§12.11.22quae tandem ars digna litteris Platoni defuit? quot sacculis Aristoteles didicit, ut non solum, quae ad philosophos atque oratores pertinent, scientia complecteretur, sed animalium satorumque naturas omnes perquireret? illis haec invenienda fuerunt, nobis cognoscenda sunt.
What art worthy of letters, pray, was lacking to Plato? How many ages did Aristotle spend in learning, so that he not only embraced in his knowledge what belongs to philosophers and orators, but thoroughly investigated all the natures of animals and plants? For them, these things had to be found; for us, they are to be learned.
tot nos praeceptoribus, tot exemplis instruxit antiquitas, ut possit videri nulla sorte nascendi aetas felicior quam nostra, cui docendae priores elaborarunt.
Antiquity has instructed us with so many teachers, so many examples, that no age of birth could seem happier than ours, for whose instruction our predecessors have labored.
§12.11.23M. igitur Cato idem summus imperator, idem sapiens, idem orator, idem historiae conditor, idem iris, idem rerum rusticarum peritissimus fuit inter tot operas militiae, tantas domi contentiones, rudi saeculo, litteras Graecas aetate iam declinata; didicit, ut esset hominibus documento ea quoque percipi posse quae senes concupissent.
Marcus Cato, therefore, who was at once a supreme general, a wise man, an orator, a founder of history, a man most skilled in law, and most expert in rural affairs, amid so many activities of military service and so great contentions at home, in a rude age, learned Greek letters when his life was already declining; he learned them so that he might be a proof to men that those things which old men have set their hearts upon can also be acquired.
§12.11.24quam multa, paene omnia, tradidit Varro! quod instrumentum dicendi M. Tullio defuit? quid plura? cum etiam Cornelius Celsus, mediocri vir ingenio, non solum de his omnibus conscripserit artibus, sed amplius rei militaris et rusticae et medicinae praecepta reliquerit, dignus vel ipso proposito, ut eum scisse omnia illa credamus.
How many things, indeed almost everything, did Varro hand down! What instrument of speaking was lacking to Marcus Tullius? What more? Since even Cornelius Celsus, a man of moderate ability, not only wrote about all these arts, but further left precepts on military and rural affairs and medicine, being worthy, even by his very purpose, of our belief that he knew all those things.
§12.11.25at perficere tantum opus arduum et nemo perfecit.
But to perfect so great a work is arduous, and no one has perfected it.
ante omnia sufficit ad exhortationem studiorum, capere id rerum naturam nec, quidquid non est factum, ne fieri quidem posse; tum omnia, quae magna sunt atque admirabilia, tempus aliquod quo primum efficerentur habuisse.
First of all, for the encouragement of our studies, it is sufficient to understand that the nature of things allows this, and that whatever has not been done is not therefore impossible to be done; and then, that all things which are great and admirable had some time in which they were first accomplished.
§12.11.26nam et poesis ab Homero et Vergilio tantum fastigium accepit et eloquentia a Demosthene atque Cicerone.
For poetry received so great a height from Homer and Virgil, and eloquence from Demosthenes and Cicero.
denique quidquid est optimum, ante non fuerat.
In short, whatever is best did not exist before.
verum etiam si quis summa desperet (quod cur faciat, cui ingenium, valetudo, facultas, praeceptores non deerunt?), tamen est, ut Cicero ait, pulchrum ad secundis tertiisque consistere.
But even if one should despair of the highest things (and why should he do so, to whom talent, health, opportunity, and teachers will not be lacking?), yet, as Cicero says, it is beautiful to stand in the second and third places.
§12.11.27neque enim, si quis Achillis gloriam ad bellicis consequi non potest, Aiacis aut Diomedis laudem aspernabitur, nec qui Homeri non fuerunt, Tyrtaei.
For if one cannot attain the glory of Achilles in military affairs, he will not despise the praise of Ajax or Diomedes; nor did those who could not be Homers despise being Tyrtaeuses.
quin immo si hanc cogitationem homines habuissent, ut nemo se meliorem fore eo qui optimus fuisset, arbitraretur, ii ipsi, qui sunt optimi, non fuissent, neque post Lucretium ac Macrum Vergilius nec post Crassum et Hortensium Cicero, sed nec illi, qui post eos fuerunt.
Nay, rather, if men had held this thought, that no one should expect to be better than him who had been the best, those very men who are the best would not have existed; neither Virgil after Lucretius and Macer, nor Cicero after Crassus and Hortensius, nor indeed those who lived after them.
§12.11.28verum ut transeundi spes non sit, magna tamen est dignitas subsequendi.
But even though there be no hope of surpassing them, yet great is the dignity of following them.
an Pollio et Messala, qui iam Cicerone arcem tenente eloquentiae agere coeperunt, parum ad vita dignitatis habuerunt, parum ad posteros gloriae tradiderunt? alioqui pessime de rebus humanis perductae ad summum artes mererentur, si, quod optimum, idem ultimum fuisset.
Did Pollio and Messala, who began to plead when Cicero was already holding the citadel of eloquence, have too little dignity in their lives, or hand down too little glory to posterity? Otherwise, the arts that have been brought to perfection would deserve very ill of human affairs if that which was best had also been the last.
§12.11.29adde quod magnos modica quoque eloquentia parit fructus ac, si quis haec studia utilitate sola metiatur, paene illi perfectae par est.
Add to this that even moderate eloquence produces great fruits, and, if one measures these studies by utility alone, it is almost equal to the perfect kind.
neque erat difficile vel veteribus vel novis exemplis palam facere, non aliunde maiores opes, honores, amicitias, laudem praesentem, futuram hominibus contigisse, nisi indignum litteris esset, ab opere pulcherrimo, cuius tractatus atque ipsa possessio plenissimam studiis gratiam refert, hanc minorem exigere mercedem, more eorum, qui a se non virtutes sed voluptatem, quae fit ex virtutibus, peti dicunt.
Nor would it have been difficult to make it clear by ancient or modern examples that no greater wealth, honors, friendships, or present and future praise have fallen to men from any other source than this; unless it were unworthy of letters to demand this lesser reward from a most beautiful work, whose practice and very possession return the fullest gratitude to studies, after the manner of those who say that not virtues but the pleasure arising from virtues is sought from them.
§12.11.30ipsam igitur orandi maiestatem, qua nihil dii immortales melius homini dederunt et qua remota muta sunt omnia et luce praesenti ac memoria posteritatis carent, toto animo petamus nitamurque semper ad optima, quod facientes aut evademus ad summum aut certe multos infra nos videbimus.
Let us therefore seek with our whole mind the very majesty of eloquence, than which the immortal gods have given nothing better to man, and without which all things are mute and lack present light and the memory of posterity; and let us always strive for the best, in doing which we shall either arrive at the summit or at least see many below us.
§12.11.31haec erant, Marcelle Victori, quibus praecepta dicendi pro virili parte adiuvari posse per nos videbantur, quorum cognitio studiosis iuvenibus si non magnam utilitatem adferet, at certe, quod magis petimus, bonam voluntatem.
These were the things, Marcellus Victor, by which the precepts of speaking seemed capable of being assisted by us to the best of our ability; the knowledge of which, if it does not bring great utility to studious youths, will at least bring, what we more desire, a good will.