§1.8.11nam praecipue quidem apud Ciceronem frequenter tamen apud Asinium etiam et ceteros, qui sunt proximi, videmus Enni, Acci, Pacuvi, Lucili, Terenti, Caecili et aliorum inseri versus summa non eruditionis modo gratia sed etiam iucunditatis, cum poeticis voluptatibus aures a forensi asperitate respirent.
For especially indeed in Cicero, yet frequently also in Asinius and others who are closest, we see that verses of Ennius, Accius, Pacuvius, Lucilius, Terence, Caecilius and others are inserted, not only for the sake of the greatest erudition but also of pleasure, while the ears rest from the harshness of the forum with poetic delights.
§1.8.12quibus accedit non mediocris utilitas, cum sententiis eorum velut quibusdam testimoniis quae proposuere confirment.
To which is added no small utility, since they confirm what they have proposed with the opinions of those poets as if with certain testimonies.
verum priora illa ad pueros magis, haec sequentia ad robustiores pertinebunt, cum grammatices amor et usus lectionis non scholarum temporibus, sed vitae spatio terminentur.
However, those former things pertain more to boys, these following things to the more robust, since the love of grammar and the use of reading are limited not by the times of schools, but by the space of life.
§1.8.13in praelegendo grammaticus et illa quidem minora praestare debebit, ut partes orationis reddi sibi soluto versu desideret et pedum proprietates, quae adeo debent esse notae in carminibus, ut etiam in oratoria compositione desiderentur.
In reading beforehand, the grammarian will have to perform even those smaller duties: namely, that he should require parts of speech to be returned to him in resolved verse, and the properties of feet, which ought to be so well known in poems that they are desired even in oratorical composition.
deprehendat, quae barbara, quae impropria, quae contra leges loquendi sint posita; §1.8.14non ut ex iis utique improbentur poetae (quibus, quia plerumque servire metro coguntur, adeo ignoscitur, ut vitia ipsa allis in carmine appellationibus nominentur; metaplasmos enim et schematismos et schemata, ut dixi, vocamus, et laudem virtutis necessitati damus), sed ut commoneat artificialium et memoriam agitet.
Let him detect what has been placed barbarously, what improperly, and what against the laws of speaking; not so that from these the poets should by all means be condemned (to whom, because they are mostly forced to serve the meter, it is so far forgiven that the vices themselves are called by other names in a poem; for we call them metaplasms and schematisms and figures, as I have said, and we give the praise of virtue to necessity), but so that he may remind them of technical rules and stir the memory.
§1.8.15id quoque inter prima rudimenta non inutile demonstrare, quot quaeque verba modis intelligenda sint.
It is also not useless to demonstrate among the first elements in how many ways each word is to be understood.
circa glossemata etiam, id est voces minus usitatas, non ultima eius professionis diligentia est.
Concerning glossemata also, that is, words less used, the diligence of that profession is not the least.
§1.8.16enimvero iam maiore cura doceat tropos omnes, quibus praecipue non poema modo sed etiam oratio ornatur; schemata utraque, id est figuras, quaeque λέξεως quaeque διανοίας vocantur, quorum ego sicut troporum tractatum in eum locum differo, quo mihi de ornatu orationis dicendum erit.
Indeed, now with greater care let him teach all tropes, by which especially not only a poem but also an oration is adorned; both kinds of schemata, that is, figures, both those which are called of speech (lexeos) and of thought (dianoias), of which I, just as I do the treatment of tropes, defer the discussion to that place in which I shall have to speak of the adornment of speech.
§1.8.17praecipue vero illa infigat animis, quae in oeconomia virtus, quae in decore rerum, quid personae cuique convenerit, quid in sensibus laudandum, quid in verbis, ubi copia probabilis, ubi modus.
But especially let him fix these things in their minds: what virtue there is in economy, what in the decorum of things, what has suited each character, what is to be praised in thoughts, what in words, where abundance is commendable, and where moderation.
§1.8.18his accedet enarratio historiarum, diligens quidem illa non tamen usque ad supervacuum laborem occupata.
To these will be added the explanation of histories, diligent indeed but yet not occupied to the point of superfluous labor.
nam receptas aut certe claris auctoribus memoratas exposuisse satis est.
For it is enough to have expounded those accepted or at least mentioned by famous authors.
persequi quidem, quid quis unquam vel contemptissimorum hominum dixerit, aut nimiae miseriae aut inanis iactantiae est et detinet atque obruit ingenia melius aliis uacatura.
To pursue indeed what any of even the most contemptible men ever said is either of excessive misery or of empty boasting, and detains and overwhelms talents that would better be free for other things.
§1.8.19nam qui omnes etiam indignas lectione scidas excutit, anilibus quoque fabulis accommodare operam potest.
For he who searches even all sheets unworthy of reading can also apply his labor to old wives' tales.
atqui pleni sunt huiusmodi impedimentis grammaticorum commentarii, vix ipsis qui composuerunt satis noti.
And yet the commentaries of grammarians are full of obstacles of this kind, scarcely well known to those very ones who composed them.
§1.8.20nam Didymo, quo nemo plura scripsit, accidisse compertum est, ut, cum historiae cuidam tanquam vanae repugnaret, ipsius proferretur liber, qui eam continebat.
For it is found to have happened to Didymus, than whom no one wrote more, that, when he objected to a certain history as if it were empty, his own book which contained it was brought forward.
§1.8.21quod evenit praecipue in fabulosis usque ad deridicula quaedam, quaedam etiam pudenda; unde improbissimo cuique pleraque fingendi licentia est, adeo ut de libris totis et auctoribus, ut succurrit, mentiantur tuto, quia inveniri qui nunquam fuere non possunt: nam in notioribus frequentissime deprehenduntur a curiosis.
Which happens especially in fabulous matters even to certain ridiculous, and some even shameful things; whence there is a license for any most dishonest person to invent most things, so that they lie safely about entire books and authors, as it occurs to them, because those who never were cannot be found: for in more well-known ones they are most frequently caught by the curious.
ex quo mihi inter virtutes grammatici habebitur aliqua nescire.
From which, in my opinion, it will be held among the virtues of a grammarian to be ignorant of some things.