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

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

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17

[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
illustrious of the Roman youth are no better than slaves to the
pantomimic performers. _Ostendam nobilissimos 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 coenaret in stabulo assidue 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 friendship,
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
massacred 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 illustrious 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 XXX.

[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 entitled 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 Crassus. They were both engaged, on
opposite sides, in a cause before the CENTUMVIRI. Crassus proved
himself the best lawyer among the orators of that day, and Scaevola the
most eloquent of the lawyers. _Ut eloquentium juris peritissimus
Crassus; jurisperitorum eloquentissimus Scaevola putaretur._ _De Claris
Orat._ s. 145. During the consulship of Sylla, A.U.C. 666, Cicero
being then in the nineteenth year of his age, and wishing 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. _Cum princeps academiae Philo, cum
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 cum stoico Diodoto: qui cum habitavisset
apud me, mecumque vixisset, nuper est domi meae mortuus. A quo, cum 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 passed six months with
Antiochus, the principal 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 assisted
by Demetrius, the Syrian, who was allowed to be a skilful preceptor.
He passed 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
assistance, he went to Rhodes, and renewed his friendship 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
coerceret. 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; cum ab illa vero 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 passion, 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 XXXI.

[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
assimulata 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 passed 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, entitled TOPICA, in which he treats at
large of the method of finding proper arguments. This, he observes,
was executed by Aristotle, whom he pronounces the great master both of
invention and judgement. _Cum 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
assures 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 dimittit, 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-entities. _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 XXXII.

[a] We are told by Quintilian, that Demosthenes, the great orator of
Greece, was an assiduous 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 quicumque sim, non ex rhetorum
officinis, sed ex Academiae spatiis extitisse. Ad Brutum Orator_, s.
12.

Section XXXIII.

[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 XXXIV.

[a] There is in this place a trifling mistake, either in Messala, the
speaker, or in the copyists. Crassus 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 Crassus
expressly says, that he was then only one and twenty. _Quippe qui
omnium maturrime ad publicas causas accesserim, annosque natus UNUM ET
VIGINTI, nobilissimum 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 coepi, 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 XXXV.

[a] Lipsius, in his note on this passage, says, that he once thought
the word _scena_ in the text ought to be changed to _schola_; but he
afterwards saw his mistake. The place of fictitious declamation and
spurious eloquence, where the teachers played a ridiculous part, was
properly called a theatrical scene.

[b] Lucius Licinius Crassus and Domitius AEnobarbus were censors A.U.C.
662. Crassus himself informs us, that, for two years together, a new
race of men, called Rhetoricians, or masters of eloquence, kept open
schools at Rome, till he thought fit to exercise his censorian
authority, and by an edict to banish the whole tribe from the city of
Rome; and this, he says, he did, not, as some people suggested, to
hinder the talents of youth from being cultivated, but to save their
genius from being corrupted, and the young mind from being confirmed
in shameless ignorance. Audacity was all the new masters could teach;
and this being the only thing to be acquired on that stage of
impudence, he thought it the duty of a Roman censor to crush the
mischief in the bud. _Latini (sic diis placet) hoc biennio magistri
dicendi extiterunt; quos ego censor edicto meo sustuleram; non quo (ut
nescio quos dicere aiebant) acui ingenia adolescentium nollem, sed,
contra, ingenia obtundi nolui, corroborari impudentiam. Hos vero novos
magistros nihil intelligebam posse docere, nisi ut auderent. Hoc cum
unum traderetur, et cum impudentiae ludus esset, putavi esse censoris,
ne longius id serperet, providere._ _De Orat._ lib. iii. s. 93 and 94.
Aulus Gellius mentions a former expulsion of the rhetoricians, by a
decree of the senate, in the consulship of Fannius Strabo and Valerius
Messala, A.U.C. 593. He gives the words of the decree, and also of the
edict, by which the teachers were banished by Crassus, several years
after. See _A. Gellius, Noctes Atticae_, lib. xv. cap. 2. See also
Suetonius, _De Claris Rhet._ s. 1.

[c] Seneca has left a collection of declamations in the two kinds,
viz. the persuasive, and controversial. See his SUASORIAE, and
CONTROVERSIAE. In the first class, the questions are, Whether Alexander
should attempt the Indian ocean? Whether he should enter Babylon, when
the augurs denounced impending danger? Whether Cicero, to appease the
wrath of Marc Antony, should burn all his works? The subjects in the
second class are more complex. A priestess was taken prisoner by a
band of pirates, and sold to slavery. The purchaser abandoned her to
prostitution. Her person being rendered venal, a soldier made his
offers of gallantry. She desired the price of her prostituted charms;
but the military man resolved to use force and insolence, and she
stabbed him in the attempt. For this she was prosecuted, and
acquitted. She then desired to be restored to her rank of priestess:
that point was decided against her. These instances may serve as a
specimen of the trifling declamations, into which such a man as Seneca
was betrayed by his own imagination. Petronius has described the
literary farce of the schools. Young men, he says, were there trained
up in folly, neither seeing nor hearing any thing that could be of
use in the business of life. They were taught to think of nothing, but
pirates loaded with fetters on the sea-shore; tyrants by their edicts
commanding sons to murder their fathers; the responses of oracles
demanding a sacrifice of three or more virgins, in order to abate an
epidemic pestilence. All these discourses, void of common sense, are
tricked out in the gaudy colours of exquisite eloquence, soft, sweet,
and seasoned to the palate. In this ridiculous boy's-play the scholars
trifle away their time; they are laughed at in the forum, and still
worse, what they learn in their youth they do not forget at an
advanced age. _Ego adolescentulos existimo in scholis stultissimos
fieri, quia nihil ex iis, quae in usu habemus, aut audiunt aut vident;
sed piratas cum catenis in littore stantes, et tyrannos edicta
scribentes, quibus imperent filiis, ut patrum suorum capita praecidant;
sed responsa in pestilentia data, ut virgines tres aut plures
immolentur; sed mellitos verborum globos, et omnia dicta factaque
quasi papavere et sesamo sparsa. Nunc pueri in scholis ludunt; juvenes
ridentur in foro; et, quod utroque turpius est, quod quisque perperam
discit, in senectute confiteri non vult._ Petron. _in Satyrico_, cap.
3 and 4.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17