The Golden Ass

Apuleius – according to Augustine of Hippo, "the most famous of our Africans", an ancient Roman writer and poet, a Plato-influenced philosopher who lived in the 2nd century, the author of works of which we have known since school that Pushkin "read Apuleius eagerly, but did not read Cicero". Apuleius's novel "Metamorphoses" in 11 books, since the time of Augustine of Hippo has been widely known by the title "The Golden Ass". This work has survived to us in complete form practically without loss, except for a few spoiled phrases, which is a great rarity for ancient literature. The book tells the incredible adventures of a wayward noble Roman youth, Lucius, who was mistakenly turned into an ass and, in that guise, experienced many adventures, often amusing but sometimes quite dangerous. As an ass, Lucius sees without embellishment the life of many strata of late antique society – from farmers and bandits to the priests of Cybele and wealthy townspeople. And it is precisely the broad description of the morals of the Roman Empire that still makes this book interesting and entertaining even for the modern reader.