Tacitus: Dialogus de Oratoribus

[1] Saepe ex me requiris, Iuste Fabi, cur, cum priora saecula tot eminentium oratorum ingeniis gloriaque floruerint, nostra potissimum aetas deserta et laude eloquentiae orbata vix nomen ipsum oratoris retineat; neque enim ita appellamus nisi antiquos, horum autem temporum diserti causidici et advocati et patroni et quidvis potius quam oratores vocantur. Cui percontationi tuae respondere et tam magnae quaestionis pondus excipere, ut aut de ingeniis nostris male existimandum [sit], si idem adsequi non possumus, aut de iudiciis, si nolumus, vix hercule auderem, si mihi mea sententia proferenda ac non disertissimorum, ut nostris temporibus, hominum sermo repetendus esset, quos eandem hanc quaestionem pertractantis iuvenis admodum audivi. Ita non ingenio, sed memoria et recordatione opus est, ut quae a praestantissimis viris et excogitata subtiliter et dicta graviter accepi, cum singuli diversas [vel easdem] sed probabilis causas adferrent, dum formam sui quisque et animi et ingenii redderent, isdem nunc numeris isdemque rationibus persequar, servato ordine disputationis.

[1] You often ask me, Justus Fabius, why, when earlier ages abounded with the talents and glory of so many eminent orators, our age in particular, abandoned and bereft of the praise of eloquence, scarcely retains even the very name “orator”; for we thus call none except the ancients, while the eloquent men of these times are called pleaders, advocates, and patrons, and anything rather than orators. To answer your questioning and to take up the weight of so great a question—so that either a poor judgment may be formed about our talents, if we cannot achieve the same, or about our judgments, if we will not—I would hardly, by Hercules, dare, if I had to put forward my own opinion and not to repeat the discourse of men most eloquent, for our times, whom, as quite a young man, I heard handling this same question. Thus there is need not of genius, but of memory and recollection, so that the things which I received from the most outstanding men, both devised with subtlety and spoken with weight, since each brought forward different [vel easdem] yet plausible causes, while each rendered the portrait of himself, both of mind and of talent, I may now pursue with the same divisions and the same arguments, the order of the discussion being preserved.

Neque enim defuit qui diversam quoque partem susciperet, ac multum vexata et inrisa vetustate nostrorum temporum eloquentiam antiquorum ingeniis anteferret.

For there was not lacking one who would also take up the opposite side, and, with antiquity much harried and ridiculed, would prefer the eloquence of our times to the genius of the ancients.

[2] Nam postero die quam Curiatius Maternus Catonem recitaverat, cum offendisse potentium animos diceretur, tamquam in eo tragoediae argumento sui oblitus tantum Catonem cogitasset, eaque de re per urbem frequens sermo haberetur, venerunt ad eum Marcus Aper et Iulius Secundus, celeberrima tum ingenia fori nostri, quos ego utrosque non modo in iudiciis studiose audiebam, sed domi quoque et in publico adsectabar mira studiorum cupiditate et quodam ardore iuvenili, ut fabulas quoque eorum et disputationes et arcana semotae dictionis penitus exciperem, quamvis maligne plerique opinarentur, nec Secundo promptum esse sermonem et Aprum ingenio potius et vi naturae quam institutione et litteris famam eloquentiae consecutum. Nam et Secundo purus et pressus et, in quantum satis erat, profluens sermo non defuit, et Aper omni eruditione imbutus contemnebat potius litteras quam nesciebat, tamquam maiorem industriae et laboris gloriam habiturus, si ingenium eius nullis alienarum artium adminiculis inniti videretur.

[2] For on the next day after Curiatius Maternus had recited his Cato, since it was said that he had offended the minds of the powerful, as though in that tragic argument he had forgotten himself and had thought only of Cato, and since on this matter there was frequent talk throughout the city, there came to him Marcus Aper and Julius Secundus, at that time the most celebrated talents of our forum, whom I used to listen to both with zeal in the courts, and at home as well as in public I followed them, with a wondrous eagerness for studies and a certain youthful ardor, so that I might take in thoroughly even their tales and disputations and the arcana of a more secluded diction, although many with ill will were of the opinion that Secundus did not have a ready speech, and that Aper had attained his fame for eloquence by genius and the force of nature rather than by training and letters. For to Secundus there was no lack of a pure and compressed and, in so far as was sufficient, flowing speech; and Aper, imbued with every erudition, was rather scorning letters than ignorant of them, as though he would have a greater glory of industry and labor, if his genius should seem to rely on no supports of alien arts.

[3] Igitur ut intravimus cubiculum Materni, sedentem ipsum[que], quem pridie recitaverat librum, inter manus habentem deprehendimus. Tum Secundus "nihilne te" inquit, "Materne, fabulae malignorum terrent, quo minus offensas Catonis tui ames? An ideo librum istum adprehendisti, ut diligentius retractares, et sublatis si qua pravae interpretationi materiam dederunt, emitteres Catonem non quidem meliorem, sed tamen securiorem?" Tum ille "leges" inquit "quid Maternus sibi debuerit, et adgnosces quae audisti.

[3] Accordingly, as we entered Maternus’s chamber, we found him sitting and holding in his hands the very book that he had recited the day before. Then Secundus said, "Do the tales of the spiteful not frighten you at all, Maternus, so that you should the less love the offenses of your Cato? Or is it for that reason that you have taken up that book, to go over it more carefully, and, removing whatever has supplied matter for a perverse interpretation, to send forth a Cato not indeed better, yet safer?" Then he said, "You shall read what Maternus owed to himself, and you will recognize what you have heard."

Quod si qua omisit Cato, sequenti recitatione Thyestes dicet; hanc enim tragoediam disposui iam et intra me ipse formavi. Atque ideo maturare libri huius editionem festino, ut dimissa priore cura novae cogitationi toto pectore incumbam." "Adeo te tragoediae istae non satiant," inquit Aper "quo minus omissis orationum et causarum studiis omne tempus modo circa Medeam, ecce nunc circa Thyestem consumas, cum te tot amicorum causae, tot coloniarum et municipiorum clientelae in forum vocent, quibus vix suffeceris, etiam si non novum tibi ipse negotium importasses, [ut] Domitium et Catonem, id est nostras quoque historias et Romana nomina Graeculorum fabulis adgregares."

But if Cato omitted anything, Thyestes will say it at the next recitation; for I have already disposed this tragedy and have shaped it within myself. And for that reason I am hastening to mature the edition of this book, so that, the earlier care dismissed, I may with my whole breast apply myself to the new cogitation." "To such a degree do these tragedies not sate you," said Aper, "that, with the studies of speeches and cases set aside, you spend all your time now around Medea—look, now around Thyestes—when the cases of so many friends, the clienteles of so many colonies and municipalities, are calling you into the forum; which you would scarcely have sufficed for, even if you had not imported a new business for yourself—namely, to add Domitius and Cato, that is, our histories too and Roman names, to the fables of the Greeklings."

[4] Et Maternus: "perturbarer hac tua severitate, nisi frequens et assidua nobis contentio iam prope in consuetudinem vertisset. Nam nec tu agitare et insequi poetas intermittis, et ego, cui desidiam advocationum obicis, cotidianum hoc patrocinium defendendae adversus te poeticae exerceo. Quo laetor magis oblatum nobis iudicem, qui me vel in futurum vetet versus facere, vel, quod iam pridem opto, sua quoque auctoritate compellat, ut omissis forensium causarum angustiis, in quibus mihi satis superque sudatum est, sanctiorem illam et augustiorem eloquentiam colam."

[4] And Maternus: "I would be perturbed by this severity of yours, were it not that frequent and assiduous contention between us has now almost turned into a habit. For neither do you cease to agitate and pursue the poets, nor I, whom you charge with idleness in advocations, fail to practice this daily advocacy of defending poetry against you. Wherefore I rejoice the more at the judge offered to us, who will either forbid me for the future to make verses, or, what I have long desired, will by his own authority as well compel me, that, the narrownesses of forensic causes laid aside—in which I have sweated enough and more than enough—I may cultivate that more sacred and more august eloquence."

[5] "Ego vero" inquit Secundus, "antequam me iudicem Aper recuset, faciam quod probi et moderati iudices solent, ut in iis cognitionibus [se] excusent, in quibus manifestum est alteram apud eos partem gratia praevalere. Quis enim nescit neminem mihi coniunctiorem esse et usu amicitiae et assiduitate contubernii quam Saleium Bassum, cum optimum virum tum absolutissimum poetam? Porro si poetica accusatur, non alium video reum locupletiorem." "Securus sit" inquit Aper "et Saleius Bassus et quisquis alius studium poeticae et carminum gloriam fovet, cum causas agere non possit.

[5] "For my part," said Secundus, "before Aper challenges me as judge, I will do what upright and moderate judges are wont to do, namely to excuse [themselves] in those hearings in which it is manifest that one party prevails with them by favor. For who does not know that no one is more closely joined to me both by the practice of friendship and by the assiduity of shared quarters than Saleius Bassus, at once a most excellent man and a most consummate poet? Moreover, if poetics is being prosecuted, I see no other defendant more well‑provided." "Let him be untroubled," said Aper, "both Saleius Bassus and whoever else fosters the zeal of poetics and the glory of songs, provided he cannot plead cases.

Ego enim, quatenus arbitrum litis huius [inveniri], non patiar Maternum societate plurium defendi, sed ipsum solum apud [omnes] arguam, quod natus ad eloquentiam virilem et oratoriam, qua parere simul et tueri amicitias, adsciscere necessitudines, complecti provincias possit, omittit studium, quo non aliud in civitate nostra vel ad utilitatem fructuosius [vel ad voluptatem dulcius] vel ad dignitatem amplius vel ad urbis famam pulchrius vel ad totius imperii atque omnium gentium notitiam inlustrius excogitari potest. Nam si ad utilitatem vitae omnia consilia factaque nostra derigenda sunt, quid est tutius quam eam exercere artem, qua semper armatus praesidium amicis, opem alienis, salutem periclitantibus, invidis vero et inimicis metum et terrorem ultro feras, ipse securus et velut quadam perpetua potentia ac potestate munitus? cuius vis et utilitas rebus prospere fluentibus aliorum perfugio et tutela intellegitur: sin proprium periculum increpuit, non hercule lorica et gladius in acie firmius munimentum quam reo et periclitanti eloquentia, praesidium simul ac telum, quo propugnare pariter et incessere sive in iudicio sive in senatu sive apud principem possis.

For I, in so far as an arbiter of this suit [be found], will not allow Maternus to be defended by the company of several, but I will arraign him himself alone before [all], for this: that, born for virile and oratorical eloquence—by which one can at once win and guard friendships, adscisce connections, embrace provinces—he abandons a pursuit than which nothing else in our commonwealth can be devised either more fruitful for utility [or sweeter for pleasure] or ampler for dignity or fairer for the city’s fame or more illustrious for the notice of the whole empire and of all nations. For if all our counsels and deeds must be directed to the utility of life, what is safer than to practice that art, by which, always armed, you bring protection to friends, help to outsiders, salvation to those in peril, while upon the envious and enemies you bring fear and terror unprovoked, you yourself secure and, as it were, fortified by a certain perpetual potency and power? The force and utility of this are recognized, when affairs flow prosperously, in being the refuge and tutelage of others; but if one’s own danger has sounded, not, by Hercules, are cuirass and sword in the battle-line a stronger bulwark than eloquence to a defendant and a man in peril, a defense and at the same time a weapon, with which you can alike champion and assail, whether in the court, or in the senate, or before the princeps.

Quid aliud infestis patribus nuper Eprius Marcellus quam eloquentiam suam opposuit? Qua accinctus et minax disertam quidem, sed inexercitatam et eius modi certaminum rudem Helvidii sapientiam elusit. plura de utilitate non dico, cui parti minime contra dicturum Maternum meum arbitror.

What else did Eprius Marcellus recently oppose to the hostile senators than his own eloquence? Armed with it and menacing, he foiled Helvidius’s wisdom—eloquent indeed, but unexercised and raw for contests of that kind. more about the utility I do not say, a point against which I think my Maternus will least speak in contradiction.

[6] Ad voluptatem oratoriae eloquentiae transeo, cuius iucunditas non uno aliquo momento, sed omnibus prope diebus ac prope omnibus horis contingit. Quid enim dulcius libero et ingenuo animo et ad voluptates honestas nato quam videre plenam semper et frequentem domum suam concursu splendidissimorum hominum? idque scire non pecuniae, non orbitati, non officii alicuius administrationi, sed sibi ipsi dari?

[6] I pass over to the pleasure of oratorical eloquence, whose delight occurs not at any single moment, but on almost all days and almost all hours. For what is sweeter to a free and ingenuous spirit, born for honorable pleasures, than to see his house always full and crowded by the concourse of the most splendid men? and to know that this is granted not to wealth, not to childlessness, not to the administration of some office, but to himself alone?

ipsos quin immo orbos et locupletes et potentis venire plerumque ad iuvenem et pauperem, ut aut sua aut amicorum discrimina commendent. ullane tanta ingentium opum ac magnae potentiae voluptas quam spectare homines veteres et senes et totius orbis gratia subnixos in summa rerum omnium abundantia confitentis, id quod optimum sit se non habere? iam vero qui togatorum comitatus et egressus!

nay indeed, those very men—the childless, the wealthy, and the powerful—most often come to a youth and a poor man, to commend to him the crises either of their own affairs or of their friends. Is there any pleasure of vast wealth and great power so great as to behold veterans and elders, propped by the favor of the whole world, amid the highest abundance of all things confessing that they do not have that which is best? And indeed, what escorts of men in togas and what goings‑out!

Quae in publico species! Quae in iudiciis veneratio! Quod illud gaudium consurgendi adsistendique inter tacentis et in unum conversos!

What a spectacle in public! What reverence in the courts! What joy that is of rising and of standing by, among those who are silent and turned toward one!

coire populum et circumfundi coram et accipere adfectum, quemcumque orator induerit! vulgata dicentium gaudia et imperitorum quoque oculis exposita percenseo: illa secretiora et tantum ipsis orantibus nota maiora sunt. Sive accuratam meditatamque profert orationem, est quoddam sicut ipsius dictionis, ita gaudii pondus et constantia; sive novam et recentem curam non sine aliqua trepidatione animi attulerit, ipsa sollicitudo commendat eventum et lenocinatur voluptati.

to gather the people and to have them pour around before him, and to receive the affect, whatever the orator shall assume! I reckon up the commonplace joys of speakers, displayed even to the eyes of the unskilled: those more secret, and known only to the pleaders themselves, are greater. Whether he brings forth a careful and meditated oration, there is a certain weight and constancy, as of the diction itself, so of the joy; or if he has brought a new and recent effort not without some trepidation of spirit, the very solicitude commends the outcome and panders to the pleasure.

Sed extemporalis audaciae atque ipsius temeritatis vel praecipua iucunditas est; nam [in] ingenio quoque, sicut in agro, quamquam [grata sint quae] diu serantur atque elaborentur, gratiora tamen quae sua sponte nascuntur.

But of extemporaneous audacity and of temerity itself there is even a preeminent delight; for [in] genius too, just as in a field, although [those things are welcome which] are long sown and elaborated, yet more welcome are those which are born of their own accord.

[7] Equidem, ut de me ipso fatear, non eum diem laetiorem egi, quo mihi latus clavus oblatus est, vel quo homo novus et in civitate minime favorabili natus quaesturam aut tribunatum aut praeturam accepi, quam eos, quibus mihi pro mediocritate huius quantulaecumque in dicendo facultatis aut reum prospere defendere aut apud centumviros causam aliquam feliciter orare aut apud principem ipsos illos libertos et procuratores principum tueri et defendere datur. tum mihi supra tribunatus et praeturas et consulatus ascendere videor, tum habere quod, si non [ultro] oritur, nec codicillis datur nec cum gratia venit. Quid?

[7] Indeed, to confess about myself, I have not spent a happier day—that on which the broad stripe was offered to me, or that on which, a new man and born in a city by no means favorable, I received the quaestorship or the tribunate or the praetorship—than those on which it is given to me, in return for the mediocrity of this however small faculty in speaking, either to defend an accused man prosperously, or before the centumvirs to plead some cause happily, or before the emperor to protect and defend those very freedmen and procurators of the emperors. Then I seem to ascend above tribunates and praetorships and consulships; then to have something which, if it does not arise [spontaneously], is neither given by codicils nor comes with favor. What?

fama et laus cuius artis cum oratorum gloria comparanda est? Quid? Non inlustres sunt in urbe non solum apud negotiosos et rebus intentos, sed etiam apud iuvenes vacuos et adulescentis, quibus modo recta indoles est et bona spes sui?

The fame and praise of which art are to be compared with the glory of orators? What? Are they not illustrious in the city not only among the busy and those intent on affairs, but also among youths at leisure and young men, who only have a right natural disposition and a good hope of themselves?

Quorum nomina prius parentes liberis suis ingerunt? Quos saepius vulgus quoque imperitum et tunicatus hic populus transeuntis nomine vocat et digito demonstrat? Advenae quoque et peregrini iam in municipiis et coloniis suis auditos, cum primum urbem attigerunt, requirunt ac velut adgnoscere concupiscunt.

Whose names do parents first instill into their children? Whom more often even the unlearned vulgar crowd and this tunic‑clad populace call by name as they pass by and point out with the finger? Newcomers and foreigners too, already heard of in their own municipal towns and colonies, as soon as they have reached the city, seek them out and, as it were, are eager to recognize them.

[8] Ausim contendere Marcellum hunc Eprium, de quo modo locutus sum, et Crispum Vibium (libentius enim novis et recentibus quam remotis et oblitteratis exemplis utor) non minores esse in extremis partibus terrarum quam Capuae aut Vercellis, ubi nati dicuntur. Nec hoc illis alterius [bis alterius] ter milies sestertium praestat, quamquam ad has ipsas opes possunt videri eloquentiae beneficio venisse, [sed] ipsa eloquentia; cuius numen et caelestis vis multa quidem omnibus saeculis exempla edidit, ad quam usque fortunam homines ingenii viribus pervenerint, sed haec, ut supra dixi, proxima et quae non auditu cognoscenda, sed oculis spectanda haberemus. Nam quo sordidius et abiectius nati sunt quoque notabilior paupertas et angustiae rerum nascentis eos circumsteterunt, eo clariora et ad demonstrandam oratoriae eloquentiae utilitatem inlustriora exempla sunt, quod sine commendatione natalium, sine substantia facultatum, neuter moribus egregius, alter habitu quoque corporis contemptus, per multos iam annos potentissimi sunt civitatis ac, donec libuit, principes fori, nunc principes in Caesaris amicitia agunt feruntque cuncta atque ab ipso principe cum quadam reverentia diliguntur, quia Vespasianus, venerabilis senex et patientissimus veri, bene intellegit [et] ceteros quidem amicos suos iis niti, quae ab ipso acceperint quaeque ipsis accumulare et in alios congerere promptum sit, Marcellum autem et Crispum attulisse ad amicitiam suam quod non a principe acceperint nec accipi possit.

[8] I would dare to contend that this Eprius Marcellus, of whom I have just spoken, and Vibius Crispus (for I more willingly use new and recent examples than remote and obliterated ones) are no less in the farthest parts of the earth than at Capua or Vercellae, where they are said to have been born. Nor is it some other man’s [bis alterius] three hundred million sesterces that affords them this, although to these very resources they can seem to have come by the benefit of eloquence, [but] eloquence itself; whose numen and celestial force has indeed produced many examples in all ages, of how far men have arrived by the powers of talent—yet these, as I said above, are nearest at hand, and such as we should have not to be learned by hearing but to be viewed with our eyes. For the more sordidly and abjectly they were born, and the more notable the poverty and straits of their beginnings surrounded them, by so much the clearer and more illustrious as examples for demonstrating the utility of oratorical eloquence they are: because, without the recommendation of birth, without the substance of means, neither exemplary in morals, the one even despised for his bodily appearance as well, for many years now they have been the most powerful men of the state and, so long as it pleased, the chiefs of the forum; now, as chiefs in Caesar’s friendship, they manage and carry through everything, and by the prince himself they are cherished with a certain reverence, because Vespasian, a venerable old man and most patient of the truth, understands well [and] that his other friends indeed rely on those things which they have received from him, and which it is easy for them to heap up for themselves and pile upon others; but that Marcellus and Crispus have brought to his friendship that which they did not receive from the prince and which cannot be received.

Ninimum inter tot ac tanta locum obtinent imagines ac tituli et statuae, quae neque ipsa tamen negleguntur, tam hercule quam divitiae et opes, quas facilius invenies qui vituperet quam qui fastidiat. His igitur et honoribus et ornamentis et facultatibus refertas domos eorum videmus, qui se ab ineunte adulescentia causis forensibus et oratorio studio dederunt.

Not the least place among so many and so great things is held by images and titles and statues, which themselves, nevertheless, are not neglected, by Hercules, any more than riches and resources, which you will more easily find someone to censure than to disdain. Therefore we see the houses of those who from their budding adolescence devoted themselves to forensic causes and to oratorical study filled to the brim with these honors and ornaments and resources.

[9] Nam carmina et versus, quibus totam vitam Maternus insumere optat (inde enim omnis fluxit oratio), neque dignitatem ullam auctoribus suis conciliant neque utilitates alunt; voluptatem autem brevem, laudem inanem et infructuosam consequuntur. licet haec ipsa et quae deinceps dicturus sum aures tuae, Materne, respuant, cui bono est, si apud te Agamemnon aut Iason diserte loquitur? Quis ideo domum defensus et tibi obligatus redit?

[9] For poems and verses, on which Maternus longs to expend his whole life (for from that source the whole discourse has flowed), neither procure any dignity for their authors nor nourish advantages; rather they obtain a brief pleasure, an empty and unfruitful praise. Though these very statements and the things I am going to say next your ears, Maternus, may reject, what good is it, if Agamemnon or Jason speaks eloquently in your presence? Who for that reason returns home defended and obligated to you?

Quis Saleium nostrum, egregium poetam vel, si hoc honorificentius est, praeclarissimum vatem, deducit aut salutat aut prosequitur? Nempe si amicus eius, si propinquus, si denique ipse in aliquod negotium inciderit, ad hunc Secundum recurret aut ad te, Materne, non quia poeta es, neque ut pro eo versus facias; hi enim Basso domi nascuntur, pulchri quidem et iucundi, quorum tamen hic exitus est, ut cum toto anno, per omnes dies, magna noctium parte unum librum excudit et elucubravit, rogare ultro et ambire cogatur, ut sint qui dignentur audire, et ne id quidem gratis; nam et domum mutuatur et auditorium exstruit et subsellia conducit et libellos dispergit. Et ut beatissimus recitationem eius eventus prosequatur, omnis illa laus intra unum aut alterum diem, velut in herba vel flore praecerpta, ad nullam certam et solidam pervenit frugem, nec aut amicitiam inde refert aut clientelam aut mansurum in animo cuiusquam beneficium, sed clamorem vagum et voces inanis et gaudium volucre.

Who escorts or greets or attends our Saleius, an excellent poet, or—if this is more honorific—a most illustrious vates? Surely, if his friend, if a kinsman, if at last he himself falls into some business, he will run back to this Secundus or to you, Maternus—not because you are a poet, nor that you should make verses for him; for these are born at Bassus’s house, fair and pleasant indeed, yet with this outcome: that when, through a whole year, every day, for a great part of the nights, he has hammered out and elucubrated a single book, he is compelled, on his own initiative, to beg and to canvass that there be those who deign to listen—and not even that gratis; for he both borrows a house and erects an auditorium and hires benches and scatters little booklets. And even if the most blessed outcome attends his recitation, all that praise within one or two days, as if plucked in the blade or in the flower, comes to no sure and solid fruit; nor does he carry back from it either friendship or clientage or a benefaction that will abide in anyone’s mind, but a wandering clamor and empty voices and winged joy.

laudavimus nuper ut miram et eximiam Vespasiani liberalitatem, quod quingenta sestertia Basso donasset. pulchrum id quidem, indulgentiam principis ingenio mereri: quanto tamen pulchrius, si ita res familiaris exigat, se ipsum colere, suum genium propitiare, suam experiri liberalitatem! adice quod poetis, si modo dignum aliquid elaborare et efficere velint, relinquenda conversatio amicorum et iucunditas urbis, deserenda cetera officia utque ipsi dicunt, in nemora et lucos, id est in solitudinem secedendum est.

we lately praised as marvelous and exceptional the liberality of Vespasian, for having bestowed five hundred thousand sesterces upon Bassus. That indeed is fair— to merit the emperor’s indulgence by one’s talent; how much fairer, however, if one’s private means so require, to cultivate oneself, propitiate one’s own genius, to experience one’s own liberality! Add this too: that poets—if only they wish to elaborate and bring to effect something worthy—must leave behind the conversation of friends and the amenity of the city, the other duties must be deserted, and, as they themselves say, one must withdraw into groves and glades, that is, into solitude.

[10] Ne opinio quidem et fama, cui soli serviunt et quod unum esse pretium omnis laboris sui fatentur, aeque poetas quam oratores sequitur, quoniam mediocris poetas nemo novit, bonos pauci. Quando enim rarissimarum recitationum fama in totam urbem penetrat? Nedum ut per tot provincias innotescat.

[10] Not even opinion and fame, to whom alone they serve and what alone they confess to be the price of all their labor, follow poets as much as orators, since no one knows mediocre poets, few (know) good ones. For when, indeed, does the fame of most rare recitations penetrate the whole city? Much less that it should become known through so many provinces.

Quotus quisque, cum ex Hispania vel Asia, ne quid de Gallis nostris loquar, in urbem venit, Saleium Bassum requirit? Atque adeo si quis requirit, ut semel vidit, transit et contentus est, ut si picturam aliquam vel statuam vidisset. Neque hunc meum sermonem sic accipi volo, tamquam eos, quibus natura sua oratorium ingenium denegavit, deterream a carminibus, si modo in hac studiorum parte oblectare otium et nomen inserere possunt famae.

How many, when from Spain or Asia—so that I say nothing of our Gauls—come into the city, inquire for Saleius Bassus? And indeed, if anyone does inquire, once he has seen him, he passes by and is satisfied, as if he had seen some painting or statue. Nor do I wish this discourse of mine to be taken thus, as though I were deterring from poems those to whom their nature has denied an oratorical ingenium, provided only that in this part of studies they can entertain their leisure and insert their name into fame.

Ego vero omnem eloquentiam omnisque eius partis sacras et venerabilis puto, nec solum cothurnum vestrum aut heroici carminis sonum, sed lyricorum quoque iucunditatem et elegorum lascivias et iamborum amaritudinem [et] epigrammatum lusus et quamcumque aliam speciem eloquentia habeat, anteponendam ceteris aliarum artium studiis credo. Sed tecum mihi, Materne, res est, quod, cum natura tua in ipsam arcem eloquentiae ferat, errare mavis et summa adepturus in levioribus subsistis. ut si in Graecia natus esses, ubi ludicras quoque artis exercere honestum est, ac tibi Nicostrati robur ac vires di dedissent, non paterer inmanis illos et ad pugnam natos lacertos levitate iaculi aut iactu disci vanescere, sic nunc te ab auditoriis et theatris in forum et ad causas et ad vera proelia voco, cum praesertim ne ad illud quidem confugere possis, quod plerisque patrocinatur, tamquam minus obnoxium sit offendere poetarum quam oratorum studium.

I for my part consider all eloquence and all its parts sacred and venerable, and I deem to be valued not only your cothurnus or the sound of heroic song, but also the pleasantness of the lyric poets and the wantonness of elegies and the bitterness of iambics [and] the play of epigrams, and whatever other form eloquence has, I believe should be set before the pursuits of the other arts. But my business is with you, Maternus, because, although your nature carries you to the very citadel of eloquence, you prefer to wander, and, though you would attain the heights, you halt in lighter things. Just as if you had been born in Greece, where it is honorable to practice even the ludicrous arts, and if the gods had given you the strength and force of Nicostratus, I would not allow those huge arms, born for combat, to waste away in the lightness of the javelin or the throw of the discus, so now I call you away from auditoria and theaters into the forum and to cases and to real battles, especially since you cannot even take refuge in that plea which avails most people, as though the study of poets were less liable to give offense than that of orators.

Effervescit enim vis pulcherrimae naturae tuae, nec pro amico aliquo, sed, quod periculosius est, pro Catone offendis. Nec excusatur offensa necessitudine officii aut fide advocationis aut fortuitae et subitae dictionis impetu: meditatus videris [aut] elegisse personam notabilem et cum auctoritate dicturam. Sentio quid responderi possit: hinc ingentis [ex his] adsensus, haec in ipsis auditoriis praecipue laudari et mox omnium sermonibus ferri.

For the force of your most beautiful nature effervesces, and you incur offense not for some friend, but—what is more perilous—for Cato. Nor is the offense excused by the necessity of duty or the good faith of advocacy or by the impulse of a fortuitous and sudden utterance: you seem, after premeditation, to have chosen a notable person and one that will speak with authority. I perceive what could be answered: from here immense assents [out of these]; these things are especially praised in the very auditoriums and soon are borne about in the conversations of all.

Tolle igitur quietis et securitatis excusationem, cum tibi sumas adversarium superiorem. Nobis satis sit privatas et nostri saeculi controversias tueri, in quibus [expressis] si quando necesse sit pro periclitante amico potentiorum aures offendere, et probata sit fides et libertas excusata."

Remove, then, the excuse of quietude and security, since you take upon yourself an adversary superior to you. Let it be enough for us to defend private disputes and the controversies of our own age, in which [set forth], if ever it be necessary, on behalf of a friend in peril to offend the ears of the more powerful, and let good faith be approved and liberty excused."

[11] Quae cum dixisset Aper acrius, ut solebat, et intento ore, remissus et subridens Maternus "parantem" inquit "me non minus diu accusare oratores quam Aper laudaverat (fore enim arbitrabar ut a laudatione eorum digressus detrectaret poetas atque carminum studium prosterneret) arte quadam mitigavit, concedendo iis, qui causas agere non possent, ut versus facerent. Ego autem sicut in causis agendis efficere aliquid et eniti fortasse possum, ita recitatione tragoediarum et ingredi famam auspicatus sum, cum quidem [imperante] Nerone inprobam et studiorum quoque sacra profanantem Vatinii potentiam fregi, [et] hodie si quid in nobis notitiae ac nominis est, magis arbitror carminum quam orationum gloria partum. ac iam me deiungere a forensi labore constitui, nec comitatus istos et egressus aut frequentiam salutantium concupisco, non magis quam aera et imagines, quae etiam me nolente in domum meam inruperunt.

[11] When Aper had said these things rather more sharply, as he was wont, and with his mouth intent, Maternus, relaxed and smiling, said: “He has softened me, who was preparing to accuse the orators no less long than Aper had praised them (for I did suppose that, after digressing into their laudation, he would disparage the poets and lay low the pursuit of songs), by a certain art, granting to those who could not plead causes that they should make verses. But I, just as in conducting causes I can perhaps accomplish something and strive, so by the recitation of tragedies I have also inaugurated my entry into fame, since indeed, [with Nero ruling,] I broke the shameless power of Vatinus, who even profaned the sacred rites of studies, [and] today, if there is in me any notice and name, I think it has been won more by the glory of songs than of orations. And now I have determined to detach myself from forensic labor, nor do I covet those retinues and goings-out or the throng of greeters, any more than the bronzes and images, which even with me unwilling burst into my house.”

Nam statum cuiusque ac securitatem melius innocentia tuetur quam eloquentia, nec vereor ne mihi umquam verba in senatu nisi pro alterius discrimine facienda sint.

For the standing of each and his security is better guarded by innocence than by eloquence, nor do I fear that words will ever have to be made by me in the senate, except for another’s peril.

[12] Nemora vero et luci et secretum ipsum, quod Aper increpabat, tantam mihi adferunt voluptatem, ut inter praecipuos carminum fructus numerem, quod non in strepitu nec sedente ante ostium litigatore nec inter sordes ac lacrimas reorum componuntur, sed secedit animus in loca pura atque innocentia fruiturque sedibus sacris. Haec eloquentiae primordia, haec penetralia; hoc primum habitu cultuque commoda mortalibus in illa casta et nullis contacta vitiis pectora influxit: sic oracula loquebantur. Nam lucrosae huius et sanguinantis eloquentiae usus recens et ex malis moribus natus, atque, ut tu dicebas, Aper, in locum teli repertus.

[12] The groves and the sacred glades and seclusion itself, which Aper was rebuking, bring me such delight that I count among the foremost fruits of poems this: that they are not composed in din, nor with a litigant sitting before the doorway, nor amid the filth and tears of the accused, but the spirit withdraws into pure places and enjoys innocence and sacred seats. These are the primordia of eloquence, these its penetralia; in this its first habit and cultivation, beneficial to mortals, it infused itself into those chaste breasts touched by no vices: thus did the oracles speak. For the use of this lucrative and bloodstained eloquence is recent and born from bad morals, and, as you were saying, Aper, discovered in the place of a weapon.

Ceterum felix illud et, ut more nostro loquar, aureum saeculum, et oratorum et criminum inops, poetis et vatibus abundabat, qui bene facta canerent, non qui male admissa defenderent. Nec ullis aut gloria maior aut augustior honor, primum apud deos, quorum proferre responsa et interesse epulis ferebantur, deinde apud illos dis genitos sacrosque reges, inter quos neminem causidicum, sed Orphea ac Linum ac, si introspicere altius velis, ipsum Apollinem accepimus. vel si haec fabulosa nimis et composita videntur, illud certe mihi concedes, Aper, non minorem honorem Homero quam Demostheni apud posteros, nec angustioribus terminis famam Euripidis aut Sophoclis quam Lysiae aut Hyperidis includi.

Ceterum that happy and, to speak in our manner, golden age, lacking both in orators and in crimes, abounded in poets and vates, who would sing of good deeds, not defend misdeeds committed. Nor to any was either glory greater or honor more august, first among the gods, whose oracles they were said to bring forth and to take part in their banquets, then among those god-begotten and sacred kings, among whom we have received no advocate, but Orpheus and Linus, and, if you wish to look deeper, Apollo himself. Or if these seem too fabulous and contrived, this at least you will grant me, Aper, no less honor to Homer than to Demosthenes among posterity, nor the fame of Euripides or Sophocles confined within narrower bounds than that of Lysias or Hyperides.

Pluris hodie reperies, qui Ciceronis gloriam quam qui Virgilii detrectent: nec ullus Asinii aut Messallae liber tam inlustris est quam Medea Ovidii aut Varii Thyestes.

You will find more today who detract from the glory of Cicero than who detract from that of Virgil: nor is any book of Asinius or Messalla so illustrious as Ovid’s Medea or Varius’s Thyestes.

[13] Ac ne fortunam quidem vatum et illud felix contubernium comparare timuerim cum inquieta et anxia oratorum vita. licet illos certamina et pericula sua ad consulatus evexerint, malo securum et quietum Virgilii secessum, in quo tamen neque apud divum Augustum gratia caruit neque apud populum Romanum notitia. Testes Augusti epistulae, testis ipse populus, qui auditis in theatro Virgilii versibus surrexit universus et forte praesentem spectantemque Virgilium veneratus est sic quasi Augustum.

[13] And nor would I even fear to compare the fortune of the bards and that happy contubernium with the restless and anxious life of orators. Although their contests and perils may have borne them up to consulships, I prefer the secure and quiet secessus of Virgil, in which, nevertheless, he lacked neither favor with the deified Augustus nor notice among the Roman people. Witness are Augustus’s letters, witness the people themselves, who, when Virgil’s verses had been heard in the theatre, rose all together and, chancing to see Virgil present and looking on, revered him thus as though he were Augustus.

Ne nostris quidem temporibus Secundus Pomponius Afro Domitio vel dignitate vitae vel perpetuitate famae cesserit. Nam Crispus iste et Marcellus, ad quorum exempla me vocas, quid habent in hac sua fortuna concupiscendum? Quod timent, an quod timentur?

Not even in our own times would Secundus Pomponius have yielded to Domitius Afer either in the dignity of life or in the perpetuity of fame. For that Crispus and Marcellus, to whose examples you call me, what have they in this their fortune that is to be coveted? That which they fear, or that they are feared?

Quod, cum cotidie aliquid rogentur, ii quibus praestant indignantur? Quod adligati omni adulatione nec imperantibus umquam satis servi videntur nec nobis satis liberi? Quae haec summa eorum potentia est?

Is it this: that, when they are asked for something every day, those whom they surpass take offense? That, bound by all adulation, they seem never servile enough to those who command, nor free enough to us? What is this summit of their power?

tantum posse liberti solent. Ne vero "dulces," ut Virgilius ait, "Musae," remotum a sollicitudinibus et curis et necessitate cotidie aliquid contra animum faciendi, in illa sacra illosque fontis ferant; nec insanum ultra et lubricum forum famamque pallentem trepidus experiar. Non me fremitus salutantium nec anhelans libertus excitet, nec incertus futuri testamentum pro pignore scribam, nec plus habeam quam quod possim cui velim relinquere; quandoque enim fatalis et meus dies veniet: statuarque tumulo non maestus et atrox, sed hilaris et coronatus, et pro memoria mei nec consulat quisquam nec roget."

only freedmen are wont to be able so much. And let not, in truth, "sweet," as Vergilius says, "Muses," carry me, removed from anxieties and cares and from the necessity of daily doing something against my spirit, into those sacred rites and those fountains; nor, trembling, let me any longer make trial of the insane and slippery forum and of a pallid fame. Let neither the roar of those greeting nor a gasping freedman rouse me, nor, uncertain of the future, let me write a testament as a pledge, nor let me have more than what I can leave to whom I wish; for at some time my fated day too will come: and let me be set upon the tomb not mournful and grim, but cheerful and crowned, and, for the remembrance of me, let no one either consult or petition."

[14] Vixdum finierat Maternus, concitatus et velut instinctus, cum Vipstanus Messalla cubiculum eius ingressus est, suspicatusque ex ipsa intentione singulorum altiorem inter eos esse sermonem, "num parum tempestivus" inquit "interveni secretum consilium et causae alicuius meditationem tractantibus?" "Minime, minime" inquit Secundus, "atque adeo vellem maturius intervenisses; delectasset enim te et Apri nostri accuratissimus sermo, cum Maternum ut omne ingenium ac studium suum ad causas agendas converteret exhortatus est, et Materni pro carminibus suis laeta, utque poetas defendi decebat, audentior et poetarum quam oratorum similior oratio." "Me vero" inquit "[et] sermo iste infinita voluptate adfecisset, atque id ipsum delectat, quod vos, viri optimi et temporum nostrorum oratores, non forensibus tantum negotiis et declamatorio studio ingenia vestra exercetis, sed eius modi etiam disputationes adsumitis, quae et ingenium alunt et eruditionis ac litterarum iucundissimum oblectamentum cum vobis, qui ista disputatis, adferunt, tum etiam iis, ad quorum auris pervenerint. Itaque hercule non minus probari video in te, Secunde, quod Iuli Africani vitam componendo spem hominibus fecisti plurium eius modi librorum, quam in Apro, quod nondum ab scholasticis controversiis recessit et otium suum mavult novorum rhetorum more quam veterum oratorum consumere."

[14] Hardly had Maternus finished, when Vipstanus Messalla, aroused and as if instigated, entered his chamber; and, suspecting from the very intentness of each that there was a loftier conversation among them, he said, "Have I come in somewhat untimely upon men handling a secret counsel and the meditation of some case?" "By no means, by no means," said Secundus, "and indeed I would that you had come earlier; for our Aper’s most meticulous discourse would have delighted you, when he exhorted Maternus to convert all his talent and zeal to pleading causes; and Maternus’s cheerful reply on behalf of his poems, and, as it befitted that poets be defended, a bolder style, and more like that of poets than of orators." "Indeed," he said, "[and] that discourse would have affected me with infinite delight, and this very thing gives pleasure, that you, best of men and orators of our times, exercise your talents not only with forensic business and declamatory study, but also take up disputations of this kind, which both nourish the talent and bring the most pleasant entertainment of erudition and letters, both to you who debate these things and also to those to whose ears they shall have come. Accordingly, by Hercules, I see that it is no less approved in you, Secundus, that by composing the Life of Julius Africanus you have given men hope of more books of this kind, than in Aper, who has not yet withdrawn from scholastic controversies and prefers to spend his leisure after the manner of the new rhetors rather than of the old orators."

[15] Tum Aper: "non desinis, Messalla, vetera tantum et antiqua mirari, nostrorum autem temporum studia inridere atque contemnere. Nam hunc tuum sermonem saepe excepi, cum oblitus et tuae et fratris tui eloquentiae neminem hoc tempore oratorem esse contenderes [antiquis], eo, credo, audacius, quod malignitatis opinionem non verebaris, cum eam gloriam, quam tibi alii concedunt, ipse tibi denegares." "Neque illius" inquit "sermonis mei paenitentiam ago, neque aut Secundum aut Maternum aut te ipsum, Aper, quamquam interdum in contrarium disputes, aliter sentire credo. Ac velim impetratum ab aliquo vestrum ut causas huius infinitae differentiae scrutetur ac reddat, quas mecum ipse plerumque conquiro.

[15] Then Aper: "you do not cease, Messalla, to admire only the old and the ancient, but to ridicule and contemn the pursuits of our times. For I have often caught this discourse of yours, when, forgetful both of your own and your brother’s eloquence, you maintained that in this age no one is an orator [the ancients], the more boldly, I suppose, because you did not fear the suspicion of malignity, since that glory which others concede to you you yourself denied to yourself." "Nor," he said, "do I repent of that speech of mine, nor do I believe that either Secundus or Maternus or you yourself, Aper, although you sometimes argue to the contrary, think otherwise. And I would like to obtain from one of you that he scrutinize and render the causes of this boundless difference, which I for the most part seek out with myself.

Et quod quibusdam solacio est, mihi auget quaestionem, quia video etiam Graecis accidisse ut longius absit [ab] Aeschine et Demosthene Sacerdos ille Nicetes, et si quis alius Ephesum vel Mytilenas concentu scholasticorum et clamoribus quatit, quam Afer aut Africanus aut vos ipsi a Cicerone aut Asinio recessistis."

And what is a solace to some increases the question for me, because I see that it has happened even to the Greeks that that Priest Nicetes, and whoever else shakes Ephesus or Mytilene with the concert of scholastics and their clamors, is farther removed from Aeschines and Demosthenes than Afer or Africanus, or you yourselves, have receded from Cicero or Asinius."

[16] "Magnam" inquit Secundus "et dignam tractatu quaestionem movisti. Sed quis eam iustius explicabit quam tu, ad cuius summam eruditionem et praestantissimum ingenium cura quoque et meditatio accessit?" Et Messalla "aperiam" inquit "cogitationes meas, si illud a vobis ante impetravero, ut vos quoque sermonem hunc nostrum adiuvetis." "Pro duobus" inquit Maternus "promitto: nam et ego et Secundus exsequemur eas partis, quas intellexerimus te non tam omisisse quam nobis reliquisse. Aprum enim solere dissentire et tu paulo ante dixisti et ipse satis manifestus est iam dudum in contrarium accingi nec aequo animo perferre hanc nostram pro antiquorum laude concordiam." "Non enim" inquit Aper "inauditum et indefensum sae- culum nostrum patiar hac vestra conspiratione damnari: sed hoc primum interrogabo, quos vocetis antiquos, quam oratorum aetatem significatione ista determinetis.

[16] “Great,” said Secundus, “and worthy of treatment a question you have stirred. But who will explain it more justly than you, to whose consummate erudition and most preeminent ingenium care also and meditation have been added?” And Messalla said, “I will lay open my cogitations, if I shall first have obtained this from you, that you also may assist this our conversation.” “For the two of us,” said Maternus, “I promise: for both I and Secundus will carry out those parts which we shall have understood that you have not so much omitted as left to us. For that Aper is accustomed to dissent both you said a little before, and he himself has for some time now been quite manifestly girding himself for the contrary, nor does he bear with an even mind this our concord for the praise of the ancients.” “For I will not,” said Aper, “allow our age to be condemned by this your conspiracy, unheard and undefended: but this first I will ask, whom you call ‘the ancients,’ what age of orators you determine by that designation.

Ego enim cum audio antiquos, quosdam veteres et olim natos intellego, ac mihi versantur ante oculos Ulixes ac Nestor, quorum aetas mille fere et trecentis annis saeculum nostrum antecedit: vos autem Demosthenem et Hyperidem profertis, quos satis constat Philippi et Alexandri temporibus floruisse, ita tamen ut utrique superstites essent. Ex quo apparet non multo pluris quam trecentos annos interesse inter nostram et Demosthenis aetatem. Quod spatium temporis si ad infirmitatem corporum nostrorum referas, fortasse longum videatur; si ad naturam saeculorum ac respectum inmensi huius aevi, perquam breve et in proximo est.

For when I hear “the ancients,” I understand certain old ones and men born long ago, and before my eyes Ulysses and Nestor pass, whose age precedes our generation by nearly one thousand three hundred years; but you bring forward Demosthenes and Hyperides, who, it is well agreed, flourished in the times of Philip and Alexander, yet in such wise that they were survivors to both. From which it appears that not much more than three hundred years intervene between our age and that of Demosthenes. Which space of time, if you refer it to the infirmity of our bodies, perhaps may seem long; but if to the nature of the ages and the regard of this immense age, it is very brief and close at hand.

Nam si, ut Cicero in Hortensio scribit, is est magnus et verus annus, par quo eadem positio caeli siderumque, quae cum maxime est, rursum existet, isque annus horum quos nos vocamus annorum duodecim milia nongentos quinquaginta quattuor complectitur, incipit Demosthenes vester, quem vos veterem et antiquum fingitis, non solum eodem anno quo nos, sed etiam eodem mense extitisse.

For if, as Cicero writes in the Hortensius, that is the great and true year, by parity with which the same position of the sky and the stars, which is at this very moment, will exist again—and that year comprises 12,954 of those years which we call years—then your Demosthenes, whom you fashion as old and ancient, turns out to have existed not only in the same year as we, but even in the same month.

17 [17] Sed transeo ad Latinos oratores, in quibus non Menenium, ut puto, Agrippam, qui potest videri antiquus, nostrorum temporum disertis anteponere soletis, sed Ciceronem et Caesarem et Caelium et Calvum et Brutum et Asinium et Messallam: quos quid antiquis potius temporibus adscribatis quam nostris, non video. Nam ut de Cicerone ipso loquar, Hirtio nempe et Pansa consulibus, ut Tiro libertus eius scribit, septimo idus [Decembris] occisus est, quo anno divus Augustus in locum Pansae et Hirtii se et Q. Pedium consules suffecit. Statue sex et quinquaginta annos, quibus mox divus Augustus rem publicam rexit; adice Tiberii tris et viginti, et prope quadriennium Gai, ac bis quaternos denos Claudii et Neronis annos, atque illum Galbae et Othonis et Vitellii longum et unum annum, ac sextam iam felicis huius principatus stationem, qua Vespasianus rem publicam fovet: centum et viginti anni ab interitu Ciceronis in hunc diem colliguntur, unius hominis aetas.

17 [17] But I pass over to the Latin orators, among whom you are accustomed, as I think, not to put Menenius Agrippa, who can seem ancient, before the eloquent men of our times, but Cicero and Caesar and Caelius and Calvus and Brutus and Asinius and Messalla: why you assign these rather to earlier times than to ours, I do not see. For to speak of Cicero himself, under the consulship of Hirtius and Pansa, as Tiro his freedman writes, he was slain on the seventh day before the Ides [of December], in which year the deified Augustus, in place of Pansa and Hirtius, appointed as consuls himself and Q. Pedius. Set down fifty-six years, during which thereafter the deified Augustus ruled the commonwealth; add Tiberius’s twenty-three, and nearly a four-year period of Gaius, and twice fourteen years of Claudius and Nero, and that long and single year of Galba and Otho and Vitellius, and already the sixth station of this fortunate principate, in which Vespasian fosters the commonwealth: one hundred and twenty years from Cicero’s death to this day are totaled, a single man’s lifespan.

Nam ipse ego in Britannia vidi senem, qui se fateretur ei pugnae interfuisse, qua Caesarem inferentem arma Britanniae arcere litoribus et pellere adgressi sunt. Ita si eum, qui armatus C. Caesari restitit, vel captivitas vel voluntas vel fatum aliquod in urbem pertraxisset, aeque idem et Caesarem ipsum et Ciceronem audire potuit et nostris quoque actionibus interesse. Proximo quidem congiario ipsi vidistis plerosque senes, qui se a divo quoque Augusto semel atque iterum accepisse congiarium narrabant.

For I myself in Britain saw an old man who confessed that he had taken part in that battle in which they attempted to keep Caesar, as he was bringing arms against Britain, off the shores and to drive him back. Thus, if the same man who, armed, stood against Gaius Caesar had been drawn into the City by captivity, or by choice, or by some fate, equally he could have heard both Caesar himself and Cicero, and could also have been present at our pleadings. At the most recent congiary you yourselves saw not a few old men who said that they had received a congiary once and again from the deified Augustus as well.

Ex quo colligi potest et Corvinum ab illis et Asinium audiri potuisse; nam Corvinus in medium usque Augusti principatum, Asinius paene ad extremum duravit, ne dividatis saeculum, et antiquos ac veteres vocitetis oratores, quos eorundem hominum aures adgnoscere ac velut coniungere et copulare potuerunt.

From which it can be gathered that both Corvinus and Asinius could have been heard by those men; for Corvinus endured into the very middle of Augustus’s principate, Asinius almost to its end—so do not split the age and keep calling “ancient and old” those orators whom the ears of the same men were able to recognize and, as it were, to conjoin and couple.

[18] Haec ideo praedixi, ut si qua ex horum oratorum fama gloriaque laus temporibus adquiritur, eam docerem in medio sitam et propiorem nobis quam Servio Galbae aut C. Carboni quosque alios merito antiquos vocaverimus; sunt enim horridi et inpoliti et rudes et informes et quos utinam nulla parte imitatus esset Calvus vester aut Caelius aut ipse Cicero. Agere enim fortius iam et audentius volo, si illud ante praedixero, mutari cum temporibus formas quoque et genera dicendi. Sic Catoni seni comparatus C. Gracchus plenior et uberior, sic Graccho politior et ornatior Crassus, sic utroque distinctior et urbanior et altior Cicero, Cicerone mitior Corvinus et dulcior et in verbis magis elaboratus.

[18] I have pre-said these things for this reason: that, if any praise is acquired by the times from the fame and glory of these orators, I would show it situated in the middle and nearer to us than Servius Galba or C. Carbo and whatever others we have rightly called ancient; for they are rough and unpolished and rude and shapeless—and would that in no part your Calvus or Caelius or Cicero himself had imitated them. For I wish now to proceed more forcefully and more boldly, if I have premised this beforehand: that with the times the forms also and the genres of speaking are changed. Thus, compared with old Cato, Gaius Gracchus is fuller and more abundant; thus than Gracchus, Crassus is more polished and more ornate; thus than both, Cicero is more distinct and more urbane and loftier; than Cicero, Corvinus is milder and sweeter, and more elaborated in words.

Nec quaero quis disertissimus: hoc interim probasse contentus sum, non esse unum eloquentiae vultum, sed in illis quoque quos vocatis antiquos pluris species deprehendi, nec statim deterius esse quod diversum est, vitio autem malignitatis humanae vetera semper in laude, praesentia in fastidio esse. Num dubitamus inventos qui prae Catone Appium Caecum magis mirarentur? satis constat ne Ciceroni quidem obtrectatores defuisse, quibus inflatus et tumens nec satis pressus, sed supra modum exsultans et superfluens et parum Atticus videretur.

Nor do I inquire who is most eloquent: for the present I am content to have proved this, that eloquence does not have a single visage, but that even in those whom you call ancients several forms are detected, nor is what is different forthwith worse, but by the vice of human malignity, things old are always in praise, things present in disgust. Do we doubt that there were found people who, in preference to Cato, admired Appius Caecus more? It is well agreed that not even Cicero lacked detractors, to whom he seemed inflated and swelling, not sufficiently pressed, but beyond measure exultant and superfluous, and too little Attic.

legistis utique et Calvi et Bruti ad Ciceronem missas epistulas, ex quibus facile est deprehendere Calvum quidem Ciceroni visum exsanguem et aridum, Brutum autem otiosum atque diiunctum; rursusque Ciceronem a Calvo quidem male audisse tamquam solutum et enervem, a Bruto autem, ut ipsius verbis utar, tamquam "fractum atque elumbem." si me interroges, omnes mihi videntur verum dixisse: sed mox ad singulos veniam, nunc mihi cum universis negotium est.

you have certainly read the letters of both Calvus and Brutus sent to Cicero, from which it is easy to apprehend that Calvus, indeed, seemed to Cicero bloodless and arid, but Brutus idle and disjunct; and in turn that Cicero, by Calvus indeed, was ill spoken of as loose and enervate, but by Brutus—as I may use his own words—as “broken and weak‑loined.” if you ask me, they all seem to me to have spoken the truth: but I shall soon come to the individuals; for now my business is with the whole.

[19] Nam quatenus antiquorum admiratores hunc velut terminum antiquitatis constituere solent, qui usque ad Cassium * * * * * , quem reum faciunt, quem primum adfirmant flexisse ab illa vetere atqueirecta dicendi via, non infirmitate ingenii nec inscitia litterarum transtulisse se ad aliud dicendi genus contendo, sed iudicio et intellectu. Vidit namque, ut paulo ante dicebam, cum condicione temporum et diversitate aurium formam quoque ac speciem orationis esse mutandam. facile perferebat prior ille populus, ut imperitus et rudis, impeditissimarum orationum spatia, atque id ipsum laudabat, si dicendo quis diem eximeret.

[19] For insofar as the admirers of the ancients are accustomed to set this as the boundary of antiquity, who up to Cassius * * * * * , whom they make a defendant, whom they affirm to have been the first to bend away from that old and straight way of speaking, I contend that he did not transfer himself to another kind of speaking through weakness of talent nor through ignorance of letters, but by judgment and intellect. For he saw, as I was saying a little before, that with the condition of the times and the diversity of ears, the form and species of oration too must be changed. That earlier people, as unskilled and rude, easily endured the lengths of the most impeded speeches, and praised that very thing, if by speaking someone took up the day.

Iam vero longa principiorum praeparatio et narrationis alte repetita series et multarum divisionum ostentatio et mille argumentorum gradus, et quidquid aliud aridissimis Hermagorae et Apollodori libris praecipitur, in honore erat; quod si quis odoratus philosophiam videretur et ex ea locum aliquem orationi suae insereret, in caelum laudibus ferebatur. Nec mirum; erant enim haec nova et incognita, et ipsorum quoque oratorum paucissimi praecepta rhetorum aut philosophorum placita cognoverant. At hercule pervulgatis iam omnibus, cum vix in cortina quisquam adsistat, quin elementis studiorum, etsi non instructus, at certe imbutus sit, novis et exquisitis eloquentiae itineribus opus est, per quae orator fastidium aurium effugiat, utique apud eos iudices, qui vi et potestate, non iure et legibus cognoscunt, nec accipiunt tempora, sed constituunt, nec exspectandum habent oratorem, dum illi libeat de ipso negotio dicere, sed saepe ultro admonent atque alio transgredientem revocant et festinare se testantur.

Now indeed a long preparation of beginnings and a series of narration fetched from on high, and an ostentation of many divisions, and a thousand steps of arguments, and whatever else is prescribed in the most arid books of Hermagoras and Apollodorus, were in honor; and if anyone seemed to have caught the scent of philosophy and were to insert from it some locus into his oration, he was borne to heaven with praises. Nor is it a marvel; for these things were new and unknown, and of the orators themselves very few had become acquainted with the precepts of rhetors or the doctrines of philosophers. But indeed, with everything now made common, when scarcely anyone stands at the tripod without being at least imbued with the elements of studies, if not furnished, there is need of new and exquisite paths of eloquence, by which the orator may escape the fastidiousness of ears, especially before those judges who discern by force and power, not by right and laws, and they do not accept times, but set them, nor have they to wait for the orator until it pleases him to speak about the very business, but often of their own accord they admonish and call back the one passing over to something else and declare themselves to be in haste.

[20] Quis nunc feret oratorem de infirmitate valetudinis suae praefantem? Qualia sunt fere principia Corvini. Quis quinque in Verrem libros exspectabit?

[20] Who now will endure an orator prefacing with the infirmity of his health? Such, for the most part, are the openings of Corvinus. Who will wait for five books against Verres?

Quis de exceptione et formula perpetietur illa inmensa volumina, quae pro M. Tullio aut Aulo Caecina legimus? Praecurrit hoc tempore iudex dicentem et, nisi aut cursu argumentorum aut colore sententiarum aut nitore et cultu descriptionum invitatus et corruptus est, aversatur [dicentem]. Vulgus quoque adsistentium et adfluens et vagus auditor adsuevit iam exigere laetitiam et pulchritudinem orationis; nec magis perfert in iudiciis tristem et impexam antiquitatem quam si quis in scaena Roscii aut Turpionis Ambivii exprimere gestus velit. Iam vero iuvenes et in ipsa studiorum incude positi, qui profectus sui causa oratores sectantur, non solum audire, sed etiam referre domum aliquid inlustre et dignum memoria volunt; traduntque in vicem ac saepe in colonias ac provincias suas scribunt, sive sensus aliquis arguta et brevi sententia effulsit, sive locus exquisito et poetico cultu enituit.

Who will endure those immense volumes on exception and on formula, which we read on behalf of M. Tullius or Aulus Caecina? In our time the judge outruns the speaker and, unless he has been invited and corrupted either by the course of the arguments or the color of the sentences or the brilliance and cultivation of the descriptions, he turns away from [the speaker]. The common crowd of bystanders, the inflowing and wandering auditor, has now grown accustomed to demand delight and beauty of oration; nor does it any more tolerate in the courts a gloomy and uncombed antiquity than if someone on the stage should wish to reproduce the gestures of Roscius or of Ambivius Turpio. And indeed the young men, set upon the very anvil of studies, who attend orators for the sake of their own progress, wish not only to hear, but also to carry home something illustrious and worthy of memory; and they hand it on in turn and often write to their colonies and provinces, whether some thought has flashed out in a sharp and brief sententia, or a passage has shone with exquisite and poetic cultivation.

Exigitur enim iam ab oratore etiam poeticus decor, non Accii aut Pacuvii veterno inquinatus, sed ex Horatii et Virgilii et Lucani sacrario prolatus. Horum igitur auribus et iudiciis obtemperans nostrorum oratorum aetas pulchrior et ornatior extitit. Neque ideo minus efficaces sunt orationes nostrae, quia ad auris iudicantium cum voluptate perveniunt.

For now there is demanded from the orator even a poetic decor, not stained by the lethargy of Accius or Pacuvius, but brought forth from the sacrarium of Horace and Virgil and Lucan. In deference therefore to the ears and judgments of these, the age of our orators has stood forth more beautiful and more ornate. Nor for that reason are our orations less efficacious, because they reach the ears of the judges with pleasure.

Quid enim, si infirmiora horum temporum templa credas, quia non rudi caemento et informibus tegulis exstruuntur, sed marmore nitent et auro radiantur?

Why, indeed, would you think the temples of these times more infirm, because they are not constructed with rude cement and shapeless tiles, but shine with marble and are radiant with gold?

[21] Equidem fatebor vobis simpliciter me in quibusdam antiquorum vix risum, in quibusdam autem vix somnum tenere. Nec unum de populo Canuti aut Atti . . . de Furnio et Toranio quique alios in eodem valetudinario haec ossa et hanc maciem probant: ipse mihi Calvus, cum unum et viginti, utpar puto, libros reliquerit, vix in una et altera oratiuncula satis facit. Nec dissentire ceteros ab hoc meo iudicio video: quotus enim quisque Calvi in Asitium aut in Drusum legit?

[21] Indeed I will confess to you simply that with some of the ancients I scarcely hold back laughter, but with others I scarcely hold back sleep. Nor do I find a single man from the following of Canutius or Attius . . . about Furnius and Toranius and those others who in the same infirmary approve these bones and this emaciation: Calvus himself, for my part, although he left, as I think, twenty-one books, scarcely satisfies in one or another little oration. Nor do I see the rest dissent from this my judgment: for how many, after all, read Calvus Against Asitius or Against Drusus?

At hercule in omnium studiosorum manibus versantur accusationes quae in Vatinium inscribuntur, ac praecipue secunda ex his oratio; est enim verbis ornata et sententiis, auribus iudicum accommodata, ut scias ipsum quoque Calvum intellexisse quid melius esset, nec voluntatem ei, quo [minus] sublimius et cultius diceret, sed ingenium ac vires defuisse. Quid? Ex Caelianis orationibus nempe eae placent, sive universae sive partes earum, in quibus nitorem et altitudinem horum temporum adgnoscimus.

But, by Hercules, in the hands of all the studious are the accusations that are inscribed against Vatinius, and especially the second oration among these; for it is adorned with words and with sentiments, accommodated to the ears of the judges, so that you may know that Calvus himself also understood what was better, and that it was not the will that was lacking to him, by which [less] he might speak more sublime and more cultivated speech, but that genius and forces were lacking. What then? From the Caelian orations, namely those please—whether entire or in parts—in which we recognize the brilliance and the altitude of these times.

Sordes autem illae verborum et hians compositio et inconditi sensus redolent antiquitatem; nec quemquam adeo antiquarium puto, ut Caelium ex ea parte laudet qua antiquus est. Concedamus sane C. Caesari, ut propter magnitudinem cogitationum et occupationes rerum minus in eloquentia effecerit, quam divinum eius ingenium postulabat, tam hercule quam Brutum philosophiae suae relinquamus; nam in orationibus minorem esse fama sua etiam admiratores eius fatentur: nisi forte quisquam aut Caesaris pro Decio Samnite aut Bruti pro Deiotaro rege ceterosque eiusdem lentitudinis ac teporis libros legit, nisi qui et carmina eorundem miratur. fecerunt enim et carmina et in bibliothecas rettulerunt, non melius quam Cicero, sed felicius, quia illos fecisse pauciores sciunt.

Sordidness of words, that yawning composition, and incondite thoughts redolent of antiquity; nor do I think anyone so much an antiquarian as to praise Caelius from that side in which he is ancient. Let us concede, to be sure, to C. Caesar that, on account of the magnitude of his cogitations and the occupations of affairs, he accomplished less in eloquence than his divine ingenium demanded, just as, by Hercules, let us leave Brutus to his philosophy; for in his orations to be less than his fame even his admirers confess—unless perhaps anyone reads either Caesar’s speech for Decius the Samnite or Brutus’s for King Deiotarus and the other books of the same slowness and tepidity, unless it be one who also admires their poems. For they too composed poems and consigned them to libraries, not better than Cicero, but more fortunately, because fewer know that they composed them.

Asinius quoque, quamquam propioribus temporibus natus sit, videtur mihi inter Menenios et Appios studuisse. Pacuvium certe et Accium non solum tragoediis sed etiam orationibus suis expressit; adeo durus et siccus est. Oratio autem, sicut corpus hominis, ea demum pulchra est, in qua non eminent venae nec ossa numerantur, sed temperatus ac bonus sanguis implet membra et exsurgit toris ipsosque nervos rubor tegit et decor commendat.

Asinius too, although he was born in more recent times, seems to me to have studied among the Menenii and the Appii. He certainly reproduced Pacuvius and Accius not only in his tragedies but even in his orations; to such a degree is he hard and dry. Oratory, however, like the body of a man, is then at last beautiful when the veins do not stand out and the bones are not counted, but tempered and good blood fills the limbs and swells into the muscles, and a flush covers even the sinews and grace commends it.

Nolo Corvinum insequi, quia nec per ipsum stetit quo minus laetitiam nitoremque nostrorum temporum exprimeret, videmus enim quam iudicio eius vis aut animi aut ingenii suffecerit.

I do not wish to assail Corvinus, because it was not owing to him that he did not express the joy and the splendor of our times; for we see how far, in his judgment, the force either of spirit or of genius sufficed.

[22] Ad Ciceronem venio, cui eadem pugna cum aequalibus suis fuit, quae mihi vobiscum est. Illi enim antiquos mirabantur, ipse suorum temporum eloquentiam anteponebat; nec ulla re magis eiusdem aetatis oratores praecurrit quam iudicio. primus enim excoluit orationem, primus et verbis dilectum adhibuit et compositioni artem, locos quoque laetiores attentavit et quasdam sententias invenit, utique in iis orationibus, quas senior iam et iuxta finem vitae composuit, id est, postquam magis profecerat usuque et experimentis didicerat quod optimum dicendi genus esset.

[22] I come to Cicero, who had the same contest with his equals in age as I have with you. For they marveled at the ancients, while he put the eloquence of his own times first; and in nothing did he outstrip the orators of the same age more than in judgment. For he was the first to cultivate oratory, the first to apply choice to words and the art to composition; he also attempted more luxuriant passages and devised certain pointed sentences, especially in those speeches which he composed when already older and near the end of life—that is, after he had made greater progress and by use and experiments had learned what the best kind of speaking was.

Nam priores eius orationes non carent vitiis antiquitatis: lentus est in principiis, longus in narrationibus, otiosus circa excessus; tarde commovetur, raro incalescit; pauci sensus apte et cum quodam lumine terminantur. Nihil excerpere, nihil referre possis, et velut in rudi aedificio, firmus sane paries et duraturus, sed non satis expolitus et splendens. Ego autem oratorem, sicut locupletem ac lautum patrem familiae, non eo tantum volo tecto tegi quod imbrem ac ventum arceat, sed etiam quod visum et oculos delectet; non ea solum instrui supellectile quae necessariis usibus sufficiat, sed sit in apparatu eius et aurum et gemmae, ut sumere in manus et aspicere saepius libeat.

For his earlier speeches do not lack the vices of antiquity: he is slow in the beginnings, long in narrations, idle around digressions; he is moved late, he seldom grows warm; few thoughts are aptly and with a certain light terminated. You can excerpt nothing, carry back nothing; and as in a rough-hewn building, the wall is indeed firm and destined to last, but not sufficiently polished and shining. But I desire the orator, like a wealthy and elegant paterfamilias, not only to be covered by a roof which wards off rain and wind, but also one which delights the sight and the eyes; not to be furnished only with household gear that suffices for necessary uses, but to have in his apparatus also gold and gems, so that it may be a pleasure to take it in the hands and to look upon it more often.

Quaedam vero procul arceantur ut iam oblitterata et olentia: nullum sit verbum velut rubigine infectum, nulli sensus tarda et inerti structura in morem annalium componantur; fugitet foedam et insulsam scurrilitatem, variet compositionem, nec omnis clausulas uno et eodem modo determinet.

Let certain things indeed be kept far away as already effaced and reeking: let there be no word as if stained with rust, let no thoughts be composed with a slow and inert structure in the manner of annals; let him shun foul and insipid scurrility, let him vary the composition, and let him not determine all cadences in one and the same way.

[23] Nolo inridere "rotam Fortunae" et "ius verrinum" et illud tertio quoque sensu in omnibus orationibus pro sententia positum "esse videatur." nam et haec invitus rettuli et plura omisi, quae tamen sola mirantur atque exprimunt ii, qui se antiquos oratores vocitant. Neminem nominabo, genus hominum significasse contentus; sed vobis utique versantur ante oculos isti, qui Lucilium pro Horatio et Lucretium pro Virgilio legunt, quibus eloquentia Aufidii Bassi aut Servilii Noniani ex comparatione Sisennae aut Varronis sordet, qui rhetorum nostrorum commentarios fastidiunt, oderunt, Calvi mirantur. Quos more prisco apud iudicem fabulantis non auditores sequuntur, non populus audit, vix denique litigator perpetitur: adeo maesti et inculti illam ipsam, quam iactant, sanitatem non firmitate, sed ieiunio consequuntur.

[23] I do not wish to mock the “wheel of Fortune” and the “Verrine right” and that phrase set as a maxim in all speeches at every third thought, “esse videatur.” For I have mentioned these even unwillingly, and I have omitted more, which yet those alone admire and reproduce who call themselves ancient orators. I will name no one, content to have indicated the kind of men; but surely those men are before your eyes, who read Lucilius instead of Horace and Lucretius instead of Virgil, to whom the eloquence of Aufidius Bassus or Servilius Nonianus seems sordid by comparison with that of Sisenna or Varro, who disdain, even hate, the commentaries of our rhetors, and admire Calvus. Such men, speaking before a judge in the old-fashioned manner, are not followed by listeners, the people do not listen, and finally the litigant scarcely endures them: to such a degree, gloomy and uncultivated, they attain that very “soundness” which they vaunt not by firmness but by fasting.

porro ne in corpore quidem valetudinem medici probant quae animi anxietate contingit; parum est aegrum non esse: fortem et laetum et alacrem volo. prope abest ab infirmitate, in quo sola sanitas laudatur. Vos vero, [viri] disertissimi, ut potestis, ut facitis, inlustrate saeculum nostrum pulcherrimo genere dicendi.

moreover, not even in the body do physicians approve of a health that comes about from anxiety of mind; it is not enough not to be ill: I want one strong and joyful and lively. He is not far from infirmity, in whom only health is praised. But you, [men] most eloquent, as you are able, as you do, illuminate our age with the most beautiful kind of diction.

Nam et te, Messalla, video laetissima quaeque antiquorum imitantem, et vos, Materne ac Secunde, ita gravitati sensuum nitorem et cultum verborum miscetis, ea electio inventionis, is ordo rerum, ea, quotiens causa poscit, ubertas, ea, quotiens permittit, brevitas, is compositionis decor, ea sententiarum planitas est, sic exprimitis adfectus, sic libertatem temperatis, ut etiam si nostra iudicia malignitas et invidia tardaverit, verum de vobis dicturi sint posteri nostri."

For I see you too, Messalla, imitating each most splendid thing of the ancients; and you, Maternus and Secundus, you so mix the polish and cultivation of words with the gravity of sense, such is the selection in invention, such the order of things, such, whenever the cause demands, the richness, such, whenever it permits, the brevity, such the decor of composition, such the plainness of sentences, thus you express the affections, thus you temper liberty, that even if malice and envy should slow our judgments, our posterity will speak truth about you.

[24] Quae cum Aper dixisset, "adgnoscitisne" inquit Maternus "vim et ardorem Apri nostri? Quo torrente, quo impetu saeculum nostrum defendit! Quam copiose ac varie vexavit antiquos!

[24] When Aper had said these things, Maternus said, "Do you recognize the force and ardor of our Aper? With what torrent, with what impetus he defends our age! How copiously and variously he has vexed the ancients!"

Quanto non solum ingenio ac spiritu, sed etiam eruditione et arte ab ipsis mutuatus est per quae mox ipsos incesseret! Tuum tamen, Messalla, promissum immutasse non debet. Neque enim defensorem antiquorum exigimus, nec quemquam nostrum, quamquam modo laudati sumus, iis quos insectatus est Aper comparamus.

How much, not only in genius and spirit, but also in erudition and art, has he borrowed from those very men, for the very things with which he would soon assail those same men! Yet, Messalla, it ought not to have changed your promise. For we do not demand a defender of the ancients, nor do we, although we have just now been praised, compare any of us with those whom Aper has inveighed against.

Ac ne ipse quidem ita sentit, sed more vetere et a nostris philosophis saepe celebrato sumpsit sibi contra dicendi partis. Igitur exprome nobis non laudationem antiquorum (satis enim illos fama sua laudat), sed causas cur in tantum ab eloquentia eorum recesserimus, cum praesertim centum et viginti annos ab interitu Ciceronis in hunc diem effici ratio temporum collegerit."

And not even he himself, indeed, thinks thus, but, in an old custom and one often celebrated by our philosophers, he has taken upon himself the part of speaking against. Therefore set forth for us not a laudation of the ancients (for their own fame praises them enough), but the reasons why we have to such an extent receded from their eloquence, since especially the reckoning of time has amounted to 120 years from the death of Cicero to this day."

[25] Tum Messalla: "sequar praescriptam a te, Materne, formam; neque enim diu contra dicendum est Apro, qui primum, ut opinor, nominis controversiam movit, tamquam parum proprie antiqui vocarentur, quos satis constat ante centum annos fuisse. Nihi autem de vocabulo pugna non est; sive illos antiquos sive maiores sive quo alio mavult nomine appellet, dum modo in confesso sit eminentiorem illorum temporum eloquentiam fuisse; ne illi quidem parti sermonis eius repugno, si comminus fatetur pluris formas dicendi etiam isdem saeculis, nedum diversis extitisse. Sed quo modo inter Atticos oratores primae Demostheni tribuuntur, proximum [autem] locum Aeschines et Hyperides et Lysias et Lycurgus obtinent, omnium autem concessu haec oratorum aetas maxime probatur, sic apud nos Cicero quidem ceteros eorundem temporum disertos antecessit, Calvus autem et Asinius et Caesar et Caelius et Brutus iure et prioribus et sequentibus anteponuntur.

[25] Then Messalla: "I will follow the form prescribed by you, Maternus; nor indeed is it necessary to speak long in opposition to Aper, who first, as I think, stirred a controversy over the name, as though it were somewhat improper that those be called 'ancients' who, it is sufficiently agreed, lived a hundred years before. For my part there is no quarrel about the vocable; whether he call them the ancients or the elders or by whatever other name he prefers, provided only it is admitted that the eloquence of those times was more eminent; nor do I oppose that part of his discourse, if, at close quarters, he confesses that several forms of speaking existed even in the same ages—let alone in different ones. But just as among the Attic orators the first place is assigned to Demosthenes, the next [however] place is held by Aeschines and Hyperides and Lysias and Lycurgus, and by the concession of all this age of orators is most approved, so among us Cicero indeed surpassed the other eloquent men of the same times, while Calvus and Asinius and Caesar and Caelius and Brutus are rightly preferred both to their predecessors and to their successors."

Nec refert quod inter se specie differunt, cum genere consentiant. Adstrictior Calvus, numerosior Asinius, splendidior Caesar, amarior Caelius, gravior Brutus, vehementior et plenior et valentior Cicero: omnes tamen eandem sanitatem eloquentiae [prae se] ferunt, ut si omnium pariter libros in manum sumpseris, scias, quamvis in diversis ingeniis, esse quandam iudicii ac voluntatis similitudinem et cognationem. Nam quod invicem se obtrectaverunt et sunt aliqua epistulis eorum inserta, ex quibus mutua malignitas detegitur, non est oratorum vitium, sed hominum.

Nor does it matter that they differ among themselves in appearance, since they agree in kind. More constricted Calvus, more rhythmical Asinius, more splendid Caesar, more bitter Caelius, more grave Brutus, more vehement and fuller and stronger Cicero: yet all bear the same sanity of eloquence [prae se], so that if you take into your hand the books of all alike, you may know, although in diverse talents, that there is a certain likeness and kinship of judgment and will. For the fact that they detracted from one another in turn, and that some things are inserted in their letters, from which mutual malignity is detected, is not the fault of orators, but of men.

Nam et Calvum et Asinium et ipsum Ciceronem credo solitos et invidere et livere et ceteris humanae infirmitatis vitiis adfici: solum inter hos arbitror Brutum non malignitate nec invidia, sed simpliciter et ingenue iudicium animi sui detexisse. An ille Ciceroni invideret, qui mihi videtur ne Caesari quidem invidisse? Quod ad Servium Galbam et C. Laelium attinet, et si quos alios antiquiorum [Aper] agitare non destitit, non exigit defensorem, cum fatear quaedam eloquentiae eorum ut nascenti adhuc nec satis adultae defuisse.

For I believe that both Calvus and Asinius and Cicero himself were accustomed both to envy and to be livid, and to be affected by the other vices of human infirmity: I judge that Brutus alone among these revealed the judgment of his mind not from malignity nor envy, but simply and ingenuously. Would that man envy Cicero, who seems to me not to have envied even Caesar? As for Servius Galba and C. Laelius, and if there are any others of the ancients [Aper] has not ceased to assail, this does not require a defender, since I admit that certain things were lacking to their eloquence, as to one still nascent and not yet sufficiently adult.

[26] Ceterum si omisso optimo illo et perfectissimo genere eloquentiae eligenda sit forma dicendi, malim hercule C. Gracchi impetum aut L. Crassi maturitatem quam calamistros Maecenatis aut tinnitus Gallionis: adeo melius est orationem vel hirta toga induere quam fucatis et meretriciis vestibus insignire. Neque enim oratorius iste, immo hercule ne virilis quidem cultus est, quo plerique temporum nostrorum actores ita utuntur, ut lascivia verborum et levitate sententiarum et licentia compositionis histrionalis modos exprimant. Quodque vix auditu fas esse debeat, laudis et gloriae et ingenii loco plerique iactant cantari saltarique commentarios suos.

[26] Moreover, if, with that best and most perfect kind of eloquence set aside, a form of speaking must be chosen, by Hercules I would prefer the impetuosity of Gaius Gracchus or the maturity of Lucius Crassus to the curling-irons of Maecenas or the tinkles of Gallio: so much the better is it to clothe an oration even with a rough toga than to mark it with painted and meretricious garments. For that is not an oratorical—nay, by Hercules, not even a manly—attire, which very many practitioners of our times so employ that by the lascivia of words and the levity of thoughts and a license of composition they reproduce histrionic modes. And, what ought scarcely to be permitted even to hear, many brag, in place of praise and glory and talent, that their commentaries are to be sung and danced.

unde oritur illa foeda et praepostera, sed tamen frequens [sicut his clam et] exclamatio, ut oratores nostri tenere dicere, histriones diserte saltare dicantur. Equidem non negaverim Cassium Severum, quem solum Aper noster nominare ausus est, si iis comparetur, qui postea fuerunt, posse oratorem vocari, quamquam in magna parte librorum suorum plus bilis habeat quam sanguinis. primus enim contempto ordine rerum, omissa modestia ac pudore verborum, ipsis etiam quibus utitur armis incompositus et studio feriendi plerumque deiectus, non pugnat, sed rixatur.

whence arises that foul and preposterous, yet frequent [sicut his clam et] exclamation, that our orators are said to speak “delicately,” while actors are said to dance “eloquently.” For my part I would not deny that Cassius Severus—whom alone our Aper dared to name—if he be compared with those who came after, can be called an orator, although in a great part of his books he has more bile than blood. For he, first, with the order of matters contemned, with modesty and the pudor of words laid aside, ill-composed even in the very weapons he employs and, through zeal for striking, for the most part cast down, does not fight, but brawls.

Ceterum, ut dixi, sequentibus comparatus et varietate eruditionis et lepore urbanitatis et ipsarum virium robore multum ceteros superat, quorum neminem Aper nominare et velut in aciem educere sustinuit. Ego autem exspectabam, ut incusato Asinio et Caelio et Calvo aliud nobis agmen produceret, plurisque vel certe totidem nominaret, ex quibus alium Ciceroni, alium Caesari, singulis deinde singulos opponeremus. Nunc detrectasse nominatim antiquos oratores contentus neminem sequentium laudare ausus est nisi in publicum et in commune, veritus credo, ne multos offenderet, si paucos excerpsisset.

However, as I said, when compared with his successors, in the variety of erudition and the charm of urbanity and in the sturdiness of his very powers, he far surpasses the rest, of whom Aper did not venture to name anyone and, as it were, to lead him out into the battle-line. But I for my part was expecting that, once Asinius and Caelius and Calvus had been censured, he would bring out another column for us, and would name more, or at least just as many, from whom we might set one against Cicero, another against Caesar, and then one by one match individuals to individuals. Now, having declined to name the ancient orators individually, he was content and did not dare to praise any of the later ones except in public and in general, fearing, I believe, that he would offend many if he had singled out a few.

Quotus enim quisque scholasticorum non hac sua persuasione fruitur, ut se ante Ciceronem numeret, sed plane post Gabinianum? At ego non verebor nominare singulos, quo facilius propositis exemplis appareat, quibus gradibus fracta sit et deminuta eloquentia."

For how few of the scholastics do not enjoy this persuasion of theirs: that they reckon themselves before Cicero, but plainly after Gabinianus? But I shall not hesitate to name individuals, in order that, with examples set forth, it may more easily appear by what steps eloquence has been broken and diminished."

[27] "At parce" inquit Maternus "et potius exsolve promissum. Neque enim hoc colligi desideramus, disertiores esse antiquos, quod apud me quidem in confesso est, sed causas exquirimus, quas te solitum tractare [dixisti], paulo ante plane mitior et eloquentiae temporum nostrorum minus iratus, antequam te Aper offenderet maiores tuos lacessendo." "Non sum" inquit "offensus Apri mei disputatione, nec vos offendi decebit, si quid forte auris vestras perstringat, cum sciatis hanc esse eius modi sermonum legem, iudicium animi citra damnum adfectus proferre." "Perge" inquit Maternus "et cum de antiquis loquaris, utere antiqua libertate, a qua vel magis degeneravimus quam ab eloquentia."

[27] "But spare," says Maternus, "and rather fulfill the promise. For we do not desire to gather this, that the ancients are more eloquent—which with me indeed is conceded—but we are seeking out the causes, which you said you were wont to treat, a little before plainly milder and less angry toward the eloquence of our times, before Aper offended you by provoking your elders." "I am not," he says, "offended at the disputation of my Aper, nor will it be fitting that you be offended, if perchance something should graze your ears, since you know this to be the law of conversations of that sort: to put forth a judgment of the mind without damage to the feelings." "Proceed," says Maternus, "and when you speak about the ancients, use ancient liberty, from which we have degenerated even more than from eloquence."

[28] Et Messalla "non reconditas, Materne, causas requiris, nec aut tibi ipsi aut huic Secundo vel huic Apro ignotas, etiam si mihi partis adsignatis proferendi in medium quae omnes sentimus. Quis enim ignorat et eloquentiam et ceteras artis descivisse ab illa vetere gloria non inopia hominum, sed desidia iuventutis et neglegentia parentum et inscientia praecipientium et oblivione moris antiqui? Quae mala primum in urbe nata, mox per Italiam fusa, iam in provincias manant.

[28] And Messalla: "You do not seek recondite causes, Maternus, nor ones unknown either to yourself or to this Secundus or to this Aper, even if you assign to me the parts of bringing into the midst what we all feel. For who is ignorant that both eloquence and the other arts have defected from that ancient glory not through a shortage of men, but through the sloth of youth, the negligence of parents, the ignorance of preceptors, and the forgetfulness of the ancient mores? These evils, born first in the city, soon spread through Italy, and now flow into the provinces."

Quamquam vestra vobis notiora sunt: ego de urbe et his propriis ac vernaculis vitiis loquar, quae natos statim excipiunt et per singulos aetatis gradus cumulantur, si prius de severitate ac disciplina maiorum circa educandos formandosque liberos pauca praedixero. Nam pridem suus cuique filius, ex casta parente natus, non in cellula emptae nutricis, sed gremio ac sinu matris educabatur, cuius praecipua laus erat tueri domum et inservire liberis. Eligebatur autem maior aliqua natu propinqua, cuius probatis spectatisque moribus omnis eiusdem familiae suboles committeretur; coram qua neque dicere fas erat quod turpe dictu, neque facere quod inhonestum factu videretur.

Although your matters are better known to you, I will speak of the city and of these proper and vernacular vices, which at once receive those born and are heaped up through each individual grade of age, if first I shall have premised a few things about the severity and discipline of the ancestors regarding the educating and forming of children. For in former times each man’s own son, born from a chaste parent, was reared not in the little cell of a purchased nurse, but in the lap and bosom of the mother, whose chief praise was to guard the household and to serve the children. Moreover, some kinswoman older in years was chosen, to whose approved and well-tested morals the whole offspring of the same household was entrusted; in whose presence it was not permitted to say what was shameful to say, nor to do what would seem dishonorable to do.

Ac non studia modo curasque, sed remissiones etiam lususque puerorum sanctitate quadam ac verecundia temperabat. Sic Corneliam Gracchorum, sic Aureliam Caesaris, sic Atiam Augusti [matrem] praefuisse educationibus ac produxisse principes liberos accepimus. Quae disciplina ac severitas eo pertinebat, ut sincera et integra et nullis pravitatibus detorta unius cuiusque natura toto statim pectore arriperet artis honestas, et sive ad rem militarem sive ad iuris scientiam sive ad eloquentiae studium inclinasset, id solum ageret, id universum hauriret.

And not only the studies and cares, but even the relaxations and games of boys she tempered with a certain sanctity and modesty. Thus we have received that Cornelia of the Gracchi, thus Aurelia of Caesar, thus Atia of Augustus [the mother] presided over the educations and reared princely children. This discipline and severity tended to this end: that the nature of each, sincere and intact and deflected by no depravities, would straightway, with the whole breast, seize upon the honorable arts; and whether it had inclined to the military sphere, or to the science of law, or to the study of eloquence, it would pursue that alone, it would imbibe that entire.

[29] At nunc natus infans delegatur Graeculae alicui ancillae, cui adiungitur unus aut alter ex omnibus servis, plerumque vilissimus nec cuiquam serio ministerio adcommodatus. Horum fabulis et erroribus [et] virides [teneri] statim et rudes animi imbuuntur; nec quisquam in tota domo pensi habet, quid coram infante domino aut dicat aut faciat. Quin etiam ipsi parentes non probitati neque modestiae parvulos adsuefaciunt, sed lasciviae et dicacitati, per quae paulatim impudentia inrepit et sui alienique contemptus.

[29] But now the newborn infant is consigned to some little Greek maidservant, to whom there is attached one or two out of all the slaves, for the most part the most worthless and suited to no serious ministry. By the tales and errors of these [and] the green [tender] and raw minds are at once imbued; nor does anyone in the whole house reckon of any weight what, in the presence of the infant master, he either says or does. Nay even the parents themselves accustom the little ones not to probity nor to modesty, but to lasciviousness and dicacity, through which little by little impudence creeps in and a contempt for oneself and for others.

Iam vero propria et peculiaria huius urbis vitia paene in utero matris concipi mihi videntur, histrionalis favor et gladiatorum equorumque studia: quibus occupatus et obsessus animus quantulum loci bonis artibus relinquit? Quotum quemque invenies qui domi quicquam aliud loquatur? Quos alios adulescentulorum sermones excipimus, si quando auditoria intravimus?

And indeed the proper and peculiar vices of this city seem to me to be conceived almost in the mother’s womb—histrionic favor and the enthusiasms for gladiators and for horses: with a mind occupied and besieged by these, how little room does it leave for good arts? How rarely will you find anyone who at home speaks of anything else? What other conversations of the young lads do we catch, if ever we have entered the auditoria?

Ne praeceptores quidem ullas crebriores cum auditoribus suis fabulas habent; colligunt enim discipulos non severitate disciplinae nec ingenii experimento, sed ambitione salutationum et inlecebris adulationis.

Not even the preceptors have any more frequent conversations with their auditors; for they gather pupils not by the severity of discipline nor by an experiment of talent, but by the ambition for salutations and the enticements of adulation.

[30] Transeo prima discentium elementa, in quibus et ipsis parum laboratur: nec in auctoribus cognoscendis nec in evolvenda antiquitate nec in notitiam vel rerum vel hominum vel temporum satis operae insumitur. Sed expetuntur quos rhetoras vocant; quorum professio quando primum in hanc urbem introducta sit quamque nullam apud maiores nostros auctoritatem habuerit, statim dicturus referam necesse est animum ad eam disciplinam, qua usos esse eos oratores accepimus, quorum infinitus labor et cotidiana meditatio et in omni genere studiorum assiduae exercitationes ipsorum etiam continentur libris. Notus est vobis utique Ciceronis liber, qui Brutus inscribitur, in cuius extrema parte (nam prior commemorationem veterum oratorum habet) sua initia, suos gradus, suae eloquentiae velut quandam educationem refert: se apud Q. Nucium ius civile didicisse, apud Philonem Academicum, apud Diodotum Stoicum omnis philosophiae partis penitus hausisse; neque iis doctoribus contentum, quorum ei copia in urbe contigerat, Achaiam quoque et Asiam peragrasse, ut omnem omnium artium varietatem complecteretur.

[30] I pass over the first elements of learners, in which too little effort is spent: neither in getting to know the authors nor in unfolding antiquity nor in attaining knowledge of things or of men or of times is sufficient toil expended. But those whom they call rhetors are sought; about whose profession—when it was first introduced into this city and how it had no authority among our ancestors—being about to speak forthwith, I must turn my mind to that discipline which we have received that those orators employed, whose infinite labor and quotidian meditation and assiduous exercises in every kind of studies are contained even in their own books. You are, of course, acquainted with Cicero’s book which is entitled Brutus, in the latter part of which (for the earlier contains a commemoration of the ancient orators) he relates his own beginnings, his own steps, as it were a certain education of his eloquence: that he learned the civil law with Q. Nucius; that with Philo the Academic and with Diodotus the Stoic he thoroughly imbibed all parts of philosophy; and that, not content with those teachers, whose abundance had come to him in the city, he traversed Achaia also and Asia, so that he might embrace the whole variety of all the arts.

Itaque hercule in libris Ciceronis deprehendere licet, non geometriae, non musicae, non grammaticae, non denique ullius ingenuae artis scientiam ei defuisse. Ille dialecticae subtilitatem, ille moralis partis utilitatem, ille rerum motus causasque cognoverat. Ita est enim, optimi viri, ita: ex multa eruditione et plurimis artibus et omnium rerum scientia exundat et exuberat illa admirabilis eloquentia; neque oratoris vis et facultas, sicut ceterarum rerum, angustis et brevibus terminis cluditur, sed is est orator, qui de omni quaestione pulchre et ornate et ad persuadendum apte dicere pro dignitate rerum, ad utilitatem temporum, cum voluptate audientium possit.

Therefore, by Hercules, in the books of Cicero one may apprehend that the knowledge of neither geometry, nor music, nor grammar, nor, finally, of any liberal art was lacking to him. He had come to know the subtlety of dialectic, the utility of the moral part, the motions of things and their causes. So it is, indeed, most excellent men, so: from much erudition and very many arts and the knowledge of all things that admirable eloquence overflows and brims over; nor are the force and faculty of the orator, as the rest of things, shut within narrow and short boundaries, but he is an orator who can speak on every question beautifully and ornately, and aptly for persuading, according to the dignity of the matters, to the utility of the times, with the pleasure of the hearers.

[31] Hoc sibi illi veteres persuaserant, ad hoc efficiendum intellegebant opus esse, non ut in rhetorum scholis declamarent, nec ut fictis nec ullo modo ad veritatem accedentibus controversiis linguam modo et vocem exercerent, sed ut iis artibus pectus implerent, in quibus de bonis et malis, de honesto et turpi, de iusto et iniusto disputatur; haec enim est oratori subiecta ad dicendum materia. Nam in iudiciis fere de aequitate, in deliberationibus [de utilitate, in laudationibus] de honestate disserimus, ita [tamen] ut plerumque haec ipsa in vicem misceantur: de quibus copiose et varie et ornate nemo dicere potest, nisi qui cognovit naturam humanam et vim virtutum pravitatemque vitiorum et intellectum eorum, quae nec in virtutibus nec in vitiis numerantur. Ex his fontibus etiam illa profluunt, ut facilius iram iudicis vel instiget vel leniat, qui scit quid ira, promptius ad miserationem impellat, qui scit quid sit misericordia et quibus animi motibus concitetur.

[31] Those ancients had persuaded themselves of this; to achieve this they understood that what was needed was not to declaim in the schools of the rhetors, nor to exercise only the tongue and the voice on controversies that were fictitious and in no way approaching the truth, but to fill the breast with those arts in which there is disputation about good and evil, about the honorable and the base, about the just and the unjust; for this is the subject-matter set before the orator for speaking. For in courts we generally discuss equity, in deliberations [about utility, in laudations] about honorableness, yet [nevertheless] in such a way that for the most part these very things are mixed with one another: about which copiously and variously and ornately no one can speak, unless he has come to know human nature and the force of virtues and the depravity of vices and the understanding of those things which are counted neither among virtues nor among vices. From these fountains there also flow the following: that he who knows what anger is may more easily either instigate or soothe the judge’s anger; that he who knows what mercy is, and by what motions of soul it is stirred, may more readily impel to commiseration.

In his artibus exercitationibusque versatus orator, sive apud infestos sive apud cupidos sive apud invidentis sive apud tristis sive apud timentis dicendum habuerit, tenebit venas animorum, et prout cuiusque natura postulabit, adhibebit manum et temperabit orationem, parato omni instrumento et ad omnem usum reposito. sunt apud quos adstrictum et collectum et singula statim argumenta concludens dicendi genus plus fidei meretur: apud hos dedisse operam dialecticae proficiet. Alios fusa et aequalis et ex communibus ducta sensibus oratio magis delectat: ad hos permovendos mutuabimur a Peripateticis aptos et in omnem disputationem paratos iam locos.

The orator, practiced in these arts and exercises, whether he has to speak before the hostile, or the eager, or the envious, or the gloomy, or the fearful, will hold the veins of minds, and, as the nature of each shall require, will apply his hand and temper his speech, with every instrument prepared and laid up for every use. There are those with whom a restrained and compact manner of speaking, which at once brings each argument to a close, earns more credence: with these, having devoted effort to dialectic will profit. Others are more delighted by a diffuse and even discourse drawn from commonplaces: to move these, we will borrow from the Peripatetics topics apt and already prepared for every disputation.

dabunt Academici pugnacitatem, Plato altitudinem, Xenophon iucunditatem; ne Epicuri quidem et Metrodori honestas quasdam exclamationes adsumere iisque, prout res poscit, uti alienum erit oratori. Neque enim sapientem informamus neque Stoicorum comitem, sed eum qui quasdam artis haurire, omnes libare debet. Ideoque et iuris civilis scientiam veteres oratores comprehendebant, et grammatica musica geometria imbuebantur.

The Academics will give pugnacity, Plato loftiness, Xenophon pleasantness; nor will it be alien for the orator to adopt even certain honorable exclamations of Epicurus and Metrodorus and, as the matter demands, to use them. For we are forming neither a sage nor a companion of the Stoics, but one who ought to draw deeply from certain arts and to taste of all. And therefore the old orators also comprehended the science of civil law, and were imbued with grammar, music, and geometry.

Incidunt enim causae, plurimae quidem ac paene omnes, quibus iuris notitia desideratur, pleraeque autem, in quibus haec quoque scientia requiritur.

For cases do occur—very many indeed, and almost all—in which knowledge of law is required; and most, moreover, in which this science too is demanded.

[32] Nec quisquam respondeat sufficere, ut ad tempus simplex quiddam et uniforme doceamur. primum enim aliter utimur propriis, aliter commodatis, longeque interesse manifestum est, possideat quis quae profert an mutuetur. deinde ipsa multarum artium scientia etiam aliud agentis nos ornat, atque ubi minime credas, eminet et excellit.

[32] Nor let anyone answer that it suffices that for the time being we be taught something simple and uniform. first, for we use our own things in one way, borrowed ones in another, and it is manifest that it makes a great difference whether one possesses what he brings forth or borrows it. then the very knowledge of many arts adorns us even when engaged upon something else, and where you would least believe, it stands out and excels.

Idque non doctus modo et prudens auditor, sed etiam populus intellegit ac statim ita laude prosequitur, ut legitime studuisse, ut per omnis eloquentiae numeros isse, ut denique oratorem esse fateatur; quem non posse aliter existere nec extitisse umquam confirmo, nisi eum qui, tamquam in aciem omnibus armis instructus, sic in forum omnibus artibus armatus exierit. Quod adeo neglegitur ab horum temporum disertis, ut in actionibus eorum huius quoque cotidiani sermonis foeda ac pudenda vitia deprehendantur; ut ignorent leges, non teneant senatus consulta, ius [huius] civitatis ultro derideant, sapientiae vero studium et praecepta prudentium penitus reformident. In paucissimos sensus et angustas sententias detrudunt eloquentiam velut expulsam regno suo, ut quae olim omnium artium domina pulcherrimo comitatu pectora implebat, nunc circumcisa et amputata, sine apparatu, sine honore, paene dixerim sine ingenuitate, quasi una ex sordidissimis artificiis discatur.

And this not only the learned and prudent auditor but even the people understands, and straightway so accompanies it with praise that it acknowledges he has studied legitimately, that he has gone through all the numbers of eloquence, that, in fine, he is an orator; which I affirm cannot otherwise come to be, nor ever has existed, save for the man who, as one equipped with all arms into the battle-line, so goes forth into the forum armed with all the arts. This is so neglected by the eloquent men of these times that in their pleadings there are found even the foul and shameful faults of everyday speech; so that they are ignorant of the laws, do not grasp the senate’s decrees, openly mock the law [of this] state, and utterly dread the study of wisdom and the precepts of the prudent. They drive eloquence, as if expelled from her own kingdom, into the fewest themes and cramped maxims, so that she who once, mistress of all the arts, with a most beautiful retinue filled men’s hearts, now curtailed and amputated, without apparatus, without honor, I might almost say without nobility, is learned as though she were one of the most sordid trades.

Ergo hanc primam et praecipuam causam arbitror, cur in tantum ab eloquentia antiquorum oratorum recesserimus. Si testes desiderantur, quos potiores nominabo quam apud Graecos Demosthenem, quem studiosissimum Platonis auditorem fuisse memoriae proditum est? Et Cicero his, ut opinor, verbis refert, quidquid in eloquentia effecerit, id se non rhetorum [officinis], sed Academiae spatiis consecutum.

Therefore I judge this the first and chief cause why we have withdrawn so far from the eloquence of the ancient orators. If witnesses are desired, whom more preferable shall I name than, among the Greeks, Demosthenes, who is handed down to memory to have been a most studious auditor of Plato? And Cicero, in these words, as I think, reports that whatever he achieved in eloquence, he attained not in the rhetors’ [workshops], but in the walks of the Academy.

Sunt aliae causae, magnae et graves, quas vobis aperiri aequum est, quoniam quidem ego iam meum munus explevi, et quod mihi in consuetudine est, satis multos offendi, quos, si forte haec audierint, certum habeo dicturos me, dum iuris et philosophiae scientiam tamquam oratori necessariam laudo, ineptiis meis plausisse."

There are other causes, great and grave, which it is equitable to lay open to you, since indeed I have now fulfilled my office, and, as is my custom, I have offended quite many, who, if by chance they hear these things, I am certain will say that, while I praise the science of law and of philosophy as necessary to an orator, I have applauded my own ineptitudes."

[33] Et Maternus "mihi quidem" inquit "susceptum a te munus adeo peregisse nondum videris, ut incohasse tantum et velut vestigia ac liniamenta quaedam ostendisse videaris. Nam quibus [artibus] instrui veteres oratores soliti sint, dixisti differentiamque nostrae desidiae et inscientiae adversus acerrima et fecundissima eorum studia demonstrasti: cetera exspecto, ut quem ad modum ex te didici, quid aut illi scierint aut nos nesciamus, ita hoc quoque cognoscam, quibus exercitationibus iuvenes iam et forum ingressuri confirmare et alere ingenia sua soliti sint. Neque enim solum arte et scientia, sed longe magis facultate et [usu] eloquentiam contineri, nec tu puto abnues et hi significare vultu videntur." Deinde cum Aper quoque et Secundus idem adnuissent, Messalla quasi rursus incipiens: "quoniam initia et semina veteris eloquentiae satis demonstrasse videor, docendo quibus artibus antiqui oratores institui erudirique soliti sint, persequar nunc exercitationes eorum.

[33] And Maternus said, "to me indeed, you do not yet seem to have carried through the task you undertook to such an extent that you have completed it, but only to have begun, and as it were to have shown certain traces and lineaments. For by what [arts] the old orators were accustomed to be equipped, you have said, and you have demonstrated the difference of our sloth and ignorance against their most keen and most fertile studies: the rest I await, so that, just as I have learned from you what either they knew or we do not know, so I may learn this also—by what exercises young men, already about to enter the forum, used to strengthen and nourish their talents. For eloquence is contained not only by art and knowledge, but far more by faculty and [use], nor, I think, will you deny it, and these men seem to indicate it by their countenance." Then, when Aper too and Secundus had nodded assent to the same, Messalla, as if beginning anew: "since I seem to have sufficiently shown the beginnings and seeds of ancient eloquence, by teaching by what arts the ancient orators were accustomed to be instituted and trained, I will now pursue their exercises.

Quamquam ipsis artibus inest exercitatio, nec quisquam percipere tot tam reconditas tam varias res potest, nisi ut scientiae meditatio, meditationi facultas, facultati usus eloquentiae accedat. per quae colligitur eandem esse rationem et percipiendi quae proferas et proferendi quae perceperis. Sed si cui obscuriora haec videntur isque scientiam ab exercitatione separat, illud certe concedet, instructum et plenum his artibus animum longe paratiorem ad eas exercitationes venturum, quae propriae esse oratorum videntur.

Although exercise is inherent in the arts themselves, nor can anyone apprehend so many matters so recondite and so various, unless to knowledge there be added meditation, to meditation facility, to facility the use of eloquence. Through which it is gathered that the rationale is the same both for perceiving what you bring forth and for bringing forth what you have perceived. But if these things seem somewhat more obscure to anyone and he separates knowledge from exercise, he will at least concede this: that a mind equipped and replete with these arts will come far more prepared to those exercises which seem to be proper to orators.

[34] Ergo apud maiores nostros iuvenis ille, qui foro et eloquentiae parabatur, imbutus iam domestica disciplina, refertus honestis studiis deducebatur a patre vel a propinquis ad eum oratorem, qui principem in civitate locum obtinebat. Hunc sectari, hunc prosequi, huius omnibus dictionibus interesse sive in iudiciis sive in contionibus adsuescebat, ita ut altercationes quoque exciperet et iurgiis interesset utque sic dixerim, pugnare in proelio disceret. Magnus ex hoc usus, multum constantiae, plurimum iudicii iuvenibus statim contingebat, in media luce studentibus atque inter ipsa discrimina, ubi nemo inpune stulte aliquid aut contrarie dicit, quo minus et iudex respuat et adversarius exprobret, ipsi denique advocati aspernentur.

[34] Therefore among our ancestors that young man who was being prepared for the forum and for eloquence, already imbued with domestic discipline, filled with honorable studies, was conducted by his father or by relatives to that orator who held the principal place in the commonwealth. He grew accustomed to follow this man, to attend him, to be present at all his speeches, whether in trials or in popular assemblies, so that he would even take down the altercations and be present at the quarrels, and, so to speak, would learn to fight in battle. From this there came great practical benefit, much constancy, the utmost judgment to young men at once, studying in the full light and amid the very crises, where no one says anything foolish or contrary with impunity, without the judge rejecting it and the adversary reproaching it, and finally the advocates themselves despising it.

Igitur vera statim et incorrupta eloquentia imbuebantur; et quamquam unum sequerentur, tamen omnis eiusdem aetatis patronos in plurimis et causis et iudiciis cognoscebant; habebantque ipsius populi diversissimarum aurium copiam, ex qua facile deprehenderent, quid in quoque vel probaretur vel displiceret. Ita nec praeceptor deerat, optimus quidem et electissimus, qui faciem eloquentiae, non imaginem praestaret, nec adversarii et aemuli ferro, non rudibus dimicantes, nec auditorium semper plenum, semper novum, ex invidis et faventibus, ut nec bene [nec male] dicta dissimularentur. Scitis enim magnam illam et duraturam eloquentiae famam non minus in diversis subselliis parari quam suis; inde quin immo constantius surgere, ibi fidelius corroborari.

Therefore they were forthwith imbued with true and incorrupt eloquence; and although they followed one man, nevertheless they came to know all the patrons of the same age in very many both causes and judgments; and they had at their disposal the abundance of the people itself’s most diverse ears, from which they might easily detect what in each man was either approved or displeasing. Thus neither was a teacher lacking—most excellent and most elect—who would present the face of eloquence, not its image; nor opponents and rivals fighting with steel, not with practice-swords; nor an auditorium always full, always new, made up of the envious and the favoring, so that neither good [nor bad] sayings were concealed. For you know that that great and enduring fame of eloquence is prepared no less on others’ benches than on one’s own; from there, nay rather, it arises more steadfastly, and there it is more faithfully corroborated.

Atque hercule sub eius modi praeceptoribus iuvenis ille, de quo loquimur, oratorum discipulus, fori auditor, sectator iudiciorum, eruditus et adsuefactus alienis experimentis, cui cotidie audienti notae leges, non novi iudicum vultus, frequens in oculis consuetudo contionum, saepe cognitae populi aures, sive accusationem susceperat sive defensionem, solus statim et unus cuicumque causae par erat. Nono decimo aetatis anno L. Crassus C. Carbonem, unoetvicesimo Caesar Dolabellam, altero et vicesimo Asinius Pollio C. Catonem, non multum aetate antecedens Calvus Vatinium iis orationibus insecuti sunt, quas hodieque cum admiratione legimus.

And, by Hercules, under teachers of that sort the young man of whom we speak—pupil of orators, auditor of the forum, follower of trials—trained and accustomed by others’ experiments, to whom, hearing daily, the laws are familiar, the faces of judges not new, the practice of public assemblies frequent before his eyes, the people’s ears often well known—whether he had undertaken an accusation or a defense, he alone, straightway and singlehanded, was a match for any case. In the 19th year of his age L. Crassus pursued C. Carbo; in the 21st, Caesar pursued Dolabella; in the 22nd, Asinius Pollio pursued C. Cato; and, not much his senior in years, Calvus pursued Vatinius—with those speeches which even today we read with admiration.

[35] At nunc adulescentuli nostri deducuntur in scholas istorum, qui rhetores vocantur, quos paulo ante Ciceronis tempora extitisse nec placuisse maioribus nostris ex eo manifestum est, quod a Crasso et Domitio censoribus claudere, ut ait Cicero, "ludum impudentiae" iussi sunt. Sed ut dicere institueram, deducuntur in scholas, [in] quibus non facile dixerim utrumne locus ipse an condiscipuli an genus studiorum plus mali ingeniis adferant. Nam in loco nihil reverentiae est, in quem nemo nisi aeque imperitus intret; in condiscipulis nihil profectus, cum pueri inter pueros et adulescentuli inter adulescentulos pari securitate et dicant et audiantur; ipsae vero exercitationes magna ex parte contrariae.

[35] But now our adolescents are led down into the schools of those men who are called rhetors—men who, it is manifest from this, arose a little before the times of Cicero and did not please our ancestors, because, as Cicero says, by Crassus and Domitius, censors, they were ordered to shut the “school of impudence.” But, as I had begun to say, they are led into schools, [in] which I could not easily say whether the place itself or the fellow‑students or the kind of studies brings more harm to their talents. For in the place there is no reverence, into which no one enters except equally unskilled; in the fellow‑students there is no progress, since boys among boys and adolescents among adolescents, with equal careless assurance, both speak and are heard; and the exercises themselves are for the most part adverse.

Nempe enim duo genera materiarum apud rhetoras tractantur, suasoriae et controversiae. Ex his suasoriae quidem etsi tamquam plane leviores et minus prudentiae exigentes pueris delegantur, controversiae robustioribus adsignantur, — quales, per fidem, et quam incredibiliter compositae! sequitur autem, ut materiae abhorrenti a veritate declamatio quoque adhibeatur.

To wit, two kinds of material are handled among the rhetors, suasories and controversies. Of these, the suasories, although as if plainly lighter and demanding less prudence, are assigned to boys, while the controversies are assigned to the more robust—what sorts, by my faith, and how unbelievably contrived! It follows, moreover, that declamation also is applied to material that is abhorrent from truth.

Sic fit ut tyrannicidarum praemia aut vitiatarum electiones aut pestilentiae remedia aut incesta matrum aut quidquid in schola cotidie agitur, in foro vel raro vel numquam, ingentibus verbis persequantur: cum ad veros iudices ventum . . .

Thus it comes about that the rewards of tyrannicides or vitiated elections or remedies of pestilence or mothers’ incest, or whatever is transacted daily in the school, in the forum either rarely or never, they pursue with huge words: when it comes to the true judges . . .

[36] . . . rem cogitant; nihil humile, nihil abiectum eloqui poterat. Magna eloquentia, sicut flamma, materia alitur et motibus excitatur et urendo clarescit. Eadem ratio in nostra quoque civitate antiquorum eloquentiam provexit.

[36] . . . they consider the matter; he could utter nothing humble, nothing abject. Great eloquence, like a flame, is nourished by material, is excited by movements, and by burning grows bright. The same principle in our commonwealth too advanced the eloquence of the ancients.

Nam etsi horum quoque temporum oratores ea consecuti sunt, quae composita et quieta et beata re publica tribui fas erat, tamen illa perturbatione ac licentia plura sibi adsequi videbantur, cum mixtis omnibus et moderatore uno carentibus tantum quisque orator saperet, quantum erranti populo persuaderi poterat. Hinc leges assiduae et populare nomen, hinc contiones magistratuum paene pernoctantium in rostris, hinc accusationes potentium reorum et adsignatae etiam domibus inimicitiae, hinc procerum factiones et assidua senatus adversus plebem certamina. Quae singula etsi distrahebant rem publicam, exercebant tamen illorum temporum eloquentiam et magnis cumulare praemiis videbantur, quia quanto quisque plus dicendo poterat, tanto facilius honores adsequebatur, tanto magis in ipsis honoribus collegas suos anteibat, tanto plus apud principes gratiae, plus auctoritatis apud patres, plus notitiae ac nominis apud plebem parabat.

For although the orators of these times too attained those things which it was right to bestow in a composed and quiet and blessed republic, yet in that perturbation and license they seemed to achieve more for themselves, when, all things being mixed together and lacking a single moderator, each orator was counted so wise as much as he could persuade a wandering populace. Hence assiduous laws and a popular name, hence the public assemblies of magistrates almost spending the night on the rostra, hence prosecutions of powerful defendants and enmities assigned even to households, hence factions of the nobles and the assiduous contests of the senate against the plebs. These several things, although they were distracting the republic, nevertheless exercised the eloquence of those times and seemed to heap it up with great rewards, because the more each man could do by speaking, the more easily he obtained honors, the more in those very honors he outstripped his colleagues, the more favor with the leading men, more authority with the Fathers, more notice and name among the plebs he was procuring.

Hi clientelis etiam exterarum nationum redundabant, hos ituri in provincias magistratus reverebantur, hos reversi colebant, hos et praeturae et consulatus vocare ultro videbantur, hi ne privati quidem sine potestate erant, cum et populum et senatum consilio et auctoritate regerent. Quin immo sibi ipsi persuaserant neminem sine eloquentia aut adsequi posse in civitate aut tueri conspicuum et eminentem locum. Nec mirum, cum etiam inviti ad populum producerentur, cum parum esset in senatu breviter censere, nisi qui ingenio et eloquentia sententiam suam tueretur, cum in aliquam invidiam aut crimen vocati sua voce respondendum haberent, cum testimonia quoque in publicis [iudiciis] non absentes nec per tabellam dare, sed coram et praesentes dicere cogerentur.

These men even overflowed with clienteles of foreign nations; the magistrates going to the provinces stood in awe of them, those returning paid them court, both the praetorships and the consulships seemed unbidden to invite them, nor were they even as private citizens without power, since they governed both the people and the senate by counsel and authority. Nay rather, they had persuaded themselves that no one without eloquence could either attain in the state or guard a conspicuous and eminent position. Nor is it a wonder, since they were even brought forth to the people unwilling, since it was too little in the senate to give a brief opinion, unless a man defended his judgment by talent and eloquence, since when called into some odium or charge they had to answer in their own voice, since even in public [trials] they were compelled not to give testimonies while absent nor by tablet, but to speak face to face and in person.

Ita ad summa eloquentiae praemia magna etiam necessitas accedebat, et quo modo disertum haberi pulchrum et gloriosum, sic contra mutum et elinguem videri deforme habebatur.

Thus to the highest rewards of eloquence there accrued also a great necessity, and just as to be considered eloquent was fair and glorious, so, on the contrary, to appear mute and tongueless was held unseemly.

[37] Ergo non minus rubore quam praemiis stimulabantur, ne clientulorum loco potius quam patronorum numerarentur, ne traditae a maioribus necessitudines ad alios transirent, ne tamquam inertes et non suffecturi honoribus aut non impetrarent aut impetratos male tuerentur. Nescio an venerint in manus vestras haec vetera, quae et in antiquariorum bibliothecis adhuc manent et cum maxime a Muciano contrahuntur, ac iam undecim, ut opinor, Actorum libris et tribus Epistularum composita et edita sunt. Ex his intellegi potest Cn. Pompeium et M. Crassum non viribus modo et armis, sed ingenio quoque et oratione valuisse; Lentulos et Metellos et Lucullos et Curiones et ceteram procerum manum multum in his studiis operae curaeque posuisse, nec quemquam illis temporibus magnam potentiam sine aliqua eloquentia consecutum.

[37] Therefore they were spurred no less by blush-shame than by rewards, lest they be counted in the place of clients rather than of patrons, lest the connections handed down by their ancestors pass over to others, lest, as though inert and not going to be sufficient for honors, they either not obtain them or, having obtained them, defend them ill. I do not know whether these old records have come into your hands, which both still remain in the libraries of antiquarians and are just now being gathered by Mucianus, and already, as I think, have been composed and published in eleven books of Acts and three of Letters. From these it can be understood that Gnaeus Pompeius and Marcus Crassus were powerful not only by strength and arms, but also by talent and oration; that the Lentuli and the Metelli and the Luculli and the Curiones and the rest of the band of nobles placed much effort and care in these studies, and that in those times no one attained great power without some eloquence.

His accedebat splendor reorum et magnitudo causarum, quae et ipsa plurimum eloquentiae praestant. Nam multum interest, utrumne de furto aut formula et interdicto dicendum habeas, an de ambitu comitiorum, expilatis sociis et civibus trucidatis. Quae mala sicut non accidere melius est isque optimus civitatis status habendus est, in quo nihil tale patimur, ita cum acciderent, ingentem eloquentiae materiam subministrabant.

To these there was added the splendor of the defendants and the magnitude of the causes, which themselves also contribute very greatly to eloquence. For it makes much difference whether you have to speak about theft or about a formula and an interdict, or about electoral bribery, with allies plundered and citizens butchered. And just as it is better that these evils do not occur—and that must be held the best condition of the state in which we suffer nothing of the sort—so, when they did occur, they supplied vast material for eloquence.

Crescit enim cum amplitudine rerum vis ingenii, nec quisquam claram et inlustrem orationem efficere potest nisi qui causam parem invenit. Non, opinor, Demosthenem orationes inlustrant, quas adversus tutores suos composuit, nec Ciceronem magnum oratorem P. Quintius defensus aut Licinius Archias faciunt: Catilina et Milo et Verres et Antonius hanc illi famam circumdederunt, non quia tanti fuerit rei publicae malos ferre cives, ut uberem ad dicendum materiam oratores haberent, sed, ut subinde admoneo, quaestionis meminerimus sciamusque nos de ea re loqui, quae facilius turbidis et inquietis temporibus existit. Quis ignorat utilius ac melius esse frui pace quam bello vexari?

For with the amplitude of affairs the force of genius grows, nor can anyone effect a clear and illustrious oration unless he finds a cause commensurate with it. It is not, I think, the speeches that Demosthenes composed against his guardians that make him illustrious, nor do the defense of P. Quintius or of Licinius Archias make Cicero a great orator: Catiline and Milo and Verres and Antonius encircled him with this fame—not because it would have been of such value for the commonwealth to endure evil citizens, in order that orators might have rich material for speaking, but, as I repeatedly remind, let us remember the question and know that we are speaking of that thing which arises more readily in turbulent and restless times. Who is ignorant that it is more advantageous and better to enjoy peace than to be vexed by war?

Pluris tamen bonos proeliatores bella quam pax ferunt. Similis eloquentiae condicio. Nam quo saepius steterit tamquam in acie quoque pluris et intulerit ictus et exceperit quoque maiores adversarios acrioresque pugnas sibi ipsa desumpserit, tanto altior et excelsior et illis nobilitata discriminibus in ore hominum agit, quorum ea natura est, ut secura velint, [periculosa mirentur].

Yet wars bring forth more good fighters than peace. A similar condition holds for eloquence. For the more often it has stood, as it were, in the battle-line, and has also delivered more blows and in turn received them, and has taken upon itself greater adversaries and more ardent combats, by so much the higher and more exalted, and ennobled by those crises, it moves upon the lips of men, whose nature is such that they want what is secure, [admire what is perilous].

[38] Transeo ad formam et consuetudinem veterum iudiciorum. Quae etsi nunc aptior est [ita erit], eloquentiam tamen illud forum magis exercebat, in quo nemo intra paucissimas horas perorare cogebatur et liberae comperendinationes erant et modum in dicendo sibi quisque sumebat et numerus neque dierum neque patronorum finiebatur. primus haec tertio consulatu Cn. Pompeius adstrinxit imposuitque veluti frenos eloquentiae, ita tamen ut omnia in foro, omnia legibus, omnia apud praetores gererentur: apud quos quanto maiora negotia olim exerceri solita sint, quod maius argumentum est quam quod causae centumvirales, quae nunc primum obtinent locum, adeo splendore aliorum iudiciorum obruebantur, ut neque Ciceronis neque Caesaris neque Bruti neque Caelii neque Calvi, non denique ullius magni oratoris liber apud centumviros dictus legatur, exceptis orationibus Asinii, quae pro heredibus Urbiniae inscribuntur, ab ipso tamen Pollione mediis divi Augusti temporibus habitae, postquam longa temporum quies et continuum populi otium et assidua senatus tranquillitas et maxime principis disciplina ipsam quoque eloquentiam sicut omnia alia pacaverat.

[38] I pass over to the form and custom of the ancient trials. Which, although it is now more fitting [so it will be], nevertheless that forum exercised eloquence more, in which no one was compelled to finish speaking within a very few hours, and adjournments were free, and each one took for himself his own measure in speaking, and the number neither of days nor of advocates was limited. Cn. Pompeius in his third consulship was the first to tighten these and to impose, as it were, reins upon eloquence, yet in such a way that all things were transacted in the forum, all by the laws, all before the praetors: before whom what greater proof is there of how much greater business used to be conducted in former times than that the centumviral cases, which now hold the first place, were so overwhelmed by the splendor of other trials that no speech of Cicero, or of Caesar, or of Brutus, or of Caelius, or of Calvus—indeed, of no great orator—is read as having been delivered before the centumviri, except the speeches of Asinius, which are entitled For the Heirs of Urbinia, yet delivered by Pollio himself in the middle times of the deified Augustus, after the long calm of the times and the continuous leisure of the people and the unbroken tranquility of the senate, and most of all the discipline of the princeps, had pacified eloquence itself like all other things.

[39] Parvum et ridiculum fortasse videbitur quod dicturus sum, dicam tamen, vel ideo ut rideatur. Quantum humilitatis putamus eloquentiae attulisse paenulas istas, quibus adstricti et velut inclusi cum iudicibus fabulamur? Quantum virium detraxisse orationi auditoria et tabularia credimus, in quibus iam fere plurimae causae explicantur?

[39] Perhaps what I am about to say will seem small and ridiculous; I will say it nonetheless, if only for this reason, in order that it be laughed at. How much humiliation do we suppose eloquence has received from those paenulae-cloaks, in which, constricted and as if enclosed, we converse with the judges? How much strength do we believe the auditoria and tabularia have taken from oratory, in which now almost the majority of cases are unfolded?

Nam quo modo nobilis equos cursus et spatia probant, sic est aliquis oratorum campus, per quem nisi liberi et soluti ferantur, debilitatur ac frangitur eloquentia. Ipsam quin immo curam et diligentis stili anxietatem contrariam experimur, quia saepe interrogat iudex, quando incipias, et ex interrogatione eius incipiendum est. frequenter probationibus et testibus silentium + patronus + indicit.

For just as courses and distances prove noble horses, so there is some field of the orators, through which, unless they are borne free and unbound, eloquence is weakened and broken. Nay rather, we experience that the very care and the anxiousness of a diligent style is contrary, because often the judge asks when you are to begin, and from his question one must begin. frequently, amid proofs and witnesses, the + advocate + enjoins silence.

unus inter haec dicenti aut alter adsistit, et res velut in solitudine agitur. Oratori autem clamore plausuque opus est et velut quodam theatro; qualia cotidie antiquis oratoribus contingebant, cum tot pariter ac tam nobiles forum coartarent, cum clientelae quoque ac tribus et municipiorum etiam legationes ac pars Italiae periclitantibus adsisteret, cum in plerisque iudiciis crederet populus Romanus sua interesse quid iudicaretur. Satis constat C. Cornelium et M. Scaurum et T. Nilonem et L. Bestiam et P. Vatinium concursu totius civitatis et accusatos et defensos, ut frigidissimos quoque oratores ipsa certantis populi studia excitare et incendere potuerint.

amid these things one or at most another stands by the one speaking, and the matter is conducted as if in solitude. But the orator has need of shouting and applause and, as it were, a kind of theater; such as befell the ancient orators daily, when so many and so noble men together would crowd the forum, when clienteles too and the tribes and even delegations of the municipia and a part of Italy would stand by those in peril, when in very many trials the Roman people believed it concerned their own interest what was judged. It is well agreed that C. Cornelius and M. Scaurus and T. Nilo and L. Bestia and P. Vatinius were both accused and defended amid the concourse of the whole citizenry, so that the very enthusiasms of the contending people were able to rouse and inflame even the chilliest orators.

Itaque hercule eius modi libri extant, ut ipsi quoque qui egerunt non aliis magis orationibus censeantur.

And so, by Hercules, books of such a kind are extant, such that even the very men who conducted the cases are assessed more by these than by their other orations.

[40] Iam vero contiones assiduae et datum ius potentissimum quemque vexandi atque ipsa inimicitiarum gloria, cum se plurimi disertorum ne a Publio quidem Scipione aut [L.] Sulla aut Cn. Pompeio abstinerent, et ad incessendos principes viros, ut est natura invidiae, populi quoque ut histriones auribus uterentur, quantum ardorem ingeniis, quas oratoribus faces admovebant. Non de otiosa et quieta re loquimur et quae probitate et modestia gaudeat, sed est magna illa et notabilis eloquentia alumna licentiae, quam stulti libertatem vocitant, comes seditionum, effrenati populi incitamentum, sine obsequio, sine severitate, contumax, temeraria, adrogans, quae in bene constitutis civitatibus non oritur. Quem enim oratorem Lacedae- monium, quem Cretensem accepimus?

[40] And indeed the continual assemblies and the granted right of vexing each and every most powerful man, and the very glory of enmities—since very many of the eloquent did not refrain even from Publius Scipio or Lucius Sulla or Gnaeus Pompeius—and, in assailing leading men, as is the nature of envy, they even used the people’s ears like actors: how great a fervor they kindled in talents, what torches they applied to orators. We are not speaking of an idle and quiet matter, one that rejoices in probity and modesty; rather, that great and notable eloquence is the foster-child of licence, which fools call liberty, the companion of seditions, the incitement of an unbridled populace, without deference, without severity, stubborn, reckless, arrogant—one that does not arise in well-constituted commonwealths. For what Lacedaemonian orator, what Cretan have we ever heard of?

Quarum civitatum severissima disciplina et severissimae leges traduntur. Ne Macedonum quidem ac Persarum aut ullius gentis, quae certo imperio contenta fuerit, eloquentiam novimus. Rhodii quidam, plurimi Athenienses oratores extiterunt, apud quos omnia populus, omnia imperiti, omnia, ut sic dixerim, omnes poterant.

Of which states the most severe discipline and the most severe laws are transmitted. Not even of the Macedonians and the Persians, or of any nation that has been content with a certain command, do we know eloquence. Certain Rhodians, very many Athenians, have emerged as orators, among whom everything the people, everything the unskilled, everything—so to speak—everyone could do.

Nostra quoque civitas, donec erravit, donec se partibus et dissensionibus et discordiis confecit, donec nulla fuit in foro pax, nulla in senatu concordia, nulla in iudiciis moderatio, nulla superiorum reverentia, nullus magistratuum modus, tulit sine dubio valentiorem eloquentiam, sicut indomitus ager habet quasdam herbas laetiores. Sed nec tanti rei publicae Gracchorum eloquentia fuit, ut pateretur et leges, nec bene famam eloquentiae Cicero tali exitu pensavit.

Our state too, so long as it erred, so long as it exhausted itself with parties and dissensions and discords, so long as there was no peace in the forum, no concord in the senate, no moderation in the courts, no reverence for superiors, no measure of the magistracies, without doubt bore a stronger eloquence, just as an untamed field has certain more luxuriant herbs. But neither was the eloquence of the Gracchi of such worth to the commonwealth that it would allow even their laws, nor did Cicero balance the fame of eloquence well with such an outcome.

[41] Sic quoque quod superest [antiquis oratoribus fori] non emendatae nec usque ad votum compositae civitatis argumentum est. Quis enim nos advocat nisi aut nocens aut miser? Quod municipium in clientelam nostram venit, nisi quod aut vicinus populus aut domestica discordia agitat?

[41] Thus also what remains [to the ancient orators of the forum] is evidence of a state not amended nor arranged up to one’s wish. For who summons us except either the guilty or the wretched? What municipality comes into our clientela except that which is agitated either by a neighboring people or by domestic discord?

Quam provinciam tuemur nisi spoliatam vexatamque? Atqui melius fuisset non queri quam vindicari. Quod si inveniretur aliqua civitas, in qua nemo peccaret, supervacuus esset inter innocentis orator sicut inter sanos medicus.

What province do we guard except one despoiled and harried? And yet it would have been better not to be complained of than to be avenged. But if there were found some civitas in which no one sinned, an orator would be superfluous among the innocent, just as a medic among the healthy.

Quo modo tamen minimum usus minimumque profectus ars medentis habet in iis gentibus, quae firmissima valetudine ac saluberrimis corporibus utuntur, sic minor oratorum honor obscuriorque gloria est inter bonos mores et in obsequium regentis paratos. Quid enim opus est longis in senatu sententiis, cum optimi cito consentiant? Quid multis apud populum contionibus, cum de re publica non imperiti et multi deliberent, sed sapientissimus et unus?

Just as, however, the art of the healer has the least use and the least progress among those peoples who enjoy the firmest health and the most salubrious bodies, so the honor of orators is lesser and the glory more obscure among good morals and among those prepared for the obedience of the ruler. What need is there of lengthy opinions in the senate, when the best quickly consent? What need of many public assemblies among the people, when about the commonwealth not the unskilled and the many deliberate, but the wisest and a single one?

Quid voluntariis accusationibus, cum tam raro et tam parce peccetur? Quid invidiosis et excedentibus modum defensionibus, cum clementia cognoscentis obviam periclitantibus eat? credite, optimi et in quantum opus est disertissimi viri, si aut vos prioribus saeculis aut illi, quos miramur, his nati essent, ac deus aliquis vitas ac [vestra] tempora repente mutasset, nec vobis summa illa laus et gloria in eloquentia neque illis modus et temperamentum defuisset: nunc, quoniam nemo eodem tempore adsequi potest magnam famam et magnam quietem, bono saeculi sui quisque citra obtrectationem alterius utatur."

What need is there of voluntary accusations, when people sin so rarely and so sparingly? What of invidious and beyond-measure defenses, when the clemency of the judge hearing the case comes to meet those in peril? Believe me, excellent men and, so far as need requires, most eloquent: if either you had been born in earlier centuries, or those whom we admire had been born in these, and some god had suddenly exchanged lives and [your] times, neither would that highest praise and glory in eloquence have been lacking to you, nor to them measure and moderation. Now, since no one can at the same time attain great fame and great quiet, let each make use of the good of his own age without detraction of the other."

[42] Finierat Maternus, cum Messalla: "erant quibus contra dicerem, erant de quibus plura dici vellem, nisi iam dies esset exactus." "Fiet" inquit Maternus "postea arbitratu tuo, et si qua tibi obscura in hoc meo sermone visa sunt, de iis rursus conferemus." ac simul adsurgens et Aprum complexus "Ego" inquit "te poetis, Messalla autem antiquariis criminabimur." "At ego vos rhetoribus et scholasticis" inquit. Cum adrisissent, discessimus.

[42] Maternus had finished, when Messalla: "there were those against whom I would speak in reply, there were matters about which I would wish more to be said, if the day had not already been spent." "'It shall be done,'" said Maternus, "afterwards at your discretion, and if any things have seemed obscure to you in this my discourse, about them we will confer again." And at the same time rising and embracing Aper, "I," he said, "will arraign you before the poets, but Messalla before the antiquarians." "But I will arraign you before the rhetoricians and the scholastics," he said. As they smiled, we departed.