§5.10.115hoc inveniendum est, ut adhiberi possit argumentum: ideo captivos, si in patriam suam redierint, liberos esse, quia bello parta non nisi eadem vi possideantur.
This must be found, so that the following argument can be used: namely, that captives, if they return to their own country, are free, because things acquired in war are possessed only by the same force.
proprium est et illud causae, quod Amphictyones iudicant (ut alia apud centumviros, alia apud privatum iudicem in iisdem quaestionibus ratio); §5.10.116tum secundo gradu, non potuisse donari a victore ius, quia id demum sit eius, quod teneat; ius, quod sit incorporate, adprehendi manu non posse.
The following is also proper to the cause, that the Amphictyons are judging (just as in the same questions, the reasoning is one thing before the centumviri, and another before a private judge); then as a second step, that a right could not be gifted by the victor, because only that is his which he holds; a right, being incorporeal, cannot be seized by the hand.
hoc reperire est difficilius quam, cum inveneris, argumentis adiuvare, ut alia sit condicio heredis, alia victoris, quia ad illum ius, ad hunc res transeat.
It is more difficult to find this than, when you have found it, to support it with arguments, such as that the condition of an heir is one thing, and that of a victor another, because the right passes to the former, but the material thing to the latter.
§5.10.117proprium deinde materiae, ius publici crediti transire ad victorem non potuisse, quia, quod populus crediderit, omnibus debeatur, et, quamdiu quilibet unus superfuerit, esse eum totius summae creditorem, Thebanos autem non omnes in Alexandri manu fuisse.
Next, proper to the matter, that the right of a public credit could not pass to the victor, because what a people has lent is owed to all, and as long as any single one survives, he is the creditor of the whole sum, but the Thebans were not all in Alexander's hand.
§5.10.118hoc non extrinsecus probatur, quae vis est argumenti, sed ipsum per se valet.
This is not proved from without, which is the force of an argument, but is valid in itself.
tertii loci pars prior magis vulgaris, non in tabulis esse ius; itaque multis argumentis defendi potest.
The former part of the third topic is more common, that a right is not in the tablets; therefore it can be defended by many arguments.
mens quoque Alexandri duci debet in dubium, honorarit eos an deceperit.
The intention of Alexander also ought to be brought into doubt, whether he honored them or deceived them.
illud iam rursus proprium materiae et velut novae controversiae, quia restitutione recepisse ius, etiamsi quod amiserint, Thebani videntur.
The following is now again proper to the matter and as if of a new controversy, namely that the Thebans, by restoration, seem to have recovered the right, even if they had lost any.
hic et, quid Cassander velit, quaeritur: sed vel potentissima apud Amphictyonas aequi tractatio est.
Here it is also asked what Cassander wants; but the treatment of equity is by far the most powerful before the Amphictyons.
§5.10.119haec non idcirco dico, quod inutilem horum locorum, ex quibus argumenta ducuntur, cognitionem putem, alioqui nec tradidissem; sed ne se, qui cognoverint ista, si cetera negligant, perfectos protinus atque consummatos putent et, nisi in ceteris, quae mox praecipienda sunt, elaboraverint, mutam quandam scientiam consecutos intelligant.
I do not say these things because I think the knowledge of these topics, from which arguments are drawn, is useless, otherwise I would not have handed them down; but so that those who have learned them, if they neglect other things, may not immediately think themselves perfect and complete, and unless they labor in other matters which must soon be prescribed, they may understand that they have attained a certain mute science.
§5.10.120neque enim artibus editis factum est, ut argumenta inveniremus, sed dicta sunt omnia, antequam praeciperentur, mox ea scriptores observata et collecta ediderunt.
For it was not by published arts that we came to find arguments, but all things were spoken before they were prescribed; afterwards, writers published them, observed and collected.
cuius rei probatio est, quod exemplis eorum veteribus utuntur et ab oratoribus ilia repetunt, ipsi nullum novum et quod dictum non sit inveniunt.
The proof of this matter is that they use their ancient examples and repeat them from the orators; they themselves find nothing new and what has not been spoken.
§5.10.121artifices ergo illi qui dixerunt; sed habenda his quoque gratia est, per quos labor nobis est detractus.
Those who spoke are therefore the artists; but thanks must also be given to these through whom labor has been taken away from us.
nam, quae priores beneficio ingenii singula invenerunt, nobis et non sunt requirenda et notata sunt omnia.
For those things which our predecessors found individually by the benefit of their talent do not need to be sought by us and are all recorded.
sed non magis hoc sat est quam palaestram didicisse, nisi corpus exercitatione, continentia, cibis, ante omnia natura iuvatur, sicut contra ne illa quidem satis sine arte profuerint.
But this is no more sufficient than to have learned the wrestling school, unless the body is aided by exercise, temperance, food, and above all by nature, just as on the contrary, not even those things would profit enough without art.
§5.10.122illud quoque studiosi eloquentiae cogitent, neque omnibus in causis, quae demonstravimus, cuncta posse reperiri; neque, cum proposita fuerit materia dicendi, scrutanda singula et velut ostiatim pulsandum, ut sciant, an ad probandum id, quod intendimus, forte respondeant, nisi cum discunt et adhuc usu carent.
Students of eloquence should also consider this: that not all things can be found in all causes which we have demonstrated; and that when the matter of speaking has been proposed, individual topics are not to be scrutinized and as it were knocked at door to door, so that they may know whether they happen to respond to prove what we intend, except when they are learning and still lack experience.
§5.10.123infinitam enim faciat ista res dicendi tarditatem, si semper necesse sit, ut temptantes unumquodque eorum, quod sit aptum atque conveniens, experiendo noscamus; nescio an etiam impedimento futura sint, nisi et animi quaedam ingenita natura et studio exercitata velocitas recta nos ad ea, quae conveniunt causae, ferant. nam,
For that practice would make the slowness of speaking infinite, if it were always necessary that, trying each of them, we should know by experience what is fit and convenient; I wonder if they might even be an impediment, unless a certain inborn nature of the mind and a speed exercised by study carry us straight to those things which suit the cause.
§5.10.124ut cantus vocis plurimum iuvat sociata nervorum concordia, si tamen tardior manus nisi inspectis demensisque singulis, quibus quaeque vox fidibus iungenda sit, dubitet, potius fuerit esse contentum eo, quod simplex canendi natura tulerit, ita huiusmodi praeceptis debet quidem aptata esse et citharae modo intenta ratio doctrinae; §5.10.125sed hoc exercitatione multa consequendum, ut, quemadmodum illorum artificum, etiamsi alio spectant, manus tamen ipsa consuetudine ad graves, acutos, medios nervorum sonos fertur, sic oratoris cognitionem nihil moretur haec varietas argumentorum et copia, sed quasi offerat se et occurrat, et, ut litterae syllabaeque scribentium cogitationem non exigunt, sic rationem sponte quadam sequantur.
For as the song of the voice is greatly aided by the associated concord of the strings, yet if a slower hand should hesitate unless each string has been inspected and measured to which each voice is to be joined, it would have been better to be content with what the simple nature of singing brought; so indeed the system of learning ought to be adapted to such precepts and tuned like a cithara; but this must be attained by much exercise, so that, just as the hand of those artists, even if they look elsewhere, is yet carried by custom to the low, high, and middle sounds of the strings, so this variety and abundance of arguments may not delay the knowledge of the orator, but as it were offer itself and meet him, and just as letters and syllables do not demand the thought of those who write, so they may follow the reasoning by a certain spontaneous impulse.