The Birth of Pleasure: The Story of Cupid and Psyche
Apuleio
APULEIUS, the author of this beautiful episode, was a native of Madaura, an inland town of Africa, where he was born in the early part of the second century. He received the first rudiments of education at Carthage, and there adopted the Platonic system of philosophy, in which he perfected himself by subsequent studies at Athens. His works are numerous, of which, probably, the most celebrated is The Golden Ass, from which the story of Cupid and Psyche is taken. In this work, many writers, especially Bishop Warburton, have discovered a profound theological purpose. "There have been some morals given it," says the translator of the edition of 1709, "but few or none that seem to fall within the design of the inventor of the fable. Some have made it the union of the soul and body; others, Adam and Eve and the tree of knowledge. For my part, it seems to me to be a moral chiefly against curiosity, as is instanced twice by Cupid himself. The heathen priesthood had reason to hurl their batteries against it, for they were conscious of follies so great in their gross imposition on the people that they might well fear a discovery from a liberty to curiosity."
In the concluding pages of this volume, which, we think, contains all that is worth preservation in the various translations heretofore published, the reader will find copious notes and explanations. To these we refer him, with the wish that they and their subject may afford both entertainment and instruction.
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