Apologia (A Discourse on Magic)

a happy hunting-ground for the grammarians. But that his fame lived after him to an extraordinary extent is abundantly clear from the works of Augustine. The saint was well acquainted original: "de Deo Socratis, Civ. Dei viii. 14; Apologia, ibid. viii. 19; Met. see next note." with the works of his compatriot, and was not at all certain that he had not actually been transformed into the shape of an ass. original: "Civ. Dei xviii. 18: just as Apuleius, in the books he inscribed with the title Golden Ass, indicated or pretended that he himself had become an ass." Be that as it may, he thinks it necessary to warn the faithful against those who would extol the wonder-worker of Madaura as a thaumaturge miracle-worker whose powers surpassed those of Christ. original: "Epist. 136: They bring forward their Apollonius and Apuleius and other men of the magic art, whose miracles they claim were greater; Epist. 138: they attempt to compare or even prefer them to Christ." For Apuleius lived through the ages no less as a wizard than as a philosopher. The Dark Ages made Vergil a sorcerer long after his death, but Apuleius attained this unenviable reputation with far greater celerity. To such an extent did his fantastic identification of himself with Lucius, the hero of his novel, outweigh his elaborate refutation of the charge of magic in the Apologia. But after all who knows that he would not have revelled in this unexpected form of renown?

APPENDIX ON THE AGES OF PUDENTILLA, PONTIANUS, AND PUDENS.

Pudentilla at the time of the trial (A. D. 155-8) was slightly over 40. She must therefore have been about 38 at the time of her marriage with Apuleius. She had been about fourteen Apuleius, whom Ausonia reared as a mystic of unspoken wisdom. Lydus, de Ost. 44, styles him "the great Apuleius." years a widow. She was therefore left a widow about the age of 24. The average age of marriage for women was at this period about 14.

At the time of the trial Apuleius had been three years at Oea. He had arrived in the winter and after many days was persuaded by Pontianus to move to Pudentilla's house. After a year’s residence there he fell in love with Pudentilla and was married soon after.