§8.3.58est autem omne κακόζηλον utique falsum, etiamsi non omne falsum κακόζηλον est enim quod dicitur aliter, quam se natura habet et quam oportet et quam sat est.
But every kakozelon (bad affectation) is certainly false, even if not every false thing is kakozelon: for it is that which is spoken otherwise than as nature has it, and as it ought to be, and as is enough.
totidem autem generibus corrumpitur oratio quot ornatur.
Moreover, style is corrupted by as many kinds of faults as it is adorned by virtues.
sed de hac parte et in alio nobis opere plenius dictum est et in hoc saepe tractatur et adhuc spargetur omnibus locis.
But concerning this part, we have spoken more fully in another work, and it is frequently treated in this one, and will still be scattered in all places.
loquentes enim de ornatu subinde, quae sint vitanda similia virtutibus vitia, dicemus. §8.3.59sunt inornata et haec: quod male dispositum est, id ἀνοικονόμητον, quod male figuratum, id ἀσχημάτιστον quod male collocatum, id κακοσύνθετον vocant.
For while speaking of adornment, we shall from time to time say what are the vices similar to virtues that must be avoided. These also are unadorned: what is badly arranged, they call anoiconometon; what is badly figured, aschematiston; what is badly collocated, cacosyntheton.
sed de dispositione diximus; de figuris et compositione dicemus.
But we have spoken of arrangement; we shall speak of figures and composition.
Σαρδισμὸς quoque appellatur quaedam mixta ex varia ratione linguarum oratio, ut si Atticis Dorica, Ionica, Aeolica etiam dicta confundas.
Sardismos is also the name given to a speech mixed from a varied character of languages, as if you should confuse Attic words with Doric, Ionic, and even Aeolic.
Cui simile vitium est apud nos, §8.3.60si quis sublimia humilibus, vetera novis, poetica vulgaribus misceat.
A similar vice exists among us, if anyone should mix lofty things with low, ancient with modern, poetic with vulgar.
id enim tale monstrum, quale Horatius in prima parte libri de arte poetica fingit:
"
humano capiti cervicem pictor equinam
iungere si velit,
"
et cetera ex diversis naturis subiiciat. §8.3.61ornatum est, quod perspicuo ac probabili plus est.
For that is such a monster as Horace shapes in the first part of his book on the Art of Poetry: "If a painter should wish to join a horse's neck to a human head," and should subject other parts from different natures. Adornment is that which is more than the clear and the probable.
eius primi sunt gradus in eo quod velis concipiendo et exprimendo, tertius, qui haec nitidiora faciat, quod proprie dixeris cultum.
Its first steps consist in conceiving and expressing what you wish; the third, which makes these things brighter, is what you would properly call cultivation.
itaque ἐνάργειαν cuius in praeceptis narrationis feci mentionem, quia plus est evidentia vel, ut alii dicunt, repraesentatio quam perspicuitas, et illud patet, hoc se quodam modo ostendit, inter ornamenta ponamus. §8.3.62magna virtus est res de quibus loquimur dare atque, ut cerni videantur, enuntiare.
Therefore, let us place enargeia (vividness)—of which I made mention in the rules of narrative, because evidence, or, as others say, representation, is more than perspicuity, since the latter is clear, while the former in some way shows itself—among the ornaments. It is a great virtue to present the things of which we speak and to enunciate them so that they seem to be seen.
non enim satis efficit neque, ut debet, plene dominatur oratio, si usque ad aures valet atque ea sibi iudex, de quibus cognoscit, narrari credit, non exprimi et oculis mentis ostendi. §8.3.63sed quoniam pluribus modis accipi solet non equidem in omnes eam particulas secabo, quarum ambitiose a quibusdam numerus augetur, sed maxime necessarias attingam.
For speech does not effect enough, nor does it rule fully as it ought, if it is powerful only as far as the ears, and the judge believes that the things of which he is taking cognizance are merely being narrated to him, not expressed and shown to the eyes of his mind. But since it is accustomed to be understood in several ways, I will not indeed cut it into all those small parts, the number of which is ostentatiously increased by some, but I will touch upon the most necessary.
est igitur unum genus, quo tota rerum imago quodammodo verbis depingitur:
"
constitit in digitos extemplo arrectus uterque
"
et cetera, quae nobis illam pugilum congredientium faciem ita ostendunt, ut non clarior futura fuerit spectantibus. §8.3.64plurimum in hoc genere sicut in ceteris eminet Cicero.
There is, then, one kind by which the whole image of things is in some way painted in words: "Immediately both stood, raised on their toes," and the rest, which show us that appearance of the meeting pugilists in such a way that it would not have been clearer to those looking on. Cicero, in this kind as in others, stands out the most.
an quisquam tam procul a concipiendis imaginibus rerum abest, ut non, cum illa in Verrem legit, stetit soleatus praetor populi Romani cum pallio purpureo tunicaque talari muliercula nixus in litore, non solum ipsos intueri videatur et locum et habitum, sed quaedam etiam ex iis, quae dicta non sunt, sibi ipse adstruat? §8.3.65ego certe mihi cernere videor et vultum et oculos et deformes utriusque blanditias et eorum qui aderant tacitam aversationem ac timidam verecundiam. §8.3.66interim ex pluribus efficitur illa quam conamur exprimere facies, ut est apud eundem (namque ad omnium ornandi virtutum exemplum vel unus sufficit) in descriptione convivii luxuriosi: videbar videre alios intrantes, alios autem exeuntes, quosdam ex vino vacillantes, quosdam hesterna ex potatione oscitantes.
Or is anyone so far removed from conceiving the images of things that, when he reads those words in Verres: "There stood the praetor of the Roman people, shod with sandals, with a purple cloak and a tunic reaching to his ankles, leaning on a woman on the shore," he does not seem not only to look upon the persons themselves, the place, and the dress, but even to add for himself some of those things that have not been spoken? I indeed seem to myself to discern the face, the eyes, the unseemly flatteries of both, and the silent aversion and timid shame of those who were present. Sometimes that appearance which we endeavor to express is made up of several details, as is found in the same author (for even he alone is sufficient as an example of every virtue of adornment) in his description of a luxurious banquet: "I seemed to see some entering, others indeed leaving, some staggering from wine, others yawning from yesterday's drinking.
humus erat immunda, lutulenta vino, coronis languidulis et spinis cooperta piscium. §8.3.67quid plus videret qui intrasset? sic et urbium captarum crescit miseratio.
The ground was filthy, muddy with wine, covered with drooping crowns and the bones of fish." What more would he see who had entered?
sine dubio enim, qui dicit expugnatam esse civitatem, complectitur omnia quaecunque talis fortuna recipit, sed in adfectus minus penetrat brevis hic velut nuntius.
Thus also the pity for captured cities increases.
§8.3.68at si aperias haec, quae verbo uno inclusa erant, apparebunt effusae per domus ac templa flammae et ruentium tectorum fragor et ex diversis clamoribus unus quidam sonus, aliorum fuga incerta, alii extremo complexu suorum cohaerentes et infantium feminarumque ploratus et male usque in illum diem servati fato senes;
For without doubt, he who says that a city has been stormed embraces everything that such a fortune receives; but this brief, as it were, message penetrates less into the emotions. But if you unfold these things which were included in a single word, there will appear flames spread through houses and temples, the crash of falling roofs, and one certain sound from diverse clamors, the uncertain flight of some, others clinging in a last embrace of their loved ones, the weeping of infants and women, and old men ill-preserved by fate up to that day;