LIFE OF APULEIUS

in fourteenth and fifteenth century MSS. The Florentine MS. (Laur. 68. 2), which is the source of all the rest, styles him Apuleius Platonicus Madaurensis Apuleius, the Platonist from Madaura,¹ and it is probable that the origin of the name Lucius is to be found in the curious identification of himself with Lucius, the hero of the Metamorphoses.² At an early age the young Apuleius was sent to Carthage,³ where more advanced education could be received than at his native town.⁴ From Carthage, perhaps about A.D. 143, he proceeded to Athens to complete his education.⁵ There he studied philosophy, rhetoric, geometry, music, and poetry,⁶ and laid the foundations of that encyclopaedic, if superficial, learning, which was his glory in after years. During this period (circa A.D. 143-50) he probably began those travels to which he refers in the Apologia.⁷ We know that he had visited

¹ See App. Crit. c. 65 and at end of speech.
² Met. xi. 27. The identification was actually accepted by Augustine. Cp. Civ. Dei xviii. 18.
³ Flor. 18 original: "ita mihi et patria in concilio Africae, id est uestro, et pueritia apud uos et magistri uos et secta, licet Athenis Atticis confirmata, tamen hic incohata est." Thus for me, both my fatherland in the council of Africa—that is, yours—and my boyhood among you, and my teachers—you—and my school, although confirmed in Attic Athens, were nevertheless begun here.
⁴ Madaura had at any rate at a later date good schools. Cp. Augustine, Confess. ii. 3 original: "mihi reducto a Madauris in qua uicina urbe iam coeperam litteraturae atque oratoriae percipiendae gratia peregrinari." when I was brought back from Madaura, in which neighboring city I had already begun to travel for the sake of acquiring literature and oratory.
⁵ Flor. 20, which implies that he received instruction from a litterator teacher of reading/writing, grammaticus teacher of grammar and literature, and rhetor teacher of rhetoric at Carthage, before going to more advanced studies at Athens. The date of his visit to Athens cannot be exactly determined. A boy might proceed from rhetoric to philosophy as early as 14, but 16 or 17 was a more usual age, while there is evidence for as late an age as 20. See Rohde, op. cit., p. 51, whose notes I summarize: (Age 14) Athen. ap. Oribas. iii, pp. 162-4 (Dar.). (Age 15) Galen, de ord. libr., vol. xix, p. 59 (Kühn). (Age 16) Eunapius in Vit. soph., pp. 58, 74, 92; Augustine, Confess. ii. 3; Persius in Vit. Persii de comm. Prob. (Age 18) Kaibel, Epigr. 228, 1. 2. (Age 20) Ulpian, Dig. xxvii, 2, 3 § 5. Cp. also Friedländer, Sitteng. iii, pp. 471, 645. As Apuleius was in Athens in all probability as late as A.D. 150 (vid. infr.), 143 seems a suitable date. Five years’ study at the University seems to have been a fairly normal period (cp. Gothofredus, cod. Theodos. xiv. 9, 1; Eunapius in Vit. soph., p. 92 f. ; Gregor. Thaumat. in Euseb. Hist. Eccl. vi. 30). But Apuleius travelled much during this period and in any case longer periods of study are found, as might be expected. E. g. Greg. Naz. de vita sua, v. 239; Liban. i, p. 20. 15 (Reisk.); Augustine, l. c. See Rohde, op. cit. p. 52.
⁶ Flor. 20.
⁷ Apol. 23 original: "longa peregrinatione et diutinis studiis." through long travel and lengthy studies.