;Only God.” Although not exactly clear, this could be a reference to Christianity, Judaism, or one of the many other monotheistic religions in the Empire at the time. We must remember that Apuleius’ ultimate goal is to convince us of the superiority of his eventual patroness, Isis. Therefore, we can take the reference to “Only God” to be referring to all the religions that advocated monotheism. The element of the wine does not exclude either of the major religions since both Judaism and Christianity contain ceremonial wine drinking in their services. Religions that were not part of the mainstream religions of the Empire face a direct assault on their credibility by Apuleius. Concepts of a statue Goddess and an “Only God” are ridiculed and looked down upon by Apuleius. Apuleius’ tone changes dramatically when describing the transformation back to a man with the aid of the goddess Isis. He describes merely what he sees, and leaves it up to the reader to decide whether he is telling the truth or not. Beginning with the original vision of the goddess rising out of the sea, Apuleius inundates us with examples of Isis’ greatness, kindness, and reality. Following his transformation, Lucius devotes his life to the service of Isis, and in the process he continues to have “some new vision of her” (Graves, pg. 275) every time he sleeps. The use of irony makes Lucius’ conversion more dramatic and more believable at the same time. His obsession with hair that shows up throughout the novel vanishes when he joins the service of Isis, and becomes bald. Also as a result of joining her service, Lucius, the man that had sex through the night for several nights with a slave, vows to lead a celibate life thereafter. The loss of these two earthly desires show the impact of Isis on Lucius, which in turn proves her existence. In the novel The Golden Ass, Apuleius tries to convince...
