ISBN10: 0253200369, ISBN13: 9780253200365, [publisher: Indiana University Press] Softcover The tale of Lucius, or the Golden Ass, has been a favorite one since the 2nd century A.D., and its fame is equal to that of the Decameron or Don Quixote. Lucius, a gay and virile young man, goes to stay in a strange town and has an affair with his host’s beautiful maidservant. His hostess is said to be a witch and Lucius, overcome with fatal curiosity, watches her turn herself into a bird. Wishing to do the same, he rubs himself with the magic ointment, but to his horror he is transformed into an ass and stolen by thieves before he can get hold of the antidote, a rose. In his ass-form, he has a long series of adventures, comical, satirical, dangerous, amorous, and always entertaining. 255p.
[New York, NY, U.S.A.] [Publication Year: 1962]