ORATORY

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Gorgias. But Isocrates was the most renowned of all Gorgias ’sscholars. Cicero extols him with the highest commendations, asthe greatest master and teacher of oratory; “ whose school likethe Trojan horse; sent forth many great men.”' Aristotle waschietly induced to engage in this province from an emulation ofhis glory. Quintilian says they both wrote upon the art, thoughthere is no system of the former extant. But that of Aristotle isesteemed the best and most complete of any in the Greek language.

1 n this age the Grecian eloquence appeared in its highest perfection.Demosthenes was a hearer both of Isocrates and I'lato, as also ,of lsatus (ten of whose orations are yet extant) ; and bv his sur-prising genius and indefatigable industry, made that advantage oftheir precepts, that he has been always esteemed by the bestjudges the prince of Grecian orators. Ilis great adversary andrival rEschines, after his banishment, is said to have gone toRhodes, and employed his time there in teaching rhetoric. Thereis preserved a treatise upon this subject, which some ascribe toDemetrius Phalereus, though others more probably to Dionysiusof Halicarnassus. Quintilian mentions several other famous rhe-toricians in the following ages, who were likewise writers; as Iler-magoras, Athenams, Apollonius, Molo, Areus Catcitius, Dionysiusof Halicarnassus, Apollonius of Pergamus, and Theodore of Ga- ldara. But of these nothing more now remains upon the subject of joratory, except some tracts of Dionysius , who flourished in the !’reign of Augustus . But some eminent writers on this subject have ;appeared among the Greeks since the time of Quintilian , particu-larly Ilermogenes, and Longinus , the author of the incomparabletreatise Of the Sublime , a book which can scarce be too muchcommended, or too often read. It was long before the Romanscultivated this art, and not without difficulty at first. The reasonwas, that for several ages they were wholly addicted to militaryallairs. Therefore so late as A. C. jfl2, when by the industry ofsome Grecians, the liberal arts began to llourish in Italy , a decreepassed the senate, by which all philosophers and rhetoricians wereordered to depart out of Rome . But in a few years after whenCarneades, Critolaus, and Diogenes , who were not only philoso-phers but orators, came ambassadors from Athens to Rome , theRoman youth were so charmed with the eloquence of theirharangues, that they could no longer he stopt from pursuing thestudy of oratory. And by a further”acquaintance with the Grefcks,it soon came into such esteem, that persons of the (irsiqualily em-ployed their time and pains to acquire it. Quintilian gives us thenames of those Romans, who wrote upon the art. “ The lirst(says lie,) who composed any tiling upon this argument, was M.Cato the censor. Alter him Antony the orator began upon thesubject, which is the only work he lias left, and that imperfect.Then followed some of hiss note. But he who carried eloquenceto its highest pitch among us, was Cicero ; who has likewise byhis rules given the best plan both to practice and teach the art.Coruificius, wrote largely upon the same subject; Sterlinus andGallio, the father, each of them something. But Celsus and I.enaswere more accurate than Gallio; and in our times Virginius Pliny,and Rutilius .” Time has deprived us of most of the writers men-tioned by Quintilian . But we have the less reason to regret thissubject. Besides his Two Books of Invention, which Quintilian here calls his Books of Rhetoric , there are extant his 'Three Booksof an Orator; one Of famous Orators; and another, entiluled TheOrator; also his Topics, a preface Concerning the best sort ofOrators, and a treatise Of the parts of Oratory. Each of thesetreatises, whether we regard tire justness and delicacy of thethoughts, the usefulness of the rules, or the elegance and beauty ofthe style, deserves to be frequently pursued by all lovers of elo-quence. But the Four hooks of Ilerenius, which are publishedamong Cicero ’s works, seem with good reason to he attributed toCoruificius. There were some other Orators in the following ages,whose works are yet extant; hut as they contain nothing of mo-ment, it is unnecessary to enumerate them. The archbishop ofCambray gives it as his opinion, that tile method of terming thebest system of oratory, is to collect it from the finest precepts ofAristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, Longinus , and other celebratedauthors of antiquity.

INTRODUCTION.

The business of oratory is to teach us to speak well; which, asCicero explains it, is to speak justly, methodically, floridly, and■copiously. To speak justly, a man must be able to say all that isvoi.. iv. —no, 1G5.

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proper, and to avoid whatever is trifling. To speak methodically,the orator must arrange all the parts of bis discourse in their properorder. To speak floridly, is so peculiar a property of this art,that some have wholly confined it to the pomp and ornaments oflanguage. But true eloquence requires not only the beauties andflowers of language, but likewise the best sense and clearest reason-ing. Besides rhetoric gives rules for the several sorts of style, anddirects the use of them agreeably to the nature of the subject. Burthe force of oratory appears in nothing more than a copiousness ofexpression, or a proper manner of enlargement, suited to the natureof the subject; which is of great use in persuasion, and forms thelast property, required by Cicero , of speaking well. A short andconcise account of things is often attended with obscurity, from anomission of some necessary circumstances relating to them : and isincapable of exciting the attention of the hearer. But where theimages of things are drawn in their full proportion, painted in then-proper colours, set in a clear light, and represented in differentviews, with all the strength and beauties of eloquence, they capti-vate thu minds of the audience with the highest pleasure, engagetheir attention, and by an irresistible force bend them to the opinionof die speaker. While the orator employs his art in pursuingonly those ends for which it was at first designed, the persuading ofmen to good and virtuous actions, and dissuading them from everything that is ill and vicious; nothing can be more commendable initself, or useful to human societies. But the best things may beabused. Oratory consists of four parts; invention, disposition,elocution and pronunciation. Every one who aims to speak welland accurately upon any object, pursues such thoughts as seemmost proper to explain and illustrate the thing upon which he de-signs to discourse. And if the nature of it requires that he shouldbring reasons to confirm what he says, he not only seeks thestrongest, and such as are like to be best received ; but preparesto answer any objection which may be offered to the contrary.This is invention. After this he considers how he can best arrangethose arguments, which have occurred to his mind, that they mayappear in the plainest light, and not lose their force by disorder amiconfusion. 'This is disposition. Ilis next care is to give histhoughts an agreeable dress; by selecting the most proper words,clearest expressions, smooth and harmonious periods, with other or-naments of style, as may best suit the nature of his subject, brightenhis discourse, and render it most entertaining to his hearers. Thisis elocution. The last thing, is to deliver what he lias thus com-posed, with a just and agreeable pronunciation. And daily expe-rience convinces ns, how much this contributes both to engage theattention and impress what is spoken upon the mind of thehearers.

Of Invention.

Invention, in general, is the discovery of such things as are pro-per to persuade. To attain this end, the orator proposes threethings: 1. To prove or illustrate the subject upon which he treats.2. To conciliate the minds of his hearers; and to engage their pas-sions in his favour. And, 3. as these require different kinds of ar-guments or motives, invention furnishes him with a supply foreach of them. An argument, as defined by Cicero is a reasonwhich induces us to believe what before we doubted of. And asdifferent kinds of discourses require different arguments, rhetori-cians have considered them two ways; in general under certainlu ails, as a common fund for all subjects ; and in a more particu-lar maimer, as they are suited to demonstrative, deliberative, orjudicial di-courses. Great learning and extensive knowledge arenoble funds lor invention. An orator therefore should be furnishedwith a stock of important truths, solid maxims, and a variety ofknowledge collected both trom observation and acquaintance withthe liberal arts; that he may not only be able to express himself indie most agreeable manner, but likewise to support what he sayswith the strongest and clearest arguments. But as all are not bornwith a like happy genius, and have not the same opportunity tocultivate their m’inds with learning and knowledge ; "art has pre-si ribed a method to lessen, in some measure, these difficulties, andhelp every one to a supply of arguments upon any subject. Andthis is done by commonplaces, which Cicero calls the seats orheads of arguments, and by a name from the Greek, topics. Theyarc of two sorts, internal and external.

1. Internal topics arise from the subject upon which the orator2 P treats i