Cupid and Psyche

The Mortal Rival of Venus

In a certain kingdom lived a king with three daughters. The youngest, Psyche, possessed beauty so extraordinary that people began to worship her as a new Venus. They abandoned the goddess's temples to lay flowers at the mortal girl's feet. Venus, watching from Olympus, burned with jealousy. She summoned her son Cupid and commanded him to make Psyche fall in love with the most wretched creature alive.

But when Cupid saw Psyche sleeping, he pricked himself with his own arrow and fell helplessly in love. He could not carry out his mother's command.

The Invisible Husband

Psyche's beauty brought her no suitors. Men worshipped her from afar but none dared marry her. Her father consulted the oracle of Apollo, which declared that Psyche must be dressed as a bride for death and left on a mountain crag, where a monster would claim her. Grieving, the family obeyed.

But instead of death, Zephyrus, the west wind, bore Psyche gently to a hidden valley. There stood a magnificent palace with invisible servants. Each night, a husband came to her in darkness, tender and loving, but he forbade her to ever look upon him. Psyche lived in luxury, wanting for nothing except knowledge of her husband's face.

The Fatal Lamp

Psyche's jealous sisters visited and poisoned her mind. They convinced her that her husband must be a monster who would devour her. They gave her a lamp and a knife: light the lamp to see the beast, then kill it. That night, Psyche lit the lamp over her sleeping husband.

She saw not a monster but Cupid himself, the god of love, golden and beautiful. Trembling, she leaned closer—and a drop of hot oil fell on his shoulder. Cupid awoke, saw her betrayal, and fled. "Love cannot dwell with suspicion," he said. The palace vanished. Psyche found herself alone.

The Tasks of Venus

Psyche wandered the earth seeking Cupid. At last she surrendered herself to Venus, who had imprisoned her wounded son. Venus set her four impossible tasks: to sort a mountain of mixed grains by nightfall (ants helped her), to gather golden wool from man-killing sheep (a reed taught her to collect tufts from branches), to fill a crystal vessel with water from the Styx guarded by dragons (Jupiter's eagle did it for her), and finally to descend to the underworld and obtain a box of Proserpina's beauty.

Psyche accomplished even this last task, but on her return, curiosity overcame her. She opened the box, hoping to take some beauty for herself. Instead, an infernal sleep overcame her.

Apotheosis

Cupid, healed and escaped from his mother's custody, found Psyche lying as one dead. He wiped the sleep from her eyes and restored her. Then he flew to Jupiter himself and begged the king of the gods to legitimize their union. Jupiter summoned the gods to assembly. He commanded Venus to accept Psyche, gave Psyche ambrosia to drink, and made her immortal.

Cupid and Psyche were married among the gods. In time, Psyche bore a daughter named Voluptas—Pleasure. And so the soul (for Psyche means "soul" in Greek), after trials and suffering, was united with Love forever.