15

Either we should allow no images of ourselves at all or, as is the universal practice, allow them in any medium, including that of a mirror (1-2); Socrates is said to have recommended mirrors as a tool of self-examination and moral self-correction (3-7); the master orator Demosthenes always practiced in front of a mirror (8-9); if a mere lawyer can appropriately use a mirror, all the more so can a philosopher, whose task is higher, and who also investigates the scientific aspects of mirrors (10); philosophers hold various views on how mirrors work (11-15).

(1)

Aut … aut:  aut  ... sententia nobis … sequenda est (14.1), aut …  cur exīstimēs (14.2).

ūnīus Hagesilāī Lacedaemoniī: "of a single man, Agesilaus the Lacedaemonian." Agesilaus II (445/4 – 360/59 BC), the famous Spartan king. For his ugliness, see Nepos, Agesilaus 8.1; for his refusal to have artistic representations of himself made, see Xenophon, Agesilaus 11.7; Plutarch, Agesilaus 2,2, Moralia 191 D, 210 D, 215 A; Cicero, Letters to Friends 5.12.7 (Hunink).

diffīdēns: "unconfident about," + dat. (fōrmae suae).

(2)

retinendus vidētur: "seems (like it) should be retained."

in ... nōn repudiandīs: "in (terms of) not rejecting."

imāginem suam cuique vīsendam: supply esse for an indirect statement after exīstimēs, "that their own image should be seen by any given person" = (as though imāginem cuiusque illī vīsendam) "that an image of any given person should be seen by that person."

lapide ... tabulā: the former refers to statues (statuae), the latter to pictures (imagines) (Hunink).

argentō: i.e., speculō.

(3)

An ... arbitrārīs: "Or perhaps you think?" Apuleius sets up a straw-man argument that he can then refute.

turpe: supply esse; the subject is the infinitive explōrāre.

spectāculō: there seems no exact parallel for this use of spectaculum ("looking"), though the use is intelligible enough (B/O).

(4)

An nōn … fertur: an nōn = nonne, “is it not said that …?” Expecting the answer "yes."

ultrō etiam: beyond simply permitting the use of mirrors, Socrates went "even further" since he encouraged looking in mirrors.

crēbrō ut: = ut crēbrō, with crēbrō fronted for emphasis (anastrophe).

(5)

quī eōrum: "anyone of them (the students) who." 

foret: = esset, see LS fore. 

pulchritūdine: ablative of respect.

impendiō: (adv.) "very much" (LS impendium II.B.2).

(6)

quī vērō: "(and that), on the other hand, (a student) who."

fōrmā: "in respect to his appearance," corresponding to pulchritudine in the last clause.

operam daret ut: "take care that," LS opera II.A.1.β. 

(7)

Adeō:  "to such an extent" = "that's how much," in a sense of summing up after the long description of Socrates' didactic usage of mirrors.

omnium sapientissimus: genitive with a superlative, as in the Greek construction (Goodell 507.e).

disciplīnam mōrum: ethical education, moral training.

(8)

Dēmosthenēn: Greek accusative, subject of an indirect statement introduced by sciat.  Order: quis, vero, est qui non sciat Demosthenen, primarium dicendi artificem, semper causas meditatum (esse) ante speculum quasi ante magistrum?

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An echo of the preceding charge of eloquence (c. 5). Apuleius does not say that he adopted the same practice as Demosthenes, but implies that he would be fully justified if he had done so. The Greek orator's professional use of the mirror is another well-known story; see Plutarch Demosthenes 11.1; Moralia 844 E; Quintilian 11.3.68 (Hunink).

vērō: “furthermore,” transitioning to the next case.

(9)

Ita: "By this method," i.e., by practicing in front of a mirror.

ā Platōne philosophō fācundiam hausisset: according to Hellenistic tradition, Demosthenes (384-322 BC) was a pupil of Plato (d. 348/7 BC). See Diogenes Laertius 3.47; Plutarch, Demosthenes 5.7; Cicero, De Oratore 1.89 (Hunink).

ab Eubulide: Eubulides (about 400 BC) was reportedly a follower of Euclides, one of Socrates' pupils. He was best known for his paradoxes, such as the sorites, the paradox of addition ("after how many corns do we get a heap?"). That Demosthenes was his pupil is also said by Diogenes Laertius 2.108 and Plutarch, Moralia 845 C.

novissimam prōnūntiandī congruentiam: "the very final act of putting together the delivery."

(10)

Utrum igitur: Sets up a series of comparisons between the rhetor and the philosopher. The datives express agent with suscipiendam (esse):

utrum ... rhetori ... an ... philosopho

utrum ... disceptanti ... an ... disserenti

utrum ... litiganti ... an ... docenti

The thought is effectively concluded by a triple contrast between the disgraceful actions of a lawyer and the lofty pursuits of a philosopher (Hunink).

in adsevērandā ōrātiōne: "in (the act of) making a serious speech." 

iūrgantī: "wrangling."

obiūrgantī: "reproving," "reprimanding."

sorte ductōs: "chosen by lot." See Vergil, Aeneid 2.201.

disceptantī: "debating" a point of law.

disserentī: "discussing" like a teacher.

dē fīnibus bonōrum et malōrum: this may well be an allusion to Cicero's philosophical work bearing this title (Hunink). Finis here translates the Greek philosophical term τέλος, "full realization," "highest point," "ideal" (LS finis II.B.1.b.β).

(11)

Quid quod: "what about the fact that," introducing a further corroborating point.

nec ob haec dēbet tantummodo: "not for this reason alone."

(12)

ratiōnem: "scientific basis," LS ratio II.B.2.d.

num: the philosopher’s act of considering how a mirror introduces an indirect question with num, here, and with an at the beginning of section 13, and again in section 15.

To pick out just the subjects and verbs of these:

num imagines reflectantur et respondeant (12)

an radii nostri  ... resultent atque imaginentur (13)

------ seu proliquati et mixti et uniti (13)

------ seu profecti (14)

------ seu facti (14)

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A fuller version with all the clauses

12: NUM imagines

12: ------- a nobis profectae

12: ------- velut quaedam exuviae... manantes

12: ---------------- a corporibus

12: ---------------- iugi fluore

12:------- cum offenderunt

12: --------------- aliquid leve et solidum

12:  illisae, reflectantur

12:  et, retro expressae, conversim respondeant,

13: AN radii nostri... 

13: ------ seu 

13: ------------- proliquati 

13: ------------------ (e) mediis oculis

13: ------------- et mixti 

13: ------------------ lumini extrario

13: ------------- atque uniti

13: ------------------ ita

13: ------------------------- ut Plato atbitratur

14: ------ seu tantum profecti

14: ---------- oculis

14: ---------- sine ullo foris amminiculo

14: ---------- ut Archytas putat

14: ------ seu facti,

14: ---------- intentu aeris

14: ---------- ut Stoici rentur

15: cum (radii nostri) inciderunt

15: ---- alicui corpori spisso et splendido et levi

15: (radii nostri) resultent reduces

15: ---- ad faciem suam

15: ---- paribus angulis

15: -------- quibus inciderant

15: atque ita imaginentur

15: ---- intra speculum

15: ---- id

15: ------ quod tangant et visant

15: ---- extra (speculum)

ut ait Epicūrus: Apuleius cannot bring himself to repeat the same verb if there is the least excuse for varying it. So we have immediately below in quick succession ut Plato arbitratur, ut Archytas putat, ut Stoici rentur (B/O).

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In the Epicurean theory, all objects constantly emit eidola (simulacra), which are perceived by the senses. This Epicurean notion is well known from the poem of Lucretius (esp. 4.26-468, on mirrors: 269-323), and Apuleius may well have been inspired by this poet rather than by Epicurus himself. The terminology used here seems to point in this direction, too, especially the stately expression illisae - respondeant, which recalls Lucretius's language. The passage contains several rare words, such as iugi fluore and contraversim; these add to the elevated tone of the passage (Hunink).

exuviae: "sloughs," i.e., shed outer layers, like snake skins, which carry the image of the living snake.

iūgī fluōre: "in an unbroken flow," LS iugis. 

contraversim: "backwards," a word attested only here.

(13)

radiī nostrī: "our eyebeams," rays of invisible light emitted from the eye according to the theory of extramission.

ut Platō arbitrātur: in fact, Plato seems to have assumed a coalescence of three fires: that of the intra-ocular rays, of the external objects, and of the intervening air itself (Hunink).

(14)

ut Archȳtās putat: the Pythagorean philosopher Archytas of Tarentum (1st half of the 4th cent. BC). In Archytas' view, the intra-ocular rays needed no support from without. Of what is presented as three variants of the theory of rays emitted from within the eyes, this is the oldest and simplest one (Hunink).

factī: a difficult textual problem, obscured by the very complexity of Stoic theory here. It has often been thought that the Stoics considered air as a confining force keeping the rays together; the reading of the MSS has accordingly been altered to coacti (Purser), or acti (Helm). But the Stoics did not have the notion of rays emitted from the eyes, only that of a pneuma of vision which did not leave the eyes, but had an effect on the air it met with. In that case, the emendations are all based on a wrong starting point, and it seems best to retain facti.  Apuleius may simply have misunderstood Stoic theory; alternatively, it may have been his strategy to adopt a rather general verb as facti in order to avoid a technical point too abstruse for his purpose (Hunink).

(15)

alicui corporī: "upon any object."

paribus angulīs quibus incīderant: "at angles equal to those along which they had fallen upon (the mirror)."

ad faciem suam: "to their own face," "to the face from which they were emitted."

reducēs: "returning," from the adjective redux.

imāginentur: "make an image of,” “depict,”  the direct object is id (quod extra tangent ac visant).