§58.1Quanta verborum nobis paupertas, immo egestas sit, numquam magis quam hodierno die intellexi.
How great a poverty, or rather a scarcity, of words we have, I have never understood more than on this very day.
Mille res inciderunt, cum forte de Platone loqueremur, quae nomina desiderarent nec haberent, quaedam vero, quae cum habuissent, fastidio nostro perdidissent.
A thousand things cropped up, when we happened to be speaking of Plato, which required names and did not have them, and certain things indeed which, although they had possessed them, had lost them through our fastidiousness.
§58.2Quis autem ferat in egestate fastidium? Hunc quem Graeci oestron vocant pecora peragentem et totis saltibus dissipantem, asilum nostri vocabant. Hoc Vergilio licet credas:
"
Est lucum Silari iuxta ilicibusque virentem
Plurimus Alburnum volitans, cui nomen asilo
Romanum est, oestrum Grai vertere vocantes,
Asper, acerba sonans, quo tota exterrita silvis
Diffugiunt armenta. "
But who would tolerate fastidiousness in the midst of scarcity? This insect which the Greeks call "oestros," which drives cattle wild and scatters them throughout all the glades, our people used to call "asilus." You may believe Virgil on this point: "Near the grove of Silarus and Alburnus green with holm-oaks, there flies a multitude of insects, whose Roman name is asilus, but the Greeks have translated it, calling it oestros, rough, and making a harsh sound, by which whole herds, terrified, flee in all directions from the woods.
§58.3Puto intellegi istud verbum interisse.
"I think it is understood that that word has perished.
Ne te longe differam, quaedam simplicia in usu erant, sicut "cernere ferro inter se "dicebant. Idem Vergilius hoc probabit tibi:
"
Ingentis genitos diversis partibus orbis
Inter se coiisse viros et cernere ferro.
Not to keep you waiting long, certain simple words were in use, just as they used to say "to decide with iron between themselves." The same Virgil will prove this to you: "That mighty men, born in different parts of the world, have come together and decide with iron.
"
Quod nunc decernere dicimus.
"What we now call decernere.
Simplicis illius verbi usus amissus est.
The use of that simple word has been lost.
§58.4Dicebant antiqui "si iusso," id est iussero.
The ancients used to say "si iusso," that is, iussero.
Hoc nolo mihi credas, sed eidem Vergilio:
"
Cetera, qua iusso, mecum manus inferat arma. "
I do not want you to believe me on this, but the same Virgil: "Let the rest of the force, where I shall command, bring arms with me.
§58.5Non id ago nunc hac diligentia, ut ostendam, quantum tempus apud grammaticum perdiderim, sed ut ex hoc intellegas, quantum apud Ennium et Accium verborum situs occupaverit, cum apud hunc quoque, qui cotidie excutitur, aliqua nobis subducta sint.
"I am not doing this now with such diligence to show how much time I lost with the grammarian, but so that you may understand from this how much the neglect of words has occupied Ennius and Accius, when even in this author, who is daily examined, some words have been stolen from us.
§58.6"Quid sibi," inquis, "ista praeparatio vult? Quo spectat? "Non celabo te;
"What," you say, "does that preparation mean?
cupio, si fieri potest, propitiis auribus tuis "essentiam "dicere; si minus, dicam et iratis.
Where does it look?" I will not hide it from you; I desire, if it can be done, with your favorable ears, to say "essentia"; if not, I shall say it even with angry ones.
Ciceronem auctorem huius verbi habeo, puto locupletem.
I have Cicero as the author of this word, whom I consider rich in authority.
Si recentiorem quaeris, Fabianum, disertum et elegantem, orationis etiam ad nostrum fastidium nitidae.
If you look for someone more recent, there is Fabianus, eloquent and elegant, of a style polished even to our fastidious taste.
Quid enim fiet, mi Lucili? Quomodo dicetur οὐσία res necessaria, natura continens fundamentum omnium? Rogo itaque permittas mihi hoc verbo uti.
For what will happen, my Lucilius? How will ousia be said, a necessary thing, containing by its nature the foundation of all things? Therefore, I ask that you permit me to use this word.
Nihilominus dabo operam, ut ius a te datum parcissime exerceam; fortasse contentus ero mihi licere.
Nevertheless, I will take care to exercise the right given by you very sparingly; perhaps I shall be content that it is allowed to me.
§58.7Quid proderit facilitas tua, cum ecce id nullo modo Latine exprimere possim, propter quod linguae nostrae convicium feci? Magis damnabis angustias Romanas, si scieris unam syllabam esse, quam mutare non possum.
What good will your compliance do, when, behold, I can in no way express in Latin that for which I reproached our language? You will condemn the Roman narrowness even more if you know that there is one syllable which I cannot translate.
Quae sit haec, quaeris? τὸ ὄν.
What is this, you ask?
Duri tibi videor ingenii; in medio positum, posse sic transferri, ut dicam "quod est. "Sed multum interesse video; cogor verbum pro vocabulo ponere.
"To on." You think I am of a dull intellect; it is a thing open to all, that it can be translated so that I may say "that which is." But I see there is a great difference; I am forced to put a verb in place of a noun.
§58.8Sed si ita necesse est, ponam "quod est. "Sex modis hoc a Platone dici amicus noster, homo eruditissimus, hodierno die dicebat.
But if it is so necessary, I will put "that which is." Our friend, a most learned man, was saying today that this is spoken of by Plato in six ways.
Omnes tibi exponam, si ante indicavero esse aliquid genus, esse et speciem.
I will explain all of them to you, if I first indicate that there is a certain genus, and that there is also a species.
Nunc autem primum illud genus quaerimus, ex quo ceterae species suspensae sunt, a quo nascitur omnis divisio, quo universa conprensa sunt.
Now, however, we are seeking that first genus, from which the other species are suspended, from which every division arises, and in which all things are comprised.
Invenietur autem, si coeperimus singula retro legere; sic enim perducemur ad primum.
And it will be found if we begin to read individual things backward; for thus we shall be led back to the first.
§58.9Homo species est, ut Aristoteles ait; equus species est; canis species est; ergo commune aliquod quaerendum est his omnibus vinculum, quod illa conplectatur et sub se habeat.
Man is a species, as Aristotle says; horse is a species; dog is a species; therefore, some common bond must be sought for all of them, which comprises them and has them under itself.
Hoc quid est? Animal.
What is this? Animal.
Ergo genus esse coepit horum omnium, quae modo rettuli, hominis, equi, canis, animal. §58.10Sed quaedam animam habent nec sunt animalia.
Therefore, the genus of all these things which I have just mentioned—man, horse, dog—begins to be "animal." But some things have a soul/life and are not animals.
Placet enim satis et arbustis animam inesse.
For it is agreed that crops and shrubs also have a soul/life in them.
Itaque et vivere illa et mori dicimus.
And so we say that they both live and die.
Ergo animantia superiorem tenebunt locum, quia et animalia in hac forma sunt et sata.
Therefore, living things will hold the higher place, because both animals and crops are in this form.
Sed quaedam anima carent, ut saxa.
But some things lack a soul/life, like stones.
Itaque erit aliquid animantibus antiquius, corpus scilicet.
And so there will be something older than living things, namely, body.
Hoc sic dividam, ut dicam corpora omnia aut animantia esse aut inanima.
I will divide this in such a way that I say that all bodies are either animate or inanimate.