§100.1Fabiani Papiri libros, qui inscribuntur Civilium, legisse te cupidissime scribis, et non respondisse cxpectationi tuae, deinde oblitus de philosopho agi conpositionem eius accusas.
You write that you have read the books of Fabianus Papirius, which are entitled On Civil Affairs, with the greatest eagerness, and that they did not answer your expectation; then, forgetting that it is a philosopher who is being discussed, you accuse his composition.
Puta esse quod dicis et effundi verba, non figi; primum habet ista res suam gratiam et est decor proprius orationis leniter lapsae.
Suppose it is as you say, and that his words are poured out, not fixed; in the first place, that very thing has its own grace, and there is a beauty proper to a gently flowing discourse.
Multum enim interesse existimo, utrum exciderit an fluxerit.
For I think it makes a great difference whether a style has slipped out or flowed out.
Adice nunc, quod in hoc quoque, quod dicturus sum, ingens differentia est: Fabianus mihi non effundere videtur orationem, sed fundere; adeo larga est et sine perturbatione, non sine cursu tamen veniens.
Add to this also that in what I am about to say there is a huge difference: Fabianus seems to me not to pour forth (*effundere*) his speech, but to pour it out (*fundere*); so abundant is it, coming without agitation, yet not without a steady course.
§100.2Illud plane fatetur et praefert, non esse tractatam nec diu tortam.
He plainly confesses and shows that his style has not been laboured over or twisted for a long time.
Sed ita, ut vis, esse credamus; mores ille, non verba conposuit et animis scripsit ista, non auribus.
But let us believe it to be as you wish; he composed characters, not words, and wrote those things for minds, not for ears.
§100.3Praeterea ipso dicente non vacasset tibi partes intueri, adeo te summa rapuisset; et fere quae inpetu placent, minus praestant ad manum relata.
Furthermore, if he himself were speaking, you would not have had leisure to examine the parts, so much would the whole have swept you away; and generally, things which please by their momentum, perform less well when brought close to hand.
Sed illud quoque multum est primo aspectu oculos occupasse, etiam si contemplatio diligens inventura est quod arguat.
But it is also a great thing to have captured the eyes at first glance, even if diligent scrutiny is going to find something to criticize.
§100.4Si me interrogas, maior ille est, qui iudicium abstulit quam qui meruit; et scio hunc tutiorem esse, scio audacius sibi de futuro promittere.
If you ask me, he is greater who has carried away judgement than he who has deserved it; and I know that the latter is safer, I know that he promises himself more boldly concerning the future.
Oratio sollicita philosophum non decet; ubi tandem erit fortis et constans, ubi periculum sui faciet, qui timet verbis?
An anxious speech does not become a philosopher; where, pray, will he be brave and constant, where will he put himself to the proof, who is afraid of words?
§100.5Fabianus non erat neglegens in oratione, sed securus.
Fabianus was not negligent in his speech, but carefree.
Itaque nihil invenies sordidum: electa verba sunt, non captata nec huius saeculi more contra naturam suam posita et inversa, splendida tamen, quamvis sumantur e medio.
Therefore you will find nothing sordid: the words are chosen, not hunted after, nor, according to the fashion of this age, placed contrary to their nature and inverted, yet they are splendid, although they are taken from common usage.
Sensus honestos et magnificos habes, non coactos in sententiam, sed latius dictos.
You have noble and magnificent sentiments, not forced into a maxim, but expressed more broadly.
videbimus, quid parum recisum sit, quid parum structum, quid non huius recentis politurae; cum circumspexeris omnia, nullas videbis angustias inanis.
We shall see what is insufficiently pruned, what is insufficiently structured, what is not of this recent polish; when you have looked around at everything, you will see no empty narrowness.
§100.6Desit sane varietas marmorum et concisura aquarum cubiculis interfluentium et pauperis cella et quicquid aliud luxuria non contenta decore simplici miscet; quod dici solet, domus recta est.
Let there indeed be lacking the variety of marbles, and the channel of waters flowing between bedrooms, and the "poor man's cell", and whatever else luxury, not content with simple beauty, mixes in; as the saying goes, "the house is straight".
Adice nunc, quod de compositione non constat.
Add to this now that there is no agreement about composition.
Quidam illam volunt esse ex horrido comptam, quidam usque eo aspera gaudent, ut etiam quae mollius casus explicuit, ex industria dissipent et clausulas abrumpant, ne ad expectatum respondeant.
Some wish it to be smoothed out from a rough state; some delight in harshness to such a degree that they industriously break up even those passages which chance has unfolded more softly, and cut off their clausulae, lest they answer to the expected cadence.
§100.7Lege Ciceronem: compositio eius una est, pedem curvat lenta et sine infamia mollis.
Read Cicero: his composition is uniform, it curves its foot slowly and is soft without infamy.
At contra Pollionis Asinii salebrosa et exiliens et ubi minime exspectes, relictura.
But on the contrary, that of Asinius Pollio is rough and leaping, and ready to leave you where you least expect it.
Denique omnia apud Ciceronem desinunt, aput Pollionem cadunt exceptis paucissimis, quae ad certum modum et ad unum exemplar adstricta sunt.
Finally, all things in Cicero end, in Pollio they fall, with very few exceptions, which are bound to a certain rhythm and to a single pattern.
videatur; et consilii et animi satis; a nitore et iucunditate Ciceronis ita longe abest, ut videri possit saeculo prior.
Let him seem so; he has enough of both judgment and spirit; yet he is so far removed from the brilliance and pleasantness of Cicero that he might seem to belong to an earlier century.