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.

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"But let us return to Calvus whom we have just mentioned,--an Orator who
had received more literary improvements than Curio, and had a more
accurate and delicate manner of speaking, which he conducted with great
taste and elegance; but, (by being too minute and nice a critic upon
himself,) while he was labouring to correct and refine his language, he
suffered all the force and spirit of it to evaporate. In short, it was so
exquisitely polished, as to charm the eye of every skilful observer; but
it was little noticed by the common people in a crowded Forum, which is
the proper theatre of Eloquence."--"His aim," said Brutus, "was to be
admired as an _Attic_ Orator: and to this we must attribute that accurate
exility of style, which he constantly affected."--"This, indeed, was his
professed character," replied I: "but he was deceived himself, and led
others into the same mistake. It is true, whoever supposes that to speak
in the _Attic_ taste, is to avoid every awkward, every harsh, every
vicious expression, has, in this sense, an undoubted right to refuse his
approbation to every thing which is not strictly _Attic_. For he must
naturally detest whatever is insipid, disgusting, or invernacular; while
he considers a correctness and propriety of language as the religion, and
good-manners of an Orator:--and every one who pretends to speak in public
should adopt the same opinion. But if he bestows the name of Atticism on a
half-starved, a dry, and a niggardly turn of expression, provided it is
neat, correct, and genteel, I cannot say, indeed, that he bestows it
improperly; as the Attic Orators, however, had many qualities of a more
important nature, I would advise him to be careful that he does not
overlook their different kinds and degrees of merit, and their great
extent and variety of character. The Attic Speakers, he will tell me, are
the models upon which he wishes to form his Eloquence. But which of them
does he mean to fix upon? for they are not all of the same cast. Who, for
instance, could be more unlike each other than Demosthenes and Lysias? or
than Demosthenes and Hyperides? Or who more different from either of them,
than Aeschines? Which of them, then, do you propose to imitate? If only
_one_, this will be a tacit implication, that none of the rest were true
masters of Atticism: if _all_, how can you possibly succeed, when their
characters are so opposite? Let me further ask you, whether Demetrius
Phalereus spoke in the Attic style? In my opinion, his Orations have the
very smell of Athens. But he is certainly more florid than either
Hyperides or Lysias; partly from the natural turn of his genius, and
partly by choice. There were likewise two others, at the time we are
speaking of, whose characters were equally dissimilar; and yet both of
them were truly _Attic_. The first (Charisius) was the author of a number
of speeches, which he composed for his friends, professedly in imitation
of Lysias:--and the other (Demochares, the nephew of Demosthenes) wrote
several Orations, and a regular History of what was transacted in Athens
under his own observation; not so much, indeed, in the style of an
Historian, as of an Orator. Hegesias took the former for his model, and
had so vain a conceit of his own taste for Atticism, that he considered
his predecessors, who were really masters of it, as mere rustics in
comparison of himself. But what can be more insipid, more frivolous, or
more puerile, than that very concinnity of expression which he actually
acquired?"--"_But still we wish to resemble the Attic Speakers_."--"Do so,
by all means. But were not those, then, true Attic Speakers, we have just
been mentioning?"--"_Nobody denies it; and these are the men we
imitate._"--"But how? when they are so very different, not only from each
other, but from all the rest of their contemporaries?"--"_True; but
Thucydides is our leading pattern_."--"This too I can allow, if you design
to compose histories, instead of pleading causes. For Thucydides was both
an exact, and a stately historian: but he never intended to write models
for conducting a judicial process. I will even go so far as to add, that I
have often commended the speeches which he has inserted into his history
in great numbers; though I must frankly own, that I neither _could_
imitate them, if I _would,_ nor indeed _would,_ if I _could;_ like a man
who would neither choose his wine so new as to have been turned off in the
preceding vintage, nor so excessively old as to date its age from the
consulship of Opimius or Anicius."--"_The latter_, you'll say, _bears the
highest price_." "Very probable; but when it has too much age, it has lost
that delicious flavour which pleases the palate, and, in my opinion, is
scarcely tolerable."--"_Would you choose, then, when you have a mind to
regale yourself, to apply to a fresh, unripened cask?_" "By no means; but
still there is a certain age, when good wine arrives at its utmost
perfection. In the same manner, I would recommend neither a raw,
unmellowed style, which, (if I may so express myself) has been newly drawn
off from the vat; nor the rough, and antiquated language of the grave and
manly Thucydides. For even _he_, if he had lived a few years later, would
have acquired a much softer and mellower turn of expression."--"_Let us,
then, imitate Demosthenes_."--"Good Gods! to what else do I direct all my
endeavours, and my wishes! But it is, perhaps, my misfortune not to
succeed. These _Atticisers_, however, acquire with ease the paltry
character they aim at; not once recollecting that it is not only recorded
in history, but must have been the natural consequence of his superior
fame, that when Demosthenes was to speak in public, all Greece flocked in
crowds to hear him. But when our _Attic_ gentry venture to speak, they are
presently deserted not only by the little throng around them who have no
interest in the dispute, (which alone is a mortifying proof of their
insignificance) but even by their associates and fellow-advocates. If to
speak, therefore, in a dry and lifeless manner, is the true criterion of
Atticism, they are heartily welcome to enjoy the credit of it: but if they
wish to put their abilities to the trial, let them attend the Comitia, or
a judicial process of real importance. The open Forum demands a fuller,
and more elevated tone: and _he_ is the Orator for me, who is so
universally admired that when he is to plead an interesting cause, all the
benches are filled beforehand, the tribunal crowded, the clerks and
notaries busy in adjusting their seats, the populace thronging about the
rostra, and the judge brisk, and vigilant;--_he_, who has such a
commanding air, that when he rises up to speak, the whole audience is
hushed into a profound silence, which is soon interrupted by their
repeated plaudits, and acclamations, or by those successive bursts of
laughter, or violent transports of passion, which he knows how to excite
at his pleasure; so that even a distant observer, though unacquainted with
the subject he is speaking upon, can easily discover that his hearers are
pleased with him, and that a _Roscius_ is performing his part on the
stage. Whoever has the happiness to be thus followed and applauded is,
beyond dispute, an _Attic_ speaker: for such was Pericles,--such was
Hyperides, and Aeschines,--and such, in the most eminent degree, was the
great Demosthenes! If indeed, these connoisseurs, who have so much dislike
to every thing bold and ornamental, only mean to say that an accurate, a
judicious, and a neat, and compact, but unembellished style, is really an
_Attic_ one, they are not mistaken. For in an art of such wonderful extent
and variety as that of speaking, even this subtile and confined character
may claim a place: so that the conclusion will be, that it is very
possible to speak in the _Attic_ taste, without deserving the name of an
Orator; but that all in general who are truly eloquent, are likewise
_Attic_ Speakers.--It is time, however, to return to Hortensius."--"
Indeed, I think so," cried Brutus: "though I must acknowledge that this
long digression of yours has entertained me very agreeably."

"But I made some remarks," said Atticus, "which I had several times a mind
to mention; only I was loath to interrupt you. As your discourse, however,
seems to be drawing towards an end, I think I may venture to out with
them."--"By all means," replied I.--"I readily grant, then," said he,
"that there is something very humourous and elegant in that continued
_Irony_, which Socrates employs to so much advantage in the dialogues of
Plato, Xenophon, and Aeschines. For when a dispute commences on the nature
of wisdom, he professes, with a great deal of humour and ingenuity, to
have no pretensions to it himself; while, with a kind of concealed
raillery, he ascribes the highest degree of it to those who had the
arrogance to lay an open claim to it. Thus, in Plato, he extols
Protagoras, Hippias, Prodicus, Gorgias, and several others, to the skies:
but represents himself as a mere ignorant. This in _him_ was peculiarly
becoming; nor can I agree with Epicurus, who thinks it censurable. But in
a professed History, (for such, in fact, is the account you have been
giving us of the Roman Orators) I shall leave you to judge, whether an
application of the _Irony_ is not equally reprehensible, as it would be in
giving a judicial evidence."--"Pray, what are you driving at," said I,--
"for I cannot comprehend you."--"I mean," replied he, "in the first place,
that the commendations which you have bestowed upon some of our Orators,
have a tendency to mislead the opinion of those who are unacquainted with
their true characters. There were likewise several parts of your account,
at which I could scarcely forbear laughing: as, for instance, when you
compared old Cato to Lysias. He was, indeed, a great, and a very
extraordinary man. Nobody, I believe, will say to the contrary. But shall
we call him an Orator? Shall we pronounce him the rival of Lysias, who was
the most finished character of the kind? If we mean to jest, this
comparison of your's would form a pretty _Irony_: but if we are talking in
real earnest, we should pay the same scrupulous regard to truth, as if we
were giving evidence upon oath. As a Citizen, a Senator, a General, and,
in short, a man who was distinguished by his prudence, his activity, and
every other virtue, your favourite Cato has my highest approbation. I can
likewise applaud his speeches, considering the time he lived in. They
exhibit the out-lines of a great genius; but such, however, as are
evidently rude and imperfect. In the same manner, when you represented his
_Antiquities_ as replete with all the graces of Oratory, and compared Cato
with Philistus and Thucydides, did you really imagine, that you could
persuade me and Brutus to believe you? or would you seriously degrade
those, whom none of the Greeks themselves have been able to equal, into a
comparison with a stiff country, gentleman, who scarcely suspected that
there was any such thing in being, as a copious and ornamental style? You
have likewise said much in commendation of Galba;--if as the best Speaker
of his age, I can so far agree with you, for such was the character he
bore:--but if you meant to recommend him as an _Orator_, produce his
Orations (for they are still extant) and then tell me honestly, whether
you would wish your friend Brutus here to speak as _he_? Lepidus too was
the author of several Speeches, which have received your approbation; in
which I can partly join with you, if you consider them only as specimens
of our ancient Eloquence. The same might be said of Africanus and Laelius,
than whose language (you tell us) nothing in the world can be sweeter:
nay, you have mentioned it with a kind of veneration, and endeavoured to
dazzle our judgment by the great character they bore, and the uncommon
elegance of their manners. Divest it of these adventitious Graces, and
this sweet language of theirs will appear so homely, as to be scarcely
worth noticing. Carbo too was mentioned as one of our capital Orators; and
for this only reason,--that in speaking, as in all other professions,
whatever is the best of its kind, for the time being, how deficient soever
in reality, is always admired and applauded. What I have said of Carbo, is
equally true of the Gracchi: though, in some particulars, the character
you have given them was no more than they deserved. But to say nothing of
the rest of your Orators, let us proceed to Antonius and Crassus, your two
paragons of Eloquence, whom I have heard myself, and who were certainly
very able Speakers. To the extraordinary commendation you have bestowed
upon them, I can readily give my assent; but not, however, in such an
unlimited manner as to persuade myself that you have received as much
improvement from the Speech in support of the Servilian Law, as Lysippus
said he had done by studying the famous [Footnote: _Doryphorus_. A Spear-
man.] statue of Polycletus. What you have said on _this_ occasion I
consider as an absolute _Irony:_ but I shall not inform you why I think
so, lest you should imagine I design to flatter you. I shall therefore
pass over the many fine encomiums you have bestowed upon _these_; and what
you have said of Cotta and Sulpicius, and but very lately of your pupil
Caelius. I acknowledge, however, that we may call them Orators: but as to
the nature and extent of their merit, let your own judgment decide. It is
scarcely worth observing, that you have had the additional good-nature to
crowd so many daubers into your list, that there are some, I believe, who
will be ready to wish they had died long ago, that you might have had an
opportunity to insert _their_ names among the rest."--"You have opened a
wide field of enquiry," said I, "and started a subject which deserves a
separate discussion; but we must defer it to a more convenient time. For,
to settle it, a great variety of authors must be examined, and especially
_Cato_: which could not fail to convince you, that nothing was wanting to
complete his pieces, but those rich and glowing colours which had not then
been invented. As to the above Oration of Crassus, he himself, perhaps,
could have written better, if he had been willing to take the trouble; but
nobody else, I believe, could have mended it. You have no reason,
therefore, to think I spoke _ironically_, when I mentioned it as the guide
and _tutoress_ of my Eloquence: for though you seem to have a higher
opinion of my capacity, in its present state, you must remember that, in
our youth, we could find nothing better to imitate among the Romans. And
as to my admitting so _many_ into my list of Orators, I only did it (as I
have already observed) to shew how few have succeeded in a profession, in
which all were desirous to excel. I therefore insist upon it that you do
not consider _me_ in the present case, as an _Ironist_; though we are
informed by C. Fannius, in his History, that _Africanus_ was a very
excellent one."--"As you please about _that_," cried Atticus: "though, by
the bye, I did not imagine it would have been any disgrace to you, to be
what Africanus and Socrates have been before you."--"We may settle _this_
another time," interrupted Brutus: "but will you be so obliging," said he,
(addressing himself to _me_) "as to give us a critical analysis of some of
the old speeches you have mentioned?"--"Very willingly," replied I; "but
it must be at Cuma, or Tusculum, when opportunity offers: for we are near
neighbours, you know, in both places. At present, let us return to
_Hortensius_, from whom we have digressed a second time."

"Hortensius, then, who began to speak in public when he was very young,
was soon employed even in causes of the greatest moment: and though he
first appeared in the time of Cotta and Sulpicius, (who were only ten
years older) and when Crassus and Antonius, and afterwards Philip and
Julius, were in the height of their reputation, he was thought worthy to
be compared with either of them in point of Eloquence. He had such an
excellent memory as I never knew in any person; so that what he had
composed in private, he was able to repeat, without notes, in the very
same words he had made use of at first. He employed this natural advantage
with so much readiness, that he not only recollected whatever he had
written or premeditated himself, but remembered every thing that had been
said by his opponents, without the help of a prompter. He was likewise
inflamed with such a passionate fondness for the profession, that I never
saw any one, who took more pains to improve himself; for he would not
suffer a day to elapse, without either speaking in the Forum, or composing
something at home; and very often he did both in the same day. He had,
besides, a turn of expression which was very far from being low and
unelevated; and possessed two other accomplishments, in which no one could
equal him,--an uncommon clearness and accuracy in stating the points he
was to speak to; and a neat and easy manner of collecting the substance of
what had been said by his antagonist, and by himself. He had likewise an
elegant choice of words, an agreeable flow in his periods, and a copious
Elocution, which he was partly indebted for to a fine natural capacity,
and partly acquired by the most laborious rhetorical exercises. In short,
he had a most retentive view of his subject, and always divided and
parcelled it out with the greatest exactness; and he very seldom
overlooked any thing which the case could suggest, that was proper either
to support his _own_ allegations, or to refute those of his opponent.
Lastly, he had a sweet and sonorous voice; and his gesture had rather more
art in it, and was more exactly managed, than is requisite to an Orator.

"While _he_ was in the height of his glory, Crassus died, Cotta was
banished, our public trials were intermitted by the Marsic war, and I
myself made my first appearance in the Forum. Hortensius joined the army,
and served the first campaign as a volunteer, and the second as a military
Tribune: Sulpicius was made a lieutenant general; and Antonius was absent
on a similar account. The only trial we had, was that upon the Varian Law;
the rest, as I have just observed, having been intermitted by the war. We
had scarcely any body left at the bar but L. Memmius, and Q. Pompeius, who
spoke mostly on their own affairs; and, though far from being Orators of
the first distinction, were yet tolerable ones, (if we may credit
Philippus, who was himself a man of some Eloquence) and in supporting an
evidence, displayed all the poignancy of a prosecutor, with a moderate
freedom of Elocution. The rest, who were esteemed our capital Speakers,
were then in the magistracy, and I had the benefit of hearing their
harangues almost every day. C. Curio was chosen a Tribune of the people;
though he left off speaking after being once deserted by his whole
audience. To him I may add Q. Metellus Celer, who, though certainly no
Orator, was far from being destitute of utterance: but Q. Varius, C.
Carbo, and Cn. Pomponius, were men of real Elocution, and might almost be
said to have lived upon the Rostra. C. Julius too, who was then a Curule
Aedile, was daily employed in making Speeches to the people, which were
composed with great neatness and accuracy. But while I attended the Forum
with this eager curiosity, my first disappointment was the banishment of
Cotta: after which I continued to hear the rest with the same assiduity as
before; and though I daily spent the remainder of my time in reading,
writing, and private declamation, I cannot say that I much relished my
confinement to these preparatory exercises. The next year Q. Varius was
condemned, and banished, by his own law: and I, that I might acquire a
competent knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence, then attached
myself to Q. Scaevola, the son of Publius, who, though he did not choose
to undertake the charge of a pupil, yet by freely giving his advice to
those who consulted him, he answered every purpose of instruction to such
as took the trouble to apply to him. In the succeeding year, in which
Sylla and Pompey were Consuls, as Sulpicius, who was elected a Tribune of
the people, had occasion to speak in public almost every day, I had an
opportunity to acquaint myself thoroughly with his manner of speaking. At
this time Philo, a philosopher of the first name _in the Academy_, with
many of the principal Athenians, having deserted their native home, and
fled to Rome, from the fury of Mithridates, I immediately became his
scholar, and was exceedingly taken with his philosophy; and, besides the,
pleasure I received from the great variety and sublimity of his matter, I
was still more inclined to confine, my attention to that study; because
there was reason to apprehend that our laws and judicial proceedings would
be wholly overturned by the continuance of the public disorders. In the
same year Sulpicius lost his life; and Q. Catulus, M. Antonius, and C.
Julius, three Orators, who were partly cotemporary with each other, were
most inhumanly put to death. Then also I attended the lectures of Molo the
Rhodian, who was newly come to Rome, and was both an excellent Pleader,
and an able Teacher of the Art. I have mentioned these particulars, which,
perhaps, may appear foreign to our purpose, that _you_, my Brutus, (for
Atticus is already acquainted with them) may be able to mark my progress,
and observe how closely I trod upon the heels of Hortensius.

"The three following years the city was free from the tumult of arms; but
either by the death, the voluntary retirement, or the flight of our ablest
Orators (for even M. Crassus, and the two Lentuli, who were then in the
bloom of youth, had all left us) Hortensius, of course, was the first
Speaker in the Forum. Antistius too was daily rising into reputation,--
Piso pleaded pretty often,--Pomponius not so frequently,--Carbo very
seldom,--and Philippus only once or twice. In the mean while I pursued my
studies of every kind, day and night, with unremitting application. I
lodged and boarded at my own house [where he lately died] Diodotus the
Stoic; whom I employed as my preceptor in various other parts of learning,
but particularly in Logic, which may be considered as a close and
contracted species of Eloquence; and without which, you yourself have
declared it impossible to acquire that full and perfect Eloquence, which
they suppose to be an open and dilated kind of Logic. Yet with all my
attention to Diodotus, and the various arts he was master of, I never
suffered even a single day to escape me, without some exercise of the
oratorial kind. I constantly declaimed in private with M. Piso, Q.
Pompeius, or some other of my acquaintance; pretty often in Latin, but
much oftener in Greek; because the Greek furnishes a greater variety of
ornaments, and an opportunity of imitating and introducing them into the
Latin; and because the Greek masters, who were far the best, could not
correct and improve us, unless we declaimed in that language. This time
was distinguished by a violent struggle to restore the liberty of the
Republic:--the barbarous slaughter of the three Orators, Scaevola, Carbo,
and Antistius;--the return of Cotta, Curio, Crassus, Pompey, and the
Lentuli;--the re-establishment of the laws and courts of judicature;--and
the intire restoration of the Commonwealth: but we lost Pomponius,
Censorinus, and Murena, from the roll of Orators.

"I now began, for the _first_ time, to undertake the management of causes,
both private and public; not, as most did, with a view to learn my
profession, but to make a trial of the abilities which I had taken so much
pains to acquire. I had then a second opportunity of attending the
instructions of Molo; who came to Rome, while Sylla was Dictator, to
sollicit the payment of what was due to his countrymen, for their services
in the Mithridatic war. My defence of Sext. Roscius, which was the first
cause I pleaded, met with such a favourable reception, that, from that
moment, I was looked upon as an advocate of the first class, and equal to
the greatest and most important causes: and after this I pleaded many
others, which I pre-composed with all the care and accuracy I was master
of.

"But as you seem desirous not so much to be acquainted with any incidental
marks of my character, or the first sallies of my youth, as to know me
thoroughly, I shall mention some particulars, which otherwise might have
seemed unnecessary. At this time my body was exceedingly weak and
emaciated; my neck long, and slender; a shape and habit, which I thought
to be liable to great risk of life, if engaged in any violent fatigue, or
labour of the lungs. And it gave the greater alarm to those who had a
regard for me, that I used to speak without any remission or variation,
with the utmost stretch of my voice, and a total agitation of my body.
When my friends, therefore, and physicians, advised me to meddle no more
with forensic causes, I resolved to run any hazard, rather than quit the
hopes of glory, which I had proposed to myself from pleading: but when I
considered, that by managing my voice, and changing my way of speaking, I
might both avoid all future danger of that kind, and speak with greater
ease, I took a resolution of travelling into Asia, merely for an
opportunity to correct my manner of speaking. So that after I had been two
years at the Bar, and acquired some reputation in the Forum, I left Rome.
When I came to Athens, I spent six months with Antiochus, the principal
and most judicious Philosopher of _the old Academy_; and under this able
master, I renewed those philosophical studies which I had laboriously
cultivated and improved from my earliest youth. At the same time, however,
I continued my _rhetorical Exercises_ under Demetrius the Syrian, an
experienced and reputable master of the Art of Speaking.

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