§1.pr.1post impetratam studiis meis quietem, quae per viginti annos erudiendis iuvenibus impenderam, cum a me quidam familiariter postularent, ut aliquid de ratione dicendi componerem, diu sum equidem reluctatus, quod auctores utriusque linguae clarissimos non ignorabam multa, quae ad hoc opus pertinerent, diligentissime scripta posteris reliquisse.
After obtaining retirement for my studies, which I had spent for twenty years in instructing youth, when certain persons familiarly requested me to write something on the system of oratory, I long indeed resisted, because I was not ignorant that the most illustrious authors of both languages had left to posterity many things written with the greatest care concerning this work.
§1.pr.2sed qua ego ex causa faciliorem mihi veniam meae deprecationis arbitrabar fore, hac accendebantur illi magis, quod inter diversas opiniones priorum et quasdam etiam inter se contrarias difficilis esset electio; ut mihi si non inveniendi nova at certe iudicandi de veteribus iniungere laborem non iniuste viderentur.
But by the very reason for which I thought a readier excuse for my refusal would be granted me, by that they were the more stimulated, because between the diverse and even sometimes contradictory opinions of earlier writers, choice was difficult; so that they seemed to me, if not unjustly, to impose the labor, if not of inventing new things, yet at least of judging the old.
§1.pr.3quamvis autem non tam me vinceret praestandi, quod exigebatur, fiducia quam negandi verecundia, latius se tamen aperiente materia plus quam imponebatur oneris sponte suscepi, simul ut pleniore obsequio demererer amantissimos mei, simul ne vulgarem viam ingressus alienis demum vestigiis insisterem.
Although, however, it was not so much confidence in performing what was required that overcame me, but the shame of refusing, yet as the material opened itself more widely, I voluntarily undertook more of a burden than was imposed, at once that I might deserve well of those most affectionate toward me by a fuller compliance, and at the same time lest, entering upon a common path, I should tread only in the footsteps of others.
§1.pr.4nam ceteri fere, qui artem orandi litteris tradiderunt, ita sunt exorsi, quasi perfectis omni alio genere doctrinae summam in eloquentia manum imponerent, sive contemnentes tanquam parva, quae prius discimus, studia, sive non ad suum pertinere officium opinati, quando divisae professionum vices essent, seu, quod proximum vero, nullam ingenii sperantes gratiam circa res etiamsi necessarias procul tamen ab ostentatione positas; ut operum fastigia spectantur, latent fundamenta.
For almost all others who have handed down the art of speaking in writing have begun in such a way, as if they were applying the finishing touch in eloquence to those perfected in every other kind of learning, either despising as trifles the studies which we learn first, or thinking that they did not belong to their own office, since the duties of professions had been divided, or, what is nearest the truth, hoping for no credit to their genius around matters which, although necessary, are nevertheless far removed from ostentation; just as the summits of buildings are seen, while the foundations are hidden.
§1.pr.5ego, cum existimem nihil arti oratoriae alienum, sine quo fieri non posse oratorem fatendum est, nec ad ullius rei summam nisi praecedentibus initiis perveniri, ad minora illa, sed quae si negligas, non sit maioribus locus, demittere me non recusabo; nec aliter, quam si mihi tradatur educandus orator, studia eius formare ab infantia incipiam.
I, since I think nothing foreign to the art of oratory without which it must be confessed an orator cannot be formed, and that one cannot arrive at the summit of any subject except by preceding beginnings, shall not refuse to descend to those minor matters, which however, if you neglect them, leave no place for greater things; and not otherwise than if a future orator to be educated were delivered to me, I shall begin to form his studies from infancy.
Quod opus, Marcelle Victori, tibi dicamus; §1.pr.6quem, cum amicissimum nobis tum eximio litterarum amore flagrantem, non propter haec modo (quamquam sint magna) dignissimum hoc mutuae inter nos caritatis pignore iudicabamus; sed quod erudiendo Getae tuo, cuius prima aetas manifestum iam ingenii lumen ostendit, non inutiles fore libri videbantur, quos ab ipsis dicendi velut incunabulis, per omnes, quae modo aliquid oratori futuro conferant, artis ad summam eius operis perducere destinabamus;
Which work, Marcellus Victor, we dedicate to you; whom, being at once most friendly to us and burning with an extraordinary love of letters, we judged most worthy of this pledge of mutual affection between us, not only for these reasons (though they are great); but because these books seemed likely to be not useless for the instruction of your Geta, whose early age already shows a manifest light of genius, which books we destined to lead from the very cradle, as it were, of speaking, through all the branches of the art which only confer anything on a future orator, to the summit of that work.
§1.pr.7atque eo magis, quod duo iam sub nomine meo libri ferebantur artis rhetoricae neque editi a me neque in hoc comparati.
And so much the more, because two books on the art of rhetoric were already circulating under my name, neither published by me nor prepared for this purpose.
namque alterum sermonem per biduum habitum pueri, quibus id praestabatur, exceperant; alterum pluribus sane diebus, quantum notando consequi potuerant, interceptum boni iuvenes, sed nimium amantes mei, temerario editionis honore vulgaverant.
For the one, boys to whom it was delivered had taken down, a lecture held during two days; the other, indeed over more days, good young men but too fond of me, having intercepted as far as they could follow by shorthand, had published with the rash honor of an edition.
§1.pr.8quare in his quoque libris erunt eadem aliqua, multa mutata, plurima adiecta, omnia vero compositiora et, quantum nos poterimus, elaborata.
Therefore, in these books also there will be some of the same things, many changed, very many added, but all more organized and, as far as we shall be able, carefully elaborated.
§1.pr.9oratorem autem instituimus illum perfectum, qui esse nisi vir bonus non potest; ideoque non dicendi modo eximiam in eo facultatem sed omnes animi virtutes exigimus.
But we are training that perfect orator, who cannot exist unless he is a good man; and therefore we require in him not only an extraordinary faculty of speaking but all the virtues of the mind.
§1.pr.10neque enim hoc concesserim, rationem rectae honestaeque vitae (ut quidam putaverunt) ad philosophos relegandam, cum vir ille vere civilis et publicarum privatarumque rerum administrationi accommodatus, qui regere consiliis urbes, fundare legibus, emendare iudiciis possit, non alius sit profecto quam orator.
For neither would I concede that the rules of a right and honorable life (as some have thought) are to be relegated to the philosophers, since that truly civic man, adapted to the administration of public and private affairs, who can rule cities by his counsels, establish them by laws, and reform them by judgments, is surely no other than the orator.
§1.pr.11quare, tametsi me fateor usurum quibusdam, quae philosophorum libris continentur, tamen ea iure vereque contenderim esse operis nostri proprieque ad artem oratoriam pertinere.
Wherefore, although I confess that I shall use certain things contained in the books of the philosophers, yet I would contend that those things by right and truly belong to our work, and properly pertain to the art of oratory.
§1.pr.12an, si frequentissime de iustitia, fortitudine, temperantia ceterisque similibus disserendum est, adeo ut vix ulla possit causa reperiri in quam non aliqua ex his incidat quaestio, eaque omnia inventione atque elocutione sunt explicanda, dubitabitur, ubicunque vis ingenii et copia dicendi postulatur, ibi partes oratoris esse praecipuas?
Or, if we must most frequently discuss justice, fortitude, temperance, and other similar virtues, to such a degree that scarcely any cause can be found into which some question of these does not enter, and all those things are to be explained by invention and elocution, will it be doubted that, wherever force of intellect and copiousness of speech are required, there the parts of the orator are principal?
§1.pr.13fueruntque haec, ut Cicero apertissime colligit, quemadmodum iuncta natura sic officio quoque copulata, ut iidem sapientes atque eloquentes haberentur.
And these things were, as Cicero most clearly concludes, just as joined by nature so also coupled in duty, so that the same men were held both wise and eloquent.
scidit deinde se studium, atque inertia factum est, ut artes esse plures viderentur.
Afterwards, study split itself, and by laziness it came about that arts seemed to be more.
nam ut primum lingua esse coepit in quaestu institutumque eloquentiae bonis male uti, curam morum, qui diserti habebantur, reliquerunt.
For as soon as the tongue began to be a source of gain, and the practice of using well the institution of eloquence for evil purposes arose, those who were held eloquent abandoned the care of morals.