Page images
PDF
EPUB

would have exclaimed and rofe against him. He was too wife, and too well acquainted with men to act after that manner. It deferves our admiration, to fee how long he keeps his auditors in fufpenfe, without letting them difcover what party he had taken, or what opinion he intended to inculcate. He employs at firft all the power of his eloquence, to fhew the people the lively sense he had of the very fignal favour he had lately received from them. He carefully heightens all the circumstances of it, which reflected fo much honour upon him. He afterwards takes notice of the duties and obligations, which fo unanimous a consent of the people in chufing him conful, had laid him under. He declares, that as he is obliged to them for all his honours and dignities, he fhall always have the popular intereft at heart, not only during the continuance of his office, but during his life. But he takes notice, that the word popular requires explanation; and after fhewing its various acceptations, after he had discovered the fecret intrigues of the tribunes, who concealed their ambitious defigns under that plaufible name; after he had highly applauded the Gracchi, who were zealous defenders of the Agrarian law, and whofe memory, for that reafon, was fo dear to the Roman people; after he had thus infinuated himself by degrees into the minds of the auditors, and gained them entirely; he does not, however, dare yet attack openly the law in queftion, but contents himself with protesting, that in cafe the people, after hearing him, don't acknowledge that this law, under a deceitful outfide, gives in effect a blow to their quiet and their liberty, he then will join them, and fubmit to their opinion. This is a perfect model of what we call an infinuatory exordium in the fchools; and methinks one fuch paffage as this is fufficient for forming the underftanding of youth, and teaching them the dextrous and refpectful way of combating the opinions of those who are not to be oppofed directly on the fcore of acknowledgment and fubmiffion. This difcourfe had all

the

the effect which was expected from it; and the people being undeceived by the eloquent difcourfe of their conful, repealed the Agrarian law.

"The paffage in Cicero's oration for Ligarius, where an enquiry is made what people ought to think of Pompey's party, required to be handled with great nicety. Tubero had declared thofe to be criminal who bore arms against Cæfar. Cicero heightens and condemns the harfhnefs of that expreffion; and after recapitulating the different names given to the conduct of those who had declared for Pompey, as error, fear, luft, paffion, prepoffeffion, intoxication, rafhnefs: "For my part, fays he, if people ask me, what "is the proper and true name which ought to be given to our misfortune, methinks 'tis a fatal influence "that has blinded men, and forced them along, in

[ocr errors]

fpite of all their endeavours to the contrary; fo "that we must not wonder to fee the unfurmount"able will of the Gods prevail over the counfels of 66 men." " Ac mihi quidem, fi proprium & verum nomen noftri mali quæratur, fatalis quædam calamitas incidiffe videtur, & improvidas hominum mentes occupaviffe: ut nemo mirari debeat, humana confilia divina neceffitate effe fuperata. There was nothing in this definition injurious to Pompey's party; and fo far from offending Cæfar, it pleafed him very much.

Such of our writers as have treated of the last civil wars of France, feem to have had the above-mentioned paffage of Cicero in view; but then they have very much improved upon the original.

"Alas, unhappy France! though thou gottest "rid of that enemy, were there not still enough re་ maining, without turning thine arms against thy"felf? What fatal influence could induce thee to fhed "fo much blood? Why cannot we obliterate those melancholy years from history, and keep them from "the knowledge of our pofterity? But fince 'tis impoffible to pafs over things, which the fhedding of Mafcar, M. de Turrene's funeral oratión:

k

[ocr errors]

Pro Ligar. n. 171.

[blocks in formation]

fo much blood has too ftrongly recorded, let us re"veal them at leaft, like that artful painter who in"vented the profile, in order to conceal the blemishes

in a face. Let us remove from our fight that dark

nefs of mind, that fatal night, which being formed " in the confufion of publick affairs by fo many diffe<rent interefts, made even those go aftray who fought for the right path.

"Do you, gentlemen, remember that period of "diforder and confufion, when the gloomy Spirit of "difcord confounded juftice and right with paffion, "duty with intereft, the good caufe with the bad; when "moft of the brighteft ftars fuffered fome eclipfe, and "the most faithful fubjects faw themselves invo

[ocr errors]

luntarily drawn away by the torrent of parties, like "thofe pilots, who finding themselves furprised by a "ftorm in the midft of the ocean, are obliged to change "their course, and abandon themfelves for a time to "the winds and the tempeft? Such is God's juftice; "fuch is the natural infirmity of men: but the wife man easily recovers himself, and there is both in po"liticks and in religion, a kind of repentance more cc glorious than innocence itself, which makes an advantageous reparation for a little frailty by extraordinary virtues, and a continual fervor.

[ocr errors]

"What fhall I fay? God fuffered the winds and cc waves to roar and tofs, and the storm arofe. A peftiferous air of factions and infurrections won the heart "of the state, and extended itself to the moft diftant

[ocr errors]

parts. The paffions, which our fins had kindled, "broke down the fences of juftice and reafon; and the "wifeft men being drawn away by the unhappiness of engagements and conjunctures, against their own in"clinations, found they had ftrayed beyond the bounds of their duty, before they preceived it

[ocr errors]

Fléchier, in M. Turenne's fu

meral oration.

a M. Fléchier, in M. de Telli er's funeral oration.

202

ARTICLE the SEVENTH.

Of the Paffions.

Should be extremely tedious, did I undertake to touch even but curforily all that concerns this fubject, it being one of the most important in rhetoric. 'Tis known that the paffions are, as it were, the foul of an oration: that 'tis from them it derives the impetuosity and vehemence, which bear down all before them; and that the orator by their means attains an abfolute empire over his auditors, and infpires them with whatever fentiments he pleases; fometimes by artfully taking advantage of the biafs and favourable difpofition of people's minds, but at other times in furmounting all their oppofition by the victorious ftrength of the oration, and obliging them to furrender, as it were, in fpite of themselves. Cæfar was not able to refift, when he heard Cicero's defence of Ligarius, though he was much upon his guard against his eloquence; being determined when he came out of his own house, not to pardon the latter.

I think it fufficient to refer youth to Cicero's perorations, and to exhort them to make the application themselves of the excellent precepts left us by Cicero and Quintilian on this fubject. The moft important

Tantam vim habet illa, quæ rectè à bono poeta dicta eft, flexanima atque omnium regina rerum 0Tati, ut non modò inclinantem erigere, aut ftantem inclinare, fed etiam adverfantem & repugnantem, ut imperator bonus ac fortis, capere poffit. Lib. 2. de Orat. n. 187.

*Conclufions of a speech.

fSumma circum movendos affectus in hoc pofita eft, ut moveamur ipfi.....Primum eft ut apud

nos valeant ea quæ valere apud judicem volumus, afficiamurque an tequam afficere conemur... Ubi miferatione opus erit, nobis ea de quibus querimur, accidiffe credamus, atque id animo noftro perfuadeamus. Nos illi fimus, quos gravia, indigna, triftia paffos quera

mur.

Nec agamus rem quafi alienam, fed affumamus parumper illum dolorem. Ita dicemus, quæ in fimili noftro cafu dicturi effemus. Q.1. 6. c. 3.

of

of all is, that in order to affect others, we must be affected ourselves; for which end, we must be deeply touched with the subject we treat of, be fully convinced of it,and be fenfible of its whole truth and importance. We muft likewise form a ftrong representation to ourselves of the things we would make use of, to move the paffions of the auditors, and defcribe them in a warm and lively manner; and this we shall do, if we are careful to ftudy nature, and to take her always for our guide. For whence comes it that we see ignorant perfons express themselves with fo much eloquence, in the firft fallies of their grief or anger, except 'tis because those fenfations are not ftudied or fictitious, but drawn from truth and nature itself.

"An Athenian having entreated Demofthenes to plead for him against a citizen, from whom he pretended to have received a great affront; and as he was giving a relation of this pretended ill ufage with a cold and fedate tone of voice, without paffion or warmth: Not a word of this is true, fays Demofthenes; you have not been ill treated, as you fay you were. How! replies the other, raifing his voice, and feeming in a great paffion Have not I been ill treated, have not I been injured? Upon hearing this tone of voice, Demofthenes perceived the truth, and undertook the cause. w Cicero relates fomething like this of an orator named Callidius, against whom he pleaded: What! fays he, if it were true that a defign was formed against your life, as you pretend, would you fpeak of an attempt of this kind with fuch a languid careless air, which so far from moving the paffions of your auditors, is fit only

* Quid enim aliud eft caufæ, ut lugentes utique in recenti dolore difertiilimè quædam exclamare videantur, & ira nonnunquam indoctis quoque eloquentiam faciat, quàm quòd illis ineft vis mentis, & veritas ipfa morum? Ibid.

" Plut in Vit. Demofth.

w Hoc ipfum pofuit pro argumento, quòd ille tam falutè egiffet,

tam leniter, tam ofcitanter. Tu ifthuc, M. Callidi, nifi fingeres, fic ageres?.... Ubi dolor? ubi ardor animi, qui etiam ex infantum ingeniis elicere voces & querelas folet? Nulla perturbatio animi, nulla corporis. ... Itaque tantum abfuit ut inflammares noftros animos: fomnum ifto loco vix tenebamys. Brut. n. 277, 278.

to

« PreviousContinue »