No More Learning

In that black period,
when vice triumphed at large, and virtue had every thing to fear, the
temper of the times was propitious to the corruptors of taste and
liberal science. The dignity of composition was no longer of use. It
had no power to stop the torrent of vice which deluged the city of
Rome, and virtue found it a feeble protection. In such a conjuncture
it was not safe to speak the sentiments of the heart. To be obscure,
abrupt, and dark, was the best expedient. Then it was that the
affected sententious brevity came into vogue. To speak concisely, and
with an air of precipitation, was the general practice. To work the
ruin of a person accused, a single sentence, or a splendid phrase, was
sufficient. Men defended themselves in a short brilliant expression;
and if that did not protect them, they died with a lively apophthegm,
and their last words were wit. This was the fashion introduced by
Seneca. The peculiar, but agreeable vices of his style, wrought the
downfall of eloquence. The solid was exchanged for the brilliant, and
they, who ceased to be orators, studied to be ingenious.


7. Of late, indeed, we have seen the dawn of better times. In the
course of the last six years Vespasian has revived our hopes [a].
The
friend of regular manners, and the encourager of ancient virtue, by
which Rome was raised to the highest pinnacle of glory, he has
restored the public peace, and with it the blessings of liberty. Under
his propitious influence, the arts and sciences begin once more to
flourish, and genius has been honoured with his munificence. The
example of his sons [b] has helped to kindle a spirit of emulation. We
beheld, with pleasure, the two princes adding to the dignity of their
rank, and their fame in arms, all the grace and elegance of polite
literature. But it is fatally true, that when the public taste is once
corrupted, the mind which has been warped, seldom recovers its former
tone. This difficulty was rendered still more insurmountable by the
licentious spirit of our young men, and the popular applause, that
encouraged the false taste of the times. I need not, in this company,
call to mind the unbridled presumption, with which, as soon as genuine
eloquence expired, the young men of the age took possession of the
forum. Of modest worth and ancient manners nothing remained. We know
that in former times the youthful candidate was introduced in the
forum by a person of consular rank [c], and by him set forward in his
road to fame. That laudable custom being at an end, all fences were
thrown down: no sense of shame remained, no respect for the tribunals
of justice. The aspiring genius wanted no patronage; he scorned the
usual forms of a regular introduction; and, with full confidence in
his own powers, he obtruded himself on the court. Neither the
solemnity of the place, nor the sanctity of laws, nor the importance
of the oratorical character, could restrain the impetuosity of young
ambition. Unconscious of the importance of the undertaking, and less
sensible of his own incapacity, the bold adventurer rushed at once
into the most arduous business. Arrogance supplied the place of
talents.


8. To oppose the torrent, that bore down every thing, the danger of
losing all fair and honest fame was the only circumstance that could
afford a ray of hope.