9

In an attempt to provoke ill-will towards me, my accusers read out some love poems (carmina) I wrote about two slave boys. But these show only that I am a poet, and have nothing to do with black magic (magica maleficia) (1-5). Many well-known poets, both Greek and Latin, have written racy, erotic verse, as did philosophers like Solon, Diogenes, and Zeno (6-11). I will recite my poems, just to show I am not ashamed of them. The first reassures Charinus that I love both him and Critias equally (11-12); the second celebrates Critias's birthday (13).

The argument here depends on the confusion of two meanings of the word carmen, "lyric love poem" and "magic formula, incantation, spell" (LS carmen II.B.1 and II.B.5). 

(1)

Mittō haec: “enough of these things.” This use of mittere seems to strike a slightly arrogant tone (Hunink).

ut illī vocant: almost a parenthetical, construe with amātōriōs. "The 'amatory' ones, as they call them."

amātōriōs: the word amatorius is sometimes used for a love-philtre, as in Pliny, Natural History 9.79 and 8.83, where the word is used with the sense of "causing to love." Apuleius may be availing himself of an ambiguity in the word, and trying to let a charge of composing magical spells appear as a charge of writing ordinary love-poems (B/O).

lēgēre: lēgērunt.

movērent: "inspire" (LS moveo I.B), subjunctive in a result clause after tam.

quid ad: supply pertinet: “In what respect (does it pertain) to” + acc. (magica malefica). The subject is the substantive clause quod ... laudāvī below.

quod... laudāvī: "(the fact) that I praised."

puerōs: "(young) male slaves" (OLD puer 5). Sex with freeborn boys was a serious offense but sex with slaves was tolerated.

Scrībōnī Laetī: Scribonius Laetus is an otherwise unknown friend of Apuleius.

(3)

ideō ... quia ... : "is it for the following reason that ... because ...".

magus ... poēta: supply sum with both.

fandō: "in an act of speaking," take with audivit, "Who ever heard expressed" (Jones).

veri similem: "plausible," sometimes printed as one word. This and the following adjectives are used with heavy irony. The genitive is normal after simils and universal in this particular expression (LS similis α), though the dative is also possible, as in similia veris. In this passage veri is not in the manuscript but is added by many editors.

aptam: "fitting, appropriate" (OLD aptus 9).

proximum: "apposite, relevant" (OLD proximus 9).

tam ... argūmentum: a refined anaphoric tricolon (Hunink).

(4)

malōs … bonōs: supply versūs fēcī. Apuleius seems to be deliberately confusing two notions of malus here. In a magical context, mala carmina refers to harmful magical charms, but he pretends to see only the more straightforward sense of "badly composed verse," and so reduces the whole issue to a matter of ridicule (Hunink).

(5)

lūdicrōs et amātōriōs: supply versūs.

haec: i.e., the creation of playful and erotic verse.

nōmine: "in respect to the name (of the charge of which you have accused me),” "in the ground of the accusation" (see OLD nomen 25). "You picked the wrong word" (Jones).

quī: "you all who," with causal force: "seeing as you all," since you all" (LS qui II.B.1).

magīae: genitive of charge AG 352.  

dētulistis: "you accused (me) of" + gen. of charge (LS defero II.B.2.b). 

(6)

Fēcēre: fēcērunt.

tālia: i.e., writing frisky poems.

Tēius quīdam: "a certain man of Teos," i.e. Anacreon, the famous lyric poet.

Lacedaemonius: supply quīdam, "a (certain) Lacedaemonian," i.e. Alcman of Sparta.

Cīus: supply quīdam, "a (certain) Cean," i.e. Simonides of Ceos.

(7)

etiam mulier Lesbia: "even a woman, from Lesbos," i.e. Sappho.

lascīvē illa quidem: supply fecit carmina. 

tantāque grātiā: "and with such grace (did she do so)."

īnsolentiam: "strangeness," "extravagance."

commendet: "renders agreeable," though it would otherwise be unpleasant (OLD commendo 6.a). 

(8)

vērō: introducing further argument: "moreover," "furthermore," "on the other hand."

Aedituus et Porcius et Catulus: Valerius Aedituus, Porcius Licinus, and Q. Lutatius Catulus, three little-known old Roman lyric poets. (Note that this Q. Lutatius Catulus is not the more famous poet Gaius Valerius Catullus of the late republic). These poets are also grouped together by Apuleius' close contemporary Aulus Gellus (Attic Nights 19.10), who quotes a few of their verses.

'At philosophī nōn fuēre': "But they (the lyric poets just mentioned) were not philosophers." Apuleius wants to show that writing risqué poetry is not just acceptable behavior, but acceptable for a philosopher such as himself. He had similarly argued that tooth-washing is appropriate for philosophers. He needs precedents among philosophers, which he will now provide.

sērium: "sober in character" (OLD serius 2).

cuius ... est: "to whom belonged," but the logic of the argument suggests this is concessive, "even though he wrote."

ille: "that well-known."

μηρῶν ἱμείρων καὶ γλυκεροῦ στόματος: "yearning for his thighs and sweet mouth,” a pentameter line, second line of an elegiac couplet. A fuller version is given by Plutarch, Amatorius 5.751b.

(10)

petulāns: "wanton," "immodest," "dirty."

cum istō ūnō: supply versū, i.e., the verse of Solon just quoted.

sī ... contendantur: "if they are compared" (OLD contendo 9), subject should be understood as omnēs versūs meī.

(11)

ut taceam: "to say nothing of," "not to speak of" + acc., a fairly common phrase.

Diogenis Cynicī: Diogenes of Sinope, aka Diogenes the Cynic, whose works may have included an Erotikos and a Ganymedes, both possibly with pederastic themes (Hunink).

Zēnōnis: Zeno of Citium, founder of the Stoic school of philosophy, of whose recorded works no clear titles allude to pederastic contents. But Diogenes Laertius mentions a possible erotike techne ("Art of Love") by him (Hunink).

id genus: "of this sort."

sciant: subject should be understood as Apuleius' accusers.

eōrum: versuum, genitive as the cause of the feeling with an impersonal verb (pigere): AG 354.

(12)

et ... et: both ... and.

mea dēlicia: “my beloved,” a "Plautine" singular (Hunink).

salva ... pars: "an unharmed part," i.e., unimpaired by his love for Critias. "Half" (Jones).

vīta: vocative, “my life” = "my darling."

ignis et ignis: a two-fold burning desire, treated as the singular subject of torreat.

torreat: "let (the fire) scorch."

ut vult: "as it likes."

dum:  "provided that" + subj. (potiar) (AG 528). Supply te (Charinus). "Just to win you" (Jones). Alternately, dum = "while," and both Charinus and Critias are the implied objects of potiar.

potiar: implies sexual conquest. See OLD potior 2.c, "win sexually, gain the submission of," with many examples from Roman comedy and Ovid. It is an interesting choice of words in terms of the boys being enslaved by his friend: "as long as I have the use of them," i.e., they're lent from Scribonius' possession to Apuleius'. 

patiar: future indicative.

Hoc modo sim vōbīs, ūnus sibi quisque quod ipse es: order: modo sim vōbīs, hoc quod quisque ūnus ipse es sibi "Only let me be to (both of) you that which each one (of you) himself is to each other," i.e., an intimate partner?

sibi: “to one another,” “to the other one (of you).”

hoc ... quod ... sunt oculī: supply meī: "that which (my) eyes are." One is perhaps reminded of the love topos "dearer than my eyes" (Hunink).

(13)

aliōs: i.e., versūs.

quasi intemperantissimōs: modifying quōs (versūs), "as if (they were) the most debauched (of all)," and so saved for the finale.

postrēmum: "last of all," modifying lēgēre.

lēgēre: lēgērunt.

(14)

serta: supply dōnō. 

meum mel: for this term of endearment, see Plautus, Poenulus 367.

geniō: the feast of the genius was celebrated on one's birthday. A sacrifice was made of flowers, consecrated wafers, and wine, and the forehead was touched in a gesture of veneration (Serv. Aen. 3.607) (Brill, genius).

carmina: supply dono tibi.

utī: ut, introducing purpose clause with canātur.

lux = diēs, i.e., Critias' birthday. LS lux I.B.2.

canātur: a pun on two meanings of cano: LS II.A "to sing (a song)," LS II.B.b, "to celebrate." Apuleius is giving him a song so that the birthday can be celebrated (with the singing of a song).

bis septēnō: "fourteenth."

remeat: "recurs," "comes around."

serta autem: supply dōnō tibi: "but (I give you) the garland."

laetō ... tempore: "during (this) happy time."

tibi: with tempora, "your temples,” around which garlands of flowers would be tied.

tempore tempora: typically Apuleian wordplay.

vernent: another play on words.  Critias’ temples will literally “be green” with a birthday garland, but they will also "be in the bloom of youth” on his fourteenth birthday.

aetātis flōrem: "the flower of (your) age," i.e., the peak of your youthful beauty.

contrā: "in return," LS contra I.A.3.

prō: "in exchange for," LS pro B.2.c.

vernō flōre: i.e., the serta.

tuum vēr: what exactly Apuleius is requesting here is unclear, but as seasonality has been a large portion of this poem's imagery, it could well simply refer to Critias' youth (OLD ver 1.b), beauty, and the company in which to enjoy it. In the next couplet the requests become more explicit.

mūnera mūneribus: polyptoton.

complexum: "a (loving) embrace."

sāvia: suavia, acc., supply dēs.

Quod sī: "But if."

animum īnspīrēs: "breathe your soul into the reed" (Jones). In parallel passages animum refers to the human mind being inspired by the influence of a god. For Hunink, this suggests that the adored boy is addressed as a divine person, and asked to inspire the soul of the poet by his music. Accepting the emendation donaci (see below), there could also be a play on anima, "breath."

donaci: dative singular of the Greek noun donax, a shepherd's pipe made of reed (δόναξ). See Theocritus, Idyll 20.29. donaci is an emendation by Moriz Haupt for the reading of the manuscripts, dona et.

calamō: the shepherd's pipe just referred to, abl. of means after victa. The implication might be that "Critias" is a farm slave. Or this could be a literary reference associating him with the world of Vergilian pastoral poetry. See 10.5.