MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 229 



only because the greater part has been superseded by the composi- 

 tions of his riper years. His ' Topica,' or treatise on common-places, Topica.' 

 has less extent and variety of plan, being little else than a compen- 

 dium of Aristotle's work on the same subject. It was, as he informs 

 us in its proem, drawn up from memory on his voyage from Italy to 

 Greece, soon after Caesar's murder, and in compliance with the wishes 

 of Trebatius, who had sometime before urged him to undertake the 

 translation. 1 



Cicero seems to have intended 'his ' De Oratore,' 'Brutus,' and ' De Orator*. 

 ' Orator,' to form one complete system. 2 Of these three noble works, 

 the first lays down the principles and rules of the rhetorical art ; the 

 second exemplifies them in the most eminent speakers of Greece and 

 Rome; and the third shadows out the features of that perfect orator, 

 whose superhuman excellences should be the aim of our ambition. 

 The ' De Oratore' was written when the author was fifty-two, two 

 years after his return from exile ; and is a dialogue between some of 

 the most illustrious Romans of the preceding age on the subject of 

 oratory. The principal speakers are the orators Crassus and An- 

 tonius, who are represented unfolding the principles of their art to 

 Sulpicius and Cotta, young men just rising at the bar. In the first 

 book, the conversation turns on the subject-matter of rhetoric, and 

 the qualifications requisite for the perfect orator. Here Crassus main- 

 tains the necessity of his being acquainted with the whole circle of 

 the arts, while Antonius confines eloquence to the province of speak- 

 ing well. The dispute, for the most part, seems verbal ; for Cicero 

 himself, though he here sides with Crassus, yet, elsewhere, as we 

 have above noticed, pronounces eloquence, strictly speaking, to con- 

 sist in beauty of diction. Scaevola, the celebrated lawyer, takes part 

 in this preliminary discussion; but, in the ensuing meetings, makes 

 way for Catulus and Caesar, the subject leading to such technical dis- 

 quisitions as were hardly suitable to the dignity of the aged augur. 8 

 The next morning Antonius enters upon the subject of invention, 

 which Ca?sar completes by subjoining some remarks on the use of 

 humour in oratory ; and Antonius, relieving him, finisKes the morning 

 discussion with the principles of arrangement and memory. In the 

 afternoon the rules for propriety and elegance of diction are explained 

 by Crassus, who was celebrated in this department of the art ; and 

 the work concludes with his treating the subject of delivery and 

 action. Such is the plan of the ' De Oratore,' the most finished per- 

 haps of Cicero's compositions. An air of grandeur and magnificence 

 reigns throughout. The characters of the aged senators are finely 

 conceived, and the whole company is invested with an almost religious 

 majesty, from the allusions interspersed to the miserable destinies for 

 which its members were reserved. 



His treatise ' De claris Oratoribus,' was written after an interval of < De clans ) 

 nine years, about the time of Cato's death, and is conveyed in a Oratonbus - 

 1 Ad Fam. vii. 19. 2 De Div. ii. 1. 3 Ad Atticum, iv. 16. 



