'■'But as to the directions which they give to consult brevity in the narration, if that is to be called brevity where there ia no word rcdundautj the langua^ of Lucius Cressus is distinguished by brevityj but if that kind of brevity is intended, wiiea only just so many words are used as are absolutely necessary, such flouciseness is indeed sometimes proper; but it is often prejudicial, especially in narration; not only as it produces obscurity, but also because it destroys that which is the chief excellence of narration, that it be pleasing and adapted to persuade. For instanoe, the nar- For he, aa soon na lie became of aqe, Jfcc' how long is it! The manners of the youth himself, the inquiries of the servant, the death of Chrysis, the look, figure, and affliction of the sister, and the other circumstances, are told with the utmost variety aud agreeablenesa. But if he had been studious of such brevity as this, She'a curried forth; we go; we roacli the plaoB Of aepulture; she's laid upon tho pile, he might have comprised the whole in ten lines; although ' Sammtiam. A kind of gladiatora bo called, that fought with Sunnite arms. They had their origin amcpngthe Campanisos. Lit. ii. 4U.
ON THE CHABACTEIt OF THE oniTOE, 'She's carried forth, wo go,' is only so far conoiBe, as to cou-Bult, not absolute brevity, but el^ance; for if there had been nothing espressed but 'she's laid upon the pile,' the whole matter would have been easily cjinprehendod. But a narration referring to varioua characters, and intersected by dialogue, affords much gratification; and that becomes more probable which you report to have been done, when jou describe the manner in which it was done; and it is much more clearly understood if yon soraetiiaeB pause for that purpose, and do not hurry over it with affected brevity. For the narrative parts of a speech, as well as the other parts, ought to be perspicuous, and we ought to take the more pains with that part, because it is more difficult not to be obscure iu stating a case, than either in an eiordium, in argulaeutation, in refuting of an accusation, or in a peroration: and obscurity in this part of a speech is attended with greater danger than iu other parts; both because, if anything be obscurely expressed in any other part, only that is lost which is so eipressed; but obscurity in the narrative part spreads darkness over the whole speech; and because, as to otlier parts, if you have expressed anything obscurely in one place, you may explajn it more clearly in another; while for the narrative pwl; of a speech there is but one place. But your I narrative will be clear, if it i egive n ordinary language.
with adherence to the order of time and without interruptior LXXXI. " But when we ought to introduce a statement of &cts, and when we ought not, requires judicious consideration. For wo ought to make no such statement, either if the matter is notorious, or if the circumstances are free from doubt, or if the adversary has related them, unless indeed we wish to confiite hia statement; and whenever we do make a statement of facts, let us not insist too eagerly upon points which naay create suspicion and ill-feeling, and make against us, but let DE eKtennate such points as much as possible; lest that should happen, which, whenever it occurs, Crassus thinks is done through treachery, not through folly, namely, that we damage oor own cause; for it uoucema the fortune of the whole cause, whether the case is stated with caution, or otherwise, because the statement of the case is the fouudation of all tlie rest of the speech.
' i matter in question be laid OB, down, when we must settle what ia the point that comes under dispute; then the chief gro-unds o£ the cause are to be laid down conjunctively, so aa to weaken your adveraary's gupporta, and to strengthen your own; for there is in causea hut one method for that part of your speech, which is of efficacy to prove jour arguments; and that needs both confirmation and refutation; but because what is alleged on the other side oanuot he refuted unless you confirm your own statements, and your own etatemeuta cannot be confirmed unless you refute the allegations on the opposite side, these mattere are iu consequence united both by their nature, by their object^ and by their mode of treatment The whole speech is then generally brought to a conclusion by some amplification on the different points, or by eioitiug or mollifyii^ the judge; and every particular, not only iu the former parts of the speech, but more especially towards the conclusion, is to be adapted to excite as much as possible the feelings of the judges, and to incHiie them in our fiivonr.
"Nor does there now appear to be any reason, indeed, why we should make a distinct tead of those precepts which are given couceruiug suasory or panegjTical speeches; for most of them are common to all kinds of oratory; yet, to speak in favour of any important matter, or against it, seems to me to belong only to the most dignified character; for it is the part of a wise man to deliver his opinion on momentous affairs, and that of a man of int^;Tity and eloquence, to be able to, provide for others by his prudence, to confirm by his rity, and to persuade by his language.
LXXXIl. " Speeches are to be made in the senate with display; for it is an assembly of wise men; ^ and opportunity' is to be left for many others to speak. All suspicion, too, of ostentation of ability is to be avoided. A speech to the people, on the other hand, requires all the force, weight, and various colouring of eloquence. I'or persuading, then, nothing is more desirable than worth; for he who thinks that expediency is more desirable, does not consider what the counsellor chiefly wishes, but what ho prefers upon occasion to follow; and there is no man, especially in so noble a state as this, who does not think that worth ought chiefly to bo regarded; i» mini tal consUiam, These Words I regard ai a Bcholima &at lias oropt into tho teit. Ei-netti, OS THE CHAitACTEB OF THE ORATOB.
but expediency commoaly prevails, there being a concealed fear, that even worth cannot be supported if expediency be disregarded. But the difference between the opinions of men lies either in this question, ' which of two things is of the greater utility)' or, if that point is agreed, it is disputed 'whether honour or oipediency ought rather to be consulted.' As these seem often to oppose each other, he wlio is on advocate for expediency, will enumerate the benefits of peace, of plenty, of power, of riches, of settled revenues, of troops in garrison, and of other things, the enjoyment of which wo estimate by their utility; and be will specify the disadvantages of.a contrary state of things. He who exhorts his audience to regard honour, will collect esamples from our ancestors, which may be imitated with glory, though attended with danger; he will «xpatiat« on immortal ^ime among posterity; he will maintain that advantage arises froni the observance of honour, ■and that it is always united with worth. But what is possible, or impossible; and what ia necessoiy or unnecessary, «re questions of the greatest moment in regard to both; for fill debate is at an end, if it is understood that a thing is impossible, or if any necessity for it appears; and he who shows what the case is, when others have overlooked it, aees furthest of all. But for giving counsel in civil af^urs the chief qualification is a knowledge of the constitution; And, to speak on such matters so as to be approved, an acquaintance with the mflanars of the people is required; and, as these frequently vary, the fashion of speaking must often be varied; and, although the power of eloquence is mostly the same, yet, as the highest dignity is in the people, as the concerns of the republic are of the utmost importance, and as the commotions of the multitude are of extraordinary violence, a more grand and imposing manner of addressing them seems necessary to be adopted; and the greatest part of a speech is to he devoted to the excitement of the feelings, either by eihortation, or the commemoration of Home illustrious action, or by moving the people to hope, or to fear, or to ambition, or desire of glory; and often also to dissuade them from temerity, from rage, from ardent expectation, from injustice, from envy, from cruelty.
LXXXIII. " But it happens that, because a popular assembly appears to the orator to be his most enlai^ed scene of DE OHATOREJ OB, action,^ he is naturally excited in it to a more magniBoeut species of eloquence; for a multitude Lob such influeuce, that, as theflute-plajer cannot play without his fiutea, bo the orator cauuot be eloquent vithout a uutnerous audience. And, as the inclinations of popular assembliea take many and Tarious turns, an unfavourable espreasion of feeling from the whole people must not be incurred; an eipression which maybe escited by eome fault in the speech, if anything appeare to bane been spoken ^ith harshneaa, with arrogance, in a hue or mean manner, or with a.ny improper feeling whatever; or it may proceed from some offence taken, or ill-will conceived, at-Bome particular individuals, which is either just, or arising from Home calumny or bad report; or it may happen if the subject be displeasing; or if the multitude be swayed by any impulse from their own hopes or fears. To theee four causes as many remedies may be applied; the severity of rebuke, if you have sufficient authority for it; admonition, wbicb is a milder kind of rebuke; an assurance, thnt if they will give you a hearing, they will approve what you say; and entreaty, which is the most condeBceudJng method, but Bomotimea very advautageouB. But on no occasion ia facetiouane^ and ready ■wit ^ of more effect, and any smart saying that ia consistent with dignity and tme jocularity; for nothing is so easily diverted from gloom, and often from rancour, as a multitude, even by a single espression uttered opportunely, quickly, smartly, and with good humour.
LXXXIV. " I have now stated to you generally, to the best of my abilities, what it is my practice, in both kinds of causes, to pursue, what to avoid, what to keep in view, and to what method I ordinarily adhere in my pleadings. Nor is that third kind, panegyric, which I in the commencenient eicluded, as it were, from my rules, attended with any difficulty; but it was because there are many departments of oratory both of greater importance and power, concerning which hardly'any author haB given particular rules,* and because we of this country are not accustomed to deal much in pan^yric.
BXrV.} ON THE CHARACTEH OF THE ORATOR. 323 that I set this topic entirely apart. For the Greek authors themselves, who are the moat worthy of being readj wrote their panegyricB either for amusement, or to compliment some particular peraou, rather than with any desire to promote forensic eloquence; and books of their composition are extant, in which Themistocles, Aristides, Agesilaue, Epaminoudns, Philip, Alesander, aad others, are the subjects of praise. Our laudatory speeches, which we deliver in the forum, hove either the simple and unadorned brevity of testimony, or are written as funeral orations, which are by no means suitable for the pomp of panegyric. But as we must eometimee attempt that department, and must occasionally write panegyrics, as Caius LteliUB wrote oue for Publiua Tubero, when he wished to praise his uncle Afrieanus, and in order that we ourselves may be enabled to praise, after the manner of the Greeks, such persons as we may be inclined to praise, let that subject also form port of our disuoaree. It is clear, then, that some qualities in mankind are desirable, and some praiseworthy.
Birth, beauty, strength, power, liches, and other things which fortune bestows, either amid external circumstances, or as personal endownieats, carry with them no real praise, which is thought to be due to virtue aloue; but, as virtue itself beoomea chiefly conspicuous in the use and management of Buch things, these endowments of nature aad of fortune are also to be considered in panegyrics; in which it is mentioned OS the highest praise for a person not to have been haughty iu power, or insolent in wealth, or to have assumed a preeminence over others from the abundance of the blessings of fortune; bo that his riches and plenty seem to have afforded means and opportunities, not for the indnlgence of pride and viciuns appetites, but for the cultivation of goodneas and moderation. Virtue, too, which is of itself praiseworthy, and without which nothing can be deserving of praise, is distinguished, however, into several species, some of winch are more adapted to panegyric than others; for there are some virtues which are conspicuous in the manners of men, and consist in some degree in aSability and bene^ceuce; and there are others wliich depend on some peculiar natural genius, or superior greatness and strength of mind. Clemency, justice, benignity, fidelity, fortitude in common dangers, are subjepts jfcle to the audience in panegyric; (for all such virtues are thought beneficial, not so njuoh to the persoua who possess them, as to mankind in gecerai;) while wisdom, and that greatncEs of soul by which all human affairs are regarded ns meaa and iacooiiiderable, eminent power of thought, and eloquence itflelf, excite indeed no less admiration, but not equal delight; for thej appear to be an ornament and support rather to the pcrsoiiB thomselves whom we commend, than to those befora whom we commend them; yet, in panegyric, these two kinds of virtues must be united; for the ears of men tolerate the praises not only of those parts of virtue which are delightful and agreeable, but of those which excite admiration.
LSXXV. " Since, also, there are certain offices and duties belonging to every kind of virtue, and since to each virtue its peculiar praise is due, it will be necessary to speciiy, in a panegyric on justice, what he who is praised performed with fidelity, or equanimity, or in accordance with any other moral dnty. In other points, too, the praise of actions must be adapted to the nature, power, and name of the virtue under which they fall. The praise of those acts is heard with the greatest pleasure, which appear to have been undertaken by men of spirit, without advanti^e or reward; but those which have been also attended with toil and danger to themselves afford the largest scope for panegyric, because they may be set forth with the greatest ornaments of eloquence, and the account of them may he heard with the utmost satisfootion; for that appears the highest virtue in a man of eminence, which is beneficial to others, but attended with danger or toil, or at least without advantage, to iiimself. It is commonly regarded, too, as a great and admirable merit, to have borne adversity with wisdom, not to have been vanquished by fortune, and to have maintained dignity in the worst of circumstances. It is also an honour to a mau that distinctions have been bestowed upon him, rewards decreed to his merit, and that his achievements have been approved by the judgment of mankind; and, on such subjects, to attribute success itself to the judgment of the immortal gods, is a part of panegyrio. But such actions should be selected for praise as are either of extraordinary greatness, or unprecedented novelty, or singular in their kind; for such as ore trivial, or common, or ordinary, generally appear to deservfl j gencrauy appear lo aeservfl ^ ? THE ORATOH.
no admiration or even comnieiidation. A coinparisoa also with other great men has a noble effect in panegyric.
" On this Bpecioa of oloquence I have felt inulined to Eay something more thaa I had proposed, not bo much for the improvement of pleading in tiio forum, which has been kept in view by me through this whole discourse, as that jou might see that, if panegyric be a part of the orator's buainesB, — and nobody denies that it is,— a knowledge of all the virtues, without which panegyric cannot be composed, is necessary to the orator. As to the rules for censuring, it is clear that they are to be deduced from the vices contrary to these virtues; and it is also obviouB, that neither can a good man be praised with propriety and copiousness of matter, without a knowledge of the several virtues, nor a bad man he stigmatized and branded with sufficient distinction and asperity, without a knowledge of the opposite vices. On these topici of panegyric and satire we must often touch in all kinds " You have now heard what I think about the invention and arrangement of matter. I shall add some observations on memory, with a view to lighten the labour of Crasaua, and to leave nothing for him to discuss, but the art of embellishing those departments of eloquence which I have specified."
LXXXVI. "Proceed," said Crassus; "for I feel pleasure in seeingyouappearasaprofessedartist, stripped of the disguises of dissimulation, and fairly exposed to view; and, in leaving nothing for me to do or but little, you consult my convenience, and confer a Eivour upon me." " How much 1 leave jtou to do," said Antonius, " will be in your own power; for if you are inclined to act fairly, I leave you everything to do; but if you wish to shrink from any portion of your undertaking, you must consider how you can give this company satisfaction. But to return to the point; I am not," he continued, " possessed of such iutellectual power as Themistocles had, that I had rather know the art of foigetfulness than that of memory; and I am gratefiil to the famous Simonidea of Ceos, who, as people say, first invented an art of memory. For they relate, that when Simonides was at Crannon in Thessaly, at an entertainment given by Soopas, a man of rank and fortune, and had recited a poem which he had composed in his praise, in which, for the eake of embelliahment, BE OKAToaB; on, [b. O^ after the maaiier of the poeta, there were many particulars intraduced coaceming Castor and Pollui, Scopaa told Simonides, with esCraordinary meanneES, that he would pay him half the sum which he had agreed to give for the poem, and that he might ask the remainder, if he thought proper, from hiB Tyndaridat, to whom he had given an equal share of praise. A short tirao after, they say that a message waa brought in to Simonides, to deaire him to go out, as two youths were waiting at the gate who earnestly wished Lim to come forth to them; when he arose, went forth, and found nobody. In the meantime the apartment in which Scopes waa feasting fell down,aod be himself, and his company, were overwhelmed and buried in the ruins; and when their friends were desirous to inter their remains, but could not possibly diatingniah one from another, so much crusbed were the bodies, Simonides is said, from his recollection of the place in which each had sat, to have given satisfactory directions for their interment. Admouished by this occurrence, he ia reported to have discovered, that it is chiefly order that gives distinctness to memory; and that by those, therefore, who would improve tliis part of the understanding, certain places must be fised npon, and that of the things which they desire to keep in memory, symbols must be conceived in the mind, and ranged, as it were, iu those places; thus the order of places would preserve the order of things, and the symbols of iJie things would denote the thiugs themselves; so that we should use the places as waxen tablets, and the symbols as letters.
LXXXVII. " How great the benefit of memory ia to the orator, how great the advantage, how great the power, what need is there for me to observel Why should I remark how ckcellent a thing it is to retain the instructions which you have received with the cause, and the opinion which you have formed upon itt to keep all your thoughts upon it fiied in your mind, all your arrangement of language marked out there 1 to listen to him from whom yon receive any informal tion, or to hun to whom you have to reply, with such power of retention, that they seem not to have poured their disoourae into your oars, but to have engraven it on your mental tablet 1 They alone, accordingly, who have a vigorous memory, know what, and how much, and in what manner they are about to speak; to what they have replied, and wh 0. LXXXVIL] on the CHABACTEH of TtIB OlliTOE. 327 unanswered; and they also remember many uourses that thoy have formerly adopted in other caBea, and many which they htiTe heard from others. I must, however, acknowledge that nature is the chief author of this qualification, as of all those of which I have previously spoken; (but this whole art of oratory, or image and resemblance of an art, has the power, not of engendering and producing anything entirely of itaei^ of which no part previously eiisted in our underatandinga, but of being able to give education and strength to what has been generated, and has b^ its birth there;) yet there is scarcely any one of so strong a memory as to retain the order of his language and thoughts without a previous arrangeraeat and observation of heads; nor is any one of so weak a memory as not to receive assistance from this practioe and exercise. For Simonidea, or whoever else invented the art, wisely saw, that those tilings are the moat strongly fixed in our minds, which are communicated to them, aad imprinted upon them, by the senses; that of all the seusea that of seeing is the most acute; and that, accordingly, those tiiingB are most easily retained in our minds which we have received from the hearing or the understanding, if they are also recommeuded to the imagination by means of the mental eye; so that a kind of foiTD, reaemhJanoe, and representation might denote invi^ble otgects, and such as are in their nature withdrawn from the cognisance of the sight, in such a manner, that what we are scarcely capable of comprehending by thought we may retain as it were by the aid of the visual faculty. By these imaginary forms and objects, as by all those that come under our corporeal vision, our memory is admonished and excited; but some place for them must be ima^ned; as bodily Khape cannot be conceived without a place for it. That I may not, tiien, be prolix and inapertineut upon bo weil-tnown and common a subject, we must fancy many plain distinct places, at moderate distances; and such symbols as are impressive, striking, aud well-marked, so that they may present themselves to the mind, and act upon it with the greatest quicknefB. This faculty of artificial faemctry practice will afford, (from which proceeds habit,) as well as the derivation of similar words converted aud altered in cases, or transferred from particulars to generals, aud the idea of an entire sentence from the symbol of a single word, ailer the manner aud method of I I EE OBATORH; OH, any skilful painter, wbo diBtinguiaheB spocea liy the variety J vhat he depicts. « LXXKVIII. " But the memory of words, ■which, howevw JB le£s necessary for us,' is to be diBtinguishod by a greater Tariety of ayiubols; for there are maay words which, like joiatH, connect the members of our speech, that cannot possibly be represented by anything similar to them; and for these we must invent symbols that we may invariably usa The memory of tilings Is the proper busineaa of the orator; this we may be enabled to impress on ourselves by the creation of imaginary figures, aptly arranged, to represent particular heads, so that we may recollect thoughts by images, and their order by place. Nor is that true which is said by people unskilled in this artifice, that the memory is oppressed by the weight of these representations, aud that even obscured which unassisted nature might have clearly kept in view; for I havs seenmenof consummate abitities, and an almost divine faculty of memory, as Charmadas at Athens, and Scepsius Metrodorus in Asia, who is said to be still living, each of whom used to Bay that, as he wrote with letters on wai, so he wrote with ^mbols as it were, whatever he wished to remember, on these places which he had conceived in imagination. TboU|' therefore, a memory cannot he entirely formed by this p tice, if there is none given by nature; yet certainly, if t is latent natural faculty, it may be caJled forth.
" You have now had a very long dissertation from a p whom I wish yon may not esteem impudent, but who is Q tainly not over-modest, in having spoken, so copioudy i I have done, upon the art of eloquence, in your heariBf Catulus, and that of Lucius Crassus; for of the rest of t company the age might perhaps reasonably make less ii sioa upon me; but you will certainly eicuse me, if you b. listen to the motive which impelled me to loquacity a unusual with me." i LXXXIX. " We indeed," said Catulus, " {for I make thj answer for my brother and myself) not only excuse you, bt feel love and great gi-atitude to you for what you have dou and, OS wo acknowledge your peliteness and good-nature, so i admire your learning and copious store of matter. Iudeed.9 ' Beeaiieo worda are at Datter ie aupplied, ei 1 OP THE ORiTOB.
cd from a ^M think that I have reaped this benefit, that I am freed great mistake, and relieved from that aatoniahment used always to feel, in common with many others, aa to the source from which that divine power of yours in pleading was derived; for I never imagined that jou had even elightly touched upon those matters, of which I now perceive that you poaseas an exact knowledge, gathered from all quarters, and which, taught by experience, you have partly corrected and partly approved, Nor have I now a less high opinion of yo«r eloquence, whOe I have a far higher one of your general merit and diligence; and I am pleased, at the same time, that my own judgment is confirmed, inasmuch as I always laid it down aa a maiim, that no man can attain a character for wisdom and eloquence without the greatest study, indnstiy, and learning. But what was it that yon meant, when you said that we shonld excuse you if we Imew the motive which had impelled you to this discourse t What other motive conld there be but your inclination to oblige us, and to satisfy the desire of these young gentlemen, who have listened to you with the utmost attention J" " I was desirous," replied Antouiue, " to tike away from Crassus every pretence for refusal, who would, I was suie, engage in such a kind of dissertation either a little too modestly, or too reluctantly, for I would not apply the word disdainfully to a man of his af&bility. But what excuse will he now be able to make 1 That he is a person of consular and censorial dignity? I might ha,ve made the same excuse. Will he plead his a^ 1 Ho is four years younger than I. Can he say that ho is ignorant of these matters, of which 1 indeed have snatched some knowledge late in life, cursorily, and, as people say, at spare times, while he has applied to them from his youth with the most diligent study, under the most able masters^ I will Bay nothing of his genius, in which no man was ever his equal; for no one that hears me apeak, has so contemptible an opinion of himself as cot to hope to speak better, or at least as well; but while Crtisaus is speaking, no one is so conceited as to have the presumption to think that he shall ever Bpeak like him. Lest persons, therefore, of so much dignity as the present company, should have come to you in vain, let us at length, Crassus, hear you DE OIU.TOEB; OB, XC. " If I ahould grant you, Antonius," replied Craaaus, " that these tilings ax^ so, which however are far otherwise, what have you left for me this day, or for any man^ that he can possibly say 3 For I wOl apeak, my dearest friends, what I really thiak: I have oftea heard men of learning, {why do I say often! I should rather say sometimes; for how could I have that opportunity often, when I entered the forum quite a youth, and waa never abaent from it. longer than during my quiestorship!) but I have heard, as I said yesterday, both while I was at Athena, men of the ^rreatest learning, and in Asia that &mous rhetorician Scepaiua Metrodonu, discoursing upon these very aubjects; but no one of them ever appeared to me to have engaged in such a disaertation with greater eitent ofknowledge, or greater penetration, than our friend has shown to-day; hnt if it were otherwise, and if I thought anything had been omitted by Antonius, I ehould not be so unpolite, nay eo almost churlish, as to think that a trouble which I perceived to be your desire." " Have you then forgotten, Crassus," said Sulpioius, " that Autonius made such a divisiou with you, that he should e^^plain the equipmeat and implementa of the orator, and leave it to you to speak of decoration and embellishment!" " In the fii'st place," rejoined Craflaus, " who gave Antonius leave either to make such a partition, or to choose first that pEut which he liked heat 1 In tho next, if I rightly comprehended what I heard with the utmost pleoaure, he seemed to me to treat of both these matters in conjunction/' " But," observed Cotta, " he said nothing of the embelTisbioenta of language, or on that eicellence from which eloquence derives its very name."