Apuleius

Lucius Apuleius (ca 123/5 CE - ca 180 CE), an utterly Romanized Berber who described himself as "half-Numidian half-Gaetulian", is remembered most for his bawdy picaresque Latin novel the Metamorphoses, better known as The Golden Ass.

He was born in Madaurus , a Roman colony in Numidia on the border with Gaetulia, now the town of Mdaourouch , Algeria, a district well away from the Romanized coast, but where some pristine Roman ruins remain. The same colonia was where Saint Augustine later received part of his early education. His father was a provincial magistrate and he inherited a substantial fortune from him. Apuleius studied with a master at Carthage and later at Athens, where he studied Platonic philosophy among other subjects. After being initiated as a worshipper of Isis, he went to Rome to study Latin oratory. Later he travelled extensively in Asia Minor and Egypt, studying philosophy and religion.

After being accused of using magic to gain the attentions (and fortune) of a widow, he declaimed and then distributed a witty tour de force in his own defense before the proconsul and a court of magistrates convened in Sabratha, near Tripoli, the Apologia (A Discourse on Magic). The work has very little to do with magic, and a lot to do with making mincemeat of his opponent, with hilarity and panache: it is probably the single funniest work that has come down to us from Antiquity, and firmly places Apuleius among the great humorists.

His other works include On the God of Socrates, Florida, On Plato and his Doctrine, and possibly On the Universe.

The Golden Ass is the only Latin novel that has survived in its entirety. It is an imaginative, irreverent and amusing work that relates the ludicrous adventures of one Lucius, who experiments in magic and is accidentally turned into an ass. In this guise he hears and sees many unusual things, until Isis returns him to his human form. A digression recounts the tale of Cupid and Psyche. There is some evidence that the account of the initiation into the mysteries of Isis is autobiographical.

External links

• eTexts of Apuleius's works, at Project Gutenberg
• The Latin Library: Apulei Opera (Latin texts of all the surviving works of Apuleius.)
• English translation of Florida by H. E. Butler (PDF)
• English translation of the Apologia by H. E. Butler
• English translation of the Apologia by H. E. Butler (PDF)
• Apuleius - Apologia: Seminar (Latin text of the Apologia with H. E. Butler's English translation and an English crib with discussion and commentary)
• Apuleius of Madauros, Pro Se De Magia (Apologia), edited with a commentary by Vincent Hunink (Long and detailed introduction to the Apologia)
• A Web page devoted to Apuleius (Commentary, includes bibliographay of about 700 titles.)