Greeks, is account^ the very highest.
By which answer his judges were bo exasperated, that they condemned the most innocent of men to death. But had ho been acquitted, (which, indeed, though it is of no concern to tia, yet I could wish to have been the case, because of tha greatness of his genius,) how could we have patience with. those philosophers who now, though Socrates was condemned for no other crime but want of skill in speaking, maintaiit that the precepts of oratory should be learned from themselves, who are disciples of Socrates 1 With these men I have no dispute as to which of the two sciences is superior, or carries more truth in it; I only say that the one is distinct from the other, and that oratory may esist in the highest perfection without philosophy,.
. onl; hy the eSenuiuta uid luxil< ,CTER OF THE OHiTOB.
LV. " In bestowing such waira approbation on the civil law, CraasuH, I see what was your motive; when you were speaking, I did not see it.^ In the first place, you were wUIiiig to oblige ScEBVola, whom we ought all to esteem most desei*vedly for his Eiugulai'ly excellent dispoBition; and seeing his e Tindowried and iraadomcd, you. have enriched it with your eloquence as with a portion, and decorated it with a profaaion of omaraents. In the nest, aa you had spent much pains and labour in the acquisition of it, (since you bad in your own house one - who encouraged nud instructed you in that study,) jou were afraid that you miglit lose the fruit of your industry, if you did not magnify the science by youieloquence. But I have no controversy with tbe science; let it be of 83 much cousequence as you represent it; for without doubt it is of great and estensive concern, -having relation to multitudes of people, and baa always been held in the highest honour; and our most eminent citizens have ever been, and are still, at the head of tlie profession of it; but take care, Cmssus, Jest, while you strive to adorn the knowledge of the civil law with new and foreign ornaments, you spoil and denude her of what is granted and acconled to her as Ler own.;_For if yoii wero to say, that ho who is a lawyer is also an orator, and that he who is an orator is also a lawyer, you would make two escellent branches of knowledge, each equal to the other, and sharers of the same dignity; but now you allow that a man may be a lawyer without the eloquence which we are considering, and that there liave been many such; and you deny that a man can he an orator who has not acquired a knowledge of law. Thus the lawyer is, of himself, nothing with you but a sort of wary and acute legalist, an instruotor in actions,^ a repeater of forms, a catcher at syllablea; but because the orator has frequent occasion for the aid of the law in his pleadiuge, you bavo of necessity joined legal knowledge to eloquouce as a handmaid and attendant.J ' Tom,;uiHn diciAai, nan lidtiaM. Kbhj copiee omit the negative; an omisaioii apprOTod by Emeati, Hencichsea, and Elleadt.
' EitlioT Stxevok, the fatLDr-in-law of CranBua, or Lucius Ci:eliua.Antipater, wbom Cicero tnoutiona in his Bnitua. Pt-eial.
' Piiecii actioHiaa. One wIid informs thoBB who ure iguaraot of law when tlie courtB will be open; by what kind of suit any porsoii must proBecute his claims on any other person; nnd cats in law proneedingH an another surt of prato acts at Buutions. SlicbiBui.
I DB OKATOBE J 01^ LVI. " But as to your wouder at the eflrontery of those advocates who, though they were ignorant of Btuall things, profesB great ones, or who ventured, in the management of causes, to treat of the moat important points in the civil law, though thoy neither understood nor had ever Ictuned them, the defence on both oharges is easy and ready. For it is not at all surprising that ho who is ignorant in what form of wotdB ft contract of marriage is made, should be ahle to defend cause of a woman who haa formed such a contract; though the same skill iu steering is rGquiait^ for a si as for a large vessel, ia he therefore, who ia ignorant of the form of words by which an estate is to be divided, incapable of pleading a cause relative to the division of an estate.* For though you appealed to causes of great oonsequeoce, pleaded before the Ceotumviri, that turned upon points of law, what cause was there amongst them all, which ooald not have been ably pleaded by an eloquent man unacquainted with law? in all which causes, as in the cause of ManiuB Curius, which was lately pleaded by you,^ and that of Caius Hoatilius Mancinua,' and that of the boy who was bom of a second wife, without any notice of divorce having been sent to the first,' there was the greatest diBogreemant among the most skilful lawyers on points of law. I ask, then, how in these causes a knowledge of the law could have aided the orator, when that lawyer must have bad the superiority, who waa suppoi-ted, not by his own, but a foreign art, not by kn( ' HeTntum ciai^iercUcvndiB familia. Co-heirB, when ai Bcondad amongst tliaiu, wero, by the Ilomiui law, hoimd to each □ by the action fiuaUia: kcrdaimadiB; that ia, to divide the whole ftu ^ inheritaneB, and eettle all the aceounta whioh relatfld to it. Just. Inst. liL 2S. i. The word Atrrtam, aaya Festue, aigniSea whole or undiTidedi and do, to divide; ao, famiiiatn hemtaia dere whs to diride tho inharitanco of the iamily, which two words, htrclaia acre, were afterwardB contracted into he-cucare; henee thia law'temi used hera, famSi IxrcUcere. S«iTiuahaa,therefore,from DouatiiB,thiiailluat™tBdapi in Virgil, at the end of the VUlth.^^neid,— Cit» Ittetium in diveraa quodiigee Distuleraot.
aia, aajB he, ia a law-tenxi, aud aigniSes divided, aa hereto aon cilo, tia inheritance being imdividei CUte qaadi-igie, therefore, in that pnaange, a quick or ainifS, as ia generally imaginad, but rfrouiny i etata^^^l ;:h ot^^H iBtlnit. divided, inharit- «rwardB diMn ledge of the law, but by eloquence 1 I have often heard that, when Pubhns Craflsua was a candidate fur the iedileahip, and Servius Gaiha, though older than ha, and even of consular dignity, attended upon him to promote his interest, (having betrothed Crassua's daughter to ids son Caius,) there came a countiyman to CrassuB to consult bim on gome matter of law; and when he had taken Crassus aaide, and laid the afiair before liim. and received from hiia auch an answer as was rather right than suited to his wiBhes, Galha, seeing bim look dejected, called him by bis name, and asked him on what matter ho had consulted Crassua; when, having heard his case, and seeing the man iu great trouble, ' I perceive,' said he, 'that CraesuB gave you aii answer while hia mind was anxious, and pre-occupied with other afiairs.' He then took Crassus by the hand, and said, ' Hark you, how came it into your head to give this man such an answer? ' CVaBsiis, who waB a man of great legal knowledge, confidently repeated that the matter was exactly as he bad stated in hia answer, and that there could be no doubt. But Galba, referring to a variety and multiplicity of matters, adduced abundance of similar cases, and used many a.rgnments for equity agaiost the strict letter of law; while Crassua, as he could not maintain -hia ground in the debate, (for, though he was numbered among the eloquent, he was by no means equal to Galba,) bad cscouise to authorities, and showed wbat he had asserted in the books of bis brother Publius Mucins,^ and in the commfflitaries of Sextus ^lius; though he allowed, at the same time, that Galba'a arguments had appeared to him plausible, and almost true.
LVII. " But oausea which are of such a kind, that there can he no doubt of the law relative to them, do not usually oome to be tried at all. Does any one claim an inheritance under a mil, which the father of a family made before he had a son bom I Nobody; because it is dear that by the birth of a son the will is cancelled,^ Upon such pointe of law, therefore, there are no questions to be tried. The orator, accordingly, may bo ignorant -of all this part of the law ' The CraaauB here raentionad was Pnbliiia Crassus Divbb, brother of fnUioB MucLuB. Pontifex Maximua. See c. 37. Silcadt, R raoero pro CajoinU, a 25; QBiufl, ii. 133.
I I I OltiTDBE; OB, relative to controversieB,' which is without doubt the far greater part; but on tlioBG points which are dLspiited, even among tlie most skilful lawyers, it will not be diifioult for the orator to find some writer of authority on that side, whiohsoeyer it be, that he ia to defend, from whom,.when he has received his javelins ready for throwing, he will hurl tliem with the arm and strength of an orator. Unless we are to BupposB, indeed, (I would wish to mate the observation without offending this excellent man Scffivola,) that you, Craaaua. defended the cause of Manius Curiua out of the writings and rules of your fiither-in-law. Did you not, on the contrary, undertake the defence of equity, the support of wills, and the intention of the dead! Indeed, iu my opinion, (for I was frequently present and heard you,) jou won the far greater I number of votes by your wit, humour, and happy raiUf when you joked upon the extraordinary aouteneas, and ' -^^(ourpteBsed admiration of the genius, of Scsevola, who t ^ ^^,„^,diBCovered toi^J jnari mu^be fioni before he can die; a ^ when yon adduced many cases, both ffbm the laws and decrees of the senate, as well as from common life and intercourse, ' not only acutely, but facetiously and sarcastically, in which, Iif we attended to the letter, and not the spirit, nothing would result. The trial, therefore, was attended with abundance of mirth and pleasantry; but of what service your knowledge of the civil law was to you upon it, I do not understand; your great power in speaking, united with tha utmost humour and grace, certainly was of great service. Even Mucins himself, the defender of the father's right, who fought as it were for his own patrimony, what ai^ument did be advance in the cause, when bo spoke ogainst you, that appeared to bo drawn from the civil lawl What particular law did he recite? What did he esplaui in hia speech that waa unintelligible to the unlearned! The whole of his oration waa employed upon one point; that is, in maintaining that what waa written ought to be valid. But every boy is exercised on such Bubjocta by hia master, when be is instructed to ' Onxtieta?umc partim jurU in controveraiia. For in controta'sila XambiQUB and Emeati would read, from n correction in an old copy, taeanlnverH; bnt BX thera in no authority for tliU word, EUendt, with Bokiua, prefers nun cimtnTeTii. With this alteratioD, the aenas will b^i "ftll this uncuntroverted porti of the Ian."
support, in Buch cases as these, aomctiraos the writtpu letter, Bometimes equity. In that cause of the soldier, I presunie, if you had defended either him or tho heir, you would have had recourse to the cases of Hostilius,' and not to your own power and talent as an oratof. Nay, rather, if you had defended the will, you would have tu^ed in such a manner, that the entire validity of all wiUs whatsoever would have eeemed to depend upon that single trial; or, if you had pleaded the cause of the soldier, you would have raised his father, ■with your usual eloquence, from the dead; yon would have placed him before the eyea of the audience; he would have embraced his son, and with tears have recommended him to the Centumviri; you would have forced the very stones to weep and lament, so that all that clause, as the tongue had OEOLAJiED, would seem not to have been written in the Twelve Tables, which you prefer to all libraries, hut in some mere formula of a teacher.
LVIII. "As to the indolence of which you accuse our youth, for not learning that science, because, in the frst place, it is very easy, (how easy it is, let them consider who Htnit about before us, presuming on their knowledge of the science, as if it were extremely difficult; and do you yourself also consider that poiut, who say, that it is an easy science, which you admit as yet to be no science at all, but say tiiat if somebody shall ever leai'u some other science, so as to bo aijla to make this a science, it will then be o science;) and. because, in the nest place, it is full of pleasure, (but as to that matter, every one is willing to leave the pleasure to yourself, and is content to be without it, for there is not one of the young men who would not rather, if he must get anything by heart, learn the Teucer of Pacuvius than the Manilian laws^ on emption and vendition;) and, in the third place, because you think, that, from iove to our country, we ought to acquire a knowledge of the practices of our an- g Cestors; do you not perceive that the old laws are either ' Certain legal fonnulfa, o! wliich some luwysr named Hostilius was the autbor. Emesli.
' Sfanilianai — itjM. They were fomiiilto which those wiin wished not to be deeeived might use in bujing bhA soUiDg; thej nre culled oefionaiby Varro, li.R. ii. 5.11 The author wa " ' *' — an cmiueat lawyer, who waa consul a.d.c. 603. Ern grown out of date from tlieir very antiquity, or are set aside by Bucii 03 are new?' As to your opinion, that men are readered good by learning the civil law, because, by Ism^ rewards are appointed for Tirtuc, and puniBhroenta for TiOBKi I, for my par^ imagined that virtue was instilled into kind (if it can be instilled by any means) by iustruoticai and persuasion, not by menacGB, and force, and terror. As to the maxim that we should avoid evil, we can understand bow good & thing it is to do bo without a knowledge of the law. And ae to myself, to whom alone you allow tbe power of managing causes satisfactorily, without any knowledge of law, I make you, Crassua, this answer: that 1 nevei- learned the civil law, nor woa ever at a. loss for tbe want of know--ledge in it, in thoBe causes which I was able to defend in the oourts.^ It ia one thing to be a master in any pursuit or art, and another to bo neither stupid nor ignorant in common life, and the ordinary customs of mankind. May not every one of ua go over our ferms, or inBpect our countiy affairs, for the Bake of profit or delight at leaatl' No man lives without using his eyes and understanding, so fer as to be entirely ignorant what sowing and reaping is; or what pruning vines and other trees means; or at what season of the year, and in what manner, those things are done. If, therefore, any one of us has to look at hid grounds, or give any directions about ^jrieulture to hia steward, or any orders to his bailiff, must we study the booka of Ma^ the Carthaginian,* or may wo be content with our ordinary knowledge) Why, then, with regard to the civil law, may we not aUo, especially as we are worn out in causes and public bnsinesB, and in the forum, be sufficiently instructed, to snob a degree at least as not to appear foreigners and strangers in ' Tbere ia no proper ([ranun&tical coostraction in this eeatBaoB, ErDesd observes that it u, perhajs, in Boms wa? unsound.
' /» jure. " Apud tribunal pr^toria." &Hesti. t 'I tranelntc the conctuuon of tLie senteiice in conformity with the teit of OrelUua, mho puts tantm. at the end of it, ingtead of letting it stand at the beginning of the next eenWnee, ob ia the ease in other editions. Hia interpretation ia, ini-iicrs laliem. "Though we ha much occupied, jet we can viait our farms."
' He wrote eigbb-and-tnent^ books on oountry affairs in the Funic language, wlilch were translated into Latin, by order of the aeoate, by Cassius DionyBioB of Utica. Sea Vfuto, R. R, L 1; and Columella. whi>__ calls him the fatlier of farming. Proiut, S.] OS THE OHMIACTER or THE OIlATOli, 215 mtryl Or, if any cause, a little more obscure than ordinary, ahould bo brought to us, it would, I presume, be difficult to commuuicnte with our friend SofBTola here; althougii indeed the parties, whuse oonoera it is, bring nothing to u8 that has not been fiioroughly considered aud iuTeatigated. If there is a question about the nature of a thing itself under consideration; if about boundaries; (as we do not go in person to view the property itself;^) if about writings and bonds;- we of necessity have to study matters that are intricate and often difficult; and if we have to consider laws, or the opinions of mea skilled in law, need we fear that we shall not he able to uaderstand them, if we have not studied the civil law fi-om our youth?
LIX. " Is the knowledge of the civil law, then, of no advantage to the orator? I cannot deny that every Itind of knowledge is of advaatnge, especially to him whose eloquence ought to be adorned with variety of matter; but the things which are absolutely neceasary to an orator are numerous, important, and difficult, so that I would not distract hia industry among too many studies. Who can deny that the gesture and grace of RosciuB are necessary in the orator's action and deportment? Yet nobody would advise youths that are studying oratory to labour in forming their attitudes like players. What is so neoeesary to an orator as the voice? Yet, by my reoommendationj no student in eloquence will be a slave to his voice like the Greeks and tragedians,^ who pass whole years in sedentary declamation, and daily, before they venture upon delivery, raise their voice by degrees as they sit, and, when they have finished pleading, sit dowa again, and lower and recover it, as it were, through a scale, from the highest to the deepest tone. If we should do this, they whose causes we undertake would be condemned, before ' Qman in rem prraeiitem «on veniimu. We do not go ad loeian, talde prcstmtei rnn d fines iinpicere pomiiniM. Elleadt.
' FericTipti/mibas. Persimplio ia considered by Ellendt to aigoii^'* i H diaft or i^ecque to be preaentad ta s. bamlcer.
• Oraconim marc et troffcsdorsm. Ldmbinua would strike oat rt, on the Buthoritj of three maaiiBCripts; and Fenrce thinks that the eonjunotton ought to be absent. Emesti thinks that some aubstantive belonging to Snraxfim hoa divpped out of the text. A Leipsio edition, he observe!, bas Bneconta, mart lophietantm el tn^adorun, but on ~' li authority he does not inow.
I BE oeaioke; or, [d.
we had repeated the pcean and tbe miinio' as often as is ppescribed. But if we must not employ oui'selvea npou gesture, wLich ia of great service to tLe orator, or upon tbe culture of the voice, which alone is a great rccontmendntion and Rupport of eloquence; and if we can only improve in either, in proportion to the leisure afforded cs in this field of daily buainesa; how much less must we apply to the ooeupatioa of learning the civil lawl of which we may learn the chief points without regular study, and which is also unlike those other matterfi in this respect, that power of voice and gesture «innot be got suddenly, or caught up from another person, but a knowledge of tlie Iftw, as fur as it is useful in a cause, may be gained on the shoi-test possible notice, eitl from learned men or from hooka. Those eminent Gi orators, therefore, as they are unskilled in the law themselves' have, ill their causes, men acquaioted with the law to assist them, who are, as you before observed, called jiragmatici. In this respect our countrytaen act far better, as they would have tbe laws and judicial decisions supported by the authority of men of the highest rank. But the Greeks would not have neglected, if tlicy had thought it uccessary, to instruot the orator in tha civil law, instead of allowing him a pj-aganatiaia for an assistant.
LX. " As to your remark, that age is preserved from solitude by the science of the civil law, we may perhaps also aay that it is preserved from solitude by a large fortune. But we are inquiring, not what is advantageous to ourselves, but what is necessary for the orator. Although (since we take BO many points of oomparisoa with the orator from one sort of artist) Rosciua, whom we mentioned before, is accustomed to say, that, as age advances upon him, he will make the measures of tbe flute-player slower, and the notes softer. But if he who is restricted to a cei'tain modulation of numbers and feet, meditates, notwithstaodiog, something hia ease in the decline of life, how much more easily oa I will uot say lower our tones, but alter them entirely? it is no secret to you, Craasus, how many and how vo ' Preanem aiit mBBioneni. The word mwaiimem, is corrupt. Many editions lisve ■nomiuta, whiob in left equally UDe:!pIuaed. The best conjectural emeudution, oa Orelliua obearvea, ia nomum, proposed bjr a oiitio of Jena.
. of M A I are the ni ON THE CBAKACTER OP THE OUATOR, 217 are the niodea of apeaking; a Tariety which I know not whether you yourself have not been the first to eshibit to iiH, eincQ you Jmvo for aome time spoken more softly and gently than you used to do; nor is this mildness in your eloquence, which carries so high authority with it, less approved than your former vast energy and exertion; Rnd there Lave heen many orators, aa wa hear of Scipio and Lrelins, who always spoke in a tono only a little raised above that of ordinary conversation, but never eserted their Inngs or throats like Servius Gaiha. But if you shall ever be unable or unwilling to speak in this manner, are you afraid that your house, the house of such a man and such a citizen, "will, if it bo not frequented by the litigious, bo deserted by the rest of mankind J For my paii, I am so far from having any similar feeling with regard to my own house, that I not only do not think that coitifort for my old age ia to be expected from a multitude of clients, but look for that solitude ■which you dread, as for a safe harbour; for I esteem repose to be the most agreeable solace in the last st^;e of life.
" Thoae other branches of knowledge (though they certainly OfiStst the orator) — I mean genera! history, and jurisprudence, and the course of things in old times, and variety of precedenta — I will, if ever I have occasion for them, borrow from my friend Longiuus,^ an eicellent man, and one of the greatest erudition in such matters. Nor wili I dissuade these youths from reading everything, hearing everything, and acquainting themselves with every liberal study, and all polite learning, as you just now recommended; but, upon my word, tliey do not seem likely to have too much time, if thoy are inclined to pursue and practise all that you, Crasaus, have dictated; for you seemed to me to impose upon their youth obligations almost too severe, (though almost necessary, I admit, for the attainment of their desires,) since estemporary exercises upon stated cases, and accurate and studied meditations, and practice in writing, which you truly called the modeller and finisher of the art of speaking, are tasks of much difEculty; and that corapai-isou of their own composition with the writings of others, and extemporal discussion on the work of another by way of praise or censure, oon- ' EmBBli Huppoflea him to to Cuius CnaduB LonginuB, who is meationed bj Cicoro, pro Pknco, c. 21.
i DE OBATORE; OK, r refatatioa, demand no ordinary exertion, eitlier of memory or powers of imitation.
LXI. " But what you added was appalling, and indeed will haTe, I fear, a greater tendency to deta- tlian to enoourage. You would have every one of ua a Roeoius in our profeaaion; and you said that what was excellent did not so much attract approbation, as what was faulty produced settled disgust; but I do not think that want of perfection is so disparngingly regarded in ua aa in the players; and I observe, accordingly, that we are often heard with the utmost attention, eveu when we are hoarse, for the interest of the subject itself and of the causa detains the audience; while j^opus, if he haa the least hoarseness, ia hissed; for at thoae ftom whom nothing IB expected but to please the ear, offence is taken whenever the least diminution of that pleasure occurs. But in eloquence there are many qualities that captivate; and, if they are not all of the highest excellence, and yet most of them are praiseworthy, those that are of the highest excellenoo must necessarily excite admiration.
" To return therefore to our first consideration, let the orator be, as Crassua described him, one who can speah in a manner adapted to persuade; and let him stricUy devote himself to those things which are of common practice ia civil communities, and in the forum, and, laying aside all other studios, however high and noble they may be, let him apply himself day and night, if I may say so, to this ons pursuit, and imitate him to whom doubtless the highesf; excellence in oratory is conceded, Demosthenes the AtheniaaJ in whom there is said to have been so much ardour and perseverance, that he overcame, first of all, tlie impediments of nature by pains and diligence; and, though his voice was bo inarticulate that he was unable to pronounce the first letter of the very art which he was so eager to acquire, ho aocomplished so much by practice that no one is thought to have spoken mora distinctly; and though his breath was short, he efiected such improvement by holding it in while he spoke^ that in one sequence of words (as his writings show) two risings and two fallings of bis voice were included;^ and ha ' In a nuead it in ma lornier latter; and this he did lie t dee raiBed and twice lowered hia ihera of the period, and lowered ins brsaiOi. iVoart. Tbi» K - ON THE CHAHACTEB OF THU ORATOR.
related), after putting pebbles into his mouth, used aci3 Heveral verses at the highest pitch of his Toice taking breath, not standing ia one place, but walking' , aud mounting a steep ascent. With such encouitif as these, I sincerely agree with you, Craesus, uths should be incited to study and industry; other lishments which you httve collected from Tarious and sciences, though you have mastered them blf, I regard as unconnected with the proper business I of an orator."
I When Antonius had concluded these observations, I and Cotta appeared to be in doubt whose discourse «o seemed to approach nearer to the truth. Crassus I, /" You make our orator a mere mechanic, Antonius, Ma not certain whether you are not really of anotier opimODC and whether you are not practising upon us your ■wondetri'ul skiil in refutation, in which no one was ever your a talent of which the eiereiae belongs properly to 1, but has now become common among philosophers, lilly those who are accustomed to speak fully and Tj? on both sides of any question proposed.. But I did notitbink, especially in the hearing of these young men. that meady such an orator was to be described by me, as would piufA bis whole life in courts of justice, and would cany tbilier nothing more than the necessity of his causes required; but 1 ooutemplat^ something greater, when I expressed my opinion that (the orator, especially in such a repubhc as ours, ought to He deficient in nothing that could adorn his profossioiu But you, since you Lave circumscribed the whole business of an orator within such narrow limits, will explain to us with the less difficulty what you have settled sa to oratorical' duties and rules; I think, however, that ttiB may be done to-moirow, for we have talked enough for to-day. And Scievola, since he has appointed to go to his owa TuBouIan aeat,^ will now repose a little till the heat is abated;