§10.4.1sequitur emendatio, pars studiorum longe utilissima.
Next follows correction, by far the most useful part of study.
neque enim sine causa creditum est stilum non minus agere, cum delet.
For it is not without reason believed that the pen does no less work when it erases.
huius autem operis est adiicere, detrahere, mutare.
Moreover, the task of this work is to add, to take away, to change.
sed facilius in iis simpliciusque iudicium, quae replenda vel deicienda sunt; premere vero tumentia, humilia extollere, luxuriantia adstringere, inordinata digerere, soluta componere, exultantia coercere, duplicis operae.
But judgment is easier and simpler in those things which are to be filled up or cast out; but to depress what is swollen, to raise what is low, to prune what is luxuriant, to arrange what is disordered, to bind together what is loose, to restrain what is extravagant, is a task of double labor.
nam et damnanda sunt quae placuerunt et invenienda quae fugerant.
For both those things which pleased must be condemned, and those things which had escaped us must be found.
§10.4.2nec dubium est optimum esse emendandi genus, si scripta in aliquod tempus reponantur, ut ad ea post intervallum velut nova atque aliena redeamus, ne nobis scripta nostra tanquam recentes fetus blandiantur.
Nor is there any doubt that the best kind of correction is for writings to be laid aside for some time, so that we may return to them after an interval as if they were new and written by someone else, lest our own writings flatter us like newborn offspring.
§10.4.3sed neque hoc contingere semper potest praesertim oratori, cui saepius scribere ad praesentes usus necesse est; et ipsa emendatio finem habeat.
But neither can this always happen, especially to an orator, who is more often obliged to write for immediate use; and let the correction itself have a limit.
sunt enim qui ad omnia scripta tanquam vitiosa redeant et, quasi nihil fas sit rectum esse quod primum est, melius existiment quidquid est aliud, idque faciant, quotiens librum in manus resumpserunt, similes medicis etiam integra secantibus.
For there are some who return to all their writings as if they were faulty, and, as if it were forbidden for anything that is first produced to be right, think whatever is different to be better, and do this as often as they take the book back into their hands, like physicians who cut even healthy parts.
accidit itaque ut cicatricosa sint et exsanguis et cura peiora.
Thus it happens that they become scarred, bloodless, and worse because of the care.
§10.4.4sit ergo aliquando quod placeat aut certe quod sufficiat, ut opus poliat lima, non exterat.
Therefore, let there be at some time something which pleases, or at least which suffices, so that the file may polish the work, not wear it away.
temporis quoque esse debet modus.
There must also be a limit of time.
nam quod Cinnae Zmyrnam novem annis accepimus scriptam, et panegyricum Isocratis, qui parcissime, decem annis dicunt elaboratum, ad oratorem nihil pertinet, cuius nullum erit, si tam tardum fuerit, auxilium.
For that we have heard that Cinna's "Zmyrna" was nine years in writing, and that they say the Panegyric of Isocrates was worked upon for ten years (to speak most moderately), has nothing to do with the orator, whose assistance, if it be so slow, will be of no avail.