§5.12.12altera ex adfirmatione probatio est: ego hoc feci; Tu mihi hoc dixisti; et O facinus indignum! et similia; quae non debent quidem deesse orationi et, si desunt, multum nocent; non tamen habenda sunt inter magna praesidia, cum hoc in eadem causa fieri ex utraque parte similiter possit.
Another proof is from assertion: "I did this"; "You said this to me"; and "Oh, what an unworthy deed!" and the like; which indeed ought not to be lacking in a speech and, if they are lacking, do much harm; yet they are not to be held among the great protections, since this can be done in the same cause similarly from both sides.
illae firmiores ex sua cuique persona probationes, §5.12.13quae credibilem rationem subiectam habeant: ut vulneratus aut filio orbatus non fuerit alium accusaturus quam nocentem, quando, si negotium innocenti facit, liberet eum noxa qui admiserit.
Those proofs are stronger which arise from each person's own character, which have a credible reason underlying them: as that a wounded man or one deprived of his son would not be about to accuse anyone other than the guilty, since, if he brings trouble to an innocent person, he would free from punishment the one who committed it.
hinc et patres adversus liberos et adversus suos quisque necessarios auctoritatem petunt.
Hence, fathers seek authority against their children, and everyone against his own relatives.
§5.12.14quaesitum etiam, potentissima argumenta primone ponenda sint loco, ut occupent animos, an summo, ut inde dimittant, an partita primo summoque, quod Homerica dispositione in medio sint infirma, ut ab aliis crescant? quae prout ratio causae cuiusque postulabit, ordinabuntur, uno, ut ego censeo, excepto, ne a potentissimis ad levissima decrescat oratio.
It has also been questioned whether the most powerful arguments should be placed in the first position, so that they may occupy the minds, or in the last, so that they may dismiss them from there, or divided between the first and the last, because according to the Homeric arrangement weak things are in the middle, so that they may grow from others. These will be arranged as the logic of each cause demands, with only one exception, as I think, lest the speech should decline from the most powerful to the lightest.
§5.12.15ego haec breviter demonstrasse contentus ita posui, ut locos ipsos et genera quam possem apertissime ostenderem.
Content to have demonstrated these things briefly, I have set them down in such a way as to show the places themselves and the classes as clearly as I could.
quidam exsecuti sunt verbosius, quibus placuit,proposita locorum communium materia, quo quaeque res modo dici posset, ostendere; sed mihi supervacuum videbatur.
Some have pursued this more verbosely, who preferred, having proposed the material of commonplaces, to show in what manner each thing could be said; but to me it seemed superfluous.
§5.12.16nam et fere apparet, quid in iniuriam, quid in avaritiam, quid in testem inimicum, quid in potentes amicos dicendum sit; et de omnibus his omnia dicere infinitum est, tam hercule quam si controversiarum, quae sint quaeque futurae sint, quaestiones, argumenta, sententias tradere velim.
For it is generally clear what should be said against injustice, what against avarice, what against a hostile witness, what against powerful friends; and to say everything about all of these is infinite, as impossible, by Hercules, as if I wished to hand down the questions, arguments, and sentences of controversies which exist and which will exist.
ipsas autem argumentorum velut sedes non me quidem omnes ostendisse confido, plurimas tamen.
But as for the very seats, as it were, of arguments, I do not indeed trust that I have shown them all, yet very many.
quod eo diligentius faciendum fuit, quia declamationes, quibus ad pugnam forensem velut praepilatis exerceri solebamus, olim iam ab illa vera imagine orandi recesserunt atque ad solam compositae voluptatem nervis carent, non alio medius fidius vitio dicentium, quam quo mancipiorum negotiatores formae puerorum virilitate excisa lenocinantur.
This had to be done all the more diligently because declamations, in which we used to be exercised as if with buttoned foils for forensic combat, have long since retreated from that true image of pleading and, composed for pleasure alone, lack sinews, by no other fault of the speakers, in truth, than that by which dealers in slaves pander with the beauty of boys, their masculinity having been cut away.
§5.12.18nam ut illi robur ac lacertos barbamque ante omnia et alia, quae natura proprie maribus dedit, parum existimant decora, quaeque fortia, si liceret, forent ut dura molliunt, ita nos habitum ipsum orationis virilem et illam vim stricte robusteque dicendi tenera quadam elocutionis cute operimus et, dum levia sint ac nitida, quantum valeant, nihil interesse arbitramur.
For just as they think strength, muscles, a beard before all, and other things which nature has properly given to males, to be little decorous, and soften as harsh those things which, if permitted, would be strong, so we cover the virile habit itself of speech and that force of speaking strictly and robustly with some tender skin of elocution and, provided they are smooth and polished, we think it of no interest how much they are worth.
§5.12.19sed mihi naturam intuenti nemo non vir spadone formosior erit, nec tam aversa unquam videbitur ab opere suo providentia, ut debilitas inter optima inventa sit, nec id ferro speciosum fieri putabo, quod, si nasceretur, monstrum erat.
But to me, looking at nature, no man will not be more beautiful than a eunuch, nor will providence ever seem so turned away from its work that weakness is found among the best things, nor shall I think that beautiful by the knife which, if it were born so, would be a monster.
libidinem iuvet ipsum effeminati sexus mendacium, numquam tamen hoc continget malis moribus regnum ut, si qua pretiosa fecit, fecerit et bona.
Let the very lie of the effeminate sex please lust; yet this power will never happen to bad morals that, if they have made anything expensive, they have also made it good.
§5.12.20quapropter eloquentiam, licet hanc (ut sentio enim, dicam) libidinosam resupina voluptate auditoria probent, nullam esse existimabo, quae ne minimum quidem in se indicium masculi et incorrupti, ne dicam gravis et sancti viri, ostentet.
Wherefore, I shall consider eloquence to be nothing—even though audiences approve of this libidinous one with flat pleasure (for I will say what I feel)—which shows in itself not even the minimum indication of a masculine and uncorrupted, not to say serious and holy, man.
§5.12.21an vero statuarum artifices pictoresque clarissimi, cum corpora quam speciosissima fingendo pingendove efficere cuperent, numquam in hunc inciderunt errorem, ut Bagoam aut Megabyzum aliquem in exemplum operis sumerent sibi, sed Doryphoron illum aptum vel militiae vel palaestrae, aliorum quoque iuvenum bellicosorum et athletarum corpora decora vere existimaverunt: nos, qui oratorem studemus effingere, non arma sed tympana eloquentiae demus?
Or did the most famous sculptors and painters, when they desired to make bodies as beautiful as possible by molding or painting, ever fall into this error, so that they took some Bagoas or Megabyzus for themselves as an example of their work? No, they believed that Doryphorus, fit for either military service or the wrestling school, and the beautiful bodies of other warlike youths and athletes, were truly decorous. Shall we, who study to fashion an orator, give to eloquence not weapons but timbrels?
§5.12.22igitur et ille, quem instituimus, adolescens, quam maxime potest, componat se ad imitationem veritatis, initurusque frequenter forensium certaminum pugnam iam in schola victoriam spectet et ferire vitalia ac tueri sciat; et praeceptor id maxime exigat, inventum praecipue probet.
Therefore, let that youth also whom we train, as much as he can, compose himself to the imitation of truth, and about to enter frequently the battle of forensic contests, let him already in school look to victory and know how to strike vital parts and to defend himself; and let the teacher demand this especially, and approve especially of what is devised.
nam, ut ad peiora iuvenes laude ducuntur, ita laudari in bonis malent.
For as youth are led by praise to worse things, so they will prefer to be praised in good things.
nunc illud male est, §5.12.23quod necessaria plerumque silentio transeunt, nec in dicendo videtur inter bona utilitas.
Now, this is bad, that necessary things mostly pass by in silence, nor does utility seem among the good things in speaking.
sed haec et in alio nobis tractata sunt opere et in hoc saepe repetenda.
But these things have been treated by us in another work, and must often be repeated in this one.
nunc ad ordinem inceptum.
Now, to the order begun.