5

If I have any eloquence, it is the result of intense, lifelong study and the rejection of all other pleasures, to the detriment of my health (1). Although I have pursued eloquence, I may not have achieved it (2). But if innocence is eloquence, I am fully supplied, having lived a blameless life, and I can talk openly about any aspect of it (3-5), such as the allegedly shameful verses my accusers recited—badly (6).

[clausulated text]

(1)

qua: "some," "any" eloquence = aliqua, fem. nom. sing.

invidiōsum: "a cause for envy." Apuleius implies that his accusers are motivated by jealousy.

sī ab ineunte aevō … quaesīssem: order: si eam (eloquentiam) quaesīssem ab ineunte aevō ….

ūnīs studiīs litterārum: "to nothing but the study of literature" (Jones), see LS littera II.B.

ex summīs vīribus: "with all my strength," an Apuleian turn of phrase.  

omnibus aliīs sprētīs voluptātibus: ablative absolute, spretis > sperno.

ad hoc aevī: "up to this (my current) age." aevi is partitive genitive AG 346.

haud sciam anne: "perhaps," literally, "I scarcely know whether or not," i.e., I have pursued it super omnēs hominēs.

diū: "by day,” a rare archaism for the more usual diē. LS diu I.1 and dies I.B.2. 

(2)

sī quid omnīnō prōmōvī, potius spērō quam praestō: quid = (ali)quid (eloquentiae). prōmōvī, “made progress” > LS promoveo II.A. praestō, "show," "exhibit" > LS praesto II.C.2.b. "Whatever advances I have made are more a matter of aspiration than achievement" (Jones). The modesty is conventional. 

(3)

Stātium Caecilium: Caecilius Statius, a Roman comic poet from the mid-Republican period, the kind of older, pre-classical author that Apuleius and many of his contemporaries enjoyed, and from whom they often borrowed archaic expressions.

poēmatibus: a rare variant for the more usual poematīs.

innocentiam ēloquentiam esse: "that innocence is eloquence." The quote from Caecilius Statius, reported indirectly, meaning that innocence itself is the best eloquence, and doesn't require any further skill to defend itself.

praeferō: "I declare" (OLD praefero 4.b), introducing indirect statement, mē ... concessūrum (esse), "that I will yield" > concēdo.

(4)

mē: ablative of comparison with eloquentior.

hōc ... pactō: pactō = ratiōne (LS pacisco B.3.β), "by that logic" (Jones), i.e., that innocence is eloquence.

quippe quī: “in so far as I," LS quippe 5.

(5)

Eundem mē aiō: idem is regularly used with pronouns to indicate that the same person is the subject of multiple predicates, in this case facundissimum esse ... disertissimum (mē esse). "And I also say that I..."

habuī: "have considered."

(6)

ut iam … dissertābō: "just as I will now discuss," giving an example of what he has just said, that he can discuss any aspect of his private life in public.

cum rīsū: Apuelius's laughing mocks the opponents' lack of eloquence and culture (Hunink).

illīs: the accusers.

eōs: the verses.