§6.3.35ea quae dicet vir bonus omnia salva dignitate ac verecundia dicet.
All that the good man says, he will say with his dignity and modesty preserved.
nimium enim risus pretium est, si probitatis impendio constat.
For the price of laughter is too great if it is purchased at the expense of honesty.
unde autem concilietur risus et quibus ex locis peti soleat, difficillimum dicere.
But whence laughter is secured, and from what topics it is wont to be sought, is very difficult to say.
nam si species omnes persequi velimus, nec modum reperiemus et frustra laborabimus.
For if we should wish to pursue all the species, we shall find no limit and shall labor in vain.
§6.3.36neque enim minus numerosi sunt loci, ex quibus haec dicta, quam illi, ex quibus eae, quas sententias vocamus, ducuntur, neque alii.
For the topics from which these sayings are drawn are no less numerous than those from which the ones we call maxims are derived, nor are they different.
nam hic quoque est inventio et elocutio, atque ipsius elocutionis vis alia in verbis, alia in figuris.
For here too there is invention and elocution, and of elocution itself, one power lies in words, another in figures.
§6.3.37risus igitur oriuntur aut ex corpore eius, in quem dicimus, aut ex animo, qui factis ab eo dictisque colligitur, aut ex iis, quae sunt extra posita.
Laughter, therefore, arises either from the body of him against whom we speak, or from his mind, which is gathered from his deeds and words, or from things that are external.
intra haec enim est omnis vituperatio; quae si gravius posita sit, severa est, si levius, ridicula.
For within these lies all censure; which, if it is presented more gravely, is serious, if more lightly, ridiculous.
haec aut ostenduntur aut narrantur aut dicto notantur.
These are either pointed out, or narrated, or marked by a saying.
§6.3.38rarum est, ut oculis subiicere contingat, ut fecit C. Iulius;
It is a rare thing to be able to place before the eyes, as C.
qui, cum Helvio Manciae saepius obstrepenti sibi diceret, etiam ostendam, qualis sis. isque plane instaret interrogatione, qualem se ostensurus esset, digito demonstravit imaginem Galli in scuto Cimbrico pictam, cui Mancia tum simillimus est visus.
Iulius did; who, when Helvius Mancia was repeatedly shouting against him, said, "I will even show what kind of man you are." And when he pressed plainly with the question, what kind of man he was going to show him to be, he pointed with his finger to the image of a Gaul painted on a Cimbrian shield, to which Mancia then seemed very like.
tabernae autem erant circa forum, ac scutum illud signi gratia positum.
Moreover, there were shops around the forum, and that shield was placed for the sake of a sign.
narrare, §6.3.39quae salsa sint, inprimis est subtile et oratorium, ut Cicero pro Cluentio narrat de Caepasio atque Fabricio aut M. Caelius de illa D. Laelii collegaeque eius in provinciam festinantium contentione.
To narrate, what things are witty, is in the first place subtle and oratorical, as Cicero in Pro Cluentio narrates about Caepasius and Fabricius, or M. Caelius about that contest of D. Laelius and his colleague hastening into their province.
sed in his omnibus cum elegans et venusta exigitur tota expositio, tum id festivissimum est quod adiicit orator.
But in all these, while the whole exposition is required to be elegant and charming, that is most festive which the orator adds.
nam et a Cicerone sic est Fabricii fuga illa condita: §6.3.40itaque cum callidissime se putaret dicere, et cum illa vera gravissima ex intimo artificio deprompsisset, Respicite, iudices, hominum fortunas, respicite C. Fabricii senectutem, cum hoc, Respicite, ornandae orationis causa saepe dixisset, respexit ipse;
For also by Cicero the flight of Fabricius was seasoned thus: "Therefore, when he thought he was speaking most cleverly, and when he had drawn those very grave truths from the depth of his art: 'Look back, judges, upon the fortunes of men, look back upon the old age of C.
at Fabricius a subselliis demisso capite discesserat, et cetera, quae adiecit (nam est notus locus), cum in re hoc solum esset, Fabricium a iudicio recessisse.
Fabricius,' when he had often said this 'Look back' for the sake of adorning his speech, he looked back himself; but Fabricius had departed from the benches with his head lowered," and the rest which he added (for it is a well-known passage), although in reality there was only this one thing, that Fabricius had withdrawn from the trial.
§6.3.41et Caelius cum omnia venustissime finxit, tum illud ultimum, hic subsecutus quomodo transient, utrum rate an piscatorio navigio, nemo sciebat, Siculi quidem, ut sunt lascivi et dicaces, aiebant in delphino sedisse et sic tanquam Ariona transvectum. §6.3.42in narrando autem Cicero consistere facetias putat, dicacitatem in iaciendo.
And Caelius, while he fashioned everything most charmingly, so also that last part: "How they crossed after this, whether by a raft or a fishing boat, no one knew; the Sicilians indeed, as they are playful and witty, said that they sat on a dolphin and were thus carried across like Arion." Moreover, Cicero thinks that wit consists in narrating, and sarcasm in casting.
mire fuit in hoc genere venustus Afer Domitius, cuius orationibus complures huiusmodi narrationes insertae reperiuntur, sed dictorum quoque ab eodem urbane sunt editi libri.
Domitius Afer was wonderfully charming in this kind, in whose speeches many narratives of this sort are found inserted, but books of sayings urbane uttered by the same have also been published.
§6.3.43illud quoque genus est positum non in hac veluti iaculatione dictorum et inclusa breviter urbanitate sed in quodam longiore actu, quod de L. Crasso contra Brutum Cicero in secundo de Oratore libro et allis quibusdam locis narrat.
There is also that other kind, placed not in this sort of casting of words and briefly enclosed urbanity, but in a certain longer action, which Cicero narrates concerning L. Crassus against Brutus in the second book of De Oratore and in certain other places.
§6.3.44nam, cum Brutus in accusatione C. Planci ex duobus lectoribus ostendisset, contraria L. Crassum patronum eius in oratione, quam de Colonia Narbonensi habuerat, suasisse iis, quae de lege Servilia dixerat, tris excitavit et ipse lectores, hisque patris eius dialogos dedit legendos; quorum cum in Privernati unus, alter in Albano, tertius in Tiburti sermonem habitum complecteretur, requirebat, ubi essent eae possessiones.
For, when Brutus in the accusation of C. Plancus had shown by two readers that his patron L. Crassus had advocated in the speech which he had delivered concerning the Colony of Narbo things contrary to those which he had said about the Servilian law, he himself also raised up three readers, and gave them the dialogues of Brutus' father to read; since one of these contained a conversation held at Privernum, another at Albanum, and the third at Tibur, he asked where those possessions were.
omnes autem illas Brutus vendiderat; et tum paterna emancupare praedia turpius habebatur.
Moreover, Brutus had sold all of them; and at that time to alienate patrimonial estates was held to be more shameful.
similis in apologis quoque et quibusdam interim etiam historiis exponendi gratia consequi solet.
A similar effect is wont to follow in fables too, and sometimes even in histories, for the sake of exposition.