FRAGILE DOES NOT . ; ^ /iieiaJHT^ITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF Henrg US. Sage 1891 gt.a.(..o..xa.q _--j^ vS.\i:^..i A.'a-.. DATt r Atjtrr" J J ^^^HT^ ■'m-^^-t-^r-pj, w fw==fi9f4^ FRAGILE DOES aRCULATE mrHr^ffrrr'^r^ T"' PA foaol #^

- o en cJ a. :^ -^ K" a d ■z. < > o Q 5 o Q. Z) rO o O s <1 Ci* The Story of Cupid and Psyche as related by Apuleius EDITED, WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES, BY LOUIS C. PURSER, Litt.d. FELLOW OP TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN LONDON : GEORGE BELL & SONS : 1910 77^ DUBLIN: PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITV PRESS, BY PONSONBY AND GIBBS. PREFACE As far as I know, there is no separate English edition of the Cupid and Psyche of Apuleius ; and accordingly the present endeavour to produce one must have all the defects of a first essay in a diflScult field, super- added to the many failings which can justly be laid to the charge of my own deficiencies. Besides, the strange and unclassical nature of the language precluded my having the continuous assistance of my colleagues, as it would have been too great a strain on friendship to ask for their constant help in editing such an out-of-the-way book. On these grounds this edition begs for the utmost indulgence which any reader can find it in his conscience to extend to an attempt to break ground in a domain far away from the beaten track. However, it is a pleasure to express gratitude for a considerable amount of assis- tance which has been most generously given me: and I have to thank very sincerely my friends, Mr. Henry S. Macran, Fellow of Trinity College, for iv PEEPACE reading the proofs of the Introduction and offering many valuable suggestions ; and Mr. J. T. Gibbs, Manager of the University Press, whose accurate knowledge of English idiom has saved me from very many errors of expression. L. C. P. Trinity College, Dublin, January, 1910. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Introduction : — Chapter I. On the Life and Writings of Apuleius, . ix Chapter II. The Story of Cupid and Psyche, . . xliii Chapter III. On the Style and Language of Apuleius, Ixx Chapter IV. The Manuscripts and Editions, . . ci Cupid and Psyche — Text and Notes, ..... 1-123 Excursus I. Milesian Tales,. ..... 125 Excursus II. Allegorical Explanations of the Tale, . 128 Excursus III. The Poems of Melbager on Love and the Soul, 132 Index, .......... 135 COREIGENDA. Page xcix 10 lines from end. For 6. 18 read 5. 18 Page 9, line 1 ff., first column. The ms. reading infirmi, as I now see, cannot be defended. We should read mfimi. Compare a similar error of the copyist of F in Met. 1. 8 (p. 8. 11 ed. Helm), where infirmare is given for what was certainly infimare {as the preceding stiblimare shows). Page 15, line 5. For Ludii read Ludiiim : and similarly in note. Page 21, line 15 (first col.). After semper add, ' (which he takes from the Oxford codex) ' Page 24, line 6 (first col.). For ' multitude of musicians ' read ' company singing in harmony ' Page 29, line 27 (first col.). For oeulis read oculos Page 54. Add to crit. notes ' 1 prouectae Buraian : porrectas F^ ' Page 84, last line (first col.). For comuUii read consuUis Page 84, line 16 (second col.). For deormn read deartun SOME "WORKS REFERRED TO IN THE NOTES UNDER THE NAMES OF THE AUTHORS ONLY Bbokee (H.), Studia Apuleiana. Berlin, 1879. Beyte (Fb.), Quaestiones Appuleianae. Leipzig, 1888. Gatsgha (Fb.), Quaestionnm Apuleianarum capita tria(Dissertationes Philologae Vindobonenses vi, pp. 141-190). Vienna, 1898. Kretsohmann (H.), De Latinitate L. Apulei Madaurensis. Konigs- berg, 1865. KoziOL (H), Der Stil des L. Apuleius. Vienna, 1872. Leky (M.), De Syntaxi Apuleiana. Regensburg, 1908. LuTjoHANN (Chb.), Kritische Beitrage zu Apuleius' Metamorphosen. Kiel, 1872. NEUE-WAfiENEE, Formenlehre derlateinischen Sprache von Friedrieh Neue. Dritte sehr vermehrte Auflage von C. Wagener. Berlin and Leipzig, 1892-1902. PiEOHOTTA (I.), Curae Apuleianae. Warsaw, 1882. BoNSCH (H.), Itaia und Vulgata. Marburg, 1875. SoHALLEE (W.), De fabula Apuleiana quae est de Psycha et Cupidine. Leipzig, 1901. Weymann (C), Apulei de Psyche et Cupidine fabula adnota- tionibus eriticis instruota (JJndex leetionum quae in Universitate Friburgensi per menses aestivos anni mdocoxci habebuntur). Freiburg, 1891. 0 latest-born and loveliest vision far Of all Olympus' faded hierarchy ! Fairer than Phoebe's sapphire-regioned star, Or Vesper, amorous glow-worm of the sky ; Fairer than these, though temple thou hast none, Nor altar heaped with flowers ; Nor Virgin- choir to make delicious moan Upon the midnight hours. Keats, Ode to Psyche. INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I ON THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF APULEIUS Ees pertricosa est, Coiile, hellus homo. Mautial. Though Apuleius was an important man in his day, and exerciKsed a considerable influence on the literary- style of subsequent writers,' very little is known about his life, except the circumstances surrounding- his trial for magic and a few facts we can gather from his own writings. The references to him in later writers are mainly confined to his supposed 1 Christodorus (circ. 500 a.d.) mentions (Anth. Pal. 2. 303-5) a bronze statue of Apuleius as having been in the Zeuxippus at Byzantium, in these terms — Kttt voep^s a.diyKTa. AaTivi&O's opyta Mov(riys a^ero TraTrTaivatv ' ATrvXrjios, ovTiva /aucttjjv Autrovls apprJTOv (roirji idpixf/aro %uprjv (i.e. Muse) — the reference being probably to the reputation for magic which had attached itself to Apuleius. It has been remarked that of the eighty statues mentioned by Christodorus, only four^are of Eomans, viz. Pompey, Caesar, Vergil, and Apuleius: also that on the contorniates the only Latin -writers -whose portraits appear are Terence, Accius, Horace, Sallust, and Apuleius. See Sch-wabe in Pauly-Wissowa ii, 255, 256. For the imitators of Apuleius cp. Weyman, Sitzungsb. der bayerischen Akad., 1893, pp. 821ff. b X INTEODUCTION power of working miracles^ and to his doctrine about intermediate spirits (demons).^ The whole chrono- logy of his life is uncertain in its exact details ; but a masterly article by Erwin Rohde* has located within fairly narrow limits the few events of his life with which we are acquainted.* 1. Apuleius^ was born at Madaura, a Roman colony in the province of Africa, about 80 miles east of Cirta. To judge from its remains, it was probably among the first five towns of the province, Lambaesis, Thamugadi, and Thibursicum being perhaps greater. It was about 20 miles south of Thagaste, where St. Augustine was born ; and it was to Madaura that the latter apparently went to continue his education ^ He is often mentioned as a worker of miracles in connexion •with Apollonius of Tyana : cp. St. Jerome on Psalm Ixxxi (Migne vii, p. 1066) non est grande facers signa: nam fecere signa in Aegypto magi contra Moysen, fecit et Apollonius, fecit et Appuleius. Infiniti signa fecerunt. Concede tibi, Porphyri, magicis artibus signa fecerunt ut diuitias acciperent a diuitibus mulierculis quas induceerant — plainly alluding to Apuleius : cp. Lactantius Inst. 5. 3 : St. Augustine Epp. 8. 102. 32 : 136. 1 : 188. 18, 19 (Migne ii, 383, 514, 538, 534). « St. Aug., Civ. Dei 8. 12. ' Bheinisches Museum, 1885, pp. 66-113 = Kl. Schriften ii, p. 43£f. * Eohde's conclusions generally are adopted by Schwabe in Pauly-Wissowa ii, 246-258, by Martin Sohanz in his Geschichte der rom. Litteratur (Miiller's Handbuch viii, 3), §§ 553, 554, and by M. Paul Valette, L'Apologie d'ApuUe (1908), p. 3 ff. M. Valette, however, thinks that Apuleius did not compose his Metamorphoses until after his return to Africa. " No sufficient evidence can be adduced for the prenomen Lucius which is sometimes given him. It is probably due to his identi- fication with the hero of the Met. : cp. Teuffel-Schwabe, § 366. 1. LIFE AND WEITING8 OF APULEIUS xi when his native town could not supply any further facilities, and from it he afterwards proceeded to Carth- age to acquire the higher branches of learning.^ So one was able at Madaura to get what we should call a good secondary education. Apuleius was the son of an important citizen of that town, who had held the office of duumvir, which was the highest post which the municipality had to offer, and who must have been fairly wealthy, if (as is stated) he left Apuleius and his other son two million sesterces, something like £20,000.^ He was born about 124 or 125 a.d. This is nowhere stated explicitly, but can be inferred with a considerable degree of probability by certain combinations.^ Probably he received his early educa- ^ Confess. 2. 3 mihi reducto a Madauris, in qua uicina urbe iam coeperam litteraturae atque oratoriae percipiendae gratia peregrinari, longinquioris apud Carthaginem peregrinationis sumptvs praeparabantur animositate magis quam opihun patris, municipis Thagastensis admodum tenuis. ' Cp. Apul. Apol. 24 init. De patria mea uero, quod earn sitam Numidiae et Oaetuliae in ipso confinio meis scriptis ostendistis,^guibus memet professus sum, cum Lolliano Auito c.u. praesente publice disse- rerem, Seminumidam et Semigaetulum, non uideo quid mihi sit in ea re pudendum : and a little afterwards in qua colonia patrem habui loco prindpis duumuiralem, cunctis honoribus perfunctum ; cp. also c. 23 profiteor mihi ac fratri meo relictum a patre HS uidcs paulo seem, idque a me longa peregrinatione et diutinis studiis et crebris liberali- tatibus modice imminutum : nam et amicorum plerisque opem tuli et magistris phcrimis gratiam retuli, quorundum etiam filias dote auxi. ' The trial of Apuleius for magic took place apparently in 158 A.D. The presiding magistrate was the proconsul of Africa, Claudius Maximus, who was the immediate successor (Apol. 94) of LoUianus Avitus. Now, the latter probably held the pro- consulate of Africa in 157, for he was consul in 144 ; and the usual interval between the tenure of the consulate and that of the proconsulate of Asia or Africa in the time of the Antonines b2 xii INTEODUCTION tion and learned to read, write, and cipher at Madaura;' but obtained his principal school education in grammar and rhetoric at Carthage, and afterwards wentto Athens for what we should call University education.^ We cannot be quite certain what was his age when he went to Athens; possibly he was about eighteen.' Assum- ing that he was born in 125 a.d., that would make his was about thirteen years : see Waddington, Pastes des Provinces asiatiques (p. 12), quoted by Mommsen St. E. ii*, 240. 4. Probably, then, Claudius Maximus was one of the consules suffecti in 145, and was proconsul of Africa in 158 ; for the proconsulate was generally held for one year only (cp. Flor. 9, p. 39, Oud. tuo anno), though not of course for the actual calendar year from January to December. In the same year Pudentilla was about forty-two (cp. Apol. 89 vnuenies nunc Pvdentillae havd multo amplius qiMd/ragendmum annum aetatis ire), and considerably older than Apuleius (c. 37 maior natu). If we suppose that Apuleius was about thirty-three at the time, all the events of his previous life such as we know them can be easily located in point of time. The thirty-third year is not at all so advanced an age as to render inappropriate such an elastic term as iuuenis, which is often applied to him (c. 87 ; 70 ; 92), especially when there is always the contrast of the greater age of Pudentilla. ' This education (-ypa/i/iaTio-TiKT;) was given by the litterator or ypafifiarLa-TYjs, who is to be distinguished from the grammarian or ypaiJ.fiaTiK6i who taught ypa/xfiariKr], Utteratura, what we mean by ' Literature.' See Hatch, Hibbert Lectures, p. 28. ' Flor. 18, p. 86, Oud. (from an address delivered at Carthage) et pueritia apud uos et magistri uos et secta, licet Athenis Atticis con- firmata : 31, p. 91 Hanc ego nobis mercedem, Carthaginienses, ubique gentium dependo pro disciplinis quas in pueritia sum: apud ua)s adeptus : Flor. 20, p. 97 prima creterra (sc. Musarum) litteratoris rvditatem eximit, secunda grammatici doctrina instruit, tertia rhetoris eloquentia armat. Haetenus a plerisque potatur. Ego et alias creterras Athenis hihi: poeticae \commentam {commotam conj. Vliet), jreom«tn'ae limpi- dam, musicae dulcem, dialecticae austerulam, iam u^ro uniuersae philosophiae inexplebilem scilicet et nectaream. ' Eunapius went to Athens when he was sixteen : Libanius, however, did not go until he was twenty-two ; but his whole education was somewhat late (Eohde, p. 74). LIFE AND WEITINGS OF APULEIUS xiii University career begin in 143 a.d. No doubt he fixed his headquarters at Athens ; but he appears to have made several journeys from thence, probably during the vacations. He was certainly at Samos (Flor. 15, p. 51, si rede recordor uiam) and at Hierapolis in Phrygia (De Mundo, c. 17). As Apuleius was a man of means, there was no need for him to specialize in order to get a profession ; so from the extensive nature of his studies at Athens (see above, p. xii, note 2) and his travels we may infer that he remained more than the usual five years at the Univer- sity, probably till he was about twenty-five,^ that is till 150 A.D. ; possibly he remained later. Some time towards the end of his sojourn at Athens he met young Pontianus, son of Pudentilla, who was pro- bably born about 134 A.D.,^ and in 150 a.d. would have been sixteen, the age at which Eunapius went to Athens. Though considerably his junior, he lived apparently in the same rooms as Apuleius, or at any rate in close intimacy with him .^ But this ' chumming ' ' Gregory Nazianzenus did not finish his rhetorical studies at Athens until he was thirty (Rohde, p. 74. 2) ; and Libanius, after studying for four years till he was twenty-five, would have remained for four years more, were it not that he was hindered by special circumstances. ' Pontianus was grown up (adidtus) and living at Eome before Apuleius came to Oea in 155 ; and he married before Apuleius, whose marriage appears to have taken place towards the end of 166 or beginning of 157. It is reasonable to suppose that adultus does not apply to any one younger than nineteen. If this is so, he was born when Pudentilla was about eighteen. ^ Cp. Apol. 72, nam fuerat mihi non ita pridem lante midtos mmos] Athenis per quosdam communes amicos conciliatus, et arto postea 4iontubemio intime iunctus : cp. c. 53. That Apuleius was consider- ably the senior of Pontianus and his brother may be inferred from xiv INTRODUCTION probably did not last very long : for it cannot have been much later than his twenty-fifth year that Apuleius went to Rome. He would appear to have run through his money, whether in quite the laudable way in which he states himself (see note 2 on p. xi) or otherwise it is impossible to say. One is inclined to suppose that shortly previous to his departure from Greece he fell under the influence of the priests of Isis, and (for a time at least) was ''converted," as is the experience of so many young men who are ardent and enthusiastic for ideals.' the assistance he gave them in their studies (c. 73 init.), and from the fact that Pontianus spoke of him as parentem suum, dominum, magistrum. ' It is difficult to avoid thinking that Book xi of the Meta- morpJioses is autobiographical at least in certain broad outlines. It is not easy to imagine that anyone who had not felt the emotions of a ' revival ' could have written the impassioned address to the goddess which is found in xi 25. But such emotions wear out in most cases, though they may leave behind a remembrance of themselves which is both easy and grateful to recall. If we give reins to our fantasy, we may be tempted to imagine that Apuleius, after many years of leisured affluence, began to feel the pinch of straitened means, and the necessity of working to gain a liveli- hood : ep. I.e. adhibendis sacrificiis tenuis patrimonio ; and a year or so later he appears to be in poverty. Met. xi 27 Madaurensem sed admodum pauperem: 28 uiriculas patrimonii peregrinationis ad- triuerant impensae et erogationes urhicae pristinis illis prouinci- alibus antistabemt plurimum. This kind of change of circumstances renders many young men, previously careless, somewhat sus- ceptible to religious impressions, which gradually lose their force when Fortune again returns to smile on them, and they begin to become successful in their professions. Such may possibly (we can of course say no more) have been the experience of Apuleius. But we are ready to acknowledge as quite possible that the imagination of Apuleius may have been able to observe in others and thus realize the emotions which attend conversion, even without his having in any way surrendered to these emotions. LIFE AND WEITINGS OF APQLEIUS xv If we assume that the eleventh book is in a con- siderable measure autobiographical, we may take it that Apuleius reached Rome on December 12 (c. 26), and, as our reasonings have led us to conjecture, about the year 150. While according to his own account he was diligent in his religious duties to Isis and Osiris, and was advanced to positions of some importance in their service, he at the same time prospered in his work (by the favour of Heaven, he piously tells us) in the Roman law-courts, where he acted as a pleader. No very clear details are given of the special kind of work to which he devoted himself;^ but he appears to have been tolerably successful. It was during this period that he perfected himself in Latin as it was spoken in Rome, by patient labour, and without the teaching of any master;^ and it was during this ' Cp. xi 28 quae res (his religious assiduity) summum peregrinationi meae tribuebat solacium nee minus etiam uictum uberiorem subministrabat, quidni, spiritu fauentis Euentiis guaesticulo forensi nutrito per patro- cinia sermonis Romani : cp. ib. 30 quidni, liberali deum prouidentia iain stipendiis forensibus bellule fotum. ^ Met. 1. 1 mox in urbe Latia aduena studiorum, Quiritium indi- genam sermonem aerumnabili labore, nullo magistro praeeunte, aggressus excolui. The last word points to the perfecting of a studywhich had already begun ; and we must suppose that in his early instruc- tion, both at Madaura and at Carthage, Apuleius became acquainted to some extent with Latin ; though doubtless, during his stay in Greece, the many attractions of Greek literature and culture pre- cluded any continued study of that language : so that when he went to Eome his knowledge of Roman Latin must have been most defective, at least for literary purposes. It is hard to say what language he spoke in his earliest years — ^just possibly it was Punic: certainly that was the language which his precious step-son, Pudens, spoke (Apol. 98), though Apuleius notices that as a mark of commonness and vulgarity. More probably, however, it was a provincial form of Latin, which, as being the language of the administration, was svi INTEODUCTION same time that he published the Metamorphoses. One point seems decisive as a proof that the book was written for Romans — the reference to the metae Murtiae in vi. 8 ; and, if we grant this, the proba- bility is that it was written in Rome.^ My belief adopted by tlie upper classes. But no doubt such Latin as Apuleius spoke in his young days was not by any means the language of Kome itself. Greek appears to have been widely used in ordinary life : all the letters of Pudentilla quoted in the Apologia are in Greek. From this it is easy to see that Apuleius can have had only a provincial knowledge of Latin, and needed much study and experience at Rome before he could have acquired such a mastery of Eoman idiom as would justify him in publishing in Rome a work in that language. We may take the statement of the preface to the Metamorphoses as autobiographical ; for though that preface speaks wholly in the person of Lucius of Corinth, the hero of the whole novel, still Apuleius plainly represents Lucius as a young man like himself, who had lately left the University of Athens fcp. Met. 1. 24), and was now writing his experiences in a foreign {exotici 1. 1) language (Latin), and for the Eoman public. In this request for indulgence in point of style, the author and hero of a novel written in the first person must become identified. Nearly all the other circumstances of the hero of the story (e.g. his relation- ship with Plutarch, and various adventures) may be regarded as pure invention. E. Norden, however (Die antike Kunstprosa, p. 595. 1), holds that this request in the preface for indulgence was a stock procedure, that many similar examples are found — even Tacitus (Agricola 3) speaks of his Histories as written incondita ac rudi uoce (on which Gudeman gives many parallels) — and that all that most writers mean by such requests is to draw attention to the obvious mastery which they have over the language they use. But the reference is rather to the efforts Apuleius made to acquire the specially Roman idiom [Quiritium indigenam sermonem). Writing at Rome for Romans, he may naturally have been afraid of making a solecism now and then, especially when he wrote with such dash and vigour ; and may accordingly have sincerely enough asked for pardon for any such occasional slips. ' Richard Hesky {Zur Abfasswngszeit der Met. des Apuleius, Wiener Studien, xxvi (1904), pp. 71-80) thinks that the novel LIFE AND WRITINGS OF APULEIUS xvii is that during his residence in Eome he published the work anonymously,' as the experiences of Lucius of Corinth, closely following the treatise which is published among the works of Lucian, called Aovkios ■^ "Ovos, but amplifying it by the introduction of all kinds of stories (some perhaps invented by Apuleius, but mostly tales current in Greece) of robbers, witches, -was written for Eomans, but not written in Eome. (It is true that sacrosattctam istam ciuitatem in 11. 26 does not necessarily mean ' this of yours ' ; for the word iste in Apuleius when used as a mere demonstrative generally means 'this' and not 'that': see Kretsohmann, p. 90f., and my note on 6. 22 : cp., too, Flor. 1. 8.) He fixes the date within the reign of M. Aurelius, and indeed the period of his sole rule (after 169, the date of the death of Verus) — for Apuleius always says Caesar, not Caesares (3. 29 : 7. 6, 7 : 9. 42). M. Valette(L'^7JoZo5iie d'Ap. 25. 1) justly says that Apuleius, following a Greek model, may have used what he found there. In 3. 29 the parallel passage in the 'Ovos (c. 16) has KoTo-ap. The reason why Hesky fixes the date in the reign of M. Aurelius is that in 1. 6 Lucius says to his friend Socrates, liberis tuis tutores iuridici prouinci- alu decreto dati, and these iuridici were instituted by M. Aurelius (Hist. Aug. e. 11). But they were really only re-instituted by that Emperor : they had been to all intents and purposes established by Hadrian, not only in Italy (Hist. Aug. c. 22 : Appian Bell. Civ. 1. 38), but also in the provinces (see Schiller, Kaiserzeit, pp. 617, 618) ; and one of their functions appears to have been the appointing of guardians (Ulpian, Vat. Frag. 205, 232, 241). We are not informed that the officials appointed by Hadrian in Italy were called iuridici, but they probably were so called ; for from the time of their re- institution such was certainly their name, and it is natural that from the first they should have had a name to distinguish them, a new species of judges or 'justices,' from the ordinary iudices. {On these iuridici see Mommsen St. E. ii', 1038-9.) The ' Caesar ' of whom mention is made in the Met. is Antoninus Pius. 'The view that the work was published anonymously has long been held, and is based on the fact that the Florentine manuscript does not attribute the work to Apuleius, though it specifies Apuleius as the author of the Apologia and the Florida. xviii INTEODUCTION country life, love, jealousy, passion, and generally the whole range of subjects which human nature finds amusing and exciting.^ This work is most wondrously realistic, written with a vigour and exuberance that are decidedly inspiriting, and by an author who had a very great general command of luxuriant language, and a really remarkable power of accurate and vivid observation of details ; but the general setting and tenor of the novel are pure romance. The scene is laid in what are called Thessaly and Greece, " but they are not the Greece or Thessaly of geography, any more than the maritime Bohemia of ' The view that the work was published anonymously is approved by Schanz (§ 554), but has been doubted by Eohde (p. 90. 2) on the ground of the tell-tale Madaurensem in xi 28. The 'Ovos is not indeed by Luoian — chronological difficulties and Cobefc have settled that — but it is written by a man who, like Lucian, held to common- sense, and jeered at all fantastic extravagance. The most probable view would see in it a short parody on the two first books of a writer mentioned by Photius, one Lucius of Patrae, who composed a whole volume of Merafiopftxia-ei's in which he took, or seemed to take, the subject quite seriously. The author of the 'Oi/os appears to have made this Lucius the hero of his own story, and to have represented all his adventures as ridiculous ; and, moreover, to have given to the world some indication of who that Lucius was, though unfortunately we cannot, with our present manuscripts and defective knowledge, discern his identity. The narrator, who is also the hero, says ("Ovos o. 55), ' My name is Lucius, my brother's is Gaius. The other two names we have in common Kdyoi /liv la-TopiSiv Kal aWoiv el/ju f.v's, 6 8e TroirjTTji iXeyeCoiv icnl, koX (jlolvti^ ayadoi' jrarpls Se -^/uv Hdrpai riji 'Axa'as.' The efforts of Eohde to discover who this author is are ingenious but futile. He thinks (tlber Lucian's Schrift, Aovkios ^ 'Oi/os, Leipzig, 1869) the most likely person is AevKtos, son of Mestrius Florus (Plut. Symp. vii 4), who also appears as an interlocutor in the Plutarchean dialogue, De facie in orbe Limae. LIFE AND WRITINGS OF APDLEIUS xix Shakespeare," says Mr. Grlover {Conflict of Religions in the Early Roman Empire, p. 228) most justly. Thebes, we learn with some surprise, is on the sea (4.11 fin.).^ The tales are mostly the short tales meant for entertainment pure and simple, which we find in all languages, and which in Grreece were associated with Miletus (see Excursus I). A number of these Apuleius has strung together^ on the slender thread either of their being the actual experiences of the hero turned into an ass, or of his having heard them during his period of transformation.^ The tone of the eleventh book changes wholly, from the phantasmagoria of the realistic comedie humaine, to the religiosity of a converti; and in that book Apuleius so awkwardly mixes himself and his hero together that not only is Lucius of Corinth our old friend Lucius of Corinth (c. 20, 26), but his native place is ' This geography was no doubt good enough for the Eomans, who had already been familiar with it from the Amphitruo of Plautus (159). Many years ago Eohde {Oriech. Roman, p. 299, note 1) and Dr. Mahaffy {Greek World under Roman Sway, p. 294 £f.) protested against such scholars as Hertzberg who took the stories of the novel as evidence of the state of northern Greece in the time of the Antonines ; and Dr. Mahaffy made merry over the brilliant society (2. 4, 19) of that splendid city Hypata (which can never have been of any importance after its destruction by the Aetolians), and over the sumptuous wild-beast and gladiatorial show which was intended to be given at — empty Plataea (4. 13 ff.). ' Cp. Met. 1. 1 At ego tibi sermone isto Milesio uarias fabulas conseram auresque tuas beniuolas lepido susurro permulceam. ^ The only character who comes into two of the stories is the girl, pharite, to whom the tale of Cupid and Psyche was told when she was carried off by the robbers, and who afterwards is the protagonist in the melodramatic story of passion, constancy, and vengeance at the beginning of the eighth book. XX INTEODUCTION Madaura {mitti sibi Madaurensemsed admodum pauperem, c. 27 fin.).^, The difference of tone is almost inexpli- cable to modern readers. Perhaps Apuleius felt that if he had finished up his story in the very reprehensible way which the author of the "Ovos had adopted, tlie book would have been a complete failure in a literary society which was outwardly at least re- spectable, as being regulated in conformity with the real respectability of Antoninus Pius and his desig- nated successor Marcus Aurelius ; but that by adding a ' It has been actually proposed by Goldbacher, an excellent and accomplished scholar, to alter Madaurensem to mane Doriensein. But this emendation cannot be entertained for a moment. Nor can we assume it to be ' an obvious interpolation,' due to the popular idea that what was related in the Metamorphoses all actually happened to Apuleius himself, as Monceaux holds (ApuUe, p. 299). Eohde (p. 80) thinks that Apuleius desired to be known, and considers that he published the book under his own name, and that the absence of his name from the subscriptions of the books of the Met. in the principal ms. (F) is due to accident or carelessness. Burger (Hermes 23 (1888), p. 496) thinks that the work was published anonymously, as the young writer, even with all his vanity, might well have doubted the reception it would receive ; but that lie inserted an indication of the real authorship which would escape the casual reader, but could be used to prove that real authorship in case the work was a success. If this is so, it is at all events a less elusive and absurd indication than the wonderful cryptograms under which more recent writers are supposed to have concealed their identity. Perhaps, however, the simpler explanation may be that Apuleius, in the eagerness with which he was reproducing the circumstances of his own conversion, forgot himself for the moment, and let the book go forth without subjecting it to any such severe scrutiny as would detect the inconsistency of his own nationality with the assumed circumstances of the hero of the story. It is surely the experience of many writers, especially those that write with vigour and dash, to have sometimes made some slip at which they marvel when it is brought up in judgment against them, and their attention becomes riveted upon it. LIFE AND WRITINGS OF APULEIUS xxr religious conversion at the end of the varied scenes of mostly disreputable life, Ije, as it were, gave some sort of a moral tone to what was really a series of * realistic ' sketches. Probably the eleventh book is a tribute to the respectability and religious feelings of Roman society, and based on certain temporary emotions which Apuleius may have experienced himself. The last book would then have made amends for the reprehensible nature of some of the stories, and " given a face " to the work, which in its essence and intention was nothing more than a series of amusing and frivolous stories. But there is an argument in favour of the anony- mous publication which is far stronger than the fact that the Florentine tns. does not explicitly attribute the Metamorphoses to Apuleius, though the Apologia and the Florida are given under his name. It is that no mention whatever of this work, which contains so much about witches and magic, appears to have been made at the trial of Apuleius for magic. Rohde (oj». cit. p. 89) argues that the accusers may not have known of the work, even if published under the name of Apuleius : for it was published in Rome ; and, we may add, it was published by a young and unknown writer, and there is no evidence of its having had any great immediate success,^ so that it may not have ' The earliest mention of it seems to be a censure by Septimius Severus of Clodius Albinus (who died in 197) that he inter miledas Punicas Apulei sui et ludicra litteraria conseneseeret (Capitol. Clod. Alb. 12. 12). Albinus himself seems to have written Milesian tales, perhaps trying to imitate Apuleius, but with indifferent success (ib. 11. 8). No doubt, the writings of Pliny and Martial (see Valette, p. 13) were eagerly sought after in the provinces (Plin. Ep. 9. 11 : xxii INTEODUCTION reached Africa. Again, he says that it could not have had much weight, and for that reason may not have been mentioned by the prosecution ; for Lucius was not a practiser, but a victim, of magic ; and in any case, the book is such sheer romance that it could not have influenced any reasonable being. Recol- lecting the reputation for magic which existed to some extent at the time and which gradually developed to large proportions round the name of Apuleius, we feel some doubt on this point; and the outcry which seems to have greeted Apuleius when he named some men suspected of magic, — declaring that "if one particle of self-interest in his marriage can be proved against him, they may say that he is a worse magician than Carmendas, or Damigeron, or Moses, or Jannes, or ApoUobeches, ov Dardanus, or any other magician fromDardanus orHostanes onward"' — would seem to prove that very little account was taken by popular opinion of the connexion in which any allusion was made to things magical. The names of magicians or of magical arts were mentioned by a man, and that was considered sufficient to stamp him as a magician. It appears to me most improbable that the accusers, if they could have brought forward the novel, would have refrained from doing so, as it most certainly Mart. 7. 88 ; 8. 72) ; but that was only when they were famous men. The anonymous Metamorphoses, even with the compromising Madaurensem in it, probably did not attract much immediate attention ; but later, when Apuleius became a well-known literary and scientific man, long after his trial, and a less respectable Emperor arose, the book may have begun to attain its wide reputation. ' Apol. 91 init. vide quaeso, Maxime, quern ttimultum suscitarint, quoniam ego paiicos rmigorum nominatim percensui. LIFE AND WEITINGS OF APULEIUS xxiii would have created prejudice against Apuleius, much more than his verses about tooth-powder and such trivialities (Apol. 6 : 9, &c.); and if they did so, it is quite inconceivable that Apuleius would not have refuted any charge which could have been based upon it, as it would have been a fairly easy point to dwell upon and to handle effectively. It is noticeable also that in the two passages of the Florida where Apuleius enumerates the variety of his writings, no mention is made of his immortal Milesia.^ No doubt, when Apuleius had married and settled down, and become the fashionable lecturer and the Platonic philosopher of Africa, and an authority on scientific matters connected with fishes, trees, agriculture, medicine, astronomy, arith- metic, music, in short on everything in heaven and earth,^ he was not very anxious to make any parade of his early work of unquestionable genius but most questionable respectability. So he left the work anonymous, as far as we have any knowledge of Apuleius from his own writings. The authorship of course gradually became known ; bat whether it was ever publicly acknowledged during the lifetime of Apuleius, we have no certain means of determining. ' Flor. 9, p. 37 Oud. and 20. 97 canit enim Empedocles cannina, Plato dialogos, Socrates hymnos, Epicharmus modos, Xenophon histo- Has, Crates (codd. Xenocrates) satiras : Apuleius uester haec omnia nouemque Musas pan studio colit. It is perverse of a distinguished scholar like Burger to suppose that historias means ' tales,' or anything else except ' histories ' ; and to hold that in respect of Xenophon the allusion is to the tale of Abradates and Panthea in the Cyropaedia. We know from Priscian (ii. 482. 2 ; cp. i. 250. 18) that Apuleius wrote an epitome historiarum, " See below, § 5. xxiv INTEODUCTION We think it not wholly improbable that the author- ship may have been disclosed, and the work have commenced its great vogue, at the accession of Commodus.^ a. For four or five years, then, Apuleius practised, in the courts at Rome, and seems to have been tolerably successful. It was there probably that he came to a consciousness of his great command of language ; and with his quick sympathj'' with every kind of intellec- tual interest, and his delight in exhibiting his powers, it was only natural that his ambition should direct itself to the career of a public rhetorician. We know from Philostratus the great enthusiasm and glory which attended these rhetoricians (cp. Rohde Der Griech Roman, p. 293), and we know it from Apuleius' own experience also. A successful rhetorician held a most distinguished position in general society, and was f^ted and honoured by States and Emperors. I believe that Apuleius had some idea of adopting this profession when he returned from Rome to Africa about 1.^5. But he did not settle down in his old home, or even in Carthage : he could not rest from travel,^ and we next hear of him as on his way to ^ Apuleius wrote another novel called tlermagoras, which is mentioned by Priscian 1. 85 (Kail) Apuleius in I Hermagorae '' uisus est et adulescens honesta forma quasi ad nuptias exomatus trahere se in penitiorem partem domus" : cp. also 1. Ill; 1. 136; 1. 279 aspera kiems erat omnia ningue canebant: 1. 528. Fulgentius 112. 10 (Helm) Apuleius in Ermagora ait: " pollincto eius funere domuitionem paramu^," ' Apol. 73 utpote per§grinationis cupiens impedimentum matrimoni aliquantisper recmaueram. LIFE AND WRITINGS OP APULEIUS xxv Alexandria/ and falling ill at Oea, a town on the coast near the modern Tripoli. This was the native place of the young man Pontianus, with whom he had lived during the last period of his residence at the University of Athens (see above, p. xiii). Apuleius stayed at the house of certain of his friends called Appii. Pontianus, who was about twenty-one, had been studying at Rome, but had returned to Oea because his mother, Pudentilla (who was then a widow and very rich), had told him that she proposed getting married,^ and Pontianus considered it advis- able to see that his mother did not marry some one who would make away with all her money, and thus deprive him and his brother of their legiti- mate expectations. Pontianus called on Apuleius and renewed their friendship. The latter seemed to Pontianus the very person whom his mother should marry, and was urged to come and stay at their house; and there is a touch of realistic humour in the way Apuleius describes the manoeuvres of Pontianus ( Apol. 72) to secure that he shall pay them a long visit. He went to their house, and remained there a con- siderable time, giving some public lectures,' helping ' He plainly went to Oea from the west ; as he would not have gone to that town at all if he had gone straight from Eome to Alexandria. It is on this ground that it seems probable that he returned to his native province from Eome before he started on the new journey to Alexandria. " She had not any definite suitor in mind ; but she had been advised by her physicians that her health would be improved if she entered again on the married state (Apol. 69). ' Apol. 55 sed abliinc ferme triennium est cum piimis diebus guibus Oeam ueneram publice disserens de Aesculapii maiestate. This lecture c xxvi INTEODUCTION Pontianus and his young brother in their studies, and meanwhile re-establishing his own health. About a year after his arrival at Oea he gave a public lecture (Apol. 73) which was a brilliant success ; so much so, that the people of Oea begged him to accept the freedom of their city, and to settle down amongst them. In the enthusiasm of his success he was definitely asked by Pontianus to accept his mother in marriage. Though she was nearly ten years older than Apuleius, he had had many opportunities of testing her merits, "the dowry of her virtues," as he gracefully says (c. 73) ; and, though still eager for travel, he consented to the proposal. Pudentilla was equally willing, and so the marriage was arranged, and was fixed to take place as soon as Pontianus, who was engaged to a daughter of one Herennius Rufinus, was married, and his young brother Pudens had assumed the dress of manhood. Immediately after Pontianus had married, his uncle and his wife's relations began to urge him to try to have the engagement between Apuleius and seems to have won great fame and was widely read. It is just possible that it may have been the same as the lecture referred to in c. 73, which was delivered a year after his arrival; but this requires lis to stretch the phrase ' the early days of my stay in Oea ' to an abnormal extent, and will compel us to estimate the whole sojourn of Apuleius in Oea at four years, and not three. Still, however, it is possible. Then we must suppose Apuleius to have come to Oea in the winter of 154-155 ; to have remained in the house of Puden- tilla till the end of 155 or beginning of 156, when he delivered this great lecture and became engaged to her ; to have married her probably in the latter half of 156 ; and to have been accused 'towards the end of 158. Thus we shall be able to explain abhinc ferme triennuim. LIFE AND WEITINGS OF APULBIUS xxvii Pudentilla broken off, for fear, as would seem, that the latter, who appears to have been deeply attached to Apuleius,^ would settle all her fortune on him. However, Apuleius behaved handsomely, and per- suaded Pudentilla to make a will leaving the bulk of her property to her sons in the event of her having no further issue'' (c. 91), and succeeded in reconciling the mother to her children (c. 93). Pontianus is stated to have been sincerely sorry for his conduct, and to have begged pardon of Apuleius (c. 94). Apuleius and Pudentilla were then married in Pudentilla's seat in the suburbs of Oea' — a procedure which was looked on askance, and was made a ground of accusation in the trial. 1 It may be here said that there is some reason to suppose that the marriage was a happy one : cp. Sidonius Apollinaris ii 10. 5 sisque oppido meminens quod olim Marcia Hortensio, Terentia Tullio, Calpurnia Plinio, Pudentilla Apuleio, Rusticiana Symmacho legentibus meditantibusque candelas et candelabra tenuerunt ; though of course the words Terentia Tullio would seem to show that the learned bishop's information on the domestic life of distinguished literary men was not always very minute and accurate. ' Apol. 91 : This possibiUty of Pudentilla's having further issue disproves the view that would make her older than Apuleius states she was, viz. a little over forty. ' The reasons are given in c. 88. Pudentilla had already bestowed a considerable largess on the people when Pontianus was married, and when Pudens assumed the toga virilis. She did not wish to be put to a similar expense on the occasion of her own marriage. Besides, both she and Apuleius (and it was natural, as they were not in their first youth) desired to escape all the cumbrous ceremonial and entertainments connected with a fashionable marriage in the city. But general opinion, it would seem, did not approve of marriages in villa. In the Cupid and Psyche, Venus mentions among the irregularities of Cupid's marriage the fact that it was performed in villa : cp. 6. impares enim nuptiae et praeterea in uiUa sine testibus etpatre non consentiente factae legitimae nonpossuntuideri. c2 xxviii INTEODUCTION But the relations of Pudentilla did not relax their opposition. They had lost the support of Pontianus, and accordingly could not for the moment do much, as he appears to have been a young man of good disposition and some force of character. But within about a year he died ; and then they worked on his young brother to attack his step-father. At first the brother-in-law of Pudentilla, Sicinius Aemilianus, appears to have urged his advocates to deliver a violent invective against Apuleius, when the latter was arguing some case on behalf of his wife' before the Assize Court at Sabrata (some 60 miles west of Oea on the coast), which was presided over by the proconsul, Claudius Maximus. They accused him of being in- strumental in bringing about the death of Pontianus, and of being addicted to the practice of magic* ' Apol. 1 nam, ut meministi, dies ahhinc quintus an sesotus est, cum me causam pro uxore mea Pudentilla aduersus Oranios aggressum de composito necopinantem patroni eius ineessere maledictis et insimulare magicorum maleficiorum ac denique necis Fontiani priuigni mei coepere. It is not clear who the Granii were, whether they were the parties in the case concerning Pudentilla — it was doubtless a civil case about property — or were counsel for Sicinius Aemilianus. The latter seems the more probable supposition. In the former alter- native, we must suppose the interests of Sicinius to have been in some way involved, and that he instructed counsel to defend those interests. ' This was probably in 158. Claudius Maximus succeeded LoUianus Avitus, who had been consul in 144, and, according to the rule in force at this time, could hold the proconsulship of Asia or Africa about thirteen years later (see above, p. xi, n. 3). But as the interval between the consulship and proconsulship seems to have varied from ten to fifteen years, we cannot regard these dates as absolutely certain, though no other dates seem to meet all the circumstances of the case so well. This Claudius LIFE AND WEITINGS OF APULEIUS xxix Apuleius at once turned on them, and vehemently asked that he should be arraigned definitely on these charges. The accusers were frightened and dropped the former charge ; but they did arraign him on the charge of magical practices, and the trial came on within a week before the same Court. In an age when the belief in magic is rife, no charge is easier and more readily believed by the people. It is a charge which admits of invective rather than proof, as Apuleius very justly says (Apol. 2) ; and Apuleius was certainly interested in so many branches of science, had been initiated into so many mysteries and rituals during his travels, had no doubt talked so much theosophy, which he considered to be the doctrines of Plato, and, in addition, had probably made himself so obnoxious by a not too humble opinion of himself and his learning, that there was distinctly good reason that he should endeavour without delay to dispel the calumny. This is no place to give a detailed account of the able and self-confident speech, the only forensic speech which we have remaining from Imperial times, in which Apuleius refuted all the idle charges which were brought against him. It is vigorous and effective, with very few of the affectations of style to which Apuleius was addicted ; and there can be no doubt that it was successful in securing his acquittal. Maxrmus appears to have been legatus of Pannonia Superior in 154 (see a diploma in C.I.L. iii, p. 881). Whether he was the incom- parable Claudius Maximus, the Stoic philosopher, who helped to mould the character of Marcus Aurelius (Meditations 1. 15), must remain undecided. It seems improbable. XXX INTRODUCTION 3. But he had lost his popularity at Oea. His adversaries, old inhabitants of the district, had re- presented him as a maleficent adventurer; and, in any case, he himself must have felt that his powers called for a larger field than a comparatively small provincial town. He migrated to Carthage, and appears to have made that his home for as long as history allows us to trace his life. He continued his profession of public lecturer at Carthage, and became the most honoured and most popular literary man in the whole province. We have a large number of ' elegant extracts ' from his lectures or orations, or whatever those elaborate compositions are to be called ; and those ' elegant extracts ' he, or some excerptor, called Florida (av07]pd) or Flowers.^ These ' Flowers ' have about them a calm, polished stateliness and an elaborated finish which appeal to anyone who admires ornateness and care- fulness in literary execution ; but it must be said that they are quite destitute of any depth of thought, though this was but natural in compositions addressed to a popular audience. Still there are some well- worked pieces of no little descriptive power and of most artificial, yet charming, simplicity. I venture to reproduce one, on the death of the comic poet Philemon (Flor. No. 16), retaining the alliterations, assonances, and other artificialities as well as I can. Apuleius is apologizing for not having continued on ^ See Gellius Praef., § 6, who mentions a number of similar fancy titles which authors gave to their miscellanies. LIFE AND WEITINGS OF APULEIUS xxxi the next day a disquisition which had been interrupted by rain. He met with an accident just after the breaking-up of the meeting, and had to go to the Persiance aquae to recruit. On his return he tells of the circumstances which followed a similar inter- ruption in a reading by Philemon ; — " You all know the character of his genius: let me now tell you in a few words of his death ; or perhaps you would wish me to say something about his genius." Philemon was a poet of the Middle Comedy, and composed plays for the stage at the same time as Menander. He competed with him, possibly as an inferior, but certainly as a rival, for he often defeated him — one is ashamed to say. You may find in him many sallies of wit, clever complications in his plots, admirably contrived recognitions,' characters suited to the subject, maxims applicable to real life, the gay portions not sinking below comedy, the grave portions not soaring into tragedy. We rarely find seductions in his plays : the failings of his human characters are venial, their loves congenial.* In him, too, as in the other playwrights, we have the lying procurer, the sighing lover, the sly slave-boy; the cajoling mistress, the coercing wife, the indulging mother ; the uncle to scold, the friend to uphold, the soldier bold ; gorging parasites, grasping parents, saucy street-girls. By these merits he had long held an eminent position in comedy. On one occasion he had given a reading of part of a play which he had recently composed ; and it happened that he had already come to the third act, wherein, as is usual in comedies, he had delightfully quickened the interest of his hearers, when ' Beading agnitus with Casaubon. Perhaps ' denouments.' The mss. give adgnatos. Colvius read ac nodos, but ac does not suit with the general asyndeta of the passage. Leo (Archiv xii. 98) con- jectures narratus. ' Eeading with Leo tuti (for ac uti) errores, concessi amores, lit. * errors that did not bring ruin, love-affairs that were permissible.' xxxii INTKODUCTION a sudden shower of rain, just as occurred lately in my ease with you, compelled an adjournment of the collected audience and the projected reading. However, he promised, at the request of many present, that without making any break he would finish the recitation on the ensuing day. Accordingly, next day an immense crowd gathers with the greatest eagerness : each one tries to get as near the front as possible : the late comer makes signs to his friends to keep a seat for him : those at the extremity complain that they are pushed out of the sitting accommodation altogether : the whole theatre is packed and there is a great crush. When quiet was attained,' the people begin, those who had not been present to ask about the previous portion of the play, those that had been present to go over what they had heard, and all, when they had the beginning in mind, to await the sequel. Meanwhile the day went on, and Philemon did not come as had been arranged; some grumbled at the poet for being late, the greater number made excuses for him. But when the delay became unreasonable, and there was no sign of Philemon, some of the more energetic members of the audience were sent to summon him ; and they found him lying dead on his couch. He had ceased to breathe and had just become stiff. There he was reposing on his reading-couch in the attitude of thought: he had his fingers still in the fold of the manuscript, his face down on the book he had been reading ; but he had no breath of life in him; he was forgetful of his book, and thought not of his audience. Those who had come in stood still for a space, moved by the marvel of such an unexpected event and such a beautiful death. Then they returned to the people, and announced that Philemon, the poet, who was being expected to finish in the theatre an unreal narrative, had at his house completed the real drama of life : his words to the world were, ' be happy ' and ' your hands,' to his friends, ' be sorry ' and ' your tears ' : yesterday's shower was a premonition of their weeping : his ' 1 venture to read qaieti for queri. LIFE AND WEITINGS OF APULEIUS xxxiii play had reached the funerial knell before it reached the marriage bell : and thus, as a most excellent poet had ceased to tread the stage of life, they should go straight from the theatre to his burying, and lay now his ashes in the grave, thereafter his poems in their hearts. 4. It is from these Florida that we obtain the few remaining notices of Apuleius, and his career at Carthage. In 163 a.d. he delivered a panegyric on the proconsul of the day, Scipio Orfitus, a fragment of which is contained in Flor. 17.^ Some time before 1693 the date of the death of Verus, in the fulness of his reputation, he delivered a valedictory address to a governor called Severianus, which is preserved. in Flor. 9.^ In F,lor. 16 he thanks Aemilianus Strabo, ' Apuleius speaks of it as hoc meum de virtutibus Orfiti carmen (p. 82, Oud.), and the prose is indeed ' numerous prose ' or un- metrical verse. We shall have something to say in the section on the style of Apuleius about this poetically coloured prose of the rheto- ricians of the day. Servius Cornelius Salvidienus Scipio Orfitus (to give him his full style and title) had been consul in 149, and was proconsul in 163 : see the Inscription on the triumphal arch at Oea in C.I.L. viii. 24. ' The allusion to fauor Caesarum (p. 40, Oud.) fixes the date as prior to 169, when Verus died. The statement that the reputation of Apuleius was Integra et florens per omnes antecessores tuos would seem to suggest a time nearer to 169 than to 161 ; for Apuleius cannot have considered his connexion with proconsuls to have begun before the time of LoUianus Avitus in 167 (Apol. 94) : so this Severianus can hardly have been the P. Aelius Severianus who was governor of Gappadocia in 162, and killed by the Parthians in that year {see Schiller, Rom. Kaisergeschichte 639) ; more probably he is the M. Sedatius Severianus, of whom Mommsen gives some account in C.I.L. iii. 1575. Of his son Honorinus there does not seem to be any information. xxxiv INTEODUCTION who had held the consulship in 156/ and had previously been his fellow-student,^ for the interest Aemilianus had taken in recommending that a public statue should be erected in his honour at Carthage. In support of this Aemilianus had drawn attention to the statues and other honorary distinctions which other peoples and other cities had bestowed on Apuleius,' and urged that the fact of his having 'undertaken' the position of sacerdos prouinciae — an office which was very troublesome and expensive, on account of the games which the priest was expected to exhibit — gave him a claim to receive from Carthage the honour of a statue ; and Aemilianus undertook to pay for it.* We ' p. 74, Oud. Aemilianus was consul suffectus in 156 : see Aeta Arualium, O.I.L. vi, 2086. 67. In the same year Serins- Augurinus was consul ordinarius, and he was proconsul of Africa in 170. So, perhaps, if the expectations of Apuleius were realized (loir consulans, breui uotis omnium futurus proconsul), which is uncer- tain, Aemilianus may have been proconsul in 171. ^ p. 73, Oud. iura amicitiae a commilitio studiorum eisdem magistris honeste incohata. If we suppose Aemilianus to have attained the consulship at the normal age of thirty-three, he would have been born in 123, and thus would have been almost an ec[ual in age with Apuleius. ' Mor. 16, p. 73 quin etiam commemorauii et alibi gentium et ciuita- tiitm honores mild statuarum et alios decretos. We have no particulars as to what these were : but we know that Apuleius, though having his home in Carthage, often lectured elsewhere. Flor. 18, p. 86, Oud. qui penes extrarios saepenumero promptissime disceptaui; ib. 91 ubique enim me uestrae ciuitatis alumnumfero, ubique uos omnimodis laudibus celebro, &c. * Mor. 16, p. 73, Oud. immo etiam docuit argumento suscepti sacerdotii summum mihi honor em Cartliagini adesse. Notice that Apuleius ' undertook ' the priesthood : cp. St. Augustine Ep. 138 (vol. ii, p. 534, Migne) An forte ista (honours in the State) ut Philosophus contempsit (sc. Apuleius), cui sacerdos Prouinciae pro LIFE AND WEITINGS OF APULEIUS xxxv cannot fix the date of his tenure of the priesthood^ but it was probably about 165, It may have been in the course of his upward career that he under- took this duty, which his wife's great wealth would have enabled him to perform with distinction, and which, in its opportunities for display, was a post that he would have filled with splendour, and one which would serve to advance him in public estimation. We can gather nothing further about the life of Apuleius, and we do not know when he died. 5. Perhaps a word or two should be said on the philosophical works of Apuleius. That On the God of Socrates is the best known. It is really a popular lecture on the doctrine of Spirits (daemones) interven- ing between God and man. His definition of these Intermediate Spirits is famous. He says (c. 13) they are "in nature animal, in intellect rational, in mind subject to emotion (p«ssma), in material airy, in duration eternal. The first three characteristics they have in magno fidt, ut munera ederet uenatoresque uestiret et pro statua sibi apud Oeenses locanda, ex qua ciuitate habebat useorem, aduersus contradictionem quorumdam ciuium litigaret. This latter portion of St. Augustine's letter is interesting, as it shows that Apuleius did not deem it unworthy to solicit such honours himself ; and indeed he actually did in the concluding portion of Flor. 16, where such solicitation is couched in the most grave and courtly language. For the onerous nature of the priesthood Eohde (Eh. Mus. 40. 69) refers to Wilmanns 1233a, where in 362 lulius Festus Hymetius is praised (among other services to the province of Africa) qiwd studium sacerdotii prouinciae restitumit ut nunc a competitoi'ibus- adpetatur quod antea formidini fuerit. xxxvi INTEODUCTION common with men; the fourth is peculiar to them- selves; the fifth they share with the immortal gods ; but they differ from them in being subject to emotion (passione)." They are the messengers of the gods to men, and the agents by which the gods act upon men; and conversely they notify to the gods the prayers and offerings of men. Amongst these is each man's guardian angel. Such was the haifiav of Socrates. It was a Spirit of Prohibition, not of Instiga- tion, in his case ; for Socrates " as a man of singularly perfect character was himself ever ready to perform all fitting duties, and so needed no one to urge him thereto ; but it checked him when he was entering on any course under which danger lurked " (c. 21). We should then each of us worship the Spirit that diredts us, qui cultus non aliud quam philosophiae sacra- nientum est (c. 22). The lecture is attractive and graceful ; but it was on a trite theme. The doctrine of Sai/ioi'es was an old one. It is found as early as 'B.esiod. (Works 122—6), and was more fully developed by Pythagoras. It had been much in vogue since Plutarch's admirable writings on the subject.^ The lecture is preceded in the manuscripts by two prefaces, which really belong to the Florida, and have accidentally become joined to the philosophical treatise.'' Less interesting are the two books De Platone et eius Dogmate — short popular summaries setting ;forth what Apuleius held were Plato's views on Naturfe and ' Especially De defectu Oraculoruni and De Facie in Orbe Lunae. ■ Cp. Schanz Oeschichte der rom. Litteratur, § 563. LIFE AND WEITINGS OF APULEIUS xxxvii Morals. The first book begins with a brief biography of Plato, whose life had apparently by this time " won its way to the fabulous." Then follows an account of the Platonic theories of the World and the Soul, mostly based on the Timaeus. The second book, addressed to '■Faustine fili^^ is devoted to Plato's views on Ethics and Politics, and draws largely on the Gorgias, Republic, and Laws. Whatever merits these books may have had as popular synopses, they have practically none now, and are very dull reading. The treatise ire/ji e/j/Ln^veias, which used to be regarded as the third book, is a treatise on Formal Logic, and is Aristotelian and not Platonic. It is generally held to have been written by some grammarian who wanted to add to the two books of Apuleius a treatise on Dialectic which Apuleius had promised (1, 4, fin.). It has been suggested that the attribution of the work to Apuleius is due to the author having used his name as an example (c. 4). The treatise is mentioned by Cassiodorus.^ The treatise De Mundo is a translation of the pseudo- Aristotelian treatise, irepl koo-ixov. The Greek work is addressed to a certain Alexander.' Apuleius 1 We do not know who he was. The translation of the Trepl KoV/^iov is also addressed to him. We suppose that he was a pupil of Apuleius, or a young friend in whom he took an interest — not an actual son of his by Pudentilla. For filius as an address by an elder to a younger see note to 6. 22. * Cp. Hildebrand, p. xliv ; Goldbacher in Wiener Studien vii (1885), pp. 25.S-277; Schanz, §562. ' Probably Tiberius Julius Alexander (cp. Mayor on Juv. 1. 130), nephew of Philo, who accompanied Corbulo in his Parthian War ; see Mommsen, Provinces, ii. 168. -sxxviii INTRODUCTION alters the dedication to Faustine fili,^ leaving an impression that he wished the treatise to be regarded as an original work of his own and not merely as a translation.^ He makes a few additions, e.g. chapters 13 and 14 (on the winds), which are taken from Gellius 2.22, and the interesting personal note, which gives evidence of his travel, c. 17, uidi et ipse apud Hierapolim Phrygiae non adeo ardui montis uicinum latus natiui oris hiatu reseratum et tenuis neque editae marginis ■ambitu circumdatum, : cp, Strabo, xiii. 629—630. There has been much discussion as to whether the translation is or is not by Apuleius ; but it is generally agreed now that it is his work. The view that Apuleius wrote both the Greek and Latin versions is not any longer held.' Another translation by Apuleius is that of the Phaedo of Plato (Sidon. ApoU. 2. 9. 5). It is quoted twice by Priscian. Apuleius wrote many treatises on quaestiones naturales as well in Greek as in Latin (Apol. 36. 40), which were no doubt compilations and handbooks. We hear especially of his treatises on Fishes {ih. 38) ; and he seems to have made some original investigations also in Zoology [ib. 33). These compilations may possibly have been the same as the quaestiones conuiuales to which ' So Thomas : or Faustine mi Goldbaclier. The mss. give mihi. * Cp. the end of the Preface, where he adds the words Aristotelem . . . et Theophrastum auctorem secuti. ' See Teuffel-Schwabe, § 367. 6: Schanz, § 564. On the Greek original cp. Zeller Eclectics (Eng. Trans.) 126 £f. LIFE AND WEITINGS OF APULEIUS xxxix Macrobius (7.3.23), and Sidonius (9.13.3) refer.^ He also wrote on Medicine (Apol. 40. 45), on Astronomy, Arithmetic, Music ; a treatise De Republica ; and various poems.^ The Asclepius, a translation of a Greek original, is universally rejected as having been erro- neously attributed to Apuleius.' Most critics reject also the Physiognomonia, published by Valentine Rose.* No one now dreams that either the fifth century herbal De Herlarum Medicaminibus, or the fragment of the De Remediis salutaribus, had any connexion with Apuleius. The wide and quick sympathy which Apuleius displayed with all sorts of intellectual pursuits of course prevented any really minute knowledge of any of them. Most of his works appear to have been translations or compilations. Some of them ' Macrob. 7. 14. 4 censet Epicurus ab omnibus corporibus iugi fluore guaepiam simulacra manare has been long ago by Brant compared with Apol. 15 (= p. 18. 7 Helm). ^ For the poems cp. Apol. 6. and 9 ; Flor. 18. 91 (hymn to JEsculapius). Possibly hoc meum de uirtutibus Orjiti carmen (Flor. 17. 82) refers to the prose eulogy from which this is an extract rather than to a separate poem. The ' Asianic ' rhetoricians liked to represent their declamations as ' poems,' cp. Himerius, quoted by E. Norden, Kunstprosa, p. 429. There is a metrical translation (very corrupt) of an obscene passage from Menander's 'Avep^oyuevos also attributed to Apuleius ; see Bahrens, Poet. Lat. Min. iv, p. 104. For the other treatises see Schanz § 569. ' It was known to St. Augustine, but he does not mention it as the work of Apuleius, and the manuscripts do not name him as the author. Lactantius did not know the Latin version, and ■quotes from the Greek. * Aneodota Graeca et Graecolatina i. 59, 170. Eose defends its genuineness. E. Eelter (Apulei quae fertur Physiognomonia quando composita sit, Kiel, 1890) has proved that it was not composed before the fourth century. xl INTRODUCTION indeed seem like popular works, or even school books, written by a man who had a great name and fame for something quite different from the subject of which the works treated ; and we may suppose that the author and the publishers knew that the mere name of the author would be safe to ensure a sale. We wonder that Apuleius was ever regarded as a Platonicus nobilis (St. Augustine, Civ. Dei 8.12, p. 374, Goldb.). He was certainly a famous rhetorician, and his Platonism may have been taken by the public on his own estimation (Apol. 10 and 65 fin.). The success of Apuleius with his age seems, as Mommsen has said of the success of Cicero, to resolve itself really into the deeper problem of language, and the effect of language on the mind. He belonged, like Favorinus, to the set of those whom Rohde calls "Theatre Philosophers" {Griech. Roman, p. 321), and Philostratus oi (j)L\ocro(j)y]aavTe<; iv So^rf rov a-o^ia-Tevaai. He learned a little philosophy, as he learned a little of everything else, enough to talk about it gracefully and brilliantly. But if he was little of a philosopher, he had a very wide general culture even for his own age, in which there was such a great diffusion of knowledge ; and no doubt he took an eager interest {curiositas) in those studies to which he applied himself, as long as no great difficulties presented themselves, and as far as they could be used for showy effect. But it was distinction, glory, popular success, which were the real ends sought by this cultivated, splendid, and somewhat exotic man of the world. His philosophy and his science were, like the adornments of his LIFE AND WEITINGS OF APULEIUS xli person, little more than the stock-in-trade of the fashionable sophist. He was certainly not the man to be a martyr^ for any philosophical or theological creed.^ ' Cp. St. Augustine, Civ. Dei 8. 19. The saint seems to assume that Apuleius was certainly a magician, and was too cowardly to do otherwise than deny the charge, seque aliter non uult innocentem uideri, nisi ea negando quae non possunt ab innocente committi. This shows the strength of the prejudice which associated magic with his name — the same spirit which saw the magician in Michael Scott, Roger Bacon, and even Pope Sylvester II. It may here be noticed that Apuleius is credited with having been bitterly hostile to the Christians, and that the ferocious description of the wife of one of the masters into whose hands Lucius fell was supposed to portray a votary of that religion, 9. 14 nee enim uel unum uitium nequissirrtae illae feminae deerat, &c., especially tunc spretis atque calcatis diuinis numinibiis in uicem certae religionis mentita sacrilega praesumptione dei quern praedicaret unicum, confictis ohseruationihus iiacuis fallens omnis homines et miserum maritum decipiens matutino uino et continuo slupro corpus manciparat. But this is slender evidence to support the charge. Apuleius may have meant a Jewess. The reference to Christianity is rightly held to be doubtful by Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers ii. i, p. 532. ' The personality of Apuleius could not be better sketched than it has been in Mr. Pater's Marius the Epicurean, chap. xx. The whole dinner scene there described is a masterpiece — among the guests the street -arab young prince, Commodus ; the elegant and eminent rhetorician and litterateur, Apuleius ; the anonymous tenor who chanted the (Lucianic) Halcyon; the earnest and thoughtful Marius. The perfect urbanity coupled with love for display which the man of letters exhibited during the feast, and again the readiness with which, when the company had broken up, he set forth to the sympathetic Marius his view of Intermediate Spirits, portray at once the constant mover in distinguished society, the curious pryer into the mystical and the supernatural, and the facile expounder of picturesque theory. The whole chapter is deserving of study by anyone who desires to see the complex personality of Apuleius depicted to the life by a consummate artist. d xlii INTEODUCTION PROBABLE CHRONOLOGY OF THE KNOWN EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF APULEIUS. A.D. 125 140 143 149 150 152-154 about Born at Madaura. Goesto school at Carthage. Goes to the University of Athens. Meets Pontianus (born about 133). Goes to Rome. Between these years writes Metamorphoses. 155 (beginning) about Returns to Africa. 155 (end) ,, Starts for Alexandria. 156-158 ,, Lives at Oea. 157 ,, Marries Pudentilla (born about 116). 158 ,, Trial for magic. Leaves Oea for Carthage. 163 (certain date) Delivers panegyric on Soipio Orfitus (Flor. 17). 165 about Possible date of his holding priesthood. 168 ,, Delivers valedictory address to Severianus (Flor. 9). 171 „ Thanks the proconsul JBmilianus for recom- mending that he be granted a public statue (Flor. 16). CHAPTER II THE STOKY OF CUPID AND PSYCHE Aasem para et accipe auream fabulam. — Pliny. 1. The names, Cupid and Psyche, applied to the chief characters in this story, seem at first sight to indi- cate that an allegorical significance is intended to be conveyed; and, true enough, from the time of Fulgentius (the fifth century) down to Zeller the story has been supposed to have some ulterior meaning, and to be something more than a mere story. Zeller says : " The longing of the fallen soul for re-union with its Grood Spirit (or with the Divine) forms the theme which, in the well-known narrative of Amor and Psyche (which, however, did not originate with him), is set forth by Apuleius in the manner of a story.'" Yet it must be allowed that the indications of any such allegory in the story, outside the names, are the very slightest. The utmost that can be adduced is that Psyche suffers reproach and punish- ment from certain abstractions called Routine (Consuetudo), Anxiety, Sadness (6. 8, 9) ; that Sober- mindedness (Sobrietas) is an enemy of Venus (5. 30) ; ' Phil, der Griechen, iii. 2', p. 228, 1903. See Excursus II. d2 xliv INTEODUCTION and that the child of Cupid and Psyche is called Pleasure (Voluptas, 6. 24). The chief defect in an allegorical interpretation of any story, that each interpreter explains it differently, appears in the present case.' Just a shadow of allegory may have hovered before the mind of Apuleius, owing to Plato and to the Alexandrine poets. It is, however, now generally acknowledged that no consistent allegorical interpretation is to be applied to the story in detail. The story is to be regarded rather as a mere fairy-tale, tricked out with all the airs and graces of Apuleian style. Look at it in that point of view, and everything becomes plain, especially the dramatic setting of the whole story — an old woman ' One has only to look through the various allegorical explana- tions of the story in Hildebrand (I. xxviii-xxxviii). To some the story merely depicts the relation of Passion and the Soul, and the purification of the Soul through suffering. Cupid thus appears as the Earthly Love : but to Hildebrand and others he is the Heavenly Love. His union with the Soul in its innocence is dissolved by the force of base desires and jealousies (the wicked sisters) ; but the Soul regains Love through suffering — the cause of the suffering being Venus, who, if you please, is Pate. To Fulgentius (see Excursus II) she was Lust, and the wicked sisters were the Flesh and Free Will, and Cupid was both the Earthly and the Heavenly Love. Morbach supposes that the story inculcates conjugal fidelity, and that it is derived from the mysteries (this seems to be now held by Gruppe, Or. Myth, 871) : and Hildebrand also thinks it is ultimately traceable to the mysteries, and especially to the mysteries of Isis : and he even goes so far as to hint that the whole Metamorphoses is a work of edification (xxxviii). In this he had in a manner been preceded by Beroaldns and Warburton, for whose fanciful speculations as to the hidden significance of the Metamorphoses as a whole the curious reader may be referred to Dunlop's History of Prose Fiction, i. 105-107, ed. Bohn. THE STOEY OF CUPID AND PSYCHE xlr {delira et temulenta anicula, 6. 25) tells the tale to a girl who has been carried off by robbers, in order to amuse her and take her mind off the trouble into which she has fallen ; and the way in which at the end the whole narrative is jocularly treated, and the main thread of the novel is resumed without any indication of seriousness/ precludes the supposition that Apuleius regarded it as a work of edification. And| that the basis of the tale is one taken from fairy-land is evident from the beginning, which is a stereotyped form of fairy-tales in all languages (4. 28 init.) : " Once upon a time tliere were a king and queen, who had three beautiful daughters." , The basis of the tale which Apuleius adopted was perhaps something like this: A prince has by some malign power been transformed into one of the lower animals ; during the night, however, he regains his original shape.'' He obtains the love of a girl, but under the condition that she is not to ask to see his face, or (as some forms of the story have it) to know his name. If he retains the love of this girl for a specified time, the spell that is on him will be dissolved. Or it may be that an intimacy is formed between a god and a mortal woman, or between a fairy woman and a mortal man — but on the same condition, that the mortal is not to see the ' 6. 25 astans ego non procul dolebam mehercules quod pugillares et stilum non hahebam qui tarn bellam fabulam praenotarem. Ecce con- fecto nescio quo graui proelio latrones adueniimt, &c. 'This is the feature on which the wicked sisters dwell in Mr. Morris's version of the tale in his Earthhj Paradise. xlvi INTRODUCTION face or to learn the name. The mystic prohibition is the essential point. That prohibition is always broken. The union is dissolved. After many troubles on both sides, and acts of faithfulness and devotion, the pair are re-united and live happy ever after. A familiar instance of this kind of story is "The Singing, Soaring Lark" in Grimm's " Household Tales" (No. 88, vol. ii, p. 5, ed. Bohn). Stories more or less like this are found in all lands. Mr. Andrew Lang {Custom and Myth, pp. 64-86) finds them in India, North America, Wales, Zululand, and elsewhere. It may be desirable to give two examples — one taken from Mr. Lang (p. 66), and one from Friedlander {Sittengeschichte Roms, P, p. 560 f.). " The oldest literary shape of the tale of Psyche and her lover," says Mr. Lang, " is found in the Rig Veda." It is a dialogue between Urvasi (a fairy) and Pururavas (a mortal man). The full story is given in the Brahmana [— prose ritual portion) of the Yajur Veda, and is thus rendered by Max Miiller : — " Urvasi, a kind of fairy, fell in love with Pururavas, and when she met him she said : Embrace me three times a day, but never against my will, and let me never see you without your royal garments, for this is the manner of women.^'^ ' On the strength of this clause, and many similar examples among the most various peoples, even the Ojibways, Mr. Lang (p. 72) supposes the story of Pururavas to be an aetiological myth 'told to illustrate, or sanction, a nuptial etiquette.' Similarly, M^lusine (Lang, p. 76) will only abide with her husband ' dum ipsam nudam non viderit.' It is owing to the fact that similar customs are so very widespread that Mr. Lang objects to Liebrecht's view that the clause ' for this is the custom of THE STOEY OF CUPID AND PSYCHE xlvii Mr. Lang continues the story in his own words : " The Gandharvas, a spiritual race, kinsmen of Urvasi, thought she had lingered too long among men. They therefore plotted some way of parting her from Pururavas ... To make Pururavas break the compact [i.e. of never being seen naked by her], the Gandharvas stole a lamb from beside Urvasi's bed : Pururavas sprang up to rescue the lamb, and, in a flash of lightning, Urvasi saw him naked, contrary to the manner of women. She vanished. He sought her long, and at last came to a lake where she and her fairy friends were playing in the shape of birds. Urvasi saw Pururavas, revealed herself to him, and, according to the Brahmana, part of the strange Vedic dialogue was now spoken. Urvasi promised to meet him on the last night of the year : a son was to be the result of the interview. Next day, her kinsfolk, the Gandharvas, offered Pururavas the wish of his heart. He wished to be one of them. They then initiated him into the mode of kindling a certain sacred fire, after which he became immortal and dwelt among the Gandharvas."^ Another story is that of Tulisa, in a collection of Indian stories of Somadeva Bhatta (see Dunlop, Hist, of Prose Fiction, i. 110. 2, and Friedlander 1. c). Tulisa was the daughter of a poor wood-cutter, and women' is a mere stop-gap, introduced at a late period into the Vedic narrative to account for the prohibition, the meaning of which had been forgotten. ' Cp. the immortalizing of Psyche in Apuleius Met. 6. 23 : porrecto ambrosiae poculo ' sume ' {inquit Jupiter) ' Psyche, et immortalis esto.' jdviii INTRODUCTION was asked by a voice at a fountain three times to be his bride. At the third asking she said her father must decide. The voice promised vast wealth, and the father consented. On the marriage-day costly presents appeared in the wood-cutter's cottage ; the bride was led richly adorned to the fountain ; a ring appeared in the air, which her father was ordered to place on the bride's finger ; a palanquin with invisible bearers carried off the bride to a castle, her parents following; the palanquin entered the castle, and the parents returned liome and became vastly wealthy.^ Tulisa lived happily in her splendid palace. She had every luxury, and servants played music to her (as the invisible attendants did to Psyclie), and told her stories in genuine Oriental style. Unlike Psyche, she saw her husband each night. But she was forbidden to leave the palace. One day she saved a squirrel who was pursued by a beast. But she longed for human intercourse. An old woman appeared before the castle, and Tulisa allowed her to climb in. She asked Tulisa if her husband had eaten off the same dish. She said no ; and that night she asked her husband to eat off the same dish: he pretended to do so, but ate nothing. A second old woman appeared, and asked her if her ' The jealousy the ■wood-cutter's wealth excited, his persecution, the death of the inhahitants of the country by snakes, the inter- cession of the wood-cutter with his daughter's mysterious husband, who ordered the snakes' to heal their own fatal bites, may be omitted, as breaking the thread of the story, and being just possibly later additions. THE STOEY OF CUPID AND PSYCHE xlix husband had chewed a betel-nut and given it to her to eat (a mark of love). She had to deny this ; and on asking her husband about it he returned an evasive answer. A third old woman appeared, and asked if her husband had ever told his name, and said he could not love her if he did not do so. She asked her husband to tell his name ; but he adjured her, as Lohengrin adjures Elsa, to desist from asking it, as it would bring trouble upon her. She persisted. He led her to a river and again begged her not to persevere in her request, but in vain. He slowly went into the river, continuing his requests, until he was up to his neck in the water ; and as she persisted in her demands, he cried, " My name is Basnak Dau"; for a moment a snake's head appeared on the surface, and then sank. Tulisa suddenly found herself back in the old cottage in her old rags, and her parents in the same poverty as in the time before their prosperity. They had to return to wood-gathering. Once falling asleep and awaking suddenly Tulisa heard two squirrels talking. One said that the mother of Basnak Dau had lost all her power when he became King of the Snakes, but had regained it when the mortal to whom he was wedded had been induced to ask persistently for his name — a course to which she had been persuaded by the Queen's confederate Sarkasukis. The other squirrel (which was the one rescued by Tulisa) asked how Basnak Dau was to recover his power, and was told that Tulisa must cross a broad river full of snakes, seek 1 INTEODUCTION the nest of the bird the Huma, and carry its egg in her bosom until it is hatched: then she must go to the Queen and perform all her commands under the penalty of being eaten by snakes. Finally, when the egg of the Huma is hatched, the new bird will pick out the eyes of the green snake which is coiled round the Queen's neck, and then Basnak Dau will recover his kingdom. Tulisa faithfully carries out these injunctions, helped and encouraged by squirrels. On arrival at the Queen's palace, she is ordered to perform the following tasks:— (1) In a high- walled court to collect the perfume of countless flowers — bees do it for her: (2) from a bowl of seeds to make a splendid ornament — squirrels bring each a jewel and take away a seed. The squirrels then inform her that Sarkasukis is at hand, and can only be prevented from entering the palace by the burning of certain herbs. Tulisa burns the incense until the young Huma is hatched. This picks out the eyes of the Queen's snake, and her power is at an end ; she and Sarkasukis fall dead ; and Basnak Dau is led in by a long train of genii, squirrels, and snakes, and he and Tulisa live happy ever after. Let one more story be added, a Welsh one, told by Prof. Rhys (cp. Lang, op. cit., p. 82): "The heir of Corwrion fell in love with a fairy. They were married on the distinct understanding that the husband was not to know her name, and was not to strike her with iron. Unluckily the man once tossed her a bridle, the iron bit touched the THE STOEY OF CUPID AND PSYCHE li Avife, and she at once flew through the air and plunged headlong into Corwrion lake."^ These stories have been set forth at somewhat undue length, in order that it may be seen that the main theme of the tale of Cupid and Psyche is one of considerable antiquity, and that in various times and various places it assumes various forms. A story^ on this theme Apuleius had either heard or read ; and he elaborated it in his own peculiar style, and possibly with additions from other popular tales, into the charming narrative which seems to have obtained no little popularity in his age, and has been admired ever since. It is a true gem, as Mr. Pater says, among the mockeries of the ' golden ' book. The writer of the model which Apuleius used is ' This prohibition about the iron, as Mr. Lang points out, is due to the fact that the fairy bride was the representative of the Stone Age, and seems to have abhorred the metal which wrought its downfall. ■' It is uncertain whether one is justified in supposing that a single story formed the basis of the narrative of Apuleius. Priedlander (p. 544 at the end) supposes that Apuleius may have borrowed from another form of the story the fourth labour of Psyche — for three is the usual number, though Tulisa has only two ; but, even supposing Friedlander is right, that does not preclude erne version having been the basis, and this and other features being accretions. Mr. Pater, however [Marius i. 61), seems to hold the other view — " With a concentration of all his finer literary gifts, Apuleius had gathered into it [the tale of Cupid and Psyche] the floating star-matter of many a delightful old story." lii INTRODUCTION unknown, and we may with Schaller^ call him x. The question is — How much of tlie Apuleian story is due to a;, and how much to Apuleius ? Schaller seems to assign a very considerable portion of the merit of the work to x, whom he regards as a. Greek rhetorician of the first century B.C. ; but his grounds do not seem very strong. The chief one is the reminiscences of the Alexandrine poets which appear in the tale. He holds also that we must assume some a;, as he thinks that it is impossible to suppose that the mind which conceived and wrote such a coarse sentence as 5. 30, cui saepius in angorem mei paelicatus puellas propinare consuesti, or 6. 22 (Jupiter's speech), could have written the beautiful 4. 28, novo caelestium stillarwn germine non maria sed terras Venerem aliam uirginali flore praeditam pullulasse} ' De Fabula Apuleiana quae est 'de Psyche et Cupidine — Glogau Dissertation, 1901. This is a learned and careful work, though in some respects it is difScult to agree with the author's deductions. ' Schaller gives other contrasted passages. Further he says, p. 61: "Videmus his locis (5. 30: 6. 22) rhetorem frigidum sordida et impura verba misere tornantem : ceteris autem quos modo attuli locis quanto studio, quanta diligentia, quanto ut ita dicam amore singulae res excogitatae et compositae sunt, quam lepide Amor illuditur 1 " This opinion is somewhat subjective : and one finds it difficult occasionally to agree with Schaller's judgments as to what is artistically excellent or the reverse. While heartily agreeing with his praise of the description of Psyche's beauty {4. 28, see above), and the lovely chapter which describes her first sight of Cupid (5. 22), we cannot subscribe to such a harsh judgment as this ; — " Vide enim quam stolide post Psychae orationem (4. 34) continuetur Sic profata uirgo conticuit ingressuque iam ualido porriTpae populi proseqmntis sese miscuit." The words conticuit and iam ualido simply and effectively mark the courage THE STOEY OF CUPID AND PSYCHE liii But the argument that two passages, because they are different in matter and style, could not have been written by one and the same literary man is an unsafe one. Never was there a more genuine sophist who could turn his pen to any conceivable theme than Apuleius. His unquestioned writings prove it. He himself speaks of his desultoria scientia{M.et. 1.1), by which he was able, as a circus-rider leaps from horse to horse, to pass from one subject to another •} and he boasts,, not quite unreasonably, of his great versatility.^ Further when one reflects that the same man wrote Met. 10. 20—22 and 11. 15, we need not be surprised at his being able to handle any variety of theme. Almost anything intellectual or artistic interested him; his curiositas^ wsls intense ; his learning was great: of the maiden. Nor can I see any special carelessness (quam neglegenter haec sunt dicta, p. 64) in 5. 13, "His uerbis et mnplexihus moUibus decantatus maritus." Not much is to be said for the clause in the way of either praise or blame. The word mollihis seems happily chosen ; and decantare ' to bewitch ' (cp. 3. 18) is not too artificial. ' This seems to be the meaning of the much-discussed phrase, see E. Norden, Kunstprosa, 603. 5. ^ See Florid. 9, p. 37, Oud. : Hippias prided himself on his skill in many handicrafts, sed pro his (says Apuleius) praeoptare mefateor lino chartario calamo me reficere poemata omnigenus apta uirgae (i.e. epic poems), lyrae, socco, cothumo, item satiras ac griphos, item historias varias rerum nee non orationes laudatas disertis nee nan dialogos laudatos philosophis, atque haec et alia eitisdem modi tam graece quam latine, gemino uoto, pari studio, dmili slilo : cp. also Florid. 20, p. 98, Oud. : Canit enim. Empedocles carmina, Plato dialogos, Socrates hymnos, JEpicharmus modos (gnomas conj. Bohde), Xmophon historias, Xenocrates {Crates conj. Bohde) satiras: Apuleius uester haec omnia novemque Musas pari studio colit, maiore scilicet uoluntate quam faeultate ; cp. above, xxiii note. n. 2 : 2. 6 : 7. 14 : 9. 12 and often. liv INTRODUCTION his knowledge of Greek and Latin equal to that of anyone of his time : and his desire to display his gifts very considerable. In short, he had the qualities which afterwards produced the most famous rhetorician of his day : so one does not see any a 'priori reason why he should not have infused, not only elegance and ornament, but also a few touches of satire and mockery, into the bare outline of a household tale which attracted his fancy. 3. But what really transformed the household tale into the beautiful narrative as we have it was the application of the name Psyche to the (probably) anonymous "king's daughter" of the original. Indeed Psyche appears as merely such in the beginning of the Apuleian tale. Who thus applied the name cannot be proved. It may have been the assumed X ; but there is not any evidence that it was, even if we assume that there is some shadowy evidence for the existence of an x. The probability is that it was Apuleius himself who hit upon this happiest of happy conceptions. (See Otto "Waser, in B,oscher's Lex. der Mythol. vi. 3239). His Platonic^ studies (such as they were) and his knowledge of Alexandrine literature^ had made him familiar with tlie connexion ' Cp. Plat. Phaedrus (246 b, c : 255 o, d). ' The poems of Meleager on Eros and Psyche (see Excursus III) represent in a mythological way the power of Passion over the Soul, and the resistance the Soul at times makes thereto, but do not seem to press the allegory further. This tyranny of Passion, too, THE STOEY OF CUPID AND PSYCHE iv of Eros and Psyche : and if the thought struck him to apply to the anonymous heroine of the household tale the name of Psyche, it would at once suggest Cupid, who would bring with him Venus and all the Olympian circle. The story would, when thus elevated, lend itself to all manner of elaborate and picturesque treatment ; it would suggest subjects for his gift of pictorial representation, such as the voyage of Venus across the sea, the fairy palace, the description of the god of Love, and many such iK(j)pdcr€L