all combined to render him the first of orators, and to impart to his orations a magical power.

We have thus seen, that the grand characteristics of this prince of orators, were "strength, sublimity, and a piercing energy and force, aided by an emphatic and vehement elocution."

We may here observe with an able critic, that the great elements of the highest style of eloquence, those which constitute the davorns, the nameless energy of the ancients, are close, rapid, powerful, practical, reasoning, animated by intense passion. These are the great elements: philosophical reflection and splendid imagery, are valuable only as occasional auxiliaries, and are always of subordinate importance. Let any one look at the orations of Demosthenes: his eloquence has but few traces of either of the above qualities. His philosophy never assumes the form of abstract propositions or general reflections; it is rather an application of them to particular circumstances. Like history, his eloquence is philosophy teaching by examples. In the same manner, his illustrations are almost always in the form of metaphor; characterized by force far more than by beauty, and expressed with the utmost possible conciseness. Not an epithet is wasted in mere ornament.*

To the great, absorbing topic of his political career, Demosthenes was, in no small degree, indebted for the glory which has encircled his name as an orator. The subject, on which he expatiated with burning delight, doubtless contributed in some degree, to produce those wonderful effects which are said to have accompanied his most impassioned bursts of declamation. It was one of the highest moment to every friend of Grecian liberty. and most favorable for a display of true eloquence. "Elo

* Henry Rogers.

quence," says Cicero, "is speaking in a manner proper to persuade," and we know that a great part of the political life of Demosthenes was spent in persuading the Athenians to take up arms against Philip.

Persuasion should be the one grand object at all times kept in view by every public speaker. He should not merely expatiate on the beauties and glories of his theme; he should not merely state propositions, and discuss doctrines, but persuade his hearers to adopt the principles which he lays down; to embrace the views, which he presents; and to act with promptness and decision as he directs. Throughout the political discourses of Demosthenes abounds the art of persuasion, and no political orator ever had a finer field for the exercise of its power. Philip was on the point of conquering Greece, the Athenians had degenerated, and lost, in a great measure, the heroism and valor of their ancestors, when Demosthenes appeared against the Macedonian tyrant and usurper. The orator warns his countrymen of their danger, arouses them from their inaction, and, by the recital of the military success and glory which crowned the Grecian heroes of former days, at Marathon, Platæa, Thermopyla, and other glorious battle-fields, excites and persuades them to take up arms against the invader of Grecian rights and liberties.

It has been truly said, that Philip formed the political character of Demosthenes. Such orators can be called forth, only in the stormy, revolutionary days of republics. Demosthenes appeared in the last great contest for ancient Grecian liberty. Cicero came forth to sustain the tottering pillars of the Roman state, and to avert the impending blow of conspiracy that was about to fall on the liberties of his beloved country; and Patrick Henry was nurtured amid the tumultuous scenes of the American Revolution. When the sky of liberty grew dark with clouds; when

the gathering tempest of oppression, seened about to burst over our young republic, and extinguish those fires of liberty which had been kindled on every mountain and plain, and in every valley from the granite hills of New Hampshire to the green savannahs of Georgia, then Henry, like Demosthenes and Cicero, poured forth torrents of eloquence that swept away every obstacle and rolled onward with overwhelming force.

During fourteen years, the great Athenian orator exerted his powerful eloquence in defending his country's rights, against the oppressions of a foreign enemy; but unlike Henry, he fell in the glorious cause he was advocating and with him expired the liberties of his country.

If from the orator we turn to the statesman, our admiration will not in the least be diminished. Not only was Demosthenes the most accomplished of orators, but he was one of the greatest of statesmen. It is true that he had not the power of carrying into effect the mighty schemes which his capacious mind had formed; but how deeply does he command our respect and admiration by the skillful employment of those scanty means which he had. The statesmen of antiquity, unlike those of modern times, were restricted to very limited means for forming or carrying on military enterprises. They had not, at their command, the power or the resources of the Pitts, the Foxes, the Grenvilles, or the Walpoles of Great Britain. And yet Demosthenes, by his political sagacity, was enabled, with his contracted means, to cope for a long time with Philip, and to inspire him with more dread than did all the fleets and armies of the Athenians. He maintained his position to the last. It has been eloquently said of Athen's mighty statesman, that it was his high calling to be the pillar of a sinking state. Thirty years he remained true to it, and did not yield till he was buried beneath its ruins.

CHAPTER II.

CICERO.

In Rome, as in Greece, eloquence was a "plant of late growth, and of short duration." It was not until the transcendent genius of Hortensius and Cicero burst forth with astonishing splendor, in the later ages of the commonwealth, that Roman oratory assumed its true character, and was carried to the highest degree of cultivation and perfection. The era of Cicero was the golden age of Roman eloquence; a period which the student of classical literature will ever contemplate with admiration. Then were heard the last and highest notes of patriotic eloquence in Rome. "It was not until about the time of Cicero, that the Latin language had become sufficiently refined, and the general learning and taste of the nation sufficiently enlightened to appreciate and encourage the higher efforts of oratorical art. With the patronage of fair opportunity, and under the combined influence of freedom and taste, eloquence reappeared in all her native beauty."

Among the most distinguished Roman orators, preceding or contemporary with Cicero, were Cornelius Cethegus, Cato the elder, Scipio Nasica, Mutius Scævola, Marcus Antonius, Lucius Licinius Crassus, Publius Sulpitius, Caius A. Cotta, Hortensius, Julius Cæsar, Messala, and Brutus. Of these, Hortensius deserves particular notice here, as he was the rival of Cicero, and next to him, the greatest orator of Rome. He was born about the year 115 B. C., and was eight years older than Cicero. At the age

of nineteen he began to distinguish himself by his florid eloquence in the Roman forum. He lived in great magnificence, and died at the age of sixty-three.

Hortensius appears to have possessed almost all the qualities requisite to form an accomplished orator. His imagination was fertile and sparkling, his acquaintance with literature extensive, and the stream of his eloquence copious, rapid and vehement. The powers of his mind were extraordinary. "Nature had given him," says Cicero, in his Brutus (c. 88), "so happy a memory, that he never had need of committing to writing any discourse which he had meditated, while, after his opponent had finished speaking, he could recall, word by word, not only what the other had said, but also the authorities which had been cited against himself.* His industry was indefatigable. He never let a day pass without speaking in the forum, or preparing himself to appear on the morrow; oftentimes he did both. He excelled particularly in the art of dividing his subject, and in then reuniting it in a luminous manner, calling in, at the same time, even some of the arguments which had been urged against him. His diction was noble, elegant, and rich; his voice strong and pleasing; his gestures carefully studied.”

But the fame of Hortensius was dimmed by the incomparable splendor of Cicero, whom we may, perhaps, regard as the most perfect model of eloquence that the world has ever seen. To notice some of the leading events of his interesting life, and to contemplate the character of his oratory, we now turn with delight.

* As a proof of his astonishing memory, it is recorded by Seneca, that, for a trial of his powers of reflection, he remained a whole day at a public auction, and when it was concluded, he repeated in order what had been sold, to whom, and at what price. His recital was compared with the clerk's account, and his memory was found to have served him faithfully in every particular. Senec. Præf. Lib. I. Controv.