A Dialogue Concerning Oratory Or The Causes Of Corrupt Eloquence Part 10

Nil dictu fdum visuque haec limina tangat, Intra quae puer est. Procul hinc, procul inde puellae Lenonum, et cantus pernoctantis parasiti.

Maxima debetur puero reverentia.

SAT. xiv. ver. 44.

Suffer no lewdness, no indecent speech, Th' apartment of the tender youth to reach.

Far be from thence the glutton parasite, Who sings his drunken catches all the night.

Boys from their parents may this rev'rence claim.

DRYDEN'S JUVENAL.

[c] The rage of the Romans for the diversions of the theatre, and public spectacles of every kind, is often mentioned by Horace, Juvenal, and other writers under the emperors. Seneca says, that, at one time, three ways were wanted to as many different theatres: _tribus eodem tempore theatris viae postulantur_. And again, the most ill.u.s.trious of the Roman youth are no better than slaves to the pantomimic performers. _Ostendam n.o.bilissimos juvenes mancipia pantomimorum._ Epist. 47. It was for this reason that Petronius lays it down as a rule to be observed by the young student, never to list himself in the parties and factions of the theatre:

----Neve plausor in scena Sedeat redemptus, histrioniae addictus.

It is well known, that theatrical parties distracted the Roman citizens, and rose almost to phrensy. They were distinguished by the _green_ and the _blue_, Caligula, as we read in Suetonius, attached himself to the former, and was so fond of the charioteers, who wore green liveries, that he lived for a considerable time in the stables, where their horses were kept. _Prasinae factioni ita addictus et deditus, ut cnaret in stabulo a.s.sidue et maneret. Life of Caligula_, s. 55. Montesquieu reckons such party-divisions among the causes that wrought the downfall of the empire. Constantinople, he says, was split into two factions, the _green_ and the _blue_, which owed their origin to the inclination of the people to favour one set of charioteers in the circus rather than another. These two parties raged in every city throughout the empire, and their fury rose in proportion to the number of inhabitants. Justinian favoured the _blues_, who became so elate with pride, that they trampled on the laws. All ties of friends.h.i.+p, all natural affection, and all relative duties, were extinguished.

Whole families were destroyed; and the empire was a scene of anarchy and wild contention. He, who felt himself capable of the most atrocious deeds, declared himself a BLUE, and the GREENS were ma.s.sacred with impunity. _Montesquieu, Grandeur et Decadence des Romains_, chap. xx.

[d] Quintilian, in his tenth book, chap. 1. has given a full account of the best Greek and Roman poets, orators, and historians; and in b.

ii. ch. 6, he draws up a regular scheme for the young student to pursue in his course of reading. There are, he says, two rocks, on which they may split. The first, by being led by some fond admirer of antiquity to set too high a value on the manner of Cato and the Gracchi; for, in that commerce, they will be in danger of growing dry, harsh, and rugged. The strong conception of those men will be beyond the reach of tender minds. Their style, indeed, may be copied; and the youth may flatter himself, when he has contracted the rust of antiquity, that he resembles the ill.u.s.trious orators of a former age.

On the other hand, the florid decorations and false glitter of the moderns may have a secret charm, the more dangerous, and seductive, as the petty flourishes of our new way of writing may prove acceptable to the youthful mind. _Duo autem genera maxime cavenda pueris puto: unum, ne quis eos antiquitatis nimius admirator in Gracchorum, Catonisque, et aliorum similium lectione durescere velit. Erunt enim horridi atque jejuni. Nam neque vim eorum adhuc intellectu consequentur; et elocutione, quae tum sine dubio erat optima, sed nostris temporibus aliena, contenti, quod est pessimum, similes sibi magnis viris videbuntur. Alterum, quod huic diversum est, ne recentis hujus lasciviae flosculis capti, voluptate quadam prava deliniantur, ut praedulce illud genus, et puerilibus ingeniis hoc gratius, quo propius est, adament._ Such was the doctrine of Quintilian. His practice, we may be sure, was consonant to his own rules. Under such a master the youth of Rome might be initiated in science, and formed to a just taste for eloquence and legitimate composition; but one man was not equal to the task. The rhetoricians and pedagogues of the age preferred the novelty and meretricious ornaments of the style then in vogue.

Section x.x.x.

[a] This is the treatise, or history of the most eminent orators (DE CLARIS ORATORIBUS), which has been so often cited in the course of these notes. It is also ent.i.tled BRUTUS; a work replete with the soundest criticism, and by its variety and elegance always charming.

[b] Quintus Mucius Scaevola was the great lawyer of his time. Cicero draws a comparison between him and Cra.s.sus. They were both engaged, on opposite sides, in a cause before the CENTUMVIRI. Cra.s.sus proved himself the best lawyer among the orators of that day, and Scaevola the most eloquent of the lawyers. _Ut eloquentium juris peritissimus Cra.s.sus; jurisperitorum eloquentissimus Scaevola putaretur._ _De Claris Orat._ s. 145. During the consuls.h.i.+p of Sylla, A.U.C. 666, Cicero being then in the nineteenth year of his age, and wis.h.i.+ng to acquire a competent knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence, attached himself to Mucius Scaevola, who did not undertake the task of instructing pupils, but, by conversing freely with all who consulted him, gave a fair opportunity to those who thirsted after knowledge.

_Ego autem juris civilis studio, multum operae dabam Q. Scaevolae, qui quamquam nemini se ad docendum dabat, tamen, consulentibus respondendo, studiosos audiendi docebat._ _De Claris Orat._ s. 306.

[c] Philo was a leading philosopher of the academic school. To avoid the fury of Mithridates, who waged a long war with the Romans, he fled from Athens, and, with some of the most eminent of his fellow-citizens, repaired to Rome. Cicero was struck with his philosophy, and became his pupil. _c.u.m princeps academiae Philo, c.u.m Atheniensium optimatibus, Mithridatico bello, domo profugisset, Romamque venisset, totum ei me tradidi, admirabili quodam ad philosophiam studio concitatus._ _De Claris Orat._ s. 306.

Cicero adds, that he gave board and lodging, at his own house, to Diodotus the stoic, and, under that master, employed himself in various branches of literature, but particularly in the study of logic, which may be considered as a mode of eloquence, contracted, close, and nervous. _Eram c.u.m stoico Diodoto: qui c.u.m habitavisset apud me, mec.u.mque vixisset, nuper est domi meae mortuus. A quo, c.u.m in aliis rebus, tum studiosissime in dialectica exercebar, quae quasi contracta et adstricta eloquentia putanda est._ _De Claris Orat._ s.

309.

[d] Cicero gives an account of his travels, which he undertook, after having employed two years in the business of the forum, where he gained an early reputation. At Athens, he pa.s.sed six months with Antiochus, the princ.i.p.al philosopher of the old academy, and, under the direction of that able master, resumed those abstract speculations which he had cultivated from his earliest youth. Nor did he neglect his rhetorical exercises. In that pursuit, he was a.s.sisted by Demetrius, the Syrian, who was allowed to be a skilful preceptor.

He pa.s.sed from Greece into Asia; and, in the course of his travels through that country, he lived in constant habits with Menippus of Stratonica; a man eminent for his learning; who, if to be neither frivolous, nor unintelligible, is the character of Attic eloquence, might fairly be called a disciple of that school. He met with many other professors of rhetoric, such as Dionysius of Magnesia, aeschylus of Cnidos, and Zenocles of Adramytus; but not content with their a.s.sistance, he went to Rhodes, and renewed his friends.h.i.+p with MOLO, whom he had heard at Rome, and knew to be an able pleader in real causes; a fine writer, and a judicious critic, who could, with a just discernment of the beauties as well as the faults of a composition, point out the road to excellence, and improve the taste of his scholars. In his attention to the Roman orator, the point he aimed at (Cicero will not say that he succeeded) was, to lop away superfluous branches, and confine within its proper channel a stream of eloquence, too apt to swell above all bounds, and overflow its banks.

After two years thus spent in the pursuit of knowledge, and improvement in his oratorical profession, Cicero returned to Rome almost a new man. _Is (MOLO) dedit operam (si modo id consequi potuit) ut nimis redundantes nos, et superfluentes juvenili quadam dicendi impunitate, et licentia, reprimeret, et quasi extra ripas diffluentes crceret. Ita recepi me biennio post, non modo exercitatior, sed prope mutatus._ See _De Claris Oratoribus_, s. 315 and 316.

[e] Cicero is here said to have been a complete master of philosophy, which, according to Quintilian, was divided into three branches, namely, physics, ethics, and logic. It has been mentioned in this section, note [c], that Cicero called logic a contracted and close mode of eloquence. That observation is fully explained by Quintilian.

Speaking of logic, the use, he says, of that contentious art, consists in just definition, which presents to the mind the precise idea; and in nice discrimination, which marks the essential difference of things. It is this faculty that throws a sudden light on every difficult question, removes all ambiguity, clears up what was doubtful, divides, develops, and separates, and then collects the argument to a point. But the orator must not be too fond of this close combat. The minute attention, which logic requires, will exclude what is of higher value; while it aims at precision, the vigour of the mind is lost in subtlety. We often see men, who argue with wonderful craft; but, when petty controversy will no longer serve their purpose, we see the same men without warmth or energy, cold, languid, and unequal to the conflict; like those little animals, which are brisk in narrow places, and by their agility baffle their pursuers, but in the open field are soon overpowered. _Haec pars dialectica, sive illam dicere malimus disputatricem, ut est utilis saepe et finitionibus, et comprehensionibus, et separandis quae sunt differentia, et resolvenda ambiguitate, et distinguendo, dividendo, illiciendo, implicando; ita si totum sibi vindicaverit in foro certamen, obstabit melioribus, et sectas ad tenuitatem vires ipsa subtilitate consumet. Itaque reperias quosdam in disputando mire callidos; c.u.m ab illa ver cavillatione discesserint, non magis sufficere in aliquo graviori actu, quam parva quaedam animalia, quae in angustiis mobilia, campo deprehenduntur._ Quint. lib. xii. cap. 2.

Ethics, or moral philosophy, the same great critic holds to be indispensably requisite. _Jam quidem pars illa moralis, quae dicitur ethice, certe tota oratori est accommodata. Nam in tanta causarum varietate, nulla fere dici potest, cujus non parte aliqua tractatus aequi et boni reperiantur._ Lib. xii. Unless the mind be enriched with a store of knowledge, there may he loquacity, but nothing that deserves the name of oratory. Eloquence, says Lord Bolingbroke, must flow like a stream that is fed by an abundant spring, and not spout forth a little frothy stream, on some gaudy day, and remain dry for the rest of the year. See _Spirit of Patriotism_.

With regard to natural philosophy, Quintilian has a sentiment so truly sublime, that to omit it in this place would look like insensibility.

If, says he, the universe is conducted by a superintending Providence, it follows that good men should govern the nations of the earth. And if the soul of man is of celestial origin, it is evident that we should tread in the paths of virtue, all aspiring to our native source, not slaves to pa.s.sion, and the pleasures of the world. These are important topics; they often occur to the public orator, and demand all his eloquence. _Nam si regitur providentia mundus, administranda certe bonis viris erit respublica. Si divina nostris animis origo, tendendum ad virtutem, nec voluptatibus terreni corporis serviendum. An hoc non frequenter tractabit orator?_ Quint. lib. xii.

cap. 2.

Section x.x.xI.

[a] Quintilian, as well as Seneca, has left a collection of school-declamations, but he has given his opinion of all such performances. They are mere imitation, and, by consequence, have not the force and spirit which a real cause inspires. In public harangues, the subject is founded in reality; in declamations, all is fiction.

_Omnis imitatio ficta est; quo fit ut minus sanguinis ac virium declamationes habeant, quam orationes; quod in his vera, in illis a.s.simulata materia est._ Lib. x. cap. 2. Petronius has given a lively description of the rhetoricians of his time. The consequence, he says, of their turgid style, and the pompous swell of sounding periods, has ever been the same: when their scholars enter the forum, they look as if they were transported into a new world. The teachers of rhetoric have been the bane of all true eloquence. _Haec ipsa tolerabilia essent, si ad eloquentiam ituris viam facerent: nunc et rerum tumore, et sententiarum vanissimo strepitu, hoc tantum proficiunt, ut quum in forum venerint, putent se in alium terrarum orbem delatos. Pace vestra liceat dixisse, primi omnium eloquentiam perdidistis._ Petron. _in Satyrico_, cap. 1 and 2. That gay writer, who pa.s.sed his days in luxury and voluptuous pleasures (see his character, _Annals_, b. xvi.

s. 18), was, amidst all his dissipation, a man of learning, and, at intervals, of deep reflection. He knew the value of true philosophy, and, therefore, directs the young orator to the Socratic school, and to that plan of education which we have before us in the present Dialogue. He bids his scholar begin with Homer, and there drink deep of the Pierian spring: after that, he recommends the moral system; and, when his mind is thus enlarged, he allows him to wield the arms of Demosthenes.

----Det primos versibus annos, Maeoniumque bibat felici pectore fontem: Mox et Socratico plenus grege mutet habenas Liber, et ingentis quatiat Demosthenis arma.

[b] Cicero has left a book, ent.i.tled TOPICA, in which he treats at large of the method of finding proper arguments. This, he observes, was executed by Aristotle, whom he p.r.o.nounces the great master both of invention and judgement. _c.u.m omnis ratio diligens disserendi duas habeat partes; unam INVENIENDI, alteram JUDICANDI; utriusque princeps, ut mihi quidem videtur, Aristoteles fuit._ Ciceronis _Topica_, s. vi.

The sources from which arguments may be drawn, are called LOCI COMMUNES, COMMON PLACES. To supply the orator with ample materials, and to render him copious on every subject, was the design of the Greek preceptor, and for that purpose he gave his TOPICA. _Aristoteles adolescentes, non ad philosophorum morem tenuiter disserendi, sed ad copiam rhetorum in utramque partem, ut ornatius et uberius dici posset, exercuit; idemque locos (sic enim appellat) quasi argumentorum notas tradidit, unde omnis in utramque partem traheretur oratio._ Cicero, _De Oratore_. Aristotle was the most eminent of Plato's scholars: he retired to a _gymnasium_, or place of exercise, in the neighbourhood of Athens, called the _Lyceum_, where, from a custom, which he and his followers observed, of discussing points of philosophy, as they walked in the _porticos_ of the place, they obtained the name of Peripatetics, or the walking philosophers. See Middleton's _Life of Cicero_, vol. ii. p. 537, 4to edit.

[c] The academic sect derived its origin from Socrates, and its name from a celebrated _gymnasium_, or place of exercise, in the suburbs of Athens, called the _Academy_, after _Ecademus_, who possessed it in the time of the _Tyndaridae_. It was afterwards purchased, and dedicated to the public, for the convenience of walks and exercises for the citizens of Athens. It was gradually improved with plantations, groves and porticos for the particular use of the professors or masters of the academic school; where several of them are said to have spent their lives, and to have resided so strictly, as scarce ever to have come within the city. See Middleton's _Life of Cicero_, 4to edit. vol. ii. p. 536. Plato, and his followers, continued to reside in the porticos of the academy. They chose

----The green retreats Of Academus, and the thymy vale, Where, oft inchanted with Socratic sounds, Ilyssus pure devolv'd his tuneful stream In gentle murmurs.

AKENSIDE, PLEAS. OF IMAG.

For dexterity in argument, the orator is referred to this school, for the reason given by Quintilian, who says that the custom of supporting an argument on either side of the question, approaches nearest to the orator's practice in forensic causes. _Academiam quidam utilissimam credunt, quod mos in utramque partem disserendi ad exercitationem forensium causarum proxime accedat._ Lib. xii. cap. 2 Quintilian a.s.sures us that we are indebted to the academic philosophy for the ablest orators, and it is to that school that Horace sends his poet for instruction:

Rem tibi Socraticae poterunt ostendere chartae, Verbaque provisam rem non invita sequentur.

ARS POET. ver. 310.

Good sense, that fountain of the muse's art, Let the rich page of Socrates impart; And if the mind with clear conception glow, The willing words in just expressions flow.

FRANCIS'S HORACE.

[d] Epicurus made frequent use of the rhetorical figure called exclamation; and in his life, by Diogenes Laertius, we find a variety of instances. It is for that manner of giving animation to a discourse that Epicurus is mentioned in the Dialogue. For the rest, Quintilian tells us what to think of him. Epicurus, he says, dismisses the orator from his school, since he advises his pupil to pay no regard to science or to method. _Epicurus imprimis nos a se ipse dimitt.i.t, qui fugere omnem disciplinam navigatione quam velocissima jubet._ Lib.

xii. cap. 2. Metrodorus was the favourite disciple of Epicurus.

Brotier says that a statue of the master and the scholar, with their heads joined together, was found at Rome in the year 1743.

It is worthy of notice, that except the stoics, who, without aiming at elegance of language, argued closely and with vigour, Quintilian proscribes the remaining sects of philosophers. Aristippus, he says, placed his _summum bonum_ in bodily pleasure, and therefore could be no friend to the strict regimen of the accomplished orator. Much less could Pyrrho be of use, since he doubted whether there was any such thing in existence as the judges before whom the cause must be pleaded. To him the party accused, and the senate, were alike non-ent.i.ties. _Neque vero Aristippus, summum in voluptate corpora bonum ponens, ad hunc nos laborem adhortetur. Pyrrho quidem, quas in hoc opere partes habere potest? cui judices esse apud quos verba faciat, et reum pro quo loquatur, et senatum, in quo sit dicenda sententia, non liquebat._ Quintil. lib. xii. cap. 2.

Section x.x.xII.

[a] We are told by Quintilian, that Demosthenes, the great orator of Greece, was an a.s.siduous hearer of Plato: _Constat Demosthenem, principem omnium Graeciae oratorum, dedisse operam Platoni._ Lib. xii.

cap. 2. And Cicero expressly says, that, if he might venture to call himself an orator, he was made so, not by the manufacture of the schools of rhetoric, but in the walks of the Academy. _Fateor me oratorem, si modo sim, aut etiam quic.u.mque sim, non ex rhetorum officinis, sed ex Academiae spatiis ext.i.tisse. Ad Brutum Orator_, s.

12.

Section x.x.xIII.

[a] The ancient critics made a wide distinction, between a mere facility of speech, and what they called the oratorical faculty. This is fully explained by Asinius Pollio, who said of himself, that by pleading at first with propriety, he succeeded so far as to be often called upon; by pleading frequently, he began to lose the propriety with which he set out; and the reason was, by constant practice he acquired rashness, not a just confidence in himself; a fluent facility, not the true faculty of an orator. _Commode agenda factum est, ut saepe agerem; saepe agenda, ut minus commode; quia scilicet nimia facilitas magis quam facultas, nec fiducia, sed temeritas, paratur._ Quintil. lib. xii.

Section x.x.xIV.

[a] There is in this place a trifling mistake, either in Messala, the speaker, or in the copyists. Cra.s.sus was born A.U.C. 614. See s.

xviii. note [f]. Papirius Carbo, the person accused, was consul A.U.C.

634, and the prosecution was in the following year, when Cra.s.sus expressly says, that he was then only one and twenty. _Quippe qui omnium maturrime ad publicas causas accesserim, annosque natus UNUM ET VIGINTI, n.o.bilissimum hominem et eloquentissimum in judicium vocarim._ Cicero, _De Orat._ lib. iii. s. 74. Pliny the consul was another instance of early pleading. He says himself, that he began his career in the forum at the age of nineteen, and, after long practice, he could only see the functions of an orator as it were in a mist.

_Undevicessimo aetatis anno dicere in foro cpi, et nunc demum, quid praestare debeat orator, adhuc tamen per caliginem video._ Lib. v.

epist. 8. Quintilian relates of Caesar, Calvus, and Pollio, that they all three appeared at the bar, long before they arrived at their quaestorian age, which was seven and twenty. _Calvus, Caesar, Pollio, multum ante quaestoriam omnes aetatem gravissima judicia susceperunt._ Quintilian, lib. xii. cap. 6.

Section x.x.xV.