Apuleius' Magical Fish (Note II)

Further reading has turned up another possible reason for Apuleius' accusers to add piscatorial proddings to their evidence that he is a malificar.

Yvon Thebert explains in his chapter "Private Life and Domestic Architecture in Roman Africa" (A History of Private Life From Pagan Rome to Byzantium, Paul Veyne ed. Arthur Goldhammer Trans. Cambridge: Belknap Harvard, 1987. p. 366) that the frequent depiction of marine life in the mosaics and frescoes of Roman Africa served an apotropaic function by invoking the fertility of the sea against misfortune and the evil eye. Perhaps Apuleius' accusers thought that he was using rare and expensive fish in ritual magic to thwart their efforts against him. 

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