even supposing him guilty, within the law. Of this Cicero avails himself doubly and as he shows here the most masterly address, I shall give a summary of his pleading on this part of the cause: "You," says he to the Advocate for the prosecutor, you, T. Attius, I know, had every where given it out, that I was to defend my Client, not from facts, not upon the footing of innocence, but by taking advantage merely of the law in his behalf. Have I done so? I appeal to yourself. Have I sought to cover him behind a legal defence only? On the contrary, have I not pleaded his cause as if he had been a Senator, liable, by the Cornelian law, to be capitally convicted; and shown, that neither proof nor probable presumption lies against his innocence? In doing so, I must acquaint you, that I have complied with the desire of Cluentius himself. For when he first consulted me in this cause, and when I informed him that it was clear no action could be brought against him from the Cornelian Law, he instantly besought and obtested me, that I would not rest his defence upon that ground; saying, with tears in his eyes, That his reputation was as dear to him as his life; and that what he sought as an innocent man, was not only to be absolved from any penalty, but to be acquitted in the opinion of all his fellow citizens.

"Hitherto, then, I have pleaded this cause upon his plan. But my Client must forgive me, if now I shall plead it upon my own. For I should be wanting to myself, and to that regard which my character and station require me to bear to the laws of the State, if I should allow any person to be judged of by a law which does not bind him. You, Attius, indeed, have told us, that it was a scandal and reproach, that a Roman Knight should be exempted from those penalties to which a Senator, for corrupting Judges, is liable. But I must tell you, that it would be a much greater reproach, in a State that is regulated by law, to depart from the law. What safety have any of us in our persons, what security for our rights, if the law shall be set aside? By what title do you, Q. Naso, sit in that chair, and preside in this judgment? By what right, T. Attius, do you accuse, or do I defend? Whence all the solemnity and pomp of Judges, and Clerks, and Officers, of which this house is full? Does not all proceed from the law, which regulates the whole departments of the State; which, as a common bond, holds its members together; and, like the soul within the body, actuates and directs all the public functions?* On what ground,

• “Ait Attius, indignum esse facinus, si senator judicio quemquam circumvenerit, eum legibus teneri; si Eques Romanus hoc idem fecerit, eum non teneri. Ut tibi concedam hoc indignum esse, tu mihi concedas necesse est multo esse indignius, in eâ civitate quæ legibus contineatur, discedi a legibus. Hoc nam vinculum est hujus dignitatis qua fruimur in republicâ. Hoc fundamentum libertatis; hic fons equitatis; mens et animus, et consilium, et sententia civitatis posita est in legibus. Ut corpora nostra sine mente, sic civitas sine lege, suas partibus, ut nervis ac sanguine et membris, uti non potest. Legum ministri, magistratus; legum interpretes, judices; legum denique id

then, dare you speak lightly of the law, or move that, in a criminal trial, Judges should advance one step beyond what it permits them to go? The wisdom of our ancestors has found, that, as Senators and Magistrates enjoy higher dignities, and greater advantages than other members of the State, the Law should also, with regard to them, be more strict, and the purity and uncorruptedness of their morals be guarded by more severe sanctions. But if it be your pleasure that this institution should be altered, if you wish to have the Cornelian Law, concerning bribery, extended to all ranks, then let us join, not in violating the law, but in proposing to have this alteration made by a new law. My client, Cluentius, will be the foremost in this measure, who now, while the old law subsists, rejected its defence, and required his cause to be pleaded, as if he had been bound by it. But, though he would not avail himself of the law, you are bound injustice not to stretch it beyond its proper limits."

Such is the reasoning of Cicero on this head; eloquent, surely, and strong. As his manner is diffuse, I have greatly abridged it from the original, but have endeavoured to retain its force. In the latter part of the Oration, Cicero treats of the other accusation that was brought against Cluentius, of having poisoned Oppianicus. On this, it appears, his accusers themselves laid small stress; having placed their chief hope in overwhelming Cluentius with the odium of bribery in the former trial; and therefore, on this part of the cause, Cicero does not dwell long. He shows the improbability of the whole tale which they related concerning this pretended poisoning, and makes it appear to be, altogether destitute of any shadow of proof.

Nothing, therefore, remains but the Peroration, or Conclusion of the whole. In this, as indeed throughout the whole of this oration, Cicero is uncommonly chaste, and, in the midst of much warmth and earnestness, keeps clear of turgid declamation. The Peroration turns on two points; the indignation which the character and conduct of Sassia ought to excite, and the compassion due to a son, persecuted through his whole life by such a mother. He recapitulates the crimes of Sassia; her lewdness, her violation of every decorum, her incestuous marriages, her violence and cruelty. He places, in the most odious light, the eagerness and fury which she had shown in the suit she was carrying on against her son; describes her journey from Larinum to Rome, with a train of attendants, and a great store of money, that she might employ every method for circumventing and oppressing him in this trial; while, in the whole course of her journey, she was so detested, as to make a solitude wherever she lodged; she was shunned and avoided by all; her company, and her very looks, were reckoned contagious: the house was deemed circo omnes simus servi, ut liber esse possimus. Quid est, Q. Naso, eur tu in hoc loco sedeas?" &c.

polluted which was entered into by so abandoned a woman.* To this he opposes the character of Čluentius, fair, unspotted, and respectable. He produces the testimonies of the magistrates of Larinum in his favour, given in the most ample and honourable manner by a public decree, and supported by a great concourse of the most noted inhabitants, who were now present, to second every thing that Cicero could say in favour of Cluentius.

"Wherefore, Judges," he concludes, "if you abominate crimes, stop the triumph of this impious woman, prevent this most unnatural mother from rejoicing in her son's blood. If you love virtue and worth, relieve this unfortunate man, who, for so many years, has been exposed to most unjust reproach through the calumnies raised against him by Sassia, Oppianicus, and all their adherents. Better far had it been for him to have ended his days at once by the poison which Oppianicus had prepared for him, than to have escaped those snares, if he must still be oppressed by an odium which I have shown to be so unjust. But in you he trusts, in your clemency and your equity, that now, on a full and fair hearing of his cause, you will restore him to his honour; you will restore him to his friends and fellowcitizens, of whose real and high estimation of him you have seen such strong proofs; and will show, by your decision, that though faction and calumny may reign for a while in popular meetings and harangues, in trial and judgment regard is paid to the truth only."

I have given only a skeleton of this Oration of Cicero. What I have principally aimed at, was to show his disposition and method; his arrangement of facts, and the conduct and force of some of his main arguments. But, in order to have a full view of the subject, and of the art with which the Orator manages it, recourse must be had to the original. Few of Cicero's Orations contain a greater variety of facts and argumentations, which renders it difficult to analyze it fully. But for this reason I choose it, as an excellent example of managing at the Bar a complex and intricate cause, with order, elegance, and force.

"Cùm appropinquare hujus judicium ei nuntiatum est, confestim hic advolavit; ne aut accusatoribus diligentia, aut pecunia testibus deesset; aut ne forte mater hoc sibi optatissimum spectaculum hujus sordium atque luctus, et tanti squaloris amitteret. Jam vero quod iter Romam hujus mulieris fuisse existimatis! Quod ego propter vicinitatem Aquinatium et Venafranorum ex multis comperi: quos concursus in his oppidia? Quantos et virorum et mulierum gemitus esse factos? Mulierum quandam Larino, atque illam usque a mari supero Romam proficisci cum magno comitatu et pecunia, quo facilius circumvenire judicio capitis, atque opprimere filium possit. Nemo erat illorum, poene dicam, quin expiandum illum locum esse arbitraretur quacunque illa iter fecisset; nemo quin terram ipsam violari, quæ mater est omnium, vestigiis consceleratæ matris putaret. Itaque nullo in oppido consistendi ei potestas fuit: nemo ex tot hospitibus inventus est qui non contagionem aspects fugeret."

LECTURE XXIX.

ELOQUENCE OF THE PULPIT.

BEFORE treating of the structure and component parts of a regular Oration, I purposed making some observations on the peculiar strain, the distinguishing characters, of each of the three great kinds of Public Speaking. I have already treated of the Eloquence of Popular Assemblies, and of the Eloquence of the Bar. The subject which remains for this Lecture is, the strain and spirit of that Eloquence which is suited to the Pulpit.

The

Let us begin with considering the advantages and disadvantages, which belong to this field of Public Speaking. Pulpit has plainly several advantages peculiar to itself. The dignity and importance of its subjects must be acknowledged superior to any other. They are such as ought to interest every one, and can be brought home to every man's heart; and such as admit, at the same time, both the highest embellishment in describing, and the greatest vehemence and warmth in enforcing them. The Preacher has also great advantages in treating his subjects. He speaks not to one or a few Judges, but to a large Assembly. He is secure from all interruption. He is obliged to no replies, or extemporaneous efforts. He chooses his theme at leisure; and comes to the public with all the assistance which the most accurate premeditation can give him.

But, together with these advantages, there are also peculiar difficulties that attend the Eloquence of the Pulpit. The Preacher, it is true, has no trouble in contending with an adversary; but then Debate and Contention enliven genius, and procure attention. The Pulpit Orator is, perhaps, in too quiet possession of his field. His subjects of discourse are, in themselves, noble and important, but they are subjects trite and familiar. They have for ages employed so many speakers and so many pens; the public ear is so much accustomed to them, that it requires more than an ordinary power of genius to fix attention. Nothing within the reach of art is more difficult, than to bestow on what is common, the grace of novelty. No sort of composition whatever is such a trial of skill, as where the merit of it lies wholly in the execution; not in giving any information. that is new, not in convincing men of what they did not believe; but in dressing truths which they knew, and of which they were before convinced, in such colours as may most forcibly affect their imagination and heart.* It is to be considered too, that the subject of the Preacher generally confines him to abstract

What I have said on this subject, coincides very much with the observations made by the famous M. Bruyere, in his Maurs de Siecle, when he is comparing the Eloquence

A A

qualities, to virtues and vices; whereas, that of other popular Speakers leads them to treat of persons; which is a subject that commonly interests the hearers more, and takes faster hold of the imagination. The Preacher's business is solely to make you detest the crime. The Pleader's to make you detest the criminal. He describes a living person; and with more facility rouses your indignation. From these causes, it comes to pass, that though we have a great number of moderately good Preachers, we have, however, so few that are singularly eminent. We are still far from perfection in the Art of Preaching; and perhaps there are few things in which it is more difficult to excel. object, however, is noble, and worthy, upon many accounts, of being pursued with zeal.

The

It may, perhaps, occur to some, that Preaching is no proper subject of the Art of Eloquence. This it may be said, belongs only to human studies and inventions: but the truths of religion, with the greater simplicity, and the less mixture of art they are set forth, are likely to prove the more successful. This objection would have weight, if Eloquence were, as the persons who make such an objection commonly take it to be, an ostentatious and deceitful art, the study of words and of plausibility only, calculated to please, and to tickle the ear. But against this idea of Eloquence I have all along guarded. True Eloquence is the art of placing truth in the most advantageous light for conviction and persuasion. This is what every good man who preaches the Gospel not only may, but ought to have at heart. It is most intimately connected with the success of his ministry; and were

of the Pulpit to that of the Bar. "L'Eloquence de la chaire, en ce qui y entre d'humain, et du talent de l'orateur, est cachée, connue de peu de personnes, et d'une difficile execution. Il faut marcher par des chemins battus, dire ce qui a été dit, et ce qui l'on prevoit que vous allez dire: les matières sont grandes, mais usées et triviales; les principes surs, mais dont les auditeurs pénétrent les conclusions d'une seule vue: il y entre de sujets qui sont sublimes, mais qui peut traiter le sublime?-Le Prédicateur n'est point soutenu comme l'avocat par des faits toujours nouveaux, par de differens événemens, par des avantures inouies; il ne s'exerce point sur les questions douteuses; il ne fait point valoir les violentes conjectures, et les presomptions; toutes choses, neanmoins, qui élèvent le genie, lui donnent de la force, et de l'étendue, et qui contraignent bien moins l'eloquence, qu'elles ne le fixent, et le dirigent. Il doit, au contraire, tirer son discours d'une source commune, et à tout le monde puiser; et s'il s'écarte de ces lieux communs, il n'est plus populaire; il est abstrait ou déclamateur." The inference which he draws from these reflections is very just "Il est plus aisé de prêcher que de plaider; mais plus difficile de bien prêcher que de bien plaider." Les Characteres, ou Mœurs de ce Siecle, p. 601.

What I say here, and in other passages, of our being far from perfection in the Art of Preaching, and of there being few who are singularly eminent in it, is to be always understood as referring to an ideal view of the perfection of this art, which none, perhaps, since the days of the Apostles, ever did, or ever will, reach. But in that degree of the Eloquence of the Pulpit, which promotes, in a considerable measure, the great end of edification, and gives a just title to high reputation and esteem, there are many who hold a very honourable rank. I agree entirely in opinion with a candid judge (Dr. Campbell on Rhetoric, B. i. c. 10.), who observes, that considering how rare the talent of Eloquence is among men, and considering all the disadvantages under which Preachers labour, particularly from the frequency of this exercise, joined with the other duties of their office, to which fixed Pastors are obliged, there is more reason to wonder that we hear so many instructive, and even eloquent Sermons, than that we hear so few.