Cupid & Psyche — Chapter 27

Latin

English

2necdum 4sermonem 1Psyche 3finierat,

1et 2illa 5vesanae 6libidinis 7et 9invidiae 8noxiae 4stimulis 3agitata, 14e re 13concinnato 12mendacio 10fallens 11maritum, 15quasi 18de 19morte 20parentum 17aliquid 16comperisset,

1statim 3navem 2ascendit 4et 7ad 8illum 9scopulum 6protinus 5pergit.

1et 2quamvis 3alio 5flante 4vento, 8caeca 9spe 7tamen 6inhians, 10dicens

1accipe 2me, 3Cupido, 4dignam 5te 6coniugem, 7et 8tu, 9Zephyre, 10suscipe 11dominam,

2saltu 4se 1maximo 3praecipitem 5dedit.

1nec 2tamen 5ad 6illum 7locum 8vel 9saltem 10mortua 4pervenire 3potuit.

Psyche had not yet finished her speech,

and she, driven on by the goads of mad lust and harmful jealousy, deceiving her husband, with a lie cooked up to suit the moment, as if she had learned something about the death of her parents,

at once boards a ship and makes straight to that rock.

And although an adverse wind was blowing, gaping nevertheless in blind hope, and saying:

‘Take me, Cupid, a worthy of you, wife, and you, Zephyr, receive your mistress,’

With a mighty leap headlong herself she flung

But however, she could not reach that very place even when dead.

Content — what is happening

Before Psyche has even finished speaking, the sister — goaded by frenzied lust and poisonous jealousy — fobs off her own husband with a lie about a death in the family and races straight to the fatal crag.
Though the wind is against her, she gazes out in blind hope and cries: ‘Take me, Cupid, a wife worthy of you; and you, Zephyr, receive your mistress!’ — and with a great leap flings herself headlong.
But she cannot reach that place even in death: dashed on the rocks below, she is torn apart — a fittingly sticky end.