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So, Cicero. Yeah. It's...honestly, I don't even. Have some word salad! Sometimes it even kinda makes sense!
*throws up hands, kicks dictionary, sulks*
52. “For there were two easy parts, Antonius,” Crassus said, “which I have raced through, or more nearly passed over, of speaking in Latin and speaking plainly; the remaining things are great, intricate, varied, serious, by which all admiration of talent, all praise of eloquence are contained. For no one ever admired an orator because he was speaking in Latin; if he’s not, they laugh and not only don’t think he’s an orator, but not even a man. No one praises him for words who speaks in such a way that whoever is present understands what he said, but scorns the man who’s less able to do so.
53. “So do men stand awestruck at this? Do they gaze stupefied at this kind of speaking? Do they exclaim at this? What god, as you’d say, do they think has come among men? Those who speak with distinction, clearly, abundantly, with lustre with both things and words, and who prepare a sort of number and verse in the oration itself; it is what I speak of ornately. And they who so manage the same thing that they have a dignified bearing in matters and in their personages, they must be praised in that sort of praise which I call apt and appropriate.
54. “The sort of men who were speaking in that way, Antonius said he had not seen them until now and he said that this title of eloquence must be attributed to these men alone. For this reason, with me as the originator, scorn and deride all these men who now give themselves these names, thought to be held by the precepts of rhetoric with the whole power of oratory, and who did not until now hold that person or were able to understand what it would profit them. For truly the orators who exist in the life of men, however much the orator is inclined towards this or that, the matter is subjected to him, all things must questioned, heard, read, argued, gone through, stirred up.
55. “For there is a single certain eloquence regarding the highest virtues; although all virtues are equal and equivalent, nevertheless there is a particular virtue more beautiful and splendid than the others; just as this power, which brings together the knowledge of things, explains the feelings and intentions of the mind with words thus, so that it may inspire those who hear it in whichever way it’s inclined; the greater this force is, the more it must be joined with integrity and the highest prudence; if we should pass down a wealth of speaking to the experts of these virtues, we shall not make various orators, but give a sort of weaponry to the mob.”
---
At this point we skip ahead a hundred sections (and recall that this is all in book three, at that); we're now at section 155, which is helpfully subtitled METAPHOR in the endnotes. I'll try to get that up later tonight, but given that a quick look at the upcoming sections shows a big chunk of quoted poetry... Wouldn't count on it.
*throws up hands, kicks dictionary, sulks*
52. “For there were two easy parts, Antonius,” Crassus said, “which I have raced through, or more nearly passed over, of speaking in Latin and speaking plainly; the remaining things are great, intricate, varied, serious, by which all admiration of talent, all praise of eloquence are contained. For no one ever admired an orator because he was speaking in Latin; if he’s not, they laugh and not only don’t think he’s an orator, but not even a man. No one praises him for words who speaks in such a way that whoever is present understands what he said, but scorns the man who’s less able to do so.
53. “So do men stand awestruck at this? Do they gaze stupefied at this kind of speaking? Do they exclaim at this? What god, as you’d say, do they think has come among men? Those who speak with distinction, clearly, abundantly, with lustre with both things and words, and who prepare a sort of number and verse in the oration itself; it is what I speak of ornately. And they who so manage the same thing that they have a dignified bearing in matters and in their personages, they must be praised in that sort of praise which I call apt and appropriate.
54. “The sort of men who were speaking in that way, Antonius said he had not seen them until now and he said that this title of eloquence must be attributed to these men alone. For this reason, with me as the originator, scorn and deride all these men who now give themselves these names, thought to be held by the precepts of rhetoric with the whole power of oratory, and who did not until now hold that person or were able to understand what it would profit them. For truly the orators who exist in the life of men, however much the orator is inclined towards this or that, the matter is subjected to him, all things must questioned, heard, read, argued, gone through, stirred up.
55. “For there is a single certain eloquence regarding the highest virtues; although all virtues are equal and equivalent, nevertheless there is a particular virtue more beautiful and splendid than the others; just as this power, which brings together the knowledge of things, explains the feelings and intentions of the mind with words thus, so that it may inspire those who hear it in whichever way it’s inclined; the greater this force is, the more it must be joined with integrity and the highest prudence; if we should pass down a wealth of speaking to the experts of these virtues, we shall not make various orators, but give a sort of weaponry to the mob.”
---
At this point we skip ahead a hundred sections (and recall that this is all in book three, at that); we're now at section 155, which is helpfully subtitled METAPHOR in the endnotes. I'll try to get that up later tonight, but given that a quick look at the upcoming sections shows a big chunk of quoted poetry... Wouldn't count on it.