Florida by Apuleius. Short summary

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A collection of speeches by Apuleius, consisting of 23 excerpts. An unknown admirer of the ancient Roman writer compiled the fragments of the speeches into one book. In this form the Floridas have been preserved.

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The Floridas originally consisted of entire phrases and speeches, but in modern times only fragments of them have survived. Conventionally they can be divided into four books, but we have reached the text, which is barely enough for one collection.

Between fragments of speeches is almost impossible to catch the semantic connection. Moreover, some of them begin or end in the middle of a sentence, abruptly breaking off, and it is simply impossible to understand the meaning. The entire text is written in a single sophisticated style. This manner of writing is characteristic of the ancient Roman writer Apuleius.

Judging by the names mentioned in the collection, one may conclude that it was written in the period of 150-170 A.D., and that the speeches were delivered before the comitia and senate of the Roman province of Africa in the provincial capital, Carthage. The collection of Floridas reflects the artistic and social mores of that era, its emotions and ideas.