Apuleius: Rhetorical Works

by Apuleius, Stephen J. Harrison (Translator)

These rhetorical texts by Apuleius, second-century Latin writer and author of the famous novel Metamorphoses or Golden Ass, have not been translated in English since 1909. They are some of the very few Latin speeches surviving from their century, and constitute important evidence for Latin and Roman North African social and intellectual culture in the second century AD. They are the work of a talented writer who is being increasingly viewed as the major literary artist of his time in Latin. The translations are presented with explanatory notes.

236 pages, Hardcover

First published December 6, 2001

About the author

People best know The Golden Ass , work of Roman philosopher and satirist Lucius Apuleius.

Apuleius (Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis “Africanus”; Berber: Afulay) wrote Latin-language prose.

This Berber of Numidia lived under the empire. From Madaurus (now M'Daourouch, Algeria), he studied Platonism in Athens and traveled to Italy, Asia Minor and Egypt. Several cults or mysteries initiated him.
In the most famous incident in his life, people then accused him of using magic to gain the attentions and fortune of a wealthy widow. Apuleius declaimed and then distributed a witty tour de force in his own defense before the proconsul and a court of magistrates convened in Sabratha, near ancient Tripoli, Libya.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apuleius

Reviews

[René Mets]

Redevoeringen uit de 2e eeuw na Christus, het klinkt niet direct als een pageturner…
Maar Apuleius trekt wel echt alle registers open om in een rechtszaak te bewijzen dat hij geen heks is :) Vol vuur, vol referenties, vol grapjes, alles kan in zijn verdediging.

Hij heeft het zelfs over tandpasta (een vermaard heksenmiddel!):

« laat je kwade tong, die enkel bittere leugens produceert, maar rustig liggen in zijn vieze, stinkende hol. […] Het ligt anders als je weet dat je iets moois en zinnigs gaat zeggen. Dan is het goed je mond tevoren te reinigen, net als een beker voor een goede dronk. »

Kortom, wees flinke heksjes en schrob die tanden. En ik heb goed gelachen en genoten van Apu’s belezenheid

[Bohdan Pechenyak]

A classical work of the Second Sophistic period in the Roman Empire, specifically in the 2nd c. CE, when Apuleius lived and wrote. Three major rhetorical works - The Apology, Florida, and The God (Daimon) of Socrates - reveal the author’s well-rounded erudition and wit. An important piece of the Greco-Roman puzzle, in a manner of speaking.