INTRODUCTION

Our primary sources for the life of Apuleius are his own works: the Defense original: "Apologia", the Florida A collection of excerpts from his speeches, and the final book of the Metamorphoses Also known as "The Golden Ass". He possessed a passion for taking his audience into his confidence, and as a result, it is not difficult to reconstruct a significant portion of his life. He was a native of Madaura (the modern Mdaurusch), a Numidian town Located in modern-day Algeria situated high above the valley of the Medjerda. The town was a flourishing Roman colony (Defense 24), and the family of Apuleius was among the wealthiest and most important in the community. His father attained the position of chief magistrate duumvir: one of two senior municipal officers in a Roman colony (Defense, in the place cited), and left his son a considerable fortune of 2,000,000 sesterces Approximately £20,000 in early 20th-century currency. Regarding the date of Apuleius' birth, there is some uncertainty. However, since he was a fellow student (Florida 16) in Rome of Aemilianus Strabo (who served as consul in 156 A.D.), and was considerably younger than his wife Pudentilla—whom he married around 155 A.D. when she had "barely passed the age of forty" (Defense 89)—the estimate placing his birth around 125 A.D. is likely accurate. His name is generally given as Lucius Apuleius, though the only authority for the first name praenomen: the personal name preceding the family name is the evidence of late manuscripts; it is not improbable that the name originated from the curious identification of himself with Lucius, the