remarkable for this kind of jeste; and calls him by a Greek term ci^niu', a.a iriHiical jester; but, according tu what those say who know these mutters better than myself I conceive that Socmtes, for irony and dissimulation, far excelled all other roen in the irit nnd genius which he displayed. It h an elegant kind of humour, satirical with a miitnre of gravity, and adapted to oratory as well aa to polite converaation. Indeed all the kinds of humour of which I have spoken, are seasoniags not more appropriate to law-pleadings in the forum, than to any other kind of disoourse. For that whu^ is mentioned by Cato, (who has reported many apophthegms, eeveral of which have been produced by me aa eiamples,) seems to me a very happy saying, that Gaiue Pvhlim vaed to obser»e that Fitblitu MumaixM wiu a man for alt occrmont; 80 it certainly is with regard to our present subject, that then is DO tdme of life in which wit and poUte humour may very properly be exeroiaed.
'■ But I will pursue the reminder of my eiibject. It is » kind of joking similar to a sort of dissimulation, when any- thing disgraceful is designated by an hononntble term; b£ when Africauufl tlie censor removed firom his tribe tliat cen- turion who absented himself from the battle in which Paulus oommanded, alleging that he had remained in the cwxip to guard it, and inquiring why he had such a mark of igaominy Get upon him, / do jiot liJx, replied Africanus, over viffilant people. It is aa excellent joke, too, when you take any part of another person's words in a different sense irom that which he intended; as Fabiua Masimns did with Livius Salinator,^ when, on Tarentum being lost, Liviua had still preserved the citadel, and had made many sucoesaful aalliea fi:om it, and FabiuB, some years afterwards, having retaken the town, Livius begged him to remember that it was owing to him that Tarentum was retaken. JIoib can I do otherwise than remember, said Fabius, ^r / ihotild never have retaken ii if 3/ou had not lost it. Such jokes as the following, too, are, though rather absurd, often on that very account estremdy ' The Bsme anecdote is notioBd by Cicaro, De Genect. c. i; and livf Bpenkg of the occurrenoe at aoiaB length, nvi. 25. But that the Marcna LiviuH there mentioned had not the cognomen of aalumtor, but of MaoatuB, it abowo by P. WcMeling, Obsa. ii. 6; and there Beoma little donbt that CioeiD mtids a nuEit^ra here, bb in Home ather pluiai, EOendL ON THE CHAtlACTEB OP THE ORATOE. 303 amusing, and TSry (tpposito, not only to characters in jjlays, liat bIbo to ua orators: »The foolish mMu I Ab booh OS ha had oooie to woalth, he died. Tbttt TToniBii, what ia she to you! My wifa Like yoii, ty Hercules 1 ' As long tm he wae llTmg at the waters LXVIII. "This kind of jakee is lather trifling, and, aa I Bald, fit for actora in feroes; but Bometiinea it finds a proper plMe with uB, as even one who is not a fool may express himself like n fool in a humorous way, ea Mancia con- gratulated you, AntoniuB, when he heard that you were aooused by Marcus Duronina of bribery in yonr censorship: At length, said he, you will liave an opportunity of aUendivg to yow own himifss. Such jesta excite great laughter, and in truth all sayings that are uttered by men of aense with a degree of abeurdity and sarcasm, under the pretence of not understanding what is said to them. A joke of thia kind is not to seem to comprehend what you comprehend very wdl; UB when Pontidius, being aaked, What do yvu. ilmOc cf him viho ie ialen in adultery? replied, Tliai he is slow. Or such as was iDj reply to Metellus, when, at a time of levying troops, he would not escuae me from eerring for the weakneee of my eyes, and aaid to me, What! can you see nothing? Tes truly, aUBvfered I, / can see your villa from the UsquUine- Gate.^ "Or as the repartee of Naaicft, who, having called at the house of the poet Enuiua, and the maid-servant having tdd him, on his inquiring at the door, that Enniue was not at home, saw that die had said so by her master's order, and that he was really within: and when, a few days afterwards, Enniua called at Nnsica's house, and inquired for him at the ' "Wb may suppoflo, aaye StrehnniH, the waman trt have heen deformed, ■DdBamoonetobaTBBB^ed thsmoit, "WhutreUtioniB that womnn to yon! yOHT miatert" When tbB mim answered, "My wife," the ques- tirmer would eicUini, " And yet, how like you she is I I should han takeo her for your sister; " wittily indioating the defunuity of the ' The jofee, Bays Schutz, is in the word never, as if it ware poatiljle that n mnn might die several times. ' A FsSectioo. says Tumehus, on tha eztraordiiuuy uze and mi^niG- IB of the buildiug.
DS OKAT0R&; OK, gate, Nasioa cried out, That he was not at home. What? aaya EnniuB, do I not know your voice? You are an im/pudent Jellow, rejoined NaaiCB; when I inquired for you, I believed your tervant vihen the told me that you were not at home, and wiU not yoii believe me when I tell you that I am not at iomef It is a very happy stroke, too, when he wbo has uttered a saroaam iB' jested upon in the same strain in which be has attacked another: aa when Quiuttta Opimius, a man of coaeular dignity, who had the report of having heeu licentious in his youth, said to Egilius, a man of wit, who seemed to be an effeminate person, hut was in reality not BO, Hovi do you do, my Mgilial when mil you pay me a vwi with your distqff' and spindU? and Egiliua repHed, J certainly dare not; for my motJier forbad me to visit ■women of bad character.
LXIX; "There are witty sayings also which carry a con- cealed Buspicion of ridicule; of which sort is that of the Sicilian, who, when a friend of his made lamentation to him, saying, that his nife had hanged herself upon a fig-tree, said, I beseech you give me some shoots of tliat tne, tliat I may plant tkem. Of the same sort is what Catulus said to a cer* taiu bad orator, who, when he imagined that he had excited compassion at the close of a speech, asked our friend here, after he had sat down, whether he appeared to have raised pity in the audience: Very great pity, replied CraasuB, for I believe there -is no one here so hard-hearted btU tliat your speech seemed pitiaMe to him. Those jests amuse me extremely, vhich are expressed in passion and as it were with morose- ness; not when they are uttered by a person really morose, for in that case it is not the wit, but the natural temper that is laughed at Of this kind of jest there is a very humorous example, as it appears to me, in NieviuB: — ■\Vhy inmini you, father I Strange tbst I do not eiag I I am cnndemn'u.
Contrasted with this there is a patient and cool species of the humorous: as when Cato received a stroke from a man carrying a trunk, who afterwards called to him to tale care, he asked him, whether he carried anything else besides the trunk f There is also a witty mode of eipoaing folly j as when the Sicilian to whom Scipio, when prsetor, assigned Hb host for an advocate in some cause, a man of rank but'^ ^Ki.]
OS THE CnAKACTEn OF THE ORATOH.
estremely stupid, said, / beseech ymi, praior, give this advocate to my adversary, and give me rtone. Esplanatioiis of things, too, are amuaiug, which are given from oonjeoture iu a sense far different from that which they are intended to convey, but with ingenuity and aptness. As when Scriurus accused Kutilius of bribery, (at the time when he himself was made consul, and Kutilius suffered a disappointmoot,} and showed these letters iu KutiJius's books,^ A. F.F.E., and said that they signified, Actwm.Fide Pttblii JRufilii, ' transacted on the faith of Publius Rntiliua;' while Rutilius declared that they meant. Ante Factum, Post Relatwm, 'done before, entered after;' but Caius CaniuB, being on the side of Eufus, observed that neither of those senses was intended by the letters: What then M the meaning? inquired Scanrua. j^milms fieit, plec- (iiurSuftiius, replied Canius; ' /Bmiliiia is guilty, Kutilius is LXX. " A union of diacordant particulars is laughable: as. What is wanting to him, except foHune and virtue? A familiar reproof of a person, aa if ho woro in error, is also amusing; as when Albucius taunted Granius, because, when something appeared to be proved by Albucius from Graaius's. writing, Granius rejoiced extremely that Sctevola^ waa ao- / quitted, and did not understand that judgment was giver, against the credit of bis own writing. Similar to this '^s friendly admonition by way of giving advice; as when Grani us persuaded a bad pleader, who had made himself hoarse with speaking, to drink a cold mixture of honey and wino as ijoon as he got home; I shall ruin my voice, said he, 1/ J do bo. IS will be better, said Granius, than to ruin your clients. It is. a happy hit, too, when something is said that ia pecuiiatly applicable to the character of some particular person; as- when Scaurus had incurred some unpopularity for having talwn possession of the effects of Phrygio Pompeins, a rich man who died without a will, and waa sitting as counsel for * Which Scaurus required to be produced on the triaL ' Texta vary greatly in this passege. I adhere Btrictlj to that of OrelliuB. " It appesra," 9a.js Pearcg, " that Scasvoln waa Bcciued of ex- tortiau, as Cicero sajB in hia Brutus, and in the first book De Flnibus, and that Albucina, to prove the accusation, brought forward some writing of Granioa, who, when jni^ment was given in favour of Scievolo, did not understimd that it was at the same time given against his own 1 DE oratoiie; or, Sestia, then imder impeachmentj Caius Memmius the accuser, 18 a, funerut procession passed by, said. Look, Saaurus, a dead iody ie going b-y, if you oan but get possession! But of all jokes I none create greater laughter than aometbing said contrary to expectation; of which there are eiamplee without number. ' Such was the saying of Appins the elder, "^ who, when the matter about the public lands, and the. law of Thoriua, was in agitation in the senate, and Lucilius was hard prereed by those who asaerted that the public paatnres were grazed by hia cattle, said, Theyarenot the cattle of Lvcilivs; you mistake; (Lb seemed to be going to defend Lucilius;) / looh upon tAfnt i tu free, for they feed where they please. ITiat saying also of the Sdpia who elew Tiberius Oracchus amuses ma When, after many charges were made against him, Marcus Flaccua pro- poeed Publius Mucius as on.e of hia judges, / except against %»n,said hs,he is unjust; and when this occasioned a general murmur. Ah! uaid he, / do not except against him, Oonseript Fathers, as unjust to me, but to everybody. But nothing could be more witty than the joke of our friend Crasaus. Whai V Silua, a witness, was injuring the cause of Piso, by something \ that he said he had heard against him, It is possible, said he, iSilus, that the person from whom you heard this said it in ,inger. Silus assented. /( is possible, too, that you did not r ightly understand him. To thb also he assented with tiio lo vest of bowa, expressing entire agreement with Crassns. It iialsa possible, continued Crossus, thai what you say you have* heard you never kfard at all. This was so different from what was expected, that the witness was overwhelmed by a general laugh. Najvius is full of this kind of humour, and it 18 a familiar joke, Wise inan, if you, are cold you. will shake; and there are many other such sayii^ LXXT. " You may often also humoroualy grant to your adversary what he wiahea to detract from you; as Caius Lojlius, when a man of disreputable family told him that he waa unworthy of his ancestors, replied, £ut, by Herirules, you are worthy of yours, Jokea, too, are frequently uttered in a aenteutioua manner; as Marcus Cincius, on the day when he proposed his law about gifts and presents, and Caius ■Cento stood forth and asked him with some scorn. What are C. LXII.] ON THE BCAHACTEn OF THE OR4T you proposing, little Cineius? replied, That you, Caius, may pay for vi/uit yov. viieh to ute} Things also nhicli are impos- BibLe are often wished for with much wit; as Maroua Lepidus, when he lay down upon the graes, while others wore taking their exercise in the Campus Martius, exelaimed, / wish thu were labour.'' It is an excellent joke also to give inquisi- tive people who teaze you aa it "were, a calm answer, of such ti nature as they do not aspect; as Lepidus the censor, when be deprived Autistiua of Pyrgi of his horse;* aud his friends ' A species of ridicule espresBod in a pitliy aeatence. The esample prodQ<!«l requires tint we should eiplain the Cincian Isw. This canuot he done better than in the words of Dr. Hiddletoa, The buBineu of pleading. Bays hs. though a profeBsion of all others the mast laborions, yet wu not amoug ths Romans meroaQaiy, or undartoketi for any pay; for it w«a illegal to take money, or to accept eren a present for it; but the richest, the gteaMst. and the nohleet of Rotno freely oSered their talente to the service of their citizens, as the common guardiaiu and protectors of the iunoi^ut and distreased. Tliis was au institution as old a» KomulaB, who oaiigDed the patronage of the people to the patrl- ciasa or senators, witbuut fee or rewnrd; but in succeeding ages, when, through the UTariec of the nobles, it hod become e, custom for all clients to mole annual preaenta to thar patrona, by which the body of the citiKeuB was made tribntary as it were to the senate, U. Ciiioiu«, a tri- bnne, published a, law pruhibitiag all Benatots to take money or gifts ou any account, and especuUiy for pleading causes. This Cmaiaa htw was made in the yeai' of Rome 649; and recomniended to the people, ss Cicero tellB us, (De Saucct. 4,) by Quintua Fabius Maiimus, in tie eitretnity of his age, Caius Centa was one of the orators who opposed it. liry, uet. i, gives us the reason for paasmg tliia law, " Quid legem Cioniam de donia ct muneribuH, Qisi quia Teotigalia jam et ati- peodiaria plehs ease aenatui cioperat!" It la also mentioned tiy Tacitus, Ain"J^l ^ 6- "Cousur^unt patres legemque Cinciam fliLgitant, qua 4aTetnr aalii^mtus ne quis ob caiiaam orandsjn pecuniara donumTe wmipiat." We also find from the asims author, (xL T,) that thia law was not well oliserred in Cicero's time: " prompta sibi eiempla quantia meniedibua P. Clodius aut C. Curia coucionarl aoliti sint;" so the smperor Claudius confined the feea to be allowed not to exceed a oertain auro, which amounted to SOL lit. Id, of our money, "Capiendia fiecuniis poauit modum usque ad dena sestertia, quem egressi repetun- darum tenerontur," The Cincian law, says Dr. Taylor, has been well bommented upon by several of the modems, as Rancbinua il.; Var. vii.; Burgiua L; Elect, iviii.; Bud Brummerus. B, Turuebus understands tbe sense of the repartoe to be, that patrons were not to expect thence- forwaM to live upon gifts from their olients, but must buy wliatevor they wished to have. I * He wishes that labour were as eaay as case.
" Excluding him from the number of the knights, to whom a LaCM K^Ten at the public eipenae.
I I • OUAIOGE; OR, called out to him, and inquired nhat reasoa Antistiua could give his Either why hia horse was taken from him, when he was' an excellent, industrious, modest, frugal member of the colouy, rejoined, That I believe not a word of it. Some other Borts of jests are enumerated by the Greeks, as execrations, expressions of admiration, tlireats. But I think that I have divided these matters into too many heads already; for such as lie in the force and meaning of a word, are commonly easy to settle and define; but in general, as I observed before, tliey are heard raUier with approbation than laughter. Jokes, however, which lie in the subject and thought, arc, though iufinite in their varieties, reducible under a very few general heads; for it is by deceiving expectation, by satirising the tempera of othera, by playing humoroualy on oiu- own^ by comparing a thing with soine- thing worse, by dissembling, by uttering apparent absurdities, and by reproving folly, that laughter is excited; and he who would be a. facetious speaker, must be endowed with a uatural genius for such kinds of wit, as well aa with personal qualifi- cations, BO that his very look may adapt itself to every species of the ridiculous; and the graver and more seiious such a person is, as is the caise with you, Crasaua, so much more humorous do the sayings which iall fi*om him generally appear.
" But now I think that you, AntoniuB, who said^ that yoa would repose during my disconrse, as in some place of refresh- ment, wiU, as if you had stopped in the Fomptine Marsh, neither a pleasant nor a wholesome region, consider that you have rested long enough, and will proceed to complete the remainder of your journey." " I will," said Antonius, "having been veiy pleasantly entertained by you, and having also acquired instruction, as well as encouragement, to indulge in jesting; for I am no longer afraid lest any one should charge me with levity in that respect, since you have produced such authorities as the Fabricii, the Africani, the Maximi, the Catos, and the Lepidi, in its favour. But you have heard what you desired from lae, at least such points as it was necessary to consider and detail with par- reported by those who wished to <!. t^XII.] ON THE CHAItACTER OP THE ORATOR. 309 ticular accuracy; the rest are more easy, and avise wLolly from what hag been already said.
LXXII. ' "For when I have entered upon a cause, and traced out all its bearingB in my mind, as far aa I could possibly do bo; when I bave ascertained and contemplated the proper arguments for tbc case, and those particulars by wbiciithefeelingsof the judges maybe conciliated or excited, I I then, consider what strong or weak points tie cause con- tains; for hai'dly any subject can be called into question and controversy in pleading, which has not both; hut to what degree is the chief concern. la pleading, my usual method is, to fis oa whatever strong points a cause has, and to illus- trato and make the moat of them, dwelling on them, insisting on them, clinging to them; but to hold back from tbc weak and defective points, in sudi a way that I may not appear to ahun them, but that their whole force may be dissembled and overwhelmed^ by the ornament and amplification of the strong parts. If the cause turn upon arguments, I maintain chiefly such as are the strongest, whether they are several or whether there be but one; but if the cause depend on the conciliation or excitement of the feelings of the judges, I apply myself chiefly to that part which is best adapted to move men's minds. Finally, the principal point for consideration on this head is, that if my speech can be made more effective by refuting my adversary, than by supporting my own side of tha question, I employ all my weapons against him; but if my own case can be more easily supported, than that on the other sido can be confuted, I endeavour to withdrawthe attention of the judges from the opposite party's defence, and to fis it on my own. In conclusion, I adopt, on my own responsibility, two courses which appear to me most easy (since I cannot attempt ■what is more difficult): one, that I make, sometimes, no reply at all to a troublesome or difficult ailment or point; {and at Euch forbearance perhaps somebody may reasonably laugh; for who is there that cannot practise it 1 but I am now speaking of my own abUitics, not those of others; and I confess that, if any particular press very hard upon me, I usually retreat ' Antooiua iretuma to tlie point from which lie bad digresaed at ( DE OKATORE j OB, from it, but in BUch a manner as not only not to appear to flee with my aliield tlirown away, bnt even with it thrown o\er my ehoulders; adopting, at the same time, a certain pomp and parade of lougunge, and a mode of flight that resembles fightuig; and keeping upon, my gunrd in auch a way, that I seem to have retired, not to avoid my enemy, but to choose more adyantogeous gronnd.;) the other is one which I think most of all worthy of the orator's precaution and foresight, and which generally oocasiona mo very great ansiety: I am accustomed to study not so much to benefit the causes which I undertake, as not to injure them; not bnt that an orator must aim at both objects; but it is however a much gi-eater disgrace to him to be thought to have damaged a cautie, thau not to have profited it, LXXIII. " But what are you saying among yourselves ou this subject, Catulus? Do you slight what I say, as indeed it deserves to be slighted!" " By no means," rejoined Catulus; " but Ciesar seemed desirous to say something on the point." " Let him say it, then, with alt my heart," continued An- tonius, " whether he wish to confute, or to question me." " Indeed, Antonins," said Ctesar, " I have always been tha man to say of you as an orator, that you appeared to me iu your speeches the most guarded of all men, and that it was your peculiar merit, that nothing was ever spoken by yoa that could injure him for whom you spoke. And I well remember, that, on entering into a convetsation with Craasus here concerning yon, in the hearing of a large company, and Craasus having largely extolled your eloquence, I said, that amongst your other merits this wo^ even the principal, that you not only said all that ought to bo said, but also uever said anything that ought not to be said; and I recollect that be then observed to me, that your other qualities deserved the highest degree of praise, but that to speak what waa not to the purpose, and to injure one's own client, was the conduct of an unprincipled and perfidious peraon; and, consequently, that he did not appear to him to be a good pleader, who avoided doing so, though he who did so was certainly dis- honest. Now, if you please, Antonius, I would wish you to show why you think it a matter of such importance, to do no harm to a cause; so much so, that nothing in an orator appears to yon of greater consequence."
I 5 CHABiCTER OF THE OIUTOR.
LXSI V. " I will readily tell you, Ciesar," replied Aiitoniufl, " what 1 mean; but do jou. Bud all who are hero, remamlet this, that I am not speaking of the divine pgwer of the com- plete orator, but of my own humlile efforts aud practice. The remark of Crassus is indeed that of an excellent and singular genius; to whom it a^eared something like a prodigy, that any orator could poaaibiy be found, who could do any mischief la speaking, and injure him whom he had to defeni For he judges from himself; as his force of intellect is Buch, that he thinks no man speaks what mokes against himself, uuless on purpose; but I am not alluding to any supereminent and illnstrioua power, but to common and almost universal sense. Amongst the Greeks, Themistocles the Athenian is reported to have possessed an incredible compass of understanding and genius; and a certain person of learning and singular accom- - plishments ia said to have gone to him, and ofiei'ed to teach him the aii of memory, an art then first made public When lie inquired what that art could do for him, the professor replied, that it woidd enable him to remember everything; when Themistocles rejoined, that he would oblige him much more if he could iuatmct him how to forget, rather than to remember, what he chose. Do yon conceive what force and vigour of genius, how powerful and extensive a capacity, there was in that great maul who answered in such a manner that we may understand that notliing, which had once entered his mind, could ever slip out of it; and to whom it was much more desirable to ho enabled to forget what he did not wish to remember, than to remember whatever he had onco heard or seen. But neither on account of this answer of Themistocles are wa to forbear to cultivate our memory; nor is my pre- caution and timidity in pleading causes to he slighted on account of the excellent understanding of Crassus; for neither the one nor the other of them has given mc any additional ability, but has merely sigoiiied his own. There are numbers of points^ in causes that call for circumspection in every part