Nam quatenus antiquorum admiratores hunc velut terminum antiquitatis constituere solent, qui usque ad Cassium: <Cassium> quem reum faciunt, quem primum adfirmant flexisse ab ista vetere atque directa dicendi via, non infirmitate ingenii nec inscitia litterarum transtulisse se ad illud dicendi genus contendo, sed iudicio et intellectu.
The common practice of the eulogists of antiquity is to make this the line of demarcation between the ancients and ourselves. Down to the time of Cassius: Now as to Cassius, who is the object of their attack, and who according to them was the first to turn away from the straight old path of eloquence, my argument is that it was not from defective ability or want of literary culture that he went in for that style of rhetoric, but as the result of sound judgement and clear discrimination.
final_alignments\Tacitus_Dialogus.json