Page:Reflections upon ancient and modern learning (IA b3032449x).pdf/88

 Things, constantly re-iterated, will certainly disgust. Sometimes the Age will not bear Subjects, upon which an Orator may display his full Force; he may often be obliged to little, mean Exercises. A Thousand Accidents, not discoverable at a distance, may force Men to stretch their Inventions to spoil that Eloquence which, left to it self, would do admirable Things. And that there is such a Thing as a Decay of Eloquence in After-Ages, which have the Performances of those that went before constantly to recurr to, and which may be supposed to pretend to Skill and Fineness, is evident from the Writings of Seneca and the Younger Pliny, compared with Tully's.

2. The Ancients cannot justly be accused of not using an exact and artificial Method in their Orations, if one examines Tullys Pleadings, or reads over Quinctilians Institutions. And if Panegyricks and Funeral-Orations do not seem so regular, it is not because Method was little understood, but because in those Discourses it was not so necessary. Where Men were to reason severely, Method was strictly observed: And the Vertues discoursed upon in Tully's Offices are as judiciously and clearly digested under their proper Heads, as the Subject-Matter of