60

I could have raised a formal objection to the reading of Crassus's testimony, but I saw that allowing it would likely hurt Aemilianus's case. And I wanted to see Crassus's misdeeds exposed and punished.

(1)

hoc: the entire situation with Crassus and his testimony.

fieret: subject is Crassus's testimony.

dēnūntiātiōne: "an allegation of wrongdoing," "denunciation."

impedīre: "to block" Crassus's testimony from being read.

nisi scīrem: "if I weren't aware" = "except that I knew," introducing the indirect statement mendācium ... obfutūrum (esse).

potius ... quam ... : "more ...  than ...."

frūstrā redimēbat: Aemilianus was spending good money on useless testimony.

obfutūrum: supply esse, "would be a point against," + dat. of person.

damnō adficī: "to be affected by a penalty" = "to suffer a penalty," i.e., in the eyes of the judges, who would, in Apuleius's argument, see through the false testimony of Crassus and consider it a point in Apuleius's favor instead of against (Hunink).

prōstituī: "to be exposed." See OLD prostituo 2, "to expose to public shame," "dishonor," with no sexual nuance.

(2)

Cēterum: adv. "Furthermore."

nudiustertius: "it is now the third day since," "three days ago" (counting inclusively), or "two days ago" (counting exclusively).

haudquāquam occulta: "not hidden at all," "in broad (metaphorical) daylight."

rēs: the alleged deal for the purchase of Crassus's testimony.

Quō: Rūfīnō.

intercessōribus et dēprecātōribus ipsō Rūfīnō et Calpurniānō: "'While Rufinus himself and Calpurnianus acted as intermediaries and entreated Crassus to comply with their wishes," or "with Rufinus himself and Calpurnianus acting as intermediaries and arrangers" (Jones).  There is some uncertainty about the text.

read more

deprecatoribus: deprecatoribus seems a little irrelevant. We rather require some word giving much the same sense as intercessoribus, and meaning "bargaining" rather than "entreating." It is possible that depretiatoribus (Brantius) is the true reading, involving as it does virtually no change. A depretiator is "one who beats down the price," and occurs in Tertullian, adv. Marc. iv. 29. Depectoribus (Kronenberg) is also possible. A depector would be one qui depeciscitur, a bargainer. The word occurs in chapter 74. It cannot, however, be said that deprecatoribus is impossible" (Butler).

deprecatoribus: "intercessors," as in 103.1; discussion of the word seems needless. It is almost synonym to intercessoribus, but involves an element of active "pleading" (Hunink).

ipsō Rūfīnō: ipsō in the sense that it is the very Rufinus whose house it is.

Calpurniānō: he must be the same person as the addressee of the poem in ch. 6 (Hunink).

Quod: quam (rem).

eō libentius ... quod: "all the more willingly ... because." eō (adv.) + comparative, see LS eo2 C.

erat certus: "(Rufinus) was sure that..." (LS certus II.B.2), followed by indirect statement, Crassum relātūrum (esse).

cuius stūpra sciēns dissimulat: "whose sexual misdeeds he (Rufinus) ignores, though fully aware of them."

nōn minimam partem: litotes.

praemiī eius: "of the reward in question," i.e., the 3000 nummi paid for Crassus' testimony; eius functions as a weak demonstrative.

relātūrum: supply esse, "would bring back" in the form of gifts to Crassus's alleged lover, Rufinus's wife. The figure of the husband who (like Rufinus in this scenario) connives in his wife's adulteries for financial gain is a theme in Roman satire (Juvenal 1.55-57).

(3)

coitiōnem adversum mē: "the faction coming together to oppose me."

eōrum: the people making up the just-mentioned coitiō.

prō tuā sapientiā: "by virtue of your wisdom."  Maximus is too smart to fall for this nonsense— and it never hurts for Apuleius so say so.

aspernantem: modifies tē.

(4)

quamquam sunt ... praeditī: "although they are endowed with," + abl., subject is Aemilianus et al.

importūnā impudentiā: "tactless impudence" (Jones).

testimōniō: abl. after nitī, below, reinforced by eō.

cuius oboluisse faecem vidēbant: "whose dregs they (the prosecutors) were (already) seeing had made a stink."  The prosecutors saw the story had a bad smell to it, to match the stale wine smell that presumably clings to Crassus himself at all times. Their testimony did not pass the smell test.

nec ipsī: "not even they themselves," i.e., shameless and audacious as they are (Aemilianus et al.).

perlegere: "to read (the testimony) out in full."

quicquam: "in respect to anything" =  "at all."

eō: testimōniō, abl. after nītī.

(5)

ista: "those things (about Crassus' traits and behaviors).”

proptereā ... nōn quod ... sed ut ...: "for the following reason: not because... but so that...:

pinnārum formīdinēs: "the dread sight of feathers.”

read more

A formido is also a kind of scarecrow made of brightly colored feathers.

pinnārum formīdinēs: The phrase itself is reminiscent of cervum puniceae septum formidine pennae, Vergil's Aeneid 12.750, referring to a deer-hunting practice also described in Lucan's Pharsalia 4.437-438: sic, dum pavidos formidine cervos / claudat odoratae metuentis aera pinnae. See Sen. de Ira, 2, 12. cum maximos ferarum greges linea pennis distincta contineat et in insidias agat, ab ipso effectu dicta formido. 

pinnārum formīdinēs: a punning allusion to the hunter's practice of stringing feathers on cords to head off the game in the desired direction, formido was the technical term for this device (Butler).

tē praesertim iūdice: abl. abs., almost parenthetical: "especially with you as judge" = "especially since you're the judge," where tē = Maximus, and the sentiment is that Apuleius doesn't have to worry about such silly charges being taken seriously with Maximus presiding over the case.

timērem: i.e., fear the mention of these things or charges related to them.

impūnītum Crassō: "without punishment for Crassus."

quod Aemiliānō ... fūmum vēndidit: "the fact that he sold smoke to Aemilianus," a substantive clause acting as the subject of nē impūnītum ... foret.

hominī rūsticō: we are reminded in passing of Aemilianus' boorishness, which has become a stock motif by now. Here it sarcastically refers to his simplicity: "poor Aemilianus" has been tricked by Crassus. One may observe that for the sake of this argument, Crassus appears not as a lazy drinker lying drunk in bed, but as a clever trickster. Of course, Apuleius pictures himself as cleverer still: he outdoes all his opponents (Hunink).

fūmum vēndidit: the phrase is proverbial for making empty promises (LS fumus I.b.γ), and also plays nicely on the smoke-damage that Crassus cited as evidence for Apuleius conducting magical rites in his rental property.