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"A peculiar energy, says the same author, in ano"ther place, constitutes his character, and sets him "above equality. His discourse is a series of inductions, conclusions, and demonstrations, formed by common sense. His reasoning, of which the force "perpetually increases, rises by degrees, and with precipitation, to the pitch he would carry it. He "attacks openly, he pushes forward, and at last re"duces the auditor to such streights, that there is no "further retreat for him. But on this occasion, the "auditor, far from being ashamed of his defeat, feels "the pleasure which submitting to reason affords. "Isocrates, said Philip, pushes only with a foil, but Demosthenes fights with the sword... We see in him a "" man, who has no other enemies but those of the state, nor any passion but the love of order and 'justice. A man, whose aim is not to dazzle but to "inform; not to please, but to be useful. He employs no other ornaments, but such as grow out "of his subject; nor any flowers but those he finds in "his way. One would conclude, that he desired nothing farther than to be understood, and that he gained admiration without seeking it. Not that he "is devoid of graces, but then they are those only "of an austere kind, and such as are compatible with "the candour and ingenuity he professed. In his

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writings, truth is not set off with paint, nor does "he make it effeminate with intent to adorn it; no "kind of ostentation, or retrospect upon himself; he "neither shews nor regards himself, but is entirely "confined to his cause; and his cause is always the preservation or advantage of his country."

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II. OF CICERO'S ELOQUENCE, COMPARED WITH THAT OF DEMOSTHENES,

[o] Two orators, though very different in style and character, may yet be equally perfect; so that it would

[o] In his oratoribus illud animadvertendum est, posse esse fummos, qui inter se sint dissimiles...

Ita'dissimiles erant inter se, statuere ut tamen non posses utrius te malles similiorem. Brut. n. 204. & 148.

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not be easy to determine which of them we should chuse to resemble.

Perhaps this rule, with which Cicero furnishes us, may be of service in the judgment we are to form between him and Demosthenes.

Both excelled in the three kinds of writing, as every one must do who is truly eloquent. They knew how to vary their style as their subjects varied; sometimes simple and subtile [p] in causes of small consequence, in narrations and proofs; and at others, adorned and embellished, when there was a necessity of pleasing; sometimes elevated and sublime, when the dignity of the subject required it. [7] Cicero makes this remark, and he quotes for examples Demosthenes and himself,

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Quintilian has drawn a fine parallel between these two orators. [r] "The qualities, says he, on which Eloquence is founded, were alike in both; such as the design, the order, the disposition, the divi, sion, the method of preparing the auditors, and the proving; and, in a word, every thing that is rela"tive to invention.

"[s] But there is some difference in their style. The "one is more concise, the other more diffusive; the one pushes closer to his adversary, the other allows "him a larger spot to fight upon. The one is always endeavouring to pierce him, as it were, with the vivacity of his style; the other often bears him "down with the weight of his discourse. Nothing can be retrenched from the one, nor added to the

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The translator has thus rendered this passage, L'un est toujours sub. til dans la dispute, &c. I do not think that subtilty is meant here, but believe that the metaphor is borrowed from a sword.

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"other. Demosthenes has more care and study, "and Cicero more nature and genius.

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[t] As to raillery, and the exciting commiseration, both which are of vast effect in Eloquence, "Cicero has undoubtedly the advantage in these.

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[u] But he yields to him in this respect, viz. that "Demosthenes lived before him; and that Cicero, "though a very extraordinary man, owes part of his "merit to the Athenian orator. For, my opinion is, "that Cicero, having bent all his thoughts to the Greeks, in order to form himself upon their model, "compounded his character out of Demosthenes's strength, Plato's copiousness, and Isocrates's sweetness. And such was his application, that he not only extracted every thing extraordinary from those great originals, but produced, as it were, by the "happy fruitfulness of his divine genius, the greatest part of those very perfections, or rather all of them. For, to use an expression of Pindar, he does not "collect the waters of heaven to remedy his natural

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subtleness; but finds a spring of living water with"in himself, which is ever flowing with vehemence "and impetuosity; and one would conclude, that the "Gods had given him to the world, in order that Eloquence might exert her utmost strength in the "person of this great man.

[r] And indeed, what man was ever more exact "in instructing, or moved the passions with greater "force?

[1] Salibus certè & commiseratione (qui duo plurimùm affectus valent) vincimus.

[u] Cedendum verò in hoc quidem, quòd & ille prior fuit, & ex magnâ parteCiceronem,quantus est, fecit. Nam mihi videtur Marcus Tullius, cùm se totum ad imitationem Græcorum contulisset, effinxisse vim Demosthenis, copiam Platonis, jucunditatem Isocratis. Nec verò quod in quoque optimum fuit studio consecutus est tantùm, sed plurimas vel potiùs omnes ex se ipso virtutes extulit immortalis ingenii

beatissimâ ubertate. Non enim pluvias (ut ait Pindarus) aquas colligit, sed vivo gurgite exundat, dono quodam Providentiæ genitus, in quo totas vires suas eloquentia experiretur.

[x] Nam quis docere diligentiùs, movere vehementiùs potest? Cui tanta unquam jucunditas affuit? ut ipsa illa quæ extorquet, impetrarę eum credas, & cum tranfversum vi suâ judicem ferat, tamen ille non rapi videatur, sed sequi. - Jam in omnibus quæ dicet tanta auctoritas inest, ut dissentire pudeat ; nec ad

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"force? What orator has such a profusion of charms as him we are speaking of? These are so great, "that we think we grant him what he forces from us; "and, when he hurries away the judges by his im"petuosity, as with a torrent, they think they fol"low him of their own accord, at the very time they "are forced along. Besides, he delivers himself with "so much reason and weight, that we are ashamed to "differ in opinion from him. We do not find in him "the zeal of a lawyer, but the integrity of a witness "and of a judge. And these several particulars,

every one of which would cost another infinite pains, "flow naturally, and, as it were, of themselves, "from him; so that his manner of writing, though "so beautiful and inimitable, is nevertheless so easy "and natural, that one would conclude it had not "cost him any pains.

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[y] His cotemporaries therefore had reason to say, that he exercised a kind of empire at the bar. "And it was but justice in those who succeeded him, "to esteem him so highly, that the name of Cicero is

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now less the name of a man, than of Eloquence it"self. Let us therefore keep our eyes perpetually "upon him; let this orator be our model, and we may depend that we have made a great improvement, "when we love and have a taste for Cicero.

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Quintilian did not dare to form a judgment upon these two great orators; he however seems to have a secret prejudice in favour of Cicero.

Father Rapin is equally cautious and reserved in his comparison between those orators. I should be obliged to copy his whole treatise, were I to repeat all his beautiful reflections on this subject. But some short

vocati studium, sed testis aut judicis afferat fidem. Cùm interim hæc omnia, quæ vix singula quisquam intentissimâ curâ consequi posset, fluunt illaborata: & illa, quâ nihil pulchrius auditu est, oratio præ se fert tamen felicissimam facilitatem.

[y] Quare non immeritò ab ho

minibus ætatis suæ regnare in judiciis dictus est, apud posteros verò id consecutus, ut Cicero jam non hominis sed eloquentiæ nomen habeatur. Hunc igitur fpectemus: hoc propositum nobis sit exempluin. Ille fe profecisse sciat, cui Cicero valdè placebit.

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extracts inform us sufficiently of the difference to be found between them.

"Besides that solidity, says he, speaking of Cicero, "which comprised so much sense and prudence, he "had a certain beauty and quintessence of wit, which "enabled him to embellish all his ideas; and he heightened every thing that occurred to his imagination, with the most beautiful turns, and the most animated colours in nature. Whatever sub

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ject he might treat, even the most abstracted mat"ters in logic, the driest topics in natural philosophy, "the most knotty points in law, or the most intricate "in business; all these, I say, when delivered by "him, assumed that sprightliness, and all those graces so natural to him. For, we must confess, that no man ever spoke with so much judgment or beauty "on all subjects.

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"Demosthenes, says he elsewhere, discovers the reality and solidity of every reason that presents it"self to his mind, and has the art of displaying it in "all its force. Cicero, besides the solid, which never escapes him, sees whatever is agreeable and engaging, and traces it directly. In order, therefore, "to distinguish the characters of these two orators by "their real difference, methinks we may say, that "Demosthenes, from the impetuosity of his temper, "the strength of his reason, and the vehemence of "his action, had more force than Cicero; as Cicero, by his soft and delicate deportment, by his gentle,

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piercing, and passionate emotions, and his many "natural graces, was more affecting than Demos"thenes. The Grecian struck the mind by the strength "of his expression, and the ardour and violence of "his declamation; the Roman reached the art by "certain charms and imperceptible beauties, which "were natural to him, and which were heightened

by all the art that Eloquence is capable of. The "one dazzled the understanding by the splendour of "his light, and threw a confusion into the soul, which was won by the understanding only; and the insi

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