Brepols Online Books Other Monographs Collection 2016 - bob2016moot

This book presents a thorough re-examination of Apuleius’ Platonic philosophy, encompassing both his philosophical and literary works. Its primary concern lies in demonstrating how there is no significant gap between the Platonic philosophy of the Opuscula (De deo Socratis, De Platone et eius dogmate, De mundo) and the literary tastes of his rhetorical and most important output, such as the Apologia, the Florida, and foremost the Metamorphoses. Apuleius’ Middle-Platonism did not limit itself to technical works, but also influenced his literary interests.

Up to now, Apuleius’ Platonism has been very poorly investigated. It had attracted the attention of only a few - although prominent - scholars (Festugière, Dodds, Theiler), before being taken briefly into consideration in the monographs by John Dillon (The Middleplatonists, London 1977) and Stephen Gersh (Middle Platonism and Neoplatonism. The Latin Tradition, Notre Dame 1986). Because of his multifaceted interests and brilliant style, which is reflected in his conferences, judicial orations and in the novel, Apuleius was mainly treated as a sophist. In the wake of a recent revival of interest in Greek Middle Platonism and in its predecessors (such as Philo of Alexandria or Plutarch), the rhetor of Madauros is worthy of a new examination. This book aims at considering Apuleius as a Philosophus Platonicus who, at the same time, is a Latin Sophist, showing how the two aspects are closely intertwined.

Examining only one aspect would be easy, but would not do justice to Apuleius’ personality. In particular, it is necessary to insert him into a philosophical line, which runs from the first to the third century AD, thus outlining the specifics of Latin Platonism. On the other hand, it is necessary to take into account the concerns of the Second Sophistic in philosophy, though in a somewhat trivialized and less systematic way.

The title of the book (Apuleius and the Metamorphoses of Platonism) indeed underlines how Apuleius’ chameleonic Platonism ‘transforms’ itself, both in his philosophical and his literary works. While challenging the current scholarly trend that overrates the philosophical presence in the Metamorphoses, this book suggests new outlooks, as well as providing a new perspective on many hypotheses previously considered as a given. In order to do this, it investigates the literary, religious and philosophical, Graeco-Roman / African milieu in which Apuleius lived from a literary, religious and philosophical point of view, while considering his influence on authors from Late Antiquity.