Abstract

This paper is about the classification of Apuleius as either a philosopher or as a sophist. Known to us primarily through his Second Sophistic novel Metamophoses (Transformations), alternatively entitled The Golden Ass, Apuleius 'the philosopher' does not trip off the tongue. As Apuleius says in Florida 13, the wisdom and the eloquence of the philosopher (philosophi ratio et oratio) are ready at all times to awaken awe in all who hear. Apuleius is equally rhetor and philosophus and both these facets are exemplified not only in his philosophical works but also pre-eminently in the Metamorphoses.