I. Introduction

1. Purpose and method

2. The subject - extant romances

3. Earlier studies

II. Greek Comic Romances

1. Lucian's 'Lucius sive Asinus'

a) 'Stemma'

b) Purpose and character of 'Lucius Sive Asinus'

2. Iolaus-romance

III. Apuleius' 'Metamorphoses'

1. Nature

a) Entertainment

b) Religio-allegorical meaning

c) Synthesis of the ideal and the comic

d) The comic and the ideal as disparate qualities

IV. A Comparison of Apuleius' 'Metamorphoses' and Other Prose Fiction

1. Milieu

2. Tone

3. Literary texture

a) Homeric epic as a major literary underpinning of the Greek love-romances

a') Petronius and the Greek love-romances

b) Literary texture in the ancient novel

4. Didactic excursuses and sententiae

5. Interpolated narratives

6. Transcending powers

7. Soliloquies and ekphraseis

a) Soliloquies

b) Ekphraseis

V. Conclusions

VI. Select Bibliography

1. Bibliographical aids

2. The Greek comic and popular background

3. Relationship of Apuleius' 'Metamorphoses' to the Greek 'Eselsroman'

4. Relationship of the 'Satyricon' to the Greek love-romances

5. Studies of prose fiction

6. The meaning of Apuleius' 'Metamorphoses'

7. Relationship of Apuleius' 'Metamorphoses' to other prose fiction of classical antiquity