§3.7.11illa quoque interim ex eo, quod ante ipsum fuit, tempore trahentur, quae responsis vel auguriis futuram claritatem promiserint, ut eum, qui ex Thetide natus esset, maiorem patre suo futurum cecinisse dicuntur oracula.
Those things also will sometimes be drawn from the time that was before the person himself, which by responses or auguries promised future glory, as oracles are said to have sung that he who should be born of Thetis would be greater than his father.
§3.7.12ipsius vero laus hominis ex animo et corpore et extra positis peti debet.
But the praise of the man himself ought to be sought from his mind, body, and external circumstances.
et corporis quidem fortuitorumque cum levior, tum non uno modo tractanda est.
And that of the body and of accidental things, as it is lighter, so it is to be treated in more than one way.
nam et pulchritudinem interim roburque prosequimur honore verborum, ut Homerus in Agamemnone atque Achille, et interim confert admirationi multum etiam infirmitas, ut cum idem Tydea parvum sed bellatorem dicit fuisse.
For sometimes we pursue both beauty and strength with the honor of words, as Homer does in Agamemnon and Achilles, and sometimes even infirmity contributes much to admiration, as when the same author says that Tydeus was small but a warrior.
§3.7.13fortuna vero tum dignitatem adfert, ut in regibus principibusque (namque est haec materia ostendendae virtutis uberior), tum quo minores opes fuerunt, maiorem bene factis gloriam parit.
For fortune sometimes brings dignity, as in kings and princes (for this is a richer material for showing virtue), and sometimes, the smaller the resources were, the greater glory it produces for good deeds.
sed omnia, quae extra nos bona sunt quaeque hominibus forte obtigerunt, non ideo laudantur, quod habuerit quis ea, sed quod iis honeste sit usus.
But all things which are goods external to us and which have fallen to men by chance are not praised for the reason that anyone possessed them, but because he used them honorably.
§3.7.14nam divitiae et potentia et gratia, cum plurimum virium dent, in utramque partem certissimum faciunt morum experimentum, aut enim meliores sumus propter haec aut peiores.
For riches, power, and influence, while they give the greatest amount of strength, make the most certain test of character in either direction, for we are either better because of these or worse.
animi semper vera laus, sed non una per hoc opus via ducitur.
The praise of the mind is always true praise, but not only one path is led through this work.
§3.7.15namque alias aetatis gradus gestarumque rerum ordinem sequi speciosius fuit, ut in primis annis laudaretur indoles, tum disciplinae, post hoc operum id est factorum dictorumque contextus; alias in species virtutum dividere laudem, fortitudinis, iustitiae, continentiae ceterarumque, ac singulis adsignare, quae secundum quamque earum gesta erunt.
For in some cases it was more attractive to follow the stages of age and the order of deeds performed, so that in the first years his natural disposition should be praised, then his education, and after this the context of his works, that is, of his deeds and words; in other cases, to divide praise into the species of virtues—courage, justice, temperance, and the rest—and to assign to each the things that were done according to each of them.
§3.7.16utra sit autem harum via utilior, cum materia deliberabimus, dum sciamus gratiora esse audientibus, quae solus quis aut primus aut certe cum paucis fecisse dicetur, si quid praeterea supra spem aut exspectationem, praecipue quod aliena potius causa quam sua.
But which of these paths is more useful we shall deliberate with our material, provided we know that those things are more pleasing to the audience which someone is said to have done alone or first, or at least with few, and if anything besides was done beyond hope or expectation, especially because it was done for another's sake rather than his own.
§3.7.17tempus, quod finem hominis insequitur, non semper tractare contingit; non solum quod viventes aliquando laudamus, sed quod rara haec occasio est, ut referri possint divini honores et decreta et publice statuae constitutae.
It does not always happen that we treat the time which follows the end of a man; not only because we sometimes praise the living, but because this occasion is rare, so that divine honors, decrees, and publicly erected statues can be recorded.
§3.7.18inter quae numeraverim ingeniorum monumenta, quae saeculis probarentur.
Among these I would number the monuments of genius which are approved through the ages.
nam quidam, sicut Menander, iustiora posterorum quam suae aetatis iudicia sunt consecuti.
For some, like Menander, have obtained more just judgments from posterity than from their own age.
adferunt laudem liberi parentibus, urbes conditoribus, leges latoribus, artes inventoribus nec non instituta quoque auctoribus, ut a Numa traditum deos colere, a Publicola fasces populo summittere.
Children bring praise to parents, cities to founders, laws to givers, arts to inventors, and likewise institutions also to their authors, as Numa is recorded to have handed down the worship of the gods, and Publicola to have lowered the fasces before the people.
§3.7.19qui omnis etiam in vituperatione ordo constabit, tantum in diversum.
All this same order will hold good also in vituperation, only in the opposite direction.
nam et turpitudo generis opprobrio multis fuit, et quosdam claritas ipsa notiores circa vitia et invisos magis fecit, et in quibusdam, ut in Paride traditum est, praedicta pernicies, et corporis ac fortunae quibusdam mala contemptum, sicut Thersitae atque Iro, quibusdam bona vitiis corrupta odium attulerunt, ut Nirea imbellem, Plisthenen impudicum a poetis accepimus.
For both lowliness of birth has been a reproach to many, and in some their very fame made them more notorious regarding their vices and more hated, and in some, as is recorded of Paris, destruction was foretold, and the evils of body and fortune brought contempt upon some, as upon Thersites and Irus, and in others goods corrupted by vices brought hatred, as we have received from the poets that Nireus was cowardly and Plisthenes unchaste.