Brutus ou Des orateurs illustres Passage 316

adsiduissime autem mecum fuit Dionysius Magnes; erat etiam Aeschylus Cnidius, Adramyttenus Xenocles. Hi tum in Asia rhetorum principes numerabantur. Quibus non contentus Rhodum veni meque ad eundem, quem Romae audiveram Molonem applicavi cum actorem in veris causis scriptoremque praestantem tum in notandis animadvertendisque vitiis et in instituendo docendoque prudentissimum. Is dedit operam, si modo id consequi potuit, ut nimis redundantis nos et supra fluentis iuvenili quadam dicendi impunitate et licentia reprimeret et quasi extra ripas diffluentis coerceret. Ita recepi me biennio post non modo exercitatior sed prope mutatus. Nam et contentio nimia vocis resederat et quasi deferverat oratio lateribusque vires et corpori mediocris habitus accesserat.

Dionysius of Magnesia was constantly with me; there were also Aeschylus of Cnidus and Xenocles of Adramyttium. These were then counted the foremost rhetoricians in Asia. Not content with them, I went to Rhodes and attached myself to the same Molon whom I had heard at Rome. He was at once a distinguished advocate in real cases and a writer, and most discerning in identifying and observing faults and in training and teaching. He took pains, insofar as he could accomplish it, to check my excessive and overflowing manner, which spilled over through a certain youthful impunity and license in speaking, and to restrain it as though it were flooding beyond its banks. Thus I returned after two years not merely better practiced but almost transformed. The excessive strain of my voice had subsided, my speech had, as it were, ceased boiling, my lungs had gained strength, and my body a moderate fullness.

Denys de Magnésie fut très assidûment à mes côtés ; il y avait aussi Eschyle de Cnide et Xénoclès d’Adramyttion. Ils comptaient alors parmi les premiers rhéteurs d’Asie. Non content de ces maîtres, je vins à Rhodes et m’attachai au même Molon que j’avais entendu à Rome. Il excellait à plaider des causes réelles et à écrire ; pour signaler et discerner les défauts, former et enseigner, il était d’une très grande sagesse. Il s’appliqua, s’il put du moins y parvenir, à contenir l’excès de notre abondance et les débordements qu’autorisait une certaine impunité et licence juvénile du discours, ainsi qu’à nous retenir pour ainsi dire lorsque nous nous répandions hors des rives. Je revins donc deux ans plus tard non seulement mieux exercé, mais presque changé. La tension excessive de ma voix s’était apaisée, mon discours avait pour ainsi dire perdu son bouillonnement, mes poumons avaient gagné en force et mon corps acquis un embonpoint moyen.