Metamorphoses (The Golden Ass), Volume I by Apuleius
A beguiling tale of mistaken transformation.
In the Metamorphoses of Apuleius, also known as The Golden Ass, we have the only Latin novel which survives entire. It is truly enchanting: a delightful romance combining realism and magic.
The hero, Lucius, eager to experience the sensations of a bird, resorts to witchcraft but by an unfortunate pharmaceutical error finds himself transformed into an ass. He knows he can revert to his own body by eating rose-petals, but these prove singularly elusive; and the bulk of the work describes his adventures as an animal. He also retails many stories that he overheard, the most charming being that of Cupid and Psyche (beginning, in true fairy-tale fashion, ‘Erant in quadam civitate rex et regina’). Some of the stories are as indecent as they are witty, and two in the ninth book were deemed by Boccaccio worthy of inclusion in the Decameron. At last the goddess Isis takes pity on Lucius. In a surprising denouement, he is restored to human shape and, now spiritually regenerated, is initiated into her mysteries. The author’s baroque Latin style nicely matches his fantastic narrative and is guaranteed to hold a reader's attention from beginning to end.
The Loeb Classical Library edition of Apuleius is in three volumes.
-
A Loeb Classical Library Reader
-
Iliad, Volume I
-
The Persian Wars, Volume I
-
Astronomica
-
Greek Lyric, Volume I
-
Birds. Lysistrata. Women at the Thesmophoria
-
Theogony. Works and Days. Testimonia
-
Tusculan Disputations
-
Metaphysics, Volume I
-
Metamorphoses, Volume I
-
Rhetorica ad Herennium
-
Anabasis
-
Odes and Epodes
-
Gallic War
-
Lives of the Caesars, Volume II
-
Marcus Aurelius
-
Anabasis of Alexander, Volume I
-
On Old Age. On Friendship. On Divination
-
The Shield. Catalogue of Women. Other Fragments
-
Cyclops. Alcestis. Medea
-
Lives, Volume VII
-
Philippics 16
-
In Catilinam 14. Pro Murena. Pro Sulla. Pro Flacco
-
Dionysiaca, Volume I
-
Acharnians. Knights
-
The Library, Volume I
-
The Orator's Education, Volume I
-
Civil Wars
-
Categories. On Interpretation. Prior Analytics
-
Letters to Friends, Volume I
-
On the Orator: Books 12
-
Antigone. Women of Trachis. Philoctetes. Oedipus at Colonus
-
The Apostolic Fathers, Volume I
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780674990494 |
| ISBN 10 | 0674990498 |
| Title | Metamorphoses (The Golden Ass), Volume I |
| Author | Apuleius |
| Series | Loeb Classical Library |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Harvard University Press |
| Year published | 1996-01-01 |
| Number of pages | 336 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |