The Golden Ass (Metamorphoses)

His name is only revealed casually towards the end of Book 1: a young man of a good provincial family from Corinth, who, when the story opens, is on his way to Thessaly on "particular business." This turns out to be an obsessive interest in witchcraft (for which Thessaly was famous). He discovers that his hostess at Hypata, where he is staying with letters of introduction, is a renowned sorceress. With the help of her maid, Photis, he gains access to her "devil’s smithy," where, by mistake, he is transformed not into a bird, as he had planned, but into a donkey. Before he can reach the antidote to the spell—which requires eating roses—he is carried off by a gang of robbers. The story of his ensuing adventures, misadventures, and narrow escapes from death, as he passes from one owner to another, occupies the rest of the first ten books of the novel.

The narrative is fleshed out by stories heard by Lucius both before and after his metamorphosis, which make up about sixty percent of the text in Books 1–10. This is the "Milesian" element A genre of short, often ribald or supernatural tales, named after the city of Miletus. mentioned in the Prologue, but an attentive reader will perceive that there is more to it than just "amusing gossip," even though that is how Lucius himself always views it. These stories are clearly intended to form an integral part of the literary structure of the book, providing what is effectively a commentary on the experiences, sufferings, and final deliverance of the hero. Their allegorical character (using the word in its broadest sense) is most obviously evident in the tale of Cupid and Psyche, which is set apart from the rest by its length, elaborate literary texture, and central placement in the narrative framework (4.28–6.24). This is yet another surprise: the implicit undertaking to combine "different stories" and a single "Grecian story" is fulfilled in a way that their separate mention at the two extremes of the Prologue could hardly have led any reader, however attentive, to expect.

In order to tell his story, Lucius must survive his adventures and regain his human shape. It required no excessive ingenuity on the author’s part to contrive a plausible opportunity for him to find the prescribed remedy, for by the end of Book 10 it is once more spring, and roses are available. It is now that events take the most startling turn of all. With his final owner, Lucius has apparently landed on his feet. Thiasus ("Mr. Revel") discovers by chance that this donkey of his possesses almost human tastes and intelligence, and he "trains" him to display his capabilities in public. A rich woman falls in love with him and bribes his keeper to allow her to spend a night with him. This is a great success, and when Thiasus gets wind of it, he decides to exhibit Lucius in the role of a lover in the games he is about to hold at Corinth. Upon learning of this, and of the atrocious crimes of the woman who is to be his partner in the...