XLVI. " It requires no very long explanation to show why I think the public lawa^ also, which concern the state and government, as well as the records of history, and the preoe- > The ciiBtom Eeipondetidi de Jtire, nnd the interpretatianB and de^ cisions of the learned, were bo uoivereallf approvod. that, althongb they were unwritten, they became a. new epecies of law, aad were oaHad Auclcrittu, or Saponia Prndentmn. This custom continued to the time of Aoguatus without intamiptiDn, who aeleetod purticular lawyara, »ad gare them the aanotion of a patent; hut then grew ieto desuetude, till Hadiian renewed thia office or gtaat, which made bo ooDBiderable a. branch of the Roman law. B.
' j»™ pttWini. Dr. Taylor, in hia History of the Roman Law, p. 62, has given ua the heads of the Roman /lu puificum, which were, — religion and divine worship — peace and war— legislation — exchequer aod ra^id, eechaata^the prerogative — law of treasona — taxee and impoata — coinage— juriadictien — magiatraciea — regalia — embossiea — hnnoiira and titlaB-— collages, Bchoole, eerporatione — CBstlea and fortiflcationa— fairs, mercata, etaple — foreata — naturaliiiaUon. B, SE OBATORE,' OB, dents of antiquity, ought to be known to the orator; for aa in causoa and trials relative to private af&ira, bis lauguage is often to be borrowed from the civil law, and therefore, as we I said before, tha knowledge of the civil la.w is necesaarj to the I orator J so in regard to caufica affecting pubUc matters, before our courts, iu assemblies of the people, and in the senate, all the history of these and of post times, the authority of public law, the system and science of governing the state, ought to be at the command of orators occupied with affairs of govemment, as the very groundwork of their apeecheai' ^ For we ore not contemplating, in this discourse, the character of an every-day pleader, bawler, or barrator, but that of a man, who, in the first place, may be, as it were, the high-priest of this profession, for which, though natnre herself baa givea rich endowments to man, yet it was thought to be a god that gave it, 80 that the very thing which ia the distinguishing property of man, might not seem to have been acquired by ourselves, but bestowed upon us by some divinity; who, ia the next place, con move with safety even amid the weapons of his adversariea, distingimhed not go mucb by a hendd's caduceus,^ as by hia title of orator; who, likewise, is able, by means of his eloquence, to expose guilt and deceit to the hatred of his countrymen, aad to restrain them by penalties; who can also, with the shield of bis genius, protect innocence from punishmeDt; who can rouse a spiritless and despondiug people to giory, or reckim them from infatuation, or inflame their rage against the guilty, or mitigate it, if incited ogainst the virtuous; who, fiaidly, whatever feeling in the minds of men his object and cause require, can either excite or calm it by his eloquenceJ If any cue supposes that this power has either been sufficiently set forth by those who have written on the art of apealung, or can be set forth by me iu so brief a space, he is greatly mistaken, and understands neither my inabiii^, nor the magnitude of tha Bubject. For my own part, since it was your desire, I thought, that the fountains ought to be shown you, from which you ' Tan^uaan aliqita tnalfriu, Ernesti's tt>it, layn Orellius, has aHa, hy mialake. Aliqua ia not vety satiafaotory. Nobbo, tha editor of' TauoliiiitE'B text, retaina EmMti'B alia.
; wand, readers hie parson i m ,] OS THE CHAHAOTEB OP THE OKATOK. 199 miglit draw, and the roads which, you might pursue, not so that I should become jour guide (which would be an eudlesB anduuueceBaary labour), but so that I might poiut out to you tiie way, and, as the practice is, might hold ou.t my fluger towards the spring."^ XLVII. "To me," remarked ScsBVola, "eaough appeare to have been eaid by you, aud more thau enough, to stimulate the eSbrts of these young mea, if they are but studiously inclined; for as they say that the illustrious Socrates used to observe that hie object was attained if any one was by his exJiortationa sufficiently incited to desire to know and understand virtue; (since to those who were persuaded to desire notliing BO much as to become good men, what remained to ^^ be learned itas easy;) so I consider that if you wish to penetrate into those subjects which Cntssus has set before you in his remarks, you will, with the greatest ease, arrive at your object, after this course aud gate has been opened to you." "To UB," said Sulpiciua, "these instructions are eseeedingly pleafiunt and delightful; but tliere are a few things more which wo still desire to bear, especially those whioh were touched upon bo briefly by you, Crassus, in reference to onr ^tiry Ma an H.rt^ when you oonfeEscd that you did not despise them, but had learned them. If you will speak somewliat more at length on those points, you will satisfy ail the eugemess of our long desire. For we iuiTe now heard to what objects wB must dieot our ^brts, a point ■which is of great importance; but wa long to be instructed in the ways and nieana of pursuing those objects," " Then," said Crassus, " (since I, to detain you at my house ■with less difficulty, have rather complied with your desires, tiian my own habit or inclination,) what if we ask Antouius to tell us something of what he still keeps in reserve, aad has not yet made known to us, (on which subjects he complained, S while ago, that a book has already dropped from his pen.) and to reveal to us bis mysteries in the art of speaking l " As you please," said Sulpicius, " for, if Autonius speaks, wa sbaU still learn what you think." " I request of you then, AntoniuB," said Crassus, " since this task U put upon men of ' Vt fieri salet, Erneati conjectures -at did lotd, Ellendt thinkfl tfaa commoa reading right, leqidiing only tbat we ebould underBtoud A Qomtnonitrantilius.
I I I DB ohatobb; OB, our time of life by the stiidious inclinations of these youths, to deliver your sentimenta upon these subjects which, you Bee, are required from you."
XLVIII, "I see plainly, aud understand indeed," replied Antonius, "that 1 am caught, not only because those thinga are required from me in which I am ignorant and unpractised, but hecBuso these youug men do not permit me to avoid, on the present occasion, what I always carefully avoid in my public pleadings, namely, not to speak after yon, Craasua. But I will enter upon what you desire the more boldly, as I hope the same thing will happen to me in thia discussion as usually happens to me at the bar, that no flowers of rhetoric will be espeoted from me. For I am not going to speak about art, which I never learned, but about my own practice; and those very particulars which I have entered in my coramon-placo book are of this kind,' not ex~ pressed with anything like learning, but just as they are treated in business and pleadings j and if they do not meet with approbatiott from men of your extensive knowledge, you must blame your own unreasonableness, in requii-iug from me what I do not know; aud you must ptaiae my complaisance, since I make no difficulty in answering your questions, being induced, not by my own judgment, but your earnest desire." " Go ou, Antonius," rejoined Crassua, "for there is no danger that you will say anything otherwise than so discreetly that no one here will repent of having prompted you tft "I will go on, then," said Antonius, "and will do what think ought to be done in all discussions at the ment; I mean, thatltiie subject, whatever it may be, oil which the discussion is held, should be defineiJ so that the discourse may not be forced to wander aud stray from its course, from the disputauts not having the same notion of the matter under debate. If, for instance, it were inquired, 'What is theart of agenerair I should think that we ought to settle, at the outset, what a general is; and when he was defined to be a commander /or conducting a war, we might then proceed to speak of troops, of encampments, of marching in battle array, of engagements, of besieging towns, of provisions, of ' Nut recorded with itny elegance, but in the plain style in wliielL, I am now going to ezprese my aelf. Emati.
X.] OS THE OHAEACTER OF THE OEATOB. 201 laying and avoiding ambuscades, and other matters relative to the m&nogemeut of a war; and those who had the capacity and knowledge to dii-ect such afiairs I should call generals; and should adduce the examples of the Africaui aud Mimmi, and speak of Epaminondas, and Hannibal, and men of Euch. character. But if we should inquire what sort of character he ie, who should contribute his experience, and knowledge, and zeal to the management of the state, I should give this sort of definition, that he who wadenlancU hy vtkat meant the interests of the republic are secured and promoted, and employs those meaiM, is worthy to be esteemed a director in affairs of government, aitd a leader in public councils; and I should mention Fublius Lentulus, that chief of the senate,^ and Tiberius Gracchus the father, and Quintua Metellus, and Fublius AfricanuB, and Cains L^liug, and others without number, as well of our own city as of foreign states. But if it should be asked, ' Who truly deserved the name of a Iftwyerl' I should say that he deserves it -who is learned in the bwi, and that general usage^ which private persona observe in th^r intercourse in the community, who can give an am on any point, can plead, and exm take precautions for interests of his client; and I should name Sestus ^liuB, Manius Manilius, FubHus Mucins, as distinguished ii respects. XLIX. In like manner, to notice sciences o.
important character, if a musician, if a grammarian, if a poet were the subject of consideration, I could state that which each of them possesses, and than which nothing more is to be expected from each. Even of the philosopher himself, who BJorLe, from his abilities and wisdom, professes almost eveiything, there isa sort of definition, signifying, that Ae tf^ slvdiet to learn the powers, nattire,and causes of all thijtgs, divine and liuma/a, and to imderstand and explaim, the whole leiencs of liidnff virtuoTuly, niay justly deserve this appeUation. i_i' The orator, however, since it is about him that we are considering, I do not conceive to be exactly the same character that Crosaus makes him, who seemed to me to inolude all knowledge of all matters and sciences, under the Bingle profession and name of an orator; but I regard him.
Ha wss cDuanl with Cneitia I DE OHATORB; OB, [b. U * ELS one vjAo ean tus words agreeable to hear, and 1kavj}hU adapted to prove, not only in cautes thai are pleaded in lis forum, bat in cautei in general, I Him I call an orator, aoA ■would have him besideB accompHslied in deliTery and acfit and with a certain degree of wit. But our friend Crai eeemed to me to define the £iculty of &n orator, not by proper limits of his art, but by the almost immense limits of his own genius; for, by his definition, he delivered the helm* of civil government into the hands of his orator; a point,' which it appeared very strange to me, Sctevola, that yon should grant him; when the senate has often given its asaeat on affairs of the utmost consequence to yourself, though you have spoken briefly and without ornament. And M. Scaurua, who 1 hear is in the country, at his villa not far off, a man eminently skilled in a&ira of government, if he should hear that the authority which his gravity and counsels bear with them, is claimed by you, Crasaus, as you say that it is the property of the orator, he would, I believe, come hither without delay, and frighten us out of our talk by hia very countenance and aspect; who, though he is no contemptibls speaker, yet depends more upon hia judgment in aflairs of consequence, than upon his ability in speaking^ and, if any one has abilities in both these ways, he who i& of authority in the public councils, and a good senator, is not on those accounts an orator; and if he that is an eloquent and powerlU speaker be also eminent in civil administration, he did not acquire his political knowledge^ through oratory. Those talents differ very much in their nature, and are quite separate and distinct from each other; nor did Marcus Cato, Pubhus A&icanuB, Quiutus Metellus, Caius Lcolius, who were all eloquent, give lustre to their own orations, and to the dignity of the republic, by the same art and method.
L. '■ It is not enjoined, let me observe, by the nature of things, or by any law or custom, that one man must not know more than one art; and therefore, though Periclea waa the best orator in Alheus, and was also for many years director of the public counsels in that city, the talent for ' Ali^aaia aeienliam. For aKyuam Mmnitiiia conjectured iiiaii, which LuDbmUB, Brueati, and HiUler approve. WjiCtcnluch auggested o^ictunn, which lua been adopted by Sdiutz and Oielliiu. I have followed UiDutiiu.
i I f TnB 0H4R4.CTER OF THE ORATOR. 203 both those charaotera must not be thought to belong to the same art because it eiisted iti the same man; nor if Publiua Crassus was both au orator and a lawyer, is the knowledge of the oivO law for that reason included in the power of speaking. For if every man wiio, while excelling in any art or scienee, has acquired another art or science in addition, ahall represent that hie additional knowledge ia a part of that in Tfhich he previously excelled,' we may," by such a mode of argument, pretend that to play well at tennis or counters,^ isapart of the knowledge of civil law, because Publius Muoiua ■was skilled in both; and, by parity of reaeonii^, those whom the Greeks call i^uotoi, ' natural philosophers,' may be regarded as poets, because Empedocles the natural phUosopber ■wrote an excellent poem. But not even the pliilosophers themselves, who would have everything, as their own right, to be theirs, nnd in their possession, have the confidenue to say that geometry or music is a part of philosophy, because all a:Cknowledge Plato to have been eminently excellent in those Bciences. And if it be still your pleasure to attribute all Bcieaces to the orator, it wOl be hett«r for us, rather, to express ourselves to this effect, tTiat since eloquence must not be bald and unadorned, but marked and distinguished by a certain pleasing variety of manifold qualities, it is necessary for a good orator to have heard and seen much, to have gone over many subjects in thought and reflection, and many also ia reading; though not bo as to have taken posaeaaion of them as his own property, but to have tasted of them as things belonging to others. For I confess that the orator 'i should be a knowing man, not quite a tiro or novice in any: subject, not utterly ignorant or ineiperienced in any business j of life. ^ LL " Nor am I discomposed, Crassus, by those tragic arguments of yours,* on whicb the pliilosophers dwell most of.all; ■ ' iScia — eceeiZe*. ThecDmrnsntaloraaaynothingagainattheBafututBa. ' Ihto6isxia tanptu. This was u game piajed with couateca on s board, moved aooording to throws of the dioo, but differBnt from oar backgammon. The reader may Sod all that ia knowu of it in Adam'i Romui Antiquities, p. 42;!, aud Smith's Diot^ of Qr. and Eom. Ant. mit. LatruncuU.
' Jtlu tragcediis tiat. Persona nre eaid ttvgwdiaii in nvffii agire, who malu a small matter great by clamouring ovar it, as is dona bv actor^ PnxMC, See b. ii. o. 51; Quint. tL 1, 30.
D£ OBATOBEj Olt, I mean, when you said, That ita man can, hy »peakinff,excka the passions of his audience, or calm, them when excited, (in vikich efforts it is that tke power and greatness of ^ orator <xra chiejtj/ seen,) unless one who has gained a thorough insight into. _ the nature of all things, and the dispasiiiont and Tnolives f^/\ mankind; on mhich account philosophy must of necessity St J studied by the orator; a, study in 'which vie see that the wholc^j lives of men of the greatest talent and leisure are epent; tlwH copiousness and magnitude of whoBQ learning aod knowledgfiH I not only do not despite, but greatly admire j but, for U|V who are engaged iu bo busy & state, and auoh occupations ia tlie forum, it ia sufficient to know and say justso much about the manners of mankind aa is not inconsisteut with human nature. For what great and powerful orator, whose object was to make ajudgc angry with his adversary, ever hesitated, because he was ignorant whnt anger was, whether ' a. heat of temper,' or ' a desire of vengeance for pain received 1 ' ^ Who, when he wished to stir up and inflaiae other }M|ioi minds of the judges or people by his eloque^h c"" BUch things as a T uttered e said by the philosophej||T' part of whom deny that any passions whatever should be e^^Ud in the mind, and say that they who touae them in the breasts of the judges are guilty of a heinous crime, and part, who are inclined to be more tolerant, and to aceommodate themselvea more to the realities of life, say that such emotion^ught to be but very moderate and gentle. But the orator, by his eloquence, represents all those things which, in the common affiiirs of life, are considered evil and troublesome, and to be avoided, as heavier and mora grievous ttiauAey really are; and at tha eame time amplifies and embellishes, by power of language, those things which to the generality of mankind seem inviting and desirable; nor does he wish to appear ho very wise among fools, as that hta audience should think htm impertinent or a pedantic Greek, or, though they very much approve his understanding, and admire his wisdom, yet should feel uneasy that they themselves are but idiots to him; hut he bo effectually penetrates the minds of men, so works upon their senses and feelings, that he has no occasi on for the definitions of philosophers, or to consider in the course of his speech, ' whether the chief good lies in the mind or in the body;' 'whether it is to be ■ See AriBtotle, Bhetor- il. 2 i Cic. Tobo. QuiEBt: i' rt.] ON THE CKABACTBR OF THE ORATOR. 205 defined as coDsisting in virtue or in pleasure;' ' whether these two can be united and coupled togetlier;' or 'whether,' as BOEoe thint, 'notliing certain can Le known, nothing clearly perceived and understood;' questions in which I acknowledge that a vast multiplicity of leamiDg, and a great abundance of varied reasoning is involved; but we seek something of a far different character; we want a man of superior intelligence, eagp,ciou8 by nature and from eiperience, who can acutely divine irhat his fellow-citizens, and all those whom he wishes to convince on any subject by bis eloquence, think, feel, imagine, or hope. LIT. He must penetrate the inmost recesses of the mind of every class, age, and rank; and must aaoertain the eentiments and notions of those before whom he is pleading,' or intends to plead; but his books of philosophy he miist reserve to himself, tor the leisure and tranquillity of such a Tusculan villa as this, and must not, when he is to apeak on justice and honesty, borrow from Plato; who, when he thought that Buch Bubjeii^tEerB to be illustrated in writing, imagined in his pages a i^Bkind of commonwealth; so much was that which he thou^tf necessary to l>e said of justice, at variancs with ordinary liwand the general customs of the world. But if such notions were received in existing communities and nations, who would have permitted you, Crassus, though a. taan of the highest character, and the chief leader in the " city, to utter what yoffaddressed to a vast assembly of your fellow-citizens 1^ Deliver ds from these miserieb, deliver vb FRflM THE JAWa OF THOSE WHOSE CBUELTT CANNOT BE SATIATED EVEN WITH BLOOD; BCPPES US NOT TO BE SLAVES TO ANT EUT TOUBBELVES AS A PEOPLE, ^feoM WE BOTH CAN AND OUGHT TO BBHVE, I say nothing about the word miseries, in which, as the philosophers say,^ a. man of fortitude cannot be; I say nothing of the jaws from which you desire to be ' Moat oopioB hare aget; Pearce, with tto mmority, prefers a^t.
' These vords are taken from a, ispeech which Cmssua had a Hhort time before delivered io an aaaembly of the people, and in which he had made severe oomplainta of the Roman iniEhtB, who exercisBd their judicial powers with aeverity and injustico, and gave great trouble to the senate. Ctaasus took the part of the Benate. and oddreaaed the eihortation in the teit to tbe people. Proast. Cibsbub was oupporting the Senilian law. MarniUiut.
' Ut Uli aiunl. The pbiloaophers, especially the Stoics, who afSnned that Uie wise man alone is happy. £Uendt.
I I pie, likaH k delivered, that your blood may not be druiilc by an unjust fienten<ffl; a thing whicli they say cannot happen to a wise roftc; but how durst you say that not only yonredf, but the whole senate, whose cauee you were then pleadings wep*. BLAVES? Can virtue, Craasus, poEBJbly be enslatbd, acoorisi ing to those whose precepts yon make necessary to the scienoBJ of an. orator; virtue whjcb ia ever and alone free, and which, though our bodies be captured in war, or bound wjth fetters, yet ought to maintain its rights and liberty inviolate in all circumstances 1 ' And as to what yon added, that the senate not only can but odght to be biaves to the people^ what philosopher is so eiTerainate, bo languid, so enervated, BO eager to refer everything to bodily plesBuro or pain, as to allow that the senate should be the slaves of the people, to whom the people themselves have delivered th^wwer, lito certain reins as it were, to guide and govern them!
LIII. " Accordingly, when I regarded these words of yoi as the divinest eloquence, Publiua Butiliua Eufiis,' a m of learning, and devoted to philraophy, observed that what jou had said was not only injudicious, but boso and dishonourable. The same Hutilius used severely to censure Servins Galim, whom he said he very well remembered, bacause, when Lucius Soribonius brought an accnsation against liiin, and Marcus Cato, a bitter and implacable enemy to Gaiba, bad spoken with rancour and vehemence against him before the assembled people of Rome, (in a speech whioh ho published in his Origines,') Eutilius, I say, censured Galba, for holding up, almost upon his shoulders, Quintus, the orphan son of Caius Sulpicius Gallus, his near relation, that he might, through the memory of his most illustrions father, draw tears from the people, and for recommending two little sons of his own to the guardianship of the public, and saying that he himself (as if he was mijung his will in the ranks before a battle,* without balance or writing tables,') appointed ' See the Fsradox of Cicero oa the wdfiIh Oioko tapieiiia ISitn, imiua itulH aen-i.
> Mentioned b;Cic Brut. c. 30. Proait. He wok e. perfect Stoic JSOmdt. ' A work on the origin of the people DJid dtiea of Italy, and other matters, now lost. Cic Bnit. c. 8S; Com, Hep. Life of Cato, c 3.
soldier, in the hearing of three or more nf hie commdea,...one hia hair in cue he HhoiUd f&Il ia the engsgement. When a, peraoD, in the presence of hve witnesBea and a, tibripeM, ON TIEE CHABACTER OF THE 0R4T0B, 207 the peo^e of Boiue protectors of their orphan condition. As Galba, therefore, laboured luider the ill-opinioa and dislike of the people, Eutilius said that he owed his deliverance to Buch tnigic tricks as these; and I see it is also recorded in Cato's book, that if he had not employed children and lean, he vimild iuive cafered. Such proceedings Rutilius seferely condemned, and said banishment, or even death, was mora eligible than such meanneas. Hor did he merely say this, but thought and acted accordingly; for being a man, as yon know, of eiemplary integrity, a man to whom no person in the city was superior in honesty and sincerity, he not only refiised to supphcate his judges, but would not allow his cause to be pleaded with more ornament or freedom of language than the simple plainness of truth carried with it.* SmaJl waa the part of it he assigned to Cotta here, his sister's son, and a youth of great eloquence; and Quintua Mucins also took Eomc share in his defence, speaking in his usual manner, without ostentation, but simply and with perspionity. But if yon, Crasaua, had then spoken, — yon, who just now teXd that the orator must seek nssistonce from those disputations in which the philosophers indulge, to supply himself ■with matter for his speeches, — if you had been at liberty tO' speak for Publina Eutihus, not after the manner of philosophers, but in your own way^ althongh his accusers had been, as they really were, abandoned and mischievous citizens, and worthy of the severest punishment, yet the force of your eloquence would have rooted all their unwarrantable cruelty from the bottom of their hearts. But, as it was, a man of such a character waa lost, because his cause was pleaded in snidi a manner as if the whole affiiir had been transacted in the imaginary commonwealth of Piato. Not a single individual uttered a groan; not one of the advocates gave vent to an exclamation; no one showed any appearance of grief; no one complained; no one supplicated, no one implored the mercy of the public. In short; no one even stamped a foot on the trial, for fear, I suppoae, of renouncing the doctrine of the Stoics.
LIV. " Thus a Roman, of consular dignity, imitated the Maigned hia property to Bomebody ns his heir. Gaiaa, ii. 101; Aul.
' He WBB falaely accused of eitortioQ in tia pravinca of Aeia, anil, being condemned, was aeut into esile. Cio, Brat. c. 90. FraUtt.
I TE osatobe; or, illustrious Socrates of old, who, as ho waa a man of the greatest wisdom and had lived in the utmost integrity, spoka for himself, when on trial for his life, in euoh a manner as not to aeera a Buppliant or prisoner, but the lord and master of his judges. Evea when Lysiaa, a most eloquent orator, brought him a written speecli, which, if he pleased, he might learn by heart, and repeat at his trial, he willingly read it over, and said it was written in a manner very well suited to the occasion; but, said he, if you bad brought me Sieyonian shoes,^ I should not wear them, though they might be eaay and suit my feet, because they would be effeminate; so that speech seems to me to be eloquent and becoming on orator, but not fearless and manly- In consequence, he also was condemned, not only by the first votes, by which the judges only decided whether they should acquit or condemn, but also by those which, in conformity with the laws, they were obliged to give afterwards. For at Athens, if the accused person was found guilty, and if his crime was not capital, there waa a sort of estimation of punishment; and when sentence waa to be finally given by the judges, the criminal waa asked what degree of punishment he acknowledged himself at most, to deserve; and when this question was put to Socrates, he answered, that he deserved to be distinguished with tJie noblest honours and rewai'ds, and to be daily maintained at the publio expense in the Prytaneum; an honour which, amongst the