[a] See Plutarch's Lives of Lysias, Lycurgus, Demosthenes, and
Hyperides. See also the elegant translation of the Orations of Lysias,
by Dr. Gillies.
[b] For Quintilian's opinion of Cæsar's eloquence, see s. xvii. note
[b]. To what is there said may be added the authority of Cicero, who
fairly owns, that Cæsar's constant habit of speaking his language with
purity and correctness, exempted him from all the vices of the
corrupt style adopted by others. To that politeness of expression
which every well-bred citizen, though he does not aspire to be an
orator, ought to practise, when Cæsar adds the splendid ornaments of
eloquence, he may then be said to place the finest pictures in the
best light. In his manner there is nothing mechanical, nothing of
professional craft: his voice is impressive, and his action dignified.
To air these qualities he unites a certain majesty of mien and figure,
that bespeaks a noble mind. _Cæsar autem rationem adhibens,
consuetudinem vitiosam et corruptam purâ et incorruptâ consuetudine
emendat. Itaque cum ad hanc elegantiam verborum Latinorum, quæ etiam
si orator non sis, et sis ingenuus civis Romanus, tamen necessaria
est, adjungit illa oratorio, ornamenta dicendi; tum videtur tanquam
tabulas bene pictas collocare in bono lumine. Hanc cum habeat
præcipuam laudem in communibus, non video cui debeat cedere.
Splendidam quamdam, minimeque veteratoriam rationem dicendi tenet,
voce, motu: formâ etiam magnificâ, et generosâ quodammodo._ _De Claris
Oratoribus_, s. 261.
For Cælius, see s. xvii. note [c]; and for Brutus, the same section,
note [d].
[c] Servius Galba has been already mentioned, s. xviii. note [a].
Caius Lælius was consul A.U.C. 614; before the Christian æra, 140. He
was the intimate friend of Scipio, and the patron of Lucilius, the
first Roman satirist. See Horace, lib. ii. sat. i. ver. 71.
Quin ubi se a vulgo et scenâ in secretâ remôrant
Virtus Scipiadæ, et mitis sapientia Lælî,
Nugari cum illo, et discincti ludere, donec
Decoqueretur olus, soliti.
When Scipio's virtue, and of milder vein
When Lælius' wisdom, from the busy scene
And crowd of life, the vulgar and the great.
Could with their favourite satirist retreat,
Lightly they laugh'd at many an idle jest,
Until their frugal feast of herbs was drest.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.
It is probable, that the harsh manner of Lucilius, _durus componere
versus_, infected the eloquence of Lælius, since we find in Cicero,
that his style was unpolished, and had much of the rust of antiquity.
_Multo tamen vetustior et horridior ille quam Scipio, et, cum sint in
dicendo variæ, voluntates, delectari mihi magis antiquitate videtur,
et lubenter verbis etiam uti paulo magis priscis Lælius._ _De Claris
Oratoribus_, s. 83.