Silver Beaker With Skeletons Of Greek poets and philosophers (first half of first century A.D.). Several works of
art in late Hellenistic and Roman times betray a morbid fascination with death foretokening the medieval
'dances of death'. Compare Trimalchio's silver skeleton: 'So shall we all be, when the Underworld has claimed
us; then let us live while all is well.'
Apuleius was born at Madaurus in the province of Africa around 123 and was active in the second half of the
century. Several works from his hand survive, including the Apologia, his self-defence on a charge of gaining his
wife's love by the use of magic (below, p. 767); but his fame rests above all on his novel the Metamorphoses,
also known as The Golden Ass. This is based on a Greek tale, Lucius, or The Ass, possibly written by Lucian, of
which an abridged version is still extant. Comparison with the Greek story serves to demonstrate how brilliantly
Apuleius enlarged and adapted his model. The Golden Ass is in eleven books and is told in the first person. After
nearly three books of amorous and humorous incidents the narrator, as a consequence of an experiment with
magic which goes wrong, finds himself transformed into a donkey; and the rest of the work consists of a series of
picaresque adventures which befall the hero in his animal form, interrupted by a large number of other tales