74

After marrying, Pontianus changed his mind and opposed my union with Pudentilla, a breach of our agreement for which he later apologized. The whole fault for this lies with Herennius Rufinus, who put Pontianus up to it. Rufinus is a man of very low character, emasculated and steeped in sexual depravity since his youth.

(1)

Utinam hercule possem: optative subjunctive.

quae deinde dīcenda sunt: object of transgredī.

sine maximō causae dispendiō: "without the greatest harm to (my) case," if he did not say them.

trānsgredī: "to pass over (without mentioning them)."

nē Pontiānō, cui errōrem suum dēprecantī simpliciter ignōvī, videar nunc levitātem exprobrāre: even before it has been made clear what Pontianuns did wrong, we hear that he repented and that Apuleius forgave him. Through this anticipation Pontianus is excluded from the following savage attack, which puts blame on Herennius Rufinus; the point is explicitly stated at 74.3 (Hunink).

cui errōrem suum: the two objects of ignōvī, dative of the person forgiven and the accusative of that which is forgiven. We do the reverse in English: "I forgave him for his mistake."

dēprecantī: modifying cui (= Pontiānō), "when he was begging me (to forgive him)."

simpliciter: "utterly," "without reserve" (LS simplex II.1).

exprobrāre: "to reproach x (dat.) with y (acc.)." 

(2)

quod mihi obiectum est: "something which has been alleged against me” (in the prosecution's speech), referring presumably to Pontianus's last minute change of mind about the wedding, which Apuleius admits happened and that he ignored in favor of marrying Pudentilla anyhow.   

It is not clear what this remark refers to. The suggestion is that Apuleius had been critized for some "breach of contract" and change of mind after his wedding. But until here, the accusation concerned only his behaviour leading up to the marriage (Hunink).

eum: Pontianum; subject, in indirect statement, of dēscīvisse, prohibitum īsse and parātum fuisse.

ā compectī fide dēscīvisse: "broke the terms of our agreement" (Jones), i.e., that Apuleius would marry Pudentilla.

animī mūtātum: "having been changed of mind," = "having changed his mind," genitive of specification AG 349d.

quod anteā nimiō studiō festīnārat: the clause acts as the direct object of the supine prohibitum.

festīnārat: festīnāverat.

prohibitum īsse: "had come to prohibit," Forms of eō īre + supine are often little more that a periphrasis for the verb itself (OLD eo 12).

dēnique .... parātum fuisse: dēnique (eum (=Pontianum) parātum fuisse quidvīs patī, (et) quidvīs facere nē mātrimōnium nostrum coalēsceret.

(3)

quamquam: "though," transitional from the 74.2, not contrasting with sed ... reliquit below.

omnis illa ... mūtātiō: "that whole change."

suscepta ... simultās: "feud taken up."

nōn ipsī vitiō vertenda sit: "must not be be reckoned a fault of (Pontianus) himself." The double dative is normal with this idiom, LS vitium II.B.1.

eccillī: ecce + ille, an emphatic conversational Latin combination seen in Roman comedy, see LS ecce II.D, and above 53.8.

Herenniō Rufīnō: Pontianus's father-in-law. He is known only from this speech. He is referred to in 67.1 as Aemilianus's impulsor.

ūnum nēminem: "not a single person." The phrase neminem unum is found in Caesar and Livy, among others.

sē: ablative of comparison.

relīquit: "has left" (remaining, besides himself).

(4)

Paucīs: supply verbīs, "in a few words" = "briefly."

quam modestissimē poterō: "as dispassionately as I will be able," i.e., if he can manage to keep himself from flying off the handle.

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Given the extensive and vehement attack which follows, both paucis and quam modestissime potero are outright understatements. In length and intensity, the invective launched at Herennius Rufinus and his family surpasses all earlier invective in the speech, either against Aemilianus or against helpers of the prosecution such as Crassus (see 59). The central motifs are that of sexual license and debauchery on the one hand, and greed on the other hand. As in the earlier invective, echoes of comedy play an important role in the characterization (see 59.5). If we add up the various invective elements, the initial picture we get of Rufinus has almost nothing personal: his characterization remains within the limits of stereotype and caricature (Hunink).

necessāriō: "by necessity," not because he wants to. The point of necessity is humorously rendered in the negative purpose clause ne... operam perdiderit.

dēmōnstrābō: "describe."

eō: Herenniō.

nē ... operam perdiderit: "so that he will not have wasted his effort," implying that Herennius is just in it for the attention.

negōtium istud mihi: "this business against me," i.e., the trial/accusations. istud for hoc, as common in Apuleius.

ex summīs vīribus: "with the greatest effort."

cōnflāvit: the image is that of blowing on an ember to cause a fire to flare up.

(5)

Hic: Herennius Rufinus.

puerulī huius: Pudens.

hic: supply est, as in the next four instances.

testium coēmptor: "the one bribed the witnesses," such as Crassus, as Apuleius alleges at 58.1.

tōtīus calumniae fornācula: "the one who cooked up this whole false accusation."

A fornacula is a furnace or oven. This metaphorical use ("instigator") is unparalleled in Latin. It is highly effective here: it implies setting fire to rumors and keeping them ablaze, while the diminutive form adds a note of scorn (Hunink).

fax et flagellum: "the torch and the whip," i.e., the person who was goading him on. For fax as an instrument of urging, LS fax II.B.

id: "the fact that," looks forward to the indirect statement which follows: mē ... reum postulātum (esse).

apud omnēs: "at everyone's houses," "all over town."

(6)

habet: the subject is still Herennius.

in istīs: "in these affairs."

quod sibi plaudat: "(something) which he could applaud for himself," = "cause for self-congratulation," with plaudat a subjunctive in a relative clause of characteristic.

dēpector: "fixer," an otherwise unattested noun derived from depeciscor -pisci -pectus, "to bargain for," "come to terms."

nec nōn īdem: "and also, one and the same,"

libīdinum gāneārumque locus, lustrum, lupānar: "the center, the haunt, the brothel of lecheries and debaucheries" (Jones). For lupānar as a term of personal abuse, see Catullus 42.13 o lutum, lupānar.

cūnctīs probrīs: abl. of cause with nōtus, what Herennius was known for.

palam nōtus: "widely known," OLD palam 2.b.

(7)

ōlim in pueritiā: "long ago, in his boyhood," a note of Herennius's now advanced age.

ēmasculātōribus suīs ... mōrigerus: "having obliged his pederasts.”

The word (ēmasculātōribus) occurs only here. It is not merely a synonym for corruptor or pedicator but it suggests castration and permanent damage done to Rufinus: he has been "unmanned.” This point is emphasized by morigerus, as mogem gerere was a term normally used for sexual behavior of females (Hunink).

ad omnia infanda: "in every unspeakable act."

saltandīs fabulīs: dat. with an adjective of fitness of inclination (AG 384) with the adjectives exossis ... et ēnervis: his amazing bendiness was suitable for dancing these dances.

The saltica fabula which came into favor during the reign of Augustus consisted of a dramatic libretto chanted by a choir, while the actor or pantomimus illustrated the action by a mimetic dance. For its extreme popularity see Lucian, De saltatione (B/O).

exossis ... et ēnervis: third declension nominative adjectives describing Herennius as a iuvenis.

indoctā et rudī: "untrained and unsophisticated."

Negātur: "he (Herennius) is not said" + inf. (habuisse).

quicquam histriōnis: "any (characteristic) of an actor."

impudīcitiam: the gross immorality of the pantomimi is almost a commonplace in the literature of the Empire (B/O).