# Apuleius — The City of God character guide > Apuleius in The City of God by Augustine of Hippo. **Role:** minor **Also known as:** the Platonist Apuleius, Apuleius **First appearance:** 0002-part-i-book-i ## Who they are Platonist philosopher and author, cited for his views on demons and magic. ## In the story ### [Of those things which are contained in Books II and III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-ii) Quoted briefly from his book 'De Mundo' regarding the instability and destruction of earthly things. ### [Book VIII: Natural Theology and the Platonists](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-book-viii) Refuted for maintaining that demons should be worshipped as mediators. ### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xii) African Platonist, learned in Greek and Latin, who nevertheless thought rites should be performed to many gods. ### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xiv) Platonist of Madaura who wrote 'Concerning the God of Socrates,' arguing Socrates' familiar was a demon. ### [XV That the demons are not better than men because of their aerial bodies, or on account of their superior place of abode.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xv) Cited for his statement that man is a terrestrial animal yet superior to aquatic animals, illustrating that soul quality transcends bodily element. ### [What Apuleius the Platonist thought concerning the manners and actions of demons](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xvi) Augustine critiques Apuleius's definition of demons and their attributes. ### [Whether it is proper that men should worship those spirits from whose vices it is necessary that they be freed](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xvii) Platonist who claimed demons are worthy of divine honors but admitted they are subject to anger and passions. ### [XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xviii) Platonist philosopher who defended the role of demons as intermediaries between gods and men. ### [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xix) Platonic philosopher accused of magic arts; Augustine cites his defense to show the illegitimacy of such practices. ### [XXII That we must, notwithstanding the opinion of Apuleius, reject the worship of demons](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xxii) Platonist philosopher whose opinion that demons are messengers between gods and men is rejected by Augustine. ### [XXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xxiii) Mentioned as one who denies that demons are gods but places them as mediators between gods and men. ### [Chapter XXIV: Hermes' Confession of the Error of Making Gods](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xxiv) Mentioned as holding the Platonic opinion that demons are interpreters between gods and men, which Augustine refutes. ### [Book IX: The Mediation of Demons and the Unique Mediation of Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-book-ix) Platonist philosopher whose views on demons are critiqued; he attributes passions to demons but does not ascribe virtue to them. ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-iii) The Platonist whose treatise on demons is critiqued for omitting spiritual virtues and depicting demons as subject to turbulent emotions. ### [Of the passions which, according to Apuleius, agitate the demons who are supposed by him to mediate between gods and men.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-vi) Augustine examines Apuleius's description of demons as mediators agitated by passions. ### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-vii) Platonist philosopher who distinguishes between gods and demons, attributing poetical fictions to demons. ### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-viii) Defines demons as animals in nature, subject to passion, reasonable in mind, aerial in body, eternal in duration. ### [Of the three opposite qualities by which the Platonists distinguish between the nature of men and that of demons](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xii) Apuleius is cited as the Platonist source who described demons as intermediate between gods and men, though the chapter focuses on the extremes. ### [Chapter XIII: How the Demons Can Mediate Between Gods and Men if They Have Nothing in Common with Both](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xiii) Platonist whose definition of demons is examined and found lacking in demonstrating their mediatory position. ### [XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xvi) Mentioned as a Platonist who describes visible gods. ### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-ix) Mentioned as attributing passions and emotions to demons and men, but not to gods. ### [X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-x) Mentioned as a less learned Platonist compared to Porphyry. ### [XXVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-i-xxvii) Mentioned as a Platonist whose error is more tolerable than Porphyry's. ### [Chapter X: Of the falseness of the history which allots many thousand years to the world’s past.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-x) Cited for his view that the human race is collectively immortal. ### [Chapter XVIII: On Demonic Transformations and the Need to Flee Babylon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xviii) Mentioned as author of 'The Golden Ass,' which tells of a man turned into an ass while retaining human mind. ### [Book XXII: The Eternal Blessedness of the City of God and the Resurrection of the Body](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-book-xxii) Mentioned as a pagan philosopher who testifies that pagan deities tremble before God. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/characters/apuleius - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/characters