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"of orators arofe afterwards, of whom Demofthenes was the chief; the ftandard which every one "muft neceffarily follow who afpires to true eloquence. His style is so ftrong, fo close, and 'nervous; it is every-where fo juft, fo exactly concife; "that there is nothing too much or too little, Æf"chines is more diffufive; he difcovers a greater figure, "because he is not fo clofe; he difcovers a greater "Aufh of health, but his finews are not fo ftrong and "well compacted.

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"What distinguishes the eloquence of Demofthe"nes is the impetuofity of the expreffion, the choice "of words, and the beauty of the difpofition; which "being fupported throughout, and accompanied with "force and fweetnefs, keeps the attention of the "auditors perpetually fixed. Æfchines indeed is lefs energetic but he diftinguishes himself by his "diction, which he fometimes adorns with the most "noble and magnificent figures; and fometimes fea"fons with the moft lively and ftrong touches. We "do not discover any art or labour in them; a happy << facility, which nature only can bestow, runs "through the whole. He is bright and folid; he << enlarges and amplifies, but is often close; so that "his ftyle, which at firft feems only flowing and "fweet, difcovers itself, upon a nearer view, to be. "vehement and emphatic, in which Demofthenes only surpasses him; fo that Æfchines juftly claims "the fecond place among orators.

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Demofthenes, ac penè lex orandi fuit. Tanta vis in eo, tam denfa omnia, ita quibufdam nervis intenta funt, tam nihil otiofum, is dicendi modus, ut nec quod defit in eo, nec quod redundet invenias. Plenior Efchines, & magis fufus, & grandiori fimilis, quo minus ftrictus eft. Carnis tamen plus habet, lacer torum minus.

k Quintilian did not venture to fay abfolutely, that Demofthenes's orations were the ftandard of eloVOL. II.

quence; he has foftened the reflection, penè lex orandi fuit.

1 Tam denfa omnia, ita quibufdam nervis intenta funt. Il e ferené, fi nerveux. I do not know whether this metaphor is borrowed from the nerves of the body, or from a bow, the firing of which being ft.ongly stretched (nervi) pufhes the arrow forward with a prodigious force and impetuofity.

Dion. Halicarn. in h's book called Tv apxaíwv xpions. cap. 5. L

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❝n I remember, fays Cicero, that I preferred De"mofthenes to all other orators. He is adequate to

the idea I had formed to my felf of eloquence; he "attained to that degree of perfection which I con"ceive in thought, but find no where, except in him

alone. Never had any orator more greatnefs and "strength, more art and cunning, nor more pru"dence and moderation in his ornaments. He ex"cels in every kind of eloquence. . . . He poffeffes "all the qualifications neceffary for forming the oraἐσ tor. He is perfect. Whateyer penetration, what"ever refinement, whatever artifice, as it were, and "cunning can fuggeft on any subject; these he finds " and employs with a juftness, a brevity, and clear"nefs, which gives us a fatisfaction, to which nothing cr can add. Are elevation, greatness, and vehemence, "neceflary? He furpaffes all others in the fublimity "of his thoughts, and the magnificence of his ex"preffions. He is inconteftably the firft; none equals "him. Hyperides, Æfchines, Lycurgus, Dinarchus, "Demades, have no other merit but that of coming *neareft to him.

"That harangue (fays Cicero in another place, "fpeaking of Ctefiphon's defence) answers fo effectu"ally to the idea I have formed of perfect eloquence, "that we can with nothing more finished."

Recordor me longe omnibus unum anteferre Demofthenem, qui vim accommodârit ad eam quam fentiam eloquentiam, non ad eam quam in aliquo ipfe cognoverim. Hoc nec gravior extitit quifquam, nec calli1or nec temperatior.... Unus eminet inter omnes in omni genere dicendi. Orat. n. 23. & 104.

o Plane quidem perfectum; & cui hil admodum defit; Demofthenem facile dixeris. Nihil acute inveniri potuit in eis caufis quas fcripfit, nihil (ut ita dicam)

fubdole, nihil verfute, quod ille non viderit; nihil fubtiliter dici, nihil preffe, nihil enucleate, quo fieri poffit aliquid limatius: nihil contra grande, nihil incitatum, nihil ornatum vel verborum gravitate, vel fententiarum, quo quidquam effet elatius, &c. Brut. n. 35.

Ea profecto oratio in eam formam, quæ eft infita in mentibus noftris, includi fic poteft, ut major eloquentia non quæratur, Orat. n. 133.

Before

Before I proceed to the character of Cicero's eloquence, I think myself obliged to add here fome reflections upon that of Demofthenes.

It would, in my opinion, be renouncing of good fense and found reafon to call in queftion the fuperior merit of the Greek orator, after the incredible fuccefs he had in his time, and the noble encomiums which the best judges have been, in a manner, contending to bestow upon him.

He spoke before the most polite people that ever lived, and the most delicate and difficult to be pleased in point of eloquence; a people fo well acquainted with the beauties and graces of speech, and the purity of diction, that their orators durft not venture to use any doubtful or uncommon expreffion, or any which might be the least offenfive to fuch nice and refined ears. Besides, he lived in an age when the taste of the beautiful, the true, and the fimple, was in its utmoft perfection. Thrice happy age! which gave birth to a multitude of orators at the fame time, every one of whom might have been looked upon as a complete model, had not Demofthenes eclipfed them all, by the ftrength of his genius, and the extraordinary fuperiority of his merit."

All pofterity have done him the fame justice, which even his own age did not deny him. But Cicero's judgment alone fhould determine that of every judicious and equitable man. He is not a ftupid admirer, who gives himself up to blind prejudices without examination. But how much foever, in Cicero's opinion, Demofthenes excelled in every fpecies of eloquence,

• Athenienfium femper fuit pruduns fincerumque judicium, nihil ut poffent nifi incorruptum audire & elegans. Eorum religioni cum ferviret orator, nullum verbum infolens, nullum odiofum ponere audebat Ad Atticorum aures teretes & religiofas qui fe accom

....

modant, ii funt exiftimandi Attics dicere. Orat. n. 25. & 27.

r Sequitur oratorum ingens manus, cum decem fimul Athenis ætas una tulerit: quorum longe princeps Demosthenes. ac peně lex orandi fuit. Quintil. lib. 19.

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he ftill owns that he does not fatisfy him in every particular, and that he left him fomething to wish for; fo delicate was he upon that point, and so sublime and elevated was his idea of a perfect orator. However, he gives his orations, and especially that for Ctefiphon, which was his mafter-piece, as the most finished models we can propose to ourselves.

What is there then in his orations that is so admirable, and could feize the univerfal and unanimous applaufe of all ages? Is Demofthenes an orator who amufes himfelf barely with tickling the ear, by the found and harmony of periods; or does he impofe upon the mind by a florid flyle and shining thoughts! Such eloquence may indeed dazzle and charm the moment we hear it; but the impreffion it makes is of a short duration. What we admire in Demofthenes is the plan, the feries, and the order and difpofition of the oration; it is the ftrength of the proofs, the folidity of the arguments, the grandeur and noblenefs of the fentiments, and of the ftyle: the vivacity of the turns and figures; in a word, the wonderful art of reprefenting the fubjects he treats, in all their luftre, and displaying them in all their ftrength; in which, according to Quintilian, that just eloquence chiefly confifts, which is not fatisfied with reprefenting things as they really are, but heightens them by lively and animated touches, which only are capable of affecting and moving the paffions of the auditors. But that which diftinguishes Demofthenes ftill more, and in which no one has imitated him, is, that he drops himfelf fo intirely; is always fo fcrupulous in avoiding

t

• Ufque eo difficiles ac morofi fumus, ut nobis non fatisfaciat ipfe Demofthenes qui, quanquam u· nus eminet inter omnes in omni genere dicendi, tamen non femper implet aures meas, ita funt avidæ & capaces, & femper aliquid immenfum infinitumque defiserant. Orat. n. 194.

In hoc eloquentiæ via eft, ut

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judicem non ad id tantum impellat, in quod ipfe á rei natura duceretur; fed aut qui non eft, aut majorem quam eft, faciat affectum. Hac eft illa quæ delwoic vocatur, rebus indignis, afperis, invidiofis addens vim oratio: qua virtute præter alios plurimum Demofthenes valuit. Quintil. 1. 6,

c. 3.

every

every thing that might look like a fhew or parade of wit and genius; and fo careful to make the auditor attend to the caufe, and not to the orator, that no expreffion, turn, or thought, ever efcape him, fuch, I mean, as are calculated merely to pleafe or fhine. This reservedness, this moderation, in fo fine a genius as Demofthenes, and in topics fo fufceptible of graces and elegance, raifes his merit to its highest pitch, and is fuperior to all encomiums. Mr. Tourreil's tranflation, though generally very juft, does not always preferve that inimitable character; and we fometimes meet with ornaments in it, which are not found in the original.

The reader will not take it amifs, if I fupport what I have declared of Demofthenes's ftyle, by the opinion of two illuftrious moderns, which ought to have as much weight as thofe of the antients.

The firft is from the Archbishop of Cambray's Dialogues upon Eloquence, which are very proper to form the tafte, by the judicious reflections with which they abound. He thus fpeaks of Demofthenes, in his com parison between him and Ifocrates: "Ifocrates is full

of florid and effeminate orations, and with periods) "laboured with infinite pains to pleafe the ear; whilft "Demofthenes moves, warms, and feizes the heart. "The latter is too much concerned for his country, "to amuse himself, like Ifocrates, in playing upon "words: he argues clofely, and his fentiments are "thofe of a foul that conceives nothing but great “ideas: his difcourfe improves and gathers ftrength, "at every word, from the new arguments he employs. "It is a chain of bold and moving figures. Every "reader fees plainly, that his whole foul is fixed on "his country. Nature herself speaks in his tranfports, and art is fo exquifite in what he fays, that "it does not appear. Nothing was ever equal to his "impetuofity and vehemence." I fhall foon quote another paffage from M. Fenelon, which is ftill more beautiful, wherein he compares Demofthenes to Cicero.

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