ANNOTATIONS: aspectu adulescens et, quantum ingenio, senex

Chapter 26.

... his (a physician's) wise student realizes that she (the comatose queen) is still alive.

1. cum discipulis suis ... and when the physician's clever student arrives (26.7 discipulus medici), he is introduced without a reference to the group mentioned here.

7. supervenit discipulus medici ... Here discipulus "student, apprentice" ... Like his teacher, the pupil is nameless.

aspectu adulescens et, quantum ingenio, senex: prodigious wisdom in ancient literature is often described by means of the puer-senex character, c.f. Virgil's Iulus (or Julus) in Aen. 9.311 ante annos animumque gerens curamque viriles: youth is explicitly compared to old age first in Flavian and Antonine literature: e.g. Sil. 8.464; Plin. epist. 5.162; Apul. flor. 9.38. In Christian literature see the expressions canities animae (Ambrose) or morum (Augustine), or sensuum (Cassian), and polios to noema (Gregory of Nazianzus). Discussion of the topos in Curtius 1953 98-101; Festugière 1960; Gnilka 1972; Carp 1980; Eyben 1993 10-11. For the use of the term adulescens in this context see Gnilka ibid. 50-1. Although the puer-senex character (the discipulus) is held in high esteem, he is not everyone's favourite type; cf. Inc. pall. 95. (=Apul. apol. 85.8) odi puerulos praecoqui sapientia; Quint. inst. 2.4.9.

Et (P, F,) here has slight adversative force (="but at the same time, and yet" OLD s. v. 14) There is no need to change (with Riese, Tsitsikli, Schmeling, and Kortekas) et to sed.

quantum ingenio: this is probably a case of contamination of an ablative of respect (cf. aspectu) and a relative clause of the type quantum ad... (sc. pertinet); cf. Ov. ars. 1.744 quantum ad Pirithoum, Phaedra pudica fuit; Sen. nat. 2.34.2. quantum ad hoc, par est (OLD s.v. quantum 7c). Schmeling emends to quanto ingenio, but also considers either deleting quantum or emending to quantum ad ingenium or <tantum> aspectu ... [sed] quantum ingenio (1994: 147)

8. speciosum corpus ... The same narrative situation occurs in our passage, although the perspective is now the young student's. The use of the adjective may be significant, as our author goes on to describe the young man's interest in the comatose princess/queen by means of an erotically coloured language; ...

1. Quod ut uidit iuuenis: uidere need not suggest perception with the eyes; the physician may notice the dissolving of the congealed blood by e.g. touching the body or taking the pulse; here uidere may also simply mean "to be a witness of an event" (OLD s.v. 11)

ut facilius mihi credas, ... This anounces the student's ensuing treatment of (the comatose princess) ...

Chapter 27

(no mention of the wise student in the summary)

2. tulit puellam in cubiculo, posuit super lectulum: while the encounter of the young physician with the lifeless body ...  and the first treatment take place in the open (the physician's uilla), the second treatment, which results in the resuscitation, occurs in a confined space; the change of setting from "outside" to "inside" is also found in Apul. flor. 19.8. domum rettulit confestimque spiritum recreavit; and, (as Kerényi 1962: 39 points out) in the description of the miraculous revival of a young boy by the prophet Elijah in Vulgate III, Kings, 17.19: .... et portavit in cenaculum ubi (Elias) ipse manebat et posuit super lectulum suum (cf. on 22.11 labia labiis probat). The diminutive lectulus in this context is probably equivalent to lectus (for this use see Lamer in RE XII.1 1103-4; Hanssen 1952:119; Adams 1976: 105); in view of the Old Testament passage cited above, the term may have an intertextual significance. Of course, the term lectulus is also a symbol of love affairs (the diminutive is used this way in elegy and epigram, e.g. Prop.  2.15.2.; Mart. 10.38.7.; Van Mal-Maeder on Apul. met. 2.7.7.); the young physician's touch over the body of the allegedly dead ... is not strictly professional; ...

calefecit oleum, madefecit lanam, effudit super pectus puellae: the physician applies to the girl's chest a piece of wool moistened in tepid oil. Both objects appear in medical treatises in a therapeutic context (e.g. Ruf. Ren. Ves. 1.9.; Sor. Gyn. 3.10.4;  Gal. 10.419,  13.581 Kühn;  Orib. Syn. 7.31.1.), but their application in a case of apparent death is parallelled in a non-medical text, namely Artemidorus' Book of Dreams: Artemidorus reports that a professional wrestler dreamed that he was resuscitated from death by a masseur (aleiptes), this masseur employs the same means and healing process as the young physician in our story. For other healing methods see Apul. flor. 19.8. (Asclepiades) animam in corporis latibulis delitiscentem quibusdam medicamentis prouocauit. Kerényi 1962: 40 argues that our author is inspired from the imagery in Charit 1.1.15 (Calirrhoe).

4, ne me contingas aliter, quam oportet contingere: ... Contingere is rare for a physician's touch (but see 18.7. (medici) tangunt singulas corporis partes) and may specifically refer to the act of anointing the body (c.f. Ov. met. 2.123 suo sacro medicamine nati contigit); it has a sexual nuance at 27.10 ne ab aliquo contingeretur. This suggestive phrase functions as the climax of a series of double-entendres in the description of the treatment of the comatose princess/queen by the student (see above). She expresses reluctance when she is about to be examined by a male physician: this behaviour may reflect real-life attitude; see King 1998:  47-8;  Maraval on Greg. Nys. vit.  Macrin.  31.20 (cf. Greg. Naz. orat. 8.15). Flemming 2000: 76 remarks that visitations by male medici to female patients are in satire represented as opportunities for female sexual misconduct (e.g. Iuv 6.235-7; Mart. 11.17.7) It is justified that the queen immediately begs for the preservation of her chastity, which comes as a priority even under the most adverse conditions.

5. Iuuenis ut uidit, quod in arte uiderat, quod magistro fallebat: an example of the motif of the apprentice who outgrows his master (Kerényi 1962: 38). Schmeling prints ut uidit in arte quod arguing that the repetition of uidere quod is unacceptable (1994: 147) cf. Hamblenne 1993: 248)

6. probo artem, peritiam laudo, miror diligentiam: asyndetic tricolon with double chiasmus (ABBAAB) and P-alliteration. Ars and peritia are found in combination in e.g. Tac. hist. 4.30. Vlp. dig. 7.1.27.2., for peritia combined with diligentia see Aug. civ. deo 22.8 ex eorum (medicorum) diligentia peritiaque. The importance of peritia "experience, expertise" in a medical context has already been observed in our text: see et obstetricem peritissimam. For diligentia as a physician's virtue see e.g. Cels. 3.21 ille enim cum summa diligentia non medici tantummodo ... custodiretur; Plin. nat. 11.227 medica diligentia.

7. nolo te artis beneficium perdidisse: accipe mercedem: te, missing in P, is first added by Riese. One would expect perdere instead of perdidisse (c.f. 28.3. regnum, quod mihi seruabatur, nolo accipere), and Hunt 2009: 226-7 proposes nolo <aestimes> or <putes> .... perdidisse. For the infinitive perdidisse see also 14.10 iuuenis iste ... plura se perdidisse testatur. The idea expressed here squares with a general principle in this story: skill and merit require reward; see on 8.12 accipe ... quia mereris. On merces as a doctor's payment (misthós) see ThLL VIII 793,70 f.

7.2. artis beneficium: the phrase (less direct that merces "fee, payment")  indicates remuneration for the medical services provided by the young physician; cf. Cic. fam. 16.9. honos = merces, timé. Riese explains beneficium as fructus. Seneca (benef. 4.13.3) states that physicians who receive payment for their services do not perform a beneficium, since they act in their own interest. For the ancient debate about the way in which the physician's salary affects the definition of the medical profession as a liberal art see Kudlien 1986 167-81.

8. dedit ei decem sestertia auri: ... clear instruction in the letter is that the sum of 20,000 gold sesterces should cover both the fee of the person who finds ... body and the costs of the funeral: 26.4 Quicumque hoc loculum inuenerit habentem in eo XX sestertia auri, peto X sestertia habeat, X uero funeri impendat. Half of the gold is now the student's fee, since a funeral is no longer necessary. The reader is not explicitly informed as to the whereabouts of the rest of the money, yet it is expected that this sum goes to the person who found the coffin, the physician himself, who is thus shown to be a materialistic character (see Zimmerman on Apul. met. 10.9.1. on avaricious physicians in literature).