28

I could end my speech here but since the prosecution took up all their time, I will continue to fill out my case by going over each point separately and satisfy this crowd assembled here (1-3). As we go forward, the charges will be outlined and the behavior of the instigator (Sicinius Pudens) will be scrutinized (4-9).   

(1)

bonō perīculō: "with (a) good (level of) risk" = "with small risk (of losing the trial)."

vel hīs dictīs: "even with (just) these words (I have already spoken)."

perōrāre: "to finish up," i.e., to get to the peroratio (final section of a speech).

prō: "by virtue of," LS pro II.B.6. Opposing parties were granted comparable time.

largiter: adv. used substantively: "a large amount," + gen. LS largus II.B.β.

aquae: "of water," i.e., time. The water-clock (Gk. clepsydra, Lat. horologium) was regularly employed in the law-courts. 

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A number would be employed in the course of a speech, as the clepsydra employed for this purpose was apparently emptied in fifteen minutes. See Pliny, Letters 2.11.14. The amount of time allotted to orators varied at different times. The accused seems usually to have been allowed a third as much time again as the accuser: see Cicero, Brutus 324; De finibus 4.1.1; Pliny, Letters 4.1.1, 4.9.9, where the accuser has six hours and the accused nine. The clepsydra was stopped during the reading of evidence. See ch. 39 aquam sustine, 94 at tu licebit aquam sinas fluere (B/O).

cedo: "grant that" + (ut) cōnsīderēmus, an archaic imperative form, 2 sing.

vidētur: "it seems good."

singula: "(these things) one at a time."

(2)

perinde atque sī: "just as if," see LS perinde II.γ.

facta sint: "they have (actually) been done," "they are true." Compare Vergil, Aeneid 4.190: facta atque īnfecta canēbat.

(3)

ut ... apertē intellegat: purpose clause, explaining why Apuleius is willing to go to the strange extreme of confessing to things he has not done.

nihil ... cōnfingī: indirect statement after intellegat, order: nihil posse nōn modo vērē dīcī in philosophōs, sed (etiam) nē falsō quidem (posse in philosophōs) cōnfingī. Apuleius's order emphasizes that what he says applies to all philosophers, not just himself.

in philosophōs: "against philosophers."

quod: antecedent: nihil. Order: quod, quamvīs liceat negāre, tamen nōn habeant dēfendere potius ex innocentiae fīdūciā. Apuleius's order throws emphasis on the key idea, defendere.

fīdūciā: "trust in," "reliance upon," + gen.

habeant: "know how to," + infin. (LS habeo II.A.2.α).

dēfendere: "ward off," as if to keep the charge from sticking to them, or else "defend" the charge as something innocent. The latter is more likely given the context.

(4)

Now follows a more neutral dīvīsio (outline) of the rest of the speech. The first sentence (primum ... pertinēre) is a brief announcement of chs. 29-65, the second one (dein ... experīrentur) of chs. 66-101; the latter section is further specified in the rest of this paragraph (Hunink). 

convincam: "I will refute," dir. obj. argumenta.

refūtābō: "I will prove to the contrary," "state in refutation," introducing the indirect statement ea (argumenta) ... pertinēre.

nihil: "not at all," "in no respect." 

maximē magus: "very much a magus indeed."

forem: essem.

ut mē ... experīrentur: "to try me," "to take me to court," a legal usage, see LS experior II.B. 

in aliquō maleficiō: "on (a charge of) any wrongdoing." See LS on experior (above) for further examples of in + abl. with this construction.

(5)

Ibi: "at that point (in the speech)."

perperam lectīs: "incorrectly quoted" (Jones).

mātrimōniō meō ac Pudentillae: "my and Pudentilla's wedding" = "my wedding to Pudentilla."

id: mātrimōnium.

susceptum: supply esse, indirect statement after docēbō.

quam: supply potius, "rather than."

(6)

Quod ... mātrimōnium nostrum: "this marriage of ours," connecting relative.

Aemiliānō huic: "as far as this Aemilianus here is concerned," dat. of reference, or of person affected, in a double dative construction (AG 382).

immāne: adv., "monstrously," an ironic hyperbole.

quantō angōrī quantaeque dīvidiae ... fuit: dat. of purpose in a double dative construction (AG 382) with Aemiliānō huic: "was a cause of what great anguish and what great vexation for him!" = "how much anguish and vexation it caused him!"  The use of quantus is exclamatory, and looks forward to inde in the next sentence, "from this source...."

dividiae: an archaic word, which is used by Plautus in the same double dative construction: Stichus 19: haec mi dividiae et senio sunt (Hunink).

Inde: from the marriage, or from Aemilianus's anguish over same.

omnis: modifies (at least) īra, (probably also) rabiēs and īnsānia.

huiusce accūsātiōnis obeundae: "for undertaking this present accusation," objective genitive after a noun of emotion (īra, rabiēs, īnsānia), AG 348. The tricolon puts great emphasis on the third term.

(7)

At this key point Apuleius concludes the survey by venting his gall on his accuser Pudens. While obtentū establishes the link with the beginning (2.4 obtentu eius), the rest is a foretaste of the savage attacks to come at the end of the speech. See esp ch. 98, which contains most of the details indicated here, and 85.5-9 for the imagery of Pudens as a wild beast, raging against his mother. The formal appeal will not be repeated until 99.1 testor igitur te, Claudi Maxime... (Hunink).

Quae ... omnia: "all of these things." Connecting relative.

sī ... ostenderō: "if I lay out," future perfect indicative in a future more vivid conditional.

contestābor: "I will call to witness," with tē and omnēs as direct objects, introducing indirect statement puerum ... eruptum (esse) [28.7], atque ita (puerum) ... efferātum (esse) [28.9]. Note that this is not being used in a technical sense: Claudius Maximus and the audience are not the witnesses in the trial. Apuleius wants them to witness (in the non-legal sense) what he is about to say.

cuius obtentū et voluntāte: "under whose cover and with whose assent." cuius is objective genitive with Pudens as its antecedent: Pudens is willingly providing cover for Aemilianus's true motives in attacking Apuleius.

patruō eius: Aemilianus, the uncle of Pudens.

cūrae meae: dat. of disadvantage, "from my care." Ex + abl. would be more usual with erumpo. It remains unclear in the speech whether or not this cura had a legal basis, that is, if Apuleius first had been the boy's tutor. Given the speaker's silence and the legal details given in 98, one would assume (unlike B/0) that this was not the case. But what really matters here is the emotional aspect of "parental care" (Hunink).

(8)

diem suum obiit: "met his (final) day," i.e., "died," with extremum understood, LS dies I.B.3.b.

(9)

atque ita: emphatic: "and (that it was) in this way," modifying (Pudentem) efferātum (esse) (a continuation of the indirect statement introduced by contestābor in 28.7 above), and looking forward in contrast to nōn meā culpā.

in mē ac mātrem suam: "against me and his mother."

efferātum: "was worked up into a state of fury," OLD effero 2.

liberalibus studiis: for the ancient concept see Cicero, De oratore 3.127. Pudens is said to have given up his studies. This is not merely a simple point of criticism, but literally separates him from the culture of Apuleius, Maximus, and, to some extent at least, the audience. (Hunink)

scelestīs accūsātiōnis huius rudīmentīs: "from the wicked apprenticeship that is this trial," abl. of cause and predicate genitive.

futūrum: this may continue the indirect statement after contestābor (in which case, supply esse), "that he will become"; or it could be taken simply as a participial pendant to the previous phrase. This is evidently how Jones understands it: "sure as he is to resemble his uncle Aemilianus rather than his brother Pontianus."