Kitap 2
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But concerning inlaudatus it seems possible to give two answers. One is of this kind: There is absolutely no one who is of so perverted a character as not sometimes to do or say something that can be commended (laudari.) And therefore this very ancient line has become a familiar proverb: Oft-times even a fool expresses himself to the purpose. But one who, on the contrary, in his every act and at all times, deserves no praise (laude) at all is inlaudatus, and such a man is the very worst and most despicable of all mortals, just as freedom from all reproach makes one inculpatus (blameless). Now inculpatus is the synonym for perfect goodness; therefore conversely inlaudatus represents the limit of extreme wickedness. It is for that reason that Homer usually bestows high praise, not by enumerating virtues, but by denying faults; for example: Iliad iv. 366, 768, etc. And not unwillingly they charged, and again: Iliad iv. 223. Not then would you divine Atrides see Confused, inactive, nor yet loath to fight. Epicurus too in a similar way defined the greatest pleasure as the removal and absence of all pain, in these words: Sent. iii. p. 72, Ussing. The utmost height of pleasure is the removal of all that pains. Again Virgil on the same principle called the Stygian pool unlovely. Georg. iv. 479; Aen. vi. 438. For just as he expressed abhorrence of the unpraised man by the denial of praise, so he abhorred the unlovable by the denial of love. Another defence of inlaudatus is this: laudare in early Latin means to name and cite. Thus in civil actions they use laudare of an authority, when he is cited. Conversely, the inlaudatus is the same as the inlaudabilis, namely, one who is worthy neither of mention nor remembrance, and is never to be named; as, for example, in days gone by the common council of Asia decreed that no one should ever mention the name of the man who had burned the temple of Diana at Ephesus. He is said to have set fire to the temple in order to make himself notorious for all time; see Val. Max. viii. 14. Exb. 5. His name, Herostratus, was preserved by Theopompus.
