98

As soon as Pontianus died, Pudens moved from Pudentilla's house to that of Aemilianus, who is now his legal guardian. Aemilanus favors and fosters Rufinus's schemes to get at Pudentilla's fortune. Aemilianus now shows new, unaccustomed interest in Pudens, on whom he has had a morally corrupting influence. His education is being neglected to the point where he only speaks Punic well, not Latin or Greek, and he frequents dive bars (gānea), prostitutes, and gladiatorial games.

(1)

ille: Pudens.

exinde ut: "as soon as."

animam ēdidit: periit.

ad patruum commigrāvit: Pontianus had been the tutor of his younger brother (68.6). After Pontianus's death, Pudens moved in with his uncle Aemilianus. Probably it was Aemilianus, his closest male relative, to whom the tutorship legally passed. Apart from the legal issue, this is an important detail: it explains that Apuleius and Pudentilla have nothing more to do with the boy, and so motivates and justifies the following savage attack (Hunink).

quō facilius: "by which (act) they could the more easily ..." "in order that more easily ..." quō + comparative adverb + subjunctive to express purpose.

remōtīs nōbīs: "with us out of the way."

coepta perficerentur: "they could finish what they started," i.e., marrying Rufinus's daughter to Pudens.

(2)

enim: Apuleius is going to explain why Pudens moving in with Aemilianus would further Rufinus's aims.

prōventum cupit: "wants him to succeed." 

rectē vōs ammonētis: "thank you for the reminder" (Jones), addressed to some bystanders.

etiam suam spem: not only hopes for a financial windfall for Rufinus, but also for himself.

temperat ... ac fovet: "blends (with Rufinus's) and cultivates." OLD tempero 6.b.

in istō: in Pudens. In arranging his affairs for him, he's doing so more for his own sake than that of the child.

quī sciat: "since he knows," causal relative clause. AG 535e.

legitimum: "by law of succession," as opposed to by provision in the will. A heres legitimus is an heir who inherits according to the civil law from someone who died intestate (without a will), in contrast to heres testamentarius who inherits in accordance with a will.

Aemilianus is pictured as a legacy hunter, but one of a rather unusual kind: he is not waiting for an old woman to die, but a young man. Legally, if Pudens were to die intestate, Aemilianus would automatically be the first in order of succession, the heres legitimus (Hunink).

futūrum: supply sē esse, "that he would be."

(3)

Nōllem hercule hoc ā mē prōfectum: supply esse. "I would not have wanted to start this idea" (Jones).

nōn fuit: subject is the infinitive abrumpere, "It was not ... to blurt out openly."

meae moderātiōnis: "characteristic of my natural sense of moderation."

Male: supply fēcistis or something similar: "shame on you!" (Jones).

quī suggessistis: "(you all) who produced (this uncharacteristically frank comment on Apuleius's part)." LS suggero II.B.

(4)

Plānē: "openly," as opposed to the other things the crowd was murmuring before.

mīrantur: "are wondering at," "are confused by" + simple accusative direct object.

tam repentīnam ... pietātem tuam: "your so-sudden sense of duty."

circā: "concerning."

anteā: i.e., ante mortem Pontiāni.

illī: dative, referring to Pudens; construe with ignōtus.

nē in occursū quidem: "not even on running into him (by happenstance)."

dē faciē: "from his face" = "by his face."

(5)

patientem: "compliant(ly)."

te eī praebes: "you are behaving toward him," OLD praebeo 5.c.

itaque: separate the enclitic and construe ita with corrumpis, "and you corrupt him so much."

eī ... adversāre: adversāris, "you are opposed to him," "you stand up to him."

per haec: "though these things," "by doing these things."

suspicāciōribus fidem faciās: "you confirm the belief of anyone at all suspicious" (Jones), due to the rumors mentioned above.

Investem:  "below the age of puberty, youthful" (OLD investis), modifying an understood eum = Pudentem. 

vesticipem: "sexually mature" (OLD vesticeps). 

Apuleius hints that Aemilianus played the passive role in sex with his ward, just as he more openly accuses Aemilianus’s collaborator Rufinus of having been a “pansy” (74.7) (Jones).

(6)

ā nōbīs regerētur: "he was being ruled by us," "he was under our household rules."

postremissumīs: "the most depraved."

hōc aevī: "at this point of his life," i.e., "while still (too) young."  

convīvium agitat: "is engaged in (one huge never-ending) party."

(7)

Ipse domī tuae rēctor, ipse familiae dominus, ipse magister convīviō: the three instances of ipse refer to Aemilianus, whose role as rēctor and dominus in the first two elements of the tricolon are undercut by the third, and especially the last word: "this same man was your magister — in partying."

et pugnās et vulnera: the game history of the local gladiators: how many fights they have had, what wounds they have gotten (possibly with an eye toward making bets).

quidem ut puer honestus: an ironic aside, "indeed, just as an honorable boy should!"

(8)

nisi Pūnicē: "except in Punic."

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In Roman Africa, Punic persisted as a spoken language. It was current in the second century, and there are still many testimonies in the works of Augustine and even later. Meanwhile, at an early stage Greek and Latin were firmly established as the languages of culture. As a speaker of Punic and just a bit of Greek (si quid ... graecissat), and one who stutters and stammers (fringultientem; see 34.2) when he has to answer in Latin, Pudens is quite unlike his brother, who had embarked on a career as an orator. More importantly, he is the very opposite of Apuleius himself, who was called tam Graece quam Latine ... disertissimum (4.1). The double contrast is made explicit in 98.9. Inevitably, the picture of Pudens is exaggerated for the sake of the effect (Hunink).

sī quid adhūc ā mātre graecissat: "If he still speaks any of Greek (that he learned) from his mother." Recall that Pudentilla's letter was in Greek.

(9)

Audīstī: Audīvistī. 

ab eō quaererēs: "you were asking of him."

dōnāssetne illīs māter: indirect question dependent upon quaererēs, with -ne = num, "whether."

dōnāsset: dōnāvisset.

illīs: Pontianus and Pudens.

quae: "(the things) which."

mē adnītente: "with me urging (her to do so)," "by my urging."

dōnāta: supply esse, "were given."