L’Orateur Passage 73

in omnibusque rebus videndum est quatenus; etsi enim suus cuique modus est, tamen magis offendit nimium quam parum; in quo Apelles pictores quoque eos peccare dicebat qui non sentirent quid esset satis. Magnus est locus hic, Brute, quod te non fugit, et magnum volumen aliud desiderat; sed ad id quod agitur illud satis Cum hoc decere - quod semper usurpamus in omnibus dictis et factis, minimis et maximis - cum hoc, inquam , decere dicimus , illud non decere, et id usquequaque quantum sit appareat in alioque ponatur aliudque totum sit, utrum decere an oportere dicas; - oportere enim perfectionem declarat offici,

In all matters one must consider how far to go. Although each has its own proper measure, excess gives greater offense than deficiency. Apelles used to say that painters too went wrong when they did not perceive what was enough. This is an important topic, Brutus, as you know, and requires another large volume. For our present purpose, however, this much is sufficient. When we say that something is fitting, a term we constantly apply to every word and action, smallest and greatest, and that another thing is unfitting, and when the degree of fitness varies everywhere, is assigned differently in different instances, and is wholly different according as you say that something is fitting or obligatory, obligation indicates the perfection of duty,

En toute matière, il faut considérer jusqu’où aller. Chaque chose possède certes sa mesure propre, mais l’excès choque davantage que l’insuffisance. Apelle disait que les peintres aussi commettaient cette faute lorsqu’ils ne sentaient pas ce qui suffisait. C’est une grande question, Brutus, tu ne l’ignores pas, et elle réclamerait un autre grand volume. Pour notre sujet, il suffit de dire ceci. Nous employons toujours la notion de convenance à propos de toutes les paroles et de tous les actes, des plus petits aux plus grands, en disant que ceci convient et que cela ne convient pas. La mesure de cette convenance apparaît partout, elle varie d’un cas à l’autre, et la question de savoir si une chose convient est tout autre que celle de savoir si elle est obligatoire. L’obligation indique en effet la perfection du devoir,