§4.pr.1perfecto, Marcelle Victori, operis tibi dedicati tertio libro et iam quarta fere laboris parte transacta, nova insuper mihi diligentiae causa et altior sollicitudo, quale iudicium hominum emererer, accessit.
Having completed, Marcellus Victorius, the third book of the work dedicated to you, and with almost a fourth part of our labor now finished, a new cause for diligence and a deeper anxiety have additionally come upon me, as to what judgment of men I might deserve.
adhuc enim velut studia inter nos conferebamus, et si parum nostra institutio probaretur a ceteris, contenti fore domestico usu videbamur, ut tui meique filii formare disciplinam satis putaremus.
For hitherto we were, as it were, comparing our studies among ourselves, and if our system of instruction were little approved by others, we seemed likely to be content with domestic use, so that we thought it sufficient to form the education of your son and mine.
§4.pr.2cum vero mihi Domitianus Augustus sororis suae nepotum delegaverit curam, non satis honorem iudiciorum caelestium intelligam, nisi ex hoc oneris quoque magnitudinem metiar.
But since Domitian Augustus has entrusted to me the care of his sister's grandsons, I should not sufficiently understand the honor of these heavenly judgments, unless I also measured from this the magnitude of the burden.
§4.pr.3quis enim mihi aut mores excolendi sit modus, ut eos non immerito probaverit sanctissimus censor? aut studia, ne fefellisse in iis videar principem ut in omnibus, ita in eloquentia quoque eminentissimum?
For what limit should I have in cultivating their morals, so that the most holy censor may not undeservedly approve them? Or what studies, lest in them I should seem to have deceived the prince, who is most eminent in eloquence as in all other things?
§4.pr.4quodsi nemo miratur poetas maximos saepe fecisse, ut non solum initiis operum suorum Musas invocarent, sed provecti quoque longius, cum ad aliquem graviorem venissent locum, repeterent vota et velut nova precatione uterentur, §4.pr.5mihi quoque profecto poterit ignosci, si, quod initio, quo primum hanc materiam inchoavi, non feceram, nunc omnes in auxilium deos ipsumque in primis, quo neque praesentius aliud nec studiis magis propitium numen est, invocem, ut, quantum nobis exspectationis adiecit, tantum ingenii adspiret dexterque ac volens adsit et me qualem esse credidit faciat.
But if no one wonders that the greatest poets have often so acted, that they not only invoked the Muses at the beginnings of their works, but also, having advanced further, when they had come to some more weighty passage, renewed their vows and used, as it were, a new prayer, I too surely may be pardoned, if, what I had not done at the beginning when I first commenced this material, I should now invoke all the gods to my aid, and him in primis, than whom there is no other deity more present or more propitious to studies, so that, as much expectation as he has added to us, so much talent he may inspire, and be present as a favorable and willing helper, and make me such as he believed me to be.
§4.pr.6cuius mihi religionis non haec sola ratio, quae maxima est, sed alioqui sic procedit ipsum opus, ut maiora praeteritis ac magis ardua sint, quae ingredior.
For which religious duty of mine this is not the only reason, though it is the greatest, but otherwise the work itself so proceeds that those things which I am entering upon are greater than the past and more arduous.
sequitur enim, ut iudicialium causarum, quae sunt maxime variae ac multiplices, ordo explicetur: quod prooemii sit officium, quae ratio narrandi, quae probationum fides, seu proposita confirmamus sive contra dicta dissolvimus, quanta vis in perorando, seu reficienda brevi repetitione rerum memoria est iudicis sive adfectus (quod est longe potentissimum) commovendi.
For it follows that the order of judicial cases, which are extremely varied and manifold, should be explained: what the duty of the introduction is, what the method of statement, what the credibility of proofs, whether we confirm what is proposed or refute what has been said to the contrary, how much power there is in the peroration, whether the memory of the judge is to be refreshed by a brief repetition of facts or his emotions (which is by far the most powerful) are to be moved.
§4.pr.7de quibus partibus singulis quidam separatim scribere maluerunt velut onus totius corporis veriti, et sic quoque complures de una quaque earum libros ediderunt; quas ego omnes ausus contexere prope infinitum laborem prospicio et ipsa cogitatione suscepti muneris fatigor.
About which single parts some have preferred to write separately, as if fearing the burden of the whole body, and thus also many have published books on each one of them; all of which I, having dared to weave together, foresee a nearly infinite labor, and am exhausted by the very thought of the undertaken task.
sed durandum est, quia coepimus, et si viribus deficiemur, animo tamen perseverandum.
But we must endure, since we have begun, and if we shall be wanting in strength, yet we must persevere in spirit.