The Golden Ass: Or, A Book of Changes

by Apuleius, Joel C. Relihan (Translator)

Relihan uses alliteration and assonance, rhythm and rhyme, the occasional archaism, the rare neologism, and devices of punctuation and typography, to create a sparkling, luxurious, and readable translation that reproduces something of the linguistic and comic effects of the original Latin. The general Introduction is a masterpiece of clarity, orienting the reader in matters of authorship, narration, genre, religion, structure and style. A generous and browsable index, select bibliography, and maps are included.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Mythology, Fantasy, Literature, Ancient, Roman

328 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 175

About the author

People best know The Golden Ass , work of Roman philosopher and satirist Lucius Apuleius.

Apuleius (Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis “Africanus”; Berber: Afulay) wrote Latin-language prose.

This Berber of Numidia lived under the empire. From Madaurus (now M'Daourouch, Algeria), he studied Platonism in Athens and traveled to Italy, Asia Minor and Egypt. Several cults or mysteries initiated him.
In the most famous incident in his life, people then accused him of using magic to gain the attentions and fortune of a wealthy widow. Apuleius 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 ancient Tripoli, Libya.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apuleius

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you remember the old toga movies from the '50's--the ones where all the Romans are played by Brits and all the Jews and Christians by Americans--then I am sure you also remember those orgiastic banquet sequences crammed with sweaty wrestlers, kinky dancers, amphora after amphora overflowing with wine, and culinary surprises like roast oxen stuffed with pheasants (the pheasants in turn stuffed with oysters), and golden salvers heaped high with hummingbird tongues.

The Golden Ass is a lot like that. It has everything: comic misunderstandings and cruel mistreatment, amorous slave girls and lustful matrons, witches and ghosts, robbers and murderers, people transformed into animals, an account of religious conversion--plus a visit from the Queen of Heaven and a little bestiality thrown in for good measure. This picaresque work of late second century Roman Africa revels in its own excess and ornamentation, scattering its tales within tales with a spendthrift abandon, and yet preserving a sense of unity through its theme. It shows us how the individual's journey through pleasure and suffering, servility and beastliness, may eventually lead to humility and spiritual regeneration.

[Henry Avila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucius ( loosely based on the author ) is a very curious young man, interested in black magic, witchcraft, potions and spells, that can cause real damage , even mystery cults, being the mid second century , during the Roman Empire, in ancient Greece, people believe in the supernatural...A traveler visiting Hypata, the heart of the occult center, in Thessaly, so the public thinks , with a letter of introduction from a friend, to a rich man, Milo , a miser, though living in squalor, counting his money but not spending it. Given a tiny room in the ramshackle house, no food, he will have to get it himself, yet Pamphile the stingy man's wife, is a powerful witch, so informs the slave Photis in the household and soon lover of Lucius, she is very attractive and eager. He goes to the home of his wealthy Aunt Byrrhena, invited to stay he desires his freedom more than comfort, and is warned to keep away from witches, which he doesn't obey, Lucius wants excitement in his dreary, dull life and anxious to see them perform their evil. One cold night while the intoxicated Lucius, is walking back to the miser's house, and not seeing too well, three ruffians attack the noble citizen, but knowing how unsafe these streets are , he has his trusted sword and defends himself ably, but is arrested for murder, luckily it was not what it seems...Later Photis, tells him that tonight the witch Pamphile, in secret, will turns herself into a bird and fly, in order to spy on a would- be young lover, while her husband Milo is away, just what he has been so looking forward to, for such a long time. Things do not go as planned, the nervous Photis, gives him the wrong box containing a different ointment , after the witch was observed and left, turning poor, foolish Lucius, into an Ass (in more ways than one) instead of a fowl, not to worry his love says she will get him roses, to consume, which will turn him back to a man in the morning. But a gang of treacherous robbers invade the home, stealing anything valuable in sight and taking the unfortunate Lucius, now just the dumb animal they need , to carry their loot, beaten badly, the heavy load causes painful bruises and wounds, quickly into the high mountains , they go up. The dusty roads are dismal but passable, the dizzy sights below , endurable, the tired criminals finally transverse the distant path, from where their thefts occurred, to the hideout . No sanctuary for the beleaguered ass though, threaten again to be slaughtered there , by cutting his throat, or thrown off a cliff by the cruel, unfeeling thieves, Lucius has to escape and does, running like a horse to salvation, but everywhere he arrives, the local people treat him with malice, work him almost to death, he suffers constant abuse, and cunningly fights back ( he gets his kicks in), can the ass survive until the roses spring up again ? The only Roman novel found in its complete form, quite funny but rather gruesome too, the Roman gods are not kind . For anyone interested in ancient civilizations, particularly the Empire of Rome, this book is about as close as a modern reader can get...feel the joys and barbarism of the era; and laugh too...

[Valeriu Gherghel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toată lumea a citit, probabil, Măgarul de aur al lui Apuleius din Madaura, un prozator latin care a trăit (datele sînt aproximative, desigur) între anii 124 și 170. A fost contemporan cu Marcus Aurelius. Este vorba de un roman picaresc, foarte amuzant, al cărui protagonist se numește Lucius, ca și autorul cărții (Lucius Apuleius). Să nu uit: Apuleius vorbea fluent trei limbi: latina, greaca și punica (limba lui maternă).

Titlul inițial al cărții a fost Metamorfoze, fiindcă eroul e transformat de însăși prietena lui, frumoasa Fotis, o vrăjitoare aproximativă, în măgar; Lucius suferă, deci, o neplăcută metamorfoză. Voia să devină o pasăre, dar Fotis a încurcat alifiile. Abia al doilea titlu, vulgar (dat de admiratori), a fost Măgarul de aur (Asinus aureus). Numai că Măgarul lui Apuleius nu a fost de la început de aur, așa cum, iniţial, nici Commedia lui Dante Alighieri nu a fost divină.

Apuleius și-a intitulat romanul Metamorfoze sau Măgarul, Dante și-a intitulat poemul Commedia. Măgarul a devenit de aur și Commedia divină mult mai tîrziu, datorită entuziasmului cititorilor care au dorit să sublinieze în acest chip excelența acestor scrieri. Epitetele aparțin, așadar, vocabularului „critic”. Modești, cum îi știm, autorii nu le-au folosit în textul original.

În treacăt fie spus, neplăcerea de a deveni un biet măgar (în căutarea unui trandafir salvator) a avut pentru Lucius o singură consolare. Citez din roman și vă rog să nu mă blamați: în vremea romanilor umorul era mai slobod decît în zilele noastre:

„În această jalnică transfigurare, nu am găsit altă mîngîiere pentru mine, care atunci nu o mai puteam strînge în brațe pe Fotis, decît faptul că toate membrele mi se lungiseră” (p.76).

Slabă consolare, totuși, dacă rămîi un biet măgar...

În cărțile 4, 5 și 6 din Măgarul de aur, o bătrînă povestește mitul lui Amor și Psyche, care a devenit ulterior povestea domniței celei curioase, care e vizitată pe întuneric de iubitul ei și încearcă, din păcate pentru ea, să-i zărească chipul. Ion Creangă a rescris această legendă în Povestea porcului.

P. S. Prefațatorul cărții, un anume N. Niculiță (un clasicist, probabil), definește romanul lui Apuleius ca fiind unul „științifico-fantastic”. Fantastic? OK. Dar științific?

P. P. S. Pentru că în prezentarea de pe Goodreads lipsesc datele cărții, precizez că Măgarul de aur s-a publicat la Editura de Stat pentru Literatură și Artă în 1958. Cel care a tradus romanul se numește I. Teodorescu. Am făcut o căutare prin librăriile online și am aflat că traducerea a fost reeditată, după 1990, de editurile Corint și Gramar.

[Fionnuala]

This is a story of metamorphosis, and while the main metamorphosis involves someone turning into an ass, there are other metamorphoses behind the story.

In the very first paragraph, the author, Apuleius, while telling us how he transformed from someone who grew up in North Africa in the 2nd century CE, speaking a Punic language, to becoming an inhabitant of Corinth who could speak Greek, and later becoming an inhabitant of Rome who could speak Latin, metamorphoses, before the end of the first page, into a fictional narrator called Lucius, who will, in the course of cracking us up with some posterior-related stories, metamorphose into the golden ass of the title.

The frolics only get bawdier and ruder from there on—with short breaks for inserted stories relating to star-crossed lovers and other unfortunates. Lucius is unfortunate himself quite often, getting whipped so much that his battered behind is in a sorry state. I wondered if reading this book in English added to the bawdiness since 'ass' lends itself to so much double-meaning in English. The word 'ass' in Latin is 'asinus' from which we get the adjective 'asinine' so the possibility of double-meanings was there already, at least in relation to silliness. And in the episode just before Lucius is turned into an ass by a magic spell that goes wrong, he is the unwitting victim of a mock trial over a fictitious crime he supposedly carried out while drunk. The people who put him on trial literally 'made an ass' of him.
Towards the end of the book, Lucius meets a character called Asinius Marcellus in Rome, and since Asinius will be significant in his life, Lucius remarks that the man's name is 'very apt in view of my transformation.' There was already plenty of room for double-meanings in the Latin original of this 2nd century novel.

When I wasn't giggling at the double meanings, I was smiling at the story-telling smartness of the whole thing. For instance, Lucius, in his ass persona, says, 'But perhaps at this point the attentive reader will start to pick holes in my story and take me up on it. ‘How is it, you clever ass you,’ they will say, ‘that while you were confined in the mill you were able, as you say, to know what these women were doing in secret?’ But clever Lucius always finds a way to justify his apparent omniscience. And he uses some gorgeous descriptions too. A tall look-out tower was described as 'far-sighted'. I loved that.
This is a good point to mention the tone of my translation by E.J. Kenney. Kenney plays up every chance of double-meaning, and in a particularly British English way which made it sound even funnier to me. For example, Lucius, when describing a girl's way of walking, says, 'what a jolly rearguard action'. And on the very first page when Apuleius' mentions how this Greek story got written in Latin (another example of metamorphosis), Kenney uses the phrase, 'changing literary horses at the gallop' which is a great way of putting it. Plus it's significant that that's the exact point where the author's voice transforms into his narrator's—though he will be a literary donkey rather than a literary horse before long!

I was reminded a few times that there truly is nothing new under the sun. For example, 'When the rich feast was over, there entered an invisible singer, and another performed on a lyre, itself invisible. This was succeeded by singing in concert, and though not a soul was to be seen, there was evidently a whole choir present.'
We think our speaker systems were never thought of before!

It's clear too that Lucius/Apuleius knows all the classical texts. There are references to the Golden Fleece, Medea, and the story of the Bacchantes, and also to Ovid's Metamorphoses.
Lucius's adventures are mainly set in Thessaly in Greece. Thessaly is where many of Homer's characters came from. 'Wily Odysseus' is referenced at one point. A shipwreck is described as 'positively Ulyssean'. And even though that's the translator's choice of wording, it reminded me of how Greek Odysseus metamorphosed into Latin Ulysses over the centuries. And there's a description of a bird that immediately recalled The Odyssey to my mind :
...a tern, that pure white bird which skims over the sea-waves in its flight, plunged down swiftly...
This is Homer's simile using a tern :...like a tern that down the deadly gulfs of the barren salt swells, glides and dives for fish, dipping its beating wings in bursts of spray...

Apuleius' crazy novel—maybe the first ever novel—was a perfect way to prolong my year of reading Homer.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in the 2nd century CE, this is the only complete Latin novel which we have. Picaresque in style, it tells the story of Lucius who is so fascinated by magic that he interferes in occult matters and gets turned into an ass. In his quest to return to his shape as a man, he gets involved in a whole series of other adventures and hears a range of stories from other people on his journey.

With its tales of witches, spells, strange transformations, walking corpses and grave robbers, this is by turns witty, bawdy and funny in a knockabout comedy way. The central tale of Cupid and Psyche is lovely, but also contributes to the central philosophical questions posed by the novel: can we ever know the divine, and what is the difference between 'good' and 'bad' knowledge and curiosity?

It is perfectly possible to read this as just a good romp and bypass the metaphysical speculations hidden beneath the surface, just as it's possible to read Shakespeare's adoption of Lucius in the Bottom/Titania scenes in A Midsummer Night's Dream as just a comedy routine, but both probe ideas of divine epiphany in interesting ways.

Translations struggle to capture the linguistic texture of the Latin original which is full of alliteration, assonance, well-placed diminutives and other comic and literary devices. All the same, this is well worth reading whether you're interested in the esoteric and philosophical or simply in a good shaggy dog story.

[Kalliope · Rating 5 out of 5]

Golden it is, but not the ass.

For us the novel certainly has the value of gold since it is considered the earliest that has survived complete in the Western literary tradition. Originally called Metamorphoses, it is however far from being an epic like Ovid’s. Written around the middle of 2C by an Apuleius, an Algerian under Roman auspices, it probably acquired its “aureum” quality when another Algerian, Saint Augustin, gave it its second title some time later. And it was with this golden aura that it lived through the Middle Ages and survived till modern times.

I read it in French translation (Pierre Grimal), thinking that it would ring closer to the original Latin, but then also downloaded Robert Graves’ English version and flicked through it.





Apuleius’s Metamorphoses has the structure of an overall plot with embedded stories. So it is not just a man that is transformed into an ass but a story that undergoes several transformations. Some of the stories weld in more smoothly with the main line. Others do not, and can be considered as independent cameos. The most famous of these is Cupid and Psyche, and indeed this is the main literary source for this mythical story. Reading some of the Psyche passages made me feel a shiver running down my spine. I realized that Botticelli must have read this same text when painting his allegorical masterpieces. And so I went to find out more about the Golden Novel in the Renaissance and there I found that it had to be Niccolò Machiavelli who wrote his own version of the transformed ass. He did so in Dante’s rhyme but death arrived too early.

With the privileged position of this novel in the literary tradition, we like to see in its structure of stories-within-stories one of the corns for the later and more elaborate The Decameron and the Arabian Nights, to name just a couple, with Apuleius playing a similar role as compiler as Boccaccio and the other authors. Its picaresque tone and elements are also seen to point at their later appearance in Lazarillo de Tormes and to a lesser extent in Don Quijote. The entertainment value provided by the lewd and grotesque passages are often presented as the flashlight for Rabelais.





And indeed it is this more superficial diverting aspect that for us can blur the tint of religious aspects of a non-Christian creed. The moral content is blatantly there. We have the themes of Justice, the play of destiny, the dangerous drive of humans when wanting to simulate godly powers, and the overall story does have an element of final conversion with a more sacred tone. Apuleius’ contemporary readers would have been more sensitive to these matters.

But to me the most memorable aspect was the role of the narrator. Apuleius begins by presenting himself to the reader, telling us about his origins and closes his introduction bowing to us with Lecteur, sois attentif et tu seras satis fait (Graves: “Now read on and enjoy yourself”). Once in the novel he continues to use the First Person to narrate the frame story and keeps in direct relationship with the reader, exploiting very craftily the irony in the situation of an “I in the shape of an ass with the mind of a human”. There is an unforgettable instance in which the Narrator, comes out forthright, with an abrupt “I”, defending his omniscience from a hypothetical criticism from the hypothetical reader. Mais peut-être, lecteur trop exact, critiquerais-tu mon récit, en me faisant observer ceci: Comment donc, âne plain d'astuce, enfermé comme tu l'étais à l'intérieur de la boulangerie, as-tu pu connaître, comme tu le prétends, les agissements secrets de ces femmes?" ..or, in Graves' version again another instance: Forgive this outburst! I can hear my readers protesting: 'Hey, what's all this about? Are we going to let an ass lecture us in philosophy?' Yes, i dare say I had best return to my story.

Literary license at its best.





Next week I am going to watch a dramatized version in which the characterized Narrator will take centre stage with a continuous monologue.

I can’t wait.

----

Illustrations by Jean de Bosschère (1878-1953)

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Psyche was right to check out her lover in daylight!

That is all I can say, and I am not impressed with the manipulative tactics used by the God to make her obey "blindly". So I guess the saddest moment is her apotheosis to the divine realm of serving the Greek narcissists during their eternal banquets.

But Psyche, never mind! You had that one perfect kiss, and Canova caught it on camera! That is enough for immortality...

[Sawsan · Rating 3 out of 5]

رواية الحمار الذهبي أول رواية في التاريخ تصلنا كاملة.. كُتبت في القرن الثاني الميلادي
رواية لطيفة مليئة بالحكايات ومغامرات الشاب لوكيوس بعد ما تحول إلى حمار
بدأ لوكيوس سفره وهو انسان واستكمل في معاناة بقية رحلته العجيبة وهو حيوان
يرى ويسمع ولا يتوقف عن الحكي .. حتى يتحرر ويعود لطبيعته البشرية
سرد طريف يمزج الواقع بالخيال والأساطير ويحكي عن أحوال الانسان والحيوان

[Dagio_maya · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Eccomi a raccontarti, o lettore, storie d’ogni genere, sul tipo di quelle milesie e a stuzzicarti le orecchie con ammiccanti parole, solo che tu vorrai posare lo sguardo su queste pagine scritte con un’arguzia tutta alessandrina.
E avrai di che sbalordire sentendomi dire di uomini che han preso altre fogge e mutato l’essere loro e poi son ritornati di nuovo come erano prima.
Dunque, comincio.”


Quella in cui vive Apuleio è detta epoca degli Antonini.
E’ quella fase storica tra l’Impero di Adriano e quello di Commodo in cui il ruolo di guida da parte di Roma, mano a mano, si sfilaccia.

Anche la letteratura vive di riflesso questa crisi politica sociale e culturale e , così, l’intellettuale che si celebra è strettamente accademico e si esprime con superficiale retorica.

Apuleio (per alcuni fu detto “Lucio” proprio dal nome del protagonista de le Metamorfosi) fu scrittore e filosofo proprio di quest’epoca.
Nacque in una provincia algerina e, grazie ad una consistente eredità, si poté permettere un’istruzione su molte e diverse discipline oltre al privilegio di viaggiare molto.
Seguace della filosofia platonica si appassionò sempre più alle pratiche magiche e al misticismo.



Le Metamorfosi sono la sua opera più famosa.
Conosciuta anche con il titolo ”L'asino d'oro “ vanta il primato di essere l’unico romanzo in lingua latina risalente all'epoca romana pervenutoci integralmente.

Undici libri (capitoli) in cui un giovane di nome Lucio, in visita in Tessaglia, narra le avventure si ritrova a sostenere dopo che spalmatosi il corpo con un unguento magico si ritrova intrappolato nel corpo di in un asino.
La Tessaglia, di fatti, era la regione greca che più di tutte era considerata terra di magia e il giovane Lucio paga così lo scotto di un’ingenua curiosità.
Persa la possibilità di muoversi liberamente l’uomo ripone la sua sopravvivenza in un’unica facoltà, ossia quella di ascoltare:

”... pur tuttavia in questa mia disgraziata metamorfosi una consolazione almeno ce l’avevo: quella cioè d’avere delle orecchie grandissime, grazie alle quali potevo facilmente udire tutto anche a una certa distanza.”

Con una struttura a cornice, ogni incontro è l’opportunità per entrare in altre storie come la celebre ed affascinante fiaba di Amore e Psicheche Apuleio mette per iscritto dopo una lunga tradizione orale.
Poi ci sono storie di briganti, di adulteri ma anche storie di efferati omicidi, scene erotiche e pratiche magiche.
Una lettura scorrevole grazie anche ad una traduzione molto moderna (forse in alcuni tratti un po’ troppo, se mi è permesso dirlo...).

Con un tono spiritoso comincia un viaggio che porterà Lucio attraverso vari ambienti e tipologie di uomini.
Un romanzo avventuroso, dunque, ma anche di formazione dove Lucio impara per prima cosa che è possibile anche ciò che non comprendiamo ma soprattutto il romanzo gioca sulla messa in ridicolo di una vita esclusivamente carnale per poi approdare nell’ultimo libro ad un registro più serio in cui si esalta il culto di Iside ed Osiride.

” Anch’io, del resto, conservo un ricordo riconoscente dell’asino che fui perché, nascosto sotto quelle spoglie, affrontai le situazioni più diverse e, se non più saggio, divenni almeno esperto delle cose del mondo.”

[L.S. Popovich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whenever someone says Don Quixote was the first novel ever written, one-up them with this one. Same if they claim Tale of Genji was first. Other novels, poems, and fragments might claim to be the first, but none are so convincing a contender as The Golden Ass. Supposedly, other Roman novels existed like this one, but we are left with mere sections of those. This is complete as far as we can tell.

I recommend this as a good follow up to Petronius' Satyricon. While the two differ in content, the tone and time felt the same to me. I still prefer Petronius, despite it's fragmentary nature, but Apuleius impressed me with his witty, verbose and graphic, gruesome, rollicking tale. It could be summed up as the adventures of a curious gentleman who is transformed into an ass. He passes through various trials, is bought, sold, worked nearly to death, tortured in heinous ways, tricked, and also gets the chance to play the trickster. It is not the sort of thing you read your child before bed. Most compelling was the sudden and unnerving resolution which goes into some detail about the mysterious cult of Isis, and how our protagonist turns over a new, pagan leaf. I noticed plenty of Christian and pagan references, though I suspect some of them were clarified by the modern translator.

Apuleius maintains an irreverent tone, and inspires great sadness in this reader, for all of the lost literature of ancient times. Reading Roman and Greek classics are an exercise in comparison for me. In a lot of ways, people have not changed over the centuries. We still suffer from the same debilitating desires, the same quirks and the same proclivities, but the society arounds us does something to mold our characters, perhaps.

The book has entertained and probably concerned many people since time immemorial. For something more tame, try Longus' Daphnis and Chloe.

[Nathan "N.R." Gaddis]

"What's this we have to put up with now? An ass giving us a philosophy lecture?" Book 10, chapter 33.

The genre of the novel sprung full-formed out of Apuleius’s . . . Ass. The Golden Ass is one of those infamous contenders for the title of First Novel along with such masters as Rabelais, Cervantes, Richardson (come on, people! really?) and Madame Murasaki. It is the only surviving complete exemplar of the Roman novel. Give it some credit. It’s all there. Then there is also Petronius’s work whose incomplete status makes me weep. Do we learn something about the novel when its earliest instantiations are comic and satiric?

Apuleius is oddly very contemporary. Perhaps this impression is due to my inordinate immersion in the postmodern aesthetic and its strategy of replenishing the possibilities contained within the genre of the novel by returning to original and ancient sources of fictioning. It might be due to my having recently read the Greek stories in John Barth’s Lost in the Funhouse. Apuleius’ Ass may have been appended to that short collection and one wouldn’t have known the difference. The strategies of Barth’s fictions are here--the coast-line measurement problem (no end to the possible, infinitely more precise delineation of that shoreline); the relatedly Mandelbrot Set with its equally infinitely recursive possibilities; the arabesque; the frame-tale (why not slip in another fantastical story while we’re having lunch along the road?); the too clever by half first-person narrator; the consciousness of the fact that one is telling a story and the humility of perhaps not always being up to the task (that is, at the very beginning, the novel was always already meta-fictional). In a similar manner, Herodotus felt like a contemporary, having as I had at that time just recently read Infinite Jest. These books make our contemporary realist literature look pretty futzy.

Plot? Well, yes, there is a plot. And it’s as self-indulgent as a donkey in a kitchen, munching on the meats and the sauces and the croissants and the chocolates. It’s also simple. In part it’s a road story framing a series of other stories, roughly 18 of these, perhaps, depending on your count. What’s a donkey to do but make the most of those long ears and listen in on his various masters telling this and that story? Overhearing those stories is a hell of a lot more pleasant than undergoing the kind of life in store for a donkey, what with all the whippings and beatings and death threats and threats of castration--well, it’s just awful! Fortunately, Lucius has a memory to outstrip any donkey’s memory and does us the favor of relaying to us all of these marvelous little morsels. Centrally located is the story of Psyche and Cupid, which is marvelously inserted without much ado about justifying its existence. But what else is a novel but an excuse to tell stories? And then add a few more stories in there? And then just a few more? And let me tell you the most wretched story which took place in this very household. . .

I read the recent translation from Sarah Ruden who writes a delectably prancing contemporary English. Apuleius’s fancifully dancing Latin is quickly apparent. His skilled linguistic performance makes The Ass a candidate for repeated translation. His little novel is a trove of hapax legomena which are words appearing only a single time within all of the extant Latin corpus. That situation must be either hair-pullingly frustrating for a translator or an opportunity to let the language create itself, giving onto multiple possible renderings. I will give highest praise for the work which Ruden has created and simultaneously insist on Apuleius’s Latin providing a platform for additional Englishings. Of the reading of the Ass there is surely no end.


“But perhaps, persnickety reader, you take issue with my narration, objecting in these terms: ‘All right, you little smart-ass, the mill’s walls were your restrictive boundaries. How could you know, as you claim to, what the women did in private?’ Learn, then, how a curious human being in the form of a pack animal found out about every act directed toward the destruction of my friend the baker.” Book 9, chapter 30.

[María Carpio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don Quijote fue primero un asno. Sí, como se lee. Esta novela es probablemente la mayor inspiración literaria de Cervantes para escribir El Quijote. ¿Por qué? Bueno, pues porque hay una estructura análoga, un uso del lenguaje similar, una prosa semejante muchos pasajes (aunque no igual), un ritmo análogo también. Y un personaje principal que vendría a ser un proto-Quijote. Y ese personaje es Lucio, el asno, convertido en animal por un conjuro mágico que salió mal. En esto recuerda también a El maestro y Margarita, de Bulgákov: brujas, magia y un ungüento que causa metamorfosis animal. Una de las cuestiones más interesantes de esta novela del siglo II d.C., la única escrita en latín conservada completa, es justamente detectar los rastros de su influencia en otras obras posteriores.

Lo de Cervantes es innegable, ya que éste hace prácticamente un homenaje a esta novela, más difusamente en las escenas de la venta (cuya ambientación es prácticamente igual a la de la hospedería del Asno de oro), pero específicamente en la escena de los odres de vino que Don Quijote confunde con un gigante. Aquí en un pueblo al que llega Lucio (antes de convertirse en asno), le gastan una broma en la que unos malandros le atacan y él termina acuchillándolos. En el juicio se revela que los acuchillados eran en realidad unos odres de vino.

Como decía, el estilo y la prosa de ambas novelas son muy similares, pese a que esta novela está basada en otra obra griega anterior (esto lo dice el mismo autor al inicio, pero esa obra está perdida), con lo que la noción de autoría que tenemos actualmente difiere de la escritura y reescritura de obras literarias de la Grecia y Roma clásicas. No obstante, hay un sello autoral en esta novela precisamente por algo que se le ha reconocido durante siglos: el estilo y su proto-barroquismo, por lo que hay un trabajo literario singular de Apuleyo.

Esta obra es probablemente escrita durante el gobierno de Marco Aurelio. Estamos en el Imperio Romano. Si recordamos La Ilíada y La Odisea, que son las primeras obras literarias escritas de la tradición grecolatina, éstas son del siglo VIII a.C., por lo que ya han pasado casi 900 años, y ahí ha sucedido mucho literariamente hablando. Hay una parte de El Asno, en el libro II, que menciona a La Odisea y, en general, hace constantes referencias a rituales religiosos y dioses, en su versión latinizada, claro. En el Imperio Romano, la norma para el acceso al conocimiento elevado era la educación en griego y el estudio de la cultura griega, por eso el propio Apuleyo que nació en África (en Madaura, Argelia, que entonces era parte del Imperio Romano) se educó en Atenas y luego pasó a Roma. Esta novela de hecho tiene partes autobiográficas y autoficcionales, ya que el mismo Apuleyo hizo esos recorridos y hasta fue acusado de hacer magia para apoderarse del dinero de una viuda. Su defensa en el tribunal fue un escrito que se llama Apología de Apuleyo.

Por otro lado, también en esta novela hay rastros de la Ilíada, habla de un episodio de Áyax luego de la muerte de Aquiles. Asimismo está narrado el mito de la manzana de la Discordia, que es representado en un espectáculo del circo romano en el que Lucio, el asno, ha sido capturado para ser atacado por los leones, junto con una mujer. La escena anterior, en los calabozos, sugiere zoofilia (aunque no se concreta, ya que a Lucio le horroriza la mujer que es una criminal), y es una de las partes más subida de tono que tiene la novela, que son varias. Y es que esta novela tiene partes algo gore y bastante truculentas, así como alusiones sexuales, algunas veces explícitas, y otras descripciones de actos y situaciones fuera de la norma (como una especie de rito orgiástico entre sacerdotes eunucos que podrían asimilarse a lo que hoy es un transexual) que para la época también era escandaloso. Hay partes de mucha violencia física infligida sobre el pobre protagonista, el asno, que va de amo en amo siendo tan apaleado como lo es Don Quijote en su travesía. Ambas obras tienen también una semejanza en el viaje o recorrido incesante de un sitio a otro en el que les suceden diversas aventuras a sus protagonistas. También en esta novela se halla el recurso de la historia dentro de la historia: varios personajes van apareciendo y narran su historia previa o la de alguien más, con lo que el tronco argumental del Asno se va abriendo a nuevos relatos que regresan al núcleo narrativo.

Respecto a las aventuras y la historia narrada, también se evidencia la influencia que ha tenido sobre El Lazarillo de Tormes y la literatura picaresca. Esto, junto con lo erótico, que fue inspiración de obras y géneros posteriores, es un tipo de literatura que en esa época era llamada "milesia", por una obra de Arístides de Mileto que tenía ese estilo y temas. Entonces, milesia es el gentilicio de la ciudad de Mileto y pasó a ser una especie de metonimia para designar a ese tipo de relatos. Estos también recuerdan al Decamerón de Boccaccio.

Sobre las narraciones insertas está, por ejemplo, la historia de Psique y Cupido, una de las más célebres de la mitología grecorromana, contada en medio de la trama entre el asno Lucio y una muchacha secuestrada por unos delincuentes. Al parecer, Apuleyo es el primero que narra lo de Psique de una forma tan exhaustiva. La historia estaba muy presente en la tradición oral, pero el autor es el primero en escribirla y quizás, reescribirla, o al menos es el documento escrito más antiguo hallado sobre el mito. Por otro lado, los trabajos que debe hacer Psique mandada por Venus recuerdan a los trabajos de Hércules; la historia de Psique es una especie de molde o base de los cuentos de hadas, especialmente La Cenicienta con sus hermanastras envidiosas (la original es bastante truculenta).

Luego, hay una pequeña referencia sarcástica al Cristianismo en el capítulo IX, cuando dice que la esposa de uno de los amos que tuvo Lucio, predicaba que existía un solo dios, pero esto el narrador lo dice de forma negativa, ya que la mujer era terrible. Esta es una clara referencia al monoteísmo del Cristianismo, que en ese entonces era novedoso. En el siglo II d.C. ya había muchos cristianos en el Imperio Romano, pero eran perseguidos.

Aunque durante la novela las alusiones a la religiosidad no son medulares, todo el capítulo final es un retorno al mito y al ritual, aunque sorprendentemente, no aparecen en escena los dioses grecolatinos, sino los dioses más importantes de la mitología egipcia, Isis y Osiris. La obra cobra otro cariz en esta parte, aunque aún conserva en pequeñas pinceladas el tono de humor y sátira que componen la novela, no obstante gran parte de ella es truculenta. Ahora, pese a las escenas de ritos e iniciación sacerdotal de Lucio en el último capítulo, hay algo que se trasluce en la novela, y es que la religiosidad en un sentido más profundo está ausente. En la Roma del siglo II, las creencias en los dioses ya no eran tan fuertes, la religión era más una costumbre que una fe real, y en gran medida estaba instrumentalizada por temas de poder o políticos. Había una ambigüedad religiosa que de alguna forma retrata Apuleyo. Por eso el Cristianismo entra con fuerza en el Imperio Romano y se establece como religión oficial dos siglos después (s.IV) con Constantino I.

Personalmente, creo que el escoger a los dioses egipcios es una decisión literaria y subjetiva. Está claro que Apuleyo tenía sus propias ideas creativas, tomando en cuenta de que esta obra es una reescritura de otra. El capítulo final es muy solemne, se nota que el autor sabía de lo que hablaba, pues él mismo había sido iniciado en el culto de Isis, pero no escapa al tono de sátira que tiene toda la novela. Hay un momento en el que Lucio cree que los sacerdotes que le van a iniciar le están engañando, porque debe pagar bastante dinero cada vez. Ahí hay una puesta en duda de la religión, probablemente relacionada a su propia experiencia. Finalmente, los dioses deciden que continúe siendo abogado, esto es también satírico y autobiográfico. Creo que la idea de salirse de la idiosincrasia romana e irse por dioses egipcios casi es una declaración de ateísmo de Apuleyo, o cuando menos, de escepticismo religioso. Lo mismo los unos que los otros, pero mejor si son los foráneos, que vendrían a ser "los verdaderos". Es una sutil e inteligente crítica. Como decía antes, en esa época ya en el Imperio romano la creencia en los dioses estaba venida a menos.

Finalmente, es una obra de una prosa muy pulida y fluida, que tiene su propio valor literario y también su valor en cuanto a ser una de las mayores influencias de toda la literatura posterior, sobre todo de la novela. Y también el de ser una vitrina histórica al pasado, pues a través de ella conocemos muchos de los usos y costumbres de la época, los cuales están finamente detallados, por lo que, sin habérselo propuesto, Apuleyo se convierte en un historiador de la cotidianidad, y hasta en un antropólogo y arqueólogo involuntario. Esta novela es como las ruinas de Pompeya y Herculano, pero en papiro.

P.D. Interesante la alusión autobiográfica final: Los dioses Isis y Osiris deciden que Lucio ya reconvertido en hombre y ahora sacerdote de sus cultos, debe seguir ejerciendo su profesión, la de abogado, sin que le importe el juicio de los demás. Apuleyo era abogado, y supongo que esa alusión final al qué dirán tendrá que ver con la acusación y juicio que enfrentó por supuesta brujería para casarse con una viuda y quedarse con su dinero, en el cual él mismo ejerció su defensa y escribió su descargo y alegato que se conoce como "Pro se de magia", o más comúnmente "Apología".

[Yann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Les Métamorphoses ou l'âne d'or est le seul roman latin qui nous soit parvenu de l'antiquité sans avoir été mutilé, comme le Satiricon de Pétrone. Écrit au IIème siècle par Apulée, un auteur du sud de la méditerranée, ce roman narre les tribulations de Lucius, un jeune patricien dévoré par une immense curiosité : avide de plaisirs et de nouveautés, rien ne le rebute tant qu'il s'agit de découvrir quelque sujet d'étonnement. Ses pérégrinations le mènent en Grèce, en Thessalie, terre plus que fameuse pour ses sorcières dont les voyageurs narrent les exploits à leurs acolytes avides de frissons. Il suffit que sa nourrice le mette en garde contre une voisine réputée pratiquer les arts occultes pour que notre héros soit irrésistiblement attiré par la maison de cette dame. Séduisant une des esclaves du logis, il parvient à la convaincre de lui permettre d'assister en secret à une séance de magie ordonnée par la maitresse de sa conquête. Témoins d'une métamorphose en oiseau de la sorcière, et brûlant d'essayer sur lui-même une expérience si palpitante, il gagne à être transformé non pas en animal volant, mais en quadrupède brailleur : un âne !

Cette transformation va être le prétexte d'un voyage de plus de dix livres à travers la Grèce, nous permettant ainsi de rencontrer les milieux les plus divers. Si cette trame permet de tirer quelques traits de satire, en nous peignant toutes sortes de sociétés et de caractères, ce n'est qu'un des moindres aspects du romans qui offre plutôt la part belle au fantastique, à l'horreur, au comique et à l'érotisme. On pourrait croire à une rencontre des mille et une nuits, du Don Quijote de La Mancha, du Décaméron et des mémoires de Casanova, en plus brut et en plus sauvage, tant la variété des sujets, des styles et des sentiments accompagne avec bonheur l'entrelacement des récits, contes, farces, qui se succèdent agréablement les uns aux autres. L'âne héroïque va jusqu'à philosopher, avec parcimonie, et presque en s'excusant pour ne pas ennuyer le lecteur. L'un des contes les plus fameux contenu dans ce roman n'est autre que celui de Cupidon et Psyché, qui ressemble si fort aux contes de Perrault, la mythologie gréco-romaine en plus. C'est une lecture fort distrayante, dont la force des inventions vivifie le charmant pittoresque de cette antiquité perdue, qui renaît sous nos yeux, parée de ses couleurs les plus authentiques.

[Mala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked it up on a whim & what a rollicking ride it turned out to be! 
It could very well be a tale told by the granny - full of magic & adventure (with all the salacious bits cut out of course, but that would make it a very short tale!).

A parable, a road trip, a romance, with diversions, tales within tales, satire, containing tragedies bordering on the grotesque & farcical, bawdy comedy, sexual escapades & deviance of various sorts - ancient literature was so rich, no wonder our literary greats turned to these texts for inspiration!

Written in the 2nd century AD, the only complete Latin novel to have survived,The Golden Ass' one singular feature is its contemporaneity—the book feels so modern! Whether it's in the tale or its narration or translation; is hard to say. The meta aspect, moral lawlessness & subsequent spiritual regeneration or metamorphosis are likely to strike a chord - the central placement in the narrative of the story of Cupid and Psyche is specially relevant in this regard as it's a commentary on the ordeal & final deliverance of the hero. It also presents a sharp contrast on the baser & higher forms of love & thus shows the Platonic influence of Apuleinus.
This book will appeal to the philosophers ( with its rich grounding in philosophical thoughts & classical myths & legends) & the religious-minded.
There is entertainment as well as edification here. Do give it a try.

Here's a passage I liked:

"Now, you sweepings of humanity, you beasts of the bar, you gowned vultures, do you wonder that nowadays all judges and juries put their verdicts up for sale, when in the very dawn of time, in a suit between gods and men, the course of justice was perverted by corruption and subornation? When a judge chosen by the wisdom of great Jupiter, a rustic shepherd-boy, sold the first judicial decision in history to gratify his lust and destroyed his whole race into the bargain? Yes, and there was that later case between the two famous Greek generals, when the wise and learned Palamedes was falsely accused of treason and condemned to death and Ulysses was preferred to Ajax, greatest and most valiant of warriors. And what about that verdict that was returned by the Athenians, those acute lawgivers with their encyclopedic learning? An old man of godlike understanding, whom the Delphic oracle had pronounced the wisest of all human beings, ensnared by the malignant envy of a vile faction on the charge of corrupting the young, whom he had always curbed and restrained, was put to death by the deadly juice of a poisonous weed, leaving his fellow countrymen bearing the stigma of perpetual shame -- when now, all those years later, distinguished philosophers embrace his doctrines as holy writ and in their devoted pursuit of happiness swear by his name. But I have allowed myself to be carried away by my indignation, and my readers may be objecting -- 'Do we now have to put up with an ass playing the philosopher?' So I will come back to where I digressed in my story." Book 10.

[Heidi Wiechert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lucian longs to experience real magic. When he discovers it, an unfortunate misstep turns him into the title character. In the shape of an ass, Lucian suffers through a series of misadventures.

I wonder when Apuleius was writing The Golden Ass, if he ever imagined this particular novel would be the only one written in Latin to have made it through his time to ours in its entirety.

Perhaps that's an unfair question, because how could a writer imagine something like that?

But if he could have somehow foreseen it, I think that he would have written something different than this rambling, depressing, occasionally obscene adventure. Or maybe not. Maybe it summoned up his society nicely.

Hypothetical ramblings aside, it didn't make for an enjoyable reading experience.

A very large consideration for readers of The Golden Ass is the quality of the translation and how that may affect your enjoyment of the book. A friend and I read this book in tandem and this particular problem became clear quite quickly.

My edition, borrowed from the library, is a reprint of a translation by William Adlington in "Oxenford, September 1566," and comes complete with the spelling and idiosyncrasies of his era.

"You perhappes (sic) that are of an obstinate minde (sic) and grosse (sic) eares (sic), mocke (sic) and contemme (sic) those things which are reported for truth, know you not that it is accounted untrue by the depraved opinion of men, which either is rarely seene (sic), seldome (sic) heard, or passeth the capacitie (sic) of mans reason, which if it be more narrowly scanned, you shall not onely (sic) finde (sic) it evident and plaine (sic), but also very easy to be brought to passe." pgs 14-15, ebook

I found many passages "passeth the capacitie of" my reason because the nearly five hundred years between Adlington's translation and this made so much of it nearly unintelligible.

My friend read a modern translation by Penguin Publishing and reported a more positive reading experience. If given a choice between the two, please do pick the more modern version.

"Verily shee (sic) is a Magitian (sic), which hath power to rule the heavens, to bringe (sic) downe (sic) the sky, to beare (sic) up the earth, to turne (sic) the waters into hills and the hills into running waters, to lift up the terrestrial spirits into the aire (sic), and to pull the gods out of the heavens, to extinguish the planets, and to lighten the deepe (sic) darknesse (sic) of hell." pg 19, ebook

Translation problems aside, I found the bulk of the story to be repetitive and, on the main, depressing. Things get worse and worse for our hero.

Yes, there is some measure of relief when we reach the end of our story and explore the mysteries of a cult whose rituals have been forgotten to history. But between the beatings and, as I mentioned, various obscene interludes, the end couldn't come fast enough. Poor Lucian, "poore" William Adlington, and poor me!

The version I read of The Golden Ass, I recommend only for English majors, classicists or religious scholars. The appeal for modern readers just isn't there.

[Yalla Balagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some eighteen and a half centuries ago, in the Roman Empire, a North African lawyer named Apuleius stood trial for using magic to win the heart of a rich widow. He talked his way free and then produced a novel about magic wrecking a young man’s life. Draw your own conclusions. The book, written in Latin, goes by two titles, The Golden Ass and Metamorphoses. It survives complete, the sole Roman novel to do so.

The narrator is Lucius, a wellborn young Greek with a head full of books and a ravenous hunger for novelty. Greece belongs to Rome at this point, and Lucius travels on business to Thessaly, a region of Greece famous for its witches. He lodges with Milo, a moneylender so mean his guest goes to bed “having dined solely on conversation”. On his first evening an old classmate, now a market inspector, defends Lucius against an overpriced fishmonger by having the fish trampled to pulp, leaving Lucius poorer, hungrier and expected to feel grateful. Local government has improved little since.

Milo’s wife, Pamphile, practises witchcraft. A wealthy relative begs Lucius to keep his distance. Lucius hears “the magic word ‘magic’” and sprints toward danger, pausing to seduce Pamphile’s maid, Photis, for inside access. Through a crack in a door the lovers watch Pamphile smear ointment over her body, sprout feathers and fly off as an owl. Lucius begs for a turn. Photis grabs the wrong box. Lucius flaps his arms, his ears lengthen, his fingers fuse into hooves, and a tail appears. He is now an ass with a man’s mind and an ass's vocabulary.

The antidote is a mouthful of roses, and Photis promises some by morning. Robbers loot the house the same night and haul the new donkey away as a pack animal. From then on, munching roses before witnesses would unmask him as a wizard and get him killed, so salvation stays one bush away for a very long time.

Apuleius promises in his opening lines to “charm your ears, kind reader, with amusing gossip”, and the donkey makes the perfect eavesdropper. People confess, scheme and cheat in front of a beast they assume is deaf and dumb, and Lucius, with his enormous new ears, collects every scandal. The book swells with these overheard tales, stories tucked inside the main story and told by bandits, travellers and servants.

The longest, told by an old woman to a kidnapped bride, concerns Psyche, a princess so beautiful crowds worship her in place of Venus, the goddess of love. Venus, suffering an acute case of Venus envy and furious at being “adored by deputy”, sends trouble. Psyche ends up married to a mysterious husband she is forbidden to see. Curiosity, the family disease of this book, does the rest.

Apuleius keeps a low opinion of everyone. Wandering priests of a Syrian goddess flog their own backs for coins. They sell one vague prophecy about oxen and crops to every customer, whatever the question. Wives hide lovers in jars, under troughs and inside laundry frames. A herd boy ties a burning bundle of flax to the donkey and blames the donkey for the fire. An auctioneer advertises Lucius as “a sieve on four legs”. The sole creature with a conscience has hooves. Lucius blames each fresh disaster on Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck, and seconds the old sages for having “portrayed Fortune as totally blind”. He even tries to appeal to the Emperor, a Roman citizen’s emergency legal lifeline, by shouting “O Caesar” in Greek, and manages a magnificent “O”.

The style pairs gore with giggles. Within a few pages a witch plucks the heart out of a sleeping man, and a terrified witness crouching under an overturned bed decides he resembles a tortoise. Lucius stabs three burglars and wakes to a murder trial before a packed theatre, staged during the town’s Festival of Laughter. You can guess the target of the laughter. The final book swerves from barnyard farce into solemn religious devotion, and the tone lurches like an ass on ice. Midway, too, the episodes start to resemble a catalogue of beatings with scenery between them.

Apuleius was born around AD 125 in Madauros, a Roman colony now in Algeria. His father served as one of the town’s two chief magistrates and left him a fortune, and the son converted the cash into schooling in Carthage and Athens, a stint pleading cases in Rome, and fame as a showy orator and Platonic philosopher. His hometown voted him a statue. Carthage later made him chief priest of the province.

What a wonderful surprise! Bawdy, hilarious and swift words that put to shame any modern fantasy novel, albeit this 1900 year old novel is not exactly that. In addition to the amazing story of Psyche and Cupid you'll meet gods, sorcerers, lovers, knaves, soldiers, prostitutes, slaves, lords, merchants, politicians, clergy, captives, peasants and city dwellers that are as real today as they were in Roman Greece. One sentence will have you rolling with laughter while the next will make you ponder the meaning of life in profound ways. Sublime, fresh and essential work, especially considering its age. Fans of rude, sprawling story collections such as Boccaccio’s Decameron or Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales will meet their ancestor here, an ancestor with longer ears and fewer morals. A tale with a tail. A gold standard for asses everywhere.





❤️ 🇮🇱

[هدى يحيى · Rating 3 out of 5]

بعد سنوات طويلة من التأجيل
أقرأها صوتيا
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb-XT...

[Yules]

I’ve been re-reading Ovid with a book group for a long time, and we recently decided to take a “side quest” with Apuleius, so the thoughts expressed herein are an amalgamation of others’ and my own. Some SPOILERS ahead.

Apuleius, author of the only complete Latin novel to have survived since antiquity, was a huge Ovid fan. His novel seems to indicate that its original title was, in fact, Metamorphoses (it is St. Augustine who referred to it as “The Golden Ass” in The City of God.) As in Ovid, appearances in Apuleius can be deceptive: you never know what any person, plant, or animal really are. At the outset, Apuleius promises “a story of men’s shapes and fortunes changed into other forms and then restored all over again.” There are a great number of metamorphoses (marriage; pregnancy; conversion; apotheosis; changes in status and social station; translation as linguistic metamorphosis; objects coming alive), not to mention the transformations entailed by costume, makeup, gender cross-dressing, and the gruesome instances of people sown up inside of animals. But the main metamorphosis is, of course, that of our narrator Lucius into a donkey.

Why a donkey! Perhaps because Lucius stubbornly ignores good advice. Perhaps because asses go everywhere in the world, so that his animal form allows him to see things a man wouldn’t, including people at their very worst. Or perhaps because the donkey is hateful to the Egyptian goddess Isis, for it represents the god Seth, murderer of her husband Osiris! (The Egyptian angle was a surprise to me, too.)

The centerpiece of Apuleius’ novel is the remarkable story of Cupid and Psyche, illustrating the metamorphosis of the soul in love. Many reviews could be written about this episode alone (see also Erich Neumann’s Jungian analysis of the myth and C.S. Lewis’ 20th century retelling, Till We Have Faces. Of the several echoes between this inset story and the main narrative, the most obvious is curiosity, a quality shared by Psyche and Lucius, and one that seems, at least at first, to harm them both. As seen in Genesis and Dr. Faustus and Paradise Lost and a million other texts, human curiosity becomes sacrilegious when it seeks the wrong things: the face of God, or supernatural knowledge beyond the mortal sphere. Lucius’ curiosity about magic, which directly causes his metamorphosis into an ass, might signify that knowledge is, in some sense, deforming. Yet the suffering both characters endure also results in their psychological and spiritual development: Psyche achieves a more fully developed self-consciousness and capacity for mature love; Lucius comes to see the return to the self as a higher priority than survival. So that the consequences of curiosity, though initially disastrous, eventually lead both Psyche and Lucius to a higher plane.

[Penny Well Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

WARNING: This rating is based on the opinion and feelings of a teenager ; )

I don't remember exactly when I read this book. I do remember however, that it was a school assignment and that I might have been 13 or 14 years old. My judgment back then was vastly different from my judgment now and it wasn't a book I chose to read voluntarily but was forced to read it instead, which worsened things since I tended to hate every book my teachers wanted me to read on principle alone.
Anyways, since I haven’t read it again, all I have as a guide are my thoughts about The Golden Ass from back then, so I do want to be loyal to my young feelings and just say what I thought of the book when I was still blooming:

Generally speaking I found it dragging. OK, fine! I thought it was incredibly boring! I was a kid reading a huge classic what did you expect!(I know is not huge at all, it just felt that way to me :P) But! There was a part of the book that utterly enthralled me and I absolutely loved; it was where the myth about Cupid and Psyche was told. It was sooo beautiful that that’s when I got interested in Greek mythology for the very first time.

So I started reading The Golden Ass and I was like:
[image error]

Then Cupid’s and Psyche’s myth started and I was like:


The myth continued and I was like:


Then the myth ended and we went back to the main storyline, and so until the very end I was like:
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The End.

[Raya راية · Rating 5 out of 5]

"إن إلهة الحظ تُعرّضنا لأحكام مريبة، بل خاطئة، فينعم السافل بسمعة الرجل الشريف، ويشقى البريء بصيت الرجل الشرير."



يُقال إن هذه الرواية هي الأولى في التاريخ البشري، وعلى الرغم من قِدمها إلّا أنها تزخر بآيات الجمال والدهشة والإتقان.

تدور أحداث الرواية في مكان ما من الإمبراطورية اليونانية القديمة حول شاب يُدعى أبوليوس لوكيوس الفضولي المغامر المُهتم جدًا بأمور السحر والتحوّلات، الذي قاده فضوله للتحوّل إلى حمار ومن هنا بدأت أحداث الرواية الكثيرة.

تحتوي الرواية بالإضافة لقصتها الرئيسية عن تحوّل لوكيوس إلى قصص أخرى تدور أحداثها حول العديد من حوادث المجتمع آنذاك وقصص الآلهة العديدة والتي ينتقد من خلالها لوكيوس –المؤلف- المجتمع والناس في عصره.

رواية شديدة الإبداع حقًّا، وأدهشتني بتفاصيلها وروعتها.
...

[Clif Hostetler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel dating from circa AD 160 is the only novel of that era written in Latin that has survived in its entirety. Thus it's a unique glimpse into second century life and humor. The story's narrative tells of the adventures of one Lucius who's curiosity leads him to experiment with some magic potions and inadvertently turns himself into a donkey.

In the form of an ass he proceeds to pass through the possession of a series of owners including robber bandits, religious fraudsters, spoiled boys, and others. This produces a series of what in effect are a series of short stories in which the donkey is repeatedly faced with impending doom such as being butchered and/or castrated. The story includes lustful moments that only a man in the guise of an ass could fully appreciate, such as being ridden by a beautiful young woman or even sexual congress with a horny woman.

Portions of the book's narrative could be classified as porn. Its intent seems to be a satire of human appetites including several examples of unfaithful wives. I saw one description of the book as being a bawdy picaresque novel.

That's a good description until the final chapter in which the protagonist is so thankful to Isis for being changed back into a human that he joins the mystery cult of Isis. That's followed by joining two more religious cults. This last chapter came across as a sober promotion of the merits of religious cults. The last chapter seemed to me to have a different tone from the rest of the book, but perhaps to a second century reader it would have also been satirical.

It's interesting to note that the author in his real life was once legally charged with using magic to win the affections of a wealthy women. That almost sounds like one of the stories in this book! He also was initiated into several religious cults, so it would seem that portions of this book are autobiographical—excepting the donkey part.

Since the book was written in the middle of the second century I wondered if the story would include any recognition of the new cult of Christianity. The author was obviously interested in religion, but apparently he wasn't sufficiently impressed with this new variation on Judaism to include any reference to it.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

O burro de ouro foi publicado pela primeira vez em 158 e eu sinto-me uma asna por o ter tido na estante dos não lidos mais de três anos, com receio (por se tratar de uma antiguidade) de ser difícil, aborrecido e mais umas quantas desculpas que nos levam a rejeitar este tipo de clássicos. Só vos digo que me diverti que nem uma maluca.
O narrador é Lúcio, um mocinho que se mete em bruxarias deixando-se untar com uma pomada pensando que se transformaria em pássaro e, por uma troca da caixinha do unguento, acaba em corpo de burro. Devido a este pequeno lapso vai ter de alombar com muitos carregos e levar muitas verdascadas.
Além dos suplícios padecidos pelo pobre Lúcio jumento (que me puseram sempre a rir) são narradas um sem fim de histórias; umas de grande crueldade, outras um tanto pornográficas. A mais extensa e bonita (só por ela vale a pena esta leitura) é a de Amor e Psique.


(Antonio Canova, Cupid and Psyche)

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Golden Ass or Metamorphosis
By Apuleius
This author sure had a wild imagination. A violent and cruel imagination. Yeah, some of our books are as bad. I thought this would be more lighthearted, for some reason. I never read it in college and only knew it was about a guy turning into a donkey by magic.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It is a difficult matter to keep love imprisoned."

Written in the second century AD originally in Latin this book is packed with often grisly stories and striking characters. The narrator, Lucius, travels to Thessaly, the land of witchcraft, where he is accidentally transformed in to an ass as a result of his foolish curiosity about witchcraft.

Lucius starts out as a thoughtless, womanising glutton who basically acts like an ass, and so is transformed into one.He has a pretty rough time of it in his asinine form, trapped in a world of depravity, where violence, cruelty and sexual lust are rife until tiring of abuse at the hands of cruel owners, near death experiences and other shameful circumstances, he finally gives himself up to prayer and is restored by divine intervention by the Goddess Isis. "I have come in pity of your plight, I have come to favour and aid you. Weep no more, lament no longer, for the hour of your deliverance, shone over by my watchful light, is at hand." After his restoration he puts his former ways behind him and lives happily as a lawyer.


Although the book is a fantasy, by turns grim, funny and bawdy the underlying theme is a moral and a religious one, of the soul's redemption by divine love.

A lot of the humour is somewhat crude which really seemed at odds with the oldie-world language used but all the same the story rolls along at a good pace. There are many side stories, including a lengthy section describing the story of Cupid and Psyche, but overall I felt that these helped the main story to flow rather than in any way hinder it.

I'm not sure what my expectations were before I opened this book but they were most definitely dumbfounded. I anticipated some religious undertones but I certainly didn't expect it's bawdy nature, equally I found it a relatively easy, quick and enjoyable read once I got a feel for the language whereas I was expecting a bit of a slog. Nor did I anticipate it being so graphic. I felt that the final chapter was a little too overblown but my main complaint was that in my version of this book the word 'divers' was misused on numerous occasions instead of the word 'diverse', this really did begin to bug me towards the end of it. But these are only very minor gripes.

Don't be afraid to tackle this book because of its age, you may be surprised. As Apuleius puts it himself in his introduction: “If you are not put off by the Egyptian story-telling convention that allows humans to be changed into animals and, after various adventures, restored to their proper shapes, you should be amused by this queer novel… now read on and enjoy yourself!”

[Daniel Chaikin · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Illustration by Jean de Bosschere, source)

13. The Golden Ass, or, Metamorphoses by Apuleius
translation from Latin by E. J. Kenney
Originally written: ~160 ce
format: 295 page Penguin Classics paperback
acquired: December, from a Half-Price
read: Jan 31 – Feb 20
time reading: 13 hr 55 min, 2.8 min/page
rating: 4

I don't think I ever fully appreciated what I was reading here. This is a pleasant read, especially as translated by Kenney, but probably also for native Latin speakers of its time as well. Lucius is a nice guy, he loves to observe and hear and tell stories, he likes sex, gets a little carried away, and he is really curious, especially about magic. All in one instant he takes the wrong potion, finds himself turned into an ass (similar dual meaning in Latin as in English), just as the house is robbed, and he is taken away as part of the booty. He winds up the pack animal for a den of thieves without anyone he even knows other than his horse, also captured. And that's just the beginning. There is much more to come: adventures, horrible deaths, tragedy, humor, performance, deceit, religious con-men, mythology, more sex (even in donkey form!), and finally a humorous window into a mystery cult, the cult of Isis.

Every time I picked this up I tried to remind myself that this is the only existing Roman novel (well, wikipedia says "Latin" novel). And every time I read the notes, which are really nice, Kenney would remind me of the meanings relevant to the era, but while reading I couldn't figure out a way to keep that in mind, I just wandered along with Lucius, my own humor a little less tolerant than his, but still I could appreciate it; I could especially appreciated his love for stories. He would let us know he heard a story he really wanted to write down to preserve (but obviously had to wait till he figured out a way to undo the potion) and then pause the other action to relate this story.

Apuleius was apparently quite a character in real life. Raised in northern Africa, educated in Carthage, and later in Greece where he studies Platonism, he would travel much of the Roman Empire in his life, become involved in the mystery cults in Rome, return to Africa where he married a wealthy widow and was, famously, charged with using magic to win her. His defense was equally famous, and has been preserved for us. His whole story takes place in Greece, which makes sense since he took the story, it's first person perspective, the leading character's name and all its main plot points from an earlier, now lost, Greek novel. In a sense, he translated into Latin, but he embellished a great deal, and most of his side stories, including a wonderful lengthy mythological bit on Cupid and Psyche, are additions. He named his novel Metamorphoses, referencing Ovid who he imitates to a small degree. (Apuleius was not writing poetry, or even difficult prose. He wrote in a simple, straight-forward Latin.) His style, this first person casual confessional, was imitated by St Augustine, who was also from northern Africa, and who derisively called Apuleius's book The Golden Ass. The name has stuck.

[Hend · Rating 5 out of 5]

a masterpiece ,so interesting and entertaining as a read. for beneath the humorous and the sharp ironies lay a religious and philosophical thoughtful mind.
Amusing tales within tales, recollections of characters of various misadventures and misfortunes ....
Lucius A wandering spirit Suffering in his heedless traveling over the world in order to work out his salvation.

Interesting how magic plays a prominent role in the everyday life.

His deep love of life with his eager and curiosity , and mocking personality,And interest on magic transmogrifications,leads him to asks his new mistress to apply one of the forbidden magic spells on him. He aimed to become a bird, flying everywhere...

She applies the wrong potion and Lucius turns into an ass.

And here begins a series of adventures from which Lucius repeatedly changes masters while still an ass. The masters are invariably cruel, abusing Lucius , He is eternally beaten and degraded, and threatened with death and castration more than once .


The novel serves a window into Roman society, one sees every level and division of society, which produces a more accurate view of life for the common man.the problems of misused power ,and wives whom cheat on husbands, and husbands who many times kill their wives' lovers.

The importance of religion, especially for Lucius, comes to light upon Lucius rebirth into his human form by the work of the goddess Isis. After this rebirth Lucius seems to find his final and ultimate purpose for his life and realizes how the events that have taken place, leads him to what he was searching for..

The myth of Psyche and Cupid is what I admired most in the novel
A fascinating and exciting love story that can overcome all barriers and be blind to faults.
Psyche’s beauty gives her no pleasure, but separates her from others. Her father, unable to find a husband for her, goes to the oracle for advice.
Cupid falls in love with Psyche but conceals his identity from her, visiting her only at night. Fearing he is an evil person, she looks at him, although forbidden to do so. Cupid then abandons her.

[Erik Graff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spending every summer of childhood in a cabin in the woods without television, I became quite a reader early on. Much of what I read was determined by what I could find--mostly books owned by my paternal grandmother, Lajla.

'The Golden Ass' was a desperate choice. It had the advantage of not being a detective or a mystery novel, her apparent favorites. It wasn't an abridged book either--she had quite the collection of those. I had some interest in ancient history, if only from the movies and the gross distortions which passed for ancient history in elementary school. Besides, it looked to be funny--a man turned into an ass--and isn't that a dirty word?

I took it down to my bedroom, opening it in warm, late afternoon sunshine, and read the introduction by Robert Graves. In that he attacks other translator's, showing how his work is better, in part because he does not censor the spicy bits. He gives an example of such a bit. My penis hardens. This has never happened before. I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Surely, it is shameful, but it's nice too. I'm committed to reading a second century Roman novel and finish it in record time.

Years later, I wonder what was so exciting. The passage in question was a brief one about a slave girl in loose shift stirring a pot. The novel, while funny and sometimes bawdy, is actually a religious confession, like Saint Augustine's 'Confessions' except dedicated to Isis and her mysteries. Unlock that and you'll understand something about how different ancient religion was from what we think of as religion.

[Yousra · Rating 4 out of 5]

أول رواية في تاريخ الإنسانية! أول رواية مكتملة الأركان حقا لروائي ثرثار ومتمكن من أدواته يحيد الحكي ولا يضيعك في التفاصيل ... ساخر ولطيف جدا ... الرواية عن لوكيوس الوسيم الجريء المغامر الذي في غمرة انغماسه في مغامرة ومخاطرة مع السحر وساحرة ما يقع ما لا يحمد عقباه ويتحول لحمار :) ويا لها من حياة قاسية حياة الحمير في ذلك الزمان!

يحكي الكاتب قصصا أكثرها أسطوري في إطار قصة تحوله ومحاولة العودة من تحوله ليصبح بشريا كما كان

وعلى الرغم من مجون وجنون الحكايات فإن الكتاب شيق فعلا وصعب التخلي عنه... ربما كانت هناك ترجمات خففت قليلا من جنون بعض الحكايات

اما النهاية فكانت مميزة حقا ومفاجئة

وأدهشني ذكر الآلهة المصرية القديمة إيزيس وأوزيريس وأنوبيس

[Kate Animate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Я не очікувала такого! Це найдивніше що я читала) Чоловік перетворюється в осла і його пригоди, його постійні перипетії іноді дуже шокують, іноді хочеться пожаліти, а іноді смієшся в голос.

Книга не прям легко читається на початку, цьому тексту майже 2000 років, але просто потрібно продовжувати далі і не зупинятись.

Коли я вже звикла до манери оповіді - читання пішло як по маслу. Я з ентузіазмом підходила до цієї історії, тому що знала що вона мене розважить і я з нею класно проведу час.

Деякі сцени, напевно, я ніколи не забуду 😅

Часто буває таке: ми прийшли в нове місце і почути там таку дивну історію… і починається історія в історії, таких моментів тут безліч, але ці оповідки дуууже цікаві і взагалі не зайві!

Загалом, я хотіла прочитати який античний текст, а вийшло, що я отримала гарно проведений час і розважилась) Обожнюю такі випадки, коли нічого не очікуєш, а знаходить для себе перлину.

[Hend · Rating 5 out of 5]

رواية كلاسيكية رائعة وشيقة ممتعة الى اقصى درجة تشعر و كانك تقرا الف ليلة وليلة اليونانية
هو عمل رائع , استثنائى ,آسر , تحفة فنية
مسلي في أي وقت ولأي ثقافة
فهو كتاب ترفيهى ويقدم نقد لاذع للمجتمع فى ذلك الوقت

اجمل ما فى الرواية هو قصة حب كيوبيد وبسايكي, أحب كيوبيد بسايكي الفتاة الجميلة حبا شديد ولكنه لم يكن يريد أن تعلم هي بحبه لها بسبب خوفه من غضب أمه فأمر والدها أن يذهب بها إلى جزيرة بعيدةو على اعلى صخرةعالية فى الجبل ، يتخلى عن ابنته و اخبره أنها هناك ستتزوج ,و قال لها أنها ستتزوج شخص لن يظهر لها إلا في المساء وأنها لن ترى منه غير طيفه وحذرها من محاولة رؤية زوجها ولكن فضولها دفعها لمعرفة من هذا الذي تزوجته