Ep. 2.3.1Magna Isaeum fāma praecesserat, maior inventus est.Great fame had gone before Isaeus, but he has been found greater still. Ep. 2.3.1Summa est facultās cōpia ūbertās;His readiness, his abundance, his richness are supreme; Ep. 2.3.1dīcit semper ex tempore, sed tamquam diū scrīpserit.he always speaks extempore, but as if he had long been writing. Ep. 2.3.1Sermō Graecus, immō Atticus;His language is Greek, or rather Attic; Ep. 2.3.1praefātiōnēs tersae gracilēs dulcēs, gravēs interdum et ērēctae.his introductions are polished, spare and charming, at times weighty and elevated. Ep. 2.3.2Poscit contrōversiās plūrēs;He asks for several themes for debate; Ep. 2.3.2ēlēctiōnem audītōribus permittit, saepe etiam partēs;he leaves the choice to his audience, often even the side to take; Ep. 2.3.2surgit amicītur incipit;he rises, arranges his robe, begins; Ep. 2.3.2statim omnia ac paene pariter ad manum, sēnsūs reconditī occursant, verba - sed quālia!at once everything is at hand, and almost all together; recondite ideas present themselves, and words – but what words! Ep. 2.3.2- quaesīta et exculta.– sought out and finely wrought. Ep. 2.3.2Multa lēctiō in subitīs, multa scrīptiō ēlūcet.Wide reading and much writing shine out in his improvisations.
Ep. 2.3.3Prohoemiātur aptē, narrat apertē, pugnat ācriter, colligit fortiter, ōrnat excelsē.He opens aptly, narrates clearly, argues keenly, sums up forcefully, embellishes loftily. Ep. 2.3.3Postrēmō docet dēlectat afficit;In short, he instructs, delights, moves; Ep. 2.3.3quid maximē, dubitēs.which he does most, you might doubt. Ep. 2.3.3Crēbra crēbrī syllogismī circumscrīptī, et effectī quod, stilō quoque assequī magnum est est.There are frequent enthymemes, frequent syllogisms, concise and complete, which is a great achievement even with the pen. Ep. 2.3.3Incrēdibilis memoria: repetit altius quae dīxit ex tempore, nē verbō quidem lābitur.His memory is incredible: he repeats from far back what he has said extempore, and does not slip by a single word. Ep. 2.3.4Ad tantam studiō et exercitātiōne pervēnit pervenit;He has reached so great a facility through study and practice; Ep. 2.3.4nam diēbus et noctibus nihil aliud agit nihil audit nihil loquitur.for day and night he does nothing else, hears nothing else, talks of nothing else. Ep. 2.3.5Annum sexāgēnsimum excessit et adhūc scholasticus tantum est: quō genere hominum nihil aut sincērius aut simplicius aut melius.He has passed his sixtieth year and is still only a man of the schools: and no class of men is more sincere, more simple or better.
Ep. 2.3.5Nōs enim, quī in forō vērīsque lītibus terimur, multum malitiae quamvīs nōlīmus addiscimus: schola et audītōrium et ficta causa rēs inermis innoxia est, nec minus fēlīx, senibus praesertim.For we who are worn down in the forum and in real lawsuits learn a good deal of malice, however unwillingly: the school, the lecture hall and the fictitious case are a thing unarmed and harmless, and no less happy, especially for old men. Ep. 2.3.6Nam quid in senectūte fēlīcius, quam quod dulcissimum est in iuventā?For what in old age is happier than what is sweetest in youth? Ep. 2.3.7Quārē ego Isaeum nōn disertissimum tantum, vērum etiam beātissimum iūdicō.So I judge Isaeus not only most eloquent but also most fortunate. Ep. 2.3.7Quem tū nisi cognōscere concupīscis, saxeus ferreusque es.If you do not long to make his acquaintance, you are made of stone and iron. Ep. 2.3.8Proinde sī nōn ob alia nōsque ipsōs, at certē ut hunc audiās venī.So, if not for other reasons and for my own sake, then certainly come in order to hear him. Ep. 2.3.8Numquamnē lēgistī, Gāditānum quendam Titī Līvī nōmine glōriāque commōtum ad vīsendum eum ab ultimō terrārum orbe vēnisse, statimque ut vīderat abīsse?Have you never read that a certain man of Gades, stirred by the name and glory of Titus Livius, came from the farthest edge of the world to see him, and as soon as he had seen him went away?
Ep. 2.3.8illitterātum iners ac paene etiam turpe est nōn, putāre tantī cognitiōnem quā nūlla est iūcundior nūlla, pulchrior nūlla, dēnique hūmānior humanior.It is tasteless, unlettered, indolent and even almost shameful not to think it worth so much to know a man, when no knowledge is more delightful, none finer, none, in short, more humane. Ep. 2.3.9Dīcēs: "Habeō hīc quōs legam nōn minus disertōs."You will say: 'I have writers here to read who are no less eloquent.' Ep. 2.3.9Etiam;Granted; Ep. 2.3.9sed legendī semper occāsiō est, audiendī nōn semper.but there is always an opportunity to read, not always to hear. Ep. 2.3.9Praetereā multō magis, ut vulgō dīcitur, vīva vōx afficit.Besides, as the common saying goes, the living voice moves us far more. Ep. 2.3.9Nam licet ācriōra sint quae legās, altius tamen in animō sedent, quae prōnūntiātiō vultus habitus gestus etiam dīcentis affīgit;For although what you read may be sharper, yet what the speaker's delivery, face, bearing and even gesture fix in the mind sits deeper there; Ep. 2.3.10nisi vērō falsum putāmus illud Aeschinis, quī cum lēgisset Rhodiīs ōrātiōnem Dēmosthenis admīrantibus cūnctīs, adiēcisse fertur: et erat, Aeschinēs sī Dēmosthenī crēdimus ἠκούσατε et erat Aeschines si Demostheni credimus λαμπροφωνότατος.unless indeed we think false that story of Aeschines, who, when he had read a speech of Demosthenes to the Rhodians and all admired it, is said to have added: 'And what if you had heard the beast himself?' And Aeschines, if we believe Demosthenes, had a most splendid voice.
Ep. 2.3.10Fatēbātur tamen longē melius eadem illa prōnūntiāsse ipsum quī pepererat.Yet he admitted that those same words had been delivered far better by the man himself who had given them birth. Ep. 2.3.11Quae omnia hūc tendunt, ut audiās Isaeum, vel ideō tantum ut audierīs.All this tends to one end, that you should hear Isaeus, even if only so that you may have heard him. Ep. 2.3.11Valē.Farewell.