vines and other trees means; or at what season of the year, and in what manner, those things are done. If, there- fore, any one of us has to look at hid grounds, or give any directions about ^jrieulture to hia steward, or any orders to his bailiff, must we study the booka of Ma^ the Car- thaginian,* or may wo be content with our ordinary know- ledge) Why, then, with regard to the civil law, may we not aUo, especially as we are worn out in causes and public bnsi- nesB, and in the forum, be sufficiently instructed, to snob a degree at least as not to appear foreigners and strangers in ' Tbere ia no proper ([ranun&tical coostraction in this eeatBaoB, ErDesd observes that it u, perhajs, in Boms wa? unsound.
' /» jure. " Apud tribunal pr^toria." &Hesti. t 'I tranelntc the conctuuon of tLie senteiice in conformity with the teit of OrelUua, mho puts tantm. at the end of it, ingtead of letting it stand at the beginning of the next eenWnee, ob ia the ease in other editions. Hia interpretation ia, ini-iicrs laliem. "Though we ha much occupied, jet we can viait our farms."
' He wrote eigbb-and-tnent^ books on oountry affairs in the Funic language, wlilch were translated into Latin, by order of the aeoate, by Cassius DionyBioB of Utica. Sea Vfuto, R. R, L 1; and Columella. whi>__ calls him the fatlier of farming. Proiut, 1 S.] OS THE OHMIACTER or THE OIlATOli, 215 mtryl Or, if any cause, a little more obscure than ordinary, ahould bo brought to us, it would, I presume, be difficult to commuuicnte with our friend SofBTola here; althougii indeed the parties, whuse oonoera it is, bring nothing to u8 that has not been fiioroughly considered aud iuTeati- gated. If there is a question about the nature of a thing itself under consideration; if about boundaries; (as we do not go in person to view the property itself;^) if about writings and bonds;- we of necessity have to study matters that are intricate and often difficult; and if we have to consider laws, or the opinions of mea skilled in law, need we fear that we shall not he able to uaderstand them, if we have not studied the civil law fi-om our youth?
LIX. " Is the knowledge of the civil law, then, of no ad- vantage to the orator? I cannot deny that every Itind of knowledge is of advaatnge, especially to him whose eloquence ought to be adorned with variety of matter; but the things which are absolutely neceasary to an orator are numerous, important, and difficult, so that I would not distract hia indus- try among too many studies. Who can deny that the gesture and grace of RosciuB are necessary in the orator's action and deportment? Yet nobody would advise youths that are studying oratory to labour in forming their attitudes like players. What is so neoeesary to an orator as the voice? Yet, by my reoommendationj no student in eloquence will be a slave to his voice like the Greeks and tragedians,^ who pass whole years in sedentary declamation, and daily, before they venture upon delivery, raise their voice by degrees as they sit, and, when they have finished pleading, sit dowa again, and lower and recover it, as it were, through a scale, from the highest to the deepest tone. If we should do this, they whose causes we undertake would be condemned, before ' Qman in rem prraeiitem «on veniimu. We do not go ad loeian, talde prcstmtei rnn d fines iinpicere pomiiniM. Elleadt.
' FericTipti/mibas. Persimplio ia considered by Ellendt to aigoii^'* i H diaft or i^ecque to be preaentad ta s. bamlcer.
• Oraconim marc et troffcsdorsm. Ldmbinua would strike oat rt, on the Buthoritj of three maaiiBCripts; and Fenrce thinks that the eon- junotton ought to be absent. Emesti thinks that some aubstantive belonging to Snraxfim hoa divpped out of the text. A Leipsio edition, he observe!, bas Bneconta, mart lophietantm el tn^adorun, but on ~' li authority he does not inow.
I 1 BE oeaioke; or, [d.
we had repeated the pcean and tbe miinio' as often as is ppe- scribed. But if we must not employ oui'selvea npou gesture, wLich ia of great service to tLe orator, or upon tbe culture of the voice, which alone is a great rccontmendntion and Rupport of eloquence; and if we can only improve in either, in proportion to the leisure afforded cs in this field of daily buainesa; how much less must we apply to the ooeupatioa of learning the civil lawl of which we may learn the chief points without regular study, and which is also unlike those other matterfi in this respect, that power of voice and gesture «innot be got suddenly, or caught up from another person, but a knowledge of tlie Iftw, as fur as it is useful in a cause, may be gained on the shoi-test possible notice, eitl from learned men or from hooka. Those eminent Gi orators, therefore, as they are unskilled in the law themselves' have, ill their causes, men acquaioted with the law to assist them, who are, as you before observed, called jiragmatici. In this respect our countrytaen act far better, as they would have tbe laws and judicial decisions supported by the autho- rity of men of the highest rank. But the Greeks would not have neglected, if tlicy had thought it uccessary, to instruot the orator in tha civil law, instead of allowing him a pj-ag- anatiaia for an assistant.
LX. " As to your remark, that age is preserved from soli- tude by the science of the civil law, we may perhaps also aay that it is preserved from solitude by a large fortune. But we are inquiring, not what is advantageous to ourselves, but what is necessary for the orator. Although (since we take BO many points of oomparisoa with the orator from one sort of artist) Rosciua, whom we mentioned before, is accustomed to say, that, as age advances upon him, he will make the measures of tbe flute-player slower, and the notes softer. But if he who is restricted to a cei'tain modulation of numbers and feet, meditates, notwithstaodiog, something hia ease in the decline of life, how much more easily oa I will uot say lower our tones, but alter them entirely? it is no secret to you, Craasus, how many and how vo ' Preanem aiit mBBioneni. The word mwaiimem, is corrupt. Many editions lisve ■nomiuta, whiob in left equally UDe:!pIuaed. The best conjectural emeudution, oa Orelliua obearvea, ia nomum, proposed bjr a oiitio of Jena.
. of M A I are the ni ON THE CBAKACTER OP THE OUATOR, 217 are the niodea of apeaking; a Tariety which I know not whether you yourself have not been the first to eshibit to iiH, eincQ you Jmvo for aome time spoken more softly and gently than you used to do; nor is this mildness in your eloquence, which carries so high authority with it, less ap- proved than your former vast energy and exertion; Rnd there Lave heen many orators, aa wa hear of Scipio and Lrelins, who always spoke in a tono only a little raised above that of ordinary conversation, but never eserted their Inngs or throats like Servius Gaiha. But if you shall ever be unable or unwilling to speak in this manner, are you afraid that your house, the house of such a man and such a citizen, "will, if it bo not frequented by the litigious, bo deserted by the rest of mankind J For my paii, I am so far from having any similar feeling with regard to my own house, that I not only do not think that coitifort for my old age ia to be ex- pected from a multitude of clients, but look for that solitude ■which you dread, as for a safe harbour; for I esteem repose to be the most agreeable solace in the last st^;e of life.
" Thoae other branches of knowledge (though they certainly OfiStst the orator) — I mean genera! history, and jurisprudence, and the course of things in old times, and variety of prece- denta — I will, if ever I have occasion for them, borrow from my friend Longiuus,^ an eicellent man, and one of the greatest erudition in such matters. Nor wili I dissuade these youths from reading everything, hearing everything, and acquainting themselves with every liberal study, and all polite learning, as you just now recommended; but, upon my word, tliey do not seem likely to have too much time, if thoy are inclined to pursue and practise all that you, Crasaus, have dictated; for you seemed to me to impose upon their youth obligations almost too severe, (though almost necessary, I admit, for the attainment of their desires,) since estemporary exercises upon stated cases, and accurate and studied medi- tations, and practice in writing, which you truly called the modeller and finisher of the art of speaking, are tasks of much difEculty; and that corapai-isou of their own composi- tion with the writings of others, and extemporal discussion on the work of another by way of praise or censure, oon- ' EmBBli Huppoflea him to to Cuius CnaduB LonginuB, who is mea- tioned bj Cicoro, pro Pknco, c. 21.
1 i DE OBATORE; OK, r refatatioa, demand no ordinary exertion, eitlier of memory or powers of imitation.
LXI. " But what you added was appalling, and indeed will haTe, I fear, a greater tendency to deta- tlian to enoourage. You would have every one of ua a Roeoius in our profeaaion; and you said that what was excellent did not so much attract approbation, as what was faulty produced settled disgust; but I do not think that want of perfection is so disparngingly regarded in ua aa in the players; and I observe, accordingly, that we are often heard with the utmost attention, eveu when we are hoarse, for the interest of the subject itself and of the causa detains the audience; while j^opus, if he haa the least hoarseness, ia hissed; for at thoae ftom whom nothing IB expected but to please the ear, offence is taken whenever the least diminution of that pleasure occurs. But in elo- quence there are many qualities that captivate; and, if they are not all of the highest excellence, and yet most of them are praiseworthy, those that are of the highest excellenoo must necessarily excite admiration.
" To return therefore to our first consideration, let the orator be, as Crassua described him, one who can speah in a manner adapted to persuade; and let him stricUy devote himself to those things which are of common practice ia civil communities, and in the forum, and, laying aside all other studios, however high and noble they may be, let him apply himself day and night, if I may say so, to this ons pursuit, and imitate him to whom doubtless the highesf; excellence in oratory is conceded, Demosthenes the AtheniaaJ in whom there is said to have been so much ardour and per- severance, that he overcame, first of all, tlie impediments of nature by pains and diligence; and, though his voice was bo inarticulate that he was unable to pronounce the first letter of the very art which he was so eager to acquire, ho aocom- plished so much by practice that no one is thought to have spoken mora distinctly; and though his breath was short, he efiected such improvement by holding it in while he spoke^ that in one sequence of words (as his writings show) two risings and two fallings of bis voice were included;^ and ha ' In a nuead it in ma lornier latter; and this he did lie t dee raiBed and twice lowered hia ihera of the period, and lowered ins brsaiOi. iVoart. Tbi» K - ON THE CHAHACTEB OF THU ORATOR.
related), after putting pebbles into his mouth, used aci3 Heveral verses at the highest pitch of his Toice taking breath, not standing ia one place, but walking' , aud mounting a steep ascent. With such encou- itif as these, I sincerely agree with you, Craesus, uths should be incited to study and industry; other lishments which you httve collected from Tarious and sciences, though you have mastered them blf, I regard as unconnected with the proper business I of an orator."
I When Antonius had concluded these observations, I and Cotta appeared to be in doubt whose discourse «o seemed to approach nearer to the truth. Crassus I, /" You make our orator a mere mechanic, Antonius, Ma not certain whether you are not really of anotier opimODC and whether you are not practising upon us your ■wondetri'ul skiil in refutation, in which no one was ever your a talent of which the eiereiae belongs properly to 1, but has now become common among philosophers, lilly those who are accustomed to speak fully and Tj? on both sides of any question proposed.. But I did notitbink, especially in the hearing of these young men. that meady such an orator was to be described by me, as would piufA bis whole life in courts of justice, and would cany tbilier nothing more than the necessity of his causes re- quired; but 1 ooutemplat^ something greater, when I ex- pressed my opinion that (the orator, especially in such a repubhc as ours, ought to He deficient in nothing that could adorn his profossioiu But you, since you Lave circumscribed the whole business of an orator within such narrow limits, will explain to us with the less difficulty what you have settled sa to oratorical' duties and rules; I think, however, that ttiB may be done to-moirow, for we have talked enough for to-day. And Scievola, since he has appointed to go to his owa TuBouIan aeat,^ will now repose a little till the heat is abated; not quite oirrBCt^ Cicero appears to mean, that of the two memben the voiue was once rsieed and oni» lowered in each.
' OcBlliuBB tent bos praixptU oratorit; but we muBt undoubtedly redd oraioriis with Pearce.
' AtticUH was Bioeediiigly rleaasii with this trenliae, and commendod it Bitremely, but objected to the diarniflaion of Scicyola. froia tbe dis- patatian, after he hod been mtroduoed into the first dialogue.
I I and let ua also, as the day 13 bo fiir advaueed, consulti heiUth."^ The propgBal pleased the whole compimj. T then said, "Indeed, I could wish that I had not 1: appointment ■with Lselius to go to that part of the T territory to-day. I would willingly hear Antoniua;" J he rose from hia seat, he smiled and added, " for he J offend me bo much when he pulled our civil lav he amused me wheu he professed himself iguorant oM' it."
I In thia book Antoninii givea insttuctionii reBpecting ii tor;, and the Brrangemeata of the different porta o pactcncntB in nhich he woa thouglit tu hare attained great e: though hia latiguage was not lUwnya highly Btudied oi Cio. de Clar. Orat. c. ST. As humour in Bpeukiug woi a part of iDTention, CaiuB Julius deear, ivho was called the tail iJDue niau of hie time, speaks Qopioua^ on that eubject, c. ' I. TuBRB was, if you remember, brother Quintus, a persuasion in ua when we were boys, that Liiciua Crasai: acquired no more learning thau he had been enabled t' _ from instruetion in his youtli, and that Mareus Antoniua entirely destitute and ignorant of all erudition whatsoever; and tliere were many who, though they did not believe that Buch. was really the case, yet, that tbey might more easily deter us from the pursuit of learning, when we were inflame * defends himself by the eiajnplo of their " god Plato," ax he calls In his book Be Sspulilicd; whore the scene being laid in the houaa un old goutleman, Cephalus, the old man, after bcamig a pirt in '' fii'st conversation, excuses himself, saying, that he must go to praj(__, and returns do more, Plato not thinking it suitable to hie age to be de- tained in the company through BO long a difieourse. With greater rensan, therefore, he saya Uiat he had used the same caution in the ease of 8c£eioU; Blnoe it was not to be supposed that a person of hie dignity, Bitreuia age, and iuSrm health, would spend eereral succeesive days in onotliia' man's house: that the first day's dialogue related to his parU- culor profefluian, but tbo other two chiefly to the rules and precepts of ^e art, ai which it was not proper* for one.of Scmvola's temper a&d character to be present only aa a hearer. Ad Attic, iv. 16. S, ' Itetirc froiirthe heat, like Scicrolu, and take rest.
Tim OEiTOB.
with a desire of attaiuing it, took a pleasure in reporting ■what I have said of those orators; bo that, if men of no learning had acquired tbe greatest wisdom, and an incredible degree of eloquence, all our industry might Beem Tain, and the earnest perseverance of our Either, one of tbe best and moat Benaible of men, in educating us, might appear to be folly. These reiiHonera we, as boys, used at that time to refute, with the aid of witnesses whom we bad at home, our fetier, Cains Aculeo our relative, and Lucius Cicero our uncle; for our iather, Aculeo (who man-led our mother's sister, and -whom Crlbsus esteemed the most of all his friends), and our own uncle (who went with Antoniua into Cilicia, and quitted it at the same time with him), often told us many particulars about CrasBus, relative to his studies and learning; and aa we, with our cousiiiB, Aculeo's sons, lemned what Crasana approved, and were instructed by the masters whom he engaged, we bad alao frequent opportunities of observing (since, though boys,^ we coidd understand thia) that he spoke Greek so well that be might have been thought not to know any other language, and he put such questions to our masters, and discoursed upon such subjects in bis conversation with them, that nothing appeared to be Dew or strange to him. But with regard to Antonius, although we had frequently heard fi-om our uncle, a person of the greatest learning, how he had devoted himself, both at Athens and at Rhodes, to th& conversation of the most learned men; yet I myself alao, when quite a youth, often asked him many questions on the sulqect, aa far as the bashfulneaa of my early years would permit. What I am writing will certainly not be new to you, (for at that very time you heard it fi'om me,) namely, that from many and various convursatiouB, he appeared to me neither ignorant nor uuaceomplishod in anything in those- branches of knowledge of which I could form any opinion. But there was such peculiarity iu each, that Crossua desired not so much to be thought unlearned aa to hold learning in contempt, and to prefer, on every subject, the understanding of our countrymen to that of the Greelts; while Autonius thought that his oratory would be better received by the Eoman peojile, if he were believed to have had no learning at ' TllB WordB r DB oujltoke; oh, all; and thus the one ima^nod that be should have moro authority if he appeared to despiso the Greeks, and the other if he seemed to kaow nothing of them.
But what their object was, is certainly nothing to our present purpose. It ja pertinent, however, to the treatise which I have commenced, and to thia portion of it, to remark Uiat no man could ever excel end reach eminence in eloqnonce, without learning; not only the art of oratory, but erveiy branoh of usefni knowledge, II. For almost all other arts can sup- port themselves independently, and by their own resources; but to speak well, that is, to speak with learning, and skill, aad eieganco, has no definite province within the limits of which it is enclosed and restricted. Everything that can pos- sibly fell under discussion among mankind, must be effectively treated by him who professes that he can practise this art, or he must relinquish all title to eloquence. For my own jart, therefore, though I confess that both in our own country and in Greece itself which always held this art in the highest estimation, there have arisen many men of extraordinary powers, and of the highest excellence in speaking,^ without thia absolute knowledge of eTorything; yet I afBrm that such a degree of eloquence as waa in Crassus and Antonius, could not exist without a knowledge of all subjects that contribute to form that wisdoin and that force of oratory which were seen in them. On this account, I had the greater satis&ction in committing to writing tliat dialogue which they formerly held on. these subjects; both that the notion which had always prevailed, that the one had no great learning, and that the other was wholly unlearned, might be eradicated, and that I might preserve, in the records of literature, the opinions which I thought divinely delivered by those consummate orators conoeraing eloquence, if I could by any means learn and fully register them; aad also, indeed, that I might, as fer as I should be able, rescue their fame, now upon the decline, from silence and oblivion. If they could have been known from writings of their own, I should, perhaps, have thought it less * Muihn tt ingeiUii et irwjmd lavde diomdi. Thia paaaage, na Ellendt obBerrea, is manlfeatl; corrupt. He propasea ingBniia mo^HM et laudt (KcmtK,- but thia aeeniB hardlj Cioergnian. Aldus Maautiiis noticed that an adjectiTe was apparently nonting to itt^sntM, but other edihin hsva tm THH CHARACTER OF THE OBATOK.
necessary for me to be titan elalwrate; but as one left but little in writing, (at least, there is little extant,) and that ha wrote in hia youth,^ the other almoat nothing, I thought it due from me to men of such genius, while we still retain a liTely remembrance of them, to reudei- their fame, if I could, imperishable. I enter upon this undertaking with the greater hopes of eSecting my object,- becausa I am not writing of ibe eloquence of Serviua Galba or Cains Carbo, concerning ■which I should bo at liberty to invent whatever I pleased, as no one now living could confute nae; but I publish ao account to be read by those who have frequently heard the men them- SBlves of whom 1 am speaking, that I may commend those two illustrious meu to such aa have never seen either of them, from the recollection, as a testimony, of those to whom both those orators were known, and who are now alive and present among us.
III. Nor do I now aim at instructing you, dearest and best of brothers, by means of rhetoricaJ treatises, which you re- gard as unpolished; (for what can be more refined or grace- ful than your own language t) but though, whether it be, as jou use to say, from judgment, or, as Isooratea, the fether of eloquence, has written of himself, from a sort of baahful- nesB and ingenuous timidity, that you have shrunk Irom speaking in public, or whether, as you sometimes joeoselj remark, you thought ono orator sufficient, not only for one family, but almost for a whole community, I yet think that these hooks will not appear to yon of that kind which may deservedly be ridiculed on account of the deficiency in elegant learning in those who have discussed the art of speaking; for nothing seems to me to be wanting in the conversation of CrasBUB and Antouius, that any one could im^ne possible to hs known or undorstood by men of the greatest genius, the keenest application, the moat consummate learning, and the utmost eiperience; as you wiU very easily be able to judge, who have been pleased to acquire the knowledge and tiieory <rf oratory through your own esertions, and to observe the practice of it in mine. But that we may the sooner accontplifdh the task which we have undertaken, and which is no ' Sp£ offffFcdior majorc ad jvobandum. That ad prnbandiiin i& to be jomed with spe, cot with, ajgredior, is ahown by EDeadt on b. i. c. 4.
ordinary one, let us leave our esordiuni, and proceed to the convereation and arguments of the charocters whom I have offered to your notice.
The neit day, then, after the former convereation had taien place, about the second hour,' while CraaBua was yet in bed, and Sulpioiua sitting by him, and Antoniua walking with Cotta in the portico, on a sudden Quintua Catulus - the elder, with his trother Caius Julius,' arrived there; and when CraasuB heard of their coming, he arose in some haste, and they were all in a state of wonder, suspecting that the occa- sion of their arrival was of more than common importance. The parties having greeted each other with most friendly satutations, as their intimacy required, " What has brought you hither at laatl" Baid Crasfiua; "is it anything newl" "Nothing, indeed," said Catulus; "for you know it is the time of the public games. But (you may think ns, if you please," added he, " either foolish or impertinent) when Ciesar came yesterday in the evening to my Tusculan villa, from his own, he told me that he had met Scievola going from hence; from whom he said that lie had heard a wonderful account, namely, that you, whom I could never entice into such oou- versation, though I endeavoured to prevail on you in every- way, had held long dissertations with Antonius on eloquence, and had disputed, as in the GChools, almost in the maimer of the Greeks; and my brother, therefore, entreated me, not being of myself, indeed, averse to liear you, but, at the same time, afraid we might make a troublesome visit to you, to come hither with him; for he said that Sesevola had told him that a great part of the discourse was postponed till to-dny. If you think we have acted too forwardly, you will lay the blame upon Cajsar, if too familiarly, upon both of us; for we are rejoiced to liave come, if we do not give you