Giurisprudenza da favola. Note sul lessico giuridico delle Metamorfosi di Apuleio

Apuleius’ "Metamorphoses" abounds with legal expressions. While juridical terms tend to reflect and witness Roman historical practices, from a literary standpoint their use seems to be functional to the author’s taste for linguistic experimentation and witty play on traditional motifs. The insertion of legal technicalities in fairy-tale or highly literary contexts is indeed congruent with the tendency of the novel to variation and stylistic contamination. It further reveals Apuleius’ strategy of Romanization of Greek models and his uninhibited attitude towards traditional mythology and inherited "topoi", which appear to be handled with smiling irony.