ORATORY
ἑστι δ' οὑχ ὁ λογὁς τὁυ ῥἡτορος, Αισχἱνη, τἱμιον, οὑδ' ὁ τονὁς τἡς φωνἡς, ἁλλἁ τὁ ταὑτἁ προαιρεἱσθαι τοἱς πολλοἱς, καἱ τὁ τοὑς αὑτοὑς μισεἱν καἱ φιλεἱν, οὑσπερ ἁν ἡ πατρἱς.
[Greek: esti d' ouch ho logos tou rhêtoros, Aischinê, timion, oud' ho tonos tês phônês, alla to tauta proaireisthai tois pollois, kai to tous autous misein kai philein, housper an hê patris.]
Demosthenes. De Corona.
The important thing in public speaking is neither the diction nor the voice. What is important is that the speaker should have the same predilections as the majority, and that his country's friends and foes should be also his own.
I hope that I shall not be reproached with either Pedantry or Vanity (though I deserve both) if, having begun so classically, I here introduce some verses which, when I was a boy at Harrow, my kind Head Master addressed to my Father. The occasion of these verses was that the recipient of them, who was then Sergeant-at-Arms in the House of Commons and was much exhausted by the long Session which passed the first Irish Land Act, had said in his haste that he wished all mankind were dumb. This petulant ejaculation drew from Dr. Butler the following remonstrance:
Semper ego auditor? Requies data nulla loquelæ
Quæ miseras aures his et ubique premit?
Tot mala non tulit ipse Jobas, cui constat amicos
Septenos saltem conticuisse dies.
"Si mihi non dabitur talem sperare quietem,
Sit, precor, humanum sit sine voce genus!"