Institutio Oratoria |
Translator: Harold Edgeworth Butler
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| 2775 |
adiiciam breviter , sicut ornent orationem opportune positae , ita ineptissimas esse , cum immodice petantur . Sunt qui neglecto rerum pondere et viribus sententiarum , si vel inania verba in hos modos depravarunt , summos se iudicent artifices ideoque non desinant eas nectere , quas sine substantia sectari tam est ridiculum quam quaerere habitum gestumque sine corpore .
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With regard to genuine figures, I would briefly add that, while, suitably placed, they are a real ornament to style, they become perfectly fatuous when sought after overmuch. There are some who pay no consideration to the weight of their matter or the force of their thoughts and think themselves supreme artists, if only they succeed in forcing even the emptiest of words into figurative form, with the result that they are never tired of stringing figures together, despite the fact that it is as ridiculous to hunt for figures without reference to the matter as it is to discuss dress and gesture without reference to the body. |
| 2776 |
Sed ne eae quidem , quae recte fiunt , densandae sunt nimis ; nam et vultus mutatio oculorumque coniectus multum in actu valet ; sed si quis ducere os exquisitis modis et frontis ac luminum inconstantia trepidare non desinat , rideatur . Sed oratio habet rectam quandam velut faciem , quae ut stupere immobili rigore non debebit , ita saepius in ea , quam natura dedit , specie continenda est .
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But even perfectly correct figures must not be packed too closely together. Changes of facial expression and glances of the eyes are most effective in pleading, but if the orator never ceases to distort his face with affected grimaces or to wag his head and roll his eyes, he becomes a laughing-stock. So too oratory possesses a natural mien, which while it is far from demanding a stolid and immovable rigidity should as far as possible restrict itself to the expression with which it is endowed by nature. |
| 2777 |
Sciendum vero in primis , quid quisque in orando postulet locus , quid persona , quid tempus ; maior enim pars harum figurarum posita est in delectatione . Ubi vero atrocitate , invidia , miseratione pugnandum est , quis ferat contrapositis et pariter cadentibus et consimilibus irascentem , flentem , rogantem cum in his rebus cura uerborum deroget adfectibus fidem et ubicunque ars ostentatur , veritas abesse videatur .
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But it is of the first importance that we should know what are the requirements of time, place and character on each occasion of speaking. For the majority of these figures aim at delighting the hearer. But when terror, hatred and pity are the weapons called for in the fray, who will endure the orator who expresses his anger, his sorrow or his entreaties in neat antitheses, balanced cadences and exact correspondences? Too much care for our words under such circumstances weakens the impression of emotional sincerity, and wherever the orator displays his art unveiled, the hearer says, "The truth is not in him." |
| 2778 |
De compositione non equidem post M . Tullium scribere auderem ( cui nescio an ulla pars operis huius sit magis elaborata ) , nisi et eiusdem aetatis homines scriptis ad ipsum etiam litteris reprehendere id collocandi genus ausi fuissent , et post eum plures multa ad eandem rem pertinentia memoriae tradidissent .
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IV. I should not venture to speak of artistic structure after what Cicero has said upon the subject (for there is I think no topic to which he has devoted such elaborate discussion) but for the fact that his own contemporaries ventured to traverse his theories on this subject even in letters which they addressed to him, while a number of later writers have left on record numerous observations on the same topic. |
| 2779 |
Itaque accedam ut plerisque Ciceroni atque ut iis ero , quae indubitata sunt , brevior , ut quibusdam paulum fortasse dissentiam . Nam etiam cum iudicium meum ostendero , suum tamen legentibus relinquam .
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Accordingly on a large number of questions I shall be found in agreement with Cicero and shall deal more briefly with those points which admit of no dispute, while there will be certain subjects on which I shall express a certain amount of disagreement. For, though I intend to make my own views clear, I shall leave my readers free to hold their own opinion. |
| 2780 |
Neque ignoro quosdam esse , qui curam omnem compositionis excludant , atque illum horridum sermonem , ut forte fluxerit , modo magis naturalem , modo etiam magis virilem esse contendant . Qui si id demum naturale esse dicunt , quod natura primum ortum est et quale ante cultum fuit , tota haec ars orandi subvertitur .
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I am well aware that there are certain writers who would absolutely bar all study of artistic structure and contend that language as it chances to present itself in the rough is more natural and even more manly. If by this they mean that only that is natural which originated with nature and has never received any subsequent cultivation, there is an end to the whole art of oratory. |
| 2781 |
Neque enim locuti sunt ad hanc regulam et diligentiam primi homines , nec prooemiis praeparare , docere expositione , argumentis probate , adfectibus commovere scierunt . Ergo his omnibus , non sola compositione caruerunt ; quorum si fieri nihil melius licebat , ne domibus quidem casas aut vestibus pellium tegmina aut urbibus montes ac silvas mutari oportuit .
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For the first men did not speak with the care demanded by that art nor in accordance with the rules that it lays down. They knew nothing of introducing their case by means of an exordium, of instructing the jury by a statement of facts, of proving by argument or of arousing the emotions. They lacked all these qualifications as completely as they lacked all knowledge of the theory of artistic structure. But if they were to be forbidden all progress in this respect, they ought equally to have been forbidden to exchange their huts for houses, their cloaks of skin for civilised raiment and their mountains and forests for cities. |
| 2782 |
Quae porro ars statim fuit ? quid non cultu mitescit ? cur vites coercemus manu ? cur eas fodimus ? rubos arvis excidimus , terra et hos generat ; mansuefacimus animalia , indomita nascuntur . Verum id est maxime naturale , quod fieri natura optime patitur .
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What art was ever born fullgrown? What does not ripen with cultivation? Why do we train the vine? Why dig it? We clear the fields of brambles, and they too are natural products of the soil. We tame animals, and yet they are born wild. No, that which is most natural is that which nature permits to be done to the greatest perfection. |
| 2783 |
Fortius vero qui incompositum potest esse quam vinctum et bene collocatum ? Neque , si parvi pedes vim detrahunt rebus , ut Sotadeorum et Galliamborum et quorundam ut oratione simili paene licentia lascivientium , compositionis est iudicandum .
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How can a style which lacks orderly structure be stronger than one that is welded together and artistically arranged? It must not be regarded as the fault of the study of structure that the employment of feet consisting of short syllables such as characterise the Sotadean and Galliambic metres and certain prose rhythms closely resembling them in wildness, weakens the force of our matter. |
| 2784 |
Ceterum quanto vehementior fluminum cursus est prono alveo ac nullas moras obiiciente quam inter obstantia saxa fractis aquis ac reluctantibus , tanto , quae connexa est et totis viribus fluit , fragosa atque interrupta melior oratio . Cur ergo vires ipsa specie solvi putent , quando res nec ulla sine arte satis valeat et comitetur semper artem decor ?
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Just as river-currents are more violent when they run along a sloping bed, that presents no obstacles to check their course, than when their waters are broken and baffled by rocks that obstruct the channel, so a style which flows in a continuous stream with all the full development of its force is better than one which is rough and broken. Why then should it be thought that polish is inevitably prejudicial to vigour, when the truth is that nothing can attain its full strength without the assistance of art, and that art is always productive of beauty? |
| 2785 |
An non eam , quae missa optime est , hastam speciosissime contortam ferri videmus , et arcu dirigentium tela quo certior manus , hoc est habitus ipse formosior ? Iam ut certamine armorum atque ut omni palaestra quid satis recte cavetur ac petitur , cui non artifex motus et certi quidam pedes adsint ?
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Is it not the fact that grace always goes with the highest skill in throwing the spear, and that the truer the archer's aim, the more comely is his attitude? Again in fencing and all the contests of the wrestling school, what one of all the tricks of attack and defence is there, that does not require movements and firmness of foot such as can only be acquired by art? |
| 2786 |
Quare mihi compositione velut amentis quibusdam nervisve intendi et concitari sententiae videntur . Ideoque eruditissimo cuique persuasum est , valere eam plurimum non ad delectationem modo sed ad motum quoque animorum ,
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Consequently in my opinion artistic structure gives force and direction to our thoughts just as the throwing-thong and the bowstring do to the spear and the arrow. And for this reason all the best scholars are convinced that the study of structure is of the utmost value, not merely for charming the ear, but for stirring the soul. |
| 2787 |
primum quia nihil intrare potest ut adfectus , quod ut aure velut quodam vestibulo statim offendit ; deinde quod natura ducimur ad modos . Neque enim aliter eveniret , ut illi quoque organorum soni , quanquam verba non exprimunt , ut alios tamen atque alios motus ducerent auditorem .
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For in the first place nothing can penetrate to the emotions that stumbles at the portals of the ear, and secondly man is naturally attracted by harmonious sounds. Otherwise it would not be the case that musical instruments, in spite of the fact that their sounds are inarticulate, still succeed in exciting a variety of different emotions in the hearer. |
| 2788 |
In certaminibus sacris non eadem ratione concitant animos ac remittunt , non eosdem modos adhibent , cum bellicum est canendum et cum posito genu supplicandum est ; nec idem signorum concentus est procedente ad proelium exercitu , idem receptui carmen .
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In the sacred games different methods are employed to excite and calm the soul, different melodies are required for the war-song and the entreaty sung by the suppliant on bended knee, while the war-note of the trumpet that leads the army forth to battle has no resemblance to the call that sounds the retreat. |
| 2789 |
Pythagoreis certe moris fuit , et cum evigilassent , animos ad lyram excitare , quo essent ad agendum erectiores , et cum somnum peterent , ad eandem prius lenire mentes , ut , si quid fuisset turbidiorum cogitationum , componerent .
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It was the undoubted custom of the Pythagoreans, when they woke from slumber, to rouse their souls with the music of the lyre, that they might be more alert for action, and before they retired to rest, to soothe their minds by melodies from the same instrument, in order that all restlessness of thought might be lulled to orderly repose. |
| 2790 |
Quodsi numeris ac modis inest quaedam tacita vis , ut oratione ea vehementissima , quantumque interest sensus idem quibus verbis efferatur , tantum , verba eadem qua compositione vel ut textu iungantur vel ut fine claudantur ; nam quaedam et sententiis parva et elocutione modica virtus haec sola commendat .
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But if there is such secret power in rhythm and melody alone, this power is found at its strongest in eloquence, and, however important the selection of words for the expression of our thoughts, the structural art which welds them together in the body of a period or rounds them off at the close, has at least an equal claim to importance. For there are some things which, despite triviality of thought and mediocrity of language, may achieve distinction in virtue of this excellence alone. |
| 2791 |
Denique quod cuique visum erit vehementer , dulciter , speciose dictum , solvat et turbet : abierit omnis vis , iucunditas , decor . Solvit quaedam sua ut Oratore Cicero : Neque me divitiae movent quibus omnis Africanos et Laelios mulli venalicii mercatoresque superarunt . Immuta paululum ut sit ' multi superarunt mercatores venaliciique , ' et insequentes deinceps periodos ; quas si ad illum modum turbes , velut fracta aut transversa tela proieceris .
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In fact, if we break up and disarrange any sentence that may have struck us as vigorous, charming or elegant, we shall find that all its force, attraction and grace have disappeared. Cicero in his Orator breaks up some of his own utterances in this way: " Neque me divitiae movent, quibus omnes Africanos et Laelios multi venalicii mercatoresque superarunt. Change the order but a little so that it will run multi superarunt mercatores venaliciique," and so on. Disarrange these periods in such a manner, and you will find that the shafts you have hurled are broken or wide of the mark. |
| 2792 |
Idem corrigit quae a Graccho composita durius putat . Illum decet ; nos hac sumus probatione contenti , quod ut scribendo , quae se nobis solutiora obtulerunt , componimus . Quid enim attinet eorum exempla quaerere , quae sibi quisque experiri potest ? Illud notasse satis habeo , quo pulchriora et sensu et elocutione dissolveris , hoc orationem magis deformem fore , quia negligentia collocationis ipsa verborum luce deprehenditur .
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Cicero also corrects passages in the speeches of Gracchus where the structure appears to him to be harsh. For Cicero this is becoming enough, but we may content ourselves with testing our own power of welding together in artistic form the disconnected words and phrases which present themselves to us. For why should we seek elsewhere for examples of faults which we may all of us find in our own work? One point, however, it is enough simply to notice—that the more beautiful in thought and language the sentence which you deprive of such structural cohesion, the more hideous will be the effect upon the style, for the very brilliance of the words at once exposes the carelessness of their arrangement. |
| 2793 |
Itaque ut confiteor , paene ultimam oratoribus artem compositionis , quae quidem perfecta sit , contigisse , ita illis quoque priscis habitam inter curas , ut quantum adhuc profecerant , puto . Neque enim mihi quamlibet magnus auctor Cicero persuaserit , Lysian , Herodotum , Thucydiden parum studiosos eius fuisse . Genus fortasse sint secuti non idem ,
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Accordingly, although I admit that artistic structure, at any rate in perfection, was the last accomplishment to be attained by oratory, I still hold that even primitive orators regarded it as one of the objects of their study, as far at least as the rudeness of their attainments permitted. For even Cicero for all his greatness will never persuade me that Lysias, Herodotus and Thucydides were careless in this respect. |
| 2794 |
quod Demosthenes aut Plato , quanquam et ii ipsi inter se dissimiles fuerunt . Nam neque illud ut Lysia dicendi textum tenue atque rasum laetioribus numeris corrumpendum erat ; perdidisset enim gratiam , quae ut eo maxima est , simplicis atque inadfectati coloris , perdidisset fidem quoque . Nam scribebat alis , non ipse dicebat , ut oportuerit esse illa rudibus et incompositis similia ; quod ipsum compositio est .
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They may not perhaps have pursued the same ideals as Demosthenes and Plato, and even these latter differed in their methods. For it would never have done to spoil the fine and delicate texture of Lysias by the introduction of richer rhythms, since he would thus have lost all that surpassing grace which he derives from his simple and unaffected tone, while he would also have sacrificed the impression of sincerity which he now creates. For it must be remembered that he wrote his speeches for others to deliver, so that it was right that they should suggest a lack of form and artistic structure: indeed his success in producing this effect actually shows his mastery of structure. |
| 2795 |
Et historiae , quae currere debet ac ferri , minus convenissent insistentes clausulae et debita actionibus respiratio et cludendi inchoandique sententias ratio . In contionibus quidem etiam similiter cadentia quaedam et contraposita deprehendas . In Herodoto vero cum omnia ( ut ego quidem sentio ) leniter fluunt , tum ipsa διάλεκτος habet eam iucunditatem , ut latentes etiam ut se numeros complexa videatur .
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Again history, which should move with speed and impetuosity, would have been ill-suited by the halts imposed by the rounding off of the period, by the pauses for breath inevitable in oratory, and the elaborate methods of opening sentences and bringing them to a close. It is however true that in the speeches inserted by historians we may note something in the way of balanced cadences and antitheses. As regards Herodotus, while his flow, in my opinion, is always gentle, his dialect has such a sweetness of its own that it even seems to contain a certain rhythmical power hidden within itself. |
| 2796 |
Sed de propositorum diversitate post paulum . Nunc , quae prius iis , qui recte componere volent , discenda sint . Est igitur ante omnia oratio alia vincta atque contexta , soluta alia , qualis ut sermone et epistolis , nisi cum aliquid supra naturam suam tractant , ut de philosophia , de re publica , similibus .
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However I shall speak of the different ideals a little later: my immediate task is to teach the student elementary rules which are essential if correctness of structure is to be attained. There are then in the first place two kinds of style: the one is closely welded and woven together, while the other is of a looser texture such as is found in dialogues and letters, except when they deal with some subject above their natural level, such as philosophy, politics or the like. |
| 2797 |
Quod non eo dico , quia non illud quoque solutum habeat suos quosdam et forsitan difficiliores etiam pedes ; neque enim aut hiare semper vocalibus aut destitui temporibus volunt sermo atque epistola ; sed non fluunt nec cohaerent nec verba verbis trahunt , ut potius laxiora ut his vincula quam nulla sint .
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In saying this, I do not mean to deny that even this looser texture has its own peculiar rhythms which are perhaps the most difficult of all to analyse. For dialogues and letters do not demand continual hiatus between vowels or absence of rhythm, but on the other hand they have not the flow or the compactness of other styles, nor does one word lead up so inexorably to another, the structural cohesion being loose rather than non-existent. |
| 2798 |
Nonnunquam ut causis quoque minoribus decet eadem simplicitas quae non nullis , sed aliis utitur numeris , dissimulatque eos et tantum communit occultius .
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Again in legal cases of minor importance a similar simplicity will be found to be most becoming, a simplicity, that is to say, that does not dispense with rhythm altogether, but uses rhythms of a different kind, conceals them and employs a certain secrecy in their construction. |
| 2799 |
At illa connexa series tres habet formas : incisa quae κόμματα dicuntur , membra quae κῶλα , περίοδον , quae est vel ambitus vel circumductum vel continuatio vel conclusio . In omni porro compositione tria sunt genera necessaria : ordo , iunctura , numerus .
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But the more closely welded style is composed of three elements: the comma, or as we call it incisum, the colon, or in Latin menbrum, and the period, which Roman writers call ambitus, circumductum, continuatio or conclusio. Further, in all artistic structure there are three necessary qualities, order, connexion and rhythm. Of these we will first discuss order, |
| 2800 |
Primum igitur de ordine . Eius observatio ut verbis est singulis et contextis . Singula sunt , quae ἀσύνδετα diximus . In his cavendum , ne decrescat oratio , et fortiori subiungatur aliquid infirmius , ut sacrilege fur , aut latroni petulans . Augeri enim debent sententiae et insurgere , ut optime Cicero , Tu , inquit , istis faucibus , istis lateribus , ista gladiatoria totius corporis firmitate .Aliud enim maius alii supervenit . At si coepisset a toto corpore , non bene ad latera faucesque descenderet . Est et alius naturalis ordo , ut viros ac feminas , diem ac noctem , ortum et occasum dicas potius quam retrorsum .
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which must be considered in connexion with words taken both singly and in conjunction. Words taken singly are known as asyndeta (unconnected). In dealing with them we must take care that our style does not diminish in force through the fact that a weaker word is made to follow a stronger: as, for example, if after calling a man a despoiler of temples we were to speak of him as a thief, or after styling him a highwayman were to dub him an insolent fellow. For sentences should rise and grow in force: of this an excellent example is provided by Cicero, where he says, " You, with that throat, those lungs, that strength, that would do credit to a prizefighter, in every limb of your body " ; for there each phrase is followed by one stronger than the last, whereas, if he had begun by referring to his whole body, he could scarcely have gone on to speak of his lungs and throat without an anticlimax. There is also another species of order which may be entitled natural, as for example when we speak of "men and women, "day and night, "rising and setting," in preference to the reverse order. |
| 2801 |
Quaedam ordine permutato fiunt supervacua , ut fratres gemini ; nam si gemini praecesserint , fratres addere non est necesse . Illa nimia quorundam fuit observatio , ut vocabula verbis , verba rursus adverbiis , nomina appositis et pronominibus essent priora ; nam fit contra quoque frequenter non indecore .
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In some cases a change in the order will make a word superfluous: for example, we write fratres gemini rather than gemini fratres (twin-brothers), since if gemini came first, there would be no necessity to add fratres. The rule which some have sought to enforce that nouns should precede verbs, and verbs adverbs, while epithets and pronouns should follow their substantives, is a mere extravagance, since the reverse order is often adopted with excellent effect. |
| 2802 |
Nec non et illud nimiae superstitionis , uti quaeque sint tempore , ea facere etiam ordine priora , non quin frequenter sit hoc melius , sed quia interim plus valent ante gesta , ideoque levioribus superponenda sunt . Verbo sensum cludere multo ,
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Another piece of extravagant pedantry is to insist that the first place should always be occupied by what is first in order of time: such an order is no doubt often the best, but merely because previous events are often the most important and should consequently be placed before matters of more trivial import. |
| 2803 |
si compositio patiatur , optimum est ; ut verbis enim sermonis vis est . Si id asperum erit , cedet haec ratio numeris , ut fit apud summos Graecos Latinosque oratores frequentissime . Sine dubio erit omne , quod non cludet , hyperbaton , sed ipsum hoc inter tropos vel figuras , quae sunt virtutes , receptum est .
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If the demands of artistic structure permit, it is far best to end the sentence with a verb: for it is in verbs that the real strength of language resides. But if it results in harshness of sound, this principle must give way before the demands of rhythm, as is frequently the case in the best authors of Rome and Greece. Of course, in every case where a verb does not end the sentence, we shall have an hyperbaton, but hyperbaton is an admitted trope or figure, and therefore is to be regarded as an adornment. |
| 2804 |
Non enim ad pedes verba dimensa sunt , ideoque ex loco transferuntur ut locum , ut iungantur , quo congruunt maxime , sicut ut structura saxorum rudium etiam ipsa enormitas invenit , cui applicari et ut quo possit insistere . Felicissimus tamen sermo est , cui et rectus ordo et apta iunctura et cum his numerus opportune cadens contigit . Quaedam vero transgressiones et longae sunt nimis ,
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For words are not cut to suit metrical feet, and are therefore transferred from place to place to form the most suitable combinations, just as in the case of unhewn stones their very irregularity is the means of suggesting what other stones they will best fit and what will supply them with the surest resting-place. On the other hand, the happiest effects of language are produced when it is found possible to employ the natural order, apt connexion and appropriate rhythm. |
| 2805 |
ut superioribus diximus libris , et interim etiam compositione vitiosae , quae ut hoc ipsum petuntur , ut exultent atque lasciviant , quales illae Maecenatis , Sole et aurora rubent plurima . Inter se sacra movit aqua fraxinos . Ne exequias quidem unus inter miserrimos viderem meas . Quod inter haec pessimum est , quia ut re tristi ludit compositio .
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Some transpositions are too long, as I have pointed out in previous books, while at times they involve faulty structure, although some writers actually aim at this vicious type of transposition, in order to create an appearance of freedom and license, as in the following phrases from Maecenas, sole et aurora rubent plurima ; inter se sacra movit aqua fraxinos ; ne exequias quidem unus inter miserrimos viderem meas. The worst feature in these examples, is that he plays pranks with his structure while dealing with a sad theme. It is, however, |
| 2806 |
Saepe tamen est vehemens aliquis sensus ut verbo , quod si ut media parte sententiae latet , transire intentionem et obscurari circumiacentibus solet , ut clausula positum adsignatur auditori et infigitur , quale illud est Ciceronis , Ut tibi necesse esset ut conspectu populi Romani vomere postridie .
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not infrequently possible to give special significance to a word by placing it at the close of the sentence and thereby stamping and impressing it on the mind of the hearer, whereas if it were placed in the middle of the sentence, it would remain unnoticed, escape the attention and be obscured by its surroundings; the following passage from Cicero will illustrate what I mean: ut tibi necesse esset in conspectu populi Romani vomere postridie. |
| 2807 |
Transfer hoc ultimum : minus valebit . Nam totius ductus hic est quasi mucro , ut per se foeda vomendi necessitas iam nihil ultra exspectantibus hanc quoque adiiceret deformitatem , ut cibus teneri non posset postridie .
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Transfer the last word to some other position and the effect will be decreased. For the whole passage is made to converge to a point at the end; the disgraceful circumstance of his being forced to vomit has been mentioned and the audience expect nothing more, when the orator adds yet a further revolting feature of the case, namely that he was still unable to retain his food the day after the carouse. |
| 2808 |
Solebat Afer Domitius traiicere ut clausulas verba tantum asperandae compositionis gratia et maxime ut prooemiis , ut pro Cloatilla , Gratias agam continuo , et pro Laelia , Eis utrisque apud te iudicem periclitatur Laelia . Adeo refugit teneram delicatamque modulandi voluptatem , ut currentibus per se numeris quod eos inhiberet obiiceret .
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Domitius Afer was in the habit of transferring words at the cadence of the sentence solely for the purpose of harshening his rhythm, more especially in his exordia, as, for example, in his defence of Cloatilla, where he says gratias again continuo, and in his defence of Laelia, where he says, eis utrisque apud te iudicem periclitatur Laelia. To such an extent did he avoid the voluptuous effect of soft and delicate rhythm, that he actually interposed obstacles to break the natural harmonies of his language. |
| 2809 |
Amphiboliam quoque fieri vitiosa locatione verborum , nemo est qui nesciat . Haec arbitror , ut ut brevi , de ordine fuisse dicenda ; qui si vitiosus est , licet et vincta sit et apte cadens oratio , tamen merito incomposita dicatur . Iunctura sequitur . Est ut verbis , incisis , membris , periodis ; omnia namque ista et virtutes et vitia ut complexu habent .
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There is a further drawback resulting from the faulty arrangement of words, with which we are all familiar, namely, that it leads to ambiguity. The above remarks will, I think, suffice as a brief summary of the points which require notice in connexion with order. If the order is faulty, our language will be deservedly liable to the charge of lacking artistic construction, however compact and rhythmical it may be. The next point for consideration is connexion, that is to say connexion between words, commata, cola and periods. For all these have merits and defects which turn on the way in which they are linked together. |
| 2810 |
Atque , ut ordinem sequar , primum sunt quae imperitis quoque ad reprehensionem notabilia videntur , id est , quae , commissis inter se verbis duobus , ex ultima prioris ac prima sequentis syllaba deforme aliquod nomen efficiunt . Tum vocalium concursus ; quod cum accidit , hiat et intersistit et quasi laborat oratio . Pessime longae , quae easdem inter se litteras committunt , sonabunt . Praecipuus tamen erit hiatus earum , quae cavo aut patulo maxime ore efferuntur .
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I will follow the natural order and will begin by pointing out that there are some blemishes so obvious that even the uneducated regard them as worthy of censure; I refer to occasions when two consecutive words form some unseemly expression by the coalescence of the last syllable of the first word and the first of the second. Again, there are occasions when vowels clash. When this happens, the language is broken by gaps and interstices and seems to labour. The most unpleasing effects of sound will be produced by the juxtaposition of the same long vowels, while the worst hiatus occurs between vowels which are pronounced hollow- or open-mouthed. |
| 2811 |
E planior littera est , i angustior est , ideoque obscurius ut his vitium . Minus peccabit , qui longis breves subiiciet , et adhuc , qui praeponet longae brevem . Minima est ut duabus brevibus offensio . Atque cum aliae subiunguntur aliis , proinde asperiores aut leniores erunt prout oris habitu simili aut diverso pronuntiabuntur .
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E has a flatter, i a narrower sound, and consequently such blemishes are less noticeable where they are concerned. It is a less serious fault to place short vowels after long, a statement which applies even more strongly to placing short vowels before long. But the least unsatisfactory combination is that of two short vowels. And in all conjunctions of vowels, the resulting sound will be proportionately soft or harsh according as they resemble or differ from each other in the method of utterance. |
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Non tamen id ut crimen ingens expavescendum est , ac nescio negligentia ut hoc an sollicitudo sit peior . Inhibeat enim necesse est hic metus impetum dicendi et a potioribus avertat . Quare ut negligentiae passim hoc pati , ita humilitatis ubique perhorrescere , nimiosque non immerito ut hac cura putant omnes Isocraten secutos praecipueque Theopompum .
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On the other hand, hiatus is not to be regarded as so very terrible a crime: in fact I do not know which is the worse fault in this connexion, carelessness or a pedantic solicitude for correctness. For anxiety on this score is bound to check the flow of our language and to divert us from more important considerations. Therefore while it is a sign of carelessness to admit hiatus here, there and everywhere, it is a symptom of grovelling timidity to be continually in terror of it, and there is good reason for the view that all the followers of Isocrates and more especially Theopompus pay accessive attention to the avoidance of this detect. |