eface to his
translation of the Orations of Demosthenes and Aeschines de Corona; the
translations themselves have not come down to us.

I. There are said to be classes of orators as there are of poets. But
it is not so; for of poets there are a great many divisions; for of
tragic, comic, epic, lyric, and also of dithyrambic poetry, which has
been more cultivated by the Latins, each kind is very different from
the rest. Therefore in tragedy anything comic is a defect, and in
comedy anything tragic is out of place. And in the other kinds of
poetry each has its own appropriate note, and a tone well known to
those who understand the subject. But if any one were to enumerate
many classes of orators, describing some as grand, and dignified,
and copious, others as thin, or subtle, or concise, and others as
something between the two and in the middle as it were, he would be
saying something of the men, but very little of the matter. For as to
the matter, we seek to know what is the best; but as to the man, we
state what is the real case. Therefore if any one likes, he has a
right to call Ennius a consummate epic poet, and Pacuvius an excellent
tragic poet, and Caecilius perhaps a perfect comic poet. But I do not
divide the orator as to class in this way. For I am seeking a perfect
one. And of perfection there is only one kind; and those who fall
short of it do not differ in kind, as Attius does from Terentius; but
they are of the same kind, only of unequal merit. For he is the best
orator who by speaking both teaches, and delights, and moves the
minds of his hearers. To teach them is his duty, to delight them is
creditable to him, to move them is indispensable. It must be granted
that one person succeeds better in this than another; but that is not
a difference of kind but of degree. Perfection is one thing; that
is next to it which is most like it; from which consideration it is
evident that that which is most unlike perfection is the worst.

II. For, since eloquence consists of words and sentences, we must
endeavour, by speaking in a pure and correct manner, that is to say in
good Latin, to attain an elegance of expression with words appropriate
and metaphorical. As to the appropriate words, selecting those which
are most suitable; and when indulging in metaphor, studying to
preserve a proper resemblance, and to be modest in our use of foreign
terms. But of sentences, there are as many different kinds as I
have said there a