Apuleius's Platonism

Abstract

Lucius Apuleius (c. 125–after 170 ce), of the North African city Madaura, was a Roman philosophical writer of the 2nd century ce. Apuleius’s identity is thrown into an interesting light by his notorious description of the narrator of his comic novel Metamorphoses, perhaps his most famous work, as a relative of Sextus of Chaeronea, who, in turn, was a relation of the Middle Platonist Plutarch. It is possible that this reference indicates merely an intellectual affiliation with Sextus and the Platonic school. From Apuleius’s Florida, a collection of epideictic orations, we learn that he undertook philosophical studies, broadly construed, during a sojourn in Athens that lasted several years and that may have been spent in the intellectual vicinity of the Middle Platonist Calvenus Taurus. Apuleius is thus commonly grouped with the Middle Platonists (see also the separate Oxford Bibliographies article “Middle Platonism” for a general discussion and various Greek and Roman representatives), a label that has become rather problematic, since it appears to streamline intellectual currents of Platonism that have been shown to vary significantly. Alternative terms, such as “post-Hellenistic” philosophy, have been suggested, but the term “Middle Platonism” is still widely used, with the caveat, however, that it ought to refer to a chronological timeframe, roughly the 1st century bce until Plotinus, rather than a homogenous philosophical outlook. The most conspicuous element in Apuleius’s own philosophical output is a rather complex demonology, designed to ensure that divine providential care permeates the entire cosmos. Other features of his writings are what may be regarded as trademark attributes of his time: a tendency to fit Plato’s thought into a digestible, handbook-style system, instead of practicing critical inquiry or exegesis; a religious interpretation of philosophical doctrine, no doubt informed by his close affiliation with various mystery cults contemporary with him; and an emphasis on rhetoric as a suitable means of conveying philosophical wisdom, a feature in line with the literary and cultural taste of the Second Sophistic. Reluctance to accept Apuleius’s standing as a philosopher is a modern phenomenon. He was held in high esteem for his role as a Platonic philosopher already during his lifetime, and St. Augustine would later single him out, in Book 8 of his City of God against the Pagans, as one of the noblest disciples of Plato—a description that is then followed, it is true, by a devastating critique of Apuleius’s doctrine on demons.