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Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten

Aesthetica

Interlinear Beta v2 · §§101–125

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§ 101

Neglectum correctionis, de qua loquimur, Horatius unicam caussam iudicat esse, cur Romani Graecis in scribendo cedant, A. P. v. 291, reprehendens eum in Lucilio peculiariter, Serm.

Horace judges the neglect of correction, of which we are speaking, to be the single cause why the Romans yield to the Greeks in writing, Ars Poetica, verse 291, especially reproving it in Lucilius, Satires I.10.

I, 10. Quam necessaria sit ultima lima, doceat Apelles post tabulam, Virgilius Aeneida flammis per testamentum legans, Ovidius, qui malis exsilii solis excusat eius neglectum, de Ponto I. ep. V. 17. Romae non semel lituras a se fieri meminit, II. ep. XIV. et in ipso oratore laudat, si sua limet tenui cura, IV. ep. VI. consentiente Cicerone, cuius oratori ne minuta quidem negligenter tractanda sunt, limatumque dicendi genus exemplo ac praeceptis commendatur.

How necessary the final file is may be taught by Apelles after the painting, by Virgil bequeathing the Aeneid to the flames in his will, by Ovid, who excuses neglect of it only by the evils of exile, Ex Ponto I.5.17. More than once he remembers that erasures were made by him at Rome, II.14, and he praises it in the orator himself, if he "files his own things with fine care," IV.6, with Cicero agreeing; for in Cicero's orator not even minute things are to be handled negligently, and a polished mode of speaking is commended by example and precepts.

§ 102

Si quis interim cum Nasone senserit:

If, meanwhile, someone has felt with Naso:

Sourced quotation · Ovid [36]

Nec tamen emendo, labor hic, quam scribere, maior. Mensque pati durum sustinet aegra nihil, Scilicet incipiam lima mordacius uti, Et sub iudicium singula verba vocem?

"And yet I correct them not: this were a greater labour than to write them, and the mind that is sick, is able to endure no hardship. Should I, forsooth, begin to use polished language with more attention, and should I repeat every word according to rule?"

confundit ille, plus taedii secum ferens, et plus virium postulans.

he confuses the matter, bringing with him more tedium and demanding more strength.

Prius concedo quadrare in emendationem, non posterius, § 98. Devorandum autem est, quicquid sit taedii ob reverentiam, quae tua probaturis Maxima debetur, § 100.

I grant that the former applies to emendation, not the latter, § 98. But whatever tedium there is must be swallowed down because of the reverence which is "owed most greatly" to those who will approve your work, § 100.

§ 103

Sunt, quibus assuevimus pueri, volentes etiam viri, scilicet, ut alius sua corrigat, quem deesse sibi queruntur:

There are things to which we grew accustomed as boys, and willingly even as men: namely, that another should correct his own things, and they complain that such a person is lacking to them:

Sourced quotation · Catullus [37]

Suus cuique attributus est error; Sed non videmus, manticae quod in tergo est.

"Each of us has his assigned delusion: but we see not what's in the wallet on our back."

Concedo recitationem veterum, nisi corrumpatur et haec adulationibus, saluberrimum esse consilium, et iuste queri, cui desit vir bonus et prudens, qui rogatus in nostris diiudicandis, dum adhuc nonum forsan in annum premuntur, Fiat Aristarchus.

I grant that the recitation of the ancients, unless even this is corrupted by flatteries, is a very healthy counsel, and that he rightly complains who lacks a good and prudent man who, when asked to judge our things while perhaps they are still being pressed into the ninth year, "may become an Aristarchus."

Neque tamen ab eiusmodi censore plura postulanda sunt, quam ut vel dicat: Corrige, sodes, hoc et hoc, vel ut

Yet no more is to be asked from a censor of this kind than either that he say,

Sourced quotation · Horace [38]

incomtis allinat atrum Transverso calamo signum.

"A wise and faithful counsellor will blame
Weak verses, note the rough, condemn the lame,"

Ut ipse meliora suggerat, non aequus est, qui rogat virum vir.

or that "he mark the rough passages with a black sign by a crosswise pen."

Est cuilibet sua cogitandi ratio, in quibusdam propria.

That he himself should suggest better things is not fair, when a man asks a man.

Si circiter aequales viribus sumus ego, mihique recitans, facilius utique mihi nonnunquam esset mea cogitandi ratione totum opus absolvere, § 78, quam remissiori animo, § 98, per cogitationes alienas ita meas interferere, ut meliores sint in auctoris impetu ab eodem fusis, conducant tamen et haereant apte reliquis, a me meaque cogitandi ratione non profectis.

Each has his own way of thinking, in some matters a proper one. If the person reciting to me and I are roughly equal in powers, it would certainly sometimes be easier for me to complete the whole work by my own way of thinking, § 78, than with a more relaxed mind, § 98, to insert my thoughts among another's thoughts in such a way that they are better than those poured out by the author's own impulse, yet still conduct themselves well and adhere suitably to the rest, which did not proceed from me and my way of thinking.

Sourced quotation · Horace [39]

Si defendere delictum, quam vertere malis; Nullum ultra verbum aut operam insumamus inanem, Quin sine rivali teque et tua solus ames.

"But if you chose to vindicate the crime,
Not mend it, he would waste no further time,
But let you live, untroubled by advice,
Sole tenant of your own fool's paradise."

Hor.

Horace.

§ 104

Naturale cogitandi genus si dicatur naturalibus animae cogitaturae viribus, obiectorum eorumque naturae proportionatum, quibus et quorum in usus vel delectationem cogitatio suscepta praesumenda est, seu brevius has naturas imitatum, adeo necessarium est pulcre cogitaturo naturale cogitandi genus, § 14, ut minus adhuc cognita animae pulcre cogitaturae, multorumque obiectorum natura, omne venustae cogitationis artificium hac unica regula comprehendi videretur: Naturam imitare.

If the natural mode of thinking is said to be one proportioned to the natural powers of the soul that is going to think, and to the objects and their nature, for whom and for whose use or delight the thought undertaken must be presumed, or more briefly one imitating these natures, then the natural mode of thinking is so necessary for one about to think beautifully, § 14, that, while the nature of the soul about to think beautifully and of many objects is still less known, the whole art of graceful thought would seem to be comprehended in this single rule: imitate nature.

§ 105

Hinc pulcre cogitaturus caveat, 1) ne laudem ingenii venusti affectet, nisi omnino, tamen insigniter, destitutus ea, quam § 11 descripsimus, natura, contra naturam, asinus ad lyram; 2) ne forsitan habens naturae generatim, quantum satis est, specialem tamen characterem et naturae quandam inflexionem, ut ita dicam, peculiarem requirentia sibi cogitare sumat, ante quam viderit, an speciali suo etiam characteri has naturae dotes indiderit, alias cogitaturus praeter naturam; Suffenus,

Hence one about to think beautifully should beware 1) lest he seek the praise of charming talent, if, though not wholly, yet notably, deprived of that nature which we described in § 11, he thinks against nature, an ass at the lyre; 2) lest perhaps, while having nature generally as much as is enough, he nevertheless take up for himself things to be thought that require a special character and, so to speak, a peculiar inflection of nature, before he has seen whether nature has also placed these gifts in his special character; otherwise he will think beyond nature. Suffenus,

Sourced quotation · Catullus [40]

Homo venustus, et dicax et urbanus,

"That Suffenus, Varus, whom thou know'st right well, is a man fair spoken, witty and urbane,"

cuius si versus legas

if you read his verses,

Sourced quotation · Catullus [41]

Tum bellus ille, et urbanus Suffenus unus caprimulgus, aut fossor Rursus videtur; tantum abhorret ac mutat.

"But when thou readest these, that refined and urbane Suffenus is seen on the contrary to be a mere goatherd or ditcher-lout, so great and shocking is the change."

Cat.

Catullus.

Utrumque cogitandi genus est invita Minerva susceptum:

Each mode of thinking is one undertaken with Minerva unwilling:

Sourced quotation · Horace [42]

Tu nihil invita dices faciesve Minerva.

"You will not fly in queen Minerva's face
In action or in word."

Hor. Cic. Off. L. I, 110.

Horace; Cicero, On Duties I.110.

§ 106

Genus cogitandi naturale rectissime sequutus, § 104, ne, nubem pro Iunone, amplectatur pinguem et crassam Minervam, Rusticus, abnormis sapiens, non tam iuvenilia, quam puerilia sua, si quid non aspernandae naturae, § 11, pelluceat, iam omnibus numeris absoluta statuens, S. III, aut etiam rudi ingenio contentus per omnem vitam, pro naturali laudando, sequatur rude cogitandi genus, cuius ad naturam saepe satis mediocrem, nihil doctrinae, nihil artis accesserit, S. IV.

Having followed the natural mode of thinking most rightly, § 104, let him not, embracing a cloud for Juno, embrace a fat and coarse Minerva, "rustic, abnormally wise," judging his own things not so much youthful as childish, if anything of a nature not to be despised, § 11, shines through, to be already finished in every respect, Section III; or, even content with crude talent through his whole life, under the name of a natural mode to be praised, follow a rude mode of thinking, to whose often rather mediocre nature nothing of doctrine, nothing of art, has been added, Section IV.

§ 107

Rude cogitandi genus duplici ratione fit satis deforme phaenomenon, § 14. 1) inscito (indocto, inerudito) cogitandi genere; quando vel in eum gradum eruditionis pulcrae, quem generatim in omni requirimus ultra plebem sapere auso, gravius impingitur, vel apparet speciatim de aliquibus efferre suas cogitationes aliquem, ceu venustas, voluisse, quorum naturam vel mediocri doctrina potuisset nosse penitius, § 104, de quibus tamen ignoret, quicquid

The rude mode of thinking becomes a sufficiently deformed phenomenon in two ways, § 14. 1) By an ignorant (untaught, unerudite) mode of thinking; when either someone stumbles seriously against that degree of beautiful erudition which, in general, we require in everyone who dares to be wise beyond the crowd, or when it appears that someone specifically wanted to bring forth his thoughts about certain things as charming, whose nature he could have known more deeply even by moderate learning, § 104, yet about which he is ignorant of whatever

Sourced quotation · Horace [43]

Non omnis fricti ciceris sciat ac nucis emtor,

"For those who have a father or a horse
Or an estate will take offence of course,
Nor think they're bound in duty to admire
What gratifies the vetch-and-chestnut-buyer."

§§ 66, 67.

§§ 66, 67.

§ 108

Rude cogitandi genus est, 2) iners cogitandi genus, denuo vel generatim probe fundatarum eleganter cogitandi regularum, vel speciatim eius artis peculiaris aut ignorantiam prodens, cuius tamen specimen profitearis, §§ 106, 68, 60, aut neglectum exceptionibus, quibus nihil insit elegantiae, §§ 25, 72.

The rude mode of thinking is, 2) an inert mode of thinking, again betraying either ignorance of well-founded rules for thinking elegantly in general, or specifically ignorance of that particular art of which nevertheless you profess a specimen, §§ 106, 68, 60, or neglect through exceptions in which there is nothing of elegance, §§ 25, 72.

§ 109

Duplicis huius, §§ 107, 108, duplex

Of this twofold fault, §§ 107, 108, there is a twofold

Sourced quotation · Horace [44]

In vitium ducit culpae fuga, dum caret arte

"Thus zeal to 'scape from error, if unchecked
By sense of art, creates a new defect."

vera naturam belle supplente, S. IV. Primum est umbratile et scholasticum cogitandi genus, quando in iis, quae pulcram cogitandi rationem requirunt, adeoque naturam, etiam alteram, consuetudinem elegantioris inter moratiores vivendi generis imitari sequi que debent, § 104, aut tantum constipatur eruditionis reconditioris, ut desinat esse pulcritudo, § 15, aut omnino speciem eruditionis tantum apud pueros et grammaticorum aliquos mentientia congeruntur.

truly and beautifully supplying nature, Section IV. The first is a shadowy and scholastic mode of thinking, when, in matters that require a beautiful way of thinking and therefore nature, even a second nature, and ought to imitate and follow the habit of a more elegant kind of living among the more polished, § 104, either so much of more recondite erudition is packed in that beauty ceases, § 15, or things are heaped up that altogether merely feign the appearance of erudition among boys and some grammarians.

§ 110

Alterum est affectatum et coactum cogitandi genus, naturam per artem male supplens, quando artes, nescio quae, nimia subtilitatis affectatione frangunt atque concidunt, quod Quintilianus docet, quicquid est in meditationum elegantiis generosius.

The other is an affected and forced mode of thinking, badly supplying nature by art, when certain "arts," I know not what, by excessive affectation of subtlety break and cut to pieces whatever is more generous in the elegances of meditations, as Quintilian teaches.

Peius haec naturale cogitandi genus, § 105, enecans se exserit 1) quando naturalis unice decor et non fucatus suffecisset, artis tamen cuiuscunque pigmenta vocantur in subsidium superfluum, hic nocens; 2) ubi satis infelix aliquis fuit, ut in malas deceptricis artis regulas incideret; 3) ubi bonae artis regulae applicantur, ubi locum habent, sed inepte, § 105. E. § 336.

This shows itself worse, killing the natural mode of thinking, § 105: 1) when a natural and unpainted grace alone would have sufficed, yet the pigments of some art are called in as a superfluous aid, here a harmful one; 2) where someone was unfortunate enough to fall into the bad rules of a deceptive art; 3) where the rules of a good art are applied where they have a place, but ineptly, § 105, Ethics, § 336.

§ 111

Alii naturale cogitandi genus recte sequuti, § 104, cum natura confundunt ordinarium eius statum, et vires, aliqua licet doctrina promotas, S. IV, mortuas tamen et remissas, ex quibus nullum per impetum, nullam per inflammationem viventibus languidum (frigidum, somnolentum, oscitans) cogitandi genus contra S. V.

Others, having rightly followed the natural mode of thinking, § 104, confuse with nature its ordinary state and powers, although advanced by some doctrine, Section IV, yet dead and slack; from these powers, living through no impulse and no inflammation, comes a languid (cold, sleepy, yawning) mode of thinking, contrary to Section V.

§ 112

Sourced quotation · Horace [45]

Dum vitant stolidi vitia, in contraria currunt,

"While fools shun [one sort of] vices, they fall upon their opposite
extremes."

ieiunumque languorem in cogitando cauturi incidunt in parenthyrsum et effraene cogitandi genus, quod excusso non intellectus solum et rationis iugo, sed spicerioris etiam saporis negligens, citra ullam rationem phaenomenon, quae circiter sufficeret, tantum furorem prae se ferent, qui naturam, sed male sani sincipitis, unice videatur imitari, § 104. Tali vesano deridendo Horatius artis suae dedicavit epilogum:

and, intending to guard against meagre languor in thinking, they fall into parenthyrsus and an unbridled mode of thinking; this, having shaken off not only the yoke of intellect and reason, but also neglecting a more seasoned taste, displays, without any reason that would approximately suffice for the phenomenon, only such fury as seems to imitate nature alone, but the nature of an unsound head, § 104. To mock such a madman Horace dedicated the epilogue of his art:

Sourced quotation · Horace [46]

Certe furit, ac velut ursus, Obiectos caveae valuit si frangere clathros, Indoctum doctumque fugat.

"So much is plain, he's mad: like bear that beats
His prison down and ranges through the streets,
This terrible reciter puts to flight
The learned and unlearned left and right."

§ 113

Sicut pigri philosophi ac medici nonnunquam naturam, quasi deum ex machina, legunt asylum suae desidiae, sunt etiam, qui naturale cogitandi genus appellant, nisi omnino rude, inscitum ac iners, §§ 106–108, incomtum tamen et incompositum, quando non in ipso solum impetu animi, de quo S. V, non satis lente festinas, et quicquid occurrit primo, tanquam optimum, adoptas, sed etiam postea, quae satis cito fudisti, vel nunquam animo castigandi retractas, vel non sine blanda parentum indulgentia, qua quicquid eradicandum esset vitii, vix tangunt, ne naturam suorum perdant, veriti.

Just as lazy philosophers and physicians sometimes choose nature, as if a god from the machine, as the refuge of their idleness, there are also those who call a mode of thinking natural which, if not altogether rude, ignorant, and inert, §§ 106–108, is nevertheless unadorned and uncomposed; when not only in the very impulse of the soul, of which Section V spoke, you do not hasten slowly enough and adopt whatever first occurs as best, but even afterward either never review with a mind to correct the things you poured out quickly enough, or review them with the flattering indulgence of parents, by which they scarcely touch whatever fault should be rooted out, fearing lest they lose the nature of their own works.

Cavendum hoc malum genus cogitandi, secundum S. VI, limato cogitandi genere.

This bad mode of thinking must be guarded against, according to Section VI, by a polished mode of thinking.

§ 114

Neque tamen commendatur lima magis atterens, quam poliens, excessus in corrigendo, vel in foetus ingenii, qui subiti et extemporales postulantur, tantum studii diligentiaeque impendens, ut lucernam olentes male non habeant pulcram subitaneorum verisimilitudinem, § 96, vel impetus ad maiora dati prodigus, qui in minutulis eundem moratur aut distrahit, contra § 95, vel ita sua retractans, quando

Yet the file is not commended when it wears down more than it polishes: an excess in correcting, either spending so much study and diligence on offspring of talent that are required to be sudden and extemporaneous that, smelling of the lamp, they badly fail to have the beautiful likelihood of spontaneous things, § 96; or being prodigal with impulse given for greater things, delaying or distracting it in tiny details, against § 95; or reviewing one's own works in such a way, when

Sourced quotation · Cicero [47]

motus omnis animi, tanquam ventus, cogitantem deseruit, et omnis ardor consedit,

"But afterwards, when he took up the pen in his leisure hours, and his passion had sunk into a calm, his Elocution became dull and languid. ... But no man can revive at pleasure the ardour of his passions; and when that has once subsided, the fire and pathos of his language will be extinguished."

ut flaccescant non sine aliqua vi primum fusa, reiectisque quibusdam, aliis, velut ornamentis, adiectis, omnis incitatio et quasi flamma pulcre cogitandorum simul exstinguatur, § 111. Eiusmodi lima minorem maiori praefert elegantiam exceptione non eleganti, § 25, quia

that things first poured forth not without some force grow slack, and, with certain things rejected and others added like ornaments, all incitement and as it were the flame of things to be thought beautifully is extinguished at once, § 111. Such a file prefers lesser elegance to greater by an inelegant exception, § 25, because

Sourced quotation · Horace [48]

festantem levia nervi Deficiunt animique.

"Attempts at ease emasculate my verse."

Hor.

Horace.

§ 115

Si quis partim ab enumeratis S. II–VII iam instructus, partim non abhorrens, satis felix futurus aestheticus, § 27, consilium amplius rogaverit, de pulcre cogitando generatim, § 17, praesertim de pulcritudine rerum, § 18,

If someone, partly already instructed by the things enumerated in Sections II–VII and partly not out of harmony with them, as one who will become a sufficiently happy aesthetician, § 27, asks for further counsel about thinking beautifully in general, § 17, especially about the beauty of things, § 18,

Sourced quotation · Horace [49]

utar vice cotis, acutum Reddere quae ferrum valet, exsors ipsa secandi. Munus et officium, nil scribens ipse, docebo: 1) Unde parentur opes.

"Well, never mind: mine be the whetstone's lot,
Which makes steel sharp, though cut itself will not.
Although no writer, I may yet impart
To writing folk the precepts of their art,
Whence come its stores, what trains and forms a bard."

Hor. Prima nempe cura sit in rebus cogitandis ubertas (copia, abundantia, multitudo, divitiae, opes) M. § 575, sed aesthetica, qua datum subiectum, certus cogitaturus, de dato obiecto, certa cogitandi materia, plura pulcre cogitare possit, § 22.

Horace. Therefore the first care in things to be thought should be abundance (copiousness, plenty, multitude, riches, resources), Metaphysics, § 575, but aesthetic abundance, by which a given subject, a definite thinker, about a given object and a definite matter of thinking, can think many things beautifully, § 22.

§ 116

Sic incipit laudes Isaei Plinius:

Thus Pliny begins the praises of Isaeus:

Sourced quotation · Pliny the Younger [50]

Summa est facultas, ubertas, copia,

"He possesses the utmost readiness, copiousness, and abundance of language."

L. II. ep. 3. Quam primo dividamus in absolutam, omni pulcre cogitando necessariam, §§ 115, 22, et relativam, illum absolutae gradum, qui quibusdam pulcre cogitandis forte necessarius est, e.g. minus notis, aut admodum utilibus minus attento tamen inculcandis, quemque latitudinem platonicam dicamus, sequuti Plinium eundem, quando Euphratis quidem sermonem omnem copiosum, § 115, dicit; eundem tamen affirmat frequenter latitudinem illam platonicam effingere, L. I. ep. X.

Book II, Epistle 3. Let us first divide it into absolute abundance, necessary for every beautiful thinking, §§ 115, 22, and relative abundance, that degree of absolute abundance which perhaps is necessary for certain things to be thought beautifully, for example less known things, or very useful things that must be impressed upon a less attentive person; and let us call this Platonic breadth, following the same Pliny, when he says that all the speech of Euphrates is indeed "copious," § 115, yet also affirms that he frequently "shapes that Platonic breadth," Book I, Epistle 10.

§ 117

Etiamsi non velit pulcre meditaturus aliquando latitudinem comparativam sequi, § 116, tamen copia rerum vere affluens satis eam eleganter, quasi per lancem saturam, ostentat, velut ex longinquo, ne spectator exhauriri putet materiam postea monstrandis propius, § 115. Ita Virgilius:

Even if one about to meditate beautifully should at some time not wish to follow comparative breadth, § 116, nevertheless a truly overflowing abundance of things displays it elegantly enough, as if by a full platter, as though from afar, lest the spectator think the matter exhausted by things later to be shown more closely, § 115. Thus Virgil:

Sourced quotation · Virgil [51]

Non mihi si linguae centum sint, oraque centum, Ferrea vox,

"Nay, though a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths
Were mine, a voice of iron."

e.c. Ita Cicero:

and so forth. Thus Cicero:

Sourced quotation · Cicero [52]

Nullius tantum est flumen ingenii, nulla dicendi aut scribendi tanta vis, tantaque copia, quae, non dicam exornare, sed enarrare,

"No one is blessed with such a stream of genius, no one is endowed with such vigour and richness of eloquence, either as a speaker or as a writer, as to be able, I will not say to extol, but even, O Caius Caesar, plainly to relate all your achievements."

e.c.

and so forth.

§ 118

Ubertas aesthetica, porro est vel obiectiva, (rerum, materialis) quatenus in obiectis et cogitandis ipsis est praecipua ratio, cur per humani vires ingenii possint ubertim pingi; vel subiectiva, (ingenii et personae) possibilitas physica et potentia certi hominis, etiam secundum quid, et hypothetice talis certam rem ubertim repraesentandi.

Furthermore, aesthetic abundance is either objective (of things, material), insofar as in the objects and the things to be thought themselves there is the chief reason why they can be painted abundantly by the powers of human talent; or subjective (of talent and person), the physical possibility and power of a definite human being, even in a certain respect and hypothetically such, of representing a definite thing abundantly.

Sunt obiecta, velut ultro suas divitias offerentia.

There are objects as if offering their riches of their own accord.

Vix in mentem incidunt,

They scarcely fall into the mind, and

Sourced quotation · Horace [53]

apparetque beata pleno Copia cornu.

"Come back to earth; and Plenty, see,
With teeming horn."

Hor. Tunc modo capacitatis habueris, quantum satis est, non aliis solum, sed et tibi copia

Horace. Then, provided only that you have had enough capacity, abundance will flow not only to others but also to you,

Sourced quotation · Horace [54]

Manabit ad plenum benigno Ruris honorum opulenta cornu.

"Come hither, and the fields and groves
Their horn shall empty at your feet."

Hor.

Horace.

§ 119

Horizon (sphaera) cognitionis humanae est finitus materiarum ex universitate rerum infinita numerus, quae mediocri ingenio humano latius dicto possunt clarescere; harum quae possunt ab ingenio mediocriter philosophico perfectius concipi, horizontem logicum (territorium et sphaeram) rationis et intellectus constituunt; quae possunt ingenio mediocriter aesthetico pulcre splendescere, horizontem aestheticum (territorium et sphaeram pulcri rationis analogi) constituunt.

The horizon (sphere) of human cognition is the finite number of matters from the infinite universe of things which can become clear to a mediocre human talent, taken more broadly. Of these, those which can be conceived more perfectly by a moderately philosophical talent constitute the logical horizon (territory and sphere) of reason and intellect; those which can shine beautifully for a moderately aesthetic talent constitute the aesthetic horizon (territory and sphere of the beauty of the analogue of reason).

Si qua

If there are things which

Sourced quotation · Horace [55]

Desperas tractata nitescere posse, relinque.

"And what he judges will not turn to gold
Beneath his touch, he passes by untold."

§ 115.

§ 115.

§ 120

Infra horizontem aestheticum posita sunt, quae ex obscuritate comparativa et relativa mediocriter aestheticum ingenium protrahere non potest in lucem pulcram.

Things placed beneath the aesthetic horizon are those which a moderately aesthetic talent cannot draw forth from comparative and relative obscurity into beautiful light.

Qualia si themata sibi sumat pulcre cogitaturus, aut id serio fiet, et nascetur rerum inopia et meditationis exilitas, contra §§ 115, 119, aut delabetur in allotria, aut periculose iocabitur.

If one about to think beautifully takes such themes for himself, either this will be done seriously, and there will arise poverty of things and thinness of meditation, contrary to §§ 115, 119, or he will slip into foreign matters, or he will play dangerously.

Hinc esto eiusmodi

Hence let such a

Sourced quotation · Horace [56]

Thema irrepertum, et sic melius situm, Quum terra celat, spernere fortior.

"Of strength more potent to disdain
Hid gold, best buried in the mine."

Hor. Conferantur admiranda rerum admirabilium encomia.

Horace. Compare "the admirable encomia of admirable things."

§ 121

Sourced quotation · Virgil [57]

Carmina vel caelo possit deducere lunam,

"Songs can the very moon draw down from heaven."

nec ego tamen suaserim pulcre cogitaturo sibi materiem legere, supra horizontem aestheticum positam, nec ea tantum hic intelligo, vel maxime, quae horizontem cognitionis humanae transcendunt omnino, § 119, sed ea potissimum, quae ex superiori scientiarum distincta adaequataque cognitione non potest ad pulcram illam lucem deducere mediocriter aestheticum ingenium, quae rosca placeat, non praestringat oculos analogi rationis et inferiorum cognoscendi facultatum.

yet I would not therefore advise one about to think beautifully to choose for himself material placed above the aesthetic horizon; and here I do not understand only, or especially, those things which wholly transcend the horizon of human cognition, § 119, but chiefly those things which a moderately aesthetic talent, from the higher, distinct, and adequate cognition of the sciences, cannot bring down to that beautiful light which pleases in a dewy way and does not dazzle the eyes of the analogue of reason and the lower faculties of knowing.

Si tentaveris nihilominus, aut incides in incommoda, § 120 commemorata, aut iocis expones, quae gravissima putas, aut illigaberis angustis illis at concisis disputationibus, quas Antonius apud Ciceronem de Or. L. II, 61, philosophis generatim Graecis exprobrat, non sine solenni formula:

If nevertheless you try, you will either fall into the inconveniences mentioned in § 120, or expose to jokes the things you think most serious, or be bound up in those narrow yet concise disputations which Antonius in Cicero, On the Orator II.61, reproaches to Greek philosophers generally, not without the solemn formula:

Sourced quotation · Cicero [58]

Verbum prorsus nullum intelligo.

"I do not understand a single word of them."

Quod contra § 22.

This is contrary to § 22.

§ 122

Egone vero reiciam ac reprehendam concisum cogitandi genus, cui tot ambitiosa scriptionum mearum ornamenta philosophicarum immolavi, quod nunc ipse sequor, licet paulisper laxius?

Shall I then reject and censure the concise mode of thinking, to which I have sacrificed so many ambitious ornaments of my philosophical writings, and which I myself now follow, though a little more loosely?

Utinam Zenoni iam Stoico deprehensa veritas, quam repetit Ciceronis Orator, 113, 114, et Quintilianus II, 21, nostris saltem temporibus fieret apertior, esse duo cogitandi genera, alterum perpetuum, et latius, quod rhetorices sit, alterum concisum, et contractius, quod dialectices.

Would that the truth already detected by Zeno the Stoic, which Cicero's Orator, 113, 114, and Quintilian II.21 repeat, might become clearer at least in our times: that there are two modes of thinking, one continuous and broader, which belongs to rhetoric, the other concise and more contracted, which belongs to dialectic.

Illud horizonti aesthetico, hoc logico proprium autumo, § 119. Comparationem

I think the former proper to the aesthetic horizon, the latter to the logical, § 119. I do not make my own the comparison of the

Sourced quotation · Zeno of Citium, reported by Quintilian [59]

compressae in pugnum manus et explicitae

He compared the latter to the closed fist, the former to the open hand.

meam non facio. Sufficit concisum cogitandi genus in scientificis, praesertim acroamaticis, apprime necessarium, quod Aristoteles iam vidit, aestheticus sane, sicut practicus, ita theoreticus, alieno in loco et extra rationis circulos esse posse vitium, et si qua in iis, quae copiosam orationem requirunt,

It is enough that the concise mode of thinking, in scientific writings, especially acroamatic ones, is highly necessary, as Aristotle already saw; yet in aesthetics, whether practical or theoretical, it can be a vice in an alien place and outside the circles of reason, and if things that require copious speech

Sourced quotation · Quintilian [60]

crebris parvisque conatibus se attollunt in horizontem logicum, inaequalia tantum et velut confragosa, nec admirationem consequi eminentium, et planorum gratiam perdere.

"And where eloquence seeks to secure elevation by frequent small efforts, it merely produces an uneven and broken surface which fails to win the admiration due to outstanding objects and lacks the charm that may be found in a smooth surface."

VIII, 5. Virtute ac facultate rationali non tam est minute atque concise in aestheticis utendum, quam in disputationibus scientiarum logicis, XII, 2.

VIII.5. Rational power and faculty are not to be used so minutely and concisely in aesthetic matters as in logical disputations of the sciences, XII.2.

§ 123

Horizonti aesthetico logicoque possunt esse multae materiae communes, § 119; hinc ideo, quia aliquid in scientiis pertractatur, non excluditur idem ex sphaera pulcritudinis omnino; sed quatenus punctim et minutim cum accuratione philosophica mathematicaque conciperetur, § 121. Quatenus autem eadem materia vel intellectu pulcro ipsa M. § 637, notae autem eius sensitive ac vivide, vel ipsa etiam, nunc certe, vivida tantum ac venusta cogitari potest, intra horizontem aestheticum recipitur.

Many matters can be common to the aesthetic and logical horizons, § 119. Hence, because something is treated in the sciences, the same thing is not therefore excluded altogether from the sphere of beauty, but only insofar as it would be conceived point by point and minutely with philosophical and mathematical accuracy, § 121. But insofar as the same material itself can be thought either by beautiful understanding, Metaphysics, § 637, while its marks are thought sensitively and vividly, or even itself, now certainly, only vividly and charmingly, it is received within the aesthetic horizon.

§ 124

Passage with quotations · Cicero [61]

Quid sit bonum, praeter honestatem? Verine sensus? Quae sit solis magnitudo? Quaestiones eiusmodi procul ab oratoris persona esse facile omnes intelligere existimat Cicero. Nam quibus, inquit, in rebus summa ingenia philosophorum plurimo cum labore consumta intelligimus, eas, sicut aliquas parvas res, oratori attribuere magna amentia videtur.

"Whether there is anything good besides honesty? Whether the senses may be trusted? ... What is the size of the sun? But I imagine that all men can easily see that all such questions are far removed from the business of an orator; for it appears the excess of insanity to attribute those subjects, in which we know that the most sublime genius of philosophers has been exhausted with infinite labour, as if they were inconsiderable matters, to a rhetorician or an orator."

Recte vidit esse quaedam in scientiis supra horizontem aestheticum, § 121, quae sicut omnis pulcre meditaturus, ita orator, perperam sibi themata legeret, § 122. Quaestiones autem exempli loco commemoratas, si non orator, aestheticus certe practicus satis eleganter, arbitror, enarrare posset, modo aliam cogitandi de iisdem rationem sequeretur, ac demonstrator ethicus, logicus, physicus atque mathematicus, § 123.

Cicero thinks that everyone easily understands that questions of this sort are far from the person of the orator. He rightly saw that there are certain things in the sciences above the aesthetic horizon, § 121, which an orator, like anyone about to meditate beautifully, would wrongly choose as themes for himself, § 122. Yet the questions mentioned as examples, if not an orator, then certainly a practical aesthetician, I judge, could narrate elegantly enough, provided he followed a different way of thinking about them than an ethical, logical, physical, or mathematical demonstrator, § 123.

§ 125

Non de omnibus quidem pulcre cogitandi datur copia, §§ 119–121, oratoremque plenum atque perfectum, qui de omnibus rebus possit varie copioseque dicere, Cic. de Or. I, 59, cum sapiente Stoico,

Indeed, abundance for thinking beautifully is not granted concerning all things, §§ 119–121, and the full and perfect orator, who can speak on all things variously and copiously, Cicero, On the Orator I.59, I bid, with the Stoic wise man,

Sourced quotation · Horace [62]

Discipulorum inter iubeo plorare cathedras:

"Demetrius and Tigellius, off! go pule
To the bare benches of your ladies' school!"

neque tamen venuste cogitandi facultas tantum est in civilibus controversiis aut aliis levioris momenti quaestionibus: sed in ipsis disciplinarum etiam et scientiarum 1) dogmatibus, theologicis, physicis, practicis, historicis, e.c. materialiter spectatis, quando ita cogites illa, significesque,

Yet the faculty of thinking charmingly is not only in civil controversies or other questions of lighter moment, but also in the very doctrines of disciplines and sciences: 1) theological, physical, practical, historical, and so forth, materially considered, when you think and signify them in such a way

Sourced quotation · Cicero [63]

ut videaris voluisse esse illis, qui non sunt eruditissimi, familiaris,

"Who have adopted such a style that they seem to wish to be familiar to us who are not of the deepest erudition."

ib.

ibid.

II, 61. 2) illustrationibus scholiorum instar interspergendis, § 123. cf. Cic. de Or. I, 61.

II.61; 2) in illustrations to be sprinkled in after the manner of scholia, § 123; compare Cicero, On the Orator I.61.

Sources and textual notes

[36] Ovid, Epistulae ex Ponto 1.5.17-20. Henry T. Riley, The Fasti, Tristia, Pontic Epistles, Ibis, and Halieuticon of Ovid (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1851), p. 382. Source 1

Riley's polished language with more attention is a loose rendering of lima mordacius uti (literally, to use the file more bitingly), and according to rule renders sub iudicium. The prose passage nevertheless covers all four quoted lines continuously.

Reuse information

The cited translation was published in 1851; Riley died in 1878. The Internet Archive scan is of that historical edition.

[37] Catullus, Carmina 22.20-21. Leonard C. Smithers, prose translation in The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus (London: printed for the translators, 1894), Project Gutenberg eBook 20732. Source 1

Smithers's wallet conveys the two-pocketed mantica of the proverb: a person sees another's faults in front but not the faults carried on his own back.

Reuse information

The cited prose translation was published in 1894; Smithers died in 1907. Project Gutenberg supplies a United States reuse statement.

[38] Horace, Ars Poetica 446-447. John Conington, The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace, Project Gutenberg eBook 5419. Source 1

Conington compresses the black transverse pen-stroke into note the rough. Baumgarten's allinat differs from the comparison text's adlinet and should be retained as a recorded textual variant unless the scan shows a transcription error.

Reuse information

Project Gutenberg supplies a United States reuse statement; Conington died in 1869.

[39] Horace, Ars Poetica 442-444. John Conington, The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace, Project Gutenberg eBook 5419. Source 1

Baumgarten adapts Horace's past counterfactual malles, insumebat, and amares to malis, insumamus, and ames. Conington translates the original Horatian construction, not Baumgarten's grammatical recasting.

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Project Gutenberg supplies a United States reuse statement; Conington died in 1869.

[40] Catullus, Carmina 22.2. Leonard C. Smithers, prose translation in The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus (London: printed for the translators, 1894), Project Gutenberg eBook 20732. Source 1

Smithers includes Catullus 22.1 to supply the subject Suffenus; Baumgarten excerpts the predicate and omits the source's est.

Reuse information

The cited prose translation was published in 1894; Smithers died in 1907. Project Gutenberg supplies a United States reuse statement.

[41] Catullus, Carmina 22.9-11. Leonard C. Smithers, prose translation in The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus (London: printed for the translators, 1894), Project Gutenberg eBook 20732. Source 1

Baumgarten replaces Catullus's contextual haec cum legas tu with Tum and otherwise follows lines 9-11 closely. Smithers translates the complete source construction.

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The cited prose translation was published in 1894; Smithers died in 1907. Project Gutenberg supplies a United States reuse statement.

[42] Horace, Ars Poetica 385. John Conington, The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace, Project Gutenberg eBook 5419. Source 1

Conington reverses the source's order of speaking and doing for the sake of the English rhyme, but covers both verbs.

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Project Gutenberg supplies a United States reuse statement; Conington died in 1869.

[43] Horace, Ars Poetica 248-250, especially line 249. John Conington, The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace, Project Gutenberg eBook 5419. Source 1

Baumgarten's Non omnis ... sciat ac ... emtor differs substantially from the standard source text nec, siquid ... probat et ... emptor. Conington's four-line context is retained because it supplies the governing syntax. The Latin must be checked against Baumgarten's scan before the edited concordance is finalized.

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Project Gutenberg supplies a United States reuse statement; Conington died in 1869.

[44] Horace, Ars Poetica 31. John Conington, The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace, Project Gutenberg eBook 5419. Source 1

Baumgarten has dum where the comparison text has si. Conington's if therefore follows the standard source rather than Baumgarten's recorded variant.

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Project Gutenberg supplies a United States reuse statement; Conington died in 1869.

[45] Horace, Satires 1.2.24. Christopher Smart, The Works of Horace, edited by Theodore Alois Buckley (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1863), Perseus Digital Library text. Source 1

Baumgarten's stolidi differs from the standard source's stulti, although both mean fools. Smart's bracketed phrase makes explicit the contrast implied by the source context.

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The cited historical edition was published in 1863; Smart died in 1771. The Perseus canonical repository makes its source file available for reuse under the repository's stated terms.

[46] Horace, Ars Poetica 472-474. John Conington, The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace, Project Gutenberg eBook 5419. Source 1

Baumgarten ends before Horace's explicit subject recitator acerbus; Conington necessarily restores it as This terrible reciter. The clathros/clatros difference is orthographic.

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Project Gutenberg supplies a United States reuse statement; Conington died in 1869.

[47] Cicero, Brutus 93, combining two noncontiguous clauses in the same section. E. Jones, Cicero's Brutus or History of Famous Orators; also His Orator, or Accomplished Speaker, Project Gutenberg eBook 9776. Source 1

Baumgarten appears to stitch and rewrite two clauses. Cicero has hominem defecerat, not cogitantem deseruit, and ardor animi ... isque cum consedit, not omnis ardor consedit. The ellipsis in the selected English marks the omitted intervening sentence. Baumgarten's scan must be rechecked before this Latin is treated as a diplomatic transcription.

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Project Gutenberg supplies a United States reuse statement for this historical English translation.

[48] Horace, Ars Poetica 26-27. John Conington, The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace, Project Gutenberg eBook 5419. Source 1

The standard source reads sectantem, while the concordance reads festantem. Long-s typography is a likely cause, so the Baumgarten scan requires direct verification. Conington compresses Horace's image into a single line.

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[49] Horace, Ars Poetica 304-307. John Conington, The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace, Project Gutenberg eBook 5419. Source 1

Baumgarten changes Horace's fungar to utar, inserts his own enumeration marker 1), and stops after unde parentur opes. Conington's final line completes Horace's source line and is retained to preserve intelligible English syntax.

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Project Gutenberg supplies a United States reuse statement; Conington died in 1869.

[50] Pliny the Younger, Epistles 2.3.1. William Melmoth, The Letters of Pliny, revised by F. C. T. Bosanquet, Project Gutenberg eBook 2811. Source 1

Baumgarten reverses the source order copia ubertas to ubertas, copia. Melmoth expands the nouns into an English predicate and supplies of language from the immediate context.

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Project Gutenberg supplies a United States reuse statement; Melmoth died in 1799.

[51] Virgil, Georgics 2.43-44. James Rhoades, Virgil's Georgics in English, Project Gutenberg eBook 232. Source 1

Rhoades's preceding lines supply the negative main clause; the selected excerpt corresponds exactly to the conditional phrase quoted by Baumgarten.

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Project Gutenberg supplies a United States reuse statement for this historical English translation.

[52] Cicero, Pro Marcello 4. Charles Duke Yonge, The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Literally Translated (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1856), Perseus Digital Library text. Source 1

Baumgarten stops before Cicero's governing conclusion, C. Caesar, res tuas gestas possit. Yonge's full sentence restores it so that the English is grammatical. Baumgarten also places est after tantum where the comparison text places it after flumen.

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The cited translation was published in 1856; Yonge died in 1891. The Perseus canonical repository supplies the digital source file.

[53] Horace, Carmen Saeculare 59-60. John Conington, The Odes and Carmen Saeculare of Horace, Project Gutenberg eBook 5432. Source 1

Conington's Come back to earth also renders the source's preceding redire Virtus audet, which Baumgarten omits. His final clause, and Plenty, see, / With teeming horn, corresponds directly to Baumgarten's excerpt. Apparet/adparet is an orthographic difference.

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[54] Horace, Odes 1.17.15-16. John Conington, The Odes and Carmen Saeculare of Horace, Project Gutenberg eBook 5432. Source 1

Conington renders ruris honorum concretely as the fields and groves and recasts the overflowing horn as one emptied at the addressee's feet.

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[55] Horace, Ars Poetica 150. John Conington, The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace, Project Gutenberg eBook 5419. Source 1

Baumgarten converts Horace's third-person statement, desperat ... relinquit, into a second-person imperative, Desperas ... relinque. Conington translates the unadapted source construction.

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[56] Horace, Odes 3.3.49-50. John Conington, The Odes and Carmen Saeculare of Horace, Project Gutenberg eBook 5432. Source 1

Baumgarten substitutes Thema for Horace's aurum, turning hidden gold into an undiscovered theme while retaining the rest of Horace's syntax. Conington necessarily translates the original image of gold, not Baumgarten's substitution. Irrepertum/inrepertum and quum/cum are orthographic variants.

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Project Gutenberg supplies a United States reuse statement; Conington died in 1869.

[57] Virgil, Eclogues 8.69. James Rhoades, The Poems of Vergil (London: Oxford University Press, 1921), Perseus Digital Library text. Source 1

Baumgarten has the singular possit where the source has the plural possunt agreeing with carmina. Rhoades follows the source's plural construction.

Reuse information

The cited translation was published in 1921 and is in the United States public domain; Rhoades died in 1923. The Perseus canonical repository supplies the digital source file.

[58] Cicero, De oratore 2.61. J. S. Watson, Cicero on Oratory and Orators (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1860). Source 1

Watson's them refers to philosophical books whose titles promise familiar subjects but whose compressed arguments, Antonius says, are unintelligible. Intelligo/intellego is an orthographic difference.

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Watson's translation was published in 1860 and is in the public domain. The linked transcription identifies Watson as translator.

[59] Quintilian, Institutio oratoria 2.20.7, reporting Zeno's comparison of dialectic and rhetoric. H. E. Butler, The Institutio Oratoria of Quintilian (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, 1920-1922), Perseus Digital Library text. Source 1

In Quintilian, the closed fist represents concise dialectic and the open hand continuous rhetoric. Baumgarten extracts only the two hand images and joins them with et.

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Butler's four-volume translation was published in 1920-1922 and is in the United States public domain. The Perseus canonical repository supplies the digital source file.

[60] Quintilian, Institutio oratoria 8.5.29. H. E. Butler, The Institutio Oratoria of Quintilian (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, 1920-1922), Perseus Digital Library text. Source 1

Baumgarten inserts in horizontem logicum, which is absent from Quintilian, and changes the finite verbs consequuntur and perdunt into infinitives governed by his surrounding sentence. Butler translates the continuous source text and therefore does not represent Baumgarten's inserted phrase.

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Butler's four-volume translation was published in 1920-1922 and is in the United States public domain. The Perseus canonical repository supplies the digital source file.

[61] Cicero, De inventione 1.8. Charles Duke Yonge, The Treatises of M. T. Cicero (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1853), public-domain text reproduced by ToposText. Source 1

The marked ellipsis omits Cicero's intervening question quae sit mundi forma, which Baumgarten also omits. Baumgarten changes Cicero's first-person plural existimamus into third-person reporting (existimat Cicero), substitutes persona for officio, and makes several smaller orthographic or inflectional changes.

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ToposText identifies Yonge's 1853 translation as public domain; Yonge died in 1891.

[62] Horace, Satires 1.10.91. John Conington, The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace, Project Gutenberg eBook 5419. Source 1

The current concordance mistakenly carries forward Cicero's name from the preceding citation in Baumgarten's sentence. The verse itself is Horace, and Baumgarten's reference to the Stoic wise man supplies its local frame. Baumgarten has the masculine discipulorum where Horace has the feminine discipularum; Conington accordingly writes ladies' school. The scan should be checked before deciding whether Baumgarten's form is deliberate or a transcription error.

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Project Gutenberg supplies a United States reuse statement; Conington died in 1869.

[63] Cicero, De oratore 2.61. J. S. Watson, Cicero on Oratory and Orators (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1860). Source 1

Baumgarten changes Cicero's third-person plural subject to a second-person singular address and changes nobis, qui non sumus to illis, qui non sunt. Watson translates Cicero's unadapted syntax.

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Watson's translation was published in 1860 and is in the public domain. The linked transcription identifies Watson as translator.