Brutus, or On Eminent Orators Passage 181

atque ego praeclare intellego me in eorum commemoratione versari qui nec habiti sint oratores neque fuerint , praeteririque a me aliquot ex veteribus commemoratione aut laude dignos. Sed hoc quidem ignoratione; quid enim est superioris aetatis quod scribi possit de eis, de quibus nulla monumenta loquuntur nec aliorum nec ipsorum? de his autem, quos ipsi vidimus, neminem fere praetermittemus [eorum quos aliquando dicentis vidimus ].

I understand perfectly well that I am occupied in commemorating men who neither were nor were considered orators, and that I am passing over some among the ancients worthy of remembrance or praise. But this is through ignorance. For what can be written about men of an earlier age when no records, either by others or by themselves, speak of them? Among those whom we ourselves saw, however, we shall omit almost no one [of those whom we at some time saw speaking].

Je comprends parfaitement que je suis en train de rappeler des hommes qui ne furent ni tenus pour des orateurs ni véritablement orateurs, et que j’omets quelques anciens dignes d’être mentionnés ou loués. Mais cette omission vient de mon ignorance. Que peut-on en effet écrire, sur une époque antérieure, de ceux dont aucun monument, ni d’autrui ni d’eux-mêmes, ne parle? Quant aux hommes que nous avons vus nous-mêmes, nous n’omettrons presque aucun [de ceux que nous avons un jour vus parler].