§12.10.60medius hic modus et translationibus crebrior et figuris erit iucundior, egressionibus amoenus, compositione aptus, sententiis dulcis, lenior tamen ut amnis lucidus quidem sed uirentibus utrinque ripis inumbratus.
This middle style will be both richer in metaphors and more pleasing in figures, pleasant in digressions, fitting in composition, sweet in sententiae, yet gentler, like a river that is indeed clear but shaded on both sides by green banks.
§12.10.61at ille, qui saxa devolvat et pontem indignetur et ripas sibi faciat, multus et torrens iudicem vel nitentem contra feret cogetque ire, qua rapiet.
But that other style, which would roll down rocks and chafe at a bridge and make banks for itself, being abundant and torrential, will carry away the judge even if he struggles against it, and will force him to go where it sweeps him.
hic orator et defunctos excitabit ut Appium Caecum, apud hunc et patria ipsa exclamabit, aliquandoque ut Ciceronem in oratione contra Catilinam in senatu alloquetur.
This orator will both raise the dead, like Appius Caecum, and in his hands the fatherland itself will cry out, and sometimes, as it did in the case of Cicero, it will address the audience in the senate.
§12.10.62hic et amplificationibus extollet orationem, et in superlationem quoque erigetur.
This orator will both elevate his speech with amplifications and will also be raised to hyperbole.
quae Charybdis tam vorax? et Oceanus medius fidius ipse. nota sunt enim iam studiosis haec lumina.
"What Charybdis is so voracious?" and "By Hercules, the Ocean itself." For these highlights are already well known to students.
hic deos ipsos in congressum prope suum sermonemque deducet: vos enim Albani tumuli atque luci; vos, inquam, Albanorum obrutae arae, sacrorum popli Romani sociae et aequales. hic iram, hic misericordiam inspirabit, hoc dicente iudex deos appellabit et flebit et per omnes adfectus tractatus huc atque illuc sequetur nec doceri desiderabit.
He will bring down the gods themselves almost into his own meeting and conversation: "For you, O Alban hills and groves; you, I say, the demolished altars of the Albans, companions and equals of the sacred rites of the Roman people." He will inspire anger, he will inspire pity; when he speaks, the judge will call upon the gods and weep, and, dragged through all emotions, will follow him hither and thither, and will not desire to be instructed.
§12.10.63quare si ex tribus his generibus necessario sit eligendum unum, quis dubitet hoc praeferre omnibus et validissimum alioqui et maximis quibusque causis accommodatissimum?
Therefore, if one of these three styles had to be chosen of necessity, who would hesitate to prefer this to all others, since it is otherwise both the most powerful and the most adapted to all the greatest causes?
§12.10.64nam et Homerus brevem quidem cum iucunditate et propriam, id enim est non deerrare uerbis, et carentem supervacuis eloquentiam Menelao dedit, quae sunt virtutes generis illius primi, et ex ore Nestoris dixit dulciorem melle profluere sermonem, qua certe delectatione nihil fingi maius potest; sed summam expressurus in Ulixe facundiam et magnitudinem illi vocis et vim orationis niuibus hibernis et copia verborum atque impetu parem tribuit.
For Homer also gave to Menelaus an eloquence that was indeed brief, pleasant, and appropriate (for that means not to err in words), and free from superfluous things, which are the virtues of that first style; and from the mouth of Nestor he said that speech flowed sweeter than honey, than which pleasure certainly nothing greater can be imagined; but when he was about to express the highest eloquence in Ulysses, he attributed to him both greatness of voice and a power of speech equal to winter snows in its abundance of words and impetus.
§12.10.65cum hoc igitur nemo mortalium contendet; hunc ut deum homines intuebuntur.
Therefore, with this man no mortal will contend; men will look upon him as a god.
hanc vim et celeritatem in Pericle miratur Eupolis, hanc fulminibus Aristophanes comparat, haec est vere dicendi facultas.
This power and swiftness in Pericles Eupolis admires, this Aristophanes compares to thunderbolts; this is truly the faculty of speaking.
§12.10.66sed neque his tribus quasi formis inclusa eloquentia est.
But eloquence is not confined to these three forms, as it were.
nam ut inter gracile validumque tertium aliquid constitutum est, ita horum inter se intervalla sunt, atque inter haec ipsa mixtum quiddam ex duobus medium est eorum.
For just as a certain third thing has been established between the slender and the strong, so there are intervals between these, and between these themselves there is a certain mixture of the two, which is intermediate between them.
§12.10.67nam et subtili plenius aliquid atque subtilius et vehementi remissius atque vehementius invenitur, ut illud lene aut ascendit ad fortiora aut ad tenuiora summittitur.
For something fuller than the subtle, and something even more subtle, is found; and something more relaxed than the vehement, and something even more vehement, is found, as that gentle style either rises to stronger things or is lowered to more slender things.
ac sic prope innumerabiles species reperiuntur, quae utique aliquo momento inter se differant: sicut quattuor ventos generaliter a totidem mundi cardinibus accepimus flare, cum interim plurimi medii et eorum varia nomina et quidam etiam regionum ac fluminum proprii deprehenduntur.
And thus almost innumerable species are found, which at least differ from one another by some slight degree: just as we have received that four winds generally blow from as many quarters of the world, while in the meantime very many intermediate winds, and their various names, and some even peculiar to regions and rivers, are detected.
§12.10.68eademque musicis ratio est, qui, cum in cithara quinque constituerunt sonos, plurima deinde varietate complent spatia illa nervorum, atque his, quos interposuerunt, inserunt alios, ut pauci illi transitus multos gradus habeant.
And the same rationale applies to musicians, who, when they have established five notes on the lyre, then fill up those spaces between the strings with the greatest variety, and insert other notes among those which they have interposed, so that those few transitions may have many steps.
§12.10.69plures igitur etiam eloquentiae faces, sed stultissimum quaerere, ad quam se recturus sit orator, cum omnis species, quae modo recta est, habeat usum, atque id ipsum non sit oratoris, quod vulgo genus dicendi vocant.
Therefore, the aspects of eloquence are more numerous; but it is most foolish to ask which one the orator should direct himself toward, since every species, provided only that it is correct, has its use, and that very thing which is commonly called a "style of speaking" does not belong to the orator.
utetur enim, ut res exiget, omnibus, nec pro causa modo, sed pro partibus causae.
For he will use all of them as the situation demands, not only for the cause as a whole, but for the individual parts of the cause.