ABSTRACT

This article offers a comparative investigation of the literary self-fashioning of two Africans who became famous intellectuals in the Roman Empire of the second century CE, Apuleius, the philosophus Madaurensis, and his fellow African, Marcus Cornelius Fronto, the orator Cirtensis, who was about one generation older. Although they never mention each other, Apuleius must have known Fronto at least by reputation, because he was a major celebrity as an orator, a statesman, and the teacher of Marcus Aurelius. 1 Fronto never mentions Apuleius, although he probably had heard of the philosopher from Madauros. Significantly, one of Fronto's protégés was the Platonist philosopher and orator Julius Aquilinus, who was active in Carthage in 159–160 CE. 2 We know nothing about a possible acquaintance between this Aquilinus and Apuleius, but they might have distantly known each other, and possibly even entertained a relationship of friendship and solidarity, as they both belonged to the Platonica familia celebrated by Apuleius in the Apology (64.3). There is no evidence, however, that their careers were closely intertwined or connected with a shared network of friends, even if they both originated from Africa.