H. But, Doctor, you surely would not consider Cicero's poetry a very safe standard by which to estimate his intellectual excellence. Dr. B. I am well aware, my young friend, of the difference of opinion which exists in relation to the poetry of Cicero, and that it is very much the fashion with modern scholars to deny him any merit in this species of writing. He has been often ridiculed on account of an unlucky line, that occurred in a poem which he composed on the subject of his consulship; and I have no doubt you can quote it for me. H. "O fortunatam natam me consule Romam." Dr. B. Right. You remember probably the sarcasm of Juvenal *, that, if he had uttered every thing in this way, he would have been safe from the swords of Antony's followers; and also Quintilian's language, who censures the line as an example of defective versification; still, I cannot, I confess, see the justice of condemning a writer for a single line of poetry; and it appears to me that, if our modern bards were tried by this ordeal, a large number, who have obtained very comfortable quarters on Parnassus, would be compelled to descend to the plain. Voltaire, in the preface to his Catilina, places Cicero by the side of the best poets of his time, and thinks he may even dispute the palm with Lucretius himself. H. Allow me to ask, Doctor Barton, whether you would consider Voltaire as a very strong authority in the present case? Dr. B. I know what you mean by your question, Henry. The work which my friend Dr. Wynter, of St. John's College, recommended you to read, has given you a very low opinion of Voltaire's general accuracy; and I confess, that, in matters of real scholarship, his authority is of no weight whatever. As a poet, however, he may be allowed to give us his opinion respecting a brother poet, and may be considered a much safer guide in matters of taste than where learning and research are demanded. H. Perhaps, Doctor, some light may be thrown upon this subject by the estimation in which Cicero's poetry was held among his contemporaries. Dr. B. Strange as it may appear to you, Cicero's contemporaries "Ce que peu de personnes savent, c'est que Cicéron était encore un des premiers poètes d'un siècle où la belle poésie commençait à naître. Il balançait la réputation de Lucrèce. Y a-t-il rien de plus beau que ces vers qui nous sont restés de son poeme sur Marius, et qui font tant regretter la perte de cet ouvrage ?" § Lettres de quelques Juifs, à M. de Voltaire. all thought that his poem entitled Marius, an extract from which appears in the treatise on Divination*, and on which, by the by, Voltaire's opinion is founded, was a production that had the fairest chance of descending to posterity. — Indeed, the alliance between oratory and the poetic art is so strict, that it is difficult to excel in one, without having at the same time some disposition for the other. Both demand, in fact, the very same qualities; an ardent imagination, a fertile invention, and grandeur and elevation of style. Thus, for example, the genius of Demosthenes was essentially tragic, and he appears as much of a poet as an orator, in some of those strains of continued eloquence, which no human effort has yet surpassed, and which have covered his name with one undying blaze of glory. We must bear in mind, too, that, in Cicero's days, the ancient rusticity of the Latin muse was only beginning to assume a more polished exterior, and to familiarise itself insensibly with harmony of numbers and the other embellishments of art. The perfection, however, to which poetry was carried after the death of Cicero, having absolutely excluded all mediocrity, it need not surprise us that he retained so little reputation in a species of writing which he found in so uncultivated and almost barbarous a state. Our judgments of things are formed in this world solely by comparison. Cicero passes with many for a bad poet, because he does not enjoy the same rank as Virgil and Horace, Tibullus and Ovid; and this manner of judging him seems to have originated at the court of Augustus, where, to throw ridicule on the character of a patriot like Cicero, was sure to be received with favour by him who sat upon the throne. H. I find a good deal of truth in your remarks, my dear Doctor, and will give the subject, one day, my attentive consideration; meanwhile, allow me to ask what portions we have remaining of Cicero's poetry ? Dr. B. But few. There are fragments of his translation, into Latin hexameters, of the Phænomena of Aratus; the extract already mentioned from his poem entitled Marius, and another from that on the subject of his consulship, together with a few scattered lines from other performances.† But I am afraid I have indulged too much in the garrulity of age on this particular topic: let us return to the more immediate history of the Roman orator. It was the custom, in those days, for young persons of good families, after they had assumed the manly gown, to attach themselves to some distinguished member of Cic. de Div. 1. 47.' + Cic. Op. ed. Ernesti, vol. vii. p. 1041. seqq. (Lond. 1819.) the senate, whom they accompanied to all places of public resort, the forum in particular, and from whose example they learned to occupy themselves with the affairs of the republic or those of private individuals. The senator, to whom Cicero had been recommended, was the celebrated lawyer, Quintus Mutius Scævola *, surnamed the Augur, by way of distinction from one of his relatives who was Pontifex Maximus. How much he profited by the society and the wisdom of this excellent man, is acknowledged by him in grateful terms, in the beginning of the dialogue on the subject of friendship. H. Did the study of jurisprudence form at this time his sole employment? Dr. B. It did not. The great object which he had in view rendered it absolutely necessary for him to obtain a perfect acquaintance with the various writers that adorned the literature of Greece; and this course of reading formed, during the whole of his life, his favourite relaxation after the labours of the senate and the bar, and his chief consolation amid the political convulsions of the republic. Among the Greeks, who, at this period, gave instruction at Rome in their national literature, besides his old preceptor Archias, was Phædrus the Epicurean, and he was in particular the first Greek philosopher whose lectures were attended by the youthful Cicero. H. I have heard it said, also, Doctor, that Cicero in early life performed military service. Is the statement a correct one? Dr. B. It is. Two careers, at this period, presented themselves to those of the Roman youth who were possessed neither of fortune nor family influence; the path of arms, and that of eloquence. Oratorical talents were sure of finding at Rome a thousand opportunities of displaying themselves, either in the defence of friends, or in the accusation of powerful offenders; and they conducted their possessor to honours and public favour as promptly and as effectually as the renown of military exploits. Such, however, was the peculiar constitution of the republic, that the ablest general was compelled to cultivate, in some degree, the art of public speaking; and, on the other hand, the most eloquent orator could not remain a stranger to the art of war. Every young man, destined for the movements of the bar, had to commence by making some campaigns abroad; and Cicero made his in the war of the allies, under Cneius Pompeius Strabo, father of the well-known Pompey, and under Sylla, the celebrated competitor of Marius. At the conclusion of this period, the republic was endangered without by the contest with Mithridates, and within by Brut. c. 89. civil strife. Five years of trouble thus ensued, during which Cicero, whose youth entitled him to the privilege of remaining neutral between the two factions, devoted all his time to rhetoric and philosophy. H. Under what instructors, Doctor? Dr. B. He had now for his preceptors many learned Greeks, whom the war with Mithridates had compelled to abandon their country. The chief of these was Philo*, of Larissa, who had been at the head of the Academy at Athens, and who was now a very successful teacher of philosophy in the Roman capital. The ardour with which Cicero embraced the Academic tenets is easily explained by the utility which he was likely to derive from them in the discussions of the forum, Philo however was not his only master. The Stoic Diodotus † taught him how to wield the arms of dialectic science; and under this rhetorician, who lived and died beneath his roof, Cicero daily exercised himself in extemporaneous declamation. These exercises were in the Greek language, Diodotus probably being not well ac. quainted with the Latin; but still they were, no doubt, of the greatest advantage to Cicero, in enabling him to enrich his native idiom with the treasures of the Hellenic tongue. H. I thank you, Doctor Barton, for thus dwelling upon the earlier studies of Cicero. The narrative may serve to animate the youthful aspirants of our own day. How forcibly are we struck by the contrast, when we compare the preparatory toil of a Demosthenes and a Cicero with that of the orators of our own times! Theirs was the heroic age of eloquence, an age destined never to return. The ancient candidate for the prize of oratory devoted his whole faculties to a mastery over the instruments of persuasion. He neglected none of the means of success, however slight or insignificant in appearance. He explored every avenue of the mind, and took possession of all the inlets of delight through the medium of the senses. If he figured as a statesthe study of eloquence included the whole mental discipline. If he appeared as an advocate, and won the cause, it was to the arts of persuasion he owed the victory. man, Dr. B. True, Henry; but then how different is the training of the modern, whether he appear in the senate or the forum. His path is crowded and encumbered with the materials of almost unlimited extent and variety, which the labours of centuries have accumulated, and which he is required to shape to the ends of judicious speech. He is thrown on a scene of business, and into affairs of complexity, *Cic. de Or. 3. 28.-Brut. 89.-Ep. ad Fam. 13. 1.-Tusc. Disp. 2, 3. from the moment of his entrance on a public career. He has to combine and arrange a vast number of details, inconsistent with all unity of application. He cannot pursue eloquence as a separate branch of intellectual discipline, and of preparation for the conflicts of life. The ancients, having in their political assemblies no balancing of interests, no complicated adjustments, no compromises of policy, no schemes of concession, gave themselves up to a single point of discussion. They were never diverted from a certain unity of intellectual view by the distractions and divisions which pervade our mixed assemblies. Theirs was a singleness of purpose effected by simplicity of means. What weapons of signal power and proof did not these circumstances lend to the eloquence of antiquity! H. I perceive the force of your remarks, my dear Doctor, and that the labours and efforts of modern oratory ought to have been rated more highly by me. But let us proceed with Cicero. Dr. B. The first oration which Cicero pronounced, at least of those extant, was delivered in the presence of four judges appointed by the prætor, and with the celebrated Hortensius for his opponent. It was in the case of Quintius, and the orator was at that time but 26 years of age. The first public or criminal trial on which he spoke, was that of Roscius of Ameria, the succeeding year, when he appeared on the defence, and displayed great courage in attacking, during his speech, a certain Chrysogonus, a favourite slave, to whom Sylla, then in the height of his power, had given freedom, and whom he had permitted to buy the property of the father of Roscius as a forfeiture. H. This was certainly bold conduct in so young an advocate. Dr. B. It was indeed. From dread of the power of Sylla, the accused had difficulty in prevailing on any patron to undertake his cause, but Cicero eagerly embraced this opportunity to give a public testimonial of his detestation of oppression and tyranny. The oration, however, was too much in the florid Asiatic manner, which the example of Hortensius had rendered fashionable in the forum. The spirit displayed by Cicero in conducting this defence met with general applause, and was remembered by himself in his old age with a feeling of such delight, that he recommends to his son, as the surest path to true honour, to defend those who are unjustly oppressed, as he himself had done in many causes, but particularly in that of Roscius of Ameria, whom he had protected against Sylla in the height of his authority.* * Dunlop, Rom. Lit. vol. ii. p. 279. |
