——Neve plausor in scenâ
Sedeat redemptus, histrioniæ addictus.
It is well known, that theatrical parties distracted the Roman citizens, and rose almost to phrensy. They were distinguished by the green and the blue, Caligula, as we read in Suetonius, attached himself to the former, and was so fond of the charioteers, who wore green liveries, that he lived for a considerable time in the stables, where their horses were kept. Prasinæ factioni ita addictus et deditus, ut cœnaret in stabulo assidue et maneret. Life of Caligula, s. 55. Montesquieu reckons such party-divisions among the causes that wrought the downfall of the empire. Constantinople, he says, was split into two factions, the green and the blue, which owed their origin to the inclination of the people to favour one set of charioteers in the circus rather than another. These two parties raged in every city throughout the empire, and their fury rose in proportion to the number of inhabitants. Justinian favoured the blues, who became so elate with pride, that they trampled on the laws. All ties of friendship, all natural affection, and all relative duties, were extinguished. Whole families were destroyed; and the empire was a scene of anarchy and wild contention. He, who felt himself capable of the most atrocious deeds, declared himself a BLUE, and the GREENS were massacred with impunity. Montesquieu, Grandeur et Décadence des Romains, chap. xx.
[d] Quintilian, in his tenth book, chap. 1. has given a full account of the best Greek and Roman poets, orators, and historians; and in b. ii. ch. 6, he draws up a regular scheme for the young student to pursue in his course of reading. There are, he says, two rocks, on which they may split. The first, by being led by some fond admirer of antiquity to set too high a value on the manner of Cato and the Gracchi; for, in that commerce, they will be in danger of growing dry, harsh, and rugged. The strong conception of those men will be beyond the reach of tender minds. Their style, indeed, may be copied; and the youth may flatter himself, when he has contracted the rust of antiquity, that he resembles the illustrious orators of a former age. On the other hand, the florid decorations and false glitter of the moderns may have a secret charm, the more dangerous, and seductive, as the petty flourishes of our new way of writing may prove acceptable to the youthful mind. Duo autem genera maximè cavenda pueris puto: unum, ne quis eos antiquitatis nimius admirator in Gracchorum, Catonisque, et aliorum similium lectione durescere velit. Erunt enim horridi atque jejuni. Nam neque vim eorum adhuc intellectu consequentur; et elocutione, quæ tum sine dubio erat optima, sed nostris temporibus aliena, contenti, quod est pessimum, similes sibi magnis viris videbuntur. Alterum, quod huic diversum est, ne recentis hujus lasciviæ flosculis capti, voluptate quâdam pravâ deliniantur, ut prædulce illud genus, et puerilibus ingeniis hoc gratius, quo propius est, adament. Such was the doctrine of Quintilian. His practice, we may be sure, was consonant to his own rules. Under such a master the youth of Rome might be initiated in science, and formed to a just taste for eloquence and legitimate composition; but one man was not equal to the task. The rhetoricians and pedagogues of the age preferred the novelty and meretricious ornaments of the style then in vogue.
Section XXX.
[a] This is the treatise, or history of the most eminent orators (DE CLARIS ORATORIBUS), which has been so often cited in the course of these notes. It is also entitled BRUTUS; a work replete with the soundest criticism, and by its variety and elegance always charming.
[] Quintus Mucius Scævola was the great lawyer of his time. Cicero draws a comparison between him and Crassus. They were both engaged, on opposite sides, in a cause before the CENTUMVIRI. Crassus proved himself the best lawyer among the orators of that day, and Scævola the most eloquent of the lawyers. Ut eloquentium juris peritissimus Crassus; jurisperitorum eloquentissimus Scævola putaretur. De Claris Orat. s. 145. During the consulship of Sylla, A.U.C. 666, Cicero being then in the nineteenth year of his age, and wishing to acquire a competent knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence, attached himself to Mucius Scævola, who did not undertake the task of instructing pupils, but, by conversing freely with all who consulted him, gave a fair opportunity to those who thirsted after knowledge. Ego autem juris civilis studio, multum operæ dabam Q. Scævolæ, qui quamquam nemini se ad docendum dabat, tamen, consulentibus respondendo, studiosos audiendi docebat. De Claris Orat. s. 306.
[c] Philo was a leading philosopher of the academic school. To avoid the fury of Mithridates, who waged a long war with the Romans, he fled from Athens, and, with some of the most eminent of his fellow-citizens, repaired to Rome. Cicero was struck with his philosophy, and became his pupil. Cùm princeps academiæ Philo, cum Atheniensium optimatibus, Mithridatico bello, domo profugisset, Romamque venisset, totum ei me tradidi, admirabili quodam ad philosophiam studio concitatus. De Claris Orat. s. 306.
Cicero adds, that he gave board and lodging, at his own house, to Diodotus the stoic, and, under that master, employed himself in various branches of literature, but particularly in the study of logic, which may be considered as a mode of eloquence, contracted, close, and nervous. Eram cum stoico Diodoto: qui cum habitavisset apud me, mecumque vixisset, nuper est domi meæ mortuus. A quo, cum in aliis rebus, tum studiosissime in dialecticâ exercebar, quæ quasi contracta et adstricta eloquentia putanda est. De Claris Orat. s. 309.
[d] Cicero gives an account of his travels, which he undertook, after having employed two years in the business of the forum, where he gained an early reputation. At Athens, he passed six months with Antiochus, the principal philosopher of the old academy, and, under the direction of that able master, resumed those abstract speculations which he had cultivated from his earliest youth. Nor did he neglect his rhetorical exercises. In that pursuit, he was assisted by Demetrius, the Syrian, who was allowed to be a skilful preceptor. He passed from Greece into Asia; and, in the course of his travels through that country, he lived in constant habits with Menippus of Stratonica; a man eminent for his learning; who, if to be neither frivolous, nor unintelligible, is the character of Attic eloquence, might fairly be called a disciple of that school. He met with many other professors of rhetoric, such as Dionysius of Magnesia, Æschylus of Cnidos, and Zenocles of Adramytus; but not content with their assistance, he went to Rhodes, and renewed his friendship with MOLO, whom he had heard at Rome, and knew to be an able pleader in real causes; a fine writer, and a judicious critic, who could, with a just discernment of the beauties as well as the faults of a composition, point out the road to excellence, and improve the taste of his scholars. In his attention to the Roman orator, the point he aimed at (Cicero will not say that he succeeded) was, to lop away superfluous branches, and confine within its proper channel a stream of eloquence, too apt to swell above all bounds, and overflow its banks. After two years thus spent in the pursuit of knowledge, and improvement in his oratorical profession, Cicero returned to Rome almost a new man. Is (MOLO) dedit operam (si modo id consequi potuit) ut nimis redundantes nos, et superfluentes juvenili quadam dicendi impunitate, et licentiâ, reprimeret, et quasi extra ripas diffluentes cœrceret. Ita recepi me biennio post, non modo exercitatior, sed propè mutatus. See De Claris Oratoribus, s. 315 and 316.