Apuleius

Apuleius, or APPULEIUS, a Latin satirist of the 2d century, was born at Madaura, in Africa, where his father was a magistrate and a man of large fortune. Apuleius studied first at Carthage, and afterwards at Athens, displaying a special predilection for the Platonic philosophy. The fortune bequeathed to him at his father's death enabled him to travel extensively. He visited Italy, Asia, &c., and was initiated into numerous religious mysteries. The knowledge which he thus acquired of the priestly fraternities he made abundant use of afterwards in his Golden Ass. Having married a wealthy middle-aged lady, he was charged by her relations with having employed magic to gain her affections. His Apologia, still extant, was an eloquent and successful vindication of his conduct. After this event, his life appears to have been devoted zealously to literature and public oratory, in both of which he attained great eminence. The Golden Ass, the work by which his reputation has survived, is a romance, which is generally understood to have been intended as a satire on the vices of the age, especially those of the priesthood, and of quacks or jugglers affecting supernatural powers, though Bishop Warburton fancied he could detect in it an indirect apology for paganism. Its merits are great and conspicuous, as are also its faults. Wit, humour, satire, fancy, learning, and even poetic eloquence abound, but the style is disfigured by excessive archaisms and by a frequent affectation in the metaphors. The most exquisite thing in the whole work is the episode of Cupid and Psyche, Adlington's translation of which (1566) was republished in 1887, with a preface by Andrew Lang. Besides the Apologia and Golden Ass, we have from the pen of Apuleius an Anthology, a work on the Dæmon of Socrates, one on the doctrines of Plato, &c. There is a translation by Sir G. Head of the Golden Ass (1851), and of the entire works (1853), the best edition of which is by G. F. Hildebrand (Leip. 1843).