Lysias, he says, preceded Demosthenes: he is
acute and elegant, and if to teach the art of speaking were the only
business of an orator, nothing more perfect can be found.
acute and elegant, and if to teach the art of speaking were the only
business of an orator, nothing more perfect can be found.
Tacitus
iv.
ver.
55.
Not Orpheus' self, nor Linus, should exceed
My lofty lays, or gain the poet's meed,
Though Phœbus, though Calliope inspire,
And one the mother aid, and one the sire.
WHARTON'S VIRGIL.
Orpheus embarked in the Argonautic expedition. His history of it,
together with his hymns, is still extant; but whether genuine, is much
doubted.
[d] Lysias, the celebrated orator, was a native of Syracuse, the
chief town in Sicily. He lived about four hundred years before the
Christian æra. Cicero says, that he did not addict himself to the
practice of the bar; but his compositions were so judicious, so pure
and elegant, that you might venture to pronounce him a perfect orator.
_Tum fuit Lysias, ipse quidem in causis forensibus non versatus sed
egregiè subtilis scriptor, atque elegans, quem jam prope audeas
oratorem perfectum dicere. _ Cicero _De Claris Orat. _ s. 35. Quintilian
gives the same opinion.
Lysias, he says, preceded Demosthenes: he is
acute and elegant, and if to teach the art of speaking were the only
business of an orator, nothing more perfect can be found. He has no
redundancy, nothing superfluous, nothing too refined, or foreign to
his purpose: his style is flowing, but more like a pure fountain, than
a noble river. _His ætate Lysias major, subtilis atque elegans, et quo
nihil, si oratori satis sit docere, quæras perfectius. Nihil enim est
inane, nihil arcessitum; puro tamen fonti, quam magno flumini
propior. _ Quint, lib. x. cap. 1. A considerable number of his orations
is still extant, all written with exquisite taste and inexpressible
sweetness. See a very pleasing translation by Dr. Gillies.
Hyperides flourished at Athens in the time of Demosthenes, Æschynes,
Lycurgus, and other famous orators. That age, says Cicero, poured
forth a torrent of eloquence, of the best and purest kind, without the
false glitter of affected ornament, in a style of noble simplicity,
which lasted to the end of that period. _Huic Hyperides proximus, et
Æschynes fuit, et Lycurgus, aliique plures. Hæc enim ætas effudit hanc
copiam; et, ut opinio mea fert, succus ille et sanguis incorruptus
usque ad hanc ætatem oratorum fuit, in qua naturalis inesset, non
fucatus nitor. _ _De Claris Orat.
Not Orpheus' self, nor Linus, should exceed
My lofty lays, or gain the poet's meed,
Though Phœbus, though Calliope inspire,
And one the mother aid, and one the sire.
WHARTON'S VIRGIL.
Orpheus embarked in the Argonautic expedition. His history of it,
together with his hymns, is still extant; but whether genuine, is much
doubted.
[d] Lysias, the celebrated orator, was a native of Syracuse, the
chief town in Sicily. He lived about four hundred years before the
Christian æra. Cicero says, that he did not addict himself to the
practice of the bar; but his compositions were so judicious, so pure
and elegant, that you might venture to pronounce him a perfect orator.
_Tum fuit Lysias, ipse quidem in causis forensibus non versatus sed
egregiè subtilis scriptor, atque elegans, quem jam prope audeas
oratorem perfectum dicere. _ Cicero _De Claris Orat. _ s. 35. Quintilian
gives the same opinion.
Lysias, he says, preceded Demosthenes: he is
acute and elegant, and if to teach the art of speaking were the only
business of an orator, nothing more perfect can be found. He has no
redundancy, nothing superfluous, nothing too refined, or foreign to
his purpose: his style is flowing, but more like a pure fountain, than
a noble river. _His ætate Lysias major, subtilis atque elegans, et quo
nihil, si oratori satis sit docere, quæras perfectius. Nihil enim est
inane, nihil arcessitum; puro tamen fonti, quam magno flumini
propior. _ Quint, lib. x. cap. 1. A considerable number of his orations
is still extant, all written with exquisite taste and inexpressible
sweetness. See a very pleasing translation by Dr. Gillies.
Hyperides flourished at Athens in the time of Demosthenes, Æschynes,
Lycurgus, and other famous orators. That age, says Cicero, poured
forth a torrent of eloquence, of the best and purest kind, without the
false glitter of affected ornament, in a style of noble simplicity,
which lasted to the end of that period. _Huic Hyperides proximus, et
Æschynes fuit, et Lycurgus, aliique plures. Hæc enim ætas effudit hanc
copiam; et, ut opinio mea fert, succus ille et sanguis incorruptus
usque ad hanc ætatem oratorum fuit, in qua naturalis inesset, non
fucatus nitor. _ _De Claris Orat.
