Xxvi INTRODUCTION. 
viving the chrysaliscondition ; and this breaking from 
its confinement, certainly finely designates man’s 
future existence, after he shall rise from the dead. 
This fable is perhaps the invention of Apuleius, as no 
mention of Psyche, nor any allusion to such amours 
of Cupid, oceurs in any Greek or Latin writer of an 
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 sooth 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 Gnosties 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 
show 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, 
1 
