History of Famous Orators | Page 8

one or another
of the parties in judgment, he left off composing orations for other
people, and wholly applied himself to writing rules and systems.
"Thus then we have traced the birth and origin of the Orators of Greece,
who were, indeed, very ancient, as I have before observed, if we
compute by the Roman Annals; but of a much later date, if we reckon
by their own: for the Athenian State had signalized itself by a variety of
great exploits, both at home and abroad, a considerable time before she

was ravished with the charms of Eloquence. But this noble Art was not
common to Greece in general, but almost peculiar to Athens. For who
has ever heard of an Argive, a Corinthian, or a Theban Orator at the
times we are speaking of? unless, perhaps, some merit of the kind may
be allowed to Epaminondas, who was a man of uncommon erudition.
But I have never read of a Lacedemonian Orator, from the earliest
period of time to the present. For Menelaus himself, though said by
Homer to have possessed a sweet elocution, is likewise described as a
man of few words. Brevity, indeed, upon some occasions, is a real
excellence; but it is very far from being compatible with the general
character of Eloquence.
"The Art of Speaking was likewise studied, and admired, beyond the
limits of Greece; and the extraordinary honours which were paid to
Oratory have perpetuated the names of many foreigners who had the
happiness to excel in it. For no sooner had Eloquence ventured to sail
from the Pireaeus, but she traversed all the isles, and visited every part
of Asia; till at last she infected herself with their manners, and lost all
the purity and the healthy complexion of the Attic style, and indeed had
almost forgot her native language. The Asiatic Orators, therefore,
though not to be undervalued for the rapidity and the copious variety of
their elocution, were certainly too loose and luxuriant. But the
Rhodians were of a sounder constitution, and more resembled the
Athenians. So much, then, for the Greeks; for, perhaps, what I have
already said of them, is more than was necessary."
"As to the necessity of it," answered Brutus, "there is no occasion to
speak of it: but what you have said of them has entertained me so
agreeably, that instead of being longer, it has been much shorter than I
could have wished."--"A very handsome compliment," said I;--"but it is
time to begin with our own countrymen, of whom it is difficult to give
any further account than what we are able to conjecture from our
Annals.--For who can question the address, and the capacity of Brutus,
the illustrious founder of your family? That Brutus, who so readily
discovered the meaning of the Oracle, which promised the supremacy
to him who should first salute his mother? That Brutus, who concealed
the most consummate abilities under the appearance of a natural defect

of understanding? Who dethroned and banished a powerful monarch,
the son of an illustrious sovereign? Who settled the State, which he had
rescued from arbitrary power, by the appointment of an annual
magistracy, a regular system of laws, and a free and open course of
justice? And who abrogated the authority of his colleague, that he
might rid the city of the smallest vestige of the regal name?--Events,
which could never have been produced without exerting the powers of
Persuasion!--We are likewise informed that a few years after the
expulsion of the Kings, when the Plebeians retired to the banks of the
Anio, about three miles from the city, and had possessed themselves of
what is called The sacred Mount, M. Valerius the dictator appeased
their fury by a public harangue; for which he was afterwards rewarded
with the highest posts of honour, and was the first Roman who was
distinguished by the surname of Maximus. Nor can L. Valerius Potitus
be supposed to have been destitute of the powers of utterance, who,
after the odium which had been excited against the Patricians by the
tyrannical government of the Decemviri, reconciled the people to the
Senate, by his prudent laws and conciliatory speeches. We may
likewise suppose, that Appius Claudius was a man of some eloquence;
since he dissuaded the Senate from consenting to a peace with King
Pyrrhus, though they were much inclined to it. The same might be said
of Caius Fabricius, who was dispatched to Pyrrhus to treat for the
ransom of his captive fellow- citizens; and of Titus Coruncanius, who
appears by the memoirs of the pontifical college, to have been a person
of no contemptible genius: and likewise of M. Curius (then a tribune of
the people) who, when the Interrex Appius the Blind, an artful Speaker,
held the Comitia