Apuleius: A Latin Sophist

by Stephen J. Harrison

This book is a response to the literary pleasures and scholarly problems of reading the texts of Apuleius, most famous for his novel Metamorphoses or Golden Ass . Living in second-century North Africa, Apuleius was more than an author of fiction; he was a consummate orator and professional intellectual, Platonist philosopher, extraordinary stylist, relentless self-promoter, and versatile author of a remarkably diverse body of work, much of which is lost to us. This book is written for those able to read Apuleius in Latin, and Apuleian works are accordingly quoted without translation (although where they exist suitable translations have been indicated). In this book Dr Harrison has provided a literary handbook to all the works of Apuleius as well as the Metamorphoses , and has set his works against their intellectual not only Apuleius' career as a performing intellectual, a sophist, in second-century Roman North Africa, but also the larger contemporary framework of the
Greek Second Sophistic. While focusing primarily on the texts as literature and literary-historical, the book also deals with Apuleius' works of didactic philosophy and his consequent connection with Middle Platonism.

292 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Stephen Harrison (born 31 October 1960) is a British classicist and Professor of Latin Literature at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He specialises in the poetry of Virgil and Horace, the Roman novel and the reception of classical literature.

Also publishes as "S.J. Harrison".

Reviews

[Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really for someone who can read Apuleius in the original and whose interest extends beyond The Golden Ass. Harrison's book opens with a judicious summary of what can be known of the life of Apuleius, and then situates him squarely in the Second Sophistic—the Roman literary movement borne of fascination with Greek philosophy in the second century CE. Harrison discusses the Apologia (a published court case where Apuleius had to defend himself against charges of witchcraft) and in the course of that discussion gives what is probably the fullest, most robust biographical account based on available evidence. He then turns to lesser Apuleian works, such as the Florida and De Deo Socrati, sometimes only known in excerpts quoted in other works. Finally, Harrison turns to the Metamorphoses (The Golden Ass) itself. Having laid extensive groundwork characterizing Apuleius and his learning, Harrison is ideally positioned to offer a reading of the Apuleius' masterpiece, a persuasive reading that accounts for the sometimes apparent disjuncture between the first ten books and the final book of the text. Harrison rejects a Platonizing reading that sees the entire text as an elaborate allegory, as well as any reading that takes the final conversions of book 11 at face value. He opts instead for a subtly playful reading that insists on Apuleius' self-display as an orator skilled in Platonic gamesmanship and philosophy. This in the end seems convincing. The work is clearly written throughout and, as many Oxford scholarly texts do, opts for the vastly more useful footnote over endnotes. Contains a thorough bibliography as well.