5.20

One sister advises Psyche to kill her monstrous husband while he is asleep.

orīginis nexus: “the binding of our lineage”. This phrase is the subject of compellit. 

nē … quidem: “not even” 

ante oculōs habēre: “to keep in mind”

diū diūque: “for a long, long time”

cōgitātam: modifies viam

adpulsū etiam palmulae lēnientis: This is an odd expression with the paradoxical idea that a knife could be sharpened by a caress of a softening hand.

torī quā parte: parte, the antecedent of  the relative clause introduced by quā, has been attracted into the clause..

concinnem: ≈ concinnatam,  “made ready” (Kenney ad loc.)

sulcātum trahēns gressum: lit. “dragging his furrowed course”. This is a strange way of saying Cupid going to bed, as gressus is usually only used for animal moving and here suggests the movement of a snake. The sister is reinforcing Psyche’s mental image of Cupid as a giant snake. 

solitum: translate adverbially: “as usual”

porrēctus et … implicitus: both modify the (unstated) subject of the sentence.

exōrdiō somnī prementis implicitus: “having been enfolded in the beginning of a heavy sleep” 

altum sopōrem flāre: “to breathe deep sleep,” i.e. “to snore heavily”

nūdōque vestīgiō pēnsilem gradum paullulātim minuēns: “walking on tiptoe with bare feet with very little steps”. lit. “reducing tinily your raised-up tread” (Kenney ad loc.).

līberātā lucernā: ablative absolute

mūtuāre: 2nd sg imperative of mūtuor

quam validō: a variant of quam + superlative, “as __ as possible”  

cum prīmum: See 5.18.1 for this expression.

hominem tē iungēmus hominī:  “we will join you, a human, together with (another) human”