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The Golden Ass
The ''Metamorphoses'' of Apuleius — which St. Augustine referred to as ''The Golden Ass'' (''Asinus aureus'')〔St. Augustine, ''The City of God'' 18.18.2'〕 — is the only Ancient Roman novel in Latin to survive in its entirety.
The protagonist of the novel is called Lucius.〔''The Golden Ass'' 1.24〕 At the end of the novel, he is revealed to be from Madaurus, in ancient Algeria,〔''The Golden Ass'' 11.27〕 the hometown of Apuleius himself. The plot revolves around the protagonist's curiosity (''curiositas'') and insatiable desire to see and practice magic. While trying to perform a spell to transform into a bird, he is accidentally transformed into an ass. This leads to a long journey, literal and metaphorical, filled with in-set tales. He finally finds salvation through the intervention of the goddess Isis, whose cult he joins.
==Origin==
The date of composition of the ''Metamorphoses'' is uncertain. It has variously been considered by scholars as a youthful work preceding Apuleius' ''Apology'' of 158/9 AD, or as the climax of his literary career and perhaps as late as the 170s or 180s. Apuleius adapted the story from a Greek original of which the author's name is said to be Lucius of Patrae (the name of the lead character and narrator). This Greek text has been lost, but there is Λούκιος ἢ ὄνος (''Loúkios è ónos'', ''Loukios/Lucius'' or ''The Ass''), a similar tale of disputed authorship, traditionally attributed to Lucian of Samosata, a contemporary of Apuleius. This surviving Greek text appears to be an abridgement or epitome of "Lucius of Patrae's" text. Possibly the original lost story was written by Lucian and the abridged version was later transmitted under his name.
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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