Some Aspects of the Literary Art of Apuleius in the Metamorphoses

The relation of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses to other versions of the same story was the subject of a great deal of futile and uncritical discussion previous to 1887, at which time Karl Bürger, in a brilliant dissertation (De Lucio Patrensi), proved conclusively that the Metamorphoses and the Lucianic Λούκιος ἢ Ὄνος were both derived independently from a lost Greek Μεταμορφώσεις which Photius (Bibl. 129) ascribes to one Lucius of Patrae.¹ After having thus established the interrelationships between the three versions, Bürger proceeded to reconstruct the lost original, and to determine as well as he could how much of that original had been retained by Apuleius, and what episodes in the Metamorphoses had been interpolated by the Roman writer himself.² He concluded, in general,^* that all of the longer digressions from the main story were the interpolations of Apuleius, and that the original version was of a uniformly ironical tenor and dealt only with the immediate [196|197] fortunes of the protagonist Lucius. The present study tends to confirm these general conclusions, partly by some new arguments and demonstrations, and partly by implication.³ My chief purpose, however, is different from that of Bürger: I hope to go further, and by a study of the interpolations and other changes due to Apuleius, to set forth as clearly as possible, and to illustrate, his tendencies and methods in recasting his Greek original. These tendencies will, I trust, throw light on the real nature of Apuleius’ literary workmanship. In deducing them I shall confine myself to those interpolations and changes for which Apuleius can be plainly proved responsible. Once deduced, however, they will serve, in otherwise doubtful cases, as helpful criteria for distinguishing what Apuleius has added or changed from what he has simply translated or paraphrased.

Before entering into the detailed comparisons of Apuleius’ text with the Onos, which this study necessarily involves, something must be said about the principles upon which these comparisons will be based, and which, in some cases, determine their significance. We have already observed that the Latin Metamorphoses and the Onos are both derived independently from a lost Greek Μεταμορφώσεις. Of the two derivatives, the Onos is by far the more accurate and reliable representative of the lost original, in so far as it is complete; for it is a plain epitome of the Μεταμορφώσεις, copied therefrom, except for omitted passages, practically word for word, and showing no trace of individual tendencies or noteworthy additions of any kind. The evidence for this conclusion, most of which will be found in Bürger, cannot here be given in full; but the [197|198] following points are especially noteworthy. Photius (Bibl. 129) in describing the lost Greek work, says explicitly that the Onos resembled it αὐταῖς τε λέξεσι καὶ συντάξεσι except for parts that had been left out; and this is verified by the fact that Apuleius, following the same lost original, often agrees quite literally with the phraseology of the Onos.⁴ Moreover, the text of the Onos sometimes shows abrupt and illogical transitions due to the epitomizer’s copying blindly certain phrases or sentences from the Μεταμορφώσεις which were made intelligible and consistent only by passages which he has omitted, and which are retained by Apuleius (see Bürger (1887) 13–15, 23, 35). Again, whenever Apuleius and the author of the Onos contradict each other in statements of fact, the latter is almost invariably found to be right, so far as one can judge from the context, whereas I have noted upwards of fifty instances in which Apuleius is plainly wrong, that is, self-contradictory or intrinsically absurd, or distinctly less plausible or less logical than the Onos. The epitome does indeed contain a number of abrupt transitions and one or two confused [198|199] passages; but these are due to omission or to hasty bridging of gaps, and never, as in Apuleius, to willful addition or alteration—at least so far as any one has been able to discover.

The accuracy of Apuleius’ version may therefore be tested by reference to the Onos. When we find a passage in the Latin text that...