70

Your own letter, Aemilianus, shows that you knew Pudentilla wanted to remarry, and that you approved of this intention. She was not compelled. She even wrote to Pontianus in Rome about her desire to remarry, reassuring him that his and his brother's inheritance was not at risk.

(1)

Nūbere: complements both velle and dēbēre, which are the verbs in the indirect statement dependent upon sciō.

"Widows … seem to have attracted no disapproval in society at large by re-marrying, in contrast to the attitude that developed in the Christian empire." (Jane Gardner, Women in Roman Law and Society [Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1986], p. 51.)

quem ēligat: indirect question dependent upon nesciō, "who she would choose," or maybe (retaining the deliberative sense of the subjunctive) "who she should choose."

Rectē tū: supply scripsisti.

nesciēbās: note the frequent recurrence of this and similar verbs in this chapter.

nōrat: nōverat, "had (already) recognized" = "knew."

dē ipsā rē: about the fact that she intends to marry.

Pudentilla enim tibi ... dē ipsā rē tantum, cēterum dē petītōre nihil fatēbātur: order: Pudentilla enim fatēbātur tibi tantum dē ipsā rē, ceterum nihil (tibi fatēbātur) dē petītōre.

(2)

putās: present tense for imperfect with dum is regular (AG 556).

etiamnum: "even then," "still."

dēnuptūram: supply esse, understand Pudentillam as the subject.

falsā spē: the hope that Pudentilla would marry Clarus if she ever did remarry led Aemilianus to push for her remarriage in this letter.

Pontiānō auctor adsentiendī fuistī: "you urged Pontianus to consent." The construction auctor esse + dat. + gerundive is classical (LS auctor II.C.1).

(3)

sī Clarō nubsisset ... dīcerēs: a mixed contrary-to-fact conditional. "If she had married Clarus, you would be saying ...."

sponte: emphatic, as the word order suggests.

iam ōlim: "for a long time already."

nupturisse: > nupturio, "to desire to marry."

iuvenem tālem quālem dīcitis: "such a young man as you are talking about," i.e., Apuleius himself. 

He had been called a philosophum formonsum et ... dissertissimum (4.1) and iuvenem (27.9), the very opposite of an illiterate old man (Hunink).

coāctam fēcisse: "that she did this (i.e., married) under compulsion."

cēterum: "and furthermore," OLD ceterus 5.b.

aspernātam: supply esse, "had spurned," > deponent aspernor.

(4)

tenērī: "was kept (by Pudentilla)," or perhaps, "was in my possession."

convictum īrī: future passive infinitive, "would be refuted."

Quam tamen epistolam: connecting relative adjective: "but this letter," direct object of retinēre and mittere.

testem et indicem tuae voluntātis: "as a witness and proof of your consent," i.e., proof of Aemilianus's approval that she marry. OLD voluntas 3, "readiness to do or agree to something, willingness, approval."

ut quae ... scīret: "as one who knew," = "because she knew."

nec minus: "and not less" mendācem et inpudentem (than levem et mutabilem).

scīret: in emphatic contrast to Aemilianus's ignorance.

mittere: this letter of Aemilianus to Pontianus somehow got into hands of Pudentilla. B/0 discuss whether Pontianus sent it to her "from Rome" or brought it back himself when he came to Oea. But as maluit retinere quam mittere shows, the letter must have been intercepted by Pudentilla, and it probably never even reached Rome. There is actually no sign in the text that Pontianus ever read Aemilianus's letter (Hunink).

(5)

Cēterum: "Furthermore."

ipsa ... etiam: "she herself, also," in addition to Aemilianus's letter to Pontianus saying that she should marry.

Pontiānō suō Rōmam: "to Rome, to her (son) Pontianus," i.e., to her son Pontianus when he was in Rome.

plēnē: "fully," "comprehensively."

(6)

nihil praetereā esse, cūr: "that there was no further reason why."

amplius: construe with obdūrāre: "to be further stubborn," "to be stubborn any longer," i.e., against various suitors in a bid to marry her. 

hērēditātem avītam: the inheritance that her sons' grandfather was threatening to keep from them if Pudentilla remarried outside of the family (see chapter 68).

longā viduitāte: Pudentilla remained a widow in order to keep her sons in their grandfather's will.

dēspectū salūtis suae: "neglect of her own health," "disregard for her own health."

quaesīsse: quaesīvisse, supply sē as the subject in the indirect statement: "that she had obtained," further indirect statement delivering the content of Pudentilla's letter.

eandem: supply hērēditātem, "this same inheritance,"

summā industriā: Pudentilla had managed the estate well.

(7)

deum: deōrum.

ipsum: Pontianum.

frātrem eius: Pudens.

virīlī togae: "the toga of manhood." This would make him around 14 years old.

tandem aliquandō: "finally," "at long last."

sē quoque: "her, too," referring back to Pudentilla as the speaker of the indirect discourse rather than to her sons as the subject of paterentur.

paterentur ... metuerent: supply ut, and understand Pudentilla's sons as the subjects of these two subjunctives as she shifts from indirect statement to indirect command.

(8)

cēterum: "moreover."

suprēmō iūdiciō: "last will and testament" (in a legal context). See Berger Supremus.

"It was open to any Roman citizen who was of age to make a will; a woman would require the authority of her tutor [guardian]." (David Johnston, Roman Law in Context [2nd ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022], p. 57.) 

"A woman . . . after the death of her father . . . had personal capacity, like a man, to own and dispose of property, to engage in legal contracts, to bring prosecutions and so on . . ." (Jane F. Gardner, Being a Roman Citizen [London: Routledge, 1993], p. 87.)

nihil metuerent: "they should have no fear."

eīs: "for them," "where they were concerned," i.e., she would always be there for them when married just as she had been when she was single.

futūram: supply esse, "that she would be."

iubēbō: the normal verb for a formal request in court.

exemplum: "a copy."

missae: with epistolae huius: "that was sent."