93

If I had wanted to steal Pudentilla's fortune I would have sown discord between her and her sons. But I did the opposite. I did my best to reconcile them and persuaded her — against her inclination — to enrich them with large gifts of land, produce, and slaves, as a foretaste of the generosity of her testamentary wishes.

(1)

Age vērō: "But go on (and answer me this)."

quid mihi ūtilius ... fuit quam ... serere: "what would have been more useful to me than to sow." For the perfect indicative (rather than pluperfect subjunctive) denoting necessity, propriety, or the like, see AG 521.a note.

ad possidendam domum: ad + accusative gerundive expressing purpose.

eius: Pudentillae.

līberōrum cāritātem: objective genitive, "her affection towards her children."

quō ... possidērem: "by which (act) I could have held," "so that I could hold," quō + a comparative adverb to express purpose.

liberōrum ... līberius: B/O note the pun and compare Plautus, Miles Gloriosus 682-3.

sōlus: i.e., without having to share Pudentilla (or her dowry) with Pudentilla's sons.

(2)

hoc ... quod: "the act which."

praedōnis: "of (mine, acting as) a robber" = "of robbery," i.e., as a legacy hunter.

quiētis et concordiae et pietātis: objective genitives dependent upon auctor, conciliātor, favīsor.

sēvī: this is an emendation by Elmenhorst for seruī, which would come from sero serere serui sertus "to link together," "contrive." But given the agricultural metaphor of extirpāvī, sēvī > sero serere sevi "sow," seems better. See Hunink.

vetera: i.e., odia, a reference to the previous discord between Pontianus and Pudentilla concerning her marriage to Apuleius, generated by Rufinus.

funditus: "from the root," that they might not grow back, in terms of the agricultural metaphor begun with sēvī and extirpāvī.

(3)

trānsvorāram: trānsvorāveram > trānsvorō = dēvorō, "to go through with a ravenous appetite," "devour." 

suāsī ... ac dēnique persuāsī: "I urged and finally persuaded."

pecuniam ... reposcentibus: it is not clear which money is meant (Hunink). See section 71.

dē quō: "about which (situation)."

in praedīs: in praediīs, "in (the form of) estates."

vīlī aestimātīs et quantō ipsī volēbant: Pudentilla let her sons have the land, by surrender of which she paid her debts to her sons, at their own valuation, i.e., considerably below market prices. She therefore did more than pay her debts (B/O).

An act of generosity. Pudentilla paid out in kind, agreeing upon a low price per iugerum. In this way her sons received much land for their money (Hunink).

(4)

praetereā ... dōnāret: "and moreover (that) she should give (to her sons)," continuing the indirect command dependent upon persuāsī in 93.3.

An additional gift, as an advance on the inheritance. Formally speaking, such a donation is made as an "act of grace." Meanwhile, it may have been intended to compensate the boys for the delay in payment, or even to reduce them to silence and stifle their opposition to the marriage (Hunink).

agrōs et grandem domum: Pudentilla's additional gift is also paid out in kind. 

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Indirectly, the description creates a vivid impression of her wealth: the boys receive fertile lands, a house, much wheat, barley, wine, oil, and other fruits of the earth; further, four hundred slaves and a great number of precious cattle. If such opulence is merely an "advance" and a friendly gesture, one realizes what huge interests were really at stake in this trial. This passage has aroused great interest among historians as a comparatively rare testimony for agriculture and economy in Roman Africa. There are some intriguing missing points here. For example, it has been noted that camels are absent. More importantly, there is no mention of income from interest or from trade in general. We must, however, keep in mind that Apuleius is not making an official record of Pudentilla's income but enlarging upon her munificence for the sake of effect (Hunink).

opulentē ōrnātam: modifying grandem domum.

magnamque vim: "and a large amount," LS vis I.B.1, presumably of estates that produce the following crops (in the genitive).

servōs quoque haud minus CCCC: this number has attracted much attention from scholars. If Pudentilla donated 400 slaves, she evidently must have possessed many more. Estimates vary, with 600 as the absolute minimum. It is usually held that extensive slave labor was not common in North African agriculture of the 2nd century. Pudentilla's case shows that this rule was not without exceptions and may need some adjustment (Hunink).

amplius: "even more generously," "and on top of all of that."

abiectī pretiī: genitive of description.

(5)

ut: a purpose clause in two parts explaining the end to which Apuleius encouraged Pudentilla to give over so much family wealth to her sons.

eōs: i.e., Pudentilla's sons, direct object of both habēret and invītāret.

ex eā parte quam tribuisset: "from ( = by means of) the part that she had granted them" ahead of time, LS pars I.6.b.

eōs ... sēcūrōs habēret: "make them stop worrying," "ease their concerns," "make them sure" (Jones), OLD securus 3.

ad cētera hērēditātis bonā spē invītāret: "encourage them to expect the remainder of their legacy in full confidence" (Jones). Bona may also be neut. pl., "wealth," and agree with cētera.

(6)

Haec: "these (concessions)," listed above.

patiētur: subject is Pudentilla, future tense, "she will not mind," perhaps with the force of an imperative.

utī rēs fuit: "how the situation was."

aegrē extudī: the melodrama steadily increases. Apuleius now poses as a detached philanthropist, taking great pains to persuade a mother to benefit her sons. Subtly, he starts claiming all the credit for what Pontianus and Pudens have received. In the end we can even get the impression that it is he who has paid: grandi pecunia auxi. This, too, is a deliberate exaggeration. See 96.4 (Hunink).

invītae et īrātae: dative of disadvantage with extorsī, "I wrung from her while she was unwilling and angry," AG 376. 

extorsī: "I obtained by force," by force of his prayers, an oratorical victory rather than a physical one.

prīmō hōc vitricī beneficiō: "with this first gift of (me) their stepfather" = "with this, my first gift to them as their stepfather." 

To the Romans, a stepfather acting in the interest of his stepsons is something of a paradox. There were even legal rules to prevent a stepfather from getting hold of the estates of stepchildren. Apuleius increases the surprise effect by primo: this was merely his first proof of stepfatherly charity (Hunink).

auxī: "enriched" > augeō.