12

Plato says that Venus is a two-fold goddess (1); one type presides over common lust (2), the other, rarer kind presides over a more virtuous and pure love that permits no abuse of the body of the beloved (3-4); bodily beauty reminds us of the true beauty of the divine that the wise experience through recollection (anamnesis) (5-6).

(1)

Mittō: "I pass over," "omit" (LS mitto II.F), an example of praeteritio, where the speaker brings up a subject by denying that it should be brought up.

Platōnica: “Platonic teachings.” The mention of these Platonic teachings introduces an extended indirect statement with the following subjects and verbs. Plato argues that:

Venerem deam ... esse (12.1)

alteram ... imperitāre (12.2)

alteram ... curāre (12.3)

amōrem ... conciliāre et ... absterrēre (12.4)

neque quicquam aliud ... dīligendum (esse) (12.5)

alta et divīna Platōnica: what follows is a vulgarized version of the theory of the two kinds of Venus; for this famous theory of Aphrodite pandemos and Aphrodite ourania, see the speech of Pausanias in Plato's Symposium, 180c–185e. In the Metamorphoses this same theory is central to the story of Cupid and Psyche (Hunink).

rārissimō cuique piōrum gnāra: gnārus is a rarer synonym for notus (LS gnarus II); "known to only a very few pious souls" (Jones). 

profānīs: "the uninitiated."

geminam: the predicate is emphatically placed.

quamque: > quisque, "each one," i.e., each Venus.

pollentēs: "exerting power over," + abl. The plural of the participle is used as though geminās deās (a pair of goddesses) and not geminam deam (a twofold goddess) had preceded (B/O).

(2)

eārum alteram vulgāriam: "that one of them, the common one ...." Alteram is the subject of the continued indirect statement with imperitāre below. Vulgāriam (“belonging to the masses,” “common”) carries a pejorative sense. Note the parallelism between 12.2 and 12.3:

12.2: alteram ... quae sit percita ... imperitāre ... vincientem

12.3: alteram .... quae sit praedita ... curāre ... percellentem

sit percita: subjunctive in a relative clause of characteristic, or in a subordinate clause in indirect statement: "is the sort inspired," or "is (according to Plato) inspired."

hūmānīs animīs: dative with imperitāre, the normal construction.

pecuīnīs et ferīnīs: supply animīs.

ad libīdinem imperitāre: "forces into (deeds of) lust" (Jones).

trucīque ... complexū: the adjective-noun pair literally embraces the souls of the animals in question.

serva: "subservient" to lust.

(3)

alteram vērō caelitem Venerem: “But the other Venus, the celestial one ...." Continued indirect statement, looking forward to cūrāre below. vērō marks a strong antithesis.

praedita quae sit: the relative pronoun is elegantly postponed.

optimātī: > optimas, "of or belonging to the best or noblest in a state, aristocratic" (OLD optimas), a word often used in a political sense to refer to the senatorial faction in the Roman Republic. The use of this adjective encourages a retroactively political reading of populari above.

cūrāre: "to care for" + dat. (LS curo I.1.θ).

sectātōrēs: "followers," as of a philosophical school; see 9.11 secta.

(4)

quippe amōrem eius: "(Plato argues that) her (i.e. celestial Venus's) love, of course..." Indirect statement continues, looking forward to conciliāre and absterrēre.

amoenum: "elegant," "sophisticated." The word is normally used of places and natural objects, trees, flowers, etc., that are agreeable to the senses. The meaning here is defined by the opposition with incomptum. 

incomptum: "plain," "unadorned," "simple," "unstudied," as opposed to the other kind of love which primps and preens. Apuleius used the same adjective of his own hair in section 4.

pulchritūdine honestātis: "through the beauty of her nobility." Honestātis depends upon pulchritūdine, not virtūtēs.

conciliāre: "obtains x (acc.) for y (dat.)," LS concilio II.B. This love fosters virtūtēs for amātōribus suīs.

commendet: "brings to the attention (of Celestial Venus's followers)," creating a sense of care for the beautiful bodies.

contumēliā: “rough treatment, assault" (LS contumelia II), "abuse" (Jones). Apuleius implies that his treatment of the young men he writes poetry about is not an abuse of their character or reputation.

eōrum: corporum.

absterrēre: supply sectātōrēs as direct object: "keeps them at a safe distance from abuse" (Jones), i.e., stops them from abusing the objects of their admiration.

(5)

neque enim quicquam aliud: "that nothing else, you see." Indirect statement continues, looking forward to dīligendum (esse).

quam quod: "other than (the fact) that."

admoneant … pulchritudinis: a general reference to the Platonic concepts of anamnesis and Beauty. For the former, see Plato, Meno 81c ff., Phaedrus 249c ff., and Phaedo 72e ff. (Hunink).

eius pulchritūdinis: eius here is a weak demonstrative, "of that beauty."

vēram et sincēram: modifying quam (pulchritūdinem), "in its true and pure form."

vidēre: vidērunt. Subject is dīvīnī animī.

(6)

perēleganter: construe with hoc scriptum: "this very elegantly written (dictum)."

Afrānius: Lucius Afranius lived at the beginning of the 1st century BC; he composed fabulae togatae, purely Roman comedies; cf. Quintilian 10.1.100 togatis excellit Afranius. He was read and studied in Apuleius's days; we know of a commentary on his plays by a certain Paulus from the 2nd century AD. The line quoted here comes from a comedy called Omen, according to the grammarian Nonius, who quotes this same line (Non. 421.19-20 [p. 681 Lindsay])" (Hunink).

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There may be a specific reason for Apuleius to think of Afranius in this context of pederasty: the poet was known for his fancy for boys. To his praising remark Quintilian adds: utinam non inquinasset argumenta puerorum foedis amoribus mores suos fassus ("if only he had not defiled his plots by including love affairs with (slave) boys, betraying his own predilections.") In discussions of Roman homosexuality Afranius is usually left out of account. Quintilian's testimonium seems quite significant, since it would imply the presence of homoerotic motifs early in Roman poetry in a manifestly non-Greek context (Hunink).

relinquat: subjunctive after etsi, as often. Scriptum relinquere = "to leave a written record, leave it on record" (OLD relinquo 8.d).

sapiēns: "the wise man."

sī vērum velīs: "if you should want the truth." 

recordātur: "is reminded," by the beauty of his beloved, of the Platonic form of beauty itself.

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Afranius's statement is not simply dismissed as wrong, but rather "corrected" in a philosophical analysis involving Plato's theory of anamnesis. The allusion seems formulated deliberately vague, to puzzle those unfamiliar with Plato (Hunink). 

The subjunctive softens the verb, ostensibly making it more polite, though the tone of the direct address is mocking. Apuleius seems to enjoy goading his accusers about how superior he is in the breadth of his knowledge.