The metamorphosis, or golden ass, and philosophical works, of Apuleius [A. on the God of Socrates; A. on the habitude of the doctrines of Plato] / Translated from the original Latin, by Thomas Taylor.

  • Apuleius
Date:
1822
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The metamorphosis, or golden ass, and philosophical works, of Apuleius [A. on the God of Socrates; A. on the habitude of the doctrines of Plato] / Translated from the original Latin, by Thomas Taylor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    is nearly day; and, besides, what can robbers take away from a traveller who is extremely poor ? Are you igno- rant. O stupid man, that he who is naked cannot be plundered, even by ten athletoe ? To which the porter, weary, and half asleep, and turning himself on the other side, replied. How do I know, whether you have not killed your companion with whom you came hither yesterday in the evening, and that now you commit your safety to flio'ht ? For I remember, at that time, [«. e. at mid- night] I saw Tartarus, which is at the extremity of the universe, and in it the dog Cerberus ready to devour me. “ And I recollected, indeed, that the good Meroe did not spare my throat through pity, but cruelly reserved me for the cross. Returning, therefore, to my bed- chamber, I deliberated with myself about a speedy kind of death; but since fortune had supplied me with no other deadly weapon than my bed alone, I said, now, O bed, most dear to my soul, who hast endured with me so many sorrows, [this night] and who art conscious, and a witness of what has been transacted in the course of it, and whom alone, when I am accused, I can adduce in proof of my innocence, supply me, who am hastening to the realms beneath, with a salutary instrument of death. Having said this, I began to undo the rope with which the bed was corded, and having tied one end of it to a small beam which was under the window, and with the other made a sliding knot, I stood upon the bed, elevated to destruction, and put my head into the halter; but while with one foot I kicked away the prop by which I was supported, so that the rope, being strained about my throat, might, by the pressure of the weight, stop my breath; the rope, which was both rotten and old, suddenly broke; and I, violently descending from on high, fell upon Socrates, (for he lay near me) and, together with him, I was rolled on the ground. “ And, lo ! at that very instant the porter rushed into the bedchamber, crying, with a loud voice, Where are
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