namque et antiquitus, cum Gaius Cornelius Gaio Secundo paria suasisset, ipse postmodum quod iniunxit arripuit, idque ab exemplo nunc melius aggredieris, quia et ego Plinio ut discipulus assurgo et tu vetusto genere narrandi iure Cornelium antevenis, qui saeculo nostro si revivisceret teque qualis in litteris et quantus habeare conspicaretur, modo verius Tacitus esset.
For even in the old days Gaius Cornelius (Tacitus), after giving similar advice to Gaius Secundus (Pliny), himself appropriated later the task he had imposed: and, according to this precedent, you will even more fitly attempt it, seeing that to Pliny I yield homage as a pupil, whereas in the old historical style you rightly take precedence of Tacitus, so that if he could come to life again in our day and see the greatness of your distinction in literature, he would now be Tacitus in a more real sense.
final_alignments\Sidonius_Letters_Book4.json