CLAS 355
Apuleius (cont.)
April 18, 2023

4th century CE mosaic, Villa Fortunatus (Spain)



The Golden Ass (Books 4-6)

Golden Ass 4: Ass-man's transition to new existence; narrator, "At this point in the story, it is incumbent on me to give a description of the cave where the robbers lived, and its surroundings. This will be a challenge to my literary talent, and at the same time I'll be giving you the means to judge whether at the time I was a genuine ass as far as intellect and sensitivity to my surroundings went" (4.6); cf. end of Cupid & Psyche, "Standing close by and listening, I was sorry, by Hercules, that I didn't have a notebook and pen so that I could take down such a charming little yarn” (6.25)

• robbers' sub-narratives (comic misadventures in underbelly of Roman imperial order): mock-tragic suicide of Lamachus (4.11); Alcimus & poor widow (4.12); Thrasyleon & absurd world of spectacle entertainments (4.13-21)
  
  
• blurring the man/beast line:
  
  Golden Ass 4.13 (Demochares's preparations for a Roman spectacle in Platea, Greece)
  There, we found, the talk in the street was all about a certain Demochares, who was about to put on a gladiatorial show. This scion of the first of families, with his unbeatable wealth, was noted for his generosity: he furnished public recreations with a splendor worthy of his patrimony. Who would have the talent, who the eloquence to unfold in fitting words the whole colorful program of this new variety production? It would include gladiators of legendary strength, hunters of attested agility, and—a show in themselves—condemned men with the daring of despair, feasts for the beasts to stuff themselves full with. There was also a multistory prefab structure with towers resting on piles, a sort of movable house, with bright paintings covering the outside. It was a fine-looking set of lairs for objects of the hunt. But what a throng, what a spectacle of wild beasts! Demochares had been particularly keen in this regard, even importing foreign ones to become noble tombs for the condemned men. Along with the other provisions for these spendid games, he was exhausting his inherited means to amass a large contingent of immense bears . . .
  
  
  
  
• robbers' plan:
  
  Golden Ass 4.21 (Thrasyleon, the committed theatrical bear, faithful to role in spectacle of his own death)
  Thrasyleon's stiff resistance was not overcome; rather, the breath (deserving immortality!) of our company's greatest hero was plundered from his body. He didn't betray his sacred oath with a shout or even a half-human howl—no, even while he was being mangled by their teeth and mutilated on their blades, he kept up a determined, rumbling, bestial roar. Enduring with noble strength the disaster he could not escape, he stored up glory for himself yet surrendered his life to destiny. The terror and confusion in that crowd was such that, up to the break of day—actually until broad daylight—not a soul dared lay a finger on the animal as it sprawled there. At last, a butcher (who was a little less daunted) slowly and cautiously cut the belly open and despoiled our eminent bandit of his bear. Thus, Thrasyleon is lost to us but will live forever in heroic legend.
  
  
• new plot wrinkle: aristocratic Charite captured, tipsy old lady's story = Cupid ("Desire/Love") & Psyche ("Soul") fairy tale/philosophical & spiritual allegory (4.28-6.24)
  
  
• Cupid's task from Venus ("someone . . . whom Fortune has mulcted of his standing and inheritance and even of basic civil rights and freedom from assault on his person", 4.31)?
  
  Canova, Psyche Revived by the Kiss of Cupid, 1787-93
  

• setting: Cupid's mansion straddling divine/mortal worlds: "It really looked like an imperial residence, a celestial one built for Jove, but for socializing with human beings" (5.1): magical extravagance, disembodied slaves, music & choir
  
  
• conditions of Psyche's secret & mysterious communion with husband?
  
  
• Cupid's warnings (sisters, viewing; their offspring), "If your silence protects our secrets, that child will be divine, but if you profane them, it will be mortal" (5.11); cf. ancient mystery religions
  
  
• jealous sisters: lamp & razor? Psyche & Lucius?
  
  The Golden Ass 5.23 (Psyche's violation of Cupid's prohibitions)
  Psyche, in her heart's insatiability (and her considerable curiosity), examined these objects, amazingly handling her husband's armaments. She dispensed an arrow from the quiver and, making hazard of the point with her fingertip, pricked clear in, as she was trembling and lost control of the pressure the digit was exerting. On the skin's surface, tiny drops of rosy blood left their dew. Thus Psyche accidentally (but at the same time voluntarily) stumbled into love with Love. Then, as her desire for the god of desire burned hotter and hotter, she mooned desperately over him and huried to heap on open-mouthed, wanton kisses, out of fear that his slumber might end soon.
  
  
• Cupid's flight: Psyche dropped to earth (Lucius?); takes revenge on her sisters; Cupid off healing with Venus (dysfunctional relationship, 5.29-30)
  
  
• Psyche's journey in search of Cupid as runaway slave ("the worst slave that ever was", 6.8); returned to her master Venus for punishment
  
  
  GROUPS: Psyche's tasks/trials of increasing difficulty
  
  
  
  L: Bouguereau, Cupid & Psyche, 1889 ; R: David Beckham's Cupid & Psyche tattoo
  
  
• happy ending: Jupiter won over by Cupid's appeal (promise of "a lass of particularly powerful loveliness", 6.22); Psyche made immortal to legitimize marriage (6.23); reception of gods, daughter Pleasure (Voluptas) born (allegory: human soul (love)/divine forgiveness/immortality/pleasure)
  

• echoes of Platonic thought: human soul’s aspires to be divine (love bridges divine & human worlds; (human) Soul craves (ideal) Love > philosophy = "love of wisdom" (+ mystery in Apuleius)
  
  
  L: Sperlonga Odysseus; R: "Man of Constant Sorrow" Ulysses Everett McGill in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
  
  
• Psyche the mythic precursor of Lucius’s wanderings/journey: Lucius as insecure, curious human being on "Odyssey" (slavery, random fortune, trials, suffering) > connecting to "something bigger", otherworldly divine influence
  

• Ass-man's trials & travails just starting at end of Book 6: the robbers' plan (after failed escape) for Charite, rejection of proposals for Charite's burning alive/being tossed to beasts/crucifixion
  
  Golden Ass 6.31-2 (the blurred line between humans and beasts; a grotesque trifecta of torture)
  I hope you'll consent to cut his throat on the morrow, empty him of his innards, and sew the naked girl into his belly—he prefers her to us, so let him have her. Her face alone can show, while the rest of her is secured in that bestial bond. Then, when the ass is stuffed like a goose or a sausage, we can set him out on a jagged rock, abandoning him to the burning, broiling sun . . . The girl will feel the bites of wild things as worms mince her limbs; and scorching flames when the overheated sun ignites his gut; and the torture of the cross when dogs and vultures pull out her guts—which are his—and his guts—which are her.