83

Here is the full text of the passage in Pudentilla's letter. If letters on a page could themselves speak, Maximus, would they not have risen up and shouted in outrage about Rufinus's wicked distortion of their meaning?

(1)

recognōsce: "check" a document (OLD recognosco 1.b). 

et haec: "these words, too," in addition to the little excerpt he had shown around town.

mēcum: they both wrote down a copy of the same text in preparation for the trial. See ch. 78.

testātō: (adv.) "in the presence of witnesses." See ch. 78 and LS testor II.2.

βουλομένην γάρ με ... ἔτι σωφρονῶ: "For when I wanted, for the reasons I have mentioned, to be married, you yourself urged me to choose this one above all others, marveling at the man and doing your utmost to make him family to us through me. But now, since our accusers are maliciously misleading you, suddenly Apuleius is a mage and I have been enchanted by him and am in love. Well then, come to me, while I still am in my right mind."

(2)

Apuleius personifies the words of Pudentilla's letter, imagining the suppressed words shouting out in the forum that they have been wrongfully detained.

Ōrō tē: "I ask you," setting up the questions nōnne ... prōclāmāssent ... ēvolāssent ... complēssent (section 3). These questions form the apodosis of the intervening conditionals: si litterae ... ūsūrpārent ...; si verba ... volārent.

litterae ... vōcālēs: litterae = both "a letter" and "letters (of the alphabet)," and the Latin for vowels (vocālēs) also means "vocal"; there may be an additional allusion to the idea that letters were a conversation conducted by other means (e.g., Demetrius, On Style 223) (Jones).

partim: "in part," "some of them," i.e., just the vowels.

propriam vōcem ūsūrpārent: "were able to use a voice of their own," i.e., "were able to speak on their own." Note the typically Apuleian word play of vōcālēs ... vōcem.

pinnīs apta: "equipped with wings," modifying verba. One of the most frequent Homeric formulas is “winged words” (ἔπεα πτερόεντα), e.g. Iliad 8.101.

vulgō volārent: "could fly at large."

(3)

nōnne: a preview of the question which will begin in earnest after the cum-clause at nōnne tunc.

cum prīmum: "when he first," "the minute he started," the cum-clause governs three verbs: excerperet ... legeret, ... reticēret.

legeret: "was reciting," LS lego II.B.2.b.α.

meliōra: i.e., more favorable to Apuleius's case.

sciēns: "knowingly."

cēterae litterae: "the remaining letters (written on the page but not shown to the public)."

scelestē: construe with sē dētinērī.

tumultū: "with their uproar," the notion that the words themselves are shouting introduces the following indirect discourse (83.4-5), meant to represent the content of their indignant shouts:

sē (i.e., litterās) ... missās esse (ind. stat.)

(ea) ... mandāta esse (ind. stat.)

nē ... auscultārent (ind. comm.)

(ut) ... audīrent (ind. comm.)

Apuleium ... non accūsātum (esse) (ind. stat.)

(Apuleium) ... absolūtum (esse) (ind. stat.)

(4)

sē quoque: emphatic.

sibi etiam: "also to them," not just to the letters in that part of the letter which were actually shown.

quae dīcerent: "(things) which they were to say," "(things) which they had to say," expressing purpose.

mandāta: supply esse for the infinitive form; the subject is the unexpressed antecedent of quae.

nec auscultārent: = et nē auscultārent, Apuleius switches from indirect statement to indirect command, the personified letters and words are now pictured encouraging people not to listen to Rufinus's lies.

sibi: "to them," i.e., the suppressed sections of the letter represented by the personified words.

potius: "but rather."

audīrent: supply ut to continue the (now positive) indirect command: the letters want people to listen to them, instead.

(5)

accūsātum: supply esse.

accūsante Rufīnō: "while RUFINUS was the one doing the accusing," the repetition of accusante after accusatum highlights the contrast between Rufinus's assertion that Pudentilla was levelling this accusation and Apuleius pointing out that it was Rufinus all along.

"Rufinus accused him, and she acquitted him" (Jones).

absolūtum: supply esse.

(6)

Quae omnia: "all of which (aforementioned points)," "all of these points," a connecting relative.

tum: "at that point," at which Rufinus was showing the offending excerpt around town.

cum magis prōsunt: "at a time when they are (even) more beneficial." The indicative is normal with a purely temporal cum-clause (AG 547).

(7)

interversa: "swindled," "cheated" (OLD interverto 1).

sē effert: "brings itself forth," "rises up."

velut altō barathrō: "as if from a deep abyss."

ēmergit: "gets clear of" + acc., see OLD emergo 5.a. Others emend to calumniā sē mergit: "emerges from slander" (Jones).