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APULEIUS, LUCIUS
Online EncyclopediaOriginally appearing in Volume
V02,
Page 235
of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also: APULEIUS, See also:LUCIUS , Platonic philosopher and rhetorician, was See also:born at Madaura in See also:Numidia about A.D. 125. As the son of one of the See also:principal off'icials,.he received an excellent See also:education, first at See also:Carthage and subsequently at See also:Athens. After leaving Athens he undertook a See also:long course of travel, especially in the See also:East, principally with the view of obtaining See also:initiation into religious mysteries. Having practised for some See also:time as an See also:advocate at See also:Rome, he returned to See also:Africa. On a See also:journey to See also:Alexandria he See also:fell sick at Oea (See also:Tripoli), where he made the acquaintance of a See also:rich widow, Aemilia Pudentilla, whom he subsequently married. The members of her See also:family disapproved of the See also:marriage, and indicted Apuleius on a See also:charge of having gained her affections by magical arts. He easily established his innocence, and his spirited, highly entertaining, but inordinately long See also:defence (Apologia or De Magia) before the proconsul See also:Claudius See also:Maximus is our principal authority for his See also:biography. From allusions in his subsequent writings, and the mention of him by St See also:Augustine, we gather that the See also:remainder of his prosperous See also:life was devoted to literature and See also:philosophy. At Carthage he was elected provincial See also:priest of the imperial cult, in which capacity he occupied a prominent position in the provincial See also:council, had the See also:duty of See also:collecting and managing the funds for the temples of the cult, and the superintendence of the See also:games in the See also:amphitheatre. He lectured on philosophy and See also:rhetoric, like the See also:Greek See also:sophists, apparently with success, since statues were erected in his See also:honour at Carthage and elsewhere. The See also:year of his See also:death is not known.The See also: work on which the fame of Apuleius principally rests has little claim to originality. The Metamorphoses or See also:Golden See also:Ass (the latter See also:title seems not to be the author's own, but to have been bestowed in compliment, just as the Libri Rerum Quotidianarum of See also:Gaius were called Aurei) was founded on a narrative in the Metamorphoses of Lucius of Patrae, a work extant in the time of See also:Photius. From Photius's See also:account (impugned, however, by See also:Wieland and See also:Courier), this See also:book would seem to have consisted of a collection of marvellous stories, related in an inartistic See also:fashion, and in perfect See also:good faith. The See also:literary capabilities of this particular narrative attracted the See also:attention of Apuleius's contemporary, See also:Lucian, who proceeded to work it up in his own manner, adhering, 3s Photius seems to indicate, very closely to the See also:original, but giving it a comic and satiric turn. Apuleius followed this rifacimento, making it, however, the groundwork of an elaborate See also:romance, interspersed with numerous episodes, of which the beautiful See also:story of See also:Cupid and See also:Psyche is the most celebrated, and altering the denouement to suit the religious revival of which he was an apostle. The adventures of the youthful See also:hero in the See also:form of an ass are much the same in both romances, but in Apuleius he is restored to human shape by the aid of See also:Isis, into whose mysteries he is initiated, and finally becomes her priestess. The book is a remarkable See also:illustration of the contemporary reaction against a See also:period of See also:scepticism, of the See also:general appetite for See also:miracle and magic, and of the influx of See also:oriental and See also:Egyptian ideas into the old See also:theology. It is also composed with a well-marked literary aim, defined by Kretzschmann as the emulation of the Greek sophists, and the transplantation of their See also:tours de force into the Latin See also:language. Nothing, indeed, is more characteristic of Apuleius than his versatility, unless it be his ostentation and self-confidence in the display of it. The dignified, the ludicrous, the voluptuous, the horrible, succeed each other with bewildering rapidity; See also:fancy and feeling are everywhere apparent, but not less so affectation, meretricious See also:ornament, and that effort to say everything finely which prevents anything being said well. The Latinity has a strong See also:African colouring, and is .crammed with obsolete words, agreeably to the See also:taste of the time. When these defects are mitigated or overlooked, the Golden Ass will be pronounced a most successful work, invaluable as an illustration of See also:ancient See also:manners, and full of entertainment from beginning to end.The most famous and poetically beautiful portion is the See also: episode of Cupid and Psyche, adapted from a popular See also:legend of which traces are found in most See also:fairy mythologies, which explains the seeming incongruity of its being placed in the mouth of an old See also:hag. The allegorical purport he has infused into it is his own, and entirely in the spirit of the Platonic philosophy. See also:Don Quixote's See also:adventure with the See also:wine-skins, and Gil See also:Bias's captivity among the robbers, are palpably borrowed from Apuleius; and several of the humorous episodes, probably current as popular stories long before his time, reappear in See also:Boccaccio. Of Apuleius's other writings, the See also:Apology has been already mentioned. The See also:Florida (probably meaning simply " See also:anthology," without any reference to See also:style) consists of a collection of excerpts from his declamations, ingenious but highly affected, and in general perfect examples of the sophistical See also:art of saying nothing with emphasis. They See also:deal with the most varied subjects, and are intended to exemplify the author's versatility. The pleasing little See also:tract On the See also:God of See also:Socrates expounds the Platonic See also:doctrine of beneficent daemons, an intermediate class between gods and men. Two books on See also:Plato (De Platone et Ejus Doginate) treat of his life, and his See also:physical and ethical philosophy; a third, treating of See also:logic, is generally considered See also:spurious. The De Mundo is an See also:adaptation of the Hepi K60'µov wrongly attributed to See also:Aristotle. Apuleius informs us that he had also composed numerous poems in almost all possible styles, and several See also:works on natural See also:history, some in Greek. In the preparation of these he seems to have attended more closely to actual anatomical See also:research than was customary with ancient naturalists. Some other works—dealing with theology, the properties of herbs, medical remedies and See also:physiognomy, are wrongly attributed to him.The See also: character of Apuleius, as delineated by himself, is attractive; he appears vehement and passionate, but devoid of rancour; enterprising, munificent, genial and an enthusiast for the beautiful and good. His vanity and love of display are conspicuous, but are extenuated by a genuine thirst for know-ledge and a surprising versatility of attainments. He prided himself on his proficiency in both Greek and Latin. His See also:place in letters is accidentally more important than his See also:genius strictly entitles him to hold. He is the only extant example in Latin literature of an accomplished sophist in the good sense of the See also:term. The loss of other ancient romances has secured him a See also:peculiar See also:influence on See also:modern fiction; while his See also:chronological position in a transitional period renders him at once the evening See also:star of the Platonic, and the See also:morning star of the Neo-Platonic philosophy.Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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