§12.8.1proxima discendae causae ratio, quod est orationis fundamentum.
Next is the method of learning the cause, which is the foundation of a speech.
neque enim quisquam ingenio tam tenui reperietur, qui, cum omnia quae sunt in causa diligenter cognoverit, ad docendum certe iudicem non sufficiat.
For no one will be found of so feeble an intellect who, when he has diligently learned everything that is in the cause, is not at least sufficient to instruct the judge.
§12.8.2sed eius rei paucissimis cura est.
But very few have a care for this matter.
nam ut taceam de negligentibus, quorum nihil refert, ubi litium cardo vertatur, dum sint quae vel extra causam ex personis aut communi tractatu locorum occasionem clamandi largiantur, aliquos et ambitio pervertit, qui partim tanquam occupati semperque aliud habentes, quod ante agendum sit, pridie ad se venire litigatorem aut eodem matutino iubent, nonnunquam etiam inter ipsa subsellia didicisse se gloriantur; §12.8.3partim iactantia ingenii, ut res cito accepisse videantur, tenere se et intelligere prius paene quam audiant mentiti, cum multa et diserte summisque clamoribus, quae neque ad iudicem neque ad litigatorem pertineant, decantaverunt, bene sudantes beneque comitati per forum reducuntur.
For, to say nothing of the negligent, to whom it matters nothing where the hinge of the lawsuits turns, provided only there are things which, even outside the cause, from the persons or the common treatment of topics, afford an opportunity for shouting, ambition also perverts some, who, partly as if busy and always having something else that must be done beforehand, order the litigant to come to them on the day before or on the morning of the same day, and sometimes even boast that they have learned the case among the very benches; partly from a boastfulness of talent, so that they may seem to have grasped the matter quickly, lying that they hold and understand it almost before they hear it, when they have chanted many things eloquently and with the loudest shouts, which belong neither to the judge nor to the litigant, sweating well and well-attended, they are led back through the forum.
§12.8.4ne illas quidem tulerim delicias eorum, qui doceri amicos suos iubent, quanquam minus mali est, si illi saltem recte discant recteque doceant.
Indeed, I would not even tolerate that self-indulgence of those who order their friends to be instructed, although there is less evil if they at least learn rightly and teach rightly.
sed quis discet tam bene quam patronus? quomodo autem sequester ille et media litium manus et quidam interpres impendet aequo animo laborem in alienas actiones, cum dicturis tanti suae non sint?
But who will learn so well as the advocate? How, moreover, will that go-between, the middle hand of lawsuits, and a kind of interpreter, expend labor with an easy mind on others' pleadings, when to those who are going to speak, their own are of so little value?
§12.8.5pessimae vero consuetudinis libellis esse contentum, quos componit aut litigator qui confugit ad patronum, quia liti ipse non sufficit, aut aliquis ex eo genere advocatorum, qui se non posse agere confitentur, deinde faciunt id quod est in agendo difficillimum.
Indeed, it is of the worst habit to be content with briefs, which are composed either by the litigant who flees to an advocate because he himself is not sufficient for the lawsuit, or by someone of that class of assistants who confess that they cannot plead, and then do that which is most difficult in pleading.
nam qui iudicare, quid dicendum, quid dissimulandum, quid declinandum, mutandum, fingendum etiam sit, potest, cur non sit orator, quando, quod difficilius est, oratorem facit?
For he who can judge what is to be said, what is to be concealed, what is to be avoided, changed, and even feigned, why should he not be an orator, since, which is more difficult, he makes an orator?
§12.8.6hi porro non tantum nocerent, si omnia scriberent uti gesta sunt.
These, furthermore, would not do so much harm if they wrote everything as it was done.
nunc consilium et colores adiiciunt et aliqua peiora veris, quae plerique cum acceperunt, mutare nefas habent et velut themata in scholis posita custodiunt.
Now they add design and colorings, and some things worse than the truth, which most of those who receive them consider a sin to change, and guard them like themes set in schools.
deinde deprehenduntur et causam, quam discere ex suis litigatoribus noluerunt, ex adversariis discunt.
Then they are caught and learn from their adversaries the cause which they refused to learn from their own litigants.
§12.8.7liberum igitur demus ante omnia iis, quorum negotium erit, tempus ac locum, exhortemurque ultro, ut omnia quamlibet verbose et unde volent repetita ex tempore exponant.
Let us therefore give, before all things, free time and place to those whose business it will be, and let us voluntarily exhort them to set forth everything, however wordily and repeated from whatever point they wish, according to the occasion.
non enim tam obest audire supervacua quam ignorare necessaria.
For it is not so harmful to hear what is superfluous as to be ignorant of what is necessary.