Quintilian: INSTITUTIONES

I. Sed haec eloquendi praecepta, sicut cogitationi sunt necessaria, ita non satis ad vim dicendi valent nisi illis firma quaedam facilitas, quae apud Graecos hexis nominatur, accesserit: ad quam scribendo plus an legendo an dicendo conferatur, solere quaeri scio. Quod esset diligentius nobis examinandum [citra] si qualibet earum rerum possemus una esse contenti; II. verum ita sunt inter se conexa et indiscreta omnia ut, si quid ex his defuerit, frustra sit in ceteris laboratum. Nam neque solida atque robusta fuerit umquam eloquentia nisi multo stilo vires acceperit, et citra lectionis exemplum labor ille carens rectore fluitabit, et qui sciet quae quoque sint modo dicenda, nisi tamen in procinctu paratamque ad omnis casus habuerit eloquentiam, velut clausis thesauris incubabit.

1. But these precepts of eloquence, just as they are necessary to thought, so they do not suffice for the force of speaking unless there shall have come to them a certain firm facility, which among the Greeks is called hexis: as to which whether more is contributed by writing or by reading or by speaking, I know is wont to be asked. Which would have to be examined by us more diligently [citra] if we could be content with any one of those matters; 2. but in truth all are so connected and indiscrete among themselves that, if anything of these be lacking, it is in vain that labor has been spent on the rest. For neither will eloquence ever be solid and robust unless it has received strength by much writing, and without the example of reading that labor, lacking a helmsman, will drift; and he who knows what things are to be said and in what manner, unless nevertheless he has eloquence in battle array and prepared for all contingencies, will brood as it were over locked-up treasures.

III. Non autem ut quidquid praecipue necessarium est, sic ad efficiendum oratorem maximi protinus erit momenti. Nam certe, cum sit in eloquendo positum oratoris officium, dicere ante omnia est, atque hinc initium eius artis fuisse manifestum est, proximam deinde imitationem, novissimam scribendi quoque diligentiam.

3. Yet it is not the case that, because something is particularly necessary, it is therefore straightway of the greatest moment for making an orator. For certainly, since the orator’s office is set in speaking, to speak is before all things; and from this it is manifest that the beginning of that art lay here; next, imitation; and, last of all, the diligence of writing too.

IV. Sed ut perveniri ad summa nisi ex principiis non potest, ita procedente iam opere [iam] minima incipiunt esse quae prima sunt. Verum nos non quomodo sit instituendus orator hoc loco dicimus (nam id quidem aut satis aut certe uti potuimus dictum est), sed athleta qui omnis iam perdidicerit a praeceptore numeros quo genere exercitationis ad certamina praeparandus sit. Igitur eum qui res invenire et disponere sciet, verba quoque et eligendi et conlocandi rationem perceperit, instruamus ]qua in oratione+ quod didicerit facere quam optime quam facillime possit.

4. But as one cannot arrive at the heights except from first principles, so, once the work is already proceeding, the things that are first begin to be minimal. Yet we are not at this point saying how an orator is to be trained (for that indeed has been said either sufficiently or at least as we were able), but, as in the case of an athlete who has now thoroughly learned from his trainer the measures, by what kind of exercise he should be prepared for contests. Therefore, him who will know how to discover and arrange the matters, and will also have grasped the method both of choosing words and of placing them, let us equip [in what way in the speech] he may be able to do what he has learned as excellently and as easily as possible.

V. Num ergo dubium est quin ei velut opes sint quaedam parandae, quibus uti ubicumque desideratum erit possit? VI. Eae constant copia rerum ac verborum. Sed res propriae sunt cuiusque causae aut paucis communes, verba in universas paranda: quae si [in] rebus singulis essent singula, minorem curam postularent: nam cuncta sese cum ipsis protinus rebus offerrent.

5. Is it then doubtful that there are, as it were, certain resources to be provided for him, which he can use wherever it is desired? 6. These consist in an abundance of matters and of words. But the matters are proper to each case or common to a few, words must be prepared for all universally: which, if there were singular ones for individual matters, would demand less care: for everything would at once offer itself together with the matters themselves.

Sed cum sint aliis alia aut magis propria aut magis ornata aut plus efficientia aut melius sonantia, debent esse non solum nota omnia sed in promptu atque [id] ut ita dicam in conspectu, ut, cum se iudicio dicentis ostenderint, facilis ex his optimorum sit electio. VII. Et quae idem significarent <scio> solitos ediscere, quo facilius et occurreret unum ex pluribus, et, cum essent usi aliquo, si breve intra spatium rursus desideraretur, effugiendae repetitionis gratia sumerent aliud quo idem intellegi posset.

But since for some things certain others are either more proper or more adorned or more effective or sound better, everything ought to be not only known but at hand and, [id] so to speak, in view, so that, when they have presented themselves to the judgment of the speaker, an easy choice of the best from these may be made. 7. And those which signify the same, <scio> men were accustomed to learn by heart, in order that both one out of many might more readily occur, and that, when they had used some one, if within a short space it were again desired, for the sake of avoiding repetition they might take another by which the same thing could be understood.

Quod cum est puerile et cuiusdam infelicis operae, tum etiam utile parum: turbam enim tantum modo congregat, ex qua sine discrimine occupet proximum quodque.

Which, while it is puerile and a kind of unhappy labor, is also of little utility: for it only congregates a crowd, from which, without discrimination, it seizes whatever is nearest.

VIII. Nobis autem copia cum iudicio paranda est, vim orandi, non circulatoriam volubilitatem spectantibus. Id autem consequimur optima legendo atque audiendo: non enim solum nomina ipsa rerum cognoscemus hac cura, sed quod quoque loco sit aptissimum.

8. But for us copiousness must be procured with judgment, aiming at the force of oratory, not a charlatan’s volubility. And we achieve this by reading and hearing the best things: for by this care we shall learn not only the very names of things, but also what in each place is most apt.

IX. Omnibus enim fere verbis, praeter pauca quae sunt parum verecunda, in oratione locus est. Nam scriptores quidem iamborum veterisque comoediae etiam in illis saepe laudantur; sed nobis nostrum opus intueri sat est. Omnia verba, exceptis de quibus dixi, sunt alicubi optima: nam et humilibus interim et vulgaribus est opus, et quae nitidiore in parte videntur sordida, ubi res poscit proprie dicuntur.

9. For almost all words, save a few that are somewhat immodest, have a place in speech. For the writers of iambics and of Old Comedy are often praised even in those; but for us it is enough to consider our own task. All words, except those of which I have spoken, are best somewhere: for at times there is need of humble and even vulgar words, and those which seem sordid in the more polished part are properly said where the matter demands.

X. Haec ut sciamus, atque eorum non significationem modo sed formas etiam mensurasque norimus ut ubicumque erunt posita conveniant, nisi multa lectione atque auditione adsequi nullo modo possumus, cum omnem sermonem auribus primum accipiamus. Propter quod infantes a mutis nutricibus iussu regum in solitudine educati, etiam si verba quaedam emisisse traduntur, tamen loquendi facultate caruerunt. XI. Sunt autem alia huius naturae, idem pluribus vocibus declarent, ita ut nihil significationis quo potius utaris intersit, ut "ensis" et "gladius". Alia, etiam si propria rerum aliquarum sint nomina, tropicos [quare] tamen ad eundem intellectum feruntur, ut "ferrum" et "mucro"; XII.

10. That we may know these things, and may be acquainted not only with their signification but also with their forms and measures, so that wherever they are set they may be suitable, we can by no means attain it unless by much reading and hearing, since we receive every discourse first by the ears. Wherefore infants brought up in solitude by mute nurses at the command of kings, even if they are reported to have emitted certain words, nevertheless lacked the faculty of speaking. 11. Moreover, there are other things of this nature, that the same thing is declared by several words, such that nothing in signification is at stake as to which you would rather use, as "ensis" and "gladius." Other words, even if they are proper names of certain things, are nevertheless borne tropically [therefore] to the same understanding, as "ferrum" and "mucro";
12.

nam per abusionem sicarios etiam omnis vocamus qui caedem telo quocumque commiserunt. Alia circumitu verborum plurium ostendimus, quale est "et pressi copia lactis". Plurima vero mutatione figurarum: "scio" "non ignoro" et "non me fugit" et "non me praeterit" et "quis nescit?" et "nemini dubium est". XIII. Sed etiam ex proximo mutuari licet.

for by abuse we also call sicarii even all who have committed a killing with whatever weapon. Others we exhibit by a circumlocution of more words, such as "et pressi copia lactis". Very many indeed by a change of figures: "scio" "non ignoro" and "non me fugit" and "non me praeterit" and "quis nescit?" and "nemini dubium est".
13. But it is also permitted to borrow from what is close at hand.

Nam et "intellego" et "sentio" et "video" saepe idem valent quod "scio". Quorum nobis ubertatem ac divitias dabit lectio, ut non solum quo modo occurrent sed etiam quo modo oportet utamur. XIV. Non semper enim haec inter se idem faciunt, nec sicut de intellectu animi recte dixerim "video", ita de visu oculorum "intellego", nec ut "mucro" gladium, sic mucronem "gladius" ostendit.

For both "intellego" and "sentio" and "video" often amount to the same as "scio." Reading will give us the abundance and riches of these, so that we may use them not only as they occur but also as we ought. 14. For these do not always do the same among themselves; nor, just as I might rightly say "video" regarding the mind’s understanding, would I in the same way say "intellego" regarding the eyesight; nor, as "mucro" denotes the sword, does "gladius" in turn denote the point.

XV. Sed ut copia verborum sic paratur, ita non verborum tantum gratia legendum vel audiendum est. Nam omnium quaecumque docemus hinc sunt exempla, potentiora etiam ipsis quae traduntur artibus (cum eo qui discit perductus est ut intellegere ea sine demonstrante et sequi iam suis viribus possit), quia quae doctor praecepit orator ostendit.

XV. But just as a copiousness of words is thus prepared, so one must not read or listen for the sake of words alone. For of all the things whatsoever we teach, from here are the examples, more potent even than the arts themselves that are handed down (when the learner has been brought to the point that he can understand them without a demonstrator and can now follow by his own powers), because what the teacher has prescribed the orator demonstrates.

XVI. Alia vero audientis, alia legentis magis adiuvant. Excitat qui dicit spiritu ipso, nec imagine +ambitu+ rerum sed rebus incendit.

16. But different things aid the hearer, different things the reader, more. He who speaks excites by the very spirit, and inflames not by the image and ambit of things, but by the things themselves.

Vivunt omnia enim et moventur, excipimusque nova illa velut nascentia cum favore ac sollicitudine: nec fortuna modo iudicii sed etiam ipsorum qui orant periculo adficimur. XVII. Praeter haec vox, actio decora, commodata ut [quis] quisque locus postulabit pronuntiandi vel potentissima in dicendo ratio, et, ut semel dicam, pariter omnia docent.

All things indeed live and are moved, and we welcome those new things as if being born, with favor and solicitude: and we are affected not only by the fortune of the judgment but also by the peril of those who plead. 17. Besides these, the voice, a seemly action (delivery), accommodated for pronouncing as each [quis] topic shall demand, or the most potent method in speaking—and, to say it once for all—together alike all teach.

In lectione certius iudicium, quod audienti frequenter aut suus cuique favor aut ille laudantium clamor extorquet. XVIII. Pudet enim dissentire, et velut tacita quadam verecundia inhibemur plus nobis credere, cum interim et vitiosa pluribus placent, et a conrogatis laudantur etiam quae non placent.

In reading the judgment is more certain, whereas for one who listens it is frequently extorted either by each person’s own favor or by that clamor of the applauders. 18. For one is ashamed to dissent, and, as if by a certain tacit modesty, we are inhibited from putting more credence in ourselves, while meanwhile even vicious things please the majority, and even things that do not please are lauded by the mustered.

XIX. Sed contrario quoque accidit ut optime dictis gratiam prava iudicia non referant. Lectio libera est nec ut actionis impetus transcurrit, sed repetere saepius licet, sive dubites sive memoriae penitus adfigere velis.

19. But on the contrary it also happens that perverse judgments do not return favor to the best-said. Reading is free, and it does not run past like the impetus of action, but it is permitted to repeat more often, whether you doubt or wish to affix it deeply to memory.

Repetamus autem et tractemus et, ut cibos mansos ac prope liquefactos demittimus quo facilius digerantur, ita lectio non cruda sed multa iteratione mollita et velut [ut] confecta memoriae imitationique tradatur.

Let us, however, repeat and treat [the matter], and, just as we send down foods chewed and almost liquefied so that they may be digested more easily, so let the reading be handed over to memory and imitation not raw but mollified by much iteration and as if [ut] confected.

XX. Ac diu non nisi optimus quisque et qui credentem sibi minime fallat legendus est, sed diligenter ac paene ad scribendi sollicitudinem nec per partes modo scrutanda omnia, sed perlectus liber utique ex integro resumendus, praecipueque oratio, cuius virtutes frequenter ex industria quoque occultantur. XXI. Saepe enim praeparat dissimulat insidiatur orator, eaque in prima parte actionis dicit quae sunt in summa profutura; itaque suo loco minus placent, adhuc nobis quare dicta sint ignorantibus, ideoque erunt cognitis omnibus repetenda.

20. And for a long time, one should read no one except only the best, and the one who will least deceive the person entrusting himself to him; but [they are] to be read diligently and almost with a solicitude for writing, and not are all things to be scrutinized only by parts, but, once a book has been read through, it must by all means be taken up afresh from the beginning—especially the oration, whose virtues are frequently even by industry (i.e., design) concealed. 21. For often the orator prepares, dissimulates, and lies in ambush, and he says in the first part of the action those things which are going to be most useful in the sum; and so in their own place they are less pleasing, as we still do not know why they were said, and therefore, when everything is known, they must be gone over again.

XXII. Illud vero utilissimum, nosse eas causas quarum orationes in manus sumpserimus, et, quotiens continget, utrimque habitas legere actiones: ut Demosthenis et Aeschinis inter se contrarias, et Servi sulpici atque Messalae, quorum alter pro Aufidia, contra dixit alter, et Pollionis et Cassi reo Asprenate, aliasque plurimas. XXIII.

22. That, indeed, is most useful: to know those causes whose orations we have taken into our hands, and, whenever it happens, to read the pleadings delivered on both sides: such as those of Demosthenes and Aeschines, opposed to each other; and of Servius Sulpicius and Messalla, of whom the one spoke for Aufidia, the other against; and of Pollio and Cassius, with Asprenas as the defendant, and very many others. 23.

Quin etiam si minus pares videbuntur aliquae, tamen ad cognoscendam litium quaestionem recte requirentur, ut contra Ciceronis orationes Tuberonis in Ligarium et Hortensi pro Verre. Quin etiam easdem causas ut quisque <egerit utile> erit scire. Nam de domo Ciceronis dixit Calidius, et pro Milone orationem Brutus exercitationis gratia scripsit, etiam si egisse eum Cornelius Celsus falso existimat, et Pollio et Messala defenderunt eosdem, et nobis pueris insignes pro Voluseno Catulo Domiti Afri, Crispi Passieni, Decimi Laeli orationes ferebantur.

Indeed, even if some will seem less well matched, nevertheless they will rightly be sought out for learning the question of litigations, as, set against Cicero’s orations, those of Tubero in the case of Ligarius and of Hortensius for Verres. Indeed, it will be useful to know how each has conducted the same causes. For Calidius spoke on the matter of Cicero’s house, and Brutus composed an oration for Milo for the sake of exercise, even if Cornelius Celsus wrongly thinks that he actually pleaded it; and both Pollio and Messala defended those same men; and, when we were boys, distinguished orations on behalf of Volusenus Catulus by Domitius Afer, Crispus Passienus, and Decimus Laelius were in circulation.

XXIV. Neque id statim legenti persuasum sit, omnia quae summi auctores dixerint utique esse perfecta. Nam et labuntur aliquando et oneri cedunt et indulgent ingeniorum suorum voluptati, nec semper intendunt animum, nonnumquam fatigantur, cum Ciceroni dormitare interim Demosthenes, Horatio vero etiam Homerus ipse videatur.

24. Nor let it be immediately persuaded to the reader that all the things which the highest authors have said are assuredly perfect. For they too sometimes slip, and yield to the burden, and indulge the pleasure of their own genius, nor do they always exert their mind; sometimes they are fatigued, since to Cicero Demosthenes seems to doze now and then, and to Horace even Homer himself seems to.

XXV. Summi enim sunt, homines tamen, acciditque iis qui quidquid apud illos reppererunt dicendi legem putant ut deteriora imitentur (id enim est facilius), ac se abunde similes putent si vitia magnorum consequantur. XXVI.

25. For they are supreme, yet men; and it befalls those who think that whatever they have found among them is a law of speaking, that they imitate the worse (for that is easier), and think themselves sufficiently similar if they attain the vices of the great. 26.

Modesto tamen et circumspecto iudicio de tantis viris pronuntiandum est, ne, quod plerisque accidit, damnent quae non intellegunt. Ac si necesse est in alteram errare partem, omnia eorum legentibus placere quam multa displicere maluerim.

Nevertheless, with modest and circumspect judgment one must pronounce concerning such great men, lest, as happens to most, they condemn what they do not understand. And if it is necessary to err to the other side, I would prefer that everything of theirs please readers rather than that many things displease.

XXVII. Plurimum dicit oratori conferre Theophrastus lectionem poetarum multique eius iudicium secuntur; neque inmerito: namque ab his in rebus spiritus et in verbis sublimitas et in adfectibus motus omnis et in personis decor petitur, praecipueque velut attrita cotidiano actu forensi ingenia optime rerum talium +libertate+ reparantur; ideoque in hac lectione Cicero requiescendum putat. XXVIII.

27. Theophrastus says that the reading of poets contributes very much to the orator, and many follow his judgment; nor undeservedly: for from these are sought in matters spirit, in words sublimity, in affections every motion, and in persons decorum; and especially the talents, as if worn down by the quotidian forensic action, are best repaired by the +freedom+ of such things; and therefore Cicero thinks one ought to take rest in this reading. 28.

Meminerimus tamen non per omnia poetas esse oratori sequendos, nec libertate verborum nec licentia figurarum: genus ostentationi comparatum, et, praeter id quod solam petit voluptatem eamque [etiam] fingendo non falsa modo sed etiam quaedam incredibilia sectatur, patrocinio quoque aliquo iuvari: XXIX. quod alligata ad certam pedum necessitatem non semper uti propriis possit, sed depulsa recta via necessario ad eloquendi quaedam deverticula confugiat, nec mutare [que] modo verba, sed extendere corripere convertere dividere cogatur: nos vero armatos stare in acie et summis de rebus decernere et ad victoriam niti. XXX.

Let us nevertheless remember that poets are not in all things to be followed by the orator, neither in the liberty of words nor in the license of figures: a genre contrived for ostentation, and, besides the fact that it seeks pleasure alone and, in pursuit of it, [also] by feigning follows not only things untrue but even certain incredible ones, is helped too by a certain plea in its defense: 29. because, being bound to a fixed necessity of feet, it cannot always employ proper words, but, driven off the straight way, is of necessity forced to flee to certain by-roads of speaking, and is compelled not only to change words, but to extend, shorten, convert, divide: whereas we stand armed in the battle-line and decide about matters of highest moment and strive for victory. 30.

Neque ego arma squalere situ ac robigine velim, sed fulgorem in iis esse qui terreat, qualis est ferri, quo mens simul visusque praestringitur, non qualis auri argentique, inbellis et potius habenti periculosus.

Nor would I wish arms to be squalid with disuse and rust, but that there be a brilliance in them which terrifies, such as is that of iron, by which the mind and the sight at once are dazzled, not such as that of gold and silver, unwarlike and rather dangerous to the possessor.

XXXI. Historia quoque alere oratorem quodam uberi iucundoque suco potest. Verum et ipsa sic est legenda ut sciamus plerasque eius virtutes oratori esse vitandas.

31. History too can nourish the orator with a certain rich and pleasant juice. However, it itself must be read in such a way that we know that most of its virtues are to be avoided by the orator.

Est enim proxima poetis, et quodam modo carmen solutum est, et scribitur ad narrandum, non ad probandum, totumque opus non ad actum rei pugnamque praesentem sed ad memoriam posteritatis et ingenii famam componitur: ideoque et verbis remotioribus et liberioribus figuris narrandi taedium evitat. XXXII. Itaque, ut dixi, neque illa Sallustiana brevitas, qua nihil apud aures vacuas atque eruditas potest esse perfectius, apud occupatum variis cogitationibus iudicem et saepius ineruditum captanda nobis est, neque illa Livi lactea ubertas satis docebit eum qui non speciem expositionis sed fidem quaerit.

For it is next to the poets, and is in a certain way an unbound song, and it is written for narrating, not for proving, and the whole work is composed not for the act of the matter and the present combat but for the memory of posterity and the fame of talent: and therefore by more remote words and freer figures it avoids the tedium of narration. 32. And so, as I said, neither that Sallustian brevity—than which nothing can be more perfect for ears unoccupied and erudite—is to be aimed at by us before a judge occupied with various thoughts and more often unlearned, nor will that milky abundance of Livy sufficiently instruct him who seeks not the appearance of exposition but trustworthiness.

XXXIII. Adde quod M. tullius ne Thucydiden quidem aut Xenophontem utiles oratori putat, quamquam illum "bellicum canere", huius ore "Musas esse locutas" existimet. Licet tamen nobis in digressionibus uti vel historico nonnumquam nitore, dum in iis de quibus erit quaestio meminerimus non athletarum toris sed militum lacertis esse, nec versicolorem illam qua Demetrius Phalereus dicebatur uti vestem bene ad forensem pulverem facere.

33. Add that M. Tullius does not consider even Thucydides or Xenophon useful to the orator, although he thinks that the former “sings of war,” and that through the mouth of the latter “the Muses have spoken.” Nevertheless, it is permitted to us in digressions to use even a historical splendor now and then, provided we remember, in those matters about which there will be a question, that there is need not of athletes’ bulging muscles but of soldiers’ arms; and that that variegated garment which Demetrius of Phalerum was said to wear does not suit the dust of the forum.

XXXIV. Est et alius ex historiis usus, et is quidem maximus sed non ad praesentem pertinens locum, ex cognitione rerum exemplorumque, quibus in primis instructus esse debet orator; nec omnia testimonia expectet a litigatore, sed pleraque ex vetustate diligenter sibi cognita sumat, hoc potentiora quod ea sola criminibus odii et gratia vacant.

34. There is also another use from histories, and indeed the greatest, but not pertaining to the present place: it is from the knowledge of affairs and of examples, with which above all the orator ought to be equipped; nor should he expect all testimonies from the litigant, but let him take most from antiquity, carefully known to himself, all the more potent for this, that they alone are free from the accusations of hatred and favor.

XXXV. A philosophorum vero lectione ut essent multa nobis petenda vitio factum est oratorum, qui quidem illis optima sui operis parte cesserunt. Nam et de iustis honestis utilibus, iisque quae sint istis contraria, et de rebus divinis maxime dicunt, et argumentantur acriter, et altercationibus atque interrogationibus oratorem futurum optime [Socratici] praeparant.

35. And in truth, that many things must be sought by us from the reading of the philosophers has come about through the fault of the orators, who indeed have yielded to them the best part of their own work. For they speak especially both about the just, the honorable, the useful, and the things that are contrary to these, and about divine matters; and they argue keenly, and by altercations and interrogations they most excellently prepare the future orator, [the Socratics].

XXXVI. Sed his quoque adhibendum est simile iudicium, ut etiam cum in rebus versemur isdem, non tamen eandem esse condicionem sciamus litium ac disputationum, fori et auditorii, praeceptorum et periculorum.

36. But to these also a similar judgment must be applied, so that even when we are engaged in the same matters, nevertheless we may know that the condition is not the same for lawsuits and disputations, for the forum and the auditorium, for precepts and perils.

XXXVII. Credo exacturos plerosque, cum tantum esse utilitatis in legendo iudicemus, ut id quoque adiungamus operi, qui sint , quae in auctore quoque praecipua virtus. Sed persequi singulos infiniti fuerit operis.

37. I believe that many will demand, since we judge there to be so much utility in reading, that we also add to the work who are , and what the chief virtue is in an author as well. But to pursue individuals would be a task of infinite extent.

XXXVIII. Quippe cum in Bruto M. tullius tot milibus versuum de Romanis tantum oratoribus loquatur et tamen de omnibus aetatis suae, qui quidem tum vivebant, exceptis Caesare atque Marcello, silentium egerit: quis erit modus si et illos et qui postea fuerunt et Graecos omnis et philosophos * ? XXXIX. fuit igitur brevitas illa tutissima quae apud Livium in epistula ad filium scripta, legendos Demosthenen atque Ciceronem, tum ita ut quisque esset Demostheni et Ciceroni simillimus.

38. Indeed, since in the Brutus Marcus Tullius (Cicero) speaks in so many thousands of lines about Roman orators only, and yet, concerning all of his own age who were then alive, with the exception of Caesar and Marcellus, he kept silence: what limit will there be if we also include those men and those who were afterwards, and all the Greeks, and the philosophers * ?
39. Therefore that brevity was the safest, which is found in Livy, in the letter written to his son: that one should read Demosthenes and Cicero, then likewise those who were, each, most similar to Demosthenes and to Cicero.

XL. Non est dissimulanda nostri quoque iudicii summa: paucos enim vel potius vix ullum ex iis qui vetustatem pertulerunt existimo posse reperiri quin iudicium adhibentibus allaturus sit utilitatis aliquid, cum se Cicero ab illis quoque vetustissimis auctoribus, ingeniosis quidem sed arte carentibus, plurimum fateatur adiutum. XLI. Nec multo aliud de novis sentio: quotus enim quisque inveniri tam demens potest qui ne minima quidem alicuius certe fiducia partis memoriam posteritatis speraverit?

40. The sum of our own judgment, too, must not be dissimulated: for I think that few, or rather scarcely any, of those who have come down from antiquity can be found who, to those applying judgment, will not bring something of utility, since Cicero confesses that he was very greatly aided even by those most ancient authors, ingenious indeed but lacking in art. 41. Nor do I feel much otherwise about the new: for how many, pray, could be found so demented as not to have hoped for the memory of posterity from at least the smallest, sure confidence in some part?

Qui si quis est, intra primos statim versus deprehendetur, et citius nos dimittet quam ut eius nobis magno temporis detrimento constet experimentum. XLII. Sed non quidquid ad aliquam partem scientiae pertinet, protinus <ad> faciendam etiam phrasin, de qua loquimur, accommodatum.

If such a one exists, he will be detected immediately within the very first lines, and he will dismiss us sooner than that the experiment of him should cost us a great loss of time. 42. But not whatever pertains to some part of science is forthwith accommodated also <to> the making of the phrase, about which we are speaking.

Verum antequam de singulis loquar, pauca in universum de varietate opinionum dicenda sunt. XLIII. Nam quidam solos veteres legendos putant, neque in ullis aliis esse naturalem eloquentiam et robur viris dignum arbitrantur; alios recens haec lascivia deliciaeque et omnia ad voluptatem multitudinis imperitae composita delectant.

But before I speak about the particulars, a few things in general must be said about the variety of opinions. 43. For some think that only the ancients are to be read, and judge that in no others is there natural eloquence and a robustness worthy of men; others are delighted by this recent lasciviousness and delicacies, and by everything composed for the pleasure of an unskilled multitude.

XLIV. Ipsorum etiam qui rectum dicendi genus sequi volunt alii pressa demum et tenuia et quae minimum ab usu cotidiano recedant sana et vere Attica putant, quosdam elatior ingenii vis et magis concitata et plena spiritus capit, sunt etiam lenis et nitidi et compositi generis non pauci amatores. De qua differentia disseram diligentius cum de genere dicendi quaerendum erit: interim summatim quid et a qua lectione petere possint qui confirmare facultatem dicendi volent attingam.

44. Even among those who wish to follow the right kind of speaking, some think that only a compressed and slender manner, which recedes the least from everyday usage, is sound and truly Attic; certain men are seized by a loftier force of ingenium, more impassioned and full of spirit; there are also not a few lovers of a gentle, polished, and well-composed kind. Of which difference I shall speak more diligently when it will be necessary to inquire about the genus of speaking: meanwhile, in summary, I shall touch on what, and from what reading, those who will to strengthen the faculty of speaking may seek.

XLV. Paucos (sunt enim eminentissimi) excerpere in animo est: facile est autem studiosis qui sint his simillimi iudicare, ne quisquam queratur omissos forte aliquos <quos> ipse valde probet; fateor enim pluris legendos esse quam qui nominabuntur. Sed nunc genera ipsa lectionum, quae praecipue convenire intendentibus ut oratores fiant existimem, persequor.

45. I have in mind to excerpt a few (for they are most eminent); it is easy, moreover, for the studious to judge who are most similar to these, lest anyone complain that some have perhaps been omitted whom he himself greatly approves; for I confess that more ought to be read than will be named. But now I pursue the very kinds of readings which I consider especially to be suitable for those intending to become orators.

XLVI. Igitur, ut Aratus ab Iove incipiendum putat, ita nos rite coepturi ab Homero videmur. Hic enim, quem ad modum ex Oceano dicit ipse amnium fontiumque cursus initium capere, omnibus eloquentiae partibus exemplum et ortum dedit.

46. Therefore, as Aratus thinks one should begin from Jove, so we seem rightly to be about to begin from Homer. For he, just as he himself says that the courses of rivers and fountains take their beginning from Ocean, gave to all the parts of eloquence both an example and an origin.

hunc nemo in magnis rebus sublimitate, in parvis proprietate superaverit. Idem laetus ac pressus, iucundus et gravis, tum copia tum brevitate mirabilis, nec poetica modo sed oratoria virtute eminentissimus. XLVII.

No one has surpassed him in great matters for sublimity, in small for propriety. The same man is at once rich and compressed, jocund and grave, marvelous both for copiousness and for brevity, and most eminent not only in poetic but also in oratorical virtue. 47.

Nam ut de laudibus exhortationibus consolationibus taceam, nonne vel nonus liber, quo missa ad Achillem legatio continetur, vel in primo inter duces illa contentio vel dictae in secundo sententiae omnis litium atque consiliorum explicant artes? XLVIII. Adfectus quidem vel illos mites vel hos concitatos nemo erit tam indoctus qui non in sua potestate hunc auctorem habuisse fateatur.

For, to pass over laudations, exhortations, consolations, does not either the ninth book, which contains the legation sent to Achilles, or in the first that contention among the leaders, or the judgments delivered in the second, unfold all the arts of litigation and counsel? 48. As for emotions, whether those mild or these impassioned, there will be no one so unlearned as not to admit that this author had them in his own control.

Age vero, non utriusque operis ingressu in paucissimis versibus legem prohoemiorum non dico servavit, sed constituit? Nam et benivolum auditorem invocatione dearum quas praesidere vatibus creditum est et intentum proposita rerum magnitudine et docilem summa celeriter comprensa facit. XLIX.

Come now, at the ingress of both works, in very few verses, did he not—I do not say observe—the law of proems, but establish it? For he makes the auditor well-disposed by the invocation of the goddesses who are believed to preside over bards, attentive by the magnitude of the matters proposed, and docile by the summary quickly comprehended. 49.

Narrare vero quis brevius quam qui mortem nuntiat Patrocli, quis significantius potest quam qui curetum Aetolorumque proelium exponit? Iam similitudines, amplificationes, exempla, digressus, signa rerum et argumenta +ceteraque quae probandi ac refutandi sunt+ ita multa ut etiam qui de artibus scripserunt plurima earum rerum testimonia ab hoc poeta petant. L. Nam epilogus quidem quis umquam poterit illis Priami rogantis Achillem precibus aequari?

To narrate indeed, who more briefly than he who announces the death of Patroclus, who can more significant than he who expounds the battle of the Curetes and the Aetoli? Now the similes, amplifications, examples, digressions, signs of things and arguments +and the rest of the things which pertain to proving and refuting+ are so many that even those who have written on the arts seek very many testimonies of these matters from this poet. 50. For the epilogue, who will ever be able to be matched with those entreaties of Priam beseeching Achilles?

Quid? in verbis, sententiis, figuris, dispositione totius operis nonne humani ingenii modum excedit? - ut magni sit viri virtutes eius non aemulatione, quod fieri non potest, sed intellectu sequi.

What? In words, sentences, figures, and in the disposition of the whole work, does he not exceed the measure of human genius? - so that it is the part of a great man to follow his virtues not by emulation, which cannot be done, but by intellect.

LI. Verum hic omnis sine dubio et in omni genere eloquentiae procul a se reliquit, epicos tamen praecipue, videlicet quia durissima in materia simili comparatio est. LII. Raro adsurgit Hesiodus magnaque pars eius in nominibus est occupata, tamen utiles circa praecepta sententiae, levitasque verborum et compositionis probabilis, daturque ei palma in illo medio genere dicendi.

51. But this man, without doubt, left all far behind himself and in every kind of eloquence, yet the epic poets especially, evidently because in similar material the comparison is most severe. 52. Seldom does Hesiod rise, and a great part of his work is occupied with names; yet there are useful maxims concerning precepts, a lightness of words and a plausible composition, and the palm is given to him in that middle kind of speaking.

LIII. Contra in Antimacho vis et gravitas et minime vulgare eloquendi genus habet laudem. Sed quamvis ei secundas fere grammaticorum consensus deferat, et adfectibus et iucunditate et dispositione et omnino arte deficitur, ut plane manifesto appareat quanto sit aliud proximum esse, aliud secundum.

53. By contrast, in Antimachus there are force and gravity and a by-no-means vulgar genus of eloquence, and he has laud. But although the consensus of the grammarians almost confers upon him the second place, he is deficient in affections, in jocundity, in disposition, and altogether in art, so that it plainly and manifestly appears how different a thing it is to be proximate and to be second.

Panyasin, ex utroque mixtum, putant in eloquendo neutrius aequare virtutes, alterum tamen ab eo materia, alterum disponendi ratione superari. LIV. Apollonius in ordinem a grammaticis datum non venit, quia Aristarchus atque Aristophanes, poetarum iudices, neminem sui temporis in numerum redegerunt, non tamen contemnendum edidit opus aequali quadam mediocritate.

Panyasis, mixed from both, they think in eloquence equals the virtues of neither; yet the one is surpassed by him in subject-matter, the other in the method of arranging. 54. Apollonius did not enter the order set by the grammarians, because Aristarchus and Aristophanes, judges of poets, enrolled no one of their own time into the number; nonetheless he published a work not to be contemned, with a certain even mediocrity.

LV. Arati materia motu caret, ut in qua nulla varietas, nullus adfectus, nulla persona, nulla cuiusquam sit oratio; sufficit tamen operi cui se parem credidit. Admirabilis in suo genere Theocritus, sed musa illa rustica et pastoralis non forum modo verum ipsam etiam urbem reformidat. LVI.

55. Aratus’s subject-matter lacks motion, as being one in which there is no variety, no affect, no persona, no one’s oration; yet it suffices for the work to which he believed himself equal. Theocritus is admirable in his own genre, but that rustic and pastoral Muse shrinks not only from the forum but even from the city itself. 56.

Audire videor undique congerentis nomina plurimorum poetarum. Quid? Herculis acta non bene Pisandros?

I seem to hear on every side people piling up the names of very many poets. What? did not the Pisanders do well the acts of Hercules?

Quid? Nicandrum frustra secuti Macer atque Vergilius? Quid?

What? Did Macer and Vergilius follow Nicander in vain? What?

Euphorionem transibimus? Quem nisi probasset Vergilius idem, numquam certe conditorum Chalcidico versu carminum fecisset in Bucolicis mentionem. Quid?

Shall we pass over Euphorion? Unless Vergil likewise had approved him, he certainly would never have made mention in the Bucolics, in Chalcidian verse, of the founders of song. What?

Horatius frustra Tyrtaeum Homero subiungit? LVII. Nec sane quisquam est tam procul a cognitione eorum remotus ut non indicem certe ex bibliotheca sumptum transferre in libros suos possit.

Does Horace in vain subjoin Tyrtaeus to Homer? 57. Nor indeed is anyone so far removed from acquaintance with them that he cannot at least transfer into his own books an index taken from a library.

Nec ignoro igitur quos transeo nec utique damno, ut qui dixerim esse in omnibus utilitatis aliquid. LVIII. Sed ad illos iam perfectis constitutisque viribus revertemur: quod in cenis grandibus saepe facimus, ut, cum optimis satiati sumus, varietas tamen nobis ex vilioribus grata sit.

Nor therefore am I unaware of those whom I pass over, nor by any means do I condemn them, since I have said that there is in all things something of utility. 58. But we shall return to those, when our powers are now perfected and constituted: which we often do at grand dinners, so that, when we have been sated with the best, nevertheless variety from cheaper dishes is pleasing to us.

tunc et elegiam vacabit in manus sumere, cuius princeps habetur Callimachus, secundas confessione plurimorum Philetas occupavit. LIX. Sed dum adsequimur illam firmam, ut dixi, facilitatem, optimis adsuescendum est et multa magis quam multorum lectione formanda mens et ducendus color.

then too one will have leisure to take into one’s hands the elegy, whose principal is held to be Callimachus, the second place Philetas has occupied by the confession of very many. 59. But while we are attaining that firm, as I said, facility, we must be accustomed to the best, and the mind is to be formed by much reading rather than by the reading of many, and the color (style) is to be guided.

Itaque ex tribus receptis Aristarchi iudicio scriptoribus iamborum ad hexin maxime pertinebit unus Archilochus. LX. Summa in hoc vis elocutionis, cum validae tum breves vibrantesque sententiae, plurimum sanguinis atque nervorum, adeo ut videatur quibusdam quod quoquam minor est materiae esse, non ingeni vitium. LXI.

Therefore, of the three writers of iambs accepted by Aristarchus’s judgment, one will most pertain to hexis: Archilochus. 60. Utmost force of elocution in him; both strong and short, quivering sentences; very much blood and sinews, to such a degree that to some it seems that, where he is in any respect lesser, it is a matter of subject-matter, not a fault of genius. 61.

Novem vero lyricorum longe Pindarus princeps spiritu, magnificentia, sententiis, figuris, beatissima rerum verborumque copia et velut quodam eloquentiae flumine: propter quae Horatius eum merito nemini credit imitabilem. LXII. Stesichorum quam sit ingenio validus materiae quoque ostendunt, maxima bella et clarissimos canentem duces et epici carminis onera lyra sustinentem.

Of the nine lyric poets indeed Pindar is by far the chief in spirit, magnificence, sentences, figures, the most bountiful abundance of things and words, and, as it were, with a certain river of eloquence: because of which Horace rightly believes him imitable by no one. 62. How strong Stesichorus is in genius the subject-matters also show, singing of the greatest wars and the most illustrious leaders and sustaining on the lyre the burdens of epic song.

Reddit enim personis in agendo simul loquendoque debitam dignitatem, ac si tenuisset modum videtur aemulari proximus Homerum potuisse, sed redundat atque effunditur, quod ut est reprehendendum, ita copiae vitium est. LXIII. Alcaeus in parte operis aureo plectro merito donatur, qua tyrannos insectatus multum etiam moribus confert, in eloquendo quoque brevis et magnificus et diligens et plerumque oratori similis, sed et lusit et in amores descendit, maioribus tamen aptior.

For he renders to characters, in acting and in speaking at once, their due dignity, and if he had kept a measure he seems to have been able to emulate Homer most nearly; but he overflows and pours himself out, which, as it is to be censured, is nevertheless a fault of abundance. 63. Alcaeus in part of his work is deservedly gifted with a golden plectrum, in which, having assailed tyrants, he contributes much also to morals; in eloquence he is both brief and magnificent and diligent, and for the most part like an orator; yet he also played and descended into loves, though he is more apt for greater themes.

LXIV. Simonides, tenuis alioqui, sermone proprio et iucunditate quadam commendari potest, praecipua tamen eius in commovenda miseratione virtus, ut quidam in hac eum parte omnibus eiusdem operis auctoribus praeferant.

64. Simonides, otherwise tenuous, can be commended for his own diction and a certain jocundity; yet his chief virtue is in stirring commiseration, so that some in this respect prefer him to all authors of the same kind of work.

LXV. Antiqua comoedia cum sinceram illam sermonis Attici gratiam prope sola retinet, tum facundissimae libertatis, et si est in insectandis vitiis praecipua, plurimum tamen virium etiam in ceteris partibus habet. Nam et grandis et elegans et venusta, et nescio an ulla, post Homerum tamen, quem ut Achillem semper excipi par est, aut similior sit oratoribus aut ad oratores faciendos aptior.

65. Old Comedy, while it almost alone retains that pure grace of Attic speech, is moreover of most eloquent freedom; and although it is preeminent in assailing vices, nevertheless it has very great strength also in the other parts. For it is both grand and elegant and charming; and I do not know whether any, after Homer at least—whom it is proper always to except as Achilles—either is more similar to orators or is more apt for making orators.

LXVI. Plures eius auctores, Aristophanes tamen et Eupolis Cratinusque praecipui. Tragoedias primus in lucem Aeschylus protulit, sublimis et gravis et grandilocus saepe usque ad vitium, sed rudis in plerisque et incompositus: propter quod correctas eius fabulas in certamen deferre posterioribus poetis Athenienses permisere: suntque eo modo multi coronati.

66. There are more of its authors, yet Aristophanes and Eupolis and Cratinus are the principal. Aeschylus first brought tragedies to light, lofty and grave and grandiloquent, often even to a fault, but in many things rude and incomposite; on account of which the Athenians permitted later poets to bring his plays, corrected, into competition; and in that way many were crowned.

LXVII. Sed longe clarius inlustraverunt hoc opus Sophocles atque Euripides, quorum in dispari dicendi via uter sit poeta melior inter plurimos quaeritur. Idque ego sane, quoniam ad praesentem materiam nihil pertinet, iniudicatum relinquo.

67. But far more brilliantly did Sophocles and Euripides illustrate this work, and as to which of the two, in their disparate manner of speaking, is the better poet, the question is debated among very many. And this, indeed, since it pertains nothing to the present material, I leave unjudged.

Illud quidem nemo non fateatur necesse est, iis qui se ad agendum comparant utiliorem longe fore Euripiden. LXVIII. Namque is et sermone (quod ipsum reprehendunt quibus gravitas et coturnus et sonus Sophocli videtur esse sublimior) magis accedit oratorio generi, et sententiis densus, et in iis quae a sapientibus tradita sunt paene ipsis par, et in dicendo ac respondendo cuilibet eorum qui fuerunt in foro diserti comparandus, in adfectibus vero cum omnibus mirus, tum in iis qui miseratione constant facile praecipuus.

That indeed everyone must admit, that for those who equip themselves for action Euripides will be far more useful. 68. For he, both in diction (which very thing is blamed by those to whom the gravity and the buskin and the tone of Sophocles seems more sublime), approaches more the oratorical genre, and is dense with maxims, and in those matters which have been handed down by the wise he is nearly equal to the very men themselves; and in speaking and replying he is to be compared with any of those who were eloquent in the forum; in the affections, to be sure, he is marvelous with all, and in those which consist in pity he is easily preeminent.

LXIX. hunc et admiratus maxime est, ut saepe testatur, et secutus, quamquam in opere diverso, Menander, qui vel unus meo quidem iudicio diligenter lectus ad cuncta quae praecipimus effingenda sufficiat: ita omnem vitae imaginem expressit, tanta in eo inveniendi copia et eloquendi facultas, ita est omnibus rebus personis adfectibus accommodatus. LXX.

69. This man too Menander most greatly admired, as he often attests, and followed—though in a different kind of work—who, even he alone, in my judgment, when read diligently, suffices for fashioning all the things we prescribe: so has he expressed the whole image of life, such abundance of invention and faculty of eloquence is in him, so is he accommodated to all matters, persons, and affections. 70.

Nec nihil profecto viderunt qui orationes quae Charisi nomine eduntur a Menandro scriptas putant. Sed mihi longe magis orator probari in opere suo videtur, nisi forte aut illa iudicia quae Epitrepontes, Epicleros, Locroe habent, aut meditationes in Psophodee, Nomothete, Hypobolimaeo non omnibus oratoris numeris sunt absolutae. LXXI.

Nor indeed did they see nothing who think that the orations which are issued under the name of Charisius were written by Menander. But he seems to me, as an orator, to be far more to be approved in his own work, unless perhaps either those judicial proceedings which the Epitrepontes, the Epicleros, the Locroe contain, or the meditations in the Psophodee, the Nomothete, the Hypobolimaeus are not completed with all the numbers of the orator. 71.

Ego tamen plus adhuc quiddam conlaturum eum declamatoribus puto, quoniam his necesse est secundum condicionem controversiarum plures subire personas, patrum filiorum, caelibum maritorum, militum rusticorum, divitum pauperum, irascentium deprecantium, mitium asperorum. In quibus omnibus mire custoditur ab hoc poeta decor. LXXII.

I, however, think that he will contribute still somewhat more to declaimers, since it is necessary for these, according to the condition of the controversies, to assume more personae: of fathers and sons, of bachelors and husbands, of soldiers and rustics, of the rich and the poor, of the irate and the deprecating, of the mild and the harsh. In all of which decorum is marvelously maintained by this poet. 72.

Atque ille quidem omnibus eiusdem operis auctoribus abstulit nomen, et fulgore quodam suae claritatis tenebras obduxit. Habent tamen alii quoque comici, si cum venia legantur, quaedam quae possis decerpere, et praecipue Philemon, qui ut pravis sui temporis iudiciis Menandro saepe praelatus est, ita consensu tamen omnium meruit credi secundus.

And indeed he has taken away the very name from all authors of the same kind of work, and with a certain radiance of his own clarity he cast them into shadow. Yet other comic poets too, if read with indulgence, have certain things you can cull; and especially Philemon, who, although by the perverse judgments of his time he was often preferred to Menander, nevertheless by the consensus of all has deserved to be believed second.

LXXIII. Historiam multi scripsere praeclare, sed nemo dubitat longe duos ceteris praeferendos, quorum diversa virtus laudem paene est parem consecuta. Densus et brevis et semper instans sibi Thucydides, dulcis et candidus et fusus Herodotus: ille concitatis, hic remissis adfectibus melior, ille contionibus, hic sermonibus, ille vi, hic voluptate.

73. Many have written history excellently, but no one doubts that by far two are to be preferred to the rest, whose diverse excellence has attained praise almost equal. Dense and brief and ever self-pressing Thucydides, sweet and candid and diffuse Herodotus: the former better with stirred passions, the latter with relaxed; the former in assemblies, the latter in conversations; the former by force, the latter by pleasure.

LXXIV. Theopompus his proximus ut in historia praedictis minor, ita oratori magis similis, ut qui, antequam est ad hoc opus sollicitatus, diu fuerit orator. Philistus quoque meretur qui turbae quamvis bonorum post eos auctorum eximatur, imitator Thucydidi et ut multo infirmior, ita aliquatenus lucidior.

74. Theopompus is next to these; in history he is lesser than those just mentioned, yet he is more similar to an orator, as one who, before he was solicited to this work, had long been an orator. Philistus also deserves to be singled out from the crowd, although of good authors, who come after them—an imitator of Thucydides, and though much more infirm, yet in some measure more lucid.

Ephorus, ut Isocrati visum, calcaribus eget. Clitarchi probatur ingenium, fides infamatur. LXXV.

Ephorus, as it seemed to Isocrates, needs spurs. The genius of Clitarchus is approved, his credibility is defamed. 75.

Longo post intervallo temporis natus Timagenes vel hoc est ipso probabilis, quod intermissam historias scribendi industriam nova laude reparavit. Xenophon non excidit mihi, sed inter philosophos reddendus est.

Timagenes, born after a long interval of time, is commendable even on this very account: that he repaired, with new praise, the intermitted industry of writing histories. Xenophon does not escape me, but he must be rendered among the philosophers.

LXXVI. Sequitur oratorum ingens manus, ut cum decem simul Athenis aetas una tulerit. Quorum longe princeps Demosthenes ac paene lex orandi fuit: tanta vis in eo, tam densa omnia, ita quibusdam nervis intenta sunt, tam nihil otiosum, is dicendi modus, ut nec quod desit in eo nec quod redundet invenias.

76. A vast band of orators follows, as when a single age at Athens produced ten at once. Of whom by far the chief was Demosthenes, and he was almost the law of orating: so great the force in him, so dense is everything, thus with certain nerves strained, so nothing otiose; such is the mode of speaking, that you would find in him neither what is lacking nor what is redundant.

LXXVII. Plenior Aeschines et magis fusus et grandiori similis quo minus strictus est, carnis tamen plus habet, minus lacertorum. dulcis in primis et acutus Hyperides, sed minoribus causis, ut non dixerim vilioribus, magis par.

77. Aeschines is fuller and more diffuse, and the less compressed he is, the more he resembles the grander manner; yet he has more flesh, fewer sinews. Hyperides is especially sweet and sharp, but more a match for smaller causes, not to say viler ones.

LXXVIII. His aetate Lysias maior, subtilis atque elegans et quo nihil, si oratori satis sit docere, quaeras perfectius: nihil enim est inane, nihil arcessitum, puro tamen fonti quam magno flumini propior. LXXIX.

78. Lysias, older in age than these, subtle and elegant, and than whom, if it be enough for an orator to teach, you would seek nothing more perfect: for there is nothing inane, nothing adscititious, yet he is nearer to a pure fount than to a great river. 79.

Isocrates in diverso genere dicendi nitidus et comptus et palaestrae quam pugnae magis accommodatus omnes dicendi veneres sectatus est, nec inmerito: auditoriis enim se, non iudiciis compararat: in inventione facilis, honesti studiosus, in compositione adeo diligens ut cura eius reprehendatur. LXXX. Neque ego in his, de quibus sum locutus, has solas virtutes, sed has praecipuas puto, nec ceteros parum fuisse magnos.

Isocrates, in a different genre of speaking, polished and well-groomed, and more accommodated to the palaestra than to the fight, pursued all the graces of speaking, and not undeservedly: for he had prepared himself for auditoria, not for courts; easy in invention, a devotee of the honorable, in composition so diligent that his very care is blamed. 80. Nor do I, in these of whom I have spoken, think these the only virtues, but these the principal ones, nor that the others were anything less than great.

Quin etiam Phalerea illum Demetrium, quamquam is primus inclinasse eloquentiam dicitur, multum ingenii habuisse et facundiae fateor, vel ob hoc memoria dignum, quod ultimus est fere ex Atticis qui dici possit orator, quem tamen in illo medio genere dicendi praefert omnibus Cicero.

Nay even that Demetrius of Phalerum, although he is said to have been the first to incline eloquence (to cause eloquence to decline), I confess had much ingenium and facundity—worthy of memory even on this account, that he is almost the last among the Attics who can be called an orator—whom, nevertheless, Cicero prefers before all in that middle genus of speaking.

LXXXI. Philosophorum, ex quibus plurimum se traxisse eloquentiae M. tullius confitetur, quis dubitet Platonem esse praecipuum sive acumine disserendi sive eloquendi facultate divina quadam et Homerica? Multum enim supra prorsam orationem et quam pedestrem Graeci vocant surgit, ut mihi non hominis ingenio sed quodam Delphico videatur oraculo instinctus.

81. Of the philosophers, from whom Marcus Tullius confesses that he drew very much of his eloquence, who would doubt that Plato is preeminent, whether by the acumen of disputing or by a certain divine and Homeric faculty of speaking? For he rises far above plain speech and what the Greeks call pedestrian, so that to me he seems inspired not by a man’s ingenuity but by a certain Delphic oracle.

LXXXII. Quid ego commemorem Xenophontis illam iucunditatem inadfectatam, sed quam nulla consequi adfectatio possit? - ut ipsae sermonem finxisse Gratiae videantur, et quod de Pericle veteris comoediae testimonium est in hunc transferri iustissime possit, in labris eius sedisse quandam persuadendi deam.

82. Why should I commemorate that unaffected pleasantness of Xenophon, which no affectation can attain? - so that the Graces themselves seem to have fashioned his discourse, and the testimony of Old Comedy about Pericles can most justly be transferred to this man, that on his lips there sat a certain goddess of persuasion.

LXXXIII. Quid reliquorum Socraticorum elegantiam? Quid Aristotelen?

83. What of the elegance of the rest of the Socratics? What of Aristotle?

Quem dubito scientia rerum an scriptorum copia an eloquendi [usu] suavitate an inventionum acumine an varietate operum clariorem putem. Nam in Theophrasto tam est loquendi nitor ille divinus ut ex eo nomen quoque traxisse dicatur. LXXXIV.

Whom I am in doubt whether I should think more illustrious in the knowledge of things, or in the abundance of writings, or in the suavity of the [use] of eloquence, or in the acumen of inventions, or in the variety of works. For in Theophrastus there is so great a divine polish of speaking that he is said even to have drawn his very name from it. 84.

Minus indulsere eloquentiae Stoici veteres, sed cum honesta suaserunt, tum in colligendo probandoque quae instituerant plurimum valuerunt, rebus tamen acuti magis quam, id quod sane non adfectarunt, oratione magnifici.

The ancient Stoics indulged eloquence less; yet when they urged honorable things, then in collecting and proving what they had undertaken they were most effective—keen in matters rather than, a thing which indeed they did not aim at, magnificent in oration.

LXXXV. Idem nobis per Romanos quoque auctores ordo ducendus est. Itaque ut apud illos Homerus, sic apud nos Vergilius auspicatissimum dederit exordium, omnium eius generis poetarum Graecorum nostrorumque haud dubie proximus.

85. The same order must be traced for us also through Roman authors. And so, just as among them Homer, so among us Vergilius has given the most auspicious exordium, undoubtedly the nearest of all poets of that kind, both Greek and our own.

LXXXVI. Vtar enim verbis isdem quae ex Afro Domitio iuvenis excepi, qui mihi interroganti quem Homero crederet maxime accedere "secundus" inquit "est Vergilius, propior tamen primo quam tertio". Et hercule ut illi naturae caelesti atque inmortali cesserimus, ita curae et diligentiae vel ideo in hoc plus est, quod ei fuit magis laborandum, et quantum eminentibus vincimur, fortasse aequalitate pensamus. Ceteri omnes longe sequentur.

86. For I shall use the same words which, as a young man, I took down from Domitius Afer; when I asked him whom he believed to come closest to Homer, “second,” he said, “is Vergilius, yet nearer to the first than to the third.” And, by Hercules, just as we may have yielded to him in a celestial and immortal nature, so in care and diligence there is the more in this man, for this very reason, that he had to labor more; and by as much as we are surpassed by those of eminent rank, perhaps we compensate by equality. All the rest will follow far behind.

LXXXVII. Nam Macer et Lucretius legendi quidem, sed non ut phrasin, id est corpus eloquentiae, faciant, elegantes in sua quisque materia, sed alter humilis, alter difficilis. Atacinus Varro in iis per quae nomen est adsecutus interpres operis alieni, non spernendus quidem, verum ad augendam facultatem dicendi parum locuples.

87. For Macer and Lucretius are to be read indeed, but not so as to make phrasis, that is, the body of eloquence; each is elegant in his own subject-matter, but the one is humble, the other difficult. Varro Atacinus, in those works by which he has attained his name, an interpreter of an alien work, is not to be despised indeed, but is rather poorly furnished for augmenting the faculty of speaking.

LXXXVIII. Ennium sicut sacros vetustate lucos adoremus, in quibus grandia et antiqua robora iam non tantam habent speciem quantam religionem. Propiores alii atque ad hoc de quo loquimur magis utiles.

88. Let us adore Ennius like groves sacred by antiquity, in which the grand and ancient oaks now have not so much appearance as religion. Others are nearer, and more useful for this matter of which we speak.

Lascivus quidem in herois quoque Ovidius et nimium amator ingenii sui, laudandus tamen partibus. LXXXIX. Cornelius autem Severus, etiam si est versificator quam poeta melior, si tamen (ut est dictum) ad exemplar primi libri bellum Siculum perscripsisset, vindicaret sibi iure secundum locum.

Lascivious indeed even in heroic verse is Ovid, and too much a lover of his own ingenium, yet to be lauded in parts. 89. But Cornelius Severus, even if he is a better versifier than poet, if nevertheless (as has been said) he had written out the Sicilian War after the exemplar of the first book, would by right vindicate for himself the second place.

Serranum consummari mors inmatura non passa est, puerilia tamen eius opera et maximam indolem ostendunt et admirabilem praecipue in aetate illa recti generis voluntatem. XC. Multum in Valerio Flacco nuper amisimus. Vehemens et poeticum ingenium Salei Bassi fuit, nec ipsum senectute maturuit.

An untimely death did not allow Serranus to be consummated, yet his boyish works display both the greatest natural endowment and, especially at that age, an admirable will of the right kind. 90. We have recently lost much in Valerius Flaccus. Vehement and poetic was the genius of Saleius Bassus, nor did he himself ripen with old age.

Rabirius ac Pedo non indigni cognitione, si vacet. Lucanus ardens et concitatus et sententiis clarissimus et, ut dicam quod sentio, magis oratoribus quam poetis imitandus. XCI.

Rabirius and Pedo are not unworthy of consideration, if there is leisure. Lucan is ardent and agitated and most illustrious in sentences, and, to say what I feel, to be imitated more by orators than by poets. 91.

Hos nominamus quia Germanicum Augustum ab institutis studiis deflexit cura terrarum, parumque dis visum est esse eum maximum poetarum. Quid tamen his ipsis eius operibus in quae donato imperio iuvenis secesserat sublimius, doctius, omnibus denique numeris praestantius? Quis enim caneret bella melius quam qui sic gerit?

We name these because Germanicus Augustus was deflected from his instituted studies by the care of the lands, and it seemed too little to the gods that he be the greatest of poets. What, however, is more sublime than those very works of his, into which, with the empire having been bestowed, the young man had withdrawn—more learned, and, in fine, more excellent in all numbers? For who would sing of wars better than he who thus conducts them?

Quem praesidentes studiis deae propius audirent? cui magis suas artis aperiret familiare numen Minerva? XCII.

Whom would the goddesses presiding over studies listen to more closely? To whom would Minerva, the familiar divinity, more reveal her own art? 92.

Dicent haec plenius futura saecula, nunc enim ceterarum fulgore virtutum laus ista praestringitur. Nos tamen sacra litterarum colentis feres, Caesar, si non tacitum hoc praeterimus et Vergiliano certe versu testamur

Future ages will say these things more fully, for now this praise is bedazzled by the radiance of the other virtues. Yet you will count us, Caesar, as worshipers of the sacred rites of letters, if we do not pass this over in silence and at least attest it with a Vergilian verse.

"inter victrices hederam tibi serpere laurus."

"may the ivy creep for you among the victorious laurels."

XCIII. Elegia quoque Graecos provocamus, cuius mihi tersus atque elegans maxime videtur auctor Tibullus. sunt qui Propertium malint.

93. In elegy too we provoke the Greeks, of which the author who seems to me most terse and elegant is Tibullus. There are those who would prefer Propertius.

Ovidius utroque lascivior, sicut durior Gallus. Satura quidem tota nostra est, in qua primus insignem laudem adeptus Lucilius quosdam ita deditos sibi adhuc habet amatores ut eum non eiusdem modo operis auctoribus sed omnibus poetis praeferre non dubitent. XCIV.

Ovid is more lascivious than both, just as Gallus is more severe. Satire, indeed, is entirely ours, in which Lucilius, having first attained distinguished praise, still has certain lovers so devoted to him that they do not hesitate to prefer him not only to the authors of the same work, but to all poets. 94.

Ego quantum ab illis, tantum ab Horatio dissentio, qui Lucilium "fluere lutulentum" et esse aliquid quod tollere possis putat. Nam et eruditio in eo mira et libertas atque inde acerbitas et abunde salis. Multum est tersior ac purus magis Horatius et, nisi labor eius amore, praecipuus.

I, by as much as I differ from those men, so much do I differ from Horace, who thinks that Lucilius “flows muddy,” and that there is something you could take away. For in him there is marvelous erudition, and liberty—and from that, acridity—and salt in abundance. Horace is much terser and more pure, and, even with love set aside, preeminent.

Multum et verae gloriae quamvis uno libro Persius meruit. sunt clari hodieque et qui olim nominabuntur. XCV.

Persius earned much, and of true glory, although with a single book. there are illustrious today also, and those who will someday be named. 95.

Alterum illud etiam prius saturae genus, sed non sola carminum varietate mixtum condidit Terentius Varro, vir Romanorum eruditissimus. Plurimos hic libros et doctissimos composuit, peritissimus linguae Latinae et omnis antiquitatis et rerum Graecarum nostrarumque, plus tamen scientiae conlaturus quam eloquentiae. XCVI.

Terentius Varro, a man most erudite among the Romans, established that other, even earlier, genre of satire, but one mixed not by the variety of poems alone. He composed very many and most learned books, being most skilled in the Latin tongue and all antiquity and in Greek matters and our own, yet destined to contribute more of knowledge than of eloquence. 96.

Iambus non sane a Romanis celebratus est ut proprium opus, +quibusdam interpositus+: cuius acerbitas in Catullo, Bibaculo, Horatio (quamquam illi epodos intervenit) reperiatur. At lyricorum idem Horatius fere solus legi dignus: nam et insurgit aliquando et plenus est iucunditatis et gratiae et varius figuris et verbis felicissime audax. Si quem adicere velis, is erit Caesius Bassus, quem nuper vidimus; sed eum longe praecedunt ingenia viventium.

The iamb was not indeed celebrated by the Romans as a proper work, +interposed among certain pieces+; its acerbity may be found in Catullus, Bibaculus, and Horace (although in his case the Epodes intervene). But among lyric poets that same Horace is almost alone worthy to be read: for he both rises up at times and is full of jocundity and grace, and is varied in figures and in words, most felicitously bold. If you should wish to add someone, it will be Caesius Bassus, whom we have lately seen; but the geniuses of those now living far surpass him.

XCVII. Tragoediae scriptores veterum Accius atque Pacuvius clarissimi gravitate sententiarum, verborum pondere, auctoritate personarum. Ceterum nitor et summa in excolendis operibus manus magis videri potest temporibus quam ipsis defuisse: virium tamen Accio plus tribuitur, Pacuvium videri doctiorem qui esse docti adfectant volunt.

97. The writers of tragedy among the ancients, Accius and Pacuvius, are most illustrious for the gravity of their sentences, the weight of their words, the authority of their characters. Moreover, polish and the finishing hand in refining their works may seem to have been lacking rather to the times than to themselves: yet more of force is attributed to Accius, while Pacuvius seems the more learned—to those who are eager to affect being learned.

XCVIII. Iam Vari Thyestes cuilibet Graecarum comparari potest. Ovidi Medea videtur mihi ostendere quantum ille vir praestare potuerit si ingenio suo imperare quam indulgere maluisset.

98. Now Varius’s Thyestes can be compared to any of the Greek ones. Ovid’s Medea seems to me to show how much that man could have excelled if he had preferred to command his genius rather than to indulge it.

Eorum quos viderim longe princeps Pomponius Secundus, quem senes [quem] parum tragicum putabant, eruditione ac nitore praestare confitebantur. XCIX. In comoedia maxime claudicamus.

Of those whom I have seen, by far the chief is Pomponius Secundus, whom the elders [whom] thought too little tragic; they confessed that he excelled in erudition and in polish. 99. In comedy we limp the most.

Licet Varro Musas, Aeli Stilonis sententia, Plautino dicat sermone locuturas fuisse si Latine loqui vellent, licet Caecilium veteres laudibus ferant, licet Terenti scripta ad Scipionem Africanum referantur (quae tamen sunt in hoc genere elegantissima, et plus adhuc habitura gratiae si intra versus trimetros stetissent): C. vix levem consequimur umbram, adeo ut mihi sermo ipse Romanus non recipere videatur illam solis concessam Atticis venerem, cum eam ne Graeci quidem in alio genere linguae optinuerint. Togatis excellit Afranius: utinam non inquinasset argumenta puerorum foedis amoribus, mores suos fassus.

Although Varro, in Aelius Stilo’s opinion, says that the Muses would have spoken in Plautine speech if they had wished to speak Latin, although the ancients extol Caecilius with praises, although the writings of Terence are referred to Scipio Africanus (which nevertheless are most elegant in this genre, and would have had still more favor if they had stood within trimeter verses): 100. we scarcely attain a slight shadow, to such a degree that to me the Roman speech itself does not seem to admit that charm conceded to the Attics alone, since not even the Greeks themselves have obtained it in another genus of language. In the Togatae Afranius excels: would that he had not polluted the plots involving boys with foul amours, confessing his own mores.

CI. At non historia cesserit Graecis. Nec opponere Thucydidi Sallustium verear, nec indignetur sibi Herodotus aequari Titum Livium, cum in narrando mirae iucunditatis clarissimique candoris, tum in contionibus supra quam enarrari potest eloquentem, ita quae dicuntur omnia cum rebus tum personis accommodata sunt: adfectus quidem, praecipueque eos qui sunt dulciores, ut parcissime dicam, nemo historicorum commendavit magis. CII.

101. But history will not yield to the Greeks. Nor would I fear to oppose Sallust to Thucydides, nor would Herodotus be indignant at being equalled with Titus Livius, since in narrating he is of wondrous agreeableness and of most illustrious candor, and in harangues more eloquent than can be told, so that all the things that are said are accommodated both to the matters and to the persons: the emotions indeed, and especially those which are gentler, to speak with all possible spareness, no historian has commended more. 102.

Ideoque illam inmortalem Sallusti velocitatem diversis virtutibus consecutus est. Nam mihi egregie dixisse videtur Servilius Nonianus pares eos magis quam similes: qui et ipse a nobis auditus est, clari vir ingenii et sententiis creber, sed minus pressus quam historiae auctoritas postulat. CIII.

And therefore he attained that immortal velocity of Sallust by different virtues. For it seems to me that Servilius Nonianus spoke excellently, that they were equals rather than similar; he too was himself heard by us, a man of distinguished talent and crowded with sententiae, but less compressed than the authority of history demands. 103.

Quam paulum aetate praecedens eum Bassus Aufidius egregie, utique in libris belli Germanici, praestitit genere ipso, probabilis in omnibus, sed in quibusdam suis ipse viribus minor. CIV. Superest adhuc et exornat aetatis nostrae gloriam vir saeculorum memoria dignus, qui olim nominabitur, nunc intellegitur.

Aufidius Bassus, a little preceding him in age, excelled admirably—especially in the books of the German War—in his very genre, plausible in all respects, but in certain matters himself less than his own powers. 104. There still survives and adorns the glory of our age a man worthy of the memory of ages, who will be named one day; now he is understood.

Habet amatores - nec inmerito - Cremuti libertas, quamquam circumcisis quae dixisse ei nocuerat: sed elatum abunde spiritum et audaces sententias deprehendas etiam in iis quae manent. sunt et alii scriptores boni, sed nos genera degustamus, non bibliothecas excutimus.

Cremutius’s liberty has lovers - nor without merit - although the things have been pruned which it had harmed him to have said: but you may detect an abundantly exalted spirit and audacious sentences even in those that remain. there are other good writers too, but we are sampling genres, not shaking out libraries.

CV. Oratores vero vel praecipue Latinam eloquentiam parem facere Graecae possunt: nam Ciceronem cuicumque eorum fortiter opposuerim. Nec ignoro quantam mihi concitem pugnam, cum praesertim non id sit propositi, ut eum Demostheni comparem hoc tempore: neque enim attinet, cum Demosthenen in primis legendum vel ediscendum potius putem. CVI.

105. But the orators—even most especially—can make Latin eloquence equal to Greek: for I would boldly set Cicero against any one of them. Nor am I unaware what a great battle I stir up for myself, especially since it is not the purpose to compare him to Demosthenes at this time: for it is not pertinent, since I consider Demosthenes among those to be read first—or rather learned by heart. 106.

Quorum ego virtutes plerasque arbitror similes, consilium, ordinem, dividendi praeparandi probandi rationem, omnia denique quae sunt inventionis. In eloquendo est aliqua diversitas: densior ille, hic copiosior, ille concludit adstrictius, hic latius, pugnat ille acumine semper, hic frequenter et pondere, illic nihil detrahi potest, hic nihil adici, curae plus in illo, in hoc naturae. CVII.

Of whose virtues I judge most to be similar: counsel, order, the method of dividing, preparing, proving, in fine all the things that are of invention. In speaking there is some diversity: that one is denser, this one more copious; that one concludes more tightly, this one more broadly; that one fights always with acumen, this one frequently also with weight; there nothing can be taken away, here nothing added; more of care in that one, in this of nature. 107.

Salibus certe et commiseratione, quae duo plurimum in adfectibus valent, vincimus. Et fortasse epilogos illi mos civitatis abstulerit, sed et nobis illa quae Attici mirantur diversa Latini sermonis ratio minus permiserit. In epistulis quidem, quamquam sunt utriusque, dialogisve, quibus nihil ille, nulla contentio est.

Certainly, in sallies and in commiseration—these two which prevail most in the affections—we win. And perhaps the custom of his city has removed epilogues from him; but to us also the different method of Latin speech has permitted less of those things which the Attics admire. In epistles, indeed—although they are the province of both—and in dialogues, in which he has nothing, there is no contention.

CVIII. Cedendum vero in hoc, quod et prior fuit et ex magna parte Ciceronem quantus est fecit. Nam mihi videtur M. tullius, cum se totum ad imitationem Graecorum contulisset, effinxisse vim Demosthenis, copiam Platonis, iucunditatem Isocratis.

108. We must indeed yield in this point: that he was earlier, and that he, to a great extent, made Cicero what he is. For it seems to me that M. Tullius, when he had devoted himself wholly to the imitation of the Greeks, fashioned the force of Demosthenes, the copiousness of Plato, the pleasantness of Isocrates.

CIX. Nec vero quod in quoque optimum fuit studio consecutus est tantum, sed plurimas vel potius omnes ex se ipso virtutes extulit inmortalis ingenii beatissima ubertas. Non enim pluvias, ut ait Pindarus, aquas colligit, sed vivo gurgite exundat, dono quodam providentiae genitus in quo totas vires suas eloquentia experiretur.

109. Nor indeed did he attain by study only what was best in each, but the most—nay, rather all—the virtues he brought forth from himself, the most blessed abundance of immortal genius. For he does not, as Pindar says, gather rain-waters, but overflows with a living torrent, born by a certain gift of Providence, in whom eloquence might try its whole powers.

CX. Nam quis docere diligentius, movere vehementius potest, cui tanta umquam iucunditas adfuit? - ut ipsa illa quae extorquet impetrare eum credas, et cum transversum vi sua iudicem ferat, tamen ille non rapi videatur sed sequi. CXI.

110. For who can teach more diligently, move more vehemently, to whom so great a jocundity has ever been present? - so that you would believe him to obtain by entreaty those very things which he extorts, and when by his own force he carries the judge transverse, nevertheless the judge seems not to be rapt but to follow. 111.

Iam in omnibus quae dicit tanta auctoritas inest ut dissentire pudeat, nec advocati studium sed testis aut iudicis adferat fidem, cum interim haec omnia, quae vix singula quisquam intentissima cura consequi posset, fluunt inlaborata, et illa qua nihil pulchrius auditum est oratio prae se fert tamen felicissimam facilitatem. CXII. Quare non inmerito ab hominibus aetatis suae regnare in iudiciis dictus est, apud posteros vero id consecutus ut Cicero iam non hominis nomen sed eloquentiae habeatur.

Now in everything he says such authority is present that it is a shame to dissent, and he brings credit not of an advocate’s zeal but of a witness or a judge; while meanwhile all these things, which scarcely could anyone, with the most intent care, attain even singly, flow unlabored, and that speech than which nothing more beautiful has been heard nevertheless carries before itself the most felicitous facility. 112. Wherefore not undeservedly he was said by the men of his age to reign in the judgments, but with posterity he has achieved this: that “Cicero” is now held to be not the name of a man, but of eloquence.

hunc igitur spectemus, hoc propositum nobis sit exemplum, ille se profecisse sciat cui Cicero valde placebit. CXIII. Multa in Asinio Pollione inventio, summa diligentia, adeo ut quibusdam etiam nimia videatur, et consilii et animi satis: a nitore et iucunditate Ciceronis ita longe abest ut videri possit saeculo prior.

therefore let us look to this man, let this set forth be an example to us, let him know that he has advanced to whom Cicero will be very pleasing. 113. Much invention in Asinius Pollio, the highest diligence, so much so that to some it even seems excessive, and enough both of counsel and of spirit: from the polish and pleasantness of Cicero he is so far distant that he could seem of a prior century.

At Messala nitidus et candidus et quodam modo praeferens in dicendo nobilitatem suam, viribus minor. CXIV. C. vero Caesar si foro tantum vacasset, non alius ex nostris contra Ciceronem nominaretur: tanta in eo vis est, id acumen, ea concitatio, ut illum eodem animo dixisse quo bellavit appareat; exornat tamen haec omnia mira sermonis, cuius proprie studiosus fuit, elegantia.

But Messalla is polished and candid, and in a certain way, in speaking, displays his nobility, lesser in forces. 114. But Gaius Caesar indeed, if he had only had leisure for the Forum, no other of our men would be named against Cicero: so great is the force in him, such the acumen, such the concitation, that it appears he spoke with the same spirit with which he waged war; yet he adorns all these things with a wondrous elegance of discourse, of which he was in particular a devotee.

CXV. Multum ingenii in Caelio et praecipue in accusando multa urbanitas, dignusque vir cui et mens melior et vita longior contigisset. inveni qui Calvum praeferrent omnibus, inveni qui Ciceroni crederent eum nimia contra se calumnia verum sanguinem perdidisse; sed est et sancta et gravis oratio et castigata et frequenter vehemens quoque.

115. Much talent in Caelius, and especially in accusing, much urbanity, and a man worthy on whom both a better mind and a longer life might have chanced. I found some who preferred Calvus to all; I found some who believed with Cicero that by excessive calumny against himself he had lost his true blood; yet his oration is both sacred and weighty and chastened, and frequently vehement as well.

Imitator autem est Atticorum, fecitque illi properata mors iniuriam si quid adiecturus sibi, non si quid detracturus, fuit. CXVI. Et Servius sulpicius insignem non inmerito famam tribus orationibus meruit.

He, moreover, is an imitator of the Attics, and a hastened death did him an injury, if he was going to add anything to himself, not if he was going to subtract anything. 116. And Servius sulpicius won not unmerited distinguished fame by three orations.

Multa si cum iudicio legatur dabit imitatione digna Cassius Severus, qui, si ceteris virtutibus colorem et gravitatem orationis adiecisset, ponendus inter praecipuos foret. CXVII. Nam et ingenii plurimum est in eo et acerbitas mira et urbanitas +et sermo+, sed plus stomacho quam consilio dedit: praeterea ut amari sales, ita frequenter amaritudo ipsa ridicula est.

Much, if it be read with judgment, Cassius Severus will supply things worthy of imitation, who, if to his other virtues he had added the color and the gravity of oration, would have to be placed among the foremost. 117. For there is in him a very great deal of talent, and a marvelous acerbity and urbanity +and diction+, but he gave more to temper than to counsel: moreover, just as there are bitter witticisms, so frequently bitterness itself is laughable.

CXVIII. sunt alii multi diserti, quos persequi longum est. Eorum quos viderim Domitius Afer et Iulius Africanus longe praestantissimI.

118. there are many other eloquent men, whom it would be long to pursue. Of those whom I have seen, Domitius Afer and Julius Africanus are by far the most preeminent.

Verborum arte ille et toto genere dicendi praeferendus et quem in numero veterum habere non timeas: hic concitatior, sed in cura verborum nimius et compositione nonnumquam longior et tralationibus parum modicus. Erant clara et nuper ingenia. CXIX.

By the art of words that man, and by the whole genus of speaking, is to be preferred, and one whom you would not fear to hold in the number of the ancients: this one is more impetuous, but in the care of words overmuch, and in composition sometimes longer, and in transferences somewhat immoderate. There were illustrious minds even recently. 119.

Nam et Trachalus plerumque sublimis et satis apertus fuit et quem velle optima crederes, auditus tamen maior: nam et vocis quantam in nullo cognovi felicitas, et pronuntiatio vel scaenis suffectura, et decor, omnia denique ei quae sunt extra superfuerunt: et Vibius Crispus compositus et iucundus et delectationi natus, privatis tamen causis quam publicis melior. CXX. Iulio Secundo si longior contigisset aetas, clarissimum profecto nomen oratoris apud posteros foret: adiecisset enim atque adiciebat ceteris virtutibus suis quod desiderari potest, id est autem, ut esset multo magis pugnax et saepius ad curam rerum ab elocutione respiceret.

For Trachalus too was for the most part sublime and sufficiently open, and one whom you would believe to will the best things, yet greater in the hearing: for both a felicity of voice such as I have recognized in no one, and a pronuntiation even sufficient for the stage, and decor— in short, all the things which are external— were superabundant to him. And Vibius Crispus, composed and pleasant and born for delectation, yet was better for private causes than for public. 120. If a longer span of life had fallen to Julius Secundus, assuredly there would have been among posterity the most illustrious name of an orator for him: for he would have added— and indeed was adding— to his other virtues that which can be desired, that is, that he should be much more pugnacious and more often look back from elocution to the care of the matters.

CXXI. Ceterum interceptus quoque magnum sibi vindicat locum, ea est facundia, tanta in explicando quod velit gratia, tam candidum et leve et speciosum dicendi genus, tanta verborum etiam quae adsumpta sunt proprietas, tanta in quibusdam ex periculo petitis significantia. CXXII.

121. Nevertheless, though intercepted, he too vindicates for himself a great place, such is the eloquence, so great the grace in explicating what he wills, so candid and light and specious a kind of speaking, so great a propriety of words even those which are assumed, so great a significance in certain things sought, as it were, from peril. 122.

Habebunt qui post nos de oratoribus scribent magnam eos qui nunc vigent materiam vere laudandi: sunt enim summa hodie quibus inlustratur forum ingenia. Namque et consummati iam patroni veteribus aemulantur et eos iuvenum ad optima tendentium imitatur ac sequitur industria.

Those who after us will write about orators will have great material for truly praising those who now flourish: for today there are paramount ingenia by which the forum is made illustrious. For both consummate patrons now emulate the ancients, and the industry of youths striving toward the best imitates and follows them.

CXXIII. Supersunt qui de philosophia scripserint: quo in genere paucissimos adhuc eloquentes litterae Romanae tulerunt. Idem igitur M. Tullius, qui ubique, etiam in hoc opere Platonis aemulus exstitit.

123. There remain those who have written concerning philosophy: in which genre Roman letters have thus far borne very few eloquent men. Therefore the same M. Tullius, who everywhere, even in this work, has stood forth as an emulous rival of Plato.

Egregius vero multoque quam in orationibus praestantior Brutus suffecit ponderi rerum: scias eum sentire quae dicit. CXXIV. Scripsit non parum multa Cornelius Celsus, Sextios secutus, non sine cultu ac nitore.

Eminent indeed, and much more pre-eminent than in his speeches, Brutus proved sufficient to the weight of the matters: you may know that he feels what he says. 124. Cornelius Celsus wrote not a few things, following the Sextii, not without cultivation and polish.

Plautus in Stoicis rerum cognitioni utilis; in Epicuriis levis quidem sed non iniucundus tamen auctor est Catius. CXXV. Ex industria Senecam in omni genere eloquentiae distuli, propter vulgatam falso de me opinionem qua damnare eum et invisum quoque habere sum creditus.

Plautus among the Stoics is useful for the cognition of things; among the Epicureans Catius is indeed light but nevertheless not unpleasant as an author. 125. I have by design deferred Seneca in every kind of eloquence, on account of the false opinion about me spread abroad, by which I have been believed to condemn him and also to hold him odious.

Quod accidit mihi dum corruptum et omnibus vitiis fractum dicendi genus revocare ad severiora iudicia contendo: tum autem solus hic fere in manibus adulescentium fuit. CXXVI. Quem non equidem omnino conabar excutere, sed potioribus praeferri non sinebam, quos ille non destiterat incessere, cum diversi sibi conscius generis placere se in dicendo posse quibus illi placerent diffideret.

This befell me while I was striving to call back the genus of speaking, corrupted and shattered by all vices, to more severe judgments: and at that time, moreover, this man alone or almost alone was in the hands of the young men. 126. Whom indeed I was not trying to shake off entirely, but I did not allow him to be preferred to better men, whom he had not ceased to assail, since, conscious of a different genus, he distrusted that he could, in speaking, be pleasing to those to whom they were pleasing.

Amabant autem eum magis quam imitabantur, tantumque ab illo defluebant quantum ille ab antiquis descenderat. CXXVII. Foret enim optandum pares ac saltem proximos illi viro fieri.

They loved him, moreover, more than they imitated him, and they fell away from him by as much as he had descended from the ancients. 127. For it would indeed be to be desired to become equals, or at least near, to that man.

Sed placebat propter sola vitia, et ad ea se quisque dirigebat effingenda quae poterat: deinde cum se iactaret eodem modo dicere, Senecam infamabat. CXXVIII. Cuius et multae alioqui et magnae virtutes fuerunt, ingenium facile et copiosum, plurimum studii, multa rerum cognitio, in qua tamen aliquando ab iis quibus inquirenda quaedam mandabat deceptus est.

But he pleased on account of his vices alone, and each person directed himself to fashioning those among them which he could; then, while he boasted that he spoke in the same manner, he was defaming Seneca. 128. Of whom there were many, and great moreover, virtues: a facile and copious genius, very great study, much cognition of things—in which, however, at times he was deceived by those to whom he was entrusting certain matters to be inquired into.

Tractavit etiam omnem fere studiorum materiam: CXXIX. nam et orationes eius et poemata et epistulae et dialogi feruntur. In philosophia parum diligens, egregius tamen vitiorum insectator fuit.

He also treated almost the whole subject-matter of studies:
129. for both his orations and poems and epistles and dialogues are extant. In philosophy, not very diligent, yet he was an outstanding assailant of vices.

Multae in eo claraeque sententiae, multa etiam morum gratia legenda, sed in eloquendo corrupta pleraque, atque eo perniciosissima quod abundant dulcibus vitiis. CXXX. Velles eum suo ingenio dixisse, alieno iudicio: nam si aliqua contempsisset, si +parum+ non concupisset, si non omnia sua amasset, si rerum pondera minutissimis sententiis non fregisset, consensu potius eruditorum quam puerorum amore comprobaretur.

Many and famous are the sentences in him, and many too are to be read for the grace of morals; but in eloquence very many things are corrupted, and all the more pernicious because they abound in sweet vices. 130. You would wish him to have spoken by his own talent, by another’s judgment: for if he had despised some things, if he had not been too desirous, if he had not loved all his own, if he had not broken the weights of matters by the minutest sentences, he would be approved by the consensus of the erudite rather than by the love of boys.

CXXXI. Verum sic quoque iam robustis et severiore genere satis firmatis legendus, vel ideo quod exercere potest utrimque iudicium. Multa enim, ut dixi, probanda in eo, multa etiam admiranda sunt, eligere modo curae sit; quod utinam ipse fecisset: digna enim fuit illa natura quae meliora vellet; quod voluit effecit.

131. But even so he is now to be read by those already robust and sufficiently confirmed by a severer genre, if only for this reason: that he can exercise judgment on both sides. For many things in him, as I said, are to be approved, many also to be admired—only let choosing be the concern; which I wish he himself had done: for that nature was worthy to will better things; what he willed he accomplished.

I. Ex his ceterisque lectione dignis auctoribus et verborum sumenda copia est et varietas figurarum et componendi ratio, tum ad exemplum virtutum omnium mens derigenda. Neque enim dubitari potest quin artis pars magna contineatur imitatione. Nam ut invenire primum fuit estque praecipuum, sic ea quae bene inventa sunt utile sequi.

1. From these and from the other authors worthy of reading one must take both a store of words, and a variety of figures, and a method of composing; then the mind must be directed to the exemplar of all virtues. For it cannot be doubted that a great part of art is contained in imitation. For as finding (invention) was and is the chief thing, so it is useful to follow those things that have been well found.

II. Atque omnis vitae ratio sic constat, ut quae probamus in aliis facere ipsi velimus. Sic litterarum ductus, ut scribendi fiat usus, pueri secuntur, sic musici vocem docentium, pictores opera priorum, rustici probatam experimento culturam in exemplum intuentur, omnis denique disciplinae initia ad propositum sibi praescriptum formari videmus. III.

2. And the whole method of life stands thus, that we should wish to do ourselves the things which we approve in others. Thus boys follow the strokes of letters, so that the use of writing may be formed; thus musicians [follow] the voice of their teachers; painters [follow] the works of their predecessors; farmers look to cultivation approved by experience as an exemplar; finally we see the beginnings of every discipline being shaped according to the plan prescribed for itself. 3.

Et hercule necesse est aut similes aut dissimiles bonis simus. Similem raro natura praestat, frequenter imitatio. Sed hoc ipsum, quod tanto faciliorem nobis rationem rerum omnium facit quam fuit iis qui nihil quod sequerentur habuerunt, nisi caute et cum iudicio adprehenditur nocet.

And, by Hercules, it is necessary that we be either similar or dissimilar to the good. Nature rarely affords a likeness; imitation frequently. But this very thing—which makes our reason of all things so much easier than it was for those who had nothing to follow—harms unless it is apprehended cautiously and with judgment.

IV. Ante omnia igitur imitatio per se ipsa non sufficit, vel quia pigri est ingenii contentum esse iis quae sint ab aliis inventa. Quid enim futurum erat temporibus illis quae sine exemplo fuerunt si homines nihil nisi quod iam cognovissent faciendum sibi aut cogitandum putassent? Nempe nihil fuisset inventum.

4. Before all things, therefore, imitation by itself does not suffice, both because it is of lazy ingenuity to be content with things that have been invented by others. For what would have happened in those times which were without example, if men had thought that nothing except what they had already known ought to be done or thought by them? Clearly, nothing would have been invented.

V. cur igitur nefas est reperiri aliquid a nobis quod ante non fuerit? An illi rudes sola mentis natura ducti sunt in hoc, ut tam multa generarent: nos ad quaerendum non eo ipso concitemur, quod certe scimus invenisse eos qui quaesierunt? VI. Et cum illi, qui nullum cuiusquam rei habuerunt magistrum, plurima in posteros tradiderint, nobis usus aliarum rerum ad eruendas alias non proderit, sed nihil habebimus nisi beneficii alieni?

5. Why, then, is it a nefas that something be discovered by us which before had not been? Or were those rude men led by the nature of mind alone to this, that they generated so many things: are we not by that very fact stirred to seek, because we certainly know that those who sought found? 6. And although they, who had no master whatsoever in any matter, handed down very many things to posterity, will not the use of other things be of profit to us for unearthing others, but shall we have nothing except another’s benefaction?

Quem ad modum quidam pictores in id solum student, ut describere tabulas mensuris ac lineis sciant. VII. Turpe etiam illud est, contentum esse id consequi quod imiteris.

Just as certain painters apply themselves solely to this: to know how to delineate panels with measures and lines. 7. It is also shameful to be content to achieve only that which you imitate.

Nam rursus quid erat futurum si nemo plus effecisset eo quem sequebatur? Nihil in poetis supra Livium Andronicum, nihil in historiis supra pontificum annales haberemus; ratibus adhuc navigaremus, non esset pictura nisi quae lineas modo extremas umbrae quam corpora in sole fecissent circumscriberet. VIII.

For again, what would have come to pass if no one had effected more than him whom he followed? We would have in the poets nothing above Livius Andronicus, nothing in histories above the annals of the pontiffs; we would still be sailing on rafts, there would be no painting except that which would merely circumscribe the outermost lines of the shadow which bodies had made in the sun. 8.

Ac si omnia percenseas, nulla sit ars qualis inventa est, nec intra initium stetit: nisi forte nostra potissimum tempora damnamus huius infelicitatis, ut nunc demum nihil crescat: nihil autem crescit sola imitatione. IX. Quod si prioribus adicere fas non est, quo modo sperare possumus illum oratorem perfectum: cum in iis quos maximos adhuc novimus nemo sit inventus in quo nihil aut desideretur aut reprehendatur. Sed etiam qui summa non adpetent, contendere potius quam sequi debent.

And if you reckon through everything, there is no art such as it was when it was invented, nor did it remain within its beginning: unless perhaps we most of all condemn our times for this ill-fortune, that only now nothing grows: but nothing grows by imitation alone. 9. But if it is not fas to add to the predecessors, how can we hope for that perfect orator: since among those whom we have hitherto known as greatest no one has been found in whom nothing is either to be desired or to be reprehended. But even those who do not aim at the summits ought rather to contend than to follow.

X. Nam qui hoc agit, ut prior sit, forsitan, etiam si non transierit, aequabit. Eum vero nemo potest aequare cuius vestigiis sibi utique insistendum putat: necesse est enim semper sit posterior qui sequitur. Adde quod plerumque facilius est plus facere quam idem: tantam enim difficultatem habet similitudo ut ne ipsa quidem natura in hoc ita evaluerit, ut non res quae simillimae quaeque pares maxime videantur utique discrimine aliquo discernantur.

10. For he who aims at this—to be the prior—perhaps, even if he does not surpass, will equal. But no one can equal him in whose footsteps he thinks he must, in any case, plant his feet: for it is necessary that he who follows is always posterior. Add that, for the most part, it is easier to do more than to do the same: for such difficulty inheres in similitude that not even Nature herself has so prevailed in this as to prevent things which seem most similar and most equal from being, in any case, distinguished by some discriminating difference.

XI. Adde quod quidquid alteri simile est necesse est minus sit eo quod imitatur, ut umbra corpore et imago facie et actus histrionum veris adfectibus. Quod in orationibus quoque evenit. Namque iis quae in exemplum adsumimus subest natura et vera vis, contra omnis imitatio facta est et ad alienum propositum commodatur.

11. Add, moreover, that whatever is similar to another must be inferior to that which it imitates, as a shadow to the body, an image to the face, and the acting of stage-players to true affections. Which happens in orations as well. For in those things which we take up as an example there underlies nature and true force; by contrast, every imitation is fabricated and is accommodated to an alien purpose.

XII. Quo fit ut minus sanguinis ac virium declamationes habeant quam orationes, quod in illis vera, in his adsimulata materia est. Adde quod ea quae in oratore maxima sunt imitabilia non sunt, ingenium, inventio, vis, facilitas et quidquid arte non traditur.

12. Whence it comes about that declamations have less blood and strength than orations, because in those the matter is true, in these simulated. Add that the things which are greatest in an orator are not imitable—ingenium, inventio, vis, facilitas, and whatever is not handed down by art.

XIII. Ideoque plerique, cum verba quaedam ex orationibus excerpserunt aut aliquos compositionis certos pedes, mire a se quae legerunt effingi arbitrantur, cum et verba intercidant invalescantque temporibus, ut quorum certissima sit regula in consuetudine, eaque non sua natura sint bona aut mala (nam per se soni tantum sunt), sed prout oportune proprieque aut secus conlocata sunt, et compositio cum rebus accommodata sit, tum ipsa varietate gratissima.

13. And so the majority, when they have excerpted certain words from orations or certain fixed feet of composition, wondrously suppose that what they have read is being fashioned by themselves, whereas words both fall out and grow strong with the times, so that their surest rule is in usage, and they are not by their own nature good or bad (for in themselves they are only sounds), but according as they are placed opportunely and properly, or otherwise; and composition, when it is accommodated to the matters, is then most pleasing, by its very variety.

XIV. Quapropter exactissimo iudicio circa hanc partem studiorum examinanda sunt omnia. Primum, quos imitemur: nam sunt plurimi qui similitudinem pessimi cuiusque et corruptissimi concupierint: tum in ipsis quos elegerimus quid sit ad quod nos efficiendum comparemus.

XIV. Wherefore, with most exact judgment, all things must be examined concerning this part of studies. First, whom we should imitate: for there are very many who have coveted the likeness of each and every worst and most corrupt: then, in those very ones whom we have chosen, what it is to which we are to be fashioned let us compare.

XV. Nam in magnis quoque auctoribus incidunt aliqua vitiosa et a doctis, inter ipsos etiam mutuo reprehensa: atque utinam tam bona imitantes dicerent melius quam mala peius dicunt. Nec vero saltem iis quibus ad evitanda vitia iudicii satis fuit sufficiat imaginem virtutis effingere et solam, ut ita dixerim, cutem vel potius illas Epicuri figuras, quas e summis corporibus dicit effluere. XVI.

15. For even in great authors some things occur that are faulty and have been censured by the learned, even mutually among themselves; and would that, imitating the good, they would say better than they say worse the bad. Nor indeed will it suffice even for those whose judgment has been enough to avoid vices to fashion an image of virtue, and only, so to speak, the skin—or rather those figures of Epicurus, which he says flow off from the outermost surfaces of bodies. 16.

Hoc autem iis accidit qui non introspectis penitus virtutibus ad primum se velut aspectum orationis aptarunt: et cum iis felicissime cessit imitatio, verbis atque numeris sunt non multum differentes, vim dicendi atque inventionis non adsecuntur, sed plerumque declinant in peius et proxima virtutibus vitia comprehendunt fiuntque pro grandibus tumidi, pressis exiles, fortibus temerarii, laetis corrupti, compositis exultantes, simplicibus neglegentes. XVII. Ideoque qui horride atque incomposite quid libet illud frigidum et inane extulerunt, antiquis se pares credunt, qui carent cultu atque sententiis, Atticis; scilicet [qui] praecisis conclusionibus obscuri Sallustium atque Thucydiden superant, tristes ac ieiuni Pollionem aemulantur; otiosi et supini, si quid modo longius circumduxerunt, iurant ita Ciceronem locuturum fuisse.

But this happens to those who, without having peered thoroughly into the virtues, have adapted themselves to, as it were, the first aspect of the discourse: and when imitation has turned out most successfully for them, they are not much different in words and numbers, yet they do not attain the force of speaking and of invention, but for the most part decline into worse and seize upon the vices nearest to the virtues, and they become, instead of grand, tumid; instead of compressed, exiguous; instead of strong, temerarious; instead of glad, corrupt; instead of composed, exultant; instead of simple, negligent. 17. And therefore those who, roughly and incompositely, have extolled whatever you please, that cold and empty stuff, believe themselves equal to the ancients, to the Attics, because they lack polish and thoughts; to be sure, with clipped conclusions, obscure, they surpass Sallust and Thucydides, gloomy and jejune they emulate Pollio; idle and supine, if only they have spun something out a little more at length, they swear that Cicero would have spoken thus.

XVIII. Noveram quosdam qui se pulchre expressisse genus illud caelestis huius in dicendo viri sibi viderentur si in clausula posuissent "esse videatur". Ergo primum est ut quod imitaturus est quisque intellegat, et quare bonum sit sciat.

18. I knew certain men who seemed to themselves to have beautifully expressed that style of this celestial man in speaking, if they had put "esse videatur" in the clausula. Therefore the first thing is that each person should understand what he is going to imitate, and should know why it is good.

XIX. Tum in suscipiendo onere consulat suas vires. Nam quaedam sunt imitabilia quibus aut infirmitas naturae non sufficiat aut diversitas repugnet: ne cui tenue ingenium erit sola velit fortia et abrupta, cui forte quidem sed indomitum amore subtilitatis et vim suam perdat et elegantiam quam cupit non persequatur: nihil est enim tam indecens quam cum mollia dure fiunt.

19. Then, in taking up a burden, let him consult his own powers. For there are certain things fit to be imitated, for which either the infirmity of nature does not suffice or difference opposes: lest someone whose talent is slender should desire only the strong and the abrupt, or he whose talent is indeed strong but untamed, through a love of subtlety, both lose his own force and not attain the elegance which he desires: for nothing is so indecent as when soft things are done harshly.

XX. Atque ego illi praeceptori quem institueram in libro secundo credidi non ea sola docenda esse ad quae quemque discipulorum natura compositum videret: nam is et adiuvare debet quae in quoque eorum invenit bona et quantum fieri potest adicere quae desunt et emendare quaedam et mutare. Rector enim est alienorum ingeniorum atque formator; difficilius est naturam suam fingere. XXI.

20. And I believed that the preceptor whom I had instituted in the second book ought not to teach only those things for which he saw each of the disciples naturally composed: for he ought both to aid the good things which he finds in each of them and, as far as can be done, to add what is lacking, and to emend certain things and to change them. For he is a director of others’ talents and a formator; it is more difficult to fashion one’s own nature. 21.

Sed ne ille quidem doctor, quamquam omnia quae recta sunt velit esse in suis auditoribus quam plenissima, in eo tamen cui naturam obstare viderit laborabit.

But not even that doctor, although he wishes all things that are right to be as full as possible in his auditors, will nevertheless labor in the case of him in whom he shall have seen nature to stand in the way.

Id quoque vitandum, in quo magna pars errat, ne in oratione poetas nobis et historicos, in illis operibus oratores aut declamatores imitandos putemus. XXII. Sua cuique proposito lex, suus decor est: nec comoedia in coturnos adsurgit, nec contra tragoedia socco ingreditur.

This too is to be avoided, wherein a great part errs: lest in oration we think poets and historians to be imitated by us, and in those works orators or declaimers. 22. Each aim has its own law, its own decorum: nor does comedy rise to the cothurnus, nor, on the contrary, does tragedy go in the soccus.

Habet tamen omnis eloquentia aliquid commune: id imitemur quod commune est.

Yet all eloquence has something in common: let us imitate what is common.

XXIII. Etiam hoc solet incommodi accidere iis qui se uni alicui generi dediderunt, ut, si asperitas iis placuit alicuius, hanc etiam in leni ac remisso causarum genere non exuant: si tenuitas aut iucunditas, in asperis gravibusque causis ponderi rerum parum respondeant: cum sit diversa non causarum modo inter ipsas condicio, sed in singulis etiam causis partium, sintque alia leniter alia aspere, alia concitate alia remisse, alia docendi alia movendi gratia dicenda, quorum omnium dissimilis atque diversa inter se ratio est. XXIV.

23. This inconvenience also is wont to befall those who have surrendered themselves to some one kind, that, if the asperity of someone has pleased them, they do not strip this off even in a gentle and remiss kind of causes; if tenuity or agreeableness, in harsh and grave causes they answer too little to the weight of the matters: since there is a different condition not only of causes among themselves, but also, within single causes, of the parts; and some things must be said gently, others harshly, others excitedly, others remissly, others for the sake of teaching, others for the sake of moving, the rationale of all of which is dissimilar and diverse among themselves. 24.

Itaque ne hoc quidem suaserim, uni se alicui proprie quem per omnia sequatur addicere. Longe perfectissimus Graecorum Demosthenes, aliquid tamen aliquo in loco melius alii (plurima ille). XXV. Sed non qui maxime imitandus, et solus imitandus est.

Therefore I would not even advise this: to devote oneself to some one person in particular, whom one follows in all things. By far the most perfect among the Greeks is Demosthenes; yet in some respect, in some place, another does something better (he in very many). 25. But the one who is most to be imitated is not therefore the only one to be imitated.

Quid ergo? non est satis omnia sic dicere quo modo M. tullius dixit? Mihi quidem satis esset si omnia consequi possem.

What then? Is it not sufficient to say everything in the manner in which M. tullius said it? For me indeed it would be sufficient if I could attain everything.

Quid tamen noceret vim Caesaris, asperitatem Caeli, diligentiam Pollionis, iudicium Calvi quibusdam in locis adsumere? XXVI. Nam praeter id quod prudentis est quod in quoque optimum est, si possit, suum facere, tum in tanta rei difficultate unum intuentis vix aliqua pars sequitur; ideoque cum totum exprimere quem elegeris paene sit homini inconcessum, plurium bona ponamus ante oculos, ut aliud ex alio haereat, et quo quidque loco conveniat aptemus.

What, however, would it harm to assume in certain places the force of Caesar, the asperity of Caelius, the diligence of Pollio, the judgment of Calvus? 26. For besides this, that it is of a prudent man to make his own whatever in each is best, if he can, then, in so great a difficulty of the matter, for one looking to a single model scarcely any part can be followed; and therefore, since to express in full the one you have chosen is for a man almost not granted, let us set before our eyes the good qualities of several, so that one thing may adhere from one, another from another, and let us fit each to the place where it is suitable.

XXVII. Imitatio autem (nam saepius idem dicam) non sit tantum in verbis. Illuc intendenda mens, quantum fuerit illis viris decoris in rebus atque personis, quod consilium, quae dispositio, quam omnia, etiam quae delectationi videantur data, ad victoriam spectent: quid agatur prohoemio, quae ratio et quam varia narrandi, quae vis probandi ac refellendi, quanta in adfectibus omnis generis movendis scientia, quamque laus ipsa popularis utilitatis gratia adsumpta, quae tum est pulcherrima cum sequitur, non cum arcessitur.

27. Imitation, however (for I shall say the same thing more often), should not be only in words. The mind must be directed thither: how much decorum those men had in matters and in personae; what counsel, what disposition; how all things, even those which seem given to delectation, look toward victory: what is aimed at in the proem, what method and how varied of narration, what force of proof and refutation, how great a science in moving affections of every kind, and how even popular praise itself, assumed for the sake of utility, is then most beautiful when it follows, not when it is summoned.

Haec si perviderimus, tum vere imitabimur. XXVIII. Qui vero etiam propria his bona adiecerit, ut suppleat quae deerant, circumcidat si quid redundabit, is erit quem quaerimus perfectus orator: quem nunc consummari potissimum oporteat, cum tanto plura exempla bene dicendi supersunt quam illis qui adhuc summi sunt contigerunt.

If we have thoroughly perceived these things, then truly we shall imitate. 28. But whoever shall also have added his own good qualities to these, so as to supply what was lacking, and to circumcise—prune away—whatever shall be redundant, he will be the perfect orator whom we seek: who now ought above all to be consummated, since so many more examples of well-speaking remain over than befell those who are as yet the greatest.

Nam erit haec quoque laus eorum, ut priores superasse, posteros docuisse dicantur.

For this too will be their praise: that they are said to have surpassed their predecessors and to have taught posterity.

I. Et haec quidem auxilia extrinsecus adhibentur: in iis autem quae nobis ipsis paranda sunt, ut laboris, sic utilitatis etiam longe plurimum adfert stilus. Nec inmerito M. tullius hunc "optimum effectorem ac magistrum dicendi" vocat, cui sententiae personam L. Crassi in disputationibus quae sunt de Oratore adsignando iudicium suum cum illius auctoritate coniunxit. II. Scribendum ergo quam diligentissime et quam plurimum.

1. And indeed these aids are applied from without: but in those things that must be provided by ourselves, for labor as also for utility the stylus furnishes by far the most. Nor undeservedly does M. Tullius call it “the best producer and master of speaking,” to which opinion, by assigning the persona of L. Crassus in the disputations which are On the Orator, he joined his own judgment with that man’s authority. 2. Therefore one must write as diligently as possible and as much as possible.

Nam ut terra alte refossa generandis alendisque seminibus fecundior, sic profectus non a summo petitus studiorum fructus et fundit uberius et fidelius continet. Nam sine hac quidem constantia ipsa illa ex tempore dicendi facultas inanem modo loquacitatem dabit et verba in labris nascentia. III.

For as land dug up deep is more fecund for generating and nourishing seeds, so progress not sought from the surface yields the fruit of studies, and both pours it forth more abundantly and keeps it more faithfully. For without this constancy, that very faculty of speaking ex tempore will give only empty loquacity and words being born on the lips. III.

Illic radices, illic fundamenta sunt, illic opes velut sanctiore quodam aerario conditae, unde ad subitos quoque casus cum res exiget proferantur. Vires faciamus ante omnia quae sufficiant labori certaminum et usu non exhauriantur. IV. Nihil enim rerum ipsa natura voluit magnum effici cito, praeposuitque pulcherrimo cuique operi difficultatem: quae nascendi quoque hanc fecerit legem, ut maiora animalia diutius visceribus parentis continerentur.

There are the roots, there the foundations, there the resources laid up as in a somewhat more sacred treasury, whence even for sudden contingencies, when the matter shall require, they may be brought forth. Let us make strength before all things, such as may suffice for the labor of contests and not be drained by use. 4. For nature itself of things has willed that nothing great be brought to effect quickly, and has set difficulty before every most beautiful work: and it has made even this law of being born, that the greater animals are contained longer in the parent’s womb.

Sed cum sit duplex quaestio, quo modo et quae maxime scribi oporteat, iam hinc ordinem sequar. V. Sit primo vel tardus dum diligens stilus, quaeramus optima nec protinus offerentibus se gaudeamus, adhibeatur iudicium inventis, dispositio probatis: dilectus enim rerum verborumque agendus est et pondera singulorum examinanda. Post subeat ratio conlocandi versenturque omni modo numeri, non ut quodque se proferet verbum occupet locum.

But since the question is twofold—both how and what things especially ought to be written—from here now I will follow an order. 5. Let the style at first be even slow, so long as diligent; let us seek the optimal things and not straightway rejoice at those offering themselves; let judgment be applied to what is found, arrangement to what is approved: for a selection of things and of words must be conducted, and the weights of each examined. Afterward let the rationale of collocating enter in, and let the numbers be turned in every way—not such that whatever word proffers itself seizes the place.

VI. Quae quidem ut diligentius exequamur, repetenda saepius erunt scriptorum proxima. Nam praeter id quod sic melius iunguntur prioribus sequentia, calor quoque ille cogitationis, qui scribendi mora refrixit, recipit ex integro vires, et velut repetito spatio sumit impetum: quod in certamine saliendi fieri videmus, ut conatum longius petant, et ad illud quo contenditur spatium cursu ferantur, utque in iaculando bracchia reducimus et expulsuri tela nervos retro tendimus. VII.

6. Which indeed, that we may carry them out more diligently, the nearest parts of what has been written will have to be repeated more often. For, besides the fact that thus the things following are better joined to the things preceding, that heat of thought, which the delay of writing has cooled, regains its strength afresh, and, as if the course were taken up again, takes an impetus: which we see happen in the contest of leaping, that they seek their effort from farther back, and are borne at a run to that span toward which one strives; and as in hurling we draw back the arms and, when about to expel the missiles, we stretch the sinews backward. 7.

Interim tamen, si feret flatus, danda sunt vela, dum nos indulgentia illa non fallat; omnia enim nostra dum nascuntur placent: alioqui nec scriberentur. Sed redeamus ad iudicium et retractemus suspectam facilitatem. VIII.

In the meantime, however, if the breeze will bear, the sails must be set, so long as that indulgence does not deceive us; for all our own things, while they are being born, are pleasing—otherwise they would not even be written. But let us return to judgment and re-examine the suspect facility. 8.

Sic scripsisse Sallustium accepimus, et sane manifestus est etiam ex opere ipso labor. Vergilium quoque paucissimos die composuisse versus auctor est Varius. Oratoris quidem alia condicio est: itaque hanc moram et sollicitudinem initiis impero.

Thus we have received that Sallust wrote, and indeed the labor is manifest even from the work itself. Varius is also authority that Virgil composed very few verses in a day. The condition of the orator, to be sure, is different: therefore I impose—indeed, I prescribe—this delay and solicitude at the beginnings.

IX. Nam primum hoc constituendum, hoc optinendum est, ut quam optime scribamus: celeritatem dabit consuetudo. Paulatim res facilius se ostendent, verba respondebunt, compositio sequetur, cuncta denique ut in familia bene instituta in officio erunt. X. Summa haec est rei: cito scribendo non fit ut bene scribatur, bene scribendo fit ut cito.

9. For first this must be established, this must be maintained: that we write as optimally as possible; habit will give celerity. Little by little the matters will show themselves more easily, the words will respond, the composition will follow; finally, all things, as in a well-instituted household, will be in order. 10. This is the sum of the matter: by writing quickly it does not come about that one writes well; by writing well it comes about that one writes quickly.

Sed tum maxime cum facultas illa contigerit resistamus, ut provideamus et ferentis equos frenis quibusdam coerceamus, quod non tam moram faciet quam novos impetus dabit. Neque enim rursus eos qui robur aliquod in stilo fecerint ad infelicem calumniandi se poenam alligandos puto. XI. Nam quo modo sufficere officiis civilibus possit qui singulis actionum partibus insenescat?

But then most of all, when that facility has come, let us resist, so that we may take thought and restrain the horses that are bearing us with certain reins, which will make not so much delay as will give new impulses. Nor, indeed, do I in turn think that those who have made some strength in their style should be bound to the unhappy penalty of calumniating themselves. 11. For how can he be sufficient for civil duties who grows old over the several parts of actions?

sunt autem quibus nihil sit satis: omnia mutare, omnia aliter dicere quam occurrit velint, increduli quidam et de ingenio suo pessime meriti, qui diligentiam putant facere sibi scribendi difficultatem. XII. Nec promptum est dicere utros peccare validius putem, quibus omnia sua placent an quibus nihil.

There are, moreover, those for whom nothing is enough: they want to change everything, to say everything otherwise than as it occurs, certain incredulous men and very ill‑deserving of their own genius, who think that diligence creates for themselves a difficulty in writing. 12. Nor is it easy to say which of the two I think err more strongly, those to whom all their own things are pleasing, or those to whom nothing is.

Accidit enim etiam ingeniosis adulescentibus frequenter ut labore consumantur et in silentium usque descendant nimia bene dicendi cupiditate. Qua de re memini narrasse mihi Iulium Secundum illum, aequalem meum atque a me, ut notum est, familiariter amatum, mirae facundiae virum, infinitae tamen curae, quid esset sibi a patruo suo dictum. XIII.

For it happens also to ingenious young men frequently that they are consumed by toil and sink even into silence through an excessive desire to speak well. About which matter I remember that that Julius Secundus, my contemporary and, as is known, intimately beloved by me, a man of wondrous facundity yet of infinite care, told me what had been said to him by his paternal uncle. 13.

Is fuit Iulius Florus, in eloquentia Galliarum, quoniam ibi demum exercuit eam, princeps, alioqui inter paucos disertus et dignus illa propinquitate. Is cum Secundum, scholae adhuc operatum, tristem forte vidisset, interrogavit quae causa frontis tam adductae. XIV.

That was Julius Florus, the leader in the eloquence of the Gauls—since there at last he exercised it—otherwise among the few eloquent and worthy of that propinquity. He, when by chance he had seen Secundus, still employed at the school, sad, asked what was the cause of so contracted a brow. 14.

Nec dissimulavit adulescens tertium iam diem esse quod omni labore materiae ad scribendum destinatae non inveniret exordium: quo sibi non praesens tantum dolor sed etiam desperatio in posterum fieret. tum Florus adridens "numquid tu" inquit "melius dicere vis quam potes?" XV. Ita se res habet: curandum est ut quam optime dicamus, dicendum tamen pro facultate: ad profectum enim opus est studio, non indignatione. Vt possimus autem scribere etiam plura et celerius, non exercitatio modo praestabit, in qua sine dubio multum est, sed etiam ratio: si non resupini spectantesque tectum et cogitationem murmure agitantes expectaverimus quid obveniat, sed quid res poscat, quid personam deceat, quod sit tempus, qui iudicis animus intuiti humano quodam modo ad scribendum accesserimus.

Nor did the adolescent dissemble that it was now the third day on which, with every effort, he could not find an exordium for the material destined for writing; from which there arose for him not only present pain but even despair for the future. Then Florus, smiling, said, "By chance do you wish to speak better than you can?" 15. Thus the matter stands: we must take care to speak as well as possible, yet we must speak according to our capacity; for progress needs study, not indignation. And so that we may be able to write both more and more swiftly, not exercise alone will avail—though there is, without doubt, much in it—but also reason: if we do not, lying supine and gazing at the ceiling and agitating our thought with a murmur, wait for whatever may turn up, but, having looked to what the matter demands, what befits the persona, what the time is, what the judge’s disposition is, we approach writing in a certain human way.

Sic nobis et initia et quae secuntur natura ipsa praescribit. XVI. Certa sunt enim pleraque, et nisi coniveamus in oculos incurrunt: ideoque nec indocti nec rustici diu quaerunt unde incipiant: quo pudendum est magis si difficultatem facit doctrina.

Thus nature itself prescribes for us both the openings and the things that follow. 16. For most things are certain, and, unless we shut our eyes, they run into our eyes: and so neither the unlearned nor the rustics long seek where to begin: for which reason it is the more shameful if learning makes the difficulty.

Non ergo semper putemus optimum esse quod latet: inmutescamus alioqui, si nihil dicendum videatur nisi quod non invenimus. XVII. Diversum est huic eorum vitium qui primo decurrere per materiam stilo quam velocissimo volunt, et sequentes calorem atque impetum ex tempore scribunt: hanc silvam vocant.

Let us not therefore always suppose that what lies hidden is best: otherwise let us fall mute, if nothing seems to be said except what we have not discovered. 17. Opposite to this is the vice of those who at the outset wish to run through the material with a stylus as swift as possible, and, following heat and impetus, write extempore: this they call a “sylva.”

Repetunt deinde et componunt quae effuderant: sed verba emendantur et numeri, manet in rebus temere congestis quae fuit levitas. XVIII. Protinus ergo adhibere curam rectius erit, atque ab initio sic opus ducere ut caelandum, non ex integro fabricandum sit.

Then they take up again and compose what they had poured out: but the words and the cadences are emended, while in the matters rashly heaped together the same levity remains. 18. Therefore it will be more proper to apply care at once, and from the beginning to conduct the work so that it is to be engraved, not fabricated anew from scratch.

Aliquando tamen adfectus sequemur, in quibus fere plus calor quam diligentia valet.

Sometimes, however, we shall follow affect, in which generally heat prevails more than diligence.

Satis apparet ex eo quod hanc scribentium neglegentiam damno, quid de illis dictandi deliciis sentiam. XIX. Nam in stilo quidem quamlibet properato dat aliquam cogitationi moram non consequens celeritatem eius manus: ille cui dictamus urget, atque interim pudet etiam dubitare aut resistere aut mutare quasi conscium infirmitatis nostrae timentis.

It is quite apparent from the fact that I condemn this negligence of those who write, what I think about those delights of dictating. 19. For with the stylus, however much hastened, some delay is given to cogitation, the hand not keeping pace with its celerity; but the person to whom we dictate presses, and meanwhile we are ashamed even to hesitate or to resist or to change, as though fearing one conscious of our infirmity.

XX. Quo fit ut non rudia tantum et fortuita, sed inpropria interim, dum sola est conectendi sermonis cupiditas, effluant, quae nec scribentium curam nec dicentium impetum consequantur. At idem ille qui excipit, si tardior in scribendo aut incertior in legendo velut offensator fuerit, inhibetur cursus, atque omnis quae erat concepta mentis intentio mora et interdum iracundia excutitur. XXI.

20. Hence it comes about that not only rough and fortuitous things, but at times improper ones, while there is a mere desire of connecting discourse, flow out—things which attain neither the care of those writing nor the impetus of those speaking. But that same fellow who takes it down, if he is slower in writing or more uncertain in reading, as if a stumbler, the course is checked, and all the intention of mind that had been conceived is shaken off by delay and sometimes by anger. 21.

Tum illa quae altiorem animi motum secuntur quaeque ipsa animum quodam modo concitant, quorum est iactare manum, torquere vultum, +simul et+ interim obiurgare, quaeque Persius notat cum leviter dicendi genus significat ("nec pluteum" inquit "caedit nec demorsos sapit unguis") etiam ridicula sunt, nisi cum soli sumus. XXII. Denique, ut semel quod est potentissimum dicam, secretum, quod dictando perit, atque liberum arbitris locum et quam altissimum silentium scribentibus maxime convenire nemo dubitaverit.

Then those things which follow a loftier movement of spirit and which themselves in a certain manner excite the mind—of which is to brandish the hand, to twist the countenance, and at the same time now and then to objurgate, and those which Persius notes when he signifies a light manner of speaking (“he neither smites the lectern nor smacks of bitten nails”)—are even ridiculous, unless when we are alone. 22. Finally, to say once for all what is most potent: secrecy, which perishes by dictating, and a place free from arbiters, and the deepest possible silence, no one will doubt to be most fitting for writers.

Non tamen protinus audiendi qui credunt aptissima in hoc nemora silvasque, quod illa caeli libertas locorumque amoenitas sublimem animum et beatiorem spiritum parent. XXIII. Mihi certe iucundus hic magis quam studiorum hortator videtur esse secessus.

Not, however, are those to be heeded straightway who believe that groves and woods are most apt for this, because that liberty of the sky and the amenity of the places beget a sublime mind and a more blessed spirit. 23. To me, certainly, this retreat seems more pleasant than a promoter of studies.

Namque illa quae ipsa delectant necesse est avocent ab intentione operis destinati. Neque enim se bona fide in multa simul intendere animus totum potest, et quocumque respexit desinit intueri quod propositum erat. XXIV.

For indeed those things which of themselves delight must necessarily call one away from the intention of the appointed work. Nor, in good faith, can the mind apply itself wholly to many things at once, and to whatever quarter it has glanced back it ceases to look upon that which had been proposed. 24.

Quare silvarum amoenitas et praeterlabentia flumina et inspirantes ramis arborum aurae volucrumque cantus et ipsa late circumspiciendi libertas ad se trahunt, ut mihi remittere potius voluptas ista videatur cogitationem quam intendere. XXV. Demosthenes melius, qui se in locum ex quo nulla exaudiri vox et ex quo nihil prospici posset recondebat, ne aliud agere mentem cogerent oculi.

Wherefore the amenity of woods and the gliding-by rivers and the breezes breathing through the branches of trees and the song of birds and the very liberty of looking far and wide draw one to themselves, so that to me that pleasure seems rather to relax the thought than to tighten it. 25. Demosthenes did better, who used to hide himself away in a place whence no voice could be heard and whence nothing could be looked out upon, lest the eyes should force the mind to do something else.

Ideoque lucubrantes silentium noctis et clusum cubiculum et lumen unum velut +rectos+ maxime teneat. XXVI. Sed cum in omni studiorum genere, tum in hoc praecipue bona valetudo quaeque eam maxime praestat frugalitas necessaria est, cum tempora ab ipsa rerum natura ad quietem refectionemque nobis data in acerrimum laborem convertimus.

Therefore, let those who burn the midnight oil be held fast by the silence of night, a closed chamber, and a single lamp, as though +straight+ most of all. 26. But since in every kind of study, then in this especially, good health—and the frugality which most provides it—are necessary, since we turn the times given to us by nature herself for rest and refreshment into the most intense labor.

cui tamen non plus inrogandum est quam quod somno supererit aut non deerit. XXVII. Obstat enim diligentiae scribendi etiam fatigatio, et abunde si vacet lucis spatia sufficiunt: occupatos in noctem necessitas agit.

to which, however, no more ought to be imposed than what will remain over from sleep, or will not be lacking to it. 27. For even fatigue stands in the way of diligence in writing, and, if one has leisure, the spaces of daylight suffice abundantly: necessity drives the occupied into the night.

Est tamen lucubratio, quotiens ad eam integri ac refecti venimus, optimum secreti genus.

Yet lucubration, whenever we come to it sound and refreshed, is the best kind of privacy.

XXVIII. Sed silentium et secessus et undique liber animus ut sunt maxime optanda, ita non semper possunt contingere, ideoque non statim si quid obstrepet abiciendi codices erunt et deplorandus dies, verum incommodis repugnandum, et hic faciendus usus, ut omnia quae impedient vincat intentio: quam si tota mente in opus ipsum derexeris, nihil eorum quae oculis vel auribus incursant ad animum perveniet. XXIX.

28. But although silence and secession and a mind free on every side are most to be desiderated, yet they cannot always befall; and therefore not at once, if something makes a din, must the codices be cast aside and the day deplored, but rather the incommodities must be withstood, and this use must be established, that intention may conquer all the things that impede: which, if you direct it with your whole mind upon the work itself, nothing of those things which assail the eyes or ears will reach the mind. 29.

An vero frequenter etiam fortuita hoc cogitatio praestat, ut obvios non videamus et itinere deerremus: non consequemur idem si et voluerimus? Non est indulgendum causis desidiae. Nam si non nisi refecti, non nisi hilares, non nisi omnibus aliis curis vacantes studendum existimarimus, semper erit propter quod nobis ignoscamus.

Or indeed, quite often even a fortuitous musing produces this, that we do not see those who meet us and we err from the road: shall we not attain the same if we also will it? One must not indulge the causes of sloth. For if we think we should study only when refreshed, only when cheerful, only when free from all other cares, there will always be something on account of which we pardon ourselves.

XXX. Quare in turba, itinere, conviviis etiam faciat sibi cogitatio ipsa secretum. Quid alioqui fiet cum in medio foro, tot circumstantibus iudiciis, iurgiis, fortuitis etiam clamoribus, erit subito continua oratione dicendum, si particulas quas ceris mandamus nisi in solitudine reperire non possumus?

30. Therefore, in a crowd, on a journey, even at convivial banquets, let thought itself make for itself a seclusion. What otherwise will happen when, in the middle of the forum, with so many judicial proceedings, quarrels, and even fortuitous clamors surrounding, it will suddenly be necessary to speak in continuous oration, if we cannot find the little notes that we entrust to wax-tablets except in solitude?

Propter quae idem ille tantus amator secreti Demosthenes in litore, in quo se maximo cum sono fluctus inlideret, meditans consuescebat contionum fremitus non expavescere.

For which reasons, that same Demosthenes, so great a lover of seclusion, on the shore, where the wave would dash itself with the greatest sound, meditating, used to accustom himself not to be terrified by the roar of assemblies.

XXXI. Illa quoque minora (sed nihil in studiis parvum est) non sunt transeunda: scribi optime ceris, in quibus facillima est ratio delendi, nisi forte visus infirmior membranarum potius usum exiget, quae ut iuvant aciem, ita crebra relatione, quoad intinguntur calami, morantur manum et cogitationis impetum frangunt. XXXII.

31. Those lesser matters too (but nothing in studies is small) are not to be passed over: that it is best to write on wax-tablets, in which the method of deleting is very easiest, unless perhaps weaker sight will rather demand the use of parchments, which, though they aid acuity, yet by frequent bringing-back, while the reed-pens are dipped, delay the hand and break the impetus of thought. 32.

Relinquendae autem in utrolibet genere contra erunt vacuae tabellae, in quibus libera adiciendi sit excursio. Nam interim pigritiam emendandi angustiae faciunt, aut certe novorum interpositione priora confundant. Ne latas quidem ultra modum esse ceras velim, expertus iuvenem studiosum alioqui praelongos habuisse sermones quia illos numero versuum metiebatur, idque vitium, quod frequenti admonitione corrigi non potuerat, mutatis codicibus esse sublatum.

But, on the contrary, in either kind there should be left blank tablets, on which there may be a free excursion for adding. For at times constriction makes a sluggishness of emendation, or at least by the interposition of new things they confound the earlier. Nor would I wish the wax tablets to be broad beyond measure, having found that a studious youth otherwise had overlong speeches because he was measuring them by the number of verses; and that fault, which could not be corrected by frequent admonition, was removed by changing the codices.

XXXIII. Debet vacare etiam locus in quo notentur quae scribentibus solent extra ordinem, id est ex aliis quam qui sunt in manibus loci, occurrere. Inrumpunt enim optimi nonnumquam sensus, quos neque inserere oportet neque differre tutum est, quia interim elabuntur, interim memoriae sui intentos ab alia inventione declinant: ideoque optime sunt in deposito.

33. There ought also to be empty space in which may be noted the things which are wont to occur to writers out of order, that is, from places other than those which are in hand. For at times the best thoughts burst in, which it is neither proper to insert nor safe to defer, because meanwhile they slip away, meanwhile they turn aside those intent on their remembrance from another invention: and so they are best placed in deposit.

I. Sequitur emendatio, pars studiorum longe utilissima: neque enim sine causa creditum est stilum non minus agere cum delet. huius autem operis est adicere detrahere mutare. Sed facilius in iis simpliciusque iudicium quae replenda vel deicienda sunt: premere vero tumentia, humilia extollere, luxuriantia adstringere, inordinata digerere, soluta componere, exultantia coercere duplicis operae: nam et damnanda sunt quae placuerant et invenienda quae fugerant.

1. Emendation follows, the part of studies by far most useful: for it has not without cause been believed that the stylus works no less when it deletes. The business of this work is to add, detract, alter. But judgment is easier and more straightforward in those things which are to be filled in or cast down: to press what is swelling, to raise the low, to tighten the luxuriant, to set in order the inordinate, to compose what is unbound, to restrain what is exultant, is a double labor: for both the things that had pleased must be condemned and the things that had escaped must be found.

II. Nec dubium est optimum esse emendandi genus si scripta in aliquod tempus reponantur, ut ad ea post intervallum velut nova atque aliena redeamus, ne nobis scripta nostra tamquam recentes fetus blandiantur. III. Sed neque hoc contingere semper potest, praesertim oratori, cui saepius scribere ad praesentis usus necesse est, et ipsa emendatio finem habet.

2. Nor is it doubtful that the best kind of emendation is if the writings are laid aside for some time, so that we may return to them after an interval as though new and alien, lest our writings, like recent offspring, flatter us. 3. But neither can this happen always, especially for the orator, who must more often write for present uses, and emendation itself has an end.

sunt enim qui ad omnia scripta tamquam vitiosa redeant, et, quasi nihil fas sit rectum esse quod primum est, melius existiment quidquid est aliud, idque faciant quotiens librum in manus resumpserunt, similes medicis etiam integra secantibus. Accidit itaque ut cicatricosa sint et exsanguia et cura peiora. IV. Sit ergo aliquando quod placeat aut certe quod sufficiat, ut opus poliat lima, non exterat.

for there are those who return to all writings as though they were faulty, and, as if it were not licit for what is first to be right, they deem whatever is other to be better, and they do this whenever they have taken the book back into their hands, like physicians who cut even sound parts. It happens, therefore, that they become scarred and bloodless, and worse for the cure. 4. Therefore let there at some point be something that pleases, or at least that suffices, so that the file may polish the work, not wear it away.

Temporis quoque esse debet modus. Nam quod Cinnae Zmyrnam novem annis accepimus scriptam, et panegyricum Isocratis qui parcissime decem annis dicunt elaboratum, ad oratorem nihil pertinet, cuius nullum erit si tam tardum fuerit auxilium.

There ought also to be a measure of time. For the fact that we have received that Cinna’s Smyrna was written in nine years, and that the panegyric of Isocrates, which they say was elaborated with the utmost parsimony, in ten years, pertains nothing to the orator, whose aid will be none if the help is so tardy.

I. Proximum est ut dicamus quae praecipue scribenda sint hexin parantibus. Non est huius quidem operis ut explicemus quae sint materiae, quae prima aut secunda aut deinceps tractanda sint (nam id factum est iam primo libro, quo puerorum, et secundo, quo iam robustorum studiis ordinem dedimus), sed de quo nunc agitur, unde copia ac facilitas maxime veniat.

1. The next point is that we should say what ought especially to be written by those preparing a hexis (habit/training). It is not, to be sure, the task of this work to explain what the subject-matters are, which are to be handled first or second or thereafter (for that has already been done in Book 1, wherein we assigned an order for the studies of boys, and in Book 2, wherein we gave an order for the studies of those already robust), but rather what is now in question: from where abundance and ease may most of all come.

II. Vertere Graeca in Latinum veteres nostri oratores optimum iudicabant. Id se L. Crassus in illis Ciceronis de Oratore libris dicit factitasse: id Cicero sua ipse persona frequentissime praecipit, quin etiam libros Platonis atque Xenophontis edidit hoc genere tralatos: id Messalae placuit, multaeque sunt ab eo scriptae ad hunc modum orationes, adeo ut etiam cum illa Hyperidis pro Phryne difficillima Romanis subtilitate contenderet. III.

2. Our ancient orators judged it best to turn Greek into Latin. L. Crassus in those books of Cicero On the Orator says that he used to do this: Cicero, in his own person, most frequently enjoins it, nay even published books of Plato and Xenophon translated in this kind: this pleased Messala, and many orations were written by him in this fashion, to such a degree that he even contended with that most difficult speech of Hyperides on behalf of Phryne in Roman subtlety. 3.

Et manifesta est exercitationis huiusce ratio. Nam et rerum copia Graeci auctores abundant et plurimum artis in eloquentiam intulerunt et hos transferentibus verbis uti optimis licet: omnibus enim utimur nostris. Figuras vero, quibus maxime ornatur oratio, multas ac varias excogitandi etiam necessitas quaedam est, quia plerumque a Graecis Romana dissentiunt.

And the rationale of this exercise is manifest. For in the abundance of subject-matters the Greek authors are copious, and they have brought very much art into eloquence; and to those who transfer these writers it is permitted to use the best words, for we employ all our own. As for figures, by which oration is most of all ornamented, there is even a certain necessity of excogitating many and various ones, because Roman usages for the most part dissent from the Greek.

IV. Sed et illa ex Latinis conversio multum et ipsa contulerit. Ac de carminibus quidem neminem credo dubitare, quo solo genere exercitationis dicitur usus esse sulpicius. Nam et sublimis spiritus attollere orationem potest, et verba poetica libertate audaciora non praesumunt eadem proprie dicendi facultatem.

4. But even that translation from Latin authors itself will have contributed much. And indeed, about poems I believe no one doubts, in which sole kind of exercise Sulpicius is said to have been engaged. For both a sublime spirit can raise the oration, and poetic words, bolder by their liberty, do not preempt the same faculty of speaking properly.

Sed et ipsis sententiis adicere licet oratorium robur, et omissa supplere, effusa substringere. Neque ego paraphrasin esse interpretationem tantum volo, sed circa eosdem sensus certamen atque aemulationem. Ideoque ab illis dissentio qui vertere orationes Latinas vetant quia optimis occupatis quidquid aliter dixerimus necesse sit esse deterius.

But even to the sentences themselves it is permitted to add oratorical vigor, and to supply what has been omitted, to tighten what has overflowed. Nor do I wish paraphrase to be merely interpretation, but a contest and emulation around the same senses. And therefore I dissent from those who forbid translating Latin orations, because, with the best preempted, whatever we shall have said otherwise must necessarily be worse.

Nam neque semper est desperandum aliquid illis quae dicta sunt melius posse reperiri, neque adeo ieiunam ac pauperem natura eloquentiam fecit ut una de re bene dici nisi semel non possit. VI. Nisi forte histrionum multa circa voces easdem variare gestus potest, orandi minor vis, ut dicatur aliquid, post quod in eadem materia nihil dicendum sit. Sed esto neque melius quod invenimus esse neque par, est certe proximis locus.

For neither must one always despair that something better than the things which have been said can be discovered, nor has nature made eloquence so jejune and poor that on one subject it cannot be spoken well except once. 6. Unless perhaps the gesture of actors—which can vary many things around the same lines—has the greater power, and the power of speaking is lesser, so that something is said after which, on the same material, nothing should be said. But grant that what we have found is neither better nor equal; there is certainly a place for the next-best.

VII. An vero ipsi non bis ac saepius de eadem re dicimus et quidem continuas nonnumquam sententias? - nisi forte contendere nobiscum possumus, cum aliis non possumus.

7. Or truly do we ourselves not speak twice and more often about the same matter, and indeed sometimes consecutive sentences? - unless perhaps we are able to contend with ourselves, when we cannot with others.

Nam si uno genere bene diceretur, fas erat existimari praeclusam nobis a prioribus viam: nunc vero innumerabiles sunt modi, plurimaeque eodem viae ducunt. VIII. Sua brevitati gratia, sua copiae, alia tralatis virtus, alia propriis, hoc oratio recta, illud figura declinata commendat.

For if it were well said in a single genus, it would have been lawful to think the way shut off to us by our predecessors; but as it is, the modes are innumerable, and very many roads lead to the same place. 8. There is its own grace to brevity, its own to copiousness; one excellence to transferred terms, another to proper ones; this the straight oration commends, that the declined figure.

Ipsa denique utilissima est exercitationi difficultas. Quid quod auctores maximi sic diligentius cognoscuntur? Non enim scripta lectione secura transcurrimus, sed tractamus singula et necessario introspicimus et quantum virtutis habeant vel hoc ipso cognoscimus, quod imitari non possumus.

Difficulty itself, finally, is most useful for exercise. What of the fact that the greatest authors are thus more diligently known? For we do not run through the writings with a carefree reading, but we handle each particular and of necessity look within, and we come to know how much virtue they have even by this very fact, that we cannot imitate them.

IX. Nec aliena tantum transferre, sed etiam nostra pluribus modis tractare proderit, ut ex industria sumamus sententias quasdam easque versemus quam numerosissime, velut eadem cera aliae aliaeque formae duci solent. X. Plurimum autem parari facultatis existimo ex simplicissima quaque materia. Nam illa multiplici personarum causarum temporum locorum dictorum factorum diversitate facile delitescet infirmitas, tot se undique rebus ex quibus aliquam adprehendas offerentibus.

9. Nor will it be profitable only to transfer things alien, but also to handle our own in several modes, so that we deliberately take certain sentences and turn them in the most numerous ways, just as from the same wax one form after another is wont to be drawn. 10. But I think that the greatest amount of facility is furnished from the simplest possible material. For in that manifold diversity of persons, causes, times, places, sayings, and doings, weakness will easily hide itself, so many things on every side offering themselves, from which you may seize upon something.

XI. Illud virtutis indicium est, fundere quae natura contracta sunt, augere parva, varietatem similibus voluptatem expositis dare, et bene dicere multa de paucis.

11. That is an indication of virtue: to pour forth what is by nature contracted, to augment small things, to give variety and delight to things set forth as similar, and to say many things well from few.

In hoc optime facient infinitae quaestiones, quas vocari thesis diximus, quibus Cicero iam princeps in re publica exerceri solebat. XII. His confinis est destructio et confirmatio sententiarum.

In this, indefinite questions will do most excellently, which we have said are called theses, in which Cicero, already the leading man in the commonwealth, used to exercise himself. 12. Adjacent to these is the refutation and confirmation of opinions.

Nam cum sit sententia decretum quoddam atque praeceptum, quod de re, idem de iudicio rei quaeri potest. tum loci communes, quos etiam scriptos ab oratoribus scimus. Nam qui haec recta tantum et in nullos flexus recedentia copiose tractaverit, utique in illis plures excursus recipientibus magis abundabit eritque in omnis causas gratus: omnes enim generalibus quaestionibus constant.

For since a sententia is a certain decree and precept, what is asked about the thing can likewise be asked about the judgment of the thing. Then come the commonplaces, which we know have even been written out by orators. For whoever has treated these matters copiously in a straight course only, receding into no flexions, will certainly abound the more in those that admit more excursions, and he will be welcome in all causes: for all of them rest upon general questions.

XIII. Nam quid interest Cornelius tribunus plebis quod codicem legerit reus sit, an quaeramus "violeturne maiestas si magistratus rogationem suam populo ipse recitarit"? "Milo Clodium rectene occiderit" veniat in iudicium, an "oporteatne insidiatorem interfici vel perniciosum rei publicae civem, etiam si non insidietur"? "Cato Marciam honestene tradiderit Hortensio" an "conveniatne res talis bono viro"? De personis iudicatur, sed de rebus contenditur. XIV.

13. For what difference is there whether Cornelius, tribune of the plebs, be a defendant because he read a codex, or that we inquire, "is majesty violated if a magistrate himself recites his own rogation to the people"? "Whether Milo killed Clodius rightly" may come into judgment, or "ought an ambusher to be slain, or a citizen pernicious to the commonwealth, even if he is not lying in wait"? "Whether Cato handed over Marcia to Hortensius honorably," or "does such a matter befit a good man"? Judgment is rendered concerning persons, but the contestation is about matters. 14.

Declamationes vero, quales in scholis rhetorum dicuntur, si modo sunt ad veritatem accommodatae et orationibus similes, non tantum dum adolescit profectus sunt utilissimae, quae inventionem dispositionem pariter exercent, sed etiam cum est consummatus ac iam in foro clarus: alitur enim atque enitescit velut pabulo laetiore facundia et adsidua contentionum asperitate fatigata renovatur. XV. Quapropter historiae nonnumquam ubertas in aliqua exercendi stili parte ponenda et dialogorum libertate gestiendum. Ne carmine quidem ludere contrarium fuerit, sicut athletae, remissa quibusdam temporibus ciborum atque exercitationum certa necessitate, otio et iucundioribus epulis reficiuntur.

Declamations, in truth, such as are spoken in the schools of the rhetors, if only they are accommodated to truth and similar to orations, are not only, while progress grows, most useful—since they exercise invention and disposition alike—but even when one is consummate and already illustrious in the forum: for eloquence is nourished and shines forth as if by richer fodder, and, wearied by the continual asperity of contests, is renewed. 15. Wherefore the richness of history is sometimes to be employed in some part of exercising the style, and one should revel in the freedom of dialogues. Nor would it be contrary even to play in verse, just as athletes, when at certain times the fixed necessity of foods and exercises is relaxed, are refreshed by leisure and by more pleasant banquets.

XVI. Ideoque mihi videtur M. tullius tantum intulisse eloquentiae lumen quod in hos quoque studiorum secessus excurrit. Nam si nobis sola materia fuerit ex litibus, necesse est deteratur fulgor et durescat articulus et ipse ille mucro ingenii cotidiana pugna retundatur.

16. And so it seems to me that M. Tullius brought in so great a light of eloquence because he also ventured forth into these retreats of study. For if our sole material were from lawsuits, it would needs be that the luster be worn down, the joint grow hard, and that very point of genius be blunted by daily combat.

XVII. Sed quem ad modum forensibus certaminibus exercitatos et quasi militantis reficit ac reparat haec velut sagina dicendi, sic adulescentes non debent nimium in falsa rerum imagine detineri et inanibus simulacris usque adeo ut difficilis ab his digressus sit adsuefacere, ne ab illa in qua prope consenuerunt umbra vera discrimina velut quendam solem reformident. XVIII.

17. But just as this, as it were a fattening of speaking, refreshes and repairs those exercised by forensic contests and, as it were, soldiering, so young men ought not to be detained too much in a false image of things and in empty simulacra, to such an extent that withdrawal from these becomes difficult; they should accustom themselves, lest from that shadow in which they have almost grown old they shrink from true discriminations as from a certain sun. 18.

Quod accidisse etiam M. Porcio Latroni, qui primus clari nominis professor fuit, traditur, ut, cum ei summam in scholis opinionem optinenti causa in foro esset oranda, inpense petierit uti subsellia in basilicam transferrentur: ita illi caelum novum fuit ut omnis eius eloquentia contineri tecto ac parietibus videretur. XIX. Quare iuvenis qui rationem inveniendi eloquendique a praeceptoribus diligenter acceperit (quod non est infiniti operis si docere sciant et velint), exercitationem quoque modicam fuerit consecutus, oratorem sibi aliquem, quod apud maiores fieri solebat, deligat quem sequatur, quem imitetur: iudiciis intersit quam plurimis et sit certaminis cui destinatur frequens spectator.

It is handed down that this also befell Marcus Porcius Latro, who was the first professor of illustrious name: when a case had to be pled for him in the forum, while he was holding the highest reputation in the schools, he earnestly requested that the benches be transferred into the basilica; the sky was so new to him that all his eloquence seemed to be confined by a roof and walls. 19. Wherefore, a young man who shall have diligently received from his preceptors the method of invention and elocution (which is not an infinite task, if they know how and are willing to teach), and shall also have attained a moderate exercise, should choose for himself some orator, as used to be done among the elders, to follow and to imitate; let him attend as many trials as possible, and be a frequent spectator of the contest to which he is destined.

XX. Tum causas vel easdem quas agi audierit stilo et ipse componat, vel etiam alias, veras modo, et utrimque tractet et, quod in gladiatoribus fieri videmus, decretoriis exerceatur, ut fecisse Brutum diximus pro Milone. Melius hoc quam rescribere veteribus orationibus, ut fecit Cestius contra Ciceronis actionem habitam pro eodem, cum alteram partem satis nosse non posset ex sola defensione.

20. Then let him himself compose with the stylus either the same causes which he has heard being pled, or even others, only real ones, and handle them on both sides, and, as we see done among gladiators, be exercised in decretory bouts, as we have said that Brutus did for Milo. This is better than to write replies to the old orations, as Cestius did against Cicero’s actio delivered for the same man, since he could not sufficiently know the other side from the defense alone.

XXI. Citius autem idoneus erit iuvenis quem praeceptor coegerit in declamando quam simillimum esse veritati et per totas ire materias quarum nunc facillima et maxime favorabilia decerpunt. Obstant huic, quod secundo loco posui, fere turba discipulorum et consuetudo classium certis diebus audiendarum, nonnihil etiam persuasio patrum numerantium potius declamationes quam aestimantium.

21. Moreover, the youth will become apt more quickly, whom the teacher has compelled, in declaiming, to be as very similar to truth as possible and to go through whole materials, whereas now they pluck the easiest and most favor-winning. Hindering this, which I set in the second place, are for the most part the crowd of pupils and the custom of classes to be heard on fixed days, and not a little also the persuasion of fathers, who count declamations rather than appraise them.

XXII. Sed, quod dixi primo, ut arbitror, libro, nec ille se bonus praeceptor maiore numero quam sustinere possit onerabit, et nimiam loquacitatem recidet, ut omnia quae sunt in controversia, non, ut quidam volunt, quae in rerum natura, dicantur, et vel longiore potius dierum spatio laxabit dicendi necessitatem vel materias dividere permittet. XXIII.

22. But, as I said in the first book, as I think, neither will a good preceptor burden himself with a greater number than he can sustain, and he will cut back excessive loquacity, so that all the things that are in the controversy be said, not, as some wish, the things that are in the nature of things; and he will either relax the necessity of speaking by a longer space of days, or will permit the materials to be divided. 23.

Diligenter effecta plus proderit quam plures inchoatae et quasi degustatae. Propter quod accidit ut nec suo loco quidque ponatur, nec illa quae prima sunt servent suam legem, iuvenibus flosculos omnium partium in ea quae sunt dicturi congerentibus: quo fit ut, timentes ne sequentia perdant, priora confundant.

Things carefully completed will profit more than many begun and, as it were, merely tasted. For which reason it happens that neither is each thing set in its proper place, nor do those things which are first observe their own law, with young men heaping the little flowers of all the parts into the sections they are going to speak: whence it comes about that, fearing lest they lose the things that follow, they confound the earlier ones.

I. Proxima stilo cogitatio est, quae et ipsa vires ab hoc accipit et est inter scribendi laborem extemporalemque fortunam media quaedam et nescio an usus frequentissimI. Nam scribere non ubique nec semper possumus, cogitationi temporis ac loci plurimum est. Haec paucis admodum horis magnas etiam causas complectitur: haec, quotiens intermissus est somnus, ipsis noctis tenebris adiuvatur: haec inter medios rerum actus aliquid invenit vacui nec otium patitur.

1. Next to the stylus is cogitation, which also takes its forces from it, and is a certain middle thing between the labor of writing and the extemporaneous fortune; and I know not whether it is the most frequent exercise. For we cannot write everywhere nor always; but cogitation has the greatest command of time and place. This in very few hours embraces even great causes; this, whenever sleep is interrupted, is helped by the very darkness of night; this in the very midst of affairs finds some empty space, and does not require leisure.

II. Neque vero rerum ordinem modo, quod ipsum satis erat, intra se ipsa disponit, sed verba etiam copulat, totamque ita contexit orationem ut ei nihil praeter manum desit: nam memoriae quoque plerumque inhaerent fidelius quae nulla scribendi securitate laxantur.

2. Nor indeed does it arrange within itself only the order of things—which in itself was enough—but it also couples the words, and thus weaves together the whole oration so that nothing is lacking to it except the hand; for those things which are relaxed by no security of writing for the most part adhere more faithfully to memory.

Sed ne ad hanc quidem vim cogitandi perveniri potest aut subito aut cito. III. Nam primum facienda multo stilo forma est quae nos etiam cogitantis sequatur: tum adsumendus usus paulatim, ut pauca primum complectamur animo quae reddi fideliter possint, mox per incrementa, tam modica ut onerari se labor ille non sentiat, augenda vis et exercitatione multa continenda est; quae quidem maxima ex parte memoria constat, ideoque aliqua mihi in illum locum differenda sunt: IV. eo tamen pervenit ut is cui non refragetur ingenium, acri studio adiutus, tantum consequatur ut ei tam quae cogitarit quam quae scripserit atque edidicerit in dicendo fidem servent.

Yet not even to this power of cogitation can one attain either suddenly or swiftly. 3. For first, a form must be made by much writing which may follow us even when we are cogitating: then practice must be assumed little by little, so that at first we may embrace in mind a few things which can be rendered faithfully, soon, through increments so moderate that that toil does not feel itself burdened, the power must be increased and by much exercise must be sustained; which indeed for the greatest part consists in memory, and therefore some matters must be deferred by me to that place: 4. nevertheless it comes to this point, that he whose natural talent does not resist him, aided by keen study, attains so much that for him both the things which he has cogitated and the things which he has written and learned by heart keep their credibility in speaking.

Cicero certe Graecorum Metrodorum Scepsium et Empylum Rhodium nostrorumque Hortensium tradidit quae cogitaverant ad verbum in agendo rettulisse.

Cicero certainly has handed down that, among the Greeks, Metrodorus of Scepsis and Empylus the Rhodian, and, among our own, Hortensius, rendered verbatim in pleading the things they had cogitated.

V. Sed si forte aliqui inter dicendum offulserit extemporalis color, non superstitiose cogitatis demum est inhaerendum. Neque enim tantum habent curae ut non sit dandus et fortunae locus, cum saepe etiam scriptis ea quae subito nata sunt inserantur. Ideoque totum hoc exercitationis genus ita instituendum ut et digredi ex eo et redire in id facile possimus.

5. But if by chance some extemporaneous color should flash forth in the midst of speaking, one must not superstitiously cling only to the premeditated thoughts. For our preparations do not have such weight that a place should not be given to fortune as well, since even into written compositions those things which have suddenly arisen are often inserted. And therefore this whole kind of practice must be so instituted that we may both digress from it and return to it with ease.

VI. Nam ut primum est domo adferre paratam dicendi copiam et certam, ita refutare temporis munera longe stultissimum est. Quare cogitatio in hoc praeparetur, ut nos fortuna decipere non possit, adiuvare possit. Id autem fiet memoriae viribus, ut illa quae complexi animo sumus fluant secura, non sollicitos et respicientes et una spe suspensos recordationis non sinant providere: alioqui vel extemporalem temeritatem malo quam male cohaerentem cogitationem.

6. For just as it is best to bring from home a prepared and sure copiousness of speaking, so to reject the gifts of the moment is by far most foolish. Wherefore let cogitation be readied to this end: that Fortune cannot deceive us, and can aid us. And this will be achieved by the powers of memory, so that the things which we have encompassed in mind may flow securely, and may not, by making us anxious and looking back and suspended on the single hope of recollection, allow us to take forethought; otherwise I prefer extemporal temerity to a badly coherent cogitation.

VII. Peius enim quaeritur retrorsus, quia dum illa desideramus ab aliis avertimur, et ex memoria potius res petimus quam ex materia. Plura sunt autem, si utrimque quaerendum est, quae inveniri possunt quam quae inventa sunt.

7. For it is worse to seek backward; for while we long for those things, we are turned away from others, and we seek things from memory rather than from the material. Moreover, if one must search on both sides, there are more things that can be found than things that have been found.

I. Maximus vero studiorum fructus est et velut +primus quidam plius+ longi laboris ex tempore dicendi facultas; quam qui non erit consecutus, mea quidem sententia civilibus officiis renuntiabit et solam scribendi facultatem potius ad alia opera convertet. Vix enim bonae fidei viro convenit auxilium in publicum polliceri quod praesentissimis quibusque periculis desit, * intrare portum ad quem navis accedere nisi lenibus ventis vecta non possit: II. siquidem innumerabiles accidunt subitae necessitates vel apud magistratus vel repraesentatis iudiciis continuo agendi. Quarum si qua, non dico cuicumque innocentium civium, sed amicorum ac propinquorum alicui evenerit, stabitne mutus et salutarem petentibus vocem, statimque si non succurratur perituris, moras et secessum et silentium quaeret, dum illa verba fabricentur et memoriae insidant et vox ac latus praeparetur?

1. The greatest, in truth, fruit of studies is, and as it were +a certain first prize+ of long toil, the faculty of speaking ex tempore; which whoever shall not have attained, in my judgment will renounce civic offices and will rather turn the sole faculty of writing to other works. For it scarcely befits a man of good faith to promise help in public which is lacking in the most immediate perils to anyone, * to enter a harbor which a ship cannot approach unless borne by gentle winds: 2. since innumerable sudden necessities occur for pleading on the spot, either before magistrates or in expedited courts. If any of these should befall—not to say any of our innocent fellow-citizens, but some friend or kinsman—will he stand mute and, while a saving voice is being sought, and when, unless help is brought at once, they are going to perish, will he look for delays and withdrawal and silence, while those words are being fabricated and settle into the memory, and the voice and the lungs are being prepared?

III. Quae vero patitur hoc ratio, ut quisquam sit orator aliquando? Mitto casus: quid cum adversario respondendum erit fiet?

3. But what does this rationale permit, that anyone should ever be an orator? I pass over the cases: what will happen when an adversary must be answered?

Nam saepe ea quae opinati sumus et contra quae scripsimus fallunt, ac tota subito causa mutatur, atque ut gubernatori ad incursus tempestatium, sic agenti ad varietatem causarum ratio mutanda est. IV. Quid porro multus stilus et adsidua lectio et longa studiorum aetas facit, si manet eadem quae fuit incipientibus difficultas? Perisse profecto confitendum est praeteritum laborem cui semper idem laborandum est.

For often those things which we have supposed and those against which we have written deceive us, and the whole cause is suddenly changed, and, as for the helmsman in the onrushes of tempests, so for the advocate in the variety of cases the plan must be changed. 4. What, moreover, does much pen-work and assiduous reading and a long age of studies accomplish, if the same difficulty that was for beginners remains? It must surely be confessed that the past labor has perished, for one who must always labor at the same thing.

Neque ego hoc ago, ut ex tempore dicere malit, sed ut possit. Id autem maxime hoc modo consequemur.

Nor do I aim at this, that he should prefer to speak extempore, but that he should be able to. This, moreover, we shall most effectively achieve in this way.

V. Nota sit primum dicendi via: neque enim prius contingere cursus potest quam scierimus quo sit et qua perveniendum. Nec satis est non ignorare quae sint causarum iudicialium partes, aut quaestionum ordinem recte disponere, quamquam ista sunt praecipua, sed quid quoque loco primum sit ac secundum et deinceps: quae ita sunt natura copulata ut mutari aut intervelli sine confusione non possint. VI. Quisquis autem via dicet, utetur ante omnia rerum ipsa serie velut duce, propter quod homines etiam modice exercitati facillime tenorem in narrationibus servant.

V. Let the way of speaking first be known: for the course cannot be attained before we shall have known both whither it lies and by what way one must arrive. Nor is it enough not to be ignorant what are the parts of judicial causes, or to arrange rightly the order of questions—although these are principal—but also what in each place should be first and second and thereafter: which are so by nature coupled that they cannot be changed or torn apart without confusion. VI. Whoever, moreover, will speak by the way will use before all things the very series of matters as a guide, on account of which even men moderately exercised most easily preserve the tenor in narrations.

Deinde quid quoque loco quaerant scient, nec circumspectabunt nec offerentibus se aliunde sensibus turbabuntur, nec confundent ex diversis orationem velut salientes huc illuc nec usquam insistentes. Postremo habebunt modum et finem, qui esse citra divisionem nullus potest, et expletis pro facultate omnibus quae proposuerint pervenisse se ad ultimum sentient. VII.

Then they will know what to seek in each place, and they will neither look around nor be disturbed by senses offering themselves from elsewhere, nor will they confound the oration from diverse things, as if leaping here and there and standing fast nowhere. Finally, they will have measure and an end, which can be none without division, and, all the things they have proposed having been fulfilled according to their capacity, they will feel that they have arrived at the ultimate. 7.

Et haec quidem ex arte; illa vero ex studio, ut copiam sermonis optimi, quem ad modum praeceptum est, comparemus, multo ac fideli stilo sic formetur oratio ut scriptorum colorem etiam quae subito effusa sint reddant, ut, cum multa scripserimus, etiam multa dicamus. VIII. Nam consuetudo et exercitatio facilitates maxime parit: quae si paulum intermissa fuerit, non velocitas illa modo tardatur, sed ipsum os coit atque concurrit.

And these things indeed are from art; but those truly from study, namely that we procure an abundance of the best speech, as it has been prescribed, let the oration be so formed by much and faithful pen that even the things suddenly poured forth may render the color of writings, so that, when we have written much, we may also say much. 8. For custom and exercise beget facility most of all: which, if it has been intermitted even a little, not only is that speed slowed, but the very mouth closes up and runs together.

Quamquam enim opus est naturali quadam mobilitate animi, ut, dum proxima dicimus, struere ulteriora possimus, semperque nostram vocem provisa et formata cogitatio excipiat: IX. Vix tamen aut natura aut ratio in tam multiplex officium diducere animum queat ut inventioni, dispositioni, elocutioni, ordini rerum verborumque, tum iis quae dicit, quae subiuncturus est, quae ultra spectanda sunt, adhibita vocis pronuntiationis gestus observatione una sufficiat. X. Longe enim praecedat oportet intentio ac prae se res agat, quantumque dicendo consumitur, tantum ex ultimo prorogetur, ut, donec perveniamus ad finem, non minus prospectu procedamus quam gradu, si non intersistentes offensantesque brevia illa atque concisa singultantium modo eiecturi sumus.

Although indeed there is need of a certain natural mobility of mind, so that, while we speak what is next, we may be able to build what is further, and our thought, pre‑seen and formed, may always catch up our voice: 9. Yet scarcely can either nature or method draw the mind apart into so manifold a duty as to suffice, by itself, for invention, disposition, elocution, the order of things and of words, and at the same time for those things which he says, which he is going to subjoin, which must be looked beyond, with observation applied to voice, delivery, and gesture. 10. For the intent must go far in advance and the matter act ahead; and as much as is consumed by speaking, so much must be extended from the rear, so that, until we arrive at the end, we may advance no less by prospect than by step—otherwise, halting and stumbling, we shall eject those short and concise utterances in the manner of hiccuping.

XI. Est igitur usus quidam inrationalis, quam Graeci alogon triben vocant, qua manus in scribendo decurrit, qua oculi totos simul in lectione versus flexusque eorum et transitus intuentur, et ante sequentia vident quam priora dixerunt. Quo constant miracula illa in scaenis pilariorum ac ventilatorum, ut ea quae emiserint ultro venire in manus credas et qua iubentur decurrere. XII.

11. Therefore there is a certain irrational practice, which the Greeks call alogon triben, whereby the hand runs on in writing, whereby in reading the eyes at once behold whole lines and their bends and transitions, and see what follows before they have said what goes before. Hence those miracles on the scenes of ball-players and tossers stand firm, so that you would believe the things which they have sent forth to come of their own accord into their hands and to run where they are bidden. 12.

Sed hic usus ita proderit si ea de qua locuti sumus ars antecesserit, ut ipsum illud quod in se rationem non habet in ratione versetur. Nam mihi ne dicere quidem videtur nisi qui disposite ornate copiose dicit, sed tumultuari. XIII.

But this practice will be helpful only in such a way—if the art of which we have spoken has gone before—that that very thing which in itself does not have reason may be engaged within reason. For to me, no one even seems to speak unless he speaks in an orderly, ornate, and copious manner, but rather to tumultuate. 13.

Nec fortuiti sermonis contextum mirabor umquam, quem iurgantibus etiam mulierculis videamus superfluere: cum eo quod, si calor ac spiritus tulit, frequenter accidit ut successum extemporalem consequi cura non possit. XIV. Deum tunc adfuisse cum id evenisset veteres oratores, ut Cicero dicit, aiebant, sed ratio manifesta est.

Nor shall I ever marvel at the contexture of fortuitous speech, which we see to overflow even in womenfolk wrangling: since along with this, if heat and spirit have carried one along, it frequently happens that careful preparation cannot overtake extemporal success. 14. The ancient orators, as Cicero says, used to assert that a god had then been present when that occurred, but the rationale is manifest.

Nam bene concepti adfectus et recentes rerum imagines continuo impetu feruntur, quae nonnumquam mora stili refrigescunt et dilatae non revertuntur. Vtique vero, cum infelix illa verborum cavillatio accessit et cursus ad singula vestigia restitit, non potest ferri contorta vis, sed, ut optime vocum singularum cedat electio, non continua sed composita est.

For well-conceived affects and fresh images of things are borne along with a continuous impetus, which sometimes grow cool by the delay of the stylus, and, once deferred, do not return. And assuredly, when that unhappy cavillation of words has come on and the course halts at each individual step, the contorted force cannot be carried; but, in order that the selection of individual words may turn out for the best, it is not continuous but composite.

XV. Quare capiendae sunt illae de quibus dixi rerum imagines, quas vocari phantasias indicavimus, omniaque de quibus dicturi erimus, personae, quaestiones, spes, metus, habenda in oculis, in adfectus recipienda: pectus est enim quod disertos facit, et vis mentis. Ideoque imperitis quoque, si modo sunt aliquo adfectu concitati, verba non desunt. XVI.

15. Wherefore those images of things, of which I have spoken, which we have indicated are called phantasies, must be seized, and all the matters of which we shall speak—persons, questions, hopes, fears—are to be held before the eyes, to be received into the affections: for it is the heart that makes men eloquent, and the force of mind. And so even to the unskilled, if only they are stirred by some emotion, words are not lacking. 16.

Tum intendendus animus non in aliquam rem unam sed in plures simul continuas, ut, si per aliquam rectam viam mittamus oculos, simul omnia quae sunt in ea circaque intuemur, non ultimum tantum videmus, sed usque ad ultimum. Addit ad dicendum etiam pudor stimulos, mirumque videri potest quod, cum stilus secreto gaudeat atque omnis arbitros reformidet, extemporalis actio auditorum frequentia, ut miles congestu signorum, excitatur. XVII.

Then the mind must be stretched not upon any one single thing but upon several at once in a continuous sweep, so that, if we send our eyes along some straight road, we at the same time behold all the things that are on it and around it; we do not see only the farthest, but all the way up to the farthest. Modesty, too, adds spurs to speaking, and it may seem a wonder that, although the stylus rejoices in secrecy and shrinks from all arbiters, extemporaneous action is stirred by the multitude of auditors, as a soldier by the congestion of standards. 17.

Namque et difficiliorem cogitationem exprimit et expellit dicendi necessitas, et secundos impetus auget placendi cupido: adeo pretium omnia spectant, ut eloquentia quoque, quamquam plurimum habeat in se voluptatis, maxime tamen praesenti fructu laudis opinionisque ducatur. XVIII. Nec quisquam tantum fidat ingenio ut id sibi speret incipienti statim posse contingere, sed, sicut in cogitatione praecipimus, ita facilitatem quoque extemporalem a parvis initiis paulatim perducemus ad summam; quae neque perfici neque contineri nisi usu potest: XIX.

For the necessity of speaking both expresses and drives out more difficult cogitation, and the desire of pleasing augments favorable impulses: to such an extent do all things look to the reward, that eloquence too, although it has very much delight in itself, is yet chiefly guided by the present fruit of praise and opinion. 18. Nor let anyone so trust in his talent as to hope that this can at once befall him when he is beginning; but, just as we prescribe in premeditation, so we will also lead extemporaneous facility from small beginnings gradually to the height; which can neither be perfected nor maintained except by practice: 19.

ceterum pervenire eo debet ut cogitatio non utique melior sit ea, sed tutior, cum hanc facilitatem non in prorsa modo multi sint consecuti, sed etiam in carmine, ut Antipater Sidonius et Licinius Archias: credendum enim Ciceroni est, non quia nostris quoque temporibus non et fecerint quidam hoc et faciant. Quod tamen non ipsum tam probabile puto (neque enim habet aut usum res aut necessitatem) quam exhortandis in hanc spem qui foro praeparantur utile exemplum. XX. Neque vero tanta sit umquam fiducia facilitatis ut non breve saltem tempus, quod nusquam fere deerit, ad ea quae dicturi sumus dispicienda sumamus; quod quidem in iudiciis ac foro datur semper: neque enim quisquam est qui causam quam non didicerit agat.

but he ought to arrive at this point: that premeditation be not necessarily better than extemporaneous speaking, but safer, since many have attained this facility not only in prose, but also in song/poetry, as Antipater of Sidon and Licinius Archias: for Cicero is to be believed, and in our own times too certain men have both done this and do it. Which, however, I do not think itself so commendable (for the thing has neither use nor necessity) as a useful example for encouraging to this hope those who are being prepared for the forum. 20. Nor indeed should there ever be such great confidence in facility that we do not take at least a brief time, which will almost nowhere be lacking, for examining the things we are going to say; and this, in trials and in the forum, is always granted: for there is no one who pleads a cause which he has not learned.

XXI. Declamatores quosdam perversa ducit ambitio ut exposita controversia protinus dicere velint, quin etiam, quod est in primis frivolum ac scaenicum, verbum petant quo incipiant. Sed tam contumeliosos in se ridet invicem eloquentia, et qui stultis videri eruditi volunt, stulti eruditis videntur.

21. Certain declaimers are led by perverse ambition to wish, once the controversy has been set forth, to speak at once—nay even, what is among the most frivolous and theatrical things, to ask for a “cue-word” with which to begin. But eloquence, in turn, laughs at men so insulting to itself; and those who wish to seem learned to fools appear fools to the learned.

XXII. Si qua tamen fortuna tam subitam fecerit agendi necessitatem, mobiliore quodam opus erit ingenio, et vis omnis intendenda rebus, et in praesentia remittendum aliquid ex cura verborum, si consequi utrumque non dabitur. tum et tardior pronuntiatio moras habet et suspensa ac velut dubitans oratio, ut tamen deliberare, non haesitare videamur.

22. If, however, some fortune should make the necessity of pleading so sudden, a somewhat more mobile ingenuity will be needed, and all force must be directed to the matters, and for the present something must be remitted from the care for words, if it will not be granted to attain both. Then too a slower delivery has its pauses, and a suspended and as it were doubting speech—so that we may seem to be deliberating, not hesitating.

XXIII. Hoc dum egredimur e portu, si nos nondum aptatis satis armamentis aget ventus, deinde paulatim simul euntes aptabimus vela et disponemus rudentes et impleri sinus optabimus. Id potius quam se inani verborum torrenti dare quasi tempestatibus quo volent auferendum.

23. While we are putting out of the port, if the wind drives us when our armaments are not yet sufficiently fitted, then little by little, as we go along together, we will fit the sails and arrange the cordage and will hope for the canvas to be filled. This rather than to give oneself to an empty torrent of words, as to tempests, to be carried off wherever they will.

XXIV. Sed non minore studio continetur haec facultas quam paratur; ars enim semel percepta non carpitur, stilus quoque intermissione paulum admodum de celeritate deperdit: promptum hoc et in expedito positum exercitatione sola continetur. Hac uti sic optimum est, ut cotidie dicamus audientibus pluribus, maxime de quorum simus iudicio atque opinione solliciti (rarum est enim ut satis se quisque vereatur): vel soli tamen dicamus potius quam non omnino dicamus.

24. But this faculty is maintained with no less study than it is prepared; for an art once perceived is not worn away, and the style too, by intermission, loses very little of its celerity: this promptness, and being at the ready, is preserved by exercise alone. To use it thus is best, that we speak daily with more hearers, especially those about whose judgment and opinion we are solicitous (for it is rare that each man sufficiently reveres himself); yet let us speak alone rather than not speak at all.

XXV. Est et illa exercitatio cogitandi totasque materias vel silentio (dum tamen quasi dicat intra ipsum) persequendi, quae nullo non et tempore et loco, quando non aliud agimus, explicari potest, et est in parte maioris utilitatis quam haec proxima: XXVI. diligentius enim componitur quam illa, in qua contextum dicendi intermittere veremur.

25. There is also that exercise of cogitation and of pursuing whole subjects even in silence (provided, however, that one, as it were, speaks within himself), which can be explicated at any time and in any place, whenever we are not doing something else, and is in part of greater utility than this most recent one: 26. for it is composed more diligently than that one, in which we are afraid to interrupt the context of speaking.

Rursus in alia plus prior confert, vocis firmitatem, oris facilitatem, motum corporis, qui et ipse, ut dixi, excitat oratorem et iactatione manus, pedis supplosione, sicut cauda leones facere dicuntur, hortatur. XXVII. Studendum vero semper et ubique.

Again, in another respect the former contributes more: the firmness of the voice, the facility of the mouth, the movement of the body, which also itself, as I said, arouses the orator and, by the gesticulation of the hand and the stamping of the foot, as lions are said to do with the tail, urges him on. 27. One must, in truth, study always and everywhere.

Neque enim fere tam est ullus dies occupatus ut nihil lucrativae, ut Cicero Brutum facere tradit, operae ad scribendum aut legendum aut dicendum rapi aliquo momento temporis possit: siquidem C. Carbo etiam in tabernaculo solebat hac uti exercitatione dicendi. XXVIII. Ne id quidem tacendum est, quod eidem Ciceroni placet, nullum nostrum usquam neglegentem esse sermonem: quidquid loquemur ubicumque sit pro sua scilicet portione perfectum.

For there is scarcely any day so occupied that no lucrative work, as Cicero relates Brutus used to do, can be snatched at some moment of time for writing or reading or speaking: since Gaius Carbo even in his tent was accustomed to use this exercise of speaking. 28. Nor must this be left unspoken, which likewise pleases the same Cicero, that none of our discourse anywhere be negligent: whatever we speak, wherever it is, should be, to be sure, perfect in its own portion.

Scribendum certe numquam est magis quam cum multa dicemus ex tempore. Ita enim servabitur pondus et innatans illa verborum facilitas in altum reducetur, sicut rustici proximas vitis radices amputant, quae illam in summum solum ducunt, ut inferiores penitus descendendo firmentur. XXIX.

Certainly one ought never to write more than when we shall be saying many things ex tempore. For thus weight will be preserved, and that floating facility of words will be brought back into the deep, just as rustics lop off the nearest roots of the vine, which draw it into the topsoil, so that the lower roots, by descending thoroughly, may be strengthened. 29.

Ac nescio an, si utrumque cum cura et studio fecerimus, invicem prosit, ut scribendo dicamus diligentius, dicendo scribamus facilius. Scribendum ergo quotiens licebit, si id non dabitur cogitandum: ab utroque exclusi debent tamen ita dicere ut neque deprensus orator neque litigator destitutus esse videatur.

And I do not know but that, if we do both with care and study, they may benefit each other in turn, so that by writing we may speak more diligently, and by speaking we may write more easily. Therefore, one should write as often as it will be permitted; if that is not granted, one should think: those excluded from both ought nevertheless to speak in such a way that neither the orator seem caught off guard nor the litigator appear deserted.

XXX. Plerumque autem multa agentibus accidit ut maxime necessaria et utique initia scribant, cetera, quae domo adferunt, cogitatione complectantur, subitis ex tempore occurrant: quod fecisse M. tullium commentariis ipsius apparet. Sed feruntur aliorum quoque et inventi forte, ut eos dicturus quisque composuerat, et in libros digesti, ut causarum quae sunt actae a Servio sulpicio, cuius tres orationes extant: sed hi de quibus loquor commentarii ita sunt exacti ut ab ipso mihi in memoriam posteritatis videantur esse compositi.

30. For the most part, however, it happens to those handling many matters that they write down the things most necessary and, in any case, the beginnings; the rest, which they bring from home, they embrace by cogitation; to sudden matters they respond ex tempore: which M. Tullius appears to have done from his own commentaries. But there are reported also those of others, both found by chance—as each man, when about to speak, had composed them—and digested into books, as with the causes which were pleaded by Servius Sulpicius, of whom three orations are extant: but the commentaries of which I speak are so exact that they seem to me to have been composed by the man himself for the memory of posterity.

XXXI. Nam Ciceronis ad praesens modo tempus aptatos libertus Tiro contraxit: quos non ideo excuso quia non probem, sed ut sint magis admirabiles. In hoc genere prorsus recipio hanc brevem adnotationem, libellosque qui vel manu teneantur et ad quos interim respicere fas sit.

31. For Tiro, the freedman of Cicero, condensed those adapted only to the present time; I do not on that account excuse them—as though I did not approve—but in order that they may be the more admirable. In this kind I wholly receive this brief annotation, and little booklets which can be held in the hand and to which it is permitted meanwhile to look back.

XXXII. Illud quod Laenas praecipit displicet mihi, vel in iis quae scripserimus [vel in] summas in commentarium et capita conferre. Facit enim ediscendi neglegentiam haec ipsa fiducia et lacerat ac deformat orationem.

32. That precept which Laenas prescribes displeases me: to compile, either in the things we have written, [or in] a commentary, the summaries and headings. For this very confidence produces negligence of learning by heart, and it lacerates and disfigures the oration.

Ego autem ne scribendum quidem puto quod non simus memoria persecuturi: nam hic quoque accidit ut revocet nos cogitatio ad illa elaborata, nec sinat praesentem fortunam experiri. XXXIII. Sic anceps inter utrumque animus aestuat, cum et scripta perdidit et non quaerit nova.

I, however, do not think that even that ought to be written which we are not going to pursue with memory: for here too it happens that cogitation calls us back to those elaborated matters, and does not allow us to try our present fortune. 33. Thus the mind, wavering between the two, seethes, since it has both lost the writings and does not seek new ones.

Sed de memoria destinatus est libro proximo locus nec huic parti subiungendus, quia sunt alia prius nobis dicenda [de is quia sunt].

But a place on memory has been designated for the next book and is not to be subjoined to this part, because there are other things for us to say first [about these things, because there are].