L’Orateur Passage 113

esse igitur perfecte eloquentis puto non eam tantum facultatem habere quae sit eius propria, fuse lateque dicendi, sed etiam vicinam eius ac finitimam dialecticorum scientiam adsumere. Quamquam aliud videtur oratio esse aliud disputatio, nec idem loqui esse quod dicere, ac tamen utrumque in disserendo est: disputandi ratio et loquendi dialecticorum sit , oratorum autem dicendi et ornandi. Zeno quidem ille, a quo disciplina Stoicorum est, manu demonstrare solebat quid inter has artis interesset; nam cum compresserat digitos pugnumque fecerat, dialecticam aiebat eius modi esse; cum autem deduxerat et manum dilataverat; palmae illius similem eloquentiam esse dicebat.

I therefore think that the perfectly eloquent man must possess not only eloquence's own faculty of speaking fully and broadly, but must also adopt the neighboring and closely related science of the dialecticians. Although oratory seems one thing and disputation another, and conversation is not the same as formal speaking, each nevertheless consists in discourse. Let the method of disputation and conversation belong to the dialecticians, and that of formal and ornate speech to the orators. Zeno, the founder of the Stoic discipline, used to demonstrate with his hand the difference between these arts. When he had contracted his fingers and made a fist, he said dialectic was like that; when he opened and spread out his hand, he said eloquence resembled the open palm.

Je pense donc que l’orateur parfaitement éloquent doit non seulement posséder la faculté qui lui est propre, parler avec ampleur et étendue, mais aussi s’approprier la science voisine et limitrophe des dialecticiens. Le discours semble certes autre chose que la discussion, et parler dans la conversation n’est pas la même chose que prononcer un discours; les deux consistent pourtant à traiter un sujet. Que la méthode de la discussion et de l’entretien appartienne aux dialecticiens, tandis que celle du discours et de l’ornement appartient aux orateurs. Zénon, le fondateur de la doctrine stoïcienne, avait coutume de montrer avec sa main la différence entre ces arts. Lorsqu’il avait replié ses doigts et fermé le poing, il disait que la dialectique était ainsi; lorsqu’il les avait déployés et avait ouvert la main, il disait que l’éloquence ressemblait à cette paume.