金驴记 (1500)

金驴记（拉丁语：Asinus aureus），又称变形记（拉丁语：Metamorphoses），是一部拉丁语小说，由古罗马作家阿普列尤斯创作。共11卷。描写了一个醉心魔法的年轻人路鸠士（Lucius）误食一种魔药变成驴子，历经奇遇和苦难，最终恢复人形。本书是唯一完整流传至今的古罗马小说，结构奇特，叙事生动，语言幽默，真实而广泛地描写了罗马帝国外省生活。

在〈女神显圣〉、〈重还人身〉的章节中，路鸠士经历奇特的宗教仪式，该仪式呈现出希腊化时代大母神伊西斯密教之特征与样貌。

The Metamorphoses of Apuleius, which Augustine of Hippo referred to as The Golden Ass (Latin: Asinus aureus), is the only ancient Roman novel in Latin to survive in its entirety.

The protagonist of the novel is Lucius. At the end of the novel, he is revealed to be from Madaurus, the hometown of Apuleius himself. The plot revolves around the protagonist's curiosity (curiositas) and insatiable desire to see and practice magic. While trying to perform a spell to transform into a bird, he is accidentally transformed into an ass. This leads to a long journey, literal and metaphorical, filled with inset tales. He finally finds salvation through the intervention of the goddess Isis, whose cult he joins.

Origin

The date of composition of the Metamorphoses is uncertain. It has variously been considered by scholars as a youthful work preceding Apuleius' Apology of 158–159, or as the climax of his literary career, and perhaps as late as the 170s or 180s. Apuleius adapted the story from a Greek original of which the author's name is said to be an otherwise unknown "Lucius of Patrae", also the name of the lead character and narrator.

This Greek text by Lucius of Patrae has been lost, but there is Lucius or the Ass (Λούκιος ἢ ὄνος, Loukios ē onos), a similar tale of disputed authorship, traditionally attributed to the writer Lucian, a contemporary of Apuleius. This surviving Greek text appears to be an abridgement or epitome of Lucius of Patrae's text.

Manuscripts

The Metamorphoses has survived in about 40 manuscripts, all or almost all of which are descendants of codex Laurentianus 68.2 (also called F in critical apparatuses), an extant 11th-century manuscript produced in Monte Cassino. Editors of the text have therefore seen it as their goal to apply textual criticism to this particular manuscript, ignoring the rest except for occasional consultation. The text is characterized by a number of non-standard spellings, notably the frequent interchange of the letters b and v.

Plot

Book One

Lucius, the narrator, introduces himself as a Greek of Attic, Corinthian, and Peloponnesian ancestry, related to the philosophers Plutarch and Sextus of Chaeronea. While journeying to Thessaly on business, he overhears a fellow traveler, Aristomenes, being rebuked by a friend for telling fantastical stories. Lucius, a lover of the marvelous and arcane, intrudes on the conversation and cautions the friend not to dismiss things outside the scope of daily experience; Aristomenes is induced to retell his story, which involves witches and intensifies Lucius's desire to learn about magic. At Hypata, Lucius presents a letter of introduction to his hosts Milo and Pamphile, who prove to be miserly moneylenders living in an almost-empty house. Their serving girl Photis takes Lucius to the baths, after which he goes to the marketplace and is overcharged for some fish. One of the market officials is his old friend Pytheas, who has his attendants trample on Lucius's fish in a misguided attempt to humiliate the merchant who sold them. Lucius returns empty-handed, and, after an evening of answering Milo's tedious questions about his life, his friends, and his wanderings, goes to sleep hungry.

Book Two

The next morning Lucius encounters his aunt Byrrhena. She urges him to leave his current hosts, since Pamphile is a witch who plans to seduce him, but the news only stimulates Lucius's desire to see real magic. He decides to make an ally of Photis, whom he finds attractive anyway; at their next meeting the two banter and then have sex. Later Byrrhena invites Lucius over for dinner, informing him that it is the eve of a local festival for the God of Laughter. A fellow guest named Thelyphron relates an encounter with witches, who cut off his nose and ears. Drunkenly returning to Milo's house in the dark, Lucius discovers three strange, bulky figures trying to break in. He strikes them down with his sword and goes to bed.