§8.3.12quare, quidquid erit sententiis populare, verbis nitidum, figuris iucundum, translationibus magnificum, compositione elaboratum, velut institor quidam eloquentiae intuendum et paene pertractandum dabit.
Therefore, whatever is popular in thoughts, brilliant in words, pleasing in figures, magnificent in metaphors, elaborate in composition, he will offer to be looked at and almost handled, like some retail dealer of eloquence.
nam eventus ad ipsum, non ad causam refertur.
For the outcome is referred to himself, not to the case.
§8.3.13at ubi res agitur et vera dimicatio est, ultimus sit famae locus.
But where a real matter is at stake and there is a genuine fight, let the place of reputation be the last.
praeterea ne decet quidem, ubi maxima rerum momenta versantur, de verbis esse sollicitum.
Furthermore, it is not even becoming to be anxious about words when the greatest issues are at stake.
Neque hoc eo pertinet, ut in his nullus sit ornatus, sed uti pressior et severior et minus confessus, praecipue materiae accommodatus.
Nor does this tend to the point that there should be no ornament in these, but that it should be more restrained, more severe, less obvious, and especially adapted to the subject-matter.
§8.3.14nam et in suadendo sublimius aliquid senatus, concitatius populus, et in iudiciis publicae capitalesque causae poscunt accuratius dicendi genus.
For in advising, the senate demands something more sublime, the people something more excited; and in judgments, public and capital cases demand a more exact style of speaking.
at privatum consilium causasque paucorum, ut frequenter accidit, calculorum purus sermo et dissimilis curae magis decuerit.
But private consultation and cases of a few calculi, as frequently happens, a pure speech and one unlike care would have more become.
an non pudeat certam creditam periodis postulare aut circa stillicidia adfici aut in mancipii redhibitione sudare?
Would one not be ashamed to demand a certain debt in periods, or to be emotionally affected about eavesdroppings, or to sweat in the returning of a slave?
§8.3.15sed ad propositum.
But to the purpose.
et quoniam orationis tam ornatus quam perspicuitas aut in singulis verbis est aut in pluribus positus, quid separata, quid iuncta exigant, consideremus.
And since both ornament and clearness of speech reside either in single words or in several, let us consider what separate words and what joined words demand.
quanquam enim rectissime traditum est, perspicuitatem propriis, ornatum translatis verbis magis egere, sciamus nihil ornatum esse quod sit improprium.
For although it has been most correctly handed down that clearness needs proper words more, and ornament needs metaphoric words more, let us know that nothing is ornamented which is improper.
§8.3.16sed cum idem frequentissime plura significent (quod συνωνυμία vocatur), iam sunt aliis alia honestiora, sublimiora, nitidiora, iucundiora, vocaliora.
But since several words signify the same thing (which is called synonymy), some words are already more honorable, more sublime, more brilliant, more pleasing, and more vocal than others.
nam ut syllabae e litteris melius sonantibus clariores sunt, ita verba e syllabis magis vocalia et, quo plus quodque spiritus habet, auditu pulchrius.
For as syllables are clearer when made of better-sounding letters, so words are more vocal when made of better syllables, and the more breath each has, the more beautiful it is to hear.
Et quod facit syllabarum, idem verborum quoque inter se copulatio, ut aliud alii iunctum melius sonet.
And the same effect that the joining of syllables produces, the copulation of words also produces among themselves, so that one joined to another sounds better.
diversus tamen usus.
Yet the use is diverse.
§8.3.17nam rebus atrocibus verba etiam ipso auditu aspera magis convenient.
For to dreadful matters, words rough even in their very hearing will be more suitable.
at universum quidem optima simplicium creduntur, quae aut maxime exclamant aut sono sunt iucundissima.
But in general, the best of simple words are believed to be those which either ring out most or are most pleasant in sound.
et honesta quidem turpibus potiora semper nec sordidis unquam in oratione erudita locus.
And honorable words are always preferable to shameful ones, nor is there ever a place for sordid words in educated speech.
§8.3.18clara illa atque sublimia plerumque materiae modo discernenda sunt.
Those brilliant and sublime words are usually to be distinguished only by the measure of the subject-matter.
quod alibi magnificum, tumidum alibi, et quae humilia circa res magnas, apta circa minores videntur.
What is magnificent in one place seems turgid in another, and things which seem low around great matters seem fitting around smaller ones.
ut autem in oratione nitida notabile humilius verbum et velut macula, ita a sermone tenui sublime nitidumque discordat fitque corruptum, quia in plano tumet.
But just as in brilliant speech a lower word is noticeable and as it were a stain, so from plain speech the sublime and brilliant clashes and becomes corrupt, because it swells on flat ground.
§8.3.19quaedam non tam ratione quam sensu iudicantur, ut illud,
"
caesa iungebant foedera porca,
"
fecit elegans fictio nominis, quod si fuisset porco, vile erat.
Some things are judged not so much by reason as by feeling, such as that: "They joined treaties with a slain sow," which the elegant choice of the noun produced; for if it had been "with a boar," it would have been vulgar.
at quibusdam ratio manifesta est.
But in some things, the reason is manifest.
risimus, et merito nuper poetam, qui dixerat
"
praetextam in cista mures rosere camilli. "
At Vergilii miramur illud, §8.3.20"
saepe exiguus mus. "
Nam epitheton proprium effecit, ne plus exspectaremus, et casus singularis magis decuit, et clausula ipsa unius syllabae non usitata addidit gratiam.
We laughed, and deservedly, at a poet recently who had said: "Mice of Camillus gnawed the toga praetexta in the chest." On the other hand, we admire that of Virgil: "Often the tiny mouse." For the suitable epithet made us not expect more, and the singular case was more becoming, and the unusual clausula itself of a single syllable added grace.
imitatus est itaque utrumque Horatius,
"
nascetur ridiculus mus. " §8.3.21nec augenda semper oratio sed summittenda nonnunquam est.
Horace therefore imitated both: "A ridiculous mouse will be born." Nor is speech always to be elevated, but sometimes to be lowered.
vim rebus aliquando verborum ipsa humilitas adfert.
The very lowliness of words sometimes brings force to things.
an, cum dicet in Pisonem Cicero, cum tibi tota cognatio serraco advehatur, incidisse videtur in sordidum nomen, non eo contemptum hominis, quem destructum volebat, auxisse? et alibi, caput opponis, cum eo coruscans.
When Cicero says in his speech against Piso, "when all your kindred are carried to you on a wagon," does he seem to have fallen into a sordid noun, or rather to have increased the contempt for the man whom he wished to destroy?
§8.3.22unde interim gratus fit iocis decor, qualis est ille apud M. Tullium pusio, qui cum maiore sorore cubitabat, et, Flavius, qui cornicum oculos confixit, et pro Milone illud Heus tu Rufio, et Erucius Antoniaster. id tamen in declamatoribus est notabilius laudarique me puero solebat, da patri panem; et in eodem, etiam canem pascis. §8.3.23res quidem praecipue in scholis anceps et frequenter causa risus, nunc utique, cum haec exercitatio procul a veritate seiuncta laboret incredibili verborum fastidio ac sibi magnam partem sermonis absciderit.
And elsewhere: "You oppose your head, flashing with it." Whence sometimes a pleasing grace is made for jokes, such as that in Marcus Tullius, the "little boy who slept with his elder sister," and "Flavius, who pierced the eyes of crows," and in Pro Milone, that "Hey you, Rufio," and "Erucius the Antony-imitator." This, however, is more notable in declaimers, and was accustomed to be praised when I was a boy: "Give bread to your father"; and in the same: "You even feed your dog." This matter is indeed especially risky in the schools and frequently a cause of laughter, especially now, when this exercise, separated far from reality, suffers from an incredible fastidiousness of words and has cut off for itself a great part of speech.