Brutus, or On Eminent Orators Passage 161

ita prorsus, inquit Brutus; sed ne de Scaevolae quidem tribunatu quicquam audivisse videor et eum conlegam Crassi credo fuisse. Omnibus quidem aliis, inquam, in magistratibus, sed tribunus anno post fuit eoque in Rostris sedente suasit Serviliam legem Crassus; nam censuram sine Scaevola gessit: eum enim magistratum nemo umquam Scaevolarum petivit. Sed haec Crassi cum edita oratio est, quam te saepe legisse certo scio, quattuor et triginta tum habebat annos totidemque annis mihi aetate praestabat. His enim consulibus eam legem suasit quibus nati sumus, cum ipse esset Q. Caepione consule natus et C. Laelio, triennio ipso minor quam Antonius. Quod idcirco posui ut dicendi Latine prima maturitas in qua aetate exstitisset posset notari et intellegeretur iam ad summum paene esse perductam, ut eo nihil ferme quisquam addere posset, nisi qui a philosophia, a iure civili, ab historia fuisset instructior.

"Exactly so," said Brutus, "but I do not think I have heard anything about Scaevola's tribunate either, and I believe he was Crassus' colleague." "In all the other magistracies, certainly," I said, "but he was tribune a year later, and while he sat upon the Rostra Crassus recommended the Servilian law. Crassus held the censorship without Scaevola, for no member of the Scaevola family ever sought that office. But when this published speech of Crassus, which I know for certain you have often read, was delivered, he was thirty-four years old and was older than I by the same number of years. He recommended that law in the consulship of the men under whom we were born, while he himself was born in the consulship of Quintus Caepio and Gaius Laelius, being exactly three years younger than Antonius. I have set this down so that the age at which Latin eloquence first reached maturity might be noted, and so that it might be understood that it had already been brought almost to its summit, with scarcely anything for anyone to add unless he were better equipped with philosophy, civil law, and history."

«C’est tout à fait vrai, dit Brutus; mais je ne crois pas avoir davantage entendu parler du tribunat de Scaevola, qui fut, je pense, le collègue de Crassus.» «Dans toutes les autres magistratures, répondis-je, mais il fut tribun l’année suivante. Tandis qu’il siégeait aux Rostres, Crassus recommanda la loi Servilia; il exerça toutefois la censure sans Scaevola, car aucun membre de cette famille ne brigua jamais cette magistrature. Lorsque fut prononcé ce discours de Crassus, que tu as souvent lu, j’en suis certain, il avait trente-quatre ans et me dépassait d’autant en âge. Il recommanda en effet cette loi sous les consuls durant le mandat desquels nous sommes nés; lui-même était né sous le consulat de Quintus Caepio et de Caius Laelius, et avait exactement trois ans de moins qu’Antoine. J’ai donné ces indications afin que l’on puisse noter à quel âge apparut la première maturité de l’éloquence latine et comprendre qu’elle avait déjà presque atteint son sommet: presque personne ne pouvait plus rien y ajouter, sinon un homme mieux instruit en philosophie, en droit civil et en histoire.»