Introduction

Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus co-emperors of the Roman Empire, 161—169 A. D. (see note, p. 236). The sixteenth referring to the 16th excerpt in the Florida refers to Aemilianus Strabo, who was consul in 156 A. D. and had not yet become proconsul a governor of a Roman province of Africa. As the interval between holding the consulate and the proconsulate was from ten to thirteen years, this fragment may be dated, if not before 166, at any rate before 169 A. D.

Apuleius won more than mere applause. Carthage decreed a statue in his honor (Florida original: "Florida", a collection of Apuleius's oratorical highlights 16), and conferred on him the chief-priesthood of the province. This office entitled its holder to the first place in the provincial council, and was the highest honor that the province could bestow (Florida 16). Civil office he never held (Augustine, Letters original: "Ep." for Epistulae 138, 19), perhaps never sought. His genius, it may be said with confidence, was far from fitting him for judicial or administrative functions. If we may trust Apollinaris Sidonius (Letters II. 10. 5), Pudentilla showed herself a model wife by the passionate interest she took in her husband’s work. ‘Pudentilla was for Apuleius what Marcia was for Hortensius, Terentia for Cicero, Calpurnia for Piso, Rusticiana for Symmachus : these noble women held the lamp while their husbands read and meditated !’ It is even possible that she bore him a son, as the second book of the On Plato original: "de Platone" is dedicated to ‘my son Faustinus’. Of his death we know nothing. Testimony as to his appearance is conflicting. His accusers (Apology original: "Apol.", referring to Apuleius's speech in his own defense 4) charge him with being a ‘handsome philosopher’. He replies that his body is worn by the