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My fecond authority is M. de Tourreil, who had ftudied Demonfthenes long enough, to discover his character, and the genius of his writings. "I allow, "fays he, that we do not find in Æschines that air of "rectitude, that impetuofity of stile, that force of "tranfcendent veracity which forces the confent_by "the weight of conviction; a talent that leaves De"mofthenes without an equal, and which he applies "in a fingular manner. Whether he calms or ruffles "the mind, we do not find ourselves in any disorder, "but think we are obeying the dictates of nature. "Whether he perfuades or diffuades, we do not per"ceive any thing that offers violence, but we think "we are obeying the commands of reafon; for this

orator always fpeaks like nature and reafon, and has "properly no other ftile but theirs. Whatever he << fays flows from that fpring. He avoids even the "fhadow of redundancy. He has no far-fetch'd em"bellishments nor flowers. He loves nothing but fire "and light. He will not employ glittering weapons, "but fuch only as will do execution. This, in my "opinion, is the foundation of that victorious impe"tuofity which fubdued the Athenians, and places "Demofthenes above all the orators who ever lived.

"A peculiar energy, fays the fame author in ano"ther place, conftitutes his character, and fets him "above equality. His difcourfe is a series of induc❝tions, conclufions, and demonftrations, formed by

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common fenfe. His reasoning, of which the force 66 perpetually encreases, rifes by degrees and with pre"cipitation, to the pitch he would carry it. He at"tacks openly, he pushes forward, and at last reduces "the auditor to fuch ftreights, that there's no further "retreat for him. But on this occafion the auditor, "far from being ashamed of his defeat, feels the plea"fure which fubmitting to reafon affords. Ifocrates, "faid Philip, pushes only with a file, but Demofthenes "fights with the fword... We fee in him a man who "has no other enemies but thofe of the ftate, nor

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any paffion but the love of order and justice. A man, whose aim is not to dazzle but to inform, not to please but to be ufeful. He employs no other ornaments, but fuch as grow out of his fubject; nor any flowers, but thofe he finds in his way. "One would conclude, that he defired nothing far "ther than to be understood, and that he gained ad"miration without feeking it. Not that he is de"void of graces, but then they are, those only of an "auftere kind, and fuch as are compatible with the "candor and ingenuity he profeffed. In his writings, "truth is not fet off with paint, nor does make it "effeminate with intent to adorn it; no kind of of"tentation, or retrofpect upon himself; he neither "thews nor regards himself, but is entirely confined "to his caufe; and his caufe is always the preferva"tion or advantage of his country."

II.

Of Cicero's Eloquence compared with that of DemoAthenes

Two orators, though very different in ftile and character, may yet be equally perfect; fo that it would not be easy to determine, which of them we fhould chufe to resemble.

Perhaps this rule, with which Cicero furnishes us, may be of fervice in the judgment we are to form between him and Demofthenes.

Both excelled in the three kinds of writing, as every one must do who is truly eloquent. They knew how to vary their ftile as their fubjects varied: fometimes fimple and fubtile in causes of small confequence, in narrations and proofs; and at others, adorned and

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embellished, when there was a neceffity of pleafing; fometimes elevated and fublime, when the dignity of the fubject required it. * Cicero makes this remark, and he quotes for examples Demofthenes and himself. Quintilian has drawn a fine parallel between thefe two orators. y c The qualities, fays he, on which eloquence is founded, were alike in both; fuch as "the defign, the order, the difpofition, the divifion, "the method of preparing the auditors and the proving; and, in a word, every thing that is relative to "invention.

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But there is fome difference in their ftile. The "one is more concife, the other more diffufive; the "one pufhes clofer to his adverfary, the other allows "him a larger spot to fight upon. The one is always

endeavouring to pierce him as it were, with the 166 vivacity of his ftile, the other often bears him down "with the weight of his difcourfe. Nothing can be "retrenched from the one, nor added to the other. "Demofthenes has more care and ftudy, and Cicero "more nature and genius.

As to raillery and exciting commiferation, "both which are of vaft effect in eloquence, Cicero "has undoubtedly the advantage in these.

But he yields to him in this refpect, viz. that

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"Demofthenes

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The tranflator has thus rendered this passage, L'un est toujours fubtil dans la difpute, &c. I do not think that fubtilty is meant here, but believe that the metaphor is borrowed from a jworde

"Demofthenes lived before him, and that Cicero "though a very extraordinary man, owes part of his "merit to the Athenian orator. For my opinion is, "that Cicero having bent all his thoughts to the "Greeks, in order to form himself upon their model, compounded his character out of Demofthenes's "ftrength, Plato's copioufnefs, and Ifocrates's fweet"nefs. And fuch was his application, that he not "only extracted every thing extraordinary from those great originals, but produced, as it were, by the

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happy fruitfulness of his divine genius, the greatest "part of those very perfections, or rather all of them. "For to ufe an expreffion of Pindar, he does not "collect the waters of heaven to remedy his natural "drinefs, but finds a spring of living water within "himself, which is ever flowing with vehemence and

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impetuofity; and one would conclude that the Gods "had given him to the world, in order that eloquence "might exert her utmost strength in the perfon of this 66 great man.

"And indeed, what man was ever more exact in "inftructing, or moved the paffions with greater force? "What orator has fuch a profufion of charms as him we are speaking of? These are so great, that we "think we grant him what he forces from us; and " when he hurries away the judges by his impetuofity, as with a torrent, they think they follow him of

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imitationem Græcorum contuliffet, effinxiffe vim Demofthenis, copiam Platonis, jucunditatem Ifocratis. Nec verò quod in quoque optimum fuit ftudio confecutus eft tantùm, fed plur mas vel potius omnes ex fe ipfo virtutes extulit immortalis ingenii beatiffima ubertas. Non enim pluvias ut ait Pindarus) aquas colligit, fed vivo gurgite exundat, dono quodam Providentia genitus, in quo totas vires fuas eloquentia experiretur.

Nam quis docere diligentius, movere vehementiùs poteft? Cui

tanta unquam jucunditas affuit? ut ipfa illa quæ extorquet, impetrare eum credas & cum tranfverfum vi fua judicem ferat, tamen ille non rapi videatur, fed fequi. Jam in omnibus quæ dicit tanta auctoritas ineft, ut diffentire pudeat; nec ad-、 vocati ftudium, fed teftis aut judicis afferat fidem. Cùm interim hæc omnia, quæ vix fingula quifquam intentiffimâ cu â confequi poffet, fluunt illaborata: & illa, quâ n hil pulchrius aud tu eft, orat o præ fe fert tamen feliciffimam facilitatem.

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"their own accord, at the very time they are forced along. Befides, he delivers himself with fo much along. "reafon and weight, that we are ashamed to differ "in opinion from him? We do not find in him the "zeal of the lawyer, but the integrity of a witness ❝and of a judge. And these several particulars, every 66 one of which would coft another infinite pains, flow "naturally, and, as it were, of them felves from him; "fo that his manner of writing, though so beautiful "and inimitable, is nevertheless fo eafy and natural, "that one would conclude it had not coft him any « pains.

His contemporaries therefore had reafon to fay, "that he exercised a kind of empire at the bar. And "it was but justice in those who succeeded him, to "efteem him fo highly, that the name of Cicero is

now less the name of a man, than of eloquence it"felf. Let us therefore keep our eyes perpetually 66 upon him; let this orator be our model; and we may depend that we have made a great improvement "when we love, and have a tafte for Cicero.

Quintilian did not dare to form a judgment upon thefe two great orators; he however feems to have a fecret prejudice in favour of Cicero.

Father Rapin is equally cautious and referved in his comparison between thofe orators; I fhould be obliged to copy his whole treatise, were I to repeat all his beautiful reflections on this fubject. But fome fhort extracts inform us fufficiently of the difference to be found between them.

"Befides that folidity, fays he, fpeaking of Ci66 cero, which comprized so much fenfe and prudence, "he had a certain beauty and quinteffence of wit, "which enabled him to embellish all his ideas; and "he heightened every thing that occured to his ima

d Quare non immeritò ab hominibus ætatis fuæ regnare in judiciis dictus eft: apud pofteros verò id confecutus, ut Cicero jam non hominis fed eloquentiæ no

men habeatur. Hunc igitur fpectemus: hoc propofitum nobis fit exemplum. Ille fe profeciffe fciat, cui Cicero valde placebit.

"gination,

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