excelled by Lucius Crassus. All, however, were agreed in this, that
whoever had either of them for his advocate, had no cause to wish for a
better. For my own part, notwithstanding the uncommon merit I have
ascribed to Antonius, I must also acknowlege, that there cannot be a more
finished character than that of Crassus. He possessed a wonderful dignity
of elocution, with an agreeable mixture of wit and pleasantry, which was
perfectly genteel, and without the smallest tincture of scurrility. His
style was correct and elegant without stiffness or affectation: his method
of reasoning was remarkably clear and distinct: and when his cause turned
upon any point of law, or equity, he had an inexhaustible fund of
arguments, and comparative illustrations. For as Antonius had an admirable
turn for suggesting apposite hints, and either suppressing or exciting the
suspicions of the hearer; so no man could explain and define, or discuss a
point of equity, with a more copious facility than Crassus; as
sufficiently appeared upon many other occasions, but particularly in the
cause of M. Curius, which was tried before the Centum Viri. For he urged a
great variety of arguments in the defence of right and equity, against the
literal _jubeat_ of the law; and supported them by such a numerous series
of precedents, that he overpowered Q. Scaevola (a man of uncommon
penetration, and the ablest Civilian of his time) though the case before
them was only a matter of legal right. But the cause was so ably managed
by the two advocates, who were nearly of an age, and both of consular
rank, that while each endeavoured to interpret the law in favour of his
client, Crassus was universally allowed to be the best Lawyer among the
Orators, and Scaevola to be the most eloquent Civilian of the age: for the
latter could not only discover with the nicest precision what was
agreeable to law and equity; but had likewise a conciseness and propriety
of expression, which was admirably adapted to his purpose. In short, he
had such a wonderful vein of oratory in commenting, explaining, and
discussing, that I never beheld his equal; though in amplifying,
embellishing, and refuting, he was rather to be dreaded as a formidable
critic, than admired as an eloquent speaker."--"Indeed," said Brutus,
"though I always thought I sufficiently understood the character of
Scaevola, by the account I had heard of him from C. Rutilius, whose
company I frequented for the sake of his acquaintance with him, I had not
the least idea of his merit as an orator. I am now, therefore, not a
little pleased to be informed, that our Republic has had the honour of
producing so accomplished a man, and such an excellent genius."--"Really,
my Brutus," said I, "you may take it from me, that the Roman State had
never been adorned with two finer characters than these. For, as I have
before observed, that the one was the best Lawyer among the Orators, and
the other the best Speaker among the Civilians of his time; so the
difference between them, in all other respects, was of such a nature, that
it would almost be impossible for you to determine which of the two you
would rather choose to resemble. For, as Crassus was the closest of all
our elegant speakers, so Scaevola was the most elegant among those who
were distinguished by the frugal accuracy of their language: and as
Crassus tempered his affability with a proper share of severity, so the
rigid air of Scaevola was not destitute of the milder graces of an affable
condescension. Though this was really their character, it is very possible
that I may be thought to have embellished it beyond the bounds of truth,
to give an agreeable air to my narrative: but as your favourite sect, my
Brutus, the Old Academy, has defined all Virtue to be a just Mediocrity,
it was the constant endeavour of these two eminent men to pursue this
Golden Mean; and yet it so happened, that while each of them shared a part
of the other's excellence, he preserved his own entire."--"To speak what I
think," replied Brutus, "I have not only acquired a proper acquaintance
with their characters from your account of them, but I can likewise
discover, that the same comparison might be drawn between _you_ and Serv.
Sulpicius, which you have just been making between Crassus and Scaevola."
--"In what manner?" said I.--"Because _you_," replied Brutus, "have taken
the pains to acquire as extensive a knowledge of the law as is necessary
for an Orator; and Sulpicius, on the other hand, took care to furnish
himself with sufficient eloquence to support the character of an able
Civilian. Besides, your age corresponded as nearly to his, as the age of
Crassus did to that of Scaevola."--"As to my own abilities," said I, "the
rules of decency forbid me to speak of them: but your character of Servius
is a very just one, and I may freely tell you what I think of him. There
are few, I believe, who have applied themselves more assiduously to the
art of Speaking than he did, or indeed to the study of every useful
science. In our youth, we both of us followed the same liberal exercises;
and he afterwards accompanied me to Rhodes, to pursue those studies which
might equally improve him as a Man and a Scholar; but when he returned
from thence, he appears to me to have been rather ambitious to be the
foremost man in a secondary profession, than the second in that which
claims the highest dignity. I will not pretend to say that he could not
have ranked himself among the foremost in the latter profession; but he
rather chose to be, what he actually made himself, the first Lawyer of his
time."--"Indeed!" said Brutus: "and do you really prefer Servius to Q.
Scaevola?"--"My opinion," said I, "Brutus, is, that Q. Scaevola, and many
others, had a thorough practical knowledge of the law; but that Servius
alone understood it as _science_: which he could never have done by the
mere study of the law, and without a previous acquaintance with the art
which teaches us to divide a whole into its subordinate parts, to, decide
an indeterminate idea by an accurate definition: to explain what is
obscure, by a clear interpretation; and first to discover what things are
of a _doubtful_ nature, then to distinguish them by their different
degrees of probability; and lastly, to be provided with a certain rule or
measure by which we may judge what is true, and what false, and what
inferences fairly may, or may not be deduced from any given premises. This
important art he applied to those subjects which, for want of it, were
necessarily managed by others without due order and precision."--"You
mean, I suppose," said Brutus, "the Art of Logic."--"You suppose very
right," answered I: "but he added to it an extensive acquaintance with
polite literature, and an elegant manner of expressing himself; as is
sufficiently evident from the incomparable writings he has left behind
him. And as he attached himself, for the improvement of his eloquence, to
L. Lucilius Balbus, and C. Aquilius Gallus, two very able speakers; he
effectually thwarted the prompt celerity of the latter (though a keen,
experienced man) both in supporting and refuting a charge, by his accuracy
and precision, and overpowered the deliberate formality of Balbus (a man
of great learning and erudition) by his adroit and dextrous method of
arguing: so that he equally possessed the good qualities of both, without
their defects. As Crassus, therefore, in my mind, acted more prudently
than Scaevola; (for the latter was very fond of pleading causes, in which
he was certainly inferior to Crassus; whereas the former never engaged
himself in an unequal competition with Scaevola, by assuming the character
of a Civilian;) so Servius pursued a plan which sufficiently discovered
his wisdom; for as the profession of a Pleader, and a Lawyer, are both of
them held in great esteem, and give those who are masters of them the most
extensive influence among their fellow-citizens; he acquired an undisputed
superiority in the one, and improved himself as much in the other as was
necessary to support the authority of the Civil Law, and promote him to
the dignity of a Consul."--"This is precisely the opinion I had formed of
him," said Brutus. "For, a few years ago I heard him often and very
attentively at Samos, when I wanted to be instructed by him in the
Pontifical Law, as far as it is connected with the Civil; and I am now
greatly confirmed in my opinion of him, by finding that it coincides so
exactly with yours. I am likewise not a little pleased to observe, that
the equality of your ages, your sharing the same honours and preferments,
and the vicinity of your respective studies and professions, has been so
far from precipitating either of you into that envious detraction of the
other's merit, which most people are tormented with, that, instead of
wounding your mutual friendship, it has only served to increase and
strengthen it; for, to my own knowlege, he had the same affection for, and
the same favourable sentiments of _you_, which I now discover in you
towards _him_. I cannot, therefore, help regretting very sincerely, that
the Roman State has so long been deprived of the benefit of his advice,
and of your Eloquence;--a circumstance which is indeed calamitous enough
in itself; but must appear much more so to him who considers into what
hands that once respectable authority has been of late, I will not say
transferred, but forcibly wrested."--"You certainly forget," said Atticus,
"that I proposed, when we began the conversation, to drop all matters of
State; by all means, therefore, let us keep to our plan: for if we once
begin to repeat our grievances, there will be no end, I need not say to
our inquiries, but to our sighs and lamentations."--"Let us proceed,
then," said I, "without any farther digression, and pursue the plan we set
out upon. Crassus (for he is the Orator we were just speaking of) always
came into the Forum ready prepared for the combat. He was expected with
impatience, and heard with pleasure. When he first began his Oration
(which he always did in a very accurate style) he seemed worthy of the
great expectations he had raised. He was very moderate in the sway of his
body, had no remarkable variation of voice, never advanced from the ground
he stood upon, and seldom stamped his foot: his language was forcible, and
sometimes warm and pathetic; he had many strokes of humour, which were
always tempered with a becoming dignity; and, what is a difficult
character to hit, he was at once very florid, and very concise. In a close
contest, he never met with his equal; and there was scarcely any kind of
causes, in which he had not signalized his abilities; so that he enrolled
himself very early among the first Orators of the time. He accused C.
Carbo, though a man of great Eloquence, when he was but a youth;--and
displayed his talents in such a manner, that they were not only applauded,
but admired by every body. He afterwards defended the Virgin Licinia, when
he was only twenty-seven years of age; on which occasion he discovered an
uncommon share of Eloquence, as is evident from those parts of his Oration
which he left behind him in writing. As he was then desirous to have the
honour of settling the colony of Narbonne (as he afterwards did) he
thought it adviseable to recommend himself, by undertaking the management
of some popular cause. His Oration, in support of the act which was
proposed for that purpose, is still extant; and discovers a greater
maturity of genius than might have been expected at that time of life. He
afterwards pleaded many other causes: but his tribuneship was such a
remarkably silent one, that if he had not supped with Granius the beadle
when he enjoyed that office (a circumstance which has been twice mentioned
by Lucilius) we should scarcely have known that a tribune of that name had
existed."--"I believe so," replied Brutus: "but I have heard as little of
the tribuneship of Scaevola, though I must naturally suppose that he was
the colleague of Crassus."--"He was so," said I, "in all his other
preferments; but he was not tribune till the year after him; and when he
sat in the Rostrum in that capacity, Crassus spoke in support of the
Servilian law. I must observe, however, that Crassus had not Scaevola for
his colleague in the censorship; for none of the Scaevolas ever sued for
that office. But when the last-mentioned Oration of Crassus was published
(which I dare say you have frequently read) he was thirty-four years of
age, which was exactly the difference between his age and mine. For he
supported the law I have just been speaking of, in the very consulship
under which I was born; whereas he himself was born in the consulship of
Q. Caepio, and C. Laelius, about three years later than Antonius. I have
particularly noticed this circumstance, to specify the time when the Roman
Eloquence attained its first _maturity_; and was actually carried to such
a degree of perfection, as to leave no room for any one to carry it
higher, unless by the assistance of a more complete and extensive
knowledge of philosophy, jurisprudence, and history."--"But does there,"
said Brutus, "or will there ever exist a man, who is furnished with all
the united accomplishments you require?"--"I really don't know," said I;
"but we have a speech made by Crassus in his consulship, in praise of Q.
Caepio, intermingled with a defence of his conduct, which, though a short
one if we consider it as an Oration, is not so as a Panegyric;--and
another, which was his last, and which he spoke in the 48th year of his
age, at the time he was censor. In these we have the genuine complexion of
Eloquence, without any painting or disguise: but his periods (I mean
Crassus's) were generally short and concise; and he was fond of expressing
himself in those minuter sentences, or members, which the Greeks call
Colons."--"As you have spoken so largely," said Brutus, "in praise of the
two last-mentioned Orators, I heartily wish that Antonius had left us some
other specimen of his abilities, than his trifling Essay on the Art of
Speaking, and Crassus more than he has: by so doing, they would have
transmitted their fame to _posterity_; and to us a valuable system of
Eloquence. For as to the elegant language of Scaevola, we have sufficient
proofs of it in the Orations he has left behind him."--"For my part," said
I, "the Oration I was speaking of, on Caepio's case, has been my pattern,
and my tutoress, from my very childhood. It supports the dignity of the
Senate, which was deeply interested in the debate; and excites the
jealousy of the audience against the party of the judges and accusers,
whose power it was necessary to expose in the most popular terms. Many
parts of it are very strong and nervous, many others very cool and
composed; and some are distinguished by the asperity of their language,
and not a few by their wit and pleasantry: but much more was said than was
committed to writing, as is sufficiently evident from several heads of the
Oration, which are merely proposed without any enlargement or explanation.
But the oration in his censorship against his colleague Cn. Domitius, is
not so much an Oration, as an analysis of the subject, or a general sketch
of what he had said, with here and there a few ornamental touches, by way
of specimen: for no contest was ever conducted with greater spirit than
this. Crassus, however, was eminently distinguished by the popular turn of
his language: but that of Antonius was better adapted to judicial trials,
than to a public debate. As we have had occasion to mention him, Domitius
himself must not be left unnoticed: for though he is not enrolled in the
list of Orators, he had a sufficient share both of utterance and genius,
to support his character as a magistrate and his dignity as a consul. I
might likewise observe of C. Caelius, that he was a man of great
application, and many eminent qualities, and had eloquence enough to
support the private interests of his friends, and his own dignity in the
State. At the same time lived M. Herennius, who was reckoned among the
middling Orators, whose principal merit was the purity and correctness of
their language; and yet, in a suit for the consulship, he got the better
of L. Philippus, a man of the first rank and family, and of the most
extensive connections, and who was likewise a member of the College, and a
very eloquent speaker. _Then_ also lived C. Clodius, who, besides his
consequence as a nobleman of the first distinction, and a man of the most
powerful influence, was likewise possessed of a moderate share of
Eloquence. Nearly of the same age was C. Titius, a Roman knight, who, in
my judgment, arrived at as high a degree of perfection as a Roman orator
was able to do, without the assistance of the Grecian literature, and a
good share of practice. His Orations have so many delicate turns, such a
number of well-chosen examples, and such an agreeable vein of politeness,
that they almost seem to have been composed in the true Attic style. He
likewise transferred his delicacies into his very Tragedies, with
ingenuity enough, I confess, but not in the tragic taste. But the poet L.
Afranius, whom he studiously imitated, was a very smart writer, and, as
you well know, a man of great expression in the dramatic way. Q. Rubrius
Varro, who with C. Marius, was declared an enemy by the Senate, was
likewise a warm, and a very spirited prosecutor. My relation, M.
Gratidius, was a plausible speaker of the same kind, well versed in the
Grecian literature, formed by nature for the profession of Eloquence, and
an intimate acquaintance of M. Antonius: he commanded under him in
Cilicia, where he lost his life: and he once commenced a prosecution
against C. Fimbria, the father of M. Marius Gratidianus. There have
likewise been several among the Allies, and the Latins, who were esteemed
good Orators; as, for instance, Q. Vettius of Vettium, one of the Marsi,
whom I myself was acquainted with, a man of sense, and a concise speaker;
--the Q. and D. Valerii of Sora, my neighbours and acquaintances, who were
not so remarkable for their talent of speaking, as for their skill both in
the Greek and Roman literature; and C. Rusticellus of Bononia, an
experienced Orator, and a man of great natural volubility. But the most
eloquent of all those who were not citizens of Rome, was T. Betucius
Barrus of Asculum, some of whose Orations, which were spoken in that city,
are still extant: that which he made at Rome against Caepio, is really an
excellent one: the speech which Caepio delivered in answer to it, was made
by Aelius, who composed a number of Orations, but pronounced none himself.
But among those of a remoter date, L. Papirius of Fregellae in Latium, who
was almost cotemporary with Ti. Gracchus, was universally esteemed the
most eloquent: we have a speech of his in vindication of the Fregellani,
and the Latin Colonies, which was delivered before the Senate."--"And what
then is the merit," said Brutus, "which you mean to ascribe to these
provincial Orators?"--"What else," replied I, "but the very same which I
have ascribed to the city-orators; excepting that their language is not
tinctured with the same fashionable delicacy?"--"What fashionable delicacy
do you mean?" said he.--"I cannot," said I, "pretend to define it: I only
know that there is such a quality existing. When you go to your province
in Gaul, you will be convinced of it. You will there find many expressions
which are not current in Rome; but these may be easily changed, and
corrected. But, what is of greater importance, our Orators have a
particular accent in their manner of pronouncing, which is more elegant,
and has a more agreeable effect than any other. This, however, is not
peculiar to the Orators, but is equally common to every well-bred citizen.
I myself remember that T. Tineas, of Placentia, who was a very facetious
man, once engaged in a repartee skirmish with my old friend Q. Granius,
the public crier."--"Do you mean that Granius," said Brutus, "of whom
Lucilius has related such a number of stories?"--"The very same," said I:
"but though Tineas said as many smart things as the other, Granius at last
overpowered him by a certain vernacular _goût_, which gave an additional
relish to his humour: so that I am no longer surprised at what is said to
have happened to Theophrastus, when he enquired of an old woman who kept a
stall, what was the price of something which he wanted to purchase. After
telling him the value of it,--"Honest _stranger_," said she, "I cannot
afford it for less": "an answer which nettled him not a little, to think
that _he_ who had resided almost all his life at Athens, and spoke the
language very correctly, should be taken at last for a foreigner. In the
same manner, there is, in my opinion, a certain accent as peculiar to the
native citizens of Rome, as the other was to those of Athens. But it is
time for us to return home; I mean to the Orators of our own growth. Next,
therefore, to the two capital Speakers above-mentioned, (that is Crassus
and Antonius) came L. Philippus,--not indeed till a considerable time
afterwards; but still he must be reckoned the next. I do not mean,
however, though nobody appeared in the interim who could dispute the prize
with him, that he was entitled to the second, or even the third post of
honour. For, as in a Chariot-race I cannot properly consider _him_ as
either the second, or third winner, who has scarcely got clear of the
starting-post, before the first has reached the goal; so, among Orators, I
can scarcely honour him with the name of a competitor, who has been so far
distanced by the foremost as hardly to appear on the same ground with him.
But yet there were certainly some talents to be observed in Philippus,
which any person who considers them, without subjecting them to a
comparison with the superior merits of the two before-mentioned, must
allow to have been respectable. He had an uncommon freedom of address, a
large fund of humour, great facility in the invention of his sentiments,
and a ready and easy manner of expressing them. He was likewise, for the
time he lived in, a great adept in the literature of the Greeks; and, in
the heat of a debate, he could sting, and gash, as well as ridicule his
opponents. Almost cotemporary with these was L. Gellius, who was not so
much to be valued for his positive, as for his negative merits: for he was
neither destitute of learning, nor invention, nor unacquainted with the
history and the laws of his country; besides which, he had a tolerable
freedom of expression. But he happened to live at a time when many
excellent Orators made their appearance; and yet he served his friends
upon many occasions to good purpose: in short, his life was so long, that
he was successively cotemporary with a variety of Orators of different
dates, and had an extensive series of practice in judicial causes. Nearly
at the same time lived D. Brutus, who was fellow-consul with Mamercus;--
and was equally skilled both in the Grecian and Roman literature. L.
Scipio likewise was not an unskilful Speaker; and Cnaeus Pompeius, the son
of Sextus, had some reputation as an Orator; for his brother Sextus
applied the excellent genius he was possessed of, to acquire a thorough
knowledge of the Civil Law, and a complete acquaintance with geometry and
the doctrine of the Stoics. A little before these, M. Brutus, and very
soon after him, C. Bilienus, who was a man of great natural capacity, made
themselves, by nearly the same application, equally eminent in the
profession of the law;--the latter would have been chosen Consul, if he
had not been thwarted by the repeated promotion of Marius, and some other
collateral embarrassments which attended his suit. But the eloquence of
Cn. Octavius, which was wholly unknown before his elevation to the
Consulship, was effectually displayed, after his preferment to that
office, in a great variety of speeches. It is, however, time for us to
drop those who were only classed in the number of good _speakers_, and
turn our attention to such as were really _Orators_."--"I think so too,"
replied Atticus; "for I understood that you meant to give us an account,
not of those who took great pains to be eloquent, but of those who were so
in reality."--"C. Julius then," said I, (the son of Lucius) was certainly
superior, not only to his predecessors, but to all his cotemporaries, in
wit and humour: he was not, indeed, a nervous and striking Orator, but, in
the elegance, the pleasantry, and the agreeableness of his manner, he has
not been excelled by any man. There are some Orations of his still extant,
in which, as well as in his Tragedies, we may discover a pleasing
tranquillity of expression with very little energy. P. Cethegus, his
cotemporary, had always enough to say on matters of civil regulation; for
he had studied and comprehended them with the minutest accuracy; by which
means he acquired an equal authority in the Senate with those who had
served the office of consul, and though he made no figure in a public
debate, he was a serviceable veteran in any suit of a private nature. Q.
Lucretius Vispillo was an acute Speaker, and a good Civilian in the same
kind of causes: but Osella was better qualified for a public harangue,
than to conduct a judicial process. T. Annius Velina was likewise a man of
sense, and a tolerable pleader; and T. Juventius had a great deal of
practice in the same way:--the latter indeed was rather too heavy and
unanimated, but at the same time he was keen and artful, and knew how to
seize every advantage which was offered by his antagonist; to which we may
add, that he was far from being a man of no literature, and had an
extensive knowledge of the Civil Law. His scholar, P. Orbius, who was
almost cotemporary with me, had no great practice as a pleader; but his
skill in the Civil Law was nothing inferior to his master's. As to Titus
Aufidius, who lived to a great age, he was a professed imitator of both;
and was indeed a worthy inoffensive man, but seldom spoke at the bar. His
brother, M. Virgilius, who when he was a tribune of the people, commenced
a prosecution against L. Sylla, then advanced to the rank of General, had
as little practice as Aufidius. Virgilius's colleague, P. Magius, was more
copious and diffusive. But of all the Orators, or rather _Ranters_, I ever
knew, who were totally illiterate and unpolished, and (I might have added)
absolutely coarse and rustic, the readiest and keenest, were Q. Sertorius,
and C. Gorgonius, the one of consular, and the other of equestrian rank.
T. Junius (the son of L.) who had served the office of tribune, and
prosecuted and convicted P. Sextius of bribery, when he was praetor elect,
was a prompt and an easy speaker: he lived in great splendor, and had a
very promising genius; and, if he had not been of a weak, and indeed a
sickly constitution, he would have advanced much farther than he did in
the road to preferment. I am sensible, however, that in the account I have
been giving, I have included many who were neither real, nor reputed
Orators; and that I have omitted others, among those of a remoter date,
who well deserved not only to have been mentioned, but to be recorded with
honour. But this I was forced to do, for want of better information: for
what could I say concerning men of a distant age, none of whose
productions are now remaining, and of whom no mention is made in the
writings of other people? But I have omitted none of those who have fallen
within the compass of my own knowledge, or that I myself remember to have
heard. For I wish to make it appear, that in such a powerful and ancient
republic as ours, in which the greatest rewards have been proposed to
Eloquence, though all have desired to be good speakers, not many have
attempted the talk, and but very few have succeeded. But I shall give my
opinion of every one in such explicit terms, that it may be easily
understood whom I consider as a mere Declaimer, and whom as an Orator."
"About the same time, or rather something later than the above-mentioned
Julius, but almost cotemporary with each other, were C. Cotta, P.
Sulpicius, Q. Varius, Cn. Pomponius, C. Curio, L. Fufius, M. Drusus, and
P. Antistius; for no age whatsoever has been distingushed by a more
numerous progeny of Orators. Of these, Cotta and Sulpicius, both in my
opinion, and in that of the Public at large, had an evident claim to the
preference."--"But wherefore," interrupted Atticus, "do you say, _in your
own opinion, and in that of the Public at large?_ In deciding the merits
of an Orator, does the opinion of the vulgar, think you, always coincide
with that of the learned? Or rather does not one receive the approbation
of the populace, while another of a quite opposite character is preferred
by those who are better qualified to give their judgment?"--"You have
started a very pertinent question," said I; "but, perhaps, _the Public at
large_ will not approve my answer to it."--"And what concern need _that_
give you," replied Atticus, "if it meets the approbation of Brutus?"--
"Very true," said I; "for I had rather my _sentiments_ on the
qualifications of an Orator would please you and Brutus, than all the
world besides: but as to my _Eloquence_, I should wish _this_ to please
every one. For he who speaks in such a manner as to please the people,
must inevitably receive the approbation of the learned. As to the truth
and propriety of what I hear, I am indeed to judge of this for myself, as
well as I am able: but the general merit of an Orator must and will be
decided by the effects which his eloquence produces. For (in my opinion at
least) there are three things which an Orator should be able to effect;
_viz_. to _inform_ his hearers, to _please_ them, and to _move their
passions_. By what qualities in the Speaker each of these, effects may be
produced, or by what deficiencies they are either lost, or but imperfectly
performed, is an enquiry which none but an artist can resolve: but whether
an audience is really so affected by an Orator as shall best answer his
purpose, must be left to their own feelings, and the decision of the
Public. The learned, therefore, and the people at large, have never
disagreed about who was a good Orator, and who was otherwise. For do you
suppose, that while the Speakers above-mentioned were in being, they had
not the same degree of reputation among the learned as among the populace?
If you had enquired of one of the latter, _who was the most eloquent man
in the city_, he might have hesitated whether to say _Antonius_ or
_Crassus_; or this man, perhaps, would have mentioned the one, and that
the other. But would any one have given the preference to _Philippus_,
though otherwise a smooth, a sensible, and a facetious Speaker?--that
_Philippus_ whom we, who form our judgment upon these matters by rules of
art, have decided to have been the next in merit? Nobody would, I am
certain. For it is the invariable, property of an accomplished Orator, to
be reckoned such in the opinion of the people. Though Antigenidas,
therefore, the musician, might say to his scholar, who was but coldly
received by the Public, Play on, to please me and the Muses;--I shall say
to my friend Brutus, when he mounts the Rostra, as he frequently does,--
Play to me and the people;--that those who hear him may be sensible of the
effect of his Eloquence, while I can likewise amuse myself with remarking
the causes which produce it. When a Citizen hears an able Orator, he
readily credits what is said;--he imagines every thing to be true, he
believes and relishes the force of it; and, in short, the persuasive
language of the Speaker wins his absolute, his hearty assent. You, who are
possessed of a critical knowledge of the art, what more will you require?
The listening multitude is charmed and captivated by the force of his
Eloquence, and feels a pleasure which is not to be resisted. What here can
you find to censure? The whole audience is either flushed with joy, or
overwhelmed with grief;--it smiles, or weeps,--it loves, or hates,--it
scorns or envies,--and, in short, is alternately seized with the various
emotions of pity, shame, remorse, resentment, wonder, hope, and fear,
according as it is influenced by the language, the sentiments, and the
action of the speaker. In this case, what necessity is there to await the
sanction of a critic? For here, whatever is approved by the feelings of
the people, must be equally so by men of taste and erudition: and, in this
instance of public decision, there can be no disagreement between the
opinion of the vulgar, and that of the learned. For though many good
Speakers have appeared in every species of Oratory, which of them who was
thought to excel the rest in the judgment of the populace, was not
approved as such by every man of learning? or which of our ancestors, when
the choice of a pleader was left to his own option, did not immediately
fix it either upon Crassus or Antonius? There were certainly many others
to be had: but though any person might have hesitated to which of the
above two he should give the preference, there was nobody, I believe, who
would have made choice of a third. And in the time of my youth, when Cotta
and Hortensius were in such high reputation, who, that had liberty to
choose for himself, would have employed any other?"--"But what occasion is
there," said Brutus, "to quote the example of other speakers to support
your assertion? have we not seen what has always been the wish of the
defendant, and what the judgment of Hortensius, concerning yourself? for
whenever the latter shared a cause with you, (and I was often present on
those occasions) the peroration, which requires the greatest exertion of
the powers of Eloquence, was constantly left to _you_."--"It was," said I;
"and Hortensius (induced, I suppose, by the warmth of his friendship)
always resigned the post of honour to me. But, as to myself, what rank I
hold in the opinion of the people I am unable to determine: as to others,
however, I may safely assert, that such of them as were reckoned most
eloquent in the judgment of the vulgar, were equally high in the
estimation of the learned. For even Demosthenes himself could not have
said what is related of Antimachus, a poet of Claros, who, when he was
rehearsing to an audience assembled for the purpose, that voluminous piece
of his which you are well acquainted with, and was deserted by all his
hearers except Plato, in the midst of his performance, cried out, "I
shall proceed notwithstanding_; for Plato alone is of _more consequence to
me than many thousands_." "The remark was very just. For an abstruse poem,
such as his, only requires the approbation of the judicious few; but a
discourse intended for the people should be perfectly suited to their
taste. If Demosthenes, therefore, after being deserted by the rest of his
audience, had even Plato left to hear him, and no one else, I will answer
for it, he could not have uttered another syllable. 'Nay, or could you
yourself, my Brutus, if the whole assembly was to leave you, as it once
did Curio?"--"To open my whole mind to you," replied he, "I must confess
that even in such causes as fall under the cognizance of a few select
judges, and not of the people at large, if I was to be deserted by the
casual crowd who came to hear the trial, I should not be able to
proceed."--"The case, then, is plainly this," said I: "as a flute, which
will not return its proper sound when it is applied to the lips, would be
laid aside by the musician as useless; so, the ears of the people are the
instrument upon which an Orator is to play: and if these refuse to admit
the breath he bestows upon them, or if the hearer, like a restive horse,
will not obey the spur, the speaker must cease to exert himself any
farther. There is, however, the exception to be made; the people sometimes
give their approbation to an orator who does not deserve it. But even here
they approve what they have had no opportunity of comparing with something
better: as, for instance, when they are pleased with an indifferent, or,
perhaps, a bad speaker. His abilities satisfy their expectation: they have
seen nothing preferable: and, therefore, the merit of the day, whatever it
may happen to be, meets their full applause. For even a middling Orator,
if he is possessed of any degree of Eloquence, will always captivate the
ear; and the order and beauty of a good discourse has an astonishing
effect upon the human mind. Accordingly, what common hearer who was
present when Q. Scaevola pleaded for M. Coponius, in the cause above-
mentioned, would have wished for, or indeed thought it possible to find
any thing which was more correct, more elegant, or more complete? When he
attempted to prove, that, as M. Curius was left heir to the estate only in
case of the death of his future ward before he came of age, he could not
possibly be a legal heir, when the expected ward was never born;--what did
he leave unsaid of the scrupulous regard which should be paid to the
literal meaning of every testament? what of the accuracy and preciseness
of the old and established forms; of law? and how carefully did he specify
the manner in which the will would have been expressed, if it had intended
that Curius should be the heir in case of a total default of issue? in
what a masterly manner did he represent the ill consequences to the
Public, if the letter of a will should be disregarded, its intention
decided by arbitrary conjectures, and the written bequests of plain
illiterate men, left to the artful interpretation of a pleader? how often
did he urge the authority of his father, who had always been an advocate
for a strict adherence to the letter of a testament? and with what
emphasis did he enlarge upon the necessity of supporting the common forms
of law? All which particulars he discussed not only very artfully, and
skilfully; but in such a neat,--such a close,--and, I may add, in so
florid, and so elegant a style, that there was not a single person among
the common part of the audience, who could expect any thing more complete,
or even think it possible to exist. But when Crassus, who spoke on the
opposite side, began with the story of a notable youth, who having found a
cock-boat as he was rambling along the shore, took it into his head
immediately that he would build a ship to it;--and when he applied the
tale to Scaevola, who, from the cock-boat of an argument [which he had
deduced from certain imaginary ill consequences to the Public] represented
the decision of a private will to be a matter of such importance as to
deserve he attention of the _Centum-viri_;--when Crassus, I say, in the
beginning of his discourse, had thus taken off the edge of the strongest
plea of his antagonist, he entertained his hearers with many other turns
of a similar kind; and, in a short time, changed the serious apprehensions
of all who were present into open mirth and good-humour; which is one of
those three effects which I have just observed an Orator should be able to
produce. He then proceeded to remark that it was evidently the intention
and the will of the testator, that in cafe, either by death, or default of
issue, there should happen to be no son to fall to his charge, the
inheritance should devolve to Curius:--'that most people in a similar case
would express themselves in the same manner, and that it would certainly
stand good in law, and always had. By these, and many other observations
of the same kind, he gained the assent of his hearers; which is another of
the three duties of an Orator. Lastly, he supported, at all events, the
true meaning and spirit of a will, against the literal construction:
justly observing, that there would be an endless cavilling about words,
not only in wills, but in all other legal deeds, if the real intention of
the party was to be disregarded: and hinting very smartly, that his
friend Scaevola had assumed a most unwarrantable degree of importance, if
no person must afterwards presume to indite a legacy, but in the musty
form which he himself might please to prescribe. As he enlarged on each of
these arguments with great force and propriety, supported them by a number
of precedents, exhibited them in a variety of views, and enlivened them
with many occasional turns of wit and pleasantry, he gained so much
applause, and gave such general satisfaction, that it was scarcely
remembered that any thing had been said on the contrary side of the
question. This was the third, and the most important duty we assigned to
an Orator.
"Here, if one of the people was to be judge, the same person who had heard
the first Speaker with a degree of admiration, would, on hearing the
second, despise himself for his former want of judgment:--whereas a man of
taste and erudition, on hearing Scaevola, would have observed that he was
really master of a rich and ornamental style; but if, on comparing the
manner in which each of them concluded his cause, it was to be enquired
which of the two was the best Orator, the decision of the man of learning
would not have differed from that of the vulgar. What advantage, then, it
will be said, has the skilful critic over the illiterate hearer? A great
and very important advantage; if it is indeed a matter of any consequence,
to be able to discover by what means that which is the true and real end
of speaking, is either obtained or lost. He has likewise this additional
superiority, that when two or more Orators, as has frequently happened,
have shared the applauses of the Public, he can judge, on a careful
observation of the principal merits of each, what is the most perfect
character of Eloquence: since whatever does not meet the approbation of
the people, must be equally condemned by a more intelligent hearer. For as
it is easily understood by the sound of a harp, whether the strings are
skilfully touched; so it may likewise be discovered from the manner in
which the passions of an audience are affected, how far the Speaker is
able to command them. A man, therefore, who is a real connoisseur in the
art, can sometimes by a single glance as he passes through the Forum, and
without stopping to listen attentively to what is said, form a tolerable
judgment of the ability of the Speaker. When he observes any of the Bench
either yawning, or speaking to the person who is next to him, or looking
carelessly about him, or sending to enquire the time of day, or teazing
the Quaestor to dismiss the court; he concludes very naturally that the
cause upon trial is not pleaded by an Orator who understands how to apply
the powers of language to the passions of the judges, as a skilful
musician applies his fingers to the harp. On the other hand, if, as he
passes by, he beholds the judges looking attentively before them, as if
they were either receiving some material information, or visibly approved
what they had already heard--if he sees them listening to the voice of the
Pleader with a kind of extasy like a fond bird to some melodious tune;--
and, above all, if he discovers in their looks any strong indications of
pity, abhorrence, or any other emotion of the mind;--though he should not
be near enough to hear a single word, he immediately discovers that the
cause is managed by a real Orator, who is either performing, or has
already played his part to good purpose."
After I had concluded these digressive remarks, my two friends were kind
enough to signify their approbation, and I resumed my subject.--"As this
digression," said I, "took its rise from Cotta and Sulpicius, whom I
mentioned as the two most approved Orators of the age they lived in, I
shall first return to _them,_ and afterwards notice the rest in their
proper order, according to the plan we began upon. I have already observed
that there are two classes of _good_ Orators (for we have no concern with
any others) of which the former are distinguished by the simple neatness
and brevity of their language, and the latter by their copious dignity and
elevation: but although the preference must always be given to that which
is great and striking; yet, in speakers of real merit, whatever is most
perfect of the kind, is justly entitled to our commendation. It must,
however, be observed, that the close and simple Orator should be careful
not to sink into a driness and poverty of expression; while, on the other
hand, the copious and more stately Speaker should be equally on his guard
against a swelling and empty parade of words.