§2.11.1iam hinc ergo nobis inchoanda est ea pars artis, ex qua capere initium solent, qui priora omiserunt; quanquam video quosdam in ipso statim limine obstaturos mihi, qui nihil egere huiusmodi praeceptis eloquentiam putent, sed natura sua et vulgari modo et scholarum exercitatione contenti rideant etiam diligentiam nostram exemplo magni quoque nominis professorum, quorum aliquis, ut opinor, interrogatus, quid esset σχῆμα et νόημα, nescire se quidem sed, si ad rem pertineret, esse in sua declamatione respondit.
Therefore, we must now begin that part of the art from which those who have omitted the prior tasks are accustomed to take their start; although I see that some will block me at the very threshold, who think that eloquence has no need of instructions of this kind, but, content with their own nature, common methods, and the practice of the schools, even laugh at our diligence, using the example of professors of great name as well, one of whom, I believe, when asked what a "σχῆμα" and a "νόημα" were, replied that he indeed did not know, but if it pertained to the matter, it was in his declamation.
§2.11.2alius percontanti, Theodoreus an Apollodoreus esset? ego, inquit, parmularius sum. nec sane potuit urbanius ex confessione inscitiae suae elabi.
Another, to one inquiring whether he was a Theodorean or an Apollodorean, said, "I am a parmularius." Nor indeed could he have escaped from the confession of his ignorance more wittily.
porro hi, quia et beneficio ingenii praestantes sunt habiti et multa etiam memoria digna exclamaverunt, plurimos habent similes negligentiae suae, paucissimos naturae.
Furthermore, these men, because they were held to be outstanding by the benefit of their talent and also cried out many things worthy of memory, have very many followers similar to their negligence, and very few to their nature.
§2.11.3igitur impetu dicere se et viribus uti gloriantur; neque enim opus esse probatione aut dispositione in rebus fictis, sed, cuius rei gratia plenum sit auditorium, sententiis grandibus, quarum optima quaeque a periculo petatur.
Therefore, they boast that they speak with impetuosity and use their strength; for they say that there is no need of proof or arrangement in feigned subjects, but rather of grand sentences, for the sake of which the lecture hall is filled, and of which every best one is sought from danger.
§2.11.4quin etiam in cogitando, nulla ratione adhibita aut tectum intuentes magnum aliquid, quod ultro se offerat, pluribus saepe diebus expectant, aut murmure incerto velut classico instincti concitatissimum corporis motum non enuntiandis sed quaerendis verbis accommodant.
Nay, even in thinking, applying no method, they either look at the ceiling, waiting often for many days for some great thing that may offer itself voluntarily, or, prompted by an uncertain murmur as if by a trumpet-call, they adapt the most excited movement of their body not to uttering words but to seeking them.
§2.11.5nonnulli certa sibi initia, priusquam sensum invenerint, destinant, quibus aliquid diserti subiungendum sit, eaque diu secum ipsi clareque meditati desperata conectendi facultate deserunt et ad alia deinceps atque inde alia non minus communia ac nota devertunt.
Some determine upon certain introductions for themselves before they have found the thought, to which some eloquent matter is to be subjoined, and having meditated on them long and aloud by themselves, they abandon them, despairing of the ability to connect them, and turn aside next to other things, and thence to other things no less common and well-known.
§2.11.6qui plurimum videntur habere rationis, non in causas tamen laborem suum sed in locos intendunt, atque in iis non corpori prospiciunt sed abrupta quaedam, ut forte ad manum venere, iaculantur.
Those who seem to have the most method direct their labor, however, not to cases, but to commonplaces, and in these they do not look to the body, but hurl certain abrupt fragments just as they happen to come to hand.
§2.11.7unde fit, ut dissoluta et ex diversis congesta oratio cohaerere non possit similisque sit commentariis puerorum, in quos ea, quae aliis declamantibus laudata sunt, regerunt.
Hence it happens that a loose speech, piled up from diverse sources, cannot cohere, and is similar to the notebooks of boys, into which they copy those things which have been praised in others declaiming.
magnas tamen sententias et res bonas, ita enim gloriari solent, elidunt; nam et barbari et servi;
Yet they force out great sentences and good things—for so they are accustomed to boast; for even barbarians and slaves do this.
et si hoc sat est, nulla est ratio dicendi.
And if this is enough, there is no art of speaking.