Cupid’s Golden Arrow

Virtuous love. “Cupid’s leaden arrow,” sensual passion.

“Deque sagittifera promsit duo tela pharetra

Diversorum operum; fugat hoc, facit illud amorem.

Quod facit auratum est, et cuspide fulget acuta,—

Quod fugat obtusum est, et habet sub arundine plumbum.”

Ovid: Tale of Apollo and Daphnë.

“I swear to thee by Cupid’s strongest bow;

By his best arrow with the golden head … .

By that which knitteth souls and prospers love.”

Shakespeare: Midsummer Night’s Dream.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.