Antony with insanity, writing rather to make men stare, than to be
understood; and by way of sarcasm upon his depraved and fickle taste in
the choice of words, he writes to him thus: "And are you yet in doubt,
whether Cimber Annius or Veranius Flaccus be more proper for your
imitation? Whether you will adopt words which Sallustius Crispus has
borrowed from the 'Origines' of Cato? Or do you think that the verbose
empty bombast of Asiatic orators is fit to be transfused into (134) our
language?" And in a letter where he commends the talent of his
grand-daughter, Agrippina, he says, "But you must be particularly careful,
both in writing and speaking, to avoid affectation."

LXXXVII. In ordinary conversation, he made use of several peculiar
expressions, as appears from letters in his own hand-writing; in which,
now and then, when he means to intimate that some persons would never pay
their debts, he says, "They will pay at the Greek Calends." And when he
advised patience in the present posture of affairs, he would say, "Let us
be content with our Cato." To describe anything in haste, he said, "It
was sooner done than asparagus is cooked." He constantly puts baceolus
for stultus, pullejaceus for pullus, vacerrosus for cerritus, vapide se
habere for male, and betizare for languere, which is commonly called
lachanizare. Likewise simus for sumus, domos for domus in the genitive
singular [238]. With respect to the last two peculiarities, lest any
person should imagine that they were only slips of his pen, and not
customary with him, he never varies. I have likewise remarked this
singularity in his hand-writing; he never divides his words, so as to
carry the letters which cannot be inserted at the end of a line to the
next, but puts them below the other, enclosed by a bracket.

LXXXVIII. He did not adhere strictly to orthography as laid down by the
grammarians, but seems to have been of the opinion of those who think,
that we ought to write as we speak; for as to his changing and omitting
not only letters but whole syllables, it is a vulgar mistake. Nor should
I have taken notice of it, but that it appears strange to me, that any
person should have told us, that he sent a successor to a consular
lieutenant of a province, as an ignorant, illiterate fellow, upon his
observing that he had written ixi for ipsi. When he had occasion to
write in cypher, he put b for a, c for b, and so forth; and instead
of z, aa.

LXXX