§5.11.23nam παραβολή quam Cicero collationem vocat, longius res quae comparentur repetere solet.
For the parable, which Cicero calls comparison, is accustomed to fetch the things which are compared from further afield.
neque hominum modo inter se opera similia spectantur, ut Cicero pro Murena facit: quodsi e portu solventibus, qui iam in portum ex alto invehuntur, praecipere summo studio solent et tempestatum rationem et praedonum et locorum (quod natura adfert, ut iis faveamus, qui eadem pericula, quibus nos perfuncti sumus, ingrediantur), quo me tandem animo esse oportet, prope iam ex magna iactatione terram videntem, in hunc, cui video maximas tempestates esse subeundas? sed et a mutis atque etiam inanimis interim simile huiusmodi ducitur.
Nor are the similar actions of men among themselves alone observed, as Cicero does in the speech for Murena: "But if those who are already entering the harbor from the deep are accustomed to instruct with the greatest zeal those who are setting sail from the harbor, both concerning the nature of storms and pirates and places (because nature prompts us to favor those who are entering upon the same dangers which we have passed through), with what mind, pray, ought I to be, who am now almost seeing the land after great tossing, toward this man, who I see must undergo the greatest storms?" But sometimes a similarity of this kind is drawn also from mute and even inanimate things.
§5.11.24et quoniam similium alia facies in alia ratione, admonendum est rarius esse in oratione illud genus, quod εἰκόνα Graeci vocant (quo exprimitur rerum aut personarum imago, ut Cassius: quis istam faciem planipedis senis torquens?) quam id, quo probabilius fit quod intendimus: ut, si animum dicas excolendum, similitudine utaris terrae, quae neglecta spinas ac dumos, culta fructus creat; aut si ad curam rei publicae horteris, ostendas apes etiam formicasque, non modo muta, sed etiam parva animalia, in commune tamen laborare.
And since the appearance of similarities varies according to different principles, it must be pointed out that that kind which the Greeks call 'eikon' (by which the image of things or persons is expressed, as Cassius says: "Who is that, twisting that face of a flat-footed old man?") is rarer in oratory than that by which what we intend is made more probable: as, if you should say that the mind must be cultivated, you would use the similarity of the earth, which, when neglected, produces thorns and brambles, but when cultivated, produces fruits; or if you should exhort to the care of the republic, you would show that even bees and ants, which are not only mute but also tiny animals, nevertheless labor for the common good.
§5.11.25ex hoc genere dictum illud est Ciceronis: ut corpora nostra sine mente, ita civitas sine lege suis partibus, ut nervis ac sanguine et membris, uti non potest. sed ut hac corporis humani pro Cluentio, ita pro Cornelio equorum, pro Archia saxorum quoque usus est similitudine.
Of this kind is that saying of Cicero: "As our bodies cannot function without a mind, so a state without law cannot use its parts, like nerves and blood and limbs." But just as he used this similarity of the human body in the speech for Cluentius, so he used that of horses in the speech for Cornelius, and of stones in the speech for Archias.
§5.11.26illa (ut dixi) propiora: ut remiges sine gubernatore, sic milites sine imperatore nihil valere. solent tamen fallere similitudinum species, ideoque adhibendum est iis iudicium.
Those other ones (as I said) are closer: "Just as rowers are of no avail without a pilot, so soldiers are of no avail without a general." Yet the appearances of similarities are accustomed to deceive, and therefore judgment must be applied to them.
neque enim, ut navis utilior nova quam vetus, sic amicitia; vel, ut laudanda, quae pecuniam suam pluribus largitur, ita, quae formam.
For it does not follow that, because a ship is more useful when new than when old, friendship is also; or, that just as a woman who bestows her money on many is to be praised, so is she who bestows her beauty.
verba sunt in his similia uetustatis et largitionis, vis quidem longe diversa navis et amicitiae, pecuniae et pudicitiae.
The words "age" and "bestowal" are similar in these cases, but the nature of a ship and of friendship, of money and of chastity, is far different.
§5.11.27itaque in hoc genere maxime quaeritur, an simile sit, quod infertur.
Therefore, in this kind, the main question is whether that which is introduced is similar.
etiam in illis interrogationibus Socratis, quarum paulo ante feci mentionem, cavendum, ne incaute respondeas; ut apud Aeschinen Socraticum male respondit Aspasiae Xenophontis uxor, quod Cicero his verbis transfert: Dic mihi, §5.11.28quaeso, Xenophontis uxor, si vicina tua melius habeat aurum, quam tu habes: utrumne illud an tuum malis? illud, inquit.
Even in those interrogations of Socrates, of which I made mention a little earlier, care must be taken lest you answer incautiously; as in Aeschines the Socratic, the wife of Xenophon answered Aspasia badly, which Cicero translates in these words: "Tell me, pray, wife of Xenophon, if your neighbor should have better gold than you have, whether would you prefer that or yours?" "That," she said.
quid si uestem et ceterum ornatum muliebrem pretii maioris habeat, quam tu, tuumne an illius malis? respondit, Illius vero. age sis, inquit, si virum illa meliorem habeat, quam tu> habes, utrumne tuum virium malis an illius? §5.11.29hic mulier erubuit, merito; male enim responderat se malle alienum aurum quam suum; nam est hoc improbum.
"What if she should have garments and other female ornaments of greater value than you, would you prefer yours or hers?" She answered, "Hers, indeed." "Come, then," she said, "if she should have a better husband than you have, whether would you prefer your husband or hers?" At this the woman blushed, and with reason; for she had answered badly that she preferred another's gold to her own; for this is improper.
at, si respondisset malle se aurum suum tale esse, quale illud esset, potuisset pudice respondere malle se virum suum talem esse, qualis melior esset.
But if she had answered that she preferred her own gold to be such as that was, she could have answered virtuously that she preferred her own husband to be such as that better one was.
§5.11.30scio quosdam inani diligentia per minutissimas ista partes secuisse, et esse aliquid minus simile, ut simia homini et marmora deformata prima manu, aliquid plus, ut illud, non ovum tam simile ovo; et dissimilibus inesse simile, ut formicae et elephanto genus, quia sunt animalia; et similibus dissimile, ut canibus catulos et matribus haedos, differunt enim aetate; contrariorum quoque aliter accipi opposita, §5.11.31ut noctem luci, aliter noxia, ut aquam frigidam febri, aliter repugnantia, ut verum falso, aliter disparata, ut dura non duris; sed, quid haec ad praesens propositum magnopere pertineant, non reperio.
I know that some people, with useless diligence, have cut up those things into the most minute parts, and that there is something less similar, as an ape to a man and deformed marbles at the first stroke of the chisel, and something more, as that saying, "no egg is so like an egg"; and that in dissimilar things there is a similarity, as genus in an ant and an elephant, because they are animals; and in similar things a dissimilarity, as puppies to dogs and kids to their mothers, for they differ in age; and that the opposites of contraries are understood otherwise, as night to light; or other things harmful, as cold water to a fever; or other things repugnant, as truth to falsehood; or other things disparate, as hard things to not hard things; but what these things greatly pertain to the present purpose, I do not find.
Illud est adnotandum magis, §5.11.32argumenta duci ex iure simili: ut Cicero in Topicis, eum, cui domus usus fructus relictus sit, non restituturum heredi, si corruerit, quia non restituat servum, si is decesserit; ex contrario: Nihil obstat quo minus iustum matrimonium sit mente coeuntium, etiamsi tabulae signatae non fuerint.
This rather is to be noted, that arguments are drawn from similar law: as Cicero in the Topica says that he to whom the usufruct of a house has been left will not restore it to the heir if it has fallen down, because he would not restore a slave if he had died; from the contrary: "Nothing prevents a marriage from being lawful by the consent of those who unite, even if the tablets have not been signed.
nihil enim proderit signasse tabulas, si mentem matrimonii non fuisse constabit; ex dissimili, quale est Ciceronis pro Caecina:
For it will be of no avail to have signed the tablets, if it is clear that there was no intent of marriage"; from the dissimilar, of which kind is that of Cicero in the speech for Caecina: