n of one of the principal
officials, he received an excellent education, first at Carthage and
subsequently at Athens. After leaving Athens he undertook a long course
of travel, especially in the East, principally with the view of
obtaining initiation into religious mysteries. Having practised for some
time as an advocate at Rome, he returned to Africa. On a journey to
Alexandria he fell sick at Oea (Tripoli), where he made the acquaintance
of a rich widow, Aemilia Pudentilla, whom he subsequently married. The
members of her family disapproved of the marriage, and indicted Apuleius
on a charge of having gained her affections by magical arts. He easily
established his innocence, and his spirited, highly entertaining, but
inordinately long defence (_Apologia_ or _De Magia_) before the
proconsul Claudius Maximus is our principal authority for his biography.
From allusions in his subsequent writings, and the mention of him by St.
Augustine, we gather that the remainder of his prosperous life was
devoted to literature and philosophy. At Carthage he was elected
provincial priest of the imperial cult, in which capacity he occupied a
prominent position in the provincial council, had the duty of collecting
and managing the funds for the temples of the cult, and the
superintendence of the games in the amphitheatre. He lectured on
philosophy and rhetoric, like the Greek sophists, apparently with
success, since statues were erected in his honour at Carthage and
elsewhere. The year of his death is not known.

The work on which the fame of Apuleius principally rests has little
claim to originality. The _Metamorphoses_ or _Golden Ass_ (the latter
title seems not to be the author's own, but to have been bestowed in
compliment, just as the _Libri Rerum Quotidianarum_ of Gaius were called
_Aurei_) was founded on a narrative in the _Metamorphoses_ of Lucius of
Patrae, a work extant in the time of Photius. From Photius's account
(impugned, however, by Wieland and Courier), this book would seem to
have consisted of a collection of marvellous stories, related in an
inartistic fashion, and in perfect good faith. The literary capabilities
of this particular narrative attracted the attention of Apuleius's
contemporary, Lucian, who proceeded to work it up in his own manner,
adhering, as Photius seems to indicate, very closely to the original,
but giving it a comic and satiric turn. Apuleius followed this
rifacimento, making it, however, the grou