§10.1.98iam Varii Thyestes cuilibet Graecarum comparari potest.
Now, the Thyestes of Varius can be compared to any of the Greek tragedies.
Ovidi Medea videtur mihi ostendere, quantam ille vir praestare potuerit, si ingenio suo imperare quam indulgere maluisset.
Ovid's Medea seems to me to show how much that man could have achieved if he had chosen to rule his own genius rather than indulge it.
eorum quos viderim longe princeps Pomponius Secundus, quem senes quidem parum tragicum putabant, eruditione ac nitore praestare confitebantur.
Among those whom I have seen, Pomponius Secundus is by far the foremost; the old men indeed thought him too little of a tragic poet, but they confessed that he excelled in learning and polish.
§10.1.99in comoedia maxime claudicamus.
In comedy we are most deficient.
licet Varro Musas, Aeli Stilonis sententia, Plautino dicat sermone locuturas fuisse, si Latine loqui vellent, licet Caecilium veteres laudibus ferant, licet Terentii scripta ad Scipionem Africanum referantur (quae tamen sunt in hoc genere elegantissima et plus adhuc habitura gratiae si intra versus trimetros stetissent), vix levem consequimur umbram, §10.1.100adeo ut mihi sermo ipse Romanus non recipere videatur illam solis concessam Atticis venerem, cum eam ne Graeci quidem in alio genere linguae suae obtinuerint.
Although Varro, in the opinion of Aelius Stilo, says that the Muses would have spoken in the language of Plautus if they had wished to speak in Latin; although the ancients extol Caecilius with praises; although the writings of Terence are attributed to Scipio Africanus (which, however, are the most elegant in this genre and would have had still more grace if they had remained within trimeter verses), we scarcely attain a faint shadow, so much so that the Roman language itself seems to me not to admit that grace granted to the Attics alone, since not even the Greeks obtained it in any other dialect of their tongue.
togatis excellit Afranius; utinam non inquinasset argumenta puerorum foedis amoribus mores suos fassus.
Afranius excels in comedies of Roman manners; would that he had not defiled his plots with the shameful loves of boys, thus confessing his own morals.
§10.1.101at non historia cesserit Graecis, nec opponere Thucydidi Sallustium verear, neque indignetur sibi Herodotus aequari T. Livium, cum in narrando mirae iucunditatis clarissimique candoris, tum in contionibus supra quam enarrari potest eloquentem; ita quae dicuntur omnia cum rebus tum personis accommodata sunt; adfectus quidem, praecipueque eos qui sunt dulciores, ut parcissime dicam, nemo historicorum commendavit magis.
But history would not yield to the Greeks, nor should I fear to oppose Sallust to Thucydides, nor would Herodotus be indignant at Titus Livius being equaled to him, since Livy is of wonderful pleasantness and most clear brightness in narrative, and in speeches eloquent beyond what can be described; so much is everything said adapted both to the circumstances and to the characters; as for feelings, indeed, especially those which are gentler, to speak most sparingly, none of the historians has commended them more.
§10.1.102ideoque immortalem illam Sallustii velocitatem diversis virtutibus consecutus est.
And therefore he attained that immortal speed of Sallust by different virtues.
nam mihi egregie dixisse videtur Servilius Nonianus, pares eos magis quam similes; qui et ipse a nobis auditus est, clarus vi ingenii et sententiis creber, sed minus pressus quam historiae auctoritas postulat.
For Servilius Nonianus seems to me to have said excellently that they are rather equal than similar; he himself was also heard by us, famous for the force of his genius and crowded with sententious sayings, but less compressed than the authority of history demands.
§10.1.103quam paulum aetate praecedens eum Bassus Aufidius egregie, utique in libris belli Germanici, praestitit genere ipso, probabilis in omnibus, sed in quibusdam suis ipse viribus minor.
Aufidius Bassus, preceding him slightly in age, excelled excellently in that very genre, especially in his books on the German War, commendable in all things, but in some parts inferior to his own strength.
§10.1.104superest adhuc et exornat aetatis nostrae gloriam vir saeculorum memoria dignus, qui olim nominabitur, nunc intelligitur.
There still survives and adorns the glory of our age a man worthy of the memory of ages, who will be named hereafter, and is understood now.
habet amatores nec immerito Cremuti libertas, quanquam circumcisis quae dixisse ei nocuerat.
The freedom of Cremutius has its admirers, and not undeservedly, although those things which had harmed him to have said have been cut out.
sed elatum abunde spiritum et audaces sententias deprehendas etiam in his quae manent.
But you may detect a sufficiently elevated spirit and bold sentiments even in those parts which remain.
sunt et alii scriptores boni, sed nos genera degustamus, non bibliothecas excutimus.
There are other good writers, but we are sampling genres, not shaking out libraries.
§10.1.105oratores vero vel praecipue Latinam eloquentiam parem facere Graecae possint.
But orators indeed, above all, can make Latin eloquence equal to Greek.
nam Ciceronem cuicunque eorum fortiter opposuerim.
For I would boldly oppose Cicero to any of them.
nec ignoro quantam mihi concitem pugnam, cum praesertim non sit id propositi, ut eum Demostheni comparem hoc tempore; neque enim attinet, cum Demosthenem in primis legendum vel ediscendum potius putem.
Nor am I ignorant of how great a battle I provoke for myself, especially since it is not the purpose to compare him to Demosthenes at this time; for indeed it is of no relevance, since I think Demosthenes is to be read in the first place, or rather to be learned by heart.
§10.1.106quorum ego virtutes plerasque arbitror similes, consilium, ordinem, dividendi, praeparandi, probandi rationem, omnia denique quae sunt inventionis.
Most of whose virtues I judge to be similar: counsel, order, the method of dividing, preparing, proving—in short, everything that belongs to invention.
in eloquendo est aliqua diversitas; densior ille hic copiosior, ille concludit adstrictius hic latius, pugnat ille acumine semper hic frequenter et pondere, illi nihil detrahi potest huic nihil adiici, curae plus in illo in hoc naturae.
In expression there is some diversity: the former is more dense, the latter more copious; the former concludes more tightly, the latter more broadly; the former always fights with sharpness, the latter frequently with weight; from the former nothing can be taken away, to the latter nothing can be added; there is more care in the former, more nature in the latter.
§10.1.107salibus certe et commiseratione, qui duo plurimum in adfectibus valent, vincimus.
In wit certainly and in pity, which two have the greatest power in moving the affections, we conquer.
et fortasse epilogos illi mos civitatis abstulerit; sed et nobis illa, quae Attici mirantur, diversa Latini sermonis ratio minus permiserit.
And perhaps the custom of the state deprived him of epilogues; but also the different nature of the Latin tongue has less permitted to us those things which the Attics admire.
in epistolis quidem, quanquam sunt utriusque, dialogisve, quibus nihil ille, nulla contentio est.
In letters indeed, although there are some of both, or in dialogues, in which he has left nothing, there is no contest.
§10.1.108cedendum vero in hoc, quod et prior fuit et ex magna parte Ciceronem, quantus est, fecit.
But we must yield in this, that he was both prior and to a great extent made Cicero what he is.
nam mihi videtur M. Tullius, cum se totum ad imitationem Graecorum contulisset, effinxisse vim Demosthenis, copiam Platonis, iucunditatem Isocratis.
For it seems to me that M. Tullius, when he had devoted himself entirely to the imitation of the Greeks, expressed the force of Demosthenes, the copiousness of Plato, and the sweetness of Isocrates.