Apuleius on Wealth

As a side amusement in studying Isis and Osiris, I felt it worthwhile to read the rest of Apuleius—I think it very likely that he was initiate of Isis and of Osiris, but even if not, he was certainly an initiate of Demeter and of Dionysus and knew enough Plutarch to connect the dots—and I'm glad I did. He's a peacock and no mistake, but there's meat beneath those feathers.

---

What reason have you for regarding three slaves as a mark of my poverty, rather than for considering three freed men as a proof of my wealth? Poor Æmilianus, you have not the least idea how to accuse a philosopher: you reproach me for the scantiness of my household, whereas it would really have been my duty to have laid claim, however falsely, to such poverty. [...] Had Pudens come across these facts in his reading, he would, I think, either have omitted this particular slander or would have preferred to reproach me on the ground that three slaves were too large rather than too small an establishment for a philosopher.

(Apuleius, Apology XVII)