on the one hand; and, on the other, of the continual fears and inquietudes of those who court their fuffrages? He concludes his argument in a still more lively and moving manner, by afking whether there is the leaft probability, that Milo, whose thoughts had been fo long employed intirely on this great day of election, durft appear before fo auguft an affembly as that of the people, with hands ftill reeking with the blood of Clodius and his whole countenance haughtily con→ feffing his crime. Hunc diem igitur campi fperatum atque exoptatum fibi præponens Milo, cruentis manibus fcelus & facinus præ fe ferens & confitens, ad illa augufta centuriarum aufpicia veniebat? Quam hoc non credibile in hoc! Quam idem in Clodio non dubitandum, qui fe, interfecto Milone, regnaturum putaret!

It must be confeffed, that fuch paffages as thefe convince, move, and tranfport the auditors. But we must take care not to carry them too far, and distrust a too lively imagination, which, giving too much way to its own fallies, dwells very unfeafonably upon things either foreign to the fubject, or of little moment; or infifts too long even on things that merit fome attention. Cicero candidly acknowledges, that he had formerly fallen into this laft error. In his defence

of Rofcius, he makes long reflections upon the punishment of parricides, who were put alive into facks, and thrown into the fea.. • The audience were ra vifhed with the beauty of that paffage, and interrupted the orator by their plaudits. Indeed it is difficult to meet with any thing brighter. P But Cicero, whose taste and judgment had attained perfection by long practice, and whofe eloquence, as he himself

n For Rofc. Amer. 70, 71. • Quantis illa clamoribus adolefcentuli diximus de fupplicio parricidarum! Cic. in Orat. n. 107.

p Cum ipa ora io jam noftra canefceret, habere:que, fuam quandam maturitatem, & quafi fenectutem. Brut, n.8,

Quæ nequaquam fatis deferbuiffe poft aliquanto fentire cœpimus... funt enim omnia ficut acolcfcentis, non tam re & maturitate, quam fpe & expectatione laudati. Orat. n.. 107.

Illa pro Rofcio juvenilis redundantia, Ibid, n. 1c8.

obferves,

obferves, had acquired a kind of maturity by time; Cicero, I fay, acknowledged afterwards, that, when this paffage was fo highly applauded, it was not fo much on account of its juft or real beauties, as from the expectation of thofe he feemed to promife in a more advanced age.

It is a very useful exercife to youth, as I before obferved, towards making invention eafy to them, to propose a subject already treated of by fome good author, and to make them find arguments immedi ately, by interrogating them viva voce, and by affifting them with leading or introductory hints.

. S. Rofcius, whofe defence Cicero undertook, was charged with killing his father, and the accufer brought no proof againft him. If we afk boys what they can fay against the accufer, they will reply, no doubt, that, in order to give some air of probability to an accufation of that kind, there must be a great number of proofs, which muft likewife be very con vincing, and intirely inconteftable. We ought to fhew the advantage that fhould redound to the fon by the father's death; the irregularities and disorders of his former conduct, to prepare us to believe he might be guilty of fo great a crime: and, when all this was demonftrated, then, in order to bring proofs of fo incredible an act, we must remark the place, the time, the witneffes, and accomplices, without which, we cannot believe a fon guilty of fo black a crime, which fuppofes a man to be a monfter, in whom all natural fentiments are intirely extinct. Care fhould be taken to tell them previously the ftory of the two children that were found afleep by their father who had been killed, and were acquitted by the judge; he being perfuaded of their innocence, from the tranquillity of mind in which they, were found: and youth will not fail to make a proper ufe of that tory in this place. Fabulous hiftory will come in to their affiftance, by giving them examples of children, who, having imbrued their hands in the blood of their

mothers,

mothers, and were abandoned by order of the Gods to the avenging furies. In fine, the nature of the punishment established by the Romans against parricides, by difplaying the enormity of the crime, will alfo fufficiently fhew the neceffity an accufer has to bring very evident and certain proofs of it. Youth will, of themselves, find out fome of these arguments; and proper interrogations will lead them on to the reft. After this they ought to read the very paffage in Cicero, which will teach them the method of treating every proof diftinctly.

Cicero's orations, and Livy's fpeeches, furnish us with a great number of such examples. I have made choice of a very fhort, but very eloquent fpeech out of the latter, which alone will fhew youth the me thod of perufing authors, and how to compofe.

Explanation of a speech in Livy.

Let us fuppofe the speech of Pacuvius to his fon Perolla is given to a youth for a theme. Here follows the fubject of it. The city of Capua was furrendered to Hannibal (who immediately made his entry into it) by the intrigues of Pacuvius, notwithstanding all the oppofition of Magius, who continued fteady to the Romans, who was united with Perolla both in friendship and fentiments. The day upon which Hannibal entered the city was fpent in rejoicing and feafting. Two brothers, who were the moft confiderable perfons in the place, gave Hannibal a grand entertainment. None of the Capuans were admitted to it but Taurea and Pacuvius, and the latter with great difficulty obtained the fame favour for his fon Perolla, whofe friendship with Magius was known to Hannibal, who was willing however to pardon him for what was pafied, upon the interceffion of his father. After the feaft was over, Perolla led his father afide, and, drawing a poniard from under his gown, told him the

q T. Liv. 1, 23, B. 9i

defign he had formed to kill Hannibal, and to feal the treaty made with the Romans with his blood. Upon this Pacuvius was quite out of his fenfes, and endeavoured to divert his fon from fo fatal a refolution. A difcourfe in fuch circumftances must be very short, and confift of no more than twelve or fifteen lines at moft.

The father muft begin with endeavouring to find motives within himself to perfuade and move his fon. There occur three, which are natural enough. The first is drawn from the danger to which he expofes himself by attacking Hannibal amidft his guards. The second relates to the father himself, who is refolved to ftand between Hannibal and his fon, and confequently receive the firft wound. The third reafon is brought from the most facred obligations of religion, the faith of treaties, hospitality and gratitude: The firft ftep to be taken in the compofition is to find proofs and arguments, which in rhetoric is called invention, and of which it is the first and principal part.

After we have found arguments, we deliberate about the order of ranging them, which requires in fo fhort a difcourfe as this, that the argument fhould grow more powerful as the difcourfe goes on, and that fuch as are moft efficacious fhould be applied in the conclufion. Religion, generally fpeaking, is not that which most affects a young man of character and difpofition like him of whom we now speak; we muft therefore begin with it. His own intereft, and the danger to which he would expofe himself, affect him much more fenfibly. That motive muft hold the fecond place. The refpect and tenderness for a father whom he must kill, before he can come at Hannibal, furpass whatever can be imagined; which for that reafon must conclude the difcourfe. This ranging of the arguments is called difpofition in rhetoric, and is the second part of it.

There remains elocution, which furnishes the expreffions and turns, and which by the variety and

vivacity

vivacity of the figures contributes moft to the beauty and ftrength of difcourfe. Let us now fee how Livy treats each part.

The preamble, which holds the place of exordium, is fhort but lively and moving:

Per ego te, fili, quæcumque jura liberos jungunt parentibus, precor quæfique, ne ante oculos patris facere & pati omnia infanda velis. This confused difpofition, per ego te, is very fuitable to the concern and trouble of a diftracted father: amens metu, fays Livy. Those words, quæcumque jura liberos jungunt parentibus, include whatever is strongest and most tender. That propofition, ne ante oculos patris facere & pati omnia infanda velis, which reprefents the crime and fatal confequences of fuch a murder, is in a manner the whole fpeech abridged. He might have said only, ne occidere Annibalem in confpectu meo velis. But what a difference there is between the one and the other!

I. Motive, drawn from religion. This is fubdivided into three others, which are little more than barely fhewn, but in a lively and eloquent manner, without a circumftance or word which does not carry its weight. 1. The faith of treaties confirmed by oaths and facrifices. 2. The facred and inviolable laws of hofpitality. 3. The authority of a father over a fon. Pauca bora funt, intra quas jurantes quicquid deorum eft, dextræ dextras jungentes, fidem obftrinximus, aut facratas fide manus digreffi ab colloquio extemplo in eum

T I pray and conjure you, my fon, by all the most facred laws of nature and blocd, not to attempt before your father's eyes an action as criminal in itself, as it will be fatal to you in its confequences.

It is but a few minutes fince we bound ourfelves by the most folemn oaths; that we gave Hannibal the most holy teftimonies of an inviolable friendship: And hall we, when we are fcarce rifen from the entertainment, arm that very hand against him, which we pre

fented to him as a pledge of our fidelity? That table, where the Geds prefide who maintain the laws of hofpitality, to which you were admitted by a particular favour, of which only two Capuans had a fhare; you leave that facred table with no other view but to defile it the next moment with the blood of your inviter? Alas! after I obtained my fon's pardon from Hannibal, is it poffible that I cannot prevail with my fon to pardon Hannibal?

armaremus §