Ep. 1.20.1Frequēns mihi disputātiō est cum quōdam doctō homine et perītō, cui nihil aequē in causīs agendīs ut brevitās placet.I have frequent arguments with a certain learned and experienced man, who likes nothing so much in pleading cases as brevity. Ep. 1.20.2Quam ego custōdiendam esse cōnfiteor, sī causa permittat: aliōquī praevāricātiō est trānsīre dīcenda, praevāricātiō etiam cursim et breviter attingere quae sint inculcanda īnfīgenda repetenda.I admit that it ought to be kept to, if the case permits: otherwise it is a betrayal of one's client to pass over what should be said, and a betrayal too to touch hastily and briefly on what ought to be driven home, fixed in the mind and repeated. Ep. 1.20.3Nam plērīsque longiōre tractātū vīs quaedam et pondus accēdit, utque corporī ferrum, sīc ōrātiō animō nōn ictū magis quam morā imprimitur.For to most points a certain force and weight is added by longer treatment, and as a sword is driven into the body, so a speech is driven into the mind, not so much by the blow as by its staying there.
Ep. 1.20.4Hīc ille mēcum auctōritātibus agit ac mihi ex Graecīs ōrātiōnēs Lȳsiae ostentat, ex nostrīs Gracchōrum Catōnisque, quōrum sānē plūrimae sunt circumcīsae et brevēs: ego Lȳsiae Dēmosthenēn Aeschinēn Hyperīdēn multōsque praetereā, Gracchīs et Catōnī Polliōnem Caesarem Caelium, in prīmīs M. Tullium oppōnō, cuius ōrātiō optima fertur esse quae maxima.Here he argues with me from authorities, and from the Greeks he shows me the speeches of Lysias, from our own those of the Gracchi and Cato, very many of which are certainly clipped and brief: I set against Lysias Demosthenes, Aeschines, Hyperides and many others besides, against the Gracchi and Cato Pollio, Caesar, Caelius, and above all Marcus Tullius, whose best speech is said to be his longest. Ep. 1.20.4Et herculē ut aliae bonae rēs ita bonus līber melior est quisque quō maior.And by Hercules, just as with other good things, so a good book is the better the bigger it is. Ep. 1.20.5Vidēs ut statuās signa pictūrās, hominum dēnique multōrumque animālium fōrmās, arborum etiam, sī modo sint decōrae, nihil magis quam amplitūdō commendet.You see how statues, images and paintings, and indeed the figures of men and many animals, and even of trees, if only they are handsome, are recommended by nothing more than size.
Ep. 1.20.5Idem ōrātiōnibus ēvenit;The same thing happens with speeches; Ep. 1.20.5quīn etiam volūminibus ipsīs auctōritātem quandam et pulchritūdinem adicit magnitūdō.indeed, size lends a certain authority and beauty even to the book-rolls themselves. Ep. 1.20.6Haec ille multaque alia, quae ā mē in eandem sententiam solent dīcī, ut est in disputandō incomprehēnsibilis et lūbricus, ita ēlūdit ut contendat hōs ipsōs, quōrum ōrātiōnibus nītar, pauciōra dīxisse quam ēdiderint.These points and many others which I usually make to the same effect he, being elusive and slippery in argument, evades by contending that these very men on whose speeches I rely spoke less than they published. Ep. 1.20.7Ego contrā putō.I think the opposite. Ep. 1.20.7Testēs sunt multae multōrum ōrātiōnēs et Cicerōnis prō Mūrēnā prō Varēnō, in quibus brevis et nūda quasi subscrīptiō quōrundam crīminum sōlīs titulīs indicātur.Witness the many speeches of many orators, and Cicero's for Murena and for Varenus, in which a brief and bare summary, as it were, of certain charges is indicated by headings alone. Ep. 1.20.7Ex hīs appāret illum permulta dīxisse, cum ēderet omīsisse.From these it is clear that he said a great deal which he left out when he published.
Ep. 1.20.8Īdem prō Cluentiō ait sē tōtam causam vetere īnstitūtō sōlum perōrāsse, et prō C. Cornēliō quadrīduō ēgisse, nē dubitāre possīmus, quae per plūrēs diēs - ut necesse erat - lātius dīxerit, posteā recīsa ac repūrgāta in ūnum librum grandem quidem ūnum tamen coartāsse.He also says that in defending Cluentius he pleaded the whole case alone, according to the old practice, and that in defending Gaius Cornelius he spoke for four days, so that we cannot doubt that what he said at greater length over several days (as was necessary) he later cut down and pruned and compressed into one book, a large one indeed, but still one. Ep. 1.20.9At aliud est āctiō bona, aliud ōrātiō.'But a good pleading is one thing, a good speech another.' Ep. 1.20.9Sciō nōnnūllīs ita vidērī, sed ego - forsitan fallar - persuāsum habeō posse fierī ut sit āctiō bona quae nōn sit bona ōrātiō, nōn posse nōn bonam āctiōnem esse quae sit bona ōrātiō.I know that some think so, but I (perhaps I am mistaken) am convinced that it can happen that a pleading is good which is not a good speech, but that a pleading cannot fail to be good which is a good speech.
Ep. 1.20.9Est enim ōrātiō āctiōnis exemplar et quasi ἀρχέτυπον.For the speech is the model of the pleading and, as it were, its archetype. Ep. 1.20.10Ideō in optimā quāque mīlle figūrās extemporālēs invenīmus, in iīs etiam quās tantum ēditās scīmus, ut in Verrem: "artificem quem?That is why in all the best speeches we find a thousand impromptu figures, even in those which we know were only published, as in the speech against Verres: 'An artist — who? Ep. 1.20.10quemnam?who was it? Ep. 1.20.10rēctē admonēs;you remind me rightly; Ep. 1.20.10Polyclītum esse dīcēbant."they said it was Polyclitus.' Ep. 1.20.10Sequitur ergō ut āctiō sit absolūtissima, quae maximē ōrātiōnis similitūdinem expresserit, sī modo iūstum et dēbitum tempus accipiat;It follows, then, that the most perfect pleading is the one which most closely reproduces the likeness of a speech, provided only that it is given its just and due time; Ep. 1.20.10quod sī negētur, nūlla ōrātōris maxima iūdicis culpa est.and if this is refused, the fault is not at all the orator's but very much the judge's. Ep. 1.20.11Adsunt huic opīniōnī meae lēgēs, quae longissima tempora largiuntur nec brevitātem dīcentibus sed cōpiam - hoc est dīligentiam - suādent;The laws support this opinion of mine, which grant the most ample time and urge on speakers not brevity but fullness, that is, thoroughness; Ep. 1.20.11quam praestāre nisi in angustissimīs causīs nōn potest brevitās.and brevity cannot provide this except in the narrowest cases.
Ep. 1.20.12Adiciam quod mē docuit ūsus, magister ēgregius.I shall add what experience, an excellent teacher, has taught me. Ep. 1.20.12Frequenter ēgī, frequenter iūdicāvī, frequenter in cōnsiliō fuī: aliud aliōs movet, ac plērumque parvae rēs maximās trahunt.I have often pleaded, often judged, often sat on a council: different things move different people, and very often small matters carry the greatest weight. Ep. 1.20.12Varia sunt hominum iūdicia, variae voluntātēs.Men's judgements vary, and so do their inclinations. Ep. 1.20.12Inde quī eandem causam simul audiērunt, saepe dīversum, interdum idem sed ex dīversīs animī mōtibus sentiunt.Hence those who have heard the same case together often think differently, and sometimes the same, but from different impulses of the mind. Ep. 1.20.13Praetereā suae quisque inventiōnī favet, et quasi fortissimum amplectitur, cum ab aliō dictum est quod ipse praevīdit.Besides, each man favours his own discovery, and embraces as the strongest point what he himself foresaw, when it is put forward by another. Ep. 1.20.13Omnibus ergō dandum est aliquid quod teneant, quod agnōscant.Everyone, then, must be given something to hold on to, something to recognise. Ep. 1.20.14Dīxit aliquandō mihi Rēgulus, cum simul adessēmus: "Tū omnia quae sunt in causā putās exsequenda;Regulus once said to me, when we were appearing together: 'You think everything in a case must be followed up; Ep. 1.20.14ego iugulum statim videō, hunc premō."I see the throat at once, and I press on that.' Ep. 1.20.14Premit sānē quod ēlēgit, sed in ēligendō frequenter errat.He presses, certainly, on what he has chosen, but in choosing he often goes wrong.
Ep. 1.20.15Respondī posse fierī, ut genū esset aut tālus, ubi ille iugulum putāret.I replied that it might happen that it was a knee or an ankle where he thought it was the throat. Ep. 1.20.15At ego, inquam, quī iugulum perspicere nōn possum, omnia pertemptō, omnia experior, dēnique denique λίθον κινῶ;'But I,' I said, 'who cannot perceive the throat, test everything, try everything, in short leave no stone unturned; Ep. 1.20.16utque in cultūrā agrī nōn vīneās tantum, vērum etiam arbusta, nec arbusta tantum vērum etiam campōs cūrō et exerceō, utque in ipsīs campīs nōn fār aut silīginem sōlam, sed hordeum fabam cēteraque legūmina serō, sīc in āctiōne plūra quasi sēmina lātius spargō, ut quae prōvēnerint colligam.and just as in farming I tend and work not only vineyards but also orchards, and not only orchards but also fields, and as in the fields themselves I sow not only spelt or wheat but barley, beans and other pulses, so in pleading I scatter many seeds, as it were, more widely, so as to gather whatever comes up. Ep. 1.20.17Neque enim minus imperspicua incerta fallācia sunt iūdicum ingenia quam tempestātum terrārumque.For the minds of judges are no less impenetrable, uncertain and deceptive than the weather and the soil.' Ep. 1.20.17Nec mē praeterit summum ōrātōrem Periclēn sīc ā cōmicō Eupolide laudārī: " πρὸς δέ γʼ αὐτοῦ τῷ τάχει πειθώ τις ἐπεκάθητο τοῖσι χείλεσιν.Nor am I unaware that the supreme orator Pericles is praised in this way by the comic poet Eupolis: 'And besides his speed, a kind of Persuasion sat upon his lips.
Ep. 1.20.18Vērum huic ipsī Periclī nec illa nec illud brevitāte vel vēlōcitāte vel utrāque differunt enim — sine facultāte — summā contigisset summa contigisset.But to this very Pericles neither that 'persuasion' nor that 'he charmed' would have come through brevity or speed or both (for they are different) without the highest ability. Ep. 1.20.18Nam dēlectāre persuādēre cōpiam dīcendī spatiumque dēsīderat, relinquere vērō aculeum in audientium animīs is dēmum potest quī nōn pungit sed īnfīgit.For to delight and to persuade requires fullness of speech and time, and only he can leave a sting in the minds of his hearers who does not merely prick but drives it in. Ep. 1.20.19Adde quae dē eōdem Pericle cōmicus alter: "Nōn, enim, amputāta ōrātiō̔et" abscīsa sed lāta et magnifica et, excelsa tonat fulgurat omnia dēnique perturbat ac miscet, omnia denique perturbat ac miscet.Add what the other comic poet said about the same Pericles: 'He lightened, he thundered, he threw Greece into confusion.' For it is not a lopped and curtailed speech but a broad, magnificent and lofty one that thunders and lightens, and in short throws everything into turmoil and confusion.
Ep. 1.20.20"Optimus tamen modus est": quis negat?'Yet moderation is best': who denies it? Ep. 1.20.20sed nōn minus nōn servat modum quī īnfrā rem quam quī suprā, quī astrictius quam quī effūsius dīcit.but the man who falls short of his subject fails to observe moderation no less than the man who goes beyond it, the one who speaks too tightly no less than the one who speaks too expansively. Ep. 1.20.21Itaque audīs frequenter ut illud: "immodice et redundanter", ita hoc: "iēiūne et īnfirme".And so you often hear, just as you hear the one, 'immoderately and redundantly', so the other, 'thinly and feebly'. Ep. 1.20.21Alius excessisse māteriam, alius dīcitur nōn implēsse.One is said to have gone beyond his material, the other not to have filled it. Ep. 1.20.21Aequē uterque, sed ille imbēcillitāte hic vīribus peccat;Both err equally, but the one through weakness, the other through strength; Ep. 1.20.21quod certē etsī nōn līmātiōris, maiōris tamen ingenī vitium est.which is certainly the fault of a greater, if not a more polished, talent. Ep. 1.20.22Nec vērō cum haec dīcō illum Homēricum probō sed, hunc nōn: "quia nōn et ille mihi," valdissimē placeat sī tamen dētur ēlēctiō illam ōrātiōnem: "similem nivibus, hībernīs id est" crēbram et assiduam sed, et largam postrēmō dīvīnam et, caelestem volō crebram et assiduam sed et largam, postremo divinam et caelestem volo.Nor, when I say this, do I approve that Homeric man of unmeasured words, but this one: 'and his words like the snowflakes of winter', not because that other does not also please me exceedingly: 'few words, but very clear'; yet if I am given the choice, I want that speech which is like winter snows, that is, frequent and unceasing but also abundant, in short divine and heavenly.
Ep. 1.20.23"At est grātior multīs āctiō brevis."'But a short pleading is more welcome to many.' Ep. 1.20.23Est, sed inertibus quōrum dēliciās dēsidiamque quasi iūdicium respicere rīdiculum est.It is, but to lazy people, whose fastidiousness and idleness it is ridiculous to respect as if they were judgement. Ep. 1.20.23Nam sī hōs in cōnsiliō habeās, nōn sōlum satius breviter dīcere, sed omnīnō nōn dīcere.For if you took these into consultation, it would be better not only to speak briefly but not to speak at all. Ep. 1.20.24Haec est adhūc sententia mea, quam mūtābō sī dissēnseris tū;This is my opinion so far, which I shall change if you disagree; Ep. 1.20.24sed plānē cūr dissentiās explicēs rogō.but I do ask you to explain clearly why you disagree. Ep. 1.20.24Quamvīs enim cēdere auctōritātī tuae dēbeam, rēctius tamen arbitror in tantā rē ratiōne quam auctōritāte superārī.For although I ought to yield to your authority, I think it more right, in so important a matter, to be overcome by reason than by authority. Ep. 1.20.25Proinde, sī nōn errāre videor, id ipsum quam volēs brevī epistulā, sed tamen scrībe — cōnfirmābis enim iūdicium meum —;So, if I do not seem to you to be wrong, write just that, in as short a letter as you like, but still write (for you will confirm my judgement); Ep. 1.20.25sī errārō, longissimam parā.if I am wrong, prepare a very long one.
Ep. 1.20.25Num corrūpī tē, quī tibi sī mihi accēderēs brevis epistulae necessitātem, sī dissentīrēs longissimae imposuī?I have not bribed you, have I, by imposing on you the necessity of a short letter if you agreed with me, and of a very long one if you disagreed? Ep. 1.20.25Valē.Farewell.