§114.7Maxima laus illi tribuitur mansuetudinis, pepercit gladio, sanguine abstinuit nec ulla alia re, quid posset, quam licentia ostendit; hanc ipsam laudem suam corrupit istis orationis portentosissimae deliciis.
The greatest praise of mildness is attributed to him; he spared the sword, abstained from blood, and showed what he was capable of by no other thing than by license; he corrupted this very praise of his by those delights of a most monstrous speech.
§114.8Apparet enim mollem fuisse, non mitem.
For it is apparent that he was soft, not mild.
Hoc istae ambages compositionis, hoc verba transversa, hoc sensus miri, magni quidem saepe, sed enervati dum exeunt, cuivis manifestum facient.
These windings of composition, these inverted words, these strange thoughts—often great indeed, but enervated when they come forth—will make this manifest to anyone.
Motum illi felicitate nimia caput.
His head was turned by too much good fortune.
Quod vitium hominis esse interdum, interdum temporis solet.
Which vice is accustomed to belong sometimes to the man, sometimes to the time.
§114.9Ubi luxuriam late felicitas fudit, cultus primum corporum esse diligentior incipit.
When good fortune has poured luxury far and wide, first the care of bodies begins to be more diligent.
Deinde supellectili laboratur.
Then labor is spent on furniture.
Deinde in ipsas domos" inpenditur cura, ut in laxitatem ruris excurrant, ut parietes advectis trans maria marmoribus fulgeant, ut tecta varientur auro, ut lacunaribus pavimentorum respondeat nitor.
Then care is expended on the houses themselves, so that they may run out into the spaciousness of the countryside, so that the walls may shine with marble brought across the seas, so that the ceilings may be varied with gold, so that the brightness of the pavements may respond to the coffered ceilings.
Deinde ad cenas lautitia transfertur, et illic commendatio ex novitate et soliti ordinis commutatione captatur, ut ea, quae includere solent cenam, prima ponantur, ut quae advenientibus dabantur, exeuntibus dentur.
Then luxury is transferred to dinners, and there favor is sought from novelty and the change of the usual order, so that those things which are accustomed to close a dinner are placed first, so that what was given to those arriving is given to those departing.
§114.10Cum adsuevit animus fastidire, quae ex more sunt, et illi pro sordidis solita sunt, etiam in oratione, quod novum est, quaerit et modo antiqua verba atque exsoleta revocat ac profert, modo fingit et ignota ac deflectit, modo, id quod nuper increbruit, pro cultu habetur audax translatio ac frequens.
When the mind has become accustomed to loathing what is according to custom, and accustomed things are regarded by it as mean, it seeks what is new even in speech, and at one time recalls and brings forward ancient and obsolete words, at another invents unknown ones and distorts them, at another—a thing which has recently become frequent—bold and frequent metaphor is held for refinement.
§114.11Sunt qui sensus praecidant et hoc gratiam sperent, si sententia pependerit et audienti suspicionem sui fecerit.
There are those who cut short their thoughts and hope for favor from this, if the sentence remains suspended and has made the hearer suspicious of itself.
Sunt qui illos detineant et porrigant.
There are those who hold them back and stretch them out.
Sunt qui non usque ad vitium accedant, necesse est enim hoc facere aliquid grande temptanti, sed qui ipsum vitium ament.
There are those who do not merely approach the very edge of vice—for it is necessary for one attempting something grand to do this—but who love the vice itself.
Itaque ubicumque videris orationem corruptam placere, ibi mores quoque a recto descivisse non erit dubium.
Therefore, wherever you see corrupted speech to please, there will be no doubt that morals also have declined from the right.
Quomodo conviviorum luxuria, quomodo vestium aegrae civitatis indicia sunt, sic orationis licentia, si modo frequens est, ostendit animos quoque, a quibus verba exeunt, procidisse.
Just as the luxury of banquets, just as that of clothes are signs of a sick state, so the license of speech, if only it is frequent, shows that the minds also, from which the words come forth, have fallen.
§114.12Mirari quidem non debes corrupta excipi non tantum a corona sordidiore, sed ab hac quoque turba cultiore, togis enim inter se isti, non iudiciis distant.
Indeed you ought not to wonder that corrupted things are received not only by a meaner circle, but also by this more cultivated crowd; for these men differ from one another in their togas, not in their judgments.
Hoc magis mirari potes, quod non tantum vitiosa, sed vitia laudentur.
You can wonder more at this, that not only faulty things, but faults themselves are praised.
Nam illud semper factum est: nullum sine venia placuit ingenium.
For that has always happened: no talent has pleased without indulgence.
Da mihi quemcumque vis, magni nominis virum; dicam, quid illi aetas sua ignoverit, quid in illo sciens dissimulaverit.
Give me whomsoever you wish, a man of great name; I will tell what his age forgave him, what it knowingly overlooked in him.
Multos tibi dabo, quibus vitia non nocuerint, quosdam, quibus profuerint.
I will give you many to whom vices did not do harm, and some to whom they were beneficial.
Dabo, inquam, maximae famae et inter admiranda propositos, quos si quis corrigit, delet; sic enim vitia virtutibus inmissa sunt, ut illas secum fractura sint.
I will give, I say, men of the greatest fame and proposed among admirable things, whom if anyone corrects, he destroys; for thus vices are mingled with virtues, that they are about to break them along with themselves.
§114.13Adice nunc, quod oratio certam regulam non habet; consuetudo illam civitatis, quae numquam in eodem diu stetit, versat.
Add now that speech does not have a fixed rule; the custom of the state, which has never stood long in the same condition, alters it.
Multi ex alieno saeculo petunt verba, duodecim tabulas loquuntur.
Many seek words from another age, and speak the Twelve Tables.
Gracchus illis et Crassus et Curio nimis culti et recentes sunt, ad Appium usque et Coruncanium redeunt.
Gracchus and Crassus and Curio are too cultivated and recent for them; they return even to Appius and Coruncanius.
Quidam contra, dum nihil nisi tritum et usitatum volunt, in sordes incidunt.
Some, on the contrary, while they wish for nothing except what is worn and common, fall into meanness.