Orator Passage 29

istorum enim iudicio, si solum illud est Atticum, ne Pericles quidem dixit Attice, cui primae sine controversia deferebantur; qui si tenui genere uteretur, numquam ab Aristophane poeta fulgere tonare permiscere Graeciam dictus esset. Dicat igitur Attice venustissimus ille scriptor ac politissimus Lysias - quis enim id possit negare? - , dum intellegamus hoc esse Atticum in Lysia, non quod tenuis sit atque inornatus, sed quod non nihil habeat insolens aut ineptum; ornate vero et graviter et copiose dicere aut Atticorum sit aut ne sit Aeschines neve Demosthenes Atticus.

For in their judgment, if that alone is Attic, not even Pericles spoke Attically, although the first place was assigned to him without dispute. Had he employed the restrained style, the poet Aristophanes would never have said that he flashed lightning, thundered, and threw Greece into confusion. Let the most charming and polished writer Lysias therefore be called Attic, for who could deny it? But let us understand that what is Attic in Lysias is not his restraint and lack of ornament, but the absence of anything strange or inappropriate. Either ornate, weighty, and abundant speech belongs to the Attic orators, or Aeschines and Demosthenes must not be Attic.

Selon leur jugement, si ce seul style est attique, Périclès lui-même, auquel on accordait sans contestation le premier rang, ne parla pas à l’attique. S’il avait employé le genre simple, jamais le poète Aristophane n’aurait dit qu’il lançait des éclairs, tonnait et bouleversait la Grèce. Que Lysias, cet auteur si gracieux et si poli, parle donc à l’attique, car qui pourrait le nier? Mais comprenons que ce qui est attique chez Lysias ne tient pas à sa simplicité ou à son absence d’ornements, mais à ce qu’il ne contient rien d’insolite ni d’inconvenant. Quant à parler avec parure, gravité et abondance, ou bien cela appartient aux Attiques, ou bien ni Eschine ni Démosthène ne sont attiques.