4

My accusers began by calling me a handsome philosopher, educated in both Greek and Latin (1-2). If only the charges of beauty and eloquence were true (4-5). We know that some of the greatest philosophers were quite handsome (6-9). But I was born with only average looks, and unremitting scholarly labor has robbed me of any bodily vigor (10). My hair, which they claimed I wore long to make myself attractive, is a knotted, inextricable mess, as you see (11-13).

[clausulated text]

(1)

Audīstī: audivisti.

ergō: "As I was saying," (resumption of interrupted train of thought) LS ergo II.B.4.

ita: "as follows."

dīcī: impersonal passive infinitive, "you heard it being spoken."

apud tē: “before you,” i.e. the judge.

formonsum: formosum.

tam Graecē quam Latīnē: adverbs modifying disertissimum, "as much in Greek as in Latin."

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Apuleius’ mastery of both Latin and Greek had already made him famous in antiquity. See Augustine, City of God, Book 8, Section 12: in utraque autem lingua, id est Graeca at Latina, Apuleius Afer exstitit Platonicus nobilis. It is amply illustrated by passages in Apuleius’ own works. ... How far was this Greco-Latin bilingualism exceptional? Knowledge of Greek was, if not widespread, at least solidly established in Roman culture in the West. This would suggest that some command of Greek was considered fairly normal in the Roman upper class; for many Second Sophistic speakers, Greek was even the everyday language. In the Roman province of Africa, the situation was slightly different, due to the predominance of Latin as the main cultural language. It should be remembered that Apuleius’ native language was probably Punic, and that his great mastery of Latin is an achievement in itself. So a combined fluency in both Greek and Latin was rare indeed in Africa (Hunink).

prō nefās: not part of the quote from Apuleius' accusers, but his own ironic interpolation:  "heaven forbid!"

(2)

ingressus est: "entered upon" = "began."

meī: objective genitive dependent on accūsātiōnem.

Tannōnius Pudēns: the patronus of Aemilianus is introduced without any comment (Hunink).

(3)

Quod: "But," LS quod VII.

gravia fōrmae et fācundiae crīmina: chiasmus

opprobrāsset: opprobrāvisset, an optative subjunctive following utinam.

eī: dative after respondissem.

respondissem: contrary to fact in an understood conditional: "(if he had brought these charges against me,) I would have responded."

(id) quod Homēricus Alexander Hectorī: supply respondit.

Homēricus Alexander: "Homer's Paris" i.e. as Paris said in the Homeric verse.

(4)

οὔ τοι …  ἄν τις ἕλοιτο: "Certainly the glorious gifts of the gods are not to be thrown away as worthless; whichever gifts they give, no man can gain on his own." Iliad 3.65-66.

ἀπόβλητ(α): "to be thrown away as worthless."

ἐστὶ: singular verb with neuter plural subject δῶρα.

ὅσσα κεν: "whichever" i.e., δῶρα.

ἑκὼν: "on his own," without the gods' approval.

(5)

munera ... obtingunt: this paraphrase is thought by some editors to be a later scribal addition, but Hunink defends it as the work of Apuleius.

deum: deorum.

aspernanda: supply sunt.

suēta: "accustomed to," construe with infinitive tribui.

Haec: "these things," i.e., the Homeric quotation.

dē fōrmā: "(to accusations) about (my) appearance."

(6)

licēre: “that it is allowed,” indirect statement following responsissem; responsissem also explains the following indirect statements: Pythagoram ... fuisse, Zenonem ... fuisse, multos philosophos ... prodi.

voltū līberālī: ablative of description, AG 415. 

(8)

eum ... fuisse: "was the person."

suī saeculī: "of his generation" = "in his generation"

excellentissimā fōrmā: ablative of description

Zēnōnem: Zeno of Elea, famous for argument via paradox and reductio ad absurdum. 

Veliā: the ancient city of Elea (Ἐλέα , Velia), mod. Castellammare della Bruca in southern Italy. Said to have been founded by Phocaean Greeks in the sixth century B.C. and then became an ally of Rome in the third century B.C. 

<argumenta>: words in angle brackets are editorial additions thought necessary to complete the sense. B/O insert argūmenta on the basis of Apuleius, Florida 18.74, anceps argūmentum ambifāriam prōposuit, and most editors adopt it.

ambifāriam: an adverb, meaning “in a way that places an opponent in a dilemma; also, in a way that proves an opponent's arguments to be self contradictory” (OLD ambifāriam). The latter sense seems most appropriate here.

dissolverit: pf. subj. in a relative clause in indirect statement, > dissolvo, "demolish (an argument)," "refute," "dismiss" (OLD dissolvo 7.b).

eum quoque Zēnōnem: "that he, too, Zeno," bringing back the accusative and repeating the name after the extended relative clause before completing this section of the indirect statement.

(9)

ab ōre honestissimōs: "very good-looking with respect to the face," a colloquial use of ab according to B/O. See LS ab II.B.2.k.

memoriae prōdī: "are handed down to memory," i.e. are recorded to have been, LS prodo II.C. 

(10)

aliquam: adv.  = in aliquam partem, "in some degree," used only in connection with diu, multus, and plures.

praeter ...  etiam: "above and beyond X, Y also..."

corpore: ablative of separation, "from my body."

colōrem obliterat: "is making me pale."

(11)

Capillus ipse ... vidēs quam sit amoenus ac dēlicātus: vidēs quam amoenus ac dēlicātus capillus ipse sit.  The implication is that the answer is 'not very.'

ad lēnōcinium decōris: "for the pimping-out of my beauty," "to make my looks seductive" (Jones). The noun lenocinium refers literally to the activities of a pimp making his prostitutes as attractive as possible.

prōmissum: "allowed to grow long."

dīxēre: dīxērunt, introducing the indirect statement quem (capillum) ... prōmissum (esse).

(12)

implexus ... impedītus ... adsimilis ... hirtus ... globōsus ... congestus ... inēnōdābilis: a series of adjectives describing the actual state of Apuleius' hair, in contrast to the adjectives above, which reflect the description of his hair by his accusers.

cōmendī ... expediendī ... discrīminandī: gerunds dependent on incuriā.

(13)

quasi capitāle: a remarkable pun. The serious crimen capitis (capital charge) for which Apuleius is currently standing trial is reduced to a mere trifle, "a charge concerning one's head" (Hunink).

intendērunt: "threatened,"  LS intendo II.G.