A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

250 APPULEIUS.
dramatic writers, and in quotations preserved by
the grammarians; and those for which no authority can be produced were in all probability drawn
from the same source, and not arbitrarily coined to
answer the purpose of the moment, as some critics
have imagined. The least faulty, perhaps, of all
his pieces is the Apologia. Here he spoke from
deep feeling, and although we may in many places
detect the inveterate affectation of the rhetorician,
yet there is often a bold, manly, straight-forward
heartiness and truth which we seek in vain in
those compositions where his feelings were less
touched.
We do not know the year in which our author was
born, nor that in which he died. But the names
of Lollius Urbicus, Scipio Orfitus, Severianus,
Lollianus Avitus, and others who are incidentally
mentioned by him as his contemporaries, and who
from other sources are known to have held high
offices under the Antonines, enable us to determine
the epoch when he flourished.
The extant works of Appuleius are: I. Metamorphoseon seu de Asino Aureo Libri XI. This
celebrated romance, which, together with the b'oos
of Lucian, is said to have been founded upon a
work bearing the same title by a certain Lucius of
Patrae (Photius, Bibl. cod. cxxix. p. 165) belonged
to the class of tales distinguished by the ancients
under the title of IMilesiae fabulae. It seems to have
been intended simply as a satire upon the hypocrisy
and debauchery of certain orders of priests, the frauds
of juggling pretenders to supernatural powers, and
the general profligacy of public morals. There are
some however who discover a more recondite meaning, and especially the author of the Divine Legation
of Moses, who has at great length endeavoured to
prove, that the Golden Ass was written with the
view of recommending the Pagan religion in opposition to Christianity, which was at that time
making rapid progress, and especially of inculcating
the importance of initiation into the purer mysteries. (Div. Leg. bk. ii. sect. iv.) The epithet
Aureus is generally supposed to have been bestowed in consequence of the admiration in which
the tale was held, for being considered as the most
excellent composition of its kind, it was compared
to the most excellent of metals, just as the apophthegms of Pythagoras were distinguished as XpvoeTri. Warburton, however, ingeniously contends
that aureus was the common epithet bestowed
upon all Milesian tales, because they were such as
strollers used to rehearse for a piece of money to
the rabble in a circle, after the fashion of oriental
story-tellers. He founds his conjecture upon an
expression in one of Pliny's Epistles (ii. 20),
assem para, et accipe auream fabulam, which
seems, however, rather to mean " give me a piece
of copper and receive in return a story worth a
piece of gold, or, precious as gold," which brings
us back to the old explanation. The well-known
and exquisitely beautiful episode of Cupid and
Psyche is introduced in the 4th, 5th, and 6th
books. This, whatever opinion we may form of
the principal narrative, is evidently an allegory,
and is generally understood to shadow forth the
progress of the soul to perfection.
II. Floridorum Libri IV. An dvOoAoyia, containing select extracts from various orations and
dissertations, collected probably by some admirer.
It has, however, been imagined that we have here
a sort of common-place-book, in which Appuleius

APPULEIUS.
registered, from time to time, such ideas and forms
of expression as he thought worth preserving, with
a view to their insertion in some continuous composition. This notion, although adopted by Oudendorp, has not found many supporters. It is
wonderful that it should ever have been seriously
propounded.
III. De Deo Socratis Liber. This treatise has
been roughly attacked by St. Augustine.
IV. De Dogmate Platonis Libri tres. The first
book contains some account of the speculative doctrines of Plato, the second of his morals, the third
of his logic.
V. De Mcundo Liber. A translation of the work
7repi KOicdaov, at one time ascribed to Aristotle.
VI. Apologia sive De Magia Liber. The oration described above, delivered before Claudius
Maximus.
VII. HIermetis Trismegisti De Natura Deorum
Dialogus. Scholars are at variance with regard
to the authenticity of this translation of the Asclepian dialogue. As to the original, see Fabric.
Bibl. Grace. i. 8.
Besides these a number of works now lost are
mentioned incidentally by Appuleius himself, and
many others belonging to some Appuleius are cited
by the grammarians. He professes to be the author of "poemata omne genus apta virgae, lyrae,
socco, cothurno, item satiras ac griphos, item historias
varics rerum nec non orationes laudatas disertis nec
non dialogos laudatos philosophis," both in Greek
and Latin (Florid. ii. 9, iii. 18, 20, iv. 24); and
we find especial mention made of a collection of
poems on playful and amatory themes, entitled
Ludicra, from which a few fragments are quoted
in the Apologia. (pp. 408, 409, 414; compare
538.)
The Editio Princeps was printed at Rome, b3
Sweynheym and Pannartz, in the year 1469, edite(
by Andrew, bishop of Aleria. It is excessivel3
rare, and is considered valuable in a critical poin
of view, because it contains a genuine text honestl:
copied from MSS., and free from the multitude o
conjectural emendations by which nearly all th
rest of the earlier editions are corrupted. It is
moreover, the only old edition which escaped mu
tilation by the Inquisition.
An excellent edition of the Asinus appeared a
Leyden in the.year 1786, printed in 4to., an
edited by Oudendorp and Ruhnken. Two add
tional volumes, containing the remaining work
appeared at Leyden in 1823, edited by Bosche
A new and very elaborate edition of the who'
works of Appuleius has been published at Leipzil
1842, by G. F. Hildebrand.
A great number of translations of the Goldc
Ass are to be found in all the principal Europec
languages. The last English version is that I
Thomas Taylor, in one volume 8vo., Londo
1822, which contains also the tract De D
Socratis. [W. R.]
L. APPULEIUS, commonly called APPULEI
BBABARUS, a botanical writer of whose life no pi
ticulars are known, and whose date is rather unce
tain. He has somtimes been identified with Apr
leius, the author of the " Golden Ass," and son
times with Appuleius Celsus [CELSUS, APPULEIU;
but his work is evidently written later than the ti:
of either of those persons, and probably cannot
placed earlier than the fourth century after Chr
It is written in Latin, and entitled Hlerbariuma