Augustine (aka "that little bastard bishop of Hippo" on Apuleius

Although the esteemed bishop of Hippo condemns the pagan philosopher and magician Apuleius, he has some fellow feeling for a fellow famous African Latinist and rhetorician:

ep. 138.19 (Augustine to Marcellinus): Apuleius enim, ut de illo potissimum loquamur, qui nobis Afris Afer est notior, non dico ad regnum sed ne ad aliquam quidem iudiciariam rei publicae potestatem cum omnibus suis magicis artibus potuit peruenire honesto patriae suae loco natus et liberaliter educatus magnaque praeditus eloquentia. an forte ista ut philosophus uoluntate contempsit, qui sacerdos prouinciae pro magno fuit ut munera ederet uenatoresque uestiret et pro statua sibi apud Oeenses locanda, ex qua ciuitate habebat uxorem, aduersus contradictionem quorundam ciuium litigaret? quod posteros ne lateret, eiusdem litis orationem scriptam memoriae commendauit. quod ergo ad istam terrenam pertinet felicitatem, fuit magus ille, quod potuit. unde apparet nihil eum amplius fuisse, non quia noluit, sed quia non potuit. quamquam et aduersus quosdam, qui ei magicarum artium crimen intenderant, eloquentissime se defendit. unde miror laudatores eius, qui eum nescio qua fecisse miracula illis artibus praedicant, contra eius defensionem testes esse conari. sed uiderint, utrum ipsi uerum perhibeant testimonium et ille falsam defensionem.

Apuleius (of whom I choose rather to speak, because, as our own countryman, he is better known to us Africans), though born in a place of some note, and a man of superior education and great eloquence, never succeeded, with all his magical arts, in reaching, I do not say the supreme power, but even any subordinate office as a magistrate in the Empire. Does it seem probable that he, as a philosopher, voluntarily despised these things, who, being the priest of a province, was so ambitious of greatness that he gave spectacles of gladiatorial combats, provided the dresses worn by those who fought with wild beasts in the circus, and, in order to get a statue of himself erected in the town of Coea, the birthplace of his wife, appealed to law against the opposition made by some of the citizens to the proposal, and then, to prevent this from being forgotten by posterity, published the speech delivered by him on that occasion? So far, therefore, as concerns worldly prosperity, that magician did his utmost in order to success; whence it is manifest that he failed not because he was not wishful, but because he was not able to do more. At the same time we admit that he defended himself with brilliant eloquence against some who imputed to him the crime of practising magical arts; which makes me wonder at his panegyrists, who, in affirming that by these arts he wrought some miracles, attempt to bring evidence contradicting his own defence of himself from the charge. Let them, however, examine whether, indeed, they are bringing true testimony, and he was guilty of pleading what he knew to be false. (translation from the Fathers of the Church http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/index.html)