IV. THE SEMPITERNAL

After pleading with other goddesses for help, Psyche realized she had to serve Eros' mother herself. Venus relished having the girl that stole her son and idolatry bend to her every whim. Psyche unfortunately didn't know how close she already was to her husband– he, too, was in the house of Venus recovering from his wounds. 

Venus gave Psyche four tasks to complete if she ever wanted to see Eros again. She threw a heap of mixed grains at her feet and instructed it must be separated before dawn. An ant pitied Psyche and called on other insects to aid her in completing the task. For her second task, she needed to cross a river to retrieve gold fleece from Helios’ wild sheep, but she found bits of it tangled in briars along the river bank. For her third task, she had to collect a vial of black water from the River Styx. She fell into despair staring at the jagged cliffside and the slithering dragons that hid in its crevices she would need to navigate in order to reach the water. Jupiter empathetically sent his eagle to defeat the dragons and collect the water for her.

In her final task, she was to use a box to retrieve a beauty elixir from Prosperina, but Psyche mustn't open it. She found the task insurmountable and tried to throw herself from a tower, but the tower stopped her and echoed out a warning and guidance to the underworld. With the tower's instruction, Psyche found the path to the underworld and ignored the three individuals calling for aid, gave two coins to the boatman for safe passage to and from the underworld, and tossed honeyed biscuits to the underworld guard, Cerberus, for entry. There, Prosperina granted Psyche’s desperate plea for the elixir. As Psyche returned to the light of day, curiosity overcame her and she opened the box, but Venus had placed a trap– out poured the essence of Morpheus which sent Psyche into a motionless torpor. 

An enraged Eros learned of his mother's scheme and flew away to find Psyche. He awoke her with the kiss of life and flew her to Venus to give her the box, and then took the entire case to Jupiter. In front of a heavenly assembly, Jupiter scolded Venus and granted Psyche immortality so she and Eros could enter their marriage as divine equals. She donned butterfly wings so her soul could fly freely alongside Eros and they could be united in love forever.