Brutus, or On Eminent Orators Passage 269

Ne T. quidem Postumius contemnendus in dicendo; de re publica vero non minus vehemens orator quam bellator fuit, effrenatus et acer nimis, sed bene iuris publici leges atque instituta cognoverat. Hoc loco Atticus: Putarem te, inquit, ambitiosum esse, si, ut dixisti, ei quos iam diu conligis viverent. Omnis enim commemoras, qui ausi aliquando sunt stantes loqui, ut mihi imprudens M. Servilium praeterisse videare.

Nor was Titus Postumius contemptible as a speaker. On public affairs he was no less vehement an orator than he was a fighter, unrestrained and excessively fierce, but well acquainted with the laws and institutions of public law. Here Atticus said: “I should think you were canvassing for favor if the people whom you have long been collecting, as you said, were still alive. For you commemorate everyone who ever dared to speak while standing, so that you seem inadvertently to have passed over Marcus Servilius.”

T. Postumius non plus ne doit pas être méprisé comme orateur. Dans les affaires publiques, il ne fut pas moins ardent à parler qu’à combattre, trop effréné et trop âpre, mais il connaissait bien les lois et les institutions du droit public. Ici Atticus dit : « Je te croirais en quête de faveur si, comme tu l’as dit, ceux que tu recueilles depuis si longtemps étaient encore vivants. Tu rappelles en effet tous ceux qui ont jamais osé parler debout, au point qu’il me semble que tu as omis M. Servilius par inadvertance. »