What is the exact meaning of the prep. pone? All the lexicons translate it as behind, however all the translations of Apuleius, Met. (ecce pone lanceae ferrum puer insurgit) translate it as “on”
Constantius,
The way I read this (and I have never looked at Apuleius), but behind makes more sense, i.e ‘Behold the boy rises behind the spear of iron’ as opposed to ‘Behold the boy on the spear of iron’; unless there is a tradition of engravings on spears, as the Mycenaeans did on daggers. Again though, I have no experience with Apuleius, so if anyone knows otherwise, please correct me.