The sisters inquire about Psȳchē’s husband, and she answers with a description different from the one they have heard before.

adfectiōne: see 5.9.6.

fontibus: here, a poetic version of “waters” rather than fountains or springs (Kenney ad loc.).

trīclīniō: here, more likely a meal and not the dining room.

loquī…agere…canere: a series of infinitives all depending on iubet.

psallitur…sonātur… cantātur: impersonal passives (Kenney ad loc.), but a subject can often be inferred or supplied, such as from psallitur “it (the cithara) was played” and sonātur “a noise was made.

tībiās: here, a poetic use for “flute,” an instrument often made of bone (L&S s.v. tibia II); see example under Media.

mellītā…mollītā: The alliteration and, more importantly, the assonance accentuates a softness of the music that is juxtaposed against the sisters’ coarseness (Kenney ad loc.).

sermōnem cōnferentēs: “directing the conversation” (Kenney, ad loc.); cf. 5.11.5. Pedicam, not sermōnem, is therefore the object of ad.

unde nātālium: an Apuleian variant of of the more classical unde natus (Kenney ad loc.)

sectā cuiā: inverted for chiasmus with unde nātālium (Kenney ad loc.)

simplicitāte nimiā: abl. of cause (A&G §404).

magnīs pecūniīs: abl. of means modifying negōtiantem.

rārā cānitiē: “with scattered gray hair.”