XVIII. "The greater and more wonderful you represent such performances," said Catulus, "the greater longing me to know by what methods or precepts Euch oratory may bo acquired; not that it any longer ])erBonally, (for my!^e does not stand in need of sed to pursue n different plan of speaking, as w*' power 1 .concerns n it, and v 8 WStj never extorted deciaious from the judges by force of eloquence, but rather received them from their hauds, after coiiciliatitig their goodwill only so far aa they themselves would permit,) yet I wish to learn your thoughts, not for any advantage to myself, os I say, but from a. desire for knowledge. Nor have I occasion for any Greeit master to repeat his hackneyed precepts, when he himself never saw the forum, or waa present at a trial; prcsuinptioa similar to what is told of Phormio the peripatetic; for when H&nuibal, driven from Carthage, came to Ephesus aa an exile to seek the protection of AntiocbuB, and, oa hia name was held in great honour among all men, waa invited by those who entertained him to hear the philosopher whom I mentioned, if he were inclined; and when he had signified that he was not unwilling, that copious apeaker ia said to have harangued eome hours upon the duties of a general, and the whole military art; and when the rest of the audience, who were extremely delighted, inquired of Hanaibal what he thought of the philosopher, the Carthaginian is reported to have answered, not in very good Greek, but with very good sense, that 'he had seen many doting old men, hut had never aeeti any one deeper in hifi dotage than Phormio,' Nor did he say bo, indeed, without reason; for what could have been a greater proof of arrogance, or impertrinent loquacity, than for a Greek, who had never seen an enemy or a camp, or had the least concern in any public employment, to deliver instmctions on the n[iihtary art to Hannibal, who had contended so many years for empire with the Romans, the conquerors of all nations t Jp this manner all those seem to mo to act, who give rules on the art of speaking; for they teach others liiat of whioli they have no experience themselves. But they are perhaps leas in error in this respect, that they do not attempt to instrvict you, CatuluB, as he did Hannibal, but boya only, or youtha.'ii XIX, "You are wrong, Catulus," said Antonins, "for I myself have met with many Phormios. Who, indeed, is there among, those tiretka that seems to think any of ua understand anything t To me, however, they are not so very Ixoublesome; I easily bear with and endure them all; for they either produce something which diverts me, or make me repent less of not haviag learned from them. I dismiss them less contumcliously than Hannibal dismissed the philo- HE ottATORB; on, aopher. and on tbat account, perhaps, have more trouble witli them;{jaut certainly all their teaching, as far as I can judge, is eitramely ridiculous. For they diyide the whole matter of oratory into two parte; the controversy about thft_oauae ___ansLab.out-fee qiie3tion;__ The cause they call the matter relating to the dispute or litigation affecting the persons conoemed; ^ the question, a matter of inflstte doubt. Kespecting the cauae they give eome precepts; on the other part of pleading they are wonderfully silent. They then make five parte, aa it were, of oratory; to invent what you are to say, to arrange what you have invented, to clothe it in proper laoguage, then to commit it to memory, and at last to deliver it with duo action and elocution; n task,' iBurely, requiring no very abstruse study. For who would not understand without assistance, that nobody can make a speech imless he has settled what to say, and in what words, and in what order, and remembers it? Not that I find any feult with these rulea, but I say that they are obvious to all; as are likewise those four, five, six, or even seven partitions, (since they are diffirently divided by difierent teachers,) into which every oration is by them distributed; for they bid ua adopt audi an exordium as to make the hearer favourable to us, and willing to bo informed and attentive; then to state our ease in such a manner, that the detail maybe probable, clear, and concise; next, to divide or propound the question; to confirm what makes for us by alignments and reasoning, and refute what makes for the adversary; after this some place the conclufflon of the speech, and peromtion as it were; others direct you, before you come to the peroration, to make a digressioa by way of embelliahmect or amplification, then to sum np and conclude. Nor do I altogether condemn these divisions; for they aro made with some nicety, though without sufficient judgment, as must of necessity be the case with men who had do esperience in real pleading, For the precepts which they confine to the exordium and statement of feota are to be observed through the whole speech; since 1 can more easily make a judge tavonrable to me in the progrees of my speech, than when no part of the c: i CHARACTBH OF IHE OHATQR.
teard; and desirous of information, not wheE I promise that, I will prove something, but when I actually prove and ' esplain; and I can beat make him attentive, not by the first statement, but by working on his mind through the whole <»urse of the pleading. Ah to their direction that the statemeat of (aots should be probable, and clear, and concise, they direct rightly; but ia Buppoaing that these qualities belong more peculiarly to tie statement of &cts than to the whole of the speech, they seem to me to be greatly in error; and their whole mistake lies assuredly in thia, that they think oratory an art or science, not unlike other sciences, such as Ciassus said yesterday might be formed from the civil law itself; BO that the general heads of the subject must first be enumerated, when it is a fault if any head be omitted; next, the particulars under each general head, when it is a £iu1t if any particular be either deficient or redundant; then the definitions of all the terms, in which there ought to be nothing either wanting or superfluous^ XX. " But if the more learned can attain this exactness in the civil law, as well as in other studies of a small or moderate extent, the samo cannot, I think, be done in an afikir of this oompass and magnitude. If, however, any are of opinion that it can be done, they must be introduced to those who profess to teach these things as a science; they will find everything ready set forth and complete; for there are books without number on these Bubjecta, neither concealed nor obscure. Bat let them consider what they mean to do; whether they will take up arms for sport or for real warfiirc; for with us a regular engagement and field of battle require one thing, the parade and sohooi of eseroiae another. Yet preparatory exercise in arms is of some use both to the gladiator and the soldier; hut it is a bold and ready mind, acute and quick at expedieats, that renders men invincible, and certJunly not less effectively if art be united with it.
"Xwill&ow, th«r^ore, fi»-miui -orator forymi, if loanj oommenoing so as] to ascertain, first of all, what he is able to do. Let him have a tincture of learning; let him have heard and read something; let him have received those very instructions in rhetoric to which I ha-ve alluded. I will try what becomes him; what he can accomplish with his voice, his lungs, his breath, and his tongue. If I conceive that he may r2 DE OEATOBEJ OB, _ reach tlie level of emineut speakers, I will not only exhort him to persevere in labour, but, if lie Eeem to tne to be a good man,' will entreat him; bo much honour to the whole comniunity do I think that there is in an excellent orator, trho ia at the Eame time n good man. But if he shall appear likely, after he has done his utmost in evety way, to be numbered only among tolerable speakers, I will allow him to act ag he pleases, and not be very troublesome to him. But if he shall be altogether unfit for the profession, and wanting in senEe, I wiU advise him to make no attempts, or to turn himself to some other pursuit. For neither is h^ wjin can do escellently, to be left destitute of encouragement from ua, nor is be, who can. ilo some httle, to be deterred; because one seems to me tobethepart of a sort of divinity; the other, either to refrain from, what you cannot do extremely well, or to do what you can perform not contemptibly, ia tfo part of a reasonable human being; but the coaduct of the thmi character, to declaim, in spite of decency and natural deficiency, is that of a man who, as you said, Catuliis, of a certain haranguer, collects as many witnesses as possible of bis folly by a proclamation from himself Of him then, who shall prove such as to merit our exhortation and encou ment, let me so speak as to communicate to him only eix*nence has taught myself, that, under my guidance, may arrive at that point which I have reached ■without guide; for I can give him no better instructions.
• XXI, " To commence then, Catulus, by taking an example from our friesd Sulpiciug here; I fii-st heard him, wheii he was but a youtb, ia a cause of small importance; he was possessed of a voice, figure, deportment, and other qualifications suited for the profession which wa are cousidering. His mode of' speaking was quick and hurried, which was owing to his genius; his stylo animated and somewhat too redundtmt, which was owing to his youth. I was very far from entert, inige.^ whabB tanj^ teri^H bJ)nus dkendi ptrtlui. Cicero in thi^^l paa&oge, under the chnnuster of AntoDiuB. and in his Iqt. i. 3, 4, BigniSeft tliat thongt he thinka a good c impoHaniM in od orator, he does not den; that mneh eloquence ma; at tuue« he found in a man of bud character. Cato and Cicero spoke each.
According to Hie character of his own age. Quintjlinn, liL 1, goea back to the opinion of Cato. Aristotle had previously required good morala ^^ron.]
ON THE CHAKACTKK OF TEE OHATOB.
taining a Blight opinion of him, since I like fertility to ahow itself in a, young man; for, ns io vines, those branches which liaTe spread too luxuriantly are Tnoro easily pnmed than shoots are produced by culture if the stem ia defective; w>-I would wish there to bo that in a youth from vhich I loay toke-BomeliuDg away. The sap cannot be enduring in that ■which Attains maturity too Boon. I immediately saw his ability; nor did I Jose any time, but eshorted him to consider the forum aa his school for improving himself and to choose whom he pleased for a master; if he would take my advice, Lucius Crassus. To thi^ advice he eagerly listened, and assured me that he would act accordiugly; and added also, as a compliment, that r too should be a master to him. Scarce a year had passed from the time of this conversation and recommendation of mine, when he accused Caiua Norbanus,^ and I defended him. It is incredible what a difiereuce there appeared to me between him as he was then and as he had been a year before; nature herself led him irresistibly into the magnifJcent and noble style of Crasaus; but he could never have arrived at a aatisfactory d^ree of excellence in it, if ho had not directed his efforts, by study and imitation, in the same courae in which nature led him, so aa intently to contemplata Orassus with his whole mind and faculties.
XXII. "Let-this, then, he the fiwt of my precepts, to point out to the student whom he ^ould imitate, and in auoh a maauer that be may most carefully copy the chief excellenoiea of him whom he takes for bis model. Let practice then follow, by which he may represent iu his imitation the esact resemblance of him whom he. chose as his pattern; not as I have known many imitatora do, who endeavour to acquire by imitation what is easy, or what is remarkable, or almost fculty; for nothing is easier than to imitate any person's dress, or attitude, or carriage; or if there is anything offensiva in a character, it ia no very difScidt matter to adopt it, and ba offensive in the same way; in like manner m that FusiuB, who eveu now, though be has lost his voice, rants on public topics, could never attain that nervous style of speaking which Caiua Fimbria had, though he succeeds in imitating his distortion of features and broad pronunciation; but be neither knew how to choose a pattern whom he would chiefly resemble, and in him that he did choose, be preferred copyiDg the blemishes. But be who shall Oft as ho ought, must first of all be very careful ia Baking this choice, and must use the utmost diligence to ftttaiu the chief excellencies of him whom he has approved.
" What, let mo ask, do you conceive to be the reaaonirhy almost every &ge baa produced s, peouliai" style of speaking t a matter on which we cannot so easily form a judgment in r^prd to the orators of our own country, (because tb^ have, to say tlio trath, left but few writings trota which such judgment might be formed,) as those of the Greeks, from ■whose writings it may be understood what was the character and tendency of eloquence iu each particular age. The moet ancient, of whom there are any works extant, are Periclea*-and Alcibiades,^ and, in the same age, Thucydides, writers perspicacious, pointed, concise, abounding more in thougbiB than in words. It could not possibly have happened that they should all have the same character, unless they had proposed to themselves some one example for imitation. These were followed in order of time by Critias, Theramenes, and Lysiaa. There are extant many writings of Lysiaa, some of Critias;' of Theramenes* we only bear. They all still retained the vigorous style of Pericles, but bad somewhat more exuberance. Then behold Isocrates arose, from whose school/ ' Cioero, Brut. c. 7, Bsye that Home compoBit:oiia were in circulatioa under ibe name of Pericles; and Quintillan, liL 1, 12, lookii^ to Chat obeervatiDD of Cicero, tiLcitl; assHBte to those who denied the genniiianesfl of those compositions. See also Qoiut x. 2, 22; 10, 49. MUtndt.
' That Alcibiades left nothing in writing, though ha bad great repn» totiou OB a speaker, seeniB to be rightly inferred by Huhaken from DemoBtb. De Cor. c. 10. ThucydiiieB ia here mentioned uuoDg oraton^ on acoouut of the orations which he inserted in his histoiy. SUendt.
' He wrote not only orations, which are mentioned by Dionyn Halicani. da Lyaii jud. c 2, c£ de Isxo, o. 2, by Fhrymclitu, ap. Phob cod. IBS, and by others, but also tr^^edieii, elegies, imd other worlca. That he wBa eloquent and learned we are told by Cicero, De Or. iiL S4, Brut, c 7. Senrichaen. The remaina of his writings were collected br Bach, 1827. SlUndt.
* The eloquence of TherameneB is mentioned by Cicero, iiL 16, Brut. c. 7. The writings whjeh Suidas enumerates as being bis were doubtless spurioua. See Buhnken, Hiat. Crit. Or. Gr. p. xl. EUendi.
' The words majttler Mtoruni, ovinimti, which, though ratained by OrelliuB, are pronounced spuriovia by Lambinus, Eraasti, Huhnkon, Bchatz, and Ellendt, are left untranslated. " They cannot be Cicero'H words," says Kllendt, " even though they are found quotsd by N II,] ON THE CHARiCTEE OP THE ORATOR. 24T as fi-otn the Trojan horse, rone but real heroeB proceeded; but Bome of tliem were desiroua to bo distinguished on pamde, Bome in the field of battle. XXIII. Accordingly those Theopompi, Ephori, Philisti,' Naucratie,^ and many others, differ in genius, but in their manner bear a. strong reaembhince both to each other and to their mnsterj and those vho applied themeelvoB to causes, as Demosthenes, H3rperides,.£scliine^ Lycurgus, Dinorchus, and a multitude of others, although they were diasimilar in abilities one to another, yet were all engaged in imitating the same kind of natural excellence; and as long as the imitation of their manner lasted, 60 long did that character and system of eloquence prevail. Afterwards, when these were dead, and all recolleotion of them grew gradually obscure, and at last vanished, more ki and remiss modes of speaking prevailed. Subsequently Demochares, who, they say, was the son of I)emo> Bthenes' sister and the famous Bemetrins Phalereus, the most polished of all that class, in my opinion, and others of like talents, arose; and if we choose to pursue the list down to the present times, ne shall understand, that, as at this day all Asia imitates the famous Meneclea of Alabanda, and his brother Hierooles, to both of whom we have listened, so there has always been some one whom the generality desired to resemble.
" Whoever, then, -shall se^ to attain such resemblance, let him endeavour to acquire it by irequent and laborious eseroiee, and especially by oO'mposition; and if our friend Sulpicius would practise this, his language would be more compact; for there is now ia it at times, as farmers say of their ' Henriohaen Had EUendt read Philitr^ Piuligtiia, apparently, from the way in whicii he ia meationed in c. 13, has, as Ellendt observes, no ^ace here. "Fhiliscus of Mlletua, a disciple uf laocmtea (nee Anon. Tit. Iboct.), and nmater of TimenuB tbe bistoriau (eea Suidaa, imdaF Fhili^cus and Timffiua), wrote a treaties on rheturic, orations, and a life of LycurguB, noticed by Olympiodonis in Comment, ad Flat. Ooi^. Hod other works. See Ruhnken, Hist. Crib Qr. Or. p. iTiTiii OoeU. de Situ et Orig, Syraens. p. lit." Senrtchim.
' NaaecsteB, a native of Ecythne, ooUed 'imKiiiTBes limpai by DionTniis HalicamaSBensis, Rhet. vL 1, wu diatingumhed for the compoaiban of funeral orations. He eeems also to have written on riictoiie. See Cicero, Da Onit. iii. H; Brut. Gl; QuintiL iil 6, S j alio Taylor, Lectt Lys. a, 3, p. 232; Bulmk. Hist. Grit. Or. Or. fi. Izzxiv. ifn^ I DE or&tore; or, com nhen in the binds, amiilst tbe greatest fertility, a Eoit of luiuriance which ought to be, as it were, oaten down ^ by the use of the pan." Here Sulpiciua observed, " You advise me rightly, and I am obliged to you; but I think that Antoniua, have never written much." " As if," rej' toniuB, " I could not direct others in matters in which I deficient myself; but, indeed, I am supposed not to write even my own accounts. But in this particular a judgmeat may he formed &om my circumstances, and in the other irom my ability in speaking, however small it bo, what I do in either way. We see, however, that there are many who imitate nobody, but attain -what they desire by their own natural powers, without resembling any one; a fact of whioh an instance may be seen in you, Ctesar and Cotta; for one of 70U has acquired a kind of pleasing humour and wit, unusual in the orators of our country; the other an extremely keen and subtle speoiea of oratory. Nor does Curio, who is abont your age, and the son of a fiither who was, in my opinion, very eloquent for his time, seem to me to imitate any one much; but by a certain force, elegance, and copiousness of fiipression, has formed a sort of style and character of eloquence of his own; of which I was chiefly enabled to judge in that cause which he pleaded against me before the Cen-j tumvJri, in behalf of the brothers Coasi, and in which nffjj quality was wanting in him that an orator, not merely fluency, but of judgment, ought to possess.
XXIV. " But to OMiduot, at length, him whom -ws forming to the management of causes, and those there is considerable troutals, judicial trials, and <,__ suits, (somebody will perhaps laugh at the precept which Iam going to give, for it is not so much sagacious as necessary, and seems rather to proceed from a monitor who ia not quite a fool, than from a master of profound learning.) our first ' Thia is one of Virgil's diroctions to the farmer in the first Oaorgia,.
wharo he givea the reason for il^ 1 Qiiid, qui ne graridia procumbat culmua uristiB, J Luxurieox segetum teaerd depaecit ia barbS^ Ciuu priTtiiim Bulcoa ffiqunnt eata? — Georg. L IH.
And Pliuy, 1. 18: " Liu:urie» segetuto castigatur dento pecoria, ia heclitt duotaiat, at dopaatEB quidem vel sEepim uullam in apioa injuliian sentiunt: ita jnvenilia ubertaa et luxuriBa omtionU etjlo et Hllduitale scribendi quasi absiunitur et ropdmi' " " yoi^J aoM M ^^^BtlV.] ON TnB CHARACTEn OF THE ORATOR, precept for him Bhall bo, That wbfttcrer raroses he undert^ea to plead, lie must acquire a minute and thorough knowledge of tbem. U'hia is not a. precept laid down iu the sckools; for easy causes ara given to boys. ' Tho law forbids a stranger to ascend the wall j he ascends it; be beats back the enemy; he is accused.' It is no trouble to uaderstoud such, a cause as this. They are right, therefore, in giving no precepts about JearDtQg the cause; for Buch is generally the form of causes in the schools. But in the forum, wills, evidence, contracts, covenants, stipulations, relationship by blood, by affinity, decrees, opininna of lawyers, and even the lives and characters of those concerned in the cause, are all to be investigated; and by negligence in these particulars we see mauy causes losf^ especially those relative to private conceruB, as they are often of greater iutricacy, Thus some, while they would have their business thought very estenaive, that they may seem to fly about the whole forum, and to go from one cause to another, speak upon causes which they have not mastered, whence they incur much censiu-e; censure for negligence, if they voluntarily undertake the businosa, or for perfidiousnesa, if they undertake it under any engagement;^ but such censure is asauxedly of worse couBequence than they imagine, since nobody can possibly speai on a subject which he does not understand, otherwise than to his own disgrace; and thus, ■while they despise the imputation of ignorance, which is in reality the greater fault, they incur that of stupidity also, which they more anxiously avoid.
"It is my ouBtom to use my endeavour, that every one of my clients may give me instructions in his own affairs himself, and that nobody else be present, so that he may speak ■with the greater freedom.- I am accustomed also to plead to him the cause of his fidveraary, in order to engage him to plead his own, and state boldly what he thinks of his own oase. When ho is gone, I conceive myself iu three oharactere, ' JfojTui offemio vel neglii/eBtia^ susceplii rehui, vd perfidiic, receptii. Sedptre ia used with a referenco to others, \>j nhom ire idlow soms dnC; to be laid upon ua; suwnpers regards only nunielvsa. Ellendl, ' /mrlia. Tbie poasoga puzzled Lioobmus and otheca, who did not see how tho reproach of inertia in aa orator could he greater thui that of tardilat, or Btnpidity. But intrtia here aignifiea artit ignorantia, jmoniace of hia eit, which is doubbleaa the greuteet fault in on orator. fcrbuTg.
DE obatobe; or, DE obatobe; or, my own, that of the adversary, and thnt of the judge. Whatever ciroumatance is such as to promise more support or aa-BiHtance than obstruction, I resolve to speak upoa it; whereever I find more harm thim good, I eet aside and totally reject that port entirely; and thus I gain this advantage, that I consider at one titae wbat I shall say, and say it at anothei; two things which most speakers, relying upon their genius, do at one and the same time; but certainly those very persons would speak considerably better, if they would but resolve to take one time for premeditation, and auother for speaking.
" When I have acquired a thorough understanding of the business and the cause, it immediately becomes m.y consideration what ground there may be for doubt, For of all poiatsthat are disputed among mankind, whether the case is of a criminal nature, as eonoerning an act of violence; or controversial, as concerning an inheritance; or deliberative, as on going to war: or personal, as in panegyric; or (Ogumentative, as on modes of life; there is nothing in which the inquiry is not either what has been done, or is being done, or will be done, or of what nature a thing is, or how it should be designated. "~XXV. "Our causes,- *«oh at lerat aa coBCMB-eriminal matters, are geoemily defended by the plea of aotguilty; for in charges of extortion of money, which are the most important, the facts are almost all to be denied; aud in those of bribery to procure offices, it is seldom in our power to distinguish munificence and liberality from corruption and criminal lai^ess. In accusations of stabbing, or poisoning, or emberalement of the public money, we necessariiy deny the charge.
On trials, tlierefiirc, the first kind of causes isthat -which arises from dispute aa to the feet. In deliberations, the discussion generally springs from a question as to what is to be done, rarely about anything present or already done. But oftentimes the qnestion is not whether a thing is a fiict or not, but of what nature it is; as when the consul, Caius Carbo, in my hearing, defended the cause of Opimiua before the people, he denied no circumatanee of the death of Caius Oracchus, but maintained that it was a lawful act for the good of his country; or, as when Publius Africanus replied to the same Carbo, (then tribune of the people, engaging in pohtical affairs w" ' ON THE CHAEACTBR OP THE OBATOIl.
very different views,^ and asking a question about the death of Tiberius Gracchus,) 'that he seemed to have been lawfully put to death." But every thing may be asserted to have beau done lawfully, which is of such a kind that it may be said that it ought to have been done, or was properly or necessarily done, or done unawares, or by accident Then the question, ' what a thing should be called,' arisea when there is a dispute by what term an act should be designated; as waa the great point of dispute between myself and our friend Sulpicius ia Norbanna'fl cawM; for though I admitted most of the charges made by him on the other side, I still denied that treason had been committed by Norbanus; on the signification of which word, by the Apuleian law,^ the whole cause depended.
And in thia species of causes some lay it down as a rule, that both parties should define clearly and briefly the term that gives rise to the question. This seems to mo estremely puerile; for it is qiiite a different thing from defining words, when any dispute arises among the learned about niattera relating to science; aa when it ie inquired, what is an art, what is a ]aw, what is a state! On which occasionB rea£on and learning direct, that the whole force of the thing which you define should be expressed in such a manner that there be notbingoDiitted or superfluous; but this neither Snipiciiia did in that cause, nor did I attempt to do it; for each of ua, to the best of our abilities, enlarged with the utmost copiousness of language upon what it was to commit treason. Since, in the first place, a definition, if one word is objectionable, or may be added or taken away, is often wrested out of our hands; and in the next, the very practice itself savours of school learning and almost puerile exercise; and beside, it cannot penetrate into the mind and understanding of the judge, for it glides off before it has made any impression.
XXVI, " But in that kind of causes in which it is disputed of what nature any thing is, the contest often arises from the interpretation of writing; when there can be no controversy but about something that is doubtful For even the oaae, in whioh the written letter differs from the intention, ' Becanae he was them attached to tlie port; of the OnucM. Proutt, ' A law of LiiduB ApulsiUB SatumiDuB, tribune of tlie people, a.ti.c.
6G2. It ia also meutianeil iu c. 49, But oeitber the cause nor nil^ect DB OBATOItB; OR,