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176 scholastic programme as this, we are prepared for Messala's saying—"It is notorious that eloquence, with the rest of the polite arts, has lost its former lustre, yet these evil effects are not owing to a dearth of men or decay of ability. The true causes of this decadence are the apathy of parents, the ignorance of instructors, the total neglect of sound discipline. The mischief began at Rome, it has overrun Italy, and is now rapidly pervading the provinces."

Messala proceeds to contrast the education of the young orator in his time with that which had prevailed in a better age. He describes the toil, the discipling, the exercises by which the aspirant to public honours was trained for his profession. His home-education had been sound. When arrived at the proper age for higher instruction, he was taken by his father, or some near relative, his guardian, to some eminent orator of the day. He attended his instructor on all occasions. With him he visited the Forum, listened to his pleadings in the courts of justice, noted in his books or his memory his public harangues, marked him when moved by passion, or when calmly stating his case, and admired his art or facility when the subject required a prompt and unstudied reply. Thus on the field of battle he learned the rudiments of rhetorical warfare. Nor did he confine his attention to his patron alone; he watched diligently the methods and the habits of other speakers, and so was the better able to distinguish between excellences and defects, or al least to select the species of eloquence most adapted to his own powers or temperament. This practical education was in strict conformity with the general character of the Roman mind. The greatest of Latin