rest of the novel, there is sit°uatio~~h~r~ the you~g woman Psyche is compared to an epic hero - to
e,,":':::.. · ~··-alsoa suggestion that this part of the novel too is an invented literary fabula, Aeneas, persecuted by Juno just as Psyche is persecuted by Venus.
0,· -- intended like Milesian tales to entertain rather than edify. But the uie oftheA~neid in C&Pis not always as obvious as this. For exam-
: ...·;d}b_The lack of geographical specification in the opening in quad am civitate is ple, in her impassioned state Venus summons her son Cupid, and begs him to -1- .. ,...
;;.~-~- no~_af~iaieeiemeiif Greek
Thougb-mosf novels-~e -~~efuily located i~ ~- help her take revenge onPsyche(4.31: 99,2 ff.). As has been noted, the origin of,.:· ; ·.
~
'~........
~
- . , .,. specified Greek city, at least at the start, the fact that the civitas of C&P is left this witty motif of Venu~beseeching Cupid t~ inflict love on ~ woma~ is Ap.R!i,. i ;,:,
deliberately vague is not a reflection of the story's popular origins. Two ele- 3.1 U-66 (cf. Kenney 1990a, 123); but more lffiportant here 1s~1:_ne1dl.~57_ff., '- ,:.Q_
ments are in play here. First, and most important, it is characteristic of the Meta- ;h~-;~-Venus again asks C~pid to inflict love, this time on Dido. There Venus' _',';'_;_ v.

morphoses to re_ve;a} lit*- of_the geography of its s<;:enario.No specific plot-

location is mentioned in the novel between Lucius_-ass's capture by the r~bbers- 31 Cf. Dowden 1994, th<>11g~J do not agree with his early dating of the Metamorphoses: its no~- .,.,... ·
ai ftyj>~taand Corinth where he is to be re-transformed; though the journeys mentiO!i[n-the_i!f,_(!logia
and possible allusions in it_to_theevents _surrourulingthe Apologfa
oO:::ucius take place in a vague imperial Greece (Millar 1981), further spec- (e:-;Met. 6.9: 135,i=J ·_:_cr.tG:nney-i990a, 203) surely indicate a ~te aftt!r ~?~'?-
ification is avoided. This is perhaps explained by the second element. There 32 The metae Murciae were at the end of the Circus Maximus adjacent to the temple of the
goddess Murcia, commonly identified with Venus Myrtea (Pliny Nat. 15.121, Tertullian De
I' ' .~ .~-·-~ ;( -
Speer. 8, Kenney 1990a, 200)-hence no doubt Venus' use of it here (it is her own territory).
29 Cf. Hein! 1914, 190-1, Fehling 1977, 79-88, Kenney 1990a, 116. -::JHJ,i.::•..:v.•J;- ':...:'·'(I ,
30 On the Metamorphoses as Milesian, cf. Kenney 1990a, 7-8, Moreschini1990 (reprinted in· - ~ ' Ye,
The Circus in general was a particular haunt of meretrices (cf. e.g. Catullus 55.4, Ovid Ars
Moreschini 1994), and Harrison 1998. · 1.135-9, Juvenal 3.65).
 66 S.J. Harrison
.. 'b
approach to Cupid is_nQt the parental blil~bnail of Apollonius, where she offers
C up1.d a spe_c1
.al ,~cu.--0
!oy in return for his help, but rather an emotional supplication
P?_~er (1.666 ad te confugio et supplex tua numina posco).
of him as a gi:_e_ater
As Kenney 1990a, 123 implies, this is much more like the scene in Apuleius,
where Venus similarly uses the language of supplication, drawn from yet an-
other Vergilian context: per ego te ... matemae caritatis foedera deprecor ..
(4.31 : 99,2-3). Here Venus is in effect playing not the Vergilian Juno, as she
has just done on her first appearance, but her previous Vergilian self: having
begun by presenting Venus as repeating the role of the _YergilianJuno, persecu-
tor of Aeneas, as the persecutor of Psyche, Apuleius now presents Venus as the
~secutowf~. This is again very neat, sine~ on P~y~h~(lil~~Charite,
who is listening and to whom she is plainly analogous - see section I above)
has some of Dido's characteristics in the way that she is described, especially
at Me!~!!MP-h!H.<i~ ~-.'.~J
: 119,9-10, where Psyche, like Dido in the middle of
Aeneid 4, is in an irrational state because of doubts ~boµt l! r.eI~!ion~hip_wjtba
son of Venus; in Psyche's case, of course, the son of Venus is not Aeneas but
Cupid, and the detailed terms in which Psyche is described reinforce the the-
matic parallel with verbal links with Aeneid 4, which I have noted elsewhere. 33
V~ t, The programmatic opening of C&P thus gives us some indication of the
c-,_:-~;.""" complexity of intertextual role-playing in its use of the Aeneid: Apuleius'
-~ (-;,..v'"~ Vent1~-in__ her assau_lto~ ~syche is both _!!:leVer~ian,Ju_!l_o_~d th~ yergilian
,,., c.. ";~ Venu~, piquantly c?~b~rung m a smg!~_:__hara~!~~ 1n_the n~v~~~ of swc;>!ll
'>J;':f,
~, enermes. ~n ~site _!!}
_th_~epic,_while Apuleius' Psyche recalls both
s_!_<!_e_s
r:·:',;\-
,.'.l:,"'
~e yergilian ~ene~s and the V~rgilian Dido as a vi_cti~ of div~e pc;rse~on.
\.-,,,>-°Sirmlarcomplicattons ensue m the passage which 1mmed1ately succeeds
~ ;:0 ~-yenu~' impassio~ed ~peech, s~ clearly m_~e~~ on that of Vergil 's Juno. This
._;,,,,'!'J' -Mescnbes Venus rettnue of minor sea-d1vtrutles (4.31 : 99,17 ff.). The chief
model for this episode is again from the Aeneid, the appearance of Ne_p_tune at
the end of Aeneid 5, as exercitus, the final word of the description, su gests
(4.31 : 100,2 talis ad Oceanum pergentem Venerem comitatur ~ercitu =
Aeneid 5.822 - variae comitum facies ... I ... Phorcique exercitus omnis):
these are the first two instances for this use of exercitus as ~~ited by
'fkL, 5 2 139.9 1 ff). In Aeneid 5, however, Neptune helps Aeneas and the
Trojans, albeit at the cost of the sacrifice of Palinurus, rather than playing the
role of hindering Aeneas which Venus initially suggests in C&P (see above).
33 For the links with Dido here cf. Harrison, forthcoming; Kenney 1990a, 166-7 stresses the
parallels with Ovidian abandoned heroines without even mentioning Dido, but Dido is their
common ancestor too, and the "'..erbalparal~_Met. 5~21-.l..q_~stu
p_e~gisimile maerengq/J_uc-
~
~ Aeneid 4.532 ~T!'_,:untfiucfu!l!_a_e~tu _makes the direct Vergilian link clear.
Some Epic Structures in Cupid and Psyche 67
Apuleius has inverted the context of the description and reappropriated it for
his own purposes.
But let us return to the idea of Psyche as Aeneas. There are further links
between the two other than persecution by a vicious and indignant goddess,
but it is important to note that in both cases the end of the story removes the
goddess's resentment and reconciles her with thi-hatedmortal~ In botlt--cases,
too:-th-is re~~nciliation is brought about by Jupiter's controlling hand, and in-
volves the implicit or explicit sanctioning of a marriage which will end the dis-
j pute. In the Aeneid, Juno is famously bought off (at least for the time being)
I with Jupiter's promise that the detested Trojan name will disappear from his-
\
I
tory, and that the new race of the Romans will honour her above all other gods
(12.830-40). Juno departs happily and without replying, but clearly assenting
to the arrangement (12.841 adnuit his Juno et mentem laetata retorsit). This in
effect allows the marriage of Lavinia and Aeneas, previously held up by Juno's
intervention (Aeneid 7.314-22, 12.803-6), finally to take place. In the Meta-
morphoses, Jupiter reassures Venus that the marriage of Cupid and Psyche will
be dignified and equal, with Psyche being elevated to the ranks of the immor-
tals (6.23 : 146,8 ff.); like J!!no. Ve_nus.~92_ws
her acquiescence in actions rather
!h@words, hy dancjn~t the wedding herself (6.24 : 146,21-2). --- -
P~s the most int;esting--parallel between Aeneas and Psyche is that
both eventually become gods. Aeneas is destined for this after his death, and
ag~eement to this is part of Jupiter's agenda in the reconciliation with Juno
(Aeneid 12.793-5); Psyche is made divine immediately by Jupiter before the
wedding, thus answering Venus' previous objections about her son marrying a
mortal (6.23 : 146,8 ff.). For both, then, the story of their persecution by a god
ends ha_ppily,with their own aeotheosis a<:£_9>t~4. IJLtlieir ~re~~us pe_f!>e<=u_t~~:
Though it is never quite explicitly stated, it is clear from the proem of the
Aeneid and from the constant parallel between Aeneas and Hercules (see 2
above) that it_is· Aeneas' career of heroic labours, some at least imposed by
the agency of Juno, which leads to his apotheosis. The same might be said of
Psyche: it is her persistence in fulfilling the tasks set her by Venus, even if she
fails in the last and needs to be rescued by Cupid, which makes the reader feel
that her apotheosis and happy marriage is deserved. -- - - --
4 Conclusion
This examination of the epic structures of literary texture of Cupid and Psyche,
on the macro-level in the framing of C&P as an extended intradiegetic narra-
tive with a famous epic model which also uses epic book-structures, and on
the micro-level in its first few and importantly programmatic pages, has natu-
68 S.J. Harrison

rally si_resseda particular generic affinity in the novel. This _i:;11otto d_enythat
o~~~ _lit~rlll)'genres have_ S?._m~~II_l:l_)~!-:_lanc~_
in_its texture: Plato11icdialogues
and the G2:_:~_n?._vel h~ve already be_!!n.
alluded to above, Greek tragedy has re-
cently been_s~~~I!.!~ ~e)11_~~~~-ti~Jc_t_ Sciii~sar_o 1988) and there are many
other genres ":'~eh c~nt_ribu~~_!o~e rich literary effect of Cupid and Psyche.
Nevertheless, 1t1sth~at 1sp_n~. Not only was epic the universal read-
Cupid and Psyche Tale:
ing of Apuleius' day in schooland elsewhere; it also provided almost the only Mirror of the Novel
~odel for exte?ded fictional composition. It is therefore not surprising to find
its scenes, motifs and vocabulary re-used and transformed in Apuleius' Meta-
morphoses. And that transformation, as we have seen, stresses the difference
Warren S. Smith
betw~e~ epic ~d novel: the grand heroic material of the Aeneid is subjected to
sophisticated literary and narratological play in Apuleius' epideictic imitatio, Albuquerque
and at least partly brought down to earth for the lower genre, whose aim is not
to create epic sublimity but to provide sophisticated fictional entertainment.
The importance of the 'Cupid and Psyche Tale' is highlighted by its position
just before the center of The Golden Ass (it would be even closer to the center if
the asymmetrical Book 11 were removed). The tale bridges three books: 4,28-
6,24. The idea of a tale (with mythological setting and characters) embedded
within the main narrative, and shedding light on it, goes as far back as Phoenix'
tale ofMeleager in Iliad 9. Myths are found in the Greek novels, though usually
they are much shorter, e.g. the story of Pan and Syrinx told by Lamo in Longus'
Daplmis and Chloe 2,34 (cf. the expanded version in Achilles Tatius' Leucippe
and Clitophon 8,6), and the story of Procne and Philomela told in L&C 5,5 1.
Each of the last three stories sets an ominous tone by centering on unlawful
passion and actual or threatened rape. The 'Cupid and Psyche' tale stands out
from these by its enormity and by setting potentially violent and tragic events
in motion but ending on an optimistic note with lovers united in marriage. The
question, then, is how such a plot is relevant to the seemingly unrelated wan-
derings of Lucius as an ass; what, then, is the artistic justification for the tale's
extended interruption of the main plot?
The tale is told by the old woman, friend of the robber band, to Charite the
captive maiden. Its immediate and obvious function is to cheer her up and take
her mind away from her troubles, giving her hope for a better future 2. The tale

1 See Walsh 1970, 190-193 for other examples of the 'tale within a tale' and the connec-
tions between Psyche's adventures and those of Lucius; also James 1987, 125-130; Kenney
1990a, 12-17; Shumate 1996, 251-262.
Citations from the Golden Ass, Apology, and Florida are based on Helm's editions. Trans-
lations from Latin and Greek are my own.
2 In contrast, Winkler 1985, 56 is surprisingly cynical about the old woman's motives.
70 Warren S. Smith
likewise elevates the expectations of the novel as a whole. One of the arguments
of this paper is that the tragic tone of the 'Psyche' tale, combined with its in-
terconnections with the rather scurrilous adventures of Lucius, helps give the
entire no"Vela higher seriousness. Like the !1_9V~! as a whole, the pI"_efaceof the
tale beguiles us by m~l!_promise of e_n,~_!!aj~ent(pemz1llceanz,1,1:-i,2-
3; avocabo 4,27: 96,15). Yet the more profound meaning of Lucius' story will
not fully emerge until Book 11, while in the 'Psyche' tale cosmic forces are set
in motion at once, and pity and fear roused from its opening page.
In assessing the relevance of the tale, we have to think in terms of concepts,
even whimsical or seemingly trivial concepts, which so emerge from it as to
compel us to recall the rest of the novel or see it in a new light. Certain recurring
motifs look both backward and forward: some tie in with the unfolding story
ofLucius,-whik otherslookahead.to..fu.tur~ ~p_isodesin his story, including his
redemption by Isis.
General categories of correspondence
One pervasive motif is that of 3?ace. Apuleius anticipates such writers as
Poe and Dickens in his ability to create a mood, often sinister or threatening,
out of a physical description of a locale. Dwelling places often help define
their inhabitants, as their geographical situation may call attention to_~~!_>~9us
aspects of their character. Milo seems friendly to Lucius but enigmatic, and
is shunned by his fellow citizens; he is initially described in a way which
foreshadows his inhumanity, as one who dweµs in a wretched hut remote
from all the other homes in the town (1,21: 19,12-13; 15-17; 20--21). The
beautiful but mysterious atrium of Byrrhena's house (2,4: 27,3-2&,10) both
warns of trouble for those who dabble with the occult, and promises magical O
transformation. The feralis officina ('deadly workshop') of~ described
in 3,17 (65,3-10), is filled with tokens of her evil power: pieces of animals,
the remains of ill-omened birds, and even people. The Hellish den of the
robbers in 4,6 (78,18--79,12) is a fit lair for its bestial inhabitants, whom the
narrator compares with Lapiths and Centaurs in 4,8 (80,15-16). More broadly,
a general locale may create an ominous mood. The awful plain through which
the ass and his companions pass (8,15: 189,4-12) is infested with wolves and
lined with bones and half-eaten bodies. Yet all these largely ominous settings
are balanced by Cupid's beautiful and lavish palace, m 5,1-2 (103,6-105,2),
which proIIllses a blessing (beatos illos, 'bless~e they', 5,1: 104,4) and
ineffable pleasure to those who enter. In Cupid's palace, a place of unbounded
plenty, divina providentia ('divine providence') reigns, resulting in beatitudo
('blessedness'): 5,3 (105,3), in contrast with the misery Lucius found in the
Cupid and Psyche Tale 71
exiguo [are ('scanty larder') 3 at 1,21 (19,20-21) of the untrustworthy and
unscrupulous miser Milo whose 'hospitality' Lucius seemed willing to accept,
though it formed part of his ordeal of being buffeted by the ravages of Fortune.
7
@ysical appearan~s always a central preoccupation in Apuleius, as a Pla-
tonist always alert to the possibilities of forming a memorable ecphrasis. Such
passages include the description of the ass' shaggy hair and grosser aspects of
his anatomy (3,24: 70,10-18); Photis' nearly divine sexual allure (2,9: 32,21-
33,2; 2,17: 38,17-39,1); the Venus-like beauty of Psyche, which is curiously
I cold and statue-like, failing to entice any suitors to propose marriage (4,32:
100,5-8); the sensuality of the sleeping Cupid's wings and curly hair (5,22:
I
120,13-23); the ragged, decrepit appearance of the slaves in the mill who are
all covered with welts (9,12: 212,2-11), and the worn-out, feeble old geldings
(9,13: 212,11-20); the divine but still sensual beauty oflsis with the description
focusing on her hair ( 11,3: 268,8-9); and the narrator's final symbolic renunci-
ation of beauty (in its superficial physical form) with his head-shaving (11,30:
291, 17-20) 4 • Thus the essence of a condition or character is contained in phys-
ical detail, sometimes multiplied to the point of pleonasm, sometimes distilled
into a single point.
A specific subcategory of appearance is seizing on a particular ~
Apuleius like the Greek novelists is consciously aware of the visual aspect
of the scenes as he creates ·them (compare the tableau at the opening of
i Heliodorus' Aethiopica, or the apparent disembowelment of Leucippe by
f Egyptian robbers in Achilles Tatius 3, 15) and he often uses the technique of
J: 'freezeframing' an action at a critical point. Sometimes the action is frozen
E at a significant moment of action, or at the very point of transformation as
~ in Ovid's Metamorphoses; the boy's gymnastic exercises on a spear in 1,4
li
~ (4,1-12) which seem to tum him into the snake on the staff of Asclepius; the
kt.u+
'G_; statues in Byrrhena's courtyard, uncannily poised in midaction: 2,4 (27,3-17);
o1 Photis shielding her private parts in a gesture which seems to turn her into
; Aphrodite Anadyomene: 2,17 (38,17-39,1); Thelyphron's stylised posture
~ and gesture in telling a story: 2,21 (42,10-14); the minutely described finger
'
j 3 See also James 1987, 127-129 who develops the comparison between Cupid's palace and
the house of Byrrhaena, and now see N. Slater in CP 93 (1998), 18-48.
4 On the decrepit slaves in the mill in Book 9, see Hijmans Jr. et al. 1995, 120-124. I take the
head-shaving of Lucius at the close of the novel to be a positive act which is a renunciation
of his previous belief in the importance of outer appearance and beauty; hair is often seen
as a superficial symbol of one's identity; see e.g. Lucian Dialogues of the Dead 1,333-334.
I cannot agree with Edsall 1996, 217-219 that Lucius' own baldness may be meant to be
ironical, especially in view of Apul. Met. 11, 10 (273,21-22) where the shaven priests oflsis
are, without irony, called magnae religionis terrena sidera. This sacrifice by the priests is
not inconsistent with their veneration of Isis' hair, cf. Griffiths 1975, 123-124.
72 Warren S. Smith
and thumb gesture by which Psyche's admirers express their admiration of
her: 4,28 (97,1-3)5; Psyche posed with lamp and dagger over Cup.id's bed:
5,22 (120,l) and her clinging to his leg as he flies away: 5,24 (121,18-22).
Even where there is no particular reference to the stopping of the action it is
the visual impact of the scene which lasts longest in our minds; as with the
sexual gymnastics of the lover who bends the wife over the back of the tub:
9,7 (207,24-26) or the shadow of the ass sticking his head out a window:
9,42 (235,23-28). Such effects are consistent with the eye for detail which
Apuleius shows in his speeches in the Florida (cf. Fl. 3, Helm 3,8-5,7; 9,
Helm 12,3-13,6). · ·····-
The entire novel is punctuated by ~ad sof~' which can mark
transitio11sfrom one episode, or from one kind of existence to another; the qual-
ity of these landings may be used to highlight the cruelty or kindness of charac-
ters in the novel, or the savagery of fate in contrast with the kindness and ability
of providence to relieve the suffering of mortals 6 • Th.is and related metaphors
are continued as a central focus of the novel, and it is often expressed in the
most literal way. A few examples:
In 4,4 (77,14--22) Lucius as ass decides to pretend he is lame in order to
avoid carrying a heavy burden; but when his fellow-ass tries the same, and the
robbers hamstring him and throw him over the cliff in 4,5 {78,5-8), Lucius
changes his mind. The author characteristically adds the horrifying detail that
this ass plummeted to his death while still breathing, etiam nunc spirantem.
Later after the old lady has hanged herself, the robbers toss her body over a cliff
(6,30: 152,13-18). The robbers are only dealing out the kind of miserable death
which they often suffer themselves, as is vividly shown in the triad of robber
tales told in 4,9-4,21. To give one example, in 4,12 (83,8-84,12), the robber
Alcimus dies improbably at the hands of an old woman who pushes him out
a window where (even in the absence of a cliff) he lands on a 'gigantic rock'
(vastissirnum lapidem) and dies horribly. These bloody mishaps are picked up
in the 'Psyche' tale, where the gentleness of Psyche's fall into the bed of soft
flowers at the ~nd of book four (4,35: 102,22-103,5) vividly contrasts with the
grotesquely violent scene in which the heroine's sisters (like Lucius' asinine
companion) jump over the same cliff and are torn apart by jagged rocks while
5 On these gestures see F. Graf, 'The Gestures of Roman Actors and Orators', in Bremmer-
Roode11burg 1991, 36-58; esp. 47 and n. 32, and 56-57. Graf speculates that the thumb and
index raised to lips in Apul. Met. 4,28 may be of ritual significance.
6 This theme is already touched on by the initial tale within the novel, that of Aristomenes,
which is illtroduced as a delightful story which will smooth out the roughness of a harsh
journey, 1,2 (3,6-8). The 'soothing' voice of the narrator promises that his tales will bring
smoothness and delight as a remedy for the harshness and cruelty of our journal through life.
Cupid and Psyche Tale 73
still alive: 5,27 (124,14-22; 125,2-5). At the same time, Psyche's gentle fall
looks ahead to the escape of Lucius from his captors at the end of Book 10,
when he sinks into the soft sand on the beach at Cenchreae (10,35: 266,6-7).
Thus the Psyche tale and the story of Lucius carry on a kind of wide-ranging
dialogue with each other, and a considerable variety of connections might be
plausibly drawn on both a superficial and a more profound level 7 . Some broader
categories will be explored below, but first the tone of the tale, and how that tone
offsets or balances that of the main plot of the novel, will be considered.
A question of genre: Euripidean tragedy?
The complexity of the Psyche tale can be seen in its unusually rich use of liter-
ary sources (to consider those alone) from various periods and genres, a mixture
that results in a serious tone which is sometimes offset by comic flashes. The
elevated tone of much of the tale suggests Vergilian epic, as has been noted by
recent critics 8, in individual phrasing: but Apuleius has also clearly reworked
his folktale source in such a way as to actually recall Euripidean tragedy. The
epic allusion is already established by the rivalry between Psyche and Venus at
the outset of the tale; this opening recalls Juno's threats against the Trojans at
the beginning of the Aeneid (Verg. A. 1,37-49), threats motivated by fear that
her authority will be diminished. As a 'fateful curse' however, it can also be
• 'I.,\
compared with Athene's threats against the Greeks at the start of the Troades ,.-.., .;;'.'."
(Eur. T,: 64--86). Even closer is Aphrodite's anger in the preface to the Hip-(}!\\!-:;
polytus (Eur. Hipp. 1-4) over the usurping by Psyche of her honor as a god- ;:..,~~.:
dess, followed by her curse on Hippolytus (Eur. Hipp. 20-22). That play makes ~-·"::<,.,:'
the point that Aphrodite 'should be' wiser than mortals (120) but in fact cannot ·-:-,:-,,
rise above her vindictive spirit, like her Apuleian counterpart. This similarity :"J,•. :'
~-'.
0
betwbe~nhtV,he Euripide~ and Apuleian portraits of the goddess of love helps to
esta 1is enus as a deity whose power and malignancy looks back in the novel , :;
to the witch Meroe, who has cosmic powers (1,8: 8,9-12) and is savage in her \' ~ /'"
lust for revenge (1,12: 11,21-12,2). Within the Cupid and Psyche tale, Venus'
seemingly implacable persecution of Psyche will match Fortuna's controfov;;r
,!:,_u_~-- ... ....... ··,
There is another kind of Euripidean touch in 4,32 (100,18-20), when Psy-
che's father goes to Apollo to find out why she cannot get a husband:
7 For general comments on the relationship between 'Cupid and Psyche' and the main plot of
the novel, see note I above, and also Schlam 1992, 50-51; 74-75; 97-98; Kelllley l990a,12-
17.
8 See Shumate 1996; Finkelpearl 1990; Harrison, ill this volume.
9 On the two Venuses see Schlam 1970, 477-487; Kenney 1990b, 175-198; see also Keulen,
in this volume.
 74 Warren S. Smith
Sed Apollo, quanquam Graecus et lonicus, propter Milesiae conditorem sic
Latina sorte respondit.
'But Apollo, though a Greek and an Ionian, for the sake of this author of a
Milesian tale delivered his oracle in Latin.'
This surprise is in the same playful spirit as the prologue of the novel, which
alluded to a Greek original translated by the author into Latin, in the guise of
an allegory of a student growing up in Greece who later had to learn Latin.
Here the joke is repeated, but with Apollo himself playing the lead role in the
same kind of literary pun. The Greek god did a favor to the author by providing
him with an instant translation of the oracle, as it were, from his Ionic Greek.
Such touches have the ftavor of Euripides, who sometimes interrupts grim mo-
ments in his plays with startling anachronisms. One such instance occurs in
the philosophically sophisticated language and ironic quips which creep into
the exchanges between Hecuba and Menelaos in the Troades (885-889; 1049-
<' : ,J)<'e. I 051) and another in Tiresias' fashionably modem explanation of the 'mean-
./~ Q.ing'of Dionysus inBacchae 266 ff. (see Dodds' notes). Such buffoonery struck
<'.~
£1,:,.,;,
..:.
9_~
,a welcome chord in Apuleius, who, in Bakhtin's
10
phrase, 'could not imagine a
- ·r'•~~'-"serious form without its comic equivalent' , and in the Psyche tale, though it
¾-1> ~'-/Jis a serious counterbalance to the often low tone of the novel, the self-conscious
J}.1\,\-t,comic afterthought seems repeatedly poised to break in.
i !J-'0f:{.:· ' The brilliantly allusive Delphic oracle depicts the power of Cupid in
~ n',, language which is studiedly ambiguous, making him sound like a sub-human
µ.y~.~:,)fire-breathing monster from the epic tradition, perhaps half snake (vipereumque
r. ·:,~ "'' ' maium), and bent only on destruction, such as Typhoeus (Hesiod Theog. 824--
828) or Cacus (Verg. A. 8.194--199) 11• At the same time the oracle broadly
hints aoout Cupid's true identity by speaking of how the gods tremble before
him and the Stygian darkness; behind this language lurks Cupid's invincibility
(with quod tremit ipse Javis 'feared by Jove himself', 4,33: 101,3; compare
Hom. Hvmn to Aphrodite 36), though not only Cupid, but other monsters such ~ \ '
✓ , 'A!
as the Delphic dragon were also said to be stronger than Zeus (Hom. Hymn to "'
Apollo 339). But equally importantly, Apuleius tailors the power of love so
as to match the other powers in his novel: Cupid now rivals the witches such
as Socrates' 'nemesis' Meroe (1,8: 8,9-12) and Milo's wife Pamphile, whose
power is described by Byrrhena in 2,5 (29,1-5) as being able to snuff out the
light of the world and throw it into Tartarus or everlasting Chaos. , . ,
~ ~~
c;\,\ Cu.V1" clo CD7',,_'""
10 Bakhtin 1981, 58 (in reference to Roman artists in general). ~~ ,_J,,h.L \MJ..
11 Fontemose 1959, 13-93 collects the accounts of such mythological monsters. j' 'J.,..c.Q:;£,,:; 0
~k0- ~
A."'"'~-,/': p.11
Cupid and Psyche Tale 75
Psyche in her sacrifice plays a complex role: in part she is like Andromeda,
the doomed 'bride of the monster', paying the price for the peoples' worship
of her beauty as Andromeda had suffered for her mother's boasting about
her own beauty (Ovid Met. 4,670 ff.); yet her heroic speech to her parents i).;._Le_
in 4,34 (101,25-102,14), matches that of Macaria in Euripides' Heraclidae tj
i:\,(
(.soo::334) or Polyxena, prepared to go to her death in Eur. Hecuba 342 ff .. ~L.c'.-o
(cf. Ovid Met. 13,457-473). The points of comparison with Polyxena include ~()Q_e_
the circumstances: the doomed girl must be sacrificed to appease the anger;:'.;~;,_
of the gods; her courage and eager acceptance of her fate (Psyche Jestino 'r-.:vJ· ~:
l
1 Jelices istas nuptias obire, 'I hasten to undergo that lucky wedding', Euripides t~,J.:.
Hecuba 347: 0ave:Iv "tE xp11Coucr','since I must die'), contrasting with the t.'-'-
dismay of her family; the acceptance of necessity (Apul. Met. 4,34: 102,13-14 j_;
... quid detrecto venientem qui totiu.s orbis exitio natus est, •why avoid the I)!.•';_...,,
coming of one who was born to destroy the whole world?' - Eur. Hee. 346 t"_:"·~
avayxatou xiipLv, 'for the sake of necessity'); the contrast between the divine ( b,J.,•, .
state which she has attained (and the admiration of her followers which she /'.l!e0 c..-
enjoyed earlier) and the condition to which she is now brought, like one of the ''-''-".~}-t
Trojan women lamenting at the city's overthrow (Apul. Met. 4,34: 102,6--7: : '. . . .
Cum gentes et populi celebrarent nos divinis honoribus, 'when all the peoples --'.·,_:'...;
flocked to workship me with divine honors' - Eur. Hee. 356 'i.ari 8e:ofoL, •a·:::· ---
woman equal to the gods'); the consoling of the grieving parent(s) (ApuL,..----..__
Met. 4,34: 101,25: quid infelicem senectam ... , 'Why [make] your old ageJ~
miserable ... ' - Eur. Hee. 373 cruµf3ouA.ouM !J,OL,'be of one mind with me'). .
When an enraged Psyche later gets revenge on her sisters by tricking them \j '.J.>.>
into jumping off a cliff, her apparent 'personality change' is also motivated by :j..,.:?'- .
literary precedent; perhaps more precisely, we should not think that her charac- ~-- ,.1~
ter changes but that her response, (to use Judith Mossman 's phrase 12) in a man- ~;·:;;:,,
ner consistent with that of a tragic persona, adapts to a different situation. No vn"'
longer the 'sacrificial daughter', Psyche has been deeply wronged and has be- -.:c:,Q...L(
, come the 'avenging relative'. Psyche plays on her sisters' lust by urging them.to ~:
seek marriage with Cupid, thus leading to their grisly deaths; her action recalls ~' o.~
the gruesome revenge wrought by Polyxena's mother Hecuba on Polymestor, 1 ,J.J-,,{
when she takes advantage of his greed and lures him into her tent by promises ,,,.,..D•J
of wealth to be found there (Eur. Hee. 1012; cf. Ov. Met. 13,545-575). Like
~V-,J•,"·ili..,;.
such Euripidean characters as Hecuba, Medea, and Phaedra, Psyche, te~-
i!J at least, becomes a tragic heroine whose grief seems to have driven her so far
that she reciprocates the savagery which with her enemies have treated her. Her
\l'J..v~,
rrl"
12 Mossman 1995, 102. Her Appendix B (247-251) should also be consulted on Polyxena in
J.i Latin literature.
'.
 76 Warren S. Smith
vengeful attitude against those who sought to murder her husband sets the ex-
ample for the even more pitiless wrath of a character in the wider novel, Charite
in 8,11 (I S6,6):masculis animis, 'with manly anger' (cf. 5,22: 120,2: [Psyche]
sexum audacia mutatur, 'by her boldness changed her sex') who, maddened by
grief, wreaks a cruel revenge on Thrasyllus, the murderer of her husband 13.
If this were an actual tragedy it might have ended soon after this point; Psy-
che has succumbed to the flaw of curiositas, has seemingly lost all hope by be-
r:·..::_
r,~_"-c traying her husband (who, as a god, also pronounces judgment on her, as though
,,,deliveringthe epilogue to a play) and become dehumanized by the murder of
,,,' . her sisters; she might have been driven mad or into extended exile like Orestes
" 'j' ) -, '
:L.; ~ · "at the end of Euripides' Electra. Alternatively, her attempted suicide soon af-
·• _ ter Cupid's flight in 5,25 (122,17-18) might have actually resulted in her death;
·- thus her fate would have paralleled that of Deianeira in Sophocles' Trachineiae
(874 ff.) after she has destroyed Heracles while trying to win his love. In the
actual story Cupid chides her but stops short of total condemnation, nor is Psy-
che allowed to die; she emerges from exacting cruel revenge on her tormentors,
seemingly again the submissive heroine willing to submit to the buffetings of
fate, viz. the ordeal to. which Venus subjects her. This new focus on the activity
of Venus diverts the plot into a new direction which will allow it to end happily.
Venus meanwhile, thwarted by Psyche's beauty and jealous of her son Cupid's
attention to her, basks in thoughts ofrevenge (5,30: 127,11, Sed nunc irrisui
C,!,· .-.,,.;~
)zabita quid agam? Quo me conferam? 'Having been mocked, what shall I do?
(-~ f"~J~What resort do I have?') in a scene apparently !!_l~pg-~_!>_t_Aphrodite's con-
~;-·_v·-0· I f~o~t_a:!onwith_,A~ena:~nd Hern atthe start of Apollonius Rhcxlius,ArgonaJl-
r ~ "J,L.t1£ll} .. ".'-pule1~svers10n of Venus' ~omplaint ~bout her son, though it has the
r,.,\ : Hellernshc preciousness of the scene m Apollomus andofMoschus' 'Runaway
1 E , .
I ros (Idyll 1,1), 1s expanded by language which puts Apuleius' goddess into
\ the role of a Senecan Medea or Phaedra, out of control with rage and desperate
' for revenge, e.g. Sen. Medea 122-123: ... ,,
..,.._-
' -:-, '
/'•;~)·,
incerta vaecors mente vaesanaferor _..,,'
J '..,,_.-,,
partes in omnes: unde me ulcisci queam?
'Out ofmy mind with no clear plan, madly I am tom
In all directions: how can I be avenged?'
The reply that Ceres and Juno make to Venus in Apul. Met. 5,31 (128,6--19) is
greatly expanded from a small reference in Apollonius in which Hera comes to
13 Q!L£.i!.'!!}te_~4,Psycbe1>ee.J~es" 1987. 196--J99.
14 See Kenney i990a-.id i~~ andMattiacci, in this-volume.
Cupid and Psyche Tale 77
the defense of Eros. Apuleius' goddesses defend the behavior of Cupid but end
with a stinging personal attack on Venus' hypocrisy. To end the scene with such
a rebuttal to Venus' arguments further causes the entire passage to recall a tragic
set-to, suggesting a Euripidean-style sophistic debate between two characters
such as Jason and Medea in Euripides' Medea (465-575) or Hera and Helen in
the Trojan Women (914-1032).
Such overlaying of tragic touches into a folktale is a vivid reminder that the
awesome and wide-ranging precedent of Greek literature was a constant temp-
tation for Roman writers to experiment with the mixing of genres. Rhetorical
declamations by tragic heroines, in particular, can intrude into some surprising
contexts. Vergil's Dido is a tragic heroine whose eloquent denunciation of her
harsh treatment at the hands of Aeneas in A. 4, many readers have felt, is so
convincing that it virtually derails the patriotic message of the poem; Plautus'
Alcmena has a dignity which she maintains when charged with infidelity, and
creates such a somber mood as to throw off the farce of Plautus' Amphitryo 15;
and Apuleius' Psyche, insofar as she recalls a_Greektragic h~oine - the mis-
understanding, the temptation, the fall - exceeds our expectations for the depth
of the anilis fabula; 'old wives' tale' (4,28: 96, I 5) or bella fabella, 'pretty little
story' as it is typed in the narrative (6,25: 147,5-6).
But in the remainder of the novel, Apuleius parades his ability to interweave
variO_!!~.J~!!:r~g~_Il!es,while the reader is specifically ale_rte~to ~e ~troduc-
tion offabulae or tragoediae as the novel makes sudden shifts m direction: thus
in 9,14 (213,6--7), after the description of the gloomy conditions in the mill
where the ass is working, we suddenly hear that we will be cheered up by a
fabula bona; then in the next book (10,2: 237,12-14) we are told thatfabulae
will be left behind as we rise to the level of the tragic buskin. Yet such refer-
ences· are reminders of Apuleius' continuing search for variety, for a baroque
style; indeed in Florida 20 (Helm 41,8-9) he b<>iistsof the diversity ofi!is_t?~u-
cation ancfachie-vement.ufikillsJn.allthe.nine.M:u_!i.eJ,, while the 'varied' stories
',•
'...;_:.., pr~-~sed by the Prologue to the Golden Ass ( 1,1) may include the crossing of
genre boundaries. In the Golden Ass we see the clever sophist Apuleius, dip-
ping into all of his literary antecedents to produce a novel of great variety with
a philosophical veneer (Apul. Flor. 20: Helm 41,3-5: (creterram) bibi ... iam
vero universae philosophiae inexplebilem scilicet <et> nectaream, 'In fact I
15 Cf. Chaucer The House of Fame I.294-296:
But let us speke of Eneas,
How he betrayed hir [Dido], alias!
And lefte hir ful unkyndely.
In general on the Aeneid and tragedy see Knight 1967, ell. ill 'The Epic Tragedy', 62-73.
For Plautus, see esp. Alcmena's speech in Amph. 839-42, with Sedgwick's notes.
78 Warren S. Smith
have drunk the unquenchable and nectar like draught of universal philosophy').
Ap,uleius sometimes associates tragedy with bombast an9_tp_~b~_oq\!~:he al-
ludes to its ugly distorted facial expressions (the mask of Thyestes in Apology
16,20: Helm 19,12), and he jokes in Florida 17,29 (Helm 32,3) that tragic actors
have to shout every dayor risk losing power in their vocal chords; but tragedy
also contains the trappings of the powers of evil, of emotions out of control
leading to violence (cf. the warning by Charite's servant in Met. 8,3: 178,19-20
Spectate denique, sed oro, sollicitis animis intendite, quorsumfuriosae libidinis
proruperint impetus, 'See for yourselves then, but please, pay careful attention
to how far the eruption of raging lust can explode'). In tales of female revenge
we step over into tragedy: cf. Met. 1,8 (8,13-14), Aristomenes onMeroe's pow-
ers as a witch, Oro te, inquam, auleam tragicum dimoveto, 'Listen, lower the
tragic curtain, will you?'; this last reference also alludes to tragic bombast; but
note that at the introduction of the lecherous stepmother in 10,2 (237,12-14)
the tone "rises' (ascendere) from the comic sock to the tragic buskin.
Peripeteia, wandering, and redemption
Most meaningful of all the connections between the tale and the main plot of
the novel is the way in which the salvation of Psyche, in her capacity as the
allegorized soul endowed with more than human beauty, points the way toward
Lucius' redemption from his ugly asinine state in Book 11.
Though she is seemingly under the care of Providentia, Psyche's husband
warns her in 5,5 ( 106, 15-16) that cruel Fortuna, Lucius' chief enemy, is plotting
against her. She must give up her natural inclination and not answer tile laments
of her sisters, who are searching for her.
But Psyche grieves for the loss of her family. The palace has become a
'happy prison' for her, an artificial world in which she is being kept in darkness
and ignorance, lacking real love and companionship; as Neumann says, 'this
... is an ecstasy of darkness. It is a state of not-knowing and not-seeing' 16,
much like the 'Happy Valley' of Samuel Johnson's Rasselas, where every
want is satisfied but a longing still remains. There is a parallel with Lucius'
nights of sexual ecstasy with Photis in which he is blind to what she is and the
destruction that was implicit in a relationship with her, deaf to the implications
of his own extravagant language in praise of her, enticed to magic as though in
a trance-like state (vigilans somniabar, 'I dreamed while wide awake': 3,22:
68,20) and under the control of a blind goddess (cf. F ortunae caecitas dum
16 'Ecstasy of darkness': Neumann 1956, 70.
Cupid and Psyche Tale 79
te pessimis periculis discruciat, 'while Blind Fortune was torturing you with
hair-raising dangers', 11,15: 277,10-11).
Psyche's husband relents gradually, trying to control the situation by his
warnings. In 5,7 (108,14-18), she joyfully receives her sisters into her palace,
showing them extreme hospitality; a generosity all the more striking for its
absence in hosts throughout much of the rest of the novel. But the sisters are
sheer self-indulgence incarnate: Fulgentius' rationalizing explanation was not
far wrong in seeing them as symbols of caro et libertas 17• Their reaction is
one of envy (5,9: 109,23-110,17); they resent her good fortune just as Venus
envied Psyche's beauty at the start of the tale.
Cupid predicts that Psyche will have a child: it will be divine if she keeps
her husband's secret, otherwise mortal (5,11: 112,13-16); this old folklore pro-
hibition goes back to the Homeric Hymn to Demeter 242-264; in this instance
it looks ahead to Isis' promise of immortality to Lucius, if he pledges his life
to her, in 11,6 (271,1-5).
In 5,13(113,21) Psyche swears by the 'cinnamon-scented' hair on Cupid's
head. At this point she knows nothing of the identity of Cupid but is in love
wholly with what she knows of him through sensuous but superficial charac-
teristics, his touch and scent. Her oath recalls Lucius swearing by Photis' head
(3,23: 69,9-11), the woman .whom he mistakenly idealized as Venus and for
whose hair he had a bizarre fixation (2,8-9: 31,14-32,20), and with whom he
became disillusioned in a flash ofrage (3,26: 71,8-10).
At the sight of Cupid lying in bed Psyche's lamp increases its light for joy
(5,22: 120,5-7); this possibility has already been predicted by Lucius in 2,12
(34,22-25) where he speculated on the kinship between a tiny lamp and the 1'
heavenly flame from which it sprang. The vision of Cupid in bed is an emo-
tionally climactic moment in which murderous rage and ecstatic joy are sud-
denly wedded (echoing, on a higher plane, Lucius' discovery of the wineskins
at the Festival of Laughter, 3,9: 59, 1-6). Structurally, P~~~~~ disc:overy is the
equivalent to ap~,jpeteia in tragedy (cf. Aristotle Poetics 1452a 11). The sud-
den shock ;u;d surprise at the discovery of Cupid - a beast in a very different
sense than that expected - leads to a complete change of_Psyche's fortun~s and
se~~ motion th~ 'p.it:yan.d fear: _which Aristotle says ac;:cmnpaniesa peripeteia
(Ar. Poetics 1452b). Psyche's devastation and increasing peril continue until
the implementation of the tragic deus ex machina, in the form of the return of
7 Cupid and her eventual rescue in 6,21 (144, 12-24). The description of his~-
brosial hair recalls Photis' hair, but more significant is the surprise twist which
~ ~
17 Fulgentius Mythologiarum liber llI 6 p. 66-70 Helm (reprinted in Binder-Merkelbach 1968,
J-
435-437).
,,-- AA; _,\
L- ~- C04.,..L...
.r.-
~ 'Vo__>.__ -
tvo.i::.-i.JJ· , .. ,
. ---1 !' vv
V
( .,•J.~, i2. e. .:s,c.1.,1
-

the tale suddenly gives to the theme. Lucius the man wishing to be a bird, be-
came an ass (non avem me sed asinum video, 'I perceive that I am not a bird
but an ass' 3,25: 70,19). Cupid, the 'ugly monster' in the description of Psy-
che's sisters (immanem ... colubrum 'a gigantic serpent': 5,17: 116,16--17) is
transformed into an angelic winged creature: ... omnium ferarum mitissimam
dulcissimamque bestiam, ' ... the animal which is gentlest and sweetest of all
beasts' (5,22: 120,3-4), without really being changed at all; the earlier fright-
ening descriptions were mere another aspect of the power of love; as with the
complex picture of his mother, Cupid can be cosmic and frightening or cute
and playful as the Hellenistic age imagined him, but these opposites are not
so much due to a literary combination of different source materials as they are
a reflection of the ambivalence of Cupid, who is both 'the ordering principle
and the disordering influence within the universe' 18. There is a paradox always
implicit in ideas of love, that it combines power and pain with gentleness and
sweetness; cf. Euripides Hipp. 348 ~oLa-covwrn:iL-c' cxu-cova:Aye:LVov -c' &µa,
'in itself, my child, it is most sweet but also painful'; Sappho fr. 130,2 L.-P.,
y)..uxumxpov&:µa:xcxvov opne:-cov,'a bittersweet creeping
~
thing which can't be
dealt with'. Verball_y __
also the apot!J.eos~s<>f~l!pid_re<_:al!_~_Lucius'_<!!-~covery_~f
nequissimam facine-~osissimamque
what he takes to be the true r:!!l!!!!._e--2!!~?Y.s:
illamfeminam, 'that worthless woman with a criminal mind' (3,26: 71,9). 'Par-
adise found' leads to separation and destruction, as Psyche discovers Cupid the
formosum deum, 'the handsome god', inside the beast she planned to kill, and
then loses him; Lucius while seeking to become a winged Cupid turns into the
ugliest of beasts.
The wanderings of Psyche and her trials after she bas faJJen into the h1!Ilds
o~y~nu_s_:ttsome points suggest th~_l_i_ru,less wanderin_g_s_g_f_l-l!~il!§_
as an~s.
Lucius' capture by the robbers, his subsequent treatment in which he is forced
to carry back-breaking loads and survive on a poor diet (as he tries to accustom
himself to animal fodder, 3,29 Fin.: 74, 5-7) are recalled by Venus' imprison-
ment of Psyche, her confinement, poor diet (the crusts of bread thrown her by
Venus), and the seemingly impossible tasks which she is assigned. The focus of
the resemblance is often a geographical setting; as often in Apuleius, the mood
of a scene is established by the inclusion of vivid, minute physical details.
The final labor of Psyche is the most formidable: like Odysseus, Aeneas and
many figures of folklore, she is to travel to the lower world and, in her case,
bring back some of the beauty of Proserpine. She is to enter the goddess' house,
sit at her feet and refuse all food except plain bread. She receives the required
jar, but stimulated by her curiosity she opens the jar prematurely and is felled
18 'Ordering principle and disordering influence': James 1987, 148_
Cupid and Psyche Tale 81
by a 'Stygian sle~ (6,21: 144,9). This scene, climactic to Psyche's salvation,
is recalled in the initiation of Lucius into the mysteries of Isis which in 11,23
(285,8-18) serves as a culmination to his adventures. Like Psyche in the house
of Proserpine, he sits in the temple 'before the very feet of the goddess', ab-
stains from all except plain foods, and crosses the threshold of Proserpine; but
whereas Psyche, upon returning to the upper world, worshipped the sun (6,20:
144,3: adorata candida ista luce, 'worshipping that bright light'), Lucius sees
it shining even in the lower world (11,23: 285,15-16: vidi solem candido corr-
uscantem lumine, 'I saw the sun gleaming with bright light') 19. There is hwnor
however in the narrator's chiding of the reader for his temerariae curiositatis,
'rash curiosity' (285, 11), thus surprisingly turning back on us the same charge
which Cupid made against Psyche for her curiosity (6,21: 144,20).
The final scene of the piece centering on the wedding condoned by Jupiter,
reverts to the light touch established early on with the reference to the trans-
lation of Apoilo's oracle. Here, Jupiter himself in assenting to the wedding is
caused to introduce anachronistic references to Roman matters including the
Julian decree against adultery (6,22: 145,11-12), which has been broken by Cu-
pid, and the need for the marriage to be legitimate and conform to civil law, le-
gitimas et iure civili congruas (6,23: 146,8). The king of the gods' request to
Cupid to keep him in mind if he spots any pretty girls, puts Jupiter on a level
of the god from Plautus' Amphitryo 20; appropriately, the final birth of the baby
Voluptas ends the tale on a happy note of celebration (curiously echoing Chari-
ton Chaereas and Callirlwe 8,1,4-5 which predicts that the greatest pleasure
awaits the readers of his last book when they read of fpw-ce:c; o(xmm xcxlvoµL-
flOLya:µm, 'honest love and lawful marriage'). In this surprise wedding made
possible by the sudden reconcifiation even of previous enemies, we can recog-
nize once again a motif from Euripides, as in such tragedies as the Electra or •~,::-:.
Orestes where, as a potentially tragic situation heads toward its denouement, a !~c
god suddenlyinte!Vent!~t_~(l.t:,cr~~l!Jllll!"_J.i~~ r~concil{?or ( J:tv,•.
~h!_c_h_i~_i_l!!~_l!_~_<!__to
siJ._(,_l_!ce
dispU!!!~_m_ilie_angry pri_!lQQ~ScEuripides' endings in such plays have n,C\.f ·
an air of cynicism about them, as though he were calling attention to absurdities 0.L~-."
in a myth0r in hlspredecessors' treatmentof it Incontrast,the joyful ending of
1
the 'Psyche' tale seems more simple and pure; the conversion of the seemingly
implacable Venus and her dancing at the wedding put us in mind of the incorri-
gibly anti-social Cnemon finally joining the revelers at his daughter's wedding
19 Griffiths 1975 ad loc_: ' _.. in the Book of Amduat, ... the sun-god is depicted as voyaging
through the twelve hours of the night in the Osirian underworld.'
20 Grimal 1963, 24: '-, .le Jupiter qui reconcilie Psyche et Venus est le meme qui, autrefois,
avait dupe Amphitryon.'
82 WarrenS. Smith

in Menander's Dyscolos. Thus the tale which repeatedly sets tragic events in
motion, is finally a divine comedy.

~ ,i,-.,c ~-./~ l The Many Voices in Cupid and Psyche

oG c_g·r'
~-n -r Danielle van Mai-Maeder and Maaike Zimmerman
t=:A:.i)..A.A.
.(,,\)._,-'_\
Groningen

Introduction

Apuleius' novel is a tale of the adventures of Lucius, told in the first person by
the protagonist. In the narratological terms adopted by the 'Groningen Com-
mentaries on Apuleius' one would say that the novel is told by a homodiegetic
narrator: 1 this primary narrator of the Metamorphoses most often limits his
point of view to that of the 'experiencing I', the 'je-narre', the actor Lucius
at the time the events told took place (= homodiegetic actorial narrator).
However, this narrative situlltion reveals itself to be more complicated, espe-
cially when, sometimes, the limited perspective of Lucius the actor is being
transgressed or overruled by the perspective of the auctor, the 'je-narrant',
Lucius the narrator. 2
Within the framing tale of the Metamorphoses (henceforth: Met.) many
inner tales have been embedded; these tales can be of a homodiegetic or
heterodiegetic type (told 'in first person', by someone who is/was an actor
in his/her tale, or told by someone who is not an actor in the tale). Such an
embedded tale, and probably the most famous one, is the tale of Cupid and
Psyche. It is distinguished from the other embedded tales in the novel first and
foremost by being situated in a world and a time which are entirely distinct
from the one to which the actors of the Met. itself belong.
It has often rightly been pointed out that the narrative situation in Cupid and
Psyche is different from that of the framing tale, the Met. itself, in that it is told

See for this terminology, based on Genette 1983 and Lintvelt 1983 (21989), GCA 1995, 9-12.
2 See for instance Apul. Met. 9,13 (212,26--213,6), with GCA 1995,131 f. ad loc.; more in-
stances in book 9 can be found via the Index, s. v. 'narrator -auctorial narrator'; Zimmennan-
de Graaf 1993, 155 f. on an intrusion of the auctorial narrator in 10,33; see now also van
Mai-Maeder 1998, Introduction, 18 for examples in book 2.
84 Danielle van Mai-Maeder and Maaike Zimmerman
by a narrator who stands outside and above her tale as an omniscient, authorial
narrator. 3 It is the perspective of the narrator which functions as the centre of
orientation through which readers are guided through a story and are given ac-
cess to the events related. Accordingly, the narrative situation of a tale directly
affects the readers' apprehension of the tale and influences their reading. One
would, therefore, expect that the demands on the reader of Cupid and Psyche
would differ from those on the reader of the framing tale. 1bis article, how-
ever, attempts to show that, although the narrative situation of Cupid and Psy-
che differs considerably from that of the framing tale, the author, Apuleius, this
time through an 'omniscient' subnarrator, the anus-narratrix, firmly controls
the information conveyed to us, and applies much the same narrative technique
to guide our reading as he does in the framing tale through his homodiegetic-
actorial narrator, Lucius. On the one hand he ingeniously makes use of the var-
ious advantages offered him by choosing an omniscient narrator; on the other
hand he often restricts at will the information conveyed to his readers, in order
to maintain suspense and to prepare surprise effects.
The first three sections of this essay deal with the 'many voices' in the dis-
course of the anus-narratrix. Embedded in her discourse are many and various
'character-texts': anyone reading this tale from begin to end will be struck by
the large proportion of direct speech it displays. 4 In the final section of this ar-
ticle (4) it will be shown that the tale of Cupid and Psyche amply illustrates,
by way of a carefully orchestrated 'symphony of voices', the persuasive power
and magic of the spoken word.
1 The narrator of Cupid and Psyche
The anus-narratrix who tells this tale is an old woman who is the housekeeper
of the robbers; she tells the tale in direct discourse. In fact, the tale is a continua-
tion of the conversation which takes place in the robbers' cave between this old
woman and Charite, a girl kidnapped on her wedding day by the robbers. This
conversation has been going on since 4,25, when Charite tells the old woman
about her plight, and the latter tries to calm her down. In order to distract the
3 See,e.g., vanderPaardt 1978, 81: •... the authorial narrative method, as befits aMiirchen: the
anus has an Olympian point of view in more than one sense of the word!'; Dowden 1982a,
420; Kenney 1990a, 22. We have not been able to consult the article by A. Fornes Pallicer,
'El relato con transposici6n en la fa.hula de Cupido y Psique: Apul. met. 4,28--6,24', AFB
18,6 (1995), 75-80.
4 The ta1e of Cupid and Psyche occupies in all 1176 (Teubner) lines. Ca. 500 of these contain
direct speech.
The Many Voicesin Cupid and Psyche 85
mourning bride from her present sorrows, the old lady then engages in telling
the long tale of Cupid and Psyche. 5
1.1 The voice of the narrator in her tale
This whole tale is part of the blandum alloquium ('soothing words') with which
the robbers' housekeeper is being instructed to keep Charite quiet: 6 At illi in-
tro uocatae anui praecipiunt, adsidens eam blando, quantum posset, solaretur
alloquio, seque ad sectae sueta conferunt: So they called the old woman inside
and instructed her to sit down beside the girl and console her as best she could
1 with soothing words, while they carried on with their customary professional
activities. (4,24: 93,68) 7
Already in the framing tale this old woman is characterized as a devoted
housekeeper of the robbers, whom she calls 'iuuenes meos' (4,25: 94,13); she
has made their cause her own life's work. 8 Her personality as the robbers'
housekeeper manifests itself in a number of elements in her tale. For instance,
she strongly stresses Psyche's amazement that the treasures of Cupid's palace
are completely unguarded (a kind of robbers' 'land of Cockayne'!): 9 Nee est
quicquam, quod ibi non est. Sed praeter ceteram tantarum diuitiarum admira-
tionem hoe erat praecipue mirificum, quod nullo uinculo, nullo claustro, nullo
custode totius orbis thensaurus ille muniebatur: Nothing exists which is not
there. But beyond her wonderment at the enormous quantity of wealth, she
found it especially amazing that there was not a single chain or lock or guard
protecting this treasure-house of all the world (5,2: 104, 17-21). Compare also,
in this self-same description of the riches in Cupid's palace, the narratrix's
generalizing remark: Vehementer; iterum ac saepius beatos illos, qui super
5 See also on the implications of this situation the final remarks in the article of Panayotakis
in this volume.
6 In this way, the whole tale is an instance of the magic power of spoken words. See Win-
kler I 985, 56, who eloquently draws our attention to the similarity as well as the difference
between the old woman's auocabo in her introduction to Cupid and Psyche and the permul-
ceam of the narrator of the Met. as a whole. See also Penwill 1990, 9 f.; see also Schlarn
I 992, 46--47 on pennulcere and the therapeutic effects of storytelling.
7 All translations are from Hanson 1989, unless expressly stated otherwise.
8 Her devotion to the bandits' gang is expressly mentioned at 4, 7, and reveals itself clearly
in 6,30, where she has hanged herself after she has failed to keep Charite and the ass
imprisoned.
9 The detail of unguarded treasures is stressed by one of the sisters as well, when she, before
complaining that her husband keeps everything behind bars and barricaded with chains (5,9:
110,16 f.), says: 'Did you see, sister, how much jewellery was lying around in her house, ...
and all that gold under foot everywhere?' ( 'Vufisti, soror; quanta in domo iacent et qualia
monilia, ... quantum praeterea passim calcatur aurum ', 5,9: I I 0,5-8).
86 Daniellevan Mai-Maederand MaaikeZimmerman
gemmas et monilia ea/cant: Truly blessed - twice so and even more - are those
who tread upon gems and jewellery! (5, 1: 104,4-5)
In this regard it is interesting that the anus-narratrix on numerous occasions
dwells on the greed of Psyche's sisters as one of their main motives, e.g. 5,8
(109,6--8); 5,9 (109,20); 5,lO(quoting direct speech of one of the sisters: 111,5-
6, and 111,15-16); 5,20 (quoting direct speech of one of the sisters: 119,1-2);
5,27 (124, 12). This aspect of the sisters is mentioned not once by Cupid in his
warnings to Psyche about them. 10
As James 1987, 123 f. remarks, and illustrates with examples, 'the theme of
theft is implicit in its central aspects of the story'. This may well be explained
as an expression of the specific preoccupation of its narratrix.
Another preoccupation of the old robbers' housekeeper becomes manifest
in the recurrent theme in her tale of 'old age', and the 'agony of ageing'. 11
In the words of the robbers, the anus is characterised as a drunken
old crone: 12 '... quae diebus ac noctibus nil quicquam rei quam merum
saeu<i>enti uentri tuo soles auiditer ingurgitare': 'Day and night all you do
is greedily pour strong drink into your insatiable belly.' (4,7: 79,21-22)
Compare, too, the characterization by Lucius of this narrator, after he has
overheard the tale of Cupid and Psyche: Sic captiuae puellae delira et temu-
lenta illa narrabat anicula: So ran the story told to the captive girl by that crazy,
drunken old woman. (6,25: 147,3-4)
It is, seen in this light, probably no coincidence that the anus-narratrix at
two occasions highlights wine-drinking: ... initio noctis e conuiuio nuptiali uino
madens . . . Venus remeat: At nightfall Venus returned from her wedding ban-
quet, soaked in wine. (6,11: 136,5--6) Tune poculum nectaris, quod uinum de-
orum est, loui quidem suus pocillator, ille rusticus puer, ceteris uero Liber mi-
nistrabat: Jupiter was served a cup of nectar - the wine of the gods - by his
shepherd cupbearer; and the others were served by Liber. (6,24: 146,16--18)
In the latter passage the parenthesis quod uinum deorum est was deleted by
Wower, who agreed with Pricaeus that this should be considered a 'glossema
10 See also the remarks by Penwill 1975, 58 and 78 (n. 29), on the values of the old lady who
tells this tale.
11 This has been elaborated by Panayotalcis 1996, 32 f., and connected with the personality of
the narrator of Cupid and Ps:yche ibid. 36 f.
12 She shares this propensity for drinking with some other old women/narrators in the Met.:
In book 1 the witch Meroe is old( ... cauponam Meroen, anum, sed adnwdum scitulam: ' ...
an innkeeper named Meroe, an old but rather attractive woman'. 1,7: 7,9 f.) and is drunk
when she tells Aristomenes a tale ( ... ut mihi temulenta narrauit proxime, ' ... as she herself
recently told me when she was drunk': 1,10: 9,18). In 9,15 (214,10-15) an old woman is
represented drinking merum (undiluted wine) in the morning with the miller's wife, to whom
she thentells the tale of the slippers (9,17-21).
The Many Voicesin Cupid and Psyche 87
putidissimum'; Kenney 1990a follows him. Most editors, however, rightly re-
tain the manuscript's reading, already defended by Oudendorp as an aside by
the anicula delira et temulenta, who, according to Oudendorp, on the one hand
wants to inform her young narratee, Charite, about nectar, and on the other hand
betrays 'quam suave sibi videretur'.
1.2 Comments by the anus. The partiality of the narrator
The personality of the narrator not only shines through on such occasions as
quoted above, at times she openly intrudes into her tale with generalizing sen-
tences, evaluative remarks, and even apostrophe, or expresses her partiality in
more subtle ways. One generalizing sentence in 5,1 (104,4-5) has already been
mentioned above, in section I.I. In 5,23 (121,13-16) she reacts very emotion-
ally to the accident of the lamp which bums Cupid by spilling hot oil. She scolds
the lamp in an eloquent apostrophe, thus with much rhetorical flourish prevent-
ing the audience's most obvious conclusion, nam_elythat it was Psyche's own
trembling and eagerly kissing Cupid all over which caused this accident. Not
only this apostrophe reveals that her sympathy is with Psyche. At 5,5 (107,2)
she calls Psyche 'misella', and again at5,18 (117,11). At 6,15 (139,10-11) Psy-
che's troubles are described as innocentis animae ... aerumna: 'the tribulation
of an innocent soul'. 13
Many interjections and evaluative expressions of the narrator reveal her
strong dislike of the sisters. At 5,9 (109,19) the context proves that the anus-
narratrix's qualification egregiae for the sisters is ironic. They have just found
out that their younger sister is alive and well, and living in blessed circum-
stances: . . . sorores egregiae domum redeuntes iamque gliscentis inuidiae
Jelle flagrantes multa secum sennonibus mutuis perstrepebant: Now returning
home those worthy sisters were consumed with the gall of swelling Envy and
complained loud and long to each other. (5,9: 109, 19-21)
In 5,11 (111,21) the sisters are called 'duabus malis' ('to the two wicked
women'), and in the same chapter (111,23), when it is told how the sisters hurt
themselves in feigned mourning, the narrator adds 'proinde ut merebantur'
('precisely as they deserved'). This remark is repeated when the terrible death
of one of the sisters (a death which the other sister will suffer as well) is de-
scribed: Nam per saxa cautium membris iactatis atque dissipatis et proinde, ut
merebatur, laceratis uisceribus suis alitibus bestiisque obuiumferens pabulum
interiit: Her body was tossed and torn apart by the crag's jutting rocks, and,
13 lbis 'innocent soul' has cruelly and deceitfully caused the death of her sisters. See on this
below, section 4.3.
88 Danielle van Mal-Maeder and Maaike Zimmerman
just as she deserved, with entrails ripped open her corpse provided a ready
meal for bird and beast. (5,27: 124,19-22)
In many more passages the narrator uses strongly negative qualifications for
the sisters (e.g. 5,12: 112,22: pestes illae taeterrimaeque Furiae; 5,15: 115,6,
scelestarumfeminarum; 5,19: 118,6,facinerosae mulieres).
As these examples show, the narrator is far from 'objective', and her pres-
ence as well as her predilections are felt throughout her tale. 14
2 'Other voices'
Since the anus-narratrix is a 'second-degree' narrator, her words are, at least
theoretically, controlled by the first-degree narrator, Lucius, and, behind him,
by the author Apuleius. And indeed, she displays some points in common with
those two. One could point to some special touches in the description of the
sleeping Cupid, when Psyche has broken the taboo on seeing her husband:
Videt capitis aurei geni<a>lem caesariem ambrosia[m] temulentam,
ceruices lacteas genasque purpureas pererrantes crinium globos decoriter
impeditos, alios antependulos, alios retropendulos, quorum splendore
nimio fulgurante iam et ipsum lumen lucernae uacillabat; per umeros
uolatilis dei pinnae roscidae micanti flore candicant et quamuis ali[i]s
quiescentibus extimae p/umulae tenellae ac delicatae tremule resultantes
inquieta lasciuiunt:
On his golden head she saw the glorious hair drenched with ambrosia: wan-
dering over his milky neck and rosy cheeks were the neatly shackled ringlets
of his locks, some prettily hanging in front, others behind; the lightening of
their great brilliance made even the lamp flicker. Along the shoulders of the
winged god white feathers glistened like flowers in the morning dew; and
although his wings were at rest, soft and delicate plumes along their edges
quivered restlessly in wanton play. (5,22: 120,13-21)
First, the loving care with which the wings of the Love-god are described re-
minds one of the burning wish of Lucius, the hero of the Met., who once so
desperately had wanted to grow wings himself. Compare 3,22 (68,28), where
Lucius begs Fotis to hand him some of her mistress's magic ointment ' ... ut
meae Veneri Cupidopinnatus adsistam tibi ': ' ... and make me stand beside you
now, a winged Cupid next to my Venus'. When the ointment has changed him
14 She also betrays antipathy for Venus, e.g. 6, 16 (140, 11), where Venus is called dea saeuiens.
See, for a different opinion, Harrison in this volume.
The Many Voices in Cupidand Psyche 89
not into a feathered creature, but into an ass, Lucius' utter disappointment is
expressed in these words: /amque altemis conatibus libratis brachiis in auem
similem gestiebam: nee ullae plumulae nee usquam pinnulae ... : Next I spread
out my arms and pumped them alternately, trying hard to become a bird ... No
down appeared, not a single feather. (3,24: 70,8-10)
From this self-same description it becomes clear that the anus-narratrix
shares Lucius' and Apuleius' fascination with hair. Compare the ecphrasis on
hair in Met. 2,8, probably an intrusion of the auctor Lucius, and behind him
of the author Apuleius, who betrays a similar fascination with hair at several
occasions in his Apology, as well as in Fl. 3,10. 15 This brings us to the next
section.
2.1 The voice of the author behind the narrator
The voice of the author of the Latin novel can be heard in a number of allu-
sions to specifically Roman situations and legal practices. At 4,30 (98,19-23),
the summary of activities by Cupid as a naughty boy 'combines conventional
literary attributes (wings, torch, bow) with specifically Roman ideas and termi-
nology (disciplina publica, matrimonia corrumpens)', as Kenney 1990a, 123
remarks, referring to many more instances in his Index s. v. 'Roman references'.
Keulen 1997 discusses the use of specifically Roman legal terminology in Cu-
pid and Psyche.
At 4,32 the anus-narratrix refers to her own creator, the author of the
Metamorphoses, when she announces the oracle of Apollo: 16 sed Apollo,
quanquam Graecus et lonicus, propter Milesiae conditorem sic Latina sorte
respondit: Apollo, although a Greek and an Ionic Greek at that, answered with
an oracle in Latin to show favour to the author of this Milesian tale. (4,32:
100,18--20)
Through intertextual allusions, the author sometimes 'tells' his audience
more than the 'omniscient' narratrix can control: Right after the reference to
the 'author of the Milesian tale', the narratrix quotes the oracle uttered by
Apollo:
"Montis in excelsi scopulo, rex, siste puellam
omatam mundo funerei thalami.
nee speres generum mortali stirpe creatum,
15 Apul. Apol. 4 and 5; see Hunink 1997 ad Apul. Apol. 4,11; see also van Mai-Maeder 1998,
Introduction, 30-31.
16 Cf. for similar internal references e.g. 2,12 (35,9-11), with van Mai-Maeder 1998 ad loc.,
and 11,27 (289,6-10), discussed by van der Paardt 1981.
 90 Danielle van Mal-Maeder and Maaike Zimmerman
sed saeuum atque ferum uipereumque ma/um,
quod pinnis uolitans super aethera cuncta fatigat
flammaque et ferro singula debilitat,
quod tremit ipse louis, quo numina terrificantur
jluminaque horrescunt et Stygiae tenebrae."
"Set out thy daughter, king, on a lofty mountain crag,
Decked out in finery for a funereal wedding.
Hope not for a son-in-law born of mortal stock,
But a cruel and wild and snaky monster,
That flies on wings above the ether and vexes all,
And harries the world with fire and sword,
Makes Jove himself quake and the gods tremble,
And rivers shudder and the shades of Styx. (4,33: 100,21-101,4)
The omniscient anus-narratrix knows, of course, that the mysterious husband
of Psyche is Cupid. 17 She probably does not realise, however, that the intertex-
tual allusions in these elegiac strophes have already 'betrayed' this to the edu-
cated reader. On the level of the narration by the Greek robbers' housekeeper
who tells a tale to distract Charite, the kidnapped bride, this oracle is a riddle;
as such it continues to play a role in her tale. On several occasions characters
in the tale are represented toying with and attempting interpretation of this rid-
18
dle. On this level it remains a riddle until Psyche in 5,22 discovers the iden-
tity of her bridegroom, ambiguously referred to in the oracle as 'not ... born of
mortal stock', and a 'cruel and wild and snaky monster'. Those readers, how-
ever, who, confronted with the oracle's verses, tune their ears to the voice of the
author behind the narrator, will immediately discern the intertextual allusions,
and recognize that these lines refer to Cupid himself, as he is depicted in erotic
epigram and elegy. 19 For these readers the reference to the 'Milesiae conditor'
the author of the Metamorphoses, functions already as a signal of the presenc~
of the author who, over the head of the narrator, addresses his audience with
the oracular verses.
17 See on the various perspectives on Cupid in the tale below, section 4.2.
18 E.g. 4,33 (101,5-7) Rex olim beatus affatu sanctae uaticinationis accepto ... suae ... con-
iugi praecepta sortis enodat infaustae: 'The king, once a fortunate man, upon hearing the
holy prophecy's pronouncement, ... unravelled for his wife the ill-omened oracle's instruc-
tions.' Cf. also 4,34 (102,10-14, quoted below in section 3.2). 5,17 (116,19--21, the sisters
to Psyche:) •... Nunc recordare sortis Pythicae, quae te trucis bestiae nuptiis destinatam
esse clarnauit': 'remember now Apollo's oracle, which proclaimed that you were destined
to marry a savage beast.' 5,21 (119,15) ... in eodem corpore odit bestiam, diligit maritum:
' ... in the same body she loathed the beast but loved the husband.'
19 See Mattiacci in this volume for the literary allusions in the oracle.
The Many Voices in Cupid and Psyche 91
3 From auctorial to actorial perspective( s)
3.1 Omniscient auctorial narration and its effects
As argued above, the basic narrative situation of Cupid and Psyche is
heterodiegetic-auctorial. This situation is firmly established in the opening
chapters of the tale, and maintained throughout. The reader partakes in the
possibility of omnipresence of the narrator: the perspective moves freely from
events on earth to simultaneous events in heaven, and the reader is offered
unlimited access not only to the external events but also to the inner thoughts,
feelings and motivations of all characters, human and divine. While in the
discourse of the not-omniscient homodiegetic-actorial narrator of the Met. as a
whole one meets many instances of 'perspective-limiting scilicet', 20 the three
occurrences of scilicet in the discourse of the omniscient narrator of Cupid and
Psyche have different functions; 21 at 5,23 (121,15) it occurs in her apostrophe
to the lucema (see also above, section 1.1): Hem audax et temeraria lucema
... , ignis totius deum aduris, cum te scilicet amator aliquis, ut diutius cupitis
etiam nocte potiretur, primus inuenerit: 0 bold and reckless lamp, . . . , to
scorch the very god of all fire, when it must have been some lover who first
invented you that even by night he might the longer enjoy the object of his
desire! (5,23: 121,13-16)
In this apostrophe the anus-narratrix intrudes for a moment as a speaking
character in her tale, and thus immediately renounces her unlimited knowledge;
she refers to a distance past, lying beyond the tale she tells. She cannot but guess
that the 'first inventor' of the lamp must 'no doubt' have been amator aliquis,
who wanted to pursue his desires longer, and even during the night.
A second scilicet in the discourse of the narrator occurs in 5,25. Psyche, in
despair, has tried to drown herself in a river: Sed mitis fluuius in honorem dei
scilicet qui et ipsas aquas urere consueuit, ... eam ... super ripam jlorentem
herbis exposuit: The gentle stream however, respecting the god, the one, you
know, who can kindle even water, ... deposited her on a bank deep in grass.
(5,25: 122,18--21)22
Here scilicet is to be connected closely to the relative qui, and has explana-
tory meaning: 'the god, you know, the one who even burns the waters'; thus,
rightly, Grimal ad loc. See also OW s.v scilicet 5, where this passage is listed
('introducing a qualification or elaboration assumed to be obvious').
20 See van der Paardt 1978, 77; Dowden 1982, 422-425.
21 All other instances of scilicet in Cupid and Psyche occur in the discourse of characters.
22 Hanson's translation ('The gentle stream, however, no doubt respecting the god .. .' ) has
been adapted to the remarks on scilicet by Grima! ad loc.
 92 Danielle van Mai-Maeder and Maaike Zimmerman
At 6, l we meet a third scilicet in the discourse of the narrator: (Psyche, hav-
ing arrived at the temple of Ceres, starts tidying up a messy heap of harvesting
implements, which she finds lying there disorderly scattered), ... rata scilicet
nullius dei Jana <et> caerimonias neclege<re> se debere, sed omnium be-
niuolam misericordiam corrogare: ... believing, you should know, 23 that she
ought not to neglect any god's shrines and rituals, but appeal to the benevolence
and pity of them all. (6, I: 129, 16-18) The omniscient narrator should have no
doubts about the inner motivations of characters, and Dowden 1982, 422 here
explains rata scilicet as 'thinking, you should know, that. .. '. Indeed, scilicet
here is not an instance of 'perspective-limiting' scilicet (although all transla-
tors translate itin such a vein): the narrator here by scilicet ('you should know')
only stresses that she knows better than the goddess Ceres, who, right after this
passage, is represented as apparently having not the slightest idea at all why
Psyche is tidying up the place.
In 5,23 (121,9-13), the anus-narratrix seemingly expresses uncertainty re-
garding the motivation which led the lucema to spilling hot oil, and enumerates
three alternative motivations:
. . . lucema ilia siue perfidia pessima siue inuidia noxia siue quod tale corpus
contingere et quasi basiare et ipsa gestiebat, euomuit de summa /uminis sui
stillamferuentis olei super umerum dei dexterum:
... the lamp - either from wicked treachery or malicious jealousy or simply
because it too longed to touch and, in its way, kiss such a beautiful body -
sputtered forth from the top of its flame a drop of boiling oil on to the god's
right shoulder.
These siue ... siue ... siue ... phrases of our omniscient anus-narratrix are, how-
ever, not an expression of uncertainty regarding the lamp's motive. She here al-
ready prepares the personification of the lamp which will culminate in the en-
suing apostrophe. She does so by posing as a historian, who offers his readers
a series of alternative motives of some person's reported deeds. The alterna-
tives are, moreover, presented in a powerfully effective trikolon. The first two
kola have an equal number of nine syllables each, while the third kolon, with
twenty-five syllables, is almost three times as long as each of the previous two
kola. With siue ... siue ... siue ... the anus-narratrix enumerates not three mutu-
ally exclusive alternatives, but persuades her audience to consider three equally
23 Instead of Hanson's, in our opinion, 'perspective-limiting' translation of rata scilicet:
' ... evidently believing ... ' we adopt Dowden 's proposal: ' ... believing, you should know ... •.
The Many Voices in Cupid and Psyche 93
'possible' motivations, the third of which, by the kolometry, will strike the ear
as the strongest one. 24
The omniscience and omnipresence of the narrator often allows us, the read-
ers, a knowledge which exceeds that of the characters. This superior knowled~e
granted us is, for instance, exploited to the full in 5,5-21, where the reader 1s
presented not only with Cupid's warnings to Psyche, but also with the conver-
sations of the scheming sisters, while Psyche only hears - but does not heed -
Cupid's warnings, and so the reader can witness her walking straight into the
trap. Similarly, due to the narrator's (and thus the reader's) omnipresence, the
reader has heard what Cupid 'really' said to Psyche when he left her (S,24), and
thus immediately detects the lies in Psyche's report of Cupid's words in 5,26,
and is, ahead of the sisters, aware of the deception that leads to their death (see
section 4.3 below).
The narrator also knows more than the gods: long before Venus, the reader
knows that Cupid's bride is her rival Psyche. This knowledge in advance
heightens the reader's expectation and full enjoyment of the outburst of anger
when Venus finally learns, through the gossip of the chattering bird, the name
of her son's lover (5,28) .
There is, however, one kind of knowledge which the narrator withholds
from her audience: although, in theory, as a heterodiegetic-auctorial narrator
she has the possibility of making certain anticipations, 25 she does not make
use of that function. The complete absence of anticipating remarks in the
discourse of the narrator has a double effect: it crea.tes suspense and surprises
for the linear reader on the one hand, while on the other hand it results in
dramatic ironies to be relished by the 'second reader', to whom we now tum.
3.2 The omniscience of the second reader, and its effects
A different kind of omniscience than the narrator's omniscience is the privilege
of someone who has read the tale of Cupid and Psyche, and then reads it for a
second time, the so-called 'second reader'. 26 At several passages this second
24 Examples of such a procedure can be found in Livy (e.g. 1,8,_7;7,18,~; 9,26,~; ~5.~.~), and
are especially dear to Tacitus. Cf., e.g., Tac, Ger. 33, l Bructens ... penitus exc1s1suic1narum
consensu nalionum seu superbiae odio seu praedae dulcedine seu fauore quodam erga nos
deonun; see further D. Whitehead, 'Tacitus and the loaded Alternative', Latomus 38 (1979),
474-495.
It is interesting to note that Psyche, in her deceptive report of this event to her sister, refers
to the spilling of the oil as 'some terrible misfortune' (casuscilicet pessumo; 5,26: 124,2-3).
25 See Lintvelt 1981, 53 f., with bibliographical references.
26 See on the notion of 'second reader' of the Met. Winkler 1985, LOf., and van Mai-Maeder
1998, Introduction, 19, with furtherreferences in note 18.
94 Danielle van Mai-Maeder and Maaike Zimmerman
reader will be able to relish the dramatic irony of a situation. 27 Some examples:
In 4,34 Psyche utters a flaming speech to her mourning parents. It is full of
clever rhetorical figures, and she also employs irony when she says:
'... Ducite me et cui sors addixit scopulo sistite. Festino felices istas nup-
tias obire,festino generosum ilium maritum meum uidere. Quid differo, quid
detrecto uenientem, qui totius orbis exitio natus est?':
'Take me and put me on the cliff appointed by the oracle. I hasten to see this
high-born husband of mine. Why should I postpone and shun the coming of
him who was born for the whole world's ruin?' (4,34: 102,10-15)
The second reader here savours the double irony because s/he knows that Psy-
che, who is deliberately speaking with irony about the husband for whom she
is destined, is, without knowing, hitting on the 'truth'.
Psyche uses all her channs to persuade her unknown husband to let her meet
her sisters, and, guided by her wish to persuade, uses 'hyperbole', but, again,
unknowingly, hits on the 'truth': '... amo enim et efftictim te, quicumque es,
diligo aeque ut meum spiritum, nee ipsi Cupidini comparo': 'For I love and
adore you passionately, whoever you are, as much as my own life's breath, and
I would not even compare Cupid himself with you'. (5,6: 107,27-29)
When Psyche, again in order to persuade her husband to give in to her
wishes, says 'teneo te, meum lumen', 'I have you in my anns, my light' (5,13:
114,3), it is only the second reader who knows that, soon, Psyche indeed
will experience the dazzling light which shines forth from and surrounds her
husband, the god Amor (5,22: 120,2-24).
3.3 Perceptions of characters
At times the narrator renounces her omniscient viewpoint and 'hands over'
the perception of events/situations to one of the characters. 28 This results in
a 'narrowing-down' of the readers' perception of those events/situations. A
clear example can be found in the first chapters of book 5, in which Psyche
awakes in a locus amoenus, and starts exploring her new environment. The
repeated 'uidet's at the outset of this passage make the reader 'see' the garden
and palace through Psyche's eyes. All the information here conveyed to the
reader comes through Psyche's perception. There is no firm knowledge, only
27 See on forms and functions of dramatic irony in the Met. as a whole the excellent article by
Rosati 1997.
28 See de Jong 1987, 101-148 on 'embedded focalisation' in the/liad.
The Many Voices in Cupid and Psyche 95
the (Psyche's) guess that this must be the palace of some god. So strong is the
suggestion to 'see' and 'feel' and 'guess' with Psyche (supported by forms of
verbs of 'perceiving') that even the most alert reader is lulled into forgetfulness
of what s/he could have known all along, namely that this is the palace of
Cupid; ,: 'cruel and wild and snaky monster, that flies on wings ... and
vexes all ... '. Indeed, when the reader is told: 'ut equidem illud recte uideatur
ad conuersationem humanam magno Ioui fabricatum caeleste palatium (so
that you may quite correctly think it a heavenly palace constructed for great
Jupiter's use in human visitations, 5,1: 104,10-12), no omniscient narrator is
there to correct this.
After these opening chapters of book 5 the omniscience and omnipresence
of the narrator returns. Accordingly, the reader has superior knowledge over
the characters, and thus also witnesses the sisters' growing awareness that Psy-
che's mysterious husband must be the God of Love himself. However, from
5,21 (119,9) onward, At Psyche relicta sola ... (But Psyche, left alone, ... ), the
perspective again narrows down to the limited actorial perspective of Psyche,
and the repeated uidet in 5,22 makes the reader 'see' the sleeping god through
her eyes and share her complete surprise at the sight of the sleeping Cupid.
4 Embedded character-texts: 'symphony of voices'.
Or: Appearances and Reality
Embedded in the narrator's text are large sections of 'character-text': about
half of the total number of lines of Cupid and Psyche consists of direct speech,
dialogues or monologues of various characters. The result is a 'symphony'
of voices and subjective perceptions. In the following sections it will be
shown that this 'symphony of voices' is carefully orchestrated by the narrator,
behind whom we may discern Lucius, the narrator of the Met. - who, after his
anamorphosis, became an accomplished rhetor - or even the author Apuleius.
But nevertheless it is a symphony of dissonants, in which the discourse of
every narrator is determined by his or her personal intentions and modeled
in accordance with changing moods and interests. 29 This composition shows
variations in data which illustrate how words can be put to the service of
manipulation.
4.1 Subjectivity and the rhetoric of persuasion
The tale of Cupid and Psyche is based on a succession of exclamatory mono-
logues and dialogues, in which various characters attempt to persuade and ma-
29 For a study on this phenomenon in the Met., see van Mai-Maeder 1995. Cf. Pl. G. 503 d-e.
96 Danielle van Mai-Maeder and Maaike Zimmerman
nipulate each other. These monologues and dialogues are a perfect illustration
of the subjectivity of words and their ability to persuade.
At the beginning of her tale, the anus-narratrix tells us how Psyche's two
elderly sisters had been happily wed in accordance to their royal status, with-
out difficulty. Olim duae maiores sorores, quarum temperatamformonsitatem
nulli diffamarant popuLi, procis regibus desponsae iam beatas nuptias adep-
tae ... : Long ago her two older sisters, whose more moderate beauty had not
been broadcast throughout the world, had been engaged to royal suitors and
had already made fine marriages. (4,32: 100,8-11)
However, after having visited their youngest sister for the first time and hav-
ing seen ber blessings, the elders are taken by jealousy and bewail the lot they
suddenly perceive as unjust: 'En orba et saeua et iniqua Fortuna!': 'O blind,
cruel, unjust fortune!' (5,9: 109,22) 30
These exclamations follow immediately after Psyche has shown them the
treasures of her palace, the voices - her companions -, describing her husband
as a handsome young man. The sisters on the contrary depict themselves as ex-
iled slaves, married to greedy, impotent old men: 'Et nos quidem, quae natu
maiores sumus, maritis aduenis ancillae deditae, extorres et Lare et ipsa pa-
tria degamus Longeparentum ueLut exuLantes': 'Indeed, are we, the older, sur-
rendered as slaves to foreign husbands and banished from home and country
too, to live like exiles far from our parents.' (5,9: 109,25-110,2) 'At ego mis-
era primum patre meo seniorem maritum sortita sum, dein cucurbitacaLuiorem
et quouis puero pusilliorem. cunctam domum se[ r]ris et catenis obditam custo-
dientem ': 'But look at poor me! In the first place I drew a husband older than my
father, and besides he is balder than a pumpkin and punier than any child, and
he keeps the whole house locked up with bolts and chains'. (5,9: 110,14-17) 31
It should be noted, however, that in spite of those claims, Psyche's sisters
appear to be absolutely free to come and go as they please; they are shown con-
tinuously travelling between their husband's houses and that of their parents. 32
They reproach Psyche for giving them only the tiniest part of her riches and
even that reluctantly: 'Recordare enim, quam superbe, quam adroganter no-
30 This exclamation is remarkable. It is namely the only case in the Met., where fortune is called
unjust, iniqua. Elsewhere, Fortuna is said to be cruel, saeua, or blind, caeca: cf. e.g. 7,16
(166,3); 8,24 (195,21); ll,15 (277,10--ll).
31 Cf. 5,10 (ll0,18-24), where the second sister does her best to outdo the description of the
first; cf. also 5,10 (lll,17-18) 'et nunc quidem concedamus ad maritos et Jarespauperes
nostros, sed plane sobrios reuisamus ': 'And so now let us go back to our husbands and return
to our poor but respectable hearths.'
32 See Kenney 1990a, 153 ad Joe. Cf. 5,4 (106,9-12); 5,ll (lll,24--27); 5,14 (ll4,7-8); 5,21
(ll9,6-8); 5,27 (124,ll-15); 5,27 (125,3-4).
The Many Voices in Cupidand Psyche 97
biscum egerit et ipsa iactatione inmodicae ostentationis tumentem suum pro-
diderit animum deque tantis diuitiis exigua nobis inuita proiecerit': 'Just re-
member how haughtily, how arrogantly she dealt with us; and how she revealed
her swollen pride by the very boastfulness of her immoderate display; and how
she reluctantly tossed us a few little things from all that treasure.' (5,10: 111,2-
6)
The reader knows, however, that Psyche, well in advance of their arrival,
had obtained permission from her husband to offer whatever presents she
wanted to her sisters (cf. 5,6: 107,19-21), a right Psyche does not hesitate
to exercise: auro facto gemmosisque moniLibus onustas eas statim uocato
Zephyro tradit reponandas: She loaded them with wrought gold and jewelled
necklaces, quickly summoned Zephyr, and handed them over to his charge for
transport back. (5,8: 109,1~18)
And, according to the robbers' housekeeper, these presents were anything
but trifles: totisque illis tarnpretiosis muneribus absconditis ... redintegrant fle-
tus: after stashing the whole of those very expensive gifts ... they started anew
their feigned mourning. (5,11: 111, 21-24) 33
The discrepancies between the version of the old narratrix and that of the
sisters can easily be explained by the rhetoric of persuasion used by the indig-
nant princesses (exaggerations, emphasis, exclamations), in an attempt to ex-
cite one another by transforming the situation according their purely subjective
perspective. 34
They are, by the way, not the only ones to give in to this weakness. Even
Psyche tends to blacken the facts whenever her mood calls for it. Thus, life in
the palace, where treasures are liberally displayed without any guardian to look
over them, and where the voices of servants and the nocturnal visits of her hus-
band take turns to divert her, seems to delight the princess' heart at first: Haec ei
swnma cum uoLuptate uisenti offen sese uox quaedam corporis sui nuda. .. : As
she was gazing at all this with rapturous pleasure, a voice without a body came
to her ... (5,2: 104,21-22); Sensit Psyche diuinae prouidentiae beatitudinem ... :
Psyche felt the blessing of divine Providence ... (5,3: 105,3) 35
But once her husband has warned her for the first time not to answer the
calling of her sisters, Psyche perceives the situation in a different light. Driven
to tears, she curses her lonely life of being locked up in a golden cage:
33 Here we adopt with gratitude a translation proposed by Th. Mccreight.
34 Walsh 1970, 204 n. 2 therefore mistakenly assumes that "as so often, Apuleius has no con-
cern for consistency in characterisation". The variations in the characterisation of Psyche's
sisters prove on the contrary Apuleius' mastership in putting on display the inconsistency
and subjectivity of human nature; see note 29.
35 See also 5,4 (105,16--17; 106, 4-7).
98 Danielle van Mal-Maeder and Maaike Zimmerman
diem totum lacrimis ac plangoribus misella consumit, se nunc maxime pror-
sus perisse iterans, quae beati carceris custodia septa et humanae conuer-
sationis colloquio uiduata ... :
she spent the whole day miserably weeping and lamenting, saying repeat-
edly that now she really was utterly dead: fenced in by the confinement
of her luxurious prison, and bereft of human company and conversation ...
(5,5: 107,1-4)
The tale also provides an example of a divergence of opinion between a
character from the embedded tale and the narrator of the framing tale, Lucius.
In 4,30, outraged to find that her temples are being neglected by people adoring
the beauty of a mortal woman, Venus sets off on an indignant exclamatory
monologue, remarking in particular: 'Frustra me pastor ille, cuius iustitiam
fidemque magnus comprobauit luppiter, ob eximiam speciem tantis praetulit
deabus': 'So it meant nothing when that shepherd, whose justice and trust-
worthiness were confirmed by great Jupiter, preferred me for my surpassing
beauty to such mighty goddesses'. (4,30: 98,13-15)
The phrase is an allusion to the judgement of Paris, called to detennine who
of the goddesses AphroditeNenus, Athena or Hera was the most beautiful.
Paris' choice for Aphrodite was perhaps guided less by a personal conviction
than by the goddess' promise: in exchange for a judgement in her favour, she
had promised him the love of the world's most beautiful woman.
In Venus' opinion justice has been done: a judgement confirmed by supe-
rior divine solicitation. Such is not the opinion of the primary narrator of the
Met. In another indignant exclamatory monologue, which interrupts precisely
a pantomime of Paris' judgement, Lucius curses universal injustice, human and
divine, which he estimates to be illustrated by this myth: 36
Quid ergo miramini, uilissima capita, immo forensia pecora, immo uero to-
gati uulturii, si toti nunc iudices sententias suas pretio nundinantur, cum
rerum exordio inter deos et homines agitatum iudicium corruptrit gratia
et originalem sententiam magni Iouis consiliis electus iudex rusticanus et
opilio lucro libidinis uendiderit cum totius etiam suae stirpis exitio?
Why are you so surprised, you cheap ciphers - or should I say sheep of the
courts, or better still vultures in togas - if nowadays all jurors hawk their ver-
dicts for a price, since at the world's beginning an adjudication between gods
and men was corrupted by beauty's influence, and a country shepherd, cho-
sen judge on the advice of great Jupiter, sold the first verdict for a profit of
36 See on this passage Zimmerman-de Graaf 1993, 153-161.
The Many Voices in Cupid and Psyche 99
pleasure, resulting in the destruction of himself and his entire race? (10,33:
264,1-7)
It is obvious that the two passages reflect each other, bringing to light how the
art of rhetoric may be used to serve subjectivity. While Venus forgets to men-
. tion the promise made to Paris (pastor ille) in exchange for her victory, Lucius
!
strongly insists on the fact that the shepherd's judgement (iudex rusticanus) had
been bought.
4.2 The Many Faces of Cupid
The different faces of Cupid present another example of the way the data in the
tale vary, depending on the speaker and his/her moods. The image that is most
frequent is that of a disobedient and disrespectful rascal, a scoundrel causing
only disorder and trouble, who plays all kinds of tricks on his elders:
Et uocat confestim puerum suum pinnatum ilium et satis temerarium, qui
malis suis moribus contempta disciplina publica, fiammis et sagittis arma-
tus, per alienas domos nocte discurrens et omnium matrimonia corrumpens
impune committit tanta fiagitia et nihil prorsus boni facit:
She quickly sent for her son, that winged and headstrong boy who, with his
bad character and his disdain for law and order, goes running about at night
through other folk's houses armed with flames and arrows, ruining every-
one's marriages, and commits the most shameful acts with impunity and ac-
complishes absolutely no good. (4,30: 98,19-23)
The description is given by the anus-narratrix, but one might be tempted to
recognize the perspective of Venus here. 37 If this is the case, the affectionate
and coaxing words with which she subsequently addresses her son to obtain his
help, given in direct speech, are so much the more funny once their hypocrisy
is laid bare by the preceding description:
'Perego te', inquit, 'maternae caritatisfoedera deprecor, per tuae sagittae
dulcia uulnera, per fiammae istius mellitas uredines, uindictam tuae parenti,
sed plenam tribue ... ':
37 Cf. 4,29 (98,4), where the words Haec honorum caelestium ad puellae mortalis cultum in-
modica translatio (This extravagant transfer of heavenly honours to the cult of a mortal girl)
already reflect the perspective of the goddess.
100 Danielle van Mal-Maeder and Maaike Zimmerman
'I beseech you', she said, 'by the bonds of maternal love, by your arrows'
sweet wounds, by your flame's honey-sweet scorchings, avenge your
mother and avenge her totally .. .' (4,31: 99, 2-5)
Afterwards, once she has discovered Cupid has disobeyed her orders and mar-
ried her enemy, Venus forgets flattery and her discourse endorses the first de-
scription entirely, as well as Jupiter's, who accuses the god oflove of submitting
him to his, Cupid's, childish whims. 38
It is remarkable, however, that this image of a little winged pest does not cor-
respond with the image of Psyche's attentive and reasonable husband from the
description of the old narratrix at all, and even less with the image of a monster
that Apollo's oracle describes.
Among the winged god's different faces in the tale, the clearest divergence
is that between the image that Venus not only gives, but foremost builds for
herself, and the one presented by her sisters in arms, Juno and Ceres. To the
goddess of beauty, preoccupied by her age and the idea of becoming a grand-
mother, 39 Cupid is immature, no more than a child: 'Prome agedu<m> ... quae
puerum ingen<u>um et inuestem sollicitauit ... ': 'Come on, then, ... tell me the
name of the creature who seduced that simple and innocent boy.' (5,28: 125,24-
126, 1) '/toe aetatis puer tuis licentiosis et immaturis iungeres amplexibus, ut
ego nurum scilicet tolerarem inimicam?': 'at your age, a mere boy, you couple
with her in your unrestrained, immature lovemaking, evidently supposing that
I would tolerate as a daughter-in-law a woman I hate.' (5,29: 126,17-19)
This opinion is not shared by Juno and Ceres, who remind her that Cupid
has become a young man, responsible for his acts: 'An ignoras eum masc11lum
et iuuenem esse uel certe iam quot sit annorum, oblita es? an, quod aetatem
portat bellule, puer tibi semper uidetur?': 'Or are you not aware that he is a
male, and a young man at that? Or perhaps you have forgotten how old he is
now? Just because he carries his years prettily, do you think of him as being for
ever a child?' (5,31: 128,10-12)
To put it another way, Venus is not objective. But her fellow goddesses, are
they? At the end of their discourse the narrator remarks, with a perspicacity not
lacking humour, that their rhetoric serves their interests: Sic illae metu sagit-
tarum patrocinio gratioso Cupidini, quamuis absenti blandiebantur: Thus, in
fear of his arrows they flattered Cupid with an obliging defence, although he
was not in the courtroom. (5,31: 128,20-21)
38 Cf. 5,29 (126,14-127,24); 6,22 (145,6-14).
39 See Panayotakis 1997, 32-36.
The Many Voices in Cupid and Psyche 101
4.3 Manipulation of data and subjectivity
The examples presented to illustrate the subjectivity of words and their use in
the service of personal interests so far are qulte innocent. In most cases they
concern sudden changes in temper of the characters-narrators in monologues
or dialogues that do not influence the course of events directly. But there is an
example that illustrates the power of words, where the r~etoric _ofper~uasion
and manipulation of data serve an act of vengeance. This case 1s particularly
striking because it is committed by apparently the most innocent character of
the tale.
After Cupid has abandoned her, Psyche, desperate, first tries to commi_tsu~-
cide, but then, on Pan's advice, departs on a quest for her husband to obtam his
pardon (5,25). When, by accident (inscio quodam tramite: 5,26: 123,13), s?e
arrives in the town where one of her sisters lives, Psyche tells her about her nus-
fortunes, in a speech given in direct discourse (5,26: 123, 19-124,10). The first
part of her story is an accurate summary of chapters 17 to 23 (116,8-121,16),
overflowing with verbal echoes to underline the parallelism.
Next, Psyche cites the words that Cupid, awakened by the hot oil of the lamp
on his skin, is supposed to have spoken before disappearing:
'ob[i] istud tam dirumfacinus confestim toro meo diuorte tibique res tuas
habeto, ego uero sororem tuam • - et nomen quo tuo censeris aiebat - 'iam
mihi conf[estim]arreat[h]is nuptis coniugabo':
'On account of your dreadful crime, you are forthwith to depart from my
couch and take what is yours with you. I shall now wed your sister in holy
matrimony' - and he spoke your full name. (5,26: 124,5-10)
Now the reader knows these words are an invention of the heroine. Having dis-
covered the sacrilege committed by his young wife, the God of Love had first
taken off, according to the narratrix of the tale, without saying a single word
(tacitus auolauit: 5,23: 121, 18). Only after a little time had elapsed did he agree
to say some words to his wife before leaving her for good (cf. 5,24: 122,1-12).
This last discourse does not resemble the version Psyche gives her sister at all.
Cupid had promised to punish the two sisters responsible for her misfortune.
Thus, Psyche is lying and these lies, which she repeats afterwards to her sec-
40
ond sister, result in the death of both women.
40 To hide her own ignorance on the subject, Psyche already lied twice to her sisters about her
husband's identity: cf. 5,8 (109,10-15); 5,15 (115,10-14).
102 Danielle van Mai-Maeder and Maaike Zimmerman
We are faced with an example of manipulation of data to achieve a negative
goal, which is even more surprising since it comes completely unexpectedly.
The reader knew Psyche as an able user of the rhetoric of persuasion - does not
her husband give in to all her whims? 41 - , but the image of the young princess
is one of a naive and tender person. 42 Even after this double fratricide Psyche is
presented as an innocent soul (6,15: 139,10 innocens anima). This vengeance,
an act of retaliation, is justified by arguments of poetic justice. The meanness of
Psyche's sisters must be punished, in accordance with the laws of these kind of
tales. 43 A parallel for Psyche's vengeance can be found in book 8 of the Met.,
when Charite, another pure and innocent victim, punishes Thrasyllus for his
treason. 44 Moreover, the image of Psyche's purity should be considered in re-
lation to the profoundly subjective nature of the narration of the old woman
who, as mentioned before, unconditionally chooses Psyche's side (see above,
1.2). This is the reason she does not judge negatively the fact that Psyche lies.
She barely mentions that Psyche's second sister et ipsa fallacie germanitatis
inducta ... simile mortis exitium cecidit: she too, likewise led on by her sister's
false story ... fell to the self-same deadly doom. (5,27: 125,2-5) 45
With its multiple voices relaying one another, the tale of Cupid and Psyche il-
lustrates in exemplary fashion the power of words, their capacity to persuade
every listener willing to lend an ear, to manipulate, mislead or simply to divert.
The fact that the author of this carefully orchestrated symphony of dissonants
was a rhetor-philosopher of the Second Sophistic does not fail to recall the Pla-
tonic debate between Gorgias and Socrates in which truth and justice are set
against appearances and deception. 46
41 Cf. 5,6 (107,11-14; 107,17-21; 108,1-7); 5,13 (114,4--{j),where Cupid is said to be decanta-
tus by her kisses and words.
42 Cf. e.g. 5,5 (106,15) and 5,12 (113,8) Psyche dulcissima ('o my sweetest Psyche'); 5,18
(117,11) Psyche misella, utpote simplex et animi tenella ('poor little Psyche, artless and ten-
derheaned as she was'); 5,24 (122,1) simplicissima Psyche ('my poor naive Psyche'); 6,15
(139,17) simplex alioquin et expers rerum talium ('naive and inexperienced as you are in
such matters').
43 This point has been discussed by S. Panayotakis in his unpublished dissertation (Univ. of
Crete, Rhetymnon 1996). It will be the subject of an appendix in the forthcoming GCA on
the tale of Cupid and Psyche. See also the discussion of Psyche's revenge in Frangoulidis
1995. On the ancients' attitude concerning vengeance and compassion, see Dover 1974 and
Schrijvers 1986, 105 ff. with further literature.
44 a. 8,9-13 (184,5--187,26).
45 The nanatrix does not, on the contrary, miss any occasion to underline the hypocrisy and
the lies of Psyche's two sisters: cf. 5,14 (114,14--16); 5, 16 (116,5-7); 5,19(117,18--20); 5,20
(118,5--8); 5,27 (124, 12-13).
46 Cf. in particular Pl. G. 453a--457c. See also O'Brien's article in this volume.
The use of narrative tenses in Apuleius'
Amor and Psyche
Harm Pinkster
Amsterdam
In his book on the style of Apuleius in his Metamorphoses Callebat (1968, 363)
concludes that the way in which Apuleius uses the tenses does not deviate much
from their use in Classical Latin. There are a few deviations from the consecu-
tio temporum, but the author's freedom 'repose ordinairement surune connais-
sance precise de la valeur complexe des temps et des modes'. Bernhard (1927,
152-153) has no more than some forty instances ofremarkable and, in his opin-
ion, arbitrary coordination of different narrative tenses. Commentators usually
refer to the same instances and, just like Bernhard, regard them as arbitrary
and unexplicable 1. There are two more recent studies on the use of the narra-
tive tenses in the story of Amor and Psyche, viz. Dragonetti (1981) and Mellet
(1985).
The first thing that strikes one when reading these two articles is that, al-
though they are based upon the same material, the statistics are different. Mel-
let has more narrative tense forms, among which especially more present and
less perfect forms 2. As we will see the relative proportion of the tense forms
plays some role in her argument.
Some of the instances in Bernhard can be explained. Kenney 1990a (ad 5.7.1) gives an ex-
planation for the sequence sorores ... adveniunt ibique difflebant oculos et plangebant ubera
('the sisters hurried to the rock and there they cried their eyes out and beat their breasts'):
"having arrived, they begin to weep". I would rather consider this an instance of Apuleius'
manner of accelerating the progress of events (see below): "no sooner had they arrived than
they were crying".
2 Both authors restrict themselves to the narrative proper, excluding direct discourse - Drago- ·
netti says so explicitly (1981, 72). Dragonetti also excludes subordinate clauses. These may
be included in Mellet's figures. The figures are the following:
104 Harm Pinkster
Dragonetti's main aim is to show that Weinrich's well-known distinction
(1964) of two levels of narrative ("background and foreground" or: "descrip-
tion and progression") and the assignment of the imperfect to the first and of
the perfect to the second, respectively, is too simple. Apuleius frequently inter-
rupts the progress of the story (Dragonetti counts 24 of such interruptions) and
the segments of the narrative preceding the interruptions and those following
them are related in a more complex way than Weinrich's ideas would predict.
Infact, according to Dragonetti (1981, 74), at least 9 types of transition can be
distinguished. Only one or two easily fit in with Weinrich's ideas. The use of
the tenses on both sides of the interruptions is determined by the semantic value
-or, in Dragonetti's words, aspect 3 - of these tenses (1981, 78). The present is
used both in situations in which an imperfect and in situations in which a perfect
tense form might have been used instead.
Dragonetti's argument that Weinrich's ideas 4 are not easily applicable to
Apuleius' narrative is convincing. The main reason for this lies in the nature
of Apuleius' narrative technique. In his highly structured narrative - with
episodes encapsulated in episodes, episodes consisting of successive actions
forming the background of new actions - the old and simple, but basically cor-
rect, rule "perfecto procedit, imperfecto insistit oratio" cannot be mechanically
applied to every linear order of perfect, imperfect, and (historical) present
tense forms. We need to unravel the structure of the narrative first, having
a clear e)'e for other structuring elements. Doing so Dragonetti shows that
Apuleius • use of the tenses is in accordance with what one would expect.
Mellet's aim is different from Dragonetti's 5 • Starting from the observation
that the present tense is by far the most frequent narrative tense occurring in
the story of Amor and Psyche she argues (1985, 150), firstly, that this very fre-
quency is a counterargument against claiming that the present is used to create a
dramatic effect or tension, as suggested by various authors, among whom Wein-
rich. Secondly, she argues that the use of the present tense can best be explained
Dragonetti (1981, 72) Mellet(l985, 150)
imperfect 64 83
perfect IOI 86
historical present 233 286
= imperfect 88
= perfect I 45
I myself counted - only main clauses in indirect discourse - 65 unambiguous perfect forms
and 13 ambiguous forms which I tend to inteipret as perfect forms.
3 My own definition of the value of the tenses is not essentially different from Dragonetti's.
See Pinlster (1990, eh. 11) and below.
4 Dragonetti only refers to Weinrich's original edition (1964).
5 She does not refer to Dragonetti 's article.
The use of narrativetensesin Apuleius' Amor and Psyche 105
by regarding the present as the unmarked element in the tense system, some sort
of basic form that can be used in all (past, present, future, and generic) sorts of
sentences. The third point Mellet wants to make is that instead of trying to ex-
plain the occurrence of the (historical) present it is better to pay attention to the
perfect, the much less frequent use of which may be interpreted as a sign of its
special function in the overall narrative as indicating a 'rupture stylistique' 6•
As for the first two arguments, I have recently given my view on them
I (Pinkster 1998, cf. Pinkster 1990, eh. 11). I will briefly repeat a few elements
of the discussion. Firstly, it is not productive to identify the reasons why
1 a language user uses the historical present (in order to create "tension",
if "vividness", or what have you) with the semantic value of the tense, although
this use must be compatible with, or based upon, the semantic value. The
imperfect tense, for example, may be used in many languages in situations in
Il which the speaker wants to be polite or less direct, as in the Plautine example
sed si domi est, Demaenetum volebarn ('but I wished to see Demaenetus, if
Ii he is at home', Pl. As. 452). However, this does not make the imperfect a
'politeness tense'. The imperfect can be used in a politeness context because
of its semantic value 'presenting a state of affairs as taking place at some time
I
before the communicative situation', usually before the "now" of the speaker
or writer. By using this tense in a 'present' situation the language user suggests
that his wish is less direct, less urgent than when he would have used volo.
Similarly, the fact that in many languages the present tense is used in "peaks"
I
!
of the narrative (a narrative of past events) is based upon its semantic value
'presenting a state of affairs as taking place in the communicative situation',
usually the "now" of the speaker or writer 7 •
In the plays of Plautus and in the narrative parts of the orations of Cicero,
both imitations or reproductions of oral presentations, this use of the present is
quite common. It is, of course, essential that there is enough "past material" in
the surrounding context (such as adverbs, participles, finite past tense forms)
in order to avoid ambiguity. Given its semantic value the present is particularly
appropriate if the language producer presents a set of events in greater detail,
thus giving the addressee (reader) the feeling that he or she is witnessing what
I
is going on. It is, as a consequence, no coincidence that we do not find histor-
ical presents in the summarizing periochae of Livius. From the same endeav-
ii our to present the events in detail follows the fact that the historical presents
I
tend to occur in clusters. Usually the use of the historical present coincides with
6 A similar type of reasoning can be found in Von Albrecht 1970.
.,
-11
7 It will be obvious that I do not agree with those who, like Mellet, regard the present as an
tl unmarked tense. I do not repeat the arguments here.
i1
j
106 Hann Pinkster
other linguistic features, such as word order, sentence length, asyndeton and -
in modern languages - intonation. These features underline the idea that the
report of the events deserves special interest on the part of the addressee. The
combination of the tense and these features may create the side effect of "ten-
sion", "draznaticity", "speed", etc.
By the time ofVergilius the use of the historical present had become a "man-
nerism" (Quinn 1968, 93, note 1) in narrative epic and in narrative prose 8. An
important difference in the use of the historical present between Vergilius and
Apuleius, on the one hand, and Plautus and Cicero, on the other, is that with the
former the use of the present is no longer restricted to events that constitute the
progress of the story, particularly actions of the main participants. The present is
also used to describe "stative" situations, thoughts and ideas of the participants,
as well as non-successive or simultaneous actions. In other words, the present
is to some extent equivalent to both the imperfect and the perfect. A striking in-
stance of this is nee est quicquam quod ibi non est ('there was nothing that was
not there', Met. 5.2.2. - Kenney's translation 9 ). Nevertheless, Apuleius' use of
the historical present has some of the features mentioned above, suclt as
i short, asyndetic sentences: maeretur, jletur, lamentatur diebus plusculis
'There followed several days of mourning, of weeping, of lamentation'
(Met. 4.33.4 - Kenney's translation);
ii clustering: the tableaux vivants at the end of Met. 4.31 and in 5.1 are beau-
tiful instances; the alternative would be the imperfect, as in 6.24; however,
there the imperfect is more appropriate because the tableau constitutes the
background of the following perfects;
m co-occurrence with expressions indicating immediacy or speed, such as
confestim, ilico, statim, protinus, nee moratalnec mora cum, repente,
properiter, festinanter: there are twenty unambiguous present forms,
one unambiguous perfect (5.25.2), and two ambiguous, but probably
present forms (5.13.6; 5.27.2); Apuleius has other means at his disposal
to accelerate the narrative; the one I like best is Met. 5.4.2. Iamque aderat
ignobilis maritus et torum inscenderat et uxorem sibi Psychen fecerat et
ante iucis exortum propere discesserat ('Now there entered her unknown
husband; he had mounted the bed, made her his wife, and departed in
haste before sunrise - Kenney's translation); Cf. 5.21.5.
l
8 I hope to show elsewhere that Aeneas' account of the fall of Troy in theAeneis shows some
of the features mentioned above.
9 1be first est can be understood as an actual present: 'nothing exists that was not there•.
The use of narrative tenses in Apuleius' Amor and Psyche 107
The fact that the present may be used instead of the imperfect or perfect does
not mean that it can be used everywhere. If, for example, Apuleius would have
used a present tense instead of an imperfect in Met. 5.2.2. hoe erat praecipue
mirificum ('this was particularly astonishing') the expression might have been
understood as an author comment, outside the storyline.
As for Mellet's third point, the special function of the perfect, one must
be careful in using frequency data in vacuo. The passage of Cicero discussed
in Pinkster (1998) contains 29 perfect forms and 56 historical present forms,
roughly the same proportion as we find in this story. This means that there is a
priori no reason to limit a study of the contextual conditions in which Apuleius
prefers one narrative tense over another, "equivalent", tense to the perfect.
However, since Mellet has chosen to do so, I will examine her argument in
some detail.
In the Latin tense system the perfect has the semantic value 'presenting a
state of affairs as having occurred, or having finished, before the communica-
tive situation', usually before the "now" of the speaker or writer. In a narrative
text it may be used for successive events in the story, but also for author com-
ments outside the storyline. I will indicate these different uses as "narrative"
and "authorial" perfects. An example of an authorial perfect can be found in
an explicative relative clause in Met. 4.28.4 /amque ... Jama pervaserat deam
quam caerulum profundum pelagi peperit . . . in mediis conversari populi
coetibus ('Meanwhile the news had spread that the goddess born of the blue
depths of the sea was mingling with mortal men'). The distinction is not
always easy to make, as we will see. Given its semantic value the perfect is
especially appropriate to mark the boundaries of episodes, including pieces of
direct discourse.
Mellet mentions three types of use of the perfect, two of which correspond
to the use of the perfect just mentioned. She notes that out of 47 pieces of duect
discourse 21 are followed by a historical present, 17 by a perfect - roughly one
fifth of the total number of perfect forms in Mellet's count, 9 by an imperfect or
- rarely - a pluperfect 10 • Furthermore, the perfect is comparatively often used
when people leave the scene. As I said, it is no surprise that in these situations
the perfect occurs comparatively frequently. However, Mellet also claims that
it is not just a difference in frequency between the perfect and historical present.
According to her, there are also differences in the way the two tenses are used.
The present, she claims, is much more often combined with expressions like
tune, sic effata, etc. This confirms the idea that the present needs contextual
10 Again. my own figures are different: 58 pieces of direct discourse, 30 present tense forms,
18 perfect, 8 imperfect. 2 pluperfect forms.
 108 Harm Pinkster
features to do its job as a boundary marker, whereas the perfect does not 11• The
perfect might be said to have these additional features as part of its semantic
value. Unfortunately, my own reading of the text does not support her claim at
all. I find, for example, four instances of tune followed by a historical present
and three followed by a perfect form 12. The contextual features of the historical
present and the perfect are identical.
The third type of use of the perfect that Mellet distinguishes is its use as a
sign of dramatic tension (1985, 155). Before entering into a discussion of this
part of her paper it may be useful to give some statistics about the distribution
of the perfect tenses in this story. Whereas the present typically occurs in clus-
ters, as we have seen, most perfect forms occur isolated. In my count there are
37 sentences with one perfect form and 8 with two or more coordinated forms.
The number of clusters of independent sentences with a perfect tense is ex-
tremely low, as is the case in Cicero (see, once more, Pinkster 1998). There are
two instaDces of a sequence of two independent sentences that both have a per-
fect form (Met. 6.16.I; 6.24.3) and one instance of a sequence with five perfect
forms (Met. 5.27). The latter sequence of five perfect forms (actually, there is
one more ambiguous form) is in the section of the story in which Psyche takes
revenge of her sisters, an analytical summary without details.
According to Mellet, the perfect tense forms that do not function as bound-
ary markers in the sense discussed above 13 tend to cluster in episodes which are
of special interest. One example of hers is a "group" of 12 perfect forms in the
passage 5.22-25, where Psyche sees Cupid for the first time and hurts herself.
Three comments are in order.
Firstly, the average frequency of perfect forms in this tale is - in my count -
two to one page in main clauses in indirect discourse (in Kenney's edition). The
passage under discussion counts almost 5 pages. The fact that we find a "group"
of 12 perfect forms (subordinate clauses included!) is not that impressive.
Secondly, the "groups" distinguished by Mellet are not real groups. The per-
fects are most of the time separated by other tense forms and sometimes even
coordinated with a present tense. The following may serve as an illustration (the
perfects are underlined, the intervening forms - not quoted in Mellet, apart from
depromit- are in italics):
(Tune Psyche et corporis et animi alioquin infirma Fati tamen saevitia
subministrante viribus roboratur, et prolata lucerna et adrepta novacula
11 For Mellet this is another argument for regarding the present as the unmarked tense.
12 tune+ present: 5.6.4; 5.7.4; 5.18.4; 5.19.5. tune+ perfect: 5.28.9; 5.31.3; 6.17.1.
13 Some of Mellet's instances discussed under this heading do, in fact, occur as boundary
markers.
The use of narrative tenses in Apuleius' Amor and Psyche 109
sexum audacia mutatur.) Sed cum primum lurninis oblatione tori secreta
claruerunt videt omnium ferarum rnitissimam dulcissimamque bestiam,
ipsum ill~m Cupidinem formonsum deum formonse cub~~em, c~iu~
aspectu lucemae quoque lumen hilaratum increbruit et acu~s sa~nleg1
novaculam paenitebat. At vero Psyche tanto aspectu detemta et Impos
animi marcido pallore defecta tremensque desedit in imos poplites et ferrum
quaerit abscondere, sed in suo pectore; quod profecto fecisset, nisi ferrum
... evolasset ... Iamque lassa ... , dum ... intuetur pulchritudinem, recreatur
animi. Videt ... caesariem ... , quorum splendore ... lumen lucemae vacil-
labat. Per umeros ... pinnae ... candicant et ... plumulae ... lasciviunt.
Ceterurn corpus glabellum et ... quale ... non paeniteret. Ante lectuli pedes
iacebat arcus et pharetra et sagittae, magni dei propitia tela. Quae dum
insatiabili animo Psyche, satis et curiosa, rimatur atque pertrectat et mariti
sui miratur arrna, depromit unarn de pharetra sagittarn et punctu pollicis
extremam aciem periclitabunda trementis etiarn nunc articuli nisu fortiore
pupugit altius, ut per summam cutem roraverint parvulae sanguinis rosei
guttae. Sic ignara Psyche sponte in Amoris incidit amorem, etc. (Apul.
Met. 5.22-23.3)
'Then Psyche, though naturally weak in body and mind, rallied her strength
as cruel Fate reinforced it, brought out the lamp, seized the blade, and took
on a man's courage. But as soon as the light was presented and the secret of
their bed became plain, what she saw was of all wild beasts the most soft and
sweet of monsters, none other than Cupid, the fair god fairly lying asleep.
At the sight the flame of the lamp was itself gladdened and flared up, and her
blade began to repent its blasphemous edge. Psyche herself was unnerved
at the sight and was no longer mistress of herself: feeble, P'.31e,exhausted,
trembling, she crouched down and tried to hide the steel - m her own bo-
som; and she would certainly have done it, had not the steel flown out of
her hands. Now, worn out, as she gazed on the beauty, her spirits returned.
She saw his hair [etc.], by the splendor of which the lamplight flickered. On
.r the shoulders wings sparkled and the edges quivered. The rest of the body
-;
I was smooth and such as[ ... ] not[ ... ] to be ashamed of[ ... ]. At the foot of
i the bed lay a bow, a quiver, and arrows, the gracious weapons of the great
god. Psyche could not refrain herself, in her innate curiosity, from examin-
ing and handling and admiring her husband's weapons. She took one of the
arrows out of the quiver and tried the point by pricking her thumb; but as her
hands were still trembling she used too much force, so that the point went
right in and tiny drops of blood bedewed her skin. Th~s unknowingly ~syche
through her own act fell in love with Love' - translation Kenney (abndged).
110 Harm Pinkster The use of narrative tenses in Apuleius' Amor and Psyche 111

Even if we hypothesize that the fact that we find here five perfect tense forms on as a participant in the main line of events). The perfect suits these contextual
one page is related to the dramatic character of this recognition scene, we ought conditions best.
to see whether in this scene the actions expressed in the perfect are the most In conclusion, both Mellet's claim that the perfect deserves more attention
dramatic ones. To me the historical present videt (first position in its clause!) than the historical present and her claim that the perfect is especially used in
seems to be more dramatic than the preceding claruerunt (temporal subordi- dramatic situations are unconvincing. I agree with the authors referred to in the
nate clause). I do not feel much difference in this respect between desedit and beginning of this paper that - with few exceptions that deserve further exami-
quaerit (coordinated!) nor between depromit (first position in its clause!) and nation 16 - Apuleius sticks quite closely to the classical rules for using the his-
pupugit (coordinated!). torical present and the perfect.
Thirdly, the most important thing to know is whether there is a reason why
the perfect is used and whether, instead of the perfect, present forms could have
been used. Mellet (1985, 160) rejects the idea that the assumed dramatic func-
tion of the perfect in Apuleius is an inherent property of the perfect 14,without,
however, indicating which linguistic property underlies its "dramatic" use. I do
think that here, as in Cicero and Vergilius, at least a number of perfect forms are
selected because of the semantic value of the perfect. In this passage the per-
fect incidit is well in place in the concluding, evaluating statement introduced
by sic. Pupugit is also explainable. It describes not the deliberate continuation
of depromit as part of a series of controlled activities of Psyche, but rather the
unfortunate consequence of Psyche's trembling, presented in retrospect by the
commenting narrator (an authorial perfect). Further evidence for this is the use
of the perfect form roraverint in the consecutive subordinate clause.
Along the same lines I do not believe that the perfect is used because it is 'in-
troduisant l'oracle fatal qui va bouleverser la destinee de Psyche' (1985, 150)
in Met. 4.32.6: (Psyche's father consults the oracle of Apollo in Miletus) Sed
Apollo, quamquam Graecus et Ionicus, propter Milesiae conditorem sic Latina
sorte respondit ('But Apollo, though Greek and Ionian, in consideration for the
writer of a Milesian tale replied in Latin' - Kenney's translation). Rather it is
'The most striking, one might almost say blatant, manifestation of the authorial
presence' (Kenney 1990a, 23). Apuleius intervenes in the story with all sorts of
comment 15• The tense most suitable for such comments is the perfect Another
example of an authorial perfect that cannot easily be replaced is Met. 6.15.1 Nee
Providentiae bonae graves oculos innocentis animae latuit aerumna ('But the
suffering of this innocent soul did not escape the august eyes of Providence' -
Kenney's translation). The sentence marks the start of a new episode (imper-
fect forms precede). It is negated (negations are usually judgments by the au-
16 One difficult case is Met. 4.28.1 Hi tres numerofiliasforma conspicuas hahuae ('They had
thor) and it has an abstract noun as its subject (which can hardly be dealt with three beautiful daughters'). The only alternative would be the imperfect, as in the surround-
ing context. But this would be awkward for this kind of factual information (cf. Ronconi
1968, 62-63). The sentence also serves as a transition, indicating what happened in the sit-
14 In fact, she does not believe that the present is unsuitable in this kind of situation. uation described in the first sentence and at the same time introducing the description of the
15 A remarkable instance is the address of the lucema (in second person singular) in Met. situation in which Psyche and her family lived. For the almost "ingressi ve" value of habuere
5.23.5. See also van Mai-Zimmerman in this volume. cf. Thes. L L s.v. 2432.33 ff.
i
i
1
I
1
Cupid's Palace -A Roman Villa
(Apul. Met. 5,1)*

Susanne Brodersen
Miinchen

Cupid and Psyche meet for the first time in a palace which looks fantastical and
at first glance appears to have nothing in common with Roman everyday life.
The palace seems to belong to an imaginary world: there are invisible servants
who worry about Psyche's well-being (5,2: 104,22). The identity of the invisi-
ble spouse who calls on Psyche every night also remains a mystery at first (5,4:
105,20-106,1). Like the inhabitants and the guests, the palace itself seems to
be a product of pure imagination. The contrary, however, is the case: Cupid's
palace is based on very real, Roman foundations.
At the beginning of the fifth book of the Metamorphoses, Apuleius gives
a comprehensive description of the palace (5,1: 103,14-104,12). Using an
ecphrasis the author introduces the reader to the spacious architecture as well
as to the luxurious interior decoration. If we compare the architectural and
decorative elements mentioned by Apuleius with the archaeological evidence,
we come to the conclusion that Cupid's palace is not a palace of fairytale, but
is patterned after a Roman villa.
So far scholars have scarcely discussed the question on which kind of ar-
chitecture Cupid's palace could be modelled. As far as I know Grimal is the
only author who observes the similarity between Cupid's palace and Roman
villas (Grimal 1976, 22 and comm. on 5,1: 104,5-6). Fick and Hoevels discuss
Cupid's palace in greater detail, and both maintain that it is greatly influenced
by eastern architecture. But neither of them present any architectural features
which might prove the oriental origin of the building 1• It is not only this lack

* I am very grateful to Niklas Holzberg for his encouragement and advice and to Maaike Zim-
merman, who extended the opportunity to present the manuscript at the 17th Groningen Col-
loquium on the Novel in 1994.
Fick 1969, 379 regards Cupid's palace as a Persian building because of the use of the word
114 Susanne Brodersen
of evidence that makes us certain that Cupid's palace is not an oriental palace.
As I will demonstrate in detail, the plan and interior decoration of the palace
resemble a villa of the Roman Empire.
The description of Cupid's palace begins with the ceiling:
summa laquearia citro et ebore curiose cauata subeunt aureae columnae
5,1 (103,15--6)
"high coffered ceilings, exquisitely carved from citrus-wood and ivory, are
supported on golden columns 2."
Cupid's palace has a coffered ceiling (laquearia, synonym: lacunaria) similar
to those attested in various ancient buildings. However, only some stone cof-
fered ceilings have been preserved in the domain of Roman architecture, for in-
stance in the dome of the Pantheon and the vault of the Basilica of Maxentius.
As for the the wooden coffers, archaeology depends on literary testimonies,
which are abundant enough to outweigh the lack of evidence in the soil3 •
According to Roman authors wooden ceilings were very fashionable in
well-to-do private houses 4• The coffers were made from precious types of
wood like the citrus-wood mentioned by Apuleius 5 • To embellish the ceiling,
the panelling was often adorned with elaborate wood-carving, ivory inlay or
gaza in 5,2: I 04, 17. The word gaza is, of course, derived from Persian, but treasures (gazae)
are in no way restricted to Persian palaces and were to be found in palaces all over the ancient
world. Cf. Catul. 64,46; Luer. 2,37. Hoevels 1979, 63-o5 is in doubts whether Cupid's palace
resembles an Assyrian, Parthian or Persian building. The only evidence he produces is the
description of the palace of the Persian kings in Apuleius' De mundo 26, 7. This quotation,
however, does not reveal any specific architectural feature of the royal palace, which makes
it impossible to draw any conclusions concerning the architecture of Persian buildings in
general or Cupid's palace in particular. Cf. the critical remarks of D. Fehling in his review
in Gnomon 53 (1981), 80.
2 Translation of passages from the Metamorphoses are, unless otherwise stated, from the En-
glish version by J.A. Hanson (Loeb 453) 1989.
3 Bliimner 3 1911, 94; Ebert 1924, 369-375; Thedenat 1904, 902-904.
4 As regards the interior decoration, there is no significant difference between rich Romans'
town houses and their villas (Mansuelli 1958, 33). It is thus legitimate to compare Cupid's
palace to both villas and upper class town houses.
5 Hanson translates citrus by citron-wood, but in my opinion the word citrus cannot be ren-
dered into English in this contexL The tree meant here is not a kind of citron or lemon tree
(also called citrus by the Romans), but a tree which resembled the cypress, according to Pliny
the Elder(Nat. 13,95). CT.ThIL s. v. citrus 1208,28-57. The wood of the citrus-tree was very
appreciated by the Romans because of its beautiful grain (Plin. Nat. 13,91-102). For ceilings
made from citrus-wood see Cato in Fest. p. 242,20 M; Var. R. 3,2,4.
Cupid's Palace- A Roman Villa 115
gold-leaf design 6 • Thus the coffered ceiling in Cupid's palace reflects in every
detail the rich decoration of Roman upper class houses.
The matter is quite different for the aureae columnae, which support the cof-
fered ceiling in Cupid's palace (5,1: 103,16) 7• Whatever the adjective aureus is
supposed to mean - the columns may be made from pure gold or encrusted with
gold-leaf - there seems to be no example for golden columns in Roman archi-
tecture. As shown above for the ceiling, it was not unusual for wealthy Romans
to have the interior of their houses decorated with gold-foil. The revetment of
columns with gold-leaf, however, exceeds by far the magnificence encountered
in preserved Roman houses 8. Usually the columns were built out of materials
available in the area. A layer of stucco was often applied for embellishment,
and in some houses the columns were given an additional coat of monochrome
paint. Marble columns were too expensive for most homeowners and thus con-
sidered an expression of great luxury 9.
Two passages provide information on the decoration of the walls in Cupid's
palace:
parietes omnes argenteo caelamine conteguntur bestiis et id genus pecudi-
bus occurrentibus ob os introeuntium. 5,1 (103,17-8)
"all the walls are covered with silver reliefs, with wild beasts and herds of
that kind meeting your gaze as you enter."
totique parietes solidati massis aureis splendore proprio coruscant
5,1 (104,6-7)
"all the walls are constructed of solid gold masonry 10 and sparkle with their
own brilliance"
6 Wood-carving: Sen. Ep. 90,42; ivory inlay: Cato in Fest. p. 242,20 M. Sen. Nat. I, pro!. 8;
gold-leaf: Sen. Ep. 90,9 and 115,9, Var. R. 3,2.4.
7 On the architectural function of the columns see below.
8 In view of Campanian wall paintings of mature and late style II Drerup, 2 1981, 12-3 ar-
gues that the different segments of columns (bases, shafts, capitals) were possibly faced with
metal. Cf. Blake 1959, 23. As far as I know gilded columns are outside the evidence.
9 Villa dei Misteri (Pompeii}, peristyle: columns built out of tufa found in the area; Villa of San
Marco(Castellamare di Stabiae },ponicus triplex: brick colwnns faced with stucco; Casa de!
Relievo di Telefo (Herculaneum! 2-3), atrium: red colored columns (McKay 1975, 59, 109-
10, 119). For marl>le columns see Gnoli 1971, 5.
10 The use of solidati in the sense of 'to be constructed of' is attested in Tac. Ann. 15,43. An-
other meaning of solidati 'to make solid, to strengthen' (cf. Vitr. 7,3,6) makes equally sense
here, namely that all the walls are covered with blocks of solid gold. The effect is always the
same, whether solidati parietes refers to the construction or to the adornment of the walls,
they shine brightly because of the gold.
 116 Susanne Brodersen
The repeated description of the walls is explained by the fact that Apuleius talks
first about the entrance (5,1: 103,17-8) and then briefly about the remaining
parts of the palace (5,1: 104,6-7). Both times he mentions the splendour of the
walls, which are adorned with silver relief-work in the entrance area, while they
are built of blocks of solid gold in the other parts of the house.
The walls of many Roman houses were decorated almost as exquisitely and
richly. Of those decorations, wall paintings have been best preserved, while
only a few examples of the stuccoes (Blanc 1980, 48) and of the mural opus
sectile (Deubner 1940, 287) have survived the centuries.
The stucco reliefs are of great interest for us in connection with the golden
walls in Cupid's palace, since they were often colorfully painted 11 and in some
cases even gilded. Today, hardly anything remains of the gilded stuccoes be-
cause the precious material attracted looters throughout the centuries 12.
Pliny the Elder is the only Roman author known to me who mentions the
use of gold-leaf for the decoration of walls 13. In Nat. 33,57, he reports that first
the coffered ceilings (laquearia), then the barrel-vaulted ceilings (camerae) and
the walls (parietes) were encrusted with gold-foil. Unfortunately, Pliny does
not go into any detail about the kind of the gilding. There is no doubt, however,
that his descriptions are a reliable source, and the archaeological finds corrob-
orate them. It was indeed popular to have the vaults (camerae) stuccoed and
individual elements of these stucco reliefs were actually gilded (Mielsch 1975,
14-5 and 140, K 51, fig. 46). Remains of gilding were also found on stucco
14
walls and Pliny probably had these gilded stuccoes in mind when he wrote
about walls which were gilded like vases 15.
The quote from Pliny is of great importance for the description of Cupid's
palace, as it provides literary proof of the fact that individual walls in Roman
11 Casa di Meleagro (Pompeii VI 9, 2): stucco relief facing a wall, now: Museo Nazionale,
Napoli [Mielsch 1975, 147-8, K 57; ill.: Kraus 1967, plate XIV); Casa de) SaceUo Iliaco
(Pompeii I 6, 4): stucco frieze (Mielsch 1975, 156, K 75; ill.: Blanc 1980, 48-9).
12 The present state of the Voltadorata in Nero's Dom us Aurea is characteristic of many Roman
stuccoes. The original gilding is completely lost and the stucco reliefs are so badly damaged
that the earlier appearance of the ceiling can only be reconstructed on the basis of Renais-
sance drawings (Weege 1913, 166; Mielsch 1975, 126-7, K 32; ill. of the Renaissance draw-
ings and the current state in: Dacos 1969, fig. 11-12).
13 The description of the Domus Aurea in Suet. Nero 31,1-2 and in Tac. Ann. 15,42 is not de-
tailed enough to furnish proof of golden wall revetments in Nero's palace.
14 Blanc 1980, 51; Mielsch 1975, 19 and 165--6, K 106. The frieze in the triclinium of the Casa
dell' Efebo (Pompeii I 7, 11) should also be mentioned here. The gilded stucco caryatids,
which Maiuri 1938, 19 describes, were evidently later stripped of their gold-foil, because
Mielsch 1975, 139 K 49 does not mention the gilding, but notes instead that the surface of
the stucco reliefs is damaged.
15 Cf. Blake 1947, 66 and Bliimner 3 1911, 93 n. 8.
Cupid's Palace - A Roman Villa 117
houses were lavishly decorated with gilded stucco - a fact for which there is
also some archaeological evidence, as we have seen. Of course only the very
rich could afford such a luxury, and yet all that golden finery in their houses
seems to pale in comparison with the splendour of Cupid's palace. Here the
walls are built of blocks of solid gold, not just encrusted with gold-leaf - and
this is true not only for some walls or parts of them, but for all the walls from
roof to ceiling 16.
Such splendour went beyond all imagination. While the ceiling in Cupid's
palace was similar to those found in Roman houses, solid gold construction of
walls and columns would have been impossible 17. For Apuleius' contempo-
raries, such luxury was only conceivable in the palace of a God.
The silver reliefs on the walls of the entrance area (5,1: 103,17-8) also go
beyond what was usual in Roman homes. Silverwork was certainly very popu-
lar with the Romans 18, but there is absolutely no evidence for silver wall fac-
ings.
The silver wall revetment in Cupid's palace is worked extremely skillfully:
reliefs of predatory animals and other wild beasts cover the walls, and the an-
imals are modelled in such a vivid way that they appear to jump at the per-
son entering the room. Animal compositions like this one were by no means
unusual in Roman houses, even though this was not recognized up to now 19•
16 For the meaning of totique see Grirnal 1976 and Kenney 1990a. ad Joe.
17 Henig 1983, 139 and 141. For the meaning of caelamen resp. caelatura see Kenney 1990a,
ad Joe. and Marquardt 2 1886, 682-685.
18 So far scholars have agreed that the animal compositions in Cupid's palace reflect oriental
influence: Fick 1969. 381-383; Grima! 1976, ad Joe.; Hoevels 1979, 63; Kenney 1990a, ad
Joe.; Murgatroyd 1997, 364. Among these authors Fick is the only one who provides exam-
ples from the art of the East, after which the animal pictures could be modelled. However,
most of the evidence she produces is of no use, as she obviously disregards the exact mean-
ing of the Latin text (cf. Amat 1972, 128 n. I and 3). Indeed, neither snakes nor birds nor
even fantastic animals like the sphinx can be included among bestiae and pecudes (cf. ThlL
s.v. bestia 1937,25-09; for pecudes seen. 19). Furthermore, there is no sense in comparing
the animal compositions with works of art executed long after Apuleius was dead (e.g. in
the Sassanid period). Thus the large number of archaeological testimonies Fick produces is
reduced to a single bas-relief which covers the double staircase of the Apadana at Persepolis.
'Th.ismasterpiece of Achaemenid art, however, is not very likely to be the model for the an-
imal pictures in Cupid's palace. We have to proceed from the assumption that the bas-relief
was no longer visible in Apuleius' times due to the destruction of Persepolis by Alexander
the Great in 331 B.C. (cf. van der Berghe 1959, 28-9).
19 Pecudes are gregarious animals, above all sheep, but also goats, oxen, horses, asses and pigs
(1bLLs.v.pecus,-udis 955,39; 957,37-958,64). Varro (R. 2,1,5) reports that at his time herds
of sheep, goats, oxen, asses and horses are still living in the wild(cf. Toynbee 1973, 148-9,
163, 167, 192-3 ). It is precisely these wild relatives of the domestic animals which are meant
by the expression id genus pecudes (Fernhout 1949, ad Joe.). Jn addition Columella (9,1,1)
118 Susanne Brodersen
In some Pompeian murals the animals depicted correspond exactly with those
mentioned by Apuleius: wild beasts (bestiae) and different other animals (id
I Cupid's Palace - A Roman Villa
genus pecudes) which live in the wild. The latter include red deer and wild boars
as well as wild sheep, cattle, horses and donkeys 20.
In the Casa dei Cei, for instance, the rear wall of the viridarium is deco-
rated with a large picture of wild animals: a lion hunts a bull, two lionesses prey
on a wild boar, a leopard pursues two rams. Another wild boar and a stag can
also be seen in the picture 21• Large animal compositions are also found in the
Casa di M. Lucrezio Frontone where they cover the walls of the garden. While
the predators in the Casa dei Cei are depicted in the moment just before they
reach their prey, the mural in the Casa di M. Lucrezio Frontone shows a leop-
ard achieving its objective: he holds his prey between his paws, the victim still
struggling for survival 22 •
The Pompeian wall paintings correspond with the mural decoration in Cu-
pid's palace in the fact that all the animals are represented quite naturalistically.
In the two houses mentioned above, as well as in other houses at Pompeii, the
animals usually appear on the walls, first meeting your eye as you enter. The ef-
fect on the visitor must have been the one described by Apuleius: occurrentibus
ob os introeuntium (5,1: 103,18). In the Pompeian houses as well as in Cupid's
palace the animals seem to leap at the person entering the room.
Apuleius must have been familiar with animal pictures - if not with mural
paintings, which still existed in his time, then certainly with contemporary mo-
saics 23. Two such mosaics have survived from the 2nd cent. A.D.: a mosaic
from the Villa Hadriana, which depicts a lion and two bulls 24, and another one
from El-Djem in present Tunisia, which shows a tiger and two wild donkeys 25 •
counts deer and other animals of that kind like gazelles among the ferae pecudes.
20 Pompeii I 6, 15; Schefold 1957, 28 (h); ill.: Ling 1991, fig. 89.
21 Pompeii V 4, 11; Schefold 1957, 87 (I); ill.: Schefold 1962, plate 151,1.
22 Casa del Centenario (Pompeii IX 8, 6), viridarium: entrance and rear wall (Schefold 1957,
277 (h') resp. (33); ill.: Schefold 1953--54, plate 50,2). - Casa degli Epigrammi (Pompeii V
1, 18), porticus: eastern colonnade (Schefold 1957, 66 (k); ill.: Michel 1980, plate 74, 2),
the painting is lost now. - Casa de! Menandro (Pompeii I 10, 4), peristyle: pluteum in the
southem colonnade (Schefold 1957, 42; ill.: Maiuri 1932, 82, fig. 38). - Casa di Romolo e
Remo (Pompeii VII 7, 10), peristyle (Schefold 1957, 194 (p); ill.: Michel 1980, plate 75, 2).
- Frieze representing animals, found in the environs of Vesuvius and presumably belonging
to the decoration of a peristyle; now: Museo Nazionale, Napoli; ill.: Pompeji, Leben und
Kunst in den Vesuvstiidten, Recklinghausen 2 1973, fig. 217.
23 Roman mosaics are often elaborate counterparts of paintings (Smith 1983, 117 and 124).
24 ID.: Kraus 1967, plate XIX. The mosaic from the Villa Hadriana shows striking parallels to
the lost animal painting from the Casa degli Epigrammi (Pompeii V 1, 18), cf. n. 22.
25 ID.: Yacoub 1978, 102. The similarity between the mosaic from El-Djem and the one from
the VillaHadriana is obvious. Both mosaics go back to an originally paint~ animal compo-
Both mosaics represent the predator attacking one of the other animals. Similar
fights also appear on Pompeian walls, as for example in the Casa di M. Lucrezio
119
Frontone, mentioned above.
Apuleius' descriptions do not make it clear whether the animals fight each
other or not 26 . What the mural decoration in Cupid's palace has in common
with the mosaics is that predators and other wild animals are depicted in vivid
movement. This suggests that Apuleius had a painting like one of the Pompeian
murals or a mosaic like the one from El-Djem in mind when he adorned the
walls of the entrance in Cupid's palace with animal compositions.
Having described the ceiling and the walls (5, 1: 103, 15-18), Apuleius draws
the reader's attention to the pavements in Cupid's palace:
enimuero pauimenta ipsa lapide pretioso caesim deminuto in uaria picturae
genera discriminantur. 5,1 (104,2-3)
"Even the floors are zoned into different sorts of pictures made from pre-
cious stones cut in tiny pieces."
The floors are typically Roman: they are covered with mosaics (Japide pretioso
caesim deminuto) 27 • Apuleius disregards complet~ly what is depicted on the
mosaics but writes in great detail about the precious materials from which they
are assembled:
uehementer, iterum ac saepius beatos illos, qui super gemmas et monilia
ea/cant. 5,1 (104,4-5)
"Truly blessed - twice so and even more - are those who tread upon gems
and jewellery!"
sition (Smith 1983, 125; Yacoub 1978, 105).
26 Amat 1972, 128 n. 4 and Kenney 1990a ad loc. presume that the silverreliefs show a hunting
scene. But considering the fact that Apuleius does not mention any hunting accessories, in
my opinion a hunting scene is to be excluded in this context (cf. Fick 1969, 381).
27 According to Grirnal 1976, ad loc. the floors are not covered with mosaics, but with dif-
ferently coloured sheets of marble (opus sectile). Grima! obviously failed to notice that
Apuleius explicitly speaks of pictures (picturae), which adorn the pavements in Cupid's
palace. Indeed, the very scarce examples of figured opus sectile were all originally applied
to walls, whereas the preserved pavements of opus sectile show geometric or floral designs
(cf. Aurigemma 1966, 145-151). It seems that Roman home owners preferred figured floor
decorations to be executed in mosaic, because this technique proved to be more resistant to
attrition (Gauckler 1904, 2095). For this reason I suppose the pavements of Cupid' s palace to
be mosaics, especially since the tesserae could likewise be made of precious material (lapide
pretioso, 5,1: 104,2)(Smith 1983, 116).
120 Susanne Brodersen Cupid's Palace -A Roman Villa 121

uidisti soror ... quantum praeterea passim calcatur aurum. 5,9 ( 110,5-8) The latter is particularly interesting because it is a typically Roman piece of
furniture (Hoevels 1979, 72). For banquets, the Romans used to arrange three
"Did you see, sister, ... all that gold under foot everywhere?" couches (lectus) in a semicircle around a table. This very strictly observed or-
(thus one of Psyche's sisters remarks after her first visit in Cupid's palace.) der of seating led to the development of a single piece of furniture, commonly
called sigma because it resembled the semicircular Greek letter. Apuleius para-
Roman mosaics were usually made of cubes cut from colored marble
phrases the sigma with the words semirotundus suggestus (5,3: 105,6). A sigma
or other stones. Occasionally small pieces of glass paste were used as well
could seat up to nine people and was therefore quite a large piece of furniture,
(Smith 1983, 116). There are even some golden tesserae left, which consist
for which a very spacious room was needed 32 .
of a piece of gold-leaf enveloped with glass paste (Bruneau 1987, 89-90).
While Apuleius has designed ceiling, walls and floor with splendour and
The statement passim calcatur aurum (5,9: 110,8) is therefore correct also
brilliance, he is more modest with the pieces of furniture. At no point does he
for Roman houses 2 8, though for upper class homes only, because the cost of
indicate whether the chairs, the sigma or the bed are equally made of precious
golden tesserae was too high to be affordable for everybody.
materials. The pieces of furniture are treated like commodities and not as spe-
The floor in Cupid's palace is paved not only with gold but also with jewels.
cial highlights of the room, although the latter would have been possible, con-
Here Apuleius passes from reality to fantasy, for as _far as I know it was not
sidering some Roman show-pieces of furniture 33 .
common to use jewels for floor pavements. The lack of archaeological remains
The reason for the author's reserve in this respect may be that the furniture
restricts us to literary testimonies. Moralizing upon the decadently luxurious
is not part of the ecphrasis in 5, 1, but is only mentioned little by little as the plot
decoration of Roman private baths, Seneca writes in Ep. 86,7: eo deliciarum
develops. Unlike the beginning of book 5, where Apuleius deliberately inserts
peruenimus ut nisi gemmas ea/care nolimus. Apuleius obviously refers to this
the description of the palace to prepare the reader for the following events, he
quote from Seneca, but rewords it and introduces it in a completely different
does not want to interrupt the plot again with a detailed description of the fur-
context. Instead of criticizing the luxury, he intends to emphasize the splendour
niture 34.
of Cupid's palace 29 .
Concluding the analysis of the interior decoration, we realize that it is de-
It is striking that, as in the case of the walls, it is only in one detail, albeit a
picted in far more detail than the architecture of the palace. The order of the
decisive one, that Cupid's palace differs from the house of a wealthy Roman.
individual rooms and their architectural design are not described individually,
For the floors, it is the use of jewels, while for the walls the solid gold construc-
but only mentioned in passing. It is nevertheless possible to draw some conclu-
tion and silver reliefs go beyond the luxury encountered in Roman houses and
sions from the text about how the rooms interconnected and about their situa-
palaces and thus distinguish Cupid's palace as the palace of a God.
tion in the building as a whole. There is sufficient evidence for the thesis that
Most of what Apuleius writes about the interior decoration of Cupid' s palace
the plan of Cupid's palace is identical with the plan of a typical Roman villa.
is devoted to ceiling. walls and pavement. Pieces of furniture are mentioned
Let us first look at the setting of the palace, which is similar to that of a Ro-
only in passing, such as the bed of Cupid and Psyche 3°, chairs 31 and a semicir-
man villa. Cupid's palace is situated in the middle of the country, far from any
cular couch.
human settlement, as Psyche's sisters put it: ruris huius uocalis solitudo (5,18:
117,7) 35• Roman villas were typically located outside the city walls. Apuleius
28 Mosaics containing golden tesserae can be seen, e.g., at Merida (Spain): the mosaic in the gives additional information that inclines us to picture the palace as a villa in
Casa del Mitreo dates back to the 2nd cent. A.O. and the one in the Casa de! Anfiteatro to the following:
the 3rd cent. AD (Freijeiro 1978, 3S-38, 44).
29 According to ThLL s.v. ea/co 135, 5~7. ea/care gemmas is only found in Sen. Ep. 86,7 impares enim nuptiae et praeterea in uilla sine testibus et patre non consen-
and Apul. Met. 5,l (104,4---5);ea/care aurum only occurs in Apul. Met. 5,9 (110,7-8). tiente factae legitimae non possunt uideri 6,9 (135,1-3)
30 The four different words for bed do not designate separate pieces of furniture, but appear due
to Apuleius' search for variation: cubile (5.20: 118,8), lectulus (5,2: 104,24; 5,22: 120,23),
32 Marquardt 2 1886, 302-308; Hoevels 1979, 71-2.
lectus (5,6: 107,8), torus (5,4: 106,1; 5,20: 118,13; 5,20: 118,20; 5,22: 120,3). For the use of
33 See Marquardt 2 1886, 722. .
lectus and lectulus see Abate 1978, 57.
34 Le principe d' economie narrative, which has been recently worked out by van Mai-Maeder
31 eas ... sedilibus refotas (5,15: 114,24). Psyche offers chairs when welcoming her exhausted
1995, 106, is to be observed in this passage as well.
sisters; cf. Sen. Cl. 1,9,7; Gel. 2,2,8 (Hug 1921, 1023).
35 Description of the setting of the palace: 4,35 (103,4}-5,2 (103,12).
122 Susanne Brodersen
''Since the marriage was between unequals; besides, it took place in a
country house without witnesses and without the fathers's consent." (One
of Venus' reasons for questioning the validity of her son's marriage is that
they got married in uilla, that is to say in Cupid's palace.)
The Latin word uilla has an extended semantic significance, since it refers to
any country house that was located outside the limits of a settlement (Lafaye
1919, 870). For the following analysis it is therefore necessary that we limit
ourselves to the comparison with a certain type of villa. Because of the luxuri-
ous inner decoration of Cupid 's palace, it is to be compared with the rural villas
of the Roman upper class which were furnished with similar splendour.
The first architectural elements mentioned in Apuleius' description of the
palace are the golden columns supporting the precious coffered ceiling (5,1:
103,16). Since they are the first thing the visitor sees upon entering the palace
(ab introitu primo, 5,1: 103,14), they must be situated in the entrance. In many
Roman villas columns could be found in that same place - namely in all those in
which the entrance opened upon a peristyle 36 • The entrance of Cupid's palace
with its columns corresponds therefore in form as well as in function with the
peristyle of a Roman villa.
Other parts of the palace are also identical with the architecture of Roman
villas. Toe sprawling building (Longe lateque dispositae domus, 5,1: 104,5--6)
includes numerous rooms (cubicula), among them a dining room (triclinium),
further colonnades (porticus) and a bath unit (balneae) 37• Similar rooms were
to be found in every Roman villa, the colonnades and the baths being charac-
teristic architectural elements.
The colonnades deserve closer examination, since the Latin word porticus
refers to a multitude of architectural features. In the Roman villa alone, colon-
36 Villa deiMisteri (Pompeii), peristyle from about 100 BC; Villa Settebassi (near Rome), peri-
style from the middle of the 2nd cent. A.O. (Mckay 1975, 109-10, 133).
37 Cubicufu: 5,1 (104,8); triclinium: 5,15 (115,2);ponicus: 5,1 (104,9); balneae: 5,1 (104,9). I
have adopted, with Grimal, the reading off, balneae, whereas Helm, Robertson and Kenney,
according to ms. cp,read ualuae. As the two readings are different corrections of the very
same word ualnee originally written in both mss., it depends on the context, which reading
should be retained. It would seem that the emphatic use of ipsae (Kenney 1990a ad Joe.) is
the decisive factor. Connected with ualuae, ipsae would not make much sense because it
was rare, but not uncommon to adorn folding doors with gold (Bliimner 3 1911, 18). On the
contrary, there is no evidence for the revetment of Roman baths with gold (cf. Weber 1996,
137-140). The addition of the word ipsae then emphasizes the splendour of Cupid 's palace
where the very baths sparkle with gold. Besides, the baths are repeatedly referred to in the
following (5,2: 104,25; 5,3: 105,5; 5,15: 115,1) and complete better the enumeration of all
those parts of the palace (cubicu/a ... ponicus ... ), which are covered with gold (Fernhout
1949 ad Joe.).
Cupid's Palace - A Roman Villa 123
nades can have many different functions (Fortsch 1993, 85-6 and esp. n.1049).
Colonnades may embellish a fac;ade, as in the Tusci of Pliny the Younger (Plin.
Ep. 5,6, 15-6); but they may also be an independent building connecting the
villa with its annexes, for instance the bath unit. Statius describes the villa of
Pollius Felix with a porticus leading from the baths to the main building (Stat.
Silv. 2,2,30). Finally porticus is used to denote the wings of a villa's peristyle,
as in Pliny the Younger's description of his Laurentinum (Plin. Ep. 2,17,4).
Given the wide range of meaning for porticus, a close analysis of the con-
text is necessary in arriving at an accurate appraisal of the colonnades in Cu-
pid's palace. Apuleius includes them in the enumeration of all those parts of the
palace which shine brightly because of their golden walls:
sic cubicula, sic porticus, sic ipsae balneae 38 falgurant. 5,1 (104,8-9)
'The rooms, the colonnades, even the baths flash lightning."
The context is important, since symmetrical arrangement and the principle of
axiality were central components in the design of Roman villas. These archi-
tectural concepts also influenced the owner's view of his property: when Pliny
the Younger describes his villas, he does so by following the axis 39• Hence, we
are justified in our assumption that Apuleius, too, had an axis in mind when
he described the sequence of cubicula, porticus and balneae. The colonnades
then connected the private rooms and the baths. In Roman villas such a porticus
could be realized in different ways. At Nennig a colonnade of 250 meters con-
nects the villa with the baths 40 . There are also porticus following the model of
the Greek palaestra, with three wings of colonnades surrounding a courtyard
as in the villa of Val Catena (Gnirs 1915, 131-134), or with four wings as at
the villa of Domitian near Sabaudia (Mielsch 1987, 70-72). In both cases the
colonnades form a unit connecting directly to the baths, and the resulting axi-
ality is similar to that in Cupid's palace.
Resuming the comparison of Cupid's palace with Roman villas, we come
to the following conclusions: all the architectural features of the palace which
Apuleius mentions in his text correspond with the architecture of the Roman
villa. The description of the interior decoration, however, contains some ele-
ments magnificent beyond the luxury of wealthy Roman residences: the golden
38 Cf. n. 37.
39 Drerup 1959a, 150-2; id. 1959b, 7, 16-7. Drerup speaks of 'Blickachsen' as a typical feature
of Roman houses and villas.
40 Mylius 1924, 111; fortheponicusleading from the baths to the main building of the villa of
Pollius Felix see above.
 .I

125
Cupid's Palace - A Roman Villa
124 Susanne Brodersen
s as magical as it seems to be at first glance45_ Elements of Roman
columns and the silver wall revetment in the entrance area as well as the floor
paved with jewels and the golden walls in the remaining parts of the palace.
::ean
da life can be detected throughout the tale in the form of legal terrnsd
ry y law books and frequent allusions to Roman customs, cul~ an
These exceptions can be explained by the function of the ecphrasis. The
:;~;~ti!~~46. These as~cts have been inadequately investigated b~ lt~r~
fourth book of the novel leaves the reader with a certain tension and uncertainty h f but the Roman background forms exactly that layer m upi
about Psyche's destiny 41 . The following description of the palace indicates that researc so arhi •. h. . all likelihood attributable to Apuleius himself.
Psyche's husband is not a monster (as the reader might have assumed), but a and Psyche w c 1s m
God or at least godlike. Apuleius introduces this tum in the action on two differ-
ent levels: first, he paints some details of the interior decoration in such splen-
dour that the reader is already given an idea of the presumable owner of the
palace. Secondly, he inserts into the ecphrasis narratorial comments which ex-
plicitly state that the decoration and workmanship are superhuman and that the
master of the house must be a God 4 2 • The turning point of Psyche's destiny is
also underlined by the book division, as she discovers the palace just at the be-
ginning of the 5th book 43 .
Apart from some fantastic elements mentioned above, the interior decora-
tion of Cupid's palace resembles a Roman villa: the coffered ceiling made of
citron wood and ivory is as typically Roman as the mosaics which cover the
floor. Animal compositions on the walls are known to have been a popular mo-
tif during the Empire, and the semicircular couch is a piece of furniture defi-
nitely connected with Roman civilization. The presence of this couch indicates
more clearly than anything else that Apuleius was inspired by contemporary
Roman home furnishings when he described Cupid's palace, for the so-called
sigma was the common form of a dining-couch in his time.
This is not the only reference to Roman everyday life in Cupid and Psy-
che44. The background of the action involving Cupid and Psyche is by no

41 Winkler 1985, ~93 and Kenney 1990b, 175 argue that a skilled reader is able to decipher
the riddle in 4,33 (100,21-101,4). But even if the reader knows or can guess the solution,
'he goes through the motions of discovery' (Winkler 1985, 90).
42 domus regia est, aedificata ... diuinis artibus (5, I: 103,12-3); dei cuiuspiam ... diuersorium
(5,l: l03,l4-5);semideus uel certe deus ... talltwn efferauitargentum (5,1: 103,19- 104,1- 1 des the tale of Cupid and Psyche from his
2); ut equidem ... caeleste palatium (5, l: 104, 10--12). The narratorial inserts make part of 45 This is denied by Millar 1981, 65--6, who exc u h • f Schlam 1992, 82 and 97.
hi . al b kground of the Metamorp oses, c .
what Wlllkler calls 'the quest for identity' of Psyche's husband (Wmkler 1985, 89). Most of research on the _ stone ac 90a 22_ 24 the story of Cupid and Psyche
19
the comments serve to confirm the reader's assumption that the owner of the palace is a God, According to Grimal 1976, 21-24 and Ker:ey th 'all attention as well to lhe references
takes place in a world of fairy tale, but bo au ors c
which in the end turns outto be true. It is not the same for the final remark (5,1: 104,10-12):
the mention of Jupiter is likely to lead to the wrong conclusion that he will be Psyche's lover. to Roman everyday life. . . the allusions to Roman Jaw and legal insti-
The accumulation of different kinds of clues is not to be taken as a sign of inconsistency, but 46 So far scholars have been mostly mterestedl916n9 "de a very detailed study of the legal
d 1912 and Summers provi
as a narrative technique. Constructed like a detective story the first part of Cupid and Psyche tutions. Bo th Nor en ach to Apuleius' use of juridical terms.
contains a 'series of possible answers' to the question of Psyche's husband (Winkler 1985, references. Keulen 1997 recently offers a ~ewCap~~oandPsyche is to be found in Scivoletto
89, 93). Further information on the Romanl9c90olour
1963 and in the index of Kenney
m
a, s.v.
'R':~an references'. For the Roman readership
43 Cf. Kenney 1990a, 5; Murgatroyd 1997, 361-2; see also Harrison in this volume.
of the Metamorphoses, see Dowden 1994.
44 Helm 1914, 174; Grimal 1976, 22-4; Kenney 1990a, 23-4.
 Neoteric and elegiac echoes in the tale of
Cupid and Psyche by Apuleius

Silvia Mattiacci
Siena

The cultural influences of the second century A.O. that gave rise to the poetry of
the so-called poetae novelli, in many ways heirs to neoteric and pre-neoteric tra-
ditions, were inevitably felt by an author as versatile and receptive as Apuleius.
This can be seen in his few surviving works, only a fragment of what must have
been a vast corpus of poetry 1. Among these fragments three in particular stand
out: a note in iambic verse which accompanied a toothpaste sent to a certain
Calpurnianus, and two erotic epigrams written in honour of two young broth-
ers, Critias and Charinus, which the author himself included in the Apology 2,
since they were used as evidence of accusation during the trial 3• Apuleius
openly admitted the models used for these verses, quoting, together with those
lyrics, Catullus (6,5) and, among the alii innumeri who composed love poetry
in Latin, the pre-neoterics Valerius Aedituus, Porcius Licinus and Lutatius Ca-

1 As I have demonstrated in a previous study; see Mattiacci 1985.

1 Apol. 6,3; 9,12 and 14 = FPL 1982, 172-3; FPL 1995, 364-5; see further Steinmetz 1982,
337--41; Mattiacci 1985, 242-58; Courtney 1993, 392-5; Hunink 1997, comm. ad loca.
These are the only non-fragmentary compositions that have been handed down to us, to-
gether with the oracle of the Milesian Apollo, about which see below. Three minute frag-
ments also survive, published in the above-mentioned collections, and one longer 'erotic'
fragment in iambic senarii, conserved and attributed to Apuleius in the lost cod. Bellova-
censis (= Anth Lat. 712 Riese). It is now universally agreed that Apuleius is the author of
that fragment (see Mattiacci 1985, 261-74; Harrison 1992; Courtney 1993, 397--400).
3 Apuleius' adversaries used these compositions in order to support their accusations of sor-
cery, since one of them speaks of a pulvisculum made ex Arabicis frugibus (apparently some-
thing mysterious and ambiguous to the accusers, in reality, as Apuleius maintains, an innocu-
ous toothpaste), while the other two, being ludicri et amatorii verses, could put their author
in a light of immorality and could be put in connection with mala carmina of sorcery (see
Hunink 1997, comm. 37-9).

128 Silvia Mattiacci
tulus (9,8). The metric technique, the hyperbolic images and the accentuated
word play present in these verses, taken together with the homage to the Mousa
paidike show that Apuleius was in fact imitating the epigram tradition that the
neoteroi had borrowed from the Greek erotic poetry of the Hellenistic age. The
use of pre-classical models, the precursors of neoterism - the famous triad men-
tioned by Gellius as well ( 19,9) - together with the use of elements of Plautus'
language, clearly show the period's archaising tendency. Such a tendency was
combined with a languid sensibility expressed by affectedness and naivites, al-
ternating a mannered realism with skilful literary technique.
As is clear from the verses for Critias and Charinus, however, and from the
erotic fragment entitled 'Avex6µevo~ (see n. 2), more than the other poetae
novelli4. Apuleius was also influenced by the Augustan elegy whose origin, in
tum, lay in neoteric poetry. The desire to return to this tradition, which was ap-
parently seen as an indivisible whole, is confirmed by the famous passage of
Apol. 10,3. In order to justify his use of pseudonyms when referring to the two
young men addressed, Apuleius here quotes the use of the same practice by
other writers of erotic poetry in Latin, the neoterics Catullus and Ticidas and
the elegists Propertius and Tibullus. Apuleius even provides us with the real
identity of the women depicted in the works of these poets, which is precious
information. In the following chapter of the Apology we again find mention of
Catullus, this time in defence of the distinction between literature and life 5, as
well as the emperor Hadrian, who is known to have written verses in the style of
the novel Ii, and whose licentious lyrics Apuleius remembers having read. This
is another significant link between early neoterism and late neoterism, of which
Apuleius was an exponent.
As heir and perpetuator of an essentially erotic and nugatory tradition,
Apuleius justified his poetic choices by deliberately placing himself in Ca-
tullus' wake. He even seems to quote Catullus from memory on a number of
occasions, thus confirming his great familiarity with the poet's work. This is
the case of line 19 of the lyric to Egnatius (39), reproposed concerning the
epistolium de dentifricio, with the variant of pumicare for defricare, as well as
the expression qui signorum ortus et obitus conperit (Apul. Soc. 2,120), a sort
4 At least this seems to be the case, judging from the rare fragments of both the one and the
others that have been handed down to us. For a more detailed discussion and bibliography,
see my previous works: Mattiacci 1982 and 1985.
5 The famous verses Nam castum esse decet pium poetaml ipsum, versiculos nihil necesse est
( 'For the sacred poet ought to be chaste himself, his verses need not be so', Catul. 16,5---6)
are to be found here. The well-known motif returns in Ov. Tr. 2,354; Mart. 1,4,8; Plin. Ep.
4,14,4-5; Aus. 360, p. 218 P.
Neoteric and elegiac echoes... 129
of cryptic quotation with some variants of The Lock of Berenice (Catul. 66,2
qui stellarum ortus comperit atque obitus) 6 .
The aim of the present study is to offer some examples demonstrating how the
neoteric-elegiac tradition - which was fundamental for Apuleius' cultural for-
mation, as seen in the above examples - was also drawn upon in the compo-
sition of the novel, not only in terms of word choice and means of expression,
but also through the reuse of specific themes and motifs.
I have already provided an example of this in a recent study on Aristome-
nes' 'invocation of his bed' preceding this character's vain attempt at hanging
himself (Met. 1,16). Here the presence of neoteric and elegiac models (Catul-
lus, Ticidas, Propertius and Ovid) is quite clear, even though they are disguised
by a context which even includes a parody of tragic-epic situations (the hero-
ine abandoning herself to pathetic invocation before committing suicide). The
pressing but vain request to the ianitor to open the door of the inn (1, 15), the
scene leading to and causing Aristomenes' suicide attempt, can also be seen as
an adaptation distorting a motif of the erotic poetry as well, that of the para-
clausithyron 1 .
However, it is above all in the bella jabella - as the author himself defines
the tale of Cupid and Psyche (6,25), using an echoed rhyming combination typ-
ical of his euphonic style and whose phonic archetype is, significantly, the bella
puella of Catullus (69 ,8) 8 - that the poetic models' influence is felt, as Kenney,
in his recent commentary, has amply and precisely demonstrated. At any rate,
it has been known for some time that in the story of Cupid and Psyche Apuleius
enriches his writing with stylemes and motifs borrowed from elevated literary
codes in order to lend a tragic-epic air to some scenes. In the wake of Pricaeus,
since the seventeenth century commentators have observed that the portrayal
of Venus, characterised by anger and her desire for revenge on the beautiful
Psyche, was deeply influenced by Vergil's Juno. The Venus of Lucretius is in-
terwoven with Vergil as well in the presentation and description of the goddess'
power (4,30). It has also been shown that Apuleius, through a series of thematic
coincidences and some verbatim borrowing of vocabulary, aimed at making
Psyche a heroine fated to suffer for a love imposed by a god, modelling the
character on that of Dido and Medea 9 • The incipit of the tale is in an epic style,
6 On all of this section concerning quotations of Catullus and the pre-neoterics in Apuleius,
for more detail see Mattiacci 1986, 173-79.
7 See Mattiacci 1993, for an examination of the loci of the no,vel and the literary models re-
ferred to in the text.
8 See Traina 1989, 20 n. 35; see also Ov. Am. 1,9,6.
9 See Schiesaro 1988, 141-5, who reveals the privileged nature of the relationship with
130 Silvia Mattiacci
which aims at raising the stylistic level and ennobling the fable-like elements
through a narration based on famous and therefore easily recognisable models.
In this epic setting dominated by gloomy shades 10, however, subtle allusions to
other texts and other literary codes are inserted as well, thus multiplying the el-
ements in the complicated game of intertextual references that Apuleius offers
for the learned reader to decode.
Froqi the moment he appears (4,30), Cupid seems decidedly more Hellenis-
tic than Vergilian, and the whole scene in which Venus asks for her son's help
recalls, in both tone and in the way the characters are portrayed, the passage of
the Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius (3,90-153) in which Aphrodite, at the
request of Hera and Athena, asks Eros to strike Medea's heart with his arrows.
Helm 1914, 193 ff. was the first to recognise Apuleius' debt to this text and this
allows us to introduce a series of links to Alexandrian and neoteric poetry.
Even before Cupid is presented into the narration, the Alexandrian affec-
tation in Apuleius' writing can be recognised in the allusion to a little-known
archaic myth, implying that the work was intended for an educated and sophis-
ticated audience. While speaking of Venus, to whom everyone is already com-
paring Psyche, the author uses the following expression: deam, quam caeru-
lum profundum pelagi pepen·t et ros spumantium jluctuum educavit ('the god-
dess born of the blue depths of the sea and brought forth of the spray of the
foaming waves' 11: 4,28). Using highly poetic language, he obviously alludes
to the more commonly known myth of Venus being born from the sea and with
ros spumantium jluctuum educavit refers to the Greek etymology of the name
of Aphrodite (Hes. Theog. 197-8 itv cicpp~ 0ptcp01J).This is immediately fol-
lowed, however, by nova caelestium stillarum germine ('in a new gennination
of skyborn drops'), making 'a delicate allusion to an indelicate myth' 12, that of
the mutilation of Uranus by his son Cron us who cut off his father's genitals and
threw them into the sea. A white foam rose from them and, according to Hesiod
(Theog. 176-200) 13, Venus was formed in that foam. Uranus' role in the mys-
terious birth of Venus was later forgotten and it became a commonplace in both·
Vergil's text. in such a way that Psyche-Dido-Medea is modelled on a literary archetype with
great evocative force.
10 Again Schiesaro 1988, 142 observes that 'questa prima parte di Amore e Psiche, fino alter-
mine del quarto libro, e tutta giocata su tinte fosche, in cui si agitano ... cupe passioni e
tremende vendette'. On the connection between folkloric elements and literary technique
see Wright 1971.
11 The translations of passages fromApuleius' Metamorphoses are those of Hanson 1989.
12 Kenney 1990a, ll8.
13 Apuleius seems to allude to this myth in 2,8 as well (caelo deiecta, mari edita, jluctibus edu-
cata: 'descended from heaven, born out of the sea') and again in 6,6 with the expression
Caelus panditur filiae ('Heaven opens up for his daughter' sc. for Venus; Caelus is Uranus).
Neoteric and elegiac echoes ... 131
Greek and Latin poetry to describe Aphrodite as having been born from the sea.
It is interesting to note that a trace of this archaic myth can be found in the Per-
vigilium Veneris, a poetic gem of uncertain date and author. The second century
has been suggested several times for this poem in connection with the work of
the poetae novelli, of which it would be the most refined example 14 : lines 9-11
Tune cruore de supemo spumeo pontus globo I caerulas inter catervas inter et
bipedes equos I fecit undantem Dionem de marinis imbribus ( 'Then from heav-
en's blood, in a ball of foam, among azure hosts and two-footed horses, Pontus
made Dione who rose in billows from the waves of the ocean' - transl. L. Cat-
low 1980). It should also be pointed out that the PV speaks of Venus as being
born from blood, while Hesiod claims that Venus was born from the genitals of
Uranus and from the foam that formed around them. On the other hand, again in
Hesiod's account, the Erinyes, Giants and Nymphs were born from the drops of
blood fallen on the earth 15. Apuleius, with the expression 'in a new germination
of sky born drops', follows the line of the PV. It is possible that the two authors
were referring to a modification of the myth in a Greek source, or perhaps they
influenced one another, even though it is impossible to establish who the auc-
tor was, given the uncertainty of the PV's date. The coincidence is significant
all the same, given the rarity of the myth, since it emphasises the Alexandrian
affectation present in both texts 16. Immediately thereafter, we find the passage
referring to the neglected cult of Venus:
Paphon nemo, Cnidon nemo, ac ne ipsa quidem Cythera ad conspectum
deae Veneris navigabant; sacra differuntur, templa deformantur, pulvinaria
proteruntur, cerimoniae neg/eguntur; incoronata simulacra et arae viduae
frigido cine re foedatae.
14 Contrary to the recent tendencies to place the PV in late antiquity (fourth or even early fifth
century), Bernardi Perini 1995 has reproposed the second century with a series of interesting
philosophical, cultural and linguistic arguments. See this important essay also for its exhaus-
tive bibliography on the question.
15 Theog. 183-87; cf. Cazzaniga I 955, 58-9.
16 This is not the only analogy between the Metamorphoses and the PV; compare 10,29 ver
in ipso onu iam gemmulis jloridis cuncta depingeret et iam purpureo nitore prata vestiret
('Spring in her moment of birth was now painting everything with her flowery jewels and
clothing the meadows with crimson brilliance') to PV line 13 ipsa gemmis purpurantem pin-
git annumjloridis ('Dione paints the purpling year with glittering flower buds') (jloridis is
an accredited correction, on the very basis of the comparison with Apuleius, of jloribus in
the codices); 3,29 rosae virgines matutino rore jlorebant ('virgin roses were blooming in the
morning dew') to PV lines 21-2 mane virgineas papillas solvit (scil. umor) umentipeplo. I
Jpsa iussit mane nudae virgines nubant rosae (' At dawn the dew ... will loose their virginal
breasts from dripping robes. The goddess has ordered the roses to marry as naked virgins').
 132 Silvia Mattiacci
'No one sailed to Paphos or Cnidos or even Cythera to behold the goddess
Venus. Her rites were postponed, her temples fell into disrepair, her cushions
were trodden under foot, her ceremonies neglected, her statues ungarlanded,
and her abandoned altars marred by cold ashes' (4,29).
Many commentators have placed this passage in relation to Ov. Met. 10,529-
31, of which it is a paradoxical reversal, since in Ovid it is Venus herself who
neglects her own temples, taken by her love for Adonis:
Capta viriforma non iam Cythereia curat
litora, non alto repetit Pap/wn aequore cinctam
piscosamque Cnidon gravidamve Amathunta metal/is.
'Smitten with the beauty of a mortal, she cares no more for the borders of
Cythera, nor does she seek Paphos, girt by the deep sea, nor fish-haunted
Cnidos, nor Arnathus, rich in precious ores.' (transl. F.J. Miller 3 1977).
From a structural point of view, however, it is possible to propose another sig-
nificant comparison. In Catul. 64,35-42 17 the abandoning of certain places (in
this case the place of origin of the guests, in Apuleius the places of worship) is
placed in opposition to the arrival of the crowd in another place, where a great
event is to take place (in one case Pharsalus, where Peleus and Thetis are to
be wed, in the other the island of Psyche, saeculi specimen gloriosum: 'the fa-
mous sight of the age'). The description of the state of squalor into which the
abandoned places are destined to fall, is introduced with rura colit nemo (Catul.
64,38; cf. Paphon nemo, Cnidon nemo ... navigahant) and is followed by a se- '
ries of sentences in which- as in the Apuleian text - parataxis, asyndeton and
the historical present give emphasis. The entire passage is accentuated by the
triple anaphora with non (Apuleius, on the other hand, makes use of an em-
phatic homoeoteleuton). The passage then is drawn to a close, with a sort of cli-
max, with the image of the 'rough rust' which covers the abandoned ploughs,
whereas Apuleius speaks of 'abandoned altars marred by cold ashes'. On the
one hand the image of squalor is contrasted with the splendour of Peleus' palace
17 Deseritur Scyros, linquunt Pthiotica Tempe, I Crannonisque domos ac moenia Larisaea, /
Pharsaliam coeunt, Pharsalia tectafrequentant. I Rura colit nemo, mollescunt col/a iuven-
cis, I non humilis curvis purgatur vinea rastris, I non glebam prono convellit vomere taurus,
I nonfalx attenuat /rorulatorum arboris umbram, I squalida desertis rubigo infertur aratris
('Scyros is deserted; they leave Phthiotic Tempe and the houses of Crannon and the walls
of Larissa; at Pharsalus they meet, and flock to the houses of Pharsalus. None now tills the
lands; the necks of the steers grow soft; no more is the trailing vine cleared with curved rakes;
no more does the pruners' hook thin the shade of the tree; no more does the ox tear up the soil
with downward share; rough rust creeps over the deserted plough', transl. F. W. Comish).
Neoteric and elegiac echoes ... 133
and on the other it is contrasted by the opulent cult (victimis et epulis) dedicated
to Psyche whom, as she passes through the crowd,floribus sertis et solutis ad-
precantur ('crowds would worship ... with garlands and flowers': 4,29) 18.
Let us return now, though, to the figure of Cupid. After Venus presents her-
self in a passage recalling Lucretius, though deployed in a typically Apuleian
anaphoric trikolon (4,30 En rerum naturae prisca parens, en elementorum
origo initia/is, en orbis totius alma Venus: 'Look at me, the primal mother of all
that exists, the original source of the elements, Venus, the bountiful mother of
the whole world'), the angry goddess decides to turn to her son for help. In the
narrative and in Venus' prayer which follow, Cupid is presented with the usual
literary attributes (pinnatus. .. flammis et sagittis armatus: 'winged ... armed
with flames and arrows'), but his rashness and impunity are immediately
brought to light as well, together with his fundamental ambiguity, given his
capability of causing both pain and pleasure at the same time. From a func-
tional point of view, Venus' action can be compared with her prayers to Cupid
in Verg. A. 1,657-88 and in Ovid Met. 5,365-79 19, that is with the request
to make a person fall in love against his or her will (Dido, Pluto, Psyche). In
these texts, however, nothing is said of the god's rash and mischievous nature;
they tend rather to emphasise his fearful power 20 . Such a characterisation
is to be found especially in Hellenistic poetry and in Apollonius Rhodius in
particular 2 1. The image of the 'headstrong boy', who is 'naturally unrestrained
and impudent' (4,30), even if glossed over by a series of expressions deriving
from Roman morality (malis suis moribus contempta disciplina publica ...
et omnium matrimonia corrumpens: 'with his bad character and his disdain
for law and order ... ruining everyone's marriages'), finds a parallel in the
18 The comparison which Kenney 1990a, 119 f. cautiously proposes ('There may also be a
distant echo of Catul. 64,35-6'), seems to me significant, while the comparison which the
scholar (Le.) suggests between populifreqr1nztes floribus sertis et solutis adprecantur (Mel.
4,29, quoted above) and Catul. 63,66 mihijloridis corollis redimita domus erat (the house of
Attis, prior to the mutilation, was decorated with floral wreaths because he had many lovers),
seems less pertinent
19 SeeSchiesaro 1988, 142-4;Kenney 1990a, 123-4andMoreschini 1994, 185-6.Conceming
the passage quoted from Ovid, Schiesaro observes that 'dopo L'invocazione iniriale i due
passi sono confrontabili abbastanza puntualmente, sia quando Venere si lamenta dello scarso
rispetto che le viene tributato (Ov. Met. 5,37'3-7 e Apul. Met. 4,30), sia per l'ordine finale
(Ov. 378-9 e Apul. 4,31)'.
20 Vergil too says, it is true, that Cupid alone among the gods does not fear Jove's lightning
bolts. In any case the functional importance of the comparison cannot be denied, as empha-
sised by the verbal echo concluding the two prayers; on this see Schiesaro 1988, 144 ancl
below. Insisting on Cupid's all-reaching power, Ovid is better compared with the verses of
the Milesian oracle (see below).
21 See above, p. 130.
134 Silvia Mattiacci
expressions a:-vcx(oTJ-co<;,
xcxx6-c1Jc;
and acpcx-cov xcxx6v(A.R. 3,92; 95 and 129),
used by Aphrodite in the Argonautica when speaking of her son to Hera and
Athena, and again when speaking directly to Eros in the following scene of
the game of dice. With typical Alexandrian elegance Eros is presented in all
his childish ribaldry. This characterisation of the god is further emphasised
in Apul. Met. 5,29-31, when Venus curses the sick Cupid for not having
carried out her orders and then asks the help of Ceres and Juno 22 • It is with
reason, then, that we speak of a more Hellenistic representation of Cupid than
a Vergilian one 23. Some elements from the stylistic code of erotic poetry, from
Sappho to Catullus, are well inserted in this context, as can be seen in Venus'
address to Cupid:
Per ego te... maternae caritatis foedera deprecor, per tuae sagittae dulcia
vulnera, per flammae istius mellitas uredines, vindictam tuae parenti, sed
plenam tribue, et in pulchritudinem contumacem severiter vindica, idque
unum tt pro omnibus unicum volens effice.
'I beseech you ... by the bonds of maternal love, by your arrows' sweet
wounds, by your flame's honey-sweet scorchings, avenge your mother
and avenge her totally, and exact condign punishment from defiant beauty.
Accomplish this one act with a good will and it will take care of everything'
(4,31).
The archetype for the obvious oxymoron 'sweet wounds' is to be found in
Sappho, who defined Eros yAuxumxpov ap.cixcxvovopm:-cov('that creature,
irresistible, bitter-sweet': fr. 130,2 L.-P.). This definition was later taken up by
22 On this question, Helm's point by point comparison (Helm 1914, 192-3) between the two
passages is infonnative: Apul. Met. 5,29 ut primum quidem tuae parentis, immo dominae
praecepra calcares ('first you trample under foot your mother's commands'}- A.R. 3,93-
4 ilµd"o / oux o0Ei:ttL,µttAtt &' ttti:v ilpt&µttlvw.1 a.0Epl~EL('but for me he cares nothing,
always provokes me, treats me with contempt'}; Apul. Met. 5,29 nugo et corruptoret inama-
bilis ('you good-for-nothing, unlovable seducer') and 5,31 non dicendi filii ( 'of my unspeak-
able son ')-A.R. 3,92 &vttl&,11:oc;
and 129 cicptti:ovxttx6v ('unspeakable little horror'); Apul.
Met. 5,30 sed nunc inrisui habita quid agam? ('But now that I have been made a laughing-
stock, what am I to do?') and 5,31 Venus indignata ridicule tractari suas iniurias ('Venus,
offended that her wrongs were being treated with ridicule' )-A.R. 3,102 ciAAmc;ii)..yEtt 1:&:µ12
yEAwc;Jtt)..n('Others find my troubles a joke'); Apul. Met. 5,30/aretram explicet et sagittas
dearmet, arr:um enodet (sc. Sobrietas: '[let her, Sobrietas] dismantle his quiver and disarm
his arrows, unknot his bow'}-A.R. 3,9~ xal &~ ol µEvE1)Vtt,1tEpLaxoµtv~ xttx6nrn,
I tl\Jl:OtOLVi:6fomt &ucr11xfoc;ix~ttt omi:ouc; ('And indeed, thus plagued with his naugh-
tiness, I was minded to smash up his bow and nasty-sounding arrows'). The translations of
A.R. are from P. Green 1994.
23 See e.g. Kenney 1990a, 123.
Neoteric and elegiac echoes... 135
Theognis (1353~ mxpoc; xcxl y1,.uxuc; ... epwc;),by Posidippus (AP 5,134,4 o
yAuxumxpoc; "Epwc;)and by Meleager (AP 12,109,3 -co y1,.uxumxpov "Epw-
'the bitter-sweet arrow of Eros') 24 • The topical expression, por-
-coc;... ~1::1,.oc;:
traying the contradictory reality of love, comes down to Apul. Met. ·2, 10 dulce
et amarum gustulum carpis (Photis to Lucius: 'that is a bittersweet appetiser
you are sampling'), by way of Pl. Pseud. 63 dulce amarumque una nunc
misces mihi 25 and Catul. 68,18 (Venus) quae dulcem curis miscet amaritiem
('whl\mingles with her cares a sweet bitterness').
While the prayer of Venus does call to the mind the analogous scene in Vergil
and reveals a desire to borrow a partially high-sounding, epic language (cf. in
particular 4,31 virgo ista amore flagrantissimo teneatur ('let that girl be gripped
with a violent, flaming passion') with Verg. A. 1,675 magno Aeneae ... teneatur
amore), in this context we also find stylemes and words typical of the vocab-
ulary of gallantry. The much used topos of bitter-sweet love is taken up and
a linguistic novelty is introduced: the use of uredo as an erotic term, empha-
sised by the Catullan adjective mellitus, which Apuleius uses above all as a
term of the senno amatorius 26 . Finally, the climactic expression unum et pro
omnibus unicum volens effice not only recalls Verg. A. 3,43~ unum illud tibi,
nate dea (sc. Aeneas), proque omnibus unum I praedicam, but also Catul. 73,6
qui me unum atque unicum amicum habuit, and is perhaps a colloquial stylema,
as could be deduced from Pl. Asin. 208 me unice unum ex omnibus te atque ii-
lam amare aibas mihi. The words of Venus are therefore characterised by a true
stylistic-linguistic poikilia typical of Apuleius, as is the rhetorical structure of
the passage quoted: a double trikolon, the first asyndetic with each part intro-
duced by per (the initial hyperbaton should also be noted,per ego te ... foedera),
and the second polysyndetic with the imperative closing each kolon.
Such an ambiguous mixture of solemnity and gallantry is still quite visible
once the narrative is taken up anew: Sic effata et osculis hiantibus filium iliu
ac pressule saviata, proximas oras reflui litoris petit ('So saying she kissed her
son long and intensely with parted lips': 4,31 ). After the epic syntagma, whose
24 We should also remember the variation yAuxu&ttxpuc;('sweetly-tearful') inAP 5,171; 7,419;
12,167, all by Meleager.
25 So says the young Calidorus concerning a letter from his loved one; and the same at 694-5
Dulcia atque amara apud te sum elocutus omnia: fscis amorem, scis laborem, scis egestatem
meam. See also the play on words melffel in Pl. Poen. 394; True. 178-80; Cist. 69-70.
26 Uredo is the term used for plants that have been burned by the cold, or for the physical burn-
ing sensation associated with irritation, see OW s.v. On -llitus, a colloquial term (it ap-
pears in Varro 's Menippeae and in the epistolaries of Cicero and Fronto ), on which the erotic
and affectionate language in general is modelled (see Catul. 3,6; 48,1; 99,1 and Ronconi
1971, 115), see Rocca 1979, who also examines the numerous recurrences in Apuleius (for
its erotic use, see in particular Apul. Met. 2,10; 3,22; 5,6; 6,8).
136 Silvia Mattiacci
archetype is to be found in Ennius' haec ecfatus (Ann. 47 and 59 V 2. = 46 and
57 Sk.), the erotic vocabulary is resumed. In A.R. 3,149-50 too, Venus kisses
her son before leaving, but maternally, on the cheeks (1bmpuaaam11tapwic;, /
x:uaaE 1tonaxoµi::vri: 'pinching his cheeks, she drew him towards her, kissed
him'); in Apuleius, on the contrary, the kiss is all but motherly, as can be seen
from a comparison with 3,19 tuis ... hiantibus osculis teneas volentem (Lucius
to Photis: 'with your ... parted lips ... have taken possession of me') 27 . The
phrase hiantibus osculis (osculum as a diminutive of os is archaic and poetic)
recalls the expression coined by Catullus semihiante labello (61,220), copied
literally by Apuleius in Flor. 15,10 semihiantibus labellis and in Met. 10,28
semihiantes ... labias. In neither of these cases, however, nor in the model, are
we dealing with an erotic context. In contrast, see the analogous syntagma semi-
hiulco savio... savior, that appears in a composition on the kiss by an anony-
mous poeta novellus mentioned by Gellius (19,11,1-2) 28 .
After the precious and brilliant ekphrasis on Venus' return to the sea (4,31), in
which recognised literary models (Homer, Moschus and Vergil) are probably
supported by the imitation of paintings and sculpture groups 29 , the narration
returns to the dark and grave tone that predominates in the first part of the
story and which introduces the motif of the wedding-funeral to which the
oracle condemns Psyche. The image of the girl who gains nothing from her
divine beauty and, virgo vidua ('husbandless virgin'), remains at home to weep
over her solitude, is most significantly expressed by aegra corporis, animi
saucia ('sick in body and wounded in heart': 4,32), unmistakably borrowed
from Ennius' Medea animo aegro amore saevo saucia (seen. 254 V.2 = 216
Joe.). This echo confirms what we have already observed above (seep. 129.):
the link pointed out by scholars between Psyche and well-known tragic-epic
heroines (Medea-Dido) as figures fated to suffer for a love imposed by a god,
independently of the different outcomes of the single stories 3°. However, in
27 See Kenney 1990a, 126.
28 See FPL 1982, 171; FPL 1995, 347-8; this is a typical product of the poetry of the novelli
in metre, language and style (see Mattiacci 1988); for its paternity the name ofGellius has
been mentioned (Bernardi Perini 1%9-70); as well as that of Apuleius (Dahlmann 1979;
Courtney 1993, 395-6).
29 Concerning this entire section, see Helm 1914, 193-4, and the comments by Kenney 1990a,
126--8 and Moreschini 1994, 186-7.
30 On the borrowing from Ennius - in an antiphrastic and paradoxical key, inasmuch as the
metaphor of the wound of love is mentioned in order to indicate that Psyche is ill due to a
lack of love, as Kenney 1990a, 129-30 subtly notes - see Calboli 1968 and Mattiacci 1986,
185-6; Schiesaro 1988, 142 n. 2 does not dwell upon this borrowing, which to me seems
important with regard to the modelling of Psyche after Medea.
Neoteric and elegiac echoes ... 137
the reply of the Milesian oracle which follows (consulted by the girl's father
who suspected that the wrath of the gods lay at the root of his daughter's
unhappiness), certain elements are present that, even though in an elevated
context, refer to a poetic code other than the tragic-epic one. On the other
hand, even Ennius' verse on Medea, duly made more languid through use of
the diminutive animula, had been 'recycled' on another occasion in the second
century, in a nugatory love poem: animula <et> aegra et saucia I cucurrit ad
labeas mihi 31.
The motif of consulting the oracle in a moment of great difficulty and
anguish is present in the Greek novel as well 32, but Apuleius introduces
alienating and personal elements into its use. In order to give the oracle's
reply in Latin instead of Greek, the author turns to an extravagant and playful
solution that clashes with the imagined scene (it should be remembered that
the narrating voice is that of the anus): 4,32 Sed Apollo, quanquam Graecus
et lonicus, propter Milesiae conditorem sic lAtina sorte respondit ('Apollo,
although a Greek and an Ionic Greek at that, answered with an oracle in Latin
to show favour to the author of this Milesian tale') 33 . The answer that follows -
is constructed of four elegiac couplets ( 4,33), an unusual metre for an oracular
response, as the commentators have underlined. The choice of metre, however,
in my opinion, was motivated by deeper reasons than simple experimentation
or desire of novitas. We should remember that, while Xenophon of Ephesus
uses the hexameter typical of oracular poetry for Apollo Colophonius' answer
regarding the destiny of the two young protagonists (l,6,2), Heliodorus, too,
presents three oracles in couplets: 2,26,5 (two couplets); 2,35,5 (three cou-
plets) and 8,11,2-3 (two responses of one couplet each given by the soothsayer
Calasiris). Here, however, the contents <lo not seem to hold anything that
can more radically justify the singularity of the metre, whereas our case is
different, as we shall see. Let us examine more closely what can be considered
to be the only true poetical insertion in the Metamorphoses'¼:
31 Lines 5-6 of the above-quoted composition (p. 136 and n. 28). In reality, animula is a vulgate
correction of anima going back to Carrion (in the edition of Gellius by H. Stephanus, Parisiis
1585), which, however, seems to respond better than other insertions in terms of the tone and
characteristics of the lyric (the verse is incomplete in the codices of Gellius). We also read
animula in the recent editions of the FPL by Biichner and Blansdorf, with the addition of et
in order to avoid hiatus.
32 See Helm 1914, 195.
33 On this allusive expression, which has given rise to contrasting interpretations, see the com-
prehensive discussion and relative bibliography in Moreschini 1994, 77-90.
34 A very brief fragment in iambic senarii is made up of the response of the goddess Syria's
priests (9,8), who use the divinatory art in order to swindle people and enrich themselves.
138 Silvia Mattiacci
Montis in exeelsi scopulo, rex, siste puellam
ornatam mundo funerei thalami.
Nee speres generum mortali stirpe ereatum,
sed saevum atque ferum vipereumque malum,
quod pinnis volitans super aethera euncta fatigat 5
Jlammaque et ferro singula debilitat,
quod tremit ipse lovis, quo numina terrifieantur
fluminaque horrescunt et Stygiae tenebrae.
'Set out thy daughter, king, on a lofty mountain crag,
Decked out in finery for a funereal wedding.
Hope not for a son-in-law born of mortal stock,
But a cruel and wild and snaky monster,
That flies on wings above the ether and vexes all,
And harries the world with fire and sword,
Makes Jove himself quake and the gods tremble,
And rivers shudder and the shades of Styx'.
When Venus shows Psyche to her son and implores him to direct his power-
ful weapons against her, nothing is said about Cupid's sentiments for the girl.
This is a deliberate omission rather than an oversight, as admitted even by Helm
1914, who is not indulgent with regards to the supposed oversights and sloven-
liness of Apuleius' narrative. The meaning of the response is, therefore, highly
ambiguous, as in the oracular tradition and as it must be here, in this specific
context, in order to increase the suspense, so that 'der Leser zunilchst nichts
von Amors Liebe erfiihrt und also bei dem Orakelspruch ebenso ins Gefiihl des
Ungewissen und der Angst versetzt wird wie Psyche selber und ihre Eltem' 35 •
As will be shown in the following analysis, the very form of the response con-
tributes greatly to its ambiguity, since estranging elements derived from a dif-
ferent poetic code have been inserted into an elevated linguistic and stylistic
texture, which recalls the epic tradition with its mythical monsters and hero-
ines. For the learned reader, it is precisely these estranging elements that shed
light on the real meaning of the oracle, which is none other than a veiled cele-
bration of the power of love, alluding to the final union of the two protagonists.
The choice of the metre typical of the love elegy is therefore strictly functional,
almost a visible signal indicating the way in the hermeneutical game of decod-
ing the message 36.
35 Helm 1914, 196; see also the suggestive reading proposed by Wmkler 1985, 89-93 of the
tale of Cupid and Psyche as a 'detective story'.
36 A reference to this effect is made by Rosati 1997, 125; in this penetrating study dedicated
Neoteric and elegiac echoes... 139
In the first couplet, with the oxymoronic and poetically elevated pairing
funereus thalamus, the theme of the wedding-funeral is proposed, or in other
words the theme of the girl destined to die on her wedding day. This motif is
further developed in the course of the narrative and presents some parallels
with the Greek novel 37• At the same time, however, the divine order to expose
the innocent girl 'on a lofty mountain crag' (line 1) reminds us of the myths of
Hesione and of Andromeda, the latter elaborated at length by the tragedians of
the archaic period, but also by Ovid (Met. 4,668 ff.) and by Manil. 5,545-8 in
particular. In Manilius we even find the same image of the wedding-funeral:
Hie hymenaeus erat, solataque publiea damna
privatis laerimans omatur vietima poenae
induiturque sinus non haee ad vota paratos,
virginis et vivae rapitur sine funere funus.
'This was her bridal; relieving the people's hurt by submitting to her own,
she is tearfully adorned as victim for the avenging beast and dons attire
prepared for no such troth as this; and the corpseless funeral of the living
maiden is hurried on its way' (transl. G.P. Goold 1977) 38 l,_
The same opposition between wedding and funeral is to be found in the scene
of Iphigenia's death as described by Lucretius (1,95-9):
... adaras
deduetast, non ut sollemni more saerorum
perfeeto posset claro eomitari Hymenaeo,
sed easta inceste nubendi tempore in ipso
hostia eoneideret.
.
' ... she was brought to the altar, not that amidst solemn and sacred ritual
she might be escorted by loud hymeneal song, but a clean maiden to fall by
unclean hands at the very age of wedlock, a victim ... ' (transl. W.H.D. Rouse
1975) 39 .
to the functions of the dramatic irony in the Metamorplw.ses, Rosati, unlike Wmkler, rightly
takes allusion into account as an important means of communication between Apuleius and
his ideal reader.
37 See e.g. Xen. Eph. 1,6,2 (the above-quoted oracle, where -ca:cpoc; and 6<IAaµoc;are men-
tioned); Ach. Tat. 3,7,5 (concerning the description of a portrayal of Andromeda).
38 Helm 1914, 194-5, besides the myths of Hesione, Andromeda. refers to that oflo (see Aesch.
Prom. 640 ff.; Suppl. 291 ff.), exiled from her home because of the response of an oracle
and forced by Juno's wrath to wander; but see also Schiesaro 1988, 147 n. 23, who advances
some doubt regarding the pertinence of these passages in reference to Apuleius.
39 See Schiesaro 1988, 146--7; see also Luc. 2,354-67.

140 Silvia Mattiacci
The motif of the wedding-funeral is not lacking, however, in another type of
text, which will be important for the sake of further comparison. In the An-
thologia Palatina we find a group of funeral epigrams (the first of which is a
beautiful composition by Meleager) 40 dedicated to young brides stolen away by
death. Recurring motifs are the opposition between the 'wedding' and 'Hades',
between the 'nuptial bed' and the 'tomb' /'funereal pyre', wedding hymns be-
ing transformed into funeral dirges and joyful wedding torches becoming those
used in funerary rites.
The number of literary references is quite high even in the description of
the monster to which Psyche is to be exposed. Mortali stirpe creatum ('born
of mortal stock' line 3) is an epic style close: see Luer. 1,733 ut vix humana
videatur stirpe creatus; Verg. A. 10,543 Volcani stirpe creatus; Ov. Met. 1,760
caelesti stirpe creatus. The expression, however, is highly ambiguous since nee
... mortali can mean both 'inhuman' and 'immortal'. And while the following
syntagma 'a cruel and wild and snaky monster' (line 4) apparently describes the
classic monster-dragon of the tragic-epic tradition 41 (as is the intention of Psy-
che's sisters) 42, every element alludes to specific characteristics of the god of
love. Since the works of Friedlander and Helm, reference has been justly made
to the above-mentioned fr. 130 L.-P. of Sappho "Ep0<;;87]i3-ctfl' o AUO"lflEAJJ<;;
86'11e:L,
/ y).uxumxpov ciµcix12'IIO'II op1te:i:ov('Love the looser of limbs stirs me,
that creature, irresistible, bitter-sweet') 43 . The representations of Eros in the
Anthologi(I Graeca, with a thousand variations and softening it through the use
of Alexandrian affection, are all modelled on the image created by the poet-
40 7,182; 183; 186; 188; 604; 712; the motif can also be found in an elegiac context: see e.g.
Ov. Ep. 2,120; 21,172.
4 l Malum is often used as a synonym of monstrum in the tragedies of Seneca (Her. F.241; Med.
354; Oed. 640; Phaed. 1032; Her. 0. 288); see also TlrLL s.v. ma/us 229,31--42. In Ov. Met.
4,615 we find the pair vipereum monstrum used in reference to Medusa.
42 5,17 Pro i-eronamque comperimus ... immanem colubrum multinodis voluminibus serpen-
tem, vene110noxio co/la sangui11antem hiantemque ingluvie profunda tecum noctibus laten-
ter adq11iescere. Nunc recordare sortis Pythicae, quae te trucis bestiae nuptiis destinatam
esse clamavit ('We now know the truth ... It is a monstrous snake gliding with many-knotted
coils, its bloody neck oozing noxious poison and its deep maw gaping wide, that sleeps be-
side you hidden in the night. Remember now Apollo's oracle, which proclaimed that you
were destined to marry a savage beast'). On Reitzenstein 's theory concerning an ancient ori-
ental myth of a theriomorphic nature (Reitzenstein 1912), traces of which can be found here,
re-elaborated by the Greeks in an anthropomorphic sense (the dragon-god transformed into
the Greek Eros), see Paratore 1942, 336, 348-9; Moreschini 1994, 53--62. In particular, in
reference to the use of vipereum and the identification of Cupid as a snake, see Wright 1971,
573--5.
43 See Helm 1914, 185; Friedlander 1921, 109-10 (the first edition is prior to Hehn, though,
who quotes it). See also Theocr. 29,13 /iypwv op1m:ov ('wild creeping thing').
Neoteric and elegiac echoes ... 141
ess of Lesbos. There is an infinite number of possible examples, but in par-
ticular see the group of epigrams by Meleager (5,176-80) in which the god is
defined as aypw<;;and 8e:w6<;;, hated and feared by all, indomitable (179,9 8ua-
v(xJJ-co<;;),not even kind to his mother, a true monster (178,7 1tciv-ca,tp12<;;),
who
flies swiftly and strikes with fire and arrows (180,1-2 ~po-coAmyo<;; "Epw<;;-c12
1tupbtvo12-c6~12 To the already mentioned ciq>121:0v
/ f3ciAAe:L). xcxx6vof Apollo-
nius (3,129, quoted above, p. 134), we can add Bion 13(10),13, defining Eros
as xax6'11... -co 07]pLo'II. Furthermore, the epithets saevus andferus are com-
monly used for Cupid in elegy 44 , where ma/um too, in the figurative meaning of
'love sickness', also appears several times 45 . An echo of the Sapphic AUO"lflEATJ<;;
('looser of limbs') can perhaps be found in the cunctafatigat and singula de-
bilitat of the following couplet, where allusion to winged flight (pinnis volitans
super aethera) and the usual arms (flammaque et ferro) seem to be a revival of
the depiction typical of the Hellenistic age 46. The last couplet, too, insists on
the well-known power of Cupid, a power that ranges over all three kingdoms
of the universe 47 : the heavenly realm represented by Jove and the other gods,
that of the waters and that of the underworld. The same idea is present in Ov.
Met. 5,369-72, in Venus' above-mentioned prayer to Cupid:
Tu superos ipsumque /ovem, tu numina ponti
victa domas ipsumque, regit qui numina ponti.
Tartara quid cessant? cur non matrisque tuumque
imperium profers? agitur pars tertia mundi!
'You rule the gods, and Jove himself; you conquer and control the deities of
the sea, and the very king that rules the deities of the sea. Why does Tartarus
hold back? Why do not you extend your mother's empire and your own? The
3
third part of the world is at stake' (transl. F.J. Miller 1977).
44 For saevus see Ov. Am. l,l,5; 1,6,34; 2,10,19; Ars 1,18; Rem. 530; Ep. 7,190; Tib. 3,4,65;
forferus see Ov. Am. 1,2,8; 3,1,20; Ars l,9 etc.
45 Prop. 1,5,28; 1,9,18; 3,17,10; Ov. Rem. 526; Am. 2,9,26.
46 See also Mosch. 1,16; 1,18-23; analogous images can be found in the Latin elegists: see e.g.
Prop. 2,12,5--6; Ov.Am. 2,9,5 and49;Ars 1,233--4. In a more elaborate and poetic form lines
5--6repeat the same image as 4,30 of the puer pinnatus andjlammis et sagittis-annatus. The
reference at such a short distance constitutes a further element for deciphering the obscure
words of the Milesian god.
47 On the exegetic difficulties of the last couplet, see Mattiacci 1985, 259 n. 90; Kenney 1990a,
132; Moreschini 1994, 189. On the basis of my affirmations in the text and of the compari-
son with Ovid, I prefer, with Moreschini, to link quo with malum rather than with Iovis, and
to keep the concepts expressed by jlumina and Stygiae tenebrae distinct; for this, compare
Apul. Met. 5,25; Kenney 1990a on the other hand supports the idea of a hendyadis = 'the
dark stream of Styx'.
142 Silvia Mattiacci
The ambiguity of the response becomes more and more clear and Apuleius, be-
hind the grave and solemn tone of the oracle (where the striking archaism /ovis
for the nominative /uppiter, probably derived from Ennius 48 , fits quite well and
corresponds perfectly to our author's archaising taste), offers a portrayal and
celebration of Cupid modelled on the conception which the Alexandrians had
inherited from Sappho and passed on to the Latin elegists. The Sapphic Muse,
revisited with Alexandrian mannerism, demonstrates how models dear to the
Latin neoteric tradition, including Valerius Aedituus (fr. 1 Biichn. = I BI.), Lu-
tatius Catulus (fr. 2.4 Biichn. = 2.4 BI.) and Catullus (51), influenced Apuleius'
poetry49_
Even the metric technique of the Apuleian couplet, and here we are taking
the two erotic epigrams of the Apology (seep. 127) into consideration as well,
seem to be deliberately modelled on Catullus and the pre-neoterics. The clear
predominance of trisyllabic and even quadrisyllabic closes in the pentameter,
the presence of monosyllables and even a pentasyllabic word (terrificantur,
line 7) at tile end of the hexameter, the frequent occurrence of synaloephe and
aphaeresis contributing to the harshness of the Apuleian couplets, bring to
light both the distance from the polished perfection of Ovid and the elegists
of the Augustan age in general, and the close relationship with the neoteric
epigram. Our author's familiarity with the neoteric epigrams, however, has
left at least one other significant trace in the bellafabella. In fact, with a sort
of pun (Psyche/ soul) the epithetfagitiva used by Venus referring to Psyche
(5,31 Psychen illam fagitivam volaticam mihi requirite: 'help me hunt out
Psyche, my elusive runaway') seems subtly to allude to a fortunate motif
which the pre-neoteric epigram had borrowed from its Hellenistic counterpart,
passing it on in turn to the second-century nugae. Callimachus had composed
a famous epigram on the flight of the soul in search of its beloved (AP 12,73 =
41 Pf., but see also Meleager AP 12,80), freely translated by Lutatius Catulus
(fr. 1 Biichn. = 1 BI.). Both of these were surely known to the author of the
48 Although it can be foundelsewhere(Petr.47,5; Hyg.Fab. 31,3; 275,1; 195,1 Rose), the nom-
inative Jovis appears in a fragment by Ennius quoted by Apuleius himself in Soc. 2,121 (=
Enn. Ann. 62-3 V.2 = 240-41 Sk.).
49 On the relationship between Sapphic poetry and the epigrams of Lutatius Catulus' 'circle',
see Granarolo 1971, 37; Pascucci 1979, 115. The numerous comparisons of our text with
the epigrams ofMeleager, the greatest Alexandrian maestro of the pre-neoteric followers of
Lutatius, :arealso significant (Tandoi 1981, 150 ff.; Perutelli 1990, 272). Once again Sappho
(fr. 31 L.-P.) and Catullus (51, but see also 45,11; 64,100) are the archetypes of every topical
description of the symptoms of love, which is quite frequent in elegiac poetry (cf. e.g. Prop.
1,5,21; 1,13,7; 3,8,27; Ov. Ars 1,573 and 729; Ep. 17,79) and used by Apuleius for Psyche
in 5,25 (see also 10,2).
Neoteric and elegiac echoes... 143
above-mentioned poem on the kiss 50 in iambic dimeter, where the theme
'flight of the soul / abandonment of the body / death' is inserted into another
widespread motif of ancient erotica's arsenal of images, that of the soul which
transmigrates into the body of its loved one during the kiss.
The narration of 5,22 recalls the words of the oracle, definitively clarifying their
ambiguity. Psyche, at her sisters' instigation, decides to break her mysterious
husband's orders and in the lantern light looks at him while he is asleep by
her side. The monster nee ... mortali stirpe creatum, I sed saevum atque ferum
vipereumque (lines 3--4) is revealed thus om.niumferarum mitissimam dulcis-
simamque bestiam, ipsum illum Cupidinemformonsum deumformonse cuban-
tem (• ... the gentlest and sweetest beast of all, Cupid himself, the beautiful god
beautifully sleeping'). The god's principal trait, highlighted by the polyptoton
formonsum .. .formonse, is his beauty, more fully described in the successive
paragraphs, following the 'standard features of the Hellenistic, "elegiac", boy-
god • 51 . Even before this point, though, motifs and expressive segments can be
found that refer back to the models we are dealing with.
In the description of Psyche's uncertainty, before the fateful decision to un-
cover her mysterious husband, the topical motif of the indecisive heroine, go-
ing back to the Medea of Euripides and Seneca and often imitated in Greek
novels, 52 is introduced in an intertwining of syntagmas of neoteric and ele-
giac origin: 5,21 At Psyche relicta sola, nisi quod infestis Furiis agitata sola
non est, aestu pelagi simile maerendo jluctuat ('Psyche was left alone, except
that a woman driven by hostile furies is not alone. In her grief she ebbed and
flowed like the billows of the sea'). The pairing aestu.s pelagi is from Catullus
(64,127); it is the stretch of waves on which the abandoned Ariadne casts her
hopeless gaze, the waves metaphorically becoming in Apuleius the wavering of
the troubled mind. On the other hand, the first part of the sentence recalls Ov.
Am. 1,6,34 so/us eram, si non saevus adesset Amor. Even behind the play on
words typical of Apuleiusformonsum ... fomwnse cubantem (quoted above),
there lies a debt to Homer (see JI. 16,776 xdw p.Eyctc;µt:yaAw<Ht), paid with
the vocabulary of the elegists; the adverb, in fact, can only be found in Prop.
2,3,17, in the context of a description of the beauty of Cynthia which, as we
shall see, presents some similarities with Apuleius' description of Cupid.
50 See above, n. 28.
51 Kenney 1990a, 169.
52 See Walsh 1970, 206 who quotes Eur. Med. 1042 ff.; Sen. Med. 893 ff.; Ach. Tat. 2,25; Xen.
Eph. 2,5; Kenney 1990, 166 addsA. R. 3,751-801 and several passages from Ovid, in the
wake of Helm 1914, 199 (see in particular Ov. Met. 8,470-4).
 ~
144 Silvia Mattiacci
The image of Love sleeping is a passage in poetic prose, nearly an ekphrasis
of a work of art 53, which follows .the rules of rhetorical practice, starting with
the description of the head and then passing to the entire body:
Videt capitis aurei genialem caesariem ambrosia temulentam, cervices
lacteas genasque purpureas pererrantes crinium globos decoriter impe-
ditos, alios antependulos, alios retropendulos, quorum splendore nimio
fulgurante iam et ipsum lumen lucernae vacillabat; per umeros volatilis dei
pinnae roscidae micanti fiore candicant et quamvis a/is quiescentibus exti-
mae plumulae tenellae et delicatae tremule resultantes inquieta lasciviunt;
ceterum corpus glabellum atque luculentum et quale peperisse Venerem
non paeniteret. Ante lectuli pedes iacebat arcus et pharetra et sagittae,
magni dei propitia tela.
'On his golden head she saw the glorious hair drenched with ambrosia: wan-
dering over his milky neck and rosy cheeks were the neatly shackled ringlets
of his locks, some prettily hanging in front, others behind; the lightning of
their great brilliance made even the lamp's light flicker. Along the shoul-
ders of the winged god white feathers glistened like flowers in the morn-
ing dew; and although his wings were at rest, soft and delicate little plumes
along their edges quivered restlessly in wanton play. The rest of his body
was hairless and resplendent, such as to cause Venus no regrets for having
borne this child. By the feet of the bed lay a bow and quiver and arrows,
gracious weapons of the mighty god' (5,22).
A series of references to light and colour draw attention to the golden and loose
curls of his hair shining more brightly than the lamp, to the candour of the neck
and the blush of the cheeks, the bright, delicate and vibrant wings, and finally
a glance at the entire luminous body, only just mentioning the powerful god's
weapons.
As Esposito 1989, 316 states in his interesting analysis of this passage, it is
not easy to tell which texts lie behind it 'perche esso si muove nell'ambito di
una topica diffusa'. We are dealing, however, with poetic texts; alongside clear
and recognised debts to Vergil, many loci of Hellenistic and elegiac erotic po-
etry are manifest, though re-elaborated with the overabundance of expression
and affectation typical of Apuleius' style, and enucleated in a series of assonant
and parallel kola. For the association of the golden caesaries with the cervices
lacteae, see Verg. G. 4,337 caesariem effusae nitidam per candida colla (the
53 SeeAP 16,210--212, which belong lo a group of epigrams describing statues of Eros, where
the god is portrayed asleep.
Neoteric and elegiac echoes... 145
nymphs); A. 8,659--60 aurea caesaries ... tum lactea calla (the Gauls in the de-
scription of Aeneas' shield), and ibid. 10,137-8fusos cervix cui lactea crinis
I accipit 54. All of these descriptive elements belong, however, to elegiac poet-
ry's canon for feminine beauty. See, for example, thefacies ... candida, which
is associated with the comae per levia collafiuentes in the passage by Proper-
tius quoted above (2,3,9-17), where the rare adverb formose appears and where
the chromatic contrast between red and white is particularly developed ([ilia
non domina sint magis alba mea; I ut Maeotica nix minio si certet Hibero, I
utque rosae puro lacte natantfolia: 'lilies are not whiter than my mistress;/ as
if snows of Scythia were to vie with Spanish vermilion, / and like rose petals
floating in pure milk', transl. G.P. Goold 1990) 55. Once again, for the image
of the dishevelled hair spread across the forehead, see Prop: 2,1,7 vidi adfron-
tem sparsos errare capillos (' ... ] have seen the locks straying scattered on her
brow'), and 2,22,9 vagi crines puris infrontibus errant ('gadding locks wan-
der over a smooth forehead'). Naturally, Apuleius complicates the image with
affected neologisms and assonance 56, emphasising the impression of a studied
disorder (decoriter impeditos), as in 2,9 regarding Photis' hair: in mea Photide
non operosus, sed inordinatus ornatus addebat gratiam ('Jn my Photis' case,
her coiffure was not elaborate, but its casualness gave her added charm'). The
reuse of traits typical to feminine beauty while describing Cupid has the func-
tion of depicting the ephebic, almost feminine character of the splendid image
of the god. For this reason I would compare caesariem ambrosia temulentam 57
with Verg. A. 1,402-4 (more than Verg. G. 4,415 and A. 12,419 58) rosea cer-
54 The plural cervices in Apuleius, corresponding lo the author's archaising taste, is worthy
of note; SL"e Quint. Inst. 8,3,35 'Cervicem' videtur Honensius primus di.lisse: nam veteres
pluraliter appellabant ('Hortensius appears to be the first one who said: "cervicem": early
writers used to name it in plural').
55 Regarding purpureus, Esposito 1989, 316 refers to Ov. Am. 2,1,38, where in reference to
Love the term expresses intense luminosity (as in Verg. A. 1,591 and 6,641); I would, how-
ever, hold that here the adjective indicates literally the purplish pink of the cheeks in con-
trast to the whiteness of the neck, following the topical chromatic contrast emphasised by
Propertius (see also ['fib.] 3,4,29-34; Ov. Am. 2,5,34-7). Following in the footsteps of the
Hellenistic technique, a marked tendency toward the expression of colour can be noted in
neoteric poetry as well, privileging the white/red contrast; see Perutelli 1988, 88--9 on the
subject of Calv. 4 Biichn. = 4 BI. and Catul. 61,192-5.
56 See the insistent use of the homoeoteleuton globos decoriter impeditQL alios antependul~
alios relropendulos, the 'absolute hapax' retropendulus in antithesis to the isosyllabic an-
tependulus (only in Apuleius, here and in Met. 2,23). Similar neologisms can be found in
Flor. 3,10 anteventuli et propenduli (sc. crines), of which the first returns in Met. 9,30 (see
Facchini Tosi 1986, 150-1).
57 The unusual metaphorical use of the adjective temulentus, personifying the object, should
be noted; see the similar use of ebrius in Mart. 14,154.
58 See Esposito 1989, 316 and Kenney 1990a, 169.
 146 Silvia Mattiacci
vice refulsit I ambrosiaeque comae divinum vertice odorem I spiravere (' ... her
neck glowed to a rose-flush, her crown of ambrosial hair breathed out a heav-
enly fragrance', transl. C. Day Lewis 1952), where the subject is feminine, in
fact it is the very goddess of love.
Particular attention is paid to the god's wings; volatilis (used in reference
to Cupid in Ov. Am. 2,7,27 as well), roscidus andflos (in the sense of 'splen-
dour', see Luer. l,900.flammai ... flare) are poetic words used in the construc-
tion of an affected image. The successive diminutives and the insistence on the
'I' sound (plumulae tenell_aeet deficatae tremule resultantes ... lasciviunt ...
corpus glabell_umatque luculentum) contribute to giving this image a languid
and sensual air, as though in reference to a woman 59 .
As mentioned above, the description is brought to a close with an overview
of the entire body, thus corresponding to an ecphrastic rhetorical procedure
which had already been exploited in elegiac poetry; see Ov. Am. 1,5,23 which,
after having lingered over the details of Corinna's splendid nude body (see
also the candida . . . col/a tegente coma at line 10), concludes with Singula
quid referam? Nil non laudabile vidi ('Why recount each charm? Naught
did I see not worthy of praise', transl. G. Showerman 1914). The feminine
beauty of the god is insisted upon further through the use of glabellus, which
Apuleius had already used in reference to Photis (2, 17) 60• This is followed
by a brief mentioning of Cupid's weapons, which are a constant element in
the portrayal of Eros, from the Hellenistic epigram to Latin elegiac poetry 61.
These weapons, which give the god his power (magni dei propitia tela), now
lie abandoned at the foot of the bed. The image of Cupid is presented therefore,
as Esposito 1989, 319-20 has rightly observed, as that of inermis Amor ('Amor
disarmed'), another motif of the Latin elegy, where it is a sort of illusion-wish,
an unattainable dream because its realisation would deny the very stuff of
elegiac poetry 62. Even unarmed and asleep, though, Love is only apparently
innocuous and he is never to be trusted, as we are warned in AP 16,211-212.
59 See the analogy with the description of Photis in 2, 7, to which Kenney 1990a, 170 rightly
refers.
60 The diminutive is a neologism of Apuleius (see also Flor. 3,9), which returns in Mart. Cap.
2,132.
61 See e.g. AP 5,177-180; Ov. Am. 2,9,5 and in particular Prop. 2,12,1-12, who offers a com-
plete account of the traditional iconography of Love, which had already become stylised
and accompanied by 'un evidente intento di esegesi allegorica dei vari elementi della figu-
razione', in which 'le frecce e la faretra ricordano la rapidita e l'irrimediabilita concui questo
sentimento colpisce le sue vittime' (Esposito 1989, 318).
62 See Tib. 2,1,81-2; 2,5,105---S;2,6,15--6; Ov. Am. 3,9,7-10; the motif returns in 5,29, where
Venus threatens to make her son stay still, taking away 'those wings of you and torches, your
bow and arrows' (see A.R. 3,95-7, quoted above, n. 22).
Neoteric and elegiac echoes... 147
Thus the arms at rest take action independently of the god's will. Ironically, it
is the victim who stirs them to action; Psyche, in fact, observes curiously and
. .. depromit unam de pharetra sagittam et punctu pollicis extremam aciem
periclitabunda trementis etiam nunc articuli nisu fortiore pupugit altius, ut
per summam cutem roraverint parvulae sanguinis rosei guttae. Sic ignara
Psyche sponte in Amoris incidit amorem.
'She drew one of the arrows from the quiver and tested the point against the
tip of her thumb; but her hand was still trembling and she pushed a little too
hard and pricked too deep, so that tiny drops of rose-red blood moistened
the surface of her skin. Thus without knowing it Psyche of her own accord
fell in love with Love' (5,23).
While the act of incautiously wounding oneself with the weapons of Love re-
minds us of famous passages in Ovid (Met. 10,525-8, Venus; and 636-7, Ata-
lanta), the wording here decidedly demonstrates our rhetor's.floscu/i: the exces-
sive nature of expression, the diminutives, the intentionally striking final phrase
with the oxymoron ignara ... sponte and the witty in Amoris incidit amorem,
accompanied by the analogous play on words in the following line (tune magis
magisque cupidine flagrans Cupidinis: 'Then more and more inflamed with de-
sire for Cupid'). Only now does Psyche, wounded by the fateful arms, really
fall in love, while up until this point she had only known pleasure. Only now is
Cupid explicitly and significantly identified as Love.
The protagonist of the second part of 5,23 is the lamp, which has already
been mentioned twice in images that in a certain sense are contradictory. Be-
fore the splendid sight of Love, unveiled by the lamp's light, it comes to life
and lumen hilaratum increbruit ('the light ... quickened in joy': 5,22), at any
rate a pale light when compared to the brilliance of Cupid's locks (5,22 splen-
dore nimio fulgurante iam et ipsum lumen lucemae vacillabat: 'the lightening
of their great brilliance made even the lamp's light flicker'). The personifica-
tion of the object, which at first is only hinted at, is carried out in full in 5,23
where it becomes the element leading the action to its decisive turning point:
Sed dum bono tanto percita saucia mente fluctuat, lucema ilia sive perfidia
pessima sive invidia noxia sive quod tale corpus contingere et quasi basiare
et ipsa gestiebat, evomuit de summa luminis sui stillamferventis olei super
umerum dei dexterum. Hem audax et temeraria lucema et amoris vile mi-
nisterium, ipsum ignis totius deum aduris, cum te scilicet amator aliquis, ut
diutius cupitis etiam nocte potiretur, primus invenerit.
 Neoteric and elegiac echoes... 149
148 Silvia Mattiacci

'But while her wounded heart was swirling under the excitement of so much tradition of Alexandrian ascendancy that greatly influenced Apuleius as a poet.
bliss. the lamp - either from wicked treachery or malicious jealousy or sim- In the novel such motifs are accentuated in the portrayal of the boy-god of the
ply because it too longed to touch and, in a way, kiss such a beautiful body bella fabella, where at times they have been twisted and distorted, as was our
- sputtered forth from the top of its flame a drop of boiling oil on to the author's habit, with results that differ from case to case. Sometimes made banal,
god's right shoulder. 0 bold and reckless lamp, worthless servant of Love, at times more languid and affected to the point of being tiresome, at other times
to scorch the very god of all fire, when it must have been some lover who they can even be inventively and playfully overturned in order to insert them
first invented you that even by night he might the longer enjoy the object of into a new context. The precise goal, though, is always that of giving life to
his desire!'. a composite, refined and interesting work intended for a varied audience, who
could even find a further source of gratification in the complex game of allu-
In erotic Alexandrine epigrams the lamp, together with the bed and the night, sions 65.
are friends and faithful witnesses to the joys of love. This is why Apuleius says
that the inventor of the lamp 'must have been some lover'. The lamp's person-
ification is also a recurrent topos in those texts, so much so that the poet ad-
dresses it directly, or has the lamp itself speak 63 . Just as in the case, however,
of the invocation of the bed (Apul. Met. I, 16), conscius et arbiter ('who knows
and can judge') not of the joys of love, but of the poor Aristomenes' noctur-
nal hardships 64,here too a topical motif of love poetry is both borrowed and
inverted. The lamp is not the two lovers' ally and faithful witness, but amoris
vile ministerium, whose impudence is emphasised by the pair of synonyms au-
dax et temeraria. The instrument par excellence that 'sees but says nothing',
here, animated by perfidiousness or perhaps by jealousy, goes so far as to act;
the paradoxical act of burning the 'god of all fire' is attributed to its own will.
It is the lamp, then, that gives the decisive and negative twist to the tale's plot,
determining the god's silent flight from his bride's anns: 5,23 Sic inu.stusexiluit
deus visaque detectaefidei colluvie prorsus ex osculis et manibus infelicissimae
coniugis tacitus avolavit: 'Thus burnt the god jumped up, and seeing the ruin
of betrayed trust, straightway flew up from the kisses and embraces of his poor
unhappy wife without a word'.

This study provides further evidence of what we already knew about the ten-
dency of Apuleius as a novelist to borrow themes and motifs from various lit-
erary genres, poetic ones in particular. That being said, I feel that it is important
to point out that among these themes and motifs a considerable number comes
from erotic poetry. And in Rome this essentially means the neoterice-elegiac
63 AP 5,4; 5,5; 5,7; 5,8,5---0; 5,128,4; 6,162; the motif is taken up again by Mart.10,38,6-7;
11,104,5; 14,39. In Met. 2,11 as well, Apuleius alludes to the lamp as an irreplaceable ac-
cessory for a night of love: Hae enim sitarehia navigium Veneris indiget sofa, ut in noete
pervigili et oleo lueema et vino ea/ix abundet ('The only provisioning the ship of Venus
needs is enough oil in the lamp and enough wine in the cup to last a sleepless night').
64 See above, p. 129.
65 Naturally this study is not meant to be exhaustive and is limited to the analysis of only a
few particularly significant passages. Of course other loci of the story of Cupid and Psyche
containing recurrent motifs in Greek and Roman love poetry could be examined as well. It
is worth mentioning at least 6, I 1, where the motif of the separation of the lovers is not only
present (Copley 1956, passim), but made more piquant by the fact that Cupid and Psyche
are under the same roof (see Ov. Ep. 16,213-18; Kenney 1990a, 204), and 6,21 where Cu-
pid, escaping through a window from the room where he was being held prisoner, arrives as
deus ex machina in order to save Psyche, just as any good lover of elegiac and gallant poetry
would have done (see Prop. 4,7,16; Ov. Ars 245-46 etc.; see also Kenney 1990a, 218, who
interprets this passage in Platonic terms, and contra Moreschini 1994, 237).
 Slander and Warfare
in Apuleius' Tale of Cupid and Psyche*

I Stelios Panayotakis

i Rethymno/Groningen

II Psyche's sisters, overwhelmed by envy and greed, cunningly persuade the

younger and simple-minded Psyche that her mysterious husband is a mon-
strous snake (Apul. Met. 5,7-21). The sisters' evil nature is vividly depicted
in the narrative through terms of irony and/or abuse (see 5,9: 109,19 sorores
egregiae, 'those worthy sisters'; 5,11: 111,21 duabus malis, 'to the two wicked

I women'; 5,12: 113,10-11 illas scelestas feminas, 'those vile women'; 5,19:
118,6 facinerosae mulieres, 'those vicious women'), and through the use of
siginificant metaphors and images; of the latter, some are particularly related
to the world of animals and the sphere of mythology (see 5,11: 112,5 perfalae

1
;
lupulae, 'those deceitful bitches'; 5,11: 112,8 pessimae illae lamiae, 'those
horrible harpies'; 5,12: 112,22-113,1 pestes illae taeterrimaeque Furiae an-

I helantes uipereum uirus, 'those pests and foulest of Furies breathing viperous
poison'; 5,15: 115,8 ad destinatamfraudium pedicam sermones conferentes,
'they turned the conversation to the deceitful trap they had plotted'). Similarly,
the scheme of the sisters is presented in the light of legal terminology (5, 11:

* An early version of this paper was first presented at the meeting of the XVffith Leeds Interna-
tional Latin Seminar in May 1994, and formed part of my dissertation 'Thesaurus Fraudis:
Deception in Apuleius' Metamorphoses' (Univ. of Crete, November 1996). I wish to ex-
press my gratitude to those who have provided me with helpful suggestions on all occasions,
and especially to Costas Panayotakis, Wytse Keulen, Danielle van Mal-Maeder, and Maaike
Zimmerman for their valuable criticism on the style and content of this revised version. Tex-
tual citations of the works of Apuleius are given according to the Teubner editions by R.
Helm, Metamorphoseon Libri EX, 3 1931 (repr. 1992); Pro Se De Magia Liber (Apologia),
4
1963 (repr. 1994). References to specific passages give book and chapter, Teubner page and
line number(s ). Translations of passages from Apuleius' Metamorphoses and from Vergil 's
Aeneid are given after Hanson 1989; C. Day Lewis, Virgil, The Aeneid, Oxford 1952 (repr.
1990).
152 Stelios Panayotakis
111,26-27 dolum scelestum, immo uero parricidium struentes, ' to plot
some heinous crime - even murder'; see Lassen 1992), and through the
traditional metaphor of weaving (5,16: 116,6-7 et exordio sermonis huius
quam concoloresfallacias adtexamus, 'and weave a woof of guile to match the
colour of our discussion's warp'; see Jenkins 1985, 112-120). Their supplies
of dissimulation are enormous and valuable (5,14: 114,15-16 thensaurumque
penitus abditae fraudis uultu laeto tegentes, 'masking the storehouse of their
deeply hidden treachery behind cheerful faces'). The select material mentioned
above is well attested in comedy (see e.g. Pl. Mere. 163 thensaurum ... malz),
epigram (Mart. 7,12,7 uipereumque ... uirus), and rhetorical invective (see
e.g. Cic. Sest. 33 ilia furia ac peste patriae; Vat. 40 ilia taeterrima furia);
Apuleius' familiarity with these genres is indisputable, and his talent for
creative invective techniques is also well established through a study of his
Apology. 1
However, the dominant source of Apuleius' inspiration for the characteri-
zation of the sisters' action is the military world, for the sisters' slander is con-
stantly presented as military expedition which culminates in the image of a be-
sieged and captured city. The purpose of this article is to present and discuss
the military imagery, with reference to its multiple literary models and func-
tion in the narrative. By evaluating the material, I shall argue that the imagery
of warfare is functionally distributed among the characters in the inserted tale
of Cupid and Psyche, and, furthermore, that it significantly affects our reading
of the narrative situation in the main story of the Metamorphoses.
Military terms often occur in Apuleius' Metamorphoses and rhetorical works,
and are used in both literal and metaphorical sense. 2 In the particular section of
the tale of Cupid and Psyche (5,7-21), the military imagery is prominent in the
context of slander, lies, and deception employed by Psyche's wicked sisters.
Military language is used by the characters in the tale as well as by the narrator
of the tale. The distribution of the military language is functional, and reveals
Apuleius' concern for structure, characterization and dramatic effect Psyche's
sisters use the specific imagery in their private discussion after their first visit
to Psyche's palace (direct speech: 5,9-10), and in their lengthy and slanderous
1 On terms of abuse and literary invective, see e.g. Lilja 1965; Opell 1965; Koster 1980;
Thome 1993. On Apuleius' invective techniques, see McCreight 1990.
2 On the use of military language and metaphors in Apuleius' works, see Neuenschwander
1913, 66--72; Medan 1925, 254--257; Strilciw 1925, 106; Bernhard 1927, 195-197; Gwyn
Griffiths 1975, 254--255; GCA 1977, 208-209; McCreight 1991, 490-498; Schlam 1992,
59-{i(). On technical military language in Latin, see de Meo 1983, 171-207; Mosci Sassi
1983; Wheeler 1988, 50--92; Austin & Rankov 1995.
Slander and Warfare 153
final speech to Psyche (direct speech: 5,20). These are brief occurences of
.l
tltis figurative use of the language, and contribute to the overall representation
of the sisters as hostile enemies. On the other hand, Cupid's warnings to his
wife contain the main military metaphors (direct speech: 5,11; 5,12), and these
are lengthy phrases put in a sequence of agony and suspense. Cupid is tlte
warrior par excellence in the figurative context of amorous expeditions and
intrigues mainly depicted in Roman elegy (see Spies 1930, 11-23; Murgatroyd
1975; see also in Apuleius' tale, 4,30: 98,19-23; 5,21: 119,18); however, his
role is presently restricted to the observation and report of military events.
His prophetic knowledge of the sisters' evil nature and malevolent inquiries
remains inefficient and ineffectual, since Psyche does not share or believe in
it. Cupid's physical state is in danger, as long as his wife's psychic condition
is unstable and under the attack of her sisters' lies.
The language and imagery of warfare is further developed and intensified
by the old woman who narrates the tale (hereafter, anus-narrator) (5,14; 5,15;
5,19; 5,21). Thus, the account of the metaphorical military assault is given
by various narrative voices; it is first reported by a defenseless observer
who watches the enemy forces approaching an unguarded city (Cupid's
warnings), it then appears in the speeches of the hostile enemies (the sisters'
conversations), and is finally continued and concluded by an observer with
a broader point of view (anus-narrator), who provides the final report on the
surprise attack and capture of the city. Psyche docs not use military terms in
this section of the tale. Later on, however, when Psyche carefully carries out
her own plan of revenge upon her sisters, she refers to her murderous attack
against her husband in terms of warfare (see 5,26: 124,4-5 me ferro et igni
... armatam, 'armed with fire and sword'). The major military metaphors and
imagery of warfare are listed below, according to their use by the characters
and the anus-narrator of the tale. Given under these various perspectives, the
sisters' slanderous assault combines strategic planning (exploratio, consilium)
and tactical intelligence (anna sumere, castra commouere, aciem dirigere,
classicum personare, confertum uestigium, nudare, inuadere). Family affairs
achieve enormous status and epic dimensions; problems are marked as major
catastrophies caused by devastating warfare (clades; compare 10,4: 239,8-9;
10,5: 240,13), and relations are defined according to the codes of a battle
fought to death (mucrone destricto iugulum ... petunt, destrictis gladiis). 3
3 Cf. Austin 1979, 117: '[Tactics] differs from strategy in that the latter covers the background
and planning stages of a whole campaign and the course of the implementation of that plan-
ning, right up to the point at which contact with an enemy on a field of battle is imminent,
while tactics includes the immediate prelude to the engagement and the moves that occur
during its progress'.
154 Stelios Panayotakis
Psyches sisters:
consilium ualidum requiramus ambae: 'let us devise some effective plan of ac-
tion together' (5, 10: 111,9-1 0); cf. Cic. N.D. 3, 15 cons ilium illud imperatorium
fuit, quod Graeci a,pci-t~YT)[J.ct appellant; see also, Wheeler 1988, 52-56.
cogitationibus pressioribus instructae: 'after we have fortified ourselves
with deep deliberation' (5,10: 111,19); cf. Liv. 26,43,6 apparatus belli ... qui
simul et uos instruet et hostes nudabit.
nee nostrum tibi deerit subsidium: 'we shall not fail to support you' (5,20:
118,25-26); cf. Caes. Gal. 7,51, 1 legio decima ... quae pro subsidio paulo ae-
quiore loco constiterat.
Psyches husband:
uelitatur Fortuna eminus, ac nisi longe.finniter praecaues, mox comminus con-
gredietur; per.fidaelupulae magnis conatibus nefarias insidias tibi comparant,
quarum summa est, ut te suadeant meos explorare uultus: 'Fortune is now fir-
ing at long range, and unless you take very strong precautionary measures, she
will soon attack at close quarters. Those deceitful bitches are making great ef-
forts to execute a villainous plot against you, the gist of which is to persuade
you to examine my face' (5,11: 112,3-7); cf. Liv. 21,34,1 non hello aperto sed
suis artibus, fraude et insidiis, est prope circumuentus (sc. Hannibal); Caes.
Gal. 5,50,3 ut exploratis itineribus minore cum periculo uallem riuumque tran-
siret (sc. Caesar); see also GCA 1981, 189 on 7,26: 166,18 uelitatur;Austin &
Rankov 1995, 42-54; Van Mal-Maeder 1998, 141 on 2,6: 30,1-2 comminus ...
congredere; ibid. 257-263 on 2,17: 39,1-5.
pessimae illae lamiae noxiis animis annatae: 'those horrible harpies armed
with their pernicious thoughts' (5,11: 112,8-9); cf. Cic. Phil. 7,26excitati erecti
parati armati animis iam esse debemus.
dies ultima et casus extremus et sexus infestus et sanguis inimicus iam sump-
sit anna et castra commouit et aciem direxit et classicum personauit; iam mu-
crone destricto iugulum tuwn nefariae tuae sorores petunt. heu quantis urgue-
mur cladibus, Psyche dulcissima: 'the critical day, the ultimate peril, the mal-
ice of your sex, and your blood in hatred have now taken arms against you:
they have struck camp, are arrayed for battle, and have sounded the charge.
Now your wicked sisters have drawn the sword and are attacking your throat.
0 my sweetest Psyche, what disasters are upon us!' (5,12: 113,3-8); cf. Verg.
A. 7 ,623-640; Liv. 28,44, 15 terror fugaque, populatio agrorum, defectio socio-
rum, ceteri belli clades.
The anus-narrator of the tale:
at illae incunctatae statim conferto uestigio domum penetrant: 'with no hesi-
Slander and Warfare 155
tation they instantly penetrated the house side by side' (5,14: 114,12-13); cf.
Tac. Ann. 12,35 hi conferto gradu, turbatis contra Britannorum ordinibus.
sic adfectione simulata paulatim sororis inuadunt animum: 'thus with their
pretended affection they gradually invaded their sisters' heart' (5,15: 114,23-
24).
tune nanctae iam portis patentibus nudatum sororis animum Jacinerosae
mulieres, omissis tectae machinae latibulis, destrictis gladiis fraudium sim-
plicis puellae pauentes cogitationes inuadunt: 'the gates were open now, and
those vicious women, having reached their sisters' defenceless mind, quit
the concealment of their covered artillery, unsheathed the swords of their
deception, and assaulted the timorous thoughts of the guileless girl' (5,19:
118,5-8); cf. Eno. Ann. 621 Vahlen machina multa minax minitatur maxima
muris; GCA 1985, 129-130 on 8,13: 187,10 nudatis ... aedibus.
tali uerborum incendio flammata uiscera sororis iam prorsus ardentis de-
serentes ipsae protinus: 'with this blaze of words they inflamed their sister's
burning heart, for in truth it was already on fire, and then straightaway left her'
(5,21: 119,4-5); cf. Cic. Fam. 4,1,2 urbem sine legibus, sine iudiciis, sine iure,
sine .fide relictam direptioni et incendiis.
Apuleius' choice for the depiction of this dramatic situation through the use of
military metaphors is well justified on both literary and stylistic grounds. The
besieged and captured city is a common motif and source of inspiration in art
and literature. Descriptions of warfare appear in different literary genres such
as epic, tragedy, historiography, and the novel, and provide the author who is
interested in the literary qualities of his work, with the opportunity to create
vivid and expressive pictures of epic grandeur, high style and dramatic effect.
Similarly, accounts of battles or sieges are highly recommended in the rhetor-
ical manuals as subjects of an ecphrasis (see e.g. Theon, Prog. 11 = Rhet. II
119,16-21 Spengel; Quint. Inst. 8,367-370), whereas descriptions of violence
and warfare are appreciated by Plutarch (Mor. 346F-347C) and Lucian (Hist.
Conser. 44-45) as stylistic pieces, in which the siege becomes a spectacle in it-
self, and its elaborate presentation captivates the attention and moves the feel-
ings of its audience. 4 Indeed, the dramatic effect provoked by the metaphorical
assault of the sisters in the domestic atmosphere of Psyche's palace, provides
the narrative with undeniable suspense and rise of tension. On these grounds,
modern scholars appreciate the recurring military imagery, in contrast to ear-
4 On the evidence in the rhetorical and literary treatises, see d'Huys 1987, 209-250. On the
literary motif of the besieged and captured city, see Miniconi 1951; Urban 1966; Paul 1982.
On descriptions of warfare in the ancient novel, see Scarcella 1992.
156 Stelios Panayotakis
lier ones who have seen in it repetition and monotony. 5 I shall argue below
that Apuleius' use of the figurative military assault of the sisters is appropri-
ate for reasons which are not confined to style; through the imagery of warfare,
Apuleius originally unites Vergilian and Plautine elements, skillfully develops
the traditional literary metaphor of the slandered soul as besieged city, and sig-
nificantly connects the inserted tale with its narrative frame.
Vergil' s account of the Sack of Troy in the second book of his Aeneid, has long
since been acknowledged as major source of inspiration for several episodes
in Apuleius' novel. Among these stand the tale of the robber Thrasyleon
(4,13-21), and the episode of the sisters' metaphorical warfare in the tale of
Cupid and Psyche. 6 Scholars have clearly shown that Apuleius alludes to
Vergil's 'Iliupersis' in terms of both plot and characters. Psyche's sisters are
attributed Sinon's devious personality and methods of dissimulation. They
manage to conceal their feelings of hatred and envy, and feign tears of agony
and anxiety with regard to the alleged danger that threatens Psyche's life (5,17:
116,11-12 lacrimisque pre<s>sura palpebrarum coactis hoe astu puellam
appellant, 'having pressed their eyelids to force tears, they greeted the girl with
their display of guile'). Devious thoughts as immaterial weapons and wicked
disposition as military fortification feature prominently in the description of the
sisters' figurative assault (5, 10: I 11,19 cogitationibus instructae; 5,11: 112,9
noxiis animis armatae). Accordingly, Sinon is the master of dissimulation and
deceit in Vergil's account of the fall of Troy (see A. 2,195-196 Talibus insidiis
periurique arte Sinonis I credita res, captique dolis lacrimisque coactis 'such
was the artful, treacherous perjury Sinon used / to impose on us. We were
tricked by cunning and crocodile tears'). He is efficiently armed with trickery
and craft; his powerful rhetoric constitutes his hidden weapon (sec A. 2,152 ille
dolis instructus et arte Pelasga 'Sinon, well up in the Greek art of trickery').
Scenes from the invasion of the Greeks and the destruction of Troy are
closely reproduced in Apuleius' narrative, namely in the dramatic final stage
of the military metaphor: Tune nanctae iam portis patentibus nudatum sororis
animum . . . omissis tectae machinae latibulis, destrictis gladiis fraudium
puellae pauentes cogitationes inuadunt (5,19: 118,5-8). Harrison 1998 has
already shown that this passage alludes to the Vergilian Trojan Horse (latebrae
5 See Vallette's comments in Robertson-Vallette 1940-1946, vol. II, page 51 note 2. On the
other hand, Walsh 1970, 205, and Schlarn 1992, 84, show a more positive attitude.
6 On Apuleius' adaptations of Vergil 's Sack of Troy in the Metamorphoses, see the recent stud-
ies by Westerbrink 1978, 67; La Penna 1985; Finkelpearl 1986, 121-131; Lazzarini 1986,
149 and 152-153; Harrison 1988, 266; Frangoulidis 1991b. Allusions to Vergil's Fall of Troy
in the tale of Cupid and Psyche are conveniently collected in Frangoulidis 1990, 74-81.
Slander and Warfare 157
in A. 2,38; 2,55; machina in A. 2,46; 2,151; 2,237), and the surprise attack of
the Greeks in Troy (A. 2,265-267 inuadunt urbem somno uinoque sepultam;
/ caeduntur uigiles, portisque patentibus omnis I accipiunt socios et agmina
conscia iungunt, 'they broke out over a city drowned in drunken sleep;/ they
killed the sentries and then threw open the gates, admitting / their main body,
and joined in the prearranged plan of attack'). Cupid's anxious warnings to
Psyche (5,12: 113,3 dies ultima et casus extremus; 5,12: 113,6-7 iam mucrone
destricto iugulum tuum ... petunt) may also contain echoes from Panthus'
speech to Aeneas, who is witnessing the destruction of Troy (see A. 2,324--325
uenit summa dies et ineluctabile tempus I Dardaniae, 'the very last day has
come, the hour inevitable/ for Troy', cf. 2,248-249; 2,333-334 statferri acies
mucrone corusco I stricta, parata neci, 'a front of steel stands there, the sword-
points glitter, the swords/ are bared to kill'). To this list of literary evocations
we should add a striking parallel, namely the image of Psyche's heart set on
fire (5,21: 119,4--5 tali uerborum incendio jlammata uiscera sororis). Psyche
finally resembles the captured and ruined Troy (see A. 2,705-706 et iam per
moenia clarior ignis I auditu,; propiusque aestus incendia uoluunt, 'and now
more clearly over the town the fire's roar/ was heard, and nearer rolled the
tide of its conflagration'; 2, 758-759 ilicet ignis edax summa ad fastigia uento
/ uoluitur; exsuperantjlammae; furit aestus ad auras, 'that instant, gluttonous
fire was fanned by the draught right up to/ the roof top; flames burst out there,
the blast of the heat roared skywards'). Her innermost parts (uiscera) are set
on fire, like the central and vital part of a city. This impressive image has an
undeniably epic dimension (see also below), although it essentially derives
from the comedy of Terence (see Phorm. 186; 974 hisce ego illam dictis ita
tibi incensam dabo ).
The imagery of violent warfare in the context of deception extensively depicted
in the accounts of Cupid and the anus-narrator, abounds in Plautine comedy.
Military terms and images are commonly found as metaphors for artful trick-
ery and deception, mostly performed by a cunning slave against an old man or
a pimp; see e.g. Epid. 152 plenus consili es; Epid. 381 cum praeda in castra
redeo (see further Brotherton 1926, 64--69; Fraenkel 1960, 223-241; Petrone
1983, 94--98). Trickery as military expedition and siege is depicted in Plau-
tus' Pseudo/us (574--590), and his Bacchides (710-711 ea ballista si peruor-
tam turrim et propugnacula, I recta porta inuadam extemplo in oppidum an-
tiquom et uetus, 'then, if with the catapult's help I breach the tower and battle-
ments, / straight through the gate I'll march direct inside the old and ancient
town'; 1070--1071 salute nostra atque urbe capta per dolum I domum redeo
integrum omnem exercitum, 'we're safe, the city's captured by a trick, I and·
158 Stelios Panayotakis
I bring my entire anny home intact'; transl. J. Barsby). In the latter play, the
siege of Troy is employed and minutely exploited as appropriate parallel for
the cunning schemes of the slave Chrysalus (Bae. 925-978). Apuleius is well
acquainted with the work of Plautus, and skilfully handles both linguistic and
thematic material derived from Plautine comedy (see e.g. Mattiacci 1986, 190-
200; Shanzer 1996); thus, Apuleius blends Vergilian epic and Plautine comedy
in an elaborate manner through which he masterly retains both the dramatic at-
mosphere of the epic account and the dominant comic elements of trickery and
deception.
The military metaphor for the practice of slander and deception is also fa-
miliar in the ancient novel. Chariton presents us with a group of envious ri-
vals of the hero Chaereas, who devise a slanderous scheme in the manner of a
military expedition (1,2,1; 1,2,5; cf. 1,14,1; 2,7,2; see Gerschmann 1975, 25-
26, 55-56). In Achilles Tatius' novel, Melite uses a similar imagery to describe
the warfare led by Rumor and Slander against her reputation as a faithful wife
(6,10,4-6). This long passage concludes with an interesting reference to Ru-
mor and Slander presented as military powers occupying one's soul: 'These two
powers are at war with me. They have occupied your soul and barred the gates
of your ears to my words' (6,10,6; transl. J.J. Winkler).
Apuleius' propensity to create bilingual puns with the name of Psyche (soul)
is well attested in the narrative (see e.g. 5,6: 108,4 tuae Psychae dulcis anima,
'sweet soul of your Psyche'; 5,13: 114,l; 6,2: 130,14); the use of military im-
agery for the notion of slanderous attack against Psyche, strongly points to the
metaphor of the human soul (psyche) as a city under siege. The locus classi-
cus for the specific image is Plato's Republic; the notions of polis and psyche
are closely interrelated throughout this dialogue (see e.g. Andersson 1971). In
the eighth book of Plato's work, in the discussion on the degenerate states, and
specifically in the transition from the state of oligarchy to that of democracy
(559d-562a), we are presented with the image of the soul as an acropolis be-
sieged by forces sent by the low and unnecessary desires: 'and in the end, I
suppose, they seize the citadel of the young man's soul, finding it empty and
unoccupied by studies and honourable pursuits and true discourses, which are
the best watchmen and guardians in the minds of men who are dear to the gods'
(R. 560b; transl. P. Shorey).
Plato's powerful metaphor has been taken over and adapted in later liter-
ary tradition (see Ph. Leg. alleg. 2,92; Philostr. Ep. 1,56; Epict. 4,1,86-90;
Armisen-Marchetti 1989, 188 note 131; North 1993). The image of the be-
sieged soul (or in a broader scope, of human life) is thus vividly pictured in
Senecan prose, which abounds in the use of military metaphors in a moral
Slander and Warfare 159
context (see e.g. Ep. 95,4 animum opiniones obsident prauae; cf. Ben. 7,27, 1-
2). 7 However, an elaborate version of this metaphor, which is particularly
relevant to the context in Apuleius' tale of Cupid and Psyche, is found in
Lucian's treatise Calumniae non temere credendum; this is a piece of popular
philosophy and simple rhetoric, which contains several common ideas on
flattery and slander, such as the ones we find in the works of Plutarch, How to
Tell a Flatterer from a Friend (Mor. 48E-74E; on the imagery see Fuhrmann
1964, 146-149, 183-185), Philostratus (VA 6,13), and Maximus of Tyre (Diss.
14). Lucian gives a variety of images for the personality and methods of
slanderers; they are presented as eit..'!erhirlrlen soldiers attacking at a distance,
or gladiators, or athletes inventing various dishonourable tricks (Cal. 9, 10,
12); similar imagery with reference to devious manner of slanderous assault,
is also used in Apuleius' Apology (see e.g. 2: 2,14-15 iam et aduersum te con-
tumaciter eminus calumniis uelitatur, 'he defies your authority and continues
to skiimish at long range with his false accusations' (transl. H.E. Butler &
A.S. Owen); see Hunink 1997 ad Joe.). However, Lucian extensively depicts
slanderers as warriors who besiege a city using strategic methods and tactics
(Cal. 19-22). 'They [slanderers] assail whatever part of the soul they perceive
to be weak, unsound and easy of access, bringing their siege-engines to bear
on it and finally capturing it, as no one opposes them or notices their assault.
Then, when they are once within the walls, they fire everything and smite
and slay and banish; for all these things are likely to happen when the soul is
captured and put in bondage' (Cal. 19; transl. A.M. Harmon). 8
Apuleius presents the sisters as conspirators who treacherously approach
Psyche (5, 14: 114,7 iugum sororium consponsae faction is, 'yoked in a conspir-
atorial faction'); 9 they are careful, inquisitive, and violent intruders in Psyche's
house (5,14: 114,13 conferto uestigio domum penetrant), in Psyche's private
life (5,8: 109,8-9 denique altera earum satis scrupulose curioseque percontari
non desinit, 'one of them then began to interrogate her minutely and inquisi-
tively without stopping'), and in Psyche's soul and thoughts (5,15: 114,23-24
sic adfectione simulata paulatim sororis inuadunt animum; 5,16: 118,7-8 cog-
itationes inuadunt). The construction animum inuadere is also related to the
notions of disease or vice and corruption that affect one's body and/or soul;
the latter imagery, frequently attested in the work of Sallust and imitated by
7 On the use of military metaphors in the works of Seneca, see Annisen-Marchetti 1989, 75-
79, 94--97, 123; Cervellera 1990.
8 On Lucian's treatise, see Bompaire 1958, 206-208, 302-303, 352 note 5; Jones 1986, 25.
On the metaphors employed in the case of slanderers, see Schmidt 1897, 29-30, 98-99.
9 On the termfactio and its use in Apuleius, see Hellegouarc 'h 2 1972, l 00-109; Van der Paardt
1971, 75 on 3,8: 58,10; GCA 1981, 131 on 7,7: 159,23-26.
 Stelios Panayotakis
160
Apuleius (see e.g. Cat. 36,5 tanta uis morbi ac ueluti tabes plerosque ciuium
animos inuaserat; cf. Apul. Met. 9,19: 217,7-10 noctumas etiam curas inua-
serat pestilens auaritia, with GCA 1995 ad loc.; Funari 1997; Graverini 1997,
263-265), is well connected with the representation of the sisters as infectious
pestilence (5, 12: 112,22 pestes illae; see below).
The sisters' use of violence is marked in the narrative in terms of immaterial
weapons; their slander is fortified by cunning and rhetoric (compare V. Max.
8,10 (eloquentia) homines adgreditur, animos eorum ipsa inuadendo). Their
mourning voices and deceitful speeches carry both the sound and the message
of invading death (see 5,7: 108,13 sono penetrabili uocis ululabilis, 'the pen-
etrating sound of their wailing voices'). Cupid compares them to the deadly
Sirens (see 5,12: 113,14-15 nee ... uel uideas uel audias, cum in more<m>
Sirenum scopulo prominentes funestis uocibus saxa personabunt, 'do not look
at them or listen to them when they lean out over the cliff like Sirens and make
the rocks resound with their fatal songs'); these mythical creatures often stand
in literature for symbols of slander and deception (see e.g. Luc. Cal. 30; Ach.
Tat. 6,10,4; Hofstetter 1990, 29-32; Wedner 1994, 58-112).
Connected with warfare and related to the sisters is the image of Fortune's
assaults on human life; this idea is common in ancient thought, and par-
ticularly exploited in Senecan philosophy (see e.g. Dial. 2,8,3; Epist. 4,7;
Lavery 1980, 147-151; Armisen-Marchetti 1989, 94-95). A similar image
appears in another complex metaphor mentioned by the anus-narrator:sed iam
pestes illae taeterrimaeque Furiae anhelantes uipereum uirus et festinantes
impia celeritate nauigabant, 'but already those pests and foulest of Furies
had set sail, breathing viperous poison and hastening with impious speed'
(5,12: 112,22-113,1). The conjunction of the abusive terms pestis andfuria is
frequent in the speeches of Cicero (see Sest. 33; Vat. 33; Dom. 99; Har. 4 cum
his furiis et facibus, cum his, inquam, exitiosis prodigiis ac paene huius imperii
pestibus (i.e. Piso and Gabinius) bellum mihi inexpiabile dico esse susceptum,
'with these furies and fire-brands, yes, with these pernicious portents who
brought all but pestilence upon this empire, I do admit that I have entered upon
implacable warfare'; transl. N.H. Watts), and elsewhere (see Sen. Con. 2,1,10;
Livy 30,13,12; 30,13,13; Opelt 1965, 138-140).
However, this phrase is remarkable for the dominant snake-imagery, present
in the sisters' lethal breath (cf. slander as poison in Apol. 3: 4,6-7; 8: 9,14-
15), and in their identification with the Furies; Vergil's Allecto bears signifi-
cant resemblances with Psyche's sisters, with regard to the elements of war-
fare, slander, and poison; see Verg. A. 7,324-329 [sc. Juno] JuctificamAllecto
dirarum ab sede dearum I infemisque ciet tenebris, cui tristia bella I iraeque
Slander and Warfare 161
insidiaeque et crimina noxia cordi. I odit et ipse pater Pluton, odere sorores I
tartareae monstrum: tot sese uertit in ora, tam saeuge facies, tot pullulat atra
colubris, '[Juno] haled forth from the infernal regions, the home of the terrible
/ deities, Allecto, maker of grief, who revels / in war, in open and underhand
violence, in damaging quarrels. / Even her father, Pluto, and her hellish sisters
loathe/ that fiend, Allecto, so manifold her aspects and so ferocious/ each form
she takes, such a nest of vipers swarms in her black hair'. The term pestis con-
nects the sisters with the ideas of pestilence and contagious disease that gradu-
ally invade the soul (5,15: 114,23-24 paulatim sororis inuadunt animum), but
it may also be interpreted in the context of mythology, for this term has been
used with reference to several monstrous creatures, such as the Lernaean Hydra
(Luer. 5,26), the Harpyies (Verg. A. 3,215), the Dirae (Verg. A. 12,845 dicun-
tur geminae pestes cognomine Dirae), and the Sirens (Sen. Med. 355 cum ...
dirae pestes uoce canora mare mulcerent) (see Thome 1993 passim, and esp_
269-272, 453--455). The Furies and most of the creatures mentioned above, are
presented in epic as flying demons connected with the imagery of snake, war-
fare, and fire (see Hubner 1970, 12--42,61-73). In this respect, the visits of the
sisters to the palace of Psyche and their wicked and furtive attack against her
thoughts, may also allude to the catastrophic visit of the Fury Allecto to the
palace of the queen Amata in the seventh book of Vergil 's Aeneid, and particu-
larly to the furtive attack of a venomous serpent which is sent deep in the heart
of the woman, and inflames her feelings:
Huie dea caeruleis unum de crinibus anguem
conicit, inque sinmn praecordia ad intima subdit,
quo furibunda dommn monstro permisceat omnem.
Ille inter uestis et leuia pectora lapsus,
uoluitur attactu nullo, fallitque furentem,
uipeream inspirans animam. (A. 7,346-351)
On her the fiend now casts a serpent, one of her snake-blue
tresses, and thrusts it into her bosom, deep into her heart,
so that the queen may discharge through the household its maniac infection.
Gliding between her dress and her smooth breasts, that serpent
coils - she feels not its touch nor notices it in her madness -
breathing its morbid breath into her.
Accordingly, the military assault of Psyche's sisters is kept in silence (5,15:
114,23-24 paulatim sororis inuadunt animum); the sisters embrace (and thus,
seize) their prey (5,14: 114,14 comple:xaeque praedam suam), in order to
establish absolute physical (as well as mental) control, before they forward
162 Stelios Panayotakis
their open attack. Psyche fails to realize the lurking danger; the glowing flames
vividly burning in her heart through the poisonous words of the sisters (5,21:
1 manus adferunt, sed denso conglobatoque cuneo cubiculum nostrum
119,4 uerborum incendio fiammata uiscera sororis), have the effects of conta-
gion and metamorphosis upon her, similar to the ones Amata experiences in
Vergil's epic (A. 7,373-405) (compare the remarks ofHorsfall 1982; Shumate
1996b, 109-111). Under the influence of her venomous sisters, Psyche turns
into a raging Fury and attacks her husband 'armed with fire and sword' (5,26:
124,4-5).
Slander, lies, and deception are recurrent themes in Apuleius' novel, and con-
tribute to the representation of a violent and disorderly world, in which Lucius
the narrator and other characters experience physical abuse and mistreatment,
as well as psychological terrorism and mental assault (see Shumate 1996a).
The inserted tale of Cupid and Psyche expands on themes introduced earlier in
the main story of the Metamorphoses, and presents them in a new perspective,
thereby also anticipating episodes and themes in the latter part of Apuleius'
novel (see James 1987, 196-199; Smith 1993, 81-84; Dowden 1993, 99-104).
The narrative situation preceding the tale of Cupid and Psyche presents us with
the abduction of a young girl by a band of robbers on the day of her wedding; the
girl Charite is held captive in a cave and terrorized by an old woman who obe-
diently serves the robbers (4,23-25); since the old woman's threats are proved
useless, she tries to console and control the young captive through the narration
of the tale of Cupid and Psyche (4,27: 96, 14-15 sed ego te narrationibus lepidis
ani/ibusquefabulis protinus auocabo, 'but right now I shall divert you with a
pretty story and an old wife's tale'). It is part of the narrative strategy employed
by the old woman, that Charite, the young captive, resembles, in many aspects,
Psyche, the heroine of the tale. In a detailed study of the military terms in the
robber episode, GCA ( 1977, 208-209) have shown that the society of robbers
who have abducted Charite, views itself mainly in terms of military organiza-
tion (see e.g. 4,22: 92,3-5 et ecce nocte promota latrones expergiti castra com-
mouent instructique uarie, partim gladiis anna<ti, par>tim in Lemures refor-
mat<i> concito se gradu proripiunt, 'then, suddenly, well into the night, the
robbers woke up and decamped. Variously equipped - some armed with swords
and other disguised as goblins - they rushed off at the double'). This judgement
is shared by Lucius the ass, the young captive Charite, and her disguised fiancee
Haemus. Charite's own account of her abduction is presented as military inva-
sion and surprise attack of the robbers:
cum inruptionis subitae gladiatorum <fit> impetus ad belli faciem
saeuiens, nudis et infestis mucronibus coruscans: non caedi, non rapinae
Slander and Warfare 163
inuadunt protinus. nee ullo de familiaribus nostris repugnante ac ne tan-
tillum quidem resistente misera<m>, exanimem saeuo pauore, trepido de
media matris gremio rapuere. sic ad instar Attidis uel Protesilai dispectae
disturbataeque nuptiae. (4,26: 95,8-15)
'when suddenly a gang of gladiators came bursting in, fierce with the look
of war, brandishing their bare and hostile blades. They turned their hands
neither to murder nor to plunder, but marched in dense and close-ranked for-
mation straight into our room. No one in our household fought back, or even
offered the slightest resistance, as they snatched me, miserable and fainting
from cruel fear, right from my mother's trembling arms. Thus our wedding,
like that of Attis or Protesilaus, was interrupted and broken up'.
On both a literal and a metaphorical level, the tale of Cupid and Psyche presents
its audience (and readers) with the story of a similar intrusion in the family life
of a couple whose marriage was 'interrupted and broken up'. Psyche's sisters
are thus significantly introduced as robbers who violate Psyche's family life and
privacy; they invade Cupid's palace and succeed, through the means of dissim-
ulation and calumny, in separating (though temporarily) Psyche and her myste-
rious husband. The invasion of the sisters meets with no resistance on the part
of Psyche, for she surrenders herself in a state of alarm and panic, comparable
to the reaction of Charite and her household. The repeated use of the military
metaphors underlines and marks the elements of violence and intrusion in the
private life of b~th the captive Charite and the heroine Psyche. Thus, the old
woman who narrates the talc to her young captive, works on and reproduces
narrative material and themes familiar to the experiences of her prisoner. Sim-
ilarly, narrative motifs of theft, criminality, and old age, which are relevant to
the personality of the old woman and her environment, are skilfully developed
in the texture of the inserted tale (see James 1987, 123-125; Panayotakis 1997,
36-38; van Mal-Maeder & Zimmerman in this volume). Through the elaborate
presentation of themes and images that are only seemingly alien to the world
depicted in the main story of the novel, the inserted tale of Cupid and Psyche
functions as auocatio, for it captivates the attention of Charite by retelling her
own story of life.
A metaphor found both in Lucian (Cal. 32) and Apuleius, associates the ap-
pearance of truth with slander's defeat and downfall into deep abyss (see Apol.
83: 92, 15-16 ueritas olim interuersa nun<c> se fert et uelut alto barathro
calumnia se mergit (for a different view of this passage, see Hunink 1997
 164 Stelios Panayotakis
ad loc.); 84: 93, 12-14 intellectas calumnias ... praecipitasti). 10 The sisters
finally meet their death down a precipice (5,27); the same fate awaits the
anus-narrator (6,30: 152,15-16) and the robbers (7,13: 164,9-11); however,
in the case of the sisters' death, this is partly caused by the revelation of truth
to the eyes of the ignorant and innocent Psyche (5,22); the main reason for
the slanderous sisters' downfall is that they fall victims to the deceitful words
of the vindictive Psyche, who is armed with lies and prepared for the final
battle. 11
10 The precipice as place of execution is appropriate for bandits, slaves, and criminals, and it
has also figurative associations with slander and her downfall; see Momrnsen 1899, 931-
934; Stramaglia 1992, 61-63; Keulen in this volume.
11 See on Psyche's revenge van Mai-Maeder & Zirnmennan, and Smith in this volume.
A Bird's Chatter: Form and Meaning
in Apuleius' Metamorphoses 5,28*
Wytse H. Keulen
Groningen
Introduction
This article examines Apuleius' blending of literary entertainment with seri-
ous content in the following passage (Met. 5,28: 125,10-20) 1, which describes
what will tum out to be a pivotal event on various levels in the story of Cupid
& Psyche:
. . . auis peralba ilia gauia, quae super jluctus marinas pinnis natat,
demergit sese propere ad Oceani profimdum gremium. ibi commodum
Venerem lauantem natantemque propter assistens indicat adustum filium
eius, graui uulneris dolore maerentem, dubium salutis iacere iamque per
cun.ctorum ora populorum rumoribus conuiciisque uariis omnem Veneris
familiam male audire, quad ille quidem montanu scortatu, tu uero marina
natatu secesseritis, ac per hoe non uoluptas ulla, non gratia, non lepos,
sed incompta et agrestia et horrida cuncta sint, non nuptiae coniugales,
non amicitiae sociales, non liberum caritates, sed enormis eluuies et
squalentium foederum insuaue fastidium:
' ... a bird, the white seagull who swims on wings above the waves, dived
hurriedly down deep into Ocean's bosom, where she at once found Venus
* The research for this article was made possible financially by the Dutch Organization for Sci-
entific Research (N. W.O.). I thank the members of the Groniagen Apuleius Research Group
and the editorial committee for valuable criticism on earlier drafts of this paper. In Munich
Dr. U. Dubielzig, Dr. P. Flury, Dr. I. Hajdu and Dr. E. Mignogna made helpful commeats;
finally, I thank Dr. G. Hays for not confining himself to correcting my English.
1 See Schlarn 1992, 98: 'The tale of Cupid and Psyche provides a beautiful example of comic
entertainment that expresses serious meanings, spoudogeloion'; generally on serio ludere in
the Met. ibid., p. 1-4.
166 Wytse H. Keulen
as she bathed and swam. The bird stood beside her and informed her that
her son had been burned, that he was in grievous pain from the wound, that
he had taken to his bed, and that his recovery was uncertain. "Furthermore",
she said, "because of various rumours and reproaches circulating by word of
mouth throughout the whole world, Venus' entire household is getting a bad
reputation. They are saying that the two of you have gone off on vacation, he
to his mountainside whoring, you to swimming in the sea; and so there is no
joy any more, no grace, no charm. Everything is unkempt and boorish and
harsh. Weddings and social intercourse and the love of children are gone,
leaving only a monstrous mess and an unpleasant disregard for anything as
squalid as the bonds of marriage 2" .'
The tell-tale is the gossipy gauia, a garrulous and rather curious bird (125,21
uerbosa et satis curiosa auis). In the word curiosa the comic and the serious
functions of the bird meet. It not only informs us of the gauia's character (see
below, l .1), it is also a key word in the Met. and thus underlines a 'turning point'
in the story (GCA 1995, Appendix III Curiositas, 4.2.7, p. 371), for the gauia
tells us of noua and mira which advance the narrative and arouse the reader's
interest (ibid., 3.1, p. 367).
Since the gauia's message may be received seriously by some, humourously
by others, we must distinguish the different potential readers and interpreters in
light of their individual backgrounds. On the level of the monde citi 3, the rev-
elation that her son has a lover upsets Venus very much (cf. 5,28: 126,7 indig-
nata; 5,31: 127,25-26 infesta et stomachata biles Venerias; 27-28 uultu tumido
... truci supercilio). This revelation marks a turning point in the story, leading
to Venus' search for Psyche, Psyche's labours and ultimately the matrimoniwn
iustum between Cupid and Psyche. On the level of the monde narre, it appears
later on that the old woman's tale, intended merely to distract Charite from her
troubles 4,has in fact left a deeper impression on her, and thus the bird's mes-
sage turns out to be ominous (see below, p. 170).
2 Translation: J. Hanson, Apuleius, Metamorphoses, London/Cambridge Mass. 1989.
3 In this article I use the narrative model and terminology of Lintvelt 2 1989; see GCA I 995,
Introduction 4, pp. 7-12 for a lucid summary; see also Hofmann 1993, llt'r-123.
4 The subnarrator (the anus) said she was going to distract Charite 'lepidis anilibusquefab-
ulis' (4,27: 96,15). In a similar way, the woman played down Charite's somJ1usfunestus,
which turnedout to be predictive, as mere 'uanis somniorumfigmentis' (96,6), which may
provoke some doubts about the reliability of her metanarrative statement; see Frangoulidis
1993, 507-513. See GCA 1995, Introduction 4.2 p. 12 on examples of deceptive metanarra-
tive statements in book 9; see ibid. 4.3, p. 13: 'the notion "untrustworthy narrator" is shown
to be a viable concept in the interpretation of the Met.'
A Bird's Chatter 167
Unfortunately we do not and cannot know how this passage affected a real
reader (lecteur concret) in Apuleius' tirrie. Our inquiry cannot pretend to be
more than the attempt of a 20th century lecteur concret at taking the stance
of the lecteur abstrait, the 'ideal reader' presupposed by the text. The lecteur
abstrait stands above the previously mentioned 'readers' of the gauia's mes-
sage, and is able to see similarities between inserted stories like Cupid & Psyche
(monde cite') and the frame story (monde narre'). S/he does not merely recog-
nize and enjoy poetic allusions as a kind of literary entertainment, but is also
able to connect them with deeper levels of meaning in the Met., detecting philo-
sophical and religious themes that pervade the whole novel and, in their turn,
can become the object of sophisticated entertainment (see below, 1.3) 5 .
My inquiry into the possible reception of this passage by the lecteur abs trait
consists of a scrutiny of its literary texture, investigating both intertextual al-
lusions and the semantics of single words and expressions. In the first section
I look at the way the subnarrator (the anus) describes the behaviour, charac-
ter and message of the gauia; the characters and the location of our scene have
comical aspects, but the diction and poetic allusions already hint at a submerged
meaning. The second section dives beneath the surface, taking into account the
intertextual and interdiscursive backgrounds of the message itself.
1 The messenger, her addressee and their location
l.l The gauia as x12x6:yyd,oc;
As Hijmans in GCA 1995 remarks, a bird as messenger forms part of the mytho-
logical and fairy-tale atmosphere of the world in Cupid & Psyche (GCA 1995,
Appendix III, 4.2.7, p. 371) 6 • Our gauia belongs to a literary tradition of which
the Ovidian coruus loquax (Met. 2,535) and the garrula comix (547-8) are fa-
mous exponents: both are officious, garrulous tale-bearer birds, who elicit with
x12x12yyd.[aan indignant reaction, even punishment from a god(dess) 7.
5 The lecteur abstrait is able to recognize those places where the auteur abstrait expresses
an opinion or comment distinct from the vision of the narrateur, see Hofmann 1993, 117;
Apuleius' contemporary reader probably had sufficient philosophical training to recognize
the explicit and implicit reflections of the philosophus P/atonicus, see Dowden 1994, 431.
6 See also Kenney 1990a ad Joe.; Walsh 1970, 209; Mantero 1973, 94. As my colleague Dr. G.
Hays points out to me, talking animals are also generically a feature of fable, and rigorously
excluded from Epic (Hom. II. 19,404 ff. is the exception that proves the rule).
7 Like the gauia the crow is characterized by curiosity (Ov. Met. 2,548 scitetur ut omnia).
Both comix and coruus were prophetic birds (see ThU s.v.), so there may also be a playful
connection with the solemn Roman institution of the aues augurales (see Linderski 1986,
168 Wytse H. Keulen
Like the crow and the raven, the gauia narrates things that are highly embar-
rassing to the deity she serves. The gauia resembles the Ovidian-Callimachean
raven as a tell-tale of illicit relations (Ov. Met. 2,544-6, on the adultery of Coro-
nis): ales sensit adulterum 8 Phoebeius, utque latentem/ detegeret culpam, non
exorabilis index, ad dominum tendebat iter (cf. in our passage 125,12 indicat).
The white colour of the gauia, described with the rare wordperalba 9 , may point
to the underscored whiteness of the raven, before he was punished by Apollo
as a result of xcxxctyyi::hct,of telling tales (see Kenney 1990a ad loc.) 10. In the
Ovidian passage on the two zealous birds, questions are raised on appropriate
and inappropriate use of speech (Keith 1992, 46-7). An explicit moral is for-
mulated by the crow: mea poena uo/ucres I admonuisse potest, ne uoce pericula
quaerant (2,564-5). A reader, knowing this literary tradition and noticing that
the gauia does not follow the crow's advice, will anticipate the angry response
of the goddess. But he will also discover that in Apuleius, unlike in Callimachus
and Ovid, it is not the informer but the informed upon who are punished 11•
Apuleius' choice for the word gauia, which elsewhere occurs in scientific
texts only 12, may be motivated by an endeavour to render the Greek A.apoc; into
Latin 13. No specific connection between the gauia/).apoc; and Venus (or any
2226--2229; 2233 n. 344; 2285-2286), of which the aquila as the messenger of Jupiter is
most famous (Cic. Diu. 1,26 with Pease ad Ioc. with lit.). With the Romans, b9th comix and
coruus are classed under the oscines; Plin. Nat. 10,30 calls thecomix a bird inauspicatae gar-
rulitatis (see Pease ad Cic. Diu. 1,12). It is ironical that in Cupid & Psyche an unfavourable
omen like the flying and diving gull (see below) should be the auis intemuntia of Venus. See
Linderski 1986, 2227 n. 316 for further literature on birds as the messengers of the gods (I
thank Dr. P. Cohee for bibliographical references).
8 Cf. the words of Ovid's model, Callimachus' Heca/e (fr. 74,20 Hollis) µ\WO" n 1t667J,<Il.
See Keith 1992, 44-5.
9 Attested elsewhere only at Apul. Met. 1,2 (2,10) and Grom. p. 306,22; see ThlL s.v.pera/-
bus, 1185,37 ff. For a possible ornithological reason for this word choice, see note 13.
10 Ov. Met. 2,540-41 /inguafuit damno: linguafaciente /oquaci I qui co/or albus erat, nunc est
contrarius alba. Cf. Callimachus, Hecale, fr. 74, 15-20 Hollis and Keith 1992, 43-44. 'The
raven's overly zealous use of his tongue, after all, will be the cause of his metamorphosis'
(Keith 1992, 47). For other versions of the tale see ThU s.v. coruus 1079, 64 ff.
11 Another link can be seen with the Vergilian Fama, who spreads rumours flying aroundpemi-
cibus a/is (A. 4,180), tamficti prauique tenax quam nuntia ueri (188). As has been observed
by Pease, words are proverbially winged from Homer on, and 'gossip may appropriately
be so imagined'. See Pease ad Verg. A. 4,180; cf. Hom. //.2,7; Plut. de garrulitate 10 (Mor.
507a). Cf. Apul. Met. 11,18 (280,8-11 Nec ... Fama uo/ucris pigra pinnarum tarditate ces-
sauerat, sed protinus ... meam ... fonunam memorabilem narrauerat passim.
12 Plin. Nat. l0,91 (following Aristotle, HA 542bz). 204; 18, 362; see ThU s. v. gauia, 1720,8
ff.
13 Amon 1964, 249-262, 261 n. 3 unconvincingly argues that contemporary popular usage is a
more likely source for Apuleius than literature, in view of the fact that the gauia li\led on as
A Bird's Chatter 169
other god) is attested before Apuleius, and it may well be an Apuleian inven-
tion 14. The choice for this bird, which was often connected to or confused with
15
the mergus/CLi.0uLcx , is partly related to its diving, as Walsh rightly notes ( 1970,
209). But there is more to it than that.
The figure of the gauiaiA.apoc;calls to mind several literary associations
which elucidate our passage. The description of the seabird skimming the
waves on its wings (125,9 quae super fluctus marinos pinnis natat) seems
to be an allusion to a famous comparison in Homer 16, imitated by Vergil 17,
in which a messenger also 'dives into the deep' (comparable to 125,9-10
demergit sese), bringing a message that will not please a goddess: Hermes,
sent by Zeus to Kalypso 18 with the message that she has to let Ulysses go, is
compared to a Mpoc; (Od. 5,50-54):
etymological source for nouns denoting 'gull' in many Romance languages and dialects un-
til fairly recent times, see also p. 251-2 n. 5. More likely though is a combination of both: a
bird of (Greek) 'literary' character having a typical Latin name: on Apuleius' habit of finding
typical Latin words for Greek matters cf. Apol. 38,5 ea tamen nomina /abore meo et studio
ita de Graecis prouenire, ut tamen IAtina moneta percuss a sint; cf. also Apo/. 36 (I thank Dr.
V. Hunink for this reference). Modem ornithological treatises do not reach unanimous con-
clusions as to what species known today the gauia!Aa.poc; corresponds. Amon 1964, 261-
2 identifies the gauia as a tern for ornithological reasons (this opinion is shared by Andre
1967, 84-5). A different conclusion is reached by Capponi 1979, 269 (with lit.), who prefers
to identify the gauia!Aa:poc;as a gull (the genus Larus L.). Aristotle distinguishes an ash-
coloured 1.a.poc;(HA 593b5) and a white one (HA 593•16); according to RE s.v. Mowe, 2415
this is a silver gull; cf. the description of the gauia in our passage as peralba, 125,S.
14 The passages from Pliny which Hildebrand, Femhout and Grimal adduce in their commen-
taries to prove a specific connection between the gauia and Venus in fact do not mention a
connection with any god(dess).
15 Pliny names the ga11iain the same breath with the mergus (<I'[f)vL<I),with whom our gauia
shares an important feature (Nat. 10,91; 18,362). Ancient ornithological treatises often fail
to distinguish between the <I'i.01JLrvmerg11s and the 1.6:poc;lgauio:see RE s.v. Mowe, 2412 f.
But Pliny seems to consider them as separate species, as does Aristotle HA 542•2. For a full
discussion, see Amott 1964,passim.
16 This parallel was already noted by Zinzow 1881, 209-210, but has remained unnoticed since.
17 Cf. Verg. A. 4,252-5 (on Hermes) hie primum paribus nitens Cy/lenius a/is I co,istitit: hinc
toto praeceps se corpore ad undas I mi sit aui similis, quae circum /itora, circum I piscosos
scopu/os humi/is 110/ataequora iuxta. Here these demergere idea is present also; see Pease
ad Ioc. Another parallel for this image is offered by Ov. Met. 11,731-33 (on Alcyone, who
changed into a kingfisher) uo/abat I percutiensque /euem modo natis ai!ra pennis I stringebat
summas ales miserabi/is wuias.
18 Not only the descriptions of the bird, but also the persons to whom the message is conveyed,
show some similarities: Kalypso is a on"~0E6c;(Od. 7,246), and one could connect her 'sig-
nificant name' of the 'concealed' (or 'she that conceals'?) with the concealed depths where
Venus is bathing, see 1.2. Although the etymology of Kalypso is disputed nowadays (RE s.v.
.l X,1777), as are the theories which consider her a goddess of Death, of Night or the Under-
world (see Kleine Pauly s.v. III,95 with lit.), it is not unlikely that philosophus plntonicus
Apuleius would have interpreted Kalypso's name allegorically, according to the practices
170 Wytse H. Keulen
...t~ cxlOtpo<;Ef.L1tE<JEnovrep
(JEl)Ct1:'
E1tEl,' E1tLXUf.LCl
Aa.pepopvLOLEOlXW<;,
o<; ,E xcrn2 OElVOU<; XOA1tOU<; 12AOS&,puyE,OlO
lxOu<;&:ypwaawv 1tUXLV12 1t,Ep12OEUE-r(llci).µyr
,w i'.xe:Ao<;1tOAEEO"O"lVox~acx-ro XUf.l.Cl<JlV
'Epf.LTj<;
•... from the sky he swooped down to the sea, and skimmed then across the
waves, like a gull, who, hunting for fish over the terrible waves of the barren
sea, dips his sturdy wings in the water; just like him Hermes moved across
the many waves.'
The introduction of the gauia as that (ilia, 'notorious', see Callebat 1968, 276)
bird, the one that swims on wings over the sea, may remind the reader of the me-
teorological meaning of this picture. According to Theophrastus (de sign. 28),
if CIL0uu:uflapped their wings, they predicted to sailors that a storm was coming,
if they dove, rain; Apuleius' contemporary Arternidorus (Onirocr. 2,17 p. 110)
interprets the diving of ).a.pm and ruOuLCIL in dreams as presaging extreme dan-
ger for sailors. In Vergil (G. 1,361) mergi predict a storm, when they fly from
the sea towards the land (see R.F. Thomas ad loc.; cf. also Plin. Nat. 18,362 on
mergi and gauiae). As in Vergil, where bad weather signs lead up to the depic-
tion of civil war as a metaphorical storm overwhelming Rome, a reader could
interpret the 'weather sign' here as ominous, anticipating some bad outcom~.
An important reason for Apuleius to choose the Aa.po<;is its garrulous dis-
position, which prompted Aristophanes to use Mpo<; as a nickname for Clean
(Walsh 1970, 209 n. 1). Ancient folk etymology probably connected Mpo<; with
the verb AT)pe:Tv (see Frisk s.v. Afjpo<;and Walde-Hofmann s.v. lamentum) 19.
Apuleius reminds the reader also of the Greek bird-name XCiuCI;by means
of certain sound effects that are not only imitative of the sounds that a gauia
or a XCIUCI~ makes, but also offer a learned word-play working across two lan-
guages 20. It is noteworthy, then, that this etymological background can also be
heard through the adjective depicting the bird's main characteristic (loquax),
of his time: see Schlam 1992, 14-16 on allegoresis of Homer by Middle Platonism, and on
allegorical interpretation of epic names through etymology (ibid. I 6).
19 I thank I. Hajdu for this idea. Cf. Aristophanes Eq. 956 ACipoc:;
xe:x7jvwc:;fol 1tttpClc:;IIT)µTj-
yopwv (cf. also Nu. 591). The point of the loquacity has been curiously overlooked by com-
mentators on Aristophanes, who all merely point to the bird's proverbial greediness. Cf. the
anonyme scholion on Nu. 591 ACipov]no)..u)..a)..ov(W.J.W. Koster, Scholia in Aristophanem
[ 3, 2: Scholia recentiora in Nubes, Groningen 1974, 320).
20 For a detailed analysis of the sound effects and word-play in this passage see GCA (forth-
coming) ad loc.; on the etymological connection between gauia and XClUa~see ThU s.v.
gauia, 1720,8 f. and Walde-Hofmann s. v. gauia p. 584.
A Bird's Chatter 171
which is thus underscored. The above-mentioned unsettling atmosphere in
our picture may be reinforced in the light of AP 7,652, where the screeches of
the xCiuCI;and the ACipt<;(= Mpo<;, cf. also AP 7,654) are presented as cries
of mourning over someone who drowned at sea (see further 1.2 on sinister
undertones in this passage).
Apart from literary reminiscences and sound effects, the bird's character is
revealed by the evaluating terms used by the subnarrator, the anus, to describe
the gauia and its speech. She calls it uerbosa et satis curiosa (125,21): both
words have ambiguous meanings. The word curiosa, as Kenney ad loc. has
shown, means 'not only "inquisitive", "meddlesome" but also "painstaking" -
an appropriate term for the bird's elaborate verbal artifice'. The same is true
for uerbosa (cf. 126,4 loquax) which on the one hand calls to mind the garru-
lous Ovidian messenger-bird. On the other hand, uerbosa is used more specif-
ically in a context where the 'rhetorical' character of a speaker, writer or story
is stressed, often in a negative way - form for the sake of form, at the expense
of contents 21 • In our passage, one could read the word uerbosa as a commen-
tary on the elaborate piece of rhetoric the bird has just displayed (see below,
2.1 ). Of course it suits the narrator of this amusing tale to describe this bird as
a meddlesome, gossipy, garrulous creature. But does it suit her to condemn at
the same time the artful, rhetorical appearance of its message? I will return to
this question below.
_;:_
The two contrasting aspects of our passage, those of gossiping about gods
and revealing truth, are subtly united in the ambiguous word indicat (125,12).
On the one hand it is an important statement, a declaration of the state of af-
fairs in the world. The gauia, however, resembles also the Ovidian coruus in-
dex (cf. Ov. Met. 2,546), informing upon Cupid whoring in the mountains, and
denouncing both Venus and Cupid for their secessio from the world 22 •
Less subtly, the narrator evaluates the gauia's accusation in a very negative
way (125,20-2): haec ... auis in auribus Venerisfilium lacerans existimationem
ganniebat ('thus did that ... bird cackle into Venus' ear, tearing her son's rep-
utation to shreds'). Apuleius reverses the usual transferring of verbs reflective
21 Cf. Val. Max. 3,2,22 uerbosa cantu laudum suarum Graecia; Sen. Ep. 88,37 ista liberalium
artium consectatio molestos, uerbosos, intempestiuos, sihi placentes facit; Suet. Cal. 34,2
alterum [sc. Titum Livi um] ut uerbosum in historia neglegentemque carpebat. See OLD s.v.
and Callebat 1968, 83.
22 The word indicat is interpreted 'sensu latiore' by ThU s.v. 1152,65 (i.q. exponere, nuntiare),
but could also be interpreted 'sensu artiore', sc. 'res tectas, obscuras, scelestas (vel aliquem
talia agentem) ind.icio ... deferre, prodere', ThLL ibid., 1155,21 f. Cf. Brandt-Ehlers: 'erstat-
tet Anzeige'.
J /;,, vvyise.t1. 11,.eu1en
of animal sound to humans 23 . Paradoxically, by the redintegration of an ono-
matopoeic word into an animal context, the gauia acquires human features, ca-
lumniating gods by its chattering.
From this point of view, the 'gossipy' gauia herself bears some responsi-
bility for the fact that rumoribus conuiciisque uariis omnem Venerisfamiliam
male audire (125,14-5). As in the case of her literary predecessors, the appro-
priateness of the gauia's use of speech is questioned. But is it really only the
omniscient, heterodiegetic narrator of this tale, the anus, who shows her indig-
nation about spreading rumours and charges? ls the only function of the con-
demning description of this bird and its message to create the image of the gos-
sipy gauia, suiting the narrator's intention to tell an amusing tale to comfort
Charite? We should not forget that her narration of this inner tale is controlled
by Lucius, the auctorial narrator of the Met., and in the end by the auteur ab-
strait. We know that Lucius from his own experience had reason to be upset
about false charges, and that the danger of being falsely condemned is a per-
vading obsession in the Met. (Zimmerman-de Graaf 1993, 157). A reader fa-
miliar with Apuleius' Apology is possibly also reminded of the author's own
animadversions against conuicia 24 •
What is more, the 'fully switched-on' reader, reading the description of ru-
mours and charges as 'besmirching' or 'damaging' the name of the gods (om-
nem Venerisfamiliam male audire; lacerans existimationem), could recognize
this as an implicit criticism of corrupting stories about amorous adventures of
the gods 25 . This reader may thus be confronted with the 'Platonic theme of the
contrasting ways of telling stories of the divine' in the Met. (Schlam 1992, 97),
a good, beneficent way and a harmful, dangerous way. S/he could evaluate the
bird's message positively and negatively: on the one hand, s/he is able to read
a deeper truth about Love in the message itself (as is to be shown in section 2),
on the other hand s/he could judge it with the philosophus platonicus as a piece
23 Ga11niodenotes in a literal sense the sounds of animals, 'to whimper, snarl' (OW s.v.; cf.
6,6: 132,24 gannitu, also of birds which are servants of Venus); in a figurative sense, when
applied to people, gannio means 'maledicere', 'crirninari' (ThU s.v. 1692,7 f.), see Varro,
ling. 7, l 03 on the transferring of verbs reflective of animal sound to humans, mentioning as
an example gannire. The reversal of such a transference is also found in Verg. Aen. 12,718;
see Wheeler 1993, 453-454. For the double acc. construction, emended tofili[um] by most
editors, see GCA ad Joe. (forthcoming).
24 Cf. Apo/. 1,1 solis conuiciis; 1,4 istae columniae; 2,6 calumniis; 3,4 maledicta omnia, etc.
25 Cf. Pl. Rep. 377e, where Socrates expounds his theory of excluding poetry from his ideal
state, because it corrupts society by giving false views of gods and men; on the presence of
this idea in Cupid & Psyche see Schlam 1976, 38; 1992, 13, 97. A similar view is expressed
by Plutarch, Amatorius 757a-c which in other respects also is an important intertext for our
passage (see below, note 30).
A. n rra s 1..-nauer J/:J
of verbose 'poetry' that offends gods by giving a false view of them. It is in
this context that I would like to view the above mentioned stress on the artful,
elaborate structure ('uerbositas') of the gauia's words, and her own 'Homer-
ic' appearance. The ambiguous meaning offabula (both 'gossip' and 'story')
and the connection of this passage with others which mentionfabulae offend-
ing the gods (5,31: 128,3-4 domus meaefamosa fabula; 6,23: 145,28-146, 3
sat est cotidianis eum fabulis ob adulteria cunctasque corruptelas infamatum),
could even make the reader think of an implicit Platonic comment on the whole
story ('lepidis anilibusque fabulis') of Cupid & Psyche, which as a whole can
be read as a poetic 'Homeric' story about amorous adventures of gods 2 6 .
The idea of falsehood versus truth becomes apparent also in the next section,
which discusses the terms in which the gauia's descent to Venus is described.
1.2 praecipitatio in profundum
Although the scene with the talkative bird and the indignant goddess has its en-
tertaining function, at the same time, through the description of its character and
the negative valuation of the intention and form of its message, readers of this
story are led to form a rather low opinion of the gauia. They may have the same
opinion of Venus, who calls this bird her trusted and beloved servant (125,24-
5)27 and reacts to its message in an unappealing way. This negative tendency
is intensified by the choice of the location where Venus is staying (profundum
gremium: cf. OEL\IOU<; x6)..nou<;in Hom. Od. 5,52, cited in the last section; see
also the next section), and the terms in which the gauia's arrival at this place is
described:
tune auis peralba ilia gauia, quae super fluctus marinos pinnis natal, de-
mergit sese propere ad Oceani profundum gremium
26 See Kahane 1996, 78 on the double meaning offabula in the context of the Prologue to the
Met. ln the tale of Cupid & Psyche we find an exagger.ited Homeric anthropomorphic repre-
sentation of the gods, comparable to the way they are described in Lucian, see Keulen 1997,
221. An interesting background for this is Apul. Soc. 12,145-146: according to Apuleius,
the 'Homeric' gods are not the real dei cae/ites, but merely daemon_es who have human feel-
ings and passions. In light of this background, one could argue that philosophus platonicus
Apuleius in hisfabula of Cupid & Psyche 'unmasks' the Homeric gods as unreal (fictional)
by exaggerating their human features. On a micro-level, the gauia's message equally func-
tions as a poetic, fictionalfabula that unmasks gods.
27 Given the negative associations of the bird and the fact that it is not attested in the literary
tradition as a servant of Venus, this statement could have negative implications for Venus as
well. I thank Stelios Panayotakis for this insight
 174 Wytse H. Keulen
'At this point a bird, the white seagull who swims on wings above the waves,
dived buniedly down deep into Ocean's bosom.'
To the familiar picture of the ducking seabird 28 a sinister undertone is added by
the ominous significance of diving )...a.pm(Artemid. Onirocr. 2,17 p. HO), as we
have noted above. Diving and precipitation into the deep form a recurrent motif
in the Met.: noteworthy are passages where demergo with in + acc. or the verb
se praecipitare occur, all within a context of disaster or death, mostly linked
with eros and magic 29 .
The parallel use of (de)mergere and praecipitare calls to mind a connection
between the two illicit places where Cupid and Venus have retreated in their
secessio (the gauia parallels them as 'montano scortatu ... man·no natatu');
both places can only be reached by plunging into the deep. This happens in
5,27 (124,18) saltu se maximo praecipitem dedit, where Psyche's sister wishes
to reach Cupid's valley, but unfortunately makes real what is only a metaphor
in Thrasyllus' case (Met. 8,2: 178,4-6) in profundam ruinam cupidinis sese
... praecipitauerat), and is smashed to death in the 'ruina Cupidinis'(Dowden
1993, 100). The gauia is not actually hurled to her death, but her dive could be
interpreted as an ominous sign concerning the moral 'status' of the place the
bird plunges into, and of the person dwelling there (cf. my note 18).
In Plutarch we find proverbial imagery of being thrown into an abyss ofun-
belief by viewing the gods falsely 30 ; in paragraph 1.1 we saw that the gauia,
in a way, joins the people in damaging the reputation of gods, by spreading ru-
mours about their immoral behaviour ( 125, 13-4 per cunctorum ora populorum
rumoribus conuiciisque).
Equally significant is the fact that in 6,30 (152, 14-6) the narrator of aniles
fabulae, the old housekeeper of the robbers, is thrown over the cliff by them,
28 Cf. Varro L 5,78 quod mergendo in aquam captat escam; Ov. Met. 11,795 aequor amat
nomenque tenet, quia mergitur illo (bolh on the mergus); cf. reflex. use, e.g. Cic. N.D. 2,124
quae se in mari merge rent (Plin. Nat. 10,115).
29 Apul. M_e1. 2,25 (46,1-5) nee r,wra, cum me somnus profurulus in imum barathrum repente
demergu. ut ne deus quidem Delficus ipsefacile discemeret ... , quis esset magis r,wrtuus.
2,6 (29,18) me uolens ... prorsus in ipsum barathrum saltu concito praecipitare (on lessons
in magic); 5,18 (117,14-5) in profundum calamitatis sese praecipitauit (Psyche hurls herself
into disaster by listening to the lies of her sisters, see Mantovanelli 1981, 279); 8,2 (178,4-6)
in profundam ruinam cupidinis sese paulatim nescius praecipitauerat (sc. Thrasyllus) with
GCA 1985, 39 ad Joe.
30 Cf. Plutarch's Amatorius (Mor. 757a--c), also referred to in 1.1: in this Platonic dialogue
Plutarch criticizes the disrespectful opinion of 'ignorant' people, who give the gods a bad
reputation by identifying them merely with their own passions and emotions. According to
Plutarch, this false way of viewing the gods will only hurl us into an abyss of unbelief (757c ).
For the general influence of Plutarch on Apuleius see Walsh 198I, 20-32; Schlam 1992, I 5-
16.
A Bird's Chatter 175
tied up with the rope she committed suicide with: quam quidem detractam prot-
inus cum suo sibi funiculo deuinctam dedere praecipitem ('They immediately
pulled her down, tied her up with her own rope, and threw her over the cliff.').
Such a precipitation associates her with Psyche's deceitful sisters on the one
hand, and on the other hand with the gauia as a bearer of an artificial tale, in
which truth is both implied and denied 31 .
1.3 montano scortatu ... marino natatu: metamorphosis of allegory
We learn, then, from the gauia that people are gossiping about the gods, and that
they reproach them for their immoral behaviour. The main point of reproach
seems to be the secessio of Venus and Amor, their retreat from the world, with
disastrous consequences for civilization. These consequences are described in
detail by the gauia: I will discuss them in section 2. However, there is more
involved than secessio by itself, for the bird adds (125,15--6): ille quidem mon-
tano scortatu. tu uero marino natatu secesseritis ( 'They are saying that the two
of you have gone off on vacation, he to his mountainside whoring, you to swim-
ming in the sea'). What implications can these words have for a reader who is
aware of deeper levels of meaning and of unifying thematic patterns in the text?
On a 'comic' level, the words montano scortatu clearly indicate that Cupid
is messing about with a scortum. Venus interprets the 'affair' in similar terms,
as she reacts jeeringly (125,23-4): ergo iam ille bonus filius meus habet
amicam aliquam? (' So now that virtuous son of mine has a girlfriend, has
he?'). At the end of the tale, Jupiter uses a comparable expression to describe
Cupid's irresponsible behaviour, which he is going to check (6,23: 145,28-
146,3 cuius primae iuuentutis caloratos impetus freno quodam cohercendos
existimaui; sat est cotidianis eum fabulis ob adulteria cunctasque co"uptelas
infamatum. tollenda est omnis occasio et luxuria puerilis nuptialibus pedicis
alliganda ('I have decided that the hot-blooded impulses of his early youth
must be restrained by some bridle. There has been enough scandal from the
daily tales of his adulteries and all sorts of immoralities. We must remove
every opportunity, and chain his boyish self-indulgence with the shackles
of matrimony.'). 'Nuptialibus' connects this passage with the matrimonium
iustum-motif pervading the tale. Similarly, the words montano scortatu denote
31 I thank Stelios Panayotakis for this reference. I would like to suggest another parallel,
namely the sinking of the beautiful r,wns ligneus into a chasm in the earth (10,34: 264,25-
265,6), which symbolizes the destruction of a beautiful illusion proquced by artificiality
(Zimmerman-de Graaf 1993, 159-160).
 176 Wytse H. Keulen
the unlawful relationship between Cupid and Psyche, which is to become a
lawful one at the end of the story, thanks to Jupiter 32.
On an allegorical level, Cupid's behaviour is symbolic of the immoral be-
haviour of the people in both monde cite (there are no nuptiae coniugales) and
monde narre (for example, Lucius' seruiles uoluptates, and the adultery stories
in book 9). But at the beginning of the tale the allegorical function of the Love
god was different.
Paula James describes how Cupid in Cupid & Psyche in fact leaves his tra-
ditional role of Love god, in which he made people fall in love by shooting
his arrows, and becomes a lover himself (James 1988, 116) 33 . At the begin-
ning of the tale, Cupid is still in his traditional role 'at work and at play', and
as such responsible for immorality and ruined marriages. Thus the subnarrator,
the anus, describes Cupid as (4,30: 98, 19-23) puerum suum pinnatum ilium et
satis temerarium, qui malis suis moribus contempta disciplina publica ... om-
nium matrimonia corrumpens impune committit tanta jlagitia et nihil prorsus
bonif acit ( 'her son, that winged and headstrong boy who, with his bad character
and his disdain for_law and order[ ... ruins] everyone's marriages, and commits
the most shameful acts with impunity and accomplishes absolutely no good') 34.
Cupid is still in this role when Venus sends him to punish Psyche (4,31: 99,7-8)
amore fraglantissimo ... hominis extremi 35 • On an allegorical level, one could
observe that Cupid forsakes his traditional mythological duty by not executing
his mother's orders. He takes up a new role, that of the unlawful husband of
Psyche. He still causes omnipresent immorality, but now by his own immoral
behaviour, as alleged by the gauia.
Like her son, Venus abandons her traditional role after her final order that
Psyche ('Soul') be punished, by immediately leaving for the Ocean (4,3 l: 99, 12
ff.), where she reenters on stage in our passage. Both Cupid and Venus 'have
taken a vacation' from the role they played at the beginning of the tale. The
32 Venus' words in 5,28: 125,25 puerum ingenuum et inuestem similarly point to the matrimo-
nium iustum-motif, see Keulen 1997, 217 with n.66.
33 See also James 1987, 146: 'the falling in love of Love is an unnatural occurrence bound to
disturb the usual order of things.'
34 Also Jupiter, at the end of the story, describes Cupid in his traditional role (6,22: 145, 8-12)
istud pectus meum ... conuulneraris assiduis ictibus crebrisque terrenae libidinisfoedaueris
casibus contraque leges et ipsam luliam disciplinamque publicam turpibus adulteriis exis-
timationemfamamque meam laeseris. D. van Mai-Maeder points out to me that even during
his 'marriage' with Psyche Cupid may be still 'at work', for he leaves her every morning,
'to go to work'.
35 Cf. 5,24 (122,23) quae [sc. Venus] te miseri extremique hominis deuinctam cupidine in-
jin,o matrimonio-addici iusserat. As James 1987, 147, puts it: 'The situation is replete with
paradoxes'.
A Bird's Chatter 177
narrator brings the fact that Venus has gone off to swim (marino natatu) into
even closer focus, by actually presenting her bathing (lauantem natantemque)
at the very moment the gauia finds her, 'commodum' (125,10-1).
The parallellism montano scortatu ... marino natatu provokes the question
whether the underscored fact that Venus is not 'at work', but swimming and
bathing in the sea, could also have some symbolic significance.
To answer this question, one could observe first that Venus has returned to
her place of birth, as described in 4,28 (97,5) deam, quam caerulum profun-
dum pelagi peperit. As Mantovanelli (1981, 277-8) observes, the depths of the
ocean are aptly described here as the 'lap' (profundum gremium) from which
the goddess was born. Second, there might be an allusion to the 'Sea of Venus',
which belongs to the topic of the Sea of Love, comprehensively treated by P.
Murgatroyd in a recent article 36 • The Sea of Venus in love poetry represents
the agonies of love, in which the lover is 'shipwrecked'. It is not unlikely that
in antiquity visual representations of the bathing Venus 37, which sometimes
alluded to her birth from the sea, and the literary topic of the Sea of Venus
were mutually associated. An example of such an allegorizing interpretation is
found in Fulgentius (myth. 2,1 p. 40,18 ff.): hanc [sc. Venerem] etiam in mari
natantem pingunt, quod omnis libido rerum patiatur naufragia, unde et Porfir-
ius in epigrammate ait: 'nudus, egens, Veneris naufragus in pelago' ( 'they also
paint her swimming in the sea, because lust always suffers financial shipwreck,
whence also Porfirius says in an epigram: "naked, poor, shipwrecked in the Sea
of Venus"') 38 . If Fulgentius' way of interpreting indeed goes back to practices
that were also valid in Apuleius' time, we may have in our passage, as on other
36 See Murgatroyd 1995, 17: the expression xCiµC1. _. Kuitp100<;is first attested in Meleager (AP
12,84); see ibid. note 29 and p. 23 for more examples from the AP. A famous example from
Latin poetry in which the 'sea of love' plays a major role is Hor. Carm. 1,5. In Apuleius the
motif occurs at2,ll (34,5) nauigium Veneris and 5,23 (121,9) [Psyche] saucia mentefluctuat
(Murgatroyd 1995, 23). Cf. the description of the lascivious Photis in 2,17 (38, 15-18), who
is compared to Venus 'quae marinosjluctus subit'; cf. also 10,31 (262,6) [Veneris] amictus
caerulus, quod man" remeat.
37 In ancient art Venus was frequently represented bathing, cf. Plin. Nat. 36,35 who mentions
a 'Venerem lauantem sese', see A. Rouveret ad loc. with further lit. See also llMC s. v.
Aphrodite, 101-106 for pictures of bathing Venuses on vases, statues and coins in prehel-
lenistic and hellenistic times; sometimes the representation of the motif clearly alludes to
Venus' birth from the sea. Cf. Chariton 2,2, where Callirhoe is assimilated to the 'bathing
Aphrodite', a scene which functions as a 'clear sexual marker' (Egger 1994, 37-38).
38 Cf. Cann. alterc. Hadr. et Epict. 56 nuda Venus picta <est>, nudi pinguntur Amores I
<quod>, quis nuda placer, nudos dimittat oponet; see Counney 1993, 468 ('no doubt it is
using Fulgentius rather than the reverse'). Similarly, according to Fulg. myth. 2,12 p. 53,20
f., Dionysus is painted nudus because drunkards always wind up nudus (= destitute). I thank
Dr. G. Hays for these references.
178 Wytse H. Keulen A Bird's Chatter 179

occasions in Cupid & Psyche, an instance of a poetic motif blended with a well-
1 (syntactic parallellism; contrasting and 'rhyme')
known visual representation 39 . Although Venus is not 'at work' anymore, her
secesseritis
swimming in the sea is still a symbol for miserable passion tormenting the hu- (the 'central' word: 'principium omnium malorum')
man Soul.
ac per hoe
Thus, in a changed form compared to the beginning of the story, the activ- non uoluptas ulla, non gratia, non lepos (13)
ities of the two gods symbolize the negative aspects of love that ruin society:
sed
unlawful relationships and waves of passion in which people are ruined. Al- incompta et agrestia et horrida cuncta sint (13)
though Apuleius does not use a coherent, unequivocal allegorical technique, his (2 tricola; anaphora non ... non ... non and et ... et)
variety of symbols is more or less integrated into the thematic structure of the
story. To quote Schlam (1992, 16): 'Allegory in the Metamorphoses does not non nuptiae coniugales (8)
impede the narrative, but is rather one of the means by which the work makes non amicitiae sociales (10)
available a diversity of entertainment. Some readers respond to the code; others non liberum caritates (8)
enjoy the work without being stimulated to serious reflection.' (tricolon; anaphora non ... non ... non; 'rhyme')
sed ... enormrs eluures 42 (8)
2 The form and contents of the message (15)
et squalentium foe de rum insuiiul fiistfd'(um
(note e-e and rough sffet-sounds and homoeoteleuton -um)
2.1 Form
Thus, on the level of style, the promise both of the narrator of the Met. (1,1:
The following scheme shows the carefully wrought structure of the bird's 1,2-3 auresque tuas ... lepido susurro permulceam) and of the subnarrator, the
speech 40 which ancient rhetorical theory would characterize as suauis ora- anus (4,27: 96,14-15 te narrationibus lepidis ... auocabo) to produce delight
tio41, used to elicit admiration (Cic. Part. 22 quidquid est admirabile; cf. Apul. seems to be fulfilled. The exuberant style demonstrates the uerbositas of the
Met. 1,1: 1,6 ut mireris): curious bird (see above, 1.1); it apparently harmonizes with the content of her
ille quidem montano scortatu (10) message, which bears on noua and mira, as we have seen in the introduction 43•
tu uero marino natatu (9) This, however, is not the appropriate style to convince people of serious truths;
that would be the oratio probabilis, which should not be too adorned and pol-
ished (Cic. Part. 19 probabile ... genus est orationis, si non nimis est comptum
39 Cf. for instance Cupid's weapons (5,22: 120,23-24).
40 See Bernhard 1927, 72-3 on the 'Haufung des Trikolons'; see on the gradatio within the atque expolitum). If serious truths are to be found underneath the comic surface,
trikola Augello 1977, 131 and ibid. n. 33. On abundancy (nuptiae coniugales, amicitiae so- the gauia's exuberant style would not so much lend an emphasis to (Kenney
ciales) see Bernhard 1927, 175. 1990a ad loc. and Introduction, 37), but rather contrast with the serious con-
41 Cf. Cic. Pan. 21 suaue autem genus erit dicendi primum elegantia et iucunditate uerborum
sonantium et leuium; ... habeat ... similitudinem aequalitatemque uerborum, cum ex con-
tents.
trariis sumpta uerbis uerba paribus paria respondeant relataque ad idem uerb111net gemi-
nata ac duplicata uel etiam saepius iterata ponanturconstructioque uerborum twn coniunc- 2.2 Contents
tionibus copuletu,; tum dissolutionibus quasi relaxetur. 22fiet etiam suauis oratio, cum ali-
quid aut inusitatum aut inauditum aut 11ouumdicas. delectat etiam, quidquid est admirabile, 2.2.1 The twofold Venus: the intertextual background
maximeque mouet ea, quae motum aliquem animis ciet oratio (cf. also Pan. 32). Cf. Her-
mog. Id. 2,5 p. 344 Rabe, who mentions eros as a suitable theme for stories written in a style If we concentrate on the serious component of the peculiar seriocomic mixture
marked by y)-ux6,7Jc;(I thank Dr. E. Mignogna for this reference). Significantly, Photius
in Cupid & Psyche, there is a risk of overrating its value, losing sight of the
(Bibi. 129) describes Lucius of Patras with reference to his style as '<p[Aoc;
y AUXU,IJ-CO<;';see
Kuss) 1990, 386 ff. Cf. also Fronto p.215,21-28 (' Laudes fumi et pulueris' ,3) inprimis autem
sectanda est suauitas. Namque hoe genus orationis non capitis defendendi nee suadendae 42 On the possible lacuna between sed and enormis see GCA ad loc. (forthcoming).
leg is ... sed Jacetiarum et uoluptatis. [ ... Jfabulae deum uel heroum tempestiue i11Serendae 43 Cf. the observations on a comparable phenomenon, i.e. the connection between baroque style
. . . et non infacete conficta mendacia, dum id mendacium argumento aliquo lepido iuuetur. and contents in the context of Achilles Tatius by Mignogna 1995, 23-25.
 180 Wytse H. Keulen
general purport of this text, which is serio ludere. At the same time, allusions
to serious themes that can be retraced in the intertextual background are unmis-
takable, and throw light upon the meaning of our passage in the context of the
Met.
As an example of overrating the presence of an unequivocal, logical
truth underneath the story I would cite Kenney's general concept (adopted
for 'convenience's sake'), of Venus and Amor I and IT. Kenney alternately
identifies Venus I (Caeles) and Venus II (Vulgaria) - and corresponding Cupids
- merely according to the literary persona appearing in the story of Cupid &
Psyche (Kenney 1990b, 177-8) 44 , and tries to construct an allegory of the two
opposing kinds of love 45 . In my opinion, one should not push the duality too
far: in Apuleius' narrative there is really one Venus, and equally one Cupid,
although their ambivalent nature is omnipresent in the Met. (Kenney 1990b,
176 n.4 with lit.). An intertextual investigation and a scrutiny of the diction of
the message itself will show something of the subtle way Apuleius elaborated
this motif.
The idea that without the civilizing influence of love friendships disappear
and/or children are neglected occurs in several passages from Greek and Latin
literature, for instance Plato, Symp. 182c, Lucretius, 5,958-63 and 5,1012-
2046. Often in these passages a distinction is expressed between a positive
and a negative kind of love. However, this distinction cannot be equated with
the distinction physical - spiritual love: physical love can be both a negative,
destructive force (lacking the higher end of marriage or spiritual gratification)
and a positive, constructive force, producing marriages and friendships that
lead to mutual spiritual inspiration and development. Physical and spiritual
love, lower and higher love are intertwined.
Pausanias in Plato's Symposium (182c) formulates his theory oflove and
civilization in terms of extremes. As one extreme, he describes the con-
sequences of eliminating eras in a tyranny, namely that strong friendships
(q>LALct<; i.axupac;xctl XOL\1(,)\/Lct<;)
and philosophy, and all good things we get
from eras (o0~ f.J.CIALITT'ct ,ci -re:12AAct7t(l\l"tC(Xctl o Epwc;Ef.J.7t0LEL\I
(j)LAEL ), will
disappear.
44 For example, on p. 179-80 Kenney identifies Venus I on the basis of Lucretian allusions:
however, as I will show below, there is a problem in equating the Lucretian 'higher' Venus
and the Platonic/ Apuleian Venus Caeles.
45 Kenney 1990b, 187: 'This is not altogether easy to fit in to the allegory' and ' ... how does
that square with the allegorical "plot"?'; p. 188: 'It is ... the absence oflove in its higher
guise - Venus I and Amor I - that the tern is describing.'
46 I do not take into account Sen. Phaedr. 469--473 here (most commentators do), which is an
example of 'nature in travail' when Venus is gone, without the aspects of deteriorating so-
ciety and civilization.
A Bird's Chatter 181
At the other extreme are states less civilized than Athens, which lack any
morality concerning love. The Golden Mean is of course Athens, where cul-
ture and civilization are highly developed, a~d the morality of love is not 'sim-
ple' (a1tAW<;... wpLcr,ctL)but 'diversified' (JtoLx()..oc;,182b). There the loved one
does not give himself at random to a lover, but has to be conquered with the art
of verbal persuasion. Pausanias spurns only love that is exclusively directed to
the body, the 'common' love 47 • The Platonic distinction common - heavenly
'suggests that love may be more than physical, and that, insofar as it is directed
toward education and virtue, it may become a means to a spiritual end' (Allen
1991, 14) 48 .
The importance of human relationships and marriages as a criterion for
civilization occurs in the introductory paragraphs of Cicero's de inventione, in
which he describes the origin of rhetoric (Cic. Inv. 1,2):
nam fuit quoddam tempus, cum in agris homines passim bestiarum modo
uagabantur . .. , nondum diuinae religionis, non humani of{i,cii ratio cole-
batur, nemo nuptias uiderat legitimas, non certos quisquam aspexerat
liberos . . . ita propter errorem atque inscientiam caeca atque temeraria
dominatrix animi cupiditas ad se explendam uiribus corporis abutebatur;
pemiciosissimis satellitibus
'For there was a time when men wandered at large in the field like animals
... ; there was yet no ordered system of religious worship nor of social duties,
no one had seen legitimate marriage nor had anyone looked upon children
whom he knew to be his own; ... And so through their ignorance and error
blind and unreasoning passion satisfied itself by misuse of bodily strength,
which is a very dangerous servant" 49 .
The negative dominatrix animi cupiditas is purely physical lust 50 , a negative
force that enslaves the soul. There is some similarity with our passage, in the
we;
47 Symp. 181b c;>vxal t:pwm 'tWVcrwµchwv µanov ~ 'tWV\Jiuxwv, 1:ne:rnx /iv O\JVW'll'tCU
civorii:o,ci,wv, npoc; ,o lllctnpci~acr0m µ6vov p~Jnone:c; [cf. Cic. Inv. 1,2 ad se explerulmn],
<iµe:1-ouv,e:c;lie:'WU XCIAW<;~ µ~. Cf. 183d 1tOV1)pOc; exe:Ivoc; o mivllriµo~. b 'WU
11'EITT:!'11
crwµai:oc; µanov ~ ,Tjc;q,ux'ijc; t:pwv.
48 In fact, the two form part of one Aphrodite, see Allen 1991, 14. On the reading of Cupid &
Psyche as an allegory of Plato's Symposium see Habermehl 1996, 138 with lit.
49 Translation: H. M. Hubbell, Cicero, De Inventione, De Optima Genere Oratorum, Topica,
London/Cambridge Mass. 1960.
50 The Latin words cupido and cupiditas denote mere sexual and carnal desire, whereas amor
originally means the affection or devotion to the beloved person, like the affection between
children and parents or between friends; see Wlosok 1975, 172-3, 178; Kenney 1990b, 178
n. 8; cf. the etymology of amicitia in Cic. Lael. 26 amor ... ex quo amicitia nominata est;
31 omnis eius [sc. amicitiae]fructus in ipso amore inest.
182 Wytse H. Keulen
point that lack of human culture and civilization on a macro-level are connected
with the wrong relationship between the human soul and desire on a micro-
II
level. Therefore, development of culture and rhetoric implicitly requires a mat-
rimonium iustum between Love and Soul.
In Lucretius' account of the origin of human civilization two Venuses are
opposed (see Watson 1984, 391-2). Before civilization, men knew neither com-
munity nor laws (5,958--61) and were ruled by base lust (962--64):
et Venus in siluis iungebat corpora amantum;
conciliabat enim uel mutua quamque cupido
uel uiolenta uiri uis atque impensa libido:
I 'established' ambiguity by ironically connecting physical lust with civilizing
•And Venus joined the bodies of lovers in the woods; for either the woman
was attracted by mutual desire, or caught by the man's violent force and ve-
hement lust' 51 .
Next, Venus' civilizing force is described (5,1012-14 and 1016-20):
et mulier coniuncta uiro concessit in unum
*
cognita sunt, prolemque ex se uidere creatam,
tum genus humanum primum mollescere coepit.
et Venus inminuit uiris puerique parentum
blanditiis facile ingenium fregere superbum.
tune et amicitiem coeperunt iungere auentes
finitimi inter se nee laedere nee uiolari:
'and woman mated with man moved into one [home, and the laws of wed-
lock] became known, and they saw offspring born of them, then first the hu-
man race began to grow soft. ... and Venus sapped their strength, and chil-
dren easily broke their parents' proud spirit by coaxings. Then also neigh-
bours began to join friendship amongst themselves in their eagerness to do
no hurt and suffer no violence.'
The stress on legal marriage (cf. nuptiae coniugales), children's love (liberum
caritates) and social order among people (amicitiae sociales) points at the pres-
ence of a 'positive' Venus.
It is important to note that the Lucretian distinction between the negative
and the positive Venus is incompatible with the Platonic distinction between
S 1 Translation: W. H. D. Rouse, Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, London/Cambridge Mass. 4 1975.
A Bird's Chatter
the Earthly and Heavenly Venus we know from Plato's Symposium (180d) and
Apuleius' Apology 12. Unlike the Apuleian Venus Caeles of the Apology, the
183
Lucretian 'positive' Venus also stands for physical love. In the famous hymn
to Venus at the beginning of the poem she is celebrated as the eternal source
of life, responsible for the procreation of all living beings. In this respect, the
Apuleian Venus Vulgaria resembles the Lucretian 'positive' love 52 .
To sum up, the nature of physical love in the intertextual background is
ambiguous (especially in Plato and Lucretius), and physical and spiritual,
higher and lower love are only apparently opposed 53. Ovid plays with this
power, making Phaedra use the following sophistic argument (Ep. 4,102):
si Venerem tollas, rustica silua tua est (see James 1987, 176 n. 44). Similar
humour is found in the pseudo-Lucretian excursus at Ov. Ars 2,473-80, where
the first sexual act is presented as a big step forward towards civilization (Wat-
son 1984, 391-392). In the next section I shall show how Apuleius exploited
the ambiguities apparently already attached to literary discourse on Venus.
2.2.2 Verbal echoes of Apology 12
What does the gauia's choice of words reveal about the identity of the love
gods, in light of their ambivalent nature? The intertexts cited above show that
the elements non nuptiae coniugales, non amicitiae sociales, non liberum car-
itates in the gauia's message point to the absence of a 'positive' Venus and
52 Cf. Apul. Apol. 12,2 (on Venus Vulgaria) non solis humanis animis, uerum etiam pecuinis
et ferinis; 3 (Caeles) solis hominibus et eorum paucis. McCreight 1990, 47 shows a connec-
tion between Lucretius' prooemium and the description of Venus Vulgaria by verbal reminis-
cences: Luer. l, 12-3 perculsae; Apul. Apol. 12,2 perculsorum; 12,3 percellentem. I disagree
with Schlarn 1976, 37, who maintains that Apuleius in his Apology 'associates the heavenly
goddess with the sexual process of nature' (which would in fact be a Lucretian notion). The
Lucretian 'higher' Venus is also different from the Platonic Heavenly Love, who, although
not excluding physical aspects ( see above), is not a goddess of marriage and procreation, for
she is found not in the female, only in the male (Symp. 181c, see Allen 1991, 16-17). In light
of this, Kenney's general concept of Venus I and ll (see above) is highly questionable.
53 However, in Apuleius' Apology at first sight the two Venuses are quite strictly defined as op-
posing poles; on the one hand purely physical, negative love, on the other purely spiritual,
positive love. In this respect Apuleius goes further than Pausanias in the Symposium. This
could ~rhaps be explained by the fact that Apuleius wants to identify himself explicitly as a
follower (Apol. 12,3 sectatores: see McCreight 1990, 47 n.57) of Venus Caeles and to disso-
ciate himself from Venus Vulgaria. In defence of the accusation of leading an immoral life,
he e:iccludesphysical love much more explicitly than his Platonic model, Plato's Symposium,
did (Apo/. 12,4-5). See, however, the next section for a more positive view of Apuleius on
Venus Vulgaria.
 i
184 Wytse H. Keulen
f'
i•
Amor, as known from Plato (as far as friendships are concerned), Cicero and
Lucretius (friendships and marriages). The irony of the gauia's words will not
escape a reader who has observed in the Met. what happens when Venus is
present, a Venus who is obviously far from Caeles 54 .
Without the love gods, the world is said to be a grim place: squalentium
foederum insuaue fastidium. Whatever the exact translation of this convoluted
phrase should be 55, its implication is clear: without the inspiring and order-
ing influence of a 'higher' love, lust degenerates into fastidium, so that there
is no delight at all anymore, not even the lasciuia or amoenitas of a Venus Vul-
garia (see below), nothing but enonnis eluuies. Again, 'lower' and 'higher'
love are intertwined. A similar idea occurs in Plutarch (Amatorius 757e-f) who
describes Eros as the higher love god, without whom sex becomes a mere ap-
petite like hunger or thirst. Thanks to him Aphrodite prevents nausea, by mak-
ing friendships (cf. also 759f).
This brings us to the phrase non uoluptas ulla, non gratia, non Jepos. The
link between uoluptas and Venus will be recognized as foreshadowing Venus'
future grandchild, Voluptas (6,24: 147,1), who is eventually born as the lawful
child of Cupid and Psyche (which symbolizes legitimate pleasure as opposed
to illegitimate, slavish pleasure, see Keulen 1997,225). Both Venus and uo/up-
tas have sexual as well as spiritual connotations; their linking reminds us also
of the famous hymn to Venus (Luer. 1, 1-20), as has often been noted. The ab-
sent Venus appears thus to be the positive Venus as conceived by Lucretius,
who resembles the Apuleian Venus Vulgaria as the goddess of procreation of
all living beings (see above). The connecting of Venus with lepos is significant,
too. In Lucretius' prooemium lepor is a key word which associates Venus' cre-
ative power in nature with her inspiration of art, in this case Lucretius' literary
creation: cf. 1,15--6ita capta lepore I te sequitur cupide quo quamque induce-
re pergis ('so greedily does each one follow you, held captive by your charm,
whither you go on to lead them.'), and 1,28 aetemum da dictis, diun, /eporem
('Therefme all the more grant to my speech, goddess, an ever-living chann') 56 .
A similar connection between sexual and literary lasciviousness occurs in
the description of the two Venuses in Apuleius' Apology. He does this in a spe-
cific context: in defence of amoenitas and lasciuia in literature, he implicitly
praises the qualities of Venus Vulgaria. In the apparently positive description
54 At least it did not escape my colleague Dr. I. Hajdu, to whom I owe this acute observation.
55 On the divergent interpretations of this phrase see GCA ad loc. (forthcoming).
56 Cf. also Plaut. Cas. 217 f. omnibus rebus ego amorem credo[. .. J anteuenire nee potis quic-
quam commemorari, quod plus salis plusque leporis [. .. Jhabeat; 223 hominem ex tristi le-
pidum et lenem [sc. arnor facit].
A Bird's Chatter 185
of Venus Caeles one can read between the lines some approval of Venus Vul-
garia (Apo/. 12,3-4): nullis ad turpitudinem stimulis uel illecebris sectatores
suos percellentem; quippe amorem eius non amoenum et lasciuum, sed contra
incomtum et serium pulchritudine honestatis uirtutes amatoribus suis conci/i-
are ('not urging on her adherents with impulses and enticements to baseness;
her love/Love is not pretty and sportive, but rather unadorned and serious, rec-
ommending virtue to his lovers by the beauty of goodness') 57. According to
Apuleius, these aspects, amoenitas and lasciuia, when sublimated in literature,
can become positive. As illustration of this kind of sublimation he adduces var-
ious poems of, among others, Sappho and Plato which he quotes in Apology 9
to 1158.
In light of the manifest connection between eros and literary inspira-
tion/rhetoric in Plato, Lucretius and Apuleius' Apology, Venus' civilizing
influence includes the dimension of eros as a creative force, inspiring art.
This dimension seems to be reflected in the gauia's diction. Just like gratia 59
and /epos, incompta and horrida have literary-esthetical connotations 60 •
/ncompta is especially significant here, because it reveals another connection
57 Translation Kenney 1990b, 177.
58 Cf. Apul. Apol. 9,7 [fecit poemata] etiam mulier Lesbia, lasciue ilia quidem tantaque gratia,
ut . .. ; 11.3 lasciuius ... lepidiora. It is noteworthy that Hennog. Id. II, 4 p. 330--31 Rabe
mentions Plato and Sappho as examples of authors who write in a style characterized by
yAux•h7Jc; (see above, note 41).
59 See OLD s. v. 6c and see last note. But gratia has several shades of meaning that fit this con-
text: the 'social' meaning of 'goodwill, amity' (OLDs.v. 2, ThUs.v.2210, 17 ff.);the 'erotic'
meaning of 'pulchritudo', 'ucnustas' etc.; cf. Mart. ll,13,4 urbis deliciae salesque Nili I ars
et gratia. lusus et uoluptas, I Romani decus et dolor theatri atque omnes Veneres Cupidi-
nesque //we sunt co11dita,q110Paris, sepulchro [on the pantomime actor Paris]; Apul. Met.
2,8 (31,20-21) pleraeque indolem gratiam.que suam probaturae lacinias omnes exuunt; 2,9
(32,7-9) capillis color gratus et nitor splendidus ... in conrrariam gratiam uariat; 32,21-22
[on Fotis' hair] in mea Fotide 110noperosus, sed inordinatus ornatus addebat gratiam (cf.
2, 10: 33,3 nee diutius quiui tantum cruciatum uoluptatis eximiae sustinere). See Thl.L, ibid.,
2212,65 ff.
60 Cf. Cic. de Orat. 1,234 artem [sc. Scaevolae] cum indotatam esse et incomptam uideres,
uerborum eam dote locupletasti et omasti; Nep.frg. 26 qui [sc. Cicero] philosophiam ante
eum incomptam Latinam sua conformarit oratione. Gell. 10,3,15 [verba] incompta et breuia
et non operosa. See ThU s.v. incomptus, 997,47 ff. 'ineruditus, non !imatus, simplex'. This
can be a positive judgment: cf. Cic. orat. 78 haec subtilis oratio etiam incompta delectat; Att.
2,1,1 quamquam tua ilia (legi enim libenter) horridula mihi atque incompta uisa sunr, sed
tamen erant ornata hoe ipso quodomamenta neglexerant. A parallel that combines the con-
cepts 'erudition', 'grace' and 'society' and contrasts them with 'incomptus' and 'horridus',
is Aur. Viet. Caes. 40,13 cum sine his [sc. eruditione, elegantia, comitate] naturae bona quasi
incompta aut etiam horrida despectui sint. The adjective ag restis is often opposed to doctus,
see ThU s.v. doceo (doctus) 1764,12.
 186 WytseH. Keulen
with Apuleius' Apology. The two Venuses described there apparently man-
ifest themselves in two literary styles, one full of charm, wit and grace, the
other unadorned and serious. The 'fully switched - on reader' of the Met. is
reminded of other passages in the novel, where style is described by the same
terminology 61 , and may especially recall the old woman's narrationes lepidas
(4,27: 96,14-15), of which the suauis oratio of our gauia takes part.
Bearing this in mind, the words non uoluptas ulla, non gratia, non lepos,
sed incompta et ag restia et horrida cuncta would suggest that the positive influ-
ence of Venus as 'Vulgaria' is lacking, leaving the world in a jejune, uncivilized
and uninspired state 62 . The gauia's message pompously reproduces the well-
known motif of the beneficial influence of eros on civilization. Again, a 'con-
struing' reader would note the ironical contrast of this message with the nega-
' tive significance of uoluptas and gratia on the level of the monde narre, recall-
r: ing for instance the voluptuous descriptions of Photis, who is explicitly com-
I'
pared to Venus and connected with magic, including Lucius' seruiles uolup-
tates63. These diametrically opposed views on Venus' inspiring influence ap-
pear also on the level of style: on the one hand, g ratia and lepos manifest them-
selves abundantly in the charmingfabulae of the Met., on the other hand, im-
plicit questions are raised about poetic fabulae which give false representations
of the gods, like the one of the uerbosa et satis curiosa auis.
61 For example Met. 9, 14 (213,6-8): fabulam denique bonam, prae ceteris suaue comptam,
ad auris uestras adferre decreui, et en occipio ('So, I have decided to tell you a good tale,
more neatly turned than any other, and here I begin.'). Text and translation are from GCA
1995,133, who quote ad comptam GCA 1981,52 on 6,28 (150,11-13) 'almost a technical
tenn of literary criticism', and adduce parallels for come re in rhetorical context. Similar are
other introductions in the Met. lo tales that promise narrative delight, like the fabularum
lepida iucwulitas (1,2: 3,7-8) Lucius is expecting of Aristomenes' tale. Last but not least,
the prologue to the Met. (1,1: 1,3--4) promises that aures ... tuas beniuolas lepido susurro
permulceam. See supra, chapter 2.1 on the difference between oratio suauis and probabilis
(which according to Cic. should not be too compta).
62 This contrast between 'lasciuia' and 'rusticitas' recurs in 5,30 (127,14-6) (Venus in solilo-
quy) petamne auxilium ab inimica mea Sobrietate, quam propter huius ipsius luxuriam of-
fendi saepius? at rusticae squalentisque feminae conloquium prorsus ho"esco ('Should I
ask help from my enemy Temperance, whom I have so often offended precisely because
of my son's extravagance? But I shudder at the thought of talking to that crude and dirty
woman.'), which could be regarded as Venus Vulgaria scorning a characteristic (sobrietas) of
Venus Caeles. Cf. Ov. epist. 4,102 quoted above in section 2.2.1. A similarscom is found in
the Apology, where 'rustic' terminology depicts Apuleius' opponent as an uncivilized nitwit:
23,5 tu uero, Aemiliane, et id genus homines uti tu es inculti et agrestes; 30,3 rudis ... litte-
rarum; 66,6 rudi et indocto ... rustici et barbaro; see McCreight 1990, 42.
63 2,7 (30,18-23); 2,17 (38,15--39,1). See above, notes 36 and 59 (the description ofthegratia
of Photis' hair).
A Bird's Chatter 187
3 Conclusion
The gauia's message is a pivotal event for recipients on different levels. One
can observe Venus' indignant reaction on the level of the monde cite. On the
level of the monde narre, there is no direct reaction from Charite, but later on
we read a phrase spoken by her that appears to be influenced by the gauia. Her
return to the world of nuptiae coniugales and liberorum caritates after being
liberated from the robbers is only temporary: the newly-weds become the vic-
tims of Thrasyllus, who is in the grip of Venus adulterina (Dowden 1993, 99-
100).
Before putting out Thrasyllus' eyes, Charite describes his terrible fate in
terms of a loveless future, recalling our passage (8,12: 186,18-23): lumen certe
non uidebis, manu comitis indigebis. Chariten non tenebis, nuptias nonfrueris,
nee mortis quiete recreaberis nee uitae uoluptate laetaberis, scd incenum si-
mulacrum errabis inter Orcum et solem: 'Assuredly you will not see the light
and you will need some companion's hand; you will not possess Charite and
you will enjoy no marriage; you will neither be refreshed by the sleep of death
nor delighted by the pleasure of life, but you will wander as an uneasy phantom
·I between Orcus and the sun') 64 . Just like TI-.:-:!Syllus',Charite's emotions have
shifted from nuptiae coniugales to destructive passion 65• By her relentless re-
venge Charite become:; one of those who make up the cruel world without ami-
citiae sociales that we enter reading Met. 8 through 10. The gauia turns out to
be a prophetic bird, like her literary predecessors.
Th.issugge~ts that underneath the amusing surface of Cupid & Psyche a se-
rious truth is lurking. This truth concerns the importance of Love as an abstrac-
tion, and is applicable on different levels and to different persons. The allegori-
cal substratum is not cx1tAouv but 1tmxt)..ov.Love's ambiguous character is con-
nected with significant polarities with which this novel is replete. It is reflected
in the thematic structure of the novel as a whole, which moves from love as a
force that leads astray to love as a source of salvation.
On the level of the narrative (recit) itself, the ambiguous nature of Venus
is manifest in the contrast between fonn/style and content: the suauitas and
uerbositas of the gauia, intended to produce the promised delight in the
64 The terms comitis and nuptias reflect non amicitiae sociales, non nuptiae coniugales; nee
... uoluptate laetaberis reflect non uoluptas ulla; cf. also the two negative tricola followed
by sed. VdPaardt 1981, 24 points to the contrast between this passage and 6,23 (146,10-
12) 'sume ... Psyche, et imnwrtalis esto nee umquam digredietur a tuo nexu Cupido, sed
istae uobis erunt perpetuae nuptiae.' On the contrasting fates of Charlie and Psyche see also
Dowden 1993, 99; James 1987, 197-199.
65 See Shumate 1996, 105--106 on similarities between Thrasyllus and Charite.
 Wytse H. Keulen

reader/hearer of the story, contrast with the serious truths that are touched
on. The art of rhetoric is fully exhibited, but at the same time questioned,
both by the highly ironical purport of the message and by criticism of its
uerbositas. A condemnation of exuberant style is combined with a warning
against harshness (incompta). A piece of fiction calumniating gods raises at
the same time questions about the true nature of Love, and its role in culture
11pittore a le volte epuro poeta
and society. The reader is delighted (lector; intende: laetaberis) by the poet Cupid and Psyche in Italian Renaissance Painting*
with a charming story of a Love Affair, but also invited by the philosophus
platonicus to mistrust poetry, to inquire into submerged truth and to search for
the Golden Mean.
Jan L. de Jong
At the heart of the novel, at the bottom of the Ocean, all these polarities
Groningen
and paradoxes are united in one pivotal event, the narrative of the secession
of Venus and Amor by the curious gauia, 'tarnficti prauique tenax quam nun-
tia ueri' (Verg. Aen. 4,188). If we view this literary work in Platonic terms, its
origin must have been a soul who was not a slave of cupiditas, but contracted a Ever since the rediscovery of Apuleius' Metamorphoses around 1350, the
matrimonium iustum with Amor, who reminded him of the Idea of the Beauti- epi~;)(ie of Cupid and Psyche has been a popular theme in painting. Already
66 before the invention of book printing, when the Metamorphoses and Boccac-
ful . The spiritual offspring ofthis marriage is a creation with uoluptas, gratia
and lepos that has survived to our time, and thus can lay claim to the immortal cio 's extensive st:mmary of Cupid and Psyche's adventures were available
fame and remembrance Diotima mentioned in the Symposium (209c--d). Volup- only as manuscripts, painters were familiar with the story and made detailed
tas has truly become an immortal child. representations of it. 1 The first i,ri'lted edition of the Metamorphoses appeared
in Rome, in 1469, and new editions, L,munentaries, translations (in various
languages), free renderings and adaptations soon followed. 2 The number of
paintings showing Cupid and Psyche rapidly increased.
In this article I will discuss a few of those paintings, which were made in
Italy in the course of the 15th and 16th centuries. 3 The question I want to raise
is: how did the artists handle Apuleius' text? It is often - tacitly - assumed that

* For useful advice and suggestions I am very grateful to Dr. D. van Mai-Maeder, Dr. E.M.
Moonnann, Dr. E.J. Sluijter, Dr. H. Th. van Veen, and Dr. M. Zimmerman. Drs. E.H.C.M.
Kleijn made the diagram of fig. 1 and Mrs. D. Schreurs helped me to obtain illustrations. My
wife Elizabeth corrected my English.
A separate bibliography of works referred to in this article has been added after the
Appendix.
Examples in Vertova 1979, 107-113, and Vertova 1993, 28-31. Boccaccio summarized the
Cupid and Psyche-episode in his Genealogiae deorum gentilium from around 1370, book V,
22 (ed. V. Romano I, 255-61; see bibliography).
2 See the very useful survey in Lemaitre 1939, 350-351.
3 I am not aiming at an exhaustive listing of all the representations of Cupid and Psyche in
Italian Renaissance painting; this has already been done by Vertova 1993 (her listing, though,
is not complete: missing, for example, is a painting by Giorgio Vasari from ea. 1555, in the
66 Apul. Apol. 12,5 neque enim quicquam aliiul in corporumforma diligendum quam quod Bode Museum in Berlin; see Corti 1989, 100, nr. 77.). I have kept references to literature
ammoneant diuinos animos eius pulchritudinis, quam prius ueram et sinceram inter deos limited to what is relevant for this paper and I have not tried to give a complete bibliography
uidere; see Butler-Owen ad Joe. on the topic of Cupid and Psyche in Italian art.
190 Jan L. de Jong
painters who illustrated classical texts tried to do that as literally as possible, us-
ing the original Latin. But is this a correct assumption? It has recently become
clear that painters usually did not read Latin. 4 Even an artist like Titian, who
painted so many mythological scenes, had to rely on translations, adaptations
or oral explanations. 5 But one still may wonder if the artists, even if they used
translations or free renderings of the original text, could illustrate the text lit-
erally and if they aimed at that. After all, they worked not with words but with
visual means, which have other possibilities and limitations. I will first discuss
an example of an attempt to render (a translation of) Apuleius' text literally, and
then examine some examples of a more creative way of illustrating the story of
Cupid and Psyche. To make this point clear, I will not discuss these examples in
chronological order. First, however, it is necessary to go briefly into the ques-
tion of how the story of Cupid and Psyche was interpreted in the period under
discussion. 6
Interpretations
Even though Apuleius' Metamorphoses was rediscovered around 1350, the
story of Cupid and Psyche had never been totally unknown. At the end of the
fifth century Fulgentius had summarized their adventures in his Mythologiae
(3,6) and 'explained' them as an allegory of the human soul. Other writers
from late Antiquity interpreted the story less seriously. Macrobius, writing
around 400, was amazed that Apuleius had occasionally bothered himself to
write fabulae: stories which can not be taken serious and which coritain at best
some moral exhortation: ' ... Apuleium non numquam lusisse miramur ... '. It
seems certain that Macrobius hinted at the Cupid and Psyche story. 7
When the story of Cupid and Psyche became widely known again, in the
14th century, its readers were 'preconditioned' to consider it as an amusing,
humorous tale with an edifying content. It is along these lines that Boccaccio
explained the story in his Genealogiae, and so did later authors and commen-
tators. None of them bothered to explain exactly what was amusing or humor-
ous about the story: I guess because they figured that that was quite obvious. It
4 Guthm!iller 1977, 43-53; Ciofetta & Vicini 1991.
5 Ginzburg 1978, 10-12.
6 For a fuller discussion of how the story was interpreted, see De Jong 1987,185-189, and De
Jong 1989, esp. 75-77.
1 Somn. Seip. 1,2,7-8. In considering the story of Cupid and Psyche as afabula, Macrobius
followed Apuleius' own characterisation of the story. In Met. 4,27 he makes the old woman
who tells the story to the captive girl, say: 'Sed ego te na"ationibus lepidis anilibusque fa-
bulis protinus avocabo.'
Il pittore a le volte epuro poeta 191
seemed more of a problem to explain exactly what the edifying moral content of
the story was. Apuleius had not given a clear clue to the meaning of the story, 8
and Fulgentius' 'explanation' was not rejected outright, but neither was it to-
tally embraced. In the foreword to the editio princeps of 1469 (Rome), Giovan
Antonio de'Bussi explained Apuleius' Metamorphoses as a depiction of hu-
man mores, which teaches man to be cautious and prudent. The Jabula of Cupid
and Psyche - according to de'Bussi - forms part of that depiction, and whoever
wants to know the exact meaning of it is referred to the explanation of the well-
learned Fulgentius: 'He was among the first to have written a commentary on
this tale'. 9 In his Metamorphoses-commentary of 1500 Filippo Beroaldo was
just as vague in his explanation of the tale, but a little more overtly critical of
Fulgentius. He did refer extensively to the latter's explanation, but added that
he did not want to pursue it, 'so as not to seem a philosophaster rather than a
commentator.' 10 In 1525 Mario Equicola started his (Neo-platonic) explana-
tion of the story with the cautious formula: 'Salva la reverentia qual devemo a
. . ed ,11
Ful gentlo, 10 er o ...
How then was the story interpreted as Fulgentius' explanation met with
some scepticism'? No-one, as far as I know, wrote a long or detailed interpre-
tation of the story. The various interpretations agree on Psyche as a symbol of
8 See, however, n.7.
9 Apuleii Metamorphoseos liber ac nonnula alia opuscula eiusdem. .. (no page numbers):
'Quoin toto sermone, si quis recte intendat, mores humanos efficto.s liquido perspiciet ex-
plicari et impraemeditatas fallaciarum argutias discet, quibus etiam cauti saepissime capi-
antur, cum non lwmo homini, sed lupus sit potius homo, ut scite Plautus inquit, dum qua/is
.sit homo, non noscitur. lnspergit tamen ubique res eiusmodi noster Lucius, ex quibus om-
nium emditissimus ut praedixi illius temporis monaliumfacilefuisse videatur. Quod ex ea
potissimum cernere est fabula, quam obiter anum quandam consolatricem puellae captivae
referentem inducit. Quam quidem rem qui certius cupiunt nos.se, Fu/gentii de ea ip.safictione
interpretamenta perquirant. ls enim vir doctus in primis commentatus e.st il/am.'
10 P. Beroa/di Commentarii conditi in AsinumAureum lucii Apuleii, Bologna 1500, 95-r: 'Fa-
bula est oratio ficta verisimili dispositione imaginem exhiben.s veritatis. [. .. ] Ergo igitur in-
ducitur anus con.solatrix refere11Spuellae captivae fabulam lepidissimam, non mbws scienter
quam eleganterconcinnatam, de Psyche et Cupidine, cuius interpretamenta extant a Fulgen-
tio viro apprime docto composita, qui ex physica subtilitate et sensu allegorico illam com-
mentatus est. A quo haec tota res ad animam refenur, quae Graece dicitur \lrux11- [Follows a
paraphrase of Myth. III, 6, continued on p. 95-v] Sed nos non tam allegorias in explicatione
huiusce f abulae spectabimus, quam historic um sensum, et rerum reconditarum verborumque
interpretationem explicabimus, ne philosophaster magis videar quam commentator.'
11 66-v...fJ7-r(book II, 4): 'Salva la reverentia qual devemo a Fulgentio, io credo potersi ap-
plicare tal fabula alla divisione de I' anima platonica, in ragione ira e cupidita, per Psiche la
ragion intendendo, per le due sorelle la ira e cupidita. Il resto con poca fatiga al vero senso se
redurria benche non sempre si trahe da le fabule in ogni parte ii vero, ne sempre in lor sono
avolti altri sensi che le parole sonano.'
 192 Jan L. de Jong
man, who through suffering, patience, and divine help finally reaches heaven,
but it seems that everyone was free to interpret the details according to his or
her own liking. The main line of interpretation can be summarized by quoting
Antonio Viti da Urbino, who wrote around 1500: I
-I
·j,
Questa [Psiche] el' anima nostra, che cum grandissime fatiche da le brutture
del mondo levandose, piglia l'ale, da Jove per grazia concesseli, pogiando
col divino aiuto insino al Cielo, dove, per merito de le sue fatighe, la felice
vita prendendo, diventa Dea. 12
Mario Equicola, who was quoted before, explained why he gave only a very
summary interpretation of the Cupid and Psyche story:
II resto con poca fatiga al vero senso se redurria bencbe non sempre si trahe
dale fabule in ogni parte il vero, ne sempre in lor sono avolti altri sensi che
le parole sonano. 13
Perino del Vaga
From 1543 to 1548 Perino del Vaga and his assistants worked on the decora-
tion of the recently extended papal apartment on top of Castel Sant' Angelo, on
the right side of the Tiber in Rome. From 1545 through 1546 they decorated
one of the rooms with a frieze in fresco showing the story of Cupid and Psy-
che. The function of the room is not quite clear, but it seems to have been des-
. d roam
tme . 1Yfior pnvate
. use. 14 The frieze runs uninterrupted over all four walls
of the room and consists of nine scenes, divided by grottesche and winged fe-
male figures. These nine scenes follow closely the story as it is told by Apuleius.
Some episodes have been left out, most probably for reasons of space. 15 Lim-
ited space also forced Perino to combine two or three episodes within the frame
12 Viti wrote these words as a commentary on the following lines from Matteo Maria Boiardo 's
Capitoli del giuoco dei tarocchi: 'Pazienza Psiche ebbe ne i casi soi,/E perofu soccorsa ne
Ii affani / E facta Dea nel fin, ch'exempio ad noi.', in Tune le opere (see bibliography), II,
711 and 714.
13 See before, n.11 and n.6.
14 De Jong 1987, 198-199.
15 The episode of Psyche's sisters visiting and Psyche performing her second and third task
have not been included. The scenes show: 1: The old woman telling the story of Cupid and
Psyche (Met. 4,27); 2: Venus indicating Psyche to Cupid; the oracle of Apollo (Met. 4,30-
32); 3: Psyche's 'wedding procession' (Met. 4,34); 4: Psyche - a11dthe invisible Cupid -
dining (Met. 5,3); 5: Psyche admiring Cupid in his sleep; Cupid's flight (Met. 5,22-24); 6:
Venus rebuking Cupid; Venus complaining to Ceres and Juno (Met. 5,29-31); 7: Psyche mis-
treated; the first labour (Met. 6,9-10); 8: Psyche fulfilling thefounh labour (Met. 6,20-21);
9: Psyche carried to Heaven; the wedding banquet of Cupid and Psyche (Met. 6,23-24).
Good illustrations of all the scenes in D'Onofrio 1984, 108-113.
II pittore a le volte epuro poeta 193
of one scene. The fourth scene, for instance (ill. 1) shows in the center Psyche
having dinner, and at the left again Psyche, making love to Cupid after dinner.
The choir of singing persons on the right and the serving women on the left
show that Perino also followed Apuleius' text closely in its details. The same
can be observed in the last scene, which shows Cupid and Psyche's wedding
banquet (ill. 2). In the lower left comer Mercury introduces Psyche to the gods,
while the rest of the scene is filled with as many gods as possible. The Horae
sparkle flowers and Psyche is sitting (more or less) on Cupid's lap, in accor-
dance with the description of Apuleius.
Perino's scenes are not based on Apuleius' text only. He also used visual
examples. Some years earlier, around 1530-1538, a series of 32 prints was
made by the so-called Maestro del Dado after drawings by Michael Coxie.
They showed the story of Cupid and Psyche, and were each explained by
a poem in ottave rime by Antonio Salamanca. 16 A comparison of Perino's
fresco showing Psyche at dinner (ill. 1) with the print of the same subject (ill.
3) makes it abundantly clear that Perino may have had one eye on the text of
Apuleius, but must have had the other on the print. One thing Perino could
not adopt however, was the written explanation at the bottom. Salamanca's
little poem explains something which is not immediately obvious in the
representation: Psyche does not see any of the persons around her. This does
not become clear at all in Perino's painting and it can only be grasped by
someone who knows the story well. Perino has complicated this even more
by not following the example of the print exactly. The Maestro del Dado has
shown Cupid sitting next to Psyche but not actually touching her. The poem
explains that 'Amor l' e intomo'. Perino, however, shows Cupid and Psyche
caressing each other. That is the result from merging two separate moments
into one: Psyche having dinner and Cupid getting into Psyche's bed. 17 It now
seems as if Cupid and Psyche are having dinner in bed while embracing each
other.
In the print the explanatory poem made it unnecessary to find visual means
to make it clear that Psyche does not see any of the persons around her. Perino
had to work without explanatory inscriptions but failed to come up with visual
means to express the point of the story, which is that all persons in the scene are
invisible to Psyche. In a sense he followed the text of Apuleius literally, but it
will only be clear to those who know this text well what is actually going on.
Obviously Perino did not find adequate means to tum words into images.
16 von Bartsch 1803-1821, XV, 39-70 (p. 212-224). Perino must also have been familiar with
Raphael's frescoes in the Villa Farnesina, which. will be discussed below.
17 Met. 5,3-4.
 194 Jan L. de Jong
Similar problems can be observed in Perino's other paintings. The first
scene, for instance, shows the old woman with the captive girl to whom she
tells the tale of Cupid and Psyche, and Lucius transformed into a donkey
standing by their side. This scene is based on the first print from the Maestro
del Dado's series, where Salamanca's poem explains what the old woman and
the captive girl have to do with the tale of Cupid and Psyche. In Perino's series,
however, this scene seems unrelated to the other scenes and its presence can
only be grasped by those who know the story well.
The wedding banquet scene (ill. 2) is confusing in another way. Perino
followed Apuleius' text accurately. Psyche figures two times in it (just as she
does in other scenes) as a result of the combination of several episodes into
one scene. This was not unusual, however, and it has a certain logic. On the
left Psyche is shown entering heaven and on the right she is celebrating her
wedding. Cupid is also represented twice, but not as an actor in a continuing
story. He is sitting with Psyche at the table, in accordance with Apuleius' text.
But next to Psyche is seated a goddess, with a winged little boy who looks
like Cupid. Lack of space made it impossible to represent Venus dancing, as
Apuleius describes. Venus' part in the story, however, made her important
enough to include her in the scene of the wedding banquet, and that is what
Perino did, but to make her recognisable as Venus he added her usual 'att-
tribute': the little winged boy Cupid! The result is that Cupid figures twice
in the scene: once as a main character of the story and once as an attribute of
Venus. 18
Raphael
Some 25 years before Perino, in 1517 and 1518, Raphael and his assistants
worked on the decoration of the northern loggia of the Villa Farnesina, on the
right bank of the Tiber in Rome, just a little south of the Vatican and Castel
Sant'Angelo (ill. 4). Raphael was a busy man who had many projects running,
so he left most of the execution of the fresco paintings in the Farnesina loggia
to his assistants, of whom Giulio Romano and Gianfrancesco Penni were the
most prominent. The villa got its present name only after it was acquired by
IS While in this scene the difference between Cupid as a young man and Cupid as a little boy
can be explained, it can not in other scenes. Perino's fifth scene, for instance, shows Psyche
admiring Cupid as a sleeping young man. The surprise of having been discovered must have
made Cupid spontaneously shrink, for he is seen flying out of the window as a little boy. The
Maestro de! Dado consistently showed in all his prints Cupid as a little boy, which makes for
quite comic effects, especially in the more erotic scenes.
11pittore a le volte e puro poeta 195
Alessandro cardinal Farnese in 1581. It was built, however, and decorated by
order of Agostino Chigi, a rich and influential banker. 19
The Cupid and Psyche paintings were still unfinished in 1520, when both
Raphael and Agostino Chigi died. The vault, the soffits and the spandrels
(except a strip at the bottom) had all been painted, but the lunettes and the
walls were still undecorated. Around 1690 the spandrels were finished by
Carlo Maratta, while the lunettes and walls were decorated with respectively
illusionistic windows and niches. Already around 1650 the open arches on the
north side, through which one entered the loggia from the garden, were closed
with glass.
Why the paintings were never completed is not clear. Curiously, none of our
sources even mentions the fact that they were not finished. Leonardo Sellaio,
who reported to Michelangelo on January 1st, 1519, wrote only that the paint-
ings had been revealed and that he considered them 'chosa vituperosa a un gran
maestro'. 20 Giorgio Vasari's account, from 1550, is amusing but an anecdote
rather than a true story, and its conclusion is obviously not correct. Raphael,
according to Vasari, was so much in love that he could not concentrate on paint-
ing. This made Agostino Chigi fear that he would never finish the loggia. So he
had the woman Raphael was in love with come and stay with him in the loggia,
'il che fu cagione che il lavoro venisse a fino.• 21
How the decoration of the loggia should have been finished is a matter of
speculation. There are some sketches by Raphael which seem to indicate that
he planned to paint Cupid and Psyche scenes also in the lunettes, and it has been
suggested that the walls were to be decorated with scenes from the same story,
either as wall paintings or as tapestries. 22
In its present state the loggia shows ten scenes from the story on the ten
spandrels (see fig. I and ill. 4). These scenes sometimes illustrate episodes
which follow each other closely in the story, but they skip other, rather long
episodes totally. The fourth, fifth and sixth scene, for instance, show episodes
which are described by Apuleius in sequential chapters: Venus ascending to
Olympus (Met. 6,6; ill. 5), Venus imploring Jupiter for help (Met. 6,7; ill. 6)
and Mercury summoning to find Psyche (Met. 6,8; ill. 7). Nothing of what
19 For a briefoutline of the history of the villa and its decorations, see Gerlini 1990. Illustrations
of practically all the paintings in the villa - unfortunately not all in color and not_always of
good quality - can be found in Hermanin 1927.
20 Golzio 1936, 65. Sellaio dated his letter on January 1st, 1518, but as he used the Floren-
tine kalender, which started the new year on March 1st, he wrote in 1519 according to our
calendar.
21 Vasari, ed. Bettarini & Barocchi, testo IV, 200.
22 Shearman 1964, 66-70; Marek1984, 269-275.
196 Jan L. de Jong
happens to Psyche is shown till the seventh scene, where she is carrying
Proserpina's beauty case up to heaven (Met. 6,21). The ceiling shows two
events which happen close after each other: the council of the Gods and the
wedding banquet. The soffits show scenes which are related to the story of
Cupid and Psyche but do not form part of it: amorini flying around with the
attributes of the various classical gods.
In spite of recent speculations about the scenes that were planned for the
lunettes and maybe the walls, it is clear that the story could never have been
illustrated completely. The available space simply was too limited to include
all important, subsequent episodes. 23 It does not, however, seem to have both-
ered contemporary visitors of the villa. None who wrote about the loggia com-
mented about the fact that the paintings were unfinished or that the story was
illustrated in a fragmentary way. 24
Whether or not the story had to be continued in the lunettes and on the walls,
one thing is clear: Raphael managed to escape the problem of visibility ver-
sus invisibility that Perino was struggling with. The first six scenes in the log-
gia deal with only gods who can see each other. By the time Psyche enters the
scenes, mortals and gods are all visible to each other. One may even wonder if
the first six scenes were not selected just because they show things which should
normally be invisible to mortals. In the first scene Venus points out Psyche to
Cupid. This episode also figures in Perino's second scene in Castel Sant' An-
gelo, together with Psyche being adored and Psyche's father consulting the or-
acle. To make clear that Venus and Cupid are invisible to the mortals on earth,
Perino represented them in a cloud. Raphael however has represented Venus
and Cupid in a separate scene. The second scene also shows something which
is not supposed to be visible to mortals. It is an episode not told and hardly
implied by Apuleius, even though it must have taken place at some point dur-
ing the story: Cupid pointing out Psyche to his servants and instructing them. 25
23 Cf. Marek1984, 275: 'Die Geschichte Amors und Psyches sollte nicht vollstandig wieder-
gegeben werden.'
24 Sebastiano Serlio wrote in his Regole ge11erali di architettura from 1537 (quoted after
Golzio, 285) about the (unfinished!) figures in the spandrels: '[Raphaello da Urbino] fece
nel nascimento delle lunette figure piacevoli, fuggendo i scurci, quantunque ei ne sapesse
et ne intendesse quanto alcun altro.' Giorgio Vasari wrote in 1550 (ed. Bettarini & Baroc-
chi, testo rv,200-201) about 'storie poetiche ne' peducci' without commenting on the fact
that they were not finished. His overall judgement on the decoration was: 'pittura e poesia
veramente bellissima'.
25 Cupid instructing his servants is not actually told in Niccolo da Correggio's version of the
Cupid and Psyche tale from 1491, but it is certainly more strongly implied. In stanza 63
(ed. TISsoni Benvenuti, p. 66--67) Cupid tells that he has given orders to get the garden in
good shape, and that during dinner the Graces had prepared food, nymphs were serving from
ll pittore a le volte e puro poeta 197
We know from the continuation of the story that he must have told them to be
invisible! The following three scenes all take place in heaven. It is only in the
sixth scene that the story reveals itself to human eyes: Mercury flies down from
heaven and announces all over the world that Psyche should be found and de-
livered to Venus (ill. 7). From then on the problem of visibility versus invisibil-
ity no longer plays a part, as mortals and immortals see and communicate with
each other.
The way in which Raphael has arranged the scenes points to a more creative
way of handling Apuleius' text than Perino later would do. The same can be
observed in the individual scenes. Raphael, just like Perino, must have known
Apuleius' text (or an accurate translation) very well, and to really appreciate
the paintings the observers are also supposed to have a good knowledge of it:
not so as to understand things which actually do not make sense, but, on the
contrary, so as to understand how Raphael makes visual variations on it, how
he shows things that Apuleius does not or cannot say, and how he matches - not
merely illustrates! - in images the cleverness and humor of the text. In short:
a solid knowledge of Apuleius' text is necessary to understand how Raphael
creates something new and turns invisible words into visible images.
In a scene like Venus ascending to heaven in her chariot drawn by pigeons
(ill. 5) Raphael follows Apuleius' description almost ad unguem: the four pi-
geons, the sparrows, the chariot - they are all decribed by Apuleius. Venus im-
ploring Jupiter for help (ill. 6) is only briefly described and so it demands more
s
creativity from the painter. Psyche offering Proserpina beauty cream to Venus
and Mercury carrying Psyche to heaven are only implied but not actually told
by Apuleius, while Cupid instructing his servants is not told at all and hardly
implied.
To paint some of the episodes that Apuleius describes only briefly, Raphael
had recourse to other classical texts. Observers who notice this can enjoy and
admire Raphael's ingenuity in visualising one text with the help of another.
Venus imploring Jupiter (ill. 6), for instance, is based on Vergil' s more extensive
description of a similar episode in the first book of the Aeneid (223-296), while
Mercury proclaiming the search/or Psyche (ill. 7) is based on Vergil's account
26
of Mercury flying through the air, in the fourth book of the Aeneid (238-246).
golden vases and the Muses were singing, 'como conviensi a Amor se mena moglie'. In the
next stanza (p. 67) he says that the food and the service were as good 'quanto a dei fare
possibile' .
26 The tenth scene showing Mercury carrying Psyche to heaven may partly be based on the
same text as Mercury proclaiming the search for Psyche. Raphael seems to have had a rather
good knowledge of the Aeneid. His well-known Fire in the Borgo in the Stanza dell'lncendio
in the Vatican Palace includes a fleeing group of a young man carrying his old father on his
 198 Jan L. de Jong
In other scenes Raphael 'comments' upon what is happening. The pigeons
who draw Venus' chariot up to heaven (ill. 5) are also present in the next scene
(ill. 6), where they hover in the air as if to assist Venus in convincing Jupiter
to lend her his support. In the eighth scene, where Psyche appears with Pros-
erpina's beauty cream, Venus throws her arms up in the air in amazement, and
the pigeons seem to fly away in state of shock. It was of course hard to visu-
alize, in the sixth scene, that Mercury promises as a reward for finding Psyche
'seven sweet kisses [from Venus] and one more sweetly honeyed with a long
touch of her tongue', but instead Mercury points to a very suggestive and even
more erotic detail in the festoon above him (ill. 7). 27
Raphael tried to match Apuleius' humor in details like the pigeons pulling
Venus chariot (ill. 5), harnessed with bridles and yokes as if they were real
draught animals, or the eagle in the scene where Venus implores for help (ill.
6), crushed under the weight of the upper god. When the bird appears again
in the ninth scene (Jupiter admonishing Cupid), it has safely escaped to the
corner and is sitting on Jupiter's back. In the soffits amorini are flying around
with the attributes of the gods, but the club of the strong Hercules seems so
heavy, that two amorini are needed to lift it up (ill. 8). In the soffit where an
amorino tries to fly away with Pluto's two-pronged spear, an extra amorino is
keeping Cerberus in.
These amorini flying around with the attributes of the gods form a sort of
subsidiary theme or comment on the main story. They illustrate that 'Amor
vincit omnia', Love conquers all, even the gods. Their presence may have
been suggested by texts such as Niccolo da Correggio's Fabula Psiches et
Cupidinis from 1491, an Italian adaptation of Apuleius' tale which in 1518
had already gone through five editions. 28 In some of its opening stanz.eCupid
proudly tells how he has robbed the gods of their attributes and one for one
he points them out. 29 The amorini with the gods' attributes may -just like
back and his son following them - anobvious reference to Aeneas escaping from lhe burning
city of Troy.
27 Cfr. Yasui (ed. Bettarini & Barocchi, testo V, 452-453): 'Sopra la figura d'un Mercurio
che vola ha finto per Priapo una zucca attraversata da vilucchi, che ha per testicoli due
petronciani; e vicino al fiore de quella ha finto una ciocca di fichi brugiotti grossi, dentro
a uno de' quali, aperto e troppo fatto, entra la punta della zucca col fiore: ii quale capriccio e
espresso con tanta grazia, che piu non si puo alcuno imaginare.' While Raphael overcharges
Apuleius' erotic reward, both Boccaccio (Genealogiae V, 22) and Niccolo da Correggio in
their versions of the story totally skip this passage. The latin in Apuleius' text is (Met. 6,8):
'septem savia suavia et unum blandientis appulsu linguae Longemellitum'.
28 A sixth edition appeared in 1521; see Vertova 1993, 60, n.9.
29 Stanze 40-49, on p. 61-63 of the edition by Tissoni Benvenuto. Possible influence from Da
Correggio's Fabula on Raphael's paintings may also be detected in the scene with Cupid
instructing his servants; see above, n.25.
Il pittore a le volte e puro poeta 199
some Cupid and Psyche scenes - also refer to other classical texts, such as
certain poems from the Anthologia graeca. 30 Most of all, however, they create
a fitting atmosphere all'antica. According to Pirro Ligorio (ea. 1500-1583),
Raphael took the idea of amorini flying around with the gods' attributes from
paintings in some building on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. Ligorio wrote -
with more attention for the amorini than for Cupid and Psyche - that he had
seen antique paintings showing
... l'amori che haveano spogliate l'arme agli dei e le portavano per l'aria,
ch'erano dipinte in una stanza nelle Esquiline [... ], onde Raphaele prese la
istessa invenzione nelle nozze di Hebe con Hercole [sic] dipinti nella Log-
gia di Augustin Ghisi in Trastibore incontro a Roma, et ne fece una nobile
pittura. 31
In 1584 Paolo Lomazzo wrote that festoons like those between the scenes of
the loggia were an antique theme which further contributed to the all'antica
atmosphere:
... i vecchi e moderni pittori sono stati soliti comporre mazzi di diversi frutti,
fiori e frondi, e porgli ne gli ornamenti in loco di trofei; parendo loro che
siano in certa maniera trofei di Cerere, di Hora, di Bacco e di Pomona. 32
From these observations and remarks it appears that Raphael's paintings should
not be approached as literal renderings of Apuleius' text. Both the Cupid and
Psyche scenes and the amorini and festoons elaborate and 'comment' on it, cre-
atively drawing on other texts and visual examples and challenging the visi-
tors' knowledge of classical literature and art. Along these lines Francisco da
Hollanda, in 1548, gave the following example, without, however, referring to
Raphael's paintings (see ill. 6):
... un gran pittore dipingera Venere piangente ai piedi di Giove, con tutti
quei vantaggi che il poeta non avra: ii prirno sara di mostrare ii cielo ove
la scena si finge, e la persona, gli abiti, gli atti e movimenti di Giove con
l'aquila e i fulmini, e in tutti i particolari la bellezza di Venere, il suo vestito
di leggere stoffa, i suoi atti pietosi, cosi elegantemente e delicatamente, con
tanta grandezza che, nonostante le sue labbra mute, ella parlera cogli occhi,
30 XVI, 214 and 216; see Bellori 1695, 78.
31 Quoted after Dacos 1969, 170. Ligorio's Libro dell'antichita (the quote is from book IV) was
never published. I have not been able to trace the antique paintings which Ligorio mentions.
32 Book VI, 44; ed. Ciardi, II, 351.
200 Jan L. de Jong
con le mani e la bocca, e sembrera udirle dire quelle supplicazioni e quei
lamenti che Virgilio Marone descrive ... 33
It was this aspect of Raphael's paintings in the Loggia di Psiche which 16th cen-
tury art critics wrote about and admired; none of them wondered about scenes
missing orthe story being incompletely rendered. In 1550 Giorgio Vasari hit the
nail right when he praised the paintings as 'pittura e poesia veramente bellis-
sima.' 34 Maybe the best characterization of how Raphael worked and how his
paintings in the Loggia di Psiche should be seen was given by Giovanni An-
drea Gilio in 1564. He described Raphael's frescoes as an example of 'poetical
paintings' - paintings, that is, in which it is allowed to illustrate a text freely,
changing details and adding fitting caprices:
... il pittore a le volte e puro istorico, a le volte puro poeta, et a le volte e
rnisto. Quando e puro poeta, penso che lecito gli sia dipingere tutto quello
che ii capriccio gli detta, con quei gesti, con quei sforzi sieno pero con-
venevoli a la figura che egli fa: del che abbiamo I' esempio ne le loggie del
Chisi, dove Raffaello dipinse la Cena degli Dii con quegli atti e sforzi che
ii capriccio gli mise in capo.[ ... ] Si puo questa licenza poetica stendere an-
cora ne'giuochi de'fanciulli, ii che vagamente si vede [... ] nel palazzo del
Ghisi in Trastevere. 35
Gilio obviously appreciated Raphael's freedom in handling Apuleius' text. But
when it came to representing biblical or historical texts Gilio did not tolerate
similar freedom, as appears clearly from his subsequent criticism of Michelan-
gelo's Last Judgment. The reason why he wanted strict adherence to the text in
representations of biblical or religious subjects, was that this had recently been
prescribed in the decrees on (religious) art of the Council of Trent. These de-
crees resulted from fear that if artists handled religious texts with (some) free-
dom, they might represent things which would be theologically incorrect or of-
fensive. 36 As the century progressed the criterium of strict adherence to the text
was also applied to representations of themes from classical antiquity. In his
33 Da pintura antigua; in 1924 translated into Italian by A. Bessone Aureli as Dialoghi
michelangioleschi, here quoted after Barocchi 1971-1977, I, 282.
34 Ed. Bettarini & Barocchi, testo IV, 201; see before, n.24.
35 Dialogo nel quale si ragiona degli errori e degli abusi de' pittori cin:a l'istorie, quoted after
Barocchi 1960-1962, II, 15 and 22-23; also in Barocchi 1971-1977, I, 303 and 311.
36 · SessioXXV (3 December 1563): De invocatione, veneratione et reliquiis sanctorum, et sacris
imaginibus: '[. .. Jlllud vero diligenter doceant episcopi, per historias mysteriorwn nostrae
redemptionis, picturis vel aliis similitudinibus expressas, erudiri et con.firmari populum in
articulis folei commemorandis et assidue recolendis [... ] In has autem sanctas et salutares
observationes si qui abusus irrepserint, eos prorsus aboleri sane ta synodus vehementer cu-
II pittore a le volte e puro poeta 201
treatise from 1584 Raffaello Borghini asserted that painters were not allowed to
represent things differently from how their 'first inventors' had described them:
Quando i pittori vogliono dimostrare l'eccellenza dell'arte, piglino favole
o istorie che facciano a lor proposito, senza alterarle ... [... ] ... a' pittori non
si conviene le cose da altri ritrovate, rappresentare differenti da quello, che
vollero i loro primi ritrovatori. 37
Three years later Giovanni Battista Armenini agreed with him. He condemned
painters who
... compongono l'Istorie loro molto diverse dalla verita delle buone scritture,
ond' essi poi vengono biasimati, e con grande ragione, da gli huomini inten-
denti, io dico se bene le loro pitture siano per eccellenza dipinte ... 38
From then on the 'poetic' aspects of Raphael's paintings became less appreci-
ated and less noticed, and in many recent studies they do not get any attention
at all.
Jacopo Zucchi
The large painting on canvas in the Galleria Borghese in Rome showing Psy-
che admiring Cupid (ill. 9) is signed and dated by Jacopo Zucchi, 1589. The
painting was made one year before the painter's death, when he was working
in Florence after a 17 year stay in Rome. The patron of the work and the oc-
casion for which it was made are unknown, but recently it has been suggested
that it was made for the wedding of Ferdinando de'Medici (who had been Ja-
copo' s protector in Rome) and Christine of Lorraine, in Florence in 1589. 39 We
do know for sure that in 1626 it was owned by Olimpia Aldobrandini, through
whose marriage with Paolo Borghese it entered the collection it still belongs
to. 40
The painting illustrates Apuleius' text quite accurately, but for reasons of
space some acts which take place one after the other are 'squeezed' into one
moment. Psyche is admiring the sleeping Cupid in the light of her lamp, still
pit, ita ut nullae falsi dogmatis imagines et rudibus periculosi errorisoccasionem praebentes
statuantur. [. .. JPostremo tanta cin:a haec diligentia et cura ab episcopis adhibeatur, ut nihil
inordinatum aut praepostere et tumultuarie accomodotum, nihil profanum nihilque inhones-
tum appareat, quum domum Dei deceat sanctitudo. [... ]'
37 II Riposo, quoted after Barocchi 1971-1977, I, 345.
38 De veri precetti, book I, 9, p. 70.
39 Hermann-Fiore 1993, 345.
40 Della Pergola 1955-1959, II, 57-58.
202 Jan L. de Jong
holding up her sword and simultaneously hurting her foot on Cupid's arrow.
Also at the same time, she spills some drops of oil on Cupid's right sh.oulder.
Although the painting is an accurate rendering of the text of Apuleius, Ja-
copo probably did not read it. In his description of the large series of mytholog-
ical and historical figures which he painted in Palazzo Ruccellai (now Ruspoli)
in Rome, between 1586 and 1590, Jacopo refers to Psyche only once, calling
her a daughter of Apollo. 41 This information does not come from Apuleius, but
from Boccaccio (Genealogiae V, 22), who had drawn this conclusion from the
remark by Martianus Capella ( 1,7), that Psyche was the daughter of Entelechia
and the sun. 42
There are more indications that Jacopo did not have Apuleius' text upper-
most on his mind. What Jacopo mainly tried to do was to 'recreate' a classical
text with the help of well-known 'modem' works of art. All of the figures in
the painting are variations on famous examples. A similar way of working was
far from unusual; in fact, it was considered something admirable to incorporate
well-known examples and to turn them into 'new' creations by slightly vary-
ing them and adjusting them to another context. Jacopo did this very cleverly:
not only did he draw on examples which were well-known enough to be recog-
nised by an educated public, but he also chose them in such a way that they
added something to the story.
The moment represented happens during the night while Cupid is asleep on
a beautifully decorated bed. The wooden board or spalliera at the head of the
bed is appropriately carved with a figure of a sleeping woman. But not only is
the subject fitting: the examples it is derived from were very properly chosen.
The carved woman on the bed is a combination of Dawn and Night (ill. 10 and
11), two famous sculptures by Michelangelo, which could - and still can - be
seen in Florence, in the Sacristia Nuova or Medici-Chapel at S. Lorenzo's. The
sleeping figure of Cupid seems to be based on several examples, also taken from
the work of Michelangelo. His upper body is based on the torso of the drunken,
sleeping Noah in the Sistine Chapel in Rome (ea. 1510). The head is made after
the ignudo next to the bottom left of the Noah scene (ill. 12). The position of the
legs may derive from several figures in The Last Judgment (1536-1541), also
41 Jacopo's Discorso sopra Ii dei de'Gentili e loro imprese was published more than ten years
after his death, in 1602 (Rome). The text was edited with an introduction by Saxl in 1927
(see bibliography); in this edition Psyche is mentioned on p. 50.
42 Elsewhere in his Discorso (ed. Saxl, p. 42), Zucchi mentions Boccaccio's Genealogiae,
which proofs that he was familiar with it. Boccaccio's version of the Cupid and Psyche tale
is shorter but not really different from that by Apuleius; the same is true for his account of
Psyche admiring Cupid. By the time Jacopo made his painting, the Genealogiae was avail-
able in several translations.
II pittore a le volte e puro poeta 203
in the Sistine Chapel. 43 Cupid's right arm seems to be Jacopo's own invention,
and although it makes for a nice sort of nimbus around the head, it can: only be
hoped that Cupid was left-handed.
The most important and clever derivation from a well-known work of art,
however, is the figure of Psyche. Just as in the case of the sleeping woman on
the spalliera, he found his example in the city where he most probably painted
the picture: Florence. He turned it from a male into a female figure, and from
a bronze sculpture into a painting. Maybe that is why in modem studies it has
never been noticed that this model very obviously was Benvenuto Cellini's fa-
mous Perseus, which since April 27th 1554 had been prominently on display
in the Loggia dei Lanzi (ill. 13). 44 Jacopo reversed the position of the left and
the right leg, but stayed close to his model in all other respects. Three details
will further prove this.
The strap with Cellini's name around Perseus' torso has been changed (and
expanded) into a sort of string around Psyche's body, which holds up the few
pieces of drapery that cover her. She is standing on top of a pillow, just like
Perseus does - a pillow, moreover, with the same shape. In her right hand she
holds a sword which is identical to that of Perseus. This detail definitely proves
that Jacopo drew on visual examples more than on the text of either Apuleius
or Boccaccio, for neither of them writes about the kind of scimitar that Psyche
holds in the picture, but about a novacula: a dagger or sharp knife.
Jacopo must have chosen Cellini's Perseus as his example not only for artis-
tic reasons, but also because it would bestow a special meaning on the painting.
The heroic Perseus has been transformed into the curious, naive Psyche, while
the dangerous monster at his feet has become a beautiful, innocently sleeping
boy. Instead of blood dripping out of the severed head, there is oil leaking out
of the lamp. So by presenting the charming tale of Cupid and Psyche in terms of
the heroic story of the brave Perseus, Jacopo confers on his painting the same
humorous, mocking mood that characterizes the account of Apuleius. Maybe
the dog further adds to that mood: even though Psyche has disturbed its sleep,
it does not do anything to protect Cupid. It just casts a meaningful glance to the
observers of the painting.
43 St. Andreas, on the upper right, the angel with Christ's column in the right lunette, or the
resurrecting man on the lower left, in front of the skeleton.
44 Most studies vaguely refer to unspecified Mannerist or Aorentine figures; Pillsbury 1980,
220, and Hermann-Fiore 1993, 346, state that Psyche is based on Giovanni da Bologna's
Neptwie on the Piazza Maggiore in Bologna, without indicating, however, on which occa-
sion Jacopo could have seen this work.
 204 Jan L. de Jong
Ercole de'Roberti and Giovani Sabadino degli Arienti
Now that it has become clear that painters did not necessarily try to make literal
illustrations of Apuleius' text - or of any other writer of myths and tales 45 -,
we may wonder if writers describing pictures reported exactly what they saw.
Did they not also try to 'react' in words to what they perceived with their eyes,
and creatively render something visual into literature?
In 1497 Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti made an extensive description
of a cycle of Cupid and Psyche scenes in the Villa Belriguardo, just outside
Voghiera near Ferrara, which was owned by duke Ercole I d'Este. 46 Unfor-
tunately Sabadino did not give any information on who the artist was and
when exactly he executed the paintings, but from a letter by Siverio Siveri to
Eleanora d' Aragona from February 13th, 1493, we know that 'm.ro Hercule
[... ] ha designato et designa una historia o fabula molto bella e grande' in
Belriguardo, with Ercole d'Este closely watching him. 47 Sabadino noted in
his description that the Cupid and Psyche scenes were made 'secondo la tua
[sc. Ercole d'Este's] ducal instructione' by an 'optimo pictore ferrariense'. 48
In 1498 Ercole's half-brother, bishop Niccolo Maria d'Este, wrote that Ercole
d'Este had 'facto depingere la Psyche'. 49 These pieces of information put
together point to Ercole de'Roberti as the artist who executed the paintings
according to Ercole d'Este's wishes and instructions in 1493.
These references, by the way, also shed interesting light on the meaning of
the paintings. Sabadino starts his description with the remark that on the walls
of the room 'si vede con moralita singulare, sotto poetico velamento hystoriata
con felicissima pictura, Psych celeste nympha', and he characterizes the story
as 'accidenti et acti de morale amore, pieni di singulari sentimenti'. 50 Bishop
Niccolo Maria d'Este, in 1498, considered it a story which 'con suttile, e secreto
misterio representasse l'humana vita'; more in particular he stated that Psyche
'sotto velamento significa l'anima, e la perturbatione che dietro Ii vanno'. 51
45 See for other examples De Jong 1996.
46 This description figures in book V of his De triumphis religionis, which was published only
in 1972 by Gundersheimer (the description of the Cupid and Psyche scenes on p.62--65, and
in Manca, 85-87). The manuscript is in the Vatican Library, Rome, Ms. Rossiana 176. On
the painted decorations in the Villa Belriguardo in general, see Shepherd 1995.
47 Published in Manca 1992, 213-214.
48 Gundersheimer 1972, 64, and Manca 1992, 87.
49 In the dedication letter to Bartolo da Parma's translation of de Tabula of Cebes (British Mu-
sewn, London, ms. Add. 22, 331), published by Gundersheimer 1976, 15.
50 Gundershcimer 1972, resp.62 and 64; Manca 1992, 85 and 87.
51 See before, n.49.
II pittore a le volte e puro poeta 205
Already in the second half of the sixteenth century these paintings could
hardly be discerned, and they now are totally lost. 52 This makes it hard to an-
swer the question if Sabadino reported exactly what he saw. 53 But reading his
description attentively makes it clear that he must have taken some freedom.
First of all, Sabadino presents his description as if he were telling a story and
he does not give any indication how the several episodes were subdivided into
scenes or what the walls actually looked like. 54 When it comes to the separate
episodes it is sometimes hard to imagine how they could have been represented.
For instance the scene where Psyche is on the point of drowning herself when
a reed starts speaking to her, and where she next goes to Venus:
'Vedesi come la mischinella se vole andare nel torente ad negare, essendo
a lei ta1 opera inpossibile; ma una piccola canna a lei pietosa disse come la
cosa era periculosa per la ferocita deli animali, instruendola quello dovea
fare ala sua salute: di che ad Venere si vede lei portare pieno ii grembo
d'oro. 55
Another example is the scene where Psyche wants to jump from a tower which,
however, starts speaking to her and tells her how to fulfill her final task:
Se vede la rnischinella, per essere a lei questo molto aspro et gravoso, salita
sopra una alta torre per getarsi gioso. Che facto l'haverebbe se una voce dela
torre non fusse uscita, che la riprese instruendola ad fugire le parate insidie
di Venere, come ala Cedemonia cita de Achaia Ii euno vicino loco chiamato
Tenaro, adito ale palude Stygie. 56
Sometimes Sabadino incorporates personal comments or associations in his ac-
count, for example when Cupid, finding Psyche fainted after opening Proser-
pina' s beauty case, pricks her with an arrow to wake her up:
Non altrimenti faciamo noi, getando aqua fredda nel volto deli tramortiti per
revocarli Ii smariti spiriti. 57
52 Gundersheimer 1972, 62, n.53, and Manca 1992, 84.
53 According to Gundersheimer 1972, 18, 'sufficient controls are available to indicate that
Sabadino is an accurate source when he is describing physical objects, as far as he goes.'
54 Gundersheimer's suggestion (1972, 22) that the decoration consisted of 22 scenes, which
can be concluded from Sabadino's use of the word 'vedesi' makes no sense and skips the
possibility that the painter combined several episodes in one scene.
55 Gundersheimer 1972, 63; Manca 1992, 86.
56 Gundersheimer 1972, 64; Manca 1992, 86-87.
57 Gundersheimer 1972, 64; Manca 1992, 87.
206 Jan L. de Jong
It will be obvious that on the basis of Sabadino's account it is hard so say any-
thing with certainty about what the paintings looked like. It seems consequently
not correct to state, as has been done in several recent studies, that 'the program
[of the decoration] was based on Apuleius, and not on the work of a contempo-
rary commentator on Apuleius such as Filippo Beroaldo', or that 'the paintings
follow directly Apuleius' Golden Ass, which had been translated by the court
poet [of Ercole d'Este, Matteo Maria] Boiardo.' 58 That it really is not correct
to affirm something about lost paintings on the basis of a description which
already at first reading seems questionable, becomes clear when the descrip-
tion is compared to an adaptation of the Cupid and Psyche tale that was written
around the same time (ea. 1491) and was dedicated to a prominent member of
the same court, Ercole's daughter Isabella d'Este: Niccolo da Correggio's Fa-
bula Psichts et Cupidinis. From this comparison it becomes immediately clear
that while writing his description, Sabadino had Correggio's Fabula before him
and rather than making an accurate report of what the paintings looked like he
turned this poem into a prose story. One example will demonstrate this. Da Cor-
reggio makes Cupid (the 'I'-person) tell how he flew away from Psyche after
she had admired him in his sleep (based on Met. 5,23-24):
In fin, piu non potendo, andar lassorni
e sernivjva a terra se gitava;
io, volato su un alto e bel cipresso ... 59
Sabadino has made the following 'description' out of this:
[Vedesi] ... Psych per doglia semi viva per tenerlo in terra getarsi e lui sopra
un alto cypresso volato ... 60
Sabadino made no secret of his source. He concluded his description with ac-
knowledging Da Correggjo:
Di che anchora tanta beata cosa [la fabula di Psych] in legiadro e dolce
verso matemo Nicolao da Coregio, signore claro e facundo e d'arme valido
huo[mo] ha depincto, secondo Apuleio auctore prestante scrive. 61
58 Resp. Gundersheirner 1972, 21, and Manca 1992, 85. See also Gundersheimer 1972, 65-66,
n.55: 'The iconography is so close to the text that one may assume direct knowledge.'
59 Stanza 112, ed. Benvenuti Tissoni, 79.
60 Gundersheimer 1972, 63; Manca 1992, 86. A listing of all the adaptations from Da Correg-
gio's Fabula by Sabadino is given in the appendix at the end of this article.
61 Gundersheimer 1972, 64--65; Manca 1992, 87.
n pittore a le volte epuro poeta 207
Sabadino also drew on Pliny the Elder as a source. He took from him a descrip-
tion (Nat. 35,102) to illustrate how happy and merry the gods in the scene with
Cupid and Psyche's wedding banquet looked:
... io non scio se Prothegine quando la ymago de epso Bacho pinse, che altro
mangio che lupini acio li sentimenti dala dolcecia dela pictura ocupati non
62
fusseno, fusse come questa de tanta vaghecia.
Sabadino's concluding remark also refers to Pliny (Nat. 35,65). Sabadino finds
the Cupid and Psyche paintings are so wonderful, that
... Parasio il quale in pictura del velo sopra l'uva vinse Zeusis, bastarebbe
63
fusseno de loro mane non che de mane de optimo pictore ferrariense ...
From all this it may be clear that Sabadino's description should not be taken at
face value. Just as Raphael and Jacopo Zucchi did not make a literal illustra-
tion of Apuleius' text, but used it as a point of departure for a 'new' creation in
another medium, so did Sabadino not aim at an accurate account of Ercole de
Roberti's paintings: what he did was to write an ekphrasis.
62 Gundersheimer 1972, 64; Manca 1992, 87. Pliny, however, writes that the painting repre-
sented lalysos. I do not quite see what the relation is between the wedding scene in Belri-
guardo and Protogenes eating 'lupins steeped in water, so as to satisfy at once his hunger and
his thirst without blunting his faculties by over-indulgence'.
63 Gundersheimer 1972, 64; Manca 1992, 87. This last remark, however, could also be inspired
by Niccolo da Correggio's poem, which contains a similar reference to the st?ry of ~~s
and the grapes in stanza 65 (ed. Tissoni Benvenuti, 67). The reference to classical pamtmgs
in this stanza, by the way, is quite spectacular. It forms part of Da Correggio's description
of Cupid's palace:
'In una loggia, che la sua parete
avea dipinta per le man di Apelle,
eravi la Calumnia, e ne la retc
Marte con quella che adombra le stelle;
la linca, ii cerchio, Flora, e quei bei frutti
che l'ucelin che gia inganno quei putti.'
Da Correggio here ascribes to Apelles works of various classical painters and even of a sci-
entist. The Calumnia is described in an ekphrasis of Lucian (On not believing rashly in Slan-
der) which was well-known in the 15th century. Guarino da Verona translated it into Latin in
1406 (Calumniae non temere credendum) and Leon Battista Alberti included it in his treatise
on painting in 1435 (Latin)/1436 (Italian). It was represented by Andrea Mantegna(drawing,
now in London, British Museum) and Sandro Botticelli (painting, now in Florence, Uflizi). I
have found no mention of a painting of Mars and Venus made by a Greek or Roman painter.
The line refers to the well known story of Apelles visiting Protogenes (Plin. Nat. 35,81-82),
but the circle must refer to the story of Axchimedes who did not want the Romans to destroy
his circles when they captured Syracuse (Liv. 25,31,9; V. Max. 8,7,7). The only mention of
a Flora I have found is a sculpture by Praxiteles (Plin. Nat. 36,21). The grapes refer to the
,same story about Zeuxis that Sabadino alluded to (Plin. Nat. 35,65).
208 Jan L. de Jong II pittore a le volte e puro poeta 209

One question remains to be answered: why did Sabadino write such an ex- Conclusion
tensive 'description' of the Cupid and Psyche paintings? A rather obvious rea-
son is, that these paintings were, among the many decorations in Belriguardo Returning to the question at the beginning of this paper, the answer may now be
which Sabadino mentions, the only ones to illustrate a story in contrast to sub- clear: painters did not necessarily try to render the story of Cupid and Psyche
jects like a hunt, a picknick, philosophers, sybils, etcetera. A more important literally, and they did that on purpose: sometimes because it was impossible, but
reason ma:y be that Sabadino wanted to capitalize on Ercole d'Este's predilec- more importantly because they wanted to create in their own medium a work
tion for the works of Apuleius. The duke must have had this predilection a long of art which would match the words of Apuleius in humor and ingenuity. The
time, for already in 1481 he wrote to Federigo Gonzaga in Mantua that he would same is true, mutatis mutandis, for writers describing paintings. In general this
not lend mm his copy of Apuleius' Golden Ass, 'perche lo operavemo ogni applies also to paintings and descriptions of other mythological themes which
giomo'. He did offer, though, to have it transcribed, which Federigo gladly ac- were made during the Renaissance in Italy. 68 In the field of mythology painters
cepted. Grateful he replied that 'quanto piu lo legemo, tanto piu ne diletta ... ' 64 were granted the freedom to let their imagination run, and they used it. Fran-
What Ercole d'Este seems to have liked about the story of Cupid and Psyche cisco da Hollanda aptly considered those painters great, who exploited 'tutti
were its possibilities of a moral reading. From his half-brother, bishop Niccolo que1. vantagg1. c he 1·1poeta non avra" . 69
Maria d'Este, we learn that the duke took continuous pleasure in 'lezere hora
historica, hora phylosophi, che Ii homini drizano al viviere morale'. 65 That was
another thing which Sabadino capitalized on. He began his ekphrasis by intro-
ducing the paintings and the story as containing 'moralita singolare, sotto po-
etico velamento', and he concluded it with more or less the same words: 'acci-
denti et acti de morale amore' and 'morale cosa'. 66 In this respect Sabadino's
description reflects Ercole de'Roberti's paintings very well: both area monu-
ment of Ercole d'Este 's pleasure in the story of Cupid and Psyche and its pos-
sibilities to read it as a cosa morale. 67

64 These letters date from resp. June l 9th and June 21 st I 481; they have been published by A.
Bertolotti in /l bibliofilo VII/2, 1886, 26, and VIII/11-12, 1887, 178, and by Fumagalli 1987,
10-11; see also De Jong 1987, 213.n.127. It may be worth noting that Ercole offered to have
the book transcribed, even though eleven years before. in 1469, it had already appeared in
print.
65 See n.49; Gundersheimer 1976, 14.
66 Gundershcimer 1972, resp. 62 and 64; Manca 1992, 85 and 87.
67 This does not exclude the possibility to read the story (also) as an amusing tale, as has
been explained in the beginning of this article. That it was indeed appreciated as such at the
Ferrarese court appears from the sixth chapter of Angelo Decembrio's De politia litteraria
of 1462, an imaginary dialogue between - amongst others - Leonello d'Este and Feltrino
Boiardo, where the latter says that he translated Apuleius' Golden Ass into Italian, so that
he and others could have a better laugh about it: 'Quid autem de Apuleio et Asino nostro au-
reo? De qw,, ut abundantius cum meis ridere possem, eum ego ipse in vemaculum sermonem
transtuli.' See - also for the questions raised by Feltrino Boiardo's claim to have translated 68 For an example see De Jong 1996.
The Golden Ass- Fwnagalli 1987, 15 and 31. 69 See above, o.33.
 210 Jan L. de Jong
Appendix
Derivations from Niccolo da Correggio's Fabula Psiches et Cupidinis
(ea. 1491) in Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti's description ( 1497) of
the paintings in the Sala di Psiche, in the Villa Belriguardo near Fe"ara.
The lines from Niccolo da Correggio's Fabula Psiches et Cupidinis are
quoted after the edition of Tissoni Benvenuti, pp. 51-96; the numbers refer
to the stanze of the poem. The text of Sabadino is quoted after the edition
by Gundersheimer, pp. 62-65; the numbers refer to the folio numbers of
Sabadino's manuscript in the Vatican Library (MS. Rossiana 176), which have
been included in Gundersheimer's edition.
N.B.: The story of Cupid and Psyche in the poem ofCorreggio is told by Cupid,
so 'io', 'me' etc. refer to him.
Psyche's first meal in Cupids palace
o Correggio, 63: ' ... / le Grazie avean parato un bel convito / ... / e le Muse
di canto fenno un coro.'
o Sabadino, 49v: '[Vedesi] ... come nel nuptiale convito e servita dale
Nymphe, essendo honorata dal choro deli canti dele sacre Muse.'
N.B.: Apuleius (Met. 5,2-4) does not make mention of the Muses
Cupid getting into bed with Psyche for the first time
o Correggio, 75: ' ... / a' pie dil lecto puosi le mie arrni.'
o Sabadino, 50r: ' ... Cupido, havendo a' piedi del lecto dcposto le sue arme
Cupid putting Psyche at ease
o Correggio, 77 (Cupido speaks): '- ... /ma non aver de l'oracul paura/ ch'io
non son fiera uscita di Nemea.'
o Sabadino, 50r: '[Cupido] ... confortandola non havere timore del oraculo
che decto Ii havea lui essere mostro.'
The morning after the first night together
o Correggio, 81: 'Le mense e' servitori a modo usato/ eranparate e le vivande
porte.'
o Sabadino, 50r: '[Vedesi] ... dale Nymphe sopra le parate mense portarli [sc.
Psych] le vivande.'
11pittore a le volte epuro poeta 211
Psyche tries one of Cupids arrows
o Correggio, 110: 'Di vergogna e timor tutta smarrita, / che gli pareva aver
pensato male, / non sapendo che far, como pentita, / del giemmato faretro
trasse un strale, / e per provar si fece una ferrita.'
o Sabadino, 50r-50v: '[Vedesi] ... lei come smarita e pentuta de tanto errore /
thrare dele possate arme uno strale et se istessa ferirse ... '
Cupid escapes while Psyche tries to follow him
o Correggio, 112: '[Psiche] . . . I in fin, piu non potendo, andar lassommi / e
semi viva a terra se gitava, / io, volato su un alto e bel cipresso, / ... '
o Sabadino, 50v: '[Vedesi] ... Psych per doglia semiviva per tenerlo in terra
getarsi e lui sopra un alto cypresso volato ... •
Cupid leaves Psyche after reproaching her
o Correggio, 115-116: '[Psiche] / in un flume che quivi era da lato / se gitto
per volervesi annegare. / Ma ii fiumicello .. ./ ... trasportolla presto a l'altro
lito, / su 'n vago praticel tutto fiorito.// Quivi ii rustico Pan, diode' pastori, /
trovossi ... '
o Sabadino, 50v: 'Vedesi come lei anegare se vole, ma ii pietoso Amore non
volendo si l'a trasportata a l'altro lito sopra uno fiorito prato, e come quivi
Panne rusticale idio la conforta.'
The death of Psyche's sister(s)
o Correggio. 121: '[L'invida sorella] / ... tutta da quei sassi lacerata, / fu facta
cibo de diverse fiere.'
o Sabadino, 50v: 'Vedesi come queste invide sorelle lacerate da' saxi e cibo
de diverse fiere.'
Venus is informed about what happened to Cupid and Psyche
o Correggio, 122: ' ... la garulla ucella .. ./ ... Vener trovo nel mare in vaga
schiera / fra Nere"ide e ninfe e l'infelice / caso narogli ... '
o Sabadino, 50v: 'Vedesi Amore trovato Venere in mare in iocunda squadra
de Nereyde e Nymphe, narrandoli el doloroso caso ... '
Venus punishes Cupid
o Correggio, 124: ' ... / al lecto mio ne venne [sc. Venere] minaciando / di
torme l'arco, la faretra e i strali, / e per piu schemo di spenarmi l'ali.'
o Sabadino, 50v-51r: ' ... al letto / suo [sc. di Cupido] si vede [Venere] andare
fninaciandolo per torli I' arco, la pharetra et y strali, et de spenarli I' ale.'
212 Jan L. de Jong
o Correggio, 125: 'Aveva gia la furibonda dea / saputo dil mio mal tutto l'ef-
fetto I ... rninaciando , ii dito si mordea,/ dicendo: - Iniquo figlio. Ove e ii
rispecto I che avesti al tua matre, amando quella / che piu di lei se reputava
bella?'
o Sabadino, Sir: 'E [vedesi] come la irata dea saputo el male del figl[i]uolo,
se morde il dito minaciando lui che non havea obedito, e lei per non havere
habiuto epso rispecto amando quella perche piu de lei sua matre se estimava
bella.'
Venus assigns to Psyche her first task
o Correggio, 138: 'E straciatola [sc. Psiche] tutta, in nova pena / penso [sc.
Venere] di farla, misera, affannare, / e tolto orzo, formento, miglio e vena, /
con alti grani fece un monte fare / ... '
o Sabadino, 5 lr; '[Vedesi] ... come [Venere] l'ha posta a dipartire, avanti re-
tomasse da cena, ogni sorte d'acanto, orzo, formento, miglio, e vena in uno
monte miste ... '
Venus assigns to Psyche her second task
o Correggio, 141 [Venus speaks]: '-Tral'alte ripe di quel gran torrente/pecor
vi sonno c' ban la Iana d' oro; / fa che tu me ne porti.-'
o Sabadino, 5lr-51 v: ' ... si vede havcrla [sc. Psych] mandata intra altissime
ripe/ de uno torcnte grande, dove sono pecore che hano la lana d'oro, la
quale a lei dovesse portare.'
Psyche hopelessly tries to Jui.fill her second task
o Correggio, 142: 'La miserella .. ./ ... si voleva in quel fiume anegare; / se non
ch'una canetta a lei pietosa / con dolcc melodia gli ebbe a parlare, f como la
cosa era periculosa I per la ferocita de gli animali, / ... '
o Sabadino, 51 v: 'Vedesi come la rnischinella se vole andare nel torente ad ne-
gare ... ; ma una pico la canna a lei pietosa disse come la cosa era periculosa
per la ferocita deli animali ... '
Psyche's reaction after the assignment of the last task
o Correggio, 151: '[Psiche] / ... a una alta tor se avicinava, / che per gitarsi
giu vi fu salita.'
o Sabadino, 52r: 'Se vede la mischinella . . . salita sopra una alta torre per
getarsi gioso.'
Il pittore a le volte e puro poeta 213
Instructions of the tower how to enter the underworld
o Correggio, 153 (the tower speaks): ' ... al fiume .. ./ ... ritrovera' un vecchio
canuto, / che passa a precio e' morti ... '
o Sabadino, 52r: ' ... giunta si vede ad un canuto vecchio che passa ad precio
morti ... '
Psyche opens Proserpina's beauty case
o Correggio, 158: ' .. ./ qui non bellezza, ma sonnifer stigio / che perse ogni
suo senso ogni vestigio.'
o Sabadino, 52v: '[Se vede Psych] ... subito ocupata per tal modo de sunifaro
stygio, che epsa si vede havere ogni senso perduto.'
Cupid revives Psyche
o Correggio, 159: 'Maio .. ./ ... non potendo l'abscenzia piu patire/ de la mia
Psiche ... '
o Sabadino, 52v: ' ... Cupido, non potendo piu oltra tol1erare la diutina absen-
tia dela sua chara Psych ... '
Psyche adopted by the Gods
o Correggio, 166: ' ... / Psiche ancor lei, levata d'ogni pena, / stando fra i dei
ala celeste cena.'
o Sabadino, 52v: 'Et vedesi lei stare fra i dii ala celeste cena ... '
The banquet of the Gods
o Correggio, 167: ' ... Baco a gli altri e poculi dispensa.'
o Sabadino, 52v: ' ... Bacho ... che in acto egregio Ii poculi ali altri dispensa
o Correggio, 169: 'Venere, mossa a quel sliave suono, / hallo cantando: alor
tutte le Muse/ e ii Satiro e Panisco, in dolce tuono I sonor le tibie, e non fur
facte scuse.'
o Sabadino, 53r: 'Li sono anchora le Muse ... e Venere al suave suono con le
Muse danzare, e Sathyro e Panisco si vedeno sonare le zampognie, tutte le
dee danzando.'
 214 Jan L. de Jong
Bibliography
Aliberti Gaudioso, F.M. & E. Gaudioso (ed.), Gli affreschi di Paolo III a Castel
Sant'Angelo. Progetto ed Esecuzione, Rome 1981 (exh. cat., Rome, Castel Sant'
Angelo, 1981-1982).
Annenini, G.B., De'veri precetti della pittura libri tre, Ravenna 1587 (reprint
Hildesheim/New York 1971).
Barocchi, P., Trattati d'arte del Cinquecento, fra manierismo e controrifonna, Bari
1960-1962.
- Scritti d'arte del Cinquecento, Milan/Napels 1971-1977.
Bartsch, A. von, Le peintre-graveur, Vienna 1803-1821.
Bellori, G.P.,Descrizzione delle immagini dipinte da Raffaello d' Urbino nelle came re
del palazzo apostolico vaticano, Rome 1695.
Boccaccio, G., Genealogiae deorum gentilium libri, ed. V. Romano, Bari 1951 (= Scrit-
tori d'Italia 200-201).
Boiardo, M.M., Capitoli del giuoco dei tarocchi, in: Tutte le opere, ed. A Zottoli, Milan
1936-1937.
Ciofetta, S. & M.L. Vicini, 'Di alcuni terni ovidiani nel piano nobile de! Palaz-
zo Capodiferro: iconografia e significato', Bolletino d'arte LXXVl/70 (1991),
105-119.
Correggio, N. da, Fabula Psiches et Cupidinis, in: Opere, ed. A. Tissoni Benvenuti,
Bari 1969 (= Scrittori d'Italia 244).
Corti, L., Vasari. Catalogo completo, Florence 1989.
Dacos, N., La decouvene de la Domus Aurea et la formation des grottesques a la Re-
naissance, Leiden/London 1969.
Equicola, M., Libro de natura de amore, Venice 1525.
Fumagalli, E., Matteo Maria Boiardo volgarizzatore dell' "Asino d'oro". Contributo
allo studio dellafortuna di Apuleio nell'umanesimo, Padua 1987.
Gerlini, E., Villa Famesina allaLungara, Rome, Rome 1990 (= Guides to Italian Mu-
seums, Galleries and Monuments, n.s. 2).
Ginzburg, C., 'rtziano, Ovidio e i cod.id della figurazione erotica nel Cinquecento',
Paragone XXIV/339 (1978), 3-24 (reprinted in English, 'Titian, Ovid, and
Sixteenth-Century Codes for Erotic Illustration', in: id., Clues, Myths and the
Historical Method, Baltimore/London 1989, 77-95).
Golzio, V., Rafjaello nei documenti, nelle testimonianze dei contemporanei e nella let-
teratura cul suo secolo, Vatican City 1936 (reprint: Westmead 1971).
Gundersheimer, W.L., Art and Life at the Court of Ercole I d'Este: The 'De triumphis
Religionis' of Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti, Geneva 1972.
- 'The Patronage of Ercole l d'Este', Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies
6/1 (1976), 1-18.
Guthmiiller, B., 'Ovidiibersetzungen und mythologische Malerei: Bemerkungen zur
Sala dei Giganti Giulio Rornanos', Mitteilungen des kunsthistorischen Institutes
in Florenz 21 (1977), 35-08.
Hermanin, F., u:zFamesina, Bergamo 1927.
II pittore a le volte e puro poeta 215
Herrmann Fiore, K., 'Jacopo Zucchi. Amore e Psiche', in: M.L. Madonna (ed.), Roma
di Sisto V. Le arti e la cultura, Rome 1993 (cat. exh., Rome 1993), 345-346.
Jong, J.L. de, De Oudheid in Fresco. De interpretatie van klassieke onderwerpen in
de Italiaanse wandschilderkunst, inzonderheid te Rome, circa 1370-1555, diss.
Leiden University, Enschede 1987.
'Renaissance Representations of Cupid and Psyche. Apuleius versus Fulgentius',
in: GCN II, Groningen 1989, 75-85.
'Ovidian Fantasies. Pictorial Variations on the Story of Mars, Venus and Vulcan',
in: Die Rezeption der "Metamorphosen" des Ovid in der Neuzeit, ed. H. Walter
& H.-J. Hom, Berlin 1996 (= Ikonographische Repertorien zur Rezeption des an-
tiken Mythos in Europa; Beihefte, 1), 161-172.
Lemaitre, H., Essai sur la mythe de Psyche dans la litterature frcuu;aise, Persan 1939.
Lomazzo, G.P., Tratttato dell' arte della pittura, scultura et architettura, in: Scritti sulle
arti, ed. R.P. Ciardi, Florence 1973-1974.
Manca, J., The Art of Ercole de'Roberti, Cambridge etc., 1992.
Marek, M.J., 'Raffaels Loggia di Psiche in der Famesina: Uberlegungen zu Rekon-
struktion und Deutung', Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen 26 (1984), 257-290.
Onofrio, C. d', Castel Sant'Angelo. Images and History, Rome 1984.
Pergola, P. della, Galleria Borghese. I dipinti, Rome 1955-1959.
Pillsbury, E., 'The Cabinet Paintings of Jacopo Zucchi. Their Meaning and their Func-
tion', Monuments et memoires 63 (1980), 187-226.
Saxl, F., Antike Gotter in der Spiitrenaissance. Ein Freskenzyklus und ein Discorso des
Jacopo Zucchi, Leipzig/Berlin 1927 (= Studie11 der Bibliothek Warburg 8).
Shearman, J., 'Die Loggia der Psyche in der Villa Famesina und die Probleme der
letzten Phase von Raffaels graphischem Stil', Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen
Sammlungen in Wzen,60 (1964), 59-100.
Shepherd. R., 'Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti, Ercole Id 'Este, and the decoration of
the Italian Renaissance Court', Renaissance Studies 9/1 (1995), I 8-57.
Vasari, G., Le vite de 'piu eccellenti pittori, scultori et architettori, ed. R Bettarini &
P. Barocchi, Florence 1966- .
Vertova, L., 'Cupid and Psyche in Renaissance Painting before Raphael', Journal of
the lVcirburg and Courtauld Institutes 42 (1979), 104-121.
'La fortuna della favola di Psiche da Cosimo Pater Patriae al Gran Principe Ferdi-
nando de'Medici', in: Giuseppe Maria Crespi nei museifiorentini, Florence 1993
(= Gli Uffizi. Studi e ricerche 11), 27-o2.
 General Bibliography

Abbreviations

ANRW = H. Temporini and W. Haase, (edd.),Aufstieg undNiedergang der Romischen

Welt (Berlin).
EA = Exegesis of the Soul (see Scopello 1985).
FPL 1982 = Fragmenta poetarum Latinorum, edidit C. Buchner, Lipsiae 1982.
FPL 1995 = Fragmenta poetarum Latinorum, edidit J. Blansdorf, Stutgardiae-Lipsiae
1995.
GCA = Hijmans, B.L. et alii, Groningen Commentaries on Apuleius, Groningen 1977
(Apuleius Met. IV,1-28); 1981 (Apuleius Met. VI,25-VIl); 1985 (Apuleius Met.
VIII), and 1995 (Apuleius Met. IX).
GCN = H. Hofmann (ed.), Groningen Colloquia on the Novel, Vols. 1 (1988)- ... [Vols.
7 (1996)- ... : H. Hofmann and M. Zimmerman (edd.)].
UMC = Lexicon Jconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (Ziirich/Miinchen 1981 -
... ).

Bibliography

Abate, F.R., Diminutives in Apuleia11 Latinity, diss. Ohio State University 1978.
Albrecht, M. von, ·zu Vergil's Erzlihltechnik: Beobachtungen zum Tempusgebrauch
in der Aeneis', Glotta 48 (1970), 219-229.
Allen, R.E., The Dialogues of Plato, II: the Symposium (transl. with comm.), New
Haven, Conn. 1991.
Amat, J., 'Sur quelques aspects de l'esthetique baroque dans Jes Metam9rphoses d' A-
pulee', REA 74 (1972), 107-152.
Andersson, T.J., Polis and Psyche. A Motif in Pfatos Republic, Goteborg 1971.
Andre, J., Les noms d'oiseaux en Latin, Paris 1967.
Armisen-Marchetti, M., Sapientiae facies: etude sur les images de Seneque, Paris 1989.
Arnott, W.G. 'Notes on gauia and mergus in Latin authors', CQ 14 (1964), 249-262.
Aurigemma, S., 'Sectile, opus', Enciclopedia dell' Arte Antica Classica e Orientale 7
(1966), 145-151.
Austin, N.J.E., Ammianus on Warfare. An Investigation into Ammianus' Military
Knowledge, Bruxelles 1979.
Austin, N.J.E. and Rankov, N.B., Exploratio. Military and Political Intelligence in the
Roman World from the Second Punic War to the Battle of Adrianople, London and
New York 1995.
 218 General Bibliography
Balchtin, M., The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays by M.M. Bakhtin, ed. Holquist,
M., Austin (University of Texas Press) 1981.
Bal, M., Narratology, London 1985.
Baldwin, B., 'Apuleius and the Christians', LCM 14.4 (1989), 55.
Beaujeu, J., Apulee: Opuscules philosophiques, Paris 1973.
Beaujeu, J., 'Serieux et Frivolite au 11•siecle de notre ere: Apulee', BAGB 4 (1975),
83-97.
Berghe, L. van der, Archeologie de I' Iran ancien, Leiden 1959.
Bernardi Perini, G., 'L' autore dell' incerti odarium (p. 139 Morel) e l' amicus di Gel-
lio', Atti e Mem. dell'Acc. Patav. di Scienze, Lettere e Arti 82 (1969-70), 15-34.
Bernardi Perini, G., 'Per la datazione de! Pervigilium Veneris', in Storia, letteratura
e arte a Roma nel secondo secolo dopo Cristo. Atti del Convegno, Mantova 8-10
ottobre 1992, Firenze 1995, 139-158.
Bernhard, M., Der Stil des Apuleius von Madnura. Ein Beitrag zur Stilistik des
Spiitlatein, Stuttgart 1927 (repr. Amsterdam 1965).
Beroaldus, Apulei Opera, London 1614.
Bingenheimer, M., Der Schutzgeist des Sokrates, Frankfurt am Main 1993.
Binder, G. and Merkelbach, R. (edd.), Amor und Psyche (Wege der Forschung 126),
Darmstadt 1968.
Blake, M.E., Ancient Roman Construction in Italy from the Prehistoric Period to Au-
gustus, Washington D.C. 1947.
Blake, M.E., Roman Construction in Italy from Tiberius through the Flavians, Wash-
ington D.C. 1959.
Blanc, N., 'Le decor de stuc dans l'art romain', Archeologia 1 (1980), 48-53.
Bliimner, H., Die romischen Privataltertiimer (Handbuch der klassischen Altertum-
swissenschaft IV,2,2), Miinchen 3 I911.
Bomer, F., P Ovidius Naso: Metarnorphosen Buch I-II/, Heidelberg 1969.
Bompaire, J., Lucien ecrivain. Imitation et creation, Paris 1958.
Bremmer, J. and Roodenburg, H. (edd.), A Cultural History of Gesture, Ithaca (Cornell
University Press) 1991.
Broe.k, R. van den, Studies in Gnosticism and Alexandrian Christianity (Nag Hammadi
and Manicl1aean Studies 39), Leiden 1996.
Brotherton, B., 'The Introduction of Characters by Name in the Metamorphoses of
Apuleius', CP/i 29 (1934), 36-52.
Brotherton, B., The Vocabulary of Intrigue in Roman Comedy, Chicago 1926 (repr.
New York and London 1978).
Brown, R.D., 'The Palace of the Sun in Ovid's Metamorphoses' in Whitby, Hardie and
Whitby 1987, 211-220.
Bruneau, P., LaMosaique antique, Paris 1987.
Calboli, G., 'Un ennianismo di Apuleio', Athenaeum 46 (1968), 72-79.
Callebat, L., Senno Cotidianus dans les Metamorphoses d'Apulee, Caen 1968.
Capponi, F., Omitliologia Latina, Genova 1979.
Carcopino, J., De Pythagore aux apotres: etudes sur la conversion du monde romain,
Paris 1956.
General Bibliography 219
Cazzaniga, 1.,'Saggio critico ed esegetico sul Pervigilium Veneris', SCO 3 ( 1955), 47-
101.
Cervellera, M.A., 'Seneca: sermo castrensis e metafore militari', in Rudiae. Ricerche
sul mondo classico II, Galatina, Congedo 1990, 51-63.
Copley, F.O., 'Exclusus amator'. A study in Latin love poetry, Madison 1956.
Courtney, E., The Fragmentary Latin Poets, Oxford 1993.
Crabbe, A., 'Anarnnesis and Mythology in the De Consolatione Philosophiae of
Boethius.', Atti de/ Congresso Intemazionale di Studi Boeziani, Rome 1981,
311-325.
Dacos, N., La decouverte de la Domus Aurea et la formation des grotesques ii la Re-
naissance, London 1969.
Dahlmann, H., 'Ein Gedicht des Apuleius? (Gell. XIX 11)', (Abhandl. Akad. Wiss.
Mainz 1979,8), Wiesbaden 1979.
Diillenbach, L., The Mirror in the Text, Cambridge, 1989.
Dawson, D., Allegorical Readers and Cultural Revision in Ancient Alexandria, Berke-
ley 1992.
De Filippo, J., 'Curiositas and the Platonism of Apuleius' Golden Ass', AJP 111
(1990), 471-492.
Deubner, 0., 'Inkrustation', RE Suppl. 1 (1940), 285-293.
Dillon, J., The Middle Platonists, London 1977.
Dover, K.J., Greek Popular Morality in the Time of Plato and Aristotle, Oxford 1974.
Dowden, K., 'Psyche and the Gnostics', Symposium Apuleianum Groninganum, Gro-
ningen 1981, 157-165.
Dowden, K., 'Apuleius and the Art of Narration', CQ 32 (1982), 419-435 [= Dowden
1982a].
Dowden, K., 'Psyche on the rock', Latomus 41 (1982), 336-352.
Dowden, K., 'The Unity of Apuleius' Eighth Book and the DangerofBeasts', GCN 5
(1993), 91-109.
Dowden, K., 'The Roman Audience of the Golden Ass', in Tatum. I. (ed.) 1994, 419-
434.
Dowden, K., 'Heliodoros: Serious Intentions', CQ 46 (1996), 267-285.
Dragonetti, M., 'Uso dei tempi e degli aspetti verbali a fini stilistici nella favola di
"Amore e Psiche" di Apuleio', Aevum 55 (1981), 69-79.
Drerup, H., 'Bildraum und Realraum in der rornischen Architektur', MDAl(R) 66
(1959), 147-174 [= Drerup 1959a].
Drerup, H., Die romische Villa, Marburger-Wmckelmann-Programm, Marburg 1959,
1-24 [=Drerup 1959b](repr. Darmstadt 1990, Wegeder Forschung 182), 116-149.
Drerup, H., Zum Ausstattungsluxus in der romischen Architektur (Orbis Antiquus 12),
2
1981.
Ebert, F., 'Lacunar', RE XII, I (1924), 369-375.
Edsall, M., The Role and Characterization of the Priest in the Ancient Novel, diss.
Columbia University 1996.
Edwards, M.J., 'The Tale of Cupid and Psyche', ZPE 94 (1992), 77-94.
Egger, B., 'Looking at Charitons Callirhoe', in Morgan, J.R. and Stoneman, R. (edd.),
Greek Fiction. The Greek Novel in Context, London and New York 1994, 31-48.
 220 General Bibliography
Eliade, M., Myths, Dreams and Mysteries, transl. from the French by Mairet, P., New
York 1968 (lrst English ed. 1960).
Elsner, J. and Sharrock, A., 'Re-viewing Pygmalion.', Ramus 20 (l 991), 149-181.
Elsom, H., 'Apuleius and the Movies', GCN 2 (1989), 141-150.
Enk, P.J., 'De Labyrinthi imagine in foribus templi Cumani insculpta (Vergilii Aen.
VI.27)', Mnem. 4th series 11 (l 958), 322-330.
Esposito, P., 'Riuso e stravolgimento in Apuleio', Vichiana 18 (1989), 306-322.
Facchini Tosi, C., 'Forma e suono in Apuleio', Vichiana 15 (1986), 98-168.
Fehling, D., Amor und Psyche. Die Schopfung des Apuleius und ihre Einwirkung auf
das Miirchen, eine Kritik der romantisclzen Miirchentheorie (Abhandl. Ak. Wiss.
Mainz 1977.9), Wiesbaden 1977.
Femhout, J.M H., Ad Apulei Madaurensis Metamorphoseon librum quintum commen-
tarius exegeticus, Medioburgi 1949.
Fick, N., 'Du palais d'Eros ala robe olympienne de Lucius', REL41 (1969), 378-396.
Fick, N., 'La Magie dans Ies Metamorphoses d'Apulee', REL 63 (1985), 132-147.
Finkelpearl, E.D., Metamorphosis of Language in Apuleius' Metamorphoses, diss.
Harvard University 1986.
Finkelpearl, E.D., 'Psyche, Aeneas and an Ass: Apuleius Met. 6.10--6.21', TAPA 120
(1990), 333-348.
Foerster, W., Gnosis, Eng. tr., 2 vols., Oxford 1972.
Fontenrose, J., Python: A stuay of Delphic Myth and Its Origins, California (University
of California Press) 1959.
Forbes, C.A., 'Charite and Dido', CW 37 (1943-4), 39-40.
Fortsch, R., Archiiologischer Kommentar zu den Villenbriefen des Jiingeren Plinius,
Mainz 1993.
Fraenkel, E., Elementi Plautini in Plauto, Firenze 1960.
Frangoulidis, S.A., Epic Imitation in the Metamorphoses of Apuleius, diss. Ohio State
University 1986.
Frangoulidis, S.A., 'Charite dulcissima: a note on the nan1eless Charite at Ap. Met.
7.12', Mnem. 4th series 44 (1991), 387-394 [= Frangoulidis 1991a].
Frangoulidis, S.A., 'Vergil's tale of the Trojan Horse in Apuleius' robber-tale of Thra-
syleon', PP 46 (1991), 95-111 [= Frangoulidis 1991b].
Frangoulidis, S.A., 'Epic Inversion in Apuleius' tale of Tlepolemus/Haemus', Mnem.
4th series 45 (1992), 60-74.
Frangoulidis, S.A., 'The Somnus Funestus and Somnus Vanus of Charite: Apul. Met.
4,27 (95,16)', Latomus 52 (1993), 507-513.
Frangoulidis, S.A., 'Contextuality in the sisters' death in Apuleius' tale of Cupid &
Psyche', PP 50 (1995), 140-144.
Freijeiro, A.B.,Mosaicos Romanos de Merida (Corpus Mosaicos Romanos de Espana
fasc. I), Madrid 1978.
Friedlander, L., 'Das Miirchen von Amor und Psyche', in Darstellungen aus der Sit-
tengeschichte Rams, IV, 9/10. Auflage, Leipzig 1921, 104-121 (repr. in Binder and
Merkelbach 1968, 16-43).
Fuhrmann, F., Les images de Plutarque, Paris 1964.
General Bibliography 221
Funari, R., 'L' immagine della tabes come metafora di corruzione nel linguaggio
morale di Sallustio e della prosa latina', Athenaeum 85 (1997), 207-214.
Gauckler, P., 'Musivum opus', DAGR III,2 (1904), 2088-2129.
Genette, G., Narrative Discourse, Oxford 1980.
Genette, G., Nouveau discours du recit, Paris I983.
Gerschmann, K.-H., Chariton-lnterpretationen, Miinster 1975.
Gnirs, A., 'Forschungen iiber den antiken Villenbau in Siidistrien', JOEAI 18 (1915),
Beibl. 101-163.
Gnoli, R., Marmora Romana, Roma 1971.
Granarolo, J., D'Ennius a Catulle, Paris 1971.
Graverini, L., 'In historiae specimen (Apul. Met. 8.1.4). Elementi della letteratura sto-
riografica nelle Metamorfosi di Apuleio', Prometheus 23 ( 1997), 247-278.
Graverini, L., 'Memorie virgiliane nelle Metamorfosi di Apuleio •, forthcoming in
Maia.
Grima!, P.,Apulei Metamorphoseis IV 28 - VI 24 I Apulee, Metamorphoses IV 28 - VI
24, Paris 2 1976.
Gwyn Griffiths, J., Apuleius of Madauros. The Isis Book (Metamorphoses, Book XI).
Edited with an Introduction, Translation and Commentary, Leiden 1975.
Habermehl, P., 'Quaedam divinae mediae poteslates: Demonology in Apuleius' de deo
Socratis', GCN 7 (1996), 117-142.
Hanson, J.A., Apuleius, Metamorphoses, Cambridge, Mass. and London 1989.
Harrison, E.L., 'The Structure of the Aeneid: Observations on the links between the
Books', ANRW 11.31.1 (1980), 359-393.
Harrison, S.J., 'Three Notes on Apuleius', CJ 38 (1988), 265-267.
Harrison, S.J., 'Some Odyssean episodes in Apuleius' Metamorphoses', MD 25
(1990), 193-201.
Harrison, S.J., 'Apuleius eroticus: Anth. Lat. 712 Riese', Hennes 120 (1992), 83-89.
Harrison, S.J., 'From Epic to Novel : Apuleius' Metamorphoses and Vergil's Aeneid',
forthcoming in MD.
Heinrici, G .• 'Zur Geschichte der Psyche. Eine religionsgeschichtliche Skizze', PrJ 90
(1897), 390-417 [repr. in Binder and Merkelbach 1968, 56-86].
Hellegouarc'h, J., Le vocabulaire latin des relations et des partis politiques sous la
Republique, Paris 2 1972.
Heller, S., 'Apuleius, Platonic dualism, and eleven', AJP 104 (1983), 321-339.
Helm, R., 'Das "Miirchen" von Amor und Psyche', NJb 33 (1914), 170-209 [repr. in
Binder and Merkelbach 1968, 175-234].
Henig, M., The Luxury Arts: Decorative Metalwork, Engraved Gems and Jewellery,
in Henig, M. (ed.), A Handbook of Roman Art, Oxford 1983, 139-165.
Hijmans Jr., B.L., and Paardt, R.Th. van der (edd.), Aspects of Apuleius' Golden Ass,
Groningen 1978.
Hijmans Jr., B.L. - Paardt, R.Th. van der - Smits, E.R. - Westendorp Boerma, R.E.H.
- Westerbrink, A.G., Apuleius Madaurensis, Metamorphoses Book N 1-27. Text,
Introduction and Commentary, Groningen 1977.
222 General Bibliography
Hijmans Jr., B.L. - Paardt, R.Th. van der - Schmidt, V. - Westendorp Boerma, R.E.H.
- Westerbrink, A.G., Apuleius Madaurensis, Metanwrphoses Books VI 25-32 and
VJ/. Text, Introduction and Commentary, Groningen 1981.
Hijmans Jr., J3.L.- Paardt, R. Th. van der - Schmidt, V. - Settels, C.B.J. - Wesseling, B.
- Westendorp Boerma, R.E.H., Apuleius Madaurensis, Metamorphoses Book VI/I.
Text, Introduction and Commentary, Groningen 1985.
Hijmans Jr., B.L. - Paardt, R.Th. van der - Schmidt, V. - Wesseling, B. - Zimmer-
man, M., Apuleius Madaurensis, Metamorphoses Book IX. Text, Introduction and
Commentary, Groningen 1995.
Hijmans Jr., E.L., 'Apuleius, Philosophus Platonicus', ANRW ll.36.1 (1987), 395-475.
Hoevels, F.E., Miirchen und Magie in den Metamorphosen des Apuleius van Madaura,
Amsterdam 1979.
Hofmann, H., 'Die Flucht des Erzah.lers: Narrative Strategien in den Ehebruchs-
geschichten in Apuleius' Goldenem Esel', GCN 5 (1993), 111-141.
Hofstetter, E., Sirenen im archaischen und klassischen Griechenland, Wiirzburg 1990.
Hooker, W., 'Apuleius's "Cupid and Psyche" as a Platonic myth', Bucknell Review 5.3
(1955), 24-38.
Horsfall, N.M., 'Allecto and natura: a pattern of allusion in Apuleius', LCM 7 (1982),
41.
Hiibner, W., i)irae im romischen Epos. Uber das Verhiiltnis van Vogeldiinwnen und
Prodigien, Hildesheim and New York 1970.
Hug, A., 'Sedile', RE II A, I (1921), 1023-1024.
Hunink, V, Apuleius of Madauros, Prose de magia (Apologia), edited with a commen-
tary. Vols. I-II. Amsterdam 1997.
d'Huys, V., 'How to describe violence in historical narrative. Reflections of the ancient
Greek historians and their ancient critics', AncSoc 18 (1987), 209-250.
Jackson Kniglit, W.F., Vergil: Epic and Anthropology. New York 1967.
James, P., Unity In Diversity: A Study of Apuleius' Metamorphoses, Hildesheim 1987.
James, P., 'Cupid at Work and at Play·, GCN 1 (1988), 113-121.
Jeanmaire, H., Dionysos: histoire du culte de Bacchus, Paris 1951.
Jenkins, J.D., 'The Ambiguity of Greek Textiles', Arethusa 18 (1985), 109-132.
Jonas, H., The Gnostic Religion. The message of the alien God and the beginnings of
Christianity. Boston 2 1963.
Jones, C.P., ClJlture and Society in Lucian, Cambridge, Mass. 1986.
Jong, I.J.F. de, Narrators and Focalizers: The Presentation of The Story in the Iliad,
Amsterdam 1987.
Kahane, A., 'Toe Prologue to Apuleius' Metamorphoses', GCN1 (1996), 75-93.
Katz, P.B., 'The Myth of Psyche. A Definition of the Nature of the Feminine', Arethusa
9 (1976), 111-118.
Keith, A.M., The Play of Fictions. Studies in Ovid's Metamorphoses Book 2, (Michigan
Monographs in Classical Antiquity), Ann Arbor 1992.
Kenney, E.J., Apuleius: Cupid & Psyche, Cambridge 1990 [= Kenney 1990a].
Kenney, E.J., 'Psyche and her mysterious husband', in Russell, D.A. (ed.) 1990, 175-
198 [= Kenney 1990b].
General Bibliography 223
Keulen, W.H., 'Some legal themes in Apuleian context', in Picone, M. and Zimmer-
mann, B. 1997, 203-229.
Koch, G. and Sichtermann, H., Romische Sarkophage (Handbuch der Archiiologie 6),
Mtinchen 1982.
Koster, S., Die Invektive in der griechischen und romischen Literatur, Meisenheim am
Gian 1980.
Krabbe, J.K., The Metanwrphoses of Apuleius, New York I 989.
Kraus, Th., Das romische Weltreich, Berlin 1967.
Kuss!, R., 'Die Metamorphosen des "Lukios von Patrai". Untersuchungen zu Phot.
Bihl. 129, RhM 133 (1990), 379-388.
Lafaye, G., 'Villa', DAGR. V (1919), 870-891.
Lane Fox, R., Pagans and Christians, Harrnondsworth 1986.
La Penna, A., 'Una novella di Apuleio e I' Jliupersis virgiliana', Maia 37 ( 1985), 145-
147.
Layton, B. (ed.), The Rediscovery of Gnosticism, Vol. I 'The School of Valentinus' (Nu-
men, Suppl. 41.1), Leiden 1980.
Layton, B., The Gnostic Scriptures: a new translation with annotations and introduc-
tions, New York I 987.
Lavery, G.B., 'Metaphors of war and travel in Seneca's prose works', G&R 27 (1980),
147-156.
Lassen, E.M., 'The Ultimate Crime. Parricidium and the Concept of Family in the Late
Roman Republic and the Early Empire', C&M 43 (1992), 147-162.
Lazzarini, C., 'II modello virgiliano nel Jessico delle Metamo,fosi di Apuleio', SCO 35
(1985), 131-160.
Lilja, S., Terms of Abuse in Roman Comedy, Helsinki 1965.
Linderski, J., 'The Augural Law', ANRW II. 16.3 (1986), 2146-23 I 2.
Lintvelt, J. Essai de typologie narrative: le 'point de vue', Paris 1983 (21989).
Ling, R., Roman Painting, Cambridge 1991.
McCreight, Th.D., 'Invective Techniques in Apuleius' Apology', GCN 3 (I 990), 35-
62.
McCreight, Th.D., Rhetorical Strategies and Word Choice in Apuleius' Apology, diss.
Duke University, Durham, N.C. 1991.
MacDermot, V., 'The Concept of Pleroma in Gnosticism', in: Krause, M. (ed.), Gnosis
and Gnosticism (Nag Hammadi Studies 17), Leiden 1981, 76-81.
McKay, A.G., Houses, Villas and Palaces in the Roman World, London 1975.
Maiuri, A., La Casa del Menandro e ii suo Tesoro di Argenteria, Roma 1932.
Maiuri, A., Le pitture delle Case di M. Fabio Amandio, del Sacerdos Amandus e di P.
Cornelius Teges, Reg. I ins. 7 (Monumenti della pittura antica Ill, Pompei Fasc. 2),
Roma 1938.
Mal-Maeder, D. van 'L'Ane d'Or ou Jes metamorphoses d'un recit: illustration de la
subjectivite humaine', GCN 6 (1995), 103-125.
Mal-Maeder, D. van, 'Lector intende: laetaberis. The enigma of the last book of
Apuleius' Metamorphoses', GCN 8 (1997), 87-118.
Mal-Maeder, D.K. van,Apulee, Les Metamorphoses Livre JI, I-20. Introduction, texte,
traduction et commentaire, diss. Groningen 1998.
224 General Bibliography
Mansuelli, G.A., Le ville del nwndo romano, Milano 1958.
Mantero, T., Amore e Psiche. Struttura di una 'fabia di magia', Genova 1973.
Mantovanelli. P., Profundus. Studio di un campo semantico dal Latinoarcaico al Latino
cristiano, Roma 1981.
Marquardt, J.• Das Privatleben der Romer, Leipzig 2 1886 (repr. Darmstadt 1980).
Matthews, V.J., Panyassis of Halikamassos (Mnem. Suppl. 33), Leiden 1974.
Mattiacci, S., lframmenti dei "poetae novelli ". lntroduzione, testo critico e commento,
Roma 1982.
Mattiacci, S., 'Apuleio "poeta novello"', in Tandoi, V. (ed.), Disiecti membrapoetae,
II, Foggia 1985, 235-277.
Mattiacci, S., 'Apuleio e i poeti latini arcaici •, in Munus amicitiae. Scritti in memoria
di A. Ronconi I, Firenze 1986, 159-200.
Mattiacci, S., 'L' odarium dell'amico di Gellio e la poesia novella', in Tandoi, V. (ed.),
Disiecti numbrapoetae, ill, Foggia 1988, 194-208.
Mattiacci, S., 'La lecti invocatio di Aristomene: pluralita di modelli e parodia in Apul.
Met. I 16' ,Maia45 (1993), 257-267.
Merlan, P., La latinite d'Apulee dans les Metamorphoses. Etude de grammaire et de
stylistique. Paris 1925.
Mellet, S., 'Present de narration et parfait dans le conte de Psyche', REL 63 (1985),
148-160.
Meo, C. de, Lingue tecniche de{ Latino,Bologna 1983.
Merkelbach, R., Roman und Mysterium in der Antike, Miinchen 1962.
Michel, D., Pompejanische Gartenrnalereien, in Cahn, H.A. and Simon, E. (edd.),
Tainia, Mainz 1980, 373-404.
Mielsch, H., Romische Stuckreliefs (MDAl(R), 21. Erganzungsheft), Heidelberg 1975.
Mielsch, H., Die romische Villa, Miinchen 1987.
Mignogna. E., 'Roman und Paradoxon: Die Metarnorphosen der Metapher in Achilleus
Tatios' Leukippe und Kleitophon', GCN 6 (1995), 21-38.
Millar, F.G.B .• 'The World of the Golden Ass', JRS 71 (1981), 63-75.
Miniconi, P.J.,Etude des themes "guerriers" de la poesie epique greco-romaine suivi
d'un Index, Paris 1951.
Mommsen, Th., Romisches Strafrecht, Leipzig 1899 (repr. Darmstadt 1955).
Moreschini, C., 'La demonologia medioplatonica e le Metamorphosi di Apuleio' Maia
17 (1965), 30-46.
Moreschini, C., Apuleio e il Platonismo, Firenze 1978.
Moreschini, C., 'Le Metamorfosi di Apuleio, Iafabula milesia e il romanzo', MD 25
(1990), 115-128.
Moreschini, C., Il mito di Amore e Psiche in Apuleio: Saggio, testo di Apuleio,
traduzione e commento, Napoli 1994.
Mosci Sassi, M.G., ll senno castrensis, Bologna 1983.
Mossman, J., Wild Justice: A Study of Euripides' Hecuba, Oxford 1995.
Murgatroyd, P., 'Militia amoris and the Roman Elegists', Latomus 34 (1975), 59-79.
Murgatroyd, P., 'The Sea of Love', CQ 45 (1995), 9-25.
Mylius, H., 'Die Rekonstruktion der rornischen Vtllen von Nennig und Fliessem', BJ
129 (1924), 110-120.
General Bibliography 225
Neuenschwander, P., Der bildliche Ausdruck des Apuleius von Madaura. Beitrag zur
Geschichte der Metapher in Latein, Ziirich 1913.
Neumann, E., Anwr and Psyche: The Psychic Development of the Feminine, Princeton
1956.
Newbold, R.F., 'Sensitivity to Shame in Greek and Roman Epic, with particular refer-
ence to Claudian and Nonnus.', Ramus 14,1 (1985), 30-45.
Newbold, R.F., 'Icarus, Great Mother and Great Goddess in Apuleius' Metamor-
phoses.', Latomus 50 ( 1991 ), 400--408.
Norden, F., Apulejus von Madaura und das romische Privatrecht, Leipzig 1912.
North, H.F., 'The Acropolis of the Soul', in: Rosen, R.M. and Farrell, J. (edd.), Nomo-
deiktes. Greek Studies in honor of Martin Oswald, Ann Arbor 1993, 423-433.
Northius, A.E. (ed.), Psyche: ein Feeenmlirchen des Apuleius, Gottingen 1789.
O'Brien, M.C., 'Apuleius and the Concept of a Philosophical Rhetoric', Hermathena
151 (1991), 39-50.
Opelt, I., Die lateinischen Schimpfworter und verwandte sprachliche Erscheinungen.
Eine Typologie, Heidelberg 1965.
Osborne, C., Eros Unveiled. Plato and the God of Love, Oxford 1994.
Paardt, R.Th. van der, L Apuleius Madaurensis, The Metamorphoses. A Commentary
on Book Ill with Text and Introduction, Amsterdam 1971.
Paardt, R.Th. van der, 'The Story of Mr. "Overbold" as specimen historiae (on Apul.
Met. VIII 1-14)', SymposiumApuleianum Groninganum, Groningen 1981, 19-28.
Paardt, R.Th. van der, 'Various Aspects of Narrative Technique in Apuleius' Metarrwr-
phoses', in Hijmans Jr., B.L. and Paardt, R.Th. van der (edd.), 1978, 75-94.
Paardt, R.Th. van der, 'The Unmasked "f' : Apuleius Met. XI.27', M nem.4th series 34
(1981), 96-106.
Painchaud, L., (ed.), L'Ecrit sans titre: traite sur l'origine du monde (Bibliotheque
copte de Nag Hamrnadi: Textes 21), Louvain and Paris 1995.
Panayotakis, S., 'lnsidiae Veneris: Lameness, Old Age and Deception in the Under-
world (Apul. Met. 6,18-19)', GCN 8 (1997), 23-39.
Paratore, E., La novella in Apuleio, Messina 2 1942.
Pascucci, G., 'Praeneoterica: Lutazio, Callimaco e Plauto', Studi di poesia latina in
onore di A. Traglia, Roma 1979, 109-126 (= Scritti scelti II, Firenze 1983, 633-
650).
Paul, G.M., 'Urbs Capta. Sketch of an ancient literary motif', Phoenix 36 ( 1982), 144-
155.
Pearson, B.A., 'Philo and Gnosticism', ANRW Il.21.1 ( 1984 ), 295-342.
Penwill, J.L., 'Slavish Pleasures and Profitless Curiosity: Fall and Redemption in
Apuleius' Metamorphoses', Ramus 4 (1975), 49-82.
Penwill, J.L., 'Ambages Reciprocae: Reviewing Apuleius' Metanwrphoses', Ramus
19,1 (1990), 1-25.
Perry, B.E., Aesopica I, Urbana, ill. 1952.
Perutelli, A., 'Note a Calvo', in Tandoi, V. (ed.), Disiecti membra poetae, ill, Foggia
1988, 87-99.
Perutelli, A., 'Lutazio Catulo poeta', RFIC 118 (1990), 257-281.
Petrone, G., Teatro antico e inganno. Finzioni plautine, Palermo 1983.
226 General Bibliography
Picone, M. and Zimmermann, B. (edd.), Der antike Roman und seine mittelalterliche
Rezeption, Basel, Boston and Berlin 1997.
Pinkster, H., Latin Syntax and Semantics, London 1990.
Pinkster, H., 'Is the Latin present tense the unmarked, neutral tense in the system?', in:
Risselada, R. (ed.), Latin in Use, Amsterdam 1998.
Poschl, V., 'Die Tempeltiiren des Dadalus in der Aeneis (Vl.14-33)', WJA N.F. I
(1975), 111).._123.
Purser, L.C., The Story of Cupid and Psyche as related by Apuleius, London 1910.
Quinn, K., Vergil's Aeneid. A Critical Description, London 1968.
Quispe!, G., 'The Original Doctrine of Valentine', VC (1947), 43-73.
Reitzenstein, It, Das Miirchen van Amor und Psyche bei Apuleius, Leipzig 1912 (repr.
in Binder and Merkelbach 1968, 87-158).
Reitzenstein, R., Die Hellenistischen Mysterienreligionen, Stuttgart 3 1927.
Robertson, D.S. and Vallette, P. (ed. and transl.), Apulee, Les Metamorphoses, tome II
(livres W-Vl), Paris 6 1976.
Rocca, S., 'Mellitus tra lingua familiare e lingua letteraria', Maia 31 (1979), 37-43.
Romilly, J. de, 'Plato and conjuring', in Erickson, K. V. (ed.), Plato: True and Sophistic
Rhetoric, Amsterdam 1979, 153-169.
Ronconi, A., II verbo Latino, Firenze 1968.
Ronconi, A., Studi catulliani, Brescia 2 1971.
Rosati, G., 'Racconto e interpretazione: forme e funzioni dell'ironia drammatica nelle
Metamorfosi di Apuleio', in Picone, M. and Zimmermann, B. 1997, 107-127.
Rubino, A., 'Literary Intelligibility in Apuleius' Metamorphoses', CB 42 (1966), 65-
69.
Russell, D.A. (ed.), Antonine Literature, Oxford 1990.
Sandy, G.N., The Greek World of Apuleius; Apuleius and the Second Sophistic (Mnem.
Suppl. 174), Leiden 1997.
Scarcella, A., 'La polemologie des romans', in: Hoffmann, M.-F., Hoffmann, P. and
Trede, M. (edd.), Le Monde du Roman Gree, Paris 1992, 63-74.
Schefold, K., •rompeji unter Vespasian', MDAl(R) 60--61 (1953-54), 107-125.
Schefold, K., Die Wiinde Pompejis. Topographisches Verzeichnis der Bildmotive,
Berlin 1957.
Schefold, K., Ver.gessencsPompeji, Bern 1962.
Schiesaro, A., 'La tragedia di Psiche: note ad Apuleio Met. 4.28-35', Maia 40 (1988),
141-150.
Schlam, C.C., Cupid and Psyche: Apu/eius and the Monuments, University Park, Penn-
sylvania 1976.
Schlam, C.C., 'Platonica in the Metamorphoses of Apuleius', TAPA 101 (1970), 477-
487.
Schlam, C.C., 'The Scholarship on Apuleius since 1938', CW 64 (1971), 285-309.
Schlam, C.C., The Metamorphoses of Apuleius: on Making an Ass of Oneself, London
1992.
Schlam, C.C., 'Cupid and Psyche: Folktale and Literary Narrative', GCN 5 (1993),
63-74.
Schmidt, 0., Metapher und Gleichnis in den Schriften Lukians: ein Beitrag zur Ge-
General Bibliography 227
schichte der griechischen Tropik, Wmterthur 1897.
Schrijvers, P.H., De mens als toeschouwer. Essays over Romeinse literatuur en West-
europese tradities, Amsterdam 1986.
Scivoletto, N., 'Antiquaria Romana in Apuleio', Biblioteca del giomale italiano di
filologia XIV, Napoli 1963, 222-253.
Scopello, M., L' Exegese de l' iime: Nag Hammadi Codex II, 6: introduction, traduction
et commentaire (Nag Ham.madi Studies 25), Leiden 1985.
Scotti, M. T., 'Il proemio delle Metamo,fosi tra Ovidio ed Apuleio, GIF 34 (1982), 43-
61.
Shanzer, D., 'Piscatum opiparem ... praestinaui: Apuleius, Met. 1,24-25', RFIC 124
(1996), 445-454.
Sharrock, A., Seduction and Repetition in Ovid's Ars Amatoria 2, Oxford 1994.
Shumate, N., Crisis and Conversion inApuleius' Metamorphoses, Ann Arbor 1996 [=
Shumate 1996a].
Shumate, N., "'Darkness Visible": Apuleius reads Vrrgil', GCN 7 (1996), 103-116 [=
Shumate 1996b].
Slater, N.W., 'Passion and Petrifaction: the Gaze in Apuleius', CPh 93 (1998), 18-48.
Smith, DJ., 'Mosaics', in: Henig, M. (ed.),A Handbook of Roman Art, Oxford 1983,
116-138.
Smith, W.S., 'Interlocking of Theme and Meaning in the Golden Ass', GCN 5 (1993),
75-89.
Smith, W.S., 'Sty le and Character in The Golden Ass: "Suddenly an Opposite Appear-
ance"', ANRW 11.34.2 (1994), 1575-1599.
Sordi, M., The Christians and the Roman Empire, (Engl. transl.) London 1988.
Spies, A., Militat omnis amans. Ein Beitrag zur Bildersprache der antiken Erotik,
Tiibingen 1930 (repr. New York and London 1978).
Stabryla, S., 'The Function of the tale of Cupid and Psyche in the Structure of the Meta-
morphoses of Apuleius', Eos 61 (1973), 261-272.
Stead. G.C., 'The Valentinian Myth of Sophia', JTS n.s. 20 (1969), 75-104.
Steinmetz, P., Untersuchwigen zur romischen Literatur des zweiten Jahrhunderts n.
Chr. Geb. (Palingenesia XVI), Wiesbaden 1982.
Steyns, D., Etudes sur Les metaphores et Les comparaisons dnns les oeuvres en prose
de Seneque le philosophe, Gand 1906.
Stramaglia, A., 'Covi di banditi e cadaveri "scomodi" in Lolliano, Apuleio, e
[Luciano]', ZPE 94 (1992), 59-63.
Strilciw, N., 'De arte rhetorica in Apulei Metamorphosibus conspicua', Eos 28 (1925),
105--124.
Summers, R.G., A legal commentary on the Metamorphoses of Apuleius, Ann Arbor
1969.
Swahn, J.-0, The Tale of Cupid and Psyche, Lund 1955.
Tandoi, V., 'Gli epigramrni di Tiburtino a Pompei, Lutazio Catulo e il movimento dei
preneoterici', Quademi dell'AICC di Foggia 1 (1981), 133-175 (Scrittidifilologia
e di storia delta cultura, Pisa 1992, 128-155).
Taplin, 0., Homeric Soundings, Oxford 1992.
Tatum, J., 'The Tales of Apuleius' Golden Ass', TAPA 100 (1969), 487-527.
228 General Bibliography

Tatum, J. (ed.), The Search for the Ancient Novel, Baltimore 1994.
Thedenat, H.• 'Lacunar, Lacunarium, Laquear', DAGR m, 2 (1904), 902-904.
Thibau, R., 'Les Metanwrphoses d' Apulee et la Theorie Platonicienne de l'Eros', Stud.
Phil. GanJ. 3 (1965), 89-144.
Thome, G., ¼>rstellungen vom Bosen in der lateinischen Literatur, Stuttgart 1993. General Index
Toynbee, J.M.C., Animals in Roman Life and Arl, London 1973.
Traina, A., Poeti Latinie neolatini, III, Bologna 1989.
Trapp, M.B., 'Plato's Phaedrus in Second-Century Greek Literature' in Russell, D.A.
(ed.) 1990, 141-174.
A 23 186
Urban, F., Belagerungsschilderungen: Untersuchung zu einem Topos der antiken
30 186
GeschichtJschreibung, Gottingen 1966.
Achamoth 5 66 186
Walsh, P.G., The Roman Novel, Cambridge 1970.
Walsh, P.G., 'Apuleius and Plutarch', in: Blumenthal, H. and Markus, R. (edd.), Neo- Achilles Tatius Fl. 3 72
platonism and Early Christian Thought, Essays in lwnour of A. H. Armstrong, Lon- 5,5 69 3,10 89
don 1981, 20-32. 6,10,6 158 9 72
Watson, P., 'Love as Civilizer: Ovid, Ars Amatoria 2, 467-92', Latomus 43 (1984), 8,6 69 Met. 1,1 70, 179, 186
389-395. Aeon 5 1,2 186
Weber, M., A11tikeBadekultur, Mtinchen 1996. agrestis 185, 186 1,3 38
Wedner, S., Tradition und Wandel im allegorischen Verstiindnis des Sirenenmythos. Ein Alexandria 15 1,4 71
Beitrag zur Rezeptionsgeschichte Homers, Frankfurt am Main, etc. 1994. Allecto 160, 161 1,8 11
Weege, F., 'D.asGoldene Haus des Nero', JDAI 28 (1913), 127-244. allegory 9, 13, 23, 37, 57, 170, 175, 1,11 12
Weinrich, H., Tempus. Besprochene und erziihlte Welt, Stuttgart 1964. 190 1,16 129
Westerbrink, A.G., 'Some Parodies in Apuleius' Metamorphoses', in HijmansJr, B.L. allegorising of Homer 14 1.18 57
and Paardt,R.Th. van der 1978, 63- 71. Amor 1,20 38
Wheeler, E.L., Stratagem and the vocabulary of military trickery, Leiden 1988. and Somnus 13 1,21 70, 71
Wheeler, St.M., 'Lost Voices: Vergil, Aeneid 12.718-19', CQ 43,2 (1993), 451-454. ancient novel 158 2,4 42, 70
Whitby, L.M .• Hardie, P.R. and Whitby, M. (edd.), Honw Viator: Classical Essays for Andromeda 139 2,5 11
John Bramble, Bristol 1987. Psyche and - 20 2,6 12
Whittaker, J., 'Platonic Philosophy in the Early Empire', ANRW 11.36.1 (1987), 81- animal compositions 2,8 130
123. in Pompeian murals 117 2,17 177
Wilken, R.L., The Christians as the Romans saw them, New Haven and London 1984. Anthologia Palatina 2,21 71
Winkler, JJ., Auctor and Actor: A Narratological Reading of Apuleius's The Golden funeral epigrams 140 2,22 12
Ass, Berkeley and London 1985. anticipations 2,25 12
Wlosok. A., Laktanz und die philosophische Gnosis: Untersuchungen zu Geschichte absence of-, in C&.P 93 3,17 70
und Termir.ologie der gnostischen Erlosungsvorstellung, Heidelberg 1960. Apollonius Rhodius 62 3,29 131
Wlosok. A., 'Zur Einheit der Metamorphosen des Apuleius', Phil. 113 (1969), 68-84. 3,90-153 130 4,24 55
Wlosok, A., 'Amor and Cupid', HSCPh 79, 1975, 165-179. 3,92-129 134 4,26 163
Wright, J.R.G., 'Folktale and Literary Technique in Cupid and Psyche', CQ 21 (1971), 3,111-66 65 4,27 54, 70, 179, 186
27:l-284. apotheosis 67 4,28 72,107, 111,130,177
Yacoub, M., Chefs-d'oeuvre des musees nationaux de Tunisie, Tunis 1978. Apuleius 4,29 65, 99, 132
Zimmerman-de Graaf, M., 'Narrative Judgement and Reader Response in Apuleius' Apol. 6 127 4,30 8, 40, 98, 129, 130, 133,
Metamorphoses 10.29-34: The Pantomime of the Judgement of Paris', GCN 5 9 127, 185 176
(1993), 143-161. 10,3 128 4,31 41, 60, 65, 66, 100, 106,
Zinzow, A., P.syche und Eros. Ein milesisches Miirchen in der Darstellung und Auffas- 11 185 135
sung des Apuleius, Halle 1881. 12 183, 185 4,32 42, 64, 71, 73, 89, 96, 110,
230 General Index General Index 231

136, 137 6,22 28 C curiosus 171

4,32-35 20 6,23 39, 67, 81, 173, 187
4,33 74, 106, 124, 137 6,24 6, 45, 62, 106, 108,184 Callimachus D
4,34 75, 94 6,25 54, 58, 129 41 Pf. 142
4,35 13, 42, 72 8,2 174 Hecale fr. 74 168 d'Este, Ercolo
5,1 13, 59, 86, 95, 106 8,15 70 Catullus predilection for Apuleius 208
5,1-2 70 8,27 3 64,35-42 132 de'Bussi, Giovan Antonio 191
5,2 97, 106, 107, 113 9,14 3, 186 66,2 129 declamations 77
5,3 13, 70, 97, 121 10,21-22 48 Cellini, Benvenuto demonology 24
5,4 106,113 Perseus 203 descriptions
10,28 136
5,5 98 characterisation of warfare 155
10,29 131
5,6 94 in C&P 57 direct speech
10,31 177
5,7 103 of Psyche's sisters 97 amount of-, in C&P 84, 95
10,33 99
5,9 96, 120 Charite DomusAurea
10,35 13, 73
5,11 97 andDido 55 ofNero 116
11,1 II, 13
5,12 160 Chariton dramatic effect 155
5,13 79,106 11,5 3, 8
l,2 158 drunk old women
5,15 161 11,15 14
l,14 158 as narrators in the Met. 86
5,18 121 11,18 168
2,2 177
5,19 156 11,23 12
2,7 158 E
5,21 66, 95, 106, 143, 157 11,24 12
Cicero
5,22 12, 71, 88, 143 philosophus platonicus 188
Part. 19 179 ecphrasis 71, 113, 124, 144, 207
5,22-25 108 Soc. 145-146 173
21-22 178 embedded focalisation 94
5,23 32, 91, 92, 110, 147, 177 155 13
cista mystica 12 epic allusion
5,24 37, 43, 44, 57 Ariadne
citrus 114 in C&P 73
5,25 91, 106 and Dionysos 7, 20 Cocteau, J. epic opening
5.26 101 Aristophanes 'La Belle et la Bete' 45 ofC&P 63
5,27 73, 88, 106, 108, 164, 174 Eq. 956 170 comedy Equicola, Mario 191
5,28 60, 93, 100, 165 Arternidorus Plautus 157 Ercole de'. Roberti 204
5,29 100, 134 Onirocr. 2,17 170 comptus 179 Eros
5,30 40 consecutio temporum I 03 bitter-sweet-, in Anth. Pal. 134
5,31 76,100,142,166,173 contagious disease 161 Euripidean tragedy
B
6,1 61, 92 Correggio, Niccolo da I 96 in C&P 73
6,2 12, 61 Fabula Psiches et Cupidinis 198, everyday life
6,5 II Beroaldo, Filippo 191
206 references to-, in C&P 124
6.6 41,130 Boccaccio, Giovanni 190,202 Council of Trent 200 'Exegesis of the Soul'
6,8 65 Boiardo, Feltrino 208 Coxie, Michael 193 Nag Hammadi 11,6 10
6,9 121 Boiardo Matteo Maria, 192 Cupid exercitus 66
6,10 62 book-division in elegy 141
6,11 62 within C&P 58 the many faces of - 99 F
6,13 63 book-divisions throughout Apuleius' novel 49
6,15 87, 102, 110 bridging of 52 weapons of - 146 Fable 63
6,16 62, 108 book-transition Cupid and Psyche fabula 173, 186
6,20 81 in Ovid Met. 1-2, 60 on sarcophagi 19 Fama 168
6,21 12, 32, 45, 79, 81 Botticelli, Sandro 207 curiositas 7, 166 in Vergil's Aeneid 168
232 General Index General Index 233

Fortuna 10,31.52 17 lepos 184, 186 human soul as a city under siege
assaults on human life 160 13,96 14 Ligorio, Pirro 199 158
iniqua 96 homoeoteleuton 179 Livius slander's defeat and downfall into
Fulgentius 8, 190 Hymn of the Pearl 18 25,31,9 207 abyss 163
Myth. 2, I 177 locus amoenus 59 Middle Platonism 8, 15-17
3,6 19 I Longus Milesian tale 64
Furies 161 Daphnis and Chloe 2,34 69 military language 152
furniture Icarianism 36 Love mise en abyme 64
Roman- 121 imagery ambiguous nature of - 187 mondedte 167,176
of disease or vice and corruption Lucianus monde narre 167, 176
G 159 Calumn. 159, 207 mosaics
snake-imagery 160 Dial. Mort. l,333-334 71 Roman- 118
gauia/)J1.poc; 168 imagery of warfare Lucius motif
gaz.a 114 in context of deception 157 falsely accused 48 of space in Apuleius' Met. 10
genres imitatio-technique mystery religion
wishes to have wings 88
mixing of - 73, 77 of Apuleius 56 in intellectual discourse 8
Lucius and Psyche
gestures 71 incomptus I 85
aspirations to the divine 37
Gilio, Giovanni Andrea 200 inserted tale N
Lucretius
Giulio, Romano 194 misread by narratee 56
1,1-20 184
YAUXUUJ<;178, 185 intertextuality 11 narratee(s)
1,95-9 139
Gnostic soul story 10 in Apul. Met. 4,33 89 ofC&P 54
5,958-63 180
Gnosticism 8 Irenaeus narrative
5,1012-20 180
grace adv. haer. 1,11,1 5 acceleration of - l 06
actof- 7 irony 41, 87, 94 levels of-, according to Weinrich
gratia 185, 186 dramatic irony 94 M 104
Greek novels structure I 04
opening of - 64 J Macrobius narrative situation
Somn. Seip. 1,2,7-8 190 in Apuleius' Met. and in C&P 83
H Judgement of Paris Maestro del Dado 193 narrative strategy 162
different perspectives on - 98 Manilius narrative technique
hair 5,538 ff. 21 of Apuleius 104
fascination with-, of Apuleius and K 5,545-8 139 narrator 53, 85
Lucius 89 Mantegna, Andrea 207 author behind - 90
head-shaving 71 katabasis 2, 6 l Martianus Capella omniscience and omnipresence 93
Hennogenes )((ll)(lc; 170 1,7 202 omniscient - 84
Id. 2,5 178 Maximus Tyrius partiality 87
Hesiodus L 10 17
Theog. 176-200 130 mergus/ateuLa 169 0
782-7 63 Labours metamorphosis
Homerus of Hercules 6 l of love theme in the Met.· 12 Odysseus
Od. 5,50-54 169 of Psyche 61 of theme of sleep in the Met. 12 returnof- 13
5,491-2 59 laquearia 114 metanarrative statements onomatopoeia 172
6,119 59 Aeipoc; 170 deceptive - 166 Ovidius
6,119-20 59 larvae 25 metaphor Am. 3,1,41 43
7,81-132 59 lepidus 179 flight/poetic creativity 38 Ars 1,325--326 39
234 General Index General Index 235

2,17-20 43 Symp. 180d 183 innocens anima 102 speaking animals 63

2,473--80 183 182c 180 revenge of - 102 speech
Ep. 4,102 183 201d-212c 57 Ptolemaeus importance of-, in Apul. Pl. 29
Her. 15 21 platonic myth disciple of Valentinus 4 spoudogeloion 165
Met. 2,540-41 168 C&Pas- 33 myth of Sophia Achamoth 5 structure
2,544-6 168 Plautus Pygmalion 41 of C&P 58
2,548 167 As. 452 105 stucco reliefs
2,564-5 168 Pleroma 5 R in Roman houses 116
5,369-72 141 Plinius suauitas 187
8,182-234 38 Nat. 18,362 170 Raphael 194,197,199 subjectivity
10,529-31 132 33,57 116 and classical texts 197 and manipulation of data 101
11,731-33 169 35,81-82 207 reader and rhetoric of persuasion 95
Tr. 3,8 38 35,102 207 lecteur ahstrait 167
36,21 207 lecteur concret 167 T
p Plotinus 'second reader' 93
Enn. 1,8,13 18 readershlp tableaux vivants 106
painters 3,5,2-3, 19 of the Met. 65 themes
and texts 209 6,9,9 19 Risus festival 48 of theft in C &P 86
paraclausithyron 129 Plutarchus Roberti, Ercole de' 204 of theft, criminality, old age in the
parenthesis 86 Am. 764e 17 Roman references in C&P 89 Met. 163
Penni, Gianfrancesco 194 de /side 8 Roman villas Theophrastus
perfect tense poetae novelli 127, 136, 142 design of - 123 de sign. 28 170
as boundary marker 108 'poetical paintings' 200 topos
in authorial comments 110 Porphyrius s indecisive heroine 143
personification of lamp 148
indicating 'rupture stylistique' 105 Cave of the Nymphs 14
semantic value of - 107 Porta Maggiore basilica 21 Sabadino degli Arienti, Giovanni
perfects porticus 122 204 u
'narrative' and 'authorial' perfects present Sack of Troy 156
107 historical - 105 Salamanca, Antonio 193 uerbositas 179, 187
Perino de! Vaga 192 historical -, as a "mannerism" 106 Sappho uerbosus 171
peripeteia 79 historical -, coinciding with other and Psyche 21 uoluptas 184, 186
personification 92 linguistic features 105 fr. 130 L.-P. 140 Urbino, Antonio Viti da 192
Pervigilium Veneris 131 historical -, in clusters 105 scilicet 91 uredo 135
pestilence 161 prophetic birds 167 Sea of Love 177
Philo Judaeus Propertius Second Sophistic 102 V
interpretation of O.T. 14 2,3,9-17 143, 145 Seneca
relation with gnosticism 14 Prudentia 28 Ep. 86,7 120 Valentinian discourse
Plato Psyche Medea 122-123 76 C&Pin- 8
G. 453a-457c 102 and Aeneas 65, 67 serio ludere 180 Valentinus
Phaedrus 229a 57 and Andromeda 74 sigma 121 Gospel of Truth (Nag Hammadi 1,3)
248c 57 and Charite 162 Sinon 156 18
Pit. 273de 7 and Dido 129 Sirens 160 myth of Sophla 4
Rep. 377e 172 and Medea 129 sleep 12 Valerius Maximus
534c 18 and Polyxena 75 key theme in Philo Jud. 16 8,7,7 207
559d-562a 158 in Ptolemaeus' myth of Sophia 5 theme of - in the Gnostics 18 Vasari, Giorgio 195,200
236 General Index

Venus
ambiguous nature of- 187
and Isis 8
inC&P 66
Vulgaria 180
Vergilius
A. 1,657 ff. 65, 133
2,265-267 157
2,735-95 55
2,776-f,9 55
3,163-71 56
4,9-19 56
4,9-30 56
4,252-5 169
4,402-7 62
5,822 66
6,9-10 61
G. 1,361 170
villa 122
violence
immaterial weapons 160
volatilis 42
Voluptas 6, 188
voluptas 49

w
wall paintings
in Roman houses 116
wedding-funeral
theme of - 139
writers
and paintings 209

z
Zucchi, Jacopo 201