The Golden Ass by Lucius Apuleius
"The Golden Ass," written by Lucius Apuleius in the second century CE, is a unique work of fiction that stands as the only complete Latin novel from antiquity. The narrative follows Lucius, who embarks on a journey through Thessaly, where he encounters various characters and magical occurrences. The story explores themes of transformation, desire, and the complexities of human experience through Lucius’s misadventures after being transformed into a donkey due to his curiosity about magic.
Central to the plot is the tale of Cupid and Psyche, which reflects on love, jealousy, and the trials faced by the titular characters. The novel is infused with elements of folklore and mythology, offering insights into ancient beliefs and societal norms. It employs humor and satire to address human follies, making it a rich source of cultural and literary analysis. Ultimately, "The Golden Ass" is not just a story about transformation; it also serves as a meditation on the nature of the self and the quest for enlightenment through experience. The work remains influential, inspiring various interpretations and adaptations throughout history.
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The Golden Ass by Lucius Apuleius
First transcribed:Metamorphoses, second century c.e. (English translation, 1566)
Type of work: Folklore
Type of plot: Picaresque
Time of plot: Early second century
Locale: Greece
Principal characters
Lucius , a travelerCharites , a Greek ladyLepolemus , her husbandThrasillus , a man in love with CharitesMilo , a rich usurerPamphile , his wifeFotis , her maid
The Story:
When Lucius sets out on his travels in Thessaly, he happens to fall in with two strangers who are telling unusual stories of the mysterious life of the region. At the urging of Lucius, one of the strangers, a merchant named Aristomenes, tells of his strange adventure in Hippata, the chief city of Thessaly.
Aristomenes had gone to the market to buy honey and cheese, but he found that a rival merchant had been there before him and had bought up the supply. As he sadly turned away, he spied his friend Socrates, clad in rags, sitting on the ground. Socrates had fallen among thieves, who beat him and robbed him even of his clothes. Touched by his friend’s plight, Aristomenes led him to an inn, bathed and clothed him, and took him to his own chamber to sleep.
Socrates warned of the woman who kept the inn, a carnal woman possessed of magical powers. When she saw a comely man, she wanted him for a lover; if he refused, he was changed into a beast or bird. Aristomenes was a little frightened; he barred the door securely and moved his bed against it for safety. Socrates was already sleeping soundly.
About midnight two hags came to the door, which fell away at their approach. One bore a torch and the other a sponge and sword. While the landlady stood over Socrates and accused him of trying to get away from her, the two hags seized his head, thrust the sword into his throat, and reached in and took out his heart. They caught all of his blood in a bladder. Then they put the sponge in the gaping throat wound.
In the morning, Socrates looked like a whole man. The two friends crept away quietly, without arousing the landlady. A few miles out of town, they stopped to eat. Socrates, after eating a whole cheese, leaned over to drink from the stream. As he did so, the wound in his throat opened, the sponge fell out, and Socrates fell dead.
Warned by this story of what he might expect in Thessaly, Lucius presents his letter of introduction to Milo, a rich usurer. He is well received in Milo’s house. Attracted by Fotis, a buxom maid, Lucius hangs around the kitchen admiring her hair and hips. She agrees quickly to come to his room that night as soon as she has put her mistress, Pamphile, to bed. Fotis is as good as her word, and several nights are passed agreeably.
In the city, Lucius meets a cousin, Byrrhaena, a rich gentlewoman. She invites him to dine and at dinner warns him of the witch Pamphile. On his way home and full of wine, Lucius sees three thugs trying to get into Milo’s house. He rushes on them and slays them with his sword. The next day is the Feast of Laughter. As an elaborate hoax, Lucius is arrested and tried for murder in the public place. At the last minute, the three “corpses” are revealed to be three bladders, blown up and given temporary life by Pamphile.
One night Fotis lets Lucius look through the keyhole of Pamphile’s bedroom. To his amazement, Lucius sees the witch smear herself with ointment and turn into an eagle that flies away in majestic flight. Filled with envy, Lucius demands of Fotis that she smear him with ointment and turn him into an eagle. Fotis reluctantly consents.
At a propitious time, Fotis steals a box of ointment and smears Lucius, but to his horror he finds himself turned into an ass instead of an eagle. He looks around at the mocking Fotis, who professes to have made a mistake and promises to get him some roses in the morning. If he will only eat roses, he will turn into a man again. So Lucius resigns himself to being an ass for the night.
During the darkness, thieves break into Milo’s house, load much of Milo’s gold on Lucius’s back, and drives him out on the road. That morning, Lucius sees some roses along the way, but as he is about to eat them he suddenly thinks that if he turns into a man in the company of thieves they will surely kill him. He trots on until they come to the thieves’ lair, which is governed by an old woman.
On another night the thieves take captive the gentle Charites, whom they had abducted from her wedding with Lepolemus. Charites weeps bitterly. To console her, the old hag tells the story of Cupid and Psyche.
There was a merchant who had three daughters. The two older girls, well-favored, were soon married off. The youngest, a true beauty, was admired by all who saw her. No man came to woo her, however, for Venus had become jealous of her beauty and had put a spell upon her. In despair, the parents consulted an oracle, who told them to expose their daughter on a rocky cliff, where she would become the bride of a loathsome beast. The sorrowing couple obeyed, and the lovely virgin was exposed one night on a cliff. After she had been left alone, a gentle wind whisked her down into a rich castle.
That night, a man with a lovely, gentle voice, but whose face she never saw, made her his wife. For a while she was content not to see her husband, but at last her jealous sisters persuaded her to light a lamp in order to see his face. When she did, she learned her husband was Cupid, who had succumbed to her charms when Venus had sent him to make her fall in love with a monster.
Although the young woman was pregnant, Venus refused to recognize her son’s marriage with a mortal. Then Jupiter took pity on her and brought her to heaven. There he conferred immortality on her and named her Psyche. Cupid and Psyche became the epitome of faithful love.
Lepolemus, the resourceful bridegroom, rescues Charites by ingratiating himself with the robbers and becoming one of their band. Watching his chance, he makes them all drunk and chains them. Setting Charites on the back of Lucius, Lepolemus takes his bride home and returns with a band of citizens, who kill all the thieves of the den.
Lucius is given over to a herdsman of Charites, and for a time he lives a hard life as a mill ass. One day, news comes of the death of Lepolemus, who was killed on a hunting trip with his friend, Thrasillus. In a dream, Lepolemus tells Charites that Thrasillus had killed him. When Thrasillus comes wooing Charites soon afterward, she pretends to listen to his proposals. He comes to her chamber late one night, and there the old nurse of Charites gives him wine. When he is drunk, Charites takes a pin and pricks out both of his eyes.
These irregularities of their owners make the shepherds uneasy. As a group, they leave Charites’ estate and strike out on their own. Lucius passes through several hands, some good owners, some bad. He bears his lot as best he can, but he can never be a proper ass because he still longs to eat bread and meat. One of his owners discovers this peculiarity and exhibits Lucius as a performing ass.
As a performer, Lucius leads an easier life. Now that spring is approaching, he hopes to find some roses. In the meantime, he enjoys himself; he even has a rich matron as his mistress for a few nights, but when his master proposes to exhibit him in a cage, making love to a harlot, Lucius decides to rebel. He escapes and seeks the aid of Queen Isis. Taking pity on Lucius, she causes a priest to carry a garland of roses in a parade. The priest offers the flowers to Lucius, who eats them eagerly. Once again, Lucius becomes a man.
Bibliography
Anderson, Graham. Ancient Fiction: The Novel in the Graeco-Roman World. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1984. A groundbreaking but accessible work that places The Golden Ass in the wider context of ancient prose fiction and that traces the form’s origins “to the earliest known Near Eastern civilisation.” Excellent bibliography.
Apuleius. The Golden Ass. Translated by Jack Lindsay. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1962. The translator’s twenty-four-page introduction is one of the best starting points. The text also contains helpful explanatory notes.
Carver, Robert H. F. The Protean Ass: The “Metamorphoses” of Apuleius from Antiquity to the Renaissance. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Chronicles the reception to The Golden Ass from antiquity to the seventeenth century in England, Italy, France, Germany, and North Africa.
Gaisser, Julia Haig. The Fortunes of Apuleius and “The Golden Ass”: A Study in Transmission and Reception. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2008. Gaisser traces the evolution of The Golden Ass from late antiquity through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, analyzing the various editions and translations of the work and describing how it has been interpreted, imitated, and adapted over the years.
Haight, Elizabeth Hazelton. Essays on the Greek Romances. Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat, 1965. Haight’s final essay compares and contrasts The Golden Ass, which was written in Latin, with its predecessors in Greek. Rates the work as “the greatest ancient novel extant.”
Harrison, S. J., ed. Oxford Readings in the Roman Novel. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. A collection of essays about The Golden Ass and Petronius’s novel The Satyricon. Includes discussions of the tales, narrative voice, Greek sources, and the world of The Golden Ass.
Tatum, James. Apuleius and “The Golden Ass.” Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1979. Detailed but highly readable study. Supplemented with useful maps and illustrations, a good bibliography, and an appendix.
Walsh, P. G. The Roman Novel: The “Satyricon” of Petronius and the “Metamorphoses” of Apuleius. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1970. Considers the story of Cupid and Psyche, embedded in The Golden Ass, in a separate chapter, and includes an appendix discussing the career of Apuleius and the date of the composition of his best-known work.
Wright, Constance S., and Julia Bolton Holloway, eds. Tales Within Tales: Apuleius Through Time. New York: AMS Press, 2000. Collection of essays that analyze various aspects of The Golden Ass and discuss the work’s influence on Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, and other writers.