Ep. 40.1Quod frequenter mihi scrībis, grātiās agō.I thank you for writing to me often. Ep. 40.1Nam quō ūnō modō potes, tē mihi ostendis.For you show yourself to me in the only way you can. Ep. 40.1Numquam epistulam tuam accipiō, ut nōn prōtinus ūnā sīmus.I never receive a letter from you without our being together at once. Ep. 40.1Sī imāginēs nōbīs amīcōrum absentium iūcundae sunt, quae memoriam renovant et dēsīderium falsō atque inānī sōlāciō levant, quantō iūcundiōrēs sunt litterae, quae vēra amīcī absentis vestīgia, vērās notās adferunt?If pictures of absent friends are pleasing to us, which renew the memory and lighten our longing with a false and empty comfort, how much more pleasing is a letter, which brings the real traces of an absent friend, his real marks? Ep. 40.1Nam quod in cōnspectū dulcissimum est, id amīcī manus epistulae inpressa praestat, agnōscere.For what is sweetest in his presence, to recognise him, the hand of a friend imprinted on a letter supplies. Ep. 40.2Audīsse tē scrībis Serāpiōnem philosophum, cum istūc adplicuisset: "Solet magnō cursū verba convellere, quae nōn effundit ūnā, sed premit et urguet.You write that you heard the philosopher Serapion when he put in at your shore: 'He tends to wrench out his words at a great rush, and does not pour them out one at a time, but crowds and drives them on.
Ep. 40.2Plūra enim veniunt quam quibus vōx ūna sufficiat."For more come than a single voice can cope with.' Ep. 40.2Hoc nōn probō in philosophō, cuius prōnūntiātiō quoque, sīcut vīta, dēbet esse conpositā;I do not approve of this in a philosopher, whose delivery, like his life, ought to be composed; Ep. 40.2nihil autem ōrdinātum est, quod praecipitātur et properat.and nothing is orderly that is headlong and hurried. Ep. 40.2Itaque ōrātiō illa apud Homērum concitāta et sine intermissiōne in mōrem nivis superveniēns iuveniōrī ōrātōrī data est, lēnis et melle dulcior senī prōfluit.So in Homer that rapid speech, coming on without a break like snow, is given to the younger orator, while from the old man gentle speech flows, sweeter than honey. Ep. 40.3Sīc itaque habē, istam vim dīcendī rapidam atque abundantem aptiōrem esse circulantī quam agentī rem magnam ac sēriam docentīque.So take it like this: that rapid and abundant force of speaking is better suited to a street-performer than to one who is pleading a great and serious matter and teaching it. Ep. 40.3Aequē stillāre illum nōlō quam currere;I do not want him to drip any more than to run; Ep. 40.3nec extendat aurēs nec obruat.let him neither strain the ears nor overwhelm them.
Ep. 40.3Nam illa quoque inopia et exīlitās minus intentum audītōrem habet taediō interruptae tarditātis, facilius tamen īnsīdit, quod exspectātur, quam quod praetervolat.For that poverty and thinness too keeps the listener less attentive, through weariness at its halting slowness; yet what is waited for sinks in more easily than what flies past. Ep. 40.3Dēnique trādere hominēs discipulīs praecepta dīcuntur;Lastly, men are said to 'hand down' precepts to their pupils; Ep. 40.3nōn trāditur quod fugit.what runs away is not handed down. Ep. 40.4Adice nunc, quod quae vēritātī operam dat ōrātiō, inconposita esse dēbet et simplex.Add now that speech which devotes itself to truth ought to be unstudied and simple. Ep. 40.4Haec populāris nihil habet vērī;This popular speech has nothing of truth in it; Ep. 40.4movēre vult turbam et incōnsultās aurēs inpetū rapere, trāctandam sē nōn praebet, aufertur.it wants to move the crowd and sweep away unthinking ears by its rush; it does not offer itself to be examined, it is carried away. Ep. 40.4Quōmodo autem regere potest, quae regī nōn potest?And how can it govern that cannot itself be governed? Ep. 40.4Quid, quod haec ōrātiō, quae sānandīs mentibus adhibētur, dēscendere in nōs dēbet?What of the fact that this speech, which is applied to healing minds, ought to sink down into us?
Ep. 40.4Remedia nōn prōsunt, nisi inmorantur.Remedies do no good unless they linger. Ep. 40.5Multum praetereā habet inānitātis et vānī, plūs sonat quam valet.Besides, it has much emptiness and vanity in it; it has more sound than strength. Ep. 40.5Lēnienda sunt, quae mē exterrent, conpescenda, quae inrītant, discutienda, quae fallunt, inhibenda luxuria, corripienda avāritia;What terrifies me must be soothed, what provokes me must be checked, what deceives me must be dispelled, luxury must be restrained, greed rebuked; Ep. 40.5quid hōrum raptim potest fierī?which of these can be done in a hurry? Ep. 40.5Quis medicus aegrōs in trānsitū cūrat?What doctor treats the sick in passing? Ep. 40.5Quid, quod nē voluptātem quidem ūllam habet tālis verbōrum sine dīlēctū ruentium strepitus?What of the fact that such a din of words rushing out without selection does not even give any pleasure? Ep. 40.6Sed ut plēraque, quae fierī posse nōn crēderēs, cognōvisse satis est, ita istōs, quī verba exercuērunt, abundē est semel audīsse.But just as for most things you would not have believed possible it is enough to have come to know them, so it is more than enough to have heard once those who have put words through their paces.
Ep. 40.6Quid enim quis discere, quid imitārī velit?For what would anyone wish to learn from them, what to imitate? Ep. 40.6Quid dē eōrum animō iūdicet, quōrum ōrātiō perturbāta et inmissa est nec potest reprimī?What should he judge of the minds of those whose speech is disordered and unchecked and cannot be held back? Ep. 40.7Quemadmodum per prōclīve currentium nōn ubi vīsum est, gradus sistitur, sed inrītātō corporis pondere sē rapit ac longius quam voluit effertur;Just as, with people running down a slope, their step is not halted where they decided, but, once the weight of the body is set going, it hurries along of itself and is carried further than they wished; Ep. 40.7sīc ista dīcendī celeritās nec in suā potestāte est nec satis decōra philosophiae, quae pōnere dēbet verba, nōn prōicere, et pedetemptim prōcēdere.so that speed in speaking is neither under its own control nor sufficiently becoming to philosophy, which ought to place its words, not fling them, and to proceed step by step. Ep. 40.8"Quid ergō?'What then? Ep. 40.8Nōn aliquandō et īnsurget?"Will it not sometimes rise up too?' Ep. 40.8Quidnī?Why not?
Ep. 40.8Sed salvā dignitāte mōrum, quam violenta ista et nimia vīs exuit.But with the dignity of character kept intact, which that violent and excessive force strips away. Ep. 40.8Habeat vīrēs magnās, moderātās tamen;Let it have great strength, but controlled; Ep. 40.8perennis sit unda, nōn torrēns.let it be a perennial stream, not a torrent. Ep. 40.8Vix ōrātōrī permīserim tālem dīcendī vēlōcitātem inrevocābilem ac sine lēge vādentem.I would scarcely allow even an orator such speed of speaking, which cannot be called back and goes on without law. Ep. 40.8Quemadmodum enim iūdex subsequī poterit aliquandō etiam inperītus et rudis?For how will a juror be able to follow, who is sometimes even inexperienced and untrained? Ep. 40.8Tum quoque, cum illum aut ostentātiō abstulerit aut affectus inpotēns suī, tantum festīnet atque ingerat, quantum aurēs patī possunt.Even when ostentation or uncontrollable feeling has carried the orator away, let him hurry and pile on only as much as the ears can bear. Ep. 40.9Rēctē ergō faciēs, sī nōn vīderis istōs, quī quantum dīcant, nōn quemadmodum quaerunt, et ipse mālueris, sī necesse est, ut P. Vinicius dīcere, quī titubat.You will act rightly, then, if you do not listen to those who ask how much they say, not how, and if you yourself prefer, if it must be, to speak as Publius Vinicius did, the stammerer.
Ep. 40.9Cum quaererētur, quōmodo P. Vinicius dīceret, Asellius ait: "Tractim."When someone asked how Publius Vinicius spoke, Asellius said: 'In a drawl.' Ep. 40.9Nam Geminus Varius ait: "Quōmodo istum disertum dīcātis nesciō;For Geminus Varius said: 'How you can call that man eloquent I do not know; Ep. 40.9tria verba nōn potest iungere."he cannot string three words together.' Ep. 40.9Quidnī mālīs tū sīc dīcere, quōmodo Vinicius?Why should you not prefer to speak as Vinicius did? Ep. 40.10Aliquis tam īnsulsus intervēnerit quam quī illī singula verba vellentī, tamquam dictāret, nōn dīceret, ait: "Dīc, numquid dīcās."Someone as tasteless may come along as the man who, when Vinicius was plucking out his words one by one, as if he were dictating rather than speaking, said: 'Speak up, have you anything to say?' Ep. 40.10Nam Q. Haterī cursum, suīs temporibus ōrātōris celeberrimī, longē abesse ab homine sānō volō;For the rush of Quintus Haterius, the most celebrated orator of his day, I want to be far removed from a sane man; Ep. 40.10numquam dubitāvit, numquam intermīsit;he never hesitated, never paused; Ep. 40.10semel incipiēbat, semel dēsinēbat.he began only once, he stopped only once.
Ep. 40.11Quaedam tamen et nātiōnibus putō magis aut minus convenīre;Yet I think certain things are also more or less suited to different nations; Ep. 40.11in Graecīs hanc licentiam tulerīs;in the Greeks you could put up with this licence; Ep. 40.11nōs etiam cum scrībimus, interpungere adsuēvimus.we, even when we write, have grown used to punctuating. Ep. 40.11Cicerō quoque noster, ā quō Rōmāna ēloquentia exiluit, gradārius fuit.Our own Cicero too, from whom Roman eloquence sprang forth, was a slow pacer. Ep. 40.11Rōmānus sermō magis sē circumspicit et aestimat praebetque aestimandum.Roman speech looks about itself more, weighs itself, and offers itself to be weighed. Ep. 40.12Fabiānus, vir ēgregius et vītā et scientiā et, quod post ista est, ēloquentiā quoque, disputābat expedītē magis quam concitātē, ut possēs dīcere facilitātem esse illam, nōn celeritātem.Fabianus, a man outstanding in his life and his learning and, what comes after these, in his eloquence too, used to discourse briskly rather than excitedly, so that you could say it was ease, not speed. Ep. 40.12Hanc ego in virō sapiente recipiō, nōn exigō;This I accept in a wise man, but I do not demand it; Ep. 40.12ut ōrātiō eius sine impedīmentō exeat, prōferātur tamen mālō quam prōfluat.though his speech may come out without hindrance, I prefer that it be brought forth rather than that it flow forth.
Ep. 40.13Eō autem magis tē dēterreō ab istō morbō, quod nōn potest tibi ista rēs contingere aliter quam sī tē pudēre dēsierit;And I deter you from this disease all the more because this thing cannot happen to you unless you have ceased to feel shame; Ep. 40.13perfricēs frontem oportet et tē ipse nōn audiās.you would have to rub away your blushes and not listen to yourself. Ep. 40.13Multa enim inobservātus ille cursus feret, quae reprehendere velīs.For that unheeding rush will bring many things which you would wish to criticise. Ep. 40.14Nōn potest, inquam, tibi contingere rēs ista salvā verēcundiā.That thing, I say, cannot happen to you while your modesty remains intact. Ep. 40.14Praetereā exercitātiōne opus est cōtīdiānā et ā rēbus studium trānsferendum est ad verba.Besides, there is need of daily practice, and your attention must be transferred from matter to words. Ep. 40.14Haec autem etiam sī aderunt et poterunt sine ūllō tuō labōre dēcurrere, tamen temperanda sunt.And even if words are at hand and can run on without any effort of yours, still they must be moderated. Ep. 40.14Nam quemadmodum sapientī virō incessus modestior convenit, ita ōrātiō pressa, nōn audāx.For just as a more modest gait befits a wise man, so does restrained speech, not bold.
Ep. 40.14Summa ergō summārum haec erit: tardilocum esse tē iubeō.So the sum of sums will be this: I bid you be slow of speech. Ep. 40.14Valē.Farewell.