§114.14Utrumque diverso genere corruptum est, tam mehercules quam nolle nisi splendidis uti ac sonantibus et poeticis, necessaria atque in usu posita vitare.
Each of the two is corrupted in a different way, by Hercules, just as much as to be unwilling to use any but splendid, sounding, and poetic words, and to avoid those which are necessary and in common use.
Tam hunc dicam peccare quam illum: alter se plus iusto colit, alter plus iusto neglegit; ille et crura, hic ne alas quidem vehit.
I would say that this man errs as much as that one: the former cultivates himself more than is right, the latter neglects himself more than is right; the former carries even his shins [trimmed], the latter not even his armpits.
§114.15Ad compositionem transeamus.
Let us pass to composition.
Quot genera tibi in hac dabo, quibus peccetur? Quidam praefractam et asperam probant;
How many kinds will I give you in this, in which errors are made?
disturbant de industria, si quid placidius effluxit.
Some approve a broken and rough arrangement; they purposely disturb it if anything has flowed out a little too smoothly.
Nolunt sine salebra esse iuncturam; virilem putant et fortem, quae aurem inaequalitate percutiat.
They do not want a juncture to be without ruggedness; they think it manly and strong which strikes the ear with inequality.
Quorundam non est compositio, modulatio est; adeo blanditur et molliter labitur.
For some, there is no composition, but modulation; so much does it flatter and slide softly.
§114.16Quid de illa loquar, in qua verba differuntur et diu expectata vix ad clausulas redeunt? Quid illa in exitu lenta, qualis Ciceronis est, devexa et molliter detinens nec aliter quam solet, ad morem suum pedemque respondens? Non tantum in genere sententiarum vitium est, si aut pusillae sunt et pueriles aut improbae et plus ausae quam pudore salvo licet, si floridae sunt et nimis dulces, si in vanum exeunt et sine effectu nihil amplius quam sonant.
What shall I say of that in which words are delayed and, having been long expected, scarcely return at the clausulae? What of that which is slow at the end, such as Cicero's is, sloping down and gently detaining, and responding, no differently than it is accustomed, to its own manner and foot? The defect is not only in the kind of thoughts, if they are either petty and childish, or improper and bolder than is permitted with modesty safe, if they are florid and too sweet, if they come to nothing and, without effect, sound of nothing more.
§114.17Haec vitia unus aliquis inducit, sub quo tunc eloquentia est, ceteri imitantur et alter alteri tradunt.
Some single person introduces these defects, under whom eloquence then is; the others imitate him and hand them down one to another.
Sic Sallustio vigente anputatae sententiae et verba ante exspectatum cadentia et obscura brevitas fuere pro cultu.
Thus, when Sallust was in vogue, amputated thoughts, words falling before expectation, and obscure brevity were held for refinement.
L. Arruntius, vir rarae frugalitatis, qui historias belli Punici scripsit, fuit Sallustianus et in illud genus nitens.
Lucius Arruntius, a man of rare frugality, who wrote the histories of the Punic War, was a Sallustian and striving toward that style.
Est apud Sallustium: "exercitum argenta fecit," id est, pecunia paravit.
There is in Sallust: "he made the army silver," that is, he prepared it with money.
Hoc Arruntius amare coepit; posuit illud omnibus paginis.
Arruntius began to love this; he placed it on every page.
Dicit quodam loco: "fugam nostris fecere. "Alio loco: "Hiero, rex Syracusanorum, bellum fecit. "Et alio loco: "quae audita Panhormitanos dedere §114.18Romanis fecere. "Gustum tibi dare volui; totus his contexitur liber.
He says in a certain place: "they made flight for our men." In another place: "Hiero, king of the Syracusans, made war." And in another place: "which things having been heard, made the Panormitans give themselves up to the Romans." I wished to give you a taste; the whole book is woven with these.
Quae apud Sallustium rara fuerunt, apud hunc crebra sunt et paene continua, nec sine causa; ille enim in haec incidebat, at hic illa quaerebat.
Things which were rare in Sallust are frequent and almost continuous in this man, and not without cause; for the former fell into them, but the latter sought them.
Vides autem, quid sequatur, ubi alicui vitium pro exemplo est.
You see, however, what follows when a defect is an example for someone.
§114.19Dixit Sallustius: "aquis hiemantibus. "Arruntius in primo libro belli Punici ait: "repente hiemavit tempestas. "Et alio loco cum dicere vellet frigidum annum fuisse, ait: "totus hiemavit annus. "Et alio loco: "inde sexaginta onerarias leves praeter militem et necessarios nautarum hiemante aquilone misit. "Non desinit omnibus locis hoc verbum infulcire.
Sallust said: "with waters wintering [stormy]." Arruntius says in the first book of the Punic War: "suddenly the weather wintered [stormed]." And in another place, when he wished to say that it had been a cold year, he says: "the whole year wintered." And in another place: "thence he sent sixty light cargo ships besides the soldiers and the necessary men of the sailors, with the north wind wintering [storming]." He does not cease to stuff this verb in all places.
Quodam loco dicit Sallustius: "inter arma civilia aequi bonique famas petit. "Arruntius non temperavit, quo minus primo statim libro poneret ingentes esse "famas "de Regulo.
In a certain place Sallust says: "amid civil arms he seeks the reputations of the fair and good." Arruntius did not restrain himself from placing, in the very first book, that there were huge "reputations" concerning Regulus.
§114.20Haec ergo et eiusmodi vitia, quae alicui inpressit imitatio, non sunt indicia luxuriae nec animi corrupti; propria enim esse debent et ex ipso nata, ex quibus tu aestimes alicuius adfectus.
These and such defects, therefore, which imitation has impressed upon someone, are not signs of luxury nor of a corrupt mind; for they ought to be personal and born from the man himself, from which you may judge someone's affections.
Iracundi hominis iracunda oratio est, commoti nimis incitata, delicati tenera et fluxa.
A wrathful man's speech is wrathful, an overly excited man's is hurried, a delicate man's is tender and flowing.