§5.14.27peregisse mihi videor sacra tradentium artes, sed consilio locus superest.
I seem to have gone through the mysteries of those who teach the art, but there remains room for advice.
namque ego, ut in oratione syllogismo quidem aliquando uti nefas non duco, ita constare totam aut certe confertam esse aggressionum et enthymematum stipatione minime velim.
For, just as I do not consider it a crime sometimes to use a syllogism in a speech, so I should least of all wish the whole speech to consist of, or certainly to be crowded with, a stuffing of arguments and enthymemes.
dialogis enim et dialecticis disputationibus erit similior quam nostri operis actionibus, quae quidem inter se plurimum differunt.
For it will be more like dialogues and dialectical discussions than the pleadings of our work, which indeed differ very much from one another.
§5.14.28namque in illis homines docti et inter doctos verum quaerentes minutius et scrupulosius scrutantur omnia, et ad liquidum confessumque perducunt, ut qui sibi et inveniendi et iudicandi vindicent partes, quarum alteram τοπικήν alteram κριτικήν vocant.
For in those, learned men, seeking the truth among the learned, search into everything more minutely and scrupulously, and bring things to a clear and admitted conclusion, as people who claim for themselves the parts both of invention and of judgment, of which they call the one topica, the other critica.
§5.14.29nobis ad aliorum iudicia componenda est oratio, et saepius apud omnino imperitos atque illarum certe ignaros litterarum loquendum est, quos nisi et delectatione allicimus et viribus trahimus et nonnunquam turbamus adfectibus, ipsa, quae iusta ac vera sunt, tenere non possumus.
For us, the speech must be composed for the judgments of others, and we must speak more often before those who are altogether unlearned and certainly ignorant of such literature; whom unless we entice by pleasure, drag by force, and sometimes disturb by emotions, we cannot maintain the very things that are just and true.
§5.14.30locuples et speciosa et imperiosa vult esse eloquentia; quorum nihil consequetur, si conclusionibus certis et in unam prope formam cadentibus concisa et contemptum ex humilitate et odium ex quadam severitate et ex copia satietatem et ex similitudine fastidium attulerit.
Eloquence wishes to be rich, splendid, and commanding; none of which she will attain, if, cut short by precise conclusions and those falling into almost a single form, she brings contempt from meanness, hatred from a certain severity, satiety from abundance, and disgust from similarity.
§5.14.31feratur ergo non semitis sed campis, non uti fontes angustis fistulis colliguntur sed ut beatissimi amnes totis vallibus fluunt, ac sibi viam, si quando non acceperit, faciat.
Let her, therefore, be carried not along pathways but through open plains; let her flow not as springs are collected in narrow pipes, but as the most bountiful rivers flow through whole valleys, and make a way for herself if at any time she has not received one.
nam quid illa miserius lege velut praeformatas infantibus litteras persequentium et, ut Graeci dicere solent, quem mater amictum dedit, sollicite custodientium: propositio ac conclusio ex consequentibus et repugnantibus?
For what is more wretched than that law of those who, as it were, follow letters traced out for children and, as the Greeks are accustomed to say, anxiously guard the garment which their mother gave them: a proposition and a conclusion from consequences and opposites?
§5.14.32non inspiret? non augeat? non mille figuris variet ac verset? ut ea nasci et ipsa provenire natura, non manu facta et arte suspecta magistrum fateri ubique videantur? quis unquam sic dixit orator? nonne apud ipsum Demosthenen paucissima huius generis reperiuntur? quae apprehensa Graeci magis (nam hoc solum peius faciunt) in catenas ligant et inexplicabili serie connectunt, et indubitata colligunt et probant confessa et se antiquis per hoc similes vocant, deinde interrogati nunquam respondebunt, quem imitentur.
Should she not inspire? Should she not amplify? Should she not vary and turn herself with a thousand figures, so that these things may seem to be born and to grow from nature itself, and not to be handmade, suspected of art, and everywhere confessing a master? What orator ever spoke thus? Are there not very few of this kind to be found in Demosthenes himself? Which the Greeks (for this is the only thing they do worse) grasp and bind in chains, connect in an inexplicable series, conclude what is indubitable, prove what is confessed, and on this account call themselves like the ancients; and then, if asked, they will never answer whom they are imitating.
sed de figuris alio loco.
But of figures in another place.
§5.14.33nunc illud adiiciendum, ne iis quidem consentire me, qui semper argumenta sermone puro et dilucido et distincto ceterum minime elato ornatoque putant esse dicenda.
Now this must be added, that I do not agree even with those who think that arguments must always be spoken in a style that is pure, clear, and distinct, but by no means elevated and adorned.
namque ea distincta quidem ac perspicua debere esse confiteor, in rebus vero minoribus etiam sermone ac verbis quam maxime propriis et ex usu; §5.14.34at si maior erit materia, nullum iis ornatum, qui modo non obscuret, subtrahendum puto.
For I confess that they ought indeed to be distinct and clear, and in smaller matters even in language and words as appropriate and common as possible; but if the material is greater, I think no ornament should be withheld from them, provided only it does not obscure them.
nam et saepe plurimum lucis adfert ipsa translatio, cum etiam iuris consulti, quorum summus circa verborum proprietatem labor est, litus esse audeant dicere, qua fluctus eludit.
For even metaphor itself often brings a great deal of light, since even the jurists, whose greatest labor is about the propriety of words, dare to call a beach the place where the wave plays.
§5.14.35quoque quid est natura magis asperum, hoc pluribus condiendum est voluptatibus; et minus suspecta argumentatio dissimulatione, et multum ad fidem adiuvat audientis voluptas.
And the more anything is by nature harsh, the more it must be seasoned with pleasures; and argumentation is less suspected when disguised, and the pleasure of the hearer helps much toward belief.
nisi forte existimamus Ciceronem haec ipsa mala in argumentatione dixisse, silere leges inter arma, et gladium nobis interim ab ipsis porrigi legibus. hic tamen habendus istis modus, ut sint ornamento non impedimento.
Unless perhaps we think that Cicero spoke these very harsh things in his argumentation: "laws are silent among arms," and "sometimes a sword is offered to us by the laws themselves." A limit, however, must be observed in these things, so that they may be an ornament, not an impediment.