Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/742

 grant to the senators the right of acting in common with the equites as judices on criminal trials. The measure was vehemently opposed by the consul Philippus, who was in consequence regarded as a traitor to his order, and supported by all the influence and talent of L. Licinius Crassus, the most celebrated orator of that epoch, who had filled the preceding year the office of censor. This venerable statesman is represented as having retired to his villa at Tusculum during the celebration of the Roman games, in order that he might collect his thoughts and brace up his energies for the grand struggle which was soon to decide the contest. He was accompanied to his retirement by two youths of high promise, C. Amelius Cotta (consul в. с. 75) and P. Sulpicius Rufus, and there joined by his father-in-law and former colleague in the consulship (в. с. 95), Q. Mucius Scaevola, renowned for his profound knowledge of civil law, and by his friend and political ally, M. Antonius (consul в. с. 99), whose fame as a public speaker was little if at all inferior to that of Crassus himself. The three consular sages having spent the first day in reflections upon politics and the aspect of public affairs, unbend themselves on the second by the introduction of literary topics. The whole party being stretched at ease under the shadow of a spreading plane, the elders, at the earnest solicitation of Cotta and Sulpicius, commence a discourse upon oratory, which is renewed the following morning and brought to a close in the afternoon. At the end of the first dialogue, Scaevola, in order that strict dramatic propriety may be observed (see ad Att. iv. 16), retires, and his place, in the two remaining colloquies, is supplied by Q. Lutatius Catulus, and his half-brother, C. Julius Caesar Strabo, both distinguished as public speakers, the former celebrated for the extreme purity of his diction, the latter for the pungency of his wit.

An animated debate first arises on the qualifications essential for pre-eminence in oratory. Crassus, who throughout must be regarded as expressing the sentiments of Cicero, after enlarging upon the importance, the dignity, and the universal utility of eloquence, proceeds to describe the deep learning, the varied accomplishments, and the theoretical skill which must enter into the combination which shall form a perfect orator, while Antonius, although he allows that universal knowledge, if attainable, would mightily increase the power of those who possessed it, is contented to pitch the standard much lower, and seeks to prove that the orator is more likely to be embarrassed .than benefited by aiming at what is beyond his reach, and that, by attempting to master the whole circle of the liberal arts, he will but waste the time that might be more profitably employed, since the natural gifts of quick talents, a good voice, and a pleasing delivery, when improved by practice, self-training, and experience, are in themselves amply sufficient to produce the result sought. This preliminary controversy, in which, however, both parties agree in reality, as to what is desirable, although they differ as to what is practicable, being terminated, Antonius and Crassus enter jointly upon the 🇬🇷 (ad Att. iv. 16) of the subject, and expound the principles and rules upon which success in the rhetorical art depends and by the observance of which it may be achieved. The former discusses at large in the second book, the invention and arrangement of arguments, and winds up with a dissertation on memory, the continuous flow of his discourse being broken and relieved by an essay, placed in the mouth of Caesar, upon the nature and use of humour, a digression, both amusing in itself, and interesting generally, as evincing the miserable bad taste of the Romans in this department. In the third book, Crassus devotes himself to an exposition of the ornaments of rhetoric, comprising all the graces of diction, to which are added a few remarks upon delivery, that is, upon the voice, pronunciation, and action of the speaker.

The MSS. of the De Oratore known up to the early part of the 15th century, were all imperfect. There were blanks extending in Bk. i. from c. 28. § 128 to c. 34. § 157, and from c. 43. § 193 to Bk. ii. c. 59. § 19, although in the Erfurt MS. only as far as Bk. ii. c. 3. § 13; in Bk. ii. from c. 12. § 50 to c. 14. § 60; and in Bk. iii. from c. 5. § 17 to c. 28. § 110. These gaps were first supplied by Gasparinus of Barziza, from a MS. found at Lodi, and hence called Codex Laudensis, 1419, which in addition to the Rhetorica ad Herennium, the De Inventione, the Brutus and the Orator contained the three books De Oratore entire. This MS., which is now lost, was repeatedly copied, and its contents soon became known all over Italy; but it is uncertain whether the whole was transcribed, or merely those passages which were required to fill up existing deficiencies.

The Editio Princeps of the De Oratore was printed at the monastery of Subiaco, by Sweynheym and Pannartz, in 4to. between 1465 and 1467. The most useful editions are those by Pearce, Camb. 1716, 1732, and Lond. 1746,1771, 1795, 8vo.; by J. F. Wetzel, Brunswick, 1794, 8vo.; by Harles, with the notes of Pearce and others, Leipzig, 1816, 8vo.; by O. M. Müller, Leipzig, 1819, 8vo.; by Heinichsen, Copenhagen, 1830, 8vo.

Literature : — J. A. Ernesti, ''De Praestantia Librorum Cic. de Oratore Prolusio'', Lips. 1736, 4to. ; C. F. Matthiae, ''Prolegomenen zu Cic. Gesprächlen vom Redner, Worms, 1791, and Frankfort, 1812, 8vo.; H. A. Schott, Comment. qua Cic. de Fine Eloquentiae Sententia examinatur'', Lips. 1801; G. E. Gierig, ''Von dem ästhetischen Werthe der Bücher des Cic. vom Redner, Fulda, 1807; J. F. Schaarschmidt, De Proposito Libri Cic. de Oratore, Schneeberg, 8vo.; 1804; E. L. Trompheller, Versuch einer Charakteristik der Ciceronischen Bücher vom Redner'', Coburg, 1830, 4to.

This work is in the form of a dialogue, the speakers being Cicero himself, Atticus, and M. Brutus; the scene a grass plot, in front of a colonnade, attached to the house of Cicero at Rome, with a statue of Plato close at hand. It contains a complete critical history of Roman eloquence, from the earliest epochs, commencing with L. Junius Brutus, Appius Claudius, M. Curius, and sundry sages of the olden time, whose fame rested upon obscure tradition alone, passing on to those with regard to whose talents more certain information could be obtained, such as Cornelius Cethegus and Cato, the censor, advancing gradually till it reached such men as Catulus, Licinius Crassus, and M. Antonius, whose glory was bright in the recollection of many yet alive, and ending with those whom Cicero himself had heard with admiration as a youth, and rivalled as a man, the greatest of whom was Hortensius, and with him the list closes, living