Ep. 5.8.1Suādēs ut historiam scrībam, et suādēs nōn sōlus: multī hoc mē saepe monuērunt et ego volō, nōn quia commodē factūrum esse cōnfīdam - id enim temerē crēdās nisi expertus -, sed quia mihi pulchrum in prīmīs vidētur nōn patī occīdere, quibus aeternitās dēbeātur, aliōrumque fāmam cum suā extendere.You urge me to write history, and you are not alone in urging it: many have often advised me to do so and I am willing, not because I am confident that I shall do it well — for you would be rash to believe that without trying — but because it seems to me a particularly fine thing not to let those die to whom eternity is owed, and to extend the fame of others along with one's own. Ep. 5.8.2Mē autem nihil aequē ac diūturnitātis amor et cupīdō sollicitat, rēs homine dignissima, eō praesertim quī nūllīus sibi cōnscius culpae posteritātis memoriam nōn refōrmīdet.Nothing stirs me so much as the love and desire of lasting fame, a thing most worthy of a man, especially of one who, conscious of no fault in himself, does not dread the memory of posterity.
Ep. 5.8.3Itaque diēbus ac noctibus cōgitō, sī "quā mē quoque possim tollere humō";And so day and night I think whether 'I too may somehow rise from the ground'; Ep. 5.8.3id enim vōtō meō sufficit, illud suprā vōtum "victorque virum volitāre per ōra";for that is enough for my prayer; beyond my prayer is 'to fly victorious on the lips of men'; Ep. 5.8.3"quamquam ō-": sed hoc satis est, quod prope sōla historia pollicērī vidētur.'and yet, oh—': but this is enough, which history alone seems almost to promise. Ep. 5.8.4Ōrātiōnī enim et carminī parva grātia, nisi ēloquentia est summa: historia quōquō modō scrīpta dēlectat.For oratory and poetry win little favour unless their eloquence is of the highest: history, however it is written, gives pleasure. Ep. 5.8.4Sunt enim hominēs nātūrā cūriōsī, et quamlibet nūdā rērum cognitiōne capiuntur, ut quī sermunculīs etiam fābellīsque dūcantur.For men are inquisitive by nature, and are captivated by knowledge of facts, however bare, as people who are drawn even by gossip and little tales. Ep. 5.8.4Mē vērō ad hoc studium impellit domesticum quoque exemplum.I am also driven to this pursuit by an example in my own family.
Ep. 5.8.5Avunculus meus īdemque per adoptiōnem pater historiās et quidem religiōsissime scrīpsit.My uncle, who was also my father by adoption, wrote histories, and most scrupulously. Ep. 5.8.5Inveniō autem apud sapientēs honestissimum esse maiōrum vestīgia sequī, sī modo rēctō itinere praecesserint.And I find in the wise that it is most honourable to follow in the footsteps of one's forebears, provided they have gone ahead on the right path. Ep. 5.8.5Cūr ergō cūnctor?Why then do I hesitate? Ep. 5.8.6Ēgī magnās et gravēs causās.I have pleaded great and weighty cases. Ep. 5.8.6Hās, etiamsī mihi tenuis ex iīs spēs, dēstinō retractāre, nē tantus ille labor meus, nisi hoc quod reliquum est studiī addiderō, mēcum pariter intercīdat.These, even though I have slender hopes from them, I intend to revise, so that all that labour of mine may not perish together with me, unless I add this remaining effort to it. Ep. 5.8.7Nam sī ratiōnem posteritātis habeās, quidquid nōn est perāctum, prō nōn incohātō est.For if you take posterity into account, whatever has not been completed counts as not begun. Ep. 5.8.7Dīcēs: "Potes simul et rescrībere āctiōnēs et compōnere historiam."You will say: 'You can both rewrite your speeches and compose a history at the same time.' Ep. 5.8.7Utinam!If only I could!
Ep. 5.8.7sed utrumque tam magnum est, ut abundē sit alterum efficere.but each is so great a task that it is more than enough to accomplish one. Ep. 5.8.8Ūnodēvīcēnsimō aetātis annō dīcere in forō coepī, et nunc dēmum quid praestāre dēbeat ōrātor, adhūc tamen per cālīginem videō.I began to speak in the forum in my nineteenth year, and only now do I see, though still as if through a mist, what an orator ought to achieve. Ep. 5.8.9Quid sī huic onerī novum accesserit?What if a new burden were added to this one? Ep. 5.8.9Habet quidem ōrātiō et historia multa commūnia, sed plūra dīversa in hīs ipsīs, quae commūnia videntur.Oratory and history certainly have much in common, but more differences in the very things that seem common. Ep. 5.8.9Narrat illa narrat haec, sed aliter: huic plēraque humilia et sordida et ex mediō petītā, illī omnia recondita splendida excelsa conveniunt;Both narrate, but differently: to oratory belong for the most part humble and mean things taken from everyday life, to history everything recondite, splendid and lofty; Ep. 5.8.10hanc saepius ossa mūsculī nervī, illam torī quīdam et quasi iubae decent;oratory is more often suited by bones, muscles and sinews, history by a certain brawn and, as it were, a mane; Ep. 5.8.10haec vel maximē vī amāritūdine īnstantiā, illa tractū et suāvitāte atque etiam dulcēdine placet;oratory pleases above all by force, bitterness and urgency, history by its flow and charm and even sweetness; Ep. 5.8.10postrēmō alia verba alius sonus alia cōnstrūctiō.finally, the vocabulary is different, the rhythm different, the construction different.
Ep. 5.8.11Nam plūrimum rēfert, ut Thūcȳdidēs ait, sit an an ἀγώνισμα;For it makes a great difference, as Thucydides says, whether a thing is a possession for ever or a showpiece for the moment; Ep. 5.8.11quōrum alterum ōrātiō, alterum historia est.of these, the latter is oratory, the former history. Ep. 5.8.11Hīs ex causīs nōn addūcor ut duo dissimilia et hōc ipsō dīversa, quō maxima, cōnfundam misceamque, nē tantā quasi colluviōne turbātus ibi faciam quod hīc dēbeō;For these reasons I am not induced to confuse and mix two dissimilar things, different precisely in that each is of the greatest importance, for fear that, confused by such a mixture, as it were, I may do in the one what I ought to do in the other; Ep. 5.8.11ideōque interim veniam, ut nē ā meīs verbīs recēdam, advocandī petō.and therefore, for the time being, I ask leave — not to depart from my own idiom — to adjourn. Ep. 5.8.12Tū tamen iam nunc cōgitā quae potissimum tempora aggrediar.But you, even now, think about which period I should best tackle.
Ep. 5.8.12Vetera et scrīpta aliīs?Ancient times, already written about by others? Ep. 5.8.12Parāta inquīsītiō, sed onerōsa collātiō.The research is ready to hand, but the comparison is burdensome. Ep. 5.8.12Intācta et nova?Untouched and recent times? Ep. 5.8.12Gravēs offēnsae levis grātia.Heavy offence and light thanks. Ep. 5.8.13Nam praeter id, quod in tantīs vitiīs hominum plūra culpanda sunt quam laudanda, tum sī laudāverīs parcus, sī culpāverīs nimius fuisse dīcāris, quamvīs illud plēnissimē, hoc restrictissimē fēcerīs.For besides the fact that, given men's great vices, more things are to be blamed than praised, if you praise you will be called stingy, if you blame, excessive, even though you have done the former most fully and the latter most sparingly. Ep. 5.8.14Sed haec mē nōn retardant;But these things do not hold me back; Ep. 5.8.14est enim mihi prō fidē satis animī: illud petō praesternās ad quod hortāris, ēligāsque māteriam, nē mihi iam scrībere parātō alia rūrsus cūnctātiōnis et morae iūsta ratiō nāscātur.for I have courage enough for honesty: what I ask is that you prepare the ground for what you urge, and choose the subject, so that, when I am ready to write, no other just reason for hesitation and delay may arise again.
Ep. 5.8.14Valē.Farewell.