Chapter 1 • A Sweet Poetics
1.1 “But I . . . ”
1.2 The ass and the cicada
1.3 A sweet and misleading whisper
1.4 Between philosophy and entertainment: Astonishment (ut mireris)
1.5 The poetics of the novel
1.6 Lucius of Patrae and Aristides of Miletus
Chapter 2 • Old Wives’ Tales and Servile Pleasures
2.1 Entertainment, initiation, aporia, and satire
2.2 Dissonances
2.3 Greedy priests
2.4 Isis and her sisters
2.5 Lucius’ shaven head
2.6 Horizons of expectation
2.7 An old wives’ tale (anilis fabula)
2.8 Paradox, satire, and levels of reading
2.9 Lucius, before and after
Chapter 3 • Metamorphoses of Genres
3.1 Philosophers on the road
3.2 Eyes and ears as criteria for truth
3.3 Lucius and his Sirens
3.4 Readers, listeners, and spectators
Chapter 4 • Greece, Rome, Africa
4.1 On the road with Lucius
4.2 The reputation of Corinth
4.3 Romanization
4.4 Romanocentrism
4.5 The readership of the novel
4.6 Between Rome and the provinces