[46]
Do you suppose that
there is any other reason, why, when the prizes of eloquence are so great
when the pleasure of speaking is so great, when the glory is so high, the
influence derived from it so extensive, and the honour so pure, there are
and always have been so few men who devote themselves to this study? All
pleasures must be trampled underfoot, all pursuit of amusement must be
abandoned, O judges; sports and jesting and feasting; yes, I may almost say,
the conversation of one's friends, must be shunned. And this is what deters
men of this class from the labours and studies of oratory; not that their
abilities are deficient, or that their early training has been neglected.
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M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. George Bell & Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. 1891.
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