A Dialogue Concerning Oratory, Or The Causes Of Corrupt Eloquence by Cornelius Tacitus

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[g] Messala Corvinus is often, in this Dialogue, called Corvinus only.
See s. xii. note [e].

[h] Appius Claudius was censor in the year of Rome 442; dictator, 465;
and, having at a very advanced age lost his sight, he became better
known by the name of Appius Caecus. Afterwards, A.U. 472, when Pyrrhus,
by his ambassador, offered terms of peace, and a treaty of alliance,
Appius, whom blindness, and the infirmities of age, had for some time
withheld from public business, desired to be conveyed in a litter to
the senate-house. Being conducted to his place, he delivered his
sentiments in so forcible a manner, that the fathers resolved to
prosecute the war, and never to hear of an accommodation, till Italy
was evacuated by Pyrrhus and his army. See Livy, b. xiii. s. 31.
Cicero relates the same fact in his CATO MAJOR, and further adds, that
the speech made by APPIUS CAECUS was then extant. Ovid mentions the
temple of Bellona, built and dedicated by Appius, who, when blind, saw
every thing by the light of his understanding, and rejected all terms
of accommodation with Pyrrhus.

Hac sacrata die Tusco Bellona duello
Dicitur, et Latio prospera semper adest.
Appius est auctor, Pyrrho qui pace negata
Multum animo vidit, lumine caecus erat.
FASTORUM lib vi. ver. 201.

[i] Quintilian acknowledges this fact, with his usual candour. The
question concerning Attic and Asiatic eloquence was of long standing.
The style of the former was close, pure, and elegant; the latter was
said to be diffuse and ostentatious. In the ATTIC, nothing was idle,
nothing redundant: the ASIATIC swelled above all bounds, affecting to
dazzle by strokes of wit, by affectation and superfluous ornament.
Cicero was said by his enemies to be an orator of the last school.
They did not scruple to pronounce him turgid, copious to a fault,
often redundant, and too fond of repetition. His wit, they said, was
the false glitter of vain conceit, frigid, and out of season; his
composition was cold and languid; wire-drawn into amplification, and
fuller of meretricious finery than became a man. _Et antiqua quidem
illa divisio inter Asianos et Atticos fuit; cum hi pressi, et integri,
contra, inflati illi et inanes haberentur; et in his nihil
superflueret, illis judicium maxime ac modus deesset. Ciceronem tamen
et suorum homines temporum incessere audebant ut tumidiorem, et
Asianum, et redundantem, et in repetitionibus nimium, et in salibus
aliquando frigidum, et in compositione fractum, exultantem, ac pene
(quod procul absit) viro molliorem._ Quintil. lib. xii. cap. 10. The
same author adds, that, when the great orator was cut off by Marc
Antony's proscription, and could no longer answer for himself, the men
who either personally hated him, or envied his genius, or chose to pay
their court to the, triumvirate, poured forth their malignity without
reserve. It is unnecessary to observe, that Quintilian, in sundry
parts of his work, has vindicated Cicero from these aspersions. See s.
xvii. note [b].

[k] For Calvus, see s. xvii. note [c]. For Brutus, see the same
section, note [d]. What Cicero thought of Calvus has been already
quoted from the tract _De Claris Oratoribus_, in note [c], s. xvii. By
being too severe a critic on himself, he lost strength, while he aimed
at elegance. It is, therefore, properly said in this Dialogue, that
Cicero thought Calvus cold and enervated. But did he think Brutus
disjointed, loose and negligent--_otiosum atque disjunctum_? That he
often thought him disjointed is not improbable. Brutus was a close
thinker, and he aimed at the precision and brevity of Attic eloquence.
The sententious speaker is, of course, full and concise. He has no
studied transitions, above the minute care of artful connections. To
discard the copulatives for the sake of energy was a rule laid down by
the best ancient critics. Cicero has observed that an oration may be
said to be disjointed, when the copulatives are omitted, and strokes
of sentiment follow one another in quick succession. _Dissolutio sive
disjunctio est, quae conjunctionibus e medio sublatis, partibus
separatis effertur, hoc modo: Gere morem parenti; pare cognatis;
obsequere amicis; obtempera legibus. Ad Herennium_, lib. iv. s. 41.
In this manner, Brutus might appear disjointed, and that figure, often
repeated, might grow into a fault. But how is the word OTIOSUS to be
understood? If it means a neglect of connectives, it may, perhaps,
apply to Brutus. There is no room to think that Cicero used it in a
worse sense, since we find him in a letter to Atticus declaring, that
the oratorical style of Brutus was, in language as well as sentiment,
elegant to a degree that nothing could surpass. _Est enim oratio ejus
scripta elegantissime, sententiis et verbis, ut nihil possit ultra._ A
grave philosopher, like Brutus, might reject the graces of transition
and regular connection, and, for that reason, might be thought
negligent and abrupt. This disjointed style, which the French call
_style coupe_, was the manner cultivated by Seneca, for which Caligula
pronounced him, sand without lime; _arenam sine calce_. Sueton. _Life
of Calig._ s. 53. We know from Quintilian, that a spirit of emulation,
and even jealousy, subsisted between the eminent orators of Cicero's
time; that he himself was so far from ascribing perfection to
Demosthenes, that he used to say, he often found him napping; that
Brutus and Calvus sat in judgement on Cicero, and did not wish to
conceal their objections; and that the two Pollios were so far from
being satisfied with Cicero's style and manner, that their criticisms
were little short of declared hostility. _Quamquam neque ipsi Ciceroni
Demosthenes videatur satis esse perfectus, quem dormitare interdum
dicit; nec Cicero Bruto Calvoque, qui certe compositionem illius etiam
apud ipsum reprehendunt; ne Asinio utrique, qui vitia orationis ejus
etiam inimice pluribus locis insequuntur._ Quintil. lib. xii. cap. 1.

Section XIX.

[a] Cassius Severus lived in the latter end of the reign of Augustus,
and through a considerable part of that of Tiberius. He was an orator,
according to Quintilian, who, if read with due caution, might serve as
a model worthy of imitation. It is to be regretted, that to the many
excellent qualities of his style he did not add more weight, more
strength and dignity, and thereby give colour and a body to his
sentiments. With those requisites, he would have ranked with the most
eminent orators. To his excellent genius he united keen reflection,
great energy, and a peculiar urbanity, which gave a secret charm to
his speeches. But the warmth of his temper hurried him on; he listened
more to his passions than to his judgement; he possessed a vein of
wit, but he mingled with it too much acrimony; and wit, when it misses
its aim, feels the mortification and the ridicule which usually attend
disappointed malice. _Multa, si cum judicio legatur, dabit imitatione
digna CASSIUS SEVERUS, qui, si caeteris virtutibus colorem et
gravitatem orationis adjecisset, ponendus inter praecipuos foret, Nam
et ingenii plurimum est in eo, et acerbitas mira, et urbanitas, et vis
summa; sed plus stomacho quam consilio dedit; praeterea ut amari sales,
ita frequenter amaritudo ipsa ridicula est._ Lib. x. cap. 1. We read
in Suetonius (_Life of Octavius_, s. 56), that Cassius had the
hardiness to institute a prosecution for the crime of poisoning
against Asprenas Nonius, who was, at the time, linked in the closest
friendship with Augustus. Not content with accusations against the
first men in Rome, he chose to vent his malevolence in lampoons and
defamatory libels, against the most distinguished of both sexes. It
was this that provoked Horace to declare war against Cassius, in an
ode (lib, v. ode 6), which begins, _Quid immerentes hospites vexas,
canis_. See an account of his malevolent spirit, _Annals_, b, i. s.
72. He was at length condemned for his indiscriminate abuse, and
banished by Augustus to the isle of Crete. But his satirical rage was
not to be controlled. He continued in exile to discharge his
malignity, till, at last, at the end of ten years, the senate took
cognizance of his guilt, and Tiberius ordered him to be removed from
Crete to the Rock of Seriphos, where he languished in old age and
misery. See _Annals_, b. iv. s. 21. The period of ancient oratory
ended about the time when Cassius began his career. He was the first
of the new school.

[b] These two rhetoricians flourished in the time of Augustus.
Apollodorus, we are told by Quintilian (b. iii. chap. 1), was the
preceptor of Augustus. He taught in opposition to Theodorus Gadareus,
who read lectures at Rhodes, and was attended by Tiberius during his
retreat in that island. The two contending masters were the founders
of opposite sects, called the _Apollodorean_ and _Theodorian_. But
true eloquence, which knows no laws but those of nature and good
sense, gained nothing by party divisions. Literature was distracted by
new doctrines; rhetoric became a trick in the hands of sophists, and
all sound oratory disappeared. Hermagoras, Quintilian says, in the
chapter already cited, was the disciple of Theodorus.

Section XX.

[a] Doctor Middleton says, "Of the seven excellent orations, which now
remain on the subject of VERRES, the first two only were spoken; the
one called, _The Divination_; the other, _The first Action_, which is
nothing more than a general preface to the whole cause. The other five
were published afterwards, as they were prepared and intended to be
spoken, if Verres had made a regular defence: for as this was the only
cause in which Cicero had yet been engaged, or ever designed to be
engaged, as _an accuser_, so he was willing to leave those orations as
a specimen of his abilities in that way, and the _pattern of a just
and diligent impeachment of a great and corrupt magistrate." Life of
Cicero_, vol. i. p. 86, 4to edit.

[b] The Digest enumerates a multitude of rules concerning _exceptions_
to persons, things, the form of the action, the niceties of pleading,
and, as the phrase is, motions in arrest of judgement. _Formula_, was
the set of words necessary to be used in the pleadings. See the
_Digest_, lib. xliv. tit. 1. _De Exceptionibus, Praescriptionibus, et
Praejudiciis_. See also Cujacius, _observat._ xxiii.

[c] The oration for Marcus Tullius is highly praised by Macrobius, but
is not to be found in Cicero's works. The oration for Aulus Caecina is
still extant. The cause was about the right of succession to a private
estate, which depended on a subtle point of law, arising from the
interpretation of the praetor's interdict. It shews Cicero's exact
knowledge and skill in the civil law, and that his public character
and employment gave no interruption to his usual diligence in pleading
causes. Middleton's _Life of Cicero_, vol. i. p. 116, 4to edit.

[d] Roscius, in the last period of the republic, was the comedian,
whom all Rome admired for his talents. The great esteemed and loved
him for his morals. AEsop, the tragedian, was his contemporary. Horace,
in the epistle to Augustus, has mentioned them both with their proper
and distinctive qualities.

----Ea cum reprehendere coner
Quae GRAVIS AESOPUS, quae DOCTUS ROSCIUS egit.

A certain measured gravity of elocution being requisite in tragedy,
that quality is assigned to the former, and the latter is called
DOCTUS, because he was a complete master of his art; so truly learned
in the principles of his profession, that he possessed, in a wonderful
degree, the secret charm that gave inimitable graces to his voice and
action. Quintilian, in a few words, has given a commentary on the
passage in Horace. Grief, he says, is expressed by slow and deliberate
accents; for that reason, AEsop spoke with gravity; Roscius with
quickness; the former being a tragedian, the latter a comedian. _Plus
autem affectus habent lentiora; ideoque Roscius citatior, AEsopus
gravior fuit, quod ille comoedias, his tragoedias egit._ Lib. xi. cap.
1. Cicero was the great friend and patron of Roscius. An elegant
oration in his behalf is still extant. The cause was this: One FANNIUS
had made over to Roscius a young slave, to be formed by him to the
stage, on condition of a partnership in the profits which the slave
should acquire by acting. The slave was afterwards killed. Roscius
prosecuted the murderer for damages, and obtained, by composition, a
little farm, worth about eight hundred pounds, for his particular
share. FANNIUS also sued separately, and was supposed to have gained
as much; but, pretending to have recovered nothing, he sued ROSCIUS
for the moiety of what he had received. One cannot but observe, says
Dr. Middleton, from Cicero's pleading, the wonderful esteem and
reputation in which Roscius then flourished. Has Roscius, says he,
defrauded his partner? Can such a stain stick upon such a man; a man
who, I speak it with confidence, has more integrity than skill, more
veracity than experience? a man whom the people of Rome know to be a
better citizen than he is an actor; and, while he makes the first
figure on the stage for his art, is worthy of a seat in the senate for
his virtue. _Quem populus Romanus meliorem virum quam histrionem esse
arbitratur; qui ita dignissimus est scena propter artificium, ut
dignissimus sit curia propter abstinentiam. Pro Roscio Comoedo_, s. 17
In another place, Cicero says, he was such an artist, as to seem the
only one fit to appear on the stage; yet such a man, as to seem the
only one who should not come upon it at all. _Cum artifex ejusmodi
sit, ut solus dignus videatur esse qui in scena spectetur; tum vir
ejusmodi est, ut solus dignus videatur, qui eo non accedat. Pro Publ.
Quinctio_, s. 78. What Cicero has said in his pleadings might be
thought oratorical, introduced merely to serve the cause, if we did
not find the comedian praised with equal warmth in the dialogue DE
ORATORE. It is there said of Roscius, that every thing he did was
perfect in the kind, and executed with consummate grace, with a secret
charm, that touched, affected, and delighted the whole audience:
insomuch, that when a man excelled in any other profession, it was
grown into a proverb to call him, THE ROSCIUS OF HIS ART. _Videtisne,
quam nihil ab eo nisi perfecte, nihil nisi cum summa venustate fiat?
nihil, nisi ita ut deceat, et uti omnes moveat, atque delectet? Itaque
hoc jam diu est consecutus, ut in quo quisque artificio excelleret, is
in suo genere Roscius diceretur._ _De Orat._ lib. i. s. 130. After so
much honourable testimony, one cannot but wonder why the DOCTUS
ROSCIUS of Horace is mentioned in this Dialogue with an air of
disparagement. It may be, that APER, the speaker in this passage, was
determined to degrade the orators of antiquity; and the comedian was,
therefore, to expect no quarter. Dacier, in his notes on the Epistle
to Augustus, observes that Roscius wrote a book, in which he undertook
to prove to Cicero, that in all the stores of eloquence there were not
so many different expressions for one and the same thing, as in the
dramatic art there were modes of action, and casts of countenance, to
mark the sentiment, and convey it to the mind with its due degree of
emotion. It is to be lamented that such a book has not come down to
us. It would, perhaps, be more valuable than the best treatise of
rhetoric.

Ambivius Turpio acted in most of Terence's plays, and seems to have
been a manager of the theatre. Cicero, in the treatise _De Senectute_,
says: He, who sat near him in the first rows, received the greatest
pleasure; but still, those, who were at the further end of the
theatre, were delighted with him. _Turpione Ambivio magis delectatur,
qui in prima cavea spectat; delectatur tamen etiam qui in ultima._

[e] ACCIUS and PACUVIUS flourished at Rome about the middle of the
sixth century from the foundation of the city. Accius, according to
Horace, was held to be a poet of a sublime genius, and Pacuvius (who
lived to be ninety years old) was respected for his age and profound
learning.

Ambigitur quoties uter utro sit prior, aufert
PACUVIUS docti famam senis, ACCIUS alti.
EPIST. AD AUG. ver. 56.

Velleius Paterculus says, that ACCIUS was thought equal to the best
writers of the Greek tragedy. He had not, indeed, the diligent touches
of the polishing hand, which we see in the poets of Athens, but he had
more spirit and vigour. _Accius usque in Graecorum comparationem
erectus. In illis limae in hoc pene plus videri fuisse sanguinis._ He
is often quoted by Cicero in his book _De Natura Deorum_. But after
all, it is from the great critic, who gives the best account of the
Roman poets, orators, and historians, that we are to take the genuine
character of ACCIUS and PACUVIUS, since their works are lost in the
general mass of ancient literature. They were both excellent tragic
poets: elevation of sentiment, grandeur of expression, and dignity of
character, stamped a value on their productions; and yet, we must not
expect to find the grace and elegance of genuine composition. To give
the finishing hand to their works was not their practice: the defect,
however, is not to be imputed to them; it was the vice of the age.
Force and dignity are the characteristics of ACCIUS; while the
critics, who wish to be thought deep and profound, admire PACUVIUS for
his extensive learning. _Tragoediae scriptores Accius atque Pacuvius,
clarissimi sententiarum verborumque pondere, et auctoritate
personarum. Caeterum nitor, et summa in excolendis operibus manus,
magis videri potest temporibus, quam ipsis defuisse. Virium tamen
Accio plus tribuitur; Pacuvium videri doctiorem, qui esse docti
affectant, volunt._ Quintil. lib. x. cap. 1. It was the fashion in
Horace's time to prefer the writers of the old school to the new race
that gave so much lustre to the Augustan age. In opposition to such
erroneous criticism, the poet pronounces a decided judgement, which
seems to be confirmed by the opinion of Quintilian.

Si quaedam nimis antique, si pleraque dure
Dicere credit eos, ignave multa fatetur,
Et sapit, et mecum facit, et Jove judicat aequo.
EPIST. AD AUGUST. ver. 66.

But that sometimes their style uncouth appears,
And their harsh numbers rudely hurt our ears;
Or that full flatly flows the languid line,
He, who owns this, has Jove's assent and mine.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.

[f] Lucan was nephew to Seneca, and a poet of great celebrity. He was
born, in the reign of Caligula, at Corduba in Spain. His superior
genius made Nero his mortal enemy. He was put to death by that inhuman
emperor, A.U.C. 818, in the twenty-seventh year of his age. See the
_Annals_, b. xv. s. 70. As a writer, Quintilian says, that he
possessed an ardent genius, impetuous, rapid, and remarkable for the
vigour of his sentiments: but he chooses to class him with the
orators, rather than the poets. _Lucanus ardens, et concitatus, et
sententiis clarissimus; et, ut dicam quod sentio, magis oratoribus
quam poetis annumerandus._ Lib. x. cap. 1. Scaliger, on the other
hand, contends that Lucan was a true poet, and that the critics do but
trifle, when they object that he wrote history, not an epic poem.
STRADA in his Prolusions, has given, among other imitations, a
narrative in Lucan's manner; and, though he thinks that poet has not
the skill of Virgil, he places him on the summit of Parnassus,
managing his Pegasus with difficulty, often in danger of falling from
the ridge of a precipice, yet delighting his reader with the pleasure
of seeing him escape. This is the true character of Lucan. The love of
liberty was his ruling passion. It is but justice to add, that his
sentiments, when free from _antithesis_ and the _Ovidian_ manner, are
not excelled by any poet of antiquity. From him, as well as from
Virgil and Horace, the orator is required to cull such passages as
will help to enrich his discourse; and the practice is recommended by
Quintilian, who observes, that Cicero, Asinius Pollio, and others,
frequently cited verses from Ennius, Accius, Pacuvius, and Terence, in
order to grace their speeches with polite literature, and enliven the
imagination of their hearers. By those poetic insertions, the ear is
relieved from the harsh monotony of the forum; and the poets, cited
occasionally, serve by their authority to establish the proposition
advanced by the speaker. _Nam praecipue quidem apud Ciceronem,
frequenter tamen apud Asinium etiam, et caeteros, qui sunt proximi,
vidimus ENNII, ACCII, PACUVII, TERENTII et aliorum inseri versus,
summa non eruditionis modo gratia, sed etiam jucunditatis; cum
poeticis voluptatibus aures a forensi asperitate respirent, quibus
accedit non mediocris utilitas, cum sententiis eorum, velut quibusdam
testimoniis, quae proposuere confirmant._ Quintil. lib. i. cap. 8.

Section XXI.

[a] There is in this place a blunder of the copyists, which almost
makes the sentence unintelligible. The translator, without entering
into minute controversies, has, upon all such occasions, adopted what
appeared, from the context, to be the most probable sense. It remains,
therefore, to enquire, who were the several orators here enumerated.
CANUTIUS may be the person mentioned by Suetonius _De Claris
Rhetoribus_. Cicero says of ARRIUS, that he was a striking proof of
what consequence it was at Rome to be useful to others, and always
ready to be subservient to their honour, or to ward off danger. For,
by that assiduity, Arrius raised himself from a low beginning to
wealth and honours, and was even ranked in the number of orators,
though void of learning, and without genius, or abilities. _Loco
infimo natus, et honores, et pecuniam, et gratiam consecutus, etiam in
patronorum, sine doctrina, sine ingenio, aliquem numerum pervenerat.
De Claris Orat._ s. 243. FURNIUS may be supposed, not without
probability, to be the person with whom Cicero corresponded. _Epist.
ad Familiares_, lib. x. ep. 25, 26. With regard to Terrianus we are
left in the dark. The commentators offer various conjectures; but
conjecture is often a specious amusement; the ingenious folly of men,
who take pains to bewilder themselves, and reason only to shew their
useless learning.

[b] The puny orators are said to be in an infirmary, like sickly men,
who were nothing but skin and bone. These, says Cicero, were admirers
of the Attic manner; but it were to be wished that they had the
wholesome blood, not merely the bones, of their favourite declaimers.
_Attico genere dicendi se gaudere dicunt; atqui utinam imitarentur nec
ossa solum, sed etiam et sanguinem._ Cicero _De Claris Oratoribus_.

[c] What is here said of Calvus is not confirmed by the judgement of
Quintilian. See s. xvii. note [c]. His orations, which were extant at
the time of this Dialogue, are now totally lost.

[d] For Quintilian's opinion of Caelius, see s. xvii. note [c].

[e] Here again Quintilian, that candid and able judge, has given a
different opinion. See s. xvii. note [b]. It may be proper to add the
testimony of Velleius Paterculus. Caesar, he says, had an elevation of
soul, that towered above humanity, and was almost incredible; the
rapid progress of his wars, his firmness in the hour of danger, and
the grandeur of his vast conceptions, bore a near affinity to
Alexander, but to Alexander neither drunk, nor mad with passion.
_Animo super humanam et naturam, et fidem evectus, celeritate
bellandi, patientia periculorum, magnitudine cogitationum; magno illi
Alexandro, sed sobrio neque iracundo, simillimus. Vel. Patercul._ lib.
ii. s. 41. Even Cicero tells us, that, of all the eminent orators, he
was the person who spoke the Latin language in the greatest purity,
and arrived at that consummate perfection by study, by diligent
application, and his thorough knowledge of all polite literature.
_Illum omnium fere oratorum Latine loqui elegantissime: ut esset
perfecta illa bene loquendi laus, multis litteris, et iis quidem
reconditis et exquisitis, summoque studio et diligentia est
consecutus._ _De Claris Orat._ s. 252.

[f] Caesar's speech for Decius the Samnite, and all his other
productions (except the Commentaries), are totally lost.

[g] This speech of Brutus is also lost with his other works. Cicero
says, he heard him plead the cause of Dejotarus with great elegance,
and a flow of harmonious periods. _Causam Dejotari, fidelissimi atque
optimi regis, ornatissime et copiosissime a Bruto me audisse defensam.
De Claris Orat._ s. 21. He tells us in another place, that Caesar
observed of Brutus, that whatever he desired, he desired with ardour;
and therefore, in the cause of Dejotarus, he exerted himself with
warmth, with vehemence, and great freedom of language. _Quidquid vult,
valde vult; ideoque, cum pro rege Dejotaro dixerit, valde vehementer
eum visum, et libere dicere. Ad Attic._ lib. xiv. ep. 1. The same
Dejotarus was afterwards defended by Cicero before Caesar himself. See
the Oration _pro Rege Dejotaro_.

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