Dance and Interpretation in Longus and Apuleius

This chapter focuses on dance scenes from two ancient novels which are both informed by Platonism. It argues that dance, which is dynamic and involves human protagonists, raises with particular insistence the (Platonic) question of how the work of art interferes with the real world. It discusses first how the dance in Book 2 of Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe prepares the way for the mythical pattern of male predominance to shape the protagonists’ relationship in their real lives. Turning to Apuleius’ pantomime of the Judgement of Paris (Met. 10.29–34), the chapter explores the spectator’s display of connoisseurship and aesthetic distance, which eventually collapse when he proceeds to a moralizing interpretation. A glance at a short dance scene in Book 1 and a discussion of the mechanisms that trigger the spectator’s curiosity conclude the chapter.