Kitap 6
3.16
Nay, even those pleasantries in which we indulge on certain occasions of festive licence (and to which we give the name of mots, The meaning of this passage is not clear, and no satisfactory explanation or correction has been suggested. as, indeed, they are), if only a little more good sense were employed in their invention, and they were seasoned by a slight admixture of seriousness, might afford a most useful training. As it is, they serve merely to divert the young and merrymakers.
3.17
There are various names by which we describe wit, but we have only to consider them separately to perceive their specific meaning. First, there is urbanitas, which I observe denotes language with a smack of the city in its words, accent and idiom, and further suggests a certain tincture of learning derived from associating with well-educated men; in a word, it represents the opposite of rusticity. The meaning of venustus is obvious;
3.18
it means that which is said with grace and charm. Salsus is, as a rule, applied only to what is laughable: but this is not its natural application, although whatever is laughable should have the salt of wit in it. For Cicero, Orat. xxvi. 90. when he says that whatever has the salt of wit is Attic, does not say this because persons of the Attic school are specially given to laughter; and again when Catullus says— In all her body not a grain of salt! Cat. lxxxvi. 4. he does not mean that there is nothing in her body to give cause for laughter.
