Book XI of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses, or “The Golden Ass,” begins in the obscure silence of the night, with the moon rising from the sea in its unabashed fullness. Thus opens a fundamental chapter for the understanding of the cult of Isis.
“…video praemicantis lunae candore nimio completum orbem commodum marinis emergentem fluctibus. Nanctusque opacae noctis silentiosa [...]

In  the region of Umbria it is already possible to pick out the name of the goddess Isis from ancient inscriptions, especially at Terni and at Spoleto. These cities are geographically projected towards the area of Latium, where the port of Ostia, and naturally Rome, would have constituted the principle landing and launching point [...]

What Flaubert tried to express in his letters about the Metamorphoses by Apuleio reminds to a sense of vertigo, a physical feeling above all. The mixture of fabulous adventures of Lucio, the protagonist of the story, is not subjected to an immediate understanding, just like the experience when it is caught as it happens. The [...]