DE O RA TO R E

BO OK 1

T R A N S L A TE D I N TO E N GL I S H

W I TH A N I N T R O DU C TI O N BY

E . N . P . M OOR , M A . .

A SS ISTA N T M A S TE R A T

C LIF T O N C OLLE GE

fla mb u m a nti (H10 .

1 8 B U R Y S TR E E T, WC . .

L O N DO N

1 892
 IN T R O D U C T I O N

De Ora
T
H E thre e b o o ks to re seem to have been
written by Cicero in th e y e ar B C. . 55 . I t was
a time when owing to th e increasing power
, of th e
Triumvirs there was little room for any political activity
,

on the part of Cicero . On his recall from exile in the

preceding year he had conceived some hopes of again
taking a leading part in political life but owing partly
to the lukewarmness of some and the downright faith
lessness of others of his old supporters which made it ,

impossible fo r him to resume his old place at th e head

of the optimates and partly to the closer union pro
,

du ced between P o m p e iu s and Caesar by the conference

at Luca he thought it more advisabl e to withdraw
,

from public life and console himself as was his , in v a ri

1
able custom with literary work
, . The w ork to which
he devoted himself was the present treatise De , Ora t o re

it is dedicated his brother Qu intus and as we are

to , ,

told in the introductory chapters his choice was d eter ,

1
F o r C i c ero
’
s p sit i
o o n a nd fe ling e s a t t h i s t im e se e his fa m ou s

l et t er t o Le nt u l u s (A d F a m . i . a nd a m ost int ere s t i ng e ssa y

on Ci cero a nd the Triu m v ira t e in t he In t r o du ctio n t o vol. ii . of

t he C o rres p o nde nce o f Cicero , b y P ro f esso r Tyrre ll .

b
vi I N TROD U CTI O N
’

mined by a request of his brothe r s that he woul d

supplement h is earlier work on the same subj ect th e ,

De Invent io ne by something more wor thy of his maturer

,

age and riper experiences as the leading orator of

Rome .
The treatise is thrown into the form of a
dialogue which Cicero represents as
,
h is somewhat
imperfect reminiscence of a conversation which had
taken place at the Tusculan villa of L Licinius Crassus .
,

and had been reported to him by C Aurelius Cotta .

,

o ne of the interlocutors . That some such conversation

did take place we must of course believe
,
but it is
s carcely credible that what Cicero gives us in thes e
three books is anything but a fancy account of what he
thinks o u ght to have been said or what he would have ,

l iked to have been said ,

on the occasion . H e calls it
himself a m e m o r ia a fairly vague
no n s a ne s a tis ex
p lica ta ,

expression w hich may perhaps be intended to imply

that he will feel at perfect liberty to d raw upon his
own imagination in order to supply the missing details
,

o f the conversation . However this may be we have ,

a long dialogu e extending through three books and it ,

must be confe ssed that as we re ad it we are apt to , ,

forget in many places that it is a dialogue at all . No

do u bt at tim e s there is a good deal of dramatic play ,

a n d a lively interchange of humorous and charming

r e marks "but the s u bj ect o f conversation at such
moments is not a s a ru l e the question of oratory but ,

something extraneous to the main theme . The con

 I N T ROD U CTI O N vii

versation does not as a rule cont ribute to the argu

, ,

ment of the dialogue b ut only relieves the somewhat

,

long winded discourse s

- of the chief exponents of

Cicero s theory of oratory It has been said that the

’
.

De Ora t o re is ‘the most finished perhaps of Cicero s ’

, ,

compositions . An air of grandeur and magnificence

reigns throughout . The characters of the aged
S enators are finely conceived and the whole company ,

’
1
is invested with an almost religio s maj esty u . This
‘
air o f grandeur and magnificence and al most
’
‘
religious
m aj esty may be what we are finding fault with an d
’

the fa u lt may r eally lie with the reader who cannot

attune himself to so high a strain but we cannot help
feeling that any of the listeners might fairly have
administered to Crassus at all events if not to th e ,

other speakers the well—

known rebuke which Lamb
,

administered t o Coleridge .
_
Crassus does unmistakeably
preach and not talk and it is a certain relief
, , w h e n rv r

we reach the les s pompous and comparatively every

day deliverance o f Antonius .

The scene of the dialogue is laid at the Tusculan

villa of L Licinius Crassus
. . To this country residence
he is represented as retiring fo r the brief holiday of

th e Lu di R om a ni, in th e year B C. .
91 . It was at a
moment when political excitement wa s running very
high . Two burning questions were before the Roman

J hn q u o t ed b y Dr S a in his Intro du c
1
o H e nry N e wm a n, . ndys

i
t o n t o t h e O ra t o r, p . i
xl x .
v iii I N T ROD U CTI O N

public —the reform of t h e ju dicia and the extension of ,

the c ivit a s to all the Italian yeomen . The champion

of the party of reform was M Livi u s Drusus and he .
,

was supported by the most enlightened members of

the nobility his chief opponent being L

,
. Marcius
Philippu s the Consul ,
. Crass u s there fore accompanied
, ,

by some of his closest political friends took the ,

o
ppo r
t u n it y of the inter val afforded by the Lu di Ro m a ni to

retire for a few days rest and refreshment in the ’ ‘

country His companions were his father in —

. law -
,

Q M u c i u s S caevola the Augur "Marc u s Antonius th e

.
, ,

grandfather of the triumvir "and two younger mem

b e rs of the party P S ulpici u s Rufus and C Aurelius
, . .

Cotta attached more immediately the former to Cras

, ,

s u s, and the la t ter to Antonius . The visit extend e d

ov e r thre e days . On the fi rst day the political situation ,

e ngaged all their attention and was made the subj ect ,

of an animated discussion . On the second day all the ,

morning up to the hour for the siesta was spent in a

discussion on oratory which was opened by Crass u s , ,

and in which he took the l e ading part Antonius only ,

bri e fly r e plying and suggesting some limitations to the

very extensive claims mad e by Crassus for t he perfect
orator . At the end of the second day ,
S caevola retired
to his own villa , b u t on the morning of the third day
his place was suppli e d by the unexpected arrival of

two other friends Q Lu t a t i u s ,

. Ca t u l u s , t h e conqu e ror
of the Cimbri at the battle of Ve rc e l l a e, and C . J ulius
 I N T ROD U CTI O N ix

Caesar Strabo V o p i scu s, a half brother of -

Ca t u l u s, who
in the second book takes some part in the dialogue as
the exponent of the true theory of wit and its pl ace ,

and function in oratory . On the third day the d is

c u ss i o n was maintained till the evening . Antonius
disco u rsed thro u ghout the morning with a brief ,

interval for Caesar s deliver a nce on wit and after the

siesta Crassus again took up the tale and with but a
, ,

very few interruptions from the others monopolised th e

I"
afternoon .

S uch i s a very meagre skeleton of the contents of th e

thre e books "each o f which it should be added has , ,

a few introductory sections H ere in the first book .

, ,

Cicero states his reasons and motives for writing the

treatise and gives in brief his own notions on th e
,

requir ements of the orator "in the second he reminds ,

his brother o f the false impression there was that Crassus

and Antonius were unlearned and ignorant men and ,

expl ains how that impression arose "in the third he ,

deplores the untimely deaths of Crass u s and Antonius ,

and the horrors of t h e M arian proscription .

I t is not necessary here to give a d e ta iled account of

the dra m a t is p ers o na e the details of their careers may
be read in the Biographical Dictionary or in the intro ,

the De
’

d u c t io n s to such editions of Ora t o re as Piderit s ,

S o ro f Dr Wilkins I t will be noticed that \1

’ ’

s, or . .

S caevola retires after the first day and Cicero himself ,

in a letter to Atticus (A d A lt iv . . 1 6, tells u s why

x I N TROD U CTI O N

this is so . There seem to have been t wo reasons

the one suggested by the Rep u b lic of Plato where the ,

aged Cephalus similarly retires early in the dialogue it ,

not being suitable that a man of his years should si t

out long a con v ersation "the other because the

so

second and third books of the De Ora to re contain th e

-t’a of the subj ect and such a sportive old man
Te
xvv y ,

as S caevola (jocu la l o rem s enem illu m ) would have been

an inconvenient listener to a technical discourse This .

thing at all events —that Cicero s

’

passage shows us o ne ,

treatment of the conversation supposing it to have

,

been historical in its origin is ,

so free that very littl e
of the historical element remains . In fact one ,
o f th e
chief motives for p u tting the treatise in the form of a
historical dialogue seems to be the desire to throw th e
halo of the authority of such names as Crassus and
An toni us over Cicero s own theory of oratory "and it
'

is amusing to find in the course of the dialogue that

both Crassus 79) and Antonius 9 5) venture on a
prophecy that even a greater orator than Crass u s will
some day be heard in Rome . I t is impossible not to
believe that Cicero in these passages is thinking of his
o wn achievements . I t is noticeable also that in seve ral ,

points there is so strange an identity between what

Crassus is made to tell us about himself and what we
kno w of Cicero from other works of h is . that we are
inclined to regard the De Ora to re as largely a u to
biographical . Crassus for instance tells us in
, , 121
 I N T ROD U CTI O N xi

of his extreme n ervo u sness whenever he began to

speak "and in his speech P ro Clu entz o

'

5 1 ) Cicero ,

tells us exactly th e same thing about himself The .

t wo passages are well worth comparing the language ,

in them being very similar . Again Crassus in ,

1 5 4,

155 speaks of the literary exercises which he practised

in his youth in th e way of the reproduction and
retranslation of passages from classical authors Latin ,

and Greek and in the B ru tu s 3 1 0) we hear exactly

the same about Cicero . Again in , 1 90 Crassus tell s
us that he has a scheme fo r red u cing the civil la w to a
system though h e is afraid he may not be able
, to

carry it out and A G e l l iu s speaks of a book o f Cicero s ’

.

u i ins cri tu s es t de u re c ivili in i 1 Crassus

q p j a rt em r ed e ndo
g .
,

then may be regarded as the exponent of Cicero s

,
’

views but not exclusively

, "for though Antoniu s so

in the first book attempts to put limitations to the

province of the orator as defined by Crassus yet in the ,

second book he claims no less unlimited powers for

‘ ’

him ,
so that Crassus e x claims : A night s rest ha s

polished and humanised you Antonius we are glad to , ,

sa
y "for in ou r conversation yesterday you described
the orator to us as a sort of dull monotonous galley ,

slave quite destitute of any culture or polite learn

,

ing ’
and Antonius replies that yesterday he was only
arguing for the sake of arguing but now he feel s ,

bound to give his real opinions . Thus we may infer ,

1
S ee es pe i
c a lly on t h i s p o int Dr Wilk ins
.
’
no t e o n 1 90 .
 xii I N TROD U CTI O N

I think that the modifications suggested by Antonius

,

in the first book a re accepted by Cicero though ,

no

longer a s modifications but as additions to the require

ments of the perfect orator "or are at all events incor
, ,

p o ra t ed in some way in the general theory .

’
What then is Cicero s theory of oratory ? and what
, , ,

according to him are the n ecessary qualifications of the

,

perfect orator ? The briefest possible ans wer to this

question would b e —if we may be allowed to s a y s o
without disrespect to the memory o f Cicero Let
:1 man do exactly a s I Cicero have done and he will
, , ,

thus a nd thus only achieve the desired result ’

, , . It i s
’
impossible not to feel Cicero s perhaps pardonable vanity
throughou t the treatise — his proud consciousness that
he was the greatest of Roman orators . He admits
unrese rvedly the merits of his pr e decessors but at ,

the same time plainly gives us to understand that

s omething has been added in these later days . This ,

su rely is the meaning

,
of the regrets put into the
mouth of Crassus that he had not been able to prepare
hims e lf as much as he could have wished for the career
o f an o rator "of his depreciatory rema rks about his o w n
a chievements and s u ccess "and of his confident antici
patiou o f th e advent of some one who will approach
n earer than he has done to his i d eal lTh e whole gist .

o f the matter lies in the point disputed as we lear n ,

from the introduction between Cicero and h is

brother "the former maintaining that the profoundest
 I N T ROD U CTI O N xiii

learning was essential to eloquence the latter that ,

Eloque nce depended solely o n natural gifts s upple

m e n t e d by special training I f the v iew o f Qu intus
.

—
w
“

ere the true o n e it would be impossible Cicero

, ,

seems to arg u e to account for the extreme rarity o f

,

fi rst -rate orators "the history o f the world furnishing

only v ery few instances o f men who have distinguished

themselves in oratory and this in spite of much atten
,

tion having been given to the art and many having ,

aspired to win fame in this direction The fact m u st .

be that eloquence demands a combination o f attain

ments such as are each o f them singly hard to be
acquired The d i fficulty o f the subj ect has not been
.

as yet fully realised and the ordinary text-books o n

rhetoric and the rules a n d precepts there given are
, ,

quite in a dequate for the purpose for which they are

‘

designed . Cicero therefore proposes to give the true

, ,

theory of oratory as h eld and set forth not by m ere

,

professors of rhetoric but by two of the most approved

,

and accomplished orators that had ever addressed a

Roman audience . It is as though he would impress
upon h is readers his o wn belief that eloquence is not
merely a matter of certain definite principles and rules
which may be learned from te x t books and treatises -

of
’
on rhetoric but is far rather a life s work the result
, ,

much study and much hard wo rk of much knowledge ,

and much e x perience . This is the V iew which Crassus

and Antonius together impress upon the two young
x iv I N T ROD U CTIO N

asp irants to oratorical fame ,

S ulpicius and Cotta
Crassus emphasising rather the necessity of ear nest
st u dy and universal knowledge Antonius the necessity ,

of much practice and actual experience of public life ,

while both of them insist on the antecedent necessity

of certain physical gifts of voice , appearance ,
and
carriage . The true orator is defined by Crassus 64)
as the man who whatever may be the subj ect he is
,

call ed on to elucidate by lan guage will speak , on it

with j udgment in harmonious language in perfect
, ,

sty le and with accurat e knowledge all combined with

, ,

a certain dignity of delivery "and though he is willi ng

’
to concede that for practical purposes the orator s pro
vince may be limited to the two spheres o f deliberative
and forensic eloquence -
o v
q Bo vAem
j)
-
a w ja n d i j3m a vcm ,

yet he insists more than once that ideally the activity

of the orator extends to all subj ects of human thought
and knowledge . We may therefore conclude that in
’

Cicero s opinion the orator is the man who no t only

knows everything th e re is to be known but can also ,

speak on every such subj ect with power to pers u ade

and to convince . This is a large claim to make for the
orator but it may be said that Cicero for his age and
, ,

times fu lly satisfied it

, .

The definition of the orator thus given by Crassus

includes five q u alifications which the orator must
possess —inventio fl igm sjtio elo cu tio m em orz a a ct io the
, , ,
’

,
-

corresponding verbs and adverbs being exco

gita re and
 I N T RO D U CTI O N xv

p ru de nt er, disp onere and co m

p o s it e
,
om a re and o r na te ,

m em iniss e and m em o rit er, a and

g ere cu m
q u a da m a ct io nis

dignita t e . This division of the activity of the orator is

not peculiar to Crassus ,
b u t is taken from the accepted
text books
- on rhetoric and the advance mad e here by
Crassus appears chiefly to lie in the contents he gives
to invent io . I n the ordinary treatises inventio appears to
h ave been limited to c ertain technical points common
to a ll subj ects whereas in the theory of Crassus it would
,

seem that invent io is used in the widest sense— that of

fi nding ou t all there is to be said on the subj ect in t /
hand and thus the way is opened for that demand for
uni v
ersal knowledge on the part of the orator which
strikes us as s o extraordinary in the De Ora to re . There
are t wo main subj ects of knowledge which are postu
l ated fo r the orator—a knowledge of—moral philosophy
and a knowle dge of l aw . The feign
e r is indispensable

to all oratory because as the orator must speak to

, ,

persuade he must be familiar with all the motives of

,

human action and be able to rouse ,

or soothe at will
the emotions of his auditors "he must know what
e ff ect di ff erent situation s are likely to have u pon the
feelings of an audience and b e able ,
to produce that
e ffect if and when he desires . All this is well put by
Antonius in 87 . The latter a k nowledge ,
of la w, is

insisted on at great le ngth by Crassus 1 66

partly perhaps to add to the dramatic e ffect of the

, ,

dialogue by way of compliment to

, S caevola, who was a
xvi I N T ROD U CTI O N

distin guished member of a great legal family partly ,

as a natural result of social life in Rome in which the ,

law courts and trials both public and private formed so

-
, ,

large an element . In other matters it is conceded that

the orator may get th e knowledge necessary for his
purpose second hand —that h e may be primed for the
-

occasion "but this is only a reluctant concession to

human weakness and indolence and it is asserted again ,

and again that if the orator would be perfect he i nust

, , ,

to use the expression of Parson Adams in his discourse

on Homer ,
comprehend all perfections for though
such universal knowledge may not be immediately
n eedful on every occa sion and in every speech yet it ,

is desirable th at the orator should produce in his

a u dience the impression of having a large reserve of
power upon which h e can draw ,
of being a man of
wide discourse enj oying a large freedom and perfect
,

m astery of his craft .

Another direction in which the traditional notions of

the function of th e orator are enlarged is seen in the
treatment of the question whether there is an art o f
rheto ric In Antonius tells the company how
’

.
9 0, 9 2
Cha rm a da s, the Academic denied there was any such
,

an art of rhetoric because an art implies

,

s u bj ect—
matter known and thoroughly understood ,

relative to a definite end and invariabl e "and therefore

,

it wo u ld follow that as the subj ect matter of oratory

,
-

is as variable a s human nature rhetoric is purely

, em v
 I N T ROD U CTI O N x vii

p iri c a l —the view taken o f it by Plato in the Go rgia s ,

to which referenc e has already been made by Crassus

In 1 08 Crass u s admits this contention of
C ha rm a da s
’
according to his definition of art but goes
on to substit u te a less rigorous definition whereby the ,

art of rhetoric is made to consist of a system of rules

derived by intelligent observation from the practice of

\
speakers and classified for ordinary use
,
. In this way e
3

rh etoric is reinstated in the circl e of the liberal arts , .

and at the same time delivered from the bondage of a

set o f hard and fast rul es which admit of no variation ,
s

’
scope being left for the ingenuity and initiative o f t h e g
individual speaker— a solution of the di ffi culty which}
is warmly welcomed by Antonius .

Two other points which Crassus emphasises remain

to be mentioned in order to complete ,
our account of

Cicero s theory of oratory

’
. The first of these to which ,

reference has already been made is the necessity of ,

c ertain natural gifts To these l i

. so m u
p t
cr rn ‘ '
or a n ce

is attached that we are almost forced

,
t conclude that
o

in the bottom of his heart Cicero b el i e v e d t ha t the

orator like his next
, fit -o f- kin the poet ,
na sc it u r no n .

These physical qualifications are mobility of tongue ,

tone of voice power ,

of lung good physique and a
, ,

certain conformation of feature and general pos e of

limb . Defects in these respects may be partially

ob v iated or removed—as for instance Demosthenes , ,

cured his stammer and there h a ve been men who have

,
 xvii i I N TROD U CTI O N

made some mark as speakers in S pite of such defects

b for the perfection of oratory these physical a dva n
u t

tages are necessary and all the more s o because , ,

though in th e kindred profession of the actor we can

tolerate some deficiency in these respects since there ,

are other things to engage our interest and fix ou r

attention yet in oratory where

, ,
ou r attention is con
c e n t ra t ed on the speaker alone anything in him that
,

j ars on us or o ffends our taste has a prej udicial e ffect on

his whole performan ce . This is c o rnb a t ed by Antonius
in his reply and it would s eem with reason and common
,

s ense on his side . The second of these points is the

i/ necessity of careful preliminary t rainin g the devotion ,

of a lover to one s art . This training must cons i st in

the critical study of the best authors Greek and ,

Roman in declamation exercises both , ex t emp o re and

prepared in physical exercises for the management o f
the voice and the limbs "and above all in much written , ,

composition . The importance attached to the use of

the pen is rather interesting "showing as it does what , ,

must have been t h e actual practic e of Cicero Accord .

ing to him not only does a constant habit

, of w ri ting
give ease and fl uency to th e orator s style but the ’

l mere process of writing is actually provocative of

thou ght . So much stress is laid on th is that we may ,

I think conclude that Cicero was in th e habit of writ

,

ing ou t his speeches in full before th ey were delivered .

Another advantage of the habit also is stated to be

, ,
xx I N T ROD U CTI O N

at the end of the lecture . Hence I have freely

adopted in the translation anything that seemed of
value in the labours of others ,
a s my aim wa s not to be
,

original but to give my pupils a model that might be

,

worthy in some measure of their imitation . One b ook

particular I have freely used and that is Dr Wilkins
’

in ,
.

edition this treatise "and I hope that if he should

of ,

think this book o f mine worthy o f his notice he will ,

on this account pardon such borrowings as I hav e made

from him . S ince I have been persuaded to publish my
version I have in s ome case s tried to alter what I had
,

taken from his notes "but I have found myself in the

same di ffi culty as Crassus was with regard to the writ
ings o f Ennius and Gracchus — the words which are
most suitable have been already appropriate d by Dr .

Wilkins and I have been

, u nable to make alterations
without loss . The other edition of the De Ora to re I
’

have used is S o ro f
( Berlin and I have adopted
s ,

his text thro u ghout except in one place The task I

, .

set before myself was to translat e the original as liter

ally as it wa s possible so to do and yet produce a readable
,

English version I endeavoured though I fear it may ,

sound a somewhat vain ambition to l et my English ,

retain something of the Ciceronian style . No one

knows better than myself h o w far short of my aim the

performance has fallen "b u t I have deliberately all
through the work allo w ed t h e Latin to form my styl e
so far as seemed consistent with English idiom . It
 I N T ROD U CTI O N xxi

would have been wiser perhaps , ,

to have taken Addiso n
or some other Englis h classic as a model and ,
to have
written the translation in his styl e . But to say nothing
,

of m y inability to do this such was not my obj ect "

,

my obj ect wa s, if possible to let Cicero dominate my

,

expression , so that my English version might retain

s ome suggestion of his sustained periods . Above all
things I would emphasise the fact that the translation
, ,

such a s it is was made for teaching purposes

, . I believe
at the time it had some use as helping my pupils to get
s ome notion of Ciceronian Latin and if others should
find it helpful in a similar way I should feel th at the ,

publication of it was in so m e degree j ustified . I publish

it I must confess reluctantly and only at the repeated
, , ,

request o f m y friend Mr H F Fox

, . . . . I do not view
with much pleasure the multiplication of translations
of the Greek and Latin classics but I was unwilling ,

to appear ungracious to so o l d a friend and I was the

more easily persuaded to consent because the De ,

Ora to re i s not a book that is read much and if read it , , ,

should be read rapidly and in large pieces at a time .

I t also s eemed to me that such a t ranslation a s the

pre sent might perhaps be u seful for th e purpose of

le a rn ing Latin Prose Composition especially in the ,

c ase o f those who have no o ne to guide them and

correct their e x ercises .

I cannot concl ude this introduction without a word

of hearty thanks to my friend and past colleague Mr ,
.

6
x xii I N T RO D U CTI O N

H G Da k yn s who has most generously read through

. .
,

all the proof sheets of the translation suggested many

-
,

improvements and sa v ed me from many errors

,
no one
could have taken more trouble over h is own work than
he has over mine .

E . P MO O R
. .

CL I F TO N , fam z a ry 1 89 2 .
 E RRA TA .

The re a der is re u est e d

q to m a k e t he f o llo wing c o rre ct io ns
Pa g e I, l a s t l ine fo r t ra nqu i l l i ty re a d tra nq u ill i ty ,
Pa g e 1 9 , line 2 3 , fo r w a s rea d w a s ,
Pa g e 3 1 , l in e 3, fo r t a i nt , re a d t /z i né ?
Pa g e 4 1 , li ne 8, fo r R om e re a d R o m e,
Pa g e 5 1 , l in e 1 0 , fo r a t t a i n ed, a nd q u est ion etc .
, re a d
a t t a in ed "o n e qu est io n o n ly et c .

Pa g e 59 , l ine 8, fo r a nd o ver rea d a ga in a nd

 C IC E R O D E O R A TO R E

BO O K I.

H E N EV E R my thoughts and re m in i I
’

s c e n c e s take me back t o the o l d days

,

my dear brother I am always struck

,

with the extreme felicity o f those who ,

in the best days of our country s history were distin ,

u ish e d both by o fficial position and by their brilliant

g
s ervi ces to the state and yet were able to maintain a
,

life of such e v en tenor that they could as they pleased

enj oy political activity without danger o r retirement
,

without loss o f honour, There w a s a time indeed when , ,

I thought that I too should be able to claim with ,

the almost universal consent o f my fellow countrymen -

,

a moment f o r retiring and for turning my attention

once more to those higher studies to which we are
both of u s devoted if only some pause shoul d come
,

in the endless labours of public life and the engrossing

occupations o f a candidate for election when my ,

o ffi cial career was closed and the prime of my life

was past . This hope which w a s present in all my 2
,

thoughts and purposes was disappointed by a c o m

,

bination of disastrous pol itical events and various

domestic misfortunes "for where I expected to find a
most ampl e haven of rest and tranquillity I was ,
 2 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ 1 . 2

confronted by an overwhelming flood o f vexation and

a tempestuous stor m of troubl e and as a matter of
,

fact much as I have wished and d esired it I hav e

, ,

never been vouchsafed any enj oyment of leisure in

which to prosecute and renew with you those studies
to which from our boyhood we have been devoted .

Thus my early years j ust coincided with the first

collapse of o l d political principles my consulship
,

brought me into the ve ry centre and heat o f the

political struggle and all my energies between my
,

cons u lship and the present time I have devo ted t o

stemming the waves which were by my policy dive rted
from overwhelming the count ry only to recoil upon
,

me and mine H owever even in spite of present hin

.
,

drances whether political di fli c u l t i e s o r limitations o f

,

time I will indulge the tastes which we share together

, ,

and what leisure is allowed me either by the evil

designs of political enemies o r the calls of friendship
and public duty I shall devote exclusively to literary
,

work Certainly t o your command or your request

.
,

my dear brother I cannot be indi fferent "f o r there is

,

no one whose authority or wishes can have more

weight with me than yours .

II M U S T therefore now to recall to mind a story

t ry

I heard some time ago I have not a very distinct

.

remembrance of it but it will be su fficient I think for

, , ,

your purpose and it will show yo u what has been the

,

opinion of the greatest and most famous orators on the

general theory o f oratory Yo u have often expressed
.

to me a wish that since the rude and i mperfect work

 4 CI CERO DE O RATO RE I .
[ 11 . 8

able by their wisdom and counsel to direct and

g u ide th e state we have known many within o u r
,

o wn memory " still more were known within the

memory of o u r fathers and even in the ages before
them "whereas for many centuries we find no good
orators barely indeed one tolerabl e representative
,

of the art fo r each generation It may indeed

.
, ,

occur to an obj ector that oratory ought to b e com

pared with other p u rsuits s u ch a s deal with more
abstruse subj ects and imply a wide acq u aintance with
literature rather than with the excellence of a general
,

or the practical wisdom of the good statesman "but

let him only turn to such other branches of study ,

and observe how numerous are the distinguis hed

names in each and he will very easily realis e what
,

paucity o f orators there is and always has,

III OU are n o doubt well aware that of all the liberal

arts in high repute philosophy is considered
by the learned to be the mother and the great ‘
,

original if I may borrow th e expression "yet in

,
’

philosophy it is di fficult to e n umerate how many men

there have been of the greatest knowledge o f many ,

sided interests and rich endowments who have n o t ,

only done good work as specialists in some one depart

ment but have covered the whole range of knowl e dge
,

possibl e to them either in their direct search after

,

IO truth o r in their dialectical discussions

,
We all .

know what obscure subj ects are handled in mathe

matie s how abstruse a science it is h o w complicated
, , ,
1 11 . 12 ] CI CERO DE O RATO RE I . 5

how exact and yet so many have attained to p e rfe c

,

tion in it that no o n e we may almost s a y has given , ,

his serious a tt e ntion t o this science and not achieved

success Is there an instanc e of any o n e devoting
.

himself to music o r the now fashionable study o f ,

l ang u age professed by the grammarians as they are ,

call e d and failing to acqu ire a thorough knowledge

,

of the almost unlimited ra and s u bj ect matter o f -

those branches of think I may truly sa y II

that of the whole n u mber of ose who have engaged

in t h e p u rs u it and acquirem e nt of the liberal arts the ,

smallest continge nt is that of fi rs t — rate poets and

orators " and further within this small contingent in
1
,

which instances of real excellence are very rare you ,

will find by a carefu l selection of examples fo r com

parison from the history both o f Rome and Greece ,

that there ha v e been far fewer good orators than good

poets And this m u st strike us as all the more su r
.
1 2

prising becaus e the subj ects o f all t h e o t h e r arts are

, .

drawn as a r ule fro m remote and abstruse sources ,

wherea s t h e w hole province of oratory is within reach

"

of every on e and finds its s u bj ect matt e r in the pra c t i

,
-

cally universal experience o f men and their ordinary

manners and conversation so that while in the other
arts the highest excellence is found where there is the
furthest r e move from the intelligence and a pp re cia
tion of the unlearned in the orato r on the contrary it , , ,

1
H e re I h a ve de s ert e d S o rc i
’
s t e xt , fo r t h e i p l e rea so n t h a t
s m

I ca n ge t if
n o s a t s a c t o ry m e a n n i g ou t of i t , wi t h o u t s u pp o sing
C i ce ro g il t y
u of a l o o se ne s s o f exp i
re s s o n wh ic h seem s inco nce iv
a b l e in so c a re u l a f pi e ce o f w it i ng
r a s t h is .
 6 CI CERO DE O RATO RE I .
[ 1 11 . 12

is a fault o f the very gravest character t o be out of

harmony with the language o f every day life and the -
,

accepted usage of men o f ordinary taste and int el li

IV ND we cannot either (in explanation of this )

1 3 maintain with a ny tr u th that more devote them
'

selves to the other arts or that those w ho do s o are

,

encouraged to m a ster thei} subj ect by the great er

pleasure of the work or by higher hopes of s uccess
, ,

p
o r by more s le ndid prizes
‘ In fact to.sa
y nothing ,

o f Greece which has a l w a y d claimed to be first in

’

eloquence and o f that mother of all the arts the city

, ,

of Athens where the art o f rhetoric was invented and

,

attained its highest development in o u r own country , ,

even no study surely h as ever had a more vigorous

,

I4 life than the study o f o ra t o ry For )when after the a

establishment of our world wide empire a lengthened

-

peace secured to us the enj oyment of leisure th e re ,

was hardly a young man of any ambition who did n o t

think that he ought to p u t forth all his energy t o
make hi m self an orator At first indeed o u r c ountry
.
, ,

men in total ignorance of the theory and believing ,

neither in the virtue o f training nor in the existence ,

o f any particular rule of art attained to what success

,

they could by th e help of native wit and invention "

s u bsequently after they had h e ard the Greek orators
, ,

studied Greek literature and cal led in the aid of

,

Greek teachers they were fi red with a really marvel

,

lous zeal for learning the art They were encouraged

.

‘
by the importance the variety a n d t h e n u mber o f
, ,
 v . 17 ] CI CE RO DE O RATORE I .
7

causes o f every description t o supplement the learn ,

ing which they had severally gained from private

,

study by constant practice and found this better than

, ,

th e instructions of all the professors ’ Further to .

,

this pursuit then a s n o w the highest prizes were

, ,

o ff ered whether in the way o f popularity o r influence , ,

o r position Finally in respect o f abil ity as many

.
, ,

indications lead us to conclude o u r countrym en have ,

always be en far s u p e r1 o r t o any other nation in the

“

these e ra t io n s may surely j ustify I6

some surpris e at t h e history of all

ages periods a n d
, ,
presents us with s o
s mall a number e truth of the matter
i s that this ac
,
s something greater
than it is g enerally supposed t o be and is the com
(
,

b in e d result o f many arts and many studies .

O R when we consider the very large num ber of V

learners the f ich supply o f teachers the e xde p

, ,

abilities of th e persons engaged th e infinite

t io n a l ,

variety o f causes the splendour o f t h e prize s which

’

eloquence n where els e can we look for the,

’

explanation of fact except in the really incredible ,

/

greatness and di ffi c ul t y o f the subj ect ? Eloquence

/ — ,
1 7
dge o f
’ ’

c ’
in fact requires many thing s : a wide
,
'
r

very many subj ects ( verbal fluency without this being

wo rthless and even ridiculous ) a style t o o carefully , , ,

formed not merely by selection but by arrangement ,

o f words and a thorough familiarity with all the

,

feelings which nature h a s given t o man because the ,

whole force and art o f th e orator must be put forth in

 8 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ v. 17

allaying o r exciting the emotions of his audience "

Further than th i s it requires a certain pl ay of humour
and wit a liberal culture a readi ne s s and b revity in
, ,

reply and attack combined with a nice d elicacy a n d

,

1 8 refinement of manner
. I t req u ires also an acquaint
.

ance with all histgry , and a store of instances nor can ,

it dispens e with a knowledge of the statute books and -

all civi l law

. I need hardly add I p r esume any , ,

remarks o n mere d e livery This must be combined

.

wit h app ropriate movement of the Eddy gest ures , ,

looks and modulation and variety o f tone

,
H ow .

important this is in itself may be seen from th e

insignificant art o f the actor and th e procedure o f the
‘
stage for though all a c t o rs p a y great attention to the
due managem e nt of their features voice and gestures , , ,

it is a matter o f common noto rie ty how few ther e are ,

o r have been whom we can watch witho u t discomfort

, .

One word I must add o n memory the treasure house ,

-

o f all k nowl edge . U nless th e orator calls in the aid

o f memory to retain the matter and the words with

which thought and study have furnished him all hi s ,

other merits however brilliant we know will lose their

, ,

1 9 e ffect
. We may therefore well cease to wonder why
Vit is that real orators are s o few seei n g that eloquence
,

depends o n a combination o f accomplishments in each ,

o n e o f which it is no slight matter to achieve success

let us rather urge our children and all others whose ,

fame and reputation is dear to us t o realise the great ,

ness of the task and to believe that tho u gh they

,

cannot attain to the goal of their a mbition by the

help of t hose rules o r teachers o r e x ercises which are
, ,
VI. 22 ] CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
9

in general use there are certain others which will

,

enable them to do so .

Yown private opinion is that no one can be a V I

'

r e al orator in the full sense of the word unless 2 0

h e first acquires a knowledge o f all the great subj ects o f
human st u dy "for a wide knowledge is n eeded to give
a luxuriance an d richness to language which unless ,

the speaker has thoroughly maste r ed his subj ect ,

su ff ers from what I may perhaps call a p u erile v a p idi t y J

o f expression S till I would not lay s o great a burden 2 1
.

o n the orator especially in o u r o w n coun t ry amid the

,

urgent calls of the city life o f to — day as to think that

-
,

there is noth ing of which they may e nj oy the privilege

o f ignorance alth ou gh the v ery m e aning of the word
orator and the mere profession o f eloquence seems
’

, ,

t o imply a p romise and undertaking to speak in good

style and with full knowledge o n any s u bj ect which

, ,

may be proposed This I am very s u re most men 2 2

.

would consider a task of incalculabl e and infinite

di fficulty The Greeks a lso I know rich as they were
.
, ,

not only in native wit and acq u ired learning b u t also ,

i n leisure and enthusiasm for study made a certain ,

div i s i on of the arts and did n o t devote their e fforts

,

individually to even o ne department as a whole but ,

separated from the other provinces of speech that

particular subdivision which is concerned with the
public discussions of the law courts and deliberative -

assemblies and a s m gn e d this only to the orator F o r

,
.

these reason s I s h all n o t in this present treatise

includ e more than what has been after careful inquiry ,
 10 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[
vx . 22

and much discussion allotted to this division of the art

,

by the all but unanimo u s j udgment of the highest

2 3 a u thorities "and I shall not go back to the beggarly
elements o f the o l d fashioned teaching which we
-

received in o u r boyhood for any definite system o f

rules but I will repeat t o you th e substance of a
,

conversation which I have been told took place on a

certain occasion between some o f the greatest orators
and leading statesmen o f our own country Pray d o .

not imagine that I would rej ect the rules which the
Greek professors of rhetoric have left to us but as ,

they are public property and within the reach o f

,

e v e ry o n e and cannot in any translation of mine b e

, ,

either s e t forth with better grace or expressed in

clearer language than they are you will I daresay my
, ,

dear brother forgive m e if I prefer to any Greek

,

professor the a u thority o f those to whom the highest

place o n the roll of orators has been conceded by the
Roman world .

V II E must go back to the time when the Consul

24 Philippus w a s making a fierce attack on the
policy of the leading nobility and when the tribunician
,

power o f Drusus whose obj ect was to maintain the

,

authority of the senate was beginning to all appear

,

ance to lose its influence and stability At this .

j uncture L Cr assus I remember being told retired

.
, ,

in the week of the Roman Games t o his villa at

Tusculum to recruit his forces "he was j oined there ,

I was told by his late wife s father Qu int u s Muci ns

,
’

, ,

and by Marcus Antoni u s who was connected with

,
 12 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ v 11 . 28

Why not do as S ocrates does Crassus in the Ph aedr u s , ,

of Plato ? The thought is suggested to me by your

plane tre e he r e which with its spreading b ranches
-
, , ,

makes less perfect shade for this spot than the

tree w h o se shade S ocrates sought which seems to me ,

t o hav e owed its luxuriant growth not so much to the

rivulet described in the dialog u e as to Plato s pen "

’

and s u rely w hat S ocrates with his horny feet did ,

threw himself that is o n the grass and s o delivered

, , ,
‘

those di v in e utterances which the p h il o s o ph e rs a t t ri

b u te to him this I with my softer feet may more
,

fairly b e allowed to do Crassus rej oined ‘

’
N ay
2 9 .
, ,

’
let u s do s o with an added comfort and called for ,

some cushions and then they all s a t down on th e

,

benches beneath the plane tree -

.

V II I H I LE they s a t there as Cotta used to tell the ,

story in order to refresh the minds o f the

,

company after the conversation of the previous day ,

Crass u s started a discussion on oratory H e began by .

say ing that S u lpicius and Cotta did not a s it seemed s o , ,

much ne e d encouragement from him as deserve his

hearty commendation in that they had already attained
,

t o s u ch proficiency that they not only outstripped their

contemporaries but challenge d comparison with their

,

‘
seniors "and b e lie v e me he continu e d ‘nothing seems
’

, , ,

to me a nobler ambition than t o be able to hold by

yo u r eloquence the m inds of men to captivate their ,

wills to move them to and f ro in whatever dire ction

,

you please This art o f all others has ever found its
.

fullest development in every free community and more ,

v1 1 1 . 33 ] CI C E RO DE O RATO RE I
. 13

especially in states enj oying peace and tranquillity ,

and has ever ex ercised a dominant influence What .

31
indeed is s o truly wonderful as that out o f an infinite
n umber o f men o n e man should stand forth able alone ,

o r with few others t o u s e with e ff ect what is real ly

,

’
nature s gift t o all ? What pleasure is greater to mind
o r ear than a speech adorned with wise sentiments

and weighty words and in perfect style ? Can we

imagine a more imposing display of individual power
tha n that t h e pass ions of a p eopl e the consciences of ,

a j u ry the gra v e d eliberations of a senate should b e

, ,

swayed by on e man s utterance ? What again is s o , , 32

royal an exercise of liberality and m u n i fic e n c e as t o
bring help to the distressed to raise the a fflicted t o , ,

protect the rights of our fellow citizens to free them -

,

from danger and save them from exil e

,
What more ,

over is so practically useful as always to have in your

,

grasp a weapon with which you can secure your o w n

safety attack the enemies o f the state or avenge
, ,

y ourself when provoked b y them ? Or once m ore n o t ,

to be always thinking o f the forum its courts o f ,

j ustice public meetings and senate what greater

, , ,

enj oyment can there be in times of leis u re what ,

greater intellectual treat than the brilliant discours e

l
’

o f a perfect scholar ? I t i s in fact this o n e c h a ra c:

t e ris t ic that gi v es us our chief superiority over the

brute creation the habit I mean of conversing with

, , ,

o n e another and the power o f expressing o u r feelings

, ,
I

in words This power then every o n e may well

.
, , 33
admire and may well think that his best energies
,

must be exerted to make himself superior to his

 14 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[a 33

fellow men in that special gift which gives them

-

their chief superiority over brute beasts Finally .

,

t o come to what are the main advantages o f speech ,

what other power could have gathered the scattered

members o f the human race into one place o r weaned ,

them from a wild and savage life to the humane and

civilised life o f c itizens or when their various com
, ,

m u n it i e s were once established cou ld have defined ,

for them their laws their j udicial procedure and

, ,

34 their rights ? Its further advantages which are well ,

nigh innumerable I will not follow o u t in detail

, ,

but will comprise them in one brief sentence — m y

deliberate opinion i s that the controlling influe nce
,

and wisdom of the consummate orator is the main

security not merely for h is o w n personal reputa
,

tion blit for the safety of countless in diw du a l s

,
‘

and the welfare o f the country at large For .

these reasons my young friends continue your pre

, ,

sent e fforts and devote yourselves to the pursuit

,

which n o w engages you that so y o u may be enabled

,

to win distinction for yourselves to benefit your ,

friends and to promote the best interests of your

, .

1 .

country .

IX HE N S ca evo la with his habitual courtesy said :

, ,

35 ‘In everything else I quite agree with Crassus

,

having n o desire to depr e ciate either the accomplish

ments or the reputation o f my father in law C Laelius - -
.
,

o r of my o wn so n in l a w but there are two statements

- -

of yours Crassus which I fear I cannot admit the o n e

, , ,

that orators were originally the founders and often the

1 x . 38 ] CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I . 15

sgy the other that t h e orator without

igugs of states , , _

limiting him to the v arious departm e nts of public life ,

has attained perfect i on in every subj ect of disco u rse

and polite l e arning In the first place w ho can agree
.
,

with you either that originally mankind when dis ,

e rs e d over the mountains and forests were n o t forced

p ,

by the wise action of far seeing spirits but rather won

-
,

by the persuasive words of the eloquent to fence them

selves round in walled towns ? Or again that other ,

useful dispositions wheth er in th e way o f establishing

,

or maintaining civilised communities o w ed th e ir origin ,

to the eloquence of men of clever speech rather than ,

t o the wisdom of men of resolute action ? Yo u surely 3 7

cannot think that Romulus either collected his shep
herds and refu gees or established inter marriage with
,
-

the S abines o r checked the violence o f neighbou ring

,

tribes by the power of eloquence and not by the ,

extraordinary wisdom of his policy Look again at .

the history of N uma Pompilius or S ervius Tullius and , ,

the other ki ngs who notably did much towards the

consolidation of the state is it their eloquence o f which
we s e e the e ff ects ? Then again after t he expul sion ,

of the kings — the actual expulsion o f course was plainly

the work of the brain and not th e tongue o f Brutus "
,

but the immediate sequel — doe s it n ot present a series

of wise actions with a complete absence o f mere words ?
Indeed if I cared to quote from the history of o u r own 3 8
,

country and others I could instance more cases of

,

loss inflicted upon communities by the agency of men

of the greatest eloquence than o f advantages owed to
them " but omitting all others I fancy the most ,
 16 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ 1 x. 38

loquent men I have e v e r heard with the exception ,

o f you and Antonius were the two Gracchi Tiberiu s

, ,

and Caius whose father a m a n o f sound sense and

, ,

sterling character but by no means eloquent often

, ,

did good service to his country and especially in his ,

censorship "he you know by no flood of elaborate

, ,

eloqu ence but by the mere expression of his will

, ,

transferred all freedmen into th e city tribes and but ,

for this measure of his what little of the old c o n st it u

,
I

tion still survives would long have ceased t o e xist .

But those eloquent sons of h is ready speakers as they ,

were with all their advantages whethe r o f nature o r

,

learning born citizens of a country to which their

,

’
father s policy and their grandfather s arms had brought
’

great prosperity squandered the resources of the state

,

by the help o f what according t o you is s o excellent

, ,

a d irector of the communities of men — the po w er of

eloquence .

O N S IDE R again o u r ancient laws and traditional

39 usag e s our au spices over which I no less than you
, , ,

Crassus preside for the preservation of our co u ntry "

,

o u r religious O bservances and ceremonies th e body

o f civil law which has for generations been domesticated

in my family though none of us has ever been

,

famo u s as an orator "do these o w e anything in respect

o f origin interpretation or even general treatment t o
, ,

4o the representatives of oratory ? Indeed if my memory ,

serves me S ervi u s Galba a very gifted speaker M

, , ,
.

lEm il iu s Porcina and o u r friend Caius Carbo the victim

, ,

of your youthfu l e ff orts knew nothing of statute law

, ,
x . 43 ] CI CERO DE O RATO RE I . 17

boggled over traditional usage and had little a c ,

quaintance with civil law "and with the exception of ,

you my friend who owe to your own enthusiasm more

, ,

than t o any special gift peculiar to the orator the

knowledge of civil law which you have learnt from
me o u r own age is ignorant of law to an extent that
,
l

sometimes makes one blush for it As t o the a ssu m p .

- I

tion which you made at th e end of your remarks with ,

all the ass u rance o f an unquestioned title that the ,

orator can be perfectly at home and is never at a

loss in a discussion upon any topic I should have ,

scouted it at once were you not here lord of all

,

y o u survey and I should have instructed a host of

,

litigants who would either contest your claims by a

’
pr a etor s inj unction or challenge you to prove your
title by process of law as having committed a rash and
,

violent s eizure of the domains of others For first of . 42

all the Pythagoreans would go to law with you and ,

the Dem o crit e a n s and a ll the other physicists would

appear in court to assert their claims all o f them ,

accomplished and weighty speakers against whom ,

you could not possibly make out a tenable case .

A nother heavy attack would come from the schools of

the moral philosophers beginni ng w ith S ocrates their

, ,

first founder proving that yo u had learnt nothing

, ,

made n o inquiries and knew nothing about the good

,

and evil in human aff airs the emotions and the habits
,

o f men or the true theory o f life

,
Then after they .
,

had made a combined attack upon you each school ,

would bring it s separate action against you The .

43
Academy would be upon yo u forcing you to contradi ct ,

B
 18 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE 1 .
[x . 43 .

with your o wn lips anything and everything you said

our friends the S toics would hopelessly entrap you in
the subtleties of their arguments and interrogations "
while the Peripatetics wo u ld prove triumphantly that
you must go to them for those very things which you
believe to be the special requirements and ornaments
of the orator and would demonstrate that Aristotl e
,

and Theophrastus had written much better and m uch ,

more too 0 11 these subj ects than all the professed

,

44 teachers of rhetoric I s a y nothing of the m a t h e m a

.

t i c ia n s grammarians and musicians with whose arts

, ,

your oratorical faculty has not even the most distant

connection F o r these reasons Crassus my opinion i
.
, ,
"
that the large and comprehensive claims you make
are quite beyond the mark Y o u must content your .

self with this —and it is no slight thing —that y o u can

guarantee that in the law courts any case in which y o u
-

plead will see m the stronger and more plausibl e that ,

in the national assembly and in the senate a speech

from y o u will have most power to persuade "that you ,

in short will produce an impression in professional

,

men of the ability in laymen of the truth of your

, ,

contention I f y o u succeed in doing more than this

.
,

the success I shall attribute not to the orator but to ,

some special gift attaching t o the personality of the

’
speaker .

‘
C
XI RA SS US I
fu lly aware S c ae vola that such are
a m , ,

45 the assertions made and the arguments habitually

used by the Greeks "for I attended the lectures of
their chief men when I stayed at Athens on my re
 2O CI C E RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ x1 . 48

other qualifications which we must allow h im "for h e

cannot deal e ven with such matters with due j udgment
and skill without close application to p u blic affairs ,

without a knowledge of statutes customs and law or

, , ,

without much insight into the nature and characters

of men Without these qualifications no one in any
.

question he is dealing with can be quite safe even 0 11

the minor points o f j udgment and skill and with ,

them surely he cannot be wanting in knowledg e on

, ,

the most important s u bj ects If y o u will n o t allow any

.

function to the orator save that of expressing himself

,

adequately in point of arrangement style and matte r

, , ,

then I a sk how can he achieve even that without the

further knowledge which you with others do not allo w
him ? For the true virtue o f rhetoric cannot have full
play unless the speaker has mastered the subj ect on
,

4 9 which he intends to speak Thus if the famous

.

physicist Democritus expressed himself in admirabl e

style (and o n this point my o wn opinion coincides
with the accepted tradition ) while the subj ect matter
,
-

o f his discourses is that of the physical philosopher ,

the style and language of them we must believe is

, ,

that of th e orator "and if Plato discoursed in most

perfect lang u age o n subj ects most remote from ordinary
political q u estions if likewise Aristotle Theophrast u s , ,

r and Carneades in their lectures proved themselves

men of eloquence with all the charm o f a polished
1 style the subj ects of which they treat I readily admit
belong t o other branches o f lear ning b u t their lan ,

guage falls entirely within the one province which we

5 0 are now discussing and investigati ng
’
Indeed we see
.
xu . 52 ] CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I . 21

that certain philosophers have treated of the same

subj ects in a meagre and j ej une style as for instance
, , ,

Chrysippus w h o is spoken o f f o r his extraordinary

,

acuteness b u t he did not therefore fail to satisfy the

requirements o f the philosopher because h e did not
,

possess the gift o f e x pression which is the outcome o f

,

an entirely di ff erent branch o f study .

H AT is it then that makes the di ff erence and XI I ,

how are we to distinguish the rich and copious

diction of the philosophers I have n amed from the
meagre diction o f those w h o have not the same variety
and grace o f language at their command ? S urely the
o n e di ff erentia of these more eloquent philosophers we

shall find to be that they bring to their work a style at

once harmonio u s and eloquent and distingu ished by a
,

certain note of artistic finish "and such a style if not ,

supported by a thorough knowledge o f his subj ect on

the part o f the speaker must either be conspicuous
,

by its absence or else provok e general derision For

,
5 1 .

nothing surely can be so idiotic as a mere j ingle o f

, ,

words be they as choice and perfect as you will if there

, ,

is no meaning o r knowledge underlying them What .

ever then his subj ect m a y be to whatever science it

,

may b elong and o f whatever kind the orator if he , ,

has studied it as he would a brief will speak on it,

with more skill and in better l an guage than even

the man who h a s made some o riginal discovery o r
has technical skill in that special line If I am 5 2 .

m e t by the obj ection that there are certain trai n s

o f thought and questions appropriate to the orator ,

 22 CI CERO DE O RATO RE 1 .
[ x1 1 . 52

and a kn owledge o f certain subj ects clearly defined

by the limits of public life I am quite ready to admit
,

that it is with such s u bj ects o u r profession a s speakers

is most constantly employed but at the same time
, ,

even in connection with these there is very m uch,

that does not fall within the teaching or apprehension

53 o f the o rdinary professors o f rhetoric Th u s as every
.
,
’

o n e knows the virtue o f

,
oratory is most e fle c t iv e ly
displayed in arousing the anger disgust or indignation
, ,

o f an a u dience,
or in turning them from such excite
ment o f feeling to mercy and pity "and here no one
but a man who has made himself thoroughly familiar
with the characters o f men and the whole range o f
,
.

human feeling and the motives whereby men s minds

,

are excited or calmed will ever be able t o produce by

,

54 his words the e ffect which he desires This whole

.

topic is of course g e nerally considered t o be the special

province of the philosopher nor will the orator with
,

my s anction at all demur t o this but conceding to the

philosophers the mere k nowledge of such s u bj ects ,

because they have chosen to concentrate all their

e ff orts in that direction h e will further make himself
,

responsible for the oratorical treatment of them for ,

which a knowledge of them is absolutely indispensable

for the special province o f the orator is as I have said,

already mor e than once to express himself in a style

,

at once impressive and artistic and conformable with

the tho u ghts and feelings of human nature .

X III HAT Aristotle and Theophrastus have written o n

55 this s u bj ect I admit but does not this S c aevola
, , ,
x1 1 1 . 5 8] CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I . 23

entirely confirm my contention For where they and

the orator a re o n common gro u nd I do not borrow ,

from them "whereas th e y admit that their discourses

o n this subj ect belong to oratory and therefore whil e , ,

they give to th e ir other treatises the title proper to

“ "
their own profession these they entitle rhetorical
, ,

and refer to them under that name X Th u s when as .

,

very often happens occasion arises in the cours e of a

,

speech for the ordinary commonplaces when th e ,

speaker has to enlarge u pon th e immortal gods natural ,

a ffection kindly feelin g friendship the common rights

, , ,

o f humanity j ustice temperance magnanimity and all

, , , ,

the other virtues the cry will be raised I s uppose by

, , ,

all the philosophical schools and sects that all this is

their special province in which the orator has neither
part nor parc e l but for my part while I am ready to ,

co ncede to them the right of discu ssing these s u bj ects

in the study by way o f pastime I shall still assign and ,

allot to the orator the power of enlarging with all the ,

charm of impressive eloquence on the same themes ,

which they debate in the meagre and lifeless language

o f the parlour This was the line o f argument I
. 57
adopted with the philosophers at Athens being urged ,

t o do s o by o u r friend Marcus Marcellus who is now ,

curule a e dile and would I am sure be here to take

, , ,

part in o u r present discussion if it were not for his ,

o fficial duties at the Games indeed even the n though , ,

a mere youth h e was an enthusiastic student of

,

rhetoric Again when question arises about laws and

.
,
58
contracts about war and peace about allies and tribu
, ,

taries abou t the rights of th e citizens distinguished

, ,
 24 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ xx1 1 . 58

according t o their di ff erent classes and ages the Greeks ,

are quite welcome to s a y if they like that Lycurgus

, ,

and S olon (tho u gh by the way I a m o f O pinion that

, ,

they ought to be reckoned among the representatives

o f eloquence ) had better knowledge than H yp e ri de s

o r Demosthenes t w o quite consummate masters of the

,

most polished eloquence o r the Roman i s welcome in

this matter to prefer the decemvi rs who drew up t h e
,

XI I Tables and must therefore have been sagacious

statesmen to S ervius Galba and yo u r father-in law
,
-

Cai u s L a elius who it is generally admitted were the

,

59 leading orators of their day "for while I have no wish

to deny that there are certain departments o f the art
special to those w h o have concentrated a l l th eir energies
o n the investigation and exposition o f those depart
’

ments I do maintain that the complete and perfe ct

,

orator is he who can speak o n a ll subj ects with fluency

o
. and variety .

XIV U RE LY, it often happens that in case s which are

admittedly the proper province of th e orator ,

some topic arises for which the speaker has t o draw .

n o t on his practical experience of political life which ,

i s all that y o u allow to the orator but on the resources

,

o f some less familiar science and he has t o borrow from

,

60 it For instance can a speech I ask either against or

.
, , ,

on behalf of a general be made without some

,

familiarity with military a ffairs or often without some

, , ,

geographical knowledge o f localities ? Can a speech

be made before the assembly either against or in
support o f a proposed law o r in the senate on any
,
x 1 v 63 ]
. CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I . 25

general question of state administration without con ,

s id e ra b l e knowledge both theoretical and practical o f

state a ffairs Can the power o f language be applied t o

the e x citing o r even allaying o f the emotions and feel
ings o f an audience which i s a thing of primary import
,

ance in an orator without a most careful study o f all

,

thos e theorie s which are put forth by philosophy o n

the di ff erent natures and characters of men ? Lastly , 61
though I very much do u bt whether I shall make my
contention good to your satisfaction I will n o t hesitate ,

t o asser t my sincere belief that while questions of ,

physics and mathematics and all those others wh ich

,

you j ust now laid down as special to the other branches

of science fall within the knowledge of those who
,

mak e such studies their business yet if a ny one wishe s ,

to elucidate such subj ects rhetorically he must apply ,

for aid to the oratorical faculty For though it is an . 62

admitted fact that the famous architect Philo wh o ,

built the arsenal at Athens e x plained h is design to the

,

assembly in a very able speech we must not therefore ,

suppose that the virtue o f his speech was du e to his

skill as an architect rather than to h is skill as an
orator N o r again if o u r friend Antonius here had had
.
, ,

to speak for H e rm o do ru s on the design of his dockyard ,

would h e with previous instr u ctions fro m H e rm o d o ru s

, ,

have failed t o speak in admirable styl e and with

adequate knowledge 0 11 another s handiwork N or ’
.
,

again did Asclepiades whom we kn ew not only as a

, ,

doctor but as a friend in s o far as he u sed to speak

, ,

i n admirabl e style represent the medical s o much as

,

the orato rical faculty Indeed what S ocrates used t o

.
63
 26 C I CE RO DE O RATO RE I
.
[x 1 v 63
.

more ten able though not true that every o n e

'

sa i
y s , ,

can be su fficiently eloquent o n a subj ect which he

knows "the real truth being that no one can ,

be eloquent 53 a subj ect h e does not know o r speak

’

well o n any particular subj ect h e does know even if ,

h e has perfect knowledge of it but has no skill in the ,

artistic composition of speeches .

XV H EREF O RE, if what is desired is a comprehensive

de finition of the special faculty o f the orator a s
a whole the true orator in my opinion the man really
, , ,

worthy of this grand name will be h e who whatever , ,

subj ect may arise for elucidation by language will spea k ,

o n this with j udgment in harmonious language in per ,

,

f e c t style and with accuracy all combined with a

, ,

certain d ignity o f delivery If the term I have used . ,

"
o n any subj ect whatever seems to any one too extra
,

’
vagant he or any o n e e l se is welcome t o trim and prune
,

my definit i on 1 11 this direction as much as they l ike "

but this I will hold to that even if the orat or has no
,

knowledge of those matters which lie within the ra n ge

o f the other arts and branches o f study b u t only nu ,

d e rs t a n d s those which come withi n the debates and

discussions of public life still if he has to speak o n,

such extraneous subj ects the orator after instructions

, ,

o n the particular points involved in each case from those

who do understand them will speak far better than ,

66 th ose who have S pecial knowledge of them Thus if .

"

S ulpicius should have occasion to speak 0 11 a military

q u estion h e will make inquiries o f o u r connection
, ,

Caius Marius and when he has received h is answer

, ,
 28 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ 1 69
x v .

X VI O R if the learned world is agreed that Aratus ,

though quite ignorant o f astronomy has com ,

posed a most eloquent and artistic poem on the

heavens and the stars and that N i ca n d e r o f Colophon
, ,

though he never had anything to do with agri

culture has written a noble poem on country life
,

by virtue o f his poetical faculty and n o t from a ny

knowledge of rustic lore why should not th e orator
,

be able to speak with the eloquence of a master on

v x su b je c t s which he has only studied for a particular cas e
{
7 0 and occasion ? F o r the poet is very near akin t o the
orator being somewhat more restricted in his rhythms
, ,

though freer in h is choic e o f words but in many of h is

,

methods of ornament his fello w and almost his equal ,

in this respect at all events nearly the same in s o far

, , ,

as he recognises no limitations to his full an d perfect

right o f expatiating in whatever field h e pleases with
7 1 the same mastery and freedom as the orator For a s
.

to your assertion that were I not here lord of all I

,

survey you would at once have scouted my remark

,

that the orator ought to be a perfect master in every

subj ect of discourse and every department of human
cult u re I assure you S c ae vol a I should neve r have
, , ,

thought for a moment o f making the remark if I

7 2 imagined that I had realised my o w n ideal But I do
.

feel what Caius Lu cilius used often to s a y— a man who

was not o n the best terms with you and for that very
,

reason not s o intimate with me as he wished to be b u t ,

for all that we must admit his learning and great

culture —that no one ought to be considered an orator
w h o i s not well trained in all those branches of lea rning
XV II . 7 5] CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I . 29

which ought to b e included in a liberal education and 4

tho u gh we make no immediate u s e o f such subj e cts in

a speech still it becomes quite evident wh ether we
,

are totally ignorant of them or have studied them .

J ust as with thos e who play at ball though in their , 73

actual play th ey have no occasion for the exact
dexterity of the gymnasium still we may infer from
,

their mere movements whether they have practised

gymnastics or not " and similarly with sculptors ,

although at the moment they have n o occasion for

painting still it i s quite evident whether they know
,

how to paint or not "s o in our speeches delivered in

the co u rts or to the people or in the senate even
, , ,

though no direct use is made o f the other arts it i s ,

nevertheless plainly apparent whether the speaker has

figu re d merely in the workshop of the ranter o r has ,

p repared himself for his task by an education in all I 1

’
the liberal arts .

then replied with a smile : I will not X V I I

5
CE VO LA
contest the point further with you Crassus for 7 4 ,

by some trick you have made good the partic u lar point
which you stated against me first conceding to me ,

that the orator doe s not possess certain qualifications

which I held that h e did not and then by some ,

legerdemain giving another colour to thes e q u a l i fica

tions and allowing the orator a peculiar title to them
,
.

I remember that w hen on my visit to Rhodes as 7 5

,

Governor of Asia I compared the lessons I had re

,

c e iv e d from P a n ae t iu s with the teachings o f Apollonius ,

the famous professor of rhetoric in that city he in his , ,

 30 CICE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ xm 75

usual way expressed much scorn and contempt for

,

philosophy but his remarks though witty w e re not

,

very impressi v e The ton e of yo u r remarks however

.
, ,

has been very di fferent "you have expressed no con

tempt for any art or branch of learning but spoken of ,

them all as the attendants and handmaids of oratory .

N ow if any one man co u ld master all the arts and at ,

the sam e time combin e with them yo u r gift of con

summate eloquence I cannot but s a y that h e would
,

be a very remarkabl e and truly admirable spec i men of

humanity b u t such a man —i f there were or ever had ,

been o r ever could be such a man— would b e you and

,

no o n e else of that I am sure who not only in my

, , ,
’

opinion but in the opinion of eve ry one have monopo

, ,

l i s e d —if my friends here will pardon the expression

77 th e whole fi e ld o f oratorical glory Bu t if th e r e is .

no subj ect connected with civil and political life o f

which you lack the knowledge and yet y o u have not ,

maste red that further and compr ehensive knowledge

which you expect o f the orator it occurs to me that .

we may b e attributing to him more than the act u al

facts of the case would warrant ‘
Cra ss u s : Ah you .
’

must remember I was not speaking of my own attain

ments but of thos e of the ideal orator Why what
, .
,

have I learnt or what co u ld I know my early intro

, ,

d u ction to active life having precl u ded all possibility

of study ? I was exhau sted by my exertions in the
forum in elections in politics in the ca u ses of my
, , ,

friends befo r e I could form any idea of such high

,

79 subj ects Bu t i f you are pleased to find s o much

.
,

merit in one who tho u gh not specially wanting as

, ,
XVIII
. 82 ] C I CERO DE O RATO RE I . 31

you think in natural ability h a s been certainly want

, ,

mg 1 n l earning and leis u re and I must admit too

"
, ,
’

’
in that keen desire to learn what do yo u think s u p ,

posing some o n e with even greater natural ability

were to combine those qualifications which have been
beyond my reach to what perfection o f oratory might
,

n o t he attain

ERE A nto niu s took up the argument XV I I I .

‘I quite
‘ ’
agree he said with what you are sayin g 8 0
, , ,

Crassus and I have no doubt that if the orator under

,

stood the nature and theory of all arts and subj ects
of art h is speeche s would gain greatly in richness o f
,

style B ut in the first place such knowledge is d iffi

.

cult of attainment especially amidst the many engage

,

ments o f o u r modern life "and in the second place , ,

there is a real danger l est we should be tempted t o

give up the constant practice of speaking in the
popular assembly and the law courts For it seems to - .

me that we find quite a distinct kind o f oratory in

those men of whom you spoke j ust n o w although I ,

admit they express themselves with grace and dignity ,

whether their subj ect be the phenomena of nature o r

ethics We find a character of elegance and l u xu ri
.

ance in th eir language redolent rather of the p 0 ,

o f the schools than suited to th e active excitement o f

o u r public life I myself I must tell you though I 8 2

.
, ,

had but a recent and superficial acquaintance with

G reek literature on arriving at Athens on my way to
, ,

Cilicia as proconsul made a stay o f several days there

, ,

really becaus e the weather was not favourabl e for

32 CI CERO DE O RATO RE l .
[x v 111 . 82

sailing "but as I was daily in the company of the

l eading philosophers the same speaking roughly as
, , ,

y o u have j ust mentioned and as somehow or other

,

it had become known among them that I like your ,

self was constantly engaged in the most important

,

causes they e ach of them favoured me with such

,

ideas as they could give me on the function and

procedure of the orator Among others your friend
.

Mn e s a rc h u s also maintained that those whom w e

call orators were nothing but a s e t of j ourneymen
speakers with ready and practised tongu es "but that
"
a real orator no one could be save the philosopher ,

and eloquence itself inasmuch as it was the know

,

ledge o f good speaking was o n e o f the virtues and ]

, ,

he w h o had o n e virtue had all virtues and all the ,

virtues were like and equal to one another "and

therefore the eloquent man had a ll the virtues and ,

was in fact the philosopher But the style of oratory

, ,
.

he a ff ected was crabbed a nd meagre and very a b ,

horrent to Roman taste Ch a rm a da s however ex

.
, ,

pressed himself with far more ease and fluency on the

sam e subj ect not by way of setting forth his o wn
,

opinions for the traditional custom of the Academy

,

w a s always to oppose all comers in a dis c u ssi o nl—but

o n this particular occasion what he gave us to under

stand was that those w h o were called professors of

,

rhetoric and gave lessons in the art o f speaking knew

, ,

absolutely nothing and that no one could possibly

,

acquire the power o f speaking e x cept the man w h o,

had mastered the d iscoveries o f philosophy .

x1x . 87] CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I
. 33

H E disputants o n the other side were able X I X

speakers citizens of Athens who were con 8 5
, ,

versant with politics and the law courts Among them - .

was M e n e d e m u s who was at Rome the other day as

,

my guest "and when he argued that there was a

S pecial kind o f wisdom which dealt with the investi
ga t io n into th e princip l es of th e constitution and
administration o f states Ch a rm a da s was up in arms ,

in a moment being as h e was a ready man with all

,

’
learning at his fingers ends and every variety o f ,

subj ect at his command to a degree q uite in c o n c e iv

able H e proceeded to prove that we must go to
.

philosophy for all the constituent elements of that

special kind of wisdom n or were the regulations ,

usually made in states about the worship of the gods ,

the education of youth j u stice endurance temper , , ,

ance moderation and all such oth ers without wh ich

, , ,

comm u nities could not either exist or be in a sound

condition an ywhe re to be found in the treatises of the
,

rhetoricians I f these great teachers o f rhetoric in 86

.

cluded in their co u rse this formidable array of really

important s u bj ects why was it he asked that th e ir, , ,

text books were fu ll to overflowing with directions

-

about exordiu ms pe rorations and rubbish of this kind

—for s o he dubbed them —whereas about the right
, ,

ordering of states and the drawing up of laws about

, ,

equity j u stice and int e grity about the control of the

, , ,

passions and the training of the characters of men

,

not a single syllable could be foun d in all th e ir

writings The actual directions they gave he wo u ld
.

cover with ridicule showing that they were not only ,

 34 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I . .
[x 1x . 87

quite innocent of the particular wisdom which they

claimed for themselves b u t did not even understand
,

the scientific theory of oratory which they professed .

The ess e nce he supposed of oratory w a s that on th e

,

one hand the speaker sho u ld appear to his au dience

in the character which h e wished to assume "and this
was a matter of personal ethics on which these pro
,

f e s s o rs of rhetoric had given no guidance in their

instructions " and on the other hand the au dience
—
should be a ff ected as the speaker meant they sho u l d
be "and this again co u l d not possibly be the case
unless the speaker had learnt in how many ways and ,

by what means and by what style of oratory the

,
’

feelings of men can be moved in one direction o r

another All s u ch knowledge w a s among the secrets
.

o f the most abstruse and most profound philosophy ,

which these rhetoricians had not touched ev e n with

88 the tips of their tongu e s All this M e n e de m u s tri e d
.

to meet by q u oting examples rather than by argu

ments " with his ready memory he q u oted many
splendid passages from the speeches of Demosthenes
by way of proving that in swaying the feelings of
j udges or people as he would by the po w er of his
words he showed no ignorance o f the means by which
,

he co u ld e ff ect those obj ects which Ch a rm a da s main

t a in e d no one could master without a knowledge o f

philosophy .

XX H A RM A DA S replied that he did not deny

89 Demost h enes was a man o f wonderfu l sagacity ,

and had a wonderful gift of speaking but whether

,
 36 CICE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ xx 9 1.

a s an orator To the former o f these two statements

.
,

that I had not stu died at all I made no demur but , ,

in the latter I suppose d he was either making fun of

,

92 me or was himself mistaken But art h e said there

,
.
, ,

could be none except where the subj ect matter was

,
-

known and thoroughly understood had reference to ‘ ,

one definite end and was never uncertain "whereas

,

all the subj ects dealt with by the orator were con
tingent and uncertain since on the on e hand sp eeches
o n them were made by thos e who did not fully under

stand them all and listened t o by those in whom the

,

speaker had to produce not scientific knowledge b u t ,

only a false or at all e v ents an indistinct O pinion f o r

,

93 the tim e being N eed I s a y more

.
?
By s u ch argu
ments he seemed to me to prove that neither is there
any syste m atic art of rhetoric nor can any one e x cept
, ,

a man who has mastered the teachings of the pro

foundest philosophy be either an artistic or powerful
,

S peaker And while on this subj ect Ch a rm a d a s use d

.
, ,

to express a warm admiration for your abilitie s ,

Crassus " he had fo u nd me he said a very good

, ,

listener and y o u a very formidable debater

,
.

XX I T was with this belief that I was tempted to say

94 in a littl e book which escaped from my desk
without my knowledge and consent and fell into th e ,

hands o f th e public that I had known several good

,

S peakers but up to that date not a single real orator

, ,

and I laid it down there that a fgo o d speaker was o n e

who could speak with adequate acuteness and p e rs p i
c e city before an ordinary audience from the point of
 xxx .
9 6] CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I. 37

view of what may be called the average intelligence ,

ibut a real orator w a s one w h o could add a charm and

glamour of magnificence to the them e o f h is choice ,

and held within the compass o f his own mind and

memory all the springs of knowledge o n all subj ects
which had any bearing on oratory Granting that
]
such attainment is di ffi cult for us because we are over
whelmed by the calls o f conteste d electio n s and
public life before we have begun t o learn let u s ,

however assume it t o be within the possibilities o f

the subj ect In deed if I may vent u re on a prophecy 9 5
.
, ,

and j udging from what I kno w of the abilities o f o u r

fellow countrymen I have good hope that w e shall)\
-
,

some day s e e some Roman who with a keener e n ,

t hu s i a s m than w e now have or ever have had with ,

more leisure and riper faculties for study and with ,

greater power of work and industry will after steady ,

devotion to hearing reading and writing prove the

, , ,

ideal of wh ich we are now in s earch and be qualified ,

to claim the title not merely of a good speaker but

, ,

of a real orator "though after all I am inclined t o

, ,

think that the man is here before us in the person of

Crassus or if it may be he is t o be one o f e qual
, , ,

ability who has heard and read and written some

, , ,

what more than o u r friend it will not b e much tha t ,

’
he will add to his achievement .

T this point S u lp iciu s excl aimed has been an XX I I ‘I t

,

unexpected though by no means an unwelcome 9 6

,

pleasure to Cotta and myself that your conversation , ,

Crassus should have taken the turn it h a s In coming

, .
 38 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ xx 11 96
.

here we thought it quite pleasure enough to look

forward to if we sho u ld have th e chance of taking
,

away with us something worth remembering from

your conversation supposing it had been o n oth er
,

s u bj ects but that you should fall into this di s cussion

o f all others which has penetrated almost into the
,

arcana o f this pursuit or art or faculty whichever it

, , ,

is seemed to us a thing almost too good to hope for

, .

97 For though from my e arliest manhood I have been

possessed with a warm admiration for both of you ,

with an a ff ection indeed I may s a y for Crassus which

, , ,

never allowed me to leave his side I have never been ,

able to draw a word from him on th e virt u e a nd

method o f oratory though I have appealed to him
,

again and again both personally and through th e

mediation of Drusus And in this matter you "
.

Antonius I will frankly admit ha v e n ever refused

, ,

to answer my questions or solve m y di ffi culties and ,

have very often told me the ru les which it was your

habit t o observ e in p ractice On this occasion now
.
,

that you have both of y o u given us a glimpse into

, ,

the secret of attaining to the exact obj ect of o u r

search Crassus himself hav ing begun the conversation
, ,

pray do us the kindness of following out your theories

o n the whole question of rhetoric in precise detail .

If we can only prevail on y o u to do this I sh all owe ,

a deep debt o f gratitude to your school and villa o f

Tusculum and shall give a far higher place i n my
,

estimation to your s u burban lectu re roo m than to -

the great Academy and Lyceum Cra s s u s My dear ’

99 .

S ulpicius let u s a sk Antonius who not only can do

, ,
xxn . 1 02 ] CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I . 39

what y o u want but has b een in th e habit of doing it

, ,

as y o u told us j ust now F o r myself I admit that I

.
,

have al ways fought s hy of all such talk and have ,

again and again turned a deaf ear to your most urgent

appeals as you remarked a few moments ago
,
I did .

s o not from a ny pride o r want of courtesy nor because ,

I was unwilli n g to satisfy your very proper and most

laudable curiosity especially as I s a w that n ature had
,

endowed you with quite exceptional and extraordinary

qualifications for an orator "but I was deterred I do ,

assure you by want o f familiarit y with such dis

,

e ussions and want of skill in dealing with the tradi

,

t i o n a l rules of the s o called art o f rhetoric

-
Co tta : .
100

S ince we have s u cceeded in what we thought was th e

m ain di fficulty getting you to speak at all on this su b
,

j e c,
t Crassus for what,
remains it will now be entirely
our o w n fault if we let you go before you have fully
’
answered all our questions Cra ssu s : Only I suppose .
, , 1 0 1

on those points on which to employ the formula used ,

“
i n the taking up o f inheritances I shall have th e
,

knowledge and the ‘

Co tta : Why do you ,

think either of u s is s o conceited a s to expect t o have

knowledge o r power where yo u have neither the o n e
nor the other ? Cra ss u s : Come then on these con
’

d it io n s provided I am at liberty to s a y “ "

, I cannot ,
"
where I cannot and I do not know where I do no t
, , ,

‘
S u lp iciu s : N ay
’

y o u may catechise me a s you will .

,
1 0 2

the only question we want to a sk is what do y o u think ,

about the st a tement Antonius has j ust made ? do yo u

think that there is an art o f rhetoric Cra ss u s : W
to be sure —do you take me now for one of your lazy
 40 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ X X IL 102

talkative Greek friends a learned man perhaps and

,

well read and therefore put before me some trifling

-
,

question on which I am t o hold forth at pleasure ?

When d o y o u suppose I have given any thought or a t
tention to such questions ? H ave I not always rather
l aughed at the conceit O f those persons who on taking , ,

their seat in a lecture-room invite any member of a ,

crowded audience to speak if he has a question to a sk ?

10 3 This practice was started we are told by Gorg ia s of , ,

Le o nt in i and h e was thought to be undertaking

,

an immense responsibility in giving notice that h e

was ready to speak on all subj ects o n which any o n e
wished to be instructed Afterwards however th e .
, ,

custom became general and is s o at th e present day

, ,

there being no subj ect however important however

, ,

unexpected however no v el o n which these people do

, ,

not profess that they will sa y everything that can

10 4 be said . I f I had thought that you Cotta o r you , , ,

S ulpicius desired to receive instruction on this subj ect

, ,

I would have brought here with me some Greek pro

f e ss o r to amuse us with such discourse indeed it is not ,

impossible to do so now for my young friend Marcus

,

Piso who is a devoted st u dent of rhetoric and a man

, ,

o f striking ability a n d a great admirer of mine

,
ha s ,

staying with him a Peripatetic o f the name of St a s e a s ,

a gentleman with whom I am on the best of terms ,

and who I s ee i s recognised by all who know as the

, , , ,

leader o f that particular school .

’

XX I I I CE VOLA What is this nonsense about St a s e a s ,

IO 5
and the Peripatetics ? Yo u must humour our
 II
X XI . 1 08 ] CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I . 41

young friends Crass us w h o do not want to hear t h e

, ,

everyday loquacity o f some Greek theorist nor th e ,

s tale prattle of the lecture -room but are an x ious to ,

learn the opinions of a man in whose footsteps they

desire t o tread the wisest and most eloquent orator o f
,

the day who has proved his pre eminence too in

,
-
, ,

wisdom and debate not in rh etorical treatises but

, ,

in the most important causes and in Rome , the seat ,

o f empire and the home o f glory For my part .

, 10 6
though I have always seen in you my ideal of an
orator yet I have never given you greater cre dit
,

for eloquence than for courtesy " a courtesy which

now more than at any time it becomes yo u to exercise ,

and not S hirk a discussion to which you are invited by

t w o young men of excellent parts ‘
Cra ss u s : Well
’
.
,
10 7
well 1 am very anxious to oblige your friends an d I
, ,

will not refuse t o state briefly a s I always do what i s , ,

my opinion on each point that has been raised First .

o f a ll sin c e I feel I should not be j ustifi ed in slighting

m

your claims upon my respect S c a evol a —m y answer i s ,

that I am o f opinion that there is o f rhetoric no art at

all or only a skeleton of o n e the fact being that the
, ,

whole controversy amo n g the learned turns upon a

verb al ambiguity If we define an art according to
.
‘8
10
I

l t hg st a t e m e nt ju st made by Antoni u s as dea ling only

’

with subj ect matter which is exactly known and

-

thoroughly understood removed from the sphere of ,

mere arbitrary opinion and grasped only by the ,

scientific understanding it seems to me there is no , l

I

art of oratory "f o r all public speaking in its di fferent

branches deals with a variabl e subj ect-matter an d ,
 42 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ xx 1 11 . 1 08

takes it s colour from the ordinary opinions and feel

1 0 9 ings of mankind . If however the rules fivhich have
, ,

a s a matter o f fact and practice been followed by

§
s p e a k e r h a v e been observed and noted down by men

o f skill and experience with a technical nomenclature

,

and a scientific distribution into classes and s u b

divisions —a thing which I s e e may very possibly have
been done —I perceive no reason why we should not
admit an a rt of rhetoric using the term that is not
, , _ ,

according to its strict definition but in its ordinary ,

acceptation/ S till wh ether there is an art of rhetoric

,

o r only the semb l ance o f o n e we cannot of course ,

a fford to despise it " though it must be understood

that there are other and more important requirements
’
fo r th e attainment of el oquence .

XX I V E RE A ntoniu s said that he heartily agreed with

1 10
Crass u s so far as he did not admit an art of
,

rhetoric in the full sense u sual with those who made

oratory wholly and solely a question o f art nor o n the ,

other hand entirely repudiate such an art as most of

’
the philosophers did But he continued I believe
.
, ,

that an exposition from you o f those requ irements

which y o u consider more helpful t o oratory than any
Cra ss u s :
’

III art will be very welcome t o o u r friends .

‘Well I will s a m
, y y sa
y as I have begun and will ,

o nly beg o f yo u not to let the public know o f any

indiscretions I may let fall However I shall keep .
,

a strict watch on myself and avoiding a l l the airs o f

,

the master or professor and speaking only as a simple

,

Roman citizen who has had some experience of public

 44 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[xx v . 1 1 4«

can be sharpened and stimulated by art but t h at ,

they should be put into us and given by art is quite

i m possible being as they all are gifts of nature —what
, , ,

are we to sa y about those qualifications which are

’
obviously part of a man s natural endowments mobility ,

of tongue ton e of voice power of lung physique a

, , , ,

c ertain conformation o f feature and general pose o f

1 1 5 li m b ? I do not o f course mean to imply that art can
n o t give a finish in some c a ses for I know well enough
,

that good natural gifts can be improved by teaching ,

and those which are not of the best may still in some
manner be furbished up and corrected b ut there are
people so halting o f speech o r with such u nmusical
,

voices o r so uncouth and awkward in look and carriage

, ,

that in spite of great abilities and skill they can never

rank as orators whereas some again are so gifted in
these respects s o rich in natural endowments that
, ,

they seem not merely born orators but t o h ave been

1 1 6 created for that end by the Divine artist A great.

b u rden o f responsibility it is surely for a man to tak e

, ,

upon himself to pro f e ss that he and he alone is to b e

,

heard amidst universal silence on questions of the last

i m portance in a great concourse o f h is fellow men " -

for there is no one in such an audience who has not a

keener and sharper ear to det e ct a fault in a speaker
than a merit "and thus whatever there is that gives
1 1 7 o ff ence overshadows what calls for praise N ow I do
.

n o t say this with the intention of deterring young men

altogether from the study of oratory if they happen t o

,

lack some natural gift f o r as we are all aware my con

, , ,

te m porary Caius Ca el i u s won great distinction though ,

X XV I
. 1 19 ] CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I . 45

quite n e w to political life by such moderate success as

,

a Speaker as he was able to achieve Take another .

instance Quintus V a ri u s who is more your con

, ,

te m porary "you all know that he though a man of ,

uncouth and repulsive exterior has gained consider ,

able influence in the state by the same sort of ability .

UT we are searching for the ideal orator we XXV I

a s ,

must u s e our powers of oratory to portray a 1 1 8

speaker fre e from all possibl e faults and endowed with
every possible merit For though it is undeniable that
.

the large nu m ber of lawsuits the great variety of public

,

questions the illiterate masses who make the audience

,

of o u r p u blic speakers o ffer a field to even the most

,

defecti v e orators we will not for that reason d e spair

,

of finding what we want On the same principle in

.

those arts w hose aim is not some i m m ediately practical

utility but some l ess restricted intellectual enj oyment
, ,

how critically with what a nice fastidiousn ess do we

,

pass j udg m ent " There are no lawsuits or points of

contention which force us to tolerate bad actors on
the stage in the sa m e way as we tolerate indi fferent
speakers in the co u rts The real orator therefore 1 1 9
.
, ,

must u s e all care and diligence not merely to satisfy ,

those whom he is bound t o satisfy b u t also to win the ,

admiration of those who are in a position to j u dge im

partially And if you want to know as we are all
.
,

friends together I will frankly tell you what I feel

,

—a secret I have hitherto always kept to mysel f

on principle My belief is that even the bes t?
.
,

speakers even those who have the best language

,
 46 CI CERO DE O RATO RE I .
[ 1
xx v . 1 19

always at their command unless they rise to speak

,

with some misgivings and feel some nervousness

in the exordium of their speech are wanting if I ,
7
1 20 may say so in proper modesty
,
I am assuming of
.

ic o u rs e an impossibl e case for the better the speaker

/

the more painfully is he conscious o f the di fficulty of

speaking of th e uncertainty of the e ff ect o f his speech
, ,

and of th e expectations of an audience A speaker on .

the other hand who can deliver nothing worthy of th e

occasion worthy o f his profession worthy o f the a tten
, ,

tion of his fello w men he however nervous h e may be

-
, ,

while speaking also seems to me wanting in modesty

, .

For it is not by feeling ashamed o f ourselves but by ,

refusing to do what is unseemly that we ought to ,

1 2 1 avoid the reproach o f immodesty Any one who under .

such circumstances feels no shame —and such cases

I s e e are very common — not only deserves blam e I ,

think but o u ght to be liable to so m e penalty

,
For .

my part as I observe is the cas e with you s o in my

, ,

own case I constantly experience this feeling "I turn

pale at the beginning of a speech my brai n whirl s , ,

and I tremble in every limb indeed once in my early

manh ood when opening the case for the prosecution I
, ,

was so overcome that I o w ed a deep debt of gratitude

to Quintus Maximus for adj ourning the case the
moment he s a w that my al arm had quite unn erved
’
and unmanned me .

1 22 At this point all the company showed their assent

by significant looks at o n e another and began to con
verse for n o one could deny that there was in Crassus
a quite indescribable modesty which ho w ever so far
, , ,
xxvn . 1 25 ] CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I
. 47

from being any drawback to his eloquence was really

a hel p t o it as being a testimony to his sincerity
, .

HE N A ntoniu s resumed the conversation Often XXV I I

as you s a y Crassus I have observed that you
, ,

as well as a ll other firs t rate speakers though none h a s

-
,

ever in my opinion been eq u al to you are somewhat ,

uneasy at the beginning of a speech "and when I 1 2 3 ‘

tried to discover the reason of this—why it was that

the more able a speaker was the m ore nervous h e was , ,

I found the causes to be two On e was becaus e those .

who had learn t from nature and experience were well

aware that sometimes even with the best speakers th e
result of a speech did not turn o u t in full accordance
with their wishes "therefore whenever they delivered
a speech they not unnaturally were afraid that what
might occasionally happen would happen then Th e .

other cause is this and the unfairness of it often

,

annoys me In all the other professions if tried an d 1 2 4

.
,

acknowledged exponents have on any occasion failed

to give the complete satisfaction they generally do they ,

are supposed to have been o u t of the humour or to ,

have been prevented by ill health from doing their -

“
best Roscius for instance we s a y was not in th e
.
, ,

" “
humour for acting to day or h e was su ff ering from
-
,

indigestion whereas in a speaker any fau l t that

, ,

has been observed is attributed to stu pidity and 1 2 5 ,

stupidity admits o f no e x cuse because no one can ,

be supposed to have been stupid either because he

was dyspeptic o r from deliberate choice Thus we .

speakers have to face a more unsparing criticism for ,

 48 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[
X X VIL 1 25

w henever we deliver a speech our reputation is o n ,

trial and whereas o n e mistake in acting does not at

,

once expose the actor to a suspicion that he does not

know his business in a speaker any fault that has pro
,

v o k e d criticis m creates an indelible o r at all events a

,

very l asting impression of incapacity

, .

VI I I H E N again what you said about there being

,

1 2 6 very many qualifications which an orator must

have from nature or else he would not get mu ch help
from any master I heartily agree with "and in this
,

respect more than in anything else I much admired

Apollonius of A l a b a n da Tho u gh he charged a fee
.

for his lectures he would not allow those w ho he

,

thought could not become orators to waste their time ,

with him but would dismiss them and urge the m to

,

devote themselves to that prof ession for which he

1 27 thought them severally fitted For in the acquire .

ment of the other arts it is su ffi cient to have merely

ordinary abilities and to be able to understand and
remember th e l essons given o r enforced perhaps if , , ,

th e pupil happen s to be somewhat d u ll There is .

no need for ease o f utterance for readiness of Speech , ,

o r in short for those gifts which cannot be acquired by

1 2 8 training gifts o f feature expression and voice

, ,In ,
.

the orator however we require the subtlety o f the

, ,

logician the thoughts of the philosopher the language

, ,

almost o f the poet the memory o f the lawyer the

, ,

voice of the tragedian the gestures I may add of the

,

consummate actor This is the reason why nothing in

J
.

the world is s o rare a s a perfect orator "for merits ,

xxv m . 1 30 ] C I C E RO DE O RATO RE I . 49

which win applause if found singly even in a moderate ,

degree in the professors o f the several arts cannot c o m

, ,

mand approval for the orator unless they are all present ,

in the highest perfection Cra ssu s Quite s o and yet

.
’

, 1 2 9
observe how much more care i s taken in what is but a
trivial and insignificant profession than in ours which
all admit t o be of the greatest importance Indeed I .

have often heard Roscius s a y that he has n ever yet

been able to discover any pupil whom he could u n
reservedly commend "not that certain o f them did
not deserve commendation but because if there was , ,

any fault at all in them it was absolutely intolerable ,

to him for nothing we know strikes us so forcibly o r

, ,

makes such an indelible impression on the me m ory a s

that which somehow o ff ends o u r taste Th u s to take .
, 30
o u r comparison with this actor as the standard o f
oratorical excellence let me remind you how every
,

thing that he does is done in perfect style everything ,

with consummate grace everything with unerring taste

,

and in a way to touch and delight the hearts of a ll .

The consequence is he h a s long been in this proud

position that any o n e who excels in any particular
,

art is call d a ljgsc iu m i his own pro fe ss ion To

e
a .
fl u w
-
fl
fl

requ ire in the orator such absolute perfection from ,

wh i c h I a m very far myse l f i s a somewhat shameless

A fl tfih
\
,
z
proceeding on my part "f o r while I am anxious t o have
allowance made for myself I make none for others , .

Indeed any o n e who h a s not the ability whose ,

performance is short o f perfection any o n e in fact , , ,

whom it does not become he I think according , , ,

t o the recommendation o f Apol lonius ought to be ,

D
 5O CI CERO DE O RATO RE I .
[
xxvm . 1 30

summarily dismissed to do that for which he ha s

’

the ability .

XIX ULP IC IUS :

‘Would you then recommend Cotta
I3I or myself t o study law o r military science P Fo r
w h o can possibly attain to that complete and absolute
p e rfection o n which you insist ?
’
‘
Cra ssu s : N ay it is ,

j ust because I have observed in you quite rare and e x

c e t i o n a l oratorical gifts that I have said what I have "
p ,

and I have chosen m y language no less with a Vi ew t o

encouraging you who have the ability than to d e terring
those who have not In both of you indeed I have
.
, ,

perceived great natural gifts and m u ch enthusiasm ,

but those qualifications which depend o n external s on ,

which I have perhaps laid more stress than we are

familiar with in the G reek professors are present in ,

1 32 you S ulpicius in a quite e x traordinary measure F o r

, ,
.

no one I think have I ever l istened t o whose gest u res

, , ,

or m ere manner and bearing were more appropriate o r ,

whose voice was richer or more attractive "and those

who have such natural gifts in a less degree may yet
attain such m easure of success as to u s e what gifts
they have with propriety and skill and to keep clear ,

of all violations of taste F o r this is the fault which

.

m u st be most carefully avoided and on this especially

,

it is by no means easy to give any guidance not only ,

for me who am speaking o n this subj ect as a layman ,

but even for so great an artist a s Roscius whom I have ,

‘
n heard say that taste w a s the main thing in art ,

taste w a s the o n e thing on which no rules o f art

1 33 be given Bu t now let us change the
.
 52 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ x xx . 1 35

oratory in the abstract but o n m y o w n poor achieve

,

ments as an orator I will explain t o you my method

, ,

though there is nothing in it very recondite o r very ,

di fficult or very grand and imposing—th e method

,

which in e a rly days I was in the habit of using when

it was my privil e ge as a young man to devote myself
6 S u lp iciu s
’
1 3 to the pursuit you h ave adopted . O Cotta ,

what a happy moment is this fo r us " For what no

prayers of mine n o watching nor waiting has ever su c
,

c e e d e d in gaining for me the privilege that is I wi ll not

, , ,

say o f s eeing with my own eyes wh a t Crassus did by way

o f practice and preparation f o r s e a k in b u t o f surmising
p g ,

it only from Diph il u S his reader and s ecretary I hop e

, ,

we have no w s ecured and that we shall now learn a ll

,

we have l ong wanted to know from his o w n lips , .

’

XXXI RA SS US A y,
but when you have heard all ,

I S7 S u lpicius you will not I expect s o much admire

, , ,

what I have told you as think there was n o t much

reason fo r your original anxiety to hear me on this
s ubj ect fo r there will be nothing recondite in what I
shall tell you nothing that will co m e up to your ex
,

e c t a t io n s nothing that you have not hea rd before or

p ,

that is new to you First and foremost a s would become

.
,

any honest and well-bred gent leman I will frankly ad ,

mit that I learnt all the common and hackneyed rules

I3S which are familiar to yo u <F irst that it is the orator s
’

.
,

duty to speak in a way adapted t o win the assent o f

his audience "secondly that every Speech must be either
,

o n some general abstract question without reference t o

special persons o r circumstances o r on some sub j ect ,

xx x i . 1 43 ] CI CERO DE O RATO RE I . 53

with a definite setting o f Special persons and circum

stances but that in either case whatever be the point at 1 39 ,

issue the question usually arising in connection with it

,

i s either as t o t h e fact or if the fact be ad m itted what

, ,

is the nature of the act or may be what name i s to be

, , ,

given t o it or as some a dd whether it i s j ustifiable o r

, , ,

no t " fu rther that disputes arise out of the interpretation I 4 O

,

o f a document in which there i s some ambiguity of

,

statem e nt o r so m e contradiction o r which is s o worded ,

that the strict letter o f it i s at variance with its Spirit

and that to all these varieties there are attached appro
p ria t e methods of pro o f > O f questions again which are 1 4 1
.
, ,

d istinct from any general thesis so m e are j uridical , ,

some deliberative "there is also a third class as I was ,

taught which deals with pan egyric and invective and

,

there are certain topics to b e made u se of in the law

cour ts where j ustice is the obj ect o f o u r e fforts others
in deliberative speeches which are in all cases modified
by the interests of those to whom our advice is given "
others again in panegyrics in which everything
, ,

depends upon the personal dignity o f the subj ect .

I lear ned also that the whole activity and faculty o f I 4 2

the orator falls u nder five heads —
/

that he m u st fi rs t l
think of what he i s t o s a y secondly not only tabulate ,

his thoughts but m arshal and arrange them in order

,

with due regard to their relative weight and im

portance thirdly clothe them in artistic language
,

fourthly fi x them firm ly in h is memory "fi ft h ly and

, ,

lastly deliver them with grace and dignity of gesture

,
.

I was f il rt h e r made t o u nderstand that before we 2 1 4 3 , ,

\1
speak o n the point at issue we must begin b y ,
 54 CI CERO DE O RATO RE I .
[ XXXL 1 43

winning the favourable attention o f o u r audience "

then we must state the facts o f the case then deter ,

mine the point at issue then establish the charge ,

we are bri nging then refute the arguments of our

,

opponent "and finally in our peroration amplify and

emphasise a ll that can be said o n our side o f the
case and weaken and invalidate the points w hich
,

tell for th e opposite Side .

XXXI I H AD heard lectures also o n the t raditional rule s

I 44
fo r the embellishment of style "in connection
‘ e
a .
c,
l
d
with which the first requirement js pu r“e and good
La m b 3 1 t v t ’

L l second ( il e a rn e ss a n d l u m dit y the th i rd

332: E ie
41
,
k O i n
, ,

a rtistic finish the fourth suit ab ility to the dignity o f

.

, ,
ck m l 9 *

the subject and a certain ele gance o f form I had als o

.

I4 S l earnt special rules under each head Besides this I .

had been made to understand that even those

pro ve d On d e li v ery f o r instance and the m emory

.
, , ,

I had been initiated into certain rules which though ,

short enough involve much practice For it is to the

, .

e x position of such rule s as these that all the learning

o f our friends the professors is directed and if I were ,

to say that a ll this learning was o f no use I Should say ,

what is not true "for it is o f some service if only to ,

remind the orator what should be his standard in e ach

case and what h e must keep before him so as n o t to
wander from t h e purpose which he may have set him
I46 self Bu t the real value o f these rules I take to be
.

this n o t that orators by following them have atta ined

,

t o eloquence but that certain people have noted down

,
xxxm . 1 50 ] CI CERO DE O RATO RE I . 55

and collected the habitual and instincti v e methods o fl

the masters of eloquence "and thus

W W even s o as I have
j
. S till ,
“

already said I would not rej ect the art entirely for
, ,

though it may not b e necessary fo r good speaking ,

I
W A certain course also o f practice i s desir I47

able for y o u — tho u gh to be sure y o u ha v e long been

o n the right road —o r at all events for those w h o are

entering o n their career and c a n even at this early

s tage learn and practise beforehand on a mimic
arena what they will have to do on the real battle-fi el d
o f the forum S u lp iciu s : ‘It is just this course o f 48
’
. 1

practice we wish to know about "and yet we also

wish to hear abo u t th e rules o f the art which y o u have
j ust briefly run over though o f course thes e are not
,

unfami l iar to u S They however can wait "now we

.
, ,

would a sk what is your opinion on this matter o f

’
practice

"
.

A S S US ‘Well
for my part I quite approve o f X XX
,

what yo u are in the habit o f doing—o f imagining I 49

some case Similar to those which are brought into the

court s and Speaking on it in the manner a s far a s
possibl e o f real life "but most students in s o doing
exercise their voice only and that n o t scientifically , ,

and their strength and a ff ect rapidity o f utterance and

, ,

delight in a great flo w o f words But in this they are .

misled because they have heard W

,
M
w w
w g m s e l y es speakers F o r indeed there i s a s a
y , , ,
1
50
 56 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ xxx m . 1 50

ing equally true that by Speakin g badly men very easily

acqu ire a bad style o f spe a king For this reason in the
.
,

matter of these exercis es though the cons ta nt practice

,

of speaking on th e sp u r of the mo m ent h a s its uses ,

it is even more u seful to take time for re fl ection and

/
to speak after preparation and careful study Th e
main thing howe ver which to tell the truth we very
, , ,
.

j
rarely do ( for it involves con iderabl e troubl e and that
s

most of us avoid ) is to write as m u ch as possible

, .

well m a y be f o r if a sudden ,

far infe rior to the product

of prepar at ion and reflection this latter again must
,

cert ainly yield the palm to diligent and careful writ in g

j
1 51 For all the topics suggested wheth e r by art or the
,

natural wit and sagacity of th e speaker which are in ,

herent in th e subj ect of o u r discourse naturally and ,

spontaneously occur to u s as we ponder and consider

,

our subj ect with the uni mpeded powers of the mind "
and all the thoughts and words which in th e ir proper ,

places add most brilliance to style necessarily s u ggest ,

themsel v es as we write and flow to the point of o u r

,

pen The mere order m oreo v er and arrange m ent of

.
, ,

words i s in the process of writing brought to perf e ction

in a rhythm and cadence which m a y be
as It is thes e qualities w hich
win for great orators shouts of admiration and applause
and these no one can hope to acquire unless he has
written long and written much no matter how
, ,

ardently h e may have ex e rcised himself in those

unprepared deliveries to which I have referred And .
x xxxv 1
. 54] CI C E RO DE O RATO RE I . 57

the man who comes to Speaking after a long practice

of wr iting brings to the task this further advantage ,

that even if he Speaks on the spur of the moment still ,

his utterances have all the e ffect of a written speech "

and more than this if on any occasion in the course of
,

a speech he introd u ces some writt e n matter when he ,

l ays aside h is papers the speech contin u es wi t hout

,

any perceptibl e break J ust a s w hen a boat is well 1 53

.

under way if t h e crew stop rowing for a m o m ent the

, ,

boat still retains its motion and way e v en though the

beat and strok e o f the o ars is interrupted s o in a c o n ,

t in u o u s speech when written not e s f ail the Speech still

, ,

maintains an even tenor from its si m ilarity to what

w a s written and the m omentum thereby acquired .

N my daily exercises when a yo u ng man I XXXI

o wn ,

I S4
use d to se t m ysel f by pre f e r e nce th e same task
which I knew that my old rival Caius Carbo had been
in the habit o f perform ing I u sed to set myself some .

piece o f poetry the most i m pressive I could find or ,

read so m e Speech as much of it as I could retain in

,

my memo ry and then deliver a Speech on the same

,

subj ect choosing as far as I could other words

,
.

A fterwards I ca m e to s e e that the practice had this

defect "the words which were best suited to th e
subj e ct in each case were most eloquent in fact the
, , ,

best had been already appropriated either by En n i u s

, ,

if it was on his verses I was exercising m ysel f or by ,

G racchus if I happened to s e lect a Speech of his a s

,

m
y task I.f therefore
,
I used the same,
words I ,

gained nothing "if others I even lost since I got into , ,

 58 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[xxxrv . 15

1
55 the habit o f u sing inadequate language After this .

"
hit upon and employed in later years the following
plan I used to make a free translation of speeches
.

by the leading orators of G reece and by selecting ,

them I gained this advantage "by translating into

Latin what I had read in G reek I not only used ,

the best though fam il iar words but I also coined ,

others o n the model o f the G reek which wo u ld ,

[
be new t o o u r language provided always n o ex ,

}
: c e pt io n could be taken to the m The manage m en t .

1 56 again o f the voice and the breath o f the li m bs ,

and th e to n gue and the di fferent exercises connecte d

,

with it are a matter not so much o f art as of physica l

labour "and in this matter it is a very i m portant
consideration whom we Should take as our model ,

whom we would wish t o resemble We must watch .

n o t only speakers but actors also that we may not ,

from defective training get into some ungainly o r

1
57 awkward mannerism The memory t.o o we must , ,

exercise by learning by rote as many passages as we

can both of our o w n au thors an d others "and by
way o f doing so I s e e no obj ection to the u s e if such ,

has been your habit of that system o f places and

,

symbols 1 which is traditional in the schools of rhetoric .

T h is r f rs to m
1
e e a cm o rz a
'

i d to h a ve b e e n i nvent e d
t ee/ mi ca sa

by S im o ni d of C o
es
’
e s (a e O ra t II l xxxvi 352. . S c o pa s a
. ,

we a lthy pr inc e of C ra nno n in T h essa ly r e fu se d to give S i m o nid e s

, ,

t he fu ll pri ce pro m ise d for a po e m in h is ho no u r s y ing th a t ,

a

h e m u s t ge t t he b l nce fro m t h e Ty nd a r id ae who m t he po e t

a a ,

ha d e q a lly p r a ise d in t h e s a m e po em
u T h e re u pon by s o m e
.

m y s t e r i o u s m e ss g e S im o nid es wa s ca ll e d o u t of t h e roo m
a ,
a nd in ,

h is a b sen ce t h e roo m fe ll in c r u sh i ng S c op a s a nd a l l h is fa m i ly
,

b e ne a th t he r ui ns s o th a t wh en th ei r friend s wish e d to b u ry th e ir
,
 60 CI CERO DE O RATO RE I .
[xxxrv . 1 59

I daresay would have been gi v en to your questions by

any ordinary citizen y o u had pitched upon at any
social gathering .
’

XXX V FTER these remarks from Crassus Silence fell o n ,

1 60 the party "but though all present were quite

satisfied that he had said enough for the p u rpose in
hand yet they all felt that h e had com e to the end o f
,

hi s remarks far sooner than they coul d have wished .

At last S ca evo la asked ‘Wll a t is it Cotta ? Why are

,

you and your friend silent ? Does nothing occur t o

yo u on which y o u would like a little more enlighten
1 61 ment from Crassus ‘
Co tta : Well to tell you the ,

truth t hat is j ust what I am pondering "f o r s o great

,

w a s the speed of his words and s o rapid th e flight o f

,

his eloquence that though I was fully aware o f its

,
‘

vigour and force I could scarcely follow its track and

, ,

I felt as if I had been brought into th e richly fu rnished

mansion of so m e millionaire where the h angings were
,

n o t un f olded n o r the plate s e t out nor the pictures

, ,

and statues arran ged w here they could be seen but ,

all these numerous and costly treasures were huddled

up together and put away S o j ust now while
.

Crassus was speaking I was aware of the riches and

,

beauties of h is mind through curtains and coverings ,

s o t o Spe a k but t ho u gh I desired to examin e them

~

closely I scarcely h a d a chance of seeing them Thus

,
.

I can n either s a y that I am in compl e te ignorance o f

the extent o f his possessions nor that I real ly know
,

S ca evo la : Well the n

’
1 62 and have actually seen them .
,

why n o t do a s you would if you h a d b e e n brought _

xxx v . 1 64 ] CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I . 61

into some town or country mansion full o f treasures o f

art ? I f the things were as y o u sa y a ll stowed away
, , ,

being as you would be very anxious to s e e them you

, , ,

would not hesitate t o ask the owner to have them

brought out for your inspection especially if yo u were
,

a p e rsonal friend of his I n the same way n o w you

.

will beg Crassus to bring o u t into the light all his

wealth of treasures o f which we have had just a hasty
and passing gli m ps e as at the wares in a Shop window
,
-
,

all piled together in one place and y o u will a sk him

,

to put everything in its proper light Co tta : N ay I .

’

,
1 63
must ask you t o do that S c a ev ola fo r modesty forbids
, ,

my friend and me to bother th e most serious o f men ,

who has always thought scorn of such discussions with ,

questions which to him perhaps seem but the first

lessons of childhood Pray do us this kindness
.
,

S c aevola "prevail o n Crassus to a m plify and explain f o r

o u r benefit what he has compressed into s o small and
’

narrow a co m pass in t h e remarks he h a s j ust made .

‘
S cwvo la : To tell you the truth at first it was more 1 64
,

for your sake than my own that I wished Crassus woul d

d o what you a sk "for th e desire I had to hear a discourse
o f this kind from Crassus is n o t equal to the pleasur e I

derive from his forensic speeches But n o w Crassus .

, ,

o n my o w n behalf also I ask you since we have a few

, ,

hours o f leisure such as it has not been our good fo r

tune to enjoy for a long time not to refu s e to finish the
,

good work you have begu n "for the whole question I ,

perceive is taking a wider and more interesting scope

,

than I expected and I am very glad it is

,
.
 62 CI CERO DE O RATO RE 65

XXXV I BA SS US ‘Well
well it passes my c o m p re h e n
, ,

I 6S Sion Sc a evola that even you Should require o f

, ,

me a discussion o n a subj ect which I do not understand

s o well as the pro f essed teachers of it and which is n o t .

of such a kind that even if I understood it ever s o

,

well it wo u ld be worthy o f the attention of a philo

,

sopher like y o u S ca evo la :.

‘What is that y o u are
saying ? S upposing you do thi nk that the co m mon
and hackney ed rules y o u have referred to are barely
worthy of the attention o f a m a n o f m y y e a f s can
we a ff ord to despise those subj ects which you said
,

\ l

the orator must study human character moral s the , , ,

‘
d ifle re n t methods o f stirring and soothing the minds
’

of men history tradition state ad m inistration and

, , , , ,

lastly my o w n special subj ect o f civil law ? F o r that

,

all this wealth of k n owledge was possessed by a

state sman like yourself I already knew but I had ,

not realised that such Splendid wares forme d part o f

1 66 —
the stock in trade of th e orator
- ‘
Cra s su s : Can y o u
.
’

then if you will allow me to omit m any other most

,

important considerations and come at once to your

specialty of civil law can yo u regard as orators those
,

gentleme n w h o for many hours detained Publius

,

S c a evola when he was anxious t o be o ff to the Campus

Martius half a m used and half angry while H yp s a eu s
, , ,

‘
at the top of his voice and at great length was urging
, ,

Marcus Crassus the p rze t o r t o allow his client to lose

his case a n d on the other side Cn e iu s Octavius an
, ,

e x consul (w h o ought to have known better ) at equal

-

len gth was protestin g against his O pponent losing his

case and his o w n client being relieved by the folly
,
xxxvn . 1 69 ] CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I . 63

of his opponent from a degrading verdict of fraudulent

guardianship and from all further annoyance ? S caevo la I 6 7 ’

‘N ay such men — and I remember hearing the story

,

from M u c iu s —I cannot think fit to pl e ad in the

courts m uch less to have the name of orators
,
.
’

‘
Cra s s u s : And yet they did not lack eloquence as
advocates n o r did they fail from want of theory or
,

ability in Speaking What they lacked was know

.

ledge o f civil law The one claimed more in a

.

stat u table action than was allowed by the law of the ,

X II Tables —a claim which if it had been allowed

, ,

woul d lose h im his case "the other tho u ght it unfair

that he sho u ld b e proceeded against f o r more than
he was legally liable and did not perceive that if
,

the procedur e were allowed his opponent wo u ld be

,

sure to lose his suit .

A KE another instance — within the last few days XXX ,

when I was sitting on the bench with my 1 6 8

friend Quintus P o m p e iu s the city prae tor did we
, ,

n o t have an advocate w h o i s reckoned an able speaker ,

urging in favour o f a cli e nt f rom whom a debt was

,

‘
claim ed the o l d and familiar saving clau se for which -
,

money payment is already due which he did not s e e ,

was devised for the benefit o f the claimant "thus

sa v ing the claim ant in case the debtor w h o repudiated
,

the obligation had proved to the j u dge that payment

was demanded before it had begun to be due from ,

being non suited in the event of a second action by

-

the ple a of previous litigation ? Can there b e anything 1 6 9

more discreditable said or done than that a man wh o ,
 64 CI CERO DE O RATO RE I .
[xxxv rn 1 69
has taken upon hi m self the role o f defending the
causes a n d interests of his friends o f helping their ,

d i fli c u l t i e s relieving their su ff erings and removing

, ,

their oppressions Should prove such a broken reed

,

even in the merest trivialities o f the l a w as to pro ,

voke in those who hear h im feelings of mingled pity

1 70 and contempt ? Le t me refer to an instance in my
o w n family Publius Crassus Dives 1 was a m a n of
.

many gifts and acco m plish m ents b u t I think his chief ,

title to praise and com m endation is this — he used

constantly t o s a y t o his brother Publius S cae vola , ,

that as S c aevola could n ot in civil law make his

performance worthy of his profession unl ess he com
b in e d with it a command o f language ( as o u r f rie n d ,

2
h is s o n my colleague in the co sulship has actually
,
n ,

done ) so he h i mself had not begun to conduct

,

and plead th e causes o f his friends until he had

1 71 mastered civil l a w Or to take another instance .
,

that o f Marcus Cato Was not he at onc e the .

greatest master o f eloquence that could possibly

have been produced in Rome at that date and

1
T h is P u bl iu s C r a ssu s Dive s wa s t h e so n of P u bl iu s M u ci ns
S vol
ca e a , c o ns u l in B C was howe ve r a dopt ed by
. . 1 75
. H e , ,

P u bl iu s Li cini u s C ra ssu s Dives so n of P u bl iu s Li ci niu s C r a s su s ,

Dives who wa s t he fi r s t of t h e fa m i ly wh o bor e t he agno m en

,

Dive s a nd wa s c o ns u l B C 2 0 5 H e th u s b eca m e a m em b e r of
,
. . .

t h e fa m i ly of t he C r a ss i a nd a c o nne c t io n of Lu ci u s Li c i ni u s
,

C r a ssu s t he s p e a k e r h e r e
,
C r a ss u s t he tri u m vi r wa s h is gr ea t
.

n e ph ew H e is m e n t io ne d a g a in 2 39 nf
'

.
, z r.

2
T h is is Q M u ciu s P F S caevol a who wa s c o nsu l wi th
. . .
,

L C r a s su s in 9 5 B C
. H e wa s fi rs t c o u sin o nce r e m ov e d of
. .

S caevol a t he A u gu r o ne of t he i nt e rlo cu tors in th i s d i a logu e H e

,
.

is m ent io ne d a g a in in ve ry c om pl im ent a ry t e r m s 1 80 i nf r , .
xxxv n r. 1 7 3
] CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I . 65

in those times and also the most learned lawyer

,

o f his day ? I t i s with some d ifli d e n c e that I have

been Speaking all this time on such a subj ect in the
presence o f one who holds the first rank as a speaker ,

the one orator who co m m ands my special admiration ,

though it is tru e that he ha s always despised this

subj ect of civil l a w But Since you have expressed
.

a wish to have my thoughts and opinions com m uni

c a t e d to you I will make n o reservations but
, s o far , ,

as my ability serves I will lay before y o u my s enti

,

ments in full detail .

N TO N IU S
owes it I think to his really wonder XXX
, ,

ful and almost unri v alled and superhuman I7

power of intellect that even though he is not fortified

, ,

by a knowledge of civil law he can easily hold h is ,

o w n and defe d his position with the other weapons

n
o f sound practical sense For this reason we may .

regard him as an e xception "all others however I , ,

shall not hesitate t o pronounce guilty of indolence in

the first place and o f impudence in the second For
, .

t o bustle about from court to court t o hang about ,

the bench and tribunal o f the pra etors to undertake ,

private suits involving important issues in which it ,

often happens that the vital qu estion is not o n e o f

fact but of law and equity to display great activity
, ,

in the court of the centumviri which deals with rights

of prescription guardianship kinship by clan o r p a
, ,

ternal descent alluvial l ands islands formed in rivers

, , ,

pledges conveyances rights with respect to party walls

, , ,

lights and rain-drippings the v alidity and invalidity ,

 66 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[xxxvm . 1 73

o fwills and innumerable other matters and a ll this

, ,

whe n a man i s absolutely ignorant o f what constitutes

private property or of the distinction between a
,

citizen and a foreigner a slave or a freeman i s a

, ,

I 74 proof o f extraordinary impudence Ri di cule surely .

is th e fitting reward of the conceit which confesses

a want o f Skill with smaller craft but professes to ,

know ho w t o steer quinqueremes o r even larger

vessels You who are bamboozled by the mere
.
,

promise o f an opponent in a private interview and ,

put the seal t o a deed o f your client s in which deed

’

there i s a clause prej udicial to him can I suppose ,

that you are fit t o be truste d in any case o f import

ance ? S ooner in good sooth could a man wh o ha s
, ,

overset a pair o a r Ski ff in harbour steer th e ship of

-
,

th e Argonauts in t he waters of the Euxine Further .

,

if they are not always trivial cases either but frequently ,

cases of great importance which turn on a question

,

o f civil law what e ffrontery must the advocate have

,

w h o ventures to undertake such cases without any

knowledge o f the law ? What case for instance can , ,

be o f greater importance than the famous one o f the

soldier a false report of whos e death reached home
,

from the camp which his father believed and in c o n

, ,

sequence changed his will and made the person o f,

h is choice h is h eir and subsequently die d ?

,
Then
when the soldier came home and a s a s o n disin , ,

h e rit e d by will instituted an action at law for th e

,

recovery o f his paternal inheritance the case came ,

for trial before the centumviri S urely in this case .

the point at issue was o ne of civil law whether that , ,

 68 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ xxxrx . 1 79

and has no disl ike for the study of the law somehow ,

o r other lately m ade a blunder under Si m ilar circum

stances When selling a house to Lucius F u fi u s in th e

.
,

act of conveyance h e made a reservation as to all exist

ing lights but F u fi u s as soon as some building began ,

in some quarter o f the city which could j u st be seen ,

from the house at once proceeded against Bu c u l e iu s

, ,

because as he thought h is rights were interfered with

, , ,

whatever portion of the o u tlook was blocked no matt e r ,

1 80 how distant 1 Once more look at that very famous

.
,

lawsuit between Manius Curins and Marcus Co po n i u s b e

fore th e centumviri How crow d ed the co u rt was how
.
,

keen the interest taken in the pleadings On the o n e

side Quintus S ca z v o l a m y contemporary and colleague
, , ,

the most learned authority of his day on our system

of civil law a man of the keenest intellect and
,

j udg m ent a master o f the most refined and nervou s

,

eloquence who in fact as I often s a y is the best

, , ,

orator of all our lawyers and the best l awyer of a l l ,

o u r orators argued the rights of the case according

,

to the letter of the will maintaining that unless a post ,

humous s o n had been born and had also died before

1
Th e bigu i ty is h e re int ent i o na l Bu cu le iu s b e ing prou d of
a m .
,

h is l eg a l k n owl e dg e a c t e d a s h is o wn l a wy e r a n d in se rt e d in t he
,

d ee d of s a l e a va g u e ly word e d c l a u s e a bo u t a ncie nt l ight s wis h ,

’

ing to pr e s erv e t h e ri ght s of t h e nei ghbo u r ing ho u se s a s a g a in s t

tho se of t he ho u se sold to F u fiu s F u fi u s howe ve r chose to t a k e
.
, ,

t h e c l a u s e a s g u a r a n t ee i ng t h e r ight s of h is ho u s e a s t h e do m i n a nt
prop e rty a nd in th a t b e l ie f pro secu t e d t h e v endor wh en h is l ight s
,

we re blo ck e d The d iffi cu lty of t h e p a ssa g e is incr ea se d by t he

.

v e ry i m p e rfec t r ec ord w e h a ve of t he c i r cu m s t a nces a nd s eve ra l ,

oth e r exp l a na t i o ns h a ve b e en g ive n of i t The pr ese nt o ne is du e .

to Dr Roby (j o u rna l of P hi lology X V pp 6 7 -7

. .
, . .
XL . 1 82 ] CI C ERO DE O RATO RE I . 69

b attained h is maj ority the inheritance co u l d not go

e ,

t o a man who had been named heir in the second

place in the event o f the birth and decease o f a post

,

humous child On the other Side I argued that the

.
,

intention o f the testator had been that if there were ,

no so n t o attain his maj ority Manius Cu riu s should

,

inherit A n d did e ither of us cease for a moment in

.

the course o f the cas e to deal with O pinions prece ,

dents testamentary technicalities in other words with

, , ,

fundamental questions o f civil law ?

MI G HT quote several other instances of very XL

important cases o f which there is an endless
,
18 ‘
number "indeed o u r civic status even may often be
involved in cases which turn o n a point of law .

Take th e ins tance o f Caius Ma n c in u s a man o f the ,

highest rank and o f blameless character who had ,

held the consulship The state en v oy according

.
,

to the resol ution o f the senate surrendered him up ,

t o the people o f N umantia a s the author o f the u n

popular treaty with that state but o n the refusal of ,

th e N umantines to accept th e surrender M a n cinu s ,

returned to Rome and without hesitation took his

seat in the senate Thereupon Publius Ru t il i u s son of
.
,

Marcus the tribun e o f the peopl e ordered him to be

, ,

removed alleging that h e was not a Ro m an citizen

, ,

because it w a s the received tradition that any man w ho

had been sold by his o wn father o r by the nation o r su r
, ,

rendered by a state envoy had n o right o f recovery o f

,

citize n ship I f this wa s possible where can we find

.
,
1 82
amid all the transactions o f civi l life a case invo l ving a
 70 CI CERO DE O RATO RE I .
[ XL 1 82

more important iss u e than one which concerned the

rank the c itizenship the freedom the whole political
, , ,

existence of a m a n who had held the highest o ffice in

t h e state and that o n e which turned n o t on so m e cri m i
, ,

n a l charge to which he might have plead e d not g u ilty ,

but And under si m ilar

circumstances in the case o f a person of inferior rank
, ,

if a me m ber of an allied co m m unity having been a ,

slave in Rome had bought his freedom and then re

,

turned to his native town it was a m oot qu estion with ,

'

o u r ancestors whether he by law o f had

'

os t lim zm u m
p
reverted to his o w n people and lost his Rom an citizen
1 83 ship Again may not a case of disputed freedo m
.
, ,

the most important issue that can possibly come up

f o r d e cis io n hang o n a point of law ? th e question for
, ,
l

instance whether a slave who has been entered in the

,
’

censor s roll wit h the consent and will o f his master

is a fre e man at once o r not till th e close of the lus
,

trum ? Onc e again take a cas e that actu ally happened

,

within the me m ory of o u r fathers The head o f a .

ho u sehold returning from S pain to Rome left in the

province a wife who was with child and m arried a ,

second wi fe at Rome without s e nding a bill o f divorce

to the former o n e "he subsequ ently died intestate ,

each wife having gi v en birth to a s o n H ere surely .

a som e what i m portant issue was raised the decision ,

involving the political status o f two citizens that of the ,

b o y born of the second wife and that of his m other , ,

who if the verdict were that a divorce fro m a form e r

,

wife is only e ffected by a se t f orm o f words and not ,

by the mere f act o f a second marriage wo u ld be in the ,

XL I . 1 86 ] CI C E RO DE O RATO RE I . 71

position of a wom an taken into concubinage Well then .

I 84
,

that a man w h o knows nothing o f thes e and similar

questions o f the law of his own country Should with ,

a proud carriage and head erect with a keen and ,

eager look on his face turning his eyes this way ,

and that per v ade the law courts with a crowd at his
,

heels tendering and o ffering his protection to clients

, ,

h is assistance to friends and the l ight of his genius

,

and ad v ice to society generally this surely we cannot

,

but regard as a piece o f scandalous impertinence .

OW that I have Spoken of the impertinence of XLI

1 8
such conduct let me rebuke the indol ence and
,
5
laziness of men "for even supposing the stu dy o f the
l a w were di ffic u lt still its great utility ought to be
,

s u fficient to ind u ce men to undergo the labour o f

learning But take my word for it and I should not
.
,

vent u re to s a y this before S c aevola were he not in

the habit of making the re m ark himself there is no ,

branch o f stu dy which presents s o l ittle d ifli cu l t y .

Most people I k n o w think otherwise and fo r well 1 8 6

, ,
, ,

defined reasons I n the first place t h e old masters of

.
,

legal science with a view to maintain and increase their

,

influence refused to divulge the secrets of their craft

,

and afterwards when the law was published and the

di ff erent forms of procedure exposed by Cn e iu s Fl a v i u s ,

there was no on e capable of arranging them method

i c a lly and scientifically under di ff e re nt heads N othing .

o f cours e can be reduced to a scientific system u nless

he who i s master of the particulars o f which h e desires

to establish an art has the further knowledge necessary
,
 72 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[
X LL 1 86

to enable him t o systematise materials which have

1 87 not yet been systematised I am afraid that in my .

an x iety to state this briefly I have expressed myself ,

somewhat obscurely I wi ll try if I can make my

.

mean ing somewhat p l ainer .

X LII LL subj ects which have n o w been brought under

scientific treatment were once in a disconnected
and chaotic condition "m usic for instance presente d , ,

a chaos of rhythms sounds and tunes "geometry o f

, , ,

l ines figures dimensions and magnitudes "

, , ,
in astronomy
there was the revolution o f the heavens the risings , ,

setti ngs and movements of th e heavenly bodies "in

,

letters the treatment of poetry the study of history

, , ,

the interpretation of words their emphasis and accent

,

in rhetoric finally with which we are immedi a tely

, ,

interested in vention expression arrangement me m ory

, , , , ,

and d elivery were at o n e tim e considered by every o n e

,

t o be quite separate and wholly unconnected with o n e

another Thus th e application o f a certain science

.

borrowed from quite a di fferent sphere of knowledge ,

which the philosophers regard as their special province ,

was necessary to consolidate the separate and d is

connected material and unite it in a systematic whole
,
.

To apply this principle then to civil l a w let us define ,

its obj ect thus — t he m a int e na nce Qf cq u it y 31 5 Xing u "

. , “ a . .

1 89
( We must then distinguish between
the di fferent classes o f case and reduce them to a d e fi
,

nite number the smallest possible N ow a cla ss is

, .

that which incl udes at least t w o s u b -divisions which

 K Lm . 19 1 ] CI C ERO DE O RATO RE I . 73

have a certain common qualification but di ff er from ,

o ne another in species Sp ecies are those divisions

.

which are included under the classes from which they

are derived "and all nam es o f classes or species must
be accompanie d with definitions to expres s their
meaning A definition you know is a concise and
.
, ,

strictly exact statement o f the qualities proper to that

thing which we wish to define ) I would quote in 1 9 0 .

stan ces t o Show what I mean were I not fully alive t o

,

th e n ature o f the a udience I a m addressing A S it .

is I will state in o n e sentence the obj ect I have in

,
K

view I f I am allowed to carry o u t a long ch e rish e d l

.
-

purpose o r if so m e o n e else forestalls m e owing to my

,

many engagements o r completes the work in event o f

,

my death —if I mean he makes a digest first of all o f

, , , ,

Q h e civil law according t o the di ff erent classes o f case

( which are really very few ) then disti n guishe s the

,

di ff erent organic divisions s o t o speak o f these classes

, , ,

adding finally the definition Significant of the exact

, ,

n ature o f each class or division then you will have a ,

compl ete system of civil law whose diffi c ii l t y a nd ,

obscurity will be nothing co m pared with the magni

>
tude and wealth o f it s utility And meanwhile until 1 9 1 ,

a l l this scattered material is brought togeth e r the ,

student may after all by expatiating freely and

, , ,

collectin g information from every possible source fill ,

his mind with a very fair knowledge o f civil law .

ERE i s an instance in point Caius Aculeo w ho X L I I I .

still lives with m e as he always h a s a member ,

of the e q uestrian order a man o f singularly ac u te

,
 74 « CI CERO DE O RATO RE I .
[ XLIIL 19 1

intellect though with littl e general c u ltur e has such

, ,

a mastery o f civil law that with the exception o f o u r

friend here non e of our most expert lawyers can be
,

1 92 named before him For really the whole subj ect lies
.

at o u r very doors is closely connected with o u r daily

,

experience and our intercourse with our fellow men in -

public l ife I t is n o t wrapped up in a great body of

.

lit e rature o r in ponderous tom e s for th e first publica

tions though by several authors were really the same
, , ,

and these with a few verbal changes have be en re

written again and again even by the same authors .

I9S Besides this to add t o the facility of understanding

,

and mastering the subj ect the study itself though , ,

most people little think it has a really wonder f ul ,

charm and interest For if a man is an admirer o f the .

pursuits which JEl iu s 1 ha s brought into fashion he will ,

find everywhere in the civil law in the books of the ,

ponti ff s and in the XI I Tables a compl e te picture o f

, ,

antiquity in s o far as the original forms o f words m a y

,

be studied there and certain kinds o f procedure ,

illustrate th e life and manners of our ancestors If he .

is a student of political science which S c a ev ola thinks ,

is not the province o f the orator but o f some one

belonging to another class in the world o f learning all ,

such sci e nce he will find comprised in the XI I Tables ,

with a description of all the di ff erent provisions and

departments of state administration If he is a .

follower o f great and glorious philosophy I will even ,

1
The r e fe re nce h e r e is to L [ Eliu s S t i lo who ga v e l e c t u r es
.
,

o n L a t i n l i t e r a t u r e a nd l a n g u a g e H e wa s o ne of t h e l e a d ing
.

(C f
' ’

g ra m m a t z cz . 1 0 su p ra )
. .
 76 CI CE RO D E O RATO RE I .
[ XL I V . 1 96

lieve that the wisdom which framed its laws w a s a s

pro found as that which h a s e stablished its imperial
I
97 greatness From the study of law also you will reap
.

a nother pleas u re a n d delight You will then realise

.

more easily how vastly superior in states m anship our

ancestors were t o the politicians of th e other nations
o f the world if you will compare the laws of Rome
,

with the legislation o f Lycurgus Draco and S o l on in , ,

G reece . Indeed y o u would scarcely b e lieve h o w

crude how absurd I m a y sa y all civil law is compare d
, , ,

with the Roman system This is a favourite topic

.

o f mine in ordinary conversation when I am i nsisting

o n the superiority o f the statesmen o f Rome over thos e .

o f other nations and G reece especially

,
These are th e .

reasons S cze vo l a why I said that for any who wished

, ,

to m a ke themselves perfect orators a knowle dge o f ,

civil law was absolute l y indispensable .

X
X LV ET me pass now t o another point H o w much .

1
98 honour influence and dignity this knowledge
,

brings t o those who are its leading representatives n o ,

o n e needs t o be reminded Consequently wh e reas in

.
,

G reece men of the lowest rank for a miserabl e fee act

’
a s assistants t o the Speakers in the courts wp a u a n xo r
yj ,

( attorn eys ) as they are called in o u r country o n the,

other hand the service is perf ormed by th e most dis

t in gu i sh e d and honourable men such as he w a s f o r , ,

instance w ho because o f his knowledge of this subj ect

,

“
w a s styled by o u r greatest poet a man ful rich e o f
"
excellence IEl iu S S extus war and wy s and many
, ,

others w h o ha v ing w o n respect by title o f the ir ability

, ,
XL V I . 20 1 ] CI CERO DE O RATO RE I . 77

exercised an authority by title o f their position as

t ich w a s even more commanding than
their ability With a view moreover t o relieving the
. 1 99
solitude and dulness o f old age what more honourable ,

resource can there b e than the interpretation o f the

law ? For my o w n part from my first entrance into
manhood I have been carefu l to secure myself this
support n o t merely for the practical needs o f the law
,

courts but also as a grace and ornament for my declin

,

ing years that when my strength begins to fail me a

, ,

time which is now coming on apace I may be spared the ,

otherwise inevitabl e solitude of my home life For .

surely it is a signal distinction for an old man w h o has

served his country in the high o ffi ces of state to b e able ,

and fully entitled to s a y with the Pythian Apollo in

,

the poem of Ennius that he is the source whence his

,

o w n countrymen at all events if n o t nations and

, ,

"
kings s eek counsel for the m selves
, ,

U nc e rt ain th e i r weal wh om b y m y ai d
of

Ass u r e d an d rich in r e d e I s en d a wa y
,

N o t b lin d l y n o w t o t r y a trou b lou s task

for we may without fear of contradiction describe the z oo

house of th e j urisconsult as the oracular shrine of the

whole city Witness the door and entrance court o f
.

o u r friend here Quintus M u c i u s which in spite of his

, ,

enfeebled health and advanced age i s daily crowded

with a vast concourse of citizens including men of the ,

highest rank and distinction .

T does not need many more words to Sho w why I XLV I

20 1
consider that the orator ought t be quite fa iliar
o m

with public law also which specially concerns the state

,
 7s CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[
X Lv1 . 20 1

in its imperial capacity as well as with the records

,

o f history and me m orials o f antiquity For as in cases .

,

and trials where pri v ate interests are concerned th e ,

orator must often draw upon the civil law for his
matter an d therefore as l have already said a know
, , ,

ledge o f this branch o f law i s indispensabl e to him s o ,

in public causes whether in the courts o f justice the

, ,

national assembly o r the senate all t h e s e rec u rds -of

, ,
'

a n t i qu it y t he p re c e d ent s g f t he pu b li e m
, m w the
w w ,

principles a nd science ought to be at

the command o f the political Speaker as material to
20 2 draw upon For the character we are endeavouring to
.

portray in o u r present discussion i s not some bawling

ranter of an attorney but the man who in the first place
, , ,

is high priest of an art fo r which we have by nature

-

many qualifications though the gift itself has b een

,

vouchsafed a s we believe by Providence alone in

, , ,

order that a power which is peculiar to man as man ,

might be regarded not a s the acquisition of our o w n

skill but a st hg re s u lt p fldi i e ct inspiration "who in the
~ w
'

secon d place can move with safety even among the

,

weapons o f the enemy by virtue not o f his o ffi cial

,

wand but o f the simple name o f orator "thirdly w h o ,

can by h is eloquence expose the crimes and wicked

ness of the guilty to the hatred of their fellow country -

men and bring them within th e toils o f punishment ,

who can by the buckler of his talents save innocence

from the penalties o f the law w h o can rouse an in ,

di ff erent and mistak en nation to a sense o f honour or

turn them from the path o f error who can kindle their ,

indignation against treason o r cal m them when provoked

 80 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ X LV IL 20 5

Yes we are very gratefu l to you Crassus for what you

, , ,

have said and ha v e been deeply interested But we still

, .

desire a little more information from y o u and especially ,

o n those points which you touched upon s o very briefly

in connection with the special art of rhetoric tho u gh you ,

admitted that you attached some importance to such

r u l es and in fact had studied them yoursel f I f you
,
.

will only Speak a little more fully on these y o u will ,

completely satisfy the desire which we have s o long .

and so eagerly entertained A S it is we have been .

,

told what we ought to aim at which in itself is after , ,

all no Slight thing "but we still desire to know the

,

20 6 system and methods of the study Cra ss u s : S upposing .

’

then since I have already in order t o k eep you with

, ,

me consulted rather your wishes than my o w n habits

,

and natural inclinations we ask Antonius to un f old to

,

u s the secrets which h e keeps to himself and has not

yet given to the world of which h e co m plained a while

,

a o that o n e little pamphlet had already Slipped o u t

g
of his possession and to reveal t o us the mysteries o f
,

th e orator s craft ’
.
‘
S u lp iciu s : J ust as you please "for
’

even if Antonius is the Speaker we Shall still perceive ,

what you think of the matter ‘

Cra ssu s : Well then ’

20 7 .
,

since the burden is laid o n o u r o l d shoulders Antonius , ,

by these enthusiastic young m e n I ask you t o tell us ,

what you think on this subj ect on which you s e e they

’

look to you for information .

LV I I I ‘I t
N TON I US
is painfully evident t o me that
I am caught in a trap not only because I am ,

expected to speak on a subj ect on which I have neither

X LV III . 210 ] CI C ERO DE O RATO RE I . 81

knowledge nor experience but because our friends do,

not permit me to avoid o n this occasion what I always

fight very sh y of in the law courts Speaking that i s -
, , ,

im m ediately a f ter y o u Crassus I will however a t 2 0 8

, .
, ,

te m pt the task y o u lay upon me with the more con ,

fi d e n c e because I hope m y experience will be t h e same

in this debate as it always is in public speaking "no -

o ne ,
that is will expect any flowers o f rhetoric from
,

me For I have no intention o f speaking about the

.

art which I have never studied but only about m y

, ,

own practice And indeed thos e hints which I j otted

.

do wn in m y pa m phl e t I may describe not as the out

,

come o f any theoretical teaching b u t as having been ,

tested by actual practice in the courts I f my remarks .

d o not co m m an d the approval of your excellent learn

ing y o u must throw the blame o n yo u r own i m por
,

t u n i t y who have asked me for a deliverance on a subj ect

o f which I ha v e no knowledge while ou m ust com

y ,

mend my good nature for having graciously answered

-

y our questions against my o w n better j udgm ent and to

hu m our your Cra ss u s : Pra y proceed Antoni u s " 2 0 9 ,

for th e re is no danger of your Speaking otherwise than

with such wisdom that none o f u s will feel any regret
’
at havi n g u rged you to discourse o n this subj ect .

A nto niu s : W e ll I will begin with t h at which I hold

,

o u ght to co m e first in all discussions a cl ea r Statem en t , w

g f m ha m t he subj ect of the dis cussion that there m a y ,

be n o necessity for a Speaker to digress and wand e r from

his subj ect as there must be if the disp u tants have n o t
,

f ormed the same conception o f the point at issue b e

tween them If we had happened t o be discussing 2 1 0
.
 82 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ X La 210

the art o f generalship I should h ave thought it

,

necessary first o f all to define the term genera l "and

having define d the general as the man who is re
sponsible for the management of a war we sho u ld ,

then have proceede d t o speak about forces camps , ,

m arches,
engagements and siege s about the c o m
, ,

m is s a ria t
,
abo u t a m buscades how they are to be laid
,

and how avoided and everything else which form s an

,

integral part of the cond u ct o f a war Thos e who in .

all these departm ents have the master s m in d and

’

knowledg e I Should have said were generals and I ,

should have referred to instances of men like Africanus

or Maximus naming also Epaminondas and H a nn ib a l
, J

and o t h e ra o f th e same type I f again we had been

/

2 1 1 .

discussing the character o f the man who devotes a ll

his experience knowledge and e ffort to the guidance
, ,

o f the state ,
I should have defined him as o n e who ,

’
understanding the means by which a country s interests
are served and advanced and employing these means
, ,

is worthy of being regarded as the hel m s m an of the

state and the initiator of the national policy "and I
Sho u ld have cited as instances Publius Lent u lus the ,

f amous Princeps S enat u s Tiberi u s G racchus the elder

, , ,

Quintus Metellus Publius Africanus Caius La elius and

, , ,

very man y others not only from Ro m an history but

, ,

2 1 2 from that of other countries I f again the question .

had been who w a s t o be rightly called a j urisconsult ,

I should have Said th e m a n who IS learned in the laws

and u nwritten usages observed by private citizens in
their social relations who can give an opinion to a
,

client instruct him in the conduct o f a case and

, ,
 84 CI CERO DE O RATO RE I .
[
Xe . 214

strange to me that you S c a evola Sho u ld acquiesce in

, , ,

such a claim seeing that over and over again the senate
,

has taken yo u r advice o n q u estions of the ut m ost i m

portance though you ha v e Spoken but bri e fly and quite
,

Si m ply If th a t great expert in state a ffairs Marcus

.
,

S c a u ru s who is in the neighbourhood I a m told at

, , ,

his country residence were to hear that the influence

,

due only to a man o f his high character and profound

wisdo m is clai m ed by you Crassus ( as is im plied in
,

your statement that this is th e special province of the

orator) he wo u ld come here I expect at once and
, , , ,

would terrify our loqu acity into silenc e by a m ere look

of his eye f o r though he is by no means contemptibl e
as a Speaker he relies more on his sagacity in high
,

2 1
5 m atters o f state than o n any oratorical skill And then .
.

again gi v en that a man has ability in bot h directions

, ,

it does not follo w either that the leader in the councils

o f the nation and the good senator is si m ply f o r that

reason an orator "or that the ab l e and eloquent orator ,

if he is also an a u thority on state administration has -

,

acquired that knowl edge by his ability as a sp e aker .

There is really little in common between these two

faculties "ind e e d they are quite distinct and separate
one from the other nor did Marcus Cato P u bli u s Afri ,

c a n u s Quintus M e tellus and Caius La e lius who were a ll

, , ,

real orators employ the sam e means to i m prove their

,

own eloquence and to exalt the honour of their country .

H E RE is nothing you know either in the nature

, ,

o f things or in any law or tradition to prevent

, ,

any individual mastering more than one branch of

L . 2 1 8] CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I . 85

knowledge And for this reason it does not follow

. 1 6
because Pericles was the greatest orator of his time at
Athens and at the same time the guiding Spirit in
,

the councils of the nation for many years that we ,

ought therefore to consider both these faculties to be

characteristic o f the same individual and the same
branch of knowledge N or again because Publius .
, ,

Crassus was at once an orator and learned in the l aw ,

does it follow that a faculty of speaking impl ies also a

knowledge of civil law For if a co m bination in any .
, 2 1 7
o n e m a n of excellence in some special branch of know
,

l edge o r fac u lty with Skill in some other branch is to ,

force u s to the conclusion that the additional aecom

l i s h m e n t is an essential element in that in which he
p
shows h is excellence then we may o n that principle
,

assert that to play well at ball o r backgammon is o n e

of the characteristics o f the lawyer since Publius ,

M u c i u S was an excellent han d at both thes e games .

And by parity of reasoning we may s a y that those

philosophers whom the G reeks call physicists were
also poets since Empedocles the physicist was the
,

author of a n obl e poem Why not even the moral .

,

philosophers w h o claim not only their Special subj ect

, ,

b u t all others as their own by titl e of possession go s o

, ,

far as to assert that g e om etry or music is part o f the

e quipment of the philosopher because of the universal
admission that Plato had exceptional attain m ents in
both And surely if we are still determined to credit
.
, ,
2 1 8
the orator with all accomplishments it is less o b je c ,

t i o n a b l e to limit o u r state m ent of his merits thus

since the faculty of Speaking shoul d not be arid o r u n

 86 CI CERO DE O RATO RE I .
[ L . 218

adorned but flavoured or re l ieved by a certain charm o f

,

variety and diversity the ideal orator may be expected

,

to have heard much and to have seen much to have

, ,

expatiated freely in the region o f thought an d re fle c

tion and in the field of literature though W
, i re .

For I quite
admit that in his profession he must show himself a
W i n no subj ect a mere novice o r a fool "

he must have made exc ursions into all subj ects and
b e a stranger in none .

LI O R again a m I much disconcerted by what y o u

, ,
.

2 1 9 said j ust n o w with a moving air of passion such ,

as we are familiar with in the philosophers that n o ,

speaker can possibly excite the feelings of his audience

o r allay their excitement
(this being the Sphere in
which t h e real force and greatness o f the orator is
most truly Seen ) except one who has a thorough under
,

standing of all the laws o f natur e the character a n d

,

motives of men and that this i m plies that a knowledge

,

o f philosophy is absolutely indispensable to the orator

a pursuit in which we know that men even of the

highest abilities and most abundant leisure have spent
their whole l ives N ow I have no wish to m ake little
.

of the wide learning of these men or to depreciate the

,

greatness of the subj ect "on the contrary I have an ,

immense admiration f o r both But for us w h o take an

.

active part in t h e politics of this great nation it is ,

enough t o have such knowledge and u s e s uch language

about the emotions as is not inconsistent with the
 88 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I . 2 22

mental or physical good whether it is to be defined in

terms of virtue or of pleasure or whether it may n o t con
,

sist in an u nion and combination of the two "o r whether ,

again as some have held nothing can b e known with

, ,

certainty nothing be absolutely understood and a ppre

,

hended On all such question s I admit great an d

.
, ,

2 2 varied learning h a s been expended and there i s a large ,

number of conflicting and interesting theories "b u t it

is something else something very di ff erent Crassus
, , ,

of which we are in search What we want is a man of

.

c l ear intelligence o f good parts both nat u ral and

,

acquired able t o detect with unerring sagacity what

,

are the tho u ghts feelings opinions and expectations of

, , ,

his o w n fellow citizens or any audience of m e n whom

-
,

he wishes 60 (a rm ’
ynh e now et nf his Wor ds .

LII E st have his finger o n the pulse o f every

m u

class age and rank and must divine the

, , ,

thoughts and fe elings o f those before whom he i s

2 24 going to speak o r is likely t o have to do so But the
,
.

writings o f the philosophers let h im reserve for his

delight against such a time o f quiet retire m ent a s we
are n o w enj oying at Tusculu m that he may n o t be ,

tempted to borro w from Plato if at any time he has to ,

Speak on j ustice and honesty For Plato when he felt .

,

called upon to give expression to his theories o n thes e

subj ects portrayed in his pages a quite imagin ary state
,

s o utterly at variance with ordinary life and social

m anners was his conception o f what o u ght t o be said

225 o n the question o f j ustice Why if his theories held

.
,

mong nations and communities who would have ,

L II . 226 ] CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I . 89

allowed a citizen o f the highest repute and distinction ,

a leading statesmen like yo u Crassus to s a y what y o u , ,

did at a mas s meeting of your f ellow country m en -

“
D eliver u s from our m iseries "deliver us from the
j aws of thos e whose cruelty can be satiated only with
o u r blood " su ffer us not to be the slaves of any save ,

o f you who form the nation whose Slaves we may and ,

" “ "
ought to b e I s a y nothing about the m i series in
.

which according t o the philosophers the true man

, ,

cannot b e involved "I s a y nothing about the j aws “

"
from which you d esire to be d e livered that your
blood may not be sucked o u t o f y o u by an u nj ust
sentence which they s a y cannot b e passed upon the
,

philosopher but Sla v es —that not only y o u but the

"
, ,

whole senate whose cause y o u were t h en pleading

, ,

were slaves how durst you s a y that ? Can virtue be a

,
22 6
slave Crass u s if we are t o believe those whos e teach
, ,

ings you include in the province of the orator—m ue

which a lone and always is free and which even
‘ , ,

though our bodies were taken prisoners in war o r

fettered in chains must even s o maintain its rights and
,

its complete and untram m elled liberty of action Your

last words however that the sen a te not only may
, ,

but ought to be the Slaves o f the nation is there any ,

philosophy however easy going an d indi ff erent h o w

,
-
,

ever sensuous and hedonistic that could possibly ,

sanction the senti m ent of th e senate being the slaves o f

the nation — the senate to which the nation itself has
intrusted the reins o f government for it s own better
guidanc e and control
 90 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ L II L 22 7

L 111 O N SE QU E N TLY, though I myself thought your

2 2 7 speech was most admirabl e Publius Ru t il i u s
,

Rufus who i s a most devoted student of philosophy

, ,

used t o sa y it was not merely inj udicious but absolutely

,

and scandalously immoral H e also used to find very

.

grave fault with S ervius G alba (whom h e said he could

very well remember ) for having appealed to the feelings
of the pop u lace when Lucius S c rib o n iu s was moving fo r
a criminal inquiry into his conduct and Marcus Cato , ,

his stern and i m placabl e rival had Spoken o f him

,

in harsh and violent language before the national

assembly The actual spe ech Cato p u blished after
.

2 28 wards i n his Origines Well Ru t il i u s found fa u lt with

.
,

G alba because he all but lifted on to his Shoulders h is

,

ward Quintus the s o n of his kinsman Caius S u lpicius

,

G allus that the Sight of h im might move the populace

,

t o tears by awakening their re collections of the boy s

’

illustrious father and commended his o w n two little

,

sons to the protection o f the n ation and then as if h e

, ,

were m aking his will on the eve o f battle without the

due formalities o f l a w declared that he named the
,

Ro m an people a s the guardians of their orphanhood .

Thus though G alba was at the time labo u ring under a

,

cloud o f unpop u larity and universal hatred he won a ,

verdict o f acquittal Ru t il iu s used to assert by these

, ,

moving tricks of tragedy "and I find it stated in Cato s ’

“
book in s o many words that he woul d have been
,

brought to j ustic e if it had not been for the children

"
and the tears . S uch proceedings Ru t il iu s s everely
censured "and exile o r death h e used t o s a y w a s
, ,

2 2 9 preferable to such abj ect humiliation N or did he

.
 92 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ L I V . 23 1

LI V E RE in a past consul o f Rome we have repeated

, ,

2 31 the o ld story of S ocrates who being the , ,

wisest of men and having l ed a perfectly blam eless

,

l ife adopted such a line of defe n ce when o n trial for

,

his life that h e might well have been th e instructor or

,

master o f his j udges instead of a prisoner at the bar ,

dependent on their mercy Besides this whe n that .

,

most accomplished orator Lysias brought him a written

, ,

speech to learn by heart if he thought well and , ,

deliver in his defence in court he read it with some ,

pleasure and pronounced it a Skilfu l composition add

, ,

“
ing however J ust as if you had brought me a pair of
, ,

S icyonian Shoes I Should not wear the m however com

, ,

f o rt a b l e they might be or ho w ever good a fit becaus e

, ,

they would b e unmanly s o this speech o f yours seems

to me able enough and worthy of your art but not ,

’
manly and courageous Thus he too was condemned
.

and that not only at the first voting when the court
merely decided on the question o f g u ilty or not guilty ,

but also at the s econd voting which was required by ,

2 32 law At Athens you know on the prisoner being

.
, ,

found guilty if the charge was not a capital one there

, ,

followed a sort of assessment of the penalty "and when

the j udges were called upon to give their decision the ,

prisoner was asked what penalty at most h e admitted

that he deserved When the question w a s put to
.

S ocrates he answered that h e deserved t o receive the

,

highest honours and rewards and to have daily main ,

t e n a n c e given h im in the Prytaneum at the charges

o f the state a distinctio n which the G reeks think i s

,

2 33 the greatest that can be conferred This answer s o .

Lv . 2 35 ] CI CERO DE O RATO RE I .
93

exasperated his j udges that they conde m ned the most

innocent of men to death I f indeed he had been.
, ,

acquitte d (which though the matter does not concern

,

u s I heartily wish had been the case because of the

,

marvellous genius of the man ) we sho u ld have found ,

the arrogance o f the philosophers quite unbearabl e for , ,

even as it is in Spite of his condemnation for no other

,

f ault o f his own e xcept his deficient Skill in Speaking ,

they persist in saying that we must come to philosophy

to learn the r u les of oratory I will not dispute with
.

them which of th e two pursuits is the superior or the

more genuine "all I s a y is that philosophy is o n e ,

thing and oratory another and that perfection in ,

the latter can be attained without the aid of the

former .

OW I s e e what was your obj ect Crassus in m a k

, , , LV
ing so m uch of the study of civil law "in fact I 2 34
s a w it at the time I n th e first place it was by way of
.
,

a complim ent t o S c a evola whom we are al l bo u nd to

,

love as he most richly deserves f o r his Sing u lar k in dli

,

ness you saw his muse was undowered and unador ned ,

and you enriched and embellished her with the dowry

of your eloq u ence S econdly a s you had Spent a dis
.
,

proportionate amount o f labour and industry o n the

s u bj ect having always had a master at yo u r elbow to
,

enco u rage you in the study you were afraid y o u might

,

prove to have wasted your pains if you did not ,

magnify the science o f your choice by combining it

with eloquence For my part I have no quarrel with
.
2 35
this branch of knowledge any more than with
 9 4. CI CE RO DE O RATO RE 1 .
[ m 2 35

philosophy . Let it have all the value you would

give t o it "for indeed it is beyond all question of
, ,

great importance has a wide rang e a ffects numerous

, ,

interests has always been highly thought of and the

, ,

most distinguished men o f our day as at other ti m es , ,

are at the head o f the legal profession But are you .

not in d anger Crassus of robbing and denuding the

, ,

science o f its own admitted and traditional distinction ,

in your anxiety to trick i t o u t in a hitherto unhe a rd o f -

2 36 and alien dress I f your assertion had been that the

'

j u risco ns u l t was an orator and similarly that the orator

,

was also a j urisconsult that would have been a re c o gn i

,

tion of two noble professions parallel to one anoth er

,

and eq u ally honourable A S it is you admit that

.
,

there can be and indeed have been nu m erous j uris

, ,

consults without that ideal eloquence which we are

n ow discussing "but an orator you assert no one can , ,

be unless he has also mastered the science of the law

, .

Thus in your eyes the j urisconsult pure and simple is

nothing b u t a sharp and wary attorney a mere clerk ,

o f procedure a man who has certain cant formul a e on

,

his tong u e a master of verbal traps but because the

,

orator often appeals to the law in the e x ercise of his

profession you have therefore attached a knowledge of
,

civil law to him as a sort of hand m aid or lackey

LV I H E N you expressed astonishment at the im

2 37 pertinence o f those advocates who either in
Spite of their ignorance on small points of law made
great professions or ventured to deal in court with the
,

most important questions o f civil law although they ,

 96 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ LV L 2 39

the o ffi ce o f consul was accompanying him on his

,

canvass (b ecause a marriage had been arranged b e

tween his s o n Caius and the daughter of Crassus ) ,

a farmer in need o f legal advice accosted Crassus ,

and having taken him aside and laid his di fficulty

before h i m received an answer f rom him very
, ,

correct n o d oubt b u t not equally favourable for h is

,

purpose . G alba seeing the man was disappointed

, ,

addressed him by nam e and aske d h im what w a s the

,

di ffi culty he had put to Crassus When the man told .

him his trouble with evident signs of distress he ,

e x clai m ed ,
“
Oh "I s e e Crassus has answered you
"
absently with his m ind full of other things H e then .

l aid his hand on Cra ssu s s Shoulder and said to h i m ,

My dear friend what possessed you to give the man

,

"
2 40 this answer ? Crassus with all the confidence of th e
,

practised lawyer a fli rm e d that the case was as he had

,

advised and there could not be t w o opinions about it

, .

G alba however playfully quoted with much variety

, , ,

of illustration many analogous cases and enlarged on

, ,

the matter
tri until at last Crassus we a re told , ,

being no m atch for his friend in argument— although

h e was admittedly an able Speaker but by no means on ,

the same level with G alba— took ref u ge in authorities ,

substantiating his opinion by q u otation s f ro m th e work

of h is brother Quintus M u c iu s and t h e com m entary
, ,

of JEl iu s S extus "in the end however he ad m itted , ,

’
that G alba s contention seemed t o him plausible and
possibly correct .
L V II . 2 43 ] CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
97

N D aft er all cases which are

,
such a nature of

that there can b e no do u bt about the legal

aspect o f them are not as a rul e brought into court
, , .

Who f o r instance e v er clai m ed a property under a

, ,

will made by the head of a f am ily before a s o n was born

to him N o o n e o f course for it goes without saying
,

that a will is cancelled by the subsequent birth o f a

s o n and heir " consequently there are n o suits i nv o l v
ing a l egal issue of this kind The orator therefore .
, ,

m a
y safely ignore all this field o f uncontested law ,

which beyond all question forms the largest portion of

, ,

the subj ect But when the law is a matter o f dispute

.
42
among the gr e atest authorities it is v ery easy for the ,

orator to find on e of them in favo u r o f the line o f

argu m ent he may decid e to adopt "and when he h as
got all his bolts in proper tri m from him he will be ,

abl e to h u rl them at his advers ary with all th e force

and energy of the orator U nless o f course — and I hope
.
,
~

m
y v e ry good friend here will not be o ff ended by the

re m ark —it was by help of the treatises of S ca evola o r

~

t h e maxims o f yo u r father in law that you pleaded the

- -
,

cause o f Manius Curins and did not rather seize the,

opportunity of striking a blow for equity and upholding ,

th e s a nctity o f wills and th e l ast wish e s o f the dead . 2 43

Indeed in my opinion — and I often cam e into court t o
,

listen— you won the great maj ority o f th e votes by the

polished brilliancy of your wit and by your Sparkling
humour making fun of your opponent s excessive
,
’

ingenuity and speaking with bated breath of t h e clever

ness o f S c a evola who had discovered that birth was
,

a necessary prel iminary to th e grave and producing ,

a
 98 CI CERO DE O RATO RE l .
[LVIL 243

instance after instance from laws resolutions of the ,

senate t h e ordinary conversation of society selected n o t

, ,

only with Skill but with much humour and sense of the
,

ridiculous where things would come to a deadlock if w e

,

insisted o n the letter t o the neglect of the plain meaning .

The consequence was the court was a scen e of delight ,

an d amusement "and what good all your training in

civil law did you I fail to perceive —what won yo u
,

th e cas e w a s a com b ination o f striking eloquenc e w ith

2 44 e x cellent pleasantry and charm o f manner Why even .
,

M u c iu s himself as the champion of the legal profession

, ,

a position to which he has succeeded as his father s son ,

— did he as counsel for the opposite party in that cas e

, ,

urge any plea derived from th e enactm ents o f the civil

law ? Did he quote a Singl e statute ? did he in the
course of his speech explain anything that had hitherto
been a mystery t o the lay mind H is whole Speech ,

surely was b ased on the contention that the letter o f

,

24
s a document ought to be of paramount weight But .

it is just questions of this kind that form the staple of

our school e x ercises in which the pupils are taught in
, ,

similar cases sometimes to plead for the letter o f the

,

law at others for the equitable interpretation of it I n

,
.

th e case too of the soldier I s u ppose if you had been

, , , ,

counsel either for the heir or the soldier you would ,

have trusted to the Forms of Legal Procedure by H o s

t il i u s and not to your own wits and oratorical ability
,
.

I am sure if you had appeared for the party clai m ing

,

by the will you would have s o handled the case as to

,

make us believe that the sacred rights of all wills

whatsoever were invol ved in that particular suit I f .
 1 00 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ LV IIL 247

2 47 the S ale o f S a l e a b l e s Another reason you give is that

.
’

motives o f patriotism ought to induc e u s to make o ur

sel v es acquainted with the creations o f o ur forefathers
b u t do y o u not s e e that o u r old laws eith e r h ave become
obsolete by Sheer antiquity o r ha v e been remo v ed by
more recent legislation ? A S to your fan cy that men
are m ade good by the civil law b e cause by its enact ,
~

ments rewards are assigned t o v irtue and penalties t o

vice I used to suppose that m e n were taught virtue
,

2 48 cha rm —f— id i
O a vo ng e u il
l for myself the o n e man
. AS ,

whom y o u admit to be capable o f doing j ustice to a

case witho u t a knowledge o f law m y answer t o yo u o n ,

this point Crassus is that it i s tr u e I never studied the

, , ,

subj ect but then I never felt the want of s uch kno w
,

ledge even in those causes which I found m ys e lf able

,

to pl e ad be f or e the prae tor fo r it is o n e thing t o be a

master in some Special branch o f knowledge and quite ,

another to be wanting neither in appreciation no r in ex

e ri e n c e O f the general usage o f men in their ordinary
p
2 4 life Which o f us for instance has much O pportunity
.
, ,

o f v isiting his estates o r inspecting h is farms whether ,

for business purposes o r for pleasure ? Yet none o f

us goes through life without u sing h is eyes and wits
enough t o know something about seed— time and
h arvest the pruning of vines and other trees the
, ,

proper seasons o f the year for doing these things and ,

the proper methods S upposing a man then has to

.
, ,
L 111 . 2 5 0] CI C E RO DE O RATO RE I . 101

inspect his estate o r give som e instruction t o h is

,

agent o r orders to h is steward o n th e farming o f his

,

land must he learn by heart the works of Mago t h e

,

Carthaginian ? May we not rather content ourselve s

with such common sense as we all have on such -

matters ? Why then may we not also in this matte r

, ,

o f ci v il law especially considering the wear and t e a ri

,

O f o u r profession and the occupations o f public life b e ,

content w ith such equipm ent as will at any rate sec u re

’

u s from seeming t o have merely a foreigner s acquaint

ance with our own country ?

And i f after all o u r, , ,
2
50
s ervices should be required for some unusual ly knotty
case it would not be very di ffi cult I imagine t o c o m
, , ,

m u n i ca t e with o u r friend S c a evola h e re —though the ,

parties conc e rned you must r e m e mber put us in

, ,

possession o f all the legal opinions and the di fficulties

o f their case G ranted that the necessities of o u r
.

profession compel us to master intricate and oft e n

di fficult problems a question of evidence perhaps o r
, , ,

o f boun da ries when we are engaged in a case o f

disp u ted ownership or of mercantile accounts and ,

receipts is th ere really any danger that if we ha v e t o

, ,

make ourselves acqu ainted with the laws or p ro f e s

s i o n a l opinions we Shall not b e able to do so unless
, ,

we have studied civil law from our youth ?

S,
then a knowledge o f law of n o s ervice to the
, LIX
orator ? I wou ld not venture to s a y that any
branch o f knowledge is of no service especially to one ,

whose e loq u ence o u ght to be e quipped wi t h a w e alth

o f matter " but the accomplishments indispensable for
1 02 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I . 2 50

the orator are s o many s o great and so d ifli cu l t that

, , ,

I am no advocate for dissipating his energies o n more

subj ects than are necess ary N o o n e would for a
.

moment deny that in the matter o f oratorical action

and deportment the orator ought to have the gestures
an d grace of a Roscius Yet no one would advise
.

a young aspirant to oratorical fame to devote the

pains that actors do to the study of action Another .

absolute necessity for an orator is a good v oice Bu t . _

n o student o f oratory will o n my recommendation give

, ,

the same servile attention to his voice as the tragic

actors o f G reec e who not only practis e sedenta ry
,

declamation for several y ears b u t as a daily exercis e,

be f ore playing in public lie on a sofa and gradually

,

raise the pitch o f their voice and then a fter the , ,

performance is over s it down and drop their voice

, ,

a gain from the highest to the lowest note by way

o f recruiting it . If we took it into our heads to d o

this our clients would be condemned before we could
,

recite o u r P a e an or our hymn the prescribed number

, ,

o f times . Well then if we are not in a position to

, ,

d e vote Special attention t o action which i s o f great ,

assistance to an orator and to the voice which is the

, ,

one thing above all others that sets o ff and supports

’

a speaker s eloquence b u t can only attain to a success

,

in each commensurate with the leisure that is give n

us a m id the rou nd o f o u r daily avocations how m u ch ,

less should we be j ustified in diverting our energies

to th e task of learning civil law ? O f this we can
get a general notion witho u t any special study a n d ,

it also di ffers from the other th i ngs I ha v e mentioned

 1 04 CICE RO DE O RATO RE I
.
[ LX . 255

2 55 alter them entirely ? You Crassus must be well aware

, ,

how many difle re n t styles of oratory there are —

’

I ,

may perhaps venture to sa y that you h a ve s e t us the

example in this m atter as you hav e for some time
,

adopted a much calmer and less vehement style o f

speaking than you used to employ nor does your pre
sent quiet and conversational though very impressive , ,

manner find less f avour than yo u r former vehemenc e

and e nergy There have be en many great speakers
.
,

such a s we are told were S cipio and L a elius who

, , ,

delivered all their speeches in a tone only a littl e

raised above that o f ordinary conversation and n ever ,

with a l l that power of lung and strain o f voice which ,

was characteristic of S ervius G alba But supposin g .

you co m e some day to have neither the power nor

inclination e ven for as much exertion as this is there ,

any danger after all yo u r services as a man and a

,

citizen of your house being deserted by the rest of

,

the world if it ceases to be the resort of the litigious

,

members o f society ? For my part s o far a m I from ,

sharing in your feelings that I not on l y do not think

,

that we must look to the number o f thos e who will

apply t o us for legal ad v ic e as the solace of o u r
O ld age b u t I ev e n look f orward to the solitude which
,

y ou dread as a haven of refug e m

y belief being ,

that for o u r declining years no relief is s o delight f ul

a s rest For the other aids t o the orator as I ad m it
2
56 .
,

them to b e — history I mean a knowledge o f public

, , ,

law the records of antiq u ity a m ast e ry o f precedents

, , ,

I shall if I have occasion fo r them apply to m y good

, ,

friend Co n gu s who has an encyclop aedic knowledge o f

,
m m 2 59
.
] CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I . 1 05

s u ch things Bu t I would not dissuade o u r friends

.

from taking your advice and reading and hearing

all they can and making themselves fa m iliar with
,

e v ery recognised subj ect of liberal cult u re "though ,

to Speak t h e plain truth I do not think th e y will have

,

so very m uch time for doing s o if that is they mean , , ,

to carry out in practice all your reco m m endations .

Indeed it se e med to m e that the conditions you

i m posed upon their young endeavours were almost
t o o se v ere though no doubt al m ost necessary if they
, ,

are t o attain th e goal of their ambition For the .

extempore dissertations on s e t subj e cts the careful ,

2 57
and studied e ssays and the diligent u se o f the pen
,

which you very truly s aid is the one artist and teacher
of eloqu e nce all invo l ve much hard work "and the c o m
,
’
parison of one s o w n e fforts with the writings o f others ,

and the extempore criticism o f the work of othe r

authors W hether by way O f praise o r censure o f con ,

fi rm a t io n o r refu tation r e quires no ordinary e x ertion

,

either o f memory to r e tain or o f skill t o imitate .

OUR n ext demand was literally appalling and I LX I ,

2 58
am m u ch af raid it m a y act more powerfully as a
deterrent than as an incentive You expected each on e
.

o f us t o make himself a Roscius in his o wn profession ,

and y o u stated that the approval w o n by the m erits of

a Speech was not co m parable with the permanent
disgust created by it s defects whereas my own belief
is that o u r audiences are not nearly as fastidio u s as
thos e o f the actor Thus we I know are O ften liste n ed 2 59
.
, ,

to with the utmost attention even when we are hoarse

, ,
 1 06 CI CE RO DE O RATO RE I .
[ Lxr . 2 59

for the interest of the case is su fficient to hold the

audience "whereas Esp‘pgs if he is a little out of ,

v oice is hissed
,
For where we look for nothing b u t
.

the pleasure of the ear we take o ff ence the moment

,

anything interferes with that pleasure but in a great

speaker there is a variety of qualities to hol d o u r atten
tion and if they are not all displayed in the highest
,

though m ost of them in a high degree of perfection ,

those which are s o displayed cannot fail of commanding

2 60 our admiration In concl u sion then to return to t lfe
.

point from which we started let us regard the orator ,

, ,

\
,

according to the definition given by Crassus W an ,

m but let him limit himself to the ordinary

im e
social and public life of civil ised communities and ,

putting all other subj ects o n one Side however exalted ,

and noble they may be let him devote laborio u s nights

,
fi ‘

and days al m ost exclusively to this o n e p u rsu it/ Le t

’

him follow the example o f that great man who is u n

hesitatingly acknowledged by all to be the chief of
orators the Athenian Demosthenes whose enthus iasm
, ,

and perseverance we are told were s o great that he first

, ,

of all overcame his n atural impediments by carefu l and

unremitting diligence and though h e had s u ch a lisp
,

that he co u ld not pronounce the first letter of th e very

art which he was studying succeeded by practice in ,

winning the rep u tation of being the most distinct o f

speakers Moreo v er th ough he su fle re d much fro m
’

2 61 .
,

Shortness o f breath he e ff ected such an improve m ent

,

by holding in his breath while Speaking that in a singl e ,

rhetorical period as can be seen in his extant Speeches

, ,
 108 CI C ERO DE O RATO RE I .
[ L X IL 2 64

merely to describe the possible attainments o f the m a n

w h o spends his days in the courts and never e x patiates ,

beyond the necessary limits o f the cause he undertakes .

I contemplated a nobler ideal when I ga v e it as my ,

opinion that the orator especially in such a state as ,

ours ought to lack nothing that can adorn his art

,
.

You howe v er as you have circumscribed t h e whole

, ,

duty o f the orator within strict and narrow li m its w il l ,

find it all the more easy to answer the questions that

have been asked you o n the functions of the orat or and ‘

the rules he must O bs e rv e But we will leave that I .

,

think for to morrow we have talked quite enough for

,
-

2 65 to day F o r the present as S c a ev ola h a s determ ined t o

- .
,

o to his o w n villa h e re he m ust rest a littl e till t he

g ,

heat of the day is overpast "and we t o o considering ,

t h e hour may well consider o u r health To this all

’

, .

agreed and then S c a evola said

,
I only wish I had not
made an appointment with L lEl iu s to meet h im at my .

v illa to day I should much like t o hear what Antonius

-

has t o s a y "for (he added with a smile as he rose ) he

did not s o much annoy m e by his strictures o n my
favou rite subj ect as amuse me by t h e frank confession
,

o f his ign orance o f it

’

P rint e d b y T . a nd A C O N S T A B LE , P rin
. t e rs t o H er M a jest y .
a t t he E d inb u rgh U ni ve rs it y P re ss .