Ibid. C. 7. in the antient world. I fay, the only two people. For however a writer may be pleased to distinguish this mode of speech into various genera and fpecies, Cicero is much more confined in his divifion. * He acknowledges no other species of Grecian Eloquence, but that of Athens. He never heard of a Spartan Orator: scarcely of one in any other of the Grecian states. Of Indian Eloquence he is absolutely filent; and as to the Afiatic, he + explicitly declares, that it was imported from the Piraeus, and adulterated by the manners of the people thro' whom it passed. The most antient speakers of Athens ‡, we are informed, were pompous in their diction, fententious, concife, and fomewhat obfcure, These immediate fucceffors of the poets copied from their elevation of style. Their liveliness and vanity hurried them into general conclufions from their own observation and experience: Their quickness and conception produced and warranted conciseness; and the obscurity which arose from thence, feems to have been increased from that boldness of figure which they still retained from their state of rudeness, and Hoc autem ftuftium [fci. Dicendi] non erat commune Græciæ, fed proprium Athenarum. Quis enim aut Argivum Oratorem, aut Corinthium, aut Thebanum fcit temporibus illis? nifi quid de Epaminonda, docto homine, fufpicari libet. Lacedæmonium vero ufque ad hoc tempus audivi fuiffe neminem. Menelaum ipfum, dulcem illum quidem tradit Homerius, fed pauca dicentem. Brevitas autem, laus eft interdum in aliqua parte dicendi, in univerfa eloquentia, laudem non habet. DE CLAR. Orator. C. 13. + Ut femel a Piræco Eloquentia evecta eft, omnes peragravit infulas, atque ita peregrinata tota Afia eft, ut se externis obliniret moribus, omnemque illam falubritatem Atticæ dictionis, quafi fanitatem perderet, ac loqui pæne dedifceret. IBID. which which oftentimes gave an ænigmatical appearance to their language and observations.* These antient orators, with a kind of rude untutored violence, applied themselves to roufe, to terrify, and inflame, till the gradual refinement of their hearers taught them to guard against this dangerous power and obliged the Orators to reduce their eloquence within ftricter bounds. Thus it became the next care of this people to give their style a greater elegance and neatness; to prune the luxuriance of the antient diction, to render it more open and explicit, and to range it into fuch well-adjufted periods, as might relieve the voice, and come with due force and pleasure to the ear. And thus plainness, neatness, elegance and harmony became the distinguishing characters of Attic Eloquence. And this we should readily pronounce the most perfect mode, if mankind could be always influenced by the mere force of inftruction conveyed with ease and grace. But these were found too feeble inftruments for operating on public affemblies. And genius, obfervation, and good fenfe confpired to produce another neceffary alteration in the eloquence of Athens, which rendered it more powerful, and more the object of wonder and delight. DEMOSTHENES had the glory of uniting the grandeur, pathos, and impetuofity of the antient fpeakers, with the clearness, elegance, and fimplicity of their immediate fucceffors; ornament with propriety; correctness with elevation. He found the happy art of harmonizing the period, without enervating the language, and without the appearance of studied refinement. His animated warmth was * Thus Steficorus advised the Locrians to reftrain their infolence, left their Grasshoppers should chirp upon the ground. ARIST. RHET. L. 2. C. 21. L justly RIS ORAT. C. 20. justly proportioned to the importance of his fubject; the boldness of his figures to the majesty of his fentiments. This union of great qualities has ever been regarded as forming the most perfect species of Grecian eloquence. If it be afferted, that this is an arbitrary and fantastical determination, and that this fpecies hath no real fuperiority over any of those modes which preceded or fucceeded it: We must appeal to the effects. Can pomp or brevity of style, can elegance or neatness, or harmony of language, can any one or more of these qualities prove equally effectual, not only in informing the understanding, but in reconciling the affections, and influencing the will? Powerful conviction, elevation of fentiment, and a flame of generous paffion, are the greatest and noblest effects produced by any species of human eloquence: and the Eloquence best fitted to produce them, must be of the greatest and noblest kind : must have a fuperiority fomething more than nominal or local. When the Romans first began to attend to elocution, they might have copied from the very best models in Greece. And yet they did not attain to their greatest perfection, but by a gradual progress and improvement, fimilar to that of Athens. There prevailed in the days of the elder Cato, what Cicero * De CLA- calls "unctior quædam ac fplendidior confuetudo loquendi.*" This fullness and magnificence of expreffion was rude and undirected; yet vehement and impetuous. Aemilius Lepidus had the honour of first introducing the-lenitas Græcorum, verborum comprehenfio, & artifex ftylus Antonius and Craffus are compared by Cicero to Demofthenes and HypeC. 37, 38, rides; yet feem, from his ‡ defcription, to have been more indebted for their fame to art and exercise, than to any extraordinary elevation of genius. The ftyle of the former, tho' not elegant or correct, was forcible and harmonious, his + IBID. C. 25. 39. action action graceful and affecting. And these, together with promptness and memory, are the qualities to which his influence is principally afcribed. The abilities of Craffus were chiefly confined to explaining and instructing. Their immediate Succeffors ftudied the Attic elegance, and imitated it even to a degree of ridiculous affectation || 'till Cæfar taught C. 74, 75. them a more judicious application of this mode to their own language. Hortenfius indeed adopted fomewhat of the Afiatic manner §. But ATTICISM, or what was fo deemed, still § C. 95. continued moft generally fashionable, 'till the great Master arofe, and gave life and energy to the Roman Eloquence, by fuch a union of great qualities as obtained the palm in Greece. Thus we find these two people gradually advancing by the same steps, to the fame point of excellence. At Athens, this was the pure refult of good fenfe and obfervation which corrected or improved established fashions. At Rome, the effect was partly produced by an imitation of Grecian Models. But these models were not imitated meerly because they were Crecian; because they had been admired by others, or had once been fashionable in thec ountry of Eloquence. Nor were former or present fashions ever regarded as the standard of eloquence. Even in the periods of refinement, the great Roman speakers formed higher ideas of this accomplishment than had ever been fuggefted by their own obfervation. It was the faying of Antonius the orator, * disertos se vidisse multos, eloquentem omnino *ORATOR. neminem. And Cicero thus addreffes himself to his friend, C. 5. + Investigemus hunc igitur, Brute, fi poffumus, quem nun- + Ibid. C. 6. quam vidit Antonius, aut qui omnino nullus nunquam fuit. These Romans, then, ftudied and admired the fame general excellencies of speech which had been studied and admired in Greece, but not blindly or implicitly, but with a just regard to their own national character, their own occafions, and the temper L 2 temper of their hearers. They discovered the imperfections both of their co-temporaries and their predeceffors, whether in Greece or Rome, thro' all the mists which prejudice or fashion could oppose to their penetration. They were not, then, entirely guided by imitation. As, in general, they pursued the same means of influencing their hearers; and as the same means are ftill approved by all polished and lettered Nations, as most fit and proper, It follows, that this fitness and propriety cannot be meerly nominal and local. CHA P. |