Cupid & Psyche — Chapter 24

Latin

English

1at 10Psyche, 8statim 9resurgentis 3eius 5crure 4dextero 7manibus 6ambabus 2adrepto, 13sublimis 14evectionis 12adpendix 11miseranda 15et 20per 21nubilas 22plagas 18penduli 19comitatus 16extrema 17consequia, 23tandem 26fessa 24delabitur 25solo.

1nec 2deus 3amator 6humi 5iacentem 4deserens, 7involavit 8proximam 9cupressum, 10deque 11eius 12alto 13cacumine 14sic 18eam 15graviter 16commotus 17adfatur:

21ego 1quidem, 2simplicissima 3Psyche, 7parentis 6meae 8Veneris 5praeceptorum 4immemor, 9quae 11te 14miseri 17extremi 16-que 15hominis 12devinctam 13cupidine 19infimo 20matrimonio 18addici 10iusserat,

25ipse 26potius 22amator 23advolavi 24tibi.

But having seized his right leg with both hands as he at once rose, Psyche, pitiable an appendage of the lofty flight, and the furthest retinue of the hanging escort through the cloudy regions, at last slips down to the ground, worn out.

But ... not the god, her lover, deserting (her) lying on the ground, flew into the nearest cypress, and from its lofty summit, thus, deeply disturbed, addresses her:

Indeed, most naïve Psyche, heedless of the commands of my mother Venus, who had ordered you — bound fast by desire for a wretched man, and lowest of the low — to be handed over to a most lowly marriage, I

your lover, have flown to you myself instead.

Content — what is happening

As Cupid springs up, Psyche grabs his right leg with both hands and is hauled into the air — a pitiable appendage of his flight, the trailing tail of his soaring escort — until at last, worn out, she slips back to the ground.
But the god does not abandon her where she lies; he flies to the nearest cypress and, from its high top, deeply stirred, addresses her:
‘Naïve Psyche! Heedless of my mother Venus’s orders — she who had commanded you, bound by desire, to be handed over in marriage to the most wretched, lowest of men —',
‘I, your own lover, flew to you myself instead.’