THE TWENTY-THIRD CHAPTER

The Golden Ass

by Lucius Apuleius

THE TWENTY-THIRD CHAPTER, THE GOLDEN ASS by Lucius Apuleius


How Apuleius carried away the Gentlewoman, and how they were
taken againe by the theeves, and what a kind of death was invented
for them.

By and by the theeves came home laden with treasure, and many
of them which were of strongest courage (leaving behind such as
were lame and wounded, to heale and aire themselves) said they
would returne backe againe to fetch the rest of their pillage, which
they had hidden in a certaine cave, and so they snatched up their
dinner greedily, and brought us forth into the way and beate us
before them with staves. About night (after that we had passed
over many hilles and dales) we came to a great cave, where they
laded us with mighty burthens, and would not suffer us to refresh
our selves any season but brought us againe in our way, and hied so
fast homeward, that what with their haste and their cruell stripes, I
fell downe upon a stone by the way side, then they beate me
pittifully in lifting me up, and hurt my right thigh and my left hoofe,
and one of them said, What shall we do with this lame Ill favoured
Asse, that is not worth the meate he eats? And other said, Since
the time that we had him first he never did any good, and I thinke
he came unto our house with evill lucke, for we have had great
wounds since, and losse of our valiant captaines, and other said, As
soone as he hath brought home his burthen, I will surely throw him
out upon the mountaine to be a pray for wild beasts : While these
gentlemen reasoned together of my death, we fortuned to come
home, for the feare that I was in, caused my feet to turne into
wings : after that we were discharged of our burthens, they went to
their fellowes that were wounded, and told them of our great tardity
and slownesse by the way, neither was I brought into small anguish,
when I perceived my death prepared before my face : Why
standest thou still Lucius? Why dost thou not looke for thy death?
Knowst thou not that the theeves have ordained to slay thee? seest
thou not these sharpe and pointed flints which shall bruise and teare
thee in peeces, if by adventure thou happen upon them? Thy gentle
Magitian hath not onely given thee the shape and travell of an
Asse, but also a skinne so soft and tender as it were a swallow :
why dost thou not take courage and runne away to save thy selfe?
Art thou afraid of the old woman more then halfe dead, whom with
a stripe of thy heele thou maist easily dispatch? But whither shall I
fly? What lodging shall I seek? See my Assy cogitation. Who is
he that passeth by the way and will not take me up? While I
devised these things, I brake the halter wherewith I was tyed and
ran away with all my force, howbeit I could not escape the kitish
eyes of the old woman, for shee ran after me, and with more
audacity then becommeth her kind age, caught me by the halter and
thought to pull me home: but I not forgetting the cruell purpose of
the theeves, was mooved with small pity, for I kicked her with my
hinder heeles to the ground and had welnigh slaine her, who
(although shee was throwne and hurled downe) yet shee held still
the halter, and would not let me goe; then shee cryed with a loud
voyce and called for succour, but she little prevayled, because there
was no person that heard her, save onely the captive gentlewoman,
who hearing the voice of the old woman, came out to see what the
matter was, and perceiving her hanging at the halter, tooke a good
courage and wrested it out of her hand, and (entreating me with
gentle words) got upon my backe. Then I began to runne, and shee
gently kicked mee forward, whereof I was nothing displeased, for I
had as great a desire to escape as shee : insomuch that I seemed to
scowre away like a horse. And when the Gentlewoman did
speake, I would answere her with my neighing, and oftentimes
(under colour to rub my backe) I would sweetly kisse her tender
feet. Then shee fetching a sigh from the bottome of her heart,
lifted up her eyes to the heavens, saying : O soveraigne Gods,
deliver mee if it be your pleasure, from these present dangers : and
thou cruell fortune cease thy wrath, let the sorrow suffice thee
which I have already sustained. And thou little Asse, that art the
occasion of my safety and liberty, if thou canst once render me
safe and sound to my parents, and to him that so greatly desireth to
have me to his wife, thou shalt see what thankes I will give : with
what honour I will reward thee, and how I will use thee. First, I will
bravely dresse the haires of thy forehead, and then will I finely
combe thy maine, I will tye up thy rugged tayle trimly, I will decke
thee round about with golden trappes, in such sort that thou shalt
glitter like the starres of the skie, I will bring thee daily in my apron
the kirnels of nuts, and will pamper thee up with delicates; I will set
store by thee, as by one that is the preserver of my life : Finally,
thou shalt lack no manner of thing. Moreover amongst thy glorious
fare, thy great ease, and the blisse of thy life, thou shalt not be
destitute of dignity, for thou shalt be chronicled perpetually in
memory of my present fortune, and the providence divine. All the
whole history shall be painted upon the wall of our house, thou shalt
he renowned throughout all the world. And it shall be registred in
the bookes of Doctours, that an Asse saved the life of a young
maiden that was captive amongst Theeves : Thou shalt be numbred
amongst the ancient miracles : wee beleeve that by like example of
truth Phryxus saved himselfe from drowning upon the Ram, Arion
escaped upon a Dolphin, and that Europa was delivered by the Bull.
If Jupiter transformed himselfe into a Bull, why may it not be that
under the shape of this Asse, is hidden the figure of a man, or some
power divine? While that the Virgin did thus sorrowfully unfold her
desires, we fortuned to come to a place where three wayes did
meet, and shee tooke me by the halter, and would have me to turne
on the right hand to her fathers house : but I (knowing that the
theeves were gone that way to fetch the residue of their pillage)
resisted with my head as much as I might, saying within my selfe :
What wilt thou doe unhappy maiden? Why wouldst thou goe so
willingly to hell? Why wilt thou runne into destruction by meane of
my feet? Why dost thou seek thine own harme, and mine likewise?
And while we strived together whether way we might take, the
theeves returned, laiden with their pray, and perceived us a farre
off by the light of the Moon: and after they had known us, one of
them gan say, Whither goe you so hastely? Be you not afraid of
spirits? And you (you harlot) doe you not goe to see your parents?
Come on, we will beare you company? And therewithall they tooke
me by the hatter, and drave me backe againe, beating me cruelly
with a great staffe (that they had) full of knobs: then I returning
againe to my ready destruction, and remembering the griefe of my
hoofe, began to shake my head, and to waxe lame, but he that led
me by the halter said, What, dost thou stumble? Canst thou not
goe? These rotten feet of thine ran well enough, but they cannot
walke: thou couldest mince it finely even now with the
gentlewoman, that thou seemedst to passe the horse Pegasus in
swiftnesse. In saying of these words they beat mee againe, that
they broke a great staffe upon mee. And when we were come
almost home, we saw the old woman hanging upon a bow of a
Cipresse tree; then one of them cut downe the bowe whereon shee
hanged, and cast her into the bottome of a great ditch : after this
they bound the maiden and fell greedily to their victuals, which the
miserable old woman had prepared for them. At which time they
began to devise with themselves of our death, and how they might
be revenged; divers was the opinions of this divers number: the first
said, that hee thought best the Mayd should be burned alive: the
second said she should be throwne out to wild beasts: the third said,
she should be hanged upon a gibbet: the fourth said she should be
flead alive: thus was the death of the poore Maiden scanned
betweene them foure. But one of the theeves after every man had
declared his judgement, did speake in this manner: it is not
convenient unto the oath of our company, to suffer you to waxe
more cruell then the quality of the offence doth merit, for I would
that shee should not be hanged nor burned, nor throwne to beasts,
nor dye any sodaine death, but by my council I would have her
punished according to her desert. You know well what you have
determined already of this dull Asse, that eateth more then he is
worth, that faineth lamenesse, and that was the cause of the flying
away of the Maid : my mind is that he shall be slaine to morrow,
and when all the guts and entrailes of his body is taken out, let the
Maide be sowne into his belly, then let us lay them upon a great
stone against the broiling heate of the Sunne, so they shall both
sustaine all the punishments which you have ordained : for first the
Asse shall be slaine as you have determined, and she shall have her
members torne and gnawn with wild beasts, when as she is bitten
and rent with wormes, shee shall endure the paine of the fire, when
as the broyling heat of the Sunne shall scortch and parch the belly
of the Asse, shee shall abide the gallows when the Dogs and
Vultures shall have the guts of her body hanging in their ravenous
mouthes. I pray you number all the torments which she shall suffer
: First shee shall dwell within the paunch of an Asse : secondly her
nosethrilles shall receive a carraine stinke of the beast : thirdly shee
shall dye for hunger : last of all, shee shall finde no meane to ridde
her selfe from her paines, for her hand shalt be sowen up within the
skinne of the Asse : This being said, all the Theeves consented, and
when I (poore Asse) heard and understood all their device, I did
nothing else but lament and bewayle my dead carkasse, which
should be handled in such sort on the next morrow.