54

You expect this unverified charge to stand? All the charges so far have been more like interrogations than accusations. It is your job, Aemelianus, to provide the proof and not just fling slander. 

(1)

adeō: "yes, and what is more," used to re-emphasize or elaborate a statement (OLD adeo2 6.b).

quod possit magicum vidērī: "(an item) which could seem like magic" to the untrained eye.  Apuleius is referring to the unknown item wrapped in the napkin, graciously inviting Aemilianus to invent whatever he wants as the contents. Relative clause of characteristic.

tamen: after a concession, tamen = "yet," "nevertheless" often comes first in its clause. See OLD tamen 3.

dē eō tēcum dēcertārem: "I would dispute what you said about it" (Jones), "I would fight it out with you over it," and defend whatever item Aemilianus could name, no matter how incriminating.

(2)

subiectum: "a replacement" (Jones). See OLD subicio 14. This is remarkably vague: what does the object replace, and for what purpose? The very concept of "substitution" has a rather magical undertone (Hunink). 

remediō acceptum: "given to me as a medicine," dat. of purpose.

sacrō trāditum: "handed down (from our ancestors) for (use in) a religious rite," dat. of purpose.

somniō imperātum: this probably refers to the practice of incubation (ἐγκοίμησις), the process by which as the result of certain religious acts divine guidance was secured by the medium of a dream, whether the dreamer was the applicant himself or one of the priests of the temple to which resort was made. 

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This method of consultation was especially adopted for cases of illness. So Aesculapius was the god with whom it was especially connected (Plautus, Curculio 216, 260): but other deities at whose temples incubation took place were Pasiphae, Faunus at Albunea, Amphiaraus. An oneiromantic oracle preceded Apollo's oracle at Delphi (Euripides, Iphigeneia in Tauris 1259 ff.); this oracle was founded by Gaea, the earth and its powers being especially supposed to send dreams to men. The custom continued in mediaeval times at the churches of certain saints, especially St. Michael, and Sts. Cosmo and Damian (B/O).

quibus: "by which," antecedents are the mille alia (argumenta).

vulgātissimā observātiōnum cōnsuētūdine: "the most ordinary of everyday customs" (Jones), such as the ones just mentioned. observatio = "custom, usage, practice."

vērē: adv. with refūtāre, "properly."

refūtāre: direct object should be understood as the charges related to whatever item Aemilianus fabricated as having been wrapped up in the cloth.

(3)

Nunc id postulās ut ... id ... condemnet: "Now you expect that ... this ... should prove me guilty." The second id is resumptive after the long relative clause.

quod ... nihil mē ... laederet: "(a thing) which would not harm me at all" in court. 

deprehēnsum et dētentum: concessive: "even were it detected and proved" (Jones). 

inānī suspīciōne: "on the strength of an idle suspicion."

(4)

Haud sciam an: a Ciceronian idiom equivalent to "I suppose," looking forward to the potential subjunctive dicās. 

potissimum: "of all places," implying that this is a damning or suspicious detail.

Itane est: "is that how it is?"

Sīc accūsās, ut: "Is that how you accuse?" followed by a noun clause. 

nihil ... cognitum: "not a single proven fact," OLD cognitus 1.b. nihil is emphatic.

(5)

piscēs quaeris: Apuleius refutes the accusation that he purchased fish for magical purposes in chapters 29-41.

aegram mulierem: Apuleius discusses the sick woman brought to him for a diagnosis of epilepsy in chapters 48-51.

accūsātum ... interrogātum: accusative supines expressing purpose after vēnistī (AG 509).

tūte: the form is characteristic of early Latin and Roman comedy (LS tu I. B).

quid fuerit: i.e., in linteō.

quod ideō: "because it's for this very reason that ..." looking forward to quia nescis as the reason in question.

(6)

Cēterum: adv., "moreover."

hōc quidem pactō: "in this way" (LS pacisco B.β), "on that principle." quidem emphasizes the phrase.

reī cōnstituentur: "will (suddenly) be standing as defendants (in court)," fut. indic.

eī, quī: dative of possession with nūlla necessitās sit.

nōmen cuiuspiam dētulerit: nomen defero + gen. = "institute criminal proceedings against someone" (LS defero II.B.2.b), a usage which derives from the entering, or reading out, of a name in a list (OLD nomen 21.c).

omnis ... facultās percontandī: supply eī sit. "every opportunity of asking questions."

Quippe omnibus ... obiciētur: order: sīc, quippe, quicquid omnīnō ēgerint, (id) obiciētur omnibus, ut forte negōtium magīae facessitur.

omnibus ... ut forte negōtium magīae facessitur: ut = "whenever" (OLD ut 19), negotium facesso is a legal phrase meaning, "to bring a charge against" (OLD facesso 2), and magiae is genitive of charge: "everyone who happens to be accused of magic" (Jones). 

omnibus: dative after obiciētur.

quicquid omnīnō ēgerint obiciētur: "everything they have ever done will be brought up as a charge against," + dat. (omnibus).

(7)

signāstī: signāvistī. signo = "to affix a seal to a letter or other document" (OLD signo 8). B/0 suggests that this refers to common wax tablets containing vows, fastened to the thighs of statues of gods. But as Abt, 210-211, rightly points out, the main allusion must be to a more suspicious practice, such as attaching folded or sealed tablets (Hunink).

Aut: "or else," "or, otherwise," LS aut II.B.

Tacitās precēs: undoubtedly, loud and vehement prayer was regarded as the proper manner. By contrast, murmuring was typical for magic, as was made clear in 47.3. See also parallels adduced by Abt, 211-213 (Hunink).

allēgāstī: allēgāvistī, "you addressed."

Aut quid optāstī: "Or what were you praying for?" with the implication that it must be something bad.

Contrā: Apuleius takes two separate but related complaints (being secretive about your prayers, whether by mumbling in the temple or not going to a temple at all) and places them as opposite complements of one another to effect an instance of reductio ad absurdum: If you prayed in a temple, you are accused of witchcraft; if you failed to pray in a temple, you are accused of witchcraft. 

nihil in templō precātus es: this could be regarded with suspicion too: whoever has nothing to ask from the Gods, must know some other, less humble way to obtain what he wants, as Abt, 213 aptly explains (Hunink).

rogāstī: rogāvistī.

Similiter: "and (it would happen) in the same way," "and likewise" i.e., you would be brought to court and accused of witchcraft.

verbēnam: "sacred bough." The word designates any branch of a tree used for religious purposes, but it also has a manifest link with magic: Apuleius mentioned it himself in 30.7 among the Vergilian materials for magic (Hunink).  

(8)

Diēs mē dēficiet: "Daylight will run out on me."

quōrum ratiōnem: "an explanation of which."

quod conditum cumque: quodcumque (est) conditum (tmesis).

domī: locative.

id omne: "all of this" = quodcumque.

ē cellā prōmptāriā: "from the storeroom," like the library in which the cloth was put on the table.