Uses of eo in Apuleius' Metamorphoses

Apuleius structures his novel the Metamorphoses as a frame narrative containing many embedded stories. These stories often seem disparate and are frequently unrelated to the events of the frame narrative. Apuleius uses the verb eo and its compounds often in the novel, word choice which is unusual in the second century CE. By examining the uses of this verb with particular attention to the thematic contexts in which eo appears, it is clear that he employs it for more than just simple physical movement. Eo thematically connects seemingly unrelated stories through similar uses, and it frequently appears in situations that involve metamorphosis. In the final book of the novel, several eo compounds display different nuances of meaning. Eo thus acts as a linguistic marker of metamorphosis, demonstrating transformation on the level of the text itself.