from Cannae, or whether, cautious after storms and lightning, he should wheel his storm-drenched cohorts around.
§7.165quantum vis stipulare et protinus accipe: quid do §7.166ut totiens illum pater audiat? haec alii sex §7.167vel plures uno conclamant ore sophistae §7.168et veras agitant lites raptore relicto; §7.169fusa venena silent, malus ingratusque maritus §7.170et quae iam veteres sanant mortaria caecos.
'Stipulate as much as you want and receive it immediately: what do I give so that the father may hear him as many times?' These things six other or more sophists shout with one voice, and debate real lawsuits, leaving the abductor behind; the poured poisons are silent, the bad and ungrateful husband, and the mortars which already cure the old blind.
§7.171Ergo sibi dabit ipse rudem, si nostra movebunt §7.172consilia, et vitae diversum iter ingredietur §7.173ad pugnam qui rhetorica descendit ab umbra, §7.174summula ne pereat qua vilis tessera venit §7.175frumenti; quippe haec merces lautissima.
Therefore, he will give himself the wooden sword of retirement, if my counsels move him, and he will enter a different path of life, the rhetorician who descends from the shade of the classroom to the fight, so that the small sum may not perish, with which the cheap ticket for grain comes; for indeed this is the most sumptuous reward.
tempta §7.176Chrysogonus quanti doceat vel Polio quanti §7.177lautorum pueros: artem scindes Theodori
Try for how much Chrysogonus teaches, or for how much Polio teaches the sons of the wealthy: you will tear up the art of Theodorus.
§7.178Balnea sescentis et pluris porticus in qua §7.179gestetur dominus quotiens pluit—anne serenum §7.180expectet spargatve luto iumenta recenti?
Baths cost six hundred thousand, and more the portico in which the master is driven whenever it rains—should he wait for clear weather or splash his beasts with fresh mud?
§7.181hic potius, namque hic mundae nitet ungula mulae.
Here rather, for here the hoof of the clean mule shines.
§7.182parte alia longis Numidarum fulta columnis §7.183surgat et algentem rapiat cenatio solem, §7.184qualiacumque domus, veniet qui fercula docte §7.185conponat, veniet qui pulmentaria condit.
In another part, supported by long columns of Numidians, let a dining room rise and catch the cold winter sun, whatever the quality of the house, there will come one who skillfully arranges the dishes, there will come one who seasons the savories.
§7.186hos inter sumptus sestertia Quintiliano, §7.187ut multum, duo sufficient; res nulla minoris §7.188constabit patri quam filius.
Among these expenses, for Quintilian, as a large sum, two thousand sesterces will suffice; no item will cost a father less than his son.
unde igitur tot §7.189Quintilianus habet saltus?
exempla novorum
Where then does Quintilian have so many pastures?
§7.190fatorum transi: felix et pulcer et acer, §7.191felix et sapiens et nobilis et generosus §7.192adpositam nigrae lunam subtexit alutae; §7.193felix orator quoque maximus et iaculator, §7.194et si perfrixit, cantat bene.
Pass over the examples of unusual fates: the fortunate man is both handsome and brave, the fortunate is both wise and noble and generous, and attaches the crescent moon to his black leather shoe; the fortunate is also the greatest orator and javelin thrower, and even if he has caught a cold, he sings well.
distat enim quae §7.195sidera te excipiant modo primos incipientem §7.196edere vagitus et adhuc a matre rubentem.
For it makes a difference what stars receive you when you are just beginning to utter your first cries and are still red from your mother.
If Fortune wills, you will become a consul from a rhetorician; if this same Fortune wills, a rhetorician will become from a consul.
§7.199Ventidius quid enim? quid Tullius? anne aliud quam
For what of Ventidius? What of Tullius?
§7.200sidus et occulti miranda potentia fati?
Was it anything other than a star and the wondrous power of hidden fate?
§7.201servis regna dabunt, captivis fata triumphum.
Fates will give kingdoms to slaves, a triumph to captives.
§7.202felix ille tamen corvo quoque rarior albo.
Yet that fortunate man is rarer than a white crow.
§7.203paenituit multos vanae sterilisque cathedrae, §7.204sicut Thrasimachi probat exitus atque Secundi §7.205Carrinatis; et hunc inopem vidistis, Athenae, §7.206nil praeter gelidas ausae conferre cicutas.
Many have regretted the empty and barren teacher's chair, as the end of Thrasymachus proves, and that of Secundus Carrinas; and you saw this man in poverty, Athens, having dared to offer him nothing except cold hemlock.
§7.207di, maiorum umbris tenuem et sine pondere terram §7.208spirantisque crocos et in urna perpetuum ver, §7.209qui praeceptorem sancti voluere parentis §7.210esse loco.
Gods, grant to the shades of our ancestors light and weightless earth, and fragrant crocuses, and perpetual spring in their urn, who wished the teacher to be in the place of a sacred parent.
metuens virgae iam grandis Achilles §7.211cantabat patriis in montibus et cui non tunc §7.212eliceret risum citharoedi cauda magistri;
Already grown up, Achilles, fearing the whip, used to sing on his native mountains, and for whom then would the tail of the lyre-playing master not provoke laughter?
§7.213sed Rufum atque alios caedit sua quemque iuventus, §7.214Rufum, quem totiens Ciceronem Allobroga dixit.
But Rufus and others are beaten, each by his own youth— Rufus, whom they so often called the Cicero of the Allobroges.
§7.215Quis gremio Celadi doctique Palaemonis adfert §7.216quantum grammaticus meruit labor? et tamen ex hoc
Who brings to the lap of Celadus and learned Palaemon as much as grammatical labor has deserved?
§7.217quodcumque est, minus est autem quam rhetoris aera, §7.218discipuli custos praemordet acoenonoetus §7.219et qui dispensat frangit sibi.
And yet from this, whatever it is—and it is less than the fee of a rhetorician— the pupil's unfeeling guardian nibbles beforehand and the house-steward snaps off a portion for himself.
cede, Palaemon, §7.220et patere inde aliquid decrescere, non aliter quam §7.221institor hibernae tegetis niveique cadurci, §7.222dummodo non pereat mediae quod noctis ab hora §7.223sedisti, qua nemo faber, qua nemo sederet §7.224qui docet obliquo lanam deducere ferro; §7.225dummodo non pereat totidem olfecisse lucernas §7.226quot stabant pueri, cum totus decolor esset §7.227Flaccus et haereret nigro fuligo Maroni.
Yield, Palaemon, and suffer something to decrease from it, not otherwise than a peddler of winter rugs and snow-white sheets, provided that it does not perish, that from the midnight hour you sat, when no smith, when no one would sit who teaches how to draw down wool with a slanted iron comb; provided that it does not perish to have smelled as many lamps as there were boys standing, when Flaccus was totally discolored and soot clung to black Maro.
Yet rare is the reward which does not require the decision of a tribune.
sed vos saevas inponite leges, §7.230ut praeceptori verborum regula constet, §7.231ut legat historias, auctores noverit omnes §7.232tamquam ungues digitosque suos, ut forte rogatus §7.233dum petit aut thermas aut Phoebi balnea, dicat §7.234nutricem Anchisae, nomen patriamque novercae §7.235Anchemoli, dicat quot Acestes vixerit annis, §7.236quot Siculi Phrygibus vini donaverit urnas; §7.237exigite ut mores teneros ceu pollice ducat, §7.238ut si quis cera voltum facit; exigite ut sit §7.239et pater ipsius coetus, ne turpia ludant, §7.240ne faciant vicibus; non est leve tot puerorum §7.241observare manus oculosque in fine trementis,
But you parents impose cruel laws, so that the rule of words must be established for the teacher, so that he reads history, knows all authors like his own nails and fingers, so that if asked by chance while he is seeking either the hot baths or the baths of Phoebus, he may tell the nurse of Anchises, the name and homeland of the stepmother of Anchemolus, tell how many years Acestes lived, how many jars of wine the Sicilian gave to the Phrygians; demand that he mold their tender characters as if with his thumb, just as if one shapes a face in wax; demand that he be also a father to the group itself, lest they play dirty tricks or perform them in turn; it is no light thing to watch the hands and eyes of so many boys trembling at the end.