# XXXI explained — The Golden Ass

> Chapter companion for The Golden Ass by Apuleius.

## What happens

Lucius, still in ass form, is beaten by the mother of the slain boy, who blames him for her son's death and tortures him with a firebrand until he defends himself by defecating on her.

## Themes in this chapter

### Violence and Cruelty

The mother's brutal beating and burning of Lucius, and his retaliatory act, exemplify the theme of violence and cruelty.

### Fortune and Suffering

Lucius's undeserved suffering as an ass, punished for events beyond his control, highlights the capriciousness of fortune.

## Character check-ins

### Lucius

Narrator and protagonist, currently an ass, subjected to cruel beating and burning by the boy's mother.

## Key lines

> I all arrayed her face and eyes with my dirty dung, whereby (what with the stink thereof, and what with the filthiness that fell in her eyes) she was well-nigh blinded: so I enforced the quean to leave off, otherwise I had died as Meleager did by the stick, which his mad mother Althaea cast into the fire.

I covered her face and eyes with my dung, nearly blinding her with the stench and filth, forcing her to stop; otherwise I would have died like Meleager, killed by the brand his mother Althaea threw into the fire.

_Lucius uses a mythological analogy to describe his desperate defense against the mother's torture._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_golden_ass_se/chapters/xxxi
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_golden_ass_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_golden_ass_se/chapters