Download The Golden Ass or Metamorphoses AudioBook Free
This story of a man who, when trying out magic, becomes changed into an ass is one of the most entertaining and impressive stories from traditional Latin literature. It is funny, bawdy and completely approachable - but also shows life from the point of view of any beast of burden in the Roman Empire of the next century CE. Lucius can be an active young man enjoying life - and the favours of the attentive maid, one Fotis - when the temptation to experiment with a powerful potion demonstrates too great. Life is very different as a four-footed animal, and he moves from one theatre to another, in danger of his life at one point, facing seduction at another. Within this account of the adventures, Apuleius (c124-c170 CE) places ribald reports which are more familiar through retellings by Boccaccio and Chaucer. But there are also passages of sizeable literary beauty, specifically in the prolonged bank account of Cupid and Psyche. The Golden Ass, in this energetic performance by Jonathan Keeble, is a joy from commence to end. Translation: Bohn (1853), revised for this creation.
