Complete Works, Vol. III

phanes in The Clouds, and Plato related it in Gryllus, who also in the third book of Laws thus hands down: "Why these things have been said to us seems to need repeating, so that speech, like a horse, may be held back, lest, if it has an unbridled mouth, it be shaken off by an ass (as they say in the proverb) in the rush of speaking."

Pag. 11. FABULAM GRAECANICAM the Greek-style fable.] He calls it Graecanicam because it was built according to the model of Lucian, a Greek writer, from whom he almost transcribes the Golden Ass; or because this matter took place in Thessaly, a Greek region. But Graecanicus differs from Graecus Greek; for as M. Varro teaches in Book 6 of On Analogy: "Graecanica are adventitious, as it were bastard offspring of the Greeks: such as Hectors, Nestors, and thus this fable is deduced and derived from the Greek Lucian."

Ibid. THESSALIAM Thessaly.] He begins the fable of the golden ass from that beginning from which Lucian started, whose beginning is this: apῄein pote es thettalian I was once going to Thessaly. But Thessaly in the old age was named Pyrrhea, from Pyrrha, the wife of Deucalion; soon Haemonia from Haemon, from whose son Thessalus it was called Thessaly. Homer calls it Pelasgian Argos.

Ibid. NAM ET ILLIC for even there.] This was said by way of interposition, which is called by the Greek word parenthesis.

Ibid. ORIGINIS MATERNAE of maternal origin.] We annotated in the life of Appuleius that his mother was Salvia, descended from the family of Plutarch. Now Plutarch was from Chaeronea, which is a city of Boeotia: which he himself testifies in Sulla, writing that his fatherland, Chaeronea, escaped from the attack of Archelaus through the providence of Sulla, who obtained victory there over the conquered enemies. The same in Lucullus says that the Chaeroneans, his fellow citizens, escaped the danger that the Orchomenians were attempting through calumnies by the testimony of Lucullus, for which reason they dedicated a stone statue to Lucullus in the forum of Chaeronea at public expense. And for that benefit he not only confesses, but also openly professes, that he owes the greatest gratitude to the Roman Lucullus. The same reports in Demosthenes how Philip, king of Macedonia, conquered the Athenians at Chaeronea, his fatherland, in a great battle, and the end was put to the liberty of the Greeks: from which battle Demosthenes, who was accustomed to animate others to fight, sought safety in flight. And when it was reproachfully objected to him that he had fled, he closed with that most famous verse: "A man," he says, "who flees will also fight again." Now Plutarch flourished under the emperors Trajan and Hadrian. He dedicated the books of Apophthegmata Sayings to Trajan, a man undoubtedly of the first rank among the learned, and wonderful for his multi-faceted erudition, a truly fruitful writer, and one who could rightfully be named polygraphotatos most prolific writer from the abundance of his volumes. Whence Appuleius now not undeservedly boasts that his maternal origin derived from Plutarch provides him glory.

Ibid. SEXTO PHILOSOPHO to Sextus the Philosopher.] This Sextus the Philosopher was the teacher of the Emperor Marcus Antoninus, of whom Julius Capitolinus says: "He also heard Sextus the Chaeronean philosopher, the nephew of Plutarch." And it is written by Eusebius in the Chronicles: "Plutarch the Chaeronean and Sextus are considered distinguished philosophers during the principate of Hadrian."

Ibid. EX NEGOTIO PETEBAM I was seeking [it] for business.] He imitated Lucian, who says that he sought Thessaly because of some paternal business with a Thessalian man.

Ibid. POSTQUAM ARDUA MONTIUM after the steep [places] of the mountains.] This is a Rhetorical embellishment which is called a compar equal phrasing; and another that falls similarly. In these figures our Appuleius is most happily bold. And although nothing is more hateful than affectation, yet such affectation in this is almost peculiarly lovable and imitable. He said ardua montium the steep parts of the mountains, wishing steep mountains to be understood: just as by lubrica vallium the slippery parts of the valleys, slippery valleys, and roscida cespitum the dewy parts of the sods, dewy sods, and glebosa camporum the cloddy parts of the fields, cloddy fields. Thus Virgil used urbem Patavi the city of Patavium by periphrasis for Patavium, and said fontem Timavi the fountain of the Timavus for the Timavus itself.

Ibid. LUBRICA VALLIUM the slippery parts of the valleys.] A place is called lubricus slippery in which we easily slip; a thing is lubrica which is labile and slips out of the hand, and can hardly be held because of smoothness. By Virgil, the lubricus anguis slippery snake and loca lubrica slippery places are mentioned.

Pag. 12. ROSCIDA CESPITUM the dewy parts of the sods.] Roscidus signifies dewy and sprinkled with dew. By Virgil, luna roscida dewy moon is elegantly and learnedly said, as if the most fruitful mother of dew and moisture: from which the moon's star is called feminine and soft by the learned, which loosens the nocturnal moisture, and (as Pliny says) "loosens all things with its moisture-making spirit." Dews exist neither in frost, nor heat, nor winds, nor except on a clear night. It is admitted that dewy nights in Africa are in summer. Aristotle writes in the first book of Meteorology that dew is made from moderate evaporation, when rain is generated from large vapor. Appuleius in the book On the World: "Dew," he says, "is nocturnal moisture which the thinness of the clear sky scatters." In Greek, dew is called drosos, and droseros dewy. A cespes sod, however, is earth cut around with the roots of herbs by iron tools. Camps are surrounded by sods, and military mounds are made, as Vegetius teaches in the third book of De Re Militari On Military Matters. Hence that Plinian saying from book 35: "The nature of sods is accommodated for the mounds of camps against the impulses of rivers." Altars are made from sod, for that reason called cespiticiae sod-altars. Julius Capitolinus: "A hundred sod-altars are built in one place; to them a hundred sows and a hundred sheep are sacrificed."

Ibid. GLEBOSA cloddy.] full of large clods and standing out. Columella calls this kind of clods scamna benches/ridges.