The Works of Apuleius (Golden Ass, God of Socrates, Florida, On the Doctrines of Plato)

“‘After I, an unfortunate wretch, had related such particulars as I remembered, she treated me with great kindness, supplied me with a good supper for free, and afterwards, instigated by lust, admitted me to her bed. From the very moment I lay with her, my mind contracted a lasting malady. I even gave her those garments the robbers had left me to cover my nakedness. I also presented her with the small earnings I made by working as a cloakmaker while I was still in good health, until at length this worthy partner and ill fortune together reduced me to the state in which you just saw me.’

“‘By Pollux,’ I said, ‘you deserve to suffer extreme misfortunes—if there is anything more extreme than that which is already extreme—for having preferred the pleasures of a wrinkled harlot to your home and children.’

“‘Hush! hush!’ he said, raising his forefinger to his mouth and looking around with a terror-stricken face to see if he might speak safely. ‘Forbear to revile a woman skilled in celestial matters, lest you do yourself an injury through an intemperate tongue.’

“‘Say you so?’ said I. ‘What kind of woman is this tavern-keeper, so powerful and queenly?’

“‘She is a sorceress,’ he replied, ‘endowed with powers divine. She is able to draw down the heavens, lift the earth, harden running water, dissolve mountains, raise the shades of the dead, dethrone the gods, extinguish the stars, and illumine the depths of Tartarus itself.’

“‘Come, come,’ said I, ‘do draw aside this tragic curtainThe siparium was a piece of scenery that functioned like our modern drop-curtain to conceal the stage. and stop the theatrics; let’s hear your story in ordinary language.’”