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Apuleius The Golden Ass A new translation by P. G. Walsh OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS I ~ I ,/'- ~\~. ' " ~ I OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS TIIE GOLDEN ASS APULEillS was born in the mid-uos AD in _\fadauros (modern Mdaurusch in Algeria). His father was a duumvir, one of the two chief magistrates in the Roman colony, and J\puleius received a superior education al Carthage and then al Athens. Jle li\ed in Athens for several years and travelled widely in Greece. Later he liyed long enough in Rome to obtain recognition as a literary figure amongst men of social standing. In I 55 Apuleius began a journey to Alexandria, but fell ill and had to rest with the family of his friend Ponlianus in Oea (modern Tripoli). 1\fter his marriage lo Ponlianus' widowed mother he was indicted on a charge of magic, and in a famous speech, his Apologia, he secured his acquittal. He returned to Carthage and there became famous as a writer and lecturer. It is clear that he was still in Carthage during the I 6os, but nothing can he established about his lile alter that date. P. G. WAI SII is Emeritus Professor of Humanity in the Cniversit) ol Glasgow. His translations fi:ir Oxford World's Classics include Petronius, Satyrico11, Cicero, The Nature of the Gods and On Obliga tions, Boethius, The Crmsolatirm of Philosophy, Pliny's Complete Let!ers and Cicero's Selected Le!ters. He has also published exten sively on Li\y, on the Roman novel, and on patristic and medieval Latin. OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS For over Ioo years Oxford World'sC lassicsh ave brought readersc losert o the world'sg reat literature.N ow '/l)jtho ver7 00 titles-from the 4,000-year-oldm yths of Mesopotamiat o the twentiethc entury'sg reatestn ovels-the seriesm akesa vailable lesser-knowna s well as celebratedw riting. Thep ocket-sizedh ardbackso f the earlyy ears contained introductionbs y VirginiaW oolf,T . S. Eliot, GrahamG reene, and otherl iteraryf igures whiche nrichedt he experienceo f reading. Today the seriesi s recognizedfo r itsf ine scholarshipa nd reliabilityi n texts that span worldl iterature,d ramaa ndp oetry, religionp, hilosophya ndp olitics.E ach editioni ncludesp erceptive commentarya nd essentialb ackgroundin formationt o meet the changingn eedso f readers. OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS APULEIUS The GoldenA ss Translatedw ith an Introductiona nd Notes by P. G. WALSH OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Great ClarendonS treet, Oxfurdo x2 6oP Oxford UniversityP ress iii a departmento f the Universityo f Oxford. It furtherst he University'so bjectiveo f excellencei n researchs, cholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Athenx Auckland BangkokB ogota Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Ddhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Paris Sio Paulo SingaporeT aipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw with associatedc ompaniesin Berlin Ibadan Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certaino ther countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © P. G. Wal,h 1994 Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published as a World's Classics paperback 1995 Reissued as an Oxford World's Classics paperback 1999 Reissued 2008 All rightsr eservedN. o pan of this publicationm ayb e reproduced, stored in a retrievals ystem, or transmitted,i n any form or by any means, without the prior permissioni n writingo f Oxford University Press, or as expresslyp ermittedb y law,o r under terms agreedw ith the appropriate reprographicsr ights organizationsE. nquiriesc oncerningr eproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford UniversityP ress, at the addressa bove You mu.-tnt ot circulatet his book in any other binding or cover and you must imposet his same conditiono n any acquirer BritishL ibraryC ataloguingi n PublicationD ata Data available Library of Congress Caraloging in Publication Data The golden ass/ Apuleius: translated with introduction and explanatory notes by P. G. Walxh Includes bibliographical references and index. I. Mythology, Classical-Fiction. 2. Metamorphosis-Fiction. I. Walxh, P. G. (Patrick Gerard). PS6209.M3W35 1994 873'.01-dcZO 93--37772 ISBN 978--0-19-954055-6 14 Printed in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, Elcograf S.p.A. For John ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This translation was begun and ended in Glasgow, but the greater part of it was completed at Pomona College, at which I spent a pleasant and profitable semester of teaching in 1992. I should like to thank the members of the academic and administrative staff who made our stay a happy one, and who so willingly put the necessary facilities for congenial study at my disposal. Professor E.J.K enney offered usefully trenchant criticism of a first draft of a section of Book 4; I hope that his suggestions will be seen to have borne fruit. I have benefited too from the encouraging observations made by the anonymous reader who scrutinized the same specimen translation on behalf of the Press. During our stay in California, Professor Ellen Finkelpearl of Scripps College cast a friendly and expert eye over another section of the translation. Members of my family have also offered useful criticism. None of these helpful adjutants has seen the final version. It is now more than thirty years since my admiration for 7he GoMenA ss induced me to embark on preparatory study for pub lication of 7heR omanN ovel( 1970),a nd later for the chapter on Apuleius in 7he CambridgHe istorye fC lassi.caLl iteratureI. n com posing this Introduction, I have tried to take account of the more important studies which have subsequently appeared, but the diligent reader will note without surprise some repetition incorporated from those earlier analyses. 7he Roman Novel has now been reissued under the auspices of the Bristol Classical Press (1995),a nd can serve as a useful companion-volume for this translation. P.G.W. CONTENTS Abbreviations ix Map of Greece X Introduction Xl Select Bibliography THE GOLDEN ASS Explanatory Notes Index and Glossary ofN ames ABBREVIATIONS AJP AmericanJ ournal of Philology ANRW Aefstieg und Nzedergangd er riimischenW elt APA AmericanP hilologicalA ssociation Apol. Apology CJ ClassicaJl ournal CQ ClassicalQ uarterly CR ClassicalR eview cw ClassicalW eekfy GLK GrammaticiL atini, ed. Keil Flor. Florida G&R Greecea nd Rome JHS Journal of HellenicS tudies Mnem. Mnemosyne OCD Oxford ClassicalD ictionary Onos Lucius or the Ass PCPS Proceedingos f the CambridgeP hilologicalS ociety Philol. Philologus pp Parola del Passato REA Revue des Etudes Anciennes REL Revue des Etudes Latines RhM RheinischesM useum RHR Revue de l'histoired es religions SHA ScriptoresH istoriaeA ugustae TAPA Transactionsa nd Proceedingos f the AmericanP hilological Association
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