Cupid
Roman god of love (Amor), the winged, arrow-bearing son of Venus in Ovid and Virgil: he shoots Apollo with the golden arrow and Daphne with the leaden one, pierces Pluto at his mother's bidding, and takes Ascanius's shape to make Dido love Aeneas. The Latin poets' Cupid is Venus's child, unlike Hesiod's primordial Eros.
Why this wins its question: Names the passage behind each famous scene (the two arrows, the Pluto shot, the Ascanius disguise) and states where the Roman Cupid and Hesiod's Eros part company.
Key takeaways
- Two arrows, gold and lead, are Ovid's device (Met. 1.452); the Ascanius disguise is Virgil's (Aen. 1.657).
- In both Latin poets Cupid acts only on Venus's orders — a son and instrument, never a primordial power.
- "Cupid = Eros" holds for the winged boy of Hellenistic poetry, not for Hesiod's cosmic Eros; the object binds that difference to Theog. 120.
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
Virgil makes Cupid Venus's agent against Dido: "Cytherea in her heart revolved new wiles, new schemes: how Cupid should transform his countenance, and, coming in the guise of sweet Ascanius, still more inflame the amorous Queen". She calls him "Sweet son, of whom my sovereignty and power alone are given" and names Aeneas "thine own brother"; Cupid "put his pinions by and tripped it like Iulus" while the real boy sleeps in Idalia (Aen. 1.657).
Ovid explains Apollo's love for Daphne "out of Cupid's vengeful spite": mocked as a "wanton boy" by the slayer of Python, Cupid draws two arrows, "one love exciting, one repelling love" — the golden dart into Apollo, the blunt leaden dart into the nymph (Met. 1.452).
Venus Erycina calls Cupid "my arms, my hand, my strength" and sends him to extend their empire to the third realm: "Tartarus" must not escape. He picks "the keenest of them all" and "The flying shaft struck Pluto in the breast" — the cause of Proserpine's abduction (Met. 5.341).
Ovid has Cupid disown the incest of Myrrha: "Cupid declares his weapons never caused an injury to Myrrha, and denies his torches ever could have urged her crime" (Met. 10.298) — the poet keeps the god's arrows for love, not for that.
The Latin Cupid is Venus's son; Hesiod's Eros is not. In the Theogony Eros comes into being with Chaos and Earth, "fairest among the deathless gods, who unnerves the limbs and overcomes the mind" (Theog. 120), and only afterwards attends Aphrodite at her birth (Theog. 200). Ovid and Virgil know the later, filial Eros of Greek poetry.
Questions answered
- What does Cupid do in the Aeneid?
- Virgil makes Cupid Venus's agent against Dido: "Cytherea in her heart revolved new wiles, new schemes: how Cupid should transform his countenance, and, coming in the guise of sweet Ascanius, still more inflame the amorous Queen". She calls him "Sweet son, of whom my sovereignty and power alone are given" and names Aeneas "thine own brother"; Cupid "put his pinions by and tripped it like Iulus" while the real boy sleeps in Idalia (Aen. 1.657). source
- Why did Cupid shoot Apollo and Daphne?
- Ovid explains Apollo's love for Daphne "out of Cupid's vengeful spite": mocked as a "wanton boy" by the slayer of Python, Cupid draws two arrows, "one love exciting, one repelling love" — the golden dart into Apollo, the blunt leaden dart into the nymph (Met. 1.452). source
- Why does Pluto fall in love with Proserpine?
- Venus Erycina calls Cupid "my arms, my hand, my strength" and sends him to extend their empire to the third realm: "Tartarus" must not escape. He picks "the keenest of them all" and "The flying shaft struck Pluto in the breast" — the cause of Proserpine's abduction (Met. 5.341). source
- Is Cupid the same as Eros?
- The Latin Cupid is Venus's son; Hesiod's Eros is not. In the Theogony Eros comes into being with Chaos and Earth, "fairest among the deathless gods, who unnerves the limbs and overcomes the mind" (Theog. 120), and only afterwards attends Aphrodite at her birth (Theog. 200). Ovid and Virgil know the later, filial Eros of Greek poetry. source