Figura Comica de Sócrates en Apuleyo

Comic Invention and Superstitious Frenzy in Apuleius' Metamorphoses: The Figure of Socrates
as an Icon of Satirical Self-Exposure

Author(s): Wytse H. Keulen
Source: The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 124, No. 1 (Spring, 2003), pp. 107-135
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
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COMIC
AND
INVENTION
IN APULEIUS'
THE
FIGURE
OF
FRENZY
SUPERSTITIOUS
METAMORPHOSES:
SOCRATES
SATIRICAL
Wytse
AS
AN
ICON
OF
SELF-EXPOSURE
H. Keulen
Abstract. This article concentrates on the Apuleian Socrates (Met. 1.6-19) as a

programmatic figure who reflects both the comic ambiguity of the novel and the
paradoxical identity of its protagonist and main narrator, Lucius, author of an
entertaining narrative and a superstitious initiate of a religious cult. It offers a
reading of a satiric Socrates as parallel to a satiric Lucius. Socrates' ambiguous
exhibitionistic gesture (1.6) is a tribute to his Socratic-Cynic pedigree and can be
viewed as an icon of satirical self-exposure. Both Socrates and Lucius seem to be
literary projections of Apuleius himself as an author of comic autobiographical
fiction.
0. INTRODUCTION
is religiously
Whether
the ending
of Apuleius'
earMetamorphoses
is
still
a
matter
of
nest, fundamentally
satiric, or endorses
ambiguity
debate among Apuleian
scholars. Since Winkler (1985), various studies
have plausibly argued for a satirical interpretation
of Lucius' initiation in
the cult of Isis.1 Along similar lines, the present study will offer a reading
of a satiric Socrates
as parallel
to a satiric Lucius.2
1Winkler
(1985,209-27) analyses the comic elements in Book 11 but still argues for
an "open" ending that allows both a serious and a satirical interpretation. For a more
determinate approach towards a satirical interpretation, see, e.g., Van Mal-Maeder 1997;
Harrison 2000, 235-59. Harrison (250-52) even suggests that Book 11 is satirical of a
particular person's addiction to superstitious cults (Aelius Aristides); for a different ap?
proach, see section 3.
2 The terms "satire" and "satirical"are
ambiguous. It is therefore important to note
that I use the words "satire," "satirist," and "satirical" in a broader sense, not restricting
myself to the genre of Satire, which is known to be exclusively Roman (Quint. Inst. 10.1.93),
but including its Greek literary predecessors (e.g., Old Comedy, Cynic diatribe), whose
strong satirical elements influenced Roman Satire (see Freudenburg 1993 on Horace).
American
Journal
ofPhilology
124(2003)107-135
? 2003byTheJohnsHopkins
Press
University

WYTSE H. KEULEN
108
is the central figure in the first inset tale of Apuleius' novel

the
Various expressions
narrated
by Aristomenes.
emphasise
(1.6-19),
visual and theatrical
nature of the opening
scene, in which Socrates
as a pale and emaciated
1.6.3
appears
beggar (cf. 1.6.1 deformatus;
1.6.5 miserum aerumnae spectaculum).
Socrates is the only
simulacrum;
character in this tale whose visual features are pictured to some extent
Socrates
the object of
(1.6.1; 1.6.4; 1.19.1-2); he and his symptoms are repeatedly
Aristomenes'
a
focal
1.18.1;
character,
1.19.1). Despite
gaze (cf.
being
and despite the fact that he bears the famous name of the father of
philosophy, the figure of Socrates is one of the most enigmatic characters
in the Metamorphoses.
His evasive, slippery nature seems aptly repre?
sented by his physical symptoms of pallor and emaciation,
which can be
on
various
levels.
interpreted
The ambiguous
portrayal of Socrates turns out to be closely interwith the hybrid personality
of his antagonist
Meroe, whom he
his
miserable
state
as
the
cause
of
(1.7.10). When we find
represents
Socrates pale and emaciated, sitting as a beggar dressed in rags, and learn
was his encounter
with a lecherous,
that the cause of his misfortune
twined
dominant
old hag (1.6-7),

the obvious
of his symptoms
explanation
to be that of a man ruined by his submission to uoluptas. However,
turn out to be highly ambiguous
in this story, where various
symptoms
seems
scenarios
and interpretations
to offer a plausible explanation
compete
events (see Winkler 1985, 82-86). Socrates' appear?
for the provocative
ance in the story as a poor victim, and his symptoms
of pallor and
are
not
to
be
His
taken at face value.
emaciation,
perhaps
performance
as a passive dupe may be viewed as a masquerade,
features
concealing
whose
relevance is beyond his apparent role of victim in the story. There

is another, perhaps far more important role of Socrates that we should
take into account: the role of devious storyteller
who partly retells the
repertoire of another storyteller, Meroe (1.10.3 ut mihi temulenta narrauit).
The present study concentrates
on the character of Socrates as a
programmatic
figure who reflects both the comic ambiguity of the novel
and the ambiguous
studies
Apuleian
Socrates
character of its protagonist

and main narrator, Lucius.
out many parallels
have hitherto
between
pointed
and Lucius as a character in the story, which are related to
Apuleius considered the Greek Cynic Crates as a writer of satire (Flor. 20.5), and ancient
scholia refer to the sharp wit of the Cynic Bion with the term satura (see n. 21). The
question of the satiric voice or genre in the Roman novel deserves further exploration; see,
e.g., Smith 1996,309-17.

COMIC INVENTION AND SUPERSTITIOUS FRENZY IN APUL. MET. 109

central
themes
of the novel (e.g., curiositas, seruiles uoluptates).

Both
and Lucius seek profane pleasures
(uoluptates),
indulging, for
in popular
shows (1.4; 1.7.5-6)
and sex (1.8.1 uoluptatem
example,
with the old
Veneriam). In both cases, their sexual escapades
(Socrates
hag Meroe; Lucius with the maid Photis) make them a victim of witchcraft and form the prelude to various misfortunes,
involving metamor?
Socrates
characters
and exploitation
(see
phosis, destitution,
by other powerful
including Isis (Van Mal-Maeder
e.g., Walsh 1970,177;
Sandy 1973,232),
between the
1997,102; 106-7). Many scholars stress the correspondences
witches
from the first three
books and Isis; according to a recent study,

but of continuparallels not in terms of opposition,
ation (Van Mal-Maeder
1997,97-100).
that Socrates is a kind of program?
Since it has been acknowledged
of Lucius, it would be interesting
matic anticipation
to study him also as
a reflection of Lucius' paradoxical
as
a
both the author
narrator,
identity
of an entertaining
Milesian narrative and an initiate of a religious cult.
we should
see these
Lucius
Although
until he describes
to Isis
as a narrator does not mention his conversion
it in the eleventh book, one wonders whether it really
came as a surprise for the contemporary
reader. As the present study of
the figure of Socrates intends to demonstrate,
the gap that Winkler (1985,
and the religious
2A1-A2) observed between the entertaining
storyteller
fanatic may not have been that wide, and in some cases may even have
been nonexistent.
As we will see, the Apuleian
Socrates foreshadows
Lucius in resembling
of
and
charlatans
that were part
types
storytellers
of Apuleius'
show
of
their superstia
life, who, by making
contemporary
tious inclinations
Winkler (238-42)
as a form of entertainment,
were able to make a living.
adduced
two such types as models for Lucius as a
entertainers
and the reli?
storyteller, namely, the Cynics as philosophical
entertainers
with
shaven
heads
who
narrated
their
gious
tragic misfor?
tunes and ensuing salvation by a divinity; both performed
in order to
make
money.3
Viewed in the light of the literary
tradition
of Socrates-like
figures
Cynics: Dio Chrysostom orat. 32.9 on the Cynics in Alexandria who play upon the
people's credulity at crossroads or at temple gates, oKcowuaxaKai noXXr\va7cep|Lioôyiav
cruveipovxec;Kai xac; dyopaunx; xavxac; a7coKpiaei^("stitching together crude jokes and
long-winded chatter and sharp marketplace answers"), to make a living (xpelcovxpcxpfjc;).
Winkler 1985,242, compares the stitching metaphor cruveipovxec;
to the narrator's promise
to stitch together various stories (Met. 1.1.1 uarias fabulas conseram). Religious entertainers: Lucian. Mere. cond. 1 xa 7coM,axavxa npbqxf|v %peiavxf|v rcapaimKa ?7uxpayq)5o\)oiv
(oqnapa nXei6v(ovtaxiuPavoiev.

110
WYTSE H. KEULEN
the Socratic-Cynic
satire
tradition) and of contemporary
the
will
Socrates
to
(Plutarch, Lucian),
Apuleian
appear
embody both
the GK&yiq of the Cynics (dicacitas)
and the ejiixpaycpSeiv of religious
of both comedy and tragedy
(aulaeum tragicum). Elements
storytellers
in the characterisation
of Socrates unmask him as a devious charlatan
who deceives his audience with superstitious
inventions.
His comic ban(Old Comedy,
of his role as a
ter and tragic histrionics are complementary
expressions
which
we
behind
discern
commercial
motives.
storyteller,
may perhaps
The most important paradigm for the portrayal of the Apuleian Socrates
as a satirist and an inventor
of autobiographical
fiction is the Cynic
who reunites the apparently irreconcilable
beggar-philosopher,
concepts
of KcoficpSeiv (oKcoTixeiv) and xpaycoSeiv and whom contemporary
satire
sometimes
Socrates'
tribute
pictures
ambiguous
to his Cynic
self-exposure,
as a religious charlatan (Lucian, Death ofPeregrinus).4

exhibitionistic
scene is a
gesture in his opening
pedigree and can be viewed as an icon of satirical
an emblem
of the novel.
1. KcoîcpSeiv, GKcoTixeiv:OLD
THE SOCRATIC-CYNIC
Studies
contrasts
COMEDY
AND
TRADITION
of the Apuleian
Socrates
have hitherto
with the Platonic
Socrates.5 However,
speak in terms of correspondences

tion as a satirist can be traced
concentrated
on the
it is also possible
to
instead of contrasts. Socrates' reputa?
back to Plato. In Plato's Symposium
Alcibiades
(221D-E),
compared Socrates to Silenuses and Satyrs?symbols of satire and invective
(cf. Ael. VH 3.40)?in
person and speech,
rude
and
ridiculous
in
and behaviour but hiding somebeing
appearance
4 Until now, the connections between
Apuleius' novel and Cynicism have been
rather neglected; exceptions are Tatum 1979, 124-25; Winkler 1985, 125 n. 4. Apuleius
sometimes expresses admiration for Cynic genius, as he praises the Cynic Crates for
composing satire (Flor. 20.5) and parodying Homeric verse (Apol. 22.4). However, in Flor.
7.10-13, Apuleius severely criticises the Cynics for their rejection of intellectual culture (cf.
also Apol. 39.1 Cynicam temeritatem). See n. 16.
5 For
example, it is often noted that the real Socrates refused to go to Thessaly to
escape capital punishment (Pl. Crit. 53D), whereas the Socrates in Aristomenes' tale expe?
riences his misfortunes in Thessaly. Moreover, scholars contrast the version of Socrates in
the novel's first book, whose story ends with his farcical death, with the eulogy of the
Platonic Socrates in 10.33.3 (diuinae prudentiae senex) whose teachings have made him
immortal. For comparisons between the Platonic and the Apuleian Socrates, see, e.g., Van
der Paardt 1978, 82; Fick 1991, 127; more references in Zimmerman 2000, 399-400 on
10.33.3.


thing godlike within him.6 The contrast in the Platonic Socrates between
an aypoiKoq; Ribbeck 1888, 39-40)
his slovenly appearance
(resembling
mental qualities appears to be a paradigm for a literary
and powerful
tradition of uncouth paupers, who have it in common that they embody
This tradition
kind of rhetoric or philosophy.
some devious, corrupting
in
Clouds
and conof
Socrates
the
caricature
with
Aristophanes'
begins
was
a role
for
whom
Socrates
with
the
tinues
Cynic beggar-philosopher,
model
in both appearance
and philosophical
1.1. Socrates
attitude.
in Aristophanes'
Clouds
Socrates of the
like
comedians
of
contemporary
target
mentions
we
he
never
and
it,
may
Eupolis.7 Although
Aristophanes
safely assume that Apuleius knew Clouds (423 B.C.), one of Aristophanes'
in antiquity (a direct allusion to a verse from
most popular comedies
will
be
discussed
which
below, may even prove this). For his
Clouds,
borrows traits of the Aristophanic
comic version of Socrates, Apuleius
In Apuleius'
fifth century
time it was well known
that the historical
B.C. was a favourite
one as markers
of comic
invention
and cunning
verbal
trickery.
a character called Socrates

1.1.1. Pallor and Emaciation.
By introducing
a
skin
with an emaciated
and
(1.6.1 paene alius lurore, ad
body
pale
to the earliest
miseram maciem deformatus),
Apuleius
pays homage
to
us
of
the
known
Socrates, namely, his caricature
philosopher
portrait
in Clouds. Socrates there also appears pale (103 coxpicbvxag), as do his
718, 1112). A recent study confirms the view that this
(185-86,
follows a common
Greek
of Socrates' physical appearance
description
which ridicules his wasted appearance
of the intellectual,
stereotype
In the Apology, Apuleius used a similar stereotype
(Zanker 1995,32-33).
that he was a genuine
to describe
himself in order to demonstrate
pupils
philosopher.8
6
According to Cicero (nat. deor. 1.93), Zeno the Epicurean called Socrates, the very
father of philosophy, the scurra of Athens (see Pease 1955-58,455-56). On the ambivalent
role of Socrates as a jester-hero in Plato's Symposium, see Gold 1980,1353-59.
7
Apuleius' contemporary Lucian refers to the derision of Socrates by Aristophanes
and Eupolis in piscator 25 (=Eupolis test. 31 K-A). Cf. Eupolis fr. 386; 395 K-A; Aristoph.
Clouds, passim. Plutarch (Mor. 10C-D) tells an anecdote about Socrates being asked
whether he was bothered by Aristophanes' abuse of him in Clouds.
8
Apol. 4.10 cui praeterformae mediocritatemcontinuatio etiam litteratilaboris omnem
gratiam corpore deterget, habitudinem tenuat, sucum exsorbet, colorem obliterat, uigorem
debilitat. See Zanker 1995, 234.

WYTSE H. KEULEN
112
it is interesting
to
with Aristophanes,
to
the
comical
reaction
reaction
(1.6.2)
compare
when he sees the pale and emaciated
of Strepsiades
(Clouds 184-87)
students of Socrates who are bending down to the ground. Both seem to
In view
of the connection
Aristomenes'
shocked
that the pallor does not have a natural cause like a lack of fresh
air, sun, and exercise, but that some magic or miasma may have caused it
on Clouds 718-19). Strepsiades'
frightened reluctance
(see Sommerstein
to
reluctance
to go into the school (506-9) is reflected in Aristomenes'
with
both
associate
the
unnatural
death
Socrates
pallor
(1.6.2);
approach
believe
a
(1.6.3; Clouds 504). In both texts, there is a comic tension between
on
the
one
and
an
unnatural
of
hand
rationalistic
explanation
paleness
one on the other (cf. S. Panayotakis
or even supernatural
1998). Whereas
in
the dangerous
force behind
Socrates'
deteriorated
appearance
in
it
is
the
novel
turns
out
to
be
witchcraft,
Aristophanes
Apuleius'
revolutionary
philosophy
taught in the Socratic <ppovxioxr|piov. What is
more, both texts emphasise the active influence of Socrates' paleness and
emaciation,
being no mere symptoms but some dangerous form of contaidentity.9
changes someone's
gion in itself that completely
1.1.2. Covering the Head. We may also observe Aristophanic
comedy in
the first dramatic gesture Socrates makes in his programmatic
opening
his
is now blushing for shame?with
scene: he covers his face?which
patched cloak (1.6.4), assuming a pathetic attitude that he sustains as
Fortune's triumphal monument
(1.7.1). We
long as he can, embodying
of shame
such gestures in tragedy as an expression
frequently encounter
and grief, and Apuleius elsewhere
uses it as such.10 As is weil known, the
with the historical Socrates, both the one we
gesture is also associated
know
from Plato's
writings and his caricature created by Aristophanes.

Phaedrus (237A), Socrates covers his head before he starts his
on eros; as K. J. Dover
first speech
Clouds 735
(on Aristophanes'
eyKata)\|/d|i?vo<;) remarks, he does this in order not to see Phaidros during
In Plato's
his speech,
using
a Socratic
technique
of concentration.11
Aristophanes
9 515
vecoxepoiqxt^v(puoivai)xo\) TrpayjiaoivxpcaxCêxai,
("he [Strepsiades] is dipping
himself in the dye of revolutionary new ideas"); 1.6.1 paene alius lurore, ad miseram
maciem deformatus; 1.19.1 aliquanto intentiore macie atque pallore buxeo; 1.19.2 sic denique
eum uitalis color turbauerat. . .
10See,
e.g., Willink 1986,132, on Eur. Orest. 280 with further references; Zimmerman
on Met. 10.3.4 laciniaque contegens faciem in an episode full of reminiscences
88-89
2000,
of the tragic story of Phaedra.
11Cf. Gell. 19.9.9
permittite mihi, quaeso, operire pallio caput, quod in quadam parum
pudica oratione Socraten fecisse aiunt. For different explanations of the gesture in Apuleius,


it into a gesture that is
fun of this technique
by transforming
and "fraudulent
in
concoctions
fabricating
supposed to help Strepsiades
he has to
which
in
the
Socratic
ideas" (cf. Clouds 728)
(ppovxioxripiov,
comes
his
head
covered.12
dream up in bed with
finally
up
Strepsiades
witch who is able to draw
that involves a Thessalian
with a concoction
cf. Met. 1.3.1), which Socrates
the moon down (749-56;
accepts with
makes
approval.
Socrates as a follower of the
That we should regard the Apuleian
ancestor and deem him capable of thinking up
school of his Aristophanic
fraudulent ideas about Thessalian witches too is suggested by his success?
ful rhetoric in 1.9-10, his tales of metamorphoses.
Listing the magic feats
disappear, so that
scepticism
we should
too (1.11.1). However,
stands above Socrates as the narrator of
keep in mind that Aristomenes
this miraculous
story, which will impress Lucius just as much (cf. 2.1) as
himself. Thus, we may per?
Aristomenes
Socrates' tales had impressed
of his comrade in dreaming up
as an accomplice
haps see Aristomenes
of his mistress, Socrates
he seems now terrified
makes
his friend's
of witchcraft
about witchcraft when under the bedclothes. Apuleius gives

concoctions
After
a clear hint of this possibility
by a direct allusion to Aristophanes.
the delirious nocturnal visit of the two Thessalian
witches, a dream-like
of Aristomenes
that Socrates
appears to confirm later on
experience
bursts in at dawn and shouts (1.17.1): "ubi es tu,
(1.18.7), the doorkeeper
stertis inuolutus?" ("Where are you, who ... are snoring wrapped
qui...
of stertis inuolutus, which
up in your covers?"). The curious juxtaposition
is nowhere else attested in Latin, is an almost literal translation of Clouds
11 aXX\ ei 8ok?i, p?yKco|i?v ?yK?Kocta)|i|i?voi ("all right, if you want to, let's
it is Socrates who is actually
cover our heads and snore"). Although
ianitor's
the
question is directed to Aristomenes
snoring (1.11.4; 1.12.3),
who had rolled down on the floor together with Socrates (1.16.6) and, as
a result,
may even be wrapped
up in the same cover with him.
see Van der Paardt 1978, 82; Caprettini 1986, 114. Also, in Cynic sources Socrates is
sometimes comically represented with his head covered; cf. the humorous anecdote in
Teles, II Ilepi cruiapKeCaq
(On Self-Sufftciency), p. 19, 7 Hense.
12Cf. Ar. Clouds 633, 694, 727; 735
xaxecaqxi
(Socr. to Str.) oijk ?yKata)V|/(xu?vo<;
(ppovxieiq;("Cover up, will you, and think of something, fast"); 740 i'0ivuv koAamctou-On
Aristophanes' mockery of Socrates' techniques of concentration, see Montiglio 2000, 96
with n. 60.

114
WYTSE H. KEULEN
1.2. The Paradigm ofthe Cynic Beggar-Philosopher:
Satirist and Satirised
When
he invented his comic character Socrates, Apuleius

doubtless was
aware of the fact that the Greek philosopher
the
same
name was
bearing
a role model for the Cynics and that Socrates' unconventional
attitude
influenced
the
famous
shamelessness
and
ver?
greatly
Cynic
(dvai8e{a)
bal license (napprjoia).13 In the Cynic perception
of a caustic and censorious Socrates, his well-known
powers of wit, censure, and irony have
much more prominence
than in Plato and make him resemble
his
caricature.14 Moreover, Apuleius
knew the literary stereoAristophanic
of
the Cynic beggar-philosopher,
with a worn
type
usually portrayed
cloak, a bag, a beard, and a stick (cf. Flor. 14.3, on Crates), a stereotype
that owes a great deal to the slovenly
of the philosopher
appearance
his threadbare
cloak.15 Like the contemporary
sati?
Socrates, especially
rist Lucian, Apuleius
uses it also as the stock image of the pseudoSocrates'
external
(Flor. 9.9; Met. 11.8.3).16 The Apuleian
philosopher
to some extent recalls the Cynic type, appearing as a beggar
appearance
with a ragged cloak, which covers only half of his body (1.6.1 semiamictus;
our Socrates pays homcf., on Crates, Flor. 22.4 seminudus).
Moreover,
age to the Cynic paradigm through a programmatic
gesture of shame?
lessness
and his propensity
for satiric banter.
1.2.1. Socrates' Icon of Cynic Self-Exposure.

While Socrates covers his
head, he uncovers the rest of his body, which had been (barely) covered
before (1.6.4). Thus, a movement
made out of embarrassment
(prae
pudore) itself curiously produces an embarrassing
posture. It is not clear
whether this exhibitionism
is intentional,
but it is certainly unavoidable,
since he had been only semiamictus.
An important
of the
implication
13See
Long 1996, 33; Griffin 1996, 200-201; Bracht Branham 1996,104 n. 74.
14Timon fr. 799 SH
(see Long 1988,150-51, who compares Clouds 130).
15On Socrates' influence on the
Cynic's appearance, see Zanker 1995,129-30. On
Socrates' threadbare cloak (Pl. Symp. 219B; Protag. 335D; Xen. Mem. 1.6.2), adopted by the
Cynics, see Kindstrand 1976,162, with further references.
16For the stock outfit of the
(pseudo-) philosopher in the Second Sophistic's "mime
of philosophy," see Clay 1992, 3414-20; on the icon of the Cynic type, see also Clay 1996,
370-73. In Apol. 22, Apuleius says that his opponents accuse him of possessing only peram
et baculum as if he were a poor Cynic beggar like Crates, but there, Apuleius takes it as a
compliment, praising Crates as a parodic writer and defending the Cynic attributes, as he
defends anything related to philosophy. On the apparent inconsistency, see Hunink 1997,78
on Apol 22.7 non Platonicae ... sectae; Hunink 2001,134-35, with lit.


during the final
exposed
of the first scene (1.7.1 capite uelato), the icon of Fortune's
to Socrates?she
should keep enjoying (1.7.1).
victory that?according
of Clouds, where Strepsiades
covers his
Again, we may be reminded
head up, but instead of getting some cunning idea, he only gets hold of
gesture
tableau
is that Socrates'
lower
parts
remain
his penis (734).

But there is more to it than that. Pulling up his cloak and exposing
a notorious
his loins, Socrates reproduces
gesture that belongs to the
traits of the Theophrastan
boorish character (aypoiico<;), who
reflected a type from the Greek comic stage.17 This provocative
exhibitionism
of Cynic
gesture has a close parallel in the notorious
of their
like Diogenes
and Crates, which was emblematic
philosophers
distinctive
probably
and freedom
of speech (Bracht Branham
1996,
Cynic shamelessness
100-101).18 Apuleius
gives an illustrative exemplum of Cynic morality in
a bizarre anecdote about Crates (Flor. 14.3; see Hunink 2001,134),
whom
he elsewhere
identifies
as a writer of satire (Flor. 20.5). There, Crates
cloak (pallium)
before taking
takes off his philosopher's
completely
to a portico to have sex with her in public. His pupil Zeno
Hipparche
conceals
the act with a worn cloak called a palliastrum,

the same word
that is used for the cloak of our Socrates (there are no other attestations
of it). It seems that Apuleius
Crates not without sympathy,
regarded
of
the
to
teach
his listeners to look beyond
example
Cynic morality
using
surface appearances
to underlying
values that really matter. As Tatum
1979,124-25,
suggested, this might be illustrative of how Apuleius' comic
fiction works.
In view
of the
comic (Theophrastus)
and Cynic backgrounds,
act
of
while
ambiguous
uncovering
covering up gains a deeper,
His
of
shame produces a satirical
programmatic
tragic gesture
meaning.
icon of shamelessness,
two
of his oscillating character
extremes
showing
and reflecting
the comic ambiguity
of the Metamorphoses
itself. This
is
also
embodied
whose
uerecundia
ambiguity
by Lucius,
(1.23.1; 1.23.3)
turns out to conceal
a tactic of working on his host (1.24.1); Lucius
Socrates'
exposes his true nature when

Theophr. Char. 4.10), making
he seduces Milo's kitchen maid Photis (cf.

a similar exhibitionistic
gesture to that of
17Cf.
Theophr. Char. 4.1 Kai dvaPeP^r|(ievo<;avco xou yovaxoq KaGi^dvewcooxexd
auxou
yuuvd
cpalveaOai.For a similar character in comedy, cf. Philetaerus fr. 18 K-A; more
references in Ribbeck 1888, 35 with n. 8. For illustrations of the type, see the references in
the Loeb edition of Theophrastus (Rusten et al. 1993, 65 n. c).
18For the exhibitionism of
Diogenes cf., e.g., Teles p. 10.9-11.1 Hense; Diog. Laert.
6.69.

WYTSE H. KEULEN
116
Socrates but leaving no doubt as to his intentions

ueneris Photidi meae
lacinia remota inpatientiam
is also
Yet Socrates'
provocative
position
in Aristomenes'
tale. We may
own performance
preview of his role as a mocking satirist. The next
(2.16.4 inguinumfine
monstrans).
for his
programmatic
observe in it a sneak
morning, for example,

a verbal assault on all innkeepers
(1.17.2) and cannot
for
of
urine
Aristomenes
(1.17.6; 1.18.6). What is
stinking
stop ridiculing
his
Meroe
accuses
him
for
mistress
more,
mocking her age day and night,
both verbal and sexual aggression
that suggests
using an expression
Socrates
makes
(1.12.4 inlusit aetatulam meam)?9 Similarly, Meroe herself and her sister
and obscenity by squatting
Panthia repeat the elements of exhibitionism
on Aristomenes'
face and soaking him in their urine (1.13.8).
Socrates' exhibitionistic
tableau vivant may therefore be interpreted
as a programmatic
indication of the satirical element in the text and may
as such
to the Socratic-Cynic
tradition. However,
pay homage
Cynic
was also an object of contemporary
exhibitionism
satire, for example, the
of Peregrinus Proteus in Lucian's Death ofPeregrinus
public masturbation
who at
(17). In his Symposium
(16), Lucian depicts the Cynic Alcidamas
of a speech "bares himself still more, in the most shamethe conclusion
less way," Kai otjua (cf. 1.6.4 et cum dicto) 7tap?y\)|uvo'D eocdxov \mXkov oc%pi
his gesture provokes
rcpoq xo aia%iaxov. Significantly,
mocking laughter
Socrates, too,
among the guests. This may illustrate how in the Apuleian
him join the
makes
satire works both ways, as his exhibitionistic
gesture
tradition of ambiguous
Socratic-Cynic
figures who both satirise and are
of a cunning genius and a boorish
satirised and unite the reputations
laughing-stock.
1.2.2.
Dicacitas
indication
of
programmatic
the
at
inn
scene
the
with
during
evening
Aristomenes.
buffoonery
Together they indulge in symposiastic
(1.7.4),
which climaxes with dicacitas, "biting wit" (comparable
to the Greek
Socrates'
role
Mimica.
We see
another
as a satirist
okg>\|/i<;):
iam adlubentia procliuis e[s]t sermonis et ioci et scitum [et] cauillum, iam
dicacitas mimica (F timida).
191.17.2non... immerito stabularios hos omnes hospites detestantur... 1.17.6 "apage

te", inquit, "fetoremextremae latrinae" et causas coepit huius odoris comiter inquirere;1.18.6
ad haec ille subridens: "At tu", inquit, "non sanguine, sed lotio perfusus es. 1.12.4 (Meroe:)
hic est... Catamitus meus, qui diebus ac noctibus inlusit aetatulam meam; for the connotation of sexual abuse, see Adams 1982,200; ThLL s.v. illudo 389,76 (speciatim de stupro).


Soon comes an eager craving for conversation
banter, soon farcical raillery.
and jokes, and brilliant
The much-debated
reading of F, the sole authoritative MS, is dicacitas

timida (see Augello 1977, 29); I propose to read dicacitas mimica, which
as scurrae,
would be in accordance
with the comrades'
characterisation
as the adjective mimicus suggests both histrionics
and verbal license.20
The negatively
loaded stylistic term dicacitas for sharp, satirical humour
that easily escalates
into downright
offence is a key word of Socrates'
in the tale. The term
and Aristomenes'
characterisation
and performance
is easily offended
recurs when Meroe?who
(cf. 1.9.5 in eam dicacule
for his insulting banter (1.12.8
Aristomenes
probrum dixerat)?reproaches
In view of the comic and Cynic backgrounds
praecedentis
dicacitatis).
mentioned
that ancient commentar?
above, it is probably no coincidence
ies call the Cynic Bion of Borysthenes
(335-245 B.C.) a man of biting wit
with Aristophanes.21
The as?
(magnae dicacitatis) in explicit comparison
sociation
of dicacitas with Old Comedy and the Socratic-Cynic

tradition
may also be illustrated
by the Greek verb oKcorcxco,which is found as a
term both for comedy (cf. e.g., Clouds 540) and for Socratic mockery
(Xen. Mem. 1.3.7).22 We may again recall Dio Chrysostom's
picture of the
20
Compare the synonym scurrilis in 8.25.3 qui scurrilibus iam dudum contra me
uelitaris iocis (antea: cognito cauillatu). For mimicus and scurrilis used of facetiousness that
crosses the boundaries of moral restraint and decency cf. Cic. De Or. 2.239 uitandum est
oratori utrumque, ne aut scurrilis iocus sit aut mimicus; 247 ipsius dicacitatis moderatio ...
distinguet oratorem a scurra; Orat. 88 ridiculo sic usurum oratorem, ut nec nimis frequenti,
ne scurrile sit, nec subobsceno, ne mimicum (see Ribbeck 1888, 58). For mimicus referring
to verbal license, cf. Mart. 8 praef. 1.12-13 Shackleton Bailey mimicam uerborum licentiam;
Aug. civ. 5.26 p. 241,22 satyrica uel mimica leuitate. Similar expressions with mimicus from
authors later than Apuleius refer to mime performances; cf. Amm. 26.6.15 ut in theatrali
scaena simulacrum quoddam insigneper aulaeum uel mimicam cauillationem subito putares
emersum; Sol. 5.13 hic (sc. in Sicilia) et cauillatio mimica in scaena stetit; Yrxxd.
perist. 2.31720 inpune tantas,furcifer, I strofas cauillo mimico I te nexuisse existimas, I dum scurra saltas
fabulam? ... Dr Costas Panayotakis draws my attention to Macrob. Sat. 2.7.5, referring to
the dicacitas with which the mimographer Laberius is said to have humiliated Julius
Caesar.
21Cf.
Porph. Hor. epist. 2.2.60 Ille Bioneis s. Bion Aristophanis comici par dicitur
fuisse magnae dicacitatis,quam uul<t> intellegi de nigro sale. This is Bion test. 16 Kindstrand;
magnae dicacitatis also occurs in test. 17; see also test. 15 and 18, where Bion's wit is referred
to with the term satura. See the commentary on dicacitas in Kindstrand 1976,159; on Bion's
malicious humour p. 51.
22See Kindstrand 1976,168 on Bion test. 22
with
(= Diog. Laert. 4.10) okcotix6u?vo<;,
further references. On the close relation between Cynicism and Old Comedy, see Kindstrand
1976, 46-48.

118
WYTSEH.KEULEN
the crowd with their aiccb|U|uaxa

who entertained
Cynics in Alexandria
A
between Socrates and the mendicant
priests of
(see n. 3).
comparison
that Socrates'
the Dea Syria (below, section 2.3.2.) will demonstrate
in the priests' propensity
for
and dicacitas have a pendant
cauillum
cauillari
as a marker
of their dissimulation
1.3. Cynic Role-Playing
and theatricality.
and the Poetics
of Comic
Fiction
Our Socrates is not only a mocking satirist, for we see him also performin 1.7.4 is
and his buffoonery
ing as a tragic beggar on stage (1.6.1-1.7.1),
In
even
a
lament.
Aristomenes
followed
1.8.5,
by
pathetic
immediately
to Socrates' histrionics, urging him to stop
makes an explicit reference
like a tragic actor and to start using "ordinary language"
play-acting
et siparium
scaenicum
te, inquam, aulaeum
tragicum dimoueto
We
crucial
et
cedo
uerbis
this
communibus).
complicato
may compare
in
between
Socrates'
character, oscillating
tragic pathos and
paradox
satirical wit (dicacitas),
to the ambiguity of his tragic gesture of shame,
discussed above.
resulting in the icon of shamelessness
(Oro
dicacitas and tragic rolePerhaps, then, we should see Socrates'

but as complementary
ones,
characteristics,
playing not as irreconcilable
Socrates,
indicating the theatrical and fictitious nature of the Apuleian
which is emblematic
of the novel as a whole. Viewed in its programmatic
and
context, the concept of dicacitas, being a marker of verbal deception
reference
comic performance,
to the
may be read as a programmatic
of a protagonist
of comic fiction, who poses as a hero
crafty role-playing
from epic or tragedy in order to entertain, in the manner of some Cynic
philosophers.
1.3.1. Rags as a Comic Symbol of Tragedy: The Imagery of Sewing. A
a comic repre?
clear indication
that Socrates'
scene involves
opening
sentation of tragic behaviour is his ragged costume (1.6.1 scissili palliastro
1.6.4 sutili centunculo),
a comic symbol of tragedy going
semiamictus',
In the Frogs Aristophanes
back to Aristophanes.
has Aeschylus
call
a 7ixco%o7ioi? Kai paKiooupparcxd8r|,
"creator of beggars and
Euripides
of rags."23 Apuleius
uses similar Aristophanic
imagery
stitcher-together
in his description
in 9.30.3, flebili centunculo
of the female apparition
23Ar. Ran. 842

(see Dover 1993,298). Euripides used the beggar's disguise with rags
for several of his characters (e.g., Telephos), for which he was ridiculed by Aristophanes;
see Sommerstein 1980 on Ach. 410-13; 433.


semiamicta ("half clothed in tearful rags"), recalling the expression ?o0fjx'
?A,?ivfiv from the Acharnians (413), a reference to "tragedy" (in apposition
to paKioc). This "garb most pitiable" (Sommerstein
1980, 77) is worn by
Euripides; the idea implied is that the dramatist's characters reflect the
habits of their creator, in this case Euripides' wearing of rags and avoiding
of exercise (for a similar idea, see Agathon's
speech in Thesm. 146-52).
of Socrates'
In view of the above, we may detect in the description
and to an inventor.
Great
cloak references
both to invention
is laid on the fabricated
and theatrical
nature of the cloak.
emphasis
with the outfit of a
seems conflated
What is more, his tragic costume
ragged
the same word

First, it is called palliastrum,
Cynic beggar-philosopher.
used in the description
of the Cynic Crates. Then the word
Apuleius
is used, in which the imagery of sewing (cf. also sutili) indicentunculus
mentions
the centunculus
as a
cates fictitiousness;
elsewhere,
Apuleius
from the mime (Apol. 13.7 mimi centunculo)?4
and theatricality
elaborates
by
upon the notions of fabrication
that
that
the
have
been
torn
using adjectives
suggest
rags
intentionally
(1.6.1 scissili) and stitched together (1.6.4 sutili) by some sutor?5 Notably,
in contemporary
Christian polemic, such a stitched cloak is used as a
costume
of an actor
Apuleius
metaphor for falsities uttered by pagan pseudo-philosophers.26

The phraseology
implies, then, that Socrates' initial metamorphosis
into an emaciated
beggar is a product of stagecraft instead of witchcraft.
for it, and what is more,
Some craftsman (or woman) seems responsible
of rags")
Socrates may even be the paKioo\)ppa7txd8r)<; ("stitcher-together
in
himself
as
a
a
theatrical
with
himself, staging
beggar
play. Moreover,
in
we
the Aristophanic
see
Socrates
as a
mind,
may perhaps
imagery
24Cf. 7.5.3 centunculis

disparibus et male consarcinatis; Hijmans et al. 1981,110 (with
lit.) point out that the image of sewing (e.g., centones sarcire in Plautus) refers to machinations and lies from Homer onward. For the centunculus as a theatrical costume, see Winkler
1985,163; Hunink 1997,58-59 on Apol. 13.7 with lit.
25Contrast
Verg. Aen. 12.609 scissa ueste; luv. 3.148 scissa lacerna. The formation of
adjectives in -ilis (cf. textilis, fictilis) belongs primarily to expressions with reference to
manufacturing (weaving, ceramics, sculpturing, constructing); see Leumann 1917, 53-55
with many examples. This is also argued, albeit along a different line, in Ernst Leumann's
"Nachtrag" (Leumann 1917, 145): he argues that the adjective in -tilis is derived from the
nomen agentis;sutilis, then, literally means "having a sutor" "resulting from a patcher" (for
a more recent discussion, see LHSz 1, 348).
26Cf. Iren. 2.14.2
(the Greek original was written at the end of the 2nd century a.d.)
omnes
apud
qui Deum ignorant et qui dicuntur philosophi sunt dicta, haec congregant et,
quasi centonem ex multis et pessimis panniculis consarcientes, finctum superficium subtili
eloquio sibi ipsi praeparauerunt. Cf. also ThLL s.v. l.panniculus, 230,42-49.

WYTSE H. KEULEN
120
dramatic
n. 16).
character
that
reflects
the habits
of his literary
creator
(cf.
In both
1.3.2. Fortuna as a Source of Invention: The Odyssean Paradigm.
reflects the Cynic
scenic design and direct speech, Socrates' performance
notion of xt>xn/T{>xn as the creative agent behind his tragedy.27 Socrates'
in his opening scene is an icon of his sufferings, afigura that
appearance
his fortuna (cf. 1.1.2-3 figuras fortunasque
in alias
hominum
represents
imagines conuersas .. .ut mireris exordior). Aristomenes
compares him
to "Fortune's
outcasts" (1.6.1 Fortunae decermina);
Socrates considers
himself the "triumphal monument
of Fortune," established by the goddess
herself, which should remain unchanged (1.7.1 "sine, sine", inquit, "fruatur
diutius trophaeo Fortuna, quod fixit ipsa")?* In theatrical terms, Dame
Fortune has drawn up the scenic design of his tragedy (quod fixit ipsa).
Socrates
seems to propagate
the Cynic notion of Fortune as a
source of invention
Bracht
Branham
1996, 91) in his elaborate, be(cf.
guiling
description
of the ways of fortune:
1.6.4 'Aristomene', inquit, 'ne tu fortunarum lubricas ambages et instabiles

incursiones et reciprocas uicissitudines ignoras'.
'Aristomenes', he says, 'you really do not know fortune's slippery manoeuvres and changeable attacks and alternating vicissitudes'.
This statement
is ambiguous: on the one hand, it describes random
adversities
as suffered by the protagonist
of a story, but on the other
hand, it suggests a designed policy of Fortune. Thus, Socrates' introduc?
tion and summary of his own vicissitudes
may be read as a programmatic
of the role of Fortune as the craftswoman
statement
of various reversals
in the novel. Indeed, Dame Fortune often seems the 7tovr|xpia behind the
narrative of Lucius' many reversals of fortune (cf. Winkler 1985, 108),
which are exemplified
into an ass and back into a
by his transformations
man. Just as Socrates does, Lucius continuously
relates his own ordeals
to predestination
fortune
or
fate
Zimmerman
2000,196 on 10.13.1
by
(see
talibus fatorum
fluctibus
uolutabar).
27For the notion of Fortune as a

poet (rcoiriTpia)who distributes roles to actors, for
example, the role of beggar, see Bion fr. 16A and B in Kindstrand 1976, 116-17 with
detailed commentary (p. 205-12).
28To describe the
acceptance of one's fate of a beggar in terms of setting up a
Tporcaiovrecalls a Cynic notion; cf.Teles p. 15.1-2 kocvxd5e 5pdan<;,pa5(co<;
axriaeic;Tporcaiov
koctocmviaq there; however, the victory is on man's side against Poverty.


In view
of the above, we may see Socrates

as a programmatic
of Lucius as a narrator of his own ordeals. Both follow the
(cf.
Odyssean
paradigm that connects suffering to cunning storytelling
Both are indeed compared to the wandering Odysseus,
Pucci 1987,56-62).
anticipation
Socrates
Meroe
indirectly,
his Odyssey
directly. In 1.7.7, Socrates reports how he told

his
(cf. 2.14.1 Ulixeam peregrinationem),
emphasising
according to the paradigm of Odysseus as a wandering
Lucius
lengthy travelling
and suffering hero (eique causas etperegrinationis
diuturnae et domuitionis
mistress Meroe comanxiae et spoliationis
miserae refero).29 Socrates'
to
her
herself
abandoned
Calypso,
by
cunning lover Odysseus
pares
Vlixi
astu
deserta
uice
solitudinem flebo; see
aeternam
(1.12.6
Calypsonis
his wanderings
in
Harrison
Lucius explicitly
describes
1990, 194-95).
terms of an Odyssey, which has made him multiscius (9.13.4-5).
The emphasis on theatricality,
the motif of Fortune, and the asso?
ciation with 7toM>xpo7to<; Odysseus
reveal the Apuleian
Socrates
as a
can
he
others
inventor
who
assume
likes, beguiling
cunning
any shape
with the magic of his devious rhetoric. Like an Odysseus, he plays the
who presents himself as a victim of a higher force but
part of someone
orchestrates
his own story of reversals to entertain his audi?
nevertheless
ence. The similar attitude of the Cynics?who
considered
as
Odysseus
patron saint and liked to assume his role just as they liked to
assume that of Socrates?gave
them a reputation of being cunning frauds.
In the age of Apuleius,
another reputation
was added, i.e., of being
their
religious
charlatans.30
2. xpccyq)8eiv: THE SATIRICAL

OFTHE
SUPERSTITIOUS
PORTRAYAL
MAN
As noted
links with the literary conventions

of Old
above, Socrates'
and
revealed
his
of a
the
tradition
characteristics
Comedy
Socratic-Cynic
satirist
and
It
has
also
been
shown
that
the
element
cunning
storyteller.
of tragedy and the Odyssean paradigm in Socrates' characterisation
are
at least as significant, being constituent parts of his Cynic characterisation,
and are equally to be interpreted
in connection
with his role as a story?
use of the notion of
teller. In this section, I will further explore Apuleius'
29As in his
description of the ways of fortune (1.6.4), Socrates uses a tricolon,
phrased in a high-sounding rhetorical style (-tionis ... -tionis ... -tionis), to summarise and
preannounce the narrative of his misfortunes.
30This is
especially highlighted by Lucian's satire of Peregrinus Proteus (Bracht
Branham and M.-O. Goulet-Caze 1996,17-18); see nn. 3-4.

122
WYTSE H. KEULEN
xpaycp8?iv in his figure of Socrates by viewing it as a traditional metaphor

In accordance
with
for rhetorical
pomp and implausible
exaggeration.
the literary model of the superstitious
type in Plutarch, we see how in the
the genre of tragedy functions
in delineating
the
Socrates
Apuleian
man
and
his
his
can
stories
fear;
consequently,
superstitious
superstitious
be viewed as figments of the superstitious
In the figure of
imagination.
Socrates, the concepts of "superstition,"
to become almost synonymous.
2.1. Tragic Frenzy
"tragedy,"
and Superstitious
and "invention"
seem
Fabrications
Socrates'
a "miser?
opening scene is a miserum aerumnae spectaculum,
of torment" (1.6.5) reminiscent
of tragedy. The performance
the scene in Euripides'
where the dishevelled
Orestes (385-455)
able scene
recalls
and funereal appearance

of Orestes provokes a reaction of superstitious
fear in Menelaos
("cg (teoC), as if he saw a ghost (1.6.1 hem; 1.6.3 at tu hic
. . . uiseris). Willink 1986, 49, compares
laruale simulacrum
the comical
reaction of the Athenian
to the unkempt, "half-dead"-looking
intellec?
in Aristophanes'
Clouds (see above, section 1.1.1.).
tual, as represented
Socrates'
to the tragic figure of Orestes, whose visions of

had made him a type of madmen in general (see Pease 1935,
of his own torments
383, on Verg. Aen. 4.471), may be an indication
caused by the Furies. Perhaps Socrates' initial appearance
as a laruale
resemblance
the Furies
simulacrum
suggests that he was laruatus, "frenzied"; we may again recall

resemblance
to the pale and emaciated
female apparition
in
9.30.3
who
be
a
larua
herself
wearing tragic rags
may
(cf. 9.29.3; see
section 1.3.1.). In ancient literary criticism and rhetorical theory, being
tormented
by the Furies came to be a symbol of tragedy and a metaphor
for pompous, histrionic forms of rhetoric that characterise
mime actors
and bad declaimers.31 As I will demonstrate
in section 2.2., Socrates'
his striking
histrionics expose him as a follower of this school.

It is conceivable,
then, that we should see a link between Socrates'
initial tragic performance
and his being tormented
fear
by superstitious
raging
31Cf.
Verg. Aen. 4.471-73 with Pease 1935, 382-85. For Orestes, agitated by the
Furies, as an example of the poetics of tragedy, see Ps. Longinus, De subl. 15.8, who cites
Eur. Or. 264-65; see Cosci 1978, 205-6. For being tormented by Furies as a metaphor for
histrionic behaviour of bad declaimers and mime actors, cf. Petron. 1.1 alio genere furiarum
declamatores inquietantur; Quint. Inst. 2.10.8 nam si foro non praeparat (sc. declamandi
opus), aut scaenicae ostentationi autfuriosae uociferationi simillimum est;see C. Panayotakis
1995, 5.


of the avenging Furies. In a later scene, Socrates
fear of a woman with
possessed
by a superstitious
he considers of divine status (1.8.4). His gesture of
across his lips creates an atmosphere
of initiation
silence
that
is
for
the
mystic
required
revealing
shows
himself
indeed
magic powers whom
laying his index finger
(1.8.2), calling for a
of things of a higher
order. Thus, magic and superstition

seem to become virtual synonyms (cf.
n.
1
on
1997,88
Apol. 25.5). Significantly, Socrates' high-sounding
Meroe's
of
divine powers elicits Aristomenes'
immediate
description
that
he
his
should
section
response
tragic play-acting
(1.8.5;
1.3.).
stop
After his nocturnal experience
with the avenging witches, Aristomenes
calls these women Furies (1.19.2 mihi prae metu nocturnas etiam furias
Hunink
illas imaginanti).
Just like Socrates, he has lost touch with reality and
reason and is haunted by a superstitious
fear that, according to Plutarch
Mor.
165
torments
the
soul with nightmares, in which
(De superst. 3,
F),
it calls up "fearful images, horrible apparitions
and divers forms of pun?
ishment"
Kai
xepdaxia
(pdajnaxa Kai nowaq xiva<;).32
(ei8coXa (ppiKcbSri
it
is
the
that
witches
are mere figments of the
Thus,
suggested
Apuleian
mind, a product of tragic frenzy that we should perhaps
superstitious
not
from the comic invention about a Thessalian
regard
very differently
witch contrived
in the Socratic cppovxiaxripiov. Socrates'
superstitious
fear and tragic frenzy, reflected in his Orestes-like
appearance, his speech,
and his histrionics,
can be seen to work together
as emblems
of the
poetics of tragedy, seeking the fabulous and the incredible.
2.2. The Histrionics
of Public
Confession
In view of the above, we may observe that Socrates' tragic appearance

and behaviour
can be read as poetic symbols, referring to his role as a
narrator of incredible stories. This may be further illustrated by compar?
of the superstitious
man. The
ing his tragic acting to the histrionics
detailed picture of the superstitious
man drawn by Plutarch in his trea?
tise On Superstition,
with tragic allusions, sheds light on pos?
permeated
sible underlying motivations
for our Socrates' performance.
As Socrates
histrionics of a tragic
does, the SeiaiSaijxcov displays the self-humiliating
his superstitious
beggar that succumbs to a higher force and expresses
fear in terms of tragic frenzy. This figure seems to have been a model for
Lucius, too (section 2.2.2).
32Cf. TrGF 375 Kannicht-Snell aXX' ei a' evurcvov
(pdvxaauxxcpopei/ %6ov(ac;0'
'EKaxnc;kcguove5e^co("If a vision in sleep is the cause of your fear/ And the troop of dire
Hecate felt to be near"), cited in Plut. De superst. 3, Mor. 166A.

WYTSE H. KEULEN
124
In his opening scene Socrates

2.2.1. Sitting, Lamentation,
and Moaning.
seated
on
like
a
de?
stage
tragic beggar.33 Plutarch repeatedly
appears
scribes the 8?iai8ocijna>v sitting inertly on the ground, which is an emblem
of his lethargy and moral baseness (e.g., 7, Mor. 168D):
pdiceai pwiapoic;, noXX&Kiq
e^co KaOrjxai gockk{ov e'xcovKai rcepie^CDGuivoc;
5e youvoq ev rcrj^cpKi)îv5o\)|i?vo<; eâyopevei xivdq djiapxiaq amov Kai
7i^rjji|i?^?{a<;,(bq x65e cpayovxoq r\ movxoq r\ pa5(aavxo<; 656v r\v o\>k ei'a xo
5ai(i6viov.
He sits outside his house with sackcloth on and filthy rags about him; and
oftentimes he rolls naked in the mire as he confesses diverse sins and
errors of his?eating this or drinking that, or walking in a path forbidden
by his conscience.
This description
of Borysthenes
least partly?from
the Cynic Bion
originally derives?at
30
derivation
links
Plutarch's
(fr.
Kindstrand).This
Cynic
treatise to the satirical tradition of the Cynic diatribe.34 With this satirical
of committed
sins as a
portrayal, Plutarch censures the public confession
act
that
from
oriental
typically superstitious
originates
mourning rites.
Pallor is one of the symptoms
of superstitious
nakedness
fear;
signifies
humiliation
and religious submission

(see Lozza 1980, 116).
Like Socrates, the superstitious
man repulses those who want to
him
help
(cf. Mor. 168F) because he prefers to stay in his sacred spot to
suffer punishment
and retribution
(166F). Socrates' refusal to leave his
spot directly recalls his Plutarchan model:
1.7.1 'sine, sine', inquit, 'fruatur diutius trophaeo Fortuna, quod fixit ipsa.'
'Please, leave', he said, 'Fortune to enjoy her triumphal monument, which
she set up herself.'
(De superst. 1, Mor. 168 C): 'ea \ie? cprjoiv, 'avBpame, 5i56vai 5{kt|v, xov
daepfj, xov ercdpaxov, xov Beoiq Kai 5a((ioai ixeuiarjuivov.'
'Oh sir', he says, 'leave me to pay my penalty, impious wretch that I am,
accursed, and hateful to the gods and all the heavenly host.'
33On
sitting beggars, see Bremmer 1991, 25-26 (with examples from tragedy and
comedy).
34See the detailed comm. in Kindstrand 1976,232-35, where he
points out a possible
influence from Menander; cf. Menand. fr. 631.4-5 K-A (on the cult of Atargatis) eA,ocpov
aocidov,eix' eiq xr\v656v / emGiaav ocutoix;erciKorcpoi).


Yet Plutarch
fear of the gods as a form of

unmasks this exaggerated
the
of
that the gods are
impious calumny: the assumptions
superstitious
are expressions
of the superstitious'
devious
cruel, fickle, and vengeful
the superstitious'
malignity, which contradicts
apparent gestures of revdicacitas
Seen in this light, Socrates'
(10-11, Mor. 169F-170F).
for the divine
reverence
does not seem dissonant with his exaggerated
as a typical sacrilegious
offence
of a
Meroe but can be interpreted
takes offence
calumniator?Meroe
herself, who frequently
superstitious
as we
at dicacitas, will most probably have seen it that way. Moreover,
erence
have seen above, dicacitas also connotes theatricality and invention (1.2.2).
of fabrication
Plutarch strongly emphasises
the elements
and in?
vention in the mishaps bewailed by his superstitious
man, as weil as the
nature of his performance
histrionic, melodramatic
(7, Mor. 168A):
&Xk9 ei Kai uiKpoxaxov oruxcpkockov xi gi)U7I?7ixcqk6(;
eaxiv, aXka KaBrjxai
7id9r| xotê7ia Kai \izyaXa Kai 5i)aa7idM,aKxa xf\ X\>nr\7ipoaoiKo5o|icov, Kai
7tpoae|i(popcov ai)xcp 5ei|iaxa Kai (popoix; Kai bnoyiaq Kai xapaxdq, rcavxi
9pf|V(p Kai Ttavxi axevayficp KaBarcxojuevoq.
But if even the slightest ill befalls him, he sits down and proceeds to
construct, on the basis of his trouble, a fabric of harsh, momentous and
practically unavoidable experiences which he must undergo, and he also
loads himself with fears and frights, suspicions and trepidations, and all this
he bitterly assails with every sort of lamentation and moaning.
This picture illuminates
as a self-pitying
Socrates'
performance
tragic
of his ills with histrionic self-torture
actor who introduces the confession
with affected moans (1.7.4-5; see section 2.3.1.):
combined
... cum ille imo de pectore cruciabilem suspiritum ducens dextra saeuiente
frontem replaudens: 'me miserum', infit...
... when suddenly he draws an agonised sigh from the depths of his breast,
claps his forehead again and again with an angry right hand, and starts to
speak: 'woe is me ...'
2.2.2. Socrates' Prostration and Lucius' Tearful Submission to Isis. Shortly
before
Socrates
creates
he dies, again pale and emaciated,
another
monumental
tableau vivant by kneeling down while bending over (1.19.8
in genua adpronat se). Although
his obvious intention
is to
complicitus
drink water from a spring, the resulting picture may be viewed as another
icon of a self-degrading
submission
(a miserum aerumnae spectaculum),
name
of
Fortune
is
Socrates' histrionics
the
left
unmentioned.
although

WYTSE H. KEULEN
126
and infirmity, as in the introductory

scene
again reveal his spinelessness
where we saw him sitting on the ground like a poor beggar. What is more,
with tears and exaggerated
the ancients associated
pathos.35
prostration
and
With this contemptible
body language that both Theophrastus
Socrates
foreof the superstitious
Plutarch deemed characteristic
man,36
before Isis in 11.24.7, in which the
shadows Lucius' act of reverence
of pathos, prostration, and submission recur (prouolutus denique
deae et facie mea diu detersis uestigiis eius, lacrimis
conspectum
crebro
sermonem
obortis, singultu
interficiens et uerba deuorans aio)?1
That Lucius embodies the superstitious
type in the eleventh book is also
in
his
the
ocean (11.1.4 purificandi
studio
repeated
dips
suggested
by
.
.
.
deam
marino lauacro trado septiesque
summerso
capite
fluctibus
elements
ante
which recall superstitious

lacrimoso uultu sic adprecabar),
praepotentem
Mor.
166A
Poc7ixiaov geocdxov ri<;
purifying rituals (Plut. De superst. 3,
Odtaxxxav, with Lozza 1980,82). Notably, the moon goddess to whom he
addresses his tearful prayer was identified with Hecate (cf. section 2.3.1);
turns out to be one of the epithets of Isis (11.5.3).38 In another
(11.15.3 Fortunae ... uidentis),
passage, Isis is identified with Providence
belief in npovoioc in Plut. De superst. 8
which recalls the superstitious
Hecate
(Mor. 168F).
2.3. Socrates
Figures
and the Mendicant Priests as

the
of
Professional
Storyteller
In the light of his Plutarchan

his own misfortunes
assumes
model, we see how Socrates as narrator of

the shape of the 8?iai8aijLicov who confesses
35Cf. Isid.
Orig. 11.1.109 (after quoting Enn. fr. inc. 14 atque genua comprimit arta
gena): inde est quod homines, dum ad genua se prosternunt, statim lacrimantur.Although he
keeps on emphasising his great misery, Socrates himself does not shed one single tear in the
story. The only persons who weep in the first book are those who lose Socrates: his wife
(1.6.3), Meroe (1.12.6 aeternam solitudinem flebo), and?as much as time allows?
Aristomenes (1.19.11 defletum pro tempore comitem misellum).
36Cf.
Theophr. Char. 16.5 Kai ?7iiyovaxa rceacov,describing a superstitious man who
kneels down and prostrates when he passes a crossroads with oiled stones; Plut. De superst.
3 (Mor. 166A) p{\|/?i<;
eiii 7tp6aamov... dMoKoxcnx;7ipoaicuvr|a?i<;,
with Lozza 1980,83-84.
37Cf. 6.2.3 Tunc
Psyche pedes eius aduoluta et uberi fletu rigans deae uestigia
humumque uerrens crinibus suis multiiugis precibus editis ueniam postulabat; 6.3.4 genu
nixa . . . detersis ante lacrimis sic adprecatur. Cf. Christian satire of contemptible pagan
superstition in Prud. ham. 404-5 incerat lapides fumosos idololatrix I religio et surdis pallens
aduoluitur aris).
38Cf. Catuli. 34.13-16; Sen. Med. 6-7; Plut. Mor. 416E-F; see A. J. Keulen 2001,278,
on Sen. Troad. 389 Hecate.


as a devious public confessor
his ills in public. Socrates'
performance
even more conspicuous
if we compare him to other notoriously
namely, the mendicant priests
figures in the Metamorphoses,
superstitious
of the Dea Syria who are similarly treated in the Onos (36-41; see Mason
becomes
1994,1676).
Frenzy. Socrates' histrionic use of agonised deep sighs
and slapping of the forehead (section 2.2.1) has a striking parallel in the
of one of the mendicant
his
frenzied performance
priests who confesses
2.3.1. Simulated
sins in a public
ritual (8.27.6):
... de imis praecordiis anhelitus crebros referens uelut numini<s> diuino

spiritu repletus simulabat sauciam uecordiam prorsus quasi deum praesentia
soleant homines non sui f<i>eri meliores, sed debiles effici uel aegroti.
... repeatedly heaving deep sighs from his chest as if he were filled with the
heavenly inspiration of a deity, he pretended to be stricken with mad?
ness?as if the presence of the gods does not usually raise people above
themselves, but makes them weak and ill.39
Lucius censures the priest's simulated frenzy in a
satirist who attacks
way, taking the stance of a moralising
superstition
according to the tradition of the Cynic diatribe. Showing his,
patent antipathy to religious practices that he deems immoral, Lucius
to be his
seems to follow the example of Plutarch, whom he professes
ancestor at the outset of the novel (1.2.1). Possibly, this reflects also the
Notably,
the narrator
very explicit
as
attitude of the author Apuleius
towards contemporary
tendencies;
observe,
V, Public Confession)
Hijmans et al. 1985, 299-300
(Appendix
of penitence
for guilt is weil attested in both literary
the phenomenon
sources (inscriptions)
of Apuleius'
and non-literary
time, and it is often
with sexual offences.
connected
such a debunking
comment is missing in the description
Although
of Socrates, we may note several parallels that make Socrates emerge, in
some respects, as a forerunner
of the priest in book 8. Both Socrates and
the mendicant
committed
sexual transgressions
have
priest
(cf. 1.8.1);
both perform their pathetic acts as an introduction
to a show of peni?
tence, performed with histrionic frenzy (cf. 8.28.1 infit uaticinatione clamosa
39Translation
by Hijmans et al. 1985, 242; see the commentary on p. 244. Appendix
IV in the same volume, section 2.10.1, points out the close resemblance to the stereotypical
frenzied rites of Cybele (see n. 40). The deep sighs of priestly frenzy recur in the description
of the Isiac priest, 11.16.1 fatigatos anhelitus trahens.

128
WYTSE H. KEULEN
Both are disapprovingly

semet ipsum incessere).
de?
mendacio
as the dregs of society that hang around at triuia, notorious
associated
with the
breeding places of magic and obscure superstition,
who
was
also
called
"Triuia."40
their
connec?
Hecate
Moreover,
goddess
tion with triuia reveals their identity as itinerant showmen who make up
be?
stories to entertain the mob like Cynic beggars.41 The resemblance
conficto
scribed
tween
Socrates and the mendicant

priests goes beyond their penchant
for superstition
and exaggerated
and includes their role as
performance
Socrates'
cauillum
and
dicacitas
have
a
satirists.
counterpart in the priests'
in
cauillari, which is a key word for their fraudulent
indulging
practices
on 9.10.2 mendoso risu cauillantes).
(cf. Hijmans et al. 1995,100
Business.
There is one important attribute
man that seems to be missing in our
superstitious
Socrates' theatrical outfit: the sack or sackcloth
(oolkkoc,, gockkiov; Lat.
an emblem of sorrow and submissaccus, sacculus)42 that was considered
2.3.2. Superstition
of the Plutarchan
as (Show)
sion. These
are very important attributes of the mendicant

priests of the
use, for they carry off the spoils of
Syria but put to a commercial
in sacculos
huic quaestui
stuffed
de industria
their penitence-show
praeparatos
(8.28.6 "bags specially made for the trade").43 That Socrates
with sacci, too, is indicated by his own former trade,
had some experience
Dea
which is also called quaestus (cf. 1.7.6 secundum quaestum). In 1.7.10 he

refers to his profession
as saccariam faciens, usually translated as "plying
40Cf. 1.6.1
qualia solent Fortunae decermina stipes in triuiis erogare; 8.24.2 unum de
triuiali popularium faece. Cf. Verg. Aen. 4.609 nocturnis... Hecate triuiis ululata with Pease
1935, 485-86; Apul. Apol. 31.9 manium potens Triuia (sc. Hecate); Lucian. dial. mort. 1.1;
further references in Lozza 1980, 133 on Plut. De superst. 10 (Mor. 170B) ocite . . . ek
xpi65(ov.For Thessaly as a centre of the cult of Hecate, see Costa 1973 on Sen. Med. 670739. For the function of ecstasy as a part of the piety associated with Hecate and her sister
goddess from Asia Minor, Cybele, see Rabinowitz 1998,63-64. For the association of tragic
sighing, high-flown storytelling, a triuium, and the moon (=Hecate) cf. also the scene of
Lucius-ass and Charite before they are caught again by the robbers after escaping (6.29).
41
Verg. Ecl. 3.26-27 non tu in triuiis, indocte, solebas I stridenti miserum stipula
disperdere carmen? (echoed in Hieron. adv. Ruf 1.17); Dio Chrys. Orat. 32.9 (on Cynic
storytellers; see n. 3); cf. also Lucian Peregrin. 3 (on the Cynics' usual loud appeals); Hist.
conscr. 16 (describing vulgar language) xa 5' akha ouoSiaixa xoic;noXXoiqKai xa kXeigtol
oia ek xpioSoi).
42Cf. Menand. fr. 631.4 K-A
(quoted more fully in n. 34) etaxpov acndov. On the
religious significance of sackcloth, see Kindstrand 1976, 232; Lozza 1980,116. Cf. Ev. Luc.
10.13 ev aaKK(pKai a7io5a>Ka9f|ji?voi.
43For their scandalous commercial motives, cf. also 9.8.6 ad istum modum diuinationis
astu captioso conraserant non paruas pecunias.


that Socrates had to carry sacci
the porter's trade," with the implication
is the addition
for others. An argument in favour of this interpretation
adhuc uegetus, "when I was still vigorous." However, in a Latin inscription,
saccarius is also attested in the meaning of "maker and seller of sacci?'
the Greek noun
and in an ancient Greco-Latin
glossary, it translates
With Socrates as the weaver and seller of
aocKK07tA,6Ko<;
("sackweaver").44
this important
attribute of comic beggars that succumb to superstition,
that Socrates
we are back to the earlier observation
might well be
the paKioa\)ppoc7txd8ri<; behind
for his own transformation,
responsible
his own
This implies
an intentional,
staged
performance.
commercial
from auctor to actor, along with calculated
theatrical
metamorphosis
motives (quaestus).
the con?
and the mendicant
priests, then, resemble
entertainers
who
of
and
religious
per?
picture
philosophical
temporary
form for money (see section 0. with n. 3). We may, for example, think of
who stuffed his Cynic
Lucian's satire of the Cynic performer Theagenes
seem
the
characters
with
Moreover,
bag
Apuleian
gold (Peregrin. 30).
Both
Socrates
of trade metaphors
current in Apuleius'
age (quaestus, nekind
of rhetoric that
that
attack
a
gotium, caupona)
degraded, sophistic
trades true values for business or, even worse, show business.45 This may
also highlight why Lucius went to Thessaly "on business" (1.2.1 ex negotio;
incarnations
but some?
quaestum); this is an enigmatic expression
and planned. We find a
that his motives
are calculated
link between
and his future lucrative
Lucius' business
programmatic
in 2.12.5 in a context
in Diophanes'
divination
career as a storyteller
huius peregrinacommerce
with
references
to
(cf. prouentum
permeated
cf. 1.7.6 secundum
how
reveals
between
on this passage, see Graverini
2001). The connection
in
of
Lucius'
and
successful
recurs
the
context
rhetoric
earning money
conversion
to Isis. Just as Socrates is robbed of his earnings by Meroe
initiation
rites
by Isis' expensive
(1.7.10), Lucius is ruined financially
will
also
entail
a
Mal-Maeder
his
conversion
However,
1997,102).
(Van
We
lucrative career in court as a professional
lawyer (11.28.6; 11.30.4).
tionis;
44Cf. CIL 13.3700

(Trier) Iulius Victor cuparius etsaccarius; see LSJ s.v.aaKKorctaSKcx;.
45For a
near-contemporary satire on the "commercialising" of religion, which be?
comes also manifest in Lucius' experience as an initiate of Isis (cf. 11.23), compare the
invective against pagan "mendicant"religion in Tert.Apol. 13.6 maiestas quaestuariaefficitur:
circuit cauponas religio mendicans; exigitis mercedem pro solo templi,pro aditu sacri; cf. also
ad nat. 1.10.24. The use of trade metaphors to expose sophistic rhetoric in the bad sense of
the word goes back to Plato (e.g., Prt. 313D). Many references in Waszink (1947,116-17) on
Tert. DeAnim. 3.1 sapientiae ... caupones, who quotes e.g., Lucian. Hermotim. 58.

WYTSE H. KEULEN
130
comic motif of
this along the lines of the well-known
interpret
instruction
for reasons of
institute
of rhetorical
joining a fraudulent
who becomes an initiate in the mysteries
financial gain,46 like Strepsiades
Clouds.A1
of the Socratic cppovxiaxripiov in Aristophanes'
may
3. CONCLUSION
Socrates, the archetype of the philosopher,
appears in Apul. Met. 1 as an
icon of the philosopher
mad.
Socrates'
involvement
with witchcraft
gone
to Fortune turn the portrayal of the philosopher
into
and his succumbing
a satire of superstition.
As such, Socrates is a programmatic
figure that
the superstitious
foreshadows
frenzy with which Lucius succumbs to Isis
in the eleventh book. Socrates' programmatic
function is echoed in the
in the procession
of Isis; this
actor who plays the role of the philosopher
how the attributes of philosophy
demonstrates
become stage props of a
et
religious charade (Met. 11.8.3 nec ille deerat, . . . qui pallio baculoque
baxeis ethircino barbitio philosophumfingeret).48
Lucius' Milesian narra?
tive turns out to be the public confession
of a professional
superstitious
charlatan with a shaven head who narrates his tragic misfortunes
and
This paradoxi?
ensuing salvation by a divinity (cf. Winkler 1985,238-42).
cal identity is already embodied
by the figures of Socrates and the men?
dicant priests of the Dea Syria and can be compared
with figures from
life (Cynics, religious entertainers)
who sold their beliefs
contemporary
at crossroads.
In my opinion, it is not the intrinsic aim of the Metamorphoses
to
attack superstition,
nor is
cults (e.g., Aelius Aristides;
as a conventional
literary
behaviour
that goes back
tious (Isiac) cult becomes
Metamorphoses,
along
it satirical of a specific person's addiction to

see n. 1). Rather, superstition
is used as a foil,
means of exposing
and
corrupt rhetoric
to Old Comedy. Thus, addiction
to supersti?
one of the paradigms of false rhetoric in the
the
same
lines
as tragedy
(parody
of tragic
46See C.
Panayotakis 1995,7-9 for the comic exploitation of educational methods in
schools of rhetoric, which goes back to Aristophanes' Clouds (e.g., 457-75) and is found in
comedy, mime, and Petronius.
47For the Platonic
analogy between philosophical-rhetorical instruction and mystic
initiation and its parody in Clouds, see Sommerstein 1982 on Clouds 140; Dover 1968 on
143 uuaxripux;Green 1979.
48Cf. Penwill 1990,5 with n. 28 on the anteludia
reflecting earlier episodes from the
Met.


does not entail an attack on tragedy itself). True, cult activity
thrived in Apuleius'
and superstition
age (cf. Harrison 2000, 238). This
satire of superstition
a contemporary
may give Apuleius'
background
On Supersti?
uses contemporary
satire (Plutarch's
dimension.
Apuleius
tion, Lucian) as well as ancient literary traditions
(Old Comedy, the
behaviour
as established
that provide
the
tradition)
repertoires
Socratic-Cynic
in
his
elements
of
various
devious
satirists
and
storytellers
characterising
of himself as an
novel who can perhaps be viewed as literary projections
fiction. Along these lines, the figure of Socrates
author of entertaining
in connection
can be interpreted
with traditional
imagery for poetic
of
craftiness
as he embodies
notorious
rhetorical
invention,
figures
charSocratic figures, including Cynic beggars; superstitious
(Odysseus;
of
both
comic
The
Socrates
reveals
the
latans).
symptoms
Apuleian
invention
and tragic frenzy, which unmask him as a cunning narrator of
incredible tales. Also in this respect he may be viewed as an anticipating
of the novel, Lucius,
of the main narrator and protagonist
counterpart
whose superstitious
for
him
into the various
curiosity
novelty plunges
that form the wellspring of his authorial invention.
Socrates'
misfortunes
shows us the satirist who is also satirised
icon of satirical self-exposure
as the typical satirist persona,
who exposes
but
cannot
mendicant
live up to his
(the
superstition
priests)
thus
own morals and succumbs
to superstition
the
himself,49
becoming
of
his
their
both
own
satire.50
object
By
self-degrading
metamorphoses,
of the father of philosophy,
and Lucius,
Socrates, comic transformation
and foreshadows
Lucius
to ridicule
49On the close resemblance between the ancient cults of the Dea
Syria and Isis, see
Hijmans et al. 1985,288-89 and cf. above, n. 39. For the ridiculous connotations of the figure
of the bald priest, see Van Mal-Maeder 1997,106-7 (with further references there in n. 69).
50In
my opinion, it is probable that the Latin Metamorphoses in this respect follow
the Greek original, although Photios' statement on the difference between the MetarcXaaudxcov
uev
morphoseis and the Onos is confusing (Cod. 129): Teuei 8e 6 eraxepo-uX6yo<;
Kai 8iaax>pcovxr\v
8e a\G%paq.T\\t\\ 6 uev Aoa)Kiavo<;
aKcbrcxcov
uo)0ikg)v,&ppr)T07EOi*ia<;
8eiai8aiuoviav, ibonep Kav xoT<;
fEXXr\viKT\v
a?iAoi<;,Kai xouxov cruvexaxxev("In both au?
thors [namely, Loukios of Patrae and Lucian, distinguished by Photios as the respective
authors of the unabridged and the abridged Greek version of the ass story] the narrative is
stuffed with mythical inventions and vile obscenity, except that Lucian works into his
narrative the mockery of Greek superstition that he does in his other writing"; trans.
Mason 1994, 1668). Probably Photius failed to notice that the genuine credulity of the
protagonist Loukios?whom he mistakes to be the author?in the unabridged version was
part of the satire, too. Thus, Loukios' attitude seems to have been very similar to that of
Lucius in Apuleius' novel (for a similar view, see Winkler 1985, 254-56; Van Mal-Maeder
1997,106 n. 63). On this difficult question, see Mason 1994,1675-77 (VII. Satire in "Onos"?).

132
WYTSE H. KEULEN
alter ego of the novel's author, can be identified as satirical voices, exposrhetoric and conduct to entertain their audience.51
ing superstitious
RlJKSUNIVERSITEIT
GRONINGEN
e-mail: W.H.Keulen@let.rug.nl
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Comic Invention and Superstitious Frenzy in Apuleius' Metamorphoses: The Figure of Socrates

as an Icon of Satirical Self-Exposure

This content downloaded from 157.92.4.12 on Thu, 20 Mar 2014 05:09:15 AM

Abstract. This article concentrates on the Apuleian Socrates (Met. 1.6-19) as a

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is the central figure in the first inset tale of Apuleius' novel

old hag (1.6-7),

relevance is beyond his apparent role of victim in the story. There

character of its protagonist

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COMIC INVENTION AND SUPERSTITIOUS FRENZY IN APUL. MET. 109

of the novel (e.g., curiositas, seruiles uoluptates).

from the first three

books and Isis; according to a recent study,

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as a religious charlatan (Lucian, Death ofPeregrinus).4

speak in terms of correspondences

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COMIC INVENTION AND SUPERSTITIOUS FRENZY IN APUL. MET. 111

time it was well known

that the historical

B.C. was a favourite

a character called Socrates

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writings and his caricature created by Aristophanes.

This content downloaded from 157.92.4.12 on Thu, 20 Mar 2014 05:09:15 AM

COMIC INVENTION AND SUPERSTITIOUS FRENZY IN APUL. MET. 113

about witchcraft when under the bedclothes. Apuleius gives

may even be wrapped

up in the same cover with him.

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he invented his comic character Socrates, Apuleius

and his propensity

for satiric banter.

1.2.1. Socrates' Icon of Cynic Self-Exposure.

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COMIC INVENTION AND SUPERSTITIOUS FRENZY IN APUL. MET. 115

his penis (734).

the act with a worn cloak called a palliastrum,

exposes his true nature when

he seduces Milo's kitchen maid Photis (cf.

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Socrates but leaving no doubt as to his intentions

morning, for example,

191.17.2non... immerito stabularios hos omnes hospites detestantur... 1.17.6 "apage

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COMIC INVENTION AND SUPERSTITIOUS FRENZY IN APUL. MET. 117

and jokes, and brilliant

reading of F, the sole authoritative MS, is dicacitas

of dicacitas with Old Comedy and the Socratic-Cynic

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the crowd with their aiccb|U|uaxa

1.3. Cynic Role-Playing

and the Poetics

dicacitas and tragic rolePerhaps, then, we should see Socrates'

23Ar. Ran. 842

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COMIC INVENTION AND SUPERSTITIOUS FRENZY IN APUL. MET. 119

the same word