"But as we have observed a little before, that it is the ' business of an orator to instruct, to please, and to mow the pattiona; ho was, indeed, perfectly master of the first two; for no one could better elucidate his subject, or charm the attention of his audience. But as to the third quahfication, the moving and alarming the passions, which is of much greater ef&cacy than the former, he waa wholly destitute of it. He had no force, no exertion; either by his own choice, and from an opinion that those who had a loftier turn of ezprer \ BEtnruB; on, rarrn and apiriteii action, were little better ■ because it was contrary to his natoral habitttal practice; or, lastly, because it wss beyond the Btrength of his abititiee. If, indeed, it is a uselMa quality, his want of it waa arealeicellence; but if otherwise it waa certainly a defect. I particularly remember, that when he prosecuted Quintus Galliua for an attempt to poiaoa him, and pretended that he had the plainest proofs of it, and could produce many lettera, witnesses, informations, mi other ovidenees to put the truth of his charge beyond a doubt, interspersing many aenaible and ingenious remarks on the nature of the crime; — I remember, I Bay, that when it came to my turn to reply to him, after urging every argument which the case itself.suggested, I insisted upon it as a materia.] circumatance in favour of my client, that the prosecutor, while he charged him with a design against his life, and assured us that he had the most indubitable proofs of it tbea in hia hands, related his story with as much cose, and as much calmness and indifference, as if nothing had happened.
'Would it have been pofaible,' said I, (addressing myself to Calidius.) 'that you should apeak with this air of unconcern, unless the charge was purely au invention of your ownl And, above all, that jou, whose eloijuence has oStea vindicated the wrongs of other people with so much spirit, should speak to oooUy of a crime which threatened your life) Where wM that expression of i-esentment which is bo natural to the injured! Where that ardour, thnt eagerness, which extorts the ittOBt pathetic language even from men of the dullest capSr cities? There waa no visible disorder in your m.ind, no emotion in yoiu: looks and gesture, no smiting of the thigh or the forehead, nor even a single stamp of the foot. You were, therefore, so far from interesting our feelings iu your iavi that we could scarcely keep our eyes open, while you t relating the dangers you had so narrowly escaped.' Thus employed the natural defect, or, if you please, the sena' calmness of an ezoeUent orati^, as an argument to irtvali< bis charge." " But is it possible to doubt," cried feutm^ " whether this wna a sensible quality, or a defeoti For as the greatest merit of an orator is to be able to inflame the pasttions, and give them such a bias as shall best answer hie purpose; he who is destitate of this must certainly be defident in tha most capital part of his profession."
were idaH^^I REMARKS ON EMINENT ORATORS. 487 LXXXI. " I am of the same opinion," aaid I; "hnt let us now proceed to him (HortensiviB) who is the only remaining orator worth noticing; after whidi, 09 you seem to insist upon it, I shall say something of myself. I muat first, however, do justice to the memory of two promising youths, who, if they had lived to a riper age, would have aoqiiired the hi^Qst reputation for their eloqueueo." " You mean, I Huppose," said Brutus, " Caius Curio, and Caius Licinius Calvua." " The very same," replied I. " One of them, besides bia plausible manner, had such an easy and volable flow of expression, and such an ineihaustihle variety, and sometimes accuracy of Bentiraent, that he was one of the most ready and ornamental speakers of his time. Though he had received but little instruction from the professed masterB of the art, nature had furnished him with an admirable capacity for the practice of it, I never, indeed, discovered in him any great degree of application; hut he was certainly very ambitious to dbtinguidi himself; and if he had continued to listen to my advice, aa he had begun to do, he would have preferred the acquisition of real honour to that of untimely grandeur." " What do you mean t" said Brutus; " or in what manner are these two objects to be distinguished 1" " I distinguish them thus," replied I; " as honour is the reward of virtue, conferred upon a man by the choice and affection of his fellow-citizens, he who obtains it by their free votes and Buflrages is to be considered, in my opinion, aa an honourable member of the community. But he who acquires his power and authority by taking advantage of every unhappy incident, and without the consent of his fellow-citizens, as Curio aimed to do, acquires only the name of honour, without the sub-Btance. Whereas, if he had hearkened to me, he would have risen to the highest dignity, ia an honourable manner, and with the hearty approbation of all meu, by a gradual advancement to public ofSces, as his father and many other eminent citizens had done before. I often gave the same advice to Publius Crassus, the son of Marcus, who courted my friendship in the early part of his life; and recommended it to him very warmly, to consider tliat as the truest path to honour which had been already marked out to him by the example of his ancestors. For he had been extremely well educated, and was perfectly versed in every branch of polite literature; be had likewise a peaetratiDg genius, and an elegant vari' I BRUTBs; OK, of espreasion; and appeared grave and Bententious ■without arrogance, and modest and diffident without dqection. But like many other young men, he was carried away by the tti of ambition; and after aoi'vinga ehort time with repulaC as a volunteer, nothing could eatiBfy him but to try his tune as a general, an employment which was confined by wisdom of our ancestors to men who had arrived at a age, and who, even then, were obliged to submit thi tonsioas to the uncertain issue of a public decision, Tbiis, by exposing himself to a fatal catoGtrophe, while he was oadeavouring to rival the fame of Cyrua and Alexander, who lived to finish their desperate career, he lost all resemblance of Lucius Crasaua, and hb other worthy progenitors. LXXXII. But let us return to Calvus, whom we have just mentioned, an orator who bad received more literary improvemeats than Curio, and had a more accumte and delicate nianuer of speaking, which he conducted with great taste atid elegance; bnt^ (by being too minute and nice a critic upon himself,) while he was labouring to correct and refiue his langun^, he suffered al! the force and spirit of it to evaporate. In short, it was BO exquisitely polished, as to charm the eye of every eldlfal observer; but it was little noticed by tho common people in a crowded forum, which is the proper theatre of eloquenca" " His aim," said Brutus, " was to he admired aa an Attic orator; and to' this we must attribute that accurate exility of style, which he constantly affected." " This, indeed, wb professed character," replied I; " but he was deceived self, and led others iuto the same mistake. It is true, over supposes that to speak in the Auic taste, is to avoid ei awkward, every harsh, every vicious expression, has, in this sense, an undoubted right to fefuse his approbation to eveiythiug which is not strictly Attic. For he must naturally detest whatever is insipid, disgusting, or incorrect; whilo he considers correctness and propriety of lauguaga as thd religion and good-manners of an orator; and every one n" pretends to speak in public should adopt the same opinii But if he bestows the name of Atticism on a meagre, a diy, and a niggardly turn of expression, provided it is neat, eon and polished, I cannot say, indeed, that be bestows it properly; as the Attic orators, however, had many qualities of a more important nature, I would advise him to be caref ' that be does not overlook their different kinds and degrees him^ who^H BEMAltES OK BUINENT merit, and their great extent and variety of character. The Attio speakeia, he will tell me, are the modela upon which ho -wiebes to form his eloquence. But which of tbem does he mean to fix uponl for they are not all of the s Who, for iuBtance, could be more unlike each other than Demosthenes and Ljsiaal or than Demosthenes and Hyperides? Or who more different from either of them, than jEschineaJ Which of them, then, do you propose to imitated If only one, this 'will be a tacit implication, that none of the rest were true masters of Atticism; if all, how can you possibly succeed, when their chajactera are so opposite 1 Let me further oak you, whether Demetrius Phalereus spoke in the Attic style I In my opinion, his orations have the very taste of Athena. But he is certainly more florid than cither Hyperidea or Lysias; partly from the natural turn of hia genina, and partly by choice.
LXXXIII. " There were likewise two others at the tima we are speaking of, whose characters were equally dissimilar; and yet both of them were truly Altie. The first (Charisius) was the author of a number of speeches, which he composed for his friends, professedly in imitation of Lysiaa; and the other (Democharcs, the nephew of Demosthenes) wrote several orations, and a regular history of what wns transacted in Athens under his own observation; not so much, indeed, in the style of an historian, as of an oiutor. Hegesios took the former for hia model, and was so vain of his own taste for Atticism, that he considered his predecessors, who were really masters of it, as mere ruatica in comparison of himself But what can be more insipid, mora fidvolons, or more puerile, tlian that very concinnity of eipreasioa which he actually acquired 1 ' But still we wish to resemble the Attic speakers.'
Do BO by all means. But were uot those, tlien, true Attio speakers, we have just been mentioning 1 'Nobody denies it; and these are the men we imitate.' But howl when they ai-e so very different, not only fi-om each other, but from all the rest of their contemporaries i ' True; but Thucydides is our leading pattern.' This, too, I can aUow, if you design to compose histories, instead of pleading caus^. For Timcydides was both an exact and a stately historian; but he never intended to write models for conducting a judicial proceas. I will even go bo far as to add, that I have often commended the speeches which he has inserted in his history 490 BHUTua; ob, in great numbere; though I inwBt frankly own, that I neither could imitate them, if I would, nor indeed rvmUd, if 1 coWd; like a man who would neither choose his wine'Bo new as to hftva been tunned off ia the preceding vintage, nor bo eio»-aiTely old as to date its age from the congnlahip of Opimiu or Anicius. ' The latter,' you will say, 'bears the highest price.' Veij probably; but when it haa too much age, it has lot that delicious flavour which pleasea the palate, aud, in mj opinion, ia scarcely tolerable. ' Would you. choose, then, when you have a mind to r^ale youiself, to apply to a fresh, Qnripened cask %' By no means; but stiU there ia a cemio age, when good wino arriveB at its utmost perfection. In the some manner, I would recommend ueitlier a raw, unmellowed style, which (if I may ao eipreaa myself) has been newly dmwD off from the vat; nor the rough and antiquated language of the grave and manly Thucydides, For even ht, if he had lived a few yeara later, would have acquired a mach softer and mellower tnm of expression.
" ' LgtJW; then^ imitate Demoathenea.' LXXXIV, Good Godal to what else'doT direct alTmy endeavours, and my wishes! But it is, perhaps, my misfortune not to sucoetd. These AUiciteri, however, acquire with ease the paltry character they aim at; not once recollecting that it is not only recorded in history, but must have been the natural coo-Bequence of his superior fame, that when Demoathenea was to speak in pubUc, all Greece flocked in crowda to hear him. But when our Attia orators venture to speak, they are sently deserted, not only by the little throng around t who have ao interest in the dispute, (which alone is a morti- \ fyiogproof of their insignificance,) but even by their a«80C and fellow-advocates. If to apeak, therefore, in a dry tad I lifeless manner, ia the true criterion of Atticism, they a heartily welcome to enjoy the credit of it; but if they wb to put their abilities to the trial, let them attend the Comitia, 1 or a judicial process of real importance. The open forom demands a fuller and more elevated tone; and he is tha orator for me, who ia so uuiversaliy admired, that when he is to plead an intereating caase, all the benchea are filled beforehand, the tribunal crowded, the clerks and notarial J busy in adjustmg their seats, the populace througing abont | the rostra, and the jndgo brisk and vi^ant; Ae, who has I «noh a commanding air, that when he rises up to speak, tha ' REMAKES ON SHDiEHT ORATOES.
^ole aiidiooco is huebed into a profound silence, which is soon interrupted by their repeated plaudits and acolamatioua, or by those successive bursts of laughter, orTiolent transports of passion, which he knows how to escite at his pleasure j so that even a distant observer, though unacquainted with the subject he is speaking upon, can easily discover that hia bearers are pleased with him, and that a Rosdui is perfoiming his part on the sb^o. Whoever has the happiness to ba thus followed and applauded, is, beyond dispute, au Attio Hpoaker; for such was Pericles, such wna Hyperides, and ^Bchiues, and such, in the most eminent degree, was the great Demosthenes! If, indeed, these connoisseurs, who have BO much dislike to everything bold and ornamental, only mean to say that an accurate, a judicious, and a neat and eompact, but nnembellished style, is really an Attic one, they are not mistakeu. For in an. art of such wonder^l extent and variety as that of speaking, even this subtile and confined chckracter jaaj claim a place; so that the conclusion will be, that it is very possible to speak in the Attic taste without deserving the name of an orator; hut that aU, in general, who are truly eloquent, are likewise Attic speakers.
" It is tirae, however, to return to Hortensiua." LXSXT "Indeed, I think so," cried Brutus; "though I most acknowledge that this long digression of yours has entertained me TSry agreeably." " But I made some remarks," said Atticns^ " which I was several times inclined to mention; only I was loth to interrupt you. As your discourse, however, seems to be drawing towards an end, I think I may venture to state them." " By all means," replied I. " I readily grant, then," said he, " that there is something very humorous and elegant in that continued irony, which Socrates employs to so much advantage in the dialogues of Plato, Xenophon, and jEschines. For when a dispute commences on the nature of wisdom, he professes, with a great deal of humour and ingenuity, to have no pretensions to it himself; while, with a kind of concealed raillery, ho ascribes the highest degree of it to those who had the arrt^ance to lay an open claim to it. Thus, in Plato, he extols Protagoras, Hippias, Prodicus, Gorgiaa and several others, to the skies; but represents himself as qnite ignorant. This in him, was pecuharly becoming; nor can I agree with Epicunis, who thinks it censurable. But in a professed history, {fbr such, in feet, is the account you have been giving OH of the Eomaa orators,) I Bhall leave yoa to judge, whetha' an application of the irony ia not equally reprehensible, ai it would bo in giving judicial evidence." " Pray, wLat m you driving at)" said I; "for 1 cannot comprehend yoa." " I mean," replied he, " in the Srst place, that the commoidations which you have bestowed upon some of our oratora, have a teadeocy to mialead the opinion of those who an unacquainted with their true characters. There were likewise several parts of your account, at which I could scarcelj forbear laughing; as, for instance, when you compared old Cato to Lysiaa. He was, indeed, a great, and a very eitaordiuary man. Nobody, I believe, will say to the contraty.
But shall we call him an orator T Shall we pronounce bim the rival of Lysiaa. who was tho most finished character of tbe kind! If we meau to jest, this comparison of youra would form a pretty irony; but if we are talking in real oamat, we should pay the same Borupulous regard to truth, as if m were giving evidence upon oath, As a citizen, a senator, a general, and, in short, a man who was distinguished by hia prudence, his activity, and every other virtue, your fitvourite Cato has my highest approbation. I can likewise applaud Ills speeches, considering the time he lived in. They eihibit the outhnea of a great genius; but euoh, however, as are evidently rude and imperfect. In the same maaner, when you represented his ArUiquitie* as replete with all the gnoea of oratory, and compared Cato with Philistus and Thucydide^ did you really imagine, that yon could persuade Brutus and me to believe you ) or would you seriously degrade those, whom none of the Greeks themselves have been able to equal, into a comparison with astiff country gentleman, who scarcely suspected that there was any such thing in being as a copious dad ornamental style? ' LXXXVI. " You have likewise said much in commendation of Galba; — if as the best speaker of his ago, I can so &r agree with you, for such was the character ho bore; — ^but if you meant to recommend him as an orator, produce his orations (for they are still estant), and then tell mo honestly, whether you would wish your friond Brutus here to speak as Tte did 1 Lopidus, too, was the author of several speeches, which have received your approbation; in which I can partly join "'"* y°"' '^ 3""" coasider them only as speoimenB of our anoioat eloquence. Tho same might be aoid of Afri- BBUAIIKS ON BHIHBHT OIUTOBfl.
canua and Lisliua, than wbosc laaguage (you tell us) nothing in the world can bo sweeter; nay, you have mentioned it ■with a kind of Tenoration, and endeavoured to dazdo our judgment hy the great character they bore, and the uncornmon elegance of their mannera. Diveat it of these adventitious graces, and this sweet language of theirs will appear so homely, as to be scarcely worth noticing. Carbo, too, was mentioned as one of our capital orators; and for this only reason, — that in speaking, as in all other professions, ■whatever is tlie best of its kind, for the time being, how deficient soever in reality, is always admired aud applauded. What I have said of Corbo, is equally true of the Gracchi; though, in some particulars, the character yon have given them was no more than they deserved. But to say nothing of the rest of your orators, let us proceed to Antonius and Cmssus, your two paragons of eloquence, whom I have heard myself, and who were certainly very able speakers. To the eitraordinaiy commendation you have bestowed upon them, I can readily give my assent; but not, however, in such an unlimited manner as to persuade myself that you have received as much improvemeut from the speech in support of the Servilian law, as Lysippus said be had done by studying the famous statue^ of Polycletus. What you have said on (Ats occasion I consider as absolute ironi/; but I shnll not inform you why I think so, lest you should ima^ne I design to flatter you. I shall therefore pass over the many fine encomiums you have bestowed upon these; and what you have said of Cotta and Snlpioins, and hut very lately of your pupil CajJius. I acknowledge, however, tliat we may call them orators; but as to the nature and extent of their merit, let your own judgment decide. It is scarcely worth observing, that you have had the additional good-nature to crowd so many daubers into your list, that there ai'e some, I belioTe, who will bo ready to wish they had died long ago, that you might have had an opportunity to insert fhcir names among the rest." LXXXVII. "Tou have opened a wide field of inquiry," said I, " and started a subject which deserves a separata discussion; but we must defer it to a more convenient time/ For, to settle it, a great variety of authors must be examined, and especially Cato; which could not feil to convince you, that nothing was wanting to complete his pieces, but those rich ' Doryphomt. A spennaaa.
^r Bud gloinng coloura which had not tfaeu been mvented. ii to the above oration of Crassue, he himself, pei^ps, conld have written better, if bo had been williug to take titt trouble; but uobody else, I believe, ooiild have mended it You have no reason, therefore, to think I spoke inmicaUg, when I mentioned it fu^ the guide and tutoress of tay eloqueuM j for though you eeem to have a higher opinion of my oapadty, in its present state, yon must remember that, in our you^ we could find nothing better to imitate among the Komaii& And OS to my admitting bo tnany iato mj list of oratco^ I only did it (as I have already observed) to show how tew have succeeded ia a prefessiou, in which all were desirous to eiceL I therefore iuBJat upon it that you do uot condder « in the present case as a praduer of irony; though W8 are iftformed byCaius Fanniua, in his hiatory, that^/HcomUKua very excaUent one." "As you please about iAot," cried Attiov; " though, by the bye, I did not imagine it would have beai any disgrace to you, to be what Atricanus and SooratcB hive been before you." " We may settle thit another time," interrupted Brutus; " but will you be bo obliging," nid he, (addresBing himself to me,) " as to give ua a critical malyai of some of the old speeches you have mentioned V " Verj wiUingly," replied I; " but it must be at Cuma, or Tuacnlui^ when opportunity offers: for we are near neighbours, yott know, in both places. LXXXVIII. At present, let ai return to Itortemiut, from whom we have digressed a aeeond " Hortensius, then, who began to speak in public whoi h> was very young, was soon employed even in causes of ttfl great«Bt moment; and though he first appeared in the timeof Cotta and Sulpicius, (who were only ten years older,) and wboi Crasaiia and AntoniuB, and afterwards Philippia and Julius were in the height of their reputation, he was thought worthy to be compared with either of them in point of eloqiiraice> He had such an excellent memoiy a^ I never kaew io Hiy person; so that what he had composed in private, ha m able to repeat, without notes, in the very same words be had made use of at first. Ho employed this natural advantigt with so much readiness, that he not only reeoUectod whateWT he had written or premeditated himself, but rememband sverythiug that had been said by his opponents, without the help of a prompter. He was likewise inflamed with socb BEMARKB ON EMINENT OBATOBS.
II passioQuto fbudnesa for the profesBion, that I never e one who took more pains to improve himself; for hu would not suffer a day to elftpse without either speaking forum, or composing aomething at home; and very often lie did both in the same day. He had, besides, a turn of eiprea-Bion which was very far from being low and mielevatedj and possessed two other aocomplishnienta, in which no one could equal him, — an unoommou cle&mess and accuracy in stating the points he was to discuss; and a neat and easy manner c^ collecting the substance of what had been said by his antar gonist, and by himself. He had likewise an elegant choice of words, aa agreeable flow in his periods, and ft copious elocution, for which he was partly indebted to a fine natural capacity, and which was partly acquired by the most laborioua rhetorical eiercisea. In short, he had a most retentive view of his subject, and always divided and distributed it into distinct parts with the greatest eiaotnees; and he very seldom overlooked anything which the case" could surest, that was proper either to support his own. allegations, or to refute those of hie opponent Lastly, he had a sweet and sonorous voice; but his gesture had rather more art in it, and was managed with more precision than is requisite in an orator.
" While he was in the hei^t of his glory, Crasana died, Cotta was banished, our public trials were intermitted by the Marsio war, and I myself made my first appearance in the fonim. LXSXIX. Hortensiua joined the army, and served the first campaign as a volunteer, and the second aaamilitary tribune; Sulpioius was made a lieutenant-general; and AntoniuB was absent on a similar account. The only trial we had, was that u^on the Varian law; the rest, as I have just observed, having been intermitted by the war. We had ECaroely anybody left at Iho bar but Lucius Memmius and Quintua Pompeina, who spoke mostly ou their own affairs; and, though far from being orators of the first distinction, were yet tolerable ones, (if we may credit Philippus, who was himself a man of some eloquence,) and, in supporting evidence, displayed all the poignanoy of a prosecutor, with a moderate freedom of elocution. The rest, who were esteemed OUT capital speakers, were then in the magistracy, and 1 had the benefit of hearing their harangues almost every day. Cains Curio was chosen a tribune of the people though ho left off speaking after being once deserted by hia w^oto V muTca; ok, Audience. To him I ina; udd Quintus Metollus Celer, who, though certainly no orator, was iar from being destitute of utterance; but Quintua Vai'ius, Caius Carbo, and Cdkiis Pomponiua, were meu of real elocution, and might almost be Goid to have lived iipou the rostra. Coiua Jtilius too, who iras then a curule aidile, was daily employed in Daaking epeetdies to the people, which were composed with great nealmesa and accuracy. But while I attended the forum with this eager curiosity, my first disappointment was the banishment of Cotta; after which I continued to hear the rest with the, same assiduity oa before; aud though I daily spent the remainder of my time iu reading, writing, and private deda-I mation, I camiot say that I much relished my conliuement ta I these preparatory exercises. The next year Quiatus VarinG was condemned, and iiauiahed by his own law; and I, thai. I might acquire a competent knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence, then attached myself to Quintua ScaaTola, the eon of PuLlius, who, though he did not choose to undertake the charge of a pupil, yet, by freely giving his advice to thcee who consulted him, answered every purpose of instruction to sucli as took the troubta to apply to him. In the succeeding year, iu which SylJa and Pompey were consuls, u Sulpioius, who was elected a tribune of the people, had oocasiou to epcak in public almost every day, I had oppcf< tuuity to acquaint myself thoroughly with his manner t£ speaking. At this time