SYMBOLS OF PSYCHE. 175 



entirely in accordance with the Platonic philosophy. 

 Long before the beginning of the Roman Empire, the 

 Platonic myth of the fallen soul, who undergoes a series 

 of trials as a means of purification, to fit it for its mystic 

 union with Love Everlasting, seems to have taken a 

 great hold on the public mind in Greece, and was a well- 

 known and favourite subject with celebrated sculptors 

 and engravers of gems. Psyche signifies the soul, which 

 was at first symbolized as a butterfly, but like other 

 animal symbols, this of Psyche was gradually merged 

 into the human form, that of a slender girl, the wings 

 only being retained to mark its meaning. The gem 

 engravers exhibit infinite fertility of invention in depict- 

 ing scenes played by Love and the Soul. In some 

 devices, probably the oldest, Cupid appears alone, 

 chasing, tormenting, or caressing the butterfly ; Psyche 

 in proprid persona he continually treats with harshness 

 and indignity, or the lovers meet, showing by tenderest 

 caresses delight at the reunion, or are united in marriage ; 

 in sculpture they clasp each other in close embrace, as 

 in the group of the Capitol. We know that Apuleius 

 travelled in Greece, chiefly to acquire religious infor- 

 mation, and, clearly, these ideas and representations 

 were of a nature to afford subject - matter for his 

 imaginative genius to work upon in the construction 

 of his story. 



