Apuleius’ the “Golden Ass” and the Early Roman Empire

Apuleius’ the “Golden Ass” and the Early Roman Empire
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During the time that the Golden Ass was written, the Romans have dominated more than a hundred major and minor provinces in Europe as well as parts of Northern Africa, which was Apuleius’ origin. This influenced Apuleius, the famous prose writer, to write the story inspired by the current events at that time. This paper discusses the reflection of Apuleius’ writing in the Golden Ass with the early Roman Empire.
This story was set in Italy, where at the time, the differences in social class were evident. Similar to any part of the world, the elite and the powerful ranked higher in the society than the criminals, the poor, and the powerless. Thus, spotlighting the former class in all circumstances. Apuleius illustrated this clearly when he stated that “…a poisoned woman would get instant access to justice I (Apuleius, 1932).” As discussed before, this novel focused on the power of witchcraft possessed by women whose goal is to entice men with their enchantments. Although sorcery may be a criminal offense for manipulating other people against their will, witches get off quickly from their cases because they are considered as authoritative in the early Roman Empire.
Apart from this, Apuleius (1932) depicted the massive control of the Roman Emperor over his land. The Roman Emperor was regarded as an oppressor who was both feared and revered by the people, whether they form a part of his citizenry or from a foreign land. Lucius Apuleius, the narrator, and protagonist of the story, once passed by a market where he attempted to pronounce the name of the Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar. Even though Lucius mispronounced the name, he observed that the robbers became hesitant and moved away from Lucius with daunting in their eyes (Apuleius, 1932, p.54). Lucius’ struggle to pronounce t...