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The rules which Cicero and Quintilian have given us upon this topic, as they obferved the different feet to be employed in orations, may be of fervice to young people, provided a judicious choice is made from thefe. The obfervations of Sylvius, called Progymnafmata, which are at the end of the collection of phrafes, from Cicero, may likewise be of great ufe to them; but the best mafter they can ftudy on this fubject, is Cicero himself. He was the first who perceived that the Latin tongue wanted a beauty which the ancient Romans were abfolutely ignorant of, or neglected; and which however was capable of raifing it to a much greater perfection. As he was extremely jealous of the honour of his country, he undertook by embellifhing the Latin tongue with found, cadence and harmony, to make, if poffible, the language of his country equal to that of the Greeks, which has a very great advantage in this particular. It is furprizing, how it was poffible for him, in a few years, to carry the Latin, in this refpect, to the highest perfection, which is not effected, generally fpeaking, without long experience, and advances gradually by flow improvements. It is Cicero then that youth fet before them in this, as well as in every thing elfe. They will meet with rich thoughts and beautiful expreffions in the hiftorians; but they must not therefore fearch for harmonious and periodical words in them. P The ftile of hiftory, which must be eafy, natural and flowing, is not suitable to thofe grave and harmonious numbers which the majefty of an oratorial difcourfe requires.

The eafieft and fureft way of making young people fenfible of the beauty of ranging expreffions, is to practife what Cicero himself did, in treating of this fubject in his books de Oratore; that is, to felect fome of the most harmonious and periodical paffages in the books which are explained to them; and to throw

P Hiftoriæ, quæ currere debet ac fiftentes claufulæ. Quintil. 1. 5. c. 4. ferri, minùs conveniunt inter

them

them out of the order and form in which they lie. There will still be the fame thoughts and expreffions, but not the fame grace, nor the fame force; and the more those paffages fhine in fense and diction, the more grating will they be when thus difplaced's because the magnificence of the words will make this ftill the more remarkable. The ears of young people being formed after this manner, by an affiduous reading of Cicero, and accustomed to the foft and harmonious cadence of his periods, will become delicate, and difficult to be pleased; and, as he fays of himself, their ear will discover perfectly well a full and harmonious period, and perceive also whether there is any defect or redundancy in it.

Although there must be harmony in the whole body and texture of the period, and the harmony of which we are treating results from this union and concert of all the parts; 'tis allowed however, that the effect is more evident in the close. The ear being carried away in the other parts of the period, by the continuity of words, like a flood, is not capable of forming a proper idea of the founds, till the rapidity of utterance ceafing a little, gives it a kind of pause. And indeed, it is here that the auditor's admiration, fufpended till then by the charms of the discourse, breaks out on a fudden in cries and acclamations.

The beginning likewife requires particular care, because the ear, from the particular attention natural to what is new, eafily discovers its faults.

• Quod cuique vifum erit vehementer, dulciter fpeciosè dictum, folvat & turbet: aberit omnis vis, jucunditas, decor... Illud notaffe fatis habeo, quo pulchriora & fenfu & elocutione diffolveris, hoc orationem magis deformem fore: quia negligentia collocationis ipfa verborum luce deprehenditur. Ibid.

Meæ quidem (aures) & perfecto completoque verborum ambitu gaudent, & curta fentiunt, nec amant redundantia. Orat. n. 168.

f In omni quidem corpore, to

toque, ut ita dixerim, tractu numeris inferta eft (compofitio.) Magis tamen defideratur in claufulis, & apparet. Aures continuam vocem fecutæ, ductæque velut prono decurrentis orationis Aumine, tum magis judicant, cùm ille impetus ftetit, & intuendi tem. pus dedit. Hæc eft fedes orationis: hoc auditor expectat: hic laus omnis declamat. Quintil. 1. 9. c. 4.

t Proximam claufulis diligentiam poftulant initia: nam & ad hæc intentus auditor eft. Ibid.

It is therefore upon the beginning and end of the period, that the difquifition youth are to make fhould -principally turn; nor muft we omit to make them attend to the furprifing variety with which Cicero has interfperfed his numbers, in order to avoid the offenE five uniformity of the fame cadences, which tire and difguft the auditors: I except however that trivial clofe, effe videatur, which he was justly reproached to have affected, and with which he concludes a great number of his phrases. We find it above ten times in his oration pro lege Manilia.

There is another disposition or order of words more vifible and studied, which may fuit with pompous and ceremonious fpeeches; fuch as thofe of the demonftrative kind," where the auditor, not being upon his guard against the furprizes of art, is not afraid that fnares are laid for his opinion; for then, fo far from being difgufted at thofe harmonious and flowing cadences, he thinks himself obliged to the orator, for giving him by their means a grateful and innocent pleafure. But it is otherwise when grave and serious matters are handled, whofe only view is to affect and inAtruct. The cadence muft then be alfo fomething grave and ferious; and this charm of numbers prepared for the auditors, must be concealed, as it were, beneath the juftness of the thoughts and the beauty of the expreffions, which may fo engross their attention, that they appear inattentive to the harmony and difpofition.

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EXAMPLES.

Every part of Cicero will convince our eyes, or rather ears, of the truth of what is now afferted.

Cùm is eft auditor qui non vereatur ne compofitæ orationis infidiis fua fides attentetur, gratiam quoque habet oratori, voluptati aurium fervienti. Orat. n. 208.

w Sic minimè animadvertetur delectationis aucupium, & quadranda orationis induftria quæ latebic eò magis, fi & verborum &

fententiarum ponderibus utemur. Nam qui audiunt, hæc duo animadvertent, & jucunda fibi cenfent, verba dico & fententias: eaque dum animis attentis admirantes excipiunt, fugit eos & prætervolat numerus; qui tamen fi abesset, illa ipfa delectarent. Ibid. n. 197. * Qud

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* Quod fi è portu folventibus, ii, qui jam in portum ex alto invebuntur, præcipere fummo ftudio folent & tempeftatum rationem, & prædonum, & locorum, quod natura affert ut eis faveamus, qui eadem pericula, quibus nos perfuncti fumus, ingrediuntur: quo tandem me animo effe oportet, prope jam ex magna jactatione terram videntem, in eum, cui video maximas reipublicæ tempeftates effe fubeundas? Nothing can be smoother than this period: but were we to throw fome of the words out of the order in which they stand, it would difguise the whole ftrangely..

Y Omnes urbana res, omnia hæc noftra præclara fludia, & hæc forenfis laus & induftria, latent in tutela ac præfidio bellica virtutis. Simul atque increpuit fufpicia tumultus, artes illico noftræ conticefcunt. This concluding cadence, which is a dichoreus, is extremely harmonious; and for that very reafon, Cicero thinks it fhould not be too often used in orations; because affectation becomes vicious, even in the best things.

Animadverti, judices, omnem accufatoris orationem in duas divifam effe partes. According to the natural order it fhould be, in duas partes divifam effe. But what a difference! Rectum erat, fed durum & incomptum, fays Quintilian, in his obfervation on this difpofition of the words.

a

Quam fpem cogitationum & confiliorum meorum, cum graves communium temporum, tum varii noftri cafus fefellerunt. Nam qui locus quietis & tranquillitatis pleniffimus fore videbatur, in eo maxima moleftiarum & turbulentiffima tempeftates extiterunt. Is there any thing in mufic fweeter than thefe periods?

Hæc Centuripina navis erat incredibili celeritate velis... Evalarat jam è confpectu fere fugiens quadriremis, cum etiam tunc ceteræ naves in fuo loco moliebanHere every thing is rapid; the choice of words, as well as the difpofition of them; and the choice of

tur.

* Pro Mur. n. 4.

y Ibid. n. 22.

2 Pro Cluent. n. I.

a Lib. 1. de Orat. n. 2.1

b In Verr. 7. n. 87.

the

the very letters, moft of which are liquid and fimooth, Incredibili celeritate velis. The cadence at the beginning, evolarat, jam, &c. is as fwift as the fhip itself; whereas that at the end, which confifts wholly of one very long, heavy word, reprefents in a wonderful manner the efforts of an ill-equipped fleet, Moliebanturs

Refpice celeritatem rapidiffimi temporis: cogita brevitatem hujus fpatii, per quid citatissimi currimus. It is plain that Seneca endeavoured in this place to defcribe the rapidity of time, by that of words and letters...

Servius agitat rem militarem: infectatur totam hanc legationem: affiduitatis, & operarum harum quotidianarum putat effe confulatum. One cannot doubt but Cicero purpofely affected to employ three pretty long genitives plural, and the fame termination in this place; (which would have a very ill effect in any other) the more to degrade the profeffion which his adversary undertook to magnify. He feems to have copied this paffage from Terence. O faciem pulchram! Deleo omnes dehinc ex animo mulieres. Tadet quotidianarum harum formarum.

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The fame orator endeavoured to prove that Milo did not leave Rome with an intention to attack Clodius; he gives the following defcription of his equipage: Cum hic infidiator, qui iter illud ad cædem faciendam apparaffet, cum uxore veberetur in rheda, penulatus, vulgi magno impedimento, ac muliebri & delicato ancillarum puerorumque comitatu. What man, who has ever so little ear, but is fenfible on the bare reading of this paffage, that the orator affected to employ in this place, long words, confifting of many fyllables; and that he crowded them one upon another, the better to express the multitude of men and women attendants, who were more likely to incumber than be of service in a combat?

A fecond method of order or difpofition.

The order I have hitherto been treating of, has no other end, properly speaking, but to please the ear,

Epift. 99.

d Pro Mur. n. 21.

Eunuch, act. 2. fc. 3.

and

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