Apuleius, Metamorphoses 1.1
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Latin
English
At ego tibi sermone isto Milesio varias fabulas conseram auresque tuas benivolas lepido susurro permulceam , modo si papyrum Aegyptiam argutia Nilotici calami inscriptam non spreveris inspicere , figuras fortunasque hominum in alias imagines conversas et in se rursum mutuo nexu refectas , ut mireris . Exordior . Quis ille ? Paucis accipe . Hymettos Attica et Isthmos Ephyraea et Taenaros Spartiaca , glebae felices aeternum libris felicioribus conditae , mea vetus prosapia est : ibi linguam Attidem primis pueritiae stipendiis merui . Mox in urbe Latia advena studiorum , Quiritium indigenam sermonem aerumnabili labore , nullo magistro praeeunte , aggressus excolui . En ecce praefamur veniam , si quid exotici ac forensis sermonis rudis locutor offendero . Iam haec equidem ipsa vocis immutatio desultoriae scientiae stilo quem accessimus respondet . Fabulam Graecanicam incipimus : lector intende ; laetaberis .
Now ! I’d like to string together various tales in the Milesian style , and charm your kindly ear with seductive murmurs , so long as you’re ready to be amazed at human forms and fortunes changed radically and then restored in turn in mutual exchange , and don’t object to reading Egyptian papyri , inscribed by a sly reed from the Nile . I’ll begin . Who am I ? I’ll tell you briefly . Hymettus near Athens ; the Isthmus of Corinth ; and Spartan Mount Taenarus , happy soil more happily buried forever in other books , that’s my lineage . There as a lad I served in my first campaigns with the Greek tongue . Later , in Rome , freshly come to Latin studies I assumed and cultivated the native language , without a teacher , and with a heap of pains . So there ! I beg your indulgence in advance if as a crude performer in the exotic speech of the Forum I offend . And in truth the very fact of a change of voice will answer like a circus rider’s skill when needed . We’re about to embark on a Greek tale . Reader , attend : and find delight .