[e] Cicero is here said to have been a complete master of philosophy, which, according to Quintilian, was divided into three branches, namely, physics, ethics, and logic. It has been mentioned in this section, note [c], that Cicero called logic a contracted and close mode of eloquence. That observation is fully explained by Quintilian. Speaking of logic, the use, he says, of that contentious art, consists in just definition, which presents to the mind the precise idea; and in nice discrimination, which marks the essential difference of things. It is this faculty that throws a sudden light on every difficult question, removes all ambiguity, clears up what was doubtful, divides, develops, and separates, and then collects the argument to a point. But the orator must not be too fond of this close combat. The minute attention, which logic requires, will exclude what is of higher value; while it aims at precision, the vigour of the mind is lost in subtlety. We often see men, who argue with wonderful craft; but, when petty controversy will no longer serve their purpose, we see the same men without warmth or energy, cold, languid, and unequal to the conflict; like those little animals, which are brisk in narrow places, and by their agility baffle their pursuers, but in the open field are soon overpowered. Hæc pars dialectica, sive illam dicere malimus disputatricem, ut est utilis sæpe et finitionibus, et comprehensionibus, et separandis quæ sunt differentia, et resolvendâ ambiguitate, et distinguendo, dividendo, illiciendo, implicando; ita si totum sibi vindicaverit in foro certamen, obstabit melioribus, et sectas ad tenuitatem vires ipsâ subtilitate consumet. Itaque reperias quosdam in disputando mirè callidos; cum ab illâ verò cavillatione discesserint, non magis sufficere in aliquo graviori actu, quam parva quædam animalia, quæ in angustiis mobilia, campo deprehenduntur. Quint. lib. xii. cap. 2.
Ethics, or moral philosophy, the same great critic holds to be indispensably requisite. Jam quidem pars illa moralis, quæ dicitur ethice, certè tota oratori est accommodata. Nam in tantâ causarum varietate, nulla ferè dici potest, cujus non parte aliquâ tractatus æqui et boni reperiantur. Lib. xii. Unless the mind be enriched with a store of knowledge, there may he loquacity, but nothing that deserves the name of oratory. Eloquence, says Lord Bolingbroke, must flow like a stream that is fed by an abundant spring, and not spout forth a little frothy stream, on some gaudy day, and remain dry for the rest of the year. See Spirit of Patriotism.
With regard to natural philosophy, Quintilian has a sentiment so truly sublime, that to omit it in this place would look like insensibility. If, says he, the universe is conducted by a superintending Providence, it follows that good men should govern the nations of the earth. And if the soul of man is of celestial origin, it is evident that we should tread in the paths of virtue, all aspiring to our native source, not slaves to passion, and the pleasures of the world. These are important topics; they often occur to the public orator, and demand all his eloquence. Nam si regitur providentiâ mundus, administranda certè bonis viris erit respublica. Si divina nostris animis origo, tendendum ad virtutem, nec voluptatibus terreni corporis serviendum. An hoc non frequenter tractabit orator? Quint. lib. xii. cap. 2.
Section XXXI.
[a] Quintilian, as well as Seneca, has left a collection of school-declamations, but he has given his opinion of all such performances. They are mere imitation, and, by consequence, have not the force and spirit which a real cause inspires. In public harangues, the subject is founded in reality; in declamations, all is fiction. Omnis imitatio ficta est; quo fit ut minus sanguinis ac virium declamationes habeant, quam orationes; quod in his vera, in illis assimulata materia est. Lib. x. cap. 2. Petronius has given a lively description of the rhetoricians of his time. The consequence, he says, of their turgid style, and the pompous swell of sounding periods, has ever been the same: when their scholars enter the forum, they look as if they were transported into a new world. The teachers of rhetoric have been the bane of all true eloquence. Hæc ipsa tolerabilia essent, si ad eloquentiam ituris viam facerent: nunc et rerum tumore, et sententiarum vanissimo strepitu, hoc tantum proficiunt, ut quum in forum venerint, putent se in alium terrarum orbem delatos. Pace vestrâ liceat dixisse, primi omnium eloquentiam perdidistis. Petron. in Satyrico, cap. 1 and 2. That gay writer, who passed his days in luxury and voluptuous pleasures (see his character, Annals, b. xvi. s. 18), was, amidst all his dissipation, a man of learning, and, at intervals, of deep reflection. He knew the value of true philosophy, and, therefore, directs the young orator to the Socratic school, and to that plan of education which we have before us in the present Dialogue. He bids his scholar begin with Homer, and there drink deep of the Pierian spring: after that, he recommends the moral system; and, when his mind is thus enlarged, he allows him to wield the arms of Demosthenes.
——Det primos versibus annos,
Mæoniumque bibat felici pectore fontem:
Mox et Socratico plenus grege mutet habenas
Liber, et ingentis quatiat Demosthenis arma.
[] Cicero has left a book, entitled TOPICA, in which he treats at large of the method of finding proper arguments. This, he observes, was executed by Aristotle, whom he pronounces the great master both of invention and judgement. Cum omnis ratio diligens disserendi duas habeat partes; unam INVENIENDI, alteram JUDICANDI; utriusque princeps, ut mihi quidem videtur, Aristoteles fuit. Ciceronis Topica, s. vi. The sources from which arguments may be drawn, are called LOCI COMMUNES, COMMON PLACES. To supply the orator with ample materials, and to render him copious on every subject, was the design of the Greek preceptor, and for that purpose he gave his TOPICA. Aristoteles adolescentes, non ad philosophorum morem tenuiter disserendi, sed ad copiam rhetorum in utramque partem, ut ornatius et uberius dici posset, exercuit; idemque locos (sic enim appellat) quasi argumentorum notas tradidit, unde omnis in utramque partem traheretur oratio. Cicero, De Oratore. Aristotle was the most eminent of Plato's scholars: he retired to a gymnasium, or place of exercise, in the neighbourhood of Athens, called the Lyceum, where, from a custom, which he and his followers observed, of discussing points of philosophy, as they walked in the porticos of the place, they obtained the name of Peripatetics, or the walking philosophers. See Middleton's Life of Cicero, vol. ii. p. 537, 4to edit.