Petronius – Matrona Ephesia 2

Satyricon 112

cēterum¹ scītis, quid plērumque soleat temptāre hūmānam satiētātem². quibus³ blanditiīs impetrāverat mīles, ut mātrōna vellet vīvere, īsdem etiam pudicitiam ēius aggressus est. nec dēformis aut infācundus iuvenis castae vidēbātur, conciliante gratiam ancillā ac subinde dicente:

‘placitōne etiam pugnābis amōrī?’⁴

quid diūtius moror? nē hanc quidem partem⁵ mulier abstinuit, victorque mīles utrumque⁶ persuāsit. iacuērunt ergō ūnā⁷ nōn tantum illā nocte, quā nuptiās fēcērunt, sed posterō etiam ac tertiō diē, praeclūsīs vidēlicet conditōriī foribus, ut quisquis ex nōtīs ignōtīsque ad monumentum vēnisset⁸, putāret exspirāsse⁹ super corpus virī pudicissimam uxōrem. cēterum dēlectātus mīles et formā mulieris et secretō¹⁰, quicquid¹¹ bonī per facultātēs¹² poterat, coemēbat et primā¹³ statim nocte in monumentum ferēbat. ītaque ūnīus cruciāriī¹⁴ parentēs¹⁵ ut vīdērunt laxātam custōdiam, dētraxēre¹⁶ nocte pendentem suprēmōque mandāvērunt officiō¹⁷.

at mīles, circumscriptus dum dēsidet, ut¹⁸ posterō diē vīdit ūnam sine cadāvere crucem, veritus¹⁹ supplicium, mulierī quid accidisset expōnit²⁰: nec sē exspectātūrum iūdicis sententiam, sed gladiō iūs dictūrum²¹ ignāviae suae. commodāret²² ergō illa peritūrō²³ locum et fātāle conditōrium <ūnum>²⁴ familiārī ac virō²⁵ faceret.

mulier nōn mīnus misericors quam pudica “ne istud” inquit “diī²⁶ sinant, ut eōdem tempore duōrum mihi cārissimōrum hominum duo fūnera spectem. mālō mortuum impendere quam vīvum occidere.” secundum hanc ōrātiōnem iubet ex arcā corpus marītī suī tollī atque illī, quae vacābat, crucī affigī. ūsus est mīles ingeniō prudentissimae fēminae, posterōque diē populus mīrātus est, quā ratiōne mortuus isset in crucem.

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Notes
1 cēterum – adverbial accusative: “as to the rest; for the rest”2 satiētās hūmāna: equivalent to homō satisfactus — “a person when he has had enough”, understand ‘to eat’; abstract for concrete3 The antecedent of quibus is blanditiīs, which has been subsumed within the relative clause.It is correlative with īsdem, i.e, “with the same … which …”4 Virgil, Aeneid 4.38, citing Anna’s plea to her sister Dido, urging her to give in to her feelings for Aeneas. 5 hanc partem — read as a cognate accusative, with abstinuit used absolutely: “did not hold back in even this regard”6 utrumque, a cognate accusative, i.e., persuaded her both to eat and to love.7 ūnā, adverbial = “together”8 vēnisset represents an original future perfect9 exspīrāsse, contraction of expīrāvisse, perf. active infinitive10 secretō, used as a noun; the ablative modifies delectātus11 quicquid: this clause is the object of coemēbat12 per facultātēs: “according to his means”13 prīmā nocte = ‘in the first part of …’14 cruciārius, used here as a noun: “one who has been crucified; a crucified man”15 parentēs = “relatives”16 dētraxēre = dētraxērunt17 officiō is dative; suprēmum officium = the last rites, which were denied to condemned criminals18 ut + indicative = “as”19 veritus — the perfect participle of a deponent verb has the force of a present participle: “fearing”20 expōnit: historical present tense — notice that accidisset, which it governs, stands in secondary sequence. 21 iūs dīcere = “pronounce judgment”; the ablative gladiō is instrumental, the genitive expresses the charge or crime22 commodāret represents a hortatory subjunctive in indirect discourse23 peritūrō is dative24 Some adjective appears to have been dropped from the text, perhaps ūnum or commūne25 familiāris here = “boy friend”, vir = “husband”26 diī = deī, nominative plural of deus

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