Then, says Cicero,
that tuneful swan expired: we hoped once more to hear the melody of
his voice, and went, in that expectation, to the senate-house; but all
that remained was to gaze on the spot where that eloquent orator spoke
for the last time in the service of his country.
that tuneful swan expired: we hoped once more to hear the melody of
his voice, and went, in that expectation, to the senate-house; but all
that remained was to gaze on the spot where that eloquent orator spoke
for the last time in the service of his country.
Tacitus
xli.
cap.
2.
Cicero has given his oratorical character.
He possessed a wonderful dignity of language, could enliven his
discourse with wit and pleasantry, never descending to vulgar humour;
refined, and polished, without a tincture of scurrility. He preserved
the true Latin idiom; in his selection of words accurate, with
apparent facility; no stiffness, no affectation appeared; in his train
of reasoning always clear and methodical; and, when the cause hinged
upon a question of law, or the moral distinctions of good and evil, no
man possessed such a fund of argument, and happy illustration. _Crasso
nihil statuo fieri potuisse perfectius: erat summa gravitas; erat cum
gravitate junctus facetiarum et urbanitatis oratorius, non scurrilis,
lepos. Latinè loquendi accurata, et, sine molestiâ, diligens
elegantia; in disserendo mira explicatio; cum de jure civili, cum de
æquo et bono disputaretur, argumentorum et similitudinum copia. _ _De
Claris Orat. _ s. 143. In Cicero's books DE ORATORE, Licinius Crassus
supports a capital part in the dialogue; but in the opening of the
third book, we have a pathetic account of his death, written, as the
Italians say, _con amore_. Crassus returned from his villa, where the
dialogue passed, to take part in the debate against Philippus the
consul, who had declared to an assembly of the people, that he was
obliged to seek new counsellors, for with such a senate he could not
conduct the affairs of the commonwealth. The conduct of Crassus, upon
that occasion, has been mentioned already. The vehemence, with which
he exerted himself, threw him into a violent fever, and, on the
seventh day following, put a period to his life.
Then, says Cicero,
that tuneful swan expired: we hoped once more to hear the melody of
his voice, and went, in that expectation, to the senate-house; but all
that remained was to gaze on the spot where that eloquent orator spoke
for the last time in the service of his country. _Illud immortalitate
dignum ingenium, illa humanitas, illa virtus Lucii Crassi morte
extincta subitâ est, vix diebus decem post eum diem, qui hoc et
superiore libra continetur. Illa tanquam cycnea fuit divini hominis
vox, et oratio, quam quasi expectantes, post ejus interitum veniebamus
in curiam, ut vestigium illud ipsum, in quo ille postremum
institisset, contueremur. _ _De Orat. _ lib, iii. s. 1. and 6. This
passage will naturally call to mind the death of the great earl of
Chatham. He went, in a feeble state of health, to attend a debate of
the first importance. Nothing could detain him from the service of his
country. The dying notes of the BRITISH SWAN were heard in the House
of Peers. He was conveyed to his own house, and on the eleventh of May
1778, he breathed his last. The news reached the House of Commons late
in the evening, when Colonel BARRE had the honour of being the first
to shed a patriot tear on that melancholy occasion. In a strain of
manly sorrow, and with that unprepared eloquence which the heart
inspires, he moved for a funeral at the public expence, and a monument
to the memory of virtue and departed genius. By performing that pious
office, Colonel BARRE may be said to have made his own name immortal.
He possessed a wonderful dignity of language, could enliven his
discourse with wit and pleasantry, never descending to vulgar humour;
refined, and polished, without a tincture of scurrility. He preserved
the true Latin idiom; in his selection of words accurate, with
apparent facility; no stiffness, no affectation appeared; in his train
of reasoning always clear and methodical; and, when the cause hinged
upon a question of law, or the moral distinctions of good and evil, no
man possessed such a fund of argument, and happy illustration. _Crasso
nihil statuo fieri potuisse perfectius: erat summa gravitas; erat cum
gravitate junctus facetiarum et urbanitatis oratorius, non scurrilis,
lepos. Latinè loquendi accurata, et, sine molestiâ, diligens
elegantia; in disserendo mira explicatio; cum de jure civili, cum de
æquo et bono disputaretur, argumentorum et similitudinum copia. _ _De
Claris Orat. _ s. 143. In Cicero's books DE ORATORE, Licinius Crassus
supports a capital part in the dialogue; but in the opening of the
third book, we have a pathetic account of his death, written, as the
Italians say, _con amore_. Crassus returned from his villa, where the
dialogue passed, to take part in the debate against Philippus the
consul, who had declared to an assembly of the people, that he was
obliged to seek new counsellors, for with such a senate he could not
conduct the affairs of the commonwealth. The conduct of Crassus, upon
that occasion, has been mentioned already. The vehemence, with which
he exerted himself, threw him into a violent fever, and, on the
seventh day following, put a period to his life.
Then, says Cicero,
that tuneful swan expired: we hoped once more to hear the melody of
his voice, and went, in that expectation, to the senate-house; but all
that remained was to gaze on the spot where that eloquent orator spoke
for the last time in the service of his country. _Illud immortalitate
dignum ingenium, illa humanitas, illa virtus Lucii Crassi morte
extincta subitâ est, vix diebus decem post eum diem, qui hoc et
superiore libra continetur. Illa tanquam cycnea fuit divini hominis
vox, et oratio, quam quasi expectantes, post ejus interitum veniebamus
in curiam, ut vestigium illud ipsum, in quo ille postremum
institisset, contueremur. _ _De Orat. _ lib, iii. s. 1. and 6. This
passage will naturally call to mind the death of the great earl of
Chatham. He went, in a feeble state of health, to attend a debate of
the first importance. Nothing could detain him from the service of his
country. The dying notes of the BRITISH SWAN were heard in the House
of Peers. He was conveyed to his own house, and on the eleventh of May
1778, he breathed his last. The news reached the House of Commons late
in the evening, when Colonel BARRE had the honour of being the first
to shed a patriot tear on that melancholy occasion. In a strain of
manly sorrow, and with that unprepared eloquence which the heart
inspires, he moved for a funeral at the public expence, and a monument
to the memory of virtue and departed genius. By performing that pious
office, Colonel BARRE may be said to have made his own name immortal.
