20. τὸν καιρὸν ὁρᾶν, ‘to have an eye to (or observe) the rules of good taste,’ is a natural and appropriate expression. The use of θηρατός in [134] 3 is no argument for reading θηρᾶν here, but rather tells against the anticipation of so pronounced a metaphor. Moreover, the middle voice is found in this sense in de Demosth. c. 40 τὴν εὐφωνίαν θηρωμένη καὶ τὴν εὐμέλειαν. With ὁρᾶν cp. de Demosth. c. 49 ἄλλως τε καὶ τοῦ καιροῦ τὰ μέτρα ὁρῶν and de Thucyd. c. 1 τῆς προαιρέσεως οὐχ ἅπαντα κατὰ τὸν ἀκριβέστατον λογισμὸν ὁρώσης (where θηρώσης is given in Usener-Radermacher’s text).
21. Quintil. xi. 1. 1 “parata, sicut superiore libro continetur, facultate scribendi cogitandique et ex tempore etiam, cum res poscet, orandi, proxima est cura, ut dicamus apte; quam virtutem quartam elocutionis Cicero demonstrat, quaeque est meo quidem iudicio maxime necessaria. nam cum sit ornatus orationis varius et multiplex conveniatque alius alii: nisi fuerit accommodatus rebus atque personis, non modo non illustrabit eam sed etiam destruet et vim rerum in contrarium vertet.”
22. τόδε χρόνου: Usener reads τόδε γε (without χρόνου), in view of P’s τὸ λέγειν. But τόδε γε is unusual in this sense, whereas ἔτι καὶ εἰς τόδε χρόνου is found in Antiqq. Rom. i. 16. Cp. i. 38 ibid. καὶ παρὰ Κελτοῖς εἰς τόδε χρόνου γίνεται: also i. 61, 68, iii. 31, vi. 13.
ὁ Λεοντῖνος οὐδὲν ὅ τι καὶ λόγου ἄξιον ἔγραψεν· οὐδ’ ἔχει
φύσιν τὸ πρᾶγμα εἰς καθολικὴν καὶ ἔντεχνόν τινα περίληψιν
πεσεῖν, οὐδ’ ὅλως ἐπιστήμῃ θηρατός ἐστιν ὁ καιρὸς ἀλλὰ
δόξῃ. ταύτην δ’ οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ πολλῶν καὶ πολλάκις γυμνάσαντες
ἄμεινον τῶν ἄλλων εὑρίσκουσιν αὐτόν, οἱ δ’ 5
ἀγύμναστον ἀφέντες σπανιώτερον καὶ ὥσπερ ἀπὸ τύχης.
ἵνα δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων εἴπω, ταῦτ’ οἴομαι χρῆναι
φυλάττειν ἐν τῇ συνθέσει τὸν μέλλοντα διαθήσειν τὴν ἀκοὴν
ἡδέως· ἢ τὰ εὐμελῆ καὶ εὔρυθμα καὶ εὔφωνα ὀνόματα, ὑφ’
ὧν γλυκαίνεταί τε καὶ ἐκμαλάττεται καὶ τὸ ὅλον οἰκείως 10
διατίθεται ἡ αἴσθησις, ταῦτα ἀλλήλοις συναρμόττειν, ἢ τὰ
μὴ τοιαύτην ἔχοντα φύσιν ἐγκαταπλέκειν τε καὶ συνυφαίνειν
τοῖς δυναμένοις αὐτὴν γοητεύειν, ὥστε ὑπὸ τῆς ἐκείνων χάριτος
ἐπισκοτεῖσθαι τὴν τούτων ἀηδίαν· οἷόν τι ποιοῦσιν οἱ
φρόνιμοι στρατηλάται κατὰ τὰς συντάξεις τῶν στρατευμάτων· 15
καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι ἐπικρύπτουσι τοῖς ἰσχυροῖς τὰ ἀσθενῆ, καὶ
γίνεται αὐτοῖς οὐδὲν τῆς δυνάμεως ἄχρηστον. διαναπαύειν
δὲ τὴν ταυτότητά φημι δεῖν μεταβολὰς εὐκαίρους εἰσφέροντα·
καὶ γὰρ ἡ μεταβολὴ παντὸς ἔργου χρῆμα ἡδύ. τελευταῖον
δὲ ὃ δὴ καὶ πάντων κράτιστον, οἰκείαν ἀποδιδόναι τοῖς 20
ὑποκειμένοις καὶ πρέπουσαν ἁρμονίαν. δυσωπεῖσθαι δ’ οὐδὲν
οἴομαι δεῖν οὔτε ὄνομα οὔτε ῥῆμα, ὅ τι καὶ τέτριπται, μὴ
σὺν αἰσχύνῃ λέγεσθαι μέλλον· οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτω ταπεινὸν ἢ
ῥυπαρὸν ἢ ἄλλην τινὰ δυσχέρειαν ἔχον ἔσεσθαί φημι λόγου
μόριον, ᾧ σημαίνεταί τι σῶμα ἢ πρᾶγμα, ὃ μηδεμίαν ἕξει 25
χώραν ἐπιτηδείαν ἐν λόγοις. παρακελεύομαι δὲ τῇ συνθέσει
worth mentioning. The nature of the subject, indeed, is not such that it can fall under any comprehensive and systematic treatment, nor can good taste in general be apprehended by science, but only by personal judgment. Those who have continually trained this latter faculty in many connexions are more successful than others in attaining good taste, while those who leave it untrained are rarely successful, and only by a sort of lucky stroke.
To proceed. I think the following rules should be observed in composition by a writer who looks to please the ear. Either he should link to one another melodious, rhythmical, euphonious words, by which the sense of hearing is touched with a feeling of sweetness and softness,—those which, to put it broadly, come home to it most; or he should intertwine and interweave those which have no such natural effect with those that can so bewitch the ear that the unattractiveness of the one set is overshadowed by the grace of the other. We may compare the practice of good tacticians when marshalling their armies: they mask the weak portions by means of the strong, and so no part of their force proves useless. In the same way I maintain we ought to relieve monotony by the tasteful introduction of variety, since variety is an element of pleasure in everything we do. And last, and certainly most important of all, the setting which is assigned to the subject matter must be appropriate and becoming to it. And, in my opinion, we ought not to feel shy of using any noun or verb, however hackneyed, unless it carries with it some shameful association; for I venture to assert that no part of speech which signifies a person or a thing will prove so mean, squalid, or otherwise offensive as to have no fitting place in discourse. My advice is that, trusting to the
1 οὐδὲν F: οὐδ’ MV: om. P || καὶ F: om. PMV 5 αὐτόν FM: om. PV 6 ἀγύμναστον F, γρ M: ἀνάσκητον PM1V || σπανιωτέρ(αν) P, MV 9 ἢ EFM: om. PV 10 ἐκμαλάττεται F: μαλάττεται PMV 15 συντάξεις FM: τάξ[ει]ς cum litura P, V 16 ἐπικρύπτουσι EF: συγκρύπτουσιν P, MV 17 ἄχρηστον FE: μέρος ἄχρηστον PMV 20 κράτιστον EF: ἐστὶ κράτιστον PMV 21 καὶ πρέπουσαν om. F 22 δεῖν om. F || ὅτι καὶ τέτριπται EF: ὅτ’ (οὔτ’ V) ἐπιτέτραπται PMV 23 μέλλον EF: om. PMV 24 ῥυπαρὸν EF: ῥυπαρὸν ἢ μιαρὸν PV: μιαρὸν M || ἔχον om. F 26 δὲ EF: δὲ ἐν PMV