TIIK liUTTERFLY IN AN'CIENT ART. 1259 



Ou <Toi TavT ej3o(oi', "^vx'l' ''"' Kvirpiv, oKuxrn, 



U) Bvcrep(o<;, l^<o ■n-vKi/a ■jrpoanrrafievr} ; 

 ovK e^ocov ; elXiv ae Trdyt], ri fiinrju evl Secr/iot? 



(TTraipei'; ; ai/To-i Epci)<; ra Tnepd aov BeBeKei', 

 Kal a- iiTi TTvp koTqcre, fj,vpoi<i B' eppave Xlttottvow, 



BcoK€ Be BiijfdxTrj BuKpva 6epp,d Tneiv. 

 a yfrvyi] ^apvp.o\6€, ail B dpri fikv eK •7ivp'o<; aWr], 



dpTt B di'ayjrvxeK, Trvevfi dvaXe^afievtj. 

 T( K\aut,<i ; Tov dreyKTOv or ev koXttoictiv ' EpcoTa 



€Tpe<j>e'i, OVK j}Bet.<;, w? eV! trot TpicfyeTo ; 

 OVK fjBei<; ; vvv yvoidt, KoKoiv dWay/xa Tpo^eiwv, 



TTvp dfia Kal ylrv)^pap Be^afievrj '^iova. 

 avTf) Tavd' e'tXov • <l)ipe tov irovov. a^ia iraffyei^ 



oiv eBpat;, otttw Kaiofievr] fieXiri. 



Here yfrv)(^t'], or the human soul, is personified and is suffering for her 

 love to Eros who torments her, but her outward form is that of a butterfly 

 caught fast in birdlime. 



The infrequent mention of buttei-flies by ancient authors contrasts strik- 

 ingly with the frequency of theu- appearance in ancient art. "The myth 

 of Psyche," says Collignon, "was consecrated by art nearly four centuries 

 before Apuleius gave it a literary form." Stephani, who thinks that the 

 Psyche myth originated nearly three centuries later, gives the same date, 

 250 B. C, as that of the first representation of the buttei-fly in art. "It 

 is seen in a sardonyx-cameo set in a massive gold ring which was found in 

 a grave on the peninsula of Taman in 1877. It represents Eros stretch- 

 ing out his hand to catch a buttei-fly which flutters before him at a slight 

 distance fl-om the ground." Stephani describes the butterfly in art as : the 

 child of natiu-e ; the representative of vital energy common to all objects 

 and having almost always a prophylactic object ; a type of the human soul ; 

 and, in connection with Eros, Aphrodite and other divinities, a ty])e of the 

 loving human soid. He cites many examples of the first class, the oldest 

 being found in two series of Roman copper coins. In one series the butter- 

 fly is seen alone ; in the other a bunch of grapes is added to it ; they belong 

 to the time of the second Punic war, 218 B. C. A few of the silver coins 

 of Rhodos, on which the buttei-fly is seen, may be almost as old ; but the 

 greater part of them must be assigned to the first or second centuries B. C. 

 Roman gold and silver coins on which butterflies occur belong to the last 

 century B. C. : on a gold denarius issued 19 B. C. a crab is seen which is 

 trying to catch a buttei-fly with its pincers ; on a silver denarius a butterfly 

 is seen sitting on a lituus ; there are also other silver denarii on which a 

 butterfly alone is seen. 



Engraved stones of the time of the Roman emperors show a butterfly 



