The Golden Ass · Chapter
I explained
Lucius, traveling to Thessaly on family business, encounters two companions arguing about the plausibility of witchcraft.
What happens
Lucius, traveling to Thessaly on family business, encounters two companions arguing about the plausibility of witchcraft. One dismisses the other's tale as absurd, while Lucius defends the possibility of such wonders, urging the storyteller to continue.
Themes in this chapter
Storytelling and Narrative
The chapter opens with a debate about the truth of a tale, highlighting the power and skepticism surrounding narrative itself.
Magic and Sorcery
The conversation immediately introduces the possibility of witches and enchantments, establishing magic as a central concern.
Characters to notice
- Lucius
The narrator and protagonist, traveling to Thessaly, who defends the credibility of tales about sorcery and witchcraft.
- Aristomenus
One of the two companions, who tells a tale that is mocked by his fellow for being incredible.
Key passages
“I pray you masters make me partaker of your talk, that am not so curious as desirous to know all your communication: so shall we shorten our journey, and easily pass this high hill before us, by merry and pleasant talk.”
Lucius asks the two strangers to include him in their conversation, hoping that their discussion will make the journey over the hill more enjoyable.
Lucius uses the request to join the conversation as a way to pass the time and satisfy his curiosity.
“Verily this tale is as true, as if a man would say that by sorcery and enchantment the floods might be enforced to run against their course, the seas to be immovable, the air to lack the blowing of winds, the sun to be restrained from his natural race, the moon to purge his skim upon herbs and trees to serve for sorceries: the stars to be pulled from heaven, the day to be darkened and the dark night to continue still.”
The skeptical companion declares the tale as unbelievable as claiming that magic could reverse natural laws, such as stopping rivers or darkening the sun.
This hyperbolic denial of magic's power ironically lists the very feats that witches are often said to perform, setting up the novel's magical events.