§11.1.1parata, sicut superior libro continetur, facultate scribendi cogitandique et ex tempore etiam, cum res poscet, orandi, proxima est cura, ut dicamus apte; quam virtutem quartam elocutionis Cicero demonstrat, quaeque est meo quidem iudicio maxime necessaria.
The faculty of writing, thinking, and also pleading extempore when the situation demands having been prepared, as is contained in the preceding book, our next care is that we speak appropriately; which virtue Cicero points out as the fourth of style, and which is, in my judgment indeed, the most necessary.
§11.1.2nam cum sit ornatus orationis varius et multiplex conveniatque alius alii, nisi fuerit accommodatus rebus atque personis, non modo non illustrabit eam, sed etiam destruet et vim rerum in contrarium vertet.
For since the ornament of speech is varied and manifold and one fits one and another another, unless it is adapted to things and persons, it will not only not illuminate it, but even destroy it and turn the force of things into the contrary.
quid enim prodest, esse verba et Latina et significantia et nitida, figuris etiam numerisque elaborata, nisi cum iis, in quae iudicem duci formarique volumus,
For what does it profit that words are both Latin and significant and elegant, elaborated also with figures and rhythms, unless they agree with those things into which we wish the judge to be led and molded, if we should apply the sublime kind of speaking in small cases, the small and polished in great ones, the cheerful in sad ones, the gentle in harsh ones, the threatening in suppliant ones, the submissive in excited ones, the fierce and violent in pleasant ones?
§11.1.3consentiant, si genus sublime dicendi parvis in causis, parvum limatumque grandibus, laetum tristibus, lene asperis, minax supplicibus, summissum concitatis, trux atque violentum iucundis adhibeamus? ut monilibus et margaritis ac veste longa, quae sunt ornamenta feminarum, deformentur viri, nec habitus triumphalis, quo nihil excogitari potest augustius, feminas deceat.
Just as men would be disfigured by necklaces and pearls and long dress, which are ornaments of women, nor would the triumphal habit, than which nothing more august can be devised, become women.
§11.1.4hunc locum Cicero breviter in tertio de Oratore libro perstringit, neque tamen videri potest quidquam omisisse dicendo, non omni causae neque auditori neque personae neque tempori congruere orationis unum genus.
Cicero touches upon this topic briefly in the third book of De Oratore, and yet he cannot seem to have omitted anything by saying that one kind of speech does not fit every case, nor audience, nor person, nor time.
nec fere pluribus in Oratore eadem.
Nor indeed does he say otherwise the same things in the Orator without many more words.
sed illic L. Crassus, cum apud summos oratores hominesque eruditissimos dicat, satis habet partem hanc velut notare inter agnoscentes; §11.1.5et hic Cicero adloquens Brutum testatur esse haec ei nota ideoque brevius a se dici, quanquam sit fusus locus tracteturque a philosophis latius.
But there, Lucius Crassus, since he is speaking before the greatest orators and most learned men, is content to merely note this part, as it were, among those who already acknowledge it; and here, Cicero addressing Brutus bears witness that these things are known to him and therefore are said by himself more briefly, although the topic is extensive and treated more widely by philosophers.
nos institutionem professi non solum scientibus ista, sed etiam discentibus tradimus, ideoque paulo pluribus verbis debet haberi venia.
We, having undertaken instruction, deliver these things not only to those who know them but also to those who are learning them, and therefore indulgence ought to be had for a little more words.
§11.1.6quare notum sit nobis ante omnia, quid conciliando, docendo, movendo iudici conveniat, quid quaque parte orationis petamus.
Wherefore, let it be known to us before all things, what is appropriate for winning over, teaching, and moving the judge, and what we seek in each part of the speech.
ita nec vetera aut translata aut ficta verba in incipiendo, narrando, argumentando tractabimus neque decurrentes contexto nitore circuitus, ubi dividenda erit causa et in partes suas digerenda, neque humile atque cotidianum sermonis genus et compositione ipsa dissolutum epilogis dabimus, nec iocis lacrimas, ubi opus erit miseratione, siccabimus.
Thus we shall neither employ archaic or metaphorical or coined words in the beginning, the narration, or the arguing, nor flowing periods of continuous elegance where the case must be divided and distributed into its parts, nor shall we give a low and everyday kind of speech, loose in its very composition, to epilogues, nor shall we dry tears with jests where there is need of pity.
§11.1.7nam ornatus omnis non tam sua quam rei, cui adhibetur, condicione constat; nec plus refert, quid dicas quam quo loco.
For all ornament consists not so much in its own condition as in that of the thing to which it is applied; nor does it matter more what you say than in what place.
sed totum hoc apte dicere non elocutionis tantum genere constat, sed est cum inventione commune.
But this whole "speaking appropriately" consists not only in the kind of style, but is common with invention.
nam si tantum habent etiam verba momentum, quanto res ipsae magis? quarum quae esset observatio, suis locis subinde subiecimus.
For if even words have so much weight, how much more the things themselves? Our observation of which we have subjoined immediately in their proper places.
§11.1.8illud est diligentius docendum, eum demum dicere apte, qui non solum quid expediat, sed etiam quid deceat inspexerit.
This must be taught more carefully, that he alone speaks appropriately who has looked into not only what is expedient, but also what is becoming.
nec me fugit, plerumque haec esse coniuncta.
Nor does it escape me that these are usually conjoined.
nam quod decet, fere prodest, neque alio magis animi iudicum conciliari aut, si res in contrarium tulit, alienari solent.
For what is becoming is generally useful, nor are the minds of the judges accustomed to be won over by anything else more, or, if the situation has turned to the contrary, to be alienated.
§11.1.9aliquando tamen et haec dissentiunt.
Sometimes, however, even these disagree.
quotiens autem pugnabunt, ipsam utilitatem vincet quod decet.
But as often as they clash, what is becoming will overcome utility itself.
nam quis nescit, nihil magis profuturum ad absolutionem Socrati fuisse, quam si esset usus illo iudiciali genere defensionis et oratione summissa conciliasset iudicum animos sibi crimenque ipsum sollicite redarguisset?
For who does not know that nothing would have been more useful for Socrates' acquittal than if he had used that judicial kind of defense and had won over the minds of the judges to himself with a submissive speech and anxiously refuted the accusation itself?
§11.1.10verum id eum minime decebat; ideoque sic egit, ut qui poenam suam honoribus summis esset aestimaturus.
But that least of all became him; and therefore he acted in such a way, as one who was to value his punishment at the highest honors.
maluit enim vir sapientissimus, quod superesset ex vita, sibi perire, quam quod praeterisset.
For that wisest man preferred that what remained of his life should perish to him, rather than what had passed.
et quando ab hominibus sui temporis parum intelligebatur, posteriorum se iudiciis reservavit, brevi detrimento iam ultimae senectutis aevum saeculorum omnium consecutus.
And since he was little understood by the men of his own time, he reserved himself for the judgments of posterity, by a brief loss of his already extreme old age obtaining an age of all centuries.