Reading Notes: Psyche's Beauty/The Oracle of Apollo

-In a city, there was a king and queen. Their first two daughters were pretty but their third daughter, Psyche, was indescribably beautiful
-people from all around would come just to see her
-they prayed to her as she was Venus herself
-the news reached Venus so she decided to pay a visit to see for herself
-the rumors of Psyche's beauty reached almost all of Greece
-people began to make pilgrimages to see Psyche rather than to worship in Venus's temples
-Venus became rather angry saying that she now has to share her title as the "fairest of them all" with a mere mortal
-Venus asks her son Cupid to do her a favor by striking Psyche with love for the most wretched man
-Venus then shows off a little and makes a grand exit into the sea

"Psyche Honored by the People" by Luca Giordano (late 17th century)

Source: Wikimedia Commons

-Despite her beauty, Psyche remained un-betrothed while her sisters went off and married nobles
-Her father, fearing divine hostility, sought help from an oracle.
- It said, "High on a mountain crag, decked in her finery,
Lead your daughter, King, to her fatal marriage.
And hope for no child of hers born of a mortal,
But a cruel and savage, serpent-like winged evil,
Flying through the heavens and threatening all,
Menacing ever soul on earth with fire and sword,
Till Jove himself trembles, the gods are terrified,
And rivers quake and the Stygian shades beside."
-Psyche, her parents, and the whole city grieved at the cruel fate
-Psyche still sought to fulfill the command and became a "dead woman walking"
-Psyche tells her parents not to grieve her but grieve the hubris she fell into.
-Psyche was left on the mountain
-she was carried by Zephyr off the cliff and into the valley

"Psyche's Beauty" from Apuleius's Golden Ass, as translated into English by Tony Kline (2013).