ndwork of an elaborate romance,
interspersed with numerous episodes, of which the beautiful story of
Cupid and Psyche is the most celebrated, and altering the _denouement_
to suit the religious revival of which he was an apostle.

The adventures of the youthful hero in the form of an ass are much the
same in both romances, but in Apuleius he is restored to human shape by
the aid of Isis, into whose mysteries he is initiated, and finally
becomes her priestess. The book is a remarkable illustration of the
contemporary reaction against a period of scepticism, of the general
appetite for miracle and magic, and of the influx of oriental and
Egyptian ideas into the old theology. It is also composed with a
well-marked literary aim, defined by Kretzschmann as the emulation of
the Greek sophists, and the transplantation of their _tours de force_
into the Latin language. Nothing, indeed, is more characteristic of
Apuleius than his versatility, unless it be his ostentation and
self-confidence in the display of it. The dignified, the ludicrous, the
voluptuous, the horrible, succeed each other with bewildering rapidity;
fancy and feeling are everywhere apparent, but not less so affectation,
meretricious ornament, and that effort to say everything finely which
prevents anything being said well. The Latinity has a strong African
colouring, and is crammed with obsolete words, agreeably to the taste of
the time. When these defects are mitigated or overlooked, the _Golden
Ass_ will be pronounced a most successful work, invaluable as an
illustration of ancient manners, and full of entertainment from
beginning to end. The most famous and poetically beautiful portion is
the episode of Cupid and Psyche, adapted from a popular legend of which
traces are found in most fairy mythologies, which explains the seeming
incongruity of its being placed in the mouth of an old hag. The
allegorical purport he has infused into it is his own, and entirely in
the spirit of the Platonic philosophy. Don Quixote's adventure with the
wine-skins, and Gil Blas's captivity among the robbers, are palpably
borrowed from Apuleius; and several of the humorous episodes, probably
current as popular stories long before his time, reappear in Boccaccio.

Of Apuleius's other writings, the _Apology_ has been already mentioned.
The _Florida_ (probably meaning simply "anthology," without any
reference to style) consists of a collection of excerpts from his
declamations, ingen