Gorgias, who, at the olympic games, defired that any body would propose a subject to him, upon which he might speak, and who was fo much honoured by the Greeks, that to him only they erected in Delphi a golden ftatue, whereas on others they only bestowed a gilt one *. And, particularly, he must be thoroughly learned in every thing concerning human life, laws, and government. Such, he fays, were the ancient fages of Greece, and fuch were the great men in Rome before his time. But the perfect orator must be learned likewife in other things: He must have studied the philosophy of nature as well as of man; and must know fomething of thofe arts, which are useful and ageeeable in human life. And, as to the difficulty of acquiring such an universal knowledge, in a life fo occupied as that of a Roman of high rank then was; he says, in the firft place, that, unless you can learn fuch things quickly, you can never learn them well; and, thereVOL. IV. T t

Lib. iii. cap. 32.

1

fore, you should not attempt to learn them at all: And, fecondly, he makes a distinction betwixt those who learn sciences and arts for ufe, and thofe who learn them for the pleasure of the ftudy, and therefore fpend their whole lives in them*.

After this preamble, there was a short pause in the converfation, which was interrupted by Cotta putting Craffus in mind of the part he had undertaken, which was to explain to them the ornaments of speech, and how the things treated of by the orator were to be expreffed copiously, elegantly, and properly t. Upon this admonition, Craffus proceeds to treat of tropes, and all the ornaments of fingle words: Then he goes on to the compofition of them; and there he infifts much upon numbers and rhythms, which he confiders as effential to the ftile of an orator. Of this, I have already spoken at pretty great length: And I fhall only add here, that he observes what

* Ibid. cap. 23•.

+ Ibid. cap. 36.

is certainly true, that the rhythms, in the cadence or claufule of the fentence, affect the ear the most *. From thence he proceeds to speak of what is decent, proper, and suitable to the fubject; without which, there can be nothing excellent in eloquence, or any other art, Then he speaks of action and pronunciation, and with that concludes. After he had done, Catulus makes him a compliment, in which he tells him, that he had explained all those things fo well, that he seemed to be able to teach them to the Greeks, not to have learned them from the Greeks: And he adds, that he rejoices to have been present himself at fuch a discourse, but wishes that his fonin-law Hortenfius had been prefent likewife. Upon this occafion, Cicero makes a compliment from the mouth of Craffus to his friend, though rival in eloquence, Hortenfius; and fo the dialogue ends.

It is to be observed, that Craffus, in this part of the dialogue, fpeaks more in continued difcourfe, than any other of the

Ibid. cap. 50.

interlocutors. Antonius, who had spoken fo much in the preceding part of the day, hardly fays any thing. The young men, Caefar and Sulpicius, only express their admiration of Craffus; and it is only the elderly man Catulus, who takes occafion now and then to speak at some length. Every thing, therefore, in this last conversation, as well as in the preceding, appears to be conducted with the greatest propriety and decorum.

As Craffus expreffes Cicero's own idea of a perfect orator, we may observe, that his part is much more laboured than that of any other of the fpeakers. And, be- . fides what he makes him fay of eloquence, he throws in to his difcourfe a great deal of very good philofophy, particularly where he makes him fay, speaking of the neceffary union betwixt words and things, that all things in nature are one; that there is a bond of union, by which every thing is connected with every thing, fo that nothing can be feparated from the whole, and exift entirely by itself *.

Ibid. cap. 5. and 6.

So that here Cicero fhows to be true, what he fays elsewhere, that he was formed an orator, not in the fhops of Rhetoricians, but in the walks of the Academy. The ftile too I admire very much, for it is exceedingly copious, yet not fuperabundant, as it often is in 'his orations; nor does he dwell fo long upon the fame form and figure of speech, as he frequently does in these.

As to Craffus's idea of an orator, I believe most people will be inclined to the opinion of Antonius, who would confine him to the business of the bar, the forum, or the senate; and not oblige him to take fuch a range through all the arts and sciences as Craffus thinks neceffary. But, in the first place, we are to confider, that Craffus is speaking of the ornaments of diction. Now, I maintain, that to make a ftile of speaking both copious and ornamented, the knowledge of very many things is abfolutely neceffary; and that no man can speak in such a stile, whose studies are confined to one particular thing, though it be fuppofed to be the very thing upon