[Sidenote: Works of Apuleius.] The extant works of Apuleius are the _Metamorphoses_, a novel in eleven books, the _Apologia_, a book on spirits especially the familiar spirit of Socrates, _De Deo Socratis_, two books on the doctrines of Plato, _De Dogmate Platonis_, and a collection of extracts from his speeches entitled _Florida_. The dialogue _Asclepius_, the treatise _On the World_ (_De Mundo_), and the treatise published as the third book on Plato’s teachings, are not by Apuleius. Of these works the most interesting is the novel entitled _Metamorphoses_, in which are narrated the adventures of a certain Lucius of Corinth, who was changed by magic into an ass, and in that form passed through many vicissitudes and saw and heard many strange things, until he was finally restored to human form by the aid of the goddess Isis, to whose service he afterwards devoted himself. This story is derived from a Greek original which appears in abbreviated form among the writings falsely ascribed to Lucian, under the title _Lucius_ or _The Ass_. Apuleius amplified his Greek original by inserting nearly twenty stories that have no connection with the plot. These are usually introduced in an unskillful way, interrupting the narrative and destroying the unity of the work, but they are in themselves the most interesting parts of the whole novel. The longest and most famous among them is the charming story of Cupid and Psyche, beautifully rendered by William Morris in his _Earthly Paradise_. This mystic love tale was derived, like the other tales inserted in the story of Lucius, from a Greek original. It is not an invention of Apuleius, but he inserted it in his novel, and thus preserved it to later times.