Scævolæ, qui
quamquam nemini se ad docendum dabat, tamen, consulentibus
respondendo, studiosos audiendi docebat.
quamquam nemini se ad docendum dabat, tamen, consulentibus
respondendo, studiosos audiendi docebat.
Tacitus
[a] This is the treatise, or history of the most eminent orators (DE
CLARIS ORATORIBUS), which has been so often cited in the course of
these notes. It is also entitled BRUTUS; a work replete with the
soundest criticism, and by its variety and elegance always charming.
[b] Quintus Mucius Scævola was the great lawyer of his time. Cicero
draws a comparison between him and Crassus. They were both engaged, on
opposite sides, in a cause before the CENTUMVIRI. Crassus proved
himself the best lawyer among the orators of that day, and Scævola the
most eloquent of the lawyers. _Ut eloquentium juris peritissimus
Crassus; jurisperitorum eloquentissimus Scævola putaretur. _ _De Claris
Orat. _ s. 145. During the consulship of Sylla, A. U. C. 666, Cicero
being then in the nineteenth year of his age, and wishing to acquire a
competent knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence, attached
himself to Mucius Scævola, who did not undertake the task of
instructing pupils, but, by conversing freely with all who consulted
him, gave a fair opportunity to those who thirsted after knowledge.
_Ego autem juris civilis studio, multum operæ dabam Q.
Scævolæ, qui
quamquam nemini se ad docendum dabat, tamen, consulentibus
respondendo, studiosos audiendi docebat. _ _De Claris Orat. _ s. 306.
[c] Philo was a leading philosopher of the academic school. To avoid
the fury of Mithridates, who waged a long war with the Romans, he fled
from Athens, and, with some of the most eminent of his
fellow-citizens, repaired to Rome. Cicero was struck with his
philosophy, and became his pupil. _Cùm princeps academiæ Philo, cum
Atheniensium optimatibus, Mithridatico bello, domo profugisset,
Romamque venisset, totum ei me tradidi, admirabili quodam ad
philosophiam studio concitatus. _ _De Claris Orat. _ s. 306.
Cicero adds, that he gave board and lodging, at his own house, to
Diodotus the stoic, and, under that master, employed himself in
various branches of literature, but particularly in the study of
logic, which may be considered as a mode of eloquence, contracted,
close, and nervous. _Eram cum stoico Diodoto: qui cum habitavisset
apud me, mecumque vixisset, nuper est domi meæ mortuus. A quo, cum in
aliis rebus, tum studiosissime in dialecticâ exercebar, quæ quasi
contracta et adstricta eloquentia putanda est. _ _De Claris Orat. _ s.
