Of HISTORICAL COMPOSITION. 105 



and, with a manly confcioufnefs of the dignity conferred by 

 their great office, they defpife the praife of rhetorical inge- 

 nuity." 



THIS argument feems very weighty. I mall, therefore, con- 

 fider, in the firjl place, How far the dramatic form may be cal- 

 led a deviation from truth or probability ; and, 2dly, Suppofing 

 it to be fo, whether the feverity of the rule has not been relax- 

 ed in other particulars of higher moment, both by ancient and 

 modern hiftorians, but without deflroying, or even weakening 

 their credit. 



i. How far, then, may the dramatic form be confider- 

 ed as a deviation from truth or probability ? Were there no 

 public fpeakers in Greece or in Rome ? In the deliberations 

 of Athenians and Romans, concerning affairs o^ the laft im- 

 portance, were there no public orators ? Were there no funeral 

 harangues ? And were there no allocutions ? Was it not cufto- 

 mary for a commander, about to engage in battle, to afTemble 

 his army, and pronounce, in their hearing, fuch animated 

 fpeeches as tended to roufe and preferve their fpirit ? Did not 

 ambafTadors pronounce elaborate orations ? When the lonians 

 folicited affiftance from the Greeks againfl the Perfians, are we 

 not told by HERODOTUS, that PITHERMUS, deputed for that 

 purpofe, arrayed himfelf in purple, and delivered an eloquent 

 oration to the people of Lacedasmon ? Ambafladors among the 

 Romans were originally termed pleaders * ; they are fo termed 

 by VIRGIL, who never, foxfar as I know, deviates from the 

 truth of nature in his delineation of manners. And ILIONEUS, 

 who feems to have been the chief fpeaker among the Trojans, 

 delivers himfelf with great eloquence both at Carthage and to 

 King LATINUS. Or can we fuppofe, that thofe fpeeches, de- 

 livered fo frequently, and on fo many occafions, had not very 



o powerful 



* TUM fatus ANCHISA deleftos ordine ab omni 

 Centum oraiores augufta ad mcenia regis 

 Ire jubet, ,n. vii. Ijjo. 



