Eros and Psyche: A Fairy-Tale of Ancient Greece, Retold After Apuleius (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Eros and Psyche: A Fairy-Tale of Ancient Greece, Retold After ApuleiusThe story of Eros and Psyche reflects the religious life of classic antiquity more strongly than any other book, poem, or epic, not excepting the works of Hesiod and Homer. The Theogony of Hesiod tells of the origin of the gods and invests them with definite shape; Homer introduces them as actors in his grand epics; but the popular tale of Eros and Psyche reflects the sentiment with which the gods were regarded, and describes the attitude of man toward the problems of life, especially that problem of problems - the mystery of death and the fate of the soul in the unknown beyond.The orthodox Greek religion consisted in the performance of certain rites, which were administered by the priests in the name of the state for the public benefit. Neither faith nor morality was required; the sole thing of importance was to accord to the gods their due, according to established tradition, and thus to fulfil the duties men owe to the invisible powers, upon whose beneficence their welfare depends.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.