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With accuracy, wit, and intelligence, this remarkable new translation of The Golden Ass breathes new life into Apuleius's classic work. Sarah Ruden, a lyric poet as well as a highly respected translator, skillfully duplicates the verbal high jinks of Apuleius's ever-popular novel. It tells the story of Lucius, a curious and silly young man, who is turned into a donkey when he meddles with witchcraft. Doomed to wander from region to region and mistreated by a series of deplorableand#160;owners, Lucius at last is restored to human form with the help of the goddess Isis.The Golden Ass, the first Latin novel to survive in its entirety, is related to the Second Sophistic, a movement of learned and inventive literature. In a translation that is both the most faithful and the most entertaining to date, Ruden reveals to modern readers the vivid, farcical ingenuity of Apuleius's style.… (more)
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The Metamorphoses of Apuleius, better known as The Golden Ass, is funny and wise; and despite its unrepentant status as a fiction, its later chapters are probably one of the most accurate and detailed accounts from the period regarding the operation of mystery cults in late antiquity. The "Golden" of the title refers to the value of the text. It was written in a florid, storytelling style of Latin, and has a brisk, episodic pace. There are nonetheless many digressions, including the splendid and famous fable of Eros and Psyche, which falls near the center of the text.
Known in his own day as an orator and Platonist philosopher, Apuleius is also important as a reference regarding the status of magic in the ancient world; he was himself accused of criminal sorcery, although he denied it. The central enchantment of the story is the transformation of the protagonist into a donkey.
The literary progeny of these Metamorphoses are countless, as befits a donkey's instrument! Apuleius' story has influenced everything from Augustine's Confessions to Beauty and the Beast. But the original still deserves pride of place.
The professor had placed it on reserve
Apuleius became a devout worshiper of Isis. For the class, we were instructed to pay close attention to the attributes of Isis, since Mary would eventually take on these same abilities a few centuries after this was written. After all, Isis was the Egyptian mother goddess whose son, Horus, died and was reborn (only his birth/death cycle happens every year -- corresponding with the seasonal flooding of the Nile, if I remember correctly), so it was only logical that Mary would become her in many ways.
Jesus took on the many attributes associated with Mithra (his feast day being Dec. 25th for one), as well as Horus, Osiris and even a little bit from Apollo too. Mary's cult developed much later (somewhere in the 6th century). As Christianity spread across the globe, it was famous for learning about the local deities, and if the priests were not able to directly convert the population, the priests would in effect say "that god you are worshiping is just like saint so & so, and if you pray to him or her to intercede for you to Jesus & God the Father, your prayers will be answered". This type of absorption/conversion by taking a local deity and transforming it into a saint is responsible for why it is very difficult to trace the original roots of some of the early saints to an actual person. Yes, there were flesh and blood people who were martyrs, and some of them became saints that developed into cults, but there is a large group of early saints who have conflicting origin stories, and therefor many religious historians doubt they were actual people but were created to absorb, and transform the local deities into a saint to Christianize the area.
At the time this book was written, the Isis cult was one of the major faiths, if not the most popular throughout the Mediterranean. In fact, as an art historian, the familiar mother & infant poses of Mary and Jesus that were so popular during the Middle Ages, were direct copies of the poses used to depict Isis and Horus together.
The professor also told us to notice Apuleius' treatment of the other popular religions of his day, but especially the degrading way he portrayed a female worshiper of Jesus Christ. Apuleius clearly had no respect for Christians. In general, this view of Christians is typical in 160 AD. The portrayal of the initiation into the Cult of Isis at the end of the book, is believed to be accurate, and offers great insight into mystery cults of the 1st & 2nd centuries. The rituals have similarities with those that would later be adopted by Christianity, especially the purification by water.
Apuleius' raunchy romp is meant to be absurd, but also shows great truths of the Roman world, as well as prejudices and stereotypes from the perspective of a worshiper of Isis. This is why the ending is not out of joint from the rest of the book (as some people have suggested - they have only been reading on the superficial, sensual level) -- Lucius has struggled with his inappropriate behavior & faith, He has in essence gone through the trials of Job, and has prevailed and been rewarded and then purified and welcomed into the fold of the Isis cult.
As others have mentioned, this book was known throughout the centuries to the well educated and clearly influenced numerous works, including: The Canterbury Tales, The Decameron, some of Shakespeare's Comedies, Dante's Divine Comedy, even Kafka's Metamorphosis (although the humor is strained in his world view), among many others. The Golden Ass needs to return to the required reading list for a complete education. I believe that a critical reading of this book cannot help but expand the reader's mind and general world perspective; and because of all the farcical sexual encounters, the process will be a fun one too. Sadly, this country's extreme conservative temperature will not tolerate returning this book to its rightful place of required reading until perhaps at the University level (and some would not even have it there...probably wishing to burn it -- especially for the way Apuleius portrays the Christian woman).
Although several of the episodes in Lucius' life as a donkey and the anecdotes he overhears are genuinely funny, much of the humour is of the slapstick-meets-satire kind, which is not really up my street, and stereotypes and black-and-white morality reign, which I'm not too keen on, either.
But that is not to say The Golden Ass isn't a great deal of fun to read; it is, albeit not in the way that it was originally intended: many of the things I liked (apart from the ribaldry) are things I doubt were meant as such by the author.
For one thing, I liked the openly appreciative attitude towards sexuality: sex, not as a foul practice to be ashamed about, but as something that people willingly admit to doing frequently. Another thing I found fascinating is the snippets of daily life casually mentioned as part of the background: how streets were lighted at night, how towns were planned, and how various tradespeople ran their businesses. All of these were glimpses into a fully functional civilization whose everyday life and whose bureaucracy I know very little about. I was also intrigued by how violent a place the Empire seems to have been to live in: corporal punishment is standard practice, and brutal attacks on and indifferent cruelty towards slaves, animals, women and non-citizens is presented as normal. Morality, as it appears in this book, serves to further a fundamental double standard: one standard for the male citizen (wealthy and good-looking), and another for everyone and everything else. These, and other parts of the “world building” in this book, were what almost interested me more than the actual story.
In all, The Golden Ass is quite entertaining as a book of bawdiness and mild satire, though I couldn't help but view it as anything but an 1800-year old book, and enjoyed it primarily as such.
What more can you ask for?
I remembered it as a rather saucy tale of a man who is somehow transformed into an ass and has a rare old time before managing to reverse the transmogrification. Well, Lucius is made an ass, through taking a magic potion, stolen for him in mistake for one that will make him an owl by his slave girl lover. But his life as an ass is not exactly a jolly romp, as animals, (and especially the ass) in the 2nd century AD were not afforded the consideration which we now consider their right. Lucius has to endure beatings and hard useage during his 12 month journey, although he does acquire a great store of tales to pass on to the reader - including Cupid and Psyche. His transformation, as Graves points out in his introduction, is his punishment for his unseemly interest in black magic, and the secrets that properly belong only to the gods. The book is the story of his return to the goddess’ favour and her eventual pity for him. He becomes one of the ‘twice born’, an initiate and then a priest of Isis. It is, in fact, a very moral book, although it is not a Christian morality, and Apuleius has a very poor opinion of Christians. I was fascinated to find in Lucius’ struggles to find the money for his priestly initiation an echo of the parable of the pearl of great price: “If you wanted to buy something that gave you true pleasure, would you hesitate for a moment before parting with your clothes? Then why, when about to partake of my holy sacrament, do you hesitate to resign yourself to a poverty of which you will never need to repent?” Lies breathed through silver, indeed.
Up to this point in the narrative, there a several points of interest from a Gnostic perspective. The names Lucius and Photis share a common calque, light. This suggests a certain relationship between them, beyond the obvious sexual one depicted on the surface of the novel. Attracted to the reputed wonders of Thessaly, he spurns those that are readily before him in favor of the illusions he brings with him, i.e., the stories of witches and their powers. At Lucius’ request, Photis steals some metamorphosing ointment from her mistress. Instead of becoming a bird, as he had seen the witch do, Lucius becomes an ass. It is unclear whether Photis brought the wrong ointment, and if she did, whether she did so intentionally, or whether the effect of the ointment varies by user. Even then, it is an open question whether Photis knew what would happen to Lucius. Interestingly, she knows the cure: he must simply eat roses.
Before he returns to his previous form, Lucius goes on a series of adventures, almost like a program of karma yoga. In this respect, it reminds me of Milarepa’s ordeals to achieve enlightenment in one lifetime. Here, however, there is no indication that Lucius had led a bad life and was being punished, he merely must work through the lower, materialistic aspects of his soul before he is given the roses that will give him back his human form.
The most interesting interlude comes halfway through the story when Lucius is held captive by robbers. While in their cave, he hears an old woman tell the story of Cupid and Psyche. Her story covers several chapters of the novel, and the robbers kill her once she finishes it. Both of these details suggest the importance of the story: it takes up a large portion of the narrative, and it is as if the woman was waiting all her life to relate it, and once done, her life was complete. The story itself is a retelling of the Y-H-V-H formula of the redintegration of the Soul. In this version, however, the Queen does not want the Princess to supplant her and actively thwarts the Prince’s actions. In the larger schema of the story, Photis is the Vav to Lucius’s final Heh. Lucius’s inability to get an immediate remedy to his condition suggests an unseen initial Heh at work.
Once the roses physically purify Lucius, he undergoes spiritual purification through a three-part initiation into the cult of Isis. An analogy to Liber XV might be the following: (1) Lucius is transformed into an ass (the Priest, after having purified and consecrated the Priestess, closes the veil, shutting himself off from her light); (2) Lucius undergoes a series of adventures (the Priest circumambulates the Temple); and (3) Lucius eats the roses and resumes human form (the Priest opens the Veil, renewing his visual contact with the Priestess, and the roses on the altar). It is tempting to compare the Priest’s mounting of the three steps with Lucius’s initiations into the mysteries of Isis, but the steps come before the opening of the veil, and only the first step has Isian connotations.
Amusing tales within tales, recollections of characters of various misadventures and misfortunes ....
Lucius A wandering spirit Suffering in his
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.
That being said, the last chapter made me think of those early Weekly Reader pictographs of 6 things, 5 of which belonged together in some way, and 1 of which did not. Maybe after I go to class today, I will learn more about why this odd appendage hangs on the end of the book. I suspect it's more my lack of scholarship than the book's fault.
Recommended.
Robert Graves' translation is both readable and entertaining. The wry telling of the unfortunate but sympathetic narrator's adventures invites the term picaresque, although that particular designation for novels came much later. It's easy to see the influence of Lucius on world literature. This work from the 2nd century AD seems to have influenced Chaucer, and Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream ia perhaps the most well-known instance of a human turning into an ass. Other borrowers include Milton, Boccacio, Cervantes, Dekker, Kyd and Kafka.
The description of Isis, the Mother Goddess, is adoration itself: "so lovely a face that the gods themselves would have fallen down in adoration of it." Long thick hair falling in ringlets, crowned with a garland of flowers, and a disk on her forehead, held by vipers. A multi-colored linen robe; and a black mantle covered with stars. Her left hand holds suspended a boat-shaped gold dish, and on the handle there is an asp ready to strike. She is accompanied by all the perfumes of Arabia. She tells Lucius, "I am Nature, the Universal Mother, mistress of all the elements, primordial child of time, sovereign of all things spiritual, queen of the dead, queen also of the immortals, the single manifestation of all gods and goddesses that are. My nod governs the shiny heights of heaven, the wholesome sea breezes, the lamentable silences of the world below." Perhaps an invocation of Graves' White Goddess?
I do have a problem with older books: their writing style. Like in Heart of Darkness, this book sews together several occurrences in such a way that you can't really "take a break" from what you're reading (meaning you'll have paragraphs that last for two or three pages and have little to no punctuation, for they are part of one single idea). As a result, it's very, very easy to get lost with everything that's going on, which also means you'll probably have to do some re-reading of several paragraphs. Well, at least unlike Heart of Darkness, this book is slightly easier to understand in spite of the archaic English writing style.
I didn't absolutely hate this book, but if my friend hadn't chosen it blindly for me to read it, I would never, ever have picked it.