# Lepolemus — The Golden Ass character guide

> Lepolemus in The Golden Ass by Apuleius.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0035-book-vii

## Snapshot

A young man who slips into a thieves' cave, lifts a captive maiden onto an ass's back, and rides home to a hero's welcome.

## Who they are

Lepolemus is the rescuer who, while the bandits lie drunk, carries the kidnapped girl out on the narrator's own back and returns with citizens to loot the cave and execute the sleepers. He marries the maiden he recovered, and his gratitude to the ass that bore her earns the beast a brief, fattened holiday in the fields. His death at the hunt, and the false friend who arranges it, turns the tale's comic rescue into the setup for Charites's grief and revenge.

## Relationships

### [Thrasillus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_golden_ass_se/characters/thrasillus)

_rivalry_

Thrasillus, jealous of Lepolemus's marriage to Charites, plots and eventually murders him.

### [Charites](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_golden_ass_se/characters/charites)

_romantic_

Charites and Lepolemus are devoted lovers who marry, but their happiness is destroyed by Thrasillus's treachery.

### [Thrasillus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_golden_ass_se/characters/thrasillus)

_rivalry_

Thrasillus, jealous of Lepolemus's marriage to Charites, plots and eventually murders him.

## In the story

### [Book IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_golden_ass_se/chapters/book-iv)

Charites' husband, whose death is part of the tragic story.

### [XXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_golden_ass_se/chapters/xxvi)

Disguised as the thief Hemus, he gains the thieves' trust and plots their capture.

### [XXVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_golden_ass_se/chapters/xxvii)

Carries Charites home on Lucius, leads the attack on the thieves, and marries Charites.

### [Book VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_golden_ass_se/chapters/book-viii)

Killed by Thrasillus, leading to Charites' subsequent suicide.

### [XXXII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_golden_ass_se/chapters/xxxii)

Charites' husband, murdered by Thrasillus during a boar hunt; his ghost appears to Charites to reveal the truth.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_golden_ass_se/characters/lepolemus
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_golden_ass_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_golden_ass_se/characters