29

Aemilianus says that his strongest argument that I am a sorcerer is that I tried to purchase certain types of fish from fishermen for a price (1-2). Perhaps I should buy fish from the carpenter or get them for free (3-4).  Aemilianus will bankrupt all the grocers if he continues to contend that anyone buying fish is a sorcerer (5-6).  Is there something else about buying fish that makes me a sorcerer (7-9)?

(1)

Nunc: marks a strong transition.

Deliramenta: "deranged nonsense" (Costantini 2019, 83), "zany things."

orsus ab eō: "beginning with that," participle > orior.

quod ... dīcī animadvertistī: "which you noticed was said."

ad: "in regard to."

quasi validissimum: modifies quod, "as if it were the strongest point."

nōnnūlla mē ... quaesīsse: indirect statement. The point of the accusation must have been something like this: "you have been looking for some particular fish, ordering them from specialized tradesmen, and paying much money for them." By omitting such details in reformatting the charge, the speaker makes it look innocent, and so turns it into an easy target for his rhetoric (Hunink). Apuleius plays with the double meaning of quaero and quaestio ("to seek" and "to enquire into") in order to shift attention away from his purported intention of obtaining fish for love-magic to his philosophical research into sea animals (Costantini 2019, 85).

(2)

Utrum ... hōrum: "which of the following," looking forward to the options in 29.3 (-ne) and 29.4 (an).

valet: "is a valid reason" (Jones), LS valeo II.B.2.c.

(3)

Quodne: "Is it simply the fact that ...?" ne looks forward to an in section 4.

piscem: the singular is part of Apuleius's effort to minimize the charge.

Scilicet: "it is obvious that," with the sense of scīre introducing the following indirect statements: 

negōtium istud ... dandum fuisse

opera ... permūtanda (fuisse).

negōtium istud: "that job," going fishing.

dandum fuisse: "ought to have been given." 

ita: looking forward to ut, setting up the result clause.

opera: "jobs," n. pl. > opus.

permūtanda: supply fuisse.

calumniīs vestrīs vītāre: the use of this verb with the dative is unusual, but characteristic of the language of Roman comedy (LS vito II.β). Calumniīs means "false charges," not just slander.

ut: read closely with ita above for the sense of the result clause.

ēverreret: "sweep" the sea with nets to catch fish.

mūtuō: adv. "in turn," LS mutuus II.A.

(4)

an: "or is it ...?"

ex eō ... quod: "because of the fact that."

maleficiō: dat. of purpose: "for evil," "as an evil act.” Apuleius employs magus, veneficus, and maleficus interchangeably to designate the practitioner of goetic magic in the Apologia (Costantini 2019, 30).

quaerī pisciculōs:  indirect statement after intellēxistis.

Crēdō: ironic.

convīviō: "for a party," i.e., to have for dinner, rather than to study).

gratīs quaesīssem: "I would have sought them for free," "I would have offered nothing," a reductio ad absurdum.

(5)

Quīn igitur etiam: "so why don't you also."

ex aliīs plērīsque: "for myriad other (reasons)."

saepenumero: adv. “oftentimes” (LS saepe III).

(6)

Eō pactō: "with this being the arrangement," "in this way."

cuppedinariis omnibus: the rare word for “confectioners” recalls comedy; see Terencem, Eunuchus 256. In the present jocular context, this seems no coincidence (Hunink).

famem decernis: "you condemn to starvation," OLD decerno 5.a.

illīs: cuppēdināriīs.

statuitur: impersonal: "it is determined that."

dēpēnsō: supply pretiō “for a price." See Apuleius, Metamorphoses 8.25.

(7)

in piscātōribus: "in (the case of) the fishermen."

ad quod solent: "to (do) (that) which they are accustomed (to do)," specified further by ad piscem capiundum.

solent: supply invitarī.

capiundum: a common alternative form of the gerundive > capio.

quōs: i.e., piscātōrēs.

produxere:  produxērunt.

quippe quī nūllī fuērunt: "in as much as there weren't any," an interesting reminder that Apuleius is defending things here that he did not do.

(8)

ipsō pretiō reī vēnālis: "the price itself of the thing for sale."

quantitātem nūllam taxāvēre: "they stated no precise sum," a legal phrase (OLD taxo 2.d). taxavēre = taxavērunt.

nē ... contemnerētur ... nōn crēderētur: negative purpose clauses.

plūrimum: supply pretium dīxissent.

(9)

in hīs: i.e., the fishermen in question, or the price Apuleius paid them for the fish.

proximō: "in particular" (Jones). See OLD proximus 9.b, "(of argument, etc.) apposite, relevant."

quō proximō signō: "by what evidence, exactly," "by what evidence in particular," (Jones). See OLD proximus 9.b, "(of argument, etc.) apposite, relevant."

sit inductus: "was drawn to," "was persuaded (to make)" (LS induco II.B.2).