An Interpretation of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses

When Macrobius¹ expresses surprise that Apuleius, the professed student of Plato, should have stooped to the writing of fiction, he voices thereby not only the ancient reaction toward such a performance on the part of a self-respecting rhetor, but likewise that of the modern philologian. For the latter, no less than Macrobius, must explain the Metamorphoses with some reference to ancient literary conventions; and these on the whole were hostile to fiction of the Apuleian type. Partly for this reason, but more perhaps in view of the nature of book 11, speculation has arisen as to why, or for what serious purpose, if any, the Metamorphoses was written. Does it contain symbolism, or autobiography, and if so what? Further, what artistic principles govern its structure? These and similar questions are best dealt with in the light of what we can learn about the sources of the Metamorphoses, the individual tendencies of Apuleius as a writer, and the nature of the species to which the Metamorphoses belongs.

It is now agreed on all sides that Apuleius based his Metamorphoses on a Greek work by the same title, which Photius (Bibl. 129) describes as resembling the Lucianic Λούκιος ἢ Ὄνος word for word except for its greater fullness. Both extant versions, the Apuleian and the Lucianic, are derived independently from this lost Greek original, the Onos being a mere abridgment of the same, and the Latin Metamorphoses abundantly and fancifully interpolated.² The original can be re-[238|239]constructed in its main outlines and with some certainty by carefully comparing the two extant versions. Previous studies in this connection have led me to the conclusion that the Greek Μεταμορφώσεις was not more than twice the length of its epitome the Onos, and probably not quite that long; that it dealt with no other story than that of Lucius,³ and that it was ostensibly a satire upon marvel-seeking.⁴ Against the background of this original, and in the light of those passages in the Metamorphoses which can be proved interpolations, the originality of Apuleius stands forth in clear relief. We see [239|240] that he has brought in deliberately a large number of short stories which in themselves have no conceivable purpose other than that of pure entertainment, and no logical bearing upon the main story; further, that the eleventh book with its solemn description of the mysteries, and its totally different tendency, has been substituted for the original burlesque ending preserved in the Greek epitome; and, finally, that the satirical motivation of the Greek original, though clearly retained in places, has been obscured by interpolation and by the author’s preoccupation with various other fancies. These points, to which I refer later, have an important bearing on the interpretation of the Metamorphoses as a whole.

It is also important to take into consideration the habits and tendencies of Apuleius as a literary workman. These are revealed clearly enough by a detailed study of the manner in which he has recast the original story of Lucius, as well as by a consideration of the psychology and structure of his other works. For example, in commenting upon the Apologia, Vallette observes with truth that for Apuleius “tout prétexte est bon pour sortir de la question; il s’engage en des sentiers de traverse; il vagabonde; “L’Apologie est faite d’un assemblage disparate de morceaux rattachés entre eux par un lien plus artificiel que réel; ce qui lui manque le plus, c’est l’unité . . . . à tout moment il semble oublier qu’il parle pour prouver et pour convaincre; il raconte, il cause, ‘il s’amuse à tout autre chose qu’à la gaguere’; l’anecdote n’est pas un moyen, elle est le but.”⁵

The same is true of the Metamorphoses, as I have elsewhere demonstrated.⁶ In the story of Lucius it would appear that the author is almost incapable of clinging for any length of time to the thread of a single motive. He frequently becomes so preoccupied with the fancy of the moment that he neglects his context altogether; the result is irrelevant digression...