Articulating the Ineffable, Structuring the Abstract: Apuleius and Cupid’s domus regia

Gillian McIntosh (San Francisco State University)

In Roman architecture and literature, the domus has been seen to exceed its physical structure, and to function in more symbolic ways. The physical structure might represent its owner’s social status (Vitruvius de arch. 6.5.1), political agenda (compare Augustus’ simple Palatine home with Nero’s domus aurea [Hales]; Plutarch Publicola 10.1-5), mind (Lucretius DRN 4.512-521; Cicero Tusc. Disp. 5.58ff.), memory (Quintilian Inst. Orat. 11.2.17ff.), and so on.

Given these more figurative options for reading domestic space, it is time to explore the symbolism of Cupid’s domus regia in the tale of Cupid and Psyche within Apuleius’ Metamorphoses. Some scholars have investigated the architectural aspects of this palace (Brodersen, Murgatroyd, Schlam). Others have focused on the other-worldliness of the ecphrasis in general (Moreschini, Panayotakis). My project is to show that the house functions to yoke both the concrete/architectural and the abstract/other-worldly registers.

House and Occupant in Text: At the start of the tale, Apuleius invites the reader to look beyond the words: of Psyche and her sisters he writes hi tres numero filias forma conspicuas habere, sed maiores quidem natu, quamvis gratissima specie, idonee tamen celebrari posse laudibus humanis credebantur, at vero puellae iunioris tam praecipua, tam praeclara pulchritudo nec exprimi ac ne sufficienter quidem laudari sermonis humani penuria poeterat (IV.28). Through Psyche, who is the house’s future occupant, Apuleius asks us to see past the superlative, past language even, into the realm of the imaginary. As for the house, Apuleius first describes it as aedificata non humanis manibus sed divinis artibus (V.1). Like Psyche, the house is other-worldly. In addition, by positing ‘human’ against ‘divine’, and ‘hands’ against ‘artes’ in his description of the physical structure, our narrator sets antitheses in motion. It is through the house that the reader is invited to explore these, and other antitheses, as I will show.

House in Context: Cupid’s domus regia is situated in the middle of the imaginary place where Psyche lands (medio luci meditullio prope fontis adlapsum domus regia est, V.1). Indeed, it is in the middle of the novel as a whole. As such it is a focal point to and from which the immediate and broader narratives lead. Thus, the specific relations within the ecphrasis both emanate out into the larger narrative, and at the same time, they appropriate aspects of that larger narrative. For instance, the antithetical drives that Lucius experiences and attempts to reconcile (physical/sexual and transcendent/spiritual) can be seen in the coalescence of Cupid (erotic love) and Pysche (soul) in the royal house, and vice-versa. Apuleius uses the house to mediate between the specific and the general, and between the antitheses experienced within each.

House and/as Text: He also uses the house to mediate between the narrative and the text that presents that narrative. Just as the house is built not by human hands but by divine artes, and just as it stands for more than words can say, so too is Apuleius’ novel aedificata non [modo] humanis manibus, sed [etiam] divinis artibus even as it is used as a liminal go-between for the real and imaginary realms.

Select Bibliography

Brodersen, S. “Cupid’s Palace—A Roman Villa (Apul. Met. 5, 1)” AAGA 2 (1998) 113-125

Hales, S. The Roman House and Social Identity Cambridge (2003)

Moreschini, C. “Amore e Psiche. Novella, filosofia, allegoria” Fontes 3.5-6 (2000) 21-44

Murgatroyd, P. “Apuleian Ecphrasis: Cupid’s Palace at Met. 5.1-5.2” Hermes 125 (1997) 357-366

Panayotakis, C. “Vision and Light in Apuleius’ Take of Psyche and her Mysterious Husband” CQ 51.2 (2001) 576-583

Schlam, C. Cupid and Pysche: Apuleius and the Monuments Pennsylvania (1976)

Zimmerman, M., Panayotakis, S., Hunink, V.C., Keulen, W.H., Harrison, S.J., McCreight, Th.D.,

Wesseling, B., van Mal-Maeder, D. Apuleius Madaurensis Metamorphoses Books IV 28-35, V and VI 1-24, The Tale of Cupid and Pysche Groningen (2004)