§8.pr.23quia sunt optima minime arcessita et simplicibus atque ab ipsa veritate profectis similia.
firstly, because the best things are least fetched from far and are similar to simple things and those proceeding from truth itself.
nam illa, quae curam fatentur et ficta atque composita videri etiam volunt, nec gratiam consequuntur et fidem amittunt propter id quod sensus obumbrantur et velut laeto gramine sata strangulantur.
For those expressions which confess care and even wish to seem feigned and composed, neither attain grace nor lose credibility, because the senses are overshadowed and, as it were, the crops are choked by luxuriant grass.
§8.pr.24nam et quod recte dici potest circumimus amore verborum et quod satis dictum est repetimus et quod uno verbo patet pluribus oneramus et pleraque significare melius putamus quam dicere.
For we also go around what can be said directly out of love for words, and repeat what has been sufficiently said, and burden with more words what is clear in one, and think it better to imply most things than to speak them.
quid quod nihil iam proprium placet, dum parum creditur disertum quod et alius dixisset?
What of the fact that nothing proper pleases anymore, as long as that which another also would have said is believed to be insufficiently fluent?
§8.pr.25A corruptissimo quoque poetarum figuras seu translationes mutuamur, tum demum ingeniosi scilicet, si ad intelligendos nos opus sit ingenio.
We borrow figures or metaphors from even the most corrupt of poets, and then only, forsooth, are we brilliant, if there is need of intellect to understand us.
atqui satis aperte Cicero praeceperat, in dicendo vitium vel maximum esse a vulgari genere orationis atque a consuetudine communis sensus abhorrere.
And yet Cicero had taught clearly enough that the greatest vice in speaking is to shrink from the common standard of speech and from the custom of common sense.
§8.pr.26sed ille est durus atque ineruditus; nos melius, quibus sordet omne quod natura dictavit, qui non ornamenta quaerimus sed lenocinia, quasi vero sit ulla verborum nisi rei cohaerentium virtus; quae ut propria sint et dilucida et ornata et apte collocentur, si tota vita laborandum est, omnis studiorum fructus amissus est.
But he is harsh and unlearned; we are better, to whom everything that nature has dictated is filthy, who seek not ornaments but meretricious allurements, as if indeed there were any virtue of words except as they cling to things; and if we must labor our whole life so that these may be proper, clear, ornate, and appropriately arranged, then all the fruit of our studies is lost.
§8.pr.27atqui plerosque videas haerentes circa singula et dum inveniunt et dum inventa ponderant ac dimetiuntur.
And yet you may see most people hesitating over single words both while they are inventing them and while they are weighing and measuring them when found.
quod si idcirco fieret ut semper optimis uterentur, abominanda tamen haec infelicitas erat, quae et cursum dicendi refrenat et calorem cogitationis extinguit mora et diffidentia.
But even if this were done for the sake of always using the best, yet this miserable state was to be detested, which both restrains the course of speaking and extinguishes the heat of thought by delay and diffidence.
§8.pr.28miser enim et, ut sic dicam, pauper orator est qui nullum verbum aequo animo perdere potest.
For he is a miserable and, so to speak, poor orator who cannot bear to lose any word with equanimity.
sed ne perdet quidem, qui rationem loquendi primum cognoverit, tum lectione multa et idonea copiosam sibi verborum supellectilem compararit et huic adhibuerit artem collocandi, deinde haec omnia exercitatione plurima roborarit, ut semper in promptu sint et ante oculos.
But indeed, he will not even lose one, who has first understood the principle of speaking, then by much and suitable reading has acquired for himself a rich store of words, and applied to this the art of arrangement, and finally strengthened all these by very much practice, so that they are always at hand and before his eyes.
§8.pr.29namque ei qui id fecerit simul res cum suis nominibus occurrent.
For to him who has done this, things will occur at the same time with their own names.
sed opus est studio praecedente et acquisita facultate et quasi reposita.
But there is need of previous study and of an acquired and, as it were, stored-up facility.
namque ista quaerendi, iudicandi, comparandi anxietas, dum discimus, adhibenda est, non dum dicimus.
For that anxiety of seeking, judging, and comparing must be applied while we are learning, not while we are speaking.
alioqui sicut, qui patrimonium non pararunt, sub diem quaerunt, ita in oratione, qui non satis laboravit.
Otherwise, just as those who have not prepared a patrimony seek it on the day of need, so does he who has not labored enough in speech.
§8.pr.30sin praeparata dicendi vis fuerit, erunt in officio, non ut requisita respondere, sed ut semper sensibus inhaerere videantur atque eos ut umbra corpus sequi.
But if the power of speaking has been prepared, they will be at their post, appearing not to answer as if requested, but always to cling to the senses and to follow them as a shadow follows the body.
§8.pr.31sed in hac ipsa cura est aliquid satis.
But in this care itself there is a certain limit.
nam cum Latina, significantia, ornata, cum apte sunt collocata, quid amplius laboremus? quibusdam tamen nullus est finis calumniandi se et cum singulis paene syllabis commoriendi, qui etiam, cum optima sunt reperta, quaerunt aliquid quod sit magis antiquum, remotum, inopinatum, nec intelligunt iacere sensus in oratione, in qua verba laudantur.
For when words are Latin, significant, ornate, and appropriately arranged, why should we labor further? Yet some have no end of finding fault with themselves and dying, as it were, with almost single syllables, who even, when the best things are found, seek something that is more ancient, remote, unexpected, nor do they understand that meaning lies lifeless in a speech in which words are praised.
§8.pr.32sit igitur cura elocutionis quam maxima, dum sciamus tamen nihil verborum causa esse faciendun, cum verba ipsa rerum gratia sint reperta; quorum ea sunt maxime probabilia, quae sensum animi nostri optime promunt atque in animis iudicum quod nos volumus efficiunt.
Therefore, let the care for expression be as great as possible, provided we know, however, that nothing must be done for the sake of words, since words themselves were invented for the sake of things; of which those are most approved which best bring out the meaning of our mind and effect what we wish in the minds of the judges.
§8.pr.33ea debent praestare sine dubio et admirabilem et iucundam orationem, verum admirabilem non sic, quomodo prodigia miramur, et iucundam non deformi voluptate sed cum laude ac dignitate coniuncta.
These ought to produce, without doubt, both an admirable and pleasing speech, but admirable not in the way we wonder at portents, and pleasing not with a deformed pleasure but one conjoined with praise and dignity.