of Jupiter! be thou to these my desperate fortune's Juno the
Auspicious! I know that thou dost willingly help those in travail
with child; deliver me from the peril that is upon me." And as she
prayed thus, Juno in the majesty of her godhead, was straightway
present, and answered, "Would that I might incline favourably to
thee; but against the will of Venus, whom I have ever loved as a
daughter, I may not, for very shame, grant thy prayer."

And Psyche, dismayed by this new shipwreck of her hope, communed thus
with herself, "Whither, from the midst of the snares that beset me,
shall I take my way once more? In what dark solitude shall I hide me
from the all-seeing eye of Venus? What if I put on at length a man's
courage, and yielding myself unto her as my mistress, soften by a
humility not yet too late the fierceness of her purpose? Who knows
but that I may find him also whom my soul seeketh after, in the abode
of his mother?"

[82] And Venus, renouncing all earthly aid in her search, prepared to
return to heaven. She ordered the chariot to be made ready, wrought
for her by Vulcan as a marriage-gift, with a cunning of hand which
had left his work so much the richer by the weight of gold it lost
under his tool. From the multitude which housed about the bed-
chamber of their mistress, white doves came forth, and with joyful
motions bent their painted necks beneath the yoke. Behind it, with
playful riot, the sparrows sped onward, and other birds sweet of
song, making known by their soft notes the approach of the goddess.
Eagle and cruel hawk alarmed not the quireful family of Venus. And
the clouds broke away, as the uttermost ether opened to receive her,
daughter and goddess, with great joy.