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Folk-tale and Literary Technique in Cupid and Psyche1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

James R. G Wright
James R. G Wright
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
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Extract

That the story of Cupid and Psyche in Apuleius' Metamorphoses is a version of a common world-wide folk-tale has long been recognized. Scholarly debate has concentrated on the conclusions to be drawn from this with regard to the significance of the story—mythological, religious, allegorical, and so on. With the additional information provided by Swahn's comprehensive monograph on the subject an attempt can now be made to study some of the aspects of literary technique involved in the adaptation of the folk-tale. In what follows I have tried to avoid making any assumptions about a possible literary source of Apuleius' tale. I am concerned with the ways in which the literary version which we possess modifies the folk material, and not with the author of this modification.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , May 1971 , pp. 273 - 284
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1971

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References

page 273 note 2 Many of the most important contributions to this debate are now collected in Amor und Psyche, hrsg. G. Binder und K. Merkelbach, Darmstadt, 1968.

page 273 note 3 Swahn, J.-Ö., The Tale of Cupid and Psyche, Lund, 1955.Google Scholar

page 273 note 4 Zephyrus appears also as a heavenly carrier in Hellenistic poetry—Call. Fr. 110. 51–9 Pf.; Cat. 66. 51–8.

page 274 note 1 In 1871 in an appendix to his Darstel-langen aus der Sittengeschichte Roms ═ Binder– Merkelbach, 16 ff.

page 274 note 2 Helm (NJA 33 [1914], 195 n. 97 ═ Binder–Merkelbach, 213) points out the close correspondence between the attributes of Cupid in the oracle and in Moschos, 1.

page 275 note 1 No mention of flying is made in the later description of the snake and this was presumably not an attribute of the folk-tale snake. This indicates the amount of modification of the folk-tale demanded by the text of the oracle.

page 276 note 1 The lamp is addressed in AP 5. 7 (Asclepiades); 5. 166 and 5. 8 (Meleager); cf. Plut. Mor. 513 e. It is also mentioned in e.g. AP 5. 191; 6. 162 (Meleager), and at Prop. 2. 15. 3.

page 277 note 1 Cf., e.g., Met. 5. 29–31 with A.R. 3. 22 ff., esp. Met. 5. 31. 2 non dicendi filii and A.R. 3. 129 ; also the idea of Psyche as Venus' runaway slave—Met. 5. 31. 2; 6. 4. 5; 5. 3; 7. 3—with Psyche as a fugitive from Eros in Meleager, AP 12. 80. 5–6, and Eros as fugitive from Venus in Moschus, i.

page 278 note 1 As will be clear, I reject the conclusions of Ludwig Bieler's learned and ingenious article: ‘Psyches dritte und vierte Arbeit bei Apuleius’, ARW 30 (1933), 242 ff. ═ Binder–Merkelbach, 334 ff.Google Scholar I give my reasons for this in an Appendix where I discuss the third task at greater length.

page 278 note 2 This is, of course, essentially the punishment of the Danaids. See also the Appendix.

page 278 note 3 For the talking reed cf. Ov. Met. ii. 190 ff.

page 279 note 1 Doubtless suggested by Ar. Ra. 127 ff.—again a literary insertion.

page 279 note 2 e.g. Lucian, , Luct. 10.Google Scholar

page 280 note 1 h. Hym. Dem. 371 ff., 398 f., with the commentary of Allen, Halliday, and Sikes. Cf. Ov. Met. 5. 529 ff.

page 280 note 2 Cf. the experience of Theseus and Pirithous in Hades—Apollod. Epit. i. 24 j Paus. 10. 29. 9. Cf. Verg. A. 6. 617–18.

page 281 note 1 I have, of course, drawn attention only to those literary motifs which are directly related to the folk-tale. For fuller accounts see Helm, loc. cit., and the chapter on ‘Cupid and Psyche’ in Walsh.

page 282 note 1 e.g. the imitations of Virgil, the references to the Roman law of marriage and that concerning runaway slaves, the parody of the procedure of the Senate, etc.

page 282 note 2 For a sober discussion of this thorny problem see Walsh. I note only one point. The identification of the witch with Venus which is part of the very first stage in the transformation of the folk-tale is probably used for allegorical purposes as one of the links between Cupid and Psyche and the Isiac conclusion of the whole work in Bk. 11 (cf. Met. 4. 30. 1 and 11. 5. 1). This seems to offer some support for the view that the transformation was made by Apuleius with this sort of thing in mind.

page 282 note 3 Loc.cit., (p.278 n. 1 above). Its influence can be seen, e.g., in Grimal's note in his Commentary (Paris, 1963) on Met. 6. 17.1: ‘Vela-mento reiecto …: tel est bien le sens de cette quatrième ėpreuve, ajoutée par Apulée aux trois épreuves traditionelles de la donnée folklorique.’

page 283 note 1 This correspondence had been overlooked by modern writers on Pausanias according to Frazer in his splendid notes on the passage in his Commentary (London, 1898). Its relevance to Apuleius does not appear to have been widely recognized after him.