§8.3.24cum sint autem verba propria, ficta, translata, propriis dignitatem dat antiquitas.
Since words are proper, newly coined, or metaphorical, it is antiquity that gives dignity to proper words.
namque et sanctiorem et magis admirabilem faciunt orationem, quibus non quilibet fuerit usurus, eoque ornamento acerrimi iudicii P. Vergilius unice est usus.
For they make speech more sacred and more admirable, since not just anyone would use them; and P. Virgil, with his most acute judgment, made unique use of this ornament.
§8.3.25olli enim et quianam et moerus et pone et pellacia aspergunt illam, quae etiam in picturis est gratissima, vetustatis inimitabilem arti auctoritatem.
For words like olli, quianam, moerus, pone, and pellacia sprinkle upon art that inimitable authority of antiquity which is most pleasing even in pictures.
sed utendum modo, nec ex ultimis teneris repetenda.
But they must be used with moderation, and not recalled from the ultimate darkness.
satis est vetus quaeso; quid necesse est quaiso dicere? oppido quidem usi sunt paulum tempore nostro superiores, vereor, ut iam nos ferat quisquam; certe antegerio, cuius eadem significatio est, nemo nisi ambitiosus utetur.
It is enough that quaeso is old; why is it necessary to say quaiso? The people slightly prior to our time used oppido for a little while, but I fear that anyone would tolerate us using it now; certainly antegerio, which has the same meaning, no one but an ostentatious person will use.
§8.3.26aerumnosum quid opus est? tanquam parum sit, si dicatur quid horridum.
What need is there for aerumnosum? As if it were not enough if something were said to be horridum.
reor tolerabile, autumo tragicum, prolem dicere inusitatum est, prosapiam insulsum.
I think reor is tolerable, autumo is tragic, to say proles is unusual, and prosapia is tasteless.
quid multa? totus prope mutatus est sermo.
Why say more? Almost the whole of speech has been changed.
§8.3.27quaedam tamen adhuc vetera vetustate ipsa gratius nitent, quaedam et necessario interim sumuntur, ut nuncupare et fari; multa alia etiam audentius inseri possunt sed ita demum, si non appareat adfectatio, in quam mirifice Vergilius:
"
Corinthiorum amator iste verborum,
Thucydides Britannus, Atticae febris,
tau Gallicum, al, min, et sil ut male elisit; ita omnia ista verba miscuit fratri. "
Cimber hic fuit, §8.3.29a quo fratrem necatum hoc Ciceronis dicto notatum est, germanum Cimber occidit. nec minus noto Sallustius epigrammate incessitur:
"
et verba antiqui multum furate Catonis
Crispe, Iugurthinae conditor historiae. " §8.3.30odiosa cura; nam et cuilibet facilis et hoc pessima, quod eius studiosus non verba rebus aptabit, sed res extrinsecus arcesset, quibus haec verba conveniant.
Yet some old words still shine more pleasingly because of their antiquity itself, and some are indeed necessarily adopted at times, such as nuncupare and fari; many others can be inserted even more boldly, but only if affectation does not appear, against which Virgil wrote wonderfully: "That lover of Corinthian words, the British Thucydides, the Athenian fever, how badly he omitted the Gallic tau, and al, min, and sil; thus he mixed all those words for his brother." This was Cimber, by whom his brother was killed, which was marked by this saying of Cicero: "Cimber killed his germanum." Nor with less well-known epigram is Sallust attacked: "And Crispus, writer of the Jugurthine history, who stole many words from ancient Cato." A hateful care; for it is easy for anyone, and worst in this, that an enthusiast of it will not adapt words to things, but will summon things from without to which these words may fit.
fingere, ut primo libro dixi, Graecis magis concessum est, qui sonis etiam quibusdam et adfectibus non dubitaverunt nomina aptare, non alia libertate quam qua illi primi homines rebus appellationes dederunt.
To coin new words, as I said in the first book, is more granted to the Greeks, who did not hesitate to adapt nouns even to certain sounds and feelings, with no other liberty than that by which those first men gave names to things.
§8.3.31nostri autem in iungendo aut in derivando paulum aliquid ausi vix in hoc satis recipiuntur.
But our people, having dared only a very little in joining or deriving, are hardly received with enough favor in this.
nam memini iuvenis admodum inter Pomponium ac Senecam etiam praefationibus esse tractatum, an gradus eliminat in tragoedia dici oportuisset.
For I remember when I was a very young man, it was debated between Pomponius and Seneca, even in their prefaces, whether gradus eliminat ought to have been said in tragedy.
at veteres ne expectorat quidem timuerunt; et sane eiusdem notae est exanimat.
But the ancients did not even fear to say expectorat; and indeed exanimat is of the same character.
§8.3.32at tractu et declinatione talia sunt, qualia apud Ciceronem beatitas et beatitudo; quae dura quidem sentit esse, verumtamen usu putat posse molliri.
But by derivation and inflection such words exist as beatitas and beatitudo in Cicero; which he indeed feels to be harsh, but nevertheless thinks can be softened by usage.
nec a verbis modo, sed a nominibus quoque derivata sunt quaedam, ut a Cicerone sullaturit ab Asinio fimbriatum et figulatum.
And some are derived not only from verbs, but also from nouns, as sullaturit by Cicero, and fimbriatum and figulatum by Asinius.
§8.3.33multa ex Graeco format nova ac plurima a Verginio Flavo, quorum dura quaedam admodum videntur, ut queens et essentia; quae cur tantopere aspernemur nihil video, nisi quod iniqui iudices adversus nos sumus ideoque paupertate sermonis laboramus.
Many new words are formed from Greek, and very many by Virginius Flavus, of which some seem quite harsh, such as queens and essentia; yet I see no reason why we should reject them so greatly, except that we are unfair judges against ourselves and therefore suffer from poverty of speech.
quaedam tamen perdurant.
Yet some endure.
§8.3.34nam et quae vetera nunc sunt, fuerunt olim nova, et quaedam sunt in usu perquam recentia, ut Messala primus reatum, munerarium Augustus primus dixerunt.
For those which are now old were once new, and some are very recent in use, as Messala was the first to say reatus, and Augustus was the first to say munerarius.
piraticam quoque ut musicam et fabricam dici adhuc vetabant mei praeceptores.
My teachers also still forbade piratica to be said like musica and fabrica.
favorem et urbanum Cicero nova credit.
Cicero believes favor and urbanus to be new words.
nam et in epistola ad Brutum eum, inquit, amorem et eum, ut hoc verbo utar, fauorem in consilium advocabo. §8.3.35et ad Appium Pulchrum, te, hominem non solum sapientem verum etiam, ut nunc loquimur, urbanum. idem putat a Terentio primum dictum esse obsequium, Caecilius a Sisenna albente caelo.
For in a letter to Brutus he says, "I will call into council that love and that—to use this word—favor." And to Appius Pulcher, "you, a man not only wise but also, as we say now, urbanus." The same thinks that obsequium was first said by Terence, and Caecilius thinks that albente caelo was first said by Sisenna.
cervicem videtur Hortensius primus dixisse, nam veteres pluraliter appellabant.
Hortensius seems to have been the first to say cervix, for the ancients used to call it in the plural.
audendum itaque; neque enim accedo Celso, qui ab oratore verba fingi vetat.
Therefore, we must dare; for I do not agree with Celsus, who forbids words to be coined by an orator.
nam,
For,