No More Learning

Such was the judgement of Quintilian: the learned reader
will, perhaps, be glad to have the whole passage in the author's
words, rather than be referred to another book. _Ex industriâ Senecam,
in omni genere eloquentiæ versatum, distuli, propter vulgatam falso de
me opinionem, quâ damnare eum, et invisum quoque habere sum creditus.
Quod, accidit mihi, dum corruptum, et omnibus vitiis fractum dicendi
genus revocare ad severiora judicia contendo. Tum autem solus hic fere
in manibus adolescentium fuit. Quem non equidem omnino conabar
excutere, sed potioribus præferri non sinebam, quos ille non
destiterat incessere, cum, diversi sibi conscius generis, placere se
in dicendo posse iis quibus illi placerent, diffideret. Amabant autem
eum magis, quàm imitabantur; tantumque ab illo defluebant, quantum
ille ab antiquis descenderat. Foret enim optandum, pares, aut saltem
proximos, illi viro fieri. Sed placebat propter sola vitia, et ad ea
se quisque dirigebat effingenda, quæ poterat. Deinde cum se jactaret
eodem modo dicere, Senecam infamabat. Cujus et multæ alioqui et magnæ
virtutes fuerunt; ingenium facile et copiosum; plurimum studii; et
multarum rerum cognitio, in quâ tamen aliquando ab iis, quibus
inquirenda quædam mandabat, deceptus est. Tractavit etiam omnem ferè
studiorum materiam; In philosophiâ parum diligens, egregius tamen
vitiorum insectator. Multa in eo claræque sententiæ; multa etiam morum
gratiâ legenda; sed in eloquendo corrupta pleraque, atque eo
perniciosissima, quod abundat dulcibus vitiis. Velles eum suo ingenio
dixisse, alieno judicio. Nam si aliqua contempsisset; si parum
concupisset, si non omnia sua amasset; si rerum pondera minutissimis
sententiis non fregisset, consensu potius eruditorum, quàm puerorum
amore comprobaretur. Verùm sic quoque jam robustis, et severiore
genere satis firmatis, legendus, vel ideo, quod exercere potest
utrimque judicium.
Multa enim (ut dixi) probanda in eo, multa etiam
admiranda sunt; eligere modo curæ sit, quod utinam ipse fecisset. _
Quintil. lib. x. cap. 1. From this it is evident, that Seneca, even in
the meridian of his fame and power, was considered as the grand
corrupter of eloquence. The charge is, therefore, renewed in this
Dialogue, with strict propriety. Rollin, who had nourished his mind
with ancient literature, and was, in his time, the Quintilian of
France, has given the same opinion of Seneca, who, he says, knew how
to play the critic on the works of others, and to condemn the strained
metaphor, the forced conceit, the tinsel sentence, and all the
blemishes of a corrupt style, without desiring to weed them out of his
own productions. In a letter to his friend (epist. 114), which has
been mentioned section xxvi. note [c], Seneca admits a general
depravity of taste, and with great acuteness, and, indeed, elegance,
traces it to its source, to the luxury and effeminate manners of the
age; he compares the florid orators of his time to a set of young
fops, well powdered and perfumed, just issuing from their toilette:
_Barbâ et comâ nitidos, de capsulâ totos_; he adds, that such affected
finery is not the true ornament of a man. _Non est ornamentum virile,
concinnitas. _ And yet, says Rollin, he did not know that he was
sitting to himself for the picture. He aimed for ever at something
new, far fetched, ingenious, and pointed. He preferred wit to truth
and dignified simplicity.