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

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[b] Marcus Aper, Julius Secundus, and Curiatius Maternus, according to
Brotier and others, were natives of Gaul. Aper (section x.) mentions
the Gauls as their common countrymen: _Ne quid de Gallis nostris
loquamur._ If that was the fact, a _new man_ at Rome would have
difficulties to surmount. Ammianus Marcellinus (a Latin historian of
the fourth century) says, that at Rome the people despised every thing
that did not grow before their eyes within the walls of the city,
except the rich who had no children; and the veneration paid to such
as had no heirs was altogether incredible. _Vile esse quidquid extra
urbis pomaerium nascitur, aestimant; nec credi potest qua obsequiorum
diversitate coluntur homines sine liberis Romae._ Lib. xiv. s. 5. In
such a city a young man and a stranger could not expect to be
favoured.

[c] All causes of a private nature were heard before the _centumviri_.
Three were chosen out of every tribe, and the tribes amounted to five
and thirty, so that in fact 105 were chosen; but, for the sake of a
round number, they were called CENTUMVIRI. The causes that were heard
before that jurisdiction are enumerated by Cicero, _De Orat._ lib. i.
s. 38.

[d] The translation says, _the wills and codicils of the rich_; but it
is by no means certain that those words convey the meaning of the
text, which simply says, _nec codicillis datur_. After due enquiry, it
appears that _codicillus_ was used by the Latin authors, for what we
now call _the letters patent of a prince_. Codicils, in the modern
sense of the word, implying a supplement to a will, were unknown to
the intent Roman law. The Twelve Tables mention testaments only.
Codicils, in aid to wills, were first introduced in the time of
Augustus; but, whatever their operation was, legacies granted by those
additional writings were for some time of no validity. To confirm
this, we are told that the daughter of Lentulus discharged certain
legacies, which, being given by codicil, she was not bound to pay. In
time, however, codicils, as an addition made by the testator to his
will, grew into use, and the legacies thereby granted were confirmed.
This might be the case in the sixth year of Vespasian, when the
Dialogue passed between the parties; but it is, notwithstanding,
highly probable, that the word _codicilli_ means, in the passage
before us, the _letters patent of the prince_. It is used in that
sense by Suetonius, who relates, that Tiberius, after passing a night
and two days in revelling with Pomponius Flaccus and Lucius Piso,
granted to the former the province of Syria, and made the latter
prefect of the city; declaring them, _in the patents_, pleasant
companions, and _the friends of all hours_. _Codicillis quoque
jucundissimos et omnium horarum amicos professus._ Suet. _in Tib._ s.
42.

[e] The common people are called, in the original, _tunicatus
populus_; that class of men, who wore the _tunic_, and not the _toga_,
or the _Roman gown_. The _tunica_, or close coat, was the common
garment worn within doors, and abroad, under the _toga_. Kennet says,
the _proletarii_, the _capite censi_, and the rest of the dregs of the
city, could not afford to wear the _toga_, and therefore went in
their _tunics_; whence Horace says (lib. i. epist. 7).

Vilia vendentem tunicato scruta popello.

The TOGA, however, was the peculiar dress of the Roman people. VIRGIL
distinguishes his countrymen by their mode of apparel:

Romanos rerum dominos, gentemque togatam.

But, though this was the Roman habit, the lower citizens were obliged
to appear abroad is their _tunica_, or close garment. The love of
praise is so eager a passion, that the public orator is here
represented as delighting in the applause of the rabble. Persius, the
satirist, has said the same thing:

Pulchrum est digito monstrari, et dicier. HIC EST.

Section VIII.

[a] The character of Eprius Marcellus has been already stated, section
v. note [c]. Crispus Vibius is mentioned as a man of weight and
influence, _Annals_, book xiv. s. 28. Quintilian has mentioned him to
his advantage: he calls him, book v. chap. 13, a man of agreeable and
elegant talents, _vir ingenii jucundi et elegantis_; and again, Vibius
Crispus was distinguished by the elegance of his composition, and the
sweetness of his manner; a man born to please, but fitter for private
suits, than for the importance of public causes. _Et VIBIUS CRISPUS,
compositus, et jucundus, et delectationi natus; privatis tamen causis,
quam publicis, melior._ Lib. x. cap. 1.

[b] Which of these two men was born at Capua, and which at Vercellae,
is not clearly expressed in the original. Eprius Marcellus, who has
been described of a prompt and daring spirit, ready to embark in
every mischief, and by his eloquence able to give colour to the worst
cause, must at this time have become a new man, since we find him
mentioned in this Dialogue with unbounded praise. He, it seems, and
Vibius Crispus were the favourites at Vespasian's court. Vercellae, now
_Verceil_, was situated in the eastern part of Piedmont. _Capua_,
rendered famous by Hannibal, was a city in Campania, always deemed the
seat of pleasure.

[c] Vespasian is said to have been what is uncommon among sovereign
princes, a patient hearer of truth. His attention to men of letters
may be considered as a proof of that assertion. The younger Pliny
tells us, that his uncle, the author of the Natural History, used to
visit Vespasian before day-light, and gained admittance to the
emperor, who devoted his nights to study. _Ante lucem ibat ad
Vespasianum imperatorem: nam ille quoque noctibus utebatur._ Lib. iii.
epist. 5.

Section IX.

[a] Agamemnon and Jason were two favourite dramatic subjects with the
Roman poets. After their example, the moderns seem to have been
enamoured with those two Grecian heroes. Racine has displayed the
former, in his tragedy of Iphigenia, and the late Mr. Thomson in a
performance of great merit, entitled Agamemnon. Corneille, and, the
late Mr. Glover, thought Jason and Medea worthy of their talents.

[b] Saleius Bassus has been already mentioned, s. v. note [a]. It may
be added in this place, that the critics of his time concurred in
giving him the warmest praise, not only as a good and excellent man,
but also as an eminent and admirable poet. He was descended from a
family of distinction, but was poor and often distressed. Whether he
or Caesius Bassus was the friend of Persius, is not perfectly clear. Be
the fact as it may, the satirist describes a fine poet, and his verses
were applicable to either of them:

Jamne lyra, et tetrico vivunt tibi pectine chordae?
Mire opifex numeris veterum primordia rerum,
Atque marem strepitum fidis intendisse Latinae;
Mox juvenes agitare jocos, et pollice honesto
Egregios lusisse senes.
PERSIUS, sat. vi.

[c] Before the invention of printing, copies were not easily
multiplied. Authors were eager to enjoy their fame, and the pen of the
transcriber was slow and tedious. Public rehearsals were the road to
fame. But an audience was to be drawn together by interest, by
solicitation, and public advertisements. Pliny, in one of his letters,
has given a lively description of the difficulties which the author
had to surmount. This year, he says, has produced poets in great
abundance. Scarce a day has passed in the month of April, without the
recital of a poem. But the greater part of the audience comes with
reluctance; they loiter in the lobbies, and there enter into idle
chat, occasionally desiring to know, whether the poet is in his
pulpit? has he begun? is his preface over? has he almost finished?
They condescended, at last, to enter the room; they looked round with
an air of indifference, and soon retired, some by stealth, and others
with open contempt. Hence the greater praise is due to those authors,
who do not suffer their genius to droop, but, on the contrary, amidst
the most discouraging circumstances, still persist to cultivate the
liberal arts. Pliny adds, that he himself attended all the public
readings, and, for that purpose, staid longer in the city than was
usual with him. Being, at length, released, he intended, in his rural
retreat, to finish a work of his own, but not to read it in public,
lest he should be thought to claim a return of the civility which he
had shewn to others. He was a bearer, and not a creditor. The favour
conferred, if redemanded, ceases to be a favour. _Magnum proventum
poetarum annus hic attulit. Toto mense Aprili nullus fere dies, quo
non recitaret aliquis. Tametsi ad audiendum pigre coitur. Plerique in
stationibus sedent, tempusque audiendis fabulis conterunt, ac subinde
sibi nuntiari jubent, an jam recitator intraverit, an dixerit
praefationem, an ex magna parte evolverit librum? Tum demum, ac tune
quoque lente, cunctanterque veniunt, nec tamen remanent, sed ante
finem recedunt; alii dissimulanter, ac furtim, alii, simpliciter, ac
libere. Sed tanto magis laudandi probandique sunt, quos a scribendi
recitandique studio haec auditorum vel desidia, vel superbia non
retardat. Equidem prope nemini defui: his ex causis longius, quam
destinaveram, tempus in urbe consumpsi. Possum jam repetere secessum,
et scribere aliquid, quod non recitem, ne videar, quorum
recitationibus affui, non auditor fuisse, sed creditor. Nam, ut in
caeteris rebus, ita in audiendi officio, perit gratia si reposcatur._
Pliny, lib. i. ep. 13. Such was the state of literature under the
worst of the emperors. The Augustan age was over. In the reigns of
Tiberius and Caligula learning drooped, but in some degree revived
under the dull and stupid Claudius. Pliny, in the letter above cited,
says of that emperor, that, one day hearing a noise in his palace, he
enquired what was the cause, and, being informed that Nonianus was
reciting in public, went immediately to the place, and became one of
the audience. After that time letters met with no encouragement from
the great. Lord Shaftesbury says, he cannot but wonder how the Romans,
after the extinction of the _Caesarean_ and _Claudian_ family, and a
short interval of princes raised and destroyed with much disorder and
public ruin, were able to regain their perishing dominion, and
retrieve their sinking state, by an after-race of wise and able
princes, successively adopted, and taken from a private state to rule
the empire of the world. They were men, who not only possessed the
military virtues, and supported that sort of discipline in the
highest degree; but as they sought the interest of the world, they
did what was in their power to restore liberty, and raise again the
perishing arts, and the decayed virtue of mankind. But the season was
past: _barbarity_ and _gothicism_ were already entered into the arts,
ere the savages made an impression on the empire. See _Advice to an
Author_, part. ii. s. 1. The _gothicism_, hinted at by Shaftesbury,
appears manifestly in the wretched situation to which the best authors
were reduced. The poets who could not hope to procure an audience,
haunted the baths and public walks, in order to fasten on their
friends, and, at any rate, obtain a hearing for their works. Juvenal
says, the plantations and marble columns of Julius Fronto resounded
with the vociferation of reciting poets:

Frontonis platani convulsaque marmora clamant
Semper, et assiduo ruptae lectore columnae.
Expectes eadem a summo minimoque poeta.
SAT. i. ver. 12.

The same author observes, that the poet, who aspired to literary
fame, might borrow an house for the purpose of a public reading; and
the great man who accommodated the writer, might arrange his friends
and freedmen on the back seats, with direction not to be sparing of
their applause; but still a stage or pulpit, with convenient benches,
was to be procured, and that expence the patrons of letters would not
supply.

----At si dulcedine famae
Contentus recites, Maculonus commodat aedes.
Scit dare libertos extrema in parte sedentes
Ordinis, et magnas comitum disponere voces.
Nemo dabit procerum, quanti subsellia constent.
SAT. vii. ver. 39.

Statius, in Juvenal's time, was a favourite poet. If he announced a
reading, his auditors went in crowds. He delighted all degrees and
ranks of men; but, when the hour of applause was over, the author was
obliged to sell a tragedy to Paris, the famous actor, in order to
procure a dinner,

Curritur ad vocem jucundam, et carmen amicae?
Thebaidos, laetam fecit cum Statius urbem?
Promisitque diem: tanta dulcedine vulgi
Auditur; sed cum fregit subsellia versu,
Esurit, intactam Paridi nisi vendit Agaven.
SAT. vii. ver. 82.

This was the hard lot of poetry, and this the state of public reading,
which Aper describes to his friend Maternus.

Section X.

[a] Horace has the same observation:

----Mediocribus esse poetis
Non Dii, non homines, non concessere columnae.
ART OF POETRY, ver. 372.

But God and man, and letter'd post denies,
That poets ever are of middling size.
FRANCIS'S HORACE.

[b] Notwithstanding all that is said, in this Dialogue, of Saleius
Bassus, it does not appear, in the judgement of Quintilian, that he
was a poet whose fame could extend itself to the distant provinces.
Perfection in the kind is necessary. Livy, the historian, was at the
head of his profession. In consequence of his vast reputation, we know
from Pliny, the consul, that a native of the city of Cadiz was so
struck with the character of that great writer, that he made a journey
to Rome, with no other intent than to see that celebrated genius; and
having gratified his curiosity, without staying to view the wonders of
that magnificent city, returned home perfectly satisfied. _Nunquamne
legisti Gaditanum quemdam Titi Livii nomine gloriaque commotum, ad
visendum eum ab ultimo terrarum orbe venisse; statimque, ut viderat,
abiisse?_ Lib. ii. epist. 3.

[c] In Homer and Virgil, as well as in the dramatic poets of the first
order, we frequently have passages of real eloquence, with the
difference which Quintilian mentions: the poet, he says, is a slave to
the measure of his verse; and, not being able at all times to make use
of the true and proper word, he is obliged to quit the natural and
easy way of expression, and avail himself of new modes and turns of
phraseology, such as tropes, and metaphors, with the liberty of
transposing words, and lengthening or shortening syllables as he sees
occasion. _Quod alligati ad certam pedum necessitatem non semper
propriis uti possint, sed depulsi a recta via, necessario ad quaedam
diverticula confugiant; nec mutare quaedam modo verba, sed extendere,
corripere, convertere, dividere cogantur._ Quint, lib. x. cap. 1. The
speaker in the Dialogue is aware of this distinction, and, subject to
it, the various branches of poetry are with him so many different
modes of eloquence.

[d] The original has, the citadel of eloquence, which calls to mind an
admired passage in Lucretius:

Sed nil dulcius est bene quam munita tenere
Edita doctrina sapientum templa serena,
Despicere unde queas alios, passimque videre
Errare, atque viam pallantes quaerere vitae.
Lib. ii. ver. 7.

[e] It is a fact well known, that in Greece the most illustrious of
both sexes thought it honourable to exercise themselves in the
exhibitions of the theatre, and even to appear in the athletic games.
Plutarch, it is true, will have it, that all scenic arts were
prohibited at Sparta by the laws of Lycurgus; and yet Cornelius Nepos
assures us, that no Lacedaemonian matron, however high her quality, was
ashamed to act for hire on the public stage. He adds, that throughout
Greece, it was deemed the highest honour to obtain the prize in the
Olympic games, and no man blushed to be a performer in plays and
pantomimes, and give himself a spectacle to the people. _Nulla
Lacedaemoni tam est nobilis vidua, quae non in scenam eat mercede
conducta. Magnis in laudibus tota fuit Graecia, victorem Olympiae
citari. In scenam vero prodire, et populo esse spectaculo nemini in
iisdem gentibus fuit turpitudini._ Cor. Nep. _in Praefat._ It appears,
however, from a story told by AElian and cited by Shaftesbury, _Advice
to an Author_, part ii. s. 3, that the Greek women were by law
excluded from the Olympic games. Whoever was found to transgress, or
even to cross the river Alpheus, during the celebration of that great
spectacle, was liable to be thrown from a rock. The consequence was,
that not one female was detected, except _Callipatria_, or, as others
called her, _Pherenice_. This woman, disguised in the habit of a
teacher of gymnastic exercises, introduced her son, _Pisidorus_, to
contend for the victor's prize. Her son succeeded. Transported with
joy at a sight so glorious, the mother overleaped the fence, which
enclosed the magistrates, and, in the violence of that exertion, let
fall her garment. She was, by consequence, known to be a woman, but
absolved from all criminality. For that mild and equitable sentence,
she was indebted to the merit of her father, her brothers, and her
son, who all obtained the victor's crown. The incident, however, gave
birth to a new law, whereby it was enacted, that the masters of the
gymnastic art should, for the future, come naked to the Olympic games.
_AElian_ lib. x. cap. 1; and see _Pausanias_, lib. v. cap. 6.

[f] Nicostratus is praised by Pausanias (lib. v. cap. 20), as a great
master of the athletic arts. Quintilian has also recorded his prowess.
"Nicostratus, whom in our youth we saw advanced in years, would
instruct his pupil in every branch of his art, and make him, what he
was himself, an invincible champion. Invincible he was, since, on one
and the same day, he entered the lists as a wrestler and a boxer, and
was proclaimed conqueror in both." _Ac si fuerit qui docebitur, ille,
quem adolescentes vidimus, Nicostratus, omnibus in eo docendi partibus
similiter uteretur; efficietque illum, qualis hic fuit, luctando
pugnandoque quorum utroque in certamine iisdem diebus coronabatur
invictum._ Quint. lib, ii. cap. 8.

Section XI.

[a] Nero's ambition to excel in poetry was not only ridiculous, but,
at the same time, destructive to Lucan, and almost all the good
authors of the age. See _Annals_, b. xv. According to the old
scholiast on the Satires of Persius, the following verses were either
written by Nero, or made in imitation of that emperor's style:

Torva Mimalloneis implerunt cornua bombis,
Et raptum vitulo caput ablatura superbo
Bassaris, et lyncem Maenas flexura corymbis,
Evion ingeminat: reparabilis adsonat echo.

The affectation of rhyme, which many ages afterwards was the
essential part of monkish verse, the tumour of the words, and the
wretched penury of thought, may be imputed to a frivolous prince, who
studied his art of poetry in the manner described by Tacitus,
_Annals_, b. xiv. s. 16. And yet it may be a question, whether the
satirist would have the hardiness to insert the very words of an
imperial poet, armed with despotic power. A burlesque imitation would
answer the purpose; and it may be inferred from another passage in the
same poem, that Persius was content to ridicule the mode of
versification then in vogue at court.

Claudere sic versum didicit; Berecynthius Attin,
Et qui caeruleum dirimebat Nerea Delphin.
Sic costam longo subduximus Apennino.

[b] Vatinius was a favourite at the court of Nero. Tacitus calls him
the spawn of a cook's-shop and a tippling-house; _sutrinae et tabernae
alumnus_. He recommended himself to the favour of the prince by his
scurrility and vulgar humour. Being, by those arts, raised above
himself, he became the declared enemy of all good men, and acted a
distinguished part among the vilest instruments of that pernicious
court. See his character, _Annals_ xv. s. 34. When an illiberal and
low buffoon basks in the sunshine of a court, and enjoys exorbitant
power, the cause of literature can have nothing to expect. The liberal
arts must, by consequence, be degraded by a corrupt taste, and
learning will be left to run wild and grow to seed.

Section XII.

[a] That poetry requires a retreat from the bustle of the world, has
been so often repeated, that it is now considered as a truth, from
which there can be no appeal. Milton, it is true, wrote his Paradise
Lost in a small house near _Bunhill Fields_; and Dryden courted the
muse in the hurry and dissipation of a town life. But neither of them
fixed his residence by choice. Pope grew immortal on the banks of the
Thames. But though the country seems to be the seat of contemplation,
two great writers have been in opposite opinions. Cicero says, woods
and groves, and rivers winding through the meadows, and the refreshing
breeze, with the melody of birds, may have their attraction; but they
rather relax the mind into indolence, than rouse our attention, or
give vigour to our faculties. _Sylvarum amaenitas, et praeterlabentia
flumina, et inspirantes ramis arborum aurae, volucrumque cantus, et
ipsa late circumspiciendi libertas ad se trahunt; at mihi remittere
potius voluptas ista videtur cogitationem, quam intendere._ _De Orat._
lib. ii. This, perhaps, may be true as applied to the public orator,
whose scene of action lay in the forum or the senate. Pliny, on the
other hand, says to his friend Tacitus, there is something in the
solemnity of venerable woods, and the awful silence which prevails in
those places, that strongly disposes us to study and contemplation.
For the future, therefore, whenever you hunt, take along with you your
pen and paper, as well as your basket and bottle; for you will find
the mountains not more inhabited by Diana, than by Minerva. _Jam
undique sylvae, et solitudo, ipsumque illud silentium, quod venationi
datur, magna cogitationis incitamenta sunt. Proinde, cum, venabere,
licebit, auctore me, ut panarium et lagunculam, sic etiam pugillares
feras. Experiaris non Dianam magis montibus quam Minervam inerrare._
Lib. i. epist. 6. Between these two different opinions, a true poet
may be allowed to decide. Horace describes the noise and tumult of a
city life, and then says,

Scriptorum chorus omnis amat nemus, et fugit urbes.
Epist. lib. ii. ep. ii. ver. 77.

Alas! to grottos and to groves we run,
To ease and silence, ev'ry muse's son.
POPE.

[b] The expression in the original is full and expressive, _lucrosae
hujus et sanguinantis eloquentiae_; that gainful and blood-thirsty
eloquence. The immoderate wealth acquired by Eprius Marcellus has been
mentioned in this Dialogue, section 8. Pliny gives us an idea of the
vast acquisitions gained by Regulus, the notorious informer. From a
state of indigence, he rose, by a train of villainous actions, to such
immense riches, that he once consulted the omens, to know how soon he
should be worth sixty millions of sesterces, and found them so
favourable, that he had no doubt of being worth double that sum.
_Aspice Regulum, qui ex paupere et tenui ad tantas opes per flagitia
processit, ut ipse mihi dixerit, cum consuleret, quam cito sestertium
sexcennies impleturus esset, invenisse se exta duplicata, quibus
portendi millies et ducenties habiturum._ Lib. ii. ep. 20. In another
epistle the same author relates, that Regulus, having lost his son,
was visited upon that occasion by multitudes of people, who all in
secret detested him, yet paid their court with as much assiduity as if
they esteemed and loved him. They retaliated upon this man his own
insidious arts: to gain the friendship of Regulus, they played the
game of Regulus himself. He, in the mean time, dwells in his villa on
the other side of the Tiber, where he has covered a large tract of
ground with magnificent porticos, and lined the banks of the river
with elegant statues; profuse, with all his avarice, and, in the depth
of infamy, proud and vain-glorious. _Convenitur ad eum mira
celebritate: cuncti detestantur, oderunt; et, quasi probent, quasi
diligant, cursant, frequentant, utque breviter, quod sentio, enunciem,
in Regulo demerendo, Regulum imitantur. Tenet se trans Tyberim in
hortis, in quibus latissimum solum porticibus immensis, ripam statuis
suis occupavit; ut est, in summa avaritia sumptuosus, in summa
infamia gloriosus._ Lib. iv. ep. 2. All this splendour, in which
Regulus lived, was the fruit of a gainful and blood-thirsty eloquence;
if that may be called eloquence, which Pliny says was nothing more
than a crazed imagination; _nihil praeter ingenium insanum_. Lib. iv.
ep. 7.

[c] Orpheus, in poetic story, was the son of Calliope, and Linus
boasted of Apollo for his father.

----Nec Thracius Orpheus,
Nec Linus; huic mater quamvis, atque huic pater adsit,
Orphei Calliopea, Lino formosus Apollo.
VIRG. ECL. iv. ver. 55.

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