100

Bring out the will that Pudentilla wrote at my insistence. It designates her son Pudens as her main heir, with only a token legacy to me, her husband. Pudens, you have accused your mother of not being in her right mind. In a way, the fact that she could keep in her will such an undutiful son as you proves it. Open and read it, Pudens.

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From a legal point of view, Apuleius has already sufficiently made clear what this will contained. The present chapter serves mainly rhetorical purposes. It drives home the point by using various means, such as numerous repetitions (esp. of the words testamentum and heres), emotional outcries, rhetorical questions, and invitations to unseal the will and read its clauses (Hunink).

(1)

Order: Cedo tū testāmentum factum ā mātre, iam inimīcō fīliō, mē (quem istī praedōnem dīcunt) praeeunte verba singula cum precibus.

Cedo tū: addressing a servant of the court (see the same phrase at 63.5, 69.6, 94.9). This begins a series of imperatives concerning the treatment of the tablets containing Pudentilla's will:

Rumpī ... iubē (100.2)

Cape (100.3)

Accipe (100.5)

lege (100.5)

Aperī: (100.10)

iam inimīcō fīliō: ablative absolute, circumstantial, "when her son was already estranged from her."

mē ... praeeunte: ablative absolute, "with me dictating."

istī: Aemilianus et al.

verba singula cum precibus: "the words one at a time, along with pleading (accompanying each word)," a painstaking process of forcing Pudentilla to comply with Apuleius's vision of her will.

(2)

Rumpī: "to be unsealed."

tabulās: the plural is normal in reference to a legal document, especially a will (OLD tabula 8.b).

fīlium hērēdem: supply esse, or scriptum esse.

tenue nesciō quid ... lēgātum: "some sort of slight bequest." What this was is not made clear.

honōris grātiā: "as a mark of respect."

sī quid ei hūmānitus attigisset: "if anything had befallen her in the way of mankind," euphemism for "if she had died."

marītus in uxōris tabulīs: the nouns marītus and uxōr are emphatic: "lest I, her own husband, not even have my name in my own wife's will."

(3)

Cape: addressed to Pudens, telling him to take up the now unsealed will, even if Apuleius does not have the legal authority to do this. 

hoc quidem inofficiōsum: "in this (one) way really undutiful." 

A pun on the legal term testamentum inofficiosum,which is "a will ignoring the testator's duty to his relatives" (OLD inofficiosus 2). Since Apuleius is not a relative, this formal sense does not apply here. Pudentilla's will is, however, "undutiful" in a more literal, common sense (Hunink).

Quidnī: introduces an implied rhetorical question (LS quis II.B.3): "why (should I) not (say that this testāmentum is inofficiōsum)?"

quō: antecedent is testāmentum.

(4)

immō enimvērō: "but wait, actually."

nōn fīlium: supply scrīpsit hērēdem.

tēmulentum illud collēgium, parasītōs tuōs: "that drunken fraternity of your hangers-on" (Jones).

collēgium: literally "guild," a technical term for a group of co-workers, Apuleius is using the term in jest, as the parasites living off of Aemilianus are less than industrious.

(5)

Accipe: direct object is testāmentum.

fīliōrum optime: sarcasm.

positīs paulisper epistulīs amātōriīs mātris: ablative absolute, "if you can put your mom's love letters down for a second."  At 85.1 Apuleius accused Pudens of making his mother’s love letters public.

potius: "instead (of the love letters)."

quasi īnsāna: "as if she were insane." See ch. 82.2.

hīc reperiēs: "you will find it (i.e., the insane-sounding thing) here."

mox ā prīncipiō: "soon after the beginning," "right near the start."

īnsānum: supply hoc esse.

(6)

quī: begins a series of relative clauses bringing information about Pudens which should preclude him from heir status. Each emphatically apostrophizes Pudentilla with forms of tū/tuus.

quī tē ... voluit 

quī ... tē dēseruit 

quī tibi ... dīxit cōrām 

quī nōmen tuum ... ventilāvit 

quī pudōrem tuum ... cōnatus est 

quī marītum tuum ... accūsāvit

quī tē in ipsō frātris suī fūnere advocātā perditissimōrum iuvenum manū voluit exclūdere: order: quī voluit exclūdere tē in ipsō frātris suī fūnere, manū perditissimōrum iuvenum advocātā. Apuleius's order works up to a climax of outrage.

First, we hear something new: at the time of Pontianus's funeral, Pudens wanted to refuse his mother access to the house she had given him, and used the help of a gang of youths (Hunink).

quam: antecedent is domō.

ipsa: modifies understood tu, subject of dōnāverās (i.e., Pudentilla).

tē ... cohērēdem relictam: supply esse.

Pudens was discontented that his mother was his co-heir in his brother's will (Hunink).

(7)

quī: antecedent is still fīlius from 100.6.

tē cum tuō lūctū et maerōre dēseruit: "abandoned you with your grief and your sorrow," "left you alone in your grief and your sorrow."

sinū: "love," "protection," "guardianship" (LS sinus II.2.a).

(8)

quī: antecedent is still fīlius from 100.6, as with the other two relative clauses in 100.8.

tibi: dative of disadvantage, "against you," construe with contumēliās.

posteā: i.e., after leaving Pudentilla's household and moving in with Aemilianus.

contumēliās: insulting words and deeds, direct object of both dīxit and fēcit.

ventilāvit: "aired," "waved about."

(9)

quī: antecedent is still fīlius from 100.6.

quem ... quem: antecedent is marītum tuum.

ut ipse obiciēbat: "as he himself (Pudens) was bringing against me as an accusation."

capitis accūsāvit: "accused of a capital offense," LS caput III.1.a.

(10)

bone puer: sarcasm.

sīc: "in this way," "by doing this," i.e., by reading the will in which she entrusted her fortune to Pudens (at Apuleius's behest). She must have been crazy to do that.

probābis: "you will demonstrate," "prove" (OLD probo 7).