§8.6.55quanquam id plurimis id tropis accidit, ut intersit, quid de quoque dicatur, quia quod dicitur alibi verum est.
Although this happens in very many tropes, so that it makes a difference what is said about each, because what is said is true in another context.
et laudis adsimulatione detrahere et vituperationis laudare concessum est: quod C. Verres, praetor urbanus, homo sanctus et diligens, subsortitionem eius id codice non haberet.
And it is permitted to detract under the pretense of praise, and to praise under the pretense of blame: as when Gaius Verres, city praetor, a holy and diligent man, did not have his subsortition in his record book.
et contra: oratores visi sumus et populo imposuimus. §8.6.56aliquando cum id risu quodam contraria dicuntur iis quae intelligi volunt: quale est in Clodium, integritas tua te purgavit, mihi crede, pudor eripuit, vita anteacta servavit. §8.6.57praeter haec usus est allegoriae, ut tristia dicamus mollioribus verbis urbanitatis gratia aut quaedam contrariis significemus aliud textum spectaco et enumeravimus.
And on the contrary: "we seemed to be orators, and we imposed on the people." Sometimes, when with a certain laughter, things contrary to what they want to be understood are said: such as that against Clodius, "Your integrity has cleared you, believe me; your modesty has rescued you; your past life has saved you." Besides these, there is a use of allegory, so that we may express sad things in milder words for the sake of urbanity, or indicate certain things by their contraries, as we have looked at and enumerated in another context.
Haec si quis ignorat, quibus Graeci nominibus appellent, σαρκασμόν, ἀστεϊσμόν, ἀντίφρασιν, παροιμίαν dici sciat.
If anyone does not know by what Greek names these are called, let him know that they are called sarcasm, asteism, antiphrasis, and proverb.
sunt etiam, §8.6.58qui haec non species allegoriae sed ipsa tropos dicant; acri quidem ratione, quod illa obscurior sit, id his omnibus aperte appareat quid velimus.
There are also those who say that these are not species of allegory but themselves tropes; and indeed with sharp reasoning, because while that is more obscure, in all of these it is openly apparent what we mean.
cui accedit hoc quoque, quod genus, cum dividitur id species, nihil habet proprium, ut arbor pinus et olea et cupressus, et ipsius per se nulla proprietas; allegoria vero habet aliquid proprium.
To which is added this also, that a genus, when it is divided into species, has nothing proper to itself, just as "tree" has pine, olive, and cypress, and of itself there is no property; but allegory has something proper.
quod quo modo fieri potest, nisi ipsa species est? sed utentium nihil refert.
How can this be, unless it is itself a species?
§8.6.59adiicitur his μυκτηρισμὸς dissimulatus quidam sed non latens derisus.
But it makes no difference to those who use them. To these is added mykterismos, a certain disguised but not hidden derision.
pluribus autem verbis cum id, quod uno aut paucioribus certe dici potest, explicatur, περίφρασιν vocant, circuitum quendam eloquendi, qui nonnunquam necessitatem habet, quotiens dictu deformia operit: ut Sallustius, ad requisita naturae. §8.6.60interim ornatum petit solum, qui est apud poetas frequentissimus:
"
tempus erat, quo prima quies mortalibus aegris
incipit et dono divum gratissima serpit. "
Et apud oratores non rarus, semper tamen adstrictior. §8.6.61Quidquid enim significari brevius potest et cum ornatu latius ostenditur, περίφρασις est, cui nomen Latine datum est non sane aptum orationis virtuti circumlocutio.
But when what can be said in one or certainly fewer words is explained in more words, they call it periphrasis, a certain circuit of speaking, which sometimes is necessary, as often as it covers things disgraceful to say: as Sallust, "to the necessities of nature." Sometimes it seeks ornament alone, which is very frequent among poets: "It was the time when first sleep begins for weary mortals, and creeps on, most welcome, by the gift of the gods." And among orators it is not rare, yet always more restricted. For whatever can be expressed more briefly and is shown more widely with ornament is periphrasis, to which a Latin name has been given, "circumlocutio," which is indeed not very suitable to a virtue of speech.
verum hoc ut, cum decorem habet, periphrasis, ita, cum id vitium incidit, περισσολογία dicitur.
But just as this is periphrasis when it has beauty, so when it falls into a fault it is called perissologia.
obstat enim quidquid non adiuvat. §8.6.62hyperbaton quoque, id est verbi transgressionem, quoniam frequenter ratio compositionis et decor poscit, non immerito inter virtutes habemus.
For whatever does not help, hinders. Hyperbaton also, that is, the transgression of a word, since the system of composition and beauty frequently demands it, we not undeservedly count among virtues.
fit enim frequentissime aspera et dura et dissoluta et hians oratio, si ad necessitatem ordinis sui verba redigantur et, ut quodque oritur, ita proximis, etiamsi vinciri non potest, adligetur. §8.6.63differenda igitur quaedam et praesumenda, atque ut id structuris lapidum impolitorum loco, quo convenit, quodque ponendum.
For speech becomes very frequently rough, harsh, disjointed, and gaping, if words are reduced to the necessity of their own order and, as each arises, is bound to the nearest words, even if it cannot be united. Therefore, some things must be deferred and some anticipated, and, just as in structures of unhewn stones, each must be placed in the spot where it fits.
non enim recidere ea nec polire possumus, quo coagmentata se magis iungant, sed utendum iis, qualia sunt, eligendaeque sedes. §8.6.64nec aliud potest sermonem facere numerosum quam opportuna ordinis per mutatio; neque alio ceris Platonis inventa sunt quattuor illa verba, quibus id illo pulcherrimo operum id Piraeeum se descendisse significat, plurimis modis scripta, §8.6.65quam quod eum quoque maxime numerosum facere experiretur.
For we cannot cut them back nor polish them so that, cemented together, they join more closely, but we must use them as they are, and their seats must be chosen. Nor can anything else make speech rhythmical but the timely change of order; nor for any other reason were those four words of Plato found in his wax tablets, in which he signifies that he went down to the Piraeus in that most beautiful of works, written in very many ways, than that he was trying to make it also as rhythmical as possible.
verum id cum id duobus verbis fit, ἀναστροφὴ dicitur, reversio quaedam: qualia sunt vulgo, mecum, secum, apud oratores et historicos quibus de rebus. at cum decoris gratia traiicitur longius verbum, proprie hyperbati tenet nomen: animaduerti, iudices, omnem accusatoris orationem in duas diuisam esse partes. nam in duas partes divisam esse rectum erat, sed durum et incomptum.
But when this occurs in two words, it is called anastrophe, a certain reversal: such as in common speech, "mecum," "secum," and among orators and historians "quibus de rebus." But when for the sake of beauty a word is transposed further, it properly holds the name of hyperbaton: "I observed, judges, that the entire speech of the accuser was divided into two parts." For "in duas partes divisam esse" would have been the straight order, but harsh and unpolished.