PREFACE

FOR the purposes of this translation I have used Helm's text of the Defense original: "Apologia"; the legal speech delivered by Apuleius to defend himself against charges of practicing black magic, and Van der Vliet's text of the Florida original: "Florida"; a collection of excerpts from Apuleius's speeches and lectures. Both texts are published by the firm of Teubner, to whom I am indebted for permission to use their publications as the basis of this work. Divergences from the text are indicated in the footnotes, and I have made a few, perhaps unnecessary, expurgations The removal of passages deemed "indecent" or "offensive" by the standards of the early 20th century. For the elucidation of the magical portions of the Defense I am specially indebted to Abt's commentary (The Defense of Apuleius, Giessen, 1906). I also owe much to the articles on Apuleius in Schanz's History of Roman Literature original: "Geschichte der römischen Litteratur", and in Pauly-Wissowa's Real-Encyclopedia original: "Real-Encyclopädie"; a comprehensive German encyclopedia of classical antiquity, and to Hildebrand's commentary on the works of Apuleius (Leipzig, 1842).