§9.4.1de compositione non equidem post M. Tullium scribere auderem (cui nescio an ulla pars operis huius sit magis elaborata), nisi et eiusdem aetatis homines scriptis ad ipsum etiam litteris reprehendere id collocandi genus ausi fuissent, et post eum plures multa ad eandem rem pertinentia memoriae tradidissent.
About composition I would indeed not dare to write after M. Tullius (than whom I do not know if any part of this work has been more carefully elaborated), if both men of his own age, by letters written even to him, had not dared to find fault with that manner of arrangement, and if many after him had not committed to memory many things pertaining to the same matter.
§9.4.2itaque accedam ut plerisque Ciceroni atque ut iis ero, quae indubitata sunt, brevior, ut quibusdam paulum fortasse dissentiam.
Therefore, I will agree with Cicero in most points and will be briefer on those things which are beyond doubt, so that I may perhaps dissent slightly on some points.
nam etiam cum iudicium meum ostendero, suum tamen legentibus relinquam.
For even when I have shown my own judgment, I will nevertheless leave theirs to the readers.
§9.4.3neque ignoro quosdam esse, qui curam omnem compositionis excludant, atque illum horridum sermonem, ut forte fluxerit, modo magis naturalem, modo etiam magis virilem esse contendant.
Nor am I ignorant that there are some who exclude all care for composition, and contend that that rugged speech, as it happened to flow, is sometimes more natural and sometimes even more manly.
qui si id demum naturale esse dicunt, quod natura primum ortum est et quale ante cultum fuit, tota haec ars orandi subvertitur.
If these say that that only is natural which first arose from nature and such as it was before cultivation, then this whole art of pleading is overthrown.
§9.4.4neque enim locuti sunt ad hanc regulam et diligentiam primi homines, nec prooemiis praeparare, docere expositione, argumentis probate, adfectibus commovere scierunt.
For the first men did not speak according to this rule and diligence, nor did they know how to prepare with introductions, to teach with exposition, to prove with arguments, or to move with emotions.
ergo his omnibus, non sola compositione caruerunt; quorum si fieri nihil melius licebat, ne domibus quidem casas aut vestibus pellium tegmina aut urbibus montes ac silvas mutari oportuit.
Therefore, they lacked all these, not only composition; and if it was not permitted for anything better to be made of these, it would not even have been fitting for huts to be exchanged for houses, or coverings of skins for clothes, or mountains and woods for cities.
§9.4.5quae porro ars statim fuit? quid non cultu mitescit? cur vites coercemus manu? cur eas fodimus? rubos arvis excidimus, terra et hos generat; mansuefacimus animalia, indomita nascuntur.
Moreover, what art existed immediately? What is not softened by cultivation? Why do we restrain vines with the hand? Why do we dig them? We cut down brambles from the fields, though the earth produces these too; we tame animals, which are born wild.
verum id est maxime naturale, quod fieri natura optime patitur.
But that is most natural which nature best allows to be done.
§9.4.6fortius vero qui incompositum potest esse quam vinctum et bene collocatum? neque, si parvi pedes vim detrahunt rebus, ut Sotadeorum et Galliamborum et quorundam ut oratione simili paene licentia lascivientium, compositionis est iudicandum.
How indeed can that which is unarranged be stronger than that which is bound and well placed? Nor, if small feet take away force from things, as in the case of the Sotadeans and Galliambs, and of certain persons sporting with almost a similar license in prose, must this be judged to be the fault of composition.
§9.4.7ceterum quanto vehementior fluminum cursus est prono alveo ac nullas moras obiiciente quam inter obstantia saxa fractis aquis ac reluctantibus, tanto, quae connexa est et totis viribus fluit, fragosa atque interrupta melior oratio.
But by how much more vehement is the course of rivers in a sloping channel with no delays opposing than when the waters are broken and struggling among obstructing rocks, by so much is a speech that is connected and flows with all its force better than one that is rugged and interrupted.
cur ergo vires ipsa specie solvi putent, quando res nec ulla sine arte satis valeat et comitetur semper artem decor?
Why then should they think that strength is dissolved by beauty itself, when no thing can be sufficiently strong without art, and grace always accompanies art?
§9.4.8an non eam, quae missa optime est, hastam speciosissime contortam ferri videmus, et arcu dirigentium tela quo certior manus, hoc est habitus ipse formosior? iam ut certamine armorum atque ut omni palaestra quid satis recte cavetur ac petitur, cui non artifex motus et certi quidam pedes adsint?
Do we not see that spear which has been thrown best carried with the most beautiful rotation, and with the bow of those who direct weapons, the surer the hand, the more beautiful the posture itself? Now as in the contest of arms and in every wrestling school, what is defended and aimed at correctly enough, for which artistic movement and certain feet are not present?
§9.4.9quare mihi compositione velut amentis quibusdam nervisve intendi et concitari sententiae videntur.
Wherefore, sentences seem to me to be stretched and urged on by composition, as if by certain thongs or bowstrings.
ideoque eruditissimo cuique persuasum est, valere eam plurimum non ad delectationem modo sed ad motum quoque animorum, §9.4.10primum quia nihil intrare potest ut adfectus, quod ut aure velut quodam vestibulo statim offendit; deinde quod natura ducimur ad modos.
And therefore, every most learned person is persuaded that it avails very much, not only for delight, but also for the moving of minds, first because nothing can enter so as to affect us which immediately offends the ear, as if a vestibule; and secondly, because we are led by nature to measures.
neque enim aliter eveniret, ut illi quoque organorum soni, quanquam verba non exprimunt, ut alios tamen atque alios motus ducerent auditorem.
For otherwise it would not happen that those sounds of instruments too, although they do not express words, nevertheless lead the listener to various different movements.
§9.4.11in certaminibus sacris non eadem ratione concitant animos ac remittunt, non eosdem modos adhibent, cum bellicum est canendum et cum posito genu supplicandum est; nec idem signorum concentus est procedente ad proelium exercitu, idem receptui carmen.
In sacred contests they do not excite and relax minds in the same way, nor do they employ the same measures when a war song is to be played and when they must supplicate with bended knee; nor is the harmony of signals the same when the army is proceeding to battle, and the same song for retreat.
§9.4.12Pythagoreis certe moris fuit, et cum evigilassent, animos ad lyram excitare, quo essent ad agendum erectiores, et cum somnum peterent, ad eandem prius lenire mentes, ut, si quid fuisset turbidiorum cogitationum, componerent.
It was certainly a custom among the Pythagoreans, both when they had awakened, to excite their minds to the lyre, that they might be more ready for action, and when they sought sleep, to soothe their minds first with the same instrument, so that if there had been any of more turbulent thoughts, they might compose them.