Page:The Golden Ass of Apuleius.djvu/45

 vertuous life : so can we never bee restored to the right figure of our selves, except we taste and eat the sweet Rose of reason and vertue, which the rather by mediation of praier we may assuredly attaine. Againe, may not the meaning of this worke be altered and turned in this sort : A man desirous to apply his minde to some excellent art, or given to the study of any of the sciences, at the first appeareth to himselfe an asse without wit, without know- ledge, and not much unlike a brute beast, till such time as by much paine and travell he hath atchieved to the perfectnesse of the same, and tasting the sweet floure and fruit of his studies, doth thinke himselfe well brought to the right and very shape of a man.

Finally, the metamorphosie of Lucius Apuleius may be resembled to youth without discretion, and his reduction to age possessed with wisedome and vertue.

Now since this booke of Lucius is a figure of mans life, and toucheth the nature and manners of mortall men, egg- ing them forward from their Asinall forme, to their humane and perfect shape, beside the pleasant and delectable jests therein contained, I trust if my simple translation be no- thing accepted, yet the matter it selfe shall be esteemed by such as not onely delight to please their fancies in reading the same, but also take a patterne thereby to regenerate their minds from brutish and beastly custome. Howbeit I have not so exactly passed through the Author, as to point every sentence according as it is in Latine, or so absolutely translated every word as it lieth in the prose, (for so the French and Spanish translators have not done) considering the same in our vulgar tongue would have appeared very obscure and darke, and thereby consequently loathsome to the Reader, but nothing erring as I trust from the true and naturall meaning of the Author, have used more common and familiar words, yet not so much as I might doe, for the plainer setting forth of the same. But howsoever it be, gentle Reader, I pray thee take it in good part, considering that for thee I have taken this paine, to the intent that thou mayst read the same with pleasure.