Mythology in Marble

Chapter 120: Cupid Stung.

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About This Book

A concise guide that pairs brief retellings of classical myths with descriptive analyses of the marble sculptures inspired by them, offering readers accessible explanations of how narrative themes inform pose, expression, and iconography. Each entry includes notes on artistic features and provenance alongside poetic quotations and illustrations to reinforce popular interpretations. Practical tools such as a table of Greek and Roman deity equivalents and a suggested reading list are appended to aid further study. The overall aim is to equip museumgoers and general readers with the background needed to appreciate mythological sculpture without requiring specialized art-historical training.

Cupid Stung.

“Cupid once upon a bed

Of roses laid his weary head;

Luckless urchin, not to see

Within the leaves a slumbering bee.

The bee awaked—with anger wild

The bee awaked, and stung the child

Loud and piteous are his cries;

To Venus quick he runs, he flies;

‘Oh, mother—I am wounded through—

I die with pain—in sooth I do!

Stung by some little angry thing,

Some serpent on a tiny wing—

A bee it was—for once I know,

I heard a rustic call it so.’

Thus he spoke, and she the while

Heard him with a soothing smile;

Then said, ‘My infant, if so much

Thou feel the little wild-bee’s touch,

How must the heart, ah, Cupid, be,

The hapless heart that’s stung by thee!’”

—Moore. (Anacreon.)