These are the most memorable circumstances recorded in history of
Demosthenes and Cicero which have come to our knowledge. But, omitting
an exact comparison of their respective faculties in speaking, yet this
seems fit to be said: That Demosthenes, to make himself a master in
rhetoric, applied all the faculties he had, natural or acquired, wholly
that way; that he far surpassed in force and strength of eloquence in
political and judicial speaking all his contemporaries, in grandeur and
majesty all the panegyrical orators, and in accuracy and science all the
logicians and rhetoricians of his day; that Cicero was highly educated,
and by his diligent study became a most accomplished general scholar
in all these branches, having left behind him numerous philosophical
treatises of his own on Academic principles; as, indeed, even in his
written speeches, both political and judicial, we see him continually
trying to show his learning by the way. And one may discover the
different temper of each of them in their speeches. For Demosthenes's
oratory was, without all embellishment and jesting, wholly composed
for real effect and seriousness; not smelling of the lamp, as Pytheas
scoffingly said, but of the temperance, thoughtfulness, austerity, and
grave earnestness of his temper. Whereas, Cicero's love of mockery
often ran him into scurrility; and in his love of laughing away serious
arguments in judicial cases by jests and facetious remarks, with a view
to the advantage of his clients, he paid too little regard to what was
decent. We are told that Cicero, being consul, undertook the defence of
Murena against Cato's prosecution; and, by way of bantering Cato, made
a long series of jokes upon the absurd paradoxes, as they are called, of
the Stoic sect. When loud laughter passed from the crowd to the judges,
Cato, with a quiet smile, said to those that sat next to him, "My
friends, what an amusing consul we have."
And, indeed, Cicero was by natural temper very much disposed to
mirth and pleasantry, and always appeared with a smiling and serene
countenance. But Demosthenes had constant care and thoughtfulness in his
look, and a serious anxiety which he seldom, if ever, laid aside; and,
therefore, was accounted by his enemies, as he himself confessed, morose
and ill-mannered.
Also, it is very evident, out of their several writings, that
Demosthenes never touched upon his own praises but decently and without
offence when there was need of it, and for some weightier end. But
Cicero's immeasurable boasting of himself in his orations argues him
guilty of an uncontrollable appetite for distinction, his cry being
evermore that "Arms should give place to the gown, and the soldier's
laurel to the tongue." And at last we find him extolling not only
his deeds and actions, but his orations, as well those that were only
spoken, as those that were published.
It is necessary for a political leader to be an able speaker; but it is
an ignoble thing for any man to admire the glory of his own eloquence.
And, in this matter, Demosthenes had a more than ordinary gravity and
magnificence of mind, for he considered his talent in speaking nothing
more than a mere accomplishment and matter of practice, the success of
which must depend greatly on the good-will and candor of his hearers,
and regarded those who pride themselves on such accounts to be men of a
low and petty disposition.
The power of persuading and governing the people did, indeed, equally
belong to both, so that those who had armies and camps at command stood
in need of their assistance; as Chares, Diopithes, and Leosthenes did
that of Demosthenes, and Pompey and young Caesar of Cicero's, as the
latter himself admits in his Memoirs addressed to Agrippa and Maecenas.
But what are thought and commonly said most to demonstrate and try the
tempers of men, namely, authority and place, by moving every passion,
and discovering every frailty, these are things which Demosthenes never
received; nor was he ever in a position to give such proof of himself,
having never obtained any eminent office, nor led any of those armies
into the field against Philip which he raised by his eloquence. Cicero,
on the other hand, was sent quaestor into Sicily, and proconsul into
Cilicia and Cappadocia, at a time when avarice was at the height, and
the commanders and governors who were employed abroad, as though they
thought it a mean thing to steal, set themselves to seize by open force;
so that it seemed no heinous matter to take bribes, but he that did it
most moderately was in good esteem. And yet he, at this time, gave the
most abundant proofs alike of his contempt of riches and of his humanity
and good-nature. And at Rome, when he was created consul in name, but
indeed received sovereign and dictatorial authority against Catiline and
his conspirators, he attested the truth of Plato's prediction, that then
only would the miseries of states be at an end, when by a happy fortune
supreme power, wisdom, and justice should be united in one.
It is said, to the reproach of Demosthenes, that his eloquence was
mercenary; that he privately made orations for Phormion and Apollodorus,
though adversaries in the same cause; that he was charged with moneys
received from the king of Persia, and condemned for bribes from
Harpalus. And should we grant that all those (and they are not few) who
have made these statements against him have spoken what is untrue, yet
we cannot assert that Demosthenes was not the character to look without
desire on the presents offered him out of respect and gratitude by
royal persons. But that Cicero refused, from the Sicilians when he was
quaestor, from the king of Cappadocia when he was proconsul, and from
his friends at Rome when he was in exile, many presents, though urged to
receive them, has been said already.
Moreover, Demosthenes's banishment was infamous, upon conviction for
bribery; Cicero's very honorable, for ridding his country of a set of
villains. Therefore, when Demosthenes fled from his country, no man
regarded it; for Cicero's sake the senate changed their habit, and put
on mourning, and would not be persuaded to make any act before Cicero's
return was decreed. Cicero, however, passed his exile idly in Macedonia.
But the very exile of Demosthenes made up a great part of the services
he did for his country; for he went through the cities of Greece, and
everywhere, as we have said, joined in the conflict on behalf of the
Greeks, driving out the Macedonian ambassadors, and approving himself
a much better citizen than Themistocles and Alcibiades did in a similar
fortune. And, after his return, he again devoted himself to the same
public service, and continued firm in his opposition to Antipater and
the Macedonians. Whereas Laelius reproached Cicero in the senate for
sitting silent when Caesar, a beardless youth, asked leave to come
forward, contrary to the law, as a candidate for the consulship; and
Brutus, in his epistles, charges him with nursing and rearing a greater
and more heavy tyranny than that they had removed.
Finally, Cicero's death excites our pity; for an old man to be miserably
carried up and down by his servants, flying and hiding himself from that
death which was, in the course of nature, so near at hand; and yet
at last to be murdered. Demosthenes, though he seemed to supplicate a
little at first, yet, by his preparing and keeping the poison by him,
demands our admiration; and still more admirable was his using it.
When the temple of the god no longer afforded him a sanctuary, he took
refuge, as it were, at a mightier altar, freeing himself from arms and
soldiers, and laughing to scorn the cruelty of Antipater.