The Linguistic Lure of the Arena in Apuleiusâ Golden Ass

Jonathan Edmondson

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Chapter 10 The Linguistic Lure of the Arena in Apuleiusâ Golden Ass

In: People and Institutions in the Roman Empire

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Jonathan Edmondson

Jonathan Edmondson
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 160â182

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004441378_011

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Abstract

A number of critics have noted the importance of gladiatorial imagery and gladiatorial language in works of Latin literature of the Republican and Imperial periods. Cicero used a series of gladiatorial metaphors to good effect in his defense of Sex. Roscius Amerinus in 80â¯BCE, while his use of gladiatorial language to criticize M.Â Antonius plays a notable role in his invective strategies in the Philippics. Philip Hardie has shown how Vergil crafted his description of the final combat between Aeneas and Turnus in Aeneid XII partly in gladiatorial terms, while Matthew Leigh devoted a whole chapter of his study of Lucan to show how the gladiatorial arena and his readersâ experience of watching gladiatorial presentations helped to frame his poetic narrative of the civil wars. While recent work has shown how Apuleiusâ detailed descriptions of two gladiatorial muneraâin Plataea (4.13â21) and in Corinth (10.16â35)âhave much to reveal about the social politics of staging of gladiatorial spectacles in the cities of the Roman Empire, this paper seeks to argue that gladiatorial imagery and gladiatorial metaphors form a significant element of Apuleiusâ rhetorical strategies in the Golden Ass. The first part of the paper explores the way in which gladiatorial language and metaphors are deployed by Apuleius to vivid effect throughout the novel, while the second part argues that Apuleius used his experience of watching gladiatorial spectacles in the arena to suggest certain narrative strategies for a number of episodes in his novel. The linguistic lure of the arena in Apuleiusâ novel once again illustrates the extent to which the world of public spectacle permeated deeply into the worldview of an educated writer such as Apuleius. It suggests that it was not just the masses who were attracted by the Roman arena, but that the lure of the arena, so well analyzed by Garrett Fagan in his book The Lure of the Arena, very much affected the literate elite and literary writers such as Apuleius.

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People and Institutions in the Roman Empire

Essays in Memory of Garrett G. Fagan

Series:Â Mnemosyne, Supplements, Volume: 437Â andÂ Mnemosyne, Supplements, History and Archaeology of Classical Antiquity, Volume: 437

Cover People and Institutions in the Roman Empire

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004441378

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 22 Sep 2020

Subjects
- Classical Studies
  - Ancient History
- History
  - History of Warfare
  - Social History

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Chapter 10 The Linguistic Lure of the Arena in Apuleiusâ Golden Ass

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People and Institutions in the Roman Empire

Essays in Memory of Garrett G. Fagan

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Chapter 10 The Linguistic Lure of the Arena in Apuleiusâ Golden Ass