is disdain, anger, boldness, freedom, involved in a continued stream of argument; and of all human productions, the orations of Demosthenes present to us the models which approach the nearest to perfection." One of the most noticeable excellences of Demosthenes is the collocation of his words. The orators of ancient Greece studied assiduously the art of arranging sentences in such a manner that their cadences should be harmonious, and, to a certain degree, rhythmical, and the simplicity remarkable in the structure of the periods of Demosthenes is itself the result of art. The question has often been asked, What is the secret of the success of Demosthenes? How did he attain pre-eminence among orators? Why is it, that in a faculty common to all mankind-that of communicating our thoughts and feelings, in language and by gestures-the palm is conceded to him by the consent of all ages and countries? His orations are not witty, humorous, nor, ordinarily, pathetic nor learned-all undeniable attributes of eloquence. Besides, he violates nearly every ancient rule of technical rhetoric. The secret of his success was this: He was an honest man; he was a patriot; his political principles were not assumed to serve an interested purpose, to be laid aside when he descended the Bema, and resumed when he sought to accomplish an object. No, his principles of patriotism were deeply seated in his heart, and emanated from its profoundest depths. The mystery of his wonderful influence, then, lay in his honesty. It is this, joined to his action, that gave warmth and tone to his feelings, an energy to his language, and an impression to his manner, before which every imputation of insincerity must have vanished. The chief characteristics of Demosthenes' oratory were strength, energy, and sublimity, aided by an emphatic and vehement elocution. Liberty and eloquence, which are twin born and which die together, expired in Greece, with their noble defender, Demosthenes, and eloquence relapsed again into the feeble manner introduced by the sophists. Demetrius Phalereus, who lived in the next age to Demosthenes, attained some reputation as a speaker, but his chief attraction as an orator was his highly ornamented diction. He was not a convincing speaker, aiming as he did at grace rather than substance. Cicero says: "He amused the H CHAPTER II. ORATORY IN ROME. AVING treated of the rise of eloquence, and of its state among the Greeks, the author will now proceed to notice its progress among the Romans. Here one model, at least, of eloquence, in its most dazzling and illustrious form, will be found. The Romans derived their eloquence, poetry, and learning, chiefly from the Greeks. For a considerable period after the founding of Rome, the Romans were a rude, comparatively illiterate, and martial people, almost entirely unskilled in the polite arts, which were not much cultivated until after the conquest of Greece. In eloquence, it is thought, the Romans were inferior to the Greeks, in some respects. They were certainly more grave and magnificent, but less acute and spritely. Compared to the Greeks the Romans were a phlegmatic nation, their passions were not so easily moved, and their conceptions were not so lively. But after the introduction of Greek learning at Rome, eloquence, of all the arts next to war, was of most importance. For if war led to the conquests of foreign states, eloquence opened to each individual a path to dominion and empire over the minds and hearts of his countrymen. It was the opinion of Cicero that without this art wisdom itself could be of little avail for the advantage or glory of the commonwealth. There was little room for the exercise of legal oratory during the existence of the monarchy, and in the early ages of the republic, because law proceedings were not numerous. Civil suits were prevented to a great extent by the absolute dominion which a Roman father exercised over his family, and the severity of the decemviral laws, in which all the proceedings were extreme, frequently forced parties into an accommodation. At the same time, the purity of ancient manners, had not yet given rise to those criminal questions of bribery, extortion, and peculation at home or of oppression in the provinces, which disgraced the closing periods of the commonwealth, and furnished fruitful themes for the indignant oratory of Cicero and Hortensius. Consequently whatever eloquence may have been cultivated in the early ages of Rome was of a political character, and was exerted on affairs of state. It must not be supposed, however, from what has been said, that there were no orators of eminence in Rome before the age of Hortensius and Cicero. From the earliest times of the republic the oratorical abilities of Junius Brutus, Publicola, and Appius Claudius were called into requisition for the purpose of allaying seditions, suppressing rebellions, and thwarting pernicious counsels. Romulus, by direction of his grandfather, made a speech to the people soon after the completion of the city, on the subject of the government to be established. This speech is given in Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Lib. II.). Although many speeches are reported by Dionysius and Livy, no adequate opinion can be formed of their oratorical merits, for the reason that they were probably composed by these historians and adorned by them with all the arts of rhetoric. Judging, however, from the effect which the speeches of these orators in the early ages of Rome produced, they must have possessed a masculine vigour well calculated to protect the interests of the state, and to animate the courage of the Roman soldiery. But "a nation of outlaws, destined from their cradle to the profession of arms,-taught only to hurl the spear and the javelin, and inure their bodies to other martial exercises, with souls breathing only conquest, and regarded as the enemies of every state till they had become its masters, could have possessed but few topics of illustration or embellishment, and were not likely to cultivate any species of rhetorical refinement. To convince by solid arguments when their cause was good, and to fill their fellow-citizens with passions corresponding to those with which they were themselves animated, would be the great objects of an eloquence supplied by nature and unimproved by study. We are accordingly informed by some of the ancient writers "that though there appeared in the ancient orations some traces of original genius, and much force of argument, they bear in their rugged and unpolished periods the signs of the times in which they were delivered." The speech of Appius Claudius in opposition to a peace with Pyrrhus, is the only one mentioned by the Latin writers as possessing the charms of oratory, prior to the time of Cornelius Cethegus, who lived during the second Punic war, and was consul about the year 550. Cethegus was particularly distinguished for his "admirable sweetness of elocution and powers of persuasion." The speeches of Cato the Censor were chiefly noted for their patriotism and their rude but masculine eloquence. It is said that when Cato was in the decline of life "a more rich and copious mode of speaking at length began to prevail. S. Galba, by the warmth and animation of his delivery, eclipsed Cato and all his contemporaries. He was the first among the Romans who displayed the distinguishing talents of an orator, by embellishing his subject, by digressing, amplifying, entreating, and employing what are called topics, or commonplaces of discourse. On one occasion, while defending himself against a grave accusation, he melted his judges to compassion by producing an orphan relative, whose father had been a favourite of the people. When his orations, however, were afterwards reduced to writing, their fire appeared extinguished, and they preserved none of that lustre with which his discourses are said to have shone when given forth by the living orator. Cicero accounts for this from his want of sufficient study and art in composition. While his mind was occupied and warmed with his 1 |