Letter 103.8

My lord, about the image you say you are looking for, and for which you take me as your partner and assistant, will you mind if I look for it in the embrace of you and your father? Think of the island Aenaria in the Ionian or Tyrrhenian sea, or rather perhaps in the Adriatic, or whatever sea it is; give it the right name. That island itself receives and drives back the sea waves, and itself bears the whole force of fleets, pirates, sea creatures, and storms. Inside, however, in its lake, it shelters another island from every danger and difficulty, while letting it share in every pleasure and delight. The island within the lake is also washed by water, is also inhabited, also looks out to sea. In the same way, your father bears the troubles and difficulties of the Roman Empire himself, while he keeps you safe in the calm inner fold of his protection, a partner in dignity, glory, and every honor. You can use this image in many ways when you give thanks to your father, in a speech where you ought to be especially rich and abundant. There is nothing in your whole life that you can say more honorably, more truly, or more gladly than what will adorn your father's praise. Whatever other image I add afterward will not please you as much as this one concerning your father. I know that as well as you feel it. So I shall not add another image myself, but will show you the method by which you can search for one. Please send me the images that you search out and find by the method I have shown, so that, if they are clever and well-shaped, I may rejoice. First, then, you know that an image is taken up to adorn something, disfigure it, compare it, diminish it, enlarge it, or make credible what is less credible. Where none of those uses exists, there is no place for an image. Then, when you write an image for the subject before you, you should do in writing what you would do if you were painting: notice the distinguishing marks of the thing whose image you are painting. You will choose those marks in many ways: likenesses of kind, likenesses of form, the whole, the parts, proper features, differences, opposites, consequences and accompanying facts, names, inherent qualities, accidents, elements, and nearly everything from which arguments are drawn. You have often heard about these when we handled Theodorus' topics for proofs. If any of them has slipped your memory, it will be useful for us to go over them again when there is time. In the image I sketched of your father and you, I took one accident of the subject: the likeness of safety and enjoyment. Now you, by the roads and paths I have shown above, must search out how you may most conveniently reach your Aenaria. The pain in my elbow is not much eased. Farewell, my lord, with your exceptional talent. Give my greetings to my Lady, your mother. We shall pursue the whole art of images more carefully and more finely another time; for now I have only touched the main points.

To my Lord. 1. As to the simile, which you say you are puzzling over and for which you call me in as your ally and adjutant in finding the clue, you will not take it amiss, will you, if I look for the clue to that fancy within your breast and your father's breast? Just as the island lies in the Ionian or Tyrrhenian sea, or, maybe, rather in the Adriatic, or, if it be some other sea, give it its right name—as then that sea-girt island (Aenaria) itself receives and repels the ocean waves, and itself bears the whole brunt of attack from fleets, pirates, sea-monsters and storms, yet in a lake within protects another island safely from all dangers and difficulties, while that other nevertheless shares in all its delights and pleasures (for that island in the inland lake is, like the other, washed by the waters, like it catches the health-giving breezes, like it is inhabited, like it looks out on the sea), so your father bears on his own shoulders the troubles and difficulties of the Roman empire while you he safeguards safely in his own tranquil breast, the partner in his rank and glory and in all that is his. Accordingly you can use this simile in a variety of ways, when you return thanks to your father, on which occasion you should be most full and copious. For there is nothing that you can say in all your life with more honour or more truth or more liking than that which concerns the setting forth of your father's praises. Whatever simile I may subsequently suggest will not please you so much as this one which concerns your father. I know this as well as you feel it. Consequently I will not myself give you any other simile, but will shew you the method of finding them out for yourself. You must send me any similes you search out and find by the method shewn you for that purpose, that if they prove neat and skilful I may rejoice and love you. 2. Now, in the first place, you are aware that a simile is used for the purpose of setting off a thing or discrediting it, or comparing, or depreciating, or amplifying it, or of making credible what is scarcely credible. Where nothing of the kind is required, there will be no room for a simile. Hereafter when you compose a simile for a subject in hand, just as, if you were a painter, you would notice the characteristics of the object you were painting, so must ) T ou do in writing. Now, the characteristics of a thing you will pick out from many points of view, the likenesses of kind, the likenesses of form, the whole, the parts, the individual traits, the differences, the contraries, the consequences and the resultants, the names, the accidents, the elements, and generally everything from which arguments are drawn, the point in fact so often dwelt upon when we were dealing with the commonplaces of the arguments of Theodorus. If any of them have slipped your memory, it will not be amiss for us to go over them afresh when time serves. In this simile, which I have sketched out about your father and you, I have taken one of the accidentals of the subject, the identity of the safety and the enjoyment. Now it remains for you, by those ways and paths which I have pointed out above, to discover how you may most conveniently come at your Aenaria. 3. The pain in my elbow is not much better. Farewell, my Lord, with your rare abilities. Give my greeting to my Lady your mother. On another occasion we will follow out, with more care and exactness, the whole art of simile-making; now I have only touched upon the heads of it.

ad M. Caesarem 3.8 [40 Hout; 1.34 Haines] Domino meo. 1 Imaginem, quam te quaerere ais meque tibi socium ad quaerendum et optionem sumis, num moleste feres, si in tuo atque in tui patris sinu id futurum quaeram? Ut illa in mari Ionio sive Tyrrhenico sive vero potius in Hadriatico mari, seu quod aliud est mare, ejus nomen maris addito, igitur ut illa in mari insula Aenaria fluctus maritimos ipsa accipit atque propulsat omnemque vim classium, praedonum, beluarum, procellarum ipsa perpetitur, intus autem in lacu aliam insulam protegit ab omnibus periculis ac difficultatibus tutam, omnium vero deliciarum voluptatumque participem, namque illa intus in lacu insula aeque recipit, habitatur aeque, mare aeque prospectat, item pater tuus imperii Romani molestias ac difficultates ipse perpetitur, te tutum intus in tranquillo sinu suo socium dignitatis gloriae honorumque omnium participem tutatur. Igitur hac imagine multimodis uti potes ubi patri tuo gratias ages, in qua oratione locupletissimum et copiosissimum te esse oportet. Nihil est enim, quod tu aut honestius aut verius aut libentius in omni vita tua dicas quam, quod ad ornandas patris tui laudes pertinebit. Postea ego quamcumque εἰκόνα huc addidero, non aeque placebit tibi, ut haec quae ad patrem tuum pertinet; tam hoc scio, quam tu novisti. Quamobrem ipse aliam εἰκόνα nullam adiciam, sed ratione, qua tute quaeras, ostendam. Et amem te, tu quas εἰκόνας in eandem rem demonstrata ratione quaesiveris et inveneris mittito mihi, ut si fuerint scitae atque concinnae, gaudeam. 2 Jam primum quidem illud scis, εἰκόνα ei rei adsumi, ut aut ornet quid aut deturpet aut aequiperet aut deminuat aut ampliet aut ex minus credibili credibile efficiat. Ubi nihil eorum usus erit, locus εἰκόνος non erit. Postea ubi rei propositae imaginem scribes, ut si pingeres, insignia animadverteres ejus rei cujus imaginem pingeres, item in scribendo facies. Insignia autem cujusque rei multis modis eliges: τὰ ὁμογενῆ, τὰ ὁμοειδῆ, τὰ ὅλα, τὰ μέρη, τὰ ἴδια, τὰ διάφορα, τὰ ἀντικείμενα, τὰ ἑπόμενα καὶ παρακολουθοῦντα, τὰ ὀνόματα, τὰ ἐνούσια, τὰ συμβεβηκότα, τὰ στοιχεῖα et fere omnia ex quibus argumenta sumuntur; de quibus plerumque audisti, cum Θεωδώρου locos ἐπιχειρημάτων tractaremus. Eorum si quid memoriae tuae elapsum est, non inutile erit eadem nos denuo retractare, ubi tempus aderit. In hac εἰκόνε, quam de patre tuo teque depinxi, ἕν τι τῶν συμβεβηκότων ἔλαβον, τὸ ὅμοιον τῆς ἀσφαλείας καὶ τῆς ἀπολαύσεως. Nunc tu per hasce vias ac semitas, quas supra ostendi, quaeres, quonam modo Aenariam commodissime pervenias. 3 Mihi dolor cubiti haud multum sedatus est. Vale, domine, cum ingenio eximio. Dominae meae matri tuae dic salutem. 4 τὴν δὲ ὅλην τῶν εἰκόνων τέχνην alias diligentius et subtilius persequemur; nunc capita rerum attigi.