{"id":11,"date":"2022-10-05T13:39:27","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T13:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/cfw\/althea-wp\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T20:03:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T01:03:37","slug":"althea-wp","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.bc.edu\/latin-commentary\/","title":{"rendered":"Latin Commentary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Introduction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Contributors: (2023) Marcello Brownsberger, Madeline Dolack, Catherine Fleming, Avner Goldstein, Mary Grace Lewis, Andrew Lim, Spencer North, Adalyn Schommer. (2025) Andrei Chura, Esther Duncan, Pete Levangie, Kit Li, Zoey Liang, Jonathan Strout, Clara Taft, Christian Thomas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This commentary is intended for Latin students encountering an advanced Latin text for the first time. This commentary covers Apuleius\u2019s Metamorphoses<\/em> 5.1-31, 6.7-9, a portion of the Cupid and Ps\u0233ch\u0113 story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Metamorphoses<\/em>, written by Apuleius, a Roman-North African author of the late 2nd century CE, is a tale about a man whose encounter with magic leaves him transformed into a donkey, and his subsequent misadventures until he returns to human form. The Cupid and Psyche<\/em> novella occurs between books 4 and 6 of this larger tale. While at first glance this novella differs from the larger Metamorphoses<\/em> in tone, register, and plot, both narratives present similar themes. Both main characters (Lucius and Ps\u0233ch\u0113) are unable to control their curiositas<\/em>, and both are saved by the intervention of a deity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cupid and Ps\u0233ch\u0113<\/em> bears thematic similarity to the larger Metamorphoses<\/em> in its allusions to the \u201creal world\u201d. Fergus Millar, in his article \u201cThe World of the Golden Ass\u201d, asserts the novella\u2019s applicability as a source of social history (Millar 1981). Traditionally, many scholars of this text have considered the Cupid and Ps\u0233ch\u0113 <\/em>to be a separate entity from the rest of the novel, mainly due to its fictional setting. Recently, however, some have drawn connections between Cupid and Ps\u0233ch\u0113\u2019s world and Apuleius\u2019s. For example, in his article \u201cNuptiae Iure Civili Congruae<\/em>: Apuleius\u2019 Story of Cupid and Ps\u0233ch\u0113 and the Roman Law of Marriage\u201d, Josiah Osgood argues that the Cupid and Ps\u0233ch\u0113 story contains allusions to the contemporary Roman legal world (Osgood 2006). These allusions provide enjoyment to the ancient reader and social history for the modern reader. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story also can be seen as a metaphor for the Platonic ascent of the soul (\u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u03ae) to the divine. Following the model of Plato\u2019s Phaedrus<\/em>, Cupid and Ps\u0233ch\u0113<\/em> attempts to teach complex ideas and moral truths through the substrate of a myth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors of this commentary, two classes of advanced Latin students, used their own experience grappling with the text to determine the level of vocabulary to provide their readers. The 2023 class glossed vocabulary in three categories: 1) words which appear fewer than 50 times in extant Latin, 2) words or alternative spellings unique to Apuleius, and 3) other words which the authors believe will assist a reader of their commentary in a smooth and fluent translation.\u00a0The 2025 class chose to focus on words whose frequency rank is above 4000, and to give words in their Apuleian spellings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Works Cited<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ashdowne, R. K., Howlett, D. R., and Latham, R. E. (eds.) Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources<\/em>. British Academy: Oxford, 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ayer, M., ed., Allen and Greenough\u2019s New Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges.<\/em> Carlisle: Dickinson College Commentaries, 2014. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Berger, Adolf. \u201cEncyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law.\u201d Transactions of the American Philosophical Society<\/em> 43, no. 2 (1953): 333\u2013809.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cromwell, Jennifer. \u201c\u2018… Like He\u2019s Somebody …\u2019: Runaway Slaves in Roman Egypt.\u201d Papyrus Stories, 2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFortuna.\u201d<\/a> in Encyclopaedia Britannica<\/em>, Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glare, P. G. W., ed., Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed.)<\/em>. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hornblower, S., Spawforth, A., & Edinow, E., eds., Oxford Classical Dictionary (4th ed.)<\/em>. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenney, E. J., ed., Apuleius: Cupid & Ps\u0233ch\u0113<\/em>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lewis, C. T. & Short, C., eds., A Latin Dictionary<\/em>, Founded on Andrews’ edition of Freund’s Latin dictionary<\/em>. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879.*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McNeel, E. and Sabnis, S. 2022. \u201c\u2018Eros you know the story\u2019: Psyche in five women poets.\u201d International Journal of the Classical Tradition <\/em>29:307\u2013332.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millar, F., \u201cThe World of the Golden Ass.\u201d Journal of Roman Studies<\/em> 71: 63-75. 1981. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nisbet, R.G.M. and Hubbard, M., eds. A Commentary on Horace: Odes, Book I<\/em>, Oxford, 1989.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Osgood, J., \u201cNuptiae Iure Civili Congruae<\/em>: Apuleius\u2019 Story of Cupid and Ps\u0233ch\u0113 and the Roman Law of Marriage.\u201d Transactions of the American Philological Association<\/em> 136: 415-41. 2006. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vallance, J. T. “Humours.” in Oxford Classical Dictionary<\/em>, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015. https:\/\/oxfordre.com\/classics\/view\/10.1093\/acrefore\/9780199381135.001.0001\/acrefore-9780199381135-e-3174.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Unless noted otherwise, all vocabulary entries in the commentary are based on this dictionary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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