§1.4.1primus in eo, qui scribendi legendique adeptus erit facultatem, grammatici est locus.
The first place in the case of him who has acquired the faculty of writing and reading belongs to the grammarian.
nec refert, de Graeco an de Latino loquar, quanquam Graecum esse priorem placet.
Nor does it matter whether I speak of a Greek or a Latin grammarian, although it is desirable that the Greek should be first.
§1.4.2utrique eadem via est.
For both, the path is the same.
haec igitur professio, cum brevissime in duas partes dividatur, recte loquendi scientiam et poetarum enarrationem, plus habet in recessu quam fronte promittit.
This profession, therefore, although it is most briefly divided into two parts, the science of speaking correctly and the explanation of the poets, has more in its inner depths than it promises on its front.
§1.4.3nam et scribendi ratio coniuncta cum loquendo est, et enarrationem praecedit emendata lectio, et mixtum his omnibus iudicium est; quo quidem ita severe sunt usi veteres grammatici, ut non versus modo censoria quadam virgula notare et libros, qui falso viderentur inscripti, tanquam subditos summovere familia permiserint sibi, sed auctores alios in ordinem redegerint, alios omnino exemerint numero.
For both the art of writing is joined with speaking, and correct reading precedes explanation, and judgment is mixed with all of these; which indeed the ancient grammarians used so severely, that they not only allowed themselves to mark verses with a certain censorial critical mark, and to remove books, which seemed falsely inscribed, as if they were supposititious, from the family, but they also reduced some authors to a lower class, and excluded others entirely from the number.
§1.4.4nec poetas legisse satis est: excutiendum omne scriptorum genus non propter historias modo sed verba, quae frequenter ius ab auctoribus sumunt.
Nor is it enough to have read the poets; every class of writers must be thoroughly examined, not only for the sake of history, but for words, which frequently derive their authority from authors.
tum neque citra musicen grammatice potest esse perfecta, cum ei de metris rhythmisque dicendum sit, nec, si rationem siderum ignoret, poetas intelligat, qui (ut alia omittam) totiens ortu occasuque signorum in declarandis temporibus utantur; nec ignara philosophiae, cum propter plurimos in omnibus fere carminibus locos ex intima naturalium quaestionum subtilitate repetitos, tum vel propter Empedoclea in Graecis, Varronem ac Lucretium in Latinis, qui praecepta sapientiae versibus tradiderunt.
Furthermore, grammar cannot be perfect without music, since it has to speak of meters and rhythms; nor can it understand the poets if it is ignorant of astronomy, since they (to omit other things) so often use the rising and setting of constellations in declaring times; nor can it be ignorant of philosophy, both on account of the very many passages in almost all poems drawn from the innermost subtlety of natural questions, and also on account of the works of Empedocles among the Greeks, and Varro and Lucretius among the Latins, who delivered the precepts of wisdom in verse.
§1.4.5eloquentia quoque non mediocri est opus, ut de unaquaque earum, quas demonstravimus, rerum dicat proprie et copiose.
Eloquence also of no ordinary kind is necessary, so that she may speak appropriately and copiously concerning each of those subjects which we have indicated.
quo minus sunt ferendi, qui hanc artem ut tenuem atque ieiunam cavillantur, quae nisi oratoris futuri fundamenta fideliter iecit, quidquid superstruxeris, corruet; necessaria pueris, iucunda senibus, dulcis secretorum comes et quae vel sola in omni studiorum genere plus habeat operis quam ostentationis.
Wherefore they are the less to be tolerated who cavil at this art as thin and barren, which, unless it has faithfully laid the foundations for the future orator, whatever you build upon it will fall; necessary to boys, pleasing to old men, a sweet companion in retirement, and which alone of all kinds of studies has more labor than ostentation.
§1.4.6ne quis igitur tanquam parva fastidiat grammatices elementa, non quia magnae sit operae consonantes a vocalibus discernere ipsasque eas in semivocalium numerum mutarumque partiri, sed quia interiora velut sacri huius adeuntibus apparebit multa rerum subtilitas, quae non modo acuere ingenia puerilia sed exercere altissimam quoque eruditionem ac scientiam possit.
Let no one, therefore, despise the elements of grammar as small, not because it is a work of great labor to distinguish consonants from vowels, and to divide the former into the number of semivowels and mutes, but because to those entering, as it were, the inner shrine of this sacred place, there will appear much subtlety of matter, which is capable not only of sharpening childish talents but of exercising also the deepest erudition and science.
§1.4.7an cuiuslibet auris est exigere litterarum sonos? non hercule magis quam nervorum.
Is it, indeed, within the power of any ear to examine the sounds of letters? By Hercules, no more than to examine the strings of an instrument.
at grammatici saltem omnes in hanc descendent rerum tenuitatem, desintne aliquae nobis necessariae litterarum, non cum Graeca scribimus (tum enim ab iisdem duas mutuamur) sed propriae, §1.4.8in Latinis, ut in his seruus et uulgus Aeolicum digammon desideratur, et medius est quidam V et I litterae sonus; non enim sic optimum dicimus ut opimum, et in here neque E plane neque I auditur;
But at least all grammarians will descend into this subtlety of matters, whether any letters necessary to us are wanting, not when we write Greek (for then we borrow two from them) but our own proper letters, in Latin; as in these words, "seruus" and "uulgus", the Aeolic digamma is needed; and there is a certain middle sound between the letters V and I; for we do not pronounce "optimum" in the same way as "opimum", and in "here" neither the E nor the I is clearly heard.
§1.4.9an rursus aliae redundent, praeter notam aspirationis, (quae si necessaria est, etiam contrariam sibi poscit) ut K, quae et ipsa quorundam nominum nota est, et Q, cuius similis effectu specieque, nisi quod paulum a nostris obliquatur, Coppa apud Graecos nunc tantum in numero manet, et nostrarum ultima, qua tam carere potuimus quam ψ non quaerimus?
or, on the other hand, whether others are redundant, besides the mark of aspiration (which, if it is necessary, also demands a mark contrary to itself), such as K, which is itself the mark of certain names, and Q, similar to which in effect and shape (except that it is slightly slanted from ours) is the Coppa among the Greeks, which now remains only as a number, and the last of our letters, which we could have done without as easily as we do not seek the Greek psi?
§1.4.10atque etiam in ipsis vocalibus grammatici est videre, an aliquas pro consonantibus usus acceperit, quia iam sicut etiam scribitur et nos ut luos.
And also in the case of the vowels themselves, it belongs to the grammarian to see whether usage has received some of them as consonants, since now "iam" is written just as "etiam", and "nos" as "luos".
At quae ut vocales iunguntur aut unam longam faciunt, ut veteres scripserunt qui geminatione earum velut apice utebantur, aut duas; nisi quis putat etiam ex tribus vocalibus syllabam fieri, si non aliquae officio consonantium fungantur.
But those which are joined as vowels either make one long vowel, as the ancients wrote, who used the doubling of them as if it were an apex, or they make two; unless anyone thinks that a syllable can be formed even of three vowels, if some of them do not perform the office of consonants.