Moral Letters to Lucilius Section 17

Haec vitia unus aliquis inducit, sub quo tunc eloquentia est, ceteri imitantur et alter alteri tradunt. Sic Sallustio vigente anputatae sententiae et verba ante exspectatum cadentia et obscura brevitas fuere pro cultu. L. Arruntius, vir rarae frugalitatis, qui historias belli Punici scripsit, fuit Sallustianus et in illud genus nitens. Est apud Sallustium: exercitum argenta fecitt, id est, pecunia paravit. Hoc Arruntius amare coepit; posuit illud omnibus paginis. Dicit quodam loco: fugam nostris fecere. Alio loco: Hiero, rex Syracusanorum, bellum fecit. Et alio loco: quae audita Panhormitanos dedere Romanis fecere.

tous les autres l’imitent et se transmettent ses exemples. Ainsi, quand florissait Salluste, les sens mutilés, les chutes brusques et inattendues, une obscure concision étaient de l’élégance. Arruntius, homme d’une moralité rare, qui a écrit l’histoire de la guerre Punique, fut de l’école de Salluste et s’efforça de saisir son genre. Il y a dans Salluste : Exercitum argento fecit, c’est-à-dire, avec de l’argent il leva une armée, Arruntius, épris de cette locution, l’a mise à chaque page. Il dit quelque part : Fugam nostris fecere ; Ils firent les nôtres s’enfuir. Ailleurs : Hiero, rex Syracusanorum, bellum fecit (fut l’instigateur de la guerre). Ailleurs encore : Quæ audita Panormitanos dedere Romanis fecere ; Ces nouvelles firent se rendre aux Romains les Panormitains.

Some individual makes these vices fashionable - some person who controls the eloquence of the day; the rest follow his lead and communicate the habit to each other. Thus when Sallust was in his glory, phrases were lopped off, words came to a close unexpectedly, and obscure conciseness was equivalent to elegance. L. Arruntius, a man of rare simplicity, author of a historical work on the Punic War, was a member and a strong supporter of the Sallust school. There is a phrase in Sallust: exercitum argento fecit, meaning thereby that he recruited an army by means of money. Arruntius began to like this idea; he therefore inserted the verb facio all through his book. Hence, in one passage, fugam nostris fecere; in another, Hiero, rex Syracusanorum, bellum fecit; and in another, quae audita Panhormitanos dedere Romanis fecere.