(A version of an episode in Book VI of The Golden Ass by Apuleius)

"But - now listen! - on no account open this casket, however

Curious you may feel, Psyche, after it has been filled with divine beauty."
So spoke the inspired, prophetic tower. Psyche made her way
To Taenarus where she obtained a pair of coins for the ferryman, and the required
Barley cakes soaked in wine and honey. There she began her descent
To the underworld: as the tower had instructed, she ignored
The lame drover and his hobbling donkey, made Charon take his obol

From her tongue, stopped her ears to the cries of the dead
Swimmer, spurned the crafty weavers at work
On their infernal looms, then soothed three-headed Cerberus with one
Of her sweet, dripping cakes. Finally she arrived at the palace
Of Proserpine, where she would not relax on the cushions the Queen
Proffered, and declined all food but a hunk of coarse, black bread. Squatting
At Proserpine's feet, she explained her commission from Venus; at once
The casket was whisked away to be filled in secret, then returned,
Sealed. On her swift journey back she used her other barley cake
To silence the rabid jaws of Cerberus, and again made hell's ferryman
Accept his payment from her mouth. But on regaining the white
Light of day she so adored, Psyche, although eager
To fulfil the task Venus had set her, suddenly fell prey
To temptation. "I must be mad," she mused, "to carry, like this,
Beauty, and not take a little for myself, to please my divine lover."
Accordingly, she opened the box, but found inside, not beauty,
But nothing, or rather an evil, insidious coma, a thick
Cloud of drowsiness which suffused and invaded her limbs until she collapsed
Where she stood on the path, and there she lay, slumped like a corpse, fast asleep.