Spring 2000: Week 2

DE PARTITIONE ORATORIA
M. TULLI CICERONI

II. C.F. Quoniam igitur invenire primum est oratoris, quid quaeret? C.P. Ut inveniat quemadmodum fidem faciat eis quibus volet persuadere et quemadmodum motum eorum animis afferat.
C.F. Quibus rebus fides fit?
C.P. Argumentis, quae ducuntur ex locis aut in re ipsa insitis aut assumptis.
C.F. Quos vocas locos?
C.P. Eos in quibus latent argumenta.
C.F. Quomodo igitur duo genera ista dividis?
C.P. Quae sine arte putantur, ea remota appello, ut testimonia.
C.F. Quid insita?
C.P. Quae inhaerent in ipsa re.
C.F. Testimoniorum quae sunt genera?
C.P. Divinum et humanum: divinum, ut oracula, ut auspicia, ut vaticinationes, ut responsa sacerdotum, haruspicum, coniectorum, humanum, quod spectatur ex auctoritate et ex voluntate et ex oratione aut libera aut expressa: in quo insunt scripta, pacta, promissa, iurata, quaesita.

II. 5. C.F. Inasmuch then as the first of the speaker’s functions is to invent, what will be his aim?
C.P. To discover how to convince the persons whom he wishes to persuade and how to arouse their emotions.
C.F. What things serve to produce conviction?
C.P. Arguments, which are derived from topics that are either contained in the facts of the case itself or are obtained from outside.
C.F. What do you mean by topics?
C.P. Pigeonholes in which arguments are stored.
6. C.F. How then do you distinguish between the two kinds of arguments you speak of?
C.P. Arguments thought of without using a system I term arguments from outside, for instance the evidence of witnesses.
C.F. What do you mean by internal arguments?
C.P. Those inherent in the actual facts of the case.
C.F. What kinds of evidence are there?
C.P. Divine and human. Divine evidence is for instance oracles, auspices, prophecies, the answers of priests and augurs and diviners; human evidence is what is viewed in the light of authority and inclination and things said either freely or under compulsion–the evidence that includes written documents, pledges, promises, statements made on oath or under examination.

C.F. Quid sequitur igitur?
C.P. Cum inveneris, collocare: cuius in infinita quaestione ordo est idem fere quem exposui locorum; in definita autem adhibenda sunt illa etiam quae ad motus animorum pertinent.
C.F. Quomodo igitur ista explicas?
C.P. Habeo communia praecepta fidem faciendi et commovendi. Quoniam fides est firma opinio, motus autem animi incitatio aut ad voluptatem aut ad molestiam aut ad metum aut ad cupiditatem (tot enim sunt motus genera, partes plures generum singulorum), omnem collocationem ad finem accommodo quaestionis. Nam est in proposito finis fides, in causa et fides et motus. Quare cum de causa dixero, in qua est propositum, de utroque dixero.

9. C.F. What is the next step then?
C.P. Having found your arguments, to put them together; and in an unlimited inquiry the order of arrangement is almost the same as that in the arrangement of topics which I have explained; but in a limited inquiry we must also employ the means designed to excite the emotions.
C.F. How then do you explain these?
C.P. I have a set of instructions adapted both for producing conviction and for exciting emotion. As a conviction is a firmly established opinion, while emotion is the excitement of the mind to either pleasure or annoyance or fear or desire–for there are all these kinds of emotion and each kind has several divisions–, I adapt the whole method of arrangement to the purpose of the inquiry; for the purpose of the statement is to convince, and that of the case is both to convince and to excite emotion. Consequently when I have dealt with the case, which contains the statement, I shall have spoken of them both.

C.F. Expone deinceps quae ipsius orationis verborumque praecepta sint.
C.P. Unum igitur genus est eloquendi sua sponte fusum, alterum conversum atque mutatum. Prima vis est in simplicibus verbis, in coniunctis secunda. Simplicia invenienda sunt, coniuncta collocanda. Et simplicia verba partim nativa sunt, partim reperta: nativa ea quae significata sunt sensu, reperta quae ex his facta sunt et novata aut similitudine aut imitatione aut inflexione aut adiunctione verborum.
VI. C.F. Habeo de simplicibus verbis: nunc de coniunctione quaero.
C.P. Numeri quidam sunt in coniunctione servandi, consecutioque verborum. Numeros aures ipsae metiuntur, ...; consecutio autem, ne generibus, numeris, temporibus, personis, casibus perturbetur oratio. Nam ut in simplicibus verbis quod non est Latinum, sic in coniunctis quod non est consequens vituperandum est. Communia autem simplicium coniunctorumque sunt haec quinque quasi lumina, dilucidum, breve, probabile, illustre, suave.

16. C.F. Next expound the rules applying to the speech itself and to its style of diction.
C.P. There is one kind of oratory that flows on spontaneously, and another that inverts and modifies. The first resource consists in single words, and the second in combinations of words. Single words require discovering, combination calls for arrangement. Also single words are some of them natural and some invented. Natural words are ones that are indicated by the meaning; invented words are made out of the former, and are coined either by similarity or imitation or modification or combination of words.
VI. 18. C.F. Well, I understand about single words, so now I want to be told about combinations of words.
C.P. In combining words the things that have to be observed are certain rhythms, and sequence. Rhythms are judged by the ear itself,...; while sequence guards the style against irregularity of gender, number, tense, person or case. For neglect of sequence in combinations of words is just as much to be censured as bad Latinity in single words. But the following five ornaments belong in common both to single words and to combinations of words: lucidity, brevity, acceptability, brilliance, charm.

VII...C.F. Actio igitur sequitur, ut opinor.
C.P. Est ita: quae quidem oratori et cum rerum et cum verborum momentis commutanda maxime est. Facit enim et dilucidam orationem et illustrem et probabilem et suavem non verbis sed varietate vocum, motu corporis, vultu, quae plurimum valebunt si cum orationis genere consentient eiusque vim ac varietatem subsequentur.
C.F. Num quidnam de oratore ipso restat?
C.P. Nihil sane praeter memoriam, quae est gemina litteraturae quodammodo et in dissimili genere persimilis. Nam ut illa constat ex notis litterarum et ex eo in quo imprimuntur illae notae, sic confectio memoriae tamquam cera locis utitur et in his imagines ut litteras collocat.

VII...25. C.F. Well then, the next topic, I suppose, is delivery.
C.P. Yes; and it is most important for the speaker to modify his delivery in correspondence with the variations of his matter and also of his language. For he invests his speech with lucidity, brilliance, convincingness and charm not by his language but by changes of voice, by gestures and by glances, which will be most efficacious if they harmonize with the class of speech and conform to its effect and its variety.
26. C.F. Have you anything else remaining to mention in relation to the speaker himself?
C.P. Well, nothing except memory, which is in a manner the twin sister of written script, and is very similar to it in a dissimilar field. For just as script consists of marks indicating letters and of the material on which those marks are imprinted, so the structure of memory, like a wax tablet, employs ‘topics,’ and in these stores images whic correspond to the letters in written script.