85

Pudens is such an awful son that he dared to publish his mother's private letters in this trial. Though he is too young to be legally liable for his conduct, he is not too young to be a monstrously undutiful child.

(1)

praeterita ... praesentia: "things that have happened in the past ... things that are happening right now."

Hocusque: = hucusque, "up to this point," "to such an extent," setting up the result clause ut ... recitet.

istum puerum depravatum: the harsh qualification refers to Pudens. He remains the target of Apuleius's savage attacks in the rest of the chapter (Hunink).

dēprāvātum: supply esse, "has been corrupted." The clause is in indirect statement to reflect the content of Apuleius's complaints about the present state of affairs.

quās putat amātōriās: supply esse, "which he supposes are amatory in nature."

(2)

prō tribūnālī proconsulārī: "in front of the proconsular tribunal," i.e., "in a court of law," a highly public venue.

apud: "before (as a judge)," "in the court of."

imperātōris Piī: Antoninus, the successor of Hadrian, received the title of Pius in October, AD 138, and died in March, AD 161 (B/O).

This is an important clue for the date of the trial (AD 158-159). See on 1.1). There are no further references to this emperor in Apuleius's works (Hunink).

Apuleius plays on the emperor’s title of Pius, “Dutiful,” earned by his loyalty to his adoptive father, Hadrian, as a contrast with the undutiful conduct of Pudentilla’s son Pudens (Jones).

fīlius mātrī suae: the subject is already clear from context, and the juxtaposition of fīlius and mātrī requires us to read this phrase with extra emphasis, almost parenthetically: "a son, against his own mother!"

mātrī suae pudenda exprobret stupra: "reproach his own mother with her 'shameful affairs,'" the last phrase requiring some sort of scare quote as Apuleius cannot be calling them such in earnest.

amōrēs obiectet: "brings up her love affairs as points of evidence."

(3)

quīn: = ut nōn.

ultime: "vile creature" = pessime (B/O).

in istīs: "in these matters," or "in these letters."

suspīritūs: "sighs," as a sign of being in love.

tabulās intercipis: love letters sent on wax tablets, a standard element in Roman love affairs. See Ovid, Amores 1.11 and 12.

Pudens got hold of Pudentilla's Greek letter to Pontianus and handed it over to Rufinus. Meanwhile, it remains unclear how and when this happened. Intercepting letters is possibly what Pudentilla herself did earlier; see 70.4 (Hunink).

revincis: "condemn."

(4)

quid ... agat: indirect question after perquīris, the subject is Pudentilla.  "What she is up to in her bedroom."

nē ... fēmina sit: Pudens denies Pudentilla not merely her privacy as a lover, but even her rights as a woman. The MSS are confused here. The emendation sit for est of the MSS, though hardly small, is the simplest solution (Hunink).

Nihilne tū in eā cōgitās nisi ūnam parentis religiōnem?: "Do you only think of her as owing the duty of a mother?" (Jones).

(5)

Ō īnfēlīx uterum tuum: a highly dramatic apostrophe of Pudentilla's womb, her imaginary sterility, her months of pregnancy and her years of widowhood. Pudentilla herself was probably not present in court (Hunink).

The nominative is generally uterus (masc). For the neuter see Plautus Aulularia 691 obsecro te, uterum dolet (B/O).

līberīs potior: "preferable to (the) children (you ended up with)," i.e., Pudentilla would have been luckier not to have had any children at all, considering the way they ended up treating her.

A strongly offensive element, implying that it would have been better if Pudens had not been born at all. See Cicero, Philippics 2.58 o miserae mulieris fecunditatem calamitosam! (Hunink).

ingrātī: "unappreciated."

XIIII annī viduitātis: see ch. 68.

exēsō mātris uterō: "with the womb of the mother having been gnawed out," i.e., the viper chews its way out from inside its mother's belly.

This superstition arises from the fact that the viper does not lay eggs, but is viviparous (B/O).

parricīdiō: ablative of means, "by killing its mother."

ā fīliō: Pudens.

at enim tibi ā fīliō iam adultō acerbiōrēs morsū: Apuleius won't be the last author to consider snakes in this context. "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child." Shakespeare, King Lear, I.iv. 302-303.

vīventī et videntī: modifying tibi, "while you are alive and can see them happening," explaining why the morsūs are acerbiōrēs than those of the viper.

(6)

Silentium tuum laniātur, pudor tuus carpitur: "Your discretion is ravaged, your honor attacked" (Jones), LS carpo II.B.1.b.γ. Laniātur suggests being mutilated or wounded savagely, like flesh (OLD lanio 1.a), carpitur suggests tearing, as if by a bird of prey (OLD carpo 6.b).

(7)

ob acquisitam hereditatem: the inheritance of his father's property secured to him by Pudentilla's continual postponement of her marriage with Sicinius Clarus. See ch. 68.

Hīscīne ... disciplīnīs: "are these the teachings with which ...?".

patruus: Sicinius Aemilianus, the  principal accuser.

ut ... nōn audeās: "such that you would not dare," introducing a result clause dependent upon the inferred extreme nature of their uncle's teachings.

sī compertum habeās: "if you knew full well" (LS comperio β), introducing the indirect statement fīliōs ... futūrōs (esse).

nōn audeās dūcere uxōrem: Apuleius reprises the theme of sterility as preferable to having evil progeny.

(8)

versus non ignotus: "not unknown," by litotes, "well-known." The author is unknown. 

From an unknown comedy (Ribbeck, Comicorum Romanorum Fragmenta 3 [151 no. 78]) (Jones).

praecoquī sapientiā: "to be prematurely ripened in (respect to) wisdom" =  "to be prematurely wise," as in Eng. precocious, a derivative.

malitiā praecoquī: "to be prematurely wicked."

āversētur: "is repelled by," "scorns."

velut mōnstrum quoddam: "like some kind of monster."

velut mōnstrum quoddam prius rōbustum scelere quam tempore: "a sort of prodigy hardened by crime and not yet by time" (Jones), i.e., with a fully developed capacity for evil before he has fully developed an adult body.

viridī pueritiā, cānā malitiā: ablatives of description or quality (AG 415): "with the greenness of youth and the gray hairs of malice" (Jones).

(9)

hōc: "for this reason," looks forward to quod ... perniciōsus est, as a substantive clause describing the reason.

magis noxium: "even more harmful," continuing to describe Pudens.

cum veniā perniciōsus est: "pardonably pernicious" (Jones), a reference to the limited legal responsibility of Pudens. See 2.3 admodum puerī (Hunink).

nōndum poenae, iam iniūriae sufficit: "not yet of an age to do time but already of an age to do harm" (Jones). 

iniūriae dīcō: "did I say 'for injustice'?" Apuleius realizes that he has misspoken.

Immō enim: "actually more like."

scelerī: "for a crime," dative to take the place grammatically of iniūriae in the last sentence.

nefandō, immānī, impetibilī: datives, modifying scelerī: "unspeakable, monstrous, unforgivable."