Cupid, as he was called by the Romans, is the son of Venus and Mars, or Aphrodite and Ares as they were known by the Greeks. He is the God of love and desire, flying about on feathery wings, shooting passion-tipped arrows at all the creatures of the earth. When struck with one of his arrows, man and beast alike fall in love with the next thing they see. Without Cupid’s steady aim, there would be no love in this world, which is precisely what happened when Cupid fell in love himself.