II. Here the recolleotioTi of an old tradition must ba revived in my mind, a recollection not indeed sufficiently distinct, but adapted, I think, so far to reply to what you ask, that you may understand what opinions the most Eimous and eloquent men entertained respecting tiie whole art of' oratoiy. For you wish, as you have often said to me. (since what went abrcMtd rough and ineocoplete^ from our own note- books, when we were boys or young men, is scarcely worthy of my present standing in life, and that eipericuco which I have gained from so mauy and sueh important causes as I have pleaded;) that something more polished and complete ehould be offered by me on the same subjects; and you are at times inclined to dissent from me in our disputations on this matter; inasmuch aa I consider eloquence to be the offspring of the aecomplishments of the moat learned men;* hut you think it must be regarded as independent of ele- gant learning, aud attributable to a peculiar kiud of talent attd practice.
Often, indeed, a.=i I review in thought the greatest of mau- kind, and those endowed with the highest abilities, it has appeared to me worthy of inquiry what was the cause that a greater number of j«rsoQs have been admirable in every other pursuit than in speaking. For which way soever you direct your view in thought and contemplation, you will m ^ Alluding; to tha coiiflpiTBcy of Catiline. • The two booka Jh Irtveatioae HAdoTtcd, ' Pnideiiliisimamin. Eqnivaleiit ta doctiatintoram. Fearca. I BunuBcriijta have cnulitiiaitnoram.
3 CHARACTER OF THE OHATOR.
numbers escellent in every specieB, not only of the humble, a of the highest arte. Who, indeed, is there, that, if he would measure the qualifications of illustrious men, either by the usefulness or magnitude of tiieir actions, would not prefer a geueral to an oratorl Yet who doubts that we can. produce, from this city aloae, almost innumerable excellent commaoders, while we can numter scarcely a few eminent in Bpeakingl There have been many also in our own memory,' and more in that of our fathers, and even of our forefathers, who had abilities to rule and govera affitirs of state by their counsel and wisdom; while for a long period no tolerable orators were found, or scarcely one in every age. But lest any one should think that tho art of speaking may more justly be compared with other pursuits, which depend upon abstruse studies, and a varied field of learning, than with the merits of a general, or the wisdom of a prudent senator, let him turn his thoughts to those particular sciences themBelves, and contemplate who and how many have flourished in them, ee he will thus bs best enabled to judge how great a soarcity of orators there ia and has over been.
III. It does not escape your oljservatiou that what the Greeks call fhilosophv, ia esteemed by the most learned men, the ori^nator, as it were, and parent of all the arts which merit praise; philosophy, I say, in which it is difficult to enumerate how many distinguished men there have been, and of bow great knowledge, variety, and cflmprehensivenesH in their studies, men who have not confined their labours to one province separately, but heve embraced whatever they could master either by ecieutifio investigations, or by pro- cesses of reasoning. Who is ignorant in how great obscurity of matter, in how abstruse, manifold, and subtle an art they who are called mathematicians are engaged! Yet in that pursuit so many men have arrived at ejcelleuce, that not one seems to have applied himseif to the science in earnest without attaining in it whatever he desired. Who has ever devoted himself wholly to music; who has ever given himself up to the learning which theyprofess who are called gramma- rians, without compassing, ia knowledge and understanding, - the whole substance and matter of those sciences, though almost bouudlessi Of all those who have engaged in the most liberal pursuits and departments of such scieuces, I think I I DB ORATOItE J OR, — may truly saj that a Emaller number of emiaent poets haTO* arisen than of men diatinguiahed in any other branch of liter ture; oud ia the whole multitude of the learned, among whom there rarely appears one of the highest osoellence, there will be found, if you will but make a careful review of our own list and that of the Greeks, far fewer good orators than good poets. Thia ought to scotn the more wonderful, as attain- ments in other scieucee are dr»wn from recluse and bidden springs; but the whole art of speaking lies before us, and is concerned with common ueage and the custom and languid of all menj bo that while in other things that is most excel- lent which is most remote irom the knowledge and under- Etonding of the illiterate, it is in speaking even the groatest of faults to vary from the ordinary kind of language, and the practice sanctioned by uniyersal reaaoa.
IV, Yet it catmot be said with truth, either that more are devoted to the other aits, or that they are excited by greater pleasure, more abundant hope, or more ample rewards; for ta say nothii^ of Greece, which was always desirous to hold the first place ia eloquence, and Athens, that inventress of all htfirature, in which the utmost power of oratory was both discovered and brought to perfection, in this very city of ours, assuredly, no studies were ever pursued with more Gamestness than those tcading to the acquisitioa of elo- quence. For when our empire over all nations was esta- blished, and after a period of peace had secured tranquillity, there was scarcely a youth ambitious of proise who did not think that he must strive, with all his endeavours, to attaia the art of speaking. For a time, indeed, aa being ignorant of all method, and as thinking there was ao coarse of ei- ercise for them, or any precepts of art, they attained what they could by the single force of gening and thought. But nfterwai'da, having heard the Greek orators, and gained an acquaintance with Greek literature, and procured iastruc- tora, our countrymen were inflamed with an iacredibla paarion for eloquence. The magnitude, the variety, the multitude of all kind of causes, excited them to such a degree, that to that learning which each had acquired by his indi- Tidual study, frequent practice, which was superior to the precepts of aU masters, was at once added. There were then, . fn there are sJao now, the highest iaducemeats offered for tha, wr 1 P^ni] ON THE CHARACTER OP ICE OUATOR. 147 ^H cultiTatioa of this Btudj, in regnrd to public favour, wealth, ^H and dignity. The abilities of our couutiymcu (as ne may ^| judge from man; particulars,) far excelled thoee of the meu H of every other natiou. For which reasons, who would not juatlj wonder that in the records of all ages, timea, aud etates, so amali a number of orators shouZd be fouud 1 But the art of eloquence is Eomething greater, and col- I lectod front more sciences and studies, than people innLgine. V. For who can suppose that, amid the greatest multitude of BtudentB, the utmost abundance of masters, the moat emi- nent geniuses among men, the infinite variety of causes, m the most ample rewards oficred to eloquence, there is any H other reaaoa to bo found for the small number of orators, I than the incredible ma^itude and difficulty of the art'I A '\^ kDOwledge of a vast number of things is necessary, without i vbich volubility of words is empty and ridiculous; speech itself ia to be formed, not merely by choice, but by careful construction of words; and all the emotions of the mind, which nature has given to man, must be intimataly known j for all the force and art of speaking must be employed in allaying or exciting the feelings of those who listen. To this must be added a certain portiou of grace aud wit, learning worthy of a well-bred man, and quickness and brevity in replying as well as attacking, accampanied with a refined deccaum aud urbanity. Besides, the whole of antiquity and a multitude of examples is to be kept in the memory; nor i^ v ■ the knowledge of laws in general, or of the civil law in par- 1 J ticular, to be neglected. Aud why need I add any remarks j H on delivery itself, which is to be ordered by action of V ™ ^>o^Ji by gesture, by look, and by modulation and varia- ' tion of the voice, the great power of whicJi, alone and in itself the comparatively trivial art of actors and the. stage proves, on which though all bestow their utmost labour to form their look, voice, and gesture, who knows not how few there are, and have ever been, to whom we can attend with patience! What can I say of that repositoiy for all things, the memoiy, which, unless it be made the keeper of the matter and words that are the fruits of thought aud inven- tion, all the talents of the orator, wo see, though they be of ika highest degree of excellence, will be of no avail! Let <u then cease to wonder what is the cause of the scarcity o£ I sepf I oonj SE OiCATORBJ OR, good speakers, since eloquence results from all those qiiali- ficatiocB, in each of which singly it is a great merit to labour Buccessfully; and let us rather exhort our children, and others whose glory and honour is dear to us, to contemplate in their minds the full magnitude of the object, and not to truet that they can reach the height at which they aim, by the aid of the precepts, masters, and exercises, that they are all now follow- ing, but to understand that they must adopt othera of a different character.
VI. In my opinion, indeed, no man can be an orator posbessed of every praiseworthy accomplishment, unless he has attained the knowledge of everything important, and of all liberal arts, for his language must be ornate and copious from knowledge, since, unless there he beneath the surface matter understood and felt by the speaker, oratory becomes im empty and almost puerile flow of words. Yet I will not lay so great a burden upon orators, especially our own, amid so many occupations of public and private life, aa to think it allowable for them to be ignorant of nothing; ^^though the qualifications of an orator, and his very pro- fession of BpeakiDg well, seem to undeitake and promise that . discourse gracefully and copiously on whatever sub- proposed to him. But because this, I doubt not, will ippear to moat people an immense and infinite undertaking, "Mid because I see that the Greeks, men amply endowed not only with genius and learning, but also with leisure and appli- cation, have made a kind of partition of the arts, and have not singly laboured in the whole circle of oratory, but have sepai'ated from the other jairts of rhetoric that department of eloquence which is used in the forum on trials or in deli- ^ratioris, and have left, this species only to the orator; I iSball not embrace in these hooks more than has been attri- liuted to this kind of speaking^ by the almost unanimous consent of the greatest men, after much eiacaination and disousfiioQ of the subject j and I shall repeat, not a series of precepts drawn from the infancy of our old and boyish learn- ing, but matters which I have heard were formerly argued in a discussion among some of our countrymen who were of the highest eloquence, and of the first rank in every kind J a!?lLj OK THE CHAB&OTZB OF THE OBATOB.
of dignity. Not that I contemn the inHtruotions wliict the Greek rhetoricians and teachers have left us, but, as they are lUready public, aod witliin the retiuh of all, and can neither be set forth more elegantly, nor explained more clearly by ray interpretation, you ■will, I think, excuse me, my brother, if I prefer to the Greeks the authority of those to whom the utmost merit in eloquence has been allowed by our own countrymen.
.VII. At the time, then, when the consul Philippua vfos vehe- mently inveighing against the cause of the nobility, and the tribuneship of Drumia, undertaken to support the authority of the Benate, seemed to be shaken and weakened, I was told, 1 remember, that Lucius Crassus, as if for the purpose of collecting hia thoughts, betook himself, during the days of the Roman games, to his TusculaQ country-seat, whiUier also Quintus Mucius, who hadbeen hia father-in-law, is said to have come at the same time, as well as Marcus Antonius, a sharer in all the political proceedings of CrasBua, and united in the closest friendship with him. There w^cnt out with Crassus him- Belf two young men besides, great friends of Drusus, joutha of whom our ancestors then entertained sangniue hopes that they would maintain the dignity of their order; Caiua Cotta, who was then a candidate for the tribuneship of the people, and Pubtius Sulpicios, who was thought likely to stand for that office in due course. These, on the first day, conferred much together until very late in the evenings concerning the condition of those times, and the whole com- monwealth, for which purpose they had met, Cotta re- peated to me many things then prophetically lamented and noticed by the three of consular dignity iii that conversation; BO that no misfortune afterwards happened to the state which they had not perceived to be hanging over it so long before; and he said that, when this conversation was finished, there was such politeness shown by Crassus, that after they had bathed and sat down to table, all the seriousness of the former discourse was banished ■ and there appeared so much plea- santry in him, aud so much agreeablencss in Lis humour, timt though the early part of the day might seem to have been passed by them in the senate-house, the banquet showed aU the delighbi of the Ttisculan viUa.
But on the nest day, when the older part of the coropany I DB OBATOKIi; OB, had taken Bufficient repose, and were come to thi he told rae that ScBGVola, after taking two or three ti Eiaid, " Why should not we, CraBaiis, imitate Socratea in Phiedrus of Plato I ' for this plaae-tree of yours has pnt in mind of it, which diSiises its spreading bougha to a^ shade this place, not leas widely than that did whose Socrates sought, and which seems to me to have grown not BO much from the riviilet which is described, as from th« la&guBge of Plato: and what Socrates, with the hardest of feat, used to do, that is, to throw himself on the grass, while he dolivered those sentiments which philosophers sny were uttered divinely, may surely, with more justice, be allowed to my feet." Then Crussus rejoined, "Nay, we will yet further consult your convenience;" and called for cuahionB; when they all, said Cotta, sat down on the seats that were under the plane-tree.
VIII. There, (as Cotta used to relate,) in order that the minds of them all might have somo relaxation from their former discourse, Craasus introduced a conversation on the atudy of oratory. After he lad commenced in this manner, That indeed Sulpicius and Cotta did not seem to need his exhortations, but rather both to deserve his praJae, as they had already attained such powers as not only to excel their equals in age, but to be admitted to a comparison with their seniors; "Nor does anything seem to me," he added, "more noble than to ha able to fix the attention of assembliea o" men by speaking, to fascinate their minds, to durect thai paesions to whatever object the orator pleases, and to dissi them Irom. whatsoever he desires. This pajticular art constantly flom-ished above all others in every free state, and especially in those which have onjoyed peace and tranquillity, and has ever exercised great power. For what is so admiralje as that, out of an infinite multitude of men, there should arise a, single individual, who can alone, or with only a tow others, exert effectually that power which nature has granted to all i Or what is so pleasant to be heard and understood as ' P. 229. Compare Bvihcken ad Lax. Timssi, v. ifUfi.Xiu/i^j-, Wd Manutiua od Cie. Div. ii. 11, p. SM. Ciaero npUr refers to tliat dialogue of PUto, because much is said about eloquence in. it. His plane-tree was greatly admired by the Ronuma foe its wide.Bpreadiag ehiAe. See I. H. Voaeius ad Virg. Oeorg. ii, TO; Plia H. N, lii If ivii. 16; Hor, Od. it 13. 5; Onjuor. Obss. 1 6. Eliendt. ' more iea oCS thoM luadt^l t hallS an oration adorned and poliBhed with, wise thoughts ■weighty expreasions? Or what Ib so atrikiug, so astonishing, as that the tumulta of the people, the religiouB feelings of judges, the gravity of the senate, should be swayed by the speeoli of one man 1 Or what, moreover, is so kingly, so liberal, so muni&ceut, as to give assistance to the suppliant, to raise the afflicted, to bestow security, to deliver from daugers, to maintain men in the rights of citizenship t What, also, is so necessary as to keep arms always ready, with which you may either be protected yourself or defy the malicioue, or avenge yourself when ^provoked 1 Or consider, (that you may not always contcmpiate the forum, the benches, the' rostra, and tho senato,)Jwhat can bo more delightful in leisure, or more suited to social iuteroourBe, than elegant conversa- tion, betraying no want of intelhgence on any subject! For it is by this one gift that we are most diatinguished from brute animals, that we converse together, and can eiprese onr thoughts by speech. Who therefore would not justly make this an object of admiration, and think it worthy of his utmost exertions, to surpass mankind themselves in that single ex- cellence by which they claim their superiority over brutes?
But, that we may notice the moat important point of all, what other power could either have assembled mankind, when dispersed, into one place, or have brought them irom wild and savage life to the present humane and civilized state of society; or, when cities were established, have r described for them laws, judicial institutions, and rights?| And that I may not mention more examples, which are almoat ■without number, I will conclude the subject in one short sentence: for I consider, that by the judgment and wisdom of the perfect orator, not only his own honour, but that of many other individuals, ajid iha welfare of the whole state, are principally upheld. Go on, therefore, as you are doing, young men, and apply earnestly to the study in which you are engaged, that you may ba an honour to yourselves, an advantage to your frierda, and a. benefit to the republic."
IX. ScBevoltt then observed with courtesy, as was always hia manner, "I agree with Craasus as to other points (that I may not detract from the art or glory of Laelius, my 'u-law, or of my son-in-law here),^ but I am afraid, I I I I OBATOBBJ OB, Crasaua, that I cannot grant you these two pointBi, states were, as you said, origiually established, and hi been preserved, by oratore; the other, that, setting! fonun, the aaaembUes of the people, the courts of judicature, and the senate-house, the orator is, as you pronounced, accom- plishod in every stibject of conversation and leftrning. For who will concede to you, either that mankind, dispersed originally in mountains and woods, enclosed tbeniaelvea in towns and walla, not ao much from being convinced by the counsels of the wise, as from being charmed by the speeohea of the eloquentl Or that other advantages, arising either fi'om the eBtablishment or preservation of states, were settled, not by wise and brave men, but by fluent and elegant speakersl Does Romulus seem to you to have assembled the shepherds, and those that flocked to him from all parts, or to have formed marriages with the Sabines, or to have repelled the power of the neighbouring people, by eloquence, and not by counsel nnd eminent wisdom? Is there any trace of eioquence apparent in Numa Pompiliua, in Servius TuOiuB, or in the rest of our kings, from whom we have many excel- lent regulations for maintaining our governioentl After the ikings were expelled (though we see that then- expulsion wa effected by the mind of Lucius Brutus, and not by his tongue] ■we not perceive that all the Euhsequent triLusactions ■flf wise couusel, but destitute of all mixture of eloquence! "Bat if I should be inclined to adduce examples from our own and other states, I could cite more instances of mischief than of benefit done to public affairs by men of eminent eioquenoe; but, to omit others, I thiok, Crassus, that the Taoat eloquent men I ever heard, except you two,^ were the Semprouii, Tiberius and Caius, whose ikther, a prudent and grave man, but by no means eloquent, on several other oooa- Bions, but especially when censor, was of the utmost service- to the republic; and he, not by any faultless flow of spei but by a word and a nod, transferred the freedmen into city tribes;^ and, if he had not done so, we should m ceTS thiH havej^l ON THE CHAHACTEB OP THE ORATOR.
no republic, which we still maintain ■with difficulty; but bia sons, who were eloqueut, and quahfiad for speaking by all the helps of nature and of learning, having found tbe state in a moat flourishing condition, both through tbe counsels ef their father, and tbe arms of tbeir ancestors, brought their country, by means of their oratory, that moat esceJlent ruler of Btates as you call it, to the verge of ruin.
X. " Were our ancient laws, and the custotaa of our an- cestors; were tbe auspices, over which you, Crassus, and I preside with great security to the republic; were tbe reli- gious rites and ceremooies; were the civil laws, tbe know- ledge of which has long prevailed in our family, (and without any praise for eloquence,) either invented, or understood, or in any way ordered by tbe tribe of oratoraJ I can remember that Servius Galba, a man of godbke power in apeaking, as well as Marcus ^milius Poroina, and Cneius Carbo himself, whom you defeated when you mere but a youth,^ waa igno- rant of tbe laws, at a loss in the practices of our anceatora, and unlearned in civil jurisprudence; andjCscept you, Crasaus, who, rather from your own inclination to atudy, than because it was any peculiar business of an orator, have learned the civil law from ns, as 1 am sometimea asbamed to say, this generation of oui's is ignorant of law.
" But wiiat you assumed, as by a law of your own, in tbe last part of your speech, that an orator is able to speak fluently on any subject, I would not, if I were not here in your own domain, tolerate for a moment, but would head a party who should either oppose you by an interdict,' or summon you to contend with them at law, for Laving bo imoeremoniously invaded the possessiona of othera In the first place, all the Pythagoreans, and tbe followers of Demo- critus, woidd institute a suit against you, with the rest of tbe natural philosophara, each in his own department, men who - ■ CaiuB Papiriua Cacbo, after having been a tetj seditious tribune, want over in Ms oonaulBhip to the eida of the patriciaoH, and higMy BxtoUed LuciuG Opimius for killing Cuiua OmcchuB. But, at the ei- piratioii of hia conaulfihip. being impeaohed by Crsfiflua. on what grounda we do not know, be put himealf to death. Cia Orat. ilL 20, 7*; Brut. 2T, 103. Eltoidt.
' An edict of tha proitor forbidding something to be done, in iwn- tradisdnetlon to a, decree, which ordisred BometMcg to be done, Ellendt «fora to QaiuB, IT. X39, 160.
I I are elegant and powerful speakers, with wliom you coiild not contend on eqnal terras.^ Whole troops of other philoaopherB would BEsail you besides, even down from Socrates their origin and head, and would convince you that you had learned nothing about good and evil in life, nothing about the pasBiona of the mind, nothing about the moral conduct of manMud, nothing about the proper course of life; they would show you that you have made no due inquiry after know- ledge, and that you know nothing; and, when they had made an attack upon you altogether, then every sect would bring its separate action against you. The AL-ademy would press you, and, whatever you asserted, force you to deny it Onr friends the Stoics would hold you entangled in the anar^ of their disputations and questions. The Peripatetics would prove that those very iuds and ornaments to speaking, which you consider the peculiar property of the orators, must be sought from themselves; and they would show you that Aristotle and Theophrastua have written not only better, but also fer more copiously, on these subjects, than all the masters of the art of speaking. I say nothing of the mathematicians, the grammarians, the musicians, with whose sciences this art of speaking of yours is not connected by the least affinity. I I think, therefore, Crassns, that such great and numerous pro- fessions ought not to be made. What you can efibot is suf- ficiently great; namely, that in judicial matters the cause which yon plead shall seem the better and more probable; that in public assembhes, ctnd in delivering opinions, your oratory shall have the most power to persuade; that, finally, you shall soem to tho wise to speak with eloquence, and even to the simple to speak with tiTith. If you can do more than this, it will appear to mo that it is not the orator, but CrassuB himself that effects it by the force of talents peculiar to himself, and not common to other orators."
XI. Crassus then replied, " I am not ignorant, Scmvolo, that things of this sort are commonly asserted and maintained among the Greeks; for I was an auditor of their greatest ' Jvtto KKramenla. The siKrameiilam was a. depoait of a, certain enm of money laid down hy two partioa who wera going to law; aad ■when the deciaion waa made, the vietorious party racaivad hin mnnpi? Ibocli, while that of <ibe defeated par^ went into the public THE CHAHACTER OP THE OKiTOH.