' Tha philoaophars.
' From the Academy, miii the gymnasia io tie auburbB af AtheOB. ellendt.
= Comullatio- See Cie. Part. Orat, i IS, -1\1.
IT. ir.
' Lacinia. Like persona who ecarcely keep thair bold of R thing.
* DE ouatore; or, chief of the Academy, the knowledge and practice of even these causes is much obaen-ed; as to the latter kind, they only mention it iu delivering the first principles of the ar^ and say that it belongs to the orator; but neither explain its powers, nor its nature, nor its parts, nor general heads, bo that it had better have been passed over entirely, than left when it waa once attempted; for they are now understood to Bay nothing about it for want of something to say; in the other case, they would have appeared to be silent &cm juc^meut.
XXIX. " Every subject, then, has the same ausoeptibleneo of ambiguity, concerning which it may be inquired and dii- puted; whether the discussion relate to oonsultations oninib- finite points, or to those causes which are concerned witl) otvil aftkirs and contests in the forum; nor is there any that may not be referred either to the nature and principles of knowledffs or of adio}!. For either the -knowledge itself and acquaintance with any afKiir is tbe object of inquiry; 'Whether virtue he desirable on account of its owu intri worth, or for the sake of some emolument attending it )' counsel with r^nrd to an act is sought; as, ' Whether a i man ought to concern himself in the administration of giv- vemment V And of knowledge there are three kinds, — ^that ■which is formed bj conjecture, that which admits of certain definition, and that which is (if I may so term it) conse- qnential. For whether there be anything in any other thing, is inquired by conjecture; as, ' Whether there is wisdom in mankind r But what nature anything has, a definition ex- plains; as if the inquiry be, 'What is wisdoml' And con- sequential knowledge is the subject treated o£ when the question is, 'What peculiarity attends on anything T as, ' Whether it be the part, of a good man to tell a falsehood on anyoocaMon!' But to conjecture they return again, and divide it into four kinds; for the question is either, ' What a thing is,' aa, 'Whether law among mankind is from nature or from opinions V or, ' What the origin of a thing is,' as, ' What is tho foundation of civil laws and governments!' or the cause 0, ZZX.] OK THE CHABACTEIt OF THE ORATOR. 365 and reason of it; as if it is asked, ' Why do the most learned men differ upon points of the greatest importancd V or as to the possible changes in an^tliing; as if it is disputed, 'Wha* ther virtue can die in men, or whether it be convertible into vice V With regard to definition, disputes arise, either when the question is, ' Wha£ ia impressed, as it were, on the com- mon understanding 1' as if it be considered, ' Whether that ba right which is advantageous to the greater number!' or when it ia inquired, ' What ia the peculiar property of any character 1' as, 'Whether to speak elegantly be peculiar to the orator, or whether any one else can do sol' or when a thing is distributed into parts; as if the question be, ' How many kinds of desirable things there arel' and, 'Whether there be three, those of the body, those of the mind, and external things!' or when it is described what is the form or, as it were, oatural characteristic of any person; as if it be inquired, ' What is the exact representation of an avaricious, a seditious, or a vain-glorious man V Of the consequential, two principal kinds of questions are proposed; for the ques- tion is either simple, as if it be disputed, ' Whether glory be desirable 1 ' or comparative, ' Whether praise or wealth is more to be coveted V But of such simple questions there are three sorts, as to things that are to be desired or avoided; as, 'Whether honours are desirable!' 'Whether poverty is to be avoided!' as to right and wrong; as, 'Whether it be right to revenge injuries, evea those of relations!' as to honour and ignominy; as, 'Whether it be honourable to suffer death for the sake of glory V Of the comparative also there are two sorts: one, when the question is whether ttiings are the same, or liiere be any difiereuce betwiit them; as betwixt /eaj' and revefmce, a king and o tyrant, a jlatterer and a friend; the other, when the inquiry is, 'Which of two things ia pre- ferableV as, ' Whether wise men are led by the approbation of the most worthy, or by popular applause!' Thus are the controversies which relate to knowledge described, for the most part, by men of the greatest learning.
XXX. " But those whiob relate to action, either concern controverted points of moral duty, under which head it may be inquired, 'What is right and to be practised;' of which head the whole train of virtues and of vices is the subjeot- or refer to the eicitement, or alleviation, or removal 1 i DRAIORE; OR, [a.
of aome emotion of iixb miad. Under thia head are included exhortation, reproof^ consolation, compaBeioQ, and all that either gives impulse to any emotion of the mind, or, if it so happen, mitigates it These kinds, then, and modes of all questions being explained, it is of no consequence if the partition of Antonius in ajiy particular disagrees with my division; for there are the aame parts in hoth. our disserta- tions, though divided and distributed by me a little otherwise tbaa by him. Now I will proceed to the sequel, aud recall myself to my appointed task a.nd buaincsa. For the atgu- ments tor every kind of queatiou are to be drawn from those oommon places which Antonius enumerated; but some common places will bo more adapted to soino kinds than to othera; concerning which there is no necessity for me to speak, not because it is a matter of uny great length, but of sufficient perspicuity.
" Those speeches, then, are the most ornate which spread over the widest field, and, from some private aud single question, apply and direct themBalves to show the nature of saoh quostioiie in general, so that the audience, from under- standing its nature, and kiisd, aud whole heariug, may deter- mine as to particular individuals, and as to oil suits criminal and civil. Antonius hos encouraged you, young men, to par- severance in this exerciiie, and iutioutted that you were to be conducted by degrees from small and cooSued questions to all the power and varieties of argument. Such qualifications are not to be gained from a few small treatises, as they ha»B imagined who have written on the art of speaking; nor are they work merely for a Tusculan villa, or for a morning volk and afternoon sitting, such as these of ours; for we have not only to point and fashion the tongue, but have to store the mind with the sweetness, abundance, and variety of most important and numerous subjects.
XXXI. "For ours is the possession (if we are indeed oratoi's, if we are to be ooneulted as persons of authority and leaders in the civil aontests and perils of the citizens and ia public councils), ours, I say, is the entire possession of all that wisdom and learning, upon which, aa if it were vacant and bad fallen in to them, men abounding in leisure have seized, taking advantage of us, and either speak of the orator with ridicule and sarcasnii, aa Socrates in the Gorgias, c ON rHE CHARAOTEB OF THE OEATOH. 367 somethitig on the art of oratory in a few little treatises, and call them books on rhetoric; us if all those things did not eqiutlly conoem the orator, which are taught b; the same pbJlOGOpherB oa justice, on the duties of life, on the establish- ment aud adminiatratiou of civil government, and oD the whole syatema of moral and even natural philosophy. These mattarB, since we cannot get them elsewhere, we must now borrow from those very persons hy whom we have been pil- laged; ao that we apply them to the knowledge of civil afiairfl, to which they belong, aad have a regard; nor let us (as I observed before) consume all oiir lives in this kind of learning, but, when we have discovered the fountains, (which he who does cot find out immediately will never find at all,) let tis draw from them as much as occasiou may re- quire, as often as we need. For neither is there so sharp a disoertimcnt in the nature and understanding of man, that any one can descry things of such importance, unless they are pointed out; nor yet is there so much obscurity in the things, that a man of penetrating genius cannot obtain an insight into them, if he only direct his view towards them. As the orator therefore has liberty to expatiate in so large and immense a field, and, wherever he stops, cau stand upon his own territory, all the iiimiture and embellishments of' eloquence readily offer themselves to him. For copiousness of matter produces copiousness of language; and, if there be an inherent dignity in the subjects on which be speaks, there must be, from the nature of the thing, a certain splendour in his Mpresaion, If the speakei- or writer has but been liberally instructed in the learning proper for youth, and has an ardent attachment to study, and is assisted by uatiual endowments, and exercised in those indefinite ques- tions on general subjects, and ha.s chosen, at the same time, the most elegant writers and speakers to study and imitate, he will never, be assured, need instruction from such pre- ceptors how to compose or embellish his language; so readily, in an abundance of matter, will nature herself, if she be but stimulated, fall without any guide into all the art of adorning eloquence."
XXXII. Catulua hero observed, " Ye immortal goda, what an infinite variety, force, and extent of matter have you, CrasBus, embraced, and from how narrow a circle have you 1 _B.1II.
Tentured to lead forth the orator, and to place him in the domains of hia ancestors! For we haTo understood that those ancient rooeters and authors of the art of speaking considered no kind of disputation to be foreign to their pro- fession, but were always exercising thecnselves in every branch of oratory. Of which number was Hippias of Elia, who, ■when he came to Olympia, at the titoo of the vast eoncoui'se at the games celebrated every fifth year, boaeted, in the hearing of almost all Greece, that there was no subject in any tu-t or science of which he was ignorant; as he under- stood not only those arts in which all liberal and pohte learning is comprised, geometry, music, grammar, and poetry, and whatever ie said on the natures of things, the moral duties of men, and the Bcience of government, but that he had himself made, with his own hand, the ring which he wore, and the cloak and shoes which he had on.' Ho iudeed went a little too far; but, even from his example, we may easily conjecture how much knowledge those very oratore desired to gain in tho most noble arts, when they did not shrink fixim learning even the more humble. Why need I allude to Prodioi^ of Chios, Thrasymachus of Chalcedon, or Protagoras of Ahderaf every one of whom in those days disputed and wrote much evert on the nature of things. Eveu Gorgias the Leontine himself under whose advocacy (as Plato represented) the orator yielded to the philosopher;^ who was either never defeated in argument by Socrates, (and then the Dialogue of Plato is wholly fictitious,) or, if he was so de- feated, it was because Socrates was tho more eloquent and convincing, or, as you term, it, the more powerful and better orator; — but this Gorgias, in that veiy book of Plato, offers to speak most copiously on any subject whatever, that could be brought under discussion or inquiry; and ho was the first of ail mea that ventured to demand, in a large assembly, on what subject any one desired to hear him speak; and to whom such honours were paid in Greece, that to him alone, of all great men, a statue was erected at Delphi, not gilded, but of solid gold. Those whom I have named, and many , ' Sea Plato, Hipp. MJn. p. 231 O. ' Gorgias, in the Dinlogae of Plato, undertakes the defence of ■oratory agBinet Socrates, whom Plata rapreaenta aa maintaining the ■*^~Qity of philosophy. GorgUe is vanquished bj Socrates. Pnust.
■: :.] OS THE CHARACTEH OP THE oniTon. 369 other moBfc consuniinate mastera in the art of speaking, floiirislied at the same time; from whose examples it may be understood, that the truth is really such as yon, Crassiis, bavG stated, and that the name of the orator was dletia- guiahed among the ancients in Greece in a. more estensiye sense, and with greater honour than among ourselves. I am therefore the more in doubt whether I should attribute a greater degree of praise to you, or of blame to the Greeks; since you, bom under a different language and manners, in the busiest of cities, occupiedeitherwithalmost all the private causes of the people, or with the government of the world and the direction of the mightiest of empires, have mastered snch numbers of subjects and aoqnired so extensive a know- ledge, and have united all this with the science and praotiee of one who is of authority in the republic by his counsels and eloquence; whilst they, bom in an atmosphere of learning, ardently attached to such studios:, but dissolved in idleness, have not ooly made no acquisitions, but have not even preserved as their own that which was left and consigned to them."
XXXIII. Crosans then said, " Not only in this pai'ticuJar, Catulus, but iu many others, the grandeur of the sciences has been diminished by the distribution and separation of their parts. Do you imagine, that when the famous Hippo- crates of Cos flourished, there were then some of the medical faculty who cured diseases, others wounds, and a third class the eyes? Do you suppose that geometry under Euclid and Archimedes, that music under- Damon and Aristosenns, that grammar itself when Aristophanes and Calliraachus treated of it, were so divided into parts, that no one comprehendeJ the universal system of any of those sciences, but different persons selected different parts on which they meant to- bestow their labour 1 I have, indeed, often heard from my- lather and lather-in-]aw, that evea our own countrymen, who- were ambitious to eioel in renown for wisdom, were wont to comprehend all the objects of knowledge which tin's city had then learned. They mentioned, as an instance of this, SeituH .^lius; and we ourselves have seen Mauius Maoihus walking across the forum; a signal that he who did so, gave all the citizens liberty to consult him upon any subject; and to such persons, when thus walking or sitting at home upon their seats of aeremony, all people hod Eree iicceBB, not only to consult tbom upon points of civil law, but even upon the settlement of a daughter in marriage, the purchaae of an estate, or the ooltivBtion. of a iorm, and indeed upon any employment or bofiineBS vhatBoever. Such was the wisdom of the vell- kmown elder PubliuB CrasBus, bucIl that of Titua ConutcaoinB, auoh that of the great-grandfethar of Scipio, my son-in-law, a paiBou of great judgment^ all of whom were supreme pon- tifia, BO that they were contjolted upon all ofiairs, divine and human; and the same men gave their counsel and. dia- chained their duty in the senate, before the people, and in the private ctiuaes of their friends, in civil and militaiy aerviee, both at homo and abroad. What was deficient io MarcuB Cato, eicept the modern polish of foreign and ai Tentitioiu leamingl Did he, because he was versed in the civil law, forbear from pleading causes! or, because he oouM speak, neglect the study o£ jurisprudence 1 Be laboured in both, these kinds of learning, and socceeded in both. Was he, by the popularity which he acquired by attending to tba business of private persons, rendered more tardy in the public service of the state 1 No man spoke with more eourage before the people^ none was ever a better senatoc; be was at the same time a most excellent commander-ior chief; and indeed nothing in those days could possibly be known or learned in this ei1y which he did not investigate and thoroughly understand, and on which he did not also writa Now, on the contrary, men generally come to assume offices and the duties of public administration tmarmed and deiencelesB; prepared with no science, nor any knowledge of business. But if any one happen to excel the multitude, he is elevated with pride by the possession of aay single talent, .as military eourage, or a little esperienee in war, (whioh indeed has now failen. into decay,') or a knowledge of the law, (not of the whole law, fur nobody studies the pontifical law, which is annexed to civil jurisprudence,^) or eloquence, * For, except Metellus NumidicuB aiid Maiius, no one in thoBe dsfs lad gUQed any great reputation b; liis conduct in th* Beld.
* Quod at ciH^taiclvm, That ia, "coujunotum oum jura aJviliiT Prouil. What Cicero says here ia somewhat at T&rionce with what 1m i^B, De Legg, ii 19, where he nhoviB, at some length, that only a tnnU put of tlis Givil law is Qeceseary to tie combined with the knowladgrrf ttu pontiSnal law. Etteiidl.
a. XIZIV.] ON THE CHAIUCTEB OP THE ORATOR. 371 (wliich tiiej imaginQ to consist in declamation and a torreat of words,) while none have any notion of the aUiauce and affinity that cnnnecta ail the liberal arte and sciences, and even tlio virtnea themaelveB.
XXXIV, " But to direct my remarks to tlie Greeks, (whom we cannot omit in a dissertation of tliis nature; for as esam' plea of virtue are to be sought among our own countrymen^ so esamples of learning are to be derived from them;) seven are said to have lived at one time, who were eBteemed and denommated wise men. All these, except Thalcs of Miletua, bad the govemnoent of their respective cities. Whose learning ia reported, at the same period, to have been greater, or ■whoBB eloquence to have received more ornament from literature, ttian that of Fisistratual who is said to have been the first that arranged the books of Homer as we now have them, when they were previously confused. He was not indeed of any great service to the community, but was eminent for eloquence, at the sanie time that he excelled in erudition and liberal knowledge. What was the character of Pericles 1 — of whose power in speaking we have heard, that ■when he spoke for the good of his country against the incli- nations of the Athenians, that very severity with which he contradicted the iavouritea of the people, became popular and agreeable to all men; and on whoso hps ^e old comic poets declared, (even when they satirized him, es was then lawful to be done at Athens,) that the graces of per- Buaeion dwelt, and that there visa such mighty energy in him that he left, as it were, certain stings in the minds of thoss who listened to him. Yet no declaimer had taught him to bowl for hours by the water-clock, but, as we have it from tradition, the famous Auaxagoraa of Clazomena^, a man emi- nent iu all the most valuable sciences, had instructed him. He, accordingly, escelling as he did in learning, judgment, and eloquence, presided at Athena forty years together over civil fftd raihtary afTaira. What was the character of Critias, or of Alcibiadesl They were not indeed vsefal members of the state in which they lived, hut were certainly men of learning and eloquence j and were they not improved by con- versation with Sooratesl Who instructed Dion of Syracuse in every branch of learning! Was it not Plato) The sama illuBtrious pbiloeopber, too, who formed him not to oratory bb2 DE okatork; oe, only, but to courage and virtue, impelled, equipped, aud armed him to deliver hia country. Did Plato, then, instruct Dion iu soiencea different fi'otn thoKe in which Isocraf«s formed the renowned Timotheus ths son of Couon the eminent general, and himself a most eseeUent commander, and a. man of eitensivo learning? Or from those iu which Lyais the Pythagorean trained Epaminondas of Thebes, who perhaps was the most remarkable mou of all Gieece! Or ftom those which Senophon taught AgesilaiiB, or ArcbjrtSB of Tarentum Philolaus, or Pythagoras himself all that oH prorince of Italy which was formerly called Great Greeoet XXXV. I do not imagine that they'were different; for I ko that one and the same course of study comprised all thoaa branches of knowledge which were esteemed necessary for a man of learning, and one who wished to become eminent in civil administration; and that they who bad received this knowledge, if they had sufBoient powers for speaking in public, and devoted themselves, without any impediment from nature, to oratory, became distinguished for eloquence. Aristotle himself, accordingly, whea he saw laocrates grow remarkable for the number and quality of his scholars, [be- cause he himself had diverted his lectures from forensic and civil causes to mere elegance of language,^] changed on a sudden almost his whole system of teaching, and quoted a veree from the tragedy of PLiloctetea' with a little alteration; for the hero said, that It wcu disgraceful for Am to be siUiit akile Jie allowed barbarians to speak; but Aristotle said that it vias disgraceful for kim to be aileni while he allowed Isocratet to tpsak. He therefore adorned and illustrated all philoso- phical learning, and associated the knowledge of things with practice in speaking. Nor did this escape the knowledge of that, very sagacious monarch Philip, who sent for him as a tutor for his son Alexander, that he might acquire from the same teacher instructions at once in conduct and in langju^ie. How, if any one desires either to call that philosopher, who instructs us fully in things and words, an orator, he may do ' The words in bracteta, eays Ellendt, are CBriainly apurioua, for they could not poaaibly hiiTo bean written by Cicero. In tbo original, good ijiM, kc, ipie necessarily refera to Amtotie, of wbom wbat is here Eud could never have been true.
' The PhiliKtetss of Eiiripidoa, a* is genaralty Euppoeed.
C. ZZXn.] OS THE CHAItACTEB OF THE OBATOB, SO without Opposition from mo; or if he prefer to call that orator, of whom I epeak as having wisdom united with eloquence, a. pkilosopker, I ahnU make no objection, provided it he allowed that neither hit ioability to epeak, who under- stands his subject but cannot set it forth in words, nor kis ignorance, to whom matter is wanting though words abound, can merit commendation; and if I had to choose one of the two, I should prefer uneloquent good sense to loquacious folly. But if it be inquired which is the more eminent excellence, the palm is to he given to the learned orator; and if they allow the same person to bo a philosopher, there is an end of controversy; but if they distinguish them, they will acknow- ledge their inferiority in this respect, that all their knowledge is inherent in the cornplete orator; but in the knowledge of the philosophers eloquence is not necessarily inherent; which, though it may be undervalued by them, must of necessity be thought to give a finishing grace to their sciences." When Crasms had spoken thus, he made a pause for a while, and the rest kept silence.
XXXVI. Cotta' then observed, "I cannot indeed complain, Crassus, that you seem to me to have given a dissertation upon a difierent subject from that on which you had under- taken to speak; for you have contributed to our conversation more than was either laid upon you by ua, or given notice of hy yourself But certainly it was the part that belonged to you, to speak upon the embellishments of language, and you had already entered upon tt, and distributed the whole eicellence of eloquence into four parts; and, when you had spoken upon the first two, as we indeed thought suffi- ciently, but, as you said yourself, cursorily and slightly, you had two others left: how we should speak, first, deffantly, and next, aptly. But when you were proceeding to thega particulars, the tide, as it wore, of youi' genius suddenly hurried you to a distance from land, and carried you out into the deep, almost beyond the view of us all; for, em- bracing all knowledge of everything, you did not indeed teach it us, (for that was impossible in so short a space of time,) but, — I know not what improvement you may have made in the rest of the company, — as for myself, you have carried me altogether into the heart of the academy, in regard to which I could wish that that were true which.
I jffa have often asserted, that it is not oecesnuy to c our lives in it, but tbat he may see everything in it who on!y turns bis eyes tDwards it: but even if the view be somewhat obswre, or I ^onld he extraordinarily dull, I shall assuredly never rest, or yield to fatigue, until I understand their doubts ways and arts of disputing for and against every question." Csesar then said, " One thing in your remarks, Crassus, struck me very much, tliat you said that he who did »ot learn anything soon, oould never thoroughly leam it at iJl ■ so that I con have no difficulty in making ihe trial, and rilJier immediately understanding what you extolled to the skies in your observations, or, if I cannot do so, losing no time, fus I may i-emain content with what I have already acquired." Here Sulpicius observed, " I, indeed, Craasus, neither desire any acquaintance with your Aristotle, nor Comeades, nor any of the philosophers; you may eithef imftgiue that I despair of being able to acquire their know- ledge, or that, as is really the oase, I despise it The ordinary knowledge of common afiairs, and such as are litigated in the forum, is great enough for me, for attaining that degree of eloquence which is my object; and even in that narrow circle of science I am ignorant of a multitude of things, whidi 1 b^Q to study, whenever any cause in which I am to speak requires them. I^ therefoi-e, you are not now fatigued, and if we are not troublesome to you, revert to those particulars which contribute to the merit and splendour of language; particulars which I desired to hear from you, not to nrnke me despair that I can ever possibly attain eloquence, but to make some addition to my stock of learning."