33

You accused me of looking for three types of fish but I am actually seeking any unusual kind of fish. Tannonius, the advocate, even referred to my literature to attempt to show that I was looking for obscenely named sea creatures. 

(1)

necessaria ad habendum: "necessary to have," for medical or scientific purposes, as emerges later. For ad + acc. of the gerund after an adjective, see LS ad I.D.1.b.

rāra ad repperiendum: "difficult to find."

meritō: adverb with quaererentur.

statūtō praemiō: "at an agreed-upon price," LS statuo II.B.2. Ablative of price, AG 416.

(2)

omnīnō: "in total."

ūnum falsī: "mistaken about one," > fallo fallere fefelli falsum. 

duo mentītī: "having lied about the other two," "having completely made up the other two."

(3)

quod: "as to that which."

alius omnīnō: "another entirely," "a whole other."

leporem marīnum: a sea hare or seaslug, identified as the aptysia depilans (Aplysia depilans). It was known for its poisonous effect (Pliny, Natural History 20.223, 32.8-9) and may therefore have seemed suspicious.

read more

We may observe that Apuleius does not deny having interest in this fish; the slave has just not succeeded in finding it (leporem nondum invenit). So it seems as if Apuleius has been trying to get hold of lepores after all, in spite of his remark in 30.1 non magis quam si lepores quaererem (Hunink). 

The Greek Sophist Philostratus (Life of Apollonius of Tyana 6.32) writes that the Roman Emperor Titus (died 81 AD) was poisoned by his brother Domitian with a sea hare and that his death had been foretold to him by Apollonius of Tyana. "And Nero, he says, introduced this sea-hare in his dishes to poison his worst enemies; and so did Domitian in order to remove his brother Titus, not because he objected to sharing his throne with his brother, but to sharing it with one who was both gentle and good."

alius omnīnō: "another entirely," "a whole other."

mihi: dative after attulit.

Themisōn: a Greek man’s name, especially common among physicians (Hunink); Themison reappears later in 40.5 and 48.3.

audīstī: audīvistī.

ultrō: "unprompted," i.e., without Apuleius asking him to.

īnspiciundum: īnspiciendum.

nam quidem: "as a matter of fact," a rare conjunction of words in surviving Latin, but favored by Apuleius.

nōndum etiam: "not yet, even at this point," i.e., as Apuleius is delivering the speech.

(4)

quaerere: not only has he looked for these in the past, he still is, if anyone has seen any.

negōtiō datō: ablative absolute, "the task having been assigned to," + dat.

minus cognitī generis: "of lesser-known type."

ut ... ostendant: ut aut commemorent mihi fōrmam eius (piscis) aut ostendant (mihi) ipsum (piscem) vīvum vel mortuum, sī id (i.e., ostendere ipsum piscem vīvum) nequierint.

docēbō: "I will explain."

(5)

ad fidem calumniae: "to make their slander plausible" (Jones).

mē ... cōnfīnxērunt: "made up (the story) that I …"

rēs marīnās: "sea creatures."

impudīcīs vocābulīs: "using obscene terms," abl. of means, or else abl. of description with rēs marīnās, "sea creatures with obscene names."

(6)

Quās: = rēs marīnās, direct object of nōmināvit.

Tannonius: Tannonius Pudens, advocatus (representative in court) of Sicinius Aemilianus and Sicinius Pudens.

intellegī: "to be taken to mean" (Jones).

īnfantiam: "inarticulateness," (OLD infantia 1.b), "being too tongue-tied" (Jones).

causidicus summus: ironic, "consummate lawyer" (Jones).

multum ac diū haesitātō: impersonal passive, "after great and long hesitation." See Suetonius, Claudius 11, dē mūtandō reī pūblicae statū haesitātum erat.

virīle: supply membrum. 

virīle 'marīnum' ... male ac sordidē nōmināvit: "called the male organ by an ugly and vulgar word 'the marine.'" Allegedly, Tannonius used marinum, since it sounds similar to mas, maris ("male"), as a euphemism for "penis," to avoid saying the words virile membrum. Tannonius is alleging a sexual element to Apuleius's fish-hunting, as if he were searching for a "sea penis" in order bewitch Pudentilla. Similarly, for fēminal (female pudenda), he borrowed a euphemistic term from Apuleius. See below.

nesciō quā circumlocūtiōne: "using some strange euphemism." See LS nescio I.γ. 

(7)

fēminal: the female pudendum. Apuleius uses the same rare word in Metamorphoses 2.17.5.

nūllō pactō: "in no way."

repperiēns dīcere: "finding (how) to say," dir. obj. is fēminal above.

ad mea scrīpta cōnfūgit: "resorted to my writings."

interfeminium tegat ... vēlāmentō: "Let her hide her interloin both with the screen of her thigh and the cover of her palm" (Jones). Interfeminium is a word invented by Apuleius. The subject of tegat is presumably Venus. This describes the posture of the famous statue of Venus on Cnidos.