Apuleius
Apuleius should not be confused with Lucius Appuleius Saturninus, a Roman demagogue or with Pseudo-Apuleius, an author.Lucius Apuleius (c. A.D.
123/
5 - c. A.D.
180), an utterly
Romanized Berber who described himself as "half-
Numidian half-
Gaetulian", is remembered most for his bawdy
picaresque Latin novel the
Metamorphoses, otherwise known as
The Golden Ass or, in Latin, the
Aureus Asinus (where the Latin word
aureus - golden - connoted an element of blessed luckiness).
He was born in
Madaurus (now
Mdaourouch,
Algeria), a
Roman colony in Numidia on the North African coast, bordering Gaetulia; this is the same
colonia where
Saint Augustine later received part of his early education, and, though located well away from the Romanized coast, is today the site of some pristine Roman ruins. Details regarding his life come mostly from his defense speech (see below) and a work entitled "Florida," which consists of snippets taken from some of his best speeches. There is also a desire on the part of many to take details from his seemingly autobiographical novel and apply them to Apuleius, but this is not a reliable source -- most notably, the novel is misused as evidence that Apuleius was a worshiper of
Isis, though there is good reason to think that this was not the case. (Another dubious conclusion is that "Lucius," the first name of the main character of the novel, was also the first name of Apuleius – wishful thinking for which there is no concrete evidence.)
Apuleius inherited a substantial fortune from his father, a provincial magistrate. Apuleius studied with a master at
Carthage and later at
Athens, where he studied
Platonic philosophy among other subjects. He subsequently went to
Rome to study
Latin oratory and, most likely, to declaim in the law courts for a time before returning to his native North Africa. He also travelled extensively in
Asia Minor and
Egypt, studying
philosophy and
religion, burning up his inheritance while doing so.
After being accused of using
magic to gain the attentions (and fortune) of the wealthy widow he married (the mother of a school chum from his days in Athens), 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 opponents, with hilarity and panache. It is among the funniest works that have come down to us from Antiquity and firmly places Apuleius among the great humorists of his day.
His other works include
On the God of Socrates,
Apologia,
Florida,
On Plato and his Doctrine, and possibly
On the Universe.
The
Metamorphoses 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 escaping from his predicament in a rather unexpected way (see SPOILER below). Within this
frame story are found multiple
digressions, the longest among them being the well-known tale of
Cupid and Psyche.
The
Metamorphoses ends with the hero, Lucius, being rescued by Isis and transformed back from his donkey form. Lucius subsequently becomes a worshiper of Isis, and Apuleius provides a lengthy account of his initiation into the
mysteries of
Isis, which some see as
autobiographical. But Apuleius need not have been a worshiper of Isis to know the details he provides, and this work is more likely to belong to a sub-genre of stories involving rescue by Isis. It is even possible that he is mocking such intensely devout worshipers of the goddess.
*
Free ebook of Apuleius at
Project Gutenberg*
Apulei Opera (Latin texts of all the surviving works of Apuleius) at
The Latin Library*
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)
*
Apology as Prosecution: The Trial of Apuleius
