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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 .

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Erant in quadam civitate rex et regina : hi tres numero filias forma conspicuas habuere , sed maiores quidem natu , quamvis gratissima specie , idonee tamen celebrari posse laudibus humanis credebantur . at vero puellae iunioris tam praecipua , tam praeclara pulchritudo nec exprimi ac ne sufficienter quidem laudari sermonis humani penuria poterat . Multi denique civium et advenae copiosi , quos eximii spectaculi rumor studiosa celebritate congregabat , inaccessae formositatis admiratione stupidi et admoventes oribus suis dexteram priore digito in erectum pollicem residente ut ipsam prorsus deam Venerem venerabantur religiosis adorationibus . Iamque proximas civitates et attiguas regiones fama pervaserat deam , quam caerulum profundum pelagi peperit et ros spumantium fluctuum educavit , iam numinis sui passim tributa venia in mediis conversari populi coetibus , vel certe rursum novo caelestium stillarum germine non maria , sed terras Venerem aliam , virginali flore praeditam , pullulasse .

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Sic immensum procedit in dies opinio , sic insulas iam proxumas et terrae plusculum provinciasque plurimas fama porrecta pervagatur : iam multi mortalium longis itineribus atque altissimis maris meatibus ad saeculi specimen gloriosum confluebant : Paphon nemo , Cnidon nemo ac ne ipsa quidem Cythera ad conspectum deae Veneris navigabant . Sacra differuntur , templa deformantur , pulvinaria proteruntur , caerimoniae negleguntur ; incoronata simulacra et arae viduae frigido cinere foedatae . Puellae supplicatur , et in humanis vultibus deae tantae numina placantur , et in matutino progressu virginis victimis et epulis Veneris absentis nomen propitiatur , iamque per plateas commeantem populi frequentes floribus sertis et solutis apprecantur . Haec honorum caelestium ad puellae mortalis : cultum immodica translatio verae Veneris vehementer incendit animos , et impatiens indignationis capite quassanti fremens altius , sic secum disserit :

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' En rerum naturae prisca parens , en elementorum origo initialis , en orbis totius alma Venus , quae cum mortali puella partiario maiestatis honore tractor et nomen meum caelo conditum terrenis sordibus profanatur ! Nimirum communi numinis piamento vicariae venerationis incertum sustinebo , et imaginem meam circumferet puella moritura . Frustra me pastor ille , cuius iustitiam fidemque magnus comprobavit Iupiter , ob eximiam speciem tantis praetulit deabus . Sed non adeo gaudens ista , quaecumque est , meos honores usurpaverit : iam faxo eam huius etiam ipsius illicitae formositatis paeniteat ' . Et vocat confestim puerum suum pinnatum illum et satis temerarium , qui malis suis moribus contempta disciplina publica , flammis et sagittis armatus per alienas domos nocte discurrens et omnium matrimonia corrumpens impune committit tanta flagitia , et nihil prorsus boni facit .

[ 3 ] At ille qui coeperat : " Ne " inquit " istud mendacium tam verum est quam siqui velit dicere magico susurramine amnes agiles reverti , mare pigrum conligari , ventos inanimes exspirare , solem inhiberi , lunam despumari , stellas evelli , diem tolli , noctem teneri . " Tunc ego in verba fidentior : " Heus tu " inquam " qui sermonem ieceras priorem , ne pigeat te vel taedeat reliqua pertexere " , et ad alium : " Tu vero crassis auribus et obstinato corde respuis quae forsitan vere perhibeantur . Minus hercule calles pravissimis opinionibus ea putari mendacia quae vel auditu nova vel visu rudia vel certe supra captum cogitationis ardua videantur ; quae si paulo accuratius exploraris , non modo compertu evidentia verum etiam factu facilia senties .

But the man who spoke first said , " If you told me that a whispered spell could make the swiftest rivers flow backwards , turn the sea into something too lazy to swell , force the winds to breathe out their last breath , stop the sun right in its tracks , wipe the shine off of the moon , pluck out the stars from the sky , kidnap the day , and stretch out the night—if you told me all that , I’d believe it exactly as much as I believe those lies of yours . " More confident than before , I spoke up again . " Hey , you , " I said , pointing to the one who had already begun his story . " Don’t get fed up or bored , finish it for me . " To the doubter , I said , " As for you , your ears are filled with mud . It’s with a stubborn heart that you reject what very well could be true . By Hercules , you’re not that bright to have these depraved opinions , thinking everything is a lie , even if the things sound strange to your ears , look like a heap of codswallop , or seem too lofty to grasp . If you would just look a little more carefully , you would see for yourself that not only are such things easy to find , they are even easy to do . "

But this speaker I just quoted interposed : " I kid you not , " he said . That fairytale of his is essentially a claim that hocus-pocus mumbo-jumbo makes bounding box reverse their course , that the sea can be tied up and all but immobilized , that winds can have the wind knocked out of them even though they’re inanimate , that the sun is held back from the rising , the moon has it dew drained out , the stars are ripped from the sky , daylight’s snatched away , and night’s clamp in place . "
But this only increased my insurance , and I said , come on , you who are speaking of four : I hope it’s not too annoying or tedious to round out the narrative . Turning to the other , I continued , you , on the other hand have got stopped up ears and are totally closed mind . You spit back in his face when might be a true story . By Hercules , it’s not douche rude of you to through the weight of your bigotry around this way , Collin lies whatever’s new to your ears or unfamiliar to your eyes , or maybe just seems too steep for your thinking to grapple app onto you . If you inquire but this only increased my assurance , and I said , come on , you who are speaking before : I hope it’s not too annoying or tedious to round out the narrative . Turning to the other , I continued , " You , on the other hand have got stopped up years and are totally closed mind . You spit back in his face what might be a true story . By Hercules , it’s not too shrewd of you to throw the weight of your bigotry around this way , calling lies whatever’s new to your ears or unfamiliar to your eyes , or maybe just seems too steep for your thinking to grapple up onto . If you inquired in a little more detail , you’d find that these things are not only authenticated on the evidence but actually easy to do .

[ 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 .

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Interea Psyche cum sua sibi perspicua pulchritudine nullum decoris sui fructum percipit . Spectatur ab omnibus , laudatur ab omnibus , nec quisquam , non rex , non regius , nec de plebe saltem cupiens eius nuptiarum petitor accedit : mirantur quidem divinam speciem , sed ut simulacrum fabre politum mirantur omnes . Olim duae maiores sorores , quarum temperatam formositatem nulli diffamarant populi , procis regibus desponsae iam beatas nuptias adeptae sed Psyche virgo vidua domi residens deflet desertam suam solitudinem , aegra corporis , animi saucia , et quamvis gentibus totis complacitam odit in se suam formositatem . Sic infortunatissimae filiae miserrimus pater , suspectatis caelestibus odiis et irae superum metuens , dei Milesii vetustissimum percontatur oraculum et a tanto numine precibus et victimis ingratae virgini petit nuptias et maritum . Sed Apollo , quamquam Graecus et Ionicus , propter Milesiae conditorem sic Latina sorte respondit :

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qui totius orbis exitio natus est ? Sic profata virgo conticuit ingressuque iam valido pompae populi prosequentis sese miscuit . Itur ad constitutum scopulum montis ardui , cuius in summo cacumine statutam puellam cuncti deserunt , taedasque nuptiales , quibus praeluxerant , ibidem lacrimis suis extinctas relinquentes deiectis capitibus domuitionem parant , et miseri quidem parentes eius tanta clade defessi clausae domus abstrusi tenebris perpetuae nocti sesededidere . Psychen autem paventem ac trepidam et in ipso scopuli vertice deflentem mitis aura molliter spirantis Zephyri , vibratis hinc inde laciniis et reflato sinu , sensim levatam suo tranquillo spiritui vehens paulatim per devexa rupis excelsae , vallis subditae florentis caespitis gremio leniter delapsam reclinat .