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HISTORY
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The Life and Works of Apuleius
Novelist, rhetorician and philosopher, Apuleius was one of the most eminent writers in the mid to late 2nd Century AD.
By Will Street
Jul. 25, 2019, 11:30 AM
Early Life
The exact date of Apuleius birth is unknown but it is thought he was born in around 124 AD in the city of Madauros in Numidia, which had been made a Roman colonia in the late 1st Century AD. In section 24 of the Apologia, he describes his origins: "As to my native country, and your showing that it is situated on the confines of Numidia and of Getulia, from writings of mine, in which I confessed, when I was lecturing before that most illustrious man, Lollianus Avitus, that I was a semi-Numidian and a semi-Getulian; I do not see what I have to be ashamed of in that respect, any more than the elder Cyrus, because he was of mingled parentage, being a Semi-Median and a Semi-Persian." (Getulia was neighbouring region in North Africa less reputable to the Romans.) His home city, Madauros, would however later be the same colonia where Augustine of Hippo received part of his education after the city had been fully romanised in 4th Century AD. It was considered famous for its schola and continued in existence until the Arab invasions in the 7th Century AD.
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Although the name "Lucius" is attributed to him in a tradition started by late-medieval manuscripts, most apparently derived from the protagonist's name in the Metamorphoses to which Christian sources attributed an autobiographical nature, no praenomen is given to him in ancient sources.His father was a provincial magistrate, whom Apuleius outlines in detail in his discourse on magic. He states in section 24 that "In this colony it was, that my father, a man of the highest rank, a duumvir, enjoyed every honour" and in section 23: "I admit that my father left me and my brother a little under twenty hundred thousand sesterces, and that the sum has been a little diminished by me, in consequence of prolonged travel, close study, and frequent donations." Apuleius, then, had a reasonably privileged upbringing by Romans' standards, and accordingly was able to embark on study during his childhood.
Education and de Platone et Eius Dogmate, de Deo Socratis and de Mundo
Apuleius began his education in Carthage, followed by Athens and then Rome. At Athens, he studied philosophy in sufficient depth that he would later be called philosophus Platonicus by himself and others. In chapter 10 of the Apologia and chapter 15 of the Florida, he calls himself philosophus Platonicus, and Augustine of Hippo, who would later embark on education at the same city of Apuleius' birthplace, names Apuleius "Apuleius Platonicus Madaurensis" in Book 8 of his de Civitate Dei. There is also a 2nd or 3rd Century base of a statue found in Madauros, for which Apuleius coming from Madauros and having stated in the Florida the presence of statues voted to him in multiple cities, is the most likely candidate, that refers to him as "Platonic Philosopher."
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The exact datings of all Apuleius's works are unknown although it is thought Apuleius wrote his three philosophical works, the de Platone et Eius Dogmate, the de Deo Socratis and the de Mundo during the early stages of his career while he was studying at Athens in around 146- 153 AD. The extent to which he calls himself a Platonic philosopher in the Apologia suggests he had already published some works on philosophy. Apuleius also translated the Phaedo, which is lost although two fragments are preserved by the historian Priscian. This might be considered evidence to point towards the fact that
Apuleius' three philosophical works were written while he was studying at Athens since it would suggest he was most prominently interested in Plato amidst studying. The rhetorical nature of the de Platone et Eius Dogmate, the de Deo Socratis and the de Mundo, reflects his co-running education in rhetoric and, thus, also points towards a dating of his philosophical works to his time studying in Athens.
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The de Platone et Eius Dogmate, which translates as "On Plato and His Teachings", was a book that was either a close translation or adaptation of a Greek handbook belonging to the same doxographical tradition as the Didaskalikos of Alchinous, in which Apuleius detailed the life of Plato briefly and an overview of Middle Platonist Metaphysics in Book 1 followed by the 2nd Book, which covered ethics. Apuleius' de Mundo, ("On the World") was an enhanced translation into Latin of the Peri Kosmou, wrongly ascribed to Aristotle but dated to around the 1st Century BC. His final work, the de Deo Socratis ("On the God of Socrates") was a rhetorical treatise on daemons, who were beneficent creatures intermediate between gods and mortals, in which he used Socrates' daimonion in Plato's Apology as an example. Apuleius began the de Deo Socratis by stating: "Plato has made a triple division of all nature, and especially of that part of it which comprises animated beings; and he is of the opinion that there are Gods of the highest, the middle, and the lowest station. Understand, however, that this division is based not only upon local separation, but also upon comparative dignity of nature, which is itself distinguished not in one or two, but in many modes. It was the clearer way, however, to begin with the distinction of locality; for this has assigned the heavens to the immortal Gods, conformably to what their majesty demands. And of these celestial Gods, some we form a notion of by sight, while others we endeavour to comprehend by the intellect." Apuleius, then, outlined at the start the nature and role of daemons which he was to go on to explore in detail in the remaining work.
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Leaving Athens, Apuleius would go on to study rhetoric in Rome. He states in chapter 17 of the Florida that he went to Rome "wherefore it [his rhetoric] should be more cultivated by frequent use, and that nowhere else than in the public assembly, under the presidency of so great a man [Scipio Orfitus (who would become proconsul of Africa in 163-164 AD)], in this excellent concourse of many learned, many gracious men." From the deep interest and prowess in rhetoric Apuleius demonstrates in the Florida and Apologia and if we are to see any autobiographical reminisces in the Metamorphoses where the lead protoganist finds restitution as a lawyer at the end, its is likely that Apuleius spoke in the law courts at Rome as well. Following his time at Rome, Apuleius travelled extensively in Asia Minor and Egypt, studying philosophy and religion and was initiated in several Greco-Roman mysteries, including the Dionysian Mysteries, which he proudly proclaims in section 50 of the Apologia. He would then travel to Alexandria, where at the town of Oea (modern-day Tripoli) on the way, he would fall ill. There, he would be taken in by Sicinius Pontianus, whom he had been friends with in Athens, and which would lead to his marriage to Pudentilla, the mother of Pontianus, and the eventual need to resist the charges of magic brought against him. He would later do so in the form of the Apologia.
Marriage to Pudentilla and the Apologia
Following Pontianus' consent and encouragement, Apuleius agreed to marry his mother who was a very rich widow. Apuleius states in section 73 of the Apologia: "He began to sound my inclination [to marry] by hints, and as he perceived that I was intent upon pursuing my travels, and averse to wedlock, he begged that I would at least make a short stay" and that "by forces of entreaties, he withdrew me from the house of my friends, the Appii, to transfer me to his mother's abode, as likely to prove a more healthy place of residence for me". There, Apuleius charts, Pontianus "disclosed to me that it was his own wish, if I had no objection, to unite me to his mother, whom a great many persons were eager to obtain; seeing that, as he said, I was the only person in whom he placed entire trust and confidence."
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However, Pontianus himself married the the daughter of Herrenius Rufus. From the end segment of the Apologia, we can deduce that it was he who was annoyed that Pudentilla's wealth should pass out of the family and instigated that Pontianus, together with his younger brother Sicinius Pudens, a mere boy, and their paternal uncle, Sicinius Aemilianus (whom Apuleius addresses most prominently in the Apologia), join him in bringing Apuleius to court on the charge that he had gained the affections of Pudentilla by charms and magic spells.
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The date was 160 AD and Apuleius was brought before the law courts in Sabratha near Tripoli. In his extensive rebuttal of the charges against him, Apuleius would not only discredit the plaintiffs through elaborate language and rhetoric but also explore the concepts of "magic", middle Platonism and contemporary medical science in detail.
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The Apologia is interesting as it is one of the few latin speeches from the Imperial period that has come down to us in its entirety. The defence against the charges can be divided into three sections. There is a brief opening section in which Apuleius refutes the charges levelled against him and criticises the lead accuser, Sicinius Aemilianus, followed by a second where he argues that the "magical practices" their accusations are based on are in fact reputable scientific experiments and finally the third in which he concludes in dismantling the charges levelled against him.
The defence speech is filled with countless rhetorical techniques and powerful invectives against his accusers. No more evident is the power of Apuleius' rhetoric than in the opening defence against using dentifrices. Apuleius stated: "Unless, perchance, I was deserving of reprehension for sending to Calpurnianus a powder made of Arabian drugs, seeing that he was a person who might have with much more propriety, after the filthy manner of the Iberians 'With his own water washed his teeth and rusty gums' as Catullus says. I perceived just now some who could hardly control his laughter, when the orator inveighed with such asperity against cleaning of the teeth, and pronounced the word 'dentifrice' with more indignation than any body else would speak of poison." Apuleius, then, had the crowd well within his grasp even at the early stages of the oration.
Aside from the rhetorical prowess demonstrated, Apuleius' Apologia is most important in a historical sense for its details on Middle Platonism, science and "magic", which he goes into detail in in the middle sections. The first topic Apuleius introduces are "dentifrices" in contemporary dental care. He describes teeth as cared for with foreign Arabian powders, rather than alternatively "charcoal snatched from the funeral pyre" and rinsed "with common water", which he insults Scipio Aemilianus with doing. Care of the mouth was deemed important to Apuleius and he argues: "according to my way of thinking, I should say that nothing so ill becomes a man who is of free birth and liberal education as inattention to the appearance of the mouth."
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Apuleius then moves on to explore Middle Platonism but following that he explores the phenomenon of a "looking glass" or mirror and light in general as the next objects of contemporary science. Firstly, Apuleius argues "in the mirror is to be seen the image wonderfully reflected, not only with the resemblance traced out, but endowed, too, with motion, and obedient to every gesture of the person whom it represents" and that looking into a mirror is a praise-able thing contrary to what his accusers argue seeing that "in tracing all likeness by hand, a considerable time is consumed in the work, and yet, after all, no resemblance is to be seen comparable with that to be viewed in the mirror."
Apuleius then goes on to explore the scientific study of light itself, charting the major theories of light in contemporary scholarship. First he states the Epicurean philosophy: "whether it is that, as Epicurus says, images which emanate from our bodies in perpetual flow, being a kind of slough, as it were, as soon as they strike against any smooth and solid surface, are thrown back again, and so turned the contrary way", followed by what he calls the theory of philosophers that our rays of vision, whether you take the Platonic theory that states that our rays of vision flow from middle of the eyes and mingle and unite with the external light, the theory of Archytas that states our rays of vision only proceed from the eyes "without any foreign admixture whatever" or the Stoic philosophy that they are broken by the tension of the atmosphere, in any case "when they [the rays of light] have struck upon any body that is dense, smooth and shining, rebound and return to the features at the same angle of incidence at which they had struck that body, and so represent in the mirror that which they touch and behold externally to it." Apuleius, then, if choosing the theory of Archytas concerning rays as the closest to the truth, would have had a reasonably sufficient understanding of light and mirrors by modern standards.
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Apuleius' expounding of Middle Platonism revolves around the concepts of two Venuses put forward by Plato in the Symposium and the "form of Love" expressed in the recount of Diotima's words in the same work. Apuleius begins by explaining to the court the first concept. He states: "how, that Venus is a twofold goddess, each of the pair producing a peculiar passion, and in different kinds of lovers. One of them is "Vulgar," who is prompted by the ordinary passion of love, to stimulate not only the human feelings, but even those of cattle and wild beasts, to lust, and commit the enslaved bodies of beings thus smitten by her to immoderate and furious embraces. The other is the "Heavenly" Venus, who presides over the purest of love, who cares for men alone and but few of them, and who influence her devotees by no stimulants or allurements to base desire. For the love that is engendered by her is not wanton or lascivious love, but, on the contrary, it is serious and unadorned, and allures its votaries to virtue by its own intrinsic beauty; and if at any time she does commend a graceful form, she scrupulously protects it against all cause for reproach." Apuleius' words were a relation of Plato's philosophy expressed principally in the Symposium through the speech of Socrates. The dialogue presented a philosophical contest between the characters Socrates, Alcibiades and Aristophanes centred around the theme of love. At the turn of Socrates, he put forward the idea of two Aphrodites.
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Secondly, Apuleius recalls Diotima's speech related by Socrates in the Symposium, thereby encapsulating Plato's theory of forms. He states: "nor, indeed, is there anything else in the beauty of the person deserving of love, beyond the fact that it recalls to the mind which took its origin in Deity, that beauty which in all its truth and purity it once beheld among the gods" and quotes Plato's words, "where wise men love, all others will desire." It is in part an expression of Plato's theory put forward in the Republic that
philosophy is the only way to ascent into the intellectual world but also by connection with Diotima's discourse an expression that Cupid's true object is the love of the soul and that by understanding and according to him, one can understand the form of love, which was the true ideal of love, and thereby understand the divine realm.
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Apuleius also provides us a with a brief insight into magic and mystery cults in the late 2nd Century Imperial period. Apuleius himself professes to be initiated in several mystery cults including the Dionysian mysteries and talks about the subject of purchasing fish, whose use was thought to be connected with magic and mystery cults, in the Apologia. In section 30, he refutes the accusation of nefarious use of fish arguing through quote of Virgil that a beneficial potion can be made with them, rather than the sinister dealings he lists that he states his accusers are thinking of. The subjects revolve around cutting away fish from "scaly backs", digging them up from the ground and cropping them with a sickle rather than the conventional catching of fish from the sea with a rook.
In section 44, he describes magic as "generally carried out by night, hidden in deep gloom, removed from all observation, and effected by whispered spells" but also details some of the thought-of magical practices in the 2nd Century Imperial period. He lists the claims of his accusers that a man named Crassus had witnessed a room full of bird feathers and covered with black soot, and that that was a sign of magical practices, and later in section 61 he talks of an object made out of boxwood, which his accusers describe as "the figure of a skeleton"and used in magic. In both cases, he strongly refutes the charges, claiming his accusers were mistaken and that the object made out of boxwood was used in legitimate religious worship.
Apuleius' defence is also centred around the claim that he did not hide an object beneath a linen cloth with which he entranced Pudentilla as his accusers claim, but rather it concealed "certain tokens" connected with sacred rites, having professed in section 50 to have been initiated in the Dionysian and other Greek Mysteries. The presumption is that magic and mystery cults were closely entwined in the late 2nd Century Imperial period,
although whereas magic was outlawed, initiation into mystery cults and sacred rites was widespread. Apuleius both addresses members of the crowd initiated in the Dionysian Mysteries and recounts his past lectures on mystery cults to the court.
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Apuleius produces a letter from Pudentilla to her son, Pontianus, stating her desire to marry. He himself states that "from this letter it may be quite manifest to any one that it was not by any incantations of mine that Pudentilla was prevailed upon to abandon her prolonged state of widowhood." He then follows on to produce a diatribe of Herrenius Rufus for bringing the case to court in the final sections, dismantling all the seemingly insubstantial evidence that she had stated that she had been compulsed to marry him by magic arguing that she had been coerced into doing so by her relatives and in any case their arguments were both irrational and he had shown no financial reason for doing so.
Apuleius was presumably successful in defending himself against the charges set against him and was able to continue on his literary career. It is thought he would go on to write the Metamorphoses in the later part of his career and would occasionally give speeches in public, parts of which are recorded in the Florida.
The Florida
Apuleius is never heard of again in Oeä, where he had resided at the time of the trial and had lived for three years. It may well have been the case that the distressing family quarrel had left lingering resentment and he had chosen to move elsewhere. The next instance written records of Apuleius appear are the Florida, which is an anthology of 23 speeches delivered by Apuleius. There were primarily delivered in Carthage, where, having left Oeä, Apuleius had gained renown as a philosopher, poet and rhetorician.
He states in excerpt 16 that a statue was erected in his honour in Carthage: "Before I begin, noblemen of Africa, to thank you for the statue which you did me the honour to propose during my presence here, and which you kindly decreed to erect to me during my absence." The topics of Apuleius' orations range from panegyrics of proconsuls and lists of literary works to thankful acceptances on gaining religious positions. They give us a rich insight into what epideictic rhetoric was like at the time and the life of a provincial citizen in the 2nd Century Imperial period.
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Apuleius' rhetoric is notable in its inclusion of panegyrics of proconsuls governing the region of Africa. In excerpt 9, he talks of the proconsul, Severianus, who judging from the words the "two Caesars", which refers to the reign of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, must have been the proconsul of Africa some time between 161-169 AD. Apuleius stated: "Never to my knowledge, did the province of Africa ever revere more, and fear less any proconsul; in no year of administration but yours, had shame more power than fear towards restraining offences. No one but you has used the like power so often to serve, so seldom to terrify."
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Likewise in excerpt 17, he produces a panegyric of the then proconsul, Scipio Orfitus (163-164 AD). He proclaimed his reign is "not less pleasing than profitable to the youths, and adults, and seniors of the Carthaginians, whom this worthiest of all proconsuls has relieved by his indulgence; and has, by the moderation of his desires and his temperate treatment, given plenty to youth, joyfulness to adults, serenity to seniors." It appears that a regular feature of epideictic rhetoric was subservience and praise towards the ruling proconsul, who was ultimately in charge of civil and judicial matters in the region, however the language is also flagrant reminiscent of warmth and uncomeliness.
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Apuleius also gained significant honours in Carthage during his time there. Excerpt 16 attests the conferral of the chief-priesthood on him. He stated: "He [Aemilianus Strabo, who was consul in 156 AD and had no yet become proconsul of Africa] proved from the priesthood I have taken upon me, that the highest honour in Carthage was before me." At the height of his renown and career and in this setting and point in time, it is thought Apuleius would go on to write his only extant novel, the Metamorphoses.
The Metamorphoses
The year in which Apuleius wrote the Metamorphoses has long been a debate among academic scholars. Kenith Dowden in his article, "The Audience of the Golden Ass" (1994), argued that the Metamorphoses was orientated to a Roman audience and, therefore, was written at the start of Apuleius' career while he was studying in Rome. The Italian, Umberto Caratello, in his article "Apuleio mori nel 163-164?" ("Did Apuleius die in 163-164 AD) (1963), alternatively argued that the Metamorphoses was written immediately after the Apologia but before the Florida therefore dating it to around 163-164 AD. More recently, Stephen Harrison has argued in his book, "Apuleius: A Latin Sophist" (2000), that the Metamorphoses was written later than both the Apologia and Florida, dating it to around 171 AD.
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The most probable answer is a later dating of the Metamorphoses. The Metamorphoses is not mentioned in the Apologia, which you would think would be used in some way considering the trial was on magic. In Apuleius' list of his literary works in excerpt 9, he states: "I prefer to compose with a writing reed, poems of all kinds adapted to the laurel branch, the lyre, the sock, the buskin; likewise satires and enigmas; likewise various histories; as, also, orations praised by the eloquent, and dialogues praised by philosophers; and to compose these and such like works, both in Greek and Latin, with two-fold study, with equal diligence and similar style" notably failing to include prose-fiction, which suggests that he had not yet written a novel. There is further the possibility that the Metamorphoses is a parody of the Hieroi Logoi, which Harrison argues in his book "Apuleius: A Latin Sophist (2000). The Hieroi Logoi, were Pythagorean "Sacred Discourses",which were published in 171 AD, therefore suggesting the Metamorphoses was published in 171 AD or later.
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The Metamorphoses itself is an adaption of the Greek short comic romance, Lucius or The Ass, most probably written by Lucian of Samosata, who lived from 125 - 180 AD. The novella, Lucius or The Ass, sets forth a tale in which the protagonist, Lucius, is transformed into an ass, and endures a series of comical toils and sufferings, however Apuleius adapts the tale in the Metamorphoses to include his salvation at the hands of the goddess Isis and later initiation into the cult of Isis-Osiris. The tale is likewise embellished with numerous eloquently composed and high-brow literary elements, such as the "Cupid and Psyche" tale, which mirrors the main plot where Psyche is deserted by Cupid and forced to perform a series of tasks for Venus including descending to the Underworld.
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In the Metamorphoses, Apuleius essentially sets forth a tale in which the protagonist, Lucius, travels to Thessaly, which is famous for witchcraft, and meets his aunt Byrrhena in the centre of Hypata, where he had been staying with his friend, Milo. Byrrhena warns Lucius that Milo's wife, Pamphile, is a witch and will kill Lucius. However, Lucius is highly interested in witchcraft himself and isn't swayed away. In book 3, Milo and Lucius watch Milo's wife, Pamphile, transform herself into a bird. Lucius follows on to beg Pamphile to do the same to himself. Instead of a bird, Pamphile accidentally transforms Lucius into a donkey and tells him the only way he can change himself back is to eat a rose. Later that evening, Milo's house is raided by thieves who take Lucius the ass away with their plunder and so ensues Lucius' long toils in his state of an ass.
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Lucius is first beaten and chased by dogs while held captive by the robbers in book 4, then entrusted to a wicked boy who torments him in book 8, having been rescued by his fellow captive, Charite's, fiancé, Tlepolemus, who had got all the thieves drunk and slain them in book 7. In book 8, a man arrives at the house of Tlepolemus, announcing that Charite and Tlepolemus have been killed by a man named Thrassilus, following which all the slaves of the house desert the property taking Lucius with them. Lucius is then sold to a cook in book 8 and about to be killed and eaten. He escapes however is then sold to a Baker's wife in book 9, and forced to drive the Baker's mill-wheel. Lucius's state as an ass has comically enabled him to hear better and he hears numerous tales of witchcraft and adultery. He then becomes part of the circus in book 10, and a woman so enamoured by him takes him to bed with her. About to go on stage at the end of book 10, Apuleius runs away and falls asleep on a beach.
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Lamenting his misfortune, Lucius washes himself seven times in the sea before beseeching the "Queen of Heaven" to save him from his sufferings. To his luck, the goddess Isis appears rising out of the sea and directs him to eat a crown of roses that will be held by one of her priests during a religious procession the following day. She states also that he must be initiated into the cult of Isis too.
The religious procession the following day gives us a brief insight into what mystery cults, and in particular the cult of Isis, were like in the 2nd Century AD. Apuleius stated that "females, splendidly arrayed in white garments, expressing their joy by various gestures, and adorned with vernal chaplets, scattered flowers on the ground from their bosoms, along the path of the sacred procession" and that there were those who "sprinkled the streets with drops of genial balsam, and other kinds of perfume", those who bore "lamps, torches, wax tapers, and other kinds of artificial light" and "musicians, playing sweetly on pipes and flutes", with a choir as well. Apuleius also detailed the presence of those who had been initiated into the sacred rites, all wearing white linen garments, and with the women's hair enveloped in a transparent covering and the men shaven. According to his narration, the chief ministers arranged in a procession of four rows, each carrying insignia of the goddess, including palm trees, lamps, a symbol of corn and a symbol of Equity. Finally, the symbols of the gods come behind the procession, including a representation of the messenger god, a symbol of a cow and an effigy of the deity herself.
Initiation into the cult of Isis, and, from what we can surmise of other mystery cults also, was thus an elaborate affair, rich with perfumes and music, and ordered with hierachical positions and distinctive insignia. In no other writings of Apuleius or that of any other Roman author do we have a better picture of mystery cults. From his depiction in book 11 we can presume that it was a highly sensuous and regal religious rite.
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Lucius is transformed back into a human and embarks on a second initiation into the cult of Osiris. He also finds restitution as a lawyer in Rome. The fall and redemption of Lucius is mirrored in the Cupid and Psyche tale, which takes up all of book 7 and parts of book 6 and 8.
Analysing the intentions of Apuleius, we can hypothesise that he sought to incorporate semi-autobiographic elements such as Lucius' initiation into the Isis-Osiris mysteries and the multitude of tales of witchcraft. The narrative also sets forth many Platonic models and theories such as Plato's theory in the Phaedo and Republic that slavish pleasures enslave and that immortal soul in Platonic terms must purge itself of bodily defilements in order to attain eternal life with the gods. There are also antithetical allusions between Isis and the witches in terms of representations of Venus, which relates the dualistic conceptualisation of Aphrodite in the Symposium. There may also be an underlying Platonic basis regarding what magic itself constitutes if you read the Metamorphoses in the context of Plutarch's de Iside et Osiride, which was written 50 years previously and set forth a Greek rationalising approach to the cult of Isis-Osiris in which Isis is philosophy guiding the initiate to true being, represented as Osiris. Apuleius alludes to a "Plutarch" in the opening book.
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Ultimately, Apuleius sought to blend serious religious and philosophical elements within a bawdy comic and satirical romantic tale. The prologue epitomises the character of the tale. Apuleius stated: "In the following Milesian [a genre usually about sexual proclivities] narrative, I will string together various stories, and regale your listening ears with some merry whispers, if only you will not disdain to look upon this Egyptian papyrus, written with the subtle point of a Nilotic reed." Apuleius, then was attempting a comic and satirical novel, however stood strongly behind the religious and philosophical elements.
End of Life
Judging from excerpt 9 of the Florida in which Apuleius lists his mediums of literature, more works of Apuleius are lost than those that have come down to us. Past the Florida, little of his life is known and no other literature is attributed to him past the Metamorphoses. In section 4 of the Apologia, he gives a jokey description of his health: "unremitting application to learned labours has effaced from me all comeliness, has made me thin, dried up my natural juices, expunged my healthy colour, and impaired my vigour." However we can only presume he died some time after the Metamorphoses was written.
Apuleius is notable in the vanity and self-praise he shows in both the Apologia and Florida. He doesn't have much of a scientific spirit and his multitude of stories and learned explanations are geared most prominently towards a half-educated reader. However, his humour and imagination is legendary. His style is most clearly characterised by archaisms and extreme floridity. The style of his Latin is different from those of the late Republican period and reflect the North African evolution that incorporated the warmth of Semitic demographics.
His literature and speeches nonetheless have and continue to inspire thousands of readers throughout history. The tale of Cupid and Psyche for one has inspired the art and imaginations of subsequent generations. He paints a wild and indulgent image of Imperial Rome that was at the height of its power.