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After the death of her father-in-law, Pudentilla decided to remarry for medical reasons, on the advice of doctors and midwives. Aemilianus himself approved of this decision before I ever came to Oea, despite his later statements, as is proven by the letter he wrote to Pontianus while the latter was living in Rome.

(1)

scrūpulō: "worry," "headache," i.e., the concern that marrying someone other than Sicinius Clarus might lead to her sons being disinherited by their grandfather.

prīncipibus virīs: "distinguished men," "the leading men (in the area)."

sibi ... nōn permanendum: "that she ought not remain." Supply esse to complete the impersonal passive periphrastic. 

Quippe ut: "while, of course," "though, of course," concessive.

(2)

Now follows another curious medical passage (compare the earlier section on epilepsy, esp. chs. 49–51): Apuleius introduces health reasons for Pudentilla’s remarriage. Typically, he omits any other, more selfish, grounds either for her or for him, and concentrates on an element where he could display his knowledge and which forms an “objective” motive beyond discussion (Hunink).

sānctē: "virtuously," OLD 3.

sine culpā, sine fābulā: not only without a blemish on her record of chastity, but also without even any sort of behavior that would make people gossip about whether there was such a blemish. For this sense of fābula as "gossip," "scandal," see OLD 1.b.

assuētūdine coniugis torpēns: "lethargic from lack of conjugal intercourse" (Jones). 

The thought is that for women prolonged involuntary sexual abstinence led to bodily complications, in extreme cases to “hysteric suffocation” and fits not unlike those of epilepsy (a parallel explicitly drawn by Celsus 4.27.1 A ). This notion was common in ancient medicine. Widows in particular were thought to be at risk here (Hunink).

 Apuleius borrows from Plato’s Timaeus (91C) his account of the deleterious effects on a woman of abstinence from sex, as he does his account of epilepsy (ch. 50) (Jones).

diūtinō sitū vīscerum: "from her womb's long inactivity" (Jones). Situs suggests both neglect or disuse and the resulting physical deterioration.

vitiātīs intimīs uterī: "with the innermost parts of her uterus having become infected."

ad extrēmum vītae discrīmen: "till her life was in danger" (Jones).

dolōribus obortīs: "from the pains that arose," ablative of cause.

exanimābātur: "she kept passing out," or "was exhausted," "was prostrate" (OLD examino 3).

(3)

cōnsentiēbant: introduces the following series of indirect statements:

morbum quaesītum (esse)

malum ... augērī

aegritūdinem ingravēscere

valētūdinem medicandum (esse)

pēnūriā mātrimōniī: abl. of cause, "from deprivation of conjugal life" (Jones), i.e., "from lack of marital sex."

quaesītum: supply esse, "was contracted."

malum: "sickness" (OLD malum 7.b), another synonym for morbum and aegritūdinem.

medicandum: supply esse, "needed to be treated."

(4)

cum aliī ... tum maximē Aemiliānus iste: "both others ... but particularly Aemilianus here." For cum ... tum maxime see LS magnus IV.B.1.

adsevērābat: "was passionately declaring" introducing the indirect statements:

Pudentilla cogita(vi)sse

me solum repertum (esse)

priusquam foret ... coācta: "before she was forced," foret = futura esset, for simple coacta esset, since it's from the perspective of a time before the forcing happened.

mē sōlum repertum: supply esse, "that I was the only one found."

quī ... violārem: "who could violate," subjunctive in a relative clause of characteristic. violārem is in the first person because the antecedent is mē sōlum.

eius: Pudentillae.

viduitātis eius velut quandam virginitātem: "this sort of virginity, as if were, of her widowhood."

carminibus et venēnīs: a set phrase referring to magical practices of various sorts; venēnum in this context refers to a magical potion.

(5)

Saepe audīvī ... dīcī: "I have often heard it said," introducing the indirect statement mendācem ... oportēre.

nōn dē nihilō: "not for nothing," i.e., for good reason.

memorem esse: "to have a good memory."

tibi ... nōn vēnit in mentem: "it did not occur to you that" introducing the indirect statement: te ... scribsisse.

utī nūberet: "that she (Pudentilla) should get married," indirect command suggesting the suasive content of the letter from Aemilianus to Pontianus.

scribsisse: scripsisse.

agēbat: "was living," LS ago II.D.5.

(6)

Cedo: "hand over."

ipsī: "to the man himself," i.e., Aemilianus.

lēgat: jussive subjunctive, "let him (Aemilianus) read (it, the letter)." 

The letter produced here by the attendant in court apparently comes as a surprise for Aemilianus. The effect is increased by the melodramatic (and surely empty) exclamation that Aemilianus should read it aloud himself (Hunink).

sibi ... sēsē revincat: jussive subjunctive, "let him refute himself to himself," "let him contradict himself," by reading his own words from the letter which contradict what he has been saying in court.

(7)

Quid: "for what (reason)?" = "why?"

Nam: "oh, it's because..." Apuleius is answering his own question (quid palluisti?).

subscribtīō: "signature."

(8)

Recitā: addressed to the clerk.

clārius: "louder," "more distinctly" so as to be heard, LS clārus 1.B.

quantum lingua eius manū discrepet: indirect question, "how much his tongue differs from his hand," i.e., how much what he has said in court differs from what he has written in the letter.

quantumque minor illī sit ... dissēnsiō: "how much less disagreement he has," "how much less he disagrees," (Jones), with illī as the dative of possession.

(...): ellipsis marks the quotation of the letter itself, which is not preserved in the manuscripts.