Apuleius, Or Appnleius, a Roman satirist, born at Medaura in Africa about A. D. 130. By his mother he was a descendant of Plutarch. After studying at Carthage, he began to travel for the purpose of learning philosophy and religion. Coming to Rome, he was obliged to sell his clothes in order to obtain the sum necessary for his initiation into the service of Osiris. He soon repaired his fortune by marriage with a rich widow in Africa, whose relations instituted legal proceedings against him, alleging that he had used magic to win her property and affections. But in his defence Apuleius satisfied the judges that a widow of 14 years' standing needed not the constraint of magic in taking a husband younger than herself. The most celebrated of the numerous works of Apuleius is the "Metamorphoses, or the Golden Ass," a philosophical romance, written, according to Warburton, to ridicule Christianity. But the more probable design of the author was to show, under the guise of allegory, that a voluptuous life leads to bestiality, from which a man can be lifted only by cultivating virtue and religion. The Justly famous tale of Cupid and Psyche forms an episode in this work.

His writings on ethics and metaphysics are a good epitome of the works of Plato; but the development of that philosopher's more profound doctrines was reserved for subsequent inquirers. The best edition of Apuleius is by Hildebrand (Leipsic, 1842). An English version appeared in London in 1853. "The Golden Ass " has also been translated by T. Taylor (London, 1822) and Sir G. Head (London, 1851).