According to Edith Hamilton's stories in Mythology, love can be deadly/dangerous/distressing, inevitable/necessary/destined, and sweet/useful. To begin with, Hamilton shows that love can be sweet and helpful. This is the case of Ceyx and Alcyone in “Ceyx and Alcyone”. Love ended up saving the life of one of the lovers. When Ceyx set out on a sea voyage, Alcyone warned him that it would be perilous and that he might die because of the winds being so strong and violent. "She told him, with flowing tears and in a voice of broken sobs, that she knew like few others the power of the winds on the sea. In her father's palace... "I saw the broken planks ships rejected. Oh, don't go...at least take me with you. I can endure whatever happens to us” (110). However, Ceyx loved Alcyone so much that he didn't want her to get hurt, so he didn't let her go with him. A violent hurricane hit the sea the day Ceyx left. He ended up dying but was happy that Alcyone was unharmed. “The men on the shuddering and battered boat were mad with terror, all but one who thought only of Alcyone and rejoiced to see her safe” (111). In this case, Ceyx's love for Alcyone was sweet and ended up being useful to her lover; if he had let her come, she most likely would have died. His love for her was too strong. In the end, the gods took pity on the situation and resurrected Ceyx and made him and Alcyone into birds so that they could live happily ever after. So in this story, love was helpful in two ways: it helped save Alcyone's life, and love was ultimately responsible for Alcyone and Ceyx turning into birds where they lived happy, together, for a very long time. “Pygmalion and Galatea” also shows how caring and helpful love can be. Pygmalion was an "enemy of women"... middle of paper ... result in Cupid leaving her saying "where there can be no trust, there can be no love" (100) . Psyche loved Cupid, so she went looking for him. After searching for so long, she couldn't find it. In desperation, she went to her mother Venus, even though Venus despised her. Venus forced Pysche to complete many dangerous and deadly missions, all because of her love for Cupid. For example, Pysche had to go to the underworld and retrieve a package from Hades; he needed wool from some pugnacious sheep; and Pysche also had to fetch water from the River Styx, a place where she could have slipped and died while fetching water (she would have had to maneuver slippery rocks to get there). So even if that's not the case, Pysche's love for Cupid led her to do dangerous things that could have led to her death. Therefore, love in this case could have been dangerous and deadly.