The Golden Ass of Lucius Apuleius

359, [1] pp. 9 1/4 x 6 1/2. Green cloth, gilt titles, light blue endpapers. Illustrations and decorations by Philip Hagreen. Translated by William Adlington from the original Latin Metamorphoses, with an introduction by F.J. Harvey Darton. The Metamorphoses of Lucius Apuleius, which St. Augustine referred to as The Golden Ass (Asinus aureus), is the only Latin novel to survive in its entirety. It is among the works heavily referenced and emulated by Cervantes in Don Quixote. The protagonist of the novel may in fact be the author himself. His first name is revealed to be Lucius; at the end of the novel, he is revealed to be from Maudaurus, the hometown of Apuleius himself. The identification of the protagonist as Lucius of Maudorus has led some scholars to posit that the narrator and the author are one and the same person. 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 accidentally gets transformed into an ass (similar to A Midsummer Night's Dream). This leads to a long journey, literal and metaphorical, filled with in-set tales. He finally finds salvation through the intervention of the goddess Isis, whose cult he joins.