INTRODUCTION

I. THE LIFE OF APULEIUS

OUR authorities for the life of Apuleius are in the main the Apologia, the Florida, and the last book of the Metamorphoses.¹ He has a passion for taking his audience into his confidence, and as a result it is not hard to reconstruct a considerable portion of his life. He was a native of Madaura, the modern Mdaurusch, a town loftily situated in the province of Africa above the beautiful valley of the Medjerda. The town was a flourishing Roman colony, and, to judge from the extent of its remains and from the inscriptions discovered on its site, was populous, rich, and highly Romanized.² The family of Apuleius was among the wealthiest and most important in the town. His father attained to the position of duumuir a senior municipal magistrate, the highest municipal office,³ and left his two sons the very considerable fortune of 2,000,000 sesterces ancient Roman coins.⁴ As to the date of

¹ See Rohde, Kl. Schriften, ii, p. 43; Schwabe, Pauly-Wissowa, Real-enc., s. v. Apuleius; Schanz, Gesch. der röm. Litt., §§ 553, 554; Purser, Cupid and Psyche, p. ix; Vallette, L'Apologie d'Apul., p. 2. I cannot accept the view that the opening chapter of Met., Bk. I, contains any indications of being autobiographical.

² For descriptions of the site of Madaura see Gsell, Recherches archéol. en Algérie, pp. 293 sqq.; Boissier, L'Afrique romaine, p. 274. Apuleius does not mention Madaura by name in the Apologia, but the description suits Madaura (see c. 24). The only passages where Madaura is mentioned in the works of Apuleius are Met. xi. 27, where Lucius speaks of himself as Madaurensis, though previously he has appeared as a Greek (see note 4, p. x), and in the περὶ ἑρμηνείας On Interpretation c. 4 (ut si pro Apuleio dicas philosophum Platonicum Madaurensem as if you were to speak of the Platonic philosopher from Madaura on behalf of Apuleius). Even if these passages be considered of doubtful significance, the point would be settled by August. Civ. Dei The City of God, viii. 14, where he is called Madaurensis. He is also so called in the subscriptio endnote/signature to Apol., Bk. I (i. e. c. 65 ad fin.).

³ c. 24.

⁴ c. 23.