§11.1.43nec tantum, quis et pro quo sed etiam apud quem dicas, interest.
Nor is it of importance only who speaks and for whom, but also before whom you speak.
facit enim et fortuna discrimen et potestas, nec eadem apud principem, magistratum, senatorem, privatum, tantum liberum ratio est, nec eodem sono publica iudicia et arbitrorum disceptationes aguntur.
For both fortune and power make a difference, nor is the rule of eloquence the same before a prince, a magistrate, a senator, a private person, or one who is merely free, nor are public trials and arbitrations conducted with the same tone.
§11.1.44nam ut orantem pro capite sollicitudo deceat et cura et omnes ad amplificandam orationem quasi machinae, ita in parvis rebus iudiciisque vana sint eadem, rideaturque merito, qui apud disceptatorem de re levissima sedens dicturus utatur illa Ciceronis confessione, non modo se animo commoveri, sed etiam corpore ipso perhorrescere.
For just as anxiety, care, and all the devices, as it were, for amplifying speech are becoming to one pleading for a person's life, so in small matters and trials the same things would be useless, and he would be deservedly laughed at who, sitting to speak before an arbitrator about a most trivial matter, should use that well-known confession of Cicero, that he is not only disturbed in mind but even trembles in his very body.
§11.1.45quis vero nesciat, quanto aliud dicendi genus poscat gravitas senatoria, aliud aura popularis? cum etiam singulis iudicantibus non idem apud graves viros quod leviores, non idem apud eruditum quod militarem ac rusticum deceat, sitque nonnunquam summittenda et contrahenda oratio, ne iudex eam vel intelligere vel capere non possit.
Indeed, who does not know how much one style of speaking is demanded by senatorial gravity, and another by the popular breeze? Since, even when individuals judge, the same things do not become us before grave men as before lighter ones, nor before a learned man as before a military man or a rustic, and the speech must sometimes be lowered and contracted, lest the judge should be unable either to understand or to grasp it.
§11.1.46tempus quoque ac locus egent observatione propria.
Time and place also require their own observation.
nam et tempus tum triste, tum laetum, tum liberum, tum angustum est, atque ad haec omnia componendus orator; §11.1.47et loco publico privatone, celebri an secreto, aliena civitate an tua, in castris denique an foro dicas, interest plurimum, ac suam quidque formam et proprium quendam modum eloquentiae poscit: cum etiam in ceteris actibus vitae non idem in foro, curia, campo, theatro, domi facere conveniat; et pleraque, quae natura non sunt reprehendenda atque adeo interim sunt necessaria, alibi quam mos permiserit turpia habeantur.
For time is sometimes sad, sometimes joyful, sometimes free, sometimes restricted, and the orator must adapt himself to all these; and whether you speak in a public or private place, in a crowded or secret one, in a foreign city or your own, in a camp or in the forum, makes a very great difference, and each demands its own form and a certain proper style of eloquence: since, indeed, even in the other actions of life, it is not fitting to do the same things in the forum, the senate-house, the Campus Martius, the theater, and at home; and many things, which are not to be blamed by nature and are even sometimes necessary, are held to be disgraceful in any place other than where custom permits.
§11.1.48illud iam diximus, quanto plus nitoris et cultus demonstrativae materiae, ut ad delectationem audientium compositae, quam, quae sunt in actu et contentione, suasoriae iudicialesque permittant.
We have already said how much more brilliance and ornament is permitted to demonstrative material, as being composed for the delight of the audience, than to deliberative and judicial materials, which are engaged in action and contest.
hoc adhuc adiiciendum aliquas etiam, quae sunt egregiae dicendi virtutes, quo minus deceant, effici condicione causarum.
To this we must still add that some qualities, which are outstanding virtues of speaking, are rendered less becoming by the condition of the cases.
§11.1.49an quisquam tulerit reum in discrimine capitis, praecipueque si apud victorem et principem pro se ipse dicat, frequenti translatione, fictis aut repetitis ex vetustate verbis, compositione quae sit maxime a vulgari usu remote, decurrentibus periodis, quam laetissimis locis sententiisque dicentem? non perdant haec omnia necessarium periclitanti sollicitudinis colorem, petendumque etiam innocentibus misericordiae auxilium?
Would anyone tolerate a defendant in danger of his life, especially if he speaks for himself before a victor and a prince, speaking with frequent metaphor, with coined words or those revived from antiquity, with a composition which is most remote from common usage, with flowing periods, and with the most florid commonplaces and maxims? Would not all these things destroy that color of anxiety which is necessary for one in danger, and ruin that aid of mercy which must be sought even by the innocent?
§11.1.50moveaturne quisquam eius fortuna, quem tumidum ac sui iactantem et ambitiosum institorem eloquentiae in ancipiti sorte videat? non immo oderit reum verba aucupantem et anxium de fama ingenii, et cui esse diserto vacet?
Would anyone be moved by the fortune of one whom, in a perilous situation, he sees to be puffed up, boasting of himself, and an ambitious peddler of eloquence? Would he not rather hate a defendant who hunts for words, is anxious about the reputation of his talent, and has leisure to be eloquent?
§11.1.51quod mire M. Caelius in defensione causae, qua reus de vi fuit, comprehendisse videtur mihi: ne cui vestrum atque etiam omnium, qui ad rem agendam adsunt, meus aut vultus molestior aut vox immoderatior aliqua aut denique, quod minimum est, iactantior gestus fuisse videatur. §11.1.52atqui sunt quaedam actiones in satisfactione, deprecatione, confessione positae: sententiolisne flendum erit? epiphonemata aut enthymemata exorabunt? non, quidquid meris adiicietur adfectibus, omnes eorum diluet vires et miserationem securitate laxabit?
This M. Caelius, in his defense of a case in which he was defendant on a charge of violence, seems to me to have grasped wonderfully: "lest to any of you, and even of all who are present at the trial, my countenance should have appeared too offensive, or my voice too immoderate, or finally, which is the least of all, my gesture too boastful." And yet, there are certain pleadings which consist in apology, entreaty, or confession: must we weep with petty maxims? Will epiphonemas or enthymemes move to mercy? Will not whatever is added to pure feelings dilute all their strength, and relax compassion with a sense of security?
§11.1.53age, si de morte filii sui vel iniuria, quae morte sit gravior, dicendum patri fuerit, aut in narrando gratiam illam expositionis, quae continget ex sermone puro atque dilucido, quaeret, breviter ac significanter ordinem rei protulisse contentus, aut argumenta diducet in digitos et propositionum ac partitionum captabit leporem et, ut plerumque in hoc genere moris est, intentione omni remissa loquetur?
Come, if a father has to speak of the death of his son, or of an injury heavier than death, will he in his narrative seek that grace of exposition which arises from pure and lucid language, contenting himself with having related the order of the event briefly and clearly, or will he count his arguments on his fingers, hunt for the elegance of propositions and divisions, and speak, as is mostly the custom in this kind, with all tension relaxed?