ORAT O R Y. 
and Tifias, both of Sicily. After them came Gorgias of 
Leontium, in the fame ifland, who is faid to have been the 
fcholar of Empedocles, and, by reafon of his great age, (for 
he lived to be 109 years old,) had many cotemporaries. 
Thrafymachus of Chalcedon, Prodicus of Cea, Prota¬ 
goras of Abdera, Hippias of Elis, and Alcidamus of Elea, 
lived in his time ; as likevvife Antiphon, who firft wrote 
orations, and alfo upon the art, and is faid to have 
fpoken admirably well in his own defence; and, befides 
thefe, Polycrates, and Theodore of Byzantium.” Thefe 
perfons contributed different ways towards the improve¬ 
ment of the art. Corax and Tifias gave rules for me¬ 
thodizing a difcourfe, and adjufting its particular parts; 
as may be conjectured from Cicero’s account of them, 
who fays, “ Though fome had fpoke well before their 
time, yet none with order and method.” But Gorgias 
feems to have excelled all the reft in fame and reputa¬ 
tion : for he was fo highly applauded by all Greece, that 
a golden flatue was erefted to him at Delphos, which was 
a diftinguifhing honour conferred upon him only. And 
he is faid to have been fo great a matter of oratory, that 
in a public aflembly he would undertake to declaim im¬ 
mediately upon any fubjedt propofed to him. He wrote, 
as Cicero informs us, in the demonftrative or laudatory 
way; which requires molt of the fublime, and makes what 
Diodorus Siculus fays of him the more probable, that “ he 
firft introduced the ftrongeft figures, members of periods 
oppofite in fenfe, of an equal length, or ending with a like 
found, and other ornaments of that nature.” And hence 
thofe figures which give the greateft force and luftre to 
a difcourfe, were anciently called by his name. Cicero 
tells us further, that Thrafymachus and Gorgias were 
the firft who introduced numbers into profe, which Ifo- 
crates afterwards brought to perfedtion. Quintilian like- 
wife mentions Protagoras, Gorgias, Prodicus, and Thra¬ 
fymachus, as the firft who treated of common-places, and 
fhowed the ufe of them for the invention of arguments. 
Nor muft we omit Plato, whofe elegant dialogue upon 
this fubject is ftill extant, which he entitles Gorgias. For, 
though he does not lay dowm the common rules of the 
art, yet he very well explains the nature of it; and main¬ 
tains its true end and ufe againft the generality of its 
profefTors, who had greatly perverted the original defign 
of it. Thus, by the ftudy and induftry of fo many inge¬ 
nious and great men, the art of oratory was then carried 
to a confiderable height among the Grecians: though 
many of thofe who profeffed it in thofe times employed 
their fkill rather to promote their own reputation and 
applaufe, than to ferve the real intc-refts of truth and 
virtue. “ For they propofed in an arrogant manner (as 
Cicero fays) to teach how a bad caufe might be fo ma¬ 
naged, as to get the better of a good one.” That is, they 
would undertake to charm the ears and ftrike the paffio.ns 
of their hearers in fo powerful a manner, by fophiftical 
reafonings, turns of wit, and fine language, as to im- 
pofe falfehood upon them for truth ; than which nothing 
could be eithermore difingenuous in itfelf, or prejudicial 
to fociety. 
But thofe who fucceeded them feem to have confulted 
better, both for their own honour and that of their pro- 
fefiion. Ifocrates was the moft renowned of all Gorgias’s 
fcholars, whom Cicero frequently extols with the higheft 
commendations, as the greateft mailer and teacher of 
oratory; “whofe fchool (as he fays), like the Trojan 
horfe, lent forth abundance of great men.” Ariftotle 
was chiefly induced to engage in this province from an 
emulation of his glory ; and would often fay, in a verfe of 
Sophocles, fomewhat varied to his purpofe. 
To be fdent is a fhame, 
While Ifocrates gets fuch fame. 
Quintilian fays they both wrote upon the art, though 
there is no fyftem of the former now extant. But that 
of Ariftotle is efteemed the beft and moft complete of any 
in the Greek language. In this age the Grecian elo- 
Vol. XVII. No. 1208. 
GS5 
quence appeared in its higheft perfection. Demofthenes 
w'as a. hearer both of Ifocrates and Plato, as alfo of Ifteus 
(ten of whofe orations are yet extant) ; and, By the affift- 
ance of a furpriling genius, joined with indefatigable in¬ 
duftry, made fuch advantage of their precepts, that he 
has been always efteemed by the beft judges the prince 
of Grecian orators. His great adverfary and rival v£f- 
chines, after his banifhment, is laid to have gone to Rhodes, 
and employed his time there in teaching rhetoric. 
Theodedtes-and Theophraftus, both of them fcholars 
of Ariftotle, imitated their mailer in writing upon the 
art. And from that time the philofophers, efpecially the 
Stoics and Peripatetics, applied themfelves to lay down 
the rules of oratory ; which Socrates had before feparated 
from the province of a philofopher. And there is yet 
preferved a treatife upon this fubjedt, which fome have 
afcribed to Demetrius Phalereus the Peripatetic, and 
fcholar of Theophraftus, though others, more probably, 
to Dionylius of Halicarnaflus. Quintilian mentions fe- 
veral other famous rhetoricians in the following ages 
who were likewife writers: as Hermagoras, Athenasus, 
Apollonius Molon, Areus Caecilius, Dionylius of Hali¬ 
carnaflus, Apollonius of Pergatnus, and Theodore of 
Gadara. But of thefe nothing now remains upon the 
fubjedt of oratory, except fome tradts of Dionyfius, who 
flourilhed in the reign of Auguftus. Nor have there been 
wanting fome eminent writers of this kind among the 
Greeks fince the time of Quintilian; two of whom we 
cannot omit to mention, Hermogenes, and Longinus, the 
author of the incomparable treatife Of the Sublime, a 
book which can fcarcely be too much commended or too 
often read. 
It was long before Rome received this art, and not 
without difficulty at firft. The reafon was, becaufe the 
Romans were for feveral ages wholly addidted to military 
affairs, and to enlarge their territories; fo that they not 
only negledted to cultivate learning, but thought the pur- 
fuit of it a thing of ill tendency, by diverting the minds 
of their youth from the cares and toils of w 7 ar, to a more 
foft and indolent kind of life. Therefore, fo late as the 
year of their city 592, when, by the induftry of fome Gre¬ 
cians, the liberal arts began to flourifh in Italy, a decree 
pafl’ed the fenate, by which all philofophers and rhetori¬ 
cians were ordered to depart out of Rome. But, in a few 
years after, when Carneades, Critolaus, and Diogenes, 
who were not only philofophers but orators, came ambaf- 
fadors from Athens to Rome, the Roman youth were fo 
charmed with the eloquence of their harangues, that they 
could no longer be ftopt from purfuing the ftudy of ora¬ 
tory ; and, by a further acquaintance with the Greeks, it 
foon gained Inch efteem, that perfons of the firft quality 
employed their time and pains to acquire it; and a young 
man, who was ambitious to advance himfelf in the fer- 
vice of his country, could have little hopes of fuccefs, 
unlefs he had laid the foundation of his future profpedts 
in that ftudy. 
Seneca tells us, that Lucius Plotius, a Gaul, was the 
firft who taught the art of oratory at Rome in Latin ; 
which, Cicero fays, was while lie was a boy; and, when 
the moft ftudious perfons went to hear him, he lamented 
that he could not go with them, being prevented by the 
regard he paid to the opinion of fome of his friends, who 
thought that greater improvements were made by ex- 
ercifes in the Greek language under Grecian mafters. 
Seneca adds, that this profeflion continued for fome time 
in the hands of freedmen ; and that the firft Roman who 
engaged in it was Bland us, of the equeftrian order, who 
was fucceeded by others; fome of whofe lives are yet ex¬ 
tant, written by Suetonius, as many of the Grecians are 
by Philoftratus and Eunapius. Quintilian likewife gives 
us the names of thofe among the Romans who wrote 
upon the art. “ The firft (fays he), as far as I can learn, 
who compoled any thing upon this argument, was 
Cato the Cenfor. After him Antony the orator began 
upon the fubjedt, which is the only work he has left, and 
2 M that 
