Hi everyone !
This is from Justus Lipsius' Preface of his Tacitus Edition (1580):
Brevitas etiam mea fortasse quibusdam non ad gustum.quid faciam?ita natura mea et iudicium est:et tractari malo,quam semel adspici et tangi.Aquam maris dulciorem in imo esse aiunt,quam in summo.
I read it (loosely)as follows:and my conciseness(of his commentaries) may probably not be to everyone's taste.What can I do?It is in my nature and according to my judgement and I would rather have things being discussed than seeing and jotting down at once.They say water is sweeter at the bottommost than at the surface.
Now my question is,does he not contradict himself?Why does say brevitas when he clearly advocates the contrary?Or is he being ironical?
please excuse my english,i'm european.