96

It is outrageous that Aemilianus accuses me, a man approved of by governor Lollianus Avitus, of magical practices. Pontianus regretted his earlier attacks on me and said so to Avitus. Had Pontianus's will not been obstructed by Aemilianus, he would have said very complimentary things about me in it. In lieu of that, please read out the letters he sent to me from Carthage and on his way back to Sabratha from Carthage, just before his death.

(1)

quod aegrē ferō: "a fact which I can barely endure," referring to the necessity of the passive periphrastic which follows.

tantī virī: Lollianus Avitus.

pestēs: a term of abuse, "scoundrels" (Jones).

revolvenda est: "must be brought back (in topic)."

(2)

cōnferre: "to compare.”

Quemne: "the person who," i.e., Apuleius.

ille: Lollianus Avitus.

bonum virum ait: supply esse, "says is a good man.”

animī dispositiōnem: "temperament" or "cast of mind" (Jones).

collaudat: subject is still Avitus.

eum: "is that the person ...?"

magīae <et> maleficiī crīminis: "the crime of magic, and the black art." The et is an addition approved by B/O and Jones, but not by Hunink. Genitives of the charge or accusation.

īnsectābere: īnsectāberis.

(3)

An ... egit: order: An tū dēbēs dolēre magis quam Pontiānus doluisset mē invāsisse domum Pudentillae et concipilāre bona eius, quī (Pontianus) etiam satisfēcit apud Avītum mihi absentī ob simultātēs paucōrum diērum ortās vestrō scīlicet īnstīnctū, quī grātiās ēgit mihi apud tantum virum?

invāsisse mē domum Pudentillae: "that I seized control Pudentilla's household," OLD invado 6.b, indirect statement after dolēre.

concipilāre: "am laying violent hands on," "am seizing." 

A rare, expressive word from the sphere of comedy. It occurs in Plautus, Truculentus 621.

paucōrum diērum: "a few days' worth of."

vestrō scīlicet īnstīnctū: ablative of cause with ortās.

apud Avītum: "with Avitus," "as far as Avitus went."

tantum virum: Avitus.

(4)

Putā mē ... lēgisse: "suppose that I had read out."

ācta apud Avītum: acta must mean a "report of what happened in Avitus's presence." For this use of acta, compare the well known phrases acta senatūs, acta urbis diurna (Tacitus, Annals 13.31) (B/O).

vel tu vel quisquis: this is an emendation, accepted by Jones, for the manuscript's quas q(ui)s, which is unintelligible. See B/O.

quod: "that which."

acceptum meō mūnerī ferēbat: “considered as a gift from me.” The phrase acceptum (re)ferre + dat. means "to set down to the credit of," "to have x to thank for," OLD acceptus 2.b. 

mē vitricum sibi contigisse: "that I had happened to become his stepfather," LS contingo II.B.3.b., indirect statement after laetābātur.

(5)

Quod: "(in respect to) which (situation)," i.e., in light of the fact that Apuleius and Pontianus were so close.

utinam ... revertisset: optative subjunctive, counterfactual.

Carthāgine: ablative of place from which.

sīc eī fuerat ... dēcrētum: "this is how it was decreed for him," i.e., that he would not return from Carthage alive.

fātō: "by (the will of) fate."

Originally, Apuleius had been accused of murdering Pontianus, but the charge had been dropped. The death of the young man now appears as "natural," although its circumstances remain largely unclear: Apuelius merely alludes to some illness (96.6) as the cause and does not say a word on the hour of death or the funeral (Hunink).

suprēmum eius iūdicium: "his last will and testament." For this legal phrase see Justinian's Digest of Roman Law 35.1.70 pr.4. Pontianus was about to make a will more favorable to Apuleius. How Rufinus tried to suppress this one will be explained in 97.2-3. See Costantini 251-2.

Quās ... grātiās: exclamatory, "what thanks!"

cōram: "in person."

dēnique: "at the end," after he had died.

(6)

iam adveniēns ex itinere: "already on the the way approaching (Sabratha)."

quās adhūc validus, quās iam aeger: supply for each entry litterās praemīsit.

quaesō ... (ut) sinās: indirect command, "I pray that you allow.”

(7)

eius: Pontianus

quam ... cum frātre optumae memoriae virō: order: quam minor in omnibus currat curriculum vitae cum frātre, virō optumae memoriae.

quam ... minor: "how (being) lesser," adverbially with currat: "how much worse." 

cum frātre: "in comparison with his brother."

optumae memoriae: genitive of description describing Pontianus, "(a man) of excellent legacy," "(a man who is) remembered very fondly."

currat: subjunctive in the indirect question dependent upon the exclamatory quam. The subject is Pudens.

vitae curriculum ... currat: "runs the race of life," i.e., lives.

(...): the ellipse represents the reading of excerpts from the letters in question not included in the text of the speech.