ORATOR Y. 
688 
that imperfeft. Then followed-fome of lefs note. But 
he who carried eloquence to its Kighell pitch among us, 
was Cicero; who has likewife, by his rules,given the bed. 
plan both to praftife and teach the art. After whom 
modefty w'ould require us to mention no more, had he not 
told us himfelf that his books of rhetoric llipt out of his 
hands while he was but a youth ; and that thofe minor 
things, which many perfons want, he has purpofely 
omitted in his dlfcourfes of oratory. Cornificius w-rote 
largely upon the fame fubjeft; Stertinius and Gallio the 
elder, each of them fomething. But Celfus and I.enas 
were more accurate than Galiio ; and in our times Virgi- 
nius, Pliny, and Rutilius. And there are at this day 
lotne celebrated authors of the fame kind, who, if they 
had taken in every thing, might have faved my pains.” 
Time has fince deprived us of moft: of the writers men¬ 
tioned here by Quintilian. But we have the lefs reafon 
to regret this lofs, (ince it has preferred to us Cicero’s 
treadles upon this fubjeft; which we may well fuppofe 
to have been chiefly owing to their own excellency, and 
the great efteem they have always had in the world. Be- 
iides his two books of Invention, which Quintilian here 
calls his Books of Rhetoric, there are extant of his, 
three books of an Orator ; one of Famous Orators; and 
another, which is called The Orator ; as alfo his Topics, 
a preface Concerning the bed fort of Orators, and a trea¬ 
dle of the Parts of Oratory. Each of which treatifes, 
whether we regard the juftnefs and delicacy of the 
thoughts, the ulefulnefs of the rules, or the elegance 
and beauty of the ftyle, delerves to be frequently perufed 
by all who are lovers of eloquence. For who can be 
thought fo well qualified to give the rules of any art, as 
he who excelled all mankind in the praftice of them ? 
But thofe Four Books to Herennius which are publilhed 
among Cicero’s works, feem with good reafon to be attri¬ 
buted to Cornificius, whom Quintilian here mentions. 
And Celfus is by fome affirmed to have taught oratory, 
whom he alio places among the rhetoricians, and whole 
Eight Books of Medicine are yet extant, written in fo 
beautiful a ftyle as plainly ffiows him to be a mailer of elo¬ 
quence. But Quintilian himfelf outdid all who went be¬ 
fore him, in diligence and accuracy as a writer. His In- 
ilitutions ar» fo comprehenlive, and written with fuch 
great exaftnefs and judgment, that they are generally 
allowed to be the moll perfeft work of the kind. St. Je¬ 
rome lays, that Quintilian was the firll who taught the 
art publicly at Rome, and received a falary from the 
trealury. This he places in the eighth year of Domi- 
tian; whereas Suetonius informs us, that Vefpafian was 
the fi.rff who granted out of the treafury a yearly falary of 
near 800/. llerling, to the Latin and Greek rhetoricians. 
Having rapidly enumerated the principal orators of an¬ 
tiquity, both in Greece and Rome, we lhall now mention 
fome peculiar circumftances which contributed at dif¬ 
ferent periods and in different countries to call forth into 
exercile their powers of eloquence, and to give them their 
celebrity. It has been oblerved by feverai authors, that 
eloquence is to be looked for only in free dates. This 
obfervation is appropriately and beautifully illullrated by 
.Longinus. Liberty, he fays, is the nurfe of true genius ; 
it animates the fpirit, and invigorates the hopes of men ; 
excites honourable emulation, and a dedre of excelling in 
every art. All other qualifications you may find among 
thole who are deprived of liberty; but never did a Have 
become an orator; he can only be a pompous flatterer. 
Thefe obfervations, under certain limitations, are jufti- 
iied by hiflory and obfervation. For, although under 
arbitrary governments, that are civilized, and that en¬ 
courage the arts, ornamental eloquence may flourilh, that 
eloquence which is calculated more to foothe and pleafe 
than to convince and perfuade ; yet high, manly, forcible, 
eloquence, is to be looked far only, or chiefly, in the re¬ 
gions of freedom. Eloquence, or the art of perfuafion, 
100k its rile with that of the Grecian republics. The 
iiourifhing period of the Grecian dates laded from the 
battle of Marathon till the time of Alexander the Great, 
who fubdued the liberties of Greece. This period com¬ 
prehends about 150 years; and within it are to be found 
mod of their poets and philofophers, but chiefly their 
orators. Of thefe Grecian republics the moft noted for 
eloquence, as well as for arts of every kind, was that of 
Athens. The genius of the government of the Athe¬ 
nians wasdemocratical;and affairs were condufled among 
them by reafoning and fpeaking, and by a fkilful appli¬ 
cation to the paffions and interests of a popular affembly. 
In fuch a date, and among fuch a people, eloquence, 
that kind of eloquence which was moft effeftual for con¬ 
vincing, interefting, and perfuading, the hearers, would 
be much ftiufted, as the lured means of riling to influ¬ 
ence and power. Pififtratus, - who was contemporary with 
Solon, and Ihbverted his plan of government, is men¬ 
tioned by Plutarch as the firll who diftinguifhed himfelf 
among the Athenians by application to the arts of 
fpeech ; and in this way he rofe to the fovereign power. 
Of fucceeding orators we have no particular account till 
the commencement of the Peloponnelian war, when Pe¬ 
ricles appeared, and carried eloquence to a great height^ 
to fuch a height that he was never afterwards furpalfed. 
His eloquence was fo forcible and vehement, that it tri¬ 
umphed over the paffions and affeftions of the people; 
and he was therefore called Olympius, and is faid, like 
Jupiter, to have thundered when he fpoke. Suidas men¬ 
tions one remarkable circumftance relating to Pericles, 
that he was the firft Athenian who compofed, and put 
into writing, a difcourfe defigned for the public After 
Pericles, in the courfe of the Peloponnelian war, arole 
Cleon, Alcibiades, Critias, and Theramenes, eminent 
citizens of Athens, who, though not orators by pro- 
feffion, u’ere all dillinguilhed for their eloquence. The 
ftyle of oratory which then prevailed, appears from the 
orations in the hillory of Thucydides, who flourilhed in 
the fame age ; it was manly, vehement, and concife, ap¬ 
proaching even to fome degree of obfeurity. 
After the days of Pericles, the reputation and influence 
which the powers of eloquence acquired, gave birth to a 
let of men called'Rhetoricians, or Sophills, who appeared 
in great number during the Peloponnelian war; fuch 
were Protagoras, Prodicus, Thrafymus,-and Gorgias. 
Thefe men profefled the art of giving receipts for ma¬ 
king all forts of orations, for or againlt any caufe what¬ 
ever. They were the firll who, with this view, treated 
of common-places, and the artificial invention of argu¬ 
ments and topics for every fubjeft. Accordingly, they may 
be juftly called the firft corruptors of true eloquence ; and 
they were oppofed by Socrates, who endeavoured to ex¬ 
plode their iophiftry. In the fame age with the phi- 
lofopher jull mentioned flouridied Ifocrates, whofe 
writings are dill extant. As a profefled rhetorician 
he acquired a great fortune, and higher favour than 
any of his competitors, by teaching eloquence. His 
orations' abound with morality and good fentiments ; they 
are flowing and fmooth, but too dellitute of vigour. To 
this period belong alfo Ifasus and Lyfias. The former is 
diftinguifhed for being the mailer of Demofthenes, who 
railed eloquence to a higher degree of fplendour than 
any other perl'on who ever bore the name of an orator. 
After the days of Demofthenes, Greece loft her liberty ; 
and eloquence of courfe languifhed, and relapfed again 
into the feeble manner introduced by the rhetoricians 
and fophifts. Demetrius Phalereus, who lived in the 
next age to Demofthenes, attained fome charafter; but 
he is reprefented as a flowery rather than a perfuaflve 
fpeaker, who aimed at grace rather than fubftance. “ He 
amufed the Athenians,” fays Cicero, “ rattier than warm¬ 
ed them.” After his time we hear of no more Grecian 
orators of any note. 
If we advert to ,the rife and progrefs of eloquence 
among the Romans, we fhali find that they were'-long a 
martial nation, altogether rude, and unfkilled in arts of 
any kind. The Romans always acknowledged the Gre¬ 
cians 
