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Apuleius on the God of Socrates

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This eloquent, terse, and illuminating treatise represents the culmination of the classical and theosophic ideas on the correlation between Deity, Daemons, and Humanitas, with a pointed emphasis upon the distinctions of daemons [good and bad ones] and their interactions with men. But Socrates and his personal daemon are the centre-piece of the work. For Apuleius, the Platonic ideal of civic virtue and contemplative gnosis are exemplified in Socrates, simply through his recognition and co-operation with his Genius, or Daemon, which cultivates virtue in the soul, making it god-like. Therefore, it is this species of daemon--the benign intermediary type attending Socrates--that lifts the soul up to the empyrean realm where it translates and unites it to transcendent, singular Diety. Now this tract has a rhetorical flair, a substance, and an impetus that caught the attention of the super-intellect, St Augustine, who censured it and baptized those elements he found to be compatible with the Christian system [see Civ. Dei-8.14-18]. And overall this treatise is the product of a second century platonist/pontiff/hierophant, who was without a doubt following his own convictions in the writing of this treatise. And while he was better known for his famed Metamorphoses, the God of Socrates has nonetheless left an indelible mark on demonology in the western tradition of religion and thought. It must be noted that this is only a pamphlet; but it is the classic Thomas Taylor translation containing his elucidating annontations.

Taylor's translation of Apuleius' "On the God of Socrates" is a beautiful translation, but his prose is slightly dated. It seems most apt for an academic setting, and I recommend it to classicists or those with a knowledge of the classical world.