INTRODUCTION

him. That the charge was false may be regarded as almost certain. It is probable enough that Apuleius may on occasion have practised magic: his insatiable curiosity may have led him to experiment in this direction, and his subsequent reputation does something to confirm these suspicions.¹ But the specific charges of magic on this occasion were frivolous and absurd, and he has little difficulty in disposing of them. He found also incidentally an opportunity for a flamboyant display of the learning of which he was so proud. In the first portion of the speech² he plays with his accusers, mocking them from the heights of his superior learning. In the second portion,³ where he defends his marriage with Pudentilla and justifies his dealings with his stepsons, he clears himself in good earnest—nay, does more than clear himself, for he unveils in the most merciless fashion the villany of his accusers, the base ingratitude of his stepsons, and the unspeakable turpitude of Rufinus. The speech is one of the most remarkable in existence. While portions of it make us laugh quite as much at Apuleius as with him, it is, as a whole, an admirable piece of pleading. And there is probably no speech which throws such a flood of light on the private life and the intellectual atmosphere of its time. Apuleius reveals himself as a perfect specimen of the ‘new sophist’, while the picture given of provincial life is vivid to the last degree. Without in any way pressing the comparison, it is not unjust to say that only the Pro Cluentio of Cicero can vie with it in the vivacity of its portraiture and its revelations of domestic life.

That Apuleius was acquitted cannot be doubted. His case speaks for itself, and the publication of the speech was probably, in a sense, a cry of triumph over his defeated adversaries. But it is noteworthy that we hear no more of him at Oea, where at the time of his trial he had resided for three years. This

¹ See p. xviii.           ² cc. 1–65, styled Book I in the MSS.
³ cc. 66–end, Book II in MSS.