A Dialogue Concerning Oratory Or The Causes Of Corrupt Eloquence Part 9

THEBAIDOS lib. xii. ver. 816.

[f] Aufidius Ba.s.sus and Servilius Nonia.n.u.s were writers of history.

Ba.s.sus, according to Quintilian, deserved great commendation, particularly in his History of the German war. In some of his other works he fell short of himself. Servilius Nonia.n.u.s was known to Quintilian, and, in that critic's judgement, was an author of considerable merit, sententious in his manner, but more diffuse than becomes the historic character. See Quintilian, lib. x. cap. 1. The death of SERVILIUS, an eminent orator and historian, is mentioned by Tacitus in the _Annals_, b. xiv. s. 19; but the additional name of NONIa.n.u.s is omitted. The pa.s.sage, however, is supposed to relate to the person commended by Quintilian. He died in the reign of Nero, A.U.C. 812; of the Christian aera 59.

[g] Varro was universally allowed to be the most learned of the Romans. He wrote on several subjects with profound erudition.

Quintilian says, he was completely master of the Latin language, and thoroughly conversant in the antiquities of Greece and Rome. His works will enlarge our sphere of knowledge, but can add nothing to eloquence. _Peritissimus linguae Latinae, et omnis antiquitatis, et rerum Graecarum, nostrarumque; plus tamen scientiae collaturus, quam eloquentiae._ Lib. x. cap. 1.

Sisenna, we are told by Cicero, was a man of learning, well skilled in the Roman language, acquainted with the laws and const.i.tution of his country, and possessed of no small share of wit; but eloquence was not his element, and his practice in the forum was inconsiderable. See _De Claris Oratoribus_, s. 228. In a subsequent part of the same work, Cicero says, that Sisenna was of opinion, that to use uncommon words was the perfection of style. To prove this he relates a pleasant anecdote. One Caius Rufus carried on a prosecution. Sisenna appeared for the defendant; and, to express his contempt of his adversary, said that many parts of the charge deserved to be spit upon. For this purpose he coined so strange a word, that the prosecutor implored the protection of the judges. I do not, said he, understand Sisenna; I am circ.u.mvented; I fear that some snare is laid for me. What does he mean by _sputatilica?_ I know that _sputa_ is spittle: but what is _tilica?_ The court laughed at the oddity of a word so strangely compounded. _Rufio accusante Chritilium, Sisenna defendens dixit quaedam ejus SPUTATILICA esse crimina. Tum Caius Rufius, Circ.u.mvenior, inquit, judices, nisi subvenitis. Sisenna quid dicat nescio; metuo insidias. SPUTATILICA! quid est hoc?_ Sputa _quid sit, scio_; tilica _nescio. Maximi risus, De Claris Oratoribus_, s. 260. Whether this was the same Sisenna, who is said in the former quotation to have been a correct speaker, does not appear with any degree of certainty.

[h] For the character of Secundus, see s. ii. note [c].

[i] Quintilian says, the merit of a fine writer flourishes after his death, for envy does not go down to posterity. _Ad posteros enim virtus durabit, nec perveniet invidia._ Lib. iii. c. 1. Envy is always sure to pursue living merit; and therefore, Cleo observes to Alexander, that Hercules and Bacchus were not numbered among the G.o.ds, till they conquered the malignity of their contemporaries. _Nec Herculem, nec Patrem Liberum, prius dicatos deos, quam vicissent sec.u.m viventium invidiam._ Quintus Curtius, lib. viii. s. 18. Pliny the younger has a beautiful epistle on this subject. After praising, in the highest manner, the various works of Pompeius Saturninus, he says to his correspondent, Let it be no objection to such an author, that he is still living. If he flourished in a distant part of the world, we should not only procure his books, but we should have his picture in our houses: and shall his fame be tarnished, because we have the man before our eyes? Shall malignity make us cease to admire him, because we see him, hear him, esteem and love him? _Neque enim debet operibus ejus obesse, QUOD VIVIT. An si inter eos, quos nunquam vidimus, floruisset, non solum libros ejus, verum etiam imagines conquireremus, ejusdem nunc honor praesentis et gratia quasi satietate languescet? At hoc pravum malignumque est, non admirari hominem admiratione dignissimum, quia videre, alloqui, audire, complecti, nec laudare tantum, verum etiam amare contingit._ Lib. i. ep. 16.

Section XXIV.

[a] In the Dialogues of Plato, and others of the academic school, the ablest philosophers occasionally supported a wrong hypothesis, in order to provoke a thorough discussion of some important question.

[b] Cicero was killed on the seventh of December, in the consuls.h.i.+p of Hirtius and Pansa, A.U.C. 711; before Christ, 43. From that time to the sixth of Vespasian the number of years is exactly 117; though in the Dialogue said to be 120. See s. xvii. note [e].

Section XXV.

[a] See Plutarch's Lives of Lysias, Lycurgus, Demosthenes, and Hyperides. See also the elegant translation of the Orations of Lysias, by Dr. Gillies.

[b] For Quintilian's opinion of Caesar's eloquence, see s. xvii. note [b]. To what is there said may be added the authority of Cicero, who fairly owns, that Caesar's constant habit of speaking his language with purity and correctness, exempted him from all the vices of the corrupt style adopted by others. To that politeness of expression which every well-bred citizen, though he does not aspire to be an orator, ought to practise, when Caesar adds the splendid ornaments of eloquence, he may then be said to place the finest pictures in the best light. In his manner there is nothing mechanical, nothing of professional craft: his voice is impressive, and his action dignified.

To air these qualities he unites a certain majesty of mien and figure, that bespeaks a n.o.ble mind. _Caesar autem rationem adhibens, consuetudinem vitiosam et corruptam pura et incorrupta consuetudine emendat. Itaque c.u.m ad hanc elegantiam verborum Latinorum, quae etiam si orator non sis, et sis ingenuus civis Roma.n.u.s, tamen necessaria est, adjungit illa oratorio, ornamenta dicendi; tum videtur tanquam tabulas bene pictas collocare in bono lumine. Hanc c.u.m habeat praecipuam laudem in communibus, non video cui debeat cedere.

Splendidam quamdam, minimeque veteratoriam rationem dicendi tenet, voce, motu: forma etiam magnifica, et generosa quodammodo._ _De Claris Oratoribus_, s. 261.

For Caelius, see s. xvii. note [c]; and for Brutus, the same section, note [d].

[c] Servius Galba has been already mentioned, s. xviii. note [a].

Caius Laelius was consul A.U.C. 614; before the Christian aera, 140. He was the intimate friend of Scipio, and the patron of Lucilius, the first Roman satirist. See Horace, lib. ii. sat. i. ver. 71.

Quin ubi se a vulgo et scena in secreta remorant Virtus Scipiadae, et mitis sapientia Laeli, Nugari c.u.m illo, et discincti ludere, donec Decoqueretur olus, soliti.

When Scipio's virtue, and of milder vein When Laelius' wisdom, from the busy scene And crowd of life, the vulgar and the great.

Could with their favourite satirist retreat, Lightly they laugh'd at many an idle jest, Until their frugal feast of herbs was drest.

FRANCIS'S HORACE.

It is probable, that the harsh manner of Lucilius, _durus componere versus_, infected the eloquence of Laelius, since we find in Cicero, that his style was unpolished, and had much of the rust of antiquity.

_Multo tamen vetustior et horridior ille quam Scipio, et, c.u.m sint in dicendo variae, voluntates, delectari mihi magis antiquitate videtur, et lubenter verbis etiam uti paulo magis priscis Laelius._ _De Claris Oratoribus_, s. 83.

Section XXVI.

[a] For an account of Caius Gracchus, see s. xviii. note [d].

[b] For Lucius Cra.s.sus, see s. xviii. note [f].

[c] The false taste of Maecenas has been noted by the poets and critics who flourished after his death. His affected prettinesses are compared to the prim curls, in which women and effeminate men tricked out their hair. Seneca, who was himself tainted with affectation, has left a beautiful epistle on the very question that makes the main subject of the present Dialogue. He points out the causes of the corrupt taste that debauched the eloquence of those times and imputes the mischief to the degeneracy of the manners. Whatever the man was, such was the orator. _Talis oratio quails vita._ When ancient discipline relaxed, luxury succeeded, and language became delicate, brilliant, spangled with conceits. Simplicity was laid aside, and quaint expressions grew into fas.h.i.+on. Does the mind sink into languor, the body moves reluctantly. Is the man softened into effeminacy, you see it in his gait. Is he quick and eager, he walks with alacrity. The powers of the understanding are affected in the same manner. Having laid this down as his principle, Seneca proceeds to describe the soft delicacy of Maecenas, and he finds the same vice in his phraseology. He cites a number of the lady-like terms, which the great patron of letters considered as exquisite beauties. In all this, says he, we see the man who walked the streets of Rome in his open and flowing robe. _Nonne statim, c.u.m haec legis, occurrit hunc esse, qui solutis tunicis in urbe semper incesserit?_ Seneca, epist. cxiv. What he has said of Maecenas is perfectly just. The fopperies of that celebrated minister are in this Dialogue called CALAMISTRI; an allusion borrowed from Cicero, who praises the beautiful simplicity of _Caesar's Commentaries_, and says there were men of a vicious taste, who wanted to apply the _curling-iron_, that is, to introduce the glitter of conceit and ant.i.thesis in the place of truth and nature. _Commentarios quosdam scripsit rerum suarum, valde quidem probandos: nudi enim sunt, et recti, et venusti, omni ornatu orationis, tanquam veste, detracto.

Ineptis gratum forta.s.se fecit, qui volunt illa_ CALAMISTRIS _inurere._ Cicero _De Claris Orat._ s. 262.

[d] Who Gallio was, is not clearly settled by the commentators.

Quintilian, lib. iii. cap. 1, makes mention of Gallio, who wrote a treatise of eloquence; and in the _Annals_, b. xv. s. 73, we find Junius Gallio, the brother of Seneca; but whether either of them is the person here intended, remains uncertain. Whoever he was, his eloquence was a tinkling cymbal. Quintilian says of such orators, who are all inflated, tumid, corrupt, and jingling, that their malady does not proceed from a full and rich const.i.tution, but from mere infirmity; for,

As in bodies, thus in souls we find, What wants in blood and spirits, swell'd with wind.

_Nam tumidos, et corruptos, et tinnulos, et quoc.u.mque alio cacozeliae genere peccantes, certum habeo, non virium, sed infirmitatis vitio laborare: ut corpora non robore, sed valetudine inflantur._ Quintil.

lib. ii. cap. 3.

[e] Pliny declares, without ceremony, that he was ashamed of the corrupt effeminate style that disgraced the courts of justice, and made him think of withdrawing from the forum. He calls it sing-song, and says that nothing but musical instruments could be added. _Pudet referre, quae quam fracta p.r.o.nunciatione dicantur; quibus quam teneris clamoribus excipiantur. Plausus tantum, ac sola cymbala et tympana, illis canticis desunt._ Pliny, lib. ii. epist. 14. The chief aim of Persius in his first satire is levelled against the bad poets of his time, and also the spurious orators, who enervated their eloquence by ant.i.thesis, far-fetched metaphors, and points of wit, delivered with the softest tone of voice, and ridiculous airs of affectation.

Fur es, ait Pedio: Pedius quid? Crimina rasis Librat in ant.i.thetis; doctus posuisse figuras Laudatur. Bellum hoc! hoc bellum! an Romule ceves?

Men' moveat quippe, et, cantet si naufragus, a.s.sem Protulerim? Cantas, c.u.m fracta te in trabe pictum Ex humero portes?

PERSIUS, sat. i. ver. 85.

Theft, says the accuser, to thy charge I lay, O Pedius. What does gentle Pedius say?

Studious to please the genius of the times, With periods, points, and tropes, he slurs his crimes.

He lards with flourishes his long harangue: 'Tis fine, say'st thou. What! to be prais'd, and hang?

Effeminate Roman! shall such stuff prevail, To tickle thee, and make thee wag thy tail?

Say, should a s.h.i.+pwreck'd sailor sing his woe, Wouldst thou be mov'd to pity, and bestow An alms? What's more prepost'rous than to see A merry beggar? wit in misery!

DRYDEN'S PERSIUS.

[f] For Ca.s.sius Severus, see s. xix. note [a].

[g] Gabinia.n.u.s was a teacher of rhetoric in the reign of Vespasian.

Eusebius, in his Chronicon, eighth of Vespasian, says that Gabinia.n.u.s, a celebrated rhetorician, was a teacher of eloquence in Gaul.

_Gabinia.n.u.s, celeberrimi nominis rhetor, in Gallia docuit._ His admirers deemed him another Cicero, and, after him, all such orators were called CICERONES GABISTIANI.

Section XXVIII.

[a] In order to brand and stigmatise the Roman matrons who committed the care of their infant children to hired nurses, Tacitus observes, that no such custom was known among the savages of Germany. See _Manners of the Germans_, s. xx. See also Quintilian, on the subject of education, lib. i. cap. 2 and 3.

[b] Cornelia, the mother of the two Gracchi, was daughter to the first Scipio Africa.n.u.s. The sons, Quintilian says, owed much of their eloquence to the care and inst.i.tutions of their mother, whose taste and learning were fully displayed in her letters, which were then in the hands of the public. _Nam Gracchorum eloquentiae multum contulisse accepimus Corneliam matrem, cujus doctissimus sermo in posteros quoque est epistolis traditus._ Quint. lib. i. cap. 1. To the same effect Cicero: _Fuit Gracchus diligentia Corneliae matris a puero doctus, et Graecis litteris eruditus._ _De Claris Orat._ s. 104. Again, Cicero says, We have read the letters of Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi, from which it appears, that the sons were educated, not so much in the lap of their mother, as her conversation. _Legimus epistolas Corneliae, matris Gracchorum: apparet filios non tam in gremio educatos, quam in sermone matris._ _De Claris Orat._ s. 211. Pliny the elder informs us that a statue was erected to her memory, though Cato the Censor declaimed against shewing so much honour to women, even in the provinces. But with all his vehemence he could not prevent it in the city of Rome. Pliny, lib. x.x.xiv. s. 14.

[c] For Aurelia, the mother of Julius Caesar, see _The Genealogical Table of the Caesars_, No. 2.

[d] For Atia, the mother of Augustus, see _Genealogical Table of the Caesars_, No. 14. As another instance of maternal care, Tacitus informs us that Julia Procilla superintended the education of her son. See _Life of Agricola_, s. iv.

Section XXIX.

[a] Quintilian thinks the first elements of education so highly material, that he has two long chapters on the subject. He requires, in the first place, that the language of the nurses should be pure and correct. Their manners are of great importance, but, he adds, let them speak with propriety. It is to them that the infant first attends; he listens, and endeavours to imitate them. The first colour, imbibed by yarn or thread, is sure to last. What is bad, generally adheres tenaciously. Let the child, therefore, not learn in his infancy, what he must afterwards take pains to unlearn. _Ante omnia, ne sit vitiosus sermo nutricibus. Et morum quidem in his haud dubie prior ratio est; recte tamen etiam loquantur. Has primum audiet puer; harum verba effingere imitando conabitur. Et natura tenacissimi sumus eorum, quae rudibus annis percipimus; nec lanarum colores, quibus simplex ille candor mutatus est, elui possunt. Et haec ipsa magis pertinaciter haerent, quae deteriora sunt. Non a.s.suescat ergo, ne dum infans quidem est, sermoni, qui dediscendus est._ Quint. lib. i. cap. 1. Plutarch has a long discourse on the breeding of children, in which all mistakes are pointed out, and the best rules enforced with great acuteness of observation.

[b] Juvenal has one entire satire on the subject of education: