GROUP V.

ANCIENT AND MODERN TREATMENT OF THE MYTH OF CUPID.

WHILE Cupid, under the name Eros, was one of the gods famous in Grecian story, the myth of Cupid and Psyche is comparatively new, as it was invented by Apuleius, a Roman author of the second century.

The modern artist reverses the first scene of the story by representing Cupid gazing on the sleeping Psyche. "The young unawakened maid lies by the rose-trellis, under the eyes of the conquering but now conquered god."

PARAPHRASES ON APULEIUS.

MRS. BROWNING.

PSYCHE GAZING ON CUPID.

Then Psyche, weak in body and soul, put on
The cruelty of Fate in place of strength:
She raised the lamp to see what should be done,
And seized the steel, and was a man at length
In courage, though a woman! Yes, but when

The light fell on the bed whereby she stood
To view the "beast" that lay there, - certes, then,
She saw the gentlest, sweetest beast in the wood
Even Cupid's self, the beauteous god: more beauteous
For that sweet sleep across his eyelids dim!

The light the lady carried as she viewed,

Did blush for pleasure as it lighted him,
The dagger trembled from its aim unduteous;
And she-oh, she amazed and soul distraught,
And fainting in her whiteness, like a veil

Slid down upon her knees, and shuddering, thought
To hide though in her heart- the dagger pale!
She would have done it, but her hands did fail
To hold the guilty steel, they shivered so,

And feeble, exhausted, unawares she took To gazing on the god, -till, look by look

Her eyes with larger life did fill and glow. She saw his golden head alight with curls,

She might have guessed their brightness in the dark By that ambrosial smell of heavenly mark!

She saw the milky brow, more pure than pearls, The purple of the cheeks, divinely sundered

By the globed ringlets, as they glided free, Some back, some forwards, —all so radiantly,

That, as she watched them there, she never wondered To see the lamplight, where it touched them, tremble; On the god's shoulders, too, she marked his wings Shine faintly at the edges and resemble

A flower that's near to blow. The poet sings

And lover sighs, that Love is fugitive;

And certes, though these pinions lay reposing,
The feathers on them seemed to stir and live
As if by instinct closing and unclosing.
Meantime the god's fair body slumbered deep,
All worthy of Venus, in his shining sleep;
While at the bed's foot lay the quiver, bow,

And darts, his arms of godhead. Psyche gazed With eyes that drank the wonders in, — said, "Lo,

Be these my husband's arms?" and straightway raised

An arrow from the quiver-case, and tried

Its point against her finger, — trembling till She pushed it in too deeply (foolish bride!)

And made her blood some dewdrops small distil And learnt to love Love, of her own good will.

PSYCHE WAFTED BY ZEPHYRUS.

While Psyche wept upon the rock forsaken,
Alone, despairing, dreading, — gradually

By Zephyrus she was enwrapt and taken

Still trembling, like the lilies planted high,— Through all her fair white limbs. Her vesture spread, Her very bosom eddying with surprise.

He drew her slowly from the mountain-head
And bore her down the valleys with wet eyes,

And laid her in the lap of a green dell

As soft with grass and flowers as any nest,
With trees beside her, and a limpid well :
Yet Love was not far off from all that Rest.

PSYCHE AND PAN.

The gentle river, in her Cupid's honor,
Because he used to warm the very wave,
Did ripple aside, instead of closing on her,
And cast up Psyche, with a refluence brave,
Upon the flowery bank,- all sad and sinning.
Then Pan, the rural god, by chance was leaning
Along the brow of the waters as they wound,

Kissing the reed-nymph till she sank to the ground,
And teaching, without knowledge of the meaning,
To run her voice in music after his

Down many a shifting note; (the goats around,

N

In wandering pasture and most leaping bliss,

Drawn on to crop the river's flowery hair.)

And as the hoary god beheld her there,
The poor, worn, fainting Psyche !-knowing all
The grief she suffered, he did gently call
Her name, and softly comfort her despair :-
"O wise, fair lady, I am rough and rude,
And yet experienced through my weary age!
And if I read aright, as soothsayer should,
Thy faltering steps of heavy pilgrimage,

Thy paleness, deep as the snow, we cannot see
The roses through, thy sighs of quick returning,

Thine eyes that seem, themselves, two souls in mourning,Thou lovest, girl, too well, and bitterly!

But hear me rush no more to a headlong fall :

:

Seek no more deaths! leave wail, lay sorrow down,
And pray the sovran god; and use withal
Such prayer as best may suit a tender youth,
Well-pleased to bend to flatteries from mouth,
And feel them stir the myrtle of his crown."

So spake the shepherd-god; and answer none Gave Psyche in return: but silently

She did him homage with a bended knee, And took the onward path.

PSYCHE PROPITIATING CERES.

Then mother Ceres from afar beheld her,

While Psyche touched, with reverent fingers meek,
The temple's scythes; and with a cry compelled her:
"O wretched Psyche, Venus roams to seek
Thy wandering footsteps round the weary earth,
Anxious and maddened, and adjures thee forth
To accept the imputed pang, and let her wreak
Full vengeance with full force of deity!