Cicero\'s Brutus or History of Famous Orators; also His Orator, or Accomplished Speaker.

M >> Marcus Tullius Cicero >> Cicero\'s Brutus or History of Famous Orators; also His Orator, or Accomplished Speaker.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16

"About the same time, or rather something later than the above-mentioned
Julius, but almost cotemporary with each other, were C. Cotta, P.
Sulpicius, Q. Varius, Cn. Pomponius, C. Curio, L. Fufius, M. Drusus, and
P. Antistius; for no age whatsoever has been distingushed by a more
numerous 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 Atticus, "do you say, _in your
own opinion, and in that of the Public at large?_ In deciding the merits
of an Orator, does the opinion of the vulgar, think you, always coincide
with that of the learned? Or rather does not one receive the approbation
of the populace, while another of a quite opposite character is preferred
by those who are better qualified to give their judgment?"--"You have
started a very pertinent question," said I; "but, perhaps, _the Public at
large_ will not approve my answer to it."--"And what concern need _that_
give you," replied Atticus, "if it meets the approbation of Brutus?"--
"Very true," said I; "for I had rather my _sentiments_ on the
qualifications of an Orator would please you and Brutus, than all the
world besides: but as to my _Eloquence_, I should wish _this_ to please
every one. For he who speaks in such a manner as to please the people,
must inevitably receive the approbation of the learned. As to the truth
and propriety of what I hear, I am indeed to judge of this for myself, as
well as I am able: but the general merit of an Orator must and will be
decided by the effects which his eloquence produces. For (in my opinion at
least) there are three things which an Orator should be able to effect;
_viz_. to _inform_ his hearers, to _please_ them, and to _move their
passions_. By what qualities in the Speaker each of these, effects may be
produced, or by what deficiencies they are either lost, or but imperfectly
performed, is an enquiry which none but an artist can resolve: but whether
an audience is really so affected by an Orator as shall best answer his
purpose, must be left to their own feelings, and the decision of the
Public. The learned, therefore, and the people at large, have never
disagreed about who was a good Orator, and who was otherwise. For do you
suppose, that while the Speakers above-mentioned were in being, they had
not the same degree of reputation among the learned as among the populace?
If you had enquired of one of the latter, _who was the most eloquent man
in the city_, he might have hesitated whether to say _Antonius_ or
_Crassus_; or this man, perhaps, would have mentioned the one, and that
the other. But would any one have given the preference to _Philippus_,
though otherwise a smooth, a sensible, and a facetious Speaker?--that
_Philippus_ whom we, who form our judgment upon these matters by rules of
art, have decided to have been the next in merit? Nobody would, I am
certain. For it is the invariable, property of an accomplished Orator, to
be reckoned such in the opinion of the people. Though Antigenidas,
therefore, the musician, might say to his scholar, who was but coldly
received by the Public, Play on, to please me and the Muses;--I shall say
to my friend Brutus, when he mounts the Rostra, as he frequently does,--
Play to me and the people;--that those who hear him may be sensible of the
effect of his Eloquence, while I can likewise amuse myself with remarking
the causes which produce it. When a Citizen hears an able Orator, he
readily credits what is said;--he imagines every thing to be true, he
believes and relishes the force of it; and, in short, the persuasive
language of the Speaker wins his absolute, his hearty assent. You, who are
possessed of a critical knowledge of the art, what more will you require?
The listening multitude is charmed and captivated by the force of his
Eloquence, and feels a pleasure which is not to be resisted. What here can
you find to censure? The whole audience is either flushed with joy, or
overwhelmed with grief;--it smiles, or weeps,--it loves, or hates,--it
scorns or envies,--and, in short, is alternately seized with the various
emotions of pity, shame, remorse, resentment, wonder, hope, and fear,
according as it is influenced by the language, the sentiments, and the
action of the speaker. In this case, what necessity is there to await the
sanction of a critic? For here, whatever is approved by the feelings of
the people, must be equally so by men of taste and erudition: and, in this
instance of public decision, there can be no disagreement between the
opinion of the vulgar, and that of the learned. For though many good
Speakers have appeared in every species of Oratory, which of them who was
thought to excel the rest in the judgment of the populace, was not
approved as such by every man of learning? or which of our ancestors, when
the choice of a pleader was left to his own option, did not immediately
fix it either upon Crassus or Antonius? There were certainly many others
to be had: but though any person might have hesitated to which of the
above two he should give the preference, there was nobody, I believe, who
would have made choice of a third. And in the time of my youth, when Cotta
and Hortensius were in such high reputation, who, that had liberty to
choose for himself, would have employed any other?"--"But what occasion is
there," said Brutus, "to quote the example of other speakers to support
your assertion? have we not seen what has always been the wish of the
defendant, and what the judgment of Hortensius, concerning yourself? for
whenever the latter shared a cause with you, (and I was often present on
those occasions) the peroration, which requires the greatest exertion of
the powers of Eloquence, was constantly left to _you_."--"It was," said I;
"and Hortensius (induced, I suppose, by the warmth of his friendship)
always resigned the post of honour to me. But, as to myself, what rank I
hold in the opinion of the people I am unable to determine: as to others,
however, I may safely assert, that such of them as were reckoned most
eloquent in the judgment of the vulgar, were equally high in the
estimation of the learned. For even Demosthenes himself could not have
said what is related of Antimachus, a poet of Claros, who, when he was
rehearsing to an audience assembled for the purpose, that voluminous piece
of his which you are well acquainted with, and was deserted by all his
hearers except Plato, in the midst of his performance, cried out, "I
shall proceed notwithstanding_; for Plato alone is of _more consequence to
me than many thousands_." "The remark was very just. For an abstruse poem,
such as his, only requires the approbation of the judicious few; but a
discourse intended for the people should be perfectly suited to their
taste. If Demosthenes, therefore, after being deserted by the rest of his
audience, had even Plato left to hear him, and no one else, I will answer
for it, he could not have uttered another syllable. 'Nay, or could you
yourself, my Brutus, if the whole assembly was to leave you, as it once
did Curio?"--"To open my whole mind to you," replied he, "I must confess
that even in such causes as fall under the cognizance of a few select
judges, and not of the people at large, if I was to be deserted by the
casual crowd who came to hear the trial, I should not be able to
proceed."--"The case, then, is plainly this," said I: "as a flute, which
will not return its proper sound when it is applied to the lips, would be
laid aside by the musician as useless; so, the ears of the people are the
instrument upon which an Orator is to play: and if these refuse to admit
the breath he bestows upon them, or if the hearer, like a restive horse,
will not obey the spur, the speaker must cease to exert himself any
farther. There is, however, the exception to be made; the people sometimes
give their approbation to an orator who does not deserve it. But even here
they approve what they have had no opportunity of comparing with something
better: as, for instance, when they are pleased with an indifferent, or,
perhaps, a bad speaker. His abilities satisfy their expectation: they have
seen nothing preferable: and, therefore, the merit of the day, whatever it
may happen to be, meets their full applause. For even a middling Orator,
if he is possessed of any degree of Eloquence, will always captivate the
ear; and the order and beauty of a good discourse has an astonishing
effect upon the human mind. Accordingly, what common hearer who was
present when Q. Scaevola pleaded for M. Coponius, in the cause above-
mentioned, would have wished for, or indeed thought it possible to find
any thing which was more correct, more elegant, or more complete? When he
attempted to prove, that, as M. Curius was left heir to the estate only in
case of the death of his future ward before he came of age, he could not
possibly be a legal heir, when the expected ward was never born;--what did
he leave unsaid of the scrupulous regard which should be paid to the
literal meaning of every testament? what of the accuracy and preciseness
of the old and established forms; of law? and how carefully did he specify
the manner in which the will would have been expressed, if it had intended
that Curius should be the heir in case of a total default of issue? in
what a masterly manner did he represent the ill consequences to the
Public, if the letter of a will should be disregarded, its intention
decided by arbitrary conjectures, and the written bequests of plain
illiterate men, left to the artful interpretation of a pleader? how often
did he urge the authority of his father, who had always been an advocate
for a strict adherence to the letter of a testament? and with what
emphasis did he enlarge upon the necessity of supporting the common forms
of law? All which particulars he discussed not only very artfully, and
skilfully; but in such a neat,--such a close,--and, I may add, in so
florid, and so elegant a style, that there was not a single person among
the common part of the audience, who could expect any thing more complete,
or even think it possible to exist. But when Crassus, who spoke on the
opposite side, began with the story of a notable youth, who having found a
cock-boat as he was rambling along the shore, took it into his head
immediately that he would build a ship to it;--and when he applied the
tale to Scaevola, who, from the cock-boat of an argument [which he had
deduced from certain imaginary ill consequences to the Public] represented
the decision of a private will to be a matter of such importance as to
deserve he attention of the _Centum-viri_;--when Crassus, I say, in the
beginning of his discourse, had thus taken off the edge of the strongest
plea of his antagonist, he entertained his hearers with many other turns
of a similar kind; and, in a short time, changed the serious apprehensions
of all who were present into open mirth and good-humour; which is one of
those three effects which I have just observed an Orator should be able to
produce. He then proceeded to remark that it was evidently the intention
and the will of the testator, that in cafe, either by death, or default of
issue, there should happen to be no son to fall to his charge, the
inheritance should devolve to Curius:--'that most people in a similar case
would express themselves in the same manner, and that it would certainly
stand good in law, and always had. By these, and many other observations
of the same kind, he gained the assent of his hearers; which is another of
the three duties of an Orator. Lastly, he supported, at all events, the
true meaning and spirit of a will, against the literal construction:
justly observing, that there would be an endless cavilling about words,
not only in wills, but in all other legal deeds, if the real intention of
the party was to be disregarded: and hinting very smartly, that his
friend Scaevola had assumed a most unwarrantable degree of importance, if
no person must afterwards presume to indite a legacy, but in the musty
form which he himself might please to prescribe. As he enlarged on each of
these arguments with great force and propriety, supported them by a number
of precedents, exhibited them in a variety of views, and enlivened them
with many occasional turns of wit and pleasantry, he gained so much
applause, and gave such general satisfaction, that it was scarcely
remembered that any thing had been said on the contrary side of the
question. This was the third, and the most important duty we assigned to
an Orator.

"Here, if one of the people was to be judge, the same person who had heard
the first Speaker with a degree of admiration, would, on hearing the
second, despise himself for his former want of judgment:--whereas a man of
taste and erudition, on hearing Scaevola, would have observed that he was
really master of a rich and ornamental style; but if, on comparing the
manner in which each of them concluded his cause, it was to be enquired
which of the two was the best Orator, the decision of the man of learning
would not have differed from that of the vulgar. What advantage, then, it
will be said, has the skilful critic over the illiterate hearer? A great
and very important advantage; if it is indeed a matter of any consequence,
to be able to discover by what means that which is the true and real end
of speaking, is either obtained or lost. He has likewise this additional
superiority, that when two or more Orators, as has frequently happened,
have shared the applauses of the Public, he can judge, on a careful
observation of the principal merits of each, what is the most perfect
character of Eloquence: since whatever does not meet the approbation of
the people, must be equally condemned by a more intelligent hearer. For as
it is easily understood by the sound of a harp, whether the strings are
skilfully touched; so it may likewise be discovered from the manner in
which the passions of an audience are affected, how far the Speaker is
able to command them. A man, therefore, who is a real connoisseur in the
art, can sometimes by a single glance as he passes through the Forum, and
without stopping to listen attentively to what is said, form a tolerable
judgment of the ability of the Speaker. When he observes any of the Bench
either yawning, or speaking to the person who is next to him, or looking
carelessly about him, or sending to enquire the time of day, or teazing
the Quaestor to dismiss the court; he concludes very naturally that the
cause upon trial is not pleaded by an Orator who understands how to apply
the powers of language to the passions of the judges, as a skilful
musician applies his fingers to the harp. On the other hand, if, as he
passes by, he beholds the judges looking attentively before them, as if
they were either receiving some material information, or visibly approved
what they had already heard--if he sees them listening to the voice of the
Pleader with a kind of extasy like a fond bird to some melodious tune;--
and, above all, if he discovers in their looks any strong indications of
pity, abhorrence, or any other emotion of the mind;--though he should not
be near enough to hear a single word, he immediately discovers that the
cause is managed by a real Orator, who is either performing, or has
already played his part to good purpose."

After I had concluded these digressive remarks, my two friends were kind
enough to signify their approbation, and I resumed my subject.--"As this
digression," said I, "took its rise from Cotta and Sulpicius, whom I
mentioned as the two most approved Orators of the age they lived in, I
shall first return to _them,_ and afterwards notice the rest in their
proper order, according to the plan we began upon. I have already observed
that there are two classes of _good_ Orators (for we have no concern with
any others) of which the former are distinguished by the simple neatness
and brevity of their language, and the latter by their copious dignity and
elevation: but although the preference must always be given to that which
is great and striking; yet, in speakers of real merit, whatever is most
perfect of the kind, is justly entitled to our commendation. It must,
however, be observed, that the close and simple Orator should be careful
not to sink into a driness and poverty of expression; while, on the other
hand, the copious and more stately Speaker should be equally on his guard
against a swelling and empty parade of words.

"To begin with Cotta, he had a ready, quick Invention, and spoke correctly
and freely; and as he very prudently avoided every forcible exertion of
his voice on account of the weakness of his lungs, so his language was
equally adapted to the delicacy of his constitution. There was nothing in
his style but what was neat, compact, and healthy; and (what may justly be
considered as his greatest excellence) though he was scarcely able, and
therefore never attempted to force the passions of the judges by a strong
and spirited elocution, yet he managed them so artfully, that the gentle
emotions he raised in them, answered exactly the same purpose, and
produced the same effect, as the violent ones which were excited by
Sulpicius. For Sulpicius was really the most striking, and, if I may be
allowed the expression, the most tragical Orator I ever heard:--his voice
was strong and sonorous, and yet sweet, and flowing:--his gesture, and the
sway of his body, was graceful and ornamental, but in such a style as to
appear to have been formed for the Forum, and not for the stage:--and his
language, though rapid and voluble, was neither loose nor exuberant. He
was a professed imitator of Crassus, while Cotta chose Antonius for his
model: but the latter wanted the force of Antonius, and the former the
agreeable humour of Crassus."--"How extremely difficult, then," said
Brutus, "must be the art of speaking, when such consummate Orators as
these were each of them destitute of one of its principal beauties!"--"We
may likewise observe," said I, "in the present instance, that two Orators
may have the highest degree of merit, who are totally unlike each other:
for none could be more so than Cotta and Sulpicius, and yet both of them
were far superior to any of their cotemporaries. It is therefore the
business of every intelligent matter to take notice what is the natural
bent of his pupil's capacity; and, taking that for his guide, to imitate
the conduct of Socrates with his two scholars Theopompus and Ephorus, who,
after remarking the lively genius of the former, and the mild and timid
bashfulness of the latter, is reported to have said that he applied a spur
to the one, and a curb to the other. The Orations now extant, which bear
the name of Sulpicius, are supposed to have been written after his decease
by my cotemporary P. Canutius, a man indeed of inferior rank, but who, in
my mind, had a great command of language. But we have not a single speech
of Sulpicius that was really his own: for I have often heard him say, that
he neither had, nor ever could commit any thing of the kind to writing.
And as to Cotta's speech in defence of himself, called a vindication of
the _Varian Law_, it was composed, at his own request, by L. Aelius. This
Aelius was a man of merit, and a very worthy Roman knight, who was
thoroughly versed in the Greek and Roman literature. He had likewise a
critical knowledge of the antiquities of his country, both as to the date
and particulars of every new improvement, and every memorable transaction,
and was perfectly well read in the ancient writers;--a branch of learning
in which he was succeeded by our friend Varro, a man of genius, and of the
most extensive erudition, who afterwards enlarged the plan by many
valuable collections of his own, and gave a much fuller and more elegant
system of it to the Public. For Aelius himself chose to assume the
character of a Stoic, and neither aimed to be, nor ever was an Orator: but
he composed several Orations for other people to pronounce; as for Q.
Metellus, F. Q. Caepio, and Q. Pompeius Rufus; though the latter composed
those speeches himself which he spoke in his own defence, but not without
the assistance of Aelius. For I myself was present at the writing of them,
in the younger part of my life, when I used to attend Aelius for the
benefit of his instructions. But I am surprised, that Cotta, who was
really an excellent Orator, and a man of good learning, should be willing
that the trifling Speeches of Aelius mould be published to the world as
_his_.

"To the two above-mentioned, no third person of the same age was esteemed
an equal: Pomponius, however, was a Speaker much to my taste; or, at
least, I have very little fault to find with him. But there was no
employment for any in capital causes, excepting for those I have already
mentioned; because Antonius, who was always courted on these occasions,
was very ready to give his service; and Crassus, though not so compliable,
generally consented, on any pressing sollicitation, to give _his_. Those
who had not interest enough to engage either of these, commonly applied to
Philip, or Caesar; but when Cotta and Sulpicius were at liberty, they
generally had the preference: so that all the causes in which any honour
was to be acquired, were pleaded by these six Orators. We may add, that
trials were not so frequent then as they are at present; neither did
people employ, as they do now, several pleaders on the same side of the
question,--a practice which is attended with many disadvantages. For
hereby we are often obliged to speak in reply to those whom we had not an
opportunity of hearing; in which case, what has been alledged on the
opposite side, is often represented to us either falsely or imperfectly;
and besides, it is a very material circumstance, that I myself should be
present to see with what countenance my antagonist supports his
allegations, and, still more so, to observe the effect of every part of
his discourse upon the audience. And as every defence should be conducted
upon one uniform plan, nothing can be more improperly contrived, than to
re-commence it by assigning the peroration, or pathetical part of it, to a
second advocate. For every cause can have but one natural introduction and
conclusion; and all the other parts of it, like the members of an animal
body, will best retain their proper strength and beauty, when they are
regularly disposed and connected. We may add, that as it is very difficult
in a single Oration of any length, to avoid saying something which does
not comport with the rest of it so well as it ought to do, how much more
difficult must it be to contrive that nothing shall be said, which does
not tally exactly with the speech of another person who has spoken before
you? But as it certainly requires more labour to plead a whole cause, than
only a part of it, and as many advantageous connections are formed by
assisting in a suit in which several persons are interested, the custom,
however preposterous in itself, has been readily adopted.

"There were some, however, who esteemed Curio the third best Orator of the
age; perhaps, because his language was brilliant and pompous, and because
he had a habit (for which I suppose he was indebted to his domestic
education) of expressing himself with tolerable correctness: for he was a
man of very little learning. But it is a circumstance of great importance,
what sort of people we are used to converse with at home, especially in
the more early part of life; and what sort of language we have been
accustomed to hear from our tutors and parents, not excepting the mother.
We have all read the Letters of Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi; and
are satisfied, that her sons were not so much nurtured in their mother's
lap, as in the elegance and purity of her language. I have often too
enjoyed the agreeable conversation of Laelia, the daughter of Caius, and
observed in her a strong tincture of her father's elegance. I have
likewise conversed with his two daughters, the Muciae, and his
granddaughters, the two Liciniae, with one of whom (the wife of Scipio)
you, my Brutus, I believe, have sometimes been in company."--"I have,"
replied he, "and was much pleased with her conversation; and the more so,
because she was the daughter of Crassus."--"And what think you," said I,
"of Crassus, the son of that Licinia, who was adopted by Crassus in his
will?"--"He is said," replied he, "to have been a man of great genius: and
the Scipio you have mentioned, who was my colleague, likewise appears to
me to have been a good Speaker, and an elegant companion."--"Your opinion,
my Brutus," said I, "is very just. For this family, if I may be allowed
the expression, seems to have been the offspring of Wisdom. As to their
two grandfathers, Scipio and Crassus, we have taken notice of them
already: as we also have of their great grandfathers, Q. Metellus, who had
four sons,--P. Scipio, who, when a private citizen, freed the Republic
from the arbitrary influence of T. Gracchus,--and Q. Scaevola, the augur,
who was the ablest and most affable Civilian of his time. And lastly, how
illustrious are the names of their next immediate progenitors, P. Scipio,
who was twice Consul, and was called the Darling of the People,--and C.
Laelius, who was esteemed the wisest of men?"--"A generous stock indeed!"
cries Brutus, "into which the wisdom of many has been successively
ingrafted, like a number of scions on the same tree!"--"I have likewise a
suspicion," replied I, "(if we may compare small things with great) that
Curio's family, though he himself was left an orphan, was indebted to his
father's instruction, and good example, for the habitual purity of their
language: and so much the more, because, of all those who were held in any
estimation for their Eloquence, I never knew one who was so totally rude
and unskilled in every branch of liberal science. He had not read a single
poet, or studied a single orator; and he knew little or nothing either of
Public, Civil, or Common law. We might say almost the same, indeed, of
several others, and some of them very able Orators, who (we know) were but
little acquainted with these useful parts of knowledge; as, for instance,
of Sulpicius and Antonius. But this deficiency was supplied in them by an
elaborate knowledge of the art of Speaking; and there was not one of them
who was totally unqualified in any of the five [Footnote: Invention,
Disposition, Elocution, Memory, and Pronunciation.] principal parts of
which it is composed; for whenever this is the case, (and it matters not
in which of those parts it happens) it intirely incapacitates a man to
shine as an Orator. Some, however, excelled in one part, and some in
another. Thus Antonius could readily invent such arguments as were most in
point, and afterwards digest and methodize them to the best advantage; and
he could likewise retain the plan he had formed with great exactness: but
his chief merit was the goodness of his delivery, in which he was justly
allowed to excel. In some of these qualifications he was upon an equal
footing with Crassus, and in others he was superior: but then the language
of Crassus was indisputably preferable to _his_. In the same manner, it
cannot be said that either Sulpicius or Cotta, or any other Speaker of
repute, was absolutely deficient in any one of the five parts of Oratory.
But we may justly infer from the example of Curio, that nothing will more
recommend an Orator, than a brilliant and ready flow of expression; for he
was remarkably dull in the invention, and very loose and unconnected in
the disposition of his arguments. The two remaining parts are
Pronunciation and Memory; in each of which he was so poorly qualified, as
to excite the laughter and the ridicule of his hearers. His gesture was
really such as C. Julius represented it, in a severe sarcasm, that will
never be forgotten; for as he was swaying and reeling his whole body from
side to side, Julius enquired very merrily, _who it was that was speaking
from a boat_. To the same purpose was the jest of Cn. Sicinius, a very
vulgar sort of man, but exceedingly humourous, which was the only
qualification he had to recommend him as an Orator. When this man, as
Tribune of the people, had summoned Curio and Octavius, who were then
Consuls, into the Forum, and Curio had delivered a tedious harangue, while
Octavius sat silently by him, wrapt up in flannels, and besmeared with
ointments, to ease the pain of the gout;"--"_Octavius," said he, "you are
infinitely obliged to your colleague; for if he had not tossed and flung
himself about to-day, in the manner he did, you would have certainly have
been devoured by the flies._"--"As to his memory, it was so extremely
treacherous, that after he had divided his subject into three general
heads, he would sometimes, in the course of speaking, either add a fourth,
or omit the third. In a capital trial, in which I had pleaded for Titinia,
the daughter of Cotta, when he attempted to reply to me in defence of
Serv. Naevius, he suddenly forgot every thing he had intended to say, and
attributed it to the pretended witchcraft, and magic artifices of Titinia.
These were undoubted proofs of the weakness of his memory. But, what is
still more inexcusable, he sometimes forgot, even in his written
treatises, what he had mentioned but a little before. Thus, in a book of
his, in which he introduces himself as entering into conversation with our
friend Pansa, and his son Curio, when he was walking home from the Senate-
house; the Senate is supposed to have been summoned by Caesar in his first
Consulship; and the whole conversation arises from the son's enquiry what
the House had resolved upon. Curio launches out into a long invective
against the conduct of Caesar, and, as is generally the custom in
dialogues, the parties are engaged in a close dispute on the subject: but
very unhappily, though the conversation commences at the breaking up of
the Senate which Caesar held when he was first Consul, the author censures
those very actions of the same Caesar, which did not happen till the next,
and several other succeeding years of his government in Gaul."--"Is it
possible then," said Brutus, with an air of surprize, "that any man, (and
especially in a written performance) could be so forgetful as not to
discover, upon a subsequent perusal of his own work, what an egregious
blunder he had committed?"--"Very true," said I; "for if he wrote with a
design to discredit the measures which he represents in such an odious
light, nothing could be more stupid than not to commence his dialogue at a
period which was subsequent to those measures. But he so entirely forgets
himself, as to tell us, that he did not choose to attend a Senate which
was held in one of Caesar's future consulships, in the very same dialogue
in which he introduces himself as returning home from a Senate which was
held in his first consulship. It cannot, therefore, be wondered at, that
he who was so remarkably defective in a faculty which is the steward of
our other intellectual powers, as to forget, even in a written treatise, a
material circumstance which he had mentioned but a little before, should
find his memory fail him, as it generally did, in a sudden and
unpremeditated harangue. It accordingly happened, though he had many
connections, and was fond of speaking in public, that few causes were
intrusted to his management. But, among his cotemporaries, he was esteemed
next in merit to the first Orators of the age; and that merely, as I said
before, for his good choice of words, and his uncommon readiness, and
great fluency of expression. His Orations, therefore, may deserve a
cursory perusal. It is true, indeed, they are much too languid and
spiritless; but they may yet be of service to enlarge and improve an
accomplishment, of which he certainly had a moderate share; and which has
so much force and efficacy, that it gave Curio the appearance and
reputation of an Orator, without the assistance of any other good quality.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16