for the decay of eloquence. But I leave them, my friends, as it is proper I should, to be mentioned by you; having performed my share in the examination of this question, and with a freedom which will give, I imagine, as usual, much offence. I am sure, at least, if certain of our contemporaries were to be informed of what I have here maintained, I should be told, that in laying it down as a maxim, that a knowledge both of law and philosophy are essential qualifications in an orator, I have been fondly pursuing a phantom of my own imagination. 33. I am so far from thinking, replied Maternus, that you have completed the part you undertook, that I should rather imagine you had only given us the first general sketch of your design. You have marked out to us, indeed, those sciences wherein the ancient orators were instructed, and have placed in strong contrast their successful industry with our sloth and ignorance. But something further still remains; and as you have shown us what was the vastness of their knowledge, and the littleness of our own, I would have you acquaint us also with the particular exercises by which the youth of those earlier days were wont to strengthen and improve their genius. For I think you will not deny that oratory is acquired by practice far better than by precept: and our friends here seem, by their countenances, to imply as much. Aper and Secundus having signified their assent, Messala, resumed his discourse as follows: the old Having then, as it should seem, disclosed to your satis- The faction the seeds and first principles of ancient eloquence, methods of by specifying the several studies in which the ancient education. orators were trained; I shall now lay before you the practical exercises they pursued, in order to gain a facility in the exertion of eloquence. Note, however, that the very act of studying implies practice; for it is impossible to acquire knowledge so various and recondite, without knowledge leading to reflection, reflection to grasp and command of thought, and this to ready power of utterance. Thus it appears that to learn what you shall deliver, and to be able to deliver what you have learned, are in principle one and the same. But if in this I appear to any one to speculate too abstrusely; if any one insist on separating Education by apprenticeship. knowledge from practice, at least he will not deny that a mind filled with manifold instruction will enter with so much the more advantage upon those exercises peculiar to the oratorical circus. 34. The practice of our ancestors was agreeable to this theory. The youth who was intended for public declamation, was introduced by his father, or some near relation, with all the advantages of home discipline and a mind furnished with useful knowledge, to the most eminent orator of the time, whom thenceforth he attended upon all occasions; he listened with attention to his patron's pleadings in the tribunals of justice, and his public harangues before the people; he heard him in the warmth of argument; he noted his sudden replies; and thus, in the field of battle, if I may so express myself, he learned the first rudiments of rhetorical warfare. The advantages of this method are obvious: the young candidate gained courage, and improved his judgment; he studied in open day, amidst the heat of the conflict, where nothing weak or idle could be said with impunity; where everything absurd was instantly rebuked by the judge, exposed to ridicule by the adversary, and condemned by the whole body of advocates. In this way they imbibed at once the pure and uncorrupted streams of genuine eloquence. But though they chiefly attached themselves to one particular orator, they heard likewise all the rest of their contemporary pleaders, in many of their respective debates; and they had an opportunity of acquainting themselves with the various sentiments of the people, and of observing what pleased or disgusted them most in the several orators of the forum. Thus they were supplied with an instructor of the best and most improving kind, exhibiting, not the feigned semblance of Eloquence, but her real and lively manifestation: not a pretended, but a genuine adversary, armed in earnest for the combat; an audience, ever full and ever new, composed of foes as well as friends, and where not a single expression could fall uncensured, or unapplauded. For you are aware that a solid and lasting reputation of eloquence must be acquired by the censure of our enemies, as well as by the applause of our friends; or rather, indeed, it is from the former that it derives its surest and most unquestioned strength and firmness. Under such a schooling, the youth of whom we are speaking, a disciple of all the orators; an attentive hearer of all judicial proceedings; instructed by the experience of others; daily conversant with the laws of his country; familiar with the faces of the judges, and the aspect of a full audience; and well acquainted with the popular taste, might be called on to conduct a prosecution or a defence, and was equal to cope, single handed, with the difficulties of his task. Crassus, at the age of nineteen, Cæsar at twenty-one, Pollio at twenty-two, and Calvus when he was but a few years older, pronounced those several speeches againt Carbo, Dolabella, Cato, and Vatinius, which we read to this hour with admiration. 35. On the other hand, our modern youth are sent to the Modern mountebank schools of certain declaimers called rhetori- methods in instruction This in cians: a set of men who made their first appearance place Rome a little before the time of Cicero. And that they before were by no means approved by our ancestors, plainly practice. appears from their being, enjoined, under the censorship1 struction is of Crassus and Domitius, to shut up their schools of impu- artificial. dence, as Cicero expresses it. But I was going to say, our youths are sent to certain academies, where it is hard to determine whether the place, the company, or the method of instruction is most likely to infect the minds of young people, and produce a wrong turn of thought. There can be nothing to inspire respect in a place where all who enter it are of the same low degree of understanding; nor any advantage to be received from their fellowstudents, where a parcel of boys and raw youths of unripe judgments harangue before each other, without the least fear or danger of criticism. And as for their exercises, Formal they are ridiculous in their very nature. They consist of character of two kinds, and are either persuasive or controversial. The cal schools. first, as being easier and requiring less skill, is assigned to the younger lads; the other is the task of more mature years. But, good gods! with what incredible absurdity are they composed! And this as a matter of course, for the style of the declamations must needs accord with the preposterous nature of the subjects. Thus being taught 1 92 A.D.; 662 A.U.C. the rhetori to harangue in a most pompous diction, on the rewards due to tyrannicides, on the election to be made by deflowered virgins, on the licentiousness of married women, on the ceremonies to be observed in times of pestilence, with other topics, which are daily debated in the schools, and scarce ever in the forum; when they come before the real judges. 1 These are specimen topics of themes debated in the rhetorical schools. IV. SURVIVAL OF EARLY ROMAN EDUCATIONAL IDEALS IN THE LATER PERIOD The Sources bearing on this topic are minor selections from historians relative to the education of historic characters, and the first chapter from the Thoughts of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. The education of the four youths therein described falls in the third period of Roman education. Each of the four attended to some extent the Hellenized school, and in this respect these selections should be classified with those of the succeeding group. But while they throw light upon the education of that period, they are not typical of it. They represent the preservation of the old Roman educational traditions in the Hellenized period, modified necessarily by the dominant influences; but in spirit and method, and, to a certain extent in organization, though not in content, they represent the education of the earlier period. The earliest of the four quotations is the brief description of the early education of Titus Pomponius Atticus, born 109 B.C. The description is taken from the Lives of Eminent Commanders of Cornelius Nepos. Here is given the bare, outlines of the education at home of a youth of equestrian rank. When twenty-one years of age, this youth removed to Athens, thereafter devoting many years to study, though of this Nepos tells little. The second quotation dates from almost a century later, and relates to the education given by the first emperor, |