(c) John S. Ott
Reading Guide:
Apuleius, The Golden Ass, trans. P. G. Walsh
Book I.1-23, 26 (pp. 1-15, 17), Book II.1-12, 31-32 (pp.
18-26, 37-38), Book III (pp. 39-57),
Book
IV.1-5, 23-27 (pp. 58-61, 71-74),
Book
VI.25-32 (pp. 113-119), Book VII.1-15 (pp. 120-129), Book VIII.23-31
(pp.
153-160), Book IX.8-14 (pp. 165-170),
Book X.13-23, 29, and 34-35 (pp. 200-207,
211-212, 215-17), Book XI (pp. 218-240)
Background notes
For a fuller summary of his life and
writings, read the introduction of Walsh's translation (pp. xi-xviii).
We know very little about Apuleius apart from what he tells us in his
surviving writings. He was born in the 120s CE in Madauros,
a Romanized town in northern Africa in what is now modern
Algeria. He was born into an elite political family, and his
family's wealth permitted him to receive an education in Carthage
(north Africa) and Athens, two of the pre-eminent educational centers
in the Roman Empire. He knew and could speak Greek (the language
of the educated), Latin (the common language of the Empire), and the
local north African dialect, Punic. He traveled extensively, and
lived in Rome, Athens, Carthage, and at Oea, in what is now modern
Libya. While on a trip during his 30s, he fell seriously ill and
stayed at Oea for a long time at the home of a former fellow-student
from his days in Athens. While there, he fell in love with his
friend's widowed mother and eventually married her. He was soon
accused of marrying the woman, Pudentilla, for his personal gain (she
was very rich). When his school friend and host suddenly died,
Apuleius found himself charged with magic use and murder by his wife's
first husband's brother--magic use to induce Pudentilla to marry him,
murder in killing her son (his friend). He was put on trial, and
ultimately defended himself from the charges successfully. This
background sheds some light onto his treatment of magic (and
courtrooms) in The Golden Ass.
In any event, Apuleius quickly left Oea and settled in Carthage, where
his already formidable reputation as a philosopher in the Platonic
tradition earned him public fame. He was also a poet, public
lecturer, an enthusiast of natural history, and a wit. The Golden Ass, or Metamorphoses, is the one Roman
"novel" or "romance" (his word for it) to have survived the classical
period. It was based on an existing Greek novel called Lucius or the Ass (which only
survives in an abbreviated form), and is written in the first person by
one Lucius, a
storyteller and businessman who, while on his way to Thessaly in
Greece, collected interesting tales and eventually, while experimenting
with magic, is turned into an ass. The Golden Ass then recounts
his experiences as a donkey, and ultimately his transformation back
into human form and his initiation into the cult of Isis.
Scholars have long debated the author's intentions for the tale.
Was it pure entertainment, a fable, a moral tale, all three? Is
it a personal testament of some kind?
Apuleius is last attested in the late 160s CE, and died sometime after
that date.
Questions
(1) What kind of tales is Lucius drawn to? Why is he drawn
to them? Do they have any common features or recurring
motifs? Are they playful, silly, frightening, horrifying,
puzzling?
(2) How does Lucius become a donkey?
(3) Does Lucius's transformation into a donkey carry a deeper
message about conversion, change, altered consciousness?
(4) How is Lucius ultimately saved from remaining an ass?
What is his conversion experience like?
(5) What, if anything, was Apuleius' audience meant to take
seriously in this collection of stories? What is the novel's take
on religion, magic, superstition, the gods, fate, chance?
(6) May The Golden Ass
be described as a spiritual quest story? If yes, what makes it
one? If not, what makes it not? Is there a moral to this
tale?