§2.4.32ita sunt autem speciosa haec et utilia, si oriuntur ex causa; ceterum quamlibet pulchra elocutio, nisi ad victoriam tendit, utique supervacua, sed interim etiam contraria est.
However, these are attractive and useful only if they arise from the cause; otherwise, no matter how beautiful the style, if it does not tend toward victory, it is entirely superfluous, and sometimes even counterproductive.
verum hactenus evagari satis fuerit.
But it will have been enough to wander off this far.
§2.4.33legum laus ac vituperatio iam maiores ac prope summis operibus suffecturas vires desiderant; quae quidem suasoriis an controversiis magis accommodata sit exercitatio, consuetudine et iure civitatium differt.
The praise and censure of laws now demand greater strength, such as would almost suffice for the greatest works; and whether this exercise is more accommodated to suasoriae or to controversies differs according to the custom and law of states.
apud Graecos enim lator earum ad iudicem vocabatur, Romanis pro contione suadere ac dissuadere moris fuit.
For among the Greeks, the proposer of them was summoned before a judge, whereas among the Romans, it was the custom to persuade and dissuade before a public assembly.
utroque autem modo pauca de his et fere certa dicuntur.
In both ways, however, few things are said about them, and those are almost certain.
nam et genera sunt tria, sacri, publici, privati iuris.
For there are also three kinds: of sacred, public, and private law.
§2.4.34quae divisio ad laudem magis spectat, si quis eam per gradus augeat, quod lex, quod publica, quod ad religionem deum comparata sit.
This division looks more to praise, if one increases it by degrees: because it is a law, because it is public, because it is established for the religion of the gods.
ea quidem, de quibus quaeri solet, communia omnibus.
Those things indeed about which questions are usually raised are common to all.
§2.4.35aut enim de iure dubitari potest eius, qui rogat, ut de P. Clodi, qui non rite creatus tribunus arguebatur;
For doubt can be cast either on the right of the one who proposes it, as in the case of P.
aut de ipsius rogationis, quod est varium, sive non trino forte nundino promulgata sive non idoneo die, sive contra intercessionem vel auspicia aliudve quid, quod legitimis obstet, dicitur lata esse vel ferri, sive alicui manentium legum repugnare.
Clodius, who was accused of not having been legally created tribune; or on the right of the proposal itself, which is varied, whether it was perhaps not promulgated for the space of three market-days, or on an unfit day, or is said to have been passed or to be proposed against a veto or auspices or any other obstacle to legal proceedings, or to repugn any of the remaining laws.
§2.4.36sed haec ad illas primas exercitationes non pertinent; nam sunt hae citra complexum personarum, temporum, causarum.
But these things do not belong to those first exercises; for these are without the combination of persons, times, and causes.
reliqua eadem fere vero fictoque huiusmodi certamine tractantur.
The remaining matters of this kind are treated in almost the same way in both true and fictitious contests.
§2.4.37nam vitium aut in verbis aut in rebus est.
For a defect is either in words or in things.
in verbis quaeritur, an satis significent, an sit in iis aliquid ambiguum; in rebus, an lex sibi ipsa consentiat, an in praeteritum ferri debeat, an in singulos homines.
In words, it is asked whether they signify enough, whether there is anything ambiguous in them; in things, whether the law agrees with itself, whether it ought to be enacted retrospectively, or against individual men.
maxime vero commune est quaerere, an sit honesta, an utilis.
But it is most common to ask whether it is honorable or useful.
§2.4.38nec ignore, plures fieri a plerisque partes; sed nos iustum, pium, religiosum, ceteraque his similia honesto complectimur.
Nor am I ignorant that more parts are made by most writers; but we include the just, the pious, the religious, and other things similar to these under the honorable.
iusti tamen species non simpliciter excuti solent.
However, the species of the just are not usually examined simply.
aut enim de re ipsa quaeritur, ut dignane poena vel praemio sit, aut de modo praemii poenaeve, qui tam maior quam minor culpari potest.
For either it is questioned about the thing itself, as to whether it is worthy of punishment or reward, or about the measure of the reward or punishment, which can be blamed as much for being too great as too small.
§2.4.39utilitas quoque interim natura discernitur, interim tempore.
Utility also is distinguished sometimes by its nature, sometimes by the time.
quaedam an obtineri possint, ambigi solet.
Whether certain things can be obtained is often doubted.
ne illud quidem ignorare oportet, leges aliquando totas, aliquando ex parte reprehendi solere, cum exemplum rei utriusque nobis claris orationibus praebeatur.
Nor ought one to be ignorant of this, that laws are sometimes wont to be censured as a whole, sometimes in part, since an example of both cases is afforded to us by famous speeches.
§2.4.40nec me fallit, eas quoque leges esse, quae non in perpetuum rogentur, sed de honoribus aut imperiis, qualis Manilia fuit, de qua Ciceronis oratio est.
Nor does it escape me that there are also those laws which are not proposed for perpetuity, but concerning honors or commands, such as the Manilian law was, about which there is an oration of Cicero.
sed de his nihil hoc loco praecipi potest; constant enim propria rerum, de quibus agitur, non communi qualitate.
But nothing can be prescribed about these in this place; for they consist of the particular quality of the things under consideration, not of a common quality.
§2.4.41his fere veteres facultatem dicendi exercuerunt assumpta tamen a dialecticis argumentandi ratione.
With these for the most part the ancients exercised their power of speaking, having assumed, however, the method of arguing from the dialecticians.
nam fictas ad imitationem fori consiliorumque materias apud Graecos dicere circa Demetrium Phalerea institutum fere constat.
For it is generally agreed that declaiming fictitious subjects in imitation of the forum and councils was instituted among the Greeks about the time of Demetrius Phalereus.
§2.4.42an ab ipso id genus exercitationis sit inventum, ut alio quoque libro sum confessus, parum comperi; sed ne ii quidem, qui hoc fortissime adfirmant, ullo satis idoneo auctore nituntur.
Whether that kind of exercise was invented by himself, as I have confessed in another book, I have not sufficiently discovered; but not even those who assert this most strongly rely on any sufficiently suitable authority.
Latinos vero dicendi praeceptores extremis L. Crassi temporibus coepisse Cicero auctor est;
That Latin teachers of speaking, however, began in the final times of L.
quorum insignis maxime Plotius fuit.
Crassus, Cicero is the authority; of whom Plotius was the most distinguished.