Cupid & Psyche : allegorical aspects
Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 11:02 pm
I was just re-reading the Cupid & Psyche story in Apuleius, and I wondered how this assumedly allegorical tale was interpreted in Antiquity by the different schools of philosophy. A search on the internet yielded little. All I found of interest were the following lines in Bulfinch :
"The fable of Cupid and Psyche is usually considered allegorical. The Greek name for a butterfly is Psyche, and the same word means the soul. There is no illustration of the immortality of the soul so striking and beautiful as the butterfly, bursting on brilliant wings from the tomb in which it has lain, after a dull, grovelling, caterpillar existence, to flutter in the blaze of day and feed on the most fragrant and delicate productions of the spring. Psyche, then, is the human soul, which is purified by sufferings and misfortunes, and is thus prepared for the enjoyment of true and pure happiness."
Does anyone have more detailed information on this ?
Valete optime,
"The fable of Cupid and Psyche is usually considered allegorical. The Greek name for a butterfly is Psyche, and the same word means the soul. There is no illustration of the immortality of the soul so striking and beautiful as the butterfly, bursting on brilliant wings from the tomb in which it has lain, after a dull, grovelling, caterpillar existence, to flutter in the blaze of day and feed on the most fragrant and delicate productions of the spring. Psyche, then, is the human soul, which is purified by sufferings and misfortunes, and is thus prepared for the enjoyment of true and pure happiness."
Does anyone have more detailed information on this ?
Valete optime,