§4.1.1quod principium Latine vel exordium dicitur, maiore quadam ratione Graeci videntur προοίμιον nominasse, quia a nostris initium modo significatur, illi satis dare partem hanc esse ante ingressum rei de qua dicendum sit, ostendunt.
What is called principium or exordium in Latin, the Greeks seem to have named prooemium with somewhat greater reason, because by our people only initium (beginning) is signified, while they show clearly enough that this part is before the entrance into the subject of which one must speak.
§4.1.2nam sive propterea quod οἴμη cantus est et citharoedi pauca illa, quae, antequam legitimum certamen inchoent, emerendi favoris gratia canunt, prooemium cognominaverunt, oratores quoque ea quae, priusquam causam exordiantur, ad conciliandos sibi iudicum animos praeloquuntur eadem appellatione signarunt; §4.1.3sive, quod οἶμον iidem Graeci viam appellant, id quod ante ingressum rei ponitur sic vocare est institutum: certe prooemium est, quod apud iudicem dici, priusquam causam cognoverit, possit; vitioseque in scholis facimus, quod exordio semper sic utimur, quasi causam iudex iam noverit.
For whether because oime is a song, and cithara-players called those few strains prooemium which they sing before they begin the regular contest for the sake of earning favor, orators also designated by the same appellation those things which they speak beforehand, before they enter upon their case, in order to win over to themselves the minds of the judges; or because the same Greeks call oimos a path, it became the custom to call in this way that which is placed before the entrance into the subject: at all events, a prooemium is that which can be said before the judge has got to know the case; and we act faultily in the schools, in that we always use the exordium as if the judge already knew the case.
§4.1.4cuius rei licentia ex hoc est, quod ante declamationem illa velut imago litis exponitur Sed in foro quoque contingere istud principiorum genus secundis actionibus potest; primis quidem raro unquam, nisi forte apud eum, cui res iam aliunde nota sit, dicimus.
The license for which practice arises from this, that before a declamation, that sort of image of a lawsuit is set forth. But in the forum too, that kind of introduction can happen in second actions; in first actions indeed it rarely ever does, unless perchance we are speaking before one to whom the matter is already known from elsewhere.
§4.1.5causa principii nulla alia est, quam ut auditorem, quo sit nobis in ceteris partibus accommodatior, praeparemus.
The purpose of an introduction is no other than to prepare the listener so that he may be more accommodating to us in the other parts.
id fieri tribus maxime rebus inter auctores plurimos constat, si benevolum, attentum, docilem fecerimus, non quia ista non per totam actionem sint custodienda, sed quia initiis praecipue necessaria, per quae in animum iudicis, ut procedere ultra possimus, admittimur.
That this is accomplished chiefly by three things is agreed among most authors: if we render him well-disposed, attentive, and docile; not because those qualities are not to be preserved throughout the whole speech, but because they are especially necessary at the beginning, through which we are admitted into the mind of the judge, so that we may be able to proceed further.
§4.1.6benevolentiam aut a personis ducimus aut a causis accipimus.
Benevolence we either derive from the persons or receive from the cases.
sed personarum non est, ut plerique crediderunt, triplex ratio, ex litigatore et adversario et iudice.
But the consideration of persons is not, as most have believed, threefold, consisting of the litigant, the adversary, and the judge.
§4.1.7nam exordium duci nonnunquam etiam ab actore causae solet.
For an exordium is sometimes also accustomed to be drawn from the advocate of the case.
quanquam enim pauciora de se ipso dicit et parcius, plurimum tamen ad omnia momenti est in hoc positum, si vir bonus creditur.
For although he speaks fewer things about himself and more sparingly, yet the greatest weight for everything is placed in this, if he is believed to be a good man.
sic enim continget, ut non studium advocati videatur adferre sed paene testis fidem.
For thus it will happen that he does not seem to bring the zeal of an advocate, but almost the credibility of a witness.
quare in primis existimetur venisse ad agendum ductus officio vel cognationis vel amicitiae maximeque, si fieri poterit, reipublicae aut alicuius certe non mediocris exempli.
Wherefore, in the first place, let him be thought to have come to plead led by a duty either of kinship or of friendship, and especially, if it can be done, of the commonwealth, or at least of some not insignificant example.
quod sine dubio multo magis ipsis litigatoribus faciendum est, ut ad agendum magna atque honesta ratione aut etiam necessitate accessisse videantur.
Which without doubt must much more be done by the litigants themselves, so that they may seem to have approached the pleading for some great and honorable reason, or even from necessity.
§4.1.8sed ut praecipua in hoc dicentis auctoritas, si omnis in subeundo negotio suspicio sordium aut odiorum aut ambitionis afuerit, ita quaedam in his quoque commendatio tacita, si nos infirmos, imparatos, impares agentium contra ingeniis dixerimus, qualia sunt pleraque Messalae prooemia.
But as the authority of the speaker is eminent in this, if all suspicion of meanness, or hatred, or ambition in undertaking the business has been absent, so also there is a certain tacit recommendation in these things, if we declare ourselves weak, unprepared, and unequal to the talents of those pleading against us, of which kind are most of the prooemia of Messala.
§4.1.9est enim naturalis favor pro laborantibus, et iudex religiosus libentissime patronum audit, quem iustitiae suae minime timet.
For there is a natural favor toward those who are struggling, and a conscientious judge most willingly listens to an advocate whom he least fears for his own justice.
inde illa veterum circa occultandam eloquentiam simulatio multum ab hac nostrorum temporum iactatione diversa.
Hence arose that pretense of the ancients about concealing their eloquence, very different from this boasting of our times.
§4.1.10vitandum etiam, ne contumeliosi, maligni, superbi, maledici in quemquam hominem ordinemve videamur praecipueque eorum, qui laedi nisi adversa iudicum voluntate non possunt.
We must also avoid appearing abusive, malevolent, proud, or slanderous against any man or class of men, and especially against those who cannot be hurt except with the displeasure of the judges.
§4.1.11nam in iudicem ne quid dicatur non modo palam sed quod omnino intelligi possit, stultum erat monere, nisi fieret.
For that nothing should be said against the judge, not only openly but what can be understood at all, it would be foolish to advise, unless it actually happened.
etiam partis adversae patronus dabit exordio materiam, interim cum honore, si eloquentiam eius et gratiam nos timere fingendo, ut ea suspecta sint iudici, fecerimus, interim per contumeliam, sed hoc perquam raro, ut Asinius pro Urbiniae heredibus Labienum adversarii patronum inter argumenta causae malae posuit.
The advocate of the opposing party will also give material for the exordium, sometimes with honor, if by pretending that we fear his eloquence and influence, we make them suspected by the judge, sometimes through abuse, but this extremely rarely, as Asinius, in behalf of the heirs of Urbinia, placed Labienus, the advocate of the adversary, among the arguments of a bad case.
Negat haec esse prooemia Cornelius Celsus, quia sint extra litem.
Cornelius Celsus denies that these are prooemia, because they are outside the lawsuit.