§39.11.1postquam domum venit, et mater mentionem intulit, quid eo die, quid deinceps ceteris, quae ad sacra pertinerent, faciendum esset, negat eorum se quicquam facturum, nec initiari sibi in animo esse.
After he returned home, and his mother mentioned what was to be done on that day, and successively on the other days, regarding the rites, he declared that he would do none of these things, and that he had no intention of being initiated.
§39.11.2aderat sermoni vitricus.
His stepfather was present at this conversation.
confestim mulier exclamat Hispalae concubitu calere eum decem noctes non posse; illius excetrae delenimentis et venenis imbutum nec parentis nec vitrici nec deorum verecundiam habere.
Immediately the woman cried out that he could not keep away from Hispala's embrace for ten nights, and that, infected with the charms and poisons of that viper, he had respect neither for his mother, nor his stepfather, nor the gods.
iurgantes hinc mater, hinc vitricus cum quattuor eum servis domo exegerunt.
Scolding him, the mother on one side and the stepfather on the other, with the help of four slaves, drove him out of the house.
§39.11.3adulescens inde ad Aebutiam se amitam contulit, causamque ei, cur esset a matre eiectus, narravit, deinde ex auctoritate eius postero die ad consulem Postumium arbitris remotis rem detulit.
From there the young man betook himself to his aunt Aebutia, and told her the reason why he had been cast out by his mother; then, on her advice, the next day he laid the matter before the consul Postumius, after all witnesses had been removed.
§39.11.4consul post diem tertium redire ad se iussum dimisit; ipse Sulpiciam gravem feminam, socrum suam, percunctatus est, ecquam anum Aebutiam ex Aventino nosset.
The consul dismissed him with orders to return to him after the third day; he himself asked his mother-in-law, Sulpicia, a lady of grave character, whether she knew an elderly woman named Aebutia from the Aventine.
§39.11.5cum ea nosse probam et antiqui moris feminam respondisset, opus esse sibi ea conventa dixit: mitteret nuntium ad eam, ut veniret.
When she replied that she knew her to be an honorable woman of the old school, he said that he had need of an interview with her, and asked Sulpicia to send a messenger to her, requesting her to come.
§39.11.6Aebutia accita ad Sulpiciam venit, et consul paulo post, velut forte intervenisset, sermonem de Aebutio fratris eius filio infert.
Aebutia, having been summoned, came to Sulpicia, and a little later the consul, as if he had happened to come in by chance, introduced a conversation about Aebutius, the son of her brother.
§39.11.7lacrimae mulieri obortae, et miserari casum adulescentis coepit, qui spoliatus fortunis, a quibus minime oporteret, apud se tunc esset, eiectus a matre, quod probus adulescens — dii propitii essent — obscenis, ut fama esset, sacris initiari nollet.
Tears welled up in the woman's eyes, and she began to pity the misfortune of the young man, who, despoiled of his fortune by those from whom it was least fitting, was then staying at her house, having been cast out by his mother because a well-behaved youth — may the gods be propitious — refused to be initiated into rites which, as report had it, were obscene.