Apuleius' Florida: A Commentary

The Florida, an anthology of 23 orations that Apuleius of Madauros delivered primarily in Carthage during the 160’s A.D., offers a rich store of evidence about epideictic rhetoric, Middle Platonism, and the civic and intellectual life of the North African provincial metropolis. In addition to locating the work in its historical and cultural context, this commentary investigates Apuleius’ remarkable language and style. Full attention is given to the rich and complex intertextual relationship of the Florida to earlier Greek and Roman literature, as well as to the work’s extensive links to Middle Platonism, the Second Sophistic, and the rest of the Apuleian corpus, particularly his philosophical works.