![]() ![]() These were almost universally, it must be confessed, of more than doubtful morality but as told by Apuleius in his rollicking fashion they give the reader little more than an impression of fun and high spirits, and the general effect may perhaps be compared with that of Boccaccio's Decameron. The most famous collection was known as the Milesian Tales, originally' collected by one Aristides, and translated into Latin by the historian Sisenna in late republican times it is likely that, besides those contained in the Metamorphoses, we have specimens of a couple in the earlier novel of Petronius. It seems probable that many of these stories belonged to the various collections of facetiae which were common in the later Greek and Roman literature, though now unfortunately almost completely lost. It was very greatly improved by Apuleius, who cut down one or two of the scenes of the original and then greatly enlarged it with an abundance of excellent stories of love, sorcery, jests, and robbers and, in particular, inserted in the middle of his work the long and beautiful allegory of Cupid and Psyche. However, was not his own, but taken from ovos, which was a still extant Greek work, Aovkjo? formerly ascribed to Lucian, though it is almost certainly not his. Augustine ^ writing " Yet had he his humane reason in his asse-ship, as himself still, as Apuleius had writeth in his booke of the golden asse bee it a lie 1 Of the Oitie of God, xviu. The references to magic, which occur throughout, are of greater interest, and the story of the transformation of the hero into an ass, which is the main thread of the plot, so deeply impressed some of his contemporaries and successors that we find St. In the Metamorphoses (or Golden Ass, as it is often called) the author's religious and philosophical views take a less Important place than in most of his other works and indeed the last book, which contains an elaborate account of the hero's initiation into various mysteries, is of less value than the rest of the work except to professed students of the various Oriental religions which had to contend with the rising Christianity of the second century. There is also extant a free version of the Aristotelian irepX noa-fiov bearing Apuleius' name, but its ascription to him appears to be doubtful. Besides the Metamorphoses contained in the present volume, and the Apologia, we possess from his pen the Florida, a collection of extracts " purple patches " from his lectures and speeches, on all conceivable subjects a dialogue on the god (the SatjLtwi/) of Socrates, and a INTRODUCTION have known and disliked the Christianity which was rapidly spreading in his time, and to have wished to commend to the world a form of Platonism which included an elaborate system of angels and demons and to have been strongly in favour of the Eastern systems of initiation which had by his time become exceedingly popular in the Roman Empire under the forms of the worship of Isis and Mithras. Were before all centred He seems to philosophy, and magic. The Apologia referred to above is his speech for the defence, which Avas doubtless successful and he afterwards settled at Carthage, whence he journeyed through various African towns giving philosophical lectures and living the life of one of the regular Sophists of the Empire, from whom he only differed in that he wrote and lectured The date of his death in Latin instead of in Greek. He married her, and in vexation at the unequal match her relations brought an action against him charging him with having won her love by means of magic. On the way he fell ill at Oea (supposed to be the modern Tripoli), and was nursed by a rich widow named Aerailia Pudentilla, who was rather older than himself. was born of good family at Madaura, a town on the confines of Numidia and Gaetujia, about the end of the first quarter of the second century a.d., and while still quite a young man set out on a journey to Alexandria. One of the most curious We know something of his life from his Apologia, and it is quite possible that at the beginning and at the end of the Metamorphoses the description of Lucius, the hero of the He story, may contain a few autobiographical details. Printed in Great Britain by Woods and Sous, Ltd., London, N,i, THE GOLDEN ASS BEING THE METAMORPHOSES OF LUCIUS APULEIUSĪPULEIUS THE GOLDEN ASS BEING THE METAMORPHOSES OF ^ LUCIUS APULEIUS WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BYįELLOW AND LIBRARIAN i)F MAGDALENE COLLEGE, CAMBRIDSE
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