XXVI INTRODUCTION. 



earlier date. Apuleius calls it an old woman's story ; 

 and puts it into the mouth of an old hag in a cave of 

 robbers, to soothe the grief of a young lady, their 

 captive. 



It is worthy of remark, that the figures of Cupid 

 and Psyche embracing, are found on many of the 

 gems called Abraxas, from the name of the Egyptian 

 deity, whose worship the Gnostics and Basilidians in 

 Syria and Egypt contrived to blend with miscon- 

 ceived notions of Christianity. These gems were 

 used as amulets, or charms, against various maladies 

 and perils. 



The learned senator Philip Buonarotti, attempts to 

 shew that the fable of Cupid and Psyche is derived 

 from the solemn mysteries of love, celebrated among 

 the Thespians, &c. and carefully concealed from the 

 profanation of the vulgar eye. It is highly probable 

 that of the many gems in which the God of Love is 

 variously represented, with or without the butterfly, 

 a great number are anterior to the time of Apuleius 

 and allude to sacred ceremonies ; that the butterfly 

 was displayed in these rites as a symbol of the soul ; 

 and that the gems which bear the figure of Cupid 

 chasing, tormenting, caressing, and sporting with a 

 butterfly, are emblematic of desire acting on the 

 human soul : but it does not follow that they have 

 any allusion to a fiction resembling that of Apuleius. 



