§9.4.33atque, ut ordinem sequar, primum sunt quae imperitis quoque ad reprehensionem notabilia videntur, id est, quae, commissis inter se verbis duobus, ex ultima prioris ac prima sequentis syllaba deforme aliquod nomen efficiunt.
And, to follow the order, first there are those things which seem notable even to the unskilful for censure, that is, which, when two words are joined together, make some deformed name from the last syllable of the former and the first of the following.
tum vocalium concursus; quod cum accidit, hiat et intersistit et quasi laborat oratio.
Then the clash of vowels; when this happens, the speech gapes and halts and, as it were, labours.
pessime longae, quae easdem inter se litteras committunt, sonabunt.
Long vowels which join the same letters with each other will sound worst.
praecipuus tamen erit hiatus earum, quae cavo aut patulo maxime ore efferuntur.
Yet the chief gaping will be of those which are uttered with the mouth most hollow or open.
§9.4.34E planior littera est, i angustior est, ideoque obscurius ut his vitium.
E is a flatter letter, i is narrower, and therefore the defect in these is more obscure.
minus peccabit, qui longis breves subiiciet, et adhuc, qui praeponet longae brevem.
He will commit less of a fault who subjoins short vowels to long ones, and still less, who places a short one before a long one.
minima est ut duabus brevibus offensio.
The offense in two short vowels is least.
atque cum aliae subiunguntur aliis, proinde asperiores aut leniores erunt prout oris habitu simili aut diverso pronuntiabuntur.
And when some are subjoined to others, they will be harsher or softer according as they are pronounced with a similar or different habit of the mouth.
§9.4.35non tamen id ut crimen ingens expavescendum est, ac nescio negligentia ut hoc an sollicitudo sit peior.
Yet this is not to be dreaded as a huge crime, and I know not whether negligence in this or over-anxiety is worse.
Inhibeat enim necesse est hic metus impetum dicendi et a potioribus avertat.
For this fear must of necessity inhibit the force of speaking and turn it away from better things.
quare ut negligentiae passim hoc pati, ita humilitatis ubique perhorrescere, nimiosque non immerito ut hac cura putant omnes Isocraten secutos praecipueque Theopompum.
Therefore, just as to allow this everywhere is a mark of negligence, so to dread it everywhere is a mark of meanness, and all think that those who followed Isocrates, and especially Theopompus, were not without reason excessive in this care.
§9.4.36at Demosthenes et Cicero modice respexerunt ad hanc partem.
But Demosthenes and Cicero paid moderate attention to this part.
nam et coeuntes litterae, quae συναλιφαί dicuntur, etiam leviorem faciunt orationem, quam si omnia verba suo fine cludantur, et nonnunquam hiulca etiam decent faciuntque ampliora quaedam: ut pulchra oratione ista iacta te cum longae per se et velut opimae syllabae aliquid etiam medii temporis inter vocales, quasi intersistatur, adsumunt.
For both the coming together of letters, which are called synaliphae, make the speech even smoother than if all words were closed with their own ending, and sometimes gaping sounds even become them and make certain things grander: as in that beautiful speech, iacta te, since the syllables, long in themselves and as it were rich, take up also some middle time between the vowels, as if there were a halt.
§9.4.37qua de re utar Ciceronis potissimum verbis.
Concerning which matter I shall chiefly use Cicero's words.
habet, inquit, ille tanquam hiatus et concursus vocalium molle quiddam, et quod indicet non ingratam negligentiam de re hominis magis quam de verbis laborantis. ceterum consonantes quoque, earumque praecipue quae sunt asperiores, ut commissura verborum rixantur, ut si s ultima cum x proxima confligat, quarum tristior etiam, si binae collidantur, stridor est, ut ars studiorum.
"That very gaping," he says, "and clash of vowels has something soft about it, and such as indicates a not unpleasing negligence of a man laboring more about the matter than about the words." For the rest, consonants also, and especially those which are harsher, clash in the connection of words, as if the last s should conflict with the next x, of which the harsh sound is even sadder if two collide, as ars studiorum.
§9.4.38quae fuit causa et Servio, ut dixit, subtrahendae s litterae, quotiens ultima esset aliaque consonante susciperetur; quod reprehendit Luranius, Messala defendit.
Which was the reason also for Servius, as he said, to subtract the letter s, as often as it was the last and was received by another consonant; which Luranius censures, and Messala defends.
nam neque Lucilium putat uti eadem ultima, cum dicit Aeserninus fuit et dignus locoque, et Cicero ut Oratore plures antiquorum tradit sic locutos.
For Messala does not think that Lucilius used the same last letter when he says Aeserninus fuit et dignus locoque, and Cicero in Orator records that many of the ancients spoke thus.
§9.4.39inde belligerare, pomeridiem, et illa Censori Catonis diee hanc, aeque m littera in e mollita.
Hence belligerare, pomeridiem, and those words of Cato the Censor, diee hanc, likewise with the letter m softened into e.
quae in veteribus libris reperta mutare imperiti solent, et dum librariorum insectari volunt inscientiam, suam confitentur.
Which the unskilful, when found in ancient books, are accustomed to change, and while they wish to attack the ignorance of the copyists, they confess their own.
§9.4.40atqui eadem illa littera, quotiens ultima est et vocalem verbi sequentis ita contingit, ut ut eam transire possit, etiamsi scribitur, tamen parum exprimitur, ut multum ille et quantum erat, adeo ut paene cuiusdam novae litterae sonum reddat.
And yet that same letter, as often as it is the last and so touches the vowel of the following word that it can pass into it, although it is written, is nevertheless poorly expressed, as multum ille and quantum erat, so much so that it almost gives back the sound of some new letter.
neque enim eximitur, sed obscuratur et tantum ut hoc aliqua inter duas vocales velut nota est, ne ipsae coeant.
For it is not taken away, but obscured, and is only as it were a mark between two vowels, lest they should run together.
§9.4.41videndum etiam, ne syllabae verbi prioris ultimae et primae sequentis sint eaedem; quod ne quis praecipi miretur, Ciceroni ut epistolis excidit, res mihi invisae visae sunt, Brute, et ut carmine,
"
O fortunatam natam me Consule Romam.
Care must also be taken lest the last syllables of the preceding word and the first of the following be the same; lest anyone should wonder that this is prescribed, it escaped Cicero in his letters, res mihi invisae visae sunt, Brute, and in his poem, "O fortunatam natam me Consule Romam.
"
Etiam monosyllaba, §9.4.42si plura sunt, male continuabuntur, quia necesse est compositio multis clausulis concisa subsultet.
"Even monosyllables, if there are several, will be badly continued, because of necessity the composition, cut short by many clauses, must hop.
ideoque etiam brevium verborum ac nominum vitanda continuatio et ex diverso quoque longorum; adfert enim quandam dicendi tarditatem.
And therefore the continuation of short words and nouns is also to be avoided, and on the other hand that of long ones also; for it brings a certain slowness of speaking.
ilia quoque vitia sunt eiusdem loci, si cadentia similiter et similiter desinentia et eodem mode declinata multa iunguntur.
Those also are defects of the same class, if many words falling similarly, ending similarly, and declined in the same manner, are joined together.