This edition, which can also be downloaded for free from the publisher’s website, aims primarily at making the text accessible to intermediate students of ancient Latin and at encouraging and facilitating its independent study even outside a formal learning environment.

The introduction that precedes the text itself contains a wealth of information about the author and his style, the work itself, as well as the myth of Cupid and Pysche in the context of literature preceding and subsequent to Apuleius’ Golden Ass. A brief list of scholarly works on Apuleius and the Golden Ass as well as the myth itself is also suggested.

Moreover, the introduction goes on to provide the student with detailed notes on cases and their use in Latin, the use of the subjunctive and a number of clause forms, as well as on rhetorical terms. This, together with the detailed but flowing commentary that accompanies the text itself, could make the book accessible and appropriate to the more diligent beginner level student. The text, which is presented in its complete and unaltered form, is artificially divided into chapters preceded by a very brief note on the subsequent lines to facilitate comprehension. An extensive vocabulary of words used by Apuleius in Cupid and Psyche accompanies the line-by-line commentary but can also be found in its entirety at the end of the book.

Samuel Azzopardi

Malta Classics Association

Malta