History of Famous Orators | Page 6

thought a beauty:--but
whatever it may be deemed, it was, in the present case, the effect rather
of native genius, or of accident, than of art and observation. For mere

nature itself will measure and limit our sentences by a convenient
compass of words; and when they are thus confined to a moderate flow
of expression, they will frequently have a numerous cadence:--for the
ear alone can decide what is full and complete, and what is deficient;
and the course of our language will necessarily be regulated by our
breath, in which it is excessively disagreeable, not only to fail, but even
to labour.
"After Isocrates came Lysias, who, though not personally engaged in
forensic causes, was a very artful and an elegant composer, and such a
one as you might almost venture to pronounce a complete orator: for
Demosthenes is the man who approaches the character so nearly, that
you may apply it to him without hesitation. No keen, no artful turns
could have been contrived for the pleadings he has left behind him,
which he did not readily discover;--nothing could have been expressed
with greater nicety, or more clearly and poignantly, than it has been
already expressed by him;--and nothing greater, nothing more rapid and
forcible, nothing adorned with a nobler elevation either of language, or
sentiment, can be conceived than what is to be found in his orations. He
was soon rivalled by his cotemporaries Hyperides, Aeschines,
Lycurgus, Dinarchus, and Demades (none of whose writings are extant)
with many others that might be mentioned: for this age was adorned
with a profusion of good orators; and the genuine strength and vigour
of Eloquence appears to me to have subsisted to the end of this period,
which was distinguished by a natural beauty of composition without
disguise or affectation.
"When these orators were in the decline of life, they were succeeded by
Phalereus; who was then in the prime of youth. He was indeed a man of
greater learning than any of them, but was fitter to appear on the parade,
than in the field; and, accordingly, he rather pleased and entertained the
Athenians, than inflamed their passions; and marched forth into the
dust and heat of the Forum, not from a weather-beaten tent, but from
the shady recesses of Theophrastus, a man of consummate erudition.
He was the first who relaxed the force of Eloquence, and gave her a
soft and tender air: and he rather chose to be agreeable, as indeed he
was, than great and striking; but agreeable in such a manner as rather

charmed, than warmed the mind of the hearer. His greatest ambition
was to impress his audience with a high opinion of his elegance, and
not, as Eupolis relates of Pericles, to sting as well as to please.
"You see, then, in the very city in which Eloquence was born and
nurtured, how late it was before she grew to maturity; for before the
time of Solon and Pisistratus, we meet with no one who is so much as
mentioned for his talent of speaking. These, indeed, if we compute by
the Roman date, may be reckoned very ancient; but if by that of the
Athenians, we shall find them to be moderns. For though they
flourished in the reign of Servius Tullius, Athens had then subsisted
much longer than Rome has at present. I have not, however, the least
doubt that the power of Eloquence has been always more or less
conspicuous. For Homer, we may suppose, would not have ascribed
such superior talents of elocution to Ulysses, and Nestor (one of whom
he celebrates for his force, and the other for his sweetness) unless the
art of Speaking had then been held in some esteem; nor could the Poet
himself have been master of such an ornamental style, and so excellent
a vein of Oratory as we actually find in him.--The time indeed in which
he lived is undetermined: but we are certain that he flourished many
years before Romulus: for he was at least of as early a date as the elder
Lycurgus, the legislator of the Spartans.
"But a particular attention to the art, and a greater ability in the practice
of it, may be observed in Pisistratus. He was succeeded in the following
century by Themistocles, who, according to the Roman date, was a
person of the remotest antiquity; but, according to that of the Athenians,
he was almost a modern. For he lived when Greece was in the height of
her power, but when the city of Rome had but lately freed herself from
the shackles of regal tyranny;--for the dangerous war with the Volsci,
who were headed by Coriolanus (then a voluntary exile) happened
nearly at the same time as the Persian war; and we may add,