No More Learning

For let me ask, to a man of an ingenuous and liberal mind, who knows
the relish of elegant enjoyments, what can yield such true delight, as
a concourse of the most respectable characters crowding to his levee?
How must it enhance his pleasure, when he reflects, that the visit is
not paid to him because he is rich, and wants an heir [a], or is in
possession of a public office, but purely as a compliment to superior
talents, a mark of respect to a great and accomplished orator! The
rich who have no issue, and the men in high rank and power, are his
followers. Though he is still young, and probably destitute of
fortune, all concur in paying their court to solicit his patronage for
themselves, or to recommend their friends to his protection. In the
most splendid fortune, in all the dignity and pride of power, is there
any thing that can equal the heartfelt satisfaction of the able
advocate, when he sees the most illustrious citizens, men respected
for their years, and flourishing in the opinion of the public, yet
paying their court to a rising genius, and, in the midst of wealth and
grandeur, fairly owning, that they still want something superior to
all their possessions? What shall be said of the attendants, that
follow the young orator from the bar, and watch his motions to his own
house? With what importance does he appear to the multitude! in the
courts of judicature, with what veneration! When he rises to speak,
the audience is hushed in mute attention; every eye is fixed on him
alone; the crowd presses round him; he is master of their passions;
they are swayed, impelled, directed, as he thinks proper. These are
the fruits of eloquence, well known to all, and palpable to every
common observer.

There are other pleasures more refined and secret, felt only by the
initiated. When the orator, upon some great occasion, comes with a
well-digested speech, conscious of his matter, and animated by his
subject, his breast expands, and heaves with emotions unfelt before.
In his joy there is a dignity suited to the weight and energy of the
composition which he has prepared. Does he rise to hazard himself [b]
in a sudden debate; he is alarmed for himself, but in that very alarm
there is a mingle of pleasure, which predominates, till distress
itself becomes delightful. The mind exults in the prompt exertion of
its powers, and even glories in its rashness.
The productions of
genius, and those of the field, have this resemblance: many things are
sown, and brought to maturity with toil and care; yet that, which
grows from the wild vigour of nature, has the most grateful flavour.


VII. As to myself, if I may allude to my own feelings, the day on
which I put on the manly gown [a], and even the days that followed,
when, as a new man at Rome, born in a city that did not favour my
pretensions [b], I rose in succession to the offices of quæstor,
tribune, and prætor; those days, I say, did not awaken in my breast
such exalted rapture, as when, in the course of my profession, I was
called forth, with such talents as have fallen to my share, to defend
the accused; to argue a question of law before the centumviri [c], or,
in the presence of the prince, to plead for his freedmen, and the
procurators appointed by himself. Upon those occasions I towered above
all places of profit, and all preferment; I looked down on the
dignities of tribune, prætor, and consul; I felt within myself, what
neither the favour of the great, nor the wills and codicils [d] of the
rich, can give, a vigour of mind, an inward energy, that springs from
no external cause, but is altogether your own.

Look through the circle of the fine arts, survey the whole compass of
the sciences, and tell me in what branch can the professors acquire a
name to vie with the celebrity of a great and powerful orator. His
fame does not depend on the opinion of thinking men, who attend to
business and watch the administration of affairs; he is applauded by
the youth of Rome, at least by such of them as are of a well-turned
disposition, and hope to rise by honourable means. The eminent orator
is the model which every parent recommends to his children. Even the
common people [e] stand at gaze, as he passes by; they pronounce his
name with pleasure, and point at him as the object of their
admiration. The provinces resound with his praise. The strangers, who
arrive from all parts, have heard of his genius; they wish to behold
the man, and their curiosity is never at rest, till they have seen his
person, and perused his countenance.


VIII. I have already mentioned Eprius Marcellus and Crispus Vibius
[a]. I cite living examples, in preference to the names of a former
day. Those two illustrious persons, I will be bold to say, are not
less known in the remotest parts of the empire, than they are at
Capua, or Vercellæ [b], where, we are told, they both were born. And
to what is their extensive fame to be attributed? Not surely to their
immoderate riches.