SLOW

Recently I came across an old Latin text, Metamorphosis, by Lucius Apuleius Africanus, who is famous for being the author of one of the funnier Latin texts, Apologia, his self-defence in his trial where he was accused of witchcraft.

The text, in one of its first English versions, is known as The Golden Asse, translated by William Adlington, published in 1566. What makes Adlington's text quite quaint is that the "original spelling, capitalisation and punctuation have been retained". It's very well translated, especially for its time, and it's obvious that he enjoyed the original.

The main story is about Apuleius (some of the story is sure to be autobiographical), who encounters a witch, accidently gets turned into an Asse while keeping his human intelligence, which helps him get into some very strange situations with humans, other animals and "gods celestiall and gods infernall".

Every now and then the text changes focus (as Latin texts often do) to tell a totally different story, like Chapter 22, which tells the story of the "most pleasant and delectable tale of the marriage of Cupid and Psyches".

Of course the original Latin text is also available (studiose lector), but I would recommend Adlington's version, if only for a lucid 16th century perspective on a highly original 2nd century text.

# posted by Slow @ 3:13 pm