Note: This commentary is heavily indebted to both the Cupid and Psyche volume in the Groningen Commentaries on Apuleius series, by Zimmerman et al. (2004), and Kenney (1990a); their influence should be assumed throughout, but where I have thought it worthwhile to draw out their particular insights, I have abbreviated them in the body of commentary simply as GCA and Kenney respectively.
pro bono: ‘as if it were good’; this is possibly just a repetition of the idea in placet, but could also be seen as a comment by the narrator, the old woman of the framing story; similarly, proinde ut merebantur provides (more clearly) the same narratorial moralizing judgement later in the same section.
duabus malis malum consilium: sc. sororibus (with duabus malis), in the dative after placet, with malum consilium as the subject. This the first example of polyptoton in this chapter, here highlighted by the chiasmus, and the kind of word-play Apuleius delights in.
totisque illis muneribus: ablative absolute (with absconditis). totis here = omnibus (this is not an uncommon substitution in Apuleius). The phrase refers back to a gift of jewels Psyche gave to her sisters at V.8.
comam trahentes: ‘pulling out their hair’, or more literally, ‘tearing their hair’; the unusual phrase seems to have been borrowed from tragedy, perhaps a subtle reminder that the sisters are putting on an act.
ut merebantur: a similar phrase is used (of a single sister) at V.27; in both cases, the statement is introduced as the judgement of the narrator (herself an old woman within the story).
fletus: accusative plural, with simulatos.
ac sic…insontem: the language of this passage is echoed at V.27, where the sisters rush to their grisly deaths: vesania is echoed in the latter passage by vesanae libidinis et invidiae noxiae, and similar verbs of ‘rushing’ are used. The subject of the sentence is the sisters, with parentes the object of deserentes.
redulcerato: a very rare verb, appearing only once elsewhere in Latin literature as a technical medical term for the effect of rubbing pumice on a scab. Apuleius had written at least one treatise on medicine, when he perhaps came across the term; he is fond of using technical terminlogy in his writing, and elsewhere (like here with dolore) describes emotional pain in vividly physical terms (see IV.25 for another example). Along with its modifier prorsum the whole phrase could be translated as ‘with the pain having been completely scratched open again’.
turgidae: often used of things which arouse the emotions, although only used one other time in the tale, in the literal sense of Psyche’s pregnancy (at VI.9); here, used with the ablative vesania, ‘swollen with madness’.
parricidium: in a strict technical sense the killing of a close relative, though often used in literature in a broader sense. Here, it is used in a sense very close to its technical legal one to highlight the heinousness of the sisters’ plans.
insontem: placed in an emphatic final position in the sentence, and used in the poetic sense of ‘doing no injury, harmless’.
maritus ille, quem nescit: the emphasis of ille is on the relative clause: the plot of the story hinges around the fact that her husband remains unknown, and references to Psyche’s lack of knowledge build up to V.22, when she tragically discovers who her lover is. The audience, on the other hand, have been given enough hints from the oracle in IV.33 onwards for them to guess the identity of Cupid.
videsne: literally ‘do you see…?’ but the implication of this rhetorical question is that presumably she is not aware of the danger; we need to read a negative nuance into the question, and thus Kenney suggests it is best translated by ‘Do you not see…?’ There is no verb in the indirect question; supply sit, ‘there is’.
velitatur Fortuna eminus…comminus congredietur: similar military imagery is used at V.12.4, V.14.3, V.15.1 and V.19.5; there is some irony here, as it usually Cupid’s pursuits which are depicted in military terms.
Here, it is the personified Fortune depicted as the attacking party: fortuna is often depicted as a hostile force in the Metamorphoses. There is a similar warning about fortuna at V.5 (without the personification). Fortuna is, however, personified by the complaining sisters at the start of V.9, in their jealousy of Psyche (en orba et saeva et iniqua Fortuna!), and used (ironically?) by them to describe Psyche’s good luck in V.10.
The martial verbs are given particular prominence here by their position at each end of Cupid’s speech, and the chiastic pattern with their adverbs, giving the sense of an ordered and disciplined military assault – even more so with the marked alliteration and assonance of the final two words.
longe: could be construed either with firmiter = ‘especially firmly’, or with the verb, ‘take precautions from far off’; whilst the former is certainly the better for a translation (and has parallels with other passages of the Metamorphoses for its likely meaning), Apuleius is no doubt making word-play with adverbs of distance in eminus … longe … comminus.
perfidae…respondeas: these two sentences are full of rhetorical verve: notice the marked assonance of ‘a’ and the polyptoton of videbis…videris and venerint…venient.
lupulae: a diminutive form of lupa, literally ‘wolf’, but often used of prostitutes; here, the undertones of preying on the helpless are probably foregrounded. Diminutives become more and more common in the Latin of Apuleius’ time, but in this case might convey something of contempt: colourful translations would be appropriate here, but ‘hags’ or ‘witches’ convey the force well.
magnis conatibus: best translated as singular, ‘with great effort’. A formulaic phrase of elevated rhetoric, used often in great historical speeches in Livy; it continues the military language used of Fortune, but in a contrast to the register of lupulae, and to the bathetic goal of simply seeing his face. This kind of stylistic contrast and variation was a popular aesthetic trick of authors of Apuleius’ period.
nefarias: ‘unspeakable’, both in the colloquial sense of ‘wicked’, but probably also (as in English) a subtle etymological pun on ‘not speaking’ (the adjective is derived from nefas, connected to the root of for, fari, ‘speak’): Cupid is advising Psyche not to speak to her sisters, and not to speak about him.
quarum summa est: quarum refers back to insidias, ‘the point of which…’ or ‘the gist of which…’
te suadeant: notice that suadeo here, in contravention of the rules of classical Latin, is taking a direct object and an infinitive.
explorare: ‘to reconnoitre’ or ‘to scout out’, another military term; also note further down armatae.
meos…vultus, quos: vultus is a fourth declension noun, here in the accusative plural, though should be translated as singular, ‘face’.
non videbis si videris: ‘you will not see [again], if you see it’. videris is future perfect; these future perfects (as with venerint and potueris below) in the protases of conditionals are best translated as present tenses in English, although in strictly logical terms the Latin makes more sense.
ergo igitur: a pleonasm, flagging the hyper-rhetorical style of the speech.
lamiae: witches or monsters, used to scare children, chosen here possibly for the alliteration and assonance of illae lamiae. It also gives the sense that Cupid is talking down to Psyche as if she is a child, picked up later by the description of her simplicitate and temeritudine, and the reference to her infantilis uterus.
venerint…potueris: both future perfect, as videris above. Translate (as with videris) as a present.
neque omnino…nil quicquam: both reinforced negatives, ‘don’t at all’, ‘nothing at all’; the style of this is both indicative of colloquial speech and forceful.
conferas…vel audias vel respondeas: all present subjunctives of prohibition, equivalent to noli conferre, etc. In classical Latin, the last two alternatives should be presented by aut…aut, which is used (as is the case here) to mark sharp or exclusive alternatives, whereas vel treats the distinction as unimportant, and does not exhaust the potential alternatives. Apuleius, however, commonly uses vel like this.
pro genuina simplicitate proque…teneritudine: pro here = ‘on account of’, ‘owing to’. This is the first appearance of the term simplicitate, which becomes a key characteristic for Psyche, and a point of contrast to her sisters: the simple girl is laid low by their guileful artes. teneritudo ‘tenderness’ is a very rare word, originally a technical term for the easily workable nature of soil; here, the agricultural background of the term plays with the idea of Psyche’s fertility and foreshadows the mention of her pregnancy in the next sentence.
si texeris…divinum, si profanaveris, mortalem: the conditional clauses each apply to the following adjective; these in turn are modifiers of the infantem of the main clause: ‘if you cover… [her uterus is bearing a] divine [child]’ etc. This is a rare circumstance of a protasis in the future perfect tense depending on present tense verbs, characteristic of familiar speech. It makes the conditional emphatic, and foregrounds the dependence of the future occurrence on specific action (here, whether or not she keeps his identity secret). It is easier to translate this simply as if the apodoses were ‘divinus erit…mortalis erit’.
nuntio: ablative; can be translated as ‘at the announcement…’
laeta: the adjective here is predicative: that is, taken with the verb, rather than simply describing the noun. Thus: ‘Psyche bloomed happy’, or (in smoother English), ‘Psyche bloomed with happiness’. Along with other agricultural vocabulary here (such as subolis) and earlier, Psyche is made to seem like a plant about to bear fruit.
florebat: in Latin, this is almost exclusively used of plants, and applied to a person as here is very rare.
solacio plaudebat: either an ablative of cause: ‘she clapped her hands at …’ or with a different sense of the verb, a dative: ‘she was contented with herself for …’ The divine child is a ‘consolation’ for the silence which Psyche must keep with her sister.
pignoris: the literal meaning of this is a pledge or security, in a commercial or legal sense, but comes to be used to refer to children or other relatives, as pledges or guarantees of love. Ominously, in earlier elegy, it is used of women who are about to or have already died (e.g. Prop. IV.11.73, Ovid Epis. 11.113, 12.192).
crescentes dies et menses exeuntes: note the chiastic arrangement of the phrase; the ‘growing’ and ‘departing’ remind us of her growing womb, and look forward to her child exiting the womb.
exeuntes: pres. ppl. of the verb exeo.
nesciae: normally, nescius is active in meaning – i.e., ‘unknowing, ignorant, unaware’, but here, it is used in a rare, archaic, passive sense, ‘unknown’ or ‘unfamiliar’.
rudimento: causal or instrumental ablative; it could be translated as ‘through/with/ because of the new experience…’
de brevi punctulo: along with incrementulum, punctulum is a neologism: both forms are diminutives. They help create a sense of Psyche’s naiveté, introduced by her wonder (miratur). The ‘brief little prick’ refers both to the prick of Cupid’s arrow, but also refers to the sexual act of impregnation or defloration.
tantum incrementulum: a striking oxymoron.
illae: used here (as often in forensic oratory) in an accusatory fashion.
pestes…Furiae…virus: the sisters are figured both as some kind of disease, and as mythological monsters – here, the furies, terrifying goddesses of vengeance; they were often depicted with snakes for their hair. Notice also the alliteration of vipereum virus.
iterum: this is the fourth warning that Cupid has given (the earlier ones at V.5, V.6, and V.11).
momentarius: usually ‘brief’, here in reference to his fleeting visits, and possibly looking forward with irony to his impending departure.
suam: a familiar, intimate, way of describing Psyche, in contrast to momentarius.
dies ultima et casus extremus: some editions of the text have amended the text to make this an exclamation: en dies ultima et casus extremus! ‘Behold, the final day and the final fall!’ The text printed here treats this whole sentence as a tetracolon, with an unusual zeugma, where dies and casus are the subject (along with sexus and sanguis), even though logically they do not seem to apply to the verbs (sumpsit, commovit etc.). Along with the alliteration, anaphora, epic vocabulary and homoioteleuton in this section, the effect is one of over-the-top grandeur. The use of obviously military terminology compounds this effect.
personavit: an unusual late Latin form; the usual classical perfect of persono is personui.
tui nostrique miserere: nostri is genitive of nos; along with tui, following miserere, which takes the genitive. The plural nos is used to refer to the singular, i.e. Cupid referring to himself. miserere is imperative, from the deponent verb miseror.
religiosaque continentia: ablative of means.
istum parvulum nostrum: literally ‘that little thing of ours’, referring to their child in utero.
infortunio: ablative of separation (‘from’).
libera: imperative of libero (not feminine of liber).
nec…videas vel audias: prohibitive subjunctives, continuing the series of entreaties from Cupid to Psyche; best translated as if imperatives: ‘and do not…’
in morem: ‘in the manner…’
Sirenum: genitive plural, ‘of the Sirens’: mythical creatures who lured sailors to shipwreck and death by the sweetness of their singing; see Odyssey 12; the simile continues for the rest of the sentence.
scopulo: ablative, ‘over the cliff’ (translate with prominentes ‘leaning out over the cliff’).
personabunt: used here transitively (with a direct object – saxa) denoting where the sound resonates.
quod sciam: ‘as far as I know’ (quod here = quoad); here, it takes the subjunctive to give a restrictive meaning to the phrase.
fidei atque parciloquio meo…documenta: the datives are dependent on docementa; translate as ‘the proofs of…’
perpendisti: pure perfect: ‘you have weighed’; the metaphor is drawn from legal language.
eo: ablative of comparison: ‘than this’.
nec eo setius approbabitur tibi nunc etiam firmitas animi mei: tibi is dative of agent (‘by you’), following approbabitur, which has firmitas as its subject.
tu modo: emphatic introduction to the imperative; difficult to translate but can be rendered ‘Just you…’
Zephyro nostro: dative dependent on praecipe.
fungatur: iussive subjunctive in parataxis with praecipe, conveying the content of the order. Note fungor takes the ablative obsequio.
per…per…per: ‘by the…’; a prayer formula, beginning with invocations and moving on to requests. The prayer aspect is emphasized by the anaphora.
per teneras et teretes et mei similes: all describing genas.
mei: equivalent to meis genis; the dative is dependent on similes, ‘like mine.’
nescio quo: nescio quis/quid is used in an assertion to denote uncertainty; literally, ‘I know not who/what’; here best translated as ‘some strange’ or ‘some unknown’.
sic…cognoscam: sic here follows the imperative and introduces the subjunctive as a wish: ‘may I…’ or ‘let me…’
hoc saltem parvulo: referring to their unborn child; the ablative can be translated by ‘in…’
germani complexus: genitive, dependent on fructus, ‘enjoyment of…’
tibi: understood with both devotae and dicatae.
Psychae animam: ‘the soul of Psyche’; ψυχή (psychē)is Greek for soul, or anima; Apuleius is making bilingual word-play.
gaudio: ablative, ‘with joy’.
recrea: imperative.
nec quicquam: alternative form of quidquam, the neuter of quisquam; object of requiro. With nec, it can be translated as ‘and … nothing’.
amplius: comparative neuter adjective, agreeing with quicquam: ‘further’.
in: (here) ‘as to…’
nil…nec = nihil: here used adverbially: ‘not at all’. The nec further emphasizes the negative, rather than constituting a double negative, and is best left untranslated.
officiunt mihi nec ipsae nocturnae tenebrae: tenebrae is the subject; officiunt takes the dative mihi.
meum lumen: in apposition to te; both teneo and lumen have romantic and erotic connotations. Kenney also suggests there is an allusion to the language of mystical revelation here: in any case, there is certainly some irony using this term for her unknown, invisible lover.
his…mollibus: ablatives of means with the perfect passive participle decantatus. mollibus should be understood as describing both nouns in slightly different ways: an example of zeugma.
eius: fem. gen. sing. of is.
suis crinibus: ablative of instrument; suus always refers back to the subject of the sentence (i.e. here, maritus). Notice the juxtaposition of eius and suis, brought together by the chiasmus of lacrimas eius suis crinibus. Her plea, earlier in the chapter, praying to him by his hair and cheeks, is echoed in his response.
se facturum [sc. esse]: an accusative and (future) infinitive construction dependent on spopondit.
spopondit: perfect of spendeo; the word has solemn legal connotations, suggesting a formal oath.
iugum sororium: like English, a technically singular collective noun can take a plural verb; hence iugum takes petunt. iugum suggests the sisters working in tandem, but is also literally a ‘yoke’ for oxen, suggesting bestial qualities. Cf. Sirenum at V.12, and below on complexae.
consponsae factionis: a genitive of definition; translate as ‘forming a pledged conspiracy’.
ne parentibus quidem visis: ne…quidem taken together; parentibus visis: ablative absolute.
recta: adverb.
illum: with scopulum.
praecipiti cum velocitate: read as cum praecipiti velocitate (remembering that third declension adjectives end in –i, not –e in the ablative singular). This foreshadows their eventual fate at V.27.
ferentis: this bears the meaning both of ‘carrying’ but also ‘favourable’.
oppertae: fem. nom. plural perf. pass. part. of opperior. Elsewhere, the word is used solely in military contexts of soldiers awaiting their leader.
praesentiam: often used of the presence of gods; here, it refers to the sisters waiting for Zephyrus, who will carry them to Psyche.
licentiosa cum temeritate = cum licentiosa temeritate: as earlier, a foreshadowing of their fate.
in altum: ‘into the air’; altum is often used both for the ‘depths’ of the sea, but also for the ‘depths’ of the sky.
immemor: like most verbs and adjectives of remembering/forgetting, with a genitive. The theme of remembering and forgetting recurs throughout the tale: cf. V.15, pristini sermoni oblita, and V.24, praeceptorum immemor.
regalis edicti: probably referring to Cupid’s order, following his promise in V.13.
gremio: abl. = ‘in…’; take with susceptas.
solo: dative of solum, ‘ground’.
conferto vestigio: ‘in close order’, another military phrase for the sisters, as is domum penetrant.
complexaeque praedam suam: perfect active participle, ‘having embraced’; the sisters are figured as serpents, wrapping round their prey; praeda is both military, the spoils taken in war, and bestial, prey caught in the chase.
sororis nomen ementientes: lit. ‘uttering falsely the name of sister’, i.e. laying false claim to the title of sister.
thesaurumque: although referring here to the ‘riches’ of the sister’s deception, it reminds the reader of the greed of the sisters for Psyche’s riches; the theme continues with their speeches, replete with metaphorical uses of gold and jewels.
adulant: in classical Latin, this would be the deponent adulantur; it continues the bestial undertones of the sisters, as the meaning properly is to fawn like a dog.
ut: here, ‘as’.
parvula: a word-play with perula, below. Notice also the strong alliteration of p and t at the start of this speech.
et: possibly adversative here (= sed), but more likely explicative, ‘as indeed…’
ipsa: as the verb is second person, ipsa here = you yourself.
quantum…boni: boni is a partitive genitive, used substantively; translate simply as agreeing with quantum (‘how great a good’).
putas: is parenthetical, as if in brackets; this kind of parataxis is typical of informal, familiar speech.
in ista…perula: translate together.
o nos beatas: the accusative is usually used in exclamations; English will normally supply a verb in an exclamation like this: ‘How fortunate we are!’
quas infantis aurei nutrimenta laetabunt: here, a causal relative clause; in classical prose, it should be followed by a subjunctive. Translate: ‘for the rearing of this golden child will bring joy to us’.
aurei: appropriate as both a general term for excellence, but also because Venus and Cupid are often given aureus as an epithet.
qui si: connective relative; translate ‘If he…’
parentum: gen. pl.; translate with pulchritudini.
ut oportet: ‘as is bound to happen’; this is the explanatory use of ut with an indicative.
responderit: future perfect; necessary in Latin, as the protasis (the ‘if’ clause) happens in the future and logically precedes the apodosis; in English, it can be translated simply by the present, best translated here as ‘measures up to’ (followed by the dative pulchritudini).
prorsus: take here with Cupido.
simulata: ablative (with affectione).
statimque…oblectat: the subject here changes to Psyche, with eas (the sisters, the object of oblectat) described with two parallel participial phrases (respectively dependent on refotas and curatas). The sentence is easiest to construe in sensible English if the participles are translated as if indicative verbs: i.e. ‘she refreshed them…she attended to them…she delighted them…’
lassitudine viae: ablative of separation, ‘from the weariness of the journey’.
fontibus: ablative of means dependent on curatas. fontibus is here equivalent to aquis, a poetic usage.
pulcherrime: construe with curatas.
triclinio: ‘in the dining room’; the third in a tricolon of places – seats at the entrance hall, water at the bath, and now food at the table.
mirisque…et…atque: polysyndeton, equivalent simply to ‘both…and’.
beatis: when used of food, beatus often takes the meaning ‘rich’, but there is possibly also a hint of the divine setting and origin of the hospitality.
citharam loqui…tibias agere…choros canere: a tricolon of indirect statements dependent on iubet (remembering that iubeo, unlike other verbs of ordering, is not followed by an indirect command). The asyndetic parataxis suggests the swift fulfilment of the commands. loqui here is a poetic usage, used to describe the sound of a musical instrument; likewise, agere has the particular meaning ‘play, perform’.
psallitur…sonatur…cantatur: impersonal passives, lit. ‘it is strummed’, etc.; best translated as ‘there is strumming…there is music…there is singing’.
quae cuncta: connective relative; best translated as if it were haec cuncta.
nullo praesente: ablative absolute; nullus here is substantival: ‘no one’.
audientium: present participle used substantively: i.e. ‘of those listening’.
nequitia…mollita: nominatives, in agreement. Notice the paronomasia with mellita.
vel: here is simply an intensifying particle: ‘even’.
ipsa mellita cantus dulcedine: ablative phrase of means, dependent on mollita; cantus is genitive singular (4th decl.).
conferentes: (here) ‘directing’; sermonem is the object.
qualis…unde…cuia proveniret: a series of three indirect questions, following sciscitari.
ei: possessive dative; here, feminine.
illa: nominative, with oblita.
simplicitate nimia: ablative; here, the force is ‘out of’ or ‘owing to’.
pristini sermonis oblita: obliviscor takes a genitive.
novum commentum: as opposed to her earlier claim in V.8, in which her husband was young hunter.
de provincia proxima: in classical Latin, this would be e rather than de, meaning ‘from’.
rursum: take with onustas.
ventoso vehiculo: this is Apuleius’ only use of the adjective ventosus, undoubtedly to bring out the alliteration.
tranquillo spiritu: metaphorical vocabulary is here used literally: normally, this would mean ‘with a tranquil attitude’, but here it means ‘with [his] calm breath’. There is an element of irony: earlier (at V.14) we are told that Zephyrus is unhappy about carrying the sisters.
sublimatae: sc. sorores. The word is archaic, and emphasizes the divine nature of the sisters’ travel.
domum: like the names of cities, towns, and small islands, domus without a preposition in the accusative can indicate direction towards.
secum: se always refers back to the subject; here ‘among themselves’.
altercantes: the main verb of the sentence is missing (not uncommon for verbs of speaking in Apuleius); there are two options for translation; either simply translate altercantes as if it is the main verb, or add in a verb of speaking alongside the participle.
quid…dicimus: ‘What are we to say?’; the question is really deliberative, which in classical Latin ought to be in the subjunctive; the use of the indicative is colloquial.
monstruoso fatuae illius mendacio: chiasmus: an ablative adjective-noun combination with a genitive adjective-noun in the midst of it. fatuae illius refers to Psyche.
tunc…nunc: can be translated literally, but has the sense ‘one moment…the next’. Both halves of this neatly balanced sentence are full of nominal phrases, but are lacking verbs: supply erat to make sense in translation. See also below on quis ille.
florenti lanugine: both ablative.
instruens: an odd use of the verb; probably best understood here as ‘growing’.
aetate media: a descriptive or qualifying ablative, ‘of middle age’.
quis ille: supply est; the suppression of the verb esse (again) suggests a swift, urgent conversation.
temporis modici spatium: an example of hypallage; translate as if it reads temporis modicum spatium.
repentina senecta: ablative; an oxymoronic phrase; old age generally approaches slowly!
mi: equivalent to mea; in classical Latin, mi is the masculine vocative, but in later Latin like Apuleius is often used for the feminine also.
quam: following aliud, ‘other than’.
feminam confingere: accusative infinitive construction dependent on repperies.
vel…vel: see note on Chapter 11 on conferas… vel audias.
quorum utrum: ‘whichever of which’ (utrum = utrumque); i.e. ‘whichever of the two’.
opibus istis…exterminanda est: the gerundive of obligation, with Psyche as the subject, has dependent on it an ablative of separation: ‘she must be banished from those riches of hers’.
denupsit: an unusual compound form of nubo, with attention drawn to it by alliteration of denupsit…deum. The force of the prefix is perhaps to emphasize her separation from her former home due to her marriage.
praegnatione: another rare word; the sisters use archaic, unusual expression to give force to the unusual nature of the marriage and pregnancy.
quod absit: a subjunctive of desire; quod refers to the situation in general, literally, ‘may it be absent’. More colloquially, it could be translated ‘God forbid!’
audierit: future perfect. audio is used here in the sense ‘to be named’. This is most smoothly translated by taking haec (‘she’) as the subject and mater as a complement; i.e. ‘if she is to be named the mother…’
redeamus: hortatory subjunctive, ‘let us…’
exordio: dative, with adtexamus, ‘let us weave into the beginning’ (and possibly also with concolores, i.e. ‘agreeing with the beginning’).
quam concolores: in classical Latin, quam + superlative is a common intensifier (‘as x as possible’); the usage is similar here, but with the positive form of the verb, ‘of as similar a colour as possible’.
sic inflammatae: referring to the preceding conversation; fire imagery is often used in description of the sisters; see, for example, V.21, verborum incendio.
parentibus…appellatis…turbatis: an ablative absolute, both participles agreeing with parentibus.
nocte: ablative of time at which.
vigiliis perditae: the text here is difficult to interpret, and may well be corrupt. As it stands as punctuated in this text, perditae is used in the sense ‘ruined’ with a causal ablative vigiliis.
matutino: translate as an adverb (an adverbial ablative).
scopulum: an accusative of direction (as if it were ad scopulum).
pervolant…devolant: the repetition (with variation) underscores the haste of the sisters.
lacrimisque…coactis: ablative absolute. This is the third visit of the sisters; in their second visit (V.14) they feigned joy, now they feign sorrow.
tu quidem…nos autem: the sisters set up a sharp contrast between themselves and Psyche.
felix et…beata: the sisters are using a formula familiar to ancient audience from makarismos-phrases, a conventional speech of praise, often within a religious or divine context. The effect here is sarcastic.
ipsa…ignorantia: ablative of cause, dependent on beata; can be translated here ‘because of…’
incuriosa periculi tui: incuriosus takes a genitive, ‘without concern for’. Both ignorantia and incuriosa betray authorial irony: it is eventually Psyche’s lack of understanding of her husband’s goodness, and her over-curiosity that leads to her downfall.
rebus tuis excubamus: there is some ambiguity here; the sisters intend for it to mean ‘we keep watch over your affairs’, but it can also be interpreted to mean ‘we have our eyes on your possessions’, which the reader knows, given the sisters’ greed and envy, is the truth.
pro vero: ‘as a fact’. The phrase most often occurs when something false is being presented as the truth.
comperimus: could be either present or perfect tense, but is clearly perfect here.
te…celare: celo takes an accusative of the person from which something is hidden.
sociae: nominative, in apposition to the first-person subject: ‘we, the companions…’
scilicet: ‘of course’, ‘as you know’, gives the feel of real speech, but is also potentially ironic: as readers, we know much better than Psyche the reasons for the sisters’ approach.
immanem colubrum…acquiescere: indirect statement dependent on both comperimus and celare. The description of the snake is built up from various descriptions of mythic snakes in Latin poetry, most notably Virgil’s snakes from the Laocoön episode in Aeneid II: the sisters are going all-out to terrify Psyche, but Apuleius is also demonstrating his literary credentials.
serpentem: although serpens can be used as a substantive, ‘serpent’, here it is the participle, ‘creeping’ (although Apuleius is clearly playing with the ambiguity); its manner of creeping is described with the preceding ablative phrase, multinodis voluminibus.
colla: (poetic) plural used for singular; this is an accusative of respect, dependent on sanguinantem; literally, ‘blood-red in respect of its neck’, but it can be rendered more smoothly in English, ‘its neck blood-red…’
latenter acquiescere: after the gruesome description of the snake, the end of the sentence is an almost comic anti-climax (bathos). latenter here has the force ‘without your realizing it’.
recordare: the imperative of recordor.
sortis Pythicae: the prophecy referred to was given at IV.32: see the Introduction, p. 14. The oracle was not the Pythian oracle at Delphi, however, but the Milesian oracle. Is this just a slip by Apuleius, or is the reference to ‘Pythian’ Apollo, i.e. Apollo the Python-slayer, apt here?
quique: qui + que = ‘and those who’ (rather than from quisque, quaeque, quodque).
et multi coloni, quique…et accolae plurimi: the number of (fictional) witnesses is emphasized by the polysyndeton in this tricolon, as well as the build-up of multi…plurimi.
viderunt: the sisters appeal to Psyche’s curiosity (see above on incuriosa periculi tui): her great desire is to see her husband.
te saginaturum omnes affirmant: omnes refers to the ‘witnesses’ from the previous sentence. The rest of the sentence is an indirect statement dependent on affirmant, with Psyche’s husband the implied subject (the accusative of the accusative + infinitive statement) and the esse of the future infinitive missing – read as omnes affirmant [illum] te saginaturum [esse]…
devoraturum: sc. esse, continuing the indirect statement.
ad haec: ‘in respect of these things’, ‘in light of these facts’.
tua est existimatio: lit. ‘the judgement is yours’, i.e. ‘it’s up to you to judge…’, followed by an alternative indirect question (utrum…velis…an…).
pro tua cara salute: another instance of authorial irony with cara; the reader knows that the sisters are not concerned with her ‘precious safety’ but with her ‘precious’ riches.
declinata morte: ablative absolute.
secura periculi: secura is nominative and here takes a genitive of the source of the fear; the adjective is used predicatively, ‘to live safe from danger’.
saevissimae bestiae sepeliri visceribus: note the heavy sibilance of the line; velis must be understood again, governing the infinitive sepeliri. The latter half of this line is a quotation of the first-century BC philosophical poet Lucretius (De rerum natura 5.993), which talks about uncivilized early humans eating their food alive.
vocalis: can be construed either as a nominative, with solitudo, or as a genitive, with ruris huius. The meaning is not altered drastically either way – ‘the musical solitude of this countryside’ (Kenney) or ‘this voice-filled country seat’s desolation’ (GCA, slightly adapted). The sisters are referring to the invisible voices which surround and serve Psyche.
amplexus: nominative plural (as shown by the plural verb). The sisters are playing on the possible meanings of the word – either romantic embraces, or the coilings of a snake around its victim.
nostrum: here, ‘our duty’.
misella: this is a frequently occurring epithet for Psyche, right from the beginning of her story at IV.34. Like tenella later in the sentence, it is a diminutive, and helps create pity for Psyche; note the homoioteleuton between the two.
animi tenella: ‘tender of mind’; the same phrase is used below at V.22, and forms a contrast to what she has assured Cupid of at V.13 – firmitas animi.
formidine: as well as the ‘terror’ the sisters’ speech evokes, formido is also the word for a rope with feathers attached used for hunting (see Virgil Aeneid XII.750) – Psyche is her sisters’ prey.
extra terminum mentis suae posita: Psyche remains the subject; posita is nominative.
in profundum calamitatis: the ‘chasm’ into which Psyche throws herself is metaphorical here, but it foreshadows the eventual deaths of the sisters, who throw themselves into a more literal abyss (V.27), as well as Psyche’s own later attempts to commit suicide by throwing herself off a high place (V.25, VI.12, VI.17).
exsangui colore lurida: lurida is nominative, agreeing with Psyche, and explained by the preceding ablative phrase; paleness is one of the main signs of terror in classical literature.
tertiata verba: accusative, object of substrepens. tertiare was originally an agricultural term referring to ploughing the land for a third time, but was used since early Latin for repeating something three time; it conveys Psyche’s uncertainty and fearfulness.
substrepens: an Apuleian coinage; strepo means to make a loud, inarticulate, noise, and tends to keep this meaning in compounds, but here it must mean ‘muttering’ or ‘whispering’; one of Apuleius’ characteristic neologisms, combining the idea of Psyche’s inarticulacy with an onomatopoeia strengthened by the repetition of s in semihianti and sic.
quidem…verum: acts here like a balanced pair; verum here is connective rather than adversative (‘truly’ with a force of ‘and’ rather than ‘but’).
ut par erat: ‘as is proper’; this use of the imperfect indicative is slightly odd; commentators disagree about what it is technically (either a remote idea, or with the sense that this has been the case in the past and continues to be so), but this affects the translation or meaning little either way.
in officium…permanetis: in officium permanere is an official term meaning ‘to remain on duty’ or ‘keep to one’s job’; Apuleius extends its meaning here by adding the explanatory genitive phrase vestrae pietatis.
nec…vel omnino: ‘neither…nor at all’.
viri mei: unlike in classical Latin, Apuleius’ usual word for husband is maritus, not vir; its use here might be due to the alliteration of the syllable vi, but also possibly raises the question of whether he really is a husband at all (echoed by maritum incerti status).
cuiatis sit: subj. in indirect question, following novi (perfect in form but present in meaning). cuiatis is an archaic nominative (which would be cuias in classical Latin).
subaudiens: this compound normally means ‘supply’, but here must mean something like ‘submitting to’; possibly Apuleius is copying a Greek word with that force, ὑπακούω (by a literal translation) which also takes a dative (like here – nocturnis vocibus).
tantum: adverbial, ‘just’, ‘merely’.
status: genitive singular (fourth declension), agreeing with incerti; a genitive of specification. There is ambiguity to the phrase – does it mean ‘of unknown physical form’, ‘of uncertain station in life’, or ‘of questionable status as a husband’? There is probably also some etymological word-play – status is connecting to sto, stare, and notions of staying and permanence, which contrasts lucifugam.
bestiamque aliquam: sc. esse; an accusative infinitive statement following dicentibus. Note the bestial connotations of lucifugam, with hints of a nocturnal animal, which precedes this explicit identification.
dicentibus vobis: dative following consentio, ‘assent to you saying…’
a suis terret aspectibus: not ‘scares [me] with his appearances’ but ‘frightens [me] off from seeing him’; suis is a possessive adjective replacing an objective genitive (i.e. ‘the appearances of him’).
malumque grande: the object of praeminatur, ‘he threatens me in advance with a mighty evil’.
de vultus curiositate: de is causal (a colloquial usage), ‘as a result of’. vultus is a genitive (4th declension) of specification; ‘about/with regard to his face’.
praeminatur: another Apuleian neologism formed by a novel addition of a prefix (cf. substrepens in Chapter 18).
quam salutarem opem: in a conditional clause, quis can stand for quisquam, ‘any’, ‘anyone/anything’.
ceterum: adverbial, in a causal sense, ‘for’.
incuria sequens prioris providentiae beneficia: incuria is the subject, modified by sequens, best translated here as ‘subsequent’; beneficia is accusative plural, and has the genitive prioris providentiae dependent on it.
tunc nanctae…invadunt: see the Introduction, p. 29 on the markedly military language, and particularly its reminiscences of the fall of Troy as narrated by Aeneas in Aeneid II.
nanctae: perf. (active) part. of nanciscor.
portis patentibus: ablative absolute, as is omissis tectae machinae latibulis and destrictis gladiis; the last phrase is given the remarkable genitive of definition fradium, ‘the swords of their deceptions’.
tectae machinae latibulis: tectae is the perfect passive participle of tego, with machinae ‘of the covered machine’; the term machina is used by Virgil several times of the Trojan horse. The image is more broadly of besiegers who approach city walls under the cover of a testudo, a movable shelter made of wood to protect from missiles.
altera: one (of the two); a verb of speaking needs to be assumed; this is rare in Apuleius, and gives a more dramatic opening to the speech.
nexus: nominative singular; nos is the object.
pro: here ‘as regards…’
ne…quidem: for nequidem. The emphatic negative with ullum, literally, ‘not even any’ is used to convey the idea of ‘not even the slightest’ or ‘not even any possible…’
ante oculos habere: literally ‘to have before our eyes’, but a common idiom to mean ‘to keep in mind, be aware of’.
iter: is the object of deducit, ‘leads your path’ (GCA notes that it ‘is difficult idiomatically’).
diu diuque: an adverbial expression which occurs only in Apuleius; ‘for a long, long time’, which modifies the participle cogitatam; this participle (agreeing with viam) is best translated as if it is another relative clause, ‘and which we have been considering’.
novaculam: Psyche almost kills herself using this same knife later on, at V.22.
appulsu etiam palmulae lenientis exasperatam: the whole phrase is dependent on exasperatam, and is a complex way of referring to a blade so sharp that it will cut when just passed gently over the hand to test it (so GCA); Kenney, however, interprets exasperatam not as the blade ‘incited’ to cut, but as being sharpened, ‘the paradox that the gentle caressing motion of the hand imparts an additional edge’.
lenientis: used absolutely as an attribute (usually a feature of poetry) – ‘your stroking palm’. There are two further similar uses of the present participle in this chapter; claudentis aululae (‘an enclosed little pot’) and somni prementis (‘oppressive sleep’).
tori qua parte = qua parte tori: the ablative is of place where; i.e. ‘in that part of the bed where…’ Postponing the relative pronoun is again indicative of poetic usage; the sister’s speech is in high style.
consuesti: a syncopated perfect, for consuesisti.
subde: imperative of subdo, with its attendant ablative (tegmine) with the meaning ‘under’.
aliquo claudentis aululae tegmine: this refers to what was probably a common practice of placing a lit lamp under a cover, to give temporary darkness without having to relight the lamp afterwards. Cf. Matthew 5:15, where the same image is used by Jesus. See above on lenientis for the use of the present participle.
omnique…dissimulato: ablative absolute.
sulcatos…gressus: accusative plural, object of intrahens. sulcare was used in earlier poetry as indicative of the trail a snake leaves: e.g. Ovid Met. 15.725, and Lucan IX.721.
cubile solitum: accusative, object of conscenderit.
conscenderit…coeperit: the verbs are future perfect; English prefers either a perfect or a present ‘after he has ascended/he ascends’.
exordio…implicitus: ‘enveloped in the beginning’.
somni prementis: see above on lenientis for the use of the present participle. premo is commonly used of sleep, but Kenney notes that with simplicitus it gives an image of wrestling.
toro: ablative of separation with delapsa, ‘having slipped from the bed’.
nudoque vestigio: literally, ‘with a naked footprint’, but clearly vestigium here = pedes; this metonymy is rare and poetic (e.g. Virgil, Aeneid VII.689–90, Catullus 64.162).
pensilem: literally ‘hanging’; the image is of the feet or toes being vertical, i.e. ‘on tip-toe’.
gradum paullulatim minuens: ‘shortening your stride little by little’. paullulatim is not attested elsewhere.
caecae tenebrae custodia: custodia is ablative of separation after liberata (‘freed from…’), with the genitive caecae tenebrae dependent upon it.
The primary meaning of caecus is ‘blind’, and therefore by extension something that cannot be seen (‘invisible’), or the conditions which obstruct sight – ‘gloomy, obscure’. Its use here is clearly in this last, neutral sense, but it is almost possible to read this as a personification of the darkness, mirroring the personified lamp, suggested in the following liberata lucerna, and developed in V.22.
liberata lucerna: ablative absolute.
de luminis consilio: the genitive luminis intervenes between preposition and its noun; the phrase is dependent on mutuare, ‘obtain from the counsel of the light’. consilium continues the personification of the lamp; its ‘advice’ here refers to the fact that it will allow Psyche to see what she’s doing.
mutuare: passive imperative form (but active in meaning – mutuor is deponent).
ancipiti telo illo: ablative of means, ‘with that two-edged weapon’.
dextera sursum elata: ablative absolute.
quam valido: intensifying; ‘as strong as possible’; valido is ablative, agreeing with nisu.
nodum: literally a knot, but here the connective tendon between parts of the body. The precise description of body parts is reminiscent of Homeric battle scenes.
nostrum…subsidium: the subject of deerit (future of desum).
cum primum illius morte tibi salutem feceris: future perfect, but in English translated as a perfect: ‘as soon as you have made safety for yourself’. This loose use of facio is colloquial. Note also the contrast brought out by the chiasmus of illius mortem tibi salutem.
cunctisque…relatis: ablative absolute.
votivis nuptiis: ablative of specification: ‘in a longed-for marriage’. In classical Latin, votivus has the meaning ‘offered in fulfilment of a vow’, but in Later authors like Apuleius is used in the sense suggested here.
hominem te: in apposition: ‘you, a human’. The polyptoton with homini emphasizes the sisters’ argument that her husband is a monster, not a man; to the audience (and possibly to the sister herself? At V.9, the sisters had guessed the truth) the irony is that her lover is not a human being, but a god.
tali…incendio flammata: ‘enflamed by such a fire’; flammata is accusative neuter plural with viscera (although best translated by the singular ‘heart’), the object of deserentes. While the meaning is clear, the phrasing does seem odd – ‘leaving the heart of their sister…’ There are strong similarities in this passage to Virgil’s description of the sack of Troy, e.g. Aen. II.327; see above on Chapter 19, and the Introduction, p. 29; here, Psyche’s heart is figured as the sacked and burning citadel.
sororis: their sister, i.e. Psyche; ardentis is a transferred epithet (or hypallage) – although it grammatically agrees with soror, in sense it agrees with viscera.
flatus alitis: genitive.
pernici…fuga: ablative, ‘in swift flight’.
se…proripiunt: literally, ‘they snatched themselves away’.
conscensis navibus: ablative absolute.
nisi quod: ‘except for the fact that’.
infestis Furiis: referring to the sisters; cf. V.12.
aestu pelagi simile: simile is neuter accusative singular used adverbially, and is followed by the (irregular) dative aestu: ‘as if on the tide of the sea’.
maerendo: ablative gerund: ‘in her grief’ (almost as if being used as a present participle).
quamvis statuto consilio et obstinato animo: both ablatives absolute. quamvis with a participle is not common in classical Latin, but is favoured by Apuleius. The whole phrase can be translated concessively, ‘although her decision is made’.
facinori: dative, the indirect object of manus (accusative plural) admovens: ‘applying her hands to the deed.’
incerta consilii: ‘uncertain of her plan’.
multisque calamitatis suae distrahitur affectibus: the final part of a tricolon describing her emotional disturbance; each phrase builds in length (i.e. increasing numbers of syllables), and here the hyperbaton of multis…affectibus echoes her mental distress.
festinat, differt; audet, trepidat; diffidit, irascitur: Psyche’s internal conflict is expressed with great rhetorical force; here, by three balanced asyndetic pairs, with clear alliteration of f. The sound of this section has been carefully constructed by Apuleius (see also the previous note). In this section, the verb forms gradually increas in length; altogether, there are seventeen syllables here; it is balanced, after a short bridging phrase, almost exactly by eighteen syllables in in eodem corpore…maritum (itself containing a strong asyndetic contrast with odit bestiam, diligit maritum).
vespera…trahente: ablative absolute.
nox aderat: this is reminiscent of epic, in which nox erat opens passages of anxious worry, or of dramatic events.
primusque: strictly speaking, an adjective describing maritus, but functionally here an adverb; it is best understood in relation with tunc later: ‘first…, then…’
Veneris proeliis: there is a long literary tradition of equating love and sex with warfare; here, the metaphorical imagery carries irony, for the figurative battles of love are designed by Psyche to presage real physical violence.
et corporis et animi: genitive of specification, with infirma: ‘weak in body and soul’.
fati…saevitia subministrante: ablative absolute; sc. vires, ‘with the cruelty of her fate supplying strength’. The difference between Fortune (fortuna) and Fate (fatum), and the various words associated with them (like providentia) are not demarcated as clearly distinguished forces in the Metamorphoses, at least until the clear providentia of Isis is revealed in Book XI.
viribus: ablative of specification, depending on roboratur, ‘she is strengthened in might’; a sensible English translation might be ‘she gains in strength’.
prolata lucerna et adrepta novacula: both ablatives absolute.
sexum audacia mutatur: the passive mutatur can be taken here as equivalent to a Greek middle, with an accusative sexum, ‘she changes her sex in her daring’; alternatively, sexum might be an accusative of respect: ‘she is changed by her daring in respect of her sex’. The alternatives give rise to different interpretations: is Psyche in control here, or just the passive victim of fate?
sed cum primum…secreta claruerunt: secreta is the subject, ‘as soon as the secrets have been illuminated’. The vocabulary is somewhat reminiscent of the mystery religions, with initiations which often involved the viewing of secret, sacred objects. There is a thematic parallel with the conclusion of the Metamorphoses as a whole, in which Lucius is initiated into the secreta of Isis (cf. XI.11, XI.21). On this passage in general, see the analysis in the Introduction, p. 25.
omnium ferarum mitissimam dulcissimamque bestiam: this recalls and fulfills the words of the oracle at IV.33, that Psyche would marry something saevum atque ferum vipereumque malum. On the imagery of Cupid as savage and terrifying, see the Introduction, p. 18.
ipsum illum Cupidinem: the first time Cupid is named in the story; the combination ipsum illum adds extra emphasis to the naming, emphasizing Psyche’s surprise; a well-read ancient audience, however, will have guessed from the oracle at IV.33 onwards who her lover was.
cuius aspectu: ablative of specification with the genitive relative pronoun; ‘at the sight of whom…’
lucernae…lumen: the personification of the lamp is made even clearer here; see further the notes on V.23. Its joy is contrasted to the shame of the knife (novaculam paenitebat).
acuminis sacrilegi: genitive of quality, the knife ‘of sacrilegious sharpness’.
tanto aspectu deterrita: ‘terrified by so great a sight’. Extra emphasis is added by the prefix de-, along with a number in the passage which give the strong impression of her shrinking back: defecta, desedit, abscondere, delapsum, evolasset, defecta.
marcido pallore defecta: either read together as a whole phrase, with an ablative of cause from defecta, ‘overcome with the pallor of faintness’ (thus Kenney); alternatively, the ablative phrase could be read independently to express a physical quality of Psyche: in the looser translation of the GCA: ‘weakened and pale, she almost faints’. Her paleness is both indicative of fear, but is also classically the sign of a woman falling in love.
abscondere, sed in suo pectore: an instance of zeugma, with abscondere first taking the meaning of simply ‘hide’, and then its more violent colouring, ‘thrust [a weapon into someone]’. This is the first of five suicide attempts by Psyche.
fecisset: a pluperfect subjunctive as the apodosis of a past counterfactual conditional; ‘she would have done’.
nisi: here, translate as ‘if…not’ rather than ‘unless’.
ferrum…evolasset: evolasset is syncopated pluperfect subjunctive: i.e. = evolavisset. The personification of the knife here gives an example of the pathetic fallacy, when inanimate objects or nature act in accordance with the emotions of the human characters in a narrative. There are different ways of explaining its effect here: it could represent the involuntary loss of muscular control as she is fainting; it might demonstrate that even the inanimate world recognizes the power of the divinity (as do the river and other helpers in her ordeals later in Book VI); or it could be gesturing towards a literary tradition of objects refusing to co-operate in murder (e.g. Ovid, Fasti III.51–2; Metamorphoses VIII.513).
timore tanti flagitii: ‘out of fear of such a great crime’; either Psyche’s suicide or the murder of her husband is meant.
salute defecta: ‘bereft of salvation’; deficio takes an ablative of separation for being deprived or bereft of something.
divini vultus: genitive.
recreatur animi: recreo here is taking a genitive: ‘she is restored in soul’. Note the echo of V.13, Psychae animam gaudio recrea, where Psyche hoped to restore her soul by being reunited with her sisters; the fulfilment of her wish is found in gazing at her husband. There are again hints of mystery religion here which link this section to the Isiac initiation in Book XI; at XI.22 Lucius is described as recreatus animi because of the commands of the goddess Isis, and the positive effect of gazing on the goddess is frequently mentioned in Book XI (e.g. XI.24). The references to the mysteries continue through the ecphrasis.
videt: placed prominently to mark the start of the ecphrasis of Cupid; see the Introduction, pp. 24–27.
capitis aurei: foreshadowed by aurei in V.14. Note the prevalence of words for colour and light.
genialem caesariem: much of this description, in fact, has been foreshadowed; Psyche swore by Cupid’s locks and cheeks at V.13, and it was with his hair that Cupid later in V.13 dried her tears. genialis may mean ‘rich’ or ‘joyful’ but could also convey a sense of ‘divine’.
ambrosia temulentam: ‘drunk with ambrosia’; a combination of the divine aspects of Cupid, and one of the traditional attributes of a lover in elegiac poetry (drunk, both literally and figuratively).
cervices lacteas: the plural is the original form for the neck, the singular originally only being used poetically.
pererrantes: with globos impeditos: ‘[she sees] the tufts of hair, gracefully bound, wandering’. The carefully arranged disorder is echoed by the rhythm of the Latin: pererrantes is four syllables, balancing clauses of thirteen syllables on each side (cervices…impeditos).
alios antependulos, alios retropendulos: again, a careful use of isocolon (phrases of equal length), with two Apuleian coinages, shows a careful and deliberate artistic arrangement.
splendore nimio fulgurante: an ablative absolute used in a causal sense: ‘because of the sheer amount of shining brilliance’. nimius here is not ‘too much’ but just a synonym for multo.
per umeros: ‘on the shoulders’.
volatilis dei: ‘of the winged god’; this again reminds the audience of the oracle at IV.33, where her lover is decribed as pinnis volitans, but also has the ambiguity of volatilis meaning ‘fleeting, transient’; he is liable to flee, as he does in V.23.
micanti flore: an ablative of description, dependent on candicant, which is best captured in English with a simile: ‘glow like a gleaming blossom’; along with roscidae, there is an implied comparison of the wings with a flower glistening with dew. Note also the alliteration of c and the assonance of a in this phrase. flos has a transferred meaning of ‘brightness, lustre’, which, along with the literal image, is probably also at play here.
quamvis alis quiescentibus: a concessive use of an ablative absolute, with quamvis, as above at V.21 with quamvis statuto consilio.
plumulae tenellae: the diminutives are visually descriptive of the ‘delicate little feathers’, but also add to the alliteration of l.
inquieta: neuter plural used adverbially, ‘restlessly’.
ceterum corpus glabellum atque luculentum: sc. erant. Being glabellus, hairless, was a sign of ideal adolescent beauty in the ancient literature. Having dwelt excessively on the head and shoulders, finishing the ecphrasis in this swift and almost abrupt way is a typical motif.
quale peperisse Venerem non paeniteret: ‘such as would not displease Venus to have brought forth’. paeniteret is a subjunctive in a relative clause of characteristic; the sequence of tenses would normally require a present subjunctive, coming after a present tense verb (videt) in the main clause, but as it is a historic present tense, the imperfect subjunctive can be used.
ante lectuli pedes: ‘feet’ used metaphorically, where in English we would say ‘in front of the foot of the bed’.
iacebat: as is common when a list of subjects is given, the verb is singular if the nearest subject noun (arcus) is singular.
arcus et pharetra et sagittae, magni dei propitia tela: another isocolon to finish the ecphrasis, with ten syllables on each side of the comma. propitia tela is in apposition to the preceding tricolon – i.e. is nominative like arcus, pharetra, sagittae, and explains them in different terms.
quae dum: connecting relative, accusative neuter plural with tela its antecendent; translate as if it were dum Psyche haec rimatur.
insatiabili animo: ablative of manner. The adjective always has negative connotations elsewhere in the Metamorphoses; the use of animo here builds on the development we saw in Chapter 22 with impos animi and recreatur animi. Note also we have the etymological Greek word-play again with animus/Psychē. Apuleius is foregrounding the philosophical, Platonic undercurrents of the story; in Plato’s Phaedrus 252a, we are told the soul regrows its wings by contemplating physical beauty. See the Introduction, pp. 9–13 and 20–21.
satis et curiosa: here, simply used to mean ‘very’; its use here may be prompted by the word-play of insatiabili…satis. The et is not joining satis and curiosa but rather intensifying: ‘very curious as well’.
rimatur…et mariti sui miratur arma: notice the alliteration of m and assonance of a; there is even more clever word-play: rimatur and miratur are anagrams of one another. Note the emphasis (given extra weight by the possessive sui) in calling Cupid her husband; along with coniugis at the end of this chapter, Cupid’s departure is framed by reminders of their marital relationship.
depromit unam de pharetra sagittam: this section, as it continues, is clearly making reference to the description of the wounding of Venus in Ovid’s Metamorphoses X.525–8. The tense shifts between the historical present depromit and the perfect pupugit (from pungo); the former is the last in a series of present tenses started with Psyche’s contemplation with videt in the last chapter; a new series of key perfect tense verbs begins here, describing events which follow in quick, relentless, succession: incidit…evomuit…exiluit…avolavit.
punctu pollicis: ‘by a pricking of her thumb’ (ablative of means). Notice the alliteration of p, followed later with periclitabunda and pupugit.
trementis…articuli: genitive, ‘of her finger, trembling…’
nisu fortiore: ablative of means, ‘by a stronger push’.
altius: ‘too deep’.
ut…roraverint: perfect subjunctive in a result clause. The subject of the clause is parvulae…guttae.
ignara Psyche sponte: the oxymoron is pointed: Psyche knows exactly what she is doing, but she is oblivious to its consequences.
in Amoris incidit amorem: literally, ‘fell into love of Love’, i.e. ‘fell in love with Love’. Note that in goes with amorem, not the genitive Amoris. This is the first time he is explicitly identified as Love. The play with Cupid’s various names are even clearer than the earlier word-play on Psyche’s name. Note in a similar vein cupidine…Cupidinis a little further on.
magis magisque: just like the English idiom, ‘more and more’.
cupidine fraglans Cupidinis: literally ‘burning with desire of Cupid’; the genitive is best rendered in English ‘for Cupid’.
prona in eum efflictim inhians: in eum is best translated as ‘over him’. The description seems to echo a passage from Lucretius, De rerum natura (1.36) where Mars is gazing at Venus: pascit amore avidos inhians in te, dea, visus (‘he feeds his greedy eyes with love, gaping at you, goddess’).
The meaning of inhians here is ‘gaping’, which, like in English, carries both the sense of staring open-mouthed, but also can be used in the original sense of opening the jaws wide to eat: Psyche has become like the devouring beast she feared her husband was.
patulis ac petulantibus saviis…ingestis: ablative absolute, with marked alliteration. patulis here might refer to ‘open-mouthed’ kisses; Walsh translates it as ‘wanton kisses from parted lips’. The adjective is also used of the wide-open mouths of predators, however, building on the above suggestion of Psyche as the predator.
de somni mensura: a rather awkward way of expressing the fear that he would wake up; literally ‘about the length of his sleep’.
bono tanto percita: nominative participle with an ablative of means. Note that it forms a chiastic construction with the following saucia mente, but with the ablatives used in different sense. bonum can mean either physical beauty or a more general good.
saucia mente: saucia is nominative, followed by an ablative of specification: ‘wounded in her mind’. She is described in similar terms in IV.32, but is there animi saucia because of her lack of lovers.
lucerna illa: nominative; the subject of the main clause. The personification of the lamp here reaches its climax. illa is certainly emphatic, but could be interpreted in different ways: either to denigrate the lamp, as ‘that’ sometimes does in English; or to draw attention to the key role it is about to play.
sive perfidia…sive invidia…sive quod tale corpus…: the possible motives of the lamp are presented in a tricolon; each of the first two suggestions is in nine syllables, followed by a third colon with twenty-five syllables, just under three times as long. perfidia and invidia are ablatives of cause, and quod = ‘because’.
contingere et quasi basiare et ipsa gestiebat: ‘it [i.e. the lamp] too was longing to touch, even (as it were) to kiss’. gestio is a particularly apt verb to use, suggesting both the agitated movements of Psyche which cause the lamp to spill, and the passionate longing which they represent. The two earlier infinitives (contingere et quasi basiare) are dependent on gestiebat; quasi (as in the translation here) is almost parenthetical.
de summa luminis sui: ‘from the top of its light’; that is, from the opening of the lamp where the wick is actually burning.
hem: an apostrophe to the lamp; it expresses surprise and indignation. With this, the narrator (the old woman in the robbers’ cave) enters the story as a speaking character, passing judgement on the role of the lamp. In love elegy, the lamp is usually the silent and appreciated accomplice of the lover; here, its role is reversed as the enemy.
ignis totius deum: ‘the god of all fire’. Love and fire are often connected in Greek and Latin literature (as indeed they are in English).
aduris: the address to the lamp continues with this second-person verb.
cum…invenerit: should be taken concessively, ‘even though…’, with a perfect subjunctive. The idea of a primus inventor is a regular topos in ancient literature – the idea that every art or object must have had a first inventor; it often occurs in comedy and elegy referring to inventions which both help and hinder lovers.
ut diutius cupitis etiam nocte potiretur: purpose clause. nocte is ablative of time at which, ‘in the night’; it is easiest to translate etiam along with diutius, ‘even longer’.
visaque detectae fidei colluvie: ablative absolute, with an embedded genitive phrase. The genitive is explicative, but the vocabulary used gives space for several interpretations: straightforwardly, ‘with the filth of betrayed trust having been seen’; alternatively, detectae might refer primarily to his identity which has been ‘uncovered’; or it might be an example of hypallage, effectively meaning ‘with the revealed pollution of his trust having been seen’.
coniugis: see the note on mariti earlier in this chapter.
The description of Psyche here is dependent on Plato’s Phaedrus 248c: ‘But when [the soul], lacking strength to attend, does not see, and by some misfortune grows heavy, filled with forgetfulness and wickedness, and having grown heavy, it loses its wings and falls to the earth.’ See the Introduction, pp. 20–21. As well as philosophical overtones, there is a possible connection to a Greek novel, Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe (II.7.1) where the two young lovers are told that Love is young and beautiful and winged, and gives wings to souls.
crure dextero…adrepto: ablative absolute.
sublimis evectionis adpendix: the genitive is dependent on adpendix; i.e. she is an attachment onto his flight. adpendix itself is in apposition to Psyche; i.e. ‘as an appendage’, or just ‘Psyche…, an attachment…’ Apuleius is playing with the etymology (from pendeo, hang) and the sound of the word by placing it near penduli.
miseranda: a gerundive, agreeing with adpendix, ‘requiring to be pitied’, i.e. ‘pitiable’.
per nubilas plagas penduli comitatus extrema consequia: consequia is nominative (although it is an uncommon word – here and in the vocabulary it is taken as a feminine singular noun, but it could well be a neuter plural used poetically as an abstract noun), as above, in apposition to Psyche, with the genitive phrase penduli comitatus dependent upon it: ‘the furthest rear-guard of his escort’; the prepositional phrase per nubilas plagas is dependent on the verbal sense of penduli, ‘trailing through the cloudy regions’.
The phrase is artificial even for Apuleius; a comitatus is a retinue which would accompany an important person everywhere; we are either meant to visualize a literal flying entourage for Cupid, or alternatively read this as metaphor, imagining Psyche as the final hanger-on in a retinue.
solo: ‘on the ground’.
deus amator: amator is functioning as an adjective here; ‘the god who loved her’ (GCA). In classical Latin, nouns (especially those ending in –tor) could be used adjectivally, and the practice becomes more common in later Latin.
humi: locative, ‘on the ground’.
iacentem: sc. eam (i.e. Psyche), the object of deserens.
involavit…adfatur: Apuleius shifts from the perfect to the historical present in one sentence (not uncommon in the Metamorphoses). It can be noted, however, that in this episode, all Cupid’s actions are presented in the perfect, and it is only the introduction to the speech which is in the present: so before, we have exiluit, avolavit, and after, se proripuit. Cf. the note in Chapter 23 on depromit unam de pharetra sagittam.
cupressum: accusative following involavit, ‘he flew into a nearby cypress tree’. Cupid is depicted as perching in trees in Bion (a Greek bucolic poet, fl. c. 100 BC), fr. 13(10).3, and in Longus’ novel Daphnis and Chloe, II.6.1.
Why a cypress in particular? It is the tree associated in Latin literature with death and burial (e.g. Horace, Odes II.14); it has been speculated that this may refer to the original folkloric source of the story, in which the spouse died at this point in the tale. Or it might be simply that the cypress is an extremely tall tree: the new distance in their relationship is represented by their physical separation.
graviter commotus: graviter carried primarily its metaphorical meaning of ‘seriously’, but also reminds us of its literal connotations ‘weightily’. This is the opposite of the flying, flighty, levis Love of literature (e.g. Ovid, Amores II.9.49; Ars amatoria II.19) and contrasted to his regret later in this passage, hoc feci leviter; it also forms part of the intertextual reminder of Plato’s Phaedrus, echoing the ‘growing heavy’ of the soul.
simplicissima Psyche: see the note on simplicitate in Chapter 11.
parentis meae Veneris praeceptorum immemor: immemor takes the genitive praeceptorum (‘forgetful, not mindful of’). This is the first time it is made explicit that Cupid has disobeyed his mother. On the theme of remembering and forgetting, see the note on praecipiti cum velocitate in V.14.
te…addici: accusative and (passive) infinitive construction after iusserat (which takes an indirect statement rather than an indirect command construction).
devinctam cupidine: ‘conquered by desire’: a play on words; Cupid has been misled by his lower self. See the Introduction, pp. 20–21. cupido has the genitive phrase miseri extremique hominis dependent on it, which is more naturally rendered ‘desire for’ in English.
infimo matrimonio: as a phrase (rather than infimo with cupidine), dependent on addici, ‘be doomed to the vilest marriage’.
amator: in apposition to ipse, ‘I myself flew as a lover’.
hoc feci leviter: see above on graviter.
scio: parenthetical; i.e. it has no grammatical connection with the rest of the sentence, but expresses Cupid’s personal attitude.
praeclarus ille sagittarius: the subject, which is also (as is seen from the verb) Cupid himself, ‘I’. The emphatic ille highlights the irony of the situation.
ipse me telo meo percussi: the irresponsible use of his weapons was characteristic of Cupid as presented in elegy and Hellenistic poetry; but this (like his admission that he disobeyed his mother) is the first indication to the audience that Cupid has wounded himself with his own arrow.
ut…viderer…excideres: a result clause with imperfect subjunctives. viderer, ‘with the result that I seemed’; excideres, however, should be understood as imperfect subjunctive representing a future result, ‘[with the result that] you were going to cut off…’
quod: relative pronoun, with the antecendent meum…caput.
istos amatores tuos oculos: ‘those very eyes which are your lovers’ (GCA). As in English romantic poetry, eyes frequently occur in Latin love elegy, as the cause or conduit of love. Possibly Apuleius is drawing attention to the recurrent theme of vision throughout the tale.
haec…haec: ‘these things’; the anaphora, especially with asyndeton, draws attention to the repetition of the warning which Cupid gave, further emphasized by the pleonasm of identidem semper; these adverbs are best understood as modifying, respectively, censebam and cavenda.
tibi…cavenda censabam: the gerundive of obligation is neuter plural, agreeing with haec, with tibi a dative of the agent, with esse understood. Literally, ‘I was advising that these things [were] requiring to be guarded against by you’; or more naturally, ‘I kept on warning that you needed to be on your guard against these things’.
remonebam: an unusual compound; the re- prefix suggests repeated warning; it is taking a direct object in haec here, ‘I kept warning you about these things’.
egregiae: clearly ironic.
tam perniciosi magisterii: genitive, dependent on poenas at the end of the clause; smoother in English as ‘the penalty for…’
dabunt…mihi poenas: ‘they will pay me the penalty’, although, as we see later on, it is actually Psyche who avenges herself on her sisters: see V.26–7.
tantum fuga mea: ablative of means; tantum is adverbial.
punivero: future perfect; Psyche’s punishment he already counts as accomplished once he has left her, and the tense emphasizes this.
cum termino sermonis: ‘with the end of his speech’.
in altum: ‘into the sky’; cf. the same phrase in V.14 and our note there.
pinnis…se proripuit: lit. ‘he seized himself forth with his wings’; i.e. he rushed off on his wings.