APPULEIDS, or, less properly, APULEIUS, a satirical writer of the 2d c., was b. at Madaura, in Africa, where his father was a magistrate, and a man of large fortune. A. first studied at Carthage, which at that time enjoyed a high reputation as a school of literature. Afterwards he went to Athens, where he entered keenly upon the study of philosophy, displaying a special predilection for the Platonic school. The fortune bequeathed to him at his father's death enabled A. to travel extensively. Ile visited Italy, Asia etc., and was initiated into numerous religious mysteries. The knowledge which he thus acquired of the priestly fraternities, he made abundant use of afterwards in his Gcd&n Ass. His first appearance in literature arose from a lawsuit. Having married a middle-aged lady, named Pudentilla, very wealthy, but not particularly handsome, he drew down upon his head the malice of her relations, who desired to inherit her riches, and who accused the youth of having employed magic to gain her affections. His defense (Apotogia, still extant), spoken before Claudius Maximus, proconsul of Africa, was an eloquent and successful vindication of his conduct. After this event, hi3 life appears to have been devoted zealously to literature and public oratory, in both of which he attained great eminence. He was so extremely popular, that the senate of Carthage, and other states, erected statues in his honor.
The Golden Ass, the work by which his reputation has survived, is a romance or novel, whose principal personage is one Lucian, supposed by some, though on insullicient evidence, to be the author himself. It is generally understood to have been intended as
a satire on the vices of the age, especially those of the priesthood, and of quaeliS or jugglers affecting supernatural powers, though bishop Warburton, and other critics, fancy they can detect in it an indirect apology for paganism. Its merits are both great and conspicuous, as are also its faults. Wit, humor, satire, fancy, learning, and even poetic eloquence abound, but the style is disfigured by excessive archaisms, and there is a frequent affectation in the metaphors, etc., which proves A. to have been somewhat artificial in his rhetoric. The most exquisite thing in the whole work is the episode of Cupid and Psyche (imitated by La Fontaine). It is supposed to be au allegory of the progress of the soul to perfection. Besides the Apologia and Golden Ass, we have from the pen of A. an anthology in four books, a work on the Menton of Socrates, one on the doctrines of Plato, one on The Universe, etc. A considerable number of his works also are lost. The most recent and careful edition of the whole works of A. is that pub lished at Leipsic in 1842. by G. F. Hildebrand. The Golden Ass was translated into English by T. Taylor (1822), and again by Sir G. Head (1851). An English version of the works of A. was published in London, 1853.