■ See AriBtotle, Bhetor- il. 2 i Cic. Tobo. QuiEBt: i' rt.] ON THE CKABACTBR OF THE ORATOR. 205 defined as coDsisting in virtue or in pleasure;' ' whether these two can be united and coupled togetlier;' or 'whether,' as BOEoe thint, 'notliing certain can Le known, nothing clearly perceived and understood;' questions in which I acknowledge that a vast multiplicity of leamiDg, and a great abundance of varied reasoning is involved; but we seek something of a far different character; we want a man of superior intelligence, eagp,ciou8 by nature and from eiperience, who can acutely divine irhat his fellow-citizens, and all those whom he wishes to con- vince on any subject by bis eloquence, think, feel, imagine, or hope. LIT. He must penetrate the inmost recesses of the mind of every class, age, and rank; and must aaoertain the eenti- ments and notions of those before whom he is pleading,' or in- tends to plead; but his books of philosophy he miist reserve to himself, tor the leisure and tranquillity of such a Tusculan villa as this, and must not, when he is to apeak on justice and honesty, borrow from Plato; who, when he thought that Buch Bubjeii^tEerB to be illustrated in writing, imagined in his pages a i^Bkind of commonwealth; so much was that which he thou^tf necessary to l>e said of justice, at variancs with ordinary liwand the general customs of the world. But if such notions were received in existing communities and nations, who would have permitted you, Crassus, though a. taan of the highest character, and the chief leader in the " city, to utter what yoffaddressed to a vast assembly of your fellow-citizens 1^ Deliver ds from these miserieb, deliver vb FRflM THE JAWa OF THOSE WHOSE CBUELTT CANNOT BE SATIATED EVEN WITH BLOOD; BCPPES US NOT TO BE SLAVES TO ANT EUT TOUBBELVES AS A PEOPLE, ^feoM WE BOTH CAN AND OUGHT TO BBHVE, I say nothing about the word miseries, in which, as the philosophers say,^ a. man of fortitude cannot be; I say nothing of the jaws from which you desire to be ' Moat oopioB hare aget; Pearce, with tto mmority, prefers a^t.
' These vords are taken from a, ispeech which Cmssua had a Hhort time before delivered io an aaaembly of the people, and in which he had made severe oomplainta of the Roman iniEhtB, who exercisBd their judicial powers with aeverity and injustico, and gave great trouble to the senate. Ctaasus took the part of the Benate. and oddreaaed the eihortation in the teit to tbe people. Proast. Cibsbub was oupporting the Senilian law. MarniUiut.
' Ut Uli aiunl. The pbiloaophers, especially the Stoics, who afSnned that Uie wise man alone is happy. £Uendt.
1 I I pie, likaH k delivered, that your blood may not be druiilc by an unjust fienten<ffl; a thing whicli they say cannot happen to a wise roftc; but how durst you say that not only yonredf, but the whole senate, whose cauee you were then pleadings wep*. BLAVES? Can virtue, Craasus, poEBJbly be enslatbd, acoorisi ing to those whose precepts yon make necessary to the scienoBJ of an. orator; virtue whjcb ia ever and alone free, and which, though our bodies be captured in war, or bound wjth fetters, yet ought to maintain its rights and liberty inviolate in all circumstances 1 ' And as to what yon added, that the senate not only can but odght to be biaves to the people^ what philosopher is so eiTerainate, bo languid, so enervated, BO eager to refer everything to bodily plesBuro or pain, as to allow that the senate should be the slaves of the people, to whom the people themselves have delivered th^wwer, lito certain reins as it were, to guide and govern them!
LIII. " Accordingly, when I regarded these words of yoi as the divinest eloquence, Publiua Butiliua Eufiis,' a m of learning, and devoted to philraophy, observed that what jou had said was not only injudicious, but boso and dis- honourable. The same Hutilius used severely to censure Servins Galim, whom he said he very well remembered, ba- cause, when Lucius Soribonius brought an accnsation against liiin, and Marcus Cato, a bitter and implacable enemy to Gaiba, bad spoken with rancour and vehemence against him before the assembled people of Rome, (in a speech whioh ho published in his Origines,') Eutilius, I say, censured Galba, for holding up, almost upon his shoulders, Quintus, the orphan son of Caius Sulpicius Gallus, his near relation, that he might, through the memory of his most illustrions father, draw tears from the people, and for recommending two little sons of his own to the guardianship of the public, and saying that he himself (as if he was mijung his will in the ranks before a battle,* without balance or writing tables,') appointed ' See the Fsradox of Cicero oa the wdfiIh Oioko tapieiiia ISitn, imiua itulH aen-i.
> Mentioned b;Cic Brut. c. 30. Proait. He wok e. perfect Stoic JSOmdt. ' A work on the origin of the people DJid dtiea of Italy, and other matters, now lost. Cic Bnit. c. 8S; Com, Hep. Life of Cato, c 3.
soldier, in the hearing of three or more nf hie commdea,...one hia hair in cue he HhoiUd f&Il ia the engsgement. When a, peraoD, in the presence of hve witnesBea and a, tibripeM, ON TIEE CHABACTER OF THE 0R4T0B, 207 the peo^e of Boiue protectors of their orphan condition. As Galba, therefore, laboured luider the ill-opinioa and dislike of the people, Eutilius said that he owed his deliverance to Buch tnigic tricks as these; and I see it is also recorded in Cato's book, that if he had not employed children and lean, he vimild iuive cafered. Such proceedings Rutilius seferely condemned, and said banishment, or even death, was mora eligible than such meanneas. Hor did he merely say this, but thought and acted accordingly; for being a man, as yon know, of eiemplary integrity, a man to whom no person in the city was superior in honesty and sincerity, he not only refiised to supphcate his judges, but would not allow his cause to be pleaded with more ornament or freedom of lan- guage than the simple plainness of truth carried with it.* SmaJl waa the part of it he assigned to Cotta here, his sister's son, and a youth of great eloquence; and Quintua Mucins also took Eomc share in his defence, speaking in his usual manner, without ostentation, but simply and with perspi- onity. But if yon, Crasaua, had then spoken, — yon, who just now teXd that the orator must seek nssistonce from those dis- putations in which the philosophers indulge, to supply himself ■with matter for his speeches, — if you had been at liberty tO' speak for Publina Eutihus, not after the manner of philo- sophers, but in your own way^ althongh his accusers had been, as they really were, abandoned and mischievous citizens, and worthy of the severest punishment, yet the force of your eloquence would have rooted all their unwarrantable cruelty from the bottom of their hearts. But, as it was, a man of such a character waa lost, because his cause was pleaded in snidi a manner as if the whole affiiir had been transacted in the imaginary commonwealth of Piato. Not a single indi- vidual uttered a groan; not one of the advocates gave vent to an exclamation; no one showed any appearance of grief; no one complained; no one supplicated, no one implored the mercy of the public. In short; no one even stamped a foot on the trial, for fear, I suppoae, of renouncing the doctrine of the Stoics.
LIV. " Thus a Roman, of consular dignity, imitated the Maigned hia property to Bomebody ns his heir. Gaiaa, ii. 101; Aul.
' He WBB falaely accused of eitortioQ in tia pravinca of Aeia, anil, being condemned, was aeut into esile. Cio, Brat. c. 90. FraUtt.
I TE osatobe; or, illustrious Socrates of old, who, as ho waa a man of the greatest wisdom and had lived in the utmost integrity, spoka for himself, when on trial for his life, in euoh a manner as not to aeera a Buppliant or prisoner, but the lord and master of his judges. Evea when Lysiaa, a most eloquent orator, brought him a written speecli, which, if he pleased, he might learn by heart, and repeat at his trial, he willingly read it over, and said it was written in a manner very well suited to the occasion; but, said he, if you bad brought me Sieyonian shoes,^ I should not wear them, though they might be eaay and suit my feet, because they would be effeminate; so that speech seems to me to be eloquent and becoming on orator, but not fearless and manly- In consequence, he also was condemned, not only by the first votes, by which the judges only decided whether they should acquit or condemn, but also by those which, in conformity with the laws, they were obliged to give afterwards. For at Athens, if the accused person was found guilty, and if his crime was not capital, there waa a sort of estimation of punishment; and when sen- tence waa to be finally given by the judges, the criminal waa asked what degree of punishment he acknowledged himself at most, to deserve; and when this question was put to Socrates, he answered, that he deserved to be distinguished with tJie noblest honours and rewai'ds, and to be daily main- tained at the publio expense in the Prytaneum; an honour which, amongst the Greeks, is account^ the very highest. By which answer his judges were bo exasperated, that they condemned the most innocent of men to death. But had ho been acquitted, (which, indeed, though it is of no concern to tia, yet I could wish to have been the case, because of tha greatness of his genius,) how could we have patience with. those philosophers who now, though Socrates was condemned for no other crime but want of skill in speaking, maintaiit that the precepts of oratory should be learned from them- selves, who are disciples of Socrates 1 With these men I have no dispute as to which of the two sciences is superior, or carries more truth in it; I only say that the one is distinct from the other, and that oratory may esist in the highest perfection without philosophy,.
. onl; hy the eSenuiuta uid luxil< ,CTER OF THE OHiTOB.
LV. " In bestowing such waira approbation on the civil law, CraasuH, I see what was your motive; when you were speak- ing, I did not see it.^ In the first place, you were wUIiiig to oblige ScEBVola, whom we ought all to esteem most desei*vedly for his Eiugulai'ly excellent dispoBition; and seeing his e Tindowried and iraadomcd, you. have enriched it with your eloquence as with a portion, and decorated it with a pro- faaion of omaraents. In the nest, aa you had spent much pains and labour in the acquisition of it, (since you bad in your own house one - who encouraged nud instructed you in that study,) jou were afraid that you miglit lose the fruit of your industry, if you did not magnify the science by youi- eloquence. But I have no controversy with tbe science; let it be of 83 much cousequence as you represent it; for without doubt it is of great and estensive concern, -having relation to multitudes of people, and baa always been held in the highest honour; and our most eminent citizens have ever been, and are still, at the head of tlie profession of it; but take care, Cmssus, Jest, while you strive to adorn the knowledge of the civil law with new and foreign ornaments, you spoil and denude her of what is granted and acconled to her as Ler own.;_For if yoii wero to say, that ho who is a lawyer is also an orator, and that he who is an orator is also a lawyer, you would make two escellent branches of knowledge, each equal to the other, and sharers of the same dignity; but now you allow that a man may be a lawyer without the eloquence which we are considering, and that there liave been many such; and you deny that a man can he an orator who has not acquired a knowledge of law. Thus the lawyer is, of himself, nothing with you but a sort of wary and acute legalist, an instruotor in actions,^ a repeater of forms, a catcher at sylla- blea; but because the orator has frequent occasion for the aid of the law in his pleadiuge, you bavo of necessity joined legal knowledge to eloquouce as a handmaid and attendant.J ' Tom,;uiHn diciAai, nan lidtiaM. Kbhj copiee omit the negative; an omisaioii apprOTod by Emeati, Hencichsea, and Elleadt.
' EitlioT Stxevok, the fatLDr-in-law of CranBua, or Lucius Ci:eliua .Antipater, wbom Cicero tnoutiona in his Bnitua. Pt-eial.
' Piiecii actioHiaa. One wIid informs thoBB who ure iguaraot of law when tlie courtB will be open; by what kind of suit any porsoii must proBecute his claims on any other person; nnd cats in law proneedingH an another surt of prato acts at Buutions. SlicbiBui.
I 1 DB OKATOBE J 01^ LVI. " But as to your wouder at the eflrontery of those advocates who, though they were ignorant of Btuall things, profesB great ones, or who ventured, in the management of causes, to treat of the moat important points in the civil law, though thoy neither understood nor had ever Ictuned them, the defence on both oharges is easy and ready. For it is not at all surprising that ho who is ignorant in what form of wotdB ft contract of marriage is made, should be ahle to defend cause of a woman who haa formed such a contract; though the same skill iu steering is rGquiait^ for a si as for a large vessel, ia he therefore, who ia ignorant of the form of words by which an estate is to be divided, in- capable of pleading a cause relative to the division of an estate.* For though you appealed to causes of great oonse- queoce, pleaded before the Ceotumviri, that turned upon points of law, what cause was there amongst them all, which ooald not have been ably pleaded by an eloquent man un- acquainted with law? in all which causes, as in the cause of ManiuB Curius, which was lately pleaded by you,^ and that of Caius Hoatilius Mancinua,' and that of the boy who was bom of a second wife, without any notice of divorce having been sent to the first,' there was the greatest diBogreemant among the most skilful lawyers on points of law. I ask, then, how in these causes a knowledge of the law could have aided the orator, when that lawyer must have bad the superiority, who waa suppoi-ted, not by his own, but a foreign art, not by kn( ' HeTntum ciai^iercUcvndiB familia. Co-heirB, when ai Bcondad amongst tliaiu, wero, by the Ilomiui law, hoimd to each □ by the action fiuaUia: kcrdaimadiB; that ia, to divide the whole ftu ^ inheritaneB, and eettle all the aceounta whioh relatfld to it. Just. Inst. liL 2S. i. The word Atrrtam, aaya Festue, aigniSea whole or undiTidedi and do, to divide; ao, famiiiatn hemtaia dere whs to diride tho inharit- anco of the iamily, which two words, htrclaia acre, were afterwardB contracted into he-cucare; henee thia law'temi used hera, famSi IxrcUcere. S«iTiuahaa,therefore,from DouatiiB,thiiailluat™tBdapi in Virgil, at the end of the VUlth.^^neid,— Cit» Ittetium in diveraa quodiigee Distuleraot.
aia, aajB he, ia a law-tenxi, aud aigniSes divided, aa hereto aon cilo, tia inheritance being imdividei CUte qaadi-igie, therefore, in that pnaange, a quick or ainifS, as ia generally imaginad, but rfrouiny i etata^^^l ;:h ot^^H iBtlnit. divided, inharit- «rwardB diMn ledge of the law, but by eloquence 1 I have often heard that, when Pubhns Craflsua was a candidate fur the iedileahip, and Servius Gaiha, though older than ha, and even of consular dignity, attended upon him to promote his interest, (having betrothed Crassua's daughter to ids son Caius,) there came a countiyman to CrassuB to consult bim on gome matter of law; and when he had taken Crassus aaide, and laid the afiair before liim. and received from hiia auch an answer as was rather right than suited to his wiBhes, Galha, seeing bim look dejected, called him by bis name, and asked him on what matter ho had consulted Crassua; when, having heard his case, and seeing the man iu great trouble, ' I perceive,' said he, 'that CraesuB gave you aii answer while hia mind was anxious, and pre-occupied with other afiairs.' He then took Crassus by the hand, and said, ' Hark you, how came it into your head to give this man such an answer? ' CVaBsiis, who waB a man of great legal knowledge, confidently repeated that the matter was exactly as he bad stated in hia answer, and that there could be no doubt. But Galba, referring to a variety and multiplicity of matters, adduced abundance of similar cases, and used many a.rgnments for equity agaiost the strict letter of law; while Crassua, as he could not main- tain -hia ground in the debate, (for, though he was numbered among the eloquent, he was by no means equal to Galba,) bad cscouise to authorities, and showed wbat he had asserted in the books of bis brother Publius Mucins,^ and in the com- mfflitaries of Sextus ^lius; though he allowed, at the same time, that Galba'a arguments had appeared to him plausible, and almost true.
LVII. " But oausea which are of such a kind, that there can he no doubt of the law relative to them, do not usually oome to be tried at all. Does any one claim an inheritance under a mil, which the father of a family made before he had a son bom I Nobody; because it is dear that by the birth of a son the will is cancelled,^ Upon such pointe of law, therefore, there are no questions to be tried. The orator, accordingly, may bo ignorant -of all this part of the law ' The CraaauB here raentionad was Pnbliiia Crassus Divbb, brother of fnUioB MucLuB. Pontifex Maximua. See c. 37. Silcadt, R raoero pro CajoinU, a 25; QBiufl, ii. 133.
I I I OltiTDBE; OB, relative to controversieB,' which is without doubt the far greater part; but on tlioBG points which are dLspiited, even among tlie most skilful lawyers, it will not be diifioult for the orator to find some writer of authority on that side, whiohsoeyer it be, that he ia to defend, from whom,.when he has received his javelins ready for throwing, he will hurl tliem with the arm and strength of an orator. Unless we are to BupposB, indeed, (I would wish to mate the observation with- out offending this excellent man Scffivola,) that you, Craaaua. defended the cause of Manius Curiua out of the writings and rules of your fiither-in-law. Did you not, on the contrary, undertake the defence of equity, the support of wills, and the intention of the dead! Indeed, iu my opinion, (for I was frequently present and heard you,) jou won the far greater I number of votes by your wit, humour, and happy raiUf when you joked upon the extraordinary aouteneas, and ' -^^(ourpteBsed admiration of the genius, of Scsevola, who t ^ ^^,„^,diBCovered toi^J jnari mu^be fioni before he can die; a ^ when yon adduced many cases, both ffbm the laws and decrees of the senate, as well as from common life and intercourse, ' not only acutely, but facetiously and sarcastically, in which, Iif we attended to the letter, and not the spirit, nothing would result. The trial, therefore, was attended with abun- dance of mirth and pleasantry; but of what service your knowledge of the civil law was to you upon it, I do not understand; your great power in speaking, united with tha utmost humour and grace, certainly was of great service. Even Mucins himself, the defender of the father's right, who fought as it were for his own patrimony, what ai^ument did be advance in the cause, when bo spoke ogainst you, that appeared to bo drawn from the civil lawl What particular law did he recite? What did he esplaui in hia speech that waa unintelligible to the unlearned! The whole of his oration waa employed upon one point; that is, in maintaining that what waa written ought to be valid. But every boy is exercised on such Bubjocta by hia master, when be is instructed to ' Onxtieta?umc partim jurU in controveraiia. For in controta'sila XambiQUB and Emeati would read, from n correction in an old copy, taeanlnverH; bnt BX thera in no authority for tliU word, EUendt, with Bokiua, prefers nun cimtnTeTii. With this alteratioD, the aenas will b^i "ftll this uncuntroverted porti of the Ian."
support, in Buch cases as these, aomctiraos the writtpu letter, Bometimes equity. In that cause of the soldier, I presunie, if you had defended either him or tho heir, you would have had recourse to the cases of Hostilius,' and not to your own power and talent as an oratof. Nay, rather, if you had defended the will, you would have tu^ed in such a manner, that the entire validity of all wiUs whatsoever would have eeemed to depend upon that single trial; or, if you had pleaded the cause of the soldier, you would have raised his father, ■with your usual eloquence, from the dead; yon would have placed him before the eyea of the audience; he would have em- braced his son, and with tears have recommended him to the Centumviri; you would have forced the very stones to weep and lament, so that all that clause, as the tongue had OEOLAJiED, would seem not to have been written in the Twelve Tables, which you prefer to all libraries, hut in some mere formula of a teacher.
LVIII. "As to the indolence of which you accuse our youth, for not learning that science, because, in the frst place, it is very easy, (how easy it is, let them consider who Htnit about before us, presuming on their knowledge of the science, as if it were extremely difficult; and do you yourself also consider that poiut, who say, that it is an easy science, which you admit as yet to be no science at all, but say tiiat if somebody shall ever leai'u some other science, so as to bo aijla to make this a science, it will then be o science;) and. because, in the nest place, it is full of pleasure, (but as to that matter, every one is willing to leave the pleasure to yourself, and is content to be without it, for there is not one of the young men who would not rather, if he must get anything by heart, learn the Teucer of Pacuvius than the Manilian laws^ on emption and vendition;) and, in the third place, because you think, that, from iove to our country, we ought to acquire a knowledge of the practices of our an- g Cestors; do you not perceive that the old laws are either ' Certain legal fonnulfa, o! wliich some luwysr named Hostilius was the autbor. Emesli.
' Sfanilianai — itjM. They were fomiiilto which those wiin wished not to be deeeived might use in bujing bhA soUiDg; thej nre culled oefionaiby Varro, li.R. ii. 5.11 The author wa " ' *' — an cmiueat lawyer, who waa consul a.d.c. 603. Ern grown out of date from tlieir very antiquity, or are set aside by Bucii 03 are new?' As to your opinion, that men are readered good by learning the civil law, because, by Ism^ rewards are appointed for Tirtuc, and puniBhroenta for TiOBKi I, for my par^ imagined that virtue was instilled into kind (if it can be instilled by any means) by iustruoticai and persuasion, not by menacGB, and force, and terror. As to the maxim that we should avoid evil, we can understand bow good & thing it is to do bo without a knowledge of the law. And ae to myself, to whom alone you allow tbe power of managing causes satisfactorily, without any knowledge of law, I make you, Crassua, this answer: that 1 nevei- learned the civil law, nor woa ever at a. loss for tbe want of know-- ledge in it, in thoBe causes which I was able to defend in the oourts.^ It ia one thing to be a master in any pursuit or art, and another to bo neither stupid nor ignorant in common life, and the ordinary customs of mankind. May not every one of ua go over our ferms, or inBpect our countiy affairs, for the Bake of profit or delight at leaatl' No man lives without using his eyes and understanding, so fer as to be entirely ignorant what sowing and reaping is; or what pruning