Reading Diary B: Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche

1. Venus and the Goddesses


· Gossip reaches Venus: “People said that they’d both abandoned their post, he to dally in the mountains, she to sport in the sea”
· Venus threatens to disown Cupid and adopt another son who is more worthy.
· Apparently everyone sleeps around. Venus, Mars..



(Venus, Mars, and Vulcan, by Tintoretto)

· Venus plans to enlist the aid of Moderation in chastising Cupid
· Juno and Ceres accuse Venus of overreacting and being hypocritical

2. Psyche's Prayer
· Psyche appeals to Ceres but is turned away due to Ceres’ loyalty to Venus
· Though moved, Juno also remains loyal to Venus and refused Psyches request for protection.

3. Venus and Mercury
· Psyche, out of options, decides to face Venus’ wrath in hopes of leniency. At the least, she may see a glimpse of her husband.
· Venus travels to the heavens and procures the aid of Mercury in finding Psyche. She orders him to issue a bounty on Psyche and spread the message of her appearance.



(Paolo Veronese's Venus and Mercury)

· This pressure compels Psyche to surrender herself to Venus and upon approaching her door is accosted by Familiarity.

4. Venus and Psyche
· Women laugh deeply when enraged??? Muhahaha
· Psyche is abused and taunted by Anxiety, Sorrow, and Venus herself.
· The first task: sorting an immense pile of grains, legumes, and seeds into separate piles before evening.
· Feeling pity for Psyche, countless ants come to her assistance and sort the mess.

5. Psyche's Next Task
· Venus believes Cupid helped Psyche with the task but they spent the miserable night separated
· Psyche is tasked with obtaining a hank of wool from the wild golden sheep of a nearby wood.
· Psyche willingly leaves with the attention of suicide but at the river’s banks a reed urges her from committing the deed.
· Instead the reed cautions Psyche about the dangerous sheep and tells her how to safely obtain the wool from the forest after the sheep leave for the night.
· Venus is unimpressed when Psyche returns victorious and charges her with an even more difficult and dangerous task.
· Psyche must collect freezing water from the bitter stream Cocytus that feeds the river (swamp) Styx.

6. The Third Task
· Psyche, determined to complete the final task or die trying sets out for the underworld
· Vicious serpents guard the treacherous falls and upon seeing the difficulty of the task she gives up all hope.
· Noticing Psyche’s plights, Zeus’ eagle offers his aide to collect the water for her. Claiming Venus’ blessing, the eagle is able to obtain the sacred waters.

7. The Jar of Beauty
· Still not impressed, Venus sends Psyche on final task to the underworld where she is to borrow some of Proserpine’s beauty for the goddess’ use.
· To Psyche it is clear that Venus is trying to send her to her own death and once again seeks to end her own life this time by flinging herself from atop a tower.
· Before she can commit the deed, one of the tower’s turrets urges her to stop and gives her specific orders to complete her task.
· “an aged corpse afloat on the surface will raise its rotting hands and beg you to lift him into the boat, but don’t be swayed by mistaken pity”



(Psyche in the Underworld, by Hillemacher)

· “you must squat on the ground, demand common bread, and eat that.”
· Psyche wisely follows the turret’s advice and avoids many pitfalls in her trip to the underworld but as she emerges her curiosity gets the better of her.
· Psyche wishes to open the bottle of divine beauty to have some for herself.

8. The Sleep of the Dead
· Inside the box was not beauty, but a deep sleep. Psyche’s curiosity had once again caused her to make a serious mistake.
· Luckily at this moment Cupid has recovered from his injuries and flies off to find her. He quickly removes the sleep from Psyche and rouses her to complete her task.
· Cupid seeks out Jupiter to support his cause against Venus. Jupiter begins to list all the affronts Cupid has committed against him but in the end, relents.
· In return Cupid must find Zeus a girl of outstanding beauty.


(Psyche by Waterhouse)

9. The Wedding Feast
· Zeus calls to assembly all the gods and deities and holds a wedding feast.
· Psyche becomes immortal and bears a daughter named Pleasure.


(Psyche by William-Adolphe Bouguereau)

· The narrative switches back to Lucius, the kidnapped girl, the old woman, and the robbers.
· The old woman is telling the girl a story in which a forced marriage/kidnapping turned out for the girl's benefit.
· The robbers become frustrated with the recalcitrant (and now lame) mule and plan to throw Lucius from a nearby cliff.

10. The Escape
· Fearing for his fate, Lucius decides to make a break for it.
· Nearly foiled by the old woman, Lucius is finally able to escape with the help of the kidnapped girl who promises him countless rewards for his part in her escape.



Story source: Apuleius's Golden Ass, as translated into English by Tony Kline (2013).