XX 



UISE AND PROGRESS 



in spite of all the faults tlint may be imputed to 

 niin, is great even as a writer. Austere and 

 tuneless as his composition is, it is so pregnant 

 with thought, so " instinct with spirit,'' and 

 sometimes so enlivened by a true feeling of the 

 lofty or the tender, that it seldom fails to rouse 

 the attention or to interest the heart Nor is he 

 altogether devoid of a certain touch of humour, 

 nut transgressing the bounds of philosophic de- 

 corum ; a mixture of slyness and apparent sim- 

 plicity ; that has a poignant effect when he 

 chooses to display it. Amid his multifarious pro- 

 ductions the best specimens of his literary 

 powers are those most universally known ; that 

 ethical treatise, which, through a veil of some 

 perplexity and self-contradiction, discloses so 

 many glimpses of truth ; that inestimable work 

 on rhetoric, which is still the manual of the art 

 of persuasion ; that code of the laws of poetry, 

 which, though but a mutilated fragment, em- 

 braces all the principles of just criticism, and 

 the germs of the most popular and brilliant 

 theories that, from time to time, have enriched 

 the philosophy of taste. 



Within the compass of the classical age of 

 Greek composition, the literature of philosophy 

 presents no other prominent points. But we 

 have not yet exhausted the glories of that period. 

 Those proud and palmy times gave birth to 

 another kind of intellectual production, which 

 can flourish, in full grandeur, only on soils that 

 are blessed at once with the presence of liberty 

 and of genius. 



Greece was the first theatre in the world for 

 oratory ; of all Greece, Athens was the most 

 splendid and renowned arena. Yet, notwith- 

 standing the high rewards of eloquence, which 

 the constitution of that state held forth, it was 

 long before eloquence was cultivated, within her 

 bosom, as a regular art. The elder Athenian 

 statesmen, even those most famed for their 

 .success in the assemblies of the people, seem to 

 have studied little how to ensure or to heighten 

 the effect of their natural talents. Perhaps the 

 speeches, which the character of ancient history 

 allowed to be intermingled with the narrative, 

 and in which it was the evident aim of some 

 historical writers to display the full force of 

 their political and oratorical abilities, supplied 

 the earliest evidence of the magnificent results 

 attainable by assiduous care and elaborate pre- 

 paration. Then eloquence arose as an art and 

 a branch of instruction. Schools for the incul- 

 cation of its principles were opened at Athens, 

 and no price was thought too high for the lessons 

 of an eminent professor. It cannot be denied 

 that the 'influence of this methodical training was 



not always fortunate. Thus, it would have been 

 better for Isocrates, had he never imbibed an 

 affected prettiness and a finical modulation from 

 the example and the rules of Gorgias. But it is 

 equally undeniable that by such scholastic dis- 

 cipline, and by private toils and trials, too 

 arduous and unremitting for modern impatience 

 to undergo, was matured that perfection of style, 

 proof, in its intrinsic strength and beauty, against 

 all changes of manners, times, and circumstances, 

 which still astonishes and awes the mind in the 

 pages of DEMOSTHENES.* Out of the list of Attic 

 orator?, the judgment of the Alexandrian critics 

 selected ten as foremost in fame and merit : but 

 posterity has narrowed the number. When we 

 now speak of the triumphs of Greek eloquence, 

 it is not of Lysias, however pure in dialect and 

 transparent in expression ; nor of Isocrates, with 

 the unvarying seesaw of his balanced antitheses ; 

 nor of Isfi'.iis, though skilled in the science of 

 arrangement, and armed with bursts of manly 

 indignation ; nor even of JKschines, who is yet 

 so argumentative, so plausible, and so powerful 

 withal, that it is difficult to imagine him pros- 

 trated at the feet of a victorious rival ; it is not 

 of any, nor of all of these, that we are understood 

 to speak, but of the great luminary that eclipsed 

 every other light, and shines in unapproachable 

 splendour. The striking fact that in Demos- 

 thenes we find the only consummate orator that 

 Athens herself ever produced, may impress upon 

 us the extreme difficulty of the art which he 

 practised. Greece can boast an array of five or 

 six illustrious poets, of three great historians, of 

 at least two philosophers who take a high place 

 in literature ; but she has only one Demosthenes. 

 This eulogium will not be condemned as ex- 

 travagant by those who have studied with all 

 the attention, which such works deserve to have 

 bestowed on them, the series of his political 

 speeches ; the attacks upon Philip, and defences 

 of his own administration, summed up and 

 carried to the loftiest pitch of conceivable excel- 

 lence, in the wonderful oration on the crown. 

 For the complete enjoyment of this master-piece 

 of eloquence an essential preparation is the 

 perusal of the great speech of the accuser; that 

 admirable effort, which for a moment seems to 

 raise JEschines almost to the Demosthenean 

 level, and must extort from every one tha ques- 

 tion, " how could this be answered or evaded ?'' 

 But a mere glance at the reply of Demosthenes 

 at once explains the defeat of his opponent. 

 What power ! what art ! what nature ! what 

 elaboration ! A heathen need not have scrupled 



B. C. 332- 322. 



