A Dialogue Concerning Oratory, or the Causes of Corrupt Eloquence / The Works of Cornelius Tacitus, Volume 8 (of 8); With an Essay on His Life and Genius, Notes, Supplements

Præcipuum munus annalium reor, ne virtutes sileantur, utque pravis dictis factisque ex posteritate et infamiâ metus sit. TACITUS, Annales, iii. s. 65.
LONDON: PRINTED FOR JOHN STOCKDALE; F.C. AND J. RIVINGTON; J. WALKER; R. LEA; LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN; CADELL AND DAVIES; J. MAWMAN; J. MURRAY; J. RICHARDSON; R. BALDWIN; AND J. FAULDER.

A DIALOGUE CONCERNING ORATORY, OR THE CAUSES OF CORRUPT ELOQUENCE.
The time of this dialogue was the sixth of Vespasian's reign.
Year of Rome—Of Christ Consuls.
828 75 Vespasian, 6th time; Titus his son, 4th time.

The enquiry is in its nature delicate; tending, if we are not able to contend with antiquity, to impeach our genius, and if we are not willing, to arraign our judgement. An answer to so nice a question is more than I should venture to undertake, were I to rely altogether upon myself: but it happens, that I am able to state the sentiments of men distinguished by their eloquence, such as it is in modern times; having, in the early part of my life, been present at their conversation on the very subject now before us. What I have to offer, will not be the result of my own thinking: it is the work of memory only; a mere recital of what fell from the most celebrated orators of their time: a set of men, who thought with subtilty, and expressed themselves with energy and precision; each, in his turn, assigning different but probable causes, at times insisting on the same, and, in the course of the debate, maintaining his own proper character, and the peculiar cast of his mind. What they said upon the occasion, I shall relate, as nearly as may be, in the style and manner of the several speakers, observing always the regular course and order of the controversy. For a controversy it certainly was, where the speakers of the present age did not want an advocate, who supported their cause with zeal, and, after treating antiquity with sufficient freedom, and even derision, assigned the palm of eloquence to the practisers of modern times.