pr. Having at length, after twenty years devoted to
the training of the young, obtained leisure for study,
I was asked by certain of my friends to write
something on the art of speaking. For a long time I
resisted their entreaties, since I was well aware that
some of the most distinguished Greek and Roman
writers had bequeathed to posterity a number of
works dealing with this subject, to the composition
of which they had devoted the utmost care.
[2]
This
seemed to me to be an admirable excuse for my refusal, but served merely to increase their enthusiasm.
They urged that previous writers on the subject had
expressed different and at times contradictory
opinions, between which it was very difficult to
choose. They thought therefore that they were
justified in imposing on me the task, if not of
discovering original views, at least of passing definite
judgment on those expressed by my predecessors.
[3]
I was moved to comply not so much because I
felt confidence that I was equal to the task, as
[p. 7]
because I had a certain compunction about refusing.
The subject proved more extensive than I had first
imagined; but finally I volunteered to shoulder a
task which was on a far larger scale than that which
I was originally asked to undertake. I wished on
the one hand to oblige my very good friends beyond
their requests, and on the other to avoid the beaten
track and the necessity of treading where others
had gone before.
[4]
For almost all others who have
written on the art of oratory have started with the
assumption that their readers were perfect in all
other branches of education and that their own task
was merely to put the finishing touches to their
rhetorical training; this is due to the fact that they
either despised the preliminary stages of education
or thought that they were not their concern, since
the duties of the different branches of education
are distinct one from another, or else, and this
is nearer the truth, because they had no hope of
making a remunerative display of their talent in
dealing with subjects, which, although necessary,
are far from being showy: just as in architecture it
is the superstructure and not the foundations which
attracts the eye.
[5]
I on the other hand hold that the
art of oratory includes all that is essential for the
training of an orator, and that it is impossible to reach
the summit in any subject unless we have first passed
through all the elementary stages. I shall not therefore refuse to stoop to the consideration of those
minor details, neglect of which may result in there
being no opportunity for more important things, and
propose to mould the studies of my orator from infancy, on the assumption that his whole education has
been entrusted to my charge.
[6]
This work I dedicate
[p. 9]
to you, Marcellus Victorius. You have been the truest
of friends to me and you have shown a passionate
enthusiasm for literature. But good as these reasons
are, they are not the only reasons that lead me to
regard you as especially worthy of such a pledge of
our mutual affection. There is also the consideration
that this book should prove of service in the
education of your son Geta, who, young though he
is, already shows clear promise of real talent. It has
been my design to lead my reader from the very
cradle of speech through all the stages of education
which can be of any service to our budding orator
till we have reached the very summit of the art.
[7]
I
have been all the more desirous of so doing because
two books on the art of rhetoric are at present
circulating under my name, although never published
by me or composed for such a purpose. One is a
two days' lecture which was taken down by the boys
who were my audience. The other consists of such
notes as my good pupils succeeded in taking down
from a course of lectures on a somewhat more
extensive scale: I appreciate their kindness, but
they showed an excess of enthusiasm and a certain
lack of discretion in doing my utterances the honour
of publication.
[8]
Consequently in the present work
although some passages remain the same, you will
find many alterations and still more additions, while
the whole theme will be treated with greater system
and with as great perfection as lies within my
power.
[9]
My aim, then, is the education of the perfect
orator. The first essential for such an one is that he
should be a good man, and consequently we demand
of him not merely the possession of exceptional
[p. 11]
gifts of speech, but of all the excellences of character
as well.
[10]
For I will not admit that the principles of
upright and honourable living should, as some have
held, be regarded as the peculiar concern of philosophy. The man who can really play his part as a
citizen and is capable of meeting the demands both
of public and private business, the man who can
guide a state by his counsels, give it a firm basis by
his legislation and purge its vices by his decisions as
a judge, is assuredly no other than the orator of our
quest.
[11]
Wherefore, although I admit I shall make
use of certain of the principles laid down in philosophical textbooks, I would insist that such principles
have a just claim to form part of the subject-matter
of this work and do actually belong to the art of
oratory.
[12]
I shall frequently be compelled to speak of
such virtues as courage, justice, self-control; in fact
scarcely a case comes up in which some one of these
virtues is not involved; every one of them requires
illustration and consequently makes a demand on
the imagination and eloquence of the pleader. I
ask you then, can there be any doubt that, wherever
imaginative power and amplitude of diction are required, the orator has a specially important part to
play?
[13]
These two branches of knowledge were, as
Cicero has clearly shown,1 so closely united, not
merely in theory but in practice, that the same men
were regarded as uniting the qualifications of orator
and philosopher. Subsequently this single branch
of study split up into its component parts, and
thanks to the indolence of its professors was regarded as consisting of several distinct subjects.
As soon as speaking became a means of livelihood
and the practice of making an evil use of the
[p. 13]
blessings of eloquence came into vogue, those who
had a reputation for eloquence ceased to study moral
philosophy, and ethics,
[14]
thus abandoned by the
orators, became the prey of weaker intellects. As
a consequence certain persons, disdaining the toil of
learning to speak well, returned to the task of
forming character and establishing rules of life and
kept to themselves what is, if we must make a
division, the better part of philosophy, but presumptuously laid claim to the sole possession of the
title of philosopher, a distinction which neither the
greatest generals nor the most famous statesmen
and administrators have ever dared to claim for themselves. For they preferred the performance to the
promise of great deeds.
[15]
I am ready to admit that
many of the old philosophers inculcated the most excellent principles and practised what they preached.
But in our own day the name of philosopher has
too often been the mask for the worst vices. For
their attempt has not been to win the name of
philosopher by virtue and the earnest search for
wisdom; instead they have sought to disguise the
depravity of their characters by the assumption
of a stern and austere mien accompanied by the
wearing of a garb differing from that of their fellow
men.
[16]
Now as a matter of fact we all of us frequently
handle those themes which philosophy claims for its
own. Who, short of being an utter villain, does not
speak of justice, equity and virtue? Who (and even
common country-folk are no exception) does not
make some inquiry into the causes of natural phenomena? As for the special uses and distinctions of
words, they should be a subject of study common to
all who give any thought to the meaning of language.
[p. 15]
[17]
But it is surely the orator who will have the greatest
mastery of all such departments of knowledge and
the greatest power to express it in words. And if ever
he had reached perfection, there would be no need
to go to the schools of philosophy for the precepts of
virtue. As things stand, it is occasionally necessary
to have recourse to those authors who have, as I
said above, usurped the better part of the art of
oratory after its desertion by the orators and to
demand back what is ours by right, not with a view
to appropriating their discoveries, but to show them
that they have appropriated what in truth belonged
to others.
[18]
Let our ideal orator then be such as to
have a genuine title to the name of philosopher: it
is not sufficient that he should be blameless in point
of character (for I cannot agree with those who hold
this opinion): he must also be a thorough master of
the science and the art of speaking, to an extent
that perhaps no orator has yet attained.
[19]
Still we
must none the less follow the ideal, as was done by
not a few of the ancients, who, though they refused
to admit that the perfect sage had yet been found,
none the less handed down precepts of wisdom for
the use of posterity.
[20]
Perfect eloquence is assuredly
a reality, which is not beyond the reach of human
intellect. Even if we fail to reach it, those whose
aspirations are highest, will attain to greater heights
than those who abandon themselves to premature
despair of ever reaching the goal and halt at the
very foot of the ascent.
[21]
I have therefore all the juster claim to indulgence,
if I refuse to pass by those minor details which are
none the less essential to my task. My first book
will be concerned with the education preliminary to
[p. 17]
the duties of the teacher of rhetoric. My second will
deal with the rudiments of the schools of rhetoric
and with problems connected with the essence of
rhetoric itself.
[22]
The next five will be concerned
with Invention, in which I include Arrangement.
The four following will be assigned to Eloquence,
under which head I include Memory and Delivery.
Finally there will be one book in which our complete orator will be delineated; as far as my feeble
powers permit, I shall discuss his character, the
rules which should guide him in undertaking,
studying and pleading cases, the style of his eloquence, the time at which he should cease to plead
cases and the studies to which he should devote
himself after such cessation.
[23]
In the course of these
discussions I shall deal in its proper place with
the method of teaching by which students will
acquire not merely a knowledge of those things
to which the name of art is restricted by certain
theorists, and will not only come to understand the
laws of rhetoric, but will acquire that which will
increase their powers of speech and nourish their
eloquence.
[24]
For as a rule the result of the dry textbooks on the art of rhetoric is that by straining
after excessive subtlety they impair and cripple
all the nobler elements of style, exhaust the lifeblood of the imagination and leave but the bare
bones, which, while it is right and necessary that
they should exist and be bound each to each by
their respective ligaments, require a covering of flesh
as well.
[25]
I shall therefore avoid the precedent set
by the majority and shall not restrict myself to this
narrow conception of my theme, but shall include in
my twelve books a brief demonstration of everything
[p. 19]
which may seem likely to contribute to the education of an orator. For if I were to attempt to say
all that might be said on each subject, the book
would never be finished.
[26]
There is however one point which I must emphasise before I begin, which is this. Without
natural gifts technical rules are useless. Consequently the student who is devoid of talent will
derive no more profit from this work than barren
soil from a treatise on agriculture.
[27]
There are, it is
true, other natural aids, such as the possession of a
good voice and robust lungs, sound health, powers of
endurance and grace, and if these are possessed only
to a moderate extent, they may be improved by
methodical training. In some cases, however, these
gifts are lacking to such an extent that their absence
is fatal to all such advantages as talent and study
can confer, while, similarly, they are of no profit in
themselves unless cultivated by skilful teaching, persistent study and continuous and extensive practice
in writing, reading and speaking.
1 de Or. iii. 15.
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