§10.2.20atque ego illi praeceptori, quem institueram in libro secundo, credidi non ea sola docenda esse, ad quae quemque discipulorum natura compositum videret; nam is et adiuvare debet, quae in quoque eorum invenit bona, et, quantum fieri potest, adiicere quae desunt et emendare quaedam et mutare; rector enim est alienorum ingeniorum atque formator.
And I believed that those things alone should not be taught to that teacher, whom I had established in the second book, to which he saw the nature of each of his pupils was adapted; for he ought both to assist the good qualities which he finds in each of them, and, as far as possible, to add what is lacking, and to correct some things and change others; for he is the director and shaper of others' minds.
§10.2.21difficilius est naturam suam fingere.
It is more difficult to shape one's own nature.
sed ne ille quidem doctor, quanquam omnia quae recta sunt velit esse in suis auditoribus quam plenissima, in eo tamen, cui naturam obstare viderit, laborabit.
But not even that teacher, although he may wish all things that are right to be as full as possible in his pupils, will nevertheless labor in the case of him whom he sees nature to stand in the way.
id quoque vitandum, in quo magna pars errat, ne in oratione poetas nobis et historicos, in illis operibus oratores aut declamatores imitandos putemus.
This also must be avoided, in which a great part errs, lest we think that poets and historians should be imitated by us in a speech, or orators and declamators in those works.
§10.2.22sua cuique proposita lex, suus cuique decor est.
To each is their own proposed law, to each their own propriety.
nam nec comoedia in cothurnos adsurgit, nec contra tragoedia socco ingreditur.
For neither does comedy rise to cothurni, nor on the contrary does tragedy walk in the soccus.
habet tamen omnis eloquentia aliquid commune; id imitemur quod commune est.
Yet all eloquence has something in common; let us imitate that which is common.
§10.2.23etiam hoc solet incommodi accidere iis, qui se uni alicui generi dediderunt, ut, si asperitas iis placuit alicuius, hanc etiam in leni ac remisso causarum genere non exuant; si tenuitas ac iucunditas, in asperis gravibusque causis ponderi rerum parum respondeant: cum sit diversa non causarum modo inter ipsas condicio, sed in singulis etiam causis partium, sintque alia leniter alia aspere, alia concitate alia remisse, alia docendi alia movendi gratia dicenda; quorum omnium dissimilis atque diversa inter se ratio est.
This also is accustomed to happen as an inconvenience to those who have devoted themselves to some one genre, that, if the harshness of someone has pleased them, they do not strip this off even in a mild and relaxed genre of cases; if thinness and pleasantness please them, they respond too little to the weight of matters in harsh and grave cases: although the condition not only of cases among themselves is different, but also of parts in individual cases, and some things are to be said mildly, others harshly, some excitedly, others relaxedly, some for the sake of teaching, others for the sake of moving; of all of which the method is dissimilar and different from each other.
§10.2.24itaque ne hoc quidem suaserim, uni se alicui proprie, quem per omnia sequatur, addicere.
Therefore, I would not even advise this, to devote oneself properly to some one person whom one should follow in all things.
longe perfectissimus Graecorum Demosthenes, aliquid tamen aliquo in loco melius alii, plurima ille.
Demosthenes is by far the most perfect of the Greeks, yet others have done something better in some place, and he most things.
sed non qui maxime imitandus, et solus imitandus est.
But he who is most to be imitated is not also the only one to be imitated.
§10.2.25quid ergo? non est satis omnia sic dicere, quomodo M. Tullius dixit? mihi quidem satis esset, si omnia consequi possem.
What then? Is it not enough to say all things in the way M. Tullius said them? To me indeed it would be enough, if I could attain all things.
quid tamen noceret vim Caesaris, asperitatem Caelii, diligentiam Pollionis, iudicium Calvi quibusdam in locis adsumere?
Yet what would it harm to assume the force of Caesar, the harshness of Caelius, the diligence of Pollio, the judgment of Calvus in certain places?
§10.2.26nam praeter id quod prudentis est, quod in quoque optimum est, si possit, suum facere, tum in tanta rei difficultate unum intuentes vix aliqua pars sequitur.
For besides the fact that it is the part of a prudent man to make his own, if he can, what is best in each, then in so great a difficulty of the matter, scarcely any part follows those who look at one alone.
ideoque cum totum exprimere quem elegeris paene sit homini inconcessum, plurium bona ponamus ante oculos, ut aliud ex alio haereat, et quod cuique loco conveniat aptemus.
And therefore, since to express the whole of him whom you have chosen is almost denied to man, let us place the good qualities of more persons before our eyes, so that one thing may cling to another, and we may adapt what is suitable to each place.
§10.2.27imitatio autem (nam saepius idem dicam) non sit tantum in verbis.
But imitation (for I shall say the same thing more often) should not be only in words.
illuc intendenda mens, quantum fuerit illis viris decoris in rebus atque personis, quod consilium, quae dispositio, quam omnia, etiam quae delectationi videantur data, ad victoriam spectent; quid agatur prooemio, quae ratio et quam varia narrandi, quae vis probandi ac refellendi, quanta in adfectibus omnis generis movendis scientia, quamque laus ipsa popularis utilitatis gratia adsumpta, quae tum est pulcherrima, cum sequitur, non cum arcessitur.
The mind must be directed thither: how much propriety there was in those men in matters and persons, what judgment, what arrangement, how all things, even those which seem to be given for pleasure, look to victory; what is done in the prooemium, what is the method of narrating and how varied, what is the force of proving and refuting, how great the knowledge in moving emotions of every kind, and how popular praise itself is assumed for the sake of utility, which is then most beautiful when it follows, not when it is summoned.
haec si perviderimus, tum vere imitabimur.
If we see these things thoroughly, then we shall truly imitate.
§10.2.28qui vero etiam propria his bona adiecerit, ut suppleat quae deerant, circumcidat, si quid redundabit, is erit, quem quaerimus, perfectus orator; quem nunc consummari potissimum oporteat, cum tanto plura exempla bene dicendi supersint quam illis, qui adhuc summi sunt, contigerunt.
But he who shall also add his own good qualities to these, so that he may supply what was lacking, and cut away if anything shall be redundant, he will be the perfect orator whom we seek; whom it should now most of all be fitting to be consummated, since so many more examples of speaking well remain than fell to the lot of those who are still the greatest.
nam erit haec quoque laus eorum, ut priores superasse, posteros docuisse dicantur.
For this also will be their praise, that they are said to have surpassed their predecessors and taught posterity.