self inconsistency. The phrase argumenta ambifariam dissolvere is very obscure. I am indebted to Professor Cook Wilson for the following note. 'A comparison of the passage with the captious argument of Protagoras ([Florida, chap. 17], ambifariam proposuit), which is in the form of a dilemma, might suggest that ambifariam in both places means "by dilemma". But this is not a natural way of describing the method of Zeno. The characteristic of his philosophy was, according to tradition, that he tried to prove the thesis of Parmenides negatively by disproving the hypothesis contradictory to it. The disproof consisted in showing that the hypothesis in question involved a contradiction. If, therefore, ambifariam means "by dilemma" it would appear that Apuleius did not understand the true characteristic of Zeno's method; for dissolvere should refer to Zeno's method of disproof, which is not properly called dilemma.
'But perhaps it is not necessary to assume such a mistake on the part of Apuleius. Ambifariam may mean "ambiguously" in the sense of involving both sides of a contradiction (i.e. both of two contradictory propositions). This would suit the Protagoras passage well, for the argument, as the context shows, involves a contradiction. Zeno's argumentation also could be correctly described as ambifariam dissolvere, because he refuted the thesis opposed to that of Parmenides by showing that it involves a contradiction. Then the meaning of the passage would be that Zeno's cleverness (sollertissimum artificium) lay in the use of the reductio ad absurdum argument. In that case the translation would be as given in the text.' I find a confirmation of Professor Cook Wilson's view in the following line, cited from Timon of Phlius by Diog. Laert. ix. v. 2, where the word ἀμφοτερόγλωσσος is used with reference to Zeno's methods of argument, sc. ἀμφοτερογλώσσου τε μέγα σθένος οὐκ ἀλαπαδνόν.
Plato, sc. Parmenides, 127b.
capital charge. There is an untranslatable pun here, capitalis bearing the double meaning 'capital' and 'pertaining to the head'.
[Chapter 5.] Statius Caecilius, one of the most famous writers of comedy. He died 168 b.c.
[Chapter 6.] tooth-powder, clearly a magical compound according to the accusers.
Catullus, sc. xxxix. 17-21.
[Chapter 7.] the barrier of the teeth. Homer, Odyss. i. 64.
[Chapter 8.] the crocodile. See Herodotus ii. 68.
[Chapter 9.] Teian, sc. Anacreon, circa 520 b.c.