The Golden Ass | Themes

The Golden Ass Themes

Fear of Punishment

The fear of being falsely accused of a crime appears several time in the story. It first appears in Aristomenes' story. Aristomenes is horrified when witches kill his friend Socrates but spare his life, for he knows that he will be charged with his friend's death. Murder, along with many other crimes, was punished usually by some kind of torturous death, like crucifixion, and therefore it is not surprising that Aristomenes seriously considers committing suicide; indeed, he only survives because the rope breaks with which he tries to hang himself. Lucius experiences this same fear when he is the subject of a cruel prank during the Festival of Laughter. The night before he stabbed to death what he believed were three robbers attempting to sack Milo's house; in fact, they were enchanted goat carcasses. Knowing that he was unaware of this fact, the town decided to pretend that he was...
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