Nor again do
even reputation and fame, the only ob-
ject of their devotion,
the sole reward of their labours, by their own confession, cling to the poet
as much as to the orator; for indifferent poets are known to none, and the
good but to a few. When does the rumour of the very choicest readings
penetrate every part of
Rome, much less is talked of
throughout our numerous provinces? How few, when they visit the capital from
Spain or
Asia, to say
nothing of our Gallic neighbours, ask after Saleius Bassus! And indeed, if
any one does ask after him, having once seen him, he passes on, and is
satisfied, as if he had seen a picture or a statue. I do not wish my remarks
to be taken as implying that I would deter from poetry those to whom nature
has denied the orator's talent, if only they can amuse their leisure and
push themselves into fame by this branch of culture. For my part I hold all
eloquence in its every variety something sacred and venerable, and I regard
as preferable to all studies of other arts not merely your tragedian's
buskin or the measures of heroic verse, but even the sweetness of the lyric
ode, the playfulness of the elegy, the satire of the iambic, the wit of the
epigram, and indeed any other form of eloquence. But it is with you,
Maternus, that I am dealing; for, when your genius might carry you to the
summit of eloquence, you prefer to wander from the path, and though sure to
win the highest prize you stop short at meaner things. Just as, if you had
been born in
Greece, where it is an honour to
practise even the arts of the arena, and if the gods had given you the
vigour and strength of Nicostratus, I should not suffer those giant arms
meant by nature for combat to waste themselves on the light javelin or the
throwing of the quoit, so now I summon you from the lecture-room and the
theatre to the law court with its pleadings and its real battles. I do this
the more because you cannot even fall back on the refuge which shelters
many, the plea that the poet's pursuit is less liable to give offence than
that of the orator. In truth, with you the ardour of a peculiarly noble
nature bursts forth, and the offence you give is not for the sake of a
friend, but, what is more dangerous, for the sake of
Cato. Nor is this
offending excused by the obligation of duty, or by the fidelity of an
advocate, or by the impulse of a casual and sudden speech.
MORE SUBSTANTIAL THAN POET'S |
You have, it seems, prepared
your part in having chosen a character of note who would speak with
authority. I foresee your possible answer. Hence, you will say, came the
decisive approval; this is the style which the lecture-room chiefly praises,
and which next becomes the world's talk. Away then with the excuse of quiet
and safety, when you are deliberately choosing a more doughty adversary. For
myself, let it be enough to take a side in the private disputes of our own
time. In these, if at any time necessity has compelled us on behalf of an
imperilled friend to offend the ears of the powerful, our loyalty must be
approved, our liberty of speech condoned.