§8.5.11et addita in clausula est epiphonematis modo non tam probatio quam extrema quasi insultatio.
And added in the conclusion, in the manner of an epiphonema, is not so much a proof as a sort of final exclamation of triumph.
est enim epiphonema rei narratae vel probatae summa acclamatio:
"
tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem!
"
facere enim probus adolescens periculose quam perpeti turpiter maluit.
For an epiphonema is a crowning exclamation of a thing narrated or proved: "Such a toil it was to found the Roman race!" For the honorable youth preferred to act dangerously rather than to suffer shamefully.
§8.5.12est et, quod appellatur a novis noema qua voce omnis intellectus accipi potest; sed hoc nomine donarunt ea quae non dicunt, uerum intelligi volunt: ut in eum, quem saepius a ludo redemerat soror, agentem cum ea talionis, quod ei pollicem dormienti recidisset, eras dignus, ut haberes integram manum, sic enim auditur ut depugnares. §8.5.13vocatur aliquid et clausula; quae, si est quod conclusionem dicimus, et recta et quibusdam in partibus necessaria est: quare prius de vestro facto fateamini necesse est, quam Ligarii culpam ullam reprehendatis. sed nunc aliud volunt, ut omnis locus, omnis sensus in fine sermonis feriat aurem.
There is also what is called by the moderns 'noema', by which word every act of understanding can be received; but they have gifted with this name those things which they do not say, but wish to be understood: as against him, whom his sister had quite often ransomed from the gladiatorial school, who was bringing an action against her for talion because she had cut off his thumb while he slept: "You were worthy to have a whole hand" — for this is heard as meaning "so that you might fight to the end." Something is also called 'clausula'; which, if it is what we call a conclusion, is both proper and in certain parts necessary: "wherefore it is necessary that you first confess concerning your own deed, before you find any fault with Ligarius." But now they want something else: that every passage, every thought, should strike the ear at the end of the sentence.
§8.5.14turpe autem ac prope nefas ducunt, respirare ullo loco, qui acclamationem non petierit.
Moreover, they think it shameful and almost a sacrilege to take a breath in any place that has not sought an acclamation.
inde minuti corruptique sensiculi et extra rem petiti; neque enim possunt tam multae bonae sententiae esse, quam necesse est multae sint clausulae.
Hence arise tiny, corrupt thoughts, and those fetched from outside the subject; for there cannot be as many good sententiae as there must of necessity be many clausulae.
§8.5.15iam haec magis nova sententiarum genera.
Now these are more modern kinds of sententiae.
ex inopinato: ut dixit Vibius Crispus in eum, qui, cum loricatus in foro ambularet, praetendebat id se metu facere, quis tibi sic timere permisit? et insigniter Africanus apud Neronem de morte matris, rogant te, Caesar, Galliae tuae, ut felicitatem tuam fortiter feras. sunt et alio relata: §8.5.16ut Afer Domitius, cum Cloatillam defenderet, cui obiectum crimen, quod virum qui inter rebellantes fuerat sepelisset, remiserat Claudius, in epilogo filios eius adloquens, matrem tamen, inquit, pueri sepelitote. §8.5.17et aliunde petita, id est in alium locum ex alio translata.
From the unexpected: as Vibius Crispus said against him, who, walking in the forum clad in a breastplate, pretended that he did this out of fear: "Who allowed you to be so afraid?" And remarkably, Africanus to Nero concerning his mother's death: "Your Gauls ask you, Caesar, to bear your good fortune bravely." There are also those directed to another purpose: as Domitius Afer, when defending Cloatilla, whom Claudius had pardoned of the charge brought against her, that she had buried her husband who had been among the rebels, said in his epilogue, addressing her sons: "Nonetheless, boys, bury your mother." And those fetched from elsewhere, that is, transferred from one context to another.
pro Spatale Crispus, quam qui heredem amator instituerat decessit, cum haberet annos duodeviginti, hominem divinum, qui sibi indulsit. §8.5.18facit quasdam sententias sola geminatio, qualis est Senecae in eo scripto, quod Nero ad senatum misit occisa matre, cum se periclitatum videri vellet: salvum me esse adhuc nec credo nec gaudeo. melior, cum ex contrariis valet: habeo quem fugiam; quem sequar non habeo. quid, quod miser, cum loqui non posset, lacere non poterat? §8.5.19ea vero fit pulcherrima, cum aliqua comparatione clarescit.
Crispus, on behalf of Spatale, whose lover, having appointed her as heir, had died when she was eighteen years old: "What a divine man, who indulged himself!" Indeed, mere repetition makes certain sententiae, such as that of Seneca in that writing which Nero sent to the senate after his mother was killed, when he wanted to seem to have been in danger: "That I am safe as yet, I neither believe nor rejoice." It is better when it derives its force from contraries: "I have whom to flee; whom to follow I have not." What of this: "Why is it that the wretched man, although he could not speak, could not keep silent?" That indeed becomes most beautiful when it shines by some comparison.
Trachalus contra Spatalen: placet hoc ergo, leges, diligentissimae pudoris custodes, decimas uxoribus dari, quartas meretricibus? §8.5.20sed horum quidem generum et bonae dici possunt et malae.
Trachalus against Spatale: "Does this please you then, laws, most diligent guardians of modesty, that tenths should be given to wives, fourths to courtesans?" But of these kinds, indeed, both good and bad things can be said.
illae semper vitiosae ut a verbo: patres conscripti, sic enim incipiendum est mihi, ut memineritis patrum. peius adhuc, quo magis falsum est et longius petitum, contra eandem sororem gladiatoris, cuius modo feci mentionem, ad digitum pugnavi. §8.5.21est etiam generis eiusdem, nescio an vitiosissimum, quotiens verborum ambiguitas cum rerum falsa quadam similitudine iungitur.
Those are always faulty which are from a word: "Conscript Fathers, for thus must I begin, so that you may remember your fathers." Still worse, because it is more false and far-fetched, against the same sister of the gladiator, whom I mentioned just now: "I fought to the finger." It is also of the same kind, and I know not whether it is the most faulty, whenever the ambiguity of words is joined with a certain false similarity of things.
clarum actorem iuvenis audivi, cum lecta in capite cuiusdam ossa sententiae gratia tenenda matri dedisset: infelicissima femina, nondum extulisti filium et iam ossa legisti. §8.5.22ad hoc plerique minimis etiam inventiunculis gaudent, quae excussae risum habent, inventae facie ingenii blandiuntur.
I, as a youth, heard a famous advocate, when, for the sake of a sententia, he had given the gathered bones from the head of a certain man to his mother to hold: "O most unhappy woman, you have not yet carried out your son, and already you have gathered his bones." To this, most people rejoice even in the smallest little inventions, which when examined raise a laugh, but when first found flatter with the appearance of wit.
de eo, qui naufragus et ante agrorum sterilitate vexatus in scholis fingitur se suspendisse: quem neque terra recipit nec mare, pendeat. huic simile in illo, §8.5.23de quo supra dixi, cui pater sua membra laceranti venenum dedit: qui haec edit, debet hoc bibere. et in luxuriosum, qui ἀποκαρτέρησιν simulasse dicitur: necte laqueum, habes, quod faucibus tuis irascaris; sume venenum, decet luxuriosum bibendo mori.
Concerning him, who, having been shipwrecked and previously harassed by the barrenness of his fields, is imagined in the schools to have hanged himself: "He whom neither land nor sea receives, let him hang." Similar to this is that concerning him, of whom I spoke above, to whom his father gave poison as he was tearing his own limbs: "He who eats these things, ought to drink this." And against a luxurious man, who is said to have pretended starvation: "Tie the noose; you have reason to be angry with your throat; take poison; it is fitting for a luxurious man to die by drinking."