97

At the end of his life, Pontianus spoke of me in the highest terms, both in his letters and in a second will, which Rufinus prevented him from completing. Pontianus thwarted Rufinus's legacy hunting by leaving only a token legacy to his daughter, Pontanianus's erstwhile wife. Pontianus's main heirs were his mother and his brother, Pudens. Rufinus is now renewing his attempts to get Pudentilla's fortune by sending his daughter to seduce Pudens into marriage.

read more

"It is important to note that in neither will which Pontianus wrote did he make his wife an heir. Pontianus thus nullified the effect of Herennius’s machinations, and thereby obliged him to repeat them on Pudens. Further, Pontianus’ will—apparently the latter of the two—confirmed all that Apuleius had said of the Herennius family." Winter 1968: 15-16.

(1)

Audīstī:  addressing Pudens.

vocābula: "designations," "titles."

cum ... tum: "both ... and."

saepe aliās: "at many other times."

Postquam ...: A textual problem which cannot be solved (Hunink). Helm and other editors believe there is a lacuna (small piece of text missing) after the word. The clause may have belonged to either the preceding or the next sentence.

(2)

tuās ... epistulās: an allusion to flattering, submissive letters by Pudens. This comes as a surprise, given all the invective against the boy. If such letters really existed, they could only have been written at a much earlier stage of the events (Hunink).

parēs:  "similar," to the ones written by Pontianus in respect to their positive tone toward Apuleius. OLD par 5.

vel exiguam moram: "even the slightest delay."

tantī: "of such (importance)," "worthwhile," genitive of value (AG 417).

putārem: "considered," LS puto II.B.2.c.

Potius: "Rather (than do that)."

testāmentum illud recēns: another illusion to a document not presented in court. Apuleius refers to Pontianus’s second will, which paid tribute to himself and Pudentilla. But this will have remained incomplete, and therefore may be considered legally invalid. Significantly, nothing is quoted from it (Hunink).

quamquam imperfectum tamen: "even unfinished though it is" (Jones).

prōferrī: "produced as evidence," OLD profero 5.

meī: genitive after meminit, as normal.

(3)

Quod tamen ... testāmentum: connecting relative, "but this will/testament."

neque comparārī neque perficī: "to be drawn up or finished."

How Rufinus could prevent this will from being finished remains entirely unclear. We do not get a good idea of the facts: Apuleius is now launching another piece of invective against Rufinus and deliberately blurring the picture (Hunink).

pudōre perditae hērēditātis: "out of shame of his lost inheritance," i.e., the money that Rufinus hoped to obtain by marrying his daughter to the son of a wealthy widow whose money would go to the son/daughter. Rufinus considers this money lost due to Apuleius's marriage to Pudentilla and his putative absorption of her wealth; Apuleius has already taken pains to explain that no such absorption was forthcoming.

quam: antecedent is hērēditātis; direct object of computā(ve)rat, "which he had reckoned up."

paucōrum mēnsium ... magnō quidem pretiō noctium: "with a great price, indeed, of (her) nights of those few months," "at a steep cost per night for those few months." As Rufinus had once pimped out his wife, he now is depicted as understanding his daughter's marriage to Pontianus as an arrangement in prostitution; he is counting the nights they are together and assuming that he is to be paid the bill from Pudentilla's fortune.

(4)

nesciō quōs Chaldaeōs: "some astrologers or other."

"Chaldeans” was a generic term for fortune-tellers, because of the reputation of Babylonia as a source of astronomical and astrological knowledge (Jones).

quō lucrō fīliam collocāret: indirect question. Rufinus asked the shady astrologers "with what profit would he marry off his daughter," i.e., how much money would he get if he married his daughter to Pontianus, presumably in order to decide whether to agree to or press for the marriage.

quī: antecedent is the Chaldaeōs; supply responderunt for a verb to introduce the indirect statement prīmum marītum ... moritūrum (esse).

prīmum: adverbial, "first of all," looking forward to cētera.

eius: her (Rufinus's daughter's).

in: "within," not strictly necessary before the abl. of time within which.  Apuleius uses this construction also in chapter 75.9 in paucīa annīs.

Cētera: "as for the rest," of the things that they told him.

dē hērēditāte ... cōnfīnxērunt: "they made up something about an inheritance."

ad cōnsulentis vōtum: "to match the prayer / desire of the person consulting them," in this case, Rufinus. The typical procedure of astrologers.

(5)

Vērum: "but."

quasi caeca bēstia in cassum hiāvit: "like a blind animal he opened his jaws to no effect" (Jones). In cassum = "into the void," = (adverbial) "in vain," LS cassus II. Hiāvit = "he panted after," "he longed for" the prophesied moneys. LS hio I.B.2.

male compertam: "once he figured out how bad she was." OLD compertus a, "known to be a bad character," the participle of comperio, indicating that he had, after investigation, found out that she was not a great person. Jones accepts the emendation mali compertam,  "convicted of evil."

We must suppose that the phrase is framed on the analogy of the well-known idiom male audire = to have an ill name. But there is no nearer parallel (B/O). 

hērēdem nōn relīquit: "did not leave (the daughter of Rufinus) as his heir," "did not name her in his will as his heir."  Apparently Apuleius is talking about the second, unfinished testament of Pontianus. See Hunink.

nē honestō quidem lēgātō impertīvit: "he did not even present her with an honorable (decent, substantial) bequest," LS impertio II, LS lego II.B.2, OLD legatum.

(6)

quippe quī: "seeing as he."

ad ignōminiam: "for (the purpose of causing her) shame."

lintea ... denariorum: a complex insult. In the first place, two hundred denarii (or eight hundred sesterces) is a very low sum. Moreover, linen was associated with prostitutes, as may be deduced from Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae 19.25.5 amiculum est meretricum pallium lineum. The final blow is that a supply of linen for two hundred denarii would suffice for at least a dozen cloaks, and so implies extensive activities in the field of prostitution (Hunink).

Casaubon quotes Isidore, Origines 19.25, amiculum est meretricum pallium Iineum.  hunc apud veteres matronae in adtulterio deprehensae induebantur. But the allusion is overfanciful (B/O).

eī ... adscrībī: "to be bequeathed to her," LS ascribo I.B.2.

ducentōrum ferē dēnāriōrum: "(at a value) of almost 200 denarii."

ut intellegerētur: "so that he could be understood to..." + infinitives aestimā(vi)sse and praeteri(i)sse, each with Pontianus as an implied subject.

īrātus ... oblītus ...: adverbial, "in anger ... in forgetfulness /  by oversight."

potius ... quam: "rather than."

aestimasse: naturally, the implication is highly unfavorable. Pontianus has "estimated her worth," but her proceeds turn out to be much lower than her father had calculated (97.3 computarat) (Hunink).

(7)

tam ... quam: supply scripserat, "the same as he had designated."

priōre: "in his earlier (will)."

cui ... illam fīliae suae māchinam Rufīnus admovet: antecedent of cui is Pudens: "against whom Rufinus is positioning the that same siege-engine that is his daughter" as a potential wife, in order to try to get his hands on Pudentilla's property, as he had done with Pudens's brother Pontianus. Admovēre machinam is a normal phrase for moving a siege machine in to attack a city, and Cicero had used the same idea as a metaphor (Pro Cluentio 36.8).  

admodum puerō: modifying cui: "while still a boy," "while still quite young" in contrast to the allegedly much older Herennia, daughter of Rufinus.

aliquam: as postpositive τις in Greek, with a pregnant sense, not indefinite, "a certain (astounding choice) of woman" LS aliquis II.C.

obicit et obsternit: "is foisting (acc.) upon (dat.) and spreading (acc.) out before (dat.)." 

For the combination of verbs compounded with ob, see ch. 50 obruit et obturbat (B/O).