24

I was born in the borderlands between Numidia and Gaetulia, but this is nothing to be ashamed of (1-2); character and way of life are more important than birthplace (3); for vegetables and wine, terroir matters a great deal (4), but for humans, soil is irrelevant to virtue (5); fools and clever men arise in every nation (6). My home town once belonged to Syphax, was later ceded to Masinissa and the Romans, and then saw an infusion of Roman army veteran colonists (7-8); my father was a chief magistrate there and I also took part in its government (10-11).

(1)

patriā: the city of Madauros in the south of Numidia, part of the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis, present-day M’Daourouch in eastern Algeria.

quod ... ostendistis: "as to the fact that you declared," LS ostendo II.B.

sitam: supply esse, "that it lies," see LS sino ad fin.

quibus: antecedent meīs scrīptīs.

quibus mēmet professus sum: "in which I called myself," looking forward to the epithets at the end of the sentence. The -met suffix is intensive.

Lilliano Avito: L. Hedius Rufus Lollianus Avitus, consul in 144, the predecessor of Claudius Maximus as proconsul of Africa (157-8 AD) (Hunink).

v(irō) c(larissimo): "right honorable" (Jones), a formula traditionally meaning "of senatorial status," but evidently merely an honorific at this period, not implying actual service as a senator. 

pūblicē dissererem: "was giving a public speech," as did many sophists or public intellectuals in this period. 

'Sēminumidam' et 'Sēmigaetūlum': supply esse, predicate with the accusative memet in indirect statement after professus sum.

(2)

quid mihi sit ... pudendum: "what I should be ashamed of."

in eā rē: "in this matter," the matter of his birthplace.

Cȳrō maiōrī: supply pudendum erat, "should have been ashamed." Cyrus the Elder, or Cyrus the Great, the famous Persian king of the 6th century BC, son of a Persian father (Cambyses) and a Median mother (Mandane). See Herodotus 1.107, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 1.2.1 (Hunink).

genere mixtō: abl. of description or of cause.

(3)

ubi prōgnātus: supply quisque sit along with "ut morātus quisque sit," an indirect question after spectandum (est): "It should not be considered where each man was born but how each man is mannered," i.e., his character (morēs). The construction of the second half of 24.3 is parallel to the first.

ut mōrātus: "how mannered," i.e., of what kind of character. The word is derived from mōs. See LS moratus2.

sit spectandum: supply est. impersonal, followed by the indirect question ubi quisque ... sit.  order: Nōn enim spectandum (est) ubi quisque prōgnātus sit, sed ut mōrātus (sit).

inierit: ineo = "to embark upon a course of life" is poetic. See LS ineo I.B ad fin..

(4)

Holitōrī et caupōnī: vegetable growers and innkeepers (or shopkeepers) belong to the lower social classes and represent daily life. But contrary to what many readers of Latin literature might expect here, these tradesmen are not looked down upon. One is reminded of the characters in the Metamorphoses, such as the sympathetic hortulanus of Metamorphoses 9.32 ff. (Hunink).

est concessum: impersonal, "it is allowed" for X (dat.) to Y (infin.). The subject is commendāre.

nōbilitāte: "excellence," "high quality."

Thasium ... Phliāsium: wine of the Greek island Thasos was famous, as was the fertility of Phlius in the Peloponnese (Hunink).

quippe: "naturally, since," giving a reason seen as rather self-evident.

illa ... alumna: "those products," neut. pl., direct object of iūverit.

multum: (adverb) "a lot."

iūverit: subjects: regiō, caelum, ventus, sōl, solum.

(5)

Enimvero animo: "for the soul, by contrast."

extrīnsecus in hospitium corporis immigrantī: modifying animō:  "as it comes from outside into the lodging of the body" at the time of birth. The philosophical doctrine that the soul enters the body from without was common in Middle Platonism and later Stoicism (Hunink).

ex istīs: "of those (unrelated) elements,"  weather, soil quality, etc.

ad virtūtem vel malitiam: "toward his goodness or badness" (as if taking score), "as a point of goodness or badness."

(6)

Quandō nōn ... prōvēnēre: "when have they not emerged?" prōvēnēre = prōvēnērunt.

varia: "different (from the norm)."

quaedam: supply gentēs.

Anacharsis: a legendary Scythian prince of the early 6th century BC, well known from Herodotus, Diogenes Laertius, and Lucian, who wrote a dialogue bearing his name. He is sometimes counted as one of the Seven Wise Men (Hunink).

Meletīdēs: a proverbially stupid Athenian. See Aristophanes, Frogs 991. The cleverness of the Athenians was a stock characteristic (Hunink).

Meletīdēs fatuus: supply natus est.

(7)

eō ... quō: "for this reason ... because."

Syphacis: the king of the Massaesyli, a Numidian tribe, defeated along with the Carthaginians at the end of the second Punic War. His kingdom was then given to Masinissa, king of the Massyli, another Numidian tribe. See Sallust, Jugurthine War 5 (Hunink).

oppidum: predicate nominative.

etsī adhūc Syphacis oppidum essēmus: contrary to fact conditional, "even if we were (= it were) still a town of Syphax."

(8)

Quō: Syphace.

mūnere: "by (way of) a gift," "as a gift."

concessimus: "we were ceded to," "we passed under (the control of)" + ad + acc.

splendidissima colonia: Madauros had become a colony of veterans during the Flavian period. Splendidissima is a common honorific epithet of colonies (Hunink).

sumus: "we have become" + predicate splendidissima colōnia.

(9)

locō principis duovirālem: his father had been a  duumvir or IIvir (“member of the board of two”), the highest office in a colony. Principis simply means “of a leading citizen” (Hunink).

cūnctīs honōribus perfūnctum: "having (already) performed all the other offices (leading up to that of duumvir)."

locum: "status."

exinde ut ... coepī: "as soon as I began."

participare curiam: most likely this refers to his status as pretextatus, youth of decurial family who was given a place in the local Senate of a colonia but was not allowed to vote (Hunink).

nēquāquam dēgener: "not at all inferior to my ancestor."

parī ... honōre et exīstimātiōne: ablatives of manner with tueor. 

parī: "equal" to that with which my father had done)."

tueor: present as stative perfect, "I have been maintaining." LS tueor II.

(10)

prōtulī: "have I drawn out."

Ut:  Apuleius answers his own question with a sarcastic purpose clause.

illud tuum Atticum Zarat: prolepsis, take in the place of eō in the following ut clause.

Atticum Zarat: a particularly effective combination. The poor, provincial village of Zarath had hardly anything Attic to it. This epithet suggests culture, literacy, and eloquence in general and stylistic purity in particular, qualities definitely not attributed to Aemilianus (Hunink). The main manuscripts spell Zarath here without the h. Its precise location is unknown.

ut in eō nāscerer: "so that I might be born in it," "to be born in."