Reading Notes: Venus and Psyche

-Familiarity drags Psyche into Venus' presence by her hair
-Venus laughs and mocks Psyche for finally calling upon her mother-in-law
-Venus then calls for her servants Anxiety and Sorrow
-They punished and flogged Psyche
-Venus then mocks Psyche by saying that her child, Venus' grandson, "will be illegitimate, if indeed I allow the birth at all."
-Then, Venus herself beats up Psyche
-Venus then calls for wheat, millet and barley, poppy-seeds, chickpeas, lentils and beans to be mixed together in one heap. She tells Psyche she is to sort the pile into separate kinds by the end of the day
-Venus leaves for a wedding party
-Psyche is dumbfounded knowing the task is impossible
-An ant happens to pass by and pities Psyche
-It gathers a squadron of ants and together they make short work of sorting the pile
-Venus comes back and says that it wasn't Psyche's work, but the work of Cupid

An Ant. Source: Wikimedia Commons

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