[31] (1) Haec et alia quaesīsse mē potius quam piscēs longē vērisimilius cōnfīnxissēs (hīs etenim fortasse per fāmam pervulgātam fidēs fuisset), sī tibi ūlla ērudītiō adfuisset. Enimvērō piscis ad quam rem facit captus nisi ad epulās coctus? Cēterum ad magīan nihil quicquam vidētur mihi adiūtāre. Dīcam unde id coniectem.
(2) Pȳthagoram plērīque Zōroastrī sectātōrem similiterque magīae perītum arbitrātī tamen memoriae prōdidērunt, cum animadvertisset proximē Metapontum in lītore Ītaliae suae, quam subsicīvam Graeciam fēcerat, ā quibusdam piscātōribus ēverriculum trahī, (3) fortūnam iactūs eius ēmisse et pretiō datō iussisse īlicō piscēs eōs, quī captī tenēbantur, solvī rētibus et reddī profundō; (4) quōs scīlicet eum dē manibus āmissūrum nōn fuisse, sī quid in hīs ūtile ad magīan comperisset. (5) Sed enim vir ēgregiē doctus et veterum aemulātor meminerat Homērum, poētam multiscium vel potius cūnctārum rērum adprīmē perītum, vim omnem medicāminum nōn marī, sed terrae ascrīpsisse, cum dē quādam sāgā ad hunc modum memorāvit:
ἣ τόσα φάρμακα ἤδη, ὅσα τρέφει εὐρεῖα χθών
(6) itemque alibī carminum similiter:
τῇ πλεῖστα φέρει ζείδωρος ἄρουρα
φάρμακα, πολλὰ μὲν ἐσθλὰ μεμιγμένα, πολλὰ δὲ λυγρά,
(7) cum tamen numquam apud eum marīnō aliquō et piscolentō medicāvit nec Proteus faciem nec Ulixēs scrobem nec Aeolus follem nec Helena crēterram nec Circē pōculum nec Venus cingulum. (8) At vōs sōlī repertī estis ex omnī memoriā, quī vim herbārum et rādīcum et surculōrum et lapillōrum quasi quādam colluviōne nātūrae dē summīs montibus in mare trānsferātis et penitus piscium ventribus īnsuātis. (9) Igitur ut solēbat ad magōrum cērimōniās advocārī Mercurius carminum vector et illex animī Venus et Lūna noctium cōnscia et mānium potēns Trivia, vōbīs auctōribus posthāc Neptūnus cum Salāciā et Portūnō et omnī chorō Nērēī ab aestibus fretōrum ad aestūs amōrum trānsferentur.
notes
Your charge of black magic doesn't fit in with the common notion regarding black magic. A story about Pythagoras proves fish are not used for magic. Homer also doesn't include fish in his list of magical items. You are fabricating the truth by attributing earthly magic to the depths of the sea.
(1)
Haec et alia: the direct objects of quaesīsse, referring to the more standard canon of magical materials enumerated in the previous chapter.
quaesīsse mē: "that I had searched for," indirect statement after cōnfīnxissēs.
longē vērisimilius: "much more plausibly," construe with cōnfīnxissēs.
cōnfīnxissēs: "you could have pretended that," the apodosis of the contrary-to-fact conditional with the protasis sī ... adfuisset below.
hīs: earth-born magical materials, dative of possession with fuisset.
hīs ... fidēs fuisset: "there would have been belief for these things," "people would have believed these things."
per fāmam pervulgātam: "from the common belief about them" (Jones).
sī tibi ... adfuisset: "if there had been present for you," "if you had had."
ad quam rem facit: "is good for what thing?" LS facio II.D.
Cēterum: "besides," "at any rate."
ad magīan: "for (the performance) of magic," magīan = magīam, with a Greek accusative inflection.
nihil quicquam: "in respect to nothing whatever," "not at all."
vidētur: subject is still piscis.
unde: "from what (evidence)," introducing an indirect question.
(2)
Pȳthagoram ... prōdidērunt: plērīque (homines), arbitrātī Pȳthagoram (esse) sectātōrem Zōroastrī (et esse) similiter perītum magīae, tamen memoriae prōdidērunt. Apuleius's order foregrounds the authoritative name of Pythagoras.
plērīque: "very many people" > plerusque pleraque plerumque.
tamen: the logic is: Pythagoram magiae peritum (esse), tamen ... iussisse pisces solvi et reddi profundo (and therefore fish must have no use in the eyes of a magus).
memoriae prōdidērunt: "have handed down to memory," “have related the story for posterity," followed by the indirect statement: (Pȳthagoram) ēmisse et ... iussisse.
cum animadvertisset: the cum clause should be taken inside the indirect statement. "that when he had noticed …," which introduces another indirect statement within the cum clause: ēverriculum trahī.
animadvertisset: subject is Pythagoras.
proximē Metapontum: "very close to Metapontum."
Ītaliae suae: "his (little piece of) Italy."
subsicīvam Graeciam: "a spare Greece," "another Greece."
(3)
fortūnam iactūs eius ēmisse: "that he had bought the luck of the throw." He had paid beforehand to own the rights to anything caught in the current toss of the trawling-net, sight unseen.
pretiō datō: i.e., once he had paid, but before he saw the contents of the haul.
(4)
āmissūrum nōn fuisse: "would not have been willing to let slip," infinitive in indirect statement after scīlicet.
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See Plutarch, Quaestiones Conviviales 729e: "But that the Pythagoreans should abstain from fish because they are not of the same kind, is ridiculous and absurd; nay, to butcher and feed on other animals, because they bear a nearer relation to us, would be a most inhuman and Cyclopean return. And they say that Pythagoras bought a draught of fishes, and presently commanded the fishers to let them all out of the net; and this shows that he did not hate or not mind fishes, as things of another kind and destructive to man, but that they were his dearly beloved creatures, since he paid a ransom for their freedom. Therefore the tenderness and humanity of those philosophers suggest a quite contrary reason, and I am apt to believe that they spare fishes to instruct men, or to accustom themselves to acts of justice; for other creatures generally give men cause to afflict them, but fishes neither do nor are capable of doing us harm."
(5)
vir ēgregiē doctus et veterum aemulātor: Pythagoras.
medicāminum: gen. pl.
ad hunc modum: "in this way."
memorāvit: "spoke about," + de + abl. The subject is Homer. Indicative is normal with cum temporal, AG 545.
ἣ τόσα φάρμακα ᾔδη ὅσα τρέφει εὐρεῖα χθών: Iliad 11.741: "she knew all the drugs the wide earth produces." The reference is to Agamede, the wife of a warrior killed by Nestor in the old days. Α φάρμακον in this context is any kind of herbal remedy, though the same word can refer in Homer to a poison or magical enchantment. See Cunliffe, φάρμακον.
(6)
alibī carminum: "at another point in his poems." Odyssey 4.229-30: "There (in Egypt) the fertile earth bears drugs, many beneficial when mixed, but many harmful."
(7)
cum tamen ... medicāvit: "while, on the other hand." cum tamen + ind. is regular, LS cum2 I.E.5.b.α.
apud eum: "in his (Homer's) poetry."
marīnō aliquō et piscolentō medicāvit: "used anything maritime or fishy as a magical substance." There follow six individual subjects and direct objects for this verb, recalling six Homeric passages, all showing instances of fishless magic.
faciem: "his appearance," i.e., his ability to change shape, Odyssey 4.382 ff.
scrobem: before his descent into the underworld, Odysseus dug a ditch to converse with the shades of the dead, Odyssey 11.24 ff.
follem: the wineskin in which he stored the winds. Odyssey 10.19 ff.
crēterram: = crateram, "mixing bowl," in which Helen mixed a drug with the wine to cause the forgetting of sad memories. Odyssey 4.220-33.
poculum: Circe gives a potion to Odysseus' men at Odyssey 10.233-243.
cingulum: Aphrodite's magical girdle is mentioned at Iliad 14.214-23.
(8)
At vōs sōlī repertī estis: ironic. "I guess you're the only people to discover (the magical powers of fish)."
ex omnī memoriā: "from the whole (span of human) memory/history."
quī ... trānsferātis: relative clause of characteristic, "who would transfer."
vim: direct object of īnsuatis below.
quādam colluviōne nātūrae: "by a certain (metaphorical) landslide of the (actual) natural order," naturae helps clarify the simile: they're taking powers which naturally occur in terrestrial settings and moving them to marine settings.
(9)
ut solēbat ... advocārī: "as used to be summoned," i.e., before Aemilianus's innovations. The following deities were the standard ones to call upon for magical incantations. Compare the magical incantation of Medea in Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.192ff., where she invokes Night, Hecate, Earth, and other natural forces.
carminum vector: evidently a kind of cult title for Mercury, "Bringer of Spells." But the text is uncertain.
illex animi: "the Seducer of the Mind," in apposition with Venus.
noctium conscia: "Witness of the Night," in apposition with Luna.
mānium potēns: "powerful of ghosts" = "who has power over ghosts," in apposition with Trivia.
vōbīs auctōribus: "with you as the initiators," i.e., following your new paradigm of how magic works.
Salaciā: Salacia was Roman goddess associated with Neptune as his wife and mother of Triton; originally however, possibly the personification of a facet of Neptune’s domain. Ancient authors connected the goddess with salum, "the sea" (Varro, De Lingua Latina 5.72; Servius, Aeneid 10.76), or salax, "lascivious" (S. as goddess of prostitutes: Servius Aeneid 1.720) (Brill, Salacia).
omnī chorō Nērēī: i.e., his daughters, the Nereids.
trānsferentur: plural, as though Neptūnus cum Salāciā = Neptūnus et Salācia.
Vocabulary
(1)
vērīsimilis –is –e: seeming true, probable, plausible
cōnfingō –fingere –fīnxī –fictum: to fashion, fabricate, invent, devise, feign, pretend
etenim: and indeed; for in fact
fortasse: perhaps
pervulgātus -a -um: common
ēruditiō –ōnis f.: instruction; learning, culture
enimvērō or enim vērō: yes indeed, yes truly, assuredly, indeed
piscis piscis m.: fish
epulae –ārum (f. pl.): banquet, feast
coquō coquere coxī coctum: to cook
magīa –ae f.: magic, sorcery; the science of the Magi
adiūtō adiūtāre: to aid, assist
coniectō –āre: to infer, conjecture, guess
(2)
Pȳthagorās –ae m.: Pythagoras, the famous philosopher from Samos (d. c. 495 BCE)
Zōroastrēs –ae/–is m.: Zoroaster, lawgiver of the Medes
sectātor –ōris m.: attendant, follower
similiter: similarly
perītus –a –um: skilled in +gen., expert
animadvertō animadvertere animadvertī animadversus: to notice, observe
proximus –a –um: next, nearest, most recent, last
Metapontum –ī n.: Metapontum, a town of Lucania, where Pythagoras lived and died
Italia –ae f.: Italy
subsicivus –a –um: remaining over, spare, extra
Graecia –ae f.: Greece
piscātor –ōris m.: fisherman
ēverriculum –ī n.: a sweepnet, drag-net, fishing net
(3)
iactus –ūs m.: a cast of a net (> iacio)
emō emere ēmī ēmptus: to buy
īlicō: in that very place, on the spot, there
rēte rētis n.: net, trap
profundum, -ī, n.: the deep, the sea
(4)
sīquis or sīquī sīqua sīquid: if any (one)
comperiō comperīre comperī compertus: to learn, discover, find (by investigation); verify, know for certain; find guilty
(5)
veterēs –um m.: the ancients, men of a former time, the fathers, ancestors, forefathers
aemulātor –ōris m.: an imitator, rival, emulator
Homērus –ī m.: Homer
multiscius –a –um: knowing much, of great knowledge
adprīmus –a –um: the very first, especially, exceedingly
medicāmen –inis n.: medicine; cosmetic
ascrībō ascrībere ascrīpsī ascrīptum: to ascribe, impute, credit with
saga –ae f.: witch, diviner, sorceress
memorō memorāre memorāvī memorātus: to mention, speak of
(6)
alibī: elsewhere, in another place
(7)
marīnus –a –um: of the sea (> mare)
pisculentus –a –um: made of fish
medicō medicāre medicāvī medicātus: to treat, medicate (with)
Prōteus –eī or –eos m.: Proteus, a sea–god who often changed his form
Ulixēs –is m.: Odysseus
scrobis –is m. or f.: a ditch, dike, trench
Aeolus –ī m.: Aeolus; the god who ruled over the winds
follis –is m.: bag, skin
Helena –ae f.: Helen, daughter of Jupiter and Leda, sister of Clytemnestra and of Castor, and wife of Menelaus
crātēra (crēterra) –ae f.: a large mixing bowl or urn; mixer; bowl; jar
Circē –ēs or –ae f.: Circe, a sorceress, daughter of Helios and Perse or Perseis
pōculum –ī n.: cup, bowl, drinking vessel; drink/draught; social drinking (pl.); drink
Venus –eris f.: Venus, identified by the Romans with Aphrodite
cingulum –ī n.: a girdle, belt (> cingo)
(8)
herba –ae f.: grass, herb
rādīx rādīcis f.: root
surculus –ī m.: a tender young twig, branch, shoot, sprout, sprig
lapillus –ī m.: pebble (dim. of lapis)
colluviō –ōnis f.: heterogeneous mass, jumble, welter, vile medley
trānsferō trānsferre trānstulī trānslātus: to transfer
penitus: inwardly, internally, entirely
venter ventris m.: stomach, belly
īnsuō –ere –uī –ūtus: to sew or stitch in, into, or on
(9)
magus –ī m.: wise/learned man; magician (Persian); astrologer
cērimōnia –ae f.: a sacred rite, religious ceremony
advocō advocāre advocāvī advocātus: to summon, call
Mercurius –ī m.: Mercury, an Italian god, identified with the Greek Hermes, son of Jupiter and Maia, and messenger of the gods
vector vectōris n.: one that bears, carries, or conveys any thing; a bearer, carrier
illex –icis: alluring, enticing, seductive
cōnscius –a –um: witness
mānēs –ium m. pl: ghosts, shades of the dead; the Underworld
Trivia –ae f.: Trivia, an epithet of Hecate or Diana, whose images were placed at the forks of roads (> trivium)
posthāc: after this, hereafter
Neptūnus –ī m.: Neptune, one of the sons of Saturn, and brother of Jupiter, Juno, and Pluto; identified by the Romans, as god of the sea, with the Greek Poseidon
Salācia –ae f.: the goddess of the sea, wife of Neptune
Portūnus –ī m.: Portunus, the Roman god of harbors or seaports, identified with the Greek Palaemon or Meliecrtes (> portus)
chorus –ī m.: a company of singers or dancers, choir, troop
Nēreūs –eī or –eos m.: Nereus, a sea–god, son of Oceanus and Tethys, and father of the Nereids; (meton.), the sea
aestus –ūs m.: heat; agitation, passion, seething; wave, surge, flood, tide
fretum –ī n.: strait, channel; (sing. or pl. by metonymy) the sea