[ 12 ] at subita sectae commutatione risum tote coetu commoveram . Iamque maxima diei parte transacta defectum alioquin me , helcio sparteo dimoto , nexu machinae liberatum applicant praesepio . At ego quamquam eximie fatigatus et refectione virium vehementer indiguus et prorsus fame perditus , tamen familiari curiositate attonitus et satis anxius , postposito cibo qui copiosus aderat , inoptabilis officinae disciplinam cum delectatione quadam arbitrabar . Dii boni ! Quales illic homunculi vibicibus lividis totam cutem depicti dorsumque plagosum scissili centunculo magis inumbrati quam obtecti , nonnulli exiguo tegili tantum modo pubem inlecti , cuncti tamen sic tunicati ut essent per pannulos manifesti , frontes litterati et capillum semirasi et pedes annulati , tum lurore deformes et fumosis tenebris vaporosae caliginis palpebras adesi atque adeo male luminati , et in modum pugilum , [ p . 420 ] qui pulvisculo perspersi dimicant , farinulenta cinere [ 13 ] sordide candidati . Iam de meo iumentario contubernio quid vel ad quem modum memorem ? Quales illi muli senes vel cantherii debiles ! Circa praesepium capita demersi contruncabant moles palearum , cervices cariosa vulnerum putredine follicantes , nares languidas assiduo pulsu tussedinis hiulei , pectora copulae sparteae tritura continua exulcerati , costas perpetua castigatione ossium tenus renudati , ungulas multivia circumcursione in enorme vestigium porrecti totumque corium veterno atque scabiosa macie exasperati . Talis familiae funestum mihi etiam metuens exemplum veterisque Lucii fortunam recordatus et ad ultimam salutis metam detrusus summisso capite maerebam . Nec ullum uspiam cruciabilis vitae solacium aderat , nisi quod ingenita mihi curiositate recreabar dum praesentiam meam parvi facientes libere quae volunt omnes et agunt et loquuntur . Nec immerito priscae poeticae divinus auctor apud Graios summae prudentiae virum monstrare cupiens multarum civitatum obitu et variorum populorum cognitu summas adeptum virtutes cecinit : nam et ipse gratas gratias asino meo memini , quod me suo celatum tegmine variisque fortunis exercitatum , etsi minus

swiftly performed the circuits prescribed , raising a howl of laughter at my sudden change of heart .
When the day was mostly past , and I was weary , they un-harnessed me , removed my collar , and tied me to the manger . Though I was utterly exhausted , urgently in need of restoring my strength , and almost dead from hunger , still my usual sense of curiosity kept me upright with its nagging : I neglected the pile of fodder , and was pleased to watch the life of that detestable mill .
You blessed gods , what a pack of dwarves those workers were , their skins striped with livid welts , their seamed backs half-visible through the ragged shirts they wore ; some with loin-cloths but all revealing their bodies under their clothes ; foreheads branded , heads half-shaved , and feet chained together . They were wretchedly sallow too , their eyes so bleary from the scorching heat of that smoke-filled darkness , they could barely see , and like wrestlers sprinkled with dust before a fight , they were coarsely whitened with floury ash .
As for my fellow-creatures , what a sight ! How to describe their state ? Those senile mules and worn-out geldings drooped their heads over the manger as they munched their heaps of chaff ; necks bent and covered with vile running sores , flabby nostrils distended from endless wheezing , and their chests raw from the constant friction of the harness . Their flanks were cut to the bone from relentless whipping , their hooves distorted to strange dimensions from the repetitive circling , and their whole hide blotched by mange and hollowed by starvation .
The sorry lot of my companions made me fear for myself and , recalling the fortunate Lucius I once was , now lost in degradation , I bowed my head in mourning . There was only the one consolation for my sad existence , in that everyone freely did and said whatever they wished in my worthless presence , and so my natural curiosity had revived . Homer , that divine creator of ancient poetry among the Greeks , desiring to depict a hero of the highest intellect , rightly chose to sing of Odysseus whose powers were refined by seeing many cities and knowing the minds of many men . And I now remember the ass I was with infinite gratitude since concealed in his hide , and meeting with those ups and downs of fortune , gave me all sorts of knowledge , even though I was less than wise . Thus , here comes a tale , better than many another and sweetly presented , which I’ve decided to offer to your hearing . And away we go .

12 . My instant conversion made the whole crowd laugh out loud . Near the day’s end , when I was practically finished off , they undid my twig-plaited horse collar , untied me from the machine , and tethered me at the manger . But you know me : though I was out and out exhausted , desperately needing to restore my strength , and downright devastated from hunger , nevertheless my habitual curiosity kept me keyed up and staring around . I put off any attention to my food , which lay plentifully before me , and with a certain titillation contemplated the conduct of this unappealing manufactory . Good gods , what sorry excuses for human beings I saw . The pale welts from chains crossed every patch of their skin like brush-strokes . Their flogged-up backs under sparse patchwork were no better covered than stretches of ground that shade falls on . Some of them had thrown on an exiguous vestiture , which extended only to the loins , yet all were clad so that their scraps of tatters kept no secrets . Their foreheads were inscribed with brands , their hair half-shaved , their ankles braceleted with fetters , their pallor hideous , their eyelids gnawed by the gloomy smoke of the murky fumes , which left them less able to access light at all . Like boxers who fight bathed in fine dust , these men were filthy white with floury ash . 13 . And the beastly barracksful I now belonged to—what can I tell you ? How would I put it ? They were just indescribable , the ancient mules and the broken-down geldings gathered around the manger , their heads submerged as they demolished masses of chaff , the skin on their necks loose as bellows leather from rotting , running wounds , their nostrils battered , by ceaseless coughing , into flaccid , yawning chasms , their chests covered in sores from the unending gouging of rush ropes , their ribs laid bare—bare to the bone—by perpetual chastisements , their hooves splayed to cover a grotesque amount of ground as a result of those multitudinous circular coursings , and their entire hides rough with inveterate dirt and mangy starvation . Such a funereal troupe of slaves made me fear a precedent for my own fate . I remembered the previous , fortunate Lucius , who was now driven to the end of all hope , and I hung my head in mourning . Nor was there any consolation to be had for this life of torment except through my innate curiosity : only this could revive my spirits . But what opportunities , in that all the people , barely noticing I was there , did and said whatever they felt like and never gave it a thought . It was not for nothing that early on among the Greeks , when the godlike originator of poetry wished to illustrate a really superior intelligence , he sang about a man’s visiting many cities and getting to know various races , through which experiences he attained the highest excellence . I can now even feel a gracious gratitude toward my past as an ass because while his form was my secure covert , I could be drilled in many different contingencies and rendered well rounded , if not wise .