ment of hia eloquence, to Lucius Lucilius BaJbua and Caius AquiliuB GatluB, two very able speakers, he effectually thwarted the prompt celerity of the latter (though a keen, experienced man) both in supporting and refuting a charge, by his ac- curacy and precision, and overpowered the deliberate formality of Balbua fa man of great learning and erudition) by hia adroit and dexterous method of arguing; so that he equally poBsessed the good qualities of both, without their defects. As Crasaus, therefore, in my mind, acted more prudently than Scsevola; (for the latter was very fond of pleading causes, in which he was certainly inferior to Crassus; whereas the former never engaged himself in an unequal competition with ScBBVoki by asauming the character of a civilian;) so ServiuB pursued a plan which sufficiently discovered his wisdom; for as the profession of a pleader aad a lawyer are both of them held in great esteem, and give those who are masters of them the most eitensive influence among their fellow-citizens, he acquired an nndiaputed superiority in the one, and improved himself as much in the othor as was necessary to support the authority of the civil law, and promote bim to the dignity of consul." " This is precisely the opinion I had formed of him," said Brutna. " For a few years ago I heard him often, and very attentively, at Saraos, when I wanted to be instnicted by him ia the pontifical law, as far as it is connected with the civil; and I am now greatly confirmed in my opinion of him, by finding that it coincides so exactly with yours. I am likewise not a little pleased to observe, that the equality of your ages, your sharing the same honours and preferments, and the affinity of your respective studies and professions, has been so fii fi-om precipitating either of you into that envious detraction of the other's merit, which most people are tormented with, that, instead of interrupting your mutual friendship, it has only served to increase and strengthen it; for, to my own knowledge, ho bad tho same affection for, and the same favourable sentiments of you, which I now discover in you towards him. I cannot, therefore, help regretting very sin- cerely, that the Roman state has so long been deprived of the benefit of his advice and of your eloquence; a circum- stance which is indeed calamitous enough in itself, but must appear much more so to him who considers into what bawl?, that once respectable authority has been ot \o.Va, \ ■^'^ '^'^'^ BRQTU8; Oft, My traiwferred, but forcibly wrested." " You. certainly forget,'' aaid Atticus, " that I proposed, when we b^an t^ oeaveraation, to drop all mattery of state; by bU meaaa, therefore, let «s keep to our plan; for if ure once begia to repeat our grievancee, there will be no end, I need not lay to our iDquiriea, but to our sighs aad laneutatioiis" XLIII. "Let ufi proceed, then," Baid I, "without any &rther digression, and pursue the plan we set out upon.
. CrasisuB (for he is the orator we were juat speaking of) alirajs eame into the forum ready prepared for the combat. He woA expected with impatience, and heard with pleasure. When he first began his oratioo (whicia be always did in a very accurate style), he Eeemed worthy of the great et- pectationa he had raised. He waa very moderate in tie Baovomenta of his body, Lad no remarkable variation of Toice, never advanced irota the ground he stood upon, and seldom stamped his foot; his bmguage was forcible, an<i Kmetimes warm and pathetic; he had many strokes of humour, which were always tempered witti a becomii^ ^guity; and, what is difficult to attain, be waa at once veiy florid and very concise. In a dose contest, he nevei neet with his equal; and there waa scarcely any kind of causes is which he had not »gnaliaed his abilities j so that he esrolled himself very early among the first orators of tbs time. He accused Caius Corbo, though a man of great eloquence, when he waa but a youth; and displayed his talents in such a manner, that they wore not only applauded, hut admired by everybody, He afterwards defended thfr virgin Lictnia, when he waa only twenty-seven years of age; on whid) occasion he discovered an uncommon share of eloqueuce, m is evident &om those parts of his oration which he left behind him in writing. As he waa then desirous to have the honour of setthng the colony of Narbonne (us he afterwaidi did), he thought it advisable to recommend himeelf by under- taking the management of some popular causa. His oration ia support of the act which was proposed for that purpose, is BtiU eitantj and discovers a greater maturity of genius than might have been expeeted at tiiat time of life. He afterwards ^eaded many other causes; but his tribuneahip waa so le- nmrkably silent, that if he had not supped with Grauius the beadle when he enjoyed that office (a circumstaoice which ■ ias been twice meationed bj Luciliua^, we should scarcely lEUABES OH EmNXBT ORATORS.
fa&ye known that a tribune of ttat name had eiiated." " I believe so," replied Bnitaa; "but I have heard as little of the tribuneship of SciBYola, though I must naturally mippoeo that ho was the colleague of Crassus." " He was bo," said I, "in all his other preferments; but he waa not tribune till tie year after him; and when he sat in the rostrum in that capacity, Craasua spoke in support of She SorviSan law. I must observe, however, that Cra^nw had not Sraevoki for his collei^iie in the censorship; Ear none of the Scsevolas ever solicited that office. But when the last-mentioned oration of CrasBua was published (which I dare say you have frequently read), he waa thirty-four years of age, which waa esaetly the (Efference between hia age and mine. For he sapported the law I have jnst been apeaking o^ in the very consolahip under which I was bom; whereas he himself was born in tbe consulship of Quintus Ctepio and Caiua Ltelins, about three years later than Antoniua. I have partieuiarJy noticed this circumstance, to specif the time when the Boman eloquence attained its first matwrky; and was actually car- ried to such a degree of perfection, as to feave no room for any one to carry it higher, unless by the assistance of a more complete and tensive knowledge of philosophy, jurispru- dence, and history."
XLIV. "But does there," said Brutus, "or will there ever erist a man, who is furnished with aH the united accomplish- ments you requirel" "I really do not know," said I; "but we have a speech made by Crassus in hia consulship, in praise of QuintuB Otepio, intermingled with a defence of hia conduct, which, though a short one if we consider it as an oration, is not BO as a panegyric; and another, which waa his laat^ and which he spoke in the forty-eighth year of hia age, at the time he was censor. In these we have the genuine com- pleiion of elpquence, without any painting or disguise; but his periods (I mean those of Cra-ssus) were generally short and concise,- and he was fond of eKpressing himself in those minuter sentences, or members, which the Greeks call coloni." " As you have spoken so largely," said Brutus, " in praise of the two last-mentioned orators, I heartily wish that Antonine had left us some other specimen of his abilities than his trifling essay on the art of speaking, and CrassuB more than he has; by so doing, they would have transmitted thevt fenia to poaterityi and to ua a valuable system oi eVit^ca'M. "? on ii» I DBUTua; OB, to the elegant language of Scievola, we have sufficient pFO0& ' I the orationa he hns left behind him." "For my part," said I, "the oratioa I woa speaking o^ on Ciepio's case, has been a model whicli served to instruct me from my very childbood. It supports the dignity of the senate, which was deeply interested in the debate; and eicitea the jealousy of the audience against the party of the judges and accusers, whose powera it was neceSB&Ty to expose in the most popular terms. Many parts of it are very strong and nervous; many others very cool and compoaed; and some are distinguished by the asperity of their language, and not a few by their wit and pleasantry; but much more was said than was committed to writing, as is sufficiently evideut from several heads of the oration, which are merely proposed without any enlarge- ment or explanation. But the oration in his censorship against his colleE^ue Cneius Domitius, is not so mucli an oration as an analysis of the subject, or a general sketch of what he had said, with here and there a few ornamental touohea, by way of specimen; for no contest was ever con- ducted with greater spirit than this. Craasua, however, was eminently distinguished by tbe popular turn of his language i but that of Antonius was better adapted to judicial t ' " than to a public debate.
XLV. " As wo have had occasion to mention him, Domil^ himself must not be left unnoticed; for though he is i enrolled ia the list of orators, he had a sufficient share, li of utterance and genius, to support his character as a ma^K- trate, and his dignity as a consul. I might likewise observe of Caius Cteliua, that he was a man of great application and many eminent qnalitiea, and bad eloquence enough to support the private interests of his friends, and his own dignity in. the state. At the same time lived Marcus Herenniua, who was reckoned among the middling orators, whose principal merit was the purity and correctness of their language; and yet, in a suit for the consulship, he got the better of Lucius PhOippus, a man of the first rank and family, and of the moat extensive connexions, and who was likewise a member of the college, and a very eloquent speaker. Then also lived Caius Clodius, who, besides his consequence as a noblcraoa of the first distinction and a man of the most powerful iudueace, was likewise possessed of a moderate share of eloquence. Neaiiy of the same age was Caius TiUus, a Roman kniglit^ guage; Iti^^ )mil$^| is noH e, bolli BEHAREB ON EUIITENT who, iu my judgment, arrived at as high a degree of per- fectiou as a Eoman orator was able to do, without the OBsiat- ance of the Grecian literature, and a good ahai-e of practiee. His orations have bo many delicate tninH, such a number of well-choaen esamples, and such an agreeable vein of polite- ness, that thej almost seem to have been composed in the true Attic style. He likewise transferred his delicacies into Mb tragedies, with ingenuity enough, I confess, but not in the tragic taste. But the poet Lucius Afraniua, whom he studiously imitated, was a very hveiy writer, and, as you well know, possessed great dramatic eloquence. Quintus BuhriuB Yarro, who with Caius Marius was declared an enemy by the senate, was likewise a warm and very spirited prosecutor. My relation, Marcus Gratidias, was a plausible speaker of the same kind, well versed in Grecian literature, formed by nature for the profcaaion of eloquence, and an intimate acquaintance of Marcus Antonius; he commanded under him in Cilicia, where he lost hia life; and he once oommenced a prosecution against Caius Fimbria^ the &,ther of Marcus Marius Gratidianus.
XLVI. " There have likewise been several among the sllieB, and the Latins, ivho were esteemed good orators; as, for instance, Quintus Vettius of Vettium, one of the Marm, whom I coyself was acquainted with, a man of sense, and a. concise speaker; the Valerii, Quintus and Decimus, of Sora, my neighbours aud acquaintances, who were not so remark- able for their talent in speaking, as for their %kill both in Greek and Roman iiterature; and Caius Rusticelhia of Bononia, an experienced orator, and a man of great natural volubility. But the most eloquent of all those who were not citizens of Rome, was Tiberius Botuciua Barms of Asoulum, some of whoso orations, which were spoken in that city, are stiil estant; that which he made at Rome against Csepio, is really excellent; the speech which Ctepio delivered in answer to it, was made by.^liua, who composed a number of orations, but pronounced none himself. But among those of a re- moter date, Lucius Papirius of FregeU^ in Latium, who was almMt contemporary with Tiberius Gracchus, woe universaily esteemed the most eloquent; we have a speech of his in vin- dication of the Fregellans, and the Latin colonies, which, was delivered before the senate." " And what then is the merit," eaid Brutus, " which you mean to aacrftiQ \a ftxesB i^Toxvioai,. G a EBDTUa; OB, F orators!" " What else," replied I, " but the very same whiob I I have OBcribed to the city orators; excepting that their lan- guage is not tinctured with the same fashionable delicacy,' "What fashionable delicacy do you meanl" said he, "I cannot," said I, " pretend to dcflnc it; I ouiy know tliat there is such a quality existing. When you go to your pro- Tiace in Gaul, yon will be convinced of it. You will tbwe find many enpreasions which are not current in Rome; bai these may be easily changed, and ccrrecteii. But what is of greater importance, our orators haTe a particular accent in their maimer of pronouncing, which is more elegant, and im a more agreeable efiect than any other. This, however, ii not peculiar to the orators, but is equally common t« eveiy well-bred citizen. I myself remember that Titus Tineas, a Placentia, who was a very facetious man, once engaged is raillery with my old friend Quintue Oranius, the pn^ orier." " Do you mean that Graniua," said Brutus, " of vAaa Luoilius has related such a number of stories I" " The very same," said I j " but though Tineas eaid as many snait things as the other, Graniua at last overpowered ham by I oertiuii vernacular godt, which gave an additional relish to his humour; so that I am no longer surprised at what is said to have happened to Theophrastus, when be inquired of an old woman who kept a stall, what was the price of eoniethiog which he wanted to purchaee. After telling him the value of it, ' Honest itfon^er,' B,iidsbe, 'I cannot afford it for less;' an answer which nettled liim not a Uttle, to think that hi who had resided almost all hia life at Athens, and spoke the lan- guid very correctly, should be taken at last for a foreigner. In the same manner, there ia, in my opinion, a certain accent aa peculiar to the native citizens of Home, as the other was to tbose of Athena. But it is time for us to return home; I mean, to the orators of our own growth.
XL VII. " Nest, therefore, to the two capital speakera above-mentioned, {that is,Craasus and Antoniua,) catne Lncius Philippus, — not indeed till a considerable time afterwards; but still he must be reckoned the nejit. I do not mo»n, however, though nobody appeared in the interim who could dispute the prize with bim, that he was entitled to the second, or even the third post of honour. For as in a chariot- race I cannot properly consider kim aa either the second third winner, who hoE Hoaxcel^ fgat d«nx kA 'ihs. startingbefore tha firat has reached the goal; so, among orators, 1 cru scarcely honour him with the uame of a competitor, who has heeu so far distaaoed by the foremost as hardly to appear on the same ground with him. But yet there were certainly some talente to be observed in Philippus, which any person who considers them, without subjecting tbem to a compariBoti with the superior merits of the two before-mentioned, must allow to have been respectable. He had an uncommon free- dom of addresa, a large fund of humour, great &ci!ity in the invention of his seotiments, and a ready and easy manner of expressing them. He waa likewise, for the time be lived in, a great adept in the literature of the Greeks; and, in the beat of a debate, be could stiug, and lash, as well as ridicule his opponents. Almost contemporary with these was Lucius Gelliua, who was not so much to be valued for bis positive, as for bia negative merits; for be was neither destitute of learning, nor invention, nor unacquainted with the history and the laws of his country; besides which, be bad a tolerable freedom of expresslou. But he happened to live at a time when many excellent orators made tlieir appearance; and yet he served his friends upon many occasions to good purpose; in short, his life was so long, that be was Euccesaively con- temporary with a variety of orators of different periods, and had an extensive series of practice in judicial causes. Nearly at the same time lived Decimua Brutus, who waa fellow- consul with Mamercus; and waa equally skilled both in the Grecian and Roman literature. Lucius Scipio likewise was not an unskilful speaker; and Cnnus Fompeins, the son of ' SeztuB, had some reputation as an orator; for his brother SextuH applied the excellent genius he was poeecssed of, to acquire a Uiorongh knowledge of the oivil law, and a complete acquaintance with geometry and the doctrine of the Stoics. A little before these, Marcus Brutua, and very soon after >iim Cains Bibenns, who was a man of great natural capacity, made themselves, by nearly the same application, equally eminent in the profession of the law j the latter would have been chosen consul, if he had not been thwarted by the repeated promotion of Martua, and some other collateral embiarasBmentB which attended his suit. But the eloquence of Gneeua Octavins, which was wholly unknown before bis elevation to the consulship, waa effectually diB^\a."5e4,a.^Vw\^». preferment to fiat oiEce, in a great variety oS a^t^edi-vea. \^.SS'i Qg2 BRUTca; OB, however, time for us to drop those who wore only claseed in the number of good ipeakeri, and turn our attention to such as were really oratort."
" I think 80 too," replied Atticua; " for I underatood that you meant to give ua an account, not of those wlio took great paiiiB to be eloquent, but of those who were so in reality."
XLVIII. "CaiuB Julius then," said I, "(the son of Lucius,) Was certainly superior, not only to his predecessors, but to all Uis contemporaries, ia wit and humour; he waa not, indeed, a nervous and striking orator, but, in the elegance, the plea- Bantry, and the agreeableness of bis manner, he has not bora oscelled by any man. There are Bome oratioua of his still extant, in which, as well aa in his tragedies, we may discDrer a pleasing tranquillity of -eipresaion with very little energy Fublius Cethegufi, his equal in age, had always enough to sa; on matters of civil regulation; for he had etudied and com- prehended them with the minutest accuracy; by which means he acquired an equal authority in tlie senate with thne vho had served the office of consul, and though he modeiH figure in a public debate, he was a serviceable veteran, in any Buit of a private nature, Quintus Lucretius Vispillo was sD aouto speaker, and a good civilian in the same kind of nausea; but Osella was better qualified for a public harangue than to couduot a judicial process, Titus Aunius Vehna was likewise a man of sense, and a tolerable pleader j and Titus Juventius had a great deal of practice in tha same way: the latter indeed was rather too heavy and inaumate, but at the same time was keen and artfbl, sod knew how to sebe every advantage which was offered by his antagonist; to which we may add, that he was far from being a man of no literature, but had an extensive knowledge of the civil law. Hia scholar, Publius Orbiua, who was almost contemporary with me, had no great practice as a pleader; but his skill in the civil law was in no respect inferior to his master's. Aa to Titus Autidiua, who lived to a groat age, he was a. professed imitator of both; and was indeed a worthy inofToneive man; hut he seldom spoke at the bar. B.a brother, Marcus Virgihua, who, when he was a tribune of the people, commenced a prosecution against Lucius Sylla, then ftdvauced to the rank of general, had as little practice aa Aufi- Sius. Yirgilius's colleague, FubUus Magiua, was more copioiu tod diffiiaivB. But o£a,U.ttoors.toTa,<iYta.'iiv«ro.'n)i«Y»,\.t«ec REU^ItES ON EMINHNT OKATORS.
knew, who were totally illiterate and unpolished, and (I iiiight hare added) absolutely onaine and rustic, the readiest and keeaeBt were Quintus Sertoriua, and CaiuB GorgoniuM, the e of consular, aud the other of equestrian rank. Titus Junius (the son of Lucius), who had served the office of tri- bune, and prosecuted and convicted Publius Sextius of bribery, when he wasprEstor elect, was a prompt aud an easy speaker; he lived in great splendour, and had a very promising genius; and, if he had not been of a weak, and indeed a sickly cou- stitutioQ, he would have advanced much further than he did in the road to preferment XLIX. " I am sensible, however, that in the account I have been giving, I have included many ^ho w real, nor reputed orators; and that I have omitted others, among those of a remoter date, who well deserved not only to have been mentioned, but to be recorded with honour. But thia I was forced to do, for want of better information; for what could I say concerning men of a distant age, none c£ whose productions are now remaining, and of whom uq. mention is made in the wi'itiugs of other people! But I have omitted none of those who have fallen within the compass of ' my own knowledge, or that I myself remember to have ■ beard. For I wish to make it appear, that in such a powerful and ancient republic as ours, in which the greatest rewards have been proposed to eloqueace, though all have desired to be good speakers, not many have attempted the task, and but very few have succeeded. But I shall give my opinion of every one in such explicit terras, that it may be easily undcE- stood whom I consider as a mere declaimer, and whom as luar orator. About the same time, or rather something later than the above-mentioned Julius, but almost contemporary with each other, were Caius Cotta, Publius Sulpicius, Quintua Varius, Cnteua Pomponius, Caiua Curio, Lucius Fufins, Marcus Drusus, and Fublius Antistius; for no age whatsoever has been distinguished by a more numeroua progeny of orators. Of these, Cotta and Sulpicius, both in my opinion and in that of the public at large, had an evident claim to the preference." " But wherefore," interrupted Attious, '■ do yoTi say, in your own opinion, and in thai of the public at large f In deciding the merits of an orator, does the opinion of the vulgar, think you, always coincide with that of the learned ) Or ratheTjdoes not one receive the apptoViB.tumolftift'^'f^i^'^v [ wh I th-: iSi BRDTUa; OR,