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PSYCHE (//vxi7)

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 544 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PSYCHE (//vxi7)  , in See also:Greek See also:mythology, the personification of the human soul . The See also:story of the love of See also:Eros (See also:Cupid) for See also:Psyche is a philosophical See also:allegory, founded upon the Platonic conception of the soul . In this connexion Psyche was represented in Greek and Graeco-See also:Roman See also:art as a See also:tender See also:maiden, with See also:bird's or butterfly's wings, or simply as a butterfly . Sometimes she is pursued and tormented by Eros, sometimes she revenges herself upon him, sometimes she embraces him in fondest See also:affection . The See also:tale of Cupid and Psyche, in the Metamorphoses of See also:Apuleius, has nothing in See also:common with this conception but the name . In it Psyche, the youngest daughter of a See also:king, arouses the See also:jealousy of See also:Venus, who orders Cupid to inspire her with love for the most despicable of men . Cupid, however, falls in love with her himself, and carries her off to a secluded spot, where he visits her by See also:night, unseen and unrecognized by her . Persuaded by her sisters that her See also:companion is a hideous See also:monster, and forgetful of his warning, she See also:lights a See also:lamp to look upon him while he is asleep; in her See also:ecstasy at his beauty she lets fall a drop of burning oil upon the See also:face of Cupid, who awakes and disappears . Wandering over the See also:earth in See also:search of him, Psyche falls into the hands of Venus, who forces her to undertake the most difficult tasks . The last and most dangerous of these is to fetch from the See also:world below the See also:box containing the ointment of beauty . She secures the box, but on her way back opens it and is stupefied by the vapour . She is only restored to her senses by contact with the arrow of Cupid, at whose entreaty See also:Jupiter makes her immortal and bestows her in See also:marriage upon her See also:lover .

The meaning of the allegory is obvious . Psyche, as the personification of the soul, is only permitted to enjoy her happiness so See also:

long as she abstains from See also:ill-advised curiosity . The See also:desire to pry into its nature brings suffering upon her; but in the end, purified by what she has undergone, she is restored to her former See also:condition of See also:bliss by the mighty See also:power of love . On this story see L . Friedlander, " Ueber das Marchen von Amor and Psyche " (in Darstellungen aus der Sittengeschichte Rams, 1888, vol. i.; for a treatment of the Greek conception, see E . Rohde, Psyche, 1894) . For Psyche in art see A . Conze, De Psyches imaginibus quibusdam (1855); Max Collignon, Essai sur See also:les monuments grecs et romains relatifs au mythe de Psyche (1877) .

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