La tomba dell’amore: il matrimonio nel romanzo apuleiano

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Apuleius wasn’t a big fan of marriage. The most sacred among Roman institutions, which Augustus himself had come to defend with the leges Iuliae, brought him lots of trouble (his unfortunate marriage, however, regaled us a masterpiece in the form of an exquisite self-defense speech). The novelist’s vision of marriage was quite different from the idealized one we are used to reading about in Roman letters and epithalamia, laudationes and funeral inscriptions, as well as in famous passages from historiography. Adultery, poisonings, homicides: these are almost always the main themes in Apuleius’ stories about marriage; and the wives, apart from a couple of virtuous exceptions, are all reckless cheaters, murderers and sometimes even witches. This gloomy picture painted by the novels is built upon elements taken from earlier literature and mixed in with many references to Roman law: this to create a privileged, and sometimes very ironic, dialogue with the Roman reader.