1. Hebrew Bible, Genesis, 6.1-6.4 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius • Apuleius of Madaura • Metamorphoses, Apuleius, by
Found in books: Karfíková (2012) 274; Pinheiro Bierl and Beck (2013) 136; Wiebe (2021) 96
6.1. וַיְהִי כִּי־הֵחֵל הָאָדָם לָרֹב עַל־פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה וּבָנוֹת יֻלְּדוּ לָהֶם׃
6.1. וַיּוֹלֶד נֹחַ שְׁלֹשָׁה בָנִים אֶת־שֵׁם אֶת־חָם וְאֶת־יָפֶת׃ 6.2. וַיִּרְאוּ בְנֵי־הָאֱלֹהִים אֶת־בְּנוֹת הָאָדָם כִּי טֹבֹת הֵנָּה וַיִּקְחוּ לָהֶם נָשִׁים מִכֹּל אֲשֶׁר בָּחָרוּ׃ 6.2. מֵהָעוֹף לְמִינֵהוּ וּמִן־הַבְּהֵמָה לְמִינָהּ מִכֹּל רֶמֶשׂ הָאֲדָמָה לְמִינֵהוּ שְׁנַיִם מִכֹּל יָבֹאוּ אֵלֶיךָ לְהַחֲיוֹת׃ 6.3. וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה לֹא־יָדוֹן רוּחִי בָאָדָם לְעֹלָם בְּשַׁגַּם הוּא בָשָׂר וְהָיוּ יָמָיו מֵאָה וְעֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה׃ 6.4. הַנְּפִלִים הָיוּ בָאָרֶץ בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם וְגַם אַחֲרֵי־כֵן אֲשֶׁר יָבֹאוּ בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים אֶל־בְּנוֹת הָאָדָם וְיָלְדוּ לָהֶם הֵמָּה הַגִּבֹּרִים אֲשֶׁר מֵעוֹלָם אַנְשֵׁי הַשֵּׁם׃''. None | 6.1. And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 6.2. that the sons of nobles saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives, whomsoever they chose. 6.3. And the LORD said: ‘My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for that he also is flesh; therefore shall his days be a hundred and twenty years.’ 6.4. The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of nobles came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.''. None |
|
2. Plato, Phaedo, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius • Metamorphoses (Apuleius)
Found in books: Moss (2012) 28; Tor (2017) 269
69c. κάθαρσίς τις τῶν τοιούτων πάντων καὶ ἡ σωφροσύνη καὶ ἡ δικαιοσύνη καὶ ἀνδρεία, καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ φρόνησις μὴ καθαρμός τις ᾖ. καὶ κινδυνεύουσι καὶ οἱ τὰς τελετὰς ἡμῖν οὗτοι καταστήσαντες οὐ φαῦλοί τινες εἶναι, ἀλλὰ τῷ ὄντι πάλαι αἰνίττεσθαι ὅτι ὃς ἂν ἀμύητος καὶ ἀτέλεστος εἰς Ἅιδου ἀφίκηται ἐν βορβόρῳ κείσεται, ὁ δὲ κεκαθαρμένος τε καὶ τετελεσμένος ἐκεῖσε ἀφικόμενος μετὰ θεῶν οἰκήσει. εἰσὶν γὰρ δή, ὥς φασιν οἱ περὶ τὰς τελετάς, ναρθηκοφόροι''. None | 69c. from all these things, and self-restraint and justice and courage and wisdom itself are a kind of purification. And I fancy that those men who established the mysteries were not unenlightened, but in reality had a hidden meaning when they said long ago that whoever goes uninitiated and unsanctified to the other world will lie in the mire, but he who arrives there initiated and purified will dwell with the gods. For as they say in the mysteries, the thyrsus-bearers are many, but the mystics few ;''. None |
|
3. Plato, Symposium, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius • Apuleius, Timaean methodology of • Apuleius, dogmatic interpretation of Plato’s cosmology • Plato, Timaeus, Apuleius and • Plato, Timaeus, Apuleius interprets • demons, in Apuleius • translation, Apuleius and
Found in books: Geljon and Runia (2019) 109; Hirsch-Luipold (2022) 228; Hoenig (2018) 121; O, Daly (2020) 139, 140; Wiebe (2021) 12, 95, 200
202e. μεταξύ ἐστι θεοῦ τε καὶ θνητοῦ.' 203a. καὶ τὰς ἐπῳδὰς καὶ τὴν μαντείαν πᾶσαν καὶ γοητείαν. θεὸς δὲ ἀνθρώπῳ οὐ μείγνυται, ἀλλὰ διὰ τούτου πᾶσά ἐστιν ἡ ὁμιλία καὶ ἡ διάλεκτος θεοῖς πρὸς ἀνθρώπους, καὶ ἐγρηγορόσι καὶ καθεύδουσι· καὶ ὁ μὲν περὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα σοφὸς δαιμόνιος ἀνήρ, ὁ δὲ ἄλλο τι σοφὸς ὢν ἢ περὶ τέχνας ἢ χειρουργίας τινὰς βάναυσος. οὗτοι δὴ οἱ δαίμονες πολλοὶ καὶ παντοδαποί εἰσιν, εἷς δὲ τούτων ἐστὶ καὶ ὁ Ἔρως. '. None | 202e. Through it are conveyed all divination and priestcraft concerning sacrifice and ritual' 203a. and incantations, and all soothsaying and sorcery. God with man does not mingle: but the spiritual is the means of all society and converse of men with gods and of gods with men, whether waking or asleep. Whosoever has skill in these affairs is a spiritual man to have it in other matters, as in common arts and crafts, is for the mechanical. Many and multifarious are these spirits, and one of them is Love. '. None |
|
4. Plato, Timaeus, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius
Found in books: Gunderson (2022) 195, 196; Wiebe (2021) 206
28c. δʼ αἰσθητά, δόξῃ περιληπτὰ μετʼ αἰσθήσεως, γιγνόμενα καὶ γεννητὰ ἐφάνη. τῷ δʼ αὖ γενομένῳ φαμὲν ὑπʼ αἰτίου τινὸς ἀνάγκην εἶναι γενέσθαι. ΤΙ. τὸν μὲν οὖν ποιητὴν καὶ πατέρα τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς εὑρεῖν τε ἔργον καὶ εὑρόντα εἰς πάντας ἀδύνατον λέγειν· τόδε δʼ οὖν πάλιν ἐπισκεπτέον περὶ αὐτοῦ, πρὸς πότερον τῶν παραδειγμάτων ὁ τεκταινόμενος αὐτὸν''. None | 28c. and things sensible, being apprehensible by opinion with the aid of sensation, come into existence, as we saw, and are generated. And that which has come into existence must necessarily, as we say, have come into existence by reason of some Cause. Tim. Now to discover the Maker and Father of this Universe were a task indeed; and having discovered Him, to declare Him unto all men were a thing impossible. However, let us return and inquire further concerning the Cosmos,—after which of the Models did its Architect construct it?''. None |
|
5. Horace, Sermones, 1.8 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius • Apuleius,
Found in books: Edmonds (2019) 112; Lateiner and Spatharas (2016) 194
| 1.8. However, they acknowledge themselves so far, that they were the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and the Phoenicians (for I will not now reckon ourselves among them) that have preserved the memorials of the most ancient and most lasting traditions of mankind;
1.8. When this man had reigned thirteen years, after him reigned another, whose name was Beon, for forty-four years; after him reigned another, called Apachnas, thirty-six years and seven months; after him Apophis reigned sixty-one years, and then Jonias fifty years and one month; ''. None |
|
6. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 1.84-1.86 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius • Apuleius, Metam. Bk
Found in books: Alvar Ezquerra (2008) 109; Seim and Okland (2009) 222
1.84. Pronaque cum spectent animalia cetera terram, 1.85. os homini sublime dedit, caelumque videre 1.86. iussit et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus.''. None | 1.84. to Nabath, Persia , and that mountain range' "1.85. first gilded by the dawn; and Zephyr's flight" '1.86. was towards the evening star and peaceful shores,''. None |
|
7. Philo of Alexandria, On Dreams, 1.139 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius
Found in books: Fowler (2014) 47; Geljon and Runia (2019) 109
| 1.139. of these, those which are influenced by a desire for mortal life, and which have been familiarised to it, again return to it. But others, condemning the body of great folly and trifling, have pronounced it a prison and a grave, and, flying from it as from a house of correction or a tomb, have raised themselves aloft on light wings towards the aether, and have devoted their whole lives to sublime speculations. ''. None |
|
8. Plutarch, On Isis And Osiris, 9, 27 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius • Athens, Apuleius at, Isis in • Athens, Apuleius at, and Cecrops • Trilingualism, of Apuleius
Found in books: Bricault and Bonnet (2013) 74, 159, 179; Griffiths (1975) 149, 151
| 9. The kings were appointed from the priests or from the military class, since the military class had eminence and honour because of valour, and the priests because of wisdom. But he who was appointed from the military class was at once made one of the priests and a participant in their philosophy, which, for the most part, is veiled in myths and in words containing dim reflexions and adumbrations of the truth, as they themselves intimate beyond question by appropriately placing sphinxes Cf. Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis, v. 5. 31, chap. 5 (p. 664 Potter). before their shrines to indicate that their religious teaching has in it an enigmatical sort of wisdom. In Saïs the statue of Athena, whom they believe to be Isis, bore the inscription: I am all that has been, and is, and shall be, and my robe no mortal has yet uncovered. Moreover, most people believe that Amoun is the name given to Zeus in the land of the Egyptians, Cf. Herodotus, ii. 42. a name which we, with a slight alteration, pronounce Ammon. But Manetho of Sebennytus thinks that the meaning concealed or concealment lies in this word. Hecataeus Cf. Diels, Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, Hecataeus (60), No. B, 8. of Abdera, however, says that the Egyptians use this expression one to another whenever they call to anyone, for the word is a form of address. When they, therefore, address the supreme god, whom they believe to be the same as the Universe, as if he were invisible and concealed, and implore him to make himself visible and manifest to them, they use the word Amoun ; so great, then, was the circumspection of the Egyptians in their wisdom touching all that had to do wTith the gods.
27. Stories akin to these and to others like them they say are related about Typhon; how that, prompted by jealousy and hostility, he wrought terrible deeds and, by bringing utter confusion upon all things, filled the whole Earth, and the ocean as well, with ills, and later paid the penalty therefor. But the avenger, the sister and wife of Osiris, after she had quenched and suppressed the madness and fury of Typhon, was not indifferent to the contests and struggles which she had endured, nor to her own wanderings nor to her manifold deeds of wisdom and many feats of bravery, nor would she accept oblivion and silence for them, but she intermingled in the most holy rites portrayals and suggestions and representations of her experiences at that time, and sanctified them, both as a lesson in godliness and an encouragement for men and women who find themselves in the clutch of like calamities. She herself and Osiris, translated for their virtues from good demigods into gods, Cf. 363 e, infra . as were Heracles and Dionysus later, Cf. Moralia, 857 d. not incongruously enjoy double honours, both those of gods and those of demigods, and their powers extend everywhere, but are greatest in the regions above the earth and beneath the earth. In fact, men assert that Pluto is none other than Serapis and that Persephonê is Isis, even as Archemachus Müller, Frag. Hist. Graec. iv. p. 315, no. 7. of Euboea has said, and also Heracleides Ponticus Ibid. ii. 1
98 or Frag. 103, ed. Voss. who holds the oracle in Canopus to be an oracle of Pluto.''. None |
|
9. Quintilian, Institutes of Oratory, 11.3.138 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius
Found in books: Edmondson (2008) 249; Radicke (2022) 223
| 11.3.138. \xa0Consequently it follows that in view of the fact that their arms were, like those of the Greeks, covered by the garment, they must have employed a different form of gesture in the exordium from that which is now in use. However, I\xa0am speaking of our own day. The speaker who has not the right to wear the broad stripe, will wear his girdle in such a way that the front edges of the tunic fall a little below his knees, while the edges in rear reach to the middle of his hams. For only women draw them lower and only centurions higher.''. None |
|
10. Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, 11.3.138 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius
Found in books: Edmondson (2008) 249; Radicke (2022) 223
| 11.3.138. \xa0Consequently it follows that in view of the fact that their arms were, like those of the Greeks, covered by the garment, they must have employed a different form of gesture in the exordium from that which is now in use. However, I\xa0am speaking of our own day. The speaker who has not the right to wear the broad stripe, will wear his girdle in such a way that the front edges of the tunic fall a little below his knees, while the edges in rear reach to the middle of his hams. For only women draw them lower and only centurions higher.''. None |
|
11. None, None, nan (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius • Apuleius, Metamorphoses • Apuleius, Metamorphoses, fatal charades • Apuleius, equation between eating and reading • Apuleius, worries about elite status • wonder-culture, in imperial fiction, Apuleius
Found in books: Bowen and Rochberg (2020) 298; König (2012) 276, 283; Lateiner and Spatharas (2016) 214, 217, 219; Mheallaigh (2014) 276; Pinheiro et al (2018) 369
|
12. None, None, nan (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius • Apuleius, as a Middle Platonist
Found in books: Bloch (2022) 44; Pinheiro Bierl and Beck (2013) 163
|
13. Apuleius, The Golden Ass, 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, 1.10, 1.11, 1.12, 1.13, 1.15, 1.18, 1.20, 1.21, 1.22, 1.25, 1.26, 2.1, 2.2, 2.4, 2.5, 2.5.7, 2.7, 2.8, 2.11, 2.12, 2.15, 2.17, 2.19, 2.20, 2.22, 2.23, 2.28, 2.29, 2.32, 3.1, 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 3.15, 3.16, 3.17, 3.20, 3.21, 3.23, 3.24, 3.25, 3.29, 4.1, 4.3, 4.8, 4.9, 4.10, 4.13, 4.18, 4.20, 4.22, 4.27, 4.28, 4.28-6.24, 4.33, 5.17, 5.18, 5.22, 6.24, 6.25, 6.26, 6.31, 6.32, 7.5, 7.6, 7.8, 7.9, 7.15.1, 7.21, 8.11, 8.13, 8.22, 8.24, 8.26, 8.27, 8.28, 8.29, 9.8, 9.10, 9.11, 9.12, 9.13, 9.14, 9.15, 9.19, 9.22, 9.23, 9.28, 9.29, 9.31, 9.32, 9.34, 9.37, 9.39, 10.2, 10.12, 10.13, 10.16, 10.21, 10.26, 10.29, 10.30, 10.31, 10.32, 10.33, 10.34, 11, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, 11.5, 11.6, 11.7, 11.8, 11.9, 11.10, 11.11, 11.12, 11.13, 11.14, 11.15, 11.16, 11.17, 11.19, 11.20, 11.21, 11.22, 11.23, 11.24, 11.24.4, 11.25, 11.25.3, 11.25.4, 11.26, 11.27, 11.28, 11.29, 11.30 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Aemilia Pudentilla, wife of Apuleius • Africa, and Apuleius • Apuleius • Apuleius Golden Ass • Apuleius Madaurensis, L. • Apuleius of Madaura, Metamorphoses • Apuleius of Madauros • Apuleius of Madauros, • Apuleius, • Apuleius, Book 11 • Apuleius, De Platone • Apuleius, De Platone, Metamorphoses • Apuleius, Eleusinian and Isiac initiate • Apuleius, Eleusinian and Isiac initiate, career in Rome • Apuleius, Florida • Apuleius, Golden Ass • Apuleius, Lucius • Apuleius, Metam. Bk • Apuleius, Metamorphoses • Apuleius, Metamorphoses, reader in the text • Apuleius, Sympotic Questions • Apuleius, Tale of Cupid & Psyche • Apuleius, and Africa • Apuleius, and Christianity • Apuleius, and magic • Apuleius, as a Middle Platonist • Apuleius, author of Metamorphoses, • Apuleius, equation between eating and reading • Apuleius, human and animal food • Apuleius, parasite imagery • Apuleius, representation of landscape • Apuleius, style of, If.,,variation of • Apuleius, style of, If.,,versatility of • Apuleius, worries about elite status • Athens, Apuleius at • Athens, Apuleius at, Dionysiac ship in • Christianity, in Africa, and Apuleius • Dreams (in Greek and Latin literature), Apuleius, Metamorphoses • Latin, Apuleius knowledge of, Lucius Latin • Latin, Apuleius knowledge of, variations in Africa • Lucius (Apuleius) • Lucius (character in Apuleius, Metamorphoses) • Lucius (in Apuleius) • Lucius (in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses) • Magic, and Apuleius • Meroë (witch), Apuleius, by • Metamorphoses (Apuleius) • Metamorphoses, Apuleius, by • Pudens, step-son of Apuleius • Punic, first language of Apuleius, accent • Punic, first language of Apuleius, in Sicily • Roman world, and Apuleius • Rome, advocate in, career of Apuleius in • Trilingualism, of Apuleius, of Jesus • adultery, Apuleius in • gender, transformation, in Apuleius • magic, Apuleius, accused of • magic, Apuleius, tried for • mill, episode, Apuleius Metamorphoses, in • millers wife episode, Apuleius Metamorphoses, in • names, in Apuleius’ Met.
Found in books: Alvar Ezquerra (2008) 5, 15, 259, 333, 336; Belayche and Massa (2021) 127, 128, 129, 130, 139, 143, 146; Bowen and Rochberg (2020) 298; Bowersock (1997) 108, 109; Chaniotis (2012) 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276; Cosgrove (2022) 189, 209, 255; Damm (2018) 5; Del Lucchese (2019) 283; Dieleman (2005) 167; Dillon and Timotin (2015) 100; Edelmann-Singer et al (2020) 13; Edmonds (2019) 21, 55, 112, 226, 263; Edmondson (2008) 185, 240, 241, 242, 252, 253, 255, 290; Elsner (2007) 180, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300, 301; Fabre-Serris et al (2021) 223, 224; Faraone (1999) 8, 38, 62, 87, 158; Geljon and Vos (2020) 85, 86; Goldman (2013) 110, 153; Griffiths (1975) 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 13, 49, 56, 63, 163, 188, 247, 326, 345, 351, 352, 359; Gunderson (2022) 151, 152; Harkins and Maier (2022) 162; Hunter (2018) 212, 213; Johnston and Struck (2005) 133, 134, 135, 273, 274; Ker and Wessels (2020) 238, 243, 245; Konig (2022) 164, 171, 174, 176, 303; König (2012) 278, 279, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288, 289; Lampe (2003) 133; Lateiner and Spatharas (2016) 194, 195, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227; Levine Allison and Crossan (2006) 193, 194, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201; Luck (2006) 72; Mackey (2022) 81, 106, 314; Mheallaigh (2014) 142; Moss (2012) 28; Nisula (2012) 27; Pinheiro Bierl and Beck (2013) 159, 166, 184, 188, 191, 196, 197, 243, 245, 279, 284, 288, 290; Pinheiro et al (2012a) 67, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244; Pinheiro et al (2015) 87, 99; Pinheiro et al (2018) 166, 168, 291, 298, 337, 356; Pollmann and Vessey (2007) 124; Price Finkelberg and Shahar (2021) 159; Renberg (2017) 366, 386, 419; Seim and Okland (2009) 222; Stephens and Winkler (1995) 182, 322, 323, 355, 360; Taylor and Hay (2020) 274; Tor (2017) 269; Waldner et al (2016) 133, 134; Yates and Dupont (2020) 60; Yona (2018) 70, 137
| 1
1.1. Then came the great company of men and women who had taken divine orders and whose garments glistened all the streets over. The women had their hair anointed and their heads covered with linen. But the men had their crowns shaven, which were like earthly stars of the goddess. They held in their hands instruments of brass, silver and gold, which rendered a pleasant sound. The principal priests, who were appareled with white surpluses hanging down to the ground, bore the relics of the powerful goddess. One carried in his hand a light, not unlike to those which we used in our houses, except that in the middle of it there was a bole which rendered a brighter flame. The second, attired like the other, bore in his hand an altar which the goddess herself named the succor of nations. The third held a tree of palm, with leaves of gold, and the verge of Mercury. The fourth showed a token of equity in his left hand, which was deformed in every place, signifying more equity then by the right hand. The same priest carried a round vessel of gold in the form of a cap. The fifth bore a van, wrought with springs of gold, and another carried a vessel for wine. 1
1.1. When midnight came, after I had slept awhile, I awoke with sudden fear, and saw the moon shining bright, as when it is full, and seeming as though it leapt out of the sea. I thought to myself that this was the time when the goddess had most power and force, and when all human affairs are governed by her providence. Not only all tame and domestic beasts, but also all wild and savage beasts are under her protection. I considered that all bodies in the heavens, the earth and the seas are by her waxing increased and by her waning diminished. Since I was weary of all my cruel fortune and calamity, I found good hope and remedy. Though it was very late, I though I could be delivered from all my misery, by invocation and prayer, to the excellent beauty of the goddess, whom I saw shining before my eyes. Wherefore, shaking off drowsy sleep, I arose with a joyful face and, moved by a great desire to purify myself, I plunged seven times into the water of the sea. This number of seven is agreeable to holy and divine things, as the worthy and sage philosopher Pythagoras declared. Then, with a weeping countece, I made this prayer to the powerful goddess: 1
1.2. One night the great priest appeared to me, presenting his lap full of treasure. And when I demanded what it signified, he answered, that it was sent to me from the country of Thessaly, and that a servant of mine named Candidus was arrived likewise. When I was awoke, I mused to myself what this vision should portend, considering that I had never any servant called by that name. But whatever it signified, this I verily thought: that it foretold gain and prosperous fortune. While I was thus astonished, I went to the temple and tarried there until the opening of the gates. Then I went in and began to pray before the face of the goddess. The priest prepared and set the divine things of each altar and pulled out the fountain and holy vessel with solemn supplication. Then they began to sing the matins of the morning, signifying the hour of the prime. By and by behold, there arrived the servant whom I had left in the country, when Fotis by error made me an ass. He brought my horse whom he had recovered by certain signs and tokens which I had put on its back. Then I perceived the interpretation of my dream: by the promise of gain, my white horse was restored to me, which was signified by the argument of my servant Candidus. 1
1.2. “O blessed queen of heaven, you are the Lady Ceres, who is the original and motherly nurse of all fruitful things on earth. You, after finding your daughter Proserpina, through the great joy which you presently conceived, made barren and unfruitful ground be plowed and sown. And now you dwell in the land of Eleusis. Or else you are the celestial Venus who, in the beginning of the world coupled together all kind of things with engendered love. By an eternal propagation of humankind, you are now worshipped within the temples of Paphos. You are also the sister of the god Phoebus, who nourishes so many people by the generation of beasts, and are now adored at the sacred places of Ephesus. You are terrible Proserpina, by reason of the deadly cries that you wield. You have the power to stop and put away the invasion of the hags and ghosts that appear to men, and to keep them down in the closures of the earth. You are worshipped in diverse ways, and illuminate all the borders of the earth by your feminine shape. You nourish all the fruits of the world by your vigor and force. By whatever name or fashion it is lawful to call you, I pray you to end my great travail and misery, and to deliver me from wretched fortune, which has so long pursued me. Grant peace and rest, if it pleases you, to my adversities, for I have endured too much labor and peril. Remove from me the shape of an ass and render to me my original form. And if I have offended in any point your divine majesty, let me rather die than live, for I am full weary of my life.”
11.3. In this way the divine majesty persuaded me in my sleep. Whereupon I went to the priest and declared all that I had seen. Then I fasted for ten days, according to the custom, and of my own free will I abstained longer than I had been commanded. And verily I did not repent of the pain I had gone through and of the charges I had undertaken. This was because the divine providence had seen to it that I gained much money in pleading of causes. Finally, after a few days, the great god Osiris appeared to me at night, not disguised in any other form, but in his own essence. He commanded me to be an advocate in the court, and not fear the slander and envy of ill persons who begrudged me by for the religion which I had attained by much labor. Moreover, he would not suffer that I should be any longer of the number of his priests, but he allotted me to one of the higher positions. And after he appointed me a place within the ancient temple, which had been erected in the time of Sulla, I executed my office in great joy and with a shaved head.
11.3. When I had ended this prayer and discovered my complaints to the goddess, I happened to fall asleep. By and by appeared a divine and venerable face, worshipped even by the gods themselves. Then, little by little, I seemed to see the whole figure of her body, mounting out of the sea and standing before me. Wherefore I intend to describe her divine semblance, if the poverty of human speech will allow me, or if her divine power gives me eloquence to do so. First she had a great abundance of hair dispersed and scattered about her neck. On the crown of her head she bore many garlands interlaced with flowers. In the middle of her forehead was a compass like mirror, or resembling the light of the moon. In one of her hands she bore serpents, in the other, blades of grain. Her vestment was of fine silk of diverse colors, sometimes yellow, sometimes rosy, sometimes the color of flame. Her robe (which troubled my spirit sorely) was dark and obscure, and pleated in most subtle fashion at the skirts of her garments. Its fringe appeared comely. 1
1.4. Here and there the stars were seen, and in the middle of them was placed the moon which shone like a flame of fire. Round about the robe was a coronet or garland made with flowers and fruits. In her right hand she had a rattle of brass which gave a pleasant sound, in her left hand she bore a cup of gold, and from its mouth the serpent Aspis lifted up his head, with a swelling throat. Her odoriferous feet were covered with shoes interlaced and wrought with the palm of victory. Thus the divine shape, breathing out the pleasant spice of fertile Arabia, did not disdain to utter these words to me with her divine voice:
11.5. “Behold, Lucius, I have come! Your weeping and prayers have moved me to succor you. I am she who is the natural mother of all things, mistress and governess of all the elements, the initial progeny of worlds, chief of powers divine, queen of heaven! I am the principal of the celestial gods, the light of the goddesses. At my will the planets of the heavens, the wholesome winds of the seas, and the silences of hell are disposed. My name and my divinity is adored throughout all the world in diverse manners. I am worshipped by various customs and by many names. The Phrygians call me the mother of the gods. The Athenians, Minerva. The Cyprians, Venus. The Cretans, Diana. The Sicilians, Proserpina. The Eleusians, Ceres. Some call me Juno, other Bellona, and yet others Hecate. And principally the Aethiopians who dwell in the Orient, and the Aegyptians who are excellent in all kind of ancient doctrine and by their proper ceremonies are accustomed to worship me, call me Queen Isis. Behold, I have come to take pity of your fortune and tribulation. Behold, I am present to favor and aid you. Leave off your weeping and lamentation, put away all your sorrow. For behold, the day which is ordained by my providence is at hand. Therefore be ready to attend to my command. This day which shall come after this night is dedicated to my service by an eternal religion. My priests and ministers are accustomed, after the tempests of the sea have ceased, to offer in my name a new ship as a first fruit of my navigation. I command you not to profane or despise the sacrifice in any way.
11.6. “The great priest shall carry this day, following in procession by my exhortation, a garland of roses next the rattle in his right hand. Follow my procession amongst the people and, when you come to the priest, make as though you would kiss his hand. But snatch at the roses, whereby I will put away the skin and shape of an ass. This kind of beast I have long abhorred and despised. But above all things beware that you do not doubt or fear any of those things as being hard and difficult to bring to pass. For in the same hour as I have come to you, I have commanded the priest, by a vision, of what he shall do. And all the people by my command shall be compelled to give you place and say nothing! Moreover, do not think that, amongst so fair and joyful ceremonies and in so good a company, any person shall abhor your ill-favored and deformed figure, or that any man shall be so hardy as to blame and reprove your sudden restoration to human shape. They will not conceive any sinister opinion about this deed. And know this for certain: for the rest of your life, until the hour of death, you shall be bound and subject to me! And think it not an injury to be always subject to me, since by my means and benefit you shall become a man. You shall live blessed in this world, you shall live gloriously by my guidance and protection. And when you descend to hell, you shall see me shine in that subterranean place, shining (as you see me now) in the darkness of Acheron, and reigning in the deep profundity of Styx. There you shall worship me as one who has been favorable to you. And if I perceive that you are obedient to my command, an adherent to my religion, and worthy my divine grace, know you that I will prolong your days above the time that the fates have appointed, and the celestial planets have ordained.” 1
1.7. When the divine image had spoken these words, she vanished away! By and by, when I awoke, I arose with the members of my body mixed with fear, joy and sweat. I marveled at the clear presence of the powerful goddess and, being sprinkled with the water of the sea, I recounted in order her admonitions and divine commands. Soon after, when the darkness was chased away and the clear and golden sun rose, behold, I saw the streets filled with people going in a religious sort and in great triumph. All things seemed that day to be joyful. Every beast and house, and indeed the very day itself seemed to rejoice. For after a frosty morning a hot and temperate rose and the little birds, thinking that the spring time had come, chirped and sang melodiously to the mother of stars, the parent of times, and mistress of all the world! The fruitful trees rejoiced at their fertility. The barren and sterile were contented to provide shadows. All rendering sweet and pleasant sounds with their branches. The seas were quiet from winds and tempests. In heaven the clouds had been chased away, and the sky appeared fair and clear with its proper light. 1
1.8. Behold, then more and more there appeared the parades and processions. The people were attired in regal manner and singing joyfully. One was girded about the middle like a man of arms. Another was bare and spare, and had a cloak and high shoes like a hunter! Another was attired in a robe of silk and socks of gold, having his hair laid out and dressed like a woman! There was another who wore leg harnesses and bore a shield, a helmet, and a spear like a martial soldier. After him marched one attired in purple, with vergers before him like a magistrate! After him followed one with a cloak, a staff, a pair of sandals, and a gray beard, signifying that he was a philosopher. After him came one with a line, betokening a fowler. Another came with hooks, declaring him a fisherman. I saw there a meek and tame bear which, dressed like a matron, was carried on a stool. An ape, with a bonnet on his head and covered with a Phrygian garment, resembled a shepherd, and bore a cup of gold in his hand. There was an ass, which had wings glued to his back and followed an old man: you would judge the one to be Pegasus, and the other Bellerophon. 1
1.9. Amongst the pleasures and popular delights which wandered hither and thither, you might see the procession of the goddess triumphantly marching forward. The women, attired in white vestments and rejoicing because they wore garlands and flowers upon their heads, bedspread the road with herbs which they bare in their aprons. This marked the path this regal and devout procession would pass. Others carried mirrors on their backs to testify obeisance to the goddess who came after. Other bore combs of ivory and declared by the gesture and motions of their arms that they were ordained and ready to dress the goddess. Others dropped balm and other precious ointments as they went. Then came a great number of men as well as women with candles, torches, and other lights, doing honor to the celestial goddess. After that sounded the musical harmony of instruments. Then came a fair company of youths, appareled in white vestments, singing both meter and verse a comely song which some studious poet had made in honor of the Muses. In the meantime there arrived the blowers of trumpets, who were dedicated to the god Serapis. Before them were officers who prepared room for the goddess to pass.' 1
1.
11. By and by, after the goddess, there followed gods on foot. There was Anubis, the messenger of the gods infernal and celestial, with his face sometimes black, sometimes faire, lifting up the head of a dog and bearing in his left hand his verge, and in his right hand the branches of a palm tree. After whom followed a cow with an upright gait, representing the figure of the great goddess. He who guided her marched on with much gravity. Another carried the secrets of their religion closed in a coffer. There was one who bore on his stomach a figure of his god, not formed like any beast, bird, savage thing or humane shape, but made by a new invention. This signified that such a religion could not be discovered or revealed to any person. There was a vessel wrought with a round bottom, having on the one side pictures figured in the manner of the Egyptians, and on the other side was an ear on which stood the serpent Aspis, holding out his scaly neck. 1
1.12. Finally came he who was appointed to my good fortune, according to the promise of the goddess. For the great priest, who bore the restoration of my human shape by the command of the goddess, approached ever closer bearing in his left hand the rattle, and in the other a garland of roses to give me. This was to deliver me from cruel fortune, which was always my enemy after I had suffered so much calamity and pain and had endured so many perils. I did not approach hastily, though I was seized by sudden joy, lest I disturb the quiet procession by my eagerness. But going softly through the press of the people (which gave way to me on every side) I went up to the priest. 1
1.13. The priest, having been advised the night before, stood still and holding out his hand, and thrust out the garland of roses into my mouth. I (trembling) devoured it with a great eagerness. And as soon as I had eaten them, I found that the promise made to me had not been in vain. For my deformed face changed, and first the rugged hair of my body fell off, my thick skin grew soft and tender, the hooves of my feet changed into toes, my hands returned again, my neck grew short, my head and mouth became round, my long ears were made little, my great and stony teeth grew more like the teeth of men, and my tail, which had burdened me most, disappeared. Then the people began to marvel. The religious honored the goddess for so evident a miracle. They wondered at the visions which they saw in the night, and the ease of my restoration, whereby they rendered testimony of so great a benefit that I had received from the goddess. 1
1.14. When I saw myself in such a state, I stood still a while and said nothing. I could not tell what to say, nor what word I should speak first, nor what thanks I should render to the goddess. But the great priest, understanding all my fortune and misery through divine warning, commanded that someone should give me garments to cover myself with. However, as soon as I was transformed from an ass to my humane shape, I hid my private parts with my hands as shame and necessity compelled me. Then one of the company took off his upper robe and put it on my back. This done, the priest looked upon me and with a sweet and benign voice said: 1
1.15. “O my friend Lucius, after the enduring so many labors and escaping so many tempests of fortune, you have at length come to the port and haven of rest and mercy. Your noble linage, your dignity, your education, or any thing else did not avail you. But you have endured so many servile pleasures due to the folly of youth. Thusly you have had an unpleasant reward for your excessive curiosity. But however the blindness of Fortune has tormented you in various dangers, so it is now that, unbeknownst to her, you have come to this present felicity. Let Fortune go and fume with fury in another place. Let her find some other matter on which to execute her cruelty. Fortune has no power against those who serve and honor our goddess. What good did it do her that you endured thieves, savage beasts, great servitude, dangerous waits, long journeys, and fear of death every day? Know that now you are safe and under the protection of her who, by her clear light, brightens the other gods. Wherefore rejoice and take a countece appropriate to your white garment. Follow the parade of this devout and honorable procession so that those who do not worship the goddess may see and acknowledge their error. Behold Lucius, you are delivered from so great miseries by the providence of the goddess Isis. Rejoice therefore and triumph in the victory over fortune. And so that you may live more safe and sure, make yourself one of this holy order. Dedicate your mind to our religion and take upon yourself the voluntary yoke of ministry. And when you begin to serve and honor the goddess, then you shall feel the fruit of your liberty.” 1
1.16. After the great priest had prophesied in this manner, he, regaining his breath, made a conclusion of his words. Then I went amongst the rest of the company and followed the procession. Everyone of the people knew me and, pointing at me with their fingers, spoke in this way, “Behold him who was this day transformed into a man by the power of the sovereign goddess. Verily he is blessed and most blessed, who has merited such great grace from heaven both because of the innocence of his former life. He has been reborn in the service of the goddess. In the meantime, little by little we approached near to the sea cost, near that place where I lay the night before, still an ass. Thereafter the images and relics were disposed in order. The great priest was surrounded by various pictures according to the fashion of the Aegyptians. He dedicated and consecrated with certain prayers a fair ship made very cunningly, and purified it with a torch, an egg, and sulfur. The sail was of white linen cloth on which was written certain letters which testified that the navigation would be prosperous. The mast was of a great length, made of a pine tree, round and very excellent with a shining top. The cabin was covered over with coverings of gold, and the whole ship was made of citron tree, very fair. Then all the people, religious as well as profane, took a great number of baskets filled with odors and pleasant smells and threw them into the sea, mingled with milk, until the ship was filled with many gifts and prosperous devotions. Then, with a pleasant wind, the ship was launched out into the deep. But when they had lost the sight of the ship, every man carried again that he brought, and went toward the temple in like procession and order as they had come to the sea side. 1
1.17. When we had come to the temple, the great priest and those who were assigned to carry the divine images (but especially those who had long been worshippers of the religion) went into the secret chamber of the goddess where they placed the images in order. This done, one of the company, who was a scribe or interpreter of letters, in the manner of a preacher stood up on a chair before the holy college and began to read out of a book. He began pronounce benedictions upon the great emperor, the senate, the knights, and generally to all the Roman people, and to all who are under the jurisdiction of Rome. These words following signified the end of their divine service and that it was lawful for every man to depart. Whereupon all the people gave a great shout and, filled with much joy, bore all kind of herbs and garlands of flowers home to their houses, kissing and embracing the steps where the goddess had passed. However, I could not do as the rest did, for my mind would not allow me to depart one foot away. This was how eager I was to behold the beauty of the goddess, remembering the great misery I had endured. 1
1.19. After I had related to them of all my former miseries and present joys, I went before the face of the goddess and hired a house within the cloister of the temple so that I might continually be ready to serve of the goddess. I also wanted to be in continual contact with the company of the priests so that I could become wholly devoted to the goddess, and become an inseparable worshipper of her divine name. It happened that the goddess often appeared to me in the night, urging and commanding me to take the order of her religion. But I, though I greatly desired to do so, was held back because of fear. I considered her discipline was hard and difficult, the chastity of the priests intolerable, and the life austere and subject to many inconveniences. Being thus in doubt, I refrained from all those things as seeming impossible. 1
1.21. This done, I retired to the service of the goddess in hope of greater benefits. I considered that I had received a sign and token whereby my courage increased more and more each day to take up the orders and sacraments of the temple. Thus I often communed with the priest, desiring him greatly to give me the degree of the religion. But he, a man of gravity and well-renowned in the order of priesthood, deferred my desire from day to day. He comforted me and gave me better hope, just like as parents who commonly bridle the desires of their children when they attempt or endeavor any unprofitable thing. He said that the day when any one would be admitted into their order is appointed by the goddess. He said that the priest who would minister the sacrifice is chosen by her providence, and the necessary charges of the ceremonies is allotted by her command. Regarding all these things he urged me to attend with marvelous patience, and he told me that I should beware either of too much haste or too great slackness. He said that there was like danger if, being called, I should delay or, not being called. I should be hasty. Moreover he said that there were none in his company either of so desperate a mind or who were so rash and hardy that they would attempt anything without the command of the goddess. If anyone were to do so, he should commit a deadly offence, considering how it was in the power of the goddess to condemn and save all persons. And if anyone should be at the point of death and on the path to damnation, so that he might be capable of receiving the secrets of the goddess, it was in her power by divine providence to reduce him to the path of health, as though by a certain kind of regeneration. Finally he said that I must attend the celestial precept, although it was evident and plain that the goddess had already vouchsafed to call and appoint me to her ministry. He urged me to refrain from profane and unlawful foods just like those priests who had already been received. This was so that I might come more apt and clean to the knowledge of the secrets of religion. 1
1.22. I obeyed these words and, attentive with meek and laudable silence, I daily served at the temple. In the end the wholesome gentleness of the goddess did not deceive me, for in the night she appeared to me in a vision. She showed me that the day had come which I had wished for so long. She told me what provision and charges I should attend to, and how she had appointed her principal priest Mithras to be minister with me in my sacrifices.When I heard these divine commands I greatly rejoiced. I arose before dawn to speak with the great priest, whom I happened to see coming out of his chamber. Then I saluted him and thought that I should ask for his counsel with a bold courage. But as soon as he perceived me, he began first to say: “O Lucius, now I know well that you are most happy and blessed, whom the divine goddess accepts with such mercy. Why do you delay? Behold, it is the day which you desired, when you shall receive at my hands the order of religion and know the most pure secrets of the gods.” Whereupon the old man took me by the hand and led me to the gate of the great temple. Immediately upon entering he made a solemn celebration and, after morning sacrifice had ended, he brought books out of the secret place of the temple. These were partly written in unknown characters, and partly painted with figures of beasts declaring briefly every sentence. The heads and tails of some were turned in the shape of a wheel and were strange and impossible for profane people to read. There he interpreted to me such things as were necessary for the use and preparation of my order. 1
1.23. This done, I gave charge to certain of my companions to buy liberally whatever was necessary and appropriate. Then the priest brought me to the baths nearby, accompanied with all the religious sort. He, demanding pardon of the goddess, washed me and purified my body according to custom. After this, when no one approached, he brought me back again to the temple and presented me before the face of the goddess. He told me of certain secret things that it was unlawful to utter, and he commanded me, and generally all the rest, to fast for the space of ten continual days. I was not allowed to eat any beast or drink any wine. These strictures I observed with marvelous continence. Then behold, the day approached when the sacrifice was to be made. And when night came there arrived on every coast a great multitude of priests who, according to their order, offered me many presents and gifts. Then all the laity and profane people were commanded to depart. When they had put on my back a linen robe, they brought me to the most secret and sacred place of all the temple. You will perhaps ask (o studious reader) what was said and done there. Verily I would tell you if it were lawful for me to tell. You would know if it were appropriate for you to hear. But both your ears and my tongue shall incur similar punishment for rash curiosity. However, I will content your mind for this present time, since it is perhaps somewhat religious and given to devotion. Listen therefore and believe it to be true. You shall understand that I approached near to Hell, and even to the gates of Proserpina. After I was brought through all the elements, I returned to my proper place. About midnight I saw the sun shine, and I saw likewise the celestial and infernal gods. Before them I presented myself and worshipped them. Behold, now have I told you something which, although you have heard it, it is necessary for you to conceal. This much have I declared without offence for the understanding of the profane. 1
1.24. When morning came, and that the solemnities were finished, I came forth sanctified with twelve robes and in a religious habit. I am not forbidden to speak of this since many persons saw me at that time. There I was commanded to stand upon a seat of wood which stood in the middle of the temple before the image of the goddess. My vestment was of fine linen, covered and embroidered with flowers. I had a precious cloak upon my shoulders hung down to the ground. On it were depicted beasts wrought of diverse colors: Indian dragons and Hyperborean griffins which the other world engenders in the form of birds. The priests commonly call such a habit a celestial robe. In my right hand I carried a lit torch. There was a garland of flowers upon my head with palm leaves sprouting out on every side. I was adorned like un the sun and made in fashion of an image such that all the people came up to behold me. Then they began to solemnize the feast of the nativity and the new procession, with sumptuous banquets and delicacies. The third day was likewise celebrated with like ceremonies with a religious dinner, and with all the consummation of the order. After I had stayed there a good space, I conceived a marvelous pleasure and consolation in beholding the image of the goddess. She at length urged me to depart homeward. I rendered my thanks which, although not sufficient, yet they were according to my power. However, I could not be persuaded to depart before I had fallen prostrate before the face of the goddess and wiped her steps with my face. Then I began greatly to weep and sigh (so uch so that my words were interrupted) and, as though devouring my prayer, I began to speak in this way: 1
1.25. “O holy and blessed lady, the perpetual comfort of humankind: you, by your bounty and grace, nourish all the world and listen with great affection to the adversities of the miserable. As a loving mother you take no rest, neither are you idle at any time in bestowing benefits and succoring all men on land as well as on the sea. You are she who puts away all storms and dangers from man’s life by your right hand. Whereby also you restrain the fatal dispositions, appease the great tempests of fortune, and keep back the course of the stars. The celestial gods honor you and the infernal gods keep you in reverence. You encompass all the world, you give light to the sun, you govern the world, you strike down the power of hell. Because of you the times return and the planets rejoice, and the elements serve you. At your command the winds blow, the clouds increase, the seeds prosper, and the fruits prevail. The birds of the air, the beasts of the hill, the serpents of the den, and the fishes of the sea tremble at your majesty. But my spirit is not able to give you sufficient praise, my patrimony is unable to satisfy your sacrifice, my voice has no power to utter that which I think. No, not if I had a thousand mouths and so many tongues. However, as a good religious person and, according to my estate, I will always keep you in remembrance and close you within my breast.” When I had ended my prayer, I went to embrace the great priest Mithras, my spiritual father, and to demand his pardon, since I was unable to recompense the good which he had done to me. 1
1.26. After great greeting and thanks I departed from him to visit my parents and friends. And after a while, by the exhortation of the goddess, I made up my packet, and took shipping toward the city of Rome, where (with a favorable wind) I arrived about the twelfth day of December. And the greatest desire I had there was to make my daily prayers to the sovereign goddess Isis. She, because of the place where her temple was built, was called Campensis, and was continually adored of the people of Rome. Although I was her minister and worshipper, I was a stranger to her temple and unknown to her religion there. When a year had gone by, the goddess advised me again to receive this new order and consecration. I marveled greatly what it signified and what should happen, considering that I was a sacred person already. 1
1.27. But it happened that, while I reasoned with myself and while I examined the issue with the priests, there came a new and marvelous thought in my mind. I realized that I was only consecrated to the goddess Isis, but not sacred to the religion of great Osiris, the sovereign father of all the goddesses. Between them, although there was a religious unity and concord, yet there was a great difference of order and ceremony. And because it was necessary that I should likewise be a devotee of Osiris, there was no long delay. For the night after there appeared to me one of that order, covered with linen robes. He held in his hands spears wrapped in ivy and other things not appropriate to declare. Then he left these things in my chamber and, sitting in my seat, recited to me such things as were necessary for the sumptuous banquet for my initiation. And so that I might know him again, he showed me how the ankle of his left foot was somewhat maimed, which gave him a slight limp.Afterwards I manifestly knew the will of the god Osiris. When matins ended, I went from one priest to another to find the one who had the halting mark on his foot, according to my vision. At length I found it true. I perceived one of the company of the priests who had not only the token of his foot, but the stature and habit of his body, resembling in every point the man who appeared in the nigh. He was called Asinius Marcellus, a name appropriate to my transformation. By and by I went to him and he knew well enough all the matter. He had been admonished by a similar precept in the night. For the night before, as he dressed the flowers and garlands about the head of the god Osiris, he understood from the mouth of the image (which told the predestinations of all men) how the god had sent him a poor man of Madauros. To this man the priest was supposed to minister his sacraments so that he could receive a reward by divine providence, and the other glory for his virtuous studies. 1
1.28. Thus I was initiated into the religion, but my desire was delayed by reason of my poverty. I had spent a great part of my goods in travel and peregrination, but most of all the cost of living in the city of Rome had dwindled my resources. In the end, being often stirred forward with great trouble of mind, I was forced to sell my robe for a little money which was nevertheless sufficient for all my affairs. Then the priest spoke to me saying, “How is it that for a little pleasure you are not afraid to sell your vestments, yet when you enter into such great ceremonies you fear to fall into poverty? Prepare yourself and abstain from all animal meats, beasts and fish.” In the meantime I frequented the sacrifices of Serapis, which were done in the night. This gave me great comfort to my peregrination, and ministered to me more plentiful living since I gained some money by pleading in the courts in the Latin language. 1
1.29. Immediately afterwards I was called upon by the god Osiris and admonished to receive a third order of religion. Then I was greatly astonished, because I could not tell what this new vision signified or what the intent of the celestial god was. I began to suspect the former priests of having given me ill counsel, and I feared that they had not faithfully instructed me. While I was, as it were, incensed because of this, the god Osiris appeared to me the following night and gave me admonition, saying, “There is no reason why you should be afraid of these many orders of religion, or that something has been omitted. You should rather rejoice since as it has pleased the gods to call upon you three times, whereas most do not achieve the order even once. Wherefore you should think yourself happy because of our great benefits. And know that the initiation which you must now receive is most necessary if you mean to persevere in the worship of the goddess. You will be able to participate in solemnity on the festival day adorned in the blessed habit. This shall be a glory and source of renown for you. '. None |
|
14. None, None, nan (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Aemilia Pudentilla, wife of Apuleius • Apuleius • Apuleius of Madaura • Apuleius of Madauros • Apuleius, • Apuleius, Eleusinian and Isiac initiate • Apuleius, Eleusinian and Isiac initiate, career in Rome • Apuleius, Plato and Platonism of • Apuleius, accusation of magic against • Apuleius, and Christianity • Apuleius, and Punic • Apuleius, as a Middle Platonist • Apuleius, as philosopher • Apuleius, as “high priest,” • Apuleius, medical knowledge derived from Plato, Timaeus • Apuleius, religious/philosophical expertise of • Apuleius, rhetorical skill of • Aristotle, appeal of as exemplar (Apuleius) • Athens, Apuleius at • Athens, Apuleius at, Dionysiac ship in • Christianity, in Africa, and Apuleius • Latin, Apuleius knowledge of, Lucius Latin • Metamorphoses, Apuleius, by • Pudens, step-son of Apuleius • Pudentilla (wife of Apuleius) • Punic, first language of Apuleius, in Leptis and Oea • Rome, advocate in, career of Apuleius in • Trilingualism, of Apuleius • Trilingualism, of Apuleius, of Jesus • apuleius, accused of “magical” practices • magic, Apuleius, accused of • mediators, Apuleius as • millers wife episode, Apuleius Metamorphoses, in
Found in books: Ando and Ruepke (2006) 60; Bloch (2022) 44; Cornelli (2013) 123; Edelmann-Singer et al (2020) 13; Edmonds (2019) 188, 397; Edmondson (2008) 239, 244, 255; Griffiths (1975) 4, 49, 60, 61, 62, 247, 326, 336, 352, 359; Hoenig (2018) 110, 114; Kaster(2005) 98; Lateiner and Spatharas (2016) 228; Levine Allison and Crossan (2006) 195, 196, 197, 202, 204; Luck (2006) 72; McGowan (1999) 43; Nisula (2012) 27; Pinheiro Bierl and Beck (2013) 159, 160, 164, 166; Rupke (2016) 66; Taylor and Hay (2020) 273; Zanker (1996) 234
|
15. None, None, nan (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius • Apuleius of Madauros, • Apuleius, De Platone • Apuleius, De mundo • Apuleius, Metamorphoses • Apuleius, Plato and Platonism of • Apuleius, Timaean methodology of • Apuleius, as “high priest,” • Apuleius, cosmology in • Apuleius, linguistic analysis of • Apuleius, mythology in • Apuleius, on prophets • Apuleius, religious/philosophical expertise of • Apuleius, representation of conversion • Apuleius, supports study of philosophy • Plato, Timaeus, Apuleius and • Plato, Timaeus, Apuleius interprets • cosmos, as “uncreated” (Apuleius) • createdness, Apuleius on • creation, Apuleius on • creation, in Genesis, Apuleius argues against • curiosity, Apuleius • demiurge, Apuleius on Timaean • demons, in Apuleius • epithets, of god (Apuleius) • ethics, Apuleius on • fate, Apuleius on • fides, Apuleius’ use of • gods, Apuleius on • gods, hierarchy of (Apuleius) • gods, nature of (Apuleius) • rhetoric, Apuleius and • time, Apuleius on • time, as “substance” (Apuleius) • translation, Apuleius and
Found in books: Del Lucchese (2019) 262; Fowler (2014) 47, 48, 49; Geljon and Runia (2019) 108; Hirsch-Luipold (2022) 228; Hoenig (2018) 111, 116, 122, 124, 125, 128, 132, 141, 145, 148, 150, 155; Janowitz (2002) 30, 34, 35; König (2012) 280; Nisula (2012) 237; O, Daly (2020) 141, 142, 143, 144, 176, 177; Pinheiro Bierl and Beck (2013) 157; Wiebe (2021) 198, 199, 200, 206
|
16. None, None, nan (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius • Apuleius, Plato and Platonism of • Apuleius, as “high priest,” • Apuleius, religious/philosophical expertise of • Faustinus (addressee of Apuleius’ De Platone) • Socrates, Apuleius on • mediators, Apuleius as
Found in books: Hoenig (2018) 109; Motta and Petrucci (2022) 54
|
17. None, None, nan (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Aemilia Pudentilla, wife of Apuleius • Africa, and Apuleius • Apuleius • Apuleius Madaurensis, L. • Apuleius, Eleusinian and Isiac initiate • Apuleius, Eleusinian and Isiac initiate, career in Rome • Apuleius, and Africa • Apuleius, as a Middle Platonist • Apuleius, chief priest at Carthage • Apuleius, style of, If.,,versatility of • Athens, Apuleius at • Athens, Apuleius at, cult-centre of Isis • Latin, Apuleius knowledge of, Lucius Latin • Roman world, and Apuleius • Rome, advocate in, career of Apuleius in • Trilingualism, of Apuleius
Found in books: Edmondson (2008) 261; Griffiths (1975) 4, 11, 15, 28, 62, 336; Motta and Petrucci (2022) 70; Nisula (2012) 27; Pinheiro Bierl and Beck (2013) 166; Price Finkelberg and Shahar (2021) 184
|
18. None, None, nan (2nd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius
Found in books: Pinheiro et al (2012a) 50; Pinheiro et al (2018) 369
|
19. None, None, nan (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius • Apuleius, Metamorphoses
Found in books: Fabre-Serris et al (2021) 226; Radicke (2022) 275
|
20. None, None, nan (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius • Apuleius of Madaura
Found in books: Dieleman (2005) 245; Fowler (2014) 51
|
21. Porphyry, On Abstinence, 2.37-2.38, 2.42 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius
Found in books: Janowitz (2002) 35; Wiebe (2021) 95, 96
| 2.37. 37.The first God being incorporeal, immoveable, and impartible, and neither subsisting in any thing, nor restrained in his energies, is not, as has been before observed, in want of any thing external to himself, as neither is the soul of the world; but this latter, containing in itself the principle of that which is triply divisible, and being naturally self-motive, is adapted to be moved in a beautiful and orderly manner, and also to move the body of the world, according to the most excellent reasons i.e. productive principles or powers. It is, however, connected with and comprehends body, though it is itself incorporeal, and liberated from the participation of any passion. To the remaining Gods, therefore, to the world, to the inerratic and erratic stars, who are visible Gods, consisting of soul and body, thanks are to be returned after the above-mentioned manner, through sacrifices from iimate natures. The multitude, therefore, of those invisible beings remains for us, whom Plato indiscriminately calls daemons 17; but of these, some being denominated by men, obtain from them honours, and other religious observances, similar to those which are paid to the Gods; but others, who for the most part are not explicitly denominated, receive an occult religious reverence and appellation from certain persons in villages and certain cities; and the remaining multitude is called in common by the |67 name of daemons. The general persuasion, however, respecting all these invisible beings, is this, that if they become angry through being neglected, and deprived of the religious reverence which is due to them, they are noxious to those by whom they are thus neglected, and that they again become beneficent, if they are appeased by prayers, supplications, and sacrifices, and other similar rites. 2.42. 42.For they are full of every kind of imagination, and are sufficiently qualified to deceive, through effects of a prodigious nature; and through these, unhappy men procure philtres, and amatory allurements. For all intemperance, and hope of possessing wealth and renown, and especially deception, exist through these, since falsehood is allied to these malevolent beings; for they wish to he considered as Gods, and the power which presides over them is ambitious to appear to be the greatest God. These are they that rejoice in libations, and the savour of sacrifices, through which their pneumatic vehicle is fattened; for this vehicle lives through vapours and exhalations, and the life of it is various through various exhalations. It is likewise corroborated by the savour of blood and flesh. |
|
22. Porphyry, Life of Plotinus, 10.33 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius
Found in books: Motta and Petrucci (2022) 85; Wiebe (2021) 205
| 10.33. Among those making profession of Philosophy at Rome was one Olympius, an Alexandrian, who had been for a little while a pupil of Ammonius. This man's jealous envy showed itself in continual insolence, and finally he grew so bitter that he even ventured sorcery, seeking to crush Plotinus by star-spells. But he found his experiments recoiling upon himself, and he confessed to his associates that Plotinus possessed 'a mighty soul, so powerful, as to be able to hurl every assault back upon those that sought his ruin'. Plotinus had felt the operation and declared that at that moment Olympius limbs were convulsed and his body shrivelling like a money-bag pulled tight'. Olympius, perceiving on several attempts that he was endangering himself rather than Plotinus, desisted. In fact Plotinus possessed by birth something more than is accorded to other men. An Egyptian priest who had arrived in Rome and, through some friend, had been presented to the philosopher, became desirous of displaying his powers to him, and he offered to evoke a visible manifestation of Plotinus' presiding spirit. Plotinus readily consented and the evocation was made in the Temple of Isis, the only place, they say, which the Egyptian could find pure in Rome. At the summons a Divinity appeared, not a being of the spirit-ranks, and the Egyptian exclaimed: 'You are singularly graced; the guiding-spirit within you is not of the lower degree but a God.' It was not possible, however, to interrogate or even to contemplate this God any further, for the priest's assistant, who had been holding the birds to prevent them flying away, strangled them, whether through jealousy or in terror. Thus Plotinus had for indwelling spirit a Being of the more divine degree, and he kept his own divine spirit unceasingly intent upon that inner presence. It was this preoccupation that led him to write his treatise upon Our Tutelary Spirit, an essay in the explanation of the differences among spirit-guides. Amelius was scrupulous in observing the day of the New-Moon and other holy-days, and once asked Plotinus to join in some such celebration: Plotinus refused: 'It is for those Beings to come to me, not for me to go to them.' What was in his mind in so lofty an utterance we could not explain to ourselves and we dared not ask him. "". None |
|
23. None, None, nan (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius
Found in books: Dillon and Timotin (2015) 95; Geljon and Runia (2019) 109
|
24. None, None, nan (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius • Apuleius, De Platone et eius dogmate
Found in books: Joosse (2021) 31; Motta and Petrucci (2022) 69
|
25. None, None, nan (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius • Apuleius of Madaura, Metamorphoses
Found in books: Bricault and Bonnet (2013) 60; Dieleman (2005) 277
|
26. None, None, nan (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius • Apuleius of Madaura, Metamorphoses • Apuleius, Lucius
Found in books: Dieleman (2005) 277; Fowler (2014) 51; Johnston and Struck (2005) 272, 273, 274, 278
|
27. Augustine, The City of God, 8.12-8.14, 8.14.1, 8.16-8.17, 8.25, 9.6, 9.8-9.9, 9.15, 10.9, 18.18 (4th cent. CE - 5th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Africa, and Apuleius • Apuleius • Apuleius of Madaura • Apuleius, Augustine and • Apuleius, De Platone et eius dogmate (DPD) • Apuleius, De deo Socratis (DDS) • Apuleius, Eleusinian and Isiac initiate • Apuleius, Metamorphosis • Apuleius, and Africa • Apuleius, demonology of • Apuleius, linguistic analysis of • Apuleius, style of, If.,,versatility of • Augustine of Hippo, on Apuleius Metamorphosis • Christ, vs. Apuleius’ demons • Pudens, step-son of Apuleius • Punic, first language of Apuleius, in Leptis and Oea • Roman world, and Apuleius • Rome, advocate in, career of Apuleius in • curiosity, Apuleius
Found in books: Goldhill (2022) 184; Griffiths (1975) 6, 11, 61; Hirsch-Luipold (2022) 227, 228, 229; Hoenig (2018) 271, 272, 275, 276, 277; Karfíková (2012) 274; Pinheiro Bierl and Beck (2013) 157; Simmons(1995) 253, 254, 272; Wiebe (2021) 95, 198, 201, 203, 204, 205
| 8.12. But we need not determine from what source he learned these things - whether it was from the books of the ancients who preceded him, or, as is more likely, from the words of the apostle: Because that which is known of God, has been manifested among them, for God has manifested it to them. For His invisible things from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by those things which have been made, also His eternal power and Godhead. Romans 1:20 From whatever source he may have derived this knowledge, then, I think I have made it sufficiently plain that I have not chosen the Platonic philosophers undeservedly as the parties with whom to discuss; because the question we have just taken up concerns the natural theology, - the question, namely, whether sacred rites are to be performed to one God, or to many, for the sake of the happiness which is to be after death. I have specially chosen them because their juster thoughts concerning the one God who made heaven and earth, have made them illustrious among philosophers. This has given them such superiority to all others in the judgment of posterity, that, though Aristotle, the disciple of Plato, a man of eminent abilities, inferior in eloquence to Plato, yet far superior to many in that respect, had founded the Peripatetic sect - so called because they were in the habit of walking about during their disputations - and though he had, through the greatness of his fame, gathered very many disciples into his school, even during the life of his master; and though Plato at his death was succeeded in his school, which was called the Academy, by Speusippus, his sister's son, and Xenocrates, his beloved disciple, who, together with their successors, were called from this name of the school, Academics; nevertheless the most illustrious recent philosophers, who have chosen to follow Plato, have been unwilling to be called Peripatetics, or Academics, but have preferred the name of Platonists. Among these were the renowned Plotinus, Iamblichus, and Porphyry, who were Greeks, and the African Apuleius, who was learned both in the Greek and Latin tongues. All these, however, and the rest who were of the same school, and also Plato himself, thought that sacred rites ought to be performed in honor of many gods. " "8.13. Therefore, although in many other important respects they differ from us, nevertheless with respect to this particular point of difference, which I have just stated, as it is one of great moment, and the question on hand concerns it, I will first ask them to what gods they think that sacred rites are to be performed - to the good or to the bad, or to both the good and the bad? But we have the opinion of Plato affirming that all the gods are good, and that there is not one of the gods bad. It follows, therefore, that these are to be performed to the good, for then they are performed to gods; for if they are not good, neither are they gods. Now, if this be the case (for what else ought we to believe concerning the gods?), certainly it explodes the opinion that the bad gods are to be propitiated by sacred rites in order that they may not harm us, but the good gods are to be invoked in order that they may assist us. For there are no bad gods, and it is to the good that, as they say, the due honor of such rites is to be paid. of what character, then, are those gods who love scenic displays, even demanding that a place be given them among divine things, and that they be exhibited in their honor? The power of these gods proves that they exist, but their liking such things proves that they are bad. For it is well-known what Plato's opinion was concerning scenic plays. He thinks that the poets themselves, because they have composed songs so unworthy of the majesty and goodness of the gods, ought to be banished from the state. of what character, therefore, are those gods who contend with Plato himself about those scenic plays? He does not suffer the gods to be defamed by false crimes; the gods command those same crimes to be celebrated in their own honor. In fine, when they ordered these plays to be inaugurated, they not only demanded base things, but also did cruel things, taking from Titus Latinius his son, and sending a disease upon him because he had refused to obey them, which they removed when he had fulfilled their commands. Plato, however, bad though they were, did not think they were to be feared; but, holding to his opinion with the utmost firmness and constancy, does not hesitate to remove from a well-ordered state all the sacrilegious follies of the poets, with which these gods are delighted because they themselves are impure. But Labeo places this same Plato (as I have mentioned already in the second book ) among the demi-gods. Now Labeo thinks that the bad deities are to be propitiated with bloody victims, and by fasts accompanied with the same, but the good deities with plays, and all other things which are associated with joyfulness. How comes it, then, that the demi-god Plato so persistently dares to take away those pleasures, because he deems them base, not from the demi-gods but from the gods, and these the good gods? And, moreover, those very gods themselves do certainly refute the opinion of Labeo, for they showed themselves in the case of Latinius to be not only wanton and sportive, but also cruel and terrible. Let the Platonists, therefore, explain these things to us, since, following the opinion of their master, they think that all the gods are good and honorable, and friendly to the virtues of the wise, holding it unlawful to think otherwise concerning any of the gods. We will explain it, say they. Let us then attentively listen to them. " "
8.14.1. There is, say they, a threefold division of all animals endowed with a rational soul, namely, into gods, men, and demons. The gods occupy the loftiest region, men the lowest, the demons the middle region. For the abode of the gods is heaven, that of men the earth, that of the demons the air. As the dignity of their regions is diverse, so also is that of their natures; therefore the gods are better than men and demons. Men have been placed below the gods and demons, both in respect of the order of the regions they inhabit, and the difference of their merits. The demons, therefore, who hold the middle place, as they are inferior to the gods, than whom they inhabit a lower region, so they are superior to men, than whom they inhabit a loftier one. For they have immortality of body in common with the gods, but passions of the mind in common with men. On which account, say they, it is not wonderful that they are delighted with the obscenities of the theatre, and the fictions of the poets, since they are also subject to human passions, from which the gods are far removed, and to which they are altogether strangers. Whence we conclude that it was not the gods, who are all good and highly exalted, that Plato deprived of the pleasure of theatric plays, by reprobating and prohibiting the fictions of the poets, but the demons. of these things many have written: among others Apuleius, the Platonist of Madaura, who composed a whole work on the subject, entitled, Concerning the God of Socrates. He there discusses and explains of what kind that deity was who attended on Socrates, a sort of familiar, by whom it is said he was admonished to desist from any action which would not turn out to his advantage. He asserts most distinctly, and proves at great length, that it was not a god but a demon; and he discusses with great diligence the opinion of Plato concerning the lofty estate of the gods, the lowly estate of men, and the middle estate of demons. These things being so, how did Plato dare to take away, if not from the gods, whom he removed from all human contagion, certainly from the demons, all the pleasures of the theatre, by expelling the poets from the state? Evidently in this way he wished to admonish the human soul, although still confined in these moribund members, to despise the shameful commands of the demons, and to detest their impurity, and to choose rather the splendor of virtue. But if Plato showed himself virtuous in answering and prohibiting these things, then certainly it was shameful of the demons to command them. Therefore either Apuleius is wrong, and Socrates' familiar did not belong to this class of deities, or Plato held contradictory opinions, now honoring the demons, now removing from the well-regulated state the things in which they delighted, or Socrates is not to be congratulated on the friendship of the demon, of which Apuleius was so ashamed that he entitled his book On the God of Socrates, while according to the tenor of his discussion, wherein he so diligently and at such length distinguishes gods from demons, he ought not to have entitled it, Concerning the God, but Concerning the Demon of Socrates. But he preferred to put this into the discussion itself rather than into the title of his book. For, through the sound doctrine which has illuminated human society, all, or almost all men have such a horror at the name of demons, that every one who before reading the dissertation of Apuleius, which sets forth the dignity of demons, should have read the title of the book, On the Demon of Socrates, would certainly have thought that the author was not a sane man. But what did even Apuleius find to praise in the demons, except subtlety and strength of body and a higher place of habitation? For when he spoke generally concerning their manners, he said nothing that was good, but very much that was bad. Finally, no one, when he has read that book, wonders that they desired to have even the obscenity of the stage among divine things, or that, wishing to be thought gods, they should be delighted with the crimes of the gods, or that all those sacred solemnities, whose obscenity occasions laughter, and whose shameful cruelty causes horror, should be in agreement with their passions. " '8.14. There is, say they, a threefold division of all animals endowed with a rational soul, namely, into gods, men, and demons. The gods occupy the loftiest region, men the lowest, the demons the middle region. For the abode of the gods is heaven, that of men the earth, that of the demons the air. As the dignity of their regions is diverse, so also is that of their natures; therefore the gods are better than men and demons. Men have been placed below the gods and demons, both in respect of the order of the regions they inhabit, and the difference of their merits. The demons, therefore, who hold the middle place, as they are inferior to the gods, than whom they inhabit a lower region, so they are superior to men, than whom they inhabit a loftier one. For they have immortality of body in common with the gods, but passions of the mind in common with men. On which account, say they, it is not wonderful that they are delighted with the obscenities of the theatre, and the fictions of the poets, since they are also subject to human passions, from which the gods are far removed, and to which they are altogether strangers. Whence we conclude that it was not the gods, who are all good and highly exalted, that Plato deprived of the pleasure of theatric plays, by reprobating and prohibiting the fictions of the poets, but the demons. of these things many have written: among others Apuleius, the Platonist of Madaura, who composed a whole work on the subject, entitled, Concerning the God of Socrates. He there discusses and explains of what kind that deity was who attended on Socrates, a sort of familiar, by whom it is said he was admonished to desist from any action which would not turn out to his advantage. He asserts most distinctly, and proves at great length, that it was not a god but a demon; and he discusses with great diligence the opinion of Plato concerning the lofty estate of the gods, the lowly estate of men, and the middle estate of demons. These things being so, how did Plato dare to take away, if not from the gods, whom he removed from all human contagion, certainly from the demons, all the pleasures of the theatre, by expelling the poets from the state? Evidently in this way he wished to admonish the human soul, although still confined in these moribund members, to despise the shameful commands of the demons, and to detest their impurity, and to choose rather the splendor of virtue. But if Plato showed himself virtuous in answering and prohibiting these things, then certainly it was shameful of the demons to command them. Therefore either Apuleius is wrong, and Socrates' familiar did not belong to this class of deities, or Plato held contradictory opinions, now honoring the demons, now removing from the well-regulated state the things in which they delighted, or Socrates is not to be congratulated on the friendship of the demon, of which Apuleius was so ashamed that he entitled his book On the God of Socrates, while according to the tenor of his discussion, wherein he so diligently and at such length distinguishes gods from demons, he ought not to have entitled it, Concerning the God, but Concerning the Demon of Socrates. But he preferred to put this into the discussion itself rather than into the title of his book. For, through the sound doctrine which has illuminated human society, all, or almost all men have such a horror at the name of demons, that every one who before reading the dissertation of Apuleius, which sets forth the dignity of demons, should have read the title of the book, On the Demon of Socrates, would certainly have thought that the author was not a sane man. But what did even Apuleius find to praise in the demons, except subtlety and strength of body and a higher place of habitation? For when he spoke generally concerning their manners, he said nothing that was good, but very much that was bad. Finally, no one, when he has read that book, wonders that they desired to have even the obscenity of the stage among divine things, or that, wishing to be thought gods, they should be delighted with the crimes of the gods, or that all those sacred solemnities, whose obscenity occasions laughter, and whose shameful cruelty causes horror, should be in agreement with their passions. " "
8.16. The same Apuleius, when speaking concerning the manners of demons, said that they are agitated with the same perturbations of mind as men; that they are provoked by injuries, propitiated by services and by gifts, rejoice in honors, are delighted with a variety of sacred rites, and are annoyed if any of them be neglected. Among other things, he also says that on them depend the divinations of augurs, soothsayers, and prophets, and the revelations of dreams, and that from them also are the miracles of the magicians. But, when giving a brief definition of them, he says, Demons are of an animal nature, passive in soul, rational in mind, aerial in body, eternal in time. of which five things, the three first are common to them and us, the fourth peculiar to themselves, and the fifth common to therewith the gods. But I see that they have in common with the gods two of the first things, which they have in common with us. For he says that the gods also are animals; and when he is assigning to every order of beings its own element, he places us among the other terrestrial animals which live and feel upon the earth. Wherefore, if the demons are animals as to genus, this is common to them, not only with men, but also with the gods and with beasts; if they are rational as to their mind, this is common to them with the gods and with men; if they are eternal in time, this is common to them with the gods only; if they are passive as to their soul, this is common to them with men only; if they are aerial in body, in this they are alone. Therefore it is no great thing for them to be of an animal nature, for so also are the beasts; in being rational as to mind, they are not above ourselves, for so are we also; and as to their being eternal as to time, what is the advantage of that if they are not blessed? For better is temporal happiness than eternal misery. Again, as to their being passive in soul, how are they in this respect above us, since we also are so, but would not have been so had we not been miserable? Also, as to their being aerial in body, how much value is to be set on that, since a soul of any kind whatsoever is to be set above every body? And therefore religious worship, which ought to be rendered from the soul, is by no means due to that thing which is inferior to the soul. Moreover, if he had, among those things which he says belong to demons, enumerated virtue, wisdom, happiness, and affirmed that they have those things in common with the gods, and, like them, eternally, he would assuredly have attributed to them something greatly to be desired, and much to be prized. And even in that case it would not have been our duty to worship them like God on account of these things, but rather to worship Him from whom we know they had received them. But how much less are they really worthy of divine honor - those aerial animals who are only rational that they may be capable of misery, passive that they may be actually miserable, and eternal that it may be impossible for them to end their misery! 8.17. Wherefore, to omit other things, and confine our attention to that which he says is common to the demons with us, let us ask this question: If all the four elements are full of their own animals, the fire and the air of immortal, and the water and the earth of mortal ones, why are the souls of demons agitated by the whirlwinds and tempests of passions?- for the Greek word &
8.25. Wherefore we must by no means seek, through the supposed mediation of demons, to avail ourselves of the benevolence or beneficence of the gods, or rather of the good angels, but through resembling them in the possession of a good will, through which we are with them, and live with them, and worship with them the same God, although we cannot see them with the eyes of our flesh. But it is not in locality we are distant from them, but in merit of life, caused by our miserable unlikeness to them in will, and by the weakness of our character; for the mere fact of our dwelling on earth under the conditions of life in the flesh does not prevent our fellowship with them. It is only prevented when we, in the impurity of our hearts, mind earthly things. But in this present time, while we are being healed that we may eventually be as they are, we are brought near to them by faith, if by their assistance we believe that He who is their blessedness is also ours.
9.6. Deferring for the present the question about the holy angels, let us examine the opinion of the Platonists, that the demons who mediate between gods and men are agitated by passions. For if their mind, though exposed to their incursion, still remained free and superior to them, Apuleius could not have said that their hearts are tossed with passions as the sea by stormy winds. Their mind, then - that superior part of their soul whereby they are rational beings, and which, if it actually exists in them, should rule and bridle the turbulent passions of the inferior parts of the soul - this mind of theirs, I say, is, according to the Platonist referred to, tossed with a hurricane of passions. The mind of the demons, therefore, is subject to the emotions of fear, anger, lust, and all similar affections. What part of them, then, is free, and endued with wisdom, so that they are pleasing to the gods, and the fit guides of men into purity of life, since their very highest part, being the slave of passion and subject to vice, only makes them more intent on deceiving and seducing, in proportion to the mental force and energy of desire they possess?
9.8. The definition which Apuleius gives of demons, and in which he of course includes all demons, is that they are in nature animals, in soul subject to passion, in mind reasonable, in body aerial, in duration eternal. Now in these five qualities he has named absolutely nothing which is proper to good men and not also to bad. For when Apuleius had spoken of the celestials first, and had then extended his description so as to include an account of those who dwell far below on the earth, that, after describing the two extremes of rational being, he might proceed to speak of the intermediate demons, he says, Men, therefore, who are endowed with the faculty of reason and speech, whose soul is immortal and their members mortal, who have weak and anxious spirits, dull and corruptible bodies, dissimilar characters, similar ignorance, who are obstinate in their audacity, and persistent in their hope, whose labor is vain, and whose fortune is ever on the wane, their race immortal, themselves perishing, each generation replenished with creatures whose life is swift and their wisdom slow, their death sudden and their life a wail - these are the men who dwell on the earth. In recounting so many qualities which belong to the large proportion of men, did he forget that which is the property of the few when he speaks of their wisdom being slow? If this had been omitted, this his description of the human race, so carefully elaborated, would have been defective. And when he commended the excellence of the gods, he affirmed that they excelled in that very blessedness to which he thinks men must attain by wisdom. And therefore, if he had wished us to believe that some of the demons are good, he should have inserted in his description something by which we might see that they have, in common with the gods, some share of blessedness, or, in common with men, some wisdom. But, as it is, he has mentioned no good quality by which the good may be distinguished from the bad. For although he refrained from giving a full account of their wickedness, through fear of offending, not themselves but their worshippers, for whom he was writing, yet he sufficiently indicated to discerning readers what opinion he had of them; for only in the one article of the eternity of their bodies does he assimilate them to the gods, all of whom, he asserts, are good and blessed, and absolutely free from what he himself calls the stormy passions of the demons; and as to the soul, he quite plainly affirms that they resemble men and not the gods, and that this resemblance lies not in the possession of wisdom, which even men can attain to, but in the perturbation of passions which sway the foolish and wicked, but is so ruled by the good and wise that they prefer not to admit rather than to conquer it. For if he had wished it to be understood that the demons resembled the gods in the eternity not of their bodies but of their souls, he would certainly have admitted men to share in this privilege, because, as a Platonist, he of course must hold that the human soul is eternal. Accordingly, when describing this race of living beings, he said that their souls were immortal, their members mortal. And, consequently, if men have not eternity in common with the gods because they have mortal bodies, demons have eternity in common with the gods because their bodies are immortal. 9.9. How, then, can men hope for a favorable introduction to the friendship of the gods by such mediators as these, who are, like men, defective in that which is the better part of every living creature, viz., the soul, and who resemble the gods only in the body, which is the inferior part? For a living creature or animal consists of soul and body, and of these two parts the soul is undoubtedly the better; even though vicious and weak, it is obviously better than even the soundest and strongest body, for the greater excellence of its nature is not reduced to the level of the body even by the pollution of vice, as gold, even when tarnished, is more precious than the purest silver or lead. And yet these mediators, by whose interposition things human and divine are to be harmonized, have an eternal body in common with the gods, and a vicious soul in common with men, - as if the religion by which these demons are to unite gods and men were a bodily, and not a spiritual matter. What wickedness, then, or punishment has suspended these false and deceitful mediators, as it were head downwards, so that their inferior part, their body, is linked to the gods above, and their superior part, the soul, bound to men beneath; united to the celestial gods by the part that serves, and miserable, together with the inhabitants of earth, by the part that rules? For the body is the servant, as Sallust says: We use the soul to rule, the body to obey; adding, the one we have in common with the gods, the other with the brutes. For he was here speaking of men; and they have, like the brutes, a mortal body. These demons, whom our philosophic friends have provided for us as mediators with the gods, may indeed say of the soul and body, the one we have in common with the gods, the other with men; but, as I said, they are as it were suspended and bound head downwards, having the slave, the body, in common with the gods, the master, the soul, in common with miserable men, - their inferior part exalted, their superior part depressed. And therefore, if any one supposes that, because they are not subject, like terrestrial animals, to the separation of soul and body by death, they therefore resemble the gods in their eternity, their body must not be considered a chariot of an eternal triumph, but rather the chain of an eternal punishment.
9.15. But if, as is much more probable and credible, it must needs be that all men, so long as they are mortal, are also miserable, we must seek an intermediate who is not only man, but also God, that, by the interposition of His blessed mortality, He may bring men out of their mortal misery to a blessed immortality. In this intermediate two things are requisite, that He become mortal, and that He do not continue mortal. He did become mortal, not rendering the divinity of the Word infirm, but assuming the infirmity of flesh. Neither did He continue mortal in the flesh, but raised it from the dead; for it is the very fruit of His mediation that those, for the sake of whose redemption He became the Mediator, should not abide eternally in bodily death. Wherefore it became the Mediator between us and God to have both a transient mortality and a permanent blessedness, that by that which is transient He might be assimilated to mortals, and might translate them from mortality to that which is permanent. Good angels, therefore, cannot mediate between miserable mortals and blessed immortals, for they themselves also are both blessed and immortal; but evil angels can mediate, because they are immortal like the one party, miserable like the other. To these is opposed the good Mediator, who, in opposition to their immortality and misery, has chosen to be mortal for a time, and has been able to continue blessed in eternity. It is thus He has destroyed, by the humility of His death and the benignity of His blessedness, those proud immortals and hurtful wretches, and has prevented them from seducing to misery by their boast of immortality those men whose hearts He has cleansed by faith, and whom He has thus freed from their impure dominion. Man, then, mortal and miserable, and far removed from the immortal and the blessed, what medium shall he choose by which he may be united to immortality and blessedness? The immortality of the demons, which might have some charm for man, is miserable; the mortality of Christ, which might offend man, exists no longer. In the one there is the fear of an eternal misery; in the other, death, which could not be eternal, can no longer be feared, and blessedness, which is eternal, must be loved. For the immortal and miserable mediator interposes himself to prevent us from passing to a blessed immortality, because that which hinders such a passage, namely, misery, continues in him; but the mortal and blessed Mediator interposed Himself, in order that, having passed through mortality, He might of mortals make immortals (showing His power to do this in His own resurrection), and from being miserable to raise them to the blessed company from the number of whom He had Himself never departed. There is, then, a wicked mediator, who separates friends, and a good Mediator, who reconciles enemies. And those who separate are numerous, because the multitude of the blessed are blessed only by their participation in the one God; of which participation the evil angels being deprived, they are wretched, and interpose to hinder rather than to help to this blessedness, and by their very number prevent us from reaching that one beatific good, to obtain which we need not many but one Mediator, the uncreated Word of God, by whom all things were made, and in partaking of whom we are blessed. I do not say that He is Mediator because He is the Word, for as the Word He is supremely blessed and supremely immortal, and therefore far from miserable mortals; but He is Mediator as He is man, for by His humanity He shows us that, in order to obtain that blessed and beatific good, we need not seek other mediators to lead us through the successive steps of this attainment, but that the blessed and beatific God, having Himself become a partaker of our humanity, has afforded us ready access to the participation of His divinity. For in delivering us from our mortality and misery, He does not lead us to the immortal and blessed angels, so that we should become immortal and blessed by participating in their nature, but He leads us straight to that Trinity, by participating in which the angels themselves are blessed. Therefore, when He chose to be in the form of a servant, and lower than the angels, that He might be our Mediator, He remained higher than the angels, in the form of God - Himself at once the way of life on earth and life itself in heaven.
10.9. These miracles, and many others of the same nature, which it were tedious to mention, were wrought for the purpose of commending the worship of the one true God, and prohibiting the worship of a multitude of false gods. Moreover, they were wrought by simple faith and godly confidence, not by the incantations and charms composed under the influence of a criminal tampering with the unseen world, of an art which they call either magic, or by the more abominable title necromancy, or the more honorable designation theurgy; for they wish to discriminate between those whom the people call magicians, who practise necromancy, and are addicted to illicit arts and condemned, and those others who seem to them to be worthy of praise for their practice of theurgy - the truth, however, being that both classes are the slaves of the deceitful rites of the demons whom they invoke under the names of angels. For even Porphyry promises some kind of purgation of the soul by the help of theurgy, though he does so with some hesitation and shame, and denies that this art can secure to any one a return to God; so that you can detect his opinion vacillating between the profession of philosophy and an art which he feels to be presumptuous and sacrilegious. For at one time he warns us to avoid it as deceitful, and prohibited by law, and dangerous to those who practise it; then again, as if in deference to its advocates, he declares it useful for cleansing one part of the soul, not, indeed, the intellectual part, by which the truth of things intelligible, which have no sensible images, is recognized, but the spiritual part, which takes cognizance of the images of things material. This part, he says, is prepared and fitted for intercourse with spirits and angels, and for the vision of the gods, by the help of certain theurgic consecrations, or, as they call them, mysteries. He acknowledges, however, that these theurgic mysteries impart to the intellectual soul no such purity as fits it to see its God, and recognize the things that truly exist. And from this acknowledgment we may infer what kind of gods these are, and what kind of vision of them is imparted by theurgic consecrations, if by it one cannot see the things which truly exist. He says, further, that the rational, or, as he prefers calling it, the intellectual soul, can pass into the heavens without the spiritual part being cleansed by theurgic art, and that this art cannot so purify the spiritual part as to give it entrance to immortality and eternity. And therefore, although he distinguishes angels from demons, asserting that the habitation of the latter is in the air, while the former dwell in the ether and empyrean, and although he advises us to cultivate the friendship of some demon, who may be able after our death to assist us, and elevate us at least a little above the earth - for he owns that it is by another way we must reach the heavenly society of the angels - he at the same time distinctly warns us to avoid the society of demons, saying that the soul, expiating its sin after death, execrates the worship of demons by whom it was entangled. And of theurgy itself, though he recommends it as reconciling angels and demons, he cannot deny that it treats with powers which either themselves envy the soul its purity, or serve the arts of those who do envy it. He complains of this through the mouth of some Chald an or other: A good man in Chald a complains, he says, that his most strenuous efforts to cleanse his soul were frustrated, because another man, who had influence in these matters, and who envied him purity, had prayed to the powers, and bound them by his conjuring not to listen to his request. Therefore, adds Porphyry, what the one man bound, the other could not loose. And from this he concludes that theurgy is a craft which accomplishes not only good but evil among gods and men; and that the gods also have passions, and are perturbed and agitated by the emotions which Apuleius attributed to demons and men, but from which he preserved the gods by that sublimity of residence, which, in common with Plato, he accorded to them. ' "
18.18. Perhaps our readers expect us to say something about this so great delusion wrought by the demons; and what shall we say but that men must fly out of the midst of Babylon? Isaiah 48:20 For this prophetic precept is to be understood spiritually in this sense, that by going forward in the living God, by the steps of faith, which works by love, we must flee out of the city of this world, which is altogether a society of ungodly angels and men. Yea, the greater we see the power of the demons to be in these depths, so much the more tenaciously must we cleave to the Mediator through whom we ascend from these lowest to the highest places. For if we should say these things are not to be credited, there are not wanting even now some who would affirm that they had either heard on the best authority, or even themselves experienced, something of that kind. Indeed we ourselves, when in Italy, heard such things about a certain region there where landladies of inns, imbued with these wicked arts, were said to be in the habit of giving to such travellers as they chose, or could manage, something in a piece of cheese by which they were changed on the spot into beasts of burden, and carried whatever was necessary, and were restored to their own form when the work was done. Yet their mind did not become bestial, but remained rational and human, just as Apuleius, in the books he wrote with the title of The Golden Ass, has told, or feigned, that it happened to his own self that, on taking poison, he became an ass, while retaining his human mind. These things are either false, or so extraordinary as to be with good reason disbelieved. But it is to be most firmly believed that Almighty God can do whatever He pleases, whether in punishing or favoring, and that the demons can accomplish nothing by their natural power (for their created being is itself angelic, although made malign by their own fault), except what He may permit, whose judgments are often hidden, but never unrighteous. And indeed the demons, if they really do such things as these on which this discussion turns, do not create real substances, but only change the appearance of things created by the true God so as to make them seem to be what they are not. I cannot therefore believe that even the body, much less the mind, can really be changed into bestial forms and lineaments by any reason, art, or power of the demons; but the phantasm of a man which even in thought or dreams goes through innumerable changes may, when the man's senses are laid asleep or overpowered, be presented to the senses of others in a corporeal form, in some indescribable way unknown to me, so that men's bodies themselves may lie somewhere, alive, indeed, yet with their senses locked up much more heavily and firmly than by sleep, while that phantasm, as it were embodied in the shape of some animal, may appear to the senses of others, and may even seem to the man himself to be changed, just as he may seem to himself in sleep to be so changed, and to bear burdens; and these burdens, if they are real substances, are borne by the demons, that men may be deceived by beholding at the same time the real substance of the burdens and the simulated bodies of the beasts of burden. For a certain man called Pr stantius used to tell that it had happened to his father in his own house, that he took that poison in a piece of cheese, and lay in his bed as if sleeping, yet could by no means be aroused. But he said that after a few days he as it were woke up and related the things he had suffered as if they had been dreams, namely, that he had been made a sumpter horse, and, along with other beasts of burden, had carried provisions for the soldiers of what is called the Rhœtian Legion, because it was sent to Rhœtia. And all this was found to have taken place just as he told, yet it had seemed to him to be his own dream. And another man declared that in his own house at night, before he slept, he saw a certain philosopher, whom he knew very well, come to him and explain to him some things in the Platonic philosophy which he had previously declined to explain when asked. And when he had asked this philosopher why he did in his house what he had refused to do at home, he said, I did not do it, but I dreamed I had done it. And thus what the one saw when sleeping was shown to the other when awake by a phantasmal image. These things have not come to us from persons we might deem unworthy of credit, but from informants we could not suppose to be deceiving us. Therefore what men say and have committed to writing about the Arcadians being often changed into wolves by the Arcadian gods, or demons rather, and what is told in song about Circe transforming the companions of Ulysses, if they were really done, may, in my opinion, have been done in the way I have said. As for Diomede's birds, since their race is alleged to have been perpetuated by constant propagation, I believe they were not made through the metamorphosis of men, but were slyly substituted for them on their removal, just as the hind was for Iphigenia, the daughter of king Agamemnon. For juggleries of this kind could not be difficult for the demons if permitted by the judgment of God; and since that virgin was afterwards, found alive it is easy to see that a hind had been slyly substituted for her. But because the companions of Diomede were of a sudden nowhere to be seen, and afterwards could nowhere be found, being destroyed by bad avenging angels, they were believed to have been changed into those birds, which were secretly brought there from other places where such birds were, and suddenly substituted for them by fraud. But that they bring water in their beaks and sprinkle it on the temple of Diomede, and that they fawn on men of Greek race and persecute aliens, is no wonderful thing to be done by the inward influence of the demons, whose interest it is to persuade men that Diomede was made a god, and thus to beguile them into worshipping many false gods, to the great dishonor of the true God; and to serve dead men, who even in their lifetime did not truly live, with temples, altars, sacrifices, and priests, all which, when of the right kind, are due only to the one living and true God. "". None |
|
28. None, None, nan (7th cent. CE - 7th cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius • Apuleius, as a Middle Platonist
Found in books: O, Daly (2020) 285; Pinheiro Bierl and Beck (2013) 166
|
29. None, None, nan
Tagged with subjects: • Apuleius • Apuleius, Milesiae fabulae • Metamorphoses, Apuleius, by
Found in books: Pinheiro Bierl and Beck (2013) 20; Stephens and Winkler (1995) 430
|
